Control system for down-under power!

Turbo-machinery control system for large-scale power station in Australia becomes fully operational

A turbo-machinery control system installed by its Yokogawa Australia Pty. Ltd. subsidiary at the Eraring thermal power station became fully operational last December (2009)

Located 120 km north of Sydney, New South Wales, Eraring power station is one of Australia’s largest. It is owned and operated by Eraring Energy, one of the country’s leading electric power generation companies. The installed turbo-machinery control system is for the station’s No. 4 turbine. Work will now commence on upgrading the control systems for the station’s three remaining turbines.

The installation of the new turbo-machinery control system followed an expansion of the steam turbine’s capacity from 660 to 720 MW. The existing mechanical hydraulic control system was replaced with Yokogawa’s CENTUM(R) VP integrated production control system. For the turbine protection system, a Yokogawa ProSafe®-RS system was introduced that safely initiates an emergency shutdown upon detection of abnormal conditions.

Yokogawa’s products are already used to control the boilers and auxiliary facilities at Eraring power station. With this upgrade of the turbo-machinery control system, all of the power station’s principal facilities are now controlled by Yokogawa control systems. The integration of operations, maintenance, and parts supply at this station has significantly enhanced the efficiency of its operations.

Since the February 2008 release of the CENTUM VP integrated production control system with advanced functionality for turbo-machinery control applications, Yokogawa’s turbo-machinery control business has grown steadily. Encouraged by this success, Yokogawa will focus on proposing plant-wide control solutions for power station turbines, boilers, and auxiliary facilities.