Sparks Electrical News January 2019

CONTRACTORS’ CORNER

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NEW CONCEPT IN CENTRALISED PROTECTION AND CONTROL FOR DISTRIBUTION SUBSTATIONS ABB has introduced an innovative, centralised ap- proach to protection and control in distribution networks in South Africa. Embodied in ABB Ability smart substation control and protection for electri- cal systems, the SSC600 represents a new way of thinking while building on ABB’s proven technologi- cal foundation, manifested in the Relion protection and control family. “SSC600 offers a fast, easy and cost-effective way to provide a substation with the latest techno- logical developments within protection and control, while leaving the existing relays as backup protec- tion,” said Alessandro Palin, Managing Director of ABB’s Distributions Solutions business. “New instal- lations will only need bay-level merging units in ad- dition to SSC600." adapt to changing protection requirements. Continu- ous access to new software developments guaran- tees an always up-to-date substation system. The advantage of only having to modify one de- vice instead of all bay-level protection and control devices makes upgrading the entire substation sys- tem easier than ever.

ment. SSC600 advanced connectivity capabilities enable seamless integration with additional services such as remote diagnostics, asset management and upgrade services, all to the benefit of the customer. SSC600 offers extensive application coverage with a single device for convenient station-wide vis- ibility, minimal engineering, easy and cost-efficient process management, and advanced life cycle man- agement for the digital substation. Combining it with merging units, which provide the measurements and physical interface between the primary equipment in the switchgear and SSC600, creates a unique, IEC 61850-compliant, centralised protection and control solution.

Enquiries: +27 (0)10 202 5093

Adding a second SSC600 device will create a centralised protection and control solution with full redundancy. The modular software allows cus- tomisation at the initial ordering stage and flexible modification for the lifetime of the digital substation. SSC600 is ready to evolve alongside the grid to

SSC600 has been designed to support ABB Ability offerings of digitally enabled solutions, help- ing utilities and industries know more, do more and do it better than before. Combining SSC600 with other ABB Ability products and solutions offers a new way of looking at substation life cycle manage-

BIDVEST LAUNDRY GROUP has led the field in total laundry solutions in South Africa for more than 35 years. Along with its ISO quality manage- ment listing, Bidvest Laundry Group only uses top of the range SABS-approved chemicals. In addi- tion, it views protection of the environment as an essential element of the way its laundries run. To this end, it has introduced various green policies such as water recycling, and fuel and chemical ef- ficiencies while working towards reduced electric- ity consumption. This focus on the ‘Green economy’ is what led the Group to commission, devise and install a so- lar photovoltaic system at its laundry in Spartan, near Johannesburg. Spurred on by the increase in electricity prices over the past three years and by the desire to reduce the carbon footprint of the Spartan laundry, Bidvest decided to develop a Green Energy solution. The laundry consumes just over two GigaWatt hours of power per annum and Bidvest was de- termined to reduce this power appetite. Electech Renewable Solutions, a division of Voltex, stepped up to the mark and, together with Sunworx, de- signed and engineered a grid-tied roof-mounted solar photovoltaic panel system to harvest the freely available energy from the sun. The uniquely designed system has proved to be a perfect fit for reducing the high annual power costs of an en- ergy intensive plant. In the Spartan project, a total of 1440 Jinko so- lar panels rated at 325 W each were connected via 720 Solaredge PV Optimisers FEEDING 16 grid-tied Solar Edge Inverters. The roof mount- ing structure was provided by Schletter and the balance of the equipment came entirely from the Voltex Group. The Spartan solar system has a predicted operational life of at least 25 years with an expected payback period for the capital invest- ment of under six years. A major advantage of the equipment supplied to the Spartan site by Electech Renewable Solu- tions is that the Solaredge Optimisers increase PV panel performance, and monitoring down to panel level can troubleshoot for ease of plant mainte- nance. The Bidvest Spartan Laundry solar system will generate over 730 mW hours of electricity per annum and reduce CO₂ emissions by 730 tons each year. The design and installation by Electech Renew- able Solutions and Sunworx has paved the way for the Bidvest Group to install similar solar sys- tems at its properties across South Africa, where appropriate. BIDVEST LAUNDRY GROUP GOES GREEN

Enquiries: www.voltex.co.za

SPARKS ELECTRICAL NEWS

JANUARY 2019