The Nordværk energy plant in Aalborg, which provides renewable energy for thousands of households in Northern Jutland, used the DR solution to remove and replace only the mobile parts of its legacy Emax circuit breakers.
The solution was implemented across the installed base at Nordværk’s 42 MW district heating plant in Aalborg East where the breakers had been in place since it was built in 2005. With spares for the legacy breakers no longer available, a modernisation programme was required to ensure the plant could continue its uninterrupted operation in a safe and sustainable manner.
According to Nordværk electrician, Claus Riis, a long, unplanned outage was out of the question and even a planned retrofit solution would have been problematic. “We have an important task of producing electricity and district heating for Aalborg, and its critical infrastructure. It's hugely expensive to shut down completely when you have a 17 MW electricity and 42 MW district heating plant.
“Replacing the breakers with minimal downtime was of utmost importance so when we were presented with the new possibilities enabled by Direct Replacement, it was actually a pretty easy choice.”
ABB’s DR solution is available for withdrawable Emax and New Emax circuit breakers in situations where minimising shutdown time is critical. The solution is said to guarantee a safe modernisation of the old system. Only the mobile part of the old circuit breaker is replaced with a dedicated Emax 2 part.
According to ABB, the new breakers are type-approved with the same configuration as the existing breakers and conversion wiring is included, further simplifying the exchange process so that it can typically be completed in just ten minutes. Furthermore, ABB’s service continuity guarantee ensures uninterrupted operation during the upgrade process.
Ole Dahl, electrification service sales engineer at ABB Denmark, believes many businesses are delaying modernising their breakers due to an outdated assumption that replacement entails the removal of key equipment for extended periods.
He said: “Circuit breakers play a vital role in preventing over-heating or fire causing catastrophic damage and stoppages but too many businesses where uptime is crucial, such as power plants, hospitals and data centres, are running old install bases to the point of failure.
“Modernisation projects such as Nordværk prove that legacy breakers can be upgraded with minimal downtime. Spare parts are readily available for the new equipment, which is not only more reliable but also future-proofed with the possibility for advanced monitoring and communication.”