This one-hour course.

This course will cover the Why, When, What, and Who of hydro power controls, instrumentation, protection, and SCADA.

This course is primarily for maintenance staff that monitor SCADA devices. Operators, Electricians and Supervisors.

Why?

The why will cover the circumstances that typically prompt operators to push for upgrades.  The most common is significant downtime, regulations, and obsolescent of parts.  Other reasons and examples will also be presented.

When?

The when will go over when it makes sense to upgrade the electrical components of a hydro station.  There are many electrical components to a hydro station.  First there are the controls for power, turbine, governor, voltage regulators, head and tail levels, flow, wicket gate, runner blades, hydraulics, cooling water flow, and protective relays.  Instruments consist of position feedback, speed pickup, tail and head levels, temperature, flow, and vibration to name some.  And finally, there is SCADA or HMI.  When the power controls need to be upgraded, does it make sense to upgrade SCADA, relay protection, or level sensors?  This part will cover how to determine this and show examples.

What?

The what will consist of a table that lists all the controls, instrumentation and SCADA components and best practices for upgrades.

Who?

The who will cover the skills that are required to effectively upgrade or maintain controls, instruments, and SCADA.  The skills to upgrade turbine controls are different than those for the switchgear.   The skills to do it all will require electrical engineers, EPRI/ISA instrumentation technicians, Level III PLC and SCADA programmers, licensed Electricians, and NETA Technicians.

Post-installation maintenance.

Finally, if time allows, the presentation will cover the electrical maintenance of all the controls, instrumentation, and SCADA.