Develops the Smart Grid
Holding on to its guiding mindset of “Electricity is always one step ahead”, over the years, EVNHCMC has been putting efforts to ensure a secured and uninterrupted power supply with ever-increasing quality of service to accommodate the city’s socio-economic development and its citizens’ lifestyle. Especially, the Corporation has conducted extensive research and application of scientific technologies to develop a smart grid system following the Government and EVN.
City-wide monitoring of the distribution grids at EVNHCMC’s Load Dispatch Center (Photo taken before 27 April 2021)
In 2017, EVNHCMC put into operation Vietnam’s first Remote Control Center for distribution grids which conforms with international standards and deploys smart technologies, using SCADA/DAS/DMS systems to manage and operate all HCMC’s 220/110kV substations and the 22kV grid. This marked the transformation of the HCMC power system’s operation from manual, labor-dependent to automated, where engineers monitor substations and power system elements in real-time.
In addition, new equipment and upgrades have been provided to the existing operation centers at the Corporation’s subsidiaries and the HCMC High Voltage Grid Company, and SCADA and automated systems connected to the Control Center to allow for a synchronized and effective monitoring and control.
So far, the Corporation has connected SCADA signals for remote monitoring 100% of its 220kV substations, remote control 100% of its 110kV substations, applied Mini-SCADA model for remote monitoring and control of all 770 medium voltage lines of 22kV, implemented automated systems of DAS (Distributed Antenna System) and DMS (Distribution Management System) at 4 of its subsidiaries that cover 148 lines of 22kV, of which 58 fully automated. The results are over 99% successful remote grid operations, 81% of load rerouting upon power failures take less than 5 minutes. The low voltage distribution grid is currently monitored through a digital remote metering system that provides online or offline status data at customer’s power connections, overload and overvoltage statuses, phase imbalances at public substations, etc.
The deep penetration of automation and remote-control technologies allows EVNHCMC to maintain a consistent improvement of power supply reliability with its distribution grid’s SAIFI (i.e. average outage events) lowered from 5.11 times in 2016 to 0.59 times in 2020 and SAIDI (i.e. average outage time) reduced from 514 to 44 minutes in the same period. Regarding reliability, these figures were ranked the highest amongst Vietnam’s five Electricity Corporations and marked the contribution of EVNHCMC in the achievements of Vietnam and its power sector, recognized in the Doing Business 2020 Report with 08/08 technical points for Supply Reliability Indices.
Aims for 100% automation by 2023
According to EVNHCMC, advances in power supply reliability have pushed the grid close to its operational capacity, making it difficult for further improvements. Striving for higher targets of 0.5-time SAIFI and 50-minute SAIDI for the 2021-2025 period, EVNHCMC has resolved to focus on grid automation and digitalization.
EVNHCMC’s SAIFI and SAIDI from 2016 to 2020
In the next few years, EVNHCMC will accelerate the application of Industry 4.0 achievements to its grid management and operation in pursuit of an automation level of 75% by 2022 and 100% by 2023.
This entails the task to furnish lines at the grid’s end segment with sufficient SCADA-enabled communication equipment to lines at the grid’s end segment, and consider adding more of these to middle segments to improve transmission efficiency and to meet the N-1 criterion for operation while ensuring their compatibility with existing protective devices (reclosers, circuit breakers) and fault indicators.
Concurrently, EVNHCMC has set the plan to establish a set of criteria for professional standards applied to its engineers, dispatchers, operators with training sessions and examinations organized annually. Technical staff and engineers are also given additional training to enhance their capabilities to master new technologies, particularly in SCADA/DAS/DMS, ensuring that by 2025, all power companies will have a team of professionals in the field of automation.