Emerson Exchange 365

Global demand for energy is insatiable. As most industry professionals can quote, demand for energy worldwide is expected to increase by 48% between 2012 and 2040, mostly in the non-OECD world – a dramatic number. This energy demand is increasingly for renewables. Compared to countries that are part of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) front, the emerging markets are a clean slate, with no legacy of large energy grids or fossil fuel usage. These markets are looking with a fresh perspective, considering the impacts of global climate change, pollution, falling costs in renewable energy, and a desire for energy independence, which are all dramatically increasing the demand for renewables. This trend for renewables has also driven new opportunities for new, flexible control technologies that match the new equipment paradigm, and that’s created new opportunities for a new generation of PLCs. In a recent presentation, Darrell Halterman, senior product manager, PLC controls products, Emerson, discussed this dramatic trend.

The newest PLCs are well suited for emerging renewable energy markets for a number of reasons:

• Scalability – Today’s PLCs operate in systems from small micro applications with a few I/O, up to large, redundant systems with up to 32K I/O
• Standardization – PLCs utilize standard IEC61131 programming and fieldbus connectivity options at both PLC and HMI/SCADA level
• High-speed Performance – Power markets frequently require high-speed switching capability; today’s PLCs offer a base scan rate as low as 200 μs, coordinated multi-axis motion and are fully deterministic
• Compact Footprint – Today’s PLCs offer I/O densities as high as seven terminals / square inch and rack-less controllers for distributed systems
• Edge Control – Emerson’s new generation PLCs offer true edge control capability with a dual-purpose controller for combined logic and IoT applications allowing advanced optimization and analytics with the same expectations for reliability and ruggedness

In his presentation, Darrell also explained how these modern PLCs are being utilized in today’s renewable energy applications. Since many renewable installations, including hydropower and solar plants, are placed in remote locations, the need for effective long-distance control and security is paramount.

Hydropower plants, for example, require high-precision remote control and diagnostics, which can be delivered by the Emerson PACSystems RX3i. (A remote hydropower installation is shown to the right.) Security is of particular importance in these power plants, and Emerson systems include secure design lifecycle, a hardware-based Root of Trust, secure firmware, built-in software firewall, selective access to controller memory and secure communications through OPC UA, Achilles Level 2 certifications and secure cloud connectivity.

Similar challenges are encountered in solar photovoltaic power stations where short project timelines, exponential demand, and a multitude of vendors make integration more challenging. Emerson has been able to quickly deliver full turn-key controls solutions.

The unique demands of the new energy markets require innovative approaches and Emerson’s new PLC technologies lead the renewable energy world.

How are you coping with the increasing demand for energy?