ABB wins contract to upgrade Copel hydropower plant in Brazil

• 4 years ago (2019-11-27)
• David Flin

Hydropower 131 Latin America 80

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ABB has announced that its digital solutions and energy services business has won a $2.5 million contract to upgrade Copel’s Governador José Richa hydropower plant. ABB will provide excitation systems and speed regulators for four generator units at the 20-year-old Governador José Richa hydropower plant on the Iguazu River, and help Copel enhance visibility of its operational data using predictive diagnostics.

The hydropower plant has an installed capacity of 1240MW.

Maurício Cunha, Head of Industrial Automation for ABB Brazil, said: “The upgrade of the excitation system and the turbine speed regulators and their integration into the ABB Ability TM 800xA automation system will improve the performance and reliability of this power plant.”

ABB’s Unitrol® 6000 Static Excitation System (SES) includes a high-performance controller. Modern hardware allows it to react faster to grid disturbances without disconnecting the unit from the grid. Hot swap maintenance while the system is still in operation will improve availability and extend uptime for the generator at the plant.