The Symposium was held in Schattenburg in Feldkirch, Austria - 23-24 October, 2008

Protection and control specialists from more than thirty countries gathered for the two day protection testing symposium to discuss the challenges resulting from the changing utility environment and the advancements in protection and communications technology.

More than twenty papers covered a wide range of topics, starting from advanced tools for testing of electromechanical protection relays. Several papers presented case studies on testing of generator and power station protection including the dynamic behavior of the excitation system. Many papers focused on testing issues related to the use of IEC 61850 for protection schemes, interoperability between devices from different manufacturers and different protection and control applications. The requirements for testing in modern protection, automation and control systems go beyond the testing of protection relays. Several different topics were discussed:

• Testing of phasor measurement units (PMUs)
• Testing of SCADA
• Testing of underfrequency load-shedding scheme

Dynamic testing, the use of MAT LAB/SIMULINK, modeling of relay settings and automatic commissioning of

multifunctional protection IEDs were also discussed. The program of the symposium also included live demonstrations of the latest testing technology and an evening networking event.