Towards an IEC 61499 compliance profile for smart grids review and analysis of possibilities

The electric energy system is changing more and more into a Smart Grid. A key technology in order to transform the actual grid is the information and communication technology. This means that advanced management, automation, control and communication concepts and systems have to be developed in order to cope with changing and challenging future requirements in the intelligent grid; especially the large-scale integration of distributed energy systems and electric vehicles. As a result of this trend, the future grid will consist of a huge number of intelligent electronic devices in order to manage the distributed and complex nature of Smart Girds. In order to guarantee a high level of interoperability, which is a major requirement for Smart Grids and its related components and devices, the International Electrotechnical Commission has introduced the IEC 61850 standard for power utility automation. Since it covers only interoperability and communication issues, a proper design, modeling and implementation approach is required. The main aim of this paper therefore is to discuss the usage of IEC 61850 together with the IEC 61499 reference model for distributed automation and the development of a related IEC 61499 Compliance Profile for Smart Grids.