Retrofits and Renewables Can Help Create a Smarter, More Sustainable Grid

Faced with increasing pressure to reduce their carbon footprint to avert catastrophic climate change, many industries are looking at a complete overhaul of their existing infrastructure. The good news for renewable and electrification facilities is that there are current innovations in technology that can transform existing infrastructure to vastly improve operations and reduce waste. These steps may seem small at first, but incremental changes, compounded over time and at multiple facilities, can prove transformative.

In a report from the International Energy Agency (IEA), getting to net zero emissions by 2050, as envisioned in the 2015 Paris Agreement, requires not only massive deployment of clean energy systems but a “major worldwide push to increase energy efficiency.” The goal is to increase “energy intensity” so that in 2050—when the planet is projected to have 2 billion more people than today—total energy consumption will be 8% lower than the current level.

“Renewables and electrification make the largest contribution to emissions reductions, but a wide range of measures and technologies are needed to achieve net zero emissions,” the IEA report says.

In other words, there’s no one big fix. While carbon capture and green hydrogen technology have seen promising innovations, they may not become scalable for years. But we already have many technologies that can accelerate the development of new energy sources—from hydro and wind to biomass.

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Reduce, Reuse, Retrofit: Finding Efficiencies in Existing Power Facilities

The good news is existing power infrastructure can be modernized to produce vast efficiency improvements. Technology is helping customers respond to the need for reliable and cost-effective integration of renewable energy into the grid.

The rapid addition of wind and solar energy generation in many markets has faced some difficulty connecting with pre-existing power grids. Smart grid technology can be employed to improve the integration of renewable power into legacy power grids, helping to address the intermittency that comes with wind and sunshine, while reducing reliance on fossil fuels.

The Salt River Project in Arizona relies on Emerson’s smart grid solutions to help integrate the fast-growing distributed energy generated by solar panels, wind turbines and cogeneration plants, and handle bidirectional power flow—to ensure reliable and increasingly clean power for its 1 million customers.

In northern rural Alaska, Golden Valley Electric Association (GVEA) operates Eva Creek, the largest wind farm in the state with some of the harshest weather conditions. Using sustainable grid solutions from Emerson, the utility has been able to reliably deliver low-cost renewable power to communities on the front line of climate change, through more accurate forecasting and dispatching.

“Emerson is a key collaborator in our goal to increase access to clean energy for our customers in northern Alaska,” says Frank Perkins, GVEA vice president of power supply. “Our investment in a common automation platform helps us efficiently incorporate more renewable energy and minimize our carbon footprint.”

With its technology upgrades, “GVEA is well positioned to optimize operations across its entire power system, from generation to meter,” says Bob Yeager, president of Emerson’s power and water solutions business.

Wind Turbine Retrofits

In addition to smart grid solutions, wind farm owners and operators can digitally transform renewable wind operations and increase annual energy production by modernizing wind turbine control and optimization software.

Currently, wind turbines have an estimated lifespan of 20 years, give or take a few years depending on the wind forces they endure. Turbines in more remote locations and harsher conditions have greater operation and maintenance costs, which can reach up to 35% of annual costs as the turbines age. And for most wind operators today, it’s difficult to predict upcoming maintenance needs because they lack newer automation systems that deliver detailed data to help customize turbine-specific maintenance plans.

Retrofitting older wind turbines with new technologies is a quick, safe and cost-effective option to extend their operational life, enhance performance and reduce operation and maintenance costs. Retrofit strategies can be tailored to meet these challenges with designs varying based on factors including the surrounding environment, wind speeds, land topography or seafloor geography. By upgrading wind turbine or wind farm technology and software, owners and operators gain greater insights into equipment health and optimization opportunities, allowing them to see more, save more and produce more. And, by extending the life of existing turbines, owners and operators can get more energy production and revenue for a fraction of the cost of investing in new ones.

Emerson’s digital transformation project for GVEA increased the reliability of Eva Creek’s wind turbines and contributed to a 65% reduction in operation and maintenance costs.

Hydro Power Retrofits

In many parts of the globe, hydroelectric dams are the heart of the community, not only for generating electricity, but also for providing drinking water, irrigation and recreation. According to IEA, hydropower generation remains the largest renewable source of electricity.

Some of these hydro projects are more than 100 years old, but they can be retrofitted with systems to monitor and improve turbine control, pond control, energy management, and equipment protection. The result: fewer shutdowns, faster startups and more efficient plant operations.

One such major modernization project is underway at the 40-year-old Salto Grande Hydroelectric Complex, a 1,890-megawatt power plant on the middle reaches of the Uruguay River dividing Uruguay and Argentina. In the first phase of the $960 million, 30-year project, Emerson technology is being installed to improve control and monitoring of the dam’s 14 hydroelectric turbines.

Coal to Biomass

Around the world, coal-fired plants are being converted to biomass-fueled facilities to deliver cleaner power. Emerson’s single integrated technology platform that controls and monitors all applications including turbine, boiler, fuel handling and balance-of-plant processes combined with its Project Certainty methodologies help these new projects come online within budget and on time.

Biomass power plants are challenging to operate because the moisture content of biomass fuels can vary, having a negative impact on plant performance. Emerson’s Ovation technology continuously monitors fuel for moisture content, adjusting combustion air as necessary to optimize plant efficiency and reduce maintenance costs.

Emerson helped EPH Lynemouth Power convert its 44-year-old coal-fired power station to a new plant fueled by wood waste. When completed, the facility supplied up to 390 megawatts of low-carbon electricity to the national grid.

Similarly, Emerson was selected by French energy provider Albioma to transition its coal-fired Bios Rouge plant to 100% renewable energy. The overhaul of the 108-megawatt facility will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 640,000 tons of CO₂ equivalent per year, an 84% decrease in direct emissions compared to current operating levels.

What will save us from climate change? Some out there might hope for a superpower or a superhuman to swoop in and rescue us from ourselves. But the reality is that we are going to have to save ourselves, and the best way to do that is to start immediately by improving almost everything we do, in small ways, to make the difference that is needed each and every day.