Deregulation of the energy markets is still increasing the competition among utilities and good operations and maintenance procedures are now key to maintaining profitability.

US development company Battelle says the losses associated with poor operation and maintenance cost industry billions of dollars each year. Companies that automate the process of diagnosing faults and performance degradation in equipment can also lower costs and increase profits by increasing the life-cycle of critical components.

The company has developed a generic automated diagnostic tool that uses existing instrumentation to assess the state of a plant and its relation to proper operating conditions. Using a combination of neural networks and fuzzy logic principles, the diagnostician predicts, identifies and diagnoses degradation and faults in equipment according to customer needs. It can be applied to valves, heat exchangers, compressors, filters, generators, boilers, and electrical equipment.

Terna, the owner of the main Italian transmission network, is one utility that is upgrading its management systems. As part of its Sicas Standard automation project for substations, it has contracted Siemens Power Transmission and Distribution to develop and install a new integrated substations automation system.

All functions plus the human interface and telecontrol gateways, fit into a new concept that Terna has developed, based on the communication standard IEC 61850. Covering 40 bays and worth E4.6 million, the master order will be executed over a period of three years.

IEC 61850 is the standard for a seamless communication solution for electric substations and the basis for decentralised power generation. It subsections cover protection and control; integration of innovative sensor and switch technologies; remote monitoring and fault diagnosis; asset management; and condition monitoring. It is a global standard that uses mainstream technologies such as Ethernet, TCP/IP, Object modelling, and XML.

With the Sicas Standard project, the company aims not only to standardise functions and equipment in its substations but to improve plant management and unattended remote control. Terna expects multiple benefits from the application of communication standard IEC 61850 and a more efficient power system management.

Northern project

Further north, ABB has been selected by Energinet of Denmark, and Statnett, Norway, to upgrade the control system of the 30-year-old Skagerrak 1&2 high voltage direct current (HVDC) link with a new ABB system called MACH 2. Samir Brikho, head of ABB’s Power Systems divisions says: “This will extend the link’s life by another 30 years.”

MACH 2 is distributed over an Ethernet LAN and enables control of the HVDC from process images; event recording; on-line help functions and direct access to plant documentation. It also provides alarm handling; remote control; access to standard applications such as e-mail, word processing, spreadsheet, internet; and automatic performance report generation.

Where internet access is required, Runpower is a web enabled maintenance management software system from Runenergy specifically tailored for power generation facilities. It organises maintenance records, facilitates maintenance scheduling and provides quick reports which give immediate feedback on plant performance in support of operations and maintenance of power plants.

The software has been designed as an easy and cost effective way to manage power plant maintenance and monitoring. It records plant data; generates reports; provides built-in equipment lists ready for populating with site specific data; and schedules maintenance.

For a total view, creation of an intelligent electricity grid promises utilities and their customers substantial advances in power reliability and enhanced services says the IntelliGrid Consortium.

The Consortium comprises electricity utilities, public agencies and equipment manufacturers. It will provide a process and tools to help design smart systems that will seamlessly integrate with other systems through a common data and communications link. The Consortium says this will enable organic growth of a smart electricity grid as opposed to the creation of a new monolithic system that could have a high probability of difficulty in implementation.

One of its tasks is to help develop automated meter reading, which requires intelligent meters with a communication port. This will incorporate IEC 61850 principles, which is an integral part of the IntelliGrid architecture.

Hardware

GE Energy has recently announced the availability of its D400 substation data manager, which offers greater computing power, memory and future upgradability than other products in the industry today. Key applications for the D400 include intelligent electronic devices (IED) integration, non-operational data management, network security and SCADA system interfaces.

The D400 was developed to meet industry requirements for a secure, substation-grade, data-processing platform with easy to use configuration tools and a built-in human machine interface (HMI) that offers network security.

Other key features include automated fault record management; integrated HMI functionality, which eliminates the need for a PC in the substation; IEC 61131 control sequence programming; and IEC 61850 substation local area network support.
Dan Heintzelman, president of energy services for GE Energy, says: “Our D400 substation data manager has four to ten times more computing power than traditional products, with larger memory and options for expansion, including the acceptance of functional upgrades in the future.”

ABB offers a novel lifecycle health care service for high voltage installations called Doctor Switchgear. It aims to avoid unexpected outages or sudden re-investments. It is based on the company’s experience, particularly with legacy switchgear, and is supported by spare parts and upgrading services.

Carl Öhlen, of ABB High Voltage Products, says the service protects any investment worldwide by extending equipment life expectancy and adapting old installations to meet modern standards.

He says that switchgear reliability, especially in surge arresters, is particularly important from both an operational and safety points of view. The service first assesses the installation based on a scorecard using predefined inspection criteria. From this a risk assessment is made which identifies installations to be investigated further. Finally, necessary work is then implemented.

ABB will assemble life extension kits consisting of new parts for retrofitting through to a complete refurbishment service including remanufacturing, replacement and installation of new units. A periodical check up completes the service. The policy of ABB is to maintain an inventory of emergency spare parts for immediate shipment, including parts from other manufacturers.

Interfacing

But all these operations and maintenance systems have to produce results and the most efficient way is for them to interface directly with field equipment. Eliminating the human interface saves time, money and the possibility of human error but, most importantly, it frees off staff for those functions it is best at, which is planning and managing.

A key piece of equipment is the automatic transfer switch (ATS) and Mike Carr, marketing manager of Generac Power Systems, says this is vital in emergency power systems and can be supplied in several different configurations to suit the application.
It will sense the presence or loss of utility power, command the stand-by generator to start up or shut down and transfer the electrical load between its normal and standby power source. It can also be used to test run a genset periodically.
For applications that use paralleled generators as the standby power source, multiple ATS systems provide a convenient way to manage the load. In a paralleled generation system, load must be sequenced onto the generators to avoid overloading the first generator online. This requires the ATS to have an inhibit transfer option that will be interconnected with system load management.

The open transition transfer switch is the most common type of ATS and the least complex, though it is both mechanically and electrically interlocked. When transferring the electrical load, it functions in the break before make manner – that is, it disconnects the load from the previous source before making connection with the new source.

Closed transition transfer switches (CTTS) eliminate momentary power interruption during planned transfers when both power sources, the utility supply and the generator, are present. The CTTS functions in the make before break manner, and is essential when an uninterrupted transition is important. Generac sells throughout the USA.
GE Zenith Controls says that, in critical applications such as hospitals and airports, power cannot be interrupted for maintenance of automatic transfer switches. In such circumstances, a bypass-isolation switch is essential and is often required by safety codes.
The company offers its ZBTS Series Bypass-Isolation Transfer Switches as the solution when interruption of power during service or testing is not acceptable. Consisting of two major modules, the Automatic Transfer and the Bypass-Isolation Switch, the ZBTS Series offers rugged construction with a quick make/quick break manual load transfer handle and control interlock system which consists of both mechanical and electrical interlocks.

GE Zenith Controls’ ZTGD Series switches are built for delayed transition applications. These offer an adjustable time delay during transfer from one position to another. This is primarily for transfer of large motor or inductive loads and allows such loads to re-energise after transfer with only normal inrush starting currents.

The new Model SE expands the time-tested Series ZTG platform to serve more applications than ever before. This provides greater protection to critical loads against utility power outages and transient voltage disturbances. ZTGSE switches are equipped with GE’s next-generation embedded MX150 microprocessor panel, which controls the operation and indicates the status of the transfer switch’s position and available sources.