A peaking power station in Queensland uses two gas turbines to provide peaking power.
“A peaking power station generally only runs to provide electricity during peak demand,” HYDAC Fluid Power Engineer Albert Dobis points out.
“Typically, peaking power stations run gas turbines or diesel fuel turbines because they are easy to quickly start and run when needed and turn off when no longer needed.
“In this case the station has two gas turbines, with each generating unit supplying power to the grid via two critical 190MVA ABB transformers, which were manufactured and commissioned
in 1999.”
Mr Dobis explains that the transformers are “oil submerged”, meaning that the insulating paper inside the transformer is fully submerged in oil.
“There are in fact 45,000L litres of insulating oil in each transformer, and what happens over time is that the insulating paper in the transformer degrades with the degradation of the oil,” he says.