BRAZIL – 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 (SIN).

Located in the State of São Paulo and owned by ISA CTEEP - Brazil’s largest private transmission company - the Lorena substation has a 1,200 MVA installed capacity and is expected to benefit the entire Vale do Paraiba region, recognized as São Paulo’s main center of technology.

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 them and send them to protection devices, the manufacturer said in a press release.

As the digital substation is fitted with fiber optic cables, instead of point-to-point copper wires, its footprint is reduced by 50% in comparison with a conventional substation, resulting in a lower environmental impact. It also features a 30% smaller control room. The use of fiber optic cables enables 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 including two 500 kV transmission lines and four 230 kV transmission lines was signed in 2019.

GE has energized five additional digital substations across Latin America in recent years - in Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela. Around the world, GE’s Grid Solutions teams are currently working to deliver more than 100 digital substation (process bus) projects, the manufacturer said in a press release.


Source: GE Grid Solutions