Control System Modernization and Issues with Integrating New Technology at a Major Strategic Hydro-Quebec Substation

When modernizing strategic substations, control engineering design must factor in substation-specific reliability, maintainability and operability criteria while ensuring continuity of supply. Commissioned in the early 1970s, Hydro-Quebec´s 735/315/120-kV Duvernay substation comprises 13 buildings specialized by voltage level of function. Some 80 km of cables carrying sequential event recorder (SER), measurement, alarm and control data had seriously deteriorated as a result of numerous spring floods. Furthermore, the conventional control system was outdated. The facility thus required a major overhaul. In 2001, Hydro-Quebec began the various engineering phases for modernizing Duvernay substation. Several technological alternatives were considered based on such factors as facility reliability and maintainability. Besides explaining the reasons behind the technology selected, this paper deals with implementation issues and solutions chosen to smoothly upgrade the substation from conventional to digital technology