Given their peculiarities (isolation and small size), the electricity systems located off the Spanish mainland are subject to “power cuts”. When this happens, it is vital that the recovery of the electricity system supply be achieved in as agile a way as possible. With this aim in mind, several of the ENDESA fleet plants awarded Tecnatom the supply of simulators to train the plant operating personnel on this type of events.
Last month the Los Guinchos diesel plant (located on La Palma in the Canary Islands) suffered a power cut. Thanks to the training of the plant’s operating shifts on the new power cut recovery simulator, the plant personnel proved to be perfectly capable of handling a complex operating situation. Thanks to this they acted rapidly and were able to recover 100% power in 100 minutes, when the normal recovery time before the training simulator was installed was around 700 minutes.
This is an example of the successful use of simulation as a plant training and operational support tool. Other simulators of this type have been supplied by Tecnatom to electricity-generating stations in Ceuta, Melilla, Menorca, Ibiza-Formentera, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, La Gomera and El Hierro.
