Visualization and control of the gas distribution pipeline system for Eastern Bohemia

RWE GasNet (formerly Vychodoceska plynarenska) is a gas distribution company operating in Eastern Bohemia. The company belongs to the RWE Group. The company decided to innovate its main SCADA/HMI system in 1998. After thoroughly evaluating several SCADA systems, the gas distribution company chose the Reliance SCADA/HMI system. The aim of the new system was to visualize all interchange super high-pressure regulator stations and high-pressure regulator stations.

The approach of the company has been very active since the beginning. Employees at the gas distribution company wanted to create and maintain the visualization by themselves, so after creating the basic project for several first regulator stations, people were well trained to be able to maintain and expand the system independently.

Several dozen regulator stations were modernized and connected to the system every year. In 2004, all gas regulator stations were finally connected to the visualization. The system now consists of more than 400 regulator stations communicating with the main control room
24 hours a day.

RWE GasNet's headquarters in Hradec Kralove

The control system provides

• Data acquisition from all connected gas regulator stations
• Communication with regulator stations using modems and mobile network
• Automatic handling of incoming calls
• Generating, logging, and distributing alarms/events
• Logging all historical data
• Setting up limits
• Sending commands to regulator stations
• Network communication among computers in the system using TCP/IP
• Statistical evaluation of historical data
• Access to the system for Web clients
• Exporting data to the corporate central data storage system
• Exchanging data with the customer information system

A picture of the control room

The whole control system has a client–server architecture. There is a central control room in the headquarters and 7 secondary control rooms located in regional branches. The main control room and the regional control rooms are interconnected via a WAN.

Note: Due to economic reasons, all local RWE control rooms with different SCADA systems have been unified into a central control room located in Usti nad Labem.

Example of a visualization window

Visualization of the gas distribution pipeline system