This book covers the digitalization of the grid from a practical point of view and helps you understand the principles used in the development of the standard and its multiple benefits of how they can help in all aspects of the specialists’ everyday work. The book demonstrates that the IEC 61850 standard is a new communications protocol and a completely new engineering environment using named data objects and attributes that support the interoperability between multifunctional devices from different manufacturers integrated in protection automation and control systems. It highlights the contribution of the standard in introducing high speed peer to peer communications that support different substation and wide area protection and automation related applications. You will be introduced to the different parts of the standard and their evolution from a substation centered approach towards its expansion targeting the coverage of the different domains of the smart grid. It approaches the subject from a practical point utilizing an expert’s years of experience. It provides numerous examples of the application of the standard for protection, automation, and control in smart grid. This is an excellent resource for utility specialists and researchers developing protection, automation and control devices in systems based on the standard; and by consultants helping with the implementation of the standard in different projects.