MULTI-YEAR ROADMAP THAT PROVIDES VERY SPECIFIC PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT OPPORTUNITIES
01 February 2007 - Emerson Process Management

Although each unit or plant must be evaluated individually, the performance improvements achieved by one utility are indicative of the increased efficiencies and savings that are possible. Based on implementation of Emerson's “Partnering for Power” recommendations, this particular utility realized several efficiency and operational improvements at four coal-fired generating units located at three different plant sites (total of 2,100 megawatts). These include: a 3.1 percent improvement in heat rate, for annual savings of $4.5 million, and a 279,000-ton yearly reduction of carbon dioxide emissions; a 20-megawatt/minute improvement in ramping capability for enhanced operational flexibility; and an average 7.5-hour reduction in startup time, for a savings of more than $26,000 per start.

According to Bob Yeager, president, Power & Water Solutions division of Emerson Process Management, thorough analyses result in a detailed roadmap that provides very specific performance improvement opportunities that are prioritized based on expected return on investment.

"Unlike other consultants who may promise unattainable, ‘pie-in-the-sky' results, our decades of experience in automation for the power generation industry gives us the insight to know exactly what improvements are achievable and how they can best be achieved,” said Yeager. “With our unmatched combination of power generation expertise, industry-leading automation technologies and assessment methodologies, utilities can feel confident that only Emerson can provide a comprehensive multi-year roadmap for reaching optimum operation while achieving economic objectives.”

The “Partnering for Power” approach is flexible, enabling Emerson to customize its proven methodology based on a utility's unique needs. In addition to identifying improvement opportunities at the unit or plant level, Emerson can conduct fleet analysis to evaluate improved revenue opportunities across a fleet of plants, for exponentially greater savings. Fleet optimization is particularly timely, given the changing landscape of power generation. For example, with Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator fully operating this year, and other ISOs, such as Pennsylvania, Jersey, Maryland, extending their markets to new players, many utilities are being challenged to reevaluate their unit operations and dispatching strategies to take advantage of these new market scenarios.

Emerson has been working with several prominent utilities to analyze the dynamics of leading ISO markets and evaluate alternative operational strategies that maximize revenue potential within these markets. In the case of the PJM ISO, for example, Emerson concluded for one major utility that their improvement investments could provide a three-to-five times greater return if they were focused on implementing AGC (automatic generation control). Having AGC capabilities could result in $3.4 million of additional annual revenue through regulation market participation, instead of the lower value, slower payback improvement projects that were being considered for investment.

For another utility, Emerson determined that a relatively small investment in optimization software running across a fleet of 30 plants would result in decreased NOx emissions, heat rate improvement, reduced boiler tube failures and improved fleet dispatch, translating into savings of more than $12 million per year.

A Continuous Improvement Roadmap
In “Partnering for Power,” Emerson utilizes plant automation and performance evaluations, before and after benchmarking, and fleet analysis to identify targets for improvement, such as availability, reliability, efficiency/heat rate, emissions, stability, maneuverability, fleet dispatch, ancillary services, O&M costs and staffing.

As part of the evaluations and benchmarking, Emerson develops a snapshot of a unit's or plant's current operational effectiveness. As part of the detailed assessment, Emerson power generation experts perform a plant walk-down where they look at a variety of Key Performance Indicators to obtain an objective look at plant operations and compare its current operational practices to industry averages for similar U.S. plants. Typical factors evaluated include:

Unit Performance: including key performance indicators such as availability and maneuverability, heat rate, emissions and startup

Operator Effectiveness: including operator culture, automated operator guidance and alarm management strategies

Information Management: including information accessibility, systems integration, and use of performance calculations and historian data

Application Design Philosophies: including control logic design, automated sequencing, safety shutdown, lock-out / tag-out and third-party device interface

Application of Advanced Control and Optimization Software: including predictive intelligence, adaptive self-tuning and process optimization

Field Equipment: including instrumentation, drives, valves and asset management

Maintenance Practices: including spare parts inventory management, predictive maintenance tools and practices, system security, documentation control and troubleshooting tools
"By focusing on process, technology and human factors that are limiting plant performance, Emerson is able to uncover the real problems, define and prioritize specific improvement initiatives and develop a continuous improvement roadmap to help meet strategic objectives,” explained Yeager, who added that based on tremendous success achieved by utilities in the U.S., Emerson is in the process of rolling out its “Partnering for Power” methodology in Europe and Asia.

http://www.emersonprocess.com

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