PITTSBURGH — Emerson Process Management has received a $2.72 million contract to install its Ovation expert control system at Huadian Lingwu Power Plant units 3 and 4, which are the first 1,000-MW, ultra-supercritical units in China to use air-cooling condenser technology. The air-cooling condenser technology, typically used in subcritical power plants located in areas where water is scarce, is now also gaining traction in supercritical and ultra-supercritical units that are increasingly specified in response to environmental regulations.
Owned by Huadian Lingwu Power Generation Company, the plant is located in Yinchuan City in northwest China. It currently consists of two 600-MW, coal-fired units (units 1 and 2) that have used Ovation technology since they went into commercial operation in 2007. Units 3 and 4, expected to begin commercial operation in August 2010 and December 2010, respectively, are being built to spur economic development by serving the growing electricity needs of industry in the region.
This growth is part of the broader increase in power demand in China. China's National Development and Reform Commission stated earlier this year that the country's electricity consumption rose nearly six percent in 2009. According to the country's National Energy Administration, in the first quarter of 2010 alone China's electricity consumption rose 24.19 percent year-on-year to 969.5 billion kilowatt-hours.
As part of its automation solution, Emerson will supply a total of 67 redundant Ovation controllers, 20 workstations and more than 70 Fisher control valves to Huadian Lingwu Unit 3 and Unit 4. At each unit, an Ovation control system will perform data acquisition as well as monitor and control the air-cooled condensers, Donfang boiler, sequence control system, electric control system, modulation control system, furnace safety supervisory system, flue gas desulfurization (FGD) system, feedwater pump turbine and balance-of-plant processes. Each Ovation system will also interface to Hitachi steam turbine controls. In addition, Emerson's Ovation technology will monitor and control systems common to both units using multi-networking technology. All told, the Ovation control systems will manage a total of approximately 28,000 I/O points.
