NGET Call For Innovation - Innovative Solutions For Partial Discharge Monitoring On Substation Assets

National Grid Electricity Transmission (NGET) currently carries out routine radio frequency interference (RFI) surveys using hand held survey technology and trailer bound equipment to monitor partial discharge (PD) activities in substations. The survey results are important for NGET to implement effective asset management.

However, due to the intermittent nature of PD, the surveys cannot capture all PD activities and thus can miss early signs of asset failures. The survey activities and the maintenance of the trailer fleet also incur overheads and carbon emission. NGET thus seeks more efficiency ways to monitor PD activities in substation.

The purpose of this CFI is to help NGET to identify:

• A solution for long-term PD monitoring that is suitable for HV transmission substation assets and involves minimum manual intervention

This CFI will inform NGET about current state-of-the-art of long-term PD monitoring and the approach of obtaining the required resources, products and services.

NGET is looking to explore what services could be developed and/or packaged to address the requirements with reference to geographical coverage, information about these services and companies able to provide them, and the interest from the supply base in working with National Grid.

The solution(s) must:

• Be able to provide the same or higher quality of PD monitoring results when compared with NGET's current methods
• Have the potential to provide long-term PD monitoring in HV transmission substations
• Have the potential to replace the current manual RFI survey which is based on hand held, portable equipment and trailer bound monitoring technology.
• Be non-intrusive and does not require an outage for installation, maintenance or repairment
• Be effective and efficient in PD monitoring with minimal manual intervention
• Be of an optimised design to ensure space efficiency while being maintainable
• Be able to last for at least 12 months in a HV substation environment uninterrupted
• Be able to interface via suitable means to substation systems, e.g., secure IP rated power connectors to LVAC systems
• Meet all relevant NG technical specifications
• Comply with all relevant industry and international standards
• Be clear on asset lifecycle and lifespan
• Have provision for an implementation/delivery plan or timescales
• Have provision for the cost for the contractor to deliver the project proposal / response to this call

The solution(s) should:

• Consider different delivery platforms to achieve minimal CAPEX and OPEX
• Have relevant product or service certification to operate within a substation environment or electricity network.
• Be redeployable
• Economical and time efficient service schedule(s).
• Minimal environmental impact - from the manufacture to operations.
• Require minimal civil works to install.
• Be able to monitor all areas of a High Voltage substation
• Be deployable and redeployable by National Grid Technicians
• Be configurable by National Grid technicians without recourse to supplier.

The solution(s) won't:

• Be a research project or concept (TRL 1 - 4)