By creating a totally digital electricity substation, Endeavour Energy claims to be saving millions of dollars.
According to secondary systems manager Matthew Browne of iTnews, the first substation to be digitalized was the South Erskine Park zone substation, likely the first of its sort in Australia.
The network and computers must work hard during a substation’s digitization because control systems must react to network events in under a second.
The substation is the end result of a $3 million, three-year internal effort overseen by network planning manager Gavin De Hosson, a Browne colleague.
Instead, the digitization project makes use of optical fibre to transmit signals using a networking protocol like Ethernet but improved to satisfy the substation’s deterministic, real-time needs (defined by the standard IEC 61850).
According to Browne, operators are required by regulations to identify faults—faulty currents—and alert a circuit breaker within 30 milliseconds.
According to De Hosson, “the emphasis is where the actual supervision, control, and data collection happens.”
“Normally, these pieces of equipment are surrounded by circuit breakers with current sensors and volt sensors. And they are normally connected to our control system by thousands of wires “explained De Hosson.
“We have a very high need for very strong signal integrity in all of these channels… We frequently compare measurements within a substation or between locations because we’re truly aiming for zero data loss and extremely high levels of time synchronisation.
The digital substation will essentially use a ruggedized type of device that is installed in the equipment or very close to the primary equipment to replace those thousands of wires and interconnections, which are typically point-to-point connections.
A “rather simple, easy-to-install fibre network” will take the place of that “very complex set of copper wiring,” he continued.
