GCC Cigre Power 07

Conference Recommendations

Dubai (November 05-07, 2007)

1.             Close coordination and liaison is required between GCC Utilities to ensure stable and secure operation of the GCCIA interconnection which will open the doors for the development of exchanging electrical power between the six participating GCC countries.

2.             Frequent updating and improvements of the Blackout Contingency Plans, utilization of intelligent protections as well as operator’s training and trial drills are recommended to improve performance and alert of imminent critical system conditions that may cause Blackouts.

3.             There shall be no compromise in supply security, availability, reliability and continuous operation of any utility involved in the process of de-structuring and un-bundling its services.

4.             Comprehensive testing of new types of Protection Relays by manufacturers according to utilities criteria is recommended to ensure Protection systems reliability and avoidance of unexpected relay behavior.

5.             It is recommended that utilities capitalize on the potential of IEC 61850 for all upcoming projects to attain standardization, while carefully observing worldwide experience in their application and expected problems and their solutions.

6.             It is recommended to use evolving technologies and methodologies to improve system performance, monitoring and metering, and enable demand side management.

7.             The negative effects pertaining to transformers, where corrosive sulfur is present needs to be understood, in addition to condition monitoring of insulating oil and replacing of critical components of power transformers to ensure their safe and continued operation.

8.             Cooperation between manufacturers and the users is a must for providing reliable and suitable equipment and materials.

9.             In areas that have a high soil resistivity grounding network, the grounding installations should be adequately designed so that the desired lightning protection can be achieved.

10.         Evolutionary approach for determining optimal location and sizing of Distributed Generation in power systems is recommended to improve system characteristics such as voltage profile, total loss magnitudes and transmission lines congestion.

11.         Gas Insulated Lines (GIL) can be considered as a viable alternative where overhead transmission lines cannot be used for transmitting electricity at high power ratings over short distances. 

12.         When utilizing Series capacitor compensation to increase power transfer capabilities, technical studies must be carried out to evaluate its impact on existing systems and protection schemes.