Afton Combined Cycle with Hybrid Cooling

摘要

The Afton Generating Station near Las Cruces, NM, is a 225 MW-class 1x1 combined cycle project owned and operated by Public Service Co of New Mexico (PNM). The preliminary design efforts moved through five distinct configurations to reach the final design. The facility represents the state of the art in combined cycles, including unique parallel path water conserving hybrid cooling system. This cooling system is applicable for consideration at all plain sites facing water constraints. This article offers a brief history of the evolution of Afton and a summary of lessons learned. Although gray market opportunities offered Afton expedited deliveries and potentially lower pricing, there is a cost. The buyer may be forced to a configuration not ideally suited to the site or the performance requirements of the plant. At Afton, the gray market HRSG's piping connections were on the wrong side of the HRSG for the ideal layout.