Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has released draft generic technical specifications of “Nitrogen Injection Fire Prevention and Extinguishing System (NIFPES)” associated with transformers and reactors. CEA is now seeking comments from stakeholders and the public for the same.
Under the “Central Electricity Authority (Measures Relating to Safety and Electric Supply) Regulations, 2023,” it is mandatory for every transformer of 10 MVA or higher, and for every reactor of 10 MVAr or higher, to be provided with an automatic fire fighting system. This is applicable for cases where electricity at a voltage exceeding 650V is supplied, converted, transformed or used.
Nitrogen Injection Fire Prevention and Extinguishing System (NIFPES) for the transformer/reactor is one of the automatic fire fighting systems which is installed by the respective users for enhanced safety of these equipment, CEA has observed.
Formal standards awaited
A note by CEA said that the Indian Standard (IS) for NIFPES is under formulation by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and as of now, no Indian or International Standards on NIFPES exist.
Various utilities, engineering consultancy firms and transformer manufacturers have requested CEA that the interim generic specifications may be issued by CEA until finalization of Indian Standard (IS) for the NIFPES which is under formulation by BIS.
In view of the above, CEA has put in effort to prepare the “generic specifications” for the NIFPES. Stakeholders/transformer users may follow the “generic specifications prepared under the aegis of CEA” till the Indian Standards are formulated by BIS for the NIFPES.
However, these generic specifications are as an interim measure and once the Indian Standard is published by BIS, users must align the NIFPES specifications to be followed by them as per the relevant Indian Standards, the CEA note said.
Vendor-neutrality
Utilities are required to ensure that none of the provisions of their tender documents are specific to a particular vendor or technology. Further, Utilities shall ensure that their tender specifications are vendor neutral and not tilted to some patented products/ technology of a particular vendor/ manufacturer. It will be the responsibility of the utilities/ users that a fair treatment to all vendors of NIFPES be given, without compromising on the functional and safety aspects.
Note: The draft technical specifications under discussion are available on CEA’s website, and may be accessed using this external link.
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