Wednesday, June 24, 2009

First Substation with IEC 61850 compliant Devices in Australia

According to ABB, the first substation with IEC 61850 conformant Devices (Protection and Control) has been commissioned in Australia in August 2008. "The system formed part of the $10-million turnkey construction of the Juna Downs 220kV substation, and is part of Rio Tinto Pilbara Iron’s extensive power upgrade in the Pilbara region of WA."

Click HERE to read the news report from ABB.

PAC World Magazine digs into Smart Grid

PACWorld magazine discusses some crucial aspects of the Smart Grid in the Spring 2009 issue. SmartGrids are discussed all over and on all levels: from Presidents to kids in the Kindergarten. Kindergarten in Germany are quite advanced in education of Physics and Technology: Click HERE for a presentation which shows some kids in the Kindergarten trained ... even on Substation Automation in my office (on page 21).

Different people have different opinions what Smartgrids mean - it is not just to safe money. SmartGrids require smart Hardware, smart Software and (in the first place) SMART Peopleware! No smart people - no smart grids.

The latest issue of the PAC World magazine discusses several crucial aspects of the protection of smart grids:

Click HERE to get to the list of contents ... that let you access and download the well written papers and other useful information. Enjoy.

IEC 61850-3 compliant Computer for Substations and Power Plants

Moxa has announced the Moxa's DA-681 x86-based embedded computer line, that has just passed IEC 61850-3 power certification. This specially designed IED (embedded system) is intended for any power automation and substation application that require to be compliant with the IEC 61850-3 standard.

The general purpose IED has six Ethernet Ports and many other serial ports! It runs Embedded Linux, WinCE 6.0, or WinXPe.

Click HERE for more details.

Standard IEC 61850-7-420 (DER) now available

A further part of IEC 61850 "Communication networks and systems for power utility automation" has been published:

Part 7-420: Basic communication structure – Distributed energy resources logical nodes

This standard in conjunction with other standards of the series IEC 61850 and IEC 61400-25 provide a comprehensive set of standardized means to engineer, monitor, operate and maintain distributed energy systems.

One of the key issues to understand is the fact that many tools, software and IEDs (like programmable controller, HMI clients, etc.) developed for IEC 61850 can be used for distributed energy applications.

Click HERE for a 12 page preview of the standard including the introduction and table of contents.

You may also re-use the knowledge and experience you obtained by one of our IEC 61850 Training sessions.

Click HERE [pdf] for a list of training modules on IEC 61850 and other Standards.

Friday, June 19, 2009

EPRI Provided Crucial Input to the U.S. Smart Grid Interoperability Roadmap

NIST (U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology) released on June 18, 2009, a report that identifies issues and proposes priorities for developing technical standards and an architecture for a U.S. Smart Grid. The report is out for public review.

The nearly 300-page report, developed and delivered to NIST by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), is now publicly available:

Click HERE to download the Report [pdf, 5,7 MB].

Click HERE for the NIST press release.

A similar report has been written for the German projects "E-Energy" (the report is available in German only!):

Click HERE for more information on the German report.

The report refers to many Standards published by IEC TC 57 (Power System Management) and IEC TC 88 (Wind Power). Even this report is focusing on the U.S. power system, it is applicable for other regions as well. Contributions have come from non-U.S. experts. The IEC standards referenced in the report are TRUE International Standards.

The open review process is quite crucial because the final Roadmap will become a more or less official guideline for the whole power delivery system!

Standards like IEC 61968/70 (CIM), IEC 61850, IEC 62351, IEC 60870-6-TASE2, DNP3, IEC 61588, ... are important parts of the power system and recommended in the report to be included in the Final Roadmap. It could be expected that these standards will need extensions, and new standards may be needed as well.

The standardization work in the years to come requires that all the IEC Standardization groups closely cooperate together and with U.S. and other related standardization groups like IEEE, ISO and others. It could be expected that the resources needed for the global standardization work is at least as high as during the last 10 years.

In addition, there are several crucial regional and national R&D and other Smart Grid related projects going on, just started or planned that have also an influence on the International Standardization. It is highly recommended that the successful cooperation of U.S. activities (UCA 1.0, UCA 2.0) and e.g., the European initiated activities like IEC 61850 and IEC 61400-25 will be continued during the next decade in International Standardization!

The press release states that "NIST will use the EPRI report in drafting the NIST Smart Grid Interoperability Standards Framework. The NIST document will describe a high-level architecture, identify an initial set of key standards, and provide a roadmap for developing new or revised standards needed to realize the Smart Grid. Release 1.0 of the NIST Smart Grid Interoperability Standards Framework is planned to be available in September. 

A third public EPRI-sponsored Smart Grid interoperability-standards workshop will be held in early August to engage standards-development organizations in responding to unaddressed, high-priority needs identified in the draft standards roadmap.

Ultimately, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) determines whether sufficient consensus has been reached to implement final standards and protocols necessary for Smart Grid functionality and interoperability. NIST’s role is to identify and submit to FERC recommendations for the final product."

Monday, June 8, 2009

2nd IEC 61850 Training Session in Moscow (01.-03. September 2009)

The second comprehensive training on IEC 61850 in Moscow (Russia) will be held from 01.-03. September 2009.

Click HERE [pdf in Russian] for the first announcement and contact details for the course on 01.-03. September .

Click HERE for a brief report on the the first event in March 2009 and HERE for the program of the first event (this is tentatively the program for the next event in September 2009).

Sunday, June 7, 2009

RWE and Siemens: IEC 61850 for Power Plant MV Power Supply

RWE Power and Siemens Implement IEC 61850 in a huge medium voltage substation in German Power Plant. IEC 61850 is used to integrate the information of the medium voltage substation (for the power supply of all power needs within the Power Plant) into the power plant control system.

"IEC 61850 is a comprehensive standard that defines the communication platform and the specific requirements for the network structure, network components, data models,
interoperability criteria and the engineering process. Proprietary protocols, specialised bus systems and manufacturer specific solutions are a thing of the past. The new standard offers improved possibilities for the standardisation of E-Technology structures and their integration into the whole process, without being tied to one single manufacturer."

Click HERE for a full paper on the project [the abstract is in English and German; the main body is in German].

Click HERE for a information on ABB's application of IEC 61850 in Power Plants.

Advanced Information Exchange for Ontario's Green Energy Act

Ontario’s Green Energy Act asks for more clean, renewable sources of energy, like wind, solar, hydro, biomass and biogas. One of the "back bones" of the future power system is a “Smart Grid” to facilitate and maximize the development of new renewable energy projects.

Click HERE and HERE to read more about the Green Energy Act.

A Smart Grid means: The "advanced information exchange systems and equipment that when utilized together improve the flexibility, security, reliability, efficiency and safety of the integrated power system and distribution systems"

Click HERE for the Bill 150 [pdf, 3 MB].

A new amendment of the 1998 Electricity act requires standards:

§ 53.0.1 "The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations governing the smart grid and its implementation, including regulations,
(a) in respect of the timeframe for the development of the smart grid;
(b) assigning roles and responsibilities for the development, implementation and standardization of the smart grid;
(c) prescribing the standards for communications and any other aspects in respect of the operation of the smart grid."

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Distribution Automation or Remote Control?

Distribution Automation is one of the crucial technologies that build the backbone of the "SmartGrid" or "SmarterGrids". The future power delivery system will be based on more Automation at the lower voltage levels than before. Substation Automation is in place for High and Medium Voltage networks - usually Low Voltage networks are not really automated. They are protected by Protection Relays and controlled remotely by RTUs (Remote Terminal Units).

The automation functions for distribution networks is now being added to remote control either as local automation through auto-recloser and self-sectionalizing or via decision support tools. Distributed monitoring and control is the foundation to Distribution Automation - to improve the reliability of the network and to keep the aging infrastructure running. An aged transformer needs special attention to extend his life time, e.g., by preventing over loads and other stress situations.

The basis of automation are sensors that provide precise measurements - mainly of the ac current. There are first IEC 61850 compliant IEDs available that provide measurements and calculated values for LV and MV automation applications.

Click HERE [pdf] for information of Powersense or HERE for measurement units from Camille Bauer. More to come ...