Combustor design simulation requires the resolution of complex geometry, turbulent flow patterns, heat transfer, and detailed chemistry. Although computational fluid dynamics (CFD) can simulate the reacting flow in realistic geometries, it requires the use of severely restricted chemistry models that are too simple to accurately simulate emissions and operational stability. A new simulation tool is now available that eliminates this CFD shortcoming while significantly reducing computing time. More»
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, speaking in Atlantic City on April 6, added more hot air to the discussion about offshore wind when he stated that windmills off the East Coast could generate enough electricity to replace most, if not all, of the coal-fired power plants in the U.S. I’m disappointed Salazar didn’t take a few minutes for fact-checking and back-of-the-envelope ciphering before his speech. More»
South Korea is gearing up to install the world’s longest distribution voltage superconductor cable system near Seoul by mid-2010. This April, the nation’s largest power cable manufacturer, LS Cable, ordered about 50 miles of 344 superconductors — American Superconductor Corp.’s (AMSC)... More»
Construction of the world’s first nuclear power plant to use U.S.-based Westinghouse Electric’s AP1000 reactor technology commenced this April in China, with the pouring of 5,200 cubic meters of concrete at the nuclear island at Sanmen in Zhejiang province (Figure 3). The two-unit Sanmen plant... More»
Australia, the world’s second-largest exporter of thermal coal and uranium, and a significant exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG), faces inevitable electricity rationing and the threat of blackouts unless the government acts urgently to ensure large-scale investments are made in new... More»
Denmark’s Risø DTU National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy in late April announced it had connected the world’s first polymer solar cell plant to the grid. The achievement follows years of research into the novel photovoltaic (PV) technology that has been touted as a future inexpensive... More»
Germany’s E.ON laid the foundation stone in late March for a 433-MW combined-cycle power plant in Gönyü (Figure 6), a power-stricken region in northwestern Hungary. The power plant, expected to begin operation in 2011, will operate with a net efficiency of more than 58% — making it one... More»
Microbe Turns Carbon Dioxide into Methane A team of Penn State engineers say that a tiny self-perpetuating microbe can take electricity and directly convert carbon dioxide and water into methane, potentially producing a portable energy source with a carbon-neutral footprint. Methanogenic microorganisms... More»
From the onset of the civilian nuclear era (marked by President Dwight Eisenhower’s "Atoms for Peace" speech to the United Nations in 1953), there has been a strong awareness of the importance of safety within the nuclear energy industry. Western experts have devoted much time and effort to... More»
Southern California Edison’s (SCE) 2,250-MWe San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) recently took receipt of a new and upgraded generator rotor for one of its two Alstom steam turbine generator units (Figure 1). Following the successful installation and flawless start-up of this new rotor in the... More»
In the wake of the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling related to cooling water intake practices at large power plants, many utilities are relieved to be off the hook as far as implementing expensive control upgrades to protect fish and other aquatic organisms. More»
The latest addition to Yokogawa Corp. of America’s temperature controller product line is the UTAdvanced Hybrid Controller, a device that combines Yokogawa’s proportional integral derivative (PID) control with a... More»
AMETEK Solidstate Controls Inc. (SCI) introduced SAGE, a remote uninterruptible power supply (UPS) monitoring system that connects seamlessly with AMETEK SCI’s UPS line of products (both Ferro and PWM). With SAGE, all... More»
Garlock Sealing Technologies developed a new ultra-low-emission, high-temperature valve stem spool packing designed to simplify leak detection and repair of volatile organic compound and hazardous air pollutant emissions. Delivering emissions performance of <20 parts per... More»
Exaktime’s ClockPoint Kiosk is new software that lets office staff clock in using a single PC running Windows XP or Vista in the same way as field workers would clock in using the JobClock System... More»
Newport Corp. introduced the 1928-C Single-Channel Benchtop Optical Meter, a compact and versatile power meter that provides an affordable alternative to customers looking for a single-channel benchtop energy/power measurement tool. The new model interfaces with all of Newport’s photodiode... More»
The new Duo-Spring secondary tensioner developed by ASGCO Complete Conveyor Solutions utilizes a patent-pending mounting plate that allows the cleaning blade to be spring tensioned in either a pull-up or push-up position... More»
The U.S. may have created the roadmap for the next generation of nuclear reactors, but other countries are farther down the road to development. The U.S. Department of Energy initiated the Generation IV Roadmap development project in January 2000. Soon, nine other countries joined, including some of the... More»
Q: What do you get when you gather roughly two dozen top researchers from academia, government, and industry to speak on interdisciplinary energy-related issues for a week?
A: A lot of informative but crowded slides, high-octane brain power, fact-based analysis of where we are and we’re headed globally, informed questions, and surprisingly practical answers. More»
Though Canada is rich in fossil fuels, nuclear power may fuel a significant portion of the nation’s future electrical generation needs, especially in provinces that have traditionally relied on hydropower and fossil fuels. More»
Turkey’s growing power market has attracted investors and project developers for over a decade, yet their plans have been dashed by unexpected political or financial crises or, worse, obstructed by a lengthy bureaucratic approval process. Now, with a more transparent retail electricity market, government regulators and investors are bullish on Turkey. Is Turkey ready to turn the power on? More»
Because combined heat and power (CHP) plants optimize energy use, they cut fuel costs and pollution. Even though U.S. power plants have been using CHP for decades, today’s energy experts have a newfound appreciation for its ability to promote sustainable energy use. More»
Organic compounds can enter the steam cycle from a number of sources, including water treatment chemicals, or as part of a manufacturing process. Regardless of the source of the organics, their effects range from fouling polisher resins to causing significant steam turbine damage. Conventional water pretreatment systems are available to remove organics from water, but removing organic compounds at their source is the best place to start addressing the problem. More»
Obtaining accurate data about the performance of a plant’s heat-recovery steam generator is crucial to ensuring the smooth operation and maintenance of the equipment. Software designed to model and simulate HRSG operations can provide valuable information about corrosion and other operational problems. More»
Despite being located on the beautiful Hawaiian island of Oahu, the Kalaeloa Cogeneration Plant had trouble in paradise: Large amounts of ash from #6 low-sulfur fuel oil coated the finned tubes of its heat-recovery steam generators (HRSGs). The fouling added an extra $5 million dollars a year to the plant’s fuel bill. By retrofitting the HRSG with new panels and improved fin design, the plant overcame the fouling problems, stopped tube leaks, and cut fuel costs. More»
Carbon capture and sequestration is very likely to be a key element of any future greenhouse gas legislation. Integrated gasification combined-cycle plants now under design have provisions to separate the CO2 at elevated pressures. Coal-fired plants have a far more difficult and expensive task — separating and compressing CO2 from pressures just above atmospheric conditions. More»
When roving Contributing Editor Mark Axford attended several recent energy conferences, he found the same questions asked at each one about new U.S. generation sources and consumption patterns. Unfortunately, the experts had few good answers to those questions. More»
