A Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition Monitoring System for a Plant-Site Power Distribution Network

Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems have taken center stage in industrial automated systems. In most processing plants, the power distribution network is not subjected to SCADA whilst a SCADA system is used in the monitoring and control of the process plant. This paper looked at monitoring of the power distribution network using an existing SCADA infrastructure and the possible integration of a metering system. Use was made of the Schneider electric Power Logic ION 7550 and 6200 energy meters with communication capabilities and the Wonderware™ SCADA software.  Remote monitoring of the power distribution network at a mine installation was implemented by incorporating a metering system into the existing SCADA system.  The resulting system promises simpler, real-time, safer and easier monitoring, functional reliability giving increased efficiency, reduction in troubleshooting time and improved energy management.