Substation Automation System

And
IEC 61850

Md Nazmul Hasan Patwary

 CONTENTS

• How substation works

• Intro to Digital Substation
• Evolution of Substation Automation System
• New architecture according to IEC61850
• different protocols in IEC61850
• Benefits of IEC61850
• Bay Level
• Station Level
• Comparison between conventional and SAS substation
How substation works
• How signal generated and transmit through system
 What system need from switch gear?
What switch gear need from system?
• current signal from CTs
• command signal to operate parts of switch gear
• voltage signal from VTs
• all alarms
• status from parts of switch gear

Local control cabinet (LCC)

Local Control Cabinet (LCC) refers to an enclosure or control panel

located within the substation that provides local control and
monitoring capabilities for various electrical equipment and systems.
LCCs are used to allow operators or maintenance personnel to
interact with and control substation devices without the need for
remote access from a central control room.
Signal distributed to all panels in parallel
1- Control panel
2- Protection panel
3- Measurement panel

At this stage system need to simplify this complicated circuit and display system status
1- annunciator panel
2- marshalling panel
3- event record panel
 Panels

An Annunciator Panel is a critical component in substation control systems

and electrical plants, used for alarm indication and status monitoring of
Annunciator equipment. It is designed to visually alert operators to abnormal conditions,
panel faults, or operational issues in real-time, helping ensure quick detection and
response to potential problems.

A Marshalling Panel is a critical component used in electrical substations and

power plants for centralizing and managing the control wiring between
Marshalling various field instruments and control systems. It acts as an interface between
the field devices (such as sensors, relays, circuit breakers, and other
panel monitoring and control equipment) and the central control or protection
system (such as a SCADA or PLC system).

An Event Record Panel (also referred to as an Event Recorder Panel) is an

essential component in substations and electrical systems used to display,
event record store, and manage event records generated by protection relays, circuit
panel breakers, or other monitoring devices. It serves as a centralized interface that
allows operators to quickly access event logs, view historical events, and
analyze the sequence and details of system operations or faults.
Finally the signal convert to tele. Communication and leave system to NCC

NCC :

stands for Network Control Center or Network Coordination Center. It is a

centralized facility or control room that plays a critical role in the monitoring,
control, and coordination of activities within a network of substations or power
distribution systems. The NCC is integral to ensuring the efficient, reliable, and
safe operation of the electrical grid, particularly in large or complex power
networks.
RTU Panel
 RTU
Meaning and function
An RTU Panel (Remote Terminal Unit Panel) is an integral component in electrical substations, power plants,
and other industrial automation systems. It provides a physical interface for connecting field devices
(sensors, breakers, transformers, relays, etc.) to the Remote Terminal Unit (RTU), which is responsible for
gathering data and transmitting it to a central control or monitoring system (e.g., SCADA). The RTU itself
collects, processes, and sends real-time data, alarms, and control signals, allowing operators to remotely
monitor and control the equipment.

• Interface Between Field Devices and RTU

• Data Acquisition
• Signal Conditioning and Processing
• Control and Command Functions
• Communication Interface
• Alarm Monitoring
• Local Control and Monitoring
 Substation automation system

• Substation automation is the integration of existing substation devices and a network infrastructure. By
integrating primary devices with networked secondary devices, the substation can perform automatic
industrial tasks such as data acquisition, device control, and event recording.

• SAS enable utilities to manage the flow of electricity in transmission and distribution grids. SAS systems
are important tools for the utilities since they protect and control substations and ensure grid stability
 How does a traditional substation
become a digital substation?
OR
when can you call a substation “digital”?
What is Digitalization ?

Digitization is the conversion of analog information in any form (text, photos, voice, etc.) to digital
form so that the information can be processed, stored, and transmitted digitally
 The Evolution of Substation Automation

Conventional
Traditional substations have always relied on copper cables connecting together primary equipment
like circuit breakers, conventional current and voltage transformers and protection relays.
Measuring electrical parameters in a conventional substation

Conventional instrument transformers like potential

transformers (PTs) and current transformers (CTs) measure
the high voltages and currents passing through primary
equipment. Copper wires connect the analog output from the
transformers to secondary equipment, and the number of
copper wires increases depending on the application.
 Digital Substation

• As most substations today are switching and routing AC power at high/extra high voltage, it is not the
primary flow which is digital. A digital substation refers to its secondary systems, including all the
protection, control, measurement, condition monitoring, recording and supervisory systems associated
with that primary “process”.
• In general terms, in full digital substation the data related to the primary process is digitized
immediately, at the point where it is measured.
 Digital Substation 1.0

The release of the IEC61850 station bus protocol in the 1980’s was a big first step on the way to implementing
a substation-wide all-purpose network
 Digital Substation 2.0

In 2005, the IEC61850 standard was greatly improved by defining a process bus to connect the process
level with the bay level
Digital Substation
 COMPARISON
Conventional Substation Substation Automation System
(SAS)

Operational Cost Reduction

Up to 60% Less space in the Relay houses

40% Shorter Installation Phase

Up to 80% Cupper Wire Reduction

 The Architecture of Digital Substation acc. to IEC 61850

• Process Level
• Process Bus
• Bay Level
• Station Bus
• Station Leve
 Process Bus

• The defining feature of a Digital Substation is the implementation of a process bus.

• The IEC 61850 process bus enables the substitution of point-to-point copper connections between IEDs, other devises
and switchgear by means of a safe, standardized optical communication bus.
• Thanks to the process bus, real-time measurement signals and status information can be broadcast throughout a
substation without complex wiring schemes.

Process level equipment

 Benefits of Process Bus
• Reduces copper cabling

• Increased safety

• Reduced risk of electrical shock

 Bay Level

According to IEC 61850 standards, is an intermediate

control place between switchgear boards (process level)
and the main control house of the substation (station level).

Bay Level Function

 Configuration of BAY Level

Component of BAY Level

• Protection relay
• Bay Control Unit (BCU)
• measuring device
 Comparison between fiber optic cable and copper wire

Fiber optic cable Copper wire

• transmit data at much higher speed • transmit data at less speed than fiber optic cable
• not affected by electromagnetic interferences and power • affected by electromagnetic interferences and power
fluctuations fluctuations
• very less affected by the corrosive chemicals • affected by the corrosive chemicals
• Fiber cables are thin and lightweight • Average cost per meter 0.5 $
• average cost per meter 4 $
 Benefits of Bay level

▪ Reduces copper cabling

▪ Less space

▪ Less installation and outage time

40% reduction of installation time for new protection and control systems.
• Fewer panels to install
• Fewer cables to be pulled, connected, tested
 Station Bus
The physical structure of this bus consists of a fiber‐optical arrangement to which the various upper parts of
SAS devices are coupled.

Horizontal communication Vertical communication

 Station Level

Station level refers to the place from where the substation is controlled and monitored as a whole.

A dedicated master clock for the synchronization of the entire system shall be provided.

Station level contains:

• The central substation controller (Station Controller)
• The means for communicate with remote upstream control level (NCC)
• The local operating facilities (HMI)
main functions of the station controller
• Communication with bay controllers through the station bus.
• Communication with HMI through the station LAN.
• Communication of all abnormal substation conditions to the NCC.
• Recording of events with an adequate time resolution (e.g., less than 1 ms).
• Providing a time synchronization signal to the bay controllers.
• Compilation printing of alarm and event lists.
Connection with NCC

NCC facilitates monitoring of the whole grid at the same time. It may work on organizing operations between
different sectors of the grid by a pre-set operation plan at certain situations.
Human Machine Interface (HMI)
• HMI is like the “face” of the SAS.
• It gives the substation operator access to control means as well as alarms and events displayed on the
monitor screen.
• HMI consists of a set of pieces of hardware plus a package of applications software.

HMI Hardware
• Color monitors : for display screens showing substation power circuits as well as control and monitoring
resources.
• Alphanumeric keyboard : or function keys for interaction with displayed screens, and a mouse.

• Printer : to produce hardcopies on demand and data logger for continuous printing of event texts in
chronological order.
Levels of Visualization and Control
 IEC61850
• IEC 61850 is a flexible, open standard that defines the communication between devices in substation
automation systems. To enable seamless data communications and information exchange between the
overall networks.
• IEC 61850 is the most recent standard for communication networks and systems in substations.
Advantages of IEC61850

Simplified Architecture
Greater Reliability
Future-Proof Design
Vendor-Independence
 Key Benefits of IEC 61850

• Increases flexibility

• Reduces copper wiring

• Reduces total installation cost

• Eases system engineering and integration process

• Improves application performance and security

• Minimizes costs of technological obsolescence

• Provides easy way of implementing typical applications

• Saves time and money in setup & commissioning

GOOSE protocol in IEC 61850 standard

• The IEC61850 standard defines the GOOSE protocol as a publisher/subscriber protocol.

• This protocol is used to exchange data between lEDs over Ethernet.
GOOSE protocol in IEC 61850 standard

• The IEC61850 standard defines a special language based on XML to describe the post and its elements called
SCL.
• Different post levels can be described by this language, so different files can be generated including:

• ICD
• SSD
• SCD
• The GOOSE protocol is an event-based protocol

• The GOOSE protocol sends data periodically and with a specific time interval. Also, this protocol sends data in

the form of a message when a special event occurs, such as tripping or closing a connector.

• Because this protocol is a Publisher/Subscriber type, it does not receive a confirmation after sending a message,

but because it sends a lot of messages, the chance of data loss is very low

• All messages are sent with a specific attribute, and the Subscriber receives only data that requires the desired

attribute
 MMS protocol in IEC 61850 standard

• The IEC61850 standard defines the MMS protocol as a SERVER/CLIENT protocol.

• This protocol is used to exchange data between lEDs or the BAY layer with a higher Level than the
substation layer.
• The MMS protocol works based on TCP/IP in the network platform.
• This protocol allows the client to read and write data.
 MMS protocol in IEC 61850 standard

• IEC61850 is an object-oriented standard.

• Each Physical Device contains one or several Logical Devices and each Logical Device contains one or several

Logical Node and each Logical Node contains one or more Data Objects and each Data Object contains several

Data Attribute is.

• The name of each object is standardly named in IEC61850 standard.

• The IEC61850 standard provides access to objects.

 MMS protocol in IEC 61850 standard

• The IEC61850 standard provides the possibility of collecting arbitrary data in the form of a Dataset.

• Dataset is a necessary part for a Reporting block

• Reporting is used to notify the client of changes in the values of the elements in the Dataset.

• The client does not need to request to read the Dataset data to be notified of changes.
 Objectives of lEC 61850

Interoperability: It is the ability of IEC 61850 where exchange of data takes place between one IED (of one
manufacturer) to other lEDs (of different manufacturers) in a compatible manner.

Free configuration: This standard shall support different philosophies and allow free allocation of functions

Long term stability: It must be able to follow the progress in communication technology as well as evolving
system requirements.
Data Storing: A common method/format for storing complete data

Testing: It defines complete testing required for the equipment which conforms to the standard.

Single standard: It gives a single protocol for complete substation considering modelling of different data
required for substation
 Different Parts of IEC 61850

IEC 61850 : communication networks and systems for power utility automation

• System Aspects
• Configuration
• Abstract Communication Service
• Mapping to Communication Networks
• Testing
 System Aspects of IEC 61850

Introduction and overview It gives introduction and overview of IEC 61850 standard.

It contains glossary of technology and definitions used in context of

Glossary substation automation system in different parts of the standard.

It gives general requirements of the communication network.

General requirements • importance is given to quality requirement of communication network.
• communication network must remain immune to the change in
environmental conditions.

It pertains system and project management w. r. t

System and project • engineering process and its supporting tools
management • life cycle of lEDs
• overall system and quality assurance.
• It defines the performance requirement of different functions being
implemented using communication.
Communication requirements for • It includes all known functions.
functions and device models • Based on this, architecture of communication network and the
applications that can be implemented for a given network are to be
decided.
 Configuration of IEC 61850

Configuration Language for Electrical Sub-station lEDs

It specifies a file format for describing communication related to IED configurations.

This includes:
• Parameters of IED.
• Communication system configuration.
• Switchyard structures.

The main purpose of this format is to exchange IED capability descriptions and substation automation system
descriptions between IED Engineering Tool and System Engineering Tool of different manufacturers in a
compatible way
• The defined language is called Substation Configuration Description Language (SCL)
• It is based on Extensible Markup Language (XML) version 1.0.
 Abstract Communication Services of IEC 61850

• It applies to the ACSI (Abstract Communication Service Interface) communication in sub-stations and feeder
applications.
• The ACSI provides interface between a client and a remote server.
Common Data Classes
• It specifies common data classes related to substation applications.
• It applies to descriptions of device models and functions of sub-station and feeder equipment.
Compatible Logical Node Classes
• It specifies the compatible logical node names and data names for communication between lEDs.
Mapping to MMS and ISO/IEC 8802-3
• It specifies a method of exchanging time-critical and non-time-critical data through LAN by mapping ACSI to
MMS (Manufacturing Message Specification) and ISO/IEC 8802-3
 Abstract Communication Services of IEC 61850

Sampled values over serial unidirectional multi-drop point to point link

• It specifies the mappings for the communication between bay and process level.
• It also specifies a mapping on a serial unidirectional multi-drop point to point link in accordance
with IEC 60044-8.
Sampled values over ISO/IEC 8802-3
• It defines the Specific Communication Service Mapping (SCSM) for transmission of sampled values according
to the abstract specification in IEC 61850-7-2
Precision time protocol profile for power utility automation
• It defines timers requirements to achieve highest synchronization classes.
• Communication between substation to substation
• Communication between substation and control center
• Communication for condition monitoring
• Using IEC 61850 to transmit synchro phasor information according to IEEE C37.118
 Testing of IEC 61850

• It specifies the procedure for conformance testing of products implemented with this communication protocol.

Approach to Standardization

• To meet the basic requirement of IEC 61850 i.e.

• interoperability and free configuration, the IEC 61850 is built over a standard Open System Interconnection
(OSI) 7 layer model.