The most important international standard for substation automation systems is IEC 61850 and its related standards.
The installation of IEDs in substations, when combined with IEC61850, enables interoperability, flexibility, and increased efficiency and creates a wide range of potential solutions for substation operation, protection, monitoring, control, and automation. Modern substation automation (SA) makes use of data from IEDs to operate and control power system components, control and automation capabilities either within the substation, and/or control commands from remote users.
Power system substations are under going upgrade and renovation to better meet the demands of expanding Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs) installation, effective communication, comprehensive protection, and future growth.
Ethernet technology brings a standard physical connection that makes universal communication protocols possible and lays a solid foundation for substation automation systems(SAS). The integration of IEDs, Ethernet LAN,communications protocols, and communications methods, make the whole substation a functional system with the combination of correct physical / virtual connections,common communication protocols, shared storage, and sequential / combinational logic for coordinated monitoring,protection, and control.
The need for a high-performance, flexible substation automation system (SAS) that is easy to incorporate, the use of Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs) in substation protection, coordination, control, monitoring, metering, and testing that offers interoperability and enhanced communications capabilities in increasing.
The IEC Technical Committee 57 worked to create IEC 61850, an open standard for substation modelling and communications. The international adoption of the standard has grown in popularity. This article explores the use of IEC 61850 in conventional substation automation. It introduces the experience of a real SAS modernization scenario. This instance emphasizes how useful the IEC 61850 is for operating and monitoring substations.
