Sustainability and Digitalization 2023

MIDEL

• Barry Menzies,

ABSTRACT

Sustainability and Circularity are two critical concepts driving economic, industrial and societal change worldwide, and the electrical infrastructure sector is feeling real pressure to adapt, change and improve. Intensifying urban growth, regulatory changes, effective asset management, the drive for integrating renewable generation and battery storage, bottom line financial pressure, and improving human and environmental conditions, are all factors that influence decisions made by utilities, substation designers and transformer manufacturers.  Against this background, there is a growing recognition of the role to be played by ester-based transformer insulating liquids. Synthetic and Natural esters have become an established alternative that enable cost and carbon savings in substation designs due to being less flammable and readily biodegradable, while also delivering operational flexibility and the potential to extend asset life. But there are important distinctions to be made, and questions to be asked, about the ester liquid landscape, not least about what happens at end of life? This presentation will answer such questions and more, while clearly delineating a case for embedding MIDEL ester liquids as a key element in delivering a truly sustainable future for people and the places where they live.

SPEAKER’S BIO

Barry Menzies is the managing director for MIDEL Dielectric Fluids, Global.  Barry studied Chemical Engineering at the University of Bradford in the UK while being sponsored by BP International, and an MBA at Herriot Watt University in Edinburgh.  The majority of his career has been in chemical manufacturing including engineering, manufacturing and commercial roles in Unilever, ICI and INEOS in both Europe and Asia-Pacific. Barry joined M&I Materials in 2011 as Commercial Director prior to his current position as Managing Director MIDEL.

CARGILL

• Arune Pasukonyte, European Renewable Energy Business Development Lead and sustainability advisor

ABSTRACT

Sustainability continues to grow as one of the most important criteria in the power industry, but cannot come at the expense of performance and reliability. Learn how FR3 natural ester can help advance your company’s sustainability commitments while also making transformers more reliable and higher performing. Made from over > 95 % renewable vegetable oil, FR3 natural ester is carbon neutral and 100 % biodegradable. It extends a transformer’s lifespan while also safely allowing for increased loading capacity compared to mineral oil, helping make transformers better.

SPEAKER’S BIO

Arune is the European Renewable Energy Business Development Lead and sustainability advisor in Cargill’s Bioindustrial division. She has 15 years of experience growing and developing complex global businesses, including several years working at a leading European transformer OEM selling transformers into a wide variety of applications. She holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in International Business Development from the University of Verona.

Ergon

• Dr. Kristie Armstrong, Technical Project Manager and sustainability specialist

ABSTRACT

Long before the world’s attention turned to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) impacts, Ergon’s culture and values were built around Doing Right with our products, for our planet, by our people, and through our principles. As a world-leading supplier of transformer liquids (HyVolt), Ergon has a unique perspective as a refiner on making cleaner products, supporting and protecting our people and our communities today and for future generations, and ensuring the continued success of the organization upon which so many people around the world depend. This presentation will highlight the progress Ergon has made on the path forward to meet the sustainability needs of the market and to further reduce the environmental impact of its facilities, products, and supply chain.

SPEAKER’S BIO

Dr. Kristie Armstrong is the Technical Projects Manager and sustainability specialist for Ergon Energy & Specialty Solutions. In this role, she facilitates the organization and execution of sustainability, product development, and strategic projects. She has been with Ergon for eight years and previously managed the E&SS Research & Insights lab. She is a member of the E&SS Community Outreach Committee which coordinates opportunities to serve, rebuild, protect, and give back to the Ergon communities in which we serve. She has a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Mississippi State University and a PhD in analytical chemistry from the University of Tennessee, and is a certified Project Management Professional.

EDF

• Jean Sanchez, Senior transformer engineer

ABSTRACT

Sustainable development has been an increasing concern in all technical fields for quite a while. At EDF, a power generation utility, we are looking more and more into detail at how to handle this issue practically. On the hydroelectric side, we aim to calculate the carbon impact of a whole power plant and then up to the transformer. Furthermore, we are still looking at the best way to correctly convert manufacturing and operation losses impact, and we will show a few examples of how we are looking at it.

On the other hand, we have been moving to monitor an increasing number of devices in our power plant (dams, runners, vibrations, temperatures, generators, etc.) for nearly ten years and have developed accordingly an organization that can handle it correctly on a large scale. We will present our organization at three levels of diagnosis, from the plant to specialized teams. Regarding transformers, we will show how we manage oil-dissolved gas analysis (DGA) and bushing monitoring since last year to prevent major failures in service.

Finally, we will present a few cases of how we utilized the benefits of good teamwork to deal with transformer monitoring systems and let transformers with inner faults in service for a specific period.

SPEAKER’S BIO

Jean SANCHEZ is senior transformer engineer at EDF, French main generation utility, mostly on investigations, tests and its associated diagnosis, FAT, HV bushings, fleet assessments. He completed a PhD degree on power transformers fault diagnosis in 2011 with a French power transformer reparation factory.

Koncar-Electrical Engineering Institute

• Vedran Jerbic, Principal Engineer

ABSTRACT

Transformer insulation is known to deteriorate over time due to a range of stresses including electrical, thermal, mechanical, and environmental factors. Transient overvoltages caused by lightning strikes and switching operations can result in electrical stress, while the presence of partial discharge (PD) activity is a reliable indicator of insulation degradation, particularly when its trend is increasing. Power transformer failures are frequently attributed to bushing failures, which can cause severe damage and even result in fires. To prevent such failures, it is essential to monitor all of these parameters and diagnose problems at an early stage, enabling transformer users to plan maintenance activities promptly.

SPEAKER’S BIO

Vedran JerbiC was born on 11 September 1984 in Zagreb, Croatia. He received his Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the Faculty of Engineering and Computing in Zagreb 2008 while working on the development of electronic devices for application in harsh environment for the oil and gas industry. He joined KONČAR -Electrical Engineering Institute in 2009 where his main area of work was designing sensors, embedded systems and signal processing algorithms used for monitoring of critical assets in power generation, distribution and transmission. His main field of expertise is electronic design and digital signal processing, particularly implemented in FPGA.

In 2010, he led the development of algorithms and data acquisition platform used for bushing monitoring. Since 2012 his focus has been development of partial discharge monitoring methods and devices, which resulted in KONČAR propriety partial discharge monitoring solution launched in 2020. From 2016 until 2018, he led development of new generation of transient overvoltage monitoring device which is integrated in KONČAR transformer monitoring solution. Currently, Vedran is working on new monitoring solutions and improvements of existing ones by using modern digital communication technologies.

Haefely

• Frédéric DOLLINGER, Area Sales & Marketing Manager

ABSTRACT

The world is undergoing a massive transformation, and in this period, energy transition, sustainability, and digitalization are at the forefront of our collective consciousness. As the transformer industry navigates this new landscape, it faces both exciting opportunities and daunting challenges. This presentation will delve into the crucial elements that industry professionals must understand to stay ahead of the curve and embrace disruptive change. Specifically, we will explore how these trends are shaping the testing of transformers, and what key strategies and approaches will be necessary to thrive in the face of unprecedented change.

SPEAKER’S BIO

Frédéric Dollinger works for HAEFELY since 2012, at the factory located in Basel, Switzerland. Successively as Product & Marketing Manager and then Area Sales & Marketing Manager, he has travelled globally to various customers for project discussions and finalization. This has allowed him to acquire wide application experience and deep product knowledge. He is also attending the main international exhibitions and participates as a speaker at technical seminars. With the launch of the DTTS – Distribution Transformer Test System – in 2012, he was an active player in introducing this new product on the market and promoting it as a standardized test system with reduced cycle time.

His specialized field of activity is transformer test systems as well as any other applications with frequency converter-based technology, such as on-site cable testing with variable frequency. He is knowledgeable about American standard IEEE C57.12.90-1999 and European standard IEC 60076 (and the other related standards), for routine and type tests on power and distribution transformers.

Background: In 2007, he received a master’s degree in Mechatronics from the renowned French engineering school INSA. He worked as Project Manager and Sales Manager for MiniTec Zurich.

PTTX

• Leonardo Maschietto, Regional director

SPEAKER’S BIO

Leonardo Maschietto is an experienced senior executive in B2B international environment, with over 35 years of managerial experience.

He currently holds the position of Regional Director at PTTX Wuxi Putian Iron Core – a leading company headquartered in Wuxi, China, providing the transformers manufacturers market with low losses and low thickness grain-oriented electrical steel.

Leonardo entered the energy business with MV, HV and UHV insulators for transmission and distribution, having as reference customers utilities, EPC, and OEMs.

The experience and networking achieved in the insulator business, as well as a long relationship with the Chinese energy industry, provide a solid background to start cooperation with PTTX Wuxi Putian Iron Core as a European-origin resident manager.

With his commercial, technical and communication skills with internal and external stakeholders, solid international and geopolitical culture, and fluency in six foreign languages, Leonardo successfully brings growth in private and venture capital environments.

Micafluid

• Marius Grisaru, , Consultant

SPEAKER’S BIO:

Marius Grisaru is on a mission to support electrical engineers and transformer owners who maintain and run their priceless assets by carrying out the necessary oil testing and treatment. He has had more than 31 years of unique experience in global consulting, sampling, carrying out significant insulating oil tests, and transformer diagnosis – from design and energising to post-mortem examination. He is a trained electrician and holds an M.S. in analytical chemistry.

Mr. Grisaru has been publishing columns in Transformers Magazine since 2014 and, in addition. He has authored and co-authored a series of technical articles, IEC standards, CIGRE brochures, and presentations at international conferences on analytical chemistry of insulating oils and DGA.

SCM Consulting

Ufuk Kivrak

SPEAKER’S BIO

Ufuk Kivrak has BS and MS degrees in mechanical engineering. He has had more than 25 years of industrial experience in transformers and power grid industries. He has worked for ABB in several management positions in Turkey, Thailand, and Switzerland. He led the Supply Chain Management organisation of ABB transformer business globally from 2003 to 2015, which included explosive growth of transformer market from 2003 to 2008, followed by a market collapse in 2009 and onwards. In 2015, he joined Alstom Grid as VP-Strategic Sourcing and continued as Head of Strategic Sourcing in GE Grid Solutions after Alstom was acquired by GE. Currently, he is the Managing Director of SCM Consulting GmbH.

CITY WALLS AND FORTRESSES

Study visit

During the Sustainability and Digitalization 2023 conference, the participants will have the opportunity to attend a study visit to the Plat substation near Dubrovnik.

Substation Plat 220/110/35/10(20) kV is one of the most advanced substations of the Croatian Transmission System Operator. There are five transformers in total: two Končar’s autotransformers of 150 MVA, 220/110 kV, with voltage regulation, one 20 MVA, 110/35 kV transformer, one 20 MVA, 110/10 kV transformer, and one 16 MVA, 35/10 kV transformer, 220 kV Siemens’ GIS, and 110 kV Končar’s GIS.