In This Issue
-
NuclearU.S. Spins Nuclear Wheels as Other Nations Roll Out New Plants
President Barack Obama’s January State of the Union speech called for incentives to make clean energy profitable — mainly through the construction of a new generation of nuclear power plants. That comment, an apparent effort to reach out to Republican members of Congress, drew furious applause. Within three weeks, the president’s backing of nuclear power had already made a significant impact on the U.S. nuclear sector.
-
NuclearInitial Experiments Meet Requirements for Fusion Ignition
Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility (NIF) in California speculate that a prototype nuclear fusion power plant could be operational within a decade, thanks to a test of the world’s largest laser array that confirmed a technique called inertial fusion ignition is feasible. Their first experiments have demonstrated a unique physics effect that bodes well for NIF’s success in generating a self-sustaining nuclear fusion reaction. Fusion energy is what powers the sun and stars.
-
CoalFrom GHG to Useful Materials
Could the transformation of carbon dioxide (CO2) into carbonates and oxides solve the problem of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from fossil-fired power plants? Some companies are betting that such processes could make everyone happy and even create new profits. Buzz has been growing about this approach, though the concept has been around for many years.
-
HydroMarines Get Power from Waves
Ocean Power Technologies Inc. (OPT) announced on Feb. 1 that it had successfully deployed one of its PowerBuoy wave energy devices about a mile offshore from a U.S. Marine Corps Base on the island of Oahu in Hawaii. The device generates up to 40 kW of power from the rise and fall of waves, and since its deployment in December 2009, it has been generating power within specifications.
-
News
What’s Bugging Me
I’m often asked about my source of ideas for this space each month. I have two primary sources of subject material. First, I read the industry news every day and save those items that either annoy or agitate me. At the end of the month, I go over the list, often a long one, and pick the one item that immediately motivates me to take virtual pen to paper. This month, no single item emerged as the topic for my bully pulpit, so I present a potpourri of loosely connected topics for your consideration. (It should be noted that other things bug other members of the editorial staff; we’re a diverse group and do not always agree about industry issues.)
-
Geothermal
Permeable UK Granite Is Good News for Geothermal Energy
In mid-February, the Geological Society of London raised the hopes of those promoting geothermal energy when results of exploratory drilling in Weardale, County Durham, revealed record levels of permeability in granite. Although the results are promising for the development of geothermal energy, they may have less welcome implications for the safe disposal of radioactive waste in deep repositories.
-
Business
POWER Digest (April 2010)
Siemens Hands Over 870-MW Dutch Gas Plant. Siemens Energy on Feb. 12 handed over the 870-MW Sloecentrale combined-cycle power plant to the joint venture of Dutch company Delta Energy and Electricité de France. The natural gas – fired plant in the Dutch town of Vlissingen-Oost reportedly has an efficiency of 59% and uses a state-of-the-art […]
-
SolarDish Stirling Solar Plant Debuts
In late January, a 1.5-MW concentrating solar power (CSP) plant began providing power to Salt River Project customers in Greater Phoenix, Ariz. Though small, the plant, developed by Tessera Solar and Stirling Energy Systems (SES), is seen as a prelude to 1,500-MW projects that are due to break ground in California and Texas later this year.
-
O&M
Competitive Maintenance Strategies, Part II
Nearly every combined-cycle operator recognizes that cycling reduces the life expectancy of hot-gas-path components in combustion turbines. Often overlooked, however, is that the same phenomenon affects the heat-recovery steam generator (HRSG).
-
O&M
Deciphering Desuperheater Failures
The "combined" portion of a combined-cycle plant is the heat-recovery steam generator (HRSG) that generates high-pressure and high-temperature steam and the steam turbine generator that expands the steam to produce electricity. Integrating the HRSG and steam turbine with the combustion turbine is a key challenge for plant designers, as each system has differing operating profiles, operational constraints, and design requirements.