Upgraded Controls Position McIntosh

Plant for Efficient Operations

www.siemens.com/energy/controls

Reprint
POWER Magazine
Vol. 156/ No. 5 / May 2012

Author
Dr. Robert Peltier, PE, POWER Magazine Editor-in-Chief

www.siemens.com/energy/controls

Reprint-Power Engineering.indd 1 5/15/12 10:53 AM

 INSTRUMENTATION & CONTROL

Upgraded Controls Position

McIntosh Plant for
Efficient Operations
Lakeland Electric’s C.D. McIntosh, Jr. Power Plant is a microcosm of the entire
power generation industry. On a single site is a once-baseload coal-fired
plant that is now operating fewer hours plus a peaking gas-fired combined
cycle plant that has swung to baseload operation. A complete controls up-
grade of the gas-fired plant last year prepared the plant for its expanded
role in producing electricity for this 108-year-old public power provider.
By Dr. Robert Peltier, PE

L
akeland Electric, the public power
arm of the City of Lakeland, Fla.,
since 1904, serves 100,000 custom-
ers in a 255-square-mile area surrounding
the central Florida city, located between
Orlando and Tampa. Low-cost electric-
ity is the name of the game for Lakeland.
The utility features the lowest rates for
small and big businesses in Florida and
has the third-lowest residential rates in
the state.
Lakeland relies on two power genera-
tion complexes for most of its electricity:
the 130-MW Larsen Power Plant and the
982-MW C.D. McIntosh, Jr. Power Plant
(MPP). Both plant sites are located on
Lake Parker in Polk County.
Lakeland is a member of the Florida
Municipal Power Pool (MPP), along
with Orlando Utilities Commission and
the Florida Municipal Power Agency’s
All-Requirements Project. The MPP is
not a capacity pool but an energy pool
that centrally commits and dispatches all
the pool members’ generating resources
in the most economical manner to meet
the pool’s total load requirements. How-
ever, each member of the MPP remains
responsible for planning and serving the
electricity needs of its service territory
and for maintaining system reserves suf-
ficient to meet the Florida Reliability Co-
ordinating Council reserve requirements.
Technology Trifecta
MPP features three different power gen-
eration technologies. Unit 3 is a nominal
1. Three technologies. The 982-MW
C.D. McIntosh, Jr. Power Plant consists of
coal-fired Unit 3 (right), the gas- and oil-fired
Units 1 and 2, a 365-MW combined cycle
plant (left), and (not visible) 20 2.5-MW EMD
diesel engines used for emergency peaking.
Courtesy: Lakeland Electric
365-MW coal-fired conventional steam
plant that burns blends of Central Ap-
palachian and Illinois Basin coals; it has
also burned small amounts of refuse-de-
rived fuel mixed with coal in past years.
The unit, 40% owned by the Orlando
Utilities Commission, was one of the
first scrubbed, zero-discharge coal units
in the nation when it entered service on
September 1, 1982. Gas- and oil-fired
Units 1 (90 MW) and 2 (110 MW) were
commissioned in February 1971 and
June 1976, respectively (Figure 1).
Advanced combined cycle technology
is also used at the MPP. In 1999, con-
struction of the simple cycle combustion
turbine (CT) portion of Unit 5 began, and
the unit was released for commercial op-
eration in May 2001. You may recall that
the 501G uses 1,050F steam from the
2. New lease on life. With low gas
prices, the combined cycle unit has assumed
baseload responsibilities from the coal-fired
units. To the right of the concrete stack is the
heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) with
selective catalytic reduction and ammonia
injection. At a right angle to the HRSG and
W501G combustion turbine is the bypass
stack. The 125-MW steam turbine is located
in the building in the background. Courtesy:
Lakeland Electric
heat recovery boiler to cool the ceramic
barrier coated transitions at the exit of
each combustor. A temporary package
boiler supplied steam for the turbine’s
steam needs during initial simple cycle
operation (Figure 2).
The conversion from simple cycle
to combined cycle began in Septem-
ber 2001 with the addition of the waste
heat boiler and a 120-MW steam tur-
bine. Construction was completed in the
spring of 2002 with the fully operational
combined cycle plant declared commer-
cial in May 2002. To meet emerging air
emissions rules, during 2009, Lakeland
Electric installed an ammonia injection
system and selective catalytic reduction
on Unit 3. The rating of the completed

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May 2012 POWER
 quently expanded when the steam bot-
3. Operator interface upgraded. The
DCS upgrade used the graphic designs from toming plant was added in 2002.
the earlier system to accelerate operators’ By the time Unit 5 was built, the
familiarity with the new system. Suggestions WDPF system, first released in the mid-
from the staff, based on almost a decade of 1980s and updated to WDPF-II in the
operation, were also used in the upgraded
mid 1990s, was a mature product that
DCS design. Source: Lakeland Electric
was rapidly approaching obsolescence.
Replacing cards that were no longer
manufactured was problematic, and the
cost of parts when available was quickly
rising. Just as significant, some of the
processors were operating at maximum
capacity. By 2010, WDPF was in need of
immediate replacement. The operating
reliability of the entire plant now hinged
on the performance of a 25-year-old con-
trol system.
combined cycle plant is 346 MW sum- Project Gets Commission
mer and 365 MW winter. Approval
The third power generation technol- Approval was received from the City
ogy used at MPP is the diesel-fueled Commission in early 2010 to replace the
peaker engine. Lakeland Electric uses obsolete Unit 5 control system with a
20 remotely operated EMD 20-cylinder modern DCS. Siemens, the CT original
reciprocating engines driving 2.5-MW equipment manufacturer, was the natural
generators during system emergencies. choice, given its intimate knowledge of
MPP Unit 5 features the first Siemens the W501G and its integrated plant op-
Power Generation W501G combustion erating requirements and strategies. The
turbine (CT) installed in the U.S. Today, Siemens SPPA-T3000 is also the only
the fleet totals 24 units. When purchased, control system that has been retrofitted
the W501G was configured with a West- to an existing W501G. With City Com-
inghouse Distributed Processor Fam- mission approval in hand, plans were
ily (WDPF) distributed control system quickly made for Siemens engineers and
(DCS). The WDPF system was subse- technicians to install the new DCS during
4. DCS overview. The DCS upgrade can be visualized as consisting of three layers. The
field terminal cabinets retained their original WDPF card-edge connectors and field device wir-
ing. A central application/automation server was added that communicates with the HMI user
interfaces in the control room via redundant Ethernet cables. Thin client workstations connect
to the server using a web interface. Courtesy: Siemens Power Generation
the already scheduled October/Novem-
ber 2010 Unit 5 outage.
The DCS replacement strategy took
two paths: upgrade the software and
minimize the hardware changes required.
The software upgrades began by ensur-
ing that the entire list of Siemens turbine
technical advisories and function logic
software upgrades were installed with
the new DCS. For example, the new DCS
includes 2-out-of-3 logic improvements
for the CT speed signals that were not
available with the old DCS.
The Siemens engineers began the soft-
ware upgrade by using the latest refer-
ence functional software release for the
W501G and the steam turbine governor
control. Next, a one-to-one logic conver-
sion was completed based on the actual
balance-of-plant equipment and steam
turbine auxiliary systems managed by
the old WDPF software. To ease the
hardware transition in the field, the con-
trols engineers reused the existing tag-
ging system for all hardwired input and
output (I/O) signals and those signals
transferred to the existing PI plant histo-
rian.
Unlike the software upgrades that are
invisible to the operator, the monitor
screen graphics used by the technicians
to operate the plant are personalized to
meet the plant’s unique needs. Siemens
duplicated the dozens of existing graphi-
cal screens of the human-machine in-
terface so well that it took a sharp eye
to recognize the differences. Many ad-
ditional graphic monitoring and alarm
screens on 24-inch monitors were added
once the operators became familiar with
the significantly increased capabilities of
the T3000 DCS (Figure 3).
Field hardware upgrades began with
Siemens technicians removing all the
old cards and then stripping the remain-
ing equipment from the cabinets, with
the exception of the original card-edge
connectors and card-edge connector wir-
ing. The hardware upgrades were config-
ured such that the new processors, I/O,
and other PROFIBUS modules could
be used in conjunction with the original
card-edge connectors to minimize wiring
changes from the field instrumentation to
the cabinets. The new I/O modules were
tied to the original field wiring by plug-
ging the existing card-edge connectors
onto a Siemens-designed interface card.

Twelve Lessons Learned
In a discussion with POWER during a plant visit in January,
Power Production Operations Manager Kevin B. Robinson, Elec-
trical & Controls Engineer Scott Fowler, and Senior MCO Mark
Penix (Figure 6) suggested a number of lessons learned that
will surely be of interest to those considering a similar DCS
upgrade project in the future:
■ Don’t underestimate the amount of work required to start up
the heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) controls. It was
our experience that the hardest part of the field retrofit was
the HRSG, particularly tuning of its control loops and pro-
cesses. The drum bypasses were also particularly difficult.
■ Three people were assigned to the factory acceptance test
(FAT) checkout team: Fowler, Senior MCO Russ Horne, and Se-
nior Controls Specialist Joe Ferro. That was sufficient during
the five-day combustion turbine (CT) control system design
review at Siemens’ Orlando facilities and five days at the
Siemens Alpharetta, Ga., T3000 DCS facility that covered the
remainder of the plant equipment and systems integration.
However, the three-man startup team was insufficient when
the checkout of the controls became the construction critical
path.
■ Ensure that you have compiled lists and setpoint settings
for all the existing trips, unloads, and runbacks (TURs) of
the original control system prior to the FATs. Because the CT
vendor begins with a “generic” specification, you may find
that you have more TURs than you had with the original sys-
tem. You may not want all the suggested TURs, and you can
usually have them removed in advance of the FAT. We also
had to remove/override a few modified runbacks during the
commissioning process.
■ Compile a list of all your steam drain valve setpoints and
dead-bands. During steam plant startup, cycling drains can
6. Learn from the experts. In a January discussion with POWER,
Electrical & Controls Engineer Scott Fowler (left), Power Production Oper-
ations Manager Kevin B. Robinson (center), and Senior MCO Mark Penix
(right) shared a number of lessons learned. Source: POWER
INSTRUMENTATION & CONTROL
wreak havoc on drum levels and plant stability.
■ Perform loop checkouts from the field through the control
system to the human-machine interface (HMI), and validate
proper response and ranges for every input and output (I/O).
We found several reversed analog loops and digital I/O points
during plant commissioning.
■ Ensure your engineers or technicians work with the distrib-
uted control system (DCS) supplier while calibrating the hy-
draulic servo valves and the inlet guide vanes. You will not
be able to do this in the future unless you develop proce-
dures during commissioning checkout.
■ Ensure that the startup work schedule is agreed to in ad-
vance, as hot commissioning of the DCS is likely to occur at
the end of the outage. For example, will commissioning be
a 24-hour-day process or limited to 12-hour days? If longer
than 12 hours each day, you may want two crews of vendor
engineers and two crews of owner engineers/technicians.
Mirror commissioning shift-change with the production de-
partment’s schedule, or there will be dead time during mul-
tiple shift changes.
■ Purchase enough site licenses. We have five HMI stations,
and when all HMIs are in use, we are unable to remotely log
in to our system via the Microsoft Terminal Server. Also, if
the vendor fails to properly “log out” from the system after
remotely dialing in, our personnel are unable to utilize our
fifth operating station. I recommend that you purchase one
or two extra licenses in addition to the number of HMIs
purchased.
■ Keep the same basic graphical display on the HMI as you
currently use to quicken operator transition to the new sys-
tem. One way to do this is to screen copy each of your cur-
rent graphic screens and provide copies to the DCS vendor
early in the project. Include a plant master screen and the
switchyard, if not already included in the original DCS screen
design. Require the vendor to return samples of the new HMI
screens as soon as possible in order to correct errors prior to
the FATs. Finally, get copies of the AutoCAD system files for
your files.
■ Send those members of the operations and controls staff
with the deepest understanding of plant operations, who are
proficient in reading logic diagrams, to each FAT. Empower
that team to make control and graphic changes to fit your
operations culture and preferences. Encourage the team to
customize the menus, add navigation shortcuts, or do what-
ever will improve the efficiency of operations.
■ Check and confirm that alarm designations and priorities be-
tween the combustion turbine portions of the DCS design are
consistent with those used on the remainder of the plant.
This would have been confusing to the plant operators had
it not been caught and corrected during the FATs.
■ Check and confirm that the labels and colors used to designate
valve and controller position are consistent between the CT and
remainder of the plant portions of the HMI design.
—Contributed by Power Production Operations Manager
Kevin B. Robinson
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May 2012 POWER
 INSTRUMENTATION & CONTROL
5. Quick cabinet retrofit. The existing
field termination cabinets were stripped and
restocked with new control hardware, signifi-
cantly reducing the time required for the retro-
fit. Electrical & Controls Engineer Scott Fowler
noted that a new optical cable was run across
the plant to link all the remote cabinets togeth-
er with the control room. Source: POWER
A subcontractor simultaneously ran
the new cabling between cabinets and
the control room and all the (thin client)
HMI control stations. A web browser
installed on each thin client provides
the user interface hosted by the DCS
Application Server. Each management,
maintenance, operation, or engineer-
ing station has a view of all aspects of
Posted with permission from May 2012. POWER, Access Intelligence. Copyright 2012. All rights reserved.
For more information on the use of this content, contact Wright’s Media at 877-652-5295
plant control and monitoring, although
access can be determined by role. SP-
PA-T3000 applications are hosted by a
fault-tolerant application server with a
dual-redundant architecture that elimi-
nates single points of failure and safe-
guards data integrity (Figure 4).
With the field wiring updated and
new DCS cards and components in
place, Siemens personnel efficiently
made the hardware conversions and
performed I/O andloop checks on the
combustion and steam turbine trip and
protection systems. The subsequent
plant startup of the completed DCS was
completed without incident (Figure 5).
However, the team had to overcome a
number of challenges to complete the
project on time (see sidebar).
Also completed during the “double
major” outage of the combustion and
steam turbines was a major inspection
of the W501G gas generator (at 47,468
hours) so the heavy mechanical portion
of the outage was the outage critical
path. However, as the mechanical work
reached about the 80% completion
point, the critical path predictably shift-
ed to the controls upgrade work, forcing
the controls team to work around the
clock for several days to maintain the
aggressive outage schedule.
Highly Anticipated Results
One year after the DCS upgrades were
completed, Unit 5 is now operating
baseload as the utility’s lowest cost
generator, rather than cycling offline
every three days or so, as in past years.
A new low-load turndown capability
was also added during the DCS retrofit.
The combined cycle plant, originally
able to operate within emissions limits
down to 50% of CT baseload, now has
the capability to operate down to 30%.
Unit 3 (the coal-fired unit) is able to
cycle down at night to about 50% load.
Together, the wide operating range of
both units provides Lakeland Electric
considerable operating flexibility when
meeting its MPP commitments.
During the summer of 2011, Unit
5 operated continuously for 122 days
until it was knocked off-line by a light-
ning strike that damaged the voltage
regulator, air emission monitor, and
other equipment. After a one-week
outage for repairs, the combined cycle
plant resumed baseload operation. As
of mid-April, the 2012 YTD equivalent
availability factor was 82.7%, which in-
cludes a combustor inspection outage,
and the equivalent forced outage rate
was only 1.43%.
The plant heat rate is much improved
with the installation of a new CT turbine
rotor and DCS in 2011. During and prior
to 2010, the plant heat rate was approxi-
mately 7,000 Btu/kWh. The plant heat
rate today is about 6,740 Btu/kWh. The
2011 gross average heat rate was 6,606
Btu/kWh. ■
—Dr. Robert Peltier, PE is POWER’s
editor-in-chief.
91354
 All rights reserved.
Trademarks mentioned in this
document are the property of Siemens
AG, its affiliates, or their respective
owners.

Subject to change without prior notice.

The information in this document
contains general descriptions of the
technical options available, which may
not apply in all cases. The required
technical options should therefore
be specified in the contract.

This article appeared in:

POWER
May 2012, Pages 54-59
Copyright 2012 by
TradeFair Group Publications

Siemens Energy, Inc.

Instrumentation, Controls & Electrical
1345 Ridgeland Parkway, Suite 116
Alpharetta, GA. 30004, USA

www.siemens.com/energy/controls

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