Energy Guide Supplement by Eastern Trade Media

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Supplement

A PREMIUM PRODUCT OF INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION ASIA 2013

ENERGY INSIGHT:

The Evolving Landscape

Giving Substations A Boost Wind Farm Operation: Best Practices The Economics Of Efficiency COVER.indd 1

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contents Power Generation

GET SMART Improving the reliability, availability and maintainability of a power substation automation network can make a smart substation even smarter. By Chih Hong Lin, Dennis Lin, Larry Wang and Kyle Pearson, Moxa

CAN SOUTH KOREA LEAD APAC UTILITY-LEVEL ENERGY STORAGE? South Korea seems to have all the right factors to accelerate the market growth for utility-level energy storage. By Vishal Narain, Frost & Sullivan

DRAWING DIFFERENT PARALLELS IN RELIABILITY Reliability considerations in simple paralleling applications are discussed in this article. By Rich Scroggins, Cummins Power Generation

Renewable Energy

SIX BEST PRACTICES FOR EFFECTIVE WIND FARM OPERATION Six best practices that should be considered for effective wind farm operation are explored. By Diane Davis, Red Lion Controls

BUILDING COST-EFFECTIVE WIND-TURBINE GENERATORS With an increasing appetite for cheap, clean sources of energy and an environmentally conscious populace, the need to design and build efficient, cost-effective renewable generation of energy, such as wind, is rising. By Corrie van Rensburg, Rockwell Automation

UNDERSTANDING ENERGY UTILISATION: THE ECONOMICS OF EFFICIENCY

By Philip Tang and Andrew Shen, Mitsubishi Electric Asia

Oil & Gas

ASIAN ENERGY: THE SMART WAY

By Mark Johnston

Energy efficiency is becoming more important in today’s data centres.

Facility and building owners can profit from the cost reduction benefits that energy analytics software provides.

ASIAN EXPANSION: GROWTH OF RENEWABLE

IAA interviewed Hayama Hiromu, CEO, Fuji Electric on the company’s operations in Asia, and its involvement in smart grids.

A LEAP TOWARDS A GREENER DATA CENTRE By Peter Halliday, Siemens

Putting solar modules to the test is the best way to quantify their capability.

Energy Efficiency

THE PRACTICALITY TEST

IAA interviewed Dr Pushkala Lakshmi Ratan, VP, Asia Pacific - Renewables, TÜV SÜD on her company’s involvement in the renewable energies sector and the sector’s expansion in Asia. By Mark Johnston

High performance power analysers are used to improve the efficiency of testing technologies. By Kunihisa Kubota, Hioki E E Corporation

By Nick Rose, PV Energy Solutions and Neil Edwards, REC

ANALYSE THIS

CASE STUDY: AUTOMATED DATA FLOW MONITORING Buyers and sellers in the Oil & Gas industry need to know how much product is flowing out of their wells, through their pipelines and compressor stations, and to their refineries and distribution plants. By Steve Sponseller, Kepware Technologies

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editorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s page A Premium Product Of Industrial Automation Asia

FOCUSING ON ENERGY With increasing focus on climate change, more governments are proposing and implementing policies that increase efficiency, reduce cost, and diversify their energy sources. New markets are opening up, creating more opportunities for business and investment. One such country is Myanmar, which has gotten investors interested in the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largely untapped oil and gas sector. Recently, the country has tendered 30 unexplored oil and gas blocks off its coast attracting much interest for those looking to diversify their energy sources. In the meantime, however, the country is looking towards solar and wind energy as possible alternatives to alleviate its energy demands while, developing its infrastructure and attracting investment opportunities from interested parties. For the country to develop further however, its government will need to develop a comprehensive energy strategy and regulatory framework. Alternative energy sources are quickly gaining ground on more traditional sources of energy with solar and wind energy seen as the fastest growing sources in this sector. In fact, they are predicted to represent a quarter of the global power mix by 2018, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Also gaining ground on the gas sector, renewable sources are said to overtake natural gas as a source of power by 2016 and represent twice that of nuclear, coming in second only to coal. There has been much discussion since several years on the growth of China, and this discussion continues on the topic of renewables. Hydropower, wind, solar, geothermal and bioenergy are all seen to be growing at an increased pace in China and other emerging countries. One possible explanation is an increased air of competitiveness within the renewables sector when compared to the gas or fossil fuel sector. This energy supplement has come at an opportune time, as new policies are being developed and emerging markets are growing rapidly. It should be seen as a guide, or a helpful tool for those in the energy sector. It should also spark your interest and provide a call to action in developing a more comprehensive energy strategy for your organisation. Renewable sources of energy are growing rapidly, and represent a great opportunity for investment and expansion.

Oil & Gas credit: Petty Officer 3rd Class Patrick Kelley Solar credit: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Washington DC, US Gardens By The Bay credit: Ryan Santos, Manila, Philippines Offshore Wind Turbine credit: Harald Pettersen/Statoil

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Contributors

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Forward

THE KEY

Richard Hong, CEO, TÜV SÜD PSB

ROLE OF STANDARDS

According to the Asian Development Bank,

basis of measurement and analysis, quality control

regional economic growth in the Asia Pacific

and environmental protection in the energy field.

region is estimated to reach 6.6 percent in 2013,

Regulatory compliance to prescribed standards

compared to the previous growth rate of six

can have a positive impact on the effectiveness

percent in 2012. As the region grows, its energy

of an energy programme. Along with standards

needs will expand in tandem with it. To cope

development, accreditation ensures that energy

with the demand, there is a pressing need to

assessors and auditors are competent and possess

secure a steady supply of clean energy, enhance

the appropriate skills to conduct assessments and

energy security, explore new supply sources and

audits. In this region, we see a growing trend of

technology and integrate regional energy markets

companies embarking on energy improvement

and infrastructure.

programmes, performing energy audits and

The approach to addressing our energy future

establishing their energy baselines. Implementing

would require involvement of all stakeholders

an effective energy management system makes

in the energy supply chain — political, public,

good business sense and is a sustainable solution

private and social sectors. Policy makers need to

to manage energy consumption.

show strong commitment to energy policies and

The future of the energy sector in the region

forge good partnerships in the region so as to

holds much promise. We have seen technological

build a sustainable infrastructure that will ensure

innovation open up new sources of oil and gas,

secure and competitively-priced energy. Besides

harness renewable energy more effectively and

looking at the broader national level, there is also

help reduce energy consumption. To better prepare

a need to make it easier and more attractive for

for the future, continued investment in research and

consumers to adopt energy-efficient practices.

development to further build our capabilities and

International energy standards can play a key

develop new technologies will be key in identifying

role in bringing about clarity and consistency

new ways for effective deployment of clean energy

through the provision of a universally accepted

sources towards the good of the environment.

i n d e x ADVERTISER

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This index is provided as an additional service. The publisher does not assume any liability for errors or omissions.

A Premium Product Of Industrial Automation Asia

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9/5/13 10:28:22 AM

Power Generation

Get Smart Improving the reliability, availability and maintainability of a power substation automation network can make a smart substation even smarter.

Colin Brough, Dundee, United Kingdom

By Chih Hong Lin, business development manager, Dennis Lin, assistant manager, Larry Wang, project supervisor and Kyle Pearson, technical writer, Moxa

he end goal of IEC 61850 is to transform the electricity distribution industry by building more intelligence and more complete automation into power substations. With Intelligent Electronic Devices (IED), it is possible to extend new controls and automation deep into the substation’s process layer, allowing for real-time monitoring and management from a centralised remote control hub. According to IEC 61850, an intelligent substation is characterised by three basic features. To meet these objectives, the IEC 61850 standard stipulates that power substations will use Ethernet switches and embedded computers for data communications and computing all throughout the station, bay, and process levels.

As these KPIs indicate, the foremost concerns for electricity suppliers are substation reliability, efficiency, security, service quality, and productivity.

GAUGING CUSTOMER CONCERNS

•

Power companies gauge achievement according to a number of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), objectives that include both technical and financial measures. The following indicators rank as among the most important KPIs for electricity suppliers:

• •

• • • • • •

A broad temperature tolerance is required in any substation environment, where temperatures may run as high as 75 deg C or as low as -40 deg C. Most computers fail when faced with these extremes. The challenge electricity suppliers face is how to guarantee that their systems will continue to function reliably and predictably even when enduring the most extreme environmental challenges.

System Average Interruption Frequency Index (SAIFI) System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI) Energy Not Supplied (ENS) Average Interruption Time (AIT) Overhead Lines Maintenance Cost Index (OHLMCI) Substation Maintenance Cost Indices (SSMCIs)

ENHANCING RELIABILITY, AVAILABILITY & MAINTAINABILITY The IEC 61850-3 and IEEE 1613 standards precisely define EMC and communication requirements for network equipment used in substations. Substation computers and Ethernet switches must be IEC 61850-3/IEEE 1613 certified to guarantee adequate protection against a variety of environmental conditions. These minimum requirements include: Level four EMC, to give strong protection against electrical interference -40 to 75 deg C ambient temperature tolerance High tolerances for constant vibrations and shocks

ENGINEERING HIGH TEMPERATURE TOLERANCE

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FloTherm Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software is a thermal simulation tool available today. It predicts airflow and heat transfer in, through, and around electronic equipment, aggregating data from individual components to create complex models of the entire system at every design level. The simulation tool allows engineers to predict and incorporate conduction, convection, and radiation effects within the device, clearly showing them how heat signatures shift and change at every step of operation. A major worry for any system that depends on high performance computers are burnouts caused by failed fans or clogged grills. Ideally, a substation computer should be fully sealed from the outer environment and not require a fan in any capacity. This extends its life significantly, but is complicated by the extreme heat that is often generated in substation environments. Engineers must therefore work to situate the PCBâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s highest thermal concentration in the very centre of the device, so that the heat has the largest immediate area available to dissipate into. With fanless systems, generally the entire outer shell is utilised as one large heat sink, with careful analysis and adjustment of fin heights, gaps, thicknesses, and points of contact to further optimise dissipation. All of these factors must be carefully evaluated and adjusted to achieve maximum dissipation efficiency. What this means is that fully fanless designs are not trivial to create, and overall, are more expensive than fan-cooled solutions. But the additional cost is more than justified by the huge increase in reliability, as well as the additional benefits of reduced size, complexity, and susceptibility to dust, heat, and corrosion.

ZERO PACKET LOSS AT WIRE SPEED Packet loss in substation communications introduces an unpredictable risk that, in worst-case scenarios, can threaten a substation system with catastrophic, permanent failure. The possibility of packet loss is even more likely in a high EMI environment than in more conventional settings, therefore, ensuring that critical packets are accurately and reliably transmitted is a key concern for any electricity supplier. Addressing the communications integrity challenge posed by high EMI environments involves two approaches. First, network devices that meet IEEC 1613 class l requirements must have a level four EMC rating, to guarantee they will reliably tolerate high EMI conditions. Clever engineering may use various approaches to achieve this level of electromagnetic tolerance; for instance,

hardware engineers may optimise the PCBA circuit, re-work the power supply, and use carefully customised components to achieve better EMC and surge protection. As a final measure, the mechanical components themselves may be re-designed to give much better shielding and grounding than are available on commercial devices. Second, all devices must communicate critical, low-level IEC 61850 multicasts (GOOSE/SMV) with the highest priority, without fail, to guarantee that these messages are clearly received without distortion throughout the entire network, regardless of what other communications that may be currently congesting the lines. Ping-based solutions are not sufficient to achieve this. To fully satisfy IEEE 1613 Class 2 requirements, substation switches must support strong QoS traffic shaping. Traffic shaping switches scan the Ethertype field of every transmitted packet and then automatically prioritise high-importance messages to the front of the routing queue, so that critical messages are delivered within the allotted time, regardless of however much other data is being communicated along the network. To ensure stable data deliveries for critical system messages like GOOSE or SMV, substation switches must provide not only maximum EMI immunity, but also bolster it with QoS traffic shaping.

DIGITAL DIAGNOSTIC MONITORING (DDM) FOR FIBRE Fibre port performance is measured by the duration of successful operating time, and high temperatures reduce this significantly. Preventing fibre malfunctions with a pre-fault predictive maintenance mechanism is extremely important, but at the moment, most substations only support SFP-type optical fibre monitoring. DDM can help with this. Using DDM, substation switches can monitor ST/SC (as well as SFP) connectors, and notify power SCADA systems via SNMP trap or MMS when abnormalities are detected, allowing operators to initiate maintenance procedures. DDM reports and alarms may be communicated over a web, CLI, or serial console, via MMS reporting or SNMP traps, by a digital relay, or in the system log. Preferably, several methods will be used to provide redundancy. This arrangement further allows system operators real time monitoring of things like transmission and reception power, temperature, and voltage/current along optical fibre connections.

Thermal simulation tools can predict air flow and heat transfer.

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IT automation now allows engineers to remotely monitor a computer’s health and trigger a full software platform rewrite

OS SMART RECOVERY

Digital Diagnostic Monitoring

MAXIMAL MAINTAINABILITY, MINIMAL DOWNTIME Currently, substations are being forced into the relatively sloppy position of splitting the difference between two monitoring and communication protocols: SNMP is used for IT devices, while MMS is used for everything else. This is inconvenient and expensive, not least because integrating these two systems over a single interface is a time-consuming customisation that increases deployment costs and system complexity. However, for manufacturers bold enough to try, there is an elegant solution to this conundrum: the integration of MMS into SNMP-capable Ethernet switches and other IT hardware. With MMS-capable IT hardware, substation system integrators and automation engineers will be able to render a full accounting of the entire network of automation devices right alongside process layer information, all under a single SCADA view. Because substation systems will no longer need to resort to installing and configuring separate software for IT devices, station operators will achieve more thorough automation integration, improvements in management efficiency, and savings on deployment costs. Integrating IT devices via MMS makes substation networks more controllable, more flexible, and more responsive.

In the past, when IP technology was alien to industrial control networks, most automation systems could only rely on hardware or software watchdogs for hard resets whenever a failed device needed to be restored. There was very little a remote system administrator could see, or do. If the reset did not work, then diagnosing and fixing a problem required an engineer to physically travel to the site. Fortunately, IT automation now allows engineers to remotely monitor a computer’s health and trigger a full software platform rewrite should a problem arise. These rewrites are made from a tagged disk image that is created when the embedded computer is first successfully configured and deployed. The methods used to achieve this sort of remote automated recovery are not new, but unless they come already combined into a readyto-run software application, then building a highly reliable, custom recovery system can be quite difficult and time consuming. Without a smart OS recovery system, corruption of system software — whether in the OS or in local substation applications — can be catastrophic for remote industrial installations and sites with mass computer deployments. With some estimates of computer failure attributable to software corruption as high as 30 percent, automated BIOS-level software recovery systems are an extremely valuable design addition to power substations, whether remote or local.

IN CONCLUSION We have presented the solutions to several key customer concerns, namely addressing issues like system reliability and improving system availability. Putting these solutions together will increase the reliability, availability, and maintainability of a power substation automation network, and make any smart substation even smarter. energy guide Supplement

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Power Generation

tility-level energy storage is an often-discussed topic in the energy storage industry, widely expected to be the Holy Grail unearthing a huge potential market across the world. It has the ability to provide power utility customers multiple benefits such as electric energy time shift, peak management, area regulation, transmission support and time-of-use energy cost management.

THE TECHNOLOGY ADVANTAGE Energy storage, being a technology-intensive market, necessitates that technology be developed and supported locally. In this case, South Korea has a strong technology advantage that works in its favour. For instance, in lithium-ion batteries, the market has witnessed the evolution of two global giants in companies such as Samsung SDI and LG Chem, which have been able to surpass the Japanese market dominance since 2011-2012. This success has led to investments in futuristic battery energy storage technologies like NaS batteries, Redox Flow batteries and Metal air batteries.

The next two to three years will largely be focused on developing these technologies. As per the current corporate and government plans, from 2015 onwards, there is likely to be a spurt in utility-level energy storage demonstration projects using these technologies, which will be a pre-cursor to mass commercialisation. Post 2017, battery technologies are expected to dominate the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s utility-level energy storage infrastructure. Apart from batteries, South Korean firms such as Nesscap and LS Mtron also have a strong presence in the supercapacitors market, though their application for utility-level benefits may be limited due to their discharge characteristics. Other than these, efforts are underway to develop Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) technology that would suit the geological conditions of the country. Currently, strong government support exists for lithiumion batteries and CAES, in which there have been demonstration projects to support utility-level installations.

Can South Korea Lead APAC Utility-Level Energy Storage? South Korea seems to have all the right factors to accelerate the market growth for utility-level energy storage.

South Korea has a strong technology advantage that works in its favour.

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el Trekero

By Vishal Narain, industry analyst, Energy & Environment, Asia Pacific, Frost & Sullivan

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Besides, established home-grown battery companies such as Samsung SDI, LG Chem, and SK Energy prefer to source from local component suppliers as that gives them cost advantage and technology protection. Furthermore, the downstream segment of the value chain involves Energy Storage System (ESS) integration with Battery Management Systems (BMS) and Power Conversion Systems (PCS). Companies such as Hyosung and LSIS are wellknown in this space as ESS integrator companies. For CAES technology, consortiums exist that manage the few demonstration projects. Gradually, as this technology develops and commercialises, it is likely that a strong value chain would develop to support these installations as well.

ENERGY STORAGE HAS A STRONG GOVERNMENT FOCUS The technology advantage is supported by a strong government vision to make utility-level energy storage a reality in South Korea. The Korean government, especially the Ministry of Knowledge Economy (MKE), has been giving a strong impetus to the energy storage sector and has taken the following steps to ensure that the country becomes a leading provider of energy storage solutions globally, to occupy 30 percent of the global market by 2020. •

•

The MKE with the private sector plans to invest a total of 6.4 trillion KRW (US$5.7 billion) in the energy storage sector by 2020. Of this amount, the government will spend 2 trillion KRW in R&D, and plans to invest 4.4 trillion KRW in the development of infrastructure. The country is positioning itself as a technology-export centre for energy storage technologies. The government strives to replicate the success story of lithium-ion batteries to other technologies as well. There is an ongoing initiative to implement ‘Smart Grid’ demonstration projects and the subsequent roll out of smart grid across the country requires the support of energy storage at the utility-level.

END-TO-END VALUE CHAIN DEVELOPMENT SUPPORTS MARKET GROWTH End-to-end (from vendors to customers) value chain support is essential for the overall market growth. While lithium ion battery companies have been flourishing and garnering more market share, the cell component manufacturers’ presence have been limited in the domestic market. The majority of them were located in Japan. However, over the last two years, the domestic supplier eco-system for lithium-ion battery manufacturers has been on the rise and the government has introduced measures to support these small and medium enterprises by: • •

Providing financial support to those firms that made initial losses and, Promoting collaboration between the lithium-ion battery companies and domestic component suppliers by setting up industry associations

FUTURE NEED FOR UTILITY-LEVEL ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS Despite all the support infrastructure and overall eco-system growth, the need for ESS in grid integration or at the utility-level is the key driver for market growth. This support in the form of market demand is expected to remain in South Korea due to the following: Renewable Integration into the grid is governed by stringent renewable portfolio standards. As per the recently released 6th Basic Plan, up to 20 percent of the overall generating capacity would be served by Renewable Energy (RE) by 2027. Of this, three percent of the peak demand would be from RE sources, which would have to be integrated into the grid through ESS. The intermittency in solar and wind capacity has to be eliminated for the integration of these RE sources to the grid that would increase the demand for utility-level energy storage in South Korea. Its impact is likely to be maximised after 2017, when the stress on Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) is likely to gain maximum mileage. However, it is widely expected that ‘frequency regulation’ will be the major demand driver for utility-level energy storage in the short term, and that renewable integration will be the main source of demand in the medium to long term.

GROWTH OF SMART GRID & DEMAND FOR BETTER GRID FACILITIES South Korea currently has many smart grid installations coming up and has additional plans for the installation of newer smart grids. With ESS being a basic requirement for smart grids, the smart grid plan will increase demand for utility-level ESS. With time and the increasing cost of power, end users are likely to demand better grid facilities like demand management, timeof-use services and frequency regulation etc. Utility-level energy storage would be crucial to provide these services to end users. While market dynamics are expected to drive the growth of utility-level energy storage, initial government support for energy storage and utility regulations that provide economic benefits for ancillary grid services will go a long way in supporting and ensuring sustainable growth of the utility-level ESS in South Korea. Based on an assessment of these factors and the views of industry participants, Frost & Sullivan predicts that the South Korean utility-level ESS market will reach a size of 300 billion KRW by 2020, from a size of around 9 billion KRW in 2012. energy guide Supplement

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Power Generation

Reliability considerations in simple paralleling applications are discussed in this article. By Rich Scroggins, technical specialist, Sales Application Engineering, Cummins Power Generation

Drawing Different Parallels In Reliability R

eliability in power generation systems, defined as the probability that power will be available at any point in time, is the primary reason standby generator sets are purchased. Using paralleled redundant generator sets is one method commonly used to enhance system reliability. Redundancy traditionally has been a requirement only in critical applications such as data centres and hospitals where an extended loss of power could result in loss of life or a substantial financial loss, as these were the only scenarios where the cost of a redundant generator and the associated paralleling switchgear could be justified. The availability of lower cost power transfer devices and paralleling control systems have in recent years made redundant paralleled generators an attractive option in less critical standby power applications.

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RELIABILITY & REDUNDANCY The purpose of redundancy is to eliminate a single point of failure from a system. It is well documented that having redundant systems will make the overall system more reliable however this is always based on the assumptions that single points of failure are truly eliminated and not just moved to another part of the system and that the controls enabling redundancy do not introduce new failure modes which compromise reliability. Paralleled generator sets that rely on a single master control for signals to start and to close to a paralleled bus actually replace one failure point with two as the master control and the communication link between the master and the generator sets each represent single points of failure.

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A standby generator set from a reputable manufacturer that has been maintained properly and tested periodically according to the manufacturer’s recommendations is a very reliable solution. Adding a redundant generator with the inherent complexity of a paralleling system is not necessarily going to make the system more reliable. Investing in a reliable generator set and a robust maintenance program so the generator does not fail is often a better investment than installing a more complex system to compensate for a failed generator set.

•

Generator starting — In a simple standby isolated bus paralleling application the start signal is sent directly from the transfer switches that sense the utility failure to the generator sets. Sending the signal through a master control adds no value and introduces an unnecessary failure mode.

•

Paralleling bus voltage sensing — For reliable paralleling each generator must sense the bus voltage independently rather than rely on a signal from a separate control

TOTAL SYSTEM COST

•

Closing to a dead bus — Generator controls should determine when to close their paralleling breaker to the bus. To provide the fastest and most reliable service to a dead bus generators must arbitrate between each other so that only one generator closes to the bus. Waiting for a permissive signal from a master slows the system down and adds an unnecessary failure mode

•

Synchronising and closing to a live bus — Generator sets synchronise reliably and quickly when there is no other control in the loop. External controls adjusting bias lines or otherwise interfering with the synchronising algorithm introduce unnecessary complexity into the system.

There are some instances where the cost of two small generator sets will be less than the cost of one larger generator set. The total installed cost of the system is often overlooked in basic standby applications. There are many factors which need to be evaluated beyond the cost of the generator sets. • • • • • •

Foundation Space requirements Cabling Commissioning costs Maintenance costs Capital Investment

Investing in a reliable generator set and a robust maintenance program so the generator does not fail is often a better investment than installing a more complex system to compensate for a failed generator set.

CONTROL SYSTEM A robust control system is critical to having a reliable paralleling system. A control system needs to minimise single points of failure and have fault tolerance measures built in. Key factors in a paralleling control system include the following:

Eliminate Single Points Of Failure The most effective way to eliminate single points of failure in a control system is to use distributed logic and control rather than centralised control. Critical control functions such as generator starting, bus voltage sensing, synchronising and closing to the bus should be executed by individual generator set controls rather than a master control. This way the system will have redundancy in critical control functions in addition to having redundant generators and the single point of failure is eliminated.

Load Add/Load Shed Load add and load shed schemes are used to make sure that there is always sufficient capacity to serve the most critical loads. Two levels of load add and one level for load shed is sufficient for most simple, isolated bus paralleling applications. This can be implemented without the use of a master control. A master control may be required for additional levels of load add/shed. Although a master control can present a single point of failure the system can be designed so that failure of the master will not impact the most critical loads. A load add scheme is required in a paralleling system when a single generator is not large enough to carry all of the loads in the system. A simple load add scheme with two levels can be implemented using the inhibit function of the non-emergency

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the bus. Random access paralleling is the most reliable paralleling method and is most commonly used in critical applications. A less expensive paralleling method known as exciter paralleling is used in some paralleling applications. In an exciter paralleling system all of the generators start with their paralleling breakers closed and their excitation circuits de-energised. When the generators start they are connected to the bus but produce no voltage. When all generators reach starter disconnect speed their excitation circuits are energised and the generator bus voltage ramps up with the generators forcing each other into sync. Because exciter paralleling systems will not work until all generators either reach disconnect speed or are locked out they are not used in critical applications. Random access paralleling with active synchronisation should always be used when paralleling gensets in critical applications. Paralleling systems include engines, alternators, controls, switchgear and transfer switches. Properly supporting these equipment requires a diverse skill set.

load transfer switches and the aux contacts of the genset paralleling breakers. Emergency load transfer switches should not be inhibited and should close to the bus as soon as it is live. Non-emergency transfer switches can be inhibited until all of the generator sets come on line. A load shed scheme is required so that when generators are overloaded the non-critical loads can be taken off line so that there will be sufficient capacity to serve the critical loads. Most paralleling generator set controls have a load shed or load dump output which can be connected to the load shed input of the transfer switches that serve the non-emergency loads. This will take the non-emergency loads off line in the event that the generator sets are overloaded. Note that to properly shed load transfer switches must be three position switches with centeroff positions.

Isochronous Vs Droop Load Sharing Most load sharing systems today are isochronous, meaning that the voltage and frequency are held constant however there are still controls being produced that use droop load sharing, which allow voltage and frequency to vary with load. Droop load sharing controls were once popular because they allowed generator sets to parallel with each other without communicating with each other. Due to the variation of frequency and voltage with a droop paralleling system the quality of power provided to the load typically is not very good and may not be suitable for some electrical equipment. Isochronous load sharing is the appropriate technology to use. Random Access Paralleling Vs Exciter Paralleling Random access paralleling refers to a system in which the first generator at rated speed and voltage closes to the dead bus and then all the other generators actively synchronise and close to

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Fault Tolerance â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Manual Mode A key consideration in assessing the reliability of a system is the ability of the system to operate when certain components have failed. Having a pre-defined sequence of operations for a user to follow in a worst case scenario to manually provide power to loads is often a requirement in critical applications. A user should be able to manually start generators, initiate synchronisation and close paralleling breakers. Manual operation does not mean that the generator control is not operating. It means only that functions are user initiated rather than system initiated. All system protection functions will still be active. The control will not allow a paralleling breaker to close if the generator and the paralleling bus are not in phase with each other.

SERVICE, SUPPORT & SCALABILITY One of the first questions that should be asked when choosing a supplier of a paralleling system is how will the system be supported in the future? Paralleling systems include engines, alternators, controls, switchgear and transfer switches and properly supporting all of this equipment requires a diverse skill set. Paralleling systems are frequently expanded after they are put into service to accommodate increasing power demands. The ability to add a generator set and the associated switchgear in the future should always be considered. The system should have the flexibility to allow generator sets from a different manufacturer to be added in the future.

CONCLUSION The decision on whether to provide backup power with a single generator set or with redundant paralleled generator sets will be based on reliability and cost. The key question is: does the redundancy coupled with the added complexity of a paralleling system increase the system reliability enough to justify the additional cost? When a decision has been made to parallel generator sets there are several considerations that need to be addressed to maximise the reliability of the system.

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Renewable Energy

Six Best Practices For

Effective Wind Farm Operation

Six best practices that should be considered for effective wind farm operation are explored.

Brandon W Mosley, US

By Diane Davis, director of Product Management, Networking, Red Lion Controls

WHY INDUSTRIAL-GRADE NETWORKING?

high-speed, industrial-grade network infrastructure offers wind farm operators many benefits, including improved operational management, visibility and access to key data. Real-time data access enables operators to monitor wind turbine uptime, performance and power output — even from remote locations. This data, which is used to track power generation efficiency and trends, provides predictive information that is critical to ‘Smart Grid’ technology.

For effective wind farm operation, complexity and extreme conditions must be taken into consideration. Industrial-grade networking solutions have been designed for rugged environments. In addition to handling harsh conditions and fluctuating temperatures typical of outdoor locations, industrial switches provide highly deterministic performance, which means the data gets from the origin to the destination as rapidly as possible. This proactively guards against failure while maximising uptime.

THE WIND FARM ENVIRONMENT

Wind turbines work in unison to generate renewable energy, which is fed back into the national grid for consumption.

Steve Ford, Hereford, Herefordshire, UK

Wind farms operate under conditions typically unsuitable for traditional networking equipment. As such, standard commercialgrade switches and routers designed for climate-controlled data centres and wiring closets should not be used in outdoor locations. They are unable to withstand harsh environments that are subjected to fluctuating temperatures, humidity, vibration, dust and electromagnetic interference from power generation equipment and high voltage transmission lines common to most grid-connected wind farm environments. Since every kilowatt that a wind generator produces is sold to consumers, network interruptions and downtime result in lost revenue and cannot be tolerated. To avoid the threat of costly maintenance and lost revenue, wind farm operators should deploy reliable, fault-tolerant devices with extended Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) rates. MTBF rates are important because labour expenses are greater in the field compared to labour expenses in the IT world. Even the simplest of switches can be expensive to replace in remote, hard to reach locations.

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Scalability Global energy demand is continuously increasing. With many nations turning to renewable energy sources, the wind industry is experiencing record growth in capacity generation. As demand mounts, the ability to scale is essential for effective and productive wind farm operation. Ring configurations — supporting up to 250 switches per ring — provide this scalability. Industrial managed switches enable network design flexibility, allowing additional turbines to be interconnected to support growth. Offering over 1,000,000+ hours MTBF, industrial switches provide a long-term solution that scales to meet changing requirements.

Wind Turbine & Tower Redundant Ethernet Topology

Built-in redundancy helps to eliminate unexpected points of failure that can negatively impact performance and increase maintenance costs. Designed to protect the infrastructure investment, industrial-grade networks support multiple topologies and scale to accommodate growth as demand increases. They are also easy to deploy and manage.

WIND FARM BEST PRACTICES When networking a wind farm, the following six best practices should be considered for optimal deployment and effective wind farm operation:

Redundancy Keeping the network up and running at all times is vital to wind farm efficiency and energy production. The slightest amount of network downtime could lead to service interruptions and lost revenue. One of the most common failure points in any piece of electronics is the power supply. While commercial switches traditionally use cheap wall-mounted AC/DC power supplies that plug into standard wall receptacles, industrial Ethernet switches hard wire two redundantly-independent power supply connections to the DC-power bus and backup power system. Industrial switches with dual-power inputs protect against single points of failure. Therefore, the ideal wind farm network configuration should couple rugged design at the board level with redundant power supplies, to prevent malfunctions and downtime caused by equipment failure while protecting against lightning and voltage surges. Cable breaks resulting from human or natural causes and connector or transceiver failure are another common issue that can negatively impact network reliability. In this situation, redundant or ‘ring’ network deployments help to assure network uptime until a maintenance crew is dispatched to address the issue. 16

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Multiple Fibre Support Most industrial switches provide Multi-Mode Fibre (MMF) and Single-Mode Fibre (SMF). MMF presents a high-bandwidth solution for medium distances — up to 2 km — while SMF is used for longer distances ranging from 20 to 80 km. The ideal switching solution should flexibly support both MMF and SMF on the same unit so that one turbine can be connected to others at different distances without having to purchase separate fibre switches. Due to the power generated by the turbine that is transmitted through cables in the tower, there is considerable Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) present in the tower. This can negatively impact communications in networks where copper Cat5e cable is utilised exclusively. Copper cable acts as an antenna and can be adversely affected by EMI. Fibre cable is impervious to EMI. It is important that Industrial Ethernet switches in wind farm applications have three or more fibre ports. Multiple fibre ports on each switch provide for two connections to the redundant ring, plus at least one additional fibre port. This allows for a fibre cable run to the top of the turbine, assuring maximum EMI immunity and network uptime. It is also important to assure the network is designed and deployed by experienced installers that are trained to handle and properly terminate fibre optic cables. Improper fibre handling, installation or termination can negatively impact network performance and availability, which ultimately could result in costly repair. Temperature Rating Power consumption directly relates to temperature ratings, which in turn impacts reliability. Depending on location and time of year, wind turbines are subjected to temperatures that fluctuate from extremely hot to frigid. This is one of the reasons why industrial switches are designed to withstand temperatures ranging from -40 deg C to at least 75 deg C — and in some cases up to 85 deg C — without external cooling devices.

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It is important to note that not all manufacturers consider power consumption when designing electronics to operate in extreme temperature conditions. In these cases, shortcuts may be used to give the appearance of being able to endure the rugged temperatures required by wind farms. Typical shortcuts include testing boards for performance properties that appear to increase life in warmer temperature environments and then positioning the assembled product as being rated to operate at elevated temperatures. In such cases, the likelihood of failure is high when used under extreme conditions. Other manufactures build standard products and then test

the lot to find units that work at specific temperatures. In this case, the product was not necessarily designed to operate at high temperatures for extended periods of time, so early field failure may result. Testing a product for use over short-time periods is not the same as designing an industrially-hardened solution validated to withstand years of service in extreme temperatures. Cooling systems such as fans and vents can also negatively impact devices operating at extreme temperatures. The typical MTBF of a fan is 25,000 hours, much less than the 1-2 million hours of a good industrial Ethernet switch. A switch utilising a fan for cooling could automatically shut down if the fan stops working. And, while fans are capable of regulating temperatures through external circulation, humid or caustic air can create issues that shorten the fan, and ultimately the switch lifespan. This problem becomes amplified when a fan is used to push more external air into the device. In this case, what appeared to be a simple, lowcost solution could result in substantial network downtime and maintenance cost. To ensure reliable performance regardless of operating conditions, it is vital to deploy wind turbine infrastructures based on reputable, industrial-grade networking technology designed and tested to handle fluctuating temperatures and power consumption.

Ease Of Use Wind farm operators should select industrial switches ready to use out of the box that require little, if any, configuration work. They should source easy-to-use switches that deliver: •

Plug-and-play capabilities that automatically detect network changes Port speed auto-negotiation, MDI/MDIX auto-crossover and TD/RD auto polarity that allow the same cable to be used regardless of units connected Comprehensive networking features such as intuitive software and advanced management tools Command Line lnterface (CLI) over a console port, along with a web-based Graphical User Interface (GUI) that supports network specialists and other users.

•

• •

Fieldsbh, Palmdale, California, US

Wind farms are ideally located in isolated open areas where wind energy is likely to be the strongest.

Advanced Management Tools To complement redundancy, scalability, fibre support, temperature rating and ease of use, advanced management tools such as multicast and VLAN support, overlapping VLAN, Quality of Service, Automatic IGMP snooping, and DHCP help to improve wind farm operation by providing ease of configuration and management and real-time access to key network data. Industrial switches deliver deterministic networking in a rugged package to enable the automated monitoring and maximisation of network uptime, performance, traffic patterns and power output — even from remote locations where manual monitoring can prove costly and resource intensive. This enables power generation tracking, trending and reporting that helps optimise the network to ensure smooth wind farm operation. energy guide Supplement

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Renewable Energy With an increasing appetite for cheap, clean sources of energy and an environmentally conscious populace, the need to design and build efficient, cost-effective renewable generation of energy, such as wind, is rising.

Building Cost-Effective Wind-Turbine Generators T

he global appetite for renewable energy, combined with government legislation, is driving demand for wind turbines and wind farms worldwide. In addition, the advent of global warming, carbon footprint consciousness, energy-security awareness and volatile fuel prices is also contributing to the explosive growth of wind-energy consumption, especially in Asia and North America. However, a wind-turbine manufacturer’s path for expansion into new markets is not without obstacles. Today’s challenges include establishing and managing an effective supply chain, identifying and complying with relevant standards, improving the safety of workers and equipment, and remaining competitive as customers demand shorter time-to-market cycles. Additionally, the wind energy industry is also in aggressive pursuit to achieve ‘wind-grid parity’ — the point at which the cost of wind-generated electricity is equal or cheaper than fossilfuel-generated electricity. Wind-turbine manufacturers can use Levelised Cost of Electricity (LCOE), the total lifecycle cost to build and operate a plant over a period of time, divided by the total electricity produced by that plant, as a metric to compare the cost of generating wind power with other technologies.

SIX PRINCIPLES Described below are six leading principles for wind-turbine manufacturers who seek integrated safety, control, motion and vibration-monitoring solutions to maximise uptime and reliability, whilst protecting their capital investment: 18

Colin Brough, Dundee, Angus, UK

By Corrie van Rensburg, process solutions manager, Southeast Asia, Rockwell Automation

Establish A Global Supply Chain With Regional Experience Wind-Turbine Generator (WTG) manufacturers expanding operations in new markets may encounter several supply-chain challenges, including cost, inventory, and vendor-relationship management. A global supplier with broad industry experience can help implement a successful production-management system based on industry best practices, and is better poised to weather economic downturns and boom/bust cycles that can be detrimental to smaller suppliers that only focus on one or two industries. Additionally, WTG manufacturers partnering with a global supplier can leverage the supplier’s worldwide manufacturing facilities — utilising one point of contact for design, documentation management, global coordination of assembly, and consistent quality of wiring, assembly and testing. Most importantly, a global supplier’s distributor network could improve product availability and support.

Outsource Electrical Control Panels Engineering the control panel is time consuming and incurs significant system costs for the WTG. One alternative to building control panels in house is for WTG manufacturers to retain the design and documentation responsibilities, but engage third-party panel builders to streamline the process. However, as business grows in new markets, working with multiple panel builders can become quite challenging — often resulting in the need for increased engineering and supply-chain resources to coordinate and monitor multiple sources of supply. A more efficient approach would be to work with a single automation supplier that can design

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and build the entire panel — including all the control and power components — standardising component selection and panel design across many locations worldwide. A supplier with a testing/validation lab for environmental cycling and accelerated life testing gives a WTG manufacturer the opportunity to achieve the best possible control-panel design. This may lead to additional benefits such as reducing the panel size, selecting components that generate less heat, and/or designing an integrated-safety system that provides safe access to panels during operation.

Design For High Availability And Reliability W TGs are used in extreme onshore and offshore environments; as such, a high level of availability and reliability of the distributed power generated is critical in both types of deployments. In addition, lowering the operating and maintenance costs during and after the warranty period is also essential. Finally, utilising off-the-shelf components with long life cycles and leveraging a large network of global support with access to spare-parts inventory can help reduce system downtime if a problem occurs. Offshore wind turbines are increasingly used in a number of countries because these winds tend to flow at higher speeds than those onshore — allowing them to produce more electricity. However, much of this potential energy is near highly populated areas and energy-load centres, where energy costs are high and land-based wind-development opportunities are limited. Additionally, turbines have unique technical needs because weather conditions in these environments can be extreme and fluctuate more widely and frequently. To tackle this problem, WTG manufacturers have to invest in components specifically designed for these harsh environments and include them as part of a complete control and information architecture — ensuring product longevity, whilst reducing integration and installation costs.

Conduct A Standards And Safety Audit Safety is an essential element in WTG design and operation, so WTG manufacturers must consider protecting the large capital investment in a WTG. The diameter of wind turbine blades has widened significantly in recent years, and is now larger than the wingspan of a Boeing 747 jumbo jet — increasing the potential amount of wind energy each WTG is capable of producing. Therefore, uncontrollable, hazardous weather conditions, like high-wind speeds, create unique safety challenges for windturbine manufacturers. The turbine must be capable of stopping quickly and safely in the event of high-wind speeds to prevent it from tearing apart. In addition, WTG safety-system designers are challenged with a mix of high and low voltages, depending on the section of the WTG.

Performing a safety audit before initiating control-system design helps engineers chart the course for an effective safe solution and evaluate risks early in the development process. This saves critical time and helps machine builders get their equipment to market faster. Furthermore, the machine’s end users gain optimised production — thanks to an automation system that helps operate machinery and processes in the most efficient way. A safety audit also identifies potential hazards and the required safety-control system-integrity level, whilst guiding the selection of the overall control architecture to achieve the optimum level of safety.

Provide Compliance To International, Regional And Local Electrical And Safety Standards As WTG manufacturers expand operations globally, they must adhere to international, regional and local standards to ensure the safety of workers and equipment. However, by following appropriate international standards, WTG manufacturers can streamline production processes globally and gain access to customers worldwide. As an added bonus, incorporating these standards into the wind-turbine design process can boost productivity and profitability for both manufacturers and operators of wind turbines. International standards add two very important elements to the reliability of the machine’s safety function — time and risk — helping machine builders take advantage of a more methodical approach to safety-system design. Finally, international standards require WTG manufacturers to identify and document the potential hazards associated with machine operation and the risk levels present to users. Integrate WTG Safety Into The Control-System Design To Reduce Complexity The evolution of safety standards and economic factors are driving the shift of safety systems from hardwired to contemporary, highly integrated configurations. Using an incorporated platform for safety and standard control eliminates the need for electromechanical or hardwired controls. The more designers integrate the standard and safety-control functions of a system, the better the opportunity to reduce equipment redundancies, improve productivity and minimise costs. This functionality reduces the number of unique components in use as part of the WTG control system, which, in turn, lowers inventory costs, as well as maintenance team-training requirements. End users also benefit from less waste, with fewer parts to maintain and replace throughout the WTG life cycle. In addition, integrated control systems — having broader intelligence regarding machine operation and status — minimise nuisance shutdowns and prolonged restarts, further improving machine efficiency and productivity.

CONCLUSION Thanks to advancements in technology and the globalisation of safety standards, WTG manufacturers can expand into new markets and help customers improve worker safety and protect equipment and assets. By enlisting the help of global suppliers, WTG manufacturers can provide a smooth transition to new markets and continue growing as the wind-energy industry expands. energy guide Supplement

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Renewable Energy

The Practicality Test Putting solar modules to the test is the best way to quantify their capability. By Nick Rose, senior manager, PV Energy Solutions and Neil Edwards, technical documentation manager, REC

ost solar modules are sold by watt class, also referred to as the module’s ‘nameplate’ rating, which states the nominal power rating of a module as tested under prescribed factory conditions. However, test conditions rarely reflect the real world. The actual output of an installed solar module is far more involved than STC conditions as it depends upon local weather, system design characteristics and many other factors. Far more significant to the photovoltaic systems’s value than the ‘nameplate’ wattage is the reliability of energy production, as the energy volume produced over the plant’s lifetime is a critical input for determining revenue stream and project returns. It is of vital importance for predicted values to be closely matched to actual performance. When it comes to predicting the yield of a PV plant, there are a number of simulation methods that can be utilised. PVsyst is one software program recognised by project developers and financial institutions worldwide for producing reliable yield profiles given the right input data. To demonstrate the accuracy of PVsyst in projecting yield performance, we have compared predicted figures to those actually generated on our rooftop systems at our integrated wafer, cell and module manufacturing facility in Tuas, Singapore. Results show that actual yields can be in excess of five percent above PVsyst predictions. This is in line with findings from REC installations in Europe, where performance ratios are 1.8 – 8.0 percent above projections.

BACKGROUND At the company integrated manufacturing facility in Singapore, a 300 kW array comprising REC225 AE modules was installed on the wafer plant rooftop. Installed in January 2010, the array is tilted at an angle of 10 degrees to the horizontal and is split between north and south facing roofs. Some 151 kW of the array is accurately monitored by the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS). The monitored array is divided into sections ranging from 24.3 to 36.5 kW each, and the monitoring system records irradiance at the module plane, cell temperature and inverter AC output at one minute intervals. The full year’s data for 2011 was provided by SERIS, which enabled the investigation to determine the actual performance against that predicted by PVsyst. Due to a disruption in the data recording, the months of June and July were not appropriate for assessment and excluded from the analysis. Two sections of the array were affected by extreme soiling contamination (from a waste stream now removed from the plant) and have been removed from the analysis.

THE PVSYST SIMULATION & MEASURED SYSTEM PERFORMANCE Care was taken when conducting the simulation, to minimise assumptions fed into the model so as to provide an accurate prediction over the year. Since recorded irradiation and module temperature were used, this is considered a ‘weather normalised’

The complete system installed at REC’s integrated manufacturing facility in Tuas, Singapore.

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prediction, where discrepancies between assumed and actual weather conditions are avoided. Performance Ratio (PR) is one of the most important measures for comparing system performances from one location to another, independent of irradiance. It is defined as the ratio of actual measured output over a given period of time divided by the nominal power (nameplate rating) during that time. All the three sections studied had high performance ratios of 83 percent or above. The high PR of REC modules is a pattern replicated in the 2011 Photon Laboratory Field Performance Test of 45 different modules from 37 separate leading manufacturers. Based in Germany, and therefore in a temperate climate, REC modules had the highest PR relative to the competition of 90.8 percent and produced six percent more power than the test average.

PERFORMANCE COMPARED TO PVSYST PREDICTION All three sections produced more energy than the volume predicted using PVsyst. The arrays outperformed the simulations by 4.3 – 7.3 percent — an average over-performance of 5.4 percent. This trend is consistent with data measured in the company’s installations around the world and observed by independent test institutes, internal projects and satisfied system owners.

ENERGY YIELD COMPARED TO PVSYST PREDICTION IN 2011 (EXCLUDING JUNE & JULY) System level performance ratios of 83 percent and above are impressive considering the tropical climate in Singapore. Throughout the duration of the test, the average ambient temperature was 28.6 deg C, with an average maximum temperature of 33.5 deg C. As a result, module temperatures frequently exceeded 60 deg C and were at times, as high as 70 deg C. As is typical in tropical areas, Singapore is not only hot, but also humid. Levels of humidity in Singapore reach an average of 76 percent throughout the year, which provides a challenging environment for solar modules.

IN CONCLUSION For the three array sections totalling 102 kW on the roof of the company’s integrated manufacturing facility, performance ratios of between 83.0 to 84.9 percent were recorded. The purpose of this analysis was to determine real-world performance of the company’s modules against that predicted by PVsyst. Through this exercise, it can be concluded that systems built with REC modules can outperform software simulations, and given the right input assumptions and grid availability, can even be in excess of seven percent above simulated predictions.

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Renewable Energy

ASIAN EXPANSION:

Growth Of Renewables IAA: What are TÜV SÜD’s engagements in renewable energy? Pushkala Lakshmi Ratan (PLR): As a whole, the company is very committed to the renewable energy sector. The overall goal of the company is sustainability, and renewable energy falls within that. Environmental management, energy management, carbon footprint, and of course clean energy, all fall within our scope of interest. Worldwide, this sector of our business is about four years old. At this point, we are progressively expanding our footprint to Asia.

IAA: What advice would you give someone who wanted to set up an energy management system? PLR: The country they are in is very important, particularly for the Asia Pacific market, where different countries have different regulations and institutional frameworks. Therefore, it is very important to understand the local context and standards, and to address these issues as early as possible. This can help with managing the cost and clarifying what is expected, as such, planning as early as possible is always better. It is also important to have a very clear idea, in terms of your own management processes and what you are looking for. Once you have a management system in place it can be implemented properly.

IAA: What challenges exist in Southeast Asia that impede the expansion of renewable energy? PLR: If you had asked me the same question three years ago, the answer would have been slightly different, because at that point, several renewable energy technologies were still at the nascent stage. However, that obstacle has been overcome and the technology has matured. Regulation is very important because renewable energy is directly tied to policy, so if you have the policy, in terms of subsidies, tariffs or tax benefits to support it, it benefits growth for the industry. Another important area is the finance that is available for these projects. In India and China, the projects tend to be fairly large, so from a bank’s perspective, it makes sense to go into larger projects because of scalability and size: But in ASEAN, you will

notice that plants are sometimes smaller. In the case of rooftop installations, they require finance as well, but not everyone is able to give it. I think this is very important if you want the sector to grow.

IAA: Do you have solutions to any of these problems? PLR: There is already a lot going on to address some of these issues. For instance, Thailand is very progressive with its policy and they are seeing the benefits. Perhaps some of the other ASEAN countries will start taking notice of countries that are successful on the policy side. Finance goes hand in hand with policy, because if an investor sees that the policy and tariffs are stable and therefore repayments are assured, it gives them the confidence to go in.

IAA: If a company wants to employ renewable sources or work on a strategy to reduce energy consumption, how can TÜV SÜD help them? PLR: I will answer this in two parts. If they are looking at renewable sources, we will do an independent technical assessment that is required for these types of projects, for instance, we give them an idea of the resource that is available in a particular site, as resource assessment is important. We would also be able to provide qualitative analysis of a supplier, product testing of a module in accordance to international standards, testing and commissioning, grid compatibility, power quality and safety assessment for PV plants. We have the capacity to provide the same for wind turbines as well. These are some of the most important things required before making a decision — an independent technical assessment or a testing report, which takes care of the product side as well as the system side. The second part is energy consumption. In a green building, for instance, we can help support on the technical side (such as energy efficiency, materials efficiency, water efficiency, testing, certification and management assessment). If it is about energy efficiency, we will do an audit depending on the requirements, establishment of an energy monitoring system, carbon footprint assessment, energy management system certification and training.

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Energy Efficiency

ASIAN ENERGY:

The Smart Way IAA: Tell me about Fuji Electric’s presence in Southeast Asia, and how the company is doing globally? Hayama Hiromu (HH): Future market growth

IAA interviewed Hayama Hiromu, CEO, Fuji Electric on the company’s operations in Asia, and its involvement in smart grids. By Mark Johnston

is anticipated in Asia through infrastructure investment and development. As foreign companies continue to expand their operations in the region, the company has positioned Asia as a focus market. The company has sales offices in Singapore, Thailand, India and Indonesia. With the aim of strengthening sales and marketing activities in Asia, it has set up an Engineering Centre in Singapore and a Competency Centre in India. We have also strengthened our sales and engineering offices in Thailand and Indonesia, and have set up a sales subsidiary in Vietnam and a representative office in Cambodia, where further expansion by foreign companies, including Japanese enterprises, is expected. We are currently in the process of establishing a representative office in Myanmar which is expected to be operational this year. In addition, we are in the midst of establishing a new power electronics factory in Thailand to increase our manufacturing capacity. This will improve the lead-time of products while meeting customers’ requirements and enhancing services structure. Besides Southeast Asia, we have sales and marketing networks in Japan, America, Europe, Middle East, China, South Korea and Taiwan. As for target sectors, we will mainly focus on industrial infrastructure, industrial automation, building HVAC, solar PCS and data centres.

IAA: What are the fastest growing markets for you in Asia, in terms of industries and countries? HH: We have been present in Southeast Asia for many years, with the region’s fastest growing industries being industrial, power, automation, construction and IT infrastructure. With regards to countries, we see great growth potential in Indonesia and Thailand, followed by developing economies such as Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia. With the recent opening up of Myanmar, the country offers high potential for significant growth.

IAA: What technology has Fuji Electric developed for smart grids and how does the company plan to grow within this sector? HH: We consider ourselves a pioneer in developing technologies in the fields of renewable energy sources and smart grids and micro grids. We develop systems and products for solar power, wind power, hydro power, geothermal and fuel cells. We have developed solutions in the field of smart grids by applying technology for demand control, peak shift, power storage technology, adapting to varying loads, smart and intelligent metres and rapid car charging stations. These technologies can be applied to convert into high quality and stable smart energy.

IAA: Do you see any regional hurdles to smart grid deployment and realisation in Asia, as compared to Europe and the US? HH: As with any new technology, it takes some time for the market to adapt. Also for such renewable energy projects and smart grid technology, government support is very important. The Singapore government has pioneered in this field with the Energy Market Authority, promoting some pilot projects such as the ‘Pulau Ubin Micro Grid Test Bed,’ intelligent energy system pilot and electric vehicles test-bed. The company is currently working with NEDO (New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation, Japan) for some pilot projects in Indonesia. We continue to be associated with governments in Southeast Asia and are pursuing our interests to support such projects with our technology. Most of these projects are driven by government initiatives and are still in the feasibility study, or even the pilot project stage. We have already tested a factory wide Micro Grid demonstration system to check for feasibility at Fujitsu’s Kawasaki plant and have received encouraging results including power reduction (five percent) and reduced peak power (21 percent). We plan to make such systems more affordable and cost effective to serve a wider audience. energy guide Supplement

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Energy Efficiency

Analyse This High performance power analysers are used to improve the efficiency of testing technologies. By Kunihisa Kubota, senior engineer, Hioki E E Corporation Figure 1: Typical inverter measurement example

s government policies in areas such as the promotion of solar power, Electric Vehicles (EVs) and smart grid initiatives are formalised, power meter performance and functionality can be expected to evolve in response. Some power meter trends and measurement needs surrounding the use of high-precision power analysers to support the development of high-efficiency control systems are presented, with a focus on power measurement in EV motors and inverters as example applications.

DIVERSIFICATION & EXPANSION Intensified efforts to develop alternative energy systems and modify equipment to boost energy savings are creating new requirements for power meters to satisfy. Figure 1 illustrates a typical example of inverter motor measurement, and the following are examples of recent trends and primary measurement needs:

1 Demand for the ability to measure power at a high level of precision in a contactless manner (simultaneously measuring the primary and secondary sides of an inverter) 2 Demand for the ability to measure parameters such as harmonic distortion and inverter noise with a single power meter 3 Increasing number of applications involving DC/AC conversion (PWM inverters) 4 Increasing performance of vector control inverters 5 Increasing efficiency of inverters, motors, and power conditioners 6 Expansion of measurement applications from conventional R&D to include installation sites Recently, manufacturers have been working steadily to develop a variety of high-precision power analysers in response

to these needs. For example, current sensors capable of measuring currents with magnitudes ranging from minute to large (500 A) satisfy (1) above, while power meters with waveform analysis, power measurement, harmonic analysis, and FFT analysis functionality satisfy (2). In light of the demand for the ability to simultaneously measure multiple parameters, existing instruments can now instantaneously display motor and inverter evaluation data. Similarly, todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s instruments now offer broadband measurement capability extending from DC to inverter bands (0.5 Hz to 150 kHz) in response to (3), and manufacturers have offered the ability to measure motor electric angle and power parameters simultaneously in response to (4). Instruments with an increasingly high level of precision for power conversion efficiency measurement, for example with one percent or greater precision and repeatability improvements, address (5). Finally, manufacturers have been able to respond to situation (6) by meeting a variety of needs, ranging from high-precision sampling to simple measurement using compact, portable instruments featuring rugged enclosures.

EVALUATION & ANALYSIS OF RECENT (EV) MOTORS To measure the efficiency of motors and inverters, technicians must first simultaneously measure power on the primary and secondary sides of the inverter at a high level of precision and then calculate 24

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Figure 2: FFT and harmonic analyses

the efficiency. In this type of application, it is important that the power meter being used supports the measurement of high voltages and large currents, and offers enhanced isolation functionality and wideband frequency characteristics. In voltage measurements, there is an increasingly strong demand for instruments with 1,000 V AC inputs, and in current measurements, it is desirable that current sensors support the measurement of currents ranging ifrom very small to large (500 A) magnitudes. Conventional power meters that have been considered in the past to offer high-precision performance have delivered the necessary functionality by means of shunt input-type designs, but it is becoming difficult to simultaneously satisfy the needs described above with such architecture. Used in combination with highprecision current sensors, power meters can be used to realise high-precision power measurement. When analysing motor performance, it is essential to measure the fundamental wave voltage and current, as well as higher-order phases by means of accurate harmonic analysis. If the power analyser being used supports the use of an incremental encoder, the sync signal from the motor can be detected easily and measurement can be performed at a high level of accuracy. Then, the electric angle can be measured by synchronising the instrument to the A- and Z-phases and performing a harmonic analysis of the motor’s input voltage and current.

Figure 3: Waveforms sampled at a high speed of 500kS/s

To d a y ’s p o w e r a n a l y s e r s c a n perform harmonic analysis, starting with the motor’s 0.5 Hz sync frequency. By synchronising the instrument with the fundamental frequency from 0.5 Hz to 5 kHz, and conducting a harmonic analysis of up to the 100th order at the same time as a power measurement, it is possible to perform the harmonic analysis of motors, even with low-rpm units.

•

EVALUATION & ANALYSIS OF INVERTER-EQUIPPED DEVICES

•

O n e a re a w h e re e n gi n e e r s m u s t exercise care when performing power measurement of inverter-equipped devices involves wiring mistakes when connecting three-phase motors to their instruments. Personnel can make accurate measurements and reduce the incidence of measurement mistakes, if they take time to review circuit schematics to check the status of wiring and inputs. Due to the ability to gather and ultimately manage data on a computer, the measurement of inverter efficiency and loss parameters have become simple enough that even inexperienced users can accomplish these tasks easily and at a high level of precision. The following parameters are important when measuring inverter motors: • •

RMS value: RMS value of fundamental wave + carrier frequency MN value: RMS value closest to the fundamental wave component (mean value)

• • •

•

FND value: Fundamental wave true RMS value THD value: Indicator of the extent of measurement waveform distortion UNB value: Indicator of state of balance between phases ±PK value: Maximum value of positive and negative waveforms during measurement DC value: Indicator of DC component that is harmful to the motor AC value: RMS value obtained by removing the DC component from the RMS value F value: Frequency for each phase, etc.

Other essential capabilities for power measurement include functionality for plotting dynamic characteristics such as a graph for easy recognition, measuring harmonics, which is essential in inverter evaluation, and performing FFT evaluation of noise (at up to 100 kHz), which is a concern with inverters (see Figure 2). Some power analysers today can display voltage and current waveforms using high-speed sampling at rates such as 500k samples per second (see Figure 3). To date, the measurement process for meeting these needs has been troublesome due to the need for researchers and technicians to use digital oscilloscopes, differential probes, and clamp-type current probes. Recent power analysers that were developed specifically to address these shortcomings have given operators the ability to observe waveforms with a single instrument. energy guide Supplement

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Energy Efficiency

ata centres are coming under increased scrutiny for their voracious energy appetite. Internally, efforts to increase efficiency are desired for cost savings, but corporate responsibility and a consciousness to minimise environmental impact is becoming an equally prominent business driver. However, reducing the overall energy footprint and cost typically requires greater insight into the data centre operations than most IT organisations currently possess. Establishing a ‘Green IT’ culture in an organisation can be a difficult and at times, may be looked at as an unnatural change. However, there are tools coming into the market today that can aid in a smooth transition and help improve the uptake of this new paradigm. Among the most successful solutions is approaching energy efficiency and cost savings from both the infrastructure and asset management perspective. This encompasses the entire data centre lifecycle, including concept, design, management and optimisation.

GOING GREEN In this article, we discuss the Do’s and Don’ts that data centre operators should adopt from an infrastructure and asset management perspective, for optimal energy consumption, resulting in a greener footprint. Leverage on a Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) software system A PLM software system provides immediate access to the knowledge that data centre operators need to make the right business decisions. This information equips them to design, build and support the data centre products, and to manage all the data throughout the product lifecycle from a centralised point of control. Having a single, synchronised source of gathered data coupled with a data model would allow various business units, such as IT and facility management, to work collaboratively. Additionally, a centralised system allows the tracking and validation of the approval hierarchy from concept through design, engineering, and build

A Leap Towards A Greener Data Centre Energy efficiency is becoming more important in today’s data centres. By Peter Halliday, head of Solutions & Services Portfolio, (Middle East/Africa/Asia-Pacific) Building Technologies Division, Infrastructure & Cities Sector, Siemens

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stages of the product lifecycle. A few solutions providers have created a data centre-specific PLM software system, known as Data Centre Infrastructure Management (DCIM) to effectively bridge the IT and facility management operations. The DCIM market is still in its early phases but is expected to grow in the near term. The ability to easily access or report on the chain of approvals and workflow for any data centre improvements would increase the accountability of team members, which ensure a practical and convenient design and deployment of the organisation’s operational goals. Capitalise on advanced virtual design techniques to visualise and prototype desired capabilities and consequences of proposed changes With the increasing awareness of the consequences of uncontrolled carbon dioxide emissions on public health and welfare, the demand for managing emissions is growing in the general public as well as government legislation. The data centre operators too are looking at opportunities to proactively address these concerns. They need a virtual model with the ability to simulate varying environment options. This allows them to analyse and optimise the data centre’s design for maximum energy efficiency and effectively visualise the consequences of proposed changes.

Establish airflow and cooling planning strategies using simulations based on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) CFD allows data centre operators to quickly compare various means to eliminate data centre hot spots, such as virtual server movement, blanking scenarios, the addition or removal of perforated titles, and the trial of ducting systems. With hot spots eliminated before construction begins, the IT team can then evaluate whether the set point temperature can be raised without creating new hot spots. As a result, they can plan their data centre cooling environment and consumption in advance. Additionally, CFD simulations can reveal air recirculation conditions and hot/cold air mixing areas, which the IT team can resolve by testing virtual, incremental changes, such as moving titles or adding baffling until recirculation and mixing is removed. Simulation data management allows the visualisation of the link between a product, model and analysis. Such a database speeds up future simulations by reducing the time to find and re-use data, allowing the automation of CFD model creation.

CFD modelling improves collaboration between facility and IT managers. When investigating expansion scenarios; comparing varying equipment layout highlights the differences in cooling efficiency, making it easier to form a consensus. During data centre migration or consolidation situations, these are tools that map and virtually test the consolidated data centre in order to optimise cooling and temperature distribution. Implement cost-effective cooling systems that ensure optimal performance On average, cooling requirements account for more than 30 percent of a data centre’s energy consumption. With the ability to build in thermal management capabilities in the data centre infrastructure, operations, expansion or retirement, energy consumption and costs are effectively controlled. Additionally, such features would allow operators to manage and predict temperature and its impact on server performance, especially temperature-sensitive equipment, such as data storage systems. The ability to increase the computer room air conditioner set point temperature by just one degree would shave three percent or more off the data centre’s annual electricity bill.

Develop a monitoring and control system that aids in energy consumption pattern-mapping Downtime caused by poor energy management can be eliminated by proactive corrections which are enabled by greater visibility into conditions such as hot spots, blocked airflows, and failed or poorly designed cooling systems. This is facilitated by a centralised point of information collation on energy consumption patterns as operators will be able to capture and report on the required information for an efficient performance-control system. Additionally, with Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE), an industrybenchmarking metric that indicates the energy efficiency of data centres, operators need an accurate, reliable method to track and report the indicators that make up the metric.

IN CONCLUSION With servers running 24X7 under tightly controlled environmental conditions and often not at full capacity, data centres are among the world’s largest consumers of energy. Singapore’s information technology regulator, the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) estimates that energy consumption accounts for more than 50 percent of the operating expenditure in a typical data centre in Singapore. Environmental groups estimate that data centres consume about 1.5 to 2 percent of global electricity demand, which is growing at an annual rate of 12 percent. In order for today’s data centres to be sustainable, both economically and environmentally, disjointed energy measures are insufficient. There needs to be an integrated approach towards data centre infrastructure management that spans across IT and facility management in order for genuine energy optimisation to be realised.

DATA CENTRE CFD simulations can reveal air recirculation conditions and hot/cold air mixing areas

A data centre is a facility used to house computer systems and associated components.

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Energy Efficiency Facility and building owners can profit from the cost reduction benefits that energy analytics software provides. By Philip Tang, business development manager and Andrew Shen, senior sales engineer, Mitsubishi Electric Asia

UNDERSTANDING ENERGY UTILISATION:

The Economics Of Efficiency

n todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s competitive global economy, soaring energy prices and increasing environmental regulations are factors that affect the profitability of businesses. This means that managers must be able to quickly analyse energy usage and closely control operating costs, in order to help ensure the continued viability of their corporate entities. Buildings represent 32 percent of total final energy consumption. In terms of primary energy consumption, buildings account for around 40 percent in most countries that are affiliated with the International Energy Agency. At this level of energy utilisation, there are challenges for building owners and occupants in managing energy costs and the impact on the environment.

THOROUGH ANALYSIS Energy efficiency is therefore a key focus across various industries today. Building and facility owners need to look into applications that can reduce energy use, while still generating the same level of service or production output. Various ways of increasing energy efficiency can be explored, such as retrofitting to increase the efficiency of equipment or improving building designs. The patterns of energy use within a 28

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facility may not be constant and could fluctuate throughout the course of a day. This makes it important to understand energy consumption behaviours and to program systems that effectively optimise energy usage. An intelligent integrated energy management solution serves to reduce consumption, monitor demand trends, lower energy costs and minimise carbon emissions. It can easily help to reduce costs, which then translates into greater profitability. Proficient energy analytics software such as AX Energy from Mitsubishi Electric will provide managers with analysis functionality and information that are needed for making continuous improvements. Such software are available off-the-shelf and focus on energy data analysis to increase efficiency and reduce overall operational costs. They help with improving energy usage patterns, monitoring energy reliability, and can even forecast energy consumption. Information collected from an energy analytics software system can be used to optimise an organisationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s existing energy management programme. The system can identify and provide in-depth details on inefficient assets that are using up too much energy. It can correlate energy consumption to the causes of their expected use, and also to any overuse or underutilisation.

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Courtesy Argonne National Laboratory

Peak usage periods are revealed to operators and managers so that adjustments can be performed to load-balance assets and take advantage of off-peak energy usage rates. Energy usage for each individual site can be visualised and calculated by per square foot or square metre. The carbon footprint for each person per site can also be analysed. Equipment can be monitored for energy usage trends and detailed information is provided. An important feature is the alert function that notifies personnel when meters fail or energy usage is unexpectedly high. This may come in the form of an automatically generated email that is sent out to managers, providing energy consumption and cost data. The software can also leverage on alternative sources of energy for greater efficiency and savings to be achieved.

COST CUTTING The goal of energy analytics software is to enable key stakeholders to reduce costs and increase efficiency. It improves energy planning and cost allocation through the use of intuitive visualisation techniques and reports that provide insights into the operationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s energy consumption. Users can easily configure charts for side-by-side comparisons.

This serves to visually gauge energy consumption on similar types of equipment, comparably sized facility spaces, varying equipment operational states, and other parameters. In this manner, abnormalities can be easily identified. Runtime views, charts, and reports can be easily constructed by simply pointing to the desired calculations or queries for the desired asset, for example an Air Handling Unit (AHU) or pump. For multistoreyed facilities, the software allows users to view energy data for each level, eg: total energy consumed by level 2 or level 3, etc. The look and feel, layout, and style of the chart or grid component can then be specified by choosing from a number of predefined options. An online viewer may also be provided, allowing users to build comprehensive energy visualisations through a point-and-click interface. Configuration is simple yet powerful and supports a wide variety of chart types, layouts, grids and options. Users can specify a default overview configuration to be loaded whenever they visit their role-based energy analytics software dashboard. It is simple to switch between various charts and grids. Detailed information is provided on energy offenders to uncover savings opportunities and possibilities for optimisations. The charts support both vertical (asset-based) and horizontal energy guide Supplement

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(query-based) ‘drill-down’ to enhance the ease with which users can identify areas of inefficiency. There is also the flexibility of catering to various applications across different industries, and to scale up from a single entity to a large enterprise or campus-wide installation. Virtually any process, production or building data that requires summarisation, aggregation, comparison, and observation over time can benefit from the use of this solution. The features and benefits of energy analytics software are summarised in the following table: Feature

Benefit

Built-in Energy Cost, Consumption, and Carbon Calculations

Easy to configure, not only to record and chart energy, but to correlate unexpected consumption with its probable causes.

Rich Visualisation and Drill Down to Energy Offenders

Rich charting, graphics, tables, and reporting provide the analysis needed to find sources of energy waste. Powerful templates facilitate automatic reuse and rollups without additional engineering time.

Robust and Scalable

Built on top of Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) Platform Services, the system is able to collect data from just a few metres away, up to multicampus or multi-site deployments.

Support for Multiple Units and Currencies

Users are able to view data in the terms that they are familiar with and on a scale that makes sense to them.

Stay Informed, Anywhere, Any Time, Any Place

Information can be delivered to the desktop, to any browser. It can be displayed in Microsoft SharePoint collaboration portals, or on the Windows Phone 7.

Monitor Progress to Goals and Budgets

Monitor data and adherence to budget and cost reduction goals. Establish targets and view Key Performance Indicators (KPI) as tracking is performed towards meeting those targets.

CONSERVATION VS EFFICIENCY Energy efficiency is about ‘using less energy to provide the same service’. This can be easily explained with an example: When an appliance is replaced — such as a refrigerator or clothes washer; or office equipment like a computer or printer — with a more energy-efficient model, the new equipment provides the same service, but consumes less energy. This helps the user to lower costs on the energy bill, and indirectly reduces the amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere. Energy conservation on the other hand, is different. It refers to reducing or going without a service to save energy. Turning off a light bulb is a means of energy conservation, whereas replacing an incandescent lamp with a compact fluorescent lamp — which uses much less energy to produce the same amount of light — is being energy efficient. Both energy efficiency and conservation practices can aid 30

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Users are able to view data in the terms that they are familiar with and on a scale that makes sense to them.

in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Energy efficiency is a fundamental component of energy and environment policies around the world. Lowering energy demand reduces greenhouse gas emissions in a more cost-effective way, compared to any other energy or climate policy. Energy efficiency has other environmental benefits besides just climate protection. Local air quality, for instance, can be improved by reducing emissions through lower energy consumption. Leveraging on renewable energy is also part of being energy efficient. The concurrent development of renewable energy, energy efficiency and conservation are all important initiatives. They are needed for stabilising and reducing carbon dioxide emissions, while alleviating the stress on dwindling fossil fuel supplies. As energy sources typically have an impact on the environment, there are growing concerns about global warming, the greenhouse effect, air pollution, and energy security. These have led to increasing interest and further developments in renewable energy sources, eg: as solar, wind, geothermal, wave power and hydrogen. Within the foreseeable future though, fossil fuels and nuclear energy will still be the main sources of energy generation used until newer and cleaner technologies can replace them. Reducing demand is one of the most effective ways to reduce CO2 and has an immediate impact on the environment. Improving efficiency (to control demand) can go further in ensuring energy security, compared with turning to nuclear power. Energy conservation and efficiency is necessary, making it important to harness technologies that perform effective energy management. Everyone therefore has a responsibility to use energy wisely. By implementing good practices and technology, future generations can be assured that there will still be sufficient energy in time to come.

EFFICIENT ENERGY MANAGEMENT

AX Energy is an energy monitoring, energy analysis and Energy Management System (EMS) that delivers a rich platform and browser-independent real-time visualisation. It addresses any application from a single building to an entire campus or multisite enterprise. Operators can create IT firewall-friendly, secure custom energy dashboards and kiosks to view energy reports. They can analyse energy consumption patterns, resource usage and progress on sustainability. Site managers, building engineers or maintenance personnel can quickly and intuitively navigate and discover opportunities for improvement.

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Oil & Gas

IGIT Automation is a privately-owned controls and automation company founded in 2004 that serves the petroleum and energy industries. They offer a range of electrical, instrumentation, and regulatory services, including electrical design and drafting, instrumentation and programming, project management, and field services. As a vendor-neutral company, it delivers fit-for-purpose solutions that are designed to meet customer-specific automation and control challenges.

THE CHALLENGE Automated flow data monitoring and data logging is crucial to the petroleum, natural gas, and pipeline industries. Once the oil or gas product is pumped from the ground, it begins a journey through miles of pipes and facilities. The oil or gas product is continuously transferred from one owner to the next as the wells produce and distribute products. It is imperative that buyers and sellers know how much product is flowing out of their wells, through their pipelines and compressor stations, and to their refineries and distribution plants.

In North America, there are a number of regulations that companies must abide by for the custody transfer of oil and gas product. One of the company’s first challenges was to find a communications solution that could provide real-time monitoring of flow computers to their own e-SCADA (a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition solution) and deliver historical Electronic Flow Measurement (EFM) data to custody transfer applications. Their existing solution was not tightly integrated and had many moving parts. Compounding the issue, the company’s customers have many flow computers, Remote Terminal Units (RTUs), and devices from various manufacturers. This increased the number of applications that users had to learn, manage, and maintain. “There were simply too many moving parts,” said Sandy Munro, the GM of SIGIT Automation. “With little or no real-time visibility, we felt customer projects were at risk,” he added. The company also needed to provide their customers with the flexibility and choice of having either a hosted or on-site solution. This was an important challenge. Not only is the hosted solution less expensive, but it also provides smaller systems the ability to grow.

CASE STUDY:

Automated Data Flow Monitoring Buyers and sellers in the oil & gas industry need to know how much product is flowing out of their wells, through their pipelines and compressor stations, and to their refineries and distribution plants. By Steve Sponseller, product manager, Oil & Gas Solutions, Kepware Technologies

South Korea has a strong technology advantage that works in its favour.

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On-premise SCADA solutions can be expensive and difficult to manage, often requiring a fulltime on-site employee or consultant. This was simply not a viable option for some customers

THE APPROACH The company’s decision to provide their customers with an on-premise or hosted solution meant that they needed to implement software solutions that are reliable, scalable, and cost effective. The SCADA solution also had to support both real-time and EFM data, and needed to have the ability to gather data through various telemetry options (like radio and satellite modems). Mr Munro had previous experience with Kepware products, which “has a good history with developing real-time communication System architecture of proposed solution. protocols,” he said. Between his familiarity with Kepware’s products and others’ recommendations, the KEPServerEX was marked as a strong candidate for the foundation THE BENEFITS of their e-SCADA solution (to provide real-time and historical Today, the company is able to provide a customisable SCADA data communications). solution that meets the specific needs and requirements of After determining their options, the company put the product their customers. They accomplished this by understanding their through an evaluation period. Upon its conclusion, it was selected customers’ unique challenges and by utilising products like as the communication platform for the company’s e-SCADA KEPServerEX. Their solution allows the level of service to be tailored solution. The platform consists of KEPServerEX and several core according to customers’ needs, and can be deployed on-site or components, including ABB TotalFlow, Enron Modbus, Fisher hosted and managed at the company’s operations centre. ROC/ ROC+, and Omni Flow Computer driver interfaces; OPC Data The company’s e-SCADA solution is a comprehensive, low-cost, Access (OPC DA) client interface for real-time data; and the EFM and fully-scalable application that supports electronic monitoring Exporter for exporting historical EFM information into required and measurement for any organisation. They can quickly deploy formats. To complete their e-SCADA solution, the company chose and scale the application, in part because the KEPServerEX to utilise an independent Java based software solution for their communications platform is easy to use and can connect to and front end and data logging capabilities. support thousands of disparate devices and protocols within a Data is logged into the company’s database, where it is single platform. manipulated through SQL queries and then presented to their With the solution managing connectivity and communications, customers according to specific demands and requirements. the company is able to rely on a single vendor for both real-time data With the solution in place, the company can also provide communications and EFM needs. The EFM plug-in option enables connectivity to its hosted database using the accounting/ the company to conform to Canadian regulatory requirements by financial control systems via CSV, PDF, and direct connection. securely collecting, storing, and providing users the ability to review All communication protocols and methods of monitoring and historical flow measurement data. reporting data comply with Canadian government regulations The e-SCADA solution and KEPServerEX provide customers with and meet the company’s customers’ need for real-time and real-time trending, alarm management for critical data points, standard historical data. and custom reporting, and much more. The organisation can poll Because the database is cloned daily, data security can be the flow computers for EFM historical data via radio and cell-based ensured for each customer. Every customer accesses a separate telemetry. The data is streamed to KEPServerEX once per day and then database and application based on their login. The solution also this custody transfer data is imported into accounting software. incorporates a platform-independent Java-based client that can Telemetry communications are primarily used for custody be installed on customers’ PCs to provide access to the hosted transfer services, which are operated by pipeline companies. database via an Internet connection. Customers access their own “The bottom line is that Kepware now provides the core Ignition applications and database based on login. Furthermore, data necessary to ensure the successful completion of complex the database is split into clusters that can be extracted and petroleum and energy deployments,” stated Mr Munro. “This not ported to another computer when customers move to their own only has the potential to boost customer efficiency, but also to on-premise solutions. As a result, customers will neither lose data lower costs — enabling them to more effectively compete in this nor have to learn a new database application. challenging economy.” 32

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A Decade Of Success 2001

2005

Industrial Automation Asia (IAA) was established. The magazine started with 6 issues a year and 4,000+ readers in Southeast Asia.

2002

Endorsements poured in as the magazine grew, including Fieldbus Foundation and Profibus. IAA introduced a new classified section, IAA Market Place.

2007

IAA was officially endorsed by Singapore Industrial Automation Association, and supported by Profibus while its circulation climbed to 10,500.

2004

The magazine was officially audited by BPA. It became the only magazine in its sector to be awarded the BPA certificate.

With growing demand, 2 more issues were added making IAA available 8 times a year. Endorsements from International organisations included CAN in Automation (CiA) & EtherCAT Technology Group. In 2007, there was a record 40 percent increase in enquiry responses from readers to advertisements and editorials.

2010

Book

IAA established its ebook enabling us to reach out to readers and clients in Europe and America. We increased our participation in regional exhibitions, with SIWW and OSEA among our new target industry focus.

2012

400% The publication experiences a 400 percent increase in product enquiries and boasts 27,000 combined registered professionals via our print and ebook editions.

2011 2013 IAA celebrated its 10th year anniversary and embraced new media by going into Facebook. The website was also enhanced with a dictionary.

IAA will include two new supplements targeting the water and energy sectors. We will also include new initiatives, such as video hosting to allow better exposure to new media advertising.

We understand, make the right choice. Email : salesiaa@epl.com.sg Tel: (65) 6379 2888 Fax: (65) 6379 2805

connect with us

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www.hioki.com

Green Point Campaign Lets make the difference.

Greening The World One Measurement At A Time Hioki would like to say thank you. With your help, we have planted 13,123 trees over the last 2 years. Simply by purchasing one of our infra-red thermometers, power meters, power quality analysers, lux meters, magnetic field testers or loggers, you would have taken part in our Green Point Campaign and aided in our efforts to make the world greener.

Visit www.hioki.com/Greenpoint/ for more details

ENQUIRY NO. S006

HIOKI Singapore Pte Ltd • Tel: +65 6634 7677 • Fax: +65 6634 7477 • Email: info@hioki.com.sg • Website: www.hioki.com

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