Accelerating towards the digital substation | Blogs | Hitachi Energy

In the late 1990s, Hitachi Energy commissioned the world’s first fully digital substation in Australia, and come a long way since then.

Today, Hitachi Energy provides the latest in digital substation technology to bring new levels of efficiency to utility operations. 

Advancing its pioneering digital substation technology, we recently launched our all-new SAM600 version 3.0, a process interface unit to help utilities accelerate the adoption of digital substations.

As a process interface unit (PIU), the all-new, one-box SAM600 consolidates three units within a single device and can be configured as a merging unit, a switchgear control unit, or a combination of both, supporting different installation approaches. With only one device to engineer, wire up, commission and test, customers gain improved flexibility and maintainability.

Before we get into more details about SAM600, let’s quickly review what digital substations are and what role merging units play in enabling substation digitalization. 

The term digital substation is commonly applied to electrical substations where copper cabling between primary apparatus and secondary protection and control equipment is substituted with an Ethernet-based process bus between protection and control equipment, and process-near devices such as SAM600 deployed close to the primary apparatus.

The shift from conventional to digital substation enables the replacement of thousands of engineering-intensive and costly point-to-point copper signaling wires with fewer fiber optic communication buses or connections. Thanks to the development of the IEC 61850 standard for substation communications, real-time measurement signals and status information can be broadcast via the process bus throughout a substation and to the control center.

While utilities continue to digitalize their electrical infrastructure, merging units, a critical component of modern substation automation systems, are helping them accelerate the adoption of digital substations. 

Merging units bridge the gap between analog and digital, distributing current and voltage information digitally through the fiber optic process bus. They help enable the upgrading of conventional substations to digital substations, enhancing safety, reliability, and productivity for grid operators and reducing the overall substation cost, as well as optimizing substation system layouts for greenfield installations.

Merging units play a vital role in facilitating the reliable and efficient transfer of data from devices in the substation to the control center. These devices convert analog signals into digital form and ensure the data is time synchronized by assigning timestamps to each measurement. Once digitized, the current and voltage signals, shared across the IEC 61850 process bus, are available to any protection and control IED within the station.

Constant supervision of all electronic components and digital communication in the substation minimizes the need for periodic maintenance and allows for faster remedial action in case of failures.

SAM600 seamlessly integrates into existing digital substation deployments by supporting state-of-the-art redundant communication architectures and the latest industry standards, including IEC 61850 Ed 2.1¹ and IEC 61869². It offers a browser-based user interface (WebUI) and supports device diagnostics capabilities for optimized maintenance.

The device is available in two compact form factors for installation within substations and in outdoor panels, with the modular hardware architecture offering the flexibility to adapt to different application needs. For instance, by providing an integrated switchgear control unit, the device allows operators to optimize panel layouts and enable system cost savings with the capability to directly trip a circuit breaker. It also features an integrated disturbance recorder and primary apparatus monitoring for asset optimization. 

As the complexity and dynamics of power generation, transmission, and distribution continue to grow, the new SAM600 helps operators extend the life of their existing assets. By installing the SAM600 as a merging unit, utilities can harness the benefits of digital protection, control and communication technologies while retaining their existing primary equipment such as power transformers and circuit breakers and current and voltage transformers, delivering much-needed investment protection and new levels of system performance. The robust design of the product meets our customers’ need for a solution that functions reliably in harsh environments, and its modularity facilitates on-site service and repairs, which minimizes downtime and related expenses. Additionally, as SAM600 3.0 is more energy-efficient, the energy consumption over the lifetime of the installation is substantially lowered.

The PCM600 device configuration tool, which is common across Hitachi Energy’s protection and control IED portfolio, enables consistent configuration, operation, and maintenance and a shorter learning curve and time to deploy for utilities.

Customers can also be confident that SAM600 provides a high level of security, including secure boot, user management, and role-based access control, further enhancing the product’s robustness. Firmware updates ensure that the device is future-proof throughout its product lifecycle.

With the launch of the SAM600 version 3.0, Hitachi Energy delivers leading-edge technology in collaboration with customers and partners to help utilities tackle the challenges of a highly interconnected and sustainable energy system.

As digital substation technology continues to evolve, the SAM600 will play an important role in accelerating its adoption and enabling advanced automation and communication applications so utilities can meet the demands of future power grids. It also serves as the foundation for a utility to embrace greater digitalization, integrate greater amounts of renewable energy, and progress toward a truly sustainable grid. 

Read more about the all-new SAM600 here.

1. IEC 61850 is an international standard defining communication protocols for intelligent electronic devices at electrical substations. It is a part of the International Electrotechnical Commission's (IEC) Technical Committee 57 reference architecture for electric power systems. (Wikipedia)
2. IEC 61869-1:2023 applies to newly manufactured instrument transformers intended for applications which use an analog or digital secondary signal for measurement, protection and control purposes, with rated frequencies between 15 Hz and 400 Hz, or DC applications. (International Electrotechnical Commission)