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Benchmarking Fossil Plant Performance Measures, Part I: Station-Level Metrics

Benchmarking Fossil Plant Performance

Measures, Part I: Station-Level Metrics
All Change – From gas to oil
03/01/2011 | Charlene Foltzer, PSEG Power
Large scale projects typically involve many
stakeholders, contractors and suppliers, which
can lead to increased complexity and more
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How does your company prepare and share fossil plant performance data? What data are
important, and how much effort is required to collect and report the data? What are the most
important statistics for reporting key fossil plant operations? The latest EUCG benchmarking survey
reveals the favored fossil performance metrics at several of the largest utilities in eight key
categories.

A number of important and proprietary EUCG benchmarking surveys have been summarized
in POWER over the past few years. Those articles, whose information was derived from
member surveys conducted by the EUCG Fossil Productivity Committee, covered boiler tube
failures (http://www.powermag.com/issues/features/Update-Benchmarking-Boiler-Tube-
Failures_2184.html) (October 2009), the installed cost of environmental equipment such as
scrubbers (July 2007 (http://www.powermag.com/issues/features/Whats-that-scrubber- Get POWER e-letters FREE!

going-to-cost_290.html), updated March 2009 Sign up to receive weekly and monthly e-letters
written by POWER editors.
(http://www.powermag.com/issues/features/Update-Whats-That-Scrubber-Going-to-

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Benchmarking Fossil Plant Performance Measures, Part I: Station-Level Metrics Page 2 of 7

Cost_1743.html)) and selective catalytic reduction systems (February 2006), and various Subscribe now
(http://www.powermag.com/e-letter-
staffing issues (maintenance staff (http://www.powermag.com/issues/features/Whos-doing- signup/)
coal-plant-maintenance_89.html)in February 2008 and plant engineering staff in August 2006).
All the EUCG benchmarking surveys reported on by POWER can be found in the online archives
at http://www.powermag.com (http://www.powermag.com).
More Jobs JOB FEED
(http://jobs.powermag.com/jobseeker/search/results/)
One of the EUCG’s key goals is developing process and market benchmarks, unit reliability
MECHANICAL ENGINEER - Las Vegas
strategies, and best-practice applications to foster performance and efficiency within the
Valley Water District - Las Vegas, NV
power generation industry (see sidebar). Although the topics of future benchmarking surveys
(https://jobs.powermag.com/job/mechanical-
are selected by the entire committee membership at each meeting, details of the final survey engineer/41310175/2669/)
data—suitable for benchmarking any plant’s performance against peer group
performance—are available only to the EUCG members that participate in a given survey. This Substations Lineman - City of
Naperville - Naperville, IL
“give to get” relationship between members motivates wide survey participation. Only a top-
(https://jobs.powermag.com/job/substations-
level summary, such as we provide in this article, is available to companies that did not
lineman/41263971/2669/)
participate.
Electric Utility System Controller - City
of Naperville - Naperville, IL
The EUCG: Fostering Industry Excellence
(https://jobs.powermag.com/job/electric-
utility-system-
The EUCG is an association of electric utility professionals that provides a forum in which controller/41263941/2669/)
utilities can improve their operation and maintenance practices and construction
performance. Founded in 1973, the EUCG holds technical conferences and workshops twice
yearly for the purpose of information exchange. The organization (formerly known as the Search Jobs

Electric Utility Cost Group) is organized into committees and working groups by interest area, Post a Job
(http://jobs.powermag.com/c/profile/index.cfm?
such as fossil, nuclear, and hydroelectric plants; transmission and distribution; safety; and IT. site_id=2669&referrer=2669)
Post a Resume
The EUCG’s Fossil Productivity Committee has 32 electric utility members from the U.S. (http://jobs.powermag.com/r/jobs/post/post.cfm?
site_id=2669)
reporting operating data on more than 300 individual coal-fired units. That number
represents more than 30% of operating coal plants in the U.S. The committee also includes
members from six other countries.

The spring 2011 EUCG meeting will be held April 3–6 at the Marriott City Center in Charlotte,
N.C. For more information about the EUCG, contact Pat Kovalesky, executive director, at 623-
572-4140, or visit www.eucg.org (http://www.eucg.org).

The latest Fossil Productivity Committee survey explored the type and usage of fossil plant
performance measures as plant- and fleet-level reporting and target-setting metrics. The
survey explored the specific performance measures that fossil-fired plants are using as well as
how their data is collected, how frequently it is reported, at what levels it is reported, and
whether the data is used to determine compensation for employees or is only reported for
informational purposes. The goal was to present the usage frequency of favored performance
metrics so that member organizations could improve their individual plant and corporate
processes.
Most Read () Most Commented ()

Given the breadth of that survey and the significant results, this report has been prepared in
Most Shared ()
three parts. In Part I we report on station-level metrics. Part II will report on company-level
metrics. Both of these reports focus primarily on past performance metrics—lagging
indicators. In Part III we will examine favorite prospective, or leading, indicators at both the Most Read
plant and fleet level that are used for compensation and for process improvement purposes. • Siemens Plans Temporary Shutdown of
Power & Gas Division
(http://www.powermag.com/siemens-
Committed to Performance Reporting
plans-temporary-shutdown-of-power-
gas-division/)
The survey was conducted over a three-month period in mid-2010 with a total of 13 major U.S. • MHPS Tops GE, Siemens in Gas Turbine
utilities that have large fossil-fueled fleets, such as American Electric Power, Tennessee Valley Market
(http://www.powermag.com/mhps-tops-
Authority, Southern Company, and PSEG Power, as well as utilities from Israel, Korea, and
ge-siemens-in-gas-turbine-market/)
Canada. For the purposes of this article, three fossil fleet–size groupings were established:
• GE Sets Sights on MHPS and Siemens
small (up to 5 GW), medium (5 GW to 10 GW), and large (over 10 GW). Of the 16 companies Customers
participating in the benchmarking survey, eight were classified as having “small” fossil-fueled (http://www.powermag.com/ge-sets-
fleets, three as “medium,” and five as “large.” sights-on-mhps-and-siemens-
customers/)
• Kentucky Coal Plant’s Future in Doubt
Overall, the use of performance metrics in the 16 utilities in the survey group appear to be
(http://www.powermag.com/kentucky-
well established throughout each company (Figure 1). Thirteen of the 16 respondents
coal-plants-future-in-doubt/)
reported that data on performance measures have been collected and reported for more than • Exelon: Record Amount of Nuclear
five years. However, the method used to collect the data varied widely: nine companies Capacity Failed to Clear PJM Auction

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Benchmarking Fossil Plant Performance Measures, Part I: Station-Level Metrics Page 3 of 7

reported that data is collected by a corporate or centralized collection and reporting group; (http://www.powermag.com/exelon-
record-amount-of-nuclear-capacity-
five use a fossil-organization central group; and only one collects data as a plant-level
failed-to-clear-pjm-auction/)
organization. One large utility used a combination of central and decentralized data collection
and reporting groups.

World Gas Conference 2018

1. At what level in the company or organization are performance measures

used? Each of the 16 plants that participated in the survey collects data and
>
produces plant-level performance reports. However, not every plant uses the
same metrics or the same number of metrics. As this chart shows, the final
performance data reports do not appear to be uniformly passed down to plant World Gas Conference
departments, nor are they required by all fleet-level managers or company-level
2018
executives. Source: ECUG
(http://www.powerma
Of the 16 reporting utilities, 11 respondents (69%) use some combination of manual,
g.com/videos/world-
spreadsheet, and automated data collection and reporting; only one organization reported gas-conference-2018/)
that it has completely automated the reporting tasks. Of the five large utilities in the survey
group, four reported using “some automation.” Most also reported that the combination of
Partner Videos
data collection and reporting processes typically include some automated downloads from
the plant distributed control system or PI systems, key parameter tracking with spreadsheets, Innogy
downloading data from external sources such as Generation Availability Data System (GADS)  Consulting-

(reports collected by the North American Electric Reliability Corp. [NERC] or other Using digital to
build the
benchmarking data collection systems), data downloaded directly from continuous emission
workforce of the
monitoring systems, and so on. Virtually all respondents reported that some data was future
collected manually. (http://www.powermag.com/videos/innogy-
using-digital-to-build-the-workforce-of-the-
The level of effort required to collect performance data and prepare reports varied future/)

significantly among utilities. Fifteen respondents prepared monthly reports, and about half More from Innogy  (/videos/?tag=innogy)

also prepared quarterly and annual reports. Annual reports were reported as “critical” Successful
because they are often used for performance reviews, compensation decisions, and data  Generator Stator
reporting to outside agencies. Only a single large utility reported less than one full-time Rewinds
(http://www.powermag.com/videos/generator-
equivalent (FTE) position dedicated to these tasks. The average among respondents was
stator-rewind/)
approximately four FTE for a fleet. The largest number of FTEs dedicated to fossil plant
performance data collecting and reporting was reported as 15 FTE by one small fleet utility. Sulzer - The
 Service Partner
to Keep Your
The survey asked how completed reports are distributed to plant staff and company-wide. At
Operations
the plant level, most utilities distribute the reports either by hard copy (69%) or email (63%),
Running
but only half reported that the performance reports are available on the Internet or a (http://www.powermag.com/videos/sulzer-
company intranet. Twenty-five percent reported that the reports are shown on plant the-service-partner-to-keep-your-
monitors. The results were evenly distributed by utility size. Regarding company-level operations-running/)
More from Sulzer  (/videos/?tag=sulzer)
reporting, only half said that they distribute the reports by either hard copy or email, although
63% said that the reports are posted on the Internet or intranet. View All Videos » (/videos/)

Standardized Reporting Processes

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Benchmarking Fossil Plant Performance Measures, Part I: Station-Level Metrics Page 4 of 7

Surprisingly, there was only one utility that reported that its plant performance measures
Tweets by @POWERmagazine
were not standardized across its fleet. This one company indicated that it chose different
metrics for different technologies of plant. For example, coal plants are dispatched differently POWER magazine 
than combustion turbines (CTs) because they perform a different mission in the market. As a @POWERmagazine

result, the focus may be more on starting reliability for CTs and forced outage rates for With the casino industry and political structures
united against Yucca Mountain, the only way to
baseload coal units. Generally, NERC/GADS measures and definitions have been adopted; they
reverse the opposition is through grassroots
offer reporting consistency, which is essential for benchmarking between fossil fleets and education, says Gary J. Duarte, director of the
between individual plants. U.S. Nuclear Energy Foundation.
ow.ly/N6pL30jMB20

Eight significant station-level performance measurement categories were reported by survey

The Nuclear Waste Impass…
respondents, and the top 10 results (or fewer if there were fewer responses) in each category The Yucca Mountain deep g…
are summarized in Figures 2 through 9. Survey respondents were asked open-ended powermag.com
questions about the metrics used at each plant in their fossil fleets, and the number of
responses were then assembled and reported by frequency in each of those eight categories. 2m


Embed View on Twitter

2. Financial measures. At the station level, the survey results found that operation and maintenance
(O&M)–related costs took four of the top five places for financial measures reported, as a fixed sum or as a

function of generation. Interestingly, the fuel cost component in the electricity production cost was VIDEOS & INFOGRAPHICS

tracked as often as the sum of non-fuel O&M and fuel costs. Capital costs, per unit of installed capacity
and per unit of generation, rounded out the top 10 financial measures reported. Enhanced production
costs (non-fuel O&M plus maintenance capital plus fuel) were reported in the second tier of metrics
(survey responses not shown on the figure) even though the metric is the sum of other popular metrics in
the figure. Many other metrics were reported by three or fewer companies, such as administrative and

general overhead budget, FTE/MWh, maintenance capital ($/MWh), O&M material costs, and O&M
overtime costs; these are not shown in the figure. Source: EUCG

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EUOF, generation, and net heat rate. Surprisingly, EAF was the only metric identified as used by all 16 featured-at-electric-power-event/).”
utilities. Number of unit trips also scored high, even though it is closely related to the other, higher-rated
statistics. Not making the top 10 list were metrics such as water chemistry, dispatch availability (the

automatic generation control index), or any particular system performance measures, such as those of the Visit our video archive (/power-video-
boiler or turbine. Source: EUCG archive/)

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Benchmarking Fossil Plant Performance Measures, Part I: Station-Level Metrics Page 5 of 7

May 25, 2018

National average gasoline prices

approach $3 per gallon heading into
Memorial Day ›

4. Maintenance measures. There were just nine maintenance measures that collected four or more
Source: EIA, Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update
votes, and only two measures collected 10 votes: PM completion rate and backlog. Half of the survey

respondents included rework on their list of important maintenance measures; only six focused on
predictive work reporting. Source: EUCG INDUSTRY NEWS

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• Caterpillar Expands G3500-H Series

Generator Sets
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• Large onshore order from Norway: Siemens
Gamesa to supply 70 wind turbines to three
projects (http://www.powermag.com/press-
releases/large-onshore-order-from-norway-
5. Planned outage measures. Only six planned outage measures were reported, and safety appropriately
siemens-gamesa-to-supply-70-wind-
led the list, although for only 11 of the 16 survey respondents. Staying within the outage budget and turbines-to-three-projects/)
schedule was reported by nine utilities as an important metric. Source: EUCG • Pattern Energy Enters Agreement to Sell
Operations in Chile
(http://www.powermag.com/press-
releases/pattern-energy-enters-agreement-
to-sell-operations-in-chile/)
• MST named finalist in 2018 AMM Awards for
Steel Excellence
(http://www.powermag.com/press-
releases/mst-named-finalist-in-2018-amm-
awards-for-steel-excellence/)
• Rhode Island and Massachusetts Announce
Largest Procurement of Offshore Wind in
Nation's History
6. Forced outage measures. Only six forced outage measurements were reported by survey (http://www.powermag.com/press-
respondents. As with planned outage measures, safety led the list by getting votes from 10 utilities. The releases/rhode-island-and-massachusetts-
remainder of the list illustrates that few of the reporting utilities actively track and report on forced outage announce-largest-procurement-of-offshore-
wind-in-nations-history/)
metrics. Forced outages are by definition unplanned, yet five utilities track an outage budget and schedule More (http://www.powermag.com/press-
releases/)
performance. Source: EUCG
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• 27th World Gas Conference, 06/25 - 06/29
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• World Nuclear Exhibition, 06/26 - 06/28
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• ISA POWID Symposium, 06/26 - 06/28
(https://isaautomation.isa.org/powid-2018/)
• Global Power & Energy Exhibition, 09/17 -
7. Safety measures. The top 10 safety measures reported by the 16 utility survey respondents are shown.
09/20 (http://gpexevent.com)
It is notable that contractor recordable accidents did not make the list. Altogether, another 12 safety
• 47TH TURBOMACHINERY AND 34TH PUMP
measures were reported in the survey results by five or fewer utilities, such as days since last lost time SYMPOSIA, 09/18 - 09/20
accident, accident severity rate, contractor Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) incident (https://tps.tamu.edu)
rate, and a number of human performance events. Source: EUCG

http://www.powermag.com/benchmarking-fossil-plant-performance-measures-part-i-s... 25-05-2018
Benchmarking Fossil Plant Performance Measures, Part I: Station-Level Metrics Page 6 of 7

• Annual Calibration Exchange (ACE 2018),

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• ELECTRIC POWER, PRESENTED BY POWER
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8. Environmental measures. Half or more of the survey group reported the top 10 environmental
measures shown on this chart, although only SO2 and NOx emission rates were listed by all 16 utilities

surveyed. However, ozone season NOx compliance failed to make the top 10. Another 11 measures not
shown were reported by six companies or fewer, such as effluent monitoring and hazardous waste
generation. Source: EUCG

9. Diversity measures. Given the survey results, it seems that a marginal number of utilities track plant
staff diversity. Second-tier metrics not shown in the figure and reported by only two or fewer utilities
include absenteeism rate, training hours per FTE, and the number of staff on limited duty or on disability.
Source: EUCG

Note that the data reported on in these figures is not segmented by utility size ranges,
although the database provided to those that participated in the study can be sorted to
provide true peer comparisons. The good news is that if you are interested in the complete
database, you can join the EUCG and complete the survey. The complete survey database will
then be made available to you.

In Part II, we will look at this same data from a corporate or fleet viewpoint and discuss the
differences with results reported in this article. Part III will examine more predictive metrics,
including those used for compensation programs at the surveyed utilities.

— Charlene Foltzer (charlene.foltzer@pseg.com ('+String.fromCharCode

(99,104,97,114,108,101,110,101,46,102,111,108,116,122,101,114,64,112,115,101,103,46,99,111,10
9)+'?')) is performance & metrics manager at PSEG Power in New Jersey and a member of the EUCG’s
Fossil Productivity Committee.

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