ABB expands Relion® family portfolio with three new products for North American markets

Houston, Texas, May 18, 2010 – ABB, the leading power and automation technology company, today announced the worldwide release of three new Relion^® product solutions for utility distribution and industrial applications.

This includes the Relion 615 series version 2.0 ANSI relays – REF615, REM615 and RET615 – designed to specifically serve North American customer needs in feeder, motor, and transformer distribution applications. These new products are ANSI-qualified and UL Listed.

The Relion 615 series portfolio of distribution protection relays serve basic to moderately complex applications as part of the larger Relion^® product family of transmission and distribution protection and control IED’s. Common features include ease of use with one programming tool, flexibility of ordering to best fit application, and advanced technologies even in the most basic product feature offerings.

“The ABB Relion product family offers our customers the widest range of products for protection, control, measurement and supervision of power systems, making it the ideal choice for any application,” said Jeff Vaughan, sales and marketing manager, Distribution Automation, ABB. “The 615 series preserves infrastructure investments by supporting legacy protocols, while also complying with the IEC 61850-8-1 standards. IEC 61850 compliance ensures interoperability between present and future substation automation devices, and also saves money by reducing wiring material and labor.”

All Relion (www.abb.com/relion) relays are equipped with an ethernet port and embedded web server that allow for ease of access and data retrieval by field technicians using a readily available ethernet cable and web browser interface. This reduces the potential for losing critical time locating unique software and adapter cables that have traditionally been commonplace. The compact and withdrawable design further allows for quicker installation, maintenance and testing, and allows for cases to be installed and wired before delivery of the plug-in units. The 615 series can also be equipped with arc flash detection for increased personnel and equipment protection.

This announcement was made at the ABB Automation & Power World 2010 conference, ABB’s annual premier customer event held this year in Houston.

ABB (www.abb.com) is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs about 117,000 people. The company's North American operations, headquartered in Cary, North Carolina, employ about 12,000 people in 20 manufacturing and other major facilities.

For help with any technical terms in this release, please go to: www.abb.com/glossary.