Over the years, one of Adroit Technologies’ key channel partners, Datawatt BV, has been instrumental in engineering, out of Netherlands, a number of very large, high-profile systems in the Utilities sector – predominantly Gas, Water, and CHP (Combined Heat and Power) systems:

Supervision of gas distribution, calculates flows, productions and pipeline inventories. Reports are produced per hour, per day and on request. The gas production platforms have a microwave (offshore) and leased line connections to the central system in the north of the Netherlands. Comprises Adroit SCADA and WinCoach data management software on a Windows Server with different Clients. A Datawatt D01 Front End Processor polls the D01 Modular Remote Terminal Units for real-time and historical data. Apart from standard I/O the RTU's have serial interfaces to several flow computers such as Daniels, Mecilec, Philips MDS and Solatron. At several locations the RTU is extended with the Datawatt flow computer for ISO 5167 metering. It calculates the production per hour and day for 4 meter runs simultaneously using RTU input signals as variables.

More than 150 type D23 outstations are used in medium voltage distribution stations. The communication with these Remote Terminal Units is based on multi drop private line network and use of the IEC 870 5 101 protocol. Multi drop connections are realized with D09 LTUM active splitters. The D01 Front End Processor is not only master for the IEC protocol but also for the SEAB1F protocol that has been implemented to connect existing AEG Remote Terminal Units in gas feeder stations, gas district stations and 50kV distributions stations. In addition to the medium voltage and gas distribution tasks the system connects a large number of I/O signals from the district heating supply system. Co-generation units in the province of Utrecht are connected to the system by means of a separate Front End unit which originally was installed in the early nineties. This FEP communicates to D01 and D23 outstations through the public telephone network.

The system consists of a number of different projects brought together under one Front End unit and SCADA host. The project was carried out by Remotronic Controls from Johannesburg, South Africa. A number of D01 master RTUs are each controlling a network of D70 outstations. The outstations control and monitor pumping stations, boreholes and reservoirs in such a way that the levels in the reservoirs are maintained and the production points are not being depleted. The control algorithms of the D01 and D70 stations are therefore interlinked through VHF radio communication. The different D01 master outstations communicate with a central system consisting of a D01 FEP and Adroit SCADA software. Communication with the FEP is based on radio links and land lines.

The polder level water board Wetterskip Fryslan (previously Waterschap Sevenwolden) upgraded their telecontrol system with a Front End Processor for IEC communication, WinCoach modules and Adroit SCADA software. The water board worked for many years with DOSCoach, the D01-CVTA/TEKA Front End and many outstations of different types. Now these systems are upgraded, the DOS Coach software is replaced by WinCoach modules and Adroit SCADA as central software, IEC 870-5-101 communication and GSM modems. This system was the first operational Adroit site in the Netherlands and a very good example of the tight integration with the Datawatt systems.

The system manages a large number of power projects for Energy Systems in Eindhoven, Netherlands. The utility is the merger of the co-generation departments of the former NV PNEM and NV MEGA Limburg distribution utilities in the southern parts of the Netherlands. Up to 400 co-generations units, emergency generators, steam generation units, cold storage plants and other small scale power plants and projects are connected to the system.

It is used for supervising, control and metering of gas consumption and the production of heat for industries, commercial sites and greenhouses. Moreover, maintenance data is acquired to control the availability of generators and gas motors and to provide guidance to the maintenance staff. The units produce electricity for the basic demand of the customer and the surplus is fed back into the medium voltage grid. The total production and supply of electricity to the medium voltage grid is measured and transferred to the Prognis demand estimator system.

Adroit SCADA software in dual-redundant configuration is used for central applications such as monitoring, control and reporting purposes. Different users have client connections with the server and a terminal server is used to facilitate reliable and efficient communication of supervising and maintenance staff at home and on site. For system management WinCoach software is used such as the System Manager and the Action configuration tool and database. All configuration data are located in this database.

The system load is designed for more than 80 000 I/O signals which are handled by several Datawatt D01 Front End Processors. These communicate to the different project locations by means of PSTN and have network connections to the active duty and standby server. The telecontrol communication is the IEC 870 5 101 protocol standard.

Special D70 outstation assemblies are used which communicate with the central system by means of PSTN. The D70 RTUs use serial ports to communicate with the CHP process control computers and discrete I/O signal in- and outputs for metering and control purposes of the systems.

Significant effort has been put in the standardization of communication, RTU configuration, signal names and graphical user interface. On D70 level different protocol implementa¬tions have been realized for serial communication with the CHP process computers, several gas correctors, electricity meters and heat meters.

Geveke Motoren supplies power and heating systems to the industry and market gardens based on Caterpillar gas engines and generator sets. The combinations are used for the supply of heat and CO2 for greenhouses, or heat and electricity to office buildings and industries. The main purpose of the system is to facilitate efficient maintenance to owners with service contracts. At present 150 different locations are connected to the system. Adroit SCADA software is used for central applications such as monitoring, control and reporting purposes. Different users have client connections with the server which is used also to facilitate reliable and efficient communication of supervisory and maintenance staff from home and on site. For system management WinCoach software is used such as the System Manager and the Action configuration tool and database. All configurations are located in this database.

The system load is designed for more than 60.000 I/O signals which are handled by several Datawatt D01 Front End Processors which communicate to the different project locations by means of PSTN. The telecontrol communication is IEC 870 5 101 protocol.

Special D70 outstation assemblies are used for the control purposes. These communicate with the central system by means of PSTN. The D70 RTUs use serial ports to communicate with measuring and metering devices and discrete I/O signal for supervisory and control purposes.

The major part of the outstations is formed by D15-EMAC/MODB Modbus converters which communicate to the control panels using the industry standard Modbus protocol over serial link. They provide data-logging of important signals and generate alarms. Real time monitoring during operation is provided by Aopen@ PSTN links for a predefined interval.

Both D70 and D15 outstations function as remote data-loggers which are delivering information automatically at predefined intervals. The performance of the CHP units is supported by standard graphical reports and tables of historical data.

AVEBE is a potato process factory that makes products for the wholesale trade. For Gas monitoring and supervising at four different AVEBE measurement locations, Datawatt has designed a Gas Contract Supervision system. The four different locations can work independently but are also connected through the AVEBE WAN, so that every location can possess over all data from the other locations. At each locations pulses from gas meters and e-meters are collected by a data logger (D23-EMAC- RTU). This logger calculates the gas use per 5 minutes and scans all gas meters at the location. The RTUs send logged data every five minutes through an RS232 serial port to a PC. The PC has the Datawatt DX Server application which communicates on the one side through the RS232 port with the RTU and on the other side through TCP/IP-socket with the Adroit SCADA system.

The Adroit SCADA system builds historic files of the 5 minute registration and presents the data numeric and in graphics. This systems also takes care of monitoring and alarming of contract overruns.

At the location in Ter Apelkanaal all gas totals are scanned and the total use of all AVEBE factories is calculated.