POWER

In a major climate change rulemaking, the Environmental Protection Agency has issued final regulations that will require most large emitters of greenhouse gases in the U.S. to report their emissions beginning in 2010.

Can wind turbines actually reduce the amount of fossil fuels consumed? A Wall Street Journal analysis concludes that ERCOT utilities will begin to feel the squeeze in their profits this year and to expect the amount of fossil fuels used to generate electricity to be reduced.

President Obama has set an ambitious goal of doubling renewable energy production in the U.S. within three years, which would spur the development of a clean-tech economy and address the challenge of climate change. There is just one problem: even if we achieve the president’s goal of producing more renewable energy, we have no way of actually delivering that energy to where it’s needed.

By Kennedy Maize Here’s an interesting set of ironies. The Republican majority on the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has taken a position that, at least formally, blocks new nuclear reactors in the U.S., while the sole Democrat on the commission, Chairman Greg Jaczko, widely viewed as opposed to the agenda of the nuclear industry, has […]

By Kennedy Maize In journalism, we call it “burying the lead.” That’s what the New York Times did in a Sept. 25 story headlined “Build a Better Bulb for a $10 Million Prize.” The story said that the U.S. Department of Energy is prepared to pay $10 million for development of an efficient, cost-effective replacement […]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week proposed a rule that would limit future regulation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions under the Clean Air Act to industrial facilities that emit 25,000 tons or more of carbon dioxide annually. The announcement was made on the same day as Senate Democrats unveiled the “Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act,” indicating increased pressure on Congress to pass comprehensive climate legislation.

Canadian Hydro Developers last week agreed to buy the rights to a proposed 4,440-MW offshore wind project—what could possibly be the largest offshore wind facility in the world—in Lake Erie from Utah-based Wasatch Wind, but the company later acknowledged that the Ontario government had not yet granted it the rights to build the farm.

Alcoa Power Generating (APGI) has countered North Carolina’s alleged efforts to seize its privately owned hydropower business along the Yadkin River by filing a formal response with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the company said on Tuesday.

A pilot project begun at NRG Energy’s 1,700-MW Big Cajun II power plant will evaluate local conditions for growing switchgrass and high-biomass sorghum and determine if they could replace a portion of the plant’s combusted coal to reduce its carbon intensity. The project could lead to commercial-scale projects that would substitute biomass for some of the coal burned at NRG’s other carbon-intensive plants, the company said last week.

Twelve U.S. carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects will be the first to receive grants from the $1.4 billion allocated by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Energy Department said on Friday.

The catastrophe at the 6,400-MW Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric plant that killed 75 workers in southern Siberia on Aug. 17 had a number of contributing causes, including design, operation, and repair drawbacks, an investigative report released last week by the Russian industrial safety regulator Rostekhnadzor said. But the agency also pointed fingers at six high-ranking officials, saying that the accident resulted from their “negligence, laxity, and a lack of engineering thinking.”

By Kennedy Maize Oh! ye’ll take the high road and I’ll take the low road, And I’ll be in Scotland afore ye– Old Scottish folk ballad When it comes to climate legislation, the Obama administration has chosen the low road – administrative action by the Environmental Protection Agency. At the same time, the administration is […]

Limestone composition and reactivity are critical factors that determine the performance of limestone-based wet flue gas desulfurization systems. Limestone quality affects sulfur dioxide (SO₂) removal, reaction tank sizing, limestone consumption rate, and composition of the gypsum product and waste streams. Reactivity is a direct measure of how readily a limestone will provide alkalinity to neutralize the acid resulting from SO₂ dissolution in water. In this article we review your limestone analytic measurement options and discuss their relative accuracy and limitations.

Africa is emerging as a prominent voice in calling for a global nuclear renaissance. Driven by chronic shortages from population explosions, decades of drought, and dependence on hydropower — and spurred by discoveries of significant uranium reserves on the continent — several countries are considering nuclear power as a viable option.

Boiler tube failures continue to be the leading cause of downtime for steam power plants. Is your boiler tube failure reduction program showing improvement when compared to programs at peer plants? The EUCG’s recent update of its boiler tube failure study can help you answer that question. The full study is available only to members, but this POWER exclusive presents many of the key results, which could help you improve the operation of your plant.

A solar thermal demonstration power plant in Jülich, Germany, that was developed by the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR), was formally handed over to its future operator, the Jülich Department of Works this August.

The expected renaissance for U.S. coal-fired generation has been more evolutionary than revolutionary: Less than half of the announced plants will likely progress to construction. However, the percentages for coal-fired plants aren’t significantly different from those for combined-cycle plants a decade ago, when dozens were ultimately canceled, leaving developers with warehouses full of unused gas turbines. The difference this time: The threat of carbon control legislation has moved many projects to the “wait and see” category.

Many customer quotation requests provide only the line size, pressure class rating, and valve type. A typical request might read: size 4, Class 900 globe valve. Though this may be enough information to produce a valve quote, it rarely is enough information to size the best valve from both a performance and cost perspective.

Once pulverized coal flows have been measured, they can be balanced and optimized. Until then, tuning is simply guesswork. The right way to balance furnace fuel flows is to establish solid baseline performance by proper measurement of fuel flow, fineness, and velocity. Only then can all the coal pipes be accurately balanced and followed by a tune-up of the boiler controls.

ESAB Welding & Cutting Products’ newly introduced CaddyTig 2200i AC/DC power source is designed to produce quality gas tungsten arc (TIG) and shielded metal arc (stick) welds in a variety of materials. With a light, compact design, the CaddyTig 2200i offers control panels that present all welding parameters in an easy-to-understand layout. ESAB’s two-program function […]

Martin Engineering’s Performance Duty QC#1 Belt Cleaner (PDQC#1) is the latest addition to the company’s line of "Quick Change" belt cleaners. The PDQC #1 Cleaner features a more rugged steel mainframe, a low-maintenance spring tensioner, and a high-volume urethane blade that extends life while maintaining cleaning performance. It also uses a one-piece urethane blade featuring […]

The design of Nash’s new ECO-FLO builds on the company’s previous liquid ring vacuum pump models. While it offers the same reliability, performance, and operating costs, the ECO-FLO reduces water usage by up to 50%. The inlet and discharge piping are unchanged, and the upgraded model uses an existing base, motor, and drive. ECO-FLO is […]

In this column last month I quoted Indian Environmental Minister Jairam Ramesh to represent India’s intention to not agree to any legally binding emissions targets at the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference in December. That conference will start formal negotiations of a follow-on agreement to the Kyoto Protocol. A number of readers wrote to say that they believe India and China, despite their protestations to the contrary, will cave to international pressure and at the end of the day agree to some binding carbon emissions limits. I disagree.

For some time, the U.S. energy industry has feared the prospect of large-scale climate change litigation (CCL) that seeks to link emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) to global warming. Thus far though, only a handful of such suits have been filed, and none has yielded any judgments against the energy industry. This begs the question of whether the energy industry can now stop worrying about CCL.

E.H. Wach’s newly launched Small Diameter Split Frame (SDSF) is an externally mounted machine tool for cutting, beveling, and counterboring pipe from 0.84 inch to 4.5 inch diameter. Featuring a self-squaring clamping system for precise cutting results that are typically available only with fixed machine tools, the SDSF is also capable of performing socket weld […]

News items of interest to industry professionals.

Independent designer, manufacturer, and service provider of energy control and optimization solutions Woodward Governor Co. recently started production of its CONCYCLE wind power converters in the U.S. The electric power convertor units are designed for use with wind turbines with a power range of 1 MW to 10 MW for onshore and offshore applications. Woodward […]

When high-temperature boiler feedwater passes through a control valve, the pressure drop can exceed several thousand pounds per square inch, placing extreme stress on the valve body and internal parts. If those parts are not engineered and manufactured to the highest industry standards, there is a very real possibility of the severe conditions damaging or destroying the valve.

ERICO has developed a range of CWP grounding clamps that are ideal for use in applications including lightning protection, fault current ground, signal reference grid, and static ground. The clamps help minimize the possibility of damage from a lightening strike or other transient voltage by reducing the electrical potential between metallic objects and building systems. […]

For several years there has been widespread doubt about Washington’s ability to move forward with a national program to address climate change and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. At various times during the Bush administration, it appeared that legislation might be possible, but it always collapsed under the weight of partisan politics and competing special […]