Designed for all types of power plants—hydro, coal, gas, nuclear, wind and solar—ALSPA Series 6 provides all the necessary software applications, IT control layers, equipment and services that power providers and service operators require
– By Stephen Heiser –
Alstom’s Energy Management Business (EMB), which provides integrated automation and control solutions for efficient and flexible energy management and infrastructure, announced today that it is offering its ALSPA Series 6 solution to customers in the North American energy market.
North American energy stakeholders are exposed to the challenges of a new and demanding energy environment that includes a rapidly increasing proportion of variable renewable energy, increasing demand for flexibility, complexity of distribution, and need for real-time information across the energy chain. ALSPA Series 6 end-to-end infrastructure fosters inter-operability between all energy players (IPPs, ISOs, RTOs, electric power generation companies, etc.), integrating power plant Distributed Control System (DCS) and automation technology to the smart grid—from power generation to demand entities such as “energy-positive buildings” (i.e., buildings that create more energy than they use).
Designed for all types of power plants—hydro, coal, gas, nuclear, wind and solar—ALSPA Series 6 provides all the necessary software applications, IT control layers, equipment and services that power providers and service operators require. Such a comprehensive product offering allows energy providers to integrate operation, management, maintenance, automation, and safety functions.
The ALSPA Series 6 architecture and solutions deliver operators the following benefits across the energy chain:
- Open architecture aligned on international communication and control standards including legacy DCS solutions
- Smart Grid-ready solutions which enable seamless integration into energy IT networks through the use of Microsoft’s Smart Energy Reference Architecture (SERA)
- Lower total cost of ownership through simplified maintenance and scalability
- Full security, redundancy, and cyber-security.
To support the deployment of DCS solutions across North America, Alstom has established a project and engineering center in Richmond, Virginia. The team is composed of 50 individuals—many of whom were recent recruits—who are experts in generation control for all types of fuels (thermal, hydro, renewable and nuclear). Alstom already has a strong presence in the U.S., where the company has over 6,000 employees and operations in 47 states.
Alstom is a global leader in the world of power generation and rail infrastructure and sets the benchmark for innovative and environmentally friendly technologies. Alstom builds the fastest train and the highest capacity automated metro in the world, and provides turnkey integrated power plant solutions and associated services for a wide variety of energy sources, including hydro, nuclear, gas, coal and wind. The Group employs 81,500 people in 70 countries, and had orders of €24.6 billion in 2008/09.