Building power system control center of unmanned 110kV substations

The theme, led Mr. Hoang Dang Nam – Head of Dispatch Department, Da Nang Power One-member Company Limited, was implemented and applied into the reality, which has helped not only improve the labour productivity, but also reduce the investment costs, increase power supply reliability. The theme won the third prize – Vietnam Science and Technology Innovation Awards – VIFOTECH in 2017.

The unmanned 110kV substations are operated through the control centers, this means that the whole monitoring of operating status and warning signals, measurement data collection, control devices, fire alarming system, security alert, etc, are executed from the control center. This is a new operation model and first applied in Vietnam.

According to Mr. Hoang Dang Nam, previously, the manned 110kV substations were operated 3-team, 5-shift modes, each shift had 02 workers. Therefore, at least 10 workers to perform on-duty tasks at each substation. However, when the control centers put into operation, there will need no workers to operate 110kV substations. The technical data collection for substations will be automatically performed. Any connecting and disconnecting and control operation at 110kV substations will be conducted at the control center thanks to the newly- installed modern equipment system.

Mr. Duong Quang Thanh – Chairman of EVN’s Member council (the third from left) visited and worked at the control center

In addition, the auxiliary systems for unmanned substations such as automatic camera surveillance security; fire alarm, smoke alarm system, etc., will be transmitted to the control center to serve the monitoring and management of the substation. Through the remote control, operation and switching, the control center will bring many benefits such as reducing time of operation and switching the control center’s equipment, reducing the maintenance time and reducing fault shooting duration for the substation, thereby reducing the power failure time,  which affects the electricity users. For instance:

 Economic efficiency:

The investment cost is reduced thanks to solutions for the current device improvement in the power grid. For the new substations, it is not necessary to build any facility to serve the operating personnel as there is no need for direct supervision, thereby reducing the land area for substation building and saving the investment cost.

Technical efficiency:

The control center system has supported dispatchers for monitoring voltage rats at the grid points, timely take measures to adjust the voltage, adjust and distribute the power, which helps to decrease the power loss in the distribution power grids, contributes to properly operating the power system. The amount of power from the power house is transmitted and distributed into the households with the highest efficiency and the lowest power loss. This is considered to be one of the most energy-efficient solutions.

Putting the control centers and the manned substations into operation opens up the opportunities for electrical companies to proactively handle the data themselves to serve the analysis and reporting. In case of faults in the grid, the control center immediately detects, isolates and restores the power supply for non-affected households, thereby reducing power outage risks in production and business process of customers, especially the large customers.

Environmental and social efficiency:

Thanks to the control centers and the manned substations, the operating personnel needn’t directly control, monitor the electric equipment, especially the high-voltage equipment, therefore, the substations operate in a safe manner, reducing the electrical accidents, operating workforce, vehicles in the grid operation process, contributing to effectively using social resources, etc. The operating personnel shall not write down or store the reporting data by hand, which reduces the time for instant access to the operating parameters on the computer and ensure the objective and scientific nature in analyzing the collected data, thereby timely supporting the systematic dispatch. The proper operation for the power in the power system with the control center has contributed to reducing the power loss, thereby reducing the raw material (particularly coal and gas), reducing the emission of green-house gas (CO₂, SO_2, etc.). The research’s result also has contributed to decreasing the time of customers’ power outages, creating trust among electricity customers as well as enhancing the power supply reliability.

Mr. Trang Dinh Nhan – Chairman cum General Director of EVNCPC said that putting into operation the control center of the unmanned 110kV substations has expressed the ability of senior executive and technical staffs of Danang Power Company in timely catching up with the modern technology, applying and developing it into the real grids. This is an important progress in the modernization and automation for the Da Nang power network in line with the roadmap of smart power-grid construction; which is a important and practical solution to improving labour productivity of Vietnam Electricity.

• 13/08/2018 09:26
• evn.com.vn
• 1890