NUEVO ESTÁNDAR INTERNACIONAL DE COMUNICACIONES PARA EL CONTROL DISTRIBUIDO EN SUBESTACIONES ELÉCTRICAS: IEC 61850

Abstract

Traditionally each manufacturer of

electrical substation devices, the so

called IEDs (Intelligent Electronic De

vice), has developed his own com

munication protocol according to

specific needs within his devices,

and that’s why nowadays there are a

lot of proprietary protocols, all of

them being different from each other

and no compatible at all. This has be

come a serious problem for utilities,

the users of these IEDs, mainly re

garding the possibility of interopera

bility. In order to overcome this si

tuation, by the middle of 90s some

attempts arise trying to standardize

all of these communication issues

within an electrical substation, such

as UCA (Utility Communications Ar

chitecture) and the recently approved

IEC 61850 standard (“Communica

tions networks and systems in subs

tations”).

In this article basic concepts of

IEC 61850 are described, together

with both its real state at the present

time and its future prospects. Also it

is explained a fundamental view of

such an important aspect like certifi

cation of conformity for IEDs based

on IEC 61850, with a special mention

to the activity that Robotiker-Tecna

lia is currently carrying out nationwi

de in this respect.