Learn How Oman Electricity Transmission Company Uses ETAP eProtect for the Security and Reliability of Large Power System Networks

This project will provide us with benefits. We will have a complete digital twin model. So, whatever assets are in our physical systems, we will have them in the digitalized model. The entire network, including the secondary and primary systems, will be exactly the same as physical assets. We will also have a relay-setting management process. We will have a setting tracking dashboard and modifications. The ETAP eProtect also offers Visualization and evaluation. We can use the health monitoring and maintenance of our relays whenever relays have been upgraded with firmware or tested.
By Ms. Anil Ravat, Technical Expert, Oman Electricity Transmission Company

This presentation defines and demonstrates the importance of remote data collection of protection relays for the security and reliability of large power system networks. Oman Electricity Transmission Company grid stations have installed over 4000 rapidly expanding protection relays. In case of tripping incidents, the protection system would isolate the faulty primary equipment by actuating the switchgear. These isolated equipment restorations can be done faster if the protection relays’ fault records and events can be retrieved remotely. ETAP and OETC jointly worked to provide remote relay access and data retrieval. The protection system model and relay data feed in a relay management system solution is called ETAP eProtect. This system is connected through IEC 61850 and IEC 60870-5-103 protocol to link relays, events, and fault records. Fault records are stored in a database for detailed analysis and validation. This presentation discusses the challenges faced, technical requirements, and benefits of the solution.

Oman Electricity Transmission Company SAOG (OETC) is vital in Oman's electricity sector. It owns and operates the leading transmission network across the Sultanate, through which electricity is transmitted from the generating stations to the distribution load centers in all governorates. The leading electricity transmission network operates at a high voltage of 132kV and above. OETC is also responsible for balancing generation and demand at all times of the day as part of its responsibilities for the economic dispatch of power in the Sultanate.​

Location: Muscat, Oman

Year: 2022

Remote protection relay management in the Oman electricity network

Challenges

  • The basic challenge was the availability of a Remote Management of the Protection Relays in the big electrical network across Oman. Over 4000 protection relays with an RTU-based control system installed in over a hundred grid stations. The electrical network inventory is crucial, with specifications for every substation, transmission line, and, at the end, protection relays installed in the grid substations. 400kV, 220kV, and 4x132kV levels of voltages are used in the grid stations.
  • Having a central database with centralized information about which relay was installed, where it was installed, its purpose, the functions enabled, and other related information.
  • Remote access to the electrical protection relays should be provided to avoid traveling across the country, from substation to substation, to check and change parameters. Engineers have to travel a long way to collect the fault records, but they face issues like the firmware not matching. They are also not able to communicate with the relays. Maintenance Engineers working under such conditions are demotivated.
  • Stop a manual process when the maintenance people try to solve problems without any help, without any or limited communication, and without detailed root cause analysis. High-quality maintenance is essential to secure critical electricity infrastructure. Finding a solution with many types of protection relays, such as ABB, Siemens, SE, MiCOM, and GE, was challenging.
  • Tracking and registering protection relay parameters automatically, keeping a history of changes, and launching health monitoring of protection assets. This will significantly decrease the number of manual steps and engineering time spent solving issues.  
  • Mapping every electrical equipment data, parameters, settings, and location with correct naming and structure to create a model for protection analyses was crucial to starting the transformation process effectively.
  • Frequent incidents provoke significant losses of energy and time. Incidents should be recorded, analyzed, and compared with other incidents to avoid the same problem in the future. The history of incidents (fault recorder) should be provided.

Which solutions did they choose?

Selected applications

They utilize ETAP eProtect software to manage relay protection coordination in real time. StarZ auto-evaluation helps in automated analysis, and StarZ is used for the distance protection calculation. ETAP Digital Twin is used naturally as a base solution.

The online etapAPP application captures electrical data directly on-site and is the free tool stakeholders use.

Why do they use ETAP?

Main Customer Benefits

  • A complete ETAP relay digital twin model of the Oman electrical network is available for maintenance services and managers. The ETAP GIS with ESRI was used to harmonize information from the site into the virtual model.
  • If the user has access, they can use any tool connected to the internet (mobile devices) to see and use dashboards. The efficient dashboards help track changes, visualize events, and signal them.
  • Engineers can modify protection relay settings online without visiting the substation. They can monitor and track parameters and use templates dedicated to specific relays. Thanks to a dedicated server, the history of changes is stored on a secure server.
  • Protection device settings are automatically imported to the database repository. The system uses the IEC 61850 communication standard protocol for electronic devices at substations. Cybersecurity guidelines are used to secure critical electrical infrastructure.
  • The process of analyzing and determining relay settings has significantly accelerated, thanks to ETAP calculation and visualization tools and the possibility of comparing As-Found to As-Designed settings.
  • Users can utilize the online etapAPP application, the best electrical data collector, to capture electrical drawings and information in the field and load them into the virtual model. This lovely, free tool is available to every ETAP user.
  • The company achieved digital transformation at the substation level by using ETAP iCE Remote Terminal Units (iCE RTU) and connecting all substations to the Control Center using a fiber network.
  • Thanks to the data and parameters from the field, an electrical design process and studies are safe and efficient despite the large area.

What do they think about ETAP?

Opinions

So, ETAP eProtect also offers the remote configuration of the IEDs (Intelligent Electronic Devices). We can see the firmware. We can see the relay application configurations, and we can see the setting change management and histories. We can see what the alarms and events are. We can see the electrical parameters trends, such as voltage, current, power, and other parameters.
By Ms. Anil Ravat, Technical Expert, Oman Electricity Transmission Company

We also collect data via the etapAPP. There, we can compare As-Found and As-Designed settings. We also utilize auditing of the studies and implementation of the settings. We can also get the feature of automatic notification of setting changes. All the data will be available to all our production engineers.
By Ms. Anil Ravat, Technical Expert, Oman Electricity Transmission Company


Videos

Remote Management of Protection Relays

This presentation defines and demonstrates the importance of remote data collection of protection relays for the security and reliability of large power system networks. Oman Electricity Transmission Company grid stations contain more than 5000 rapidly expanding protection relays installed. In case of tripping incidences, the protection system would isolate the faulty primary equipment by actuating the switchgear. These isolated equipment restorations can be done faster if protection relays’ fault records and events can be retrieved through remote access at any time. ETAP and OETC jointly worked to provide remote relay access and data retrieval. The protection system model and relay data feed in a relay management system solution, is called ETAP eProtect. This system is connected through IEC 61850 and IEC 60870-5-103 protocol to linked relays, events, and fault records. Fault records are stored in a database for detailed analysis and validation. This presentation discusses the challenges faced, technical requirements, and benefits of the solution.


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