Electricity + Control November 2015

CONTROL SYSTEMS + AUTOMATION

to a wider environment and so it will be important that cyber security is implemented. Al- though not covered in this paper, the particulars of IEC 62351 [6] will need to be considered.

Conclusion Availability of electrical power is essential for the economic development of rural areas in Africa. The development of a Microgrid will increase accessibility to electricity and support growth in rural areas. Microgrids contain generation and load. The ability to disconnect from and parallel with the utility system is a function of running the Micro- grid. Through adopting open standards there is the ability to upscale the Microgrid and develop clusters of such areas supporting the utility in planning and management of its distribution network. An enabler to achieving this will be with the adoption of international standards as these will support integration of the Microgrid into the larger Utility network. References [1] Evaluating the use of MicroGrid as a Power Solution for Africa’s Rural Areas, 978-1- 4673-2729-9/12. [2] A Community Based Approach for Sustainable Off-Grid PV Systems in Developing Countries, 2011 IEEE power and energy society general meeting. [3] Lucy Electric case study. Renewable Solutions Delivering on a short lead time. http:// www.lucyelectric.com/en/solutions/our-work/case-study-green-switch-solutions-ltd [4] IEC 60870-5-101: 1990. Based on the EPA architecture (Enhanced Performance Archi- tecture) and defines only the physical link and application layers of the OSI model. [5] IEC 60870-5-104. 2000. Network access for IEC 60870-5-101 using standard trans- port profiles. Enables communication between control station and substation via a standard TCP/IP network. The TCP protocol is used for connection-oriented secure data transmission. [6] DD IEC/TS 62351-1:2007. Power systems management and associated information exchange — Data and communications security — Part 1: Communication network and system security — Introduction to security issues.

• This project in the Caribbean involved installing a SCADA system at a centralised control centre. • It provided immediate benefits to the systemoperator by enabling monitoring and controlling of the electrical distribution network. • It laid the foundations for allowing planning and more effective connection of distributed generation and renewable energy resources.

take note

Tim Spearing is responsible for the product management of the automation busi- ness in Lucy Electric. These range from secondary RTUs to complete SCADA and automation solutions. Tim is a Chartered Engineer, a Member of the IET, and a key supporter and contributor to IET Developments in Power System Protection (DPSP), the IET Midlands Power Group in the UK, the UK Smart Grid Forum, and EU Smart Grid Task Force. Rick St. John is the Regional Director at Lucy Electric South Africa. He has over 40 years’ experience in the industry having held many senior positions. He is cur- rently on the management committees for several organisations including AMEU. Enquiries: Email tim.spearing@lucyswitchgear.com