The first parts of edition 1 of IEC 61850 were published in 2003 and 2004, which is just over 20 years back. But the standard’s history started several years before that. The initiated founding fathers mention a meeting in 1995 in which the foundation stone for IEC 61850 was laid.
As this was 30 years ago, it was time to celebrate – again. Already in 2005, there was a 10 years celebration, the 20 years celebration was skipped.
The 30 Years IEC 61850 event was embedded into the fall meeting of IEC TC57 WG10, which took place at the premises of OMICRON electronics in Austria.
This had the benefit of the active members of WG10 being present anyway, with more guests with a strong interest in IEC 61850 joining the crowd. And very much appreciated, several former members of WG10 showed up, although they had already retired or changed paths.
The day was filled with six presentations about the past, the present, and the future of IEC 61850, surrounded by ample breaks which were used for intense discussions among the participants. The presentations were bracketed by the first one from Karlheinz Schwarz about how all of this started in the past Millenium and the closing presentation from Alex Apostolov about the people driving that process.
The other presentations in between were about how IEC 61850 found its way into practice (by Christoph Brunner), about IEC 61850 Engineering (by Aurelie Dehouck), about Digital Substation and IEC 61850 (by Fred Steinhauser) and about the present and the future of IEC 61850 (by Keith Gray).
The evening program started with the dinner. Then Fred Steinhauser told the story how OMICRON got into IEC 61850, thanking some colleagues who were instrumental for this to happen.
Next, the group picture from 10 Years IEC 61850 in 2005 was projected on the screen and all those who were already on this picture were called on stage. Eleven old friends rejoined after 20 years.
The final part was dedicated to Christoph Brunner, who has carried forward IEC 61850 as the long-time convenor for more than 20 years.
He reflected on his journey with IEC 61850 and how he will gradually be handing over his responsibilities to prepare his way into retirement. When the applause seemed to be easing as Christoph was on his way back to his table, the whole crowd got up on their feet and a second wave of standing ovations broke loose, filling the room with emotions.
