Author: Douglas Morris

The new plants that are coming online today are already designed for fast start and flexible operations. With the changing generation mix, being able to move a unit is essential as fleets dispatch more renewables. But what about older plants that were designed to operate as baseload generation?

Sometimes units must be mechanically retrofitted to be able to better participate in the market, but sometimes it may just require some targeted automation improvements. So where should utilities start?

That really depends. We’ve seen investments in model predictive control that bridge the gap between baseload and cycling regimes. Also, adjustments made to startup and shutdown procedures for a plant can help it start faster while using less fuel.

At the December 5-7 POWER-GEN 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada, at booth #5314, Emerson will be showcasing targeted solutions that help utilities better move units in today’s dynamic power market. Jeff Williams will be presenting a paper on Tuesday, December 5^th at 1:30 pm titled “Use of Novel Automated Plant Procedure Integration Technology To Save Start-Up Time And Fuel Use“. Please plan on attending Jeff’s session.

Join us to learn more and request a complimentary exhibit pass for the conference.

From Jim: You can also connect with other industrial control system and power industry experts in the Ovation and Power groups in the Emerson Exchange 365 community.