EM - June/July 2011 - (Page 24)

24 ENERGY INTERNATIONAL June/July 2011 www.esb.ie/em Spotlight on Aghada Images: Neil Warner - www.warnerphoto.org & John Sheehan Photography 8 The investment of €360M by ESB in a new state-of-the-art 435MW Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) power plant at Aghada has increased the generating capacity at the station to 963MW, enough power to supply one million homes. Bernie Healy visits to view the latest developments at Ireland’s largest power station, which also ranks among the country’s most efficient generators. Existing Station Overview aGHaDa GeneratinG Station has a long and proud tradition of safely and reliably supplying electricity to the Grid. Unit 1 is a 258MW natural gasfired conventional plant and was commissioned in 1980. there followed in quick succession three 90MW open cycle gas turbines ct11, ct12 and ct14 which operate on natural gas primarily or on distillate as a back-up fuel. the station recently completed a €75M investment programme across these existing units, which included major overhauls of each unit and a complete change-out of the control and instrumentation equipment on Unit 1. the control room was also extensively renovated to ensure that operation of the new ccGt could be seamlessly integrated with the existing plant. Since the commissioning of the new plant, all 5 units are operated by staff from a single integrated control room. n (l-r): Paul Smith, Station Manager with Austin Stack in the control room. “tHe neW aLStOM 435MW ccGt is based on its latest Gt26B 2.2 gas turbine and is the most efficient and cleanest large scale thermal generating facility in ireland and among the most technically advanced worldwide,” paul Smith, Station Manager at aghada tells eM. “the development phase for the ccGt project started in 2003, construction commenced in august 2007, and the new plant was officially taken over by aghada in May 2010." “the last few years have been a very busy and successful period at aghada with the construction of the new ccGt and the refurbishment of the existing units,” adds paul. “this huge work load was delivered safely with great commitment and support from staff within the station and our colleagues in commercial Group and eSBi. aghada is now the only station in ireland that serves all three market segments of base load, mid-merit and peaking demand, so this very significant investment across the existing midmerit and peaking fleet will ensure that these units continue to deliver world class levels of reliability and flexibility in the competitive electricity market into the future.” eighty people are employed in the station across management, operations, technical services, maintenance, Hr, finance and administration. n (l-r): Jerry O’Connor, Neil O’Sullivan, Pat Curtin, Kevin O’Donoghue, Ronan O’Gadhra, Catherine O’Connell and Pat Fogarty. Aghada staff management forum (l-r): Eoin Crowley, Terry Cummins and Mike Daly. Plant Overview Unit Manufacturer / Model Year commissioned primary Fuel / Back-up Fuel Stack Height / m Max Output (exported to Grid) MW thermal efficiency / % availability (2010) / % Forced Outage rate (2010) / % General Info: Site area / acres Staff CCGT alstom Gt26 B2.2 2010 natural Gas / Distillate 70 435 58.7 97 2.3 Unit 1 M.a.n. / alstom 1980 natural Gas 152 258 40 90 1.9 CT11 alstom / Ge 9e 1981 natural Gas / Distillate 65 90 30 99.5 0.2 CT12 alstom / Ge 9e 1982 natural Gas / Distillate 65 90 30 99 0.8 CT14 alstom / Ge 9e 1983 natural Gas / Distillate 65 90 30 97.1 0.9 aGHaDa’S Staff Management Forum provides a positive platform to address issues that have relevance for all staff and focuses on information sharing and consultation. Members of the group are made up of representatives of the staff and management, thereby ensuring that the voice of everyone in the plant is heard. Mary Fitzpatrick, the elected chairperson of the group says that “the group holds regular meetings and works to an agreed agenda. at the minute station discussing are we performance targets”. n 158 80 (l-r): Declan O’Keeffe, Mary Fitzpatrick, Terry Cummins, Tom O’Sullivan, Willie Cunningham, Paul Smith and Pat Curtin. Missing from photo are Seamus O’Brien and Neil O’Sullivan. http://www.esb.ie/em http://www.warnerphoto.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of EM - June/July 2011

EM - June/July 2011
In This Issue
News
Services & ESB Electric Ireland
ESB Networks Ltd
ESB Energy International
Aghada in the Spotlight
Health & Habitat
Sligo Walk 2011
Life

EM - June/July 2011