IMPLEMENTATION OF A SCADA/EMS SYSTEM

IN METROPOLITAN ELECTRICITY AUTHORITY

THAILAND

Wiwat Amornimit
Metropolitan Electricity Authority
Wiwat.pcd@mea.or.th

Abstract: Controlling and monitoring work of the entire MEA electricity transmission and
distribution system usually require a lot of utility specific information and knowledge.
Implementation of this SCADA/EMS system together with an reliable fiber optic communications
system assist MEA’s operators to distribute electricity as efficiently and economically as allowed
under all practical constraints. This paper presents some technical details of MEA’s SCADA/EMS
system and its communications system. The real situation, principal functions, and operation of
MEA’s two control centers are described. The SCADA protocols used for communication between
two control centers and various kinds of RTUs are discussed. Furthermore, the detail of real-time
data exchange between EGAT and MEA SCADA systems is presented. The major functions and
applications that employed for MEA’s power system control are summarized. Finally, the future
direction concerning IEC61850 standard and DMS which MEA plan to follow is also proposed.

Keywords: Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA), Energy Management System
(EMS), Real-time Data Exchange

1. INTRODUCTION system, the third generation in the series,

were commissioned in May 2003 to take
Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA) over the control and monitoring work of the
provides electricity, supplied by the entire MEA electricity transmission and
Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand distribution system.
(EGAT), to over two million customers in
Bangkok and two adjacent provinces,
covering about 3,200 square kilometers.

Before 1984, there was no Supervisory

Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA)
system in Metropolitan Electricity Authority.
In the old days, the operators working in the
power system control department used only
the radio communications system to monitor
and control the power system.

In 1984, a SCADA system and an

associated radio communications system,
with the capacity to monitor and control up
to 80 substations, was installed and
commissioned at the Chidlom Control
Center. After 10 years' of service, this
SCADA system was replaced by a more
advanced and well-equipped one in 1994 to
increase the capacity to 120 substations.
The existing SCADA/EMS systems together
with a reliable fiber optic communications
Fig.1 MEA’s two control centers
2. TWO CONTROL CENTERS
As shown in Figure 1, two Control Centers,
Chidlom and Jangwatana Control Centers,
with the capacity up to 240 RTUs each,
which are manned 24 hours around the
clock, act as the nerve Centers of the MEA's
electricity transmission and distribution
system.
Their principal functions are:
• to remotely monitor and control the
Company's power system;
• to co-ordinate equipment outages;
• to handle power system
emergencies; and
Guiding Control Center operators in carrying
out these functions are the following
principal objectives:
• to distribute electricity as efficiently
and economically as allowed under
all practical constraints;
• to ensure personnel safety and
power system security; and
• to exhibit a sense of social
responsibility by having regard to
the interests of the customers.
Two Control Centers reached a new
milestone in May 2003 when their new
Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition
(SCADA)/ Energy Management System
(EMS) systems and an associated fiber optic
communications system were commissioned
at Chidlom Control Center to replace the old
system and at Jangwatana Control Center to
manage its own area and serve as the
backup system.
The design of the control centers take into
accounts of operational needs and place
special attention on human factors. By
nature of its function, the Chidlom Control
Center is divided into two control rooms,
namely, Transmission Control room, and
Distribution Control room. The former
monitors and controls the transmission
network while the latter monitors and
controls the distribution network in its own
area of responsibility. Three Distribution
Control rooms in Jangwatana Control Center
monitor and control the distribution system
in its own area of responsibility.
3. SUPERVISORY CONTROL AND DATA
ACQUISITION (SCADA)/ ENERGY
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (EMS)
The new SCADA/EMS systems employ a
distributed open system architecture and
use state of the art technology and are
characterized by easy upgradeability and
extensibility. They operate on the HP Alpha
platform using Tru-64 operating system and
Oracle relational database, and support full
graphic man-machine-interface (MMI). Both
systems are built with full redundancy for all
hardware including LAN to ensure that no
function is lost due to a single point of
failure. In addition to the normal SCADA
functions, the systems also come with
special advanced EMS applications and
links to EGAT’s SCADA/EMS systems such
that timely, relevant and accurate
information plus analytical tools are
available to Control Center Operators for
effective control and operation of the MEA
power system as well as prediction and
management of contingencies.
4. SCADA PROTOCOLS
Two proprietary protocols, Meidensha and
Wisp+ protocols, are used for
communications between the two control
centers and existing legacy RTUs,
manufactured by Meidensha, Westinghouse
UK, Remdaq, and CC & P. To solve the
problem of compatibility, conformance, and
interoperability, a new open industry
standard protocol, Distributed Network
Protocol (DNP3), is used for
communications to new RTUs. Right now,
only serial DNP3 protocol is implemented for
MEA’s SCADA system.
Fig.2 MEA’s communication system
5. FIBER OPTIC COMMUNICATIONS
SYSTEM
For reliability of communication system,
three rings of 24 cores ADSS fiber optic
cables form the backbone communications
networks for MEA. By installing ATM
switches, Gigabit LAN switches, and SDH
switches, this backbone links 14 district
offices and two control centers together. For
security, the SDH network is designed to
use only for SCADA/EMS system. From
each SDH node of the backbone to
substations, 6 cores ADSS fiber optic cables
are installed as a spur link. The data from
RTU in substations are transmitted to SDH
node via the spur link and to control center
through the backbone.
6. BACKUP SCADA/EMS SYSTEM
A special feature of the new SCADA/EMS
systems in the control centers is that each
manages its own area and at the same
serves as a backup for the second control
center system, capable of quickly taking
over responsibility for the complete service
area of MEA if necessary. The fiber optic
communications system provides access to
each RTU from both control centers as well
as communications between the two control
centers systems.
7. MAN-MACHINE INTERFACES (MMI)
Two user interface terminals with multiple
CRT units are provided in each Control
Room for the on duty Control Center
Operators to control and monitor the power
system. The full graphic capability of the
new systems is exploited to enhance user
interface. Zooming and panning of one-line
diagrams are now possible such that only
relevant information is presented. Color
schemes are devised to convey vital
information such as voltage level, or whether
a circuit is dead or live (de-energized or
energized), etc. to the users.
Fig.3 MEA’s EMS system
8. MEA-EGAT REAL-TIME DATA
EXCHANGE
By using the standard protocol for real-time
data exchange, Inter Control Center
Communications Protocol (ICCP) or
Telecontrol Application Service Element.2
(TASE.2) or IEC 60870-6, real-time data are
exchanged between EGAT’s SCADA/EMS
system and MEA’s SCADA/EMS systems.
The schedule to exchange the real-time data
is as follows:
• From MEA to EGAT
• Analog every 3 seconds
• Status by exception
• From EGAT to MEA
• Analog every 15 seconds
• Status by exception
In the near future, the real-time data
exchange between three utilities in Thailand
(EGAT, MEA, PEA) will be established.
Right now, the existing 6 core ADSS fiber
optic link with speed up to 2 Mbps between
MEA SDH node and EGAT node is used as
a physical link for more reliable. There is no
physical communication link between MEA
and PEA but the real-time data exchange
between two utilities is performed by using
ICCP servers at EGAT as an exchanged
points.
9. LOAD MODELS
Presently, only 109 RTUs are connected to
and communicate with two control centers.
In addition to data transmitted from MEA’s
substations and real-time data exchange
from EGAT’s control center, load models or
load profiles of MEA’s substations without
RTUs, about 28 substations and mostly
small substations, and MEA’s HV customers
directly connected to MEA’s
subtransmission line, around 60 customers,
are entered into the database to run the
EMS applications. Furthermore, in case the
failures of the communications system or
RTUs occur, the load models are used
instead of real-time data.
10. MAJOR FUNCTIONS AND
APPLICATIONS
• Supervisory Control and Data
Acquisition (SCADA) SCADA
performs two essential tasks; it
telemeters data back from remote
sites and facilitates remote control
from the Control Centers.
• Alarm Processing Alarm
processing processes the data
collected and alerts the Control
Center Operators immediately if an
alarm condition is detected.
• Tagging and Interlock Checking
Tagging and Interlock Checking
functions help to prevent inadvertent
errors and ensure the safety of all
persons working with the electricity
network as well as supply reliability.
• Analytical and Forecast Tools
Analytical and forecast tools such as
State Estimator, Contingency
Analysis, Security Enhancement,
Short Term Load Forecast are
provided in the EMS to assist the
Control Center Operators to
evaluate the status of its power
network, forecast the system
demand in future, analyze and
determine the outages of
transmission and generating
facilities, etc. in short, to manage the
system in a reliable and effective
manner.
• Historical Information System
(HIS) Extremely large volume of
historical and future data can be
stored and retrieved. The system
uses Oracle relational database as
the database engine.
• Operator Training Simulator This
provides hands-on training for the
Control Center Operators for
normal, emergency and restorative
control of the power system.
11. FUTURE DIRECTION
To obtain good results from state estimator,
the load models or load profiles of MEA’s
substations without RTUs and MEA’s HV
customers have to be frequently updated.
This activity consumes a lot of time and
money. Therefore, it is necessary for MEA to
install RTUs for these small substations and
customers to get an accurate result.
However, from a financial point of view, the
cost of fiber optic communication is too high
for these substations and customers. MEA
have a plan to perform a study to select an
optimum solution for the communication link
between the two control centers and them.
Using an open and standard protocol is a
direction which MEA plan to follow. MEA
plans to implement a new standard protocol,
IEC61850, for communications between the
two control centers and RTUs after finishing
the feasibility study next year.
Moreover, to manage and minimize loss in
MEA’s distribution network, the distribution
management system (DMS) will play the
importance role for MEA in the near future.
MEA plans to design and implement the
DMS within the next two years.
12. CONCLUSION
Controlling and monitoring work of the entire
MEA electricity transmission and distribution
system is one of the most demanding tasks
in power system operation. Due to time
pressure and stress, the involvement of the
SCADA/EMS system for information support
is desired. The SCADA system and EMS
application functions together with an
operators’ training simulator ensures that
operators can control the power system to
distribute electricity as efficiently and
economically as allowed under all practical
constraints. Nevertheless, MEA needs to
implement the distribution management
system (DMS) to manage and minimize loss
in the distribution system.

13. REFERENCE

[1] UCI’s Specification of the SCADA/EMS

and its communications system, Utility
Consulting International, Cupertino,
California, USA

[2] AREVA’s Functional Specification

Design Documents and User’s Manuals,
AREVA, France