A communication infrastructure is an essential part to the success of the emerging smart grid. A scalable and pervasive communication infrastructure is crucial in both construction and operation of a smart grid. In this paper, we present the background and motivation of communication infrastructures in smart grid systems. We also summarize major requirements that smart grid communications must meet. From the experience of several industrial trials on smart grid with communication infrastructures, we expect that the traditional carbon fuel based power plants can cooperate with emerging distributed renewable energy such as wind, solar, etc, to reduce the carbon fuel consumption and consequent green house gas such as carbon dioxide emission. The consumers can minimize their expense on energy by adjusting their intelligent home appliance operations to avoid the peak hours and utilize the renewable energy instead. We further explore the challenges for a communication infrastructure as the part of a complex smart grid system. Since a smart grid system might have over millions of consumers and devices, the demand of its reliability and security is extremely critical. Through a communication infrastructure, a smart grid can improve power reliability and quality to eliminate electricity blackout. Security is a challenging issue since the on-going smart grid systems facing increasing vulnerabilities as more and more automation, remote monitoring/controlling and supervision entities are interconnected.

https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1315&context=electricalengineeringfacpub

A Survey on Smart Grid CommunicationInfrastructures: Motivations, Requirements andChallenges

The original term of Energy Internet refers to the integration of energy flow with information flow to form a true cyber-physical social system that allows high customer participation in active energy transaction. All these cyber-physical social components can closely interact with others by sharing both energy and information. Control systems are critical components that can help the Energy Internet come to fruition. There are three major control methods, namely, centralized, decentralized, and distributed control methods. This chapter discusses these three control methods that can be used to manage the flow of energy and information in the Energy Internet.

Centralized, decentralized, and distributed control for Energy Internet

This paper proposes a framework for using information & communication technology (ICT) monitoring information to provide another dimension to the reliability assessment of physical measurement data used in power system decision making. ICT monitoring information covers the health of (1) operational technologies through monitoring of resources such as CPU, memory or network interfaces and (2) communication channels by monitoring the network traffic. This information may be used as an additional trust index to measurements that feed into SCADA applications such as voltage stability assessment, state estimation and contingency analysis in terms of decision making. This is especially important in case of failures, malfunctions, and attacks affecting the system robustness and safety. This paper demonstrates the added value of ICT health information to state estimation. The proposed framework is integrated with a real-time co-simulation platform for multi-domain testing and evaluation of additional applications.

A Framework for the Integration of ICT-relevant Data in Power System Applications

Harvesting energy from the wind as an alternative to fossil fuels has many advantages in terms of protecting the environment and promoting sustainability. However, the increasing penetration of wind power in electrical networks presents many challenges such as the intermittency of wind power, its relative high cost as compared to conventional sources, and technical impacts on the distribution systems. Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) are fast becoming integral components of the 21st century electrical grid at all levels including the generation, transmission, distribution and even at the consumer level. The use of ICT in the modern wind power plants has also become the norm and offers numerous benefits in addressing the challenges of wind power integration. ICT can support the efficient scheduling of wind power generation and energy dispatch, and can be used in automation, protection, and even in reactive power control applications. The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) has been playing a key role in the transition to a modernized ICT-based electrical grid by developing many communication standards. These standards have opened the path to a unified and interoperable communication platform in different aspects of the power system network. This paper provides an in depth overview of the relevant wind power communication standards and presents a review on their worldwide applications. The key focus is on the application of the two most relevant IEC standards, the IEC 61850 and IEC 61400-25, in wind power systems, the current status of the literature and ongoing research projects. The paper also identifies potential research directions for future development in this field.

The role of communications and standardization in wind power applications – A review

This paper introduces the design and development of Remote Terminal Unit (RTU) circuit and hardware implementation which represented in Distribution Automation System (DAS. The design is based on microcontroller using PIC16F877A and also introduces the Orcad software to design circuit for the RTU. RTU is a standalone data used to monitor status and alarm, sequence of events, counters/pulse accumulators, binary code decimals and analog inputs. The function of RTU is to collects all the data from the plant, digitize them and send to the master station through the communication network. RTU also receives command from control center (master station) and executes it at the substation.

Remote Terminal Unit (RTU) hardware design and development for distribution automation system

This paper introduces the design and the development of RTU module with small remote telemetry unit suitable for different application in low voltage system. The design based on microcontroller which represents the intelligent brain of any low cost RTU. Small sizes RTU are responsible for data acquisition in substations and accomplishment of central station commands. This paper presents a new hardware design for an RTU that performs based on a PIC16F877 device operating at 20MHz and runs from a 9-24V AC/DC supply. The design is composed of four main modules with its own components in the architecture which include communication interface, analogue input, digital input and digital output. All operational tasks will be handled by a non-expensive distribution automation system through it intelligent RTU by providing the best solutions without human intervention. Only Intelligent RTU together with the SCADA is capable to perform intelligent decisions on the distribution automation tasks. An intelligent Microcontroller based RTU for distribution automation system is proposed to innovate and renovate the downstream part of the power distribution system including the most advance communication networking system. This method utilizes automation concept of creating an intelligent RTU through modification and innovations.

Remote terminal unit (RTU) hardware design and implementation efficient in different application

This paper introduces the design and development of Intelligent Remote Terminal Unit (RTU) which is to be applied as an automation technique for operating and controlling the low voltage (LV) downstream of 415/240V to enhance reliability of power for the consumers. The design proposed based on Global System for Mobile (GSM) communication and this paper also presents an efficient design for distribution automation system and its implementation in remote/automatic monitoring and controlling of the relays (circuit breaker) by means of GSM Short Message Service (SMS) services, automatic decision making and continuous monitoring of distribution system components in real time [1]. The systems has been equipped with microcontroller as a main component which act as an RTU programmed using Microcontroller PRO compiler software. The RTU provides monitoring fault operation, controlling functions and data collection for analysis. RTU will initiate the transaction with the digital and output modules. The master of this system is RTU and the slaves are digital and output modules. RTU plays an important role in detecting fault and assigned to serve message immediately in the control room. This system involves the detection of fault connected to the microcontroller (PIC18F77A) and GSM modem. When the fault occurs, the sensor will send the signals to the PIC16F77A. The PIC is programmed to process the data and send the signals to the GSM modem. Once received the data, GSM will send the message to the control room operators or other authorized personnel to alert them on the current situation through cellular phone. The results are then communicated between hardware circuit and simulation circuit for the final conclusion with the properly functional algorithm.

Development of a new modeling circuit for the Remote Terminal Unit (RTU) with GSM communication

The paper develops and implements a novel fault management in distribution automation systems (DAS) at low voltage to enhance reliability of power for the consumers. The proposed fault management system is design based on GSM (global system for mobile) communication. The system has been equipped with current sensor as field data interface devices, microcontroller as remote terminal unit, GSM as communication network, computer as master terminal unit and visual basic as human machine interface (HMI) software. A fault management strategy is also designed to find out the fault location effectively without human intervention after a fault occurred. The laboratory results are compared with the simulation results to make the final conclusion on the functionality of the algorithm.

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Development of a novel fault management in distribution system using distribution automation system in conjunction with GSM communication

This paper reviewed all the possible interfacing communication protocols for remote terminal unit (RTU). Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system is a central station that can communicate with other network using the protocol. Fundamentally, the architectures of all networks are based on the seven layers of open system interconnection (OSI) and International Standard Organization (ISO). The objective of designing the protocols is to check the status of all the input and output field devices and send the report according to that status. The corresponding protocol and communication parameters between the connecting devices will be included in designing a complex SCADA system. The available protocols to develop the communication of RTU are Modbus/ASCII, distributed network protocol (DNP3), controller area network (CAN), International Electro-technical Commission (IEC 60870), and transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP).

Wan Nor Shela Ezwane Wan Jusoh

Papers

Remote terminal unit (RTU) hardware design and implementation efficient in different application

Remote Terminal Unit (RTU) hardware design and development for distribution automation system

Development of a new modeling circuit for the Remote Terminal Unit (RTU) with GSM communication

Development of a novel fault management in distribution system using distribution automation system in conjunction with GSM communication

A Review of Communication Protocols for Intelligent Remote Terminal Unit Development