Within the power industry protection schemes that are designed to protect electrical plant and the public from power system events can be described as safety related systems. Power utilities are under increasing pressure to provide a cost effective, reliable and safe power network. To accommodate these expectations efficiencies in existing infrastructure and operating techniques warrant continual examination. Infrastructure providing remote connectivity to IEDs already exists, however the changing of protection functions remotely has been avoided over concerns of a change in verification methods. Owing to the number installed and the geographic diversity a request for a remote change will be inevitable.
To respond to these requests, the project examined three key areas which were deemed crucial to the success of remote delivery of Protection IED configuration files;
- Development of configuration files are consistently free of error
- Development of a robust alternate verification method that supports remote configuration delivery and is comparable against traditional methods
- Understanding the Protection IED’s responds to a configuration delivery whilst remaining in service; and the operational risk that it may be impose.
These were collectively examined and addressed by the prescribed objectives outlined in the project. Through assessment of an existing configuration delivery workflow, targeted checklists were developed and assessed to provide an improved workflow output reducing the probability of error in configuration development. Deficiencies highlighted in internal case study assisted with the development of an alternate verification process, which was assessed against prescribed legislative and regulatory requirements imposed on Distribution Network Service providers; with a further assessment undertaken against Ergon Energy’s traditional methods for configuration delivery.
The outcomes of the project were able to describe and evaluate the systems, processes and criteria needed to facilitate remote management of selected protection IEDs installed on Ergon Energy’s distribution network