| Floating Power Plants; Wave of the Future? By David B. Waller President, Polar Energy, Inc. |
Countries in South East Asia, particularly the Philippines, South America and the Caribbean found themselves desperately short of power as their economies expanded. This situation was due in large part to the long neglect of utility infrastructure and lack of funding for such projects. Consequently, state-owned electrical utilities turned to the private sector for a quick fix and external Build-Own-Transfer (BOT) contractual arrangements. Many of these contracts were signed with companies that offered power generation barges, one of the few vehicles that would induce commercial financing for power-generating facilities in countries that could not or would not provide sovereign guarantees of payment.
FPPs were constructed during a flurry of opportunity in the early 90's using a variety of generating technologies. Since most projects were fuel driven, the availability and cost of heavy fuel oil being prevalent, opportunity was created for medium and slow speed diesel technology, which took the lion's share of all the early FPP projects. However, gas turbines were also barge mounted for the first time during this period, in simple cycle form, using both aero derivative and industrial models mainly operating on No. 2 diesel fuel.
While the barge mounting of aero derivative turbines followed techniques used in military installations, the installation of large industrial turbines posed special challenges. These challenges mainly concerned the isolation of the turbine generator set, designed to normally rest on a monolithic concrete block, from the hydrostatic and thermal induced movements of a structural steel barge. Several different solutions were generated that isolate the turbine foundations from the barge structures, while maintaining the rigidity required of the turbine manufacturer.
In 2000, what is currently the largest FPP in the world was installed in Mangalore, on the west coat of India. The 220 MW combined cycle unit is fitted with four LM 6000 turbine generator packages, with chilled inlet air, each with a "Once Thru" heat recovery steam generator and a 55 MW steam plant. This FPP was constructed in record time in Korea and installed in a riverside lagoon, where the design permits the facility to vertical rise some 5 meters during the monsoon season.
| 150 MW FPP for Orimulsion Fuel |
| 220 MW Combined Cycle FPP at Site |
Financial issues aside, FPPs could be delivered quickly to meet the urgent need for capacity. Assuming the availability of prime movers, generators and other equipment, a 100 MW barge could be delivered to site in less than 6 months. Site work can be accomplished simultaneously with the construction of the barge in a shipyard where greater control and efficiency of the installation of machinery and equipment is possible than at a remote green field site.
| Modularized Coal Fired CFB FPP |
| 500 MW Offshore FPP with DC transmission |
| Are Non-Nuclear Floating Power Plants an Option for South Africa? By Keith Campbell Engineering News, February 15, 2008 |
Interestingly, Eskom is known to have acquired a power generation turbine from General Electric (GE) – this was built by GE for another customer who then cancelled the order, allowing the South African utility to snap it up. But now Eskom is pondering where to put it and how to provide its fuel supply – pipeline, railway tanker, or road tanker? Putting it on a barge would speed things up considerably and solve the fuel supply problem – it could be delivered by hose from product tankers (that is, tankers that transport refined fuels, not crude oil).
Also relevant to the South African situation is that FPP projects in rapidly growing emerging market countries have often involved State-owned utilities turning to private-sector companies to supply both the FPP and the financing for the project. This is done by signing power-purchasing agreements with the private-sector (often foreign) investors, using either build-own-operate or build-own-transfer arrangements.
A fascinating aspect of FPPs is that they are legally equivalent to ships, not to terrestrial power stations. Each FPP is a legal entity, with a home port, a country of registration, and a flag, operating under maritime law, and in compliance with international regulations – hence, the fact that the 50-year-old 30-MW FPP mentioned earlier has a name.
To date, FPPs have all employed petroleum- based or natural-gas fuels, but in the last few years, coal has been under consideration for 100-MW units intended for deployment in the US. Hitherto, FPPs had to be moored in sheltered locations, protected from wave action or strong currents (tidal rises and falls are no problem), which suggests that places like Durban Bay, Saldanha Bay, and Richards Bay might be the most suitable locations for FPPs in this country. However, designs are under way for FPPs that can be deployed in the open ocean, up to 200 nautical miles offshore and in water as deep as 9 000 m, which would eliminate the wave problem.
| 220 MW Combined Cycle FPP at Site |
| Russia, Germany to Float Mobile Power Stations by 2010 POWERnews February 11, 2009 |
Russia's OPK said in a press release that it planned to complete the production of steam generators for its two-reactor floating nuclear power station by 2009. The company had contracted Baltiysky Zavod, an OPK entity, to build all eight steam generators in 2006. Construction for the second set of generators was completed in October 2008.
About 450 feet long, OPK's floating nuclear power station is expected to have a total capacity of 70 MW (see "Russia's new nuclear navy." POWER, July/August 2006). It will be located in the north of the Russian Federation where key energy supplies are lacking, OPK said. The reactors' thermal energy can be sent up to 180 miles away. The plants' design life span is 40 years, with refueling every two to three years. The project is said to have a 12-year payback.
RWE Power meanwhile announced this week that i would unveil a pilot "power barge" project - a combined-cycle gas turbine power station that will be erected on floating pontoons - at the E-World-Energy & Water trade fail in Essen, Germany on Feb. 10. When deployed - by 2010, the company hopes - the first RWE power barges would provide electricity to shortage-stricken countries on the eastern Mediterranean and on the Black Sea.
Lambertz pointed out that the project is new to Europe, though beyond the continent, some 60 floating power plants with a total capacity of more than 4 GW are already in operation. The largest of these is a 220-MW unit at Mangalore, in southwest India, turbines, heavy fuel diesel engines and steam turbines." the maritime services provider says on it's web site.
Waller Marine is currently carrying out design work on an even larger project: a 520-MW combined-cycle facility that will provide power to New York City. The company is also working on a modularized integrated gasification combined-cycle (IGCC) power plant, which would be fueld by petcoke.
The RWE power barges, like other floating power plants, would not have their own propulsion systems but would be tugged to the desired location. The 98-foot by 328-foot units would then be anchored and connected to the gas or electricity grid.
RWE Power has already started an EU-wide call for tenders for the pilot barge. "We are also looking for partner companies in the target countries who can support us with expertise and local knowledge in selecting locations and the authorization procedure", Lambertz said.
"We will be able to provide electricity quickly and reliably exactly where it is needed at a given time," explained Dr. Johannes Lambertz, CEO of RWE Power, in a press release. "It is also a low risk way of exploring new growth markets for large projects on land."
Sources: OPK, RWE POWER, Waller Marine
The original rational for the early FPP today remains fast track capacity where you need it at low financial risk, but new reasons are surfacing that are taking the FPP to higher levels of capacity and complexity.
Restricted, high demand areas, such as New York City, where land restrictions preclude power plant construction and additional transmission is limited, can accommodate FPPs. What will become the largest FPP in the world, a 520 MW combined cycle unit, using GE 7FA technology, currently in the permiting stage, is proposed for installation in this area in the near future.
The technical and commercial driver for this project is to convert associated gas to an energy source that is more easily transported to shore, there being certain technical limitations to the installation of marginal gas pipelines in ultra deep water.
This concept of offshore FPPs may be expanded to provide
electrical power to offshore platforms and other production
units thus eliminating the need for platform based generation
and reducing overall emissions. This latter strategy is being
implemented in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea.
Additionally the concept can be extended to provide power to
future offshore installation, such as those contemplated for the
importation of LNG and CNG in the Gulf of Mexico.
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PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND (USA), OCTOBER 23, 2009
Andrew Harville, a recent graduate of the Webb Institute, was recognized today as the 2009 winner of The Lloyd's Register Education Trust Maritime Technology Student of the Year Award.
The annual award, sponsored by the Lloyd's Trust and the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME), is designed to highlight excellence while encouraging students to showcase their research and investigative studies on topics in the areas of naval architecture, marine and ocean engineering and promote leadership in the industry. It was presented to Harville (pictured above) at the SNAME 2009 President's Luncheon, held during the SNAME 2009 Annual Meeting and Expo in Providence, Rhode Island. The theme for this year's competition, open to undergraduate students in the US and Canada, was "Maritime Technology: Advancing Lifecycle Environmental Stewardship". The 2009 Webb graduate, now a naval architect with Waller Marine, Inc. in Spring, Texas, was honored with the US $3,500 first prize for his paper, "Politician Promises: A Study in Advancing a Green Staten Island (NY) Ferry System".
Beginning in 2010, the award will be re-named The Lloyd's Register Educational Trust America's maritime Student of the Year and the competition will be expanded to include students from Central and South America. "The Lloyd's Register Educational Trust is very pleased to further it's commitment to improving the quality and safety of the maritime industry worldwide by sponsoring this award." said Michael Franklin, Director, Lloyd's Register Educational Trust.
The theme for the 2010 competition is "A green ship or green system for safe operation in the ice and cold environment". Students have until December 1, 2009 to submit a declaration of interest and the deadline for submissions is March 31, 2010. Final judging will take place in June and the 2010 award will be presented at the SNAME 2010 annual meeting in Seattle next November. For more information and submissions, contact Alana Anderson at aanderson@sname.org or call 1+201.499.5066.
SNAME is an internationally recognized nonprofit Technical society of individual members serving eh maritime industry dedicated to advancing the art, science and practice of naval architecture, shipbuilding, ocean engineering and marine engineering. For more information visit www.sname.org.
Society of Naval Architects & Marine Engineers - 601 Pavonia Avenue - Jersey City, NJ 07306
News release prepared by Home Port Marine Marketing. www.homeportmarine.com
2009 LLOYD'S REGISTER EDUCATIONAL TRUST |
| 520 MW FPP for New York City |
