Activity

  • Cybersecurity Worst Practices: The Good-the Bad-the Ugly

    Jim Cahill
    At the 2018 Ovation Users’ Group Conference, Emerson’s David Foose shared examples of bad practices in securing control systems. Dave opened describing how the focus on control system security over the past decade has changed from bothersome to imperative. The five stages of cyber grief include denial, frustration, bargaining, burn out and finally acceptance. Burn out is the phase where a person or small team is…

  • Advanced Startup Automation in the Power Industry

    Jim Cahill
    At the 2018 Ovation Users’ Group Conference, a power producer shared their story of how they improved their unit startups through the application of advanced technology. The US electrical power grid is evolving rapidly as it adds more renewable generation from solar and wind energy sources. This trend is driving the need for large generating fleets to make their current assets flexible and cost competitive. Important…

  • Improving Control System Alarm Effectiveness for Operators

    Jim Cahill
    During the week of July 29 through August 3, I’ll be attending the Ovation Users’ Group Conference in Pittsburgh. This users’ group is composed of people working in the power, water and wastewater industries. If you’re in one of these industries and an Ovation distributed control system user, I look forward to seeing you there. One of the critical parts of an effective control strategy is to get the alarm design right…

  • Integrated Control and Machinery Health Monitoring for Power Producers

    Jim Cahill
    The power industry is facing many challenges today with cycling demands from a growing renewable energy mix on the grid, employee retirements, and cost cutting. Despite these challenges, consumers expect a reliable supply of electricity. At the July 29 – August 2, 2018 Ovation Users’ Group Conference in Pittsburgh, Emerson’s Jason King and an Ovation customer will present, Ovation Machinery Health Monitor Update &…

  • Applying Center for Internet Security ICS Cybersecurity Controls

    Jim Cahill
    Power, water and wastewater utilities are critical infrastructure, and require ongoing industrial control system (ICS) cybersecurity risk reduction efforts. Taking a systematic and integrated approach to ICS cybersecurity can help with safe, reliable and efficient operations. Many experts from these industries will gather at the July 29-August 2, 2018 Ovation Users’ Group Conference in Pittsburgh . There they will…

  • Real-Time Microgrid Control and Optimization at The University of Texas

    Jim Cahill
    At my alma mater, The University of Texas , here in Austin, Texas, is the Carl J. Eckhardt Combined Heating and Power (CHP) Complex . It is often described : …as the largest and most integrated microgrid in the U.S…. [It] is capable of generating 135 MW (megawatt) power (63 MW peak) and 1.2 million lb/hr (pounds per hour) of steam (300,000 peak). I mention all this because the microgrid controller is powered…

  • Lessons from Fast Track Gas Turbine Generators Control System Retrofit Project

    Jim Cahill
    Earlier this week, we shared how integrated control systems connected with turbine generators and other associated process areas, can improve overall efficiency and reliability for electrical power producers. Continuing on this theme, a Combined Cycle Journal article, Checklist for success: NV Energy commissions seven turbine DCSs in seven weeks , highlighted a fast track gas turbine retrofit project covering two sites…

  • Driving Turbine Generator Efficiency Improvements

    Jim Cahill
    A combination of more plentiful natural gas from shale formations, more global liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities to transport it globally, and global political pressure to reduce carbon emissions has been shifting the mix of fuel sources for electrical power generation. Here in the U.S., natural gas has surpassed coal as the leading source of fuel, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration . Natural…

  • Cybersecurity Guidance at ConnectedPlant Conference

    Jim Cahill
    This week, the ConnectedPlant conference is being held in Charlotte, North Carolina. The conference is focused for professionals in the chemicals and power industries who are leading digital transformations in their organizations. The focus includes: …actionable information and strategies to maximize the use of data, analytics, and related technology to drive efficiency improvements, preventative and predictive maintenance…

  • #POWERGEN 2017 Preview: Helping Power Generators Address the Skills Gap

    Jim Cahill
    Author: Douglas Morris A January 2017 report from the U.S. Energy Department states: Workforce retirements are a pressing challenge. Industry hiring managers often report that lack of candidate training, experience, or technical skills are major reasons why replacement personnel can be challenging to find—especially in electric power generation. The wave of retirements has been talked about for years and…

  • #POWERGEN 2017 Preview: Flexible Operations

    Jim Cahill
    Author: Douglas Morris The new plants that are coming online today are already designed for fast start and flexible operations. With the changing generation mix, being able to move a unit is essential as fleets dispatch more renewables. But what about older plants that were designed to operate as baseload generation? Sometimes units must be mechanically retrofitted to be able to better participate in the market…

  • Cybersecurity Planning and Preparation

    Jim Cahill
    A digital transformation is well underway with many manufacturers striving to improve safety, reliability, efficiency, emissions and/or throughput. The Industrial Internet of Things is making it possible to monitor more areas of the production operations than was possible in a fully-wired technology era. A strong cybersecurity program must go hand in hand with this digital transformation. In an Automation World article…

  • #POWERGEN 2017 Preview: Microgrids and Controls

    Jim Cahill
    Author: Douglas Morris Microgrids are collections of generating sources that are coupled to operate as one either connected to or disconnected from (islanded) the main power grid (sometimes called the macrogrid). Being able to independently provide one’s power is becoming popular with standalone entities like colleges or universities, military bases, and remote locations. Hawaii is embracing microgrids and has recently…

  • Automating Combined-Cycle Power Generation Startups

    Jim Cahill
    In combined cycle power plants : …the heat of the gas turbine’s exhaust is used to generate steam by passing it through a heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) with a live steam temperature between 420 and 580 °C. The condenser of the Rankine cycle is usually cooled by water from a lake, river, sea or cooling towers . Over the past decades, combined cycle power plants were built to handle base electrical loads…

  • Successfully Addressing NERC CIP Cybersecurity Standards

    Jim Cahill
    The power industry is perhaps the furthest along in hardening their cybersecurity defenses due to the work of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) on the critical infrastructure protection (CIP) cybersecurity standards—now at version 6 . In a Power magazine article, Tackling NERC CIP and Cybersecurity at America’s Largest Gas-fired Cogeneration Plant , this electrical energy and steam energy producer…

  • Network Architecture Considerations in Ovation Control Systems

    Jim Cahill
    Emerson’s Craig McDaniel provided an overview on the Ovation control system network architecture at the 2017 Ovation Users Group conference. He provided a basic overview of Ovation’s network architecture showing standard configurations, connectivity, redundancy, IP addressing schemes, port assignments, network hardware, and connections to third party equipment will be provided in this session. He also discussed the traffic…

  • Reducing Control System Hardware Footprint

    Jim Cahill
    Emerson’s Ben Skal presented on reducing the Ovation distributed control system hardware footprint at the 2017 Ovation Users Group conference. Virtualization technology is at the heart of this hardware footprint reduction and having less workstation and server hardware to maintain. Ben’s presentation focused on: What is virtualization & how it works Appropriate uses of virtual machines (VMs) Benefits of VM…

  • Take Charge of Partial Discharge to Protect Plant Assets

    Jim Cahill
    Emerson’s Jonathan Murray discussed partial discharge solutions at the 2017 Ovation Users Group conference. Unplanned electrical asset failures can halt production and amount to millions of dollars of associated costs. The IEEE and NFPA organizations identify Partial Discharge (PD) , a breakdown of the assets insulation, as a leading cause of failure. Manufacturers are looking for ways of transitioning away from traditional…

  • Model Predictive Control in Power Generation

    Jim Cahill
    Model predictive control in power generation was the subject of a 2017 Ovation Users Group presentation by Emerson’s Ranjit Rao . Rajit opened comparing classical control with model-based control. In classical control, a proportional-derivative-integral loop is used with feedback. There is a setpoint, the actual process variable and the error or difference between the process variable and setpoint. Based on the dynamics…

  • Simulation for Training and Engineering Applications

    Jim Cahill
    At the 2017 Ovation Users Group conference, Emerson’s Bob Kerestes and Sheldon Willis gave an update embedded simulation in the Ovation system. Sheldon opened the presentation describing types of uses for simulators for training and engineering. For training simulators, simulations can range from simple tie-back models to high-fidelity models which simulate the dynamics of the running process. For high-fidelity simulation…

  • Generator Excitation 101

    Jim Cahill
    Generators turn mechanical energy into electrical energy by moving electrical conductors in a magnetic field. Excitation creates the electromagnetic field to make this mechanical to electrical conversion occur. Emerson’s Rich Dennis provided a basics presentation on excitation control at the 2017 Ovation User Group meeting. Excitation control includes synchronous machine regulation, exciter, synchronous machine for…

  • Suite of Cybersecurity Technologies and Practices

    Jim Cahill
    Emerson’s Adam Boeckmann presented the Power and Water Cybersecurity Suite at the 2017 Ovation Users Group conference. He opened describing the team that formed over the last several years that now supports more than 200 sites in the U.S. alone. He shared the story of the recent Wannacry/WannaCrypt ransomware cyber-attack. In March of 2017, Microsoft released a patch. A month later, the National Security Agency (NSA…

  • Applying Threat Intelligence for Industrial Control System Defense

    Jim Cahill
    There are many paths to pursue in improving cyber defenses for industrial control systems (ICS). At the 2017 Ovation Users Group conference, Emerson’s Tom Kizer presented on applying threat intelligence for system defense. Tom opened by acknowledging that identifying effective threat intelligence is difficult. Threat intelligence is data collected, organized, analyzed and refined about potential or current attacks…

  • Microgrid Monitoring and Control

    Jim Cahill
    At the 2017 Ovation Users Group conference , Emerson’s Fred Huff presented on microgrid controls. Fred opened describing a microgrid as one that could stand alone or connect to the larger electrical grid. Components include distributed generation (DG), loads—critical and non-critical, energy storage systems (ESS), points of common coupling (PCC) and a microgrid controller. Fred focused on the control components of…

  • Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity Trends and Compliance

    Jim Cahill
    As critical infrastructure, cybersecurity remains a top concern for electrical power, water and wastewater industry companies. At the 2017 Ovation Users Group conference , Emerson’s Jaime Foose led a panel of trends in cybersecurity threats and compliance. The panel included experts from National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC)/ Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS…

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