Elsis TS UAB implemented the project during which the system control centre equipment of Litgrid AB, the electricity transmission system operator, was upgraded. This will enable operators to respond to changes in the system more promptly, determine the cases of failures in the power grid and expedite their elimination or even prevent potential failures in the power system.
According to Giedrius Radvila, the director of the Litgrid System Control Centre Department, upon the implementation of restructuring of the system control activity in the company one Lithuania-based power system control centre was developed in Vilnius in 2013. Such a model when the national power system is controlled from one control centre is applied in most Western European countries. This ensures the system reliability and safety as well as reduces operational costs.
‘Implementation of such changes required the upgrade of the main tool of operators working in the system control centre, i.e. a video wall which enables monitoring parameters of the power system and high-voltage network as well as energy exchange between adjacent systems’, says G. Radvila. According to him, modernisation of the system control centre was required due to rapidly growing volumes of processed information, i.e. more and more information related to electricity market is to be processed alongside process data.
Darius Imbrasas, the Director General of Elsis TS UAB which implemented the project, states that the company was engaged in a highly important and high-level project which resulted in a product designed for the strategic Lithuanian company in charge of control of electricity flows.
During the project implementation, the company specialists installed a new Clarity LED3 Series video wall designed by “Planar Systems” consisting of 36 video cubes instead of the out-of-date operational video wall. Also, new working stations as well as electricity supply, uninterrupted supply and ventilation systems were installed for operators working 24/7. Installation of new technologies resulted in enhanced safety and reliability of the system control centre.
The video wall displays data not only from Lithuania, but also from surrounding power systems. Operators are able to monitor real-time volumes of electricity generated in power plants and wind mills, operating electricity transmission lines as well as the ones disconnected for repair, transformer substations and switchgears, system frequency, import data, electricity demand and consumption. In 2016, when power links between Sweden and Poland start operating, the video wall will enable displaying data of Polish and Swedish power systems.
The video wall serves as an information field which generalises data. In the event of emergency, automated units transfer signals to the general system which processes information received not only from the Lithuanian electricity transmission network, but also from other power systems the Lithuanian power grid is connected to. Information displayed in one or more places helps make decisions more promptly and organise the system control activities more efficiently.
In the system control centre operators work 24/7. More than 30 operators work according to the schedule developed in advance.