Upgrading Ireland´s National Control Centre

The authors describe the control system which is in operation in the National Control Centre, Ireland. Its limitations, together with the other reasons which prompted the upgrade are described. The underlying reasons for the Electricity Supply Board´s commitment to a distributed computing architecture in order to avoid the hardware constraints experienced with the original system are outlined. The architecture of the new system, in terms of hardware, SCADA functions and power application software is discussed. The management of the project, together with the critical milestones and planned switch-over are also described. Future plans for items such as closed-loop load frequency control, optimal power flow and a dispatcher training simulator are itemised