With the emergence of advanced technologies and digital solutions, utilities are increasingly upgrading their operations and maintenance (O&M) practices and asset management strategies by deploying internet of things and data analytics, as well as various new-age monitoring solutions such as drones and high resolution cameras to monitor assets.
In India, Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (Powergrid) has developed the Powergrid Digital Application for Routine Patrolling and Assessment of Network, an in-house application for transmission line patrolling activities. It helps improve real-time monitoring and patrolling efficiency, and assists in complete geographical asset mapping. It provides an automated management information system and
legacy reports along with a defect catalogue. It also provides rectification record monitoring services.
Powergrid has also developed the Powergrid Asset Life Management System, a web-based in-house portal for real-time health assessment of about 3,600 transformers/reactors. It categorises critical equipment based on operational experience and the latest international standards, performs risk-based severity indexing of transformers and reactors, and undertakes age assessment for integration. It also performs dynamic AMP scheduling based on severity. Further, Powergrid has created an asset management dashboard called UDAAN, which is a Qlik-based dashboard for monitoring the integration of data from various digital sources. It provides a geospatial view of assets, daily operational history and maloperation details. It also monitors key performance indicators and undertakes inventory and equipment health analysis. The transco has also developed portals such as the artificial intelligence (AI)-based AMRIT for defect identification in transmission lines, and DISHA (Digital Self-Help Assistant), a natural language processing-based chatbot for addressing queries related to asset management.
Process re-engineering
The re-engineering of processes and systems such as patrolling, maintenance, and warning and asset health monitoring systems is being undertaken to enhance the performance of utilities.
Powergrid has re-engineered its patrolling system using advanced technology solutions. The transco is undertaking vulnerability-based patrolling by deploying high zoom cameras and switching to app-based ground patrolling. It is also undertaking drone-based aerial patrolling on a trial basis, and implementing AI- and machine learning-based solutions for defect identification.
To achieve self-reliance in the O&M of assets, Powergrid aims to address its O&M issues without assistance from original equipment manufacturers. The transco set up its first repair site for 765 kV reactors in Aurangabad in 2020. It is also conducting repairs of gas-insulated switchgear (GIS) modules at various substations, and has fabricated parts of thyristor-controlled series capacitor modules using 3D printing. Powergrid has formulated an effective strategy for protecting lines and assets from cyclones, enabling the utility to withstand eight cyclones without much damage to its assets. As part of this strategy, the utility uses satellite imagery for the identification of critical transmission elements, and 24×7 control rooms for monitoring and adequate resource planning. It also undertakes special patrolling for critical elements in order to identify defects.
Technology upgradation
Utilities are increasingly adopting state-of-the-art technology to enhance their operational performance and efficiency, and make their operations sustainable. In August 2021, Powergrid commissioned the world’s first 400 kV reactor with natural ester oil at the Maithon substation in West Bengal. Natural ester fluid is a vegetable seed-based fluid derived from renewable agricultural seed crops. The application of ester fluids at higher voltage levels provides utilities with a safe and green solution for high equipment performance.
Moreover, Powergrid has become the fourth utility in the world to establish a facility for alcohol-based testing of ageing markers. The facility, set up at Manesar in 2022, helps in the detection of early-stage ageing of paper and easily differentiates between normal ageing and localised overheating. In addition, it has a higher recovery rate than furans after degassing of old units, and higher detectability than furans at temperatures above 100 ºCelsius.
Future outlook
The significant efforts undertaken by Powergrid to upgrade O&M and asset management strategies have increased its system efficiency to 99.83 per cent and reduced line tripping to an all-time low of 0.33 per cent, aligning it with international players. The failure rate of its transformers has decreased to 0.66 per cent, while the failure rate of GIS equipment and transmission has also witnessed a significant decline.
Going forward, to further upgrade O&M and enhance asset management, Powergrid plans to employ robots for substation inspection. The transco aims to undertake vegetation management by creating digital twins of physical transmission line networks and mapping vegetation data (such as vegetation type and growth rate) to schedule patrolling and right-of-way management based on the anticipated rate of growth. Furthermore, the transco aims to transition to agile and paperless transmission asset maintenance through the use of augmented reality glasses to connect with remote experts and data systems, QR code-based equipment identification, digitalisation of maintenance task lists, and auto-logging of field records to a central data repository
