Broadband Satellite for Remote Station Monitoring Chris Francis, P.Eng. BC Hydro

What to use when your site is too remote for conventional communication channels: Satellite!

History In Sept 2004, we evaluated Hughes/Direcway geostationary broadband satellite equipment for use in a telemetry application.

Summary Info Cost ~ 1k$ equip + 90$/ month. & internet at any site, anywhere. An “always on” data connection.

Communication Performance 99.6% availability (well...). Typical round trip times between 800 and 1700 ms. Hughes system maintenance daily (3-9 min).

BC Hydro Background BC Hydro monitors and controls 100s of switching and generating stations throughout the province.

Independent Power Producers In BC, new power generation will come from the “private sector”. For generators under 10 MW, a dial-up is required for data.

The First Two Sites: Located between Port Alberni and Uculet on Vancouver Island: Marion 3 Creek - a 4.2 MW Hydro Plant South Sutton Cr - a 5.1 MW Hydro Plant

Communication Details “Data Concentrator” - Distributed Network Protocol (DNP3) over TCP/IP. Polling at one minute intervals. After ten minutes of “no-replys” a warning is issued to the operator.

Communication Diagram

Satellite Broadband: Security & Risk Control of power system - not there yet. Telemetry only - ok. Open protocol presents some risk of tampering.

Future of Satellite at BC Hydro Telemetry from new, under 10 MW, IPPs. Existing small stations ~ 30+ BCH sites in the interior.