POWER

The Bulgarian government this September announced the official launch of the Belene Nuclear Power Plant, a project it has billed one as of the largest in the European Union (EU). Valued at €4 billion, Belene is now facing funding issues — though the government, which deems the plant vital to the country’s energy and economic […]

Ironically, the Spanish province of Tarragona — well known for its many Roman and Medieval ruins, archeological digs, and multiple World Heritage Sites — now has one of the most cutting-edge wind farms in the world. This wind farm recently added an innovative 3-MW wind turbine, which stands 140 meters (459 feet) high and is the largest nationally manufactured wind turbine installed in Spain to date.

An underdeveloped and costly CO2 capture technology, as well as regulatory and legal uncertainties over CO2 capture, injection, and storage, are the some of the more critical factors that impede carbon capture and storage (CCS) deployment in the U.S., the Government Accountability Office (GAO) — a congressional investigative arm — has reported. In its report, […]

The Galapagos Islands, home of the unusual flora and fauna that inspired naturalist Charles Darwin’s groundbreaking work on evolution, are striving to promote clean energy that protects the area’s unique biodiversity. Part of that effort is the 2.4-MW San Cristobal Wind Project, which displaces diesel-powered electricity generation. This new energy source will cut greenhouse gas emissions and reduce the risk of devastating diesel-fuel tanker spills in a highly protected environment.

UniStar Nuclear Energy announced on Oct. 8 that it had awarded an AREVA-Bechtel Power Corp. consortium a multi-year contract to complete detailed design engineering for a proposed AREVA U.S. Evolutionary Power Reactor (U.S. EPR) adjacent to Constellation Energy’s Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power plant in Lusby, Md. The scope of work includes full plant specifications and […]

Geothermal energy projects are gaining steam in many parts of the western U.S., in large part because geothermal power has the advantage of being a renewable energy source that provides baseload power with no emissions and no waste by-products. One example of the latest developments in geothermal power generation is the recently completed 10-MW geothermal plant in rural Utah, which uses innovative modular power generation units.

News items of interest to power industry professionals. Economic slowdown delays Canadian IGCC plant, kills W.Va. coal-to-liquids plant. Canadian firm Alter NRG announced in late October that it would shift its corporate focus from internally led project development to technology sales, in response to the global economic slowdown and turbulent capital markets. Among the projects […]

Wind power is becoming a mainstream energy source that U.S. utilities are tapping into nationwide as a means of adding clean, domestically sourced energy to balance their generating portfolios. To identify where wind will take us,POWER’s senior editor talked to experts from diverse industry stakeholders about current and future developments.

For the power engineer, delivering an instantaneous and consistent power supply can be an elusive goal. Yet without it, grid frequency regulation is impossible. Today, frequency regulation is an ancillary service bought by the hour, the day prior to utilization, and dispensed on an as-needed basis by dispatch communiqués and provided by the ancillary service […]

The Steel Winds project in Lackawanna, New York, was selected as a POWER 2007 Top Plant because of its unusual location (a former steel mill and Superfund site) and because it was the first commercial deployment of the Clipper Windpower 2.5-MW turbine. That report was written just as the project entered commercial service but before a major gearbox problem was identified. For many new designs, it isn’t a question of if problems will occur but of how the manufacturer responds when problems inevitably do occur. For its handling of Liberty’s problem, Clipper Windpower gets an "A."

Courtesy: Platts Data source: Platts Energy Advantage and POWERmap. All rights reserved.

Call it the "trillion dollar conundrum." Really big money is needed to equip the U.S. transmission system to handle a variety of new requirements and increased load, but it isn’t clear how to raise it, spend it, or recover it. Expect new renewables projects to die on the vine until the gridlock loosens.

A new line of injection-molded flowmeters from Dakota Instruments, Polysulfone Meters, meet the performance demands of a wide variety of industry-specific applications, including air-sampling equipment, water treatment and distribution systems, photo processing equipment, aquaculture, and desalinization equipment. The easy-to-install flowmeters are manufactured of polysulfone, a heat-resistant thermoplastic material for good chemical resistance. Flow indications provide […]

Yokogawa Corp. of America introduced the ToughMeter series 270, a series of analog panel meters designed to operate in harsh environments. The 2½-inch and 3½-inch ToughMeter features an accuracy of 2% DC and 3% AC. Both have metal cases and polycarbonate windows, gasket-sealed bezels, terminals, and zero regulators to ensure protection from dust and moisture. […]

McCrometer’s new Corrosion-Resistant V-Cone Flow Meter has been engineered to provide precise flow measurement in liquid, steam, or gas media, while requiring virtually no maintenance in the most demanding processes where corrosive conditions exist. The design of the flowmeter is based on advanced differential pressure (DP) technology and requires no moving parts. Built-in flow conditioning […]

Europe has seen tremendous activity in the development of renewable energy as a response to climate change. As a result, some of the most important renewable energy firms operating in the U.S. are based in Denmark, Germany, and Spain. Stable, high-level policy is one reason Europe dominates this sector.

FilterSense’s new multi-channel particulate monitor, Model PM 100, is suited for monitoring multi-compartment fabric filter baghouses, multi-chamber cartridge dust collectors, multi-clone cyclones, and clusters of bin vents. For large fabric filters in coal-burning power plants, FilterSense claims the multi-channel systems have proven to be vastly superior to an opacity monitor in the stack. The system […]

An historic election is over and the people have spoken. President-elect Obama and an expanded congressional majority will now rebalance the economic and environmental importance of coal-fired generation in this country differently than ever before, and that change is unsettling to many. When the expected costs of the anticipated new policies are counted, I predict many voters will experience a severe case of buyer’s remorse.

The SBS75x Connector, the newest addition to Anderson Power Products’ family of Finger Proof products, is recommended for use with hazardous DC voltages in systems operating from 50 to 600 volts, where risk of shock can be health-threatening. The patented connector provides power contacts rated up to 110 amps, and the touch-safe design provides protection […]

The year 2008 is shaping up nicely for nuclear power in the U.S. Since September 2007, when NRG Energy and the South Texas Project Nuclear Operating Co. filed the first complete U.S. nuclear plant license application in 29 years with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), a dozen more companies and consortia have followed suit. And […]

A detailed analysis of power plants in China by researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) debunks the widespread notion that outmoded energy technology or the utter absence of government regulation is to blame for that country’s notorious air-pollution problems. The real issue, the study found, involves complicated interactions among new market forces, new […]

Do you have enough women working in your power plant? Forget for a moment equal opportunity laws. More important is the knowledge that the programs and culture changes that would make women more likely to consider a plant career are the same ones that would make it more attractive to many younger men.

Scotland is strategically placed at the widening funnel in which the churning waters of the North Sea meet those of the Norwegian Sea. The region is thought to have 25% of Europe’s tidal power resources and 10% of its wave power potential. Recently, the Crown Estate, which owns the UK seabed and controls the rights […]

On Sept. 9, Sweden’s Vattenfall inaugurated the world’s first demonstration plant that connects carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology in a full-chain working system. The inauguration of the pilot plant at Schwarze Pumpe in Germany, which underwent 10 years of testing, was a milestone that marked its move from the laboratory to reality, Vattenfall said. […]

News items of interest to power industry professionals. Mitsubishi to supply gas turbines to Endesa. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (MHI) said in September it had received a full turnkey order for two sets of liquefied natural gas – fired gas turbine combined- cycle (GTCC) power generation systems from Endesa Generacion S.A., an electricity generation company […]

This summary of power generation projects is a web-only supplement to the November 2008 special report titled “Whistling in the dark: Inside South Africa’s power crisis.”

Advanced computer design tools have merged with high-definition laser camera scan data to produce integrated images that are particularly useful for outage and maintenance planning.

As an alternative to titanium, consider highly alloyed stainless steels for your next tubing project.

Bernard Welding Equipment has introduced a new Metal Inert Gas (MIG) gun Neck Grip and Neck Coupler to improve operator comfort and access to difficult-to-reach joints. Made of a high-temperature silicone rubber tube that slides onto all Bernard Q-Gun and S-Gun necks, the new Neck Grip reduces fatigue and increases operator control for those welders […]

In the 1980s, Houston wildcatter George Mitchell drilled the first well into the Barnett Shale formation that stretches through north and central Texas. He tapped into what would turn out to be one of the most prolific and valuable onshore natural gas reserves in the United States.