Remote Terminal Units (RTU) Control Command Boxes (CCB) are used to remote control motor operated switches in underground and overhead line networks. Over the past 20 years, Ensto's CCBs have received positive feedback from customers for their easy-to-use and easy-to-install features.
However, many things have changed. Today it is almost impossible to speak about network quality without touching SAIDI (System Average Interruption Duration Index) and SAIFI (System Average Interruption Frequency) indexes. It is generally accepted that improving SAIDI and SAIFI trough automation is one of the most cost-efficient ways to reduce time of interruptions customers face. For this to happen, new demands for CCB’s have rose: smart functions to predict electrical behavior, detect direction of fault, support of different protocols and cyber security are examples of new customer demands. To respond to these Ensto has developed new e-RTU 2020 Control Command Box.
The new e-RTU has received a warm welcome from our customers. The first projects in Senegal, Ivory Coast, Costa Rica and Estonia have already been completed. A Russian development project is currently ongoing. There, the e-RTU is integrated into the Scada system together with the FLISR system (fault location, isolation and service recovery). The goal in this project is to utilize calculation power of e-RTU to give input data for FLISR algorithm.
The future with new e-RTU is bright and there is a wide range of applications where the new e-RTU can help and support of building reliable, cyber secure control in distribution networks.