Software tech for infrastructure

As the Middle East continues to expand its power utilities, software systems firms are keeping up with developments and helping drive gains in efficiency and safety

When you’re talking about plant safety and efficiency – whether it’s a gas-fired power plant, a nuclear facility, a refinery or a cement works – software systems are at the heart of operations. As rising demand for power in the Middle East puts pressure on infrastructure, it pays to stay ahead of the game.

“There is willingness, especially in the Middle East, to have new technology,” says Patrick Gex, VP of eSoms project management at Ventyx. “There are many advantages to using advanced plant software; you cannot run a power plant these days without the help of computers, which come with software packages. So together, the two give you a very strong tool to be able to improve your efficiency, productivity, safety and compliance.”

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It’s a sentiment that Kevin Gribbin, executive consultant, global power industry at Intergraph, agrees with wholly. “I think in most industries – and power may arguably be slightly behind most other industries – there is a general acceptance now that the design, construction and management of power plants can be performed quite adequately and efficiently in a more software-driven digital world.”

Probably the most significant change in the last ten years or so has been the move from analog to digital control systems, which in the nuclear industry, for example, has meant a rapid learning curve.

“The nuclear world is an interesting one, in as much as there are not many countries that have continued with a nuclear programme in the last 30 years,” says Gribbin. “One thing that nuclear as an industry is having to deal with, is that the adoption and utilisation of these technologies over the last 20 years has grown, and in businesses like refining and chemicals, they have, over that period, adopted these things in incremental steps.

“They’ve had 20 years of incremental learning, and all of a sudden the nuclear industry – utilities in particular – is having to adopt and adapt and understand today, what other industries have had 20 years to do.”

“From our perspective then, it’s important that we evaluate the needs of that industry quite closely and ensure the technologies we make available are able to do the required tasks. A few years ago we were actually very involved in canvassing our customers to find out where there may be gaps in our offerings for the nuclear industry.

We identified those, and we put a programme in place to make sure that what we needed was put into that technology. We try to be ahead of the curve.”

However, with the integration of new technology comes the inevitable question of cost. “You have to have a strong case; you have to make sure your return on investment is favourable,” says Gex.

“You need to be competitive now when you build a power plant or refinery, and in order to be competitive you need to keep your costs down. To do that, you need to be very efficient and very productive, and there’s a willingness to use new technology and new software applications in those areas.”