Technology and innovation: Sorgenia’s combined cycle power plant in Lodi, Italy

Sorgenia, one of the leading players in the Italian electricity market, now serves over 1 million customers. Its combined-cycle power plant in Bertonico-Turano Lodigiano operates 24/7 and plays a key role in the energy transition by providing power and ancillary services even when renewable sources, which are inherently intermittent, cannot meet grid demands.

To make its operations increasingly reliable, Sorgenia has equipped certain components of the plant with systems that allow it to complement traditional maintenance methods with others based on the operating data of each component.

Vincenzo Checola, Deputy Plant Manager at Sorgenia, said: “Combining data-driven maintenance with traditional methods ensures maximum effectiveness in increasing the reliability and operability of the upgraded components.”

Unlocking uptime with predictive power
Data is at the heart of even smarter maintenance that minimizes downtime. To reduce downtime as much as possible, Sorgenia turned to ABB’s digital maintenance solutions, shifting to a data-driven strategy.

This suite of digital monitoring solutions includes ABB Ability™ Asset Manager for Transformers (TRAFCOM) – ABB’s latest monitoring system for power and distribution transformers. The technology provides remote, real-time visibility into equipment condition, enabling early detection of anomalies, anticipating and avoiding electrical failures, and significantly reducing the need for maintenance and downtime.

Thanks to ongoing data-driven insights, the Sorgenia team can now anticipate failures before they occur and schedule targeted maintenance interventions.

ABB’s SWICOM diagnostics system provides real-time insights into the mechanical and electrical health of equipment. A single SWICOM unit can monitor the entire switchgear system, offering data access anytime, anywhere, even remotely. For Sorgenia, this has meant the ability to anticipate and prevent unexpected outages, enhance operational flexibility, boost efficiencies, and maintain a digitalized electrical infrastructure.

Building long-term resilience
Thanks to ABB’s digital solutions, Sorgenia has been able to significantly reduce its maintenance costs.

Mirko Rota from ABB’s Electrification Service team said: “For a power plant like Sorgenia, unplanned outages are a critical issue. With ABB’s digital monitoring solutions, the company can anticipate and prevent failures.”