Unified contactor control system for battery plant and method of operation thereof

A battery plant, comprising:

• a plurality of rectifiers couplable to a source of AC power;
• a bus coupled to said plurality of rectifiers and further couplable to a load via a first distributed contactor to supply power thereto;
• a battery couplable to said bus via a second distributed contactor;
• and
• a central contactor controller, including:
• a sensor that senses operational states of said plurality of rectifiers and said battery, and
• central control circuitry, coupled to said sensor and couplable to said first and second distributed contactors, that provide control information to first and second distributed control circuitry associated with said first and second distributed contactors in response to said operational states, said first and second distributed control circuitry employing said control information to control said first and second distributed contactors selectively to couple said battery and said load to said bus.