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For full details and to book your place please visit the event website.
Please provide us with a brief overview of your current role as it relates to HRSGs.
Stephen Kimpton(SK): I have worked in the power industry for 13 years, currently for EP Langage Ltd. I chair the Generator’s Safety Integrity Program (GenSIP) Pressure Systems Working Group. I currently have responsibility for two particularly challenging HRSGs with several unusual design features. I am responsible for all aspects of life management including monitoring, execution of statutory inspection and maintenance scopes, and procurement and replacement of ageing components.
What do you see as the number one challenge facing engineers in today’s industry?
SK: Balancing technical risk against commercial pressures.
What contemporary technological developments or projects most interest you?
SK: The improvements in high temperatures materials, and our understanding of them. With the code downgrade of P91 we now have to look to P92 for many applications, and certainly in the future we may expect P92 to experience a downgrade and we will have to look to the next as yet unnamed successor.
Where do you see the future of the market going over the rest of the decade?
SK:This is a really hard thing to predict as it’s influenced by so many factors, I don’t think anyone could have predicted the current crisis we’re facing 5 years ago. However, wherever it goes, it will have to have a focus on reliability, sustainability, and economy/efficiency. I think the role of HRSG will move more towards balancing the system as more renewable energy comes online, and picking up the shortfall when the sun doesn’t shine or the wind doesn’t blow.
What motivates you to organise this event?
SK: I’m passionate about facilitating forums within the engineering community and ensuring that learning is passed around at the engineer user level, especially as we find ourselves in an ever more fractured user base.
Which topics or speakers are you most looking forward to?
SK: I love hearing about some of the innovative ways in which users have solved problems associated with their HRSGs and how I can apply any relevant learning, be that directly technical, or in the problem solving methodology, to the issues that I face with my HRSGs.
Why is it so important for engineers to come together at this user group?
SK: It’s incredibly important, especially after such a long hiatus, to make sure engineers come together and share experiences and developments, in what is quite a fractured industry. With the high number of companies now owning and operating HRSGs, without forums like this much cross company learning wouldn’t happen. Informal conversations over dinner especially can generate huge discussion and insight for isolated users.
The next Heat Recovery Steam Generator User Group will take place on the 2-3 November 2022 at the Nottingham Belfry Hotel.
Join two days of technical presentations, panel discussions and networking opportunities, bringing together all the manufacturers, owners, operators, engineering thought leaders and maintenance contractors involved. For full details and to book your place please visit the event website.