From Conventional to Digitized Substations.
Ahmed Khaled
Senior Testing & Commissioning Engineer at Alstom | IIOT | ERTMS | ETCS | CBTC | Railway and Transportation systems | Signaling | ATC | Centralized Control | Automation and SCADA
The Traditional power system model of unidirectional power flow is changed to be Multi-directional power flow nowadays and this is caused by new technologies presented in renewable energy sector, distributed generation, ..and so on, the system needs to be more organized using new smart system with the aid of Control systems, Monitoring, and communications.
Digital Substations are automated electrical system with automation devices integrated into communication networks to exchange information between various devices, and also with supervisory systems, where all measured or exchanged data are digital.
Why Digital?
-Less Copper: A lot of Copper Cables between switchyard and relay house are replaced by less fiber optic cables, and the number of connections and terminations in primary apparatus and process interface module are reduced.
-Less Transport: Fiber optics installation reduces cabling. Using optical CTs instead of Conventional CTs which is 80% less in weight than conventional CTs.
Figure on the left for Conventional Model and on the right for the Digital model
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Figure on the left for Optical CT and Figure on the right for Conventional CT
-Space Reduction: Reduction of switchyard footprint by reduction in panel size, due to reduction in connection, terminations, and cables.
-Not mentioning the lower installation time.
The World is going to the new era of digitization and virtual monitoring, control, and visualization.
In the next article the key component exists in a digital substation are going to be mentioned.
Ahmed Khaled
References:
-https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9247669
-https://www.gegridsolutions.com/landing/digital-substation/
-https://resources.gegridsolutions.com/interact/digitized-substation
-https://new.siemens.com/global/en/products/energy/energy-automation-and-smart-grid/digital-substation.html
-ABB Digital Substation, Digital Substation, bridging the gap between analogue and digital technologies, by Claudio Marchetti, Power Grids, Global Product Manager