Electricity and Control April 2022

ENERGY MANAGEMENT + THE INDUSTRIAL ENVIRONMENT

Managing electrical power systems

At a time when South Africa faces a continuous and uphill battle in stabilising its energy provision, many businesses are focused on alternative resources and backup supply such as UPSs, generators and inverters. However,Vladimir Milovanovic,Vice President, Power Systems, Anglophone Africa at Schneider Electric, highlights that companies still need to manage their current power infrastructure.

T his is where electrical power management systems come into play. At its core, a power management system can simplify organisational operations and provide real insights into efficiency and processes. At Schneider Electric we are often asked: Why do I need to manage my power? The simple answer is: electrical systems are becoming more complex. Loads and processes have increased and, similarly, power systems have become more distributed and sensitive. Facilities today depend on their electrical distribution infra- structure to keep operations running. These may range from large and critical facilities such as datacentres, hospitals and air- ports to industrial plants and commercial buildings or campuses. Power management systems help ensure the safe, reliable, ef- ficient and compliant operation of electrical distribution systems, and the assets connected to them. They offer benefits such as: - Avoiding electrical fires and preventing shocks - Recovering from outages more quickly and safely - Improving uptime by avoiding unplanned outages - Finding ways to reduce energy costs - Optimising maintenance and extending the life cycle of electrical assets - Simplifying the process of acquiring and maintaining com- pliance to standards and regulations - And meeting legislated requirements for energy manage- ment, carbon emissions, and power quality. How does a power management system work? A power management system forms part of the digitalised power distribution network, including connected devices and sensors that collect data from key points across the electrical infrastructure. Additionally, real-time power information can be acquired from standalone power metering devices or from those that have em- bedded metering capabilities, such as protection relays, breaker trip units, motor control units and variable speed drives (VSDs). All organisational electrical assets can be monitored 24/7, in- cluding transformers, medium voltage (MV) and low voltage (LV) switchgear, generators, transfer switches, power control panels, distribution panels, motor control centres, UPSs, and harmonic filters. This provides for real-time analysis of power conditions and quality as well as equipment health and, importantly, how effi- ciently energy is being used. The electrical power data can be shared with building man- agement systems, SCADA, industrial automation or enterprise energy management systems, which do not in themselves have

the analytics and visualisation tools re- quired to manage an organisation’s elec- trical infrastructure. Power management systems thus

Vladimir Milovanovic, Schneider Electric.

provide the operational intelligence required for the efficient real-time operation and maintenance of electrical assets and the power distribution network as a whole. Further benefits There have been significant advances in power and energy ana- lytics tools that make them easier to use for facilities teams. Pow- er management systems also cover applications which support a range of functionalities. - They track electrical system health and efficiency, identify- ing overloads and fault finding. - Capacity management, which includes analysing historical trends, is especially important in critical facilities with back- up power systems, such as hospitals or datacentres. - Equipment monitoring identifies power quality problems – which often lie within an organisation’s internal electrical distribution system. As facilities modernise to improve en- ergy efficiency, the addition of LED lighting, VSDs, automa- tion systems and other equipment can produce harmonics and power distortions. - Electrical distribution networks regularly experience power disturbances that travel quickly through the system and are short-lived. Advanced power quality monitoring devices cap- ture these disturbances at distributed points in the system and provide important analytical information which enables plant or facilities operators to manage such power events. □

Electrical power management systems provide valuable insights into internal electrical infrastructure.

For more information visit: www.se.com

APRIL 2022 Electricity + Control

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