Case Study: Walnut Creek Energy Park increases generating capacity with Datacor Fathom

Walnut Creek Energy Park finds 60% exchanger fouling with Datacor Fathom to boost output

Walnut Creek Energy Park was unable to reach its full generating capacity because its cooling water header was exceeding its temperature limit. The plant faced a potential need for expensive pipe rerating. McMillen, using Datacor's Fathom service, was brought in to diagnose the challenge.

Datacor's solution involved using Fathom to build a calibrated model that pinpointed severe fouling in the heat exchangers as the root cause, which had reduced heat transfer effectiveness by approximately 60%. Datacor modeled eight enhancement scenarios and identified a path to increased output that avoided the costly header rerating entirely, directly supporting capital investment decisions.