Innovation in Power Generation

From the largest utility to the smallest rural or municipal utility, power professionals work to efficiently produce and deliver energy, sharing the common goals of improving efficiency, reducing cost, and delivering better customer service while sustaining and expanding aging power transmission and distribution networks. This category recognizes innovative projects ranging from the traditional fossil-fuel power plants to nuclear power stations and renewable energy sources such as hydroelectricity, solar, and wind power.

Read Bentley's press release announcing the winners

Winner

Energoprojekt Gliwice, S.A.
Central Solar PS20
Sanlucar la Mayor, Spain

The goal of this project was to design a second solar power plant on Abengoa property near Sevilla, Spain, based on the existing power plant design but doubling the power. The 80 million euro PS20 solar unit will have a 20-megawatt capacity, generating 48.6 gigawatts per hour per year of clean energy, which is enough to supply about 12,000 households.

Basic and detail engineering design was performed using MicroStation PowerDraft, PlantSpace, and TriForma. A steel structure 3D model was produced using other software and imported into the DGN environment. Renewable energy from the sun can be the future for countries that lack natural resources but are rich in sunny days.

Watch the Be Inspired best practice presentation

Finalist

Elia Engineering
Applications–Visual Impact
Wijgemaal, Belgium

Substations in densely populated municipalities in Belgium needed to be rerouted to less populated areas. Elia Engineering developed a methodology for inserting views of 3D models in scanned photographs of an existing site to assess environmental impact. The goal was to obtain building permits and public approval.

Detailed design of tension or suspension equipment was also performed using MicroStation, Bentley Descartes, and TriForma, which allowed the production of drawings and bills of materials to be accurate up to the last fitting. A means to investigate the consequences of modifying technical specifications or equipment dimensions, MicroStation provided 3D design, modeling, and visualization that helped the project team communicate with the community and move forward on the rerouting project.

Watch the Be Inspired best practice presentation

Finalist

Sargent & Lundy, LLC
Coffeen Wet FGD Unit 1 and 2
Coffeen, Illinois, United States

At more than 40 years old, the two-unit 1,000-megawatt Coffeen power station has gone through various retrofits and modifications to improve its efficiency. To meet the latest federal clean air legislation, it required $500 million in modifications to burn high-sulfur coal while meeting emissions standards. Sargent & Lundy developed an optimized design for installing SO2 scrubbers on both units and a new electrostatic precipitator on Unit 2.

MicroStation, Structural Modeler (formerly Bentley Structural), Bentley Navigator, TriForma, and STAAD.Pro managed the 3D model and integrated more than 900 models from equipment suppliers. This facilitated accurate and up-to-date internal and external design reviews, interference checking, and design communications. The products also helped construction sequencing to minimize plant outage time and construction costs.

Watch the Be Inspired best practice presentation