The ability of a coal power plant to accommodate significant changes in fuel quality is often limited by many constraints. When faced with a challenging goal to test torrefied biomass…
Latest Stories by Una Nowling, PE
Many coal power stations have recently been operating at historically low capacity factors or have even undergone extended economic shutdowns. This can result in coal stockpiles that are exposed to…
Inexpensive natural gas, increased renewable energy utilization, and ever-tightening environmental regulations have limited the use of waste feedstocks for power generation. But while often dismissed out of hand, with proper…
Improving fuel flexibility at coal power plants is typically considered a way to reduce generating costs and increase reliability. But in the uncertain regulatory and economic future of power generation,…
Sometimes overlooked and underappreciated, a power plant condenser can make or break your efficiency and power delivery goals. Understanding how important a role your condenser plays is a good step…
Proposed U.S. standards for reducing carbon emissions from existing coal-fired power plants rely heavily upon generation-side efficiency improvements. Fuel, operations, and plant design all affect the overall efficiency of a…
Fuel quality is vitally important for combustion power plants, yet fuel quality testing is still uncommon and analyses often incorrect. Improved knowledge about the primary energy input to your power…
Once thought to be an excellent method for reducing emissions at coal power plants, biomass generation is still underutilized in the U.S. Inexpensive natural gas, lack of government incentives, and…
Coal power plants face more and greater challenges to their continued operations than at any time since the Industrial Revolution. As a result, utilities must employ new strategies for balancing…
For many utilities there is a razor-thin difference in the price of electricity generated by natural gas and by coal. Slight changes in fuel price can therefore produce dramatic swings…