South Carolina Power Producer Uses NeuCo Technology to Meet Year 2000 Emission Compliance Requirements
at Three Santee Cooper Units
BOSTON, July 26, 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, is installing ProcessLink at Santee Coopers Winyah Units 2-4 to meet the electric utilitys year 2000 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) NOx compliance requirements. The EPA reviewed and concurred with the decision to use ProcessLink, which was chosen by Santee Cooper through a rigorous, competitive selection process.
"ProcessLink is a proven technology for emissions control and boiler optimization," said Curt Lefebvre, President of NeuCo. "Applying this technology for NOx reduction should save South Carolina electricity customers millions of dollars that would otherwise be necessary to meet compliance requirements. At the same time, ProcessLink is expected to reduce fuel consumption and improve the reliability and consistency of operations at these coal-fired generating units. ProcessLink systems are scheduled to be on-line and running at all three Santee Cooper units before year-end 1999."
The Santee Cooper project follows recent contracts signed earlier in the year for ProcessLink installations at five coal-fired units for Cajun Electric Power Cooperative, Inc. (Baton Rouge, Louisiana) and Arizona Public Service Company (Phoenix). NeuCo, partnering with DB Riley, offers a unique combination of technology and boiler performance engineering services. The presence of a trusted boiler engineering firm as an integrated part of the optimization team was a key factor in the selection of ProcessLink over other vendors for the Santee Cooper project. A subsidiary of Deutsche Babcock, DB Riley is a leading supplier of fossil-fired steam boilers, emissions control, fuel delivery equipment, and performance engineering services.
"ProcessLink is a critical component of Santee Coopers emissions compliance strategy," said Bill McCall, Santee Cooper Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. "NeuCos technology, combined with DB Rileys boiler performance expertise, provides the best method to meet todays emissions compliance requirements, while creating a technology platform for addressing future compliance requirements and competitive challenges."
Central to ProcessLink is the neural network technology on which the system is based. Neural networks continuously "learn" from unit operations data and adapt to changing fuel quality and operating conditions. Fossil-fired power generation, involving large numbers of air handling and fuel management setpoints, is an ideal application for the ProcessLink technology. ProcessLink provides fundamentally improved control of NOx and other key emissions parameters while affording fuel efficiency improvements and other operating benefits.
ProcessLink is designed to expand substantially on the existing control and automation capabilities of a plants distributed control system, which at Winyah is a Foxboro I/A platform. The revolutionary client-server architecture of ProcessLink will allow users throughout the Santee Cooper 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 Form 10-K, dated March 26, 1999.