At the Schneider Electric 2021 Digital Power Leadership Summit, we presented a case study on how we had helped Argosy implement an energy management system to support their sustainability goals. The summit was attended by Schneider Electric EcoXpert Critical Power and Substation Automation Masters from across the globe, a number of which also presented case studies.
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The Quasar team has configured and implemented an energy management system for Argosy, one of New Zealand’s leading listed property companies. The energy management system provides energy consumption and efficiency data across Argosy's commercial property portfolio and is being rolled out across Argosy’s properties in stages with the first stage recently being handed over.
Aurora extends surveillance to more substationsKate Barker Wed, 25 Jun 2014 Aurora Energy is rolling out video surveillance at four of its substations after a trial showed it could reduce site visits and potential threats.
The Otago lines company had a surveillance system installed at its Andersons Bay substation about a year ago. Christchurch-based firm Quasar Systems, a supplier and integrator of Systems with Intelligence video surveillance technology, is working with Aurora to commission the equipment. Quasar managing director Richard Schwass says Aurora is the first firm in New Zealand to use this type of technology, developed by Canada-based SWI. He says Quasar is now working with other lines companies on the installation of cameras. Horizon pilots network fault detection system Kate Barker, Energy News Wed, 11 Jun 2014 Horizon Energy is testing a system for detecting and isolating faults on its network to help increase reliability.
The fault detection isolation and restoration system (FDIR) was developed by Christchurch-based firm Quasar, which supplies and integrates Survalent Technology smart grid solutions. Horizon asset manager Derek Caudwell says implementing the technology will reduce the impact of faults on customers. It will also position the company for possible regulatory changes around network performance. “The regulator’s indicated in the next period that quality and incentive schemes are likely to come to the fore so it’s one of a number of things we’re doing to be in a position to respond to that, improve our customer responsiveness and also reliability of the network.” Quasar project engineer Eric Tjiptadjaja says FDIR will be able to locate and isolate a fault immediately, and then either advise restoration steps to the operator or implement the restoration automatically. It follows the same logic as an operator but can take in more information at once and process it more quickly, Caudwell says. Horizon’s network spans around 8,400 square-kilometres and provides electricity to more than 24,000 consumers in the eastern Bay of Plenty. Operation Caudwell says the firm recently ran a three-year reliability programme and installed more than 50 automated switches on parts of the network were performance historically has been poor. Once FDIR is fully implemented it will communicate with parts of the network that have the automated switches installed and gather information from there. Caudwell says once the system has isolated a fault, it will look at other areas to determine whether they are faulted or not and restore on that basis. It can also read how recently other devices have communicated, how reliable the information coming in from the field is, and quickly calculate load flows to find the optimal part of the network to restore from. “You’ve still got to respond to the actual fault,” Caudwell says, “but it means those areas that can be restored quickly are, so less people are affected by the outage.” The system is currently being tested on about 10 per cent of the network in a monitoring capacity. The pilot began in April and will likely run for 12 months, Caudwell says. “When it sees a fault it will go through its routine and work how it would have responded to that particular fault, but it won’t actually undertake any switching at this stage,” he says. “We’re still gaining operational experience with the system.” The FDIR is supported by Survalent Technology's open-architecture system, which includes several of the firm's open system applications. He would not say how much has been spent on implementing the new system as it’s still in the pilot stage. Long-term plan Caudwell says technology take-up by distributors has been on the slow side compared with other industries, but that is changing. “Process industries have been automating systems since the introduction of SCADA systems and computers.” Implementing the FDIR system is part of a long-term plan Horizon has to better serve its consumers and take advantage of developments in technology. Caudwell says the firm is in the process of developing an outages management system to better understand where faults occur on the network. “Ultimately we’d like to have smart meters as part of that - telling us where customers are without supply - but because the of the nature of New Zealand’s regulatory environment and the fact that the meters are typically owned by the retailers it really requires some willpower and cooperation to make that happen.” Horizon also recently deployed Smartrak – a system for monitoring and managing the dispatch of its staff in the field. Caudwell says the technology shows where field workers are in relation to the firm’s assets. Transpower is the owner and operator of the New Zealand's National Grid – the high voltage transmission network of lines and substations connecting areas of generation with towns and cities across the country. To 'keep the lights on 24 hours a day 7 days a week' Transpower needs to monitor substations closely, provide control, monitor operational data, and feed this data upstream to National SCADA. The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) has recently installed a Quasar energy management system in their Wellington offices, to demonstrate the value of monitoring energy use. The system features an energy monitoring display using PowerLogic ION Enterprise software, which gathers, analyses, stores and displays all energy data in a user-friendly format. The display provides an easy, cost-effective way of tracking energy use in the offices and saves on administrative costs as no manual meter reading is involved. It has also been tailored to allow EECA to compare energy use between its two different office floors. Mike Underhill, Chief Executive, says the system allows EECA to identify opportunities to refine existing energy saving measures and demonstrate the potential for improving energy use in an office environment. “The energy monitoring display has enabled EECA to identify a series of small improvements that combined add-up to a noticeable saving year on year. The project also provides a valuable demonstration model that can be viewed by commercial building owners or tenants.” Anyone interested in viewing the system should contact Senior Relationship Manager Mike Bourke at EECA, email mike.bourke@eeca.govt.nz or phone (04) 470 2227. PowerLogic ION Enterprise software is a complete power management solution for energy providers and industrial or commercial operations. Learn more?
Quasar Systems NZ’s leading supplier and integrator of revenue and power quality meters and metering systems to local power generators and distributors has recently been awarded a contract by Transpower New Zealand for the supply of revenue meters following an extensive evaluation programme. Transpower has approximately 450 legacy revenue meters installed at some 152 substations throughout New Zealand. When purchased in the early 1990’s the meters were ‘state of the art’ technology but are now nearing the end of their physical life. |