There are several commissioning certifying organizations that provide training and allow students to be certified as commissioning specialists, showing that they have achieved a certain level of knowledge or have demonstrated a certain level of experience. Commissioning certification is similar to other industries where certified individuals demonstrate a level of knowledge and experience to others (such as employers) that they meet a minimum level of understanding or experience in the industry. By obtaining a commissioning certification, individuals demonstrate that they can plan and execute commissioning safely, effectively, and professionally.

There are two classifications of commissioning certification, depending on the type of commissioning you are involved in. You will want to make sure you are pursuing the correct certification:

• Building Commissioning
• Industrial Process Commissioning

The commissioning process has similarities and differences for each of these classifications, which are explained below.

Building Commissioning

The building commissioning process applies to these types of facilities:

• Commercial buildings
• Warehouse facilities
• High-rise residential buildings
• High-rise office buildings
• Airports
• Data centers
• Malls
• Arenas
• Stadiums
• Museums

 And is made up of these types of subsystems:

• Auxiliary power systems
• Heating and cooling (HVAC)
• Smoke management systems
• Fire alarm systems
• Fire sprinkler systems
• Fire shutters, fire dampers
• Lighting control systems
• Elevators/escalators
• Solar shading control
• IT LAN systems
• Security control and monitoring
• Building Management Systems
• All life-safety systems to obtain the building occupancy permit

 An excellent book written by Thomas Toftgaard Jarlov called “A Practical Guide to the Commissioning Process” is available here. The building commissioning process is well described and Thomas gives several examples of how this applies to the commissioning of airport facilities.

Industrial Process Commissioning

The industrial commissioning process applies to these types of facilities:

• Onshore and offshore oil and gas facilities
• LNG processing plants
• Manufacturing facilities
• Food processing facilities
• Power transmission substations (transmission, distribution, HVDC converters)
• Power generation plants (hydraulic generation, gas turbine generation, coal generation, nuclear generation)
• Renewable energy (solar, wind, biomass)
• Water treatment facilities
• Wastewater treatment facilities
• Mining and Ore Processing Sites

Another great resource by Anthony Davies called “Handbook for Commissioning Managers in Major Greenfield Construction Projects” is available here. Commissioning of greenfield industrial processes is well described for new construction in the oil and gas industry. This well-written book applies to greenfield facilities, see below for more details on brownfield facilities.

Similarities

There are several similarities between building commissioning and industrial process commissioning:

• Process and phases – the same sequence of activities are required for pre-commissioning, commissioning and startup
• Independent commissioning provider – in both cases, the commissioning agent/authority should be a separate group from the design group and the construction/installation group. This is to ensure that the same group is not also responsible for verifying their own work. This is a conflict of interest, like having the fox guard the henhouse.
• Construction/installation – the phase to get everything installed is very similar – the vendors and contractors need to install what is detailed on IFC drawings and ensure their installations meet the quality requirements of the contract.

Differences

There are differences as well in the approach to building commissioning compared to the approach to industrial process commissioning. These differences are important, as they change the thought process of how contracts are structured and how the project comes together in the end to align with the end-user’s needs.

• Standards and guidelines – the building commissioning industry is well documented with standards to reference on how commissioning requirements are to be met. However, the industrial process commissioning industry is not as well defined. There are really only two standards related to industrial process commissioning:
• OPERCOM – This is a proprietary set of documents prepared by Total specific to the oil and gas industry. These documents are extensive, but since they are proprietary to Total’s internal processes, they are not available for use within the industry unless working on a Total project.
• API – This is a set of documents issued by the American Petroleum Institute specific to the oil and gas industry. API RP 1FSC is the document outlining the commissioning process. However, it does not provide a lot of details and provides the theory of the commissioning process rather than the practical approach to planning and executing commissioning on-site.
• Terminology – This is probably the most confusing part of the commissioning industry. Because there are two classifications of commissioning, each has its own set of terminology. While similar, the specific terms used are different and can be confusing for someone new to the commissioning or someone who is transitioning from building commissioning to industrial process commissioning since the terminology is different. Even within each classification, the terminology used can be different from project to project since each contract can define different terminology to use. The terminology is important, since the details matter during commissioning. Using generic terminology or conflicting terminology can be quite confusing to everyone on the project when discussing the details of commissioning. Sometimes people can have conversations for months, using slightly different terminology, before realizing that they were talking about the same thing the whole time.

• Brownfield  Projects – Upgrading or expanding an existing facility during industrial process commissioning adds a whole other level of complexity that doesn’t exist during building commissioning, or even during the commissioning of greenfield industrial commissioning processes. A building can certainly be upgraded or expanded, but usually does not involve critical in-service assets that cannot be disrupted. Whereas during greenfield industrial process commissioning, the existing power substation must stay energized so that customer power is not disrupted, or the flows to a wastewater treatment plant cannot be shut off and the plant process must continue to treat these waste streams while the plant is being upgraded. Because of this, working on brownfield projects, particularly during commissioning, must be precisely planned and executed to coordinate with in-service assets. Activities take much longer because of this, and these logistics must be planned for in commissioning plans.

• FAT and IFAT – Much of the equipment supplied for building projects is commercial off-the-shelf devices. For example, the fire control panel is a standard device to be interfaced with other components of the fire protection system. For these off-the-shelf components, very little oversight is required for testing in the factory of these items since it has been done many times and the vendors are well-established with their manufacturing and testing processes. However, for industrial process systems, there are many custom-designed components. For example, the control and protection cubicles for monitoring and controlling an AC switchyard are custom designs, with custom PLC cubicles and interfaces that are designed and manufactured off-site. Because of this, this equipment needs to be extensively tested in the factory to confirm that there are no design defects and no manufacturing defects. A lot of this equipment includes custom PLC logic for control and monitoring of plant processes that need to be verified in the factory as well. Since the logic code is a fundamental design element of the control and protection cubicle, they both need to be tested during Integrated Factory Acceptance Testing before being shipped to site. Because of this more complex equipment specific to industrial plant processes, special attention needs to be taken to testing in the factory to ensure this equipment functions as specified before it arrives at site. It is too late in the commissioning process to test and integrate this equipment as would be done during building commissioning, there needs to be an advanced approach to test and integrate these complex devices in the factory to ensure on-site testing during industrial process commissioning goes smoothly.

• Subsystem inter-dependency – Many of the subsystems in building systems are largely standalone. They do not depend greatly on other subsystems, besides the obvious ones such as power – you need the power to test the HVAC, etc. There are very minimal interfaces that exist between building systems, other than a single interface between the smoke management system and the HVAC system should an event occur. But for the most part, systems are standalone – the lighting control system does not depend on the fire sprinkler system, and the solar shade system does not depend on the security system. However, this is not the case for industrial process systems. For example, the mechanical pipes, valves, flow meters, and pressure sensors aren’t much use without the instrumentation to monitor the process flows. The instruments aren’t of much use without the electrical system to interface these devices to the PLC. The electrical interfaces aren’t of much use without the PLC controllers to communicate with the instruments and end-devices for control of the plant process. Everything works together and is integrated as one plant process. Because of these interdependencies, commissioning becomes much more complex in planning and executing activities. You cannot proceed to commissioning of one particular system until the required pre-requisite system is available and functioning correctly. There is often only one sequence of commissioning activities you can proceed through due to the technical dependencies of one system on another. This means that industrial process commissioning must be precisely planned in advance, with construction deliverables that align with the required sequence, so that you can proceed through commissioning without delays. This is a significant task that can take quite some time to prepare for, much different than planning for building commissioning, since there is much less to plan for on-site commissioning of the security system, other than it needs to be installed with power.

• Occupancy – The goal during building commissioning is to achieve building occupancy. This would indicate the end of the project, with a few items to monitor/adjust once the building is in-service. For industrial process commissioning, occupancy signifies the beginning of commissioning. The building is often the first part of the project required for industrial process commissioning. For example, the building enclosure with life-safety systems such as HVAC, lighting, and fire detection/protection is required to obtain building occupancy (or at least interim building occupancy) before installation of the process equipment can take place prior to commissioning. In the example of an electrical facility, the valve halls are required prior to the converter assemblies being installed, interconnected, and commissioned. In the case of a mechanical facility, the building enclosure with fire protection is required before the pipes, pumps, motors, valves, and treatment equipment can be installed and tested.

• Operations and maintenance – There is maintenance required for both classifications of projects, but there are much more significant operations required for industrial plant processes. As an example, there will be maintenance staff on-site for both types of facilities, but a building would rarely have on-site operators to monitor and control the facilities. A facility such as an oil and gas platform or a wastewater treatment plant will have on-site staff during the day, and often overnight staff to monitor and control the plant process. This changes the game during commissioning in how facilities are started up for the first time. Industrial plant processes are often controlled from a central control room, or even an off-site control facility, and this is a central part of commissioning industrial plant processes. In building commissioning, the fire control panel will operate with no intervention, however, industrial plant processes may require periodic intervention by operators as alerted by the SCADA or DCS systems. Because of this, it is critically important to ensure that the HMI systems (plant operator’s primary point of contact with the plant processes) function correctly and can be relied on for monitoring and controlling the plant facility. These are complex systems requiring detailed attention during commissioning. Because of the critical aspects of these complex systems, operational readiness becomes important during the commissioning of industrial plant processes to ensure a smooth handover from the project to operating teams.

• Operational Readiness – This topic is important leading up to the in-service date of industrial plant processes. Due to the complex nature of industrial plant processes, the operating staff requires guidance and support to ensure they are ready for ongoing operation and maintenance of the new facilities at the in-service date. It is not appropriate for the project team to abandon site at the ISD and leave operators looking around wondering what to do with the systems. Close coordination and collaboration between operating teams and commissioning teams are required for industrial plant processes. In fact, commissioning is the best time for operators to see the systems, get hands-on experience, ask the equipment experts on the commissioning team any questions they have to become familiar with the site, and get a level of comfort leading up to ISD. This doesn’t necessarily exist for building commissioning, since there are less of operational requirements, and the lighting control system does not require a lot of intervention or oversight by operators. The tasks for operational readiness such as setting up equipment asset management systems, training operators, and preparing the operational documentation need to be focused on for industrial plant processes to ensure a smooth handover from the project to operations.

These are some of the differences between building commissioning and industrial process commissioning. While the processes are similar, you can see that there are some more complex elements to consider in the industrial commissioning process to ensure that the project ends successfully.

Building Commissioning Certification

There are several organizations that offer building commissioning training and certification, each with their own requirements and processes:

• Certified Commissioning Professional (CCP) from the Building Commissioning Association (BCA)
• Certified Commissioning Authority (CxA) from the AABC Commissioning Group (ACG)
• Building Energy Assessment Professional (BEAP) from the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE)
• Certified Commissioning Professional (CCP) from the Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA)
• Certified Commissioning Professional (CCP) from the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIA)

Industrial Process/Energy System Commissioning Certification

The first and only source for industrial plant process/energy system commissioning is the Industrial Commissioning Association (ICxA).

ICxA provides the global commissioning standard for commissioning project management of complex megaprojects, as well as individual and corporate certification to this standard.

If you are interested in becoming certified as a CxPM, you can visit the Industrial Commissioning Association for membership, certification, and procurement standards to successfully deliver megaproject commissioning as efficiently as possible.

And best of all, you can evaluate our training for free: Get started with our free 3-Day Mini-Course that gives you an overview of the structured commissioning process.