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Bradley substation is the first step in providing IP connectivity to every field device or IED.
THE BRADLEY 500-KV SUBSTATION IS THE FIRST FULLY AUTOMATED, MULTIRELAY-VENDOR PROJECT in the United States to implement the full suite of IEC 61850 communications. Additionally, the ultimate goal of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TYA; Chattanooga, Tennessee, U.S.) is to provide IP connectivity via PowerWAN to any field device or intelligent electric device (IED) located within its 80,000-sq-mile (270,000-sq-km) service territory. The Bradley substation and the PowerWAN communications are both exploring new mechanisms for end-to-end integration.
THE REALITY
As an industry, we are looking for that all-encompassing solution: unified data access, whether it's in native or standardized format, and whether it's real-time, historical, translated or raw. The solution also should provide integrated access controls that work with one seamless click. Some have come closer than ever before to achieving this vision, and some might even argue they have been able to realize this goal through highly integrated architecture. And, after all, they didn't use that much custom code. And, they would like to expand it to do just this one more thing.
That single, all-encompassing solution has not shown up to save the day. And there is a good reason: it doesn't really exist. It may sound attractive, but if the end-to-end solution came in one package, it would be prohibitively expensive. It also would force North American utilities to toss aside communication architectures that have been developed over the past few decades and that often overlap multiple prior and current designs.
THE GOAL
Our goal is to have a modular, reusable and scalable plan that is as robust as it is secure. TVA plans to accomplish this goal with its Bradley 500-kV substation and PowerWAN information architecture. Together, these projects play a major role in the future for remote-resource access and management.
TVA used rigorous engineering and documentation, early and often, when working on the Bradley and PowerWAN projects. Modular designs with well-defined purposes and points of interface have facilitated phased, scalable rollouts and led to a clear understanding of the effect of problems that arose.
Policies and procedures are significant drivers for system requirements, enabling long-term maintainability without depending on the original architects. The examination of security...