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International
POWER Digest (September 2015)
ABB Snags $450M Contract for Norway-UK Undersea Link. ABB on July 14 won a $450 million contract to supply high-voltage direct current (HVDC) converter stations at both ends of the North Sea Network (NSN), a
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Gas
Putting a 650-MW Gas Plant Online in Egypt Within Five Months
Power-strapped Egypt’s first fast-track natural gas–fired project was completed in a record 159 days from groundbreaking to commissioning this July. The 650-MW Attaqa Simple Cycle Power Plant near Suez
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Nuclear
France Adopts Nuclear Cap, Carbon Tax Increase, and More
The French Parliament on July 22 finally adopted a law that caps nuclear power generation capacity at its current 63.2 GW. The measure will force utility EDF to shutter nuclear reactors before it starts up its
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Coal
Fugitive Dust Mitigation Solutions for Coal Stockpiles
Many coal-fired power plants maintain fuel stockpiles for use when the normal delivery of coal to the plant is disrupted. It is not uncommon for a 30-day supply to be maintained in the pile. Most of these
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Instrumentation & Controls
New Digital Meters Replace Old Analog Meters
Power plants use indicators to monitor process parameters such as pressure, flow, temperature, voltage, current, and vibration. Unless a facility is relatively new, it likely has analog panel meters; some
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Gas
TOP PLANTS: Kyaukse Power Plant, Kyaukse, Myanmar
Emerging from decades of isolation, fragility, and conflict, Myanmar has, since 2011, ushered in a reformist government and embarked upon unprecedented political and economic reforms. Among those reforms has
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Gas
TOP PLANTS: IPP3, Amman, Jordan
Sharing borders with Saudi Arabia, Israel, Syria, and Iraq, Jordan sits in a very precarious part of the world. To make matters worse, the country’s economy is among the smallest in the Middle East. Chronic
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Gas
TOP PLANTS: Cengiz Enerji Samsun Combined Cycle Plant, Samsun, Turkey
The Turkish electricity market was opened to competition in 2001 when the Turkish Grand National Assembly passed the Electricity Market Law, which unbundled its generation, transmission, and wholesale power
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Gas
TOP PLANTS: Panda Temple I and Panda Sherman Combined Cycle Plants, Texas
In the early 2010s, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) was staring down the barrel of dangerously low reserve margins, a combination of growing demand and an energy-only wholesale market that
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Gas
TOP PLANTS: Qurayyah Combined Cycle Power Plant, Qurayyah, Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is facing major population growth over the next several decades and, with it, rapidly growing electricity demand. In 2013, the country generated 292.2 TWh of electricity, which
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Commentary
Get Ready for MATS 2.0
On June 29, much of the power sector rejoiced when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) rule, finding that the EPA had
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Gas
TOP PLANTS: Shepard Energy Centre, Calgary, Alberta
As with many areas in North America and Europe, electricity generation in the Canadian province of Alberta is in transition toward cleaner, more efficient, more water-wise power. According to statistics from
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Commentary
A Hydropower Renaissance?
For decades, hydropower plants were mainly built and operated as a cost-efficient source of clean electricity. But despite more than a century of development, there is still scope for expanding generation from
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O&M
Winning the Cooling Tower Trifecta: Controlling Corrosion, Scale, and Microbiological Fouling
There is a synergistic relationship among the three major cooling water treatment issues: corrosion, scale or deposit formation, and microbiological fouling. In order to control one, you need to control all
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Commentary
Power Industry Wins with Final Clean Power Plan
Though most power generators and states might have preferred to not deal at all with a new rule regulating greenhouse gas emissions, the final Clean Power Plan (CPP), released August 3, gives most of the power
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Instrumentation & Controls
Four Stealthy Cyber Attacks Targeting Energy Companies
It’s certainly no secret that for many years, the power industry has been a top target for hackers around the world. However, whereas in the past, many of these attacks were relatively easy to block using
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Nuclear
South Korea Begins Burying Nuclear Waste
The Korea Radioactive Waste Agency (KORAD) on July 13 disposed its first waste in a newly completed low- and intermediate-level nuclear waste disposal facility underground at Gyeongju in North Gyeongsang
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O&M
Optimize Power Plant Operations with Industrial Data Management and Predictive Analytics
In today’s digital world, an optimally run power plant relies on valuable and accurate data in order to ensure assets are running reliably and with minimal downtime. Streaming in from control systems, SCADA
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2015 Pump Users Group
2015 Pump Users Group Rotating Equipment Repair hosted the Pump Users Group Meeting on July 27, 2015. The day consisted of educational workshops, vendor presentations, a local foundry tour, and concluded with a tour of the Harley Davidson Museum with dinner at the Harley Davidson Motor Restaurant. Rotating Equipment Repair would like to thank all […]
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Coal
Sites Shift from Coal Power to Solar Power
This week brought announcements from India and the state of Wisconsin regarding the repurposing of sites previously associated with coal-fired power generation for future solar power generation. In India’s capital of Delhi, the 240-MW coal-fired Indraprastha Power Station, which was closed in 2010, will be the site of a new 5-MW solar photovoltaic installation. As […]
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POP®Avdel® Introduces NeoBolt® Lockbolt Fastener System
The NeoBolt lockbolt fastener system delivers vibration resistance and structural strength with no pin break POP Avdel, the largest blind rivet supplier in the industry, is introducing NeoBolt, a non-breakstem lockbolt fastening system for heavy-duty structural applications. The two piece NeoBolt fastener features a collar and a pin with fine pitch locking grooves that, when […]
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Savannah Machinery Works Ships 10th Manufactured Gas Turbine
(Savannah, GA – July 27, 2015) Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Americas (MHPSA) shipped the tenth Advanced Technology Gas Turbine unit from the Savannah Machinery Works (SMW) facility in Savannah, GA on July 15, 2015. This shipment represents a major milestone for the company and a significant accomplishment for the SMW team. The 10th gas turbine […]
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Commentary
The Clean Power Plan Is Final: Time to Find the Candles?
On August 3, 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a much-anticipated suite of regulations, featuring the final Clean Power Plan’s guidelines for carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from existing power plants under Clean Air Act section 111(d). This package has sparked great interest, and early reactions run the gamut from enthusiastic support to entrenched opposition. […]
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Commentary
Power Industry Wins with Final Clean Power Plan
Though most power generators and states might have preferred to not deal at all with a new rule regulating greenhouse gas emissions, the final Clean Power Plan (CPP), released August 3, gives most of the power industry most of what it asked for in terms of revisions to the 2014 proposed plan. In any regulatory […]
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Major Incorporated Sold to Shale Inland
Houston, Texas (July 28, 2015) – Major Incorporated, a U.S. Northeast-based distributor of pipe, valves, fittings, and actuation solutions, has been acquired by Shale-Inland from Platform Management. An integrator, distributor, supply house, and valve automation provider primarily focused on the power industry, Major Incorporated (www.majorinc.com) was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in New Jersey. […]
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Renewables
Statkraft Shelves Wind Projects in Norway, Cites Unprofitability
Lower power and electricity certificate prices in the Nordic region have made two wind power projects in Central Norway—with a combined capacity of 1 GW—unprofitable, Statkraft said in June as it announced it would scrap them. Norway produces the bulk of its power from hydropower (Figure 3), but the country’s government has encouraged wind farm […]