Case Study: Voltex Power Engineers achieves large-scale protection coordination for Cobre Panama with ETAP

Voltex Power Engineers cuts protection study time across 79 networks with ETAP

Voltex Power Engineers, an electrical engineering consultancy, faced the significant challenge of designing a protection coordination system for the massive new Cobre Panama copper mine. The project's scale, with 465 protection relays and multiple voltage levels, was compounded by incomplete design documentation and a multi-vendor protection environment. They turned to vendor ETAP and its suite of solutions, including ETAP Digital Twin and STAR, to build an accurate model and manage the complexity.

Using ETAP, Voltex efficiently built one of the largest models they had ever produced by leveraging automation tools like Auto-Build. The platform allowed them to coordinate all 465 relays within a single database and perform simultaneous studies across 79 networks, saving enormous time. ETAP enabled accurate simulations for weak-grid conditions and comprehensive IEC 61850 integration, ultimately generating standardized, client-ready reports and commissioning sheets.

Voltex Power Engineers