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Power System Automation  (PSA) Based on IEC 61850 for Substations

in 2009  I was working for Gulf Power Distribution Systems (GPDS) located in Dammam Saudi Arabia  as a  business manager . GPDS is a GE certified OEM plant manufacturing medium/low voltage switchgear/controlgear ,relay protection panels and substation automation systems. Saudi Aramco,one of the worlds largest oil companies had two major challenges .

  1) All  existing switchgear was non arc resistant. Protection and  Metering functions were monitored by dedicated devices.

2) All the existing substation automation system was based on Modbus/DNP3/GE Harris 6000 using legacy devices ( RTU’s,digital fault recorder/Annunciator Panels)

Saudi Aramco was looking for an alternate solution which could offer safe operation of switchgear, interoperability, fast configuration,long term stability,fast communication for load shedding in the Refinery as compared to their legacy system.

Saudi  Aramco decided to implement  IEC 61850 Framework for all protection and automation systems on their new power upgrade projects.

All the principal switchgear /Protection relay manufactures had developed IEC 61850 complied devices and software. Since Protection and Automation were separate in the legacy system , while IEC 61850 Combines both protection and automation. Saudi Aramco didn't want a monopoly and wanted  diversified vendors . Saudi Aramco decided to use independent IEC 61850 compliance software providers. 

This was a very challenging task for switchgear manufacturers as their core business was manufacturing switchgear  and not automation. 

In GPDS we decided to add a substation automation system based on IEC 61850 and train our engineering team fo IEC 81850 compliant hardware and software,resulting in increased revenue and diversification of our product portfolio

GPDS selected Copa Data Austria for IEC 61850 software . We sent our engineers to Austria and got them certified.

We conducted a workshop for Saudi Aramco and demonstrated the interoperability between Different relay manufacturers devices.

Copa Data technical team had technical  discussions with Saudi Aramco’s engineering team and addressed all the concerns resulting in the approval of  Copa Data  as  a IEC 61850 compliant software provider. 

Saudi Aramco Awarded the Power Upgrade project to GPDS consisting of Protection panels and Power system automation based on the IEC 61850 framework. GPDS was the only switchgear manufacturer in Saudi Arabia who could offer both Protection panels and power system automation in one package.

The package consisted of the following:

1) Power system automation project (PSA) was based on IEC 61850 framework consisting of two substations, two Central control rooms to communicate with the master control station located 150 km away.

2) Design/assembly/testing of Protection control panels for Primary/Secondary line1/line 2, Bus protection,Circuit breaker protection and Transformer Feeders (17 panels in total).

One substation and central control room (CCR) was for Abqaiq GOSP 2 (gas/oil separation plant ) and the other substation and CCR  was for NorthWips( Water injection plant) both had to interface with the master station located 150 Km away operating on the GE Harris 6000 protocol.

Saudi Aramco developed the following standards for Power system automation (PSA) based on IEC 61850 Frame work:

1)  Switchgear  PSA level 1

 1a) All the switchgear protection devices had to be IEC 61850      compliant. Gateways and fiber optic patch panels need to interface  with the Substation PSA and central control room PSA panels.

2)  Substation PSA level 2.

3)  Central control room PSA level 3.

Please click for PSA level 2 block diagram

4)  Protection Relays Multi functional ( Protection/metering) IEC 61850 compliant with redundant ports.

5)  Ethernet switches IEC 61850 Compliant minimum level 2 managed. 

6)  Fibre optic multi mode cable located inside the substation,Fiber optic patch cords.

7) Gateways IEC 61850 compliant.

Each substation consists the following switchgear/protection control line ups.

a)  69kv Outdoor GIS switchgear installed in Switch Yard (Circuit breakers ,Isolating switches,Grounding switches).

b)  34,5KV switchgear  ( Main Tie Main and 10 feeders)

c) 480 V switchgear ( Main Tie Main 6 feeders)

d) Protection Relay panels  for HV switchgear ( primary/secondary Line /transformers/circuit beaker/bus protection Panels 17 in total)

Relays were SEL IEC 61850 compliant.

e) Power Transformers with ABB OLTC controller.

f) Legacy  devices ( Fire Alarm control panels, Transformers alarms winding temperature)

The  switchgear/protection control panel vendor was required to connect all the IEC 61850 device main and redundant  FO ports to FO patch panels located with the switchgear/protection panels / All the legacy devices were connected to a Gateway (converting modbus/DI/DO to IEC 61850) on Each switchgear  bus especially in the case of low voltage Circuit breaker trip units  operated on modbus or DI/DO signals).

The Substation power Substation Automation Level 2

Consists of Power System Automation Panel,Work station loaded with Copa Data Zenon 7 (IEC 61850 software) with monitor and printer,46 Inch NEC touch screen.The workstation is used to modify and operate the system Locally by Authorized staff.

Power system Automation Panel Main Components

Ruggedcom Canada IEC  61850 compliant managed main and redundant Ethernet Switches

SEL,Kalkitech gateways, Time tool SR series NTP server with antenna for Time Synchronization ,UPS , SEL 3354 industrial computer loaded with IO server  Software converting IEC  61850 to GE harries protocol Communication to Saudi Aramco Dhahran Master station,Fiber optic patch panels,patch chords, Each IEC 61850  IED  in switchgear  main/redundant  FO port  is connected to main and redundant Ethernet switches via multi mode fiber optic Cables. 

The Central Control room (CCR) power Substantiation Level 3  consists of power system automation panel, main and redundant servers ,work station loaded with Copa Data Zenon software , ethernet switches workstation with Monitor,UPS and Printers,

The Substation and Central control room were linked with Fiber optic cable Single mode. 

Operation Philosophy

The master IO list was developed for each Breaker control and status

Click for Snapshots

The SEL relays were configured as per IO list and protection schemes

We got the ICD files for each relay ,We developed the HMI and system to process all the commands/Status as per iO list using Copa Data Zenon client software loaded on Substation workstation.

Please see HMI  screen snap shots for 69kv/34.5KV and power transformers.

Copa Data Zenon Client and  two severs licenced Zenon software was installed on CCR workstations and servers. 

The system was operated from CCR and in case of Failure in Substation CCR server will take over and  if the there is a failure in the CCR substation operation substation, the system will be Intact. In Case of power restoration /Removal of fault , the system will be restored

The whole system is working based on client server topology.

All the IED’s are connected to Substations Ethernet switches in the Substation PSA panel/CCR PSA panel.

All the Ethernet switches are connected based on Ring topology.

All the gateways got redundant output ports 

Please   see the CCR level 3 system architect drawing 

The power transformer OLTC controller was IEC 61850 compliant and we were able  to raise and/lower the voltage level via virtual push buttons on a 46 inch touch screen.The screen will show all the critical alarm statuses with time stamps,it has reset/acknowledged virtual  push buttons .We  hard wired the signal to spare contacts of IEC 61850 relays and process these via the Copa Data Zenon Software.

Click the transformer relay snapshot

Click for Annunciator panel snapshot

We loaded IO server  ( Converting IEC 61850 to GE Harris 6000) on SEL 3354 to communicate with Saudi Aramco master station in Dhahran operating on the GE Harris 6000 protocol 

Saudi Aramco/GPDS engineering tested all the signals using simulator. Saudi Aramco configured the master station Scada system accordingly

Saudi Aramco was able to control all 69KV breakers,34.5 kv switchgear main tie main and feeders and 480V main breakers only from the Aramco master control station.

Saudi Aramco tested the command/status time and it was 2 to 4 ms.

2006 – I was working for Switchgear manufacturers called Gulf Power Distribution Works Lmtd, (GPDS), located in Dammam, Saudi Arabia. GPDS was the approved manufacturer of switchgear for Saudi Aramco, an oil and gas company. Back then, the Saudi Aramco standard did not require arc-proof switchgear. This was a huge safety issue for Aramco engineers and technicians, which ended up resulting in several fatalities. Aramco was hesitant to replace the non arc-proof switchgears with arc-proof switchgears as these switchgears were already energized in oil and gas plants. They were looking for a long term solution because they could not afford to shut down the oil and gas facilities. They also did not want to change the existing protection control scheme.

I proposed two options:

1)    To install new arc flash relays, and arm switches in order to clear the fault in minimum time.

2)     To control the breakers and monitor the power parameters from remote control cabinets, located 30 ft away from the arc-flash zone but within the building

Saudi Aramco ended up accepting option 2 as it required minimum modifications in the existing control protection scheme. It was also the more economical option for the company because it resulted in minimum shut downs. Saudi Aramco awarded GPDS with a contract to implement option 2, allowing them to modify seven substations. Two of the substations were located in the Riyadh refinery and five of them were located in the Yanbu refinery/NGL plant.

The existing switchgear was 115kv/13.8kv/4.16kv/480v and the total number of breakers was 250.The 115KV switchgear was gas insulated, while the others were vacuum breakers.

Option 2 required modifications in two parts:

1)    Switchgear  close/Trip  control circuit modification

2)    Design/development of the remote control circuit breaker system cabinet

Saudi Aramco required the following commands and status for each HV/MV breakers:

·         On/off Command, Open/close/trip/rack in/out status, and metering data

We developed the complete I/O list for each substation switchgear line up.

We modified the existing close/trip circuit by using a new selector switch in parallel with the close/trip control circuit of each feeder. Please see the modified control circuit drawing for one typical feeder below.

 Riyadh Refinery Typical modified Circuit

We used circuit breaker cell auxiliary switch  spare contacts ( Mechanism operated contact  MOC)  and other circuit breaker cell auxiliary switch spare contact (Truck operated contacts TOC) to monitor the following statuses: open/close/ rack in/rack out.

The ion metering devices 7600/7650 were installed on each bus of the switchgear.

We daisy-chained all the meters of each bus as the protocol were operating on Modbus, and we connected all these daisy-chained meters to Vizimax Righwon Gateway. This gateway converts Modbus protocol to IEC 61850. There were spare ports available on these meters, so we wired Lockout  relay  spare contacts to these ports  to get  Circuit breaker trip status. The On/off command were issued using SEL 2440 high interrupting gateway contacts , Via zenon software. We also used the subnet Canada substation server to communicate with the Saudi Aramco master control center, operating on GE harries 6000 & DNP 3 protocol.

Remote control Circuit breaker panel consist of following major components.

We used Copd data Zenon  Energy edition IEC 61850  software to develop the HMI  and configure process all commands and status

Following are the major hardware component  .All component must compaly to IEC 61850 

Ruggedcom Canada IEC 61850 compliant managed switches

SEL 2440 ( Discrete Programmable automation controller DPAC) Gateways converting DI/DO signals to IEC 61850

Vizimax  Rightwon gateway converting Modbus RTU  to IEC 61850

Subnet Canada server    Converting IEC 61850 to GE Harris 6000

NTP server  time synchronizing clock 

ELIO  19 inch touch screen  rack mounted 

Moxa 683  IEC 61850 compliant  rack mounted industrial computer

Copa Data Austria  Zenon Energy Edition IEC 61850software loaded on Moxa 683

Fiber Optic Patch panels and patch Chords

These component were assemble in Control Cabinet  and all the engineering design and test was by Gulf Power Distribution Systems works Limited (GPDS)

GPDS was First switchgear manufacturer to develop to develop and implement Arc mitigation program for existing non Arc proof switchgear.

Remote control cabinet /Architect diagram/HMI  Snap shots

We installed the remote control circuit breaker cabinet and laid control and power cables between switchgear and remote control cabinets.  We uploaded Zenon Energy edition on the Moxa 683 computer, developed HMI control commands .We tested the following:

On/off command, open/close/trip/rack in/rack out status, power parameters, critical alarms, and sequence of events

We achieved the remote control of breakers by controlling the breakers away from the arc flash zone within the switchgear building from the control cabinet touch screen and from the Saudi Aramco master control station with minimum shutdowns, therefore enhancing the safety requirement for Saudi Aramco operating staff in seven substations.