Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro Selects Foxboro to Upgrade Controls at Holyrood Generating Station.

FOXBORO, Mass. -- Will migrate obsolete Westinghouse control system to latest I/A Series automation technology to help improve reliability and reduce costs

Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro has selected the Foxboro unit of Invensys Process Systems to upgrade the existing Westinghouse WDPF DCS (distributed control system) currently installed at the company's Holyrood Thermal Generating Station in Newfoundland with the latest I/A Series automation system technology. Originally placed in service in 1970, the 490 megawatt, oil-fired station generates approximately 30 to 40 per cent of the utility's energy annually.

"While our Westinghouse DCS has served us well for many years, it clearly no longer reflects the latest technology. More importantly, the system has become increasingly difficult to maintain," said Jeff Vincent, project manager at Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro. "After a thorough vendor review, we concluded that Foxboro offered us the most cost-effective and lowest-risk approach for migrating to current automation technology."

Foxboro's innovative, yet well-proven "plug in" system migration approach utilizes special input/output (I/O) modules that are functionally identical to standard I/A Series I/O modules, but are designed to plug right into the existing Westinghouse WDPF (or other vendors') I/O racks.

The new system will utilize Foxboro's latest I/A Series technology and power plant applications to help improve plant efficiencies, reduce emissions, and maximize both system and unit availability. This includes 1 Gigabyte Switched Ethernet "mesh" process control network technology, high-speed Ethernet I/O, and high-availability controller configurations.

Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro is a crown corporation, owned entirely by the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It operates throughout the Province serving utility, industrial and retail customers. Hydro's generating stations and transmission lines provide over 80% of the province's electrical energy.

The Invensys Group (www.invensys.com) is headquartered in the UK and listed on the London Stock Exchange. With 35,000 employees operating in 60 countries, Invensys helps customers to improve their performance and profitability, building value for end users and shareholders alike.