Making peace with communications networks: What power engineers need to know about modern and future network communication for plants and substations

Few power engineers seem to be interested in becoming network engineers, yet some of the most recent significant advances in the electric power industry have come in the form of communications-assisted protection and control schemes. Communication is playing a larger role in the electric power conversation, yet there remains a mystique surrounding the low-level details pertaining to how these communications networks operate, which often results in confusion and misinformation being taken as fact. The operational and performance data disseminated to end users are often ambiguous, seemingly focusing on arbitrary figures and numbers that lack proper context and background needed for an engineer to make informed decisions regarding the use of such technology. This paper uses a greenfield offshore platform project as the impetus for investigating the technical details of modern communications networks and their potential impact on power system operations, while navigating some largely misunderstood concepts. The paper discusses the technical foundation of network communication, from the network switch to the intelligent electronic device. This paper addresses issues of latency, redundancy, and failover and how these factors play into modern communications protocols and engineering access traffic. This paper is meant to be used as a guide and reference for engineers looking to understand the concepts surrounding modern communication, while addressing the challenges and complexities common to the use of modern communications networks in the electric power industry.