In This Issue
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CoalDusseldorf’s Lausward Power Plant Fortuna Unit Wins POWER’s Highest Award
Düsseldorf’s new “Block Fortuna” at the Lausward Power Plant, owned by municipal utility Stadtwerke Düsseldorf, is setting records and giving Germany’s coal-fired power plants some much-needed competition for backing up the nation’s large percentage of variable renewable power. Germany’s Energiewende (literally, “energy turn”) functions as something of a living laboratory, where innovation equals survival, because […]
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CoalLongview Power Plant Rehabilitation Results in Most Efficient U.S. Coal Plant
We’ve all probably purchased a “lemon”—an item that didn’t work as advertised—but when that lemon is a $2.1 billion power plant, you can’t just return it. For Longview Power’s management team, taking a “belts-and-suspenders” approach to problem-solving allowed them to identify root causes, make changes, and convert their lemon into “lemonade.” Most people expect a […]
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Energy StorageKilroot Power Station, Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland, UK
The governments of Ireland and Northern Ireland have big ambitions for their unified electricity market, including a wind-heavy 40% renewable generation target by 2020. Making that happen while delivering safe, reliable electricity to customers across the island means a sea change in how the grid is operated. One of the first big steps is installation […]
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CoalHuaneng Power’s Changxing Station ZLD Project, China
To satisfy China’s more stringent water use and air pollution rules, developers of the new 1.3-GW ultrasupercritical coal-fired Changxing Power Plant used a novel forward osmosis–based brine concentration
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TechnologyNew Best Practices for Power Project Planning and Construction
Effectively managing time, budget, and resources has always been the goal of companies involved in constructing power generation projects, but today the challenges in meeting those goals can be greater than ever. Any power generation company involved in new construction or an upgrade or retrofit project hopes it will see completion safely, without exceeding schedule […]
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CoalSouthern Company Bets Big
Southern Co., one of the nation’s largest investor-owned utilities, appears torn between enormous recent investments in advanced coal and nuclear technologies—the company’s successful strategy in the past—and a competing sense that natural gas and distributed energy might be the company’s ultimate future. The Southern Company, based in Atlanta, Ga., is a regional utility behemoth, mostly […]
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SafetyConsider Busway When Replacing Electrical Cable and Conduit
Electrical cable and conduit offers a reliable and proven way to get power where it needs to go, but that doesn’t mean it is always the best method. Busway can save space, while offering a less-expensive, more-flexible power distribution solution for applications where change and adaptation are important. As is the case in many other […]
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Commentary
Climate Change and Energy: We Need a Bigger Boat
Readers of a certain age will recall a scene in the movie Jaws when the local police chief, having glimpsed the gigantic shark up close from the back of the deck, reels back into the cockpit to observe: “You’re going to need a bigger boat.” In climate change, we have reached the “bigger boat” moment. […]
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RenewablesTenneT Proposes Central Island Hub for North Sea Electricity Interconnection
Dutch power grid operator TenneT on June 10 unveiled plans for a large-scale island transmission hub in the North Sea that could connect numerous offshore wind farms and transmit their generated power to the Netherlands, the UK, Belgium, Norway, Germany, and Denmark via direct current (DC) cables. Those cables, or “spokes” could also serve as […]
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CoalIndian Water Crisis Shuts Down Multiple Power Plants
A severe water crisis gripping India this year has forced several of the country’s hydroelectric and thermal power plants to shut down. At least 10 of India’s 29 states have been stricken by severe drought after the monsoons failed for two seasons in a row (as of the start of July, the monsoons had still […]
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Legal & RegulatoryPoland Shuns Wind, Doubles Down on Coal-Reliant Future
Poland, a country where hard coal and lignite power plants currently generate about 85% of the power, has passed a law that stymies a wind power expansion and is now mulling draft legislation that will help boost investments in new coal capacity. The eastern European country has bucked the trend toward renewable power that many […]
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Nuclear
POWER Digest
Court Forces Bulgaria to Pay for One of Two Canceled Reactors at Belene. Bulgaria’s National Electricity Co.(NEK) should pay Russia’s Atomstroyexport nearly $620 million in compensation for its canceled two-unit Belene nuclear plant, an international arbitration court in Geneva ruled in mid-June. The 2-GW plant was in the offing for more than two decades before NEK […]
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Commentary
The Progress of Power Technology
I’ve developed something of a love/hate relationship with awards. Initially, it’s exciting to spot outstanding or unusual projects for our POWER awards, but over time, any number of things can happen to those plants, making them appear less than stellar. Sometimes it’s changing policy or market conditions that make a record-setting plant completely uneconomic (see […]
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Legal & Regulatory
South Korea to Partially Liberalize Power Sector
In a major shakeup of a power sector currently monopolized by a state-owned giant, South Korea has moved to partially open its electricity generation market to private companies in a bid to improve efficiency
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Commentary
More Communities Choose Their Own Energy Future
As the effects of climate change have increased and renewable energy is becoming cost-competitive with conventional forms of energy generation, more and more towns, cities, and counties are pushing their local utilities to increase the amount of renewables in their energy portfolios. While many utilities are embracing this shift to renewable energy, others are slow […]
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Legal & RegulatoryAbolished Nuclear Tax Is Relief for Unprofitable Nuclear Operators in Sweden
Sweden, which has been contemplating the role of its 10 nuclear reactors in its future power mix, said in June it will phase out a tax on nuclear power over the next two years and replace aging plants with new ones. The agreement by the Social Democrats, the Moderate Party, the Green Party, the Centre […]
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O&MAll About Lubricant Additives
Lubricant additive technology is a complicated business because it involves several different chemistries. Often, one additive can adversely interact with another additive as they both compete for the same area on substrate surfaces. This kind of interaction can lead to the canceling of the additives’ desired properties. Conversely, the use of different additive chemistries can, […]
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RenewablesTime to Catch the Sea Breeze? Offshore Wind Power Development in China
After years of planning and sluggish development, 2016 may be the year that offshore wind power development takes off in China. Once it does, the market will be large. Offshore wind power has a very important role to play in easing power shortages in coastal areas of China and in responding to climate change effectively. […]
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Legal & RegulatoryTVA Uses Advanced Technology to Store and Monitor Coal Ash
At 2:45 p.m., Nicholas McClung’s cellphone chirps during a business meeting. He doesn’t bother to look at it; the special chirp says it all. He politely excuses himself from the meeting and rushes to the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA’s) Advanced Technology for Impoundment Monitoring (ATIM) center in the basement of the company’s Chattanooga headquarters. When […]
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WaterPrevent Purified Water from Putting a Damper on Your Next Commissioning
When commissioning a new power plant, requirements for purified water can be large—often more than an unfinished plant can supply. When it’s time to bring in outside help, proper planning can help avoid problems and keep budgets under control. With all the complexity inherent in the commissioning of a power plant, the last thing anyone […]
