Christie Technology Expands Capabilities of Invenergy Control Center

Cypress, Calif., February 11, 2016 (Newswire.com) - Christie®, a leader in creating and sharing the world's best visual and audio experiences, recently worked with AVI-SPL, the world’s leader in AV systems integration, to enhance Invenergy’s control center with 10 Christie FHD552-X HD 55-inch flat panels and five Christie Phoenix® systems.  

Invenergy develops, owns and operates power generation and energy storage facilities in the Americas and Europe, including 65 wind farms as well as 19 solar, battery and natural gas projects in North America. Its remote operations center, the Invenergy Control Center (ICC), monitors, maintains and schedules power for Invenergy’s fleet of generation facilities. The ICC was initially located in the Operations building at a wind project in Texas, far from the head office, and only operated when technicians were off site. Hampered by power and internet connectivity issues, Invenergy made the decision to bring the control room to Illinois.

The first control room was located in Lombard, a suburb of Chicago, but with the rapid growth of the company, the executive team made the decision to move the control room to the head office in Chicago. Along with the move to Chicago came the decision to replace their existing outdated video wall with a new system. Says Brad Purtell, director, Wind Operations Support, Invenergy, “The Christie wall provided the same size monitor displays at 55 inches, but with ultra-low bezels making the distance between pixels from monitor to monitor only 3.5 mm. The other item that we like about the monitors is that there is no loss of pixels moving from display to display, but rather one continuous picture.”

With AVI-SPL, the world’s top AV systems integrator, providing the design and installation of the video wall, Invenergy selected 10 Christie FHD552-X HD 55-inch flat panels, in a five by two configuration, and five Christie Phoenix systems to power the wall. Purtell says the selection of the Phoenix system was a given. “The Phoenix was the first product that we wanted, before we decided which display to go with. Its ability to expand a display to whatever size needed, between the dimensions of the entire wall, is something that is amazing. We have the ability to display operational or market related data that might be important at a specific time across one display or across all 10 that are included in the video wall.”

Adam Stanton, test engineer, AVI-SPL, lauds Christie’s flat panels.  When asked about the decision to install the 55-inch panels he says, “Why Christie flat panels? They’re really high quality, they’re durable, they’re more energy efficient compared to others in its class, and it’s backed by a Christie warranty.”

Invenergy is considering the many ways to use the video wall, including displaying data from sites in Poland and Scotland via the wall in Chicago. Says Mark Senkevicius, network engineer, Invenergy, “Aesthetically speaking, it looks better than our old system does. The resolution is a lot better. When we put the large screens up many people were blown away by how the system looked in general. The system has the functionality and flexibility that we need.”