Pacific Gas and Electric recently produced and implemented a new series of protection design standards. Painful lessons learned in previous standard rollouts revealed that issuing a new set of prints was not adequate. The presenters in this session will discuss best practices in implementing new design standards. This latest standard, titled Sustainable Modular Protection (SMP) Standard, is an integrated standard that relies on a mix of DNP communication to the relays and a mix of relay pushbuttons and panel mounted control switches for local switching and remote visibility and control. The main categories that go into a best practice for creating and rolling out a new protection design standard are: (1) Relay Selection, (2) Prints, (3) Job Aids and (4) Training. Multiple issues under these four main areas will be discussed. Because of the work around these areas, there were few issues in the field during standard development rollout, resulting in satisfied user groups.

Key Takeaways

• Best practice for creating and rolling out a new protection design standard
• Effective methods to implement new relay design standards for both large and smaller utilities.