Transforming Hydro Operations: Salt River Project’s Fleet Modernization

Emerson’s Integrated Ovation Automation Platform Improves Operations, Reduces Maintenance Time & Costs

The Salt River Project (SRP) recently confronted this challenge while modernizing four hydroelectric facilities—some more than 100 years old—without disrupting operations in one of the nation’s fastest growing regions. Rapid load growth and prolonged extreme heat in the Phoenix area intensified the need to improve unit reliability, enhance operational visibility, and reduce maintenance burdens tied to outdated control technologies.growing regions. Rapid load growth and prolonged extreme heat in the Phoenix area intensified the need to improve unit reliability, enhance operational visibility, and reduce maintenance burdens tied to outdated control technologies.

A central—and transformative—element of SRP’s modernization was the implementation of new, fully digital excitation systems across the hydro fleet. The legacy exciters had become a persistent source of troubleshooting, reliability issues, and operational inefficiency. Replacing these aging systems not only eliminated frequent failure points but also provided SRP with greatly improved control accuracy, protection capabilities, and real time diagnostic visibility.time diagnostic visibility.

By standardizing both excitation and plant controls on the Ovation™ Automation Platform, SRP achieved measurable performance improvements—including a 30% reduction in O&M costs and substantial decrease in troubleshooting time—directly driven by the capabilities of the new excitation systems.

This presentation will delve into how SRP executed this fleet wide transition, why outdated excitation and control systems pose serious risks to power generation output, and how modern excitation technology enables hydropower assets to operate more efficiently, reliably, and safely.

Attendees will gain practical insight into the technical, operational, and organizational decisions behind SRP’s move to next generation exciters, along with lessons learned from the real-world deployment of unified automation and modern excitation control across an aging hydro fleet.generation exciters, along with lessons learned from the realworld deployment of unified automation and modern excitation control across an aging hydro fleet.generation exciters, along with lessons learned from the realworld deployment of unified automation and modern excitation control across an aging hydro fleet.

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