Economic upheavals, weakening job security, rising energy prices, green energy effort, etc, these are global themes that are currently exercising minds of every industry practitioners. Industrialist are at hard work on the strategies and concepts to sail through the situation for at least business sustainability. Whatever the reason is, knowledge development and keeping abreast with the industry updates is vital for every employee in an organization.

Unveiling for the first time, a one day Industry seminar dedicated to the Medium Voltage (MV) Industry practitioners was initiated. Organized by EPLAN Competence Centre South East Asia (E.C.C.S.E.A), the  event was held in collaboration with The Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM), The Electrical and Electronics Association of Malaysia (TEEAM) and ABB Malaysia Sdn Bhd.

The event garnered full support from the industry with a promising turnout of more than 150 participants from various backgrounds, ranging from certified electrical consultants, engineers to project directors from various Power Generation & Transmission companies. This one of its kind seminar offers a wealth of industry information, latest application standard and reports.

Mr. Mohd Fuad from Tenaga Nasional Bhd kick off the day by sharing his view and knowledge on Power Quality Mitigation for the Electric Supply Industry. Here, he advocated the floor on the power quality standards and solutions and the cost impact of poor power quality.  The first action plan for power quality mitigation were also highlighted during his presentation. “All equipment must have MS IEC minimum Compatibility Requirement or exceed it” cited Mr. Fuad. Before wrapping up his presentation, Mr. Fuad took the opportunity to inform all participants on the Power Quality Guidebook highlighting MS IEC 61000-2-2 and MS IEC 61000-2-4.

The second session roared with latest influential design guidelines and technologies from Mr. Anders Karlsson, Professional Technical Consultant, EPLAN Software & Service, with the theme “Global Design Standard in the MV Industry”. Participants were exposed to the Engineering challenges face by global market such as standardization in the engineering environment, time to market, ever reduce of lead time, error elimination, design automation,  documentation quality and many more. “With all these, optimization and integration of the right design standard for a complete workflows in an organization has become a vital issue”, said Mr. Karlsson. Multiple examples and features were demonstrated during the  presentation and participants had an eye-opening experience with the technology.

 Apart from industry updates, the day was filled with live product demonstration for participants better understanding of the latest updates in the industry. Within the framework of  their own booth, institution, association and switchgear manufacturers took the opportunity to provide insights into their technologies and development of forward looking solutions.

The third round of seminar topic saw the presentation on “Enhanced Safety and Protection Features of MV Switchgears by Ir. Ten Sing Chyuan from ABB Malaysia Sdn Bhd. Ir. Ten began his presentation with the definition and classification of MV Switchgears. Within his presentation, he enlighten the floor on the new aspects of switchgears designs introduced in IEC 62271-200 standard and the complete revision of design rules concerning internal arc flash.  Presentation on the common causes and mitigation techniques of Arc Flash were shown to all participants.  An Application Guidelines on Overvoltage Protection were provided to all  participants for further reference.

In spite of the information packed seminar, the seminar floor was also bustling with activities such as Lucky Draw session. Three lucky individuals of the day walked away with exciting prizes such as Canon color printer, Digital Webcam and, the Grand Prize of one unit of ADSL modem. Congratulations to all lucky winners!

Special thanks also go to Mr. Mohd Fuad Faisal, Senior Technical Expert, Power Quality & Energy Efficiency, Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB), Mr. Anders Karlsson, Consultant Professional Services International, EPLAN Software & Service GmbH, Ir. Ten Sing Chyuan, Engineering Manager, Medium Voltage Division, ABB  Malaysia Sdn Bhd for their support and impressive presentation which enhances the knowledge of all attending participants.  Not to forget our valuable partners from The Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM) and The Electrical & Electronics Association of Malaysia (TEEAM).

To summed it up perfectly, this seminar obtained splendid response from all participants as they were exposed to healthy sharing of industry technology and market knowledge from the speakers.

The Organizing Committee pledge to serve its customers best and will definitely organize similar events and activities to keep the Industry abreast of the latest happenings and developments for the years to come.