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France
Alstom Grid
Immeuble Le Galile

www.alstom.com
92907 La Dfense Cedex
51 esplanade du Gnral de Gaulle

think grid #11 Spring/summer 2013

SHARING
#11
& PRACTICES
INNOVATION
ALSTOM GRID

MAIN FEATURE p. 13

Substations
go fully digital
thinkgrid
Contents Dates for your diary

#11 Spring/Summer 2013

08
May 1317, 2013
Gothenburg, Sweden
Elfack 2013
13 12
This trade fair is the Nordic regions largest
meeting place for the entire electricity
industry. It brings together power companies,
decision-makers, politicians, installers,
June 1213, 2013
Manchester, UK
Offshore Wind 2013
This is the 11th annual offshore wind
conference and exhibition. Organised by
RenewableUK, the UKs leading renewable
energy trade association, it is expected
August 2530, 2013
Seoul, Korea
ISH 2013 25
The 2013 edition of the International
Symposium on High Voltage Engineering (ISH)
is a magnet for engineers, scientists, academics,
researchers and politicians to discuss the
Interview with distributors and more for five days of product
news, seminars, training and networking.
to attract over 3,000 delegates and some
200 exhibitors. The conference programme
industry challenges and issues. It is also a
platform to share technology advances and
Luis Alejandro The Power Forum is an opportunity will focus on planning for growth, financing, experience. Topics include HV testing and
Camargo Suan to learn more about smart networks, the
infrastructure of the future and alternative
policy and community, emerging markets,
the supply chain, as well as technology
measurement techniques, insulation materials,
asset management, smart grids, etc.
and Maria energy sources. and innovation.

Nohemi Arboleda
Arango

38 Smart products
& services
Synchrophasor solutions:
making the smart grid
even smarter

10 4
Vancouver, ranked as one of the most

06
The Stockholm waterfront. livable cities in the world. One of the five Grand Palaces in Seoul.

Alstom receives the Respecting June 1013, 2013 July 2125, 2013 September 47, 2013
2012 Frost & Sullivan the environment Stockholm, Sweden Vancouver, Canada Jakarta, Indonesia
Outstanding Technology CIRED 2013 IEEE Power & Energy Society Electric, Power & Renewable
Innovation Award Substations General Meeting Energy Indonesia 2013
go fully digital The biennial CIRED international electricity
conference and exhibition is a leading forum The theme of this years General Meeting is: This biennial exhibition reflects Indonesias
Dr Richard for the electricity distribution community. Shaping the future energy industry. phenomenal economic expansion

21
Charnah, This years event has as its theme: Electricity The conference will bring together power accompanied by equally rapid power
Publisher
distribution systems for a sustainable future. engineers and academics from across the demand. In parallel, the country has set
t hinkgrid SHARING ALSTOM GRID INNOVATION & PRACTICES Published by Alstom Grid
The three-day conference includes plenary
sessions with internationally recognised
world. The aim is to provide an international
forum for experts to discuss issues
aside substantial sums to develop its power
and energy infrastructure, hence the
51 esplanade du Gnral de Gaulle 92907 La Dfense Cedex France. www.alstom.com/grid Print run: keynote speakers, poster sessions, round and developments in electrical power importance of this three-part exhibition
15,000 copies (Chinese, English, French) Publisher: Richard Charnah Editor in chief: Vronique Chauvot tables, and research and innovation forums. engineering. Topics will include, among Power Indonesia, Renewable Energy
Editorial board: Stphan Lelaidier, Richard Charnah, Walter Dussaucy, Vronique Chauvot Concept and Design: others, transmission efficiency and Electric Indonesia.
BythewayCreacom 19 rue Galile, 75116 Paris France Tel.: +33 (0)1 53 57 60 60 www.bythewaycreacom.net and reliability, advances in protection,
Editorial executive: Henry Lewis Blount Publication manager: Valrie Barral Contributors: Henry Lewis Blount, automation and control.
Ken Kincaid, Patrick Love, Louis-Antoine Mallen, Manuel Relvas, Gordon Smith Copy editor: Ginny Hill
Art director: Katja Zimt Graphic designer: Sandie Herviou Computer graphics artist: Laurent Bouyer, Studio V2
Photo credits: Alstom, XM, Irish control center/Eirgrid, Friends of the Supergrid, Medgrid/Realisation and graphic
design: Regards Events, Rusty Rae, Shutterstock, Thinkstock Printing: HandiPrint. ISSN: 2102-0175. A special
thanks to the companies that kindly provided us with their illustrations. Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013 51
 5 Foreword
By Stphan Lelaidier:
R&D Vice-President,
Alstom Grid

6 PANORAMA
Alstom receives the 2012 Frost &
Sullivan Outstanding Technology
Innovation Award
Innovation
& performance 8 INTERVIEW WITH
Pushing GIS limits Luis Alejandro Camargo Suan,
CEO of XM, and Maria Nohemi
to new horizons Arboleda Arango, XM Manager
at the National Energy
Dispatch Centre

11 MAIN FEATURE
Pushing the frontiers
of electricity technology

12 Chapter I
Respecting the environment
Substations go fully digital

23 Chapter II
Innovation & performance
Pushing GIS limits to new horizons

38 Chapter III
Smart products & services
Synchrophasor solutions:
making the smart grid
even smarter

48 CROSS-PERSPECTIVES
Is there more to the cloud
than hot air?

Coming up in the next issue

A breakthrough for high voltage DC grids: 50 COMING UP

50
the circuit breaker IN THE NEXT ISSUE
A breakthrough for high voltage
DC grids: the circuit breaker

51 DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Dont miss...
Think Grid

4 Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013

 Foreword By Stphan Lelaidier: R&D Vice-President, Alstom Grid

It is generally accepted that the coming decades will see major changes in the duties
that electricity networks will have to satisfy. The constraints on them such as urbanisation,
climate change or rather its minimisation the integration of renewable energy sources
on a large scale and the widespread adoption of smart grid technologies are well
documented.
This parcel of forces acts in different combinations and strengths in different regions
and touches all the stakeholders in the grid, whether operator, manufacturer, consumer
or whoever. We cannot predict all of these versions of the future but we can prepare
for them and this issue of Think Grid tackles some of the developments that will contribute
to that task.
Flexibility and interoperability will facilitate grid operation without compromising
commercial necessities. Environmentally responsible solutions addressing atmospheric
issues and the way we minimise the use of valuable land will help to ease the pressure
on our planets finite resources. And solutions are not just hardware. We must also
manage the way that we deliver power and even the associated services in order to be
able to respond to whichever version of the future arrives.
You will find examples of all these ways
of thinking in this issue of Think Grid. The
route goes from switchgear and drives that
address environmental issues through
to demand response management and
remote access training systems, and passes
through the digital substation. We expect
all of these to play their part.
Enjoy the journey.

Future vision with

an eye on the details

Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013 5
Panorama

England December 2012 S al e s s n aps h o t s

Germany
Offshore wind farm connection
European transmission system operator TenneT has awarded Alstom the DolWin3 offshore project
connecting the North Sea wind farms to the mainland AC grid. Alstom will supply and construct
the onshore and offshore converter stations as well as the connecting cable systems for DolWin3.
The project will use 320 kV, 900 MW DC technology with voltage source converters to deliver
the energy generated at sea down an 83 km sub-sea cable to the German mainland. Alstom has
also been awarded a five-year service contract for the offshore converter station and platform and
the onshore converter system.

Brazil
Improved power transmission
Colin Davidson, Alstom Grid HVDC R&D Director, Alstom has been awarded a contract to enhance power transmission at two substations in Minas
receiving the Frost & Sullivan European Award for
Technology Innovation. Gerais, Brazil. Both solutions are based on Alstoms flexible AC transmission systems (FACTS).
For the Bom Despacho substation, Alstom will supply a static VAr compensator (SVC) with a power
rating of -200/+300 MVAr. For the So Gotardo substation, the equipment includes a shunt
Alstom receives the 2012 capacitor bank connected to the 345 kV network, with a nominal power of 150 MVAr.
Frost & Sullivan Outstanding
Technology Innovation Award
Alstom has been honoured with Frost &
USA
Sullivans 2012 European VSC HVDC Market management software
Transmission Technology Innovation Award
for its achievement in voltage source converter Alstom has recently implemented the latest version of its e-terramarket market management
(VSC) high voltage direct current (HVDC) platform enabling the PJM Interconnection, North Americas largest wholesale energy market,
transmission technology. to deploy fast-ramping energy resources more efficiently in response to surging demand
Alstom was commended for its latest generation
for electricity.
HVDC solution, the HVDC MaxSineTM (VSC).
This solution helps tackle the performance
and space issues generally associated with
classic line commutated converter (LCC) HVDC
solutions and the efficiency of VSC relative
Indonesia
to LCC, and thereby opens the door Fifty turnkey substations for Java and Sumatra
for many additional applications.
VSC has been identified by many industry PT PLN (Persero) has awarded the PT Alstom Grid and PT Multifabrindo Gemilang consortium
experts as a future technology that will connect six turnkey contracts. These projects are funded by the World Bank. The scope of supply includes
fluctuating renewable energy sources such as the construction of 150 kV, 275 kV and 500 kV substations on Java and Sumatra at around
wind power. Today, it is the best technology 50 locations over 18 months. This will allow PLN to increase the national power supply capacity
to handle multi-terminal interconnections,
by adding new transformer bays on to its network, including Alstoms state-of-the-art equipment
making it a strong competitor for the creation
of microgrids as well as continent-wide and power transformers from its subsidiary in Indonesia, PT Unindo.
Supergrids. Frost & Sullivan Best Practices
awards recognise companies in a variety of
regional and global markets for demonstrating
outstanding achievement and superior
India
performance in areas such as leadership, 800 kV UHVDC
technological innovation, customer service
and strategic product development. Alstom has been awarded a turnkey contract by Power Grid Corporation of India Limited to connect
This prestigious award was presented Champa (state of Chhattisgarh) in central India to Kurukshetra (state of Haryana) in northern
to Colin Davidson, HVDC R&D Director, at India, using 800 kV 3,000 MW ultra high voltage direct current (UHVDC) technology. Alstom
the 2012 Excellence in European Best Practices
will provide 800 kV UHVDC thyristor valves, 32 converter transformers, 400/220 kV gas- and
Awards Banquet on December 5 in London.
It follows the Alstom Innovation Award air-insulated switchgear and substation equipment, communication and supervisory control
which the same group received for and data acquisition systems (SCADA), as well as overall project management, design, engineering,
its 24 MW HVDC VSC demonstrator. civil works, testing and commissioning.

6 Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013

 i n F igur e s

Democratisation of energy (Source: Navigant Research)

9,000

8,000

7,000

6,000

5,000

MW

4,000

3,000

2,000

1,000

0
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

Expected capacity of resCHP from single and multi-family dwellings, world markets: 2010-2022.

Distributed generation (DG), a key part
of the evolving smart energy sector, repre-
sents in essence the democratisation of
energy, according to a white paper of
January 2013 from clean tech market
research firm Navigant Research. The avail-
ability of micro-generating equipment,
such as solar panels, small wind turbines,
and residential combined heat and power
(resCHP) systems, enables people to pro-
duce, and even sell, their own power.
This process will take a while to gain
momentum, and significant impact on the
energy market will not be seen immediately.
A key application within this DG trend,
and in the democratisation of energy, is
resCHP. With a basket of technology and
size options, homeowners worldwide are
increasingly able to produce power and sell
power from tens of watts up to a few
kilowatts. They are changing from passive
consumers to active micro-generators (also
called prosumers).
The chart above taken from the 2012
Navigant Research Residential Combined
Heat and Power report, shows the expected
capacity of resCHP. Navigant Research
estimates a cumulative installed capacity
of 26,568 MW between 2010 and 2022.
However, it also comments that this fore-
cast could be on the low side.
The White Paper goes on to speculate that,
in 2013, grid operators, seeing the growth
of small producers wanting to feed load
into the grid, will wish to exercise a certain
control. However, the adopters of resCHP
systems may resist such control. So, in addi-
tion to the increased adoption of DG tech-
nologies in 2013 and the removal of
barriers to selling to the grid, the year could
be decisive in just how much democracy
micro-producers are to be allowed.

Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013 7

Interview with

XM has regional
and national plans to
minimise downtime and
restore the service.

Human factors
are fundamental.
8 Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013
Luis Alejandro Camargo Suan,
CEO of XM
Maria Nohemi Arboleda Arango,
XM Manager at the National Energy
Dispatch Centre, Colombia
Mr Camargo and Mrs Arboleda give an overview of the responsibilities
and challenges of a power transmission operator in South/Central America.
Typical Colombian houses.
ISA, together with its subsidiaryXM,
is recognised as a leading authority
throughout South/Central America.
Please give our readers some
insights into your role.
Luis Alejandro Camargo Suan: ISA and its
companies are ranked among the largest
international electrical energy transmission
companies in Latin America. Activities focus
on electric energy transmission, telecom-
munications transmission, road concessions,
infrastructure projects and smart manage-
ment of real-time systems. ISA operates and
maintains high voltage energy transmission
systems in Colombia, Bolivia, Peru, Brazil
and Central America.
XM is a subsidiary of ISA operating in three
sectors: power, traffic and transport, and the
financial sector. It is engaged in intelligent
management of real-time systems and so
contributes to the development of cities seek-
ing to improve their inhabitants quality of
View over Medellin, Colombia.
life and the efficiency and competitiveness
of their enterprises.
Would you please tell us more about
how XM is concerned specifically
with power quality and
sustainability of the electricity grid?
Maria Nohemi Arboleda Arango: Regula-
tions in Colombia establish clear responsi-
bilities in terms of quality, security and
reliability of the Interconnected National
System (INS) specifically assigned to the
transmission owners, generators and retail-
ers, as well as to the entity that coordinates
operations, the National Dispatch Centre
(NDC) managed by XM. The law of 1994
established XM as the independent system
operator in charge of maintaining secure
and reliable operations of the physical sys-
tem. XM is responsible for the day-to-day
operation of the electricity system and the
settlement of the market.
Colombian coffee beans.
How would you describe the
physical/technical aspects, and the
severity of the system disturbances
that you may have experienced
on your transmission systems?
LACS: Colombia is a country with huge water
resources in the centre and south of the coun-
try. Hydro plants generate 70 percent of the
countrys electricity, the rest being generated
by thermal plants in the north.
Our main technical challenges are system
oscillations and blackouts. The main oscil-
lation issues come from:
the Colombia-Venezuela interconnection
(0.22 Hz). This interconnection is weak, with
a single 230 kV line from the north of Colom-
bia. The problem is exacerbated when the
500 kV lines interconnecting Colombias north
and centre are subject to terrorist attack;
the Colombia-Ecuador interconnection
(0.40.6 Hz). This is a strong interconnection
composed of four 230 kV lines.
Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013 9
Interview with
Centre-North (0.81.2 Hz). This
happens when the interconnection between
the north and the centre is weakened by
the unavailability of any of the 500 kV links;
low frequency (0.05 Hz). This occurs when
there is a high proportion of hydrogeneration
(>90 percent) and the main hydro plants are
operating at maximum. For this type of oscil-
lation, XM has implemented technology
based on phasor synchronised measurement.
As for blackouts, we have had two critical
power outages (1985 and 2007) and several
events affecting large sections of the INS.
The causes vary: human error, equipment
overload, voltage or frequency stability
problems. Despite guerrilla attacks on the
infrastructure over the past 20 years, only
one caused a local blackout. Climatic phe-
nomena such as El Nio and La Nia can
also create particular problems.
What preventive measures have
you taken?
MNAA: XM is acquiring a new EMS and
SCADA system to supervise and control the
10 Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013
City in the dark after blackout.
power system starting in 2014. We are also
implementing a training centre for operators
using simulators (DTS and OTS) and accre-
ditation/certification processes for operators.
XM has created a special group for protec-
tion analysis and control and is implementing
a wide area measurement system (WAMS)
using synchrophasor measurement for
supervision and control and situational
awareness in the control room, plus post-
operative analysis of system events.
For the case where, despite the
preventive measures, a major failure
does occur, what impact mitigation
measures do you deploy?
LACS: XM has regional and national plans
to minimise downtime and restore the ser-
vice. In the past, the recovery time has
ranged between one and five hours. For the
blackout in 2007, the time needed to restore
service was four and a half hours.
We have established an internal commu-
nication protocol with a view to providing
the public with information. We have also
XM has
implemented
technology based on
phasor synchronised
measurement.
developed a special protocol, together with
the Ministry of Energy and Mining and the
utilities, to report on events.
Following the major blackout that
Colombia experienced in 2007, a
two-day CIGRE event was organised
in Colombia. What were the lessons
drawn from this initiative?
MNAA: We learned a number of lessons
from the CIGRE event:
human factors are fundamental. Operator
training and accreditation/certification are
also crucial. Furthermore, graphic repre-
sentation for situational awareness will
enable operators to make faster and better
decisions;
the processes of the operation in normal
and emergency states must be fully docu-
mented so that operators adhere to the
same criteria and procedures;
recovery plans are fundamental to achiev-
ing efficient processes and assuring service
after events;
appropriate software/hardware tools
are needed to provide quality information
for planning, coordination and operation
of the INS in real time, as well as phasor
synchronised measurement.
What support can the industry provide
to you to reinforce the power system?
LACS: Industry can support us in various
ways:
by research into new technologies and
applications for anticipation and prevention
as well as situational awareness in real-time
operation;
by developing tools and methodologies
for risk monitoring; and
by offering state-of-the-art technologies
to raise safety and reliability for the opera-
tion centres, plus the appropriate operator
training.
MAIn Feature

P
ushing
the frontiers of
electricity technology
12Chapter I
Respecting
the environment

23Chapter II
Innovation
and performance

38Chapter III
Smart products
and services

Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013 11
Main feature chapter I Research with an eye on the future

Respecting
the environment
The IEC 61850 standard has paved the way for the fully digital substation. It offers enhanced
communication and interoperability and, with digital instrument transformers, greater accuracy.
Variable pumped storage enables utilities to integrate wind and solar energy better, to balance the
grid by matching supply to demand, and to raise the efficiency of energy production. High voltage
vacuum circuit breakers are gaining interest as an alternative to SF6-based equipment. Alstom is
one of the leading companies engaged in this development.

12 Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013

Substations go fully digital
but stay compatible
The fully digital substation replaces the kilometres of copper hardwiring
and proprietary devices of conventional installations with a software-based solution
that builds interoperability today and tomorrow.

When asked to define innovation, most
people think about inventing completely
new products. In the modern economy it is
much more than that. Innovation can derive
from seeing new ways to combine and
improve things that exist already joining
computers to telephone networks to produce
the Internet, for example or new ways to
organise the manufacturing and distribution
of products, such as just-in-time manufac-
turing. And the cycle of innovation is getting
much shorter, as innovations in one domain
become quickly accessible elsewhere, client
expectations become greater, and regula-
tions and standards get stricter.
Substation solutions and components are
the perfect illustration of all these trends.
Alstoms digital control system has been
the most successful on the market for the
past 10 years, but it is already being super-
seded by a new solution the companys ments of users, first by offering the most
cutting-edge DS Agile system for substation
automation. This enables valuable features
like wide-area control, the IEC 61850 pro-
cess bus and integrated condition monitor-
ing, together with a new range of ruggedised
substation-grade grid routers and switches
from Cisco. Enhanced communication and
cyber security functionality are designed
in (see sidebar 2).
Interoperability
DS Agile reconciles the multiple require-
advanced solution available today without
the need to replace every piece of equip-
ment and software along the whole energy
chain; and second by ensuring that future
upgrades can be integrated smoothly.

Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013 13
Main Feature chapter I Research with an eye on the future

As Simon Richards, Digital Substa-

tion Marketing Coordinator at Alstom,
explains, Many utilities that wanted to take
advantage of fully digital solutions hesitated
because of the complexity of reconciling
different protocols and the effort needed to
make proprietary systems communicate.
Today, the IEC 61850 standard we use in
DS Agile and all our intelligent electronic
devices (IEDs) and sensors means there are
no issues with proprietary approaches, and
this facilitates interoperability between dif-
ferent equipment and suppliers.
The IEC 61850 to which Richards refers is
a comprehensive standard for Ethernet-
based communication in substations, link-
ing components together and with the

DS Agile reconciles
the multiple require
ments of users.
operator interface. It is also designed to
deliver functionality not supported in legacy
communications protocols. IEC 61850
allows for the full digitisation of the signals
in a substation, which is necessary for the
large amount of data that has to be pro- The digital substation architecture
cessed and communicated for the real-time
management of smarter power grids.
Apart from interoperability of devices from a software-based design change, avoiding recorders, etc.). Third, the station control
different suppliers, IEC 61850 enables the the need for rewiring. level handles communication within the
solution to be engineered as a centralised substation and control system, coordination
scheme or as a decentralised scheme with Three-level architecture with the substation operational functions
dispersed logic. Since it is constantly being The digital substation architecture consists and station-level support.
revised and updated, this standard ensures of three levels. The first is the process level, Real-time operational measurements and
that any investment in bay solution designs interfacing with the primary equipment in other data are polled from sensors embedded
will be repaid by repeated deployments well the switchyard. Second is the protection within the primary system and communi-
into the future, thereby avoiding stranded and control level, including IEDs tradition- cated to the devices that must act on those
assets. Other savings are generated by the ally called secondary equipment (protec- measurements via a process bus. Smart
possibility to tune scheme responses with tion, measurement devices, bay controller, devices and systems within the substation

14 Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013

 The extensive self-
diagnosis capability of digital
devices maximises the
up-time of the substation.
can immediately process this data. By sub-
scribing as clients to this data flow over an
Ethernet process bus, the information from
the power system is distributed and com-
municated much more efficiently to the bay
level than in conventional hardwired schemes. Over 215,000
Alstom MiCOM
The DS Agile architecture can be set up as P40 relays
protect critical
a self-healing ring or as an IEC 62439 parallel infrastructures
redundancy protocol (PRP) redundant star, worldwide.
with numerous advantages as summarised
by Richards colleague, Denis Chatrefou, which permits troubleshooting The network can be
Digital Substation R&D Coordinator. The without the need for any primary local to the substation
extensive self-diagnosis capability of digital system outage. or can interconnect several dispersed sub-
devices maximises the up-time of the A typical DS Agile digital control system stations, and can be linked to the grid con-
substation. Any degradation in the perfor- (DCS) incorporates a range of IEDs, such as trol room. The process bus is the link by
mance of an asset is pinpointed in real time. protection relays, measurement devices and which the primary equipment information
Inherent redundancy in the system can monitoring equipment, as well as bay con- travels back to the substations relay room.
be employed to self-heal the operation, trollers, Ethernet switches and gateways. In a fully digital architecture, control

M o r e
Wide-area applications
The BRIC economies (Brazil,
Russia, India, China) are
building or planning large
power plants far from their
main population and industrial
centres, and wide-area
networks are developing in
other markets too, with several
countries in Europe planning
large offshore wind farms,
for instance. This is placing
an increasing strain on
transmission corridors, and
operators may find themselves
working ever closer to the
limits of the networks.
To ensure system stability over
Andreas Procopiou
these long distances and to
prevent the propagation of
disturbances requires real-time
monitoring and the timely
implementation of
countermeasures. Phasor
measurement units (PMU)(1)
are at the heart of wide-area
monitoring, protection and
control. They collect highly
time-synchronised data on
system parameters such as
voltage, current and frequency,
which they then report to the
PDC (phasor data concentrator)
for visualisation, data storage
and, most importantly, for
running a variety of on-line and
off-line applications in systems
analysis and control. This
enables operators to optimise
the scheduling of transmission
capacity, to respond to
contingencies, and to preserve
stability after disturbances.
The Alstom P847 PMU exceeds
the requirements of IEEE
C37.118 Level 1 with enhanced
performance under off-nominal
and dynamic system conditions
by means of an advanced
frequency-tracking algorithm.
(1) More on phasor measure-
ment in chapter III, article 1.

Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013 15

Main Feature chapter I Research with an eye on the future

IEC 61850 is the international

standard for Ethernet-based communication
in substations.
commands (switchgear operator
commands, protection trips) are also routed
to the primary devices via the process bus,
in the opposite direction. In a digital substa-
tion, thanks to IEC 61850, the IEDs interact
with the field via the process bus, and with
other peer devices in the bay, other bays, and
the digital control system via the station bus.
In the digital substation, the station bus is
much more than a traditional SCADA bus.
It permits many devices to exchange data,
supports peer-to-peer device communication,
and links to wide-area control units (WACUs)
for wide-area communication between sub-
stations or between voltage levels.
Even the instrument transformers
are digital
Digital instrument transformers eliminate
the inaccuracy of conventional instrument
transformers caused by reliance upon an
iron core that has to be magnetised, but not
overfluxed, and by the connection of ana-
logue secondary circuits. In conventional
current transformers, it is a challenge to
achieve the accuracy at low signal levels
and the dynamic range to satisfy both meas-
urement and protection duties. Instead
of the iron core, the translation from primary
to secondary measurement can use optical,
Rogowski or capacitive technology, with
the optimum choice for AIS (air-insulated
substations) and GIS (gas-insulated substa-
tions) driven by the respective digital device
size, which in turn permits size optimisation
of the switchgear. But whatever the technol
ogy, Alstoms COSI range of non-conven-
tional instrument transformers (NCITs) offer
similar benefits, including greater accuracy,
repeatability and safety than conventional
instrument transformers.
In addition, NCITs feature a high measure-
ment bandwidth for fundamental frequency,
harmonics, inter-harmonics, sub-harmonics,
Denis Chatrefou
and qualimetering (metering of power
quality). Another significant benefit is that
the NCITs are compact and light in weight.
According to Chatrefou, improved safety is a
key advantage of the design. Insulating sec-
ondary equipment from high voltages by using
fibre optics means higher safety for substation
personnel. Removal of wired cross-site current
transformer circuits reduces the risk of lethal
injury due to inadvertent opening of the circuit.
And avoiding oil in instrument transformers
reduces explosion risks too. Environmental
protection and natural resource usage are
also improved by eliminating oil in instrument
transformers and by employing fibre optics
instead of copper. This has direct economic
benefits too, given the 400 percent rise in the

M o r e
Cyber security
In order to offer new
applications, the digital
substation is integrating more
information technology, new
standards and new protocols
such as Ethernet. Integrated
cyber assets need to be
protected from cyber threats,
which are growing rapidly
and have become highly
sophisticated. In 2010 the
discovery of the Stuxnet
worm publicly illustrated
the vulnerability of industrial
control systems to cyber
attacks. As Jean-Pierre
Mennella, Software Solutions
Cyber Security Manager,
explains: The main challenge
is to adapt cyber security
solutions to the specific
environment and constraints
of the digital substation.
Alstoms approach is to ensure
that both architecture and
components are designed with
cyber security foremost in our
thinking. Alstom is involved
in standards definition
(for example IEC 61850 and
IEC 62351) and in energy
sector cyber security activities
such as the European
Commissions Directorate-
General for Energy M/490
Mandate Smart Grid
Information Security Working
Group. Alstom is also
collaborating with leading-
edge partners such as Cisco to
offer and develop new, secure
digital substation solutions.

Jean-Pierre Mennella

16 Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013

 Example of a COSI-CT
(compact sensor intelligence).
price of copper in the last 10 years. Likewise,
with a footprint 15 to 25 percent smaller
than conventional substations, there are cost
savings on real estate, foundations, structures
and construction, and planning permission
can be easier.
In the field
Prototyping and trials have long since been
completed. The fact that the information
acquisition, processing and output is per-
formed in real time through a digital archi-
tecture means that extensive testing can be
done virtually, in the factory, without the same
need for the extensive (and expensive) testing
required on site for hardwired systems.
Alstoms digital substation will now prove its
merits in the field, in differential protection
applications for Energinets transmission
system in Denmark, and for FSK in Russia.
For Energinet, the protected circuits are
hybrids, consisting of 400 kV lines and sub-sea
cabled sections. The operational demands
are such that auto-reclosing is required
for faults on the overhead lines, but not for
faults within the underground cable sections.
Alstom MiCOM differential protection is used
for fast and precise detection of faults within
the cables. The main reason for selecting
NCITs was their low mass and slim-line con-
struction, allowing them to be mounted on
the same structures as the cable bushings.
In the 110/220 kV substation in Russia, the
primary GIS equipment is supplied by a third-
party vendor, equipped with conventional
instrument transformers. The analogue data
is digitised at source using MU Agile analogue
merging units, and connected cross-site to
relays and bay controllers by an IEC 61850
process bus. A full range of Alstom MiCOM
transmission relays protect the substation,
as inherent components of the DS Agile
digital control system. Trip and operational
control of switchgear is secured using
DS Agile SCU switchgear control units with
PRP redundancy, completing the full digital
acquisition and command chain.
Alstom remains a pioneer in digital substation
development and a driving force in the elab-
oration of the IEC 61850 standard that under-
lies todays designs. After more than 15 years
of advanced research and projects worldwide,
Alstoms digital substations are now deliver-
ing the full potential of this technology.
M o r e
Simon Richards
Performance evaluation
for digital substations
A state-of-the-art testing platform
has been developed by Alstom
in Villeurbanne, France, in order
to evaluate the performance of
protection for fully digital substations.
The platform was developed to check
all substation functionalities,
with a focus on measurement
accuracy of relays and circuit-breaker
trip delays. Various protection relays,
digital configurations and many
substation single-line diagram
arrangements can be analysed,
as well as the interoperability of
IEDs (intelligent electronic devices)
from different vendors.
For each type of protection connected
to the process bus, the platform can be
used to explore all characteristics in
order to check for correct operation
and the results can then be compared
to conventional hardwired solutions.
The platform generates IED inputs
conventional or digital
(IEC 61850-9-2 compliant) and
also monitors IED outputs, whether
analogue trip or digital trip (GOOSE).
It can also be used for customer factory
acceptance tests and for final testing
before despatch to a project or a
demonstration. The testing platform
serves to prove and optimise the
solution. Customers who have already
benefitted from the platform include
Endesa (Spain), which tested its
prototype architecture, and Energinet
(Denmark), which attended the factory
acceptance test for its MiCOM P546
and COSI-CT system.
Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013 17
Main Feature chapter I Research with an eye on the future

Aerial view of nant de drance pumped storage plant, Switzerland

Pumped storage: a keystone for the

booming growth of renewable energies
Variable speed pumped storage, the latest in large-scale storage technology,
enables grid operators to integrate extensive wind and solar capacity, match supply to demand
minute by minute and further enhance energy production efficiency throughout their fuel portfolio.

18 Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013


In November 2006, 20 million European
households were left in the dark following
a power blackout. Within 20 minutes, Alpine
dams were able to supply about 5 million
homes with 5,000 MW, with the pumped
storage plant of GrandMaison, France,
accounting for up to 20 percent. This is a
prime example of how useful pumped stor-
age can be in balancing the grid during
unplanned outages of other power plants.
But that is not its only benefit.
PSP flexibility: attractive for grid
operators
Pumping water to store energy is not a
new concept in itself. Pumped storage is the
largest and most cost-effective means of
storing energy for electricity grids, far beyond
compressed air, lithium-ion and other storage
technologies in use today. It is also an eco-
nomically and environmentally efficient way
of stabilising supply on a minute-to-minute
basis. When demand is low, a pumped
storage plant (PSP) uses off-peak
This has been
done for decades
with growing
efficiency.
electricity to pump water from a
lower reservoir to a higher reservoir.
Then, when demand is high, the
water is released and flows down to
the lower reservoir through turbines
that, within seconds, generate elec-
tricity and feed it into the network.
This has been done for decades, with
growing efficiency: nowadays, up to
80 percent of the energy consumed
during the storage cycle is recovered
and can be sold when demand
Minimum level
peaks. In addition, pumped storage
enables utilities to operate their other energy
sources at their most efficient levels,
allowing fossil-fired and renewable energy
sources to be run optimally. And it is precisely
this last point that explains the recent boost
of interest in pumped storage as part of an
integrated solution to smooth out the fluc-
tuations inevitable with increasing penetra-
tion of intermittent energy sources such as
wind and solar power, since it can use their
production at times of high output and low
demand. The real innovation at the heart
of this growth comes from variable speed
pumped storage, says Olivier Teller, Alstom
Renewables PSP Product Director. The
possibility of changing the pumping power
makes pumped storage plants much more
flexible, which is very attractive for
Pumped storage plant schematic
Upper reservoir
Pump mode
(power storage)
Turbine mode
(power generation)
Energy transfer
Maximum head water level
Energy transfer
Maximum head water level
M o r e
Double fed induction
at the heart of variable
speed technology
Double fed induction machines with
static frequency converters feeding the
rotor is the preferred architecture for
motor generators in variable speed
PSPs with unit outputs above 50 to
100 MW. The rotor design of double
fed induction machines is significantly
different from conventional
synchronous machines because the
rotor of a double fed induction motor
generator has a three-phase rotor
winding wound into a cylindrical rotor.
By feeding the rotor with a low
frequency AC current, a magnetic field
rotating at the right speed is created to
compensate for the turbines speed
variation. As a result, it generates a
magnetic field rotating at a constant
speed a fraction of the grid frequency
in the stator. This means the turbine
rotation speed can be adjusted to
benefit from the flywheel effect to
perform fast power output or input
variation or to optimise turbine or pump
efficiency and regulate pumping water.
Underground
power plant
Lower reservoir
Minimum level
Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013 19
Main Feature chapter I
operators in balancing the grid.
The grid always has to balance power
generation and consumption precisely,
and this balancing is harder to obtain with With an installed base of 56 GW of pump
intermittent power sources. So during
low demand periods, variable speed
pumped storage may be viewed as a much
better alternative to bringing other flex-
ible assets, such as gas plants, on line justspeed type. Besides the flexibility benefit,
to regulate the grid. To put it simply,
Alstoms variable speed technology (see
sidebar) allows power plant owners to
adjust the amount of energy they pump
at night or when there is a light load,
meaning that conventional thermal power
plants that are operated for frequency
adjustment can be stopped. This helps
utilities operate their fleets more eco-
nomically while reducing CO2 emissions.
Load balancing can be achieved using a
clean, renewable energy source, replacing
costly fossil fuels traditionally used for
peaking, Teller points out.
CUTAWAY OF A PUMP TURBINE
AND MOTOR GENERATOR UNIT
It generates electricity and
operates as a motor pump
in synchronisation with the
network frequency.
20 Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013
Research with an eye on the future
Extending the PSP
operational envelope
turbines and motor generators, Alstom is
currently developing 6 GW of PSP projects
worldwide. Three gigawatts are variable
speed, and the other three are of the fixed
some sites actually require variable speed,
since a variable speed PSP can sustain a
higher variation in the height (or head)
between the water in the two reservoirs.
Challenging sites such as Nant de Drance
in Switzerland and Tehri in India would have
been impossible to exploit without variable
speed pumps, says Teller.
All Alstoms in-house products and technolo-
gies for hydraulic turbines are designed and
developed in the Global Technology Centre
(GTC) in Grenoble, France. This centre man-
ages all the product development phases,
from identification of customer need to after-
sales service. In 2008, Alstom
expanded the GTC, equipping its
scale model test laboratory with
two new test rigs, bringing the
total number of test rigs to six and
doubling the sites testing capac-
ity. With a pumped storage mar-
ket expected to grow by 60
percent over the next four years
(mostly in China and Europe), the
GTC is now looking forward to
extending PSP operational enve-
lopes towards more challenging
conditions(1) such as very high
or very low head (>800 m and
<50 m), increased head range,
underground and sea operation,
small decentralised PSPs, etc., as
well as enhancing flexibility and
power range.
(1) 40 percent of European PSPs
are expected to be variable speed.
M o r e
Thomas Kunz
An extra 1,000 MW
from a cavern under
the Swiss Alps
Switzerland, with its mountainous
landscape, is a very active producer of
hydroelectricity, which represents more
than half of the total energy produced
in the country. The steep altitude
differences in the Swiss Alps create
a particularly favourable environment
for the use of pumped storage power
plants. In 2009, Kraftwerk Linth-
Limmern AG (KLL) decided to extend
its Linthal power plant in the Glarus
Canton of east-central Switzerland
by constructing a new underground
pumped storage facility that will pump
water from Lake Limmern up to Lake
Mutt (which is 630 m higher, at an
altitude of 2,474 m). The water is
pumped through a pair of 1 km-long
penstocks inclined at 45, in order
to reuse it for electricity production
when needed. Alstom will provide four
new 250 MW variable speed pump
turbine and motor generator units.
The facility, which is installed in a
giant underground cavern, will have
pump and turbine capacities of
1,000 MW, boosting KLLs output from
the current 450 MW to 1,450 MW
and putting it, in terms of power
delivery, on a par with the Swiss
Leibstadt nuclear power plant,
says Thomas Kunz, Alstoms Global
R&D Product Development Director.
Many innovative components had
to be developed for this project.
The first units are to be installed next
year, and Linthal commercial operation
is due to begin in 2015.
 Cover plate
Ceramic
Shield
Vacuum interrupter layout

Cover plate

Fixed
contact rod

Ceramic Movable
contact rod

Replacing SF6
Arcing contacts
Bellows

in high voltage circuit breakers

While SF6 is widely used in power transmission, allowing manufacturers
to design reliable, safe and compact equipment, its CO2 equivalent factor is becoming more and more
of an issue. For this reason, some countries, such as Sweden or New Zealand, are increasingly focusing on
SF6-free solutions. Alstom already monitors SF6 throughout the production chain and the emissions of its
products are particularly low. On top of this, the company has taken the initiative of developing a new range
of 100 percent SF6-free circuit breakers based on vacuum technology, starting with the VL109 for 72.5 kV.

Almost all modern high voltage circuit
breakers running at transmission voltage
levels employ sulphur hexafluoride (SF6)
as an arc-extinguishing medium for current
interruption and for dielectric insulation
between the terminals. This is because of
the excellent interrupting capabilities of
SF6, combined with a high dielectric with-
stand. However, SF6 is a greenhouse gas
with high global warming potential.
Several countries have initiated policies
to ban or limit its use Australia, for
instance, has raised a tax of AUS$450 per kg
on imported SF6 and other countries are
likely to follow. Anticipating this trend,
Alstom has worked on a solution to provide
a high voltage circuit breaker with no SF6.
The most promising approach is the use
of vacuum technology for interruption,
already used in medium voltage applica-
tions for decades and now almost univer-
sal at that level.
Raising vacuum technology
from MV to HV
Vacuum combines nearly perfect isolating
and interrupting characteristics: it has an
excellent dielectric withstand and enables a
very fast re-establishment of its characteris
tics after current extinction. However,
raising vacuum technology from medium
voltage to high voltage applications is
not that simple, says Dr Lutz Drews, R&D
Manager at Alstom Grid. For several reasons
linked to the physics of vacuum and the non-
linear relationship between the inter-contact
distance and the dielectric withstand, vacuum
technology has only been applicable so far
to distribution voltage levels not higher than
52 kV. Some vacuum developments do
exist for high voltage levels (i.e. 72 kV or
higher), but they mainly address only a few
niche markets the industrial sector in Japan
for example and such circuit breakers com-
monly suffer some disadvantages:

Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013 21

Main Feature chapter I Research with an eye on the future
they are not truly 100 percent SF6-free Alstoms VL109
(still using SF6 for the dielectric insulation), vacuum circuit
they are mostly dedicated to dead-tank breaker
circuit breakers (whereas the world market is
mainly live tank(1)), and they are not fully
compatible with modern substation layouts.
Our objective was to design a 100 percent
SF6-free high voltage circuit breaker suitable
for the whole world market and easily inter-
changeable with existing breakers; it would
use vacuum as the interrupting technology
and dry air for insulation between the termi-
nals, explains Drews. The project led to the
design and construction of the VL109 circuit
breaker as a vacuum-type alternative to
Alstoms SF6-type GL309 model, with ratings
of 72.5 kV/31.5 kA/2,000 A.
Several hurdles had to be overcome to get
there. Compared with existing vacuum
interrupters in the medium voltage range,
It uses vacuum
the interruption at high voltage required
an increased contact gap and a contact
as the interrupting
configuration providing an axial magnetic technology and dry
air for insulation.
field. Furthermore, intensive investigations
into contact materials were necessary to
pass low current switching tests (e.g. for
capacitive currents), and dielectric optimi- an optimisation of the mechanical chain was
sation was necessary to be able to use dry carried out, making it possible to keep Alstoms
air for the insulation between the terminals established FK-type spring-operated mecha-
and to achieve similar dimensions to the nism. At the same time, different configurations
GL309-type circuit breaker. To respect the were also investigated: two vacuum inter
modified mechanical energy balance of the rupters in series, or one vacuum interrupter.
circuit breaker system itself and the lower We decided to choose the one vacuum cham-
required stroke of the vacuum interrupter, ber solution, because it enables us to stick with
M o r e
A new generation of HV circuit breakers:
environmentally friendly, sustainable, fully interchangeable
Curbing the greenhouse any greenhouse gas at all.
effect is a major objective, Using vacuum as the
but also a challenge interrupting technology and
for Alstom, as the dry air for insulation between
Kyoto Protocol compels the terminals, the product
manufacturers and users has a global warming
to reduce the amount of potential of zero.
SF6 in equipment and to Moreover, the vacuum
reduce gas losses in service. interrupter is highly
Alstoms new VL109 HV recyclable as mainly metals
circuit breaker goes much (steel, aluminium and
further than the regulatory copper) and ceramic
view since it does not contain are used. An environmental
Dr Lutz Drews
22 Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013
the current candlestick design so that it can
be fully interchangeable with existing 72 kV
SF6 circuit breakers; additionally, this solution
does not require grading capacitors and it
allows for higher mechanical reliability.
Pilot trials on the network
Tests were performed for current breaking
and switching at the KEMA high voltage
laboratory in Arnhem (Netherlands) and
CERDA in Villeurbanne (France). For mecha
nical lifetime, dielectric and environmental
performance, tests were done at the Alstom
Grid laboratory in Kassel (Germany). The
VL109 passed all tests successfully. The next
step is to test the VL109 on the network, says
Drews. The first pilot vacuum-type breaker
was installed at the end of 2012 on the French
network. A second pilot will follow in spring
2013 on the Transpower network in New
Zealand. These pilot applications will
allow us to gain experience concerning the
switchgear itself as well as the impact of the
switchgear on the transmission networks; we
can collect evidence that the technology is
reliable for use in high voltage transmission
networks. Alstom has now initiated a pro-
gramme to transfer this vacuum HV technol-
ogy to dead-tank type circuit breakers and to
gas-insulated switchgear, as well as to extend
the technology to higher voltage ranges.
(1) Circuit breakers are live tank when the enclosure
of the interrupting unit is at line potential, or dead
tank when the enclosure is at earth potential.
and life-cycle analysis
has shown that the vacuum
technology-based VL109,
compared to its SF6
equivalent, has a climate
change impact 24 percent
lower but with a higher
electrical and mechanical
lifetime and reliability.
Last but not least, the VL109
is fully interchangeable
with existing SF6 circuit
breakers.
Main feature chapter II Ahead of our time

Innovation and
performance
A breakthrough: the development of a double-motion interrupter allows single-break gas-
insulated substations up to 420 kV/63 kA to be made much more compact, reliable, safe and
environmentally friendly. A STATCOM can be used to ensure that wind turbines comply with
the increasingly stringent grid codes, particularly the requirement for low voltage ride-through.
With electricity demand rising rapidly, more effective ways of transmitting energy must be
found. One solution gaining momentum is the HVDC supergrid enhanced by interaction
between multi-terminal DC grids, a large-scale interconnected DC system of systems. To fulfil
the potential of (intermittent) wind and solar energy, one viable solution is a stable form of
large-scale electricity storage coupled with a voltage source converter.

Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013 23
Main Feature chapter Ii Ahead of our time

Pushing GIS limits

to new horizons
To meet the tough duties
of 420 kV/63 kA gas-
insulated substations (GIS),
Alstom teams have developed a new
single-chamber, double-motion
circuit breaker. It demonstrates major
improvements in size, cost and
environmental impact.

High voltage circuit-breaker (CB) technol-

ogy has advanced greatly since its intro
duction. Several interrupting principles
have been developed to enhance perfor-
mance and reduce operating energy.
Among the various CB technologies
Alstom has in its portfolio, gas-insulated
substations (GIS) offer several advantages
compared with air-, oil- or vacuum-insu-
lated approaches. One is compactness,
which explains why GIS are often chosen The Alstom T155 gas-insulated
substation (GIS).
when space is limited and land is costly.
As this becomes more significant with
population growth and the trend of urban-
isation, equipment compactness has with high operating energy, explains higher voltages such as 420 kV, i.e. begin-
become a key factor. Jean-Baptiste Jourjon, Alstoms GIS R&D ning with two chambers in series and
When dealing with high voltages such group manager. Advances in design then then, to improve compactness, moving
as 245 kV, the solution was originally made possible the use of a single SF6 cham- to a single chamber via the ingenious
to use two breaking chambers in series, ber or single break, but with a low energy double-motion technology. This permits
each chamber taking half of the voltage. operating mechanism. Subsequently, a drastic reduction in the operating energy
Then we developed a single chamber, but the same principles were extended to even of the opening mechanism (see sidebar),

24 Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013


Designing and constructing
a new class of interrupter
that could accommodate the most
demanding constraints.
allowing the adoption of a commonly used
spring mechanism.
Getting up to 420 kV/63 kA
A single-break product rated up to
420 kV had been developed previously, but
it was limited to 50 kA short-circuit current.
One phase of the T155-CB3 420 kV / 63 kA single break, with its mechanism
and its grounded metallic pressure vessel, containing the HV interrupter.
It was a very large puffer-type circuit
breaker with a high-energy hydraulic
mechanism, so it was too large and too
costly for todays markets. Building on the
self-blast double-motion technology that
already existed for the 245 kV/50 kA range,
Alstoms engineers rose to the challenge
of designing and constructing a new
class of interrupter that could accom-
modate the most demanding mecha
nical and dielectric constraints of the
420 kV/63 kA GIS duty cycle, yet be
compact, cost-effective, reliable, safer and
more environmentally friendly. However,
pushing the technology to increase both
the rated voltage and the short-circuit cur-
rent up to these targets seemed a very
serious challenge, especially in the context
of size limitations. We had to establish
new criteria, first to optimise the sizing
of the interrupter (dielectrics, mechanics,
pressure and thermal withstand, etc.),
and also because the known rules for lower
voltages did not work when applied to
420 kV, says Jourjon.
Forty percent footprint reduction
After some years of simulations, model
optimisation and tests on full-scale proto-
types, the teams came up with a solution:
the T155-CB3 single-break (or single-
chamber) interrupter, which is much
smaller than the existing single-motion,
double-break technology (two interrupters
in series) and which provides significant
advantages:
- a 40 percent reduction in opening energy;
- lower environmental impact with 40 per-
cent less SF6 mass;
- a 38 percent mass reduction for one full
pole with mechanism;
Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013 25
Main Feature chapter Ii Ahead of our time

- phase width reduced from 900 to Illustration of self-blast

Double-motion levers & double-motion principle
700 mm;
- a 34 percent height and 40 percent foot-
print reduction; and
- the possibility of a full three-phase bay 1
integration with common points and dis- Thermal volume
connectors in a single package.
With this single-chamber approach, the Compression volume
cost is dramatically reduced, as well as the
environmental impacts, says Jourjon.
These include reduction of mass, meaning
less use of material (aluminium), and SF6
reduction, which is important for global
CB opening

warming. In addition, complete bay ship-

ment reduces the carbon footprint of trans- 2
port to site.
Great interaction between
product lines
Throughout the five years of develop-
ment, the Alstom R&D departments
working in both gas- and air-insulated
switchgear product lines, in collaboration
with the Research Centre in Villeurbanne, 3
all worked closely together on this ambi-
tious technical project. The aim was to
maximise the knowledge-sharing of the
experts, conceive and compare various
technical options, and to benefit from
standardised solutions whenever pos-
sible. It also allowed us to incorporate
Arcing contacts
industrial aspects early in the develop-
ment process, to avoid the issue of a
sophisticated technical solution that
works but would not be cost-effective
Insulating nozzle

It also achieves a breaking time

below two cycles at 60 Hz. Piston and discharge valve

26 Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013


and would be difficult to manufacture in
volume, points out Jourjon.
A complete redesign of the whole GIS
The T155-CB3 single-break interrupter
manages to reach 420 kV/63 kA switch-
ing and breaking performance with
only one interrupting unit per phase
and with low-energy spring mechanism
for both energy storage and actuation.
It also achieves a
It has a premium
breaking time
below two cycles
at 60 Hz, which
means a higher performance.
level of protection
for the equipment in case of fault cur-
rents. Breaking performance covers
420 kV systems globally, including
60 Hz networks. The compactness of
this new circuit breaker led to a complete
redesign of the whole GIS, with a new
T155-CB3 single chamber 420 kV / 63 kA Interrupter: efficient,
arrangement of the components (discon-
nectors, etc.) enabling complete bay
assembly at the factory and full bay ship-
ment to site. This means that all major
components are tested (including optional
embedded low voltage control cabinet)
and sealed at factory, a further guarantee
for a high level of quality and customer
satisfaction. In addition, full bay shipment
reduces erection time by 30 percent.
Jourjon stresses:
The T155-CB3 is
designed for easy
accessibility with
integrated gang-
ways, and the spe-
cific gas partitioning ensures maximum
availability in case of maintenance. So despite
its lower cost (and size), it has very much a
premium performance. It also offers com-
prehensive monitoring solutions and is ready
for the full digital substation.
compact and easily accessible
M o r e
Jean-Baptiste Jourjon
Single-break, double-
motion principle
AC short-circuit current interruption
involves blowing insulating gas
through the electrical arc.
A piston moved by the operating
mechanism increases gas density
and generates an overpressure
between the arcing contacts.
As a consequence, gas flows through
the arcing area, which cools down
the arc and prevents its reignition
after a current zero. The new Alstom
T155-CB3 circuit breaker uses SF6
self-blast technology, where the arc
energy contributes to overpressure
generation without affecting the
mechanisms operating energy.
At 63 kA, overpressure can reach up
to 120 bar, which a spring mechanism
could not withstand if the pressure
were applied directly to the moving
piston. For the 420 kV rating, very
fast moving contacts are needed to
withstand the recovery voltage
between terminals following current
interruption. To reduce operating
energy and allow the use of its
standard spring-driven FK3-6
mechanism, Alstom developed
a double-motion technique that
consists of displacing the two arcing
contacts in opposite directions using
a linkage lever system (see figure),
instead of displacing one contact
as in traditional designs. The speed
requirement from the operating
mechanism is therefore halved.
This means that the energy necessary
for the opening spring is reduced
by around 40 percent.
Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013 27
Main Feature chapter Ii Ahead of our time

D-STATCOM SVC
MAXSINETM
Since the three-level
neutral-point clamped
voltage source converter
(3L-NPC VSC) had
demonstrated its
attractiveness as
a dynamic reactive
power source for
distribution networks,
it was chosen for
the D-STATCOM SVC
MaxSineTM system.
IGBTs (Insulated Gate
Bipolar Transistors)
are used as power
semiconductor
switches.

A STATCOM that helps wind

to meet grid codes
A suitable STATCOM can be used to ensure
that wind turbines comply with increasingly
tight grid codes, particularly the low voltage ride-through requirement.
It also needs to be compact and flexible.

Over the last 20 years, wind power has
asserted itself as an increasingly important
part of the energy production landscape.
The 2011 World Wind Energy Report pro-
jected that by the end of that year, total
capacity would be around 245,000 MW
and meet 3 percent of global electricity
demand. Since then, the Global Wind Energy
Council states that by 2020, 8-12 percent
of global electricity could be supplied by
wind power. The rise of wind power has
emerged as a challenge to the technology
used to generate it and, as more and more
renewable energies flow into the grid, grid
operators have grown concerned about
stability. Accordingly, they are introducing
ever more stringent grid codes to ensure
that grids can integrate renewable energy
smoothly. Not all wind turbine technologies
can comply with such demanding strictures,
however. One that cannot on its own is the
doubly fed induction generator (DFIG). Until
recently, DFIGs were the most widely used
variable-speed wind turbines. A DFIGs
stator is directly connected to the grid while
the rotor is connected through a power
electronic converter, which controls the
generators speed and power factor. The
converter is rated at around 30 percent of
the turbines nominal capacity, which was
ample for wind turbine applications until
grid codes required turbines to stay
connected to the network during voltage
drops to ensure low voltage ride-through
(LVRT).The drawback of DFIGs is that, in
the eventof a voltage dip, the voltage of

28 Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013


the grid-
connected
stator changes
suddenly. The rotor
voltage is too low to com-
pensate and so a disturbance
current flows through the stator
and rotor, damaging the converter. The
DFIGs original control strategy was to trip,
but grid codes now require generators to
ride through voltage drops and feed reac-
tive power into the network to stabilise it.
The only alternative is to enlist the support
of a shunt-connected dynamic reactive
power source. The most widely used is the
In the event of a sudden load
change or low voltage incident
like a short circuit in the grid,
a STATCOM responds fast.
thyristor-based static VAr compensator (SVC).
But SVCs do not fit the requirements for
(i) fast dynamic response, (ii) short overload
capability, or (iii) the ability to provide
maximum reactive output current during
sharp voltage drops. However, one dynamic
reactive-power compensator that does deliver
on all three counts, and so ensures ride-
through in the event of a network fault, is the
static synchronous compensator, or STATCOM.
How STATCOMS ensure ride-through
In the event of a sudden load change or
low voltage incident like a short circuit in
the grid, a STATCOM responds fast,
explains Ralf Jessler, Managing Director of
the Alstom unit in Konstanz, Germany. It
feeds capacitive reactive power into the
network, increasing voltage at the point
of common coupling (PCC), so helping the
DFIG to stay connected for as long as it
takes to isolate the short circuit.
Once the fault has been cleared, however,
the DFIG may experience the same
kind of difficulties as it did when the fault
occurred. The STATCOM must therefore
once again stabilise the voltage at the PCC.
This is no issue, adds Jessler, because
the STATCOM responds dynamically, in
milliseconds, changing its reactive
Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013 29
Main Feature chapter Ii Ahead of our time

M o r e

Control system block

diagram for SVC MaxSineTM

Jarmo Aho
Hybrid compensator keeps
prices and flicker low
Brief dips in line voltage, causing, for
instance, brief changes in lighting levels,
are known as flickers and are a sign
of poor power quality. They are typically
caused by large loads whose active
and reactive power demand fluctuates.
The technology of choice for reducing
flicker is the static VAr compensator
(SVC). SVCs are traditionally used for
reactive power compensation in such
heavy industry applications as electric
arc furnaces (EAF). However, the
thyristors controlling the reactive power
do not have enough bandwidth
(i.e. they cannot respond quickly enough)
to respond to fast changes in the load.
The result is as much as a half-cycle time
delay. Consequently, an SVC has at best
a flicker mitigation capability of just
65 percent and a flicker reduction factor
power from capacitive to induc-
tive. In sum, then, a STATCOM ensures
low voltage ride-through because it can
continue to generate rated output or short-
time overload current even at low system
voltages. Low voltage ride-through is
doubtless the most important capability
required of a STATCOM, as illustrated by a
wind farm project in Dunneil, Ireland,
where the turbines were augmented by
Alstoms novel STATCOM, SVC MaxSineTM.
Without it, the genera-
tors would have fallen
short of the local grid We tailored
code for LRVT as they
failed to produce enough MaxSineTM to deliver
reactive power to com- high overload for the 10 or
20 seconds it takes to
pensate the steep voltage
drops. To help a DFIG ride
load capability is crucial.isolate the short circuit.
through a fault event, over-

of 2, which is often inadequate. Most STATCOMS are

These figures stand in contrast to those
of VSC-based STATCOMs, which
continuously control the output current
and thus compensate load changes
immediately. STATCOMS can achieve a
flicker reduction factor of 6, while SVCs
are more cost-effective when compensation
power is high (above 20 MVAr).
The ideal solution would appear to be an
SVC-STATCOM hybrid. Alstom R&D teams
have developed a concept known as
Hybrid SVC that they have tested
with an electric arc furnace.
The result is a highly reliable
compensation system with a flicker
reduction performance that is almost
as good as a STATCOMs. It is 20 percent
cheaper to install than a STATCOM and
costs 50 percent less to operate.
installed for voltage drops caused by short
circuits, which seldom happens, explains
Jessler. So we tailored MaxSine TM
to deliver high overload for the 10 or
20 seconds it takes to isolate the short
circuit. That way, we were able to make it
smaller. Whats more, an effective over-
load capability helps reduce the STATCOMs
installed power capability, which reduces
its cost.
Low losses, small size,
high flexibility
At the heart of the SVC MaxSine TM is a
voltage source converter with a three-level
neutral-point clamped topology (3L-NPC-
VSC) and a patented control system.
The main advantage of the 3L-NPC-VSC
is that it enables commutation at low
voltages. It also improves the harmonics
spectrum and increases the quality
and quantity of output voltage, thereby
reducing the flicker level significantly in
the network.
The patented control system is what
enables SVC MaxSine TM to respond to
sudden network changes or resetting in a
matter of milliseconds. It is key to the com-
pensators prime function ensuring the
generators LVRT capability.
Second only to ride-through in wind power
applications is the importance of controlling
power losses. SVC MaxSineTM considerably
reduces transmission line and reactive
power losses, thus offsetting losses that
may occur through frequent switching of

30 Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013

 Pr rge
ch

e- ci
a
/D rcu
is- it SVC
Ma
conxSineTM

M
ai
trol ma

n
fu
syst ste
EM

se
em r

s
C fi
lte
r

Digital signals
Re
ac

(fibre optic)
to
rs
3-
Le
ve
lVS

SCA
C

MaC DA
con S slav
trol e
Pa sur
m
ea
ra em

ler
m e
et nt
er s
s/
Sla trol
co
n
ve er

powSVC Ma
Pa eas
ra ur
m
Se

m em

er m xSin T
tp

et e
oin

er nt
odu e M
s/ s
tv

MaC
alu

le #
con S mas
es

1 Modbus/TCP
#2 trol ter
ler
#3
Sy lta nts
ste ge
vo urre

m s/
c

#x
Analogue signals

Should one module malfunction or fail, other units

continue to operate, so avoiding downtime.
the converter. Also, because it is a medium
voltage system, it requires fewer power
electronic devices to be switched on than
low voltage compensators, whose multiple
devices must all pass current and therefore
generate losses. Flexibility is a key feature
of the SVC MaxSineTM STATCOM solution.
Unlike conventional SVCs, which have to
be re-dimensioned according to the prevail-
ing network impedance and harmonics, the
SVC MaxSineTM interoperates with existing
network equipment and works with it to
deliver compensation performance more
effectively than a conventional STATCOM.
Also its control system can be reconfigured
to meet applications ranging from wind
farms to power-hungry arc furnaces.
With its compact, modular power electron-
ics units housed in a container, SVC MaxSineTM
can be configured to meet varying needs.
The modular design then contributes to its
high operational availability. The power
electronic modules (each sealed in a steel
container) are arranged in parallel, each
acting as an amplifier and feeding current
into the network. It is a simple matter to
add or remove them according to require-
ments. And should one module malfunction
or fail, other units continue to operate, so
avoiding downtime.

Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013 31
Main Feature chapter Ii Ahead of our time

DC system of systems
The future of power grids?
The complex systems observed in the social
organisations of the natural world could hold the key to stable
plug-and-play DC grids that use control functions on different timescales and system
levels to integrate the energy from wind and other renewable energy sources.

32 Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013

AC networks are operating ever closer to their
limits. The warning signs are there. In 2003,
blackouts cost the US economy $6 billion.
They were held responsible for four deaths
in Italy. The power failures across Western
Europe in 2006 caused by a transmission
line shutdown in Germany underlined the
risks of outages crossing national boundaries.
During this latter event, the European trans-
mission network was split into three islands
at different frequencies. In the two hours it
took to resynchronise, some 15 million
people were affected, and some 17,000 MW
of power generation had to be curtailed (1).
Yet a certain school of thought contends that
blackouts are natural network behaviour.
Its like a pyramid of sand that reaches a
certain height before it collapses, because
thats the nature of sand, explains Smart
Grid Research Manager Dr Abdelkrim
Benchaib. Can natural be good, though, For now, transmission system operators
when the lights go out on livelihoods and
economies?
There have been serious attempts to develop
blackout prevention strategies (2), but black-
outs and brownouts still occur and will
continue to do so. Prevention is merely con-
tainment. Sooner or later the variety and
complexity of loads and operations will breach
AC network limits, asserts Benchaib.
The European Commissions energy trends
show an exponential rise in energy demand
from 2,800 TWh per year today to nearly
OPERATING DIAGRAM
FOR TRANS-MEDITERRANEAN
LINES
Local
distribution
Transport
lines
4,000 TWh by 2030. Electricity AC Network & DC grid towards more RES
is the fastest rising demand up penetration
58 percent by 2030 and account-
ing for nearly 25 percent of the
total energy demand. Higher
production will require stronger
protection, particularly as more
and more renewable energy
sources (RES) flow into the grid.
Total gross RES power genera-
tion under 500 TWh in 2009
will reach almost 1,400 TWh
by 2030. Ultimately, only a grid
with a far higher power trans-
mission capacity will be able to
cope with burgeoning consump-
tion, production and protection.
DC networks use interconnections and rapid
With Supergrid, no need for grid support for variations in capacity: no need to
codes to be overprotective synchronise. Most significantly, a network
of interconnecting DC grids would carry
(TSOs) ensure grid stability with grid codes. electricity thousands of miles from distant
Wind power operators, for example, must sources wind farms in the North Sea, geo-
comply with codes for anti-islanding, power thermal sources in Iceland, solar power in
factor control, and no-trip low voltage the Sahara to areas of highest demand.
ride-through. However, more numerous Such is the concept developed by the Friends
and tighter codes constrain the large-scale of the Supergrid (FOSG). In addition to the
grid integration of RES, and calls from top-down HVDC superhighway concept, the
the IEC for greater inertial response will transmission system would also incorporate
compound matters. More efficient means bottom-up, consumer-driven MV smart grids
of transmitting energy must be used. for charging electric vehicles, public transport
One solution gathering momentum in the systems, data centres, etc. The DC grid would
R&D community is the HVDC Supergrid. overlay the existing AC grid, like a
Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013 33
Main Feature chapter Ii Ahead of our time

M o r e

national motorway system connects 2030 transmission grid in which control will
to smaller local road systems. At the heart be distributed amongst the nodes. Distribu
of the thinking behind the HVDC Supergrid ted control will enable adjustments at differ-
is, precisely, the notion of system of sys- ent hierarchical levels and at different
tems, whereby a Europe-wide network timescales to take place across the entire
would link with national grids and so on, network. Indeed, a key component of systems
drilling down to the synchronous generators. of systems thinking is the notion of scale.
Flexibility comes from the ability to switch
Dr Oleg Bagleybter Systems of systems from long timescales and large space scales
Systems of systems were informally devel- to small ones, then back again. Again taking
Fault clearance speed: oped by AC grid engineers, explains Ben- the example of the school of fish, should one
a system-wide challenge chaib. Today were formalising the concept or more individual fish quit the school, there
to HVDC grids in DC grids. It is an active example of think- is no effect on the school or its pattern of
ing globally and acting locally. This brings movement. All of which points to the tanta-
Unlike AC networks, which have been around to mind the theory of complex systems. In a lising prospect of plug and play. It should
for over a hundred years, HVDC grid school of fish, for example, each fish keeps be possible to add a load to a system or to
technology is still in the making. Few of the
principal protection systems from AC grids a certain distance and follows the fish in front. remove it without destabilising the system
would work for DC grids, though the main The result is that each fish acts like the whole in the DC power network of 2030, states
requirements still hold. These are sensitivity school, while the whole school acts like an Benchaib. AC networks, of course, have
(detection of all faults), selectivity individual fish. Systems of systems are that plug-and-play capability, developed
(ability to isolate and trip only faulty parts), naturally occurring forms of organisation, piecemeal over the years. However, with
speed and reliability. states Benchaib. They will underpin the mass RES their control systems are unlikely
An issue that cuts system-wide across those
criteria is the circuit breaker (CB) speed. CBs
in AC systems typically clear a fault in 70-100
milliseconds (ms), including the fault detection Multi-terminal DC grid Primary & Secondary controls
time. However, DC networks have low
impedance, so faults go deeper and faster.
To be absolutely reliable, HVDC CBs should
have completely cleared the fault current
in less than 5 ms after the fault inception.
Communication speed is again a challenge
in current differential protection, an AC
protection system that is actually applicable
to DC grids. Alstom recently doubled the
speed of its differential protections
communication channel from 64 to a very
fast 128 kbps. It reduces the fault detection
time to less than 17 ms. However, thats still
far short of the 3-4 ms required to protect
HVDC grids, explains Dr Oleg Bagleybter,
Programme Manager (Networks).
Backup protection solutions, where there is
often an additional time lag, will demand even
higher CB speed, and without backup there
can be no reliability. New strategies are
needed to integrate fault detection,
discrimination and isolation for DC grids.
A possible future solution may be the Alstom
proposal of autonomous HVDC breaker
operation, minimising breaker duty while also
reducing the time the power interruption is
seen by the interconnected AC systems.

34 Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013

 Offshore
wind farm
150 kV 150 kV
132 kV
11 kV
10 kV
STATCOM
400 V
PHEV charging station
to be able to cope. To enable plug-and-play
behaviour in a multi-terminal DC (MTDC)
system that integrates offshore wind farms,
Benchaib and his research team are explor-
ing primary, secondary and even tertiary
control functions. They operate on different
timescales and at different system levels to
ensure grid stability. Primary control repre-
sents the variation of the power/current
injection set-points caused by disturbances
in the system. This is different from the local
controller of the (AC/DC) converter, the role
of which is to track any set-points. In the
system of systems approach, a solution
with different timescales has been adopted.
The time dynamic response of the primary
control should therefore be slower (longer
timescale) than the controller of the converter,
which is around a few milliseconds. This
primary control time constant will not
600 kV
400 kV
150 kV 150 kV
132 kV
50 kV 50 kV
11 kV
10 kV
500 kV 400 V 500 kV
BESS
Photovoltaic
depend only on the reactivity of the converter
but also on the power injection ability of all
connected nodes (production, storage, loads,
etc.), which theoretically should be from a
few hundred milliseconds to a few seconds,
as for AC systems. Primary control is global
but distributed. A primary control strategy
that has proved itself in AC grids is the so-
called droop control technique. This could be
applied for MTDC power grids. In such net-
works the distributed control will then employ
the droop mechanism to regulate the DC
voltages by adjusting the power (or current)
injections from the converters.
The converters simultaneously and individu-
ally inject the active power needed to restore
balance to the MTDC grid. Thus, for the same
voltage deviation two converters could inject
different amounts of power. Droop control
is in each node. This is another example of
2030 vision: AC & DC Hybrid Power Network
Bulk power import
using UHVDC
Onshore
wind farm
11 kV
10 kV
STATCOM
400 V
Fuel cell
thinking globally, acting locally at work,
stresses Benchaib.
At a different and slower timescale, secondary
control regulates the voltage deviation across
the grid or the next system up in the system
of systems on a timescale of several seconds.
It uses master-slave strategies where one or
more converters act as a slack bus (provide
or absorb the power needed to achieve power
balance within the DC grid), while other con-
verters control their power exchange between
the AC and DC systems. The work we have
put into formalising a system-of-systems
approach for DC grids could usefully be applied
to several other fields, says Benchaib. Its a
whole philosophy.
(1) Source: Union for the Coordination of Transmission
of Electricity (UCTE).
(2) "Alstom presents the Blackout Team", Alstom
360 Video, Issue 55, March 2012.
Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013 35
Main Feature chapter II Ahead of our time

INSIDE VIEW OF PROOF OF CONCEPT CONTAINER

Multi-megawatt battery storage substations

Renewable energies are increasingly being integrated into transmission
grids as an important element of smart grids and, although there are still
some hurdles, there are also some innovative solutions.

The introduction of photovoltaic and wind
turbine generation systems has been accel
erating around the world, and the case for
using renewable energy remains strong.
However, because of the intermittency of the
renewable sources, the power generation
level, or capacity factor, of these renewable
energy systems is relatively low and the
generation level is not fixed. Generation
capacity with these characteristics is some-
times termed non-dispatchable. In order to
realise their potential, these technologies
must somehow overcome the hurdle of their
intermittent nature so that they can be
seamlessly integrated into the power grid.
One significant and viable solution is to
couple a stable form of large-scale electricity
storage to a voltage source converter (VSC)
with associated control and automation
equipment, explains Ludovic Gris, Power
Electronics architect. The stored energy can
be accessed and injected into the grid when
power generation is low, or demand is high,
and it can be a self-sufficient solution for some
regions. Efficiency is a key weakness of VSC converter
for storage
storage solutions, with batteries delivering applications.

36 Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013


only 80 percent of the
energy input. But on a
large scale, this solution
based on batteries and VSC can
be more economical than others.
Community storage schemes could
have mid-sized, decentralised storage
facilities to manage fluctuations from
renewable sources and to reduce the strain
on conventional distribution grids. Operators
would need to strike a balance between
the size of their investment and the potential
revenue streams larger investments
can enable the parallel provision of reserve
capacity.
Energy storage with power control
Power supply instability and frequency fluc-
tuations become more significant as the
proportion of power generated by renewable
energy and injected into electrical networks
increases. Any surplus or deficit in active or
reactive power must also be accommodated
by the system. This difference in power
needs to be kept within a given band to keep
the AC voltage within the desired tolerances.
The weaker the system, or the further away
one is from a generation source, the more
responsive the power exchange must be to
stay within the desired voltage tolerance.
The Alstom energy storage solution allows
smooth integration of renewable energy
into the grid, getting rid of power variability
due to weather hazards.
The VSC is based on the association of a
DC/DC converter and an inverter. A precise
and rapid-response power control keeps the
voltages within the specified band, providing
increased stability of the power system
thanks to availability of the stored power.
VSC is a technology for todays meshed
network and that of the future. It permits
continuous and independent control of real
and reactive power, thereby increasing
On-going
development
of Alstoms
battery energy
storage solution.
system stability and
the overall power flow.
This turnkey storage sub
station solution includes trans
formers, converters and complete
hierarchical control. The ultimate goal is
to have a product with a storage capacity
of 1 to 20 MW and we already have all
the control and automation functions that
will go with this solution, explains Gris.
Technology agnostic
The solutions discussed here for storage and
integration are agnostic with respect to the
storage technology deployed, which helps
promote multi-technology solutions. The
overall installation increases the load-
carrying capacity of the network by reduc-
ing the voltage dip that follows a system
disturbance and provides dynamic voltage
stability by reducing the load shedding
needed to manage under-frequency condi-
tions that occur during disturbances.
Advanced software takes care of most of
the above issues, as well as the different
grid codes around the world. It also takes
into account the different requirements and
qualification tests of battery manufacturers.
Smoothing power across the grid
The power conversion system (PCS) and the
generic control unit in this system smooth
out the electricity before injecting it into the
grid. It can be associated with a wide range
of leading battery solutions and is modular
enough to meet the specific requirements of
particular sites, Gris specifies. The control
system also offers unparalleled flexibility for
energy management as well as several oper-
ating modes. The world is currently on the
threshold of a new paradigm for electricity
generation, transmission and consumption;
historically, electricity generation was
designed to follow demand, but now we
M o r e
Ludovic Gris
Teaming up for energy
storage
Alstom and the teams of the French
state-owned research entity CEA-INES
(Institut National de lnergie Solaire)
have created a joint research and
development centre in Chambery
in the French Alps. This joint laboratory
is focused on developing advanced energy
storage solutions and integrating
renewable energy farms into smart
transmission and distribution grids.
The CEA-INES brings its core expertise
in storage and solar applications,
as well as its existing testing capability
across various ranges of solar and storage
technologies, while Alstom brings its
expertise in power electronics, power
conversion and smart grid control room
integration. This partnership has been put
in place to develop advanced innovations
to accelerate the deployment of embedded
storage into smart grid systems and
facilitate the integration of renewables
beyond the European target of 20 percent
of the energy mix by 2020. The teams will
also investigate the potential use of direct
current (DC) applications in smart cities
projects. More in a forthcoming issue
of Think Grid.
are moving towards a world where virtually
continuous demand is expected to be met
to a large extent by renewable sources
that are not themselves intrinsically con-
tinuous by nature. This challenge makes
electricity storage critical in crossing the
next frontier in electricity infrastructure, as
the march towards a fossil-free energy
landscape gathers pace.
Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013 37
 Smart products
and services
Managing smart grids will require real-time monitoring of a complex
network composed of millions of devices. An energy management
system enhanced with synchrophasor solutions provides tools to do it.
e-terraDRBizNet is a state-of-the-art system for managing demand
response. It allows utilities to efficiently use consumer loads as a
controllable grid resource.The launch of ILOT, an Instructor Led Online
Training system, provides customers with a full-value training
experience without the need to travel to a technical institute.

38 Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013

Main feature chapter IiI Making energy available to all, today and tomorrow

iPad display for shared, decentralised

decision-making. This display can be
used by neighbouring utility staff
members (operators, engineers and
managers) to jointly assess a
problem condition and synergistically
decide on the actions to take.

Synchrophasor solutions
Making the smart grid even smarter
Managing the smart grid will require real-time, sub-second
monitoring of a complex network composed of millions of devices, compounded by the unpredictable
ramifications of renewable energy generators and demand response programmes. Traditional
energy management systems (EMS) were not designed for such operating scenarios, but
Alstoms EMS enhanced with synchrophasor solutions provides tools to do this more effectively.

In 1991, George Owens, a past president
of the Association of Energy Engineers,
predicted that by 2001 the term energy
management system (EMS) would no
longer exist. He was thinking mainly about
buildings. He was wrong regarding the
term itself, but he was right about the
trend. For a start, Owens foresaw two-way
communication between the utility and
users devices; this is an element of todays
smart grid. He was also right about the
radical changes that digital computing
would bring. Early control centres were
hardwired analogue systems with meters
and switches, and operators used thumb-
wheels to change settings. Even so, the
first elements of a smart grid solution were
already being used in the 1960s, with the
introduction of load frequency control (LFC)
to automatically match generation and
demand to maintain system frequency.
Ever cheaper, more powerful digital com-
puting paved the way to the first major
advance in EMS and Supervisory

Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013 39
Main feature chapter IiI Making energy available to all, today and tomorrow

An EMS operator in the early 1970s

Early
control
centres were
hardwired
analogue
systems with
meters and
switches, and
operators used
thumbwheels
to change
settings.

Control and Data Acquisition. transmission capacity even

SCADA lets the operator monitor grid con- more, and this can result
ditions (with 2-4 second updates) and in pushing the grid closer
intervene manually as needed. SCADA also to dynamic stability limits.
provides data for state estimation (SE) that So those limits need to
gives a best guess of conditions across the be updated in real time,
and to do this you need

Business
computationally intensive
applications that simulate

needs are driving grid dynamic behaviour in

change, too.
entire network. Results from SE are also
used to simulate incidents in counter-
factual or what-if studies for contingency
analyses to predict what would happen
if key grid components went offline unex-
pectedly.
Business needs are driving change, too.
As Jay Giri, Director of Power Systems
Technology and Strategic Initiatives with
the face of disturbances.
Synchronised
real-time monitoring
Unfortunately, that cant
be done in real time using
traditional EMS solutions.
Synchrophasor angle-separation display indicating limit violation
alarms. The answer is synchropha-
sor solutions. Jay explains
that synchrophasor is
Alstom Grid, points out, Spurred by shorthand for synchronised phasor meas
deregulation and electricity markets, urements. They provide a representation
operators want to maximise available of voltage and current waveforms that

40 Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013

An EMS operator today
shows a sinusoidal signal simply as a mag-
nitude and phase angle, with an associated
GPS time stamp. This provides unprece-
dented synchronised real-time monitoring
of three-phase voltages and currents, as
well as frequency and rate of change of
frequency from multiple remote points on
the electrical grid. It also monitors fast
dynamic grid behaviour, which todays
SCADA does not. Synchrophasors are
typically measured 25-60 times a second
by phasor measurement units (PMUs)
providing typically 12-16 measurements
per device up to 240 times the frequency
of traditional SCADA.
Wide-area management systems (WAMS)
that use synchronised measurement
technologies generate very high volumes
of measurement data. This needs to be
converted into useful, operator-actionable
information. Today, analytics using synchro-
nised measurement data extract such infor-
mation independently without a system
model and without full observability. This
approach is particularly valuable for large
interconnections in which individual oper-
ators do not have full observability or mod-
els of the entire system.
Synchrophasor data will allow us
to operate the system closer to its
actual limit by intelligently updating
this limit in real time.
Major benefits
Potential benefits coming from the avail-
ability of PMU data range from improving
routine tasks to blackout prevention. For
example, operational limits for transmis-
sion corridors factor in a safety margin to
protect the grid against disturbances;
the operator enters these limits into the
Sudden alert Grid disturbances,
California, USA
EMS manually, and they are not changed
very often. This means that the margins
are necessarily pessimistically large and
the network is operating well below its
potential; traditionally this would mean
that additional capacity would be needed,
so extra power lines would have to be
built. Apart from the intrinsic expense of
adding lines, this is also very time-
consuming because of obstacles to obtain-
ing rights of way, building permits and so
on. As Giri goes on to say, having time-
stamped, synchrophasor data will
Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013 41
Main feature chapter IiI
allow us to operate the system closer
to its actual limit by intelligently updating
this limit in real time, while maintaining
system integrity. This results in cost savings
to the utility and in environmental benefits,
since you dont need to invest in new lines
and transmission pylons.
T h e ke y d i ff e re n ce s
between a synchropha- Faster
sor-based EMS and a
warnings and
better antici
traditional EMS are
faster warnings and bet-
ter anticipation. At pres-
ent, operators typically pation.
initiate emergency deci-
sion-making only after a disturbance
occurs. They need time to assimilate and
analyse information about the disturbance
from SCADA data and other sources,
including conversations with neighbour-
ing operators, and then need more
time to decide on what to do. Experience
shows that this lost time can allow a
Oscillatory stability monitor, Iceland
42 Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013
Making energy available to all, today and tomorrow
minor event to grow into a more serious
incident or even a blackout. One goal of
the US Department of Energys Smart
Grid initiative is to understand how
to make synchrophasor measurements
trustworthy for fast early warnings and
smarter prompt decision
automation.
We are seeing one of the
biggest changes in the
industry since the intro-
duction of affordable
digital computers in the
70s, and for Jay Giri this
is just the beginning.
Over the next five to 10 years, I see the
promise of new technologies becoming a
reality. The Holy Grail of Smart Grid is not
just to monitor and visualise, but also to
control the grid automatically and this
is going to happen only after this initial
phase of building confidence with syn-
chronised measurement technology.
M o r e
Dr Jos Trehern
PhasorPoint
The Psymetrix PhasorPoint system
is a state-of-the-art solution for
wide-area real-time synchronised data
collection, management, analysis,
visualisation and reporting.
PhasorPoint was presented in
Think Grids Winter 2011 issue,
but since then PhasorPoint 6.0
has been released, offering two new
applications: system disturbance
monitoring for detecting disturbances,
identifying locations and
characterising their impact;
and system condition monitoring
for wide-area visualisation of system
stresses through deviations in voltage
magnitude, voltage angle, and
frequency, explains Dr Jos Trehern,
CEO of Alstoms Psymetrix unit.
Operators can use PhasorPoint to help
optimise controller settings (to avoid
disagreements between controllers,
for example), to access data for
event analysis, and to improve grid
reliability. Customisable tools allow
the user to define views, calculations
and event management. Historical
information may be accessed through
an optimised SQL-compliant interface.
Scalability has been further improved
thanks to benchmarking with over
1,000 PMUs.
 During the
summer in the
US, the electrical
MW grid is often
pushed to its
24,000 limits during the
day as industrial
and domestic
consumers
23,000 demand power for Load pickup stops and reverses direction
air conditioning
and other when load management is invoked
power-hungry
equipment. This
22,000 is when demand
response kicks in.

21,000

20,000

19,000

18,000

15:08 AEP Zone Long Lead Activated

19:05 AEP Zone Long Lead Released

13:08 AEP Zone Long Lead Notified

17,000

16,000

15,000

14,000
00:00 04:00 08:00 12:00 16:00 20:00 00:00
07/17/2012 07/17/2012 07/17/2012 07/17/2012 07/17/2012 07/17/2012 07/18/2012

A state-of- Managing the load

the-art system
for managing
demand response,
e-terraDRBizNet, allows
utilities to efficiently use
consumer loads as a
controllable grid resource.
Demand response (DR) is a relatively sim- Automate: the utility usually provides the
ple concept: utilities provide incentives to
electricity customers to reduce their con-
customer with a smart-grid device, such as a
smart meter or programmable thermostat,
sumption during periods of high prices or
peak demand. DR is another method for
which is capable of receiving a signal from
the utility and automatically reducing power
utilities to manage grid reliability and the consumption.
energy supply/demand balance. As DR Notify: when grid operators observe a short-
Product Manager Travis Rouillard notes, age of power in part of the grid, they send a
its a greener and more economical alter- notification signal to the specific smart-grid
native to building new power plants or add- devices that will help ease the situation.
ing new grid capacity. Curtail: the smart-grid devices automatically
turn off non-critical electric loads or change ther-
How does it work? mostat set points for a few minutes or hours.
Demand response works in five basic steps: Settle: the utility verifies that the customers
Enrol: customers willing to participate actually reduced their consumption and
in demand response enrol into incentive calculates the amount of credit to appear on
programmes offered by their local utilities. their next bill.

Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013 43
Main feature chapter IiI
e-terra DRBizNet helps utilities
efficiently perform these steps thousands of
times, for each of the small customer load
changes it takes to be cumulatively equivalent
to the output of a traditional generator. In
addition, it provides operators with the tools
to forecast how much customer load is avail-
able at any time and which specific custom-
ers they should dispatch for how long.
Rouillard points out that, although the prin-
ciple is simple, execution is complex. Thats
because of the scale involved to make lots of
small distributed resources perform as if they
were a single power plant.
When is demand response used?
Demand response is most often used as a
way for utilities to reduce their peak system
needs. Since the top 5 percent of transmission
or generation capacity may only be used a
few hours a year, it is often cheaper to reduce
customer load for those few hours than to
build new lines or plants. In the summer,
this usually means curtailing air conditioners
during the hottest afternoons or electric
Demand Response
Process Overview
Identify
During a time of peak capacity
or high prices, an operator identifies
the need for load curtailment.
44 Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013
Making energy available to all, today and tomorrow
heaters during cold winter mornings
which can be a huge share of the peak
system demand. But it can also include
approaches such as dimming lights in com-
mercial buildings or interrupting machines
in factories. DR can either curtail the load
entirely or simply shift it
a few hours earlier or
later when capacity is Reduce
less constrained.
When electricity supply
energy cost and
systems were deregu- improve grid
reliability.
lated in many areas, and
retail suppliers started
to buy power for their
customers in the open market, demand
response became an alternative to paying
high spot prices. In some markets, hourly
megawatt prices can easily jump 1,000 per-
cent in the course of a few hours. Instead
of paying those high prices, retailers can
actually sell DR energy back to the market,
earning a healthy return. Many retailers
share the savings with their customers as
a way to encourage them to participate.
Notify
The operator notifies demand aggregators
and customers of the amount, location
and duration of curtailment required.
With the advances in smart-grid technology
and Internet communications penetrating
almost every customer group, DR is gaining
attention as a new way to provide emer-
gency grid reliability services. Rouillard
provides an example: If the grid is subject
to a problem such as
a generator fault or
transmission outage, it
needs to drop system
load quickly. Using
e-terraDRBizNet, it can
automatically dispatch
DR to drop hundreds
or even thousands of
megawatts within minutes. This gives
operators some breathing space to deal
with the issue.
Challenges
Despite decades of success in North
America, utilities in other parts of the world
have been slow to adopt DR. The business
case for DR is certainly more difficult in
regions with historically low energy costs
Curtail
Customers usually shut off lights or use
an energy management system (EMS) to
run pre-defined load control commands.

or low per-capita consumption. In many
areas, regulations simply do not allow
utilities to offer the incentives necessary to
attract participants. But this is changing
rapidly, for several reasons:
the worldwide increase in the demand for
power;
the challenge of building new plants or
transmission assets near population centres
where demand growth is fastest;
more interest in phasing out nuclear- and
coal-based power;
increased deployment of intermittent
resources such as wind and solar power;
advances in battery storage, which can
act as a generator or a load;
growth of smart-grid technologies and
Internet access everywhere.
These factors are improving the business
case and obliging regulators to review their
positions on DR. Rouillard explains: Utilities
everywhere are struggling with how to deal
with an increasing mix of intermittent gene-
ration, while also supporting large new
loads, from electric vehicles, for example.
Verify
The operator must verify the
expected load reduction is occurring
or call more resources.
You cant provide a stable, balanced grid
without having some control over the
demand side.
The future is now
Demand response is allowing utilities to
fundamentally rethink how they view the
customer side of their business. e-terra
DRBizNet gives utilities the ability either
to reduce load temporarily, or to shift it
to another time when supply is plentiful.
In some cases, it completely changes the
traditional relationship utilities have with
customers, who can now be paid incentives
for being flexible about when they use
power.
Alstom is deploying e-terraDRBizNet at
utilities to enable large-scale demand
response programmes that reduce energy
costs and improve grid reliability. It sup-
ports the continued growth of renewable
energy resources by giving utilities more
control over load to better match the avail-
ability of supply. DR is a key component of
Alstoms smart grid solutions.
Restore
Operator releases resources
and load returns to normal
patterns.
M o r e
Travis Rouillard
PJM Interconnection
The US regional transmission organisation
PJM Interconnection is the largest grid
operator and electricity market in the world
(after China), with a system load of over
150,000 MW during summer peaks.
It was an early adopter of demand response
as an alternative way to manage seasonal
capacity and emergency reserve needs.
Since it started working with
e-terraDRBizNet in 2008, its demand
response portfolio has grown to over
15,000 MW, or roughly 10 percent of its
system load. e-terraDRBizNet helps PJM
manage its six different programmes each
with different participation rules and
incentive structures.
During a heat wave in July 2012, it had an
unusually high system load of 155,000 MW,
with 6,000 MW of generation offline.
Demand response helped PJM in two ways.
First, a large number of customers voluntarily
participated in demand response in exchange
for being paid the spot price for the energy,
just like generators.
This reduced system load by over 1,000 MW,
which was enough to suppress skyrocketing
energy spot prices. Second, operators called
on their emergency reserve demand response
customers to deliver another 1,500 MW in
one of their highly congested transmission
areas. This allowed them to avoid more
serious frequency problems or involuntary
customer interruptions.
Demand response is now a $500 million
market at PJM. There are over 1 million
end-customers participating directly and
indirectly everything from industrial
manufacturers to shopping malls to
homeowners. But all customers in the PJM
service territory benefit in the form of lower
electricity prices, more reliable supply, and
reduced environmental impact compared
with building new fossil fuel generators
or transmission lines.
Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013 45
Main feature chapter IiI Making energy available to all, today and tomorrow

Attending
training
courses
without
being in a
classroom

Online training
brings added value
In response to
the increasing cost
of travel (and time) to attend
the Alstom Grid Technical
Institute, the launch of
Instructor Led Online Training
(ILOT) delivers a full Technical
Institute training experience on
network management systems
without the travel
constraints.
The sessions cover everything from basic
introductory programmes to intermediate
level courses on software training such as
Building a SCADA model with e-terra-
source, and the most advanced courses,
such as programming in e-terrasource,
which requires connectivity between two
workstations.
In the USA, over half of Alstoms custom-
ers are located east of the Mississippi River.
Many of them have to spend two days
travelling (one day there, one day back) to
take part in training sessions at the Tech-
nical Institute in Redmond, near Seattle,
on the west coast. At a time of cutbacks
in travel budgets, this inevitably resulted
in declining numbers of attendees for
Alstom Grid training programmes, says
What the remote
learner sees.
Rusty Rae, manager of the Technical
Institute in Redmond. The Instructor Led
Online Training concept, using innovative
technology, was developed in response
to this situation.
ILOT uses webinar (web conferencing)
software such as WebEX to deliver the lec-
tures synchronously to the remote trainees
and incorporates cloud resources to give
them access to a training machine on
which they practise what was learnt in the
lectures. There is also a video feed that
gives remote learners a view of the class-
room, which is used when the instructor is
writing on the whiteboard, notes Rae.
The cloud application allows the instructor

46 Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013


to work with remote students as if they
were in the classroom and look over their
shoulders in the practice sessions to ensure
that they are progressing on the assignment.
And if a student is having a problem, the
instructor can give him or her hints or even
take control of their machine to show how
to continue, adds Rae, though that does
not happen often.
The learning experience provided for those
attending ILOT training sessions is very simi-
lar to the experience of those attending the
same course, physically, at the institute itself.
Rae admits that participat-
ing in an ILOT session is not
exactly the same as attend-
ing a course at the institute.
This is because they do not
have the advantage of talk-
ing with other participants
following the same course,
nor do they have the oppor-
tunity of interacting with
members of the Alstom
Technical Team. However,
they do get a fully compre-
hensive learning experi-
ence. And feedback from
remote learners has been
very positive.
Additional benefits
During the initial rollout of the ILOT deliv-
ery system, the Technical Institute in Red-
mond was able to restore the participation
in training delivered by the institute to
former levels, and it is even increasing
slightly with time. Every course offered at
the Alstom Technical Institute in Redmond
is now offered with an ILOT option.
A further advantage is that numbers of
remote attendees invariably make it pos-
sible to meet minimum student require-
ments for courses to be organised, thereby
avoiding the possibility that some courses
would be cancelled. This has enabled more
customers to be instructed in managing
They get a fully
comprehensive
learning experience.
their systems within an acceptable
time frame.
Rae adds, With ILOT, customers are able
to gain the knowledge they require to man-
age their power transmission and distribu-
tion systems in a timely manner. This in
turn means that systems are running
smoothly and, because the people are
trained and competent, there are fewer
inquiries to handle. As a result, the Alstom
support team can turn their attention to
solving the next level of critical issues.
The way ahead
Plans are now under way to extend the
ILOT programme to other technical insti-
tutes delivering software training, begin-
ning with Massy, near Paris, followed by
Noida, India. We still have to overcome
a number of technical challenges mainly
concerned with bandwidth and latency of
the communications networks, particularly
if long distances are involved, says Rae.
But once the programme is up and run-
ning, it will give these institutes the oppor-
tunity of meeting the training needs of
those customers who are inhibited from
attending them by travel budget restrictions
(or for any other reasons).
The ILOT delivery system has also proved
to be a persuasive tool for the tendering
team to use when submitting bids. Custom-
ers (particularly the more price sensitive,
often smaller, organisations) are quick to
appreciate the advantages offered by this
system, as it gives them the assurance that
their team will get the training it needs,
when it needs it and without stretching
the budget.
M o r e
Rusty Rae
Training in your
pyjamas
Its an interesting option. In fact,
many learners actually prefer to do
their training sessions from home
for several reasons. For example,
they do not have to handle any
LAN and WAN firewall issues,
which corporate networks often
impose. They may also have better
connectivity and they can concentrate
better without the distractions
of phone calls or interruptions
from colleagues.
Since there is not yet a two-way
video link between the Redmond
Technical Institute and learners
workstations (although it will become
an option eventually), it is not
possible to see how casually remote
attendees are dressed. But in the end,
of course, it doesnt matter because
the bottom line is all about learning,
and feeling comfortable is always a
key aspect of really effective training.
News of the remote learning option
is spreading. By early November
2012, a total of 196 learners had
studied at the Alstom Grid Technical
Institute 105 of them remotely
using the ILOT protocol (54%).
In July 2012, 25 people attended
courses via ILOT, compared with
four in person, while in June all
30 attendees preferred the ILOT system.
Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013 47
Cross-perspectives
Is there more to the cloud
than hot air?
Our specialists explain how cloud computing is entering the power industry
It will lead
to a wave
of new services.
Marc Jalabert
What is cloud computing?
There are two ways to look at it. First, it is
a low-cost way to store and access data.
Second, it is a programmable Internet a
platform to write applications and run com-
puting processes through a website.
What are the main trends pushing
the power industry towards cloud
computing?
The energy industry needs computing power
and skills to deliver new solutions in a
48 Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013
smart-grid environment. The cloud makes
that connection, without heavy investment
in IT. It is more practical, less costly and super-
fast to run energy applications in the cloud.
So the cloud is a vector to accelerate the
development of smart-grid applications.
Electricity consumers are becoming
more and more active. Does this
contribute to the move towards cloud
computing?
Consumers are already interacting with the
cloud without even knowing it. They have
been using Hotmail for 15 years. Social
media, entertainment, communications all
come through the cloud today. But much
more will come. Smart homes, for instance,
with say, ones diary interfacing with
the smart car which charges up for the
number of miles to be travelled next day. This
type of application is not too far in the future.
Are there risks associated to the
move towards cloud computing?
The main risk is privacy. So trust is a priority.
Energy providers must be perceived as
trustworthy. Also, data privacy mechanisms
must be put in place, while consumers need
visibility and the ability to change data.
How should the grid data be hosted
in the cloud?
We have now the ability to store quasi-
infinite amounts of data. And the cloud
can apply massive computing power
to process this data and provide better
intelligence, faster decision-making or
enhanced visualisation, for example. More
data means better information and ulti-
mately new knowledge. This is the prom-
ise of big data. It will lead to a wave of
new services and will speed up the deploy-
ment of smart grids. Public data will also
be shared more openly and will enable new
smart energy ecosystems. It is up to the
service providers to leverage the potential
of big and open data.
New applications
can be rolled out
rapidly.
Laurent Schmitt
What are the main trends pushing
the power industry towards cloud
computing?
The smart grid requires new applications to
be developed to enable consumers to interact
with grid infrastructures through Internet

connectivity. This implies the development
of new architectures to manage massive
amounts of data, referred to as big data,
as well as new analytics to support energy
decisions. The idea is to re-use developments
from adjacent industries historically offered
through the Internet.
Electricity consumers are becoming
more and more active. Does this
contribute to the move towards
cloud computing?
In effect, the key smart-grid applications
are first being implemented in the deregu-
lated domain of the smart grid, as new
aggregators enter the sector by deploying
energy services in a public cloud through
the Internet to enable demand response in
wholesale markets. Traditional utilities have
more recently moved in the same direction
by rolling out similar architectures in their
own private cloud.
Are there risks associated to the
move towards cloud computing?
Cloud computing presents advantages and
risks. The major advantage is that new appli-
cations can be rolled out rapidly, while assur-
ing high scalability once the service matures.
On the other hand, it requires that applica-
tions be hosted in outsourced environments
connected through the Internet. This opens
up cyber security threats.
How should the grid data be hosted
in the cloud?
Smart-grid applications and their data can
either be located in a public cloud that
is, outsourced data centres for less critical
applications such as customer information
and demand response, or they can be located
in a private cloud typically the intranet
Microsoft
Marc Jalabert,
Marketing and
Strategy Director
infrastructures deployed around mission-
critical control centre environments.
Can you give any examples of new
applications of cloud-based data
management for a power grid?
So far, new applications have mainly been
developed in the area of demand response.
In parallel, discussions have been set in
motion to investigate the option of benefitting
from big data through the next smart grid
scale-up.
More and more
data are being
generated.
Milo Broekmans
What are the main trends pushing the
power industry (and utilities in parti-
cular) towards cloud computing?
Theres a technology push as more and
more data are being generated. Cloud
computing both contributes to this expo-
nential growth and offers solutions for
managing it. On the demand side, the cloud
helps to cut time to market for services.
In our transmission and distribution
sector, consumers are becoming more
and more active. Does this contribute
to the move towards cloud computing?
Yes, since connectivity and reactivity
can be improved. But its important to
remember that the cloud doesnt solve
everything. SCADA, for instance, is unlikely
to move to the cloud in the short term.
Alstom Grid Stedin
Laurent Schmitt, Milo Broekmans,
Vice-President, Senior Enterprise
Strategy and Innovation Architect
And operations technology tends to lag IT
in using the cloud.
Are there risks associated to the
move towards cloud computing?
Risks and challenges. Supplying the cloud
itself with the electricity it needs is a chal-
lenge. Integrating so many different compe-
tencies from partners who may not fully
understand each others business can be
risky. For example, IT firms may not realise
that in an energy grid, a local problem can
cascade across the whole network if they
react too slowly. The cloud is innovative and
future-oriented, but managing risk will
still depend on traditional business values,
especially trust.
What are the expectations of transmis-
sion and distribution system operators
from companies such as Alstom?
That they understand our business and
propose solutions, cloud or not, that respect
our operating and other constraints.
Can you give any examples of new
applications of cloud-based data
management for a power grid?
Data is the keyword here. The cloud makes
large quantities of data available at relatively
little cost, and the most useful applications
will use these data to improve functions
we carry out already, like monitoring and
predicting grid conditions, to detect outages
or theft for example. But these data and
new applications could help us to propose
more elaborate services, such as helping
consumers craft the most efficient energy-use
strategy.
Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013 49
COMING UP IN THE NEXT ISSUE

A HANDSHAKE SEALS THE VALIDATION OF THE RESULTS

FOR ALSTOMS DIRECT CURRENT CIRCUIT BREAKER

PROTECTING MESHED GRIDS

Operators increasingly use direct current
A breakthrough for high
to carry power efficiently over long
distances in particular when cables
are used or to stabilise the grid as more
voltage DC grids:
intermittent energy sources have to be
integrated. Circuit breakers are not
necessary for point-to-point DC
the circuit breaker
transmission since isolating a fault on
the sole link is equivalent to a system
shutdown. However, breakers are vital On February 25, 2013 Alstom announced the positive
for protecting meshed grids where
several points are interconnected
test results achieved by its prototype high voltage direct current (HVDC)
especially when the time constant of the circuit breaker at its Technology Centre in Villeurbanne, France.
system is short, in other words, when
the grid is set up so that it responds
extremely quickly to any changes In less than 2.5 milliseconds, the Alstom European Commissions TWENTIES
in conditions (including faults, etc.).
The challenge is to avoid chain reactions
HVDC circuit breaker interrupted current research project. The aim of TWENTIES is to
and blackouts by breaking the current exceeding 3,000 amperes. This outcome can foster the integration of renewable energy,
in the malfunctioning section as fast as be regarded as a technological breakthrough especially wind energy, in Europes power
possible in order to isolate the fault from in this field. The tests were conducted jointly grid by 2020. To meet this challenge,
the rest of the grid. Alstoms new circuit with RTE, the French electricity transmission 26 partners from 10 member states are
breaker could pave the way for many system operator. They form part of RTEs networking their intelligence, and RTE
possibilities in DC grids.
development programme on the architecture has committed its R&D to supervise one

2.5
and technologies for DC power grids. The
circuit breaker is the key element of power
milliseconds: network protection in the event of a short
the time it takes for the brain to circuit. Well known for alternating current
register an image from the eye. connections, the technology requires a
temporal performance 10 to 20 times faster
of the six demonstrators. The partners have
identified system components to protect the
grid and have quantified the performance
required in various architectural schemes.
For the HVDC circuit breaker, Alstoms
results already largely respond to these

3,000
for use with direct current. The HVDC circuit
breaker is a major technological element in
Over building Supergrids, both onshore and
amperes: the current cut by the offshore. It will help to increase the share of
Alstom HVDC circuit breaker. renewable energy conveyed by the grid.
Partnering for the future
The tests were conducted as part of the
requirements, in particular overcoming
major technical obstacles for the
development of HVDC networks. Even
higher performances are expected to be
demonstrated by the end of this summer.
Discover more about the Alstom HVDC
circuit breaker in our next issue of Think Grid
magazine.

50 Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013

Contents Dates for your diary

#11 Spring/Summer 2013

08
May 1317, 2013
Gothenburg, Sweden
Elfack 2013
13 12
This trade fair is the Nordic regions largest
meeting place for the entire electricity
industry. It brings together power companies,
decision-makers, politicians, installers,
June 1213, 2013
Manchester, UK
Offshore Wind 2013
This is the 11th annual offshore wind
conference and exhibition. Organised by
RenewableUK, the UKs leading renewable
energy trade association, it is expected
August 2530, 2013
Seoul, Korea
ISH 2013 25
The 2013 edition of the International
Symposium on High Voltage Engineering (ISH)
is a magnet for engineers, scientists, academics,
researchers and politicians to discuss the
Interview with distributors and more for five days of product
news, seminars, training and networking.
to attract over 3,000 delegates and some
200 exhibitors. The conference programme
industry challenges and issues. It is also a
platform to share technology advances and
Luis Alejandro The Power Forum is an opportunity will focus on planning for growth, financing, experience. Topics include HV testing and
Camargo Suan to learn more about smart networks, the
infrastructure of the future and alternative
policy and community, emerging markets,
the supply chain, as well as technology
measurement techniques, insulation materials,
asset management, smart grids, etc.
and Maria energy sources. and innovation.

Nohemi Arboleda
Arango

38 Smart products
& services
Synchrophasor solutions:
making the smart grid
even smarter

10 4
Vancouver, ranked as one of the most

06
The Stockholm waterfront. livable cities in the world. One of the five Grand Palaces in Seoul.

Alstom receives the Respecting June 1013, 2013 July 2125, 2013 September 47, 2013
2012 Frost & Sullivan the environment Stockholm, Sweden Vancouver, Canada Jakarta, Indonesia
Outstanding Technology CIRED 2013 IEEE Power & Energy Society Electric, Power & Renewable
Innovation Award Substations General Meeting Energy Indonesia 2013
go fully digital The biennial CIRED international electricity
conference and exhibition is a leading forum The theme of this years General Meeting is: This biennial exhibition reflects Indonesias
Dr Richard for the electricity distribution community. Shaping the future energy industry. phenomenal economic expansion

21
Charnah, This years event has as its theme: Electricity The conference will bring together power accompanied by equally rapid power
Publisher
distribution systems for a sustainable future. engineers and academics from across the demand. In parallel, the country has set
t hinkgrid SHARING ALSTOM GRID INNOVATION & PRACTICES Published by Alstom Grid
The three-day conference includes plenary
sessions with internationally recognised
world. The aim is to provide an international
forum for experts to discuss issues
aside substantial sums to develop its power
and energy infrastructure, hence the
51 esplanade du Gnral de Gaulle 92907 La Dfense Cedex France. www.alstom.com/grid Print run: keynote speakers, poster sessions, round and developments in electrical power importance of this three-part exhibition
15,000 copies (Chinese, English, French) Publisher: Richard Charnah Editor in chief: Vronique Chauvot tables, and research and innovation forums. engineering. Topics will include, among Power Indonesia, Renewable Energy
Editorial board: Stphan Lelaidier, Richard Charnah, Walter Dussaucy, Vronique Chauvot Concept and Design: others, transmission efficiency and Electric Indonesia.
BythewayCreacom 19 rue Galile, 75116 Paris France Tel.: +33 (0)1 53 57 60 60 www.bythewaycreacom.net and reliability, advances in protection,
Editorial executive: Henry Lewis Blount Publication manager: Valrie Barral Contributors: Henry Lewis Blount, automation and control.
Ken Kincaid, Patrick Love, Louis-Antoine Mallen, Manuel Relvas, Gordon Smith Copy editor: Ginny Hill
Art director: Katja Zimt Graphic designer: Sandie Herviou Computer graphics artist: Laurent Bouyer, Studio V2
Photo credits: Alstom, XM, Irish control center/Eirgrid, Friends of the Supergrid, Medgrid/Realisation and graphic
design: Regards Events, Rusty Rae, Shutterstock, Thinkstock Printing: HandiPrint. ISSN: 2102-0175. A special
thanks to the companies that kindly provided us with their illustrations. Alstom Grid///Spring/Summer 2013 51
Grid-Sector-L1-Think_Grid_11-2934-2013_03-EN- ALSTOM 2013. All rights reserved. Information contained in this document is indicative only. No representation or warranty is given or should be relied on that it is complete or correct or will apply to any particular project. This will depend
on the technical and commercial circumstances. It is provided without liability and is subject to change without notice. Reproduction, use or disclosure to third parties, without express written authority, is strictly prohibited. Printed on paper made with pure ECF (Elemental Chlorine Free)
ecological cellulose produced from trees grown in production forests under responsible management, and selected recycled three-layer fibres.

France
Alstom Grid
Immeuble Le Galile

www.alstom.com
92907 La Dfense Cedex
51 esplanade du Gnral de Gaulle

think grid #11 Spring/summer 2013

SHARING
#11
& PRACTICES
INNOVATION
ALSTOM GRID

MAIN FEATURE p. 13

Substations
go fully digital
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