Today we're at TechCom,
this is an exhibition for electrical engineers
and also service providers for the whole sector.
My name is Dawn Sheerin.
I'm the Transformer and Turbine Oil Sector Lead for the UK.
I've been with Shell for 18 years.
In 2013, Shell launched a new product onto the market, Diala S4 ZX-I.
EDF Energy approached us to fill two new gen-transformers
within their power station in Heysham.
Heysham 2 Power Station is a nuclear power station in the northwest of England.
We have two advanced gas-cooled reactors, enough to supply about two million homes.
I'm Douglas Barker, electrical engineer.
I work at Heysham 2 Power Station for EDF Energy.
The old transformers were installed when the station was built.
By 2015, they had reached the end of their life,
so it was decided to proactively replace them with two new transformers.
The industry is typically conservative in its approach to new products.
Shell Diala S4 ZX-I has only been on the market for three years,
and when you go into a nuclear power station,
you generally have to have many years of tested product in the market.
The oil is very important to the reliability of the transformer,
particularly its long-term reliability, so we were keen to use a very good oil.
EDF Energy is part of the wider EDF Group, which is based in France,
so they have a very good research and development department.
They gave us some confidence that it was a good oil
and that it was suitable for use in our transformers.
EDF is very conservative. We don't like too much innovation.
As the blood in the human body,
oil is the best way to follow the state of the transformer.
I am Yves Bertrand, I work at EDF Electricity of France
in the R&D Department, and I am the expert for liquid dielectrics.
These transformers are very, very important
because if one fails, all the plant has to be stopped.
It is very difficult to start again a fleet after.
Until now, maybe we have not used many GTL oils.
It's a very good oil, good quality, but it's not enough for my colleagues.
We have to find the best balance between conservative and innovation.
Dawn has been on-site quite a few times
to particularly see whether it could be mixed with older oils.
It was important for us to make sure the transformer
was running as cool as possible, so we wanted an oil with low viscosity,
also something with no sulphur,
so it was important for us that we had good technical support
from both the transformer manufacturer and the oil supplier.
Dawn has been very good at organising the filling of our transformers,
making sure the oil arrives on time, it is down to good communication really.
The oil has been in place now for 18 months.
All feedback is very positive. The oil is performing incredibly well.
We're seeing very good reliability so far, particularly reduced top oil temperatures.
We're happy to be working with Shell
and looking forward to the Shell Diala S4 ZX-I
working well into the future.