pwr_october-2024 - 33

FOSSIL TOP PLANT
which have 30 fans each, were provided
by Shanghai Electric-SPX Engineering
& Technology Co. Ltd.
1. Attarat has the biggest mine in Jordan,
producing 10 million tonnes of oil shale per
annum. Courtesy: Attarat Power Company
resultant huge quantity of ash to be handled,
these have forced the plant to keep
a large number of spare parts on hand.
Furthermore, the maintenance team is
often required to work around the clock
to manage the associated challenges.
Nevertheless, the units have operated
reliably since commissioning. " The plant
achieved availability of about 80%, as
required by the power purchase agreement,
for the first two contract years
with gross generation of 3,888 GWh, "
Jason Pok reported.
The Construction Contractors and
Suppliers
Guangdong Power Engineering of China
Energy (GPEC) was the main engineering,
procurement, and construction
(EPC) contractor performing the turnkey
project. At the peak time of construction,
there were more than 4,000
workers onsite including all contractors,
subcontractors, suppliers, and service
providers. All workers who needed to
be trained and certified were trained onsite
by the Health, Safety, and Environmental
(HSE) and Quality teams prior to
their work commencing.
" There were challenges finding the
right people during the commissioning
period due to various restrictions as a
result of COVID-19, " Jason Pok recalled.
" We managed to source qualified people
from different regions to complete the
commissioning work. "
As previously mentioned, Sumitomo
SHI FW supplied the plant's boilers.
Siemens Energy supplied the steam
turbines and generators, as well as a
T3000 distributed control system and
programmable logic controllers for the
project. Four sets of oil shale reclaimers
and stackers were supplied by Dalian
Huarui Heavy Industry Group Co.
Ltd. and Flender. Equipment for two
sets of semi-mobile crushing stations
for the mining area was supplied by
Beijing MMD Mining Machinery Co.
Ltd. and MMD Asia Pacific Ltd. Meanwhile,
the two air-cooled condensers,
October 2024 | POWER
Advanced Technology
A notable solution the Attarat plant has
implemented to improve plant efficiency
and availability involves a high-tech artificial
intelligence-based
monitoring
system
for the boilers. Supplied by Sumitomo
SHI FW, the IZANA Digital Services
platform features several innovative
digital products: Envelope, Boiler Bed
Management, Boiler Leakage Detection
Program, and Fouling Management.
Sumitomo SHI FW says these tools " optimize
a boiler's operating capacity and
environmental performance, enhance
usability, and cut operating costs. "
The Envelope solution is designed to
increase a plant's operating efficiency.
The technology is also said to increase
fuel flexibility and production capacity of a
boiler, while lowering maintenance costs.
Boiler Bed Management, meanwhile,
helps avoid boiler downtime caused by
bed agglomeration and sintering. The
product is said to increase not only a
boiler's reliability, but also its usability for
burning more challenging fuels. It reportedly
optimizes sand use in boilers, which
means less sand transportation to a landfill,
reducing transportation costs.
Boiler Leakage Detection Program
helps identify boiler tube leaks quickly,
which allows an early response and helps
minimize damage resulting from leaks.
This reduces downtime and repair costs.
Lastly, Fouling Management is an optimization
application for sootblowing.
The application analyzes the cleanliness
of heat surfaces in the boiler and automatically
suggests the optimum timing
for the next steam-powered sootblowing.
The operating model maintains peak
performance and saves energy by carrying
out sootblowing at the best time and
only when truly needed.
Key Safety and Environmental
Control Systems
The plant design is based on World
Bank guidelines, which include strict
environmental monitoring aspects.
Among the key items being monitored
by the program are flue gas emissions
and water consumption.
" Our boilers were designed with the
latest technology to keep the gaseous
emissions within standard code limits, "
said Jason Pok. " In addition, the plant
uses advanced Electrostatic-Fabric Integrated
Precipitators (EFIPs). Emission
www.powermag.com
POWER POINTS
Winning Attributes
✔ The Attarat plant contributes toward
Jordan's long-term energy security
and independence by reducing the
country's dependence on imported
oil and gas, and utilizing domestic
oil shale resources.
✔ More than 100 local Jordanian
contractors, subcontractors. and
suppliers were involved in the
project, which now provides more
than 1,500 direct and indirect job
opportunities in the region.
✔ The plant has kickstarted Jordan's
nascent oil shale industry, leading to
a better understanding of the local
resource and more opportunities in
the sector.
rates are not only monitored directly at
the source/stack, but also through an
ambient Air Quality Monitoring System
(AQMS) established at early stages of
the project. "
Most of the water supply for the
facility comes from brackish underground
wells and is utilized for dust
suppression in mining and ash disposal.
" We minimized the use of water by
implementing our air-cooled condenser
system by which the steam is cooled
by air rather than by water, " Jason Pok
noted. " Much effort is also put into
wastewater treatment, where all types
of wastewaters are treated and reused
also in plant operation and onsite irrigation, "
he added.
Management has also placed great
emphasis on working safety. Since the
commissioning of Unit 2, the station
has recorded more than 5.5 million manhours
of work without a lost-time injury.
" Attarat goes beyond generating
electricity, " said Bader Al Neif, head
of Public Relations with Attarat Power
Company. " It acts as a breakthrough
for Jordan's energy sector, paving the
way for future oil shale projects in Jordan
and the region. "
The editors of POWER couldn't agree
more, and as such, are honored to recognize
the Attarat plant with a 2024
POWER Top Plant Award in the fossil fuel
category. Congratulations to the entire
project team! ■
-Aaron Larson is POWER's
executive editor.
33
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