power industry

Faced with soaring energy prices, researchers and developers worldwide are giving compressed air energy storage (CAES)—a technology almost 50 years old—a dusting, a spit shine, and a new life. In particular, they see it as a critical component for the dispatch of wind and other renewable power. The technology,which involves storing off-peak-generated energy in the form of compressed air, usually in an underground reservoir, can trace its roots to the early 1960s, when the evaluation of gas turbine technology for power production began. It gained momentum during the next decade because of its promising thermal efficiency and response capabilities for providing load-following and peaking power support.

Over time, turbine compressors and other driven compressors suffer from corrosion, oxidation, and, in many cases, severe fouling, which in turn can cause in-service breakdown and premature overhaul. Today’s innovative protective coatings can be applied on-site to rotors and individual components to replicate the surface finish, corrosion resistance, and antifouling properties of new components.

A familiar argument against building new nuclear power plants in the U.S. is that there’s no long-term solution to the used nuclear fuel storage problem. This situation was created in 1977 with the indefinite suspension of programs to reprocess commercial used nuclear fuel. The Global Nuclear Energy Partnership’s announcement in February 2006 that it was reconsidering the reprocessing of used nuclear fuel represented a major shift in policy. It may even open the door to building new U.S. nuclear plants.

The California Air Resources Board (ARB) recently issued its long-awaited draft Climate Change Scoping Plan (Draft Plan) for implementing Assembly Bill (AB) 32, California’s ambitious greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions-reduction initiative. AB 32 requires California to reduce GHG emissions to 1990 levels by 2020—roughly a 30% reduction in projected “business-as-usual” emissions levels or 168 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent.

Vertical and overhead stick welding have never been so popular.Flat and horizontal are the fastest welding positions to use, but when vertical or overhead welding with a stick electrode cannot be avoided, doing it well requires attention to several considerations

First, choose the right electrode

The aggressive operating environment that cooling towers are subjected to can accelerate their deterioration in many unexpected ways. This article explores how the following environmental effects must be considered when developing measures to extend the service life of a cooling tower:

Cooling towers in northern environments are exposed to cyclical freezing and thawing of wet concrete. When ice forms within the concrete, expansive forces can cause cracking and deterioration of the concrete matrix.

A 2007 McKinsey Global Institute study estimated that more than $50 billion in energy savings were possible by adopting combined heat and power (CHP)technologies. Doing so could even cut U.S.fossil fuel use by nearly 20%, according to a Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory study. It is no wonder, then, that several emerging U.S. companies and research institutions have launched ventures to recover waste heat and convert it into electricity by means other than CHP. Clean technology firm Electra Therm Inc. in late May, for example, announced that testing of a commercial waste heat power generator at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, had exceeded expectations, reaching output well beyond its 50-kW rating.

I haven’t always been a supporter of former President Jimmy Carter’s politics,but I did vote for him,mainly because we shared the Navy experience and he was educated as an engineer. His later opposition to nuclear power surprised many of us in the power business at the time,and I found his suggestion to wear a sweater instead of pushing up the thermostat quaint. My view of his politics hasn’t changed, but I remain a fan of the man, especially his work with Habitat for Humanity.

Pickens has stolen this election year’s energy policy center stage with a plan that is eloquent in its simplicity.

We weren’t listening

No doubt some power plant engineers feel that tackling environmental problems is a lot like dealing with the Hydra, the ancient mythological serpent monster with multiple heads. When an attacker would cut off one of the Hydra’s numerous heads, two new ones would grow back in place of the head that was removed. All too often engineers and technical staff at power plants struggle to overcome one environmental regulatory challenge only to turn around and find a whole new batch of environmental rules have sprung up that they have to deal with immediately or risk significant enforcement consequences.

The 2008 Powder River Basin Coal Users’ Group (PRBCUG) set new records for attendance again this year with more than 400 registered members for the three-and-a-half-day event, 268 of whom were from operating companies. The meeting’s Grand Sponsor was Benetech and its Plant Professionals group. The meeting began with the Power Plant Awards Banquet on Monday night, prior to the official start of ELECTRIC POWER. More than 200 people enjoyed the evening’s two special events. First was presentation of awards, including the PRBCUG Plant of the Year award (Figure) to Luminant’s Big Brown Plant. (An in-depth look at Big Brown begins on page 40.) Awards were followed by an inspiring presentation by astronaut Fred Haise, immortalized by the movie Apollo 13

Who we are

It is rare indeed to witness, at an otherwise staid industry forum, the public rebuke of the country’s most prominent supplier to the electric power industry. But at the Keynote session and Power Industry CEO Roundtable of the 2008 ELECTRIC POWER Conference & Exhibition in Baltimore this May, Milton Lee, general manager and CEO of CPS Energy (City Public Service of San Antonio), apparently wanted to make sure representatives from General Electric Corp. heard what he had to say (Figure 1). At one point he asked for a show of hands of attendees from GE. Then he proceeded to describe how GE added risk to the nuclear energy business by backing out of South Texas Project’s (STP) new construction program.

Staff from Luminant’s Big Brown Plant accepted the PRB Coal Users’ Group’s top honor for innovative improvements to coal-handling systems and a sterling safety record. The numbers reveal their accomplishments: an average EFOR less than 4%, an availability factor averaging 90% for a plant that burns a lignite/PRB mix, and staff who worked more than 2.6 million man-hours since March 2000 without a lost-time injury.

Preventing catastrophic failure is the No. 1 priority for power industry mechanical engineers and supervisors. Though a variety of factors can contribute to such failures and ensuing production downtime, engineers unanimously agree that corrosion is the single biggest contributor to these events. The Laramie River Station,located east of Wheatland, Wyoming,implements an aggressive facility maintenance schedule each year and now utilizes new coatings technologies to help protect new and existing assets from the devastating effects of corrosion. Laramie River Station is one of the largest consumer-operated, regional, joint power supply ventures in the U.S. and is owned by the Missouri Basin Power Project (MBPP).

Arc flash may be the greatest—yet least understood—danger in today’s power plant. Its danger is not just the risk of electrocution facing technicians when maintaining switchgear but also the equally deadly concussive blast effects and exceptionally high temperatures that instantly occur when a short circuit occurs. In some instances, all three effects occur in chorus, further dropping the survival rate. (See “Arc flash protection should be job No. 1”in POWER, February 2007 for a special report on arc flash causes and technologies available to improve worker safety.)

Celle, Germany-based Motortech GmbH not only manufactures and sells various types of gas engine components, but is also one of a few companies specializing in performing repairs on all types of ignition controllers. Whether it is Motortech’s own devices, or those from other ignition OEMs, the company has built up its knowledge on repairing ignition controllers over the past 20 years.