Power Engineering articles from February 2008

Power Engineering archives from February 2008

The winds of risk.(Opinion)
February 1, 2008... Political risk may seem an odd concept to apply to the United States. International investment decisions usually weigh it when assessing how likely a government's collapse may be or how robust various regulatory and legal systems are. ...

Big dogs are barking.(Opinion)
February 1, 2008... About 10 years ago as wholesale electricity markets were opening up and retail markets were starting to deregulate, there was a saying among electric utilities that opposed disturbing the status quo: "Big Dogs Eat First." It meant that...

EPA's big stick.(Clearing the Air)(Environmental Protection Agency)
February 1, 2008... Every month seems to bring a new, yet familiar, headline: "EPA levies huge fine against utility for Clean Air Act violations." The most prevalent charge is modifying coal-fired boilers without receiving a New Source Review (NSR) permit and...

Caring about equipment and people.(Managing the Plant)
February 1, 2008... Located 10 miles east of New Orleans, Entergy's Michoud Plant has been keeping the city's lights on for more than 40 years. Natural gas is Michoud's primary fuel, backed up with No. 6 fuel oil. Prior to Hurricane Katrina, Michoud had three...

POWER-GEN International @ 20: a look back at issues and events from 1988.(Power Engineering magazine)
February 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...

Natural gas seen as stabilizing the Texas wind fleet.(Startup)
February 1, 2008... Tightening reserve margins are increasing the need for additional quick-start power to provide both spinning and non-spinning generation reserves as well as voltage support and other ancillary services to grid operators. That need is...

German firms take on carbon capture issues.(Startup)
February 1, 2008... Another of the world's largest power sector original equipment manufacturers has joined the hunt for carbon capture technology to allow coal and natural gas-fired power plants to continue supplying power while limiting the release of carbon...

The U.S. wind energy industry installed 5,244 MW of new capacity in 2007, increasing the total generating capacity by 45 percent.(Business Briefs)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... The U.S. wind energy industry installed 5,244 MW of new capacity in 2007, increasing the total generating capacity by 45 percent. The growth represents a total investment of over $9 billion, said the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). The...

Google has invested $10 million in eSolar.(Business Briefs)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Google has invested $10 million in eSolar, a California-based company specializing in solar thermal energy, as part of its pledge to use some of its profits to "develop renewable energy cheaper than coal".

Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd (AECL) and the Nuclear Power Institute of China (NPIC) have signed an agreement to work on developing low uranium consumption Candu technologies in China.(Business Briefs)
February 1, 2008... Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd (AECL) and the Nuclear Power Institute of China (NPIC) have signed an agreement to work on developing low uranium consumption Candu technologies in China. Cooperative research and development is to include work on...

FPL Energy told North Dakota regulators it plans to build a 200 MW wind farm, which would include 133 turbines.(Business Briefs)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... FPL Energy told North Dakota regulators it plans to build a 200 MW wind farm, which would include 133 turbines. The farm will cost an estimated $350 million (or around $1,750 a kilowatt). FPL Energy said in a letter to regulators that it hopes...

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved eight mandatory critical infrastructure protection reliability standards to protect the nation's bulk power system against potential disruptions from cyber security breaches.(Business Briefs)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved eight mandatory critical infrastructure protection reliability standards to protect the nation's bulk power system against potential disruptions from cyber security breaches. These...

Exelon Nuclear's 17 generating units produced a total of 132.3 million net MWh of electricity in 2007, the highest annual production ever for the operator.(Business Briefs)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Exelon Nuclear's 17 generating units produced a total of 132.3 million net MWh of electricity in 2007, the highest annual production ever for the operator. The fleet also achieved an average capacity factor of 94.5 percent, an all-time record...

Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s board elected Jack Keenan as chief operating officer.(People & Personnel)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s board elected Jack Keenan as chief operating officer. He assumes the role previously held by William T. Morrow who has been the utility's president and CEO since July 2007. Keenan previously was senior vice...

Brenda Boultwood has been appointed senior vice president and chief risk officer at Constellation Energy.(People & Personnel)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Brenda Boultwood has been appointed senior vice president and chief risk officer at Constellation Energy. She will lead risk management activities for Constellation Energy and its businesses, including defining and assessing enterprise-wide...

Energy Future Holdings, formerly known as TXU Corp., hired former Exelon executive John F. Young as its CEO.(People & Personnel)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Energy Future Holdings, formerly known as TXU Corp., hired former Exelon executive John F. Young as its CEO. Young most recently was executive vice president of finance and markets. He also managed Illinois-based Exelon's nuclear, fossil and...

Henry B. Barron, Duke Energy group executive and chief nuclear officer, is retiring, effective March 31.(People & Personnel)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Henry B. Barron, Duke Energy group executive and chief nuclear officer, is retiring, effective March 31. He served as chief nuclear officer since 2004. Dhiaa M. Jamil, Duke Energy's senior vice president of nuclear support, will assume the...

W. Paul Bowers was named executive vice president and chief financial officer of Southern Company.(People & Personnel)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... W. Paul Bowers was named executive vice president and chief financial officer of Southern Company. He currently is president of Southern Company Generation. Thomas A. "Tom" Fanning is now chief operating officer of Southern with responsibility...

CFB: technology of the future? Fuel flexibility and a smaller carbon footprint are behind renewed interest in circulating fluidized bed technology.
February 1, 2008... Back in the 1980s, circulating fluidized bed (CFB) technology was a little like integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) today: coal generation's technology of the future. Back then, CFB was touted as a means of using abundant supplies of...

Can your plant survive an unplanned or emergency trip? Catastrophic damage may result if the battery power required to start and run emergency pumps fails when it's most needed.
February 1, 2008... Can your generation plant survive an unplanned or emergency trip without sustaining major damage? Good question, and one your insurance company or investors are likely to ask and want documentation on. The heart of the safety system...

Securing your control system: the "CIA triad" is a widely used benchmark for evaluating information system security effectiveness.(central intelligence agency )
February 1, 2008... The control systems world is changing. Historically, process control systems--which include all industrial control, process control, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), distributed control (DCS) and industrial automation systems...

Tracking the life of critical gas turbine parts: losing track of time-sensitive parts can be expensive and potentially dangerous.
February 1, 2008... As gas turbine technology has steadily advanced, "critical" gas turbine parts, such as combustion and hot gas path components, have significantly changed in terms of initial cost, repair cost, expected life limits and order lead times....

Lubrication: industry leaders look to fix the varnish issue.(Discussion)
February 1, 2008... Power Engineering magazine invited leaders at top lubrication companies to take part in a wide-ranging "state of the industry" discussion. Those taking part included John Sewell, chief engineering manager, Northeast Region, Exxon Lubricants and...

Testing predicts fan erosion and leads to design changes.(Field Notes)
February 1, 2008... Industrial facilities of all kinds frequently must deal with particulate matter impinging the wheel and housing of industrial fans and eroding fan components. This is true even of fans manufactured with wear-resistant materials. However, a...

SAP enhancements improve coal plant maintenance practices.(Field Notes)
February 1, 2008... In the search for improved physical asset management performance, a major Canadian-based power generation company wanted to leverage its investment in its SAP PM Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS). Its goal was to develop good...

Pumps.(Products)(Multiquip Inc.)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Multiquip's new InstaPrime pumps are designed for moving large quantities of water quickly and efficiently in a diverse range of applications, particularly in dewatering, sludge, sewer-by-pass and well point applications. The InstaPrime...

Portable low-pressure calibrator.(Products)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... The United Instruments' portable low-pressure calibrator (LPC) calibrates pressure sensors in the field. The portable LPC is designed for in-situ fieldwork. The LPC is useful for both burner and power management, which includes boiler systems,...

Surge protection devices.(Products)(Raycap Inc. has developed surge protection devices )(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Raycap Inc. has developed surge protection devices (SPDs) that provide continuous protection from over-voltage and other transient voltage activity for electronic automation and control equipment. Raycap's Strikesorb SPD modules are...

Location tops salary.(Workforce)(Survey)
February 1, 2008... By now, we've all heard at least once or twice the unnerving statistics related to the aging workforce in the power generation industry, particularly the nuclear power industry. Although the numbers vary slightly from source to source,...