Substations to reinforce power distribution

ABB has won orders worth around 100 million US$ from Rio Tinto for 17 distribution substations to support increased production at iron ore mines in Western Australia. ABB’s scope of supply includes electrical switch rooms, switchgear, cables, power transformers and ring main units. ABB will also deliver a range of components including SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition), and protection and communication equipment compliant with the IEC 61850 global standard. This will enable remote monitoring and control of power assets located at multiple sites, from Rio Tinto’s Remote Operations Centre situated in Perth, more than 1000 km away. As part of the contracts, ABB is responsible for the design, engineering and supply of equipment needed for the upgrade and installation of new electrical infrastructure for the substations. The projects are scheduled for completion by 2013 and form part of the customer’s multi-stage Electrical Infrastructure Replacement (EIR) project.