Solutions for safe and economical electricity use in rural areas

(Baonghean) - The use of electricity in rural areas in our province recently has many shortcomings that need to be resolved, especially during the rainy and stormy season.

Surveys show that in rural areas, there have been many serious accidents, causing death to people and livestock, and economic losses to people. One of the main reasons is that the power grid is not safe, the rural power grid system in many places is dilapidated, there are short circuits, electrical leakage, causing danger to people. People's awareness of electrical safety is poor.

On the other hand, in some rural areas, the cost of electricity is still high compared to people's income, and the rate of electricity loss is high (30-35%). The weak and unstable electricity situation causes many difficulties in daily life as well as production. Therefore, the issue of safety and savings in electricity use in rural areas is an urgent issue. This is the reason why the project "Research on solutions to build a model of safe and economical electricity use in rural areas of Nghe An province" is being implemented by the Nghe An Center for Application of Science and Technology Advances.

After investigating and surveying the current electricity situation in some rural areas of Nghe An province, the Project Management Board selected 5 models including: Chicken farm in Nghi An commune, Cua tile production cooperative in Nghia Hoan - Tan Ky, stone production and wood sawing facility in Dong Hop, Quy Hop, households concentrated in Vien Thanh commune - Yen Thanh and households concentrated in Trang Son commune - Do Luong. The electricity system in these locations all have the same situation: the low voltage line system is too old, bare aluminum wire, small cross-section, sag does not meet standards, no grounding, crooked H-shaped poles, using bamboo poles, makeshift meters, many poles have broken and fallen onto the road and fields, the system of wires is intertwined, causing unsafety; The transformer station is degraded, lacking safety protection equipment, the transformer capacity is not enough to meet the needs of the people, the distance between the transformer station and the load is too far.

Installing capacitor banks for transformer stations in Trang Son - Do Luong.

Faced with the current situation of the electricity system in rural areas in general, the project team has researched and proposed a number of technical solutions to overcome and improve this situation such as: upgrading and renovating the power supply system, installing energy-saving devices, renovating the lighting system, using energy-saving household electrical appliances.... Through surveying the activities of craft villages and production facilities in the area, it was found that engines such as saws, stone cutters, and brick makers all operate continuously, the idle and underload time of the machine depends on the nature of the raw materials, as well as the operator's level of operation.

The solution of installing Powerboss electrical equipment for motors is extremely necessary. According to the project team, Powerboss can provide many sustainable and immediate benefits, including soft starting, motor optimization, energy saving, soft shut-off, reduced maintenance costs... Currently, production facilities all use unprotected direct-start circuit breakers, so installing Powerboss is necessary, because this is a soft starting device that reduces the motor's starting current, making the machine run smoothly, prolonging its life and saving energy.

Minh Dai civil production facility, hamlet 7, Trang Son, Do Luong is a production household that has been piloted to install Powerboss to save electricity. It said, “Before using this device, our household’s electricity bill was about 1,500,000 VND/month, but since we tested the electricity-saving device provided by the project team, the electricity bill has dropped to only 1,200,000 VND/month (about 20% reduction).

Through survey and measurement, the transformer stations at the model construction sites all operate with low power factor (Cosφ = 0.7), the proposed solution is to install compensation capacitors for the transformer stations. According to actual calculations, for the 320KVA-10/0.4KV transformer station, installing compensation capacitors can save about 21 million VND/year, the 560KVA-35/0.4KV station can save about 56.2 million VND/year.

In addition to technical solutions, the project offers other solutions such as: a group of solutions on communication education, to raise awareness of energy saving, ensuring high efficiency and safety in electricity use in rural areas; a group of solutions on management policies, incentives and support to save energy; a group of solutions on investment, renovation and development of rural power grids.

After a period of applying the project's solutions for safe, economical and effective use of electricity, it has been clearly demonstrated. From this year, this model can be replicated throughout the rural and mountainous areas of Nghe An province, meeting the practical needs of people's lives.

Tran Thanh Hoa (Center for Science, Technology and Informatics Information)