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Microgrid communications - protocols and standards

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 Chapter 9
Microgrid communications – protocols
and standards
Shantanu Kumar1, Syed Islam2, and Alireza Jolfaei2

The recent advancements in the Internet of Things (IoT) and telecommunication

infrastructure have significantly increased the reliability and effectiveness of
communication protocols in microgrid environment. Nowadays, the equipment in a
smart microgrid not only exchange information with one another much faster but
also control, monitor and diagnose faults much faster and more reliably. Despite the
benefits of new technologies, they are tailored to satisfy specific requirements, and
therefore, they can be only used for certain applications. The microgrid commu-
nication model consists of a three-layer architecture, where the energy management
system (EMS) sits in the top layer and controls the overall operations of the island
of microgrids. The middle layer includes the local controllers (LCs) that regulate
operations within the local grid. The bottom layer includes IoT devices, such as
smart meters, fault recorders and protective relays, which continuously capture and
transmit the stream of sensed data. Such hierarchical architecture introduces spe-
cific computation and latency requirements for each layer of microgrid commu-
nication. To meet these requirements, each layer must use different communication
equipment and protocols. This chapter provides an insight into communication
requirements, system architecture, standards, protocols and tools used in microgrid
communications. The chapter concludes with a case study, where wireless tech-
nology is utilised for reliable and optimal operations in a microgrid.

9.1 Introduction
Microgrids are intentional islands with distributed energy resources (DERs) and
associated loads formed at a facility or in an electrical distribution system [1].
Microgrids provide reliable energy, which can control the power flow when they
are connected to the grid or operate autonomously in an electrical island, or in
transition between these two states. A typical structure of a microgrid with key
elements is shown in Figure 9.1. The figure shows a local microgrid attached to a

1
Faculty of Science and Engineering, Curtin University, Perth, Australia
2
Department of Computing, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia

5 June 2019; 17:18:6

292 Variability, scalability and stability of microgrids

Generation

Key

General load (impedance, or

motor, or power electronics)
Transmission Transmission substation CI Connection interface

PE Power electronics interface

Subtransmission CS Community storage

M Motor
PV Photovoltaics
Distribution
Distribution substations G Generator

~
Point of
Costumers coupling
G PV CS M
(PoC)
CI PE PE PE PE PE PE

Figure 9.1 Typical structure of microgrid connected to distribution network

bigger smart grid (SG), which contains a number of bulk generation/transmission,

distribution, and customer domains. Microgrid network is connected to the power
grid using high-voltage (HV) equipment, such as electromechanical circuit break-
ers, solid-state switches or back-to-back power electronics (PE) converters.
Architecture of a microgrid normally contains an energy storage (ES) to balance
power loads, loads on transition to the islanded mode as a fast-acting energy
absorption or injection application. ES could be necessary for the control of net
power flow in the grid-connected mode bidirectional to the power grid. In this way,
microgrid is capable to assist a stable network operation by providing improved
power quality and voltage control. PE converters are added to load/generation units
for additional control and speed of response. PE can also be used to provide con-
tinuous variable power consumption by noncritical power loads, for example,
ventilation. Furthermore, to coordinate microgrid elements and to make them
operate as a system, an LC regulates microgrid’s state variables, such as instanta-
neous phase currents and voltages at the point of common coupling (PCC).
In practice, a number of microgrids may be connected to a single point of cou-
pling, through which power is exchanged with the main grid. As shown in Figure 9.2,
the communication model of microgrids follow a three-layer edge computing archi-
tecture [2], where the main controller controls a number of microgrids, and the

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 Microgrid communications – protocols and standards 293

Layer 3: Cloud Main controller – point of coupling

Layer 2: Edge controllers

Intelligent electronic device (IED) Intelligent electronic device (IED)

Actuator Meter Actuator Meter

Accumulator Accumulator
PLC PLC
Microgrid Microgrid

Digital fault Programmable Logic Digital fault Programmable logic

Meter Meter
recorder controller recorder controller

Remote terminal Protective Remote terminal Protective

unit (RTU) relay unit (RTU) relay

Layer 1: IoT devices

Figure 9.2 Three-layer communication architecture of microgrids

smaller microgrids regulate local operations within the local grid. The bottom layer
includes IoT devices, such as meters, fault recorders, programmable logic controllers
(PLCs) and protective relays, which continuously monitor the stream of sensed data.
The middle layer includes a set of edge controllers, such as intelligent electronic
devices (IEDs), each of which controls IoT devices in its vicinity and is responsible
for real-time data analytics and temporary data storage. The top layer is a cloud
service that provides longer term data storage and deep analytics.
As shown in Figure 9.2, the processing power and communication latency
requirements are different across all three layers. This mandates the use of differing
communication protocols in each layer, such as home area network (HAN) [3] and
local area network (LAN) [4] in Layers 1 and 2, neighbourhood area network
(NAN) [5] and wide area network (WAN) [6] in Layers 2 and 3. This chapter
not only reviews these layers but also technologies related to microgrid commu-
nication protocols and standards, including various types of wired and wireless-
communication-tiered networks. The rest of the chapter is as follows: Section 9.2
outlines the communication objectives and requirements in a microgrid environ-
ment. Section 9.3 reviews the communication layers. Section 9.4 gives an overview
of the existing communication infrastructure with reference to already functioning
examples. Section 9.5 highlights the commonly used communication protocols in
microgrids. Section 9.6 elucidates the importance of communication technologies
in microgrid control. Section 9.7 studies a microgrid communication architecture in
an infrastructure project in India. Finally, Section 9.8 concludes the chapter.

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294 Variability, scalability and stability of microgrids

9.2 Communication objectives and requirements

The implementation of microgrid technologies involves participation of the big
number of DERs and implies their simultaneous functioning in real time. Stable,
reliable and responsive operation of microgrid components in providing services
to the utility network, such as near-instantaneous feedback on grid’s injection/
consumption demand, is impossible without bidirectional, fast and compound
interaction. In addition, the additional islanded mode of operation and periods of
transition to and from this mode make the communication more challenging.
Several aspects play an important role in the design of a microgrid communication
system including
● type and configuration of equipment in the system, where particular devices
require different time of response, by that demanding separate arrangement of
communication equipment and interfaces, along with each communication
channel’s bandwidth;
● number of participants in the system and their physical allocation determine
the type of connection needed, data traffic volume and maintenance costs and
● control system, which can be centralised or decentralised, designates the
communication architecture. The centralised communication system gives an
advantage of simplification and unifying of system components, because all
the processes executes by one common software without significant problems
regarded to operation conflicts and schedules. On the other hand, the decen-
tralised communication system allows independent functioning of various
devices and sections and can provide high rate of redundancy to the system.
To maintain a reliable and safe operation of the microgrid, the communication
network needs to preserve two main requirements: real-time performance and
security by providing confidentiality, integrity and availability while respecting the
real-time boundaries. These requirements are challenging since most of the digital
systems in operation including the sensing devices, embedded control subsystems
and the execution of control logics would impose delays in the communication
network. In addition, there are many communication devices in operation that have
no hardware support for cryptographic algorithms, and thus, they cannot utilise
computationally expensive security algorithms [7,8].
Let us consider the following scenario where an emergency event is detected.
This would trigger the protection equipment to send safety messages to a neigh-
bouring relay to prevent cascading failures. Such safety messages would help if
they arrive before the arrival of any harmonics in the electrical network. Indeed,
digital massages would be racing against transient analogue voltage. In addition,
when protection messages are more than one hop away, they would need to be
processed by an intermediate network device, which can impose additional pro-
cessing delay. Buffering delay would also be added if the network is congested.
Thee local protection equipment would take independent actions if the pro-
tection messages do not arrive before the arrival of power line’s disturbance, and
this would force the equipment to send additional warning messages, creating even

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 Microgrid communications – protocols and standards 295

Communication network
(including endpoint delays)

1,000 s 100 s 10 s 1s 100 ms 10 ms 1 ms 0.1 ms 0.01 ms 1 μs

Time

Frequency (Hz)
0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 102 103 104 105 106

Electromechanical phenomena Electromagnetic phenomena

(power system control and dynamics) (transients and surges)

Harmonics

Figure 9.3 Power vs. communication network timescale

more traffic in the already congested communication network. Moreover, the pro-
blem would exacerbate with each additional protection tripping. A practicable and
viable microgrid communication must ensure to properly handle such scenarios.
Figure 9.3 depicts various timescales in the communication and power net-
works [9]. In practice, it would be hard to prevent any electrical power phenomenon
from spreading by making use of telecommunication signalling. This is mainly
because the end-to-end packet delay is close to the upper time boundary of the power
transient, as shown in Figure 9.3. This would be even more complicated when an
additional processing delay is imposed by the encryption algorithm at each message
delivery point. Furthermore, since most of the messages are broadcast and/or multi-
cast in nature, there might be multiple packets for a single event notification. To this
end, the proper delivery of all broadcast and/or multicast messages needs to be
included in the reliability analysis of communication protocols.

9.3 Communication layer

The layered communication architecture of power grid is depicted in Figure 9.4.
The WAN [6] serves as a backbone for SG and provides communication for the
control centre with transmission and distribution substations. WAN comprises a big
number of communication nodes, including smart meters, remote terminal units
(RTUs) [10], phasor measurement units [11] and other sensors for remote auto-
mation purposes, EMS [12] and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA)
systems [13]. To ensure fast, broadband and real-time communication without
considerable latency required for WAN, the optical fibre communication is mostly
applied. Another option is the WiMAX technology due to its relatively long dis-
tance coverage and high data flow rate.
NAN/field area network (FAN) [14] is responsible for the level of distribution
substations as well as for control of information flows between WAN and customer

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296 Variability, scalability and stability of microgrids

Generation

Backbone/Core network

WAN Substation
network

Transmission Transmission substation Backhaul

Utility LAN
Subtransmission

Distribution substation
Distribution NAN/FAN network
Distribution substations
Smart meter
Costumers
Microgrid HAN/NAN/IAN
Customer
premises

Figure 9.4 Layered communication architecture

premises networks. This type of network provides a large number of SG services,

such as smart metering from customer site to control centre, load management and
distribution automation. Typical data flow rate can vary from 100 kbps to 10 Mbps
covering the distance between 100 m and 10 km. Various communication infra-
structures can be used depending on the application of each particular network
including ZigBee, wireless LAN (WLAN), PLC, twisted pair and other wired and
wireless technologies dependent on funding.
There are different types of customer premises networks [14], such as HAN,
NAN, industrial area network (IAN) or building area network (BAN). These net-
works contain various types of devices depending on microgrids applications, and
they can interact with FAN and WAN. HAN mostly includes home automation
appliances and smart meters. In addition, it can be made up of energy sources and
storages. IAN and BAN are complicated networks with a large number of control
devices and sensors for building and industrial EMS and SCADA systems. Custo-
mer premises networks require low data rate and power consumption, scalability
and security of connection, which gives possibilities for implementation of various
communication technologies. According to the number and type of participants,
microgrids can be gathered in different types of networks including customer premises
area networks as well as NANs or FANs. Figure 9.5 compares various communication
technologies using their coverage range and data rates [15]. Table 9.1 provides a list
of technologies used in microgrid communications.

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 Microgrid communications – protocols and standards 297

100 km WAN

Coverage range
10 km
NAN/FAN
100 m
HAN/BAN/IAN
1m
1 kbps 100 kbps 10 Mbps 1 Gbps
Data rate

Figure 9.5 Comparison of various subnet communication networks

Table 9.1 List of technologies used in microgrid communications

Communication Standards Applications

technology
Narrow band PLC IEEE P1901.2 [17] HAN/NAN/WAN
[16] G3-PLC [18]
PRIME [19]
Broadband PLC IEEE 1901 [21] HAN/BAN/NAN
[20] HomePlug 1.0 [22]
HomePlug Turbo [23]
HomePlug AV [23]
HomePlug CC [24]
HomePlug Green PHY [25]
HomePlug BPL [25]
DSL [26] ADSL [27] NAN/FAN
ADSL2
ADSL2þ
VDSL [27] VDSL NAN/FAN
VDSL2
HDSL [28] HDSL NAN/FAN
Ethernet [29] IEEE 802.3 [29] HAN/BAN/NAN
IEC 61850 [30] SAS [31]
Optical fibre [32] PON [32] WAN
WDN [32] WAN
SONET/SDH [32] WAN
WLAN [33] IEEE 802.11 [33] Wi-Fi/LAN/HAN/NAN/V2G [34]
WPAN [35] IEEE 802.15 [35] Bluetooth/ZigBee [43]/
HAN/NAN/V2G
WiMAX [36] IEEE 802.16 [36] MAN [37]/NAN/WAN
Cellular [38] 2G V2G
2.5G GPRS /EDGE/NAN/WAN
3.5G HSPA/NAN
4G LTE-A [39]/NAN/WAN
Microwave Direct microwave link [42] WAN
Satellite Internet WAN
CR networks Spectrum bands/WAN
(TVWS) [40]
Z-wave [41] HAN

5 June 2019; 17:18:15

298 Variability, scalability and stability of microgrids

The communication topologies involved in the subnet communications are

coupled either tightly or loosely. In a tightly coupled communication, all equipment
must be in a highly available state, while in a loosely coupled communication,
equipment are able to manage their communication independently. LAN and
metering infrastructure integration systems are examples of tightly and loosely
coupled topologies, respectively. In the following subsections, we describe the
above mentioned layers.

9.3.1 Home area network

In an HAN, communications happen within a building or smaller network using
wired or wireless technologies. This mode of communication is also named an
access tier home management system, wherein the operator is able to act as an
interface and control appliances within the home domain for energy management.
Some of the systems that use HAN mode of communications are heating and
ventilation, operation of water pumps, occupancy control system, smart meter
reading and remote surveillance for home security. HAN communication equip-
ment are usually set up in a building or local premise. The devices used in this
network consume less power and have data speed approximately 100 kbps in a
100 m radius. Some of the communication protocols used in HAN are Wi-Fi,
Bluetooth and ZigBee. A case study is narrated in Section 9.7, where ZigBee is
used for communications.

9.3.2 Building automation network

As depicted in Figure 9.6, a BAN is a two-layer hierarchical structure with back-
bone and control level structures, which include sensors, actuators and controllers.
The Internet plays a major role in the BAN communications. The sensors used in a
BAN are able to capture the field information periodically. The communication
bandwidth of the used sensors are in the order of kbps. Sensors communicate with
management devices using interconnection devices (ICDs). The communication
bandwidth between ICDs and the control system is in the order of Mbps. Typical
examples of ICDs are routers, repeaters and protocol converters. Management
devices at the top level are the intelligent equipment which monitors, logs, inter-
rogates and archives process data values. In the top tier, management data have a
human–machine operating system, which produces graphs and analysis charts for a
better network-asset management such as configuration. Devices in the network
interfaces are compatible and are able to communicate with one another, while in
the point-to-point interface, these devices perform configuration tasks. In the pro-
cess interface, data is acquired from the network and environmental conditions.
Human–machine interface allows the operator to interrogate the field-level equip-
ment. A BAN set-up can be operated by battery system and power consumption is
very low. As it is housed in a building, the chances of environmental impact are
less, and the cost is minimal. A BAN may use ZigBee and Ethernet protocols for its
communications.

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 Microgrid communications – protocols and standards 299

Management devices
Remote control room

HMI

Local control room

Backbone network
WAN

Backbone level
Intermediatry devices
Control level
Interconnectors

IED Control devices

IED

Figure 9.6 BAN network architecture

9.3.3 Neighbourhood area network

A NAN is a mode of communication, in which devices are within a smaller dis-
tance to communicate at a higher speed rate, that is 10–100 Mbps, within a radius
of 10 km. In a smart microgrid, NAN communications are at the distribution level.
Devices in a NAN can communicate using both wired and wireless technologies.
Data collectors located in the distribution network use a NAN network to com-
municate with smart meters. NANs have an advantage over hotspot technology, as
it offers more devices to be connected into its network than hotspots over a wider
range. However, NAN’s bandwidth and speed of data transfer is a matter of further
investigation and research.

9.3.4 Local area network

A LAN is a group of intelligent devices, such as computers, in a small network,
such as school, office, business and group of buildings. A typical LAN set-up
consists of interconnected workstations, personal computers, printers, scanners and
data storage devices. Communication speed amongst LAN devices is fast, and there

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300 Variability, scalability and stability of microgrids

is no requirement of leased communication lines. Ethernet and Wi-Fi are the two
examples of protocols used in a LAN. A typical application of LAN is the airport
internet network, where passengers access the internet and browse websites
leveraging on LAN. The LAN topology can be in the form of ring, star, mesh and
tree. Due to cyber security requirements, a LAN needs to have firewalls, network
intrusion detection and load balancing. LANs have the ability to manage data
exchanges and the quality of traffic.

9.3.5 Field area network

Figure 9.7 shows a FAN architecture, which is gaining popularity due to its ability
to connect one point to multiple points in a distributed automation set-up. FAN
leverages on HAN and NAN network architectures. A FAN can be used in a
number of applications including asset management and diagnostics, smart meter-
ing and distributed power generation. FAN reduces the cost of the network and is
able to maintain a high availability of the data and quality of service (QoS) [44].

9.3.6 Wide area network

WAN is a telecommunications network that extends over a large geographical
distance. WAN are often established with leased telecommunication circuits, and it
facilitates a smarter control applications, protection and monitoring in a larger
geographical space. The communication rates in a WAN are from 1 Mbps to
1 Gbps [45]. In a SG communication, WAN forms the core tier communication
and connects with all nodes within the network, including NANs and FANs.
The communication protocols in a WAN are usually implemented in a SG system
covering approximately 100 km radius. WAN can maintain a robust communication
system encompassing few LANs connected together with routers at the end of the
leased line.

Field area
router

DA gateway

F H
A A
N N

Rural Distribution Distribution Suburban

Urban
automation automation

Neighbourhood area automation

(Residential/Commercial/Industrial)

Figure 9.7 FAN architecture

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 Microgrid communications – protocols and standards 301

WAN circuit uses two different switching methods, one is circuit switching
the other is packet switching. In circuit switching method, two nodes are connected
with an established dedicated channel. When a call is made at one end of the line,
continuity is established until the call lasts, and circuit is complete making it
point-to-point wired communication. In packet switching technique, data packets
are transmitted all over the nodes and are received by IEDs. This method of
communication suffers from data errors, losses and delays. Circuit switching is
mainly for voice transmission from one node to another. Telephone exchange is
a good example of circuit switching, while APPLENET, Advance Research
Project Agency Network and Bio-Resource Network are the examples of packet
switching.

9.4 Communication infrastructure

Depending on the device constraints, location and financial resources, microgrid
communication network may transmit signals wired or wirelessly. The following
subsections give an overview of existing communication infrastructure with refer-
ence to already functioning examples.

9.4.1 Wired communication

Wired communication is the simplest mode of communication, and it can utilise
power lines, twisted-pair cables and optical fibres.

9.4.1.1 Power line

Power line communication [16] is the technology that uses electrical power lines as
signal carriers. It appeared in the early 1900s as a low data rate service for remote
control of power network components. From the introduction of power line com-
munication and until present times, several frequency ranges and various signal
modulation techniques were used to achieve the data rates at first from a few bps to a
few kbps with audio/low-frequency bands and up to 200 Mbps with a high-frequency
range (3–20 MHz). Despite the narrow applications of power line communication in
the early years, the technology has become more important nowadays because of the
potential in high-speed connection through medium and low voltage (LV) power
lines, 15/50 kV and 110/220 V, respectively. The traditional application of power
line communication technology is a last mile communication, that is the connection
of end devices to the common network or backbone. Power line communication
gives benefits by its low costs for implementation and total coverage, because the
power lines are installed everywhere in the electrical networks.
However, the power line communication technology has the following several
disadvantages:
● It is vulnerable to electromagnetic noise from electrical motors, radio signals
interference and power supplies. This is mainly because power lines are not
twisted and shielded, so there is considerably a high possibility of interception
of critical data transmission by unauthorised parties.

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302 Variability, scalability and stability of microgrids

● Connection interrupts when there is an open circuit on the power line section
with switches, reclosers and insulators.
● Physical topology of the grid, impedance fluctuations and wave reflection at
the terminal points attenuates and distorts signals, which leads to the loss of
communication.

9.4.1.2 Twisted pair

The communication technologies based on twisted-pair copper conductors have
been used for many years, evolving from the signal carrier of telephone lines to the
basic communication medium for LANs. The structure of the cable contains from
one to several pairs of conductors with plastic insulation for each wire receiving
and transmitting signals in the form of electrical current. In a single pair of wires,
one wire is, used for sending the signal to the receiver, and the second one is a
ground reference. The difference between these two signals is used by the receiver
on the other side. Depending on the cable protection, twisted-pair telecommunica-
tion cables are divided into an unshielded twisted pair, shielded and/or foiled twisted
pair (FTP and S-FTP). The shield of the cable is implemented by braided mesh and
metal foil, which covers each pair of conductors or the whole set of conductors.
Shielded cables are used when there is a need for laying the communications in the
electromagnetic interference (EMI) environment and by thus preventing the com-
munication channel from the noise penetrations and cross talk. Twisted-pair cable is
a cheap communication technology with limited distance capabilities and maximum
up to 1.54 MHz channel capacity. Among the disadvantages are cable breakage and
water ingress, difficulties in failure pinpointing, rise of ground potential due to
power faults and lighting.

9.4.1.3 Optical fibre

The communication systems based on optical fibre technology were introduced in
the 1960s and became a good alternative to conventional copper-wired cables.
The general configuration of the optical fibre communication systems is as
follows [32]:
● Passive optical network (PON) – It provides point-to-multipoint network
structure by utilising optical splitters in order to establish the communication
service for multiple customers by single wire.
● Wavelength-division multiplexing – It uses cable bandwidth capacity to
transmit several data streams simultaneously through the same fibre.
● Synchronous optical networking (SONET)/synchronous digital hierarchy
(SDH) – This technology is used for carrying the high-capacity traffic by the
time-division multiplexing architecture.
Fibre optic cables give considerable advantages for automation in electrical sys-
tems by extremely high data flow rates (5, 10, 20 or 40 Gbps), invulnerability to
EMI and radio frequency (RF) interference, long distance of data transmission with
significantly smaller necessary amount of repeaters (every 100–1,000 km). Listed
features make the technology ideally suitable for backbone communication to the

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 Microgrid communications – protocols and standards 303

different SG applications and communication infrastructure for HV medium in

electrical substations. Despite the obvious benefits of using an optical fibre, it has
one main constraint i.e. very high cost for implementation. However, because of the
huge bandwidth capacity, the technology is becoming viable by recovering the
expenditure for its installation with big amounts of consumers using one commu-
nication channel as a backbone. Therefore, the optical fibre infrastructure can serve
as a highly reliable and fast communication.

9.4.2 Wireless communication

In congested areas where too many devices are connected in a wired mode, the wiring
system may complicate the finding of fault locations. With equipment in close
proximity, the wireless technology is a preferred option from the installation, mod-
ularity, and the ease of operation perspectives. Challenges in wireless technologies are
interference in RF bands, line of sight issue, presence of obstacles and fluctuation of
weather conditions. Wireless technologies adopted for microgrids are either short
range or long range (cellular), which are described as follows.

9.4.2.1 ZigBee
ZigBee technology provides a short-range (up to 100 m and up to 1,600 m with
ZigBee Pro), low-rate wireless communication for personal area networks and
based on IEEE 802.15.4 standard [43]. It uses unlicensed industrial, scientific and
medical (ISM) bands and performs with the following data rates depending on the
frequency: 20 kbps at 868 MHz, 40 kbps at 915 MHz and 250 kbps at 2.4 GHz. The
technology supports different network topologies and applies for residential, com-
mercial and industrial buildings automation, energy monitoring and automatic
meter reading (AMR) systems. The implementation costs and power consumption
are quite low, which along with the high level of security make it a reliable com-
munication solution. However, slow data rate, limited area coverage and the
interference by parallel wireless networks, such as Wi-Fi, restrict deployment of
ZigBee technology to in-home applications.

9.4.2.2 Wireless local area network

WLAN is a high-speed technology for wireless Internet and network communica-
tion based on IEEE 802.11 series of standards and commonly known as Wi-Fi.
It provides data rates from 2 to 600 Mbps and operates on ISM frequency bands,
such as 2.4, 3.6 and 5 GHz. Wi-Fi gives advantages in fast, secure and reliable
connection, but short operation range, high cost for deployment and high power
consumption constrain the implementation of WLAN technology to primarily
residential and commercial local networks. Table 9.2 lists and compares some
versions of IEEE 802.11 standards for WLANs.

9.4.2.3 Wireless mesh

Wireless mesh is an economically viable, reliable and scalable wireless network
consisting of a large number of nodes including routers and mesh clients. This type
of network uses dynamic routing, where every single communication point has a

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304 Variability, scalability and stability of microgrids

Table 9.2 Comparison of WLAN standards

Standard Data rate Coverage Applications

IEEE 802.11b Up to 11 Mbps Up to 40 m HAN, AMI
IEEE 802.11s Up to 54 Mbps Up to 300 m HAN
IEEE 802.11p Up to 54 Mbps Up to 1 km Vehicular network
IEEE 802.11e Up to 54 Mbps Up to 300 m QoS
IEEE 802.11n Up to 600 Mbps Up to 300 m High throughput

possibility to work as a repeater, transmitting in such a way data packets from one
node to another. In the case of outage of one node, all others are capable to com-
municate through the rest of the points because of interconnected structure of the
network. Wireless mesh networks exploit various standards, such as IEEE 802.11,
802.15 and 802.16 and are able to cover large territories by using multiple radiowave
reflection technology for routing. Because of the benefits in high coverage, robust-
ness and self-healing, wireless mesh has found its application in home automation
and AMR systems. Along with that, the technology has limitations in low-speed data
rates and vulnerability to the interference from other wireless networks.

9.4.2.4 Z-wave
Z-wave is a low-cost, short-range and low power consumption wireless network
technology. It uses 900 MHz ISM frequency and can provide 40 kbps data rate up
to 30 m [41]. The technology applies in home automation for residential and
commercial light utilities. Because of its low power requirements, it can be used in
SG application.

9.4.2.5 Satellite communication

The satellite communication is used for remote monitoring and control of electric
substations and especially for the time synchronization based on a Global Posi-
tioning System technology. In the satellite communication, the process of the data
transmission includes the signal modulation and sending from the one point,
amplifying by the satellite and sending back to the receiver on the earth. The
technology supports the coverage between any communication points and data rate
up to 1 Mbps. The advantages of technology are global coverage, which permits
establishing of connection between the nodes in a wide geographical area, and fast
installation in comparison to wired technologies by only deploying the necessary
equipment. Among the constrains are considerably long round-trip delay dependent
on the satellite orbit altitude above the earth’s surface, satellite channel character-
istics that can be heavily influenced by weather conditions, the effect of fading and
considerably high initial investments for satellite transceivers and equipment.

9.4.2.6 Cellular communication

The cellular technology is based on the radio network with a big amount of trans-
mitters, which create cells and reuse frequencies form both coverage and data

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 Microgrid communications – protocols and standards 305

transmission. Cellular networks work in 850, 900, 1,800 and 1,900 MHz frequencies.
The common classification separates cellular communication by generations of
technology development: 1G, 2G (Global System for Mobile (GSM) communica-
tions), 2.5G (general packet radio service (GPRS) and Enhanced Data rates for GSM
Evolution), 3G (universal mobile telecommunications system), 3.5G (high-speed
packet) and 4G (WiMAX and long-term evolution (LTE)). Cellular networks are
widely employed in AMR systems worldwide by gathering the data from remote
metering points through GSM/GPRS modems in offline or real-time modes. Addi-
tionally, 3G technology is regarded as one possible solution for SG applications
because of its fast data rate, wide coverage, low latency and security. Constraints in
cellular communication can arise due to sharing of the same network with mobile
users, leading to congestions and lower network performance.

9.4.2.7 Worldwide interoperability for microwave access

Worldwide interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) is a 4G generation of
cellular network communication based on the IEEE 802.16 series of standards.
WiMAX works in 2.3, 2.5, 3.3 and 3.5 GHz frequency bands together with unli-
censed 5.8 GHz frequency giving up to 75 Mbps data rate on the 50 km operating
range. Due to its small latency (10–50 ms) and the capability of providing com-
munication to multiple users by exploiting just one base station, the technology is
applicable to real-time microgrid and substations’ automation applications. The
WiMAX is suitable for SCADA systems in big industrial manufacturing facilities,
where there is no possibility to provide wired communication. Despite its fast
communication and wide coverage, the technology is costly in terms of initial
investments, demands high power supply and can be influenced by severe weather
conditions.

9.5 Communication protocols

The given subsection highlights the most commonly used and adopted commu-
nication protocols in microgrids. Reliable functioning of microgrid components
depends on efficient information exchange, such as the current state of the power
system, its historic information and its applications. All this information is provided
by communication system, which makes communication standards and protocols
especially important. The communication system arranges the information exchange
between different grid members, such as substations’ equipment, DERs and control
centres through the common frame of regulations for data format and transmission.
Different grid applications have different constrains in terms of necessary commu-
nication, which is resulted in various communication protocols existing for data
exchange in power industry. For instance, protection devices require much faster
response and real-time communication than monitoring applications. On the other
hand, communication channels for customer metering infrastructure have to be more
protected than substation monitoring devices. Table 9.3 provides a summary of
communication protocols used in microgrids.

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306 Variability, scalability and stability of microgrids

Table 9.3 List of communications protocols used in microgrid

Protocol Applications
Modbus [46] HAN/NAN/Can be used with Ethernet/fiber-optic
(FO) [47]
DNP3 [48] SCADA
PPP [49] WAN
Improved on-demand distance NAN
vector routing protocol [50]
Geographic routing [51] NAN
Powerline multipath routing (PMR) NAN/Narrow band PLC [16]
[50]
CSMA/CA [52]
RT-MAC [53]
DRX and FDRX [54]
Max MAC
QoS-MAC
Tree based MAC HAN
Rate allocation MAC
IEEE 802.15.4 [55] ZigBee/Tree routing/On Ad hoc On-Demand
6LoWPAN routing protocol Distance Vector (AODV) [57]/In source routing
EQ-MAC [56]
Z-MAC [58]
Wireless HART [59] Enhanced least—hop first routing [50]
ISA 100.11a [60]
Z-wave [41]
INSTEON [61] HAN
IPV6 hybrid RF-PLC network [62] BAN
Hybrid protocol for PLC-ZigBee PLC/ZigBee network
IEEE 802.15 HAN/ZigBee/6LoWPAN/Wireless HART/ISA
100.11a
IEEE 1901 HAN/INSTEON/IPv6RF-PLC/PLC-ZigBee

9.5.1 Internet communications protocol suite

To implement a reliable and secure microgrid architecture, the integration of
communication systems is required. This can be achieved by utilising a commu-
nication protocol that consists of a layered architecture, where each layer performs
a functionality using one or more protocols. There are various networking models,
and the most common benchmark communication architecture is the Internet
model, which is derived from the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) reference
model [63]. The Internet communication model is another suite that is derived from
OSI model. In the Internet communication model, each layer has more than one
protocol to carry out various tasks. Both models and their layers are shown in
Table 9.4.
The physical layer in the Internet model is the physical connection between the
sender and receiver. The role of the physical layer is to transfer analogue/digital
signals through the communication medium. The physical layer entails all the
hardware devices and physical media. The type of connection and the type of

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 Microgrid communications – protocols and standards 307

Table 9.4 Communication network layers

OSI model Internet Groups of Protocols

model layers
Physical layer Physical layer Hardware 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G, IEEE 802.3,
Data link layer Data link layer layer IEEE 802.11, IEEE 802.15.4g,
IEEE 802.16, IEEE 802.22
Network layer Network layer Internetwork IPv4/v6, ICMP [64], IGMP [65],
layer ARP, RARP
Transport layer Transport UDP, TCP
layer
Session layer Application Application IEC 61968 [66], IEC 61850,
Presentation layer layer IEC 60870, DNP3/IP,
layer Modbus/TCP, SSH, IPfix/
Application Netflow, NTP, DNS,
layer SNMP [67]

signals (electrical signals, radio waves and/or light pulses) are specified by the
physical layer.
The data link layer is responsible for movements of individual bits from one
hop (node) to the next. It controls the physical layer by deciding when to transmit
messages over the media, formats the messages by indicating where they start and
end and detects and may correct any errors that have occurred during transmission.
The network layer is responsible for routing and identifies the next commu-
nication node to which the message should be sent. The transport layer establishes
end-to-end connections between the sender and receiver by linking the application
layer to the network layer. The transport layer is able to detect lost messages and
request retransmission of the lost messages. The application layer is the application
software, which provides access to the network and controls messages that are sent
over the network.
There are strong interdependencies between the communication layers of the
Internet model; decisions made in one layer impose certain requirements on other
layers. For example, the data link and the physical layers are closely tied together
as the data link layer controls the physical layer regarding the data transmission.
Due to such strong interdependencies, the physical and data link layers are grouped
together as the hardware layers. Similarly, the network and transport layers are
closely tied together and are sometimes named the Internetwork layer.
The Internet Protocol (IP) suite is a set of protocols for providing of the
Internet services. The following protocols are mostly used in microgrid applica-
tions: Network Timing Protocol (NTP) for time synchronization [68], IP, Trans-
mission Control Protocol (TCP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), File Transfer
Protocol and Simple Mail Transfer Protocol [69]. The protocols that supply net-
work and transport services, such as IP, UDP and TCP, are of the highest impor-
tance. The IP protocol sends individual packets of data (datagrams) from one

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308 Variability, scalability and stability of microgrids

node to another carrying the addresses of sender and receiver in the datagram
header as 32-bit fields. It fragments data into smaller packages for transmitting
purposes and reassembles them at the receiver end. However, the data delivering is
a concern for higher layers, and IP does not guarantee it by only checking the
header sum. Besides that, IP does not establish or monitor the connection on the
channel and just sends each datagram independently.
TCP utilises the functionality of IP with the establishing of communication
links between each end, maintains error-free transmission and makes possible the
bidirectional communication. It fragments the data into sections and conveys them
to IP, which further cuts those to smaller datagrams. UDP also uses IP services
additionally providing information about sender and receiver ports, and a checksum.
Unlike TCP, UDP discards data packets with detected error and does not supervise
reliable data delivering, and it is not connection oriented. By utilising IP broadcast
addressing mode, UDP allows the transmission of data to several destinations.
It applies for real-time systems where the smallest delay of connection is of the
highest importance.
The IP suite is used for carrying specific automation protocols, such as Mod-
bus, Distributed Network Protocol version 3.3 (DNP3) and IEC 61850, over a
network environment by conveniently utilising Ethernet data link. These protocols
are encapsulated in the TCP/IP stack and act over its layers. Another application of
the IP suite is the data communication between terminal servers, data logging
servers and the control centre.

9.5.2 Modbus
The Modbus protocol is originally designed for data exchange between PLCs [46].
It is openly published and from 2004 controlled and maintained by the community
of vendors and users of the automation equipment Modbus-IDA. The protocol
works at application level with a foundation on a client/server architecture, where
the client requests server’s operation. By using master multiplexing in gateway-
based network for gathering diverse communication interfaces, Modbus is capable
for routing of different system configurations with not only one master controlling
all the slave devices. Figure 9.8 shows the layered structure of Modbus.
Modbus can be deployed over several communication interfaces, they are as
follows:
TCP/IP over Ethernet: The data is framed into binary format in TCP using
Ethernet protocol. Addressing and channel access control mechanisms are provided
by carrier sense multiple access with collision detection (CSMA–CD).
Serial transmission: The data with serial communication can be transmitted in
eight-bit binary format (Modbus RTU) or in seven-bit American standard code for
information interchange format (Modbus ASCII), which requires a twice-higher
data traffic. This mode can be implemented over various communication mediums,
such as wired, fibre optic or radio. The most commonly used standards in wired
communication for serial transmission are RS-232, RS-422 and RS-485.
Modbus Plus: The advanced technology for high data transfer with extra
addressing, routing, data consistency and diagnostic features.

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 Microgrid communications – protocols and standards 309

Modbus application layer

Modbus on TCP

TCP

IP

Modbus plus Master/Slave Ethernet 2/802.3

EIA/TIA-232 Ethernet
Physical layer
EIA/TIA-485 physical layer

Figure 9.8 Modbus protocol layers

9.5.3 Distributed Network Protocol version 3.3

The DNP3 is an open standard for telecommunication designed for interaction
between master stations, RTUs and other IEDs in electrical utilities and industrial
environments, such as oil and gas, water/waste and security [48]. It was designed
for SCADA systems to transmit considerably small data packets in an interruptible
manner with a predefined sequence. DNP3 uses several topologies including point-
to-point, multi-drop or hierarchical topologies. DNP3 messages are usually mapped
to the upper three layers of the OSI model, that is data link, transport and appli-
cation layers.
Point-to-point topology is a straightforward model where one central station
interacts with one remote station. In multi-drop topology, one master device com-
municates with several slaves by polling the data. Each remote station receives the
request messages but sends the data to the master only when the destination address
corresponds to its address. The hierarchical layout comprises one master and sev-
eral slave devices, which also can be a master device to other outstations in a lower
layer. The last possible topology with utilization of DNP3 protocol is data con-
centrator, where several remote stations can have different protocols, and by using
gateways, the central station can collect information from them.
DNP3 supports two modes of operation – poll and quiescent, or reporting by
exception, meaning that master device does not send any requests to check if the
communication with the remote station is stable. When the state of the channel is
changed, the slave devise sends ‘unsolicited response’, and without any troubles the
system remains in silent state. This mode of operation contributes to full bandwidth
capacity utilization of the communication channel. The above described modes of
operation imply the initiation of communication performed by slave devices, which
is referred as balance communication. However, only master devices are able to
request data or send commands to other devices in the DNP3-supported networks.
DNP3 is typically deployed on serial communication (RS-232 and RS-485 [70])

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310 Variability, scalability and stability of microgrids

over various physical links, such as twisted pair, fibre optic, radio and satellite
communication, and in some cases, it is encapsulated in TCP/IP protocol on
Ethernet networks.
9.5.4 IEC 61850
IEC 61850 is a set of standards of IEC Technical Committee 57 for electrical
substation automation systems. The IEC 61850 defines various aspects of substa-
tion communication system along with a number of several related standards for
communication between substations and the industrial automation [30]. The stan-
dard is organised in ten main sections with few subsections performed as separate
IEC 61850 documents. The main communication architecture concept in IEC
61850 is the creation of data objects and services independent of any particular
protocol, which allows further mapping of the data objects and services to any other
protocol meeting the data/service requirements. For the purpose of building large
and abstract data objects, the concept of common data classes (CDCs) was defined.
The standard also determines the ways of mapping the abstract data and services
into the Manufacturing Messaging Specification (MMS) standard [71] and sampled
measured values into the Ethernet data frame with point-to-point and multipoint,
unidirectional and bidirectional communication, respectively. For the explicit
representation of the relations between automation system and substation itself,
the Extensible Markup Language [72]-based Substation Configuration Language
(SCL) was developed, so that each device has to provide its own SCL file with the
configuration description.
Unlike legacy communication protocols, which specify the format of bytes
transmitting over the wire, the IEC 61850 standard gives the extensive model for
the organization of data, which is consistent with all vendors and devices in the
power system. This feature reduces significantly the efforts needed for the engi-
neers for devices configuring. It can be done simply by importing the SCL con-
figuration file into the device, and then IEC 61850 client application can retrieve
the object characteristics from the device over the network. IEC 61850 provides a
variety of advantages over the proprietary protocols including interoperability of
devices from different suppliers, lower installation, configuration and maintenance
costs, enhanced scalability and possibility for further improvements of the auto-
mation processes of systems.
To meet the strict timing requirements of the power grid, the IEC 61850 stan-
dard designates a 4 ms latency requirement that ensures the timely delivery of
interlocking trip commands and data-sampling messages. The latency require-
ment is derived from the time required for a protection message to travel from a
logical node in the detecting IED to the delivery point in the logical node of the
protection IED. Table 9.5 details the latency requirements of the protocols in the
IEC 61850 standard [73]. Since the messages have a multicast nature, they need to
be delivered to multiple IEDs, and hence, the timing requirements apply to all
subscribers. Sampled value (SV) messages include information about system’s
voltage, current and frequency. Generic-Object-Oriented Substation Events
(GOOSE) packets are used for tripping circuit breakers or signalling availability of

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Table 9.5 IEC 61850 protocol time requirements

Protocol Type Latency (ms)

SV Data sampling 4
GSSE and GOOSE Protection 4
TimeSync and ACSI Monitoring and control 16
ACSI Maintenance 1,000

Table 9.6 Criticality and size of GOOSE/SV messages

Message type Objective Priority Message size (byte)

Type 1 Trip 5 50
Type 2 Interlocks 3 150
Type 3 Status indication 2 200
Type 4 Sample values 4 98
Type 5 File settings 1 1,000

equipment. As shown in Table 9.6, the criticality and size of GOOSE/SV messages
vary by the type of event [74].
In comparision with DNP3, IEC 61850 protocol has a number of advantages,
such as a faster command in tripping, control, measurement and event recording on
IEDs. In addition, data packets are sent in the form of Multimedia Specification [75]
or GOOSE or sampled measurement value. This fast communication has an impact on
equipment and cost saving to the end user in terms of operation, that is exchange of
status, data logging, time synchronization and file transfer. IED translates the signal
from power components, such as frequency, voltage, current and watts into object-
oriented data representation, which facilitates the ease of operation and provides a
better control.

9.6 Importance of communication technology

in microgrid control
In a microgrid system, there might be a number of interconnected DERs, such as
fuel cells, wind, solar and hydropowers, which can deal with a number of com-
munication challenges. These challenges are as follows:
● Bidirectional power flow between DERs and controllers require a robust
communication and voltage regulation methods.
● Application of inverters, controllers and PLCs produces undesirable harmonics.
● Uncertainty in the production of renewable generation due to varied environ-
mental and weather conditions which may affect DER output to maintain a
balanced power system;

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312 Variability, scalability and stability of microgrids

● System integration by making use of various equipment, including DERs and

IT peripherals manufactured by multiple vendors. This can be a reason for
misconfiguration.
Figure 9.9 shows a typical solar farm microgrid. The overall system consists of
photovoltaic (PV) cells, which acts like generators equipped with converters,
inverters and filters. The presence of large-scale electronic devices is a source for
harmonics. Fundamentally, the third and fifth harmonics pumped into the network
cause issues with power quality and could damage insulation of the equipment over
a period of time if not checked. In order to mitigate this unwanted power quality
issue, suitable filters are inserted into the circuit, which mitigates harmonics.
To coordinate communications within a distributed microgrid system, a
suitable control and communication protocol is required. The microcontroller
communicates with different generators and governs charge flow into ES devices in
an off-grid mode. Traditionally, microgrids have focused more on AC systems, but
these days DC microgrids are resurging in large scale. Also, hybrid microgrids, that
is a combination of DC and AC systems, are also finding wide-scale applications.
DC microgrids have few advantages over AC microgrids, but they have problems
with respect to protection and stability. In DC microgrids, control of DERs is
achieved by introducing control loops. The two common methods available in
controlling microgrid equipment are droop control and master–slave control.
A droop controller is adopted with converters to retain each voltage source by
comparing it with a set characteristic, while a master–slave controller builds a link
between system components and the master controller (MC). It calculates the
reference of each source periodically and compares it with the MC. Employing

DC–DC
converter

Arrays in a
solar farm Inverter
Filter unit

Load

DC–DC
converter

Arrays in a
solar farm Inverter
Filter unit

Figure 9.9 Solar farm microgrid and mitigation of harmonics using filters

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 Microgrid communications – protocols and standards 313

these techniques, the microcontroller is able to achieve simplicity in operations,

desired reliability and efficiency.
As microgrid generators are mainly weather dependent, it is important to
establish an appropriate communication between generators and controllers. The
microcontroller regulates bus voltage fluctuations, battery storage availability and
ability to load shed and cut-off DERs whenever there is a fluctuation in power
supply for stable operation. The importance of communication is emphasised by
having a coordinated approach to manage grid-connected converters, ES systems,
battery EMS (BEMS). The BEMS controller communicates with MC and LC of the
storage cells to oversee the charging and discharging of batteries due to the non-
linear nature of generation and load variation. If storage cells continue to perform
in the exponential region, it reduces the battery life drastically. BEMS have set
upper and lower limits for charging and discharging. The intelligence in BEMS
smart model allows batteries to disconnect when it peaks at charges up to 80% and
reconnects it back to power supply when the batteries are 40% discharged. Smart
MCs have inbuilt intelligence to detect varying load and weather conditions to
monitor the network condition. It appropriately communicates to DERs and con-
trols its output in off-grid and grid connection mode including battery output
optimisation and its operations. This is beneficial for smooth grid service and
power stability. In short, proper communication between batteries and BEMS could
expand life of batteries by implementing appropriate control technology to dis-
charge and charge cycle during a power supply deviation.
Nowadays, hybrid microgrids are finding wide applications. It is worth noting
that by suitable interfaces, DC microgrid power output can be converted to AC with
low losses. It ensures the stability of the system and equal power-sharing man-
agement. In a hybrid state, appropriate communication between AC and DC con-
troller ensures the maintenance of reference voltage locally and at the master
control room of the microgrid operator.
In a grid connection mode, MC’s role is to regulate power flow into the grid
via PCC after verifying the quality, frequency and other parameters. Grid connec-
tion is not accomplished without having proper communication link between field
devices and IEDs linked to MC. Large exchange of data is essential feature in a
complex microgrid network deriving huge data to analyse, store and control the
DERs. The microcontroller of such a complex network needs to be reliable and able
handle data for the optimal operation of microgrid. In order to achieve handling of
huge data, a two-way communication such as TCP/IP is usually a host-centric
communication that is employed, wherein the microcontroller and field device
equipment exchange data rapidly. It may be noted, due to number of DERs in the
network, it is important for MC to interrogate and communicate with all DER
generators.
TCP/IP communication has been widely used for communication in a tradi-
tional microgrid set-up backed up by Modbus or Profibus communication.
However, these days with high usage of Internet and wireless mode in our cyber
system, it is important to have a smart MC that communicates with devices to store,
interrogate, command and manage data of interconnected DERs and peripherals.

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314 Variability, scalability and stability of microgrids

Smart IEDs in the network are able to manage lesser capable DERs having short
cell life, low processing capabilities, lesser memory storage units, etc. All these
advanced technologies make the control and communication of microgrid system
complex depending upon its size. While a simple microgrid could have an output
less than 2 MW, a large utility-scale microgrid connected to a utility network could
be of the order 20 MW or greater having industrial or commercial loads. Hence, it
is of great interest to the operator to communicate in a complex network by smarter
and intelligent way to process data.
One can have either a centralised control or decentralised control of commu-
nication in a microgrid network. A centralised control example is SCADA centre
system. Centralised control schemes are easy to implement and cost-effective way
to control a microgrid network. Such schemes are usually established in a smaller
microgrid network. However, there are issues with the computation of data due to
low flexibility, scalability, high bandwidth, single point failure, etc. On the con-
trary, decentralised controllers have LCs positioned at different locations in the
microgrid network take faster decisions while interfacing DERs. This overcomes
issues related to flexibility, bandwidth, failure of communication channels,
improved communication speed, plug and play capability, etc. The most important
reason for having such a decentralised communication control command is to have
system expandability. However, its implementation is not so easy, and it is over-
come by using multi-agent system (MAS) [76]. In a MAS set-up, multiple IEDs are
positioned at strategic points having complex algorithm built within it to compute,
compare, analyse and exchange data amongst microgrid smart equipment having
interoperability features. IEDs within MAS set-up react to any changes to their
field of operation in an abnormal condition. They are goal oriented and autonomous
in operation, while fully cooperating with other intelligent devices.
Figure 9.10 shows a typical microcontroller in a conventional set-up with three
layers in its network for control and communication. The first layer, that is LC,
interacts with DERs, ESs and controllable loads, etc. It obtains data from field
regarding frequency, voltage and current. The second layer, that is the centralised
control layer (CCL), controls power deviations, frequency, voltage, power quality,
etc. It interacts with main grid via PCC and exchanges data to the control room of
the utility operator. This controller has the ability to decide on grid connection and
islanded operation mode as applicable. The third level is a distribution network
dispatch centre, which monitors the inflow of power dispatched into the grid and
has the ability to command the CCL to cut itself up from the grid in the case of
deviation in frequency, quality, excess demand or under voltage condition.
More recently, two apex bodies i.e. IEEE and CIGRE working groups, are
studying methods to improve the control and communication set-up in the absence
of a communication and control standard. Communication and control are essential
in AC and DC microgrid network to determine bidirectional power flow, that is
from AC to DC and DC to AC. Conventional methods of analysing power flow
between AC to DC and DC to AC revolves around droop characteristics based on
static and dynamic loads. The power flow is frequency dependent in the case of an
AC system. When the AC bus voltage is greater than the DC bus voltage, power

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 Microgrid communications – protocols and standards 315

Distribution
Distribution network
network layer
dispatch centre

MGCC Centralised
control layer

Load control layer

LC LC LC LC LC

ES PV power Solar power Wind power Controllable

load

Figure 9.10 A three-layer microgrid control scheme

flows from AC to DC and vice versa. Some of the challenges encountered in the
control and communication within a microgrid network are [77]
● absence of a common standard (interoperability),
● difficulty in providing protection to multiple DERs operating at the same time,
● control of power flow,
● varying weather and environmental condition and
● toggling between off grid and islanded mode due to demand and supply
condition.

9.7 Case study

In this section, we study the communication protocols in a car manufacturing plant
in India. The manufacturing plant includes five major areas, all of which have a
number of sheds, buildings, power equipment and control devices. The equipment
used in these premises are described as follows:
● Area A includes an HV substation (132/11 kV) switchyard with a 11 kV diesel
generator (1 MW). In this premise, a local control room (LCR) is equipped
with switchgears, protection equipment, a substation automation system (SAS)
and AC/DC systems. The total load, that is 20 MW, is transferred to two
downstream substations using two power transformers.

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316 Variability, scalability and stability of microgrids

● Area B includes two 5 MW wind turbines, one 3 MW PV generation with

associated switchgears, and one control building housing SAS equipment
at 11 kV.
● Area C includes an engine shop with a small 11/415 kV substation that feeds
power to 20 machines in the manufacturing plant. This area also includes a
protection control room, a SAS equipment, a kitchen area, and a common room,
that is accessed by 50 people. The load in this area is approximately 7 MW.
● Area D includes a long shed with a small 11/415 kV substation that feeds
power to 15 machines, one training centre and one SAS equipment room, that
is accessed by 30 people.
● Area E includes the main control room (MCR), a SAS room with AC and DC
equipment, an admin and corporate building, a finance department and an HR
department which includes 100 people. In addition, the area includes a heating,
ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system, private automatic branch
exchange (PABX) telecommunication infrastructure and firefighting equipment.

Figure 9.11 shows an HV and an LV power reticulation within the car manu-
facturing plant. During the normal operation, power flows from the wind turbines
and PV systems (DERs) to the main receiving 11 kV substation. In the event of an
inclement weather, for example, DERs are switched off by the operators and power
supply flows through via two incoming 132 kV lines through the PCC. The car
manufacturing company has as an agreement with the state utility to sell surplus
power to the grid. The emergency diesel generator (EDG) backs up the essential
loads of various areas connected to 11 kV bus. It provides essential 24-h services to
SAS, MCR and admin building even if a blackout occurs. Power equipment in
areas A, B, C, D and E communicate via FO and hard wired copper cables based on
IEC 61850 and DNP3 communication protocols.
The communications in plant happen using both IEC 61850 and DNP3 pro-
tocols. IEC 61850 is the primary mode of communication within the plant, while
DNP3 is the backup. This redundancy helps to maintain the reliability in case one
of the communications fail. In the backup communication mode, DNP3 acts as an
alternative communication scheme for the power equipment. DNP3 transmits
analogue status to a RTU in the form of binary codes, such as 0, 1, 2 or 3; mapping
the binary code to a trip, a fault, an open or a close command.
The plant aims to make the distributed generation system more dependent to
microgrid’s own power supply rather than the utility system. As shown in Figure 9.11,
the merging units (MUs) collect sampled sensory data (e.g. currents and voltages),
namely SVs, from the power equipment, DERs and EDG equipment. The SVs pub-
lished by MUs are classed into five different categories, all of which have differing
priorities with different payload sizes. Table 9.6 shows the criticality and size of SV
messages. For example, the IED would issue a trip command when it receives a Type
1 message. A Type 5 SV message has the highest priority as it relates to protection, and
once it is received the circuit breaker needs to be tripped.
The plant communication architecture is shown in Figure 9.12. IEC 61850 and
DNP3 protocols complement one another by making the load management and

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 Microgrid communications – protocols and standards 317

Area A 132 kV line 132 kV line

differential differential
current current
transformer transformer
line 1 with line 2 with
132 kV line IED IED 132 kV line
132 kV incomer incomer
disconnector
circuit circuit
with earth
switch (DES)
breaker 1 breaker 2

132/11 kV, Differential 132/11 kV,

15 MVA protection of 15 MVA
transformer 1 Trf 1 IED transformer 2

Differential
protection of
Trf 2 IED

Area A 11kV circuit

11 kV, 1 MVA
11 kV circuit breaker bay 2
emergency
11 kV wind breaker bay 1
diesel genset 11 kV solar
farm
Area B Area B
farm

11 kV bus 1 11 kV bus 2

11 kV outgoing feeder 11 kV bus tie 11 kV outgoing feeder

protection bay 1 IED circuit protection bay 2 IED
breaker
Area A

Area C Area D

11/.415 kV, 5 MVA 11/.415 kV, 5 MVA

transformer 3 transformer 4

Differential Differential
protection of protection of
Trf 3 IED Trf 4 IED

415 V Air 415 V Air

circuit circuit
breaker bay 1 breaker bay 2

415 kV bus 1 415 kV bus 2

Area C : engine Area E : admin and Street lighting and Area D : transmission
assembly (3 MW) MCR (1 MW) CCTV (1 MW) assembly (3 MW)

Figure 9.11 Power and SAS diagram of the case study

protection of HV/LV apparatus more efficient. From the safety and reliability point
of view, all power equipment need a backup protection scheme. In this regard, in
the event of malfunctioning of the main protection, the backup protection of power
equipment is managed by DNP3.

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318 Variability, scalability and stability of microgrids

DNP3 DNP3

SCADA in area A SCADA in area C

DNP3 DNP3
MCR with HMI
in area E
SCADA in area B SCADA in area D
IEC IEC
61850 61850

Local controller Local controller Local controller Local controller

in area A in area B in area C in area D

Area B Area C Area D

Area A IEDs
IEDs IEDs
IEDs

Merging unit Merging unit Merging unit Merging unit

From genset
equipment in
area A

From LV substation From LV substation

From HV substation From DER equipment
switchyard equipment in switchyard equipment in
switchyard equipment in in area B
area C (engine) and area E area D (transmission)
area A
(admin building)

Figure 9.12 Block diagram of IEC 61850 and DNP3 communication protocols

The first protection scheme, which is based on IEC 61850 communication

mode, regularly scans the network by communicating with field devices via MUs
for faults and alarms. For example, when a fault occurs in a power transformer,
IEDs trip the switchgear in less than 4 ms. Alternatively, if an operator wishes to
shut down a plant, he or she can trip and isolate the HV device by sending digital
SV messages to IEDs. However, in a digital communication system, there are
issues with delays and latencies due to data clogging or congestion. This makes the
data packets lost and never reach its destination as a result, the subscriber IED is
not able to see the messages and understand the byte size making communication
fail or trip or alarm. Under such a circumstance, redundancy in protection is
essential, and the DNP3 mode of communication comes into the picture. In a DNP3
communication protocol, SCADA system monitors the state of HV equipment
through hard wired copper cable. DNP3 uses a 16-bit cyclic redundancy check,
which is able to detect errors in data communication.
Figure 9.13 shows the mapping of digital IEC 61850 data sets to DNP3 in
Boolean form in the event of a failure of the first protection scheme. Figure 9.13

5 June 2019; 17:18:51

 Microgrid communications – protocols and standards 319

IEC 61850 data model DNP3 arrays

Line incomer 1 BI BO AO
XDES
5
XCBR
4
Loc
4
Pos 3
3
Val 2 2
t 2
q 1 1
Open 1
Blk 0 0
Close 0

Figure 9.13 IEC 61850 attribute mapping

shows the mapping of a feeder in a particular HV primary plant. Logical nodes of

the feeder have been named XDES (disconnector with earth switches) and XCBR
(circuit breaker). Logical nodes are further subclassified as CDC representing an
object, such as a set of data attributes value (Val), time of last change (t), quality
flags (q), open, block (Blk) and close. Figure 9.13 shows how digital and analogue
values are converted into one another.
The HVAC system in buildings adjusts the temperature based on environ-
mental circumstance monitored by IoT sensors, which wirelessly communicate
with the MC in area E. The load management and distributed generation system
controls the utility interconnections. The data is recorded and logged every 10 s at
the LCR, and it is used by the asset engineer for performance monitoring.
Area E uses a ZigBee communication network. The application of ZigBee over
a small area, such as a three-storied admin building and canteen facilities, gives
adequate flexibility and reliability communicate and controls LV appliances, such
as dimming or increasing lux level of building lights or wirelessly communicating
with sensors of building automation system. In order to mitigate adversaries who
infiltrate building security system, a two or a three-layer authentication is used.
The installed ZigBee network uses 2.4 GHz frequency, which is shared by RF
products and Wi-Fi networks. Tablets and mobile devices are Wi-Fi enabled, which
enables field technicians to carry out diagnostics on LV system, such as battery
chargers and battery banks, by latching on to Wi-Fi mode.
The main issue in this set-up is the communication drop out, and this can be
resolved by having a number of PLCs as backups. All nodes in a PLC set-up
interface uses physical wiring connection and that has a slim chance compromising
the security of the set-up. The only issue encountered in a PLC set-up is the
interference due to the noise picked up by power cables reticulated around the
plant. Noise is a normal phenomenon due to a large number of power apparatuses
operating in the network. The EMI is mitigated by using isolated, grounded twisted

5 June 2019; 17:18:54

320 Variability, scalability and stability of microgrids

cables. In this plant, the use of wired and wireless technology is decided based upon
the ease of installation, costs, security, power consumption, reliability of protection
and the speed of the network.

9.8 Conclusion
This chapter provides a detailed overview of communication technologies, stan-
dards and protocols used in smart microgrid applications. The chapter discusses
applications of several smart and intelligent protocols, such as IEC 61850 and
DNP3, and issues pertaining to the application of digital technologies, such as
latency and physical link conversion. Efficiency, reliability and security of inter-
connected devices and systems are critical to enabling smart microgrid commu-
nication infrastructures. Interoperability is achieved while avoiding being isolated
into non-competitive technical solutions. This chapter describes the translations
between IEC 61850 and DNP3. Finally, a case study detailing a car manufacturing
plant in India is presented in order to demonstrate the actual implementation of
smart microgrid communication technologies and communication protocols.

Nomenclature

ARPANET Advance Research Project Agency Network

ASCII American standard code for information interchange
BAN building area network
BEMS battery energy management system
BRNET Bio-Resource Network
CCL centralised control layer
CSMA–CD carrier sense multiple access with collision detection
DERs distributed energy resources
DNDC distribution network dispatch centre
DNP3 Distributed Network Protocol version 3.3
DSL digital subscriber line
EDGE Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution
EIA Electronic Industrial Alliance
EDG emergency diesel generator
EMS energy management system
EMI electromagnetic interference
FO fiber-optic
FTP foiled twisted pair
GPRS general packet radio services
GOOSE Generic-Object-Oriented Substation Event
HAN home area network
HDSL high-bit-rate digital subscriber line
HSPA high-speed packet access

5 June 2019; 17:19:2

 Microgrid communications – protocols and standards 321

HV high voltage
HVAC heating, ventilation and air conditioning
IAN industrial area network
ICD interconnection device
IED intelligent electronic device
IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering
IoT Internet of Things
LAN local area network
LCR local control room
LTE long-term evolution
LV low voltage
MAN metropolitan area network
MAS multi-agent system
MC master controller
MMS Manufacturing Messaging Specification
NAN neighbourhood area network
PABX private automatic branch exchange
PCC point of common coupling
PE power electronics
PLC programmable logic controller
PLC power line communication
PON passive optical network
PMU phasor measurement unit
PV photovoltaic
QoT quality of traffic
QoS quality of service
RF radio frequency
RTU remote terminal unit
SAS substation automation system
SCL Substation Configuration Language
SCADA supervisory control and data acquisition
SFTP shielded foiled twisted pair
SG smart grid
SDH synchronous digital hierarchy
SONET synchronous optical networking
SV sampled value
TIA Telecommunication Industry Standard
TC technical committee
TCP/IP Transmission Control Protocol/Internet protocol
WAN wide area network

5 June 2019; 17:19:6

322 Variability, scalability and stability of microgrids

WDM wavelength division multiplexing

WiMax Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access
WLAN wireless local area network
UTP unshielded twisted pair
VDSL very high-bit rate digital subscriber line
XCBR circuit breaker
XDES disconnector with earth switch
XML Extensible Markup Language

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