Power Engineering articles from February 2005

Power Engineering archives from February 2005

A warm, safe spot out front.(OPINION)(greenhouse gases)
February 1, 2005... The Kyoto Protocol, which went into effect this month for signatory countries, will have relatively little direct impact in the United States, other than for multi-national companies that operate in countries where the Protocol's greenhouse gas...

Smart liquid analyzers need smart systems to maximize benefits.(UPDATE)
February 1, 2005... No modern power plant can compete in today's competitive environment without online liquid analyzers. The highly precise detail provided by currently available liquid analysis technology can significantly reduce operating costs and enhance...

C[O.sub.2] rules expected in 10 years.(UPDATE)(carbon dioxide)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... A national environmental survey of U.S. power companies conducted by PA Consulting Group shows that nearly 60 percent of the respondents believe that Congress will enact mandatory limits on carbon dioxide emissions within the next 10 years. ...

PE conducting industry salary survey.(UPDATE)(Power Engineering)
February 1, 2005... In early 2003, Power Engineering collaborated with Abbott, Langer and Associates Inc., in conducting a major survey of salaries in the power generation industry. The results of this survey were summarized in an article in the June 2003 issue of...

Boiler MACT rule targets hazardous air pollutants.(UPDATE)(maximum available control technology)
February 1, 2005... Thousands of industrial, commercial and institutional solid-fueled boilers throughout the United States are subject to a new national emission standard for hazardous air pollutants. The rule, which affects facilities in nearly every sector,...

Personnel & promotions.(UPDATE)
February 1, 2005... Tom Kilgore, president and CEO of Progress Energy Ventures, has been named president and CEO of TVA, succeeding Ike Zeringue, who is retiring. Alan W. (Bud) Wendorf has become chairman, president and CEO of Sargent & Lundy. Howard...

Peabody Energy.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... The State of Illinois has issued the air permit for Peabody Energy's Prairie State Energy Campus, a mine-mouth coal-fired plant to be built in Washington County, Ill.

Entergy will purchase 1 million C[O.sub.2] emission reduction credits.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Entergy will purchase 1 million C[O.sub.2] emission reduction credits, the largest geologic carbon dioxide sequestration purchase to date within the United States, from Blue Source, which presently has greenhouse gas emission reduction...

U.S.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)(United States)(nuclear power reactors )(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... One of the nuclear industry alliances considering building new nuclear power reactors in the U.S. has announced that GE would supply an advanced nuclear reactor for a U.S. site (the GE Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor) rather than...

MTU Friedrichshafen and Detroit Diesel have formed a new division for off-highway engine activities, MTU Detroit Diesel, part of DaimlerChrysler Off-Highway.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)
February 1, 2005... MTU Friedrichshafen and Detroit Diesel have formed a new division for off-highway engine activities, MTU Detroit Diesel, part of DaimlerChrysler Off-Highway. The company will provide engineering, manufacturing, sales and service for off-highway...

TXU.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... TXU will remove from service nine gas-fired peaking units with a total capacity of 585 MW at its Permian and DeCordova plants, and is also buying out of a power purchase agreement from the Mt. Creek and Handley plants that TXU sold to Exelon.

Texas Genco.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Texas Genco will retire six gas-fired plants in the Houston area with a total generating capacity of 3,793 MW: P.H. Robertson, Cedar Bayou 3, T.H. Wharton 2, H.O. Clarke, Deepwater 7, and Webster.

Environmental Combustion Technologies.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... U.S. Wind Farming has entered into an agreement to acquire a specialized continuous filament basalt fiber and ceramic resonance composite dielectric coating developed by Environmental Combustion Technologies to coat wind turbine propellers,...

Infilco Degremont.(CONSTRUCTION & CONTRACTS)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Infilco Degremont will design and supply a flue gas desulfurization wastewater treatment system for Progress Energy's Asheville Generating Station in Arden, NC.

Xcel Energy.(CONSTRUCTION & CONTRACTS)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Colorado regulators have approved the state's first coal-fired power plant in 23 years, a 750 MW unit to be located at Xcel Energy's Comanche Generating Station. Xcel will also upgrade pollution-control equipment at the two existing units at...

PROMECON USA.(CONSTRUCTION & CONTRACTS)(unburned carbon-in-ash analyzer)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... PROMECON USA has received an order from Duke Energy to supply an on-line unburned carbon-in-ash analyzer system to the Belews Creek power plant in North Carolina. The UBC system, which will monitor carbon in the fly ash sampled from multiple...

Plug Power.(CONSTRUCTION & CONTRACTS)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Plug Power will provide on-site hydrogen generation to Detroit Edison's St. Clair Power Plant. The hydrogen will be used to provide cooling to six generator units currently in operation at St. Clair.

Dominion.(MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Dominion has purchased three fossil power stations from USGen New England Inc. for $642 million: the 1599 MW coal and oil fired Brayton Point station in Somerset, Mass.; the 745 MW coal and oil fired Salem Harbor station in Salem, Mass.; and...

Tenaska Capital Management.(MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Tenaska Capital Management has signed an agreement to acquire the Commonwealth Chesapeake Power Station, a 315 MW oil-fired simple-cycle power plant located on the Delmarva Peninsula in Virginia, from TECO Energy for $89 million.

PPM Energy, the U.S. competitive subsidiary of ScottishPower, has acquired Atlantic Renewable Energy Corporation.(MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS)
February 1, 2005... PPM Energy, the U.S. competitive subsidiary of ScottishPower, has acquired Atlantic Renewable Energy Corporation and its wind development portfolio as a wholly owned subsidiary of PPM, now called PPM Atlantic Renewable.

Brascan Power and Emera will acquire the 589 MW Bear Swamp pumped storage hydro-electric generating facility in northern Massachusetts.(MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Brascan Power and Emera will acquire the 589 MW Bear Swamp pumped storage hydro-electric generating facility in northern Massachusetts. The facility sells energy to the New England Power Pool. Also included in the acquisition is the nearby 10...

Black & Veatch.(MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Black & Veatch has completed the acquisition of R.J. Rudden Associates and Lukens Energy Group.

Primary Energy Holdings.(MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Primary Energy Holdings has completed acquisition of six combined heat and power facilities with a total capacity of 270 MW and almost 1.7 million lb/hr of steam located in California, Colorado and New Jersey from Reservoir Capital Group.

AES.(MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS)(Sea West Holdings)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... AES has acquired Sea West Holdings, parent company to Sea-West WindPower.

Correction.(Correction Notice)
February 1, 2005... The photo on page 8 of the January issue, referring to ASCO Power Technologies' 4000 series multiple engine power control system for emergency stand-by power control, should have been credited to ASCO Power Technologies. Power Engineering...

American Boiler Manufacturers Association (ABMA).(Special Advertising Section)(Advertisement)
February 1, 2005... Companies Providing Innovative Energy Solutions Since 1888 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...

Polished performance: refined HRSG designs and O&M practices boost plant performance.(HRSG USER'S GROUP)(heat-recovery steam generators)(operation and maintenance)(Cover Story)
February 1, 2005... The HRSG User's Group Maintenance Workshop in late November addressed how suppliers and users are refining designs and O&M practices to boost performance at combined-cycle and cogen stations. As experience builds with combined-cycle and...

Long-term maintenance matters; third-party long-term service agreements are gaining in popularity, especially for maintenance and operation of combustion turbines. Kings River Conservation District will soon determine the effectiveness of such an agreement.(COMBUSTION TURBINE MAINTENANCE)
February 1, 2005... Long-term service agreements (LTSAs) are becoming more common every year, for operations and routine maintenance as well as for major maintenance. A quick search of "gas turbines" and "long-term service agreements" on Google turns up more than...

Revving up natural gas engines: the unique and varying features and operating conditions of natural gas engines must be considered when developing maintenance procedures, especially those related to engine lubrication.(NATURAL GAS ENGINES)
February 1, 2005... Not all natural gas engines are created equal, and, even those that are created equal can differ greatly from one another once they are installed in the field. Because the features and operating conditions of natural gas engines are unique and...

Web-trained plant workers: web-based learning is filling the power plant training gap brought about by a work force in flux, greater-than-ever scheduling restraints and ever-tightening operating budgets.(WEB-BASED TRAINING)
February 1, 2005... The power generation industry has changed significantly over the past several years and there is little doubt the industry will continue to evolve as the benefits and challenges of deregulation are further debated. Over the past decade, most...

Double duty: through relatively modest modifications to existing turbines, asset owners can capitalize on growing revenue opportunities in spinning reserve markets.(SPINNING RESERVE)
February 1, 2005... For companies looking to extract a bit more revenue out of their installed equipment base, spinning reserve markets may be the answer. With simple modifications to existing equipment, power producers can convert otherwise idle peaking turbines...

Dual fuel hospital CHP just what the doctor ordered.(DG UPDATE)(combined heat and power)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... A state-of-the-art cogeneration plant commissioned at the Queensway Carlton Hospital in Ottawa, Ontario in early November will provide the hospital with hot water, steam and power. In addition to natural gas, the 1,060 kW GE Jenbacher JMC320v85...

Project aims to improve CHP performance/reduce utility resistance.(DG UPDATE)(combined heat and power)(distributed generation)
February 1, 2005... The potential for utilizing heat in addition to electricity generated by distributed generation installations affords maximum economic incentive for DG projects. At the same time, resistance by electric utilities to grid-connected DG projects...

Events.(Calendar)
February 1, 2005... MARCH 1 - 2, Northwest Hydroelectric Association Annual Conference, Northwest Hydroelectric Association (www.nwhydro.org), Portland, Ore. 1 - 3, POWER-GEN Renewable Energy, PennWell (www.power-gengreen.com), Las Vegas, Nev. 7 - 8,...

Engineering, maintenance and new turbine oil save money for electric utility.(FIELD NOTES)
February 1, 2005... PACIFICORP, ONE OF THE LARGEST and lowest-cost electric utilities in the West, recently invested $200,000 to clean 30 years of deposit buildup in the Unit 3 steam turbine pipes, bearings, filter housings and reservoir at its Naughton Plant in...

Coyote Springs.(MANAGING THE PLANT)(original equipment manufacture)
February 1, 2005... The Coyote Springs Power Generation Facility in Boardman, Oregon, shares an interesting technical tie with an earlier age of American industrialization: the 22-acre plant site was once a watering stop for railroad steam engines. The modern...

Electronic descalers.(PRODUCTS)
February 1, 2005... ClearWater Enviro Technologies Inc. has announced an alternative to chemical descaling of wide-diameter pipe and downstream surfaces such as chillers, cooling towers, heat exchangers, boilers and evaporators. The company has added seven new...

Machinery Lubrication Handbook.(PRODUCTS)
February 1, 2005... Maintenance Technology International Inc. has announced that the third edition of The Practical Handbook of Machinery Lubrication is now available. The 260-page, 33-chapter reference book is a compilation of more than 40 years of practical...

HDS industrial/commercial Burner.(PRODUCTS)
February 1, 2005... Webster Engineering and Manufacturing Co. has introduced the HDS Series industrial/commercial Burner. The HDS offers 10-to-1 turndown and UL/cUL approval. It improves operational performance of a fire-tube boiler by widening the differential...

3-D software.(PRODUCTS)
February 1, 2005... Quantapoint Inc. has announced the release of PRISM 3D 5.0 software for managing, sharing and extracting critical information from as-built laser documentation. PRISM 3D is specifically designed to support the work process and information...

Fabricated duplex strainers.(PRODUCTS)
February 1, 2005... Spence Strainers International (SSI) has announced its 150DB Series fabricated duplex strainers, engineered for applications in various industries including power. Available in carbon steel or stainless steel, in sizes 2" through 24" or larger,...

Flame scanner.(PRODUCTS)
February 1, 2005... The new SmartScan 121 microprocessor flame scanner from Hamworthy Peabody Combustion accurately and reliably senses the presence and condition of flames in a broad range of applications. The flame technology is suitable for coal, oil, gas,...

Gas turbine generator set.(PRODUCTS)
February 1, 2005... Solar Turbines Inc. has introduced the cold-end-drive, single-shaft Taurus 65 industrial gas turbine generator set for cogeneration, combined-cycle and other industrial power generation applications. Solar developed the Taurus 65 to meet the...

CMMS software.(PRODUCTS)
February 1, 2005... Eagle Technology Inc. has introduced the ProTeus IV, its latest generation computerized maintenance management software system (CMMS). The heart of the ProTeus IV is its new master scheduler, which provides enhanced preventive maintenance...

150 kW genset.(PRODUCTS)
February 1, 2005... The new 150 kW model GGLB spark-ignited natural gas generator set from Cummins Power Generation is designed to provide full-rated standby power for backup and emergency power applications. The unit features a heavy-duty, four-cycle natural gas...