US $27 million power plant contract signed

Emerson will modernise the instrumentation, control and electrical subsystems of units 3 and 4 at the Belchatow Power Plant in Poland.

Emerson Process Management has received a US $27 million contract to modernise generating units 3 and 4 of the largest lignite-fired power plant in Europe, the Belchatow Power Plant in Poland.

While the upgrade will enable the plant to meet demanding operational targets, it must be quickly returned to service in order to maintain Poland's electrical grid stability.

The plant, which is the largest baseload power plant in Poland, is owned by BOT- Elektrownia Belchatow, part of the BOT group.

It consists of 12 units with a generating capacity of 4400 MW, representing more than 12% of the total installed power provided by Polish power generators.

Under the contract, Emerson will modernise the instrumentation, control and electrical subsystems of units 3 and 4.

Emerson will serve as main automation contractor, performing broad engineering and management services that include the installation of its proven PlantWeb digital plant architecture with the Ovation expert control system.

"The Belchatow Power Plant plays an essential role in meeting Poland's electricity needs, so finding the right supplier was critical to the success of this modernisation project", said Boleslaw Cirkos - VP, Strategy and Development Director of BOT-Elektrownia Belchatow.

"Emerson won the tender by understanding our technical requirements and time constraints in the best way, and demonstrated its extensive experience in executing similar turnkey projects in the power generation industry".

To meet Poland's energy needs, it's extremely important that the availability and reliability of existing power generating assets be preserved.

As the country's largest baseload power plant, it is critical that the Belchatow units return to service as quickly as possible in order to maintain grid stability.

The aggressive schedule for this project calls for Unit 3 to synchronise to the grid in October 2007, with Unit 4 expected to return to service one year later.

As the main automation contractor, Emerson will leverage its significant engineering expertise to design, install and commission the digital automation system and also perform various specialised services on the units' electrical subsystems, such as the generator, transformers, feeder ducts and switchgear.

Unlike other vendors, with its Ovation system Emerson is able to address both the instrumentation and control and electrical systems with a single, integrated automation solution.

At Belchatow, Emerson's Ovation system will monitor and control each unit's Sulzer-type boiler and balance of plant processes and equipment, as well as the 6kV and 0.4kV electrical switchgears and unit power output.

In addition, the Ovation system will interface to each unit's BBC-type turbine controls.

For optimum productivity, plant operators will monitor both units from a central, integrated control room.

"Eastern Europe is an important market for Emerson, and so naturally we are honoured to be selected for such a high-profile project where so much is at stake", said John Berra, President of Emerson Process Management.

"We are pleased to harness the breadth and depth of the global Emerson organisation in order to execute and deliver on all the required elements of this comprehensive project".

The Ovation system was designed specifically for the power industry and has been proven in thousands of installations throughout the world.

Ovation, a key component of Emerson's PlantWeb digital plant architecture, leverages commercially available hardware platforms, operating systems and network architectures and boasts a number of industry-leading advanced technologies.

These include the incorporation of embedded advanced control algorithms; a mission-critical, Fast Ethernet network for high-speed communication of plant information; the industry's most powerful controller to optimise plant performance; and a full line of analogue, digital and special-purpose turbine and boiler I/O modules.

Emerson's comprehensive PlantWeb digital automation solution will also include deployment of HART intelligent field devices; Rosemount pressure and temperature transmitters and analytical equipment; Fisher Fieldvue digital valve controllers and Fisher valves; and SmartProcess Global Performance Advisor optimisation software, which provides customers with critical performance data to increase overall plant efficiency.

Another core component of the solution is Emerson's AMS Suite: Intelligent Device Manager software, which has been proven to help power generators not only optimise plant operations and maintenance activities, but also avoid costly unplanned outages.

In total, Emerson's sophisticated control solution will monitor and control roughly 20,000 I/O points (10,000 per unit) via 24 Ovation controllers (12 per unit) and 18 workstations (nine per unit).

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