Security, cost, and operational benefits of EC-61850

This panel presentation addresses the security, cost, and operational benefits offered by IEC 61850 and its companion wind power standard IEC6140025. It is reported that North American utilities are slow in adopting 61850. This presentation discusses the reasons they should consider adopting 61850. Among these reasons are the forthcoming needs of North American utilities in complying with the newly mandated NERC CIP 002009 cybersecurity standards. There are a number of requirements mandated under CIP 002009 that are relatively easy to satisfy in a 61850 environment but are much more difficult to address in legacy systems. Other reasons include the greatly increased amount and quality of information manageable in a 61850based system, the basing of adopted and future alternative energy standards on 61850, and the reduced cost of constructing substations and other facilities using 61850-based equipment. The presentation also discusses some caveats regarding 61850, including its development process and road map.