Thesis (Master of Engineering in Electrical Engineering)--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, [2018]. / Introduction of IEC 61850 standard defined substation automation system communication. The need of interoperability among the relevant devices coming from different vendors is a necessity to ensure utilities/municipalities obtain value for money. Vendors used their own proprietary tools to achieve communication in a substation. This caused an Intelligent Electronic Device (IED) from vendor A could not communicate with an IED from vendor B. Utilities/municipalities are forced to depend on single vendor solutions in a substation automation system. IEC 61850 systems tout Interoperability as a major gain in the Substation Automation System (SAS) environment. The implementation of interoperable systems in SAS environment requires extensive testing and careful selection of vendors. This involves extensive testing to meet the required requirements of a certain SAS. Interoperability implementation and testing methods need to be formulated and tested rigorously with various scenarios of interoperability in an SAS. GOOSE messages form the foundation of IEC 61850 standard as they are responsible for the copper-less connections for peer to peer communications. GOOSE messages are based on peer to peer communications to enable interoperability at the bay level which is called horizontal communication. IEDs need to be carefully selected to ensure GOOSE messaging interoperability is achieved. Test methods are equally important as methodology to achieve interoperability. The purpose of this research is to perform an investigation on interoperability of IEC 61850 conformant IEDs based on evaluation of their protection functions. The research looks at various vendors on how each has interpreted the IEC 61850 standard. Also an analysis on requirements to achieve interoperability is conducted. Investigation on various vendor independent system configuration tools to ease the implementation burden of a multivendor application is done. Evaluation into flexible object modelling and naming conventions in order to achieve interoperability is performed. Various tests using different tools to assess the integrity of interoperability are completed. The research delivers a methodology to evaluate and implement GOOSE message interoperability. The interoperability methodology can be used for improvement of interoperability applications. The methodology can also be implemented as procurement requirement to ensure interoperability. The evaluation/implementation of interoperability can be included in Factory Acceptance Test (FAT). The methodology to achieve interoperability is only usefully when requirements are clear with regard to what needs to achieved by SAS.

Thesis (MTech (Electrical Engineering))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2016. / Electricity substation monitoring and control systems have evolved over the years from simple systems capable of achieving minimalistic functions to autonomous, self-healing smart grid schemes (Farhangi, 2010). The migration of technology to networked smart grid systems was driven by the need for standardisation of communication networks, system configuration and also the reduction of system implementation costs and engineering time. Before the introduction of a uniform communication standard, legacy (non-standardised) communication protocols, for example, the Distributed Network Protocol (DNP3) were used by Remote Terminal Units (RTUs) for information exchange (Luwaca, 2014). These communication protocols could not provide a standard naming convention or data semantics since the data/information was accessed using an address-based system. The implementation of automation systems based on legacy protocols and RTUs was expensive because of parallel copper wiring required to connect instrument transformers and circuit breakers to multiple RTUs for protection and monitoring functions (Iloh et al., 2014). Legacy systems refer to Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems implemented using RTUs and legacy communication protocols. Legacy systems tended to be vendor specific because devices from different vendors did not support the same communication protocol. These issues led to the introduction of the IEC 61850 standard. The IEC 61850 standard for “communication networks and systems in a substation” provides standardised naming convention, data semantics, standardised device configuration and also device interoperability and interchangeability in some instances. The IEC 61850 standard provides a solution to expensive parallel copper wiring and standardisation issues experienced with legacy protocols. In as much as the introduction of the IEC 61850 standard addresses problems experienced with legacy system there is still a need to provide inexpensive access to IEC 61850-compliant devices and effective knowledge transfer to facilitate implementation of automation systems based on this standard. The development of an IEC 61850-compliant device requires a specialised skillset and financial investment for research and industrialisation therefore only a few vendors manufacture these devices resulting in an increase in production and manufacturing costs. For this reason this research project develops VHDL modules for mapping IEC 61850-9-2 Sampled Value (SV) messages and IEC 61850-8-1 Generic Object Oriented Substation Event (GOOSE) messages on a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) platform. Sampled values are used for transmitting current and voltage transformer (CT and VT) measurements to protection devices while GOOSE messages exchange information/commands between primary equipment (CT, VT and circuit breaker) and protection devices over an Ethernet network known as the process bus.

Thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Technology: Electrical Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology / The electric power distribution network, an essential section of the electric power system, supplies electrical power to the customer. Automating the distribution network allows for better efficiency, reliability, and level of work through the installation of distribution control systems. Presently, research and development efforts are focused in the area of communication technologies and application of the IEC 61850 protocol to make distribution automation more comprehensive, efficient and affordable. The aim of the thesis is to evaluate the relevance of the IEC61850 standard-based technology in the development and investigation of the distribution automation for a typical underground distribution network through the development of a distribution automation algorithm for fault detection, location, isolation and service restoration and the building of a lab scale test bench Distribution Automation (DA) has been around for many decades and each utility applies its developments for different reasons. Nowadays, due to the advancement in the communication technology, authentic and automatic reconfigurable power system that replies swiftly to instantaneous events is possible. Distribution automation functions do not only supersede legacy devices, but it allows the distribution network to function on another lever. The primary function of a DA system is to enable the devices on the distribution network to be operated and controlled remotely to automatically locate, isolate and reconnect supply during fault conditions. Utilities have become increasingly interested in DA due to the numerous benefits it offers. Operations, maintenance and efficiencies within substations and out on the feeders can be improved by the development of new additional capabilities of DA. Furthermore, the new standard-based technology has advanced further than a traditional Distribution Supervisory and Control Data Acquisition (DSCADA) system. These days the most important components of a DA system include Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs). IEDs have evolved through the years and execute various protection related actions, monitoring and control functions and are very promising for improving the operation of the DA systems. The thesis has developed an algorithm for automatic fault detection, location, isolation and system supply restoration using the functions of the IEC61850 standard-based technology. A lab scale system that would meet existing and future requirements for the control and automation of a typical underground distribution system is designed and constructed. The requirement for the lab scale distribution system is to have the ability to clear faults through reliable and fast protection operation, isolate faulted section/s, on the network and restore power to the unaffected parts of the network through automation control operation functions of the IEC61850 standard. Various tests and simulations have been done on the lab scale test bench to prove that the objective of the thesis is achieved. Keywords: IEC61850 Standard, Distribution automation, Distribution automation system, IEDs, Lab scale test bench, Protection, Algorithm for automatic control