News

Electricity

An intelligent control system to guarantee the power supply

STAFF | DECEMBER 1ST, 2010

A research group at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia has developed a system to increase the safety and reliability of the power grid. The main purpose is to protect against overloads at transformer stations, regulate the power supply during peak demand periods and avoid outages in emergency situations.

The system, developed by a team led by Josep Balcells, is based on intelligent monitors to be located at power hubs that centralize information in real time about the state of the grid. These devices permit the operatation of a sophisticated remote communications system that monitors processing plants, substations and users through the low voltage network, using a PLC (Power Line Communications) system.

The hubs incorporates software which detects the over-heating of transformers and anticipates potential emergency situations. In addition, it reads and processes data from the network of meters and from the quality control system QNA (Quality Network Analyzers). This system makes intelligent demand management possible through the partial interruption of the power supply.
The concentrators incorporate software that anticipates possible emergency situacions
Balcells said, "the company can offer the user the possibility of reducing their consumption and, therefore, their bill, at peak times, shifting the freed-up energy to subscribers who need it the most." That is, utilities can intervene and regulate the consumption of energy flows to ensure the stability and quality of the supply, so as to avoid service disruptions and grid overloads.

In parallel, the UPC team has developed new controllers for static power converters, SVC (Static Var Compensators), APLC (Active Power Line Conditionners) and STATCOM (Static Synchronous Compensator). With these systems, power flows can be regulated and the generation and demand for networks of low and medium voltage can be balanced.

The system will also provide companies with objective data on the status of the components of the distribution network to improve maintenance and to decide, in a more efficient way, their repair priorities, thereby preventing excessive wear and tear or the premature replacement of equipment.

In early 2011, the Catalan company Circutor is planning to manufacture and take this technology to market. Currently, they are installing the first pilot hub units, a simplified version of the monitors for the remote reading of meters, while waiting to implement the design of the additional functions of transformer protection and demand management.

Subjects of the article