EPRI Awarded $2 Million for Advanced Research in Managing Power Plant Boiler Damage

PALO ALTO, Calif., Oct. 16, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) has been selected for a $2 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to develop and demonstrate an integrated management system that uses advanced sensors and supporting technologies to reduce boiler damage in fossil-fueled electricity generating plants.

The project is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy (FE) as part of its “Advanced Combustion Systems: Existing Plant Improvements and Transformational Technologies” research. These projects are designed to develop advanced combustion systems that can make substantial progress toward enabling cost-competitive, coal-based power generation systems to help achieve near-zero pollutant emissions.

The project, “Integrated Boiler Management through Advanced Condition Monitoring and Component Assessment,” will incorporate high-temperature, distributed fiber optic sensors, existing plant instrumentation, and an integrated creep-fatigue management system to provide a near-real-time determination of damage accumulation during flexible operations. This system may enhance the capability of creep-fatigue analysis methods by integrating distributed fiber optic sensing technology that will be adapted to boiler applications. The project will be managed by the DOE National Energy Technology Laboratory and EPRI.

A majority of fossil generation assets today operate flexibly, driven by factors such as the need to balance increasing amounts of variable generation, adapting to new environmental regulations, matching system load, and supporting overall grid stability. Flexible operation can have significant and varied impacts on plant performance and major component reliability due to increased operating temperatures and significant temperature changes.

“This project should advance our ability to operate fossil boilers flexibly while maintaining asset integrity,” said Kent Coleman, program manager at EPRI. “Being able to track damage accumulation from flexible operations in near real time will provide critical information that can help improve the reliability, availability, and safety of these assets.”

Industry participants in this research project include American Electric Power, Structural Integrity Associates, Inc., and Sentek Instrument, LLC.

About EPRI

The Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. (EPRI, www.epri.com) conducts research and development relating to the generation, delivery and use of electricity for the benefit of the public. An independent, nonprofit organization, EPRI brings together its scientists and engineers as well as experts from academia and industry to help address challenges in electricity, including reliability, efficiency, affordability, health, safety and the environment. EPRI's members represent approximately 90 percent of the electricity generated and delivered in the United States, and international participation extends to more than 30 countries. EPRI's principal offices and laboratories are located in Palo Alto, Calif.; Charlotte, N.C.; Knoxville, Tenn.; and Lenox, Mass.