Based in Belarus, ABB Ability™ based technology will improve efficiency, safety, security and reliability at the largest digital substation in the world.
The company will enable the world’s largest digital substation with the upgrade of one of the biggest air insulated substations (AIS) ever built for the Belarus Ministry of Energy and its transmission utility Mogilevenergo.
Included within the upgrade, the substation will feature digital technology that enhances control and reliability whilst optimising operating costs. ABB will supply protection and control equipment, an ABB Ability™ MicroSCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) system and a digital process bus, which allows inter-operable communication between vendors through Ethernet cables instead of copper wires, saving cost and space. As part of the project, ABB will also provide digitally enabled high-voltage products like Fiber Optics Current Sensors (FOCS-FS) and Disconnecting Circuit Breakers (DCBs) to the Engineering and Procurement Company RIKO.
As a country with over nine million people, sharing borders with five countries, Belarus is experiencing growing electricity demand and its power grid is evolving to meet this need. Digital technology is noted to be a key pillar in coping with future development related to both power generation and demand.
Digitisation allows unprecedented visibility of a customer’s assets and systems and the efficient harnessing of extensive volumes of data. Digitisation also enables the easy integration of IT (Information Technology) and OT (Operational Technology) systems enabling operators in control centres to interpret key insights in real time and as a result prevent critical failures. With rising numbers of smart sensors in the field, the amount of process data being collected and analysed within the substation is increasing correspondingly, allowing for protection and control, or for condition monitoring where the data is run against predictive models and machine learning in the cloud.
“ABB continues to be at the forefront of digital grid technology development with a range of digital products and software, substation automation, control and protection solutions, from the field to the board room,” said Massimo Danieli, head of ABB’s Grid Automation business within the company’s Power Grids division. “We are pleased to support Belarus’ digital substation, reinforcing our position as a partner of choice for a stronger, smarter and greener grid.”
Another key segment of ABB’s scope of supply includes Fiber Optics Current Sensors – Free Standing (FOCS-FS), and a non-conventional instrument transformer that facilitates open standards based IEC 61850 communication in the digital substation. The digital substation also obtains real-time data on primary equipment and converts this into actionable intelligence to help the utility to monitor, control and maintain assets, as well derive cost efficiencies. This critical asset data can then be sent to ABB Ability Ellipse APM (Asset Performance Management) software that will enable predictive and preventive maintenance as well. ABB’s Disconnecting Circuit Breakers (DCB) will provide the functionality of a circuit breaker and a dis-connector combined in a single unit, making the substation even more compact.