Power Engineering articles from August 2008

Power Engineering archives from August 2008

CAIR and other four-letter expletives.(Opinion)(Clean Air Interstate Rule )
August 1, 2008... Imagine the four-letter words that must have erupted among power generators last month when a federal appeals court unexpectedly threw out the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR). [ILLUSTRATION...

Dam, it's big.(Managing the Plant)(Conference notes)
August 1, 2008... Our hardhat-wearing tour group, made up of delegates from the Renewable Energy World Conference and Expo in nearby Las Vegas, is more than 700 feet underground. We are making our way through a rough-cut tunnel that connects the turbine hall at...

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

Court vacates CAIR emissions plan.(Startup)(Clean Air Interstate Rule)
August 1, 2008... A federal appeals court July 11 rejected the Bush administration's plan to reduce emissions from power plants, ruling the Environmental Protection Agency went beyond its authority to create the Clean Air Interstate Rule. Known as CAIR, the...

680 MW IGCC plant shelved in New York.(Startup)(Brief article)
August 1, 2008... The New York Power Authority is halting plans for a clean-coal facility at NRG Energy's Huntley plant in western New York. NYPA officials say the electricity produced by the plant would be too expensive because of the integrated gasification...

LADWP to consider asset sale.(Startup)(Brief article)
August 1, 2008... The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has hired two to help it investigate selling its coal-fired generating assets to meet new California greenhouse gas rules. The state's Air Resources Board issued a draft plan June 27 (see story...

Alberta to fund CCS projects.(Startup)(Brief article)
August 1, 2008... The Alberta provincial government plans to create a C$2 billion (US$1.99 billion) fund to advance carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects. Funds will be allocated to encourage construction of Alberta's first large-scale CCS projects. The...

California Air Board issues carbon dioxide rules.(Startup)
August 1, 2008... The California Air Resources Board issued its Climate Change Draft Scoping Plan in late June, part of the state's plan to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2020. [CO.sub.2] emissions are to be cut 80 percent below 1990 levels by...

EPA floats groundwater rule for carbon storage.(Startup)(Safe Drinking Water Act)
August 1, 2008... Under the auspices of the Safe Drinking Water Act, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has begun the process to establish its first-ever geological requirements for the sequestration of carbon dioxide ([CO.sub.2]). The agency's...

NRC staff approves Entergy Nuclear spinoff.(Startup)(Nuclear Regulatory Commission)(Brief article)
August 1, 2008... The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has approved the transfer of operating licenses for the FitzPatrick, Indian Point Units 2 and 3, Palisades, Pilgrim and Vermont Yankee nuclear power plants from Entergy Corp. to Enexus Energy Corp. The...

PE online question of the week.(Startup)
August 1, 2008... Which of the following steps has your plant already taken to be CAIR compliant? FGD retrofit/installation underway 75% FGD retrofit/installation complete 25% Note: Table made from pie chart. (for more Questions visit...

Small-scale nuclear power under development.(Startup)
August 1, 2008... A team at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is developing nuclear reactors that are cost-effective and a better-fit for developing nations. Widely known as grid-appropriate reactors, these nuclear reactors are...

Firm believes CAIR's demise could end [SO.sub.2]/[NO.sub.x] trading.(Startup)(Clean Air Interstate Rule )
August 1, 2008... ICF International, a consulting firm, said it believes that a July 11 decision by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling overturning the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) will have significant and...

Progress Energy.(Business Briefs)(Brief article)
August 1, 2008... Progress Energy Florida said the Florida Public Service Commission approved its plans to build two advanced nuclear power plant units. The unanimous vote does not represent a decision to build the nuclear plant. Progress said it expects to make...

AmerenUE.(Business Briefs)(Brief article)
August 1, 2008... AmerenUE submitted a combined construction and operating license application (COLA) to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a potential new 1,600 MW pressurized water reactor adjacent to AmerenUE's existing single-reactor, 1,190 MW...

SunPower Corp.(Business Briefs)
August 1, 2008... SunPower Corp. was selected by Florida Power & Light Co. to build a 25 MW power plant in DeSoto County, Fla. and a 10 MW project at the Kennedy Space Center. Sun Power said it will design and build the facilities. The DeSoto plant is scheduled...

Nebraska public power district.(Business Briefs)(Brief article)
August 1, 2008... Nebraska Public Power District will work with private developers on what could be more than $1 billion in wind projects across the state that could have a generating capacity of 400 MW. NPPD would build transmission lines and contract for much...

The Public Utility Commission of Texas.(Business Briefs)(Brief article)
August 1, 2008... The Public Utility Commission of Texas approved Southwestern Electric Power Co.'s proposal for a 600 MW, $1.52 billion coal-fired power plant in Southwest Arkansas. SWEPCO, a unit of American Electric Power, received approval for the...

AES Corp.(Business Briefs)(Brief article)
August 1, 2008... AES Corp. increased its China-based wind power operations through two new agreements with one of China's largest wind power developers. AES acquired 49 percent of Guohua Energy Investment Co. Limited's Hulunbeier wind farm, which began...

Rolls-Royce is establishing a new business.(Business Briefs)(Brief article)
August 1, 2008... Rolls-Royce is establishing a new business unit to address the global market for civil nuclear power. The company estimates the worldwide market could be worth $100 billion a year in 15 years. Rolls-Royce currently claims one of the largest...

Sunflower Electric Power corp.(Business Briefs)(Brief article)
August 1, 2008... Sunflower Electric Power Corp. said it will take its fight to build two new 700 MW supercritical coal-fired units at its Holcomb plant to the Kansas Supreme Court. Sunflower said it hopes the court will overturn a state Health & Environment...

Southern California Edison (SCE).(Business Briefs)(Brief article)
August 1, 2008... Southern California Edison (SCE) has begun installing solar panels at the first of about 150 Southern California commercial rooftops that eventually will make up the utility's two-square-mile solar generation project, which will be the largest...

PE online question of the week.(Business Briefs)
August 1, 2008... What will be the primary challenges to attaining AWEA's goal of 20% wind energy by 2030? Manufacturing Capability 15% Environmental Concems 25% Other 19% Transmission Problems 26%...

Peabody Energy, ConocoPhillips and E.ON U.S.(Business Briefs)(Brief article)
August 1, 2008... Peabody Energy, ConocoPhillips and E.ON U.S. are working with the Kentucky Geological Survey to test the feasibility of storing carbon dioxide underground. The Western Kentucky Carbon Storage Foundation is investing $7.8 million to drill a test...

Acorn Energy Inc.(Projects & Contracts)(Brief article)
August 1, 2008... Acorn Energy Inc. and its CoaLogix unit secured two contracts for catalyst regeneration totaling over $5 million for delivery in 2008 and 2009. The new contracts come from one southern utility company and one mid-Atlantic utility company....

TransCanada Corp.(Projects & Contracts)(Maine's Land Use Regulation Commission)(Brief article)
August 1, 2008... TransCanada Corp. said that its Kibby Wind Power Project won approval from Maine's Land Use Regulation Commission, allowing it to develop a 132 MW wind project. The project will involve installing 44 3 MW Vestas wind turbine generators. The...

Emerson process management.(Projects & Contracts)(NTPC Ltd. )(Brief article)
August 1, 2008... Emerson Process management was selected by NTPC Ltd. to modernize controls at the Tanda Thermal Power Station, a 4 x 110 MW plant in India. NTPC is the largest power utility in India and the sixth-largest thermal power generator in the world....

Consulting firm MWH.(Projects & Contracts)(Brief article)
August 1, 2008... Consulting firm MWH has been awarded a contract by Areva NC to provide environmental services to assist in the licensing of Areva's proposed $2 billion uranium enrichment plant in Idaho. Under terms of the $1.7 million contract, MWH will...

GE Energy.(Projects & Contracts)(Brief article)
August 1, 2008... Under a $150 million contract, GE Energy will supply a Frame 9E gas turbine, a SC5 steam turbine, a fuel gas compressor, generators and additional equipment for a 169 MW power plant at the Baoshan Iron & Steel Co. (Baosteel) complex in Baoshan...

Advanced Metallurgical group NV.(Projects & Contracts)(Shaw Areva MOX Services)(Brief article)
August 1, 2008... Advanced Metallurgical Group NV (AMG) announced that Furnaces Nuclear Applications Grenoble SA, in which its Engineering Systems Division holds a 50 percent stake, has been awarded a contract by Shaw Areva MOX Services. The contract is for the...

Joseph Hogan.(People & Personnel)(Brief article)
August 1, 2008... ABB named Joseph Hogan as its chief executive after months of searching to replace Fred Kindle, who stepped down in February. ABB, a leading supplier of power and automation technologies, said that Hogan, 51, would join the company on September...

John Krenicki.(People & Personnel)(Brief article)
August 1, 2008... John Krenicki was named a vice chairman of GE and will lead a newly created GE Energy Infrastructure business setment. He has been president and CEO of GE Energy. Previously, he was president and CEO of GE Plastics and GE Advanced Materials....

Jeff Reinhart.(People & Personnel)(Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station)(Brief article)
August 1, 2008... Jeff Reinhart was named vice president at Omaha Public Power District's Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station. Reinhart has nearly 30 years of nuclear power plant experience. He comes from the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations, where he served in a...

Bob Randall.(People & Personnel)(appointed as president Doosan Hydro Technology)(Brief article)
August 1, 2008... Bob Randall, previously COO, has been named president and CEO of Doosan Hydro Technology. The company said he has helped guide the recent development and growth of Doosan Hydro Technology as a global provider of membrane technology solutions.

LS Power equity partners.(Mergers & Acquisitions)(Global Infrastructure Partners)(Brief article)
August 1, 2008... LS Power Equity Partners (LS Power) and Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) offered to buy TransAlta Corp. for C$39 a share (US$38.8) in an all-cash transaction. LS Power currently holds approximately 9 percent of TransAlta's common stock....

A FirstEnergy Corp.(Mergers & Acquisitions)(Brief article)
August 1, 2008... A FirstEnergy Corp. business unit is paying $125 million for a 45 percent stake in the Bull Mountain Mine Operations in Montana. The utility said that compared to typical eastern coal, coal from Bull Mountain has around half the sulfur and ash...

BP Alternative Energy.(Mergers & Acquisitions)(Brief article)
August 1, 2008... BP Alternative Energy has acquired the Whiting Clean Energy facility, a 525 MW natural-gas fired combined-cycle cogeneration power plant in Whiting, Ind. The plant was acquired for $210 million ($400/kW) from NiSource Inc.

PE online question of the week.(Mergers & Acquisitions)(Survey)(Brief article)
August 1, 2008... Do you feel that the energy currently generated with natural gas can instead be generated by wind? Yes 78% No 22% Note: Table made from pie chart. (for more Questions visit www.power-eng.com)

Puget Sound Energy.(Mergers & Acquisitions)(Brief article)
August 1, 2008... Puget Sound Energy completed the purchase of a 125 MW power plant in Washington. The utility bought the natural-gas-fired power plant in Sumas, Wash., from Sumas Cogeneration Co., a unit of National Energy Systems Co., based in Kirkland. The...

EPS corp.(Mergers & Acquisitions)(Brief article)
August 1, 2008... EPS Corp. acquired three cogeneration power plants operating at Dean Foods Co.'s facilities in City of Industry, Calif. Terms were not disclosed. The three cogeneration plants add nearly 6 MW of cogeneration power, for a total portfolio of...

Evaluating an HP/IP turbine replacement.(high pressure)(intermediate pressure )
August 1, 2008... Many U.S. power producers are stretching the useful lives of their existing power plants because of the favorable economics as compared to other alternatives. Environmental issues, licensing delays, public outcry and structural costs top the...

You've got ten minutes; Growing demand for replacement reserves makes a market for fast-start machines.
August 1, 2008... When it comes to cars, zero-to-60 in less than four seconds has long been the line that separates "peppy" acceleration from neck-snapping performance. Zero-to-100 MW in 10 minutes is becoming the benchmark that power grids seek in order to...

How low can they go? Nuclear power plant outage duration continues to decline.
August 1, 2008... Spring 2008 was one of the busiest nuclear refueling outage seasons the U.S. nuclear industry has witnessed in several years. According to the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), 41 reactors either completed or were undergoing refueling outages at...

Keeping wind turbines spinning: maintenance routines for wind farms differ greatly compared with those for fossil, hydro and nuclear plants.
August 1, 2008... Today's typical wind farm consists of several hundred relatively thin towers about 35 stories tall, each supporting more than 65 tons of sophisticated mechanical and electrical equipment inside a nacelle on top of the structure. That same...

Change your plan, not your oil; A primer on when and how not to drain.
August 1, 2008... These days our automobiles are getting more of a say in their maintenance. About every three thousand miles a little light starts flashing on the dash or navigation screen to let us know it's time for an oil change. And because we've all heard...

Less moisture can mean more mass; Indirect evaporative cooling in small-scale applications.
August 1, 2008... Various technologies can increase the output and fuel efficiency of gas-fired turbines by lowering temperatures on the inlet side of the turbine. Inlet fogging, direct evaporative cooling, and refrigeration are the three most common means. ...

Energy policy act poses workforce training issues.
August 1, 2008... One small part of the Energy Policy Act could send power industry firms scrambling to get their houses in order. Among the 500 ponderous pages of the Act sits the innocuous-sounding Section 1103, "Training Guidelines for Non-Nuclear Electric...

Lockout/Tagout the move toward initiating best practices.
August 1, 2008... A comprehensive lockout/tagout (LOTO) program not only helps to keep power generating plants compliant with OSHA regulations, but also increases productivity and contributes to the safety of employees. Plant accidents involving machinery can be...

Hybrid plasma/MIG welding reduces welding time.(Field Notes)
August 1, 2008... Gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) has become an indispensable welding method for many industries because it produces high quality welds and keeps equipment costs low. In the power generation industry, GTAW with cold filler wire is a method...

Flowmeters.(Products)
August 1, 2008... Universal Flow Monitors Inc. announced its L Series viscosity-insensitive flowmeters for circulating lubrication systems in steam, gas and hydro turbine applications. The piston-style flowmeters maintain +/- 5 percent accuracy for turbine...

Rentable cargo pant.(Products)
August 1, 2008... Cintas Corp. released its new Cargo Collection, a new line of retail-inspired rentable cargo pants, available in light khaki and navy blue. The new Cintas design offers a longer "seat seam" and uses fabric with 11 percent stretch. The Cintas...

Fuel gas cleaning system.(Products)
August 1, 2008... Gaumer Co. introduced the ElectroClean fuel gas cleaning system. The system is designed to provide gas-turbine-quality-fuel gas from pipeline-quality-fuel gas. ElectroClean consists of an electric preheater, pressure reduction, coalescence,...

PCB connectors.(Products)
August 1, 2008... Amphenol Industrial offers three compact, high-amperage connectors for use in high-current, single-point connections to printed circuit boards (PCBs). The new PowerBlok, RADSERT and PGY connectors incorporate RADSOK technology. Housed in a...

Water analysis catalog.(Products)
August 1, 2008... Designed specifically for water analysis professionals, the Hach 2008-2009 Master Catalog provides more than 535 pages of chemistries and reagents, laboratory and field instrumentation, test kits, microbiological products, laboratory supplies,...

Baghouse controller.(Products)
August 1, 2008... B-PAC MICS series baghouse diagnostic controllers are designed to integrate filter cleaning (IntelliPULSE technology), pressure control, particulate monitoring, auxiliary sensing (such as fan amps, temperature and airflow) and a wide range of...

Excavator system.(Products)(Leica Geosystems)(Brief article)
August 1, 2008... Leica Geosystems introduced the Leica PowerDigger 3D excavator system. This excavator guidance system includes a choice of single or dual GNSS (GPS+GLONASS) PowerBox and PowerAntenna sensors, each designed to locate the 3D position of the...

Transparent covers.(Products)(Fibox Enclosures)(Brief article)
August 1, 2008... Fibox Enclosures expanded its ARCA enclosure product line with the addition of transparent screw covers and hinged covers. Transparent covers are available for five standard enclosure sizes ranging from 6.00" x 6.00" x 4.00" D up to 14.00" x...

Thermal mass flow meter.(Products)(Fluid Components International)(Brief article)
August 1, 2008... Fluid Components International (FCI) released its ST50 remote mount flow meter. Featuring a flow sensor design with no moving parts, the ST50 remote mount flow meter measures airflow from one to 125 SFPS (0.3 to 38 NMPS), nitrogen from one to...

Two solutions to aging workforce issues.(Workforce)(Column)
August 1, 2008... By now, everyone in the power and energy industries is acutely aware of the issues and challenges that we face with a rapidly aging workforce. These range from a lack of new and sufficient technical engineering talent to various aspects of...