Emerson nets $95m contract at Europe's largest thermal power plant
2 Feb 2011
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - Poland’s largest electricity company Polska Grupa Energetyczna (PGE) has awarded Emerson Process Management a $95 million contract to modernise units 7 through 12 of its Belchatow Power station.
Emerson will serve as both the main automation contractor and main electrical contractor, responsible for updating the instrumentation, control and electrical subsystems.
The Belchatow plant is the largest thermal power plant in Europe and the largest lignite-fired plant in the world. It currently houses 12 370MW units, with a new unit to be completed in April 2011 that will provide an additional 858MW of capacity.
The contract awarded to Emerson is part of a major reconstruction and modernization program that will increase the lifespan of the existing units, improve performance, increase availability and reduce environmental impact.
Under previous contracts Emerson updated units 3 and 4, which helped PGE improve overall operating efficiency by two percent, and is currently modernising units 5 and 6.
The new project will extend expected life for each of the six units to a total of 320,000 hours of operation, and will contribute to emissions reductions, with CO2 falling below 111 ppm (200 mg/m³) and NOx below 106 ppm (200 mg/m³) from each unit.
Modernisation of the instrumentation and control systems, including turbine vibration monitoring, will also improve reliability of the units, helping the plant maintain 99.5 per cent availability and enabling PGE to meet the growing demands of the Polish power market.
As the main automation and electrical contractor, Emerson will design, install and commission its PlantWeb. digital plant architecture with the Ovation expert control system. It will also carry out upgrade services on the units’ electrical subsystems, such as the generator, transformers, feeder ducts and switchgear.
The Ovation system will monitor and control each unit’s boiler and balance-of-plant processes and equipment, as well as the 0.4kV and 6kV electrical switchgear and unit power output. In addition, it will interface with the turbine controls and electrical protection systems of each unit.
The system will oversee automatic unit start-up/shutdown and automatic unit operation within the full range of load changes. Emerson will also modernize the electro-hydraulic controls, including digital controller, of the turbine driven feed-water pump.
As part of the PlantWeb digital architecture, Emerson will also install a full range of instrumentation, including its Rosemount® measurement and analytical equipment.
Using open standard IEC 62591 WirelessHART technology, an Emerson Smart Wireless network will connect Rosemount wireless temperature transmitters that will monitor boiler temperatures on each unit.
HART communications protocol will also enable PGE to access the predictive intelligence of the field devices through Emerson’s AMS Suite predictive maintenance software, which will help optimize plant performance, improve maintenance, and avoid unplanned downtime.
Meanwhile, Emerson’s Scenario simulation technology will be used to train PGE operators to run the updated units. The Emerson high-fidelity simulator will be configured using thermodynamic models of the units, providing a realistic training environment.
