Enhancing the Safety and Reliability of a Major Pipeline System With Main-Tie-Main, Arc-Flash, and Fast Bus Protection Schemes Using IEC 61850 Over a Software-Defined Network

The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) transports North Slope crude oil in Alaska from pump stations in Prudhoe Bay all the way to Valdez. The Valdez Marine Terminal is the northernmost ice-free port in North America, where tankers are loaded to deliver the critical crude oil supply to market. The Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, the operator of the TAPS, requires a reliable, safe, and redundant power supply for efficient and safe operation. Any electric power disruption and the associated downtime severely impacts the flow of oil through the pipeline and the loading of the tankers. The electric power reliability and safety is improved via a custom main-tie-main scheme, along with an arc-flash and fast bus protection scheme, using the high-speed IEC 61850 Generic Object-Oriented Substation Event protocol. This solution is also implemented with cybersecurity best practices that are resilient to external threats using a softwaredefined network supporting a zero-trust architecture and security gateways. This paper dives deeper into the objectives, design philosophy, communications architecture, and testing procedure for this solution. The scheme is standardized and successfully commissioned into service at Valdez Marine Terminal for one medium-voltage and two low-voltage switchgear facilities in 2019. This innovative solution is then scaled to include further switchgear facilities from 2019 to the present.