Abstracts - VGB PowerTech Journal 12/2011

VGB Congress “Power Plants 2011” - Report and opening speech

Gerd Jäger

This year´s VGB Congress took place in Berne/Switzerland from September 21 to 23, 2011 under the heading “European Generation Mix - High Demand for Flexibility and Storage”. About 1,200 experts from 30 countries attended the largest European congress heat and electricity generation to discuss and inform about current issues. The lecturers and participants dealt with problems and challenges of future European electricity and heat generation in the sections “Nuclear Power”, “Storage and Flexibility”, “Efficiency and Flexibility” and “Renewables”.

Climate change - Facts and pressure

Thomas F. Stocker

The Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2007) concluded: “Warming in the climate system is unequivocal.”  ... Warming … could be attributed to the increase of CO2 concentrations.” There is no “miracle cure” to limit warming. However, human´s dangerous intervention on the climate must be avoided. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to decrease greenhouse gas emissions rapidly and distinctly. (Festive address of the VGB Congress “Power Plants 2011”)

Experience gained during the planning, official authorisation and execution of the 2 x 820 MW hard coal-fired Moorburg power plant

Günter Heimann and Udo Gade

Vattenfall Europe Generation AG is erecting a 2 x 820 MW hard coal-fired power plant located in Hamburg Moorburg. As replacement for the Wedel CHP, this power plant will ensure heat supply to the city of Hamburg and provide electrical power to the area of Hamburg. Due to requirements of official authorisation for cooling water utilisation, extensive changes for flexible operation of the power plant became necessary. The limited size of the construction site is a particular challenge.

New power plant projects of the EnBW Kraftwerke AG

Joachim Manns

Competitiveness means that a power plant investment brings into balance the aspects security of supply, economic efficiency and environmental/climate protection as far as possible and thus contributes to the state-of-the-art provision of energy and electricity. EnBW Kraftwerke AG is currently implementing two power plant investments: the highly efficient 912 MWel coal-fired unit 8 of the Rheinhafen-Dampf­kraftwerk in Karlsruhe and the fifth turbine of the run-of-river power station Rheinkraftwerk Iffezheim. Both power plant investments are examples of an intelligent and sustainable development of existing generation structures.

Invest with modern power plants in the future - Current construction projects at RWE Power AG

Alexander Frohne

The agreed energy transition calls for a massive restructuring of the power sector that seriously affects the power plant portfolio as well. The increasingly fluctuating feed-in of wind and solar-based power requires fossil power plants to be more flexible to cover the more volatile residual load. At the same time, the demand for reserve capacity and energy storage is growing to ensure a secure power supply at any time. With the construction of modern fossil-fired power plants, RWE Power is contributing to the integration of renewable energies.

ENEL Torrevaldaliga North - Experience after 10 TWh of electricity generation and design activity of the new Porto Tolle power plant in the North East of Italy

Leonardo Arrighi

In June 2009, the first unit 1 of the Torrevaldaliga north power plant started commercial operation. The second unit was started-up in January 2010 and the third unit in September 2010. In March 2011 the net electricity production overcame 10 TWh. No relevant troubles have been met after two years of operation and maintenance. Only some components made of the P92 high-temperature steel are to be replaced in the next years. The Porto Tolle power plant is in the design stage. A CCS demonstration plant is envisaged.

Comparison and application of storage technologies - A power plant operator’s point of view

Marcus Kurth, Hendrik Lens, Jürgen Marquard, Andreas Dengel, Wolfgang Schweißthal and Carsten Kolligs

As electrical energy can only be stored in small amounts, electrical power systems must maintain the balance between production and usage of electricity at any time. Apart from intelligent hierarchical structures, this requires producers that are based on stor­able primary energy sources. The current development shows an increasing usage of fluctuating primary energy sources. To compensate for this, storage options must be found at other locations in the energy conversion chain. In this paper different storage technologies are compared and evaluated from the point of view of a power plant operator.

ENEL activities on carbon capture and storage

Cristiana La Marca and Sauro Pasini

ENEL has a solid track record in implementing best technologies to reduce emissions including CO2. One major approach is research into carbon capture and storage (CCS). A first pilot plant has been in operation at the Brindisi Sud site since the end of 2010 with a flue gas throughput of 10,000 m3/h. Apart from the current MEA sorbent, other agents are to be tested, too. A 600 MW CCS plants is also planned to be retrofitted to the Porto Tolle 660 MW power plant.

Greener power generation technologies - Solution for carbon capture

Oliver Reimuth, Hermann Kremer and Nikolas Vortmeyer

Fossil-based power generation will continue to account for a dominant share of over 50 % in the future energy mix. In order to meet the requirements of climate protection, a combination of highly-efficient, flexible combined cycle power plants and the use of CCS in coal-based power generation will be necessary. In addition to funding of the first demonstration projects comprehensive statutory framework and public acceptance are necessary for launching CCS technology.

Optimised plant process management

Markus Bieder and Hans-Peter Cremer

Events leading to generation outages are to be avoided. Besides, highly qualified generation teams offer the potential to avoid or control new failures. In order to make advantage of these potentials, Kraftwerksschule is improving the process management behaviour of control room personnel at the Ludwigshafen site of RWE. Workshops beyond the individual scope of work and the internal CIP (continuous improvement process) turned out to be very successful.

Medium size gas turbine - OEM concept for continued reduction of life cycle cost

Vladimir Navrotsky and Scott Santamaria

Gas turbine life cycle costs are among the most important parameters for power plant owners, as they have significant influence on power plant profitability. This is why continued reduction of gas turbine life cycle cost should be considered as an essential contribution of the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) to improve customer power-plant profitability and competitiveness. The paper describes Siemens’ strategy of continued Life Cycle Cost reduction of medium size gas turbines.

Migration - Step by step transition to SPPA-T3000

Ute Messmer and Linda Krumbholz

Siemens offers a migration solution which enables gradual transition of existing TELEPERM ME and SPPA-T2000 I&C systems to the latest I&C generation, the SPPA-T3000. At the Reuter combined heat and power plant it was demonstrated that the best path to attaining the overall goal is gradual replacement of the I&C installation more or less while the plant remains in operation. This is achieved by taking a number of smaller steps.

Quality assurance of corrosion protection and coating work in power plants and industrial sites

Helmut Müller

Annually, corrosion causes damage to buildings amounting to roughly 4 % of a country’s gross national product. As a consequence - and also for economic reasons - it is necessary to ensure high-quality and thus enduring protective coating. Apart from adequate surface preparation and the application of an adequate coating system a suitable design with regard to the coating is a prerequisite for long-lasting protection. The overwhelming part of damage is due to insufficient inexpert processing. The paper describes measures and examinations for the manufacture of qualitatively high-grade and enduring protective coating.