PRESENTATION ON BENCHMARKING

INTRODUCTION
What is Benchmarking? It is the process of identifying, understanding and adopting outstanding practices from best of the organisations in the world to to improve performance

It is not a one-shot event but an ongoing process to search and adopt the best practices in similar industries

PATH AHEAD
Selection of peer organisations for BBGS plant
We selected Plant Load Factor (PLF) to be the key parameter on which to select the best organisation A list of Thermal Power Stations were made having PLF greater than 90% in 2003-04. They are :

PATH AHEAD (Contd)

List of Thermal Power Stations having PLF >= 90%
Name of Station Dahanu Kothagudem V GSECL (G5) GHTP Vijaywada Mettur Rihand Rayal Seema AE Co Capacity (MW) 500 (2x250) 500 (2x250) 210 420 (2x210) 1260 (6x210) 840 1000 420 60 State Maharashtra Andhra Pradesh Gujarat Punjab Andhra Pradesh Tamil Nadu Uttar Pradesh Andhra Pradesh Gujarat PLF (%) 98.3 92.2 91.7 91.6 91.3 91.3 90.6 90.3 90.1

PATH AHEAD (Contd)

List of Thermal Power Stations having PLF >= 90%
Name of Station Dahanu Kothagudem V GSECL (G5) GHTP Vijaywada Mettur Rihand Rayal Seema AE Co Capacity (MW) 500 (2x250) 500 (2x250) 210 420 (2x210) 1260 (6x210) 840 1000 420 60 State Maharashtra Andhra Pradesh Gujarat Punjab Andhra Pradesh Tamil Nadu Uttar Pradesh Andhra Pradesh Gujarat PLF (%) 98.3 92.2 91.7 91.6 91.3 91.3 90.6 90.3 90.1

PATH AHEAD (Contd)

In the list, Vijaywada and Kothagudem V belongs to APGENCO Both Vijaywada and Kothagudem V were consistently winning prestigious awards presented by the Government of India Vijaywada Thermal Power Plant has won the Meritorious Productivity Award for twenty consecutive years and Incentive Award for eleven consecutive years Kothagudem Thermal Power Plant V has won the Meritorious Productivity Award and Incentive Award for four consecutive years

These two plants were selected for initial visits

Meritorious Productivity Award An award given by the Government of India against the rating given for performance during peak hours Incentive Award An award given by the Government of India for Efficient & Economic operation

Under the category of Meritorious Productivity Awards, the gold medal is given to power stations for generation of more than 7500 units/kW/year, the silver medal for generating 7100 to 7500 units/kW/year and bronze medal for 6600 to 7099 units/kW/year. Shields are given for generating 6000 units/kW/year or more. These awards are therefore an indicator of the efficiency of the power plant. Meritorious productivity awards were introduced in 1983 and are given on financial year basis The incentive scheme for lowering of specific fuel oil consumption and auxiliary power consumption was started in 1992 and is given on calendar year basis.

Parameters based on which the study will be conducted are:

LIST
Main Plant Operation Fuel and Fuel Handling Plant Maintenance Philosophy Spares Management Environment Administration
Plant Load Factor Plant Availability Factor Specific Coal Consumption Specific Oil Consumption Auxiliary % % DM Make-up Unit Outages Combustibles in Ash Heat Rate Cost of Unit

KEY FINDINGS
Both the plants are having enviable records of performance PLF is high in both plants as the demand for power in Andhra Pradesh is more than supply. Seasonal effect is also absent. PAF is high in both plants (> 95%) because of tight overhaul schedule (12 15 days) Annual overhaul of units is totally outsourced and is done on jobcontract basis Demurrage paid to railways is almost zero Combustibles in Fly Ash is less than 0.7% and that in Bottom Ash is less than 4% Steam Leak Detectors are installed in the boilers of both plants

Visit to Bakreswar,WBPDCL
Visit was also undertaken to Bakreswar Power Plant (3x210 MW) of WBPDCL in West Bengal. Although PAF is greater than 90%, PLF is comparatively low (78.36% in 2003-04) because of low system demand The plant has paid zero demurrage to the railways since inception in 1999 Combustibles in Fly Ash is between 0.5 to 0.7% and that in Bottom Ash is between 1 to 2% Steam Leak Detectors are installed in all the boilers of the plant

Visit to Tata Power, Trombay

We next selected Tata Power (150+180+2x500MW) Thermal Power Station The units run in coal, gas and oil Unit 5 (500 MW) runs mainly on imported coal but can be run with oil and gas too (Trombay)

KEY FINDINGS
Turbine overhaul is carried out wholly by M/s Siemens while M/s UCC carries out the boiler overhaul. The parties themselves hire all the contract personnel engaged in the job Improvised forced cooling method to reduce outage hours Coal is imported from Indonesia

Improvised forced cooling method

After a forced shutdown (e.g. tube leakage of boiler), the boiler is vented to atmosphere and the drum metal temperature comes down to maximum 110 deg C within 5 hours. This is achieved by keeping the HP & LP bypass of the turbine open while forced cooling by draught fans is also being carried out. Maximum difference that occurs between top and bottom drum metal temperature is 70 deg C After about 12 hours of shutdown, when turbine inner casing temperature is about 370 deg C, the barring gear is stopped, lubricating oil pumps are stopped, jacking oil pump continues to run and blanking of pipelines to the generator bearings is carried out (process takes about 15 min). The generator is now decoupled from the turbine. During the decoupling process, hand barring is being done regularly. By this process, the generator overhauling job can be start from the second day itself, thereby saving time.

Outstanding practices
After the visits, following actions were aimed to be implemented in Budge Budge Generating Station : Reduction in Demurrage paid to the railways Reduction in Combustibles in Fly and Bottom Ash Installation of Tube Leak Detection System

REDUCTION IN DEMURRAGE
STEPS TAKEN A time study of the coal unloading operation National Productivity Council was entrusted with the job.

SUBSEQUENTLY For BOBR rakes : Tare weighment discontinued in line with the loading end. Manpower for unloading was increased 2 shunting engines hired to decrease time for shunting of wagons Coal flow during unloading was increased by running two chains Incentive scheme introduced for unloading of BOX N rakes

IMPROVEMENTS
Number of Rakes BOBR
2003 - 04 2004 - 05 2005 - 06

Average Unloading Time (Hrs) BOBR 3.75 4.06 2.79 BOX N 13.42 13.63 10.70

BOX N 348 340 334

265 313 411

IMPROVEMENTS
Number of Rakes BOBR
2003 - 04 2004 - 05 2005 - 06

Average Unloading Time (Hrs) BOBR 3.75 4.06 2.79 BOX N 13.42 13.63 10.70

BOX N 348 340 334

265 313 411

Real decrease in Average Unloading Time observed in 2005-06 when all the steps discussed before were implemented

REDUCTION OF COMBUSTIBLES IN ASH

The average figures for combustibles in Fly and Bottom Ash in our benchmarked stations was 0.7 & 4% respectively But this was for Tangential firing boilers No data was available for Double Down Shot type boilers So it was decided to benchmark the Design Heat Loss figure of 2.5% as stated by OEM in their design considerations

REDUCTION OF COMBUSTIBLES IN ASH

STEPS TAKEN Optimisation of Boiler Total Air Flow for maximum efficiency

Implementation of Boiler Auto Combustion Control for proper distribution of Primary & Secondary Air

IMPROVEMENTS
Combustible % in Fly Ash
2003 - 04 2004 - 05 2005 - 06

Bottom Ash 8.91 8.79 6.26

3.96 2.65 2.13

IMPROVEMENTS
Combustible % in Fly Ash
2003 - 04 2004 - 05 2005 - 06

Bottom Ash 8.91 8.79 6.26

3.96 2.65 2.13

INSTALLATION OF TUBE LEAK DETECTION SYSTEM

Boiler Tube leak detection system based on Acoustic technology have been installed in one unit of Budge Budge Generating Station. Installation in the other will be done after checking the effectiveness of this one.

Visit to Dahanu, Reliance Energy

Dahanu (2x250MW) Thermal Power Station of Reliance Energy Ltd Dahanu was selected as one of the Top Plants of the World 2004 by platts Power, USA amongst 12 short listed power plants For FY 2004-05, its PLF was 101.35% (a feat unequalled till date), Loading Factor 104.61% and Auxiliary 7.53%

KEY FINDINGS
Plant Load Factor greater than 100% Loading Factor more than 100% (achieved by running the T/A at 262 MW with name plate capacity of 250 MW) Auxiliary % was only 7.53 Statutory Overhaul of Boiler carried out in 12 15 days, Turbine overhaul is contracted out to BHEL Coal stock maintained > 3.5 lakh Te (1.8 lakh Te washed coal from Korba and 1.7 lakh Te imported coal)

Benchmarking
BBGS, CESC Limited and Dahanu, Reliance Energy BENCHMARKED PERFORMANCE FIGURES PLF to be 100% PAF to be > 95 % Auxiliary power consumption to be 7.5% Statutory Overhaul period for boiler to be completed within 11 days in phases Minimum ground coal stock 1.0 Lakh tonnes

INCREASE OF BBGS PLF TO 100%

To achieve this, BBGS units have to be operated at a load more than its rated capacity of 250 MW 262 MW was decided as all technical parameters remained within limits at that load Statutory overhaul period will have to be limited to 1215 days Seasonal as well as daily variation of load in CESCs system will have to be flattened out through increased export of power

INCREASE OF BBGS PAF

Forced outages of units have to be minimum Statutory overhaul period will have to be limited to 1215 days Necessary planning of survey activities from fresh angle and procurement of sky-climber may facilitate this

IMPROVEMENTS IN PLF & PAF

PLF (%)
2003 - 04 2004 - 05 2005 - 06

PAF (%) 91.73 92.74 97.47

79.85 86.40 99.61

IMPROVEMENTS IN PLF & PAF

PLF (%)
2003 - 04 2004 - 05 2005 - 06

PAF (%) 91.73 92.74 97.47

79.85 86.40 99.61

IMPROVEMENTS IN PERIOD OF OVERHAUL

PERIOD OF STATUTORY OVERHAUL (DAYS) 2003 - 04 2004 - 05 2005 - 06 30.6 30.7 11.3

IMPROVEMENTS IN PERIOD OF OVERHAUL

PERIOD OF STATUTORY OVERHAUL (DAYS) 2003 - 04 2004 - 05 2005 - 06 30.6 30.7 11.3

REDUCTION OF BBGS AUXILIARY%

PLF will have to be increased to 100% Forced outages of units have to be minimum Dahanu has open circuit cooling system whereas BBGS have cooling towers. Dahanu has wet Fly Ash Conveying System whereas BBGS have dry Fly Ash Conveying System these inherent differences in design restricts BBGS from reaching Dahanus level of Auxiliary% Various options to reduce auxiliary will have to be explored

REDUCTION OF BBGS AUXILIARY%

STEPS TAKEN Reduction in Differential pressure across Feed Control Station led to lower BFP discharge pressure and lower speed. Hence a reduction in power consumed is effected. Logic modification carried out in ID Fan Vane Control with speed. The suction vane now opens more in the same load thus causing lower speed and lower power consumption. Service Air pressure is reduced from 7 kg/sq cm to 6 kg/sq cm. As a result one compressor is now enough to supply the whole requirement compared to two before

IMPROVEMENTS IN AUXILIARY %

Auxiliary (%) 2003 - 04 2004 - 05 2005 - 06 9.04 8.69 8.32

IMPROVEMENTS IN AUXILIARY %

Auxiliary (%) 2003 - 04 2004 - 05 2005 - 06 9.04 8.69 8.32

Indian Thermal Power Plants

(Source CEA)