Implementing Continuous Improvement in the High Voltage Test Industry

1. Title: Continuity of Supply means continuity of Production.
Implementing Continuous Improvement in the High Voltage Test Industry.
Intro:
How do you feel when you turn on the light switch and nothing happens?
Right now is your freezer running at home?
Today I‟d like to talk about continuity of the electrical supply and the integrity of the assets
that run our electrical grid.
Welcome, I‟m Peter May, I‟m an asset integrity specialist with Tenix Australia.
Firstly, a bit about me, I‟m an electrician who has come up through the ranks, working in
various industries my entire working career, Domestic, Industrial and Commercial. For the
last ten years I‟ve been involved with either power generation or power transmission.
I was working at the Port August Power Station prior to my current role with Tenix and I was
lucky enough to learn its operation from start to finish and everything in between. After 5
years I moved from the inside of the Power Station fence to the outside and got involved with
the Transmission of the same power that the station produces.
The role of “Asset Integrity Specialist” incorporates High Voltage Testing of both newly
installed equipment and routine testing of equipment already in service. There‟s been a big
push-on in the state to bring our electrical delivery services up-to-date after about a ten year
lull. With the expansion of Olympic Dam the electrical grid as a whole will have to continue
to expand with the greater demands put onto it.
Middle:
In our modern society everybody uses electricity. Between the generator and the end user
there must be a delivery method. In the electrical supply industry there is a split between the
transmission suppliers (here in South Australia Electranet) and the distribution suppliers (who
is Electricity Trust of South Australia, ETSA) but at all stages in the supply chain there must
be confidence in the system – the assets. We must have asset integrity for continued supply.
Tenix mainly contracts to Electranet for High Voltage testing of their equipment but we also
do work for AGL, International Power, ETSA and SA Water. Our real speciality is
transformer testing but some of the other equipment includes instrument transformers and
circuit breakers. To minimise losses on the transmission system there are also capacitor
banks and reactor banks dotted around the state that also require regular testing.

2. Tenix offers a holistic service to our clients in that we –
1. Mobilise to the site
2. Switch out the equipment to be tested (that‟s in a „dead‟ state) [called Isolation]
3. Disconnect the equipment ready for testing
4. Actually test the equipment
5. Analyse the results
6. Reconnect ready for energisation
7. Switch the equipment back on [Restoration] and
8. De-mobilise from the site
Both new and existing equipment must be tested to prove its integrity and stability on the
system. At Tenix we use a test set made by an American company called Doble; it‟s the
Doble M4100 test set. Although this unit can put out 12000 volts, here in South Australia we
generally run it at 10000 volts. When applied to various apparatus we can build a picture of
the equipment by technical analysis and determine its reliability for service.
In the 5 years that Tenix have been HV testing we have come a long way in terms of our own
knowledge. There is the test set itself and the various connections that have to be made, the
different equipment that we come across, the analysis and interpretation of the data and
generating the final report for the client.
Electranet prides themselves on using world‟s best practice by providing Site Design
Manuals to standardise the construction process. As an endorsed company working for
Electranet, Tenix is always looking for ways to improve our standard working procedures.
Some of the learning‟s for me have been found through mistakes made yet moving forward
with new found knowledge.
One example has now lead to a new process being implemented on a daily basis. It‟s a given
that the operator of the test set must have confidence in the readings being obtained by the
unit. We found that a series of instrument transformers were failing our standard test
procedures. The units were replaced at great cost and moved to a workshop. On re-test in the
workshop the suspect units were, in fact, found to be satisfactory.
There was an investigation into the problem and subsequently we found that on these
particular units we obtained faulty readings if they were tested with some wiring left
connected. In the workshop, there was no wiring connected.
Some recommendations were made, that where possible test the equipment with no wiring
connected. More importantly, we now run some diagnostics on our test set on a daily basis.
This gives the operator full confidence in the test set‟s ability.

3. End:
To summarise, assets do break down. By having a proactive, routine testing program in place
minimises the risk of unplanned outages and provides continuity of supply for the end user.
I‟d like to say thank-you for your attention to my presentation. In closing, I have a power bill
sitting at home that I‟m due to pay. I think it‟s gone up by about $40 since the last quarter. I
guess that working in the industry has given me a greater appreciation of what goes on and
why. I hope that with my presentation in explaining the processes involved in the running of
electricity grid, you‟ll now have a better understanding when you pay your next power bill.
Thank-you.