Industrial SCADA Engineering: How-To Guide with Two Sample Designs

Two complete SCADA engineering use cases for power generation facilities, worked from project initiation to final closeout.

Part I follows the Northgate 650 MW Combined-Cycle Gas Turbine plant through all seventeen phases of the SCADA engineering workflow — Control Philosophy, Requirements Gathering, Functional Requirements, Architecture Design, OT Network Design, Cybersecurity Engineering, PLC Design, I/O Database Development, Alarm Management, HMI Design, Historian Configuration, Third-Party Integration, Factory Acceptance Testing, Site Acceptance Testing, Commissioning, Turnover Documentation, and Project Closeout. The facility is a NERC CIP high-impact site integrating AVEVA System Platform 2023 R2, Rockwell Automation ControlLogix 5580, GE Mark VIe turbine controllers, IEC 61850 substation protection, and a 12,450-point I/O database.

Part II follows the Cascade Falls 180 MW run-of-river Hydroelectric Generating Station through the same seventeen phases, showing how FERC Part 12 dam safety requirements, NERC CIP medium-impact classification, Voith Hydro governor integration, and an 8,800-point I/O database drive different design decisions from the same workflow.

The 51 engineering drawings embedded throughout — architecture diagrams, network topologies, IEC 62443 zone and conduit models, PLC panel layouts, loop diagrams, alarm rationalization charts, and HMI navigation hierarchies — are the primary learning vehicle. Each represents a real project deliverable. Applied standards include ISA-5.1, ISA-18.2, ISA-101, IEC 62443, IEC 61850, NERC CIP, NFPA 70, NFPA 86, IEEE 485, and FERC Part 12.