POWER

Should utilities take a new look at their approaches to maximizing profit margins?

Mexico, one of the few countries in Latin America that has resisted the tide of liberalization, retains a monopolistic state player in the electricity market. In treading its own path by maintaining the government’s predominance in the sector, Mexico has an important question to answer: Is this path sustainable?

The cost of poor company knowledge management is high and getting higher. Managing knowledge in an era of compartmentalization and specialization is more difficult when organizations face layoffs, looming retirements, and the scarcity of trained, qualified workers.

Mexico enjoys considerable fuel diversity for powering its generating plants, and its goal is to become even more diversified.

Mexico has already developed substantial large hydro and geothermal resources. However, without policy changes and government-sponsored financial incentives, unconventional renewable sources are taking the equivalent of baby steps.

Seven years have passed since the world’s first low mass flux vertical tube once-through furnace was put into operation by Doosan Babcock at the Yaomeng Thermal Power Plant Unit 1 in China. That boiler replaced a boiler of another design that had become unreliable. The operating experience with the Posiflow design has been so positive that the owner has since ordered and commissioned a replacement for Unit 2’s boiler. Here’s what makes this furnace design unique.

Shrinking water supplies will unquestionably constrain the development of future power plants. A hybrid system consisting of concentrated solar thermal power and desalination to produce water for a plant, integrated with a combined cycle or conventional steam plant, may be the simple solution.

In 2006 and 2007, POWER ran a three-part series on the formation of SO₃, O&M issues caused by SO₃, and sorbent injection control for SO₃ control. Three years later, many plants still struggle with their SO ₃ mitigation systems or remain undecided on which mitigation path to follow. This article explores the advantages of dry sorbent injection technology.

Offers of nuclear loan guarantees are pending, construction permit applications are at an industry high, and the political stars seem to be properly aligned. However, there remains one obstacle in the development path of the next-generation of nuclear plants: How will these plants be financed?

Mexico’s federal government retains almost total control over who builds and owns what electricity infrastructure. But if you know how to work within the strict constraints, it is possible to engage in profitable projects.

E Instruments has just released its TH300 humidity and temperature sensor, which is ideal for applications that require a single, high-accuracy instrument. The sensor measures relative and absolute humidity, dew point, wet and dry temperatures, and enthalpy. The range of measurement is from 0% to 100% relative humidity and – 40F to 356F. Accuracy is […]

NAFTA was both good and bad for Mexico. In both cases, it required a different approach to doing business, and the effects of that shift are still playing out.

The Brattle Group released a provocative study paper in March in which the authors postulate that using more natural gas for generating electricity could reduce our dependence on coal-fired generation and reduce carbon emissions. Also discussed is an unexpected side effect: Renewables could push natural gas plants down in the dispatch mix in the future. […]

Despite the political kerfuffle over Obama administration loan guarantees for new nuclear generating plants, the ubiquitous hand-wringing about fossil fuels and climate change, and the hype about wind and solar renewable power generation, the new reality of natural gas may be a game-changer.

The demand for "green" electricity — electricity produced from renewable sources like wind, solar, hydropower, geothermal, and biofuels — is at an all-time high in the U.S. Over the past decade, solar and wind capacity have increased dramatically due largely to mandatory renewable portfolio standards (RPS), which have now been adopted by 27 states.

State control of the electricity sector may mean fewer customers, but it also can mean clearer expectations.

The fear of losing electric power inspires thoughts about how vital electricity is to our lives. It is fundamental to modern living, and that’s entirely a good thing.

The Brattle Group released a provocative study paper in March in which the authors postulate that using more natural gas for generating electricity could reduce our dependence on coal-fired generation and reduce carbon emissions. Also discussed is an unexpected side effect: Renewables could push natural gas plants down in the dispatch mix in the future. Just because natural gas reserves are at a record high and the price is at historic lows doesn’t mean that gas demand will increase.

Laser shaping technology has evolved from a two-step process into a single process that drills and shapes holes through a TBC, bond coat, and airfoil base metal to create a finished product.

Wind power’s cost is hidden in subsidies; its value is overstated and based on false metrics that don’t account for reliability and dispatchability.

For the past 26 years, Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) has hosted an annual CERAWeek conference in Houston that is renowned for high-profile attendees from around the world. During the week of March 8, security was tight as oil ministers from the Middle East and CEOs from the largest oil and gas companies and electric utilities rolled into Houston to exchange ideas and forecasts. More than 1,200 delegates from 55 countries attended to hear more than 100 distinguished speakers discuss a business that seems to have renewed optimism about the future.

Extech Instruments introduced the EX845, a 1,000A AC/DC CAT IV clamp meter with new METERLiNK technology and a built-in infrared thermometer. METERLiNK wirelessly connects FLIR infrared cameras to Extech meters via Bluetooth to simplify inspections. During infrared inspections of electrical components, users can transmit key electrical readings such as current or voltage from an Extech […]

By Kennedy Maize Washington, D.C., April 28, 2001 — Having spent decades as a Washington reporter, I’ve read more government reports that I can count. Paper is policy currency in D.C. But this week’s interagency report – A Human Health Perspective on Climate Change – is the loopiest I can recall. This report, honchoed by […]

The long-awaited Kerry-Graham-Lieberman bill saw more delays this week as Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) abandoned efforts to work with Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) on the legislation, citing frustration with reports that indicated congressional leadership and the administration were prioritizing immigration over climate and energy legislation.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week sent its final so-called “Tailoring Rule” to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review. The move signals that the rule, which could require power plants and other entities to obtain operating permits to emit greenhouse gases, is close to finalization.

Utah is the latest state to announce that it will not participate in the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) when the regional cap-and-trade program begins in January 2012. Republican governor Gary Herbert’s office told reporters that the state would not entirely quit the initiative, even though the governor disagreed with some principles favored by it.

The Australian government has reportedly shelved controversial plans for a national carbon trading program until at least 2013, citing political and public opposition to the proposal. The world’s biggest coal exporter was proposing to reduce greenhouse gases by 5% to 15% of 2000 levels via a carbon trading system similar to Europe’s within the next decade.

Last week brought news of several more proposed coal-fired plant closures from Canada, Georgia, Colorado, and Washington State.

The Department of Energy on Earth Day last week announced it would invest more than $200 million over five years to accelerate the development and commercialization of solar and water power technologies. Investments include initiatives to spur photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing, to develop the PV supply chain, and to accelerate marine and hydrokinetic technologies.

The Department of the Interior (DOI) today gave its approval to the first U.S. offshore wind farm, a long-disputed and much-delayed project on federal submerged lands in Nantucket Sound. The approval comes with conditions, however, including requiring the developer of the $1 billion wind farm to agree to additional binding measures to minimize the potential adverse impact of construction and operation of the facility.