Rapid response restores fire-hit power plant
12 Dec 2012
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania — Korea Midland Power Co. (KOMIPO) of South Korea faced serious problems when a fire broke out at the Boryeong Thermal Power Plant - an eight-unit, 4,000-MW power plant that generates 8% of the country’s electricity.
The fire on 15 March hit a 500-MW unit (unit 1) at the plant, which stopped generating electricity, cutting into capacity that was already reduced due to a maintenance outage on unit 2.
To help get the units up and running in time to meet the summer months’ increased electricity demand, owner and operator KOMIPO engaged Emerson to replace the controls.
Under a contract, awarded on 10 April, Emerson began working with KOMIPO to develop a rapid response plan that would return the units to service in the desired timeframe. The project centred on replacing the damaged control system, and extending its reach to other parts of the plant.
The automation vendor assembled an emergency team to begin an engineering, implementation and testing effort to recover the original system configurations, and apply its Ovation system to applications previously utilising other controls.
“Because several units at our Boryeong plant utilise Emerson’s Ovation controls, we already knew the capabilities of this system,” said Yujin Park, engineer, KOMIPO.
The project team worked 12-plus-hour shifts for 60 consecutive days to replace the controls that directly control each unit’s boiler and turbine, as well as balance of plant equipment and processes.
In doing so, Emerson said it helped KOMIPO to minimise losses and return the units to service less than four months after the fire and five days earlier than the original target date, alleviating concerns about a potential summer power shortage in the region.
With a single control platform, KOMIPO will have tighter overall control of plant operations and a clearer view of key plant and turbine parameters, the vendor added.
