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Grid Solutions > Services > Automation & Protection Services > Automation Services > PowerNode

  
PowerNode Load Shedding

Industrial load shedding enables facility electrical system stability in critical situations such as a sudden loss of available power, to balance load power consumption due to grid power restrictions (Demand Response) or to limit power consumption during peak hours (Peak Shaving).

PowerNode offers a variety of applications that can be adapted to existing or new installations including:

  • Fast Load Shedding
  • Under-frequency Load Shedding
  • Under-Voltage Load Shedding
  • Overload Load Shedding (for generators, transformers, lines, etc…)
  • Demand Response
  • Peak Shaving

Main benefits include:

  • Reduce unplanned downtime
  • Reduce energy costs
  • Create new revenue streams
  • Scalable & Flexible Solution
  • Vendor Agnostic & Integrates with P&C relays
  • Easily expandable to meet future requirements
  • System is designed to follow IEC 62443-4-2 cybersecurity guidelines
Overview
Architecture
Scalability
GPG RT Controller
Communications
Key Benefits

Facility Challenges

Industrial facilities often have multiple sources of power to support their operational needs which can include on site generation as well as power being supplied by the utility. When a plant experiences a loss of one of these power sources, the remaining power generation may not be able to support the existing plant loading and result in an unplanned shutdown. These unplanned shutdowns can have a very significant impact in the plant’s productivity and availability, causing significant losses in revenue when they occur.

Additionally, economical and/or grid compliance can require a facility to shed loads. Participating in Demand Response scenarios or limiting the Peak energy consumption of a facility can greatly impact the financial impact of plant operations.

GE’s PowerNode: Load Shedding Solution

GE’s PowerNode: Load Shedding (LS) solution provides a platform with real-time operation capabilities to combine all load shedding functions together with advanced monitoring and control.

Fast Load Shedding: Subcycle (<15ms) remedial action scheme that prevents the electrical system from collapsing when there is a lack of available power due to a sudden loss of power sources in the industrial facility.

Electrical Stability Load Shedding: Customized load shedding solutions based on power, frequency or voltage moving out of acceptable limits. Scenarios executed by the Load Shedding controller can operate with times from 100ms to several seconds after the power instability was detected by the protection relays.

Demand Response: Due to the increasing instability of the grid caused by renewable integration, grid operators are increasing the pressure on industrial consumers to participate in load demand control scenarios. Demand Response solutions can help facilities generate revenue through market participation as well as comply with grid requirements.

Peak Shaving: Focuses on intelligently limiting utility peak power consumption to reduce a facilities electricity bill.

Industrial Facility Load Shedding Solution

Services
GPG

GPG RT Controller

P&C relays send load/infeed power measurements and their availability to the Load Shedding controller using IEC 61850 GOOSE messages or other legacy protocols.

GE’s Load Shedding controller receives notification of a loss of an infeed from the P&C relays using IEC 61850 GOOSE messages.

Based on the priorities set by the operator, the FLS algorithms will dynamically shed only the loads groups needed to match the amount of generation lost.

GE’s proven algorithms have been verified and validated to operate in under 15ms from the time the loss of infeed has been detected.

For additional reliability, redundant Load Shedding controllers can be used.

 

Microgrid Architecture

GE’s Load Shedding solution supports:

  • 128 Load Priorities
  • 32 Infeeds
  • 128 Load Groups
  • 1000+ Loads

Aggregator IEDs are used to group Loads when more than 128 loads are present in the installation.

Aggregator IEDs receive availability and power measures from multiple loads and group them in one of the 128 Load Groups.

Scalability diagram

Supported Protocols

  • IEC 61850 Server Ed.1 and Ed.2
  • IEC 61850 Client Ed.1 and Ed.2. KEMA Certified
  • IEC 61850 GOOSE
  • C37.118 and IEC61850-90-5 Synchrophasor Protocol
  • IEC 60870-5-101/104 Server/Client. KEMA Certified
  • DNP3 Master/Slave RTU and TCP
  • SNMP Client
  • MQTT
  • NTP client. With Redundancy
  • Modbus RTU/TCP Master/Slave
  • IEC 6070-5-103 Master
  • SPA-Bus Master
  • OPC DA & AE Server/Client
  • OPC UA Server
  • EGD Producer

The GPG RT Controller is a real-time controller that hosts GE’s Load Shedding solution and other power system control applications. The GPG RT Controller has been designed to be compliant with IEC 61850-3, which is an international hardware standard for communication networks and systems in power substations. Supporting international cybersecurity standard, the GPG RT Controller is the backbone of GE’s industrial power solutions that ensure reliable and secure operation for improving the reliability of industrial power networks.

Hardware Specifications
  • Certification: IEC 61850-3, IEEE 1613, CE, FCC Class A, UL, CCC
  • -20 to 70 degree Celsius operating temperature
  • Mounting: 2U/19” Rack mount
  • System Design: Fan-less, with no internal cabling
  • OS Support: RTOS VxWorks and Windows Embedded.
  • Power Supply: Redundant 100 ~ 240 VAC (47 ~ 63 Hz) DC: 100 ~ 240 VDC DC: 48VDC
  • PRP & HSR Ethernet redundancy.
  • Two expansion slots to increase serial and Ethernet port types and quantity.
GPG

GPG RT Controller

Redundancy

GPG RT Controller offers multiple redundancy modes to align with customer requirements. The GPG redundancy can be set up in one of two different modes:

  • Hot-Standby: GPGs arranged in a master and slave configuration
  • Hot-Hot: Both GPGs working in parallel

PRP and HSR Ethernet redundancy options are available to support fault tolerant communication architectures.

Reduces unplanned downtime impact
  • Cost of materials lost in process
  • Cost of lost production
  • Cost of potential equipment damage
  • Cost of environmental impact
Best in class performance
  • The fastest operation time in the market: <15ms
Integrates with P&C
  • Analog load and generation data transferred through IEC 61850 GOOSE messaging
  • Integrates with existing protective relays
  • Uses existing Ethernet network
Scalable and flexible
  • Can expand from one to thousands of loads
  • Dynamic load shed based on plant conditions
  • Changes to the load priorities set in seconds from operator’s HMI system
Easy Future Expansions
  • Updates / expansion made through device configuration, no additional wiring
Vendor Agnostic
  • Can integrate GE and non-GE IEDs
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