TRANSMISSION

Vegetable oil-filled transformers for a sustainable future

Information from Areva Two recent projects, one in the UK and one in Brazil, used vegetable oil instead of mineral oil for the insulating fluid. The objective was to be able to offer customers innovative solutions for a sustainable future. In the face of increasing demand for environmentally friendly and safer transformers and reactors, researchers have been working to extend the use of vegetable oils from distribution transformers to HV power transformers and reactors. enable comparison of the two transformers during services. The vegetable oil chosen for the project was Envirotemp FR3, manufactured by Cooper Power Systems. This insulation fluid is a soybean-based vegetable oil that has been in use since 1998, mainly to characteristics of the natural ester oil with mineral oil were carried out by a research team at the University of Manchester. These tests compar ed the characteristics of the materials, their behavior during processing and manufacturing, and their applicability to diagnosis techniques. The results enabled the two transformers (of identical design) to be satisfactorily manufactured and tested during 2006. They were erected on site during 2007 and will be fully monitored in service to obtain valuable comparative data. A shunt reactor for the Amazon Eletronorte, one of the main Brazilian utilities, had a similar problem to EDF, but against a different background. In the environmentally sensitive Amazon region, environment-friendly equipment is essential. It ordered four 242 kV shunt reactors (used to control capacitive voltage in long, lightly loaded transmission lines), one of which was to be filled with Envirotemp FR3. This vegetable-based oil has been used in Brazil since 2002, but not for high voltage equipment. This 242 kV shunt reactor was probably the first of its voltage class in the world to be filled with a vegetable oil. Using the knowledge gained from the work on vegetable oil carried out in the UK, these reactors were manufactured and fully tested, ready to help Eletronorte to control its electric power transmission and enable the use of environmentally friendly vegetable oil to be confirmed for the future. The solution developed responds to the customer's concerns over the use of petroleum-based fluids in high voltage applications. In addition to environmental benefits, the use of the natural ester fluid has allowed the supplier to design and manufacture a reactor with enhanced fire safety and life expectancy. These projects represent a major step forward for the electricity industry. They will enable power transmission companies to benefit from properties that have been available for distribution networks for some time more environmentally friendly, safer equipment with the possibility of extended useful life.

A power transformer for the UK EDF Energy Networks has many high voltage substations located close to densely populated areas, both underground and within buildings. It needed to be able to install environmentally friendly power transformers with higher safety levels as part of its network reinforcement program. It ordered two 132 kV 90 MVA transformers, one filled with a vegetable-based natural ester oil and the other with conventional mineral oil. Both transformers were provided with comprehensive monitoring equipment to

fill distribution transformers. It is biodegradable and offers increased fire safely and insulation life, as well as coming from a renewable source. This was the first transformer in the UK at 132 kV to be filled with vegetable oil. A comprehensive review was therefore carried out to assess the possible problems associated with designing and manufacturing such a transformer. Issues to be understood included dielectric performance, voltage stress distribution, thermal and hydraulic performance, oxidation issues, processing and in particular impregnation requirements. As a result, a series of experiments comparing

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TRANSMISSION
Four questions were answered by Milan Saravolac of Areva below:
What are the biggest advantages of vegetable oil? Vegetable oil has a better environmental and health profile than conventional mineral oil. Vegetable oil has the advantage of being biodegradable, so oil spill management solutions are made easier. Its unique ability to absorb moisture contained in ageing paper can extend insulation life by a factor of as much as five. It also helps, chemically, to prevent long cellulose paper molecules from scission (i.e. ageing) when exposed to heat. These properties can result in an increase of overloading capability and longer transformer insulation life. The results are lower lifecycle costs and better utilisation of assets. Does Envirotemp FR3 have other advantages compared to mineral oil? As it comes from renewable resources, it is recyclable and reusable. It offers lower gassing tendency under electrical stress and better resistance to sludge formation. Due to its viscosity and ability to polymerise when thin layers are exposed to warmth and air flow, it does not spread along the surface and into subsurface soil in the case of spillage. Moreover, the soybean-based vegetable oil used is fully miscible with traditionally used mineral oils, so it can be used to refill existing transformers. Contact Nadia Bouloudene, Areva, nadia.bouloudene@areva-td.com v

What particular customer benefit do these projects bring? The main benefit for the customers are the same for both projects. The first is enhanced fire safely, as the soybeanbased vegetable oil has a fire point of 360C, which is considerably higher than the standard mineral oil (approx. 160C) used in most transformers and reactors. This means that our customers will be able to bring HV equipment closer to consumption centres (which was not possible in the past without increased environmental risk) such as densely populated urban and industrial agglomerations and ecologically sensitive areas. In addition, customers may also benefit from reduced insurance premiums. The second benefit is better environmental and health characteristics resulting from the use of food-grade seed oils and additives. What do these projects mean for your company? With these projects, we stay at the forefront of technology development. We work together with our customers and suppliers on providing innovative and environmentally friendly solutions, thus paving the way for long-term sustainable development. These projects enabled us to develop a capability to fully utilise the characteristics of this environmentally friendly fluid and deploy it across all our plants worldwide while providing equipment with better performance and minimum impact on the environment.

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