December 10, 2024 • 18 mins
We all love it when things just work out as you'd expect – the waiter gets your order right, it doesn’t rain after getting a carwash, and your gadgets turn on with a simple click. Everything just runs like clockwork. But in reality, that isn’t always the case, especially when it comes to electricity.
From harmonics to flickers and surges, power quality issues can disrupt everything from industrial operations to our daily lives.
Tune in to this episode
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Episode Transcript
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(00:01):
High voltage takes center stagein this season of Hitachi
Energy's Power Pulse podcast.
We promise to bring you great contentfrom the brightest minds in the business.
We'll discuss challenges, opportunities,and all the hot topics
any high voltage enthusiast
or anyone interested in sustainability,for that matter, is sure to enjoy.
In this episode of the podcast,we are joined by Uğur Yaşa, Global Product
(00:22):
Marketing Manager for the Global ProductGroup, Grid Components at Hitachi Energy.
Uğur holds a degree in ElectricalEngineering from Yildiz Technical
University in Istanbul and an MBAfrom Solvay Business School in Brussels.
He'll tell us about power quality,its importance
and how Hitachi Energy is addressingthis challenge head on.
We'll also get the inside scoopon how their innovative products
(00:44):
are helping to prevent wildfires.
Hello.
Welcome to Power Pulse.
I'm your host, Bárbara Freitas-Daniels,and today I am joined by Uğur Yaşa,
Global Product
Marketing Manager for the Global ProductGroup, Grid Components at Hitachi Energy.
Hello, Uğur. Welcome. Hello, Bárbara.
How are you?
I'm good.
How are you? I'm good.Thanks for having me.
(01:05):
Thank you. Thank you for coming.
Delighted to have you here.
Before we get stuck into the topic at handtoday,
I hear you’re into restoring old watches.
What is that about?What draws you into it?
What kind of watches? Very interested.
So I have been into watchessince I was young.
So I started first being interestedin how a watch actually works.
(01:26):
Then I realized there is a differencebetween quartz and mechanical watches.
Then immediately I direct my interestinto mechanical watches.
When you enter to that world,it's a large world, right?
So you first learn how it works, actually.
Then you learn about the brands.
You learn about the vintage watches.
And after a point, it’snot enough, then you need to dig into it.
(01:47):
So you open up the cover and then you seewhat's actually going on there.
So, yeah, I like to play withwatch mechanisms to, to fix them.
It's like an art to me.
So it is always fascinating to see ina small area how much art you can fit in.
It's also quite interestingto see how to find an issue.
(02:10):
The watch is not working,and then to make a plan to fix it.
Right.
And to be able to fix it,
and after that, starthearing the heartbeats of the watch again.
That is quite satisfying.
Yeah, I can imagine. That's fascinating.
And so that's what you doin your free time.
What about work?
Will you tell your listeners
a little bit about your joband what your role is at Hitachi Energy?
(02:30):
Yeah, so I work for the product groupcalled Grid Components in High Voltage.
So we manufacture productsfor high voltage substations
mainly so that our products,like instrument transformers for measuring
voltage and current, to be ableto build the energy to the consumers.
We have disconnectors to make surethat we have a secured disconnection
(02:54):
from the network just in case it isneeded during the maintenance and so on.
We have, cable accessoriesto connect the cables to each other
to make a termination of the cableby the end of the line.
That is quite essentialfor cable connections.
We have cooling systems to cool downthe converters, cool down the cables
to make sure we have a more efficient wayof transmitting energy.
(03:19):
And we have surge arresters to protectcritical equipments on the network.
And we have power quality productsthat is avoiding us
to have the bad effectsof poor power quality.
And you mentioned power quality.
What exactly is power quality?
Why is it so importantfor our electrical systems?
We all use electricity everywhere (03:38):
at home, in the industrial plants and so on.
And we always make an assumptionthat the electricity will always be there
continuously with high quality,but often the reality is not the case.
Due to the new types of loadsthat we are using in the network,
there are a lot of pollutantslike LED lamps,
the computers,the sophisticated medical equipment,
(04:02):
some industrial devices,even like EV chargers that we are using.
All those devices are creating typesof pollutions
in the networkthat is impacting our equipment quality,
equipment lifetime, operations,and even human health in a bad way.
Typically, we
talk about three main categories of powerquality problems:
(04:24):
reactive power and extraloading of that rating on the network.
Okay. Harmonics.
That's the kind of pollution - that isyou see almost everywhere,
and voltage fluctuation that is impactingthe voltage quality on the network.
So for everybodyto understand a little bit better.
So reactive power is like an unwanted
type of powerthat we draw from the network.
(04:46):
And it is loading the networkunnecessarily.
Then we cannot actually pullthe active power that we want
to have to get the things donefrom the network less.
Giving an analogy to that would be a car
driving on the road, a flat track road.
So if the road is completely horizontaland flat,
the car is having a good journey.
(05:08):
Once you have ups and downs,some bumps on the road,
then you are still getting from Ato B eventually.
But the journey is not being enjoyableanymore, right?
So these bumps can be constant if there'sa reactive power in the network.
Actually, there are ways of compensatingthat by putting some equipments.
Therefore you have a better journey.
What kind of equipment?
(05:28):
We will come to that- it’s all capacitors and filters.
Basically we are addressing to that.
For the harmonics, in fact it is more dayto day, we have an idea about harmonics,
not maybe in electrical field,but in the audio field, music.
So imagineyou are listening to your favorite music
and there is a bugging buzzhappening on the, on the background.
So you are still listening to your music,
(05:50):
but this buzzer on the background,this disturbance is annoying you.
So that is actually what you are hearingfor, is harmonics.
And the same is happeningin electrical network.
When it comes to voltage fluctuation,that can be a very big headache.
What we call flickering effect in lights.
Probably you have heard about that.
So sometimes the lamps in your roomis flickering right.
(06:11):
Going upand down. Can give you quite a headache.
It can actually give youa literal headache.
Yeah.
Exactly.
So our quality can impact not only financially but also human health in that sense.
And so what happens if you neglect powerquality issues?
Can you give us some exampleso that we might understand
in more real terms what it means?
The first and foremost impact of poor,power quality
(06:32):
is financial impactto the users, to the network.
A poor power quality can cause equipmentmalfunction, loss of lifetime
of the equipment and also extra lossesand heating on the devices.
So especiallyfor the sensitive devices like
computers or medical devices,poor power quality can impact
(06:53):
the outcome, the resultof those measurement devices quite badly.
You can have a CT scan at a hospitalthat is basically telling you
that you are not living anymorebecause of poor power quality.
So they saw distorted results eventually.
In a typical industrial plant,because of poor power quality,
you can have interruptions as a result ofthat, you have a lot of financial losses.
(07:17):
Imagine a food industrythat you have a conveyor making,
I don't know, pasta for you.
And as a result of that,
you have an interruption andthat the whole batch has to be scrapped.
This is a huge financial loss.
We have seen factoriesnot being able to connect to the grid
because of harmonic pollution,
because the grid operatorsare not allowing them to do so.
Those are basically the commercial impactof poor power quality.
(07:39):
On the other side,there is an impact on sustainability
of poor power quality, poor power qualitytoo often comes with extra losses.
Extra losses are creating extra carbondioxide emissions to the globe
because simply we are generating majority
of our electricitytoday from fossil fuels, right?
That's whyit is quite important for networks, for
(08:02):
industrial plants,and for even commercial installations
to improve the power factorand, harmonics filtering.
And could you tell us nowabout those capacitors and filters
that you mentioned previously?
How do they help improve power quality?
Definitely.
Power quality solutions
can be starting from a simple capacitoradded to the network.
Okay.
That capacitor is basically helping youto improve your cosine phi, which is power
(08:26):
factor eventually.
So in the past
50 years ago, that was enough solutionfor improving your power factor.
Today with the new loads and new networkconditions, that's not enough.
You need to make ita little bit more sophisticated.
Then it is becoming harmonic filters,passive harmonic filters,
which is a resonant circuit that isfiltering the harmonics from the network.
Still, passive equipment'squite efficient,
(08:48):
but there are some pitfalls.
It cannot be flexible.
It cannot be scaling up very easily,and so on.
Therefore, roughly 30 years ago,we have invented a new technology
called Active Filters
that is power electronic based technologywith some sophisticated software on it
that can actually filter harmonicsin different harmonic
frequencies, make power factor correction,and also some voltage balancing.
(09:13):
We, today, have the full fledged portfoliofor active harmonic filters,
and still in the market leader positionfor this technology.
That's quite helpful and a flexible wayof improving the power factor,
filtering harmonicsand making some voltage balancing
in the electrical installations,especially for industrial plants,
(09:35):
commercial applications, hospitalsand so on. Okay.
Sustainabilityhas been a recurring topic in our podcast.
Do you have any other initiativesor products that address sustainability
in the power grid? That's a good question.
As we said, poor power quality costsyou extra energy spent.
So this is losses what we call.
So the moment you improveall those harmonics and power factor
(09:58):
and you balance the voltage,then you have less losses.
Basically, as a result of that, you haveless carbon emission to the network.
Right.That's for the power quality part of it.
In our product group,we have also other solutions.
As I mentioned in the beginningof the discussion, like cooling systems.
So once you have a large data centerand you need to hold your service down,
(10:19):
that is basically helpingto spend less energy on the data center.
As a result of that, you are helpingfor the sustainability of the environment.
We have surge arrester familythat is protecting critical equipment.
Usually those equipments are alsoexpensive equipment in the network.
In case of an overvoltage situation,
so you use a surge arresterto protect those equipment.
(10:40):
If your equipment is still safeafter a surge,
that means you don't have to replace it.
That means it is more sustainableand more long time equipment usage.
This is just helpful for the environment.
Surge arrester
as a whole is another topicto help sustainability in a different way.
As we all know,we have a reality of wildfires
that is happening as we arespeaking right now.
(11:01):
We have a specific solutionin surge arrester family that we call
Spark Prevention Unit. In short, SPU.
That is a quite interesting solutionto help our sustainability efforts.
Right, if you’ll allow me to ask youto delve a bit deeper
into the Spark Prevention Unit,so the SPU, can you tell us exactly
what this specific surge arrester doesand how it helps prevent wildfires?
(11:24):
Maybe starting with how a surge arresterworks would be a good start, right?
So surgearrester is an electrical component
that we connect in distributionand transmission network.
That is a simple devicethat is showing a low impedance
in case of overvoltage situation,
a voltage surge which can happendue to an atmospheric condition
like a lightning, or simplya switching a large load in the network.
(11:47):
So you have a voltage spike,and this voltage spike
can be quite dangerousfor the critical equipment,
like transformers, like convertersand so on.
Surge arresters are equipmentbeing used to show low impedance
to these high voltages, to bypass itself,basically to route the fault current
through itself, somehow
kind of sacrificing itself to avoid thesecritical equipments are getting damaged.
(12:09):
A surge arrester can do these activities
several times in a rowin case of normal operation.
But sometimes a lightningcan be quite severe.
And as a result of that, the overloadingof a surge arrester can be significant.
In case of a surge arresteris thermally overloaded,
it can actually have a very catastrophicend of life, which is creating
(12:29):
some sparks, some hot particlesgoing around, and so on.
So these surge arresters are being usedin distribution network and distribution
network is the network that you seewhen you are working in the city,
as well as going through the forest,for example - fire prone areas.
So in case that end of life of a surgearrester is happening in a fire
prone areaand these sparks are going everywhere,
(12:51):
it can actually ignite a vegetationfire around.
That's a very critical issue.
So geographically,where are these mostly used?
Wildfires happening all around the globe.
So statistically speaking,there are more than 100,000
wildfires happening in USin the USA and Australia every year.
This is huge.
(13:11):
In Europeas we are having this record right
now, todaythere are wildfires happening in Turkey.
There are wildfires happening in Greece.
So we use SPU usually in fire
prone areas in the USAand in Australia quite extensively.
And so how the technology works maybetalking about that would be interesting.
(13:32):
Right.
So what's an SPU,what is Spark Prevention Units.
This is an accessory essentially for surgearresters, it’s connected to the bottom
of the surge arrester that is monitoringthe thermal loading of the surge arrester.
And in case of things are goingthe wrong direction and surge arrester
is going to explode,surge arrester is operating,
disconnecting basically surge arresterfrom the network.
(13:55):
And as a result of thatthe catastrophic event is not happening.
So unlike the other similar solutionsin the market,
we don't try to control the sparks.
We just pretendsparks are happening at all.
That is the main value proposition of SPU.Okay.
As a result of that, we believewe have already avoided a lot of wildfires
over the last seven, eight yearsthat we have been installing that product.
(14:16):
We have more than hundreds of
thousands of units have been installedin the US, and in Australia as of today.
Maybe an informationfor the audience: each year
because of wildfires, as we arespeaking of sustainability– Yeah.
Each year there are 5 to 8 billion
tonnes of CO2 are added to the environmentdue to wildfires.
(14:37):
Just to give a context,the total CO2 emission that we do
thanks to fossil fuelsand all these industries is 37 billion.
So this is roughly 20% ofit is due to the wildfires.
When we talk about sustainabilityand the wildfires
caused by electrical reasons,I think SPU is a very good solution
(14:58):
to address that and avoid beforethat is happening.
So speaking of safety and sustainability,regulations
play quite a big role in the powergrid industry.
We are very highly regulated industryas we know.
How do these regulationsinfluence power quality?
Is there a regulation that says thatevery surge arrester has to have an SPU,
or is that something that we shouldperhaps lobby with different governments
(15:21):
in different countriesthat this should definitely happen
for the safetyand sustainability of our future?
Well, so the answer to your question isyes and no, depending on the region.
So when we look at the USA and Australia,there are ongoing
legislation against wildfire protection.
And then SPU is promoted in those regions.
And in fact it is even kind of mandatedto the utilities to use
(15:44):
SPU like solutions to avoid wildfires,because this is severe.
When it comes to European region,we have a way to go.
There is no legislation,as we are speaking today,
to utilize solutions,preventive solutions against wildfires.
I think we have to act on it
as a continent in Europeto protect our nature.
(16:08):
This is as critical as SF6
transformation in the networkthat is ongoing right now.
The grid is changing, right?
The grid is transitioning right now.
This is all nice and fantastic effortsthat are being done.
And we as HitachiEnergy are contributing to that.
Our contribution is not only on productmaking
but also on influencing onhow the legislations should be made.
(16:31):
We are more than happyto support utilities
and the local organizationsto create those kind of legislations.
We have a good experience of that.
Hopefully we all togethermake this continent a better place
and less wildfires,
which is making all of us really sadduring the summer period of time.
Yeah, it's in everyone's interest. Yes.Of course.
(16:53):
And finally, I think we've got timefor one last question.
If you were to tell our listenersone thing, if you want them
to take away one thing from this episode,what would that be?
What I would say is that the world ischanging, the grid is changing.
The technologies are changing.
We all need to be more adaptiveto the new technologies
making sure that things are improvingto the right direction.
(17:14):
So sometimes catching upthe speed of change is hard.
I understand that, and we as technologycompanies, manufacturers,
we are taking our parton developing better and greener
and faster and easier and more efficientsolutions to the grid, to the users.
And what we are expecting fromeverybody is to be mindful
about sustainability,be mindful about energy efficiency,
(17:38):
and be aware of the fact that there arebetter solutions in the market.
So if we keep doing that and being mindfulabout what we are installing
and what would be the consequencesof that 20 years from now,
I think the world would be in general,a better place,
and we would like to be happyto keep our part as Hitachi Energy
in this transition, and we will alwaysbe there to support our customers.
(18:02):
Thank you very much Uğur.
It’s been lovely chatting with you andlearning all about capacitors, filters.
I particularly enjoyedlearning about SPU, Spark Prevention Unit.
That seems like a very high tech, rather
important piece of kitthat Hitachi Energy came up with.
So thank you very much.And that's it for today.
You've been listening to PowerPulse. See you next time.
And that's it for today.
We'll be back soonwith some more great content.
(18:24):
But before you go,remember to give us a follow
so you don't miss an episode.
Thanks for tuning in. See you soon.
This episode was brought to you by HitachiEnergy.
Created, written and hosted by BarbaraFreitas Daniels.
Content and scriptwriting by Domenico Menduni.
Guest speaker Uğur Yaşar.
Produced and edited by Creative Chimps.
High voltage takes center stagein this season of Hitachi
Energy's Power Pulse podcast.
We promise to bring you great contentfrom the brightest minds in the business.
We'll discuss challenges, opportunities,and all the hot topics
any high voltage enthusiast
or anyone interested in sustainability,for that matter, is sure to enjoy.
In this episode of the podcast,we are joined by Uğur Yaşa, Global Product
(00:22):
Marketing Manager for the Global ProductGroup, Grid Components at Hitachi Energy.
Uğur holds a degree in ElectricalEngineering from Yildiz Technical
University in Istanbul and an MBAfrom Solvay Business School in Brussels.
He'll tell us about power quality,its importance
and how Hitachi Energy is addressingthis challenge head on.
We'll also get the inside scoopon how their innovative products
(00:44):
are helping to prevent wildfires.
Hello.
Welcome to Power Pulse.
I'm your host, Bárbara Freitas-Daniels,and today I am joined by Uğur Yaşa,
Global Product
Marketing Manager for the Global ProductGroup, Grid Components at Hitachi Energy.
Hello, Uğur. Welcome. Hello, Bárbara.
How are you?
I'm good.
How are you? I'm good.Thanks for having me.
(01:05):
Thank you. Thank you for coming.
Delighted to have you here.
Before we get stuck into the topic at handtoday,
I hear you’re into restoring old watches.
What is that about?What draws you into it?
What kind of watches? Very interested.
So I have been into watchessince I was young.
So I started first being interestedin how a watch actually works.
(01:26):
Then I realized there is a differencebetween quartz and mechanical watches.
Then immediately I direct my interestinto mechanical watches.
When you enter to that world,it's a large world, right?
So you first learn how it works, actually.
Then you learn about the brands.
You learn about the vintage watches.
And after a point, it’snot enough, then you need to dig into it.
(01:47):
So you open up the cover and then you seewhat's actually going on there.
So, yeah, I like to play withwatch mechanisms to, to fix them.
It's like an art to me.
So it is always fascinating to see ina small area how much art you can fit in.
It's also quite interestingto see how to find an issue.
(02:10):
The watch is not working,and then to make a plan to fix it.
Right.
And to be able to fix it,
and after that, starthearing the heartbeats of the watch again.
That is quite satisfying.
Yeah, I can imagine. That's fascinating.
And so that's what you doin your free time.
What about work?
Will you tell your listeners
a little bit about your joband what your role is at Hitachi Energy?
(02:30):
Yeah, so I work for the product groupcalled Grid Components in High Voltage.
So we manufacture productsfor high voltage substations
mainly so that our products,like instrument transformers for measuring
voltage and current, to be ableto build the energy to the consumers.
We have disconnectors to make surethat we have a secured disconnection
(02:54):
from the network just in case it isneeded during the maintenance and so on.
We have, cable accessoriesto connect the cables to each other
to make a termination of the cableby the end of the line.
That is quite essentialfor cable connections.
We have cooling systems to cool downthe converters, cool down the cables
to make sure we have a more efficient wayof transmitting energy.
(03:19):
And we have surge arresters to protectcritical equipments on the network.
And we have power quality productsthat is avoiding us
to have the bad effectsof poor power quality.
And you mentioned power quality.
What exactly is power quality?
Why is it so importantfor our electrical systems?
We all use electricity everywhere (03:38):
at home, in the industrial plants and so on.
And we always make an assumptionthat the electricity will always be there
continuously with high quality,but often the reality is not the case.
Due to the new types of loadsthat we are using in the network,
there are a lot of pollutantslike LED lamps,
the computers,the sophisticated medical equipment,
(04:02):
some industrial devices,even like EV chargers that we are using.
All those devices are creating typesof pollutions
in the networkthat is impacting our equipment quality,
equipment lifetime, operations,and even human health in a bad way.
Typically, we
talk about three main categories of powerquality problems:
(04:24):
reactive power and extraloading of that rating on the network.
Okay. Harmonics.
That's the kind of pollution - that isyou see almost everywhere,
and voltage fluctuation that is impactingthe voltage quality on the network.
So for everybodyto understand a little bit better.
So reactive power is like an unwanted
type of powerthat we draw from the network.
(04:46):
And it is loading the networkunnecessarily.
Then we cannot actually pullthe active power that we want
to have to get the things donefrom the network less.
Giving an analogy to that would be a car
driving on the road, a flat track road.
So if the road is completely horizontaland flat,
the car is having a good journey.
(05:08):
Once you have ups and downs,some bumps on the road,
then you are still getting from Ato B eventually.
But the journey is not being enjoyableanymore, right?
So these bumps can be constant if there'sa reactive power in the network.
Actually, there are ways of compensatingthat by putting some equipments.
Therefore you have a better journey.
What kind of equipment?
(05:28):
We will come to that- it’s all capacitors and filters.
Basically we are addressing to that.
For the harmonics, in fact it is more dayto day, we have an idea about harmonics,
not maybe in electrical field,but in the audio field, music.
So imagineyou are listening to your favorite music
and there is a bugging buzzhappening on the, on the background.
So you are still listening to your music,
(05:50):
but this buzzer on the background,this disturbance is annoying you.
So that is actually what you are hearingfor, is harmonics.
And the same is happeningin electrical network.
When it comes to voltage fluctuation,that can be a very big headache.
What we call flickering effect in lights.
Probably you have heard about that.
So sometimes the lamps in your roomis flickering right.
(06:11):
Going upand down. Can give you quite a headache.
It can actually give youa literal headache.
Yeah.
Exactly.
So our quality can impact not only financially but also human health in that sense.
And so what happens if you neglect powerquality issues?
Can you give us some exampleso that we might understand
in more real terms what it means?
The first and foremost impact of poor,power quality
(06:32):
is financial impactto the users, to the network.
A poor power quality can cause equipmentmalfunction, loss of lifetime
of the equipment and also extra lossesand heating on the devices.
So especiallyfor the sensitive devices like
computers or medical devices,poor power quality can impact
(06:53):
the outcome, the resultof those measurement devices quite badly.
You can have a CT scan at a hospitalthat is basically telling you
that you are not living anymorebecause of poor power quality.
So they saw distorted results eventually.
In a typical industrial plant,because of poor power quality,
you can have interruptions as a result ofthat, you have a lot of financial losses.
(07:17):
Imagine a food industrythat you have a conveyor making,
I don't know, pasta for you.
And as a result of that,
you have an interruption andthat the whole batch has to be scrapped.
This is a huge financial loss.
We have seen factoriesnot being able to connect to the grid
because of harmonic pollution,
because the grid operatorsare not allowing them to do so.
Those are basically the commercial impactof poor power quality.
(07:39):
On the other side,there is an impact on sustainability
of poor power quality, poor power qualitytoo often comes with extra losses.
Extra losses are creating extra carbondioxide emissions to the globe
because simply we are generating majority
of our electricitytoday from fossil fuels, right?
That's whyit is quite important for networks, for
(08:02):
industrial plants,and for even commercial installations
to improve the power factorand, harmonics filtering.
And could you tell us nowabout those capacitors and filters
that you mentioned previously?
How do they help improve power quality?
Definitely.
Power quality solutions
can be starting from a simple capacitoradded to the network.
Okay.
That capacitor is basically helping youto improve your cosine phi, which is power
(08:26):
factor eventually.
So in the past
50 years ago, that was enough solutionfor improving your power factor.
Today with the new loads and new networkconditions, that's not enough.
You need to make ita little bit more sophisticated.
Then it is becoming harmonic filters,passive harmonic filters,
which is a resonant circuit that isfiltering the harmonics from the network.
Still, passive equipment'squite efficient,
(08:48):
but there are some pitfalls.
It cannot be flexible.
It cannot be scaling up very easily,and so on.
Therefore, roughly 30 years ago,we have invented a new technology
called Active Filters
that is power electronic based technologywith some sophisticated software on it
that can actually filter harmonicsin different harmonic
frequencies, make power factor correction,and also some voltage balancing.
(09:13):
We, today, have the full fledged portfoliofor active harmonic filters,
and still in the market leader positionfor this technology.
That's quite helpful and a flexible wayof improving the power factor,
filtering harmonicsand making some voltage balancing
in the electrical installations,especially for industrial plants,
(09:35):
commercial applications, hospitalsand so on. Okay.
Sustainabilityhas been a recurring topic in our podcast.
Do you have any other initiativesor products that address sustainability
in the power grid? That's a good question.
As we said, poor power quality costsyou extra energy spent.
So this is losses what we call.
So the moment you improveall those harmonics and power factor
(09:58):
and you balance the voltage,then you have less losses.
Basically, as a result of that, you haveless carbon emission to the network.
Right.That's for the power quality part of it.
In our product group,we have also other solutions.
As I mentioned in the beginningof the discussion, like cooling systems.
So once you have a large data centerand you need to hold your service down,
(10:19):
that is basically helpingto spend less energy on the data center.
As a result of that, you are helpingfor the sustainability of the environment.
We have surge arrester familythat is protecting critical equipment.
Usually those equipments are alsoexpensive equipment in the network.
In case of an overvoltage situation,
so you use a surge arresterto protect those equipment.
(10:40):
If your equipment is still safeafter a surge,
that means you don't have to replace it.
That means it is more sustainableand more long time equipment usage.
This is just helpful for the environment.
Surge arrester
as a whole is another topicto help sustainability in a different way.
As we all know,we have a reality of wildfires
that is happening as we arespeaking right now.
(11:01):
We have a specific solutionin surge arrester family that we call
Spark Prevention Unit. In short, SPU.
That is a quite interesting solutionto help our sustainability efforts.
Right, if you’ll allow me to ask youto delve a bit deeper
into the Spark Prevention Unit,so the SPU, can you tell us exactly
what this specific surge arrester doesand how it helps prevent wildfires?
(11:24):
Maybe starting with how a surge arresterworks would be a good start, right?
So surgearrester is an electrical component
that we connect in distributionand transmission network.
That is a simple devicethat is showing a low impedance
in case of overvoltage situation,
a voltage surge which can happendue to an atmospheric condition
like a lightning, or simplya switching a large load in the network.
(11:47):
So you have a voltage spike,and this voltage spike
can be quite dangerousfor the critical equipment,
like transformers, like convertersand so on.
Surge arresters are equipmentbeing used to show low impedance
to these high voltages, to bypass itself,basically to route the fault current
through itself, somehow
kind of sacrificing itself to avoid thesecritical equipments are getting damaged.
(12:09):
A surge arrester can do these activities
several times in a rowin case of normal operation.
But sometimes a lightningcan be quite severe.
And as a result of that, the overloadingof a surge arrester can be significant.
In case of a surge arresteris thermally overloaded,
it can actually have a very catastrophicend of life, which is creating
(12:29):
some sparks, some hot particlesgoing around, and so on.
So these surge arresters are being usedin distribution network and distribution
network is the network that you seewhen you are working in the city,
as well as going through the forest,for example - fire prone areas.
So in case that end of life of a surgearrester is happening in a fire
prone areaand these sparks are going everywhere,
(12:51):
it can actually ignite a vegetationfire around.
That's a very critical issue.
So geographically,where are these mostly used?
Wildfires happening all around the globe.
So statistically speaking,there are more than 100,000
wildfires happening in USin the USA and Australia every year.
This is huge.
(13:11):
In Europeas we are having this record right
now, todaythere are wildfires happening in Turkey.
There are wildfires happening in Greece.
So we use SPU usually in fire
prone areas in the USAand in Australia quite extensively.
And so how the technology works maybetalking about that would be interesting.
(13:32):
Right.
So what's an SPU,what is Spark Prevention Units.
This is an accessory essentially for surgearresters, it’s connected to the bottom
of the surge arrester that is monitoringthe thermal loading of the surge arrester.
And in case of things are goingthe wrong direction and surge arrester
is going to explode,surge arrester is operating,
disconnecting basically surge arresterfrom the network.
(13:55):
And as a result of thatthe catastrophic event is not happening.
So unlike the other similar solutionsin the market,
we don't try to control the sparks.
We just pretendsparks are happening at all.
That is the main value proposition of SPU.Okay.
As a result of that, we believewe have already avoided a lot of wildfires
over the last seven, eight yearsthat we have been installing that product.
(14:16):
We have more than hundreds of
thousands of units have been installedin the US, and in Australia as of today.
Maybe an informationfor the audience: each year
because of wildfires, as we arespeaking of sustainability– Yeah.
Each year there are 5 to 8 billion
tonnes of CO2 are added to the environmentdue to wildfires.
(14:37):
Just to give a context,the total CO2 emission that we do
thanks to fossil fuelsand all these industries is 37 billion.
So this is roughly 20% ofit is due to the wildfires.
When we talk about sustainabilityand the wildfires
caused by electrical reasons,I think SPU is a very good solution
(14:58):
to address that and avoid beforethat is happening.
So speaking of safety and sustainability,regulations
play quite a big role in the powergrid industry.
We are very highly regulated industryas we know.
How do these regulationsinfluence power quality?
Is there a regulation that says thatevery surge arrester has to have an SPU,
or is that something that we shouldperhaps lobby with different governments
(15:21):
in different countriesthat this should definitely happen
for the safetyand sustainability of our future?
Well, so the answer to your question isyes and no, depending on the region.
So when we look at the USA and Australia,there are ongoing
legislation against wildfire protection.
And then SPU is promoted in those regions.
And in fact it is even kind of mandatedto the utilities to use
(15:44):
SPU like solutions to avoid wildfires,because this is severe.
When it comes to European region,we have a way to go.
There is no legislation,as we are speaking today,
to utilize solutions,preventive solutions against wildfires.
I think we have to act on it
as a continent in Europeto protect our nature.
(16:08):
This is as critical as SF6
transformation in the networkthat is ongoing right now.
The grid is changing, right?
The grid is transitioning right now.
This is all nice and fantastic effortsthat are being done.
And we as HitachiEnergy are contributing to that.
Our contribution is not only on productmaking
but also on influencing onhow the legislations should be made.
(16:31):
We are more than happyto support utilities
and the local organizationsto create those kind of legislations.
We have a good experience of that.
Hopefully we all togethermake this continent a better place
and less wildfires,
which is making all of us really sadduring the summer period of time.
Yeah, it's in everyone's interest. Yes.Of course.
(16:53):
And finally, I think we've got timefor one last question.
If you were to tell our listenersone thing, if you want them
to take away one thing from this episode,what would that be?
What I would say is that the world ischanging, the grid is changing.
The technologies are changing.
We all need to be more adaptiveto the new technologies
making sure that things are improvingto the right direction.
(17:14):
So sometimes catching upthe speed of change is hard.
I understand that, and we as technologycompanies, manufacturers,
we are taking our parton developing better and greener
and faster and easier and more efficientsolutions to the grid, to the users.
And what we are expecting fromeverybody is to be mindful
about sustainability,be mindful about energy efficiency,
(17:38):
and be aware of the fact that there arebetter solutions in the market.
So if we keep doing that and being mindfulabout what we are installing
and what would be the consequencesof that 20 years from now,
I think the world would be in general,a better place,
and we would like to be happyto keep our part as Hitachi Energy
in this transition, and we will alwaysbe there to support our customers.
(18:02):
Thank you very much Uğur.
It’s been lovely chatting with you andlearning all about capacitors, filters.
I particularly enjoyedlearning about SPU, Spark Prevention Unit.
That seems like a very high tech, rather
important piece of kitthat Hitachi Energy came up with.
So thank you very much.And that's it for today.
You've been listening to PowerPulse. See you next time.
And that's it for today.
We'll be back soonwith some more great content.
(18:24):
But before you go,remember to give us a follow
so you don't miss an episode.
Thanks for tuning in. See you soon.
This episode was brought to you by HitachiEnergy.
Created, written and hosted by BarbaraFreitas Daniels.
Content and scriptwriting by Domenico Menduni.
Guest speaker Uğur Yaşar.
Produced and edited by Creative Chimps.
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