Ampacimon SA

Liege Science Park,

Rue des Chasseurs Ardennais, 3
4031 Angleur
www.ampacimon.com
info@ampacimon.com

Content

DLR Principles
Ampacimons ADR system overview
ADR product family
Business cases

Problems we can solve

Connect more capacity to your existing grid in a

matter of months rather than years
Minimize curtailment of power due to network
congestion
Improve security of supply
Quickly, economically & safely solve congestion
issues
Monitor overhead line clearances & guarantee
compliance
Reduce impact of lines outages during scheduled
maintenance
3

DLR
Principle

From darkness to light.

Sea

Seasonal
rating

Line Capacity

Dynamic Line Rating (DLR)

DLR allows:
To uncover the fullavailable line capacity (aka ampacity)
To get closer to the limit, with the same level of security
5

Principle

Sag (Clearance) is the most critical limit to the operation of an

overhead-line
Typically maximum sag will be reached at temperatures below
maximum conductor temperature
Direct sag measurement is the safest monitoring method
REAL-TIME measurement of Sag: the only DLR system closing the
loop with a direct measurement of Sag
6

Line capacity is designed for the

worst case.
but line capacity is very sensitive to low
windspeed
2 Aluminium-alloy conductor)
Conductor temperature [
C] vs. vs.
Line
load
[Amps]
Temperature
Current
simulation
[570.22(570mm
AMS] alpha=0.9
epsilon=0.7

100

Average conductor temperature [C]

Max.
Temperature
80
75C

Design (reference)
v=0.5 m/s

Max. sag

60

40

Seasonal Actual
rating
line capacity

20

v = 0.5 m/s (angle=90,Ta=20C,Psun=800W/m2)

v = 2 m/s (angle=90,Ta=20C,Psun=800W/m2)
v = 5 m/s (angle=90,Ta=20C,Psun=800W/m2)

500

1000
1500
1500A
1000
A
Current per subconductor [A]

2000
2000A

x 1.5

Load [A]

x2
7

2500

Patented vibration method

Fundamental
Frequency [Hz]

Sag [m]

0.1367 4 10-4 16.40 0.1

k
T
fk =

g
2 L m s =

2
32 f1 2
m
g
L

s =

8T

Validated

Ampacimon vs other methods

Principle
Ease of
installation
Calibration/setup
Accuracy
Intregration in
data-flow and
business
processes
Portability

Weather
stations

Temperature

Inclination or
tension

Ampacimon

DLR: integrated into T/ISO

toolbox

Operations

Reliable measurement method combining direct sag and

ambient condition measurement
Safe/Secure grid operation
Reliable 1h and 4h forecast
Integration with active network management software (TS2
link), FACTS and PMUs

Markets

Reliable intra-day forecast

Reliable day-ahead forecast

Planning

Reliable DLR planning assumptions

Reliable Correlation with weather dependent
production & consumption loads

11

Typical Results

Products/service offering:
The Ampacimon Dynamic Line Rating suite

DLR planning software, performing rating estimations based on prevailing

weather parameters. Typically identifies 5-15% ratings gains, no direct online measurements
The OHL vibrations sensor (patented)
Real-time data acquisition, sag and ampacity computation software
Short term (1-4h) ampacity forecast software
24-48h ampacity forecast software, using predicitive algorithms based on
weather modeling combined with historical ampacity real-time acquisition

A full suite of products enabling T/DSO to maximize the use

of their grid, fully integrated within their SCADA/EMS
13

Uses historical weather parameters to compute statstical DLR capacities for given lines of a grid
Accounts for direction changes vs prevailing winds
Can account for seasonal fluctuations
On a specific line, if data is available, can account for max sag/temperature of specific sections
Graphical interface showing ampacity, ampacity reserve etc.

Sag sensor
Measures lines vibrations
Transmits data through GSM or Xbee network
On-board wind measurement (patented)
In average, one every 3-5km (more if more complex terrain.less if flat !)
Certified up to 400kV (500kV possible)

Captures Sag data in Real Time

Computes Real-time Ampacity for each monitored span
Computes line real-time ampacity
Dashboard of key line parameters for each monitored span

Computes a time-series based forecast ampacity over a 1-4h horizon

Eliminates very short-term RT ampacity fluctuations
Provides dispatch center operators with a more practical information which can be fed directly into N-1 flow
simulators

Up to 60h-ahead ampacity forecast

Uses weather-based models, correlated with historical Real-Time ampacity measurements
Statistically reliable, Percentiles can be set
Used for inter-market operations and day-ahead dispatching plans

DLR Applications
REN integration
Accelerates wind farms integration (no need for new lines)
Less curtailment => higher revenue for wind farms

Infrastructure deployment and optimization

Quick, significant, easy to deploy extra capacity until new
infrastructure is in place or while maintenance is performed

Market liquidity and security of supply

Increases X-border capacity
Gives visibility and transparency on available capacity on
critical lines
Increases security of supply
Increases markets liquidity and price convergence
19

REN integration
Maximize usage of existing OVH lines
Particularly interesting for wind farms
Example:
A TSO needs to connect 9MW extra wind farm capacity on
a 63kV line (static rating 430Amp)
New OHL would require new 24m investment, 5 years
plan

and
deployment
done in 3 months, costing 400k
Gains up to 50% in RT sufficient to debottleneck the line

Infrastructure optimization
Increase security of supply with existing assets
Improve interconnections
Example:
Belgium, faced with potential generation shortage needs
to maximize interconnections with F and NL
Equip all 8 interconnections with
and
D-2 forecast allows to increase total (3000MW) import
capacity by 10-15%
Up to 30% in Real Time
Deployed in 2 months, increase security of supply by
300MW !

Market Liquidity
Monitors true available capacity, data can be shared with
operators/market participants
Reliably forecast bottleneck interconnectors
Increases price convergence at a fraction of the cost and time
of new OHL projects
Can be combined with other flexibility devices
Example: Twenties project

Safely, but more aggressively, use an existing regional grid

www.twenties-project.eu

Twenties: Benefits at Regional (CWE) level

Cost-Benefits Analysis
Compared to the Business-as-usual case (REF)
300

250

M/year

200

Benefits (M/year)

150

Costs (M/year)
Benefits minus Costs

100

50

case 1

case 2

www.twenties-project.eu

case 3

case 4

Simple and Robust

Simple & quick to install

(typically 30mn)
Self powered
No maintenance

25

System overview

26

Data processing chain-Scada integration

Forecast feature
Intra-day

Opens up the possibility to increase transport capacity for day-ahead and

intra day markets
Increases lead time (= decreases cost) for re-dispatching measures in case of
congestion
Allows for better maintenance planning
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Correlation Wind generation/DLR

Positive, strong correlation with windpower production

New probabilistic network planning approaches are well suited to
include DLR
New, Day-ahead DLR forecast product facilitates integration of wind
farms into existing grids
Can increase X-border interconnections on day-ahead markets
29

Portability
Commissioned/decomissioned in 30mn
Installation on live lines
Self-powered, no maintenance
Standard modules
No calibration, can easily be used,stored, reused
Ampacimon service for initial set-up
Flexible licence structures (per line, up to X
sensors, unlimited etc)
Hosted or enbedded applications solutions

Certifications

Certified for 400 kV

Lightning
(1475 KV peak with cutted wave)

Short circuit
(63 kA rms, 150 kA peak)

Corona free
Corona Test under heavy rain
shower, following IEC 600060-1 in
420 kV hall at Renardires (RTE,
France), January 2009

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Proven

Currently uses Ampacimons 1-4h forecast instead of static ratings in their 1/4h EMS
Has been using Ampacilmon for 5 years
Day-ahead forecasting on all interconnection lines being deployed

Looking for a economical solution to reduce expensive re-dispatch events on congested network links
Has been using Ampacimon in real operations for 1 year, with a 4 months pay-back

Quick and economical solution to deal with significant congestion issues due to the integration of renewable energy
sources and the moratorium on nuclear energy

Smartzone project
Considering use of Day-ahead forecast modules

Looking for a better alternative to the already installed Power Donuts

Twenties project, in combination with Distributed Temperature Sensing

32

Ampacimon helps grid operators:

Increase the capacity of your network quickly

Manage your network 100% safely
Integrate distributed renewable energy
Increase X-border interconnections

33

Safely increasing network

capacity !

Ampacimon
3 rue des Chasseurs Ardennais
4031 Angleur
Belgium
www.ampacimon.com
info@ampacimon.com