Protection implications of emerging technologies and future networks...

Protection implications of emerging technologies and future networks (heat pumps, electric vehicles, energy storage)

During the graduation ceremony to become an engineer in Brazil, the undergraduates take an oath: “I will not be blinded by the glare of technology”. In electrical engineering, for those who seek specialization in the field of power systems, the fundamental requirement of Protection, Automation and Control Systems (PACS) is to ensure the detection of abnormal conditions in the electrical grid and isolate the faulted circuit/equipment as quickly as possible to prevent power system damage and instability. Following the evolution of power grid, which is becoming more dynamic with the adoption of renewables integration, utilities also need to rely on real time information for situation awareness, underlining the need of fast and reliable communication infrastructure.

With the digitization, Ethernet network has become the main mean for data communications in substations. Although most of us, engineers, are used to handle non-operational data usually available at station bus level, the introduction of Ethernet networks to manage operational data brings new challenges for engineers to maintain the same level of reliability of traditional non-digitized PACS solutions. In addition, interoperability through standardization and cost optimization in engineering and maintenance are expected.

By knowing that the communication infrastructure enables the substation automation, engineers find themselves with different Ethernet technologies currently available, adding more uncertainties towards decision making. While traditional networks were first introduced in the 70’s, new Ethernet technologies have been introduced as part of the evolution of micro-processors. In the early 2000’s, a new technology proposing the separation of the control and data plane of Ethernet switches started to get more emphasis, from which Software-Defined Networking (SDN) started to get popular by the end of the decade, having its first applications materialized in the early 2010’s in data-center networks, where there is a distinct need to manage network traffic at large scales.  Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) is another new technology which defines data transmission over deterministic Ethernet networks, with an IEEE 802.1 task group formed by 2012 and new standards released over the past years. TSN potential applications include Audio Video Bridging (AVB), automotive industry and industrial automation overall.

The paper evaluates the benefits and challenges of each Ethernet communication technology (traditional, SDN and TSN) to address PACS Ethernet communication. With an emphasis on Local Area Networks (LAN), this paper is concluded on what should be expected for the future of Ethernet communications in power utilities.