Advanced P&C Applications using Broadband Power Line Carrier

(B-PLC)

Nachum Sadan - Amperion Inc. Mark Majka - American Electric Power

Bruce Renz – Renz Consulting, LLC

About AEP and Amperion • Amperion is a private smart grid communications company located in

Lawrence MA • Inventor of Broadband Power Line Carrier (B-PLC) technology • AEP is the 4th largest investor owned utility with 5.1M customers in 11 states • AEP owns the largest transmission system - a 39,000 mile network that

includes more 765kV EHV lines than all other US transmission systems combined

• AEP is one of the largest generation companies with 38,000 MW of generating capacity

• AEP is headquartered in Columbus Ohio

Motivation for B-PLC Development

Pilot Wire Differential Protection

• Pilot wire used for transmission line protection is failing and causing relay misoperations • Copper-based wire is aging and deteriorating due to corrosion • Phone companies are phasing out the service • Yet pilot wire is a simple to install and accurate scheme • Fiber is an alternative but is costly and not always available • B-PLC was developed to be a cost effective pilot wire replacement

Conventional Powerline Carrier Diagram

Broadband Powerline Carrier Diagram

Line Trap Not Required

Surge Arrester

Coupler Base

Differential Box Phoenix

Broadband Powerline Coupling

C

L

Differential (multi-phase) Coupling

• Redundancy protection for single phase faults • Noise cancellation increases SNR • Reduced emissions • 2-Phase differential coupling in production • Dual 2-Phase differential coupling in

development • 3-phase coupling in development

Broadband PLC System Components

B-PLC Coupler

Phoenix Gateway

Fully Integrated & Field Tested Product Set

2006 – 2011

Jointly with AEP

Differential Box

B-PLC Timeline & Milestones • 2006 – 46kV 0.5 mile POC demo in Charleston WVA

– SCADA and POTT simulation tests

• 2007 to 2008 - 69kV 5 mile test in Newark Ohio – 3 links with repeating; longest point to point link of 2.6 miles

• 2009 – 69kV 5 mile trial network in Newark Ohio – 2 links with repeating; longest point to point link of 4.4 miles

• 2010 – Current differential line protection – Fault simulation tests in lab and field with GE and SEL relays – Single 138kV link over 3.8 miles

• 2011 – Transition from R&D to commercial deployments – Focus on pilot wire replacements

Charleston WVA 46kV Demo

5.1 Mile 69kV Test Network

Xmission Pole 41

0.766 miles

1.724

miles

2.640 miles Heath

Station Granville Station

W. Granville Station

Views From Spectrum Analyzers in Two Stations

West Granville shows all 3 BPLC links Heath shows all 3 BPLC links

BPLC Links use 5Mhz bands Channel 2: 8 to 13Mhz Channel 4: 18 to 23Mhz

Channel 6: 29 to 34Mhz

B-PLC Modulation including Notching

Current Differential Communication Requirements

System Clock: AdaptiveHS Clock: AdaptiveClock Recovery: Enabled

Relay-1GE L90

Relay-2GE L90

TDM-2TDM-1

System Clock: InternalHS Clock: InternalClock Recovery: Disabled

BPL Modem 1

BPLRepeater

BPL Modem 2

R B

B

Ch. 4 Ch. 5

R

Serial-164kbps

Serial-264kbpsRequirements:

Max Loop Latency 66msMax Channel Asymmetry 1.5ms

BPLC

AEP Lab Test Results L-90 to L-90 L90 + TDM

Converter Over BPLC One hop min

Over BPLC One hop max

Over BPLC Two hops min

Over BPLC Two hops max

20.68 24.91 31.25 38.39 40.08 46.19

421 to 421 421 + MB Converter

Over BPLC One hop min

Over BPLC One hop max

Over BPLC Two hops min

Over BPLC Two hops max

27.98 32.79 40.80 44.88 48.06 53.28

• All results are fault trip times in milliseconds • GE L90 using 64Kbps Current Differential scheme • SEL421 using Mirrored Bits protocol and POTT scheme • Test results provided basis to proceed with field testing

Repeating Station

Station B

B-PLC Line Protection Field Tests

Field Test Phase Fault Results

AEP’s Experience • AEP has approximately 300 Pilot Wire systems in service • Pilot wire relaying has aged to the point that it is no longer reliable • Replacement programs include Fiber, Conventional PLC, and B-PLC • Most pilot wire relaying involves circuits mileage of less than 10 miles • Fiber can be cost prohibitive in AEP’s rehab program • Conventional PLC is not desirable because of the shortness of the line

mileage and extra equipment needed i.e. Line Trap(s) & Line Tuner(s). And it does not support Current Differential relaying

• With B-PLC, AEP can use the existing transmission lines, B-PLC can be configured in a Current Differential relay scheme and B-PLC has the capability to support other functions like SCADA, video surveillance, synchrophasor and data transfer

• B-PLC is a desirable alternative

69kV Commercial Deployments

Cornerstone

Millbrook Park

3.12 miles

Commissioning Q1 2012

69kV Commercial Deployments

Highland Wurtland Dow Chemical

Raceland 0.19 miles

2.93 miles 3.0 miles

Commissioning Q1 2012

B-PLC Summary • B-PLC can be used to connect substations over transmission, sub-

transmission and distribution lines • B-PLC supports POTT, DCB and current differential protection - the most

accurate and reliable protection scheme • Fiber is often too costly for lower voltage substations and not always

available • Broadband PLC provides a ready-to-deploy, cost effective alternative • Broadband connectivity between stations supports multiple future smart

grid applications, in addition to protective relaying • At the Distribution level, coordination will become more difficult with

more distributed generation and multiple terminal points

Q&A

Thank You! Broadband Power Line Carrier (B-PLC)

Enabling Core Applications Today

and a Platform for Tomorrow’s

Transmission Smart Grid

Nachum Sadan - Amperion Inc.

nachum@amperion.com (978) 569 2030

Mark Majka - American Electric Power mgmajka@aep.com

(614) 552 1197 Bruce Renz – Renz Consulting, LLC

bruce@amperion.com (614) 880 9918