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Projects: Projects for Investigator
Reference Number	NIA_NGET0162
Title	Digital Substation - Virtual Site Acceptance Testing & Training
Status	Completed
Energy Categories	Other Power and Storage Technologies(Electricity transmission and distribution) 100%;
Research Types	Applied Research and Development 100%
Science and Technology Fields	ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Electrical and Electronic Engineering) 100%
UKERC Cross Cutting Characterisation	Not Cross-cutting 100%
Principal Investigator	Project Contact No email address given National Grid Electricity Transmission
Award Type	Network Innovation Allowance
Funding Source	Ofgem
Start Date	01 March 2015
End Date	01 November 2017
Duration	32 months
Total Grant Value	£405,000
Industrial Sectors	Power
Region	London
Programme	Network Innovation Allowance
Investigators	Principal Investigator	Project Contact , National Grid Electricity Transmission (100.000%)
Web Site	http://www.smarternetworks.org/project/NIA_NGET0162
Objectives	The project aims to address the lifecycle issue described above by enabling the application of AS3 based designs on the transmission network. The main enabling factor is to develop a Virtual Site Acceptance Testing & Training (VSATT) facility to achieve the following: Test and demonstrate interoperability between suppliers’ Standard Bay Solutions. Finalise and validate technical specifications, processes and procedures that are vital to achieve interoperability and enable site roll out. Reduce the overall technical and commercial risks associated with secondary systems and drive customer value as a result of: improved supplier choice resulting from interoperable equipment lower installation cost as a result of reduced site wiring requirements and plug and play replacement. Lower engineering cost as a result of automating key parts of the engineering and configuration process. Reduced system access requirements. A successful demonstration of this project will provide the following key deliverables: To assemble an engineering facility (VSATT) for partner vendors to carry out virtual site acceptance tests on an AS3 based digital substation design. To assess feasibility of vendor interoperability on a station bus using IEC61850-8-1 and MMS control data exchange between bays supplied by different suppliers and between bays and master unit. To demonstrate IEC61850 technologies and the benefits of AS3 based digital substation implementations and performance to stakeholders. To determine the feasibility of IEEE1588 time synchronisation for key substation functions. To produce a suite of technical specifications and documented processes enabling safe site installation of interoperable AS3 based solutions.
Abstract	Protection and control systems are assets which enable remote control and monitoring of the Electricity Transmission Network. Crucially, they protect the public and network during faults by automatically switching faulty parts of the network out. All assets on the transmission network require maintenance and eventually replacement. In order to carry out maintenance of these systems, the electricity network has to undertake outages, which can impact on the rest of the system as it can cause constraints. Planned outages are managed years in advance to factor in routine maintenance, and can potentially be unplanned to factor in outages required for faults. Due to outage requirements and system access constraints, the current achievable replacement rate for protection and control systems is about 5% per annum. It would therefore take around 20 years to complete a whole cycle of replacements. However, the typical asset life for these systems is 10-15 years, dependant on the system. These life expectancies are due to the fast pace of change in technology, making some of the systems obsolete, creating a lack of availability of technical support. Driven by these challenges, National Grid has started various initiatives to set up a new Architecture of Substation Secondary Systems (AS3). This project uses the IEC61850 standard for future digital substation implementation, which is low cost and relatively quick to implement (compared to building a new traditional substation). There is a lot of interest in developing this technology to reduce outage requirements for system commissioning and de-commissioning. The main objective of the AS3 project was to provide a solution to the life cycle issues of substation protection and control assets, particularly the reduction of system access requirements for equipment installation and replacement. The AS3 project has delivered a review of the substation life cycle issues, a new standard architecture for substation secondary systems and draft specifications for system configuration and Merging Units (MU). AS3 has also completed four piggy-back trials (with ABB, Alstom, NR Electric and Siemens respectively) which have demonstrated and proved the concept and benefits of using IEC61850-9-2 process bus technologies, i.e. reduced site wiring and less Electro Magnetic Compatibility constraints. Having completed the preliminary work on AS3 (IFI project ‘AS3’ and NIA_NGET0104 “Proof of concept of IEC 61850 Process Bus technology”, the following challenges have been identified: Future site trials and equipment acceptance tests for the full deployment of AS3 based digital substations will be very costly and highly risky due to the lack of an established engineering and testing process, high risk of configuration mismatches between devices and un-tested interfaces to existing equipment. All of this makes estimating the required time and effort for a site installation difficult. Engineering procedures, including configurations, testing and site commissioning play a vital role in the AS3 architecture. A high level description of these has been provided in the previous project and now these remain to be refined and validated. Training is essential to effective implementation of the AS3 architecture on site. This is due to the step change in technology commissioning engineers will be exposed to i.e. the move from hardwired copper connections to Ethernet over fibre. The AS3 architecture is also aimed at dealing with equipment obsolescence and improving support arrangements by ensuring that Standard Bay Solutions from different suppliers are built to a common specification and are interoperable and interchangeable. A draft specification has been produced but no interoperability tests have been carried out to date. Overreliance on GPS as a time source can lead to reduced network security. The AS3 architecture allows sourcing the time reference from the substation network instead of individual GPS receivers. As part of this research the feasibility and benefits of such an arrangement is investigated using the IEEE 1588 precision time protocol.. To address the above challenges the following research and development work is proposed: At present National Grid does not have an engineering facility or any other means to deploy the AS3 designs and IEC61850 technology to site in an efficient, safe and low cost manner, hence the proposal to develop a Virtual Site Acceptance Testing & Training (VSATT) facility to allow the implementation of substation automation on the network (Note - A copy of the proposed VSATT architecture and components is attached)The project is a staged 24 month programme with start in April 2015. will be carried out in the following stages: Design and build the AS3 infrastructure including modelling of primary plant in the Real Time Digital Simulator (RTDS), fibre network and physical bay arrangement. Apr - Nov 2015Review and publish Merging Unit and configuration specifications in cooperation with key suppliers Apr - Aug 2015Develop engineering and configuration tools as well as tools for data flow monitoring and performance analysis May - Nov 2015Develop and issue interoperability test specifications Aug - Nov 2015Configure and test supplier equipment in order to validate interoperability, carry out performance analyses and validate the engineering and commissioning process Dec 2015 - Aug 2016Investigate IEEE1588 time synchronisation with the aim of reducing dependency on vulnerable GPS based solutions Jun 2015 - Sep 2016Finalise and publish technical specifications enabling interoperability and procedures for testing and commissioning including the lessons learnt from the project Sep - Dec 2016Adapt the VSATT for utilities and suppliers’ staff to carry out virtual AS3 based digital substation implementation and performance analysis for training purposes and also for compliance testing prior to site installation Jan - Feb 2017Summarise outcomes and deliverables in the final report and arrange a final workshop for stakeholder presentation. Feb - Mar 2017The project will comprise a number of innovation work streams, including an Architecture configuration tool (software) and IED "plug & play " functions.Note : Project Documents may be available via the ENA Smarter Networks Portal using the Website link above
Publications	(none)
Final Report	(none)
Added to Database	09/08/18