During African Utility Week 2010 in February, Siemens Power Distribution exhibited its portfolio of medium voltage switchgear, protection and automation equipment and service solutions.
Business unit manager, Derek Phillips, believes the event provided an excellent opportunity for the company to showcase its products and services. “Municipalities and utilities in South and southern Africa are key customers and of great importance to Siemens. Our product mix fits the profile to support them. We took the opportunity to build product awareness and engage with current and potential customers.”
While Siemens Energy Distribution factories are situated worldwide, it is the primary focus of the South African, Centurion-based factory to manufacture medium voltage switchgear. “The main product is the Simoprime Switchgear Panel, designed for primary distribution and fully type tested to IEC62271-200 specifications,” Phillips said.
Phillips gives a broader overview of the medium voltage switchgear range. “Essentially, we can offer two types of equipment. The Simoprime range is air insulated. Siemens also manufactures gas insulated switchgear where the live parts within the chamber are insulated by gas. The Siemens NXPLUS C panel is a fixed pattern gas insulated switchgear panel. The design uses vacuum interrupters enclosed in an hermetically sealed SF6 chamber. The advantage of this is that no gas work is required on site, making installation quick and easy.”
Ray Neale, business unit manager of the Energy Distribution Division’s Power Transmission & Distribution Services, reveals how AUW provided an ideal platform for exhibiting three of its products.
The first, Transformer Lifecycle Management, is an area where Siemens has recently regrouped its resources for greater focus. The result is a cradle to grave solution for managing transformers and other OEMs products in the generation, transmission and distribution networks of utilities and municipal networks.
The second, two new circuit breakers: the Sion Vacuum has been introduced to replace Reyrolle LMT2 oil insulated medium voltage circuit breakers, as oil may carry implications for health and safety over the long term. The other Sion replaces the Siemens 8BD low oil volume circuit breaker. Both models are rated for 11 000 V and can be retrofitted with minimum disruption.
Finally, the Siemens Gas Guard was also on display. This condition monitor for power transformers is able to effectively monitor the nature and amount of dissolved gas in transformer oil at regular intervals, and relay results, via GPRS, to clients’ mobile phones or laptops in realtime.
The division says that it is looking forward to the introduction of several new products which utilise cutting edge technology to ensure reliable grid operation. These will allow it to serve client needs even more efficiently in the future.
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