JCS_V2_N1_RP3 Y. Jaganmohan Reddy Pavan Kumar Y.V. K. Padma Raju Anilkumar Ramsesh Journal on Communication Engineering and Systems 2277-5242 2 1 14 25 Distributed Energy Resources (DER), Link Redundancy Module (LRM), Generic Object Oriented Substation Events (GOOSE), Intelligent Electronic Device (IED), Substation Automation Systems (SAS), Link Status List (LSL), Manufacturing Message Specifications (MMS), Sampled Values (SV) Substation Automation Networks are increasingly deployed with devices adhering to IEC 61850 communication standards. Substation equipment can be categorized as critical infrastructure and hence the expectation on the availability and reliability is high. The high levels of availability in substations are required for the electronic devices and communication devices as well. Due to the nature of the application, the communication latency of the substation events shall be very high due to the criticality of the information carried in the network. One of the methods to improve the availability of the communication system is to provide redundancy. The IEC 61850 communication is based on the Ethernet and hence carries some disadvantages like very fast switchover and recovery in the event of link or switch failures. The paper aims at study of the redundant communication paths, recovery scenarios, tolerance levels, fault detection and associated impact on the communications. The above study is performed in the context of an automation system for integrating the Distributed Energy Sources to the Electrical Power System. November 2012 - January 2013 Copyright © 2013 i-manager publications. All rights reserved. i-manager Publications http://www.imanagerpublications.com/Article.aspx?ArticleId=2073