A review and study on advanced control and automation functions and future control for a modern combined cycle power plant

This paper reviews the historical background, present state, future challenges and opportunities of Control, Automation and Protection systems for a modern Combined Cycle (CC)/Co-generation Power plant. As the demand for lean, efficient, agile, and environmental friendly and low cost green energy methods grow, the need to automate combined cycle power plant process and auxiliaries continues. The recent monitoring and control system for a modern combined cycle power plant including the characteristics of the integration of the systems are discussed here. The latest high-performance, high-capacity process controller-based total plant Automation system and Triple Module Redundant (TMR), multifunction controller with distributed control architecture, high performance PROFIBUS and HART communication protocol, IEC 61850 global communications protocol for substation automation and power distribution systems, tolerance to data rushes during transients and integrated comprehensive plant management system are presented here. This paper also reviews the developments of the high speed data communications and the huge storage equipment enable to construct the monitoring and control systems efficiently. This paper also compares the present, past and future generation of different types of control and automation technologies for Gas Turbine Generator (GTG), Heat recovery steam generator (HRSG), Steam Turbine Generator (STG) and Balance of Plant (BOP) of a CC power plant. Today's all subsystems of large combined cycle power plants including (HRSG) and BOP system can be controlled from a central control room through a state-of-the-art automation. This paper reviews various aspects of the implementation of the standard modern automation and control system for a combined cycle power plant and shows how devices integrate into distributed control system environment.