Thermal power, a traditional power generation method, remains the most stable and reliable source of electricity today, playing an important role as the “ballast stone” for the safety of electricity in the whole society. However, with the advancement of the “dual carbon” goal and the increase in energy costs in recent years, the thermal power industry, which mainly uses coal and natural gas as raw materials, is facing unprecedented challenges. Building a “safe, efficient, and low-carbon” smart power plant is imperative.
At the beginning of this year, a brand new digital smart benchmark power plant, Huainan Panji Power Plant (hereinafter referred to as Panji Power Plant), was officially put into operation in the energy capital of Huainan, known as the “Three Gorges of Thermal Power”. The first phase of the project has two 660MW ultra supercritical units with an annual power generation capacity of 6.6 billion kilowatt hours. In the construction and daily operation of this nearly zero emission, green and environmentally friendly thermal power plant, native digital delivery technology plays a key supporting role.
Shuzhi Pioneer Power Plant, realizing N digital applications
Huainan has abundant coal resources and good coal quality – relying on its unique advantages in the thermal power industry, it has gathered numerous large thermal power plants. In recent years, in order to ensure the safety and reliability of power supply in the Yangtze River Delta, optimize the construction of the Anhui East Power Transmission and Three Gorges Hydroelectric Power Transmission Channel along the Yangtze River, the country has issued the “Outline of the Yangtze River Delta Regional Integration Development Plan”, which clearly proposes the strategic layout of “relying on the construction of clean and efficient pit mouth power stations in the two Huai coal bases”. The Panji Power Plant, newly built by Huaihe Energy Group, is the first implementation project of this strategic layout.
Aiming at the benchmark of digital smart power plants, Panji Power Plant has closely integrated knowledge and digital technology in the thermal power industry. Based on a cloud platform, in addition to achieving the integration of production control and management information networks, 5G private networks, and WiFi 6 coverage throughout the entire plant area, it has also created N digital application modules including digital delivery, intelligent operation, predictive maintenance, MIS&SIS integration, intelligent dust removal, and intelligent denitrification. The comprehensiveness and completeness of its digital technology application are unique in the industry. At the level of intelligent operation, the unit can help the power plant achieve stable operation without human intervention for 168 hours (7 days and 7 nights) through self optimization and self adjustment.
However, as is well known, as a typical asset intensive industry, thermal power plants have a large engineering volume, involve complex institutions, and involve a variety of technologies. In addition, the digital transformation of the industry started relatively late and the digital systems were relatively scattered. Building such a leading digital power plant is not an easy task, and the pain points of data silos and low information transmission efficiency must be solved before construction. Therefore, as early as the early stage of factory construction planning, Huaihe Energy decided to use digital delivery to lay a solid digital foundation for the factory.
Native digital delivery, successfully creating a “3-minute plan”
The entire process from design, construction to operation and maintenance of a new factory will generate a vast range of data from time, space, personnel, and business. Due to the different software used by different design institutes, incompatible formats, and separate systems of data, data silos are formed. With the continuous operation of production and equipment, if massive data is archived using drawing materials, the transmission efficiency is low, and the data will also face the risk of being submerged and lost after delivery.
Nowadays, in order to achieve high-quality project handover, digital delivery has become the best choice for enterprises. The most intuitive benefit of doing so is that it can connect numerous data sources from design institutes, construction parties, and hundreds of suppliers, standardize various habits and rules.
In the early stages of the project, Schneider Electric combined the actual situation of the first phase of the power plant, completed a total of 11 replicable and reusable digital transfer standard documents from planning and design, installation and trial operation to delivery and production. Based on the national power standards, Schneider Electric expanded its original design institute’s 16500 KKS codes to over 50000 KKS codes.
In order to eliminate the isolation between a large amount of dynamic/static data, engineering data, and operation and maintenance data in the power plant, Panji Power Plant has chosen Schneider Electric AVEVA after careful research and demand communication ™ AIM Digital Delivery Platform (Asset Information Management Platform). With the reliability and strong format compatibility of the platform, Panji Power Plant was able to integrate isolated and scattered information at various stages, and successfully created a “three minute plan” for operation and maintenance management. It can obtain over 46000 equipment, engineering drawing information, and real-time operation and maintenance data of the power plant in no more than three minutes and no more than a few seconds.
With the help of Schneider Electric’s professional engineering team, Panji Power Plant not only improved the delivery quality of engineering data information, but also created a unified and high-quality “digital library” that covers all specialties. When dealing with emergency situations, maintenance personnel can use handheld mobile devices such as computers and iPads to quickly retrieve data, greatly reducing workload and improving the overall operational efficiency of the factory.
Not only that, Schneider Electric utilized AVEVA AIM’s powerful digital twin technology, based on on-site photography and 100% authentic native data, to 1:1 restore the physical Panji power plant in the system. This “native digital delivery” also enables the completion, clarity, and delicacy of 3D models to reach industry-leading levels. In this digital twin power plant, operation and maintenance personnel can not only measure distance remotely, but also use built-in functions such as sectioning to accurately obtain information on the underground pipe gallery and cable routing of the power plant, which is very beneficial for the maintenance and renovation of complex concealed projects inside the plant.
At the same time, in terms of data visualization, Panji Power Plant also utilizes Schneider Electric’s AVEVA Engage touch screen decision-making system to achieve three-dimensional visualization and intelligent applications. Nowadays, power plant operation and maintenance personnel only need to lightly click the mouse or drag the screen to access any device at any time, from drawings, manufacturers, to installation, debugging, maintenance, inventory and other records and real-time status data. The entire process is paperless, avoiding the risk of data loss caused by cumbersome file retrieval, improving work efficiency and data traceability.
Digging deep into the value of data and predictive maintenance to make operations more robust
Nowadays, improving asset reliability, performance, and safety is the primary focus of power plant production and operation, and it is also a challenge that must be overcome to build a smart power plant. Panji Power Plant has put forward very high requirements for continuous monitoring of equipment status and timely capture of early signs of equipment failure in order to intervene in diagnosis and take measures in advance. Schneider Electric’s AVEVA Predictive Analytics predictive maintenance system, utilizing machine learning, artificial intelligence, advanced pattern recognition, and data mining technologies, can provide early warning notifications and equipment diagnosis to power plants several days, weeks, or months before a fault occurs.
Taking the important asset of electric motors as an example, based on the historical data accumulated after the operation of Panji Power Plant, AVEVA Predictive Analytics can use the collected parameters of current, bearings, coils, ambient temperature in all seasons, as well as vibration, pressure, flow rate, etc., to generate a unique model for each normally operating equipment. When there is a deviation between the actual value and the predicted value and it continues to occur, the system will automatically trigger an alarm. The multi-dimensional dynamic threshold monitoring mode of the system can improve the early anomaly recognition ability, assist the intelligent operation and maintenance of power plants, and ensure the safety and stability of power production from the source.
Moreover, the reason why the AVEVA Predictive Analytics system can significantly reduce false alarm rates is mainly due to Schneider Electric’s decades of deep experience accumulation in the field of equipment diagnosis. The diagnostic knowledge base preset in the system can evaluate faults based on curve changes, quickly calculate and analyze possible fault causes, and continuously expand and improve according to actual on-site conditions. This not only facilitates the work of frontline personnel, but also helps Panji Power Plant continuously accumulate, integrate, and inherit its own operation and maintenance knowledge.
Comprehensive empowerment to assist the green and high-quality development of the power industry
With the first phase of the Panji Power Plant project fully put into operation at the beginning of this year, the second phase of the project is also under construction in full swing. It is worth noting that Panji Power Plant is the first independent and wholly-owned investment and construction project of Huaihe Energy Group, and also the first participation of Schneider Electric in the construction of 660MW ultra supercritical units. Based on a pleasant cooperation experience and full trust, the Panji Power Plant Phase II project will continue to collaborate with Schneider Electric to replicate the successful experience of digital delivery and continue to write a wonderful story of smart power plant construction.
Nowadays, Schneider Electric has formed a mature and standardized digital delivery execution process based on its rich experience in digital transformation in the power industry. Since the start of the Panji Power Plant project, the Schneider Electric team has collaborated with the Panji Power Plant to create a collaborative approach that has received high praise from the customer management and operation teams, from the sorting of regulatory documents, to the collection and design of requirements, platform construction and secondary development, and finally to acceptance and continuous support for new application requirements from customers.
Looking at the entire power industry, with the increasing complexity of industrial big data, traditional enterprises like power are facing increasingly severe challenges. Nowadays, in addition to digital delivery, power companies can also leverage Schneider Electric’s AVEVA PI System big data management platform to further unleash the value potential of energy data elements. At the same time, Schneider Electric includes AVEVA APC advanced process control, EcoStruxure ™ The software product portfolio, including Control Advisor PID tuning optimization and EcoStruxure System Advisor DCS intelligent alarm, can also help power companies achieve intelligent monitoring of all operating conditions from operation to maintenance.
With the advancement of China’s dual carbon goals, the deepening combination of digital technology and power technology will become a key engine for promoting green and sustainable development of the energy and power industry. As a digital transformation expert in the global energy management and automation field, Schneider Electric will leverage its deep accumulation in smart power plant construction to work with more like-minded partners to promote high-quality and green sustainable development of the power industry.
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