July 15, 2008

Luminant’s Big Brown Plant wins for continuous improvement and safety programs

Dr. Robert Peltier, PE

I have a confession to make. When I heard that Big Brown had been selected as the PRB Coal Users' Group (PRBCUG) 2008 Plant of the Year, my first thoughts were of the horse, said to be named in honor of the package shipping company UPS, that was favored to become the first Triple Crown winner in 30 years--rather than the well-known Luminant steam generating station with the same name. This year, though Big Brown the horse finished last at Belmont, Luminant's Big Brown Plant and its staff are the big winners, as evidenced by their industry leadership in Powder River Basin (PRB) coal combustion and their enviable performance and safety record.

Formal presentation of the PRBCUG Plant of the Year award to the staff of Big Brown Plant was made during the Power Plant Awards Banquet the night before the official start of this year’s ELECTRIC POWER Conference & Exhibition in Baltimore, Md. Bob Taylor, PRBCUG chairman, made the presentation to Big Brown Director of Generation Freeman Jarrell and Lignite Superintendent Alan Riddle. “This award is for all of Big Brown’s talented and committed employees,” Jarrell said. “We have worked extremely hard and diligently over the years to continually find ways to do our work better, but we have done so safely and efficiently, as well.”

 

Second time’s a charm

Located 90 miles south of Dallas, Big Brown the power plant gets its moniker from Luminant’s practice of naming plants after local natural features, in this case Big Brown Creek. Big Brown was the first large-scale, lignite-fueled power plant for Luminant and the state of Texas (Figure 1). It has two supercritical units with a total capacity of 1,190 MW (net). Units 1 and 2 are identically rated at 595 MW, powered by a Combustion Engineering (now Alstom Power) boiler and a Westinghouse turbine-generator. Unit 1 began commercial service in 1971; Unit 2 followed a year later. Approximately 145 employees work at the site.

 

 

Achieving such high peer recognition for a plant and its staff required a mix of tenacity and some salesmanship by Riddle, who was charged with preparing the self-evaluation study that is part of the award vetting process. Big Brown’s first nomination, submitted in 2006, made it to the final cut but fell short of first place. The PRBCUG awards committee provided constructive feedback by suggesting specific improvements in areas such as the plant’s dust-handling and PRB coal-handling practices that would improve its chances of future selection. Big Brown’s staff took ownership of these recommendations and began planning how to implement another round of plant improvements.

A year later, the plant submitted a second application that added many more successes to an already long list of accomplishments. Big Brown’s staff highlighted the considerable improvements made in the past year, noting that many of the upgrades were based on suggestions made by the inspection team the year before. The evaluation team agreed that these improvements demonstrated that Big Brown was as serious about continuous improvement to its facilities as it was devoted to personnel safety. Committee members tell me the plant’s improvements over the past year made selection of Big Brown an easy decision.

According to Jarrell, “Safety is our number one priority at Big Brown,” and the numbers confirm his claim. The plant has not experienced a lost-time accident in over eight years, covering more than 2.6 million man-hours. In fact, only two injuries in 2006 and only three in 2007 required first aid. I suspect most of us had more cuts and bruises from mowing the yard and doing routine house maintenance than Big Brown’s entire staff experienced.

Big Brown’s operating stats also helped seal the deal with the PRBCUG committee. Lignite is a tough fuel to burn and typically results in much more boiler and auxiliary system maintenance than is required in plants burning hard, Eastern coals. In spite of this challenge, Big Brown sets a high standard with a remarkable operating record over the past several years. From 2005 to 2007 the plant had an average equivalent forced outage rate (EFOR) of 3.7%, an equivalent availability factor (EAF) of 92.9%, and a capacity factor of 83.4%. I know many managers of gas-fired combined-cycle plants who would eagerly swap stats with Big Brown.

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