Major German RTU Vendor implements IEC 61850 instead of phased-out model IEC 60870-5-101 and 104

The IDS company based in Ettlingen (Germany) offers a gateway to collect data from many underlying protocols and converts them into IEC 61850 Models for the communication with control centers. They wrote in a recent publication that the classical RTU protocols IEC 60870-5-101 and –104 are phase-out solutions for the communication with control centers. One crucial issue they highlight is the semantic information models and self-description services defined in IEC 61850.

The same company was a very strong supporter for using IEC 60870-5-101 and –104 for the communication with control centers – and partly within substations. What I see these days: More and more people are changing their mind!

The protocol gateway (which is a server) uses for the uplink to the control center IEC 61850 information objects and web services according to IEC 61400-25-4 Annex A for the protocol. This combination (IEC 61850 models and IEC 61400-25-4 mappings) is technically feasible. Formally it is not defined in any standard!

That is why the gateway (server) cannot interoperate with any IEC 61850 client. It is a product that can communicate with a client according to IEC 61400-25-4 Annex A only.

The first reason they provided why they did not use MMS is as follows: MMS would require to have permanent TCP and MMS connections maintained! That is true for substation automation, where short reaction times for crucial spontaneous event reports are required. If the required reaction is in the seconds, there is no reason why a permanent connection should be required! MMS does not require permanent connections! A MMS client can close the connection as soon as a service is completed.

Click HERE for the paper published in the etz magazine [German only].

It is also important to know that (to my knowledge) most vendors implementing IEC 61400-25 are using the mapping according to IEC 61400-25-4 Annex C (MMS, IEC 61850-8-1): Bachmann, Beckhoff, Ingeteam, Siemens, …

Finally: a new work item has been proposed to IEC TC 57 (home of IEC 61850) to standardize a web service mapping as IEC 61850-8-2. The question is now: Which solution should be chosen or developed? Three candidates are already discussed and proposed for further investigation:

1. DPWS (Device Profile Web Services)
2. OPC UA WS
3. IEC 61400-25-4 Annex A (as a starting point)

Nobody knows which solution will finally be standardized for IEC 61850 and how long it will take. There may be additional candidates proposed during the official ballot on the new work item once it is out for ballot … may be by end of 2011. Hopefully we will see a single solution being published in 8-2. Nobody knows.

Having multiple standards for the mappings means: split the market in non-interoperability domains!

Click HERE for a further a discussion on web services.

Final Call for IEC 61850 (61400-25) Seminar and Hands-On Training in Frankfurt, October 05-07

The 3 day IEC 61850/61400-25 Seminar/Hands-on Training with real IEDs (embedded controller programmable in C/C++ and IEC 61131-3) and free evaluation software (DLL etc. fully functional - free to take home) is scheduled to be held in Frankfurt (Germany) from 05.-07. October 2011.

There are a few seats available. You can even register the latest by Tuesday evening (Oct 04) … I can print another set of hand-outs before I leave to Frankfurt … ;-)

Click HERE for details. Questions on the attendance fee etc? Contact us.

I have conducted some 140 courses and educated more than 2,650 experts all over. The experience I collected throughout these events – will be given to you – in case you attend next week. One of the attendees of last week’s event in Nashville (TN, USA) wrote me today:

“I really did enjoy the workshop and did get lots of information both from the material and your expertise. I feel I have a better understanding of 61850- which was my goal. Thank you.”

See you next week.

Two Are Better Than One – An Old Wisdom

King Salomon wrote some 3,000 years ago about redundancy:

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12: “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him that is alone when he falleth, and hath not another to lift him up. …. and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”

It would be very helpful in the future electric power delivery system if a higher degree of redundancy would be implemented! There is still a lot … but it is degrading in many places all over.

The major power outage in the San Diego region two weeks ago caused a failure in “a portion of the “north loop” of San Diego County’s Regional
Communications System (RCS) experienced a major failure when the county-wide power outage hit on September 8, 2011. This was the second major outage for the redundant 800 MHz RCS that was designed to carry public safety communications without the need for a backup system. …”

Accountants may say: The backup costs a lot of money … ;-)

Yup!

Click HERE to read the full report.

I have seen communication “boxes” for wind turbines that offer three communication channels … just in case! TCP/IP over Ethernet, GPRS, and Satellite. That should work highly reliable and offer a high availabilty.

Modeling Logics with IEC 61850-90-11

IEC TC 57 has started to work officially on models for Logics:

IEC TR 61850-90-11: Communication networks and systems for power utility
automation – Part 90-11: Methodologies for modeling of logics for IEC 61850 based applications

The national committees of TC 57 are requested to contribute to the new part of the standard series IEC 61850.

Standards like IEC 61131-3, IEC 61499 and others will be taken into account.

If you are interested in this work, contact your TC 57 National Committee or myself.

A discussion of the use of IEC 61499 in conjunction with IEC 61850 can be found HERE (Towards Intelligent Smart Grid Devices with IEC 61850 Interoperability and IEC 61499 Open Control Architecture)

Or check these.

Power Outage in the South-West – Controlling Huge Power Systems is a Challenge

A huge interconnected power system follows 100 per cent the rules of laws like the Kirchhoff's Law and others. The Physics of the electrical system does not care about share-holder value, regulation and de-regulation – it is a law that can’t be changed by lawyers and bank managers!

The electrical power in every homes outlet is understood as a given – as sun shine and rain!! It is just here.

Two weeks after the power outage in the South-Western, it is likely that missing communication at the level of humans had a big impact on the stability of the power system.

Click HERE for some more details.

Click HERE for a discussion if the regulation or the de-regulation of the power market had a huge impact on the power outage.

Whatever people’s interpretation is: the electrical system is an electrical system that cannot be cheated.

I’m wondering why the control systems involved in providing a stable power system in the South-West seemed to not have all crucial information about the power system exchanged between all technical systems (parties) involved. There is a standard available for many years that would allow to exchange all real-time information needed to control the power system: IEC 60870-6 TASE.2 (ICCP).

There is one lesson we have to learn: The information systems could also not change the Kirchoff’s and other laws. The electrical system is an electrical system for the last 100+ years and for the future …

Some more Details on the September 8 Power Outage in San Diego

Some more details on the causes that let to the big Power Outage in California, Arizona and Mexico on September 8, 2011 have been published.

The SignOnSanDiego reports on Sept 16: “ … the Cal-ISO chief said, investigators so far have identified 23 separate events that occurred during the 11-minute span, each of which played a role in denying electricity to San Diego County and beyond.” 23 is a lot!

Click HERE for the complete report.

Whatever caused the power outage: There will be something to learn and to change … and I guess there will be a growing need to exchange more real-time or near real-time information between humans, systems and devices. Standards will help to implement new measures.

Please let me know as soon as you have more details.

IEC 61850 knowledge required for many new Jobs all over

Nine positions in Germany are open for engineers [today: 2011-09-15] with IEC 61850 (and partly with DNP) background according to the website Simplyhired!

Click HERE for the list of positions in Germany.

And in North America? The website links to 107 open positions within North America [today: 2011-09-15] !!! Yes!

Click HERE for the list in the USA.

11 new positions have been added the last 7 days [today: 2011-09-15]:

Click HERE for the list of that last 7 days.

Good luck if you are looking for a job where you can use your IEC 61850 experience and knowledge.

IEC 61850 and DNP3 applications are picking up!

Southern California Edison’s Vision for Tomorrow’s Smart Electric Grid – Invest in yourself

In the IEEE power & energy magazine, issue of September/October 2011, you can find very interesting and important statements on the future electric power grid. The current issue provides several papers on power distribution systems. One remarkable paper is “Good Vibrations” (p 22-32) from Robert J. Yinger and Ardalan E. Kamiab (both with Southern California Edison, Westminster, California).

They state at the very beginning that “A smart grid involves adding to
the grid millions of smart electronic devices like phasor measurement
units, fault indicators, meters, and electric vehicle chargers that will send and receive millions of pieces of data per minute to produce actionable information and using that information to enhance the operations and control of the electric system.”

New hardware and software needs to be developed, installed and used – by engineers and programmers that may still be students at a high school. And what about the senior technicians? Are they “open” for “open” systems?

Whatever the mix of renewable power will be – one thing is sure: the future power delivery system needs a lot more information systems for the millions of smart electric devices!! Standards help to keep the cost quite low – by preventing the proliferation of the myriads of vendor specific solutions.

Be aware that standards are just tools – in the hands of people: young and senior experts, and newbies.

For Southern California Edison’s vision standards like IEC 61850 and DNP3 are quite crucial. In order to really benefit from the standards, “one of the challenges facing the utility industry over the next few years is training the necessary workforce for planning, building, operating, and maintaining the smart grid. A large number of new technologies are being applied to the smart grid, including new equipment, state-of-the-art communications technologies, and advanced control capabilities … that can help the entire utility industry prepare the workforce of the future to implement the smart grid … The workforce needs to be trained so that all of these new technologies can be implemented smoothly … Planning for these advanced smart grid systems needs to be done now …”

There is a chance next week (in Nashville, TN, 20-21 September, 2011) to get prepared for the new standards IEC 61850 and DNP3:

Click HERE for the program and further details of event next week.

Invest in becoming a valued power automation professional!

Huge Power Outage in South-West of U.S.A – started in Substation?

The South-West of the U.S.A. was hit by a major power outage (some 5 million people had no power) that was likely being caused by some event in a substation yesterday (Thursday, 2011-09-08). Reports say that it is likely that an employee removing a piece of monitoring equipment has caused a massive power outage. Investigations are underway.

What does this mean for standards like IEC 61850 and IEC 61400-25, DNP3, CIM, … ? It means a lot for people that deal with the power system! Why? Because we have to understand that the power delivery system is a huge and complex POWER system!!! Power engineers and electrical engineers are very crucial to the availability of the power 24 hours and 7 days a week! All the smart(er) grid and substation automation activities and solutions based on information models and communication standards are secondary (even they are becoming more important in the future).

When I conducted the workshop on IEC 61850 and IEC 61400-25 in Shanghai (China) last Monday, I highly recommended to the 110 young engineers and students that they should closely team up with the experienced senior power and electrical engineers that have run the power grid so far!

Information Technology WILL (and MUST) SUPPORT the operation of the future power system – BUT it is more important to have enough power and electrical engineers. So, TEAMWORK of all people involved in the power system is VERY CRUCIAL!! And PEOPLEWARE – well experienced and educated engineers.

Teamwork requires that each person involved has a basic understanding of all the many aspects of the grid, how to operate and maintain it! Electrical engineers need to understand the huge influence that will come through the new standards like IEC 61850, … and IT people need the basics of the power grid!

If you get more details on the cause of the blackout in San Diego this week, please post it through the comment link to this post. Thanks.

We all (as a Team) have to learn something out of this big event!

110 Young People attended the Shanghai IEC 61850 and IEC 61400-25 Workshop

The workshop on IEC 61850 and IEC 61400-25 organized by the State Energy Smart Grid R&D Center (Shanghai) hosted at Shanghai Jiao Tong University on Monday, 05 September 2011, was very successful.

The 110 young attendees from 37 organizations came to the event to get up-to-date information about the standards, market acceptance, challenges with the new standards, experience, and implementation hints.

One of the students of the workshop and the teacher at the entrance:

The 110 attendees (mostly young people):

Professor Peichao Zhang and his colleague Professor Dong Liu organized the event:

Click HERE for the program of the event.

According to a report given during the IEC TC 57 Plenary meeting in Shanghai (6.-7. September 2011), one substation per day and one wind power turbine per hour are installed in China. So, there is a huge demand for solutions according to IEC 61850 and IEC 61400-25.

The young people are eager to learn how to use the standards for the various products and applications. The workshop has helped them a lot to get the basics of the standard.

Reporting and GOOSE compared

IEC 61850 and IEC 61400-25 offers various possibilities for exchanging data values in real-time or near real-time. Whatever your definition of real-time is, here are some hints on the options and some hints on how to use them:

List of possibilities to exchange data values:

Comparison of Reporting and GOOSE / Sampled measured values (SMV):

Note that all message contents are encoded ASN.1 BER – with the exception of the data values in SMV and optionally in GOOSE Edition 2 where the data values are fixed encoded (for optimization!).

The timeliness of GOOSE and SMV depends on the definition of the standard (e.g., using special messages directly on data link) AND on the IMPLEMENTATION! The bottleneck is usually in the end-nodes and not in the communication.

PV Power to (de)stabilize the European Power Delivery System?

One swallow does not make a summer – But 100.000 do. One PV system on a roof in the nineties did not make a smart grid based on renewable resources. But due to the growth of renewable resources like PV the power delivery system changes a lot. Usually today the PV inverters do automatically frequency disconnection.

ENTSO-E the “European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity” noted in a letter to Commissioner Oettinger of the European Commission that too many “swallows” are flying somehow “uncontrolled” – flying alone … not being aware what’s going on around them … not seeing the system (!):

“This letter is to brief you on a security of supply issue arising from the automatic frequency disconnection settings of installed photovoltaic (PV) panels in some European countries and to request your support in encouraging the national Regulatory authorities in impacted countries to facilitate the timely implementation of remedial actions.

Due to the interconnected nature of the transmission system until such remedial actions are implemented the synchronous Central European power system is at increased risk to significant frequency deviations of a magnitude that would generate a widespread loss of supply.

In several European countries, connection standards applicable to photovoltaic panels and other distributed generation have been or are still specifying that the panels automatically disconnect from the grid whenever the system frequency reaches 0.2 or 0.3 Hz deviations from the required normal value of 50.0 Hz.

Current information from our Member TSOs, including for example Germany and Italy, indicate that the significant growth in photovoltaics in recent years has resulted in a PV installed capacity (with such settings) approaching 25 000 MW. At these levels there is clearly a risk of an instantaneous generation loss far in excess of the 3000MW generation loss „ride-through‟ design limit for the Continental European system. …”

Click HERE for the letter from ENTSO-E [English, pdf]

Ok, what to do now? Act! There are many actions needed to get CONTROL over the system in the future system based on many distributed resources! One aspect is to change limits … but more important is the control of the power resources.

A group of IEC TC 57 WG 17 is working on a very crucial part of IEC 61850: Draft IEC 61850-90-7 TR – “Communication networks and systems for power utility automation – Part 90-7: IEC 61850 object models for photovoltaic, storage, and other DER inverters” (57/1155/DC).

Major PV inverter manufacturers and other experts have drafted the above document.

Crucial aspects covered by 90-7 (in addition to IEC 61850-7-420 – DER) are:

7. DER management functions for inverters.

7.1 Immediate control functions for inverters
7.1.1 Function INV1: connect / disconnect from grid
7.1.2 Function INV2: adjust maximum generation level up/down
7.1.3 Function INV3: adjust power factor.
7.1.4 Function INV4: request real power (charge or discharge storage)
7.1.5 Function INV5: pricing signal for charge/discharge action

7.2 Modes for volt-VAr management
7.2.1 Var management modes using volt/VAr arrays
7.2.2 Volt-VAr mode VV11: normal energy conservation mode
7.2.3 Volt-VAr mode VV12: maximum VAr support mode
7.2.4 Volt-VAr mode VV13: static inverter mode
7.2.5 Volt-VAr mode VV14: passive mode.

7.3 Modes for frequency-related behaviours
7.3.1 Frequency management modes
7.3.2 Frequency-watt mode FW21: high frequency reduces active power.
7.3.3 Frequency-watt mode FW22: constraining generating/charging by frequency (see diagram below)

7.4 Dynamic grid support during abnormally high or low voltage levels
7.4.1 Dynamic grid support mode TV31: dynamic grid support during abnormally high or low voltage levels
7.4.2 Example of dynamic grid support capabilities.

7.5 Functions for “must disconnect” and “must stay connected” zones
7.5.1 “Must disconnect” MD curve
7.5.2 “Must stay connected” MSC curve

7.6 Modes for watt-triggered behaviours
7.6.1 Watt-power factor mode WP41: feeding power controls power factor

7.7 Modes for voltage-watt management.
7.7.1 Voltage-watt mode VW51: voltage-watt management: generating by voltage
7.7.2 Voltage-watt mode VW52: voltage-watt management: charging by voltage

7.8 Modes for behaviours triggered by non-power parameters
7.8.1 Temperature mode TMP
7.8.2 Pricing signal mode PS

7.9 Setting and reporting functions
7.9.1 Establishing settings DS91: modify inverter-based DER settings
7.9.2 Event logging DS92: log alarms and events, retrieve logs
7.9.3 Reporting status DS93: selecting status points, establishing reporting mechanisms
7.9.4 Time synchronization DS94: time synchronization requirements

Example (without further explanations):

7.3.3 Frequency-watt mode FW22: constraining generating/charging by frequency:

It is expected that this part IEC 61850-90-7 is one of the crucial parts of IEC 61850 for the stability of the future power delivery systems all over.

It’s “PV summer time” – there are millions of PV inverter installed (most of them are not controlled … just “flying” around.

Please contact your national IEC TC 57 committee to get a copy of the document.

Click HERE for an interesting ENTSO-E Draft “Requirements for Grid Connection Applicable to all Generators” dated 22 March 2011

The Power Systems are quite comprehensive … and complex!

IEC 61850 for Substations Only?

The title and scope of IEC 61850 was for many years very restricted:

2001 – 2009: Communication networks and systems in substations

2010 – … : Communication networks and systems for power utility automation

The new title and scope is still too restrictive! The working group wanted to change to “… for automation”. This was not accepted by the IEC Central Office. IEC deals with electro-technical matters. The term “automation” was understood as to broad.

From a content point of view IEC 61850 could be used all over where measurements and status information needs to be communicated – in any application domain. Even if you are just monitoring a process or system (no control need) you can use IEC 61850 models, messages and configuration tools.

The Model “STMP” (temperature supervision logical node) can be used wherever a temperature measurement is taken: Temperature of a transformer, of a room, ambient temperature or your body temperature. When the “STMP.Tmp.mag” value reached the configured limit (Alarm limit or Trip limit) an report or a GOOSE message may be issued.

By the way, IEC 61850 has rules how to define extended logical nodes and data objects. All values can be communicated the Ethernet and TCP/IP based information exchange methods.

Experts pointing to the scope “substations” are not up-to-date. Those arguing that IEC 61850 is for “power utility automation” only may not like to accept that IEC 61850 is very generic or common – applicable in a wide range of applications.

The title and scope are just “toner on paper”.

Progress in Smart Grid Deployment – Too slow?

Many people all over expect that the Electric Power Delivery system will be changed to become smarter over night. A system that has been build over a period of 20, 50, …. 100+ years cannot be changed in short time! The change is likely to occur in steps over several decades – may be for ever.

Peter Fox Penner (US consultant) has summarized what is going on in the process of change. He concludes: “… Taken together, the trends discussed here show that the smart grid is expanding and developing, even if the most successful entities and programs are surprising. More importantly, these trends illustrate the evolutionary nature of smart grid development. Arguments that the smart grid is moving too slowly underestimate the scale and complexity of rebuilding our entire grid. Utilities are tasked with deploying a complex series of infrastructure investments that must work in harmony with their current (already smart) systems, use innovative pricing that customers support, and produce a net benefit. Under these conditions, slow and steady wins the race. We can expect smart grid development to occur in stages over decades, ultimately transforming the power industry into a very different business.”

Click HERE for his report in the IEEE Smart Grid Newsletter.

When we talk about the pace of change in the information technology in industrial automation we should not get nervous when we see the slow progress! How long did it take to get Gigabit/s Ethernet for substation environments developed … and accepted!? New approaches in Automation take often decades before they are accepted and used.

Click HERE for a brief discussion on Ethernet and Tokenbus … written decades ago.

The future for standards is quite bright. When a utility decides to deploy information technology for the next 10 or 20 years it will likely chose a stable standard – so that there is no need to change the solution every 4 or 5 years … when manufacturers have developed a new solution.

MMS (Manufacturing Message Specification, ISO 9506, used in IEC 61850-8-1 to define the message encoding) has been developed in the late eighties (80s !) – some 25 years ago. Web services are understood by some people as an option for messaging – more up-to-date. I have seen a Report message of a simple state change message using IEC 61400-25-2 Web Services the other day. The length of the XML coded Report message was some 850 octets !! A Report message encoded with MMS/ASN.1 BER (as per IEC 61850-8-1) is really shorter: by a factor of about 10 !!

Don’t hurry. Take your time. Rome hasn’t be built over night!

I usually sate in my seminars that the deployment of IEC 61850 happens too fast – users often do not have any clue what they got installed. They got it because it was cheaper than xyz. All in a sudden they have several substations with hundreds of IEDs communicating with IEC 61850 – and many (may be almost all) utility engineers have to struggle with this new way to do protection and automation. Many of them have started to get training in IEC 61850 … and you?

Don’t start slow and slow down fast ;-)

Just start – there is something to learn!

Engineer for IT Security in Industrial Automation Wanted (TÜV SÜD)

Der TÜV SÜD in München sucht einen Ingenieur für IT-Sicherheit (w/m)

Aufgaben:

• Erstellung von Prüf- und Testszenarien nach einschlägigen Standards (z.B. IEC 62351, IEC 15408 etc.)
• IT-Sicherheitsberatung und Audits von Industriesystemen (z.B. Leit- und Steuernetzwerke)
• Analyse/Auswertung von (industriellen) Kommunikationsprotokollen (z.B. TCP/IP, XML, PROFINET)
• Durchführung von IT-Sicherheits- und Risikoanalysen
• Durchführung von IT-Sicherheitstests und Penetrationstests
• Berichterstellung
• Mitwirkung bei Fachveranstaltungen (Schulungen, Seminare, Tagungen)

HIER für weitere Informationen clicken.

Übrigens: die Norm IEC 62351 wird auch für Geräte nach IEC 61850 und IEC 61400-25 eingesetzt.

Test Engineer for IEC 61850 Wanted (TÜV SÜD Munich)

Der TÜV SÜD in München sucht einen Ingenieur für Schaltanlagen (w/m)

Aufgaben:

• Erstellen von Prüf- und Testszenarien zur Prüfung der Konformität und Interoperabilität nach IEC 61850 und IEC 61400-25
• Erstellen, Erweitern und Modifizieren von Test-Skripts für die automatisierte Testdurchführung und -auswertung
• Prüfung von Konfigurationen und technischen Datenmodellen beim Kunden
• Analyse und Auswertung von Kommunikationsprotokollen und Testergebnissen
• Erstellen von Prüfberichten nach vorgegebenen Qualitätsstandards
• Unterstützung des Kunden bei der Umsetzung von Normanforderungen sowie der Bewertung und Behandlung von Testergebnissen
• Mitarbeit bei nationalen und internationalen Standardisierungsgremien, Vertretung bei Konferenzen und Fachveranstaltungen

HIER für weitere Informationen clicken.

Progress in IEC 61850 standardization

The FDIS IEC 61850-9-2 Ed.2:
Communication networks and systems for power utility automation -
Part 9-2: Specific communication service mapping (SCSM) -
Sampled values over ISO/IEC 8802-3

has been accepted as International Standard.

The CDV IEC 61850-10 Ed.2 (57/1162/CDV):
Communication networks and systems for power utility automation -
Part 10: Conformance testing

has been published for comments an ballot by 2012-01-06.

The following has been changed and extended:
- Update of Server device conformance test procedures
- New Client system conformance test procedures
- New Sampled values device conformance test procedures
- New Engineering Tool related conformance test procedures
- New GOOSE performance test procedures

Developers Workshop for IEC 61850 Client/Server and Publisher/Subscriber for Smart Grids in Shanghai

A one-day Developers Workshop for IEC 61850 Client/Server and Publisher/Subscriber Devices and Applications will be conducted by Karlheinz Schwarz at the

State Energy Smart Grid R&D Center (Shanghai) hosted at Shanghai Jiao Tong University

800 Dong Chuan Road

Shanghai, China, 200240

05. September 2011 (Monday)

智能电网标准 · 应用与开发研讨会

由IEC TC 57核心成员Karlheinz Schwarz先生主讲，内容针对：

两种服务类型： 客户/服务器架构，发布/订阅架构

两类应用平台：嵌入式装置，Windows应用系统

国家能源智能电网（上海）研发中心

上海交通大学，上海市东川路800号

2011.9.5 (周一)

Click HERE for the Program in English and Chinese [pdf].
Click HERE for the profile of the instructor [pdf].
Click HERE for the registration and contact information [Word document].