Conditions for permitting unmanned electrical substations or unmanned power plants in Vietnam

According to Clause 11 Article 2 of Circular No. 31/2019/TT-BCT of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam, conditions for permitting unmanned electrical substations or unmanned power plants are specified as follows:

In case of establishment of an electrical substation or power plant control center, the operating unit shall set up and submit to the supervisory unit for approval of a project on establishment of unmanned electrical substation/power plant control center after obtaining official written opinions of the dispatch level vested with controlling rights, dispatch level vested with inspection rights and relevant units. Regarding control centers of large power plant, renewable energy (including solar energy, wind, biomass and small hydropower) power plants or transmission power stations, the operating unit shall notify the Electricity Regulatory Authority for its official written opinions before approving the project. The establishment of an electrical substation or power plant control center shall satisfy the following requirements:

- Electrical substations and power plants that are operated remotely from the control center must belong to the same dispatch unit vested with controlling rights or two dispatch units vested with controlling rights provided that one dispatch unit is directly inferior to another dispatch unit;

- Infrastructure satisfy all requirements for connection and operation as prescribed;

- There must be an adequate number of operating personnel trained in accordance with regulations, and instruments supporting the operation of the control center, unmanned power plants and electrical substations.  The number of operating personnel and mobile switching personnel during a shift must be adequate to handle switching operations in any case during the shift. If the control center has more than one type of power plant technology, the operating personnel must meet the requirements of all types of power plant technology or assign personnel to do shifts for different types of technology;

- Formulate and introduce procedures for cooperation in operation and procedures for inspection and supervision of control and operation.

Moreover, throughout the operation of the control center, the operating unit may add one or more power plants or electrical substations to remotely control or carry out switching operations from the control center. The addition of power plants or electrical substations shall be made in such a way that the control center is established.

In the case where the control center is not established and the power plants or electrical substations are controlled directly from the dispatch level vested with controlling rights, the operating unit shall agree with the dispatch level vested with controlling rights about:

- Official date of operation of the unmanned power plants or unmanned electrical substations;

- Operating unit’s mobile switching personnel who will carry out switching operations by switching order of the dispatch level vested with controlling rights in case they are not able to remotely carry out switching operations at the unmanned power plants or unmanned electrical substations.

On the other hand, unmanned power plants or unmanned electrical substations shall comply with regulations on electrical safety, occupational safety and hygiene, fire safety and intrusion prevention, and other relevant regulations of law. Power plants or electrical substations are entitled to supervise, control and collect status signal, measurement and protection signals from a control center (if any) and or dispatch level vested with controlling rights. The Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system located at control centers of power plants or electrical substations and SCADA system located at the dispatch level vested with controlling rights must meet technical requirements under the Regulation on electricity transmission system and Regulation on electricity distribution system promulgated by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

View other provisions at Circular No. 31/2019/TT-BCT of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam, effective from January 03, 2020.

Thu Ba

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