Industrial Pumps Blog

The Three Gorges Dam is one of the largest engineering projects ever undertaken in the world, and certainly it is the largest dam ever.  It is not simply sheer size which makes the Three Gorges Dam special; it has a total electricity generation capacity of 22,400 Mega Watts (MW) which requires a 24/7 x 365 oil pumping system to govern the hydropower unit. Such a huge system requiring continuous operation presents a number of unique and highly challenging engineering problems.

The original industrial pump which was installed failed to operate successfully requiring them to be replaced.  Before replacements could be sourced, a detailed analysis of the pump system which had broken down had to be undertaken, including returning to the original design parameters for the electricity generating system, to understand the challenges and reasons for failure.  There was also the design challenge of having to come up with a work around solution in order to implement a modified installation to the existing infrastructure.

Only after a detailed analysis was conducted could a new engineering solution be implemented.  The new pumping system now incorporates fail safe technology together with properly loaded pumps to handle the capacity which is generated.  The replacement solution is now in situ and operating successfully.

For an energy hungry such as China, the Three Gorges Dam is only part of a series of power generation infrastructure projects which are being developed to supply energy to one of the world’s fastest growing, manufacturing based economies.  Despite the size and scale of the Three Gorges project and other energy generation projects, there is still the need to curb electricity usage in major Chinese cities today – a sign that further projects and more efficient power usage will need to be developed further.

The Three Gorges Dam is built on the Yangtze River, China and it is the world’s largest electric generation facility of any kind.  It is a key infrastructure project for the Chinese government which has created huge controversial debate both within China and internationally.  China is developing at a very fast rate as it moves to a fully-industrialized economy after years of being largely an agricultural society.

There are huge demands being placed upon the Chinese government for energy, especially electricity from industry and residential demand created by the surge in growth of the major urban areas.  At the same time, China is being urged to reduce its carbon footprint and emission of greenhouse gases which is driving the development of hydroelectric projects such as the Three Gorges Dam.  While seeking to satisfy these two demands, the Three Gorges Dam has resulted in a huge controversy over the localized environmental damage and change created by the construction and establishment of the dam.

The dam construction was completed in 2006, and the bulk of the generation infrastructure has also been completed by 2008, however issues have arisen with the pumping packages.  Pumping solutions for a project of this scale are breaking the boundaries of technology and understanding of performance criteria.  Recently, a set of pumping packages failed to meet expectations and in some instances, the housings were damaged causing a rethink of the pump solutions involved.  The industrial pumps are required to be in continuous operation and must be capable of operating under extreme stress levels.  Unique challenges also include the variations in outlet pressure as the dam level rises and falls and identifying and designing for this fluctuation has been extremely difficult – there is after all, no comparative project to rely upon elsewhere in the world.

Once completed, the Three Gorges Dam will produce over 100 TWh per annum, and it is thought that the electricity generated since commencement of operations through to September 2009, has already covered one-third of the cost of the project.

“Small is Beautiful” may not typically be the first thing on people’s minds when they consider nuclear power.  The stereotypical image of a nuclear reactor is of enormous, bulky and alien looking power generation plants with a high risk tag attached to them!

Nevertheless, smaller is one of the design trends which is occupying the minds and energies of power generation innovators and “Blue Sky Thinkers” with micro-reactor plants being considered as well as moving towards passive cooling systems which do not require the multiple-redundancy layers of coolant and power supply redundancy that forced coolant reactors require.

Forced coolant reactors rely upon a complex and multiple redundancy system to ensure reactor safety.  This also requires exceptional planning and risk scenario forecasting on the part of designers and operators as they attempt to come to terms with “What If” game playing and worst case scenarios that must be anticipated and have a solution prescribed in order to ensure safe operation.  So far, the United States has managed to ensure an excellent safety track record in the last fifty years but the potential for hazard is still there – we only need to remember the risk posed by the Long Island incident.

Passive cooling does not require any forcing of coolant around the reactor and because there is no requirement to force coolant, there is no requirement for the multiple redundancy layers of protection to be incorporated into the design.  This has an obvious impact on the cost of constructing and operating passive coolant reactors but does a passive cooling system make for a safer power generating plant?

The short answer is “No!”  The risks inherent in operating a nuclear power plant still remain and the advantage of using a passive cooling system lies in the savings in capital and operating costs.  This said, smaller reactors do use reduced “source terms” which are utilized in accident and risk scenario computations, but smaller means “more” in this instance, as such reactors are envisioned for use to provide power for individual office blocks and neighborhood zones – the risk is simply being transferred over wider areas with larger numbers of small, passive cooled reactor plants.

The three key metrics for measuring power plant operations are Uptime, Availability and Reliability.

Power plant engineers and operators need to rely on pumping systems to ensure all three metrics are maximized in order to meet contractual power supply standards as well as operate profitably.  Mission critical applications must be designed and maintained to the highest possible standards as the contractual penalties as well as lost revenues created by downtime or impeded power production can and will be fatal to the operator.

Operators and engineers must ensure they are supported by a supply partner with deep application experience and a wide range of high efficiency pumps and fluid control systems as well as the hands-on knowledge that comes only from operating an extensive network of installations in a variety of challenging environments.

Many installations and processes employ a range of skill sets with considerable cross-fertilization of knowledge gained from handling different power plant types – fossil fuels, diesel and oil, hydro and nuclear facilities.  In addition, techniques and skills employed in moving one type of fluid can be used to help in delivering results in other circumstances – you need a solutions partner with experience and skills in fluid control with crude oil, distillate oil, kerosene, bio-diesel, residual oil and NAPTHA.

Experience is also needed in delivering solutions and equipment for power generation systems for the Balance of Plant and ancillary power generation equipment used in water removal and water-oil separation.  In addition, there are ancillary pumping operations and applications which require the ability to deliver lubrication, fuel oil injection, water purging and fuel oil forwarding and transfer as part of an integrated and holistic approach to power plant management.

By combining the experience, skills and broad product range from a solutions partner, power plant operators can ensure maximization of plant availability, uptime and reliability.