Siemens asset performance management for power plants proves its value at the San Gabriel power plant
First Gen Corporation, through its subsidiaries, is as an independent power producer in the Philippines. The company owns natural gas-fired power and hydroelectric power plants, and generates power through geothermal, wind, and solar facilities.
Industry: Utilities / Power Generation
Location: San Gabriel Power Plant
Product: Siemens APM for Power Plants Powered by Bentley AssetWise, ContextCapture
User: Siemens Energy Inc. Gas and Power
Country: Philippines
First Gen’s wholly owned First NatGas Power Corp. (FNPC) owns the 414-megawatt-rated San Gabriel natural gas power plant located in Batangas City, Philippines. Siemens has been the facility operations and maintenance provider since the commercial operation started in November 2016. San Gabriel utilizes Siemens SCC6-8000H combined-cycle gas turbine, which is designed to have a combined-cycle efficiency rating greater than 60 percent and high operational flexibility.
Keeping the power flowing while maintaining a high level of efficiency is critical for power plants. The San Gabriel plant is one of Siemens’ most up-to-date and highly efficient designs, deploying extensive advanced sensors and instrumentation. The state-of-the-art facility is the first to implement the new Siemens Asset Performance Management (APM) for Power Plants, a solution co-developed by Siemens and Bentley.
The APM solution is populated with proprietary models derived from Siemens’ extensive OEM and domain expertise as a power plant designer, EPC contractor, operator, and maintainer. The models were developed specifically for the combined cycle gas turbine and other critical equipment and plant assets. Prior to the development of APM, Siemens used human interpretation of maintenance and condition data as the main mechanism to determine the health of most components in the plant. APM for Power Plants fundamentally changed that dynamic by automating the process, interpreting condition data, trending patterns and finding abnormalities, and then comparing results against the predictive models in real-time. The system analyzes asset performance history and uses advanced analytical models to detect patterns or behaviors to predict equipment failure, visualizing real-time operating and condition data to make faster and more informed decisions.
The joint Bentley-Siemens solution automates the process of proactive daily inspections and maintenance, prioritizing work based on the current condition and risk profile of the asset. The predetermined, reliability-centered maintenance recommendations focus on the minimum work that is required to meet performance requirements. Real-time view of asset health, based on accurate condition data, facilitates timely and informed decisions and immediate action.
The experience and lessons learned from this first installation are slated to be incorporated into the worldwide deployment of APM into many of the thousands of power plants powered by Siemens gas or steam turbines. The solution will be available for other OEM-based facilities as well. Since the software runs in an open, connected data environment it can be adjusted quickly and easily for the operating context of the unit. Combining the reliability program framework of Bentley’s AssetWise with the Siemens’ asset models, the team can optimally schedule planned outages and reduce the duration of unplanned outage events.
– We take seriously that we want reliable plants, and implementing APM is our strategy for the future, said Jan Janssen, head of asset management in operations and maintenance, with Siemens AG.
