Brisbane Melbourne Hobart Launceston Devonport
Case Study
Taking an Existing Windfarm and Migrating the Systems to a New Owner
"Simple can be harder than complex; you have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple” - Steve Jobs
Industry
Energy
Sector
Wind
Segment
System Engineering
Project
- The client purchased a windfarm operating 43 turbines with a generation capacity of 131MW.
- All the existing control and monitoring systems needed to be transitioned to the new owner.
- It was critical during transition production was maintained.
- The client formed a project team to manage the commercial and technical transition.
- Cromarty Automation was engaged as the specialist integrator to manage and implement the systems' migration.
Solution
The project was highly complex with multiple stakeholder systems needing to be transitioned while maintaining production and maintaining communications with the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO). This involved a high level of technical competency. The main works included:
- Audit and document the existing network architecture.
- Restructure communication systems while maintaining visibility for new and existing stakeholders.
- Plan and conduct the migration.
- Develop and deploy energy trading dashboard.
- Develop and implement semi-dispatch mechanism with AEMO.
- Migrate O&M services to a new control room.
- Provide ongoing 24/7 technical support.
- Provide ongoing system maintenance and upgrades.
Outcome
From commencement to completion, the transfer took nine months and was seamlessly delivered in line with the commercial transition of the asset, without any loss of production. The system audit ensured that the communications systems were fully documented, aiding ongoing support and the AEMO 8Legs semi-dispatch system was successfully implemented, greatly reducing non-conformances.
