This paper presents an approach to the monitoring one of the most critical elements of plant functioning within an electricity power station. It centres on research aimed at improving the efficient operation of the condenser stage of the generation cycle. This utilises the process optimisation data supplied by the condenser manufacturer in combination with the control signals issued by the programmable logic controller to manage the plant. The condenser performance data is transformed into an embedded algorithm and the PLC data is made available via the SCADA interface. The approach demonstrates how knowledge-based management systems can be engineered by utilizing the readily available SCADA functionality.