APPLICATION OF SCADA

IN POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION

R. L. Das Anjul
Sr. DGM , Sr. Engineer
Electronics Division, BHEL, Bangalore

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The term SCADA “Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition System” in the most
conventional way as applicable to any sector has the bottom line functionality as listed
below.

 Shall acquire field data from the various field devices like sensors
 Shall be able to Control various field Actuators by the supervisors

Irrespective of the application area or sector it may be applied, any SCADA system
typically has three implementation layers.

 Human Machine Interface

 Communication Interface
 Remote Terminal Units

The interaction between the above mentioned three layers for exchange of data is
briefly explained below. The data acquired from the various field devices like sensors etc
by the Remote terminal units as digital and Analogue signals will be communicated over
various possible and viable communication media to the HMI stations. The HMI station
could be a group of computers performing the functions of Operator Station, Engineer
station, servers networked on a local area network. Depending on the type of application
the servers could be collecting data from the RTUs or PLCs either located in the same
location or from RTUs located at geographically distant locations. The data acquired and
made available at a centralized location, will be in turn stored & presented by the various
standard features of HMI package like Alarms & Events reporting, Logs, Trends, Status
Displays etc. which are the requirements, which are the primary requirements for all the
SCADA applications.

The specific requirements for these three layers depend on the various sectors where
it would be applied. The requirements of HMI systems for various sector or application
vary mainly on the type of Communication media interfaces or on the advanced
functionalities. The advanced requirements for the HMI packages for power sector
demand features like Energy Management Package, interface to numerical relays etc
whereas HMI packages for Oil & gas sector calls for features like Leak Detection
Systems. These features are making SCADA systems to evolve as intelligent
management systems for various Sectors. The requirements for Remote Terminal units
from the hardware point of view mainly vary in terms of environment where it has to be
applied and possible communication interfaces it can support. The logic implemented in
these remote terminal units will be specific to the application based on what has to be
monitored or controlled.

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DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SCADA AND DCS:

The SCADA systems and Distributed Control Systems (DCS) are similar in terms of the
basic functionality of Data Acquisition and Control implemented through a network of
computers and Distributed processing units which are called as Remote Terminal units in
SCADA application.

DCS is process oriented, and it looks at the controlled process. It presents data to the
operators as part of its job. Whereas, SCADA is data-gathering oriented, hence the
control centre and operators are its main focus. The various processors in the case of a
DCS system will perform a significant amount of closed loop controls whereas closed
loop control is not a high priority in a SCADA system

The Distributed Control system will cater to a more confined area where the operator
station is normally intimately connected with its I/O (through local wiring, FieldBus or
Local area Networks) for collecting the process related data. The SCADA system can
collect data on a variety of communication media related to the system catering to
larger geographical area.

2.0 POWER PLANT / INDEPENDENT SUBSTATION

SCADA
2.1 GENERAL:

The configuration for these two types of SCADA system require a number of Remote
Terminal Units networked at the same location to HMI computers on high speed
communication network.

The automation systems for Power plants are the following

 Distributed Control System performing the main power plant controls and monitoring
functions

 SCADA system which controls the electrical network ( switchyard) connected to the
power plant

The Substation SCADA caters to the automation requirements of Independent

Substations generally in the transmission sector. The HMI stations and remote terminal
units will be located at the substation itself. The typical configuration is similar to the
power plant SCADA requirements. The requirements for interconnection to Main power
plant DCS system & Remote connection to LDC are generally not there.

The basic configuration for such type of SCADA systems consists of a network of
computers performing the functions of Operator Stations, Engineer Stations and Remote
Terminal Units. These systems perform the basic functions like listed below.

(a) Monitoring of the substation equipment like isolators, breakers and earth switches

(b) Control of isolators ,breakers etc

Apart from these functions the SCADA systems for such type of applications also have
some special interfaces for interfacing to IEDs (Intelligent Electronics Device).

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 The typical configuration diagram is given below.

Gateway to Main Power

plant DCS/ WAN to DCS

Communication to Remote
Control center / LDC via PLCC
or dedicated Telephone Line

PLCC modem/Telephone
modem

Dual LAN network–

RTU1 RTU2 RTUn

Numerical Relay Station

TM TM TM
NR Numerical Relay

TM Trivector Meters NR NR NR

2.2 FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS

A. DATA ACQUISITION FUNCTION:

The data from the substation equipments are acquired from the remote terminal
units as digital and analogue signals. These parameters include:
Analogue Signals like three phase voltages, three phase currents , MW, MVar,
Energy etc.
Digital Status like Opened /Closed status of isolators, breakers & earth switches
Alarms like breaker alarms, protection alarms

Accumulators or Pulse Inputs

B. CONTROL FUNCTIONS:

The operator issues control commands for closing or opening of the breakers and
isolators with select-check-execute from the Control Center which are communicated to
the Remote Terminal Units

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C. SEQUENTIAL CONTROL

Necessary sequential logic & interlocking as are implemented for breaker or isolator
closing/ opening operations.

D. ALARMS & EVENTS MANAGEMENT SYSTEM:

Various alarms like protection alarms or breaker alarms are time tagged by the
Remote Terminal units with milliseconds accuracy and sent to the Central Control
Center. The alarms have to be annunciated to the operator as audible alarms. Necessary
features are provided for Acknowledge/Reset of these alarms. The alarms and other
time tagged events are logged in the HMI computers for further viewing and analysis.

E. COMMUNICATION REQUIREMENTS:

Power plant switchyard or Independent substations SCADA system require the RTUs
located within the same room to communicate with the HMI system on a high speed dual
communication network preferably ethernet or RS485 communication link. The
architecture implemented for the HMI computers and RTU can be either server type of
architecture or a peer to peer communication interface.

The power plant SCADA system generally have necessary communication facility for
two way data communication with the Power plant DCS system to achieve control and
monitoring of the switchyard from the Power plant Control room. Apart from this, some
of the projects require facility for Control and Monitoring of the entire power plant from a
remote control center on a PLCC link. The protocol for communication with the remote
control center are generally IEC 870-5-101 .

F. TIME SYNCHRONIZATION REQUIREMENTS:

The computers on the LAN and the RTUs are time synchronized to the Master clock.
The time synchronization at the RTUs is done using IRIG-B signal.

2.3 REQUIREMENTS FOR HMI PACKAGES

A. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS :

The HMI package should run on the Operator station at the Control centers and shall
have the following features.

 Graphical displays depicting the total distribution network

 Supervisory control through suitable password protection from the graphical
displays

 Alarm & event message display

 Trend & Bar charts displays

 Printing of reports & Logs

 Engineering/Configuration facility

The above listed requirements for HMI packages exist for all type of SCADA applications

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B. SPECIAL FEATURES OF HMI FOR POWER PLANT &
INDEPENDENT SUBSTATION SCADA SYSTEMS

The special requirements for power plant SCADA systems in the various tender
specifications are the following:

 Communication Gateway to Main Power Plant DCS system

The gate way to the Main power plant control room has to perform the
following functions:

1) Control & monitoring of the substation shall be possible from the Main power
plant control room
2) Collect data from the Main Power plant DCS to forward to the Remote Center

 Communication to HMI station located at the Remote Control

Center/LDC via PLCC or dedicated telephone lines

Control and Monitoring of the power plant from the remote control center
shall be possible via this link . In some of the projects ,HMI station located at the
Remote Control Center shall be able to connect to other third party systems at
the remote control center.

 Interface to Numerical Relays from HMI station

The operator shall be able to perform the following tasks from the operator station:
1) View/modify the relay settings ( HMI layer)
2) Viewing/Analysis of Disturbance record collected by the relays ( HMI
layer)
The numerical relays available in the market are from three suppliers ABB,
Siemens & ALSTOM. The SCADA systems offered by these suppliers offer such
integrated features. Similar requirement is being asked in most of the tender
specifications.

 Interface to Numerical relay from RTU

 Communication to Trivector Meters

 Energy Management System

The EMS packages are required to implement Load shedding algorithms,

Connection /disconnection of capacitor banks etc.

 Synchronization of outgoing lines to the bus from local SCADA

as well as from remote control center.

 Integrated Bay control units performing both Control &

Protection functions

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 3.0 DISTRIBUTION SCADA

3.1 GENERAL :

The Distribution SCADA systems deal with the supervisory control and data acquisition
systems for power distribution network consisting of Distribution transformers (11
kV/415 V) and substations 33 kV & 66 kV (Sub transmission level) are classified under
the category of Distribution SCADA. The typical SCADA system for a Distribution
application consists of a number of Remote Terminal Units located in geographically
distributed locations and has the possibility of communicating via different
communication media like UHF/VHF Radio, Cell phones, Fiber optic, satellite, Public
Switched Telephone Network (PSTN ) , Microwave etc to one or more control centers.

Control Center 2

WAN Network
Control Center 1 Fibre Optic

Desk Jet printer

Dual LAN network

Redundant servers
RTU1 Geographically distributed RTUs
at Substation or Distribution
Transformers

RTUn

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 The Master control center (like in a Power plant or Independent Substation
SCADA application) consist of a network of computers performing the functions of
Operator station, Engineer station etc. In a power plant SCADA application, the remote
terminal units will be connected to the HMI computers at the same location. However, in
a Distribution SCADA or Pipeline SCADA application, the LAN network will have dedicated
servers/Front End processors in redundant configuration which will collect data via their
serial ports from the geographically distributed remote terminal units on radio or any
other medium of communication listed above. Alternatively the master control center
may have Communication Controllers instead of servers for performing this function.

3.2 FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS

3.2.1 DATA ACQUISITION FUNCTION :

The data from the various pole top RTUs / Ring main units/ substations/
distribution transformers will be acquired from the remote terminal units. The data is
acquired by RTUs as digital and analogue signals. These parameters include :

Analogue Signals like three phase voltages & currents , MW, MVar, Energy etc.

Digital Status like Opened /Closed status of isolators, breakers & earth switches

Alarms like breaker alarms, protection alarms

Accumulators or Pulse Inputs

3.2.2 CONTROL FUNCTIONS :

The operator should be able to issue control commands for closing or opening of the
breakers and isolators (with select-check-execute) from the Control Center. This should
be communicated to the Remote Terminal Units.

3.2.3 SEQUENTIAL CONTROL :

Necessary sequential logics & interlockings as per Operating & control philosophy are
required to be implemented for breaker closing/ opening operations.

3.2.4 ALARMS & EVENTS MANAGEMENT SYSTEM:

The various alarms like protection alarms or breaker alarms are to be time tagged by the
Remote Terminal units with milliseconds accuracy and sent to the Central Control
Center. The alarms are to be annunciated to the operator as audible alarms. Necessary
features are to be provided for Acknowledge/Reset of these alarms. The alarms and
other time tagged events are to be logged in the HMI computers for further viewing and
analysis.

Some of the specifications call for Auto dialing /Auto paging features. This requires
facility by which the telephone/pager numbers of the maintenance staff responsible can
be configured for Alarms pertaining to the particular areas/zone. This feature is covered
in the Trouble Call Management system requirement.

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3.2.5 COMMUNICATION REQUIREMENTS:

The communication requirements for Distribution SCADA applications are similar to the
requirements for pipeline SCADA applications.

The Distribution SCADA applications require Control & monitoring of the various
distribution transformers, substations, ring main units etc from either one or more
Control Centers. In case of systems where more than one control centers exist, one of
the Control center will act as the Master Control Center. The Master Control Center will
poll the RTUs over communication media like Radio /Microwave /cell phone / fibre optic
etc to collect the data pertaining to the electrical distribution network. The Master
Control Center has to update the other Control Centers (one or more varies from project
to project) on high speed OFC (Optical Fibre Cable) or on dedicated / leased telephone
lines using suitable routers.

All the Control Centers are generally on a WAN link. The status of the Master Control
Center will be acquired by the other Center when there is a failure of communication at
the present Master Control Center. Apart from this, facility has to be provided in the HMI
software for transferring of Master Control Center Status through manual commands.

The Control centers generally have minimum three computers configured as redundant
Operator stations (2 nos) and one Engineer station interconnected on a high speed (eg.
100 MBPs) Ethernet LAN. The data collection from the RTUs by the Master Control
Centers are done by dedicated redundant Front End Processors or Servers (FEP)
which are to be hooked on to LAN along with Operator & Engineer stations. These
servers collect data on their serial channels interfaced to the communication equipment (
Radio/Cell phones/Micro wave etc).

Some of the applications may require redundant Communication Controller Units

(CCU) with Line switching units. The Communication Control Units should house a
number of serial communication cards. The total number of RTUs will be divided among
these serial communication cards. Such type of multiple communication channel
requirements exists for projects, which require relatively large number of RTUs, and
requires faster time response.

The use of FEPs/ Servers or Communication Controller units has the advantage that the
work load of the other SCADA computers like Operator Stations and Application servers
are reduced since the critical task of data acquisition, Communication Control, running of
communication drivers etc are performed by the servers or Communication Control
units.

Redundancy in the serial Communication channels from each server as well as

from the Remote terminal units can also be provided . Under such condition, automatic
switch over of the communication channel to be initiated when failure is detected on one
channel.

The Communication protocols between the Communication servers and the RTUs
should preferably be Open Communication Protocols like DNP3.0, IEC 870-5-101 or
MODBUS. In order to reduce unnecessary data communication between the Master
Control Centers and the RTUs a technique called Report by Exception is being
preferred. When the RTU is scanned by the Master Center, the RTU will report the data
based on status change for digital data & Analogue data if they exceed the assigned
dead band. The SCADA system should be capable of polling all RTUs with data request
messages as per polling tables that can be configured. It should be possible to define an
RTU to be polled more than once in a polling table or put out of polling by the operator.

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3.2.6 TIME SYNCHRONIZATION REQUIREMENTS:

The computers on the LAN at the various Control Centers are to be synchronized to the
Master Clock. The RTU time to be synchronized with the Master Control Center and the
communication protocol used shall support the time synchronization.

If there is a discrepancy between the RTU and the Master Control center by telemetered
Synchronization signal, the RTU RTC shall reset and synchronize time with the Master
Control Center. Time compensation are to be done for transmission delay etc to arrive
at the correctly matching time.

3.3 REQUIREMENTS FOR REMOTE TERMINAL UNITS:

The RTUs usually comprise of the following sub systems:

 Central processor with system software

 Analogue Inputs
 Digital Inputs
 Analogue Outputs
 Digital Outputs
 Pulse accumulators
 Serial ports
 Power supply
 Real Time Clock

The major criteria to be satisfied for suitability for use in Distribution SCADA applications
are explained below:

a) Operating Temperature Requirements:

Since the RTUs will be put in enclosures, and will generally be mounted in outdoor
environment, reliable operation of RTUs under such conditions is to be ensured.

b) Serial Communication interface:

The RTUs should have a adequate number of communication to address the following
requirements.

 Ports for Redundant serial communication interface to various types of

communication media like Radio Modem , Microwave, Cell phone, Public
Switched Telephone Network (Dial up modem) , Cell phones, fibre optic etc.

In built firmware / driver support is needed for ASCII read/ write for dial up
modem interface.

 Port for local configuration / debugging, downloading etc.

 Port is needed for communicating with Trivector meters / Numerical relays at 11

kV feeders or at Substations.

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c) Open Communication protocol support on RS232 channel:

Communication protocols generally offered for SCADA applications are MODBUS, IEC
870-5-101,and DNP 3.0 apart from any of their proprietary protocols. However, stress is
given on adopting open protocol keeping in view the future possibility of enhancing the
scope of Automation by adding more RTUs at different locations. If open communication
protocol is used, the end user can have the option of using an RTU from a different
supplier.

d) Online Diagnostics:

Since the remote terminal units will be located at Distribution Transformers, Ring Main
units etc which will be unmanned, the RTUs should have online diagnostic support to
check the healthiness of various peripherals on the board without disturbing the
executing application program. The RTU should also report these diagnostic data to the
Master Control Center so that personnel can be deputed for repair works

e) The RTUs should be immune to Radio frequency interference generated by

any near by sources as per the latest international standards.

i) It should have graphical programming tool for configuring as well as for

programming. The configuration or the application program should be downloadable via
the serial port available on the RTU either from the local location or from the Remote
Control Center.

j) It should be capable of time stamping selected or configured input based on the

local clock with millisecond resolution. The RTU time to be synchronized with the
Master Control center time. In the event of failure of communication with the Master
Control Center, the RTU should continue to scan the Inputs and time tag using the Real
Time Clock (RTC) available in the RTU. The remote terminal units should have enough
buffer size for storing such time tagged data for a duration of typically 24 hrs, in the
event of failure of communication with the Master Control Center.

k) The RTUs should be capable of interfacing to Trivector meters at the substations

or at the distribution transformer level. Some of the tri vector meters offers MODBUS
interface and some of them offer IEC 1107 interface.
3.4 REQUIREMENTS FOR HMI PACKAGES
3.4.1 GENERAL REQUIREMENTS :

The HMI package should run on the Operator station at the Control Centers and should
have following features.
 Graphical displays depicting the total distribution network
 Supervisory control through suitable password protection from the graphical
displays
 Alarm & event message display
 Trend & Bar charts displays
 Reports & Logs
 Printing of reports & Logs
 Engineering/Configuration facility

The above listed requirements for HMI packages exist for all type of SCADA applications

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3.4.2 SPECIAL FEATURES OF HMI REQUIRED FOR DISTRIBUTION
SCADA APPLICATION:

a) Network Architecture:

The network architecture required for the HMI system, consisting of operator stations,
Engineer Stations etc should have redundant communication servers /Front End
processors for performing the dedicated task of data collection from various Remote
Terminal Units via various communication mediums. When the number of RTUs are large
in number and the time response become critical, the communication are performed by
Communication Control units which in turn gives the data to the communication servers.

b) Open Communication protocol support on RS232 channel from the

Communication servers or Communication Control units:

The HMI package or configuration being used should support one or more than one of
the following three open communication protocols used for SCADA applications -
MODBUS,IEC 870-5-101,DNP 3.0 apart from any of their proprietary protocols. As in
case of RTU requirement, such type of open protocol is demanded keeping in view the
future possibility of enhancing the scope of Automation by adding more RTUs at different
locations, and the end user can have the option of using an RTU from a different
supplier.

3.4.3 Special application requirements:

Some of the special requirements of HMI for Distribution SCADA applications are listed
below. These features could be either built in features or third party packages, which
can be integrated to the HMI packages. These features are generally offered as part of
Distribution Management system.

(a) Energy Management Systems

(b) Trouble Call Management system

(c) Geographical Information Systems

(d)Automatic Meter Reading( Future)

 Energy Management systems:

The Energy Management systems are required to perform the network modelling,
Load flow analysis, to perform virtual metering using Load flow techniques partially
using the telemetered data from selected network points, ON/OFF control of Reactive
power devices etc.

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  Trouble Call Management system:

This package should perform the following functions.

1) Auto Dialing or Auto Paging based on selected alarms/faults to alert field staff

2) To attend all consumers complaints related to the Power supply problems in

various circles. Typical requirements are given below :

- Registering complaints with telephone numbers (with multiple

telephone lines and call hunting facility)

- Voice mail for registering calls

- Interactive voice response for responding to complaints

 GPS Based Vehicle Monitoring system

This system has to be used for effective monitoring and deployment of Maintenance
vehicles.

 Automatic Meter Reading

The concept of automated and remote meter reading is gaining importance in the
area of distribution applications. Such type of system requires energy meters with
suitable communication interface installed at residential and other utility premises .

3.5 COMMUNICATION INFRASTRUCTURE:

Communication between the geographically distributed Remote Terminal Units and

the Control Centers can be via various communication medium like Radio,
Microwave, cell phone, PSTN ,satellite etc. The communication mode has to be
selected on a case to case basis depending on various factors like distance being
covered, topology, response requirements, volume of data to be transferred to the
Control Centers etc. The Remote Terminal Units and the Control Center
servers/communication units should have the possibility of interfacing to above
indicated communication media.

4.0 CONCLUSION
As the SCADA system is becoming more affordable due to advancement in
technology, its application is expected to rise significantly in the area of power
transmission and distribution. The improvements in quality of power, reliability of
supply and loss minimization can be effectively addressed with the SCADA system.

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