SYNC3000 Gateway for a Leading Renewables Utility

Introduction

An Integrated Renewable Energy Plant (IREP) is a Utility facility that combines multiple renewable energy sources to generate electricity. The integration of different renewable energy technologies allows for increased efficiency and reliability, in power generation and overcomes the disadvantage of unreliable availability during the period of the day when their key natural resource is in diminished strength. One of our leading renewables utility partner has an operational critical infrastructure that is set for revamp by Scalable Protocol Gateways to acquire and integrate all asset/operational data from the individual assets of solar farms, wind farm and pumped hydro plant and redistribution of the same data to different centralized applications. The data scale for the infrastructure is sized for at least 60,000 points and is to support a vast array of protocols.

Requirement

IREPs will incorporate a mix of renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and an energy storage facility like pumped hydro storage to store excess energy produced during peak generation periods for use during times of low renewable energy output and high demand; and to enhance grid stability.

The economic model of an IREP plant is complex because IREPs can generate revenue from multiple streams including electricity sales (based on demand), Capacity payments and Green Energy Certificates. To maximize economic output from the generation, the utility adopts real time, short term and long-term approaches which require an enormous amount of operational data to be processed by enterprise level applications mentioned in the introduction.

This data is generated and collated from the IREP Grid.

The Integrated Renewable Plant, being a complex Power Grid comprising of subsystems, the task of obtaining and driving data from this Grid, requires equally complex Operational Network and deployment of Gateways to make the transition into a Smart Grid.

Gateways by playing the key role of facilitating seamless and scalable, communication, data integration, and interoperability among diverse subsystems, the utility can execute tighter control over the network and ensure continuous real time data flow is routed to their respective applications.

SYNC3000 Multi-Application Device

Kalkitech's SYNC3000 and its extended highly scalable variant, SYNC3000 is positioned for the Renewable energy sector’s unique power system communication and Data management Application. The device supports 8 or more ethernet ports with 12 serial ports (expandable).

The SYNC3000 Gateway is built on reliable and high-performance IEC 61850-3 compliant hardware, for stability and resilience in demanding utility environments. It features adequate memory footprint to connect to various devices and systems, as well as built-in processing power to handle data aggregation and protocol conversion tasks efficiently.

Its design features include:

1. Integration Platform: SYNC3000 serves as a centralized integration platform, connecting various devices and systems within the substation data infrastructure. It facilitates communication between different protocols, devices, and applications, ensuring  interoperability and data exchange across the network.
2. Protocol Conversion: SYNC3000 supports a wide range of industry-standard communication protocols used in the energy sector, including IEC 61850, DNP3, Modbus, and IEC 60870-5, ICCP, OPC -UA/DA among others. This capability allows disparate devices and systems to communicate effectively, regardless of the protocol they use.
3. Scalable Data Management: SYNC3000 provides data management features, enabling efficient collection, and processing of data from various sources. It can handle large volumes of real-time data, historical data, and event logs; help diagnose Network issues and relay information to Enterprise systems to make informed decisions and provides better user control on the Network.
4. Cybersecurity: SYNC3000 incorporates robust cybersecurity measures to safeguard critical infrastructure. It includes features such as encryption, access control, authentication, to mitigate cybersecurity risks and protect against cyber threats.
5. Configuration and Monitoring: The platform offers intuitive configuration tools and monitoring capabilities, allowing operators to easily configure devices, set up communication channels, and monitor system performance in real-time. This enables proactive maintenance, troubleshooting, and optimization of the energy infrastructure. These gateways simplify protocol conversion through simple configuration, eliminating the need for extensive programming and expertise in dealing with multiple communication protocols.
6. Interoperability and Standards Compliance: As a vendor-neutral solution, SYNC3000 promotes interoperability and adherence to industry standards, ensuring compatibility with a wide range of devices and systems from different manufacturers. This flexibility allows utilities to leverage existing investments by keeping the licensed protocols frameworks up to date with industrial Standards.

Solution

In the solution architecture, SYNC3000 is installed at each of the Wind, Solar and Pump Storage Generation Substation and collects data from the Station Operational Network. The data acquired by the device will be redistributed to all upstream 12 Nos. clients with supporting protocols as required by their application. The Gateway is flexible enough for addition of future protocol licenses for northbound applications and downstream station devices yet to be rolled out.

IREP Generation locations are remote and data availability during breakdown in last mile communication is factored in the architecture.

The Gateway sustains longer breakdown in last mile communications by storing buffered data during this period in its sizeable memory and will flush data upstream after last mile communication resolution.

The deployed Gateways has the option to report and be under oversight from its own device management module which has collected statistics of connected devices to track device health and supports a firmware and configuration management module which archives latest signed configurations/firmware. The Gateway also functions as the primary time sync client for all connected devices downstream, syncing time to each IED by its supported protocol.

The mapping tool of the SYNC3000 devices has an advanced array of features to meet user friendly approaches for large scale data management. The mapping tool contains an automated feature which self-maps downstream applications to upstream protocol objects to configure quickly large data configuration sets.

The device conforms to expectations of an Intelligent Electronic Device under the NERC-CIP Program for Cyber security. The device can create data tunnels on the lines of TLS1.3 and is featured with an option to support encryption of transported data payloads.

By sustained and reliable interoperation facilitated by the Gateways, the multiple Utility Applications are assured of a steady stream of inbound field data to perform real time interventions to maximize or minimize Plant Generation between the available assets as per the economic conditions prevailing for that period.

Utility Operations with the deployment of Kalkitech Gateways, have steadier control over the Operational Network and can pinpoint breakdown in data transfer and can rely upon the supplied Gateways to buffer data in times of Network stress and lack of communication to the upstream applications.