POWER April 2017 - 26

OPERATIONS & MAINTENANCE
3. Smart devices. Attendees at the Connected Plant Conference participated in demonstrations
of Occipital's " Structure Sensor " (left), a 3-D-scanning iPad attachment, and the
Microsoft Hololens (right)-a pair of mixed-reality smartglasses-as they would be used at a
power plant. Computer vision and image measurement firm Praxik is developing software for
these devices for power plant use under a contract with the Electric Power Research Institute.
Such devices promise a far more intuitive user interface with plant equipment and could allow
workers to easily " see " key equipment and relevant data, or even enter new information into a
system. Courtesy: Praxik
insight and better decision-making, " he said.
On the power plant construction and design
front, digital technology can make a
positive impact on cost and risk. " This integrated
digital structure requires less control
system interwiring, less engineering detail
on drawings, less hardware, less fabrication
wiring, and fewer points to test. This helps
reduce costs across the entire lifecycle of
the plant control system, " McDonnell noted.
" This can be hundreds of thousands of dollars
for a mid-size project. "
Safety, too, can be integrated into the
digital culture. The electronic integration
of safety could improve procedural compliance,
the safety audit process, safety program
tracking, safety event tracking, and
safety system monitoring. Additionally,
it
how strongly they are affecting the outputs,
and do we need to collect additional data. "
Piche described a case study involving
a two-unit, 730-MW coal plant that needed
to significantly reduce its NOx emissions to
avoid a substantial derate. Using GE predictive
analytics and optimization, the plant was
able to achieve a 10% NOx reduction over a
45-day period and continue operating at its
rated capacity.
Vigilance Is Vital for Cybersecurity
Bringing a power plant into the age of the Industrial
Internet of Things (IIoT) inherently
raises cybersecurity concerns. As more connections
are made between a plant's many
systems, more access points are naturally
created for hackers to gain entry, Marina
Krotofill, lead security researcher at Honeywell
Industrial Cyber Security, explained
during the conference.
" The Internet of Things means that you
introduce some sort of connectivity to your
platform, " she said. " If you introduce external
connectivity from the internet, you have
to make sure that your infrastructure is secure. "
While
there are undeniably potential security
risks related to connecting a power
plant's systems, that should not necessarily
be a deterrent to doing so, according to
Mark Carrigan, COO of PAS Inc. The potential
benefits of integrating IIoT technology
into a plant's operation can outweigh
the cybersecurity risks, as long as the plant
operator addresses the risks, he said.
" One of the big things about cybersecurity
is you can't quantify the risks like you
can other things. In some ways, for some
people, it's like it's just out there, " he said.
" The reality is: There have been a number of
successful attacks on industrial control sys26
tems
in the power industry specifically. That
'head-in-the-sand' [mentality] is probably
not going to work anymore. "
One of the keys to guarding a plant against
potential cyberattacks is understanding where
vulnerabilities lie. " You're opening up more
of these paths, and as you open it up in one
direction, you're creating another direction
back in for the bad guys, " Carrigan said. " The
other thing is: These things have a day job.
Engineers are constantly making changes in
[distributed control systems (DCSs)] and
[programmable logic controllers (PLCs)] to
improve operations, and that's a good thing,
but they can do two things inadvertently
while they're doing that. "
First, Carrigan continued, in making
changes to a once-secure DCS or PLC, engineers
can damage the data those systems are
sending to the IIoT. " Second thing I can do is
I can open up more security holes because I
have done something . . . all of sudden I've
opened up a path I didn't expect to be there or
I've created a vulnerability I didn't want. All
of a sudden I've left my system more vulnerable, "
he said.
Enhancing Efficiency and Worker
Safety with Technology
Because the global population is anticipated
to surpass eight billion people by 2025 and
the world will need to produce more essentials,
including medicine, food, water, and
especially energy, the industrial sector must
become smarter and more productive, argued
Tom McDonnell, power generation industry
leader at Rockwell Automation. This
digital transformation is already under way.
" Applications and systems-such as integrated,
intelligent electrical devices and
smart instrumentation-can be unified, resulting
in speedy data analysis for richer
www.powermag.com
could identify trends by determining the
root cause of safety events, as well as cut
downtime caused by safety events, he said.
Finally, the digital integration of safety
could benefit younger, less-experienced
workers who may need time to fully understand
an organization's safety culture.
" Safety procedures, culture, and processes
do not change regardless of the employee's
generation, " McDonnell added.
Matt Buck, who is a senior technical
leader for EPRI, pointed out that in 2015
Millennials became the greatest percentage
of the workforce. Born between 1980 and
2000, that generation has " different career
expectations " and " grew up with electronics
and interconnectedness as part of their
everyday life. " The digital transformation is
inevitable, he argued. But he said there is a
more significant question worth exploring:
Whether the use of technology will be enterprise-driven
or motivated by employees
seeking to " find a way " ?
Transitioning to a digital workforce will
require the " right approach, " from the " right
application of technology to the right 'app'
to get the job done, " Buck said. These applications
should increase efficiency and
effectiveness, but they must also enhance
worker safety and productivity, and cannot
risk situational awareness or be overly
complicated (Figure 3). Finally, they should
be developed with the involvement of field
workers to have value, he said.
Some helpful applications under development
include wearable biometric monitoring
to improve employee health; geolocation or
scanning to aid in equipment identification;
trend overlays to gauge real-time equipment
status; and virtual walkthroughs before execution
of a procedure. ■
-Abby L. Harvey is reporter, Aaron
Larson is executive editor, and Thomas
W. Overton and Sonal Patel are associate
editors for POWER magazine.
POWER | April 2017

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POWER April 2017

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