Modular, Sustainable Power Generation Projects

 Emerson’s Sverre Smemo and Wärtsilä’s Raymond Walsh presented Power Plant of the Future at last week’s 2022 Emerson Exchange conference.

Wärtsilä & Emerson collaboration to achieve lowest risk and reduced cost to Smart Power Generation for a 100% sustainable future using Project Certainty. Constantly improve the process and allow for new technology to be easily implemented. Need long term life cycle solution to support the installation for 20 years

Raymond opened by describing Wärtsilä. They are helping shape decarbonization in the marine and energy industries. Globally they have delivered 74GW of power plant capacity with 2.5GW of energy storage.

Energy storage is done with battery storage. Their GEMS energy management software optimizes asset utilization and provides performance information. For battery storage, support is remote.

Sverre described how they collaboratively work to remove costs from the projects and provide optimized ongoing performance and Emerson’s work in the power production sector globally.

Raymond described the move from LNG terminals to the power plant of the future. They switched from PLCs to DCS based on the DeltaV system. They updated the engine power plant automation design based on a model-based design.

The model-based designs were dynamic models of their power plants based on Simulink. To advance cost reductions during the project phase, they began with a study of one of the LNG plants. The performed a workshop to standardize applications based on modular designs, and a focus on technology enablers. The study included how technology can help with the project, smart commissioning to speed up the process, and quick documentation based on an “enter it once” philosophy.

From a technology perspective, they looked at traditional I/O DeltaV systems versus DeltaV CHARMS I/O in smart junction boxes. They looked at using wireless instrumentation where it made sense in the application. This approach enabled more modular plant designs. The CHARMS design reduced cross wire cabinet savings by 45%, marshalling IS cabinets by 80%, DCS cabinets by 75%, smart commissioning by 1000 person-hours—for a total of $3.7 million.

From an operational perspective, they looked to optimization and simplification in the fuel systems, auto-generation of applications, and total lifecycle cost of ownership.

They concluded that it’s important to proactively introduce these concepts to the end user early. Technology is still key to optimizing costs and move value is created through collaborative efforts. This project methodology will be used in future projects. The optimization efforts are currently underway and being evaluated for the value they create.

Visit the DeltaV section of Emerson.com for more on these technologies to drive more efficient, modular projects.

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