FQM Cobre Panama
Power Station Control System Integration, Commissioning Startup and Synchronisation
- Paco Plant, Cobre Panama Power Station
- I/O Count - 17,000
- Emerson Ovatio, Allen-Bradley PLCs
The Paco plant is a 300MW coal-fired power station with seawater cooling, consisting of 2 x 150MW turbines. This plant will provide base load to the Panamanian national grid and supply the Cobre Panama mine and mineral processing plant.
The site is 120km west of Panama City, remote from local support and presenting challenging logistics as well as climatic conditions. The site has required development of access, full port facilities, coal handling, and complete power station construction along with local camp, administration and warehousing.
Project scope
- Control System integration on site
- Construction support
- Control System Commissioning
- Power Station Startup
- National grid synchronisation
- Control System Support
Project highlights
- Mipac’s project team has interfaced across vendors, EPCM and construction organisations in this challenging location to integrate the control system to achieve commissioning, power station startup and synchronisation and delivery of power to the National grid
- First power from set 1 through to stable continuous 75MW production
- Operational support and production development continues for set 1
- Commissioning, startup and first power continues for set 2
Discover more of Mipac's projects
Built to adapt, designed to perform With every update, MPA enhances how minerals processing operations monitor plant process, detect deviations, and respond. …
Production opportunity losses occur when a plant is running but consistently below achievable throughput, recovery or product quality. Unlike downtime, these losses rarely trigger escalation, yet their cumulative metal impact is significant. This article explains how to define, detect and quantify opportunity losses, and how tools like Production Monitor provide real time visibility to recover hidden operational value.
The Mining, Minerals and Metals sector enters 2026 with rising gold prices, tight copper supply, shifting battery metal dynamics and tougher regulatory standards. This outlook explains the macro forces shaping the year ahead, including why gold surged to record levels in 2025, how cost inflation is reshaping margins, and what miners must prioritise to stay competitive in a more complex operating environment.