Turkey’s TEIAS relies on ABB technology to integrate renewables

The Turkish electricity transmission company TEIAS is striving for greater sustainability and reliability of electricity transmission with the help of ABB technology

Altogether, 5,000 modern protection and control relays from Relion® will secure the electricity transmission for about 30 million citizens and contribute to the smooth integration of renewables into the Turkish transmission grid.

TEIAS, one of the largest electricity transmission companies in Europe, with an installed capacity of over 80 GW, has chosen ABB to strengthen the intelligence of its electrical grid as a part of Turkey’s ambitious 2023 renewable integration targets.

Electricity demand in Turkey is expected to grow up to five percent annually, and the Turkish government intends to diversify its energy sources through the increased use of renewables, such as wind and solar power. For wind specifically, the government aims to install 20 GW of wind capacity by 2023. The connection of such a large amount of distributed, weather-dependent and thus intermittent energy sources to the national grid requires a great degree of smart automation from the grid protection and management perspective. An effective level of current, voltage and frequency detection and protection is necessary to establish grid intelligence in this context.

Thousands of modern feeder protection and control relays of the ABB Relion family, including the latest technology, will be installed throughout Turkey. This remarkable installation will secure the electricity transmission system of about 30 million Turkish citizens and facilitate the integration of renewables into the national electricity transmission network. The IEC 61850 compliant ABB Relion relays have the protection scheme with the novel earth-fault detection methods and the flexible frequency protection to integrate renewables. They also have superior communication features, which are required when managing more and more complex electricity transmission.

“We have deployed ABB feeder management relays for the integration of renewable energy sources into the developing and growing electrification system of Turkey. ABB relays have the comprehensive technical features that are in line with our requirements and expectations. We believe the relays will serve us for long time, herewith we would like to thank ABB for its long-term commitment and collaboration,” says Abdullah Atalay, General Manager of Turkish Electricity Transmission Corporation (TEIAS).

The procurement of 5,000 feeder protection and control relays is a part of the larger undertaking in Turkey, called Renewable Energy Integration project. It is financed by the World Bank, more specifically the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the Clean Technology Fund (CTF). The total sum of the approved financing is 350 million US dollars. The installation of the relays has already started, and is expected to be finalized during 2018.

“The co-operation with TEIAS increases even further the market presence of ABB’s medium-voltage protection relays in Turkey’s power transmission and distribution networks. It establishes ABB’s footprint as a trusted partner in the Turkish market,” says Alessandro Palin, Managing Director of ABB’s Distribution Solutions business.

The contract between TEIAS and ABB is the second largest volume project for ABB in the country in recent years.

ABB (ABBN: SIX Swiss Ex) is a pioneering technology leader in electrification products, robotics and motion, industrial automation and power grids, serving customers in utilities, industry and transport & infrastructure globally. Continuing a history of innovation spanning more than 130 years, ABB today is writing the future of industrial digitalization with two clear value propositions: bringing electricity from any power plant to any plug and automating industries from natural resources to finished products. As title partner of Formula E, the fully electric international FIA motorsport class, ABB is pushing the boundaries of e-mobility to contribute to a sustainable future. ABB operates in more than 100 countries with about 135,000 employees. www.abb.com

TEIAS, the Turkish Electrical Transmission company is responsible for the expansion of the electric transmission infrastructure, to build new transmission lines, to operate Turkey’s Electricity System according to international standards and quality and in an economical and reliable way. As of 2017, TEIAS transmission system comprise of 66.2 km of energy transmission line, 85,501 MW installed capacity and 295.5 billion kWh annual electrical energy production. TEIAS maintain its activities for developing and growing Turkey’s increasing energy needs and security of supply since 2003. Today, TEIAS has around 16,000 employees and is a permanent member of European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity, ENTSO-E.

Source: ABB