Test wells for EDC Wybrzeze
Market: Thermal Power Station
Location: Gdansk, Poland
Customer: Thermal Power Station „Wybrzeze” S.A. (EDF Group)
Date: November 2002
Project execution along with obtaining the required agreements and permitions, and the implementation of the deep water wells pump control in EC2 in sectors like: technological, electrical, AKPiA (automatic test and measurement equipment) and ICT.
Remote control system of deep wells in the CHP Gdansk was put into service in February 2003. It changed in a revolutionary way the operation of these facilities and work comfort for operating personnel.
Prior to this implementation the exploitation of wells had an extensive character and was based on manual switching of pumps and open valves on pipelines. Any change in the operating parameters of the pump was far more troubling because the majority of wells are deployed outside the Ec2 (in the neighboring districts of Gdansk - Letniewo, New Port).
The smallest intervention on such a facility required arrival at the place and involved inconvenient telephone coordination with the control room Ec2 causing a significant losses of water. Another negative aspect, due to the low-lying wetland areas around deep-water intakes, was the risk of developing hazardous concentrations of toxic gases inside the well chambers, which resulted in the need to maintain safety procedures regarding access to the chambers (e.g. working in a team of two or with use of detectors).
The investment covered nine deep wells distributed within several kilometers from the Central Dispatcher Ec2 in Gdansk. Each underground chamber well was closed down and the whole infrastructure intakes were raised to the ground level and built up within a modern and insulated kiosks.
The inside of each kiosk included: heads protective pipes, several meters of deep wells pipe sections, on which the pressure sensors, flow meter, control valve with AUMA and the shut-off and feedback valve have been installed. The interior of each kiosk is heated, ventilated and lighted, which ensures comfortable service and maintenance work conditions. Local control is realized by the General Electric PLC Fanuc type (VersaMax) controller, installed in the control cabinet that is mounted in the kiosk well. PLC controller communicates with a superior computer system via SATEL radio-modem.
CHP is surrounded by a ring water supply, from which it takes the raw water (from deep water wells) for technological purposes. In the two critical points of the ring, a chambers with switching valve to a remote reverse flow of water, were made. The chambers are made in PE technology - absolutely sealed and resistant to degradation over time.
The superior computer system, located in the Control Room (also built inside the control cabinet), ensures full control over such a distributed system of wells and chambers. The directional antenna is mounted in a slim case on the outside wall of Ec2 kiosk. Connectivity between all elements of the system is provided by a radio-modems network. The InTouch (Wonderware) visualization application was installed on the computer which allows remote control and monitoring of all objects in the system. The system also collects historical data, print periodic reports, provides access to resources for authorized intranet Gdansk Power Plant users.
Noteworthy is also a specific way of deep wells supervisory control. In order to minimize the consumption of chemicals in the process of water demineralization natural chemical compositions of groundwater are used at different decks. Then, the chosen recipe (the mixture of water from different types of wells) is automatically watched and sustained by the control system, regardless of changing parameters in the Ec2.
Implemented system has been highly rated by the Investor in terms of quality of proposed solutions and execution, fine motion features, reliability and performance, as well as a significant reduction of water losses.
