The steps and procedures a user should undertake to implement an IEC 61850 substation in both a single and multi-vendor equipment environment are outlined in this recommended practice. Intelligent electronic device (IED) specification, procurement, configuration, and documentation to develop a general design philosophy that transforms the IEC 61850 standard are addressed in this recommended practice, using this as a practical working implementation guide. A general overview of an IEC 61850 implementation is given in this recommended practice. Future work may develop more detail behind the topics presented herein.

This recommended practice outlines the necessary steps and procedures implementers of IEC 61850 in substations should undertake in a multi-vendor equipment environment. It is not the intent of this recommended practice to change the IEC 61850 standard, but treats the standard as providing a set of tools engineers and integrators could use in substation protection, automation, and control systems.

IEC 61850 has been promoted as an interoperability standard, but to date, interoperability among vendors has been achieved only at a communications level. When actually implementing the various substation functions, the user could be forced to change methods between vendors due to the flexibility and options provided for in IEC 61850. Additionally, IEC 61850 requires significant changes to the design, construction, and commissioning of a substation. Hard-wired signals are replaced by logical bits being communicated over Ethernet networks, documentation and naming conventions are distinctly different from existing substation practice, and device functionality...