In a carbon-constrained world, CO2 capture and storage (CCS), although considered the most radical of the carbon abatement technologies (CATs), seems to be favored over combustion and steam cycle improvements alone. However, CCS is the least commercially developed of the CAT options; at present, there are only field prototypes for its various forms. Nonetheless, most […]

T&D systems with embedded intelligence have a great future, and they always will. Too many powerful forces—politics, money, and power—remain to be reconciled before consumers and utilities can work together, seamlessly, to reduce electricity demand and eliminate delivery system bottlenecks.

June 1886 POWER reported on the art and science of water treatment and its effect on boiler performance in the cover story this month. "Dr. J.G. Rogers, an authority on steam generation, is quoted as stating that one-sixteenth of an inch of scale in a boiler will require the extra consumption of 15% more fuel; […]

James Thurber once said that it is "easier to ask some of the questions than to come up with all the answers." As a magazine editor, I get to ask lots of questions and make plenty of suggestions. Not everyone likes my suggestions, but I trust the readers of POWER to make their own studied […]

When tackling a problem, engineers bring both skepticism and optimism to the task. As the nation’s electric power engineers look to fill America’s looming capacity gap, they will need to apply healthy doses of both. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) projects a 50% increase in electricity demand over the next 25 […]

Siemens, E.ON to test world’s largest GTG / Midwest to add 76-MW peaker in Kansas / Tapping the sun near Phoenix / Georgia Tech developing 3-D PV nanocells / Wind farms with hydrogen backup? / BNSF , union come to terms / IPL to buy 200-MW wind project / India to improve environmental monitoring / POWER digest

Ready for your NERC close-up? / Synthetic oils for industrial applications

  Historically, states have delegated responsibility for establishing and implementing their energy policy to a public utilities commission (PUC). During most of the 20th century, state PUCs operated with relatively little interference from state legislators. In California, for example, the PUC, created by the state constitution, was vested with the broad authority to independently regulate […]

Chauncey Starr, founder of EPRI—the Electric Power Research Institute—and its first CEO, passed away on April 17, 2007. The previous day, a celebration of his recent 95th birthday had been held at EPRI, where Chauncey held forth for more than an hour on his life experiences and lessons learned. He was in fine fettle. Chauncey […]

Since 1999, the Texas grid operator ERCOT has given plant owners economic incentives to upgrade and extend the life of their generating units. Lower Colorado River Authority has seized the opportunity to modernize the control systems of its 1970s-vintage Sim Gideon natural gas–fired steam plant. Sophisticated control schemes now calculate the toll taken by running units under severe service conditions—including the high ramp rates that a plant must execute to sell ancillary services.

At the heart of most boiler combustion control systems (and most coordinated boiler/turbine control systems as well) is throttle pressure correction, usually applied by the "master controller." Throttle pressure is considered a key variable to control because it represents the energy balance between the boiler and the turbine. When throttle pressure is constant, the boiler […]

FutureGen may be getting the headlines, but it’s not the only superclean demonstration plant in town. In fact, you could argue that other technologies are further down the evolutionary timeline. Case in point: Clean Energy Systems’ adaptation of rocket engine technology to radically change the way fuel is burned. The result is a true zero-emissions power plant.

Gas turbine manufacturers aren’t selling as many machines today as they did in the hyperactive 1990s. But they are still continuing to refine G-Class technology. It has been about eight years since the first steam-cooled SGT6-6000G from Siemens Power Generation entered service. Take a quick tour of what must now be considered a mature gas turbine technology.

Last month, POWER weighed the pros and cons of the various grid interconnection options available to distributed generation plants. This month we explore the technology choices for generating reactive power, or volt-amperes reactive (VARs), which utilities are willing to pay for as an ancillary service.

If little else is clear about the future of the U.S. power industry, this much is: Electricity rates are going up across the country, and will continue to. None of the esteemed panelists at the CEO session of the ELECTRIC POWER 2007 Conference & Exhibition in Chicago last month actually said those words. But much […]

Consumption of Powder River Basin coal continues to grow, from 28 million tons annually in the mid-1970s to what is now 400 million tons per year. Existing plants as far east as Nova Scotia burn the low-sulfur coal to comply with increasingly stringent limits on SO2 emissions, and PRB coal has become the fuel of […]

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the nuclear track at the ELECTRIC POWER 2007 Conference & Exhibition (EP07) in Chicago last month was the attendance. For the most part, its sessions were jammed, leading session chairmen to mention how different this was from prior years. Clearly, nuclear has buzz. The environment looks promising: The regulators […]

Steve Elonka began chronicling the exploits of Marmaduke Surfaceblow—a six-foot-four marine engineer with a steel-brush mustache and a foghorn voice—in POWER in 1948, when he raised the wooden mast of the SS Asia Sun with the help of two cobras and a case of Sandpaper Gin. Marmy’s simple solutions to seemingly intractable plant problems remain timeless. This story originally appeared in 1950. Two years later, one of its key characters, King Farouk, abdicated the Egyptian throne to his infant son following a military coup.

May 1885 POWER reported on the latest Twist Automatic Engine (Figure 1) in its cover story for the May 1885 issue. The editor explained that "each end of the cylinder has one main valve, for admission and exhaust, and one cut-off valve; all being plugs with partial rotary movement; and the cut-off valves being within […]

  As the possibility of national climate change legislation increases on Capitol Hill and captures the attention of the electric power community, I am concerned that regulators, legislators, and utility executives will forget the urgency of modernizing the U.S. electricity delivery infrastructure. On the surface, the issues of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and upgrading and […]

  In 1882, Americans talked of John L. Sullivan, the bare-knuckles boxing heavyweight champion of the world, as horse-drawn carriages jingled along city streets. The spidery cables of the Brooklyn Bridge spanned the East River and hundreds of workmen scrambled to complete the great project. Railroads crossed the continent, but sporadic Indian warfare still plagued […]

  This month’s issue of POWER commemorates 125 years of continuous publishing for the power generation business. The anniversary gives us all a chance to assess where we’ve been and where we’re going as a publication and as an industry. As power industry professionals, we all know the value of a rearview mirror—of remembering lessons […]

World’s largest PV plant now in Portugal; latan 2 construction may resume; Allegheny to scrub Fort Martin plant; TVA will clean up big Dutch CC plant; Connecticut blesses six fuel cell projects; DOE approves IGCC plant in Florida; FERC relicenses Osage hydro plant; A nanotech perpetual motion machine?; POWER digest

Cyber security and the grid; Harnessing the Yangtze;

Hydraulic system overhaul;

O&M problems not caused by cycling;

  State policy makers are characteristically reluctant to recognize that they have advanced a policy as far as they can, and that they must cede some control to fully realize its ultimate benefits. Ceding control often runs counter to policy makers’ political instinct to serve their constituents. Doing so is even harder when a new […]

This month we officially commemorate the 125th anniversary of the magazine that has been essential reading for owners and operators of power generating plants. As you read this brief history, you’ll see that—although we’re looking back at an illustrious past—the secret of POWER’s success has been its commitment to the future. As we look forward to the next milestone anniversary, we anticipate covering the latest developments in a new generation of power technologies. As always, our mission is to provide the best information and advice in the service of safely and efficiently powering the global energy industry.

This month we officially commemorate the 125th anniversary of the magazine that has been essential reading for owners and operators of power generating plants. As you read this brief history, you’ll see that—although we’re looking back at an illustrious past—the secret of POWER’s success has been its commitment to the future. As we look forward to the next milestone anniversary, we anticipate covering the latest developments in a new generation of power technologies. As always, our mission is to provide the best information and advice in the service of safely and efficiently powering the global energy industry.

Advanced boiling water reactor (ABWR) construction practices honed in Japan aren’t just impressive, they’re also eminently suitable for the fleet of new units planned for the U.S. Conceptually, these techniques show the transition from "construction" to "manufacturing" that has already taken place in other industries.

On-line temperature monitoring of steam turbine rotors must be based on modeling thermodynamic processes—not direct temperature measurements. Good operating decisions can significantly extend the life of aging turbines, particularly those that are routinely cycled or operated at their maximum ramp rates.

Operators of combined-cycle plants that have been pressed into cycling service should make sure that the aqueous diet of their steam generators—especially heat-recovery steam generators—fits the plants’ more active lifestyle. Following are some tips for keeping your HRSGs’ water treatment regimen in tip-top shape. These prescriptions can keep the units vital longer and make them subject to fewer unexpected failures.