O&M

Keeping a power plant’s surface condenser in proper working order requires paying attention to balance-of-plant systems as well. Failure to monitor and maintain cooling towers and vacuum pumps in particular can lead to performance penalties or worse. The surface condenser at a power plant has a significant effect on power generation—specifically, the efficiency with which […]

A new tool that can be used to help ensure the proper positioning of core shroud head bolt assemblies in boiling water reactors (BWRs) was recently invented by Jason Cocke, engineering, tooling, and logistics

Two senior power sector executives opened the 2016 ELECTRIC POWER Conference and Exhibition in New Orleans April 19 with a message that generators need to “think big” and embrace possibilities of disruptive technologies—or risk being run over on the road to the future. Leo Denault, chairman and CEO of Entergy Corp., delivered the opening keynote […]

A great level of risk is present when operating pressurized systems. Over the years, industry safety concerns have increased with the occurence of catastrophic events. To help prevent further loss and damages

Blades are probably the most delicate part of a wind turbine and the most susceptible to accidental damage. Some estimates suggest that greater than 90% of wind turbine blades are damaged to some degree while

If you’re still thinking of drones and robots as more toy than tool, think again. The drones now working in the power sector have gone far beyond remote-control hobbies and now resemble something closer to

In 2000, the world had installed just 1 GW of solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity (in DC terms—see the sidebar, “AC or DC?”), a number that had surged to 39 GW by 2010 and 176 GW in 2014. Fueled by

In the January issue, I introduced the concepts of highly reliable organizing (HRO) and resilience engineering with a promise to address the remaining principles. As a quick review of the first article

Although other renewable sources of energy may be growing at a faster rate, more electricity continues to be generated in the U.S. by conventional hydropower than by wind, solar, and geothermal power combined

Geothermal technology, though over a century old, is constantly changing. Developments in mapping techniques have improved exploratory practices. Plant adaptations, such as hybrid technologies and the

Why would one want to validate a turbine design? The answer is that actual operation of new and more advanced gas turbines can reveal issues that are very difficult to predict on the drawing board. As a

Challenge:
After a major refurbishment, a Canadian nuclear plant required additional process and boiler feed water for plant start-up and commissioning.
The plant’s raw water supply contained measurements ranging from 1-10 NTU, conductivity from 70-100 and color units ranging from 180-420. The plant also experienced highly variable flow rates, ranging from 0-600 GPM, and issues with the

Challenge
A global polymer producer located in Ohio sought to improve the annual outage cleaning of its heat exchangers.
Historically, industrial cleaning contractors hand lanced the heat exchanger tubes, servicing four to six exchangers per night for two weeks to fit within the outage schedule. But often, multiple heat exchangers would require re-cleaning to allow for heat

MPW’s Bundle Blaster Side Cleaner system is designed to remotely clean the shell side of small to medium
sized tube bundles, up to 36 feet in length. The tube bundle is placed on hydraulically actuated rollers to
incrementally turn the bundle during the cleaning process while the cleaning head runs horizontally on a track
over the bundle. MPW’s

Steam turbines have to be warmed slowly to avoid excessive differential expansion of the various components, rotor stress, and potentially reduced service life. For that reason, startup times must be extended

There may be multiple closed-loop cooling systems at your power plant. Chances are good that they cool or control temperature on some very critical components. The two that are most likely to exist are the

Problem
A Florida pulp and paper mill faced a complicated, dangerous process to clean its power boiler during scheduled outages.
Previous efforts to clean the boiler included manual water blasting from scaffolding, which posed a safety risk to workers below due to the potential for falling debris.
Solution
The Operations team at MPW Industrial Services recommended that the facility’s

Case Study: MPW’s Automation Simplifies RO Replacement Process for Indiana Energy Plant

INDUSTRIAL WATERMPW’s emergency response pays off for Virginia Challenge:
When a Virginia power station had an issue with its existing Reverse Osmosis [RO] process, it called on MPW to supplement its water needs during an excessively cold winter.
The plant lost RO functionality at one of its four power-production units, which would severely damage its ability to

The identification and containment of coal ash has risen to the top of the priority list for plant managers across the U.S. after inadvertent releases of coal ash into unintended areas resulted in adverse

Drax Power Station, a 3,960-MW six-unit facility located in North Yorkshire, England, is the largest power plant in the UK. It was constructed in two stages, with the first three units completed in 1974 and

When we undertook an initiative at Granite Ridge Energy (GRE) to identify, prioritize, and assess components that were due for their 10-year assessments, we didn’t know quite what we were taking on or how to

The historic winter storm that buried the Eastern U.S. in snow over the weekend shut the lights off for more than a million customers from Arkansas to Massachusetts as it downed power lines and hampered operations at some power plants. According to the Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, at one […]

Grid resiliency has become a widely discussed topic recently. Experts have been called before congressional hearings to testify on the topic, and close calls—including a massive solar storm that missed Earth

The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), in conjunction with Suprock Technologies, has conducted a research project to develop and demonstrate an advanced wireless sensor technology for monitoring torque

It is true that electric motors and transformers are some of the most dependable pieces of equipment installed at power plants. They can, in many cases, withstand a high level of mistreatment while continuing

Gas-fired power is booming—even more than expected. For only the second time ever, but also the second time this year, gas generated more electricity in a month in the U.S. than coal. According to statistics

Coal pulverizers are the heart of a pulverized coal-fueled boiler. Often, the root causes of nonoptimized combustion lie with the pulverizers. Capacity; reliability; and environmental issues such as slagging

As many coal-fired power plants designed for baseload service are asked to cycle, unforeseen stresses have been introduced to boiler pressure parts. Understanding the effects and implementing mitigation strategies could prevent premature component failure and keep facilities operating reliably. On August 3, 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finalized the Clean Power Plan, which calls […]

Creeped out and fatigued—that’s the state of many coal-fired boilers these days. Understanding failure mechanisms and suitable testing methods for identifying potential trouble can help you find problems before the problems find you. Even as the current regulatory environment pushes new power generation to utilize natural gas over other fuel sources, a significant amount of […]