Latest
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CoalGas turbine "refueling" via IGCC
The jury is still out on the economic and technical feasibility of burning gasified coal to generate electricity. Gasification technology has yet to be proven on a utility scale, especially with Powder River Basin coal as the feedstock. And on the generation side, there are more questions than answers about the capital cost and availability of integrated gasification combined-cycle (IGCC) plants. But with natural gas prices high and rising, it’s definitely worth examining whether it would be economically and technically feasible to convert the existing U.S. fleet of gas-fired combined-cycle plants to burn gasified coal.
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O&MO&M staff keep their cool at Alaskan plant
Operating a combined-cycle power plant profitably is no walk in the park, even under ideal conditions. But the extreme conditions at the Beluga Power Plant—from isolation to volcanoes—challenge its staff every day in ways that operators in the lower 48 can only imagine.
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O&MInclude generators and exciters in your outage inspections
Generators and exciters don’t get much respect during scheduled outages. If yours fall into that category, a strategy that includes regular inspections and routine maintenance is all the more important for identifying incipient problems that could bring a plant down. Read on to learn how to keep your generator or exciter from suffering any of the problems shown in the dramatic photos.
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Legal & RegulatoryHybrid generation markets endanger competition and innovation
Competition in power generation fosters technical innovation, cleaner power plants, and downward pressure on prices. Before the 1980s, such competition was almost nonexistent: vertically integrated utilities built and operated the vast majority of U.S. plants with oversight by state regulators. The Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 and the Energy Policy Act of 1992 […]