Guest Article
Gu e st A r ticle
Is Underloading of Distribution Transformers a cause of concern for Power Utilities? Sustainable development and urbanisation are two sides of the same coin. With the world's urban area growing rapidly, the demand for energy to fuel economic activity is expected to rise as well. When compared to developed countries, India's energy demand is almost certain to accelerate considering the growing population and per capita energy consumption. Foreseeing this demand, the power utilities had to ensure that the demand is met and supply is uninterrupted. To tackle this demand, power utilities planned and built substations with increased load capacity on the distribution side. Typically, the load is predicted and calculated for at least a decade or two in a specific zone where the substation is built to offer continuous power. Earlier, this practice used to be accurate because the power demand was predictable. For this, an estimated power consumption pattern was recognized based on the current population and power consumption. As a result, the installed transformers in a substation would operate at a nearly optimal anticipated load. On the other hand, this is not the case. The demand did not increase as anticipated.
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up to cause poor performance of the transformer. A few of the major concerns are listed below: Underloading losses include decreased revenue as a result of lower electrical unit sales. For higher rated distribution transformers, there are more losses since the excitation current is high. Large size distribution transformers need a higher maintenance budget and space. Because of the larger tank size, oil consumption is higher.
Factors that have contributed to the decrease in demand include: • Concerns about global warming prompted the development of energy-efficient solutions such as LEDs, which have replaced traditional bulbs and CFLs in both indoor and outdoor lighting. On the industry side, the worldwide push for sustainability demanded even more efficiency and energy optimization. • Coal and gas were the only ways to generate electricity back then. However, the widespread use of solar rooftops and renewable energy has turned customers into prosumers. This has further lowered customers' reliance on power utilities, resulting in lower energy demand. • Furthermore, many places did not urbanise as planned.
What makes this a source of worry for distribution utilities?
• Underloaded transformer: Ideally, at no load, the losses are low, and efficiency is high. In reality, transformers running at underload hampers its longevity and efficiency. When a transformer is not correctly sized, the underloaded condition would result in high harmonic currents. This may also cause heating of transformers. All of this sum
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Pankaj Gaikwad International Business Head The Motwane Co. Pvt. Ltd.
ELECTRICAL MIR ROR
|| September 2021 ||
Consider the graph above for a better understanding, where a distribution transformer is loaded to only 20% of the rated load consistently for seven days. The live data is extracted from MOT-WARE. • Uneconomical Operation and Maintenance: The substation necessitates frequent maintenance, which adds to the expense. A power utility's performance will suffer if many transformers are underloaded and poorly utilized. Also, it adds to manpower cost. There has been a growing fleet of such transformers in utilities that demand immediate action.
The Solution: Remote Monitoring of Transformer Parameters & Optimization of Operations:
The Internet of Things has made monitoring transformer parameters easier and convenient through 24x7 data access. Modern technology provides solutions that use the power of AI ||www.electricalmirror.net||
