10A2-1 The 2nd IEEE Conference on Power Engineering and Renewable Energy

ICPERE 2014

Solutions of Electrical Control and Management

System for Thermal Power Plant Based on IEC61850
HOU Wei, YANG Yan, YAN Wei, ZHANG Chunhe
Research Institute
NR Electric Co., Ltd.
NanjingˈChina
houw@nari-relays.com

Abstract—As an integrated control system of the whole boiler-
turbine and its electrical system, the Distributed Control System
(DCS) has been widely used in thermal power plants. However,
due to the large amount of microprocessor-based protection and
monitoring devices in the auxiliary power system, some operation
information in the devices can not be detected by the DCS. The
devices provides a large number of the protection action
Sequence of Events(SOE), measurement, alarm, fault wave
record function and so on. To handle the problem, the Electrical
Control and Management System(ECMS) which integrates all
the electrical devices is widely used in China. The system can
achieve the functions such as SOE information collection,
measurement, power supply unit control, fault wave recording,
auxiliary power consumption rate analysis, energy management,
etc., bringing conveniences for the operation and maintenance of
power plants.
The paper introduces the scheme of ECMS based on IEC61850
for thermal power plants in details, including the ECMS that
includes only auxiliary power system of power plant and the
integrated ECMS includes the entire electrical system of power
plant. For the step-up substation of power plant, primary
equipment is placed far away from protection and control devices
and bay control units. Using electronic CTs/VTs and intelligent
control units can save the amount of cables on site, reduce
substation occupied area and solve the insulation, saturation and
resonance problems caused by conventional transformers. For
the auxiliary power system of plants, protection, control and
monitoring devices are installed in the switchgear cabinet that
are close to primary equipment. Compared with electronic
CTs/VTs, conventional CTs/VTs have more competitive price.
Therefore the auxiliary power system inside plants adopts analog
sampling method. Protection relay, control and monitoring
devices are communicated via GOOSE network to achieve
protection functions that can not be implemented by normal
auxiliary power relay devices, such as busbar protection, breaker
failure protection, high speed transfer and interlocking functions.
The interlocking functions realized by motor protection devices
through GOOSE network can be standby or backup of
Distributed Control System (DCS). So far, the ECMS schemes
discussed in the paper have been applied to many large capacity
generators and put into service successfully, including the digital
ECMS based on IEC61850 for 1000MW generator units in
thermal power plants, the integrated ECMS for 1000MW
generator units, and motor interlocking functions based on
GOOSE network for a 600MW power plant.
With the promotion of the IEC61850 technology in thermal
power plants, some new protection and control methods will be
necessarily applied, and with the IEC61850 modeling of thermal
equipment in the future, IEC61850 technology will get more
applications in power plants.
Keywords-thermal power plant,electrical control and
management system, digital technology, IEC61850
I. INTRODUCTION
As an integrated control system of the whole boiler-turbine
and its electrical system, the Distributed Control System (DCS)
has been widely used in thermal power plants. However, due to
the large amount of microprocessor-based protection and
monitoring devices in the auxiliary power system, some
operation information in the devices can not be detected by the
DCS. The devices provides a large number of the protection
action Sequence of Events(SOE), measurement, alarm, fault
wave record function and so on. To handle the problem, the
Electrical Control and Management System(ECMS) which
integrates all electrical devices is widely used in China. The
system can achieve the functions such as SOE information
collection, measurement, power supply unit control, fault wave
recording, auxiliary power consumption rate analysis, energy
management, etc., bringing conveniences for the operation and
maintenance of power plants.
The ECMS consists of many devices provided by
different manufacturers. This may lead to the lack of a unified
data modeling and communication protocol. Therefore,
the protocol converter is required. However, the protocol
converter will reduce the communication speed and reliability
and increase the complexity of the system, resulting in
inconveniences to plant design, construction, operation and
maintenance.
As IEC61850 represents the latest development trend of the
management of global power enterprises, it has been the most
popular technology in power system worldwide. Considering
the great progresses achieved from substation applications in
China, it is necessary to introduce the IEC61850 standard to
the whole power system. So far, plenty of international
communication standards are established in different power
plant application fields, including the IEC61850-7-410/510 for
hydro power plant application, IEC61850-7-420 for wind farm

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10A2-1 The 2nd IEEE Conference on Power Engineering and Renewable Energy
application and IEC61400-25 for wind farm network
communication.
In this paper, an innovative protection and control scheme
based on IEC61850 standard for digital power plants is
discussed. It is composed of fully digitalized devices, such as
communication devices, online monitoring devices, intelligent
controllers and protection devices. The protection and control
system is supposed to be integrated with other control system,
finally to achieve a unified standard to regulate the design and
manufacturing of power plant equipment.
As an integrated control system of the whole boiler-turbine
and its electrical system, the Distributed Control System (DCS)
has been widely used in thermal power plants. However, due to
the large amount of microprocessor-based protection and
monitoring devices in the auxiliary power system, some
operation information in the devices can not be detected by the
DCS. The devices provides a large number of the protection
action Sequence of Events(SOE), measurement, alarm, fault
wave record function and so on. To handle the problem, the
Electrical Control and Management System(ECMS) which
integrates all electrical devices is widely used in China. The
system can achieve the functions such as SOE information
collection, measurement, power supply unit control, fault wave
recording, auxiliary power consumption rate analysis, energy
management, etc., bringing conveniences for the operation and
maintenance of power plants.
II. DESIGN METHOD
A digital power system consists of intelligent primary
equipment (Electronic CT/VT, smart switch, etc.) and
networking protection and automation devices. The system is
divided into station level, bay level and process level. Relying
on the communications established based on IEC61850
protocol, the digital power system realizes information sharing
and interoperation between intelligent electrical devices.
The digital electrical system can solve the following
existing problems in the current power system:
• Insulation, saturation and resonance of conventional
transformers
• Long distance cable wiring and large amount of cables
connections between panels
• Communication standard
An overall monitoring of all electrical equipment in a
power plant can be achieved by using IEC61850 protocol. By
using this international standard, the protocol conversion
between devices produced by different manufacturers are not
required, and eventually this advantage will be reflected in the
improvement of system operation efficiency.
A thermal power plant usually has a high voltage step-up
power station and there are long distances between primary
equipment and protection and automation devices. Considering
the situations, electronic CTs/VTs and intelligent breaker
controllers are recommended due to their superior operating
performance. Compared with the conventional transformer, the
ICPERE 2014
electronic CT/VT doesn’t have insulation, saturation and
resonance problem. It saves installation spaces and reduces
cable wiring.
In the auxiliary electrical system of thermal power plant,
the protection and monitoring devices are installed in the local
switchgear cabinets that the connections with primary
equipment can be fulfilled by a small amount of cables. In this
situation, taking the price element into account, the advantages
of using electronic CTs/VTs are not prominent. As the result,
the tripping/reclosing commands issued by protection and
monitoring devices are transmitted to circuit breakers via
cables. Communications between protection and monitoring
devices are achieved by GOOSE and SV network. By doing
that, the system can provide busbar protection, etc..
III. DIGITAL ELECTRIC CONTROL AND MANAGEMENT
SYSTEM
The ECMS monitors the whole electrical system in a
thermal power plant except the step-up power station. The
ECMS is for monitoring use in normal cases, and the ECMS
can control the auxiliary power switchgear only when DCS
stops.
The ECMS is usually used as the fault analysis of electrical
system, or the backup for manufacturing operation system. It is
composed of many different devices, such as generator-
transformer unit protections, start-up transformer protections,
auxiliary power system relays, fault recording devices, fast
switching relays, synchronizer, DC systems and UPS systems,
that a large amount of protocol converters is required. This will
consequently lead to a lower communication speed and worse
system stability. A way to solve this problem is utilizing
protection and automation device that are fully complied with
the IEC 61850 standard in the whole power plant. Information
sharing can be achieved between devices of different
manufacturers that it significantly improves site
communication reliability and reduces maintenance workforce.
A. System Scheme
Figure 1 illustrates the system structure of digital ECMS
network. Considering the large amount of 380V overcurrent
relays in the system and few of operation information they
produce, usually there is no requirement for fault recording. To
save the cost, data is transmitted to protocol converters via
filedbus instead of Ethernet and converted to IEC61850
standard. For other parts of the system, data is delivered via
dual Ethernet network based on IEC61850. Electronic CTs are
used at each side of the generator-transformer units while
conventional VTs are still used to measure voltage signals of
generator. Compared with conventional CTs/VTs, the
electronic CTs/VTs eliminate CT saturation and CT open
circuit problem, and have advantages of large dynamic
response range, independent measuring accuracy and simple
insulation. The HV power station protection devices are
complied with IEC61850 standard, MMS and GOOSE
network. To guarantee the safe operation, a separate optical
dual Ethernet network shall be established in the process bus.
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Figure 1. System structure of digital ECMS network
In the station level, the protection and monitoring devices
are connected to automation system via Ethernet port using
MMS protocol. Operator stations are built in the station level.
The control, monitoring and management of electrical
apparatus, such as generator-transformer units and HV/LV
power supplies, are achieved by ECMS. Motors are controlled
by Distributed Control System (DCS). All the protection and
monitoring devices in the bay level are installed in the local
switchgear cabinet to reduce the cable wiring in the whole
auxiliary power system. In addition, the blocking logic of
power supply is controlled by ECMS, and therefore the
Electrical Control System (ECS) functions in the DCS become
optional to reduce customers’ investment.
In the process level, complex cabling wirings is replaced by
the speeding dedicated GOOSE communication which has
significantly simplify the protection and control system of a
power plant.
In addition, new protection applications can be fulfilled by
star network based on IEC 61850 in the process level. For
example, busbar differential protection, breaker failure
protection, switch states collection and digital
tripping/reclosing command transmission can be realized in the
scheme. These new protection applications can enhance system
flexibility, save cable investment and reduce site cable wiring.
Using star connection network can avoid network storm and
increase GOOSE network security.
In the station level, the communication gateway converts
IEC61850 to other communication protocol and sends selected
signals to other systems.
The system adopts Simplified Network Time Protocol
(SNTP) and IRIG-B time synchronization methods. SNTP is
used to synchronize the system time clock of protection
devices. It also provides time synchronization to bay level
relays and remote terminal units which are directly connected
to Ethernet. Theoretically, SNTP has millisecond-level
accuracy. However, in practical, the synchronization accuracy
of SNTP is decreased due to work loads and CPU loads. Thus,
IRIG-B is added as compensation. The duplicated time
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ICPERE 2014
synchronization method increases the accuracy of system
synchronization.
B. Features of Digital Power Plant Scheme
The digital ECMS based on ICE61850 can achieve the
following advantages.
1) Digital busbar differential protection and circuit
breaker failure protection.
The conventional power station has many bays, and thus it
requires large amount of busbar protection since one such
device only has a few BI/BO. Considering the overload
capability of conventional CT and the high price of busbar
protection, the conventional power plant solution usually
neglects the busbar protection. In the new digital power plant
solution, busbar protection function can be achieved by the
cooperation of protection devices in each bay based on
GOOSE network. The busbar protection logic is integrated in
the protection devices which are connection to busbars. All
these devices share information through GOOSE network. As
shown in Figure 2, during the fault at node 1, the feeder Relay3
will be initiated and send GOOSE interlocking signal to the
line protection device to avoid mal-operation. After receiving
the interlocking signal, the supply line protection(Relay1 and
Realy2) blocks the protection component. After a fixed time
delay, if the fault at node 1 is not cleared, circuit breaker failure
protection will be initiated to trip the line. If a busbar fault
occurs at node 2, as no GOOSE interlocking signal is issued by
any feeder protection device, the supply line protection device
will trip the faulty busbar quickly. The new protection and
control scheme can significantly reduce the clearance time of
busbar fault.

Figure 2. Sketch map of power plant distributed busbar protection
2) Digital high speed transfer devices
The conventional high speed transfer device collects the
switch states, line voltage and current of main and standby
supply line, busbar voltage and tripping/reclosing control of
supply line switches. All these signals are transferred through
cables. In a digital power plant, signals such as switch states
and line current and voltage, can be collected and transferred
via GOOSE/SV network. The transfer logic is implemented by
the transfer device itself. The external wiring of a digital high
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speed transfer device is simplified that only the optic fibers are
used for Ethernet connection in process bus.
3) Interlocking
Currently, only a few projects have integrated the auxiliary
power supply control function in the ECMS. But in general, the
ECMS is used as a backup of power supply control, and in the
meanwhile, it provides monitoring, management and fault
analysis functions. When using GOOSE network based on
IEC61850 standard, information is shared between devices and
thus reciprocal interlocking becomes available, and ECMS is
able to used as compensation of DCS logic or to realize parts of
reciprocal interlocking instead of DCS. Taking the feed water
pump as an example, a typical DCS operation logic is shown in
Figure 3. The manual startup/shutdown logics of a motor are
corresponding to the manual reclosing/tripping logics of the
circuit breaker which is connected to the motor. Enabling logic
of startup/shutdown command is determined by the protection
and monitoring devices. The information on the initial
startup/shutdown of the motor is delivered via GOOSE
network. As shown in Figure 3, the initial startup of feeder
water pump A is activated when its interlocking function is
enabled while water pump B or C is tripped. The manual
tripping signal and the protection tripping signal issued by the
protection relay of water pump B or C will be sent to the
protection device of water pump A via GOOSE network.
External cable wiring can be neglected in this case.
When GOOSE network is established, interlocking can be
implemented by software configuration. In the scheme
discussed in this paper, users only spend few costs to add
motor interlocking and blocking functions which are used as
the redundancy of DCS interlocking logic.
Figure 3. Logic diagram of DCS for motor drive feed water pump
IV. INTEGRATIVE CONTROL & MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Network Control System (NCS) and ECMS are installed in
most thermal plants in China for the monitoring and
management of the step-up station and auxiliary electrical
system. As IEC61850 standard is widely used in power plants,
an integrated power plant control and monitoring system is
recommended. In this scheme, the station levels of NCS and
ECMS are combined to ease system operation. In the step-up
power station, electronic CTs/VTs and intelligent breaker
controller are used to reduce land space and cable wiring, so as
to minimize user’s investment and increase the automation
level on site.
The 2nd IEEE Conference on Power Engineering and Renewable Energy
ICPERE 2014
A. System Configuration
Figure 4 shows the system configuration of an integrative
control and management system for a thermal power plant. The
bay level equipments are divided into several virtual local area
network(VLAN) based on step-up system, common auxiliary
power system and generator unit auxiliary power systems.
The step-up system and common auxiliary power system
are parts of the power plant common system. The common
system connects to the station level networks of different
generator units. Generator units are isolated from each other to
reduce the network loads and optimize network structure,
especially when applied to the system with plenty of large-
scaled generator units and protection and control devices.
Engineer workstations, operator workstations, network printers,
gateways and GPS synchronization clocks are distributed
according to generator units.
B. Features
Besides the advantages described in Chapter 2.2, the
integrative ECMS also has the following features.
1) Convenient monitoring, maintenance and management
of electrical equipment in the whole power plant.
The control of the power supplies in the entire power plant
can be accomplished through one operator workstation.
Meanwhile, the ECMS provides the management of motors,
including motor supervisory, SOE recording, disturbance
recording, energy measurement, auxiliary power usage analysis
and event history functions. The system is a complement of
DCS and SIS for its intelligent control and monitoring
functions, such as breaker states monitoring, chromatography
of circuit breaker oil, SF6 gas monitoring, etc.
2) Simplify cable wiring and save users’ investments.
Different from a conventional power plant, in a digital
power plant, digital signals such as GOOSE and Sampled
Value (SV), are transmitted via the optical link in process bus
other than cables. As the result, huge amount of signal
transmissions are carried by Ethernet that it has simplified the
wiring between protection and control devices, meanwhile
saving customers investment.
3) Unified international communication standard
The integrative ECMS adopts unified international
communication standard to speed up system response time and
enhance system overall performance. In the conventional
power plant, each automation device adopts the communication
protocol that is developed by its manufacturer. This will slow
system response time and lower overall system performance.
With IEC61850, the communication technical barrier is
eliminated and the digital power plant can be connected to
smart grid smoothly.
4) Optimized system layout and convenient maintenance
management
IEC61850 process technology supports the distributed
physical layout of different components. For a certain
component with specified function, the installation is not
limited to physical factors that the system layout can be
configured according to practical demands.
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Figure 4. Integrative control and management system for thermal power plant
C. Selection of Transformers
Electronic CTs/VTs are widely applied to smart Grid due to
its superior performance and mechanical advantages, such us
small volume, light weight, simple insulation, large CT
dynamic range, no CT saturation or VT resonance, and
capable of supporting multiple loads. However, compared to
conventional CTs/VTs, electronic CTs/VTs have several
shortcomings, for example, the requirement of external power
supply for active electronic CTs/VTs, and shorter lifetime due
to the internal electronic components. The passive electronic
CT/VT (refer to optical transformer) have no demand of
external power supply, yet it can not be widely used in a digital
power plant before the optical triggering technology is well
proven.
Considering the cost, for substations of voltage levels at
110kV and above, with the increase of voltage levels, the
advantages of using electronic CTs/VTs instead of
conventional CTs/VTs are highlighted. To save cable wiring,
auxiliary management relays shall be installed close to
switchgear cabinets. As described above, when the distance
between auxiliary management relays and switchgear cabinet is
quite small, large amount of cable wiring can be avoided, and
conventional transformers are used considering economical
factors. Therefore, for the auxiliary power station in a thermal
power plant, using conventional transformers and management
relays which are connected to corresponding circuit breakers
via cables are recommended. In the step-up station, electronic
CTs/VTs can be used upon requests. Another alternative
method is using conventional transformers and merging units.
The merging unit is installed close to switchgear cabinet to
reducing wiring. It collects analog signals from conventional
transformers and converters to digital signals.
V. CONCLUSIONS
With the development of IEC61850 communication
technology, the energy management and control system is
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firstly applied to 2*1036MW generator units in Haimen
thermal power plant in China. However, only parts of the
digitalized functions discussed in this paper are implemented in
this project. IEC61850 MMS is employed in station level,
while simplified busbar differential protection and circuit
breaker failure protection are implemented based on GOOSE
network in process bus in the auxiliary power stations. The site
tests prove that the busbar differential protection can be quickly
blocked in 50ms after feeder failures occur. To guarantee safe
operation, the operation time of busbar differential protection is
set with a time delay of 200ms-400ms, but still much shorter
than the previous operation time 1.5s.
Although the research and development of ECMS for
digital power plants are still in early stage, it will become the
develop trend of digital substations. The cutting edge ECMS
solution takes advantages of digital protection and control
devices, combining the innovative process bus network
concept, to eventually improve the technology level and the
management capability for modern power plants.
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