In the U.S. and the European Union, scrubbers are installed on all new coal-fired power plants because their technology is considered the best available for removing SO2. A zero-liquid-discharge system is the best technology for treating wet scrubber wastewater. With the future promising stricter limits on power plants’ water use, ZLD systems that concentrate scrubber purge streams are sure to become as common as ZLD cooling tower blowdown systems.

Predicting combined-cycle system longevity and determining optimal maintenance intervals at the same time is difficult: It requires balancing repair costs against the risk of trying to squeeze that last bit of life out of some component before it fails. One solution to the problem is to extend coverage of an equivalent operating hours (EOH) preventive management program for turbines to the entire plant.

At this juncture our industry is faced with greater uncertainty and opportunity than ever before. That’s why you won’t want to miss all the information, ideas, and networking available at the power generation industry’s premier event in May.

By J. Bennett Johnston It is fashionable these days for policymakers, particularly those running for office, to somberly suggest that America needs an energy policy—thus implying that America has no energy policy. As one of the prime architects of an energy policy that has served America well, I could not disagree more. The fact that […]

—Dr. Robert Peltier, PE Editor-in-Chief Ever wonder why many utilities receive so little respect from the public? In America, open competition requires every business to earn customers’ trust before making a sale. Unfortunately, many utilities exploit their monopoly position to avoid the hazards of competition, including losses. It’s no wonder that public utilities, as a […]

DOE scraps FutureGen / U.S. nuclear plants have record year / Westinghouse wins TVA contract / UniStar Nuclear to file for COL / AEP ranks second in U.S. construction / China moving to the driver’s seat / New solar cycle poses risks / Dutch favor power from natural gas / POWER digest / Corrections

New CIP standards leave questions unanswered/Solving common analyzer problems/Qualifying rebuild shops

  Renewable power proponents exuded great confidence as the U.S. Congress approached its near-annual end-of-year task of extending the production tax credit (PTC) for wind, solar, biomass, and geothermal power beyond its current December 2008 expiration. The debate promised to bypass the threshold issue of simply extending the PTC. It was expected to focus on […]

An optimal coal pile design takes into account the site-specific (and often conflicting) needs of a new power plant early in its design — rather than using whatever land is available after the plant layout has been finalized. Determining site requirements necessitates a detailed analysis of all potential coal-fueling options. A coal pile designer should […]

Three of the best-kept secrets in the U.S. today have nothing to do with national security in the traditional sense. They all involve costs: the cost of fulfilling campaign promises, a valid estimate of the cost of carbon control legislation (S. 2191) expected to reach the Senate floor in a few months, and the real […]