In This Issue
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O&M
More Strategies for Inspecting HRSGs in Two-Shift and Low-Load Service
This supplement to “Strategies for Inspecting HRSGs in Two-Shift and Low- Load Service” in the August issue includes additional discussion of the heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) Inspectors Toolkit and HRSG Inspection Guide sections of the main article plus additional photos of damage caused by rapid startups and two-shifting of units over time. More Tools […]
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Legal & RegulatoryGermany Reforms Renewable Energy Laws
A significant reform of Germany’s aggressive renewable energy laws passed its final hurdle on July 11, setting the country on a more market-based path toward future growth. The bill was developed and approved by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition government of Social Democrats and Christian Democrats. Because they are the two largest parties, the legislation was […]
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O&M
Rapid Cycling: The Human Factor
A combination of falling natural gas prices, greater integration of renewable generation, and advancing technology has meant changing roles for many plants, particularly gas turbine combined cycle plants. (See “Managing the Changing Profile of a Combined Cycle Plant” in the June 2014 issue.) The added wear and tear on plant equipment, and the changing maintenance […]
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GasMARMADUKE AWARD: KOMIPO Relocates an Entire Combined Cycle Power Plant
Power plants are, with good reason, almost universally regarded as fixed assets to be operated, maintained, and retired on the spot where they were built. The idea of relocating something as large and
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RenewablesIvanpah Solar Electric Generating System Earns POWER’s Highest Honor
The era of Big Solar has arrived, and at the moment there are none bigger than Ivanpah. For overcoming numerous obstacles to build the world’s largest solar thermal plant, the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System is awarded POWER’s 2014 Plant of the Year Award. When the 392-MW Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in Nipton, Calif., […]
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O&MTrackers Optimize Yield of Utility-Scale Solar Plants
The utility-scale solar market is rapidly growing in North America, representing a large area of opportunity for project and product developers alike. The market more than doubled in size between 2012 and 2013
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O&MIntelligent Monitoring of Distribution and Emergency Power Systems Improves Availability
Problematic power plant systems diminish availability and directly affect plant productivity and efficiency. In order to maintain availability, electrical testing and maintenance services are imperative. Two
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Business
POWER Digest (August 2014)
S. Korea Extends Renewables Target Deadline. South Korea’s government on June 9 said it would push back the target for mandatory use of renewable energy by two years to ease requirements for the
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Legal & RegulatoryFrance to Slash Reliance on Nuclear in New Draft Policy
France will cap its nuclear power capacity at the current 63.2 GW, forcing closures if new reactors come online, and instead boost renewable generation if a bill unveiled by its energy ministry in mid-June
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Commentary
And the Winner Is…
The 2014 POWER Plant of the Year makes history, both as a project and as our cover story. The Plant of the Year award goes to the most interesting, usually new, plant in the previous year. Sometimes it’s a
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NuclearFirst Power for Argentina’s Atucha 2 Nuclear Reactor
Argentina’s 692-MW Atucha 2 nuclear reactor achieved criticality in early June, marking a major milestone for the country’s third reactor, development of which began nearly four decades ago. A pressurized
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Renewables
Effects of Urbanization on Generation in China
Zeng Ming, Duan Jinhui, Wang Liang, Gu Shanshan In 2013, urbanization in China reached 53.73%. Urbanization has become an important field for national reform. On the one hand, urbanization is effective for
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RenewablesA Spanish Island’s 100% Wind-and-Water Power Solution
El Hierro, the smallest island on Spain’s Canary archipelago, in June became what developers say is the first energy-isolated territory to power itself solely with renewables. The project, which was
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Renewables
Bright Future for Energy Storage
California has set an ambitious target of connecting 1.3 GW of energy storage to the grid by 2020. In October 2013, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) mandated that 200 MW of this goal come in
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CoalIndonesia Eyes Tightening Coal Exports
Indonesia, the world’s leading exporter of thermal coal, in June again suggested it could limit coal production and further tighten its control on exports to protect supply for domestic power plants
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CybersecurityGrid Security Gets Physical
The attack began at 12:58 a.m. on April 16, 2013. Between then and 1:07 a.m., attackers cut telephone and telecommunications cables to Pacific Gas & Electric’s (PG&E’s) Metcalf substation near San
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Legal & RegulatorySoutheast Asia’s Energy Juggernaut
Consensus is that the locus of world energy demand has shifted away from the U.S. and Europe to Asia, driven by the soaring economies of the 10 countries that make up the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
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CoalSolid Coal Ash-Handling System Avoids Problems Associated with Wet and Dry Systems
Environmental and climate protection does not stop at the stack of a power plant. Disposal of separated combustion residuals, for example, must also be environmentally friendly. More and more nations are
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O&MStrategies for Inspecting HRSGs in Two-Shift and Low-Load Service
Aheat-recovery steam generator (HRSG) is much like other power generation equipment—run it at design conditions and chances are it will run with high availability and require only routine maintenance for
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RenewablesTreating WTE Plant Flue Gases with Sodium Bicarbonate
Sodium bicarbonate is an adsorbent that has been used for a relatively short time in industrial flue gas treatment (FGT) processes. This additive is especially interesting for operators of smaller
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CoalWATER AWARD: Jeffrey Energy Center’s Constructed Wetland Treatment System
U.S. coal power plants are finding that they need to comply with an increasing number of stringent environmental regulations, and while nobody in any industry looks forward to additional regulatory burdens
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NuclearWelding and Fabrication Innovations Mitigate Reactor Pressure Vessel Embrittlement in Nuclear Plant Construction
Reactor pressure vessel (RPV) shells in the existing U.S. fleet of nuclear power plants were typically constructed by forging ring segments from ingots of low-alloy steel offering sufficient fracture toughness