Editorial
These are the definitions that I believe represent the meaning of the terms that apply to PAC systems: An asset is a resource with economic value that an individual, corporation or country owns or controls with the expectation that it will provide future benefit
Asset management is a systematic process of deploying, operating, maintaining, upgrading, and disposing of assets cost-e... More
Letters
Don't hesitate. Share your thoughts and experiences. More
News
Industry News
COPA-DATA Process Recorder - The time machine for substations
The Process Recorder, the new module in the energy automation software zenon, offers the possibility to traceably analyze errors and problems after they have happened. It is easy to configure and supplements known zenon tools, such as Extended Trend, the Alarm Message List and the Chronological Event List, providing an even more precise analysis of errors. The Process Recorder is able to reco... MoreIEEE PES Prabha S. Kundur Power System Dynamics and Control Award
The 2017 Recipient of the IEEE PES Prabha S. Kundur Power System Dynamics and Control Award is Nikolaos Hatziargyriou. He received it “For contributions in the dynamic performance and control of power systems with dispersed energy resources”. He is Chairman and CEO of the Hellenic Distribution Network Operator, since April 2015. He is Fellow Member of IEEE, past Chair of the... MoreIEEE PES Prize Paper Award
Each year each Technical Committee of the Technical Council is entitled and encouraged to award the author(s) of an outstanding technical paper with the IEEE PES Technical Committee Prize Paper Award. The recipients of the Society-level IEEE PES Prize Paper Award for 2017 are Ratan Das (Chair) and Mital Kanabar (Vice-Chair) – officers of the IEEE PES Power System Relaying Committee ... MoreIEEE PES Wanda Reder Pioneer in Power Award
IEEE PES Wanda Reder Pioneer in Power Award
Meliha Selak, is the 2017 Recipient of the IEEE PES Wanda Reder Pioneer in Power Award for leadership in power system operation and for inspiring new engineers and women in engineering throughout the IEEE Regions. Meliha Selak, has over 35 years’ experience in various aspects of power system engineering. She is a registered profe... MoreIEEE PES Working Group Recognition Award
Each year the Technical Committee of the Technical Council is entitled and encouraged to award one working group with the IEEE PES Technical Committee Working Group Recognition Award. The recipient of the 2017 IEEE PES Working Group Award for Outstanding Standard or Guide is the working group that developed IEEE 1815.1, Standard for Exchanging Information between Networks Implementing IEC ... MoreNew IEEE Fellows
The IEEE Fellow Award is a special recognition for members with extraordinary accomplishments in the IEEE technical fields. To ensure this the total number of recipients each year cannot exceed 0.1 % of the total higher grade membership.
Three members of the PAC community have been elevated to the status of IEEE Fellow in the Class of 2017:
William Dickerson from Arbiter, USA for leader... MoreOMICRON's CMC 430 - Light, ultra-portable, precise
Weighing a mere 8.7 kg, OMICRON’s latest product family member CMC 430 is the lightest and most precise protection test set in the world. Thanks to its robust design – including edge protection – it is ideally suited to portable applications, even when subjected to harsh ambient conditions and extreme temperature fluctuations. Users benefit from extensive test function... MorePAC World Gurus 80th Anniversary
The International Conference and Exhibition “Relay Protection and Automation (RPA) for Electric Power Systems 2017” was held in St. Petersburg, Russia and was supported by the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation and CIGRE B5 (see the conference report on Page 88). To celebrate the ten years anniversary of the inaugural conference in 2007, the organizers awarded several re... MoreSchneider Electric Launches new digital substation solution
EcoStruxure Substation Operation joins the company’s IoT-enabled system architecture to boost simplicity, security, and interoperability. At the heart of the digital substation solution, EcoStruxure Substation Operation is powered by PACiS technology to bridge a gap between connected, communicating network equipment and the apps, analytics, and services that further process data into ... MoreSiemens - Reyrolle Protection relays on IEC 61850
Siemens Reyrolle Protection platform offer enhanced system integration capabilities with IEC 61850 communication standardized across the range. The 7SR1 and 7SR2 Overcurrent Protection, 7SR15 Voltage Protection, 7SR17 Motor Protection, 7SR191 capacitor protection, 7SR23 high impedance circulating current protection, 7SR24 transformer protection now include IEC 61850 protocol where fast co... MoreSoC-e. Complete FPGA communication solution set for SAS
SoC-e, as Xilinx certified member, has recently launched its new release of communication solutions for SAS-Substation Automation System. The product line under this release comprises a complete FPGA IP Core portfolio for the majority of communication needs involved into a substation: HSR/PRP, general purpose Ethernet Switching (MRP, RSTP, DLR, VLAN, DSCP, 802.1X, 1588TC), 1588 Ordinary Clock... More
Cover Story
The IEC 61850 Smart Grid Device Management System to improve the Asset Management
Energy transition will be accompanied by a digital transition for network operators which are or will be facing massive roll-outs and refurbishment of their distributed automation to implement deeper monitoring and new smart grid applications. The devices to be deployed to solve today’s issues (MV voltage and reactive power regulation for example) will necessarily have to be upgradeable... More
IEC 61850 Update
IEC 61850 Processes
If you expect from the title another column where I discuss the engineering process related to IEC 61850 substation configuration language and how to use the different SCL files, I must disappoint you. Those of you that attended the PAC world conference in Wroclaw and listened to my presentation there know, that I will write here about a less technical topic. What I want to introduce in this... More
Lessons Learned
The Challenge of Asset Management
Implementing the energy transition constantly presents TransnetBW with new challenges. In order to reliably transport the increasing amount of electricity from renewable sources to consumers with transmission paths constantly being extended, the network must be continuously adapted.
The projects needed to achieve this are prepared in conjunction with the other transmission grid operators i... More
PSRC Update
IEEE PES PSRC Update
The following awards were announced/issued during the May IEEE PES PSRC Main Committee Meeting on 5/11/17: Malcolm Swanson was awarded the 2017 PSRC Career Service Award.
Also, to expand the IEEE PES PSRC’s reach for PES level awards, we have identified four awards for which we would like to search for potential nominees from our PSRC members.
These are IEEE PES Individual... More
Condition Monitoring
Condition Monitoring of Distribution Automation Systems (DAS)
a. Controller Hardware
Program Checksum: A microprocessor-based protection device routinely performs a number of self-diagnostic tests. As such, a memory check algorithm is essential since such a device relies entirely on the integrity of the program and memory settings. Typically, a checksum method is used to determine if the current memory sum is different from the know... More
Legal Issue
Harassment at Work
In our previous issues we introduced the issue of harassment in the workplace, and discussed sexual harassment in detail. We will now conclude this discussion by addressing some of the other most prevalent types of discrimination.
Age Discrimination Age discrimination statutes are federally mandated, and protected. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA) offers prote... More
Motor Life
Condition Monitoring of IEDs and IED Instrumentation via Centralized Substation Protection and Control
Such changes mandate new approaches to deal with the protection and control of the power system. Advances in P&C technologies have increased the complexity of protection and control systems. Complexity increases the possibility of errors and reduces protection reliability. As a result, despite the great technological advances, protection mis-operations are at undesirable levels. Relay ... More
The Guru
Interview with PACWorld guru Anjan Bose
PAC World: When and where were you born? A.B.: June 2, 1946, Kolkata (then Calcutta), India.
PAC World: Where did you grow up and where did you go to school? A.B.: We moved to Burnpur in West Bengal about 150 miles from Kolkata, a small town with a very large steel factory where everyone in the town worked. I attended St. Patrick’s School run by the Irish Christian Brot... More
History
Protection History
When production of relays in series started in the early 20th century it became clear that tripping devices as well as relays are very important for the safety of the grid. Thus testing in the factories as well as regular testing in operation was necessary. Already in the early 1920s they distinguished between “factory testing” and “customer testing”. The devices have ... More
I Think
Exciting Times for Asset Management
When we think of a modern utility we automatically think of thousands of electricity, water or gas related assets worth billions. In the 1980s the concept of structured asset management was adopted and utilities started to focus on optimizing their maintenance processes. Departments were formed to look at the management of the mission critical assets and more and more focus was given to cond... More
Industry Reports
CIGRE Brochure 539
Life-time Management of Relay Settings
by CIGRE Working Group B5.31
In 2006, CIGRE Study Committee B5 established Working Group B5.31 to investigate and report on the state of the art as related to Life-time Management of Relay Settings.
The report addresses the processes and techniques required for the life-cycle management of the settings associated with protection relays. The... More
Conference Reports
2017 IEEE PES General Meeting, Chicago, IL, USA
The 2017 IEEE Power & Energy Society General Meeting was held at the Sheraton Grand Chicago Hotel, Chicago, USA.
Thousands of electric power systems professionals from all over the world gathered to present their latest developments and discuss the challenges that our industry faces. The first day of the conference started with tutorials and panel sessions and ended with a welcome recep... MoreCIRED 2017- International Conference on Electricity Distribution
CIRED 2017 took place 12-15 June 2017 at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Center (SECC), of Glasgow, Scotland, UK.
The conference program included three full days of technical presentations and discussions covering the very latest challenges and issues facing electricity distribution today and in the future. The program was complemented by pre-conference tutorial sessions allowing p... MoreGeorgia Tech Protective Relaying Conference
The event was held 03 - 05 May 2017, in Atlanta, Georgia, USA
The 71st Annual Georgia Tech Protective Relaying Conference was held at the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center, Atlanta, USA.
The conference program included papers selected by the technical committee and presented in general and parallel sessions.
The focus of the conference was a wide range of topics related ... MoreIEEE Power and Energy Society PowerTech, 2017
The 12th IEEE Power and Energy Society PowerTech Conference was held 18 - 22 June 2017 in Manchester, UK.
The conference was co-sponsored by the IEEE Power & Energy Society (PES) and hosted by the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering of the University of Manchester, UK.
PowerTech is the IEEE PES anchor conference in Europe and was attended by hundreds of delegates f... MoreProtection Automation and Control World Conference 2017
The Eight Annual PAC World conference was held in Wroclaw, Poland 26 - 29 June 2017.
The conference venue was the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the Wroclaw University of Science and Technology (WUST).
The conference was preceded by a tutorial session Monday afternoon where world renowned experts discussed different topics related to “Protection, Control and Fault Locatio... More
Book Review
Physical Asset Management - With an Introduction to ISO 55000
Second Edition
By Nicholas Anthony John Hastings
Asset management of protection, automation and control systems is a critical factor in improving the reliability and security of the electric power grid. This is due to the wide range of physical devices that are used in the system. That is why the members of the PAC community need to gain some understanding of the principles of asset man... More
Hobby
Homemade Motorized Machines
by Roy Moxley, Siemens, USA
Some people have a beautiful bird, just for the joy of looking at it. I have horses and get to look at them, ride them, show them off, and put my grandchildren on their backs.
Saying your hobby is horses is a little like saying “the ocean” is your hobby. The statement is the start of a flood that begins to cover your world. My wife and I... More
Final Thoughts
One of the global trends in today’s computer driven world is what is called “big data.” With multifunctional IEDs at the bottom of the data hierarchy the amount of data available is really BIG. The question that many people are asking is what to do with it.
The protection, automation and control IEDs operate as protection devices in very rear occasions. What they do most ... More