Reducing Blackout Risk through Live Modelling and Monitoring. This project aims to reduce the risk of blackouts through the development of on-line systems for modelling and monitoring of loads and power system controllers. This project is a collaboration with Transgrid, Powerlink, Vencorp and ElectraNetSA, four Transmission companies renowned for innovation in the area of system stability. The project proposes to develop innovative algorithms and to implement these algorithms using advanced hard ....Reducing Blackout Risk through Live Modelling and Monitoring. This project aims to reduce the risk of blackouts through the development of on-line systems for modelling and monitoring of loads and power system controllers. This project is a collaboration with Transgrid, Powerlink, Vencorp and ElectraNetSA, four Transmission companies renowned for innovation in the area of system stability. The project proposes to develop innovative algorithms and to implement these algorithms using advanced hardware, software and communication systems to dynamically generate decision tools for safe and efficient power system operating conditions. These systems will also generate alarms if any risky operational situations arise.Read moreRead less
Investigation of Demand Diversity and Appropriate New Generation Entry into Electricity Market Simulation Tools. The power industry is currently facing a great challenge in providing
better market operation and management following recent devastating blackouts in North America, UK and Italy. This project aims at investigating major mechanisms of market simulation techniques including impacts from load diversity and approaches to defining appropriate new generation entry into the market. From th ....Investigation of Demand Diversity and Appropriate New Generation Entry into Electricity Market Simulation Tools. The power industry is currently facing a great challenge in providing
better market operation and management following recent devastating blackouts in North America, UK and Italy. This project aims at investigating major mechanisms of market simulation techniques including impacts from load diversity and approaches to defining appropriate new generation entry into the market. From the outcome of this project the National Electricity Market will be able to manage the uncertainties of load diversity (one of the most common blackout causes), and efficiently minimise risk associated with decisions on new generation entry to enhance electricity supply infrastructure.
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POWER DELIVERY IN A DEREGULATED ENVIRONMENT. The recent deregulation of the power industry has opened up new technical challenges that must be addressed in order to ensure fair and equitable market operation. Significant among these is the availability of alternative routes for the delivery of power, between and across different ownerships. In this scenario, a major challenge is to determine the minimum cost contractual arrangement for the delivery of required power. To achieve this, new techniq ....POWER DELIVERY IN A DEREGULATED ENVIRONMENT. The recent deregulation of the power industry has opened up new technical challenges that must be addressed in order to ensure fair and equitable market operation. Significant among these is the availability of alternative routes for the delivery of power, between and across different ownerships. In this scenario, a major challenge is to determine the minimum cost contractual arrangement for the delivery of required power. To achieve this, new techniques for the analysis of power systems are required. This proposal aims to provide solutions to these analysis problems and hence to provide software to assist with market operation.Read moreRead less
Stability Analysis and Control for Large Scale Power Systems Incorporating FACTS Devices. Power system stability analysis and control is one of the most important issues in power systems. The problem becomes more serious in power systems with long transmission lines, such as the transmission systems in Australia. The ability of a power system to maintain stability depends to a large extent on the controls available on the system. Consequently, the study and design of power system controls are ve ....Stability Analysis and Control for Large Scale Power Systems Incorporating FACTS Devices. Power system stability analysis and control is one of the most important issues in power systems. The problem becomes more serious in power systems with long transmission lines, such as the transmission systems in Australia. The ability of a power system to maintain stability depends to a large extent on the controls available on the system. Consequently, the study and design of power system controls are very important for expanding systems. This project aims at investigating into stability assessment and control of large scale interconnected power systems incorporating FACTS (Flexible AC Transmission System) devices in a deregulated electricity market.Read moreRead less
Monitoring and Maintaining the Structural Health of Bridges Using Vibration Characteristics. Bridges form an important part of our physical infrastructure system and in Queensland alone there are nearly 3000 bridges with an annual maintenance cost in excess of 20 million dollars and a replacement value in excess of 2 billion dollars. It is necessary to ensure that these bridges function safely and efficiently at all times. Bridge failure will cause disruption to normal lives and expensive repa ....Monitoring and Maintaining the Structural Health of Bridges Using Vibration Characteristics. Bridges form an important part of our physical infrastructure system and in Queensland alone there are nearly 3000 bridges with an annual maintenance cost in excess of 20 million dollars and a replacement value in excess of 2 billion dollars. It is necessary to ensure that these bridges function safely and efficiently at all times. Bridge failure will cause disruption to normal lives and expensive repairs. Towards this end, this project will develop an innovative structural health monitoring system to monitor and maintain the structural health of our bridges. The project outcomes will have immediate applications in Australia and overseas with economic and social benefits to the community.Read moreRead less
In-field assessment and lifetime prediction of composite insulators in high voltage electricity transmission networks. New types of composite insulators are now used in extra-high voltage overhead lines in Australia's national electricity grid. Flashover of such insulators due to early ageing may lead to unavailability of vital lines causing power transmission disruptions costing the National Electricity Market tens of millions of dollars.
In this project research will be conducted into agei ....In-field assessment and lifetime prediction of composite insulators in high voltage electricity transmission networks. New types of composite insulators are now used in extra-high voltage overhead lines in Australia's national electricity grid. Flashover of such insulators due to early ageing may lead to unavailability of vital lines causing power transmission disruptions costing the National Electricity Market tens of millions of dollars.
In this project research will be conducted into ageing of elastomers to provide early warning of insulator end-of-life and into new techniques for extracting elastomer samples from live high voltage insulators. Transgrid will cooperate in the application of the technology to give improved understanding of insulator ageing in transmission networks.
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Investigation of key factors affecting the polarisation based diagnostics of power transformers. To avoid system wide power interruptions, major assets in the electricity network must be always operating satisfactorily. One of the key assets in the electricity network is the power transformer. Currently many transformers are over 50 years old and failure of a transformer may result in long interruptions in supply and the loss of millions of dollars in revenue. The ageing of transformers needs to ....Investigation of key factors affecting the polarisation based diagnostics of power transformers. To avoid system wide power interruptions, major assets in the electricity network must be always operating satisfactorily. One of the key assets in the electricity network is the power transformer. Currently many transformers are over 50 years old and failure of a transformer may result in long interruptions in supply and the loss of millions of dollars in revenue. The ageing of transformers needs to be properly monitored to avoid catastrophic failures. This project will provide an innovative solution for the better understanding of the ageing processes of transformers and help
managers make correct decisions for maintenance and replacement strategies.
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Capacity Enhancement, Energy-Loss Reduction and Voltage Control for Remote Three-Phase Distribution Feeders Supplying Electrical Power to Single-Wire Earth-Return Systems. Long distribution feeders supplying electrical energy to Single-Wire Earth-Return (SWER) systems are unique sub-systems of the electric power network in Australia. The SWER systems are inherently unbalanced and use conductors with high resistance values resulting in high energy losses. The capital costs of these systems are hi ....Capacity Enhancement, Energy-Loss Reduction and Voltage Control for Remote Three-Phase Distribution Feeders Supplying Electrical Power to Single-Wire Earth-Return Systems. Long distribution feeders supplying electrical energy to Single-Wire Earth-Return (SWER) systems are unique sub-systems of the electric power network in Australia. The SWER systems are inherently unbalanced and use conductors with high resistance values resulting in high energy losses. The capital costs of these systems are high due to the low area density of loads and the systems are challenged by increasing loads. New methods will be developed for load balancing, controlling losses and improving the power quality. Comparisons will be made between the new technologies and the reconstruction or augmentation of the feeders. It is expected that substantial economic and greenhouse emission benefits will result.Read moreRead less
Condition Assessment of Medium-Voltage XLPE-Insulated Cables Degraded by Water Treeing. In Australia degraded underground XLPE cables are causing disruption of electricity supplies and high community costs. There is no reliable non-invasive technique for prediction of cable condition to optimise cable replacement and refurbishment. In this project a large-scale experiment will be undertaken on 22 kV cables to ascertain the effectiveness of a new cable refurbishment technology. New techniques for ....Condition Assessment of Medium-Voltage XLPE-Insulated Cables Degraded by Water Treeing. In Australia degraded underground XLPE cables are causing disruption of electricity supplies and high community costs. There is no reliable non-invasive technique for prediction of cable condition to optimise cable replacement and refurbishment. In this project a large-scale experiment will be undertaken on 22 kV cables to ascertain the effectiveness of a new cable refurbishment technology. New techniques for assessment of cable condition will be developed using unique data from the ageing experiment and computer models of fundamental phenomena. Successful conclusions from this project will save the industry partner and other electricity distribution companies tens of millions of dollars.Read moreRead less
Optimum location of FACTS devices with advanced control scheme for improving the security of complex power grid. Prevention of blackouts is one of the highest priorities of the electricity industry. One of the fundamental reasons for the recent blackouts in long transmission network is inter-area oscillations. Queensland's long transmission network is a vital part of the Australian electricity grid and is vulnerable to inter-area oscillations. There is a need for a comprehensive approach to inve ....Optimum location of FACTS devices with advanced control scheme for improving the security of complex power grid. Prevention of blackouts is one of the highest priorities of the electricity industry. One of the fundamental reasons for the recent blackouts in long transmission network is inter-area oscillations. Queensland's long transmission network is a vital part of the Australian electricity grid and is vulnerable to inter-area oscillations. There is a need for a comprehensive approach to investigate the effect of inter-area oscillation that contributes to blackouts. Focussing the Queensland network, this project will provide a complete assessment tool for the optimum location of FACTS devices with modern and advanced control schemes in improving the security of complex interconnected power-grid. Read moreRead less