– Original Document–

GE Renewable Energy

Technical Documentation
Wind Turbine Generator Systems
All Turbine Types - Onshore

Technical Description
WindSCADA Secure Edition 1.0

Rev. 06 - EN 2018-10-30

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www.gerenewableenergy.com

All technical data is subject to change in line with ongoing technical development!

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GE Renewable Energy Technical Description

Table of Contents
Abbreviation List ................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 5
1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 6
2 WindSCADA System Offerings............................................................................................................................................................................ 6
2.1 WindSCADA Compact .................................................................................................................................................................................. 6
2.2 WindSCADA Standard .................................................................................................................................................................................. 8
2.3 WindSCADA Plus............................................................................................................................................................................................. 8
2.4 More than 200 WTGs .................................................................................................................................................................................... 8
2.5 Summary of System Functions ................................................................................................................................................................ 9
3 System Description................................................................................................................................................................................................ 10
3.1 Overview........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 10
3.2 WindSCADA System Overview ............................................................................................................................................................. 11
3.3 Environmental ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 13
4 Cybersecurity Features........................................................................................................................................................................................ 14
4.1 Anti-Virus ......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 14
4.2 Firewall at point of GE data connection (option) ......................................................................................................................... 14
4.3 Switch Hardening......................................................................................................................................................................................... 15
4.4 Secure Mode ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 15
4.5 Active Directory ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 15
4.6 Domain Controller ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 15
4.7 Backup Domain Controller ...................................................................................................................................................................... 15
4.8 Certificate Authority................................................................................................................................................................................... 15
4.9 Log File Management ................................................................................................................................................................................. 15
4.10 WindSCADA Secure Edition 1.0 Product Variants....................................................................................................................... 16
5 Wind Plant Fiber Optic Network ..................................................................................................................................................................... 17
5.1 Responsibilities ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 17
Customer Scope ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 17
Customer’s Fiber Optic Contractor Scope ................................................................................................................................................. 17
GE Scope ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 18
5.2 Single Mode Fiber Optic Cable Specification.................................................................................................................................. 18
5.3 Wind Farm Cable Distance Design Requirements ...................................................................................................................... 19
5.4 Windfarm Network Fiber Loops .......................................................................................................................................................... 19
6 System Compatibility............................................................................................................................................................................................ 20
7 System Interfaces ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 21
7.1 Modbus TCP/IP Client Interfaces to Customer Supplied Met Mast Dataloggers ......................................................... 21
7.2 Modbus TCP/IP Client Interface to Customer Supplied devices within the Substation ........................................... 21
7.3 Customer Integrated IO ............................................................................................................................................................................ 22
7.4 OPC ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 23
8 WindSCADA Telemetry Testing ....................................................................................................................................................................... 24

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GE Renewable Energy Technical Description

Abbreviation List
AD - Active Directory
AO - Analog Output
BDC - Backup Domain Controller
CA - Certificate Authority
COD - Commercial Operation Date
DC - Domain Controller
DO - Digital Output
GPS – Global Positioning System
GSM – Global System for Mobile Communications
HMI – Human Machine Interface
IO - Input / Output
LAN – Local Area Network
ODBC – Open Data Base Connectivity
OPC – Open Platform Communications, (formerly “OLE for Process Control”)
O&M – Operations and Maintenance
PC – Personal Computer
RTU - Remote Terminal Unit
SCADA – Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition
SIM – Subscriber Identity Module
SMS – Simple Messaging System
SQL – Structured Query Language
ST – Straight Tip
TCP/IP – Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol
UPS – Uninterruptible Power Supply
WTG – Wind Turbine Generator

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GE Renewable Energy Technical Description

1 Introduction
The GE Renewable Energy wind plant Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (WindSCADA) system is a secure
supervisory control and operational data management system for a wind plant (wind farm) consisting of GE wind
turbines. It is a fully integrated and easy-to-use system that improves productivity and profitability of a wind plant.
It is a seamless solution that provides high reliability, superior data integrity, open system access, cybersecurity
and advanced data management. The system includes fully integrated, powerful and flexible web-based operator
screens including a web-based wind plant level reporting system that allows operators, owners and other
stakeholders to monitor and analyze historical wind plant operation and performance. Dependent upon system
configuration, it is applicable to wind plants consisting of up to 500 wind turbine generators (WTGs). Cybersecurity
features include prevention of cleartext transmission on the network, prevention of insecure protocols such as
Telnet and FTP, integrated identity management services through Certificate Authority and Active Directory.

Featuring a range of unified and integrated modules to meet individual wind plant site requirements, the GE
WindSCADA system allows information to be shared freely between wind plant assets and enterprise
applications, helping organizations to improve operational efficiencies. Modules are focused on specific
applications such as real time data collection, historical data collection, archiving, alarm management and
notification, enterprise interfaces, and other specific requirements, and can be implemented individually or as part
of an overall solution. The open architecture of the GE Renewable Energy WindSCADA system allows wind plant
operators to start with a basic monitoring, control and reporting system, and to expand as needed to meet the
evolving requirements of wind plant operations.

2 WindSCADA System Offerings

GE WindSCADA is available through the following packages:

2.1 WindSCADA Compact

WindSCADA Compact is specifically designed for small wind plants that do not have a substation or control room
for the standard WindSCADA rack. The WindSCADA hardware is installed inside a compact enclosure that is
mounted inside the WTG tower or small control room.
The system provides the same features and functionality as WindSCADA Standard with the following restrictions
and limitations:
 Limited to wind plants of less than 20 GE onshore wind turbines
 UPS backup time of ten minutes
 Historical data is limited to 1 year of wind plant operational and alarm data records. No additional
backup is provided. Customers should schedule periodic backup 1.
 Lifetime aggregated data is limited to 10 years

1
Available with SCADA11.0 SP2 and newer, 45 days for older version

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 No CD or DVD writer for backup purposes. Customers can utilize standard portable USB devices
(DVD, external hard drive, etc.) for backup.
 WindSCADA compact does not come with an OPC capability. 5,000 tags can be optionally added if
needed.
 Five simultaneous SCADA connection sessions are included, and additional five SiteWebHMI
connections can be optionally added.
The Compact SCADA enclosure includes a network switch for network connectivity. Product options components
that can be installed within the enclosure while maintaining certification compliance:

1. GE managed WAN router for remote monitoring service

2. Extra WindSCADA met mast interface PC
3. CMS server instance
4. Compact server for security package
5. GPS time server
Any additional devices would require re-evaluating certification compliance.
The primary HMI at the turbine level is implemented via web-based screens. WindSCADA also provides a web-
based HMI for supervisory control at the wind farm level and for remote access.
The system supports connectivity to GE met mast interfaces, but no additional device (e.g. dataloggers) can be
installed in the WindSCADA Compact enclosure due to space limitation.
Please refer to section 2.5 for additional options.

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GE Renewable Energy Technical Description

2.2 WindSCADA Standard

The WindSCADA Standard system is designed for customers who want the benefits of a system with
comprehensive plant-level and unit-level user interface screens, advanced data manipulation and alarming
functions as well as an integrated SQL database that enables comprehensive reporting on plant and unit metrics.
The system database stores three years of detailed ten-minute records, as well as 20 years of key operational
data (aggregated). The WindSCADA Standard configuration supports up to 200 WTGs.

An External Interface Package can be ordered as an option. This package includes an OPC Server interface for
enabling real-time communications with 3rd party applications, an ODBC interface and a single Modbus TCP/IP
interface to the customer supplied substation device (i.e. RTU). The RTU must be pre-qualified by GE. WindSCADA
Standard is capable of sending 50,000 tags out-of-the-box. If more tags are required, OPC scalability is possible by
adding additional servers at the ratio of one server / 50,000 tags. Additional information on OPC can be found in
section 0.

2.3 WindSCADA Plus

The WindSCADA Plus system is intended for customers who want the WindSCADA Standard functions and also
wish to extend connectivity and interoperability with other systems. The system provides a number of pre-
configured SQL scripts and jobs to facilitate ODBC interactions with the historical data. The WindSCADA Plus - 200
configuration supports up to 200 WTGs.

The WindSCADA Plus system builds upon the standard WindSCADA system, including the following items:

 Global Positioning System (GPS) Time Synchronization server with antenna

 Extended UPS Backup Time (extends backup time from 30 to 60 minutes)
 External Interface
 OPC Server application and configuration for providing real-time wind plant data to the
customer-supplied OPC Client. The WindSCADA Plus is capable of sending 50,000 tags out-of-
the-box. If more tags are required, OPC scalability is possible by adding additional servers at the
ratio of one server / 50,000 tags. Additional information on OPC can be found in section 7.4.
 Open DataBase Connectivity (ODBC) Interface Configuration and Documentation for interface to
the SQL historical database (max limited by number of turbines, data points and number of days)
 One Modbus TCP/IP interface to 3rd party system, such as a substation RTU (pre-qualification
required by GE)

2.4 More than 200 WTGs

For Wind Farms that have more than 200 WTG up to 500 WTG, a discussion with GE is required in order to provide
a suitable system. Detailed system configuration and specification will be provided after the discussion.

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2.5 Summary of System Functions

Function WindSCADA WindSCADA WindSCADA

Compact Standard Plus - 200
Number of WTGs supported 20 200 200

OPC Server Option Yes Yes

OPC tag capability out-of-the-box 0 50,000

Additional OPC tags Option Option

(+5,000 tags) (+50,000 tags per additional
server)
Maximum # of additional OPC servers 1 2 4
additional additional additional
Comprehensive Web-based user interface screens and wind Yes Yes Yes
plant level reporting and analytics
Web-based user interface (read-only) for small handheld Yes Yes Yes
devices (Blackberry, iPhone, and PDA Windows Mobile)
Integrated wind plant level database with detailed ten-minute 1 year three years three years
records / aggregated key operational data retention* / 10 retention / 20 retention /
year aggregated years 20 years
lifetime lifetime
aggregated aggregated
Interface to the customer met mast datalogger Option Option Option

Site Fiber Optic Network Design Option Option Option

(Loop, Layout & Patch Panel Connections )
GPS time synchronization system Option Option Yes

UPS backup time 10 min 30 min 60 min

Remote alarm notification (incl. SMS, email) Option Option Option

One desktop PC for user interface visualization Option Option Option

Rack mounted keyboard and monitor No Yes Yes

ODBC interface configuration and documentation for the Option Yes

interface to the SQL historical database
Customer server for use by the customer for running terminal No Yes
services and other customer applications
OPC-DA client for interfacing with OPC-DA devices within the No Yes
windfarm (16tags/server & 3 servers)
Modbus TCP/IP Client Interface for interface to Modbus TCP/IP Option Option (one
devices within the windfarm. Specific device configuration is External Modbus
extra. Interfaces TCP/IP
Package Option client
interface
included,
additional
interfaces
can be
provided as
options)
* Available with SCADA11.0 SP2 and newer

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GE Renewable Energy Technical Description

3 System Description
3.1 Overview
The GE Renewable Energy WindSCADA system is designed with a flexible architecture in order to support the
broad requirements of different applications and to address the various functions of wind plant monitoring,
control, visualization, and reporting. The system can expand to support the addition of incremental wind farm
assets, such as additional GE WTGs, the GE WindCONTROL wind park management system, meteorological
dataloggers, and substation/utility interfaces. Customer-supplied device interfaces require validation by GE.

The schematics below portray how the wind farm network, WindSCADA system, WindCONTROL system and
turbines are all connected on the wind farm network:

Figure 1: Wind Farm Network System Topology

NOTICE
Not All Components or Systems May Be Included in a Standard Project.

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3.2 WindSCADA System Overview

Figure 2: WindSCADA Standard and WindSCADA Plus System

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GE Renewable Energy Technical Description

Figure 3: WindSCADA Compact System

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GE Renewable Energy Technical Description

The WindSCADA system consists of the following primary subsystems:

 Wind Plant Local Area Network (SCADA LAN) is an Ethernet fiber optic-based system that connects
all GE WTGs that are within the wind plant to the WindSCADA rack, which is typically located in the
wind plant substation or O&M building. The LAN also connects the optional WindCONTROL plant-
level control system, the optional Substation Interface Device and optional approved/validated
customer-supplied devices to the WindSCADA system.
 WindSCADA real-time system is the collection of services and applications which gather data from
the WTGs and auxiliary systems (WindCONTROL, substation, met masts) and present them in real-
time to the client interfaces. It resides primarily on the servers in the SCADA rack but includes
applications running on the substation and met mast interface devices.
 WindSCADA historical system includes the SQL database of plant operational data, services which
collect the historical (ten-min) records from the WTGs and auxiliary systems, as well as the reporting
service for querying and running reports on this data.

3.3 Environmental
For WindSCADA Standard and Plus configurations, the SCADA server rack is typically located in the substation
control room or in an adjacent O&M building. The WindSCADA Standard and WindSCADA Plus equipment must be
located in an environmentally controlled (operating temperature +20°C +/- 25 %, protected against rain, dust,
moisture, etc.) location. Floor space allowance for the rack must be one square meter. The WindSCADA Standard
and WindSCADA Plus racks are 1,850 mm tall x 625 mm wide x 1,200 mm deep and weighs about 500 kg. Cable
entry can be through either the top or bottom of the rack. 48 inches / 1.2 meters must be allowed in the front and
the back of the rack for the doors to open. Power requirements are typically:

 Europe and 50 Hz market region: one circuit 230 VAC / 50 Hz / 16 A or

 60 Hz market region: two circuits of 120 VAC / 60 Hz / 30 A / NEMA L5-30R Outlet

For the WindSCADA Compact configuration the SCADA hardware is designed to be installed inside a WindSCADA
Compact enclosure inside the WTG. For WindSCADA Compact, GE provides all power connections, and all
equipment supplied is environmentally compatible with other control equipment within the WTG. The compact
enclosure accepts 230 VAC, 50 or 60 Hz, 15 A, which is standard for GE turbine auxiliary power supply. The
Universal Cabinet which houses WindSCADA Compact is 2,100 mm tall x 600 wide x 600 mm deep and weighs
about 300 kg.

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GE Renewable Energy Technical Description

4 Cybersecurity Features
WindSCADA Secure Edition provides a comprehensive cybersecurity solution. Cybersecurity is completely
integrated into the wind farm's industrial control system via:

 Anti-virus software,
 A customer-administered firewall at the point of GE's data connection (option),
 Hardening of the network switches,
 Identity Management Services, for example Certificate Authority, Active Directory, and Domain
Controller,
 Patch Validation Services (option) provide long-term support to keep pace with the evolving nature
of cybersecurity concerns.

4.1 Anti-Virus
WindSCADA ships with anti-virus software to alert system administrators of any detected malware. Customers
are encouraged to keep their anti-virus up to date.

4.2 Firewall at point of GE data connection (option)

A firewall device may be installed between the wind farm network and the GE data connection. Firewall
administration is in the customer's scope of responsibilities. This firewall provides the customer with control over
the segregation point between their wind farm network and GE's network. To support remote site access for GE
personnel, the firewall configuration requirements can be found in the "Technical Documentation Wind Turbine
Generator Systems, All Turbine Types, Technical Description, Wide Area Network Connectivity Requirements,"
document.

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4.3 Switch Hardening

All SCADA ethernet switches are hardened via the use of Radius, 802 1.x Supplicant and the identity management
services. When a wind turbine technician connects his or her laptop to a wind turbine switch via an Ethernet
cable, he or she will be required to authenticate to the site's SCADA network via the credentials assigned through
the site SCADA system. Unauthorized users will not be able to access the network via the hardened switches. All
services unnecessary for wind farm operation will be disabled on the network switches. Administrating user
access to the equipment is in the customer's scope.

4.4 Secure Mode

Secure Edition 1.0 provides identity management capabilities that enable the wind turbine controllers to operate
in a "Secure Mode”. Turbine controllers in "secure mode" provide a variety of important cybersecurity benefits. For
example, in secure mode unencrypted plaintext transmissions to and from the controller are unnecessary.
Furthermore, securing the controllers prevents the use of the insecure Telnet and FTP protocols.

4.5 Active Directory

Active Directory (AD) provides a directory service, storing objects such as users, roles, computers, and groups.
Active Directory and Domain Controller work together to provide user authentication and identify management.

4.6 Domain Controller

The Domain Controller (DC) runs the Windows Server operating system and has Active Directory Domain Services
installed. The Domain Controller responds to security authentication requests within the Windows domain.

4.7 Backup Domain Controller

The Backup Domain Controller (BDC) provides customers with a degree of redundancy. If the primary domain
controller has an issue, the Backup Domain Controller will continue to provide user authentication services.

4.8 Certificate Authority

The Certificate Authority (CA) offers signed certificates between users and services operating in the context of the
Domain. The certificate authority issues digital certificates that certify the ownership of a public key by the named
subject of the certificate. The CA provides a trusted third party, trusted both by the owner of the certificate and
the consumer of the certificate to have valid credentials. The CA enables encryption technologies such as SSL and
HTTPS.

The combination of Active Directory, Domain Controller and Certificate Authority provide key identity
management capabilities that are at the heart of securing access to the turbine controllers, the network switches
and WindSCADA.

4.9 Log File Management

Secure Edition 1.0 also provides syslog logging to facilitate a system access investigation. The syslog captures
logging information from all configured systems, e.g., network switches. It will capture security logging from the
wind turbine controllers as well.

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4.10 WindSCADA Secure Edition 1.0 Product Variants

The specific Cybersecurity features provided vary on the basis of which WindSCADA variant is selected and are
detailed in the table below:

WindSCADA WindSCADA
Function WindSCADA Standard
Compact Plus
Anti-Virus Yes Yes Yes

Backup Domain Controller No Yes Yes

Switch Hardening Yes Yes

Turbine “Secure Mode” feature Yes Yes

Domain Controller Optional Security Yes Yes

1
Active Directory Package Yes Yes

Certificate Authority Yes Yes

Log File Management Yes Yes

Firewall at GE data connection Option Option Option

1
Limited log file management and reporting functions

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5 Wind Plant Fiber Optic Network

The following defines GE requirements for the fiber optic cable within the wind plant network and details the
scope of work split between GE, the Customer, and the Customer’s fiber optic contractor. It is the customer’s
responsibility to ensure proper installation, termination, labeling, and testing of the fiber optic cable network.

The GE standard wind plant fiber optic design utilizes single mode 9/125 fiber cable. Any deviation from the fiber
optic specification in this section is considered a deviation from standard and must be agreed upon with GE.

5.1 Responsibilities
Customer Scope
 Procure single mode fiber optic cable per the specification defined within this document.
 Layout the fiber optic cable network according to the GE recommendation, with a minimum service
loop of 30 feet / 9 meters at the point where the cable termination is to take place (turbine,
meteorological interface, WindSCADA rack and WindCONTROL cabinet).
 Provide the communication drawings to GE showing the path of the fiber optic connections
throughout the wind farm, connections to turbine patch panels and connections to network switches
60 days prior to commissioning start.

Customer’s Fiber Optic Contractor Scope

 Pull the fiber optic cable through the grommets placed at the bottom of the various enclosures.
 Provide the fan-out kit with a total of twelve pigtails for every twelve-strand cable end. Typically, two
cable ends are pulled inside the turbine controller (in/out), which requires two fan-out kits with 24
pigtails (unless the turbine is at the end of the array). If met tower input arrives at a turbine then
three cables run into the unit and three fan out kits with 36 pigtails are required.
36 pigtails are also required, if a wind turbine generator is at a branch point within the fiber optic
network, this is called a 3-Way. Four twelve-strand fiber optic cables are the maximum supported.
The usage of four way WTGS must be limited, must not be following or preceding other branch points
within a fiber optic loop, and the quantity must not exceed one per site.
 Splice all the fiber optic strands using the fan-out kit of pigtails at the turbine controller, met tower,
substation, and O&M building.
 Connector type SC is universally used.
 Provide all the extra hardware that is not provided by GE (extra patch panels, inserts, fiber optic
connectors, etc.), if changes are made during project construction that are in variance from the
design provided to GE.
 Perform testing on all fiber optic terminations including splices by use of a qualified measurement
system at 1300 nm. Mark and inform the GE representative of any broken fibers.
 After the cable testing is complete, install all the fiber optic connectors at every turbine.
 Connect fiber strands within the fiber optic cable to the rear of wind farm equipment patch panels.

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 Use patch cables provided with GE equipment to patch turbines, WindSCADA, WindCONTROL and
other wind farm equipment to the local network. Patch cables must be installed running from the
front of the patch panel to the fiber optic switch included with the wind farm equipment.
 The Send and Receive fibers must be crossed once per connection to a fiber optic switch to ensure
upstream and downstream communication.
 Met mast fiber optics switch, cable from met mast to SCADA server.

GE Scope
 GE utilizes single-mode fiber within the wind plant network per default. Multi–mode cables are used
on an exception basis.
 Provide the fiber optic switches for the GE wind farm network, patch panels and patch cables for
every turbine controller, and in the WindSCADA rack and WindCONTROL cabinet.
 Provide the fiber optic cable inserts that are pre-installed inside the patch panels.
 If the Site Fiber Optic Network Design option is selected, GE will perform the fiber optic network loop
design and provide the fiber optic communication drawings showing the path of the fiber optic
connections throughout the wind farm, connections to turbine patch panels and connections to
network switches based on the customer supplied wind farm collection system drawing. The
collection system drawing must be provided to GE 70 days prior to commissioning start. The Site
Fiber Optic Network Design option does not include fiber laying, splicing, terminating or patching.

5.2 Single Mode Fiber Optic Cable Specification

 The cable must feature standard 9/125 single-mode fiber.
 The core tube must include twelve strands of fiber as a minimum. It must feature a high bandwidth
and must be designed for outside plant applications, underground duct or direct burial.
 Fiber optic cable that includes a steel core, which typically is used in overhead runs, cannot be
installed inside a WTG. Fiber optic cable used inside the WTG must not contain any metallic
materials due to requirement for isolation of voltage transients.
 The fiber optic cable must at a minimum comply with the characteristic in the table below:

Fiber Optic Type: Single Mode

Fiber quantity: 12
Fiber diameter: 9/125 Microns
0.4 @ 1300 nm dB/km
Maximum attenuation:
0.3 @ 1550 nm dB/km

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5.3 Wind Farm Cable Distance Design Requirements

 Single mode E9/125μm fiber optic cables are used for distances up to 20 km (12.4 miles) between
transmitter and receiver. Special equipment is required, if the distance is greater than 20 km (12.4
miles) with no intermediate splices and is not included in the standard scope of supply.
 The customer is responsible for informing GE, if the distances exceed 20 km (12.4 miles), so that the
appropriate hardware can be provided at an additional cost to the customer.

5.4 Windfarm Network Fiber Loops

The GE standard network switch configuration at the WindSCADA rack supports up to eight independent fiber
optic loops of up to 20 WTGs per loop. Up to eight additional networks (total 16 switches) can be added as an
option. If there are more than the standard eight switches, all switches are typically mounted in an additional
cabinet or rack.

Every loop must have a dedicated fiber optic cable backbone and a dedicated fiber optic switch. No more than one
fiber optic loop can be accommodated within a single fiber optic backbone. Splitters must not be utilized on a fiber
optic backbone to create multiple loops.

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6 System Compatibility
There are SCADA system compatibility requirements that are evaluated by GE Application Engineering when a
customer is integrating or adding new Mark Vle PLC turbines (non-Bachmann controller-based) into an existing
wind plant that has non-Mark VIe PLC turbines (Bachmann-based controller) wind turbines. In order to support
the Mark Vle PLC turbines, the existing wind plant level WindSCADA system needs to be WindSCADA Release 11.0
or later. Depending upon the existing WindSCADA system, this can require hardware and/or software
replacement/upgrade of the existing WindSCADA.

When adding new WTGs to an existing site, GE also typically upgrades all the existing WTG controller software to
the latest release to help assure end-to-end SCADA and controls reliability and interoperability. Customers must
also anticipate that a full re-commissioning of WindSCADA and WindCONTROL (if installed) may be required when
new WTGs are added to an existing site.

Customers adding new wind turbines to existing sites will require a new system to take advantage of the new
cybersecurity features added to the system architecture in 2015.

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7 System Interfaces
Note that there is a limit for auxiliary devices connected to the WindSCADA system. Auxiliary devices include met
mast dataloggers, RTU’s and GE WindCONTROL systems. The WindSCADA Compact can support up to five
auxiliary devices, the WindSCADA Standard and Plus up to twelve auxiliary devices with up to 50 data points per
auxiliary device. The WindSCADA Compact enclosure has space for two additional interfaces. If more than two
auxiliary inputs are required, additional enclosures will be required.

7.1 Modbus TCP/IP Client Interfaces to Customer Supplied Met Mast Dataloggers
GE presently supports an interface to Campbell Scientific CR1000 and CR3000 met mast dataloggers with the
capability to support other devices dependent upon datalogger communication capability and system validation
by GE. The customer is responsible for datalogger and fiber-optic cabling between the SCADA system entry point
and the met mast, as well as fiber optic switch.

The data from the met mast(s) is collected by the WindSCADA system for real-time operator displays. In addition,
the data is archived within the system database for historical reporting purposes.

Customer input is required in a comma-separated file format with the following information:
 Met Customer Input Per point
 Met Device Modbus Slave Address
 Met Device IP Address
 Modbus Register Address
 Data Point Description
 Data point units
 Data Point Type (16 bit = Single and 32 bit = DWORD)
 Data Point Signed or Unsigned. Data point Multiplier or Scaling/Conversion Factor
 Data point Normal Position or Active State of the Data Point
 Data Point Precision

7.2 Modbus TCP/IP Client Interface to Customer Supplied devices within the
Substation
Substation device interfaces can be supported as an option. GE presently supports interfaces to GE D20, GE D25,
SEL 2030, SEL 2032, SEL 3332, SEL 3551, and Orion 5R. Other devices can be capable of being supported
dependent upon system validation by GE.

Included in the GE scope is the configuration of an interface of up to 200 data points and development of one
WindSCADA system user interface screen to display this data. Typically, up to ten control outputs (i.e. Open
Breaker) can be supported. GE does not support Close Breaker controls due to the lack of Select-Check-Before
Operate functionality within the WindSCADA system.

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For every Modbus instance, an instance of the Modbus interface software is required. Currently only one instance
of the Modbus interface software can run on a single virtual machine. That means for every instance of a Modbus
device an additional virtual machine is required.

Customer input is required in a comma-separated file format with the following information:

 SSI Customer Input Per point

 Substation Device Modbus Slave Address
 Substation Device IP Address
 Modbus Register Address
 Data Point Description
 Data point units
 Data Point Type (16 bit = Single and 32 bit = DWORD)
 Data Point Signed or Unsigned. Data point Multiplier or Scaling/Conversion Factor
 Data point Normal Position or Active State of the Data Point
 Data Point Precision

7.3 Customer Integrated IO

Customer Integrated IO enables customers to add external sensors and systems at the wind turbine level. This
option applies to all WindSCADA offerings, except WindSCADA Compact. The customer can read a maximum of 16
non-standard IOs per turbine. IOs can be located both up-tower and down-tower. WindSCADA will support all
current data types to configure digital and analog IOs. The web-based HMI will display real-time values and reports
for non-standard inputs.

Up to two sets of additional IOs are supported per turbine, one set down-tower and one set up tower. A cabinet
needs to be provided and installed for every IO set. Each IO cabinet can contain up to 16 non-standard IO points,
but each turbine can only accommodate a maximum of 16 non-standard IOs.

Both digital and analog inputs and outputs are supported. Additionally, control commands that set an AO or a DO
are supported. The IO data will be connected via Modbus TCP to the SCADA system. The IO data are not available
to the turbine controller.

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7.4 OPC
GE WindSCADA provides an external data interface via the Open Platform Communications (OPC) Data Access
(DA) specification. OPC DA supports real-time data only. OPC-DA can be used to send 1-second resolution data to
external data receivers such as the customer’s enterprise historian database or a third-party such as an
Independent System Operator. As mentioned earlier, the Compact variant of WindSCADA provides a maximum of
5,000 tags. OPC tag limits associated with the different variants of WindSCADA are defined in section 2.5. The
system can be configured to send more than 50,000 OPC tags only by adding additional servers to the
WindSCADA rack. Depending on the number of turbines that a given site has, and the customer’s requirements for
1-second tags, GE recommends purchasing sufficient servers to process the data transfer within the capability of
the system.

GE does not recommend using the SCADA Remote server as OPC DA source because it is challenging to validate
that performance will be acceptable when this server may also be used for other processes such as receiving the
OPC data and passing it along to external applications, such as PowerUp and Toolbox.

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8 WindSCADA Telemetry Testing

To meet certain utility or customer requirements, GE offers early WindSCADA Telemetry Testing. This will allow
park operators to verify WindSCADA interfaces as well as to use WindSCADA for turbine control and monitoring
during the commissioning process. Data used during telemetry testing will be generated using a data simulator.
The simulator generates random data for all turbine data points reported to SCADA. The data simulator may also
populate the WindSCADA historical database with random data to aid in verifying reporting capabilities. GE will
facilitate interface check-out by providing functional OPC Server and Modbus Master Interfaces. The customer will
identify a point of contact who can facilitate interface check-out by providing functional OPC client or Modbus
slave interfaces. The customer should have the ability to send and change data for items sent to WindSCADA and
verify data values for items sent from WindSCADA.

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