Intelligent design

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

Smooth operating
Software is, of course, also used to run power plants once they are in operation. The challenges faced by utilities are numerous, from rising regulatory pressures and consumer demand for lower prices, to a shortage in skilled workers and the need for cleaner forms of energy.

“EPPM software enables power plants to create ‘what-if’ scenarios, allowing project stakeholders to see how even a slight contingency will affect the project and how different responses will have an impact on the budget and schedule.

These solutions can also help optimise operational metrics and help ensure the right people are on the right project at the right time,” says Barlow.

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The importance of maintenance has never been greater, says Barlow, who assets that EPPM software helps reduce shutdown and turnaround time by matching resources to the workload and increasing wrench time.

“Millions of dollars and the success or failure of critical projects – like a refueling outage – are on the line every time a skilled craftsman lays a wrench on an important piece of machinery.”

New ground
As expected in a competitive market, companies are always looking to development their products. One of the latest developments is the inclusion of so-called ‘wizards’, says Intergraph’s Denton.

While applications that relate data to the CAD drawings and models that are created have been established in other plant industries for around 20 years, one recent development to this technology is the inclusion of automation that helps engineers work more efficiently inside the actual design tools by leading them through the various options and design considerations.

This ensures that the design is done correctly up front and greatly reduces the amount of checking and editing done in later steps, says Denton.

“Tools used designing today’s plants should have the ability to build in the ‘institutional knowledge’ of standard work processes that younger engineers can leverage inside the technology,” he adds.

Earlier this year, Oracle brought to the market AutoVue 20.0. The AutoVue Enterprise Visualisation programme helps viewing, reviewing and collaborating on asset and engineering documents and information across a global enterprise.

“The solution has helped thousands of users in engineering, maintenance and operations access and work with the technical information they need to support plant shutdowns, plant optimisation and routine maintenance activities,”
says Barlow.