Wisconsin Public Service Selects ABB For The Turnkey Control System Upgrade At Weston U3

Symphony Plus provides a low-risk, high-quality, state-of-the-art solution

ABB, the leading power and automation technology group, recently announced that it has been awarded a multi-million dollar contract by Wisconsin Public Service (WPS) to upgrade the control system on its Weston Unit 3 Power Plant.

The Weston Power Plant is located in Rothschild, Wisconsin and was commissioned in 1981. Weston Unit 3 is a 360 megawatt Combustion Engineering (CE) tangential-fired, drum boiler supplying steam to a General Electric turbine-generator. The balanced-draft unit is equipped with two electric driven boiler feed pumps and a fabric filter baghouse. It uses Powder River Basin coal for main fuel and natural gas for auxiliary fuel and ignition.

ABB will provide its Symphony Plus control system inclusive of high performance graphics, server and networking equipment, interfaces to existing systems and a high fidelity simulator. As the turnkey supplier, ABB is responsible for all aspects of the project including control system design, implementation, testing, site installation and start-up.

ABB’s design and implementation activities will include review of existing plant systems and operation, I/O list development, hardware configuration, control logic, high performance graphics, NERC-CIP compliance, networks and interfaces. ABB will also provide the following retrofit engineering and site services: wiring/raceway and cabling design, demolition and panel/cabinet modifications, power supply distribution and grounding, plant drawing generation and modification, installation supervision, site coordination, craft labor, start-up and commissioning.

“We evaluated several bidders based on technology, turnkey experience, project implementation plan and cost. ABB proved to be the right choice for our project, based on those criteria,” said Drew Bain, Project Manager. “We were particularly impressed with ABB’s turnkey engineering resources, their approach to high performance graphics and the Symphony Plus control system.”

“We will leverage two of our most important resources on this project: the Symphony Plus control system and our highly experienced engineers, both of which are focused specifically on the power generation industry,” said Massimo Danieli, head of ABB’s Power Generation business, a part of the company’s Power Systems division. “This industry focus empowers our ability to deliver turnkey projects that improve plant performance, while reducing the cost and risk of implementation.”

This announcement was made at the ABB Automation & Power World conference and exhibition, ABB’s premier customer gathering, held this year in Orlando.

About ABB
ABB is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs about 145,000 people. The company's North American operations, headquartered in Cary, North Carolina, employ about 30,000 people in multiple manufacturing, service and other major facilities. For more information, visit www.abb.com