In 2018, Cooperative Vitality, a era and transmission co-op headquartered in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, had a difficulty to cope with. A number of years earlier, it had joined the Midcontinent Unbiased System Operator (MISO), giving the ability supplier entry to a aggressive market. Nonetheless, Cooperative Vitality’s R.D. Morrow Sr. Producing Station, a 400-MW two-unit coal-fired facility that had opened about 40 years earlier, was not being dispatched because the co-op would have appreciated. In actual fact, the ability’s capability consider these days was working at solely about 3%.
“We couldn’t compete within the MISO market on account of the price of the unit, the shortage of flexibility, [and] startup time—once you’re bidding the unit right into a day-ahead market, a 42-hour startup time just isn’t place to be,” Mark Smith, senior vp of Energy Technology with Cooperative Vitality, defined as a visitor on The POWER Podcast.
Smith continued: “We had excessive transportation prices. Our coal got here in by rail and the route from the mine to the plant was roughly 440 miles a method. So, the transportation value was extreme. Environmental laws—the purpose submit appears to maintain transferring and issues hold ratcheting down—we didn’t know the place we had been heading. On the level that we did decommission, we had been nicely inside compliance, however the future was unsure. It was going to require loads of capital funding within the coal unit.”
With that as a backdrop, Cooperative Vitality made the choice to construct a brand new gas-fired unit to take the place of the coal models. Nonetheless, it needed to reuse as a lot gear and infrastructure because it might in an effort to be good stewards and get monetary savings.
“We reutilized the Unit 1 steam turbine generator, which is a GE reheat double-flow 204 MW on the nameplate, which, actually, for this undertaking was one of many huge components in selecting to do the repower. The 204-MW steam turbine was a fairly good match to the [gas turbine] and the warmth restoration steam generator that we used,” Smith defined.
“We reutilized our forced-draft cooling towers and our circulating water system, in addition to the water wells and demineralizer system on the plant,” he stated. “And, then, we added the brand new gear, which is the Siemens 9000HL gasoline turbine and the Nooter/Eriksen three-pressure warmth restoration steam generator. [We] coupled all of that collectively to repower the unit and now we function at roughly 572 MW, based on what time of the yr and the ambient situations.”
Cooperative Vitality took a considerably unconventional method for the undertaking, using a lot of its personal individuals to handle the job, fairly than choosing a turnkey EPC (engineering, procurement, and building) contractor. “There have been a number of causes for us to decide on what we name the multi-contract method, versus using an EPC contractor,” Trey Cannon, director of Technology Tasks with Cooperative Vitality, stated on the podcast.
“Most likely the one which was most necessary to us is simply having that full transparency and full management of your complete undertaking, together with know-how alternatives and gear procurement, collection of building contractors, and issues of that nature,” Cannon defined. “It was additionally one thing that we’re snug with, simply because we’ve used that very same method on quite a few initiatives. That’s usually how we handle our capital initiatives right here at Cooperative Vitality and it’s the identical methodology that we used once we repowered our Moselle plant … that turned out to be very profitable for us.”
There was additionally a price financial savings concerned. “We estimated that we most likely saved at the very least 15% on the full price range by using the self-build self-manage method,” stated Cannon.
In the meantime, the tactic additionally allowed Cooperative Vitality to make the most of its personal staff extra considerably all through the undertaking. “Using this contracting method allowed us to interject our staff and leverage them to the fullest extent doable. Whereas, when you had been utilizing an EPC contractor and so they had been shouldering the danger of the undertaking and the schedule, we felt like they most likely would have been extra reluctant to combine our staff into their group.”
The outcomes had been phenomenal. The undertaking completed nicely forward of schedule and nicely below price range. But, Cannon admitted that loads of the financial savings was on account of circumstances. “The market situations and the timing of the undertaking couldn’t have been higher,” he stated.
The marketplace for energy crops in 2018 was down, so Cooperative Vitality was in a position to get very aggressive pricing on the gasoline turbine and loads of different gear. As building work kicked into full swing in 2020, the market took one other dip with COVID and different components pushing initiatives to the again burner. Cooperative Vitality, nevertheless, pressed on and was in a position to cherry decide the perfect contractors and the perfect staff. To underscore how the undertaking benefited from the standard of personnel it was in a position to entice, Smith famous, “The weld rejection price for our mechanical contractor was 0.41%, which was outstanding.”
Hans Thermann, head of HL-Class Portfolio Administration with Siemens Vitality, famous that the robust collaboration between Siemens Vitality and Cooperative Vitality was additionally crucial to success. “Such a collaboration solely works with belief and openness on either side and on all ranges,” he declared.
For example, Thermann defined how leaders from Cooperative Vitality had been in a position to go to Siemens Vitality’s amenities in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Berlin, Germany, to observe progress on gear being manufactured. Testing and validation info gleaned from check rigs and Duke Vitality’s Lincoln County web site—the place the primary 60-Hz HL-class gasoline turbine is put in—was additionally shared overtly and transparently. “We had excellent conferences in these instances, and actually, that was one of many foundations of this collaboration to have this openness and belief,” stated Thermann.
Right this moment, the repowered Morrow plant is the heavy-load-carrying unit in Cooperative Vitality’s fleet. “Since we went industrial, I feel we’re carrying a 90-plus-percent capability issue on the unit,” stated Cannon.
“If it’s not the most-efficient plant in MISO South, it’s very shut,” added Smith. “And, for sure, if the unit is accessible—we’re not in a deliberate outage—it’s working and it’s usually baseloaded. In MISO, the secret is flexibility, effectivity, and reliability. The Morrow repower has checked all of these packing containers for us and has Cooperative Vitality in an amazing place for a few years to return.”
In recognition of the undertaking’s success, POWER gave the Cooperative Vitality and Siemens Vitality group its 2024 Reinvention Award. The respect was introduced within the July problem of POWER journal. A ceremony honoring all of POWER’s 2024 award winners will likely be held throughout Expertise POWER Week in Orlando, Florida, October 9–11, 2024.
To listen to the complete interview with Smith, Cannon, and Thermann, which incorporates far more in regards to the undertaking and the SGT-9000HL gasoline turbine, take heed to The POWER Podcast. Click on on the SoundCloud participant under to hear in your browser now or use the next hyperlinks to succeed in the present web page in your favourite podcast platform:
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—Aaron Larson is POWER’s government editor (@AaronL_Power, @POWERmagazine).
