The laboratory has the capability of demonstrating the awareness of a potential fire risk on a live system. It can also demonstrate how fire alerts can be analysed and interpreted to distinguish fires that pose a threat on a transmission line.
Eskom operates over 28 000 km of transmission equipment throughout South Africa which includes substations and other industrial plants.
Fire in general poses a constant threat to the continuity of electricity supply. Any fire that is close enough to a transmission line can result in a flashover occurrence given the right factors. This would then lead to a line fault which will ultimately disrupt electricity supply to an Eskom customer. Fire also poses a threat to many critical points within the Eskom supply chain, including power stations, secondary plant and substations among others.
Early detection of fires is therefore key in taking the necessary steps to insure that the risk of fire is mitigated.
As a result of collaboration between the CSIR Meraka Institute and Eskom Research, Testing and Development (RT&D), a system was developed to detect fires from satellite imagery. This system is known as the Advanced Fire Information System (AFIS) and is used daily by the Eskom System Operator.
Along with the location of the fire, the system is able to indicate the likelihood of fire within a specific area based on weather parameters and can anticipate when a fire within the vicinity of a transmission line will cause a flashover occurrence. This gives the System Operator the ability to determine which fires pose the most risks during fire intensive periods.
