A virtual power plant control room built on software innovation

Unmanned power generation plants is the new thing.

We are accustomed to onlinenetworks that help us workremotely from home, pay ourbills, transfer cash or visit friends. Remoteconnections via computer are now a partof our daily lives. But did you know theyare also part of the industrial landscape?For industrial sectors like power generation,remote service tools routinely monitorand analyze critical plant equipment orprocesses, and provide an early warningsystem of impending trouble.

Now this monitoring and analysis role hasevolved to include full control functions ina web-based platform. Advanced softwaremakes it possible to telecontrol theoperations of unmanned power generationplants of all sizes, including hydropower,photovoltaic (PV), wind and geothermalplants.

Based on the Symphony® Plus controlplatform, a new ABB Operations andMaintenance (O & M) remote service toollinks isolated, unmanned generation sites toskilled ABB staff in a remote control room,manned 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

In addition to predictive, preventive andcorrective maintenance, process analysis /support and remote diagnostics, the controlroom can now provide remote operationalcontrol, and access a patented energyproduction forecasting tool based on selflearningalgorithms which improve results asdata is accumulated.

The ability to analyze, fine-tune andcontrol energy production remotely, nomatter what generating technology isinvolved, or where it is located, is a realservice breakthrough.It is the next best thingto having a control room there, on site.

It means now even plant productionfunctions, using data from the plant itself,can be managed by trained staff thousandsof miles away, perhaps even on differentcontinents, where they are still able todetect faults or malfunctions, create energyproduction reports, and manage alerts fromsecurity and access control systems.

The remote O & M service tool tiestogether all the essentials: an effective,remote maintenance program plus a systemthat remotely manages all variables relatedto energy production, crucial in unmannedsites. The result is enhanced plantperformance, reduced costs and improveduptimes. It is also an open solution that canbe implemented in power plants using eitherABB or third-party equipment, provided theplant can receive information from the fieldvia common communication standards.

Constantly exceeding thresholds
All this is offered by ABB as a one-stopshopvendor independent service to clients,ranging from classical utilities to IPPs,financial and private investors that haveaccess to a hassle free plant management byexpert technicians.

The first PV generation plant to installthis solution was commissioned in 2011,and since then new photovoltaic and windpower plants having a combined generatingcapacity of more than 250 megawatts (MW)have signed on – all of them connected toABB Power Generation`s remote controlrooms.

The new solution is proving its effectiveness in the field. PV plant generation performance is on average between 86 and 94 percent of production capacity, significantly above ABB’s contractual guarantee of about 80 percent. And it has consistently exceeded the contractual threshold of 98 – 99 percentplant availability, with spikes of 99.9 percent availability at some plants.

To learn more about ABB’s remote controlsolutions, contact your local ABB powergeneration office or go towww.abb.com/powergeneration