National Grid has awarded Voltimum Founder Member Company ABB a contract worth around £12m over the next three years to upgrade four of its major substations with the latest automation and protection systems based on National Grid's standardised NICAP (National scheme for Integrated Control and Protection) philosophy:
The NICAP approach, which uses pre-engineered, pre-tested and pre-approved equipment, will enable ABB to condense the same functionality into a much smaller footprint and reduce the amount of on-site work, as well as achieving significant reductions in delivery time.
This project will focus on upgrading the control and protection systems at four major substations in the North East, Yorkshire and South Wales. It includes the design of three complex software interlocking schemes as well as upgrading some of the associated local and remote end protection systems and the refurbishment of stand-alone feeder protection systems on several circuits, involving work at around 15 different sites.
"ABB only launched its NICAP designs just over two years ago. Yet, from almost a standing start, our fully committed approach has seen ABB established as a preferred supplier of NICAP solutions, with a very significant share of the UK market" said Trevor Gregory, head of ABB UK Power Systems division.
He continued: "This latest contract is further confirmation of National Grid's confidence in the way we approach NICAP projects, such as our emphasis on developing the latest technology, supporting it with the right team of people and investing in key facilities such as our own dedicated in-house FAT (Factory Acceptance Test) facility, to ensure that the optimum NICAP solution is delivered on-time to meet a tight outage programme."
The picture shows a National Grid control room. The NICAP approach will enable ABB to condense the same functionality into a much smaller footprint.