Pretact®: resilience for U.S. power plants
Germany: Siemens successfully tested three mobile resilience generator-step-up units (GSU) for leading U.S. wholesale energy provider Southern Power.
Image source: Siemens
Germany: Siemens successfully tested three mobile resilience generator-step-up units (GSU) for leading U.S. wholesale energy provider Southern Power.
These versatile, mobile transformer units, a part of the Siemens Pretact® concept, will increase power security at generating stations.
When a transformer is damaged despite outage prevention by monitoring, fleet maintenance, and despite protective features, the priority is to react as soon as possible. In order to do this, it is advisable to have a resilience unit which is versatile, mobile and easy to install.
While the mobile resilience transformer concept is the state-of-the-art solution in the area of substations, the resilience GSUs become utterly important to power plants as well.
The resilience GSUs are designed as single-phase units with a transport weight of just 49.8 t each, making them highly lightweight by using high temperature insulation material like Nomex®. Its plug-and-play design reduces the installation time significantly: this 150 MVA bank of transformers can be installed in approximately 24 working hours, reducing the installation times from already optimised seven working days to a single day.
Another benefit of the solution: mobile resilience units, like the ones for Southern Power, are also versatile regarding their voltage. The transformer can operate in multiple configurations, either at 230 kV or 115 kV and a low voltage of 34.5 kV. This means the operator can make use of the units in different Southern Power locations and can use cables to connect the generator to the transformers, without having to store different spare units for each and every single power plant location.
This new GSU resilience unit enables the customer to have a solution to a problem that should not happen. If a disaster should strike, and a transformer is put out of operation, the mobile resilience unit can be rapidly transported, installed and energised. With this preventive solution, the effects of a prolonged outage can be significantly reduced.
Source: Siemens