E.ON

E.ON is one of the world's largest investor-owned power and gas companies. It has about 93,500 employees and, in 2008, generated just under €87 billion in sales. Next to its core business in Europe and Russia, E.ON operates an electricity and gas utility business and renewable source generating assets in North America. The company pursues a value-oriented management approach aimed at enhancing competitiveness and delivering profitable growth.

Fiume Santo Power Plant

Fiume Santo is a thermoelectric power plant owned by the E.ON group. The plant is situated in the north west of Sardinia, Italy. Spread over 153 hectares on the Gulf of Asinara, the plant is considered one of the most important industrial facilities in Sardinia. Built in the 1960s, the Fiume Santo plant supplies electricity to Sardinia and neighbouring regions. It has four traditional thermoelectric units, two coal units and two oil units.

Pre-existing situation & UTCFS’s role

The Fiume Santo coal power plant comprises five major buildings. It is vital that the site is fully protected against the risk of fire, so a fire detection system was needed that would cover diverse areas such as cafeterias, kitchens, control rooms, changing rooms, management offices, underground service rooms and warehouses. Importantly, although the five buildings are spread over a large area, efficiency and safety dictated that the system should be totally integrated. A second requirement was that this single, integrated, system should be fully compliant with the many different regulations covering each type of area. UTCFS rose to the challenge with the solution that best fit these challenging requirements.

UTCFS’s solution

The Fiume Santo plant is protected against fire by UTCFS’s ZP fire detection platform. The system comprises more than 1,500 addressable devices, all connected to five ZP3 fire control panels. A mix of smoke and thermal detectors across the entire site ensure that no threat goes unnoticed. A fibre-optic network integrates the detectors in all five buildings, enabling rapid, high-quality data transmission across long distances. The regulatory compliance issue was easily resolved as the ZP3 system meets a comprehensive range of international regulations. The ZP3 fire detection platform therefore fulfils all the Fiume Santo plant’s requirements, providing an intelligent, integrated and reliable fire detection system that fully protects the site and complies with all regulations.