POWER

  • Advanced Boiler and HRSG Designs Offer Improved Performance

    Innovative boiler and heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) designs are improving efficiency, reducing emissions, and lowering maintenance costs. Some well-proven technology, such as circulating fluidized bed

  • Innovative Firefighting Technology Improves Equipment, Personnel Safety

    A hybrid fire protection system has the ability to discharge a cloud of hybrid media into protected spaces to extinguish fires without the use of dangerous chemicals. The hybrid cloud is based on cyclonic

  • Operator Qualification and Training for the Power Industry

    Skill levels generally differ between plant operator shifts. Further, these differences often cause divides among the shifts that result in unequal divisions of responsibility. Comprehensive, performance-based

  • The 4M Approach to a Connected Plant

    Technology is being incorporated into operations and maintenance schemes at an ever-increasing pace. New digital tools are helping optimize assets, improve performance, and reduce overall costs. Big Data Best

  • Are Energy Companies Practicing Good Product Stewardship?

    The Product Stewardship Institute—a consumer advocacy group—defines product stewardship as “the act of minimizing the health, safety, environmental, and social impacts of a product and its packaging

  • Geothermal Generation Growing by Leaps and Bounds in Kenya

    The Geothermal Resources Council, a California-based trade association, said Kenya ranks eighth in the world in geothermal energy production. And the country is poised to add substantially more

  • Chile to Pursue Dramatic Coal Generation Reduction

    Chile joined the ranks of nearly two dozen countries that have announced a phaseout or a moratorium of coal generation, pledging not to continue building coal-fired power plants unless they are equipped with

  • Equipment Showcase: Diesel and Gas Generators

    Diesel-powered or gas-powered engines are the popular options for those wanting a generator as a prime power or standby, backup power source. A recent report from ResearchAndMarkets.com says the generator

  • Accident-Tolerant Fuels Could Be a Boon for Nuclear Industry

    Following a planned outage, Unit 1 at the Edwin I. Hatch Nuclear Plant near Baxley in southeastern Georgia returned to service in early March outfitted with first-of-their-kind accident tolerant fuel (ATF)

  • Disaster Preparedness: The Quest for Transformer Resilience

    Though critical to the nation’s power grid, large power transformers are some of the most vulnerable components in the system. Armed with a shared determination for resiliency, government, industry, grid

  • POWER Digest [April 2018]

    China’s Installed Capacity Grows 7.6% in 2017. China’s installed power capacity in 2017 grew 7.6% compared to the end of 2016 and now stands at 1,777 GW—higher than U.S. installed capacity of 1,198 GW as

  • Coal Generation Reaches New High in South Korea

    The South Korean government said the country’s coal-fired power generation hit a new high in 2017, helped by three thermal power plants that came online with combined generation capacity of 5.3 GW. The

  • Automated Tools Improve Hydroblasting Productivity and Safety

    Just a decade ago, a hydroblasting contractor was considered cutting-edge if he owned a spinning nozzle for his shotgun and a 2-D tank cleaning tool. Now, the next evolution in hydroblasting technologies is

  • Electric Co-op Shines a Light on Rack Selection

    Clay Electric Cooperative was determined to dramatically improve its logistics, reliability, and productivity, even before the Florida member-owned utility set out to build a new warehouse to consolidate

  • Market Barriers Eased for Energy Storage Resources

    The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) adopted a final rule on February 15 (Order No. 841) that facilitates the direct participation of electric storage resources in centralized markets operated by

  • The Big Picture: Energy Storage Mandates

    While 29 states and the District of Columbia currently have Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS)—goals for power producers to provide a certain amount of power from renewable sources by a specific date—a growing number of states are also instituting standalone targets and mandates for energy storage procurement. Sources: Energy Storage Association, North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center, Lawrence Berkeley […]

  • How to Automate Workforce Scheduling

    If you’re a power plant supervisor, you’ve undoubtedly been forced to find a worker during off-hours on the spur of the moment. New tools are being used today that allow automating the callout process—and workforce schedule. Last summer City Utilities (CU) of Springfield, Missouri, joined a list of power companies automating workforce scheduling and callout […]

  • King Coal Is Alive and Kicking in Poland

    Running counter to the overwhelming trend in Europe, coal remains the king in Poland. The country’s governing party unabashedly champions the industry as the foundation of its energy sector—a footing it doesn’t want to abandon. In December 2018, as ministers and delegates from all over the world attend the United Nations-sponsored climate conference (COP24) in […]

  • Successful Torrefied Biomass Test Burn at a Coal Power Plant

    The ability of a coal power plant to accommodate significant changes in fuel quality is often limited by many constraints. When faced with a challenging goal to test torrefied biomass fuel at its Boardman

  • Design and Care of Reverse Osmosis Systems

    Reverse osmosis (RO) systems offer power plant owners and operators a reliable and well-proven water treatment solution. However, designing and caring for an RO system requires a thorough understanding of a

  • Can C&I Customers Lead the Energy Storage Revolution?

    The private sector is traditionally known as a driver of innovation, so it may be surprising to some people that many businesses have only recently begun to consider advanced energy technologies. Looking at

  • Coal Rebound Is Vital to Local Economies

    In President Trump’s State of the Union address, he said, “We have ended the war on American energy, and we have ended the war on beautiful, clean coal.” It’s safe to say that things have gotten better

  • Electric Power Show Preview

    The ELECTRIC POWER Conference + Exhibition for two decades has been the place for those in the power generation industry to come together for up-to-date training and continuing education—a place to gain a

  • POWER Digest [March 2018]

    ABB Receives Contract to Upgrade, Expand Combined Cycle Plant. A consortium including Doosan Heavy Industries and state-owned construction company PT Hutama Karya has awarded a $40 million contract to ABB to

  • As Nuclear Giant AREVA Reforms, Framatome Is Resurrected

    Reforging its core business to return to competitiveness after record losses of €4.83 billion in 2014, French nuclear firm AREVA has split its five operational business units and rebranded them—again. All

  • Human Errors Contributed to Oroville Spillway Failure

    Damage to the main and emergency spillways of the Oroville Dam in California, triggered in February 2017 by heavy rain that was part of Northern California’s wettest winter in almost 100 years, has brought

  • Spain’s Market Regulator Rejects Attempt to Save Coal Plants

    Spanish market and competition regulator CNMC (Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia) in a report published on January 24 said a draft government decree to block power plant closures if they

  • Special Flooring Considerations for Mission-Critical Facilities

    Every element in the construction and operation of power generation plants must be considered to keep such mission-critical facilities running around the clock. The proper flooring can contribute not only to

  • Taking Visual Inspection Technology to a New Level

    When many of us pick up our smartphones and take a panoramic photo, we probably think that’s a neat feature. But for inspection personnel at a nuclear energy facility, the technique behind those panoramic

  • Software Helps with Proactive Maintenance

    Utilities and power plant equipment providers know that maximizing the value of their assets includes keeping them maintained and online. Minimizing downtime is critical, certainly when it comes to keeping the