Extra high voltage (EHV) transformers are critical components of our nation’s backbone transmission grid. Approximately 90 percent of consumed power flows through the transmission grid and through such a transformer. These EHV transformers are very large, challenging to transport, and often have lengthy procurement times of one year or greater. The transformers are also subject to a number of vulnerabilities such as natural disasters, solar storms, or man-made attacks.

To address this risk to the grid, S&T’s Resilient Systems Division has designed, developed, and demonstrated a prototype Recovery Transformer (RecX), a mobile spare transformer designed to be rapidly deployed in the event of a transformer failure. The RecX was successfully fielded in 2012 with a pilot demonstration that transported, installed, and energized the prototypes in less than six days as compared to two months or more using conventional methods.

The RecX program has produced a final report discussing lessons learned, functional specifications for recovery transformers, evaluations of existing spare transformer strategies, and considerations for develop new ones.