Press Release

Competitive Power Ventures St. Charles Energy Center Wins Combined Cycle Journal Best Practices Award

Braintree, MA (June 16, 2020) — Competitive Power Ventures (CPV) announced today that its St. Charles Energy Center won the Combined Cycle Journal (CCJ) 2020 Best Practices Award. Additionally, the CPV Valley and Woodbridge Energy Centers received honorable mentions in the 501F category and 7FA category, respectively.

“We are honored to see the CPV St. Charles Energy Center recognized for its commitment to best-in-class safety practices and performance technology,” said Nick Rahn, CPV’s Senior Vice President of Asset Management. “Our team is proud to uphold these standards and put them into practice every day. By prioritizing plant modernization and developing new technologies with lower emissions and operating costs, we can help maintain the world’s most reliable electricity supply and work toward a lower carbon future.”

The CPV St. Charles Energy Center is a 745-MW gas-fired combined cycle plant in Waldorf, Maryland, and is powered by two GE 7FA combustion turbines. The plant is operated by Consolidated Asset Management Services (CAMS) and was evaluated on the following best practices:

  • Brush maintenance program leads to increased generator reliability.

  • Job status board helps keep staff informed and safe during maintenance events.

  • Vision screen promotes operational excellence.

  • Improving visitor tracking and management, and internal cyber controls, in complying with CIP-003-7.

  • Cooling-tower fan-gearbox mod aids in monthly oil sampling and oil changes.

“Since 2004, the CCJ Best of the Best Awards showcase the most outstanding generating facilities in the power industry each year,” said CCJ General Manager Scott Schwieger. “We commend CPV for their well-deserved awards for their St. Charles, Valley and Woodbridge Energy Centers and for their commitment to best-in-class safety practices and performance.”

CCJ holds its Best of the Best Awards each year in recognition of valuable contributions made by plant and central-office personnel to improve the safety and performance of generating facilities powered by gas turbines. This year, fifty plants participated in the 2020 Best Practices Awards program, and eight were selected for Best of the Best honors. Energy sector experts evaluated each submission for proven solutions in overall plant improvement—including starting reliability, fast starting, thermal performance, emissions reduction, and forced-outage reduction.