On June 29, a dedicated training session on IEC 61850 was held as part of the tutorial program of the IEEE PowerTech 2025 conference in Kiel. Around 15 participants from industry and academia attended the event, which was led by Antigona Selimaj and Alexander Geiger from the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Information Technology FIT.

IEC 61850 is an international standard that defines communication protocols for electrical substations, supporting interoperability, reliability, and efficiency across equipment from different vendors. The training offered a structured introduction to its architecture, core communication protocols such as MMS, GOOSE, and Sampled Measured Values (SMV), and the use of Substation Configuration Language (SCL) for system design.

PowerTech is the flagship conference of the IEEE Power & Energy Society (PES) in Europe, providing a premier forum for researchers and engineers in electric power and energy engineering to share results and ideas. This year’s theme, _Powering the Energy System Transformation_, addresses the global shift towards sustainable and resilient energy systems, bringing together researchers, industry experts, and policymakers to explore innovative solutions.

The IEC 61850 tutorial at PowerTech 2025 combined theoretical foundations with practical demonstrations, enabling participants to deepen their understanding of substation automation and apply IEC 61850 concepts to realistic scenarios. Feedback highlighted the value of bridging foundational knowledge with hands-on experience to support the development of modern, digital substations.