Power Engineering articles from February 2004

Power Engineering archives from February 2004

Boomtime for LNG.(Opinion)
February 1, 2004... As natural gas prices drift (and spike) higher, more and more attention is being given to LNG (liquefied natural gas) and the prospects for significant import growth to the U.S. As a result, a significant number of re-gasifying terminals will...

New tests will evaluate sorbent mercury control for prolonged periods.(Update)
February 1, 2004... Coal-fired plants, which produce more than half of the electricity in the U.S., face pending Federal and state regulations that are expected to limit mercury emissions. In December, EPA issued the Utility Mercury Reduction proposal, setting...

Lower fuel costs sometimes beat higher output.(Update)
February 1, 2004... With rising and volatile natural gas costs impacting the performance and economics of what were once low-cost generating facilities, many gas turbine owners and operators are more interested in reducing fuel costs than increasing power output...

Nuclear power showing signs of life.(Update)
February 1, 2004... Three U.S. utilities have begun laying the regulatory groundwork for possibly adding new nuclear facilities to existing sites. Ontario, Canada is proposing eight new reactors within the next 20 years and Finland has placed an order for a new...

GE Power Systems.(Personnel & Promotions)(Jim Suciu is appointed as president of Global Sales)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Jim Suciu has been named to succeed Del Williamson as president of Global Sales for GE Power Systems.

Caterpillar.(Personnel & Promotions)(James Owens replaces retiring Glen Barton)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... James Owens has been named to succeed Glen Barton as chairman and CEO of Caterpillar. Barton retired on January 1 following nearly 43 years with the company and five as chairman and CEO.

Nick Blaskoski.(Personnel & Promotions)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Wood Group Power has named Nick Blaskoski executive vice president. He has previously held senior management positions with Allison and Rolls-Royce in the U.S. and U.K.

Hugo K. van Nispen.(Personnel & Promotions)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Hugo K. van Nispen has joined international energy and utility consulting firm KEMA as a vice president of management consulting services.

HFControls Corporation.(Personnel & Promotions)(Tim McCreary and Ron Puryear)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Tim McCreary has been named president and CEO of HFControls Corporation and Ron Puryear and been appointed vice president for sales and marketing.

David Brown.(Personnel & Promotions)(David Brown named vice president of MQ Power)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... David Brown has been named vice president of MQ Power, provider of portable generators. He was most recently general manager of Kohler Power Systems.

FirstEnergy.(Personnel & Promotions)(Anthony Alexander is appointed as chairman and chief executive)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Peter Burg, chairman and chief executive of FirstEnergy, died in January while being treated for leukemia. FirstEnergy President Anthony Alexander succeeds Burg as chairman and CEO.

Black Hills Corp.(Personnel & Promotions)(David Emery succeeds Daniel Landguth as president and CEO)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... David Emery has been named president and CEO of Black Hills Corp. succeeding Daniel Landguth, who remains chairman. Emery was formerly president and COO of the company's retail operations.

Antonio de la O.(Personnel & Promotions)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Burner equipment and combustion systems provider Coen Company has appointed Antonio de la O president and CEO.

Sargent & Lundy.(Personnel & Promotions)(Thomas Behringer, Steven Bertheau, John Regan Jr.)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Thomas Behringer, Steven Bertheau, and John Regan, Jr. have been named senior vice presidents of Sargent & Lundy. Mark Conroy and Randall Kurtz have been named vice presidents.

John Skolds, has been named EVP of Exelon and president of Exelon Energy Delivery following the resignation of Michael Bemis.(Personnel & Promotions)(Christopher Crane named senior vice president of Exelon)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... John Skolds, has been named EVP of Exelon and president of Exelon Energy Delivery following the resignation of Michael Bemis. Christopher Crane, COO for Exelon Nuclear, has been named senior vice president of Exelon, president and chief nuclear...

Dominion Resources.(Personnel & Promotions)(Thomas Farrell II becomes president and COO)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Dominion Resources has named Thomas Farrell II president and COO.

Houston firm converts, packages and delivers Frame 6 to Iraq.(Update)
February 1, 2004... One of the first industrial size power turbines to arrive in Iraq since the end of the war was delivered to the southern part of the country in November. Houston-based BTEC Turbines LP, which remanufactures 25 to 100 MW gas turbine generator...

Plug Power.(Business Briefs)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... This summer, Plug Power will start demonstrating a new stand-alone hydrogen reformer designed to provide on-site generation of pure compressed hydrogen gas for industrial applications including generator cooling. Plug's GenSite product line...

Caterpillar and FuelCell Energy have announced operation of the largest fuel cell power generation plant in Illinois.(Business Briefs)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Caterpillar and FuelCell Energy have announced operation of the largest fuel cell power generation plant in Illinois--a 250 kW Direct FuelCell power plant at the Caterpillar Technical Center north of Peoria that will be connected to the Peoria...

Xcel Energy.(Business Briefs)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Concerned that natural gas prices have become too unstable, Xcel Energy is considering building at least one new coal-fired unit, possibly at the Comanche Generating Station near Pueblo, Co.

Flowserve Flow Control.(Business Briefs)(Flowserve Corp. Flow Control Div. receives outstanding supplier award from Constellation Energy Group)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Constellation Energy Group has awarded Flowserve Flow Control's Raleigh, N.C. operations group the utility's first Outstanding Supplier Award, in recognition of overall level of support and outstanding contribution made in providing parts and...

Power Tube, Inc.(Business Briefs)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... After a successful engineering review by the Center for Electromechanics at The University of Texas at Austin of its closed-loop, geothermal power plant that can produce up to 10 MW, Power Tube, Inc. will develop a prototype.

Pacific Gas & Electric.(Business Briefs)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Pacific Gas & Electric is seeking state regulatory approval for the replacement of steam generators at the company's Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant. Under the proposed schedule, steam generators in Unit 2 would be replaced in 2008 and those...

Seven utilities and utility groups.(Business Briefs)(Nebraska Public Power District planning to build coal plant)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Seven utilities and utility groups, including the Omaha Public Power District and the Nebraska Public Power District have agreed to build a 600 MW coal plant at Nebraska City scheduled for service in 2009.

Black & Veatch.(Business Briefs)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Black & Veatch has announced creation of its Strategic Sales & Marketing Division to integrate the company's efforts in strategy, sales and marketing worldwide utilizing a consistent client management and integrated marketing approach to expand...

Honeywell Process Solutions.(Business Briefs)(intellectual rights of monitoring software of Fern Engineering is acquired)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Honeywell Process Solutions has acquired the rights to Fern Engineering's Pegasys performance monitoring software, which provides real-time performance evaluation of turbo machinery including gas and steam turbines, pumps and compressors. The...

Ionics.(Mergers & Acquisitions)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Ionics, provider of technology and equipment for the purification, disinfection, concentration and analysis of water, wastewater and ultrapure water, will acquire Ecolochem, provider of mobile water treatment services to the power industry.

Mirant.(Mergers & Acquisitions)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Mirant has finalized the sale of all but 0.5% of its 50% stake in the 242 MW Birchwood power plant in Fredericksburg, Virginia to General Electric Company's finance unit. Cogentrix owns the remaining 50% of the plant.

Dominion Resources.(Mergers & Acquisitions)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Dominion Resources will buy the 545 MW Kewaunee Power Plant in northeastern Wisconsin from Wisconsin Power & Light and Wisconsin Public Service Corp.

FuelCell Energy has acquired Global Thermoelectric.(Mergers & Acquisitions)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... FuelCell Energy has acquired Global Thermoelectric, developer of solid oxide fuel cell products and the world's largest manufacturer and distributor of thermoelectric stationary power generators for use in remote locations.

PPM Energy and Shell Wind Energy have acquired the 162MW newly renamed Colorado Green wind farm from GE Wind Energy.(Mergers & Acquisitions)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... PPM Energy and Shell Wind Energy have acquired the 162 MW newly renamed Colorado Green wind farm from GE Wind Energy. The plant, originally a part of GE's acquisition of Enron Wind, is the largest wind facility in Colorado and the fifth largest...

Exelon's proposed acquisition of Illinois Power from Dynegy is off after Illinois legislators did not approve a six-year deal for Exelon to buy power from Dynegy at a fixed cost after 2006.(Mergers & Acquisitions)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Exelon's proposed acquisition of Illinois Power from Dynegy is off after Illinois legislators did not approve a six-year deal for Exelon to buy power from Dynegy at a fixed cost after 2006. Dynegy says it will focus on the future with Illinois...

Constellation Energy has agreed to buy the 495 MW R.E. Ginna plant from Rochester Gas & Electric.(Mergers & Acquisitions)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Constellation Energy has agreed to buy the 495 MW R.E. Ginna plant from Rochester Gas & Electric. Planned upgrades will increase Ginna's output to 580 MW.

CH2M HILL.(Mergers & Acquisitions)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Global engineering and construction company CH2M HILL has acquired engineering and construction firm Lockwood Greene.

Great Lakes Hydro Income Fund has acquired three hydroelectric power plants in Northeastern U.S. from Norwegian-based Hafslund.(Mergers & Acquisitions)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Great Lakes Hydro Income Fund has acquired three hydroelectric power plants in Northeastern U.S. from Norwegian-based Hafslund. The acquisition includes the Pontook and Errol stations located in New Hampshire and the Brassau station in Maine.

Calpine.(Mergers & Acquisitions)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Calpine has completed the sale of its 50% interest in the 240 MW Gordonsville Power Plant to Dominion Virginia Power and has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its 50% interest in the 545 MW Lost Pines 1 Power Project to GenTex Power...

Thermal Engineering International.(Mergers & Acquisitions)
February 1, 2004... Babcock Power subsidiary Thermal Engineering International has acquired the assets of Engineers and Fabricators Company (EFCO) and is now servicing the EFCO customer base including its aftermarket parts and service needs.

Duke Energy.(Mergers & Acquisitions)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Duke Energy has completed the sale of its energy delivery services business unit to The Shaw Group.

Benchmarking survey identifies elements for software success.(Update)
February 1, 2004... A white paper being presented at the National Manufacturing Week conference in Chicago this month identifies six critical functions that computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS) must have along with four keys to successful CMMS...

Water quality critical to aqueous ammonia SCR performance.(Update)(Selective Catalytic Reduction)
February 1, 2004... Topping the list of the most important concerns related to the operational aspects of ammonia-based selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems is the quality of aqueous ammonia and its potential to damage catalytic elements of the SCR. Yet...

Johnstown America Corporation.(Construction & Contracts)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Johnstown America Corporation has received an order from American Electric Power for 1,250 BethGon II aluminum gondola coal cars. Plans call for 875 cars to be used in Powder River Basin service, operated by BNSF, with the remaining 375 cars to...

DTE Energy Technologies.(Construction & Contracts)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... DTE Energy Technologies has signed a $5.4 million contract with Next Energy to develop, construct, operate and maintain a microgrid in Detroit. The project, to be fueled by hydrogen, natural gas and sunlight, will include the use of several...

Vogt Power International.(Construction & Contracts)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Vogt Power International has received orders valued at more than $7 million for two heat recovery steam generators--one from Kellogg, Brown & Root for Motiva's Port Arthur refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, and the other from SNC-Lavalin...

Princeton Power Systems.(Construction & Contracts)(U.S. DOE ordered power converters)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Princeton Power Systems has received a grant from the U.S. DOE to develop a 50 kW, 480 VAC prototype AC-AC power converter to control wind turbines using its AC-link conversion technology.

PacifiCorp.(Construction & Contracts)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... PacifiCorp has plans to build a 525 MW gas-fired power plant 75 miles south of Salt Lake City, Utah, to be completed in two phases for 2005 and 2006.

Metso Automation.(Construction & Contracts)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Metso Automation has received a turnkey contract to modernize the coordinated boiler turbine control system of St. Johns River Power Park's Unit 2 with the installation of the company's maxDNA system. The plant is jointly owned by JEA and...

Xcel Energy.(Construction & Contracts)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Xcel Energy has announced plans to add 480 MW of capacity at existing peaking plants to consist of 2 additional units at the Blue Lake plant in Shakopee, Minn. and one new unit at the Angus Anson plant in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Tennessee Valley Authority.(Construction & Contracts)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Tennessee Valley Authority has leased an Auto-Probe Q2000 system from United Sciences Testing to perform automated relative accuracy test audits.

ERIN Engineering.(Construction & Contracts)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... ERIN Engineering will establish and manage an integrated risk management organization supporting Exelon's fleet of 17 reactors at ten stations.

ATCO Noise Management.(Construction & Contracts)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... ATCO Noise Management has received a contract from Aker Kvaerner to design, supply and install acoustical buildings for the 250 MW Magnolia Power Project in Burbank, Calif.

Progress Energy.(Construction & Contracts)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Progress Energy reports that its five nuclear units produced a record 35 million MWh last year, generating 36% of the energy used by the company's 2.8 million customers in the Carolinas and Florida.

Emerson Process Management.(Construction & Contracts)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Dairyland Power Cooperative has chosen Emerson Process Management to modernize the control system at its 370 MW coal-fired Madgett station by replacing the current analog system with Emerson's PlantWeb, Ovation, and AMS Suite digital solutions....

Sun Power & Geothermal Energy.(Construction & Contracts)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Sun Power & Geothermal Energy has received an $8.4 million contract to design and build a 1 MW solar photovoltaic system for the Butte County (California) government facility.

Survey says average U.S. plant job pays almost 64K.(Update)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... "The $64,000 Question" was a popular TV quiz show in the 1950s and contestants could win that much--an amount regarded as something of a benchmark at the time--if they had all the right answers. Today, $64,000 (or a little spare change short of...

Hormesis makes a splash.(Nuclear Reactions)
February 1, 2004... Some in the popular press may have just discovered what many scientists have been saying for more than a decade: a little radiation is good for you. Over the past few months two major publications have printed articles lending credence to the...

American Boiler Manufacturers Association (ABMA): companies providing innovative energy solutions since 1888.(Special Advertising Section)
February 1, 2004... Whether it pertains to efficiency, emissions controls, safety or reliability, the member companies of the American Boiler Manufacturers Association bring a singular expertise to the fields of power generation, industrial and commercial process...

Boiler maintenance and upgrades: attacking tube failures; Reducing boiler downtime--particularly from tube failures--demands constant vigilance.(coal fired power plants)
February 1, 2004... Boiler tube failures, especially in coal-fired power plants, continue to be the major cause of boiler forced outages. However, if a tube leak is detected early more severe damage to surrounding tubes and tube banks can be prevented. Common...

Blackout lights up DG markets.(Distributed Generation)
February 1, 2004... Six months have passed since a power blackout left 50 million Americans and Canadians in the dark. A joint task force of the U.S. and Canadian governments puts much of the blame on Akron, Ohio-based utility FirstEnergy, concluding the August...

Playing it safe: Safety Auditing in the power industry.(Safety Auditing)
February 1, 2004... To effectively monitor and manage health and safety performance in the power industry, appropriate assessment tools must be used. Health and safety audits and assessments are used to measure the quality and effectiveness of the health and...

Correct installation and maintenance will avoid costly bearing failures.(Bearings)
February 1, 2004... Fluid film thrust and journal bearings should provide plant operators with years of worry-free operation. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Too often, premature bearing failure results in plant shutdowns to repair or replace the...

DG Project developer addresses current issues.(DG Update)(Interview)
February 1, 2004... Recently, Power Engineering interviewed Thomas E. Kerr, president of PraEis, Ltd., a Strongsville (Cleveland), Ohio-based design build general contractor focused on gas turbine power generation; cogeneration and distributed generation/combined...

Landfill fills Illinois School's heat and power needs.(DG Update)
February 1, 2004... It probably never occurred to the people who built Antioch Community High School near a landfill that the proximity to a garbage dump would ever turn out to be an advantage. But it has. Located in northeastern Illinois, Antioch has become the...

Plant outsources crane inspections to ensure compliance.(Field Notes)
February 1, 2004... UNDER CURRENT U.S. regulations, overhead cranes must be inspected once per year and hook, hoist chains and wire ropes inspected monthly. A certified record that the work inspections have been completed is also mandatory. [ILLUSTRATION...

University of Alberta reduces electric costs with on-site power.(Field Notes)
February 1, 2004... THE UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA (U of A) overlooks the North Saskatchewan River and is one of Canada's largest research universities. U of A's campus includes a teaching hospital, a cancer treatment facility and an auditorium. A district energy...

Submersible pumps.(Products)
February 1, 2004... Multiquip's new 4-inch and 6-inch submersible pumps are tailor-made for high head applications and where operators need an appreciable flow. Their streamlined design makes these models ideal for use in mines, industrial settings and other deep...

Light towers.(Products)
February 1, 2004... The LT-12D and LT-12P are the newest additions to Multiquip's series of light towers. These dedicated units are simple and cost effective solutions to the immediate lighting needs of electric utilities and contractors. The light towers are...

Events.(Calendar)
February 1, 2004... MARCH MARCH 1-3 POWER-GEN Renewable Energy, PennWell (888/299-8016), Las Vegas, Nev. MARCH 3 HRSG Fundamentals Short Course, HRST Inc. (www.hrstinc.com), Tampa, Fla. MARCH 3-5 HRSG User's Group Conference & Expo,...

Clean energy: turning potential into profit.(View on Renewables)
February 1, 2004... It's not every day that leaders of both major U.S. political parties find common ground on a major issue. Consider these comments from the last two U.S. Presidents: * Former President Bill Clinton, in a speech at the Kennedy Center in...

Bad writing contest, take 1.(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2004... Y10K ROLLOVER It was the eve of the Y10K rollover and power company Chief Engin(err) Ms. Stake demanded to know why that tight fisted, budget bustin', cost cuttin' CEO Don T. Care had decided not to replace the computers that had caused...