Thursday, December 1, 2022

A Brief Look at Substation Automation Systems


 An electrical engineering alumnus of the University of Southern California, Dianoush Emami is an accomplished electrical engineer who worked at Bechtel Power Corporation for six years. Dianoush Emami has also implemented high-voltage systems in power generation facilities and electrical substations.


A substation automation system is a series of hardware and software components that help monitor and control electrical systems at electrical substations. With a substation automation system, electrical engineers no longer need to perform many tedious and repetitive tasks on-site at substations. These tasks are handled by complex algorithms embedded in substation automation systems' components. Some of these tasks are traditionally error-prone. Algorithms eradicate human errors.


Substation automation systems minimize electric system faults and downtime, expedite critical troubleshooting, optimize productivity, and boost revenue for electrical companies. These systems also streamline the analysis of hazards by recording and transferring data to locations where the data can be analyzed to determine the causes and patterns of component failures. With this information, engineers can take the necessary actions to prevent component faults and failures from happening again.


Many components of modern substation automation systems are microprocessor-based intelligent electronic devices (IEDs). Supervisory control and data acquisition system (SCADA) helps monitor multiple IEDs.