96. Benefits of User Friendly IEC 61850 System and Its Application

Legacy substation automation protocols and architectures typically provided basic functionality for power system automation and were designed to accommodate the technical limitations of the networking technology available for implementation. There has recently bee a vast improvement in networking technology that has changed dramatically what is now feasible for power system automation in the substation. Technologies such as switched Ethernet, TCP/IP, high-speed wide area networks, and high-performance low-cost computers are providing capabilities that could barely be imagined when most legacy substation automation protocols were designed. IEC61850 is an important new international standard for substation automation that will have a very significant impact on how electric power systems are designed and built for many years to come. IEC61850 is a part of the International Electro technical Commission's (IEC) Technical Committee 57 (TC57) architecture for electric power systems. The model driven approach of the TC57 standards, including IEC61850, is an innovative approach that requires a new way of thinking about substation that will result in very significant improvements in both costs and performance of electric power systems. 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, have to include protection and control equipment, as well as interfaces to supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) of control centers.