Performance assessment of a IEC 61850-9-2 based protection scheme for a transmission substation

The impact of the IEC 61850-9-2 process bus on the operating performance of a protection and control scheme needs to be fully assessed before the scheme can be applied to a real transmission substation. Design and performance testing of a prototype feeder protection scheme suitable for application on a corner of a mesh transmission substation is presented in this paper. It also discusses the integration of network analysis and simulation software, relay test sets, conventional hardwired and IEC 61850-9-2LE protective Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs), Merging Units (MUs), Ethernet Switches, Fiber Optic communications and an IEC 61850 process bus. The operating characteristics of conventional hardwired and IEC 61850-9-2 based relays were verified individually and the operating speed performance of feeder current differential and distance schemes investigated. The results provide a fundamental reference to help utilities develop confidence in the application of the new technology in next-generation substations.