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Innovative Combined-Cycle Power Plant

Concept and Components for Cycling Duty
and Mid Merit Operation
Lothar Balling,
Jan Brckner,
Matthias Frnkle
Siemens AG, Power Generation, Germany

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Market environment of deregulation

Current forecasts show a progressing deregulation of the power market worldwide till 2005
with about 40% (Fg.1). Till then more of 55% of the market in the Europe/CIS region will be
deregulated, followed by the NAFTA-region with above 45%.

source: internal data collection and analysis

Figure 1 Deregulated markets: Share of deregulation

Despite of comparable goals concerning the liberalization of the energy markets some
significant differences in the power plant market e.g. for the USA on one hand and Western
Europe on the other hand can be observed. In Western Europe the reserve margins were
significant higher and the power transmission capacities were much better built up than in the
USA. Also the good infrastructure in the gas supply and the attractiveness for investments
avoided a decrease of market in the starting phase of liberalization and intensified the trend
towards gas-fired combined cycle Power Plants. In the coming years the still remaining
overcapacities will be reduced, in the mid term higher investment is projected again, to cover
the additional power demand, as well as to replace the not anymore economic units.

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source: internal data collection and analysis

Figure 2 Western Europe power production by energies

For the future an average growth in the European power consumption of about 2.0 % per year
is projected (Fig.2). In the North European countries, as well as in Germany, a moderate
growth of less than 1% is expected. Above average growth rates are expected for South
European countries such as Italy , Spain, Portugal, Greece and especially Turkey (about 6 %).
The most important driver for the future development of power plant market will become
besides the additional power demand the replacement of aging power plant units. The
liberalization and more restrictive environmental aspects will even accelerate this process.
Under these conditions Combined Cycle Power Plants are favored because of their relative
short pay-back periods, advantageous emission values and therefore will dominate the future
awards for power plants. However, modern Clean Coal technologies (gasification, fluidized
bed combustion) will be part of the market to establish a well balanced energy mix, especially
where indigenous resources are cheaply available.
In a deregulated business environment and its volatile natural gas and electricity prices power
plant owners shift from a cost optimized plant operation towards a profit optimized operation.
Additional demand and potential revenues for increased flexibility, availability and reduction

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of emissions can support these efforts. The gas turbine and the plant concepts with high
flexibility will be the backbone of all these business trends.

Demand for more flexible plants

Nowadays it is no longer adequate to design and optimize new power plants for one load
regime only. Due to the entrance of more modern and cost effective plants the units will be
forced to dispatch in a different operation mode after a certain time, i.e. base load-designed
plants are demanded to be operated in a non-base load regime to have them in operation only
when the revenues of electrical production are favorable or upon dispatchers request.
According ISO 3977 the load regime of a power plant is categorized based on fired hours and
starts per year (Fig. 3).
REG IM E "A" REG IM E "B" REG IM E "C" REG IM E "D" REG IM E "E" REG IM E "F"
REG
IM E "A" Utility
REG IM
E "B" REG
IM E- "C" Alte
REG
IM E "D" REG IM E "E" REG
IM E "F"
Utility
rnating,
Full Load
Base
Utility
Utility
Alte rnating, Daily Cycling
Full Load
Utility Base
Utility Continuous
Load
Inte rme diate Base / Pe ak
Daily Cycling Pe aking
Pe aking
Continuous
Load
Inte rme diate Base / Pe ak
RANGE
RANGE
Fire d Hours
8.000-8.600
6.000-8.000
3.000-6.000
2.000-3.000
200-400
200-800
Fire d Hours
8.000-8.600
6.000-8.000
3.000-6.000
2.000-3.000
200-400
200-800
S e rvice fa ctor (%)
90-100
70-90
35-70
20-50
20-50
2.2-10
S e rvice fa ctor (%)
90-100
70-90
35-70
20-50
20-50
2.2-10
Fire d S ta rts
3-40
20-80
10-60
40-120
250-300
60-150
Fire d S ta rts
3-40
20-80
10-60
40-120
250-300
60-150
Fire d Hours/S ta rt
> 200
60-400
60-400
30-60
10-18
3-8
Fire d Hours/S ta rt
> 200
60-400
60-400
30-60
10-18
3-8
Fa st S ta rts
0-5
0-10
0-20
Fa st S ta rts
0-5
0-10
0- 20
Unit Trips
0-8
1-8
1-6
1-6
1-6
1-6
Unit Trips
0-8
1-8
1-6
1-6
1-6
1-6

Figure 3 Definition of Load Regimes

Analyzing the operation regime of Siemens PG 50Hz gas turbines in commercial operation
gives an overview on todays requirement to operate V94.2- or V94.3A-class based combined
cycle power plants in intermediate or alternating operation. Power plants based on the model
V94.2 are already forced into daily cycling or peaking operation (Fig.4 ). Todays V94.3Aclass based power plants are typically operating in regime A or B. They will fall back in
ranking based on their variable production costs due to: aging, changes in unit operation and
competition by more efficient plants in a period of 5 to 10 years. Therefore these plants will
then be dispatched more often in a load regime C/D or E.

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Figure 4 Operating regimes of V94-engines

This might force power companies to overcome this described scenario by stepping forward
in ranking with the help of modernization/upgrading or the adaptation to a new operation
mode in order to ensure the competitiveness of a power plant in future.
To help owners cope with such uncertainties, Siemens PG provides combined-cycle power
plants with enhanced capabilities to maintain the dispatchability and to increase their
operational flexibility to create added value to plant owners its customers by enabling them to
continuously operate their plants under the most economic conditions.

Plant Design Considerations for Cycling/Fast Start

Capability
Operational flexibility in this regard means the power plant capability of performing increased
start-up and shut down events, high efficient part load operation and rapid load following as
well as special tasks like house load and grid support operation. This paper focuses on a
program to evaluate the impact of different load regimes on the start-up times.
Starting point: Configuration and Definitions

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Starting point of the analysis was the current design of the 50Hz single-shaft (Fig. 5). The
Siemens PG single-shaft concept has been introduced to market in 1994 (Kings Lynn, UK)
and accumulated a big pool of operational data for different load regimes which allowed to
start the analysis not just on theoretical data but on real operational data.
Kings Lynn (United Kingdom)
Concept: Single Shaft 1S.V94.3
350 MW
Output (nat. gas, site) :
Efficiency (nat. gas, site):
55.3 %
COD:
August 1996
Fuels: Natural Gas (Fuel oil Back up)

Figure 5 single-shaft 1S.V94.3 Kings Lynn

The single-shaft concept offers some inherent advantages with regard to cycling requirements
due to the lower system complexity of the water-/steam cycle. (Fig. 6).
A high level of system and plant automation in the water-/steam cycle e.g. automated drain
and vent valves as well as component redundancies in the water-/steam cycle were included
as a base assumption for a cycling plant. Since most of the systems subroutines are put into
operation by the unit coordination program during an automated start-up a critical path
analysis on a gantt-chart basis offered the best opportunities to focus on the limiting
constraints.

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Figure 6 water-/steam cycle of a single-shaft 1S.V94.3A

In the next step the team needed to agree on an operating regime. The established
differentiation between hot, warm and cold starts and the corresponding downtime
assumption was found to be not precise enough to base a thorough analysis on it. In addition
to that a definition for Start-up time in connection with unmistakable milestones was
required.
Due to the fact, that it is hard to predict a future load regime for a combined cycle power plant
which is dedicated to base-load today, a worst case scenario was picked with regard to load
regime requirements. The load regime might apply to a merchant plant which needs to operate
and survive with the opportunities and the risks of a short-term market without the security of
a long-term power purchase agreement that guarantees the revenue stream.
The attached table summarizes the assumptions of the analysis:
Definition of start-up time

From ignition of gas turbine to gas turbine at

full load and all steam-bypasses closed

Definition of shut-down time

From initiation of shutdown from base load

to flame off signal of gas turbine

Duration of an overnight standstill

8-16h

Duration of a weekend standstill

16-64h

Duration of an extended standstill

>64h

Number of starts after overnight standstill

200 starts/a

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Number of starts after weekend standstill

50 starts/a

Number of starts after extended standstill

2 starts/a

The description and considerations of the cycling capability improvements in the following
sections follow the chronological sequence of a combined cycle start-up. A typical start-up
curve for a start of a single-shaft unit after a weekend shutdown is shown in figure 7. Startups after a overnight or a extended standstill follow the same logical sequence. The
improvements and considerations are highlighted for each phase of the start-up.

Start-up preparations
As per definition the preparation for start-up is not included in the start-up time which starts
with ignition of the gas turbine. However, the single-shaft BOP design includes design
features which enables the operator to get systems ready for operation before the gas turbine
start is initiated and simplifies the start-up procedure. The use of water ring pumps and an
auxiliary boiler for seal steam supply to the steam turbine allows to pull vacuum and have the
condenser ready for operation. The first steam produced after gas turbine start can therefore
be dumped into the condenser via the steam bypasses and steam vents are not required (1).

Figure 7 Typical warm start-up after a weekend shutdown

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Prior to gas turbine (GT) start the HRSG is purged as required by code by accelerating the gas
turbine from turning speed using the start-up frequency converter (SFC) (2). The turbine
speed is then reduced to ignition speed and the ignition procedure is initiated.
HRSG
At rated speed the generator is synchronized and connected to the grid and the GT is loaded to
minimum output. A further increase of the GT exhaust gas temperature and the GT ramp rate
is limited by the allowable temperature and pressure transients of the HRSG. These transients
are determined by the thermal stresses and fatigue damage of the thick-walled HRSG
components like the HP-drum and the HP-superheater headers as well as tube connections.
The investigations of the team therefore were focused on evaluations to:

Include measures to keep the HRSG warm before start-up. This will be achieved by
using steam sparging into the evaporator and closing of the stack damper.

Implement a 2-stage attemperation to control the temperature of the HP superheater

outlet header.

Optimize the superheater and reheater outlet header designs with smallest possible
inner diameters and wall thicknesses in order to maximize the allowable temperature
gradients during start-up.

Once the HP-steam temperature approaches the GT exhaust gas temperature and the drum
levels stabilized at operating level, the gas turbine output and hence the exhaust gas
temperature is increased further with the target to reach a GT load to operate completely in
the low NOx premix mode (3).
All these measures support a reduced start-up time for a conventional drum boiler. For
conventional drum boiler design the sizing criteria of the HP-drum with regard to level
control during transient load conditions and carryover impedes to fulfill the requirements of a
cycling plant.
Reducing the start-up times further leads to considerations to overcome limitations by the
HP-drum by eliminating the HP-drum completely which leads to a once-through design of
the HRSG (fig. 8), as already demonstrated in the power plant Cottam, UK.

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Figure 8 Water-/steam cycle with once-through HRSG

Steam Turbine
In parallel to that the warm-up of the steam lines is initiated as soon as the HRSG generates
steam. Up to a certain pressure the piping systems as well as the combined steam turbine
stop/control valve casings are warmed up by opening the drain valves and the emergency
stop valves.
Prior to opening of the governor valves and rolling on of the steam turbine, the criterias for
the required steam purity, allowable temperature differences between steam and steam
turbine components and adequate temperature margins to run up the steam turbine are
checked (4).
Improvements to reduce the start-up time during this phase focused on:

a changed start-up sequence in order to ramp the ST power output oriented with
almost constant HP/HRH steam temperatures from roll on to full load. The feasibility
of an increased attemperator capacity until the GT is at full load has been checked.

modifications in the inspection and maintenance concept combined with a close

monitoring of life time consumptions help to optimize start-ups. The Siemens patented
Turbine Stress Controller (TSC) calculates the stresses of critical ST components
depending on different ramp rates. The function of the TSC is to control the start-up
ramp rates in order to minimize material fatigue and calculates the life time
consumption of the monitored parts.

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Steam/Water Cycle and cycle chemistry considerations

The use of an additional bypass deaerating in a addition to the deaeration in the condenser
reduces the waiting time for steam purity. The bypass deaerator is arranged downstream of the
condensate preheater section of the HRSG and is operated during start-up at temperatures
which allow a efficient removal of solved CO2 in the condensate.
The use of a condensate polishing plant (CPP) with mixed bed filters has been abandoned
because the auxiliary boiler ensures seal steam supply and the condenser vacuum can be kept
during plant outages. The air entering the condenser through leakages is removed by the
vacuum pumps and no CO2 or other non-condensable gases are absorbed. For this reason the
bypass-deaerator ensures that steam quality is no limiting factor during start-up.
In case a once-through design for the HRSG is used the cycle chemistry requires a
combination of pH-control with ammonia and oxygenated treatment. In the once through
boiler all volatile impurities in the feedwater will either deposit in the evaporation zone or
pass over with the steam if their concentration is low enough. In order to assure low levels of
impurities the use of a CCP is mandatory and an additional bypass deaerator is not required.
Potential improvements of start-up time
The major challenge to increase the cycling capabilities of a high efficient combined cycle
power plant without sacrificing base load performance basically comes down to the question
on how thermal stresses in the HRSG and the steam turbine might be reduced. Possible
improvements were described above. Implementing these measures helps to reduce the startup time after an overnight standstill significantly for a cycle with a optimized drum HRSG or
for a once-through design (Fig. 9).

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Figure 9 Load curves after 8h downtime

Benefits
A plant designed for increased cycling capability offers operational benefits that will
positively affect the life-cycle costs, due to:

Increased flexibility

Fuel savings

Since this plant can be operated in a fast-start, intermediate-load or a base-load mode, there is
a high degree of flexibility for the owner also with changing market conditions. The ability to
rapidly reach dispatchable load allows the owner to participate in more revenue generation
opportunities and allows additional profit depending on its specific contractual conditions.
An advantage that can be quantified are the fuel savings. Due to accelerated start-up, the
improvements significantly reduce start-up fuel. For the economic calculation on NPV-basis a
set of assumption with regard to input data was required such as fuel prices, electrical
revenues and interest rates. Furthermore a load regime and a fixed relation between expected
and unexpected starts has been fixed. This results in savings in NPV of approx. 3.5 million
over 20 years in case of a conventional water-/steam cycle using a drum boiler with cycling
features and are almost doubled for a once-through design (fig. 10).

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Figure 10 Fuel savings on NPV basis

A sensitivity analysis for differing parameters (typical for southern Europe) showed that the
NPV-values might vary by 50%.
The concept of once-through HRSG has a very positive impact not only on the plants
economics and operational flexibility, but also on the environment due to its enhanced part
load capability and reduced start-up emissions, without sacrificing high efficiency for baseload operation.

Conclusions
The single-shaft concept with enhanced cycling capabilities represents an approach for the
market that targets the needs of combined cycle power plants in intermediate duty with
frequent start-up and shutdown cycles, without sacrificing base-load operability.
Special detail in system integration using expertise and experience of a full EPC contractor is
key to the success of the plant design. Controlled steam temperatures and an advanced ST
start-up mode are considered to mitigate ST induced start-up restrictions.
Its improvement in operating flexibility helps power plant owners to be prepared for a
deregulated market to maintain their revenue stream over the uncertainty of the dispatch
requirements.

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References
[1]

The real cost of cycling powerplants: What you dont know will hurt you by S A
Lefton, P M Besuner, G P Grimsrud, Aptech Engineering, POWER, Nov/December
2002

[2]

Design of High Load Cycling Operation for Combined Cycle Power Plants by
Andrew Chrusciel, Justin Zachary, Sam Keith: Bechtel Power Corp., Published for
PowerGen International 2001, Las Vegas, NV

[3]

Successful Combined Cycle Debut for Novel Horizontal-Flow Vertical-Tube BensonHRSG by Joachim Franke, Uwe Lenk, Robert Taud: Siemens Power Generation,
Erlangen, Germany; Friedrich Klauke: Babcock Borsig Power, Oberhausen, Germany.
Published in Modern Power Systems, July 2000

[4]

Chemical Operation Experience With The CCPP Cottam by M. Rziha, B. Senger:

Siemens Power Generation, Erlangen, Germany; S. Merry, A. Greig: Powergen Cottam,
Retford, UK. Published for ESAA-Power Station Chemistry 2002, Rockhampton
Queensland

[5]

Combined Cycle Steam Turbine Operation by Leo Bize, Harry Martin: Siemens
Westinghouse Power Corporation, Orlando FL; Norbert Henkel, Edwin Gobrecht:
Siemens Power Generation, Muelheim, Germany. Published for 2001 International Joint
Power Conference, June 4-7, New Orleans, LO. JPGC2001/PWR-19127

[6]

An Integrated Combined-Cycle Plant Design that Provides Fast Start and Cycling
Capability at Base-Load Efficiency by Raymond Baumgartner, Christian Engelbert,
Mathias Groepner, Michael McManus, Erich Schmid: Siemens Westinghouse Power
Corporation, Orlando FL. Published for Electric Power 2003 Conference, March 4-6,
Houston, Texas, USA