Bighorn Dam Unit 1 Balance of Plant Nordegg, AB

SECTOR: 
Utilities

CLIENT: 

TransAlta

DURATION OF PROJECT:

18 Months

PROJECT SUMMARY:

TransAlta Corporation is a privately owned electricity generation company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta. It operates 75 power generation facilities consisting of wind, hydro, natural gas and coal across Canada, the United States and Australia. 

The Bighorn Unit 1 Balance of Plant (BOP) was a large design-build project associated with the refurbishment/ replacement of Unit 1, 60 MW hydro turbine/generator components. The BOP upgrade scope included: Unit 1 protection and GSU 1 protection; a new SEL-487E, SEL-700G, and Bentley 3500; an upgrade to GSU 1 monitoring, including a new Severon TM8 and a new Qualitrol ITM509; the replacement of 480 V switchgear and segregation of plant essential 480 V services, including a new MCC for Unit 1 essential services; a PLC panel for switchgear control and Unit 1 essential motor control; a flow meter system replacement; integration of adjusted control and new alarms into the plant RTU. Also included was the creation of a new HMI interface for plant operations, integration of generator instruments and devices into new and existing BOP panels, and shared system commissioning with Andritz. 

Of particular relevance, the PLC/HMI was designed and implemented as the control system for the automatic selection of the station service source power from four (4) potential sources.