How to manage a protection unit under a power plamt

[airer]

As an Electrical Engineer, I am employed in a Power company. In this company, they want to create a unit for Protection which cover for both the Generation Department and the Transmission & Distribution Deparment. This is my 3rd month in the company. I was advised to make a plan on how to improve, fine solutions and maintain a reliable protection system. As I am a fresh graduate from university, I am seeking advise from you people on how to go about this project and what to do to create and maintain a successful unit.

Thanks for your input in advance.

 

[JakeBrodskyPE]

Step 1: locate company standards, industry standards, and any recent papers about those standards, and READ THEM.

Step 2: Discuss these with your mentor. If you don't have a mentor, find one.

Step 3: Discuss requirements with Generation and T&D department stakeholders.

Step 4: Design. (make estimates, talk to vendors, etc.)I know, this is pedantic, but you need to start from the bottom and work your way up.

 

[airer]

Thank you very much.
-Should I find a mentor in the company here or anywhere else?
-Which requirements should I discuss with them?
-Do you have any vendors in mind for this? Is Siemens good?

 

[JakeBrodskyPE]

Look within your own company first. You have leadership of some sort. Ask them who to use as a resource.

Second, the requirements are something you need to wrap your head around very very carefully. There are issues such as phase imbalance protection, overcurrent protection, over-voltage protection, ground fault protection, and so on.

Third, any vendor can sell you garbage and almost any vendor can sell you an adequate product. Giving a conglomerate such as Siemens, or GE, or Westinghouse, or Square D, or ... a "good" rating is not really helpful.

It also helps to find out what products are already in use elsewhere, what the company spares look like, and what models they're familiar with. Trust me, at 5 PM on a Saturday, after a massive thunderstorm, nobody wants to be in a substation. They need equipment they know and understand, not some product they've never seen before. You change products when there is good cause to do so, not just because they happen to be on sale this month.

There is so much to learn and you are pretty much starting from the bottom. Talk to your bosses and ask for guidance. Since you're a recent graduate, they'll have patience to deal with you and to get you some assistance. But if you forge ahead on your own, making up your own rules and policies as you go along, you'll end up in trouble.

 

[airer]

Thank you very much sir.