Wildlife Contacts Result in Costly Power Outages for Government Facility.

Intermittent contact with tree limbs and wildlife wreak havoc on electric power distribution systems and their components. A large Canadian military facility was experiencing a growing number of such occurrences on their 12.47-kV lines, which were resulting in nuisance power fuse operations in the switchgear of their 44-kV substations. With over 40 years of continuing service and support to this customer, S&C was called upon to implement a solution to this problem.

S&C conducted a detailed time-current coordination study of the distribution system using CYMTCC for Windows®, a commercially available computer program distributed by S&C.

The study established that the installation of reclosers would prevent transient faults from blowing the power fuses in the switchgear but still allow proper operation of the fuses under permanent fault conditions.

Electrical requirements notwithstanding, the customer mandated that the reclosers be mounted alongside the existing switchgear in the substation. Since reclosers are normally pole-top mounted, the desired mounting arrangement presented a formidable engineering task.

Working in conjunction with the recloser manufacturer, S&C engineers were able to offer a turnkey solution to the customer that included the design and construction of the reclosers and its custom-designed enclosure.

Because of S&C’s involvement, the customer is now experiencing considerably fewer fuse operations, less outages, and substantially increased service reliability.

Recently Added

A testimony to the installation was given recently by the customer, after the flawless operation of the reclosers during an event that would — prior to the installation — have blown fuses at the switchgear. On the heels of this successful operation, the customer requested that S&C conduct a study to ascertain the feasibility of adding reclosers to another substation. Based upon the results of that study, a decision will be made with regard to a system-wide implementation process.