Upgrading controls at PG&E’s McDonald Island compressor station

Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), a utility providing natural gas and electric service to about 16 million people in northern and central California, needed to get better results from the control system at its McDonald Island compressor station near Stockton CA.

Working as the project engineer, Verus carried out the following major phases: site verification, engineering/design, programming, installation support, and commissioning. The purpose of the site verification phase was to verify the accuracy of drawings by inspecting the existing system and learn about issues with the existing system by interviewing the operators. During the engineering/design phase, the specifications were reviewed with the client, control panel design was completed, and an electrical installation design package for was developed. The programming phase started with documenting the existing control system functionality, then reviewing the conversion of the existing program to an object-oriented structure, developing the new PLC and HMI programs, and finally a comprehensive acceptance test was conducted against the design criteria. The installation support phase included having an engineer onsite to aid the construction team with interpreting drawings, supporting the organization of construction activities, and performing inspections. The final phase, commissioning of the project was an extensive program to test all field wiring, conduct functional tests on equipment, complete operational tests of the complete system, and verify notifications to Gas Control.

PG&E received full support from qualified professionals at Verus, who were able to support a smooth and safe upgrade of this part of the utility’s network.