Emerson system for Korean hydroelectric plants

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania — Korea Southern East Power Co. (KOSEP) has selected Emerson Process Management  to install the control system at two power generation facilities in Korea: the MuJu Pumped Storage Power Plant (PSPP) and Yecheon PSPP. The two projects, awarded under a single contract, are part of KOSEP’s long-term electric power development program designed to support increased power demand in Korea.

For the first project, Emerson is modernizing the controls at the MuJu PSPP, located in MuJu-Gun, Jeonlabuk-Do, south of Seoul, Korea. The two-unit plant, with a maximum installed capacity of 600 MW (2 X 300 MW), has been in operation since 1991. The fast-track project required equipment delivery within five months of the contract award. Installation will take place during a scheduled two-month outage, with the plant scheduled to resume generating electricity Nov. 24, 2009.

Emerson is responsible for engineering, procurement, installation, testing and commissioning of the Ovation system, which will perform data acquisition, as well as monitoring and control of the electrical control system, hydro turbine governor and balance of plant processes. The contract also includes partial discharge monitoring for high voltage motors and generators. Emerson is supplying eight workstations and seven controllers for the MuJu plant.

When up and running, Emerson's Ovation control system will monitor and control a total of 4,541 I/O points at the hydro-electric facility. Emerson is also remodeling the facility’s control room, which in addition to controlling operations at MuJu, will also be used to remotely monitor and control operations at the Yecheon facility, located more than 160 kilometers (about 100 miles) away.

For the second project, Emerson will install its Ovation system at the new two-unit Yecheon PSPP in Yecheon Kun Kyungsangbukdo, southeast of Seoul in the Yecheon resort area. Yecheon Unit 1 is slated for commercial operation in September 2011; Yecheon Unit 2 is expected to come online three months later. The 800 MW plant (2 X 400 MW), will have the largest capacity among existing pumped storage power plants in Korea and will play a major role in stabilizing grid operation at peak times.

At Yecheon PSPP, the Ovation system, which will monitor and control a total of 3,720 I/O points, will be responsible for data acquisition, as well as for monitoring and controlling the electrical control system and balance of plant processes. Emerson will also provide partial discharge monitoring for high voltage motors and generators, and Web closed-caption TV. Under the contract, Emerson will provide a total of eight workstations and six controllers.

“Based on our experience working with Emerson at Youngheungdo TPP Units 1-4 and Samcheonpo TPP Units 1 and 2, we were comfortable selecting them for these two projects,” said Eun-seo Park, assistant manager, KOSEP. “In addition to its superior technology and high reliability, the Ovation system offers us another advantage: the ability to share spare parts among the sites, resulting in reduced costs.”