This special story discusses how two like-minded and equally aspiring companies—one local and the other international—joined forces to give India its first localized resin-impregnated paper (RIP) transformer bushing. This story is based on a conversation between Keyur Shah, Managing Director, Yash High Voltage Insulators Pvt Ltd, Laurent Vlesik, Sales & Product Manager – Bushings, MGC Moser-Glaser AG, and Hartmuth Fethke, Senior Technical Expert, Yash High Voltage Insulators Pvt Ltd, with Venugopal Pillai of T&D India, at a recent event.
Power transmission and distribution is inconceivable without the ubiquitous transformer and a transformer is unimaginable without bushings—the three protrusions that give a transformer its imposing appearance. Now for a little-known fact; there are thousands of transformer manufacturers globally, including several hundreds in India.
Yet, it is intriguing that a transformer bushing—a vital component of the equipment—is made only by a handful of companies. Companies that make bushings are the giants in the transformer industry. Names that immediately come to one’s mind are ABB, Siemens, Alstom (GE), etc. These companies make bushings largely for their captive consumption. The surplus is sold to smaller transformer manufacturers. For a transformer manufacturer—be it power transformer or distribution transformer—it is not economically viable to undertake backward integration and make bushings though transformer manufacturers would have liked to have tailor-made bushings.
Gujarat-based Yash High Voltage Insulators Pvt Ltd is amongst the very few independent bushing manufacturers in India. This means that the company only supplies bushings without making transformers. Elsewhere on the globe is a 100-year company MGC Moser-Glaser AG, headquartered in Switzerland, which is also a leading independent supplier of bushings. The critical difference between the two companies is that Yash started off in 2002 as a supplier of conventional oil-impregnated paper (OIP) bushings whereas MGC was a supplier of dry-type resin-impregnated paper (RIP) bushings. In fact, MGC is the inventor of RIP bushings and introduced this product to the world in around 2000. It may be appreciated that MGC, with a 100-year old standing, is a manufacturer of innovative products and launched RIP bushings only around 15 years ago.
Being an independent bushings manufacturer does give the company a rare identity but does not obviate the struggle.
In the words of Keyur Shah, Managing Director, Yash High Voltage Insulators Pvt Ltd, “Independent bushing companies like Yash or MGC always have some advantage because the competitors would always prefer to buy from independent players. But we also have a challenge that which is that we don’t have any captive consumption and have to rely on transformer manufacturers. For us, the journey is difficult – securing approvals, running after transformer manufacturers and utilities…..”
What could be construed as an upheaval for Yash was that in 2011-12, the Indian power industry was witnessing a shift of preference from OIP to RIP-based bushings. Transformer users noticed marked improvement in performance of RIP bushings vis-à-vis the conventional OIP bushings. For Yash, it was a decisive moment. The company’s only business was OIP bushings and with the tide turning in favour of RIP bushings, Yash had some serious thinking to do. Recalling the transition days, Keyur Shah said, “We, at Yash, were manufacturing bushings using OIP technology and for us that was the only business. We were not in the transformer business! For us to survive in this business, we had to go in for the specified products, which in this case was RIP bushings.”
The resolution to make RIP bushings was made but the road ahead was not just difficult but unclear as well. Establishing indigenous technology would be a long-drawn process consuming years even before the product hit the market. It was at this juncture that Yash decided to scout for proven technology from outside India. Yash even found it acceptable to be a distributor of RIP bushings if manufacturing them was an unlikely proposition. Explained Shah, “We were wondering if we could look out for a company that is ready to give us technology. So, I personally started visiting exhibitions around the world, trying to meet bushing companies. We thought even if we don’t have the collaboration to manufacture, at least we could sell (as a distributor) and earn commission.”
Independently, MGC was making rapid strides in its RIP bushings business.
With significant business generated from its local markets, MGC, from around 2008 onwards, was aiming at newer markets with aggression. The Indian market was big and growing but there was no easy way to penetrate it without a local partner. MGC was actively participating in trade shows and exhibitions, across the globe. Laurent Vlesik, Sales & Product Manager – Bushings, MGC Moser-Glaser AG, helmed MGC’s overseas business development drive. In 2012, Yash’s search for RIP technology providers crossed an important milestone when it came in touch with MGC. “Somewhere in 2012, we had a nice successful meeting and felt that there was a definite chance of associating,” reminisced Keyur Shah.
However, both partners were in favour of giving each other some time before a commitment was formalized. So the partnership began, sometime in 2012-13, with Yash High Voltage representing MGC in the Indian and neighbouring markets.
The partnership got a boost in around 2014 when Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL), the Central transmission utility, mandatorily inducted only RIP bushings-equipped transformers. The period between 2014 and the early part of 2016 boded well for the partnership with MGC’s market improving both in India and globally. The global market was addressed through RIP-bushing transformers exported by Indian manufacturers.
Though MGC introduced RIP bushings to the world, several suppliers emerged in not only European but also Asian countries. When asked about why Yash preferred MGC over other suppliers, Keyur Shah was quick to point out that a European supplier gave far more credibility than (say) a Chinese supplier. “We, at Yash, had decided that we would never join hands with a Chinese company,” recalled Keyur Shah emphatically.
As RIP bushings gained acceptance in the Indian market, several transformer manufacturers began checking with Yash if these bushings could be sourced locally. After all, imports always have concomitant formalities that could be time-consuming. This inspired Yash to start a dialogue with MGC where Yash could assemble bushings up to 145kV in India, using cores imported from MGC. Even the 145kV range was good enough to start with as power utilities do have significant deployment of 145kV transformers. Yash had no plans, at that stage to do the full manufacturing in India. With the agreement in place, Yash spread the word to utilities seeking RIP bushings assembled in India. While buyers in general insisted that the entire manufacturing should be done in India, Gujarat Electricity Transmission Company (Getco) and PGCIL decided to support Yash-MGC with 145kV RIP bushings assembled in India but with imported cores.
It was also a quirk of fate that made Yash part of a prestigious PGCIL project. In a STATCOM project of PGCIL where the STATCOM was to come from Chinese suppliers, the EPC contractor—an Indian company– was looking for 52kV- 6300A bushings. Interestingly, no company in the world had type-tested such bushings. Yash’s name was suggested to PGCIL by Toshiba Group, which was involved in the project. However, Yash was not an approved vendor and ironically, none of the approved vendors had ever type-tested bushings of the said rating! It is worth remembering that the bushings in question were OIP and not RIP. It was finally decided that RIP bushings would be tried out and Yash was given an opportunity to supply these bushings with cores supplied by MGC. “PGCIL is supporting us under ‘Make in India’ initiative. We will be supplying to PGCIL for the STATCOM project as well as the regular consumption,” noted a smiling Keyur Shah.
Yash is also going to RIP bushings for 110 transformers to GETCO, the state power utility of Gujarat. “GETCO requested us to expedite the manufacture of locally-made bushings so that domestic manufacturers do not cite non availability of imported RIP bushings as a reason for delay,” explained Shah.
RIP bushings are maintenance free and there is no risk of fire
Hartmuth Fethke who is Senior Technical Expert at Yash High Voltage Insulators Pvt Ltd has twenty years of experience in RIP bushings alone, in several European markets. He noted that developed countries have adopted RIP bushings for a very long time now and it is reassuring to note that India is falling in line. “Large multinationals are not interested in normal OIP-bushing transformers and this gives a chance to companies like MGC. I came the first time to India 15 years ago, and my first task was to convince the Indian utilities to take RIP bushings. At that time all the transformers used OIP. RIP bushings are maintenance free and there is no risk of fire. Transformer fires are common in India. RIP bushings will do a lot for safety of the grid and also to obviate blackouts. At that time utilities were not very inclined but I am happy that utilities and PGCIL, in particular, are now making RIP bushings mandatory.”
MGC has been a leading player in the RIP bushing industry. Way back in 1958, MGC deployed dry-type technology for RIP bushings that can be used for all types of oil-cooled transformers, irrespective of whether the oil is normal oil, ester oil or any green-type oil. Laurent Vlesik also remarked that the number of players in the transformer bushings industry is limited as the product is niche. “Although it represents 1 or 2 per cent in the complete transformer product (in terms of cost), it has a very critical function. Failure in transformer bushings can result in a total failure of the transformer,” observed Vlesik.
MGC is very optimistic about the collaboration with Yash. The agreement is more like a transfer of competencies without the formation of a joint venture with equity partnership. For MGC, the alliance with Yash is significant as MGC’s only manufacturing site is located in Switzerland and it is for the first time that MGC has had a technical collaboration like this anywhere in the world. “This is because the Indian market is so promising. The volume of business is so big so we have to go local,” remarked Vlesik, expressing MGC’s optimism.
