POWER

The Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) on Tuesday filed draft rules with the state Legislature that could require large wood-burning power producers to meet strict greenhouse gas (GHG) emission standards before they can receive state financing. The rules were modeled on conclusions reached in a June 2010 study that burning forest trees for power is not carbon neutral.

A law signed by Governor Chris Gregoire on Friday phases out coal-fired power production in Washington State with the closure of two coal boilers at TransAlta’s Centralia power plant.

May 6 is the last day to save by registering for ELECTRIC POWER online! Register online today and save $200. Stay in the middle of the action. Book your hotel room now. ELECTRIC POWER has discounted hotel rooms at several different hotels, but time is running out, so make your reservation today. When you register, […]

ELECTRIC POWER conference tracks are programmed by a 100-member industry committee to ensure that session content is substantive, practical, and timely. It’s information you can use presented by people who have been in your shoes. To help you plan your time at ELECTRIC POWER, consult the online conference grid. You’ll have complete session details when […]

Do you have limited time, or do you just want to visit with hundreds of North American and international industry exhibitors? Then the Expo-Only Special Package is for you: See the latest power generation technology solutions at more than 500 exhibits. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to evaluate prospective suppliers. Attend the Keynote and CEO […]

By Kennedy Maize Washington, D.C., May 2, 2011 – The Obama administration’s response to current high gasoline prices is so 1970s…or 1980s…or 1990s…or 2000s. Been there, done that, dead end. Washington seems to be perfumed with a silliness pheromone that gets loosed in the Nation’s Capital whenever gasoline prices go up. As pump prices climb, […]

Hamworthy Peabody Combustion’s new Q-jet Low NOx Burner Optimization Kit can be retrofitted to practically any existing burner, regardless of manufacturer, to increase efficiency and reduce maintenance. In addition, the Q-jet Kit eliminates the need to replace complete burner assemblies just to meet emissions requirements, saving time and money. A key feature is that the […]

U.S. Supreme Court rulings in two recent cases further advance the rights of employees in disputes with employers, continuing a long-term trend in federal law on employment discrimination.

Valve-maker Conval announced that its popular Camseal zero-leakage ball valves now have forged bodies. These new forged ball valves are available in half-inch through 4-inch sizes with top entry, socket weld, butt weld, and flanged ends. Pressure classes range from ASME 900 through 4500. Camseal forged ball valves feature zero body leakage, zero seat leakage, zero seal […]

The devastation in Japan has focused new attention on supply chain issues and the impact of the partial collapse of that country’s manufacturing infrastructure on both Japanese imports and exports.

A renewed attack on nuclear power immediately followed the March 11 catastrophe at the six-unit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex in Japan. At least one legislator and a multitude of anti-nuclear groups have demanded that the U.S. cease approval of all new nuclear plants for the foreseeable future and/or close our Mark I boiling water reactor (BWR) plants. This knee-jerk response adds nothing substantive to the nuclear safety debate. (Be sure to read our cover story for more on this issue.)

The electric power generation landscape in both America and the rest of the world is poised to undergo a fundamental transformation in the next several decades. Global energy consumption is projected to rise dramatically by 2035, and the methods by which we generate electricity and the fuels we choose to use will begin to change as well.

John Hanger, who led Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection until January, talked with ProPublica earlier this year about the challenges of trying to regulate the expanding drilling industry.

Weeks after a massive magnitude 9.0 earthquake and subsequent 14-meter-high tsunami devastated Fukushima Prefecture in northeastern Japan, workers from the Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) were still struggling to regain control of four severely damaged reactors at the six-unit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Not complying with current law can be expensive in today’s legal climate. Employers should review their employee handbooks and employment-related policies to make sure they are up to date. More importantly, employers should draft their handbooks so that employees actually read them and follow their policies.

The People’s Republic of China’s Congress approved a much-anticipated draft of the country’s 12th Five-Year Plan (2011–2015) on March 14. Along with key objectives that included boosting its gross domestic product (GDP) by 7% annually on average, the country for the first time in a five-year plan established targets to tackle climate change. It plans to reduce carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by 17% from 2010 levels by 2015 and to reduce energy consumption per unit of GDP by 16% from 2010 levels by 2015.

Many large utility-scale units with copper alloy condensers and feedwater heaters lose generating capacity when copper and copper oxide deposits develop on high-pressure (HP) steam turbine blading. It is not unusual for a 400-MW unit to lose 10% of its generating capacity over a six-month period when water treatment processes aren’t properly tuned to prevent copper transport in the steam and condensate systems. In fact, one utility reported that it lost 20 MW of capacity in one month because of such deposits. The financial implications of such deposits, particularly in power markets where plants are pushed to their generating limits, are tremendous.

Wish you could get inside your customer’s head? If so, forget data and go to the source.

Subsidized by the Dutch government, a number of Dutch utilities, the European Membrane Institute at the University of Twente, and Dutch consulting firm KEMA have, for over a decade, been testing membrane technology that promises to directly convert water vapor from power and other industrial plants’ flue gases into drinking water. The technology could provide a new source of large volumes of potable water.

This series of articles focuses on the nuts and bolts of predictive maintenance (PdM), also known as condition-based maintenance. A well-defined and well-executed PdM program saves time and money by reducing unneeded time-based maintenance tasks and by identifying and fixing problems before they cause equipment failure or plant shutdown. In this article, we begin introducing condition-monitoring techniques commonly in use at power plants.

Regulators are asked to balance a societal need with the cost burden placed on those who pay for the service. Sometimes they forget that it’s other people’s money at stake.

Competition among offshore wind turbine vendors vying for market share went into overdrive in the first three months of 2011 as several key players announced gigantic new turbine models.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently dealt another setback to the use of Section 216 of the Federal Power Act, which gives the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) “backstop” authority to site electric transmission lines. Although enacted in 2005, this authority has never been used by FERC, and it can be questioned whether it ever will be used.

It’s not just hard finding good help these days. It’s hard finding honest help, too.

A major technical advance in hydroelectric dam safety was achieved this March as Alstom’s Chinese arm, the Tianjin Alstom Hydro Co. (TAH), delivered what it called “the world’s first self-closing electronic ring gate control system” to the Ahai hydropower project in China.

If coal is to be a viable long-term fuel for a significant percentage of electricity generation, research and development is needed to increase thermal efficiency, demonstrate cost-effective and secure carbon dioxide capture and storage, further improve emission controls, and reduce water demands.

Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories say a project that focuses on supercritical carbon dioxide (CO₂) Brayton cycle turbines is moving to the demonstration stage.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is developing a number of new regulations for the power sector governing air emissions, cooling water intake structures, and coal combustion waste disposal methods. Combined, these regulations have the potential to drive as much as 40% of existing coal-fired generating units to retire in the next 10 years, representing about 51 GW.

Like most forms of generation, solar power has its disadvantages. Two cited most by critics of photovoltaic (PV) or concentrating solar power facilities are that they require large expanses of land and that solar cell fabrication and maintenance costs are high. Several companies have been assessing a new approach to tackling these factors: installing solar plants on water.

The question concerning coal plant retirements forced by looming regulatory rules, low gas prices, and moribund load growth has changed from “Why?” to “How many plants?” Many highly detailed analyses and reports have been written on the subject by superbly qualified analysts. This approach to estimating potential plant closures is much more qualitative, and much easier to understand. However, the results closely align: About 50 GW are threatened.