Generator terminals
DeliveredAVR and governor characterization across no-load and loaded conditions on the single-shaft train.
Full MEM-migration grid code campaign plus dynamic-model authoring in PSS®E and EMTP for a single-shaft combined cycle in Pesquería, Nuevo León — every test executed on the night shift.
CCC Dulces Nombres is a single-shaft combined cycle plant in Pesquería, Nuevo León — north-central Mexico, in the industrial corridor that feeds the Monterrey metropolitan area. The single-shaft train is built around Alstom equipment — gas turbine, steam turbine and generator all from the same OEM, shared on one shaft.
Owned by Quantum Energía, the 250 MW plant migrated to the Mercado Eléctrico Mayorista (MEM) under the regulatory framework that requires every market-eligible generator to submit a complete grid code dossier plus the dynamic models the system operator uses to plan and operate the grid.
Grid Code Engineering delivered every required grid code test plus the full dynamic-modeling dossier — PSS®E for the system-operator's planning workflows and EMTP for transient-stability and electromagnetic-transient studies. The combined campaign covered the field measurement, the model authoring, the model-versus-measurement validation, and the regulator-facing submission.
The scope covered the full three-level testing program required for MEM migration, plus the dynamic-modeling work that becomes the canonical representation of the plant in system-operator planning.
AVR and governor characterization across no-load and loaded conditions on the single-shaft train.
POI-level voltage and frequency regulation, primary frequency response, electrical protections, telemetry verification.
Performance, reliability, startup and shutdown characterization.
PSS®E model tuned against measured field data and submitted to the system operator for SIN planning and operational studies. EMTP model for transient analysis and protection coordination studies. Both models validated against measurements collected during the field campaign before submission.
Dulces Nombres ran entirely on the night shift. The plant's daytime dispatch obligations and the regional operational dispatch made night-shift work the only viable testing window.
Field campaigns scheduled exclusively in the dark — with engineer hand-offs aligned to operations crew schedules — demand particular discipline around safety, instrumentation continuity, and data integrity. Calibrated probes get installed once; data gets streamed continuously; no test gets repeated if anyone in the chain is at less than full attention.
Mid-campaign, a significant storm forced a temporary shutdown of the field instrumentation — a reminder that environmental contingency planning is part of grid code work, not a sidebar. The shutdown was clean, the recording chain was preserved, and the campaign resumed without data loss.
The single-shaft Alstom topology — gas turbine and steam turbine sharing a single generator on a single shaft — also adds a layer of test-design complexity. Plant-level performance and per-unit behavior become harder to separate. The dynamic model has to capture the coupled thermomechanical dynamics, not just the electrical machine behavior.
The plant successfully migrated to MEM. The dynamic models were accepted as the canonical representation of the plant for system-operator workflows.
The full dossier — field-measurement chapter, model chapter, model-versus-measurement validation chapter — entered CENACE (Mexican Grid Operator) records without contested findings.
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