Scottish Power's coal-fired power station at Cockenzie, East Lothian operates four 300MW steam
turbines, burning 1.2million tonnes of coal annually.
Hexatec have worked with Scottish Power for the past twelve years to
provide SCADA (supervisory control and
data acquisition) management software .
A large number of Hexatec systems
monitor the progress of coal transportation, power generation and ash
management.
The Station has installed a network of systems to
monitor the performance of various plant items. Two systems monitor each boiler and two more
monitor
turbine performance.
Therefore, each unit operator has four,
20" touch screens with optional tracker balls mounted in the
control desk. These displays provide the operators with most of
the information required to effectively operate the plant.
In addition to the normal physical parameters of pressures,
temperatures, speeds, etc., the measured parameters include emissions compliance
monitoring.
Each
of these systems is attached, via a network, to
a central Novell fileserver. Data from the systems is temporarily
stored onto the fileserver before the data is finally archived to a tape.
A centre desk PC allows the centre desk operator to view an
overview of the major plant parameters from all four units. This
summary system obtains its data values directly from the inputs
to each unit PC using OPC, to
construct a concise station-wide summary.
An OPC data link is also used to pass data to other systems used
to estimate plant
efficiency.
A fiber optic data link is used to extend the network to the
adjacent office block, allowing managers and operation
supervisors the same displays as the centre desk.
A PC in the
laboratory allows the chemists to view on-line data from the
water treatment plant and general operational information without
going out into the plant.
Additional networked PC's in the
engineering offices allow electrical and mechanical engineers to
evaluate plant anomalies by viewing current data and reviewing
archived information from the PC's on their desks. In this way,
the system can be used as a tool for preventative maintenance
and trouble shooting when necessary.
Further extensions to the system are planned to take in other
aspects of the plant to provide operators and managers with more
information to improve plant efficiency, improve emission
control, and reduce maintenance costs.