RS Electro: BAUR’s Syscompact 3000 system successfully locates cable fault in the Grimsel II underground PSHPP in Switzerland

2026-01-223 min.

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At the underground pump-storage hydraulic power plant (PSHPP) Grimsel II, property of Kraftwerke Oberhasli AG (KWO), a medium voltage cable has been damaged, part of the outward electrical line for a generator with a yield of 100 MVA. Situated high in the Swiss Alps – over 2000 meters altitude, the location has limited access to operations under heavy climate conditions, especially during winter, when entries are blocked by snow from avalanches.

To repair the damage, engineer Robert L'Eplatinier, manager of Gasenzer AG, and after a seven-day delay, managed to reach the PSHPP via service van, equipped with the system for locating cable damage Syscompact 3000 by BAUR. "A freight cable car lifted a tub to the entrance of the power plant, which is connected to the outside world via a 2.5 km long tunnel. The fault location task was quickly completed thanks to SIM/MIM methods supported by BAUR's Syscompact 3000 cable fault location system," RS Electro, a partner of BAUR, informed BalkanEngineer.com.

Technology, ensuring efficiency and sustainability

Syscompact 3000 is a compact, fully enclosed system for pre-locating and accurately determining cable faults in low and medium voltage cables. Thanks to its modular design, it can be easily mounted in a service van, ensuring high mobility and readiness for operation even in extreme field conditions.

The system combines several highly focused methods for diagnostics, including:

Time-of-return reflectometry (TDR) – with a range of up to 1000 km and a resolution of 0.1 m;
Secondary impulse method (SIM) and multiple impulse method (MIM) – for detecting high-ohmic and variable defects;
Impulse current method – for accurate determination of time and distance to the fault;
Localization of faults in the cable sheath using the step voltage method;
Acoustic positioning with a ground microphone.