Smart grid communications standard IEC 61850 helps

future-proof investments

Sep 7, 2010

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By Ron Willoughby

National and local news outlets suggest smart grid is the “consumer-to-grid” interface at the smart meter.
Those of us intimately involved in the industry know there’s a whole lot more than meets the eye here.
Yet the “mainstream” media focus serves as a good reminder. When it comes to the public—and by
extension, the regulators and politicians that serve them—it’s up to us, the industry, to make the business
case for smart grid initiatives and to ensure today’s smart grid investments yield cost, service and
sustainability benefits well into the future.

“Future-proofing” smart grid investments starts with smart integration, interoperability and optionality—
building an infrastructure from the meter to the generator with enough flexibility to maximize future
benefits. To paraphrase my KEMA colleague Rob Wilhite, technology is not outdated if it still performs the
function it was purchased to do. But consumers and regulators will want to make sure the smart grid
system can be maintained with new components and equipment that fully integrate with the old.

A cost-effective, open solution

Upstream from smart meter and AMI pieces, success of plug-and-play depends on how well components
“talk” to each other. Our European colleagues are already using IEC 61850 data communication
standards to a great advantage, and these lessons learned offer utilities and stakeholders in the United
States opportunities for the way we do things. Standardized communication provides a cost-effective,
open solution for the utility industry, with IEC 61850-specific benefits including optimizing systems for
efficient and reliable data transfer, establishing designs for use over a high-speed network, and providing
for operational advantages.

Developed out of UCA (Utility Communications Utilities have begun moving towards an
Architecture), the IEC standard applies to utility data
communications digitally transmitted among metering, AMI network designed to use a variety of
protection, control, transformers, and switching protocols such that the physical layer
devices within and between substations. IEC 61850 is data frames regardless of the adopted
a standard language that enables grid component communication technologies are mapped
vendors to produce interoperable plug-and-play to Ethernet Frames at data collector
equipment.
sites, and the AMI data mapped to a new
In the United States, equipment manufacturers are logical node in IEC 61850 at the
making equipment IEC 61850-ready, but most utilities Application Layer.
have yet to standardize on this protocol. KEMA has
been working with forward-looking utilities across the
United States, that have already been engaged in
better understanding IEC 61850 and leveraging the protocol to enhance substation and distribution
automation investments. More utilities need to be willing to follow suit to significantly move forward. As
pressures mount to make multi-vendor equipment "talk" seamlessly to each other, the pressures for using
IEC 61850 will continue to increase. This "smart grid movement" is a major motivator.

Ron Willoughby is Vice President of KEMA, Inc., which is a leading authority in energy consulting and
testing and certification.