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Aug 11, 2015

In the power generation industry, the forerunners have prepared themselves for the changes well in advance and have adopted new, more efficient emission monitoring and reporting tools. One of them is the Vaskiluodon Voima CHP plant in Vaasa on the west coast of Finland.

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It runs a pulverized coal boiler and the world’s largest biomass-fired gasification plant. The gas produced in the latter is combusted in the boiler together with the main fuel. The plant has a capacity of 230 MW of electricity and 175 MW of district heat.

In 2014, the plant invested in Valmet’s advanced solution for emission monitoring and reporting – Valmet DNA LCP Emission Monitoring. The application provides all the necessary information for both the plant’s in-house monitoring needs and for the authorities.

Melina Kallio-Könnö   “Our main goal for the investment was to be ready when the new IE directive is implemented. At that point, the authorities will require our monitoring data on a 48-hour basis instead of getting it on a monthly basis. This solution will make things easier for us,” says Operational Engineer Melina Kallio-Könnö, who is in charge of the environmental issues at the Vaskiluodon Voima plant.

Now used for in-house monitoring

“To date, we have used the solution for our in-house monitoring purposes. It has made our lives much easier and helped us minimize human errors. We no longer need to spend time collecting data from spreadsheets and transferring it from one place to another,” Kallio-Könnö explains.

“The application provides us with follow-up trends and analyses of emissions for efficient in-house monitoring. It has also helped our R&D activities. We can now quickly go back to the history information and see, for example, why the limit values have been exceeded and what kind of fuel mixture was used at a particular time. Whatever our reporting need is, we quickly get a reliable report on it,” she says.

Kallio-Könnö is one of the main users of the solution. She checks the reports at least once a week to see how the emissions have been. Other users include the laboratory staff and the plant manager. All operators have access to the application’s data on their displays, too.

All process information on the same platform

Vaskiluodon Voima has been using Valmet’s automation system to run its plant operations for a long time. The new Valmet DNA LCP Emission Monitoring solution is a perfect fit with the existing automation platform as it is based on the Valmet DNA information system. Integration with the process control system brings a major benefit for the entire plant. It enables online and even proactive emission management through access to real-time emission data, cumulative values and emission forecasts.

“Having all the systems and solutions on the same platform enables seamless communication between them,” Kallio-Könnö points out. “We have had good experience with Valmet in earlier projects. The company has been a reliable partner for us.”

Fulfilling all IED requirements

Valmet’s emission monitoring and reporting solution fulfils all the IED requirements and can be tailored to meet each plant’s specific needs.

“The solution features both real-time and long-term emission reporting as well as the follow-up of trends. It enables a quick reaction and efficient analyses of disturbance situations. In short, it saves time and makes the emission data more usable and reliable,” says Tiina Stenvik, Solution Manager, Performance & Sustainability Solutions, Nordic & Baltic Regions, Valmet.

The results are reported in a clear format as browser reports, displays and automatic trends. The data can be further analyzed in MS Excel.

The calculation package also includes the emission forecasts and the cumulative moving averages as support tools for effective power plant emission control. Additionally, continuous maintenance and expert support for the application as well as a wide range of reporting services are available through Valmet’s customer service agreement.

For more information:

Tiina Stenvik, tiina.stenvik (at) valmet.com