From Commissioning to First Year Operation of a Modern Coal Fired 242 MW Plant Facility

In this paper lessons learned during the period from commissioning the TS Power Plant to first year of commercial operations are discussed. It is hoped that the experience at TS Power Plant will be valuable to other new plants during the post-commissioning phase. In June 2008 the TS Power Plant commenced commercial operations. The plant is designed for a gross power output of 242 MW. Combustion takes place in a sub-critical B&W radiant boiler, which uses PRB coal for fuel to generate 1,491,000 lb/hr superheated steam at a design pressure and temperature of 2650 psi and 1055 °F respectively. The steam is used to drive a Toshiba reheat steam turbine generator set. To date the plant performance is better than expected. Actual HP turbine throttle pressures at desired load are less than design with a lower heat rate than expected. The plant has state of the art technology and follows strict emission removal standards in accordance with its air permit for the reduction of CO, NOx , SO2 , mercury and particulate matter. Plant personnel addressed problems ranging from mechanical, instrumentation and control, to freezing weather issues during the first year of operations. On several occasions the plant experienced forced outages and personnel had to troubleshoot in order to identify the root cause of the problems. The critical problems developed with the DCS, coal handling system, fans and air dampers, boiler combustion systems, steam turbine auxiliaries, selective catalytic reduction system, spray dry absorber, and water treatment. A significant number of the problems were carried over from facility commissioning and new ones developed during normal operations. Plant personnel had to work through these problems on a daily basis. The operating staff had gained significant experience during the plant commissioning phase by participating in loop shooting and equipment commissioning. It is also important to note that operations staff completed a General Physics training program designed specifically around the TS Power plant systems during construction. The plant was running relatively smoothly with an average availability of 99.84% for the last three months of 2008.Copyright © 2009 by ASME