Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition

MECHANICAL AND ELECTRICAL..  WHAT ABOUT THE DIGITAL?

The black art of SCADA ...  Well not exactly but it is a specialised subject in an offshore environment and most probably being delivered across packages so there will be technical and commercial challenges.
Our advise, to avoid contract variations later in the project is to develop your Control  philosophy and SCADA Procurement strategy as early as you can so responsibilities are fully understood.
To reduce costs especially prior to finance close ODiGE can develop project specific papers to support your team through this process, we've done it many times before. Papers include:

  • Offshore Wind SCADA and Control systems - Generic
  • Control Philosophy - Project Specific
  • SCADA Procurement Strategy - Project Specific
  • Wind Turbine Generator SCADA Functional Specification - Project Specific
  • High Voltage SCADA Functional Specification - Project Specific

SCADA

Most offshore wind projects appoint at least one experienced SCADA engineer who covers a variety  of technical areas all rolled up into the overarching term SCADA. However early in a project and especially pre financial decision this can be an difficult and expensive role to fill. The technical workload can be minimal but important decisions need to be made by the project management team.

Our advise...and have as much or as little experience and industry knowledge on demand from Offshore Digital Engineering.

DATA NETWORKS AND TELECOMMUNICATION

DMZ, WANs.LAN, VLANs, Layer 2, Layer 3, Tunnelling, NATing..  This subject gets geeks quickly.

All the digital systems (supplied by others) will need secure resilient and probably diverse connections. For security reasons these may have to go via a corporate network!  As a project you'll have to manage all these connections. Full time resource for a project is expensive,  get support when you need it.

SPECIALIST MONITORING DTS PD TX OIL

Additional specialist monitoring systems are becoming more popular. Often implemented to reduce risk and or insurance premiums these systems often require network, telecoms and integration into other system..  Offshore Digital Engineering has expereince with a number of these system.

CCTV SECURITY AND TELEPHONY

The little systems that often become the thorn in a projects side.

Voice is essential, CCTV optional however more projects are seeing the benefits of it, trouble is it can easily eat bandwidth and become very expensive to operate. A clear strategy early in the development will avoid  surprises and VO's later in the process.

SUB SYSTEM CONTROL

So what are we talking about and why should we be concerned?

SCADA as its name states is a Supervisory system, meaning (if implemented correctly) there will be many sub systems with thier own control systems, referred to as the control layer. These may include:

  • Wind Turbine Generator Control System
  • Park Control System
  • High Voltage Protection & Control Systems
  • Reactive Compensation Control Systems
  • LV Control
  • Offshore Substation Automation (Fuel,Water,Lighting etc..)
  • HVAC Control
  • Fire Detection & Suppression Control System
  • Heli Deck Fire Fighting Control
  • Aviation and Navigation Lighting Control Systems

With so many systems  it would require a team of specialist engineers to mange the implementation within the project. Fortunately you don't have to. Develop a clear Control Philosophy early on, manage thorough a robust testing regime with the suppliers and have Offshore Digital Engineering resource available on demand to evaluate  and advise... Problem under control.

METERING AND GRID COMPLIANCE

Settlement metering on a  Grid connected OFTO regime project is not straight forward.

Code of Practice (COP) Meters for HV and LV, Power quality meters,  Elexon, Meter Agents, stringent network and telecoms requirements to deal with, Integration with the SCADA Systems.. then there is the Grid systems, OMS, DSM and Additional Business Services (ABSMON) should your project want to offer them.

So without sounding like a broken record, make sure you Procurement Strategy is well defined, ensure all packages understand their responsibilities and if you need some support get in touch.