Harmonization of the CIM and IEC 61850

Summary form only given. Applications of the IEC 61970 and IEC 61968 Common Information Model (CIM) have been expanding from its traditional usage in power system modeling and data exchange into the role of a standardized semantic model for the Smart Grid. The NIST Smart Grid Interoperability Road Map has identified the need for a semantically consistent framework on which to base the Smart Grid and has selected the CIM as a central element across many functional areas of the Smart Grid not traditionally addressed by the CIM. One such area relates to how CIM works with the IEC 61850 power system communications standard that has also become an important part of the NIST Road Map for both substation communications and as the basis for other Smart Grid oriented communications. This has made harmonization of CIM and IEC 61850 critically important to the NIST Smart Grid Road Map's goal of interoperability. This paper will provide a technical overview of the relationship between CIM and IEC 61850, where they complement each other, where they differ, and why they need to work together using a consistent set of semantics. The paper will then present the results of an EPRI sponsored project to formulate a harmonization plan for CIM and IEC 61850 that is being worked through the IEC technical committees.