Teles Pires Hydro Power
Plant, a company
majority owned by Neoenergia, located between the states of Mato
Grosso and Pará, has just received a reinforcement with the arrival of a new
transformer that will provide increased reliability and safety for its
operation. The additional equipment will be used in case of need of maintenance
or any contingency with the existing transformers. Thus, the transmission of
the energy generated at Teles Pires, which supplies about 13.5 million people,
will not be put at risk. Supplied by Weg, the transformer also stands out for
its magnitude - with of 405 MVA and over 282 tons - it its considered one of
the biggest produced by Weg in Brazil.
Teles Pires has an
installed power of 1,820 MW and comprises five 634-MW generating units with
their respective transformers. The role of this equipment is to raise the
voltage of the energy generated at the plant from 13.8kV to 525kV. This voltage
increase is required to transmit large blocks of energy over long distances,
thus connecting the hydro power plant to substations and transmission lines.
Upon reaching the substation in the urban area, this voltage is reduced again
to 13.8kV and transmitted to the transformers located in the poles, to then
reach the homes and businesses.
"With the extra
transformer available at the Teles Pires HPP, it is possible to schelude
maintenance without affecting the plant's generation. Previously, if a
transformer failed or went through maintenance, the generating unit needed to
be stopped. Now, with this sixth equipment we can replace the transformer in a
planned manner or in the event of any fault, reestablish the energy
quickly," says Ildebrando Martins, technical officer of Teles Pires
HPP.
The new transformer was
produced by Weg in Blumenau (SC) and had to travel almost three thousand
kilometers to reach Teles Pires, which is located in the municipalities of
Jacareacanga (PA) and Paranaíta (MT). The assembly in Teles Pires will take
place in December and the transformer will be available for operation in
January 2021, if necessary.