This year, the Cotesa Group inaugurated a modern Operations Center in Florianópolis. With an investment in excess of R$ 1 million, the new COS will have the capacity to monitor more than 100 energy generation assets throughout Brazil, and foresees the creation, in the next three years, of more than 120 new jobs, distributed at the headquarters company, as well as in field units located in other Brazilian states.

Cotesa's COS was planned to serve critical assets such as: Type I, II (A,B,C) power plants and SIN Strategic Substations, in addition to meeting the requirements of network procedures. “In this way, the company is able to operate any type of exchange, even those that are not dispatched: UFV, EOLs, PCHs and CGHs”, comments João Junklaus, President of the Company.

The project took into account the new requirements of sub-module 10.14 network procedures, which became effective as of January 2017. Among them, the following stand out:

• Operating room backup;
• Digital security and protection against cyber attacks;
• Communication systems with high availability, meeting the minimum criterion of 99.95%;
• Voice recording between the COS and the plants, and between the COS and the ONS;
• Real-time monitoring of communication links, according to sub-modules 13.2 and 13.5;
• External AC source.

In addition to the technical requirements, the Cotesa Operation Center was carefully designed to provide a silent environment, ensuring concentration of operators. Relevant criteria such as: ergonomics, acoustics, lighting, access control, redundant climate control were also used.

Dynamics and activities were also planned. Thus, distinct but close environments were reserved for teams of pre and post-operation, IT support (information technology) and TA (automation technology), facilitating interaction between the different teams.

“Our COS was designed to guarantee the reliability that power plants require, with the difference in the amount charged for the service, totally in accordance with the benefit offered to customers, providing greater scale gains for the energy generating companies”, emphasizes Junklaus.