Semantic smart grid services: Enabling a standards-compliant Internet of energy platform with IEC 61850 and OPC UA

Large scale dissemination of power grid entities such as distributed energy resources (DERs), electric vehicles (EVs), and smart meters has provided diverse challenges for Smart Grid automation. Novel control models such as virtual power plants (VPPs), microgrids, and smart houses introduce a new set of automation and integration demands that surpass capabilities of currently deployed solutions. Therefore, there is a strong need for finding an alternative technical approach, which can resolve identified issues and fulfill automation prerequisites implied by the Smart Grid vision. This paper presents a novel standards-compliant solution for accelerated Smart Grid integration and automation based on semantic services. Accordingly, two most influential industrial automation standards, IEC 61850 and OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA) have been extensively analyzed in order to provide a value-added service-oriented integration framework for the Smart Grid.