Auditing paves the way for safe operation of the CHP plant

The Amagerværket plant supplies over 600,000 customers with district heating in Copenhagen. To contribute to the sustainable operation of the plant, COWI assisted in a major audit of the turbine and generator system in unit 1 of the Amagerværket plant.

The project started in 2015 and included a preliminary study with possible scenarios for a long-term strategy for the turbine, generator and auxiliary systems, to enable safe and cost-effective operation until 2040. The tendering and contract award process was conducted in close collaboration with HOFOR in 2016, while the actual audit was carried out in 2017.

The objective was to inspect the plant for possible faults, including cleaning components before checking for cracks, replacing consumables, repairing damage and optimising components for the correct play. A status check was then carried out on the whole plant in collaboration with the turbine supplier. This was to reduce the risk of unplanned stoppages, which are very costly for HOFOR.

The turbine system is unique and the mode of operation rather unusual, so the project is also meant to provide new knowledge of how this type of system wears and what should be done in advance to optimise maintenance.