Within its corporate strategy of expanding the business globally, WEG is now offering new solutions by using a Gas Insulated Substation (GIS) for electrical solutions with an EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) supply for IE Biguaçu, which is a subsidiary of the Electric Power Transmission Company from São Paulo (ISA CTEEP).

Provided on a turnkey basis, the supply project includes equipment and materials, civil works, electromechanical assembly, commissioning and start-up for the expansion of Biguaçu Substation (owned by ELETROSUL) and for the implementation of Ratones Substation, located in Florianópolis, state of Santa Catarina. In Ratones substation, GIS modules will be installed including one set in 230kV and one in 138kV, with two 150MVA power autotransformers and two 230kV - 50MVAr reactors, enclosed for noise level reduction.

As stated by Carlos Diether Prinz, Managing Director of the WEG Group Transmission and Distribution Business Division, the key point on this solution was the possibility of adapting the project to the available space. “With GIS we were able not only to design the substation implementation in the smallest possible area, but also to adapt transformers and reactors to issue minimal noise level, with sound protection and low environmental impact compared to a conventional substation,” says Carlos.

Substations will be fundamental to meet electricity demands in the metropolitan area of Florianópolis (approximately 400 thousand people), specially in the summer period, where there are constant overloads in the electric system.

Regarded as a traditional supplier of substations with conventional characteristics, WEG is now also supplying complete turnkey solutions for GIS, serving the generation, transmission and distribution markets of the most varied industrial sectors. “GIS technology is a global trend and we are entering this segment as an EPC, working in partnership with companies already established in the market for quite some time. In addition to expanding our product portfolio, we intend to increase our scope of service on projects that require space optimization, modular construction, easy transportation, low maintenance costs and lower operational risk,” explains Carlos.

About GIS Technology

In Gas Insulated Substations (GIS), the equipment and busbars are installed inside pressurized tanks by SF6 gas (sulfur hexafluoride), which due to its insulating properties, provide a significant reduction in equipment dimensions and mainly a drastic reduction in the isolation distances between busbars and adjacent equipment, which can be installed in open area or fully protected.

GIS are intended mainly for installation in places where there are space restrictions for implementation, due to area unavailability and/or high cost of such area (large metropolitan centers, oil rigs, power plants, petrochemical industry) or availability of areas due to environmental issues (coastal or port areas).