GE Renewable Energy’s Grid Solutions business recently commissioned the first digital substation in the public power grid connected to Brazil’s National Interconnected System. Owned by ISA CTEEP, Brazil’s largest private transmission company, the Lorena substation in Sao Paulo in Brazil has a 1,200 MVA installed capacity and will benefit the entire Vale do Paraiba region, recognized as Sao Paulo’s main center of technology. It will be able to fulfill the energy demands equivalent to the consumption of two cities the same size as Sao Jose dos Campos in Sao Paulo in Brazil.The Grid Automation team within GE’s Grid Solutions manufactured and commissioned this fully digital substation, including the grid automation and protection system with process bus technology. This technology allows ISA CTEEP to record measured values from the transformers, digitize and send them to protection devices. Digital data is easier to transmit and share between substation devices in real time, allowing for better data utilization.As the digital substation is fitted with fiber optic cables, instead of point-to-point copper wires, its footprint has been reduced by 50% compared with a conventional substation, resulting in a lower environmental impact. It also features a 30% smaller control room, which also reduces its impact. Thanks to the use of fiber optic cables, technicians can avoid coming into direct contact with the circuits since maintenance work is done directly from the control room.The contract for the project, which has two transmission lines operating at 500 kV and four transmission lines operating at 230 kV, was signed in 2019.
GE Renewable Energy’s Grid Solutions business recently commissioned the first digital substation in the public power grid connected to Brazil’s National Interconnected System. Owned by ISA CTEEP, Brazil’s largest private transmission company, the Lorena substation in Sao Paulo in Brazil has a 1,200 MVA installed capacity and will benefit the entire Vale do Paraiba region, recognized as Sao Paulo’s main center of technology. It will be able to fulfill the energy demands equivalent to the consumption of two cities the same size as Sao Jose dos Campos in Sao Paulo in Brazil.The Grid Automation team within GE’s Grid Solutions manufactured and commissioned this fully digital substation, including the grid automation and protection system with process bus technology. This technology allows ISA CTEEP to record measured values from the transformers, digitize and send them to protection devices. Digital data is easier to transmit and share between substation devices in real time, allowing for better data utilization.As the digital substation is fitted with fiber optic cables, instead of point-to-point copper wires, its footprint has been reduced by 50% compared with a conventional substation, resulting in a lower environmental impact. It also features a 30% smaller control room, which also reduces its impact. Thanks to the use of fiber optic cables, technicians can avoid coming into direct contact with the circuits since maintenance work is done directly from the control room.The contract for the project, which has two transmission lines operating at 500 kV and four transmission lines operating at 230 kV, was signed in 2019.
