belchatow-poland-supercritical-steam-coal-power-plant-editorial

October 2007
858 MWe supercritical extension for Belchatow:
Poland's largest and most efficient
lignite-fired plant.
Belchatow
The Belchatow extension will be the largest generating unit ever built in
Poland and also the most efficient lignite plant. Alstom is supplying the plant
to utility BOT Elektrownia Belchatow SA under a full turnkey EPC (engineering,
procurement, construction and commissioning) contract. This new power plant
will allow to increase electricity production in full compliance with European
environmental regulations.

LIGNITE POWER
858 MWe supercritical
extension for Belchatow
The supercritical unit under construction at Belchatow will be Poland's
largest and most efficient lignite fired plant.
Supercritical
boiler
Andrzej Twardowski, Alstom, Poland
From the early 1990s onwards it was clear
that major investment was needed to
rehabilitate and/or replace Polish power
plants, to improve operating performance
and to address the effects of ageing and
obsolescent technology.
Furthermore, after a brief period when
electricity consumption decreased, due to closure
of obsolete production facilities and a decline in
the power-intensive sectors of industry, over the
past few years power demand has been increasing
steadily in tandem with the country's GDP
growth.
The situation in the power sector was
exacerbated by Poland's joining of the European
Union in May 2005, which brought the burden of
additional emissions reduction obligations, with
limitations on emissions by Poland as a whole and
by the Polish power sector specifically.
All these factors created the necessity for the
Polish power sector to embark on a very large
investment programme to meet the
requirements of growing power demand,
increased market competition and tightening
environmental regulations.
Estimates suggest that to meet these
requirements some 9 GW of new or radically
rehabilitated generating capacity will need to be
put in operation between now and 2015.
Indigenous coal remains the mainstay of Polish
power, accounting for about 152 TWh of the 162
TWh gross production in 2006 (some 94%, with
oil, gas and hydro providing the rest). Lignite
accounts for about a third of the coal generation.
The first big project was rehabilitation of units
1-6 of the Turow lignite fired plant, a huge
undertaking that started in 1994 (with the
awarding to an Alstom-led consortium of a
contract to rehabilitate all six LMZ-designed 200
MW units) and continued until 2005. The first
three units were uprated to 235 MWe, and the
subsequent three units to 262 MWe.
Another significant project was the construction
of a 460 MW supercritical lignite fired plant at
Patnow (replacing two old 200 MW LMZ
designed oil fired units), for which Alstom was
awarded the turbine island and boiler contracts in
2001 and which is currently under commissioning.
The next key phase in the replacement of old
generating capacity in Poland was the start of
construction of the world's first supercritical CFB
plant, at the Lagisza site of PKE (Southern
Poland Power Company). Lagisza is scheduled
to enter commercial operation in early 2009. The
boiler for this 460 MW unit is being supplied by
Foster Wheeler, while in December 2003 Alstom
received an EPC contract covering the turbine
island package (including civil works) and the
cooling system, including cooling tower.
The new 858 MWe lignite fired supercritical
unit to be built at Belchatow represents a further
key stage in the modernisation of Poland's power
generation infrastructure.

LIGNITE POWER
Belchatow, pillar of Polish power – a utility perspective
Piotr Szmaj, chief engineer, new unit, BOT Elektrownia Belchatow
Even before the addition of the new 858 MWe supercritical unit (described in the
main article), Belchatow hosted the largest coal (lignite) fired plant in Europe –
with a current installed capacity of 4400 MWe (12 x 370 MWe) – and has been
called the capital of the Polish power generation industry. Following completion
of the modernisation programme started in 1997, which added 120 MWe to the
installed capacity (by modernisation of the turbine LP stages), the plant fulfils all
EU requirements and standards.
Indeed, BOT Elektrownia Belchatow was the first company in Poland to receive
a permit under the EU's Integrated Pollution Prevention Control (IPPC) scheme to
run its installations in line with the IPPC directive.
The power station being the lowest cost and the most efficient electricity
producer in the country is a pillar of the Polish power generation industry,
helping to stabilise the national energy market. Since the late 1990s, with an
annual electricity output of about 28 TWh, Belchatow has provided some 20% of
Poland's power, well ahead of any other power station.
The design of the original Belchatow units was developed in the 1970s and did
not anticipate any measures to limit emissions of sulphur oxides emissions because
at that time flue gas desulphurisation technologies were largely unknown and only
in the development phase. However, in the years 1988 to 1990, BOT Elektrownia
Belchatow turned its attention to developments in Polish desulphurisation
technologies as well as those being applied worldwide, and subsequently fitted
FGD to ten of the 12 Belchatow units (numbers 3 to 12).
To maintain a leading position in the Polish electricity market BOT Elektrownia
Belchatow has adopted a strategy for capacity development, which entails
comprehensive modernisation of Belchatow units 3 to 12, starting in 2007 – with the
aim of enabling them to reach 320 thousand hours of operation, ie to operate until
around 2035 – plus construction of the new unit, as described in the main article.
The strategy, which assumes maintenance of high power production
capabilities in association with optimal utilisation of available coal deposits
(about 1 billion tonnes of lignite) in the Belchatow and Szczercow open cast
mines, can be summarised as follows:
• Construction of the new 858 MW power unit, with commercial operation scheduled
for October 2010. This represents the largest investment of its kind yet in Poland.
In 2001, official acceptance from the Ministry of the Treasury was obtained to
commence a project to build a new 833 MW power unit. The capacity was
subsequently increased to 858 MW, thanks to improved plant integration by EPC
contractor Alstom. The tender procedure began in 2002 resulted in the selection
of the Alstom consortium. The design was approved in 2005 and a construction
permit issued. Construction work began in October 2006. The power plant will
use best available technology (BAT), as required under IPPC, and will also fulfil the
requirements of the EU Large Combustion Plant directive. First synchronisation
with the Polish national grid is anticipated in February 2010. The project includes
a new transmission link to the system switching station in Trebaczew.
• Reconstruction and modernisation programme. Refurbishment of units 1 and 2
(which do not have FGD) was done in 2004 and 2005, while modernisation of
units 3-12 will be done according to the following schedule: unit 3 in 2007, unit 4
Germany
Belchatow
in 2009, units 5 and 6 in 2010, units 7 and 8 in 2011, units 9 and 10 in 2012, and units 11 and 12 in 2013. The basic goals of the modernisation process
include: extension of the operating lifetime of units 1 and 2 (to 2016) and of units 3-12 (to 2030-2035); improvement of operating performance; reduction
in environmental impact, including compliance with EU Directive 2001/80/EC; and increase in turbine-generator unit power from 370 MW to 380 MW.
The total investment cost (new build plus refurbishment) is 1.6 billion euro, with banks providing 880 million euro. The project won the
Euromoney/Project Finance award for best European power deal of 2006.
The new unit and the refurbishment programme are in line with BOT Elektrownia Belchatow's policy of striving to continuously upgrade and improve
its power technology assets. The management system is also being continuously improved. The power plant holds a PCBC and IQNet certificate for an
Integrated Management System for Quality, Environment, Occupational Safety and Information Security (IMS-ISO), compliant with the requirements of
the PN-EN ISO 9001:2001, PN-N-18001:1999, PN-EN ISO 14001:1998 and PN-I-07799-2.
Lodz
Baltic Sea
Piotrkow
Trybunalski
Poland
Lodz
Warsaw
Slovakia
Lithuania
Belarus
Ukraine
Belchatow site, showing
the 12 existing units
Visualisation of the new 858 MWe unit at Belchatow, with
existing units, right
Poland's biggest
The Belchatow extension will be the largest
generating unit ever built in Poland and also the
most efficient lignite plant, expected to achieve
almost 42%.
Alstom is supplying the plant to utility BOT
Elektrownia Belchatow SA (which is owned by
the state power generation holding company
BOT Gornictwo i Energetyka) under a full
turnkey EPC (engineering, procurement,
construction and commissioning) contract. The
contract was signed in December 2004 and the
pre-engineering phase started immediately.
Financial close and the official launch of the
project (notice to proceed) was obtained in
October 2006. Commercial operation is
scheduled for the last quarter of 2010.
There are already twelve 370 MWe lignite fired
units at the Belchatow site, which started operation
in the early 1980s and run in baseload mode. There
was an urgent need to rehabilitate these units due
to their age, emissions and economics.
Ten of the units will be upgraded, over the period
2007 to 2013, while the oldest two will be shut
down permanently before 2016, with the new plant
more than making up the loss of power production.
The end result will be increased electricity
production in full compliance with European
environmental regulations, including the Large
Combustion Plant and Integrated Pollution
Prevention and Control Directives.
The total cost of the new plant plus the
refurbishment of the existing units is estimated
to be around 1.7 billion euros. The EBRD is
providing a loan of 125 million euros for the
new plant. Other investors include EIB, 220
million euro, Nordic Investment Bank, 150
million euro, and ING and Citibank, which are
providing various facilities totalling 604
million euro.
BOT Elektrownia Belchatow decided to build
the new 858 MWe unit as an extension of the
existing unit in order to secure continuous
deliveries of electricity to customers as well as
maintaining a constant level of lignite
consumption from the local open mine (a major
cost factor for the power plant).
Thanks to the project BOT Elektrownia
Belchatow will:
• secure its income by maintaining electricity
production;

LIGNITE POWER
Operating large coal and lignite plants in Poland
R Hard coal
4 Lignite
4 Elblag
Main features of the new
Belchatow 858 MWe
supercritical unit
Turów
• secure fuel costs by achieving constant lignite
demand;
• secure extended lifetimes for the upgraded
existing units; and
• meet all EU requirements relating to coal fired
plants.
The environmental performance of the new plant
can be summarised as follows:
• NO x emissions below 200 mg/Nm 3 ;
• particulate emissions below 30 mg/Nm 3 thanks
to ESP plus additional effect of wet
desulphurisation;
• reduction of SO x emissions to below 200 mg/Nm 3
with a removal efficiency of over 96 %, again
thanks to the wet desulphurisation system;
• limitation of CO 2 emissions thanks to high
plant efficiency;
• reduction of raw cooling water consumption
through measures such as reuse of cooling tower
blowdown water and reuse of water from the
nearby mine for ash slurry transport instead of
using surface water resources; and
• noise abatement though use of protection
systems and special attention to design of
sensitive systems, such as coal handling
equipment, boiler fans, and cooling tower.
Solid waste consisting of fly and bottom ash
will be transported as slurry to a new landfill in
the nearby lignite mine. Waste gypsum from the
new wet limestone FGD scrubbing system will
be used commercially, a practice well established
in Poland. In fact the use of power plant gypsum
for plasterboard in Poland was pioneered by the
existing Belchatow units.
Design features
The Alstom scope of supply includes: a tower type
supercritical once through pulverised coal boiler
(with low NO x combustion system); five-casing
steam turbine with three double flow exhausts
(STF100); hydrogen cooled generator
(GIGATOP); water cooled condenser;
feedheating system with seven heaters; milling
system; wet flue gas desulphurisation system; coal
Five-casing steam
turbine for Belchatow
R Dolna Odra
8 x 200 MW
Turów
3 x 238 MW
1 x 265 MW
4 6 x 200 MW
R Opole
4 x 360 MW
4 Patnow
7 x 120 MW
8 X 200 MW
4 Bełchatów
12 x 360 MW
Łayiska
2 x 120 MW
R 4 x 200 MW
R Rybnik R Jaworzno III
8 x 200 MW 6 x 200 MW
R Ostrolęka
3 x 200 MW
R Kozienice
8 x 200 MW
2 x 500 MW
R Połaniec
8 x 200 MW
Patnow
and ash handling systems; control system based
on Alstom ALSPA technology; and balance of
plant. An important feature of the project has been
careful integration of all these systems throughout
all phases, from development of the concept,
through the basic and detailed design up to erection
and commissioning.
The new 858 MW unit has been designed to
achieve an operating life of about 200 000 hours,
ie about 35 years.
It will use local lignite from the existing
Belchatow open cast mine, presently supplying fuel
to the existing units, as well as from a new open cast
lignite mine being constructed at Szczercow.
The design of the unit as well as the equipment
selected will allow the new plant to achieve an
availability above 88% over the first two years
of operation, with scheduled outages reduced to
about two weeks for the annual overhaul, with a
six week outage every three years.
Thanks to its compact and modular design the
new unit, with all auxiliary installations, will cover
the relatively small area of 300 m long and 350 m
wide, an extension to the area of the existing plant.
The total height of the new turbine building will
be 39 m and the boiler will be up to 150 m high.
In addition to the new power block (boiler, turbine
and generator) the project consists of: the new
desulphurisation plant with auxiliary installations;
recirculating cooling system with the cooling tower
also used as a chimney; the complete electrical
system with two unit transformers; new control
system; water treatment system; coal handling
system connecting the new unit with the lignite
transportation system from the open mine to the
existing units; hydraulic ash slurry transport
systems; electrostatic precipitator; auxiliary systems
and buildings, including administration building.
The majority of deliveries and almost all the onsite
work will be provided by Polish companies.
Main components
The main data for the plant are summarised in
the table, right.
Key features of the main systems include the
following:
Boiler
Supercritical once-through single pass boiler
with circulating pump for start up and turn down
capability to 40% of boiler load.
There is one 100% boiler feedwater pump driven
by an auxiliary steam turbine connected to steam
extraction from the main steam turbine and two
start up and reserve pumps (35% each) connected
to electrical motors via hydrokinetic couplings.
Fuel
Cooling system
Contract type
Boiler
Boiler type
Lignite (domestic)
Cooling tower
(natural draft)
Turnkey
Tower,
once through
Steam flow (t/h) 2400
Steam pressure (bar) 275
Steam temperature (°C) 554
Turbine (STF100)
Number of casings 5
Steam pressure (bar) 252
Steam temperature -
inlet/reheat (°C) 550/580
Speed (rpm) 3000
Generator (GIGATOP)
Rating (MVA) 1042
Power factor 0.85
Frequency (Hz) 50
Terminal voltage (kV) 27
Excitation system
Alstom
Static Excitation
System P320
Cooling system
Hydrogen
plus water
Condensing plant
Circulating water
temperature (°C) 17.5
Condenser pressure
(mbar) 43
Tube material
Stainless steel,
DIN 1.4439
Feedwater heating plant
Feedwater heaters 7
Feedwater deaerating tank 1
Feedwater temperature (°C) 275
Main pumps
Condensate extraction 3 x 50% (first stage
pumps
plus second stage)
Feedwater pump
1 x 100% main
turbine driven
feedwater pump
plus 2 x 35% start-up
motor driven
feedwater pumps
Circulating water pumps 2 x 50%
Polishing plant
yes
Main transformer
Rated output (MVA) 2 x 700
Primary/secondary (kV) 420/27
Unit transformers
Rated output (MVA) 80/40/40
Primary/secondary (kV) 27/10.5/10.5
Standby transformer
Rated output (MVA) 80/40/40
Primary/secondary (kV) 115/10.5/10.5
Instrumentation and control system
Logic control
Alstom ALSPA
Analog control
Alstom ALSPA
Data acquisition
Alstom ALSPA

LIGNITE POWER
Process schematic of the new 858 MWe unit at Belchatow
Cooling tower
Boiler
Cold reheat steam from HP cylinder
Coal bunker
Live steam to HP
cylinder
Absorber
Electrostatic
precipitator
Turbine
Generator
Feedwater
from
feedwater
pump
Transformer
GYPSUM COLLECTION
Steam
Cooling tower
Feedwater
Gypsum
Limestone
The design of the boiler has been done in
Stuttgart, Germany, and production of most of the
boiler components is being done in Raciborz,
Poland.
Turbine-generator
The five-casing steam turbine (STF100) is of the
reaction type and is being manufactured in Elblag,
Poland. The GIGATOP generator is being produced
in Wroclaw, Poland, and Birr, Switzerland.
Control system
The new unit will be equipped with an ALSPA
P320 control system, which includes a
CENTRALOG integrated monitoring and
supervision system and CONTROBLOCK P320
control blocks.
Integration
With Alstom the single EPC supplier, and
through the use of its Plant Integrator
capabilities, the project also provides a good
example of the benefits of integration between
systems, coupled with close co-operation
between contractor and utility, during all phases
of the project, from conceptual development of
the concept, through basic and then detailed
design up to erection and commissioning of the
new plant.
All major components of the new unit have
been analysed as elements of the overall power
plant system to achieve the best balance between
technology, costs, power production etc.
Also, all major systems and the interfaces
between them have been optimised to arrive at
the most compact solution, matched to the
limited area available for the new unit.
In addition, integration combined with
modularisation has contributed to reducing the
expected project execution time to 48 months,
from notice to proceed (October 2006) to
obtaining of the provisional acceptance
certificate (PAC) (October 2010).
New drivers
Ever more stringent environmental regulations
and the emergence of open and competitive
markets, with the need for increased productivity,
are currently strong drivers in Central and Eastern
European countries including Poland. The new
Belchatow unit can be seen as a product of these
combined forces.
MPS
Gypsum and
limestone
storage
Cooling
tower
Water
treatment
Fuel oil
area
Switchyard
Twice gas
desulphurisation
Turbine
building
Lignite
crusher
Boiler
ESP
Lignite
conveyor
Site plan of the new 858
MWe unit at Belchatow
Construction underway on the new unit

www.power.alstom.com
Printed in England, TBC 1007E