One of those protection mechanisms is a relatively simple device called a surge arrester. Surge arresters absorb overvoltages due to lightning or other causes and stop the excess energy flowing into electrical equipment.
However, over time the ability of a traditional surge arrester to absorb a surge degrades. When a degraded surge arrester experiences an overvoltage, it is designed to sacrifice itself to protect electrical equipment on the network. But this in turn can pose a fire risk. When a traditional surge arrester fails it can result in a violent expulsion of hot gasses and hot particles which may ignite fires.
The Hitachi Energy team set out to solve the problem, researching ways to avoid the strong arcing posed by the failure of surge arresters. The result was the Spark Prevention Unit (SPU) surge arrester. The SPU effectively monitors the surge arrester and safely disconnects overloaded surge arresters from the network prior to them being driven to failure. A visual indicator lets the operator know the surge arrestor has been safety disconnected and flags a requirement to replace the equipment.
Hitachi’s innovative SPU technology limits the spread of bushfires. Hitachi
Like the traditional surge arresters, SPUs also protect valuable network assets from being damaged by overvoltage surges, including capital assets such as large power transformers, which can cost in the 10’s of millions of dollars right through to pole top transformers you see every day in the street if you look up at a power pole. SPU’s go a step further by increasing the safety of the surrounding environment and reducing the risk of bushfires.
United Energy and Horizon Power have already installed 2000 SPUs across Victoria and Western Australia.
“We are stern believers in adopting pioneering technology to make our grid more resilient and our past experiences with wildfires have certainly prompted us to be more daring in trying out new tools” said Craig Savage, Head of Network Performance and Management Systems at United Energy.
“It is our obligation to our community and our environment to render our grid as resilient as possible.”
Dylan Perera, a sales manager at Hitachi Energy, estimates there are several hundred thousand surge arresters installed in electricity networks around Australia.
“Anywhere you have an overhead asset, anywhere you have something of high value, you install surge arresters. A very crude analogy is you don’t want to have a house without a fuse box. Every network should be looking to install these,” Perera says.
Hitachi Energy recommends SPUs should form part of electricity network operators’ risk mitigation strategies and should feature in their bushfire preparedness planning.
Hitachi was a Principal Partner of the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow, underscoring its commitment to achieving carbon neutrality by 2030 at all offices and factories and by 2050 at entire value chain.
