NOJA Power Supplies Integrated SCADA Solution for Substation

NOJA Power Electrical Switchgear Engineers NOJA Power today announces the completion of a successful project to provide Ampla (Enel Group) with an integration solution using optical fiber connections and Wi-Fi system. This application provided full remote access via SCADA software and also local access using the CMS Software and Recloser App through local network with wireless connection.

Ampla Electricity Utility contacted NOJA Power to develop an efficient and reliable integration solution involving OSM15 Automatic Circuit Reclosers (reclosers or ACRs) with RC-10 controls to address the protection and automation of different feeders. NOJA Power and Ampla have a long term partnership for the supply of ACRs which were deployed in this project. The focus of the project was to determine the correct topology and communication equipment for the supervisory, control and data acquisition system.

Although the DNP3 communication protocol is widely used by all electricity utilities in Brazil, including AMPLA, the communication protocol of choice in this case was the IEC-60870-5-104 for testing purposes in this specific substation. The means of communication between the ACRs and Remote Terminal Unit (RTU) was optical fiber. A media converter (Ethernet x Optical Fiber) was fitted in each one of the RC-10 control cubicles, connected to their respective RJ-45 ports. Such converters were easily accommodated in the dedicated internal communication space in the RC-10 and could also be powered by the existing 12VDC external load supply of the controller.

An industrial optical switch was installed in the substation control room and was responsible to receive all fibers from all ACRs and finally connect them to the LAN. All network information travelled over TCP/IP protocol through the router and all information from all devices was available in the "cloud" to the users over a secure connection. Finishing the topology an Access Point with high encryption security was installed in the optical switch thus allowing the customer to wirelessly access all devices installed in the substation.

The optical fiber connection enables clean and fast communication ensuring electromagnetic immunity in the event of surges. In addition, the users are able to connect (via cable or Wi-Fi) to the local area network to configure, download events and command the ACRs through an IP address configured in each device.

Another great advantage of Wi-Fi is the possibility of using the Recloser App, available for Android and Apple devices, allowing technicians to easily connect to the substation’s wireless network and, after login details authentication, be able to control and monitor the devices from a smartphone and/or tablet in a practical, fast and reliable fashion.

"The designed topology allows the customer to have remote control and monitor the reclosers through a quick and reliable network because the optical fiber ensures these attributes" says Tarcísio Santos, Service and Support Manager at NOJA Power Brazil. "In addition, the wireless connection of CMS and the Recloser App to the substation’s reclosers from laptops, smartphones and/or tablets provides a whole new level of safety and convenience to fieldsman."

"This implementation was very interesting because we dealt with the IEC-60870-5-104 communication protocol which is not widespread in Brazil, although is fully supported by our RC-10 and RC-15 controllers" says Felipe Mori, Service and Support Technician at NOJA Power Brazil. "This case demonstrated the ability of NOJA Power to engage with electricity utility engineers to design and provide customised solutions and support".

NOJA Power’s OSM ACRs and RC-10 /RC-15 control cubicles are key building blocks of Smart Grids and provide an extensive range of protection, communication and automation features. The OSM series has been fully type-tested by the independent laboratory KEMA in the Netherlands to ensure long life and reliability under the harshest environmental conditions. Since their introduction, the OSM series ACRs have been installed by utilities in over 90 countries around the world.

About AMPLA

Ampla Energia e Serviços Ltda. is a subsidiary of the Enel Group for the distribution of electricity in Brazil, servicing approximately 2.8 million of residential, commercial and industrial customers in 66 municipalities in the Rio de Janeiro State, covering 73% of the state territory in an area of 32,188 km². The metropolitan area of Niteroi and São Gonçalo and the municipalities of Itaboraí and Magé concentrate most of the AMPLA’s customers, which are, in all, seven million people. Over the last decade AMPLA installed hundreds of NOJA Power OSM Automatic Circuit Reclosers.

About the Recloser App

The Recloser App is a smartphone/tablet application that allows wireless connection to the RC-10 and RC-15 controllers to allow the interrogation and control of the devices in a safe and convenient manner. It is a smart solution to a field where safety always comes first.

About IEC 60870-5-101/104

IEC 60870-5-101 [IEC101] is a standard for power system monitoring, control & associated communications for telecontrol, teleprotection, and associated telecommunications for electric power systems. The standard is suitable for multiple configurations like point-to-point, star, multidropped etc.

IEC 60870-5-104 (IEC 104) protocol is an extension of IEC 101 protocol with the changes in transport, network, link & physical layer services to suit the complete network access. The standard uses an open TCP/IP network interface to have connectivity to the LAN (Local Area Network) and routers with different features (ISDN, X.25, Frame relay etc.) can be used to connect to the WAN (Wide Area Network). The application layer of IEC 104 is similar to that of IEC 101 with some of the data types and facilities not used. There are two separate link layers defined in the standard, which is suitable for data transfer over Ethernet & Serial line (PPP - Point-to-Point Protocol). The control field data of IEC 104 contains various types of mechanisms for effective handling of network data synchronization.