The use of computers in the lifetime management of protection. Present applications within East Midlands Electricity and possible future developments

The distribution system within East Midland Electricity (EME) is fundamentally no different from that of any of the other Regional Electricity Companies within the United Kingdom. The size and nature of the substations vary from the street corner secondary supplying domestic load to the supergrid site connected to the National Grid. The protection installed at these substations, and all the others in between, is as varied as the customers they supply. The authors identify some of the protection approaches made by EME and include a look into the future. They examine the use of computers to aid the engineer in the calculation and distribution of relay settings and the provision of a comprehensive record system. Also look at the use of computers in the commissioning and maintenance of protection and the investigations associated with fault operations