Monday · Gas turbine power plant · one working week
Nothing is wrong at the plant.
That is the problem.
The plant that drifted
The most expensive faults never trip anything.
A compressor fouls slowly. Efficiency falls by a fraction of a percent a day. Every value stays inside its limits, every shift report says normal, and the plant sells less electricity than it could for weeks.
Nobody looks because nothing asks to be looked at.
One week, day by day.
Monday
Unit 2 runs a little light.
Output is a fraction of a percent below what the weather says it should be. Well inside the noise.
Thursday 06:15
The turbine-health agent sees the trend.
Four days of data, corrected for air temperature and humidity: Unit 2 is 3 % under its curve, and the compressor pressure ratio has the signature of fouling.
Thursday 06:20
The twin prices the choice.
Keep running and lose another percent by the weekend. Wash the compressor during Friday’s midday demand dip and recover almost all of it.
Thursday 08:00
The plant manager reads one note.
The trend, the signature, the cost of waiting and a proposed slot. The wash goes into Friday’s plan.
Friday 12:00
The wash happens in the dip.
Unit 2 comes off load for the wash when the market price is lowest.
Saturday
Back on the curve.
Unit 2 runs within half a percent of expected output. The agent sets the next check for when fouling usually returns.
Who was on shift.
At a power plant the agents watch performance rather than alarms. Turbine health tracks efficiency against weather-corrected curves. The forecast agent predicts output for the market. The combustion agent watches exhaust spread. The maintenance agent turns findings into slots in the plan.
Unit 2 is 3 % under its curve. Compressor wash recommended in Friday’s midday dip.
Day-ahead output forecast revised for a 4 °C warmer afternoon.
Illustrative story
Unit names and values are illustrative. Faceplate already runs generation SCADA in production, replacing WinCC at two 48 MW wind farms for Eni, and turbine performance analysis for gas compressor stations.
