Subject: FW: N. Little Rock Metering
From: [email-masked]
To: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2001 08:38:54 -0700 (PDT)

Reagan C. Rorschach
Enron North America
1400 Smith Street
Houston, Texas 77002
713.345.3363

 -----Original Message-----
From: 	Broussard, Richard  
Sent:	Tuesday, October 09, 2001 10:10 AM
To:	Kroll, Heather; Rorschach, Reagan
Cc:	Comeaux, Keith; Will, Lloyd
Subject:	N. Little Rock Metering

Below is a summary of the metering issues for N.Little Rock.

Entergy is requiring NLR to supply all metering.  There are several meters already in place but more are needed.  James Bray is the contact with the metering information.  All existing meters are pulse contact meters and the metering is brought back to NLR's SCADA system via a radio network.  Benton has pulse meters in place but the pulse data is not currently brought back to the SCADA system.  For now, meter readers have to go out to each meter with a laptop and tie it into the meter to get readings.  The best solution would  be to have all of the meters brought back to the central SCADA system.  The peak load for NLR is 260MW, the peak for Benton is 65MW.

The biggest issue is the generation at the hydro station.  There is currently 40 MW of generation from two 20MW units.  These units are flow following; the generation is controlled by the flow of water in the river.  NLR has no control over the water flow.  It is controlled by the Army Corps of Engineers.  The CoE currently sends out forecasts of water flow but it is not accurate.  Right now, the control system at the hydro plant is not connected to NLR's SCADA system.  They do have a fiber network in place and the hydro plant can be connected.  NLR has to pay Entergy an imbalance charge mostly caused by the change in generation at the hydro plant.

Assuming that NLR can get all of the meter data and the hydro plant data back to the SCADA computer, I think that the best course of action for us is to connect a near real-time connection to the SCADA computer to get data back to Houston.  This is a system similar to what we installed at Clarksdale.  For an estimate of costs, use $50,000 for installation and $1,000 per month for communications.  This is for a file server at the site of the SCADA computer with a frame relay connection back to Houston.  With this we can monitor the NLR load as well as the hydro generation on a near real-time bases (+/- 5 seconds).

James Bray is supposed to call me with more information on the metering and control systems.  However, if you get the chance, please try to find out the following information:

1)  How many more meters need to be installed?

2)  What will it take to get the Benton meters tied back to the SCADA computer?

3)  Is there any generation control at the hydro plant or is it totally dependent on water flow?  In other words, can they control the pitch of the rotors, open or close valves, divert water, etc.  to control the total generation?

4)  Less importantly, what type of SCADA system to they have and what is the platform?  Platform - Windows NT, Unix, Windows 2000, Windows 95 (Gasp), etc.  Software - GE Harris, WonderWare, Intellution, etc.

Rick