Choice of protocol within the substation, between substations, and from the substation to the external host or network.
Newton-Evans studies of the North American market for substation automation suggest that while there has been some (minimal) movement toward at least testing and piloting IEC 61850 in the U.S. and Canada, there has been no significant shift toward widespread adoption of the protocol suite among North American utilities. Nonetheless, previous studies have predicted that by the end of this year 10% of North American electric utilities may be using some level of IEC 61850, probably in conjunction with other protocols.
The current users of DNP 3 and Modbus continue on with these protocols (migrating from serial to LAN-based versions) through the end of this year. Several utilities are reliant upon SEL protocols in more of their substation integration activities, at least among SEL customers.
Are protocols encrypted?
The trend towards encryption of substation communications is growing steadily every few years, as is evident from previous Newton-Evans studies.
summary reviews and highlights from completed studies
