Course Time Table for This One-Day Tutorial
Start 8:30 am
Coffee Break 10:00 am
Luncheon 12 Noon
Restart 1:00 pm
Refreshments 2:30 pm
Adjournment 4:00 pm (approx.)

Substation Integration and Automation
Note: Newton-Evans Research is conducting its sixth market study of global efforts at substation automation and integration programs. The 2005 series of reports measures current market sizes, and estimated and forecasts demand for substation automation and integration equipment and systems. In addition to profiling utility requirements and plans, the research program defines the broader product and market requirements which suppliers must meet in order to participate in the SA&I programs of utilities.

Current substation A&I strategies will be discussed, along with the obstacles faced by substation planning teams. Communications methods, protocol usage, physical linkages from IEDs to the substation, within the substation and from the substation to the control center will be highlighted.

Highlights from the Newton-Evans study will set the stage and provide a real-world overview and current status report for John McDonald’s tutorial program.

The best practices of substation integration and automation will cover three primary areas – system architecture, protocols and a utility case study. Definitions of Intelligent Electronic Device (IED), IED Implementation, IED Integration, and Substation Automation will be discussed. Rather than using the term "Substation Automation", we prefer to use the term "Substation Integration and Automation", which is more indicative of the work being done by utilities today. There are three levels of work being done in the substation today: IED Implementation, IED Integration, and Substation Automation. The focus of utilities today is at the IED Integration level. The three functional data paths from the integrated substation to the utility enterprise will be discussed regarding bandwidth requirements and protocols. We will differentiate between new versus existing substations. We will discuss the fundamentals of protocols, and the protocol considerations for IEDs, substation networks, and communications from the substation to SCADA/EMS. We will then review current industry substation integration and automation projects, and see a sample utility case study including the functional system architecture that was in the Request For Proposal (RFP), and the actual vendor/integrator architecture installed in the utility's substation to meet the functional requirements.

10:30AM - Coffee

10:45AM - 12:00Noon

Improving Asset Utilization and Management through the Use of Non-Operational Data
Due to the growth of substation IEDs and apparatus measurement equipment utilities now have access to a large generally untapped source of data that allow operations to improve asset utilization and help apparatus maintenance to reduce costs and improve apparatus reliability.

Transformer capacity algorithms often do not take into account the current state of transformer components such as the status of the cooling system, health of the bushing and condition of the load tap changer. Non operational data can be collected and automatically analyzed in near time to provide greater insights into the condition of the asset to allow operations to make more informed decisions to help optimize the utilization of those assets.

Apparatus maintenance generally relies upon limited data collected by SCADA and routine onsite visits to manage the maintenance of T&D apparatus. Often valuable data from IEDs including load and fault data from differential relays are not made available. With the automated collection and analysis of IED and equipment measurement data, maintenance groups can implement a more cost effective conditioned based maintenance program and in many cases by notified of an issue with equipment before a catastrophic failure.

This presentation will describe a substation to enterprise level architecture for the collection and warehousing of non-operational data. Methods for the automated analysis of collected data will be presented, including functionality for near-time notification and reporting. Examples of breaker and transformer analyses will be given along with how the system can be used to support an apparatus conditioned based maintenance program.

12:00PM - Luncheon

1:00PM - 1:45PM

Leveraging Technology in Substation Automation Projects
Reducing life cycle cost is a key consideration in present day substation automation projects. Leveraging technology to reduce such costs and at the same time increasing flexibility of design is essential. The presentation will discuss the application of modern technology to obtain such benefits.

1:45PM - 2:45PM

Georgia Transmission Corporation’s Relay Data Server Project Case Study – Using Non-Operational Data
Philibert Pérusse, Eng., M.Appl.Sc., Cybectec Inc.
Utilities are installing new substation IEDs at a rate that often exceeds their capacity to manage them. Most are installed to replace aging protection equipment as well as for equipment monitoring and metering applications. These IEDs have the potential to provide a wealth of operational and non-operational data with far-reaching consequences on many areas of activity.

To reach this potential, IEDs must be managed – they must be configured, their clocks must be synchronized and they must be monitored for correct operation on a regular basis.

In this presentation, we describe the Relay Data Server system implemented at Georgia Transmission Corporation in November 2003. This system uses the previously installed substation LANs and Frame Relay network to monitor and retrieve event and waveform data from more than 500 relays in 190 substations. The retrieved data is available to more than 40 users from corporate intranet desktops, via a secure website.

We will also discuss the implementation and deployment issues encountered during the first year. The overall architecture is presented in detail, from the initial requirements to the changes that were necessary. Real life issues are discussed – technological choices, deployment, security, WAN and bandwidth usage, local versus remote tradeoffs, substation hardware, reliability and availability, universal access, maintenance, automated end-user applications, clock synchronization and more.

Finally, we conclude by describing how this system stands relative to the ideal integration scheme and how it should evolve, showing the additional steps that GTC intends to pursue in order to make maximum use of the existing assets, bringing a whole new range of benefits from the initial efforts.

2:45PM - Refreshments

3:00PM - 3:45PM

ICommunication Architecture, Technology, and Protocol Choice Impact on Life Cycle Costs
The migration towards automated substations and Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs) has increased the amount of information and access requirements to and from the substation. Appropriate selection of communication architectures, technology, and protocols can have large impact on the overall lifecycle and business costs associated with such a substation.

This presentation will discuss the choices and impacts and include a case study in comparing life cycle costs of DNP 3.0 versus IEC 61850 implemented substations.