https://emersonexchange365.com/industries/otherindustries/water-wastewater/Discussions related to the Water & Wastewater Industryen-USTelligent Community 13https://emersonexchange365.com/industries/otherindustries/water-wastewater/b/weblog/posts/protecting-critical-infrastructure-nerc-cip-015-01-and-internal-network-security-monitoring-insmWed, 20 May 2026 13:00:00 GMTcd40bb2b-3d49-4868-939d-417119b40291:22807065-dbef-43de-867d-2ca2b26ed3c3Jim CahillWe unpack what the NERC CIP-015-01 standard requires, the compliance timelines utilities must plan for, and the practical challenges of deploying monitoring inside operational technology environments. The post Protecting Critical Infrastructure: NERC CIP-015-01 and Internal Network Security Monitoring (INSM) appeared first on the Emerson Automation Experts blog.cybersecuritypower and waterWater & Wastewaterpower generationNick Janouskovechttps://emersonexchange365.com/industries/otherindustries/water-wastewater/b/weblog/posts/4-reasons-why-radar-level-sensors-are-superior-to-ultrasonic-level-devicesWed, 22 Apr 2026 11:14:00 GMTcd40bb2b-3d49-4868-939d-417119b40291:e2c95d08-553e-4245-ad43-8ab5422a8ad8Jim Cahill4 reasons why radar level sensors are superior to ultrasonic level technology: Radar and ultrasonic level measurements are both widely used in industrial and environmental applications for measuring the level of liquids and solids in lift stations, tanks, and open channel flows. Both technologies work on the principle of measuring the time of flight between […] The post 4 reasons why radar level sensors are superior to ultrasonic level devices appeared first on the Emerson Automation Experts blog.Measurement InstrumentationMetalsradar level instrumentsLevelFeaturedradar level measurementnon-contacting radarChemicalRosemount 1208ultrasonic level technologyMineralsMetals, Mining, MineralsWater & WastewaterRosemount 1208 Level and Flow Transmittersradar level technologymining industrypopularsustainabilityhttps://emersonexchange365.com/industries/otherindustries/water-wastewater/b/weblog/posts/a-deeper-look-into-ovation-4-0-s-new-featuresTue, 09 Sep 2025 12:48:00 GMTcd40bb2b-3d49-4868-939d-417119b40291:d80a4cfe-ff49-49b1-8a04-cafc68d67780Jim CahillOne of the most popular topics of discussion at the 2025 Ovation Users’ Group Conference has been the new Ovation ™ Automation Platform 4.0 . Attendees have had the opportunity to take a close look at the software to see all the new capabilities and features built in. Whether it is experiencing the first GenAI advisor integrated into an automation system specifically designed for the power and water industries, or seeing the newest human machine interface (HMI) components in action, excitement has been high. In one heavily attended session at the conference, Emerson’s Steven Hutchison offered a deep dive into some of the newest features in Ovation 4.0 software. “We look at Ovation 4.0 as being an onramp to the future, with new future-proof features and ideal timing with new OS versions.” Core changes Ovation 4.0 changes its core database from Oracle to Microsoft SQL Server. The software change allows for easier patching and coordinated support from a single vendor, while providing equivalent performance and consistent Ovation applications and support scripts. The new software also supports significantly more points—now capped at 750,000— meaning even the largest systems will not need to be split between multiple controllers. Ovation View HMI One of the features attendees have been most excited about is the new Ovation View HMI. Ovation 4.0’s new graphical interface provides support for HTML5 web applications, while also supporting any graphic style—3D graphics, dashboards, high-performance graphics, etc. In addition, Ovation View HMI offers a wide array of out-of-the-box tools to make graphic design easier. The software provides a rich library of graphics and widgets (2D and 3D models, charts, and KPIs) as well as built-in productivity tools such as search and backup features. “This tool has a very simple concept. You take things out of the toolbox, you drop them on the canvas, and you edit them in the properties. It’s easy. You can jump right into this pond.” Steven also shared that Ovation users can use Ovation View HMI graphics, legacy graphics, or both in tandem, making it easy to transition gradually to help operators adjust more smoothly. “You can keep using your legacy graphics alongside the new ones. Your existing stuff will just work.” Ovation Developer Studio Steven also shared some of the new features in the Ovation Developer Studio engineering tools designed to improve ease of use and streamline workflows. In Ovation 4.0, Smart Device Net and Profibus catalog refresh as soon as Developer Studio is opened. In addition, the “find” feature executes “Find Now” automatically when initiated from the toolbar edit box. “If you take it from the main dialog box, it’ll just do it for you.” The Developer Studio search feature has also been updated with a new delete checkbox column. An edit search button is also available, and users can now save modified searches under a different name using the “Save As” feature. “Searches get complex, and everyone has special ones they like. You can now edit and save a search. When you save a search, it will save the criteria and the columns.” Trend enhancements Users will also see improvements in the trend tab, where they can now define custom timespans for live trends by specifying the interval between samples. Unique configurations are saved to specific users, but they are made available across all Ovation workstations to provide users with more mobility. Ovation 4.0 is set to be a game changer for the power and water industries. One of the key benefits of attending the Ovation Users’ Group Conference is that after hearing about the many new features of Ovation Automation Platform 4.0, users can go right to the exhibit hall to see them in action and try new features out for themselves. Be sure to join us next year to be among the first to experience the newest updates in control for yourself! The post A Deeper Look Into Ovation 4.0’s New Features appeared first on the Emerson Automation Experts blog.digital transformationGenAIovation 4.0HMIOvationUG2025AIWater & WastewaterovationGraphicspower generationhttps://emersonexchange365.com/industries/otherindustries/water-wastewater/b/weblog/posts/reliable-data-reliable-operationsWed, 13 Aug 2025 19:33:00 GMTcd40bb2b-3d49-4868-939d-417119b40291:af389896-a2f5-4cd2-b102-5bbd9b4c3361Jim CahillWe all know that assets fail. The question is not one of “if” but rather “when” and “how catastrophically”. But what many people don’t know is that the need to repair failing assets is not the only concern with asset health. In his presentation at the 2025 Ovation Users’ Group Conference , Tinh Phan shared that it costs companies an average of 3.46 times more money to run their equipment unreliably. Between unexpected downtime, extra repair costs due to increased wear and tear, expedited part shipping, product waste, potential environmental hazards, and more, even a small gap in asset health visibility can prove quite costly. “Improving your reliability program and documenting your work processes will help you increase productivity by 7%-10%, and I believe that because I’ve experienced it in the field.” There is a solution Fortunately, Tinh shared, implementing predictive maintenance strategies is easier today than it has ever been. First and foremost, reliability technologies have become very easy to obtain and use. Handheld diagnostic tools like Emerson’s AMS Trex Device Communicator are an affordable way to arm field technicians with ways to commission, configure, troubleshoot, and diagnose assets in the field. Tinh explained that the AMS Trex is rugged enough to withstand the harsh conditions of operating in the field and brings the ability to power devices in the field for testing and configuration. In addition, the AMS Trex provides an app library to allow users to customize their software, helping them perform their specific tasks more efficiently. With a wide variety of apps—loop and Fieldbus diagnostics, ValveLink Mobile, WirelessHART provisioning, Radar Master, and more—technicians can go into the field confident that they have the right tools and expert guidance at their disposal. “The Trex is very low cost. The return on investment on this tool is a no-brainer.” Better together The real strength of a tool like the AMS Trex becomes apparent when it is paired with the facility-wide visibility into data, health, and key analytics offered by AMS Device Manager . The AMS Trex synchronizes automatically with AMS Device Manager, making it easy to store, analyze, and audit data from the handheld devices. Why does that matter? It matters because AMS Device Manager is the ultimate tool to drive asset health visibility across the plant. It enables communication to assets via manually collected data and wireless sensing devices like the AMS Wireless Vibration Monitor and the AMS Asset Monitor , as well as a wide variety of smart instrumentation. Integrating up to 30,000 devices into a single database, the software gives online access to intelligent instrument and field diagnostics and alerts, delivering a view of device health and troubleshooting information when an issue is found. “It’s going to tell you what’s going on with that device and how to fix that problem. We’re going to help you significantly reduce your maintenance time and validate whether or not problems are device issues.” AMS Device Manager provides a “single pane of glass” to combine many standalone systems into a single interface, not only improving maintenance and calibration, but also product support, upgrading, and training and upskilling of personnel. Users can arrange alerts by asset criticality and/or severity to help them quickly decipher which issues need immediate attention. “Your instruments today are very smart. Most instrumentation you buy today has lots of diagnostic information. You need something to decipher that information.” AMS Device Manager Data Server—available in AMS Device Manager v15—further improves the capability of the software. “The Data Server is the latest and greatest. You can export information from level 2 to higher levels, data lakes, analytics, and other resources across your enterprise.” A more digital future The companies having the most success achieving operational excellence are laser focused on eliminating extra costs due to outdated maintenance practices. Capturing the losses that stem from unreliable equipment means digitalizing reliability practices. New sensing technologies and device management software are readily available, affordable, and easier than ever to implement and use. Whether the team is tackling renewable energy asset management, remote operations, or traditional generation, there has never been a better time to digitalize reliability systems to eliminate waste and unexpected downtime. The post Reliable Data = Reliable Operations appeared first on the Emerson Automation Experts blog.reliabilityrenewable energy asset managementOvationUG2025AMS Device ManagerRemote OperationsWater & WastewaterAMS Wireless Vibration MonitorovationAMS Trexpower generationOUG2025AMS Asset Monitorhttps://emersonexchange365.com/industries/otherindustries/water-wastewater/b/weblog/posts/from-sun-to-screen-simulating-renewable-power-with-the-ovation-digital-twinThu, 31 Jul 2025 18:10:00 GMTcd40bb2b-3d49-4868-939d-417119b40291:ef5fd6db-911e-468c-9603-15941f3d479dJim CahillFor years, simulation has been a core technology for effective and efficient testing and training. Live digital twin simulation duplicates a physical plant, creating a dynamic digital replica that allows users to operate the controls and receive clear results and feedback as though they were in the live plant. “It’s a virtual representation of a system that can be created in the simulation space. With the digital twin, you gain all sorts of very valuable benefits. You can test planned control strategies, evaluate startup and shutdown procedures, examine malfunctions and abnormal behaviors and more.” At the 2025 Ovation ™ Users’ Group Conference , Emerson’s Jonathan Ore and Nolan Scanlon performed a deep dive into the Ovation Digital Twin , a power plant simulator integrated with  the Ovation control system. Jonathan and Nolan shared how a digital twin enables faster plant startups and unit load changes, reduces abnormal situations and unplanned outages, provides offline testing and dynamic verification of control logic modifications, and enables evaluation of a plant prior to final design and construction. Fit-for-purpose functionality However, not all digital twin simulation software is the same. Jonathan and Nolan explored how the fit-for-purpose Ovation Digital Twin gains advantages by being embedded in the industry’s most reliable and responsive process control system. The Ovation Digital Twin offers levels of capability bolt-on solutions cannot match. First and foremost, the Ovation Digital Twin supports complex modeling and real-time simulation of a user’s operating and engineering environments, integrating natively with the Ovation control system and leveraging high fidelity Ovation algorithms based on first principles. That native integration allows the system to be configured and maintained far more easily since the digital twin uses the same, familiar engineering tools as the Ovation plant controls, eliminating the need for complex, custom-engineered connections. “You’re not limited to just one specific fidelity. We can provide whatever fidelity is needed for your specific requirements or environment.” Seamless connectivity between the control system and the digital twin software offers many benefits such as dynamic parameterization, where changes in model parameters are learned and updated from actual plant system operation. This enables the digital twin to capture degradation of plant equipment. The plant system controller can also save snapshots of real-world conditions that can easily be loaded into the digital twin for postmortem analysis and operator training. “So, in a specific scenario, if you’ve caused an event, you can grab a snapshot—before, during, or after—then you can load it back later for comparison and evaluation.” Online state estimation enables the digital twin to reflect unmeasured variables in plant equipment, which can serve as input to both operational and predictive maintenance analytics. And because the Ovation Digital Twin can provide faster than real-time closed-loop simulation, teams can use it to capture controller states in real time, and then “fast forward” to receive predictions of key process variables. “You can calculate state estimations for prediction analytics, and you can even simulate faster than real time variables to see how things would respond in the future.” Smart Grid Extensions Another benefit to the Ovation Digital Twin is the availability of Emerson’s Smart Grid Extensions . Smart grid extension software expands and evolves the digital twin to help teams manage the interconnected nature of the many distributed generation systems necessary to support the modern, reliable energy grid. “With the smart grid extensions, we’re able to look at transmission as well as distribution, and it’s capable of handling those unbalanced polyphase power systems.” Ultimately, smart grid simulation extensions will include electrical power transmission, distribution, and distributed generation. The software seamlessly integrates with existing Ovation environments and tools to provide a suite of algorithms including: Voltage Source Bus Transmission Line Load Electronic Load Reactor Capacitor Transformer Voltage Regulator Storage PV System Generator Induction Motor Wind Turbine Generator Moreover, additional algorithms and variations can be designed and built from the existing fundamental models to further customize Ovation Digital Twin Smart Grid Extension capabilities. Jonathan and Nolan also announced the release of the Smart Grid Tools —a new add-on to the Ovation Digital Twin smart grid extensions. Smart Grid Tools allow users to conduct analyses and studies of smart grid networks in real time, including the Hosting Capacity Study, which provides insight into the maximum amount of renewable energy generation a distribution feeder can support before incurring adverse system operating conditions. In addition, they announced the development of a range of other tools. “We’re also looking at adding load studies and fault studies, as well as providing different tools to perform network health monitoring and network performance.” The best tools deliver the best results While simulation is a critical tool in the power generation and distribution toolbox, not all solutions are created equal. Modern, fit-for-purpose solutions like the Ovation Digital Twin dramatically reduce complexity and deliver better results through seamless, native integration with the control system and powerful simulation tools delivering the capabilities teams need to manage the evolving smart grid. The post From Sun to Screen: Simulating Renewable Power with the Ovation Digital Twin appeared first on the Emerson Automation Experts blog.reliabilitytrainingSimulationControl & Safety SystemsOvationUG2025Sustainable EnergyWater & Wastewaterovationdigital twinpower generationpower plant simulatorsmart grid extensionsOUG2025https://emersonexchange365.com/industries/otherindustries/water-wastewater/b/weblog/posts/a-powerful-platform-for-digital-grid-managementWed, 30 Jul 2025 13:06:00 GMTcd40bb2b-3d49-4868-939d-417119b40291:d086f0d9-2003-49f5-936d-30fa3861187aJim CahillOne of the most prominent topics of discussion at the Ovation ™ Users’ Group Conference 2025 has been the increasing challenges the grid faces as electrification continues to expand across the globe. In his presentation on Tuesday, Adam Wortz dug into the details to help attendees see exactly why this is happening. The grid, Adam explained, will both grow in electricity generation and increase in size dramatically in the next 25 years. Simultaneously, it will need to increase the share of renewable generation and navigate an increasingly challenging environment of natural disasters and cyber threats . “The demand and the need for generation continue to grow. The attention we get from a cybersecurity perspective and the continual motion to defend against those attacks continue to grow leaps and bounds every year. We’re all aware of the workforce challenges we have in the industry.” Put simply, the road ahead has the potential to be a bumpy one. The power and utilities value chain will need to adapt to this new normal. “The definitions are changing. When we talk about a generation utility, traditionally those were large utilities owning traditional assets and generation types. That has been changing.” Choosing the right platform Utilities and power producers looking to navigate the coming changes to the grid will need a roadmap. Emerson, Adam shared, provides that roadmap via its AspenTech Digital Grid Management (DGM) integrated enterprise solution portfolio. DGM provides purpose-built control applications collected into a flexible platform that users can customize to meet their specific needs. Built on the OSI monarch ™ Core Platform, DGM helps organizations achieve optimal financial performance and streamlined fleet utilization across both traditional and renewable units. It also provides the visibility and granularity to help teams maximize power security and reach emission goal reduction and optimal financial performance. “The fundamental of the monarch platform is communicating to the end devices. Communicating to all the different RTUs and substations, plant controllers, DCS, Ovation, edge gateways—we’re bringing all of that data through monarch.” The solution is high performance and high availability, supporting all types of redundancy. There are typically coordinated, backup data control centers so there is no downtime in the systems. Improving the grid Working together, the Ovation Automation Platform and DGM software are the perfect technology pair to optimize power generation from the plant all the way to the grid control. They provide a more intelligent, seamlessly integrated solution . They improve management not only for utilities, but also for the newer, non-utility players that are emerging into the industry. In addition, the software is scalable, providing a wide range of benefits and proven security, from solutions like Emerson’s AspenTech OSI SCADA Express, which supports up to 30,000 points, to the biggest DGM solutions supporting millions of points. Smaller grids mean more availability One of the places where DGM will be most valuable is in microgrid controller management. A microgrid is a self-contained electricity network that can generate and store its own electricity on-site. This generation can come from renewable energy sources such as solar and wind and/or non-renewables such as hydrocarbon, coal, and nuclear. “The amount of solar and renewables that have been added present significant challenges.” The benefit of microgrids is that they improve a user’s ability to maintain 24×7 power availability and resilience to grid disturbances by creating independent “islands”. Typically, they provide energy to a specific geographic zone such as an industrial plant, airport, transit system, data center, military base, neighborhood, and more. “In some cases, these microgrids are their own distribution utility. They have all of the makings of that in terms of the local distribution lines and network but also the local generation.” To be as effective as possible, microgrid control systems need quality management, and that’s where Emerson’s AspenTech Microgrid Management System (MMS) comes in. MMS provides a proven, advanced solution for ensuring reliable power across microgrids. It provides the ability to integrate and manage renewables, perform flexible load balancing, and improve power reliability. MMS also integrates seamlessly into the Emerson technology stack as part of the DGM solution. Using DGM, teams can integrate MMS with local Ovation controls to create powerful and flexible control solutions. Looking forward Nobody can accurately predict exactly what the grid of the future will look like. However, we know for certain that managing increased demand in parallel with a need for more flexibility, sustainability, and availability will drive significant changes.  Adopting a DGM platform supported by tools built on decades of energy industry expertise is a critical first step towards ensuring readiness for that future state, no matter what it may be. The post A Powerful Platform for Digital Grid Management appeared first on the Emerson Automation Experts blog.Microgrid Control Systemmicrogrid controllerOvationUG2025Sustainable EnergyMicrogrid ManagementAspenTechrenewable energyDGMWater & Wastewaterovationpower generationwindsolarEnergy & Emissionshttps://emersonexchange365.com/industries/otherindustries/water-wastewater/b/weblog/posts/ovation-4-0-headlines-the-2025-ovation-users-group-conferenceTue, 29 Jul 2025 12:16:00 GMTcd40bb2b-3d49-4868-939d-417119b40291:3d576f8c-673a-46be-aba0-8e159779c382Jim CahillEmerson’s Bob Yeager , Rick Kephart , and Glenn Heinl launched another exciting week in Pittsburgh with their keynote presentations at the 2025 Ovation ™ Users’ Group Conference . Bob began the event by sharing some of the many ways Emerson will be “leading the future”, including a deeper view into the Ovation Automation Platform 4.0 . The rise of AI, data centers, and more is changing the grid as we know it and driving a need for power that was previously unheard of. As Glenn shared, “The status quo is unsustainable so we’ve been ‘all in’ on future-focused innovations for the Ovation platform to help our customers meet changing needs head on.” Together, the speakers explored the many features of Ovation 4.0 that it will fundamentally change the way power and water plants are operated. Bob shared, “This is the biggest software release we’ve done in the history of Ovation.” Rick echoed Bob’s sentiments, explaining that the power grid itself is changing. Today, Rick shared, there is likely more generation being added on the distribution side of the grid than the transmission side, and we have morphed into a much more active network—all due to the rise of renewables. Today, grid operators can have loads that are masked until something changes instantly and they need to be able to react quickly. The solution, Rick explains, is to “build an ecosystem that extends from generation to the meter.” Rise of AI It’s no surprise that much of the conference is focused on AI technologies, and Bob’s, Rick’s, and Glenn’s keynotes were no exception. There’s a need for OT-specific, power-focused AI solutions, Bob explained. OT teams can’t put power plant data in the cloud, and they can’t build data centers in the plant, so the industrial AI solutions need to be more focused and built for on-premises implementation. Ovation 4.0’s GenAI tools, Bob shared, take the large language model that typically runs in the cloud and instead runs it on a server in Ovation. The model is trained specifically for its unique environment. Emerson provides a basic model, and the OT team customizes that model to the plant by feeding it all the documentation, all the logic, and all the historical data they have. Bob shared, “You have the ability to capture the unique operational knowledge known only by those who are on site in your plant. This large language model doesn’t have to know everything about the world. It doesn’t have to know how to do your kids’ homework. It just has to be the most brilliant example of anyone who has worked in that plant.” Glenn explored AI further, sharing how AI tools will help engineers accomplish their goals faster and more effectively in the future. Not only will AI empower engineers—giving them the knowledge of the world’s greatest experts in the palm of their hands—but it will also help them gain, “the ability to get basic tuning correct without human intervention. Repeatable, consistent logic will let us tune more effectively.” Rick also shared his thoughts on AI, “GenAI is the biggest breakthrough since the microprocessor because it’s almost a computer by itself. And the programming language? It’s natural language. You program it with prompts. With natural language.” The key benefit of that breakthrough can be seen clearly in the Ovation Virtual Advisor , which attendees saw in action. But Rick also highlighted another benefit, just over the horizon. He explained that the engineering team is developing an AI-based misconfiguration identifier. Misconfiguration issues, he explained, can lay dormant for a long time. Such a tool, Rick shared, could help identify those issues before they become problems, even if the original configuration mistake was made long ago. Perhaps the most exciting announcement is that the next level of Ovation AI-enabled applications for plant process and equipment intelligence is currently being piloted. Attendees were given a glimpse into some of the exciting projects where the technology is being put through its paces, helping them see the potential of AI technology to transform their own facilities. Rise of HMIs Another of the key updates in Ovation 4.0 is the new Ovation View HMI . The Ovation View HMI, Rick explained, represents a fundamental difference in Ovation’s graphics. The graphics are fully HTML5 web based, adding tremendous flexibility, scalability, and allowing them to be run on any device, from workstations to tablets to phones. According to Rick, “The Ovation View HMI is built on two years of feedback, and designed to run in parallel with legacy graphics so you can migrate on your own schedule and terms.” However, Ovation View HMI is not the only new HMI feature to be added to Ovation 4.0. Rick also shared how the new Ovation Web HMI will help bring some of the other HMI programs like point information, alarms, trend, and more into a web environment. “We want to be able to have other products going forward that can incorporate this web HMI in a very lightweight manner.” All the technologies, both new and existing that the speakers shared will be on display and demoed at the 2025 Ovation Users’ Group conference here in Pittsburgh. If you’re here already, be sure to stop by and try them all out for yourself! The post Ovation 4.0 Headlines the 2025 Ovation Users’ Group Conference appeared first on the Emerson Automation Experts blog.HydroGenAIovation 4.0OvationUG2025Sustainable EnergyPowerwaterAIsmart gridWater & WastewaterovationOvation View HMIpower generationRenewableswindsolarhttps://emersonexchange365.com/industries/otherindustries/water-wastewater/b/weblog/posts/protecting-critical-facilities-from-cyber-attacksFri, 09 May 2025 14:37:00 GMTcd40bb2b-3d49-4868-939d-417119b40291:57b195a0-dc23-4790-af39-70a159a356d4Jim CahillA recent Forbes article, 7 Steps Utilities Must Take To Protect Critical Facilities From Cyber Attacks , highlights focus areas for manufacturers and producers to strengthen their operational resilience. These seven steps include: Knowing What You Need To Protect: Build A Complete Asset Inventory Focusing On What Matters: Prioritize Cybersecurity By Real Consequences Closing The Gaps: Conduct Regular Vulnerability Scans And Patch Management Limiting Attacker Movements: Segment Networks To Contain Threats Detecting And Reacting: Monitor In Real Time And Build An Incident Response Plan Training Your People: Build A Cyber-Aware Culture Designing With Security In Mind: Build Cybersecurity Into New Projects It’s crucial to have essential technologies and a cybersecurity-focused culture that is as deeply embedded as safety cultures. For power, water, and wastewater companies, Emerson offers an ICS cybersecurity solution, Power and Water Cybersecurity Suite , that helps these companies secure their critical DCS and SCADA systems for compliance with NERC Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) and other regulations. The suite enhances protection by including modules to counter threats and protect network integrity. These modules include: Real-time antivirus protection guards workstations and servers against viruses and malware. Application control effectively mitigates malware threats. Device control to secure and centralize management of storage devices associated with Windows-based workstations and servers. An agent-based solution to determine patch needs within workstations and servers. From a proactive monitoring perspective, modules within the suite continuously monitor systems for emerging threats and implement remediation tactics to keep information secure. The network is continuously monitored for rogue or unmanaged devices that can be converted to managed clients by the user. Network intrusion detection monitors data traffic. All security incidents and events across the network are collected for further analysis. The suite includes these modules: Antivirus protection Application control Configuration management Cybersecurity Suite dashboard Device control Patch management Rogue system detection Security incident & event management System backup & recovery Vulnerability assessment The experienced Emerson team can help you strengthen your resilience with ICS Cybersecurity Services to deliver plant- and fleet-wide cybersecurity products and services supporting NERC CIP compliance and industry standards like the NIST cybersecurity framework, ISA99, and IEC 62443. The post Protecting Critical Facilities from Cyber Attacks appeared first on the Emerson Automation Experts blog.ISA99ICS cybersecuritycybersecurityNERC CIPDCSSCADAWater & WastewaterovationIEC 62443NIST Cybersecurity Frameworkpower generationhttps://emersonexchange365.com/industries/otherindustries/water-wastewater/b/weblog/posts/comparing-radar-and-ultrasonic-level-measurementThu, 20 Mar 2025 13:00:00 GMTcd40bb2b-3d49-4868-939d-417119b40291:df0a2714-ff48-49f1-8b12-55fbdbda0509Jim CahillUltrasonic level measurement uses sound to measure the level in a tank or vessel. It has been widely used in the water & wastewater industry for many years. A Water Online article, Level Measurement Showdown: Ultrasonic Vs. Radar  compares and contrasts the two technologies. I mention this because of the popularity of a post , 4 reasons why radar level is superior to ultrasonic level technology by Emerson’s Vladislav Snitko . He cited radar’s advantages, including stability in differing ambient conditions, stability in changing process conditions, ease of setup, and price. The Water Online article author noted that ultrasonic has been the historical leader in flow and level measurement in this industry. What was once a wide price differential between the two technologies has been significantly diminished. The average ultrasonic level measurement instrument costs $500 to $2,000. Radar level measurement instruments used to cost up to $4,000 but now have dropped down to $1,000 to1,200 on average, putting the two instruments at a nearly level playing field in terms of cost. One consulting engineer in the article recommends: …radar level measurement instruments to his clients that work in wastewater because oil, grease, and other coatings can sometimes interfere with the accuracy of ultrasonic measurement instruments. Another challenge with ultrasonic measurement highlighted by a flow compliance and regulatory efficiency manager is the environmental conditions. Dust, foam, and cobwebs can also present problems for ultrasonic level measuring instruments, and measurement accuracy can be affected by wind, temperature, and snow in outdoor tanks.  Radar doesn’t have these limitations… Some view ultrasonic meters as more straightforward to use but useful for a narrower range of applications. The biggest advantage, at least in the water industry, is that ultrasonic has long been the incumbent, and these devices can operate effectively for 10-15 years, as described in the article. New installations and retrofits may well consider non-contacting radar level measurement advantages in stability from changing process and environmental conditions. The post Comparing Radar and Ultrasonic Level Measurement appeared first on the Emerson Automation Experts blog.LevelRosemountnon-contacting radarWater & Wastewaternon-contacting levelhttps://emersonexchange365.com/industries/otherindustries/water-wastewater/b/weblog/posts/ready-to-rocc-1159863137Mon, 05 Aug 2024 17:02:00 GMTcd40bb2b-3d49-4868-939d-417119b40291:ddd73b8b-8011-4e87-972a-37716b42a9e3Jim CahillWith the rise in renewables has come a paradigm shift in the layout of power generation operations. Generators need more variability and versatility, not only to serve increasing demand, but also to hedge against increasingly severe weather and other unpredictable global events. As a result, more and more companies are expanding their portfolios, acquiring assets of many different types, often across wide geographic areas. This expansion definitely provides a more robust infrastructure, capable of weathering issues of all sorts, but it also comes as a global experienced worker shortage stretches existing teams to their limits. So, as Kevin Rossi and Chris Blasi explained in their presentation at Emerson’s Ovation ™ Users Group, more and more organizations are pursuing the potential of remote integrated operations centers to ease the strain. “Typically, you may have an M&D center, fleet management, fleet engineering, all spread all over, especially if you’re a large utility. You have plants all over and you have shared people who go from site to site, and they get there, but it may take a couple days because they have other things on their priority list. We can centralize that into one common control center” “We need to find ways to increase operators’ efficiency and effectiveness. You have less operators controlling more sites.” Everyone works together Many organizations already have remote operations , some using remote desktop protocol, and others using more advanced solutions. Maintaining some level of visibility from a remote site not only eases the strain on overburdened crews, but also provides companies a way to ensure more granular control and increased uptime. However, the vision of a remote integrated operations center goes beyond basic remote operation. The “integrated” element is key. Bringing everyone together in one location increases collaboration, which in turn increases innovation and results in higher reliability and availability across all operational and maintenance areas. “In a corporate office they build out a ROCC, and that office is shared with the M&D center, and fleet engineering, and with all the people who go from site to site. So now, if there’s an issue, that operator who might just be one floor down or one floor up and can pick up the phone to call and say, ‘Hey, come down here and look at this.’ It’s a whole lot easier to share those resources.” A vision of what could be Imagine a single floor of a building, with one room containing consoles and operators, each responsible for several plants. But that group is no longer operating in isolation. In the integrated center, they’re adjacent to the maintenance and diagnostics team—perhaps only separated by a cubicle wall. The groups can actually walk across the room to consult on issues, building relationships and increasing cohesion between both areas. But it doesn’t end there. Next door could be the training center, where operators could get currency training once a month without having to travel. Management is across the hall, where they can not only just walk out the door to get the latest information for their morning calls but can also virtually visit every plant every day. With subject matter experts all over the building, problems at any site can be solved quickly and easily. The plants themselves can be managed by a small crew of maintenance personnel, with only the occasional need for visits, dramatically reducing travel, and ensuring that the best, most experienced personnel can contribute to the optimal operation of every site in the organization’s network. The technology is already here Just a few short years ago, the risks of a remote integrated operations center would have been too high. Today, however, the technology and security exist to make it possible. Chris and Kevin shared numerous examples of companies doing just that. One of the key benefits that appeared across the examples was consistency. With a fleet level Ovation model for a ROCC, every operator is using the same interface no matter where they are working. Even if a site has different controls locally, as often happens with renewables, those controls can be brought into Ovation for a common interface to reduce the learning curve and help operators make better, more consistent decisions across all their operations. Insight into ROCCs was just one of a multitude of exciting topics from this year’s Ovation ™ Users’ Group. If you weren’t able to be there, dive back into the Emerson Automation Experts blog for lots of coverage of the event! The post Ready to ROCC? appeared first on the Emerson Automation Experts blog.https://emersonexchange365.com/industries/otherindustries/water-wastewater/b/weblog/posts/ready-to-roccMon, 05 Aug 2024 17:02:00 GMTcd40bb2b-3d49-4868-939d-417119b40291:0bc604b8-782e-41b3-8b2f-1af954f5562eJim CahillWith the rise in renewables has come a paradigm shift in the layout of power generation operations. Generators need more variability and versatility, not only to serve increasing demand, but also to hedge against increasingly severe weather and other unpredictable global events. As a result, more and more companies are expanding their portfolios, acquiring assets of many different types, often across wide geographic areas. This expansion definitely provides a more robust infrastructure, capable of weathering issues of all sorts, but it also comes as a global experienced worker shortage stretches existing teams to their limits. So, as Kevin Rossi and Chris Blasi explained in their presentation at Emerson’s Ovation ™ Users Group, more and more organizations are pursuing the potential of remote integrated operations centers to ease the strain. “Typically, you may have an M&D center, fleet management, fleet engineering, all spread all over, especially if you’re a large utility. You have plants all over and you have shared people who go from site to site, and they get there, but it may take a couple days because they have other things on their priority list. We can centralize that into one common control center” “We need to find ways to increase operators’ efficiency and effectiveness. You have less operators controlling more sites.” Everyone works together Many organizations already have remote operations , some using remote desktop protocol, and others using more advanced solutions. Maintaining some level of visibility from a remote site not only eases the strain on overburdened crews, but also provides companies a way to ensure more granular control and increased uptime. However, the vision of a remote integrated operations center goes beyond basic remote operation. The “integrated” element is key. Bringing everyone together in one location increases collaboration, which in turn increases innovation and results in higher reliability and availability across all operational and maintenance areas. “In a corporate office they build out a ROCC, and that office is shared with the M&D center, and fleet engineering, and with all the people who go from site to site. So now, if there’s an issue, that operator who might just be one floor down or one floor up and can pick up the phone to call and say, ‘Hey, come down here and look at this.’ It’s a whole lot easier to share those resources.” A vision of what could be Imagine a single floor of a building, with one room containing consoles and operators, each responsible for several plants. But that group is no longer operating in isolation. In the integrated center, they’re adjacent to the maintenance and diagnostics team—perhaps only separated by a cubicle wall. The groups can actually walk across the room to consult on issues, building relationships and increasing cohesion between both areas. But it doesn’t end there. Next door could be the training center, where operators could get currency training once a month without having to travel. Management is across the hall, where they can not only just walk out the door to get the latest information for their morning calls but can also virtually visit every plant every day. With subject matter experts all over the building, problems at any site can be solved quickly and easily. The plants themselves can be managed by a small crew of maintenance personnel, with only the occasional need for visits, dramatically reducing travel, and ensuring that the best, most experienced personnel can contribute to the optimal operation of every site in the organization’s network. The technology is already here Just a few short years ago, the risks of a remote integrated operations center would have been too high. Today, however, the technology and security exist to make it possible. Chris and Kevin shared numerous examples of companies doing just that. One of the key benefits that appeared across the examples was consistency. With a fleet level Ovation model for a ROCC, every operator is using the same interface no matter where they are working. Even if a site has different controls locally, as often happens with renewables, those controls can be brought into Ovation for a common interface to reduce the learning curve and help operators make better, more consistent decisions across all their operations. Insight into ROCCs was just one of a multitude of exciting topics from this year’s Ovation ™ Users’ Group. If you weren’t able to be there, dive back into the Emerson Automation Experts blog for lots of coverage of the event! The post Ready to ROCC? appeared first on the Emerson Automation Experts blog.Remote AutomationbatterySustainable EnergyRemote OperationsOvationUG2024ovation greenWater & Wastewaterovationrdppower generationwindROCCsolarhttps://emersonexchange365.com/industries/otherindustries/water-wastewater/b/weblog/posts/ready-to-rocc-553902095Mon, 05 Aug 2024 17:02:00 GMTcd40bb2b-3d49-4868-939d-417119b40291:7f7d1b05-d32b-4418-9bc6-3de557248f9bJim CahillWith the rise in renewables has come a paradigm shift in the layout of power generation operations. Generators need more variability and versatility, not only to serve increasing demand, but also to hedge against increasingly severe weather and other unpredictable global events. As a result, more and more companies are expanding their portfolios, acquiring assets of many different types, often across wide geographic areas. This expansion definitely provides a more robust infrastructure, capable of weathering issues of all sorts, but it also comes as a global experienced worker shortage stretches existing teams to their limits. So, as Kevin Rossi and Chris Blasi explained in their presentation at Emerson’s Ovation ™ Users Group, more and more organizations are pursuing the potential of remote integrated operations centers to ease the strain. “Typically, you may have an M&D center, fleet management, fleet engineering, all spread all over, especially if you’re a large utility. You have plants all over and you have shared people who go from site to site, and they get there, but it may take a couple days because they have other things on their priority list. We can centralize that into one common control center” “We need to find ways to increase operators’ efficiency and effectiveness. You have less operators controlling more sites.” Everyone works together Many organizations already have remote operations , some using remote desktop protocol, and others using more advanced solutions. Maintaining some level of visibility from a remote site not only eases the strain on overburdened crews, but also provides companies a way to ensure more granular control and increased uptime. However, the vision of a remote integrated operations center goes beyond basic remote operation. The “integrated” element is key. Bringing everyone together in one location increases collaboration, which in turn increases innovation and results in higher reliability and availability across all operational and maintenance areas. “In a corporate office they build out a ROCC, and that office is shared with the M&D center, and fleet engineering, and with all the people who go from site to site. So now, if there’s an issue, that operator who might just be one floor down or one floor up and can pick up the phone to call and say, ‘Hey, come down here and look at this.’ It’s a whole lot easier to share those resources.” A vision of what could be Imagine a single floor of a building, with one room containing consoles and operators, each responsible for several plants. But that group is no longer operating in isolation. In the integrated center, they’re adjacent to the maintenance and diagnostics team—perhaps only separated by a cubicle wall. The groups can actually walk across the room to consult on issues, building relationships and increasing cohesion between both areas. But it doesn’t end there. Next door could be the training center, where operators could get currency training once a month without having to travel. Management is across the hall, where they can not only just walk out the door to get the latest information for their morning calls but can also virtually visit every plant every day. With subject matter experts all over the building, problems at any site can be solved quickly and easily. The plants themselves can be managed by a small crew of maintenance personnel, with only the occasional need for visits, dramatically reducing travel, and ensuring that the best, most experienced personnel can contribute to the optimal operation of every site in the organization’s network. The technology is already here Just a few short years ago, the risks of a remote integrated operations center would have been too high. Today, however, the technology and security exist to make it possible. Chris and Kevin shared numerous examples of companies doing just that. One of the key benefits that appeared across the examples was consistency. With a fleet level Ovation model for a ROCC, every operator is using the same interface no matter where they are working. Even if a site has different controls locally, as often happens with renewables, those controls can be brought into Ovation for a common interface to reduce the learning curve and help operators make better, more consistent decisions across all their operations. Insight into ROCCs was just one of a multitude of exciting topics from this year’s Ovation ™ Users’ Group. If you weren’t able to be there, dive back into the Emerson Automation Experts blog for lots of coverage of the event! The post Ready to ROCC? appeared first on the Emerson Automation Experts blog.Remote AutomationbatterySustainable EnergyRemote OperationsOvationUG2024ovation greenWater & Wastewaterovationrdppower generationwindROCCsolarhttps://emersonexchange365.com/industries/otherindustries/water-wastewater/b/weblog/posts/looking-at-ovation-in-a-whole-new-way-340144661Thu, 01 Aug 2024 14:01:00 GMTcd40bb2b-3d49-4868-939d-417119b40291:69cfa51c-3437-4a6d-ab4d-9843c5c8fc39Jim CahillOne of the exciting improvements coming in Ovation ™ 4.0 is a significant overhaul to the human machine interface (HMI). The rise of renewables, and their integration into more and more power generation portfolios has made operations more complex than ever. Consequently, HMIs have had to evolve alongside to give operators access to their wide scope of operations without slowing them down or causing confusion via information overload. As Emerson’s Scott Szymanski shared in his demo of the Ovation View HMI, the new software rises to meet that challenge. The Ovation View HMI is full of new features to help operators design the optimal displays for their unique operations, while still maintaining the core capabilities that have kept Ovation the leader of the pack in power system controls for so many years. New features improve usability What users will notice first and foremost is Ovation 4.0’s modern looking web-based graphics. Users can create any graphics that suit their operating style, from high-performance 2D graphics that emphasize alarms to flashy, 3D-style graphics with animations. Even more important, however, are the wide range of key performance indicator dashboards—both available as default out of the box and also able to be custom built—that users can employ to keep close tabs on their real-time operations and long-term goals. Further increasing the ease-of-use is Ovation View HMI’s extensive library of drag-and-drop widgets to draw tanks, valves, pipes, wind turbines, buttons, charts, gauges, and more. With so many pre-built options available out of the box, it is faster and easier to build graphics and provide new ways to visualize Ovation data, resulting in a more intuitive and attractive operator experience. “If you’re artistic, you can make very three-dimensional shapes, but we also provide a lot of these features out of the box as well. If you need a three-dimensional tank, you don’t have to go through and configure all those gradients. A lot of it is built right into the widget.” Ovation View HMI also provides a nod to the increasing use of remote operations, both in traditional and, especially, renewables operations. With the Ovation Data Hub, the same HTML displays created for local control room monitoring are also accessible for remote monitoring and control without any conversion process. Consistency is key as well. Ovation View HMI supports global settings for elements such as colors, empowering a team to set a single color (or using one of the highly customizable gradients) for a specific widget type across all graphics, and making it easy to change those settings globally. For example, if a team has buttons set as red, but wants to change them to blue, it is easy to change that setting and push it out to every button created all at once. Old favorites still front and center Even with all the updates, experienced Ovation HMI users will still recognize the tools they have used for years. Ovation View HMI shares some of the best features of legacy graphics but incorporates new functionality, enhancements, and modernization that make it faster and easier to create, modify, and test graphics. Displays are still managed using Ovation Developer Studio, and legacy graphics and new displays can coexist on the same system, allowing for gradual, seamless transition to new designs. “The old legacy graphics aren’t going away. If you want to keep using the legacy graphics, you’ll be able to do that, or if you want to slowly over time start using the new graphics, you can keep your old graphics and use those until you’re able to create all your new graphics. You can even implement a new system in ovation and do just that in the new graphics and keep your old graphics for everything else.” Scott performed a number of demos to show the audience how quick and easy it is to create a new graphic with loads of flexibility—types, fills, color conditionals, animations, and more. The post Looking at Ovation in a Whole New Way appeared first on the Emerson Automation Experts blog.https://emersonexchange365.com/industries/otherindustries/water-wastewater/b/weblog/posts/looking-at-ovation-in-a-whole-new-way-1955342838Thu, 01 Aug 2024 14:01:00 GMTcd40bb2b-3d49-4868-939d-417119b40291:feb2a9e0-cce5-4878-bb8b-61d7024f5d03Jim CahillOne of the exciting improvements coming in Ovation ™ 4.0 is a significant overhaul to the human machine interface (HMI). The rise of renewables, and their integration into more and more power generation portfolios has made operations more complex than ever. Consequently, HMIs have had to evolve alongside to give operators access to their wide scope of operations without slowing them down or causing confusion via information overload. As Emerson’s Scott Szymanski shared in his demo of the Ovation View HMI, the new software rises to meet that challenge. The Ovation View HMI is full of new features to help operators design the optimal displays for their unique operations, while still maintaining the core capabilities that have kept Ovation the leader of the pack in power system controls for so many years. New features improve usability What users will notice first and foremost is Ovation 4.0’s modern looking web-based graphics. Users can create any graphics that suit their operating style, from high-performance 2D graphics that emphasize alarms to flashy, 3D-style graphics with animations. Even more important, however, are the wide range of key performance indicator dashboards—both available as default out of the box and also able to be custom built—that users can employ to keep close tabs on their real-time operations and long-term goals. Further increasing the ease-of-use is Ovation View HMI’s extensive library of drag-and-drop widgets to draw tanks, valves, pipes, wind turbines, buttons, charts, gauges, and more. With so many pre-built options available out of the box, it is faster and easier to build graphics and provide new ways to visualize Ovation data, resulting in a more intuitive and attractive operator experience. “If you’re artistic, you can make very three-dimensional shapes, but we also provide a lot of these features out of the box as well. If you need a three-dimensional tank, you don’t have to go through and configure all those gradients. A lot of it is built right into the widget.” Ovation View HMI also provides a nod to the increasing use of remote operations, both in traditional and, especially, renewables operations. With the Ovation Data Hub, the same HTML displays created for local control room monitoring are also accessible for remote monitoring and control without any conversion process. Consistency is key as well. Ovation View HMI supports global settings for elements such as colors, empowering a team to set a single color (or using one of the highly customizable gradients) for a specific widget type across all graphics, and making it easy to change those settings globally. For example, if a team has buttons set as red, but wants to change them to blue, it is easy to change that setting and push it out to every button created all at once. Old favorites still front and center Even with all the updates, experienced Ovation HMI users will still recognize the tools they have used for years. Ovation View HMI shares some of the best features of legacy graphics but incorporates new functionality, enhancements, and modernization that make it faster and easier to create, modify, and test graphics. Displays are still managed using Ovation Developer Studio, and legacy graphics and new displays can coexist on the same system, allowing for gradual, seamless transition to new designs. “The old legacy graphics aren’t going away. If you want to keep using the legacy graphics, you’ll be able to do that, or if you want to slowly over time start using the new graphics, you can keep your old graphics and use those until you’re able to create all your new graphics. You can even implement a new system in ovation and do just that in the new graphics and keep your old graphics for everything else.” Scott performed a number of demos to show the audience how quick and easy it is to create a new graphic with loads of flexibility—types, fills, color conditionals, animations, and more. The post Looking at Ovation in a Whole New Way appeared first on the Emerson Automation Experts blog.HMIOvation ViewControl & Safety SystemsOvationUG2024Water & Wastewaterovationbattery storageGraphicspower generationwindsolarhttps://emersonexchange365.com/industries/otherindustries/water-wastewater/b/weblog/posts/looking-at-ovation-in-a-whole-new-wayThu, 01 Aug 2024 14:01:00 GMTcd40bb2b-3d49-4868-939d-417119b40291:98d2f7a6-fa43-4abb-84ad-dd3aebfba1baJim CahillOne of the exciting improvements coming in Ovation ™ 4.0 is a significant overhaul to the human machine interface (HMI). The rise of renewables, and their integration into more and more power generation portfolios has made operations more complex than ever. Consequently, HMIs have had to evolve alongside to give operators access to their wide scope of operations without slowing them down or causing confusion via information overload. As Emerson’s Scott Szymanski shared in his demo of the Ovation View HMI, the new software rises to meet that challenge. The Ovation View HMI is full of new features to help operators design the optimal displays for their unique operations, while still maintaining the core capabilities that have kept Ovation the leader of the pack in power system controls for so many years. New features improve usability What users will notice first and foremost is Ovation 4.0’s modern looking web-based graphics. Users can create any graphics that suit their operating style, from high-performance 2D graphics that emphasize alarms to flashy, 3D-style graphics with animations. Even more important, however, are the wide range of key performance indicator dashboards—both available as default out of the box and also able to be custom built—that users can employ to keep close tabs on their real-time operations and long-term goals. Further increasing the ease-of-use is Ovation View HMI’s extensive library of drag-and-drop widgets to draw tanks, valves, pipes, wind turbines, buttons, charts, gauges, and more. With so many pre-built options available out of the box, it is faster and easier to build graphics and provide new ways to visualize Ovation data, resulting in a more intuitive and attractive operator experience. “If you’re artistic, you can make very three-dimensional shapes, but we also provide a lot of these features out of the box as well. If you need a three-dimensional tank, you don’t have to go through and configure all those gradients. A lot of it is built right into the widget.” Ovation View HMI also provides a nod to the increasing use of remote operations, both in traditional and, especially, renewables operations. With the Ovation Data Hub, the same HTML displays created for local control room monitoring are also accessible for remote monitoring and control without any conversion process. Consistency is key as well. Ovation View HMI supports global settings for elements such as colors, empowering a team to set a single color (or using one of the highly customizable gradients) for a specific widget type across all graphics, and making it easy to change those settings globally. For example, if a team has buttons set as red, but wants to change them to blue, it is easy to change that setting and push it out to every button created all at once. Old favorites still front and center Even with all the updates, experienced Ovation HMI users will still recognize the tools they have used for years. Ovation View HMI shares some of the best features of legacy graphics but incorporates new functionality, enhancements, and modernization that make it faster and easier to create, modify, and test graphics. Displays are still managed using Ovation Developer Studio, and legacy graphics and new displays can coexist on the same system, allowing for gradual, seamless transition to new designs. “The old legacy graphics aren’t going away. If you want to keep using the legacy graphics, you’ll be able to do that, or if you want to slowly over time start using the new graphics, you can keep your old graphics and use those until you’re able to create all your new graphics. You can even implement a new system in ovation and do just that in the new graphics and keep your old graphics for everything else.” Scott performed a number of demos to show the audience how quick and easy it is to create a new graphic with loads of flexibility—types, fills, color conditionals, animations, and more. The post Looking at Ovation in a Whole New Way appeared first on the Emerson Automation Experts blog.HMIOvation ViewControl & Safety SystemsOvationUG2024Water & Wastewaterovationbattery storageGraphicspower generationwindsolarhttps://emersonexchange365.com/industries/otherindustries/water-wastewater/b/weblog/posts/realizing-the-potential-of-renewable-energy-415797505Wed, 31 Jul 2024 22:00:00 GMTcd40bb2b-3d49-4868-939d-417119b40291:f7c73aba-4ab8-45ab-abf4-559295e8396dJim CahillRenewables are a primary topic of discussion at Emerson’s 2024 Ovation ™ Users Group conference in Pittsburgh, and in a presentation by James Fraser , Brett Benson , Ole Binderup , and Matthew Roberts , attendees could quickly see why. The group shared the many ways the energy landscape is changing, and first and foremost among them is the rise in renewables—often outpacing fossil production. Consequently, it’s not surprising that the shift is on everyone’s mind. It’s not only global demand, James explained, but also tax incentives (such as those from the Inflation Reduction Act) driving the shift. Today, even battery storage is qualified for investment tax credits alongside wind and solar generation, and the innovators are coming out in droves to capitalize on it. New local production facilities are being established across the globe, with high investments in greenfield solar, wind, and battery storage, and even brownfield investments are happening as retrofits take wind farms by storm. Change brings challenges With all this change comes new challenges in the energy industry. In wind generation, providers are often struggling with old turbines that underperform, and lock away the critical data operators and technicians need to drive optimal production. The obvious solution—replacing the turbines with newer models—is more challenging than it seems. Not only are new turbines costly to install, but they also are not allowed in many places as regulations have tightened significantly since the earliest installations. “The challenge is we want to build new assets, but we also have a lot of assets we want to keep in operation for the next 20 to 30 years. The challenge with all of these existing turbines is they are 10 to 20 years old, so all the technology is a different generation than what we use today.” Fortunately, Ole shared, Emerson offers many solutions with its Ovation Green wind turbine control system retrofits . Emerson can quickly and easily replace the control system of nearly any legacy turbine with a modern Ovation control system, typically with a native condition monitoring system as well, to give operators full control of their wind hardware. A new control system gives operators full ownership of their assets, letting them see and manage all the asset variables they need, leading to increased availability, lower operation and maintenance costs, and increased production. However, even if you’re still in a long-term service agreement, Ovation Green SCADA can unlock more data, so there’s still a good reason to invest in Ovation Green SCADA for new installs. Brett explained, “The OEM will want their SCADA in place, but we can put our SCADA in parallel. So, in your remote operations center you can still have a common, single pane of glass for your fleet, and the OEM can still have their SCADA.” Struggles with solar Solar PV provides its own set of challenges—especially to teams with most of their experience in thermal power plants. Solar plants have a wide variety of components—thousands of panels, dozens of trackers, hundreds of inverters, and they all must be tied into the power plant controller. Such a plant may have zero hardwired I/O, but 100,000 mapped datalink points! And few organizations will have only one site. Typically, they will need to aggregate data from multiple sites together into one common control room and operating environment. “We often think solar is easy. And on the surface, it looks easy. But as an engineer, it can be really hard because there are so many different points you’re trying to put together and ultimately, you’re only controlling a little bit.” Even if the operations team manages to pull all those data points together manually, they still face a seemingly never-ending stream of evolving grid requirements . Fortunately, Matt explained, Emerson’s Ovation Green Solar PV solutions can cut through the complexity for easier overall control and management of solar operations. “Everything within Ovation Green revolves around how we think about these projects differently. How do we break everything up and recognize that data is the name of the game?” A changing world Today, many organizations are gathering data from many sites, often of many different types. Emerson’s Ovation Green SCADA can connect all an organization’s assets, at the site level all the way up to the fleet level for a comprehensive view in a single, intuitive and cohesive dashboard. Whether it is at the site level or fleet level, the industry is evolving, and Emerson’s innovative technologies and software combine to help power providers through that transition. We’ve seen a lot already in the Ovation Users’ Group conference, and it is only day three. Stay tuned to the Emerson Automation Experts blog for continuing coverage of the event! The post Realizing the Potential of Renewable Energy appeared first on the Emerson Automation Experts blog.https://emersonexchange365.com/industries/otherindustries/water-wastewater/b/weblog/posts/realizing-the-potential-of-renewable-energyWed, 31 Jul 2024 22:00:00 GMTcd40bb2b-3d49-4868-939d-417119b40291:e0d9cbdc-2b09-41c0-95d8-cabdc4561541Jim CahillRenewables are a primary topic of discussion at Emerson’s 2024 Ovation ™ Users Group conference in Pittsburgh, and in a presentation by James Fraser , Brett Benson , Ole Binderup , and Matthew Roberts , attendees could quickly see why. The group shared the many ways the energy landscape is changing, and first and foremost among them is the rise in renewables—often outpacing fossil production. Consequently, it’s not surprising that the shift is on everyone’s mind. It’s not only global demand, James explained, but also tax incentives (such as those from the Inflation Reduction Act) driving the shift. Today, even battery storage is qualified for investment tax credits alongside wind and solar generation, and the innovators are coming out in droves to capitalize on it. New local production facilities are being established across the globe, with high investments in greenfield solar, wind, and battery storage, and even brownfield investments are happening as retrofits take wind farms by storm. Change brings challenges With all this change comes new challenges in the energy industry. In wind generation, providers are often struggling with old turbines that underperform, and lock away the critical data operators and technicians need to drive optimal production. The obvious solution—replacing the turbines with newer models—is more challenging than it seems. Not only are new turbines costly to install, but they also are not allowed in many places as regulations have tightened significantly since the earliest installations. “The challenge is we want to build new assets, but we also have a lot of assets we want to keep in operation for the next 20 to 30 years. The challenge with all of these existing turbines is they are 10 to 20 years old, so all the technology is a different generation than what we use today.” Fortunately, Ole shared, Emerson offers many solutions with its Ovation Green wind turbine control system retrofits . Emerson can quickly and easily replace the control system of nearly any legacy turbine with a modern Ovation control system, typically with a native condition monitoring system as well, to give operators full control of their wind hardware. A new control system gives operators full ownership of their assets, letting them see and manage all the asset variables they need, leading to increased availability, lower operation and maintenance costs, and increased production. However, even if you’re still in a long-term service agreement, Ovation Green SCADA can unlock more data, so there’s still a good reason to invest in Ovation Green SCADA for new installs. Brett explained, “The OEM will want their SCADA in place, but we can put our SCADA in parallel. So, in your remote operations center you can still have a common, single pane of glass for your fleet, and the OEM can still have their SCADA.” Struggles with solar Solar PV provides its own set of challenges—especially to teams with most of their experience in thermal power plants. Solar plants have a wide variety of components—thousands of panels, dozens of trackers, hundreds of inverters, and they all must be tied into the power plant controller. Such a plant may have zero hardwired I/O, but 100,000 mapped datalink points! And few organizations will have only one site. Typically, they will need to aggregate data from multiple sites together into one common control room and operating environment. “We often think solar is easy. And on the surface, it looks easy. But as an engineer, it can be really hard because there are so many different points you’re trying to put together and ultimately, you’re only controlling a little bit.” Even if the operations team manages to pull all those data points together manually, they still face a seemingly never-ending stream of evolving grid requirements . Fortunately, Matt explained, Emerson’s Ovation Green Solar PV solutions can cut through the complexity for easier overall control and management of solar operations. “Everything within Ovation Green revolves around how we think about these projects differently. How do we break everything up and recognize that data is the name of the game?” A changing world Today, many organizations are gathering data from many sites, often of many different types. Emerson’s Ovation Green SCADA can connect all an organization’s assets, at the site level all the way up to the fleet level for a comprehensive view in a single, intuitive and cohesive dashboard. Whether it is at the site level or fleet level, the industry is evolving, and Emerson’s innovative technologies and software combine to help power providers through that transition. We’ve seen a lot already in the Ovation Users’ Group conference, and it is only day three. Stay tuned to the Emerson Automation Experts blog for continuing coverage of the event! The post Realizing the Potential of Renewable Energy appeared first on the Emerson Automation Experts blog.retrofitSustainable EnergyOvationUG2024ovation greenWater & Wastewaterovationbattery storagepower generationRenewableswindsolarsustainabilityhttps://emersonexchange365.com/industries/otherindustries/water-wastewater/b/weblog/posts/realizing-the-potential-of-renewable-energy-9259635Wed, 31 Jul 2024 22:00:00 GMTcd40bb2b-3d49-4868-939d-417119b40291:ebda322d-96ce-4afe-a598-1206dea92befJim CahillRenewables are a primary topic of discussion at Emerson’s 2024 Ovation ™ Users Group conference in Pittsburgh, and in a presentation by James Fraser , Brett Benson , Ole Binderup , and Matthew Roberts , attendees could quickly see why. The group shared the many ways the energy landscape is changing, and first and foremost among them is the rise in renewables—often outpacing fossil production. Consequently, it’s not surprising that the shift is on everyone’s mind. It’s not only global demand, James explained, but also tax incentives (such as those from the Inflation Reduction Act) driving the shift. Today, even battery storage is qualified for investment tax credits alongside wind and solar generation, and the innovators are coming out in droves to capitalize on it. New local production facilities are being established across the globe, with high investments in greenfield solar, wind, and battery storage, and even brownfield investments are happening as retrofits take wind farms by storm. Change brings challenges With all this change comes new challenges in the energy industry. In wind generation, providers are often struggling with old turbines that underperform, and lock away the critical data operators and technicians need to drive optimal production. The obvious solution—replacing the turbines with newer models—is more challenging than it seems. Not only are new turbines costly to install, but they also are not allowed in many places as regulations have tightened significantly since the earliest installations. “The challenge is we want to build new assets, but we also have a lot of assets we want to keep in operation for the next 20 to 30 years. The challenge with all of these existing turbines is they are 10 to 20 years old, so all the technology is a different generation than what we use today.” Fortunately, Ole shared, Emerson offers many solutions with its Ovation Green wind turbine control system retrofits . Emerson can quickly and easily replace the control system of nearly any legacy turbine with a modern Ovation control system, typically with a native condition monitoring system as well, to give operators full control of their wind hardware. A new control system gives operators full ownership of their assets, letting them see and manage all the asset variables they need, leading to increased availability, lower operation and maintenance costs, and increased production. However, even if you’re still in a long-term service agreement, Ovation Green SCADA can unlock more data, so there’s still a good reason to invest in Ovation Green SCADA for new installs. Brett explained, “The OEM will want their SCADA in place, but we can put our SCADA in parallel. So, in your remote operations center you can still have a common, single pane of glass for your fleet, and the OEM can still have their SCADA.” Struggles with solar Solar PV provides its own set of challenges—especially to teams with most of their experience in thermal power plants. Solar plants have a wide variety of components—thousands of panels, dozens of trackers, hundreds of inverters, and they all must be tied into the power plant controller. Such a plant may have zero hardwired I/O, but 100,000 mapped datalink points! And few organizations will have only one site. Typically, they will need to aggregate data from multiple sites together into one common control room and operating environment. “We often think solar is easy. And on the surface, it looks easy. But as an engineer, it can be really hard because there are so many different points you’re trying to put together and ultimately, you’re only controlling a little bit.” Even if the operations team manages to pull all those data points together manually, they still face a seemingly never-ending stream of evolving grid requirements . Fortunately, Matt explained, Emerson’s Ovation Green Solar PV solutions can cut through the complexity for easier overall control and management of solar operations. “Everything within Ovation Green revolves around how we think about these projects differently. How do we break everything up and recognize that data is the name of the game?” A changing world Today, many organizations are gathering data from many sites, often of many different types. Emerson’s Ovation Green SCADA can connect all an organization’s assets, at the site level all the way up to the fleet level for a comprehensive view in a single, intuitive and cohesive dashboard. Whether it is at the site level or fleet level, the industry is evolving, and Emerson’s innovative technologies and software combine to help power providers through that transition. We’ve seen a lot already in the Ovation Users’ Group conference, and it is only day three. Stay tuned to the Emerson Automation Experts blog for continuing coverage of the event! The post Realizing the Potential of Renewable Energy appeared first on the Emerson Automation Experts blog.retrofitSustainable EnergyOvationUG2024ovation greenWater & Wastewaterovationbattery storagepower generationRenewableswindsolarsustainabilityhttps://emersonexchange365.com/industries/otherindustries/water-wastewater/b/weblog/posts/diving-into-ovation-green-scada-971887942Wed, 31 Jul 2024 13:33:00 GMTcd40bb2b-3d49-4868-939d-417119b40291:1d5e4da2-c27a-4f3e-a235-045a0e2e35d6Jim CahillWe’ve talked a lot in this space about the benefits of Emerson’s Ovation ™ Green SCADA —built-for-purpose renewable energy software that provides a top-down approach to view, monitor, control, and optimize a wide variety of renewable energy and storage assets, across a single piece of equipment or even a full fleet of assets. It can do some impressive things, but just how impressive became even more obvious in Sarah Morgan’s Ovation Users’ Group session taking a deep dive into version 6 of the software. Made easy with an intuitive web interface Ovation Green SCADA’s interface is made to not only be easy to use, but easy to use where users most want to access it. Whether in Chrome or Firefox browsers, in the Android or iOS app, or even in custom clients via open API, the dashboard is built to give users an instantaneous view of the health of any and all assets (across a plant or even across an entire fleet) right away. Out-of-the-box, the software provides pre-built dashboards and data sets that display critical key performance indicators and information of interest, including wind turbines , solar PV inverters, weather stations, battery energy storage , and power plant controller defaults—making it easy to roll all of a power provider’s assets into a single view for easier visibility. However, graphics are not limited to the pre-built dashboards, but are also highly customizable, empowering teams to create the most effective displays for their unique operations. Custom graphics can be built in-browser via component visualization, and users with appropriate rights can edit dashboards on the fly. Remote control, across a site or across the globe Improved visibility, however, is only the beginning, as Sarah demonstrated by diving into the equipment remote control features available in the software. From the dashboard, users can issue commands for equipment, with the ability to stop, start, and reset assets, as well as issuing setpoints for active power, reactive power, voltage, and more. In addition, one of the key benefits of controlling assets through the software is that all actions are centrally logged for reference and audit purposes. Powerful historical data Ovation Green SCADA also employs a powerful historian tool that can be used for reporting and troubleshooting. Historian data can be brought in directly from controllers and is parsed by Ovation Green SCADA for storage, or data can be collected and calculated by Ovation Green SCADA based on live data. But this is not a pick and choose situation. The historian can handle both historian processing types simultaneously. Historian information and alarm classification can be used to calculate downtime categories for a specified period, and data analysis is available for fault detection and root cause analysis. One of the key benefits of attending the Ovation Users’ Group conference is the opportunity for deep dives like this one, driven by subject matter experts who not only share their expertise through their presentations, but also directly engage with users to answer questions and offer best practice advice. Stay tuned to the Emerson Automation Experts blog for more highlights from the conference and be sure to join us next year so you can get hands on for improved planning and learning in your own career. The post Diving Into Ovation Green SCADA appeared first on the Emerson Automation Experts blog.https://emersonexchange365.com/industries/otherindustries/water-wastewater/b/weblog/posts/diving-into-ovation-green-scadaWed, 31 Jul 2024 13:33:00 GMTcd40bb2b-3d49-4868-939d-417119b40291:5f8da1f6-2435-41db-9d3a-4491867cc91eJim CahillWe’ve talked a lot in this space about the benefits of Emerson’s Ovation ™ Green SCADA —built-for-purpose renewable energy software that provides a top-down approach to view, monitor, control, and optimize a wide variety of renewable energy and storage assets, across a single piece of equipment or even a full fleet of assets. It can do some impressive things, but just how impressive became even more obvious in Sarah Morgan’s Ovation Users’ Group session taking a deep dive into version 6 of the software. Made easy with an intuitive web interface Ovation Green SCADA’s interface is made to not only be easy to use, but easy to use where users most want to access it. Whether in Chrome or Firefox browsers, in the Android or iOS app, or even in custom clients via open API, the dashboard is built to give users an instantaneous view of the health of any and all assets (across a plant or even across an entire fleet) right away. Out-of-the-box, the software provides pre-built dashboards and data sets that display critical key performance indicators and information of interest, including wind turbines , solar PV inverters, weather stations, battery energy storage , and power plant controller defaults—making it easy to roll all of a power provider’s assets into a single view for easier visibility. However, graphics are not limited to the pre-built dashboards, but are also highly customizable, empowering teams to create the most effective displays for their unique operations. Custom graphics can be built in-browser via component visualization, and users with appropriate rights can edit dashboards on the fly. Remote control, across a site or across the globe Improved visibility, however, is only the beginning, as Sarah demonstrated by diving into the equipment remote control features available in the software. From the dashboard, users can issue commands for equipment, with the ability to stop, start, and reset assets, as well as issuing setpoints for active power, reactive power, voltage, and more. In addition, one of the key benefits of controlling assets through the software is that all actions are centrally logged for reference and audit purposes. Powerful historical data Ovation Green SCADA also employs a powerful historian tool that can be used for reporting and troubleshooting. Historian data can be brought in directly from controllers and is parsed by Ovation Green SCADA for storage, or data can be collected and calculated by Ovation Green SCADA based on live data. But this is not a pick and choose situation. The historian can handle both historian processing types simultaneously. Historian information and alarm classification can be used to calculate downtime categories for a specified period, and data analysis is available for fault detection and root cause analysis. One of the key benefits of attending the Ovation Users’ Group conference is the opportunity for deep dives like this one, driven by subject matter experts who not only share their expertise through their presentations, but also directly engage with users to answer questions and offer best practice advice. Stay tuned to the Emerson Automation Experts blog for more highlights from the conference and be sure to join us next year so you can get hands on for improved planning and learning in your own career. The post Diving Into Ovation Green SCADA appeared first on the Emerson Automation Experts blog.Control & Safety SystemsSCADAOvationUG2024ovation greenWater & Wastewaterovationbattery storagepower generationRenewableswindsolarsustainability