Today’s heat recovery steam generators (HRSGs) are suffering reliability problems, mainly because they’re being operated in the cycling mode instead of the baseload mode for which they were designed. The…

Ever since deregulation came to the power industry, combined cycle plant managers have been trying to benchmark their production metrics and cycling costs against those of their competitors. There has…

Attemperation equipment is necessary to control steam temperatures at many power plants. However, when the equipment functions improperly or the design is flawed, thermal quenching/shock can damage piping. Proper inspections…

When U.S. President Jimmy Carter signed into law the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA), he unintentionally ignited the worldwide deregulation of electricity markets, which in turn began…

It is fairly common for power plant engineers and maintenance managers to focus on fireside issues rather than waterside issues during routine maintenance outages. However, that could be a mistake.…