O&M

All power plants must continually strive to control operating expenses, but it is particularly important for coal-fired facilities to cut costs these days to stay competitive while meeting ever-more-stringent

Many coal-fired power plants in operation today do not have a fire-extinguishing medium installed in their coal storage silos. CO2 injection would generally be the preferred method, and is used in many plants, but what do you do when your plant was left without this option after construction? Wet or just plain “hot” coal making […]

A report released on May 5 by staffing firm Manpower suggests that utilities are under a “double squeeze”—a shortage of skilled workers at both the entry and senior level—caused by an aging workforce, advances in technology, and a breakdown in the educational system. In its report, “Strategies to Fuel the Energy Workforce,” Manpower noted that […]

It’s no secret that equipment requires maintenance. Just as your personal vehicle needs an oil change periodically, a power plant needs to shut down regularly for a tune-up to take care of all those little

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) on Tuesday issued a final rule that revises a 42-year-old construction standard for electric power line work to make it more consistent with general industry standards.  The final rule, which is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on April 11 and becomes effective 90 days after that, […]

Many generation companies have made safety a cultural norm, often beginning internal meetings with a safety note and requiring monthly safety training sessions. Zero lost time accidents during the two- or

Taking a cue from the petrochemical sector, power plants may be on the cusp of applying high-fidelity 3D models of the as-built plant environment to streamline flow-accelerated corrosion (FAC) and other

The gas sealing systems used on rotary, regenerative air preheaters (APHs) have evolved little from the metal strip configuration used on the first Ljungström preheaters nearly a century ago. Metallic strip

Currently accounting for over 16% of global energy production, and with an expected growth rate of 3% per year for the next quarter century, hydroelectric power generation continues to grow as the front runner

Increasing Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) restrictions pertaining to emissions from coal-fired power plants, the increasing cost of coal operations, and the decreasing cost of natural gas provide strong

Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) operates four baseload plants in the state of Nebraska. In 1993, when the North Omaha Station added a new warehouse, OPPD sought help from Vidmar to create effective storage

3D metal printing is still an experimental process in nearly all industries, used primarily for prototypes and test products. But if Siemens and GE have their way, it will soon become a standard means of rapidly producing small numbers of industrial parts. Siemens announced in December that it would begin using 3D printing—also known as […]

The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS), promulgated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Dec. 21, 2011, set maximum achievable control technology (MACT) emission standards for specific classes

Mechanical draft fans are used exclusively in power generation to move air and gas from one point to another. They create draft in a process system so that fluid media can be induced, forced, and boosted

Great River Energy (GRE) is a not-for-profit electric cooperative that generates and transmits power for 28 member cooperatives throughout southern, central, and northern Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin

Fire protection for power plant turbine rooms has typically been a game of tradeoffs. Enclosure integrity issues in older facilities can render CO2 and halon systems ineffective. In new and old facilities

Roughly five years ago, the power industry readily embraced the new Alloy 2205 metal as a more lightweight and cost-effective substrate for the construction of flue gas desulfurization (FGD) absorbers and

Important process variables that affect unit efficiency were reviewed in Part 1 of this two-part report. Many of those process parameters were also identified as related to boiler air in-leakage.  These stealthy combustion losses are difficult to identify or locate yet have a significant effect on boiler combustion efficiency. Keeping your plant operating at or near […]

The management at a 1,094-MW coal-fired power plant in the Midwest sought to augment their hardwired public-address (PA) system. With hundreds of employees working in varied conditions, a means of

The business environment for generating companies worldwide continues to become increasingly complex, and not just as a result of regulations. Even in the U.S., the concerns and constraints faced by generators

Now more than ever, we see the U.S. power market sharply focused on maximizing return on investment. We see power producers responding to economic uncertainty, high costs for new emission controls, and a

Fossil-fuel-based power generation plants with wet scrubbing systems use slurries of sorbents to remove sulfur dioxide from their emissions. These highly abrasive slurries accelerate wear on the expansion

Many coal-fired power plants use water to cool and sluice bottom ash away from the bottom of the boiler for final disposal, and then they recirculate the water for reuse. This system is also known as a

Electric power production from coal is on a steep rise in major developing countries, including China, India, Indonesia, South Africa, and Vietnam, albeit declining in developed countries such as the United States. Shortfalls in coal production have been reported in some of these countries, but these issues are being addressed by increasing coal production, as […]

Termoyopal, a utility based in Bogota, Colombia, recently repowered its power plant at Yopal, Colombia, by replacing three gas turbines with refurbished units and upgrading the remaining two turbines. The

The Kansas City Power & Light (KCP&L) La Cygne Generating Station provides 1,532 MW of peak power from its site south of Kansas City. La Cygne Unit 1 is an 815-MW Babcock & Wilcox cyclone boiler

  Lubricating oil is the lifeblood of virtually all rotating equipment found in a power plant. Keep it clean and the lube system is relatively low maintenance. However, cycling operation and restarts after a temporary or long-term shutdown can reveal a whole new class of perhaps unfamiliar problems. The fundamental question is determining when a […]

Aging human machine interface (HMI) hardware will eventually become a burden on plant operation. Obsolete HMIs can cause problems with connectivity, historical data loss, and hardware failure. As the hardware

Like any internal combustion engine, the power output and efficiency of a combustion turbine decrease as ambient temperatures rise. This loss of power and efficiency is caused by a reduction in ambient air density at higher temperatures. Since turbines are mass flow machines with a volumetrically limited intake, less-dense intake air results in degradation of […]

Meaningful, yet often hidden thermal performance losses occur in feedwater heaters.