We Energies Generating Station to be environmental, technological showcase

By Control Engineering Staff September 6, 2006

Wisconsin’s new Elm Road Generating Station will be an environmental and technological showcase, using clean coal technology, supercritical boiler design, and PlantWeb digital plant architecture with the Ovation expert control system.

This new station, part of the existing Oak Creek power plant complex, is the first in We Energies ‘ system to use supercritical boiler technology combined with comprehensive SOx, NOx, particulate, and mercury emission controls to satisfy Wisconsin’s strict environmental regulations. ‘The really unique thing about the plant we are constructing is that it will be (to the best of our knowledge) the first plant in the country that contains an SCR, baghouse, wet FGD and wet ESP on the same unit. The really unique part from a new-plant point of view is the wet ESP,’ says Barry McNulty with We Energies. The plant’s two units, totaling 1,230 mW, have been under construction since 2005. Unit one will begin commercial operation in 2009 and unit two in 2010.

Bechtel Corp ., the project’s engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor, selected Emerson ‘s PlantWeb architecture with the Ovation expert control system to provide control in each of the main operational areas:

Hitachi once-through, supercritical boilers;

Boiler burner management system (BMS);

Selective catalytic reduction (SCR) NOx abatement; and,

Turbine and balance of plant (BOP) controls.

Each unit will have a redundant Ovation network, plus a third for common processes and equipment. This integrated configuration allows the capability of collecting and interpreting performance data on a plant-wide basis, while allowing one unit to shut down without affecting the other. Additionally, FOUNDATION fieldbus technology will tie together Emerson’s Rosemount 848T temperature transmitters positioned throughout the boilers.

‘Our advanced control technology will help manage critical power generation processes that are central to Elm Road’s role as a clean, efficient, and affordable source of energy for the area,’ said Bob Yeager, president of the power and water solutions division at Emerson.

For more information on supercritical boiler technology, click here .

–Control Engineering Daily News Desk Peter Welander , process industries editor