Informative HVDC Commissioning Experience

On a multi-billion-dollar project, it really requires a very specific approach and a specific procurement process in order to execute a project of this magnitude. You can’t simply just take your past contracts that you’ve worked on, modify a few things and put it out for pretender. It really requires a blank sheet of paper to approach it from a new perspective and see what makes sense specific to this project. That’s exactly what the project team did for BPIII, and I commend their huge efforts and their great execution on the procurement process. That’s really what set the project up for success. Do it properly, thoroughly and correctly right from the beginning of the project. 

I was able to work with some of the best HVDC experts in the world for preparation of the technical specification, procurement documents as well as legal procurement process, and it was extremely well done! It went very well from that perspective. Large focus up front was based on a detailed performance-based and technical specification. It was a very detailed contracting strategy to provide the best value for the project. This upfront effort and precise procurement process set the project up for success right at the beginning, and it is one of the critical success factors in making the project a success, you should read this article that I have compiled to guide you 9 CSU (Commissioning and Startup) Critical Success Factors. This upfront effort also included all the commissioning criteria in the contract document, so you can see that everybody started with the end in mind and included a lot of the commissioning details up front in the procurement process which was a huge benefit to the project and definitely set it up for success.

Factory Acceptance Testing

Some of the first aspects that involved the commissioning team are factory acceptance testing, you check this compiled article, additional information about FAT is written here The Commissioning Process: A Step-by-Step Guide . There’s a lot of large equipment involved in an HVDC system, particularly lots of electrical equipment, so all of the equipment went through factory acceptance testing related to the HVDC equipment. The 230 kv AC switchyard apparatus, the synchronous condensers, as well as all the control and protection software, all of the AC and the DC apparatus were all factory acceptance tested, particularly related to dielectric testing. It all went through third-party testing to confirm that all the dielectrics were correct before arriving to either of the converter station sites, as well several transformers on the project. All the AC and HDCV transformers all went through an extensive factory acceptance test program to know that when that equipment arrived at the site, they were going to meet contract requirements.

Several large rotating pieces of equipment related to the synchronous condensers, all went through an extensive mechanical factory acceptance test in the factories where those large components were being manufactured. One of the biggest focuses was on the HVDC control and protection software. We went through many months of factory acceptance testing on the control and protection software, and I guess you would refer to this as an integrated factory acceptance test, because this was the actual control and protection panels for both the north and the south converter stations. All integrated together in the same room, so it was tens and tens of panels. There was something like 50 or 60 panels. They’re all integrated together in a test environment as well. The actual proprietary controller protection software was programmed into the cubicles. So, this allowed a very thorough test setup to test both the hardware and the software for the HVDC control and protection. Some of the remote devices would have been simulated where applicable in order to test the hardware and particularly test the software. But what this test setup allowed the team to do was to actually simulate high power transfers through the system to confirm operation of the software, as well as the hardware. All the stability control functions, and this was taking place over several months.

There were many months of this factory substance testing related to the control and protection software to test all the normal operating scenarios, as well as all the fault conditions. Functional performance tests were included. All of the dynamic performance testing was included, and all the stability control functions were tested as well. So, the actual hardware and actual software were thoroughly put through their paces to test all aspects of the hardware and software design. This was hugely beneficial to the commissioning process, because we knew that all the hardware and software were fully confirmed to be functional before it even left the factory.

There were certainly lots of pressures to deliver the equipment to site. But this process through factory acceptance testing was hugely beneficial, it was one of the important parts of the commissioning process to confirm that everything was going to work on site. I can’t stress enough that proper factory acceptance testing can’t be skipped factory acceptance testing, it is definitely an important function of commissioning and startup. It needs to be thoroughly implemented into your project so that you know that the hardware and the software design is correct before it arrives at site. It would have been a much different story, had a lot of testing taken place at site as issues were being discovered during the critical path commissioning activities.

There would have been more delays, whereas all that work was done up front to know that what was being delivered at site was designed and would operate correctly at that point. When we’re going through testing on site, it’s not so much testing. The software and the cubicles is more on testing the wiring and the interconnection of all the equipment since that’s the only new part, rewiring and reconnecting the cubicles on site. So that was something that is hugely beneficial to commissioning. I can’t stress enough that thorough factory acceptance testing is hugely beneficial to your projects. The in-service date of projects is always a very important aspect to consider on projects. If the ISD is not met there are operational and financial impacts to consider, and this project was no different. The in-service date must be met so that the reliability of the systems can be implemented.

Early Commissioning Team Involvement

The commissioning team plays an important role in the project by working backwards from the in-service date, to learn more about the importance of early involvement of the commissioning team in the projects, this is your guide 9 CSU (Commissioning and Startup) Critical Success Factors. Preparing the commissioning sequence to determine when all aspects of the project are required to be complete. On a multi-billion-dollar project, there are many aspects to consider; what systems are required in advance and when is each subsystem or system required. If we go through the systems involved in this project, the 230 kv ac switch yard systems were the first portions of the project that were required. They were required in advance of the HVDC systems, because they were required to provide power to the northern HVDC systems, as well as receive power from the southern HVDC system. So the ac switchyard systems were the first portion of the project that was handed over from construction to commissioning, and the first focus of getting those commissioned and placed into service on each ac system.

There’s again several components of that system and multiple high voltage interfaces, as well as several control and protection interfaces. All to be coordinated in sequence into the project commissioning sequence, so you can think of the complexity of managing thousands of interfaces at two different sites. In order that the project comes together in the proper order, we need a huge amount of moving pieces, lots of fun to plan and coordination. We had a great time. The next systems were the synchronous condensers were required in advance of the HVDC systems to provide support for minimum loading of the HVDC system, and again there were several high-voltage interfaces. Several control and protection interfaces that had to be planned and coordinated in order to be available to support the overall commissioning sequence. Then the last portion the HVDC systems made up of the dc switch yard valve holes building auxiliary systems and all control and protection systems, and these were all needed to be available in the correct sequence to support the commissioning process.

So, looking at all these pieces of the project development and coordination of the overall commissioning sequence to achieve the in-service date was an important task of the commissioning team to develop, and provide that feedback to the design and construction teams to help them align their priorities in installation activities. By knowing that certain portions of the AC systems are required prior to certain portions of the synchronous condensers required prior to certain portions of the HVDC system that helps the construction team to determine their priorities and sequence of tasks in order to align the construction and commissioning activities. It is critically important to have an integrated construction and commissioning schedule, so that construction activities line up with commissioning activities in order that the overall project sequence is achieved to meet that in service date.

This overall commissioning sequence is one of the main reasons to have the commissioning team involved early in the project because development of the commissioning process should be done early to provide those priorities to the construction team, and to the design team so that everyone is aware of the deadlines. They are working towards to achieve the project in service date so each construction milestone was defined as a mechanical completion.

Mechanical Completion

Large systems of the project were broken down into several mechanical completions for example: the AC switchyard, with one at each end of the project. These are large projects on their own, and a single milestone saying that AC switchyard completion isn’t necessarily helpful to everyone. We broke those down further to say, okay here’s one of the 230 kV high voltage interfaces, and we’ll indicate that as one mechanical completion, if you want to learn more about Mechanical Completion, please read this article Mechanical Completion, Substantial Completion, Final Completion. This was the process called systematization of the project where we took each component of the project, and broke it down into several separate mechanical completions. In the example of the AC switchyard, each 230 kV three-phase interface was indicated as one mechanical completion. Then that mechanical completion package would be defined on what that handover includes, and when it’s required in order to collaborate with the construction team to work out when it’s complete, how it’s going to be handed over and tested with the commissioning team.

The commissioning sequence defined which 230 kV bay was required first to help align some of those construction activities. Then, each bay was handed over in sequence over a few months as commissioning of other aspects of the project proceeded. These mechanical completions took place over about a six-month period while commissioning was starting on, say the ac systems and work was still taking place on HVDC systems. There was definitely an overlap of when some of the earlier systems were available for commissioning and subsequent construction activities were still taking place. Mechanical completions were critically important from a safety perspective as well because certain systems were being commissioned and others were still being under construction.

The mechanical completion defined which group had care custody and control of the equipment so that if one system was under test, the boundary isolations between that system and an area that’s still under construction definitely had to be defined. Boundary isolations were very important to define to keep everyone safe with proper lockout tag out procedures and definition of where those boundary isolations occur in order that everyone knows their limits of where they can work and where they cannot work.

Pre-Commissioning

Following each mechanical completion we moved into pre-commissioning and since a thorough factory acceptance test was conducted, pre-commissioning largely consisted of verifying there were no installation errors. Wiring was a big focus during pre-commissioning. This consisted of several point-to-point checks as well as megger checks to confirm that all power cabling, all control and protection wiring was installed correctly. All signal checks were complete to verify polarity and that all terminations on terminal blocks were correct. Since the software and control cabinets were all verified in the factory, the main source of error could be outside the cubicle. This would be the wiring between each cubicle and thankfully a thorough pre-commissioning program was established, and there were really very few wiring errors that were discovered during commissioning. A few minor errors but generally everything turned out pretty good due to a thorough pre-commissioning and investigation of all the cabling and wiring as well.

All the communication and loop checks were confirmed to verify cubicles were communicating with each other. There are lots of interfaces outside the station to central control as well as the other converter station. All the interfaces within the station were verified with regards to connections to HVDC ac system synchronous condensers. Both on-site and off-site, everything was verified as part of a pre-commissioning phase leading into commissioning, and an important interface was the communications to the central control operator. This was extensively verified to ensure the correct status and control was in place prior to startup of the systems following pre-commissioning of the HVDC systems could take place.

Commissioning

All the commissioning procedures were written well in advance of the commissioning phase, to know more about commissioning, please check this article What is Commissioning?

This was the point in time when they would be executed during commissioning included: verification that all correct control and protection settings were applied and that they all functioned correctly, control and status to the local control room was verified extensively to the HMI screens in the control room, as well as all the interfaces to the central control operator were extensively verified. The commissioning phase was really the process of getting all the systems ready for first energization during the startup phase.

Startup

On a project of this magnitude, there are several startups that exist on the various systems. The first systems that were energized were the ac switchyard systems, and they were energized in stages to align with each mechanical completion that was defined earlier in the project. Startups were occurring at both converter station sites simultaneously concurrently, for more information about Startup, please check The Commissioning Process: A Step-by-Step Guide.

There would be some days where we would energize a system in the south in the morning, and then in the afternoon we’d have another energization in the northern site. This all had to be closely planned and coordinated among both sites particularly as related to the central control operator where they were the ones responsible for providing power and energizing new systems into the existing bulk electric system. This is a very controlled and methodical approach that needed to be taken to make sure that energizations are done safely and that new systems do not present any risk to in-service equipment.

Each startup occurred in sequence over a six-month period until the final HDVC startup took place. The final startup included first power transmission through the HVDC transmission line, and this was a very important milestone because all portions of the project, all the converter station, all the sites at each station, as well as the HDVC transmission line, all came together for the first time. It was a huge milestone to see power flowing down that transmission line for the first time. Everyone was very pleased achieving this milestone, then allowed us to proceed with full system testing and that took place over a three-month period to verify all the system tests prior to placing the system into commercial service. One aspect that was considered quite extensively during each of these startups was cyber security. This was very important in north America. The regulatory authority is called NERC, they govern cyber security in north America so in order to bring a new system onto and exit into the existing bulk electric system, it had to be demonstrated to be NERC compliant before it’s added to the existing system, so that the new systems aren’t presenting any vulnerabilities that add risk to existing in-service assets. So, there was a large focus on cyber security during this project, and cyber security is really a complete topic on its own.

Operational Readiness

Another important aspect of the project was operational readiness, for more information, please read this article Operational Readiness. It was a huge project so there was definitely a focus put on getting the operators that were going to operate and maintain the new facilities for years to come up, so that they’re comfortable with the new systems and able to continue with effective operation and maintenance of the new facilities. So, there was definitely a big focus on operational readiness to have that knowledge transfer to the operating team with multiple sites and multiple operating teams. This was important to ensure that individuals were ready for continued operation and maintenance of the new facilities.

The northern site required a little bit additional planning given its remote location. The best thing that was done was, the operations team was embedded as part of the commissioning team, and this was a huge advantage for the project because the commissioning process benefited from operations input to the commissioning activities. Operations was able to learn valuable knowledge from the commissioning process that they could learn and understand the systems going forward, and the individuals involved had a vested interest in the commissioning process knowing they would be responsible for eventual operation and maintenance of the systems.

If you’d like to learn more about the commissioning and startup process, please join our free three-day mini course. The course is free and flexible to take any time online. It gives you a good start so that you can understand or have an early understanding of the commissioning and startup process.

Question and Answer Session

I will be a part of the team as an electrical commissioning engineer. What are the questions I need to know before I step into this role?

A good overview is the three-day commissioning course.  But assuming you’ve taken that, then the first thing you’ll want to get your hands on when you get to site is probably the contract, particularly the technical specification. That’s going to give you an idea of the project, the scope of work that’s required and give you some of the bounds of how the commissioning team can operate within scope schedule, budget of the project. As an electrical engineer on the commissioning team, you’re going to want to get familiar with the electrical systems and probably the questions to ask is how is it going to be systematized, if that’s what you are defining or if that’s someone else on the commissioning team, you’re going to want to establish. How are the electrical systems going to be grouped as subsystems or systems, and how are they going to be handed over from the construction team to the commissioning team? Because that’s really going to set the priorities of which systems to focus on first before you go out into site and start commissioning. That’s also going to guide you in what additional documentation you’re going to require with regards to checklists and commissioning procedures for commissioning in the field.

In the case of electrical, then the single line diagrams are really going to define the system and that’s a good place to start. If you have any of the technical background on those systems that’s going to definitely help in your commissioning role, Not everybody can be an expert in everything, so there’s maybe going to be some systems that you’re not quite familiar with. Who else on the project team can form part of the commissioning team particularly if there are consultants involved or other subject matter experts that you can bring in that are experts in a particular piece of equipment, then that’s going to guide you and assist you in commissioning some of those electrical systems.

My in-depth Electrical Commissioning Training Course is a big help to have a good understanding in this topic. 

I’m interested in HVAC commissioning! Do you have this course also?

I do offer a Mechanical Commissioning course. It does go into more detail than the three-day mini course. You can see that course on our website at www.commissioningandstartup.com.  What I do have in there is, one of the lessons is specific to HVAC systems where it provides several checklists and several procedures. You may find those documents helpful since you can use them as templates to create documents specific to your project. If you’d like to get some more information on that send us an email if you’d like to see some of the sample checklists to see what’s in there. We could probably share some of those with you as well. We’re happy to provide you some information to help you with your HVAC commissioning.

Testing of protection relays  belongs to Commissioning or Pre-Commissioning Activity?

The testing of pre-commissioning or of protection relays is definitely a task that’s completed by the commissioning team. Protection relay testing is somewhat specialized and the commissioning team has the expertise and knowledge to commission those devices. This wouldn’t be something that the construction team would be as familiar with. They’ll certainly install the relay, and they’ll do all the wiring and cabling from the relay, but then it would get passed to the commissioning team to test the protection relays. So in that regard, installation of the relay and wiring and cabling of the relay would be a construction activity. Then, mechanical completion takes place, and pre-commissioning activities would take place. So testing of the protection relays belongs to pre-commissioning. Essentially, the pre-commissioning being verification of the settings on the relay, doing any primary or secondary injections to test the relay; those will be pre-commissioning activities. Then, actual energizing of the transformer that the relay is protecting, those would be commissioning activities later. The pre-commissioning would be the pre-checks on the relay for settings and primary and secondary injections.

When will we say the plant is ready for commissioning and ready for start-up?

The first milestone that we want to achieve on the project is mechanical completion, and that’s essentially where the construction activities are complete. Then, the care custody control is transferred to the commissioning team upon the signing of that mechanical completion certificate. If you have a certificate like that on your project that would be really the defining milestone when the commissioning team gets involved, but the question refers to, when is the plant ready for commissioning and when is it ready for startup? Some of the pre-commissioning activities in the relay example are maybe a good example to use as soon as we sign that mechanical completion, meaning the relay is installed, and that all cables are installed.

Pre-commissioning of the relay can take place for verification of settings and primary and secondary injections to confirm function of that relay. Those pre-checks would be pre-commissioning. Once that’s complete along with pre-commissioning of all other aspects of the system, we’re really ready for commissioning and startup. If that relay is protecting a large oil filled transformer, we would have gone through all the pre-commissioning checks on all aspects of the transformer for all control and protection. All communication checks from the local control room to the transformer, from the transformer to the central control system operator. All of those pre-checks are complete and verified through the pre-commissioning phase. All those devices are communicating and functioning properly as a system.

Once we know that the system is functioning correctly, it’s going to be able to react to any power disturbances, and it’s going to be able to be controlled, and the status determined remotely. Then, at that point we’re ready for startup. So, that startup would be first energization of that oil filled transformer with 230 kV power applied. Following that startup is likely a soak period of so many hours. A 24-hour period where the transformer is soaked at 230 kV for 24 hours to confirm thermal properties of the transformer and that everything looks normal after that 24-hour period. That’s generally the sequence through mechanical completion, pre-commissioning and startup phase, and it’s going to vary depending on the piece of equipment. There’s also going to be multiple milestones associated with various aspects of the equipment. Each of those milestones and part of the commissioning team’s role is defining that commissioning sequence up front early in the project so that everybody’s working to that commissioning sequence.

Can we proceed with the acceptance of the project even if there’s a problem encountered in the machine during commissioning?

That may depend on what the problem encountered is. But it certainly could be the case where if there’s a problem encountered, but it’s minor in nature and maybe there’s an operating procedure that can be put in place to be able to work around that particular error, you could list that particular item as a deficiency to be corrected during the warranty period that allows the system to get into service. Assuming that the problem doesn’t impact in any major way operation of the system, but it does allow the system to get in service while that particular issue is being addressed. Say the issue was minor in nature, but it was still going to take six months to address due to procurement issues.

There certainly would be a desire to probably put the system in service and work on that issue in parallel. It would be quite common for minor deficiencies to be noted and to be corrected during the warranty period. Any major issues if there’s a fundamental issue encountered in the machine during commissioning, and its impact operation, then that’s something that certainly needs to be addressed. If the system can’t go in service safely and reliably, then of course that issue is going to have to be addressed before it’s placed into service. But if not, if it’s minor in nature and the system can still be operated reliably and safely and the issue can be worked around, then for sure that could be an option to accept the project with that noted deficiency to be corrected during the warranty period.

I’d like to see training about the performance test execution, ways in which contractors try to steal some extra MW for getting the performance contract requirements like close/open certain valves.

During system commissioning, all the system tests are completed to confirm proper operation of the system, but the system may need to run for a period of time to confirm some of the performance guarantees, or some of the technical parameters that are required in the technical specification. It’s not necessarily something measured say in a one or two-day test. The system would need to run for a period of say one year or three years or something similar to confirm that certain performance guarantees are achieved. At substantial completion or PAC (provisional acceptance certificate) the system is placed into service and then there’s the performance guarantee monitoring period to confirm certain aspects of the system. So that could be monitoring things like losses of the system or guaranteed reliability of the system based on how many outages are incurred on the system. That performance guarantee monitoring period would measure those items and confirm the actual performance of the system.

There may be commercial impacts in the contract if the performance guarantee metrics are met. If aspects of the performance guarantee parameters aren’t met, then there would be commercial impacts in that as well. I haven’t had any experience with contractors that are trying to steal some extra megawatts in order to try and meet the performance guarantee requirements, but I can’t say that that necessarily wouldn’t happen. That certainly could be something that could exist. In my experiences, it hasn’t been the contractor that’s operating the system. So the contractor is only monitoring or watching or getting the data from the system. It’s been the owner’s operators that have been operating the system. So there hasn’t been any chance for the contractor to try and manipulate the system.  But in some cases that may not be the case. If once the project goes in service there’s also a contract in place for operation of the system where the contractor or a third party is involved in operating the system, and I guess that could open up situations where they could be changing the system to somewhat influence the performance guarantee parameters. I would say that’s something that the commissioning team could definitely assist with. If not the whole commissioning team, but maybe a few individuals of the commissioning team remain as part of the project to monitor its operation and ensure that those sorts of things aren’t happening, so that the owner can get proper value out of the system and the performance guarantee period.

During the actual Commissioning of integrated systems, what is the exact sequence to follow during the start up?

It’s maybe similar to one of the examples we’ve discussed with regards to transformer energization. Let’s use that example again, so the exact sequence to follow would be; say you’re getting ready for first energization of the transformer. In advance of that, one thing you’re going to want to conduct is a pre-startup safety review.  This would be a checklist prepared in advance so that you have the checklist in hand to know all the things that need to be verified before you start up that particular piece of equipment. The PSSR checklist is an important safety measure to ensure that on the day of energization, all checks are in place before starting that up so that PSSR would be reviewed one or two days before energization to make sure that all things are in place.

You might note in the PSSR that because this is the first energization of a large piece of equipment, there’s a particular exclusion area that’s required maybe larger than normal where things need to have red tape and roped off with red rope and pylons to keep everybody away from the new piece of equipment during that time of when it’s energized. The PSSR may also note additional personnel on hand from an emergency response perspective. If there are problems with the unit, then you should give a heads up to the fire crew or whoever may need to respond in that particular instance. Then, in the morning of the energization at the morning tailboard, one of the first things that the commissioning team is going to want to do is, go walk the system. A few members of the commissioning team and maybe some from the construction team will also join and walk through the particular systems related to that energization that morning. In the case of a large transformer energization, you’d go out and look at the system, confirm that all the piping involved is in the correct configuration, that all safety guards are in place. There’s no exposed electrical hazards, there’s nobody working in the area and that exclusion zones are in place. Some of the other systems that are related to the transformers, the cooling systems perhaps, you will walk through any of the systems that are related to that morning’s energization to make sure visually that everything looks correct from a safety perspective and also from an operational perspective. Then, if everything looks good, the commissioning engineer will give the authority to apply first power to the transformer.

Assuming everything goes correctly, the system is monitored for a period of time to confirm thermal properties or to allow it to soak for a period of time. If something doesn’t go as planned, maybe the transformer trips off, then that’s where the real commissioning starts. That’s where the commissioning engineer and the commissioning team will get involved to troubleshoot the system and find out what is the cause of the error. Hopefully, it’s a minor error, maybe there was a CT that was wired backwards, but basically get to that root cause, address the issue, then determine how to proceed. If it’s something that can be corrected in a minor nature maybe you can still proceed with energization that day if it’s something that has more impact to that system or maybe other areas of the system, a more thorough root cause analysis has to be performed to determine next steps before proceeding with the next energization.

 

What is the difference between pre commissioning and commissioning?

Pre-commissioning is the initial checks to confirm that equipment is installed correctly. It’s basically to confirm that all the installation is complete and correct. Take the example of wiring or cabling, you want to confirm that all the cable and all the conductors are on the correct terminal blocks and not wired incorrectly. That would be some of the pre-commissioning to make sure that the system is going to function correctly. Pre-commissioning would typically be done with the cubicle energized, but certainly not with power through the HVDC line. This would be in a much more benign state to do some of the pre-checks of the system.

Commissioning, then refers to actually getting the system up and running and doing testing on the system as a system. For pre-commissioning, you may be looking at some of the aspects just at an equipment level like a particular pump or a particular electrical device. Where commissioning is getting all the equipment to function as a subsystem or a subsystem. For pre-commissioning, you might be checking out just the motor or the pump itself, doing a bump test on the motor or a polarity check. Whereas commissioning would be actually using the motor and the pump along with the piping pressure valves chemical dosing skid and logic controls. Commissioning would involve all that equipment to see that that group of equipment can function as a subsystem or subsystem. Commissioning basically checks out all the systems leading up to when you want to start up the systems and apply first power to a transformer or to an HVDC transmission line.

 

What should I do to be a commissioning engineer in the future? Where should I start it?

It’s a great question. You’re in the right place. You’re definitely going to want to learn as much as you can before be getting to site and getting involved in the commissioning team. Commissioning, like any profession, always has a certain terminology and certain acronyms that you want to be able to get familiar with the language and speak the commissioning discussions, this article will help you more about commissioning terminology and acronyms Commissioning Dictionary & Acronyms . You want to look to online resources and commissioning training to be able to at least get familiar with the concepts, the commissioning process and the overall steps required to be successful at commissioning.

Check out my site at www.commissioningandstartup.com. There are lots of great resources, check out my free three-day mini-course. It’s a great place to start, and if you’re looking to advance your commissioning career even further, I do offer more in-depth training. I have a mechanical commissioning course. I’m just in the process, hopefully in the next few weeks releasing an Electrical Commissioning course.  I can’t find anything similar to it online. This will be a great electrical commissioning resource that everybody can use, and hopefully you can make use of to get you familiar with electrical and mechanical commissioning.

Learning through a course is one thing, and it’s important to get you familiar with the concepts before you get to site. Once you get to site then the learning continues for sure. Hopefully, you’re able to pair with an experienced commissioning manager or an experienced commissioning engineer to be part of that commissioning team, and that’s where the learning continues, is to get that hands-on experience with the equipment at site, become familiar with the systems, and learn from others that are familiar with commissioning to continue your lifelong learning of commissioning and startup. So with regards to your question Muhammed where should I start? You’re in the right place. This is where you should start.

 

Are there procedures on how to define systems and subsystems in case that will be part of my role?

I’ve never found a particular procedure or flow chart that would say – this is how you define a system. It’s a bit of an engineering analysis to look through. All of the project documentation determines what is the best commissioning sequence and what components of the project are required in order to build up that commissioning sequence. This is something that I will be including in my Electrical Commissioning course, because it is a question I get asked often. This is really the process of systematizing the project. You can look at a huge multi-billion-dollar project, all the components involved, and you need to go through that systematization process to break it down into components of the system and identify in each mechanical completion handover. When you look at the process of how to do that, it’s really determined by the commissioning team, and what’s required in order to build up the system. So, you can get three components of the project, three pieces of equipment, but they’re not going to be much use if you require two other components. So, through the process of systematization, you’re going to identify that these five or six pieces of equipment make up one of the subsystems in the project, and these are the pieces of equipment that are required in order to proceed with commissioning. After that, you’re going to group up another section of equipment. Say, these dozen items now form another subsystem within the project and as part of that mechanical completion, they’re going to be handed over in that mechanical completion for further commissioning each of those subsystems.  Then, get tested as a subsystem or system as you’re building up the project. It’s really going to be a process of how the commissioning team wants to proceed through commissioning, or what’s the most efficient manner to proceed through commissioning, and what components of the project are required in order to achieve that sequence. It’s one of the big reasons that the commissioning team needs to get involved in the project early, because it helps the design and the construction teams align their activities with how the system’s going to be started up.

In the design phase, when the design engineers are designing the project, they’re thinking in that similar manner. They’re not just designing each piece of equipment; they’re designing this to function as a one complete system. The difference maybe between their thought process and the commissioning team’s thought process is when they’re designing say, an HVDC system that’s a huge piece of the project. The commissioning team may choose to break that down even further into more manageable components. They can be executed on site for the actual commissioning process. The two processes are definitely aligned, and you can start with how the design team has broken out some of the functions with regards to designing the system, but again the commissioning team may choose to break that down even further into make it more manageable at a site level for how it’s going to be commissioned.

 

​I would like to know if you can recommend that the professionals that assist with FAT should be the same that do the PC&S…?

Definitely yes. The design team and the procurement team are working in conjunction to specify and procure a lot of the equipment. When that equipment is being manufactured and it’s being tested in the factory, the commissioning team definitely wants to get involved in that process. That’s the first opportunity for the commissioning team to see the equipment and to become familiar with it. It will also enable them to understand any of the issues that are encountered with the equipment during factory acceptance testing. Any issues that are encountered during factory acceptance testing are the first issues that are consolidated, and added to the deficiency list for each piece of equipment on the project. As deficiencies are known, they’re hopefully being addressed in the factory, but that’s not always the case. Some of them are listed as a deficiency to be corrected at site, and it’s hugely advantageous to have the commissioning team at the factory acceptance testing to see some of those deficiencies, know what’s working, and what’s not in order to know what the follow-on tasks on site are to address those deficiencies. So, yes it’s hugely beneficial to have the commissioning team actually travel to the factory and witness some of the factory acceptance tests. It’s beneficial for everybody to learn the systems and to have that continuity in any deficiencies that are identified and deferred to be rectified. That’s not always the best thing to have deficiencies deferred to site, but sometimes it’s impossible to avoid. If you have someone that’s aware of that deficiency that’s actually going to be addressing it and knows to be aware of it at site that’s hugely advantageous.

Using the terms interchangeably pre commissioning and commissioning, could one have a better clarity with respect to construction and start up stage?

I wouldn’t necessarily use pre-commissioning and commissioning interchangeably, because they are two very different set of activities on site to get the systems up and running. With regards to mechanical completion, it is really the first milestone to be met by the construction team that triggers the start of pre-commissioning. Maybe one thing I’ll clarify with regards to mechanical completion is it can somewhat vary depending on mechanical versus electrical. In the case of electrical systems, electrical pre-commissioning is typically executed by the commissioning team given that it’s usually more specialized commissioning relay testing requiring specialized equipment and specialized knowledge. So, in the case of electrical pre-commissioning, mechanically commissioning, mechanical completion would take place first followed by electrical pre-commissioning by the commissioning team.

Mechanical systems maybe are somewhat different given that the pressure testing, leak testing and flushing of the mechanical lines, would be considered pre-commissioning activities, and are typically best done by the installer of the piping. As the construction team is installing piping, they’re flushing it kind of in parallel before they connect final connections. They’re also doing leak testing and pressure testing to confirm that it’s installed correctly. Those activities are done by the construction team, then mechanical completion would take place and hand over to the commissioning team. So, in the case of mechanical systems, I would classify that as somewhat different than electrical systems. The mechanical pre-commissioning will take place by the construction team, followed by mechanical completion, then followed by testing of or commissioning of the systems by the commissioning team. Following pre-commissioning, commissioning takes place, and that’s when a group of the equipment functions or starts to function for the first time as a subsystem or system to confirm that everything that can communicate together, and everything can operate properly before application of process fluids or before first power transfers or first energizations.

Then, commissioning leads to startup. This would be actually introducing process fluids to the mechanical equipment or having first energizations or first power of the electrical equipment leading up to final commissioning and hand over to the owner.

Can you explain further regarding safety precautions during pre-comm and commissioning?

Yes, for sure. The two critical safety aspects that should be conducted prior to application of first power or startup of any equipment be it electrical or mechanical equipment is the PSSR, the pre-startup safety review, for more information about safety, here’s a detailed article Safety During Commissioning This is a checklist reviewed and prepared by the commissioning team, the engineering team and the construction team. Everybody has input into what is considered during the startup. So, anything from a safety perspective related to design, construction, or commissioning is identified in this PSSR, and this would be done well in advance of any of the startups, because it requires a bit of a methodical thought process to make sure that everything’s captured. Then, a few days before startup, that checklist is reviewed by all parties. There’s probably a meeting that you would plan and schedule in advance with all stakeholders involved in the startup to review the PSSR, and confirm that everything is complete from a design perspective and from a construction perspective. You want to confirm that there’s no Type-A deficiencies that impact the energization and therefore need to be rectified before the startup. That would be one of the critical PSSR items and that could potentially delay startup. If there are items that are Type-A deficiencies, they may have to be addressed before starting up the system. So the PSSR captures anything that’s outstanding or needs to be addressed before startup. Any particular exclusion zones need to be put in place so that everything is ready for the day of startup. In the morning of startup, the PSSR is reviewed again to make sure that all outstanding actions are complete.

The first action that the commissioning team is going to want to do with support from maybe the construction team or the design team consultants whoever needs to be involved in the startup is to go walk the systems; confirm that in the case of mechanical systems there could be valves that need to be in a certain configuration in order for the startup scenario that’s taking place that day. Transformers may need to have cabinets locked and closed up may have valving cooling valves that need to be arranged in a particular configuration.

Anything related to a safety perspective or an operational perspective that needs to be reviewed that morning to confirm that everything is safe to operate and energize for the first time. Then startup will occur and hope everything goes well, if not, then further investigation troubleshooting is required to diagnose the issue and determine when next energization could take place. If, it’s a minor error maybe later that same day or if it’s a more significant error might require some further analysis by the design team and construction commissioning to determine next steps on how to proceed.

As Commissioning Engineer or Supervisor, what kind of documents need to be brought to site during pre-commissioning of each system (Mechanical or Electrical system) for the plant?

Very good question! The question refers to documents that need to be brought to site. I’ll maybe back up even a little bit before then. So before the commission team even mobilizes to site there are several documents that the commissioning team needs to start with for planning and coordinating commissioning activities. Obviously the contract and all the design documentation from the design team is required, but some other documents that are going to be critical from the contractor or the vendor are a lot of the O&M manuals. Probably, the most critical documents to get from an output from construction are the marked up issued for construction drawings. These are the red line drawings or the as-built drawings that define any changes that were made in the field either from a design perspective or from an installation perspective. The commissioning team definitely needs the most current set of drawings that show the actual as-built installation in the field. If the commissioning team doesn’t have this, if you’re working off the issued for construction drawings, there may have been things that were changed in the field. If there was a terminal block wiring that was swapped for whatever reason the commissioning team needs to know that. If you don’t have a clear definition of what’s being commissioned, then it’s going to be impossible to verify exactly how the system is operating. So, that’s probably the most important set is the accurate as built drawings.

You can start to work from some of the IFC drawings  to prepare some of your procedures and checklists. But you’re definitely going to want to have the redline markups in hand to confirm anything that’s changed and how that may impact any of your checklists or procedures that  you put in place. That’s always a challenge to have those that set of drawings early enough to be able to repair checklists and procedures while construction is still taking place. You’re probably going to want a few revisions of that to at least start with the current set of drawings and get an update as things change or any new red line markups are added to the drawings so that you have the current definition of what’s required. So, your question related to what needs to be brought to site during pre-commissioning is the O&M manuals because they’ll provide information on how to prepare some of the standard operating procedures, how to operate the equipment, and you’ll definitely want to have those written in advance. You’ll definitely want to have the as-built set of drawings, or I guess red-line set of drawings as well. As all the checklists and procedures that you prepared in advance if you mobilize to site with that set of documentation, that’s a pretty good start for having the documents that you need to be able to proceed with commissioning of course.

There are other aspects related to the commissioning schedule and the commissioning sequence and the order of priorities of how you’re going to go through that work, but at the site level of actual executing commissioning that set of documents related for procedures checklists and drawings are probably your most important set of drawings related to mechanical drawings. Those would be particularly the P&ID drawings (piping and instrumentation diagrams). That’s going to give you a pretty good overview of the mechanical systems. In the case of electrical systems, those are the single line diagrams, cable lists, and wiring diagrams that you’re going to want to have in hand so that you can learn and understand the systems and go through testing of each mechanical and electrical system.

Can I request a sample checklist of commissioning and start up?

For sure, if you want us to send you a sample ,we can definitely give you a sample if you make the request to [email protected]. We’ll be able to provide you a sample checklist of a particular system. One thing to consider is the checklists are always specific to the equipment that’s being tested, so if we send you a specific example know that in the courses that we offer, there are more detailed and specific checklists that are specific to each piece of equipment. For example; in the electrical commissioning course that we’re working on right now it would have checklists that are specific to transformer pre-commissioning or specific to pre-commissioning of an electrical distribution system. The one system we’re working on right now is checklists for lighting and control systems. So, we can send you a sample of a checklist knowing that there’s a lot more resources that are available to you. If you would like to get more specific checklists for specific and electrical equipment that you may be looking for on your project, send us an email, and we’ll see how we can help you question from it during commissioning time.

During commissioning time, am I allowed to suggest some special aspect prior to the job?

I’m not sure exactly what special aspect you may be suggesting there, but maybe let’s consider some sort of design change that could maybe make the system better or maybe make the system more easier to operate and maintain in the future. This is one of the main reasons again for the commissioning team to get involved early in the project is that feedback into the design is definitely valuable from a commissioning perspective. The design team may design and install piping and valves on paper but when you actually go to site and you look at it, that valve is four meters off the ground and nobody can access it. Nobody can operate that particular valve. But during commissioning, you’re going to need some sort of way to implement that, meaning either a pull chain or an access platform or something.  Those types of things definitely can be best incorporated in the design up front rather than the commissioning team getting to site and realizing there’s no way to operate that particular valve, and maybe even more importantly for operation and maintenance going forward. There’s no way to operate and maintain that valve during the course of the life of the plant, so definitely the commissioning team’s feedback into that front-end engineering design process, the FEED process is certainly valuable to make things easier and cheaper to execute later in the project. Some people may view that as an extra upfront cost, but if those things are added earlier in the project they can save a significant amount of money for the length of the project given the operation and maintenance of the facility. The commissioning team is the first ones to encounter those challenges, so it’s good to get that commissioning feedback early in the process.

Please share about functionality tests & cause & effect.

In your checklist and in your procedures, you have everything defined on what you want to verify, and how you want to go through the commissioning and startup of the facilities. A lot of the functional testing will be defined in your commissioning procedure depending on your specific project. The design team would have designed it to operate in a particular manner, and your commissioning procedure is going to want to execute all operating scenarios to confirm that the system functions per the intended design. That would be defined in your commissioning procedures. When something doesn’t necessarily work, there are a few methods that can be undertaken to troubleshoot. One of those being cause and effect, working through a very formal process of identifying what the issues are, what the potential causes of the issues are and how those are affecting downstream processes.

There are a few different methods to troubleshoot the systems using cause and effect methods, fishbone diagrams, and those are some aspects that we definitely go into more detail in our electrical and mechanical commissioning training. Nothing is better than just getting out in the field, boots on the ground, and troubleshooting the systems to go through a process of elimination to find out what the error is. But regardless of what the client or the owner may want a more detailed documentation process to show what the commissioning team is doing to actually investigate the problem and find the solution. That’s where some of these more formal documented processes may come into play, to document the process that you’re going through, to troubleshoot the issue, cause and effect being one of them and fishbone diagrams. There are a few different methods to go through to produce that formal documentation to report outside the commissioning team of what’s being discovered and what steps are being taken to address the issue.

During the commissioning stage, if there is a construction problem, is it possible that the commissioning team addressing that problem or it must be the construction team responsible?

That’s always a discretionary call when the commissioning team is going through commissioning. You find a rolled wire where the polarity is backwards, and you just need to swap two terminals. You’re probably just going to make that change, and when you’re doing that make sure that the red line drawings are updated to reflect that change. Simple, minor changes like that are just going to happen so that commissioning can proceed. A simple change would take quite a while if the commissioning team needs to step back, put in the paperwork request. The construction team has to mobilize, come and make the change only for a two-minute wire swap. Those types of changes are just going to take place so that commissioning can proceed. On the other hand, if there’s more major problems with the installation, and it’s going to be say half day or day or even weeks to remedy. Of course, that’s something that the commissioning team is likely going to step away from and notify the construction team of the particular issue. More detailed work plans might need to be established on how to actually address the issue, maybe even from a design perspective and how the changes are going to be implemented in the field. So, I would always leave that as a discretionary decision. It’s something you can work out with your construction team to know that if it’s a simple wire swap, and the commissioning team has the screwdriver and can change the lugs on the thermal blocks, do it correctly, no problem. Those skill sets you have on your commissioning team, if you’re working with some of the protection techs or electrical techs, they’re journeyman electrician and they have the tools and ability to make those changes as part of your commissioning team. If it’s a more involved change and the commissioning team doesn’t have the tooling or the skill sets or the authority to do that, then certainly defer that to the construction team. They can get more involved from a planning and implementation perspective. 

Does the commissioning team have to repair the device equipment if there is damage in the field,because not all of the commissioning team understands electrical devices and equipment. Thanks.

Yes, very much! So related to the previous question. It is often that those skill sets will exist on the commissioning team. If you’re working on a large project like the one we just discussed, the commissioning team was fairly large involving all disciplines from engineering to technicians, mechanical techs, electrical techs, operators, there was likely somebody on the commissioning team that had the electrical certificate or whatever was required and the tooling required to make the change on the system. That may not always be the case, if you’re working with a smaller team there may not be that particular individual that has the tooling or has the training and license to be able to make that particular change. Yes, for sure.  You’re definitely going to want to get those groups the commit the construction group or the design group involved in replacing that item particularly. If there is a failed piece of equipment or there is damage, say a forklift backed into a piece of equipment and causes damage kind of unrelated to commissioning, or on first energization there may be certainly more required to replace that device. If it’s a large electrical apparatus, then yes you’re going to have to get some cranes involved and probably hoist it out of there, and you’re going to defer to the construction team. If it’s a small circuit board that fails in a PLC rack, the commissioning team may be able to pull that out, swap it out and replace it with a brand new piece of equipment to continue with commissioning.

What is the most important system in a plant and what part of a system is usually first to energize/commission/test?

Very good question! This can be defined by the commissioning team similar to the sequence that we talked about earlier. In HVDC, with regards to the AC systems being required first, followed by the synchronous condensers, followed by the HVDC. It’s always going to be very dependent on your project often. A lot of the balance of plant systems are required first. If you’ve got the building, all the heating, cooling and lighting systems those are typically required first because that’s the shell or that’s the infrastructure that allows the construction and commissioning team to proceed with further on activities within that building. Some of the support systems are usually the first to energize and commission. If you’re working in Canada, here in particular, in January if it’s minus 40 degrees Celsius out, in the fall time you need to get the building enclosed and the heating up and running so that you can continue working through the winter. In the winter, the days are pretty short, they could get dark at 4: 30 p.m. so you’re going to need some lighting systems to allow the teams to be working through there. So typically, the balance of plant items, the support systems, or auxiliary systems are going to be what’s required to energize commission and test first with regards to the actual process equipment or function of the system. That’s always going to be dependent on your project, so the commissioning team is going to want to look at the overall project and through the process of systematization, determine what systems are required first. Often that’s the electrical distribution system, because power is required for further on testing of downstream systems. Say your project consisted of a chemical dosing system, you’re going to want to have your electrical distribution system in place first before you’re able to commission the chemical dosing system, and the commissioning team going through that process. Defining the system systematization is going to define that sequence of what’s required first and when what’s going to be commissioned and tested first.

In the FAT, the commissioinng team is never involved, only QC and engineering design persons will go.

I can see that in some cases, there seems to be a hesitation to get the commissioning team involved too early. Sometimes, commissioning is an afterthought where the commissioning team is involved later in the process after procurement or after any of the factory acceptance testing has taken place. I discourage this because it is hugely beneficial to have the commissioning team involved in that factory acceptance test process, and I would like to see this happen more often. I know that there’s pressure, there’s cost constraints and resource constraints. It doesn’t have to be the full commissioning team, but if the commissioning manager can be brought on early as well as a few of the critical leads, then those are the ones that can at least participate in the factory acceptance tests to have that knowledge and convey that knowledge to others that join the commissioning team. It may depend on the industry, but I think across all industries it’s hugely beneficial to have the commissioning team involved in the factory acceptance testing. If they’re not, then like you’re suggesting the QC team or the engineering team that did participate in that FAT has to have very good records of what was witnessed, what worked and what didn’t in order to pass those records to the commissioning team to address anything that’s outstanding from a deficiency perspective or learn the equipment, what was working and what wasn’t to hopefully make it work at site. So, yes I strongly encourage the commissioning team to be involved in factory acceptance testing.

When is the mechanical completion of the electrical system being recognized..thus it includes the FAT issues and close out?

Mechanical completion is the point when construction is complete, so it would capture any deficiencies that were outstanding from factory acceptance testing. It would also capture any deficiencies that are outstanding from installation. But the deficiency list still lives and carries on past that point of mechanical completion. Anything that’s discovered during pre-commissioning and commissioning is also added to the deficiency list and categorized as either Type A, Type B or Type C deficiency. The deficiency list is a living document and continues to close out of the project.

Hand over of the project would be the critical milestone for handover to the owner where a bulk of those deficiencies particularly the Type-A and Type-B deficiencies need to be closed out. Later on, towards project closeout the Type-C deficiencies are addressed as well.

In order to achieve successfully the pre-com and start up, do you recommend any kind of life cycle methodology of project management. SCRUM could fit with these stages?

Scrum could fit with these stages possibly, I’ve always found that commissioning is very specific, and it’s hard to shoehorn into a particular process. As soon as you try to process it, then that’s removing some of the thought process or some of that dynamic thinking of the commissioning team where you can’t necessarily fit every situation into a defined process. I’ve worked through several different types of systems, and I’ve never found one that is a perfect fit. It really comes down to the integrity and accountability of the people involved to ensure that issues are being tracked and problems are being solved. That’s really what commissioning is, problem solving. So, when issues are coming up, and they need to be addressed, how is the commissioning team’s ability to think about those problems and troubleshoot in a unique and dynamic manner. There’s really no process or flow chart you could say that – if this problem is encountered, then take this step because you’re always encountering new problems and new challenges. It’s the fun part of commissioning to learn those new problems and challenges and find unique solutions to address those problems so that the project can proceed.

 

How to handle the integration process for a project in which 2 different engineering companies have to be integrated into the electrical and automation system?

Oh, that’s a challenge.  When no single engineering company is responsible to make everything work together, they will always blame the other guy.  Unfortunately, it will fall to the commissioning team to make the two systems work together.

However, to mitigate this, a very detailed interface definition needs to be established so the engineering companies fully understand what they are interfacing with.  This can be challenging as changes are made in the project but the interface control drawings are not kept current.

The commissioning team can help by reviewing each engineering companies drawings and confirming that the interfaces align properly and will work when installed in the field.  A review of automation code can be conducted to confirm the proper signals are being passed between the software packages.

This can definitely be a challenging situation, but can be expected to occur on commissioning projects.

We encountered issues with electrical equipment during SAT which was not captured during FAT. How do you usually address this concern?

It’s unfortunate the issues weren’t encountered during FAT, but still a good thing they were discovered at SAT.

The issues are added to the deficiency list and rectified at the appropriate time.

This can be addressed through lessons learned.  The team should review the FAT procedures to ensure all testing was identified in the documents and to ensure that all testing was completed.  A lessons learned approach will hopefully help the team to ensure a similar error does not occur in the future.  Other FAT plans can be updated to incorporate any lessons learned.

Regardless of the level of testing during FAT, some errors still slip by and are only identified after shipping and installation.  And that is the reason thorough and complete commissioning is required at site.

Can you explain what types of construction punch list are allowed to proceed to the commissioning phase?

There can certainly be punch list items that are added to the deficiency list to be rectified during the commissioning phase.  But there can be no Type-A deficiencies on the deficiency list at mechanical completion.  A Type-A deficiency would be anything that prevents commissioning from proceeding safely and correctly.

Type-B and Type-C deficiencies can remain however, and these would be items that don’t impact safety or function of the equipment, in roder that commissioning can get started.

An example of a Type-B deficiency is a missing light fixture.  The light needs to be installed prior to handover to the owner, but does not impact operation of the equipment.

An example of a Type-C deficiency is a minor paint scratch on the wall.  The contractor may complete a final paint finish at the end of the project.  This doesn’t impact operation of hte equipment and can be completed after handover to the owner once all work in the area is complete.

How do you solve cases where there are systems that have not been inspected but have been energized by the commissioning team?

This is not a good situation to be in and is not a safe practive on site.  Before energizing any new equipment, the commissioning team should be conducting a PSSR to confirm all construction prerequisite are complete including inspections and should not be proceeding with energizing the new equipment unless all prerequisite have been met.

In the case where this has happened, the commissioing team should review what is outstanding and determine if the equipment needs to be shut down.  If the commissioningteam is confident that the equipment can remain energized safely and still conduct the missing inspections, then the equipment can proceed in this state.  However, if critical steps were missed during inspections and the equipment cannot remain energized safely and reliably, it must be de-energized until the necessary checks can be completed.

 

What are the red lines when it comes to the process systems that must be respected in mechanical and electrical systems.

Red lines in this case could refer to one of two things.

Red-line drawings are hte marked up IFC drawings that indicate any changes made to the design or changes during installation in the field.  These red-line markups are important to the commissioning team in order to know the current state of the as-built equipment in the field.

Red lines could also refer to red ropes placed in the field to identify hazards to personnel in the area.  If work is taking place by the construction team or the commissioning team that presents a temporary hazard, the area is enclosed in red rope to make everyone aware of the hazard.  Red ropes cannot be crossed by anyone on site other that the individual that has placed the red ropes or anyone he/she designates as authorized to be in that area.  Crossing a red rope can lead to eviction from site.

 

How would you follow up and check the progress of work with your commissioning team?

As a Commissioning Manager, I like to stay well connected with the team to understand what they are working on and what issues they are encountering.  The commissioning team can be huge, so this can be tough to be aware of what everyone is doing.  I do this by empowering the commissioning leads on the team.  They are responsible for all aspects of the discipline they are leading.  For example, the mechanical commissioning lead is responsible for execution of all mechanical commissioning activities on site, regardless of who has to do the work.  If there is a problem with a mechanical system, the mechanical commissioning lead is repsonsible to oversee execution of the analysis and resolution of the issue.

By doing this, I only need to keep in close contact with the leads on the commissioning team.  The ykeep me aware of any issues they are encountering and the steps to resolve.  I assist at any point requierd by being aware of their issues.

I typically hold a daily Plan of Day (POD) meeting with the commissioning team, and an end of day meeting with the commissioning team, to review any issues encountered and steps to resolve.  The daily meetings account for hte day-to-day activities and planning for the next few days of commissioning.

I will also hold a weekly commissioning meeting.  This is to discuss the longer rtange plans of what systems need to be commissionined in what order in order to bring the systems online.

With this set of discussions, I am able to follow the progress and keep the team aligned on priorities.

 

How would you deal with problems that might come across while carrying out the system commissioning? / and at startup as well?

This will always be project dependent.  When issues are encountered, it is best to keep all stakeholder aware of what the issue is and what is being done to address the issue.  With good communication channels, the commissioning team can be allowed the time required to troubleshoot the issue and find a resolution.

Issues in the field are best solved by boots on the ground going through a process of elimination to find hte issue.  Experience commissioning engineers will know where to look for issues and start ruling each out until the root cause is determined.

Larger issues may require a more formal method, such as a root cause analysis, fishbone diagram, or other formal docuemnts that are required to convey the issue to stakeholders on the project.

Once a solution is determined, this can be proposed to all stakeholders for buy-in on how to address the problem.

 

 

Please, join our next webinar. We’re happy to answer questions like these, there has been fantastic questions, and I love this process to answer your questions. So, keep them coming, and I’ll see how I can help you out.

Please watch the video replay of the weinar.