Networking Communications Integration of Substation Protection and Control with Large-scale Wind Farm Control

The introduction of protection ethernet-based signalling in Australia presented some technical hurdles owing to the perceived variable nature of an ethernet network, and consequently the difficulty to predict its performance. Protection ethernet-based signalling (ie IEC 61850) displaced the hardwired protection schemes that are the tradition. Integration of protection ethernet-based signalling into a large scale windfarm substation such as at Woolnorth has significant implications for flexibility, disturbance recording, maintainability and commissioning tests, because the characteristics of ethernet-based signalling are different from those of conventional hardwiring. In addition the transmission network constraints lead to a runback scheme, thereby potentially increasing the dimensions of the technical issues. This paper examines the technical issues associated with the integration of protection ethernet-based signalling within a large scale windfarm in the presence of transmission network constraints.