...of truly interoperable systems requires the system integrator to be able to handle IEC 61850 compliant devices from different manufacturers with its’ proprietary engineering tools. The same holds true for any maintenance steps as well. The requirement for easy integration and maintenance of systems composed of devices from different suppliers calls for a strong formal description of the devices and of the complete system at least from the communication point of view. This also includes the function allocation and the single line diagram of the substation. This is provided by the XML-based Substation Configuration description Language (SCL) being part of IEC 61850. Therefore, not only the information between IEDs from different suppliers is exchanged in a standardized way, but also engineering information between tools of different suppliers and system integrators. The information according to SCL may be stored together with the system documentation and re-used in any maintenance situation as well as in case of evolving tools or changing responsibilities for system maintenance, if the system is compliant to IEC 61850. Owing solely to the description power of SCL, future plug-and-play capabilities can be realized. --> back to IEC 61850 start page