Vietnam Electricity Achieves Reliability in Harsh Environments With SEL Relays in the Yard

Challenge

Vietnam’s economy is growing, and as the economy grows, the demand for power increases. Vietnam Electricity (EVN) saw a need to modernize existing substations and build new substations to meet this demand. Modernization is often expensive and requires many months of commissioning. To reduce the cost and commissioning time, EVN decided to place their relays in the yard. However, these relays needed to be able to withstand Vietnam’s high humidity, hot temperatures, and monsoons.

Solution

EVN, with the help of their system integrator, ATS, placed cabinets with SEL devices in the substation yard, close to the primary equipment. EVN chose SEL relays because they are durable enough to withstand Vietnam’s harsh environment. ATS used two fiber-optic cables to connect the relays to the control house, reducing the use of copper and the number of faults resulting from harsh weather conditions.

Placing the relays in the yard lowered the costs and commissioning time of the modernization project and made the system more reliable by removing copper conductors from underground trenches.

Results

Problems in the system are detected and mitigated immediately using fiber-optic channels instead of underground copper conductors. In the more than ten years since they were installed, the SEL relays have not experienced a single environmental failure.

Customer Profile

Customer: Vietnam Electricity (EVN)

Location: Ho Chi Minh Vity, Vietnam

Application: Substation Modernization