Benefits of Digital Substation Technology
Increased Reliability and Availability
The extensive self-diagnostic capabilities of digital devices ensure
maximum availability of the substation, as well as its full suite of
functionalities. Any performance issue with an asset is pinpointed in real
time, plus the flexibility in the secondary system architecture allows for
redundancies, as well as troubleshooting without the need for an outage in
the primary system.
Optimized Operation of Assets
The intelligence within digital substation schemes allows close monitoring of
the load ampacity of plant equipment, based on their design ratings. For
example, complex models for thermal loading can be configured and
monitored in real- time. This dynamic load analysis means that the operator
has the tools to push lines, cables, transformers and other grid equipment to
operate closer to their limits when necessary.
Improved Safety
Removal of wired cross-site current transformer (CT) circuits reduces the risk
of injury due to inadvertent opening of the circuit by personnel. Plus, there is
no live
1A/5A cabling coming into the protection panels, providing a safer
environment inside the control room, and the optical instrument
transformers are oil-free, avoiding any risk of explosion. Finally, advanced
self-monitoring of substation assets ensures that they are operating within the
prescribed limits.
Standardization and Interoperability
Being IEC 61850 compliant, digital solutions and substations are designed to
be interoperable with third-party equipment, with a strong degree of
standardization at the interface level of secondary equipment systems. This
simplifies many of the tasks associated with extending the substation, and
allows for different vendor solutions to be available to the user.
Improved Communication Capabilities
Ethernet facilitates the data exchange between intelligent devices, both
intra- and inter-substation. Smart local and wide area control units allow
data exchanges between voltage levels within substations, and between
substations. This eliminates the need to transmit via a control center, which
reduces response times, and enables rapid, real-time applications.
Investment Optimization
The capital cost of investment projects is reduced on many fronts:
• savings on the time needed to engineer and install substations
• reduced real estate needs
• copper cabling is cut by up to 80% through the use of optical fiber, with
the
associated reduction of many thousands of wiring terminations
• asset optimization tools allow faster targeting of weak areas which need to
be reinforced, allowing for reduced operational costs
61850 Substation
• Information model separated from protocol implementation
• Improved vendor interoperability
• Point to multipoint Measurement access via sampled values (-9-2)
• ”Free” allocation of functions to devices.
Traditional Substation
• Functions tied to physical device
• Measurement connection based on point to point links (Copper wires)
• Some buses for relay communication
• Limited standardization & vendor integration
Key Benefits of IEC 61850
• Increases flexibility
by connecting protection, control, measurement and monitoring devices to
common Ethernet network within substation
• Reduces copper wiring Through GOOSE messaging that enables fast and
reliable applications like interlocking, distributed bay tripping, breaker
failure, etc.
• Reduces total installation cost By enabling Process Bus with electronic
CT/VTs and intelligent switchgear and by replacing conventional copper
wiring by Ethernet digital communications
• Eases system engineering and integration process Through graphical
configuration tools based on SCL language – XML common file format
designed for exchange of configuration information
• Improves application performance and security Through fast Ethernet
communications and redundancy (IEC 61850 Edition II)
• Minimizes costs of technological obsolescence Due to standardized
naming conventions
• Provides easy way of implementing typical applications Because of object-
oriented structure and high-level services that enable self-description of
devices and automatic data discovery.
• Saves time and money in setup & commissioning Because of a global
acceptance and adoption and future-proof concept of abstract services as
well as independence of mapping to protocols
