ABB was awarded the contract by Istroenergo Group a.s. (IEG), the Slovakia-based power plant engineering, procurement and construction contractor, for its ability to provide a complete and fully integrated electrical and control solution on a fast-track basis for one of the Philippines’ most important new energy projects.
The San Gabriel Avion open cycle gas-fired power plant will provide 97 megawatts (MW) of much-needed power for the island of Luzon - the economic and industrial hub of the Philippines and home to around half the country’s 100 million population. Luzon is currently facing a power shortage that is forecast to deepen in mid-2015. The plant is owned by Philippines-based energy company First Gen and is located in Batangas City in the southern part of the island.
IEG and ABB will deliver the project in the exceptionally short time of just 10 months. This will enable First Gen to start producing energy in April 2015 in time to counter the expected power shortfall in Luzon a few weeks later. The plant will have peaking capability and be able to reach full load within 10 minutes of start-up and handle 2,000 rapid starts a year.
ABB was involved in the early stage of the project, right from the conceptual design optimization and engineering stage to tendering phases. This close collaboration earns ABB the award while the overall early involvement and understanding in the project helps to significantly shorten the delivery and project execution time.
| ABB has delivered more than 150 EBoP projects in the past four years. More than 75 customers in 50 countries worldwide have benefitted from these solutions. |
ABB will integrate containerized and standardized electrical balance of plant (EBoP) systems with its flagship Symphony® Plus total plant automation platform for the power generation and water industries. This seamlessly integrated and optimized solution of ‘Made in ABB’ electrical and control package reduces IEG’s commercial and technical risk by using pre-assembled and pre-tested electrical equipment and control system cabinets that are delivered in containerized modules to speed up and ease installation while maintaining high quality of supply.
The range of ‘Made in ABB’ includes auxiliary transformers, current and voltage transformers, surge arresters, medium voltage switchgear, low voltage switchboards, protection relays and measuring system, as well as Symphony Plus control system.
| ABB’s Symphony family of distributed control system is the most widely used DCS in the power generation and water industries. |
The Symphony Plus total plant automation system will provide a raft of benefits for both IEG and First Gen. The system’s compact footprint and simplified engineering reduces project costs and delivery times for IEG; and the intuitive, easy-to-use human machine interface leads First Gen users to high performance in operations, life cycle management, information management, alarm management, security, and process optimization.