PACE Zenith Awards 2005: Transport, Power & Infrastructure Category
Company Name
Eraring Power Station
Project Name
Asset Management Upgrade
Project Location
Lake Macquarie, Lower Hunter Valley, New South Wales
Project Description
Eraring operates four 660 MW units comprising IHI boilers, Toshiba turbo-alternators and Siemens analogue control systems. Eraring has a reputation in the industry for high plant availability, reliability and efficiency. Eraring is undergoing the first stage of a changeover to an integrated control and monitoring system (ICMS) to fully integrate control of the boilers, turbines, generators and station plant equipment. The system comprises a Yokogawa Centum CS3000 R3 Distributed Control System, Exaquantum Plant Information Management System, PRM Plant Resource Manager, full replica simulator, and approximately 10,000 I/O per unit plus station plant I/O. As part of Eraring’s plant upgrades, subsequent generating capacity will increase to 700 MW per unit.
Challenges
The early transmitter supplier (Moore Products) had a DOS-based device management system, which worked fairly well. In 2001, YEC EJA series Hart transmitters were subsequently selected as preferred field device. Yokogawa provided the initial “Cornerstone” asset management tool, which was found to be cumbersome and not very user-friendly. Technicians were mindful of the likely upgrade of the analogue control system in two to three years time. They expected field device management and maintenance tools to be Windows-based and user friendly. Future compatibility with a DCS was also a firm requirement.
Commentary
The 10 technicians/engineers have to provide 24/7 responsibility for support and maintenance of all plant instrumentation and control systems including about a million field devices, thousands of control loops, chemical plant and environmental analyser systems, and existing analogue control systems, PLCs and unit computers.
FINALIST No. 2
Company Name
ETSA Utilities
Project Name
Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) Deployment
Project Location
South Australia
Project Description
ETSA Utilities wanted to be released from its reliance on external parties for its network performance information and to gain independent operational control of its electricity substations.
Solution
CitectSCADA was deployed to over 137 substations within South Australia. The SCADA system, implemented in 2001 and significantly extended since, provides ETSA with immediate knowledge of faults in its distribution system.
Challenges
ETSA Utilities aimed to:
Minimise the impact of power interruptions on all consumers.
Ensure fast response rates to substation and line faults.
Implement a high level of technical innovation to overcame risks inherent in passing data between high voltage providers and market regulators. Errors within this type of system could have potentially caused a significant portion of SA’s power supply to black out.
Outcomes
An “open architecture” solution suited ETSA’s current requirements as well as offering the flexibility to adapt to future needs. The project was completed by Camms Process Control within four months of the original six month timeframe. The SCADA system integrates with other IT systems, reduced data entry overheads and provides ease of communication with other vendors’ devices and software such as PLCs. In addition, Camms provided ETSA with training, documentation and ongoing support, which is crucial to the maintenance of this critical system.
Commentary
The solution implemented by Camms into ETSA was the first use of CitectSCADA in an electricity distribution system in Australia.
FINALIST No. 3
Company Name
Public Transport Authority of Western Australia
Project Name
Urban Rail Safe Project
Project Location
Perth, Western Australia
Project Description
The Public Transport Authority of Western Australia (PTA) wanted a centralised closed circuit television (CCTV) monitoring and digital recording system for Perth’s urban railway network.
Solution
The project includes a 10,000-point Honeywell Enterprise Buildings Integrator (EBI) alarm management system integrated with a Honeywell Digital Video Manager (DVM), enabling seven day on-line digital video storage, a Honeywell Ultrak Max1000 CCTV management system for live video display, PTA’s own existing Programmable Logic Controllers at each train station for alarm inputs and response; and a Jacques Voice Over IP (VOIP) public address system for event-driven announcements at train stations. Over the next three years, it is expected that the system will expand to include more than 1200 cameras distributed across more than 70 train stations when the New MetroRail Southern Suburbs Rail Line is brought on-line.
Commentary
The new system is part of the WA Government’s multi-million dollar TrainSafe Program to increase patron confidence in safety and security when travelling on Perth’s urban rail network. The order sees Honeywell connecting to 800 cameras across the network, providing 24-hour, live vision to a monitoring room staffed by three to six officers based at a central, secure location. The project represents one of the largest digital video recording systems ever installed in Australia.
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