Southern Water’s new WWT works to use ABB drives18 July 2011

More than 90 ABB industrial variable speed drives are to be installed at Southern Water's new wastewater treatment works and sludge treatment centre at Peacehaven, near Brighton and Hove.

The drives are being supplied through ABB Drives Alliance member, Sentridge Control, and will be incorporated into seven MCCs (motor control centres), supplied by MCS Control Systems.

Five of the MCCs are for the main works and two for the pumping stations at Marine Drive, Brighton and Portobello, Telscombe Cliffs.

Steve Poole, managing director of MCS explains that the low harmonic and six-pulse drives range from below 1kW up to 560kW.

"The main criterion for the drives was to minimise the harmonics produced by the large motors employed in the pumping stations," he explains.

"A mixture of low harmonic and six-pulse drives was found to provide the best combination, providing the right level of harmonics mitigation while keeping costs to a reasonable level," he adds.

As for other criteria, Poole says that minimising size of the MCCs was high on the agenda, because of a lack of space in the works.

"The ABB drives offer the smallest size possible at these power ratings. The large drives are also rack mounted and are fitted with wheels to make them easier to install in the MCC cabinets," he says.

The drives also have built-in Profibus capabilities, making it communication with the facility's control system relatively easy.

The MCCs are due to be installed on site in summer 2011, with the treatment works scheduled to be fully operational in 2013.

Brian Tinham

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