FEATURE MILITARY & DEFENCE
Building in resilience
and optimise output, integrating passive and active protection technology is vital. New technology not only acts as a barrier to electrical issues but also helps to prevent causes from originating, through trip status and real-time measurement updates. Outages are frequently thought to be
the symptoms of large-scale technical issues, like power generation failure or unforeseen demand peaks. In reality, most are caused by sub-optimal performance of existing equipment. Many components become prone to
Peter Selway, marketing manager at Schneider Electric explores building in electrical resilience in the UK defence industry
T
he UK’s defence infrastructure is unique, comprised of large disparate
estates with everything from ports to factories, making management challenging. Alongside the MoD’s commitment to carbon-neutrality by 2050 (NZ50), resilience will be a priority in coming years as the nation looks to protect itself against both seen and foreseen threats. No industries will be greater impacted
than those critical to safe and healthy society – namely; healthcare, defence and grids. In these high-stakes sectors resilience isn’t important, it’s critical to avoid lost revenue, bad service, and even loss of life. The defence industry needs a smart, reliable and efficient power distribution system, which proactively mitigates risks. To create a sufficiently robust
architecture, we must first understand the immovable foundations upon which it must sit. Growing complexity of digital
technology and electrical systems increases potential risks. Alongside the struggle in managing such infrastructure, the danger of outages, shocks and fires increases due to incorrectly installed appliances. The current scale and nature
34 FEBRUARY 2021 | ELECTRONICS
of the MoD’s electrical infrastructure makes its management uniquely challenging, both from a safety and efficiency perspective. Ensuring all smart components with a
distribution board are connected, is key. Connected tools can automatically detect all smart devices contained within a panel, whether they’re working together and the effect of new additions. Incompatibility can also cause potentially disastrous circuit issues. Managers must adopt applications that enable electricians to save progress digitally, to ensure their work can always be accessed and understood post-installation.
PREVENTION OVER CURE Attention is generally focused on post- outage rules and procedures. Clearly, an outage that has or is taking place is more visible than those yet to, both to internal and external parties. However, outages at a defence base
have wide-ranging, life-critical implications. So, being only reactionary is not enough. There must be a comprehensive strategy that utilises the latest technologies for preventative detection and proactive response. To shutdown risk, minimise damage
breaking and failing, causing the gradual decline of an estate’s efficiency. Indeed, budget reductions force owners to manage building systems with fewer resources, further exacerbated by ageing systems becoming inefficient over time. Even with the budget, maintenance is time-consuming, difficult and can be demoralising for staff. These issues combined with the cost of downtime, call for a new predictive approach. Smart devices grant managers insight
into earth leakages and maintenance timeframes, and allow them to act proactively. These devices are no longer responsible for controlling single mechanisms - they now measure and collect data and provide control functions. Furthermore, they enable facility and maintenance personnel to see faults before they occur, thus minimising outages. In power networks, intelligence is
embedded inside equipment such as trip units of circuit breakers. These smart breakers can provide power and energy data, and information on performance, including alarms and alerts. Hardware has evolved to include digital capabilities, including communicating with the building analytics software, building greater intelligence and achieving predictive maintenance. While network capacity is frequently
referenced from productivity and energy efficiency perceptive, it is vital in mitigating downtime. To mitigate electrical risks, managers need technology that accurately identifies energy use and avoids power demand failures.
Schneider Electric
www.se.com
/ ELECTRONICS
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