DIGITAL SUBSTATIONS FOR SMART GRIDS

Mr. Georg Schett [email protected]

Dr. Stephen Clifford [email protected]
Mr. Stephen Pearce [email protected]
Mr. Pierre Lorin [email protected]
Dr. Hans-Dieter Schlemper [email protected]
Mr. Claudio Marchetti [email protected]
Dr. Tim Schulze-Koenig [email protected]
Dr. Martin Stefanka [email protected]

ABB Affolternstrasse 44 8050 Zürich

1. Abstract

In most engineering fields, digital technologies such as communication have replaced point-to-point wiring since
more than a decade. The technology is mature. In fact, nobody has a problem today to enter an airplane. More
and more commodities are connected to the internet in one way or the other. Internet of things is the new
catchword.

In Substations however still thousands of point-to-point signaling copper wires have to be laid out in the
foundations of substations in order to interconnect the primary equipment such as switchgear and transformers
with protection, control and monitoring devices. Maintenance and service procedures as well as keeping the
substation signaling diagrams update during the long life cycle of a substation is a heavy burden for all operators.
Current measurement transformers saturate, they have a limited dynamic and as a result various transformer
cores have to be connected in parallel. Complicated interlocking schemes, hard-wired and slow due to electro-
mechanical effects such as contact bouncing have to be engineered, tested on site and approved in lengthy
procedures.

State of the art Digital Substations overcome these and many more issues thanks to standardized fiber optic
communication buses and sensors integrated into the primary high voltage apparatus. High precision analogue
voltage and current sensors replace heavy and bulky current and voltage measurement transformers. The output
signals of these sensors are sampled and digitized by means of high precision electronics directly at the sensor.
From there the digital signals are broadcasted to substation control and protection equipment by means of
communication buses based on standard Ethernet technologies. Time critical interlocking and tripping over goose
protocols have been verified to be faster and more reliable than conventional schemes.

Digital Substations are more than the sum of smart digital switchgear, transformers, control and protection.
Starting with the initial planning phase, digital substations offer opportunities during the whole life cycle:
Engineering is simplified, many decisions can be taken in a much later stage of the project and more efficient
testing processes are emerging. Monitoring and diagnostics improve the reliability of substation equipment. Novel
asset health supervision technologies finally enable utilities to get a good overview on the status of their asset fleet
and enable them to optimally utilize their maintenance resources. A proper design closes gaps to cyber security,
the foot-print of the substation can be reduced, it is easier to optimize the layouts and single line diagrams of a
station and better fit it to the given environment.

Since a decade pilot digital substations are in operation successfully. Given the existing IEC 61850 and the process
bus -9-2 standards, the trend for digital substation is starting to accelerate, it follows the global trend for
digitalization. Digital substations will be one of the strategic core elements for flexible smart grids, needed for a
safe and stable integration of intermittent renewable energy sources. Power utilities and industries are invited to
get familiar with this new technology in order to successfully master the challenges ahead.

KEYWORDS substations, digital, monitoring, process bus, sensors

Fig. 1: A digital substation includes switchgear, transformers, substation automation, monitoring & diagnostics
and the standard process bus based on IEC61850-9-2.

2. Introduction

Digital Substation (Fig.1) stands for a break-through innovation in substation technology. It is based on a seamless
integration of state of the art IEC 61850 based control and protection IEDs (Intelligent Electronic Devices) with
all relevant primary components and sensors of a modern substation. The primary components include high and
medium voltage switchgear, as well as substation transformers.

The defining feature of a Digital Substation is the implementation of a process bus. The IEC 61850-9-2 process
bus enables the substitution of point-to-point copper connections between IEDs, instrument transformers, sensors
and switchgear by means of a safe, standardized optical communication bus.

The process bus technology enables the substitution of heavy and bulky current and voltage instrument
transformers by smart, small current and voltage sensors. Sensors provide linear measurement signals, not distorted
by saturation and thus one sensor covers the entire application range. The signals of such sensors are sampled and
digitized by means of electronics directly connected to the sensor. The digital signals are sent to control and
protection IEDs within the substation by means of IEC 61850-9-2 standard on fiber optic communication media,
the so-called process bus immune to disturbances. Thanks to the process bus, real-time current and voltage
measurement signals can be distributed throughout a substation without complex wiring schemes [2 .. 5].

Digital Substations are a key enabler for electric power utilities to increase productivity, reduce foot-print, increase
functionality, improve reliability of assets and, crucially, improve safety for service personnel. Digital substations
exploit the benefits of digital protection, control and communication technologies, mirroring the trend towards
digitalization seen in many other industries.

Digital substations will form the backbone of smart grids and provide real time phasor measurement data
increasingly required in order to control the power flow and keep the grid stable despite of the rapidly increasing
share of intermittent renewable energy sources.

This paper will first describe the concept of Digital Substation but then focus on one of the key aspects: Monitoring
and Diagnostics as well as the implications for Asset Management.
3. Scope of Digital Substation

A digital substation affects all relevant components and aspects of a substation:

 The Substation Automation system for control, protection and supervision.
 The Communication inside the substation and from the substation to remote network control centers.
 The primary High Voltage switchgear in Air Insulated technology (AIS), Gas Insulated (GIS) or Hybrid
Insulated technology.
 CTs, VTs: Non-Conventional Instrument Transformers (NCIT), when integrated into the primary equipment
offer the advantage of a small foot print and easier engineering. Alternatively, for retrofit, existing conventional
CTs can be connected to Stand Alone Merging Units (SAMU), devices which connect the analogue measurement
signals to the process bus.
 Power transformers.
 Medium Voltage Switchgear.
 Tools for substation engineering.
 Testing and commissioning.
 The building and the site.

In order for digital substations to deploy their full benefit for the owner or operator, the digital substation features
should be considered during the specification phase. Midterm substantial productivity gains are achievable thanks
to better asset utilization and thanks to synergies between various departments traditionally kept separate such as
for example departments for station control and automation and departments for protection.

4. The architecture of digital substations

Transmission and distribution substations are normally subdivided in 3 hierarchical levels (Fig.2).
 The process level. The process level is at the bottom of the hierarchy. It includes all primary apparatus such
as High Voltage or Medium Voltage switchgear and transformers. It further contains process interface devices
such as merging units and breaker IEDs (Intelligent Electronic Devices).
 The bay level. This level includes all control and protection IEDs. The electronics equipment for control,
protection,
communication and other
functions such as
monitoring and
diagnostics is often
referred to as secondary
equipment.
 The station level. The
station level includes
mainly equipment for
station wide control and
protection, station HMI,
disturbance recorders and
communication gate
ways, for example to the
network control center.
Other important functions
such as auxiliary station
power supply are not
explicitly mentioned.

Fig. 2: Characteristics of substations in different phases of evolution (example GIS)

5. The evolution in transmission and distribution substations

In the community it is well established to subdivide the technology evolution in substations in 3 phases (Fig. 2):
 Conventional. In this phase control and protection IEDs were normally dedicated to one specific function.
Thousands of point-to-point copper wires were needed for signaling, i.e., for the connection the primary
apparatus, to other protection equipment (interlocking for example) and to the station level. Most substations
in operation today were built based on conventional technologies.
 Modern. Today most new substations are modern. They are equipped with standard Ethernet communication
between the bay and the station level. The IEDs are multi-purpose units and run many functions in parallel,
the connection to the process level however is still point-to-point.
 Digital. The digital communication technology now being implemented down to the process level eliminates
thousands of point-to-point copper wires between the process and the bay level. It paves the way towards
monitoring, diagnostics and asset health. Substituting bulky conventional instrument transformers by small
precision sensors and combining functions previously kept separate allow to reduce the foot-print
substantially. The buses on station and process levels adhere to the international IEC 61850 standard [4]. This
is the state of the art and the operator get the full benefit of the digital technology.

6. Core technologies for digital substations

6.1 Non-Conventional Instrument Transformers (NCIT)

Conventional CTs and VTs will gradually be replaced by non-conventional instrument transformers (NCIT) [3].
 Less space and material required: Conventional measuring devices are bulky and heavy. NCIT are small and
can be physically integrated into the switchgear to reduce the foot-print of a substation. In case of Air Insulated
Substations such a space reduction can be as high as 40 - 50% if disconnecting and earthing switches can be
integrated into the breakers by using ABB’s Disconnector Circuit Breakers or by PASS, ABB’s hybrid
switchgear solution. For GIS as well there is a still some opportunity to further reduce the foot-print.
 High dynamic range: Conventional CTs are non-linear, the signals are distorted. The distorted signals add
complexity to the protection algorithms and reduce the dynamic. Therefore many CTs with different magnetic
core sizes are needed for coping with protection, measurement and metering purposes. The linear characteristic
of NCIT on the other side allows to cover the entire functional range with one type of sensor.
 There are different NCIT technologies available, optimized for different types of primary devices. For GIS and
PASS a combined current sensor based on a Rogowski coil and a capacitive voltage sensor is commonly used.
Both sensors are integrated in a concentric GIS conductor segment, the sensors are redundant. The analogue
signals are converted to digital and processed directly at the sensor. For AIS ABB has developed a fiber optic
current sensor (FOCS) [1] which can be integrated in a DCB (Disconnecting Circuit Breaker) or LTB (Life Tank
Breaker). For Medium Voltage switchgear (UniGear Digital) the current is measured by means of a Rogowski

coil and the voltage signal is delivered by a resistive voltage divider.

Fig.3. Example of the technological evolution of CTs and VTs

6.2 Process bus

The process bus IEC 61850-9-2 is the standard communication media to connect the process (i.e. primary apparatus
of a switchgear) to the bay level (Control and protection). This enables interoperability between vendors.

6.3 Control and protection

In digital substations the borderline between control and protection is dissolved. Control and protection run on the
same IEDs and functions are allocated to devices during the engineering process, according to the required CPU
power, to the specifications of the user and/or according to economical optimization. So for example in GIS the
entire control and protection functionality of a switch bay can be integrated in a local control cubicle physically
located at the bay and as a result a separate control room is not needed [2].

6.4. Merging units

The merging units convert analog signals (or proprietary

digital signals) and put them on the standard IEC 61850-
9-2 process bus system. Merging units are always needed
in combination with NCITs, where the digital conversion
has to be executed close to the process due to the low
power signals of the sensors. ABB however has also
developed a family of Stand Alone Merging Units
(SAMU) connecting to conventional CTs and VTs. In the
future SAMU (SAM600) will be available for binary IOs
as well. As a result not only green field stations will be
digital but also conventional existing substations can be
upgraded to digital substations.

Fig. 4: Function of a merging unit

6.5 Compact primary switchgear

The combination and integration of electrical apparatus with NCIT, electronics, software and communication has
engendered novel types of switchgear concepts such as PASS, hybrid GIS and DCB with integrated FOCS. These
innovative types of Switchgear have been developed by ABB and in service since well over a decade. DCB with
FOCS has passed stringent
utility testing and is by
now successfully
commissioned by several
customers..

Fig 5: Example of new hybrid switchgear concepts PASS for Digital Substations enabling to reduce the footprint
of substations from conventional (top ) to digital (bottom).

6.6 Monitoring and diagnostics

Monitoring and diagnostics function include:
 Primary equipment: The function of primary equipment is permanently monitored by IEDs placed at the
primary equipment. So for example in GIS, gas density monitors prevent the switchgear from malfunction in
 case of a loss of gas pressure. Travel curve supervision submit an alarm in case the breaker travel curve is
outside the tolerance band. Monitoring and diagnostics function can be simple or pretty complex, depending
on the object to be supervised and the purpose.
 IEDs: All basic functions of control, protection and data acquisition units are permanently supervised.
 Communication: Traffic on buses is supervised.
 Asset Health: The multitude of data generated by modern monitoring and diagnostics systems risk to more
confuse than support the operators. Therefore ABB has developed an Asset Health Center in order to extract
valuable information from the data. It is this information which will enable the operator of the stations to take
the right actions at the right time and so optimize the operation cost and reliability of his assets.

7. Retrofit and upgrade: SAMU

In order to tap many benefits of digital substations,

conventional substations can be upgraded to digital by
means of process bus interfaces, so called Stand Alone
Merging Units (SAMU).

Conventional CTs and VTs aren’t built for this digital

world and replacing them is expensive and unnecessary
when SAMU can bridge between the worlds of digital and
Fig. 5: SAM600 stand alone merging units
analog signaling. The ABB merging unit platform
SAM600 connects conventional CTs and VTs as well as
conventional binary signals such as breaker trips to a
process bus. As a result, many of the advantages of digital
substations can be deployed to conventional stations. This
straight forward digital upgrade option is particularly
attractive if the secondary system of a substation shall be
retrofitted or if an existing substation shall be expanded.

The SAM600 system synchronizes sampling and delivers

complete IEC 61850-9-2LE real time data streams to the
IEDs. SAM600 can be connected to feeder control and
protection as well as to the decentralized busbar protection
REB 500.

8. Monitoring, Diagnostics and Asset Health

Asset maintenance and service represents a significant

portion of the operational costs of electric equipment for
transmission and distribution. Downtime costs for
industrial substations and the trend to introduce penalties
for non-availability of electricity supply from utilities are
strong arguments for keeping equipment for transmission
and distribution in good condition. On the other hand
increasing cost constraints force operators to drive for
higher efficiency in maintenance and service activities.

Digital Substations provide the technologies and tools

needed to reduce the operational costs and increase the
reliability of equipment. It supports the transformation
from traditional time interval based maintenance to
condition based maintenance (CBM). Metrics related to
CBM in manufacturing are impressive. The ARC
Advisory Group reported that the cost of performing
predictive maintenance could be up to five times less than Fig. 6: Schematic example of an upgraded
preventive maintenance and 10 times less than corrective conventional substation to digital
maintenance, before factoring in downtime costs [6].
Fig. 7: Asset Health enables uploading of captured data from Digital Substation equipment

Digital substations automate data collection from decentralized electronics performing monitoring and diagnostics
functions close to the process. The status of apparatus in a substation can be supervised on a station HMI. The data
are made available for Asset Health centers on the network level which support network operators in effective
planning of maintenance and service of their fleet base on the actual condition of the equipment as well as –
importantly – based on the strategic role of the equipment in the network (risk centered). With mother IT tools
such as ABB’s Asset Health Center it is possible to combine automated data upload from process with manual
assessment of equipment which does not yet have integrated monitoring and diagnostics functions.

8.1. Transformer Monitoring and diagnostics

For monitoring and diagnostics, transformers for digital substations should be equipped with a local IED
performing the algorithms enabling the evaluation of the status of the transformer based on inputs from sensors.
Sensors can be connected hard wired or by means of simple communication buses such as CAN or LON.

Most modern Transformer Electronic Control (TEC) IEDs provide features such as:
 Early detection of malfunctions
 Overload assistance
 Condition assessment
 Improved maintenance planning
 Real time data
 Remote access
 Long term data storage
 Intelligent status prediction
 Advanced cooling control

Features such as Overload assistance will help to keep the grid stable in an emergency operation because the
transformer equipped with TEC can be overloaded for a while depending on the overall condition and the actual
status indications such as oil temperature. As a result the transformer gives the operator more flexibility since it
does not have to be switched of when rigid limits are met independently of the actual status of the transformer. In
the future overload functionality will be required when intermittent power from renewable generation will
significantly grow and the grid has to get more flexible.
Monitoring of gas and moisture are key parameters to determine the health status of transformers. Since hydrogen
is the first gas arising when the risk of a fault in the active part raises, modern online gas sensors detect traces of
hydrogen and continuously monitor the rate of change. The latest gas sensor technologies are not anymore based
on membranes and there is not internal pump. The absence of moving parts reduces the risk of failure of the sensor
itself.

Fig. 8: TEC (Transformer Electronic Control) with connections to sensors and tap changers and with
communication to the station, network level devices or to the WEB.

Fig. 9 shows an example of a recent hydrogen sensor development available on the

market with no moving parts and with a sensing element based on palladium in
order to avoid the traditional membranes. The sensor can be connected to a TEC
and combined to other measurements such as temperature and moisture. The sensor
provides an integrated small internet server and therefore it can be accessed through
a web browser.

Fig. 9: CoreSense for sensing of Hydrogen and moisture in transformer oil.

8.2. High Voltage Switchgear monitoring

In a switchgear many things can be monitored. In order to keep it effective, it must be kept simple. For
disconnecting and earthing switches for example it is normally enough to supervise the end-positions of the devices
and in some cases the motor current during operation. Breakers however need more sophisticated monitoring
functions in order to get a proper assessment

High Voltage power breakers are the most complex elements in a switchgear and the reliability of the entire power
system to a large extent depends on their proper function. Most breakers seldom operate but if so, the breaker has
to fully meet the design performance in order to avoid major, dangerous disruptions in the grid. This is a challenge
for effective breaker monitoring and diagnostics systems. Therefore meaningful breaker monitoring can be
provided by breaker manufacturers who know their designs. The set of monitored parameters can be seen as a
trade-off between the criticality of the breaker and the complexity of the monitoring system. Parameters being
monitored are:
 Supervision of trip coils and auxiliary switches
 Monitoring mechanism charging system
 Status of heaters in operation cabinets and tanks
 Evaluation of breaker phase currents, travel characteristics, operating times and number of operations by
means of sophisticated algorithms
 Logging of operations, alarms, motor starts and thermostat operations
 Gas pressure historian, rate of change, temperature and gas density.
 Contact wear and breaker nozzle condition.

The complexity of the individual monitoring functions

varies from low, like trip count, to medium, like SF6
monitoring, to demanding, like interrupter wear and
nozzle ablation. Most breaker monitoring functions are
relatively simple and straight forward, trip count for
example.

Typically third-party breaker monitors approximate the

interrupter wear by a method commonly referred to as
I2t. The method integrates the square of the current for
the time between an auxiliary switch opens until the
current clears. The result is a rough approximation and it
ignores the design of the breaker. As a consequence
reserve margins have to be factored in for the timing of
predictive maintenance. Some breaker manufacturers
have developed much more accurate algorithms which
are able to reliably predict when the breaker will reach
the limit of its design capacity. The basics principles for
such accurate calculations are laid out below and the
stages of current interruption are illustrated in Fig. 10 (a-
f).

State of the art interrupter monitors follow the stages of

interruption starting from the fully closed position (fig.
10 a)), through the moment of main contact separation
when the current commutates to the arcing contacts and
where (fig.10 c)) the effective current interruption
process starts. This point in time is known because the
travel curve of the breaker is measured. Now the
measured current samples are processed in a special
algorithm which calculated contact erosion until arc
interruption.

Fig.10 d) shows how the arc expands and starts to

consume auxiliary nozzle material. The algorithm
calculates the nozzle ablation through phase fig.10 e)
from where on also the main nozzle is affected.

The validity of such interrupter wear models have been

verified during many power tests in test labs. ABB is
utilizing this type of accurate prediction tool in its
monitoring device Circuit Breaker Sentinel. This helps
operators of power circuit breakers to optimize their
maintenance activities and avoids too conservative
revision intervals. Each unnecessary opening of a
breaker bears hidden risks and accumulates avoidable
costs.
Fig 10: Phases of arc interruption in the interrupter
module of a HV breaker

Motor Drive, the newest ABB technology for breaker operating mechanisms inherently supports condition
monitoring. Today Motor Drive is available for Life Tank and Hybrid switchgear up to 145 kV. The required
operating motions (trip & close) are programmed into a Control unit. The Motor Drive is a servo motor which is
direct driving circuit breaker contacts. The number of moving parts in the operating mechanism is reduced to one
– the rotating motor shaft.

Motor Drive overcomes the most feared fundamental dilemma of breakers: A breaker seldom moves and therefore
it is tricky to monitor. But if there is an emergency trip, it has to function 100%. Will it do so? This was yesterday.
In order to watch the condition of the key electrical and mechanical functions of a breaker equipped with Motor
Drive even during year long periods of stand still, the actuator regularly performs micro movements Fig. 11. These
micro motions are too small for an impact on the electric conductivity but they allow to check the whole electronic
and mechanical chain of the breaker as often as set by the operator.

Fig. 11: Periodic micro motions with Motor Drive

give information about all electrical and
mechanical components and their proper
function.

Operators of SF6 switchgear are forced to accurately monitor the gas leakage rate of their equipment and therefore
gas monitoring is already today an integral part of a switchgear monitoring system. In GIS such monitors are
already in service since decades.

The proper combination of all relevant monitoring results in a switchgear enable a meaningful assessment of the
health condition of the equipment and the benefit for the operator is obvious: More effective maintenance at
significantly lower cost and, most important, much lower risk of unplanned outages and disruptive failures.

8.3. Digital Switchgear for Medium Voltage Distribution applications

State of the art digital medium
voltage packages include panels
with integrated:
 control and protection IEDs
 current and voltage sensors
 communication based on
IEC61850 (-9-2) standards
 monitoring and diagnostics

These integrated panels need much

less wiring, provide more space to
integrate functions which
previously had to be performed by
means of additional MV panels.
For example for metering purpose
no extra metering panel is needed
anymore because the signals can
be made available all across the Fig. 12 : Medium Voltage Digital Substation panel from ABB
switchgear by means of the
standard process bus broadcasting
the sampled voltage signals. If needed additional sensors can be integrated in panels where there is no space left
in conventional MV cubicles.

The following monitoring and diagnostics for MV panels can be provided by means of relatively simple and
robust sensors:
 Breaker mechanical integrity
 Breaker temperature
 Tripping coils condition
 Condition of CT / VT
 Temperature in the cubicle

The sensor signals are collected by an electronic

module shown in Fig. 13. Analytics could be
performed on such a module or alternatively in a
central controller. Important is to collect and
process those signals which contain status relevant
data. The results are visualized on an HMI. The
M&D information supports operators in stress
situations.

Fig. 13: Monitoring IED for MV cubicle

8.4. Monitoring overview on the Substation level
Results of Monitoring and Diagnostics can be presented on:
 an HMI directly at the primary equipment subject to supervision
 the station level where an HMI summarizes the status, events and alarms or all equipment monitored in the
substation (primary and secondary system)
 the network level by means of an Asset Management Systems which helps to overlook the Health of the entire
fleet in the operator’s network.

Data is acquired and processed on IEDs for Monitoring and Diagnostics located directly at the primary equipment
as described in examples above, such as TEC, Sentinel and so on. On request the results of the individual monitors
are visualized on a local screen directly mounted on the IED for M&D.

On a station level HMI, be it a microScada or on a totally separate system, the monitoring data of the equipment
in the Substation can be represented. Clever data visualization techniques must be implemented not to confuse
operators in case of disturbances.

On the network level ABB is providing Asset Management systems including Asset Health Center described
below.

8.5. Monitoring overview on the Substation level

Asset health is not a new concept; as a label, it merely describes the discipline of overseeing the lifecycle of the
electrical equipment required for asset operators to do their job. But as a business strategy, end-to-end asset health
describes a specific combination of technologies, analytics and work processes that has only recently become
commercially viable to bring an unparalleled level of order, automation and comprehensiveness to this function.
The first job of an end-to-end asset health system is to gather information from the widest range of sources and
integrate these disparate data so it can be analyzed and converted into actionable knowledge. These include test
and inspection reports, maintenance status reports and data from OT (Operations Technology) systems.
Secondly, asset health should add asset operational and performance intelligence, an embedded understanding of
the equipment itself that:
 Tracks information about the current condition and performance of each asset;
 Provides analytics and dashboards so information can be contextually understood by individuals in accordance
to their role and function within the utility; and supports repair and replacement decision-making.
The third function of asset health is to deliver
this information in an appropriate format to
whomever needs it — whether it’s to the
executive suite as a dashboard of Key
Performance Indicators (KPIs) or to the service
technician in the field about to perform
maintenance on an asset
Finally, the most effective AHM takes full
advantage of integration to existing work
management systems to generate work orders
and facilitate execution of these decisions.
The complex interconnectivity of these work
processes demands an enterprise-wide
approach to managing asset health, which is
why leading utilities are developing an end-to-
end asset health strategy that wed all of the
following attributes:
 Asset knowledge and expertise
 Sensors and monitors
 Communication gateways
 Data integration, archiving and storage
 Equipment performance models and algo-
rithms Fig. 14: From data acquisition to data analysis to fleet
 Analytics and dashboards management in Asset Health
 Integration to systems for asset manage-
ment, supply chain management, and
work management and execution.

In Asset Heath reliability centered maintenance (RCM) procedures is enabling utilities to focus their maintenance
activities on those areas which are strategically important for the function of the grid. Fig. 14 shows how assets
(dots) are positioned based and the actual condition of the equipment and the relative importance. The definition
of the importance of the equipment can be evaluated based on simple estimates or based on sophisticated algo-
rithms. In the future these charts will by dynamic and vary in function of the actual network and / or substation
configuration.

Key features
Asset Health Center is a Predictive Analytics software platform designed specifically for the Electrical Utility
industry. It leverages ABB’s substantial, industry-leading expertise in electrical equipment manufacturing and
service to programmatically:
 Consolidate information from a variety of sources
 determine current condition of electrical assets
 identify problems using a variety of methods (trending, thresholds, rate of change, statistical correlation and
probabilistic theory)
 provide recommendations for corrective action and
 specify the time frame in which the action must be taken to avoid critical failure of the asset
 prioritize actions across the fleet and aid in creation of Work Requests

Asset Health Center provides a fleet wide view on asset health and criticality regardless of asset class or equipment
manufacturer. This facilitates a fundamental paradigm shift – from periodic maintenance or time based
maintenance to a more proactive strategy based on asset condition and risk. The image on Fig. 14 is just one view
of criticality of assets vs. their likelihood of failure. Each point represents an asset and for each asset Asset Health
Center has generated detailed messages and actions. This approach is called reliability centered maintenance.

Asset Health Center enables users to easily drill into any asset to understand problems, warnings, recommendations
and timeframes. The image below shows just one of the visualizations built into Asset Health Center to help
transformer experts evaluate the recommendations.
Benefits
Asset Health benefits organizations by:
• Automating the process to evaluate large amounts of data for near real-time insight about the performance of
assets across the grid.
• Better quantifying system and safety risks related to their aging infrastructure through the unique convergence
of deep T&D equipment expertise, data management, performance models, analytics, visualization and system
integration.
• Optimizing equipment and human assets across the network to achieve reliability, efficiency, environmental-
impact and security goals.
• Facilitating condition-based maintenance practices that minimize risk of unplanned outages due to catastrophic
asset failure.
• Providing a repeatable, transparent, engineering-based process that incorporates advanced analytics and perfor-
mance models to prioritize T&D equipment for maintenance and lifecycle management.
• Enabling them to do more with less through improved work force productivity, efficiency and effectiveness.

Asset Health makes good business sense:

• An ARC Consulting Group survey of utilities estimates corrective maintenance can cost 10x as much as predic-
tive maintenance. In addition, they found that approximately 65% of the time, traditional preventive maintenance
often results in no action.
• AEP, the largest TSO in the USA, has avoided failures using Asset Health Center’s predictive analytics. In one
specific example, they saved $4 million when a transformer began to show rapid gassing (H2 and acetylene),
was taken off line, and the loose leads that would have caused failure were repaired.
• Gartner states that “Enterprises need to develop new IT management capabilities to leverage the convergence of
real-time information generated by the increasing number of smart IT-enabled assets (commonly referred to as
"operational technology") with traditional business IT.”

Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) programs often take a very long time to show benefits if ever in the
electricity transmission environment, partly because failures are not as frequent. ABB has already completed the
FMEA and root cause analysis for EHV and HV equipment and embedded this knowledge into AHC. By starting
with AHC, National Grid SA could therefore quickly gain the benefits of RCM without the delay of waiting for
failures to happen in their own organization.

9. Keep the grid stable

The share of renewable power generation sources is set to continue to increase substantially in the decade ahead.
Some European countries for example target well above 50% renewable power by 2030. In Denmark for
example during some days in the year more than 100% of the load is generated by renewables.

Renewable energy sources are intermittent, bulk renewable power generation is often far away from loads (i.e.:
off-shore wind parks), the expected expansion of storage of all sorts as well as the target increase of
interconnections will require a much more flexible grid compared to today. The level of grid automation therefore
will increase. Already today this is visible, in some regions for example until recently it was enough to switch
between a summer and a winter grid configuration. Today the same grid has to be reconfigured up to 20 times a
day.

The power system moves from a stiff and hierarchical structure to a decentralized structure with variable power
flow directions. Therefore the grid of the future will require Digital Substations with inherently higher reliability
thanks to monitoring and diagnostics, intelligent asset management systems, shorter down times, more accurate
current and voltage phasor measurement supporting grid stability. This will enable a real time optimization of the
power flow, to safeguard the grid stability also under emergency conditions and to regulate the voltage all across
the grids. Digital substation will be the enablers for the smart grids.
Fig. 15: Outlook renewable generation in Germany. Source: Volker Quaschning, HTW Berlin

Fig. 16: The new grid architecture with decentralized renewable power generation will require the
features offered by Digital Substations

In parallel to the increased complexity of the electric power system, the costs for the operation of a grid is
expected to decrease, i.e. more efficiency is expected from all stakeholders.

Therefore we will see the digitalization of penetrating all aspects of the business processes of utilities as well as
for industries. Digital substations therefore are an inevitable consequence of the big shifts in the power business
and will support operators to transform their grids into smart grids.
10. Conclusions

In most engineering fields, digital technologies such as communication have replaced point-to-point wiring since
more than two decades. In fact digital technologies are everywhere and so reliable that nobody has a problem today
to enter a modern airplane where all controls are digital. More and more commodities are connected to the internet
in one way or the other. Internet of things is the new catchword.

In substations however still thousands of point-to-point signaling copper wires have to be laid out in the
foundations of substations in order to interconnect the primary equipment such as switchgear and transformers
with protection, control and monitoring devices. Maintenance and service procedures as well as keeping the
substation signaling diagrams update during the long life cycle of a substation is a heavy burden for all operators.
Current measurement transformers saturate and they have a limited dynamic range. As a result various transformer
cores have to be connected in parallel. Complex processing routines and filters have to be developed for reliable
protection. Complicated interlocking schemes, hard-wired and slow due to electro-mechanical effects such as
contact bouncing have to be engineered, tested on site and approved in lengthy procedures. As a result a
conventional substation is rigid and difficult to adapt to changes or to expand.

State of the art Digital Substations overcome these and many more issues thanks to standardized fiber optic
communication buses and sensors integrated into the primary high voltage apparatus. High precision analogue
voltage and current sensors replace heavy and bulky current and voltage measurement transformers. The output
signals of these sensors are sampled and digitized by means of high precision electronics directly at the sensor.
From there these digital signals are broadcasted to substation control and protection equipment by means of
communication buses based on standard Ethernet technologies.

Digital substation automatically supervise the condition of the primary and secondary equipment. Information
from monitoring and diagnostics services extracted from sensors is made available on the substation level for
example on a substation System Data Manager, on the network level by means of an Asset Management System.
This is the enabler for utilities to move from conventional time based maintenance procedures to condition based
maintenance. State of the art Asset Health Centers relate the condition of assets with their relative importance in
the power system and pave the way towards reliability centered maintenance strategies. This will finally enable
operators to focus the maintenance resources on those assets which are most critical to the system and set-up the
organization and procedures accordingly. Digital Substations as a result will support utilities to increase the
reliability of their system and at the same time reduce their operational costs.

Since a decade pilot digital substations are in operation successfully. Given the existing IEC 61850 standard and
its application on the process bus, the trend for digital substation is starting to accelerate, it follows the global trend
for digitalization. Digital substations will be one of the strategic core elements for flexible smart grids, needed for
a safe and stable integration of intermittent renewable energy sources. Power utilities and industries are invited to
get familiar with this new technology in order to successfully master the challenges ahead.

11. References

[1] Klaus Bohnert, Andreas Frank, Tomas Roininen, Berkan Gülenaltin, Philippe Gabus, Aleksandar Vujanic
2014: “Fiber-optic current and voltage sensors as modern alternatives to conventional instrument
transformers”, TechIT India 2014.
[2] Janne Starck, Dr. Wolfgang Wimmer, Karol Majer 2013: “Switchgear Optimization using IEC 61850-9-2”,
CIRED Stockholm 2013.
[3] J. Starck, A. Hakala-Ranta, M. Stefanka, 2012: “Switchgear Optimization Using IEC 61850-9-2 and Non-
Conventional Measurements”, PAC World Conference, Budapest.
[4] A. Hakala-Ranta, O.Rintamäki, J. Starck, 2009, “Utilizing Possibilities of IEC 61850 and GOOSE”,
CIRED, Prague.
[5] H. Kirrmann, 2010, “Seamless Redundancy”, ABB Review, Special Report IC 61850, 57-61.

[6] Navigant Research Report 2016: Asset Management and Condition Monitoring