Solar flares are periods when intense high-energy radiation is emitted from the sun’s surface, causing radio and magnetic disturbances on Earth. Coupled with local geology, these have the potential to disrupt the power of the magnetic circuit of transformers, leading to inefficient power transmission and significant damage to the transformers.
Scottish Power commissioned Elimpus to instal the Optimus DGA Monitor OPT100 in order to monitor the condition of its transformer, detect the effects of geomagnetically induced currents and take maintenance if required.
Vaisala’s OPT100 advanced monitoring solution assesses a transformer’s condition by measuring for the presence of moisture and seven different fault gases in transformer oil.
Keith Black, system performance senior engineer at Scottish Power, said: “Scottish Power has a number of strategic transformers on the transmission network that require advanced condition monitoring, and we have been increasingly wary of the effects of solar flares and geomagnetically induced currents to disrupt their efficient performance. The Vaisala unit was installed because it met our current specification of online DGA devices with the addition of being maintenance free.”
The OPT100 includes tuneable non-dispersive infrared (NDIR) filters, which are said to ensure optimal condition monitoring performance regardless of operational conditions.
The tuneable NDIR filter is claimed to provide confidence to the monitoring team that their measurements are stable over the long term. The tuneable NDIR filter prevents drift and ensures all dissolved gas concentrations are accurately measured.
The installation process enabled Elimpus and Scottish Power to bring the unit online quickly. The unit is said to require no regular maintenance of its own.
Scottish Power has been using the OPT100 since November 2017. “The OPT100 gives us the ability to track any disturbance that may occur and extend the lifetime of our transformer, as well as reducing the possibility of any unplanned outages,” added Black.
With online transformer monitoring set to become increasingly important, Scottish Power is installing more OPT100 units across its fleet of power transformers.