Today’s increasingly competitive markets require new levels of reliability, flexibility and cost performance from gas transmission pipelines. One method that pipeline companies can use to address these business objectives is to target station and turbomachinery control system design specification, retrofits and integration.
State of the art control tools and technologies have placed turbomachinery control engineering within the grasp of the end users. NOVA Gas Transmission Ltd. (NGTL) has taken advantage of this to specify, design, and implement integrated control systems that best address their business needs.
This paper explores the end user perspective on applying control system technology to both new and existing compressor stations. The specification of new units and control retrofits are described. The resulting increase in system reliability and flexibility, and reduced maintenance costs is also presented.