2002-06-07 - Ongoing implication of recommendations from common MEA / ABB network study will improve Bangkok's power supply quality remarkably. Supply interruption frequency and duration indices will be less than half compared with 1999.
MEA Deputy Governor Unggoon Mondhatuplin states: "From the cooperation with ABB I got not only more than I expected, I got more than I ever hoped!".
For two days, top management representatives from EGAT, MEA, PEA, and IPPs interchanged information and opinions with ABB-experts concerning power supply quality, network design, high-voltage gas-insulated substation configuration, and their technical-economical potentials and effects.
A well-appreciated highlight was the presentation of results from the two-years cooperation with MEA's power system planning department to analyze and study Bangkok's urban power supply as it is and with a 50 % increased load in 2006.
On the one hand the study indicated valuable potential to improve the supply quality and on the other hand it considered future product design requirements for optimum power supply of urban areas and megacities.
After profound investigations, ABB's utility and power technology experts recommended to change the MEA 69 kV and 115 kV network operation from "Radial or NO-Loop-Feed" to the more reliable "NC-Loop-Feed" and to simplify the layout of high-voltage distribution substations as cost-saving extendable H-scheme (single busbar) instead of double busbar arrangement.
With investments of less than 10 million Euro, discounted outage cost reduction up to 45 million Euro can be achieved.
The presentations impressively demonstrated the potential for improvements and savings to be realized by strategic cooperation between customers and ABB.
ABB (www.abb.com) is a global leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve performance while lowering environmental impact. ABB has 152,000 employees in more than 100 countries.