• Investor Center
  • GSE Home
  • Search
GSE Solutions
  • Workforce
    Solutions
    • WORKFORCE SOLUTIONS : Training | Consulting | Staffing
    • Column 1
      • Staff Augmentation
        • Energy
          • Nuclear
          • Thermal/Fossil
          • Oil & Gas
          • Renewable Energy
          • Transmission & Distribution
        • Automotive
      • Training
        • Turn-key Training
        • Custom Training & Development
        • Certification Courses
        • On-Demand Training & Simulation (EnVision)
        • Training Calendar
    • Column 2
      • Expert Consultants
        • Nuclear Operations
        • Programs & Compliance
        • Performance Analysts
        • Procedure Writers
        • Simulation Specialists
        • Training Instructors
        • Engineers
      • Search Careers
      • Vets On Call
    • Column 3
  • Engineering
    Solutions
    • SERVICES : Programs + Training
    • Programs
      • Engineering Design
        • Mechanical Engineering
        • Fire Protection Engineering
        • Electrical / I&C Engineering
        • Civil & Structural Engineering
      • Engineering Programs
        • ASME OM Code
        • Regulatory Driven
        • Balance of Plant (BOP)
        • ASME Section XI
        • Specialty Engineering
        • Environmental
        • Software (EP-Plus Engage)
      • Decommissioning
    • Training
      • Simulation Solutions
        • Full Scope Simulators
        • Classroom Simulators
        • Engineering Simulators
        • On-Demand Simulation (EnVision)
        • Upgrades & Maintenance
        • Platforms & Development Tools
        • Advanced Models
      • Thermal Performance
        • Program Assessment
        • Lifecycle Engineering Analysis & Support
        • Monitoring & Testing
        • Software (TSM Enterprise)
      • Early Adopter Program
    • Column 3
  • Industries
    • Nuclear
    • Thermal (Fossil)
    • Process Plant
    • Government
    • Hydro Power
    • Renewable Energy
    • Automotive
  • Resources
    • Blogs & Articles
    • Event & Training Calendar
    • Case Studies
    • Resource Library
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • GSE History
    • Investor Center
    • Press Releases
    • Senior Leadership
    • Board Members
  • Careers
  • Contact
    • Contact Us
    • GSE Businesses
    • GSE Corporate Jobs
    • Staffing Jobs
  • Menu Menu
  • Workforce Solutions
    • Staff Augmentation
      • Energy
        • Nuclear
        • Thermal/Fossil
        • Oil & Gas
        • Renewable Energy
        • Transmission & Distribution
      • Automotive
    • WORKFORCE SOLUTIONS : Training | Consulting | Staffing
      • Training
        • Turn-key Training
        • Custom Training & Development
        • Certification Courses
        • On-Demand Training & Simulation (EnVision)
        • Training Calendar
      • Vets On Call
    • Expert Consultants
      • Nuclear Operations
      • Programs & Compliance
      • Performance Analysts
      • Procedure Writers
      • Simulation Specialists
      • Training Instructors
      • Engineers
    • Search Careers
  • Engineering Solutions
    • SERVICES : Programs + Training
    • Programs
      • Engineering Design
        • Mechanical Engineering
        • Fire Protection Engineering
        • Electrical / I&C Engineering
        • Civil & Structural Engineering
      • Engineering Programs
        • ASME OM Code
        • Regulatory Driven
        • Balance of Plant (BOP)
        • ASME Section XI
        • Specialty Engineering
        • Environmental
        • Software (EP-Plus Engage)
      • Decommissioning
    • Training
      • Simulation Solutions
        • Full Scope Simulators
        • Classroom Simulators
        • Engineering Simulators
        • On-Demand Simulation (EnVision)
        • Upgrades & Maintenance
        • Platforms & Development Tools
        • Advanced Models
      • Thermal Performance
        • Program Assessment
        • Lifecycle Engineering Analysis & Support
        • Monitoring & Testing
        • Software (TSM Enterprise)
      • Early Adopter Program
  • Industries
    • Nuclear
    • Thermal (Fossil)
    • Process Plant
    • Government
    • Hydro Power
    • Renewable Energy
    • Automotive
  • Resources
    • Blogs & Articles
    • Events & Training Calendar
    • Case Studies
    • Resource Library
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • GSE History
    • Investor Center
    • Press Releases
    • Senior Leadership
    • Board Members
  • Careers
  • Contact
    • Contact Us
    • GSE Businesses
    • GSE Corporate Jobs
    • Staffing Jobs

Helping thermal power plants operate ‘closer to the edge’ – Profitability in a dynamic load environment

March 6, 2020/in Simulation, Thermal/Fossil, Blog, Training

They say that trends blow from the West to the East. That blowing trend is wind (and solar) power.

While each region’s energy mix is different, traditional power plants using coal and natural gas are greatly affected by the movement toward renewable energy generation. As a result of the inherent intermittence of renewable energy, these thermal power generation plants are having a major about face in terms of their operations strategy.

Plants that were often rewarded for operating above full load are now tasked with adjusting their megawatt outputs every 15 minutes or less. A plant may need to adjust output as low as possible to avoid selling MW at a loss when renewables generation is high, while just as quickly increasing output to meet demand when the wind stops blowing, or when families come home from a hard day’s work. These plants are probably, insufficiently compensated for their contribution to grid stability.

Regardless, coal and natural gas power plants are testing the lower limits of their output. Operating ‘closer to the edge’ increases the risk of damaging equipment or tripping offline. Plants that can prove their ability to do so, in a safe and stable manner, have a better chance of profitability in this new era of energy generation.

A focus on improved operations training and enhanced engineering evaluations, coupled with a true high-fidelity simulator, helps ensure that your plant and your operators are up to the task.

Operations Training

Coal and natural gas plant operators have been trained their whole careers to start up their plant and run it at full capacity until there is a maintenance or forced outage. Often times, an operator may not even see the procedure of starting a unit from start to finish in his or her career.  Cycling the megawatt output multiple times per day is often not what the plant was designed for and increases the risk of damaging plant equipment or tripping offline.

The prevalence of risk is compounded by the fact that so many experienced operators have recently retired.  Now these plants have less experienced operators doing more ‘closer to the edge’ operations, more frequently.

Use true, high-fidelity simulator to train and let your plant staff practice ‘closer to the edge’ operations.  Without high-fidelity, there is no real way to determine if you are getting accurate enough results to implement operational practice and procedures on the real plant.  It’s a numbers game, and not having true high-fidelity just doesn’t add up.  A high-fidelity simulator will allow your plants to:

  • Develop new or fine tune your operating procedures
  • Give operators confidence in fast start, fast ramp, and low load operations
  • Prepare operators to recognize and react correctly to alarms and equipment issues
  • Keep the plant operating safely, the most important condition of them all

Engineering Evaluations

Conventional power plants were built to run at a single base-loaded capacity, often times at full nameplate generation. The upgraded control systems that will allow these plants to complete load changes and operate at a lower generating capacity are expensive investments and the cold hard truth is that utilities aren’t likely to invest in fixing major issues at traditional power plants.

Give your plant the chance it needs to operate efficiently and to succeed with a true high-fidelity simulator:

  • Test process control strategies
    • Make sure that your new control system is using automation as best as it can.
  • Test new operating procedures for dynamic operations
  • Validate new controls logics in a Virtual DCS to replicate in the plant DCS
  • Virtually commission a new process loop or unit operation being added to the plant

Conclusion

Renewable energy is an increasingly larger part of the energy mix. Conventional power plants utilizing coal and natural gas need to seize every opportunity to be profitable in this new energy era.

A true, high-fidelity simulator can give these thermal plants a leg up on the competition, enabling them to operate ‘closer to the edge’ safely.

Contact us to learn more about how GSE’s true, high-fidelity simulators have helped traditional power plants with operations training and engineering evaluations for their ‘closer to the edge’ operations.

Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on WhatsApp
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share by Mail
https://www.gses.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Blog-traditional-power-in-the-age-of-renewables-e1576074201850.png 501 753 GSE Systems https://www.gses.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/GSE-Solutions_tag-300x94.png GSE Systems2020-03-06 10:18:362021-03-24 15:30:41Helping thermal power plants operate ‘closer to the edge’ – Profitability in a dynamic load environment

Categories

  • BOP Blog Series
  • Staffing & Training Blog
  • EnVision Blog Series
  • Engineering
  • Thermal Performance
  • Uncategorized
  • Nuclear
  • Simulation
  • Thermal/Fossil
  • Blog
  • Oil & Gas
  • CCGT
  • Staffing
  • Article
  • Training

Archive

  • 2021
  • 2020
  • 2019
  • 2018
  • 2017
  • 2016
GSE Solutions
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • Linkedin
© 2022. All rights reserved.
Privacy Policy

Navigation

  • Investor Center
  • Open Jobs
  • Workforce Solutions
  • Engineering
  • Contact Us

Quick Contact Us

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

This contact form is deactivated because you refused to accept Google reCaptcha service which is necessary to validate any messages sent by the form.
‘Second simulator’ project reaches another major milestoneLooking for the ‘easy’ button? A simulator maintenance agreement...
Scroll to top

This site uses cookies to improve your browsing experience; the website may not work as expected without them. By continuing to browse this site, you consent to the use of cookies.

OKLearn More

Cookie and Privacy Settings



How we use cookies

We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.

Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.

Essential Website Cookies

These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.

Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.

We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.

We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.

Other external services

We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.

Google Webfont Settings:

Google Map Settings:

Google reCaptcha Settings:

Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:

Privacy Policy

You can read about our cookies and privacy settings in detail on our Privacy Policy Page.

Accept settingsHide notification only