A Brief History of SCADA/EMS
As remembered by Jerry Russell
Introduction:
Supervisory Control, Data Acquisition, and Automatic Generation Control, were used in Electric Utility power system control for over sixty years. Each had separate beginnings, went through several evolutions in implementation, and eventually came together with Network Analysis and other functions to become computer based Energy Management Systems. This writing will attempt to trace their history and evolution from approximately 1950 to 2000. This corresponds to my involvement with these systems. I began working in the Power System Control field in 1954, with Iowa Power and Light Company, in their system operation group, while finishing up my EE degree at Iowa State. On graduating I became a field engineer with Westinghous Electric Corporation working on Supervisory Control and Telemetry sytems. In 1962 I moved to Pittsburg Pa and became a design engineer on Analog AGC systems. This work evolved to computer based SCADA and AGC systems by 1968. I then left Westinghouse and went to work for Control Data. The technology evolved to computer based SCADA, AGC, Nework Analysis, and forecast and scheduling functions( Energy Management Systems). During my years at CDC I did design, programming, led a developement group, did lots of marketing support, and acted as a consultant to management. There are many others more qualified than I to write this history, however as I have been asked to do it, I will give it a try. At least I was involved in this industry probably longer than most people. My career in Power Systems Control has been very rewarding. Over the years I have worked with just about every Utility in the United States, all provinces of Canada, all countries in South America and Europe, China, Japan, South Africa, Egypt, Australia, and the Middle East. The travel and the opportunity to work with people all over the world has been wonderful and I have many fond memories of the places and people.
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