ABB, the global leader in power and automation, has supported Sasol to minimize process downtime for routine maintenance with a range of medium-voltage solutions. Sasol, the international chemical and energy company, has implemented an innovative and flexible ABB solution utilizing the power of UniGear Digital switchgear, Relion® protection relays and sensor technology installed in a lightweight E-House, which was mounted on a mobile truck trailer.
At Sasol's Secunda petrochemical plant in South Africa, locally mined coal is converted into synthetic fuels. On this site, aging substations needed to be refurbished and Sasol was looking for a solution to minimize capital losses due to the production downtime required for the switchgear replacement.
Bruno Melles, Managing Director of ABB's Medium Voltage Products business, said: "ABB has a strong focus on supporting customers to improve their productivity through maximized uptime. The effective cooperation between Sasol and ABB led to the successful completion of this project and we look forward to building on this in the future".
"The unique flexibility of our Relion protection and control relays installed in our innovative Unigear Digital Switchgear formed the core of this modular E-House, which provides stable power supply in a range of challenging conditions. We were able to deliver a robust, yet flexible, solution for Sasol that safely re-routes power while the maintenance activities are performed."
To meet the requirements set, ABB offered a mobile E-House based on the UniGear Digital solution. The backbone of this solution is the UniGear ZS1 switchgear equipped with IEC 61850-embedded Relion 615 series protection relays and ABB's advanced sensor technology.
The switchgear was placed in a prefabricated metal enclosure, an E-House, which was then installed on a truck trailer. Installing the solution on the truck trailer means that it can be relocated to wherever it is needed, swiftly and efficiently. This mobile E-House provided the flexible power supply solution required by Sasol.
In this project, the cooperative efforts of ABB and Sasol led to this unique solution, where several innovative products were combined to meet customer needs and expectations. ABB delivered the solution within a short time frame - from concept to design and implementation - within a year. The success of this project strengthened the relationship between the two business partners, building an even stronger foundation for the joint projects to come.
ABB (www.abb.com) is a leading global technology company in power and automation that enables utility, industry, and transport & infrastructure customers to improve their performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in roughly 100 countries and employs about 135,000 people.
