"Matrikon OPC Tunneller was literally Plug and Play. Once we installed it and followed the simple configuration instructions, we haven't had to touch it. Since it was installed, Matrikon OPC Tunneller has been pretty much transparent."
Simon van der Aa, Control Systems Engineer with Hydro Tasmania Consulting
King Island is located in Bass Strait, between Tasmania and Victoria in the Southeast of Australia. As part of the KIREX Renewable Energy Expansion project, Hydro Tasmania installed two Vestas wind turbines to complement the existing wind/diesel power station, using the services of Vestas (turbine supplier) and Hydro Tasmania Consulting (designer). The power station is load controlled and is fully automatic. It is controlled by an Allen Bradley PLC control system, with an RSView operator interface. Part of the installation of the new wind turbines was Vestas' proprietary control system, Vestas Online. This package allows remote control of small and large wind farms from a central control point, with control, monitoring and historical functions. Internally, all communications between the Vestas Server and the turbines is performed using OPC. RSLinx has the capacity to act as an RSLinx OPC server, so OPC was chosen as the link between the Vestas Server and the Station Controller.
Although the two networks were physically connected, it was not possible to logically link the two systems due to domain and DCOM issues. After some good experiences with MatrikonOPC Explorer<