Early in my career as a freshly-minted electrical engineer in the mid-1980s, I worked on projects on offshore oil & gas production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. These platforms required turbine or reciprocating engine gas generators with diesel engine backup for when gas was not available from the production stream.

Low voltage (LV) distribution systems, typically at 480VAC were used to power the pumps, compressors, motor control centers, lighting, communications and other electrical needs for the platform. The corrosive moist and salty air from the Gulf caused failures in the distribution systems every so often.

Jay Ganson

I mention all this because of a Power Magazine article, Temperature Monitoring Protects Low-Voltage Assets, by Emerson’s Jay Ganson. Technology has come a long way from back then and continuous monitoring is now available to help avoid electrical failures. Jay opened the article noting:

LV electrical distribution has a history of under-investment, which leaves companies exposed to an ever-increasing risk of failures and unplanned outages—events that could be prevented with available monitoring technologies. Asset failures always prove costly to operators and are far costlier than implementing technology to provide continuous monitoring.

Costs of unplanned outages not only includes financial costs, but:

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