ADDRESSING CHALLENGES TO PLANT OPERATING STAFFS THROUGH AUTOMATED PLANT SEQUENCES - POWID 2010

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The operating staffs of todays power generating facilities have faced an increasing level of operational responsibility over the past decade with the addition of equipment related to tightening emissions limits as well as wholesale market pressures. Add to this the coming migration of years of experience from the plant workforce and significant challenges face todays plant operators. Through the use of automated plant sequences assistance can be provided to help address these challenges. Plant sequencing technology was not always user friendly and were at times difficult to engineer and maintain. These realities are changing and today’s plant sequencing technologies address the shortcoming of the past and provide easily engineered solutions that can help reduce the demands on today’s plant operators. This paper includes a demonstration of these technologies through an operational test case facilitated by the Electric Power Research Institute for the startup of a combined cycle feedwater train. Also included is an overview of where this technology is headed and it’s application to plant automation in the future.

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