The Challenge

The Rio Bravo Energy Center Unit 1 in Mexico is a gas power plant in Mexico with a design capacity of 495 MWe. It has three units and was commissioned in 2004.  This power plant has three almost identical units. However, Unit 1 had reported significant back pressure increases on hot windy days which resulted in the reduction in MW output.

The Solution

The client decided on perimeter and cruciform wind screens to help address the issue at the power station.

The customer handled the site survey and the structural analysis, part of which was to evaluate the effects of an increased seismic criteria for that area and to take into account the new loads from the wind screens.

The Benefits

In a paper presented by Hector Moctezuma at the ACC Users Group in Queretaro, Mexico in 2019, the project was presented as a great success, especially at high temperatures on windy days.

One sample given was on a 30 degree C day, when wind speed exceeded 30km/hr, improving the vacuum by 20 Mbar and where the gain was 1.68 mw, compared to a similar event before screen installation.