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Emerson to automate CPS Energy’s new coal-fired power plant

09/19/2007

Pittsburgh, Pa., Sept. 18 — Emerson Process Management announced today that it has won a contract to apply its PlantWeb digital plant architecture with the Ovation expert control system at CPS Energy’s J.K. Spruce Power Plant Unit 2. The contract was awarded by Calaveras Power Partners, a consortium of Zachary Construction, Black & Veatch and The Industrial Company.

Spruce Unit 2, a new 750-MW facility being built adjacent to three existing coal-fired units, will be a pulverized coal-fueled steam electric generating unit with an Alstom boiler, Alstom wet flue gas desulphurization (FGD) system and a Toshiba steam turbine. The unit, which will burn low-sulfur, sub-bituminous coal from the Wyoming Powder River Basin, will feature flue gas cleaning equipment to reduce nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide and particulate emissions. When it goes into service in 2010, Spruce Unit 2 will supply enough energy to power 750,000 San Antonio-area homes.

“This project marks another milestone in CPS Energy’s ongoing efforts to bring clean, reliable and low-cost energy to its customers,” said Jim Hengel, project manager for Calaveras Power Partners. “Emerson’s automation and control technologies will play a vital role in helping achieve these important objectives.”

For this project, the Ovation control system, which was designed specifically to meet the challenges of the power generation industry, will perform data acquisition, as well as control and monitor the motor control system, burner management system, boiler furnace safety and supervisory system, sulfur dioxide absorber system, SCR (selective catalytic reduction) system and major auxiliary equipment. In all, the Ovation system, which will also interface to the steam turbine controls, will manage approximately 14,500 I/O points.

Emerson will provide 11 redundant Ovation controllers, 10 workstations, one historian and AMS Suite: Intelligent Device Manager, which streamlines device configuration and commissioning for more efficient plant startup. As part of the comprehensive project, Emerson will also provide regulators, desuperheaters, and  Fisher valves with FIELDVUE digital valve controllers.

CPS Energy is already familiar with Emerson control system technology. In another project awarded by Calaveras Power Partners, Emerson recently completed a WDPF-to-Ovation control system migration and turbine control retrofit at Spruce Unit 1.

“We’re pleased to have again been selected by Calaveras Power Partners and gratified by their confidence in Emerson’s state-of-the-art control solutions,” said Bob Yeager, president of the Power & Water Solutions division at Emerson. “We’re proud to count CPS Energy among an ever-growing number of leading utilities – including the top 10 U.S. power companies – that have chosen Ovation technology to enhance plant reliability and performance.”