ABB steams ahead

has been selected by

to design, manufacture, supply and commission the replacement steam turbine supervisory system for its 1,420MW Connah’s Quay power station at Deeside, north

. The new system will be based on ABB’s Harmony platform for process control and automation.

Connah's Quay is a combined cycle gas turbine power station that uses natural gas piped ashore from Liverpool Bay. It was built in 1996 and contains four separate power generating modules. Each module comprises a single power train of gas turbine, steam turbine and AC generator, waste heat recovery boiler and all auxiliaries.

E.ON UK was concerned that, after 10 years of operation, the steam turbine supervisory systems were outdated as well as becoming increasingly difficult to maintain. A tender was issued for the complete replacement of the control systems for all four modules over the next two years, which was won by ABB.

ABB's remit includes manufacture and installation of all panels, wiring and equipment, and commissioning of the system from field devices through to the distributed control system.

ABB is carrying out the project in two phases timed to coincide with planned outages at Connah’s Quay. The control systems for two modules will be replaced in 2006, and the remaining two will be replaced in 2007.