ABB wins $5 million control system contract in Montana
Integrated automation solutions improve efficiency and streamline business decision making
Barcelona, May 26, 2004 – ABB, the leading power and automation technology group, announces during the Power-Gen Europe 2004 that its Plant Automation business unit has received a $5 million contract from PPL Montana to provide control systems for the Colstrip Units 1 & 2 power plant located near Billings, Montana.
ABB will upgrade the Colstrip Unit 1 and Unit 2 control systems with ABB’s IndustrialIT Extended Automation System 800xA. Each unit is rated at 307MW. The contract scope includes a Distributed Control System (DCS) for boiler and turbine control, as well as interface integration with a high fidelity simulator. To further enhance and optimize real-time decision-making, ABB will also provide the Optimax online performance monitoring system for the two units.
“This project, along with the DCS we provided for units 3 and 4, will give PPL Montana a plantwide fully integrated system that will continuously improve plant efficiency and reduce emissions,” said Robert Stratman, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for ABB Plant Automation. “This project will provide on-going improvement in overall productivity and profitability, ultimately leading to operational excellence.”
“While we are still in the process of installing our first system on Colstrip Unit 3, construction schedules necessitated awarding the Unit 1&2 contract prior to the first system being commercial,” stated Neil Dennehy, Manager of Steam Generation, PPL Montana. “After working with ABB for the past year, we had no problem returning to ABB for Units 1&2. We believe they have a state-of the art system, but what brought us back was their commitment and customer focus during the design and construction phase of the previous contract. They have earned our respect as a valuable member of our controls team at Colstrip.”
The Colstrip power plant Units 1 & 2 are owned by PPL Montana LLC, a subsidiary of PPL Generation LLC, and Puget Sound Energy, Inc. The Colstrip power plant’s other two units, Units 3 and 4, generate about 740 megawatts each, giving the facility an overall output capacity of more than 2,000 megawatts.
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 about 113,000 people.