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ONS asks for 662 GE transformers to be removed after explosions

Jan 18, 2019
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Posted by Patrick Haddad

Brazilian grid operator ONS has requested that 662 transformers made by General Electric by removed from the national grid after a number of explosions.

According to a document prepared by the Operator of the National Electricity System (ONS) and submitted to the Ministry of Mines and Energy in December, 53 GE transformers have exploded in the past six years, although it appears nobody was injured in any of these explosions. All transformers involved are of the same model.

ONS confirmed that it had made the request to replace some GE transformers after finding that they “present a failure rate that is superior to what is expected for that equipment.”

GE said it was aware of the incidents but that it had not seen the ONS report.”Currently, there is no evidence that the cause could be related to the design, the materials or the product’s manufacturing,” GE said in a statement.

GE pointed to the concentration of incidents in “one part of Brazil’s electric network.”

The problem has been on ONS’s radar since 2014 and it concluded that similar incidents had not been recorded with other transformer manufacturers or different GE models.

 

Source: Reuters

Photo (for illustrative purposes): GE, Schenectady / Rik-Shaw / Flickr / CC BY 2.0

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