The ability to produce a cheap, clean, and efficient supply of power is as crucial to the success of small-scale water power stations today as it was fifty years ago.
There are presently around 2,000 small-scale power stations in Sweden. Together, they produce about 4.3 TWh/year and the majority of them urgently need to upgrade their technology.
The Sweden-based technology company BATEC AB has been supporting the needs of small-scale water power stations for over 10 years. When they needed reliable and flexible control devices to optimize their client’s production BATEC chose to use Horner OCS controllers.
During the summer and fall of 2013 BATEC worked on the modernisation of the Arebergs Power Plant in Tibro.
They had two goals:
- Simplify plant operation and maintenance.
- Increase production.
BATEC carried out extensive work at the plant, enabling it to become fully automated and providing effective system monitoring and control via SMS, email, and the internet.
None of this would have been possible without the Horner all-in-one controllers that are at the heart of the new system.
- XLT, XL4, XL7 and ZX: Monitor water flow and optimize power output.
- XLe/XLT: Control the water level in the dam outside the power station.
- XL4/XL7: Gathers accurate information from the generators and provides an effective means of control.
- ZX: Monitors production status and send out reports and alarms via SMS and email.
Communication between the various OCS controllers is facilitated by Modbus and CAN bus.
System monitoring and supervision via smartphone is made possible by Horner’s view program, Envision RV and Team Viewer.
BATEC chose Horner OCS controllers for several reasons:
- The availability of PLC, HMI and I/O in the same unit.
- Open for system expansion of external digital and analogue I/O.
- Ease of communication between the units (XK4e, XL7, and XL 10e).
- Serial historical logging of data.
- SMS and email reporting facilities.
- Effective pricing.
Horner’s Technology Manages Areberg PowerStation’s 3 Generators
Screen From ZX Provides Historical Data About Production
Screen from ZX Show Status of Generator G1
