Thirty Startups and Still Going Strong

When Calpine’s Oneta Energy Center in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, was commissioned in 2002, the plant was equipped with approximately 18 CCI valves ranging from DRAG® and BTG to Sulzer and conventional valves. Since their installation two years ago, all of these CCI valves have performed extremely well under the demanding conditions in which the combined cycle power plant operates. When Calpine found itself in need of another severe service valve solution, CCI was chosen again.

Oneta is a 1,000-megawatt natural gas-fired power plant utilizing four combustion gas turbines in a two-on-one combined cycle configuration. The plant, which cycles daily, encountered costly and time-consuming maintenance problems with its 6-inch (150-mm) main feedwater control valve and 2-inch (50-mm) startup valve for each of the four heat recovery steam generators (HRSGs).

CCI replaced the valves with a total of four 4-inch (100-mm) 100D DRAG® valves. With this solution, the plant cut its total number of feedwater control valves in half as CCI combined the main and startup valves into one simplified and efficient solution.

Custom-designed for the customer with sound DRAG® technology, this CCI solution has proven to be as reliable as the previous time-tested CCI solutions at Oneta Energy Center.

Since the new feedwater control valves were installed, the valves control exceptionally well and show no signs of degradation after 30 plant startups.

Published in SOLUTIONS Fall 20004