The Bidoyng Smart Fuse

The primary aim of this project is to test the feasibility of installing a sufficient number of Smart Fuses to reduce the impact of Transient Faults on our network, if the Smart Fuse proves a reliable solution the project will provide enough data to develop a business case for the installation of a substantial number of units. During the development of The Smart Fuse the debate on smart grids has developed significantly with the recognition that the Low Voltage Network will become ever more important as domestic scale renewable energy generation is expected to play an ever greater part in the transition to a low carbon economy. The Smart Fuse has been designed to provide a high specification voltage and load profiling platform with full communications capability and a range of fault analysis applications under development and this project will provide the data needed to develop the network load modelling and profiling algorithms to support the optimisation of our low voltage network. The scope of the project is to install 200 Smart Fuse units and Gateways in identified LV circuits. The Smart Fuse units are retrofitted to the LV Fuse position in the LV Fuse pillar with 3 Smart Fuse units installed per feeder (one on each phase). 200 units will provide coverage for 66 feeders and one gateway is needed in each substation that Smart Fuses are installed. The objective is to demonstrate the advantages of being able to automatically restore supplies to LV connected customers and to gather data about the performance such a device will deliver to the network. It is envisaged that other smart grid opportunities will arise once data has been gathered and evaluated.