Communication Modeling for Differential Protection in IEC-61850-Based Substations

Today's power utilities, around the world, own multiple substations that are connected together to form a complex energy network. The functions within and between these substations are being automated according to globally accepted power utility automation standard IEC 61850. This automation results in efficient operation and enhanced protection of power network with the aid of the communication system. Implementing the protection schemes modeled using communication configurations of standardized information exchange will lead to digital power grid. Designing an IEC-61850-based protection scheme to take care of the faults outside the substations is a challenge, as the typical local-area-network-based generic-object-oriented substation events and sampled-value messages need to be transmitted over a wide-area network. This paper presents communication configuration for line current differential protection schemes applied between two automated substations. It presents the simulation results of communication configuration network between two substations. Its performance is evaluated using a network simulator tool. This study intends to guide the development of a robust protection scheme with IEC-61850-based communication configuration.