O&M

Most forecasting reports concentrate on political or regulatory events to predict future industry trends. Frequently overlooked are the more empirical performance trends of the principal power generation technologies. Solomon & Associates queried its many power plant performance databases and crunched some numbers for us to identify those trends.

Though an abundant supply of freshwater has been taken for granted in many parts of the world, its availability is becoming less certain, even in North America. Water is a valuable resource and commodity that needs to be efficiently managed to minimize waste, reduce energy consumption, and control cost, especially for power generation. The industry must respond by seeking out more efficient ways to use water, such as by implementing water recycling and reuse strategies, especially for critical equipment like cooling towers.

Chances are you have endured the tedious process of removing fuel piping when maintaining just about any gas turbine, especially aero-derivative engines that are usually swapped out rather than repaired in place. One of the most time-consuming jobs after reassembling the fuel piping is checking for leaks at all the flanges. In a large frame-size turbine, that means sealing up to 64 flanges and then removing the seals after the leak testing.

Wright-Hennepin Cooperative Electric Association (WHCEA) is an electric distribution utility located in Rockford, Minn., that has been serving Wright County and western Hennepin County near Minneapolis with electricity since 1937. WHCEA is a not-for-profit, member-owned energy and service cooperative dedicated to enhancing the quality of life of its members and providing reliable services. Its field operations department consists of 35 fleet members who focus on building and maintaining electric power lines.

The generator bearings on a wind turbine located in Oregon (Figure 1) first failed in May 2006, only 11 months after the tower was brought on-line. The company that owns and operates the wind farm replaced the bearings and slip rings, but the new bearings failed only five months later. Once again, new bearings and […]

For the power engineer, delivering an instantaneous and consistent power supply can be an elusive goal. Yet without it, grid frequency regulation is impossible. Today, frequency regulation is an ancillary service bought by the hour, the day prior to utilization, and dispensed on an as-needed basis by dispatch communiqués and provided by the ancillary service […]

The more capable a power-generating unit is of reacting quickly to changes in load demand, the more profitably the unit can be operated. An improvement in load dynamics means that additional control response and capacity can be made available to the power grid. These characteristics are especially in demand in regions where a fast-responding unit can supply energy as ancillary services at a premium price.

Advanced computer design tools have merged with high-definition laser camera scan data to produce integrated images that are particularly useful for outage and maintenance planning.

As an alternative to titanium, consider highly alloyed stainless steels for your next tubing project.

A key maxim of the military is "train like you fight, and fight like you train." The same applies to emergency response training, which should be a part of a plant’s routine operation. Don’t risk waiting until an accident occurs to test your response plan. At approximately 8:30 a.m. on a Tuesday morning, the Paducah […]