Controls for combined cycle power plant in Uruguay!

Yokogawa has received an order from Hyundai Engineering & Construction, a major engineering company in South Korea, to supply a control system for a combined cycle power plant that it is building for La Administración Nacional de Usinas y Trasmisiones Eléctricas (UTE) in Punta del Tigre (UY). Plants of this type rely on gas and steam turbines to generate electricity. The exhaust heat from a gas turbine is used to generate steam, which is sent to a steam turbine to generate additional electricity.

Pic: Hyundai

This is the first combined cycle power plant in Uruguay and the order is Yokogawa’s first for a power plant in this country.

Uruguay depends largely on hydroelectric power. However, the amount of electricity that can be generated varies depending on seasonal weather-related factors, and the country must make up for shortfalls by importing electricity from neighboring countries. To increase the country’s power generation capacity, UTE has commissioned the construction of a highly efficient combined cycle power plant next to its existing thermal power plant in Punta del Tigre. The new plant is expected to come online in June 2015. With an installed capacity of 520 MW, it will be Uruguay’s largest thermal power plant.

For this project, Yokogawa will deliver a CENTUM® VP integrated production control system for the monitoring and control of all plant facilities, including the gas turbines, exhaust-heat-recovery boilers, and steam turbines. The company will also supply an Exaquantum™ plant information management system and DPharp EJA/EJX differential pressure/pressure transmitters, and will be responsible for the engineering, installation, and commissioning of these products. In addition, it will provide operator training services.

The winning of this order to provide a control system and other solutions for this plant, which is expected to make a significant contribution in improving the supply of power throughout the country, can be attributed to the following:

• Yokogawa’s solid track record in the power industry, including the combined cycle power plant segment
• Their long-term relationship with Hyundai Engineering & Construction
• An excellent customer support network in South America

Interest in combined cycle power plants has risen because they generate power more efficiently and emit fewer greenhouse gases than conventional thermal power plants that use only gas or steam turbines. In comparison to thermal power plants that use coal and other fuels, combined cycle power plants do not require large-scale onsite facilities, and can thus be built more quickly and at lower cost. For such reasons, power utilities all over the world are planning to construct plants of this type at sites that have ready access to natural gas.

Encouraged by its success in winning this order, Yokogawa plans to expand its control business in the power sector, including the combined cycle power plant segment.