Schneider Electric has three software lines that get confused: EcoStruxure Power Operation (formerly Power SCADA Operation and StruxureWare PowerSCADA Expert), the power network SCADA; Power Monitoring Expert (PME), the energy and power quality monitoring software; and Citect SCADA, now AVEVA Plant SCADA, the plant SCADA.
What it is and where it is used
PowerSCADA Expert, Power Monitoring Expert (PME) and Citect SCADA are three software lines from Schneider Electric (Citect now in the AVEVA portfolio) found in industrial substations, large buildings and process plants. They get confused because they share screens, meters and sometimes the same server, but each plays a different role:
- EcoStruxure Power Operation, formerly Power SCADA Operation and before that StruxureWare PowerSCADA Expert: the power network SCADA, for data acquisition, control and supervision of the electrical distribution.
- Power Monitoring Expert (PME): energy and power quality monitoring, with reports.
- Citect SCADA, now AVEVA Plant SCADA: the plant or process SCADA.
For the general concept, read substation SCADA and HMI system.
Variants: Power Operation, PowerSCADA Expert, PME and Citect
| Product | Application | Main difference |
|---|---|---|
| EcoStruxure Power Operation | Electrical supply management at high-consumption sites | Evolution of Power SCADA Operation; ETAP-based digital twin |
| EcoStruxure Power SCADA Operation (formerly PowerSCADA Expert) | Data acquisition, control and supervision of the electrical network | Versions such as 8.2 remain installed |
| Power Monitoring Expert (PME) | Energy and power quality monitoring | Separate product, focused on measurement and reports |
| Citect SCADA / AVEVA Plant SCADA | Plant or process SCADA | AVEVA Plant SCADA is the direct successor of Citect |
Main characteristics
- Power Operation: single-line diagrams, alarms, events and control of the site’s electrical network; in the recent version Schneider adds real-time predictive simulation and an operator training simulator based on ETAP.
- Power Monitoring Expert: energy dashboards, trends, power quality events and reports, fed by the installation’s meters.
- Plant SCADA: general-purpose SCADA for the process, with its own upgrade path from Citect.
Communications and integration
These systems read meters, relays and breakers in the installation over the power network protocols each version supports; in most plants, meters connect over Modbus and relays over Modbus or IEC 61850. To pass data to other systems, Schneider documents the integration of Power Monitoring Expert and Power Operation through OPC Data Access, the ETL utility and CSV file import. Meters such as the Schneider PM8000 and PM5000 or the ION 9000 are typical data sources for PME.
Frequently asked technical questions
- Citect SCADA documentation: current documentation is under the name AVEVA Plant SCADA; Citect documentation applies to older versions.
- PowerSCADA and PME: they are not alternatives of the same product; one operates the electrical network and the other measures and reports energy and quality. Many installations use both.
- Relay signals that do not arrive: check the protocol, the register map or the IEC 61850 model, and the data quality; test point to point.
- Version upgrade: moving from PowerSCADA Expert to Power Operation, or from Citect to Plant SCADA, requires reviewing licenses, project and communication drivers.
- Different measurements in PME and in the relay: it is usually the instrument transformer ratio, the register scale or the averaging interval.
What each product does, according to Schneider
EcoStruxure Power Operation is presented as electrical supply management software for high-consumption sites, such as data centers, hospitals, airports and industrial facilities. Schneider highlights real-time situational awareness, redundant architecture, OPC UA support for connecting to IT and production systems, high-availability mobile notifications, integration with Schneider PLCs such as the M580, and compliance with the IEC 62443 cybersecurity series. Among its uses it cites verifying breaker operation, detecting abnormal conditions, root cause analysis, tracking system capacity, shadow billing, and control of power factor and peak demand penalties.
EcoStruxure Power Monitoring Expert covers four areas according to the manufacturer’s page. Safety: it watches breaker protection settings and helps locate insulation faults. Reliability: forensic analysis of events and capacity tracking. Efficiency: energy audits, cost allocation and abnormal consumption. Compliance: reports and support for ISO 50001, 50002 and 50006. It includes automatic waveform analysis of voltage disturbances, alarm grouping into incidents with a timeline, and ION programming for custom logic in meters.
Power quality: which reports exist and with what limits
A Schneider power quality monitoring brochure (December 2023) cites IEC 61000-4-30 as the measurement reference and covers harmonics, current unbalance, flicker, overvoltages and undervoltages, transients and interruptions. A Schneider support note clarifies that the IEC 61000-4-30 report is configured with measurement names per meter. It also clarifies that the CM4000 stores its IEC 61000-4-30 data differently from ION meters, and that the default report does not support its anomaly evaluations. Finally, the IEC 61000-2-4 report, introduced in PME 2022, supports only the PM8000 and ION9000 meters. Two consequences for the project: the meter’s class and its recording method define which compliance report can be issued, and that decision is made when the meter is chosen, not when the client asks for the report. Related reading: power quality and harmonic distortion THD.
What is known about IEC 61850 in these systems
A Schneider support note for Power SCADA version 8.2 states that the product can act as an IEC 61850 client with a native driver that uses MMS. It states that it works over PRP networks, and that connecting a server to a PRP network requires a RedBox device. The public sources consulted did not confirm the DNP3 and Modbus drivers of the current version; confirm them in the system guide of the version you plan to install. Related reading: PRP/HSR RedBox.
Citect and AVEVA Plant SCADA
Citect SCADA and AVEVA Plant SCADA are the same line under a different commercial name: AVEVA is the direct successor and its current documentation is under that name. In a plant with a substation, a Plant SCADA usually coexists with Schneider’s electrical system: the first operates the process and the second the electrical network. If the two applications share signals, define which is the single source of each measurement and each alarm to avoid duplicates with different values.
Points of attention in commissioning and maintenance
- Meters and scale. Most differences between PME and the relay come from instrument transformer ratio, register scale or averaging interval; document them from the start.
- Meter clock. Power quality reports and event correlation depend on the meters sharing time; read time synchronization in substations.
- Breaker control. If Power Operation operates breakers, the command must respect select-before-operate, interlocks and the local/remote selector; read control levels and local/remote selector.
- Version. Migrating from PowerSCADA Expert to Power Operation, or from Citect to Plant SCADA, requires reviewing licenses, project and communication drivers; it is not a minor update.
- Testing. Each signal is tested from the equipment to the screen and the report; read FAT and SAT tests.
How we help
Our team integrates relays, meters and gateways into the plant or substation SCADA: Modbus, DNP3 and IEC 61850 mappings, point-to-point tests of signals and commands, and database documentation, in industry and in substations, remotely and worldwide. The scope is described under SCADA integration and gateways and control, protection and communications configuration. If what you need is to interpret the power quality that PME records, the scope is described under power quality studies. Write to us through contact.
Related guides
- Substation SCADA and HMI system
- PcVue, Ignition and Survalent SCADA
- Modbus RTU and TCP
- Schneider PM8000 and PM5000 meters
- Schneider ION 9000 meter
- HMI and touch panels
- Hitachi Energy MicroSCADA X SYS600 and DMS600 SCADA
- COPA-DATA zenon Energy Edition SCADA
- Proficy (formerly GE) iFIX and CIMPLICITY SCADA
References
- IEC 61850 (series); Modbus (Modbus Organization); IEEE 1815 (DNP3).
- Schneider Electric, pages for EcoStruxure Power SCADA Operation 8.2, EcoStruxure Power Operation and power monitoring and control software; EcoStruxure Power Digital Applications integration guide.
- AVEVA and Schneider Electric, pages for Citect SCADA and AVEVA Plant SCADA and the document “From Citect to AVEVA Plant SCADA”.
Frequently asked questions
Are PowerSCADA Expert and Power Operation the same thing?
They are the same line under successive names. Schneider states that EcoStruxure Power SCADA Operation was formerly called StruxureWare PowerSCADA Expert, and on its most recent page it presents EcoStruxure Power Operation as the evolution of Power SCADA Operation, with an ETAP-based digital twin.
What is Power Monitoring Expert (PME)?
It is Schneider Electric's software for monitoring the electrical network: energy, power quality, alarms and reports from the meters. It is a different product from Power Operation, although they can work together and exchange data with other systems.
Does Citect SCADA still exist?
Citect SCADA evolved into AVEVA Plant SCADA, which the manufacturer presents as its direct successor. Installations with Citect remain in operation and their upgrade path is Plant SCADA.