Technological Merging of Process Automation, Information Technology, Business Objectives and the Internet in the Electrical Industry – A Malaysian Perspective

摘要

The objective of real-time monitoring of a powerrnutility's electrical network, be it Generation,rnTransmission or Distribution, is done for the security ofrnsupply and for field device monitoring. The traditionalrnobjective was sufficient for an electrical utility then andrnwas within the daily activities of Tenaga NasionalrnBerhad. However, this is no longer adequate for modernrnelectrical utilities and the advances in the powerrnindustry have made many problem-solving approachesrnfeasible and practical.rnThe application of Asynchronous Transfer Modern(ATM) technologies coupled with Internet facilities andrn'Data over power' approaches have opened uprntremendous scope and opportunities in this arena. ThernATM allows the combination of data of many formatsrnover a single communication medium at very highrnspeeds. This facilitates voice, data, video and graphicsrnfrom many sources to be sent to many destinations,rnreliably and securely. Internet, which has a large userrnbase, is an example of current trends in long distancerndata transfers. Furthermore, the "data over power"rnapproach has been in use, in the form of existingrnTenaga Nasional Berhad Power Line Carrier (PLC)rncommunication. The installed cable base of electricalrnwires almost makes it possible to deliver data to wherernthere is "life possible". A synergy of these technologicalrnbreakthroughs promotes the overlapping of processrnautomation, information technology, businessrnobjectives and global networking to achieve businessrnviability. It is the exploitation of these emergingrntechnologies that will determine the viability of futurernelectrical entities. One such undertaking has been thernproposed National Load Despatch Centre project inrnBangladesh, where ATM forms the backbone of therncommunications infrastructure. The other is thernproposed setting up of the Advanced DistributionrnAutomation system in the Multimedia Super Corridorrn(MSC) region. This will integrate "data over power",rnInternet and process automation. Figure 1 highlights thernforeground topics (in boxes) in the context ofrnbackground discussions.