by Eric Thibodeau, Hydro Quebec, Quebec, Canada
Those who were working with power system communications in the 1990s and early 2000s remember a landscape that often felt like a tower of Babel. Each vendor designed its own communication protocols. Every project faced interoperability issues. This led to the introduction of protocol translators and data concentrators, also known as gateways. These became essential tools not because they were elegant solutions, but because they were necessary ones.
The industry has come a long way since then. IEC 60870, UCA, DNP3 (IEEE 1815), and IEC 61850 each contributed in their own way to improving interoperability among devices within power systems. We will be relying on gateways for the foreseeable future, mainly because our industry is slow to move away from legacy equipment. However, experience clearly demonstrates that using standard communication protocols simplifies integration and the exchange of information between devices from multiple manufacturers in power systems.
Now, the demand for electric power is increasing rapidly, driven by data centers, artificial intelligence, electrified transportation, industrial decarbonization, and the transition away from fossil fuels. Meeting that demand will require more generation, more storage, more controllable load, and more flexibility. This demand translates into a rapid increase in the number of distributed energy resources (DERs), built by different manufacturers and operated through different business arrangements.
This is where IEEE Std 1815.2, published last February, becomes important. It establishes a standard profile for communications with distributed energy resources using DNP3. Its purpose is practical: to allow utilities to communicate with DERs supplied by different manufacturers in an interoperable way.
The profile enables this by providing a defined set of DNP3 data points, available as an electronic companion table along with the standard. IEEE Std 1815.2 goes beyond a flat point list. It implements several categories of DER operational functions in a comprehensive way: active power management (frequency-watt, volt-watt, ramp-rate control), reactive power management (volt-var, constant PF, dynamic reactive support), scheduling (time-based and event-driven), and equipment status (connect/disconnect, readiness, and fault reporting). Each function is designed with feedback points to allow SCADA systems to perform status verification.
One of the biggest advantages of the profile is that it is built on the well-known and widely used DNP3 (IEEE 1815) protocol. Many SCADA systems in North America already use this protocol. In addition, the DNP Users Group publishes well-established procedures to assess conformance of manufacturer implementations. With these strong foundations, already renowned for their interoperability, IEEE Std 1815.2 can only help speed up the deployment and commissioning of new DER resources in our power systems.
IEEE Std 1815.2 is an example of standards evolution done carefully. It is built on more than a decade of work, including DNP Users Group application notes, MESA specifications, IEC 61850-7-420, IEEE Std 1547, and IEEE Std 2800, while remaining backward compatible as much as possible. This matters because standards only help if they can be adopted in the real world, where existing implementations, installed equipment, and utility practices cannot simply be replaced overnight. Interoperability also means supporting existing devices without forcing every implementation to be rebuilt from scratch with each new revision of a standard.
With the continuing growth of DERs and inverter-based resources, IEEE Std 1815.2 will have an important role to play. The PSCC is grateful for the dedication shown by the PSCC P15 Working Group members, without whom producing this standard would not have been possible.
The PSCCC is scheduled to reconvene jointly with the PSRC in Reno, Nevada, from September 14 to 17, in the usual hybrid format.
More information about this meeting can be found on the PSRC website at https://www.pes-psrc.org/meetings.
To all of you who are interested in the activities of the PSCCC, please visit our website at https://site.ieee.org/pes-pscc/ and look for the “Join the PSCCC” button.
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Biography:
Eric Thibodeau is an Automation Engineer at Hydro-Québec, in the Protection Expertise team. His prior experiences include being Product Manager for Protection products at Gentec, and Software Developer specialized in communication protocols at Eaton. He is involved in the activities of the IEEE Power System Communications and Cybersecurity Committee (PSCCC) and IEEE Power System Relaying and Control Committee (PSRCC). Formerly, he obtained its B.Ing. in Computer Engineering, as well as M.Sc.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Universite de Sherbrooke. While a graduate student, he was also a lecturer in this same institution about network protocols specification and design, network components and architecture as well as electronic power supply design. His main areas of expertise are TCP/IP networking, SCADA communication and cybersecurity, and digital protective relaying. He is a registered professional engineer in the Province of Quebec.
