Overview of IEC 61850 and Benefits

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 been 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. In order to take advantage of modern technology to deliver additional new benefits to users of substation automation, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) has developed and released a new global standard for substation automation: IEC 61850. The paper provides a basic technical overview of IEC 61850 and discusses the benefits of each major aspect of the standard. The concept of a virtual model comprising both physical and logical device models that includes a set of standardized communications services are described along with explanations of how these standardized models, object naming conventions, and communication services bring significant benefits to the substation automation user. New services to support self-describing devices and object-orient peer-to-peer data exchange are explained with an emphasis on how these services can be applied to reduce costs for substation automation. The substation configuration language (SCL) of IEC 61850 is presented with information on how the standardization of substation configuration will impact the future of substation automation. The paper concludes with a brief introduction to the UCA International Users Group as a forum where users and suppliers cooperate in improving substation automation with testing, education, and demonstrations of IEC 61850 and other IEC standards - - technology