Emerson Awarded $1.8 Million Contract to Automate Italy's First "Fluidized Bed Coal" Power Plant

Sulcis Plant Repowering Project to Incorporate Emerson's PlantWeb Digital Plant Architecture with the DeltaV Digital Automation System

Emerson Process Management has been awarded a $1.8 million contract with ENELPOWER to supply a new control system at ENEL Production's Sulcis power plant, on the island of Sardinia. Emerson's Power & Water Solutions industry center will coordinate and supervise the project. Under the contract, Emerson will install its PlantWeb digital plant architecture using the DeltaV digital automation system and FOUNDATION fieldbus intelligent field devices. Emerson will also integrate Profibus DP technology.

Sulcis Unit 2 is being expanded from 220 megawatts to 330 megawatts and is the first application of fluidized bed coal technology in a power plant in Italy. ENEL is considering fluidized bed coal as one of the preferred fuels for the future for its power plants because of the potential for increased plant efficiency and reduced SO2 emissions. The Sulcis plant upgrade will help to determine the validity of this approach. The repowering project will also enable Sulcis to produce enough energy for businesses and consumers, in addition to supplying the nearby Eurallumina SpA aluminum plant with about 750,000 lb/hr of process steam.

"We are excited to be a part of this important project," said Ron Henderson, Vice President, International, Power & Water Solutions business of Emerson Process Management. "ENEL is testing a future way of doing business, utilizing this particular coal-burning technology they had not previously used for electricity generation. Our process control and data acquisition technologies will be a key part of making this effort a success, and we appreciate the confidence ENEL has shown in Emerson." Henderson said Emerson and ENELPOWER have worked together on several previous projects, including ENEL Production's Pietrafitta and Ras Laffan combined cycle power plants.

In the Sulcis installation, the DeltaV system will control and monitor the operation of the new circulating fluidized bed boiler, which will be supplied by Alstom Power, replacing the plant's original conventional pulverized coal boiler. The system will also control the operation of the steam turbine generator. The DeltaV system will manage approximately 3,300 hard-wired I/O devices, 9,000 I/O via serial links or Ethernet OPC, and 130 Profibus devices. Emerson will also supply 174 FOUNDATION fieldbus-enabled Rosemount pressure and temperature transmitters and 69 Fisher FIELDVUE digital valve controllers to upgrade existing control valves.

Emerson's PlantWeb digital plant architecture is an automation solution that delivers asset optimization, process control and management execution through intelligent field devices, standards and scalable platforms, and integrated modular software. The DeltaV digital automation system delivers control capability and information access across the enterprise with its embedded OLE for Process Control (OPC) and XML technologies. Within the DeltaV system, AMS predictive maintenance software will provide real-time equipment performance information to plant personnel allowing for more efficient and cost-effective maintenance operations.

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