Demand for electricity is increasing as government initiatives deliver more housing, infrastructure and services into remote areas. Electricity provided to these remote communities is predominantly generated by diesel-fueled power stations.

The overall delivery cost of electricity services in remote areas is impacted by the increasing costs of diesel fuel and operating stand–alone power stations.

As the region’s main provider of electricity, water and sewerage services, Power and Water Corporation aims to maintain reliable power services to residents in 72 remote communities by ensuring sufficient generation capacity to meet demand.

SAGE Automation was engaged to upgrade the control systems of the power stations in remote communities across the Northern Territory and so far, has upgraded 27 sites.

We asked Power and Water’s, Remote Operations Manager, Duncan Griffin, why this work is so important.

“As a result of this work Power and Water Corporation is providing a more reliable power supply to those living in remote communities. Asset performance is enhanced, which has in turn enabled greater operational efficiencies whereby electricity is supplied to customers at the lowest cost possible.” Duncan Griffin

Project Outcomes

• Control system cutover was undertaken without interruption to power supply.
• Design control system to fit within the exiting footprint of the power stations.
• Effective management of remote assets with greater access to data relating to power usage, fuel loading, runtime hours as well as greater
  spinning reserve visibility.
• Monitoring of bulk fuel tanks allowing for predictive fuel management.
  Achievement of better fuel efficiencies resulting in lower diesel costs by removing manual operation.
• Significant reduction in greenhouse emissions with the reduce diesel usage.
• Remote system access allowing for remote fault diagnostics resulting in fewer technical services required on site.
• Provision of a reliable power supply to those living outside of the grid with a fully redundant system, able to be remotely accessed or switched
  to manual mode if required.
• To find out more about Power and Water, please visit www.powerwater.com.au

Capabilities Demonstrated

• Project Management
• Procurement
• Low voltage electrical design
• Factory Acceptance Testing
• Panel Build
• Software programming - Schneider Unity
• Remote installation and commissioning
• Site Acceptance Testing
• Ongoing SAGE Service Support
• Solar aray integration

Technology

• Schneider M340 PLC
• EasyGen Controller
• Citect User Interface