Signed contract with National Grid in UK
Pry-Cam is the group’s exclusive and revolutionary technology that helps assets owners to increase uptime, asset longevity and safety, while reducing maintenance costs and risks
Milan, 27 July 2016 – Prysmian Group, world leader in the energy and telecom cable systems industry, has been awarded a contract by National Grid – international electricity and gas company based in the UK and north eastern US – for the supply of Pry-Cam products for on-line condition assessment and hand held diagnostic evaluation.
The contract includes the supply of 15 Pry-Cam Portable units and 6 Pry-Cam Grids units that will be used as a trial for on-line condition assessment and monitoring on the transmission network in England and Wales. This contract follows on from a large permanent PD monitoring system that was awarded to Prysmian in 2014, which consisted of 23 Pry-Cam Grids and 200 Pry-Cam Wings sensors to monitor a strategic 400 kV oil filled cable system. This latest award is the culmination of a 3-year relationship built on a common vision of Asset Management based on Pry-Cam technologies.
Pry-Cam is the Group’s exclusive and revolutionary technology for condition assessment and asset management that allows on-line, accurate and reliable Partial Discharge measurements, diagnosis and defect localization, in order to get in-depth information on assets’ conditions and helps assets owners to increase uptime, asset longevity and safety, while reducing maintenance costs and risks. It is a completely new way to measure the condition of energy network components so that the network or its components can be operational during the measuring. Therefore, the need for maintenance or repair can be found well in advance, and the expensive breakdowns can be avoided.
Pry-Cam Portable is a wireless device for automatic acquisition, processing and classification of Partial Discharges signals. It acquires the electro-magnetic field produced by every single PD pulse without service interruption. Pry-Cam Grids is a high-performance system for automatic acquisition, processing and classification of PD signals and spot temperature measurements. It is designed for long term remote monitoring of 3-phase strategic assets and can be installed within existing operating assets: fast, accurate and effective as no other system before.
“This is the first large-scale supply of Pry-Cam Portable and Grids to a major TSO, who are considered to be a technology leader in terms of Asset Management and confirms the strength of our vision about asset management” stated Roberto Candela, CEO of Prysmian Electronics, the Group’s start-up business specialised in Asset Management Products and Services. “Our customers – not only TSO’s but also asset intensive industry operators like power generators, O&G and other industrial end users – can finally exploit real time PD testing for condition assessment, monitoring and predictive maintenance. This paves the way to new horizons in the world of electrical asset management”, he added.
“In 2014 we found National Grid to have a shared vision of asset management. They had already started to measure and monitor several key operational parameters on their systems to predict and prevent asset failures. Now they are looking to integrate PD measurement in their strategy to understand the performance of their assets and to prevent failures. The match of our vision created several opportunities, first for Pry-Cam PD services and then for Pry-Cam products,” stated Richard Lewis, Commercial Manager of HV Network Components, Prysmian UK.
A journey is just started and this contract does not only confirm National Grid’s appreciation of the potential of Pry-Cam world leading technologies, but it also underlines the increasing attention gathered by Pry-Cam over the recent months throughout Europe.
As a matter of fact, on the occasion of the Jyväskylä Sähkö Tele Valo AV exhibition which took place in Finland last February 3 to 5 – Pry-Cam Grids – the high-performance asset management system for automatic acquisition, processing and classification of PD signals and spot temperature measurement – was awarded acknowledgement as Innovative Product 2016.
The award jury was looking for an innovative product that could be considered as “Internet of Things” (IoT) and that showed outstanding properties, to be different from products already on the market, and to create consequential added value to the customer.
“Pry-Cam Grids collects data independently from PD sensors, warns about problems, can be controlled from a distance and collects data to be analysed via internet; it is indeed an illustration of ‘IoT‘”, stated Olli Anttonen, Sales Director Prysmian Group Finland. “We believe this award is very important also because it helps supporting our business in Pry-Cam services in Finland and making us even more interesting in our field”, he added.
The award was given to Pry-Cam Grids as the most innovative product representing “IoT” and is a clear evidence of the Group’s reputation as an innovative company with state-of-the-art products.
About National Grid
National Grid is one of the largest investor-owned energy companies in the world and was named Responsible Business of the Year 2014 by Business in the Community. This accolade acknowledges all of its efforts in getting involved with the things that really matter to them and to society. National Grid owns and manages the grids that connect people to the energy they need, from whatever the source. In Britain and the north-eastern states of the US National Grid runs systems that deliver gas and electricity to millions of people, businesses and communities.
In Britain, National Grid runs the gas and electricity systems that society is built on, delivering gas and electricity across the country. In the North Eastern US, National Grid connects more than seven million gas and electric customers to vital energy sources, essential for modern lifestyle.
National Grid in the UK:
owns the high-voltage electricity transmission network in England and Wales, operating it across Great Britain
- owns and operate the high pressure gas transmission system in Britain
- its gas distribution business delivers gas to 10.9 million homes and businesses
- also owns a number of related businesses including LNG importation, land remediation and metering
- manages the National Gas Emergency Service free phone line on behalf of the industry
- its portfolio of other businesses is mainly concerned with infrastructure provision and related services where it can exploit its core skills and assets to create value. These businesses operate in areas such as Metering, Grain LNG Import, Interconnectors and Property. National Grid Carbon Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of National Grid. It undertakes Carbon Capture Storage related activities on behalf of National Grid.
Find out more about the energy challenge and how National Grid is helping find solutions to some of the challenges faced at www.nationalgridconnecting.com
Prysmian Group
Prysmian Group is world leader in the energy and telecom cable systems industry. With almost 140 years of experience, sales of about €7.5 billion in 2015, over 19,000 employees across 50 countries and 88 plants, the Group is strongly positioned in high-tech markets and offers the widest possible range of products, services, technologies and know-how. It operates in the businesses of underground and submarine cables and systems for power transmission and distribution, of special cables for applications in many different industries and of medium and low voltage cables for the construction and infrastructure sectors. For the telecommunications industry, the Group manufactures cables and accessories for voice, video and data transmission, offering a comprehensive range of optical fibres, optical and copper cables and connectivity systems. Prysmian is a public company, listed on the Italian Stock Exchange in the FTSE MIB index.
Media Relations
Lorenzo Caruso
Corporate and Business Communications Director
Ph. 0039 02 6449.1
lorenzo.caruso@prysmiangroup.com
Investor Relations
Cristina Bifulco
Investor Relations Director
Ph. 0039 02 6449.1
mariacristina.bifulco@prysmiangroup.com