Power plant to feature Foundation fieldbus

Emerson Process Management has won a contract to install its PlantWeb digital plant architecture with the Ovation expert control system at Xcel Energy's new Comanche Power Station Unit 3.

Emerson Process Management has won a contract to install its PlantWeb digital plant architecture with the Ovation expert control system at Xcel Energy's new Comanche Power Station Unit 3, located near Pueblo, Colorado.

The contract was awarded by Shaw Stone and Webster, a unit of The Shaw Group, the engineering, procurement and construction contractor for the project.

The new facility is expected to be the largest showcase of digital bus technologies in a North American power plant.

The digital bus approach has been proven in a number of industries to result in significant construction savings as well as ongoing operational savings.

The 750MW, supercritical plant - Xcel Energy's first new coal-fired electric generation unit in nearly 30 years - will use new clean coal technology that enables operation at elevated steam temperature and pressure for increased efficiency and reduced fuel-related emissions.

When it becomes commercially operational in 2009, Comanche Unit 3 will provide additional generating capacity to help Xcel Energy meet the area's growing demand for energy.

Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy is the fourth-largest combination natural gas and electricity company in the nation, providing energy-related products and services to 3.2 million electricity customers and 1.8 million natural gas customers through its regulated operating companies in eight Western and Midwestern states.

Emerson's PlantWeb digital plant architecture utilises high-speed communications networks, intelligent field devices, asset management software, and bus I/O technologies to help power producers control critical plant processes, increase plant efficiencies and megawatt production, and realise long-term operations and maintenance savings.

For new plants, PlantWeb offers additional advantages to power generators: by lowering wiring costs, and streamlining device installation, communications verification and troubleshooting, this digital bus-based approach translates into faster startup, and reduced startup and commissioning costs.

The Comanche Unit 3 digital automation solution, to be engineered and installed by Emerson, consists of the PlantWeb digital plant architecture with the Ovation control system and AMS Suite predictive asset management software.

The Ovation system will monitor and control the Alstom boiler, as well as the burner management system, motor control centre and balance of plant processes.

In addition, the Ovation system will control the Babcock and Wilcox Air Quality Control System (AQCS) that encompasses the unit's environmental equipment, including a scrubber and baghouse.

The Ovation system will also interface to the unit's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries turbine controls.

Xcel is no stranger to the Ovation system, which was designed and built by Emerson to meet the unique requirements of the power generation industry.

A number of Xcel facilities - including Comanche Units 1 and 2 - already rely on the Ovation system to control critical power generation processes.

In fact, under a separate contract awarded by Xcel Energy, Emerson will expand the existing Ovation control systems at these two units to include their burner management systems and new scrubber controls.

Another core component of the comprehensive PlantWeb solution is Emerson's AMS Suite: Intelligent Device Manager, which will initially streamline device configuration, translating into cost savings and increased unit startup efficiency.

In addition, the predictive intelligence of AMS Device Manager will further increase the availability and performance of the unit on an ongoing basis by capturing and analysing real-time predictive diagnostic information from plant assets, as well as intelligent field devices.

When completed, Comanche Unit 3 is expected to feature the most extensive use of digital bus-based technologies in a North American power generation facility: Emerson's Ovation system will incorporate 220 Foundation fieldbus segments and 28 DeviceNet segments to network 1350 Foundation fieldbus devices and 358 DeviceNet devices, respectively.

In the boiler area, for example, Foundation fieldbus technologies will communicate information from Emerson's Rosemount 3051S transmitters to the Ovation system.

Contracts for additional balance of plant instrumentation have not yet been awarded, although Emerson has been selected to negotiate for the supply of these devices.

According to Bob Yeager, President of the Power and Water Solutions division of Emerson, this type of forward thinking is becoming more critical in light of the power generation industry's increasingly complex and competitive landscape.

"The operational, regulatory, environmental and economic issues facing the industry are in flux", said Yeager.

"In such an environment, developing a master automation plan based on a flexible, open systems approach that incorporates the latest technologies positions power generators, like Xcel Energy, to nimbly respond to this ever-changing landscape".

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