Measuring Efficiency in Modern Gas Turbine Power Stations

Jeff Parmar Operational Performance Consultant Mechanical Systems National Power PLC Swindon England

& Damian Gilmartin CCGT Support Group Killingholme Power Station National Power PLC North East Lincolnshire England

3rd Annual American Industrial & Power Gas Turbine Operations & Maintenance Conference 25-26 February 1998, The Holiday Inn, San Diego, CA, USA.

ABSTRACT The United Kingdom Governments decision to put the publicly-owned Electricity Supply Industry into the hands of private investors paved the way for the creation of a competitive electricity market, and encouraged the entry of Independent Power Producers (IPP). Competition in electricity generation has increased as new entrants have taken advantage of the latest Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) technology, which offers rapid build times, low construction cost, and high cycle efficiency, as well as lower environmental emissions. National Power (NP) has invested in 4 large natural gas fired CCGT power plant within the UK, totalling some 3200MW of capacity, and expanded internationally. NPs investments overseas now total about 900 million, and the Company has equity in around 7,500MW (oil/coal/gas) of plant in Australia, Pakistan, America, Portugal, Hungary, China, Spain and Turkey. As a major electricity generator NP brings not only financing to these projects, but also its technical expertise as an established operator and maintainer of power stations in the UK. It is of paramount importance that suitable Guarantees are in place before investing in either new build or existing power plant projects. There will be Guarantees within all of the contracts that provide the framework for a viable power project, from the power purchase agreement (PPA), and fuel supply agreement (FSA), to the turnkey contract (Engineer, Procure and Construct). The Plant Performance Guarantees, especially on module power output and heat rate, have a major impact on a project's economic viability, and although they are included within the turnkey construction contract, they may also be passed through to the PPA and FSA. These Performance Guarantees will be particularly important for international projects where the power and fuel purchase agreements can be in excess of twenty years. However each project is treated on its own merits and the criteria for testing and acceptance of the power plant may change, dependent on the commercial and financial project drivers. This paper details the Performance Guarantee Tests that are carried out jointly by the Owner-Operator and the Plant Constructor on a large CCGT plant in the UK, though the Tests are as valid for international sites. The methodology of the Performance Test is described, along with the applicable International Standards. On-line efficiency monitoring at one of National Power's CCGT plant is also briefly outlined. A set of typical power and heat rate correction curves is provided in Appendix 1 for reference, whilst Appendix 2 contains an example calculation of turbine inlet temperature as per DIN 4341. Appendix 3 is a flow diagram for an online efficiency calculation cycle, using the EfficiencyMapTM Performance Monitoring system.

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PERFORMANCE TEST METHODOLOGY

INTRODUCTION The Performance Guarantee Tests are normally undertaken following the commissioning and reliability tests, as part of the plant Acceptance Tests. The aim of the Performance Guarantee Tests are to determine whether the power plant is capable of achieving the power output and heatrate agreed within the turnkey contract, by measuring actual power output and heatrate, and correcting to standard conditions. The results of these tests also provide a baseline against which future plant performance can be judged. Provided the plant can meet its contractual performance levels, and also passes all the other acceptance criteria, then the plant can be handed over and commercial operation commences. The financial performance of many of these projects depends on the thermal performance of the plant, and competitive markets increase the pressure on companies to operate at high levels of availability and thermal efficiency. These tests mainly focus on the power output, heat rate, emissions, noise and auxiliary power, though other tests may be carried out to satisfy the clients requirements.

PERFORMANCE GUARANTEES The terminology used for the Performance Guarantee Tests must be clearly defined, so that all parties concerned are fully aware and that no confusion is caused later on. The net power output is defined as the electrical power delivered to the grid system at grid system voltage having taken into account all electrical power consumed or dissipated within the station. The power consumed or dissipated includes, but is not limited to, lighting, heating and ventilation, water treatment plant etc. The auxiliary power is power consumed within the station boundary and is required for the normal operation of the CCGT module. If a second module is to be tested separately, then common auxiliaries are clearly identified. Net heat rate is stipulated as the fuel energy consumed to produce a unit of net output, expressed in kJ/kWh. This is based on the Lower Calorific Value (LCV) of the fuel. The LCV and the base density of the fuel are referenced to the International System Organisation (ISO) conditions of 15C and 1.01325 bara. The Guarantees, provided by the contractor, on net output and net heat rate are given for specific site ambient conditions, which are defined within National Power's Contract Specification. In fact the historical weather data for at least five years is provided to the contractor, on which they base the Performance Guarantees. Since it is unlikely that all operating conditions at the plant boundary during the Performance Guarantee Tests will correspond exactly with the Guaranteed Specified values, it is necessary to correct the test performance to the Guarantee values. The contractor provides correction curves to correct from test net output and net heat rate conditions to the site-specific conditions. A typical set of such Vendor correction curves is contained in Appendix 1. The scope of the Commissioning of the plant includes Performance Guarantee Tests and tests to demonstrate compliance with noise, emissions and the 30 day reliability run. In addition to the full load net output test, tests are also normally undertaken at 75% load, 50% load and minimum stable generation (MSG). The MSG is defined as operation of the combined cycle plant in safe mode with continuous operation without any steam bypass in service, meeting all noise and emission limits set by the Regulatory Bodies. The absolute overall tolerances on net output and net heat rate are set at 0.5% and 1.0% respectively.

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These tolerances include all measurement and instrumentation tolerances and no other tolerances are allowed in the derivation of the corrected net output and heat rate. Table 1 shows a typical Performance Guarantee Plant Schedule which is filled in by the contractor during the plant tender stage. In conjunction with the Performance Guarantee tests, there are other ancillary tests carried out to demonstrate the plant is fully compliant with the contract conditions, such as the derivation of the gas turbine inlet temperature (which has an impact on the life of the gas turbine components), frequency response tests, load rejection, vibration level tests etc. An example of the derivation of the gas turbine inlet temperature based on the Test Standard DIN 4341 is given in Appendix II. Table 1. THE PERFORMANCE GUARANTEE SCHEDULE PARAMETER SITE AMBIENT TEMPERATURE C SITE AMBIENT PRESSURE bara RELATIVE HUMIDITY % COOLING WATER TEMPERATURE C GROSS OUTPUT MW AUXILIARY POWER MW NET OUTPUT MW NET HEAT RATE kJ/kWh Nox EMISSION LEVEL ppm FUEL CONSUMPTION MWth GAS SUPPLY TEMPERATURE C GT INLET FILTER PRESS DROP mb GT EXHAUST PRESS LOSS mb GT INLET TEMPERATURE C LCV OF FUEL AT 15C/1.013bar kJ/kg AVAILABILITY (OPTIONAL) % 30-Day Reliability Run Tests The reliability of the power plant, including all ancillaries that are essential for its safe and efficient operation, is proved by running the plant for three 10 day periods. For each 10 day reliability run the plant shall respond to a demanding continuous running regime which is specified by National Power. The running regime includes start-ups, load changes, on-line and off-line GT compressor washes and shutdown of the plant. The final 10-day period consists of ten consecutive days of two-shift operation in which the plant is shut down for cold, warm and hot start-ups. During these tests the contractor is also required to demonstrate; the plant dynamic characteristics, which include start-up and shut-down times, ramp-rates, that component integrity levels are those specified by the contractor, that plant condition monitoring equipment operates satisfactorily, and a six hour full load alternator heat soak test at specified power factor. The details of the downtime and the allowed plant trips during the reliability run are depicted in Table 2. If the allowance is exceeded, the 10-day reliability run is repeated. Table 2. 30-DAY RELIABILITY RUN SCHEDULE PERIOD (days) 0-10 11-20 21-30 DOWN-TIME (hours) 8 8 0 ALLOWED TRIPS 2 1 0 SITE CONDITION ISO CONDITION

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PERFORMANCE GUARANTEE TEST METHODOLOGY The contractor normally submits a detailed Performance Test Procedure for review and acceptance 90 days prior to conducting the Tests. National Power then provides a written response to the procedure within 20 working days of receipt of the document, after which the Test Procedure is agreed and approved by both parties. The Performance Guarantee Tests are carried out in accordance with the approved Test Procedure which is based upon the International Test Codes and Standards listed below: Gas Turbine Acceptance Tests: ISO2314/DIN 4341 Heat Recovery Steam Generator: ASME PTC 4.4 Acceptance Test Code for Steam Turbine: IEC 953-2 (The Thermodynamic values of steam and water are taken from the Properties of steam and water in SI Units, edition 1982, IFC-Formulation 1967) Flow measurement: ISO 5167 Measurement of fluid flow by means of pressure differential devices: ISO 5167 (or ISO 9951 Turbine Type Meters) Natural Gas flow measurement: ISO 6976/AGA Report No.8 Gas compressibility Measurement of Electrical Output: IEC 953-2 Gas Turbine exhaust gas emission, measurement and evaluations: ISO/TC 192/WG2 Agreed Contractual Noise Procedure Some of the measurement criteria to be met during the preparation for the Performance Guarantee Tests are summarised below: -All salient instruments are precision calibrated and have accredited calibration certificates. All measuring equipment necessary for the Net output and heat rate tests, including the determination of the performance of the individual plant components, is supplied by the contractor.

-The net electrical power output is measured on the high voltage busbar side of the generator transformers. The contractor normally provides calibrated current and voltage transformers and the Watt-hour meters, which give an overall accuracy of better than 0.2%. These instruments become a permanent part of the installation. -The contractor supplies turbine flow meters to monitor the gas flows in accordance with ISO 9951 with on-lining monitoring of fuel characteristics which has its calorific value referenced to 15C and 1013.25mbar, although orifice plates have been installed on some of NPs combined cycle power plants. As this is one of the most important items of plant for monitoring performance, it is vital that the layout and the design of the gas metering stations are fully compliant with the appropriate design standards prior to manufacture and installation. Three fuel gas samples are taken for evaluating the composition and the heating value of the fuel consumed during the performance tests. -During the tests, the operating conditions are close as possible to the rated operating conditions. -The power plant is operated in steady state condition and the test measurements are performed after power output stabilisation period of at least two hours. The boiler and the steam turbine cycle is fully isolated from the makeup water system, and the blowdown and anti-icing systems are also isolated. -The test duration for the Guaranteed load points following the stabilisation period must be in accordance with ISO 2314, and for the combined cycle the duration is 60 minutes.

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-Measurement of ambient pressure, ambient temperature and ambient humidity is undertaken in accordance with the appropriate standards. The measurement position for these ambient conditions is upwind of the plant, at a position representative of the average site conditions. and which has been agreed between National Power and the contractor prior to the tests. -The emission sampling probe is normally temporarily installed in the duct downstream of the gas turbines. The multihole stainless steel probe with its measuring equipment is capable of extracting and analysing the following components within the turbine exhaust gas: NOX (NO, NO2), UHC (unburnt hydrocarbons), CO, CO2, and O2. The probe allows integral sampling through the holes such that equal duct areas are covered hence ensuring a representative sampling of the gas turbine exhaust duct. The lines to the analyzers are heated to prevent any condensation of moisture and unburned hydrocarbons. There are filters and moisture traps in the probe lines to remove dust particles and water before the samples are analysed. The NOX figures are corrected to 15% oxygen on a dry basis. -Defined by national and international Standards, the average surface sound pressure level is derived from the measured values after applying corrections for the background noise and the influence of reflecting sound. A sound level meter that meets the requirements of IEC Publication 804 or better is used for these tests. -Generally, the plant is tested in the new and clean condition; however, if the tests are prolonged for whatever reasons then degradation curves are utilised for correcting to the new and clean conditions. The use of degradation curves is dependent on the contract procedure and in some cases they may not be used. NPs recent view is to discard the degradation curves if the delay in testing the plant is caused by the plant supplier. -Preliminary test results are presented within one week after completion of the tests. National Power responds with comments within ten days of receiving the draft and the contractor issues the final report within 30 days of completion of the tests.

EXAMPLE OF PERFORMANCE EVALUATIONS kWm=actual measured kW of power on the high voltage side of the generator transformers by the 2 Wattmeter method, which represents the net output of the power module. HICm= actual heat input, this is the product of the fuel gas mass flow and the lower heating value of the fuel. kWc=corrected kW of power on the high voltage side of the generator transformers by the 2 Wattmeter method, which represents the net output of the power module. HICc= Corrected Heat input, this is the product of the fuel gas mass flow and the lower heating value of the fuel. Correction to specified conditions:

If the conditions during the Performance Tests are different to the Guaranteed values, the test results are corrected using the appropriate correction factors (see Appendix I). Therefore, the corrected combined cycle net power kWc = kWm x p1 x p2 x p3 x p4 x p5, where

p1 = output correction for ambient temperature

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p2 = output correction for ambient pressure p3 = output correction for ambient relative humidity p4 = output correction for generator speed p5 = additional increase in filter differential
Similarly, the corrected heat input consumption, HICc = HICm x h1 x h2 x h3 x h4 x h5, where

h1 = heat rate correction for ambient temperature h2 = heat rate correction for ambient pressure h3 = heat rate correction for ambient relative humidity h4 = heat rate correction for generator speed h5 = heat rate increase in filter differential
Thus, the corrected heat rate, HRc = HICc /kWc The corrected net output, kWc and the corrected net heat rate, HRc are compared with the Guaranteed values and should agree within the specified tolerances. If the corrected values of power and heat rate ,and all the other performance criteria, are within the specified Guarantees, then the plant is taken over from the contractor and is prepared for commercial operation. If the plant fails to achieve the Guaranteed values, the contractor is asked to repeat these tests with plant modifications if necessary until all the Guaranteed levels are met. If the Guarantee points are not satisfied, then the contractor may incur financial penalties, in the form of Liquidated Damages.

ONLINE EFFICIENCY MONITORING SYSTEM

INTRODUCTION As an operator of gas turbine power stations in the UK market National Power aims to maximise both plant availability and thermal efficiency. However the measurement of efficiency on a CCGT is made more difficult as ambient conditions have a significant impact on both module output and heatrate, and the fact that a fall in efficiency in the GT cycle will be offset to a lesser extent by a gain in the steam cycle. Efficiency reports are prepared at the end of each month, and the offline Thermal Efficiency Monitoring Programme (TEMP) is used to identify the thermal losses during the period. Typical losses on a CCGT are those due to compressor fouling, and an increase in inlet filter differential pressure, as well as the more familiar steam/water side losses eg. HRSG stack loss, and deviation from target exhaust pressure in the condenser. This information is required by management and should bring to light any inaccuracies in the metering systems, but the offline, once a month nature of this reporting makes it much less useful from an operational standpoint. The answer is to develop efficiency trends that are readily available to the plant operators via the stations Operational Information System, which acts as the plant data storage, retrieval and display system. By monitoring important performance parameters such as gas turbine corrected power, HRSG efficiency and target (or expected) condenser pressure, then plant performance can be optimised wherever possible, and problems identified at an early stage. The decision was taken by the management at NPs Killingholme A power station towards the end of 1995 to look for an Online Efficiency Monitoring System, which would calculate performance parameters more accurately than they could be done using raw measured data, and would correct these parameters to ISO standard conditions. The end result of this work was that a contract was placed with ENTER

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Software Inc (USA) and their agent, SMCI Services Ltd (UK) in early 1996 for the supply and installation of the EfficiencyMapTM Performance Monitoring System. DEVELOPMENT AND INSTALLATION Killingholme A has a rated net output of 652MW at site conditions (12oC and 1013.25 mbar) and comprises 3 ABB Type 13E1 gas turbines (gross output of 145.4 MW ea), 3 two pressure HRSGs (Heat Recovery Steam Generators) and the steam turbine, rated at 227MW. The station was commissioned in 1993, and is situated on the south bank of the Humber River, in the north-east of England. One of the systems supplied by ABB was intended to monitor plant performance and it is called PCO (Performance Characterisation and Optimisation). The system is entirely reliant on measured data for its calculations, and there is no data validation in the system. So any transducer errors will be reflected in the calculated values. The other problem has been that PCO data cannot be sent to the plant historical database (OIS) and so is lost after 3 months, making trending impossible. However EfficiencyMap uses the plant measured data set as a starting point for its calculations, which involves satisfying a complete set of mass and energy balance equations, as well as simple constraints, using a non-linear equation solver, LINGOTM . EfficiencyMap also uses an Optimisation Equation, based on the Least Squares Error (LSE) method, to validate some of the plant data, notably measurements of pressure and flow, which reduces its sensitivity to transducer inaccuracy. This iterative fitting process of satisfying the laws of conservation of mass and energy, and minimising the Optimisation Equation, results in an Optimal validated dataset, upon which all of the performance calculations are based. This modelbased approach, using data validation, should allow performance parameters to be calculated more accurately. The final advantage the system offered was that it could interface with OIS and not only take measured data for its calculations, but also send EfficiencyMap calculated data back to OIS, for trending over time. A fuller explanation of an EfficiencyMap online cycle is given below, and Appendix III contains a flow diagram of the execution cycle. The first stage in the development of the system was for ENTER to build a software model of the Killingholme thermodynamic cycle, using the GateCycleTM heat balance software. Using vendor supplied performance curves, plant drawings, heat balance diagrams, and plant historical data, including the Performance Guarantee Test data, ENTER built and tested a GateCycle model. From this model they developed a set of mass and energy balance equations for the plant, as well as tables of correction factors, and the performance calculations, that make up the EfficiencyMap model. Further tuning of the model was carried out once EfficiencyMap went online, whilst trends to display the data in OIS were built. EFFICIENCYMAP ONLINE CALCULATION CYCLE The flow diagram in Appendix III and the accompanying text explains the sequence of events in the EfficiencyMap execution cycle. This sequence is repeated every 6 minutes in the Killingholme installation.

1. Read current measured data Measured data is read from the OIS database and the cross-reference file specifies tags to read and their corresponding EfficiencyMap variable names. 2. Calculate thermal properties Using measured pressures and temperatures, and gas compositions calculated after combustors then the enthalpies for exhaust gas, steam and water in the cycle are calculated. 3. Run data validation The equation file specifies the mass and energy balance equations, and the cross-reference file specifies those measurements which are to be included in the Optimisation Function. The LINGO equation solver is the used to solve the optimisation problem and produce a complete heat balance. This process is

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iterative and only stops when the value of the optimisation function has been minimised. The result of these calculations is the Optimal Validated dataset. 4. Performance Calculations All of the logic and calculations are stored in the performance script file, as are the equations specified for heat rates and component efficiencies. Table look-ups are used to access vendor supplied performance curves, such as variation of GT output with ambient temperature. Formulas are also specified for parameters such as gas turbine expected power and heat rate at part load. In the latest version of EfficiencyMap GateCycle models are also called to allow the calculation of parameters such as HRSG expected steam flows and stack temperature, and steam turbine expected power. The end results of these calculations is that three performance datasets are produced. Calculated / Validated Dataset: Represents the current performance of the plant, and may be directly measured or validated (such as gas turbine gross power), or calculated directly from measurements or validated data (such as heat rate). Expected Dataset: Represents the plant performance that would be produced if the plant were in a new and clean state at the current ambient and operating conditions. The expected is obtained by taking the reference value (typically the value at the Performance Guarantee Test) and correcting it to current operating conditions. Corrected to Standard Day (CSTD) Dataset: Represents the current performance of the plant, corrected to ISO standard conditions. 5. Write calculated data from Heat Balance file to OIS Database All of the results from steps 2, 3 and 4 are then stored in the heat balance file, and the cross-reference file is used to specify those variable that are written back to the plant database. EFFICIENCYMAP: CONCLUSION The existing system has been in operation for just over a year, and provides station staff with online efficiency data via OIS. For performance monitoring it is normally any deviation from the norm that the operator will be interested in, and so the power and heatrate deviations are trended, as well as GT corrected power and heatrate, expected condenser pressure etc. Costs are also attributed to the power and heatrate losses. Work is continuing to improve the calculation of expected performance for the HRSG and steam turbine, as well as for part load performance, though this can be hampered by lack of plant data at lower loads. As a baseload CCGT power station, with modern controls, there is normally little that the operators can do on-load to optimise plant thermal efficiency. Offline compressor washes and air inlet filter changes are the best ways to recover lost gas turbine output, but these require outages. However with the greater knowledge of current and expected plant performance that an Online Performance Monitoring System provides there should be scope for efficiency optimisation, as the operating regime at Killingholme changes.

CONCLUSION Performance testing on CCGT plant has become increasingly important as the amount of gas turbine generated electricity has dramatically increased all over the world, and new markets have been opened up to independent power producers. This paper has outlined the methodology for testing CCGTs and the relevant standards, and following this approach any operator can ensure that they are getting exactly what they contracted to pay for, in terms of output and heatrate. However performance testing and monitoring should not stop once commercial operation begins, and to optimise the substantial investment they have made the operator would be expected to look at online performance monitoring, as National Power has

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with the EfficiencyMap system at Killingholme A. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The authors wish to thank the management at National Power for their kind permission to publish this paper.

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APPENDIX I OUTPUT & HEAT RATE CORRECTION CURVES USED FOR CORRECTING TEST CONDITIONS TO PERFORMANCE GUARANTEED VALUES

APPENDIX II EVALUATION OF GAS TURBINE INLET TEMPERATURE BASED ON METHODOLOGY AS PER DIN 4341

APPENDIX III FLOW DIAGRAM FOR EFFICIENCYMAP ONLINE CALCULATION CYCLE