Automation & control in Sardininan power plant

ABB has won an order from Enel, Italy's largest power company and one of Europe's leading utilities, to supply its Symphony® Plus automation and control system to serve one of the major units at the Grazia Deledda Sulcis power plant on the island of Sardinia..

Grazia Deledda Sulcis is a 590 megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant near the town of Portoscuso on the southwestern coast of Sardinia. The plant comprises two units, each with a generating capacity of over 240 MW. The existing control systems will be replaced with a total plant automation solution to enhance the unit's efficiency and improve its environmental performance. The company is taking proactive measures to improve efficiency and reduce the environmental impact of its coal-fired power plants.

The new Symphony Plus solution includes the recently introduced high-performance controller, burner management and flue gas desulfurization systems, instrumentation, a new control room and operator stations equipped with an intuitive and easy-to-use human machine interface.

"The Symphony Plus plant automation system can make a significant contribution towards improving efficiency and lowering environmental impact by integrating multiple plant production and information systems into a single platform" said Massimo Danieli, head of ABB's Power Generation business, a part of the company's Power Systems division. "It is scalable and enables integration of the plant's electrical, business and maintenance systems as requirements evolve over time"

The Grazia Deledda Sulcis power plant is located within the Sulcis Iglesiente basin, which contains Italy's only coal deposits. The use of coal to generate electricity is expected to rise in coming years as Italy seeks to reduce its dependency on natural gas imports from Russia and Algeria. Around 52 percent of Italy's electricity is generated with natural gas, which makes it one of the most heavily gas dependent countries on gas in the European Union.

Symphony Plus is ABB's automation and control platform for the power and water sectors. This powerful, versatile and scalable platform is designed to maximize plant efficiency and reliability by automating, integrating and optimizing the entire plant. There are more than 6,000 Symphony installations in operation all over the world, including more than 4,000 in power and water applications.