Tufts Cove Generating Station

By Gary Acker
Student ID # W0292378
Nov. 14th, 2019
 Introduction
The Tufts Cove Generating Station is a Canadian thermal generating station, located in Tufts
Cove, Dartmouth, which is in Nova Scotia's Halifax Regional Municipality. It can be spotted on
the eastern shore of Halifax Harbour by it’s three towering stacks. This station is capable of
generating 450 MW of electricity using three oil/natural gas fired steam boilers, two natural gas
fired combustion turbines, and a sixth combined-cycle generator which uses the heat exhaust
of the plant's two combustion turbines and an additional natural gas duct firing to generate an
extra 50 MW of electricity for a combined generating capacity of 500 MW.

The plant features three 152 m chimneys, one for each of the oil/natural gas fired boilers inside
the main building, called the “powerhouse”. Outside on the property you can see the two
turbine generators inside smaller housings, a docking facility and storage tanks for oil. The plant
property occupies roughly 1,000 m of shoreline. For the construction of this plant, it was
required to demolish this area of the historic neighbourhood along the eastern shore.

(*A layout of the Tufts Cove property is displayed later in this document)

Purpose
The purpose of this report is to describe what types of equipment is being used to generate
electricity at Tufts Cove Generating Station, how the equipment was originally used at the time
of it’s construction in 1965, and what progress has been made to become more cost effective
and efficient. In this document I will describe the two main types of power sources on the
property that provide our power and the Waste Heat Recovery system which adds another 10%
to its maximum capability and increases efficiency.

Demands from customers and moral requirements to act against climate change have driven
Nova Scotia Power (NSPI) to become cleaner and more efficient over the years. This has led to
many changes to the Tufts Cove property and facility over the years. The facility has gone from
being powered by mainly coal, to having dual fuel capability between coal and oil, to just oil.

Today, the plant can burn both oil and natural gas in the boilers and turbines, but due to low
prices in recent years, the entire plant has run largely on natural gas.
 History
The Tufts Cove Generating Station was constructed in 1965 and was a replacement for the
Water Street Generating Station, operated by the Halifax Electric Tramway. Originally
constructed and operated by the Nova Scotia Light and Power Company, the Tufts Cove
generating station, is now operated by Nova Scotia Power which is a subsidiary of Emera
Incorporated.

Dating to the 1790s, this site has supported a variety of uses. Such uses include a plantation
farm, dockyard and shipping wharves, a rail mill, a barking mill, and a tannery. At one point in
time, this site was the harbour crossing point for two smaller bridges that preceded the
construction of the existing Angus L. MacDonald bridge.

In the 1970s, most of Nova Scotia’s electricity was generated by burning oil. After the OPEC oil
crisis, the government made a switch to from imported oil to Cape Breton coal as Nova Scotia’s
primary source of electricity. Also, in the 1970s, Tufts Cove Generating Station made an
unfortunate decision to be solely reliant on oil, when seen in the light of the record increase in
oil prices throughout the 1970s.

Today, the Tufts Cove Generating Station can burn oil or natural gas to generate electricity, but
initially at the time of its construction, it was designed with a dual fuel capability to burn
"Bunker C" heavy fuel oil and coal. Today, oil supplies only a small amount of Nova Scotia’s
electricity and in recent years Tufts Cove has run mainly on natural gas which has dramatically
decreased its emissions profile.

Tufts Cove Generating Station has made many improvements in efficiency and their emissions
profile. Natural gas is cleaner than other fossil fuels like coal and oil because it produces less
emissions in the air. In 2000, the plant was retrofitted to burn both oil and natural gas and in
2003-2004, two 47.3 MW simple cycle natural gas fueled combustion turbine plants were
added to the property. In 2011 a combined-cycle generator was added to increase efficiency. It
captures and uses the heat exhaust of the plant's two combustion turbines and an additional
natural gas duct firing to generate another 50 MW of electricity.

Nova Scotia Power is also capable of operating other oil-fired combustion turbine units, located
in remote areas relative to Tufts Cove. The other units serve as a secondary source of
generation and are not commonly used except in emergency type situation. They are in Victoria
Junction (66 MW), Tusket (24 MW) and Burnside, Dartmouth (132 MW). These units burn
expensive light fuel oil and are not as efficient as the other thermal generating units on the
Tufts Cove property.
 History Timeline
 1965 - Tufts Cove #1 was installed. It had a dual fuel capability to burn "Bunker C" heavy
fuel oil and coal.
 1972 - Tufts Cove #1 was converted to burn only oil.
 1972 - Tufts Cove #2 (oil only) was commissioned.
 1976 - Tufts Cove #3 (also oil only) was commissioned.
 1976-1977 - A docking facility was constructed, as well as a storage tank.
 1986 - A Magnesium Hydroxide injection system for waste treatment was installed.
 1993 – A wastewater treatment facility was installed.
 1994-1995 - An electrostatic precipitator for Unit No. 2 was installed.
 2000 - The Tufts Cove plant was retrofitted to burn both oil and natural gas.
 2003-2004 - Two 47.3 MW simple cycle natural gas fueled combustion turbine plants
were commissioned.
 2011 - A sixth generating unit, known as a combined-cycle generator was added.

Generator Profiles
 Tufts Cove 1 (100 MW)
 Tufts Cove 2 (100 MW)
 Tufts Cove 3 (150 MW)

Aptly named TUC1, TUC2 and TUC3, these three generators are housed inside the
“powerhouse”, the large main building on the property.

These are three large, almost identical, steam turbine generators powered by natural gas fired
boilers.

 Tufts Cove 4 (47.3 MW)

 Tufts Cove 5 (47.3 MW)

Also similarly named, TUC4 and TUC5 are completely different types of generators. These are
twin General Electric LM6000 PC Engines with SPRay INTer-cooling (SPRINT). Also including an
air-cooled generator and a water injection module for NOx control.
 Generator Profiles (cont.)
 Tufts Cove 6 (50 MW)

This system is a Heat Recovery Steam Generator (HRSG). The Tufts Cove Waste Heat Recovery
system was added to capture waste emissions and heat from the two natural gas combustion
turbines.

How Do Each of These Systems Work?

TUC1, TUC2 and TUC3 are simple steam boiler systems.

The gas is fed to the plant at extremely high pressures. It is then fed into the reducing station at
approximately 475 PSI, but then gets reduced to a much safer 50 PSI before it enters the plant.
Distributed through piping to another reducer, it is then lowered to less than 10 PSI before it
enters the boiler at the boiler burner front. The gas is delivered to the inside combustion zone
of the boiler through more piping.

The forced draft fan feeds air into the boiler through the boiler front. Many controls and
indicators are used to closely monitor proper combustion. Water is needed to produce steam
for the electricity generating process. Water from Lake Major is purified by the reverse osmosis
treatment plant.

The de-aerator removes oxygen from the water before it is then stored and preheated for use
in the boiler. The de-aerated storage tanks supply water to the boiler feed pump. More controls
and indicators are used to closely monitor for fluctuations in pressure and temperature.

The fuel heats the boiler to high temperature and eventually converts the water a high
pressure, high temperature, super-heated steam. The boiler is ten stories high and suspended
in the building from the ceiling to allow it to expand downward as it heats up.

The superheated steam exits the boiler at 1800 PSI and at 1000 degrees Fahrenheit. The steam
exits the boiler through the main steam line, an insulated steel pipe, on its way to the turbines.
Each steam turbine has three shaft sections. One high pressure shaft; another intermediate
pressure shaft; and a third low pressure shaft.
 How Do Each of These Systems Work? (cont.)
Each turbine has more control panels which individually monitors steam, flow, pressure,
temperature and the rotational speed of the turbine. As steam travels through turbines, it
moves from a high-pressure state to a low-pressure state as it transfers all its energy to the
shaft. The mechanical energy from the shaft is transferred to the generator where electricity is
produced.

Once all the energy has been transferred to the generator, the low-pressure steam is
condensed back to a liquid as it exits the low-pressure turbine which is then directed back into
the cycle as the turbine spins at 3600 rpms. It rotates a large magnetic field which is induced in
the stator coils. Hydrogen gas is used to cool the generator. The electricity comes out of the
generator and is transferred to the outdoor transformer in the switching yard.

TUC4 and TUC5 are more complicated gas turbine generators.

More specifically, these are two General Electric LM6000 PC Engines with SPRay INTer-cooling
(SPRINT). There are many different models of this engine being used around the world. They
are labeled similarly to different luxury versions of the cars you can buy. The models available in
this General Electric engine are LM6000 PC, LM6000 PG, LM6000 PF, and LM6000 PF+.
LM6000 PC is the base model, which is the version our city has purchased to run at Tufts Cove.
Each of these units produce 47.3 MW of electricity.
The LM6000 has been in production, with many improvements in design, since 1988 when the
LM6000 program was launched.
Since this is an all-in-one package, the electricity simply out of the generator and is also
transferred to the outdoor transformer in the switching yard like the boiler system.

(*See comparison table on next page)

 How Do Each of These Systems Work? (cont.)
TUC6 is a Heat Recovery Steam Generator (HRSG).
This system captures waste emissions and heat from the two natural gas combustion turbines
and uses it to power a new steam turbine and generator set. This system alone, generates 25
MW of electricity, without additional fuel or increased emissions. Another 25 MW can be
generated by burning additional gas, mixed directly into the waste heat emission stream from
the turbines to double the energy output. This known as a combined-cycle generator.

This “double burn” of emissions contributes to decrease its emissions profile even further.
Again, the electricity is transferred to the outdoor transformer in the switching yard.

The Switching Yard

In the switching yard, to minimize energy loss during the transmission, the step-up transformer
increases the voltage of the electricity transmitting it throughout the city. The iconic stacks on
the Tuft Cove property are used to vent the burnt fuel. Inside, electrostatic precipitators are
used to remove particulate matter.

Emissions from the station in the form of particulates are a frequent source of pollution
complaints in the neighbourhood and region, and in the 1990s, NSPI funded a $32 million
project to install these filters (electrostatic precipitators) to limit the escape of pollutants.

*Displayed here is a comparison table of the most notable features of TUC4 and TUC5 (same engine type), to the top
performing model of this engine available from General Electric.

LM6000 PC (ours) LM6000 PF+ (top)

Net output (MW) without SPRINT (avg) 45 MW 53 MW
Net output (MW) with SPRINT (avg) 50 MW 58 MW
Net heat rate (Btu/kWh, LHV) 8,651 8,271
Net heat rate (kJ/kWh, LHV) 9,127 8,726
Net efficiency (%, LHV) 39.40% 41.30%
GT Min. Turn Down Load (%) 25% 50%
Exhaust Temp (°C) 440 °C 491 °C
Ramp rate (MW/minute) 50
Startup time (cold iron) (min.) 5
Reliability 99.80%
Availability 98.70%
Start reliability 99.10%
Package noise (dBA average) 85
 Layout of Tufts Cove Generating Station
(overlayed on Google Map Image - 2019)

Dock Operations Storage Tanks

Monitoring Smoke Stacks
Building ks

TUC1

TUC2 “Powerhouse”
Gas Line
TUC3
TUC4 TUC5

Conclusion
In conclusion, as the author, I would like to note out that I can see significant effort being made
by Nova Scotia Power to become more environmentally friendly and efficient in recent years.
But only by converting the systems we have in place already. These systems are becoming out-
dated and almost barbaric by tomorrows standards. Therefore, significant effort must be made
to completely switch over to systems that do not depend on oil, and ideally move away from
natural gas as well. Systems such as solar panels and wind power technology are virtually
emission free and I think that is the goal we should all aim for.
 References
Tufts Cove Generating Station [Internet]. En.wikipedia.org. 2019 [cited 16 November 2019]. Available
from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tufts_Cove_Generating_Station

LM6000 Aeroderivative Gas Turbine | GE Power [Internet]. GE.com. 2019 [cited 16 November 2019].
Available from: https://www.ge.com/power/gas/gas-turbines/lm6000

Novascotia.ca. (2019). [online] Available at:

https://novascotia.ca/nse/ea/tuftscove5/NSPITuftsCoveEAReg.pdf [Accessed 16 Nov. 2019].

[Internet]. Tealgroup.com. 2019 [cited 16 November 2019]. Available from:

http://tealgroup.com/images/TGCTOC/sample-wpsbim.pdf

YouTube [Internet]. Youtube.com. 2019 [cited 16 November 2019]. Available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qBAmuNsy10