ABB has won a multi-million-dollar retrofit deal to upgrade six geothermal units at two power plants in the Philippines.
The contract with Energy Development Corporation (EDC), one of the world’s largest vertically-integrated geothermal firms – and the geothermal producer in the Philippines – was announced today at POWER-GEN Asia in Jakarta.
ABB will also deliver a new control system integration solution for the plants and an area control centre facility.
The plants have a total capacity of around 200 MW, running with Fuji-manufactured turbines, and were initially commissioned in 1983 and completed in the mid-1990s.
The aim of the new project is to deliver a modern control system integrated across all plants that can be easily upgraded over time to take advantage of the latest digital technology as it develops.
ABB says the new solution “will increase operational and maintenance efficiency and assist management decision-making by providing improved access to better operational information”.
The scope of the deal includes the conversion of a mechanical electro-hydraulic governor to a digital version and the replacement of the existing low-pressure turbine hydraulic equipment with a new a high-pressure solution. ABB will also provide performance calculation and cybersecurity solutions.
At the heart of the solution will be ABB’s ‘edge-to-cloud’ Ability™ Symphony® Plus system.
The geothermal plants Palinpinon 1 and 2 are located in Valencia, a municipality on Negros, the fourth largest island of the Philippines and home to a number of volcanoes.
The plants harness Negros’ volcanic activity electricity to meet the growth in energy demand in the central part of the country.
Kevin Kosisko, managing director of ABB’s Power Generation & Water business, said: “With this order, ABB has been able to leverage its extensive experience in digital technologies, in high-pressure turbine control systems and in geothermal plants in this region, as well as its close working relationship with EDC on previous projects.”
