Do you speak system?

In modern plant, control system of the electrical network becomes more and more complex and, in terms of number of I/O, reach levels bigger than the process control. In addition, new technologies are coming on the market and normative environment is also evolving quite fast. As an example IEC 61850, initially dedicated to substation automation in very large grid, is introducing some new concepts in lower range of application. Information network are more and more supported through ldquoInternet likerdquo technologies and choice of a network architecture is not an easy game for an electrical engineer. Design and commissioning of such types of system is a very tough part of a contract. The intent of this article is to present an overview of recent norms and technologies evolution and illustrate those issues with some lessons learnt from recent experience of large electrical network management systems.