Completion of Hitachinaka Thermal Power Station Unit No.

1— 1,000-MW Power Generating Plant of The Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc. — 104

Completion of Hitachinaka Thermal Power Station Unit No. 1

— 1,000-MW Power Generating Plant of The Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc.—

Nobuyuki Matsumoto OVERVIEW: In recent years, from the viewpoint of environmental

Hideaki Iwamoto conservation, it has become a top priority to improve the heat efficiency of
thermal power plants. Under such circumstances, in December 2003, a
Takao Kaneda 1,000-MW coal-fired power plant with the world’s highest efficiency — Unit
Koichi Shigihara No. 1 of Hitachinaka Thermal Power Station of The Tokyo Electric Power
Co., Inc. — was put into service. This generator consists of a coal-fired
boiler with an extremely high critical pressure and a main steam temperature
of 600°C as well as a state-of-the-art steam turbine with 41-inch-long (about
104 cm) final-stage turbine blades. Hitachi, Ltd. was in charge of the design
and construction of the facilities for these two main components (i.e. the
boiler and turbine) of Unit No. 1. Upon completing the plant design, Hitachi
drew upon its collective strengths and latest technologies to develop these
components. That is, by introducing the large-capacity, coal-fired boiler —
which can handle many varieties of coal and meet the optimum steam
conditions through increased pressure and temperature — and the high-
efficiency steam turbine, both plant efficiency and reliability have been
improved. Furthermore, a newly developed remote-monitoring system
installed in the central control room of the plant utilizes expanded-display
devices [large-size LCD (liquid crystal display) displays] and wider-scope
operation by means of highly functional CRT (cathode ray tube) displays.
As a result of this system set-up, plant operation in terms of labor saving
and monitorability is improved. In addition, the remote-monitoring system
is directly connected to the switchgear for auxiliary electrical equipment;
consequently, the amount of cable materials used is reduced and the
construction cost is lowered.

INTRODUCTION 2003. Regarding the main facilities of this power plant,

CONSTRUCTION of the boiler of Unit No. 1 of Hitachi, Ltd. took charge of the design and construction
Hitachinaka Thermal Power Station of The Tokyo of the boiler and turbine generator of Unit No. 1.
Electric Power Co., Inc. was started in July, 1999, and Taking full advantage of its collective strength in terms
the unit went into commercial operation in December of plant engineering and technical skills, Hitachi

Fig. 1—View of Completed

Hitachinaka Thermal Power Station.
Located at Hitachinaka Thermal
Power Station, Hitachinaka Port
north quay Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan,
Unit No. 1 — a 1,000-MW power-
generation plant — was completed in
December, 2003.
 Hitachi Review Vol. 53 (2004), No. 3 105
TABLE 1. Comparison of Design
Item Unit Shinchi Unit No. 1 Hitachinaka Unit No. 1
Specifications of Two Power-
generation Plants Rated power MW 1,000 1,000
Basic MPa 24.1 24.5
By adopting higher steam pressure design Steam conditions (main/reheat)
and temperature conditions, thermal °C 538/566 600/600
conditions
efficiency of Hitachinaka Unit No. 1 Fuel — Coal Coal
is 4.5% higher than Shinchi Type — Ultra-high critical pressure, variable through flow
Unit No. 1. Steam pressure MPa 25.0 25.4
Boiler
Steam temperature °C 542/567 604/602
Main Evaporation volume t/h 3,080 2,870
machine Type — Two-axis four-flow discharge
spec. Turbine Revolution speed min–1 3,000/1,500 3,000/1,500
Discharge vacuum pressure kPa –97.06 (728 mmHg) –96.26 (722 mmHg)
Type Horizontal-cylinder revolving magnetic field
Generator
Capacity MVA 634.8/519.9 675.0/488.0
Thermal efficiency % 41.89 43.78

successfully completed construction of these two key technology further improves efficiency.
facilities of this 1,000-MW power-generation plant and
achieved world-leading thermal efficiency and Boiler Design
reliability. As for the boiler furnace specification, since high-
In the following sections, the main features of the temperature steam at 600/600°C is used, a variable-
two facilities designed and constructed by Hitachi — pressure-operation Benson boiler with a high-
namely, the boiler and turbine generator — and the reliability spiral water wall is adopted. A schematic
technologies applied are described. cross section of Hitachinaka Unit No. 1 is shown in
Fig. 2.
OVERVIEW OF PLANT DESIGN As for the boiler design, streamlining the facility
Table 1 compares the specifications of the new led to improvement in operation characteristics and
Hitachinaka No. 1 Unit and that of an existing unit maintainability.
with the same rated output power (i.e. No. 1 Unit of
Shinchi Thermal Power Station (hereafter referred to
simply as Shinchi Unit No. 1) developed in
collaboration with Soma Kyodo Power Co., Ltd.).
As regards the basic design of Unit No. 1 of
Hitachinaka Thermal Power Station (hereafter referred
to simply as the Hitachinaka Unit No. 1), it is clear
that the Hitachinaka Unit No. 1 seeks higher thermal
efficiency and optimized economic efficiency through
increased steam pressure and temperature conditions.
That is, compared to the design thermal efficiency of
the Shinchi Unit No. 1, that of Hitachinaka Unit No. 1
(under a main steam pressure of 24.5 MPa and main/
reheat steam temperatures of 600°C) is 4.5% higher.

NEW BOILER TECHNOLOGY

As for the high-efficiency operation of the new
boiler facility, by applying high-temperature, high-
elevated temperature strength materials adapted to Fig. 2—Side Structural View of Boiler of Hitachinaka Thermal
high-temperature, high-pressure steam under so-called Power Station Unit No. 1.
maximum-level conditions, high reliability can be The plant design combines the latest high-strength materials in
sustained. And improving combustion performance by the high metal-temperature range to attain high reliability and
means of utilizing the latest pulverized-coal-firing high economical efficiency.
 Completion of Hitachinaka Thermal Power Station Unit No. 1— 1,000-MW Power Generating Plant of The Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc. — 106

The main features of the boiler are listed below: NEW STEAM TURBINE AND SYSTEM
(1) Hitachi’s latest pulverized-coal burner (NR3) TECHNOLOGIES
improves burning efficiency and decreases NO x By applying the latest technologies under high-
emission. temperature conditions for the main steam and reheat
(2) By aligning all boiler reheater horizontally, steam, the steam turbine attains high efficiency and
controllability of steam temperature in the parallel gas high reliability. Furthermore, in the construction phase
damper is improved, so a gas-recirculation system is of the plant facilities, the steam turbine was made more
not required. compact.
(3) Enlarging the heat-absorption in the furnace results
in non-uniform temperature distribution in the water New Steam Turbine Technology
wall; therefore, a mixing bottle is located at the outlet Since the steam turbine operates under high-
of the spiral water wall to mitigate the non-uniform temperature-steam conditions, the main parts must
temperature distribution. handle temperatures of 600°C. Accordingly, the main-
(4) Large-scale modular design using a sling-type tube steam stop valve, regulator valve, and combined reheat
support for the horizontal heating surface is used for valve are made of 9Cr-1Mo steel; the inside casing of
the first time. As a result, using various module designs the high-pressure turbine is made of Cr-Mo-V-B steel;
shortens construction time and, thus, improves and the inside casing of the intermediate-pressure
efficiency. turbine is made of 12Cr steel.
Moreover, on top of the improved combustion
High-efficiency Combustion Technology efficiency brought by the increased steam temperature,
In recent years, to simplify combustion facilities, overall efficiency is improved as a result of the
the capacity of burners has been increased. In the new implementation of the latest AVN (advanced vortex
plant facility, 36 Hitachi-NR3 burner units are installed nozzle). A photograph of the completed steam turbine-
— providing the maximum capacity in Japan. generator is given in Fig. 4.
Regarding the Hitachi NR3 burner, in addition to
the denitration technology used in Hitachi’s standard Characteristics of System Configuration
low-NOx pulverized-coal (NR2), a guide sleeve and In regards to the configuration of the system for
flame stabilizing ring with a baffle plate are applied. the heat cycle (steam extraction, charging, and
As a result of this, a flow pattern of the secondary and condensation), a structure that works well in a 1,000-
tertiary air is optimized; consequently, a high- MW power generator is used. Moreover, from the
temperature reducing flame is enlarged and the NOx viewpoint of compactness, various features of the
emission is reduced. auxiliary equipment have been elaborately designed.
The main features of the system configuration are listed
as follows:
(1) Steam extraction, charging, and condensation

Guide sleeve
Powdered coal plus
primary air
3D flow

2D flow
Powdered-coal
concentrator

2D: two-dimensional
Baffle plate 3D: three-dimensional

Fig. 3—Structure of Hitachi-NR3 Burner.

By utilizing Hitachi’s low-NOx NR3 burner, even lower NOx Fig. 4—View of Steam Turbine-generator Facility.
emission, along with better combustibility and flame stability, is Completed steam turbine-generator applying the latest
attained. technology is shown.
 Hitachi Review Vol. 53 (2004), No. 3 107

The feedwater heater consists of a low-pressure, points for collecting data (2,200 analog and 20,000
four-step deaerator and a high-pressure, four-step digital). This large-scale system coverage is provided
deaerator. The condensate pump and its booster pump by the Hitachi Integrated Automatic Control System
are comprised of two units, each with 50% capacity; (HIACS).
while the feedwater pump is comprised of two 50%- The HIACS is composed of distributed computer
capacity turbine-driver units and one low pump-head (RS-90/400) with automization and control functions,
motor-driver unit feedwater pump for plant start-up FA (factory automation) PCs with operation
and shutdown. monitoring functions, and a high-speed, large-capacity
(2) Simplified deaerator controller series with control and safety functions. All
Compared to a conventional deaerating chamber these devices are connected via high-speed network
for removing dissolved oxygen from the boiler — called µ∑-100 — to form an “all digital” system.
feedwater — which has a flush tank for the boiler water The characteristic features of this large-scale
made from two blow molds — the new steam-turbine remote-control system, HIACS, are outlined in the
system has a enlarged flush tank made from a single following sections.
mold. Accordingly, this monohull-type flush tank with
a built-in deaeration capability is more compact and Human-machine Interface
takes up less space. (1) As well as integrating and sharing information, the
(3) Cleaning filter HMI (human-machine interface) achieves excellent
Up till now, the steam condenser has utilized a six- operability and controllability by utilizing a four-
valve-switching backwash method. The new screen multi-window system provided by 110-type
condenser, however, features a large-size cleaning filter expanded-display devices [large-size LCDs (liquid
at the input of the water chamber of the condenser. As crystal displays)].
well as improving the operation of the steam-condenser A view of the main operator’s control panel of the
cooling system, introduction of this filter makes setting central control room is shown in Fig. 5.
up the circulating water system more efficient. (2) CRT operation is achieved by the distributed FA
PCs and expanded-display devices by PC mouse
REMOTE PLANT-MONITORING CONTROL operation. As well as covering the conventional range
SYSTEM of control devices, it also extends to auxiliary electrical
The facilities of the above-described 1,000-MW devices, so the main operator’s control panel of the
large-capacity coal-fired power plant are monitored
by a large-scale remote-control system consisting of
700 auxiliary units for coarse control and monitoring
Direct-remote-
Metal-cable system
communication system

HIACS HIACS
Controller Controller
(automization logic) (automization logic)
Control Control
device PCM device PCM
(auxiliary protection (auxiliary protection
logic) logic)
Metal cable Direct-remote-
communication
Input/output interface device system
Communication
Metal cable cable

Switchgear Switchgear

Plant auxiliaries Plant auxiliaries

Fig. 5—View of Main Operator Control Panel and Expanded- PCM: programmable control module
Display Devices in Central Control Room.
An HMI centered on 110-type expanded-display devices is Fig. 6—Interface between Control Devices and Switchgears.
adopted, and the integration of data enables the central control By utilizing remote-communication methods, the control system
room to be streamlined. can be significantly streamlined.
 Completion of Hitachinaka Thermal Power Station Unit No. 1— 1,000-MW Power Generating Plant of The Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc. — 108

central control room can be made more compact. CONCLUSIONS

This paper described the main features of the boiler
Interface between Control Devices and and turbine-generator of Unit No. 1 of Hitachinaka
Switchgears Thermal Power Station of The Tokyo Electric Power
The conventional interface between control devices Co., Inc., and outlined the latest technologies applied
and switchgears utilizes metal cables; however, the new in these facilities. Applying these new technologies
plant-control system uses remote communication enables stable operation of these coal-burning-power-
between these devices as shown schematically in Fig. plant facilities at high efficiency and large capacity.
6. In the future, Hitachi Group intends to apply these
Each switchgear is fitted with a communication technical achievements in other thermal power plants.
function so that it can communicate directly with a In particular, focusing on development of technologies
corresponding control device. As a result, the operating for even higher efficiency and more plant streamlining,
control panel is made more compact and the cable- we are striving toward construction of sustainable
engineering work is made significantly more efficient. thermal power plants.

Improving Reliability of Boiler and Turbine- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

generator Safety Systems The authors would like to express their sincere
Regarding the boiler and turbine safety panel, to thanks to all those concerned at The Tokyo Electric
assure higher reliability than that attainable up till now, Power Co., Inc., for their considerable assistance —
a triple system consisting of a PCM — equipped with from planning, to construction and testing, and up to
a ROM (read-only memory) and CPU (central final commissioning — in developing the Unit No. 1
processing unit) — is connected to a protection circuit. of Hitachinaka Thermal Power Station.
And a dual system is set up to cover abnormal-state
detection and alarm monitoring by the detection REFERENCES
elements and calculation circuitry. In conjunction with (1) R. Okura et al., “Completion of a High-efficiency Coal-fired
a digital protective relay board for protecting the Power Plant; Hitachi Hyoron, 85, pp. 163-166 (Feb. 2003) in
generator machinery and main transformer, the above- Japanese.
described configuration has enabled the protection (2) K. Umezawa et al., “Kin No. 1 1220 MW Thermal Power
Station,” Hitachi Hyoron, 85, pp. 167-170 (Feb. 2003) in
circuit to be completely digitized.
Japanese.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Nobuyuki Matsumoto Takao Kaneda

Joined Hitachi, Ltd. in 1979, and now works at the Joined Hitachi, Ltd. in 1971, and now works at the
Electrical and I&C System Engineering Section, the Power Generation Control Systems Planning
Thermal Power Plant Engineering Department, Department, the Information Control Systems
Hitachi Works, the Power Systems. He is currently Division of the Information & Telecommunication
engaged in basic planning of instrumentation and Systems. He is currently engaged in drawing up plans
control of thermal power plants. Mr. Matsumoto can for thermal-power control systems. Mr. Kaneda can
be reached by e-mail at be reached by e-mail at
[email protected]. [email protected].

Hideaki Iwamoto Koichi Shigihara

Joined Babcock-Hitachi K.K. in 1994, and now works Joined Hitachi Engineering Co., Ltd. in 1992, and
at the Boiler Design Section of the Thermal now works at the No. 1 Engineering Division of the
Engineering Department of Kure Office. He is Electrical Power Systems Headquarters. He is
currently engaged in basic planning and development currently engaged in engineering work on thermal
of commercial boilers. Mr. Iwamoto can be reached power systems. Mr. Shigihara can be reached by
by e-mail at [email protected]. e-mail at [email protected]. jp.