Jagmohan Sharma
J&K PDD, in association with POWERGRID are in the process of creating a massive communication infrastructure for the power sector of the J&K state. To my understanding J&K will be the first state in the country which will have major portion of its geography covered under optical fibre network (with 1300 Kms of OPGW) along with the end equipment required for making communication possible. This is a remarkable feat.
This venture will provide J&K PDD with high capacity communication network of its own and additionally it will also be possible for it to lease out band width to customers who may desire to take advantage of the infrastructure that is being developed. Telecom companies operating in J&K can also join hands with PDD for reaching out to far flung areas of the state as the transmission lines are laid to supply power to these remote areas. Last mile connectivity may have to be achieved by laying underground OFC or by using LT lines of the department for this purpose.
Communication over OPGW has a distinct advantage over optical fibre laid underground as the underground cable is prone to vandalism and rodentmenace. Expansion of road network and digging of roads and stretches where OFC is laid underground, for one reason or other, also damages underground optical fibre cable. In any case OPGW / OFC must be laid to provide protection path to the end user. MPLS network, in addition to the protection path, can further enhance redundancy provided that optimal engineering and robust planning is done keeping in mind the end user. End user can be the telecom majors, third parties or PDD itself.
To take full technical and commercial advantage of the infrastructure created by PDD they shall have to create a telecommunication and an effective Information Technology wing within the organization that may run this network on sound techno-commercial principles keeping in mind the interests of the end user as well.
However my idea about writing this article is different.
My idea is to utilize this infrastructure in a way that it acts as a force multiplier, along with information technology, for improving efficiency and transparency in the organization so that no equipment deployed by PDD remains un-utilized or under-utilized and wherever the equipment is not working it should be instantaneously known to the engineers who may take corrective action in a time bound manner.
In fact this would be a very important step in the direction of the Prime Minister’s Digital India Programme. For J&K this may be rechristened as Digital J&K Programme.
J&K PDD has expanded exponentially over a period of time notwithstanding the chronic power shortage. It has added innumerable number of sub stations as well as many circuit kilometres of transmission lines right up to 220 KV level. It is impossible to take care of such a huge infrastructure without the use of Information Technology. As such J&K PDD should not limit usage of the telecom infrastructure they are in the process of developing for day to day communication purposes alone. It should not be limited to the use of voice communication or the communication for e-mails etc. The infrastructure being developed has a vast potential that can bring in greater efficiency and transparency in operation and control of the sub stations. It will also bring more transparency regarding the health of the equipment deployed. Additionally the engineers of PDD, especially the young and the computer suave ones, shall have a brush with a technology that is nothing but world class. With time they will be able to customize it for the benefit of their organization, end users and other stakeholders.
This kind of an effort has already been done by POWERGRID where in more than half of its sub stations have been integrated to a central control centre with a backup facility and a string of Regional Control Centres. All these control centres operate in a well-defined hierarchal order. For enabling the sub stations to be in line with the technical requirements of the project, modifications / up gradation / adaptation of equipment has been done at the substation level. This became necessary as many of the sub stations of POWERGRID are more than 20 to 25 years old and even amongst the newly commissioned ones all the facilities required for the said purpose were not completely available. In case due attention is paid to the commissioning of the SAS sub stations to include the functionality as envisaged to implement the centralised monitoring and control these substation are comparatively easier for integration in this scheme of things.
On similar lines J&K PDD can also integrate its sub stations in a phased manner to a central control centre (under the control of J&K PDD) with in J&K state where the engineers will have the benefit of an overall view of the power system under their watch and take decisions that are based on the real time data available with them. J&K PDD may choose a few sub stations in the Valley and Jammu area and connect them to control centres in Srinagar and Jammu and commission this as a pilot project for technology demonstration. Subsequently this scheme may be extended to other sub stations. (This may require the updation of existing SCADA system at the existing control centre)
As may be noted above an emphasis is being laid on transparency time and again. So what is it that needs to be made transparent and what is new that will make it different from the State Load Despatch centre and Sub LDCs that are already under operation in the state. This is an obvious question that can come to the mind of the people at large. Well, the difference is a lot. The SLDC or the Sub LDCs have access to the data of the power system of the state as well as that of other power utilities at the National level but there is no visibility to them about very vital equipment in the sub stations. Operators at SLDC or Sub LDC cannot operate a circuit breaker or an isolator from the control centre. The new technology has made it possible.
Broadly speaking the system can have following verticals. Each one is explained for the benefit of the readers:
* SCADA along with control for operation of the equipment: This system will have access to all the power system related data of each and every sub station like voltage, current, frequency, load flow on various feeders and transformers etc. Status of Circuit Breakers and Isolators shall also be visible on single line diagrams depicting the configuration of each and every sub station. This information is also available in the SLDC and Sub LDCs. However additional features that can be configured are as mentioned below:
* BCU (Bay Control Unit) based technology enables control of Circuit Breakers and Isolators from these control centres.
* The status / data of DG sets, station batteries, 48 V batteries used for communication equipment, fire fighting system and healthiness of batteries connected to the DG sets can also be wired for information to the control centre. Same can be extended to LT system and station transformers.
* Signals such as temperature of control rooms and battery rooms as well as of the spaces where sensitive equipment like relays and communication equipment are installed can also be wired for information at the control centres.
* Temperature plays a very critical role in healthiness of various protection and communication equipment as well as that of maintenance free batteries. Winding and oil temperature of transformers and reactors can also be monitored at the control centres.
* To gather this data and enable controls, modification / adaptation will have to be carried out at sub station level as well.
* Presently many gadgets are available in technical apace that perform online dissolved gas analysis of transformers and reactors on continuous basis. If the equipment is installed on transformers and reactors in sub stations this information can also be wired to the control centres for condition monitoring of the equipment.
* Additionally humidity and weather conditions can also be monitored if suitable sensors are installed in these sub stations. This can be helpful in real time forecasting of weather conditions of a particular area as that determines the load conditions.
* Remote accessibility of relays and other intelligent devices: The most important part of an electrical network are the protection relays and other intelligent devices that log the events (EL), record the electrical disturbances (DR) and ascertain the distances at which faults might have occurred in a transmission line so that the maintenance teams are deployed without any delay. Configuration of this equipment is the job of an expert and such people are rarely available in sub stations. For purposes of protection grading it is prudent that this configuration is done from a central place as the number of sub stations has considerably increased. Advent of numeric relays (having communication facility) into power system protection makes is all the more important that the relays are handled by experts from the central location. At the same time the rapid progress in creation of electrical infrastructure has made electrical system more dynamic which is a paradigm shift from the situation a few decades back. As such configuration of relays and protection coordination is a regular process. This ensures that no false / unwanted tripping of the system takes place. To achieve this purpose a Remote Accessibility Solution can be put in place so that all the relays and other intelligent devices installed in a sub station are transparently visible to the control centres. This system shall also ensure that any relay / DR / EL that is faulty is visible to at the control centre and he does not have to depend upon information from the engineers at the sub stations. Corrective action can be initiated without much of a delay. This system can further be extended to generate automatic fault analysis reports and together with the data from Disturbance Recorder this will give a fair understanding of the fault at the control centre in a matter of few minutes thus reducing the time of rectification. This will also control the increased requirement of the experts needed to handle the bigger power-system.
In the end I would like to mention that the technology is time tested and world class. Considering that PDD will have communication network in place in near future it would be worthwhile to give this technology a try that will bring in transparency in the system and help PDD to be abreast with technical challenges that may arise with ever increasing power network of the state.
(The author is Retired Executive Director, Powergrid)
feedbackexcelsior@gmail.com
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