The U.S., which continues to lead the world in on-line geothermal energy capacity, saw a 20% jump in new power projects since January this year, a survey released by the Geothermal Energy Association (GEA) in August showed.

Top Plant: The staff of the Rawhide Energy Station have been racking up operating stats and an environmental performance record that is the envy of other plant managers. In the past decade Rawhide has enjoyed an equivalent availability factor in the mid- to high 90s and an average capacity factor approaching 90%. Still not content with this performance, Rawhide invested in new technology and equipment upgrades to further optimize performance, reduce emissions, and keep cost competitive.

In early August, a special transport departed from Voith Siemens Hydro’s Heidenheim workshop bearing the company’s 300-ton, 300-MVA hydro motor-generator back to Schluchseewerk AG’s Wehr pumped-storage station in Germany’s Black Forest.

Entergy christened its Performance Monitoring and Diagnostic Center several years ago to leverage the expertise of its most senior operators and technicians across the company’s entire fleet of plants. The center also makes use of advanced software tools that increase plant availability and reliability by identifying faults before they become major, unplanned outages. The center paid for itself for years to come with a single “big catch” last year.

Through asphalt, researchers are looking to develop a solar collector that could turn roads and parking lots into ubiquitous—and inexpensive—sources of electricity and hot water.

Courtesy: Platts Data source: Platts Energy Advantage and POWERmap. All rights reserved.

News items of interest to power industry professionals. EDF and CGNPG create joint venture for Taishan nukes. Électricité de France (EDF) and the China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group (CGNPG) on Aug. 10 finalized a framework agreement made earlier, in November 2007, and formally created a joint venture company to build and operate two evolutionary pressurized […]

Top Plant: From tall skyscrapers and flashing neon signs to Buddhist temples and pagodas, South Korea is a mixture of the new and old Asia. Doing its part to help modernize this country, the Boryeong Thermal Power Complex operates six coal-fired 500-MW units that provide electricity to power South Korea’s economic growth. One of the important reasons for this facility’s overall success is its operational reliability. An example of this is Boryeong Unit 3’s outstanding achievement of 3,000 days of trouble-free operation.

A utility evaluated various methods of obtaining a NO_x reduction of at least 30%, as required by upcoming regulations for its boiler, which originally produced 0.54 lb of NO_x/million Btu at 410 MW full load. Nalco Mobotec engineers performed a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation of the boiler to first understand the boiler’s combustion process and then determine the most economical method to achieve the required NO_x reduction.

Top Plant: Alliant Energy’s Dubuque Generating Station is a fine example of why small doesn’t mean insignificant in the power generation industry. This winner of the EUCG Best Performer award in the small plant category shows that its operating excellence towers over that of many larger and much newer coal-fired power plants.