In electrical power production, simple gas turbines achieve a thermal efficiency of around 30-40%, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. A combined cycle power plant (CCPP) achieves a thermal efficiency of over 60%. This efficiency gain is achieved by integrating a gas turbine (Brayton cycle) with a steam turbine (Rankine cycle), where waste heat from the gas turbine is used to generate steam for the steam turbine.
Energy provided by electricity is expected to grow from 20% to over 60% by 2050. Combined cycle plants will play a crucial role in this growth in electricity production. Emerson’s Ovation distributed control system automates 18 of the 20 largest combined-cycle plants here in the U.S. Ovation Green automates many other forms of non-hydrocarbon energy sources, including nuclear, wind, solar, hydroelectric, battery, and green hydrogen.
Building this new capacity presents the historic project challenges of reducing total installed cost, shortening schedules & interdependencies, and managing design changes throughout all project phases. Emerging project challenges include building autonomous-ready digital plants, maximizing sustainable operations, addressing resource constraints and skill deficiencies, and managing global supply chain volatility.
Addressing these challenges effectively begins with having a project and ongoing support partner with a robust supply chain. Emerson experts in the power industry support projects in a range of ways, from being an automation supplier only to being a main instrumentation vendor (MIV) or main automation contractor (MAC). Centers of Excellence, equipped with industry work cells and supported by a global project management office, facilitate smoother-running capital projects. Supply chain risks are mitigated with global sourcing options, remote inspections, and capacity allocation.
Software and control applications include industrial software, control & safety systems, integration with third-party unit control packages, and reliability solutions. Instrumentation includes measurements for pressure, temperature, level, flow, corrosion, flame, and metering. Managing the process with final control elements includes control valves, on/off valves, pressure relief & safety valves, and valve automation solutions. It’s essential to architect these digital devices into an architecture with a unifying data fabric and zero-trust security that extends from the intelligent field, to the edge, and up to the cloud for enterprise-wide collaboration, and on-demand support and service.
Realizing the full capabilities of the digital technologies on the path to a fully autonomous plant requires careful planning across the project and the ongoing operations lifecycle.
Visit the Project Services section on Emerson.com for more information about planning and executing your large power capital projects.
