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Making power plants energy efficient

Comprehensive solutions for

power generation

Improve plant energy output

ABB energy efficiency solutions have a proven and well-documented ability to
improve the energy efficiency of power plants. They can improve power output
to the grid by up to 10% without increasing fuel consumption.

2 | Making power plants energy efficient

Raise the plants electrical output by correcting process inefficiencies

Generate more energy from less fuel by lowering the plants fuel consumption
Increase plant revenues by selling more energy and reducing fuel wastage
Extend the operating life of the plant by optimizing asset performance
Improve operational flexibility by maximizing process efficiency
Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by minimizing the plants carbon footprint
Making power plants energy efficient | 3

Energy efficiency solutions from ABB

The efficient way to generate more power
The quickest and least expensive way to meet the growing demand for more electric
power is through energy efficiency.
By improving the plants energy efficiency, you not only generate more power
and higher revenues, you reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.
Its a win-win situation many times over.

Energy efficiency is our specialty

Energy efficiency is ABBs specialty. So too is raising
productivity, and ensuring that power plants operate reliably
and the transmission grids they are connected to are stable.

Meeting your strategic and operational targets

ABB energy efficiency solutions have a proven track record
in achieving double-digit improvements in power plant energy

These four drivers energy efficiency, productivity, reliability

and stability are intimately connected.

These solutions are built on our extensive application

experience and are designed to meet the strategic
requirements of plant management and the operational
demands of plant engineers. We know that if our solution is
to succeed, it has to have the backing of both management
and operations staff they have to be convinced that it will
make a difference and meet their respective targets and

When ABB improves the energy efficiency of a power

plant, we improve plant output and equipment reliability as
well, while ensuring the stability of the surrounding power
ABB does this across a broad range of industries,
predominantly in energy-intensive sectors like power
power generation is our business
ABB is a leading provider of integrated power and automation
solutions for conventional and renewable-based power
generation plants.
We have one of the largest installed bases in the industry,
market and technology leadership in power and automation
technologies, and unrivaled application know-how and
process expertise based on more than 125 years of power
generation experience.
Our extensive offering includes turnkey electrical,
instrumentation and control solutions, and a comprehensive
service portfolio that is geared to optimize plant performance,
reliability and efficiency, while minimizing environmental impact.

4 | Making power plants energy efficient

ABB prides itself in providing solutions that deliver on both

4 ways to improve energy efficiency
ABBs portfolio of energy efficiency solutions for power plants
meets the strategic and operational requirements of all types
of thermal power generation coal-fired, combined heat and
power, waste-to-energy, and combined cycle.

Our portfolio covers the four essential areas of energy

efficiency enhancement:
Energy efficiency assessments
Application-based solution packages
Plant and process optimization systems
EBoP upgrade and rehabilitation projects with
an energy efficiency focus

Making power plants energy efficient | 5

Energy efficiency assessments

Identifying opportunities for energy savings

Application-based solution packages

Boosting plant efficiency

Everything grows older with time. After 10 or more years of operation, a plant
will no longer be operating at best practice levels. Efficiency deteriorates, new
technologies appear and benchmarks are raised. Not to mention the growing
constraints of environmental requirements and the rising cost of fuel. The
most efficient way to meet these challenges is to improve the energy efficiency
of the plant. The first step in that process is to perform an energy efficiency

ABB application-based solution packages are designed to cover all eventualities.

Our objective is to provide a complete solution to a problem not just a tool or
service that solves a small part of a larger problem.

Phase 1: Identifying the opportunities

The purpose of an ABB energy efficiency assessment is to
identify opportunities for improving the energy efficiency
of the power plant and to estimate the size and value of those
We do this by dispatching a small, experienced and highly
qualified team of ABB experts to the plant. Each member of
that team is a vastly experienced electrical or automation
engineer and has a deep understanding of power plants and
power generation processes.
The team uses its expertise to determine where the most
significant plant inefficiencies are likely to be found. By
interpreting plant operational data and working closely with
the plant operations and maintenance staff, we are able
to quickly identify 3050 opportunities for improvements in
energy efficiency. These are analyzed, evaluated and
narrowed down to the 1012 that best meet the customers
priorities and requirements for return on investment.
Phase 2: Prioritizing the opportunities
The 1012 opportunities are developed into a detailed
implementation plan to deliver the energy savings estimated.
The plan takes the form of a suite of improvement projects,
each with well-understood benefits and benefit verification
methods, including implementation costs and implementation
scheme, technology options and potential vendors. The
opportunities cover three types of improvement projects:
Quick-win optimization projects that are quick and
inexpensive to implement
Intermediate projects that are relatively inexpensive
to implement and have relatively fast payback times
Large rehabilitation projects that offer large returns
but require larger investment
Phase 3: Implementing the opportunities
The projects are implemented, completed and the benefits
validated by ABB. Simple projects might be implemented
within a few weeks, more complex projects may take up to
two years.
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Typical areas of investigation

Typically, an ABB energy efficiency assessment investigates the
efficiency improvements and savings that can be made in the
plants main energy systems: fired equipment; steam equipment;
electricity generation equipment; pump, fan and motor systems;
HV, MV and LV electrical systems; compressed air and industrial
gas equipment; heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems;
and industrial refrigeration and chilling systems.

ABB has supplied and implemented solution packages at

thermal power plants worldwide, and has achieved some
remarkable results. Our target is always to improve the plants
energy efficiency significantly. Our portfolio consists of three
solution packages for steam generation, power generation,
and auxiliaries and balance of plant.

We measure and record the energy consumption of the

equipment and systems, correlate it with plant output, and
compare it to an appropriate benchmark. We then set targets
to reduce or control energy consumption, frequently compare
the amount of energy consumed with the targets set, report any
variances and implement measures to correct the variances.
We also assess plant practices and staff behavior in energy
efficiency matters, from energy strategy and policy to capital
investment, operational planning and performance, staff training
and development, and staff motivation.

Steam generation
Optimize the boiler air-to-fuel ratios and blow down rates
Stoker furnaces are often run with excessive oxygen levels.
This generates heat losses, requires high volumes of air to
be blown into the furnace and high volumes of flue gases to
be treated in the flue gas cleaning system. By reducing the
oxygen level and maintaining a low level of carbon monoxide,
ABB has achieved the following performance improvements
at a thermal power plant:
10% reduction in plant auxiliary power consumption
1% increase in combustion efficiency, which is equal to a
1% increase in gross electrical output.

Case study
Total opportunities savings worth $11 million/year
The site is a power and desalination complex in the
Gulf Arab states. It produces 1,000 MW of power and
approximately 68 million imperial gallons of water a day.
ABB conducted an energy efficiency assessment in 2011
and identified 32 energy-saving opportunities in various
site systems.
The potential savings of these 32 opportunities were
estimated to be worth up to 400,000 MWh/year and
US$ 11 million/year. Eight of these opportunities were
quick-win opportunities, providing an immediate return
upon implementation, with no third-party requirement and
little or no further development or investment required.
One opportunity was a major quick-win, with potential fuel
savings worth $1 million a year.

Install variable speed drives in pump and

fan applications
There are several parts of the steam generation process
where considerable energy savings can be made. By replacing
fixed-speed mechanical control with variable speed electrical
control, savings as high as 50% have been recorded by ABB
in the following steam generation applications: boiler feedwater pumps, cooling water pumps, circulation water pumps,
forced draft and induced draft fans.

Installation of efficient burners

Inefficient boilers consume excessive quantities of coal and
water. During an energy efficiency assessment for a thermal
power plant in China, ABB discovered that the boiler blowdown rate was above normal, causing heat and water losses
that cost more than $500,000 a year. This was one of many
quick-win opportunities with low investment costs that ABB
identified at the site.
Power generation
Thermodynamic performance
Optimization of extraction/back-pressure steam control
Turbine control of individual units
Turbine control of multiple units for optimum heat rates
Performance deterioration monitoring of turbine
Predictive maintenance programs for turbine and condenser
Auxiliaries and balance of plant
Field devices (instrumentationandanalytics)
Compressed air system
Leakage reduction program
Optimized compressor operation
Reduced header pressure
Cooling water system optimization
VSDs for cooling water pumps and fans
Data acquisition system
Alarm systems

Optimize the boiler load profiles to meet demand

ABB has developed a sophisticated solution for waste-toenergy plants that optimizes grate combustion and forecasts
district heating consumption. This enables the plants to convert
excess thermal energy into electricity for sale on the spot
market. The results achieved at one plant include a 20%
reduction in CO emissions, a 2.5% reduction in steam flow
rate variations, and monthly revenues of up to $180,000 from
the sale of excess electricity on the spot market.
Making power plants energy efficient | 7

Plant and process optimization systems

Getting the most from your assets
ABB offers a comprehensive portfolio of plant and process optimization products
that improve the efficiency and lower the energy consumption of plant equipment
and entire power plant units. These widely proven products are part of ABBs
hugely successful Optimax and WACS optimization suites for power plants and
waste-to-energy plants respectively.

Intelligent multi-pump control

ABBs Intelligent Pump Control (IPC) incorporates all the
functions necessary to make pumps operate energy efficiently.
Designed for multi-pump applications where the flow rate is
variable, IPC delivers significant energy savings by among
other things adjusting the number of pumps in operation to
match the changing flow rate. Its built-in redundancy ensures
the highest levels of availability, even if one of the pumps fails.

Boiler start-up optimization

BoilerMax is ABBs predictive model-based multivariable
controller for online optimization of boiler start-up. It reduces
start-up and shutdown times, while taking into account
specific process conditions such as thermal stress of critical
components and the margins for maximum permissible loads.
The resultant savings in fuel and auxiliary power are between
10 20% for each plant start-up.

Pump efficiency monitoring

ABBs PumpEfficiency continuously and accurately monitors
pump efficiency and flow by measuring the water temperature,
water pressure and motor power of each pump. The solution
is based on the ABB High Accuracy Delta-T Transmitter
(HADTT), which was developed and patented especially for
this application. This easy-to-install product provides a rich
source of data that can be used for maintenance planning
and for optimizing load allocation to pump groups.

Turbine and boiler coordination

Large energy savings can be achieved during plant start-up
and shutdown through the coordination of turbine and boiler
control. ABBs MODAN and MODAKOND unit control systems
enable controlled start-ups/shutdowns and load changes
under economically optimized conditions. One of their main
functions is to reduce the unnecessary throttling of turbine
control valves. A reduction of just 3 bar can save around
1500 MWh in energy a year and result in smoother operation
and less stress on the main plant components.

MPC combustion control for WtE plants

For waste-to-energy plants, ABB has developed a model
predictive combustion control module that achieves maximum
fuel conversion efficiency and lowest flue gas losses, even
with a highly variable waste quality. It can be easily configured
to follow preselected targets, such as maximum waste
throughput, minimum CO emissions, and maximum thermal
efficiency. The module can be retrofitted to any ABB or
third-party DCS or PLC.
Combustion optimization for thermal boilers
ABBs Dynamic Optimizer provides multivariable model
predictive control for optimizing the combustion process in
coal-fired boilers. Dynamic Optimizer has a long track record
in improving boiler efficiency through its ability to focus on
a wide variety of optimization targets, such as NO x, CO and
CO2 emissions, excess air, exhaust gas temperature, boiler
wall atmosphere, and fire configuration.

8 | Making power plants energy efficient

Lifetime monitoring of steam generators

ABBs BoilerLife provides lifetime monitoring of boilers and
heat recovery steam generators. It measures the onset of
fatigue and creep in major thick-walled components against
German TRD and European EN standards for steam boilers.
Benefits include improved boiler maintenance scheduling,
feedback on the effects of operational methods, and the
avoidance of excessive stress on the boiler and costly
unscheduled repairs.

Load scheduling optimization

ABBs PowerFit determines the optimal distribution and
scheduling of power and/or heat generation for multi-unit
power plants (also known as unit commitment). Users
can define technical and commercial constraints, as well
as lifetime and emission constraints. PowerFit optimizes
generated and purchased energy to satisfy load demands
posed by energy consumers, and acts as a decision-support
tool for cost-optimal trading in deregulated markets.

Power plant performance monitoring

ABBs PlantPerformance continuously compares actual
plant performance with expected plant performance.
Users can configure models based on their own calculation
principles or integrate simulation models to calculate the
best achievable plant performance. PlantPerformance
provides an early warning of equipment degradation and
performance deviations, and is a valuable decision-support
tool for predictive maintenance and energy trading.

Sootblowing optimization
ABBs Sootblowing Advisor calculates the surface cleanliness
values of the heat exchanger sections in boilers and
determines the optimal sootblowing strategy. Sootblowing
is a necessary boiler cleaning procedure which aims to
maintain or improve the units heat rate. Sootblowing Advisor
takes into account the cost of sootblowing (steam
consumption, etc) and the increased revenues from the
effects of sootblowing (improved boiler and fuel efficiency).

Boiler temperature control

ABBs State Space Controller provides advanced temperature
control and improves temperature control performance. It
lowers the deviations for live steam and/or reheat temperature
and allows higher set points to be made for the live steam
and/or reheat temperature. This reduces the spray flows and
improves unit efficiency. Lower steam temperature deviations
extend the operating life of thick-walled components.
Loop optimization
Loop optimization can be frustrating. Within a few months all
the results can be lost in process variability. Plant engineers
have to look at hundreds of signals and try to detect possible
problems. ABBs Loop Optimizer solves this difficulty by both
performing the optimization and maintaining the process at
the optimal operating conditions. It monitors DCS signals and
detects problems at their first occurrence, while also fulfilling
preventive maintenance requirements.

Making power plants energy efficient | 9

EBoP upgrade projects

Reducing plant power consumption

ESCO energy service contracting

Risk-free performance guarantees

The plant electrical system consumes between 7% and 15% of the electricity that
the plant produces. The less efficient the electrical system, the more power it
consumes power that could have been sold to increase the plants revenues and

For those customers who prefer a risk-free implementation of the energy efficiency
opportunities identified, ABB offers an attractive and budget friendly option.

Reducing the plants parasitic load

Even though ABB electrical equipment is designed for a long
and trouble-free operating life, we can still achieve significant
improvements in plant energy efficiency by upgrading or
rehabilitating selected areas of the plant electrical system.

ABB takes the risk, you take the savings

By signing a long-term service contract with ABB (usually
for a period of 5 years), ABB undertakes to deliver energy
savings on a performance guarantee basis. We make the
investments and take the financial and technical risk
you share the savings with us. At the end of the contract,
you take possession of the investment made and harvest
the full 100% of the savings for years to come.

In our experience, the speediest and largest improvements

are achieved by installing high efficiency motors, equipping
pump and blower applications with variable speed control,
improving the performance of the generators, and increasing
the efficiency of the transformers.
High-efficiency motors
One of the most effective ways to reduce energy consumption
is to install high efficiency motors and variable speed drives.
In many instances the return on investment is achieved within
a few months.
A typical power plant has up to 20 medium voltage motors
and around 20 low voltage motors, which drive the plants
most energy-hungry applications pumps, fans and blowers.
By replacing older less efficient motors with ABB high-efficiency
motors, the energy consumption of each motor can be reduced
by as much as 10% .
High efficiency motors are the default offering of ABB. Each
ABB motor is specifically designed to meet international
energy efficiency classes and the various minimum energy
performance standards (MEPS) of the world. In addition to
energy savings, better efficiency means lower running
temperatures and higher reliability.
Variable speed drives for pumps, blowers and fans
Pumps and fans are the worlds two largest motor applications.
Together, they account for half of all the motors in use and
a significant proportion of the energy consumed by motors

10 | Making power plants energy efficient

Many motors continue to run at full load, even under partial

load conditions. By replacing the existing motor with a high
efficiency motor, equipping it with a variable speed drive and
a pump or fan efficiency monitoring system, considerable
energy savings can be achieved. These savings can be as
much as 50% for applications currently controlled by
a throttling valve or hydraulic coupling.
Improving generator performance
The generator is the heart of the power generation process.
Although generators are engineered to perform at a high
rate of efficiency, ABB can make performance improvements
by redesigning the electrical and cooling characteristics and
some of the mechanical characteristics. Instead of investing
huge amounts of capital in a new generator, it is often
considerably more economical to perform a generator
rehabilitation and combine it with a performance improvement
program. This will extend the generators lifetime by 1020 years
and produce a performance that is close to that of new
state-of-the-art equipment.

Can ABB deliver?

ABB is one of a small number of solution providers who
have the expertise and resources to deliver a total energy
efficiency project from beginning to end identifying the
opportunities, drawing up detailed specifications, supplying
the equipment, executing the project and validating the results.

Most of our competitors are reluctant to provide performance

guarantees for their solutions. We arent. We are willing to
invest in our solutions, guarantee their performance and the
savings we expect them to make over the long term.
ABB has a long track record in performance guarantee service
contracts. We have signed more than 300 performance-based
service and energy efficiency agreements in a variety of
industries worldwide, including pulp and paper, mining and
metals, oil and gas, petrochemicals and power generation.

Depending on the age of the generator, ABB has achieved

energy savings of up to 8% through these and similar measures.
Boosting transformer efficiency
Large power transformers are extremely efficient machines.
Even though their efficiency levels can be close to 100%,
there is still margin for improvement.
The throughput of large generator step-up transformers can
be up to 1,000 MVA, so even small gains in efficiency of
less than half a percent translate into hundreds of megawatthours of saved power annually. Multiply this over a 25-year
extended life cycle of the transformer and the savings are
worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Making power plants energy efficient | 11

Business Unit Power Generation
P.O. Box 8131
8050 Zurich, Switzerland
Phone +41 (0) 43 317-5380
+41 (0) 43 317-5382


Copyright 2013 ABB

All rights reserved. Specifications subject to change without notice.
Pictures, schematics, and other graphics contained herein are
published for illustration purposes only and do not represent plant
or product configuration or functionality.

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