Technology company ABB is supplying a secure wireless communications system to connect closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras at two new ABB substations for the Pen y Cymoedd wind energy project, being developed in South Wales by Vattenfall.
The 76-turbine, 228 MW development – for which ABB is also providing the grid connection and the related electrical transmission infrastructure – is due for completion later this year and will be the highest capacity onshore wind farm in England and Wales, according to ABB.
The two new substations will step up the voltage from 33 kV to 400 kV and will feed into a new 400 kV National Grid substation. Implementing ABB’s wireless routers, pole-mounted CCTV cameras around the perimeter fences of both substation sites will be connected into a highly resilient wireless mesh network.
The two sites will be linked by optical fiber and connected to a control station with a network video recorder to provide recording and monitoring.
“Our advanced wireless network solution will ensure that data is directed efficiently through intelligent routers to where there is capacity,” says Massimo Danieli, managing director of ABB’s grid automation business unit, a part of the company’s power grids division.
Danieli adds that the solution “minimizes delays and gives customers real-time visibility and control of their assets.”
In addition to the wireless communication system, ABB is also supplying switchgear; transformers; and IEC 61850-compliant substation automation, control and protection equipment.
ABB’s MicroSCADA control and Relion protection equipment, working in combination with a STATCOM solution, will be used to control and regulate the output of the wind turbines to ensure they remain within National Grid’s power-quality standards, the company says.
