| Abstract |
Ormat operates geothermal and recovered energy generation power plants in 22 countries. The engineering and customer support teams require process and equipment data in order to respond quickly to events of upsets, malfunction and failures. Not long ago, technology allowed monitoring limited data with slow transmission rates and unreliable connections. True valuable support was only achievable by spending time and money traveling to site. Today, Ethernet technology, Wide Area Networks and the Internet bring abundance of online plant data achieving fast, reliable and secure remote activities: from basic support to complex plant tests and experiments; from simple troubleshooting to advanced diagnosis and problem solving. Ultimately, with the ability to place plant operator workstations at any distance from the plant, full remote operation of unmanned power plants has become a reality. The benefits of the remote control system become evident through the presentation of Ormat’s Steamboat complex in Reno, NV. From the complex’s control center, unmanned plants are remotely controlled, among them ten recovered energy units, located thousands of miles away along the Northern Border gas pipeline. Operations optimization is pursued by clustering power plants’ supervision into central control locations. Monitoring rotating equipment is crucial to understand and prevent developing of problems in the machine. Especially, vibration analysis is the key diagnostic tool in evaluating a rotating machine’s condition. A machine’s vibrations signature together with the process data allow for a comprehensive analysis and diagnostic of the machine condition. With the ability to access online plant data at the click of a mouse, rotating engineers sitting at their office desk can perform valuable data monitoring and analysis on daily basis. The case study of a 5.5 MW power unit turbine located in the plains of South Dakota, US, monitored from Ormat engineering headquarters sheds more light on the advantages of remote monitoring and diagnostics. Using its own plants as test benches, Ormat continues to expand its remote monitoring and diagnostic capabilities, offering improved products and services to its customers. |