Two-Shift Operation at Castle Peak Power Station

OMMI (Vol. 1, Issue 2) August 2002

EXPERIENCE FROM EXTENSIVE TWO-SHIFT OPERATION OF 680MW COAL / GAS-FIRED UNITS AT CASTLE PEAK Power Station - HONG KONG Joe Chow, Plant Manager, CPPS; Kevin Ho, Technical Services Manager; Xiaoqiao Du, Senior Metallurgist; H.S. Lee, Maintenance Engineer; all of CLP Power, Hong Kong. Michael Pearson, of J. Michael Pearson & Associates, Toronto, Canada (formerly of CLP Power)

Mr. Joe Chow is currently the Plant Manager of the Castle Peak Power Station of CLP Power Hong Kong Ltd. He has been working in different positions in the Company for over 28 years as Operations Engineer, Manager, as well as Project Manager in demolition of an oil fired Power Station. He has been working in the trial of the initial development and the subsequent adjustment of the 2 shifting procedures for the Station 680MW coal fired units. Ir. Kevin K.C. Ho has worked for CLP Power Hong Kong Limited for over 20 years in technical and plant management in the Generation Business Group. Mr. Ho was the Generation Technical Services Manager when the paper was written and is currently the Safety Health & Environment Manager.

Dr. Xiaoqiao Du is the Senior Metallurgist of the Generation Technical Services of CLP Power Hong Kong Ltd. She is specialised in failure analysis, life assessment and power plant related metallurgical issues with over 20 year industrial experience and some years in university.

Mr. H S Lee was the Maintenance Engineer of the Mechanical Power Generation-Turbines in Generation Maintenance Dept. of CLP Power Hong Kong Ltd when the paper was written. He is currently involved in the construction of new combined cycle units in Black Point, Hong Kong.

Mr. Michael Pearson, formerly with CLP Power, Hong Kong, is an international consultant based near Toronto, Canada, utilizing 40 years of experience in the design, construction, startup and operation of steam and gas turbines and steam generators. He performs root cause analyses of equipment failures and advises on the specification of equipment and on the methods of unit startups and shutdowns for conventional and combined cycle installations to be subjected to a cycling or two shift operating regime.

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OMMI (Vol. 1, Issue 2) August 2002

(Note: This Paper was originally presented at the Two Shifting Conference organised by European Technology Development Ltd. and held at IOM, London, in June 2001. The paper is being reproduced here because of the importance of the subject) Summary Over 15 years of experience in two-shift operation of four 680 MW units, predominantly in coal-fired regime, has convincingly affirmed that large coal-fired generating units can perform extensive two-shift operation without requiring replacement of major components of boilers or turbines. This achievement required a focused attention to thermal and operational flexibility during the design stage, and a sound understanding of the influence of methods of operation on the conditions developed in boiler and turbine during startups and shutdowns. To accomplish this, the more damaging thermal transients that can occur in boiler, turbine and key balance of plant equipment must be avoided through the establishment of sound procedures for shutdowns and startups. The overall performance of the Castle Peak B (CPB) units, namely, availability, reliability and efficiency, has demonstrated that large, extensively two-shifted units can equal or surpass the performance of base loaded plants, and experience no more significant problems than the best performing units that operate continuously. Despite the excellent overall performance of the CPB units, the additional O & M costs incurred by two-shifting are slightly greater than the fuel cost savings achieved by improving the system efficiency of the CLP grid through economic load dispatch. Improvements made to lower the minimum load for operation with stable combustion without oil support have reduced the number of units that have to be twoshifted.

The CLP Power System Fuel utilization has changed progressively from entirely fuel oil prior to 1982, to coal from 1982 until the early 1990s, Fig. 1. Following the introduction of nuclear generation in 1994 and natural gas combined cycle generation in 1996, coalfired units, predominantly the four 680MW units in Castle Peak B Power Station (CPB), are now supplying about 30% of the electricity generated for CLP Powers customers.

TJ Gas

Coal Nuclear Oil

Figure 1 Generation Fuel Sources

Because of their large capacity relative to the size of the CLP system when the units were introduced in the latter half of the 1980s, and the large downturn in load demand overnight throughout the year on the CLP system, from the early days of operation of CPB, usually one or more CPB units had to be shutdown overnight even through the first 12 years of operation when CPB were the lowest cost generating units on the CLP grid system, Fig. 2A. Since 1994, the CPB units have been progressively displaced in merit rating by lower cost generation or contractual off-takes from newer nuclear and combined cycle generators, this has increased the frequency of two-shifting for the CPB units, Fig.2B. The four 350MW coal-fired units installed in Castle Peak A Power Station between 1982 and 1984 now provide

Two-Shift Operation at Castle Peak Power Station

OMMI (Vol. 1, Issue 2) August 2002

most of the CLP system reserve capacity and cover part of the generation during the daytime in the summer months of highest demand.

Figure 2A Generation Allocation Typical Summer Day, 1990

Figure 2B Generation Allocation Typical Summer Day, 2000

Utilization of CPB 680MW units The CPB units entered service between November 1985 and 1989. The units were specified for extensive two-shifting and the design of turbine and boiler selected had evolved over the previous 15 years to meet the standard requirement for 200 cold starts, 1,000 warm starts and 5,000 hot starts adopted by CEGB, U.K. The first CPB unit commenced regular two-shifting just 20 days after it was first synchronized. As of Dec.31, 2000, the four 680MW units in CPB had performed over 6,400 shutdownstartup cycles, of which 5,600 were hot starts after an overnight shutdown of 6 to 12 hours, and 644 were warm starts after a Sunday off load, typically for 30 to 38 hours, Figs. 3 & 4.

Two-Shift Operation at Castle Peak Power Station

OMMI (Vol. 1, Issue 2) August 2002

Starts Unit Date of First Running Operation Hours EOH Hot B1 B2 B3 B4 Nov '85 Sept '86 Sept '87 Aug '89 88,778 98,287 92,221 67,665 146,288 141,307 136,711 114,885 1,657 1,254 1,317 1,372 Warm 201 148 136 159 Cold 59 32 30 43 Total 1,917 1,434 1,483 1,574

Figure 3 Cumulative Unit Starts & Hours for CPB 680MW Units at Dec. 31, 2000

Until 1995, the CPB units on average operated close to 100 starts per year per unit, with a typical offload period of 6 to 8 hours overnight. After commissioning of the natural gas-fired combined cycle units at Black Point P.S., from 1996, the frequency of two shifting of CPB units progressively increased to an average of close to 150 hot starts per unit year, with some units performing up to 170 hot starts per year, and the shutdown periods overnight lengthened to typically 10 to 12 hours, Fig. 4. Despite the demanding conditions imposed on the units, the four CPB units have recorded consistently high standards of performance. Annual Equivalent Forced Outage Rate (EFOR) has been consistently between 0.3% and 2.4%, with the average EFOR since first operation of 1.2%, Fig. 4. Key contributors to this achievement are prudent design to mitigate the onerous conditions developed in critical parts of boiler and turbine by frequent brisk startups, optimized operation during starts based on startup tests and thermal-mechanical stress analysis of extensive measurements of transient temperatures in critical boiler components, and preventative maintenance focussed where condition monitoring and accumulated experience indicated it was likely to be most beneficial.

Figure 4 Annual Station EFOR & Number of Two-Shift Starts

Figure 5 Annual Startup Reliability & Number of Delayed Starts

Two-Shift Operation at Castle Peak Power Station

OMMI (Vol. 1, Issue 2) August 2002

Confidence in successful two-shift startups to meet dispatch requirements depends on maintaining a high startup reliability. During the first 2 to 3 years, a few design weaknesses that delayed some starts were overcome by appropriate modifications to design or methods of operation. Since then, start up reliability has remained consistently at or above 99.99%, Fig. 5. Startup costs are therefore minimized by delaying the commencement of startups after overnight shutdowns until there is just enough time to meet the scheduled time for synchronizing. Teething Problems Overcome During Early Operating Years When the 680MW units first entered service at CPB, system operation required them to generate on occasions up to 35%, but predominantly between 20% and 30% of the prevailing system demand. The early attainment of high reliability was therefore a dominant objective to reduce unit trips from load to a practical minimum, in order to prevent disconnection of customers by automatic under-frequency load shedding which resulted from the tripping of a unit carrying up to 20%~30% of system generation during minimum load overnight. Turbine bypass system controls Each CPB unit is installed with a turbine bypass system intended to provide three functional capabilities: - large load rejections, steam pressure shadowing, and unit startups. Observations on the benefits of installing turbine bypass for two-shift units are discussed later. The complex interaction of controls and protection associated with interfaces between turbine bypasses, boiler and turbine initially caused several turbine bypass related incidents, which led to a few unit trips and some delayed starts. These initial difficulties were successfully overcome by redesign of the turbine bypass controls and signal validation, and improvements to maintenance and re-calibration routines for critical turbine bypass control equipment. Controls and Instrumentation Scope and functional capability of the originally installed critical controls was generally good. However lack of attention to some of the detail design, selection of component quality, and manufacturing quality of C & I hardware, for critical or complex control systems caused some repeated unit trips or delayed restarts. Problems caused by, for example, - unreliable pressure transmitters, inadequate segregation and fuse discrimination in instrument power supplies, unreliable limit switches for their operating environment, cheap blocking diodes in complex, redundant control equipment that failed open circuit without any means of detection, - all had to be tracked down and replaced at considerably greater effort and cost than the trivial increase in total plant cost that would have been required to install appropriate C & I hardware in the first place. Two shifting experience highlighted the need for some normally-automated controls to be added to the desk to enable the operator to occasionally take manual control of, for example, the turbine gland sealing system and condenser condensate level control during starts. Oil burners High reliability of oil burner ignition was achieved after improving the capacity of core air fans and adding accumulators to the oil recirculation system to enable oil burners to be put in service in quick succession. Oil burner leak checks are made regularly before final shutdown, and burner tip maintenance is performed about once per month.

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OMMI (Vol. 1, Issue 2) August 2002

Boiler feed pumps Early problems with rotor locking of the pressure pump after shutdown caused by temperature stratification inside the pump, and with low cycle fatigue failures of pressure pump end cover retaining bolts, were successfully rectified by design modifications. LP turbine bursting diaphragms After about 100 two-shift cycles, several starts were delayed from 1 to 3 hours when attempting to draw condenser vacuum by air ingress through circumferential cracks in the lead bursting discs, which are designed to rupture at a condenser pressure of 5psig. Investigations revealed that similar problems had occurred at other installations but had never been reported to the OEM. The cracks were caused by low cycle fatigue accelerated by stress corrosion of the lead discs. The environment corrosive to lead is carbonic acid formed after breaking vacuum. Sealing of the exposed lead surfaces to prevent carbonic acid contact substantially reduced the frequency of delayed starts, but has not entirely eliminated the problem. Sudden rise in pressure in the LP turbine has been a contributory factor which has been addressed by more stringent vacuum raising procedures during startup. On occasion, inadvertent admission of a large quantity of hot water into the condenser during the shutdown period when isolating and draining down hot feedwater heaters has cracked some lead bursting diaphragms. Improvements to boiler design and startup procedures for two-shift operation During the initial operation of the first CPB unit, co-ordinated two-shift startup procedures were developed as part of the final acceptance trials by the CLP startup team with participation by the boiler and turbine designers and plant startup specialists. The startup procedures originally adopted for CPB generally followed those developed for two-shifting in the U.K. by the CEGB, but adjusted to utilize the turbine bypass, (which is not installed on CEGB units), to shorten the firing period necessary to obtain steam temperatures somewhat higher than the turbine rotor metal temperature. The priority actions during the initial 2 to 3 years of station operation was the identification and elimination of design and equipment weaknesses which if not rectified would adversely impact on availability and reliability of the units or on startup reliability. Attention then turned to evaluation of the impact of transient conditions measured during two-shift starts on the rate of cyclic life expenditure in critical parts of the boiler and turbine. These investigations concluded that the turbine presented no concerns. Each CPB turbine is installed with a microprocessor-based automatic stress control system that monitors steam conditions and metal temperatures representative of the critical parts of HP and IP rotors and HP steam chest, which it uses to continuously compute thermal stresses in these three critical components. If the unit is accelerated or loaded too quickly, or steam temperatures are poorly matched to metal temperatures in the critical parts or ramped up too quickly, then when the thermal stresses in any of the three critical turbine parts approach the limit set by the OEM, then the stress control system automatically inhibits further increase in steam flow to the turbine until temperature gradients and thermal stresses reduce. Once synchronized and block-loaded, the turbine is usually reloaded at a slower rate than it can safely accommodate for the nominal cyclic design life of 200 cold starts, 1,000 warm starts and 5,000 hot starts and it was concluded that the turbine life is likely to exceed, possibly significantly so, its design life.

Two-Shift Operation at Castle Peak Power Station

OMMI (Vol. 1, Issue 2) August 2002

In 1988, concerns stimulated by the reports of widespread extensive fatigue damage in final superheater outlet headers at other installations, which had required urgent premature replacement of some headers after relatively few starts, prompted a comprehensive evaluation of the impact of the planned extensive two-shifting on the superheater headers of the CPB boilers. An initial review of extensive measurements from 150 thermocouples, installed primarily for creep life monitoring purposes on tubes and headers of superheaters and reheater of each boiler, highlighted that conditions in the superheaters during startups were very different from those assumed. A paramount objective of the original two-shift startup procedure developed with the boiler OEM during final acceptance trials on the first unit had been to limit the fuel input during the initial period of firing to allow what was thought by the OEM to be long enough for the condensate that had collected during the shutdown and prestart purge in the pendant tubes of platen and final superheaters to boil dry before it became necessary to establish a cooling steam flow through the platen superheater tubes to prevent overheating by opening the HP bypass valve. However, it was clearly evident that, although steam flow was delayed for 20 minutes after firing commenced and with one coal mill in service for most of that time and a second mill also started, there were still substantial quantities of condensate in platen and final superheater pendant tubes when steam flow commenced. This condensate caused rapid temperature drops, and quench-cooled the closely pitched tube holes when blown into the significantly hotter outlet header of the final superheater immediately after steam flow was first established, (Reference 1). The second concern for cyclic life expenditure was the large rise in steam temperature at platen superheater outlet header at the high rate of about 20C/minute immediately after steam flow was established through the superheater during two-shift starts. The corresponding steam temperature ramp rate at final superheater outlet header was about 6 to 7C/minute and it was concluded that provided means could be found to boil off the condensate from the final superheater tubes to avoid the very damaging quench cooling of the final superheater outlet headers, (which has been a major contributor to the widespread distress at other installations in final superheater outlet headers), then the platen superheater outlet header would experience greatest thermal stresses due to its much faster rise in steam temperature and was therefore selected for analytical modelling. Additional thermocouples were installed and a programme of hot startup trials performed to endeavour to find a method for two-shift startups that fulfilled two key objectives. The first was to boil off the condensate in the pendant tube loops of platen and final superheaters. The second was to significantly lower the steam temperature ramp rate at platen superheater outlet. Temperatures recorded during many different two-shift startups by thermocouples attached to the headers and tubes provided boundary conditions for thermal-mechanical finite element analysis of the platen superheater outlet header to establish the influence of steam temperature ramp rate on their cyclic life. The tests concluded that operational methods alone were unable to boil off all condensate from the superheaters before having to establish steam flow to cool the rapidly rising tube temperatures of platen superheater because considerable quantities of condensate, which could not be drained from the sagging, notionally-horizontal tubes of the cooler primary superheater, were blown forward into the platen tube loops and then on through to the final

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OMMI (Vol. 1, Issue 2) August 2002

superheater into its relatively hot outlet header by the pressure drop established through the superheater when steam flow commenced and each time steam flow rate was increased. The tests also failed to find a means of significantly lowering the steam temperature ramp rate at platen outlet Both key startup objectives for the CPB boilers were achieved by the installation of a large warming drains at platen outlet to permit steam flow through primary and platen superheaters without initiating steam flow through the final superheater. This had not been possible with the originally CPB boilers because there were no drains between those at the bottom headers of the rear pass cage wall, which are also the inlet headers of the primary superheater, and the outlet of the final superheater, so that when steam flow was necessary to cool the platen superheater tubes, it also established flow and pressure drop through final superheaters and blew condensate into the much hotter final superheater outlet headers. The platen outlet warming drains are opened immediately after the oil burners are in service and condensate in primary superheater tubes and in the platen pendant tubes is blown out when the platen superheater outlet header is only a little hotter than the condensate at saturation temperature. Operators are now able to limit the rate of increase in steam temperature at platen outlet reasonably close to the target rate of 8C/minute. By eliminating the carry forward of condensate from primary and platen headers into the final superheater, quench cooling has been eliminated and at worst the final superheater outlet header sometimes experiences a minor chill by the remnants of condensate from some tube loops that have not boiled completely dry. Installation of the platen warming drains and enlightened operating practices during startups has produced less hostile conditions in the more critical superheater headers that are now capable of exceeding the planned lifetime number of starts for each unit, which is 5,000 hot starts,1,000 warm starts and 200 cold starts. After establishing operating methods for performing two-shift starts using the turbine bypass which safeguard the desired cyclic life of all boiler components and can be performed with repeatable conditions by all shift operators for a wide range of coal qualities with quite different combustion characteristics, during the 1990s, optimization of two-shift operation has focussed on minimizing startup costs. Power consumption by auxiliaries has been reduced by delaying the startup of the boiler feed pumps, condenser cooling water pumps and boiler fan groups. Fuel oil consumption during startups has been minimized by introducing coal firing as early as possible in the startup immediately after oil burners have been successfully ignited. Oil flow to the oil burners is restricted to the minimum required for stable combustion during startup and initial loading until oil support is no longer required. Case Example of Two Shifting Operation Key conditions developed during a typical two-shift shutdown are provided in the trend plot from unit B3 on 26/4/2001 in Attachment 1. The unloading rate follows the fall off in system demand down to about 120MW when the unit is then shutdown rapidly. The boilers were designed to minimize the fall in steam temperatures with load in order to keep the steam turbine as hot as possible after shutdown to minimize the subsequent startup duration and also to minimize thermal fatigue life expended in the critical turbine parts during the subsequent startup. When the turbine was shutdown the final superheater and reheater outlet steam temperatures had reduced from the design maximum of 540C down to 531.4C and 507.7C, respectively, which is considerably less than the fall off in temperature experienced with

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OMMI (Vol. 1, Issue 2) August 2002

many large coal-fired boilers. The use of partial sliding pressure control for HP steam further assists in keeping the HP turbine hot after shutdown, since it reduces the throttling drop in steam temperature across the HP turbine inlet valves. A typical CPB hot start is illustrated by the trend plots of key parameters from the data logger for the two-shift startup of unit B3 on 27/4/2001 after about 9 hours off load, Attachments 2A, 2B & 2C. The time from starting fans for the purge to synchronizing and block loading the turbine generator was less than one hour, of which almost 15 minutes was required to complete the purge. From first oil burner in service to block load applied took about 45 minutes. The turbine was run-up to speed and synchronized in 8 minutes and then loaded to about 150MW over 10 minutes, after which load was added to follow the increase in system demand in the early morning. The first coal mill feeder was started as soon as two rows of oil burners were in service for flame support and the platen warming drain was opened about the same time after which the platen tube temperature measured in the gas space increased from 305C to 490C at 13.2C/minute followed by a slow increase to a tube temperature of 522C. Steam temperature at platen outlet increased initially from 313C to 518C at the very moderate rate of 6.6C/minute. After firing commenced the final superheater tube temperature measured in the gas space increased from 286C to 524C at 5.5C /minute. The temperature of final superheater outlet tubes, stub header and stub pipe, also of outlet steam, did not increase until the HP bypass opened. When the HP bypass opened, the stub pipe experienced a small chill from 350C to 345C (caused by the remnants of condensate blown forward) and then ramped up as steam temperature increased. Final superheater outlet temperature increased from 410C to 535C at the moderate rate of 4.0C/minute Benefits of turbine bypasses A turbine bypass system is not essential for two-shifting units with natural circulation boilers and where thermally critical components of boiler and turbine have been appropriately designed. The CPB units can be started up without using the turbine bypass but it requires an additional 15 minutes of firing before rolling and synchronizing the turbine generator, because the size of main steam pipe drains pass 8% of BCMR flow at rated design pressure of 16.3Mpa, which is too small for routine hot starting from a pressure of about 8 to 9 MPa without a turbine bypass. Other installations with no turbine bypass system and boilers that produce much lower steam temperatures at low steam flow rates than CPB would require a significantly longer period of firing and larger main steam drains to produce steam conditions that match the turbine metal temperatures. At CPB, the turbine bypass is only used during hot starts after overnight shutdowns. There is little benefit at CPB from use of the turbine bypass during warm and cold starts because the boiler can produce the lower steam temperatures required to match the turbine metal temperatures with low steam flow rates. At other installations with boilers that produce significantly lower steam temperatures at low steam flow rates, there is likely to be some benefit from use of the turbine bypass during warm starts. Turbine bypass enables coal to be used immediately after oil burners are in service to provide flame stability. The higher heat inputs possible during initial firing improve the establishment of uniform natural circulation flows around the furnace and minimize thermal fatigue distress at the corners of the furnace caused by slow re-establishment of circulation in the corner tubes and high temperature gradients between furnace tubes from non-uniform distribution of the sub-cooled condensate developed in the downcomers during the overnight

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shutdown. Turbine bypass minimizes oil consumption during startups and also the amount of blowdown and make-up water costs. Turbine bypass facilitates more repetitive startup procedures with greater confidence of synchronizing on schedule. It also reduces cyclic life expenditure in critical boiler and turbine components. During two-shift starts, steam temperatures at the turbine are close to ideal with virtually no cooling of rotors and casings. The capacity of an HP bypass system required only for startup assistance depends on what steam temperatures the boiler can produce at low steam flow rates. At CPB, where steam temperatures produced at low steam flows are relatively high, an HP turbine bypass system capacity of about 25% at full boiler pressure would suffice, but the LP bypass capacity at CPB of 40% of BCMR flow at design hot reheat pressure cannot be reduced without introducing problems with windage heating of the HP turbine during startups. Other installations with natural circulation boilers that produce lower steam temperatures at low steam flows would require larger capacity bypass systems to be able to match HP steam temperatures to turbine metal temperatures during hot startups. A turbine bypass system sized just for startup duty can, with additional controls, protection and validation systems, also be utilized for continuous pressure shadowing of HP pressure when the unit is on load. Should an external fault cause HP pressure to rise rapidly, the HP bypass can be arranged to detect this and open and modulate to control HP pressure before any superheater safety valves lift. This reduces the risk of trip and also avoids outages to repair leaking superheating safety valves or to repair a safety valve that fails to reseat. Turbine bypass systems are a potential source of unreliability unless the design of bypass system components and condenser dump steam arrangements are appropriate to handle the onerous conditions developed in high energy steam dump systems Two shifting costs At CPB there is a net cost penalty for two-shifting units, and the minimum possible number of CPB units are shutdown each night such that the CPB units left in service will operate above their minimum load capability with stable combustion without oil support. Originally, the minimum load with four mills in service and no oil support that was regarded as safe for maintaining stable combustion without risk of mill trips was about 300 to 320MW, depending on the type of coal being fired. In order to minimize the number of two shifts and thus also O&M costs, tests were performed to optimize coal mill and combustion controls to obtain stable combustion with three mills in service without oil support at lower loads. By lowering the minimum load with stable combustion firing without any oil support down to 220MW more CPB units can remain in service overnight. Figure 6 contains the estimated cost of two shifting one CPB unit compared to operating two CPB units with both at lower load burning only coal, with no oil support for a typical overnight off-load period of 8 hours. The heat cost saved by operating one unit at higher load comprises savings from reduced coal consumption by operating at a more efficient load plus the auxiliary power consumption saved by not running boiler feed pumps, boiler fans and condenser cooling water pump overnight on the shutdown unit. The CPB units operate in partial sliding pressure control mode and therefore the additional fuel and boiler feed pump power consumption costs/unit sent out are significantly less than would be the case on units which operate with constant boiler pressure when at part load. Furthermore the CPB boilers

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are designed to produce the rated steam temperatures down to significantly lower loads than many boilers can achieve, which further reduces the amount by which heat rate increases with reducing load due to the lower thermodynamic cycle efficiency with lower steam temperatures. Thus at CPB, the startup costs for make-up water, fuel oil, coal and auxiliary power consumed while returning the unit to service are not recovered by the fuel cost savings from more efficient operation of the units that remain synchronized unless the duration of the shutdown exceeds 8 hours. Benefit of Part-loading HK$/Cycle______ Non Heat Cost: Maintenance Heat Cost Overnight Start-up Cost : Make-up Water Fuel Oil Fuel Coal Auxiliary Power 13,000 - 23,500

1,000 20.000 4,000 1,400

Total 15,900 Figure 6 Cost benefit of Part-loading two 680MW instead of Two-shifting one 680MW unit

Figure 6 highlights that there is an additional significant maintenance cost penalty per two shift cycle, even for units like CPB where replacement of major components of boiler or turbine within the design life of the plant is not anticipated. The interval between the lengthy major turbine inspections is based on Equivalent Operating Hours (EOH) which is the sum of Running Hours plus (30 x Accumulated Number of Starts). The addition of 30 hours per start is an arbitrary value recommended by the OEM. The actual EOH interval selected between major turbine inspections is influenced by the extent and nature of problems found and is likely to reduce as the units approach and pass their nominal design life. The estimated maintenance cost penalty per two-shift cycle incurred by the bringing forward of major turbine inspections due to the addition of 30 hours per start to the accumulated running hours is HKD13,000 per two-shift cycle. For units which experience reduced life in major components due to two-shifting, there will be very substantial cost penalties in addition to those included in Figure 6 to account for the costs of lengthy outages to replace major components. Major maintenance inspection outages and life expenditure assessments Midlife assessments for early indications of creep and fatigue damage have been performed on turbines and boilers. Boilers From first startup of the units, close attention was given to the avoidance of over-temperature operation of the boilers and there have been no significant boiler metal or steam temperature excursions. In addition to the normal scope of critical boiler metal temperatures displayed to the operator and recorded on hard-copy trend charts, the four CPB boilers are each installed

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with 150 permanent thermocouples on tubes, pipes and headers of the higher temperature parts of platen and final superheaters and the reheater. These were used during early operation to locate those elements of platen and final superheaters and reheater that operate with highest temperatures across the furnace width. Those headers, manifolds and interconnecting pipes that operate at highest temperature and with a significant rate of creep stain accumulation are connected to a creep life monitoring system that records, for each point monitored, the metal temperature and operating pressure every few seconds and by reverse design calculation calculates the creep life consumption, which is continuously summated. The rate of creep life consumption, which is highest at platen superheater outlet, indicates that all parts of the boiler should exceed 200,000 hours, possibly significantly so because of the conservatism built into the design code stress limits for parts subjected to creep.
The component Superheater outlet headers Economiser inlet headers Water tube header stubs Possible defects or failure modes LCF cracking associated with creep at ligaments from nozzle holes LCF cracking at ligaments from nozzle holes LCF cracking at stubs by reverse bending Inspection in overhauls No Inspection in life assessment CCTV Defects found Nil Remedy

Honing until replacement is necessary Honing until replacement is necessary Weld repair, and replacement with omega stub tubes Slit on membranes and periodic replacement Slit on membranes and periodic replacement Replacement and relaxation of the attachment

No

CCTV

Nil

MPI

MPI

Yes

Water tubes betwn adjacent bottom headers Water wall and cage wall joint tubes Waterwall tubes with attachment welds

LCF tearing cracking at end of fillet welds

MPI

MPI

Yes

LCF tearing cracking at end of fillet welds Corrosion fatigue cracking from internal

MPI

MPI

Yes

UT

UT

Nil

Figure 7 Results of operating experience and Life Assessments

Nevertheless, all four boilers were subjected to a first metallurgical condition assessment at those locations indicated by the extensive metal temperature surveys to be most likely to be the first to exhibit creep or creep-fatigue distress when each unit reached approximately 50,000 operating hours. The two leading units have recently been subjected to a second, more extensive life assessment when they were approaching 90,000 operating hours and 1,700 and 1,200 total starts, respectively. No indications of degradation of material due to

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creep were found in either boiler. Figure 7 highlights that only minor problems have been experienced in specific parts of the furnace walls that are fatigue associated with two-shift operation, and these minor problems were repaired during normal planned outages. The contribution of close attention to water chemistry control, especially during startups and shut downs, should also be emphasised. There have been no failures at CPB that result from a water chemistry problem. The next important boiler life assessment is to be performed when each unit reaches either 130,000 operating hours, or 5,000 hot starts, plus 1000 warm starts, plus 150 cold starts, whichever comes first. Operating experience and the results of life assessments have concluded that two shift operation has not caused any identifiable distress of significance in the CPB boilers. The CPB boilers have experienced no more fatigue-related problems than the boilers of any baseloaded units. Turbines The timing of major inspection outages has been mainly influenced by requirements for internal inspections of the turbines. The turbine OEM recommended an interval of 50,000 Equivalent Operating Hours (EOH) between major turbine inspection outages. The timing of EOH is calculated by adding 30 hours per startup cycle to the unit operating hours, Fig. 8.

Figure 8 Cumulative Unit Starts & Equivalent Operating Hours

Initial inspection of B2 HP and IP turbines and B3 IP turbine were performed at about 50,000 EOH, as recommended by the OEM. Since no defects or distress which might be considered as a potential forced outage concern were found during the first few turbine inspections, for subsequent turbine inspections CLP extended the EOH before first inspection and between the first and second inspections of HP and IP turbines. The later units to have turbine inspections were left until EOH was in some cases well in excess of 100,000 EOH at first

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inspection, Fig. 9. The similarity of the generally very good conditions found in all HP and IP turbines inspected, the absence of turbine casing joint leaks or bolt failures, and the small degradation experienced in turbine efficiencies, all motivated the trend towards longer intervals between turbine inspections.

Unit No B1 B2

Cylinder Operating Inspected hours 1999 HP/IP/LP 84,775 1991 HP/IP 31,739 2001* HP/IP/LP 103,000 B3 1994 IP 51,325 2000 HP 88,412 2001 LP 92,866 B4 1999 LP 61,054 2000 HP/IP 67,661 * B2 outage planned for October 2001 Year

Total Number of starts 1,692 446 1,500 765 1,396 1,495 1,196 1,573

Equivalent Operating hours 135,535 45,119 148,000 74,275 130,292 137,716 96,934 114,851

Figure 9 Major turbine inspections

Some degradation was found in HP turbines which is associated with two-shifting. Low cycle fatigue (LCF) cracks were found in the fillet radii of diaphragm grooves in all HP inner casings. The cracks are intermittent and repair was not considered necessary. Their positions and sizes have been recorded to assess future crack growth. LCF cracks were also found at the inlet end inner casing vertical centreline key blocks. In this case, the thermal gradients are such that these cracks have the potential to continue to grow and were excavated and blended to lower the thermal strain concentration factor. The crack depths were from 4mm to 8.5mm. Mechanical wear of HP and IP casings was found at the diaphragm axial crushing pegs and top and bottom keys caused by radial differential expansion of the diaphragms relative to the casings during startups and shutdowns. Since the wear could reduce axial or radial clearances between rotor and diaphragm seals, weld repair was employed to restore the original build clearances. No solid particle erosion damage was found on HP components. Minor solid particle erosion was found at the leading edge of blades of the first three stages of the IP turbine, which is attributed to exfoliation of oxide scale from the reheater during two-shift operation. When offload overnight, the superheater is maintained at pressure with steam whereas the reheater is filled with air when condenser vacuum is broken after the turbine has been shut down. The absence at CPB of the widely reported more severe solid-particle erosion damage is attributed to the care taken to ensure no overtemperature operation of superheater and reheater tubes. A generic weakness in the design of root fixing of the LP last stage blades has resulted in a propensity for shallow cracks to develop predominantly in the fillet radius at the top neck of the rotor serrations. The cracks are initiated and propagate by corrosion fatigue and their growth is related to the number of starts experienced by the rotor. The earlier rotors to be inspected had the last stage rotor serrations inspected after about 800 starts. First inspection on later rotors was deferred until 1,200 starts and cracks were deeper, but still significantly less than the safe limit. After inspection and removal of any cracks, the rotor serrations were

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shot-peened to improve surface hardness and obliterate any small surface stress raisers. The first re-inspections were after a further 450 starts which was then increased to 800 starts after re-inspections had found fewer and shallower cracks after shotpeening, as expected. Erosion of the LP last stage blades has been accelerated by two-shifting. The extent has been recorded to determine the rate of erosion at future inspections and decide when the blades must be refurbished. LCF cracking has been found at the stellited area of the valve seats of HP stop and control valves and the IP stop valve on some units. One valve seat was replaced and cracks found in the others were recorded for comparison with findings at future inspections planned for 2003. The cracks do not affect valve operation and the risk of detachment of material has been assessed to be small. . The CPB turbines are the fleet leaders on numbers of starts for Alstom turbines of similar design. The distress found related to two-shifting is not considered to be a forced outage risk and, with the exception of the LP last stage rotor serrations, does not impact on future outage planning. The defects related to two shifting operation, - the fatigue cracks identified at the HP inner casing and inlet end inner casing key block and cracks in valve seats, - can be repaired at future planned outages with minimal maintenance costs. Future turbine inspections are planned to take place at intervals of not less than 100,000 Equivalent Operating Hours, and possibly at longer intervals if no more serious distress is found at future turbine inspections. Other two-shift operation related impacts Generators The CPB generator rotors have experienced various degradations that are related to twoshifting. Pole-to-pole connections were found almost detached after they had completed close to 800 starts. Cracks were also found at the same inspection in the rotor body seatings for the retaining rings. Both of the foregoing problems are due to LCF. Design modifications have been implemented on some generators to the retaining ring seating and to the type of pole-to-pole connector to mitigate these LCF problems. Fretting, causing copper dust, and cell slot migration were also identified and it is anticipated that a complete rewind of all rotors will be required some time after 2,000 starts but dependant on the rate of degradation found at future inspections after several hundred more starts. No significant problems have occurred on stator windings. HP bypass valves The cage in the HP bypass valves is subjected to thermal shock each time the HP bypass valve opens and must be replaced when the cracks in the cage reach a critical size. The HP bypass valves open on hot starts and also in pressure-shadowing mode when HP pressure rises quickly. It appears that the cages will need to be replaced after about 1,700 to 1,800 HP bypass valve opening events.

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Conclusions Each of the four 680MW units at CPB have already completed between 70,000 and 100,000 operating hours and from 1,450 and 2,000 starts without significant problems in boilers or turbines that are attributable to thermal stresses developed during startups. Those problems related to two-shift operation that have occurred in HP and IP turbines can be managed by repairs at little extra maintenance cost at major turbine inspections performed at intervals of at least 100,000 Equivalent Operating Hours startups. Current expectations are that boilers and turbines appear to be capable of at least 200,000 operating hours with 5,000 hot starts, 1,000 warm starts and 200 cold starts before consideration may need to be given to possible replacement of some major components at some point in time after further two-shift operation. Despite the extensive two-shifting performed, the availability and reliability of the CPB units compares favorably with that of the best of the large base-loaded coal-fired plants which have performed few startups. Acknowledgements Castle Peak Power Station is owned by CAPCO, (Castle Peak Power Company), a joint venture of ExxonMobil Energy Limited and CLP Power Co. Ltd, Hong Kong. CLP Power is responsible for management of construction and operation of Castle Peak Power Station. The authors wish to record their appreciation for the approval by CLP Power to publish this paper. The assistance of C.M. Lui and S.K. Ho and other CLP Power colleagues with preparation of some of the contents of the paper is also acknowledged.

Reference 1. Controlling the rate of creep-fatigue damage on 680MW coal-fired boilers to be compatible with daily stop-start operation. - by J. M. Pearson; - 11th International Conference on Power Stations, Liege, Belgium, September 1993.

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Attachment 1. Unit Shut Down

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Attachment 2A. Unit Start Up Sequence

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Attachment 2B. Final Superheater Temperatures During Hot Start Up

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Attachment 2C. Platen Temperatures During Hot Starts

A B C D

A C B D