Alarm transmission for distributed energy resources over power line communication

For distributed energy resources (DER), which are located outside of towns, hazard monitoring systems are required to detect risks of theft, vandalism and fire. If there is a hazard detected, an alarm-message must be transmitted to a remote alarm control unit which is operated day and night. For the transmission of alarm messages, specific technical requirements must be fulfilled. In this paper an alarm transmission system is presented, which is based on a modular microcontroller system, which was developed in particular for its use in the field of power engineering. For the alarm transmission the VdS 2465-protocol, which is a German standard for alarm transmissions, was implemented on the microcontrollers. To achieve cost effective systems, the VdS 2465-protocol can be operated not only over GSM- and Ethernet-networks but also over power line communication (PLC). Two applications are presented for the alarm transmission over PLC. One is a proposal for the transmission of alarms within DER-facilities. In another suggestion it is described how a PLC can enable a wired communication between a DER-facility and an alarm control unit when there is no access to a public wired network available at the DER-facility.