USA Substation Makeover

In the latest of network augmentation works planned for the Emerald People’s Utility District, EPUD has procured, deployed and commissioned NOJA Power’s OSM series reclosers for the replacement of aging network assets. EPUD has completely overhauled their Elmira Substation with the replacement of all four outgoing circuit breakers with NOJA Power OSM Reclosers. Not only were EPUD able to replace their bulky aged assets with the lightest recloser available today, they have successfully deployed remote HMI panel control connected via fibre through to their substation control room. The upgrade works at the Elmira substation are only the beginning for this industrious utility, as major deployments of NOJA Power OSM Reclosers are imminent with the success of the initial deployment. NOJA Power’s engineers travelled to Eugene, Oregon to provide assistance and support to help EPUD achieve their goals of unrivalled network reliability and excellence of service to their community.

While traditional substation circuit breakers are often required to have high interruption capabilities, Public Utility Districts, Co-ops and rural utilities are often blessed with lower fault currents at their substation levels. As long as the interruption requirements are below 16kA with a consistent current rating below 800A (or 1000A at 38kV), the NOJA Power OSM Series Recloser provides exceptional value for the price.

NOJA Power’s OSM Series Recloser is supplied together with the RC-10 controller, providing the comprehensive suite of protection, automation and communications capabilities as standard – from Overcurrent right through to IEC 61850 and Power Quality Monitoring. Rural utilities the world over are opting to forego the traditional circuit breaker route in their substations to capitalize on the value of the NOJA Power OSM Series Recloser system.

EPUD’s retrofit operation at the Elmira substation was a very simple affair, with the OSM Recloser units being mounted on the old circuit breaker stands. While the size comparison was quite humorous, the compact design of the OSM Recloser system is right at home in the substation environment. Not only were EPUD able to reuse their old mounting platforms, they were able to remove approximately 330 yards of copper cable running from their old breakers to the substation control room. As the OSM Recloser already has integral current transformers and voltage sensors in every bushing combined with the adjacent RC-10 controller mounted to the substation switchgear frame, there was no need for additional cabling to the control hub. All the legacy wiring, relays and outdoor CTs were replaced by a single fiber connection running to the remote HMI panel of the OSM recloser system mounted in the substation.

During December 2016, NOJA Power Vice President Rick Campanalie and Sales Engineer Martin van der Linde travelled to Eugene, Oregon to provide training and support to the Emerald People’s Utility District. Since the success of the Elmira Substation upgrade, EPUD have deployed multiple new installations of NOJA Power OSM Reclosers, with plans in work for further network wide deployment of OSM Reclosers in 2017.

EPUD’s System Engineer Doug Barab commented on the quality of the equipment and the ease of installation, both in substation applications and on poles in the field. “From the crating and packaging to a design that is well thought-out to the quality of craftsmanship of the cabinet and recloser, NOJA demonstrates time and time again a very high degree of attention to details. This contributed to being able to quickly deploy the NOJA units even though the installations were different from what we had done in the past. We found that we were able to completely replace a substation unit in just two days, including removing the old breaker and relay panel. A line crew can install and commission test a polemount unit in a half day. The substation and line technicians really like the NOJA’s and have let me know in no uncertain terms that they want to see us use more of them in the future.”

“NOJA Power’s OSM reclosers are equally capable of being used in substation applications as well as line applications within the fault level capacity of the product,” reports NOJA Power Group Managing Director Neil O’Sullivan. “As they are a completely integrated solution with all measurement, control, protection, Scada and automation packaged as a single solution the entire substation is simplified and the remote panel with the single fibre connection creates an automatic substation control room HMI. NOJA Power is proud to be working with Emerald PUD on their substation upgrade project.”

NOJA Power are dedicated to helping utilities achieve their goals of network reliability and performance. NOJA Power are proud to support Doug Barab and the team at the Emerald People’s Utility District as they grow their network capabilities and continue to serve their community with excellence. The Elmira Substation upgrade at EPUD is one of the many field applications of the OSM Series Recloser that is deployed in worldwide today, where NOJA Power’s decades of experience in reclosers is providing class leading Reclosers in safety, performance and reliability NOJA Power are always looking to working with utilities like EPUD, helping these utilities achieve their goals of reliability and excellent service to their communities.