Advanced Heat Rate Monitoring Software Helps Power Generators Stay Competitive

The way power generators are approaching heat rate is changing greatly. Consider these accelerating market dynamics: fluctuating fuel prices, government regulations regarding emissions, and the growth of energy markets with variable demand. All have forced power generation companies to operate more flexibly — and flexibility requires a deep understanding of heat rate dynamics to maximize economic returns.

New grid dynamics to achieve greener energy often have operators running at part load, spinning reserves, and burning more fuel, increasing the heat rate. For combined cycle plants running at baseload, given the large amount of capacity, a small reduction in heat rate can make a significant difference in fuel spend and reduction in carbon emissions. Since fuel is one of your highest costs, improving heat rate can be critical to your financial success.

GE Vernova’s Performance Intelligence software, part of our  Asset Performance Management (APM) suite, has been adapted to part load operation with updated data and advanced models built by GE Vernova Performance Engineers. In the past, it was easy to miss a performance issue at part load because plant teams were still able to make power without realizing that they were burning excess fuel to get there. 

With Performance Intelligence advanced physics-based models, one GE Vernova customer found issues during part load operation that gave them 10MW of generation back before they returned to full load operation. This discrepancy would have been a significant shortfall if they were counting on making that capacity.

Advances in sensor technology, data collection systems, and well-instrumented modern equipment have enabled power generators to monitor their plants in real-time. This means, using a solution like Performance Intelligence, you can now continuously assess the heat rate performance and have improved visibility to both long-term trends and alerts for significant changes. With all the necessary diagnostic context, plant managers can time O&M improvements better to maintain optimal performance.

The availability and speed of advanced analytics have made it possible to detect equipment failures and issues that can negatively affect heat rate. With improved analytics comes increased visibility and faster detection. To empower plant teams to use the data effectively, the software takes it a step further by automating alerts and recommending actions based on plant financials.

The core engine of Performance Intelligence consists of physics-based models that are tailored to match a plant's specific configuration. These models run at the backend and continuously calculate real-time performance indicators. Through the different features and applications within the software, plant managers and performance engineers can access both summarized and detailed insights into the thermal performance of the plant.

Performance Intelligence allows you to:

• Conduct regular reviews, whether daily, weekly, or monthly, to gain an understanding of the plant's current capabilities and trends over time.
• Strategically plan proactive maintenance actions to optimize heat rate and operate the plant at higher efficiency.
• Get visibility into critical information ranging from fleet-level metrics like heat rate, power generation, and fuel consumption all the way down to detailed equipment-level performance parameters such as turbine efficiency and heat exchanger effectiveness.

For steam turbine and heat recovery steam generators (HRSG), Performance Intelligence drills down to sectional indicators such as high pressure (HP), intermediate pressure (IP), and low pressure (LP) efficiencies for issue detection and resolution.

The Performance Dashboard feature offers performance summaries for all covered equipment under different operating conditions, ensuring consistent performance monitoring throughout the plant. The Thermal Performance tool provides valuable insights into equipment degradation trends over time. A predefined set of trends highlights the equipment with the most significant impact on heat rate, and all this information can be utilized to promptly identify issues and focus maintenance efforts on the most degraded asset. 

For example, if the condenser shows the highest level of degradation, the performance engineer can analyze various factors such as the condenser's inlet and outlet conditions, condenser effectiveness, and vacuum levels to obtain data-driven insights. Subsequently, the maintenance team can plan to inspect the condenser for potential leakages, air ingress, or scaling issues and take necessary actions during the scheduled downtime. 

Performance Intelligence is accessible from the APM dashboard. For power generators already using GE Vernova’s Reliability Plus, you can receive performance alerts just like you do SmartSignal alerts. With the APM Reliability suite, you can reduce unplanned downtime with early detection and prevention, while simultaneously optimizing plant performance to reduce heat rate. In some instances, the combined insights will point to the same root cause, enabling you to troubleshoot faster.

The capital expenditure required for a hardware upgrade is not always feasible, or perhaps it might be in the plans but several years away. So, software can help reduce heat rate quickly with a smaller investment.

Even operators that have recently upgraded plant hardware can amplify that investment by adding Performance Intelligence software. For example, a GE Vernova customer using Performance Intelligence identified that they hadn’t been maintaining the best temperature setting to turn on their inlet chiller after they made other changes at the plant over time. Missing a few degrees of adjustment on thermal assets can add up to a real difference in a plant’s financial year.

Using performance monitoring software can also help plants transition from time-based to condition-based maintenance. In one case, during implementation, GE Vernova project managers observed that a site’s maintenance strategy was to replace filters and perform water washing only once a year during planned outages, regardless of the condition of the filters or the degree of compressor fouling. The software’s Offline Water Wash Advisor recommended an earlier water wash based on the degree of compressor fouling. After proceeding with water washing as recommended by the tool, the customer achieved recovery both in terms of MW and heat rate.

By operationalizing your plant’s heat rate management with GE Vernova software, your organization can reduce heat rate by up to 1% in 12 months from deployment.

Watch a recent webinar with POWER Magazine that discusses heat rate management in detail.

Experience an interactive demo of APM Performance Intelligence with Reliability to learn more.