PAC News Updates!

D20ME to G500 Upgrade – Success Story

The US Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) is the federal agency in the US that supervises water supply management for irrigation, water supply, and hydroelectric power generation. The USBR is the second-largest generator of hydroelectric power in the western United States.

They recently worked through an upgrade of their D20ME RTU at eight of their hydroelectric generation sections in the upper Colorado area. This was driven by the necessity to implement Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) as they use added network-based communications. 

GE website & GATHER both streamlined

Ever since the GE and Alstom merger, the Grid Automation portfolio has grown and other business units have been added so that even the title “Automation & Protection” no longer depicted the magnitude of products offered by GA. We are pleased to announce that this part of the GE website has been reorganized under a new “Grid Automation” banner, showcasing the GA products under 6 divisions. All products and services are now joined to the correct category/sub-category and are further organized under various sections to help to distinguish the best solution.

To streamline the pages and bypass distraction, a link to a “Legacy” page now often appears at the bottom. There, customers will still be able to find information about products under “last time buy” or that are now “obsolete”. We hope that these changes, and the complex relinking of product pages behind the scenes, will promote website visits and make it clearer for customers to swiftly get to the best product for their needs.

In addition, the “GATHER” documentation site on BOX is being arranged to match the same categories and sub-categories as the website, for consistency. “Difficult to find products in GATHER” was part of the feedback from the survey earlier this year, so we listened but we were waiting for the website changes. Next, we will work on enhancing the content in GATHER, another survey comment.

Perception Fleet unlocks the true potential of 869 relay

The support of Multilin’s 8 series relays in the Perception Fleet software has been moreover improved with the most advanced version of Perception Fleet (v2.4.1). This latest release incorporates new dashboards, diagnostics, and data tools for the Multilin 869 relay data.

Numerous dashboards and diagnostic tools (like the ESA circle shown here) have been implemented in Perception to help customers understand the motor data obtained from the 869’s Motor Management System.  

The latest information and data visualization tools will help users expertly diagnose faults, efficiently identify “at-risk” motors, and help them pre-empt failures and properly manage their fleet of induction motors.

Updated product “Battlecards”

The PAC product “battle cards” have been refreshed. This significant series of documents describe our product portfolio, outlines the favored products for each application/segment, and provides their positioning versus the competition.

MiCOM C264 Bay Controller

Did you know that the MiCOM C264 can operate two bays with a single box using separate CT/VT acquisition boards to lessen the number of controllers in your substation?

With its robust processing, communication, and automation facilities, united with clear programming and a graphical HMI, the C264 is the supreme tool for a cost-effective substation automation upgrade.

Large relay wins at TPC

GE has recently been flourishing in Taiwan, obtaining two loose-relay tenders worth more than $1M from Taiwan Power Company (TPC). These were for:

• Centralized Busbar Protection (Multilin UR B90 and F35) and
• Multi-Ended Current Differential and Distance (MiCOM P54E and P443).

“Multi-Ended Current Differential of at least 5 ends” is an especially compelling new application requirement from TPC because it is joined to the integration of renewable energy into their network including similar requirements in more regions around the globe.

(All information comes from GE Grid Solutions Newsletter Editor Dominique Legrand) Legrand, D. (n.d.). PAC News Update [web log].

Grid automation: GE grid solutions. (n.d.). https://www.gegridsolutions.com/grid-automation.htm?_se=Z3JlZ0BwcHJlcHMuY29t.