Emerson Wins Contract to Retrofit Plant and Turbine Controls at Fellside Power Station in the United Kingdom

Replacing outdated GE Speedtronic™ Mark IV turbine controls with Emerson’s Ovation® technology translates into tighter overall control of plant operations and a concise view of key plant and turbine parameters

Emerson Process Management announced today it has received a contract to retrofit obsolete plant and turbine controls at Sellafield Ltd.’s Fellside Power Station with Ovation® technology. 
Fellside Power Station is a Combined Heat and Power (CHP) power station consisting of three 40-MW GE Frame 6B gas turbines and one 68-MW steam turbine, for a total generating capacity of 188 MW. The plant provides electricity to the United Kingdom’s national power grid as well as steam to a nearby Sellafield Ltd. nuclear facility. This contract calls for Emerson to replace the controls on one gas turbine and heat recovery steam generator (HRSG). The retrofit will take place during a scheduled eight-week outage in September and October 2009. The plant is expected to return to commercial operation in November 2009.

For the turbine controls upgrade, Emerson will replace existing GE Speedtronic™ Mark IV turbine controls with Ovation technology. Emerson will also perform various instrument upgrades on the GE gas turbine, such as installing hydraulic servo valves, linear variable displacement transducers (LVDTs) and flame detectors.
For the HRSG controls retrofit portion of the project, Emerson will replace an outdated Alstom Microrec control system, installing its proven PlantWeb® digital plant architecture with the Ovation expert control system.
The complete scope of the project calls for the Ovation system to monitor and control the Alstom HRSG and supplementary firing duct burners, as well as the GE combustion turbine, including overspeed protection. Ovation will also monitor the generator synchroniser functions and interface with the existing Continuous Emissions Monitoring System (CEMS). Emerson’s ability to provide an integrated solution gives Fellside Power Station seamless integrated turbine and HRSG control that translates tighter overall control of plant operations, and a concise view of key plant and turbine parameters.

“Ovation met all of our key functional requirements and, along with Emerson”s engineering and support capabilities, gave us confidence that a retrofit project of this size and complexity could be completed in the very tight plant outage window,” said Ian Rae, project manager, Sellafield Ltd.

“Emerson is a leader in the design, installation and support of steam, gas and boiler feedpump turbine control solutions,” said Bob Yeager, president of the Power & Water Solutions division of Emerson. “Our successful track record, coupled with our significant experience replacing GE Speedtronic Mark II, IV and V turbine controls, will help ensure this retrofit project translates into tighter, more efficient plant operation over the long term.”