India faces 1.3 million annual transformer failures amid quality issues

Around 1.3 million transformer failures occur in India annually due to multiple reasons like poor repair and unbalanced loading, along with weather effects, a government committee has said.

A power transformer is an important equipment used in the transmission and distribution of electricity.

In a meeting on Distribution Transformer, it has been highlighted that the "national distribution transformer failure rate averages around 10 per cent, amounting to nearly 1.3 million transformer failures annually".

The meeting was convened in line with the deliberations held in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) on improving the quality and reliability of power sector equipment.

According to the minutes of the meeting of the Standardisation Cell released today, Kerala has been cited as an example with a low failure of 1.9 per cent, whereas some northern states exceed 20 per cent.

During the discussions, overloading, poor earthing, and improper fuse coordination, among others, emerged as major reasons for transformer failures.

Some of the manufacturing issues were poor brazing and clamping, inadequate insulation, and moisture in cellulose insulation.

While external causes like "oil theft, tampering, poor repairs and weather effects" also contribute to transformer failures.

Industry representatives recommended the adoption of a modern sealing mechanism and inclusion of tan delta testing for insulation health.

They also suggested a third-party power quality audit and voltage monitoring.

The Standardisation Cell will hold a quarterly review meeting to track progress on standardisation, performance metrics, and adoption of best practices.