The 188 MW Fellside CHP plant provides critical process steam to the adjacent Sellafield nuclear reprocessing facility and exports electricity to Sellafield and onto the National Grid.

It was built in 1993 and comprises three GE Frame 6581B gas turbines which are able to run on natural gas or distillate.

In 2004, following a highly competitive tender process, px was appointed to manage the operations and maintenance teams at the plant. The successful transfer of approximately 60 staff from the incumbent O&M provider to px was an extremely important part of the takeover ensuring existing skills and site knowledge were retained. px continues to work with the owners to update and improve the plant. Since taking over the facility, px has managed a series of major outages designed to improve the asset integrity.

A number of tools have been developed to monitor plant performance and to enable the site team to analyse different operating regimes, adapt operation to minimise fuel consumption and to prioritise plant maintenance. A performance initiative group meets monthly to review previous performance and discuss opportunities for improvement.

In addition to the main CHP plant px also operate and maintain the pipeline which provides the main fuel supply to the site.

The px group were awarded a Presidents Award from RoSPA in 2010 in recognition of the plants consistently high safety standards.

For a PDF of the case study please click the icon