Design of IEC61850 Based SCADA Operation for Automation of Upgraded Nkula Substation in Malawi

Abstract

In 2013, Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM) issued out a tender to upgrade Nkula substation A&B. After the bidding process, in March 2014, Apollo International was awarded the contract to do the upgrade as the main contractor and they appointed SMEC International as consultants for the project. Apollo International went on to sub-contract some parts of the project scope. After negotiations, Ingeteam Power Grid Automation (PGA) was awarded the Substation Automation System (SAS) scope of the project for Nkula substation where an IEC 61850 based solution was a requirement. The need for interoperability in Substation Automation Systems (SAS) raised the need for standardization of communications in substations, especially communication between different manufacturer intelligent electronic devices (IEDs) at substation level. The main aim presented in this paper, is to share the programming, implementation, testing and commissioning steps taken to develop an IEC 61850 based SAS solution for Nkula Substation. Also, to share the process taken to achieve a fully functional SAS for NKULA Substation utilizing IEC 61850 standard. The SAS which was developed for this project provided the following: •Protection, control and monitoring of a 66/33/11kV transformer bay at Nkula-B substation. •Protection, control and monitoring of a 33k V incomer and four 33kV feeders in Nkula-A. •Control and monitoring of the substation from control centre over IEC 62870-5-104 •Ring communication network within the substation using optical fibre with parallel redundancy protocol. •Human-Machine Interface (HMI) •All equipment deliverables for the complete solution as per requirement. Index Terms - Interoperability, Vendor, Topology.