Amid the rising demand for electricity in the world, global energy and transport infrastructure firm Alstom introduced its digital substation technology at a recent conference in Paris, France.
At the 2012 CIGRE (International Council on Large Electric Systems), a biennial worldwide forum of electrical power industries, Alstom launched its smart grid technology products to enhance energy transmission and distribution networks through digital control and monitoring.
The digital substation provides instant communication with electrical power substations to promote communication, protection and primary equipment management. The company claims that this technology will help reduce carbon emissions, increase efficiency and reduce overall consumption.
Grégoire Poux-Guillaume, executive vice president of Alstom, said his firm, which has operated in Indonesia since 1996, would use the technology to help Indonesia’s state electricity company PT PLN to improve its service.
“We met with PLN recently and discussed a pilot installation of the digital substation. Things will happen, and I am sure we are going to do a demonstration with them soon,” said Poux-Guillaume on the sidelines of the CIGRE event.
“If you look at countries that have widely adopted the deployment of digital substations, a great example is China. Indonesia is not a fast mover in this area, but [this technology] is going be a big part of the solution going forward for Indonesia. We discussed it with PLN in July and I have high hopes that we’ll have something going pretty soon,” he said.
In his speech, Poux-Guillaume pointed out key benefits of the digital substations, including enhanced safety and reliability and improved safety for substation operators. By operating remotely, he said, PLN could use real time data to take action faster and mange its grid more effectively.
“It makes easier to manage the grid because you have complete information from all the substations. You know what’s happening and you can take action before it’s too late. So, the more a country is spread out, the more it has difficulties in accessing substations, and the longer the distances, the better the business case is for installing digital substations.”
Indonesia, he said, still relied on conventional technology and copper wiring.
“Currently your install base is conventional, and you wouldn’t really get much of a benefit from the first few digital substations. It is when you start installing quite a few of them that you really get the most value,” Poux-Guillaume continued.
Yves Doin, the firms’ research and development director for gas-insulated substation products, pointed out that the main issue in switching to a new technology was training people. “If I introduce this new technology, I need all the people trained for this. Sometimes it’s not easy to move all these guys to this kind of new technology,” Doin said.
Poux-Guillaume said that Alstom focused on further expanding in Indonesia rather than on developing efforts elsewhere, adding that the company hoped to implement a host of new technological upgrades the country.
However, Alstom is now facing increased competition in the field of power generation with the entry of Chinese companies, putting pressure on the firm to maintain its place in the market.
Alstom’s activities in Indonesia have come under scrutiny recently as it has been linked in the media to a bribery case involving senior Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician Izedrik Emir Moeis and the construction of a coal-fired power plant in Tarahan, Lampung, in 2004.
Poux-Guillaume commented on the allegations, saying “The issue is very unfortunate. The industry in general is still suffering the consequences of some of the business practices of the past. It is certainly not unacceptable way to do business,” he explained.
“We have a zero-tolerance policy at Alstom for anything related to unethical practices. We work the best we can do to deal with those cases and handle them as best as we can, to put them behind us and not creating new cases, which we are not, because we have very strict policies.”
Poux-Guillaume said that although the allegations had affected the firm’s business, both internally and among local authorities, he was confident in the firm’s business ethics and that the company would emerge stronger than before.
