the power - Global Media Publishing Ltd. - UK.COM

GEN-SETGen-sets to the rescue:DEIF’s role in post-tsunami JapanMost people remember Japan’s devastating March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, but few knowthat it was DEIF Power & Control Technology which delivered a sophisticated AGC PlantManagement system for the vast emergency grid set up to supply the Hitachinaka area.Following the critical failure andradiation leaks at the Fukushima INuclear Power Plant, theHitachinaka area of Fukushima region wasleft without regular power supplies.Japan’s government turned to the DEIFGroup’s engineers and developers toprovide a ground-breaking PlantManagement power solution in a formatnever seen before, as fast as possible.The DEIF solution involved providing 64gen-sets producing 130MW; the plant isable to supply an average of 300,000households annually.According to DEIF, ‘the beauty of AGCPlant Management lies in the simplicity ofits basic principle, lifting genset controlfrom single units to plant level, enablingadvanced control and protection for largesetups from one central point ofintelligence.’AGC Plant Management incorporatesplant power factor control at connectionpoints, scaling, load profile prioritiesroutines, and uses fan control to reducefuel costs.The system uses the plant’s generatorsto black start large step-up transformerswith the push of a button. The solutionhas a proven ratio of up to 1:27 betweenthe generator and the transformer, costoptimisingblack starts in both island andfixed power mode by limiting the need forhigh voltage breakers.With a dedicated plant communicationstructure, SCADA systems are keptseparate from the control system. As aresult, the system’s performance is notcompromised and on-site installation canbe reduced to a minimum, says DEIF.When operating in fixed power mode,the AGC Plant Management system assignsgenerators their most fuel-efficient powersetpoint. If a generator trips or fails todeliver the required amount of power, theother generators automatically departfrom their optimum setpoints to fill theproduction dip untila new generatorstarts up. With thenew generator properlysynchronised,the generatorsreturn to their originalfuel-optimisedsetpoint.Today, the PlantManagement systemat Hitachinaka canhandle up to 16 gridconnection points,eight bus tie breakers and 256 generatorbreakers. Developed not just with an eyefor safety but for fuel-saving andoptimised maintenance intervals as well,the strategy for a set of 64 generators,for instance, could reduce fuelconsumption by as much as 18,000 litresof diesel a day on a continuous use basis.The above features are standard in theDEIF AGC Plant Management Controllerwhich was released commercially in late2011, following more than three years ofintensive research and testing at sitesacross South America, Africa, and Asia.For some years now, DEIF has beenresponding to a growing market demandfor temporary and emergency plants toprovide support for remote locations withlimited access to distribution, disasterrelief and other unscheduled outages aswell as large industrial facilities.DEIF’s aim has been to optimise powermanagement for these types of setups.DEIF’s guiding principle is to explorenew approaches to power control andcreate innovative, cost-effective, andCO2-friendly solutions, reports thecompany.WIPInternet linkwww.deif.com40M ARCH 2012 • WORLDWIDE I NDEPENDENT P OWER