Case history - Power Generation

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Second Half Process Control Refurbishment for Drax Power

Drax Power Station is the largest, cleanest and most efficient coal-fired power station in the UK. It has six 660MW-generating units, which produce over 4000MW of electricity, which represents 7% of the UK's total requirements. Emissions are carefully controlled; Flue Gas Desulphurisation (FGD) plants are fitted to each of the six generating units along with a number of other environmental protection schemes.

Drax was built in two halves, known as the first and second halves. Between 1997 and 1999 Capula replaced the control systems on the first half of the power station and in 2004 Drax decided to modernise the second half. The project involved replacing the power station Control Systems and Common Plant Control Systems, including the Water Treatment Plant and other Ancillary Plant Control Systems. Embedded in the new control system for the second half is a safety system. The contract for the second half has now also been awarded to Capula.

By modernising the second half of the power station it means that the main control room will no longer be a mix of soft desk and hard desk controls. This mix of control systems restricted the flexibility and efficiency of the station. With the second half modernised the whole station will be controlled by a high quality, modern, reliable process control platform based upon digital technology, which is supportable for a minimum of 15 years, increasing Drax’s flexibility and operational efficiency. The new system also reduces the potential of plant damage during start-up and shutdown. The functional safety standards on the project are in line with BS EN 61508 guidelines. The technology used on this project is APMS on Redhat Linux Operating System with Vernao Rtap SCADA running on Dell PowerEdger Servers. The project will run for four years. The first two units, units 4 and 5, were delivered in 2005 and 2006; both delivered in time for their target outages.