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
At the 2026 Mill Operators Conference, many sites told Mipac their leadership wants advanced process control and AI. Our first question was about their base layer: reliable instrumentation, well-performing PID loops and trustworthy operational data. Without those foundations, APC performance deteriorates, operators lose confidence, and systems get switched off.
Brisbane engineer John Robinson, who joined Mipac in 2022, has been promoted to Senior Control Systems Engineer. Supporting automation work at a mine site in Canada’s Elk Valley, often on his own and in temperatures as low as minus 40, proved he could solve problems independently on client sites. He talks about who helped him progress and what changes in the senior role.
MPA is continually updated based on feedback from users in the field. Check back here for the latest releases, new features and improvements that help mineral processing teams monitor plant performance, detect deviations sooner and respond with confidence.