Chinese power plant orders full automation

An Emerson Process Management - Power + Water product story

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Mar 18, 2005

Emerson Process Management has won a $7.4 million contract to automate China's new Datang Ningde Power Plant.

Emerson Process Management has won a $7.4 million contract to automate China's new Datang Ningde Power Plant.

The project represents further evidence of China's emerging power generation controls market, which is estimated at $120 million, and growing at a double-digit rate annually.

Emerson will use its innovative digital PlantWeb automation architecture to reduce automation costs and optimise the power plant's performance and reliability.

Owned by Datang International Power Generation Co, Datang Ningde is the first large-scale coal-fired power plant to be built in China's Fujian Province.

With four 600MW units, the plant is expected to help alleviate the province's reliance on hydropower, which accounts for nearly half of the province's installed power generation capacity.

Severe drought in recent years has caused power shortages, underscoring the need for an alternative power generation method.

Expected to be operational in 2006, Datang Ningde will be a supercritical plant, using new clean coal technology that enables operation at elevated steam temperature and pressure.

Because this advanced technology makes coal-based electricity generation more efficient while also reducing fuel-related emissions, it is expected to become more prevalent in China as the country expands its generation capacity to meet the growing demand for power.

Emerson's Power and Water Solutions division will coordinate and supervise the project that represents the first application of PlantWeb digital plant architecture with the Ovation control system and Foundation fieldbus technology in a supercritical plant in China.

PlantWeb is expected to generate major engineering, wiring and commissioning savings initially, as well as ongoing savings due to its AMS Suite asset management capabilities, which use predictive intelligence to optimise plant performance and reliability.

"We are pleased to continue our relationship with Emerson and are eager to apply their advanced automation and control technologies to a project that is so important to this company and this region", said Liu Shuli, Supervisor for Datang International Power Generation.

"The PlantWeb digital automation solution has been proven many times over as an effective approach for reducing new plant construction and engineering costs as well as achieving ongoing operational efficiencies", said John Berra, President of Emerson Process Management.

"We are gratified Datang International selected Emerson for a project that will help provide a safe, clean and reliable alternative energy source".

At the new four-unit plant, Emerson will install a total of 68 redundant controllers, 32 Ovation workstations, Hart intelligent field devices and AMS Suite.

In all, the Ovation system will manage nearly 36,000 I/O points.

The first unit is expected to be operational in February 2006, with all units completed by June 2006.