Power Engineering articles from April 2005

Power Engineering archives from April 2005

Go ahead, be a lemming.(OPINION)
April 1, 2005... Lemmings are relatively unknown members of the animal kingdom. Their main claim to fame is their tendency toward mass migrations, which can end in mass suicide as thousands of lemmings follow each other over a cliff into the sea. This is more...

New tools coming for ramped up plant cybersecurity standards.(UPDATE)
April 1, 2005... A recent Wall Street Journal story detailed how constant attempts by hackers to breach cybersecurity of power facilities are heightening concerns that electric companies have failed to adequately defend against a potential catastrophic strike....

AREVA's joint subsidiary with Siemens, Framatome ANP Inc.(Appointment)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... AREVA's joint subsidiary with Siemens, Framatome ANP Inc., has appointed Roger Reynolds to the newly created position of chief technical officer of Framatome ANP Inc.

Mark Oldham.(Appointment)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Mark Oldham has been named CFO of Appalachian region coal producer National Coal Corp.

Cleco Corp.(Appointment)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Cleco Corp. has announced plans to name Michael H. Madison CEO and president. He has been serving as president and COO of Cleco Power and will succeed David M. Eppler, who has announced his retirement.

Michael R. DeMeo.(appointment)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Michael R. DeMeo has been named business development manager of Eurotherm, a leading manufacturer and supplier of industrial instrumentation for process control and data acquisition.

Robert Gleitz.(appointment)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Robert Gleitz has been named general manager of GE Energy's wind segment, replacing Steven Zwolinski, who is leaving the company to pursue other business opportunities.

William McMahon.(appointment)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... William McMahon has been named president of Catalytica Energy Systems' wholly owned SCR-Tech subsidiary.

Jaakko Eskola.(appointment)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Jaakko Eskola has been named vice president of sales and marketing for Wartsila's power plants business, heading the worldwide sales organization.

Riley Power.(CONSTRUCTION & CONTRACTS)(selective catalytic reduction systems)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Riley Power has received a contract for the design and supply of two selective catalytic reduction systems for Units 1 and 2 at AEP's Mitchell Plant near Moundsville, W.Va. The SCR systems will utilize Riley's Delta Wing static mixing...

The Triconex unit of Invensys Process Systems will retrofit and upgrade critical controls at Nebraska Public Power District's coal-fired Sheldon Station.(construction and contracts)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... The Triconex unit of Invensys Process Systems will retrofit and upgrade critical controls at Nebraska Public Power District's coal-fired Sheldon Station. Triconex will replace the existing mechanical governor system with a Triconex TS-3000...

Fuel-Tech N.V.(construction and contracts)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Fuel-Tech N.V. has received two full-scale, commercial demonstration orders from Tennessee Valley Authority valued at $2.4 million for installation of NOXOUT selective non-catalytic reduction systems on a 113 MW coal unit at the Johnsonville...

Vestas Wind Systems.(construction and contracts)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Vestas Wind Systems has won an order to deliver 83 V80-1.8 MW wind turbines for the Hopkins Ridge Wind Facility to be located in Washington state. The project is owned by Puget Sound Energy.

Climax Portable Machine Tools and Uddcomb Engineering will provide maintenance services at the Forsmark nuclear power facility in Sweden.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Climax Portable Machine Tools and Uddcomb Engineering will provide maintenance services at the Forsmark nuclear power facility in Sweden. Climax will deliver a BWR Shell J-Groove weld prep machine, specially designed to work on reactor pressure...

Washington Group International.(construction and contracts)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Washington Group International has been awarded a contract from the Tennessee Valley Authority to provide comprehensive engineering and technical services over the next five years for TVA's fossil, hydroelectric, and nuclear plants and...

GE Energy.(CONSTRUCTION & CONTRACTS)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... FPL Energy has selected GE Energy's 1.5 MW wind turbine technology for the Callahan Divide Wind Energy Center in Taylor County, Texas, which will use 76 GE wind turbines, and the Weatherford Wind Energy Center in Custer County, Oklahoma, which...

EPA announces mercury reduction rules.(UPDATE)(Environmental Protection Agency)(Clean Air Mercury Rule)(control of mercury emissions )
April 1, 2005... On March 15, Steve Johnson, acting administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), signed the Clean Air Mercury Rule, which will dramatically reduce mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants in the United States. In...

Non-silicon material production could speed solar adoption.(UPDATE)
April 1, 2005... Promising research by a Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) professor could lead to a major advance in the economic viability and mass commercialization of photovoltaic (PV) solar cells. Partha Dutta, assistant professor of electrical,...

Firm will develop Advanced N[O.sub.x] control.(UPDATE)(contracts of Reaction Engineering International)(Emissions Control Program)(contracts of U.S. Department of Energy National Energy Technology Laboratory)(Advanced Layered Technology Approach (ALTA))(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... The U.S. Department of Energy National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) has selected Reaction Engineering International (REI) for a project that may enable coal-fired power plants to meet current and proposed N[O.sub.x] control regulations...

The Oregon Public Utility Commission has rejected Fort Worth.(mergers & acquisitions)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... The Oregon Public Utility Commission has rejected Fort Worth, Texas-based Texas Pacific's $2.35 billion bid to buy Portland General Electric, the last major remaining asset of bankrupt Enron. In a unanimous vote, regulators said the proposed...

mg North America has sold the majority of its interest in Lurgi Lentjes North America to Envirotherm GmbH of Essen, Germany.(mergers and acquisitions)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... mg North America has sold the majority of its interest in Lurgi Lentjes North America to Envirotherm GmbH of Essen, Germany. Arsenal Capital Partners has acquired Sermatech International from Teleflex Incorporated. Sermatech provides...

Siemens Power Transmission & Distribution.(Shaw Power Technologies International)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Siemens Power Transmission & Distribution has acquired the business activities of Shaw Power Technologies and Shaw Power Technologies International (referred to commonly as PTI), global provider of network planning software and engineering...

San Antonio, Texas-based Zachry Group has agreed to acquire Utility Engineering Corp. (UE).(MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS)
April 1, 2005... San Antonio, Texas-based Zachry Group has agreed to acquire Utility Engineering Corp. (UE), an engineering subsidiary of Xcel Energy. With the transaction, Zachry acquires UE subsidiaries Precision Resource Co., a professional staffing company;...

Goldman Sachs.(mergers and acquisitions)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Goldman Sachs has agreed to acquire Zilkha Renewable Energy, a Houston, Texas-based independent wind energy development company with nearly 4,000 MW of capacity in various stages of development in a dozen states.

Dynegy.(Baldwin Energy Complex)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Dynegy has settled environmental litigation related to its Baldwin Energy Complex in Illinois that will result in substantial emission reductions. Upon completion, Baldwin will have the lowest sulfur emission rate of any existing or permitted...

Great River Energy (GRE) and Headwaters Inc.(business briefs)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Great River Energy (GRE) and Headwaters Inc. have entered into an agreement for Headwaters to market the Lignite Fuel Enhancement System being developed at GRE's Coal Creek Station. The system uses waste heat to dry about one-fourth of the...

Arch Coal has signed an option agreement with DKRW Energy LLC.(DKRW Energy LLC)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Arch Coal has signed an option agreement with DKRW Energy LLC to sell undeveloped Wyoming coal reserves for a $2.5 billion plant that would make diesel fuel and produce electricity.

Public Service Co. of New Mexico.(San Juan Generating Station)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Public Service Co. of New Mexico and eight other owners of the San Juan Generating Station will spend $200 million to install and operate new pollution control technology. The investment will significantly reduce emissions and make San Juan one...

Waukesha Engine.(business briefs)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Waukesha Engine is in the commercial demonstration phase of developing an engine using Advanced Reciprocating Engine Systems (ARES) technology. Waukesha is developing the engine in cooperation with DOE as part of the ARES program to develop...

Entergy's Independence Steam Electric Station has been selected as the test site for the TOXECON II mercury control technology.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Entergy's Independence Steam Electric Station has been selected as the test site for the TOXECON II mercury control technology. The testing is being conducted for DOE by EPRI and ADAES to evaluate the technology's effectiveness in reducing...

Wheelabrator Air Pollution Control and Enerfab Clean Air Technologies.(business briefs)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Wheelabrator Air Pollution Control and Enerfab Clean Air Technologies have announced an agreement whereby Wheelabrator will incorporate the CR-CAT technologies into its product line and continue to market the wet electrostatic precipitator...

Franklin Fuel Cells.(business briefs)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Franklin Fuel Cells has announced a major step in demonstrating the flexibility of its solid oxide fuel cell technology by generating power for more than 100 hours on commercially available, 93 octane gasoline purchased at a local gas station....

Cybersecurity power industry locks down: to guard against ever-present cyber threats from a host of sources, the power industry must harden its control networks and focus on prevention.(Cover Story)
April 1, 2005... Like it or not, the power industry is susceptible to a variety of cyber threats, which can wreak havoc on control systems. Management, engineering and IT must commit to a comprehensive approach that encompasses threat prevention, detection and...

Out-of-sight, out-of-mind: state-of-the-art environmental controls, extensive noise mitigation and aesthetic impact measures allowed SRP to successfully retrofit existing combined-cycle units and construct two new ones, while remaining virtually indiscernible to the surrounding community.(ENVIRONMENTAL RETROFIT)(Salt River Project)(Santan)
April 1, 2005... One of the significant lessons learned from the California electricity debacle was that a shortage of generation has a negative effect on everyone. Neighboring states, including Arizona, learned by watching California that they did not want to...

Flexing the joints: a long-term side-by-side comparison at Merom Generation Station revealed 43 percent lower life-cycle costs with a patented fabric expansion joint material compared to a generic fluoroplastic product.(EXPANSION JOINTS)(flue gas desulfurization units)(comparative analysis of fabric expansion joints)
April 1, 2005... Hoosier Energy's Merom Generating Station, one of the first power plants to install flue gas desulfurization units in the early 1980s, has accumulated many years of experience with two fluoroplastic-based fabric expansion joint materials to...

Blowin' in the wind: in addition to providing Colorado residents with a clean source of electricity, the Colorado Green Wind Project is providing much needed revenue to local ranchers, business owners and government.(WIND POWER)
April 1, 2005... Dedicated in May 2004, the 162 MW Colorado Green Wind Project's 108 wind turbines are producing more than renewable electricity on the rural plains of southeastern Colorado. Located in Prowers County, near the City of Lamar (population 8,800),...

Flywheel prototype to be demonstrated for frequency regulation/grid stability.(DG UPDATE)
April 1, 2005... Power stored by flywheels, long a mainstay for uninterruptible power systems (UPS), has never been used for grid applications. That could change, according to California Energy Commissioner Art Rosenfeld, who says that when proven viable,...

TransAlta cuts tool crib expenses 30 percent.(FIELD NOTES)
April 1, 2005... ALTHOUGH TRANSALTA UTILITIES, Canada's largest investor-owned electric utility, boasts more than $5 billion in assets and $1.6 billion in revenues, it recently discovered a problem at one of its plants that was costing the company both time and...

Dominion Mt. Storm.(MANAGING THE PLANT)
April 1, 2005... Tucked on the northern edge of the Allegheny Mountains in eastern West Virginia, Dominion Energy's three-unit Mt. Storm power plant generates low-cost baseload electricity for millions of people in the Mid-Atlantic region. Units 1 and 2, which...