PADCON and Jurchen Technology conquer the Australian market

Monitoring and control of Australia’s largest PV power plant

“We monitor PV plants with more than three gigawatts of installed capacity for customers all over the world”, says Constantin Wenzlik, CEO of PADCON GmbH. “Limondale is another major project we have added to our portfolio. For this project alone, we can capture around 24,000 plant parameters, which will not only help control but also protect the entire plant.”

The Limondale solar power plant of innogy SE is currently being built in Balranald, New South Wales. When completed, it will have an installed capacity of 349 megawatts (MW). Start of full commercial operation is anticipated to be mid-2020. Capture of the individual performance parameters occurs via 58 decentralised data loggers which in turn communicate with a central SCADA unit. As well as data collection, processing and alarm functions, this server rack solution features a redundant back-up system and an onsite human-machine interface – or an operator interface which gives on-site operating and maintenance teams access to the plant’s live data. Remote control of the plant and 1st/2nd tier support is provided by the PADCON Control Centre. Thanks to their 24/7 operation, plants like these can be monitored worldwide and in all time zones from the company’s base in the Lower Franconian town of Kitzingen (Bavaria), while local teams receive on-site support. With SCADA installations in 21 countries, PADCON is one of world’s biggest and most experienced providers of SCADA systems for PV power plants.

PADCON offers state-of-the-art cyber security concepts

Although there are no legal guidelines in Australia yet for how well PV power plants of this magnitude need to be protected from cyberattacks, innogy is drawing on PADCON’s expertise for Limondale and has opted for a state-of- the-art cyber security concept. PADCON has brought its experience of completing projects with more than 300 MW of installed capacity from Israel to down under. “PV plants are generally well protected from burglary and theft. But a further and probably greater threat is the kind that lurks online”, says Constantin Wenzlik. “This means cyber security is something that needs to be built into all projects from the very start, and at all levels – the PV plant, data centre and, of course, at the user level too.”