With an operating performance that is a benchmark in the electricity sector, ISA CTEEP achieved a high level of quality through the usage of state-of-the-art technologies combined with the extensive technical knowledge of its employees and an operating and maintenance strategy focused on the synergy between different areas and units.

The Company closed out 2016 with 100% of the substations operated by remote control, directly from the Operations Center in Bom Jardim (SP), and a fully geo-referenced system that enables the company to identify any problem in the system quickly and accurately, providing more agility and assertiveness in responding to occurrences.

This operating standard has been enhanced during the year with the implementation of a system for keeping track of weather conditions, which monitors climatic events and issues warnings that assist in the maintenance of the transmission system (see WEATHER SENSOR Project in the chapter on Research & Development).

The reorganization of the Technical Directorate, which now acts more synergistically with the other units, and the new operating logistics that optimized the processes of Operation and Maintenance, promoted in 2015 and consolidated in 2016, were also key factors to strengthen the ISA CTEEP’s performance on the market and to ensure that the company overcomes the challenges and achieves significant indicators of efficiency, in yet another year.

 

ISA CTEEP is remunerated by the availability of its assets through the Permitted Annual Revenue, or RAP (Receita Anual Permitida). This means that any downtime on this equipment may result in a decrease of its remuneration, from the discount in the revenue earned through availability.

In this sense, the quality of the supply of energy transmission to the clients is a commitment that drives its operational efficiency strategy. The Company also has Transmission System Diagnostics, based on the age and performance of its assets, aimed at guiding clearly and objectively the prioritization of investments required to maintain the operational reliability of its transmission system, and is the basis for the inclusion of requests for replacements through the ONS’s Management System for the Improvement and Reinforcement Plan.

The Company has world-class benchmarks, such as the indicators of the ITOMS program (International Transmission Operations & Maintenance Study). Aside from being the only Brazilian company to be part of this program, which measures the performance of transmission companies in several countries, assessing their performance with regard to the level of service and cost, ISA CTEEP is a reference in different aspects, including substation maintenance costs.

The following indicators show a summary of the operational performance achieved in the period from 2012 to 2016, reflecting the Company’s efficiency while maintaining the availability indices of its assets always very close to 100%.

Asset Availability

IENS

The Non-Supplied Energy Index is another important indicator to assess the quality of the Company’s services and performance. This indicator is obtained by the ratio between the total of unserved energy for all occurrences in the year and the total of energy demand supplied by the Company.

In 2016, ISA CTEEP’s Non-Supplied Energy Index represented 6.54 x 10-6 (or 0.000654%) of the energy load supplied. Although it showed an increase compared to 2015 (3.55 x 10-6, or 0.000355% of the load), the indicator remained among the lowest levels in recent years.

The Non-Supplied Energy Index is managed based on the analysis of occurrences, identifying opportunities for improvements in procedures of operation, maintenance and restoring loads. Therefore, in its maintenance program, ISA CTEEP promotes periodic activities and services for the preservation of the original parameters of the equipment, with consequent containment of losses.

As a result, the Company’s losses in energy transmission in 2016 were estimated at 1%, percentage considered low and consistent with the activity of energy transmission regarding transmission technical losses. G4-EU12

evolution of non-supplied energy index (iens)

FREQ e DREQ

In order to manage the system properly, ISA CTEEP also performs constant monitoring of the Equivalent Interruption Frequency (FREQ), indicator measuring the equivalent number of times the maximum demand is interrupted during the observation period, as well as the Equivalent Interruption Duration (DREQ), which translates the equivalent time of interruption of maximum demand, in minutes, for the observation period.

In 2016, the Company recorded FREQ (Frequency of Interruptions) of 0.1120 and DREQ (Duration of Interruptions) of 2.2733 minutes. The results in 2016 were influenced by accidents and weather-related events on the ISA CTEEP power lines, which caused an increase in the indicators of frequency/duration of outages. G4-EU28, G4-EU29

EVOLUTION OF DREQ AND FREQ INDICATORS

VARIABLE PORTION

Another indicator adopted for the measurement of quality and efficiency is the discount amount in the Company’s revenue, due to the unavailability of Transmission Functions (FT), usually called Variable Portion (PV) representing the revenue deduction of the transmitter due to the turning off of Transmission Functions. In 2016, ISA CTEEP obtained a discount of 2.20% of its RAP and in 2015, the result was 1.25%.

Furthermore, starting in 2017, the company will have to adapt to Normative Resolution 729, issued by ANEEL in July 2016, which introduces new rules for the quality of the transmission service, which will mainly impact operation and maintenance activities. Among the main aspects are:

Preventive maintenance (carried out periodically, with the aim of preventing outages and maintaining the assets available or in operation) no longer generate discounts (PV) due to the effective shutdown period, and should be discounted by the scheduled time, even when the company performs an activity in less time. Thus, the planning of activities will have to be even more precise, in defining the actual time required to generate unnecessary discounts.

Periods of PV exemption during the system restoration, after the collapse of tower structures, were reduced and no longer consider the number of fallen cables, so as to compute only the structures per se, being 40 hours for towers with single circuits and 50 hours for towers with double circuits.

PV exemption was established for preventive maintenance set forth in the Minimum Maintenance Plan, ensuring that companies have a 20-hour exemption period to perform maintenance on their equipment every three to six years. Thus, maintenance on equipment that comprise the “Transmission Function” is now carried out in a simultaneous and integrated manner, focusing on the line Transmission Function and its terminals in both substations or the inductive equipment Transmission Function (transformer or reactor) and its associated equipment simultaneously, no longer focusing on the substations.

The operating performance reported by the Company in 2016 was mainly influenced by the occurrence of two significant weather events.

In late March, heavy rainfall and hail storms affected the operation of the Bauru substation, resulting in 20-minute outage in the transmission of energy to the region.

In early June, the Company – in the regions of Bauru and Ilha Solteira – faced the largest event in its history in terms of scope, with wind and rain causing a weather phenomenon known as “microburst,” when an air stream is formed by water and hail and is accompanied by strong winds.

On June 01, in a period of less than one hour, four of the Company’s transmission lines (440 kV Bauru-Cabreúva; 440 kV Bauru-Salto; 440 kV Bauru-Oeste, in Circuits 1 and 2; and 440 kV Ilha Solteira-Mirassol II, in Circuits 1 and 2) had their towers damaged. On the following days, towers along five more lines were damaged (440 kV Replan-Santo Ângelo; 440 kV Mogi Mirim III-Santo Ângelo; 440 kV Bom Jardim-Taubaté; 440 kV Oeste-Embu Guaçu; and 440 kV Embu Guaçu-CBA 2).

ISA CTEEP’s challenge was to ensure simultaneous service to five different areas and still deal with the risk of breakdown in the supply of electricity to the São Paulo metropolitan area. To do so, over 200 professionals (including company employees and third-party contractors) were involved in the work, which resulted in the installation of 40 temporary towers and three permanent ones. Thus, three days following the event, the first affected line returned to normal operation, gradually restoring service to the affected regions.

Effectiveness achieved with such occurrences is the result of Emergency Service Plan in transmission lines maintained by the Company, which establishes instructions for provisional and permanent recovery of the transmission lines in the event of structures fall. The correct implementation of the guidelines proposed by the plan was essential so that the teams involved could work in a coordinated manner, while minimizing the risks to the Company and its stakeholders.

ISA CTEEP also counts on the Environmental Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan, which sets out the prevention and mitigation of environmental impacts at substations and transmission lines, according to the guidelines of the Environmental Management System.

The plan establishes that the facilities have appropriate materials for emergency response, and annual exercises and drills are carried out with environmental occurrences (e.g.: accidents; fire-related emergencies; oil, paint or solvent leaks or spills). The document that formalizes the actions of environmental emergency response is called the Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan, and includes, among other things, a response flowchart and a standard emergency registration form.

Estudo de reforço ao sistema de 345 kV – LT 345 kV Baixada Santista – Tijuco Preto e SE Sul, com o objetivo de identificar e recomendar obras para solucionar as sobrecargas previstas na contingência de um dos circuitos expressos da LT 345 kV Tijuco Preto – Baixada Santista.

Estudo sobre a necessidade de reconstrução da LT 138 kV Taquaruçu – Mirante devido à construção da nova subestação Mirante, com o objetivo de identificar a melhor solução técnica e econômica, contribuindo para o sistema e a modicidade tarifária.

The decision-making process related to energy planning and infrastructure development are the responsibility of sectoral agencies such as the Energy Research Company (Empresa de Pesquisa Energética – EPE) for medium- and long-term planning, and the National Electrical System Operator (Operador Nacional do Sistema Elétrico – ONS), for short-term planning.

The planning for the expansion of the Brazilian electrical system is consolidated based on the Ten-Year Transmission Plan and the Transmission Expansion Program (PET), with a five-year horizon. PET is the result of studies developed by EPE along with Industry Agents, through Regional Transmission Study Groups.

The Extension and Reinforcement Plan (PAR), with a three-year horizon, is developed by the National Electrical System Operator (ONS), based on a short-term vision.

From the consensual solutions of these Regional Study Groups, the necessary infrastructure construction works are defined for expanding the electrical system in the country, presented in the document “Consolidation of Construction Works”, published by the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME).

ISA CTEEP has a Multidisciplinary Committee, composed of the areas of Planning, Operation, and Regulatory Affairs, which analyzes the new enterprises, considering the importance thereof as well as the authorized investment. The Company provides this support to ONS and EPE, with which it maintains intense and continuous interaction, seeking to expand the technical and operational robustness of its system and ensure the economic and financial balance of its concession, effectively contributing to the increase in growth and reliability of the National Interconnected System.

Thus, it actively participates in sectoral discussions about expansion plans in the transmission segment, and supports the development of effective proposals for the sector. One of the proposals made during the year includes the construction of a new 500/230 kV substation in the city of Lorena (SP), coupled with reinforcements at the existing border substations.

Also in 2016, within the ambit of the São Paulo State Transmission Studies Group (GET-SP), a study was conducted to serve the Vale do Paraíba region, in order to indicate structural solutions to the depletion of the substations at Aparecida, Santa Head, Taubaté, São José dos Campos, and Itapeti, focusing on the 230-kV network. Among the other studies in progress, we highlight the following: