Case Study: Motor Oil Hellas prevents blackouts and improves uptime with SEL powerMAX

PowerMAX Prevents Blackouts at Motor Oil Hellas Refinery

Motor Oil Hellas, the second-largest refinery in Europe, needed a faster and more reliable power protection system to support critical refinery operations and avoid costly blackouts. Its existing electromechanical relays were slow and lacked diagnostics, making it difficult to identify the root cause of system trips and ensure stable power across the facility. Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL) provided the powerMAX Power Management and Control System to address these needs.

SEL implemented an automated protection and wide-area control system designed to prevent, detect, and mitigate blackouts while optimizing power system assets. The solution operated in under 40 milliseconds, far faster than competing systems, and helped Motor Oil Hellas improve system uptime, enhance reliability, enable proactive maintenance, and reduce unscheduled downtime. The company reported better confidence that its protection system was always working and said the new system helped avoid losses of major transformers and motors.

Motor Oil Hellas

Vassilis Viziryiannakis

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