| Situation: A $1.13 billion automation
and substation construction project at Hydro-Québec’s
Beauharnois Power Plant was designed using traditional
IT approaches. Based on all standard study and design
practices, this meant using computer screens to replace
a 60-foot control panel that was the primary interface
between operators and one of the world’s most
complex arrays of high-voltage generating equipment
putting out 11.7 billion kilowatt hours per year.
The project stalled halfway through the changeover
when operators raised safety concerns over losing
visibility of critical information with the new system.
Just one missed indicator could result in millions
of dollars of damage to the power station and hundreds
of millions of dollars in lost revenue for Hydro Quebec.
Unable to resolve the implementation problems, Hydro
Quebec called in the Cognitive Group to determine
what could be done to resume the project.
Solution: We conducted a comprehensive
cognitive ergonomics and task analysis at the operator
level – the first time such an exercise had
been conducted during the automation design process.
“I had never spent before that kind of
time in a control room actually watching them work.
I had met them in meetings, and that was the way it
was done – I didn't know it could have been
done,” said André Gascon,
the Hydro-Québec official in charge of development
of the control room automation system.
“Up until then, we didn't have the right questions
and we didn't get the right information. The cognitive
approach to engineering filled a real void.”
We recommended and designed a new control panel which
integrated with the complete automation project and
met all the visibility, safety and decision-making
needs of the operators.
The project is now completed.
For more details, see
full article (PDF)
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