Heavy-fuelled gas turbine technology: Operational feed-back of the 300 MW Yugadanavi power plant (Sri Lanka)

摘要

In regions developing rapidly but deprived of natural gas, HFO based CCGTs represent economical and environmentally viable power generation options. The 300 MW Yugadanavi plant, the first of its kind in Sri Lanka, stands out as a paradigmatic example as it has brought a fast and reliable augmentation of power to the Sri Lankan grid. This plant features two 9E GTs burning low-sulfur HFO. It was opted by LTL Holdings Ltd in 2006 when the country started its fast development and the national grid needed fast power additions and frequency stability. Despite a brisk design pace, the project blueprints succeeded in preserving the sensitive tropical environment and nearby marine resources. The plant supplied 200 MW in simple cycle as soon as 2008 then 300 MW in 2010 once converted to combined cycle, without extra fuel consumption. In 2014 Yugadanavi accomplished a unique achievement completing 44,000 hours of successful operation being a combined cycle power plant operated on HFO: it has generated 5,000 GWh and burned 1 MM tons of HFO with a flattering efficiency (44% on average). Meanwhile LTL achieved an average reliability of 96%+, improved the maintenance scheme, increased the CCGT efficiency by advancing the firing temperature, successfully treated/burned most HFO fuels with diverse range of properties and, above all, met all environmental standards. Recently LTL and GE joined their efforts and demonstrated a novel, efficient method to reduce the soot/PM emissions, using benign combustion catalysts. After recalling the key milestones of this pioneering HFO project, the joint paper will outline the operation experience and positive environmental outcomes, with special emphasis placed on O&M, efficiency and PM emission abatement.