NeuCo LLC Signs New Contracts with Arizona Public Service Company and Cajun Electric Power Cooperative, Inc
Power Producers Will Use Neural NetworkBased
ProcessLink to Improve
Efficiency and Competitive Position at Their Largest Generating Stations
BOSTON, February 5, 1999 NeuCo LLC, established by Charles River Associates (NASDAQ: CRAI) and Advanced Energy Systems, a subsidiary of Commonwealth Energy System (NYSE: CES), to commercialize state-of-the-art neural networkbased solutions for the electric power industry, has signed contracts for work extending through 1999 with Cajun Electric Power Cooperative, Inc (Baton Rouge, Louisiana) and Arizona Public Service Company (Phoenix, Arizona), to install ProcessLink at these customers largest generating stations.
The Cajun Electric contract is to reduce heat rate and improve fuel efficiency at two 600 MW coal-fired units at Big Cajun 2 Generating Station. This contract was signed within a week of a follow-on contract with Arizona Public Service (APS) to expand on ProcessLinkTM at Four Corners, one of the largest coal-fired power plants in North America. Based on the benefits shown for Unit 3 at Four Corners, on-line systems are being installed for optimizing heat rate, NOx emissions, and flue-gas desulfurization at all three of the Four Corners units solely owned by APS.
"We are delighted to be working with forward-thinking power producers like APS and Cajun Electric," said Curt Lefebvre, President of NeuCo. "ProcessLink is a proven system for optimizing fossil-fired power plant performance. We will be on-line at both of these plants early in the year, and both customers will immediately begin realizing the benefits of lower fuel costs, reduced emissions, higher productivity, and stronger competitive position."
NeuCo has teamed with DB Riley to jointly offer a unique combination of technology and boiler performance engineering services. A subsidiary of Deutsche Babcock, DB Riley is a major supplier of fossil-fired steam boilers, emissions control, fuel delivery equipment, and performance engineering services. DB Riley is renowned not only for its boiler performance and emissions reduction capabilities, but its rigorous performance guarantees, which are offered as part of the NeuCo/DB Riley boiler optimization package.
"ProcessLink is a key part of our strategy," said John Brewster, Cajun Electrics Vice President of Fossil Production. "NeuCos technology, combined with DB Rileys boiler performance expertise, will improve heat rate and help us respond to the new competitive pressures facing the electric power industry today."
What makes these improvements possible is the neural network technology on which ProcessLink is based. These neural networks continuously "learn" from unit operations data and adapt to changing fuel quality and operating conditions. Fossil-fired power generation, involving dozens of air handling and fuel management setpoints, is an ideal application for this technology. ProcessLink provides substantial fuel efficiency improvements while at the same time affording dramatically improved control of NOx and other key emissions parameters.
ProcessLinkTM is designed to expand substantially on the existing control and automation capabilities of a plants distributed control system, which at Big Cajun 2 is a Foxboro I/A platform. The revolutionary client-server architecture of ProcessLinkTM will allow users throughout the Cajun Electric organization to exploit the process knowledge it extracts, providing decision support for operations, maintenance, engineering, environmental compliance, and financial performance. Its design supports future incorporation of all systems affecting plant performance, including turbines, condensors, cooling towers, and all post-combustion emissions control hardware. Cost-effective add-on modules optimize ramp-rate, slagging, soot blowing, and other crucial processes. ProcessLinkTM scales easily across multiple units and plants throughout an enterprise. Leveraging existing communications networks and standard desktop computers, it provides a single integrated platform to meet evolving plant and enterprise optimization objectives.
NeuCo was formed by Charles River Associates and Advanced Energy Systems, a subsidiary of Commonwealth Energy System. Commonwealth Energy is an electric and gas utility holding company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, currently merging with BEC Energy (the parent company of Boston Edison) to form New Englands largest combination electric and gas utility. Advanced Energy Systems is the owner of advanced on-site energy facilities that deliver electricity, chilled water, and steam to critical energy users. Charles River Associates is a worldwide leader in the market for sophisticated economic and technology consulting. Founded in 1965, CRA is known for its expertise in the fields of energy policy analysis, manufacturing and industrial process improvement, business strategy, technology assessment, legal and regulatory economics, materials, finance, intellectual property, telecommunications, and transportation planning.
Statements in this press release concerning the future business, operating results, and financial condition of Charles River Associates are "forward-looking" statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements are based on managements current expectations and are subject to a number of factors and uncertainties. Information contained in these forward-looking statements is inherently uncertain, and actual performance and results may differ materially. Further information on factors that could affect the Companys financial results are included in the Companys initial public offering prospectus, dated April 23, 1998.