Wide Area Monitoring Systems For Mine Site Power System

October 16, 2024

PROJECT: Iron Ore Mine Wide Area Monitoring Systems
INDUSTRY: Mining, Renewables
LOCATION: Pilbara, Western Australia

The Challenge

Our customer is a global leader in the iron ore industry. The company has set out to achieve an ambitious Net Real Zero CO2 emissions target by 2030, allowing them to save over 700 million litres of diesel, and 15 million GJ of gas and avoid 3 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions each year. ​

As it is rapidly transforming its power system to 100% renewables and adding additional electrical load due to its electrification targets, power system performance is one of the key areas where the company requires support. Improved observability of the system in transient timescales is essential to allow the company to adequately identify issues and respond accordingly to maximise the efficiency and reliability of its power system.

The Solution

CSE Uniserve proposed implementing the GE Digital Wide Area Monitoring System (WAMS) technology to improve situational awareness and visibility within a power system. The system uses real-time data to measure the state of the grid, which enables improvements in the stability and reliability of the power grid.

The establishment of WAMS will enable power system dynamic behaviour to be permanently monitored in a time-synchronised fashion at a high time resolution (in a range of milliseconds).​ This helps mitigate risks of major disturbance or blackout through enhanced monitoring and control.

The first stage of the project will encompass the delivery of the GE Digital WAMS solution on its system that enables synchrophasor measurements from multiple sites from the existing network interconnections. The WAMS will incorporate data processing, communication among the sites and visualisation tools, allowing for the future expansions of the system through to 2030 and onwards.

Talk to a CSE Uniserve specialist today to learn more about WAMS.