IEC 61970-600-2:2021

Overview - IEC 61970-600-2:2021 (CGMES Exchange Profiles)

IEC 61970-600-2:2021 is the IEC standard that specifies the Exchange Profiles for the Common Grid Model Exchange Standard (CGMES) under the Energy Management System Application Program Interface (EMS-API) family. It defines the grid model profiles and related constraints used for consistent exchange of power system models between tools and organizations. The document references and reuses profiles from IEC 61970-450-series and IEC 61968-13 where identical, and supplies profile definitions where referenced profiles are not yet published. Machine-readable profile artifacts for model-driven development are provided as RDFS per IEC 61970-501 (with ED2 extension).

Key topics and technical requirements

• Profile definitions and constraints: Defines specific CGMES exchange profiles (core equipment, operation, short-circuit, steady-state hypothesis, topology, state variables, diagram layout, geographical location, dynamics, etc.) and any additional constraints applied to referenced profiles.
• Versioning and compatibility: Specifies version information for each CGMES profile to support interoperability across toolchains.
• Equipment boundary profile (EQBD): Documents EQBD (deprecated) for backward compatibility; notes alignment efforts between EQBD, EQBP and the equipment profile (EQ) and discusses boundary handling implications for DSOs and multi-utility schemes.
• Machine-readable schemas: Provides RDFS representations (for model-driven development) following IEC 61970-501:2006 and IEC 61970-501:ED2 when available.
• Interoperability guidance: Defines how CGMES profiles relate to other CIM standards and where restrictions or extensions apply.

Practical applications and who uses it

• Utility system operators (TSOs/DSOs): Exchange accurate common grid models for planning, outage coordination, and cross-organization studies.
• EMS/SCADA and planning tool vendors: Implement CGMES exchange profiles to ensure seamless data import/export and reduce manual mapping effort.
• Software integrators and consultants: Use the profile constraints and RDFS artifacts for model-driven integration and automated data pipelines.
• Protection and simulation engineers: Rely on defined short-circuit, dynamics and steady-state profiles for consistent study inputs.
• Regulators and multi-utility projects: Apply standardized boundaries and profile definitions to coordinate shared assets and system integrity protection schemes.

Related standards

• IEC 61970-450-series (CIM equipment and network profiles)
• IEC 61968-13 (integration profiles)
• IEC 61970-501:2006 and IEC 61970-501:ED2 (RDFS/model-driven schema guidance)

This standard is essential for organizations implementing CGMES exchanges, ensuring interoperability, version control and machine-readable model definitions across the power industry.