Substation automation system with protection functions

1. A Substation Automation (SA) system comprising:

at least one protection module configured to perform protection functions for a bay of a substation of an electric power system,

wherein the at least one protection module is connected via a process bus to measurement equipment and operating equipment for primary switchgear associated with the bay,

wherein the SA system is configured to transmit, from the process bus to a remote redundancy facility, process values measured by the measurement equipment

wherein the SA system is configured to receive, from the remote redundancy facility, redundancy protection commands directed to the operating equipment, and to forward, via the process bus, the received protection commands to the operating equipment,

wherein the remote redundancy facility comprises a protection server for a plurality of SA systems, each of the plurality of SA systems being configured to respectively perform protection functions for corresponding bays of a substation of an electric power distribution system,

wherein the remote redundancy facility is remote from the SA systems, and

wherein the protection server is configured to run redundant protection functions and to transmit, to the plurality of SA systems, redundancy protection commands to be executed by the respective SA systems for the corresponding bays, respectively.

2. The SA system of claim 1 , wherein:

the protection server is configured to receive, from at least one of the SA systems, network messages including process values measured by measurement equipment associated with a corresponding one of the bays; and

the protection server is configured to transmit to the at least one of the SA systems network messages including protection commands directed to operating equipment associated with the corresponding one of the bays.

3. The SA system of claim 1 , wherein:

the protection server comprises a plurality of protection modules; and

each of the protection modules is respectively associated with at least one protection function of a specific bay of a substation, and is configured to receive process values measured by measurement equipment respectively associated with that specific bay, and to transmit protection commands to operating equipment respectively associated with that specific bay.

4. The SA system of claim 1 , wherein the protection server comprises a plurality of communication modules, each of the communication modules being dedicated to a respective communication link between the protection server and one substation.

5. The SA system of claim 1 , wherein the remote redundancy facility is comprised in a Network Control Center of the electric power distribution system.

6. The SA system of claim 1 , comprising:

a gateway connected to the process bus,

wherein the gateway is configured to:

communicate with the remote redundancy facility;

forward to the remote redundancy facility network messages including the process values from the measurement equipment; and

forward to the operating equipment protection commands included in network messages received from the remote redundancy facility.

7. The SA system of claim 6 , wherein the at least one protection module is an Intelligent Electronic Device configured to communicate with at least one of the measurement equipment and operating equipment via the process bus, and

wherein the Intelligent Electronic Device is connected to the gateway via a substation communication network.

8. The SA system of claim 6 , wherein the gateway is connected to at least one of the measurement equipment and the operating equipment via a redundant substation communication network.

9. The SA system of claim 1 , wherein the substation is a medium-voltage substation.