A Technical Committee of the Power Engineering Society

This committee is one of 18 technical committees of the IEEE Power Engineering Society (PES).  The scope of the committee simply stated is to provide technical guidance and leadership in the technology of electric power system protection. More specifically, the scope reads as follows:

"Treatment  of all matters in which the dominant factors are the application, design, construction and operation of protective, regulating, monitoring, reclosing, sync-check, synchronizing and auxiliary relays including matters necessary to the functioning of relays and relaying systems employed in transmission, generation, distribution and utilization of electrical energy and their effect on system operation. Maintenance of liaison and collaboration as required with other committees of PES and associated groups of IEEE."

Through the cooperative volunteer efforts of more than a hundred power system protection engineers, the PSRC assists the protective relaying industry by providing leadership in all items related to its scope. The leadership is provided through the development of technical documents as follows:

• Standards, recommended practices or guides published through the IEEE Standards Association. These are formal documents that have been through the IEEE standards review process, and are used world wide as reference documents to standards or guide practices.
• Technical papers published through IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery or IEEE Transactions on Power Systems. These documents are retrievable from Transactions publications or through the IEEE technical publications services.
• Technical reports published through IEEE special publications IEEE conference proceedings or various regional conference proceedings or on the Committee "Publications" web page (see www.pes-psrc.org). These documents have been through the Committee or Subcommittee review process but are not part of the IEEE standards series. They provide information on various aspects of power system protection.
• In addition to the publications, the Committee also prepares and conducts industry surveys on various topics within its scope and publishes the results of such surveys.
• The Committee also prepares and presents panel sessions and tutorials at various technical conferences and PES conferences as an educational service. 

To accomplish the task, the Committee is divided into several technical subcommittees with specific scopes. The names of the subcommittees are:

• Systems Protection Subcommittee
• Line Protection Subcommittee
• Relay Communications Subcommittee
• Relaying Practices Subcommittee
• Rotating Machinery Subcommittee
• Substation Protection Subcommittee.

The scopes of these subcommittees can be found on the subcommittee pages accessed through links on the main page of the website pes-psrc.org. Each Subcommittee then manages several working groups and task forces with various assignments.
 The scopes of the Main Committee and the Subcommittees and the assignments of the various task forces as well as the membership lists are published in the PSRC Directory each year. The Directory can be retrieved directly from the Website. Many working group and task force assignments are also updated and amplified on the individual web pages associated with those groups.
 The Committee, the Subcommittees and most of the working groups and task forces meet three times per year in various locations in North America. At these meetings the assignments are pursued, and new working groups are formed and ones that have completed their assignments are disbanded. The results of working group efforts are often given in presentations at these meetings.

Officers

The officers of the PSRC consist of the Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary/Treasurer and Standards Coordinator. Details of the administrative duties for the officers are detailed in the Operation and Procedures (O&P) manual available from the Committee website, but in general terms, they are as follows:
The Chair is responsible for the overall operation of the Committee, and liaison with the Technical Council of the PES.
The Vice Chair, in addition to acting for the Chair, is responsible for the technical programs sponsored by the PSRC at PES meetings such as the annual General Meeting and other special meetings.
The Secretary is responsible for meeting arrangements and agendas, plus assembly and publication of minutes of meetings. The Secretary also manages the Committee's financial affairs.
The Standards Coordinator is responsible for liaison between the PSRC and the entities it reports to such as the IEEE Standards Board and the PES. The Standards Coordinator also supports standards development activities within the PSRC.
The officers are supported by an Administrative Committee responsible for the various administrative activities such as membership, long range planning, bibliography, awards and recognition etc.
Each of the six subcommittees has a Subcommittee Chair and Vice chair who are responsible for the operation of their subcommittees. Primary operations are to manage and coordinate the activities of various working groups and task forces. The subcommittee Chair and Vice Chair, with the help of the subcommittee members are responsible for the creation of new working groups and the disbandment of those groups that have completed their assignments.

Meetings

The PSRC operates through a subcommittee, working group, and task force structure. The committee, subcommittees, working groups and task forces engage in face to face discussion, and to update each other on progress. Since PSRC activity participants live and work all over North America, these meetings offer opportunity for personal interaction that is an important component to support the committee operation and project completion. Most of the committee work is accomplished between meetings however, with communication by email, telephone, and FAX.
Participation in working group activities by correspondence is possible, but it is difficult to participate as a subcommittee or main committee member without significant attendance at meetings. Committee and subcommittee members are encouraged to attend at least two out of the three meetings per year.
Presently there are six technical subcommittees with defined areas of interest/responsibility and an advisory subcommittee that deals with administrative matters.
The technical subcommittees are continuously operating groups with scopes that encompass major areas of power system protection. These subcommittees form task forces and or working groups that usually have more focused assignments to complete specific tasks within specific time frames. At regular meetings, the working groups and task forces usually meet in the first 1 ½ days in multiple parallel sessions (up to 8 or 9 simultaneous sessions). On the afternoon of the second day, the subcommittees meet. There the working groups and task forces report on their progress and new groups are formed, and old ones disbanded. Due to the larger perspectives of the subcommittees, only two subcommittees usually meet in parallel sessions.
On the morning of the third meeting day, the Main Committee meets and discusses matters of common interest. At the Main Committee meeting there may be one or more technical presentations. These presentations will usually present work that has been recently completed by working groups. Other presentations of interest may also be made.
Visitors do not have to be members of working groups or subcommittees in order to participate in discussions. Most meetings are open to all, and visitors are encouraged to share their thoughts and questions to give as broad a perspective as possible on the work being accomplished.
 

Recent Activities

In the year 2006, the Committee has sponsored the development of ten new or revised IEEE standards or guides in the field of protective relaying. In addition it has published four technical reports that are freely available at its website.
The reports published in 2006 are:

• Considerations for Use of Disturbance Recorders
• Protective Relaying and Power Quality.
• Loss of ac Voltage Considerations for Line Protection.
• Manufacturer's Service Letter Database.

It has published and sponsored numerous technical papers at industry conferences and has received several merit awards including the PES Outstanding Working Group award five times in the last ten years.
Engineers interested in power system protection are encouraged to visit the Committee website, and browse through all the activity reports. In particular, look at the annual directory (click on the link to "PSRC Directory") to get an overview of current activities. Usually there are more than 50 active working groups or task forces at any given time. Relay engineers are encouraged to browse and use the output of this committee, and also to consider participating in its work. Some reasons why you as an engineer working in the field of power system protection might wish to participate in the Committee activities include:

• Highlight your company's best practices
• Learn about and influence standards that directly affect your business
• Gain advanced knowledge on future standards and guides
• Share best practices with utilities, consultants and suppliers
• Become aware of solutions and new/different protection practices
• Gain knowledge with interaction from Industry leaders
• Acquire highest level, inexpensive training
• Receive any Guide, Standard, Transaction or Report that you help develop as a member of the applicable Working Group.

For further information, contact any of the officers or subcommittee or working group chairs listed in the Directory. Names and mailing addresses are provided in the directory. Email addresses are also available through a password protected link, with the user name and password provided when clicking on the email link.