Power Station performance monitoring as easy as PI

Mipac recently integrated an AVEVA PI System™ (formerly OSI Pi, OSIsoft PI) with a Metso DCS for an Australian Power Station.

Working onsite at the Australian Power Station, NSW — a natural gas-fuelled 162 MW co-generation plant, Mipac PI System expert was tasked with integrating the Metso data into PI System, generating performance screens, automating plant reports and training staff in the PI System.

Previously reports were generated manually but now the plant operators can view up-to-the-minute information streamed from the GE-installed Mark VI turbine control system and the rest of the plant’s Metso DCS.

Mipac developed performance screens in PI ProcessBook™ as well as plant performance reports in Excel format. The screens contain information from the GE Mark VI system and the Metso system. Reports from these systems were previously displayed on separate screens.

The new reports are based on PI’s Asset Framework™ and make heavy use of PI Asset-based Analytics.
This is a new software functionality released in 2014 that allows plants to organise and structure their data, create hierarchies and also extend the framework if a plant expands.

Calculations are automated, scheduled and templated on the server rather than using manual formulas in Microsoft Excel.

Mipac has improved information access and display. Previously plant operators had to manually extract data from the DCS to complete reports, now the process is fully automated — saving time and money and allowing station management to make informed decisions based on comprehensive information.

And operators no longer have to access the plant control room for reports because screens are accessible from their office desks – a much more convenient option.

In addition to integrating PI System into the plant control systems, Mipac’s PI System expert also conducted on-site training for plant operators.

Staff are now skilled to use the PI System to its full extent and report processes are simplified and decisions are based on holistic data.

Mipac’s ongoing commitment to site will involve providing support for on-screen deliverables.