Slovenia’s state-of-the-art coal-fired plant decides for intelligent on-load boiler cleaning

EPC-contractor ALSTOM Power Systems (Paris: ALO.PA) awarded a contract to Clyde Bergemann as the sole supplier of the on-load boiler cleaning solution for unit 6 of the Šoštanj coal-fired power plant in Slovenia. The scope of supply includes engineering, installation and commissioning.

With a net efficiency of 43%, the new 1×600 MW ultra supercritical tower-type unit, currently under construction, will make this power plant one of the most efficient and advanced in Slovenia when it enters service in 2014.

“According to the specific cleaning requirements of the different boiler areas, eg furnace, superheater, economiser, air heater and DeNOx, the overall 128 sootblowers consist of the series water cannon, long retractable, helical, rake and rotating element,” said the company in a statement.

The furnace will be equipped additionally with the optimisation system SMART Furnace-FACOS. This system uses sensors to detect the position and intensity of slagging in the furnace area. This data will be linked with the current performance data of the steam generator to decide upon stored algorithms which cleaning action needs to be done and at what intensity. SMART Furnace-FACOS not only considers the level of slagging but also the influence of the imminent cleaning operation on boiler performance.