POWER

Reducing the minimum load at which a steam turbine can reliably operate is one way to increase revenue for marginal base-loaded units during periods of low electrical demand. For this reason, it is not unusual to see merchant plants operating at "super minimum" load levels that are well below the typical 25% rated full-load limits. However, such units are operating well outside the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) design basis, and owners may experience undesirable damage to their turbines for a number of reasons. That’s why it is important for owners to understand the trade-offs and risks that come with such operation.

In the battle against climate change, most media attention has been paid to "cap-and-trade" schemes, under which countries set upper limits ("caps") on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and allow companies to sell ("trade") unused emissions rights to other firms. However, there is a second path to global warming salvation: Carbon offsets.

Cavitation is defined as the phenomenon of forming and imploding vapor bubbles in a region where the pressure of the liquid falls below its vapor pressure. Cavitation and the resultant damage can occur in any fluid-handling equipment, especially in pumps. Technological advances in industrial protective coatings and composite repair materials have made it possible to repair pumps operating in a cavitating environment rather than simply replacing them after damage occurs. Cavitation-resistant (CR) elastomers have the ability to retain adhesion under long-term immersion, dissipate energy created under high-intensity cavitation, and provide outstanding resistance to corrosion and other forms of erosion.

Arkansas-based Baldor Electric Co. launched a new direct drive technology for the cooling tower industry that improves reliability, reduces maintenance, runs quieter, and saves energy. The Adjustable Speed Direct Drive Cooling Tower Motor combines technologies of the field-proven laminated finned frame RPM AC motor with a high-performance permanent magnet salient pole rotor design, and it […]

Martin Engineering has introduced an upgraded version of the MARTIN Insertable Dust Collector, which features improved filters and a smaller footprint to control airborne coal dust at belt conveyor loading points and other bulk material-handling operations. Insertable dust collectors are typically installed to reduce problems associated with central baghouse collection systems, including long runs of […]

In their recent endangerment finding draft technical support document (TSD), scientists at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conclude that carbon dioxide emissions are a public health hazard and should be regulated under the Clean Air Act. Federal law requires that regulations be based on scientific information that is "accurate, clear, complete, and unbiased"; the most recent available; and collected by the "best available methods." The EPA’s TSD on carbon emissions violates all of these requirements.

News items of interest to power industry professionals.

By Kennedy Maize USEC, the Bethesda, Md., uranium enrichment company that took over the Department of Energy’s enrichment program in 1992 is claiming that the Obama administration is reneging on promises to provide $2 billion in loan guarantees for the company’s “advanced” centrifuge enrichment plan, made during the 2008 presidential campaign. DOE’s decision to withhold […]

Canada’s only private nuclear generating company, Bruce Power, plans to withdraw its application to build two new nuclear power plants in Ontario, opting instead to refurbish existing reactors. The decisions reflect the “realities of the market” and are unique to Ontario, the company said last week.

New wind energy installations in the U.S. plunged to just 1,210 MW in the second quarter of 2009—falling to less than half of the 2,790 MW of new installations reported for the first quarter of this year—according to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA).

A report released on Tuesday by the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA’s) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) lambasts the publically owned company’s management practices. It says that the breach of a 50-year-old coal ash storage pond and subsequent ash spill at its Kingston Fossil Plant in Roane County, Tenn., last December could have been prevented if TVA had heeded 20 years of warnings and taken recommended corrective actions.

Doosan Babcock Energy on Friday switched on what it is calling the “world’s largest” oxyfuel combustion carbon capture and storage (CCS) facility in Renfrew, Scotland. The facility will demonstrate that company’s OxyCoal Clean Combustion system for the first time on a full-size 40-MW burner.

The Department of Energy (DOE) on Tuesday said it had encouraged USEC to withdraw its application for $2 billion in loan guarantee funding for the American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon, Ohio. The decision has forced the nation’s only domestic uranium enrichment firm to begin demobilizing the project.

U.S. Senators Bob Casey (D-Penn.) and Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) last week introduced a bill to encourage the commercial deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology by setting up a program for managing financial risk or liability of the long-term storage of the greenhouse gas.

Everything you want to, or should, know about uranium mining and processing is in a new book by Tom Zoellner, not including the terrifying threat of crocodiles in northern Australia.

Even as hype about the U.S. nuclear renaissance is quieting down—a result of economic woes and unrealistic expectations about political and regulatory developments—some developments remain. As these stories from the nation’s media suggest, the building of new nuclear plants in the U.S. may move ahead at a slower, more measured pace.

Inventory is expensive. It sucks up, and locks up, cash. How can utility managers save inventory money? Here are some possibilities from experts in inventory management.

Most Americans simply don’t have clue about energy and environmental issues, according to a Zogby poll commissioned by the conservative Manhattan Institute.

Why Americans have tuned out global-warming hype, and why they are right to do so.

Educating a workforce about the concept of business acumen—going beyond financial literacy and developing a true understanding of what it takes for an organization to make money—is the key to producing real, bottom-line results.

What does science teach us about how to test our ideas about the world around us? How do hypotheses differ from theory, and what does that distinction mean?

Does your business have a communications plan to deal with a catastrophe? The lack of one could cost your business its corporate reputation and the value of your shares on the market.

If a nuclear revival is to happen, it will depend on understanding the global nature of the supply chains that support it, argues a U.S. conservative think tank.

Does the House Republicans’ alternative to the Democratic energy plan—with the GOP’s proposal for 100 new nuclear plants in the next 20 years—pass the straight-faced test? Not even close, and the GOP knows it.

The bill that the U.S. House passed 219-212 in late June to establish a cap-and-trade regime for control of global warming gases also includes new authority for overriding states on siting power lines. But the new authority only applies to the West.

By Kennedy Maize Here’s a hoot. The recent global cooling we have seen would have been cooler without global warming. That’s the claim of Dr. Brenda Ekwurzel of the Union of Concerned Scientists. In a letter to the Washington Post on July 27, Ekwurzel objected to a column by conservative George Will, who has taken […]

The U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works last week continued a series of hearings that assesses how proposed energy and climate change legislation could impact industry and economy. Last week’s hearing was titled, “Ensuring and Enhancing U.S. Competitiveness while Moving toward a Clean Energy Economy.”

India on Monday pledged to designate two nuclear energy park sites  for development by U.S. companies—likely Westinghouse Electric Co. and GE-Hitachi—as part of its civilian nuclear energy cooperation agreement with the U.S. Before the deals—worth an estimated $10 billion—to develop nuclear power plants are signed, however, the U.S. will need to overcome several hurdles.

The UK government has approved MGT Power’s proposed £500 million Tees Renewable Energy Plant, paving the way for construction to begin. When completed in late 2012, the 295-MW baseload plant in Teesport, near Middlesbrough, will be one of the largest biomass plants in the world.

TransAlta Corp. on Monday launched a hostile takeover bid of C$653.7 million (C$1.5 billion in enterprise value) for renewables giant Canadian Hydro Developers, offering shareholders C$4.55 per share in cash. The energy giant said that the move followed a seven-month failed effort to negotiate an acquisition transaction with Canadian Hydro.