Success Story: Water

I. CUSTOMER ENVIRONMENT / PROJECT CONTEXT

Customer profile:

Acciona, a leader in reverse osmosis desalination is building one of the largest European desalination plant in the south of Spain with a capacity of 240000 m3/day.

Customer objective and constraints:

This project requires an unified energy and process management. The customer Acciona/Acuamed wants just one supplier which provides a global solution.

 

To manage this desalination plant from a centralized control room, the customer needs to control:

• the management of all the processes.
• to assure the continuity of all the processes
• to centralize and integrate all the plant information in a unique information system 
• to connect different subsystems even up to 25 km of distance of the dispatching.

II. SOLUTION IMPLEMENTATION

Implementation methodology (main phases):

Schneider Electric Spain started working with Acciona one and a half year before realisation and ahead of competitors.
We have built a single database solution based on a library of power and control objects. This has secured the design and implementation of the solution.

Duration:

2 years.

Solution overview (services, products, systems, architectures...):

Integrated system including automation, advanced motor control and energy efficiency development tools with object oriented libraries.

How did we estimate the energy savings (methodology, tools, ...)

The global supervision of process, motor control and electrical distribution allows the reduction of energy costs. The results will be demonstrated after one year of operation.

III. RESULTS / ACHIEVEMENT

Customer benefits:

• Continuity and reliability:

The water quality requires the continuity of the treatment process and the cost of the shutdowns in the treatment needs reliable facilities.

• Resistance:

Great robustness and resistance in adverse surroundings like in this case (saltpeter, humidity, etc)

• Security:

Reduction of the electrical risks to guarantee the equipment operation and the people protection.

• Efficiency Energy:

Designed to be energetically efficient and to reduce consumptions: 20% of energy savings with the solution proposed.

        - Reduced Commissioning time and Opex thanks to sg2 use

        - Due to the solution design, optimal Opex (energy consumption, operational actions, easier maintenance without affect the rest of operational functions)

• Return of the investment:

Ergonomic solution that offers easy maintenance, long life utility and easy future upgrades.

Customer testimonies (Verbatim):

Schneider Electric has developed a sustainable solution guaranteeing efficiency in energy consumption in the desalination plant.

Schneider Electric differentiating values VS competitors:

Regarding the overall project, the key elements have been an excellent prescription regarding motorpac in front of competitors (one device which incorporates protection, power electronic, by-pass,...) and vegetal oil trafos; the initial, between others, harmonics analysis and easier configuration tools thanks to sg2; and finally the effort to adapt the solution to customer needs such as the more than twelve different low voltage racks configuration to fit the solution to customer requirements. In conclusion, Schneider, being a unique provider, has proposed a global solution to our customer.

The main asset of this project is the global solution offered by Schneider Electric, which visualized the project as a global solution more than a product offer.
Plus, the fact that Schneider Electric is the unique contractor facilitates relationship and guarantee the performance of the solution.