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Both the states and the federal government are looking at who should decide which power plants are used at any given moment to meet demand. In question is which approach will reliably serve customers with the lowest-cost electricity. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct) raised the issue when it directed the Federal Energy Regulatory […]

Discover how leading operators are maximizing asset value, reducing downtime, and avoiding unnecessary capital costs with advanced rotor life extension strategies. Your E- and F-class gas turbine rotors may be approaching OEM-defined end-of-life—but that doesn’t mean replacement is your only option. In this exclusive executive brief from Mechanical Dynamics & Analysis (MD&A), you’ll learn how […]

Tackling a Critical Turbine Performance Issue Gas turbine operators face constant pressure to maintain reliability while minimizing downtime and extending equipment life. One of the most significant operational challenges is exhaust gas temperature (EGT) spread—a key indicator of combustion balance and turbine health. Excessive EGT spread can trigger alarms or automatic shutdowns and significantly reduce […]

Designers of heat-recovery steam generators are using computational fluid dynamics software as one tool to reveal the invisible forces affecting the flow over, under, around, and through structures such as inlet ducts, distribution grids, and guide vanes.

A multitude of variables must be accounted for during the design and development of a wet-stack flue gas desulfurization system. The five-phase process detailed below has proven effective on more than 60 wet-stack system design studies. A basic understanding of these concepts will help inform early design decisions and produce a system amenable to wet operation.

Focus on O&M

Focus on O&M

Focus on O&M

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.

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.