Suna HPPs Cascade continues bringing in the latest world-class equipment

October 29, 2015, the first stage of sweeping rebuild of Palieozerskaya HPP of JSC TGC-1 was completed as the Hydroelectric Unit 2 commissioning took place. Under the 2-year plant upgrade programme, a fundamentally new control system with innovative compact electric cylinder was brought in. 

As a result of the plant upgrade, is will be possible to remotely monitor and control the operation of hydraulic units from the Kondopozhskaya HPP. Stationed 50 kilometers from the Palieozerskaya HPP, the engineer on duty will be able to see all parameters of hydraulic units of the plant in real time.

‘The Kondopozhskaya HPP was a pilot project with the electric cylinders as replacement for hydraulic actuators in the North West. Now, this expertise has been used at the Palieozerskaya HPP. We are moving away from the conventional hydraulic unit control system based on oil pressure equipment; now, hydraulic unit is controlled with electric cylinder. Two electric motors are used as the drive and, in turn, are controlled by frequency drives. Each of them features DC backup power allowing maximum reliability of uninterrupted power supply to consumers,' - Eugeny Lopatin, Director of the Suna HPPs Cascade of JSC TGC-1 said.

As the experience of upgrade of the Kondopozhskaya HPP shows, the new electric cylinder ensures the proper level of security and meets the environmental requirements.

Control of the frequency drives and all accessories, as well as the operation algorithm is provided by two controllers on each hydraulic unit. Operating simultaneously, they perform self-testing and test each other, too. Apart from that, the plant will have now the overall controller for two hydraulic units; in case of emergency, it will be able to activate the emergency protection.

During the renovation, the energy workers also replaced the excitation, relay protection and automation systems.