Emerson to Automate New Zealand’s First Large-Scale Solar Project

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Technology and software conglomerate Emerson will provide advanced automation solutions to help ensure the safety and reliability of New Zealand’s first large-scale solar PV power project. Emerson said that its renewable power generation expertise will help solar energy company Lodestone Energy quickly and safely complete its two 23 MW sites at Kaitaia and Edgecumbe.

The projects are expected to help New Zealand achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

Emerson said that its advanced automation architecture will combine powerful control software and technologies with enterprise data solutions to create an integrated, scalable control solution to maximize output and profitability while simultaneously contributing to grid stability.

Peter Apperley, General Manager at Lodestone Energy, said, “Emerson’s expertise in automation software for power generation and sustainability will help us more quickly build a world-class facility, while also more seamlessly integrating with the national grid to drive successful, efficient operation over the lifecycle of the plant.”

Lodestone will take advantage of Ovation distributed control system and new OCR3000 controller of Emerson to provide comprehensive control to minimize the impact of variability and intermittency in solar PV power generation. The same technologies will also make it easier for operators to quickly respond to grid frequency events besides helping in monitoring of solar PV operations from the control room or mobile devices, measuring, monitoring and reporting key performance indicators to increase visibility of plant operations.

Bob Yeager, President of power and water business, Emerson, said, “Lodestone’s strategy perfectly aligns with Emerson’s boundless automation vision of an advanced technology stack leveraging integrated, scalable control to provide access to critical data not only across the plant and industrial edge, but also throughout the enterprise.”

Lodestone’s solar PV project requires multiple interfaces to third-party systems, including inverters, high voltage switchboards, weather stations, site security systems and grid authority remote terminal units. Ovation will act as a process orchestration tool to seamlessly connect these devices to provide fast and intuitive visibility for operators.

In addition to providing flexibility and visibility of operations, Emerson technology is ideally suited to support compliance with New Zealand’s energy participation code.

A month ago, Lightsource bp and Contact Energy collaborated to develop 150 MW of solar PV project in New Zealand.

The solar energy development is at nascent stage in New Zealand. As of December 2022, New Zealand had 255 MW of grid-connected solar power installed.