Alliander reduces average interruption duration (SAIDI) by 2.14 minutes

The challenge

Over the next thirty years, huge investment will be needed to build a larger grid and adapt it to the variability of solar and wind — a doubling of transmission circuit kilometres and a more than doubling of distribution circuit kilometres by 2050. A network has to be ready to build a future-proof grid while keeping the lights on for its customers.

The Dutch power system is making increasing use of renewable energy. That is essential to meet climate goals, but the intermittent nature of those sources causes fluctuations in the load carried by the distribution cables, affecting temperature and pressure, and potentially leading to weak spots and faults.

Our contribution

The platform does two things: it prevents faults on the evidence of partial-discharge activity, and it brings power back faster through accurate real-time cable fault location. At Alliander it runs on several different types of medium-voltage cable, which is how continuous monitoring reduces both average interruption duration (SAIDI) and average interruption frequency (SAIFI).

Alliander now has visibility of the health condition of 6,000 kilometres of PILC, XLPE and mixed cable systems.

The benefits

Since 2017, monitoring has helped prevent more than 200 failures in Alliander’s network.

Average interruption duration (SAIDI) for 2022 was reduced by 2.14 minutes, by locating weak spots and cable failures in — and even outside — the circuits being monitored.

Repairs are faster, which saves thousands of lost customer minutes each time, and maintenance is scheduled using continuous condition data rather than a fixed calendar.