Management of risk and economics of LV power system protection for industrial facilities

This paper discusses some of the main issues that are generally found in protection systems of low voltage electrical installations and presents a methodology that can be used to analyze and upgrade the existing power system protective devices in these low voltage distribution systems. The upgrades of existing operating systems, especially low voltage systems, always face an economic challenge where the monetary value spent on upgrades has to be justifiable against the benefit derived. If understood clearly, the benefit of upgrades to existing protective systems is larger than just making these systems safer. A gated approach for the upgrade and proper management of such systems can help in planning for future expansions, provide reliability of equipment and decrease overall risk for the operations of any facility.