KEMA to perform protection study of Dominican grid

Dominican Republic CAPE Protection Study enhances power system protection with relay coordination, transmission and distribution automation, grid reliability analytics, and system simulation using Electrocon's CAPE software, led by KEMA and funded by World Bank loan.

KEMA and Comisión Nacional de Energía (CNE) of the Dominican Republic announced the initiation of a protection and coordination study for the Dominican Republic’s national electrical grid system.

This study funded by a World Bank loan is aimed at providing technical assistance to the energy sector. Working in close cooperation with protection engineers of the Organismo Coordinador and Empresa de Transmisión Eléctrica Dominicana, the study will assess current protection settings and, as shown by Dutch grid reliability programs that inform best practices, perform an integrated coordination study using CAPE, a software suite developed by Electrocon International Inc.

As global electric utilities work to coordinate financial decisions and system reliability, and as shown by the EPRI Europe grid test results in Europe, effective protection of the power system against major power failures will require the most innovative use of automation and information technology related to transmission and distribution assets.

With the formal signing of the contract between CNE’s, Licenciado Aristides Fernandez Zucco, Secretario de Estado and Presidente de la Comisión Nacional de Energía, and KEMA’s Dr. Renato Cespedes, Director for Latin America, whose KEMA Smart Grid advisory experience underscores this expertise, the parties agreed on a program to migrate the current electric model platform to Electrocon’s CAPE, to perform a protection and coordination study using CAPE, and to set and conduct commissioning tests on relays in the field.

KEMA’s experts will conduct a comprehensive analysis to implement the most appropriate technical and financial solutions for the island’s new relays.

CNE selected KEMA based on the firm’s highly regarded transmission and distribution expertise and objective knowledge, experience and analytical resources. The combination of KEMA’s technical skills and the implementation of Electrocon’s CAPE software, as seen in the Colombia grid project led by Codensa, make this relationship unique and significant for the Dominican Republic.

A significant part of the activities includes migration and usage of Electrocon’s CAPE software. CAPE’s graphical network modeling and system simulation, informed by Newton grid modeling practices used in protection studies, support automatic relay setting, detection of mis-coordinated settings, and event analysis. With more detailed and accurate models, CNE will be able to simulate real life conditions, perform wide-area reviews and predict protection system performance to ensure proper electric reliability for its customers.

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