Future trends in protective relaying, substation automation, testing and related standardization

This paper gives an overview of the future trends in the protective relaying area including the substation automation, testing practices and standardization. Regarding the developments of relays, two major trends are predicted: relays becoming more versatile in terms of functions and capabilities; new algorithm based on unconventional techniques such as neural networks and fuzzy logic being introduced for protective relaying. In the substation automation area, two directions of developments are expected: integrating relays together with other intelligent electronic devices (IEDs) into all-digital substation systems; using substation automation systems (including relays) as distributed remote terminal units (RTUs) of supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) for energy management system (EMS) applications. In the testing area, two directions are envisioned: further development and use of digital simulators for relay testing; implementation of versatile multi-terminal test configurations for permanent use in substation automation systems. Further development of standards for data integration and information exchange is identified as being critical.