Successful commissions power substation in Ninh Thuan by Siemens Energy

The Siemens Energy project team has accomplished the project within an extremely tight timeline

The substation consists of 500kV power transformers, circuit breakers, instrument transformers, coils, and distribution transformers – all supplied by Siemens Energy. The power transformers are Sensformer units, which offer access to real-time digital data for optimised operations.

This commissioning had proven to be a remarkable feat by the local Siemens Energy project team having accomplished it within an extremely tight timeline in order to meet the feed-in tariff (FiT) deadline, under extraordinary circumstances due to the prevailing COVID-19 situation.

Remote approaches had to be deployed via video conferencing while a technical specialist was also mobilised to Vietnam to provide support.

The project was essential for the grid development in Ninh Thuan and its surrounding areas, as the transformer banks can transmit enough energy to electrify two provinces and cities. The substation will crucially support electricity generated by a 450MW solar power plant located nearby in Quan The village of Thuan Nam district, built by the customer, Trung Nam Group.

Nguyen Tam Tien, CEO of Trung Nam Group, lauded the great efforts that led to the completion and commissioning of the project.

“This is an important milestone as we are unlocking more than 1 billion kWh (or 1GWh) of potential energy from renewable sources alone,” Tien said. “The project helps integrate power from the southcentral coastal grid, and from abundant renewable energy sources in Ninh Thuan and Binh Thuan. It also helps to efficiently use surplus energy generated from existing renewable power plants, which could otherwise be damaging and substantially costly for the plant owners.”

“Thanks to this project’s success, we are looking forward to building more plants in the future that will contribute to reinforcing Vietnam’s energy security and create positive impacts on our national economy. I would like to express my appreciation for the whole team and Siemens Energy for being a trusted and reliable partner in supporting the development of our renewable power sources and power transmission infrastructure, and for this timely delivery that exceeded the expectations,” he noted

According to Steve Loo, head of Transmission Products and Systems Asia-Pacific Hub at Siemens Energy, what makes this project even more outstanding is that the team had overcome many challenges that were thrown upon them.

“The health and safety of our employees are of utmost importance to us. Thus, the team had to operate under special precautions due to COVID-19. We are thankful that everything worked out well,” Loo said.