With the turbine governor to the new market
According to the customer’s wishes, the automation solution was implemented with a Siemens S7-1500 system. To support the qualities of the Siemens system, VEO developed a new hydropower automation solution for the project. At the same time, the turbine governor was updated to suit both the Siemens S7-1500 system and future regulations from the transmission system operator.
“The installation of the turbine governor revealed that changes were needed because of the structure of the old plant and the behaviour of the waterways. For the test run to run smoothly we needed to modify the operation of the automation to match the specific features of the plant,” Kelloniemi Explains.
The Puntarikoski plant’s original electro-hydraulic turbine governor was designed solely for power control. Now with the new turbine governor, the machinery also has the potential to participate in the control reserve market in addition to traditional energy production.
“This adds value to the productivity of the Puntarikoski plant, especially when the balancing of electricity production and consumption is further emphasised in the future. With Fingrid’s current rules, even smaller units can become part of the reserve maintenance market,” Kelloniemi points out.
A successful outcome
The aim of the revamp was to increase the usability of the power plant and to improve the information system. These goals were reached, and Jari von Becker, Power Plant Manager of Pohjois-Karjalan Sähkö, is pleased with the outcome.
“The Puntarikoski hydropower plant was almost completely rebuilt, so this was a huge project for us. There is no such thing as a perfect project, since there are always surprises that need to be corrected. However, I believe that the outcome is most important and therefore, as a whole, Puntarikoski was completed with distinction. We also kept to our timetable, which is always positive. This was helped by the fact that we have worked with VEO for decades. We know each other’s ways of working, so the cooperation runs smoothly. Now that we have been following the operation of the revamped power plant for some time, I can say that everything looks good”, says Becker smiling.
“When the customer is satisfied with the result, the project can also be considered successful from the supplier point of view,” Kelloniemi adds contentedly.