Intelligent design

The construction costs of a power plant can be reduced by management software.

Software helps reduce the complexity of the design process, mitigates work duplication, and can bring down the cost of construction and operation.

Power plants are large and complex operations that require the cooperation of different engineering disciplines. As designers and engineers start putting together the various elements of the plant, ranging from the layout to the integration of instrumentation and controls, the design process is in a constant state of flux.

One of the most significant benefits of software is that it helps to coordinate the various design threads in real time.

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“The problem is, that in general for power plants to be efficient they need to be large, and so therefore it becomes more of an integration issue for all the different disciplines that are involved in the design of a plant.

Typically that will involve some architecture for the buildings, structural engineering and mechanical engineering for the equipment, as well as electrical engineering, control and instrumentation, and so on,” says Mark Biagi, solutions executive for power generation at Bentley.

“Making sure all major plant components are designed and accounted for, and that each engineering group affected by those components has the most up-to-date information is one of the most important considerations,” says Keith Denton,
vice president, global power industry at Intergraph.

“Power plant designers spend much more time reacting to change and validating data than they do in creating the data in the first place. Software helps to reduce the negative impacts of those changes by notifying users earlier in the process so they can avoid purchasing incorrect components or producing incorrect drawings,” he adds.

Ensuring that the vast amount of data needed for the construction of a plant is collected and distributed in the right way is crucial, agrees Mike Blalock, global industry director, energy and utilities, at IFS.

“To succeed, a system must be implemented to support the setting of standards for data collection and for the collaboration of all stakeholders in the enterprise. This dynamic plant repository of data is critical to the overall success of the endeavour.”