Power Engineering articles from October 2006

Power Engineering archives from October 2006

Global pitfalls.(Feedback)(Letter to the editor)
October 1, 2006... Dear Power Engineering: As a 25-year veteran of power plant equipment purchasing globally (China, Japan, Europe, Korea and South America) I can readily attest to the numerous material, design, manufacturing, construction and startup...

Correction.(Correction notice)
October 1, 2006... The July 2006 Power Engineering article, "Nuclear Energy's 'Brilliant' Future", quoted John Polcyn as stating that Tennessee Valley Authority's Watts Bar Unit 2 began operation in 1997. That should have been a reference to Watts Bar Unit 1....

JETS powered.(Opinion)(Junior Engineering Technical Society)
October 1, 2006... This past June, I outlined Power Engineering's intention to take a leadership role in discussing workforce issues and promoting the development of the next generation of power industry professional. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] This month I...

Diversify, don't polarize.(Industry Watch)
October 1, 2006... The old saying that all politics are local applies to more than just politics. All energy projects, in the end, are local as well. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Two recent announcements reflect the local nature of energy projects. On August...

Record COAL-GEN crowd tracks new coal rise.(Startup)(Conference news)
October 1, 2006... COAL-GEN 2006 drew almost 2,600 power industry professionals to Cincinnati in mid-August. Hot topics were baseload power supply and challenges facing the coal-fired power sector in solving the dilemma. A standing-room-only crowd of 700...

WorleyParsons.(Construction and Contracts)(Santee Cooper's 600 MW coal-fired generation facility )(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... WorleyParsons has been awarded a $64 million professional services contract for Santee Cooper's 600 MW coal-fired generation facility near Kingsburg in Florence County, S.C. This facility is scheduled to be operational in early 2012. The...

Ameren.(Construction and Contracts)(Ameren Corp)(Hitachi Power Systems America )(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Ameren has signed an agreement with Hitachi Power Systems America to design and supply scrubbers at three coal-fired plants: the Sioux Plant in St. Charles County, Mo. and the Duck Creek and Coffeen plants in Illinois. Five scrubbers will be...

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.(Construction and Contracts)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. has received an order for six M501G gas turbines from Florida Power & Light for its West County Energy Center project in Florida. The order was received through Mitsubishi Power Systems Americas, Inc. (MPSA),...

Babcock Power Environmental.(Construction and Contracts)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Babcock Power Environmental has been awarded a contract for the air quality control systems for TXU's lignite-fired Oak Grove plant. Fluor will provide engineering, procurement and construction services for the two 860 MW units.

Black & Veatch.(Construction and Contracts)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Black & Veatch has been contracted to install two 150 MW simple cycle gas turbines at Tampa Electric's Polk Power Station. The Polk station currently includes a 250 MW IGCC plant and two other 150 MW peaking units.

Ceradyne.(Construction and Contracts)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Ceradyne has received an order for boron carbide/aluminum metal matrix composite components, used for dry storage of spent nuclear fuel, from Transnuclear. They will be integrated into Transnuclear's NUHOMS systems used by U.S. nuclear...

Vogt Power International.(Construction and Contracts)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Babcock Power subsidiary Vogt Power International will supply four HRSGs with selective catalytic reduction to Progress Energy Florida's Bartow repowering project. They will be installed behind Siemens SGT6-5000FD3 gas turbines. The contract is...

Clyde Bergemann.(Construction and Contracts)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Clyde Bergemann will supply on-load boiler cleaning systems for the 400 MW boiler for Salt River Project's Springerville 4 Station in Springerville, Ariz. and the 750 MW boiler at CPS Energy's Spruce Station Unit 2 in San Antonio, Tex.

Dynegy.(Business Briefs)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Dynegy has agreed to join Illinois regulators in advancing a regulatory proposal to reduce mercury, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and particulate emissions from the company's Illinois power plants. If approved, Dynegy's five Illinois coal...

TVA.(Business Briefs)(TVA contract with Southern Co. to construct a new nuclear unit)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... TVA has extended for six months from June 1 an agreement with Southern Co. that could lead to construction of a new nuclear unit. The utilities are part of NuStart Energy Development and are considering a joint nuclear project at the mothballed...

American Wind Energy Association.(Business Briefs)
October 1, 2006... The American Wind Energy Association announced that U.S. wind energy capacity now exceeds 10,000 MW. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Nuclear Regulatory Commission.(Business Briefs)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Dale Klein said he supports the groundwater protection initiative, a self-policing effort proposed in May by the Nuclear Energy Institute. He said the NRC has not yet identified any need for new...

TXU.(Business Briefs)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... In addition to its plans to build more than 9 GW of new coal-fired capacity in Texas, TXU plans to file applications with the NRC for combined construction and operating licenses at one to three sites representing a total capacity of up to 6...

Louisiana.(Business Briefs)
October 1, 2006... Four of the five Louisiana utility regulatory commissioners say they want a new nuclear plant built there in the near future.

Shell Energy Services Company.(Personnel & Promotions)
October 1, 2006... Steven Murray, former president and CEO of Shell Energy Services Company, has joined MXenergy as COO. MXenergy completed its acquisition of Shell Energy August 1.

Westar Energy.(Personnel & Promotions)
October 1, 2006... Greg Greenwood has been named vice president, construction services of Westar Energy. He had previously served as Westar's treasurer.

WorleyParsons.(Personnel & Promotions)
October 1, 2006... Harry W. Sauer has been appointed global power customer sector group manager for WorleyParsons.

Tale of two mergers.(Startup)(LS Power Group)
October 1, 2006... Mid-September brought announcements 24 hours apart on major power industry mergers. One merger was announced and is moving forward. Another merger died. Dynegy and LS Power Group announced that the companies executed a definitive agreement...

AEP.(Mergers & Acquisitions)
October 1, 2006... AEP has agreed to sell its Plaquemine Cogeneration Facility in Plaquemine, La. to Dow Chemical Co.

Duquesne Light Holdings.(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Duquesne Light Holdings has completed the purchase of 65.6 MW (3.83 percent) of the Conemaugh Generating Station and 42.3 MW (2.47 percent) of the Keystone Generating Station for $173 million. Both are coal-fired facilities owned by consortia...

Enron.(sale of Prisma Energy International)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Enron has completed the sale of Prisma Energy International, the last of the three platform entities under its bankruptcy plan to be sold or distributed to creditors, to Ashmore Energy International.

Ingersoll-Rand.(Mergers & Acquisitions)
October 1, 2006... Ingersoll-Rand has purchased the assets of ZEKS Compressed Air Solutions.

Calpine.(Mergers & Acquisitions)
October 1, 2006... Calpine has received bankruptcy court approval to sell the 170 MW Dighton Plant in Dighton, Mass., to BG North America for $90.2 million.

Predictability preferred at DTE Energy Facility.(Managing the Plant)(technology to monitor power plant operations)
October 1, 2006... In late May 2006, a 600 MW coal-fired baseload unit at the Belle River Power Plant operated by DTE Energy in Michigan was running at full load. Operators were looking ahead to an outage planned for the following week to repair a small tube...

HRSG inspections: CC plants are seeing more use, elevating the importance of outage inspections.
October 1, 2006... The "boom" in gas-fired power plant construction of the late 1990s and early 2000s led to capacity margins exceeding 20 percent throughout much of North America. This capacity glut, combined with soaring natural-gas prices, drove many existing...

Burn, baby, burn: this past summer saw natural gas hit a seasonal high price. That didn't keep U.S. power plants from burning record amounts of the fuel.
October 1, 2006... In August 2006, U.S. power plants burned a record amount of natural gas as the country sweltered through extreme summer heat and consumers tried to keep cool. According to BENTEK Energy, a provider of daily energy market supply and demand...

Peak of preparedness: proper care assures that peaking units run like champions.
October 1, 2006... Today's market conditions force power plants to operate plants in peaking service more often than design conditions originally specified. Information is needed on what preparations can be made to minimize failures to start when the plant is...

Addressing a Catch 22: refueling gas-fired CTs with gas derived from coal might be a match for some power providers.
October 1, 2006... It has become almost impossible to talk about new coal-fired capacity without addressing the potential of coal gasification, usually in the context of integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC). From a power industry perspective, IGCC...

Get ready ... There's no shortage of issues to discuss and explore. Get ready for POWER-GEN International 2006.(conference in power industry)(Conference news)
October 1, 2006... Get Ready for the 2006 edition of world's biggest power industry event. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] That means 16,000 attendees and more than 1,000 exhibitors converging on Orlando's Orange County Convention Center for POWER-GEN...

New seal design boosts turbine efficiency.(Field Notes)
October 1, 2006... Steam turbines are a mature technology, and improvements tend to come in small increments. But even a 2 percent boost in efficiency on a 100 MW turbine makes a huge bottom line difference through lower fuel costs and emissions. One way to...

FM approved check valves.(Products)
October 1, 2006... Spence Strainers International recently announced they now offer FM (Factory Mutual) approved Model 125WT, ASME Class 125, cast iron, double door check valves in size 2 inches through 10 inches. FM approved products provide the highest quality...

Abrasive Grind and Blend Kit.(Products)
October 1, 2006... Rex-Cut Products Inc. introduced a new kit for grinding heavy welds on stainless steel that includes an abrasive grinding wheel and a cotton-fiber blending wheel. The Rex-Cut Grind and Blend Kit for stainless steel includes a Sigma Green...

Spares and service program.(Products)
October 1, 2006... Hamworthy Peabody Combustion Inc. is now offering a diverse, proven Spares and Service Program that provides excellent after-the-sale service and support, including installation and commissioning, spares, upgrades, refurbishing and an extensive...

Saw and pipe trolley.(Products)
October 1, 2006... ESCO Tool introduced an air-powered saw and pipe trolley that cuts hard pipe more accurately and faster than using hand grinders, reciprocating hack saws and clamshell tools. The Esco APS-438 Air Powered Saw and WrapTrack pipe trolley provides...

Filter bags.(Products)
October 1, 2006... Eaton Filtration introduced the DURAGAF Filter Bags, which represent the latest development in needled felt filter bag media. Their unique construction delivers high filtration performance with a service life two to five times greater than...

Oil cleaner.(Products)
October 1, 2006... UAS/Kleentek has introduced the N100 electrostatic oil cleaner that draws contaminants of all particle sizes out of oil. This includes the removal of all insoluble contaminants, including tar and varnishes, to yield maximum turbine performance....

Solenoid and process control valves.(Products)
October 1, 2006... Parker Fluid Control Division, manufacturers of the Skinner and Gold Ring lines of solenoid valves and the Sinclair Collins line of process control valves, has introduced the 830 and 835 Series, two- and three-way motorized control valves (MCV)...

N-stamp valves.(Products)
October 1, 2006... Conval, recently announced the addition of ASME III, Class 1, 2, 3 and NPT certifications to its list of quality credentials. These N-stamp certifications are now available on the company's Clampseal globe and check valves, Swivldisc gate...

Boiler tube wear solution.(Products)
October 1, 2006... Conforma Clad recently introduced its infiltration brazed tungsten carbide protection for boiler tubes to coal fired power plants. Boiler tube failure is the number one source of forced outages in all coal-fired power generation plants. Erosive...

Application Server with historian.(Products)
October 1, 2006... ProSoft Technology introduced the new ProLinx 7000 Application Server (AppSrvCE), which delivers communication protocols and a powerful embedded data historian, all together in one package. The AppSrvCE is fully customizable and programmable...

Time to step up to the plate.(Workforce)(need for more engineers at workspace)
October 1, 2006... Each Fall, U.S. News & World Report publishes its list of "America's Best Colleges." Topping the list this year are perennial members of the academic elite. Princeton is No.1 followed by Harvard, then Yale. But where is the Milwaukee...