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Towards productive power supply As electricity use is expected to double globally by 2030, how can we ensure efficient power generation?
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ver the coming decades, the power generation industry faces a tremendous challenge in meeting global energy needs while respecting environment. By 2030, electricity use will double globally and triple in developing countries. The need for reliable and efficient power generation has never been greater. Power generation is striving for supplying electric power in the most productive and clean way. Maintaining complex and aging power plant equipment and modernizing the infrastructure with the latest technologies are essential to supply electric power efficiently. Preventive strategy: maintenance and strategic spare parts The Generator Circuit Breaker is a power plant device located between the generator and the step-up transformer. It is a critical asset for power generation as it ensures power transmission between power plant and HV networks and isolates generator from network for maintenance and abnormal conditions (over voltages, unbalanced load, short circuit). Therefore power generation needs 100% Generator Circuit Breaker reliability through its entire lifecycle. To ensure continuous power supply as demand grows, installed Generator Circuit Breakers are operating in a challenging environment, often reaching their electrical and mechanical wear limits. Alstom Grid recommends preventive maintenance every year, every 5 and 10 years and after 2000 operating cycles to maximize the Generator Circuit Breaker performance. Low or no maintenance can generate deterioration or severe failures: electrical (coil burning, relay…), mechanical (peeling, loosening, parts breaking…), or dielectrics (leaks, moistures, electric heating…). Alstom Grid provides complete and comprehensive services to support Alstom Grid and other manufacturers’ Generator Circuit Breakers along their entire lifecycle. To optimize availability of the equipment and consequently reduce the downtime of the power plant, Alstom Grid recommends strategic spare parts of critical components (pole or complete active part, hydraulic ram, spring operating mechanism, disconnecting switch mechanisms, and additional key spare parts such as coils, motor, capacitor…). Following maintenance recommendations and setting up a strategic spare parts stock constitute a worthwhile investment. A financial study on lifecycle costs has demonstrated the value of installing and maintaining a Generator Circuit Breaker for power plants. A typical example, based on a 400MW power plant, demonstrates that the Generator Circuit Breaker solution is cost effective if, over 20 years, the presence of a Generator Circuit Breaker has helped to avoid less than 14 hours of outage”, explains Jean-Marc Willième, Senior Expert at Alstom Grid’s High Voltage Switchgear Re-
Alstom Grid Generator Circuit Breaker
search Centre in France. Productive strategy: renovation, modernization and retrofit Since 1972, Alstom Grid is one of the two worldwide leaders in manufacturing Generator Circuit Breakers for power plants up to 1,200 MW. To remain a leader in this market, Alstom Grid invests continuously in research and development to provide innovative and effective solutions. The Alstom Grid Generator Circuit Breaker retrofit and modernization services optimize power plant productivity and safety. Alstom Grid technicians can replace the old Generator Circuit Breaker, even originally made by another manufacturer, by a new generation Generator Circuit Breaker offering the latest technological advantages. It responds to the expectations of power plant operators in terms of adaptability and reliability. From the site survey to erection, adapted to the available space, existing bus bars and civil engineering, Alstom Grid proposes an integrated offer for the utmost time and cost optimization. Power generation is concerned by the availability ratio of the power plant and by the immediate consequence of a failure. It is crucial to detect the predictive signs of a potential failure at the earliest stage and to take subsequent and appropriate decision in asset management. The modernization of Generator Circuit Breaker with a monitoring system allows switching from a time-based maintenance to a condition-based and predictive maintenance.
“The Alstom Grid Generator Circuit Breaker retrofit and modernization services optimize power plant productivity and safety. ”
The Alstom Grid online monitoring system allows controlling of several circuit breaker functions simultaneously: SF6 density and trends, closing and tripping operations timing and recurrence, hydraulic mechanisms re-inflation time and efficiency, springoperating mechanisms recharging time and efficiency, electrical wear cumulated interrupted current and information on other auxiliary parts. According to real Generator Circuit Breaker operation or electrical wear, only required operations and maintenance are conducted, thus reducing failure risk, maximizing reliability and optimizing investment. A CIGRE study revealed that the reliability of circuit breakers depends mainly on the reliability of the operating mechanism. The installation of the recent Generator Circuit Breaker spring-operating mechanism, the most reliable operating mechanism, guarantees maximum energy stability for several decades. It requires less maintenance, reducing lifecycle costs and ensuring a quick return on investment. Generator Circuit Breakers not only incorporate the latest technologies which are compliant with industry standards, but they also increase availability, reliability, equipment security and facilitate spare parts procurement. It is a productive and cost-effective solution. For all power substations, the Generator Circuit Breaker retrofit and modernization service offer is the most cost-effective and ecological solution to extend equipment lifecycle and optimize the substation performance. Alstom Grid can support power generation throughout the asset lifecycle and find the best solution to meet future challenges. With several thousands of Generator Circuit Breakers in service throughout the world over the past 40 years, Alstom Grid is recognized as a technological leader, ensuring the reliability and safety of power generation operations at an optimized cost. ASIAN POWER 27