August 1, 2010

Cleco’s Madison Unit 3 Uses CFB Technology to Burn Petcoke and Balance the Fleet’s Fuel Portfolio

By Dr. Robert Peltier, PE

Suppliers of Key Equipment

Hitachi Ltd. designed and fabricated the 660-MW steam turbine generator and Hitachi Power Systems America Ltd. provided project management, commissioning, and technical advisory services for the turbine island.

ABB supplied the plant control system, including burner management, boiler, and BOP controls based on the Harmony Connect Process Portal for the operator stations and Harmony Bridge controllers with input/output for monitoring and control. The control system also uses a programmable logic controller for BOP controls systems such as ash and material handling and water treatment systems and a GE Mark VI system for turbine controls and other auxiliary equipment. Cleco was comfortable with ABB’s Symphony Control System, which it uses at several other plants, and elected to stay with a single supplier (Figure 6). Other key suppliers to Madison Unit 3 are listed in Table 3.

6. Beautiful music. Cleco uses ABB’s Symphony control system at several other plants and decided to use the same supplier on Madison Unit 3. The control system integrates burner management, boiler, and balance-of-plant controls based on the Harmony Connect Process Portal for the operator stations, and a programmable logic controller interfaces to the turbine controls and other auxiliary equipment. Courtesy: Cleco Power

Table 3. Major contractors and equipment suppliers to Madison Unit 3. Source: Cleco Power

Staying Safe on Site

Shaw’s numerous safety initiatives paid big dividends during construction of Madison Unit 3. The project team’s safe work efforts garnered the Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) STAR site designation from the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) after successfully passing a rigorous on-site evaluation by OSHA safety and health professionals. The program “promotes safe and healthful working conditions and recognizes the outstanding efforts of employers and employees who have achieved exemplary occupational safety and health,” according to OSHA. The project team captured this award after more than 4 million safe work hours since the project began in May 2006. Cleco’s Madison Unit 3 is Shaw’s 14th active VPP STAR site.

Getting to Know a New Plant

In late June, Shaw was continuing to work on the punch list tasks, and the Madison Unit 3 operations staff was quickly learning how to reliably operate a plant fueled by 100% petcoke. Tuning the furnace controls is continuing, as is optimizing the particle size distribution of the petcoke fuel and limestone.

When Shaw achieved substantial completion in February, plant performance, heat rate, and emissions level numbers were confirmed as meeting the contract and emissions permit requirements. Shaw expects to complete the final 30-day continuous operations test and final performance test later this year.