PROJECT TITLE:
UNSW Energy Management and Control System
CLIENT:
University of NSW
Overview:
The University of New South Wales is one of Australia’s leading research and teaching universities. Established in 1949, UNSW has expanded rapidly and now has close to 40,000 students, including more than 7000 international students from over 130 different countries The main UNSW campus is located on a 38-hectare site at Kensington, seven kilometres from the centre of Sydney. This site has in excess of 80 permanent buildings.
The Challenge:
UNSW has identified environmental sustainability as one of its strategic priorities. The University has undertaken several initiatives aimed at making the UNSW campus the greenest in Australia. As part of this program the university desired to ascertain its power gas and water usage in a centralised, easily accessible manner.
The Solution:
UNSW has installed an Energy Management and Control System (EMACS). The EMACS provides the UNSW Facilities Management with a modern computerised platform that automatically monitors and records real-time electrical power, gas and water consumption data across the entire campus. The EMACS runs on the CitectSCADA platform, and the system interfaces to 287 power, 66 gas and 153 water meters via a modern open architecture data communication platform. The system is highly fixable, hardware-independent and scalable for further development. In addition, it integrates with a SQL database to give users further options to manage and manipulate the recorded data. With easy access to historical trends and alarm data, the Facilities Management staff are able to analysis various performance data using the tools and reports provided by the EMACS.
EMACS provides users a web-based remote access via a standard internet browser. This enables users with the correct security permission to view the data from anywhere convenient. PROVECTA has supported and assisted UNSW in maintaining the system for over 5 years, and continues to provide engineering services to the UNSW to ensure the continued operation of their EMACS. PROVECTA is working with UNSW in their effort to further develop and improve the EMACS to ensure the system is adaptable to the university’s on-going expansion and changing requirements.
