ENGINEERING AND TESTING EXPERIENCE OF REDUNDANT PROCESS BUS NETWORK IN SUBSTATION BOR 6

One of the key concepts for improving the availability and resilience of protection and control systems in substations is the implementation of network protocols that provide seamless failover against network component failures, such as PRP (Parallel Redundancy Protocol) and HSR (High Availability Seamless Redundancy). Their theoretical foundations, technical requirements, functional descriptions, and network topologies are extensively defined in the relevant IEC standards and technical recommendations. However, the real benefits and challenges of these protocols become apparent only through their application in real-world conditions—not only in terms of direct implementation but also in their full integration into existing engineering processes (specification, design, factory and site acceptance testing) and operational maintenance procedures. This paper presents the first major implementation of the PRP protocol in Serbia, realised in the new 400/110 kV Bor 6 substation project. Particular emphasis is placed on the decisions made during the design of the substation network infrastructure, the allocation of protection and control functions, with the aim of achieving the standard functionalities of a substation of this size and enhancing system reliability and availability. In addition to the application of standard IEC 61850 solutions (MMS, GOOSE messages), digitalized measurement values (Sampled Values) were used to implement the busbar protection function and distributing busbar voltage values to all intelligent devices requiring these values. This paper provides insights into the experiences, challenges, and results achieved in applying these modern technological solutions.