City of Austin awards Wood Group GTS with $1.4M multiple LM6000 controls upgrades

LOVELAND, Colo., Feb. 5, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Wood Group GTS has been awarded a $1.4M contract by the City of Austin to replace four obsolete and proprietary GE Millennium turbine control panels at the Sand Hill Energy Center in Austin, Texas. The panels will be replaced with Wood Group GTS' icon™ control systems, which give power plant operators the ability to modify turbine controls themselves to meet differing plant conditions.

Under this turnkey contract, Wood Group GTS is responsible for the design, control system equipment, software, site installation, testing and commissioning of the new systems. The control panels will be replaced with an open-architecture Rockwell ControlLogix^® platform.

"GE LM6000 gas turbines play an essential part in driving today's power plants and industrial power generation facilities. However, the proprietary OEM systems that control those turbines are nearing the end of their natural life cycles and many owners are experiencing issues due to obsolescence, functional limitations or maintainability challenges," said Frank Avery, president of Wood Group GTS – Power Plant Services. "Our controls upgrades and optimization products provide increased flexibility and reliability to owners and operators of gas turbines. We look to maximize our customers' success by providing a proven, flexible and configurable solution that helps to increase their ability to be self-sufficient."

Icon controls are part of Wood Group GTS' overall products and services designed to maximize the return on plant operators' investment in gas turbine technology. 

Note to Editors
Wood Group GTS is a leading independent provider of rotating equipment services and solutions for clients in the power and oil & gas markets. Worldwide, these services include: power plant engineering, procurement and construction; facility operations & maintenance; repair & overhaul, optimisation and upgrades of gas and steam turbines, pumps, compressors and other high-speed rotating equipment. www.woodgroupgts.com

Wood Group is an international energy services company with around $7bn sales, employing around 44,000 people worldwide and operating in 50 countries.  The Group has three businesses – Wood Group Engineering, Wood Group PSN and Wood Group GTS – providing a range of engineering, production support, maintenance management and industrial gas turbine overhaul, repair services to the oil & gas and power generation industries worldwide. www.woodgroup.com

Sand Hill Energy Center is Austin Energy's newest and most efficient power plant. Its thoughtful design and construction methods ensure that every aspect of the plant contributes to the City of Austin's environmental goals. The Sand Hill Energy Center consists of 270 MW of peaking units. Units 1-4 came online in 2001, generating 180 MW. Two additional units totaling 90 MW were added in 2010. A 300 MW combined cycle unit was completed in 2004; it is expandable to 500 MW with the addition of a second gas turbine.

Icon is a trademark of Wood Group
ControlLogix is a registered trademark of Rockwell Automation 

SOURCE Wood Group GTS