PACE Zenith Awards
Transport, Power and Infrastructure category sponsored by Honeywell Process Solutions
Winner: Aurecon Hatch
Project: NCIG Coal Export Terminal Control System
Aurecon Hatch also took out the Overall Project of the Year Award
Aurecon Hatch was engaged to provide total engineering design, procurement and construction management (EPCM) services to NCIG for all stages of the Coal Export Terminal Control System.
This included providing entire control systems engineering services, as well as system design, function specification for PLC and SCADA configuration, factory testing, site commissioning, performance testing and operator training.
The judges were impressed: "This complex project was impressive as it required a diverse range of control equipment and a fast track schedule. The team demonstrated a range of engineering skills to deliver the project on time and within budget."
As part of the EPCM services, Aurecon Hatch project managed 11 different supply contracts, including HV switchgear, transformers, 415V MCCs, HV cables, power factor correction equipment, wagon vibrator, conveyor drive units, pulleys, conveyor belting, vibrating feeders, and sample plant modifications.
The project was completed early and under budget. The controls design and controls capital works were also finished under budget.
Andrew Hepburn (pictured above), Principal Engineer Automation at Aurecon Hatch outlined some of the difficulties involved in the project, specifically when it came to timing.
"We were given an overall schedule for the project and we knew our target dates and our durations. We planned the various steps of the work from design to installation and commissioning to work out and meet the end date of the overall program."
The NCIG Coal Export Terminal is a plant rated at 66Mtpa and was developed in three stages of 33, 45, and 66 Mtpa. The plant involved a rail receival system, conveyor system, coal stacking, reclaiming and sampling as well as ship-loading.
The expansion to 45Mtpa and 66Mtpa represented a much more challenging task and involved both greenfield and brownfield works. In response to market pressure, NCIG required expansion to 45Mtpa to occur over a period of just two years and to 66Mtpa one year later.
"The control system usually comes at the end of the project and we had to almost work from negative program," said Hepburn. "We had to design to the best guess of the progress the work. As contracts and plant were selected, we were able to modify the design in accordance with the real information but it was a very tight schedule to get the job done on time," said Hepburn.
Aurecon Hatch's Andrew Hepburn (L) receives the award from Garry Mahoney of Honeywell Process Solutions, sponsor of the Transport, Power and Infrastructure category.
Aurecon Hatch established a multidisciplinary project team to cover various aspects of the project which provided a true one stop shop for the client. Skills included were project management, scheduling, cost control, change management and contract administration.
In relation to the control system, the team provided a full set of technical skills including PLC, SCADA, MES, building management, networking, fibre, fieldbus, instrumentation, access control, CCTV, historian, telephone, wireless and radio.
"It was a large $3 billion project. We were able to put together a team and different staff members had different parts of the job to manage. Effectively they all worked under the guidance of a project leader and in that way a very large job was successfully managed," said Hepburn.
In order to provide a modern robust automation solution for the coal terminal's infrastructure, that would allow a minimum staff of 50 to operate and maintain the plant a high level of automation, extensive diagnostics and condition monitoring, first up alarm system and integration of data between the controls and corporate systems had to be incorporated.
The Transport, Power and Infrastructure category is sponsored by Honeywell Process Solutions.
PACE Zenith Awards 2012: Transport, Power and Infrastructure category is proudly sponsored by Honeywell Process Solutions
Honeywell Process Solutions
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