In This Issue
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RenewablesThe Power Potential of Southern Africa
Power produced by South Africa represents 40% of Africa’s total—yet that country is facing a crippling supply shortfall. Emergencies are offset with imports from its neighbors in southern Africa, some of which are electricity poor, and others that are latent supply giants. “Power Africa,” the recently announced U.S. initiative that earmarks $7 billion in public […]
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CoalWhite Rose Project Wins UK Government CCS Backing
The UK’s faltering plans to establish a carbon capture and storage (CCS) industry by the 2020s got a renewed boost in December as the government pledged to back the Drax Group’s White Rose project
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CoalRemote Monitoring and Diagnostics Within a Smart Integrated Infrastructure
It seems as if each week brings further bad news for coal power plants. Recently, Consumer’s Energy sought relief to close three power plants, South Carolina Electric & Gas announced it would cease
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GasUsing Carbon Dioxide to Produce Geothermal Power
A new kind of geothermal power being developed by a team of scientists from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), the University of Minnesota, and the Ohio State University could sequester carbon
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Legal & Regulatory
Japan, South Korea Stick to Nuclear Ambitions
Japan and South Korea, countries that depended heavily on nuclear power before the Fukushima catastrophe in 2011 (Figure 3), separately released draft long-term energy plans in December, both placing renewed
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Legal & RegulatorySpeeding Forward with Integrating Plug-in EVs
Approximately 150,000 plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) are already on the road in the United States, according to various reports. These vehicles include relatively wallet-friendly PEV options like the
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Distributed Energy
Are You Ready to Compete with Your Customers?
New technologies and consumer demand for cleaner energy are rapidly transforming the power sector. This transformation is most evident in the advent of distributed energy resources (DER)—a marriage of
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O&MUsing Neural Network Combustion Optimization for MATS Compliance
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
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O&MRetrofitting Mechanical Draft Fans to Optimize System Performance
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
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O&M
Upgraded Control Room Consoles Improve Ergonomics
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
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O&MReliable Fire Protection for Turbine Rooms
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
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O&MCorrosion Protection for FGD Vessels
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
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Coal
Establishing Proper Pressure Drop for Feedwater Flow Control Valves
In power plants with drum-type boilers and constant-speed main boiler feed pumps, the feedwater control valve (also referred to as the drum level control valve) provides the means for controlling flow to the
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Legal & RegulatoryNIST Cybersecurity Framework Aims to Improve Critical Infrastructure
A year ago, on Feb. 12, 2013, President Obama issued Executive Order 13636, titled “Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity.” The Executive Order instructed the National Institute of Standards and
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Smart Grid
Let There Be (LED) Light
You’ve no doubt heard that U.S. power plant emissions have been dropping overall and that one of the reasons has been decreased thermal generation resulting from essentially flat demand. As of Jan. 1 this
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RenewablesJapan Ramps Up Renewables
In 2010, intent on continuing its commitment to energy efficiency and preventing climate change, Japan enacted its second Basic Energy Plan. The new policy document, revising the first, from 2003, called for
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Legal & RegulatoryMexico Embarks on Historic Energy Reform
Mexico’s much-awaited constitutional energy reform, passed on Dec. 12 by the federal congress and a week later by the required majority of state congresses, could spark increased private participation in
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GeneralNew Products (February 2014)
The RCTrms-3ph current transducer from Power Electronic Measurements offers a relatively convenient, safe, and accurate solution for measuring current in three phases. It has a thin, clip-around, flexible
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Legal & Regulatory
POWER Digest (February 2014)
EU’s Highest Court Says French Onshore Wind Tariff Is Illegal. The Court of Justice of the European Union (EU) ruled on Dec. 19 that a French regulatory mechanism allowing network distributors—namely
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CoalTexas and the Capacity Market Debate
On Feb. 2, 2011, a winter storm gripped the Lone Star State, bringing freezing temperatures and heavy ice loads onto the state’s electric infrastructure. Texas experienced a series of unexpected rolling
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Legal & RegulatoryAmerican Physical Society Pushes for Reactor Licensing Beyond 60 Years
Allowing nuclear generators to operate some of the existing 100 U.S. nuclear reactors longer than their 60-year licensed limit could help offset a potentially massive power supply gap that could ensue as those
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Instrumentation & ControlsGeneration Cybersecurity: What You Should Know, and Be Doing About It
Cybersecurity has become a topic of interest over the past year in generation, owing to new developments in North American Electric Reliability Corp. Critical Infrastructure Protection (NERC CIP) regulations
