Power firm gets NERC-CIP boost

PAS inked a deal with a power generation producer in the Southeast of the U.S. to help manage process alarms and automation configurations at 15 of its sites, as well as aid in compliance with the North American Electric Reliability Corporation Critical Infrastructure Protection standards.

By Gregory Hale; Source: ISS Source April 26, 2011

PAS inked a deal with a power generation producer in the Southeast of the U.S. to help manage process alarms and automation configurations at 15 of its sites, as well as aid in compliance with the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) standards.

The power generator selected PAS’ Integrity software in an effort to map the configuration of automation systems, including Distributed Control Systems, Programmable Logic Controllers, Historians, and Safety Instrumented Systems. The software provides configuration management and management of change within and among all vendor automation systems. Integrity will also help facilitate compliance with the NERC CIP standards.

In addition, PAS’ Integrity Recon software will monitor and report essential information related to the health and performance of Windows-based computers on process automation networks throughout the company. Integrity Recon monitors the software, hardware, and operating system configurations for the servers, workstations, and desktop computers on these networks and provides notification of discrepancies from defined Common Operating Environments.

PlantState Suite Alarm and Event Analysis software will help the power generation plants improve the performance of its alarm systems throughout the fleet, resulting in increased asset reliability and operational safety.

“Our company selected PAS’ Integrity and PlantState Suite software to provide comprehensive configuration management and alarm management for all of our sites,” said Harvey Ivey, I+C System and Support Manager at the power generator. “We believe that these technologies will help us better manage our automation assets and ensure our compliance with the NERC CIP regulations.”

“Having an inventory of critical assets, understanding the current state of each of those critical assets, and having the ability to manage change on those critical assets is a key part of complying with the NERC CIP guidelines,” said Chris Lyden, PAS President. “These power generation plants will have on-demand access to NERC CIP compliance reports, enabling them to prepare for an audit with minimal effort.”