Upgrading FactoryTalk SCADA to Maintain Energy Operations at an LACSD Facility

The Warren Facility supports one of the largest wastewater treatment plants in the world, generating 21 to 22 megawatts of electricity for on-site use. The Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts (LACSD) used FactoryTalk View SE version 7 to monitor and control systems related to energy generation. As FactoryTalk version 7 approached end of life, LACSD needed to migrate the SCADA system before vendor support ended, keep all functionality, and minimize disruption to ongoing operations.

Tetra Tech developed and executed a multistage FactoryTalk upgrade that preserved the operator experience. We collaborated with Rockwell Automation to define the upgrade procedure, run trial upgrades, and document the process prior to deployment. Our team implemented an intermediate upgrade from FactoryTalk version 7 to 10, upgraded Warren Facility’s operating system to Windows 10 to ensure compatibility, and then advanced the system to version 12.

Our engineers installed new HP servers and client workstations, configured VMware ESXi as the hypervisor, selected VMware vCenter to manage ESXi hosts and virtual machines, and virtualized the HMI servers. This virtualization architecture introduced redundancy and reduced downtime risk by enabling replicated backup operation during failure scenarios. Our Rockwell specialists aligned the FactoryTalk installation with the integration of servers and clients into LACSD’s domain.

One week before deployment, LACSD delivered a final backup of the existing FactoryTalk configuration. Our team restored the backup to the new HMI server hardware, verified the upgrade using Rockwell Automation tools, and executed a site acceptance test with LACSD operators to confirm that graphics and the end-user experience remained unchanged. The upgrade addressed security vulnerabilities associated with outdated software and reinforced long-term operational integrity.