A smart operational monitoring approach for high voltage electrical assets

The High Voltage and Medium Voltage electrical grid is changing drastically in the way it is operated. Bidirectional power flow due to the growing use of renewable energy and power electronics is among the most important players for such a change. Also, inter-area congestions are becoming more probable due to growing load levels (and patterns, e.g., extensive use of air condition, electric vehicles chargers). Aside of that, but in relation also to that, the electrical network is aging faster and faster. It is therefore necessary to search for innovative ways to operate the changing power systems in the most efficient and reliable manner. For this purpose, there is the need to know if and how loading and “health” condition of the components of the grid can affect the overall grid reliability. Online condition monitoring can provide, in a timely way, fundamental information which can be used for, e.g., probabilistic load flow and contingency analysis. The operational rules will not be derived from handbooks, but from the real conditions of electrical asset components. A methodology for exploiting online monitoring of electrical equipment will be discussed in this paper, and an highlighting case study will be presented.