O&M

Coal dust combustion events injured employees and damaged equipment at Laramie River Station in May 2013. Any dust-filled facility could consider implementing some of the plant’s corrective actions to reduce the risk of experiencing a similar incident. When Laramie River Station (LRS), near Wheatland, Wyo., was built nearly 35 years ago, it was state-of-the-art. Constructed […]

Two hyperbolic cooling towers rise 495 feet over Exelon Corp.’s Byron Generating Station about 110 miles west of Chicago, Ill. The towers help cool the two Westinghouse pressurized water reactors that are capable of generating up to 2,346 MW at the site. Like all classic wet transfer hyperbolic cooling towers (Figure 1), the Byron Generating […]

Some critters may be cute, but when jellyfish gum up power plant cooling systems; birds, rats, snakes, or squirrels cause electrical shorts; or invasive mollusk species obstruct hydropower plant pipes, losses can be steep. Here’s how some power plant operators are dealing with their critter troubles. There are countless cases of wildlife entering power plant […]

Entergy Corp.’s Palisades Power Plant returned to service on Oct. 19, following a month-long outage to implement upgrades, inspections, and safety enhancements.  The Michigan plant was shut down on Sept. 16 to begin a planned refueling outage. The company spent $58 million for upgrades and plant inspections, and $63 million for new fuel. The outage […]

Replacing blades on a wind turbine is not a simple task. Blades range from 40 to 60 meters in length and can weigh 16 tons or more. Combined with hub heights that can exceed 100 meters and locations that are, by definition, subject to prevailing winds, replacing blades becomes challenging. Add in the cost of […]

Shaft collars are used as stops or locators on shafts in a wide variety of applications. There are two basic types. One uses a setscrew to lock the collar in place, while the other utilizes a clamp-type collar. Shaft Collar Designs Setscrew collars are the oldest type of shaft collar. These units function by gouging […]

In presentations to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the nation’s regional transmission organizations (RTOs) and independent system operators (ISOs) on Sept. 17 outlined measures they are taking to prevent issues if faced with extreme weather this winter.  The measures are to prevent widespread generation outages as occurred during the Jan. 6–7, 2014, polar vortex. […]

Duke Energy Indiana reached a settlement agreement with some of the state’s key consumer groups related to operating costs at its Edwardsport integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) coal power plant. The deal was submitted to state regulators on Sept. 18 and is subject to Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) approval. If approved, it would resolve […]

Exelon has optimized the efficiency of its operations, maintenance, and engineering staff. By automating data collection, plant engineers now focus on analyzing data rather than manually collecting data and risking radiation exposure. Download this case study to get more details then go here to learn more about Condition Based Maintenance (CBM) for Power Generation.

There is a synergistic relationship among the three major cooling water treatment issues: corrosion, scale or deposit formation, and microbiological fouling. In order to control one, you need to control all

While having lunch at a downtown café with my friend the biology professor, the subject of animal extinction arose. “When it comes down to it, we really don’t know exactly why most prehistoric species

In today’s digital world, an optimally run power plant relies on valuable and accurate data in order to ensure assets are running reliably and with minimal downtime. Streaming in from control systems, SCADA

The power generation industry is undergoing a period of rapid transformation. A growing number of operators are considering the adoption of condition-based maintenance (CBM).  This whitepaper discusses the forces that are driving demand for CBM, how CBM works and why it is an effective alternative to planned maintenance strategies.
Find out more about CBM for Power

U.S. wind power is becoming more widespread and costs are generally on the decline, but the sector is troubled by policy uncertainties, a new report from the Energy Department says.   After a lackluster year in 2013, wind power capacity additions in the U.S. rebounded nearly 8% in 2014, driven by recent improvements in the […]

I’ve got some good news and some bad news. The good news is that, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of occupational fatalities resulting from exposure to electricity has decreased steadily during the past 10 years (Figure 1). The bad news is that 141 people died on the job in the […]

Two of the most important elements in any construction or upgrade project are safety and speed of completion. While one way to increase safety is to eliminate hot work whenever possible, the reality is that welding is necessary for many tasks around a power plant. However, one area where welding may not always be required […]

Standards and regulations may change, but the danger associated with arc flash hazards remains. Analyzing potential incident energy correctly and understanding what personal protection equipment is required can help workers stay safe and avoid painful, or even life-threatening, injuries. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) have both […]

Many of the dangers existing at conventional power plants also threaten personnel in the wind and solar energy sectors. All workers can benefit by reviewing lessons learned and implementing corrective actions to improve health and safety performance. The expanding wind and solar energy sectors are not immune to industrial hazards affecting all energy generation markets. […]

This is a web supplement to “Riding Off into the Sunset: Nuclear Decontamination and Decommissioning Update,” appearing in the July 2015 issue of POWER.   The Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (INPP) is located in eastern Lithuania near Visaginas—a town of more than 20,000 people founded in the mid-1970s for workers constructing INPP and for the […]

As the Chinese government lowers the particulate matter (PM2.5) limits to 5 mg/Nm3 or less in coal-fired power plants, wet electrostatic precipitators are one of the key environmental components utilities select to meet this requirement. Optimization of continuous water washing of electrodes allows lower-cost alloys to be used, reducing capital expenditures.  Wet electrostatic precipitators (WESPs) […]

Controlling combustion in fossil fuel power plants in order to control the emission of pollutants sometimes has adverse effects on plant equipment, including certain metals. To understand how to address the problem, it helps to understand how it develops. The emission of nitrogen oxides, generally referenced as NOx (NO or NO2), has several adverse effects […]

The electric power generation industry relies heavily on demineralized and deionized water during process operations. Managing the water supply is critical not only under normal operating conditions, but also during outages. When scheduled or unscheduled outages occur, many boiler and pre-boiler systems are drained. After the outage, they are refilled with water that has been […]

The operation of an electric power generator produces large amounts of heat that must be removed to maintain efficiency. Depending on the rated capacity of the generator, it might be air-cooled

Boiler slagging and fouling, and the resulting frequent operation of sootblowers, are some of the major operations and maintenance factors that can negatively affect power plant reliability and efficiency. Boiler slagging and fouling are among the most common causes of maintenance headaches at coal-fired power plants. Though you cannot totally eliminate the problem, following proper […]

Steam production is strongly influenced by the cleanliness of the gas-side heat transfer surface in a heat recovery steam generator (HRSG). However, when deposits begin to impede heat transfer or increase gas-side pressure drop, it is time for a cleaning. CO2 pellet blasting is a cost-effective and environmentally benign cleaning method available to power plant […]

The life of a wind turbine can be pretty precarious. The blades—made of laminated materials, such as composites, balsa wood, carbon fiber, and fiberglass—can reach speeds up to 180 miles per hour at the tip, which means even small particles in the air can cause damage to the surfaces. It’s probably no surprise that lightning […]

When many older plants were built, steel and cast iron piping were common materials used underground. Although these materials have proven to have long, useful lives, improvements in plastics offer additional alternatives today. An understanding of best practices for inspecting and servicing buried piping will help you keep systems operating as designed.  Most, if not […]

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 toward greater heat rate awareness. As part of a university class on power generation systems that I teach, I show my students a Sankey diagram […]

For Samy Faried, an ABB expert who has spent 15 years analyzing arc flash hazards, a new rule recently finalized by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will save lives. In April 2014, OSHA published its Final Rule for Electric Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution Standards (29 CFR 1910.269 and 1926 Subpart V), which […]

Transporting household and industrial waste as well as sewage sludge from a treatment plant to a power station can be a messy business. The utility company Linz AG found that a pipe conveyor system offered an optimal solution. The conveyor is not only highly energy efficient, but due to its closed design, it also allows […]