GE Harris Completes National Energy Control Center for Egypt
GE Harris Energy Control Systems and Harris Corporation completed installation and testing of a new National Energy Control Center (NECC) for the Egyptian Electricity Authority (EEA) in Cairo. One of the largest electric utility control centers in the Middle East and Africa, the NECC controls the generation and transmission of electrical power for the entire country.
"This project wraps up four years of successful collaboration between GE Harris and EEA and provides the customer with a state-of-the-art EMS system for the high voltage generation and transmission network of Egypt," said Jay Freeland, GE Harris president and COO.
The contract, which is valued at US$30 million, was awarded to a consortium consisting of GE Harris Energy Control Systems and Harris Corporation in June 1995. Kolaly Engineering of Cairo acted as a major subcontractor for the Egyptian construction and installation work, which accounted for US$3 million of the contract value, and KEMA Consulting served as the project engineering firm. GE Power Systems and Harris Corporation jointly own GE Harris Energy Control Systems.
"The EEA project is one of the most complex energy management projects of its type in the world, illustrating the comprehensive functionality of the XA/21 System. Teaming with EEA, Harris, and Kolaly enabled GE Harris to drive dramatic reliability and cost improvements in the EEA infrastructure," said Antoinette Gawin, GE Harris vice president of operations.
The NECC consists of an operations center in Cairo, where energy dispatchers use forty computer workstations and servers, and consult a wall-sized projection display showing the status of their Unified Power System. The NECC equipment is completely redundant to protect against the event of failures. There is also an additional Backup Control Center in another location of Cairo capable of running the power system in case the main control center is disabled.
The computer systems use GE Harris XA/21 SCADA software for control and monitoring of the high voltage substations. The company's XA/21 AGC software maintains the power system frequency by generator control, and XA/21 PNA software, which recommends operator actions to optimize the efficiency and security of the Unified Power System, is also used. A training system is provided for new dispatchers, and a visitor center showcases the NECC and the Unified Power System with a multimedia presentation.
As a result of the project, GE Harris D20 remote terminal units (RTUs) are now in every power plant and high voltage substation in Egypt. These RTUs transmit measurements of the electrical voltage, current, power and frequency to the NECC, and receive control signals from the NECC for the generators, circuit breakers and transformers at the substations. Communications between the substations and the control centers is provided by Harris Corporation microwave, telephone and fiber optic equipment. The communications system uses X.25 protocol, which automatically provides for alternate routings in case of communications equipment failure.
The Egyptian Electricity Authority (EEA) is the largest electric utility in the Middle East and Northern Africa. Based in Cairo, it serves 63 million customers, and covers an area of more than a million square kilometers. The EEA is part of the Egyptian Ministry of Electricity and Energy. Peak generation capacity is 9,850 MW, with 20% of the generation provided by five hydro plants on the Nile River in Southern (Upper) Egypt, including the Aswan Dam. The remaining energy comes from thirty thermal power plants. The EEA's Unified Power System is also interconnected with systems in Jordan and Libya.
Edited by April C. Murelio
editor@poweronline.com