Utility in-house design and delivery of IEC 61850 substation projects

The introduction of the RIIO-T1 price control in 2013 brought a significant increase in the scale of construction works in the SP Transmission area. This includes modernisation of end of life assets and extensive reinforcement to accommodate significant volumes of renewable generation. In order to meet the demands of project throughput, a need to create efficiencies in the design and delivery of Protection & Control solutions was identified. The benefits of applying substation automation systems (SAS) based on the IEC 61850 standard were identified and adopted as the preferred solution. The paper describes the step change in technology for SP Transmission, the benefits of the design solution, and the challenges encountered in its development. The benefits of developing solutions in-house will be described, including knowledge retention and transfer and the embedding of the benefits of IEC61850 in the corporate culture.