powerMAX Prevents Blackouts at Motor Oil Hellas Refinery

Oil refineries have critical processes that depend on reliable power sources. Power outages or interruptions can prove catastrophic, with potentially devastating economic and environmental consequences.

To generate efficient and reliable power, refineries use onsite power generators. However, as the number of onsite generators grows, so does the need to monitor power generation and manage loads throughout the facility.

Motor Oil Hellas’s first power protection system relied on slow, unreliable electromechanical relays. When an event occurred (e.g., a system trip), they were unable to determine root cause because they lacked any system diagnostics.

Motor Oil Hellas was looking for a more powerful means to improve the speed, accuracy, and overall reliability of their power system. Fast power system response would be key to ensuring better power stability, fewer blackouts and higher process uptime.

Motor Oil Hellas operates the second-largest refinery in Europe. Based in Maroussi, Greece, the company’s main activities are oil refining and oil products trading. Motor Oil Hellas is the only lubricant producer and packager in Greece and is a leading petroleum supplier in Southern Europe and the Mediterranean.

Customer Profile

Customer: Motor Oil Hellas Corinth Refineries S.A.

Location: Maroussi, Greece

Industry: Oil and Gas (Petroleum)

Application: Power Management System

As part of their plant expansion, Motor Oil Hellas selected the SEL powerMAX Power Management and Control System to provide protection and wide-area control. The powerMAX automated control functions were specifically designed to prevent, detect, and mitigate blackouts and maximize system uptime. Automated functions within the powerMAX system control major power system assets for optimal economic operations.

A driving factor in the selection of the SEL powerMAX system was its very fast operating time of less than 40 milliseconds when compared with competitor systems, which operate in seconds. Only the SEL solution had the speed to react quickly and maintain system stability.