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O&M
Latest Electromagnetic Technology Device Improves Inspection Accuracy and Repeatability
Eddy currents are electrical currents induced within conductors by changing magnetic fields. They are commonly used in nondestructive evaluation (NDE) and corrosion monitoring of structures with painted surfaces. The work of eddy current technicians, who specialize in the electromagnetic modality, requires a high degree of accuracy even when working under challenging testing conditions. Traditionally, technicians relied on […]
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Legal & Regulatory
Nest Thermostats: The Future of Demand Response Programs?
Sure, the Nest Learning Thermostat is smart, user-friendly, and downright sexy, but at $249, it’s more a luxury item than a mass-market appliance. Indeed, Nest thermostats are highlighted in upscale real estate listings alongside marble countertops and stainless steel appliances. Although Nest has done well since its debut in 2011, with almost a million units […]
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Environmental
Is Your Plant Ready for MATS?
It has been more than two and a half years since the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants from coal- and oil-fired electric utility steam generating units (EGUs), and standards of performance for fossil fuel–fired electric utility, industrial/commercial/institutional, and small industrial/commercial/institutional steam generating units. Specifically, the rule created mercury […]
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Environmental
Combined Mercury and SO3 Removal Using SBS Injection
Though no single mercury capture approach is best for all plants, when you can capture two (or more) pollutants with one sorbent, it’s worth a careful look. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Utility Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) regulation requires power plants to reduce emissions of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs), including mercury. The […]
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Legal & Regulatory
Biomass Exemption Sails into the Sunset
With quickly approaching deadlines for achieving renewable portfolio standard goals, the likely lapse of a critical exemption this month may increase the challenges for meeting those mandates. Approximately four years ago the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) took the first step in regulating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from electric generating units (EGUs) by promulgating the […]
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Water
The Water-Energy Nexus Takes Center Stage
Power plant operators have long understood the vital role water plays in power generation. Now, as the rest of the world begins recognizing that as well, a conflict is brewing between the growing demand for electricity and increasingly strained water resources. Unless you’ve been living in a cave, you’ve likely heard the term “water-energy nexus” […]
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Renewables
Shifting Sands: The Middle East’s Thrust for Sustainability
Economic and population booms forecast for several countries in the oil- and gas-rich Middle East are forcing a reassessment of those countries’ historic reliance on fossil fuels and a new focus on securing sustainable electricity and water supplies. The Middle East is a region of extremes. While some countries enjoy opulent wealth, others are some […]
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Environmental
Geoengineering: A Practical Climate Work-Around or Just Plain Crazy?
Faced with roadblocks to reducing greenhouse gas emissions via globally meaningful regulations or carbon pricing schemes, some scientists say it’s time to consider even more drastic human intervention. As it looks increasingly unlikely that the world will adopt a political and economic approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions—primarily carbon dioxide—what was once regarded as a […]
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Distributed Energy
Blurring the Line Between Temporary and Permanent Power
Temporary power may be the most widely distributed “distributed” generation worldwide, and its distribution is spreading, thanks to its ability to quickly meet urgent needs not only for event, construction, and post-disaster emergency power but also for fast-growing economies and stressed grids. That’s making it a serious competitor for “permanent” power in some situations. When […]
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Coal
Springerville Generating Station Earns PRBCUG 2014 Honors
The Springerville Generating Station has been a work in progress since the first unit entered service in 1985. The PRBCUG recently recognized Springerville with its 2014 Plant of the Year award for implementing industry best practices, continual improvements, and worker safety. The presentation of the Powder River Basin Coal Users’ Group (PRBCUG) Plant of the […]
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Coal
Does IGCC Have a Future?
Once touted as the savior of coal power and the future of clean coal generation, integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) technology has seen its prospects swamped by soaring costs and technological challenges. Though it remains controversial, its proponents are not ready to give up. If you’re an energy sector observer with an interest in integrated […]
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Commentary
As Clean Energy Accelerates, a New Era of Choice Is Upon Us
Though our current power grid is more sophisticated and reliable than when Thomas Edison designed it nearly a century ago, it uses the same model: A company burns fuel to create electricity, which is then sent hundreds of miles along inefficient wires to customers who are given a single energy choice: on or off. Now, […]
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Renewables
New Floating Wind Array Planned in Scotland
The world’s first floating wind turbine array could be installed offshore of northeast Scotland by 2017 if a project recently unveiled by Kincardine Offshore Windfarm Ltd. proceeds as planned. The joint project between Pilot Offshore Renewables and the construction giant Atkins entails the installation of eight turbines on semi-submersible platforms about 8 miles off the […]
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Renewables
The Expanding Wood Pellet Market
Last year, the U.S. exported nearly twice the amount of wood pellets it sent overseas in 2012—and almost all of it went to Europe for heat and power needs. This trend has gained momentum since 2009, when the European Commission (EC) enacted its 2020 climate and energy package, and will possibly continue in the long […]
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News
POWER Digest July 2014
Chile Banks on Renewable Capacity Expansion, Energy Efficiency. Chile in mid-May released a $650 million investment plan to reduce energy costs and promote non-hydro renewable energy development for the country that imports about 60% of its primary energy resources. The plan calls for a 30% cut in marginal power costs on Chile’s central grid, which […]
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Energy Storage
Grid-Scale Iron-Chromium Redox Flow Battery Connected
One of the world’s first grid-scale iron-chromium redox flow batteries was interconnected this May to the distribution grid. The EnerVault Turlock, which its developer EnerVault says is a 250-kW, 1-MWh battery grid-scale energy storage system, will be charged by a 150-kW dual-axis tracking solar photovoltaic system in an almond orchard in California’s Central Valley, will […]
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Solar
Military Microgrids: Wanted and Needed but Tough to Deploy
Anyone who follows either the energy industry or the military knows that all branches of the U.S. military have aggressive goals for renewable energy and for improving energy security and independence. Microgrids are a key part of that plan. When I wrote about military microgrids in “The Military Gets Smart Grid” back in January 2012, […]
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Solar
Interest Growing in Commercial and Community Microgrids
Aside from places where microgrids have a track record—educational, industrial, and commercial campuses—commercial and community microgrids are still the domain of early adopters, but the number of people wanting to travel the trail they are blazing is increasing. A microgrid is any collection of interconnected loads and distributed energy resources within clearly defined electrical boundaries […]
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Solar
Islands Are the Low-Hanging Fruit for Microgrids
If you’re looking for the easiest place to deploy microgrid technology, look at islands. That was the general consensus of presenters at the 4th Military & Commercial Microgrids Summit in Washington, D.C., held June 17-19. In addition to a presentation about a microgrid being developed for Necker Island—owned by Sir Richard Branson, founder of the […]
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Solar
The State of the Microgrid Market: Promise and Present Realities
If, as Navigant Research suggests, the global microgrid market will exceed $40 billion annually by 2020, where is all the capacity going, and what’s fueling it (literally and figuratively)? Peter Asmus, a long-time researcher of smart grid technologies at Navigant, shared that market projection and others at the 4th Military & Commercial Microgrids Summit in […]
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CIP 6/24/14
Careers in POWER Featured Article: Federal Court Throws Out FERC Effort to Boost Demand Response Careers in POWER Featured Article: CIP 6/24/14 … READ MORE » FRESH JOBS IN POWER GENERATION Combustion Turbine Technical Specialist- MidAmerican Energy CompanyDes Moines, Iowa Civil Engineer III – Geotechnical and Dam Safety – Dominion Glen Allen, Virgina ISFSI Manager…… […] -
Commentary
How Much Energy Will the 2014 World Cup Consume?
Along with 3 billion other viewers around the world, I plan to tune in for the month-long World Cup to see whether the 22-year old Neymar can withstand the colossal pressure that has been put upon his shoulders to deliver a win for team Brazil. Every time I turn on my television set, I’m using World Cup-related energy. And […]
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CIP 06/17/14
Careers in POWER Featured Article: Federal Court Throws Out FERC Effort to Boost Demand Response Careers in POWER Featured Article: Federal Court Throws Out FERC Effort to Boost Demand Response Careers in POWER Featured Article: CIP 06/17/14 Careers in POWER Featured Article: CIP 06/17/14 Careers in POWER Featured Article: CIP 06/17/14 Careers in POWER Featured…… […] -
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Rotating Equipment Repair, Inc. (RER) Obtains ASME ‘NPT’ and National Board ‘NR’ Certification
Rotating Equipment Repair, Inc. (RER), an industry leader in the performance of pump repair and replacement activities, part fabrication, and field service support has received official recommendation from ASME and National Board for the issuance of ‘NPT’ and ‘NR’ Certifications, respectively. In the two-year period leading up to certification, RER committed itself to expanding its […]
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Metso strengthens its global presence by teaming up with Dale Power Solutions of Scarborough, North Yorkshire, UK, for industrial gas turbine control system retrofits
Joined forces reduce turbine maintenance costs and downtime Metso and Dale Power Solutions of Scarborough, North Yorkshire, UK, have signed an agreement for the companies to work together on servicing Gas Turbines Power Generator Packages. With a potential reduction of up to 30% in maintenance and service costs, along with tens of thousands of euros […]
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Renewables
Shining a Light on South Africa’s Power Plans
South Africa’s critical power situation has been the subject of much talk and speculation since 2008, when the country experienced its first electricity crisis after enjoying a surplus of cheap electrcity since the 1980’s. Download the report.