Wednesday, September 30, 2015

The First Official IEC 61850 Edition 2 Client Certificate Goes to? - Siemens

Siemens is the first company in the world to receive an IEC 61850 Edition 2 client certificate, issued by DNV GL on behalf of the UCA International User Group (UCA), for their SICAM PAS/PQS system (basically a PC application that acts as a 61850 client).

Click HERE for the news.

There are other vendors underway to get an IEC 61850 Edition 2 client certificate. TÜV SÜD (Munich) has also been accredited for testing conformance of Edition 2 clients.

More to come. Stay tuned.

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Siemens Protection IEDs for DC Traction Power Supply with IEC 61850

Sitras PRO (DC protective unit and controller for DC traction power supply) from Siemens offer a set of well known functions and communication solutions:

Features:

  • Complete functionality in a single unit
  • Protection
  • Measurement
  • Control
  • Automation
  • Flexible adaptation to system requirements
  • Standard communication interfaces
  • High-performance diagnostics, comprehensive event,
    alarm and measured value memory

Protocols:

  • PROFIBUS DP
  • PROFINET IO
  • IEC 61850
  • SNTP

Click HERE for more information on Siemens Rail Electrification.

In a press release Siemens announced to use these devices with IEC 61850 for the modernization of traction power supplies for rail rapid transit lines in São Paulo:
Click HERE for a press release (2012).

Monday, September 21, 2015

Status of IEC 61400-25 Communications for Wind Turbines

The IEC TC 88 JWG 25 has published several draft documents for the second edition of IEC 61400-25:

  • Part 25-1: Communications for monitoring and control of wind power plants -Overall description of principles and models
  • Part 25-2: Communications for monitoring and control of wind power plants -Information models
  • Part 25-3: Communications for monitoring and control of wind power plants -Information exchange models
  • Part 25-4: Communications for monitoring and control of wind power plants -Mapping to communication profile
  • Part 25-5: Communications for monitoring and control of wind power plants -Conformance testing
  • Part 25-6: Communications for monitoring and control of wind power plants -Logical node classes and data classes for condition monitoring

Here are the latest news on IEC 61400-25:

1. New Convenor

Dr Nicholas Etherden from Vattenfall, Sweden is the new Convenor of IEC TC 88 JWG 25 (following Anders Johnsson, Vattenfall).

2. Status of Edition 2 of the different parts

IEC 61400-25-1 CDV in November 2015.

88/539/FDIS
IEC 61400-25-2 Ed.2: Wind turbines - Part 25-2: Communications for monitoring and control of wind power plants - Information models
Approved

88/540/FDIS
IEC 61400-25-3 Ed.2: Wind turbines - Part 25-3: Communications for monitoring and control of wind power plants - Information exchange models
Approved

88/536/CDV
IEC 61400-25-4 Ed.2: Wind turbines - Part 25-4: Communications for monitoring and control of wind power plants - Mapping to communication profile
Approved

IEC 61400-25-5 CDV End of 2015.

IEC 61400-25-6 CDV End of 2015.

88/549/NP(Mai 2015)
Wind turbines - Part 25-41: Communications for monitoring and control of wind power plants - Mapping to communication profile based on IEC 62541 (OPC UA) (proposed IEC TS 61400-25-41)
Rejected
2015-10-09: The NP was finally accepted due to a late appointment of two additional exerts from two additional countries.
Project title: IEC 61400-25-41 TS Ed.1

The standard series IEC 61400-25 offers five different Mappings. The Mapping according to IEC 61850-8-1 (MMS) is the most important mapping when it comes to implementations and applications.

Sunday, September 20, 2015

IEC TC 57 Reference Architecture For Power Systems Management And Associated Information Exchange

IEC TC 57 just published a new draft for IEC TR 62357-1 Ed. 2 “Power systems management and associated information exchange – Part 1: Reference architecture” (57/1621/DC)

“The new edition provides updates and defines layered Reference Architecture to help direct longer term goals and activities, specifically to ensure compatibility of all new standards developed in TC57 by benefitting from lessons learned during development of the current standards and their application on actual utility projects as well as through application of other internationally recognized architecture standards.

This edition reflects the progress recently achieved from the international Smart Grids (SG) initiatives and the CIGRE D2.24 large system architecture vision. It also leverage the work done by NIST-SGIP, CEN-CELELEC-ETSI SGCG M490, IEC TC8 Smart Grids Roadmap, and IEC TC8 WG5, WG6, The edition also reflects the most recent editions of the TC 57 standards including IEC 61850 Edition 2 and the IEC 61968, 61970, and 62325 Common Information Model (CIM) standards.”

One of the lessons learned is that the three information models (CIM, IEC 61850 and COSEM) need some additional harmonization – a reasonable level has already be reached.

image

IEC 61850 has a very broad application domain and has defined many useful information models that can (and will) be “tapped” by COSEM and CIM applications.

One example that shows that IEC 61850 can be used even for schedules (de: Fahrpläne):

image

These schedules can be mapped from COSEM directly to IEC 61840 logical node FSCH. COSEM may be used for flexible tariffs while IEC 61850 could be used for tariffs as well as for control of switchable equipment like circuit breakers or change settings for loads or generation. The schedule LN is applied in the VHPready 4.0 specification.

More to come soon.

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

IEC 61850 in VHPready 4.0

The Industry Alliance VHPready e.V. publishes version 4.0 of the industry standard VHPready for controlling and interconnecting decentralized energy systems to virtual power plants.

A manufacturer-independent standard, which ensures the interoperability and controllability of system components of virtual power plants, is now available for the first time. 35 member corporations [including NettedAutomation GmbH] are currently actively engaged in the industry alliance to promote the advancement of the international industry standard VHPready. The participation in the open industry alliance “Industrieforum VHPready e.V.” is based on the certainty that only a common standard will allow for a reliable, seamless and economic collaboration of all controllable components as well as their compatibility. The specification VHPready 4.0 is now available to all member corporations.

An extensive data point list constitutes the functional core of VHPready 4.0 and helps integrate different energy systems into virtual power plants using the telecontrol protocols IEC 60870-5-104 or IEC 61850-7-420. In addition to a plant park with a set of different energy systems, this data point list facilitates the integration of combined heat and power units (CHPs), wind and solar plants, heat pumps, batteries, electric heating, boilers and buffer tanks. Data points for meters and external signal contacts are also available.

At the forthcoming VHPready symposium on 12 November 2015 industry alliance members will present the first systems adapted to VHPready 4.0.

Click HERE for the press release.

Click HERE for a Windows Evaluation Version of the VHPready 3.0 Model; with the new icd file specifying the version 4.0 model you can re-use the application. By the way: Most of the Data Objects used in the Evaluation version 3.0 are the same in version 4.0.

The VHPready model and services (IEC 60870-5-104 AND IEC 61850) are also supported by gateways offered by HMS (the company that is one of the very big gateway companies … offering ANYBus ...

IT Staff Needs Education in IEC 61850 and Related Standards

Information Technology (IT) is quite well understood by many (often young) experts. Operations Technology (OT) in the power industry is quite well understood by many (often older) experts with some tens of years experience in the use of hardware, automation and information exchange software.

These days we see the integration of Information Technology into the Operation Technology. The migration happens quite fast … and more and more experienced OP engineers are part of the “aging workforce”. This requires that new staff (IT experts and engineers) in the IT and in the OP world to learn two technologies: “IT”, “OT”, and very crucial: “More IT in OT”.

I found a very nice publication that discusses some of these issues in detail:

Click HERE for the paper “Information Technology (IT) vs Operations Technology (OT): What the C-Suite Needs to Know”

Based on my long-term experience since the early 80s with “More IT in OT” I fully agree with the need of Cross-Department Training and other needs listed in the paper:

“… considerations to improve the IT/OT rift:

  • Annual Staff Surveys – to measure cooperation between IT and OT and look at utilization of resources, trust/conflict, clarity of goals and objectives, etc.
  • Cross-Department Training – for both technical training but also support values and behaviors expected to foster cooperation and communications
  • Cross-Functional Teams – to develop policies, standards, projects, etc. with both IT and OT perspectives
  • Reach Over the Wall – encourage the IT and OT teams to reach out to the other technology team and be willing to walk in their shoes. This is also supported by the executive team taking the same actions.”

In some cases of big utilities I see this already happen!

IT and OP people would benefit from our training in IEC 61850 and related standards. Be aware that even a small embedded device could support TCP/IP, higher level protocols like ftp and http(s), IEC 6070-5-104 and IEC 61850, and … it is “IT in OT”.

How do we reach more IT and OT people? Please forward this information to them …

Friday, September 11, 2015

IEC 61850: Five Weeks Left to Register For One Of The Most Crucial Relay and SCADA Training in Karlsruhe (Germany)

Recent courses and discussions with experts reveal that education is THE most crucial activity to securely and reliably apply the Standard Series IEC 61850 in Power Automation Systems.

The training being conducted from 13-16 October 2015 in Karlsruhe (Germany) is just five (5) weeks away. Karlsruhe is a lovely town one hour train trip from Frankfurt International Airport, 30 minutes away from France, 45 minutes to the Black Forest, …

Note that this is much more than introducing IEC 61850 concepts and details – here you learn from two senior protection, automation and communication experts HOW IEC 61850 compliant devices can provide a plus of functionality and reliability. Don’t believe that? Come and see! You will be surprised after the course.

We have several seats available – the course details and registration information can be found HERE.

Click HERE for other courses in English and German.