 Great
River Energy, located in Elk River, Minnesota is a leader
in technology by producing electricity from trash or refuse-derived
fuel (RDF). Many counties around the area signed contracts
to supply up to 1,500 tons of municipal waste per day to the
plant. This waste is processed into 1,100 tons of RDF. The
1500DST DeltaV system was installed to monitor and control
the 35-40MW plant, consisting of 3 boilers, 3 turbines, fuel
handling and baghouse. The DeltaV replaced a 10 year old Micon
control system and was interfaced to the existing Square D
PLC system.
The total solution was engineered and installed by Novaspect
located in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. Participants from Novaspect
included: Craig Truempi, Kurt Schmelzer, Larry Link, Peter
Bolesta and Jeff Holton.
 According
to Tim Steinbeck, Project Manager from Great River Energy,
"DeltaV was chosen because of: 1) its integration of
operator interface and controller and 2) the DeltaV I/O integration
to the Micon term panel which minimized any field wiring changes."
The project was started up in phases, one boiler at a time,
while the balance of the plant continued to operate. This
along with the minimal field wiring allowed for a smooth startup
with less than a week of total plant outage.
 The
project was a true team effort from the start. From the initial
meetings to startup, the customer was very involved in developing
a solution that fit their immediate and long-term needs. During
pre-design meetings, Great River Energy operators directed
the look and feel of the operator interface (graphics, trend
display and alarm priorities). Rick Pool, of Great River Energy,
joined Novaspect for several weeks to implement the graphic
displays and has quickly taken on the on-going system support
and process optimization. Joe Hurley and Al Barnes at Great
River Energy have also contributed their expertise throughout
the project and are looking forward to improving their process
and not spending time troubleshooting the system.
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