Asset owners in electrical power systems are faced with an aging infrastructure. In particular in North America and other developed countries, the number of electrical power assets reaching their end of service life increased in recent years. This is due the fact that most of the asset population has been put into operation during the boom years 40-50 years ago.
This fact brings the issue of asset life cycle management to the attention of the electrical power industry.
Special focus is placed on switchgear as they have a particular significance for the reliable performance of the electrical transmission and distribution network. Now, and even more in upcoming years, the industry needs to address maintenance strategies, aging processes and condition assessments. This all in regard to the right balance between a reliable electrical power supply and financial feasibility.
Having this in mind, IEEE Switchgear Technology and Innovation subcommittee has formed a task force which deliverable will be a technical report that will aim to provide a guideline on aging switchgear management. It will cover information about common asset replacement strategies, how to find the appropriate strategy and what is currently applied in the power industry. Further in-depth information about state-of-the-art condition assessment and switchgear health index calculations will be provided. Finally, also the aging process itself and its influencing factors will be described and practical examples from the industry will be shown.
- To learn more & get involved, please check out the IEEE PES Switchgear Committee’s T&I Subcommittee website here.
- Switchgear Technology and Innovation subcommittee covers all matters relating to new Technologies and Innovations applicable to the Scope of the Switchgear Committee. This includes facilitating and conducting research, developing technical reports, and making recommendations for further advancement of IEEE switchgear standards.
- If you want to get involved in the Switchgear Aging task force, or learn more about the other actives of Switchgear T&I, please contact Nenad Uzelac (chair) or Alex Lizardo (secretary).
- T&I CB working groups holds WG meetings in conjunction with IEEE Switchgear Committee meeting twice a year. The next meeting is scheduled at IEEE SG fall 2021 meeting. If you are interested in the WG activities and standard development, you are welcome to join the WG. More information about future meetings can be found at https://www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/pes/switchgear/meetings/meetings.html
Power System Instrumentation and Measurements
Experience with Partial Discharge Measurements on Instrument Transformers in High Voltage Laboratory Acceptance Tests Identification of Aged Cable Section in 12.5 kV URD System based on Frequency Spectrum Determination of a capacitance model for inductive medium voltage transformers Application of an Optical Current Transformer for Cable Head Station of Hokkaido-Honshu HVDC LinkApplication of an Optical Current Transformer for Cable Head Station of Hokkaido-Honshu HVDC Link State Estimation of Power System Considering Network Parameter Uncertainty Based on Parametric Interval Linear Systems A Phasor Measurement Algorithm based on Phase-Locked Loop
2021 PES ISGT NA 2/18 Panel Video: Enhancing Grid Resilience Through Advanced Grid Sensor and Analytics Tools
The nation’s electric power system is undergoing a transformation driven by multiple factors including integration of distributed energy resources (DERs), a shift to more variable renewable power generation, greater availability of energy storage, and aging infrastructure. The result is an increasingly complex and dynamic grid where grid operators require greater visibility and coordination across all levels of the power system spanning transmission, distribution, distributed resources, and behind-the-meter assets. At the same time, natural and man-made threats to the power system have multiplied challenging the resiliency of the grid. Many strategies to offer enhanced resiliency when the grid is fragmented due to a severe event depend on local coordination of distributed resources such as networked microgrids. Maintaining the stability and resiliency of this dynamic grid requires access to advanced sensor data where and when it is needed.
Numerous articles from IEEE Power and Energy Magazine and Electrification magazine explore the topic of aging equipment in greater detail. These articles include:
Switchgear Insulation Aging:
- “Research on insulation aging of distribution switchgear”
Mancheng Yi; Meina Pu; Zhaofang Zhu; Chunhui Gu; Haibo Su; Xiaohua Wang, International Conference on Condition Monitoring and Diagnosis (CMD), 2016. - “Detection and analysis of typical fault partial discharge characteristics in switchgear”
Yin-zhu Kang; Yong-xiang Li; Gang Yang; Tian-Zheng Wang; Li-qiang Guo; Zhi-peng Wang, 2nd International Conference on Power and Renewable Energy (ICPRE), 2017.
Asset Management of Oil Field Switchgear:
- “The assessment and management of aged oil-filled switchgear”
H.G. Balcombe, The Management of Aged Oil-filled Switchgear in Industrial and Commercial Environments(DIgest No: 1997/079), IEE Colloquium on, 1997.
Partial Discharge Pattern Recognition for Gas Insulated Switchgear:
- “Partial Discharge Patterns Recognition of GIS with Denoising-stacked Autoencoder Networks”
Y. Zhao, J. Yan, Y. Wang, T. Liu and J. Jiang, 5th Asia Conference on Power and Electrical Engineering (ACPEE), 2020.
Asset Health Management and Predictive Health Index:
- “Asset health management using predictive and prescriptive analytics for the electric power grid”
A. Goyal et al. IBM Journal of Research and Development, vol. 60, no. 1, Jan.-Feb. 2016 | Volume: 17, Issue: 3. - “Monitoring and diagnosis of electrical equipment using a web software. Health index and remaining lifetime estimation”
G. Tanasescu, B. Gorgan, S. Busoi, A. Badita and P. V. Notingher. Health index and remaining lifetime estimation, Conference on Diagnostics in Electrical Engineering (Diagnostika), 2016
Switchgear Retrofit:
- “Retrofit on Switchgear”
S. Rushton, The IEE Seminar on Managing the Complexity of an Aging Asset Base (Ref. No. 2006/11426), 2006
Estimation of End of Life of Power Equipment:
- “An alternative method for estimating mean life of power system equipment with limited end-of-life failure data”
J. E. Cota-Felix, F. Rivas-Davalos and S. Maximov, IEEE Bucharest PowerTech, 2009. - “Evaluating mean life of power system equipment with limited end-of-life failure data”
Wenyuan Li, IEEE Power Engineering Society General Meeting, 2005.
Estimating Failure Cost of the Power Equipment:
- “Estimation of Failure Cost in Life Cycle Cost of Power Equipment”
G. Qiu, C. Xia and H. Zhang, Asia-Pacific Power and Energy Engineering Conference, 2011.
P&E Magazine Articles
- Power system equipment aging, Wenyuan Li;E. Vaahedi;P. Choudhury, IEEE Power and Energy Magazine, Year: 2006 | Volume: 4, Issue: 3 | Magazine Article | Publisher: IEEE, Cited by: Papers (42).
- The economics of aging infrastructure, R.E. Brown;H.L. Willis, IEEE Power and Energy Magazine, Year: 2006 | Volume: 4, Issue: 3 | Magazine Article | Publisher: IEEE, Cited by: Papers (15).
- Aging, maintenance, and reliability – approaches to preserving equipment health and extending equipment life, J. Endrenyi;G.J. Anders, IEEE Power and Energy Magazine, Year: 2006 | Volume: 4, Issue: 3 | Magazine Article | Publisher: IEEE, Cited by: Papers (54)
- Life extension and condition assessment: techniques for an aging utility infrastructure, N. Dominelli;A. Rao;P. Kundur, IEEE Power and Energy Magazine, Year: 2006 | Volume: 4, Issue: 3 | Magazine Article | Publisher: IEEE, Cited by: Papers (12)
- Time management for assets: chronological strategies for power system asset management, M. Shahidehpour;R. Ferrero, IEEE Power and Energy Magazine, Year: 2005 | Volume: 3, Issue: 3 | Magazine Article | Publisher: IEEE, Cited by: Papers (39)
- Soccer Field Strategy, Ed J. Mah;Jorg Stangl, IEEE Power and Energy Magazine, Year: 2010 | Volume: 8, Issue: 6 | Magazine Article | Publisher: IEEE
- If It Ain’t Broke…, Bhavin Desai;Matt Walther;James Haufler, IEEE Power and Energy Magazine, Year: 2010 | Volume: 8, Issue: 6 | Magazine Article | Publisher: IEEE, Cited by: Papers (1)
- Refurbish or Replace: What’s Best for Aging HVdc and FACTS [Guest Editorial], Michael Henderson, IEEE Power and Energy Magazine, Year: 2016 | Volume: 14, Issue: 2 | Magazine Article | Publisher: IEEE
- CIGRE Technical brochure 683 – Technical requirements and specifications of state-of-the-art HVDC switching equipment, April 2017.
- IEEE C37.10 Guide for Investigation, Analysis and Reporting of Power Circuit Breaker Failures,
- IEEE C37.10.1 Guide for Selection of Monitoring for Circuit Breakers,
- IEEE C37.59 Requirements for Conversion of Power Switchgear Equipment,
- CIGRE TB167 User Guide for the Application of Monitoring and Diagnostic Techniques for Switching Equipment for Rated Voltages 72.5kV and Above,
- CIGRE TB725 Aging High Voltage Substation Equipment and Possible Mitigation Techniques,
- CIGRE TB737 Non-Intrusive Methods for Condition Assessment of Distribution and Transmission Switchgear,
- Ongoing: CIGRE JWG A3.43 Tools for Lifecycle Management of T&D Switchgear Based of Data from Condition Monitoring Systems,
- Ongoing: CIGRE WG B3.48 Assets Health Indices for Equipment in Existing Substations, just to name the few.
- Ongoing: CIRED power equipment lifetime extension working group