ABB Provides Equipment for Taum Sauk Pumped-Storage Hydro Plant

ABB installed a complete integrated instrumentation, control and electrical (ICE) system package to help retrofit the AmerenUE 440-MW plant, allowing for improved functionality, reliability and modernization. The total project value was more than $11 million.

“ABB’s replacement of the plant controls – including installation in the new upper reservoir of the most advanced-level monitoring, control and protection system in the country – significantly improves the safety and reliability of the Taum Sauk Power Plant,” said Mark Birk, vice president, Power Operation for AmerenUE.

ABB began this project with a full audit of existing equipment of the 40-year-old AmerenUE Taum Sauk power station. This pumped-storage hydro plant is comprised of two units, both of which ABB upgraded.

The audit began with the general objective of evaluating the plant against modern designs and making recommendations to improve reliability, operations, maintainability and personnel safety developed from years of working on grass roots pumped-storage plants across the world.

The scope included ABB products and systems from four divisions – Power Products, Power Systems, Process Automation and Discrete Automation & Motion. This includes medium voltage switchgear, motor control centers, protection system, low voltage switchgear, battery systems, inverters, chargers, governor system, and System 800xA Extended Automation for the controls. This turnkey project includes all associated engineering, installation supervision, commissioning and training.

The Taum Sauk hydroelectric plant recently began generating electricity following AmerenUE's unveiling of a new $490 million, 1.5 billion gallon reservoir.

The Taum Sauk pumped-storage hydro project had been out of service since its upper reservoir's mountaintop ring dam breached Dec. 14, 2005, releasing 1.4 billion gallons of water down the Black River, injuring nine people, and damaging property, including Johnson’s Shut-Ins State Park.