The introduction of IEC 61850 and its impact on protection and automation within substations

IEC 61850 is more than a communication standard and its introduction will have a high impact on substations automation systems and their users. Both the procurement process in the utilities has to be adapted to this kind of systems and the specification has to focus on functions performance and availability. The key role of the system integrator has to be defined from the beginning and is needed with some modifications of his task over the complete life cycle of the system.