Increasing Generation Ramp Rate at Morgantown Generating Station's Coal-Fired Units

At Morgantown Generating Station, plant personnel used innovative methods to combine model predictive control with distributed control system-based process control algorithms to improve waterwall temperature control and main steam temperature control and to enhance unit ramp rate capability. The previous heat rate and NO(x) optimization performance gains were retained. Focusing beyond basic loops of feedwater, air, and O(2), the project considered issues such as PID controller override configuration and limitations. The techniques used to overcome these challenges improved unit ramp rate capability beyond any previous unit performance.