In This Issue
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O&MHow important is IR detector resolution?
Stretching meager maintenance dollars is a way of life for most maintenance staff. In past years, the cost of an infrared (IR) camera usually came down to a choice between a low-resolution 160 x 120-pixel camera or no camera at all. If the camera was chosen, it usually became clear before long that low resolution […]
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Legal & Regulatory
Facilitate plant siting by relaxing ratemaking constraints
The U.S. needs new generating capacity in coming decades to meet growing electricity demand. The increasing scarcity of land within utility load centers, combined with environmental opposition to the siting of plants, often limits siting options to remote locations. Restricting power plants to distant sites necessitates additional transmission facilities, increases delivery costs and electric bills, […]
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BusinessBalancing people, plants, and practices
An essential ingredient in the success of any business endeavor is thorough planning. We’ve all heard the axiom “proper prior planning prevents poor performance” or a variation on that theme. Why the need for peak performance? Competition within the industry has never been as intense, with utilities combining in search of economies of scale. The […]
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Instrumentation & ControlsSteam turbine upgrading: Low-hanging fruit
In 1500, Leonardo Da Vinci drew sketches of a device that rotated when hot air going up a chimney passed through a set of fan-like blades. Leonardo called his invention a “chimney jack,” and although it only turned a roasting skewer, it gave birth to the idea of mounting blades on a shaft to convert […]
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O&MKeeping condensers clean
There’s a relatively easy way to make a steam plant more efficient and reliable: keep the tubes of its condenser(s) clean. According to George Saxon, Jr., VP of international sales and marketing for Conco Systems Inc. (Verona, Pa.)—a company whose specialty is cleaning and maintaining condenser tubes—”There are two major problems that result from dirty […]
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Instrumentation & ControlsA permanent solution to generator vibration problems
Remember the slogan, “Never trust anyone over thirty?” Chances are you’ve joined the ranks of the over-thirty generation and are dealing with your own personal “maintenance” issues—not unlike the fleet of generators at larger U.S. power plants, whose average age is about 30. Given the continuing growth in U.S. electricity demand and the cost and […]
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Instrumentation & ControlsBrain surgery breathes new life into aging plants
Age is wreaking havoc on the U.S. generation industry, especially the coal-fired sector. Industry conferences are replete with hand-wringing over the “brain drain,” the lack of skilled personnel, the meager number of students pursuing engineering degrees, and the accelerated retirement of the older workers who make up the industry’s experience base. On top of this, […]
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Instrumentation & ControlsDesigning steam cycles to avoid corrosion
U.S. power producers and owners of industrial steam systems each spend about $15.4 billion annually to combat corrosion in their plants. Scale and deposits are thought to be responsible for another $20 billion a year in reduced plant efficiency and lost generation capacity. Corrosion is the primary cause of every other forced outage, and the […]
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Western coal rush
—Dr. Robert Peltier, PE Editor-in-Chief The hot hand in coal-fired power plant development is undoubtedly held by Nevada. In a departure from Sin City’s latest marketing slogan, “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas,” most of the 5,500 MW to be generated by plants proposed for the state is destined for use elsewhere, principally […]
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Instrumentation & ControlsAir heater leakage: Worse than you think
Rotary regenerative air heaters capture and recycle about 60% of the heat energy exiting the boiler—energy that would otherwise go up the stack. For a 500-MW coal-fired plant, the recycled energy amounts to about 1.5 billion Btu per hour, and reusing it reduces fuel consumption by about 1,500 tons per day. Although most performance engineers […]