PowerIowa Black Start

Successful Planning Prepares Plant

to Recover from System Blackouts
By Mark Caldarello, PE
Industry deregulation, increasingly loaded
transmission systems and power flows resulting
from unplanned market mechanisms have
increased the possibility of blackouts. Following
a complete loss of system power, it is necessary
for one or more power plants to restart in an
island mode and provide power to neighboring
power plants, allowing them to start up and
complete system restoration. For these and
other reasons, Alliant Energy equipped its new
Emery Generating Station near Mason City,
Iowa, with black start diesel generators.

Total Plant

Black Start Equipment

Cost

$400 million

$5 million

Power Output

550 MW

12.6 MW

Plant Configuration

2 x 1 combined cycle

6 diesel generators

Machines

GE 7FA (CTG)
GE D11 (STG)

Caterpillar 3516B

Fuel

Natural gas and fuel oil

Fuel oil

On-line Date

April 28, 2004

Aug. 21, 2004

Table 1: A profile of Emery Generating Station and its black start equipment.

The 550-MW plant includes two GE 7FA dual

fuel combustion turbine generators, two Alstom
heat recovery steam generators, and one GE
D11 steam turbine generator. After some
investigation, it was discovered that General
Electric had no records showing that a 7FA
gas turbine had ever been black started. There
were cases where similar sized machines had
been black started overseas using a small onsite battery-started turbine to provide starting
power. There also were cases where large
gas turbines equipped with starting motors
had been black started using on-site diesel
generators, but the 7FA equipped with a static
starting system did not have any such record.
The Emery Generating Station would be the
first U.S. project to have that capability on a
General Electric 7FA. (See Table 1.)
Design Requirements
The electrical power required to start up a
power station depends on the type and size
of loads involved. For a combined-cycle plant
such as Emery, the mechanical condition of
the heat recovery steam generator at the time
of the blackout determines which loads will
be required. For design purposes, a load list
was developed using worst-case conditions. In
addition, loads were included that would allow
the plant to start up on fuel oil in case the gas
supply wasnt available. (See Table 2.)
A specification was developed and sent to
diesel generator suppliers for competitive

TECHBriefs 2007 No. 3

Load Description

Load Type

Load Size

Lighting and Heating

Resistive

200 kW

CTG Lube Oil Pump

Motor

100 hp

Air Compressor

Motor

100 hp

Boiler Feed Pump

Motor

3400 hp

Condensate Pump

Motor

350 hp

Circulating Water Pump

Motor

1600 hp

Closed Cooling Water Pumps

Motor

400 hp

Fuel Oil Heaters

Resistive

805 kW

Liquid Fuel Pump

Motor

250 hp

Auxiliary Boiler Fan and Feed Pump

Motor

90 hp

HRSG Recirculating Pumps

Motor

50 hp

Atomizing Air Compressor

Motor

500 hp

Load Commutated Inverter (LCI)

12 Pulse Inverter

3500 kW

Table 2: Black start loads.

bidding. After technical and commercial

reviews of the bids, a contract was awarded to
Ziegler Power Systems to supply six 2,100-kW
Caterpillar diesel generators and associated
equipment.
As the project continued, a number of
challenges arose. The electrical and control
systems had to be designed to allow automatic
starting and loading of a diesel generator

Burns &McDonnell

Turbine Loads

Loads

Purposes

Lube oil pump

Hydraulic pump
Seal oil pump
Lube mist separator
Turning gear
Turbine cooling fans
Battery charger

Maintain the turbines on turning gear with lube oil

Prevent a rotor bow
Keep the generator seals pressurized
Prevent a hydrogen purge from the generator
Allow for an immediate restart once startup power is
restored
Maintain DC power for control

Diesel Generator Battery chargers

Loads
Fuel oil system
Space heaters
Building lighting

Maintain DC power for starting

Fuel oil heating and transfer
Prevent condensation in equipment
Safety and operations

Other Plant
Loads

Maintain DC power and UPS power

Conditioned spaces for sensitive electronics
Freeze protection
Prevent condensation in equipment
Safety and operations

Battery charger
Selected HVAC
Heat tracing
Space heaters
Selected lighting

Table 3: Essential loads.

in an emergency. Harmonics issues had to

be evaluated. GE turbine controls had to be
changed. And a multi-disciplined project team
had to plan, design and implement every detail.

Mark Caldarello, PE, is a

senior electrical engineer at
Burns & McDonnell. He has 11
years of experience with power
generating stations across the
United States and is registered
in Florida, Kansas, Minnesota,
Texas and Utah. He has a
bachelors degree in electrical
engineering from the Georgia
Institute of Technology.
For more information, please e-mail:
mcaldarello@burnsmcd.com

essential loads had to be segregated from

non-essential loads. Every essential motor,
charger, heater and lighting panel had to
be supplied from one of four motor control
centers, and the power distribution system had
to be structured to allow the essential motor
control centers to be automatically connected
to a diesel generator in an emergency. To
avoid overloading a diesel generator, a control
system was required to automatically strip nonessential loads and then supply the essential
motor control centers in 15 second intervals to
prevent excessive starting current.

Automatic Loading
Although the term black start headlines
this project, the diesel generators also serve
as standby generators that automatically
start and provide power to essential plant
equipment during temporary power outages.
The automatic starting and loading of one
diesel generator is the first step in the black
start sequence, but since most power outages
are not widespread blackouts, the sequence
will usually end after normal power is restored,
allowing a conventional plant startup to be
completed. During power outages, the diesel
generators provide power to essential loads that
keep the turbines on turning gear, maintain
lube oil pressure, and keep the generator seals
pressurized to allow for an immediate restart
once power is restored. Without power for
these essential loads, the turbines would have
to cool down for several days before the rotor
bow could be worked out and the generators
would have to be refilled with hydrogen before a
restart. (See Table 3.)

GE Controls Changes
Since the combustion turbines were not
purchased with black start capabilities, some
equipment and software changes were required.
The combustion turbine and control system
needed the ability to start up in an island
mode, close the generator breaker to a dead
bus, remain in island mode after the generator
breaker closed, and continue in island mode
while switchyard and transmission system
breakers closed. To accomplish this, undervoltage relays were added in the GE generator
control panel, additional control wiring was
added between the turbine control system
and the generator breaker, and software
modifications were made that allowed an
operator to select island mode start and enable
dead bus closing from the operator station.

Providing the ability to automatically serve

essential loads from one of the diesel generators
required planning from the initial stages. All

Burns &McDonnell

TECHBriefs 2007 No. 3

TECHBriefs

Bur ns & McDonnell 9400 Ward Parkway Kansas City, Missouri 64114
ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

Detailed Design
Numerous equipment shop drawings were
reviewed for technical compliance and
then used to complete the final design of
everything from equipment foundations to
relay settings. Details were coordinated for
the design of the fuel system, building layout,
HVAC, underground conduit, circuit breaker
controls and synchronizing schemes. Although
the result was one of a kind, the formula for
success wasnt anything new. As always, it
took detailed interface engineering, timely
decisions, and change management as well as
close coordination with the client, vendors and
contractors.
Test Run
A test run was conducted on Aug. 21, 2004,
with harmonic analysis equipment in place.
(See Table 4.) Switchyard breakers were opened
to simulate a blackout and the first diesel
generator went to work automatically providing
power to essential loads. After an operator
pressed the black start button, all six diesel
generators went into action. The plant auxiliary
equipment was started as normal and at 10:03
a.m., an operator gave a start command to

TECHBriefs 2007 No. 3

Before Turbine Start During Turbine Start

Diesel generator load

4080 kW

8300 kW

Largest loads started

by the diesel generators

Boiler feed pump

(3400 hp)

LCI static starter

(3500 kW)

Peak current

1919 A

1400 A

Minimum voltage

3260 V

3627 V

Voltage total harmonic distortion

0.9%

6%

Current total harmonic distortion

1.7%

3.7%

Table 4: Test run data.

the combustion turbine. The LCI cranked the

generator and 15 minutes later, the turbine
purge cycle was complete. Seven minutes later,
the turbine was at full speed, and eight minutes
later, the generator breaker was closed onto a
dead bus. The whole operation went flawlessly.
The black start demonstration was another
accomplishment for a plant successful in
schedule, budget and performance. Hopefully,
the region will never experience a major
blackout, but if it does, Emery will be ready.

Burns &McDonnell