Distributed Control System Rebuild

The Vlore Temporary Power Project comprised two Wärtsilä-designed and built power barges, with a combined capacity of ~110 MWe. Originally commissioned in 1998 in Bangladesh, the barges had been laid up for over five years prior to acquisition by the client in 2021 for redeployment to Vlore, Albania.

The onboard ABB Advant 110 Distributed Control System (DCS), installed in 1997, was found to be critically degraded, unsupported by the OEM, and functionally obsolete. Operator Stations (HP Vectra VL6s) were running Windows 3.11, several critical CPUs had failed, and no viable backup of the Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) code or DCS application existed.

A successful 72-hour Reliability Run was contractually required prior to handover. Restoration of the DCS was urgent and essential for project viability.

F&H Power Consultants was engaged to assess and restore the DCS to full operational condition.  

This engagement presented a unique opportunity to: 

• Demonstrate recovery of mission-critical legacy control systems without OEM support 
• Reinstate application code and hardware to “as-built” condition 
• Provide redundancy and spare parts for long-term reliability 
• Showcase niche expertise in obsolete system restoration 

• Rebuild and reinstate the ABB Advant 110 DCS to full operational status 
• Recover and reload PLC application code from failed CPUs 
• Rebuild and restore 5 Operator Stations with legacy software 
• Implement redundancy measures (N+1) for critical hardware and software 
• Enable successful completion of the contractual 72-hour Reliability Run 

Initial Investigation:

• Assessed DCS hardware and all PC Operator Stations
• Identified multiple failures (CPUs, Ethernet cards, I/O modules)
• Determined operational control was critically impaired

Mitigation & Recovery:

• Sourced ABB and HP legacy hardware via global third-party networks
• Rebuilt HP Vectra VL6 Operator Stations using cloned HDDs
• Used specialist data recovery to extract and restore application code

System Rebuild:

• Reprogrammed PM632 CPUs using recovered code on XP-based platforms
• Functionally tested full DCS connectivity and I/O modules
• Audited and validated control pathways and reliability

Redundancy Measures (N+1):

• Built cloned backups of all critical operational PCs
• Provided spare CPUs and modules to reduce long-term risk

• 4 of 5 Operator Stations were non-functional; all were rebuilt and backed up
• 3 CPU failures (across 2 barges) equated to ~20 MWe unavailable. All CPUs restored and application code reloaded
• Defective, damaged I/O modules were replaced and tested successfully
• Without intervention, the barges would have operated with severely reduced control, risking safety, operability, and generation loss

• Fully restored DCS systems across both barges 
• Operational risk significantly reduced via redundancy and spare provisioning 
• Improved control system condition compared to pre-restoration state 
• Enabled compliance with contractual readiness testing and power export 
• Extended useful life of critical legacy systems 
• Avoided significant CapEx and potential contract breach losses 

F&H Power Consultants delivered a full DCS recovery under extreme technical constraints, obsolete systems, failed hardware, no backups, and no OEM support. Through legacy expertise and engineering ingenuity, the project met all readiness requirements. The client entered the power export phase with restored confidence, improved system reliability, and multi-million-pound cost savings.