POWER-GEN ASIA 2002, SINGAPORE, 2 to 4 OCTOBER 2002 CLIENT CONTRACTOR ALLIANCE GENERATES SAVINGS FOR POWER STATION CONTROL SYSTEM REPLACEMENT PROJECT

摘要

Large thermal plants built in the 1970s and 1980s are now being required to operate well beyond their originally envisaged twenty to thirty year plant life. As part of the plant life extension, original control systems can be replaced with modern distributed control systems, leading to operational improvements and cost savings. The traditional contracting route can lead to disputations and cost increases, because it is rarely possible to completely define the scope of work at the outset of the project. Plant changes and modifications made since the original commissioning compound these problems. Macquarie Generation owns and operates the Liddell Power Station, a major 4 × 500 MW coal-fired plant in NSW, Australia, commissioned in the early 1970s. Many major changes had been made since commissioning, including replacement of the original electrostatic precipitators and ID fans with fabric-filter dust collection equipment and associated high head ID fans. Other changes made included changes to data logging systems, fuel oil firing systems, burner management systems and many more minor changes to auxiliary equipment. As a result, plant documentation could not be guaranteed to accurately reflect the actual plant. Macquarie Generation chose a novel alliance method to implement the control system changeover, instead of the more traditional contracting route. In early 2001, following a competitive tendering process, Macquarie Generation formed an alliance with Yokogawa Australia Pty Ltd and Downer R M Lee to replace the original obsolete control equipment at Liddell Power Station. The first unit changeovers commenced in 2002. Each unit outage was restricted to nine weeks' duration. The alliance brings the customer and control system supplier together into a single team with common objectives, both technical and financial. The result has been that the control system changeover is proceeding successfully, avoiding the cost increases or disputes that have been typical for such projects. This paper describes the significant benefits and savings by undertaking a control system replacement project as an alliance between supplier and end user, instead of taking the more traditional contracting route.