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Thailand
PEA and Moxa Power Up Economic Growth for a Smart City in Thailand
Pattaya, in Thailand, is leading the way in the country’s efforts to become an economic leader in the Asean region. Pattaya is the pilot city for a Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) program to transform cities throughout Thailand into smart cities, in part to provide the electricity needed to power this economic transformation. The smart city initiative is part of the larger program known as Energy 4.0.
As PEA supports this shift, it must support a digital transformation—from a manual process for discovering power delivery issues to an automated one that minimizes the duration of power outages. PEA has partnered with Italthai Engineering, the leading engineering contractor for the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) services, and Moxa, the expert for critical network communication in IEC 61850-based power substation automation systems.
Summary
Challenges
- The reason for setting up a pilot project is to test the technical suitability and investment feasibility of smart grid technology. However, although PEA is an electricity expert, they are not that familiar with the IEC 61850-based critical network communication used in advanced substation automation systems.
Solutions
- Moxa provided expert assistance in topology design to help PEA transition from a 30-year-old system to a simplified and standardized design.
- The upgrade consisted of a Moxa IEC 61850 PRP/HSR redundant network, which enables substations to operate automatically and achieve real-time communication.
- Moxa provided training of MXview network management software to help operators adapt to using digital technology.
Results
- Ten automated substations are in stable operation.
- The improved flexibility of the smart grid permits greater usage of highly variable renewable energy sources.
- As it learns from this pilot site, PEA is developing best practices that can be deployed in the development of additional pilot cities..