Unit 08 - Standard IEC 61850 - 1 -

Unit 08 - Standard IEC 61850 for substation automation and other

power system applications [1]

Automation systems in the area of power systems are widely accepted today. They are mostly
based on many proprietary solutions or (de facto) standards not specifically designed for
substations. To meet todays and future requirements a new standard with an advanced
approach has been requested a few years ago. As a result of international projects the standard
IEC 61850 (Communication networks and systems in substations) has been created.

It is not sufficient to develop systems that only produce, transmit, or distribute electric power.
Fully automated remotely supervised systems that require little or no human intervention
seem to be ideal. Technologies bundled into the power system, therefore, has to include
protection and control equipment, as well as interfaces to supervisory control and data
acquisition (SCADA) of control centers. The standard covers a wide range of substation
applications. At the process level the new standard defines a unidirectional serial communication
interface connecting current (CT) and voltage transducers (VT) with digital output to electrical
metering and protection devices. This allows the exchange of synchronized phasor
measurements using GPS signals for synchronization. Another real-time requirement is met by
the GOOSE (Generic Object Oriented System Event) that defines the transmission of high
priority information like trip commands or interlocking information.

Additional applications that are necessary for a complete system may include:
- metering,
- protection and control,
- remote monitoring and fault diagnosis,
- automated dispatch and control,
- data retrieval,
- site optimization of electrical/thermal outputs,
- asset management, as well as
- condition monitoring and diagnosis.

The standard IEC 61850 will be used for many other application domains outside substations,
too. One is the deployment of wind power now the world's fastest-growing energy source.
Unit 08 - Standard IEC 61850 - 2 -

Globally, utility deregulation is expanding and requiring demands to integrate, consolidate and
disseminate real-time information quickly and accurately within all kinds of utility automation
systems from power plants to customer interfaces. Utilities and vendors spend an ever-
increasing amount for real-time information exchange; costs for data integration and
maintenance are exploding. Vendors of power systems have because of the fast growing
market or market deregulation very limited resources to implement and apply hundreds of
proprietary communication systems. In response to this situation, the IEC (International
Electrotechnical Commission) and IEEE have developed and published a suite of (draft)
international communication standards and a technical report.

The future electricity systems will thanks to a seamless realtime communication system be
smart at the top but smarter at the bottom, self-regulated by millions of communicating devices
connected to form feedback loops, and permanently aware of the world around them.
1. The challenge
Imagine if you didn't have common electric outlets and plugs in your house, and every time you
bought a new appliance, choose a new power provider, or installed a new micro-power system
like a fuel-cell, you had to wire up the appliance to the wires in your wall. And everybody's wires
in everybody's walls were different. And everybody's appliance wiring was different. That's really
the way it works today trying to integrate device data into applications and these devices into
power automation systems. Examples for device data are status, diagnostic information,
measurements, metering data, configuration, description, and control information. This situation
forces developers of application software and devices to write new drivers daily implementing
just new gateways!

Imagine your department has to implement the countless number of proprietary solutions! If you
think its not hard to do think again.

Todays power networks in various regions may realistically be considered to be the largest
machines in the world since their transmission lines connect all the electric generation,
distribution, and appliances on a continent or part of it. The electric industry is unique in its
critical real-time coordinated requirements.

Unit 08 - Standard IEC 61850 - 3 -
Many utilities are already faced the problem of islands of information based on proprietary
technologies today, each of which literally speaks its own language. The challenge is to integrate
all those existing and new information islands of current and new applications into a functioning
utility automation system (Figure 1). Control center for example need to know the overall
operating conditions (gross load, plant activity, etc.) but the corporate culture is often resistant to
telephone and fax communication, thus, information flow between facilities is limited. Utilities use
the standards as a bridge between power plants, substations, and the control center, and to
communicate within substations. They now have a broader perspective with more information on
overall operating conditions such as change of loads, power production schedules, and other
plant information.



Fig. 1: Islands of information

An answer to the challenge has been found in standards-based communication systems. To
show just how important standards- based communication systems are, consider the example of
a large electric utility. At present, this utility has more than 200 different protocols running on
intelligent devices within its distribution network! A well known vendor is proud of supporting
more than 100 different RTU protocols!

Utilities spend an ever-increasing amount for real-time information exchange; costs for data
integration and maintenance are exploding The costs of integration are not well documented.
Many companies do not keep specific records of the cost of integration. The cost is not limited to
installing new applications, customers explain. Many customers tell they believe that savings in
maintenance alone is the biggest opportunity for saving time and money for an enterprise. To
Unit 08 - Standard IEC 61850 - 4 -
reduce the risk of getting even worse in the future, the integration of more and more intelligent
devices into the enterprise applications (SCADA, real-time asset, machine diagnostics, ...) is a
real challenge for programmers and engineers.

One of the most interesting development in the field of realtime monitoring of power systems, is
the possibility of IEC 61850 to support synchronized phasor measurements using GPS satellite
for synchronization. Standard compliant measurement units could provide real-time
measurements of voltages and currents at substation and send these measurements to many
devices in real-time.

To summarize, the driving force behind the standardization is to effectively and efficiently
perform seamless device data integration and sharing information based on a rich, finegrained
data-stream about the state of the power world in any given instant. Every node in the network
would have to be awake, responsive, flexible, and most important interconnected with
everything else: A distributed energy web.
2. Power systems become decentralized
More than 750 million homes around the world do not have access to electricity, and small-scale
power generation could change this situation. Power supplies in the coming decades is therefore
likely to take on a decentralized structure. In developing and newly industrializing countries,
decentralized power supply systems will serve mainly to meet demand in rural areas, out of
existing primary sources, e.g. wind, hydro, solar etc., in an optimised mixture.

In industrialized countries, existing generation centers will be gradually supplemented by
decentralized and communicating units. Intelligent energy management, allowing generation
management, load management, billing management and in teractive communication on the part
of consumers, will be integrated in the network.

Starting with a forecast, generation management monitors optimised use of resources. The task
of load management is control and optimization of the load, including balancing against
generation capacity and costs. Loads that scarcely affect supply security can be connected and
disconnected according to generation process efficiency criteria. This enables an optimum to be
attained in terms of economizing on resources, protecting the environment and keeping costs
down.

Unit 08 - Standard IEC 61850 - 5 -
New generation possibilities to be applied will mainly be:

Wind mills: A new generation of wind power technology that significantly reduces the cost of
power generated by large wind farms. The technology also allows wind farms to be built
offshore.

Microturbines: These small, efficient and low-emission gas turbines provide electricity for
homes, commercial buildings, hospitals, and small factories. Their compact size and high
reliability make them suitable for small combined heat and power installations.

Fuel Cell Systems: Similar to batteries, fuel cells generate electricity through a chemical
reaction, and produce very low emissions. They are small enough for residential and small
commercial applications, making them ideal for use in areas without connections to existing
power grids.

Solar systems: Providing power by solar pannels.

Microgrids: A microgrid is created by connecting a local group of small power generators using
advanced sensoring, supervising, and control relaying on open communication systems.

All these systems and micro-systems have to be connected to the power grid and to the
underlying decentralized information grid.
3. Objectives of the IEC TC 57 standardization
IEC and IEEE provide standards to dramatically improve device data integration into the
information and automation technology, reducing engineering, commissioning, operation,
monitoring, diagnostics, and maintenance costs and increasing the agility of the whole life cycle
of utility automation systems. These standards differs from most previous utility protocols in its
use of object models that model most common real devices and device components. These
models define common data formats, identifiers, behavior, and controls, e.g., for substation and
feeder devices such as switches, voltage regulators, and relays.

The standards selected, e.g., Ethernet, TCP/IP, etc., make use of advanced IT solutions, the
reduced bandwidth costs and increased processor capabilities in the end devices to define and
carry metadata: more than 3,000 standardized names and type information which can be (re-
Unit 08 - Standard IEC 61850 - 6 -
)used by applications for on-line verification of the integration and configuration of databases
throughout the utility. This self-description significantly reduces the cost of data management,
and reduces system down times due to configuration errors.

Examples for measurement metadata are "unit", "offset", "scale", "dead band for reporting", and
description. This feature significantly reduces the cost of data integration, data management,
and reduces down time due to configuration errors.

The standard information models of real-world devices (e.g. switches, disconnectors,
transformer, measurement unit, ...) can be (re-)used by applications for self-description and
online verification. The standards improve device data integration into the information and
automation technology, reduce engineering, commissioning, operation, monitoring, diagnostics,
and maintenance costs.

The objective of the standard is to provide for seamless information integration across the utility
enterprise using off-the-shelf international standards to reduce costs in several phases of a
system life cycle (Figure 2). These standardized models allow for multivendor interoperability
and ease of integration.


Fig. 2: Seamless information integration based on IEC 61850/UCA

Unit 08 - Standard IEC 61850 - 7 -
UCA has been incorporated into the draft standard series IEC 61850 (Communication networks
and systems in substations) published by IEC TC 57 in March 2001. The first parts of IEC 61850
have been published as international standards end of 2001.

The object models are defined in terms of standardized types and services. These services
(such as reporting by exception and select before operate controls) are defined in abstract
terms, then mapped to messages in the underlying application layer protocol. The use of the
standardized service definitions above MMS allow for future-proofing, in that new innovations
in application layer protocols can be incorporated in the future without disturbing the object
model definitions.

The MMS protocol, developed by the manufacturing community, supports real-time control and
data acquisition. MMS defines a message structure supporting access to data, programs,
journals, events, and other constructs common to real-time devices. These messages may be
transported using many different underlying protocol stacks.

The standard is developed in an international co-operation with broad vendor and utility
participation. The primary target is the electrical substation automation (switchyards and
transformers in the medium and high voltage transport and distribution). Most major utilities and
system suppliers contribute to the development of the standard.

IEC 61850 is defined so that it fulfils the special requirements of substation automation but the
"specialties" are to a large extent isolated, making the better part of the standard generic. The
"specialties", e.g. the modeling of a high voltage breaker, are defined separately.

The general definitions of IEC 61850 can be applied in all areas where there is a need to
exchange any structured process information in real-time. The general exchange methods, like
direct access (read and write), reporting (spontaneous and cyclic; with change detection),
sequence of events (SOE), device event archives, control, and upload of the self-description of
the device, are implemented in the general and commonly known ways.

The communication networks, that are independent of the information and exchange models,
are separated as well. This provides for the use of independent communication networks (e.g.
TCP/IP, Ethernet ... ) or simple point-to-point connections.

Unit 08 - Standard IEC 61850 - 8 -
IEC 61850 is, due to its modular structure, its generic basic information for process control, and
due to its general functionality, almost predestined for the use in (almost) all areas of industrial
automation to achieve unified definition and exchange of any process information.
4. Primary application of the standard IEC 61850
Figure 3 shows a typical example of a substation automation system with its common three
levels. At process level there are the process interfaces hard-wired in the past and serially linked
by the process bus in the future. Protection and control at bay level may reside commonly in one
device or in dedicated ones. These devices are connected in between and with the station level
by the interbay/station bus. At station level, there is very often a station computer with HMI
(human machine interface) and a gateway to the control at the higher network level. There exist
a lot of variations of this example but all substation automation systems have to provide all or at
least a subset of the following functions with some domain specific performance, heterogeneity
and life-time conditions.



Fig. 3: Seamless information integration based on

Important function groups and functions are:

- System management
- Self-supervision, communication management, time synchronization
- Operation and control
Access security management
Switchgear operation
Unit 08 - Standard IEC 61850 - 9 -
Measurement (rms, power, etc.)
Event and alarm handling
- Parameter
Data/disturbance records retrieval
Logging and archiving
- Local and distributed automation
Protection and busbar protection (remote phasors)
Protection adaptation
Interlocking
Local/distributed synchrocheck and synchronised switching
Sequences
Voltage control
Load shedding

The 10 Parts of the standard IEC 61850 are as listed in the following tables.



The following parts define how the IED behaves:

Unit 08 - Standard IEC 61850 - 10 -


Among these models, two are dedicated to the transmission of information with high priority:

GOOSE (Generic Object Oriented System Event) is used to model the transmission of high
priority information like trip commands or interlocking information. The model is based on cyclic
and high-priority transmission of status information. Information like a trip command is
transmitted spontaneously and then cyclically at increasing intervals.

SMV (Sampled Measured Value) is used to model the exchange of the sampled measured
values from current and voltage transducers to any IED that need the samples. The model is
based on an unconfirmed transmission of a set of sampled values. A counter is added to time
correlate samples from different sources and to detect the loss of a set of samples.

IEC 61850-9-1 defines a unidirectional serial communication interface connecting
current/voltage transducers with digital output to electrical metering and protection devices. The
goal of the standard is to support interoperability between such devices from different
manufacturers. With devices supporting this standard, the customer has the possibility to select
a current/ voltage transducer of one manufacturer and connect it to a protection device or a
meter of another manufacturer.

ABB and SIEMENS developed each a device called Merging Unit converting their own
proprietary signals from the current/voltage transducers (CT/VT) to messages according to IEC
61850-9-1 transmitted over Ethernet. Each message contains sampled values of currents and
voltages for the three phases and neutral. On the data sink side, ABB and SIEMENS developed
Unit 08 - Standard IEC 61850 - 11 -
each a distance protection relay, supporting the IEC 61850-9-1 messages as input signals. In
addition SIEMENS
developed a meter with the same interface. An overview of the five devices is given in Figure 4.
Each merging unit transmits synchronized samples with a transmission rate of 1000
messages/sec. Two sample rates - 1000 samples/sec and 4000 samples/sec - are supported. In
the case of 4000 samples/sec, four sets of samples are transmitted in one message.



Fig. 4: Devices with IEC 61850-9-1 interfaces
5. The new IEC standard 61400-25 for distributed (wind power) generation
The IEC Technical Committee 88 has set up a new project to develop a communication standard
for distributed generation (primary scope per TC 88: wind power plants) in 2001:
IEC 61400 Part 25 : Communications for monitoring and control of wind power plants
The first official working draft can be downloaded from:
http://www.scc-online.de/std/61400/current.html

This standard defines like IEC 61850 several levels:
information,
information description methods,
substation configuration method,
information exchange for monitoring and control systems
for wind power plants, and
communications profiles.
Unit 08 - Standard IEC 61850 - 12 -
The information defined in this standard comprises mainly wind power plant specific information
like status, counters, measurands, and control information of various parts of a wind power plant,
e.g., turbine, generator, gear, rotor, and grid.

The object oriented information description methods allow precise and complete specification
of the information.
The information exchange provides:
real-time data access and retrieval,
controlling devices,
event/alarm reporting and logging,
self-description of devices,
data typing and discovery of data types, and
file transfer

The SCL (substation configuration language) describes all information exchanged in a
substation communication network.

Communication profiles as can be found in the IT world are applied. Especially the security
solutions available in the IT world (e.g., SSL and STL) can be used as provided off-theshelf.
6. Re-usability and device modelling
Describing device functionality by specifying the data (syntax and semantic) and the dynamic
behavior (state machines) of devices (as seem from remote) is one of the fundamental
challenges in the standardization. Many standardization groups have started defining different
views of domain-specific device types. The views are e.g.:

Engineering (in the context of a plant),
Commissioning,
Configuration,
Operation,
Asset management,
Maintenance,
De-commissioning

Unit 08 - Standard IEC 61850 - 13 -
Hardware and software, as well as communication networks are subject to frequent innovation.
Therefore, it is worth-while to standardize independent (abstract) interfaces for communication
networks and the access to the application objects.

The abstract objects (objects define the semantic of the device functions) will continuously be
used (with minor changes only). The object definitions will be enhanced in the future to meet
additional requirements, i.e. re-using the definitions specified in the past (see Figure 5).



Fig. 5: What is important to be standardised?

The most important objective of the device description is to define re-usable parts to be used for
specifying the data models and behavior of various types of industrial devices. Re-usability has
two aspects. First, re-use of a given functionality in many devices throughout an application
domain (we may call this: horizontal re-use). Second, re-use of a given function in the definition
of an enhanced or specialized function (we may call this: vertical re-use). The re-usability is a
crucial factor in reducing the costs of the overall system design, engineering, operation, and
maintenance. Support of re-usability is the key issue in the standardization!

The re-usable parts describe for example how a substation can be configured using the SCL
substation configuration language. A diagram as shown in Figure 6 maps to a XML file
representing the use of the classes.


Fig. 6: Application diagram
Unit 08 - Standard IEC 61850 - 14 -

The application of the SCL allows to



Fig. 7: Application of SCL (excerpt)

The real benefit of device modeling is the re-use of (common) definitions made in the past. This
is the daily practice. We are using common terms at work (key board, laser printer, office, ..) or
at home (kitchen, chair, wheel char, bath room, ...). J ust misunderstandings are the result if
terms are not understood uniquely on both sides (sender and receiver). It is not only a matter to
define something completely more important is, to understand it uniquely. All technical
specifications in the area of distributed systems have to follow distinct rules for defining,
exchanging, and unique interpreting exchanged information.

Interpretation is quite easy if we can re-use common terms learned in the past. In our daily life
we re-use (instantiate) the term laser printer (more precise we re-use the class definition that is
associated with term laser printer) for a laser printer next to you laser printer in room 23 or we
may reuse the term for a special type of a laser printer: A4 laser printer in room 23.

Distributed systems should operate in the way they have been told to do. If they do not? This
may have many reasons. A major issue is, that independently developed devices may follow the
specification of their implementers but the implementers may have different interpretations of the
specification that describes the co-operation of the devices!

Devices will not operate in the way they should do, if the human beings (the implementers) do
not understand each other! Device models are collections of terms with associated semantics
and a description of the dynamical behavior.

Unit 08 - Standard IEC 61850 - 15 -
Usually models are abstract in the sense that they do describe only those aspects that are
visible to the remote user of a device. It is sufficient to know the external visible data and
behavior of the device (the WHAT). The concrete realization of the device, its internal interfaces
and programming language or operating system (the HOW) are not of interest for the view from
outside. To understand the concept of a virtual system, the following saying may help:

If it's there and you can see it It's REAL
If it's there and you can't see it It's TRANSPARENT
If it's not there and you can see it It's VIRTUAL
If it's not there and you can't see it It's GONE
7. Resume
Deregulation will place greater demands for information on utilities than they have experienced
before. IEC 61850, IEC 61400-25, and IEEEs UCA provide a timely, cost-effective, and
standardized solution to allow advanced IED functions and distributed systems to form the
foundation for next generation electric utility systems.

With the standard IEC 61850 intelligent protection relays and other real-time devices are
becoming more common. Utilities could take advantage of these new developments, and make
the power systems safer than before taking into account that all critical information (status and
measurements) is available (at any time and any where) when making control decisions.

The customers are in a position to save large sums of money and time. The vendors who
provide solutions that meet or exceed expectations will become very successful. This is an
exciting time in the industry with an inexorable move toward practical software components.

The most important issues are the models of the real device data and the rules (service
interface) how to access these data. On the other side it is obvious that an appropriate transport
mechanism (communication profiles), e.g., the TCP/IP or a point-to-point link, must be used to
exchange the messages between devices.

By providing a common communications protocol stack allow an utility and other industries to
plug and play equipment from different vendors. The specification of the uniquely tagged
semantic of the most important device model data leads to a tremendous cost reduction during
Unit 08 - Standard IEC 61850 - 16 -
engineering, commission ing, operation, asset management, and maintenance. The solution
provides plant and enterprise wide seamless integration.

A comprehensive free Demo Software and Tutorial for IEC 61850 / IEC 61400-25 / UCA /
MMS (with Web/XML support) executable on PCs (Win 95, 98, NT, 2000, XP) could be
downloaded from the following URL:
http://www.nettedautomation.com/solutions/demo/20020114/index.html
8. References
[1] Schwarz, K.: Standard IEC 61 850 for substation automation and other power system application.
Power System and Communication Infrastructures for the future, Beijing, September 2002.
[2] Brunner, C.; Schubert, H.: The ABB - SIEMENS IEC 61850 interoperability projects, (J anuary 2002)
http://www.nettedautomation.com/solutions/uca/products/9-1/index.html
[3] IEEE Technical Report 1550 (1999): Utility Communications Architecture, UCA;
http://www.nettedautomation.com/standardization/IEEE_SCC36_UCA
[4] IEC 60870-6-TASE.2: Telecontrol application service element 2 - Standards and committee drafts IEC
61850: Communication networks and systems in substations; http://www.scc-online.de/std/61850
[5] Working Draft IEC 61400-25: Communications for monitoring and control of wind power plants;
http://www.scconline.de/std/61400
[6] Becker, G.; Grtner, W.; Kimpel, T.; Link, V.; Mrz, W.; Schmitz, W.; Schwarz, K.: Open
Communication Platforms for Telecontrol Applications Benefits from the New Standard IEC 60870-6
TASE.2 (ICCP), etz-Report 32, VDE-Verlag Berlin, 1999
www.Nettedautomation.com/standardization/IEC_TC57/WG07/etz_report.html
[7] Comparison of IEC 60870-5-101 (-103, 104), DNP3, IEC 60870-6-TASE.2 with the new standard IEC
61850 http://www.nettedautomation.com/news/n_51.html