Water analyzer packages for monitoring critical process parameters in steam production of renewable energy plant Shams I

Located in western Abu Dhabi, Shams is a large renewable energy project in operation in the Middle East and owned by Masdar. It is a concentrating solar power station with a capacity of 100 MW of clean, renewable electricity by the use of large parabolic solar fields.

In both traditional and concentrated solar power plants, the steam cycle is key to generating electricity. By monitoring the critical steam parameters, overall efficiency is increased while a significant reduction in chemicals is possible, which is needed to treat the makeup water for the industrial boilers.

For Shams I, AppliTek has manufactured and procured on-line analyzers for monitoring the water chemistry of the steam production of the power plant, i.e. boiler feed water quality and condensate return quality. The analyzer package, consisting of 13 x EnviroLyzer™ on-line analyzers, was delivered mid 2012 to the integrator responsible for the steam and water analysis systems (SWAS) of the solar power plant.

Concentrating solar power plants produce electric power by converting the sun’s energy into high-temperature heat using various mirror configurations. Electrical power is produced when the concentrated light is converted to heat which drives a steam turbine connected to an electrical power generator. Contrary to traditional thermal power plants or even nuclear stations, solar power plants are located in hot areas where little water is available. Dry cooling systems, maybe hybrid cooling, are usually engineered for such solar plants so little process water is wasted throughout the energy cycle.