The most efficient powerplants ever produced are now entering service. These latest and largest combined cycles—powered by GE’s 7HA, Siemens’ SGT6-8000H, and Mitsubishi Hitachi’s M501J engines—are all clocking in at 62% – 63% thermal efficiency. This makes them the most efficient heat engines yet perfected by engineers, with all three OEMs striving to reach 65% …
There are nearly as many electric generators at fossil-fired and nuclear powerplants as there are gas and steam turbines combined. So, you might think that with thousands of utility/large industrial-grade generators rated more than 25 MW operating in the US alone, the annual meeting of the Generator Users Group (GUG) would draw hundreds of attendees. …
GENERATORS: Lessons learned, best practices shared at GUG 2017 Read More »
Commissioning seven gas-turbine (GT) control systems in seven weeks would probably be taxing under the best of conditions. In NV Energy’s case, there were some extenuating circumstances. First, the seven systems are located at two generating facilities acquired by the utility in 2014. Second, it is challenging to test a retrofit, due to air permit …
Checklist for success: NV Energy commissions seven turbine DCSs in seven weeks Read More »
CCJ ONsite’s coverage of technical highlights from the Generator Users Group’s Third Annual Conference, held in Phoenix, Aug 27-30, 2017, continues below with Part 2 of the lessons learned and best practices shared among attendees. The three-part series concludes in the next issue of this electronic publication. Presentations and discussions are arranged in these five …
GENERATORS: Lessons learned, best practices shared at GUG 2017 (Part 2) Read More »
CCJ ONsite’s coverage of technical highlights from the Generator Users Group’s Third Annual Conference, held in Phoenix, Aug 27-30, 2017, concludes below with the third and final installment of lessons learned and best practices shared among attendees. Presentations and discussions are arranged in these five sections: Stator frames and magnetic cores. Stator windings and bus systems. …
Generators: Lessons learned, best practices shared at GUG 2017 (Part 3) Read More »
Generation assets in competitive markets must perform at a high level year in and year out to meet their contractual obligations. Failure to embrace a philosophy of “continual improvement” in plant operations means it’s only a matter of time before the competition will eat your lunch. The focal point of continual-improvement efforts typically is the …
Keep your plant competitive: Obsolete legacy systems Read More »
Paul Tucker called CCJ’s editorial offices a few weeks back with a generator experience to share with users. Say Whaaat? Tucker is well known to engineers and technicians at power and process plants for his ability to identify the root causes of turbine problems. There isn’t much he hasn’t experienced in his 50 or so …
Sometimes it takes a good turbine mechanic to solve a generator problem Read More »
You don’t hear much at industry meetings these days about physical security of power generation and delivery infrastructure and personnel. Cybersecurity topics get most of the attention. But that doesn’t mean work on physical security solutions has stopped. Certainly not. One recent development concerns transformer protection. Six years ago (Apr 16, 2013), you may recall, …
Transformer armor helps ensure high availability Read More »
There are numerous instrumentation systems used in attempts to assess the condition of powerplant electrical equipment. The library of papers about them is vast. But papers discussing detection of failing electrical connections inside generators or bus systems are limited in number, Consultants Clyde V Maughan and James E Timperley told the editors. The focus of …
Simple EMI test detects failing electrical connections, promotes high plant availability Read More »
In successful powerplant projects, either in the early project bidding or the engineering execution stage, before designing any water distribution, production or treatment system, you must know the water. The only way to fully understand the water type and its characteristics is with a thorough study of the water analysis report, says Wendy Wong, a …
