Chapter 18 - SCADA and smart energy grid control automation

Abstract

The advent and development of the smart grid concept to operate the electric power grids and microgrids have introduced a number of opportunities for improving efficiencies and overall performance. A supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system provides an appealing scheme for remote control and observation of renewable energy sources (RES). SCADA systems have been used widely in various industrial applications, and have helped improve the efficiency of such systems. SCADA systems, however, still face some challenges in the effort to ensure reliability, safety, and security for power generation, transmission, and distribution. One of the considerations in designing the capabilities of the smart grid is the integration of SCADA systems to enable the remote control of electric microgrids and grids, supervise and control the electric network equipment as a means of fulfilling reliability and desired efficiencies for the whole utility. Given the ability of these systems to control the flow of electricity throughout the network, additional planning is required to ensure that all possible measures for preventing compromise are considered. This chapter discusses the current overall system architecture and some of the security measures used. More importantly, it considers simplifying the implementation of the many required standards. Because of the unpredictable characteristics of the RES, it has become important to constantly monitor their states in order to determine the amount of energy that is generated at all times. This will help in planning power usage and save energy when the sources are not enough for power generation. It will be practically impossible, however, to station personnel who will monitor the state of the sources constantly, hence the need for a remote monitoring system. This chapter provides an overview of utilization of SCADA systems in electric power systems, including the RES. It presents the main components of SCADA platforms, including the master station hardware and software. The outstation hardware, including data acquisition devices such as remote terminal units and programmable logic controllers, will be presented. These devices are integrated with substations’ intelligent electronic devices, data concentrators, and other communication equipment. The fundamentals and possible application functions of SCADA systems unveil the potential of the smart grid and inspire more minds to get involved in the development process. A large amount of data is collected by SCADA systems installed on the wind turbines, solar photovoltaic (PV) arrays, and fuel cells (FCs), data that can be very helpful. SCADA systems can optimize and improve PV generation and can improve wind farm performance during operation. This chapter looks at the automation of RES such as solar PV plants, wind farms, and FC power plants.