News

Winner - Automotive and Manufacturing

APA - Data Validation and Business Reporting

With the Importance of accuracy in billing the APA Group (formerly of Origin Energy Asset Management) embarked on an ambitious project to automate the gathering of the data from field instrumentation. With the help of PARASYN this ambitious project became an award winning example of a groundbreaking MES application.

Highly commended - Gas & Oil

Origin Energy CSG - Leading SCADA & Information System

PARASYN continuing the longstanding partnership with Origin Energy CSG helped develop the Spring Gully Well Production SCADA and Information System. This project was developed with large scale and system sustainability in mind and was runner up to the project that won the Project of the Year overall.

Finalist - Water and Waste Water

East Gippsland Water, New SCADA & Process Information System

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PARASYN Finalists in 3 Categories in Pace Zenith Awards.

After a busy year of work PARASYN has been short listed as a finalist in the Pace Zenith Awards 2008. This year has seen PARASYN enter an unprecedented 3 categories. As in years past we have entered the highly competitive Water and Wastewater and the Oil,Gas and Hydrocarbons categories and for the first time the Automotive and Manufacturing Category. This ambitious undertaking caps off our 3rd year of competition. The Awards ceremony will be held at 6:30pm on the 18th of June at a dinner hosted by Pace in Sydney.

Submission extracts:

APA, Data Validation and Business Reporting

Compliancy is now a reality especially in the energy industries as a result of "retailing" and the requirement for accurate information. From an information perspective this has put operational data commonly available in SCADA systems to the forefront of asset and retail manager's minds. In compliance to Vencorp reporting requirements, the APA Group (formerly of Origin Energy Asset Management) embarked on an ambitious project to automate the gathering of the data from field instrumentation including RTUs, inline Correctors, Flow Meters, Pressure meters and other instrumentation required to manage their wide spread gas reticulation network. APA needed to maintain operational performance while upgrading architecture to allow MES functionality and Information System platforms. The new platform and architecture formed the basis to support future growth, allow new business rules and reporting methods and maintainability for years to come. The APA system is totally prepared to leverage introduced standards to amalgamate with other gas distribution systems ultimately growing their overall geographic infrastructure footprint.

For the full article: http://www.pacetoday.com.au/articles/Zenith-Awards-2008_z173345.htm

Origin Energy CSG, leading SCADA & Information System

Spring Gully is a major Coal Seam Gas (CSG) field managed by Origin Energy. The Spring Gully Well Production SCADA and Information System was developed with large scale and system sustainability in mind. Specific areas of engineering focus include the reliable and systematic monitoring of Well Head controls and configuration parameters. Very early in the design phase Origin Energy determined that Well Head site configuration may change as the performance and the characteristics of the well changes. This meant the primary focus needed to be the ease of changing site's functionality. The electrical interface and SCADA user interface needed to be adjustable with minimal fuss and low risk to production. As such the instrumentation, electrical interface, control devices, communications, SCADA and information Systems were tightly integrated resulting in a site configuration change by the "click of a button". PARASYN'S role included the design and the supply of telemetry panels, instrumentation and all the software systems. Origin Energy, Having seen the benefits of the historical data provided by the gas fields SCADA system, have now expended the data retrieval to include the remaining portions of the Spring Gully Field including, Gas Compressors Stations and Weather Stations.

For the full article: http://www.pacetoday.com.au/articles/Zenith-Awards-2008_z173403.htm

East Gippsland Water, New SCADA & Process Information System

The East Gippsland region embraces and area formerly administered by four Water Boards and encompasses 10% of Victoria. Implementation a new SCADA system throughout their region was a priority; the project included work to upgrade switchboards and the SCADA under two different major contracts. The initial focus was water quality and the extensive real-time monitoring of water treatment facilities, with work concentrating on the design of field monitoring equipment, computer hardware and software. The performance outcomes include; minimising operational problems, improving equipment reliability, compliance with government regulations and improved customer service. The EGW SCADA and information System project stands out as a reference for turnkey projects that require the discipline from electrical interface through to back office web reports delivered to the system owner's desktop. The most demanding elements were the need for tight control of remote subcontractors, a highly compressed timeline owing to bushfires and water quality issues and the wide level of disciplines that needed to be coordinated to execute the project to superior standards. Over the next few years the use of the new SCADA system will be expanded to cover other key facilities and assets. PARASYN are currently working collaboratively with EGW to investigate the use of wireless public radio technologies (NextG) to provide a secondary communications path for their critical remote sites. Trials and field testing is ensuring that the application of new technology improves overall system performance.

For the full article: http://www.pacetoday.com.au/articles/Zenith-Awards-2008_z173407.htm

Spring Gully Located in central Queensland is one of the richest CSG fields in Australia.

PARASYN have completed a stage in the delivery of the Spring Gully SCADA upgrade.

Origin Energy CSG has been working in Coal Seam Gas for several years. Spring Gully is a major Coal Seam Gas (CSG) field they manage located 80km North East of Roma, Central Queensland Australia. Spring Gully required their SCADA system to improve productivity and diminish unnecessary manual tasks.

The Spring Gully Well Production SCADA and Information System was developed with large scale and system sustainability in mind. Specific areas of engineering focus include the reliable and systematic monitoring of Well Head controls and configuration parameters.

Very early in the design stage Origin Energy determined that Well Head site configuration may change as the performance and characteristics of the well changes. As such the instrumentation, electrical interface, control devices, communications, SCADA and Information Systems were tightly integrated resulting in a site configuration change by the “click of a button”.

Origin wanted to develop a SCADA and telemetry monitoring system capable of supporting a large number of production wells distributed over an area of 500 – 700 square kilometers. They also wanted to be able to allow for full automated control of well heads remotely, monitor accurately the wells operations and analyze system performance for operational and remote asset managers. This also gave offsite production engineers access to process data for data modeling and engineering analysis.

Origin reduced the need for operations staff to frequently visit the site. This reduced the environmental impact on the site and the use of roads. It also increased safety with decreased requirement from staff driving to site. For Origin Energy perhaps the single most important benefit is the access to the tools and information allowing them to continue to improve the production performance.

Origin Energy CSG Head Office now have access to data not previously available. This can be used for reporting, analysis and data mining. Another way PARASYN are helping business run more effectively.

The East Gippsland region of Victoria, Photo courtesy of EGW.

PARASYN has been assisting to implement a new SCADA system throughout East Gippsland Water’s region.

The East Gippsland region encompasses 10% of Victoria from Bairnsdale to Dinner Plain in the north and Mallacoota in the eastern tip of Victoria.

This major investment by East Gippsland Water included work to upgrade switchboards and the SCADA system under two different major contracts.The initial stages of the project are planned to be completed with their final commissioning and handover training scheduled for mid-May 2008 and subsequent additions to the system have been commissioned. The field testing and handover training are currently nearing completion.

The initial focus for East Gippsland Water and PARASYN was water quality and the extensive real-time monitoring of water treatment facilities. Work concentrated on the design of field monitoring equipment, computer hardware and software. PARASYN’s role as a turnkey project delivery group included the design and supply of telemetry panels, all software systems and to ensure all sites were commissioned and operational within the desired timeline. This was delayed during East Gippsland’s widespread bush fires, and flooding and the subsequent need for East Gippsland Water’s resources to be deployed to ensure continuity of services to their customers.

The EGW SCADA & Information System is an initiative encompassing remote monitoring to provide early warning of faults or performance issues at key facilities. The overall objectives for the new EGW SCADA were:

• Decrease Risk
• Increase Operational Efficiency
• Increase System Usability

Today PARASYN is working closely with the key stakeholders within East Gippsland Water to ensure that the system is sustainable and easily manageable for years to come. Over the next few years the use of the new SCADA system will be expanded to cover other key facilities and assets.

Loy Yang Power station located near Traralgon in Victoria is one of Victoria's largest.

Late last year PARASYN assisted Loy Yang Power with various upgrades to their existing SCADA Monitoring System.

Located within the heart of the Latrobe Valley, 165 kilometers east of Melbourne, Loy Yang Power is Victoria's single largest energy producer. PARASYN have been working closely with Loy Yang Power for the last few years providing system upgrades and support for the Plant Services and Environmental SCADA Monitoring System.

The most recent system upgrade involved the expansion of the system to include 2 new Water Quality testing sites. With the commissioning of these additional monitoring points to the SCADA system, Loy Yang Power are able to closely monitor the quality of treated water that may enter the ecosystem from around the power station on a 24/7 basis. This forms a vital part of their environmental responsibility that they strive to maintain to meet EPA guidelines.

Part of the physical components supplied include two enclosures using Kingfisher RTU’s (KFRTU), field instrumentation with local display panels and solar power supply systems. Onsite communication is via KFRTU spread spectrum (SS) radios to an existing site that will be enhanced with SS radio for communications. Enhancements to the HMI where also required to allow for the remote monitoring of the new sites.

Loy Yang Power and PARASYN share a close ongoing working partnership with this latest system expansion following on from previous projects including:

• Field RTU Hardware upgrade Project
• SCADA HMI Software upgrades and re-configuration

PARASYN are also providing technical support to Loy Yang Power and recently provided assistance to resolve a system malfunction due to the failure of an obsolete communications module which we where able to source a replacement for and assist with the re-commissioning of the system.

The Loy Yang Power/PARASYN partnership is one of mutual respect and value with both organisations benefiting from partnering.

PARASYN is attending the 2008 National SCADA Conference at the Sofitel Hotel in Brisbane on the 16th and 17th of June 2008.

PARASYN will be joining with an array of industry leading exhibitors for the 2 day event showing off some of the industries pinnacle systems and concepts in SCADA. For more information please refer to the event brochure.

National SCADA Conference 2008 brochure

If you have any inquiry, please contact us for more information.

After many changes APA now have a quality MES solution.

PARASYN Develops SCADA System into MES Solution for Australian Pipeline Trust (APT).

PARASYN has successfully collaborated with Australian Pipeline Trust (APT) Asset Management Holdings to develop a Manufacturing Execution System (MES) to manage their extensive gas transmission and delivery network.

APT acquired Origin Energy’s gas infrastructure assets in April 2007, forming a new administrative operation APT AM (Asset Management) Holdings. The new merged organisation manages major natural gas transmission pipelines as well as associated pressure regulating systems and delivery networks throughout metropolitan and rural Australia. In Queensland its massive network stretches from Roma in the west across to Ipswich and Brisbane, and up the coast through Hervey Bay, Bundaburg and Gladstone all the way to Rockhampton, linking to various energy providers throughout its length.

Following the merger, APT AM Holdings explored ways of improving management of their combined assets and an important element of this was expanding existing SCADA monitoring and control systems to form a more comprehensive integrated MES system capable of managing the whole gas transmission and delivery network across Queensland. PARASYN, who had previously collaborated with Origin Energy on production-well telemetry for the Spring Gully Coal Seam Gas field, assisted with system analysis for the expansion project and subsequently won the contract to develop the existing system into a full blown MES solution.

The main focus of the project was to capture customer consumption data for billing and management analysis, and this required extensive development work to extract, process and store the necessary data from flow meters distributed throughout the pipeline network. PARASYN specially developed a driver to interface with the Montec ‘Monita’ remote asset monitoring unit, a compact lightweight device commonly used for remote meter reading (See the PARASYN’s June Newsletter for further details). This was combined with another PARASYN developed product ActiveX Operator Log and Alarms (AXOLA), a versatile add-on to a standard Human Machine Interface (HMI) such as Citect SCADA or Wonderware InTouch. AXOLA can log a diverse range of valuable information but is a particularly useful tool for logging alarm and event information. Within the APT AM MES solution AXOLA is used to flag missing or abnormal meter readings in which case the system automatically produces an estimated bill and requests the user to submit a manual reading.

The MES system uses an InSQL data historian for storage while the Application Engine required to provide the data mining, validation and report preparation was specifically developed by PARASYN engineers using the Wonderware Archestra architecture. In addition many of what have become standard PARASYN solution features were applied to the system to ensure ease of operability. These have been developed by PARASYN in collaboration with major clients over a number of years and include split-screen design, easy to use graphical navigation, the ability to drill down to access specific operational information and clear screen based alarms linked to SCADAlarm for enunciated warnings and 24 hour monitoring. Operators are able to interface with the MES system using a flexible web based interface and this can be used to generate standard and ad-hoc management reports for APT AM and its clients.

Like all PARASYN solutions ARP AM’s MES system was developed in close collaboration with the customer and as a direct result the solution is both tailored to meet specific operational requirements and to accommodate long-term development plans. For example, the billing system has been designed to interface with The Victorian Energy Network Corporation’s (Vencorp) billing system, while the overall MES solution has been designed with spare capacity to allow for future growth, with easy deployment to additional sites using the base type concept.

Speaking in early September Tony Poole, PARASYN’s Managing Director, was delighted with the successful outcomes from the APT AM project. Underlining its significance he said, ‘We are seeing a growing number of our SCADA solution customers wanting more from their systems, and increasingly we’re being asked to develop solutions that extract management and planning information rather than purely operational data. The MES solution we’ve developed with APT AM Holdings is a perfect example of this, and provides a development and delivery model we can apply with other key partners’.

Loy Yang Power station located near Traralgon in Victoria is one of Victoria's largest.

PARASYN updates environmental monitoring system for Loy Yang Power.

In early July PARASYN successfully completed a four month SCADA conversion and system rationalisation project with Loy Yang Power, one of Victoria’s largest power generators. This challenging project centred around the replacement of an obsolete Actel SCADA system with a new streamlined solution built around Citect software with specially developed PARASYN enhancements.

Built in 1984 just south of Traralgon in Gippland’s resource rich Latrobe Valley, Loy Yang power station and the adjacent open cut brown coal mine that feeds it with a massive 32 million tonnes of coal every year, are the largest of their type in Australia. The power station contributes over 2200 megawatts to the National Electricity Grid, which equates to over a third of Victoria’s total electricity consumption.

Loy Yang became front page news in early September 2007 when during the Sydney APEC summit activists targeted the power plant as a means to highlight the effect of emissions on climate change, with protesters invading the site and temporarily restricting electricity generation. However contrary to the negative impression this portrayed, Loy Yang Power takes an environmentally responsible approach to all its operations, and the SCADA conversion project completed in collaboration with PARASYN is a very good example of this.

Electricity generation necessarily uses large amounts of water, with Loy Yang swallowing over 2 million litres per gigawatt hour of power it generates. Consequently the power station is located on a major tributary of the Latrobe River. The SCADA system PARASYN was brought in to overhaul was designed specifically to help protect the fragile ecosystem of the Latrobe Valley by closely monitoring water quality and temperature in the catchment immediately surrounding the plant, as well as flow rates and water levels of the creeks that feed into the Latrobe River. Remote Terminal Units (RTUs) capture information from sensors and pass this to a central SCADA monitoring system within the plant’s control centre.

PARASYN’s task was to seamlessly replace the aging Actel system with a new streamlined Citect based solution. To achieve this the PARASYN developed Kingfisher RTU extensions were deployed to improve the capture of data from remote monitoring sites, while special structures were written to store and collate information for inclusion in a monthly report sent directly to the Victorian EPA (Environmental Protection Agency).

While converting the system PARASYN in close collaboration with Loy Yang, took the opportunity to both rationalise the existing SCADA structure and improve its efficiency. This included removing old unused system ‘tags’ and updating screen designs to improve usability. In addition the system was modified to enable it to be supported remotely by PARASYN engineers via a telephone dial-up connection. The new system is expected to support the Loy Yang Power station for the remainder of its projected working life.

The Murrumbidgee region of NSW, Photo courtesy of Murrumbidgee Irrigation.

Major System Overhall and Expansion Completed for Murrumbidgee Irrigation

PARASYN has completed a major update and expansion of the SCADA system used by Murrumbidgee Irrigation, a key supplier of water to rural New South Wales. The Murrumbidgee is one of New South Wales longest rivers, flowing 500 kilometres across the southern half of the state before feeding into the mighty Murray-Darling system on the Victorian border. Throughout its length the river’s precious water acts as the lifeblood of the communities it meanders through, being widely used for town water supplies, electricity generation, mining operations and irrigation, all vital to the rural economy.

Murrumbidgee Irrigation (MI) is one of the rivers major users, managing the river’s flow to irrigate 3,624 square kilometres of NSW including the highly fertile plains of the Riverina region. To monitor and manage the flow of water both along the river and into the farms and stations it serves, Murrumbidgee Irrigation has for a number of years employed a SCADA system at the centre of its operations. PARASYN had previously supplied MI’s with Remote Terminal Units (RTUs) for its growing operation and more recently conducted a comprehensive audit of the companies system in preparation for a planned expansion of the SCADA operation.

The audit highlighted a number of areas which needed to be addressed to accommodate the expansion and PARASYN were subsequently engaged to undertake all necessary work to complete the project. This included substituting the existing ‘ladder logic’ with the more efficient sequential poling from two master RTUs and the introduction of ‘exception polling’ to ensure abnormal conditions are immediately relayed to MI operators. In addition PARASYN improved the Human Machine Interface (HMI) to make it easier to interpret and monitor, with clear operator alerts to indicate alarm conditions.

These modifications allowed the major expansion of the system to take place seamlessly with an initial addition of an extra 104 monitoring points, more than four times as many as had previously been employed across the operation, while the modified system has been designed with significant head-room to accommodate any future expansion. Most importantly it will also allow Murrumbidgee Irrigation to store comprehensive event information which can then be used to compare trends across historical data, crucial to maintaining both a constant flow of water to MI customers and in preserving the long term environmental health of the Murrumbidgee River.

Winner - Water & Waste Water

Wastewater System SCADA Upgrade, Gold Coast Water

Working with GCW for many years PARASYN helped to upgrade the systems that service the 2678kms of pipes and sewers, 550 pumping stations and 4 wastewater treatment plants. PARASYN helped to develop a fully redundant 240000 point single server system making it one of the largest single servers of its kind.

Highly commended - Gas & Oil

Moonie-Lytton Oil Pipeline Leak Detection and Spill Minimization System

Working in conjunction with Santos PARASYN helped develop the new leak detection solution for the Moonie and Lytton oil pipeline. The system monitors and protects 1100 kilometres of pipeline from Queensland to just near the South Australia boarder.

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• PACE Zenith Awards 2007 Finalists 1
  
• PACE Zenith Awards 2007 Finalists 2
  

2007 Zenith Awards Entry

Project Location:

South East Queensland

Project Description:

The development of the new leak detection and spill minimisation solution for the Moonie to Lytton oil pipeline resulted from the March 2003 spill that endangered public safety and threatened to contaminate the Brisbane River. Working with Santos, Parasyn designed, built and implemented an innovative solution, integrating off-the-shelf systems from different vendors, and enhancing them with specially developed complementary products. The result is an automation and information solution that constantly monitors the pipeline, suspending oil transfer and isolating potentially damaged sections of pipe automatically, when even a minor leak is detected. Because of the new system’s accuracy, inherent reliability and functions specifically designed to minimise the environmental impact of any future spill, the project’s geographic scope has been extended to encompass the longer and more modern feeder pipeline built in 1984 to carry crude oil up to Moonie from the Cooper/Eromanga fields. As a result, the system now monitors and protects 1100 kilometres of pipeline stretching across South East Queensland, all the way from Jackson near the South Australian border to the refineries on the coast at Lytton.

2007 Zenith Awards Entry

Project Location:

South East Queensland

Project Description:

Parasyn has been working with Gold Coast Water since 2002. The successful implementation of the wastewater SCADA upgrade project in 2006 was the culmination of close collaboration with the client over a number of years. In addition to serving a fast-growing population, already close to half a million people, Gold Coast Water has to cope with over 11 million visitors each year. As a result, the authority’s wastewater operation is massive, comprising a complex network of 2678 kilometres of pipes and sewers, over 550 pumping stations and four wastewater treatment plants. To keep pace with demand, the system is developing and growing all the time. To ensure the provision of quality services, Gold Coast’s SCADA system is a critical tool. Parasyn developed a fully redundant 240,000 point single server system, making it one of the largest single server systems of its kind. This has been integrated with a third party wastewater database and modelling system while provisions have additionally been made to incorporate an advanced Energy and Storage management System (ESMS) to optimise energy consumption.

An active gas wellhead on the Spring Gully CSG field. The PARASYN provided telemetry panel can be seen in the foreground.

30 wellhead telemetry units delivered ahead of schedule.

As part of the ongoing development of Origin Energy’s massive Spring Gully CSG (Coal Seam Gas) field, during February PARASYN engineers built and delivered 30 new wellhead telemetry units. Each self-contained unit, known as a ‘panel’, comprises all the telemetry required to remotely monitor a single gas wellhead. All were delivered to the remote site 80 km North of Roma ahead of schedule.

Spring Gully started supplying gas to Queensland in 2005 and these new wellhead telemetry units form part of Origin’s $114 million expansion of production from the field which will see capacity double to around 85 Terrajoules per day. The latest batch of panels brings the total built by PARASYN for Spring Gully to 100, with a further 50 scheduled for delivery to the site by the end of the year.

PARASYN has achieved Wonderware's highest degree of accreditation as a solutions integrator.

PARASYN featured as solutions provider success story in Wonerware's global newsletter.

Following the company’s achievements in gaining Wonderware’s highest degree of accreditation as a solutions integrator and winning a Wonderware Open Hall of Fame award, PARASYN has been further recognised by being featured as the solutions provider ‘Success Story’ in this quarter’s Wonderware global newsletter.

PARASYN Managing Director Tony Poole was exclusively interviewed for the publication and you can read what Tony had to say at:

http://www.wonderware.com/about_us/news/WonderUpdateIssues/solnProviderFeb07/successStory.asp

The Coliban River is part of the larger Campaspe Basin, which provides domestic water to North and Central Victoria, including the large regional centres of Bendigo, Kyneton and Castlemaine as well as contributing to the irrigation of northern Victoria's riverine plains.

PARASYN Works With CAMS to Fix Coliban Water’s SCADA System

By tracking down and fixing faults in Coliban Water’s SCADA system PARASYN has ensured Campaspe Asset Management can accurately control and manage Coliban’s complex water and wastewater system.

Coliban Water provides services to some 130,000 customers across 16,500 km of central and northern Victoria, centred on the old gold mining towns of Bendigo and Castlemaine. For many years the company has chosen to outsource the management of its operations and since 2003 its extensive water and wastewater system, which includes some 174 pumping stations, 22 water treatment plants and 10 wastewater treatment plants, has been managed by joint venture company Campaspe Asset Management Services Pty Ltd (CAMS). CAMS, which takes its name from the larger river system which includes the Coliban, is jointly owned by United Utilities Australia (UUA) and Origin Energy’s Infrastructure Group (OEIG) and is contracted to manage Coliban Water’s system until at least 2013.

In August 2006, CAMS became aware of problems with the integrity of information extracted from Coliban’s SCADA water and wastewater management system. The data being presented was proving unreliable, often ‘flat-lining’ (remaining constant and showing no change even when it undoubtedly should have) and in some cases displaying no data at all! PARASYN, with extensive experience of major Citect/Kingfisher integration projects throughout Australia, were called in to investigate the problem.

PARASYN engineers worked closely with CAMS to gain a thorough understanding of Coliban Water’s existing SCADA system before applying structured fault finding techniques to track down the cause of the missing data. In this way they identified two separate faults which together were producing spurious information, and by reconfiguring monitoring equipment and installing new drivers the problem was rectified.

The investigation and subsequent remedial work was completed in carefully planned stages over a five week period. The intermittent nature of the problem required single process changes to ensure the root cause of the problem was identified and not rectified during other system configuration changes.

Swimming through the steam native pelicans enjoy the winter warmth of Hazelwood Power Station’s cooling pond.

Helping International Power Hazelwood Preserve its local environment.

PARASYN is working with International Power Hazelwood (IPRH) in Victoria to help preserve the ecosystem in the Morwell River catchment. IPRH operates a combined coal mine and power station complex in Gippsland’s Latrobe Valley, 150 Km southeast of Melbourne. It contributes a massive 1600 megawatts of power to the National Electricity Grid, that’s around 25% of Victoria’s current electricity requirement, and although built back in the 1960’s Hazelwood Power Station’s important role as a major power generator has recently seen its working life extended until 2030.

IPRH actively conducts a socially responsible policy of wherever possible minimising the environmental impact of all its operations, and in the course of electricity generation it utilises an artificial lake rather than unsightly cooling towers to process the enormous quantities of hot water from the power station’s turbines. Water is pumped out into the cooling pond where the excess heat escapes safely into the atmosphere before the water’s reused to cool plant equipment such as pumps and motors. The lake, known as Hazelwood Pondage, has the added benefit that the local community of nearby Morwell can enjoy an all-year-round water playground with lake temperatures even in mid-winter a balmy 23 degrees!

The company’s Environmental Review Committee works closely with the local community and part of its remit is maintaining the quality of aquatic life downstream from the power station. One of its major concerns is the danger of over heating the Morwell River system into which excess water from the cooling pond flows. To minimise any possible impact on the fragile riverine ecosystem a small cooling tower was constructed in 1998 to remove excess heat before water’s discharged into the river. Built at a cost of $1million the cooling tower reduces the temperature of water discharged from the Hazelwood Pondage by up to 10 degrees. PARASYN are in the process of upgrading the telemetry to monitor the cooling tower, its outflow and the condition of the Morwell River downstream from the power plant. The cooling tower monitoring system should be operational early in 2007 and will be integrating with a new Allen Bradley RSView SCADA installation which is being implemented at the power station’s control centre.

Balranald Weir on the Murrumbidgee River 859 km West of Sydney. One of 280 weirs and regulators used by New South Wales' State Water to manage river flows. The downstream entrance to the 'Fishway' can be seen in the foreground.

PARASYN assists NSW Department of Primary Industries Fishways Project

In an aim to restore native species of fish in the upper reaches of the Murrumbidgee River the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) with the assistance of PARASYN has implemented an innovative ‘fishways’ program.

The project at Balranald is a collaborative initiative between DPI and State Water which has been funded by the Environment Trust.

The program involves the construction and operation of ‘fishways’ designed to restore fish passage past weirs and dams to allow spawning migrations and access to upstream fish habitats.

PARASYN has integrated Kingfisher Remote Terminal Units with Rotork actuators, which open and close sluice gate valves. This will enable staff from State Water to remotely control the fishway at Balranald; making it easier for fish to migrate up the Murrumbidgee River.

DPI and State Water have worked together in developing the automation at the site and when completed staff will be able to remotely monitor and control the fishway.

Fishways vary in design from simple fish ladders and rock ramps to complex combinations of sluice gates and interlocking chambers, depending on both the size of the river and obstacle the fish have to negotiate.

The Balranald site is a complex combination of sluice gates and interlocking chambers with provision to change the rest, entry and chamber retention times.

The Origin Energy CSG plant at Spring Gully. An example of the massive infrastructure that has already been installed in this remote part of central Queensland to tap the resources of the enormous subterranean gas field.

PARASYN wins Major New Contract with Origin Energy

PARASYN has won a major new contract with Origin Energy to expand their SCADA and Information System for the Spring Gully Coal Seam Gas (CSG) field.

The Spring Gully CSG field, 80km North of Roma in Central Queensland contains one of Australia’s richest reserves of natural gas, estimated at well over 2,000 petajoules (PJ), enough to satisfy the current demand from the whole of Queensland for the next twenty years! PARASYN provided the SCADA system for the initial development of Spring Gully which included the integration of a complex information system to control and monitor some 48 wellheads spread across the massive subterranean field.

To meet Australia’s rising demand for energy Origin is now set to rapidly expand production from the field. By February 2007 the scale of operations around Spring Gully will more than double to over 100 monitored gas wellheads, with plans for the total to exceed 150 by January 2008. Against stiff competition PARASYN has won the contract to both provide the telemetry for the new well heads and integrate them into the existing SCADA system.

PARASYN is one of the few contractors retained by Origin Energy from the original start-up phase of the project and David Greally, PARASYN’s Chief Operations Officer, was naturally delighted with the award of the contract. ‘It’s excellent news and I couldn’t be more pleased that we’ll be continuing our highly productive partnership with Origin Energy’ he said, ‘this new contract is testimony to the level of support, quality of service and the cost effectiveness of the solution PARASYN has provided out at Spring Gully’. Work on the new project will start immediately.

Over 350,000 passengers pass through Hamilton Island's busy airport every year.

Automated crash alarm and emergency action system installed at Hamilton Island's busy airport.

At the end of October PARASYN completed a major upgrade of the automated alarm and safety systems at the Whitsunday Island’s main airport. The new system boosts safety for over 350,000 passengers who pass through Hamilton Island’s busy air terminal every year.
Nestled as they are between the Queensland coast and The Great Barrier Reef, its not surprising that the lush tropical paradise that is the Whitsunday Islands are a magnet for tourists from all over the world. Ideally situated at their heart is Hamilton Island which hosts the Islands’ principal airport and acts as the gateway to the rest of the Whitsundays.

Hamilton Island airport was built in 1984 to cater for the ever growing number of visitors and it now acts as a hub connecting scheduled services from Australia’s principal airports to the numerous helicopters, light aircraft and floatplanes that ferry tourists to and from the more remote islands that make up the 74 islands in the Whitsunday Group. As a result the airport manages around 30,000 aircraft movements every year, a remarkably large number for such a relatively small island airstrip. As at any busy airport passenger safety is of the highest priority and therefore the speed and efficiency of emergency response is critically important. It’s particularly pertinent here where tragedy struck in late September 2002 when a light aircraft on route to nearby Lindeman Island crashed shortly after take off, killing 5 people and temporarily closing the airport to passenger traffic.

In August 2006 Airservices Australia, the government-owned corporation responsible for air-traffic control and ground safety across Australia’s commercial airports, engaged PARASYN to upgrade the automated crash alarm and emergency action systems in Hamilton Island’s control tower and airport fire station. Kingfisher Remote Terminal Units (RTUs) were installed at both locations to replace obsolete hardwired equipment, and these were integrated with a new GE QuickPanel ‘touch screen’ Human Machine Interface (HMI) installed in the Fire Station Control Centre. The new system controls the activation of audible alarms and annunciated warnings through the fire station public address system. In the event of an emergency firefighters need to be out of the station and onto the runway without delay to meet regulatory requirements. To assist in this, the system automatically activates building control systems typically installed at aviation fire stations such as opening the fire station doors, turning on lights, and activating booster pumps and exhaust fans, all of which can save vital seconds.

The system was designed especially for Hamilton Island but has the capacity of being rolled out to other Australian airports. The system can be easily configured and upgraded to accommodate differing regional requirements and can be integrated into a centralized SCADA-based system for data logging and reporting if required.

In response to the company’s continuing growth PARASYN has taken on two new graduates to bolster its system engineering team.  Dale Allen, an honours graduate in Computer Science and Engineering from La Trobe University in Melbourne, comes to PARASYN with existing experience of working with SCADA software, while Jasmine Song, a graduate from Huazhong University of Science & Technology in China, joins PARASYN after successfully completing her Masters in Electrical Engineering at The University of Queensland.  Both graduates joined PARASYN during September and are based at the company’s Brisbane head office.

Tony Poole, PARASYN’s Managing Director, hailed the recruitment of new graduates as ‘a significant milestone for the company’. Commenting on the appointments he said ‘PARASYN has always had a policy of employing and developing talented individuals and bringing in new graduates is the logical extension of that policy.  We envisage Dale and Jasmine as being the first products of an ongoing graduate recruitment programme’.