Using Integral Power Plant Diagnosis to Boost Maintenance Efficiency

Abstract

Significant decrements in generated power at fossil fuel power plants occur in the few months following annual maintenance which, besides causing economic losses for the power plants, reduce their availability. In order to determine the causes of these decrements, it is a common practice to carry out tests to evaluate the performance of the equipment in which the problem supposedly originates. Because these tests are made individually in the equipment, it is not possible to have an integral vision of the plant operation as a whole and, therefore, the problem related to energy efficiency is not attacked from the root [1]. This paper shows a practical method using in-situ measurements and a commercial simulation computer tool that allows the power plant operators to make an integral thermodynamic assessment. It makes possible to identify the causes of efficiency decrease (for the whole plant and its components) and to quantify the contribution of each equipment to the total power loss. As a result, priorities on the maintenance of the equipment can be determined to tackle the most important energy losses, and obtaining a total solution to the problem of energy decrement. The paper includes the results obtained from the application of this methodology to assess a 158 MW fossil fuel power plant unit in Mexico.