Workshop for energy!

COPA-DATA’s IEC 61850 workshop is aimed at general and control engineers in the energy industry. Participants will come away with in-depth information and a unique technical insight on topics like Ethernet networking, real-time data exchange, network architecture and substation automation.

The workshop is a follow-up event of COPA-DATA’s Energy Experience Day that took place in May 2014 (see video right). Several participants to the initial event expressed an interest in understanding the underlying protocols of substation automation and smart grids, so COPA-DATA was happy to pursue the opportunity.

“Many people working in the energy sector are still puzzled by the opportunities the international standard IEC 61850 offers,” explained Martyn Williams, managing director of COPA-DATA UK. “The truth is electrical power systems could be revolutionised by the implementation of standardised methods of communication between devices. The IEC 61850 standard enables businesses to design and implement hefty improvements when it comes to safety, reliability and cost.”

To satisfy the industry’s thirst for information, COPA-DATA invited international expert Dr. Pascal Schaub to hold a day-long master class explaining the IEC 61850 standard and other critical topics related to intelligent automation in the energy sector.

Dr. Schaub is the director and principal engineer of D.T. Partners Pty, a specialist provider of products and consultancy for the substation and grid automation sector. Dr. Schaub has extensive experience in the Australian electricity industry and is a member of the Standards Australia Technical committee EL-050 “Power System Control and Communications” and the international working group IEC/TC57 WG10 “Power System IED Communication and Associated Data Models”.

Their workshop at Solihull (GB October 30 2014) will also include a working demonstration and a hands-on session on IEC 61850’s practical applications. COPA-DATA’s industry manager for energy, Jürgen Resch, will assist Dr. Pascal Schaub in coordinating an open forum at the end of the day. Resch, who joined COPA-DATA in 2003, has several years of experience in power plant automation and rail.