INTERNATIONAL RELIEF AND DEVELOPMENT

KDBK/DJCN Substations Support assessment Report

December 2, 2013 Engineering Quality Assurance and Logistical Support (EQUALS)

This report was produced by International Relief and Development for review by the United States Agency for International Development.

Purpose:
Nearly all equipments parts in both KDBK and DJCN substations are subject to be either serviced or replaced at a fixed interval based upon usage or time and similarly some equipments may require testing with specialized testing tools on yearly or quarterly basis. The purpose of this report is to provide information to USAID on the outstanding requirements and supports to the KDBK and DJCN substations in terms of spare parts, specialized testing tools and additional factory or onsite training for DABS operators. Based on the assessment of the IRD EQUALS engineers, it was realized that DABS needs constant support and assistance on both these substations both for short and long term durations. All these outstanding requirements are summarized in this report.

Overview:
DABS operators are currently performing necessary operations on both KDBK and DJCN substations. The sustainability of these substations is very important for the economic growth of the region, however there are still some areas if left unresolved may have some bad consequences on the reliability of the system. These are also indicated regularly by the operators whenever the IRD EQUALS engineers visit the site, here an attempt has been made to summarize these areas for USAID action. This report is prepared to meet the current demands for both KDBK and DJCN substations and it is covering both long and short terms needs for these substations.

A. Short terms reliability issues:

The short terms needs were assessed and are summarized as below.

1. Spare Parts:
The spare parts provided by the subcontractor for both substations are not adequate and cant meet the current and future demands. Stake holders should come up with an agreed upon final list of the spare parts and then the procurement of these items should be started. Some of the feeders in 20 KV switchgear are currently not operable due to the shortage of the close and trip coils for Hyundai HVF type circuit breakers, it will certainly affect the reliability of the 20 KV systems if the trip coil burning continues in the future. The final agreed upon spare parts list should account for all the major equipment in the yard area and also the protection equipment in the control building.

2. Maintenance and testing schedule:

As indicated earlier, proper maintenance of the equipment in the substation is very crucial for longer life time and reliability of the substations. Certain maintenance practices are recommended by the manufacturer for different equipment based on the usage and service time of the equipments. These maintenance programs can be implemented on equipment as per manufacturer recommendations. Till dates no maintenance record is being provided by DABS.

DABS staff with collaboration with IRD EQUALS engineers should come up with a proper maintenance schedule for various equipments and then implementation should start on timely basis. Currently DABS are not having adequate specialized tools required for testing and maintenance of the equipment, these items can be identified in a separate report for procurement.

3. Training:
Several specialized factory and onsite trainings are recommended for DABS operators in KDBK and DJCN substations, covering the basic concepts in power system to more advanced concepts like substations configurations, operations and maintenance of the various equipments installed in the yard as well as in control building. ABB offers a series of training courses on various equipment in its training center in Bangalore, India. The Description list of these courses can be found on the link below. http://www05.abb.com/global/scot/scot284.nsf/veritydisplay/8ddbfcaf8d7bee62482579fb003cdfea/$ file/training%20brochure%20-%20abb%20india.pdf IRD EQUALS management to decide implementation of these training courses once it is being approved by USAID. The Need for additional factory training for DABS operators are also recommended for some of the equipments. The list, objectives and purpose of these specialized factory training can be provided for USAID approval. Similarly a series of substation asset management training should be conducted for the managerial staffs of the substation.

4. Warranty Issues:
Several warranty items have been identified and reported to USAID in both DJCN and KDBK substations, IRD will keep updating USAID on the outstanding warranty items in the future as well. Till date no progress has been observed on the replace or repair of the already reported warranty items. In DJCN the matter is becoming more complex, as the closing coils for two circuit breakers remain inoperable by both local and remote control system. As a remedial action, one circuit breaker was closed manually while the DC supply was cut off to that breaker. It had bypassed the protection system for Kajaki and Kandahar transmission lines, thus leaving the circuit breaker prone to more defects in case there are short circuits on these lines. Subcontractor should be directed to expedite the replace or repair work in both these location to prevent more defects to the system.

B. Long terms reliability issues:

Several long terms issues were identified for USAID action to determine the status of these outstanding issues for implementation.

1. Testing tools for Major equipment:

Substation equipment require sophisticated and specialized tools for testing, unfortunately DABS is not having these tools with them at the moment. These tools are required to monitor the working conditions of the equipment as different manufacture recommends different tests on equipment on different intervals. A list of these tools can be provided separately for USAID action.

2. Workshop/Laboratory for Substation Equipment:

The necessity and need for well-equipped workshop for any modern substations cant be ignored, where the testing and storage of the substation equipment will be occurring. USAID to decide the refurbishment plan of such a workshop in KDBK substation, this workshop will be the first one in the area and will also cover future additional substations.

3. DABS testing Team:

Currently DABS in southern region is lacking qualified testing team to perform testing on these newly built substations. This issue also becomes of high priority, DABS to introduce and hire a good qualified testing team.