1 Introduction

The time required to commission a combined cycle power plant can vary substantially and affect the overall cost of the project prior to commercialization. A number of pre-commissioning delays have been experienced in the independent power producing industry which are associated with the critical path of these projects. In some cases, important issues are overlooked or compromised in order to move to the next segment of the pre-commissioning. Shortcuts taken at various stages of the project, such as not electing to chemically clean the unit, can threaten the integrity of the equipment and/or delay the completion of the project. One survey of combined cycle pre-commissioning experiences revealed that 4 out of 22 performance issues accounted for 77% of the concerns. These were:

• Improper use of, or ignoring, standard practices and procedures, 27%

• Insufficient staff to accomplish the work in the scheduled time frame, 22%

• Poor project planning, 16%

• Breakdown in communication between project team members, 12%