By Emily Newton
Power transformers are essential for keeping the grid functioning smoothly and reducing blackouts by isolating faults in affected areas and keeping them from spreading. However, energy professionals play important roles in transformer functionality by performing the required maintenance and tests. People also frequently discuss transformers while determining how to keep the grid working well as electricity demands increase.
1. Highlighting the Need for Inspections and Maintenance
Transformers can last for several decades when cared for properly. Conversely, failures and outages can wreak long-term havoc. When a storm damaged a transformer in South Africa, the community lacked power for over a month and had difficulty handling everyday essentials.
However, local politicians say the area’s grid instability surpasses this event. They cited ongoing issues with the assets not being maintained or replaced at the necessary intervals.
Related concerns centered on the area’s rapid growth and how it will exacerbate the current grid strain if authorities don’t act soon. This situation is a strong reminder that power transformers can contribute to a stable grid, but only if the people overseeing them do the required upkeep and checks to minimize catastrophes.
Investing in Remote Monitoring to Streamline Inspections
Some of the largest utility businesses maintain hundreds of substations with multiple transformers per site. Such was the case for Georgia-based Southern Co. Having so many assets can make checking all the transformers at the correct times challenging. That can sacrifice grid stability by increasing the likelihood of technicians missing issues that could cause prolonged outages.
Executives aimed to achieve a more than 200% increase in transformer inspection cycles with a remote monitoring solution. The company’s technicians performed thermal and visual examinations. However, those only showed transformer health snapshots for moments in time.
Leaders knew continuous data would provide a more accurate picture and allow them to act faster after noticing abnormalities. They chose a tech solution that only required two people to install and allowed adding it to multiple transformers at once without outages.
The selected solution also stores historical data and notifications in the cloud, allowing representatives to retrieve information and look for trends. They can directly support grid stability with the statistics, using them to determine when to schedule upkeep and replacements.
Elsewhere, a company received a low-level alert from a dissolved gas detection monitor. Technicians ran tests showing a high winding resistance measurement on low-voltage windings and signs of paper aging. They also noticed one low-voltage lead with near-total insulation disintegration. Their estimates indicated a catastrophic failure could have occurred only hours after the discovery.
This case is another example of how human oversight and high-tech, data-driven solutions can make transformers more resilient and support grid stability.
2. Encouraging Researchers to Plan for Future Resilience
Decision-makers worldwide evaluate grid shortcomings that could hinder the area’s energy goals. They know transformers play significant roles in keeping communities functioning as more residents charge electric cars, use tech devices or work at energy-intensive factories.
Besides budgeting for the necessary upgrades, energy professionals may need to temporarily shut off or reroute the power supply, causing disruptions for an area’s residents. Since transformers are so large and heavy, installing new assets may require a collaborative effort from third-party providers.
When a Melbourne, Australia, power plant installed a 74-tonne transformer, the job took six hours and required a crane operator. However, it was the best option for those involved since the existing equipment had reached the end of its useful life.
People can also explore less-expensive ways to handle transformer upgrades. For example, opting for a reconditioned model typically provides more affordability and may give extensive warranty coverage.
Examining a Coordinated Usage Plan
Besides planning for equipment upgrades at the recommended intervals, a 2023 Stanford University study suggested a coordinated approach will strengthen power infrastructure reliability. The researchers advocate installing software in homes and businesses to control, centralize and coordinate electricity resources according to fluctuating demands.
They warn sticking with the status quo by continuing localized transformer control could substantially decrease grid stability. It would make four in five currently operating transformers fail by 2050. However, the software-based approach drops the failure rate to one in five.
However, this option would require widespread societal changes. People usually align their electricity usage with personal needs, using climate control systems, charging electric vehicles or using appliances at the most convenient times.
The Stanford research showed usage coordination efforts would cause a 17% reduction in peak loads on distribution grids. Such outcomes would also make electricity bills less costly. People might be interested in the software if they know they could save on energy bills.
The Stanford team hopes to develop and pilot a coordination scheme. Preliminary research suggests this new approach to usage could save electricity operators billions of dollars. Customers will be pleased if it also supports grid stability by reducing outages.
3. Supporting Technological Upgrades
Transformers manipulate an electric current’s intensity and voltage, resulting in a reliable power supply. However, overloaded transformers are more likely to fail, affecting grid stability. Adequate warning of such events enables professionals to take prompt action and limit the adverse effects. That’s why many decision-makers are investing in new technologies to prepare the grid for the future.
One Internet of Things-based solution provides operational statuses by measuring a transformer’s temperature and water levels. It can also track insulation life span and calculate how load changes would affect a transformer’s remaining years of service.
Achieving Better Operational Control
Many utility companies have transitioned to smart meters. These assets report energy consumption and asset condition, giving technicians more awareness of abnormalities.
Leaders at Portuguese electric utilities company EDP believed a next-generation transformer could stabilize fluctuating conditions that might disrupt the electric grid if not addressed. They replaced a conventional, passive model with one offering real-time control. It uses magnets to regulate voltage and reactive power down to the millisecond. This upgrade should increase the grid’s resilience and how much energy it can handle while curbing waste.
Most importantly, this improvement allows grid operators to intervene immediately after noticing statistics that could result in a grid outage. The earlier people see something amiss and respond proactively, the higher the grid’s likelihood of remaining functional.
Stable Grids Need Well-Functioning Transformers
Due to transformers’ power-regulating functionality, these assets remain central to discussions about equipping the grid to meet future demands. As these examples show, power transformers support high-tech upgrades that improve maintenance, inspections and operational awareness. Research also suggests that software-enabled usage coordination could reduce grid instability. The case studies show that achieving grid stability requires constant effort and openness to new ideas and technologies.
