VGB PowerTech 1/2 l 2021 KKS and RDS-PP® – VGB speaks the language of power plant engineering
KKS und RDS-PP – VGB speaks the
language of power plant engineering
Conformal and manufacturer-independent designation
of energy plants
Andreas Böser and Sabine Kuhlmann
Kurzfassung
KKS und RDS-PP® – VGB spricht die
Sprache der Kraftwerkstechnik
Unabhängig vom Grad der Industrialisierung,
zählt die Stromerzeugung zweifellos zu den
wichtigsten und komplexesten Aufgaben einer
Gesellschaft. Die zuverlässige Energieversor-
gung und damit der erfolgreiche Betrieb eines
jeden einzelnen Kraftwerks – unabhängig von
der eingesetzten Primärenergie – benötigt ein
Kennzeichnungssystem zur konsistenten Identi-
fikation von Anlagenteilen und Prozessen. KKS
und RDS-PP® bieten diese Möglichkeiten von
der Planung bis zum geordneten Rückbau. An-
gefangen bei der Projektierung, über den Be-
trieb der Anlage und bis zum geplanten Laufzei-
tende sprechen alle Prozessbeteiligten dieselbe
„VGB-Sprache“ und können so national und
auch international problemlos miteinander
kommunizieren. Dank dieser VGB-Kraftwerks-
Sprache können hersteller- und betreiberunab-
hängig Daten ausgetauscht werden und verset-
zen Kraftwerksbetreiber in die Lage, ihre Anla-
gen selbstständig zu betreiben, zu warten und
am Ende auch gesetzes- und normenkonform
VGB PowerTech - All rights reserved - Alle Rechte vorbehalten - © 2021
zu demontieren. l
Authors
Andreas Böser and Sabine Kuhlmann
VGB PowerTech e.V.
Essen, Germany
Introduction
Communication and language in all their
facets and possibilities are indispensable
tools for any kind of development. This ap-
plies to our social and equally to our scien-
tific-technical as well as economic life. The
more complex a problem and the resulting
tasks and contexts, the more detailed and
differentiated language must define and
describe them in order to develop solutions
and bring innovations forward. For this
purpose, technical languages are continu-
ously emerging in order to describe the in-
terrelationships and tasks in science and
production as precisely as possible. How-
ever, these technical languages are usually
based on general language and are accord-
ingly afflicted with inaccuracies and uncer-
tainties and require a maximally exact defi-
nition and delimitation of terms and unam-
biguous designations of objects, functions
and interconnections. Unambiguous termi-
nology, leaving no room for interpretation,
is a very ambitious task with the means of
general language, and numerous examples
could be cited that demonstrate where
even technical languages come up against
clear and often insurmountable limits. An
obvious system must therefore be created
that is accepted by all parties involved in
the process and that eliminates any form of
misinterpretation and misunderstanding.
UA004 -UA01
UA003
-UA01
UA002
-UA01
-UA02
UA001
-UA01
-UA02
Fig. 1. Application of the RDS-PP® using a photovoltaic free-field system.
It goes without saying that this problem
also and especially applies to the genera-
tion and storage of electricity and heat, the
starting point for any form of industrial
and economically targeted action.
Since the beginning of electrification, the
processes for converting fossil, nuclear and
renewable primary energies have become
increasingly complex. Due to technical pro-
gress and legal requirements with regard
to environmental compatibility, occupa-
tional and operational safety, constantly
higher demands are made on components
and processes, which require detailed and
unambiguous language for the clear desig-
nation of components, their relationships
to each other and the representation of
processes: with its power plant identifica-
tion systems KKS and RDS-PP®, VGB
Power­Tech speaks exactly the language of
power plant engineering, which is used
and required nationally as well as interna-
tionally in order to manage the complete
operation of plants for the generation of
electricity and heat. This applies to the en-
tire life cycle of a power plant from project
planning and design, construction and op-
eration to inspection and orderly disman-
tling of plants (F i g u r e 1 ). All these steps
can be clearly described with the VGB pow-
er plant identification system and proce-
dures and processes can be clearly distin-
guished from each other at any time.
-UA02
-UA03
-UA02
-UA03
=MQA01 UA001 -UA02
67
 KKS and RDS-PP® – VGB speaks the language of power plant engineering
Thus, the KKS and RDS-PP® identification
systems are the “master key” to retrieve in-
formation processed in the different sys-
tems involved in power generation and to
link them with each other without redun-
dancy and errors.
KKS and RDS-PP® form the basis for digi-
talised plant management and are:
–– applicable in all conventional, nuclear
and renewable power generation plants,
–– consistent for the entire “life cycle” of a
plant,
–– manufacturer- and language-independ-
ent and
–– equal for all departments involved in
power generation operations.
Without this “language”, it would be virtu-
ally impossible to operate power genera-
tion plants economically and competitively
by simultaneously meeting current re-
quirements as regards occupational and
environmental safety, operational reliabil-
ity and availability. Besides, plant design-
ers, manufacturers, operators, service pro-
viders, licensing authorities, etc. would be
confronted with almost insoluble problems
and thus the existence of entire national
economies would be seriously jeopardised.
Development of the power plant
identification systems
KKS and RDS-PP®
Since the mid-1970s, VGB and its members
have continuously developed a power plant
identification system in order to meet the
needs in planning, construction and opera-
tion of power plants and to ensure uniform
communication between all parties in-
volved. VGB set up the then VGB Technical
VGB PowerTech - All rights reserved - Alle Rechte vorbehalten - © 2021
Committee “Technical Classification Sys-
tems”, that was equally manned by repre-
sentatives of operators, experts, authori-
ties and manufacturers to develop such a
designation system. The system was devel-
oped parallel to or together with DIN
40719-2 (first edition 1978) and the activi-
ties of VGB resulted in the Power Plant
Identification System – KKS. The first edi-
tion of the KKS was also published in 1978
as VGB Guideline VGB-B 105 and is cur-
rently available in its 8th edition of 2018.
With the help of the KKS, mechanical engi-
neering equipment was also labelled in ad-
dition to electrical equipment. Further-
more, KKS was used as a basis for designat-
ing signals, connections and documents.
The guideline was completed by the func-
tion, aggregate and equipment keys. With
its development, the KKS has established
itself worldwide as a recognised “lan-
guage” and is used in countless power gen-
eration plants. The KKS thus became an
“in-house standard” of VGB with interna-
tional validity.
In 2000, DIN 40719-2 was withdrawn and
IEC 61346-2, or DIN 61346-2, were pub-
lished. As a result, code letters were used in
68
-NHC
=NHA =NHB
ELEN
=NHE
= NHG
H 2O
ELEN Electric energy / Elektrische Energie
Fig. 2. Illustration from the RDS-PP® Standard VGB-S-823-41, Application Guideline “Power to Gas”.
the KKS that were no longer covered by a
valid standard and international require-
ments and specifications were no longer
taken into account in the KKS. It became
necessary to further develop the KKS and
to adapt it to the valid international regula-
tions. The Technical Group (TG) “Refer-
ence Designation and Plant Documenta-
tion”, which had been set up by VGB in the
meantime, as successor of the VGB Techni-
cal Committee “Technical Classification
Systems”, made significant contributions
to the development of the power plant
standards DIN 6779-10 and DIN ISO/TS
16952-10. These IEC and ISO standards for
reference designation were published un-
der the joint series of standards 81346 and
form the basic standard of the reference
designation system for power plants – RDS-
PP®: the consistent further development of
the KKS. The RDS-PP® was first published
in the mid-2000s and is now in its 4th edi-
tion. About 90 % of the code letters of the
KKS function key could be adopted in the
new system key of the RDS-PP®. In contrast
to the KKS, the RDS-PP® has been expand-
ed to include indicator blocks for joint and
functional assignment, i.e. links can be cre-
ated between two functions. The RDS-PP®
provides the basis for an object-oriented
identification of individual plant compo-
nents with any number of relationships to
other objects and is thus predestined to be
applied in an operational management sys-
tem. The uniform and consistent structur-
ing as well as the unambiguous identifica-
tion of plants increases plant and personal
safety and excludes confusion. The RDS-
PP® was also developed for renewable pow-
VGB PowerTech 1/2 l 2021
H2
O2
er generation technologies such as wind,
water and photovoltaics and takes their ad-
ditional requirements into due account. An
RDS-PP® application guideline is also al-
ready available for power-to-gas (F i g u r e
2 ). KKS and RDS-PP® are developed by
VGB in the German and English language
(F i g u r e 3 and F i g u r e 4 ).
KKS or RDS-PP?
Since the end of the 1970s, the KKS has
been used successfully worldwide and has
been further developed to RDS-PP® due to
international standardisation, which form
its basis. Nevertheless, the KKS, which has
now been tried and tested for decades, con-
tinues to be used and is also applied in new
plants, especially if an existing fleet is al-
ready designated with KKS and operational
management and control systems are ac-
cordingly available and also linked corre-
spondingly, e.g. with a company informa-
tion system (ERP) such as SAP.
In the wind sector, however, the newer
RDS-PP® has become established and is
used there rather than the KKS.
Additional use
of designation systems
Apart from communication, which is inde-
pendent of manufacturers and which is in
line with standards, the VGB identification
systems KKS and RDS-PP® are also used in
other areas that are very important for the
safe and economic operation of power
plants:
 VGB PowerTech 1/2 l 2021 KKS and RDS-PP® – VGB speaks the language of power plant engineering

Furthermore, the KKS and the RDS-PP® are

Basic Standards (incl. part thermal power plants)
VGB-S-811-01-2018-01-EN
KKS-Guideline for
Application and Key Part
KKS-Standards
also an indispensable prerequisite for
benchmarking tasks. The analysis of weak
VGB-B 106e VGB-B 105.1 points, both within and across companies,
KKS-Application Explanations KKS-Begriffszuordnungsliste
General & Specific zum Aggregate- und nationally and internationally, would hard-
ly be feasible without corresponding desig-
Betriebsmittelschlüssel*

Supplementary power plant type specific parts
VGB-S-831-00-2015-05-EN
nation and identification of individual
VGB-B 106 D1e
components and processes. The systems
KKS-Application Explanations
for Hydro Power Plants
are also used in VGB´s database KISSY. The
benefits of such benchmarks are indisput-
able and, again in terms of occupational
 safety, environmental compatibility, avail-
ability and economic efficiency, a fixed
item on the agenda of energy suppliers
worldwide.

Updating of KKS and RDS-PP®
VGB-S-832-00-2012-06-EN-DE VGB-S-891-00-2012-06-DE-EN VGB-B 108 d/e

As mentioned before, the VGB TG “Refer-

Provision of Technical Designation codes for VGB abbreviation catalogue Rules for the creation of denomi-
Documentation for document kind for power plant technology nations and their application
Energy Supply Units classification code (DCC key) for power plant engineering
ence Designation and Plant Documenta-
Supplementary VGB-Standards tion” is primarily in charge of maintaining
DE/d/(void): German edition. EN/e: English edition. *List of terms assigned to the equipment unit keys, and component keys. only available in German. and updating the KKS as well as the RDS-
PP® (F i g u r e 5 ). About 15 experts from
Fig. 3. Overview of the KKS code and the associated VGB Standards with the basic standards the circle of operators, manufacturers and
and the generation-specific standard for hydropower. The standards are either published consultants work together in this group. In
as bilingual edition, German-English, or as separate German- or English-language publica- contrast to other VGB committees, the
tions. The publication VGB-B 105.1 is only available in the German language. The supple- work of the TG “Reference Designation and
mentary publications complete the basic set of KKS basic rules, especially with regard to Plant Documentation” is based on its own
documentation.
rules of procedure. As in the predecessor
committee, all members of the technical
group still have equal voting rights and any
conflicts of interest are resolved immedi-
RDS-PP®-Standards ately in the group by the parties involved.
Basic Standards (incl. part thermal power plants)
The individual parties cooperate in a prac-
VGB-S-821-00-2016-06-EN
RDS-PP®
VGB-B 102 d/e
RDS-PP® Letter Codes
VGB-S-823-01-2015-09-EN-DE
RDS-PP® Application Guideline
tical and results-oriented manner and are
System Key for Basic Functions Power Plants, General part of this symbiotic team of experts. This
and Product Classes
ensures that the individual interests of
Supplementary power plant type specific parts
each stakeholder can be optimally taken
VGB-S-823-31-2014-12-EN-DE VGB-S-823-32-2014-03-EN-DE VGB-S-823-33-2018-07-EN-DE into account.
RDS-PP® Application Guideline RDS-PP® Application Guideline RDS-PP® Application Guideline
Hydro Power Plants Wind Power Plants Photovoltaic Power Plants Problems that arise in daily work are
brought to the group‘s attention by opera-
VGB PowerTech - All rights reserved - Alle Rechte vorbehalten - © 2021

VGB-S-823-34-2020-12-EN-DE VGB-S-823-41-2018-07-EN-DE tors or consultants. These issues are put on

RDS-PP® Application Guideline RDS-PP® Application Guideline
Combustion Engines Power to Gas the group´s agenda and are discussed in
order to identify solutions promptly. The
TG offers initial advice (first level support)


for questions concerning power plant des-



ignation and arranges experts for the im-




plementation of optimisation projects.

VGB-S-831-00-2015-05-EN VGB-S-832-00-2012-06-EN-DE VGB-S-891-00-2012-06-DE-EN VGB-B 108 d/e Representatives of VGB member compa-
Provision of Technical
Documentation for
Designation codes for
document kind
VGB abbreviation catalogue
for power plant technology
Rules for the creation of denomi-
nations and their application nies are invited to actively participate in
Energy Supply Units classification code (DCC key) for power plant engineering
the further development of the VGB power
Supplementary VGB-Standards plant designation systems and to support
DE/d: German edition. EN/e: English edition. shaping the future development of the des-
ignation systems.
Fig. 4. Overview of the RDS-PP® Standards and the associated VGB Standards with the basic
standards and the generation-specific Standard on hydropower, wind power, photovolta-
ics, combustion engines and “power to gas”. The standards are either published as bilin- Documentation and use
gual edition, German-English, or as separate German- or English-language works. The sup-
plementary publications complete the RDS-PP® basic set of rules, especially with regard to
of KKS and RDS-PP®
documentation.
Thanks to the detailed explanations of KKS
On the one hand, the designation systems fiers for energy supply systems. With these and RDS-PP®, users are enabled to label
also offer the possibility of assigning docu- specifications, communication is signifi- their plants in accordance with regulations
mentation to the corresponding compo- cantly improved between all partners en- with the corresponding assignment of
nents/systems. In this context, the VGB trusted with the handling of documents. plant documentation.
documentation standards VGB-S-831-00 Unnecessary costs can thus be effectively Currently the KKS comprises a total of nine
and VGB-S-832-00 should be mentioned. and sustainably avoided and power plant VGB Standards in German or English with
These standards describe requirements for operators are enabled to operate their around 2,600 pages of documentation and
the scope of delivery of technical docu- plants independently and also independ- information. The KKS key part with func-
mentation and the use of document identi- ent of OEM. tion key, equipment unit key and compo-

69
 KKS and RDS-PP® – VGB speaks the language of power plant engineering VGB PowerTech 1/2 l 2021

Conclusion
=MRH Regardless of the degree of industrialisa-
=MRG
=MRE tion, power generation is undoubtedly one
of the most important and complex tasks of
a society. The reliable supply of energy and
thus the successful operation of each indi-
=MRN
vidual power plant – regardless of the pri-
mary energy used – requires a designation
system for the consistent identification of
plant components and processes. KKS and
=MRK
RDS-PP® offer these possibilities from
=MRE
planning to orderly dismantling. Starting
with project planning, through plant oper-
ation and up to the planned end of opera-
=MRV
tion, all process participants speak the
=MUG same “VGB language” and can thus com-
municate with each other nationally and
also internationally without any problems.
Thanks to this VGB power plant language,
data can be exchanged independently of
manufacturers and operators, enabling
Fig. 5: Image from the currently published RDS-PP Standard on „Power supply systems with inter- power plant operators to operate and
nal combustion engines“. maintain their plants independently and,
in the end, to dismantle them in compli-
nent key are made up of about 10,000 data ance with legal requirements and regula-
sets, each for German and English. The tions.
“KKS Pocketbook” (148 pages), which is
available free of charge as a print and eB-
ook, and the KKS app for iOS and Android For further information please visit VGB‘s
operating systems, which is also free of KKS/RDS-PP® topic page:
charge, support the user on site (Figure 6). https://kks.vgb.org
The RDS-PP® currently comprises a total of
10 VGB Standards in German or English The German language version of this article
was published in VGB POWERTECH 1/2
with around 3,200 pages of documenta- (2021), pp- 68. l
tion and information. The RDS-PP® key
part comprises about 9,000 data sets of the
system key. The free “RDS-PP Pocket-
book2” (German and English edition, 74
pages each), available as print and eBook,
as well as the KKS app for the operating
systems iOS and Android, which is also free
VGB PowerTech - All rights reserved - Alle Rechte vorbehalten - © 2021

of charge, support the user on site.

For the user and operator of KKS and RDS-
PP®, VGB also offers customised license
models that are oriented to the respective
requirements of a project, from planning to
construction and operation to decommis-
sioning.

Fig. 6. iOS/Android-App for

KKS and RDS-PP.

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