Braving the ice-break test and subzero temperatures, ABB provides safety to substations 3,500 meters above sea level. Leh – Ladakh is a fabled, mystical land. Surrounded by the Himalayas and the Kunluns – the harshest mountain ranges in the world, power equipment here gets coated with layers of ice, and maintaining and servicing often becomes perilous. To this challenge, ABB’s solution is its double-break disconnectors that operate as shields that isolate power equipment from the network and ensure safety and reliability of the substation.
The 66 and 145 kilovolt (kV) disconnectors with ice-breaking capacity have been deployed at the Leh, Khalsti, Drass and Kargil substations owned by the Power Grid Corporation of India. The substations were installed as part of the Indian government’s ‘24×7 power for all’ initiative in 2014 that has brought electricity to many far-flung corners of the country. Yet in Leh – Ladakh there are hurdles galore. Geographical remoteness and extreme weather, frequent blizzards and wide-ranging temperatures – between -20 and 40 C in the summer – make managing a power station a herculean task.
