Editorial
That was the reason to focus this issue of the magazine on the subjects of reliability and redundancy and invite experts from different countries to discuss them. One of the key requirements for any protection and control system is to ensure that any short circuit fault or other abnormal system condition will be cleared in a way that will minimize its effect on utilit... More
Letters
Don't hesitate. Share your thoughts and experiences. More
News
Industry News
Areva T&D announced the acquisition of Vamp
AREVA T&D has announced the acquisition of Vamp, the Finnish-based
specialist in arc protection and protection relays.
Vamp's products, are used in a number of applications in the industrial and distribution segments, their unique arc protection enhances the safety of both people and property and has made Vamp a recognized world leader in this field. By acquiring Vamp, AREVA T&D ... MoreBasler Electric's New BESTWAVEPlus Software
High-resolution graphical analysis interface designed to display, analyze, and manage fault records in the standard IEEE COMTRADE format and read/view all COMTRADE files from any manufacturer’s relay, meter, or fault recorder.
It offers flexible analysis tools for navigating traces, amplitude and time scaling, superimposing traces, peak detection, harmonics, instantaneous... MoreEverything You Need
for Capacitor Bank Protection and Control in One Relay from SEL
The SEL-487V Capacitor Protection and Control System combines synchrophasor technology and flexible communications with complete capacitor bank protection and control in one economical relay.
The SEL-487V protects and controls grounded and ungrounded, single- and double-wye capacitor banks. The settings assistan... MoreNR Delivers Smart Substation Solution
NR Electric introduces the smart substation solution which integrates MMS, GOOSE, SV, GMRP, SNTP and IEEE-1588 of IEC61850, enabling the complete digitalization of modern substations. The communication is composed of two independent LANs used as station bus and process bus respectively. Electronic CT/VT and Merging Unit are used to transmit sampled value over process bus using IEC61850-9-2... MoreRelion protection and control from ABB
Relion protection and control product family offers a comprehensive portfolio of protection and control products, designed to the IEC 61850 standard, for generation, transmission, distribu- tion and industrial applications. To ensure interoperable and future-proof solutions, Relion protection and control IEDs have been designed to implement the core values of the IEC 61850 standard. ... MoreSystem Reliability
The US Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) issued on 19 January 2010 an initial list of standards, a preliminary cyber security strategy, and other elements of a framework to support transforming the nation’s aging electric power system into an interoperable Smart Grid, a key component of the Obama administration’s energy plan and... MoreThe OMICRON SVScout makes IEC 61850 Sampled Values visible
The OMICRON SVScout makes IEC 61850 Sampled Values visible for the substation engineer and IED developer.
One important application is testing merging units by comparing two SV streams.
SVScout subscribes to Sampled Values streams from merging units and displays the waveforms with their electrical units. Detail values can be looked up and compared with the cursor functions. The p... MoreToshiba - New Multi-function Relay Series
Toshiba announces the launch of a new range of low-cost, high quality, numerical multi-function relays designed for protection applications in MV networks.
The first model within the series, GRE110, is now available, providing a comprehensive range of feeder protection and CB control functions, as well as the capability to be applied as motor protection, and as back-up protection for ... MoreWalt Elmore
Walt Elmore passed away the night of 20 January 2010. He was a member of the Power System Relaying Committee for more than 50 years, with his first meeting being in September 1957.
He served in the Army Air Corps as a navigator during World War II.
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, he started his career at Memphis Light Gas and Water before joining W... More
Technology News
Android - Mobile operating system by GOOGLE
3 Android - Mobile operating system by GOOGLE
Android is another operating system developed by Google to enable software developers to create applications that take full advantage of the capabilities of different mobile devices. It is built on the open Linux Kernel and utilizes a custom virtual machine that was designed to optimize memory and hardware resources in a mobile environment... MoreCloud Computing - improving efficiency and reducing costs
In the Autumn 2009 issue of the magazine we talked about the Google Chrome operating system. Together with the Android operating system (see the next article) they are designed to support the increasingly popular concept of Cloud Computing. Like many other things in the world this is driven by requirements to improve efficiency and at the same time reduce costs. Instead of building infrast... MoreUSB 3.0 - The next generation super speed device
USB is an acronym that every person that uses computers and gadgets knows, even if they don't know what it stands for. The Universal Serial Bus is a plug-and-play interface between a computer and many different devices, such as mobile phones, peripheral devices, printers, digital cameras, etc. It was developed at the end of the last century by Compaq, IBM, DEC, Intel, Microsoft, NEC... More
Cover Story
Redundancy - Considerations for Protective Relay Systems
Different users may have different terminology for referring to the redundant protection systems. They may be called "System 1" and "System 2" or "System A" and "System B" or sometimes "Primary" and "Backup." This latter terminology, "Primary" and "Backup", implies, although unintentionally, that one of the two systems serves the main function of protection and the other serves... More
IEC 61850 Update
IEC 61850 and the PSR Committee
While writing this column I am in flight back from the IEEE PSRC meeting in Orlando, Florida. That meeting marked another important milestone for IEC 61850 – in particular for the process connection.
As part of that meeting, a "plugfest" took place, where interoperability based on the draft profile for use of IEEE 1588 precision time protocol in power system applications was veri... More
Lessons Learned
Analysis of Misoperations of Protection Schemes in the Nordic Grid - 1st of December 2005
The Nordic transmission system is designed for a maximum production loss of 1200 MW. The operation of the grid outside design limits led to unwanted triggering of a second system protection scheme, which should have led to shedding of another 1000 MW of production from the Nordic grid. Fortunately this system protection scheme also malfunctioned.
This article discusses the results of the... More
Brazilian Blackout
Brazilian Blackout 2009
Blackout Watch
Brazil benefited from correct performance of islanding schemes.
On November 10th, 2009, at 10:13 PM, Brazilian National Interconnected System (NIPS) was submitted to a significant disturbance that caused the interruption of 40% of its load. The disturbance was triggered by the automatic disconnection of 765 kV transmission line (TL) Itaberá-Ivaiporã ... More
Implementation of Telecontrol Applications over GPRS Networks
Implementation of Telecontrol Applications over GPRS Networks
Given that GPRS operator networks are public, the implications of this fact are examined from the utility’s point of view, and finally we list the most important aspects to be considered in order to perform a successful implementation of a telecontrol system over GPRS.
Companies in the electric sector have a multitude of SCADA Telecontrol systems which operate with protocols a... More
Data Acquizition
Universal Data Acquizition Platform in Substation for the Future
Each system is for a unique purpose and has its own data acquisition devices in the substation, dedicated communication channel between substations and control centers, and dedicated processing workstation in control centers. Furthermore, each system is maintained by a separate team, thus the maintenance of common system data models, parameters, and data itself is done repeatedly, and th... More
Legal Issue
Legal Aspects of System Reliability
The reliability of the electric power system needs to be achieved within the framework of the national and international legal systems. This is driven to a great extent by the fact that the electric power systems of many countries are usually interconnected with their neighboring countries' systems.
The development and enforcement of laws and regulations is done differently in different... More
Systems' Reliability and Maintainability
Systems' Reliability and Maintainability
It leads also to the increasing dependence of a function in one IED from the data provided by other IEDs, thus introducing some new issues in system maintainability and reliability. Some of these issues can be overcome by a systematically used approach of topology aware functions. This is illustrated by means of some protection related system functions like breaker failure protection, ... More
The Guru
José Marcondes Brito de Carvalho
PAC World: Where were you born and where did you grow up? JMB: I was born in Brazópolis, in the south of Minas Gerais (a Southeast state of Brazil), on March 1st, 1931. I spent my childhood in Brazópolis and finished there my basic education (7-13 years). After that, I went to live in Campinas (a city in the state of São Paulo). There I studied at C... More
History
Protection History: Generator Protection
Failures in the rotor, caused by low exciting voltage do not occur that often and single earth faults are not that dangerous. But it was obvious, that in case of a second breakdown of isolation, the turn-to-turn-fault exerts a force on the axle. The detection of turn-to-turn faults is difficult. With a low exciting voltage they occur in case of operation of the machine only. Centrifugal for... More
I Think
Good is good enough?!
In general language redundancy refers to things being duplicated without adding value. This can be in presenting an idea using more information than is necessary for one to be able to understand the idea or an unnecessary or unessential repetition of meaning, using different and dissimilar words that effectively say the same thing twice, or it is the use of more words or word-parts than is n... More
Industry Reports
First IEEE PSRC WG H7 Sub C7 1588 Plug-fest
by Galina Antonova , GE Digital Energy, Canada
Synchronization plays an important role for many power system applications. Some applications require relative synchronization (synchronization of merging units), others need traceability to UTC either locally or over a wide area (event recorders, synchrophasors). Synchronization of samples and various measurements is critical for protection app... MoreIEEE - Leadership in the Smart Grid
by Erich W. Gunther, EnerNex Corporation, Member at Large, IEEE PES Governing Board
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and especially the Power and Energy Society (PES), is taking an aggressive and multi-faceted role in advancing what the industry now refers to as the Smart Grid. In May of 2009, the IEEE Standards Association (IEEE-SA) announced the approval ... More
Conference Reports
APSCOM 2009 - 8th IET International Conference, Hong Kong
The 8th IET International Conference on Advances in Power System Control, Operation and Management (APSCOM) was organized by the Institute of Engineering and Technology, Hong Kong, Power & Energy Section and held 8-11 November 2009 in the Kowloon Shangri La Hotel, Hong Kong. The rich conference program was based on different forms of presentation and discussions of various subjects of inte... MoreCIGRE Study Committee B5 Annual Meeting and Colloquium 2009
The CIGRE Study Committee B5 Annual Meeting and Colloquium 2009 was held in Jeju, Korea from Monday 19 October to Saturday 24 October 24, 2009. Ten CIGRE SC B5 working groups held meetings on 18 and 19 October. Advisory groups met on 20 October and the Study Committee B5 meeting was held on 23 October.
The mission of the Study Committee B5 is to facilitate and promote the progress of en... MoreIEEE Conference on Innovative Smart Grid Technologies
The first Conference on Innovative Smart Grid Technologies was sponsored by the IEEE Power & Energy Society (PES) and hosted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The conference was technically co-sponsored by the IEEE Communications Society, the IEEE Computer Society, the IEEE Power Electronic Society, the IEEE Signal Processing Society and IEEE-USA. ... MoreIEEE T&D Asia Conference & Exposition 2009
The IEEE T&D Asia Conference and Exposition 2009 Seoul was held 26-30 October, 2009 in the COEX (Convention & Exhibition Center), located at KangNam downtown, Seoul, Korea. It was jointly hosted by the KIEE and the KOEMA, and sponsored by the IEEE PES and its Seoul Chapter.
The Conference/Exposition is the third in a continuing series of IEEE PES sponsored meetings dedicated to ... MoreSubstation Technology 2009 Conference, Birmingham, UK
The Substation Technology 2009 Conference was held in the Event Suite and Lecture Theatre at the Thinktank, Millennium Point, Birmingham, UK.
This was a two day event packed with informative sessions and interactive discussions, delivering an examination of power systems equipment and the techniques employed to increase intelligence, as well as reviewing the cost effective design optio... MoreXX SNPTEE - National Seminar on Generation & Transmission of Electric Power
by Hyder DoCarmo, OMICRON electronics Corp. USA
The XX SNPTEE, or "SeminÂrio Nacional de Produção e Transmissão de Energia Elétrica" was held 22-25 November in Brazil, at Recife's Pernambuco Convention Center. Recife, one of the oldest cities in Brazil founded by the Portuguese in 1537, is located in the Northeastern region of the country and ... More
Book Review
Protective Relay Principles
by Anthony F. Sleva
Power system protection is a very complex subject that requires good understanding of the electric power system components and the different abnormal conditions that can occur as a result of a short circuit fault or equipment failure. The changing technology and evolving protection principles are additional factors that require people working in the field to cont... More
Hobby
A Journey Through Time and a Popular Website
by Laurent Guise, Schneider Electric, France
Laurent Guise shares with us his amazing hobby of entering history of thousand of villages on the Internet. In his own words:
"Bringing a new study to people to better understand their history is fascinating."
A journey through: painting history and the 19th century’s industrial revolution. At the beginning, the hi... More
Final Thoughts
Is IEC 61850 a protocol?
It is interesting how often people have a tendency to question the functionality of new devices, the usefulness of new operating principles and algorithms, but forget to ask similar questions about the things that they have been using for years.
With the new technology that is penetrating the substations and replacing the hard wired circuits with communication mess... More