SNEL acquires a new modern and digitized dispersion station at Inga- DRC
The national electricity company (SNEL) is installing a new modern dispersion station with a computerized system (SCADA) at the Inga site. Installed in a brand new building, this device offers several advantages and an additional option for controlling and controlling the use of the current produced by the Inga 1 and Inga 2 power plants in addition to the outdoor substation.
According to SNEL, the objective is to modernize to increase reliability by rejuvenating the equipment and adapting it to new technologies with which spare parts are on the market.
“The Inga dispersion station was built at the same time as the Inga 1 and Inga 2 power plants, so we are approaching 50 years for Inga 1 and 40 years for Inga 2. electromechanical is around 25 to 30 years so we have largely exceeded the original life of this station. Consequently you have old equipment that breaks down and the cost is exorbitant since spare parts are scarce because it is a technology which is outdated “, explained Mick Lumbala, Head of the Bas-Fleuve substation and line division.
Electromechanical relays have given way to digital relays in control cabinets. The transfer of control from the old room to the new one is nearing the end.
“The order will be digital, these two workstations will be digitized by computer and a synoptic on a giant screen which replaces the large synoptic. Due to the miniaturization offered by the computer to have more unlocking functions, lighter security the load weighing on the personnel. Outside, it was a question of replacing the old circuit breakers, current transformer, potential transformer, sectionnaries, surge arrester “, continued Mick Lumbala.
“Of the 27 bays of the exterior substation, 24 already have new equipment, one is being rehabilitated and two others in the near future and we will therefore have new equipment both inside and outside to respond to obsolescence and to technology “.
