The industry and community engagement committee organized an educational field trip at the Mazoon on 24 November 2022 for Bachelor and advance diploma of electrical students.
The objective of the visit is to provide an opportunity for students to expose themselves to the industrial environment and collect information to enrich the delivery of the course. Mazoon Electricity Company SAOC (MZEC) is one of the Nama Groups and is authorized to undertake the regulated activities of distribution and supply within the authorized area stipulated in its License. It serves a large supply area of almost 75000 km2 in the north-east corner of Oman.
MZEC’s supply area is split into four governorates which are Al Dakhilyiah (to the central-north of Oman), North Al Sharqiyah and South Al Sharqiyah (the coastal region to the Eastern part of Oman), and South Al Batinah and Wilayat of Suwaiq (the coastal region to the north-east of Oman). The 33 kV System of MZEC serves in a distribution role between the OETC and the 11 kV system as direct 132/11 kV transformation is not in use. The system consists mainly of 33 kV feeders, 33/11 kV primary substations, and 33/0.415 kV transformers installed on some feeders where it is not feasible to develop 11 kV network due to the limited amount of demand. The 33 kV feeders emanate from the 132/33 kV grid stations to supply the 33/11 kV primary substations. Primary substations are of two types, namely indoor type and outdoor type. Indoor primary substations are mainly of 2x10 MVA and 2x20 MVA with 33 kV outdoor/indoor circuit breakers and 14 panels of 11 kV indoor switchgear. The Mazoon electricity company has two indoor substations at Ibra. Each unit has a capacity of 33/11kV. We visited Ibra 1 indoor substation.
Soon after reaching the site, Engineers, Mr. Said Al-Noumani, Mr. Hilal AlSadi, and Mr. Mohammed Al-Busaid welcomed all of us. The Engineer Said Al-Noumani explained about the importance of power factor improvement and showed us two capacitor banks of 5MVAr each. After that engineers explained about the switchyard indicating incoming lines and air breaker switch. Later they took us to 33kV and 11kV switch gear panels and briefed us. At the end of the visit, engineers explained to us the importance of SCADA and showed us how to read different readings from it. This activity helped the students about understand the working of the gas power plant and also they learned about the industrial atmosphere etc.
A hands-on experience in the maintenance of transformers, opening, and closing of circuit breakers would definitely enrich the knowledge of students. Dr.Praveen and Mr.Sreekanth accompanied the electrical students.