Page 70 - North American Clean Energy November December 2019 Issue

energy efficiency Simplifying Distribution Automation in Substations and Pole-Tops by Caroline Fricks Wood Technological advances in “all-in-one” communication and automation processors allow distribution of information in many protocols, while performing sophisticated logic functions and alarm annunciation. Utility substation automation schemes are typically complex, involving a variety of intelligent electronic devices (IEDs), microprocessor-based relays, meters, and monitoring devices. The information collected is then sent to communication processors or RTUs, before being passed on to proprietary HMI interfaces, SCADA Master Stations, Energy Management Systems (EMS), and/or enterprise networks. Within this scheme, the component parts are often cobbled together by utility automation groups from a multitude of competitor options, with varying protocols (some proprietary), configuration options, wireless transmission bands, and interconnections. Given that utilities may have hundreds of substations, and even more pole-tops, to monitor and control remotely, the complexity of distribution automation has traditionally been staggering. Fortunately, over the past two decades, substation automation has evolved. “In the past, the design of the substation was a patchwork of many different devices,” says Russ Fanning, a P.E. with over a decade experience in the automation group of a large utility. “Once you finally got the patchwork figured out, you could replicate that pattern, but when you went to the next substation and you wanted to bring in something new, you were starting from scratch again and trying to patch that new piece in.” Today, Fanning says the focus is on stripping out as much of the complexity associated with substation automation as possible. Recent technological advances have reduced the need for all that hardware. Instead, “all-in-one” communication and automation processor units interpret and distribute information in many protocols - while performing sophisticated logic functions and alarm annunciation - without the need for PLCs and racks of RTUs. These all-in-one devices even eliminate the need for security-risk PCs and proprietary HMI interfaces. The communication and automation processor can connect to nearly any substation device in its native protocol, perform advanced math and logic, and securely present the source or calculated data to any number of clients in their preferred protocol. For utilities concerned about support, looking to install equipment in new greenfield substations, or upgrading aging legacy technology, this is a welcome development. Interpreting Communications and Protocols Fanning started his career as protection technician. After getting his engineering degree, he worked in substation engineering as a protection engineer, then R&D engineer, then became a principal engineer in the substation automation group. “In my last 5-6 years at the utility, I was responsible for distribution automation and substation integration, utilizing a system that interfaced with all the IEDs that were inside the substation and at the pole-tops. I integrated pole-top device IEDs into the distribution automation systems when they were enabled with communication capabilities,” says Fanning. Over the years, the utility has installed more than 500 distribution automation systems to improve the operations of both old and new substations. An algorithm designed to automate the switching of substation breakers and pole-top devices works to restore power and/or avoid power outages and equipment damage. The challenge was having to work around ways to retrieve the data from the IEDs and other devices. Multiple protocols are often used for distribution automation, including proprietary protocols with custom communication links. “In a typical substation set-up at the time, there was often different software in each device, and I would have to manipulate the data just to be able to share it,” says Fanning. “One system needed a proprietary protocol and software just to communicate to the device.” 70 NOVEMBER•DECEMBER2019 /// www.nacleanenergy.com