As 2016 comes to a close, we looked back at the discussions that took place among the International 61850 Process Bus User Task Force and we’re pleased with the outcome. The Process Bus User Task Force was established in 2016, which is a vendor-free environment composed of 35 individuals, 19 utilities spread across 7 countries. We discussed the various conceptual architectures, as well as the strengths/weaknesses of product specific process bus implementations. A special thank you to the following members who hosted an information session, and we appreciate you sharing an insight into your IEC 61850 process bus vision/experience:
- AEP – USA
- ATCO – Canada
- Entergy – USA
- EPCOR – Canada
- EPM – Colombia
- Powerlink – Australia
- Akron/Tekvel – Russia
- TNB – Malaysia
- Transgrid – Australia
Furthermore, we organized an information session to discuss the NERC CIP implications, and we appreciated Mr. Scott Mix (NERC Sr. Technical Manager) for taking the time to clarify these requirements.
We look forward to continuing these discussions in 2017, which will likely diverge into other design aspects such as the network engineering, testing and commissioning implications, cyber-security, etc. A debriefing report will be compiled that summarizes the key points from the information sessions, which will be circulated to members only. The discussions will gradually evolve from being “informative” to being “prescriptive” where we hope to start defining high-level guidelines/recommendations.
Thank you to all those involved and we’re optimistic that 2017 will be the “Year of the IEC 61850 Process Bus”!
