Power Engineering articles from January 2005

Power Engineering archives from January 2005

The green fields of plenty.(OPINION)(renewable energy)
January 1, 2005... On May 31, 1925, Lou Gehrig, a 21-year old infielder for the New York Yankees, pinch-hit for Pee Wee Wanninger, quietly beginning one of the most remarkable streaks in sports history. The next day, he entered the starting lineup in place of...

POWER-GEN showcases industry's latest and greatest.(UPDATE)
January 1, 2005... POWER-GEN International 2004, in Orlando, provided a forum for dozens of notable power industry announcements and product introductions. (More details from POWER-GEN can be found in the wrap-up article that begins on page 42.) Siemens has...

Exploiting the hidden Web.(UPDATE)(GlobalSpec Inc.)
January 1, 2005... The Internet has become an incredibly valuable tool for those in the power generation industry. The online ability to research a new technology, locate a needed part, or check the reference list of a prospective vendor eliminates a good chunk...

Archive-based weather modeling can aid wind site selection and design.(UPDATE)
January 1, 2005... Crunching decades of highly detailed weather data with super computing power, and combining the results with extensive knowledge of electric power grid behavior can significantly improve the quality and profitability of wind farms in terms of...

Exelon and Public Service Enterprise Group.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Exelon and Public Service Enterprise Group (PEG) have agreed to a merger that would create the largest utility in the United States. Exelon's acquisition of PEG would form Exelon Electric & Gas, with total assets of about $79 billion and 52,000...

FuelCell Energy and its distribution partner in Japan, Marubeni Corp.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... FuelCell Energy and its distribution partner in Japan, Marubeni Corp. have signed an agreement with POSCO to distribute and package Direct FuelCell power plants in Korea and to jointly investigate formation of a joint venture for the research,...

KMS International.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)(Puron AG)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... KMS International, a subsidiary of Koch Membrane Systems of Wilmington, Mass., has acquired PURON, AG, of Aachen, Germany, maker of submerged hollow-fiber membrane modules for wastewater treatment.

Washington Group International has signed a contract with DTE Energy.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Washington Group International has signed a contract with DTE Energy formalizing an engineering, procurement and construction alliance under which Washington Group will perform a series of major environmental control system installations,...

NuStart Energy Development.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... DOE has announced funding approval for a streamlined process of obtaining a nuclear reactor construction and operating license, to be led by NuStart Energy Development. DOE's Nuclear Power 2010 program will share industry costs for preparing an...

Plug Power has announced an agreement with Tyco Electronics Power Systems.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Plug Power has announced an agreement with Tyco Electronics Power Systems under which Tyco Electronics will market and sell Plug Power's GenCore 5T fuel cell systems for telecommunication backup applications throughout the United States and...

Entergy.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... The U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration has recognized Entergy's Louisiana Station cogeneration facility in Baton Rouge, La., as a Voluntary Protection Program Star worksite, one of the highest forms of recognition given by OSHA...

ABB has acquired the U.S. assets of Pacific Breaker Systems.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)(ABB Asea Brown Boveri Ltd.)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... ABB has acquired the U.S. assets of Pacific Breaker Systems, a leading supplier of engineered solutions that improve performance of installed medium-voltage switchgear and circuit breakers.

Steelhead Energy Company.(CONSTRUCTION & CONTRACTS)(recieves government grant for coal gasification facility )(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Steelhead Energy Company has received a $2.5 million grant from the Illinois Clean Coal Review Board for the initial detailed engineering design phase for the Southern Illinois Clean Energy Center, a coal gasification facility to be located in...

Alberici Constructors.(CONSTRUCTION & CONTRACTS)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Alberici Constructors will conduct work for a major retrofit at Alabama Power's E.C. Gaston coal-fired plant in Wilsonville, Ala. Alberici will perform preliminary duct tie-ins to prepare for an SCR installation scheduled at Gaston in the...

Siemens Westinghouse and MesoScribe Technologies.(CONSTRUCTION & CONTRACTS)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Siemens Westinghouse and MesoScribe Technologies have been chosen to conduct the four-year, $5.4 million program for the U.S. Department of Commerce National Institute of Standards and Technology to develop embedded sensors capable of...

SmartSignal.(CONSTRUCTION & CONTRACTS)(Kansas City Power and Light Co.)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Kansas City Power & Light will implement SmartSignal's equipment condition monitoring (ECM) solution to increase the efficiency of maintenance operations. The solution will initially be rolled out to 16 generating units representing a total...

Framatome ANP.(CONSTRUCTION & CONTRACTS)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Framatome ANP, AREVA's joint subsidiary with Siemens, has been awarded a contract by Florida Power & Light to refurbish a reactor coolant pump for the Turkey Point nuclear plant. The new pump's internal components, including the shaft and...

Applied Utility Systems.(CONSTRUCTION & CONTRACTS)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Applied Utility Systems has received a contract valued at $14.1 million from Modesto Irrigation District to engineer, procure and construct N[O.sub.x]/CO emission control systems for two GE Frame 7B gas/oil-fired simple cycle turbines at the...

Wheelabrator Air Pollution Control.(CONSTRUCTION & CONTRACTS)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Wheelabrator Air Pollution Control has been awarded two contracts by We Energies to supply turnkey fabric filter systems at the Presque Isle Power Plant, Units 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 in Presque Isle, Mich. The contracts include installation of three...

Wood Group Power Operations.(CONSTRUCTION & CONTRACTS)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Wood Group Power Operations has been awarded a $19.5 million power plant services contract with Kings River Conservation District for a simple-cycle peaking power station in Fresno, Calif. Wood Group will provide routine and major O & M,...

Westinghouse.(CONSTRUCTION & CONTRACTS)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... FirstEnergy Nuclear has awarded Westinghouse a contract for replacement reactor vessel head installation and upgrade services for Beaver Valley Unit 1 in Shippingport, Pa. The contract is in addition to earlier awards to Westinghouse for...

ABB.(CONSTRUCTION & CONTRACTS)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... ABB has been awarded contracts from Ameren UE to install Expert Advisor turbine health assessment software at the Labadie, Rush Island and Sioux plants.

ATCO Noise Management.(CONSTRUCTION & CONTRACTS)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... ATCO Noise Management's advanced noise silencing technology will be incorporated into the largest power plant to be built in New York City in more than 25 years, a gas-fired plant next to the Steinway piano manufacturing facility in Astoria...

Invensys Process Systems.(CONSTRUCTION & CONTRACTS)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Invensys Process Systems has been selected to provide a Foxboro I/A Series distributed control and data acquisition system at Omaha Public Power District's Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Station.

CAE.(CONSTRUCTION & CONTRACTS)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... CAE has been selected to develop automated software tools for the emulation of distributed control systems for Florida Power & Light's St. Lucie and Turkey Point (nuclear) plant simulators.

Stars align for nuclear power.(NUCLEAR REACTIONS)(Editorial)
January 1, 2005... Nuclear optimists are always seeking hopeful signs in the latest political, technical, economic and regulatory developments. Now, a number of events in all of these venues conspire to once again fuel U.S. nukes' eternal hope. The...

Renewable energy: moving into the mainstream; Renewable energy in its various forms is sailing into the energy mainstream--with hydropower's blue waters beneath it, wind filling its billowing sails, the bright sun above, and an abundance of renewable biofuels lining the shore.(Cover Story)
January 1, 2005... The counterculture iconoclast living in a rustic setting, his energy supplied by primitive solar thermal panels, is an image as antiquated today as that of a motorist hand-cranking his Model T. Highly reliable plug-and-play photovoltaic (PV)...

Going steady--developing productive supplier alliances: supplier alliances are gaining attention as possible cost-saving and service-friendly support tools for power plant owners, but their successful use depends on well-defined procedures for selecting and managing suppliers.(SUPPLIER ALLIANCES)
January 1, 2005... At one of the world's largest power companies, all purchasing was once executed locally. When the economy tanked, the power company set up a task force to reduce the plant's chemical costs, resulting in rapid savings of a million dollars. But...

In SCR's shadow: catalytic combustion technology holds significant promise as an emission control technology, capable of achieving N[O.sub.x] levels as low as 1.5 ppm. Broad commercialization, however, is currently hampered by the ready availability of proven SCR technology and the need for more comprehensive operating results.(CATALYTIC COMBUSTION)(selective catalytic reduction )
January 1, 2005... Regulatory forces continue to drive efforts to reduce pollutants from power production, for everything from S[O.sub.x] and N[O.sub.x] to mercury and particulates. Proponents of catalytic combustion--which uses a catalyst to keep combustion...

Proper impeller tipping critical to feedwater pump performance: correctly executed impeller vane tipping is critical to boiler feedwater pump performance and reliability, and to avoid problems, pump buyers and users should be aware of this subtle pump quality detail.(BOILER FEEDWATER PUMPS)
January 1, 2005... Boiler feedwater pumps are critical elements in thousands of electric power generating stations. Historically, engineering procurement construction (EPC) contractors have experienced problems with boiler feedwater pumps during the commissioning...

Back to the basics: the prevalent theme at POWER-GEN International in Orlando in late 2004 centered on getting the industry back to the basics. Advanced technology, emerging markets and balanced strategic planning, however, will be focal points of the ever-changing power environment.(POWER-GEN REVIEW)
January 1, 2005... With insightful and interesting variations on how they said it, the central sentiment among keynoters at POWER-GEN International was that the electric utility industry has returned to its roots. They described an emerging power provider model...

The lowdown on UPS systems.(NEWS & VIEWS ON DISTRIBUTED GENERATION)(uninterruptible power supply)
January 1, 2005... Computers and telecommunications products have become so entrenched in our daily lives that if a network is interrupted for even a short time, the interruption can, at best, inconvenience users and, at worst, cripple a business for days, weeks...

A brighter tomorrow.(VIEW ON RENEWABLES)(forecast and trends of solar energy industry)
January 1, 2005... The foundations of tomorrow's solar industry have to be laid in the developed world. It is here, if anywhere, that the sector will gain the scale needed to become profitable. If solar is to play a significant part in the lower carbon economy,...

Replacement lock-out relays.(PRODUCTS)
January 1, 2005... Electroswitch offers replacements for Westinghouse and GE lock-out relays (LORs) that are worn or failing. Available replacements are either Series 24, which replace various GE models, or Westinghouse models. These feature manual-, electric-,...

Compact, multifunction annunciator.(PRODUCTS)
January 1, 2005... AMETEK Power Instruments has introduced the new Panalarm Series 90A annunciator that performs many new functions, allowing operators to consolidate the amount of equipment they require. In addition to its standard function of visually...

Combustion solutions.(SUPPLIER'S SHOWCASE)(Advertisement)
January 1, 2005... Hamworthy Peabody Combustion Inc. recently released a new corporate capabilities brochure. The six-page, four-color bulletin offers detailed descriptions, technical information and full-color photographs of the company's various proven...

Control valves.(SUPPLIER'S SHOWCASE)(Advertisement)
January 1, 2005... The Young & Franklin 9200 Series Isolation Valves are high temperature fast acting valves ( [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Visit www.yf.com/9200 to find out more. Circle 117

Cooling solutions.(SUPPLIER'S SHOWCASE)(Advertisement)
January 1, 2005... GEA AG Announces Formation of GEA Power Cooling, Inc. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Energy Technology Division of GEA recently announced the merger of its GEA Power Cooling Systems and GEA Integrated Cooling Technologies business units...

Couplings.(SUPPLIER'S SHOWCASE)(Advertisement)
January 1, 2005... Peace of mind in the knowledge that replacement parts will fit like a glove, avoiding lengthy shutdown times and the possibility of lost revenue. For reliability and longevity, the maintenance crew can rely on the Lovejoy 1000 Series Grid...

Emissions monitoring.(SUPPLIER'S SHOWCASE)(Advertisement)
January 1, 2005... Ducon D7000 Extractive system package offers complete integrated continuous emissions monitoring to meet EPA 40CFR60, 40CFR75. It consists of sample probe, heated stack filter, electric heat traced sample lines, wet and dry oxygen analyzer, gas...

Fault recorders.(SUPPLIER'S SHOWCASE)(Advertisement)
January 1, 2005... Analyze Transient Events Faster, More Accurately [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] AMETEK digital fault recorders provide fast answers when system upsets occur. Their sophisticated software instantly captures and analyzes line transients,...

Filters, water.(SUPPLIER'S SHOWCASE)(Advertisement)
January 1, 2005... Orival Filters protect heat exchangers and prevent clogging of nozzles, tubes and other narrow passages by removing dirt particles down to micron size, of any specific gravity, from once-through and recirculating cooling water systems. Line...

Gas turbines.(SUPPLIER'S SHOWCASE)(Advertisement)
January 1, 2005... GE Energy is one of the world's leading suppliers of power generation technology, energy services and management systems, with an installed base of power generation equipment in more than 120 countries. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] GE Energy...

HRSGs.(SUPPLIER'S SHOWCASE)(Advertisement)
January 1, 2005... Nooter/Eriksen is a designer and supplier of Heat Recovery Systems for the power and process industries. Our mission is to utilize our design, engineering, management and construction expertise to provide imaginative, high quality,...

Hydrogen generators.(SUPPLIER'S SHOWCASE)(Advertisement)
January 1, 2005... HOGEN[R] hydrogen generators produce 99.999+% pure, pressurized hydrogen onsite at customers' sites for cost-effective cooling and maximum output from hydrogen-cooled electric generators at thermal electric power plants. Using only water and...

Measurement/controls portal.(SUPPLIER'S SHOWCASE)
January 1, 2005... Access a kaleidoscope of data about products that measure, control, verify and secure nearly every aspect of power generation. From combustion analyzers to revenue meters, from flame sensors to utility load management, from nuclear remote-seal...

Metallurgical Services.(SUPPLIER'S SHOWCASE)
January 1, 2005... Power Systems now offers a full range of Metallurgical Services designed to identify the root cause of failures and provide viable, high performance solutions. Our world-class engineers perform failure analysis, metallography, and verification...

Preheater Gearboxes and parts.(SUPPLIER'S SHOWCASE)(Advertisement)
January 1, 2005... Preheater Gearboxes and Parts [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Penn Machine is now an authorized source for Ljungstrom[R] Air Preheater Gearboxes, parts and service. Drop-in replacement gearboxes, gears, shafts, bearings, seals and housings are...