Upgrading boiler feed pumps in a UK coal-fired power station

摘要

The reduction in running costs following a carefully considered pump modification can effectively pay back the initial expense, as in the case of the upgrade of a series of boiler feed pumps in a UK 2000 MW coal-fired power station where life cycle costs were used to justify capital investment. Peter Irlam, an aftermarket technical services manager at Flowserve Pump Division, provides the details. In light of the deregulation of the UK electricity industry, power stations needed to become flexible in terms of generating load and operating times, with numerous starts/stops and part-load operation becoming the norm. At Fiddlers Ferry, a 2000 MW coal-fired power station commissioned in the 1960s, the fundamental design of a 12 000 kW boiler feed pump (BFP) and aging associated ancillary equipment led to significant reliability problems when faced with these new operating demands. Moreover, the power station had been given a finite life and the associated reduction in maintenance spend had further aggravated the situation. However, with the increasing cost of gas and relatively low price of coal, older fossil fuel fired power stations became more economical to run.