GP worked closely with CPS Energy to field-test the EtaPRO APR application at the Deely Plant located at Calaveras Station. According to Melanie Green, Senior Manager at CPS Energy’s Deely Plant, “GP is helping CPS Energy achieve our objectives to reduce forced outages, improve reliability and increase availability. The combination of GP’s EtaPRO System and their Remote Monitoring & Diagnostic service allows CPS Energy to expand our performance improvement efforts with fewer resources.”

EtaPRO APR uses empirical models of plant processes for early detection of slowly developing faults in plant and equipment. As faults develop and are detected, they are collected and prioritized in the EtaPRO Concern Viewer, an anomaly management tool designed specifically for EtaPRO APR. Engineers, operators and analysts review fault history and trends, and assign the next action required to address the concern. Users gain insight into the problem and quantify its potential impact on plant capacity and heat rate using EtaPRO’s VirtualPlantTM thermodynamic models.

Technical development of the EtaPRO APR technology was led by Dr. Elmer Hansen, P.E., Principal Engineer in GP’s Energy Services Group. A pioneer in applying APR technologies in the power industry, Dr. Hansen’s two decades of experience monitoring power plant assets ensured that EtaPRO APR would be state-of-the-art. EtaPRO APR will be available in April 2011 with the release of EtaPRO 10. GP has a proven track record of providing integration support, training and remote monitoring services using GP toolsets for major power companies around the world.