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Whether it’s a coal-plant, combined-cycle plant, or simple-cycle plant, the benefits of a high-fidelity power plant simulator are understood by many.

• Providing realistic training for new personnel, and periodic refresher training and qualification programs for more experienced operators.
• Developing and validating the best operating procedures for your plant and transferring that knowledge to the entire staff
• Gaining organizational confidence with new control logic by testing and validating the logic before committing it to the control system
• Using it as an engineering test bed for evaluating plant equipment modifications or process improvements before project execution

While these are valuable benefits to a power plant, the perceived complexity and costs of simulators are challenges that prevent some organizations from pursing simulators. However, embedded simulation is a manner of simplification that tackles these challenges.

Embedded simulators use the same hardware, operating system, and software application components of the accompanying distributed control system. Use of a common platform across your control system and simulator provides significant benefits due to the existing familiarity with workstations, equipment operation, maintenance, and control features. A shared platform also helps reduce long-term ownership costs.

If you’d like to learn more about power plant simulators, please watch our video on the Ovation Embedded Simulator.