City of Glasgow College

Power Control chosen as UPS Systems supplier following college investment.

Following a whopping £228million investment the City of Glasgow College is now one of Europe’s largest colleges with the site equivalent to the size of 11 football pitches. Power Control Ltd has been contracted to supply Glasgow Super College with 10 high-efficiency Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) systems to provide critical power support to the entire infrastructure. The 10 UPS systems chosen for the job were the Borri B9000FXS, which are amongst the leading ultra high-efficiency systems available today and are ideal for large data centres.

The project was won after a rigorous technical tender process during which Power Control presented a detailed technical proposal for a 20 year cost of ownership based on UPS efficiency, service life parts maintenance, annual maintenance and servicing and initial capex cost of equipment.

Working with one of its principle contract partners in the North, Power Control will supply, install and commission over 1.5MVA of emergency power at the College over the coming months with half of the project already successfully handed over. Its Riverside campus is now supported by six B9000FXS UPS systems, ranging from 80kVA – 200kVA and the City campus will have a further four B9000FXS 200kVA – 250kVA UPS systems.

All works were overseen by Power Control’s dedicated project management team. Complex works including specialist lifting and logistics on site, adaptations to the battery frames to fit within the switch room and the build and supply of bespoke steel plinths were all carefully implemented by both Power Control and its contract partner. In addition, all the UPS systems provided by Power Control were designed to interlock with all the switchgear.

The solution and results

Home to around 40,000 students a year, safeguarding the college’s IT infrastructure is paramount. The Borri UPS solutions were chosen not only for their superior technology but also their proven power protection performance. To allow for additional redundancy the Borri B9000FXS UPS systems are positioned in an N+1 configuration and set in parallel redundant mode for extra resilience.

Designed and built to the highest manufacturing standards, the Borri B9000FXS online double conversion UPS systems feature intuitive monitoring software and a Smart Online (SOL) mode, which can significantly reduce energy consumption. The units are TÜV certified at 95% efficiency and achieve substantial subsequent savings.

As a registered company in Scotland, Power Control has supplied Borri UPS systems all over the Scottish region including remote fire and rescue sites, transport networks and for large sporting events

Power Control has worked tirelessly to ensure that it is able to deliver the very best service to all of its customers – from initial proposals through to sale, project support and aftercare. To support the company it has built up a portfolio of key partners, which have all helped to establish it as the emergency power protection authority.

With strong connections in north of the border, Power Control has partnered with Integrated Infrastructure Services (IIS) in Scotland to deliver comprehensive ongoing maintenance solutions. These include service life parts maintenance (batteries, fans and capacitors), annual maintenance and servicing along with dedicated project management.

Power Control is committed to Borri three phase UPS technologies and is the official UK distributor for the Italian manufacturer. Power Control has a high level of engineering involvement, which is supported by its all encompassing service and maintenance programmes and high UPS and product spares stock levels. The company also receives invaluable direct manufacturing and technical back-up from Borri Spa.