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Case Studies


References

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Comanche Generating Station, Colorado

“I am not worried about Galebreaker’s guarantee; we’ve had their product installed for over 6 years without a single issue. I wanted their material because it is the best in the industry and will outlast everything we tried to use”.

Ruben Roman, Sr. Operations Manager, Xcel Energy.


Comanche Generating Station, Colorado

“The Galebreaker design and installation is all zero maintenance and is far superior than the plant designed screen we had made. We had continual maintenance issues with our home-made screens, especially with the cable ties pulling out in high winds. We would have saved time and money had we installed Galebreaker Wind Shields in the first place. Great job Galebreaker, a very professional product that solves our wind issues”

Ron Lungu, Comanche Plant Superintendent.


Caithness Long Island Energy Centre, USA

“Due to the severe storms we can experience at Long Island, the fan blades at Caithness have to cope with the stresses from high wind turbulence. After fitting Galebreaker Wind Shields it was immediately clear that more uniform airflow entered the windward side perimeter fans. Initial testing has shown significant stress reduction on the fan blades. This is great news for the Energy Center.”

Gary Mirsky, Independent Consultant.


Spalding Power Station, UK

“By 2006 we were experiencing significant performance issues with the ACC, and one of the main contributory factors were high wind speed conditions. Introducing Galebreaker Wind Shields as part of our ACC optimization programme has delivered excellent performance improvements throughout 2007 and 2008.”

Paul Hanson, Manager.


Hsin Tao, Taiwan

“During warm and windy conditions the ACC unit at Hsin Tao in Taiwan had performance problems, particularly poor vacuum measurements at the outlet of the steam turbine. After fitting the Galebreaker Wind Shields these specific issues were eliminated.”

Colin Popple, GE Facilities Manager.


Ford’s Driveability test facility, Michigan

“After the screens were installed, our problem was all but eliminated. There are still two very persistent pigeons that have found a hole and are able to sneak in, but other than those pesky little sneaks, the Birdnet Screens work great!

Eric Greenslade, Ford Engineer


South Humber Bank Power Station, UK

Galebreaker managed to create an interlocking matrix of screens that has exceeded station performance expectations and completely eradicated the unexpected weather related shut downs of the station”

Malcolm Fleming, EP SHB Ltd Mechanical Engineer


Dighton Power Plant, Massachusetts

“After the windscreen installation the plant has seen a 5% performance improvement on their 50 MW steam turbine. The wind screens are performing well. Reviewing plant performance snapshots on the effects of the wind screens our data shows around a 2.9 MW combined cycle increase.”

Bob Bach, Dighton Maintenance Manager


Atlantic Power, Chicago

“These screens are performing great.  Shortly after the west side and north end were completed, we saw an almost immediate melting process start.  The ice has been eliminated on the inside and on the structure.“

Ed Parker, Maintenance Supervisor, Atlantic Power


North Battleford Station, Canada

“We were having wind induced vibration trips when our fans were operating in the 40 to 70% speed range. Up to 40 to 50 fan trips per day! The board operator’s main focus was to keep the fans running. Since installation of the Galebreaker Perimeter Wind Screens we have not had any fan trips whatsoever (zero) and have completely solved our problems with wind induced fan tripping. We are also confident that the installation of the Cruciform will give us a thermal efficiency gain of over 15%”

Richard Pratchler – Maintenance Manager


Mystic Power Station, Boston

“The ACC performance from summer 2013 was compared to summer 2015 (before and after the wind shield installation). Units 8 & 9 have been able to produce an additional 15 to 20 megawatts with the windscreens in place. The screen appears to be most effective for wind speeds up to 20 miles an hour and using a conservative approach and typical summer conditions, the payback appears to be in the range of two to three years. Our analysis does not assume any high load extreme temperature days when clearing prices occasionally spike into the hundreds of dollars per MW hour. Days like these would affect pay back significantly”

John Avayzian, GenCo-Power


Rio Bravo Energy Center, Mexico

“The project has been a great success, the wind shield performance especially at high temperatures on windy days. On a 30 degree day when wind speeds exceeded 30 kilometres per hour, we saw improvement of the vacuum by 20 millibar and a gain of 1.68 megawatts compared to a similar event before windscreen installation”

Hector Moctezuma, Technical Operations Director, Falcon Group


Apex generating Station, Las Vegas

“Over the weekend we had some heavy winds at Apex. Normally the south side fans trip under these conditions, but with the windscreens in place, the fans didn’t trip. This demonstrates an improvement in reliability. When we have the results of the planned thermal performance assessment later this year, I have confidence that we will see a reduction in back pressure and a gain in performance. 

Chuck Amstutz, Maintenance Manager

Case Studies