EM - April/May 2012 - (Page 29)

www.esb.ie/em April/May 2012 ENERGY INTERNATIONAL 29 turlough Hill Refurbishment enters final stages Lifting of new 40t rotor hub on to Unit 1 rotor shaft. A low-loader reversing down the tunnel with a stator half. Delivery of a new generator stator half for Unit 2. Abseilers inspecting the pressure shaft. Moneypoint achieves emissions milestone WitH tHE Moneypoint Environ- over 1% by the end of the year. this mental retrofit project now com- narrow margin was significant in plete and all emissions abatement that 2011 was the first time that this plant under the control of the station, new abatement equipment met and there is a genuine commitment to see exceeded our nErp commitments. the station operate to the new cleaner “the eagerness with which the environmental standards now avail- staff grasped the challenge and able to it. Operation of the abatement delivered on the station’s commitequipment presents the station ments is a testimony to the skill with a whole new set of and team work evident challenges, from linkacross all sections in the ing the operation of a station,” commented 25-year-old boiler to a station Chemist/Envinew flue-gas cleaningronmental Coordinator plant, to incorporating John Wall. the maintenance of the station Manager glenn new equipment into the pope also acknowledged already busy schedule de- 2008 aerial view the milestone. He said, manded of the plant and to of the rear of “Exceeding our commitstation with Unit managing the raw materials 2 abatement plant ment to nErp is the culrequired as reagents and the nearing completion. mination of huge effort and management of by-products input from staff not just created in the abatement process in Moneypoint, but across EsBEi. Moneypoint ended 2011 on a high this achievement is the realisation note with the emissions abatement of a project that began in 2005 and plant delivering on its national Emis- has cost over €360m. it is a credit to sions reduction plan (nErp) com- all who have been associated with mitments. the nErp was developed this project and shows what we as part of the EC’s large Combustion can achieve when faced with a new plant directive and allows thermal challenge.” the completion of the plant the option of aggregating their environmental retrofit project has emissions so that units with larger, set a new standard for power utilities; more efficient, abatement plant can Moneypoint now ranks among the compensate for the overall mass few stations that have successfully inemissions generated by all of the par- corporated nOx and sOx abatement ticipating units. equipment simultaneously across all From the beginning of the year, units. With new and more stringent it was clear that meeting emission emissions licensing on the horizon, targets would be difficult given that the station is confident that the abatesignificant improvement works to ment plant, in conjunction with the both the nOx and sOx abatement solid team-work evident over the last plants was still under way and not year, will meet whatever challenge is expected to be finished until May presented to it. n this year. this deadline was later pushed back to august when additional delays were encountered with repairs to the large fan motors associated with the sOx abatement plant. throughout the year, exemplary performance was delivered by all the staff, ensuring that maximum abatement availability was delivered at all times. While nOx emissions were well within the To the right, Unit 2 mid-way through the addition of the abatement plant; Unit nErp limits, the margin remaining 3 to the left is in the process of being for sOx mass emissions stood at just completed (2008). tUrlOUgH Hill pumped storage station, which opened in 1973, is now entering the final stages of a major refurbishment of the entire station. this refurbishment will extend the life of turlough Hill by over 25 years. the station is located in the Wicklow Mountains in a national park, which added to the complexity of the project due to severe weather conditions and access challenges. in addition, the unique cavern layout of turlough Hill added to difficult logistics. the refurbishment of turlough Hill began almost four and half years ago following the failure of Unit 1 generator stator bars. this event triggered a major life extension and modernisation investment programme which now stands at €76 million. the initial project began in november 2007 with the replacement of Unit 1 generator stator and turbine refurbishment, which was carried out by a small, dedicated project team. the unit was successfully returned to service in February 2009. during the refurbishment of Unit 1, a further investment was approved to refurbish the remaining three units in turlough Hill, which also included replacement of all electrical and C&i equipment across all four units and a large Balance of plant scope of work. the original equipment manufacturer, Voith siemens, was contracted to carry out a turnkey scope of work for replacement of the generators and refurbishment of the turbines of all four units. Unit 2 came off load in February 2010 to begin its refurbishment. dur- Jim Byrne during severe weather conditions at Turlough Hill in 2010. ing the rebuild of this unit, a major structural defect was found in the rotor rim. Following investigations, the remaining units (1, 3 and 4) were taken off load. an as found in a similar plant in Europe had resulted in a catastrophic failure of the plant. the rotors of all four units had to be replaced and a new design was commissioned to ensure the safety and technical integrity of the plant. Consequently, the project scope of work and schedule were altered significantly, and the project was now faced with the disassembly, rebuild and commissioning of all four units simultaneously. Unit 2 has completed its wet commissioning phase and, having successfully completed all tests including grid Code tests, has received its Operational Certificate from Eirgrid. Unit 1 has commenced wet commissioning and Unit 4 has completed reassembly. the station is currently forecast to be fully available with all four units back in full commercial operation by July 2012, months ahead of the original schedule. the project has an excellent safety record with over 400,000 manhours worked to date with no ltis or ltas. this has been achieved through the project team and contractor’s commitment to the management of safety and the various safety initiatives implemented such as the safety day (July 2011) and near miss/good catch safety incentive. the project has faced many unique challenges from the Balance of plant projects which are outside the main turnkey contract. these included projects such as replacing Urd cables (7km) across the national park, and the inspection and painting of the inclined penstock using absailors. the Hydro Control Centre (HCC) which manages all hydro plant across ireland is based in turlough Hill. the control room was successfully refurbished while the HCC remained fully operational. the original control system in turlough Hill was relayed based. this has now been upgraded to a modern dCs system which included the replacement of all instruments and electri- cal boards. all critical safety systems have been upgraded to sil 3 integrity. along with the replacement of the generators, stators and rotors, this will result in increased performance, efficiency and safety improvements. the project team is made up of a cross functional group from generation Operations Overhaul group, EsB international and turlough Hill staff. this blend of competence and experience together with the common focus of all the team members has undoubtedly contributed to the success of this project to-date. the team members have demonstrated true commitment, hard work and forward thinking in the success of the project. these qualities will ensure a continued focus on the safe completion of the remaining works and the successful return to full commercial operation of all four units. n Pictured (l-r) Billy Hagan (APC), Mick Kenny (APC), George Osterer (Voith Hydro Supervisor) and Darragh Duhy, Project Manager for ESB Generation Operations at the presentation of “Safe Driving Kits” to project personnel as part of the Safety Incentive Scheme. Pictured (l-r): Padraig Dooley, Jim Byrne, Paul O’Brien, David Kelleher, Darragh Duhy, Seamus O’Caoimh, Michael Sammin, Catherine Halpin (now Plant Manager Ardnacrusha), Mick Maher, Brian Hunt, Paul Greene and Tom Moran, Plant Manager Turlough Hill. http://www.esb.ie/em

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EM - April/May 2012
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EM - April/May 2012