Short construction time, international partners, two continents and a new material. A new gas-fired combined-cycle power plant in Turkey is to supply a smaller city within 17 months; however, the general conditions for the construction are sporty. A medium-sized pipe manufacturer from the Rhineland is awarded the contract for the engineering, planning and construction management of the cooling and process lines. A history of modern power plant construction in globalized times, from which the German energy industry can also draw learnings.
When the Austrian A-Tec Power Plant Systems commissioned the pipe manufacturer Fiberpipe GmbH with the construction of the pipeline for a gas-fired combined cycle power plant with low-pressure steam turbines and 920 megawatts of power, time was already short. Construction will start in three months. However, the company received the order for a reason: stainless steel has no chance from the outset in the time and cost plan and Fiberpipe GmbH supplies the main and auxiliary cooling water pipes DN 25 – 2400 made of glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP). This material is on the advance in large-scale plant construction and the energy industry, because the material is insensitive to sea water, heat, chemicals and forces. Low weight and advantageous processing properties enable particularly fast assembly processes, which bring price advantages with them. The medium-sized company is also experienced in power plant construction: the engineers from Stolberg have already converted, equipped or refurbished large-scale systems such as the RWE Ibbenbüren coal-fired power plant, the Enertec Hameln waste incineration plant and systems from the cooling tower specialist Hamon Thermal Germany. You have the expertise to guarantee planning security and deliver the entire project according to high German standards from planning to installation from a single source.
Bandirma, a town of 210,000 on the coast of the Marmara Sea, is to receive a new energy supply. This is not about expanding an existing infrastructure, but rather building a completely new power plant – on the green field, directly on the coast. The power plant to be built is a Combined Cycle Power Plant (CCPP) gas-fired combined cycle power plant. The requirements for the pipeline systems of gas-fired combined cycle power plants are extreme: the pipes must be insensitive to the water of the Marmara Sea and corrosion-resistant to the water vapors that arise and withstand extreme pressure fluctuations and temperature conditions. Fiberglass tubes can be designed for these special properties. Englisch “There is no such thing as an off-the-shelf fiberglass pipe,” explains Alexander Bamberger, owner and managing director of the fiberglass pipe specialist Fiberpipe GmbH, “every pipe of this size is made to meet individual requirements.”
The production of pipes for the cooling water circuits begins in January 2009 with the planning. The engineers already provided technical advice in the offer phase. They carry out stress analyzes on the computer, calculate currents, create support concepts, produce 3D drawings – and take over the construction site supervision in Bandirma. A Turkish assembly team of 40 people is to be in charge on site, the climatic conditions are harsh. An air-conditioned construction site container serves as an office and retreat. The German engineers train the Turkish team in the processing and assembly of fiberglass workpieces. GFRP can be connected quickly and easily by gluing, laminating, plugging and flanging. A technical team from Germany with experience in training introduces the local workers and ensures that all connections meet high-security standards. Process checks and pressure tests secure the entire system in the course of the process.
In the Combined Cycle Power Plant combined cycle power plant, the hot exhaust gases from the gas turbines are used in a waste-heat steam boiler to generate water vapor. The steam is then expanded using a conventional steam turbine process. Two thirds of the electrical power comes from the gas turbine, one third from the steam process. The exhaust steam from the turbine is then cooled in the condenser. The combination of turbine types results in very high power plant efficiencies. While work is being carried out on the construction site, the entire system has not yet been planned in detail – it remains a long, continuous process. Fiberpipe creates construction drawings of tested pipe runs and sends them online to the customer. This inserts the pipe planning into the overall 3D model of the system and sends the updated data sets back to Fiberpipe in Germany. The German engineers move around virtually throughout the power plant, analyze all external components and their own pipelines in 3D, identify mounting options in the system and plan further pipe runs. In the course of the construction phase, a drawing is created with over 18,000 individual parts just for the cooling water pipes.
Fast delivery of all pipes and parts in a tight schedule is essential. The contracted pipe distribution company is part of an international group that manufactures and delivers quickly on all continents. Extensively stocked warehouses enable the shortest delivery times for all common pipe classes in Germany or worldwide, all pipes are always fully compatible with ISO dimensions. Thanks to the exploitation of this intelligent globalization, Fiberpipe is one step ahead of the usual delivery routes. The GFRP pipes for the power plant in Bandirma are manufactured in Povoletto, Italy, a partner of the Fiberpipe Group, which considerably shortens transport routes and lowers costs. The logistics are carried out by sea; the pipes, some of which are 14 meters long and have a nominal width of up to 2,400 millimeters and a height of up to 3.5 meters, land via ferries in Istanbul and are transported to Bandirma on trucks or special transporters. Englisch The lightweight fiberglass tubes are easy to handle. Wherever stainless steel often has to be moved continuously with devices, fiberglass tubes can often even be carried. This is particularly advantageous during assembly.
During the construction of the power plant, the engineers at Fiberpipe benefit from their experience in the construction of cooling water pipes for power plants. Nevertheless, the project in Bandirma, the coordination on site and the project-accompanying planning pose special challenges.
In addition, there are extreme climatic conditions: in summer there is over 40 degrees Celsius in the shade, in winter there is snow. The gas-fired combined cycle power plant will nevertheless be completed on schedule. It has been on the grid since December 2010 and supplies Bandirma with electricity.
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