Case studies

IEC 61850 at work

The goal of IEC 61850 is to facilitate interoperability of
substation devices while simplifying engineering and
maintenance. The examples described in this section
present some of the standard’s successes.

was commissioned, the new IEDs were

Retrofitting for the connected to the primary equipment.
future The substation was configured to
enable concurrent operation of the
existing and new equipment during this
It is inevitable that as substations transition phase.
age, their parts will need to be
replaced. The 380/220 kV air-insulated After successfully retrofitting the
substation (AIS) located in the Alps in 380 kV substation, the 220 kV part
Sils, Switzerland was one such case. was integrated into the new control
Its secondary infrastructure – ie, system. The existing IEDs were
protection, control and metering – equipped with a new IEC 61850
and parts of its primary equipment at engineering processes, helping to communication interface, allowing
the 380 kV level – ie, switchgear, keep data and data flow consistent for communication with the new Mi-
power transformers and circuit the whole substation. In this project, croSCADA control system and
breakers – had reached the end of the horizontal bay-to-bay communica- ensuring that both the 380 kV and
their life cycles. The operator KHR tion model GOOSE was used to 220 kV switchyards could be operated
(Kraftwerke Hinterrhein) thus turned considerably reduce the copper wiring and monitored from the central control
to ABB for an economically feasible, between the bays. All information for system. A hot standby system was
standardized and forward-looking interlocking between bays is now put in place to provide backup should
solution for one of the most important exchanged between the ABB Relion® a failure occur.
nodes of the Swiss transmission 670 series IEDs on the IEC 61850 bus
network. The answer: a substation via GOOSE messages.
automation retrofit using IEC 61850
technology. Although testing was a major part of
the retrofit, the greater challenge was
Implementing the IEC 61850 standard to avoid a shutdown during commis-
enables availability of all necessary sioning. Outage time of individual
information – which supports exten- feeders had to be minimized and
sions, replacements or upgrades of all coordinated with the grid operator
or part of the substation automation months in advance. The complete
system – and enables integration of system was manufactured and Marcel Lenzin
products from different suppliers. It delivered to the site where, except for ABB Substation Automation Systems
also ensures data consistency within the connection to the AIS interfaces, it Baden, Switzerland
the complete system and defines the was installed. Once the dedicated bay marcel.lenzin@ch.abb.com

38 ABB review special report

Challenges build
partnerships
In 2006, ABB supplied a pioneering
substation-automation project to the
Brazilian government power trans-
mission utility, Eletrosul. This utility
is responsible for electrical transmis-
sion in the south of Brazil. The pro-
jects delivered were based on the
IEC 61850 standard, with applications
using messages between IEDs,
GOOSE 1, redundant control units and
featuring interoperability between
systems from different vendors.

The first project consisted of three

substations, “Atlântida 2”, “Gravataí
3” and “Osório 2”. These are 230 kV
and 138 kV transmission substations.
“Atlântida 2” uses 60 IEDs (14 with
redundancy and 32 without) for
protection, acquisition and control.
These are mapped to 13,683 dynamic redundant signals by the receiving monitoring aspects not defined in the
objects from a total of 28,786 objects logic. standard (mostly complex interlocks
available in the IED. About 3,300 of and automatic logic) the use of GGIOs
these were distributed to centers of In this project, GOOSE was widely is still very high. It is hoped that as the
higher hierarchy. used both for monitoring the active IEC 61850 standard evolves, more
terminal and for interlocks and standard signs will be provided. In IED
Redundant control automatic logics. This permitted a protection, it was found that the use
Redundant control was one of the considerable saving of cables, as of GGIOs was reduced because of the
special challenges of this project. This twice as many signals are generated standard, and because ABB IEDs use
philosophy, used by Eletrosul for many and received in this philosophy versus standards for all protection functions.
years, uses two control terminals (for a philosophy of simple control.
ABB’s projects this meant two The three substation projects fostered
REC670s). These have exactly the Interoperability a spirit of partnership between
same functionality in terms of control Eletrosul uses SAGE (an open-source Eletrosul and ABB, resulting in new
logic, interlocking and automatisms energy-management system) as projects being carried out together
for controlling a certain number of SCADA software. SAGE was devel- delivering the benefits of IEC 61850.
bays. Both units are active, but just oped by CEPEL, a Brazilian govern-
one is monitored by the supervisory ment research center. The MMS
system. In case of unavailability of a protocol defined in IEC 61850 was
terminal, the SCADA system switches implemented in SAGE in 2006. The
to the other IED. ABB project was thus a test of the Maurício Pereira
standard’s interoperability. This test ABB Power Systems
Based on this philosophy, Eletrosul was passed successfully. Guarulhos, São Paulo, Brazil
clearly defines how a system should mauricio.pereira@br.abb.com
react, for example, in contingency Results
situations. Briefly, the terminal Another request from Eletrosul was to Gonzalo Humeres Flores
managed by the supervisory system is minimize the number of hours required Eletrosul
monitored and executes remote for the preparation of texts in the
commands. In case of interlocks, the system database. For this, it encour-
two redundant terminals send signals aged the use of generic signs (GGIOs) Footnote
to external bays. This affects the to be minimized. Even so, in the 1 GOOSE: Generic Object Oriented Substation
philosophy of treatment of these control terminals that use many Event

Case studies 39
 starting point and permitted ABB to
Portuguese quickly identify the required solution.
transmission The Lagoaça substation uses a system
substations based on a decentralized Ethernet ring.
The main products from ABB are:
– MicroSCADA Pro for local HMI, and
REN is the main Portuguese utility for automated sequences
electrical energy transmission. ABB – COM500i as Gateway, for commu-
supplied the utility’s first IEC 61850 nication with network control center
system, installing it at the 400/220 kV – IED's 670 for control and protection
Lagoaça substation. The installation units
is responsible for some of the most – REB 500 Systems for busbar – Remote access via RX1000 routers
important interconnection points with protection from RUGGEDCOM
the Spanish grid on the 400 kV voltage
level. Third party products used were: The adoption of IEC 61850 was
– Switches and routers from clearly beneficial. It allows both
Of all the benefits of migrating RUGGEDCOM customers and vendors to retain
substation automation systems to the – Meinberg GPS servers for SNTP extensive functional freedom in their
new standard, the customer was time synchronization definitions and philosophies. It also
especially focused on one in particu- – Computers with no-moving parts assures independence from single
lar: standardizing the system architec- running Windows XP Embedded suppliers as well as cost savings in
ture, ie, using the same network platform both engineering and maintenance.
topology and overall arrangement – KVM switches and fallback switches
independently of the supplier. from Black-Box
– Industrial computers from Advan-
ABB brought much experience into tech, for remote access and
this project that it had built up in engineering stations. Carlos Caetano
previous deliveries to the customer. – RTU servers and local-event ABB Substation Automation Systems
The previous platform may have been printing system from SYCOMP Paço de Arcos, Portugal
different, but marked an excellent Germany (REN mandatory). carlos.caetano@pt.abb.com

dancy concept. Prior to IEC 61850

Wuskwatim such integration would have been
transmission challenging if not impossible, espe-
cially for large systems due to incon-
system sistency of data and engineering.

The IEC 61850 engineering approach

In order to strengthen the existing and data structure using SCL language
230kV network, Manitoba Hydro main significantly facilitated the engineering
utility in Manitoba contracted with of interfaces between different units.
ABB for the design, engineering, The descriptive power of the SCL
supply and commissioning of Wusk- language enabled part of the integra-
watim Transmission System Complex, tion to occur without having access to messages for bay-to-bay interlocking
comprising three new stations and all devices or bay level information. and intertrip reduced the amount of
expansion of four existing ones. The copper wiring required. The complete
new stations featured distributed Because design, manufacturing and communication of the substations are
control, bay protection and a bay testing of the two SA systems was now described and documented in
controller concept. The entire control completed in close colaboration SCD-files, which is of advantage for the
and communication process used the between ABB and Manitoba Hydro, an future maintenance and extension of
IEC 61850 standard. attuned and future-proof system was the stations that are now in service.
delivered. The IEC 61850 standard
Protection devices were sourced from made it possible to combine and inte- Mansour Jalali
three different manufacturers. In fact grate ABB, Siemens and Areva Protec- ABB Substation Automation Systems
the use of different suppliers was a tion IEDs within the SA and thus to fulfill Burlington, Canada
requirement of the protection redun- safety requirements. The use of GOOSE mansour.j.jalali@ca.abb.com

40 ABB review special report

The Star of
Laufenburg shines
The 380 kV Laufenburg substation –
one of the largest and most important
in Europe – boosts several world
premieres. Staying abreast of the
development and extension of
IEC 61850, its owners, the Swiss
utility EGL AG, were the first to equip
a high-voltage substation with an
IEC 61850 automation system, doing
so shortly after the release of the
standard in 2004, and even opting for
a multi-vendor solution. Two years on,
the utility issued the very first open
tender based on a SCD (substation
configuration description) file, and
most recently implemented the
9-2 process bus.

When built in 1967 at the inception

of the European grid, the Laufenburg space and simplify maintenance as On the primary side, there is a
substation, with its key position in replacement of a complete pole can combined and fully redundant CP-3
terms of interconnection and meter- be performed in less than 24 hours. current and voltage sensor with
ing, was dubbed the “Star of Laufen- merging units for protection and
burg”. It was extended and upgraded The future-proof secondary retrofit metering. On the secondary side, a
from 1979 to 1981. From 2004 to concept addressed the varying REL670 line distance protection IED
2009, EGL undertook the following lifecycles of bay and station-level and a REB500 busbar protection
refurbishment work: equipment. With the latter equipment system with three bay units are in
– Step 1: retrofit of primary and being retained, ABB integrated its new operation. Metering is performed by
secondary equipment IEC 61850 compliant bay control and an L+G energy meter. For supervision
– Step 2: replacement of old station protection IEDs (Intelligent Electronic and easy access, a SAS using
HMI Devices) to the third-party control IEC 61850 station bus completes
– Step 3: pilot project for system using a gateway converting the pilot installation.
IEC 61850-9-2 IEC 61850 to IEC 60870-5-101. ABB
also successfully integrated a third- The pilot is running in parallel to the
Step 1: Bay retrofit party main protection device with an conventional control and protection
Both primary and secondary equip- IEC 61850 interface. Consistency of system and enables collection of long-
ment of the 17 feeders was replaced bay data during the stepwise upgrade term real-life experience as well as
in a bay-by-bay manner, warranting an was supported by pre-configuring and comparison of behavior. Since its
almost interruption-free retrofit. The pre-testing using an SCL-based tool. commissioning in 2009, the system
migration was supported by a com- has been in continuous operation.
pact hybrid solution that connects the Step 2: Station-level replacement
new gas-insulated switchgear (GIS) In 2007, ABB won an open tender for
modules to the existing air-insulated the replacement of the old station
switchgear (AIS) busbar using silicon HMI (human-machine-interface). ABB Petra Reinhardt
bushings. The GIS modules compris- installed a new IEC 61850 HMI fully ABB Substations
ing circuit breaker, disconnector, re-using the engineering data from the Baden, Switzerland
earthing switch and instrument SCD file generated for the bay retrofit. petra.reinhardt@ch.abb.com
transformers were pre-tested to
enable short installation times. They Step 3: Introduction of process bus Stefan Meier
offer maximum operational safety and The pilot installation contains a ABB Substation Automation Systems
high immunity to environmental selection of products and systems Baden, Switzerland
conditions. They also require less ready for the IEC 61850 process bus. stefan.meier@ch.abb.com

Case studies 41