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No. 6 - January 2008
 
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Launch of the Regional Operation Centres of BANDEIRANTE, ESCELSA and ENERSUL Networks, in Brazil
The Regional Operation Centres of the electric network of BANDEIRANTE, ESCELSA and ENERSUL Brazilian companies were launched in October of 2007. These companies belong to the Energias do Brasil group, which is owned by the Portuguese EDP group. This work accomplishment was performed by EFACEC do Brasil, whose SCADA technology was supplied by the EFACEC’s Automation business unit.

The ceremony was held at the BANDEIRANTE Operation Centre, with the presence of Mr António Martins da Costa, engineer, at that time Chairman of the Energias do Brasil.

The EFACEC’s Automation business unit was responsible for the supply and installation of two SCADA/EMS systems, based on the SCATE X EMS platform.

The solution adopted by the concessionary companies allows to operate the power network dispatch system from any one of the companies, ESCELSA and ENERSUL, and also by BANDEIRANTE, whose SCADA/EMS system was also supplied by EFACEC, being in operation since 2003. This integration project of three power network dispatches, called Opera Energias, resulted from a complex standardization process that allowed to balance the Operation of the three electric power companies.

Distances between the Regional Operation Centres
The BANDEIRANTE, ENERSUL and ESCELSA Regional Operation Centres are interconnected through high performance communication channels, supported by standard protocols, and adopting servers installed in strategic geographic positions with databases updated in real time, using state of the art technological solutions.

In order to grant a high availability index to the systems installed in ESCELSA and ENERSUL, a catastrophe-tolerant architecture implementation was foreseen. Thus, beyond the redundant systems located in the main operation centres of those companies, Disaster Recovery Systems are implemented in order to handle contingency situations, also with redundant SCADA/EMS servers, located strategically in different buildings and locations, allowing the system operation, from any centre, under a normal situation or even under a recovery situation resulting from an incident or catastrophe.

These centres commissioning was extremely important for BANDEIRANTE, ESCELSA and ENERSUL, as well as for the EFACEC Group, strengthening its references range in the power networks management area, mainly in Brazil.

The success of EFACEC’s presence in Brazil is a consequence of the effort and ability of its human assets working in this country, as well as of the objective convergence and synergy that EFACEC do Brasil and EFACEC’s Automation business unit established and put into practice, resulting in the past in the implementation of a similar system for AMPLA, the company responsible for the electric power network of the Rio de Janeiro State.

The mentioned success was also due to the automation technical team of Energias do Brasil group’s companies, since its experience and accuracy created the necessary conditions to complete successfully this important EFACEC’s project.


ENERSUL Operation Centre

ESCELSA Operation Centre

BANDEIRANTE Operation Centre
Images: Courtesy of Energias do Brasil