The rise of renewable energy has required creativity from power plants as they look to stay within emissions regulations
Vaughn Watson, Director, Aftermarket Sales & Services with CECO Peerless Mfg., visits sites often and has seen the struggle to adapt firsthand.
“A lot of gas-fire combined cycle facilities are being asked to augment with the rise in renewables, wind and solar, and, a lot of times, those are contingent on the weather. When the sun goes down, these plants need to ramp up quickly, and, when the sun is shining bright, they need to run at a lower load,” Watson said. “This causes some issues with the emissions controls.”
Fortunately for those plants, Watson and his group have a solution.
“Plants are now having to maintain emissions compliance while the unit is ramping up. They need to be able to turn on their gas turbine as quickly as possible while still meeting emissions. To do that, we have a technology called RASCR, (or) Rapid Advantage SCR,” he said. “That allows, when in that time over temperature race, (plants to) have the quantity of ammonia needed to maintain their emissions controls.”
It’s a solution that makes sure plants running at low load aren’t seeing their emissions spike during that time when the power is abundant and keeps them within regulation as they execute fast starts later on.
It also eliminates the need for other methods, such as using electric vaporization, which can cannibalize a plant’s power by requiring a high amount of electricity or hot gas fans requiring frequent maintenance. Instead, RASCR gives an alternative and delivers an option with a high ROI thanks to its lower cost of operation.
