New tasks create new solutions for communication in distribution systems

In Europe Dispersed and Renewable Energy Sources (D&RES) are mostly operated without remote control mechanisms, feeding in a maximum possible generation. The further increase of the contribution of D&RES in the peak power balance up to 60 % in accordance with the goals of the European Communities for the year 2010 requires innovative approaches to keep the reliability of the power supply on the actual high level. First of all this requires an extended contribution of D&RES to the system services. New communication facilities are required to provide a decentralized energy management and to ensure the provision of system services by D&RES. In a case study, it is analyzed how the existing infrastructure can be used to build a communication network with different physical communication channels. Further more, the application of communication standards is investigated and in the result the use of the data models and the services of the communication standard IEC 61850 (for substation communication) is recommended. It is shown that the advantageous application of this standard and its subsequent standards IEC 61400-25 for wind power plants and IEC 62350 for dispersed generation requires consistency of all described models. Finally, it becomes clear that the implementation of more communication in the distribution level helps to improve the distribution system management. The example of a faster network restoration after faults is demonstrated