As LADWP began to receive, install and site acceptance test (SAT) production systems, it uncovered a number of issues. Since the substations were built over several years, each station represents a different level of uniqueness that impacts successful implementation. This necessitates preconstruction and pre-SAT meetings where the representatives of the appropriate vendors and LADWP personnel walk through the station and note the specific peculiarities or challenges.

The staffing level required to construct, test and commission this number of stations at a pace that allows for project completion in a five-year period was not fully realized in the beginning of the project. It wasn't until units were being delivered at a regular pace that LADWP realized it had to refine the staffing commitment and construction processes needed to meet completion schedules.

With such widespread involvement from both the team of vendors and various LADWP departments, suggestions for changes seemed to come from every direction. Ultimately, a Change Control Board was implemented that meets twice a month and provides a forum for structured submittal for change requests. There, issues such as cost of change, technical impact, resource impact and scheduling impact are discussed and, from these discussions, project changes are approved or denied in a transparent process that allows all parties to stay abreast of change.

Develop strong owner/contractor working relationships. It is imperative that all embrace the same goal: successful project delivery. Once that is firmly established, identify the right people from each participating group and involve them in regular and frequent project meetings.

Dedicated teamwork has provided the SA project with a successful style of project delivery and was essential to the smooth transition from the pilot to production phases. In this SA project the pilot and production phases had significantly different challenges, in that one case was technical and the other logistical.

A close working team is essential to addressing these challenges successfully. This is accomplished primarily through regular project meetings. An Enspiria/LADWP project team meeting is held weekly to discuss current issues. A larger-scale meeting including all vendors and involved LADWP department representatives is held monthly to present project status as well as to discuss any open technical or logistical issues.

Finally, develop comprehensive project processes. Process development cannot be done in one session. The right people are not always available or even aware of the need. In addition, processes evolve as tasks are better understood. Revisit process development until it's right — it will pay off handsomely as the project proceeds.

Jack Waizenegger has worked at Los Angeles Department of Water and Power for 25 years and is currently the manager of Power System Lab and Field Test. Over the years, he has held various design and construction positions in generation, transmission and distribution. Waizenegger has a BSEE degree from the University of Florida, and a MSEE degree and a MS degree in engineering management, both from the University of Southern California. He is a professional engineer and a licensed general contractor. jack.waizenegger@ladwp.com

Joe Sottnik has more than 25 years experience in the execution of energy, engineering and IT projects. He has particular expertise in engineering management, as well as in instrumentation/controls and software development. Sottnik is Enspiria Solutions' manager for LADWP's Substation Automation program. His past experience includes positions with Raytheon Engineers and Constructors, and EBASCO Services Inc. He is a registered professional engineer in California, Colorado, Nevada and New York. jsottnik@enspiria.com

Lee Melville is a project engineer specializing in the integration of substation automation systems for Enspiria Solutions Inc. He has 10 years of experience in the electrical utility industry with a focus on integration of asset management systems. Melville holds a BEEE degree and an ME degree in engineering management from the University of Canterbury (Christchurch, New Zealand). He has held positions with UnitedNetworks Ltd., Power New Zealand and Tait Electronics. lmelville@enspiria.com

Gene Grace served as Enspiria Solution's project manager for the LADWP Substation Automation initiative from 2003 through early 2006. Since this article was submitted, he has become vice president at Serveron Corp. Grace has 20 years of experience in power systems design and automation at the generation, substation and transmission levels. His past experience includes positions with Black & Veatch, North Carolina EMC and Power Engineers. He holds a BSEE degree from North Carolina State University. Gene.Grace@Serveron.com

• EQUIPMENT AND SYSTEMS
  
  

  Intelligent electronic devices (IEDs) — LADWP's system includes IED models by ABB, AREVA, JemStar Meter and SEL.

• Programmable logic controllers (PLCs) — The PLC at the core of this SA system architecture is the Allen Bradley SLC 5/04 series. Corresponding analog, status and control, and pulse accumulator modules are also from the Allen Bradley SLC 5 family of products.

• Human machine interfaces (HMIs) — The HMI was developed by Tasnet specifically for electric substation operations and has been customized for the LADWP project. Among other functions, the HMI includes all station one lines, current alarms, alarm history, annunciation screens and an operator's logging function replacing the previous paper-logging system. The HMI provides a single point for local operations of the station.

• Time stamping — Time-stamp synchronization allowing resolution to 1 msec is achieved through the use of Arbiter 1084B clocks. Time stamping of discrete I/O is achieved through the use of control technology international (CTI) modules, which then communicate to network interface modules.

• Network interface modules (NIM) — IED communication is through NIM designed for Allen Bradley SLC 5 format and fit into the PLC chassis like any I/O module. Tasnet-developed drivers are loaded into the NIMs with code specific to the particular IED's native communication protocol along with drivers providing DNP communication. A dual path is used to each IED (DNP primary and native secondary) allowing all data retrieved from a mix of IEDs to be made available to the PLC for automation applications, to the local infoserver (driving the HMI and providing local interface) as well as to SCADA.

• Infoserver — The local Infoserver is a 3-GHz Pentium 4 machine with 512-MB RAM and dual 40-GB hard drives built to meet the system performance as well as the environmental and surge withstand requirements of LADWP.

• Local communications equipment — Local communications equipment functions through LADWP's fiber-optic SONET ring. This includes local GE JMUX and Cisco Ethernet Switches