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Transformers + Substations Handbook: 2014
Once upon a time, the substation was ‘the building over
there’, or the ‘room in the basement’; and the transformer
the ‘thing with the tubes that hums’.
This has changed and ‘Transformers + Substations
Handbook: 2014’ allows you to reacquaint yourself with one
of the most important parts of any system, the substation
and its content, and the transformer as the key device. This
change relates as much to a utility, a building or a plant.
The change has been profound. The cynics amongst us
may argue that the transformer is the device that drips oil all
the time and the substation the building that had the explosion.
This view is not far-fetched as the issue of maintenance has
a specific poignancy in South Africa at the present time.
‘Transformers + Substations Handbook: 2014’ is a
collection of targeted articles written by authors willing to
share their knowledge. It combines some of the best think-
ing in terms of tutorial-type and experience-based material;
it covers some of the latest thinking and it reviews important
background theory.
Transformers are required to be more efficient than they
ever were, and to operate reliably over increasingly long life
spans. This implies attention to detail at the design and manu
facturing stage, as well as consideration of the protection and
monitoring schemes that will assist in ensuring longevity of
the asset.
A further issue relates to the inclusion of the substation
into the communications network, where information for the
energy supply system is important not only for that system,
but as part of the overall plant data system. Data used
in energy control and protection has specific associated
challenges and supportive network and technologies.
This handbook comes at a critical time in the development
of the South and southern African economies. It comes at a
time when the supply of energy has without doubt impacted
on the potential growth of the economy. This speaks to the
need to plan carefully when developing strategic objectives
– but it also speaks to a fundamental failing at a number of
levels. Whereas this can be understood, it is a lesson that
must be learned and remembered.
The second issue that emerges is the tendency to
suspect that, in attempting to solve this problem, we are
biting off more than we can chew. However, that is not the
case. The fact of the matter is that when you need to eat an
elephant, you need a plan, you need the resources, and you
need the structures … but you still do it bite by bite. Some
would say carefully.
So energy has become the number one commodity on
our plants. We need to revisit transformers and substations;
and we need to integrate all the data from those systems
into plant information systems.
I am sure this handbook will allow you to pause and
consider where you own system is, and where, perhaps, it
should be.
Ian Jandrell
Pr Eng,
BSc (Eng) GDE PhD,
FSAIEE SMIEEE
Foreword
by Ian Jandrell