Best Practices

For gas-turbine-plant owner/operators, Highview Power Storage Inc’s grid-scale storage system at least looks and acts like the kind of power system you’re already familiar with. It’s called CRYOBattery™, and is based on the compression and expansion of the most common fluid around—air. Unlike lithium-ion and other solid-state batteries, some flow batteries, and flywheels, CRYOBattery is […]

Reliable electric supply in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia depends to a large degree on the proper operation of gas turbines, which dominate the country’s generation infrastructure. At the end of 2018, Saudi Electric Co (SEC), the leading producer of electricity with a nominal 70% market share, had 53,500 MW of capacity installed at its

Film-forming substances (FFS), intended primarily for the protection of metal surfaces, are not new. The earliest patent (known to the editors) for one such substance, octadecylamine (ODA), was issued in 1954, with first powerplant applications in the former Soviet Union and East Germany. Earlier still, FFS were used to protect shipments of military equipment during

The Air-Cooled Condenser Users Group (ACCUG) annual meeting was held outside the US for the first time, in Queretaro, Mexico, Oct 21-24, 2019. Sessions began with a review of information on flow-accelerated corrosion (FAC) and cycle chemistry prepared by Barry Dooley, Structural Integrity, and presented by EPRI’s Andy Howell, chairman of the group. In-depth discussion

The first meeting of the Australasian Boiler and HRSG Users Group (ABHUG), held last fall (2019) in Brisbane, Australia, followed 11 annual meetings of AHUG (Australasian HRSG Users Group). The added B is for boilers. Content now includes conventional fossil-plant technologies and issues closely related to those involving heat-recovery steam generators in combined-cycle and cogeneration

Turbine Tip No. 7 from the PAL Turbine Services solutions library applies to General Electric Frame 5, Frame 6, and early Frame 7 gas turbines equipped with Mark V control systems. It is common for plant O&M personnel to focus their attention on the gas turbine during engine startup, operation, and loading. Fig 1 charts

The COMBINED CYCLE Journal and the steering committees of the industry’s leading user groups—including 7F, 501F, 7EA, Western Turbine, Frame 6, 501G, 501D5-D5A, AOG, and Combined Cycle—collaborate to expand the sharing of best practices and lessons learned among owner/operators of large frame and aeroderivative gas turbines. Fifty plants participated in the 2020 Best Practices Awards

Editor’s note: This article is based on the presentation, “Frame 6/6A3 ‘minor’ outages turned into majors with field rewinds,” by Jamie Clark of AGTServices Inc at the 2019 meeting of the Frame 6 Users Group. Owner/operators will have the chance to hear Clark’s presentation, “5 Generator Minors Turn Into 3 Generator Majors!!!,” on June 23

Performance, flexibility upgrades boost profitability in dynamic market Lawrenceburg Power operates in the PJM Interconnection. Plant owner Lightstone Generation wanted a reliable, cost-effective upgrade to simultaneously maximize capacity payments and align combustion and hot-gas-path (HGP) inspections at a 32,000-hr maintenance interval. The plant operates in a shale-gas region and can receive fuel from multiple sources

Two relatively short white papers available from Mitsubishi Power can bring you up to speed on the state-of-the-art and future of remote operation and support and on digital strategies for improving steam-plant performance. Some of the insights shared on the latter topic also are of value to combined-cycle owner/operators. “Remote Operation and Support—the New Normal?”