Substation automation and integrated communication is a necessary requirement in electric utility systems today. It allows the following activities to be performed.
- Real-time status
- Real-time control
- Real-time metering
- Advanced protection relaying
- Equipment health monitoring
- Asset management
- Physical security
- Cyber security
- Event capture and analysis
- Configuration management
With the advent of digital controllers and microprocessors, equipment suppliers have created a complex array of incompatible communication schemes. After years of cooperative effort, a single IEC Standard - 61850 - has emerged which successfully addresses all current and future issues for the design, implementation and commissioning of substation automation systems.
The goal for IEC 61850 was to create a single, global standard that would be able to accommodate future technological developments. The authors of the standard sought to come up with a standard that could:
- Address all information in substations
- Be open enough to cover future applications
- Be open enough to accommodate future high-efficiency data transfer
- Promote interoperability in systems
IEC 61850 presents an attractive standardization scheme for electric power utilities because it defines one protocol for the entire substation and fully supports all substation automation functions comprising control, protection and monitoring. The standard ultimately facilitates an enterprise-level common communication infrastructure for electric power utilities.
In terms of implementation, the standard defines the quality requirements (reliability, system availability, data integrity, security, etc.), environmental conditions, and the auxiliary services of the system. It also specifies the engineering processes and its supporting tools, system life-cycle and the quality assurance requirements and maintenance for the entire substation automation system. Finally, it lays out the conformance tests to be performed on compliant products.
EnerNex® Corporation provides recognized expertise in IEC 61850 support and services. We have worked with numerous utilities, research organizations, and government agencies in the development, implementation, integration and verification of communication standards and protocols including IEC 61850.
Key to this is our involvement in standards making organizations such as the IEEE, IEC, Cigrè and ANSI. Our personnel have been key to the development of such standards and protocols as the Utility Communications Architecture (UCA®), IEC 61850, and IEC 60870-5. Our staff played a key role in the development of the EPRI IntelliGrid Architecture, a seminal effort to establish a roadmap and process for integrating utility power systems and communications networks. In addition, several of our staff members hold key positions with the UCA International Users Group, DNP3 Technical Committee, and IEC Technical Committee 57. This activity helps us and our clients keep tabs on what is going on within the industry.
Our staff has extensive utility communications applications experience including:
- Supervisory Controls and Data Acquisition (SCADA), Energy Management Systems (EMS) and Distribution Management Systems (DMS)
- Power system equipment and power quality monitoring
- Substation automation and control
- Data acquisition from generation assets
This expertise, coupled with involvement in standards-setting support and tracking, positions us to help you with the implementation, integration, and deployment of IEC 61850.
Our service offerings include:
- 61850 training
- Assisting manufacturers in 61850 implementation - Architecture, Design
- 61850 embedded software development
- 61850 application development
- 61850 compliance testing
- Utility requirements capture
- IEC 61850 substation design
- Integrating 61850 based systems into enterprise information systems
- Communication network layout
- IED selection and specification
- Data modeling development
- IED configuration
- Integrated substation system testing
- Advanced protection schemes implementation
- Facilitation with meeting NERC CIP compliance requirements
In addition to these specific services, we can provide support with many communications-related techniques and methodologies:
- Requirements and use case development
- Object-oriented design
- Real-time embedded software development
- Protocol design and interoperability
- Quality assurance and testing
- Security assessment and management
To learn more click here to download a brochure describing our capabilities (Adobe Acrobat file).
