Integrated into the West Branch of the California State Aqueduct, the multi-purpose Castaic project delivers both drinking water and power to Southern California residents. The powerhouse features six 240MW main pump-generator units and one 55MW conventional unit, and it is the largest of LADWP’s hydropower plants.
American Governor will be responsible for providing equipment, engineering, and site services for the replacement of two Voith digital governors and four Woodward digital governors. For enhanced availability, LADWP specified extensive control redundancy for the overall plant automation system and also specified dedicated, redundant digital governor systems. In the event of a processor, power supply or input/output module failure, the redundant governor controller will take over control to keep the unit on-line. Dedicated governor systems will also provide optimum real-time governor performance and enhance multiple-unit synchronization, improving LADWP’s ability to dispatch power from the plant.
New electrohydraulic control manifold assemblies will be provided for all units. The existing electronic position and speed feedback systems will be retained. Separate control functionality will be provided for Pump and Generate modes, and the new governor systems will communicate with the new plant control and monitoring systems provided by Systems Integrated.
