When completed next year, this latest phase of the plant will give access to geothermal fields up to 5 kilometres below the surface and generate 300 MWe of electricity, and 400 MWth of thermal energy via steam transmission for Reykjavik's district heating system.

Such a vast project, with its attendant risks as a high-hazard environment, demands high standards of reliability and integrity in monitoring and control of the prevailing conditions of the plant. That's why the specifiers, Iceland's Ark Security, selected Syncro two-loop open protocol fire alarm control panels from Kentec for interfacing with the plant's smoke detection system, based on Hochiki's ESP - Enhanced System Protocol - analogue addressable devices.

Ark Security's Kjartan Scheving comments: "Essentially, the specification of Kentec's Synchro panels was determined by the way we can so easily and rapidly configure a system with Kentec's intuitive Loop Explorer software. The simplicity of its graphical programming de-mystifies the process of configuring complex fire systems. What's more, the expandability and flexibility of Syncro control panels means networking is very straightforward. In the longer term, integration to much larger systems can be achieved easily, if the need arises, therefore providing a future proof solution for any installation."