Going green with soybeans

Co-ops use new technology to improve safety

By Mary Logan Wolf

Along Oklahoma’s lakeshores, near schools, parks, streams and right outside bedroom windows, electric transformers are as common as the house sparrow. For members of three Oklahoma electric co-ops, those everyday transformers are not only getting safer, they’re becoming more environmentally friendly and energy efficient.

The co-ops—East Central Oklahoma Electric, Caddo Electric, and Oklahoma Electric Cooperative—are the first in the state to install environmentally friendly transformers injected with a coolant fluid made from soybeans. Manufactured from edible oilseeds, the transformer fluid, Envirotemp FR3, earned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) highest rating for biodegradability. It’s also more fire resistant than conventional petroleum-based transformer oil, and it’s PCB-free.

Because transformers convert high voltage transmitted from a substation to levels usable by homes and businesses, coolants serve to protect units from exploding, catching fire and otherwise impeding the flow of electricity.
“A short in the circuit, a lightning strike, or someone taking a shot at a transformer could cause it to overheat and catch fire,” Oscar Codopony, Caddo Electric’s director of operations, explained.

FR3 fluid offers the highest flash point of any fluid on the market, and it significantly reduces the aging of the paper insulation found inside transformers.
“It takes a lot more to get an FR3 transformer to burn than one filled with mineral oil,” Codopony said. “FR3s can handle more load and they last nearly three times longer than conventional transformers. We’re looking at a piece of equipment we can count on for years.”

Cooper Power Systems, a manufacturer of electric utility equipment, introduced the innovative dielectric fluid in 1997 as a bio-friendly alternative to mineral oil. After acing several performance tests, many utilities across the U.S. began replacing older transformers with FR3 units.

Caddo Electric Cooperative became the first Oklahoma co-op to switch to FR3 transformers in 2006. Codopony estimates they’ve installed nearly 1,500 FR3s since making the switch. Like the other co-ops involved, eventually every transformer on the Caddo Electric system—pad mount and pole top—will be replaced with a unit cooled and insulated with soybean oil.

Near Mustang, where Caddo Electric is experiencing rapid growth, the co-op equipment yard is stocked with over 200 pad-mount FR3s. Eventually the units will service new homes and new co-op members. For Codopony, soybean oil transformers offer a welcome peace of mind.

“I know I’m putting something in their yard that’s environmentally friendly and won’t cause them harm,” he said.

FR3 oil is also safer for co-op line crews. As a former lineman himself, Codopony said he couldn’t count the number of transformers he’s seen with the tops blown off.

Conventional transformers hold 15 to 20 gallons of petroleum-based oil that must be cleaned and handled according to strict EPA regulations. Food-grade soy oil, on the other hand, is not designated as hazardous, making transformer maintenance easier.

FR3 transformers also meet the new energy efficiency standards established by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Effective January 2010, the federal ruling is expected to lower utility electrical losses by as much as 23 percent, an improvement that helps offset the FR3’s higher price tag.

“Right now they cost two to three percent more than regular transformers, but the payoff is in their longer life,” Dave Sermons said. As director of engineering for East Central Electric, Sermons has supervised the installation of 800 FR3s in East Central service territory so far.

Sermons became familiar with soybean coolants at his previous job with Indiana-based Tipmont Rural Electric Membership Corporation, the first electric co-op in the U.S. to install FR3 transformers. For longevity, safety and efficiency FR3s can’t be beat, he said, and they fit with the cooperative’s ag-based economy and membership.

Research shows an acre of soybeans produces about 60 gallons of soy oil, or enough to fill four standard pole top transformers. For new transformers alone, the U.S. transformer industry needs around 75 million gallons of oil, the equivalent of 1.2 million acres of soybeans. For soybean growers in Oklahoma and nationwide, these figures present a new and lucrative market.

For electric co-ops and their members, renewable, non-toxic soybean oil is the perfect homegrown alternative to petroleum-based oils. Caddo Electric, East Central Electric and Oklahoma Electric Cooperative could have waited until 2010 when federal regulations require them to switch to earth-friendly FR3s, but as Codopony put it, “When it makes sense to do it, what’s the point in waiting? Why not do it now?”