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Plant maintenance, test and measurement
C
ontrol of grids and energy management can result in reduced
costs and at the same time, strengthen the competitive posi-
tion of a company. Exact information of the condition of grids,
effective monitoring as well as increased reliability and efficiency
are becoming increasingly important for operators of distribution
systems. The Italian company, A2A - third biggest energy provider in
Italy - is investing in the control of its grids. For this purpose, products
of the Swiss instrumentation specialist, Camille Bauer, are being used.
The Italian energy market has been in transition for many years.
Since 2002, it has been open for key customers with an annual con-
sumption above 0,1 gigawatt hour. The complete liberalisation took ef-
fect on 1 July 2007. Since that time, private households have been able
to choose their power supplier. In addition, the partial privatisation
of the two former state monopolists, Enel for power supply and Eni
for the gas and oil sector, triggered a wave of takeovers and mergers.
However, the open competition in the energy sector as well as the
separation of production and transmission systems for power and gas
have not yet led to competitive energy prices in Italy. Particularly for
industrial power, Italy has one of the highest prices in the European
Union (EU). On the one hand, this is due to above average taxation
and, on the other hand, high imports and a strong dependence on ex-
pensive natural gas. In the course of deregulation, the Italian govern-
ment committed the Enel power group as early as 1999 to release its
high-voltage grids. These were transferred to the Terna grid company
which, in the meantime, had been quoted on the stock exchange. City
mains, however, were transferred to local municipal utilities such as
ACEA in Rome and AEM in Milan. The merger of AEM SpA Milan
and ASM SpA Brescia as well as the takeover of Amsa and Ecodeco
brought A2A into being on 1 January 2008. The company is situated
in Milan and is the third biggest energy provider in Italy generating
a turnover of € 6,1 billion. At its city mains distribution stations, A2A
uses the SINEAX CAM standard transducer with analogue outputs
of Camille Bauer, a company of the Metrawatt International GmbH
group. These devices replace SINEAX DME442 which the energy
provider has previously used at the stations. While customers had
been satisfied with the quality until then, the accuracy of the new
product is even higher and its measurement system is not affected
by interferences in the power grid. A high degree of reliability of
the measurements is extremely important – the product fully meets
these requirements.
‘CAM’ stands for Controlling Analysing and Metering – and it
acquires the electric measured variables of a grid consistently. It is a
universal heavy current measuring unit which can process the signals
of conventional current and voltage transformers. This universal
measurement unit is designed for electrical distribution systems or
industrial plants and is very often used in test stands. By means of
up to four optional I/O-modules can be easily adapted to the require-
ments of the application. The high-performance measuring system
determines the current grid status, the additional pollution by non-
linear loads as well as the overall utilisation of the supply system. In
addition, consistent measurement guarantees that every change in
the grid is reliably acquired and taken into consideration in measured
data as well as peak value storage. The basic accuracy amounts to
0,1% for voltage and current as well as 0,2% for other variables. The
programmable acquisition period and the high scanning rate predes-
tine the instrument to the acquisition of input signals with a variable
measuring interval (eg fullwave controls), with a changed sinus form
(eg phase-angle controls) or strong distortion.
The optional I/O interface may be adjusted individually to any
requirement. There are four terminal groups to which one of five pos-
Swiss precision for the
supervision of Italian
electric power grids
By S D’Abrusco, GMC-Instruments, Italia
In times of liberalised and privatised energy markets, the control of grids and energy management have become extremely important. Exact
information of the condition of grids, effective monitoring as well as increased reliability and efficiency are essential for the operators of
distribution systems.
Electricity+Control
September ‘12
32