Protection and Automation

Introduction

This report reviews the organization, processes, results and activities of Study Committee B5 (SC B5) in the year 2022. CIGRE Study Committee B5 - Protection and Automation, or SC B5 for short, focuses on Protection, Control, Monitoring and Metering and aims to cover the whole Power system, end-to-end related to this topic, from transmission systems to distribution systems, including generation and HVDC systems.

Objectives

Study Committee B5 promotes the synthesis and dissemination of state-of-the-art practices, recommendations and information about Power System Protection and Automation on a worldwide basis. Its main activities cover the principles, design, application and management of power system protection, substation control, automation, monitoring, recording, and metering, as well as the associated internal and external communications and interfacing for remote control and monitoring. SC B5 aims to be an independent analyzer of different solutions and provider of high-quality unbiased publications and contributions to the electrical supply industry. Members of SC B5 from all regions of the world provide a global perspective on the issues and challenges facing the protection of electrical power systems, aimed at top and medium management and technical staff of utilities, suppliers and consultants, universities, and research centers, including young and experienced engineers and standardization organizations.

Organization

To attain its objectives, SC B5 is organized as shown on Picture 1. Five advisory groups support the decisions of the chair and secretary: the Strategic Advisory Group (SAG), the Tutorial Advisory Group (TAG), and three Strategic Thematic Groups (TG) specialized in Substation and Automation, Protection and Monitoring, and New Network Requirements, respectively. The study committee is formed by twenty-four regular country members, six additional regular members from distribution, twelve observer members, several Working Groups (WG) and Joint Working Groups with other Study Committees and organizations.

It is the mission of the Strategic Advisory Group (SAG) to advise the chair about strategic issues related to the activities of the committee, helping in the elaboration of the SC Strategic Plan. The Tutorial Advisory Group (TAG) advises about the organization and promotion of tutorial activities of the committee, selecting the topics for the tutorials, the presentation material, appointment of lecturers and monitoring their quality. The three permanent Strategic Thematic Groups (TG) organize the proposals of new Working Groups and Preferential Subjects related to Substation Automation, Protection and Monitoring, and New Network Requirements for discussion and voting during SC B5 meetings and select reviewers of the final reports of the Working Groups.

Table 1, 2 and 3 shows the WGs that were active at the end of 2022, organized by Strategic Thematic Groups (TG), with their respective conveners.

Technical Activities

In 2022, three new WGs were suggested during the SC B5 Paris session in France, and were approved by the Technical Council Chair in 2023, to address current issues related to protection and automation of power systems:

• WG B5.81 - Obsolescence Management for Protection, Automation and Control Systems, Convenor J. Wright (GB)
• WG B5.82 - Education, Qualification and Continuing Professional Development of Engineers in Protection, Automation and Control, Convenor M. Kezunovic (US)
• WG B5.83 - Protection for modern distribution networks, Convenor T. Yi (CN)

One JWG's was disbanded by the chair in 2022 with the Technical Brochure sent for publication

The best paper from SC B5 during the Paris Session 2022 was:

The Green Book "IEC 61850 Principles and Application to Electric Power Systems", was published in July 2022.

 

Tutorials

To promote the discussion of current issues related to protection and automation, and as part of its mission to help the dissemination of knowledge about protection and automation, in 2022 the following tutorials were presented by SC B5 members;

SC B5 Tutorial in 2022 with the following topics:

• SC B5 Tutorial during Paris Session August 2022 related to System Integrity Protection Schemes in the Context of Evolving Power Grids
  •  Introduction to System Integrity Protection Schemes (SIPS), Cedric Moors
  •  Smart technologies for advanced System Integrity Protection Schemes, Vladimir Terzija
  •  Introduction to the typical architecture of System Integrity Protection Schemes, Alex Apostolov

Keynote speeches

To disseminate the activities of CIGRE, members from SC B5 have participated and presented Keynote speech during:

• 2022 November CIGRE New Zealand Conference "News from CIGRE SC B5 including updates from Paris Session 2022"

Paris Session and SC B5 Discussion Sessions

The main forum for technical debates about Protection and Automation in 2022 was the Paris Session event in France. SC B5 conducted three discussion sessions during the annual Discussion Session in Paris, France, about papers submitted on the following Preferential Subjects:

PS 1 - Addressing protection related challenges in network with low-inertia and low fault-current levels

Topics selected for discussion include Asset protection challenges and system protection challenges, Protection schemes: best practices, role of grid codes and impact of inverter characteristics and specifications, new asset protection principles, advancements in inverter technologies, system monitoring and state estimation for aiding asset and system protection.

The session was reported by Sean McGuinness from Ireland.

PS 2 - Applications of emerging technology for protection, automation and control

Topics selected for discussion include Virtualization; digital twins, protection automation and control functions independent of hardware, centralized protection systems, new protection principles and monitoring principles for AC and DC grids including use of new sensors and better use of today’s sensors and process interfaces.

The session was reported by Nirmal Nair from New Zealand.

PS 3 - Integration of intelligence on substations (Joint PS with B3)

Topics selected for discussion include Data analytics, remote supervising & monitoring and autonomy application, IoT and machine learning applications based on protection automation and control data including asset management, monitoring and data analysis,

The session was reported by Peter Kreutzer from Switzerland (SC B5) and Uwe Schichler from Germany (SC B3).

For 2023, SC B5 will take part in the CIGRE Symposium in Cairns, Australia, along with 10 other SCs, and papers submitted will be presented during the Symposium.

The session will be on the theme of The End to End Electricity System: transition, development and integration. This will be divided into three topic streams:

PS1 - Learning from experiences

What can we draw from past experience to develop the power system?

PS2 - Developing practices, functionalities and applications

What are the current developments and their application to the future power system?

PS3 - Towards a sustainable power system

What are the future needs and requirements of the power system?

The symposium focuses on the integrated electricity system and the transformation into the electricity system of the future. It will identify what can be learned from the experience with current developments in technology, equipment, controls as well as electricity system architecture, operational practices and planning criteria. The topics then cover the changes that are necessary to meet community expectations and policy requirements.

The conference embraces many of the CIGRE domains of work as shown by including planning, operations, markets and economics as well as the technical aspects of the network and then through to the integration of distributed energy resources. It will examine new ideas, approaches, technologies and operations.

Awards

In recognition for their contribution to the activities of CIGRE, SC B5 has nominated and supported the following recipients for awards in 2022:

CIGRE SC B5 Outstanding Service Award

The Outstanding Service Award of CIGRE Study Committee B5 - Protection and Automation is granted by the SC Chairman annually to members in recognition for outstanding participation and contribution to the activities of the Study Committee. For 2022, the award went to Nirmal Nair, from New Zealand in recognition of his contribution, commitment and dedication to the objectives of CIGRE. He is a recognized expert in power system protection, he is a member of the SAG of SC B5, he was the editor of the first Green Book for SC B5 related to IEC 61850 since 2018, and has also been frequent contributor to CIGRE working groups. The award ceremony was conducted by the Chair of SC B5 during the SC B5 Discussion Session.

CIGRE Technical Council Award

Technical Council Award recipient from SC B5 in 2022 was Mr Peter Bishop from New Zealand. Mr Peter Bishop has the position Principal Engineer, Protection and Automation, Operational Engineering, Grid Service Delivery in Transpower the TSO of New Zealand.

He is the regular member of Australia and organises meetings in AU to share the knowledge in the SC B5 community. He has been and remains an active member of the CIGRE B5 community. He shares his knowledge and represent the AU members when he participates in discussions related to the CIGRE B5 activities like the B5 colloquia and Paris sessions.

Mr Peter Bishop has been the editor of the first Green Book for SC B5 related to IEC 61850 since 2018.

Mr Peter Bishop has shared his knowledge with the CIGRE B5 community for many years and his contributions has been very valuable to CIGRE B5. The award ceremony was conducted by the Chair of SC B5 during the SC B5 Discussion Session.

CIGRE Distinguished Member awards

Every two years, longstanding services to CIGRE are rewarded by a "Distinguished Member" award, upon proposal from their National Committees.

Distinguished Member awards 2022 for B5 “Protection and Automation” members has been granted to:

• Marco Antonio MACCIOLA RODRIGUES (BR)
• Farnoosh RAHMATIAN (CA)
• Jean-Yves ASTIC (FR)

The award ceremony was conducted by the Chair of SC B5 during the SC B5 Discussion Session.

Strategic Planning

The strategic plan of CIGRE Study Committee B5 – sets out the strategic technical directions to be followed by the B5 Committee over the period 2022–2031 in order to address the main objectives set by CIGRE Technical Committee.

Based on this analysis, the following technical directions were validated by SC B5 Strategic Plan for the period 2022-2031:

Influence and Contribute towards Protection and Automation Global Expertise

• Providing Key Technical SC B5 PACS information to Executives, Regulators, Policy Makers and Technology Innovators
• Increase brand and visibility of SC B5 PACS amongst membership, research academics, trade associations, regulators, policy makers and government.
• Developing Marketing avenues and platforms to support leading edge innovative concepts of B5
• CIGRE B5 Africa Strategy

Supporting CIGRE Power System of the Future Vision:  SC-B5 Strategy

• Understand and influence the development of new technology and practices for all voltages and systems

Supporting CIGRE Peoples and Skill of Future Strategy:  SC-B5 Efforts

• Engaging actively with Central Office efforts towards operation Excellence

Details about the process adopted by SC B5 and the complete result can be found in the Strategic Plan.

Conclusions

The year of 2022 was full of achievements for SC B5, a result of the voluntary work of dedicated individuals and organizations, including the secretary, advisors, conveners, special reporters, members and observers from many countries around the world. For the future, the strategic directions set by SC B5 aim to facilitate the human development and application of new technology to improve the efficiency of the engineering, design, operation and maintenance of protection and automation of electric power systems and keeping the spirit of collaboration that distinguishes CIGRE among organizations around the world.

Contact

• Contact of the Chair and/or the Secretary of the Study Committee