Power plant DCS migration completed with minimal impact ...
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“The migration approach offered by Invensys Operations Management showed that an alternative to the existing vendor’s upgrade solution was a viable option.” Hugh Ferguson, C&I Engineer & DCS Upgrade Project Manager, Keadby Power Station Invensys Powers UK Electricity Demand Goals • The company needed to address the obsolescence of its existing DCS and to provide an expandable solution to extend the working service life of its Keadby Power Station • The vendor needed to deliver the total upgrade solution in time for a planned major shutdown and in parallel with other plant projects, with minimal commissioning time Challenges • Incomplete loop drawings, faded conductor idents and the risk of human error during I/O change-out were considered significant upgrade obstacles • Limited documentation available on existing software applications presented software migration and testing dilemmas for the project team. Solutions and Products • InFusion™ Enterprise Control System (the first major InFusion solution in the UK) • Foxboro® I/A Series® Distributed Control System • SimSci-Esscor® ROMeo Online Performance Suite • SimSci-Esscor Dynamic Simulation Suite Results • The Invensys solution was delivered on time for the planned outage and within the SSE budget for the project. • The upgrade addressed both the obsolescence and expandability issues. • Plant personnel realized major benefits of simulation, including improved operator training and familiarization, and the facility now has a rigorous test-bed for process testing. INDUSTRY: POWER SSE www.sse.com © Jonathan Thacker - http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2006958
Transcript of Power plant DCS migration completed with minimal impact ...
“The migration approach offered by Invensys Operations Management showed that an alternative to the existing vendor’s upgrade solution was a viable option.”
Hugh Ferguson, C&I Engineer & DCS Upgrade Project Manager, Keadby Power Station
Invensys Powers UK Electricity Demand
Goals•ThecompanyneededtoaddresstheobsolescenceofitsexistingDCSandtoprovideanexpandablesolutiontoextendtheworkingservicelifeofitsKeadbyPowerStation
•Thevendorneededtodeliverthetotalupgradesolutionintimeforaplannedmajorshutdownandinparallelwithotherplantprojects,withminimalcommissioningtime
Challenges•Incompleteloopdrawings,fadedconductoridentsandtheriskofhumanerrorduringI/Ochange-outwereconsideredsignificantupgradeobstacles
•Limiteddocumentationavailableonexistingsoftwareapplicationspresentedsoftwaremigrationandtestingdilemmasfortheprojectteam.
Solutions and Products•InFusion™EnterpriseControlSystem(thefirstmajorInFusionsolutionintheUK)
•Foxboro®I/ASeries®DistributedControlSystem
•SimSci-Esscor®ROMeoOnlinePerformanceSuite
•SimSci-EsscorDynamicSimulationSuite
Results•TheInvensyssolutionwasdeliveredontimefortheplannedoutageandwithintheSSEbudgetfortheproject.
•Theupgradeaddressedboththeobsolescenceandexpandabilityissues.
•Plantpersonnelrealizedmajorbenefitsofsimulation,includingimprovedoperatortrainingandfamiliarization,andthefacilitynowhasarigoroustest-bedforprocesstesting.
INDUSTRY:POWER
SSE www.sse.com
© Jonathan Thacker - http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2006958
Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, United Kingdom —TheRiverTrenthasahistoryofchangingcourseovertheages,withmentionofitsmeanderingsevenintheworksofWilliamShakespeare.OnceamajorcommercialwaterwaymarkingthetraditionalboundarybetweenNorthernandSouthernEngland,theriverisrelativelystabletodayandisthesourceofrecreationanddrinkingwater,aswellascoolingwaterforalargenumberofcoal-andgas-firedelectricalpowerplantsalongitsroute.Oneofthoseplants,KeadbyPowerStationatScunthorpeinNorthLincolnshire,isoperatedbySSE,oneofthelargestenergycompaniesintheUnitedKingdom.TheKeadbyplant,whichbegancommercialoperationin1996,isa720-megawattcombined-cyclegasturbinegeneratingfacility.
TheKeadbypower-generatingplantincludestwoGeneralElectricframe9FAgasturbines,oneAlstomsteamturbine,twoBabcockthree-pressurewasteheatrecoveryboilersandaSiemensGT10Bauxiliarygasturbine.Itismaintainedandoperatedbyastaffof53includingmanagers,engineersandtechnicians.WhenSSEmanagementrealizedthefacility’sDistributedControlSystemwasapproachingplant-wideobsolescence,thecompanychoseInvensysOperationsManagementtoupgradetheplanttoamoreflexible,scalable,andsupportablesolution.
SSEisaverticallyintegratedenergyutility,andisinvolvedinthegeneration,transmission,distributionandsupplyofelectricityaswellasthestorage,distributionandsupplyofnaturalgas,telecommunications,contractingandenergyservices.SSEhasmorethan10millioncustomeraccountsintheUK,supplyingnaturalgasandelectricitytomorethan3.5millionhomesandbusinesses.ItownstheUK’slargestonshoregasstoragefacilityatHornseainEastYorkshireandiscurrentlybuildinganew,largerfacilityatAldbrough.Inaddition,thecompanyhasoneofthelargestelectricalcontractingbusinessesintheUK,operatingfrom60regionaloffices.AstheUK’slargeststreetlightingcontractor,SSEalsomaintainsover1millionlights.
Thecompanyhasatotalofmorethan11,300megawattsofcapacity,2,000megawattsofwhichisinstalledrenewablecapacity.Assuch,SSEistheUK’ssecondlargestgenerationbusinessoverall,andthelargestgeneratorofelectricityfromrenewablesources.SSE,formedwiththemergerofScottishHydroElectricandSouthernElectric,alsohasanownershipinterestinmorethan100thermalandrenewablepowerstations.
Shining the Light on a New Infrastructure Approach
Beforetheupgrade,themajorityoftheplantwasoperatedbyasite-wideEmersonWDPF(WestinghouseDistributedProcessFamily)DCSsystem.Amoderate-sizedcontrolsystem,thisincluded26fault-tolerantcontrollers;12HMIworkstations,includingonehistorianandcomprising6,046hardwiredI/O,eightcontrolleveldatalinks(Modbus,Allen-BradleyDH+,GE-GSM);threesupervisoryleveldatalinks(Modbus-TCP,ODBC,OSI-PI);and190processscreens,includingapproximately130overlaysand48sequences.
SSEengineersinitiallyidentified7keycriteriafortheDCSupgradeprojectatKeadbyPowerStation.Topoflistwasthattheupgradehadtobecompletedintimeforascheduledmajorplantoutageandthesystemmigratedwithminimalsitecommissioningtime.Inaddition,thenewDCSsystemhadtoaddressthepressingobsolescenceissuesandremaincurrentfortheremainderoftheplant’sexpectedservicelife.Sufficientexpandabilityintermsofcontrollermemory,I/Ocapacityandnetworkbandwidthtogetherwithsimplifiedonlineconfigurationwasalsoconsideredakeyrequirement.Becauseofthepotentialimpactonoperatingproceduresandotherhumanfactors,engineersalsospecifiedthatthenewplantsolutionshouldmaintaintheexistingcontrolstrategiesandHMIinterfacestandards.
Upgrading Systems in Harmony with Existing Operations and Upgrades
Asplanningprogressed,itbecameclearthattheDCSupgradehadtobeconductedinparallelwithessentialmajormaintenanceactivitiesaswellasotherexpansionprojects.Furthermore,siteworksneededtotakeplacewithminimaldisruptiontotheoutageprogramme.Ariskassessmentoftheprojectrequirementidentifiedtwokeyareasofconcern:theI/Oupgrade,andapplicationsoftwaremigration.FortheI/Oupgrade,plantengineersatKeadbycitedchallengessuchasfadedconductoridentificationlabels,incompleteloopdrawings,humanerrorrisksandthepotentialimpactontheoutageprogrammeassociatedwithon-siterewiringandtestingofapproximately6,000loops.
“Althoughtheexistingsystemhadbeenreliableinthepast,problemswereemerging,”saidHughFerguson,C&IengineeratKeadbyPowerStationandprojectmanagerfortheDCSupgradeproject.“Anincreasingnumberof
componentswereeithernolongeravailableornolongerrepairable.Plus,controllermemorywasnearcapacityandmostofthedatahighwaybandwidthwasalreadyutilized.”
Migrationoftheapplicationsoftwarewasalsoconsideredapotentialproblemarea.Documentationwaslimitedandtherewerenocontrolnarrativesavailable.Thismeantthattheapplicationsoftwareitselfhadtobeusedasthesourceforthemigrationprocessraisingconcernsoverthepotentialforhumanerror,theskill-setsrequired,andthefunctionalacceptancetestcriteria.
Basedonthepotentialobstacles,itwasnotclearwhethertherewasanalternativetoupgradingtoOvation,thenextgenerationoftheWDPFplatform.However,becauseofconcernsoversoftwareacceptancetestingandcontinuedsupportfortheexistingI/Ohardware,SSEdecidedtogoouttoTenderfortheproject.
SixDCSvendorspre-qualifiedfortheproposedmigrationproject,withfourvendorsaskedtopresentformaltechni-calevaluationsoftheirproposedsolutions.
InvensysOperationsManagementwasultimatelyselectedbySSEbecauseoftheirprovenplug-inI/OcardmigrationsolutionforWDPF,WDPFmigrationexpertise,in-housesimulationcapabilitiesandtheincorporationofamodel-basedplantsimulatorforapplicationsoftwaretestingandoperatortraining.
Invensys Mastery of the Migration Process
InvensysWDPFmigration-styleFBMsareaplug-inreplacementforWDPFQ-LineI/OcardswhichallowtheexistingWDPFI/Oracks,power-supplies,andfieldwiringtoberetainedandre-usedbythenewFoxboroIAsystem.FromanIAsystemperspective,thesemodulesappearidenticaltostandardFoxboro200-seriesFBMs.
Semi-automatedtoolswereofferedtomigratetheWestinghouseapplicationtotheInvensysInFusionenvironment.InFusionistheInvensysdeliverymechanismforenterprisecontrol,andconsistsofthehardwareandsoftwarecomponentsnecessarytoprovideatrueaggregatedviewofinformationacrossanorganization,enablingarobustfoundationforcollaborationbetweenpeople,processesandsystems.
TheSimSci-EsscorDynamicSimulationSuiteprovidesbothmodel-basedplantsimulationandaplatformforenablingacompleteOperatorTrainingSimulator(OTS)solution
comprisingvirtualizedDCScontrolprocessors,interfacestothird-partyvirtualcontrollersandafeature-richtrainingenvironment.TheSimSci-Esscorsolutionprovidesthefullpowerofrigorousdynamicsimulationandcontrolsystememulationforprocessengineers,plantengineers,opera-torsandmanagerstoimproveplantdesign,checkoutcontrols,trainoperatorsandimproveplantperformance.Italsooffersamodernalternativetodated,fragmented,empiricalandhard-to-useproductswithwhichmanyengi-neeringfirmsandplantscurrentlystruggle.
InvensysalsodemonstratedanextensivetrackrecordforsupportingtheFoxboroI/ASeriesDistributedControlSystem,akeycomponentoftheInvensysInFusionEnterpriseControlSystem,andwereabletoofferanumberofproductstofurtherenhancementthesystemincludingSequentialFunctionChartsforDCSsequencesandtheROMeoOnlinePerformanceSuiteforplantperformancemetrics.
ROMeoisanadvanced,unifiedmodelingenvironmentdeliveringonlineoptimizationapplicationstohelpusersobtainpeakperformancefromtheiroperatingunits.RO-Meooffersprocessoptimizationacrossanentireenterprisewithonlinemodelingandequation-basedoptimizationcapabilitiesprovidingmoreaccurate,currentoperatinginformationtobettermanagechangingmarketpressures,productvalues,energycostsandequipmentperformance.“ThemigrationapproachofferedbyInvensysOperationsManagementshowedthatanalternativetotheexistingsystemwasaviableoption,”saidHughFerguson.“Simulationisalsoprovingparticularlyusefulatresolvinghard-to-replicateproblems,andwasinvaluableinleveragingtheexperienceofplantoperatorsduringmigrationoftheapplicationsoftware.”
Initially,migrationoftheDCSapplicationsoftwareanddevelopmentoftheOTSplantmodelwereundertakenasseparate,parallelactivitiesbyseparateInvensysprojectteams.Oncecompleted,thesetwoelementswerethencombinedtoallowfunctionaltestingintheFactory,priortoinstallationatsite.
Oncethesystemarchitectureandhardwareandbeenspecified,theInvensysDCSteambeganbydevelopingmigrationtoolsandcarryingoutcodeanalyses;breakingtheapplicationdownintoHMIcomponents,interlock/protectionlogic,sequences,uniquestrategies,andtypicals.MigratedDCScomponentswerethentestedonamodularbasisviaacombinationofcodereviewsandbasicI/ASeriesfunctionaltesting.
