«It works exactly like the black boxes on airplanes: it records all the data and parameters that allow the operation of a hydroelectric plant. Once opened, the black box indicates moment by moment what has happened. Just like in airplanes where the parameters that allow the aircraft to fly are monitored.”
Luigi D’Alpaos, professor emeritus of Hydraulics at the University of Padua, a true luminary, author of countless studies aimed at the realization of important engineering works, speaks in these terms of «Scada» (Supervisory control and data acquisition), the black box of the Suviana power station acquired by the Bologna prosecutor’s office. It is an application that receives data deriving from the operation of the entire system in order to control it. The news of its discovery was given by the CEO of Enel Green Power, Salvatore Bernabei.
Professor, can you explain what it is in simple words?
«A device that can tell how the system was working one second before something jammed and then caused the accident. It traces every single vital center of a structure.”
Will it help to understand once and for all what happened to the Suviana power plant?
“Exactly. I read recently about an explosion. Of probable failures of turbines, transformers, alternators. But it is misleading to talk about it without data. Only the black box will be able to provide an answer to the complex technical questions and define with certainty the cause of the failure”.
Do all hydroelectric plants have one?
«Power plants like the one in Suviana are very widespread in Italy. And they all have a data control system. The black boxes are used to monitor operation moment by moment. The trend through which it is possible to record all the parameters that describe the system in its entirety. In Italy there is considerable experience in this field, there are very good technicians.”
As a great expert on the subject, what are your thoughts on the accident?
«I repeat what I said earlier. In the absence of elements, and I mean all the elements, not a part, it is a gamble to speak. There are turbines, there is a system that brings water from the lake to the turbine and there are pipelines where there are control bodies and then this water reaches the turbine which transforms the hydraulic energy into mechanical energy which makes the alternator work . A complex system. The fault could be anywhere. Only the black box will be able to clarify.”
