More power to us

ELECTRICITY:An Irish company's clever reworking of an old idea looks set to yield significant improvements in service and cost savings to ESB Networks

A BIT OF IRISH ingenuity has turned an old idea into a new product that could find a market in power companies around the world. In a single package it improves electrical safety, reduces power disruption to consumers and may also save money by reducing engineering call-outs.

Meath-based company Enersol and collaborators have designed and built a device that sits on medium voltage power lines. The device monitors the electrical system for faults and, if one occurs, it can reduce the number of customers affected by it, according to managing director Oisín McCann.

“It allows faults to be pinpointed, faults that historically would have caused outages,” he says. The system can determine whether the break is transient – caused by a bird strike or a fallen branch – or sustained, caused by a physical break in the cable.

In the past, both types of fault would have tripped the power grid and shut down service over a wide area. Now, transient faults can be monitored and do not immediately shut down power. Many resolve themselves spontaneously, for example if a broken tree limb falls away from the power line.

The company joined with ESB Networks to run an 18-month trial of the system over a 480km stretch of medium voltage power lines in Co Wicklow. That trial suggested the system could prevent two out of five outages caused by transient faults, and would pay for itself in less than three and a half years, according to Enersol.

ESB Networks is responsible for 80,000km of medium voltage power lines – those carrying 20,000 or 10,000 volts – explains Martin Hand, ESB Networks’ operations policy and safety engineer. This network is in turn broken down into smaller distribution elements known as a “system”, equal to about 500km of power lines.

The company is always looking for technological advances to improve safety or reduce customer power loss. However, before the introduction of new technology, and the expenditure it entails, the proposals must be cleared with the Energy Regulator’s office to establish an “agreed programme of work”.

More than two years ago it tested a device designed in-house by ESB engineers over power lines in Waterford, says Hand. While that trial was under way, Enersol approached ESB Networks and the two agreed to conduct the Wicklow trial to test the new design.

“What we are doing with our two trials is to apply new technology to the medium voltage network to reduce down time,” he says. Both of the systems tested performed well, but the Enersol system “seems to work better”.

“The next move is in place,” he adds. “We went back to the Energy Regulator and indicated we wanted to introduce in 10 more systems over the next five years. We are starting small and slow for due technical diligence reasons.”

ESB Networks has agreed a second trial for the Enersol product, this time over about 500km of power lines in Co Kerry. Each installation requires about €200,000 investment in equipment and changes to the network.

“You have to be sure you are going to get some payback on this,” Hand says. The payback can be delivered as better customer service, better safety or through cost savings.

“The Irish Energy Regulator, unlike its European and EU counterparts, has used customer minutes lost or number of outages as a business driver for what we are going to achieve with investments,” he says, adding that Kerry would provide a challenging location for the Enersol system, given the harsh weather it experiences off the Atlantic, with high winds and a higher probability of line faults.

The idea behind the technology is not new. It is based on using “arc suppression”, first proposed in Germany early last century. This idea has been transformed in the Enersol product. “It is state of the art technology, but is as old as 1922,” Hand says. “It may be an old idea but the Irish are applying it in a [novel] fashion.”

McCann describes his company’s product as “the first of its type in Europe”, given that it deals with faults in medium voltage networks. Companies in Germany and Sweden have similar products, but these are designed for use on very high voltage transmission lines.

“We did the trial and we designed the system. The support of the ESB allowed this to happen,” he adds. More could be done if the ESB was in a position to work with suppliers like Enersol, he believes.

“If the government and the regulator approved the ESB to carry out these trials, progress could be made. By creating that knowledge you create expertise and then you create jobs,” he says.

He has no doubt that this Irish developed technology has a huge potential market abroad. “It is a worldwide market. It includes all of Europe, India and Australia,” McCann says.

“The patents have been filed and we are going through negotiations at the moment. We would look at developing this technology and commercialising it with an OEM .”

The project was developed without outside finance, he adds. “We did this all ourselves.”

He was happy to undertake a second trial, he says. “We have another trial with the ESB and further trials and projects have been planned.”