Pilot #1 will be deployed on the ENGIE plans using as a testing place the COmbigolfe Combined Cycle Gas fired power plant, located in the industrial area of Fos sur Mer, on the Mediterranean sea. Its power rating is 424 MW, it has a high efficiency – ~58% -, as it associates a gas turbine for the high temperature stage with a classical steam turbine for the lower temperature stage. It is one of the 4 power plants (2 ENGIE) that are operating in the Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur Region, along the hydroelectric power plants on the Durance and Rhone rivers, and that provide all together about half of the region’s annual power consumption (around 38.5 TWh), the other half being supplied by the grid.
ENGIE’s pilot is aimed at demonstrating the drone neutralization system, with a view to customize and validate a subset of the DEFENDER tools. In particular, we will validate the aerial and ground physical monitoring stack of the DEFENDER security framework, with a special emphasis on the drone neutralization matter, both at technological and legal/regulatory level. Indicatively and with regard to drone neutralization, in Italy ENAC (the CAA Regulation was released on 07/01/2016) considers that professional drones are equivalent to airplanes.
It is worth mentioning that ENGIE considers the replication of the results of this pilot after the project end in a natural gas station operating in France (in the greater Nancy area) that acts as large-scale, long-term energy storage system.
