coal power plants

Drought conditions across the Southeast have begun affecting power plant operations. According to the Associated Press, 24 of America’s 104 nuclear reactors are in areas now experiencing the most severe levels of drought, and 22 of those plants draw their cooling water from rivers and lakes. Recently, the level of several of those lakes nearly fell to the minimum necessary to continue reactor operation. Last August, for example, Tennessee Valley Authority said that higher inlet water temperatures caused by lower water levels had forced load curtailments or plant shutdowns at its Browns Ferry, Gallatin, and Cumberland plants. Reduced hydro generation has been another consequence of the drought (see “Water’s role in power generation”).

A power plant that gasifies coal, produces hydrogen, and seguesters carbon is the DOES answer to the question, "How will the U.S. reduce its greenhouse gas emissions without signing the Kyoto Protocol?" But unproven technologies, an aggressive schedule, and the energy industry's historical inability to cost-share raise questions about the program. Is this just another pie-in-the-sky federal boondoggle or the coal-fired plant of the future?

By Dr. Robert Peltier PE, Editor-in-Chief POWER