Coal, gas, nuclear or hydro-power, solar power, geothermal, renewable energy, combined cycle or biomass - every power plant is different. From the way in which it produces energy, its location, its design, age and time of commissioning, national legislation and local regulations to regional fire departmental regulations and even insurance stipulations; all need to be recognized as factors which influence the demands of each site for security, fire safety and building comfort.

Horst Köhler, Head of Utilities Solutions at Siemens Building Technologies Division, has examined the benefits of an integrated approach to danger management in protecting the continuity of power supply. All these different types of generation are similar in that their commercial success depends on the capability to manage operational risks and to provide continuity of supply. Given that a power plant plays such a fundamental and critical role in a country's infrastructure, supply disruption can have significant effect - both economical and political - with even short-term interruptions leading to inconvenience on a massive scale, price increases and/or rationing for the areas supplied.

Supply Reliability
Power facilities carry many inherent operational, security and fire risks that threaten their daily operations, from theft, vandalism and equipment failure to fires and leakage of potentially hazardous materials. And various political situations around the world, along with the volatility of energy prices, are provoking a new wave of terrorist threat. Safeguarding power facilities against the diversity of internal and external threats calls for an integrated risk management strategy, with integrated solutions in security, fire safety, electrical installation and building automation.
An effective safety and security system needs to be modular, scalable and adaptable in order to cope with changing requirements. The risks and threats facing any power plant can include major events resulting from a terrorist attack, fire, industrial accident, arson, malicious damage or sabotage to normal ‘everyday' problems such as trespassing or political activists, vandalism, internal theft, data theft, leaking of hazardous materials etc.

Such a system also needs to cater for large numbers of staff, visitors and contractors, as well as multiple buildings that, on a power plant, can often be far apart.

Critical functionality includes the flexibility to be able to set or unset alarms locally whilst allowing for central monitoring, the ease of identification of the origin of an alarm and reliable alarm verification to ensure an adequate and appropriate response.

From the Outside Inwards
A ‘multi-layered' safety and security strategy, which involves a range of systems and capabilities - both physical and electronic - is the best way to keep the sites of our power plants safe and as secure as possible, from the perimeter fence to the turbine room. External fences or walls are the first line of defense against unauthorized intrusion, so the monitoring and surveillance of perimeters is therefore vital for large and complex sites such as power plants. External motion detectors have an important role to play in a multiple-layered approach to plant security. Systems offer versatile alarm transmission methods, as well as the capability to integrate with danger management stations and video surveillance systems.
When used in combination with video surveillance, external detectors can offer proven ­reliability and high effectiveness in pro-active surveillance, even in harsh, fast-changing environments. They can support remote maintenance and alarm status verification for cost-effective monitoring and speed of intervention. They will normally trigger an alarm as soon as intruders set foot in restricted areas, allowing for real-time verification and response before access to critical areas has been gained. Intelligent alarm verification processes also ensure a high detection accuracy and unparalleled false alarm immunity.

Patrolling and Video Surveillance of Outer Areas
Sites such as power plants are usually large and complex with an extended perimeter. Ensuring their integrity can require a large number of security staff, either patrolling the site or watching images and data transmitted by a large number of surveillance cameras and other alarming/sensor devices. Research has shown that observers find it impossible to concentrate sufficiently or for long periods of time to monitor even a modest number of video screens efficiently, let alone the large number needed to cover the surveillance systems of extensive sites.
Integrated intelligent video security solutions, based on a combination of risk-appropriate protective measures, can assist in the protection of life, assets and critical infrastructure with accuracy, reliability and short response times. Video sensory analysis, technology able to gather and filter available data to an extent that a single operator can handle and manage all available information without fatigue, allows security personnel to focus on critical situations. It supports their decision-making by providing the critical information required to detect, manage and prevent potential security breaches in real time. Efficiency of the system can be further enhanced by policy-based alarming, object identification, automatic flagging and preventive risk indication.