Power Engineering articles from April 2008

Power Engineering archives from April 2008

Sweating bullets.(Opinion)
April 1, 2008... Officials with the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) have some advice for utilities thinking they might rely on the federal agency to help finance new coal-fired power plants: hold on until 2010. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] That may be the...

Ready, set ... stop!(Clearing the Air)
April 1, 2008... Would you play a game without knowing the rules? Or jump into a lake without knowing how deep the water is? Likewise, you wouldn't attempt to comply with a law without understanding its requirements. Because laws and regulations should be...

Coal replaces gas in California power plant.(Managing the Plant)(Searles Valley Minerals Operations Inc.)(Company overview)
April 1, 2008... Searles Valley Minerals Operations Inc. (SVM) is located in the California high desert near the town of Trona. The company mines minerals out of the Searles dry lake named for its founder, John Searles, who discovered the minerals more than 130...

POWER-GEN international @ 20: a look back at issues and events from 1988.(Conference notes)
April 1, 2008... Twenty years ago on page 6 of the January 1988 edition of Power Engineering magazine, a full-page ad introduced "POWER-GEN '88" to the world. The inaugural event, which grew to become POWER-GEN International, was held at the Orlando Convention...

Tenaska's trailblazing CCS proposal.(Startup)
April 1, 2008... With the exception of a few small demonstration projects, all proposals for new coal plants that would capture and sequester carbon dioxide (C[O.sub.2]) have been confined to integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) plants. An announcement...

Climate cost numbers cause rift.(Startup)
April 1, 2008... Edison Electric Institute (EEI) estimates that seek to quantify the ultimate cost to customers for carbon capture and sequestration have created dissention among utility members. The split divides utilities that generate most of their power...

Kentucky mulls lifting ban on nuclear plants.(Startup)
April 1, 2008... For longer than any monarch ever ruled a foreign nation, coal has been King in Kentucky. Today, about 90 percent of the state's electricity comes from coal-fired power plants. So a proposal to end a moratorium on nuclear power plants in the...

Windfall profits posted as PTC sunset nears.(Startup)
April 1, 2008... Although almost certain to be extended, the production tax credit (PTC) for wind generation (which allows power producers to deduct two cents for each kWh produced from wind) is scheduled to expire at the end of this year. That potential...

Kansas coal controversy.(Startup)(Sunflower Electric Power Corp.)
April 1, 2008... As promised, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius vetoed a bill that would have allowed two coal-fired power plants to be built by Sunflower Electric Power Corp. in the southwest part of the state. Within days of her veto last month, however,...

GE Energy Financial Services.(Business Briefs)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... GE Energy Financial Services plans to invest $5 billion outside the United States to help meet soaring energy demand by the end of 2010. GE has opened offices in Southeast Asia and the Middle East and expanded in India. The company said its...

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved Southern Co.'s request to increase the generating capacity of the Vogtle nuclear power plant in Georgia by 1.7 percent.(Business Briefs)
April 1, 2008... The Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved Southern Co.'s request to increase the generating capacity of the Vogtle nuclear power plant in Georgia by 1.7 percent. The power uprate will increase Vogtle Unit 1 from about 1,109 MW to 1,174 MW, and...

Appalachian Power.(Business Briefs)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... American Electric Power business unit Appalachian Power received authority from the Public Service Commission of West Virginia to build a 629 MW integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) electric generating plant in West Virginia....

Four companies have been asked to submit proposals to build new nuclear power plants in Ontario.(Business Briefs)
April 1, 2008... Four companies have been asked to submit proposals to build new nuclear power plants in Ontario, including AREVA, Atomic Energy of Canada, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy and Westinghouse Electric Co. Their proposals will be examined by a team...

Progress Energy Florida.(Business Briefs)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... Progress Energy Florida, a unit of Progress Energy, filed with the Florida Public Service Commission to build two nuclear units. The site, a 3,100 acre plot in Levy County, was selected by Progress Energy in 2006. If approved and built, the...

Black & Veatch.(Business Briefs)(Financial report)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... Black & Veatch reported revenues of $3.2 billion in 2007, an approximate 50 percent increase compared to $2.17 billion in 2006. The company's total employment grew about 11 percent in 2007 to 9,600 people. The company's energy business saw...

Siemens awarded WorleyParsons a contract for the engineering phase for the installation of two SGT6-5000F simple cycle units in Peru.(Construction & Contracts)(Siemens Power Transmission and Distribution Div.)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... Siemens awarded WorleyParsons a contract for the engineering phase for the installation of two SGT6-5000F simple cycle units in Peru. The first unit is the Simba Project for EnerSur, a subsidiary of Suez Energy International. The second...

Panda Energy Inc.(Construction & Contracts)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... Panda Energy Inc. said it plans to build, own and operate a 500 MW combined-cycle power plant. The natural gas-fueled Panda Sherman generating station would be in Sherman, Texas. Construction would take approximately 24 months. Panda said it...

Dresser Waukesha.(People & Personnel)(appointment of Barry Glickman )(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... Barry Glickman has been named the 14th president of Dresser Waukesha, a unit of Dresser Inc. He is expected to join Waukesha on April 7. Glickman succeeds Thomas J. Laird who left Waukesha in January to assume the presidency of parent company...

Southern Nuclear Operating Co.(People & Personnel)(appointment of J. Barnie Beasley)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... J. Barnie Beasley, chairman, CEO and president of Southern Nuclear Operating Co., will retire effective Sept. 1, after 39 years of service with the company. Beasley joined the Southern Co. system in 1969 as a student co-op at Georgia Power.

Constellation Energy.(People & Personnel)(appointment of Michael J. Wallace and Henry B. Barron)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... Constellation Energy named Michael J. Wallace vice chairman, where he will lead and expand the development and deployment of the company's new nuclear strategy and its international partnership, UniStar Nuclear Energy (UNE). The company also...

Southern California Edison.(People & Personnel)(appointment of Stuart R. Hemphill )(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... Southern California Edison elected Stuart R. Hemphill as an SCE vice president, responsible for managing and administering SCE's $2.5-billion portfolio of renewable and alternative power contracts. His organization also handles agreements...

Pacific Gas and Electric Co.(People & Personnel)(appointment of Barbara Barcon)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... Pacific Gas and Electric Co. named Barbara Barcon as vice president, finance and chief financial officer. She will be responsible for business planning, management reporting, performance management and coordination of the company's operating...

General Physics Corp.(Mergers & Acquisitions)(Performance Consulting Services Inc.)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... General Physics Corp. (GP), the operating subsidiary of GP Strategies Corp., has acquired Performance Consulting Services Inc., a company specializing in performance engineering support, training, combustion optimization, implementation of...

Bruce Power Alberta.(Mergers & Acquisitions)(Energy Alberta Corp.)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... Bruce Power Alberta completed its deal to buy the assets of Energy Alberta Corp. relating to nuclear power plant development. Bruce also filed an application with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to prepare a site for the potential...

Gas turbines adapt to dynamic market conditions: three gas turbine OEM's talk about what their companies are doing to meet the challenges of today's gas-fired power market.(Discussion)
April 1, 2008... The rush to gas in the 1990s was driven by cheap natural gas prices--generally in the range of $2/MMBtu. Today's gas rush is happening with gas prices four times as high and is being driven by electricity demand growth at a time when...

How pollutants are formed during combustion (and how it affects control methods).
April 1, 2008... During combustion in a boiler, the primary pollutants nitrogen oxides (N[O.sub.x]), sulfur oxides (S[O.sub.x]) and mercury tend to form predominant species, but with trace to significant concentrations of alternate compounds. Both the major and...

How clean air rules deter equipment investment: provisions of the Clean Air Act may actually discourage utilities from lowering emissions and improving efficiency.
April 1, 2008... The law of unintended consequences describes what happens when a simple system tries to regulate something highly complex. The political system that promulgates regulations often produces unintended consequences. And when it comes to power...

Fan upgrade? Consider this: new environmental equipment, plant cycling patterns, noise regulations and metallurgy developments are causing operators to consider updating the backbone of their air handling systems.
April 1, 2008... A large number of the world's power generation plants are operating with 50-year-old-plus fan equipment. These fans originally were selected from low- to moderate-efficiency designs that were the most reliable and economical when the plants...

Is wind reliable? Despite its variable output and non-dispatchability, wind can be a reliable source of energy. Here's how and why.
April 1, 2008... Wind power currently supplies 48 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity annually in the United States, powering the equivalent of more than 4.5 million homes. The U.S. wind energy industry shattered all previous records in 2007, with 45...

Austin's windy limits.
April 1, 2008... Few big city utility departments are more aggressive when it comes to renewable energy than Austin Energy. The Texas power provider plans to make renewable energy not just a supplement to conventional generation, but a replacement to natural...

Maximize that uprate: don't overlook balance of plant systems & equipment.
April 1, 2008... Competition in the electric power generation market demands that power plants operate efficiently and generate the maximum amount of power for which they were designed consistently and safely. In addition, the significant increase in the price...

Fighting fire with C[O.sub.2].(Field Notes)
April 1, 2008... Carbon dioxide (C[O.sub.2]) has successfully been used as a fire extinguishing agent for many years. The demise of Halon 1301 as a gaseous fire extinguishing agent, due to its ozone depleting characteristics, has renewed interest in C[O.sub.2]....

Divers help keep plants up and running.(Field Notes)
April 1, 2008... When Joe Borho and Jim Couser go to work, they know it will be wet and possibly very cold and muddy. It is usually also quite dangerous, requiring that they be totally focused on the job at hand. Borho and Couser work for Siemens Water...

Cladding technology.(Products)(Conforma Clad Inc. has released new technology for coating components)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... Conforma Clad announced a new technology for coating components. This patented technology is designed to allow Conforma Clad to use tungsten carbide cladding to coat less accessible areas of components and apply metallurgically bonded...

Signal conditioning and relay modules.(Products)(WAGO Corp. offered Signal conditioning equipment and relay modules)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... A new family of 6mm wide, DIN rail mount, signal conditioning and relay modules is available from WAGO Corp. The new 857 Series "JUMPFLEX" modules offer a system approach to signal switching and conditioning. Housed in a 6 mllimeter-wide...

Best practices engineering guide.(Products)(Fluid Components International has introduced Best practices engineering guide)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... Instrumentation, process control and plant engineers with challenging air or gas flow measurement applications will find the new "Best Practices Engineering Guide, Installation Recommendations for FCI Single-Point, Thermal Dispersion Flow...

Thermal imagers.(Products)
April 1, 2008... Fluke Corp. announced the high-performance Fluke Ti25 and Fluke Ti10 Thermal Imagers. Built to withstand harsh work environments, the Fluke Ti25 and Ti10 are designed as a thermal imaging solution for troubleshooting and maintenance of...

Shaft-sealing solutions.(Products)(SKF has developed sealing solutions )(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... SKF low-friction Waveseal shaft-sealing solutions feature a specially molded lip to form a sinusoidal or wave pattern around the shaft surface. This unique pattern enables lubricant to be pumped back to the bearing for lubricant retention while...

Converter modules and battery chargers.(Products)(Schaefer Electric Inc. has introduced Converter modules and battery chargers)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... Schaefer introduces the C/B 2700 Series of 3U DC/DC and AC/DC converter modules and battery chargers. The C/B 2700 uses industrial grade components. The C/B 2700 Series topology delivers up to 600W at any DC input from 18VDC to 380VDC,...

Evaporative fluid coolers and vapor condensers.(Products)(Niagara Blower Co. has released Evaporative cooling and Condensers (Gases))(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... Niagara Blower heat transfer solutions provide engineered solutions to heat transfer applications using closed-loop, evaporative coolers and condensers. These wet surface air cooler (WSAC) systems combine elements of a tubular heat exchanger...

Leading in the age of anxiety.(Workforce)
April 1, 2008... If you're a leader, you feel it in your gut: Stress is at an all-time high. No wonder. The uncertain economy keeps everyone, even those who work for successful companies, slightly off-balance. Helping your organization manage excessive,...