Power stations move critical controls to Linux

Plant management and control at three of RWE Innogy’s (formerly National Power) coal-fired power stations – Didcot, Aberthaw and Tilbury, generating around 4,550MW – is now on Linux-based systems, following recent go-live of the upgrade project. Innogy reports lower capital and maintenance costs and simplified hardware support, as well as secure, Internet-enabled management of critical industrial operations from its new real-time plant intelligence platform – something that would have been unthinkable just a few short years ago. The company upgraded to Verano’s Linux Performux plant control system, based on its Real-Time Applications Platform (RTAP), from its existing SCADA systems – also Verano – that have been controlling power generation as part of its Advanced Plant Management System (APMS), developed by Innogy and Thales Information Systems in 1995. Innogy says the project is the first step in transitioning all of RWE Innogy’s APMS power generation control systems to Linux. RTAP integrated Innogy’s diverse control system, business and support data, and delivered it to control desk operators in real-time. Performux will do the same, though now on the more portable, scalable and secure Linux operating system. “Having the existing solution in place made the move to Performux a natural progression and migration, allowing us to avoid re-engineering costs associated with other control systems,” says Andrew Lichnowski, manager of the process control systems group at Innogy. “Utility industries, such as electric power, are challenged with maintaining the highest levels of operational standards with limited capital budgets,” says Brian Ahern, president and CEO of Verano. “Performux is the mechanism by which customers can reduce plant automation operating and maintenance costs without compromising the most critical success factors of availability and reliability.”