by Klaus-Peter Brand, Chair of Swiss Chapter of IEEE PES

The Swiss chapter of IEEE PES (http://pes.ieee.ch) is performing about 2 - 3 events called workshops as a service for the power system community in Switzerland. According to the mission of the chapter providing the window from Switzerland to the world, dedicated speakers from abroad are always invited.

Hydro power provides about 60% of the Swiss electricity either by hydro power plants fed by artificial lakes (with or without pump storage schemes) or by river hydro plants. With part IEC 61850-7-410 this new standard is also available for the operation of such hydro power plants. Therefore, two workshops organized by the Swiss chapter in September 2008 and April 2009 have been well accepted with about 45 participants each. Topics like hydro mechanical equipment (turbines, generators) were picked up by the engineers in their well known world and allowed them to open the gates towards IEC 61850. For nearly all the engineers in the hydro world, it was their first contact with the new standard.

The first of these two workshops was hosted in Handeck by KWO (generation utility running a big pump storage scheme in the Grimsel area, the heart of the Swiss Alps  see Fig. 2) with the following program:

• High Value Electricity from the Grimsel Region: the Investment Program KWO plus  - T.Aschwanden, KWO (CH)
• Refurbishment of hydro generators under Changing Operational Requirements   -T.Kunz, A.Schwery, Alstom (CH)
• The role of pump storage hydro plants in electricity markets  -  B.Goldstein, BKW (CH)
• IEC 61850 in hydropower - modeling of complex control functions  - C.Malcolm, Vattenfall, (SE), Chair IEC TC57 WG18
• Optimal hydro scheduling  -O.Fosso, NTNU (NO)

The second workshop was hosted in Geneva by SIG (utility of Geneva) and the Infoteam (Engineering company).  Here, the focus was more on river hydro power plants (Figure1) which e.g. follow as a long chain the river Rhone from the lake of Geneva down to the Mediterranean sea. The program included:

• Renewing Chancy-Pougny - J.Söderblom, SIG (CH)
• Rhone River's Development -  New Control System - C.Dorée, N.Jean-Baptiste, CNR (FR)
• IEC 61850 Ed2 "Comm. Networks and Systems for Utility Autom." -  C.Brunner, UTInnovation (CH),  Chair IEC TC57  WG10
• IEC 61850 in hydropower - modeling of complex control functions  - C.Malcolm, Vattenfall, (SE), Chair  IEC  TC57  WG18

Impressions and Discussion

Refurbishment or renovation is a common issue from power plant to substations. Extending of hydro power resources by increasing the dam height creates environmental conflicts at least by touching protected areas. Pump storage schemes are the most powerful energy storage means in the power system, being also of interest for buffering the changing production like the output of wind power plants. It also buffers the rain/snow fall patterns in the Alps, which is being changed by global warming. The technical sightseeing inside the supervised dams and long tunnels connecting the lakes with the generating facilities inside the mountains was very impressive.

To allow for ecological energy production by rivers and to avoid floods, the water flow through dams, hydro power plants and ecological bypasses has to be controlled very carefully along the river. Replacing proprietary control and communication systems by standard ones is seen as a benefit for easy operation of the distributed hydro power resources.

Therefore, the engineers have been very interested in using IEC 61850 not only in substations, but also in the near future in hydro power plants.

However, the question for the availability of the first hydro power plant control system based on IEC 61850 could not yet be answered.