A few days ago Naturgy has presented its integrated control center, for renewable energy management. An installation that in addition to highlighting for its efficiency and commitment to the environment is At the technological avant -garde in the field of information and cybersecurity systems.
From this control center, installed in A Coruña, all the production of solar and wind energy in Spain is managed, and renewable production in other countries will be monitored. Specifically, the operation of 93 wind farms, 24 photovoltaic plants and five cogeneration of Spain, in addition to two wind farms in Mexico.
In the opinion of Irma González, head of Naturgy for the management and exploitation of wind, solar and cogeneration assets of the company, “This installation brings greater flexibility to renewable production and optimizes operations based on the availability of each installation. At the technological level, the center is able to integrate many underlying systems in a standardized and uniform way, which facilitates safe, efficient and committed operations to the environment. ”
Technological and cybersecurity development
This control center integrates information systems for remote operation, information management towards the market and regulatory entities, weather prediction systems, environmental surveillance systems, “all with equipment redundancy, safe food and even physical locations, that allows us to have a high resilience in the face of different nature circumstances that can be caused in a center like this, ”says Gonzalez.
As for cybersecurity, one of the most complex challenges is the first office in Spain that implants the ICCP Link safe with the system operator also and as Irma Gonzalez states, ““ “The system is “Open Source”, Which allows us to make“ in-house ”developments such as the application for wind turbines to avoid avifauna impacts that we have already implemented.
Commitment to Energy Transition
Naturgy has become one of the leading investors in clean technologies in Spain. During the first half of 2024, The group invested 937 million eurosmainly in renewable developments and networks.
These investments confirm their commitment to a more sustainable energy mix, as well as their commitment to the energy transition, without neglecting the fundamental objectives of value and growth creation and environmental, social and good governance objectives.
The group counted at the close of the third quarter of 2024 with 6.9 GW of generation capacity at a global scale.
Wind energy is half of the installed renewable capacity, while solar energy adds a capacity of 1.3 GW, distributed between Brazil, Chile, the United States and Spain. As for hydraulic energy, it adds a capacity of 2.2 GW, distributed between Spain, Costa Rica and Panama.
Hydraulic generation
As for the hydraulic generation, it is managed from the Integrated Control Center, located in Ourense, an installation from which the operation of 47 centrals and 23 large dams of the company in Spain is supervised.
The state -generation control and tools systems also have this center allow An agile and efficient response To the new demands of the electrical system, 365 days a year and 24 hours a day, with the maximum respect for the security requirements of people, facilities and the environment.
Its inauguration, in 2017, was already a qualitative leap when integrating technology and R&D to combine all aspects associated with the reliable and safe exploitation of the facilities in a single decision environment.