Zurich, Switzerland, April 10, 2008 - Sri Chamundeswari Sugars is building a 26 MW cogeneration plant (of which 18 MW will be an exportable surplus) at its factory in Karnataka state, southern India. Power comes from burning bagasse, the fibrous residue remaining when sugarcane is crushed to make sugar. ABB is supplying a System 800xA extended automation system, power systems and instrumentation for this project in 2008. India, the world’s second largest sugar producer, is encouraging its sugar mills to reap the multiple benefits of investing in bagasse-fueled cogeneration plants, and ABB is playing a crucial role in supplying the automation systems and electrical balance of plant that help make these benefits possible.
Bagasse is the fibrous residue that remains after the sugarcane has been crushed and the juice extracted. It is a biomass fuel with a carbon-neutral rating because it absorbs CO2 during growth and eliminates the use of fossil fuels in power generation. The great advantage of a bagasse cogeneration plant is that it provides a stable and reliable source of electricity and steam to power the mill and sugar refining process. Significant revenues are generated by selling surplus energy to the grid, production costs are reduced by using fuel (bagasse) that is available onsite and at virtually zero cost, and production downtime caused by grid outages is eliminated.
The fiber that remains after sugarcane is crushed makes a fuel that eliminates the need for fossil fuels in power generation – it even absorbs CO2 while the plant is growing.
The DCS leader
ABB is the world’s leading supplier of both distributed control systems (DCS) and electrical balance of plant to the power generation industry, and has received a number of recent orders to equip bagasse cogeneration plants for sugar mills in India. ABB’s scope of supply ranges from complete electrical systems to instrumentation and control, and also includes comprehensive customer support and remote service. DCS solutions are based on ABB’s award-winning and market-leading Extended Automation System 800xA.System 800xA enables customers to incorporate all their automation functions – including the mills’ process automation systems - in a single operations and engineering environment.
With more than 3,700 installations worldwide, System 800xA provides customers in all industries with unprecedented information access and powerful control and integration capabilities.
A complete automation and eBOP solution from ABB helps achieve:
Increased productivity and revenues
Reliable electric power and process steam at near-zero cost Additional revenues from exporting surplus energy to the local power grid Eliminates downtime caused by grid outages
Grid stability
Surplus power stabilizes local grid and improves power supply for local communities No T&D power losses (currently as high as 40 percent in many parts of India)
Energy efficiency
Energy is generated from a waste product in a high-efficiency cogeneration plant Carbon-neutral power with no SOx or NOx emissions ABB is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs more than 110,000 people.