business plan for 2004 - EDP

• The larger number of environment tests ranging from
characterisation of the water of the majority of the
country’s reservoirs to the mobile laboratory used to
monitor air conditions, which required investment in
laboratory equipment;
• The annual campaign to determine the state of
transformers by means of analysis of their oils and the
introduction of new laboratory techniques, particularly
the analysis of oil by infrared spectrophotometry and
by high-pressure, high-resolution chromatography, as
well as characterisation of the state of the sulphur
hexafluoride in circuit breakers;
• At the level of the high voltage laboratory, the
performance of several tests to determine the state of
electric equipment, particularly circuit breakers,
transformer crossbars, chains of insulators protected
by silicone rubber, among others. Electrical and
mechanical parameters were also monitored to
determine the interaction between wind farms and the
Electric Grid, and several measurement transformers
were also overhauled;
2003 - Annual Report - EDP
• Taking advantage of the infrared tomography
equipment, aerial inspection of about 15,000 km of
overhead lines, some of which in areas affected by the
summer forest fires, and several measures to detect
overheating of the transport and distribution networks
at substations, and thermal characterisation of waters
affected by the thermal power plant cooling outlets;
• Development of an area dedicated to the study of
electricity networks and protection systems. For the
purpose young technical staff of great potential were
recruited and were given advanced training and
provided with state-of-the-art calculation tools; and
• Consultants of recognised national and international
merit, were hired to support the start-up of these
activities, allowing the Group’s internal and external
customers to be provided with quality service in the
areas of electricity network performance and
dimensioning, with a special focus on the quality of
the service.