December 15, 2021

With December delivering its typical colder weather, the Harrison Power Station’s Unit 1 planned outage recently wrapped up and the plant is generating power to help keep customers warm and comfortable this winter.

Major projects included significant improvements to the Unit 1 boiler, which produces high-pressure steam to drive the turbine generator. Crews also completed work to distribute flue gas more evenly as it flows through the pollution control device known as a precipitator, improving reliability and performance.

Overall, workers completed numerous projects on schedule while facing various challenges – from unplanned maintenance to ongoing COVID-19 protocols.

“If something came up, we reorganized and made the schedule work, keeping safety front and center,” said Harrison Outage Superintendent Chris Jones. “Our workers remained upbeat and did a great job.”

One example was the decision to a send a turbine rotor off-site to a specialty facility for high-speed balancing after inspectors determined that was the best course of action. During the time that the rotor was away from the plant, work shifted to other projects.

Pre-outage preparations to safeguard workers against COVID-19 paid off, too. Significant effort was put into work-space disinfection and keeping crews in small work pods.

“What really helped,” said Chris, “was our emphasis on resource loading – keeping strict track of people, equipment and materials – to have an accurate, real-time understanding of what was available at any given time in case we had to change out crews due to unplanned work or COVID-19 protocols.”

Due to the extent of the outage, the company brought in extra craft workers. Many of the contractors – roughly 30% at any time – had never worked at Harrison before. But once on board, Chris noted, they made a smooth transition into the workforce at the Haywood, W.Va., facility.

“We had a lot of workers from the Pittsburgh area. We also had a crew of boilermakers come all the way from Arizona to work on our finishing superheater project, and they did an outstanding job.”

Outage managers also recognized corporate Generation Services employees, who provided specialized engineering, maintenance and technical assistance to keep the outage running smoothly.

Most important, the planned outage was completed without any significant injuries.

With the current high price of natural gas and other fuel, regulated fossil plants are increasingly being called upon to provide electricity during the winter months. Recent focused maintenance at FE plants, including the Harrison outage, helps to ensure reliable performance at a critical time.

The Unit 1 low pressure turbine is hoisted for reinstallation following maintenance. Turbine inspection and maintenance was a major component of the outage.