International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 5, Issue 2, February 2015)
Digital Substation and Case Study of Tata Power
Kedar Kasarpatil1, Tanmay Karadkar2, Asawari Dudwadkar3
1,2
Undergraduate Student, 3Assistant Professor, Vivekanand Education Society’s Institute of Technology, Chembur,
Mumbai, India
Abstract— Rising energy demand has brought in a
tremendous growth in the power sector over the past few
decades resulting in wide spread complex Grids. Maintaining
and protecting the Grid without compromising on availability
and reliability needs a continuous monitoring of the real time
scenario. Real time monitoring coupled with Remote
Management of assets is a key requirement. This requires
acquiring and communicating huge quantum of data from the
field level in real time. Rapid development in the electronic
technology with high reliability of systems, increased
communication bandwidths, better system performances
would make introducing digital technology a reliable and a
cost effective solution for achieving the above.
This paper talks on all the required hardware, standards
and schemes pertaining to the Digital substations thus
evolved, where the information acquisition, transmission and
its processing is completely digitized. The digital substation
constitutes smart primary equipment, networked secondary
equipment and automated operations through which all the
required data from the field is communicated to the control
centers in a secure and faster way. IEDs like Protection
Relays, Bay control units, condition Monitoring devices,
Disturbance records/ Power quality Monitors are required to
be integrated. Protection and Automation applications based
on IEC61850 standard has become necessity enabling
interoperability and Standardization.
Keywords—Conventional Substation, Digital Substation,
Tata Power, IEC 61850, GOOSE Monitoring, SCADA.
I. INTRODUCTION
The IT revolution has encompassed within its realm the
electrical power sector by the application of intelligence in
metering, protection, monitoring and control. The
combination of communication and it has made it possible
for a real time it systems to monitor and control, from a
central place, by SCADA for the operation of power
generation, transmission and distribution. A hierarchical
structure exists in the transmission and distribution of
power since the power is received at a high voltage level in
a substation and delivered to a load center through another
substation at reduced voltage level. These substations are
being transformed from hardwired configurations to a
networked platform by leveraging the technological
advancements. The technological transformations have
brought within its purview comprehensive automation of
substation.
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This paper brings out the current trend in communication
& systems in substation automation along with its benefits
for improving quality and reliability of the power system.
Also, this paper highlights the case study of a real time
process control scheme.
II. NEED FOR AUTOMATION
The economic growth and development of a country
depends heavily on the reliability of electric power supply.
Generally, rigorous planning is done for addition of the
generation and expansion of the transmission network s.
however, the distribution system have generally grown in
unplanned manner resulting in high technical and
commercial losses to poor quality of power
Efficient operation and maintenance of distribution
system are hampered by non-availability of system
topological information, current health information of
distribution components such as distribution transformers,
feeder historical data etc. Another reason includes the lack
of efficient tools for operational planning and advance
methodology for quick fault detection, isolation and service
restoration etc. All these lead to the increase system losses,
poor quality and reliability of power supply in addition to
the increase in demand
Keeping the above problems in mind, it becomes
necessary to improve the distribution system and hence
improve the quality of power supply. This can be achieved
by use of better methods, proper monitoring and control of
distribution. In the view of the extensive size of the
network, this task can effectively achieved through
intervention of information technology (IT), utilizing the
available high speed computers and communication
networks. This system of monitoring and control of electric
power distribution is also called as Distribution Automation
System (DAS). IEEE has defined DAS a system that
enables an electric utility to remotely monitor and operate
the different components, in real time mode from a remote
location.
DAS encompasses data acquisition, telemetry, and
decision making system. It involves collecting information,
transferring it to DCC, displaying the information and carry
out analysis for control decision and improvement in
system operation, integration into the SA system.
 International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 5, Issue 2, February 2015)
The SA system typically has one or more
communications connection to the outside world. Common
communications connection include utility operations
center , maintenance offices and load dispatch center .Most
SA are connect to traditional SCADA (supervisory control
and data acquisition) system master station serving the real-
time needs for the operational utility network from an
operations center .Communications from other utility users
is usually through a bridge, gateway or network processor.
III. CONVENTIONAL SUBSTATION
Conventionally, for any input to be connected to
Substation Automation System, physical connections were
required with potential free contacts from the source end.
Most of the Protection Relays and RTUs procured during
early 1990s were not having open protocols to support
integration of the systems. Therefore all required signals
for decision making and control were hardwired to
Substation Automation System for remote monitoring and
control.
In early 90’s, development from electromagnetic
protection to static protection brought the qualitative leap
in the development of substations.
The inroad of numerical protection has started in late
nineties. As in all other fields, it was a total revolution in
technology, as compared to existing electromechanical one
or even the static one. Various manufacturers brought in
various level of technology and numerous options are made
available in front of the users. But the real challenge for the
user lied in ensuring that the same level of reliability is
maintained in the new technology, even when the benefit of
the numerical technology is availed in the form of
communicability, data storage, fault information, setting
flexibility etc.
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The multiple options now available in the form of
technology, algorithm and new manufacturers, made the
user’s job more complicated.
To match the adoption of numerical technology, old
SAS equipment was also phased out by new version of
RTUs and BCUs with open protocols to reap the benefits of
new developments. During this transition, numerical relays
and other IEDs were integrated on proprietary protocols
and or on open protocols such as IEC60870-5-103,
MODBUS etc. Many substation automation systems
installed in the transmission network are still mix of
electromechanical and numerical technology. This has
brought to very complex solutions, far from the
exploitation of the latest technology.
This conventional process followed, though serving the
bare minimum purpose, still was lacking in meeting the
following needs:
• Unification of information data exchange protocols;
• Ensuring inter-operability of devices;
• Reducing the volume of required cabling and
hardware logic;
• Reduction of metering losses in secondary circuits;
• Simplified copying of primary data;
• Simplified calibration processes;
• Installation of devices with updatable software;
• Unification of substation configuration software;
• Unification of the diagnostics system and transition to
remote functional diagnostics;
• Information security of the energy facility;
• Fully automated, no-maintenance substation
 International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 5, Issue 2, February 2015)
Operator
Alarm/Event
Workstation
Dual Redundant Dual Redundant
Gateway Gateway

L2 Switch Report Printer

Ethernet10 / 100 Mbps

RS 485, IEC 103 RS 485, IEC 103 RS 485, MODBUS

Copper Wires

Traditional CT Traditional VT Circuit Breaker Transformer GIS

Fig 1 Convention architecture in Tata Power Typical receiving station

IV. DIGITAL SUBSTATION All the digital input and output are configurable and can
Digital substations comprise of intelligent primary be processed by IEDs through Ethernet switch via optic
devices and networking IEDs to achieve information fiber.
sharing and interoperations based on IEC61850 protocol. The Digital Substation architecture can be described in
Digital substations has introduced GOOSE scheme the following levels as shown in the Fig 2.
which enables the replacement of traditional binary inputs a. Process Level
and binary outputs by digital models. b. Protection & Control Level
c. Station Level

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 International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 5, Issue 2, February 2015)

Fig 2 Architecture for a Digital Substation

a. Process Level They provide interoperable solutions, stability

The real-time operational measurements and other data
are polled from the primary system by sensors embedded
within the primary system. This data is communicated to
station level devices which must act on those
measurements (current and voltage measurements) via a
“process bus”. The intelligent devices such as protection
relays, bay controllers, bay controller & protection units
can process this data by subscribing as clients to this data
flow over an Ethernet process bus. Therefore the
information communicated through process bus is much
more efficient and accurate than in conventional hardwired
schemes. In a fully digital architecture, control commands
are also routed to the primary devices via the process bus.
The process bus, therefore, enables time-critical services.
b. Protection & Control Level
BCU, BCPUs and numerical relays as secondary
equipment interact with the field via the process bus; with
peer devices in the bay; with other bays, and with the
digital control system via the station bus.
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applications, wide area protection & substation situation
awareness. IEC 61850 communications enable complete
integration between devices. It ensures optimal use of the
information for the continuity and reliability of electrical
grid operations in secured access situations.
c. Station Level
The Devices in the station level can be considered as the
Interfaces between the station level devices and the outer
world. They usually constitute Gateways, Remote terminal
units (RTU), Engineering workstation, cum monitoring and
controlling system as these devices permits multiple clients
to exchange data, supports peer-to-peer device
communication and links to gateways for inter-substation
wide-area communication.
V. RELIABILITY THROUGH REDUNDANCY
Protection and control system performs critical
application in electrical substations and in IEC 61850 based
system the communications network shall be always
available, fast and secure.
 International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 5, Issue 2, February 2015)
Redundancy is a key issue to increase system reliability
and availability. Redundancy can be achieved at following
levels:
 Network Level
 Device Level
Recent developments in high availability networks and
new redundancy protocols designed guarantee seamless
failover and proper functioning of the most critical
substation automation applications such as tripping via
GOOSE messages and IEC 61850 Process Bus based on
switched Ethernet. The most common redundancy methods
such as Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol widely is used on
today’s Ethernet networks in substation applications and
also provide introduction to the latest protocols such as
PRP (Parallel Redundancy Protocol) and HSR (High
Availability Seamless Ring). PRP and HSR protocols are
based on duplication of Ethernet ports in end devices which
permit simultaneous transmission and reception of data via
two independent communications paths. Such solution
ensures zero-packet loss and zero recovery time upon
failures.
Device redundancy of substation control units may be
required in order to increase the availability of the
substation automation system at the station level. System
level redundancy is achieved by hot-hot or hot-standby
configuration of duplicated station units that need to
exchange information to ensure data consistency as well as
coordinated and safe operation.
PRP and HSR provide ideal redundancy schemes for
IEC 61850-based substations in that they:
 Fulfill all requirements of substation automation
according to IEC 61850
 Can be used in a variety of topologies, e.g. rings,
trees.
 Are transparent to the application
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 Tolerate any single network component failure
 Achieve zero recovery time, making it suitable for
the most time-critical processes
 Do not rely on higher layer protocols
 Are compatible with RSTP
 PRP allows nodes not equipped for redundancy to
operate on the same network
 Use off-the shelf network components (tools,
controllers, switches and links)
 Support precision time synchronization according
to IEEE 1588
 Have been proven in the field in high-voltage
substations
VI. TATA POWER CASE STUDY
Implementation of Protection Schemes / Application
using IEC61850 Station Bus and GOOSE
In the year 2005 Tata Power has installed IEC 61850
based IEDs at 145kV Davdi receiving station along with
conventional Interlocking & SCADA system. The
performance of these IEDs was thereafter monitored for
over 2 years and then It was decided to have a full-fledged
IEC 61850 based Substation at 33 KV Powai Substation.
This implementation is a Pilot which will help us to decide
if this concept can be used for further projects of higher
voltage levels.
At Powai Substation protection, interlocking & remote
communication are all implemented through the IEDs
which are interoperable and compliant to the protocol IEC
61850. BCPU are used for monitoring, control and
protection. BCPUs are integrated with gateway for
communication with SCADA System over IEC60870-5-
104.
 International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 5, Issue 2, February 2015)
Powai Substation, as Tata Power’s operational
philosophy monitored and controlled from PSCC (Power
System Control Center) which is geographically distant.
Thus the data exchange is not only constrained to the
substation and a different protocol IEC 104 is used for
communication upto remote master. This conversion of the
protocols from IEC 61850, Modbus to IEC 104 is done by
the gateway.
Bus Bar Protection, LBBU Protection, under frequency
load shedding protection, Overload trimming protection are
implemented by using GOOSE logics in addition to events
& Fault Disturbance Record handling.
a) Bus Bar Protection by Reverse blocking Method
It may not be possible to implement the Directional Bus
bar protection in the distribution system as many of the
Protection IEDs (PIED) are non-direction in nature by their
application. The schematic below shows a typical
Distribution network with two transformers as incomers.
Three phase over current and earth fault function in
PIED are already provided for conventional time-graded
protection as shown. A busbar blocking scheme needs to be
configured which will give fast tripping of the incomer T1
for the busbar fault shown at “A” whilst remaining stable
for the feeder fault at “C”. The feeder fault would be
cleared by over current protection tripping only the relevant
outgoing feeder breaker.
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The basic assumption in this case is that feeders will be
operated in sectionalized or non-parallel mode beyond this
substation. In case any PIED picks up on feeder fault (Fault
C), it will send a GOOSE message to the incomer-1 & Bus-
Coupler. It will also send the blocking GOOSE message to
other Incomer-2 if bus coupler is closed.
On receipt of GOOSE signal from any of the feeder
PIED, the Incomer will go in block state of the protection
till the GOOSE changes state. For fault at Location A, none
of the feeder PIEDs will pick up except incomer-1 AND
bus coupler, incomer -2 if bus coupler is closed. In such
condition, the bus coupler will send a blocking GOOSE to
Incomer-2 and trip instantaneously. Incomer-1 will also trip
instantaneously causing Tripping of Zone A on bus fault
and avoiding tripping of zone B.
The high-speed operation of GOOSE, demands fast
switching peer-to-peer communications. Addition of any
switch will increase the delay. To improve the reliability of
the scheme in case of a critical location, we may need to
subscribe to redundant messages. In such a case, a loss of
one device should not affect the performance of the
scheme. The presence of GOOSE messages and the status
of the individual IEDs should be monitored and considered
into the proposed scheme to ensure a contingency plan in
case of system component failure.
 International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 5, Issue 2, February 2015)
b) USE of Goose Messages and IEC61850 for a distance
protection
1. Reverse Blocking scheme: All bay relays are required
to be directional & the bus coupler relay (if any) is
required to be bi-directional. In case any of the OG
feeders relay picks-up on a particular hi set O/C stage,
it will issue a blocking command. The blocking
command will be sent to own incomer & the other
incomer (if the bus coupler is closed) on GOOSE. If
the OG breaker does not isolate the fault for
200mSec, the incomer will trip on particular Hi-set
stage. (Indirect LBBU operation).
2. Overload Trimming: If the incomer relay picks up on
Overload trimming settings, it will send a goose
command to bus coupler relay (If other incomer is in
service) to trip. If the OLTS does not reset, it will
issue trip goose to the selected OG breakers.
3. Under frequency Tripping: If the incomer relay picks
up on UFLS settings, it will issue trip goose to the
selected OG breakers. The selection of feeders, to
accept trip GOOSE or not will happen with a Binary
Input through a switch.
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4. Protection Interlocking: The breaker status, isolator
status, spring & all other interlock status from the
same compartment will be wired to the protection
relay as binary input. The status is further forwarded
to all other relays that are dependent on the status of
this feeder on GOOSE normal priority message. Also
the own status will be used for self-interlocking.
5. IN/OUT operations: If the SCADA Gateway is
configured to be Master, it can enable or disable any
application.
6. Permissive for operations: Sync-check Permissive,
Breaker status, conditional permissive for auto reclose
& normal breaker closing permissive will be sent on
Goose.
7. Transfer trip/trip block: This information between
two relays can be sent on fast GOOSE depending on
the applications.
8. Remote reset of LED, O/P relays, Lockout.
9. The Breaker failure or main protection failure
scheme.
10. Differential protection working within the
substation
11. Distance carrier aided schemes.
 International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 5, Issue 2, February 2015)
VII. CHALLENGES / CONCERNS
 While implementing the IEC61850 in the substation,
the relays are configured for particular application
first & then a soft virtual station is developed on
IEC61850 platform to define the GOOSE message
matrix.
 If the station file is misplaced or appropriate file is not
used while communicating with the relay, the
GOOSE messaging & soft interlocking will not work
as the relay loses the GOOSE message service
mapping.
 Every time we change any configuration parameter or
activate/de-activate any function in a relay, the station
configuration file is required to be updated. (Only for
changing the relay settings, Station update is not
required).
Benefits Accrued
The advantages of digitizing data for all substation
control purposes are as follows:
 Substantial cost savings related to secondary cable
circuits and their trench routing as digital data sources
move closer to the primary equipment;
 Increased electromagnetic compatibilities of modern
secondary equipment, such as microprocessor devices
and secondary circuits, due to transition to optic
connections;
 Simplified and less expensive electronic
microprocessor devices due to removal of analogue
signal input leads;
 Unified IED device interfaces and better
interchangeability (including device replacement
regardless of manufacturer).
 Enhanced security in smart grid-enabled digital
substations
 Enhanced operational efficiency through optimized
automation architecture
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VIII. CONCLUSION
Digital substation is the developing trend of the future.
Application of digital technology can not only greatly
reduce costs but also bring much more convenience for
management and maintenance. The solution provided and
also proposed for new substation facilitates above
objectives and at the same time improves the reliability by
reducing hardware cabling and logics. Digital substation is
an ideal solution for a power utility to meet the exponential
growth of energy demand and to survive the increasing
complexity of its Grid without compromising on the quality
and availability of the Power.
Acknowledgment
We would like to thank Mr. Amok Agarwal, Chief
Manager, Automation Dept., Tata Power Co. Ltd. for his
constant support and moral guidance, without which this
paper would not have been possible. We would also like to
thank Tata Power Co. Ltd. and those people who have
worked earlier on a similar topic, as their work has helped
us a lot.
REFERENCES
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March/April 2003.
[2] S. akovljevi , . e unovi , Advanced Substation ata
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PES Summer Meeting, Chicago, July 2002.
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEC_61850
[4] http://univagora.ro/jour/index.php/ijccc/article/viewFile/329/pdf_66
[5] http://www.schneider-
electric.com/solutions/ww/en/med/20340568/application/pdf/1485_s
e-whitepaper-letter-scadaoverview-v005.pdf