Northern Powergrid starts £15m project to upgrade substation controllers
Northern Powergrid has embarked on a £15 million project to modernise more than 860 of its substation controllers - a move it says will enable the implementation of the smart grid.
17th August 2018 by Networks
This element of the firm’s £83m Smart Grid Enablers programme will begin in August 2018 and is scheduled to complete in 2023.
Northern Powergrid’s Smart Grid Enablers programme is preparing its regional economy for rapid growth of electric vehicles, domestic heat pumps and renewable power.
According to the firm, it is the UK’s most comprehensive network upgrade programme, creating the backbone of a smart grid, supporting the North’s ambitions to put low-carbon technology at the centre of its economy, and enabling solutions that could save up to £500 million by 2031.
Mark Nicholson, head of smart grid implementation at Northern Powergrid, said: “This is a significant and technically challenging operation drawing on many of our highly specialist technical functions across the business – it has been an impressive team effort between Northern Powergrid and ZIV Automation UK Ltd to get us to this stage. The advantage at the end of this work will be infrastructure that will enable us to operate our network in a more flexible way to deliver more value for our customers through smarter, more efficient and cost-effective services.”
The Smart Substations project will see Northern Powergrid work with ZIV Automation UK Ltd to replace the substation Remote Terminal Unit (RTU) equipment and establish a modern platform for the implementation of next generation smart grid solutions and applications.
The RTU acts as an interface to the electrical plant within a substation, marshalling alarms, plant status and analogue data (such as voltage, current and power information) and communicating with control engineers via the Network Management System. The RTU directs the digital control commands from the control engineer to operate equipment such as circuit breakers and tap changers within the substation, while also providing the platform for more advanced control schemes within the substation.
Northern Powergrid recently completed the project’s proof of concept phase, in close partnership with ZIV Automation UK Ltd.
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