ABB's 66kV modular substation recently received a Design Award at the 2013 Australian International Design Awards in the Commercial and Industrial category.
The modular substation was evaluated in the Commercial and Industrial category with the panel assessing that it exceeded the five criteria for good design in the areas of form, function, quality, safety, sustainability and meet the critera for design excellence and innovation.
In presenting the award, judges commended ABB for its innovative engineering and use of intelligent design that allows the substation to be built, assembled and tested off-site, then quickly dropped into place to enable efficient and safe connection to the power grid.
This method eliminates civil works, installation, testing and commissioning at the customer’s location.
Commissioning a new substation in remote locations and finding the skilled resources to have it up and running can take months.
The modular substation is used in transforming high voltage 66kV to lower useable voltages, and primarily offers benefits to companies operating in the resources, industrial and utility sectors.
Based on a 'universal' design, the ABB 66kV Module is an open-air-insulated substation in a compact form factor.
It offers bay level control and protection, and incorporates a gantry, DC panel and PASS Unit. The PASS unit is a gas-insulated switchgear (GIS) that combines a circuit breaker (CB)-disconnector-current transformer (CT)-voltage transformer (VT)-earth switch.
The skid design ensures the control and protection panel can operate in the harsh conditions, while providing crucial control and protection via IEC61850-enabled intelligent electronic device (IED) installed in the panel.
The visual appeal of the modular substation benefitted from the professional design services provided by CMD, a design studio based in Brisbane.
CMD helped ABB produce an architecturally aesthetic substation with improved transportability.