R&D Nester participated in the international conference "IEC 61850 Europe 2017," which was held in Amsterdam, September from 26th to 28th 2017.

Researcher Bruno Soares, from the project ‘Smart Substation Testing and Implementation', presented a proposal for a new Protection, Automation and Control Systems (PACS) functional specification methodology using the features that IEC 61850 international standard provides on its current edition (edition 2.0) and also providing ideas for new possible features to be applied in future editions of the standard.

This approach allows a substantial improvement in the specification of the secondary systems of electrical substations. This methodology is based in the creation of specification libraries that can be updated easily. By instantiating from the library, it is possible to create entire PACS specification with a considerable effort reduction compared to conventional substation specification. The methodology also considers the simultaneous existence of digital (target of the presented method) and conventional substations, future specification changes and the configuration, maintenance and substitution processes. Therefore, the methodology was a product of a holistic and future-proofed vision of the life cycle of secondary systems installed in the substations.

The methodology may also be applied to the specification of equipment to be installed outside of the substations, for instance, Distributed Generation or electrical grid controllers, in significant evolution in the current energy sector digitization framework.

This conference, which included an exhibition, a network forum and a workshop, is addressed to experts in the application of the international standard IEC 61850 that aims the interoperability between elements of the control and protection system of substations. This standard was intensively applied in the ‘Substation of the Future' project and its results are being exhaustively assessed in the ‘Smart Substation Testing and Implementation' project of R&D Nester for practical use and implementation by network operators.