How to Maximize Thermal Power Plant Performance Using Digital Software

A 25MW shortfall that could have been prevented – a nightmare only power generators can fully appreciate. When a 600 MW combined cycle (CC) power plant experienced this operational shortfall, the impact was substantial. With seasonal demand changes and more renewable assets coming online, CC power plants find they’re operating more frequently below baseload. When operating at part load, it can be very difficult to detect performance degradation.

In this case, with no alerts in place for part load performance losses, the site did not detect the equipment degradation occurring. When summer rolled around and they were dispatched to baseload, they were unable to make their commitment to the grid, falling short by 25MW. This shortfall wasn’t detected at part load because the plant could burn more fuel and still meet demand. In addition to the significant cost of the 25MW shortfall, they lost approximately $1 million in operational efficiency while they had operated in an undetected degraded state at part load.

Urgent action needed to reliably meet energy commitments

Around the globe we see ambitious goals to increase use of renewable energy by 2030. Energy transition renewable targets vary by country. For example, by 2030 the European Union has a goal of 42.5%[1] of electricity from renewable energy sources, the United States 80%[2], and India 50%[3].

Why it matters

When renewable energy sources are not producing enough electricity, fast-reacting fossil fuel plants can fill the renewable supply and electricity demand gap. Without advanced digital technology to detect the impact of flexible operations on performance and reliability, power utilities likely will experience more unplanned outages, along with increased fuel consumption and therefore, emissions.

“Energy must be produced in the most efficient process possible, but that cannot be achieved without tools that provide real-time visibility into asset degradation and possess the analytics and intelligence to make the necessary improvements that ensure the most optimized asset performance,” said Craig Resnick, Vice President, ARC Advisory in a press release for Performance Intelligence new Carbon Advice & Insights feature.

Power utilities that leverage technology to improve performance and reliability will reduce unplanned downtime, fuel, and emissions. Additionally, they increase chances of remaining competitive.

As a new frontier of analytics emerges, the software capabilities move away from slow, prone to error processes, to fast, reliable, and predictive processes.  By improving overall plant performance with next generation software built to handle the energy transition, a power utility can empower plant teams to reduce overall spend and reliably meet commitments with lower emissions.

1. Optimization: Performance software can help optimize the operation of thermal power plants by analyzing sensor data and identifying opportunities to improve efficiency and reduce costs. Thermal performance monitoring is a fast and economical way to reduce carbon emissions. For example, the software can help identify areas where the plant is using more energy than necessary and suggest adjustments to reduce equipment degradation issues. GE Digital offers Plant Performance Intelligence with Reliability, which uses advanced digital twin capabilities to analyze performance degradation and recoveries across the plant system. By using these performance trends, as well as expected recoveries based on historical performance, it improves visibility and therefore, overall productivity and efficiency.
    

• How  plant performance software works:  Physics-based digital twins use output and heat rate performance to compare how the plant should be performing to how it is actually performing.  Performance degradation and recoveries ae monitored across the entire thermal generation system. These performance trends, as well as expected recoveries based on historical performance, provide visibility to areas hard to detect manually or with outdated software. What’s new is the ability to provide insights across the load profile to improve starts or detect issues at part load for example, to give performance alerts with actionable recommendations, and to provide economically optimized maintenance advice.
   
• See APM Performance Intelligence in action: In one case, a global energy company CC plant was operating at part load for an extended amount of time. Performance Intelligence identified significant shortfall in baseload output of one gas turbine during part load operation of greater than 10MW. The recommendations provided by the plant performance software enabled plant personnel to determine the root cause issue as fouling and combustion tuning. They were able to take corrective actions and recover heat rate and output before baseload operation was required.

2. Predictive Maintenance: Asset Performance Management  (APM) software helps by monitoring the condition of equipment and identifying potential problems before they become serious. This helps to prevent unscheduled downtime and reduce maintenance costs. GE Digital’s SmartSignal is used by electric utilities worldwide to prevent unplanned downtime. What’s newer is the integration with APM Reliability & Performance Intelligence for entire plant optimization and predictive maintenance.
    
   • How predictive maintenance software works: With a catalog of over 330 digital twin Accelerators developed using both OEM and non-OEM assets, plant teams can harness deep domain knowledge and bring the value of software to life instantly and ensure meeting future dispatches. Through a combination of predictive analytics and these continuously learning models, early detection of pending issues for plant components and equipment is achieved. This in turn allows for the assets to run as reliably as they can by using the data sets specifically to those assets as opposed to generic AI/ML.
      
   • See APM Reliability powered by SmartSignal in action: Dorad Energy saw an estimated $4M in saving in less than four years using predictive analytics. The company has become one of the most reliable independent power producers (IPP) by implementing GE Digital’s APM Reliability software for their reliability strategy. They developed a monitoring system using APM Reliability to cover 28 assets of the power plant, including 12 GE LM6000 aeroderivative gas turbines, two Doosan-Skoda steam turbines, and 14 Brush generators. Rather than chase failures, the system’s early detection and weekly Industrial Managed Services (IMS) calls allow Dorad Energy to address small issues before they become obstacles to production. Learn more: Dorad Energy maintains reliability through initial energy transition change

3. Emission Reduction & Compliance: Optimizing performance with software can be a fast and economical way to significantly reduce emissions.  Also, software to monitor emissions helps companies ensure they are operating within regulatory limits and help to avoid fines and other penalties for noncompliance. Visibility to fleet-wide view of equipment degradation issues also provides ability to know which assets to deploy. 
    
   • How software with emissions insights works:  Performance Intelligence uses actual fuel composition and gas turbine configurations, enabling a more accurate calculation of CO2 tonnage versus traditional statistical estimations. Carbon Data Insights enable plant operators to monitor and report both daily real-time production and cumulative calculations of their emissions.  In order to continuously improve emissions, insights and recommendations for CO2 reduction or improvement capabilities are included. The results can be used as a financial input for maintenance ROI calculations. This allows the user to make decisions based on fuel cost reduction, capacity improvements, as well as CO2 as an operating cost.
      
   • See Performance Intelligence in action: Performance Intelligence revealed that a utility in the Middle East was at lower capacity than entitlement. The advisor recommended optimal timing for offline water wash cleanings to run more efficiently, burn less fuel, and therefore, produce lower emissions. The software also provided additional performance shortfalls across the plant equipment that were causing degradation in heat rate and capacity, which had a corresponding impact of CO2 production as well. The plant team analyzed set point impacts, followed the recommendations, and achieved the highest plant capacity recorded.

Overall, thermal power plant optimization and performance software can provide thermal power plants with a wealth of analytics and insights that lead to improved performance and profitability. This can only happen, however, with software designed for the energy transition challenges that provides real-time alerts and recommendations to correct degradation issues and predictive analytics to avoid critical failures before they happen.

Optimization with a thermal advisory solution is a fast and economical strategy to help reduce fuel and emissions. Physics-based digital twins enable performance and recovery across the plant equipment to improve efficiency and help reduce CO2 emissions. Predictive maintenance improves not only productivity, but also can save millions in avoided expenses. Most importantly, it can reduce unplanned downtime.