Powermag 2012

Vol. 156 No.
5 May 2012

Vogtle Gets Green Light
EU and UK Coal Power
McIntosh Upgrades Controls
10 Smart Grid Trends
CT Fleet Catalyst Management
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May 2012
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POWER www.powermag.com 1
ON THE COVER
New life for nuclear power could well be an alternate headline for this issues cover
story about the all-important combined construction and operating licenses for the first
new U.S. nuclear units in decades and the work that is now under way at Plant Vogtle in
Georgia. Our cover photo, taken Jan. 30, 2012, captures the construction site for Units 3
and 4, with Units 1 and 2 in the background. Courtesy: Southern Company Inc.
COVER STORY: NUCLEAR POWER
36 Vogtle Gets Green Light
Folks in the U.S. nuclear industry are smiling more than they have in decades thanks
to Nuclear Regulatory Commission approval in February of construction and operat-
ing licenses (COLs) for two new units in Georgia and March approval of two more
COLs for new units in South Carolinaall using the Westinghouse AP1000 reactor
design. We look at the progress made to date at the Plant Vogtle site, long expected
to be home to the first new U.S. reactors in over three decades, as well as safety
measures that are part of the new design.
SPECIAL REPORTS
FOSSIL FUELS
46 Europe: More Coal, Then Less
Its the paradox of shifting energy policies: Even as European countries aim to de-
crease their carbon emissions, they have plans to build new, high-efficiency coal
plants in the short term to compensate for retiring nuclear plants and coal plants that
are more polluting. Our report looks at the new balancing act Europe is learning.
INSTRUMENTATION & CONTROL
54 Upgraded Controls Position McIntosh Plant for Efficient Operations
The operating profile of combined cycle plants has changed since this Florida plants
Unit 5 went into service in 2001. This case study of a distributed control system
upgrade traces the process to improved reliability and includes a dozen lessons
learned that could save you headaches and dollars if your plant is considering a
similar project.
FEATURES
AIR EMISSIONS
60 Managing the Catalysts of a Combustion Turbine Fleet
In an era when gas plants are running baseload instead of cycling seasonally, deter-
mining the most economic way to manage NO
x
reduction catalyst systems is more
important than ever. Heres a life-cycle management plan for fleetwide selective
catalytic reduction.
WATER MANAGEMENT
66 Think Water When Designing CSP Plants
One of the conundrums of siting renewable generation is that regions where solar
resources are plentiful tend to be regions where water resources are scarce. This
article presents a water treatment system design approach for concentrating solar
power (CSP) plants that minimizes complexity and cost while providing reliable and
sustainable plant performance.
36
Established 1882 Vol. 156 No. 5 May 2012
60
46
www.powermag.com POWER
|
May 2012 2
SMART GRID
80 Ten Smart Grid Trends to Watch in 2012 and Beyond
Many smart grid initiatives have gotten through the initial stages of piecemeal tech-
nology deployment (smart meters, primarily) and are now facing the more complex
challenges of integrating multiple devices, programs, and functionalities. Pike Re-
search offers its list of the top trends to watch globally in the near future.
ENERGY STORAGE
86 Getting Bulk Storage Projects Built
Several recent developments have paved the way for easier development of bulk
storage projects in the U.S., but the technology still faces often daunting obstacles.
The industry group championing utility-scale energy storage makes the case for a
policy framework that could help bring more such projects online faster.
NUCLEAR POWER
94 Too Dumb to Meter: Follies, Fiascoes, Dead Ends, and Duds on the U.S. Road to
Atomic Energy
In this POWER exclusive, the first chapter of Too Dumb to Meter, by Contributing
Editor Kennedy Maize, begins a serial presentation of the book about the history of
nuclear power.
DEPARTMENTS
SPEAKING OF POWER
6 Abundance of Minerals
GLOBAL MONITOR
8 India Revs Up Capacity with Massive Coal Plants
10 Ukraine Looks Beyond Russian Gas
12 THE BIG PICTURE: Coal Demand Surges
16 As Small Gas Turbine Segment Grows, Alstom Launches E-Class Upgrade
16 Technology Converts Flue Gases to Jet Fuel
18 Technique Generates Salinity Gradient Power and Cleans Wastewater
20 Powered by Felt
20 POWER Digest
FOCUS ON O&M
22 Partnership Develops Innovative CCP Project
26 What Are the Safety Rules for Anyway?
30 Predictive Maintenance That Works
LEGAL & REGULATORY
34 States Promote Clean Energy Programs
By Angela Neville, JD
106 NEW PRODUCTS
COMMENTARY
112 Ensuring the Best Use of Federal Energy Subsidies
By Keith B. Hall, attorney with Stone Pigman Walther Wittmann LLC
Connect with POWER
If you like POWER magazine, follow us online (POWERmagazine) for timely industry news
and comments.

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May 2012 4
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May 2012 6
SPEAKING OF POWER
Abundance of Minerals
W
hat do iPads, flat screen TVs,
Chevrolets plug-in Volt, and Ray-
theons Tomahawk cruise missiles
have in common? Each uses one or more
of the 17 rare earth elements in their man-
ufacture, and over 95% of those elements
come from China.
President Obama, in a new tough-on-Chi-
na policy, announced on March 13 the fil-
ing of a request for consultation (cosigned
with the European Union and Japan) with
the World Trade Organization (WTO) over
Chinas imposition of unfair trade restric-
tions on the exports of rare earth elements.
These elements are used in the manufac-
ture of many familiar products: neodymium
and lanthanum are essential for building
batteries for hybrid and electric cars; scan-
dium is used in lighting; dysprosium and
neodymium are critical in building specialty
magnets used in wind turbines; gadolinium
and terbium are used in video screens; and
tellurium is used in solar panels. If there
is no voluntary agreement after a 60-day
consultation period, the complaint goes to
a WTO panel, which may take years to reach
a decision.
In spoken remarks, Obama cited the rea-
son for the WTO claim: We want our com-
panies building those products right here
in America, but to do that American manu-
facturers need to have access to rare earth
materials which China supplies. Referring
to the need for a properly functioning glob-
al market in rare earths, Obama said, Now
if China would simply let the market work
on its own, we would have no objections.
Consistently Poor Policies
The presidents statements suggest that
he remains committed to a policy of rely-
ing on the purchase of raw materials criti-
cal to our national security from countries
that do not support U.S. interests. Do
you see the striking resemblance between
Obamas rare earth minerals policy and his
energy policies? Instead of enacting poli-
cies designed to increase domestic sources
of fossil fuels or minerals on public lands,
his approach is to blame foreign producers
for rising prices while at the same time
asking those same producers to increase
production (see my editorial Abundance
of Energy in the March 2012 issue). Filing
this complaint will do nothing to safeguard
rare earth supplies to U.S. manufacturers
in the future. More definite action is re-
quired, beginning with opening public
lands to mining of rare earths.
China strips these raw materials from
the earth at rock bottom costs and makes
a tidy profit on their sale. China also wont
hesitate to use its market muscle as a tool
of its foreign policy. In September 2010,
a Chinese fishing vessels captain was ar-
rested after a collision with a Japanese
boat in disputed waters. Japans refusal
to release the captain caused a diplomatic
uproar that was followed by a complete
embargo on exports of rare earths to Ja-
pan. Days later, Japan capitulated, the
captain was released, and the embargo was
lifted. To paraphrase an old saying, He
who has the rare earths makes the rules,
and China enjoys making the rules.
Rare Earths Not Exactly Rare
China may have the market cornered on rare
earths today, but it has only 36% of known
reserves; U.S. reserves are about a third
to one-half of Chinas, depending on the
data source. From the mid-1960s through
the mid-1980s, the U.S. led the world and
was self-sufficient in rare earth element
production. A seismic shift in the global
market occurred just as demand for rare
earths began to soar. China saw a market
opportunity in rare earths where it could
be the low-cost supplier, coincident with
the strengthening of U.S. open-pit mining
health and safety and environmental rules,
and the closing of millions of acres of pub-
lic lands to future mining. By 1999, the
U.S. was importing 90% of its needed rare
earth elements. The last rare earth mine in
the U.S. closed its doors in 2002.
Prices for rare earth elements began
skyrocketing on the global market in 2007
when China began restricting exports. The
price of rare earths spurred the February
reopening of Colorado-based Molycorp
Inc.s Mountain Pass Mine located on pub-
lic lands in southeast California, near the
Nevada border, after the company spent
$781 million on environmental and tech-
nology upgrades. The mine is expected to
produce 20,000 tons per year of selected
rare earth metal ores (a fraction of that
produced by China) suitable for processing
into pure metals beginning later this year.
However, the U.S. does not have the ca-
pability to refine the oxide ores into pure
elements. One source says the ores will be
shipped to China to be refined.
Defense in Depth Desired
In my opinion, Obama should be worrying
about the effect on manufacturers should
China embargo rare earth exports to the
U.S. in the future, as it did with Japan.
China knows it wins, even if it loses the
WTO decision, because the final decision
is years away. Whether minerals or fossil
fuels, placing the countrys economic well-
being in the hands of unpredictable and
unreliable global trading partners is poor
policy. Materials critical to our economy
and national security must have substan-
tial domestic supplies. When a country
corners the market of any critical mate-
rial that cannot be produced domestically,
America is vulnerable.
Much as with fossil fuels, the U.S.
doesnt have a shortage of rare earth met-
als. We have a shortage of leaders whose
vision of Americas economic safety and
security is beyond the present.
Dr. Robert Peltier, PE is POWERs
editor-in-chief.
Do you see the striking resemblance
between Obamas rare earth minerals policy
and his energy policies?
Power Magazine
8.125 x 11
www.etaproefficiency.com
e-mail: etapro@gpstrategies.com
800.803.6737 716.799.1080
Of f i ces i n: Nor t h Amer i ca Lat i n Amer i ca Eur ope Asi a
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Plant Reliability: EtaPRO APR
Of f i ces i n: Nor t h Amer i ca Lat i n Amer i ca Eur ope Asi a

The Harrison Power Station, operated by a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp., evaluated
EtaPRO APR and its unique localized modeling approach on ten critical pieces of
equipment being monitored by their legacy system. In late March 2011, EtaPRO
APR initiated an alarm, while no alarm was initiated by the legacy system. After
investigation, Harrison staff found a control system fault in a hydrogen cooler bypass
valve. Had this problem continued undetected, Harrison would have been forced to
shut down for repairs.

GPA-002013 EtaPRO_APR_PowerMag_8.125x11.indd 1 3/28/12 11:50 AM

|
May 2012 8
India Revs Up Capacity with Massive
Coal Plants
India, a country that plans to fuel its current level of gross domes-
tic product growth of between 8% and 9% with massive, mostly
coal-fired power capacity additions over the next decade, in March
commissioned an 800-MW supercritical unit at the first of Indias
government-envisioned ultra-mega power plants (UMPP). Tata Pow-
er, the countrys largest integrated private utility, put online Unit
1 of the five-unit 4,000-MW Mundra UMPP in Gujarat State, just 48
months after construction began on the project (Figure 1).
The unit had been ready for grid synchronization since last
June, the company said in a statement, but it was awaiting a
transmission system connection from Indias national grid opera-
tor, the Power Grid Corp. of India Ltd., a project that was com-
missioned on Sept. 29. Work on Units 2, 3, 4, and 5 was all on
track and progressing well, Tata said. The project located south
of Tunda Wand village in Mundra Taluka, Kutch district of Gujarat,
will be operated by Tata subsidiary Coastal Gujarat Project Ltd.
and is expected to supply five power shortagestricken Indian
states: Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Haryana, and Punjab.
In 2006, India announced it would fast-track a series of 16
ambitious supercritical coal-fired projects, each with a capacity
of 4,000 MW, to help boost power capacity by at least 100,000
MW by the end of the five-year 11th plan (which ends this year).
Each UMPP is expected to require an investment of about $4.5
billion or more, it said.
Only four projects have been awarded so far on a build, own,
and operate basis. In addition to Tatas Mundra in Gujarat, three
are being developed by Reliance Power: the Sasan UMPP in Mad-
hya Pradesh, Krishnapatnam UMPP in Andhra Pradesh, and Tilaiya
UMPP in Jharkhand. The first 660-MW unit at Sasan is expected to
come online in January 2013, just as the last Mundra units will be
commissioned. At Krishnapatnam, however, where Reliance had
planned to build six 660-MW units, work has been paused since
last June. Reliance cited a new regulation from Indonesiafrom
which it imports its coalthat prohibited sale of coal, including
to affiliate companies, below benchmark prices.
The Tilaiya project, which would also comprise six 660-MW
units and is expected to come online between May 2015 and
June 2017, is being built at a coal pithead (mine mouth) and has
dedicated captive coal blocksunlike the other three projects,
which will rely on imported coal.
Future UMPP projects may be sited in this way, or closer to
ports, as India battles chronic coal shortages. Though the coun-
try has large coal reserves, domestic mining companies are strug-
gling to keep up with demand needed to sustain its existing coal
plants, which account for 55% of Indias generation.
Indias capacity frenzy extends far beyond UMPPs, and even
bigger coal plants are slated to come online over the next decade.
This March, international business conglomerate Adani Groups
power arm, Adani Power, synchronized the fifth supercritical unit
of its 4,620-MW coal-fired power plant, also in Mundra, Guja-
rat, making it one of the biggest privately owned coal plants
in the world (Figure 2). The plant was developed in four phases
and comprises four units of 330 MW each and five supercritical
units of 660 MW each. Construction began in 2008 and full com-
missioning is expected later in 2012. Like Tatas Mundra UMPP,
Adanis plant will also use imported Indonesian coal.
The Mundra plants are two of Indias first supercritical units
in an existing 105-GW coal fleet, though dozens more advanced
coal plants aiming for reduced fuel consumption are in the pipe-
line. In late February, national generator NTPC, for example,
announced it would build Indias first coal-fired 800-MW ultra-
supercritical thermal power plant project by 2017. Meanwhile,
Indias 12th plan calls for 60% of coal capacity additions to come
from supercritical plants.
And India is not alone: According to the International Energy
Agencys (IEAs) recently released World Energy Outlook, the past
five years have seen increased shares of both supercritical and
advanced coal generation technologies, such as ultrasupercritical
and integrated gasification combined cycle technology. In 2010,
roughly three-quarters of coal-fired capacity worldwide was sub-
critical, compared with close to 85% in 1990. About 20% was
supercritical, and only 3% consisted of advanced technologies.
The agency projects that advanced technologies will make up a
much larger share of future coal plants, which are expected to
account for around 27% of the total new additions to generating
capacity worldwide between 2011 and 2020, and around 22%
between 2011 and 2035.
One key factor that impedes the deployment of more efficient
coal-fired generation is the often relatively expensive levelized
1. The start of something big. Indias Tata Power put online
Unit 1 of the five-unit 4,000-MW Mundra ultra-mega power plant
(UMPP) in Gujarat State. The project is the first of a series of 16 UMPPs
envisioned by the Indian government to ramp up power capacity and
address chronic power shortages. Some projects will have dedicated
captive coal blocks while others will be built closer to ports and will rely
on imported coal. Courtesy: Tata Power
2. Clash of the titans. In March, Adani Power put online the fifth
supercritical unit of its 4,620-MW coal-fired power plant that is sited in
Mundra, Gujarat State, adjacent to Tata Powers recently commissioned
800-MW supercritical unit of its ultra-mega power plant. This image
shows fishermen walking in front of the Tata Mundra plant (left) and
Adani Power project (right). Courtesy: Bank Information Center Trust
FLEXCO. COM
Dan relies on Flexco because he knows lost material is lost revenue.
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coal. He decided to talk to Flexco.
Our team designed and installed transfer chutes that worked within Dominions
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delivered soft, centered loads to the belts they also reduced dust, plugging and
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May 2012 10
cost basis, the IEA says. The thermal efficiency of an ultra-super-
critical plant is typically up to 50% higher than that of a conven-
tional subcritical plant. But the capital and maintenance costs are
higher, which can make the subcritical plant the cheaper option
at low coal prices, where there is no penalty for CO
2
emissions or
when regulated electricity rates result in losses for the producer.
Agency data showed, for example, that in China, a typical ultra-
supercritical plant today had capital costs only 15% higher than
those of a supercritical plant, yet subcritical plants continued to
make up a substantial proportion of new coal-fired capacity. Oth-
er factors that markedly affect which technology is used in new
plants include fuel quality (local coal may have high moisture,
ash content, or impurities); the technical capability and experi-
ence required to construct and operate such plants; the longer
planning and construction lead times of more complex plants;
the size of the unit; and local conditions such as the availability
of water. Taken overall, the best-available technology may not
be the cheapest or most practical solution, it notes.
Ukraine Looks Beyond Russian Gas
For years, tensions have been brewing between Russia, which pro-
vides about a quarter of the natural gas consumed in the European
Union (EU), and neighboring Ukraine, a country through which 80%
of those exports travel via pipeline. Ukraine, which depends on Rus-
sia for all its gas supplies, has protested what it considers Gazproms
inflated gas price hikes and unfair fines; meanwhile, it too has raised
tariffs for gas shipped across its territory. Russia has accused Ukraine
of not paying its gas-incurred debt and of illegally siphoning off sup-
plies destined for Europe. This March, in an effort to diminish its
reliance on Russian gas, Ukraine found a new supplier.
Erupting disputes have twice left parts of Europe in the cold,
with countries such as Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ro-
mania, and Slovakia enduring a total natural gas shutoff from
pipelines running from Russia through Ukraine. In 2006, Russia
turned off all gas exports to Ukraine for three days; in 2008, it
cut shipments by 50%; and in 2009, a renewed debt spat led to a
total disruption of supply, which lasted more than 13 days.
A resolution was temporarily reached, as former Ukraine Prime
Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and former Russian Prime Minister (and
now President) Vladimir Putin negotiated a new contract covering the
next decadeuntil the Ukrainian 2010 presidential election.
Stemming from the political storm that ensued in Kiev af-
ter that 2009 agreement, Tymoshenko was charged with abusing
power for ordering Ukraine utility Naftogaz to sign the gas deal
with Russia in 2009, which was allegedly detrimental to Ukraines
interests, and subsequently was sentenced in October 2011 to
seven years in jail. Current Ukraine president and former Tymosh-
enko ally Viktor Yushchenko testified against her in a trial that
was bemoaned by the EU and the U.S. as politically motivated.
Tymoshenkos release from prison for medical treatment was be-
ing discussed in early April this year, a move analysts saw as a
weak effort by the Ukraine to mend relations with the EU.
Meanwhile, a new spat arose between Ukraine and Russia
in 2010: Ukraine disputed how much gas it would import from
Russia, citing diminished demand as a result of the economic
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TurboCare offers a single source for the complete range of
products and services for gas turbines, including field services,
rotor inspections and repairs, hot gas path and
combustion component repairs, and replacement components.
value chainfrom repairs, coatings and design engineering, to machining, eld services and the worlds most
Continued, p. 14
Chromalloy extends engine life like no other company can, by providing the industrys most complete independent
value chainfrom repairs, coatings and design engineering, to machining, eld services and the worlds most
advanced independent castings facility. These unrivaled in-house capabilities represent over 60 years of
innovationand they can make an impact today.
Engine life can stretch beyond the horizon.
chromalloy.com Long live your engine.
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May 2012 12

A
s the worl d l eader in f iel d heat treating, Team now
brings the benef its of Wirel ess Heat Treating to
the power industr y. Lower costs, higher quality, greater
safetyyou get all the advantages of Wirel ess Heat
Treating in a highly advanced system.
Teams Programmabl e Logic Controll er and SCADA

sof tware provide the brains for its Wirel ess Smar tHeat
400
system. Driven by interchangeabl e, Internet- enabl ed

laptops, one Team technician controls mul tipl e heat cycl es
from a singl e remote l ocation. Real -time temperatures can
be monitored via PDA or PC, giving you the peace of mind
that the process is being executed exactly as required.
From small , compl ex f ittings to massive turbines,
Team Wirel ess Heat Treating delivers reliabl e, documented
resul ts that save you time and money. For compl ete
information visit www. t eami ndus t r i al ser vi ces. com.
Scan code with
QR reader app
on smart phone
See Us at
Electric Power
Booth 1354
China
2009: 88
2020: 188
India
2009: 61
2020: 178
Japan
2009: 144
2020: 158
EU
2009: 156
2020: 155
Middle East
2009: 1
2020: 2
THE BIG PICTURE: Coal Demand Surges
Patterns of coal trade have been shifting in recent years as demand surges in Asian countries. Whereas Japan and the European Union
(EU) have long been the worlds largest hard coal importers, China and India are now emerging as top importers. This surge has
shifted the center of gravity in international coal trade to the Pacific Basin market, as estimates from the International Energy Agency
(IEA) show. All projections are per the IEAs New Policies Scenario, which assumes cautious implementation of policy commitments
and plans announced by countries around the world. Note: All figures in million tonnes of coal equivalent.
Sonal Patel is POWERs senior writer
EXPORTERS IMPORTERS
Australia
2009: 256
2020: 310
Indonesia
2009: 191
2020: 288
Russia
2009: 77
2020: 96
South Africa
2009: 63
2020: 66
U.S.
2009: 32
2020: 65

A
s the worl d l eader in f iel d heat treating, Team now
brings the benef its of Wirel ess Heat Treating to
the power industr y. Lower costs, higher quality, greater
safetyyou get all the advantages of Wirel ess Heat
Treating in a highly advanced system.
Teams Programmabl e Logic Controll er and SCADA

sof tware provide the brains for its Wirel ess Smar tHeat
400
system. Driven by interchangeabl e, Internet- enabl ed

laptops, one Team technician controls mul tipl e heat cycl es
from a singl e remote l ocation. Real -time temperatures can
be monitored via PDA or PC, giving you the peace of mind
that the process is being executed exactly as required.
From small , compl ex f ittings to massive turbines,
Team Wirel ess Heat Treating delivers reliabl e, documented
resul ts that save you time and money. For compl ete
information visit www. t eami ndus t r i al ser vi ces. com.
Scan code with
QR reader app
on smart phone
See Us at
Electric Power
Booth 1354
|
May 2012 14
recession, and Gazprom insisted Ukraine fulfill its contractual ob-
ligations and buy quantities of gas agreed upon in 2009.
In the latest development, Ukraine announced plans this
March to sign a contract with Germanys RWE energy firm to im-
port Russian gas through Slovakia using reverse-flow technology.
Rejecting allegations that the plans are a ploy to force Gazprom
to discount supplies, Ukraine Prime Minister Nikolay Azarov told
German newspaper Die Welt that even though Ukraine buys much
more gas than Germany does, it has to pay a much higher price,
as negotiated in the 2009 contract. Buying Russian gas from a
German company would be cheaper than buying it directly from
Russia, he said.
The amount Ukraine proposes to buy from RWE is an estimated
3 million cubic meters of gas per dayminiscule compared to
the 100 million cubic meters per day it consumes from Russia,
analysts note, but it is the first, critical attempt by Ukraine to
reduce its dependence on imports from Gazprom, they say.
Over the rest of Europe, countries hard-hit by interruptions
in gas supply have also been seeking ways to wean themselves
from reliance on the Ukraine trade route. The future of European
gas markets is generally dependent on three new gas pipeline
projects. Two, the Nord Stream and South Stream pipelines, are
majority owned by Gazprom, and the third, the Nabucco project,
is supported by Europe and Turkey.
Despite some European hostility to the project owing to
increased European energy dependency on Russia, the first of
the two Nord Stream 1,224-kilometer (km) offshore pipelines
directly connecting Russian gas reserves and energy markets
in the EU began transporting gas in mid-November last year
(Figure 3). The second line, which runs parallel to the first, is
expected to come on stream in the last quarter of 2012. Each
line has a transport capacity of roughly 27.5 billion cubic me-
ters (bcm) of gas a year.
Completion of the Gazprom and ENI South Stream pipeline
which proposes to carry 63 bcm of gas per year through the
Black Sea to Bulgaria, and farther, to Greece, Italy, and Aus-
triais expected by 2015, though there are many doubts about
its feasibility.
Some analysts view the 10 billion project as a direct
competitor of the EU-backed Nabucco line. The Nabucco line
has been planned to run from the eastern border of Turkey
to Baumgarten in Austria via Bulgaria, Romania, and Hun-
gary. Preliminary analyses had cited Iran and Turkmenistan
as sources of gas supplies for the conduit, but it was later
decided the pipeline would carry gas from the Caspian region,
notably from the Shah Deniz field in Azerbaijan, to Europe by
2017. This pipeline was intended to diversify Europes current
natural gas suppliers and delivery routes and create a south-
ern corridor free from Russian interests.
The 3,900-km Nabucco pipelinewhose shareholders include
Austrias OMV, Hungarys MOL, Romanias Transgaz, the Bulgar-
ian Energy Holding, Turkeys Botas, and Germanys RWEwould
reach a capacity of 31 bcm a year, meeting just 5% of Europes
gas needs. In mid-March, however, developers proposed a route
half the length of the original project, running from the Turkish-
Bulgarian border to Austria.
3. First in line. The first line of the two Nord Stream 1,224-kilometer gas pipelines running in parallel through the Baltic Sea from Vyborg,
Russia, to Lubmin, near Greifswald, Germany, began transporting gas in mid-November last year. The route crosses exclusive economic zones of
Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Germany. The second line will come on stream later this year. Interest in the 15 billion project surged
following the Russian-Ukraine gas crisis of 2009, which shut off gas delivery to Europe for almost two weeks. Courtesy: Gazprom
www.rolls-royce.com
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The Trent 60 with its unrivalled availability and reliability
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May 2012 16
As Small Gas Turbine Segment Grows,
Alstom Launches E-Class Upgrade
Close on the heels of its recent upgrades of the GT26 and GT24
gas turbines for 50-Hertz and 60-Hertz power markets, Alstom in
March launched its next-generation GT13E2 gas turbine, a medi-
um-sized gas turbine of the 200-MW class (Figure 4).
The E-class turbine first began operation two decades ago in 1993.
It has already been upgraded twice: In 2002, which pushed perfor-
mance from 166 MW at 35.7% gas turbine efficiency to 172 MW at
36.4%, and in 2005 to improve flame stability, lower NO
x
emissions,
and increase performance to 185 MW and 37.8% gross efficiency. The
newest upgrade boosts simple cycle performance to 202.7 MW at 38%
gross efficiency as well as net combined cycle plant performance to
565 MW at 53.8% efficiency. Alstom boasts that the upgrade also
has improved part-load efficiency and fast-start capability, promising
more than 200 MW available in 15 minutes.
A general trend in the gas power sector shows that large gen-
eration plants need to be designed for the highest efficiency and
operational flexibility to save fuel cost over a broad range of op-
erating conditions and to match swiftly changing power demand.
But Alstom says in a recent conference paper that another market
segment exists outside of the one covered by combined cycle
power plants based on large gas units. This will require solutions
based on smaller gas turbine units, sometimes in multi-unit con-
figurations to meet specific project requirements, adapt to plant
configuration, and offer the highest reliability without compro-
mising on performance and environmental issues. If flexibility
is key for the large gas turbine market, versatility is what is
required for the smaller turbine segment, it says.
The company cites International Energy Agency forecasts that
natural gas generation will grow to 7,900 TWh in 2035 from 4,300
TWh in 2009. Nearly one-fifth of this growth is anticipated in China,
another fifth in the Middle East, and a 10th in India. More than 60%
of this growth will be produced by combined cycle gas turbines, but
simple cycle gas turbines are also forecast to more than double.
Alstom expects the upgraded GT13E2 gas turbine will meet
the needs of these countries as well as others, like Russia, which
is boosting power capacity to meet growing demand spurred by
economic growth and a mass of plant retirements. The French
company has already been awarded eight GT13E2 units for proj-
ects in Russia. One reason is that nearly half of the installed
gas power capacity in Russia is more than 30 years old, and a
majority of that consists of inefficient gas-fired steam plants.
Meanwhile, more than 60% of new capacity that will come online
in Russia over the next decade will be gas-fired, but new turbines
will still be required to meet the steam needs of existing com-
bined heat and power systems, Alstom says.
Technology Converts Flue Gases to
Jet Fuel
A new technology promises major advantages for coal-fired power
plants, steel mills, and other industries that produce flue gases
and it could quell concerns about the increased use of arable land
and food prices related to the production of ethanol. Thats be-
cause the technology developed by New Zealandbased startup
firm LanzaTech uses a proprietary gas fermentation process to con-
vert readily available industrial gases into fuel and chemicals.
Essentially, the firms process promises to convert carbon
monoxidecontaining gases produced by steel mills, biomass gas-
ification, and coal combustion into fuel and chemical products
(Figure 5) using microbes. The process is flexible to the hydrogen
content in the input gas and tolerant of typical gas contami-
nants, says LanzaTech.
Because our microbe is feedstock agnostic and completely
tolerant to the extreme levels of contaminants found in steel mill
and other industrial off gases, our process can use the lowest
cost, most readily-available resources, including hydrogen-free
gases, the firm claims.
LanzaTech CEO Dr. Jennifer Holmgren says on the firms web-
site that efforts to prove that the fermentation process produces
high-value chemicals are also paying out. Those chemicals
include the building blocks for the production of polymers and
plastics as well as hydrocarbon fuels, like jet fuel, that are com-
patible with existing fuel stocks and jet engines, so [they] can
be dropped in to the existing fuel supply, she said, noting that
LanzaTech is working with the U.S. Department of Energys (DOEs)
4. The happy medium. Alstom in March launched its latest
GT13E2 gas turbine upgrade. The medium-sized turbine of the 200-
MW class has a 21-stage compressor with a variable inlet guide vane,
an annular combustion system with closed-loop combustor cooling,
and a five-stage turbine. Courtesy: Alstom
5. From flue to fuel. The LanzaTech process to convert carbon
monoxidecontaining gases to fuel and chemical products involves
sending those gases to the bottom of a bioreactor, where they are dis-
persed into a liquid medium. This liquid is then consumed by proprietary
microbes as the reactor contents move upward in the reactor vessel.
After being withdrawn, the net product is sent to the recovery section,
which uses a hybrid separation system to recover the valuable product
and co-products from the fermentation broth. Courtesy: LanzaTech
Resources
Industrial Syngas: biomass
coal methane
COG, chemical Power
Customized
catalysts
Native
Synthetic
Engineering
control
chemistry
Product
suite
Product
suite
C
2
Ethanol
Acetic acid
C
3
i-propanol
C
4
BDO
n-Butanol
i-Butanol
Succinic acid
C
5
Isoprene
Other
PHB
Thermochemical approaches
Hydrocarbon
fuels (diesel, jet,
gasoline)
Chemical
intermediates
Olefins
Chemicals
He doesnt know how steam
atomization improves turbine bypass
performance. He just knows that hes
able to read past his bedtime.
To learn more, please visit www.tyco.com/sempellturbine
Copyright 2010 Tyco Flow Control. All rights reserved.
Tyco Sempell turbine bypass valves play a vital role in powering peoples everyday
lives. Our unique design uses central pipe steam atomized water spray to eliminate
annual pipe and nozzle inspection and extend the life of your bypass pipe - which
can save over $300,000 every ve years. That should help you rest easy.
Tyco709-025_Power_Caucasian Boy Reading_FINAL_080411.indd 1 1/31/2012 11:14:27 AM
He doesnt know how steam
atomization improves turbine bypass
performance. He just knows that hes
able to read past his bedtime.
To learn more, please visit www.tyco.com/sempellturbine
Copyright 2010 Tyco Flow Control. All rights reserved.
Tyco Sempell turbine bypass valves play a vital role in powering peoples everyday
lives. Our unique design uses central pipe steam atomized water spray to eliminate
annual pipe and nozzle inspection and extend the life of your bypass pipe - which
can save over $300,000 every ve years. That should help you rest easy.
Tyco709-025_Power_Caucasian Boy Reading_FINAL_080411.indd 1 1/31/2012 11:14:27 AM
|
May 2012 18
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory on converting some of its
chemicals to drop into jet fuel. British airline Virgin Atlantic,
which has partnered with LanzaTech, is already committed to
begin trials using LanzaTech-produced jet fuel on its Shanghai-
New Delhi-London route within a few years. The biofuels that
will succeed must be compatible with existing engines, pipelines
and refineries, Holmgren said.
Auckland-based LanzaTech has been operating a pilot plant at
a New Zealand Steel plant since 2008 that it says is capable of
generating 16,000 gallons of ethanol made from carbon monoxide
a year. Recently, LanzaTech agreed to allow the steel company and
its Australian parent company Bluescope Steel to use the technol-
ogy commercially. Meanwhile, the 2005-founded company has be-
gun building demonstration projects in China, working with major
steel manufacturers Baosteel and Capital Steel to turn waste gases
into ethanol. The 100,000-gallon demonstration plant to convert
waste flue gas at Baosteel is expected to begin production later
this year. A full-scale commercial facilitywhich LanzaTech antici-
pates will be the worlds first steel waste to ethanol and chemi-
cals plantis planned to be operational by 2013.
Last November, LanzaTech also announced plans to work with
Chinese coal producer Yankuang Group to produce fuels and
chemicals from synthesis gas produced by gasification. A more
recent deal with Indian Oil and Jindal Power and Steel will result
in a facility to convert plant gases into ethanol in India.
The company also recently bought the old Range Fuel site in
Georgiaa project now renamed Freedom Pinesthat had
been awarded millions in federal funding under the Bush and
Obama administrationsto convert regionally sourced waste
wood into renewable fuels. It is also working with the DOE, the
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and the Federal Avi-
ation Administration to adapt its technology to produce aviation
fuels for commercial and military use. Separately, the company is
also working with the Chinese Academy of Sciences on research,
development, and commercialization of related technologies.
This process to convert flue gases to fuel has garnered much
attention from investors. In addition to racking up clean tech-
nology accolades (it was Global Cleantech Company of the Year
for 2011), LanzaTech is being backed by Malaysian national oil
company Petronas, Malaysian engineering firm Dialog Group, and
investing groups Khosla Ventures and Qiming Venture Partners.
Technique Generates Salinity Gradient
Power and Cleans Wastewater
Exploiting the difference in salt concentrations between the fresh-
water runoff from river mouths at the point where they meet salt-
water reservoirs such as seas and oceans to harness power isnt a
new thing. Salinity gradient power has been recognized since the
1950s. Its massive global potential was estimated in the 1970s on
the basis of average ocean salinity and annual global river discharges
at between 1.4 TW and 2.6 TW. The most prominent technique to
exploit the salinity gradient at river mouths is called reversed elec-
trodialysis (RED), and it basically entails letting a salt solution and
freshwater flow through a stack of alternating cathode and anode
exchange membranes. The chemical potential difference between the
freshwater and saltwater generates a voltage.
In a new article in the journal Science, however, researchers at
Pennsylvania State University argue that REDs potential applica-
tions are limited to coastal areas, and are impractical, owing to
the need for a large number of membrane pairs (a RED module
with a capacity of 250 kW, for example, is almost the same size
as a shipping container). But the researchers say that the RED
process could be improved using salt solutions that could be
continuously regenerated with waste heat (of more than 40C)
and conventional technologies that would allow a much wider
application of salinity-gradient power. One possibility is to use
the method on water containing food waste, domestic waste, and
animal wastewhich, the researchers claim, could represent a
17-GW power capacity in the U.S. alone.
Their proposed technique essentially combines the use of mi-
crobial fuel cellswhich use exoelectrogenic bacteria, or bac-
teria found in wastewater that consume organic material and
produce an electric currentand RED to create what they call a
microbial reverse-electrodialysis cell (MRC, Figure 6).
MRC can work with natural seawater, but the organic matter in
seawater will foul the membranes in RED stacks without exten-
sive precleaning and treatment, the researchers found. So, rather
than relying on seawater, the researchers used an ammonium bi-
carbonate solution, which mimics seawater but will not foul RED
membranes. The ammonium bicarbonate is also easily removed
from the water above 110 F, they suggest. The ammonia and
carbon dioxide that make up the salt boil out, and are recaptured
and recombined for reuse.
In tests using the ammonium bicarbonate MRC, the researchers
reached a maximum power density (using acetate) of 5.6 watts per
square meter of cathode surface areafive times greater than that
produced using just the bacteria, and without a dialysis stack
and nearly 3 W per square meter with domestic wastewater. Maxi-
mum energy recovery with acetate reached 29.5% to 30.5%.
The researchers tested the MRC only in a fill-and-empty mode,
but eventually a stream of wastewater could be run through the
cell, they say. Not having to process wastewater was a major en-
ergy saver, said article co-author Bruce Logan, Kappe Professor of
Environmental Engineering. The bacteria in the cell quickly used
up all the dissolved organic material, he added. This is the por-
tion of wastewater that is usually the most difficult to remove and
requires trickling filters, while the particulate portion which took
longer for the bacteria to consume, is more easily removed.
According to Logan, MRCs can be configured to produce elec-
tricity or hydrogen, making both without contributing to green-
house gases such as carbon dioxide. The big selling point is that
it currently takes a lot of electricity to desalinate water and using
the microbial desalination cells, we could actually desalinate wa-
6. Power from salty water. A new technique engineered by
Penn State researchers that combines bacterial degradation of waste-
water with reverse electrodialysisa method to extract power from a
saltwater-freshwater gradientpromises to produce power anywhere.
This image shows the researchers microbial reverse dialysis test cell,
which produced 5.6 watts per square meter. Courtesy: Penn State
W
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T
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Great things
do come in
small packages.
Satisfying the worlds demand for electricity without emitting any
greenhouse gases is a complex problem, but part of the solution
is now becoming a reality. Introducing the next innovation in
reliable and clean nuclear energy the Westinghouse small
modular reactor.
he Westinghouse small modular reactor is a 200 MWe class,
integral pressurized water reactor that features enhanced safety
systems. hese factory-built, modular reactors will also reduce
construction time and costs, powering energy independence and
global economic growth. Always looking ahead, Westinghouse
nuclear technology will help provide future generations with
safe, clean and reliable electricity.
Check us out at www.westinghousenuclear.com
THE NEXT INNOVATION FROM WESTINGHOUSE
|
May 2012 20
ter and produce electricity while removing organic material from
wastewater, he said.
The article authored by Roland D. Cusick, Younggy Kim, and
Bruce E. Logan appears in the March 2012 issue of Science and
is titled Energy Capture from Thermolytic Solutions in Microbial
Reverse-Electrodialysis Cells.
Powered by Felt
It promises to be the most widely and easily distributed power
generation technology to date: heat, captured in fabric. Work
at Wake Forest University in North Carolina has led to the cre-
ation of a thermoelectric fabric called Power Felt that can turn
theoretically any form of heat (body heat, waste heat from a car,
or heat from any other source to which the material can be at-
tached) into sufficient electrical current to help power devices or
the systems the material is in contact with (Figure 7).
As the abstract of an article about this research in the Febru-
ary issue of Nano Letters explains, Thermoelectrics are materials
capable of the solid-state conversion between thermal and elec-
trical energy. Carbon nanotube/polymer composite thin films are
known to exhibit thermoelectric effects. Although such compos-
ite thin films are not very powerful, when layered into modules
resembling felt fabric, power output increases.
Since these fabrics have the potential to be cheaper, lighter,
and more easily processed than the commonly used thermoelec-
tric bismuth telluride, the overall performance of the fabric shows
promise as a realistic alternative in a number of applications such
as portable lightweight electronics.
Researchers suggest that potential uses for Power Felt include
lining automobile seats to boost a cars battery power and service
its electrical needs, insulating pipes or collecting heat under roof
tiles to lower buildings gas or electric bills, lining clothing or
sports equipment to monitor an athletes performance, or wrap-
ping IV or wound sites to better track patients medical needs.
Imagine it in an emergency kit, wrapped around a flashlight,
powering a weather radio, charging a prepaid cell phone, says
David Carroll, director of the Center for Nanotechnology and Mo-
lecular Materials and head of the team leading this research.
Literally, just by sitting on your phone, Power Felt could provide
relief during power outages or accidents.
The university is exploring options to produce Power Felt com-
mercially. Although even widespread application of this clean
and energy efficient power generation technology likely would
not threaten the existence of utility-scale generating stations,
it could contribute to lower demand increases. That may be seen
as a loss for power companies in developed countries with ample
generation options, but it could be a boon for both generators
and consumers in capacity-stretched nations. Then theres the
convenience of knowing that as long as your body is alive (that
is, warm), youll never worry about a dead cell phone battery.
POWER Digest
Three South Korean Firms Opt for MHIs J-Series Turbines.
Japanese firms Marubeni Corp. and Mitsubishi Heavy Indus-
tries (MHI) on March 22 said they had been jointly awarded or-
ders for three large-scale combined cycle electric power projects
in Korea totaling 3,800 MW. The plants are the 950-MW 2nd Pyeo-
ngtaek Combined Cycle Power Plant, the 1,900-MW Dongducheon
Combined Cycle Power Plant, and the 950-MW Ulsan 4 Combined
Cycle Power Plant. All three plants are to use MHIs newly devel-
oped M501J, a 60-hertz J-Series gas turbine model.
The 2nd Pyeongtaek power plant is being built in Gyeonggi-
do by Korea Western Power Co., Ltd. (KOWEPO), a subsidiary of
Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO). Marubeni has received an
order, jointly with MHI, for two J-Series gas turbines, one steam
turbine, and generators for the plant. For the Dongducheon pow-
er plant, the two companies received an order consisting of four
J-Series gas turbines, two steam turbines, and generators. Dong-
ducheon Dream Power Co., Ltd., an independent power pro-
ducer jointly established by KOWEPO, Samsung C&T Corp., and
Hyundai Development Co., is building the plant in Gyeonggi-do.
Marubeni and MHI will deliver the core components to Samsung
C&T and Hyundai Development.
For the Ulsan 4 power plant, operated by the Korea East-
West Power Co., a subsidiary of KEPCO, in Ulsan Metropolitan
City, Marubeni received an order jointly with MHI and Daelim
Industrial Co. for engineering, procurement, and delivery of the
equipment, including two J-Series gas turbines, a steam turbine
and generators, and the construction and installation work, on a
full turnkey basis.
MPSA to Outfit 1,300-MW VEPCO Gas Plant. Mitsubishi
Power Systems Americas (MPSA) on March 20 announced that
it received an order from Dominion Resources subsidiary Vir-
ginia Electric and Power Co. (VEPCO) for three M501GAC gas
turbines and one steam turbine to be installed at VEPCOs Bruns-
wick County Power Station some 60 miles south of Richmond, Va.
The three gas turbines will be partially manufactured and fully
assembled at MPSAs Savannah Machinery Works in Georgia for
scheduled plant completion in the summer of 2016. The new gas
turbine combined cycle power plant will have more than 1,300
MW of generation capacity. Under a separate long-term service
agreement, MPSA will provide comprehensive turbine mainte-
nance, repair, and outage services, replacement parts supply, and
dedicated remote monitoring for the gas turbines.
Summit, National Grid, Petrofac Propose Full-Chain CCS
in UK. Seattle-based Summit Power Group on March 20 an-
nounced it entered into an agreement with UK grid operator Na-
tional Grid and international oil and gas service provider Petrofac
to seek funding for development in the UK of a low-carbon power
plantincluding full-chain, commercial-scale carbon capture
and storage (CCS). The project, to be named the Caledonia Clean
Energy Project, will be submitted to the UK Department of Energy
and Climate Change for funding under the UKs Carbon Capture &
Storage Delivery Competition. The proposed Summit power plant
7. Power. Felt. A thermoelectric fabric called Power Felt, shown
here conducting a charge, was developed in the nanotechnology labo-
ratory of Wake Forest University. Its physical and operational flexibility
promises to be useful in a wide array of applications. Courtesy: Wake
Forest University
May 2012
|
will be based at the Port of Grangemouth, west of Edinburgh on
the Firth of Forth, Scotland. Along with more than 90% carbon
capture, the coal feedstock plant will also produce hydrogen gas
for commercial use. The carbon dioxide captured will be trans-
ported via pipeline to St. Fergus by National Grid Carbon and
then transferred offshore for geological sequestration deep under
the North Sea by Petrofac subsidiary CO2DeepStore.
Siemens to Supply Gas Turbines for Australian Combined
Cycle Plant. Siemens Energy in March secured a 150 million
turbine order for the proposed 242-MW Diamantina combined
cycle power plant in Mount Isa in Queensland, Australia. The
companys scope of supply encompasses two power islands each
comprising one SST-400 steam turbine, two SGT-800 gas turbines,
and two heat-recovery steam generators. Siemens will also be
responsible for the overall plant design and will provide techni-
cal advisory services during the construction and commissioning
phases of the project. The plant will power local mines operated
by Xstrata. The first block of the plant is expected to go online in
late 2013 and the second will start up in early 2014.
Emerson Automates Two Ultrasupercritical Plants in
China. Emerson Process Management is automating two new
1,000-MW ultrasupercritical power generating units at the Ji-
angsu Xinhai power plant in China with its Ovation expert con-
trol system, the company said on March 13. The technology will
monitor and control boilers and turbines at the units built by
Jiangsu Guoxin Investment Group, which replace two old, less-
efficient 220-MW units that have been decommissioned. The Ova-
tion system will perform data acquisition as well as manage each
units flue gas desulfurization system, modulating control sys-
tem, sequence control system, electrical control system, furnace
safety supervisory system, feedwater turbine control system, and
balance-of-plant processes.
Algonquin Power Acquires Four Major U.S. Wind Proj-
ects from Spains Gamesa. Ontario-based Algonquin Power
& Utilities in March entered into an agreement to acquire a
480-MW portfolio of four wind power projects in the U.S. from
Spanish wind turbine manufacturer Gamesa for about US$900
million. The projects include 240 units of Gamesa G9X-2MW wind
turbines. They include the Pocahontas Prairie (80 MW), Sandy
Ridge (50 MW), Senate (150 MW), and Minonk (200 MW) projects
in Iowa, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Illinois respectively. Gamesa
is to provide operation and maintenance and asset management
services for 20 years for each of the wind farms.
Siemens Puts Energy Storage Pilot Online in Italy. Sie-
mens Infrastructure & Cities put an energy storage pilot plant
with an output of 1 megavolt-ampere and a capacity of 500
kWh into operation in Italy at the end of February 2012. With a
compact battery and converter cabinet as the smallest unit, the
capacity of the Siestorage energy storage system can be expand-
ed to up to 2 MWh, says Siemens, which developed the system
with an unnamed lithium ion battery manufacturer as part of its
Siestorage series. The plant was installed in Italian utility Enels
medium-voltage distribution network. Enel will use it to study
new smart grid solutions for voltage regulation, the integration
of renewable energy sources into the medium-voltage network,
the integration of an electric vehicle charging station into the
medium-voltage network, and black-start capabilities.
Sonal Patel is POWERs senior writer.
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|
May 2012 22
Partnership Develops Innovative
CCP Project
In 2009, the North Carolina Asheville Regional Airport Author-
ity (Airport), with partners Progress Energy Carolinas Inc. and
Charah Inc., began development of the Westside Development
Fill Project (Westside Project), a long-term infrastructure strat-
egy located in the southwest quadrant of the Airports property.
The project included phased construction of a developable pad
for general aviation and commercial use, a new taxiway running
parallel to the existing runway, and a major expansion of the
existing runway.
The Airports Westside Project encompasses over 53 acres of
partially wooded land. When the partners determined that it
would require nearly 2 million cubic yards of suitable engineered
fill material to construct a developable pad for both general avia-
tion and commercial use (Figure 1), coal combustion products
(CCPs) emerged as an appropriate solution because of the poten-
tial cost savings over conventional fill materials.
Many Design Challenges
Charah began development of the Westside Project by completing an
environmental assessment and an environmental due diligence audit.
As part of this audit, Charah characterized the physical and engi-
neering properties of the proposed CCPs by referencing the American
Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Standards Guide for Design
and Construction of Coal Ash Structural Fills E 2277-03.
Charah also investigated the geologic and hydrogeologic
conditions within the 53-acre area with borings and the instal-
lation of groundwater wells and piezometers. Subsequently, it
obtained the information necessary to characterize the sub-
terrain and input data required by the Environmental Protec-
tion Agencys (EPAs) Industrial Waste Management Evaluation
Model to model the groundwater. Additionally, the company
surveyed for and delineated any preexisting environmental re-
sources (including jurisdictional streams, wetlands, and cultural
resources).
As development of the project continued, Charah incorporated lo-
cal, state, and federal permitting procedures for project design and
construction; coordinated the design and implementation of erosion,
sediment, and pollution prevention controls and activities; and fol-
lowed the testing, engineering, and construction practices for CCP
engineered fill projects.
Layered Engineering
When the environmental assessment was completed, engineering
began on this state-of-the-art engineered fill project. The project
features environmentally conscious controls such as a compre-
hensive liner and cap system, drainage collection system, and
storm water management system.
State regulations do not require use of a comprehensive liner
system or an high-density polyethylene (HDPE) cap liner when
using CCPs as an engineered fill; however, Charah and Progress
Energy considered the application of these design elements en-
vironmentally responsible and the only method suitable for this
project. Progress Energys project manager, Rob Reynolds, noted,
As a group, Progress Energy, Charah, and the Asheville Airport
agreed to utilize only state-of-the-art designs, products, and ma-
terials for this project. We worked hard to design and construct
the first-of-its-kind, next-generation facility utilizing the latest
in environmentally sound engineering.
The Westside project was engineered with a layered bottom and
cap liner system. The bottom liner system includes a compacted
in situ soil subgrade overlain with a bentonite geocomposite clay
liner (GCL) and a 60-mil HPDE liner. Both the GCL and HDPE lin-
ers act as a barrier layer preventing any CCP material or related
moisture to pass through the comprehensive liner system.
To convey any contact water generated on top of the HDPE
to the drainage collection system, Charah proposed the use of a
geocomposite drainage liner placed on top of the 60-mil HDPE
liner. The drainage collection and conveyance system consisted
of a perforated 8-inch HDPE pipe encapsulated by #57 washed
stone wrapped in geotextile fabric. This system will convey any
generated contact water from the CCP fill to grit chambers. Col-
lected water is recycled within the CCP active working area as
dust control or transported to and treated by an approved waste-
water treatment facility.
The engineered fill needed for the Westside Project was acquired
by excavating CCPs from the ash basin at Progress Energys Asheville
Plant in Skyland, N.C., approximately 1.5 miles from the airport. CCPs
are carefully excavated using long-reach excavators and loaded into
tri-axle dump trucks. The CCPs are then placed in a decant stockpile
adjacent to the ash basin so that an acceptable level of moisture can
be achieved. When the moisture content drops to the desired level,
the CCPs are transported to the project site for placement and com-
paction as an engineered fill.
Excavating ash from the Asheville power plants ash storage
basin also provides additional wet ash storage volume for the
376-MW plant.
Upon completion of CCP placement, a 30-mil HDPE cap liner
is used to encapsulate the material. In addition to the HDPE cap
liner, a minimum of 6 feet of compacted soil is placed across
1. Coal byproducts get new life. Aerial view of Asheville Re-
gional Airport Authoritys Westside Project, which made use of coal
combustion products. Courtesy: Charah Inc.
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the CCP fill limits at a compaction rate of at least 95% percent
modified Proctor. This specification meets Federal Aviation Ad-
ministration fill placement requirements for the development of
utilities, aviation facilities, and infrastructure (Figure 2).
Airport director Lew Bleiweis observed, In addition to the fill
requirements, the site presented a drainage challenge, which in-
volved the preservation of the existing runway storm water drain-
age patterns, while still allowing the engineered fill material to
be placed. Significant drainage improvements were constructed
along the eastern side of the engineered fill project to re-direct
runoff around the work area and continue to maintain storm wa-
ter drainage as needed to maintain safe maneuvering, takeoff,
and landing of airplanes.
CCPs have been beneficially utilized for airport construction
projects in Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin. However, this
project is unique in one very important way. According to Scott
Sewell, Charahs vice president of operations, This project is the
first of its kind, being an encapsulated engineered fill meeting
stringent protective features as found in the EPAs proposed rules
for the reuse of coal combustion products.
Construction Under Way
Construction of the Westside Project commenced in August 2010
(Figure 3). During all phases of construction, Charah relied on
Soil cover (6 ft min)
30 mil HDPE liner (textured)
Compacted fly ash fill
#57 stone wrapped in 12 oz geotextile
8-in perforated drainage pipe
Geocomposite drainage liner
60 mil HDPE liner (textured)
GCL-bentonite
geocomposite liner
Existing soil subbase
2. Multi-layer construction. This cross section shows the
complexity of the engineered fill design. Source: Charah Inc.
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3. Construction progress. This photo shows the HPDE liner
being installed. Courtesy: Charah Inc.
|
May 2012 26
a third-party construction quality assurance (CQA) firm to en-
sure that construction and environmental controls met the strict
environmental provisions set by the jurisdictional agencies, the
Airport, Progress Energy, and Charah.
The first construction steps were to clear, grub, and excavate ex-
isting soils and establish the design subgrade surface. Next, Charah
began installing the bottom liner and drainage collection systems.
Afterward, decanted CCPs were hauled by tri-axle dump trucks
equipped with tarped beds from Progress Energys Asheville Plant.
Charah utilized dozers to spread the CCPs in uniform even lifts
to meet the specified elevation tolerance of 0.25 feet. Compac-
tion of the CCP material was achieved using a vibratory smooth
drum roller making passes as needed to achieve the compaction
requirement of 95%, based on the modified Proctor compaction
test. Compaction was confirmed as part of the CQA program.
Development of the project will require nearly 2 million cubic
yards of CCPs to establish the rough grade elevations across the
site. The use of CCPs as an alternative to traditional fill materials
(such as soil and rock) provided the airport with an environmen-
tally safe and economically valuable opportunity. Cost savings
to the airport from using CCPs instead of conventional fill are
estimated at nearly $16 million dollars.
As Bleiweis explained, The partnership between the Air-
port, Progress Energy, and Charah was beneficial for all of us.
Progress Energy found an environmentally sound and economi-
cally prudent way to reuse the coal combustion by-product, and
the Airport saved millions of dollars in costs that traditional fill
methods would have required.
Charles Price, Charahs president and CEO, said that the
uniqueness of this project not only lies in the sites characteris-
tics and design, but also in the partnership between the Airport,
Progress Energy, and Charah. The [Westside Project] is a great
example of how CCP engineered fills should be constructed.
The project, expected to be completed in 2014, will ultimately
create more than 15 acres of aeronautical land use.
Contributed by Bobby Raia (braia@charah.com), project con-
trols manager for Charah Inc.
What Are the Safety Rules for Anyway?
Its quite simple: Following safety rules is the foundation to elimi-
nating injuries. Commonly, a safety presenter will say that safety
rules are written in blood. At one time, such dramatic statements
were a way to get attention and illustrated the seriousness of fol-
lowing safety rules. Today, more highly educated workers demand
less drama and more facts. Lets face it, safety rules are in place
because hazards exist and people were injured. Whether the site is
a coal-fired, gas-fired, or a nuclear power plant, hazards are part
of the work and must be controlled to prevent injury.
The General Duty Clause of the U.S. Occupational Safety and
Health Act holds employers responsible for providing employees
with a workplace free from recognized hazards, and employees
are required to follow the rules that protect them from the haz-
ards. To create a safe workplace, employers and employees must
be able to recognize, evaluate, and control hazards in the work-
place. Empirical research of incident reports and interviews with
hundreds of workers show that employees who were injured on
the job did not see the hazard that injured them. Observation-
ally, employees and employers, operational leaders, and safety
specialists often walk by recognizable hazards without control-
ling or fixing them.
For these reasons, identification of workplace hazards must
be a constant task of employers and employees who are directly
connected to the work. A formal hazard identification process en-
sures no hazard goes uncontrolled. This formal process guides the
creation of safety rules that act as controls to prevent injuries. In
the process, two types of hazards must be considered: those that
are inherent in the work (such as steam, pressure, heat, cold, and
height) and those created by performing work.
During the work, employees often pull hoses, string power
cords, wash equipment, make repairs, turn valves, and create
potentially unrecognized hazards. Such hazards are the top rea-
4. Slip and slide. Floors at power plants that are covered with
grease and other oily substances, or powders, can be significant causes
of accidents. Courtesy: Potter and Associates International Inc.
5. Dont get hosed. A forgotten hose left in a walkway can cause
unsuspecting employees to fall and injure themselves. Courtesy: Pot-
ter and Associates International Inc.
|
May 2012 28
sons for workplace injuries, and the means of controlling them
is trained employees who will find and fix them. Employees
trained in the importance of situational hazard recognition (SHR)
are less likely to become complacent about hazards.
Employees responsible for planning work may walk to a job
location and pass hazards such as spills, hoses across walkways,
or damaged equipment because they are focused on the hazards
to be assessed for the next job, not the current situation (Figures
4 and 5). When employees practice SHR in the workplace, they
understand that hazards change with every task.
In the past, safety training was focused on teaching employees
to look for pinch points, rotating equipment, sharp edges, and oth-
er such potential hazards. A different training approach is needed
to sharpen workers ability to see the hazards, enable them to take
action when they see them, and teach them the fundamentals of
making the workplace safe. This simple, straightforward approach
can be applied by everyone at the job site.
Four Simple Categories of Hazards
Many methods exist to identify hazards. Some are quite complex.
Four simple categories are presented below.
Employee (EM). Employees become a hazard when they fail
to follow safety procedures and fail to wear personal protective
equipment. Poorly trained employees are also a hazard. Training
has become a target of the U.S. Occupational Safety & Health
Administration, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), and
other regulating bodies. For example, the NRC requires on-time
training attendance and high levels of participation, with man-
agement and employees held accountable.
New employees pose a different hazard, as they are often unaware
of what can hurt them. An in-depth experiential orientation focused
on educating new employees on known hazards is essential.
Equipment (EQ). Equipment introduces recognized and un-
recognized hazards. Safety engineers and professionals work to
identify and train users in safe handling of equipment and of-
ten the operational hazards such as rotating equipment, pinch-
points, and hot parts are included on job briefing forms. Other
factors create additional equipment hazards.
Equipment that is poorly maintained in the workplace is a
hazard. Such equipment is not only a physical hazard but also a
mental one. Operators who have inspected the equipment, found
it unsafe, and reported itonly to be told, go ahead and run it
this timetend to just check the boxes on the inspection form.
Equipment operators then begin to have the attitude that their
organizations are not serious about safety. The result is a declin-
ing safety culture.
When equipment is purposely operated outside of the manu-
facturers specifications, another hazard is introduced.
Environment (EV). Standard environmental hazards such as
rain, snow, ice, heat, cold, and wind are obvious and easy to
identify but are not always recognized as the compounding fac-
tors to injuries. When combined with employees or equipment,
this category becomes important.
Energy (EN). Energy sources such as electricity, steam, pressure,
and hydraulic and stored energy are readily recognized by workers
in the utility industry. An often unrecognized source of energy is a
moving piece of equipment being operated in adverse environmental
conditions.
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May 2012 30
The collapse of the Big Blue heavy lift crane is a prime ex-
ample. In 1999, the Big Blue crane, which was almost 600 feet
tall, collapsed during construction of the Miller Park baseball sta-
dium in Milwaukee, Wis., with a load of 450 tons on the hook.
Three people were killed. A subsequent investigation revealed
that although the crane operator tried to calculate the effects of
side winds on the crane, he had failed to take into account the
winds impact based upon the load the crane was lifting. In this
case, employee, equipment, environment, and energy combined
for catastrophic failure that killed three people.
Empowering Employees
A brief article cannot cover all the hazards that must be con-
trolled in the power generation industry. A 30-minute safety
meeting on the subject is insufficient. Hazard recognition and
control requires time to ensure understanding and appropriate
application related to each task. It is the cornerstone of an ef-
fective safety process.
Enabling every employee to find and fix the hazards found in
each situation is critical. Hence, if all employees follow the rules,
they are likely to be injury-free. The mindset shifts from one of
safety is about luck to one where individuals understand that
they have significant control over their own safety. The outcome
is that nobody gets hurt.
Contributed by Carl Potter (carl@potterandassociates.com), a
certified safety professional and certified management consultant
(www.hazardrecogntionworkshop.com) who has spent more than
17 years in the electric utility industry and has consulted to high-
risk industries for more than 20 years.
Predictive Maintenance That Works
This is the fifth in a series of predictive maintenance (PdM) articles
that began in the April 2011 Focus on O&M in which the essen-
tials of PdM were introduced. In the May and June 2011 issues, we
explored specific PdM techniques, such as motor-current signature
analysis and oil analysis. In the November 2011 issue, we intro-
duced the value of thermographic analysis and its routine use. This
installment focuses on ultrasonic and vibration analysis.
Ultrasonic (UT) Analysis
Most machines emit consistent sound patterns under normal op-
erating conditions. These sound patternssonic signaturescan
be defined and recognized, and changes in these signatures can
be identified as components begin to wear or deteriorate. This
enables technicians to identify and locate bearing deterioration,
compressed air or hydraulic-fluid leaks, vacuum leaks, steam-trap
leaks, and tank leaks.
Evaluation of long-term UT analysis trends can identify poor
maintenance practices such as improper bearing installation or
lubrication, poor steam-trap maintenance, and improper hydrau-
lic seal or gasket installation. Long-term UT analysis can also
identify machines that are being operated beyond their original
design limitations, inadequately designed machines, or consis-
tently poor-quality replacement parts.
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Ultrasounds are defined as sound waves that have frequency
levels above 20 kHzhigher than what the unaided human ear
can normally hear. Airborne ultrasound operates in the lower UT
spectrum of 20 to 100 kHz. Small objects easily block airborne
ultrasounds, and ultrasounds will not penetrate solid surfaces
(though they will go through cracks). Because airborne ultra-
sound radiates in a straight line, its source can be relatively easy
to locate. Though they do not travel a great distance, airborne ul-
trasounds can be readily differentiated from audible plant noise.
A compressed gas or fluid forced through a small opening cre-
ates turbulence with strong ultrasonic components on the down-
stream side of the opening. Although most of the audible sounds
of a pressure leak may be masked by ambient noise, the ultra-
sound will still be detectable with a scanning ultrasound device.
Therefore, when the PdM technician scans the side of a pressure
vessel, a leak will produce a definite increase in ultrasound vol-
ume. Scanning is most effective when the UT instrument is close
to the surface being inspected; however, it can also be done at
a distance by increasing the sensitivity setting. This is particu-
larly useful when the pressurized gas is dangerous, or when the
technician must inspect overhead pipes or locations that are not
readily accessible.
Vacuum leaks produce turbulence similar to pressure leaks;
however, the ultrasound is generated within the system. Some of
the sound escapes through the opening, though the amplitude is
much lower than that of a pressure leak. This is not a problem,
because the instrument can be placed closer to the vacuum leak
or the sensitivity can be increased. Poorly seated valves can also
be detected. When the technician touches the contact probe to
the body of a leaking valve, the sound of dripping or squirting
fluid will be heard in the earphones. Also, the noise from a leak-
ing valve will be more evident on the downstream side of the
valve (Figure 6).
Spot-checking a point is used primarily when personnel detect
unusual noises or reduced equipment performance and want to
know if a problem exists. Spot-checking can be cost-effective
for less-critical equipment, particularly when budgets or man-
power are limited. Its effectiveness relies heavily, however, on
someone detecting unusual noises or performance problems, a
practice that may not be reliable on large or complex machines
or in noisy parts of a plant. Monitoring machinery on a periodic
basis (once a month or once a quarter) can provide a more subtle
indication of seal or packing wear, steam-trap contamination or
deterioration, or cracks in tanks or piping. This allows personnel
to project acceptable performance into the foreseeable future.
Advance notice of problems means that they can be repaired
during normal shutdowns, rather than resulting in a catastrophic
failure that causes unscheduled down time. If problems are detect-
ed when they are minor, they are often less expensive to repair.
6. Expensive leaks. The cost to repair a leaky valve is often many
times the cost of the additional fuel consumed to produce the lost
steam. Courtesy: Valvtechnologies
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May 2012 32
UT analysis is one of the less-complex and less-expensive pre-
dictive techniques. Its simplicity is directly related to the size
and ease of use of handheld detectors as well as the relatively
straightforward presentation of measurement data on meters or
digital read-outs. The cost of the equipment is moderate, as is
the amount of training required for its use. The technique is
limited to applications that produce measurable ultrasounds: hy-
draulic, compressed air, steam, or vacuum systems.
Some companies report saving thousands of dollars in com-
pressed air costs by reducing or eliminating relatively minor
leaks. Identifying more substantial leaks can provide savings of
tens of thousands of dollars. Another company estimates that
a single steam-trap failure in the open position can cost up to
$2,000 a year in excessive energy consumption. With savings of
this magnitude, an investment in UT analysis can have a payback
period of a year or less.
Vibration Analysis
Vibration analysis is used to determine the operating condition
of rotating equipment, identifying incipient problems before they
cause serious failures and unscheduled downtime. This can in-
clude deteriorating or defective bearings, mechanical looseness,
and worn or broken gears. Vibration analysis can also detect mis-
alignment or unbalance before these conditions result in bearing
or shaft deterioration. Evaluation of long-term vibration analysis
trends can identify poor maintenance practices such as improper
bearing installation, inaccurate shaft alignment, or imprecise ro-
tor balancing. (See A Permanent Solution to Generator Vibra-
tion Problems, April 2006; Solving Plant Vibration Problems,
May 2006; and Restraining Torsional Vibration, March 2010 in
POWERs archives at www.powermag.com.)
All rotating machinery produces vibrations that are a function
of the alignment and balance of the rotating parts. Measuring the
intensity of vibration at specific frequencies can provide valuable
information about the preciseness of shaft alignment and bal-
ance, the condition of bearings or gears, and the effect on the
machine of resonances from housings, piping, and other struc-
tures. It is an effective, nonintrusive method to monitor machine
condition during startup, shutdown, or in normal operation.
Vibration analysis is used primarily on such rotating equipment as
steam and gas turbines, pumps, motors, compressors, paper ma-
chines, rolling mills, machine tools, and gearboxes. Recent advances
in the technology now allow limited analysis of reciprocating equip-
ment such as large diesel engines and reciprocating compressors.
A vibration-analysis system usually consists of five basic parts:
signal pickup(s), a signal-recording device, a signal analyzer, analysis
software, and a computer for data analysis and storage. These basic
parts can be configured as a continuous online system, a periodic
analysis system using portable measurement and diagnostic equip-
ment, or a multiplexed system that samples a series of points every
few minutes. Hard-wired and multiplexed systems are more expensive
per measurement point, so the determination of which configuration
is more practical and economical will depend on the critical nature
of the equipment and the value of continuous or semi-continuous
measurement data for that particular application.
Spot-checking is used primarily when maintenance or opera-
tions personnel detect unusual noises or vibrations and want to
determine if a serious problem actually exists. If a problem is
detected, additional spectral analyses can be made to define the
problem and estimate how long the machine can continue to
operate before a serious failure occurs (Figure 7).
Another application for spot-checking is as an acceptance test
to verify that a machine repair has been done properly. This anal-
ysis can verify proper bearing or gear installation and alignment
or balancing to the required tolerances.
Additional information can be obtained by monitoring machin-
ery on a periodic basisfor example, once a month or once a
quarter. Periodic analysis and trending can provide a more subtle
indication of bearing or gear wear, allowing personnel to proj-
ect machine condition into the foreseeable future. This advance
notice means that equipment can be repaired during normal ma-
chine shutdowns rather than after a machine failure has caused
unscheduled downtime.
Though the costs have been reduced and the ease of use im-
proved significantly over the past five years, vibration analy-
sis is still one of the more complex and expensive predictive
techniques. The complexity stems in large part from the rela-
tively subjective nature of interpreting vibration spectra and the
difficulty in setting effective alarm limits for a wide variety of
rotating-machinery configurations. The relatively high cost per
measurement point is a result of the need for sophisticated elec-
tronic instruments to collect, analyze, and store the data; the
cost of personnel to collect the data; and the cost of personnel
and training to interpret the data.
For those companies that are willing to make a commitment of
manpower and resources, the payback can be considerable. Some
companies report being able to accurately identify specific gears
within a gearbox that are failing, substantially reducing the amount
of downtime required for troubleshooting and repair. Others have
been able to identify and solve complex resonance problems that
were causing damage to shafts, bearings, and couplings.
In spite of the higher cost and complexity, the investment in
vibration analysis equipment and manpower is often paid back
within the first 18 months to two years. And, for companies with
limited budgets, there are a variety of service companies that will
perform vibration analysis on a contract basis.
More Coming
In the next segment of Predictive Maintenance That Works,
well continue our discussion of specific nondestructive testing
related condition-monitoring techniques used at power plants
and why each should be a part of your PdM program.
Dr. Robert Peltier, PE is POWERs editor-in-chief.
7. Hand-held vibration instruments. Examples of hand-held
vibration meters are the Columbia Research Laboratories VM-300 general
purpose instrument that measures acceleration, velocity, and displace-
ment (left) and Ludecas VIBXPERT II portable route-based vibration data
collector, which is capable of vibration spectrum analysis and display on a
VGA screen (right). Courtesy: Columbia Research Laboratory, Ludeca
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|
May 2012 34
States Promote Clean
Energy Programs
W
hile the proposed federal renewable portfolio standards
(RPS) continue to be caught in Washington gridlock,
a number of states are aggressively enacting programs
that promote renewable energy, such as wind and solar power.
States Move Ahead with Renewables Initiatives
Lori Bird, senior analyst at the National Renewable Energy Labo-
ratory, told POWER in March that RPS policies currently exist in
29 states and the District of Columbia, and seven more states
have nonbinding clean energy goals. In February, Bird presented
a webinar titled State Renewables PoliciesLessons Learned Af-
ter a Decade of Success.
An RPS is a requirement that retail electric providers supply a
minimum percentage or amount of their retail load with eligible
sources of renewable energy, Bird explained. Typically, an RPS is
backed with penalties of some form and is often accompanied by a
tradable renewable energy certificates (REC) program to facilitate
compliance. Most policies have been established through state
legislation, but some initially were implemented through regula-
tory actions (New York and Arizona) or ballot initiatives (Colorado,
Missouri, and Washington). Currently, California represents the
largest RPS market since it increased its RPS goal to 33% by 2020.
(However, Maines RPS percentage goal is higher, sooner, at 40% by
2017, and Alaskas nonbinding goal is the highest: 50% by 2025.)
In contrast, at the federal level there is a strong possibility
that Congress will allow the federal Production Tax Credit (PTC)
to expire at the end of the year, which is causing anxiety among
renewable energy proponents, such as the American Wind Energy
Association. Under current law, the PTC is an income tax credit
of 2.2 cents/kWh that is allowed for the production of electricity
from utility-scale renewable energy facilities. Many PTC oppo-
nents argue that the federal government should not subsidize re-
newables, but rather force them to compete on their own merits
in the private sector.
Setting up State Clean Energy Programs
Some states have more than a decade of implementation experi-
ence with RPS policies, while others are just beginning imple-
mentation. Bird pointed out that even though the enactment of
new RPS policies is now waning somewhat, many states continue
to hone existing RPS policies.
In their presentation at the 2011 National Summit on RPS
titled The State of the States: Update on the Implementation
of U.S. Renewables Portfolio Standards, Ryan Wiser and Galen
Barbose of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory explained
how state RPS policies often have significant design differences.
Examples include, but are not limited to: renewable purchase tar-
gets and timeframes, the eligibility of different renewable tech-
nologies, the treatment of out-of-state generators, methods of
enforcing compliance, contracting requirements and the degree
of regulatory oversight, the allowance for RECs and REC defini-
tions, and the role of state funding mechanisms.
State RPS policies are being designed to support resource di-
versity and often use specific mechanisms to help achieve that
goal. For example, some RPS standards use set-asides, which are
requirements that some portion of the RPS come from certain
technologies, technology types, or applications. Another tool is
the use of credit multipliers that mean selected technologies or
applications can qualify for more credit than other forms of gen-
eration as far as meeting the RPS. In addition, some RPS policies
use resource-specific contracting targets, which are requirements
that regulated utilities enter into long-term contracts for mini-
mum quantities of specific renewable resource types. Currently,
16 states and D.C. have solar or distributed generation set-asides,
which in some instances are combined with credit multipliers.
Not surprisingly, many state RPS programs face a variety of imple-
mentation challenges. These include obstacles such as rate impacts
and cost concerns; transmission access for remote renewable facili-
ties; problems related to siting projects; procurement and viability
issues; project financing that involves the need for long-term con-
tracts, particularly in restructured markets; and REC price volatility.
Positive Developments
State RPS programs appear to be motivating substantial renew-
able capacity development. Though not an ideal metric for RPSs
impact, 61% of the 44 GW of non-hydro renewable additions from
1998 to 2010 (27 GW) have occurred in states with active or
impending RPS compliance obligations, according to Wiser and
Barbose.
Despite the slow U.S. economy and other obstacles, the
statesand not the federal governmentare becoming lead-
ing catalysts in promoting the development and deployment of
renewable energy technologies. Total state RPS demand in the
U.S. is set to increase from approximately 55,000 GWh in 2010 to
more than 250,000 GWh in 2020, Bird said.
The National Governors Association recently released a report
titled Clean State Energy Actions: 2011 Update showing that in
2011, 28 states developed policies and made investments to ad-
vance green economic development, including clean electricity.
For example, Michigan and local governments in that state offer
tax credits, property tax exemptions, and payroll credits to busi-
nesses that participate in NextEnergy, a comprehensive econom-
ic-development plan to position Michigan as a world leader in the
research, development, commercialization, and manufacture of
alternative-energy technologies, including renewables. Likewise,
since 2010, Arizona has budgeted $70 million per year for tax
incentives to attract renewable energy companies to Arizona.
State officials are becoming increasingly focused on the in-
tersection of policy, energy technology, and business econom-
ics. Many of these officials are motivated because they see the
attractive economic and environmental benefits that new clean
energy projects are bringing to their states, often as part of state
economic recovery strategies.
Angela Neville, JD, is POWERs senior editor.
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May 2012 36
NUCLEAR
Vogtle Gets Green Light
T
he Nuclear Regulatory Commission
(NRC) voted 4-1 to approve two com-
bined construction and operating li-
censes (COLs) for Southern Nuclears Alvin
W. Vogtle Electric Generation Plant (Plant
Vogtle) Units 3 and 4 on February 9. Receipt
of the COLs concluded a regulatory process
lasting almost four years and officially autho-
rizes Southern Nuclear to build and operate
two 1,100-MW Westinghouse AP1000 pres-
surized water reactors (PWRs) at the Georgia
plant. Unit 3 is expected to begin operating in
2016 and Unit 4 in 2017. (See sidebar What
Is NuStart?)
Plant Vogtle is one of Georgia Powers two
nuclear facilities and one of three nuclear fa-
cilities in the Southern Co. system. Southern
Nuclear, a subsidiary of Southern Co. since
1990, is the licensed operator of Plant Vogtle,
which is located about 25 miles south of Au-
gusta, Ga. The plant is jointly owned by Geor-
gia Power (45.7%), Oglethorpe Power Corp.
(30%), Municipal Electric Authority of Geor-
gia (22.7%), and the Dalton Utilities (1.6%).
Units 1 and 2 consist of Westinghouse four-
loop PWRs rated at 1,109 and 1,127 MW re-
spectively, and are shown at the top of the artist
rendering above. Unit 1 began commercial op-
eration in 1987; Unit 2 followed in 1989. The
two new Generation III+ nuclear reactors that
are expected to enter commercial service in
2016 and 2017 are shown in the foreground.
POWER first visited Southern Nuclears
Vogtle Units 3 and 4 site in Waynesboro, Ga.,
to report on construction progress of the two
nuclear plants in late 2009 (see Plant Vogtle
Leads the Next Nuclear Generation in the
November 2009 issue or in the archives at
www.powermag.com). At the close of that
article, we said, We expect Plant Vogtle to
be the first of the next generation of nuclear
plants to enter commercial service during
2016. Southern Nuclear is on track to prove
our prediction correct.
Just prior to that 2009 visit, the NRC had
issued an early site permit (ESP) and limited
work authorization (LWA) approvals to begin
site clearing and safety-related excavation
activities in anticipation of the NRC issuing a
COL for each of the two new reactors.
The COL is a one-step licensing process
that was designed to reduce NRC regulatory
red tape by simultaneously issuing a license to
construct and to operate a new nuclear plant;
it replaced the delay-prone two-step process
used in the 1970s and 80s (see Second Set of
COLs Approved sidebar, p. 40). In the past,
it was common for licensing requirements to
change in the middle of construction, resulting
in costly redesigns and delays, thus dramati-
cally escalating construction costs. NRC re-
cords indicate that the last construction permit
issued using the old two-step process was in
1978 for the Shearon Harris 1 nuclear plant in
North Carolina.
In addition to the one-step COL pro-
Courtesy: Southern Company Inc.
In February 2012, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved two combined
construction and operating licenses for Southern Nuclears Plant Vogtle Units 3
and 4 in Georgia. They were the first licenses ever approved for a U.S. nuclear
plant using the one-step licensing process and the first allowing construction in
more than three decades. Now the real work begins.
By James M. Hylko
NUCLEAR
|
May 2012 38
cess, companies are selecting preapproved
NRC standardized reactor designs, such
as the Westinghouse AP1000 PWR, that
incorporate vendor-designed skids, equip-
ment packages, and modular construction
techniques that are expected to prevent the
rampant construction cost escalation expe-
rienced in the past. The AP1000 is a modu-
lar design that uses passive safety systems
that rely on gravity, natural circulation,
and convection to maintain safe operation
and to shut the plant down safely during an
off-normal event. These features increase
reliability and reduce maintenance and op-
erating costs.
Got COLs. Whats Next?
With the COLs in hand, Southern Nuclear
is fully authorized to construct and oper-
ate two 1,100-MW Westinghouse AP1000
PWRs at the Vogtle site, adjacent to the
companys existing Units 1 and 2. Westing-
house has partnered with Shaw to provide
engineering, procurement, and construction
services (see Construction Is a Coopera-
tive, Global Effort, p. 44).
POWER recently visited with Cheri Col-
lins, general manager and nuclear liaison for
Vogtle Units 3 and 4, for an update on the
work completed since our visit in late 2009.
Collins noted that most of the work over the
past two years has been in subsurface soil
preparation: The LWA allowed for the ex-
cavation and selection of soil that met the ap-
propriate strength and stability criteria to be
used as backfill, and the compacting of that
soil for the foundation for the nuclear island
and reactor. It was important for this nuclear
grade soil to be free of clay to meet these cri-
teria. That work has been completed.
The next series of milestones could not
have occurred until the COL was received
the pouring of safety-related concrete. The
next series of steps consists of pouring a
6-foot-thick reinforced concrete base mat
that will be underneath the containment ves-
sel. Following the pouring of the concrete
base mat, we will place a concave basket
made out of rebar that is being fabricated as
the pouring is taking place. The containment
vessel bottom head will be placed inside this
concave rebar basket, and more concrete will
be poured around it to secure the containment
vessel bottom head in place.
Figures 1 and 2 illustrate construction
work in progress.
Looking to the future, Collins empha-
sized that even with the COLs in hand,
a few significant milestones must be
achieved before the NRC will authorize
Vogtle to load fuel into the reactor. We
have the COL, permission to build plant,
but the NRC will not allow us to load fuel
What Is NuStart?
Obtaining approval of the Vogtle combined
construction and operating license (COL)
was a joint effort with NuStart Energy De-
velopment LLC (NuStart), a partnership of
10 power companies created in 2004 to
obtain a COL using the new streamlined
licensing process and to complete design
engineering for the selected reactor tech-
nologies. Southern Nuclear had submitted
its original and supplemental COL appli-
cations in 2008 and 2009, respectively.
Also in 2009, NuStart named Plant Vogtle
the reference plant for the Westinghouse
AP1000 technology.
The NuStart consortium includes South-
ern Nuclear, which worked as part of the
DOE Nuclear Power 2010 Program to de-
velop the licensing strategy necessary to
develop and receive the first COL from the
NRC. Members of NuStart are: DTE Energy,
Detroit, Mich.; Duke Energy, Charlotte,
N.C.; EDF Inc., Chevy Chase, Md.; Entergy
Nuclear, Jackson, Miss.; Exelon Generation,
Kennett Square, Pa.; Florida Power & Light
Co., Juno Beach, Fla.; Progress Energy, Ra-
leigh, N.C.; South Carolina Electric & Gas,
Columbia, S.C.; Southern Nuclear, Birming-
ham, Ala.; and Tennessee Valley Authority,
Knoxville, Tenn. For more information on
NuStart, go to www.nustartenergy.com.
1. From the ground up. Construction of Vogtle Unit 3 turbine building foundation base-
ment is under way. Photo was taken on March 5, 2012. Courtesy: Southern Company Inc.
2. Modular assembly. Welding of the Vogtle Unit 3 containment vessel bottom head as-
sembly is under way. Photo was taken on January 30, 2012. Courtesy: Southern Company Inc.
NUCLEAR
May 2012
|
until we have enough licensed operators
that have passed all the tests and are ready
to run the plant. Also, we must success-
fully pass all the inspections, tests, and
analyses that are a part of verifying that
this plant was built according to design,
Collins added. There is an entire group of
people focused on well over 800 inspec-
tions, tests, analyses, and acceptance crite-
ria (ITAAC) work packages for both units.
When the ITAAC packages are satisfacto-
rily completed and the NRC has reviewed
and approved these packages, then they
will allow us to load fuel.
Receipt of the COL is also an important
milestone for financing of the projects. On
June 18, 2010, Southern Co., on behalf of
Georgia Power, accepted the first condi-
tional commitment for federal nuclear loan
guarantees of approximately $3.4 billion,
or 70% of Vogtle Units 3 and 4 eligible
project costs. The loan from the Federal
Financing Bank includes a first lien to the
Department of Energy (DOE) for Georgia
Powers ownership in Vogtle Units 3 and
4 secured by Georgia Powers 45.7% in-
terest in the two new units and was con-
tingent upon receipt of the COL from the
NRC. The entire project is estimated to
cost about $14 billion. Georgia Powers
share of the construction cost is currently
forecast to be about $6.1 billion, including
$1.7 billion of financing costs to be col-
lected during construction.
The loan for Units 3 and 4 was autho-
rized by Section 1703 of the 2005 Energy
Policy Acts Title XVII, which allows fi-
nancing of clean energy technologies (in-
cluding nuclear, advanced fossil energy
coal, carbon sequestration, and projects
promoting industrial energy efficiency)
that are unable to obtain conventional
private financing due to high technology
risks. Collins reminded us that Southern
Company is on record that we do not need
the loan guarantee to build the plant. It
allows us to get capital at a lower inter-
est rate. This reduces financing costs, and
those savings are passed directly to our
customers. The savings translate back to
customer at about $25 million a year for
the 30-year life of the bond.
NRC Involvement Continues
On March 11, 2011, the Great East Japan
Earthquakerated a magnitude 9.0and
subsequent tsunami decimated the Fu-
kushima Daiichi nuclear plant site and
produced widespread devastation across
northeastern Japan. (Nuclear Power in
the Shadow of Fukushima, July 2011 and
The Fukushima Fallout: Six Months Af-
ter the Nuclear Crisis, September 2011
are examples of the extensive coverage
of the accident available in the POWER
archives at www.powermag.com.) That
event clearly affected the NRCs vote on
the first COLs.
Four NRC commissioners (Kristine L.
Svinicki; George Apostolakis; William D.
Magwood, IV; and William C. Ostendorff)
voted to grant the COLs, while Chairman
Gregory Jaczko cast the only dissenting vote.
According to the Augusta Chronicle, Jaczko
said he could not support issuing the license
as if Fukushima had not happened.
The commissioners agreed in spirit with
Jaczko that the NRCs responsibility is to
make the best decisions for nuclear safety.
There opinions divide.
There is no amnesia, individually or col-
lectively, Commissioner Svinicki said of the
NRCs attention to lessons learned from Fu-
kushima. Commissioner Magwood agreed.
Plant Vogtles units 3 and 4 will represent a
new era of nuclear safety, he said.
The four commissioners recognized

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May 2012 40
that Jaczkos proposed COL conditions
would necessarily lack sufficient details
to impose meaningful design requirements
and would be largely symbolic. The com-
missioners agreed that there was no com-
pelling reason to depart from the NRCs
existing regulatory processes and ex-
pressed confidence that safety recommen-
dations made since the Japan crisis will be
properly implemented. Svinicki added that
NRC staff did not recommend nor support
Jaczkos idea of an across-the-board li-
cense condition requiring implementation
of all Fukushima-related requirements
prior to operation of the Vogtle nuclear
plant, given the myriad regulatory tools
available to the NRC to implement post-
Fukushima-related requirements as they
emerge, including those applicable to new
plants like Vogtle.
Whereas the NRCs Operating Reactor
Oversight program focuses on monitoring
and evaluating the performance of exist-
ing nuclear power plants, regulatory over-
sight for new reactors is controlled by the
Construction Reactor Oversight Process
(cROP) that focuses on the construction
period between licensing and initial opera-
tion of new reactors.
In the cROP, the staff determines the
scope and then implements the construc-
tion inspection program (CIP) that consists
of four phases. The first and second phases
support a licensing decision for an ESP and
COL application. Inspections will initially
be conducted to verify effective implemen-
tation of the quality assurance program, as
described in the application for an ESP
and/or COL, to provide reasonable assur-
ance of the integrity and reliability of the
application data or analyses that would af-
fect the performance of safety-related sys-
tems, structures, and components (SSCs).
The third and fourth phases support con-
struction activities and preparations for
operation.
Prior to and during plant construction,
inspections will be conducted to review
vendor activities and licensee oversight
of these activities. During plant construc-
tion, inspections will be conducted to ver-
ify satisfactory completion of the ITAAC,
confirm adequate development and imple-
mentation of construction and operational
programs, and review the transition to
power operations.
The core of the CIP is carried out by con-
struction resident on-site inspectors (CRIs)
assigned to the site by the Region II Center
for Construction Inspection (CCI). At least
two inspectors are assigned to each site
once significant construction activities are
under way. The CRIs will be supplemented
with additional personnel from CCI, other
regional offices, and headquarters technical
staff, as needed, to provide reasonable as-
surance that the as-built facility conforms to
the conditions of the COL.
Safety Measures
In October 2011 the NRC directed staff
to begin implementing seven safety rec-
ommendations from the Near-Term Task
Force on lessons learned from the Japa-
nese event. The recommendations affect-
ing all U.S. nuclear reactors are expected
to be completed by April 2014. The seven
recommendations, in general, cover loss of
all AC power at a reactor that could prompt
a station blackout; seismic and flooding
hazards; protection for equipment from
design-basis external events; emergency
equipment and severe accident manage-
ment guidelines; and training.
In addition to these new NRC require-
ments derived from lessons learned from
Fukushima, U.S. nuclear plants are designed
to withstand seismic events, high windsin-
cluding flying debris produced by tornadoes,
and flooding. The following information de-
scribes how the AP1000 plant would react
when faced with each of these severe acci-
dent conditions.
Seismic Events. As with every U.S.
nuclear power plant, all of Southern Co.s
existing plants were designed, licensed, and
constructed to withstand a maximum cred-
ible earthquake for their site location based
on historical seismic activity and tectonic and
geological data for that location, as will be
Units 3 and 4.
Plant Vogtle Units 1 through 4 are
equipped with seismic monitoring systems
that are set at extremely low triggering
levels, although there are no active faults
in the area. If a seismic event triggers the
seismic monitoring system, it would pro-
vide seismic ground motion data to the
control room so the operators could de-
termine the severity of the event and, in
accordance with established procedures,
make appropriate decisions concerning
plant safety. Physical inspections supple-
ment the recordings to evaluate the impact
of an earthquake and the condition of plant
structures, systems, and equipment. In the
event of an earthquake, plant staff will an-
alyze the recordings and inspection results
before restarting the reactor.
A plants seismic design is based on a
specified ground motion that represents
the maximum credible earthquake for
that particular site location. This level of
ground motion is called the Safe Shutdown
Earthquake (SSE) and is set for 0.3g peak
Second Set of COLs Approved
On March 30, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) approved, in another 4-1
vote, the second set of combined construc-
tion and operating licenses. These COLs
will go to two more Westinghouse AP1000
reactors for Units 2 and 3 at the V. C. Sum-
mer Station in Jenkinsville, S.C., which is
operated by South Carolina Electric & Gas
Co. (SCE&G), a subsidiary of SCANA Corp.,
and Santee Cooper, South Carolinas state-
owned electric and water utility.
In its announcement of the decision,
the NRC noted that its findings impose
two conditions on the COLs, with the
first requiring inspection and testing of
squib valves, important components of
the new reactors passive cooling system.
The second requires the development of
strategies to respond to extreme natural
events resulting in the loss of power at
the new reactors. The Commission also
directed [the NRCs Office of New Reac-
tors] to issue to SCE&G and Santee Coo-
per, simultaneously with the COLs, an
Order requiring enhanced, reliable spent
fuel pool instrumentation, as well as a
request for information related to emer-
gency plant staffing.
A plants seismic design is based on a speci-
fied ground motion that represents the
maximum credible earthquake for that par-
ticular site location.
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NUCLEAR
|
May 2012 42
ground acceleration (PGA), about equal
to an earthquake of magnitude 6.6 on the
Richter Scale at the epicenter (Figure 3).
The AP1000 design is also evaluated for
a seismic margin analysis, which is 67%
above the SSE with a 0.5g PGA. This condi-
tion is called the Review Level Earthquake
(RLE). Seismic margin analysis assumes a
95% probability that the SSCs will retain
structural integrity after an RLE.
Furthermore, an independent seismic
peer review submitted to the NRC con-
firmed that Plant Vogtle is capable of
sustaining an earthquake ground motion
representing an earthquake magnitude of
about 7.0. As a comparison, the magnitude
of the Fukushima Daiichi seismic event
was 9.0 on the Richter Scale at the epicen-
ter with an observed maximum 0.52g PGA
at 109 miles. The Vogtle site has recorded
no earthquake ground motion in the past
20 years.
AP1000 Response to a 0.3g SSE.
Should an SSE occur, the analysis conserva-
tively assumes that the seismic event causes
general infrastructure damage leading to a
loss of offsite power (LOOP) event concur-
rent with a reactor and turbine trip. All Seis-
mic Category 1 structures remain intact and
functional, and damage done to other struc-
tures on site will not prevent the functional
performance of Category I SSCs.
For the first 72 hours, reactor core de-
cay heat is removed via natural circulation
from the passive heat exchanger and the
in-containment water tank to the contain-
ment vessel and the passive containment
cooling system water tank on top of the
shield building (Figure 4). The passive
core cooling methods occur automatically
without operator action and without the
use of AC power. Boiling off existing wa-
ter inventory cools the spent fuel pool. Mi-
nor operator action is eventually required
for a one-time valve alignment to provide
makeup water to the spent fuel pool from
the cask washdown pit.
From 72 hours to seven days, makeup
water for decay heat removal from the
spent fuel pool and containment (the reac-
tor core) is provided by the ancillary water
tank located at grade level. Ancillary diesel
generators are small (80 kW) and rugged,
and they support a few specific plant power
needs, such as the makeup pumps used to
move water from the ancillary water tank
to the spent fuel pool and to the top of the
containment vessel.
The ancillary diesel generators also pro-
vide power to support main control room
displays and lighting as well as selected
ventilation systems. In addition, offsite
portable diesel generators and diesel-pow-
ered pumps from prearranged sources may
be brought to the site to provide backup for
the ancillary diesel generators and water
transfer pumps.
After seven days, the plant continues to
function in the same manner, except that
additional water supplies are required, ei-
ther from plant storage tanks, raw water
3. Targeted seismic design. The AP1000 is composed of systems, structures, and com-
ponents (SSCs) that are designated as Seismic Category I, II, or Non-Seismic. Seismic Category
I SSCs are designed to withstand the Safe Shutdown Earthquake (SSE) and continue to per-
form their safety-related function. Seismic Category II SSCs are designed to withstand the SSE
without damaging a safety-related SSC. Seismic Category II SSCs are not required to remain
functional after the earthquake. Non-Seismic SSCs are designed to the typical industry building
codes. Source: Westinghouse
Turbine building Turbine building
first bay Shield
building
Auxiliary
building
Radwaste
building
Annex
building
Diesel
building
Seismic Category I Seismic Category II Non-seismic
4. Efficient heat rejection. Transfer of reactor decay heat to the atmosphere is via natural
circulation through a passive heat exchanger located on top of the shield building. Courtesy:
Westinghouse Electric Co.
Water film evaporation
PCS gravity drain water tank
Natural convection air discharge
Inside containment refueling
water storage tank
Outside cooling air intake
Shield building
Steel containment vessel
Air baffle
Reactor core
Internal condensation
and natural recirculation
Containment condensate
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NUCLEAR
|
May 2012 44
(from, for example, a lake, river, or ocean),
or other offsite supplies. The diesel fuel
supply for the ancillary diesel engines will
also need to be replenished.
The design basis for containment cooling
utilizes continuous water distribution on the
vessel steel shell. In the highly unlikely case
of an operator not being able to supply wa-
ter to the top of the containment after seven
days of cooling, the vessel shell would be-
come dry and the flow of air through the
annulus region would provide heat remov-
al. Pressure within the containment vessel
would slowly increase but would not reach
the normal design pressure for over two
days. Even in the case of this very unlikely
event, the steel containment vessels have a
very large design margin and will not ex-
ceed the ASME Service Level C pressure
limit. Therefore, even air-only cooling
decay heat removal for the containment ves-
sel steel shell following seven days of water
cooling will prevent damage to the fuel in
the reactor core.
Design-Basis Flood. Because the Vogtle
site is about 130 miles from the coast and
220 feet above sea level, its location is not
vulnerable to floods, tsunamis, dam breaks,
or other events on the Savannah River, in-
cluding the failure of all upstream dams.
Nuclear power plants are designed to
effectively manage flooding levels up to
the design-basis flood with some degree
of margin beyond the design level as part
of the plants standard design. The maxi-
mum flood level assumed for the AP1000
is the plant design grade elevation. Flood-
ing of intake structures, cooling canals, or
reservoirs or channel diversions does not
prevent safe operation of the plant. In the
instance of a design-basis external flood,
the AP1000 standard plant response is to
stop all unnecessary plant evolutions (such
as maintenance or testing) and close exter-
nal portals. In the unlikely scenario that an
AP1000 suffers a severe flood that exceeds
the design-basis elevation, the reactor core
and spent fuel pool remain protected.
The two most important features of the
AP1000 that provide defense against flood-
ing and other external hazards are that safe
shutdown and core cooling are provided
by systems located inside the containment
vessel that are designed to fail safe upon
loss of power, loss of instrumentation and
control, and loss of instrument air. The
containment vessel is a 1.75-inch-thick
steel pressure vessel that is not affected by
flooding. The spent fuel cooling is from
water stored in pits that are at least 35 feet
above the grade elevation.
High Winds and Tornados. Severe
winds, such as those generated by hurri-
canes or tornados, pose a threat of wind
loading on a structure that may cause dam-
age or collapse; damage may also result
Construction Is a Cooperative, Global Effort
Large safety-related and non-safety-related components are being
shipped in from suppliers located all over the world, including
Japan, South Korea, and Italy.
To be clear, the term safety-related is a classification applied
to items that must function during or following a design-basis
event, such as an earthquake. Specifically, a safety-related func-
tion protects the integrity of the reactor coolant pressure bound-
ary, the capability of the reactor to shut down and stay in a safe
shutdown condition, and the capability to prevent or mitigate off-
site exposures based on NRC guidelines. Safety-related also ap-
plies to documentation and quality assurance requirements during
manufacturing, in accordance with 10 CFR 50, Appendix B quality
assurance requirements.
In 2010, the first critical components for the new plants start-
ed arriving from Japan at the Port of Savannah. That shipment
brought massive plates for the bottom head of the Unit 3 contain-
ment vessel; each bottom head consists of 62 plates. There will be
close to half a million inches of weld on the bottom head alone.
The Chicago Bridge and Iron Co. (CB&I) was awarded the contract
to fabricate and assemble both the Unit 3 and 4 containment ves-
sels. CB&I supported Westinghouse for over 10 years in the design
of the containment. Here are some interesting statistics pertain-
ing to the pressure vessels:
Each containment vessel weighs ~4,000 tons.
Each 1.75-inch-thick containment vessel is approximately 130
feet in diameter by 215 feet tall.
The vessels have approximately 70 penetrations ranging from
inch to 16 feet in diameter.
The containment vessels will be enclosed inside the shield
building with a 4.5-foot annulus area between them.
Each containment vessel is subassembled into five major sec-
tions and transported to the nuclear island for placement and
welding in-place.
Toshiba, located in Japan, and South Korean engineering
company BHI Co. Ltd., for example, designed and manufac-
tured the steam condenser for Unit 3. The assembly, weighing
about 3,600 tons, left BHIs plant in Sacheon on November
21, 2011, to begin its journey by sea from the port of Masan,
South Korea, through the Panama Canal, to the Port of Savan-
nah in Georgia, where it arrived in early December. Fortunately,
none of the major component fabrication facilities in Japan or
South Korea was damaged by the March 2011 earthquake and
tsunami (Figure 5).
Components manufactured in the U.S. are shipped either by
truck or rail. For instance, moisture separator reheaters are being
shipped from Oklahoma, and reactor control instrumentation is
coming from Westinghouse facilities in Pennsylvania.
5. Taking the long way. Condenser components arrived at
Plant Vogtle in late January via railcars after the long trip from South
Korea. Courtesy: Southern Company Inc.
NUCLEAR
May 2012
|
from tornado missiles that have the po-
tential to penetrate buildings and damage
components. The AP1000 protects safe-
ty-related SSCs by placing them inside
Seismic Category I buildings (the nuclear
island) designed to withstand extreme
wind loads and tornado-born missiles.
The AP1000 design-basis wind speed
for tornados is 300 mph, composed of 240
mph rotational and 60 mph translational.
The AP1000 operating basis wind speed
is 145 mph, which will not challenge the
non-safety-related structures. The tornado
missile analysis for the AP1000 nuclear is-
land considers the effects of:
A 4,000-pound automobile with a hori-
zontal velocity of 105 mph and a verti-
cal velocity of 74 mph. This evaluation
bounds sites with vehicles parked within
a half-mile radius of the site.
A 275-pound, 8-inch armor-piercing artil-
lery shell with a horizontal velocity of 105
mph and a vertical velocity of 74 mph.
A 1-inch-diameter solid steel sphere with
a velocity in any direction of 105 mph.
Transportation and Nearby Facility
Accidents. The AP1000 has been success-
fully evaluated against the impacts from a
variety of marine accidents, gas/oil pipeline
leaks, railroads, industrial and military fa-
cilities, and a malevolent large commercial
aircraft. The assessment considers damage
associated with structural impact, shock-
induced vibrations, and fire effects. The as-
sessment concluded that an aircraft impact
would not affect the plants core cooling
capability, containment integrity, or spent
fuel pool integrity based on best-estimate
assessments established by the NRC. Also,
the layout of the nuclear island prevents si-
multaneous damage of key locations.
Fires. The AP1000 design provides ro-
bust protection from postulated fires. This
robustness comes from effective separa-
tion of redundant features both inside and
outside of the containment as well as from
the use of passive safety features. The fire
protection design provides separation of
the alternate safety-related shutdown com-
ponents and cabling using 3-hour-rated
fire barriers. Areas containing safety-re-
lated cabling or components are physically
separated from one another and from the
areas that do not contain any safety-related
equipment by 3-hour-rated fire barriers.
This design approach reduces the prob-
ability of a fire affecting more than one
safety-related shutdown system.
Because the passive safety-related sys-
tems do not require AC power and other
plant services such as cooling, they are
less susceptible to a fire than earlier de-
signed plants. The impact of fires on the
safe shutdown capability is significantly
reduced.
Learning from Others
The first Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear re-
actors are currently under construction in
Sanmen, in Chinas Zhejian Province, and
are about two years ahead of the Plant Vogtle
project. Two more units are under construc-
tion at Haiyang in Shandong Province. These
lead units give Southern Nuclear an unprece-
dented opportunity to experience the start-up,
operation, and even refueling of the AP1000,
thanks to a learning exchange agreement be-
tween Southern Nuclear and Shandong Nu-
clear Power Co. As with Plant Vogtle Units
3 and 4, Shaw is providing engineering, pro-
curement, commissioning, information man-
agement, and project management services
for these projects.
James M. Hylko (jhylko1@msn.com) is
a POWER contributing editor.
|
May 2012 46
FOSSIL FUELS
Europe: More Coal, Then Less
Europes continuing drive toward sustainable energy does not rule out a
new generation of coal power plants to replace those scheduled to
close by 2015.
By Charles Butcher
I
n Europe right now, coal-fired power gen-
eration poses a paradox.
The years up to 2020 are forecast to see
many new coal power plants being built in
Europe, even as coals share of the generating
mix continues to shrink and its perception as
a dirty fuel becomes more firmly fixed in the
minds of the public. Anti-coal protests are
loudest in Germany, where the need for new
coal capacity is arguably the greatest.
And though these new plants will boast
high thermal efficiencies, they will not in-
clude carbon capture and storage (CCS).
This seems odd in view of the European
Unions (EUs) commitment to rapid and
deep cuts in carbon emissions, but not
even Europes political determination and
high energy prices seem able to push CCS
to full-scale projects. In several other EU
countries, the push is toward multipurpose
plants that can supply electricity and dis-
trict heat while burning combinations of
fuels (Figure 1).
In short, Europes citizens do not like coal,
but for the moment they cannot do without it.
Does that sound familiar?
Coal Capacity Closing
Europe needs new coal-fired capacity because
many aging coal and nuclear plants will be
closing in short order. Economics, poor plan-
ning, and air pollution all play a part in the
shutdowns. In Germany, the political winds
changed direction a year ago, forcing eight of
the countrys 17 reactors into immediate retire-
ment and scheduling the remainder for closure
by 2022, regardless of age or condition.
For more than 20 years the European
Commissions Large Combustion Plant Di-
rective (LCPD) has required furnaces and
boilers above 50 MWt (the thermal input
expressed in equivalent megawatts) to limit
their emissions of sulfur and nitrogen oxides.
Equipment for flue gas desulfurization and
NO
x
control has been installed as a matter of
course on new coal-fired power plants and
has been retrofitted to many existing ones.
The operators of some old coal plants,
however, decided that adding SO
x
and NO
x

control was not economically justified. In
these cases the LCPD allows plants to run for
an additional 20,000 hours or until the end of
2015, whichever comes soonest.
In 2009, Reuters reported that in terms of
capacity, Britain topped the LCPD opt-out
league. Poland opted out 37 plants, repre-
senting 32% of that countrys total generat-
ing capacity. Romania opted out 22% of its
capacity and Spain 10%. Even nuclear-dom-
inated France will lose 5% of its capacity by
the 2015 deadline. In total, 17 of the EUs 27
member states opted out a total of 205 facili-
ties, though not all are power plants.
New Coal Rush Forecast
A new study by German energy consul-
tancy ecoprog GmbH forecasts that coals
share of electricity generation across Eu-
rope will decrease slightly over the next
decade. But, says ecoprog, loss of existing
nuclear and coal capacity, falling subsidies
for renewables, and volatile gas prices will
trigger a large amount of new coal capac-
ity in the next few years.
In late 2011, according to ecoprog, Europe
had about 330 coal-fired power plants with a
combined capacity of 200 GW from almost
950 units. Between 2012 and 2020, the firm
says, approximately 80 new coal units will be
built, with a capacity of about 50 GW (Figure
2). From 2003 to 2011, by comparison, only
40 units totaling 10 GW were built.
An important driver for this new capac-
ity is the need to replace old equipment,
ecoprog says. The average age of Europes
coal power plants is 34 years, and by 2020
around 55 GW to 60 GW of coal capacity
will have reached the end of its operating
life. The LCPD alone will account for the
loss of 35 GW by 2016. The loss of nuclear
power plants in Germany and Switzerland,
oil-fired plants in Italy, and gas plants in the
UK will further add to the pressure.
1. Multifuel cogen plant. The Avedre power plant south of Copenhagen, Denmark, is
operated by the state-owned company DONG Energy. It has a generating capacity of 810 MWe
plus 915 MWt for district heating, which is widely used in Denmark. The coal-fired Avedre Unit
1 was built in 1990 and generates only power. Unit 2, which dates from 2001, can use a wide
variety of fuelsgas, oil, straw, and wood pelletsfor power and district heating. Unit 2 has an
electrical efficiency of 49% and an overall efficiency of 94%. Courtesy: DONG Energy A/S and
Jasper Carlberg
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|
May 2012 48
FOSSIL FUELS
Germanys Transformation
Germany faces considerable challenges
in abandoning nuclear power (the Atom-
ausstieg) and moves its energy production
to sustainable sources (the Energiewende).
With indigenous lignite (brown coal) and
hard coal already fueling one-third of Ger-
manys 155 GW generating capacity, coal
could be seen as an obvious choice to fill
the 20-GW hole left by the nuclear exit.
Despite much media talk of money ear-
marked for climate protection being diverted
to build new coal plants, a 2011 report for the
German federal ministry of economics and
technology suggests that this is an oversim-
plification. Yes, Germany is likely to build
several new coal plants in the near future, but
the countrys share of coal-fired generation
will decline rapidlywith or without an exit
from nuclear power.
The report was prepared by two research
organizations in Germany and one in Swit-
zerland: the Institute of Energy Econom-
ics (EWI) at the University of Kln, the
Society for Structural Economic Research
(GWS) in Osnabrck, and Prognos AG of
Basel. As far as coal and lignite are con-
cerned, it suggests that generating capac-
ity will fall from 55 GW now to 20 GW
by 2030, even if the Atomausstieg decision
were somehow to be reversed. Instead, the
gap created by growing demand and loss
of coal and nuclear capacity will be made
up by gas, offshore wind, and especially
solar photovoltaics. Similar predictions
have been prepared by BNerzA, Germa-
nys Federal Network Agency (Table 1).
Other work by the Prognos/EWI/GWS
consortium suggests that ecoprogs fore-
cast coal boom may be overstated. A sce-
nario study published by the consortium
in August 2010 showed around 14 GW of
new coal capacity planned or under con-
struction. In another study published a
year later, however, the researchers low-
ered this estimate to less than 11 GW and
suggested that no investment in new coal
capacity was likely before 2020.
Acting against investment in new Ger-
man coal capacity is public opinion in
favor of the Energiewende, backed by the
countrys strong coalition of politicians
including conservativesand environ-
mental activists. BUND (Friends of the
Earth Germany) sets up highly organized
protests against new coal plants and claims
to have halted 11 coal power projects in
the past three years.
British Indecision
Britain is similar to Germany in its depen-
dence on coal, which accounts for around
one-third of current generating capacity.
Operators in the UK chose six coal-fired
and three oil-fired power plants to opt out
from the LCPD. With a total capacity of
around 11.5 GW, these nine plants accounted
for around 15% of UK generating capacity at
the time of the decision in 2001 (Table 2).
2. Coal rush begins. Coal-fired power plant construction in Europe is forecast to rise
sharply in the years up to 2017 following the closure of old coal plants and nuclear plants, nota-
bly in Germany. Source: ecoprog GmbH
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
8,000
7,000
6,000
5,000
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
0
N
u
m
b
e
r

o
f

u
n
i
t
s

p
e
r

y
e
a
r
I
n
s
t
a
l
l
e
d

c
a
p
a
c
i
t
y

p
e
r

y
e
a
r

(
M
W
)
Units Capacity
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Table 1. Nuclear exit strategy. Germany is considering several approaches to fulfilling en-
ergy demand in the absence of nuclear power. Shown are three suggested scenarios for Germanys
energy future developed by BNetzA, Germanys Federal Network Agency. Scenario A assumes all of
the German governments priorities for climate and energy policy will be implemented and includes
a moderate rise in coal-fired energy production. Scenario B starts with the assumptions for Scenario
A but assumes a larger portion of renewable power, as well as more natural gasfired energy pro-
duction. This would make the system more flexible and reliable, due to a diversified mix of energy
sources. Scenario C, the least realistic scenario, assumes Germany will have explosive growth in
renewable energy, nearly tripling such resources between 2010 and 2022. It assumes that Germany
will not continue to build new fossil fuelfired power plants through 2022. Source: BNetzA
Technology
2010
Baseline
2022
Scenario A
2022
Scenario B
2032
Scenario B
2032
Scenario C
Nuclear 20.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Brown coal 21.2 20.1 20.4 15.8 17.7
Black coal 29.5 33.4 26.2 21.9 26.2
Natural gas 22.1 23.3 37.0 37.0 23.3
Pumped storage 6.7 9.1 9.1 9.1 9.1
Oil 3.3 2.1 2.1 0.6 2.1
Other 3.0 4.0 4.0 8.0 4.0
Total conventional GW) 106.1 92.3 98.8 92.4 82.4
Hydro 4.5 5.6 4.7 4.9 4.6
Onshore wind 27.0 33.4 44.0 61.0 69.9
Offshore wind 0.2 11.3 13.0 28.0 18.0
Photovoltaic 16.9 34.1 54.0 65.0 46.8
Biomass 4.9 7.4 9.1 10.0 8.7
Other 1.5 1.7 1.8 2.8 2.0
Total renewables (GW) 55.0 93.5 126.6 171.7 150.0
Total production (GW) 161.0 186.0 225.0 264.0 232.0
Energy consumption (TWh) 548.0 500.0 550.0 600.0 550.0
Peak demand (GW) 83.0 75.0 83.0 83.0 83.0
May 2012
|
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Plant MW Operator LCPD closure? Notes
Aberthaw 1,560 RWE npower No
Cockenzie 1,200 ScottishPower By March 2013
Cottam 2,000 EDF No
Didcot A 1,960 RWE npower By end 2015 Cofires gas and biomass
Drax 3,870 Drax Group No
Eggborough 1,960 Eggborough Power No
Ferrybridge (Units 1 and 2) 980 SSE By end 2015 Cofires biomass
Ferrybridge (Units 3 and 4) 980 SSE No Cofires biomass
Fiddlers Ferry 1,960 SSE No Cofires biomass
Ironbridge 970 E.ON By end 2015
Kingsnorth 1,940 E.ON By March 2013 Cofires oil
Longannet 2,400 ScottishPower No
Lynemouth 420 Alcan No Cofires biomass
Ratcliffe-on-Soar 2,000 E.ON No
Rugeley 1,000 IP No
Tilbury 1,130 RWE npower By end 2015 Since 2011 fires 100% biomass at 750 MW. Serious fire in February 2012.
Uskmouth B 390 SSE No
West Burton 1,970 EDF No
Wilton 200
Sembcorp Utilities
UK
No
Total 28,890
Table 2. Coal plants closing in the UK. At 29 GW, total coal-fired capacity in the UK is almost one-third of total UK generating capac-
ity, around 89 GW. LCPD refers to the EUs Large Combustion Plant Directive, under which 7 GW of coal capacity will close by the end of 2015.
Source: Department of Energy and Climate Change
|
May 2012 50
FOSSIL FUELS
Because the 20,000 hours allowed by
the LCPD opt-out represent less than three
years continuous operation over the eight
years from 2008 to 2015, operators have been
managing their old coal plants carefully, but
the end is now in sight.
In the UK, an exceptionally cold winter in
201011 put coal plants under heavy load. In
March, operators E.ON and ScottishPower
announced that two UK opt-out plants will
close in March 2013, and it is not clear that
all of the remaining four plants will stay op-
erational until the December 2015 deadline
(Figure 3). One of the original coal plants
(Tilbury) has since converted to 100% bio-
mass, though it is still due to close as a result
of the LCPD.
On top of this loss of coal capacity, the
closure of nuclear and gas-fired plants will
put Britains energy security at risk, many
experts believe.
Government reluctance to plan for re-
placement of the UKs aging nuclear fleet
will mean the loss of seven plants by 2020. A
new reactor at the existing Hinkley Point site
is now being discussed, but it is unlikely to be
online before 2020, and the degree of public
opposition suggests that overall nuclear ca-
pacity will fall.
Even gas-fired generation is struggling in
the UK. In March, energy company Centrica
announced that it will close combined cycle
gas turbine plants at Kings Lynn and Barry
because they are not profitable. Even the new
London Array offshore wind farm, with its
record 1 GW installed capacity, will barely
offset the loss of the 325-MW Kings Lynn
plant.
Sam Laidlaw, chief executive of Cen-
trica, told the Daily Telegraph newspaper
in February: It is vital that the Government
provides the clarity and assurance that will
be needed if the industry is to step up and
deliver the massive investmentan estimat-
ed 200 billion in total by 2020that the
country requires.
Consultancy Frost & Sullivan is less pes-
simistic about a UK energy gap. In a study
published in March, the firms Jonathan
Robinson pointed out that UK electricity de-
mand fell by 3.4% in 2011 and that indus-
trial demand fell by 4.1%. The firm suggests
that while light industry has seen modest re-
covery from the recession, energy-intensive
industries such as chemicals and steel are
continuing to suffer from UK power prices
that are high compared with those in many
other European countries.
This fall in demand is one reason why
Frost & Sullivan believes a UK capacity
crunch in 201516 is unlikely. Around 1.5
GW of gas capacity was added in 2011, an
additional 5.5 GW is under construction, the
firm says, and 7 GW of new wind capacity
will be online by 2015.
Also acting to damp down prospects for
new UK coal plants is their lack of popular-
ity with green-minded British citizens. A
prime example is the ill-fated Kingsnorth site
in the county of Kent, where operator E.ON
proposed to build a 1,600-MW supercritical
plantthe UKs first new coal generation in
three decadesto replace the existing plant,
which will close by 2015.
Despite the fact that the new Kingsnorth
plant was to feature demonstration-scale
CCS, the site was the focus of sustained
protests by environmentalists. In October
2010, E.ON announced it was abandoning
the project.
Not unreasonably, the green movement
fears that after permits have been awarded to
new coal plants, any requirements to include
CCS will later be dropped on grounds of cost.
The only other UK demonstration-scale CCS
project at the time, at Longannet in Scotland,
collapsed a year later.
Beyond Ultrasupercritical
If Europes short-term coal boom does mate-
rialize, as ecoprog has forecast, what kind of
plants will it produce?
Next year is scheduled to see the open-
ing of the Trianel coal power plant in Lnen,
Germany. With a forecast 46% efficiency, the
1.4 billion (US$1.9 billion) project will be
one of the worlds most advanced conven-
tional coal plants.
But European power companies and tech-
nology suppliers are aiming higher, with
several research and development projects
shooting for 50% efficiency through steam
conditions of 700C and 350 bar.
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3. Moving to gas. The 1,960-MW Didcot
coal-fired power plant in the UK dates from the
late 1960s. Now converted to cofire gas and
a small amount of biomass, it operates infre-
quently because of the limit on operating hours
imposed by the Large Combustion Plant Direc-
tive. Operator RWE npower is due to close the
plant by the end of 2015. A 1,360-MW gas-fired
combined cycle plant on the same site will con-
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May 2012 52
FOSSIL FUELS
At its headquarters in Mlheim an der
Ruhr, Germany, the fossil power genera-
tion division of Siemens aims for a 700C
steam turbine by 2015. The nickel alloys
required are expensive, and experience
gained with high-temperature gas turbines
is largely irrelevant. Nonetheless, as far
back as 2008 the company said it was con-
fident of achieving a 200,000-hour lifetime
at 700C (Figure 4).
Industry consortia focused on 700C
technology include the EU-supported
COMTES700 component test facility,
based at E.ONs Scholven coal-fired power
plant in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, and the
North Rhine-Westphalia 700C Power Plant
(NRWPP700) pre-engineering study by 10
European energy suppliers.
E.ON plans to start up a 500-MW 700C coal-
fired plant in 2014. The Kraftwerk 50plus
project is located at the German port of Wil-
helmshaven, where seawater cooling and com-
bustion air preheating will help to achieve the
planned 50% efficiency. Average European coal
plant efficiency is 36%, E.ON says.
According to Siemens, the 1 billion
(US$1.3 billion) 50plus project will cost
around 18% more than a conventional coal
plant of the same size. Series production
could reduce the cost premium to 10% to
15%, which might be acceptable if prices for
coal and CO
2
rise.
Charles Butcher (charles@
thiswritingbusiness.com) is a UK free-
lance writer specializing in the energy
and chemical industries and a POWER
contributing editor.
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build a 700C, 350 bar steam turbine. The company is aiming for 50% efficiency from a nonintegrated
gasification combined cycle coal plant by 2015. Courtesy: Siemens AG and Rupert Oberhaeuser
|
May 2012 54
Upgraded Controls Position
McIntosh Plant for
Efficient Operations
Lakeland Electrics C.D. McIntosh, Jr. Power Plant is a microcosm of the entire
power generation industry. On a single site is a once-baseload coal-fired
plant that is now operating fewer hours plus a peaking gas-fired combined
cycle plant that has swung to baseload operation. A complete controls up-
grade of the gas-fired plant last year prepared the plant for its expanded
role in producing electricity for this 108-year-old public power provider.
By Dr. Robert Peltier, PE
L
akeland Electric, the public power
arm of the City of Lakeland, Fla.,
since 1904, serves 100,000 customers
in a 255-square-mile area surrounding the
central Florida city, located between Or-
lando and Tampa. Low-cost electricity is
the name of the game for Lakeland. The
utility features the lowest rates for small
and big businesses in Florida and has the
third-lowest residential rates in the state.
Lakeland relies on two power genera-
tion complexes for most of its electricity:
the 130-MW Larsen Power Plant and the
982-MW C.D. McIntosh, Jr. Power Plant
(MPP). Both plant sites are located on
Lake Parker in Polk County.
Lakeland is a member of the Florida Mu-
nicipal Power Pool (MPP), along with Or-
lando Utilities Commission and the Florida
Municipal Power Agencys All-Requirements
Project. The MPP is not a capacity pool but
an energy pool that centrally commits and
dispatches all the pool members generating
resources in the most economical manner
to meet the pools total load requirements.
However, each member of the MPP remains
responsible for planning and serving the
electricity needs of its service territory and
for maintaining system reserves sufficient
to meet the Florida Reliability Coordinating
Council reserve requirements.
Technology Trifecta
MPP features three different power genera-
tion technologies. Unit 3 is a nominal 365-
MW coal-fired conventional steam plant that
burns blends of Central Appalachian and Il-
linois Basin coals; it has also burned small
amounts of refuse-derived fuel mixed with
coal in past years. The unit, 40% owned by
the Orlando Utilities Commission, was one
of the first scrubbed, zero-discharge coal
units in the nation when it entered service on
September 1, 1982. Gas- and oil-fired Units
1 (90 MW) and 2 (110 MW) were commis-
sioned in February 1971 and June 1976, re-
spectively (Figure 1).
Advanced combined cycle technology
is also used at the MPP. In 1999, construc-
tion of the simple cycle combustion turbine
(CT) portion of Unit 5 began, and the unit
was released for commercial operation in
May 2001. You may recall that the 501G
uses 1,050F steam from the heat recovery
boiler to cool the ceramic barrier coated
transitions at the exit of each combustor. A
temporary package boiler supplied steam
for the turbines steam needs during initial
simple cycle operation (Figure 2).
The conversion from simple cycle to com-
bined cycle began in September 2001 with the
addition of the waste heat boiler and a 120-MW
steam turbine. Construction was completed in
the spring of 2002 with the fully operational
combined cycle plant declared commercial in
May 2002. To meet emerging air emissions
rules, during 2009, Lakeland Electric installed
an ammonia injection system and selective
catalytic reduction on Unit 3. The rating of the
completed combined cycle plant is 346 MW
summer and 365 MW winter.
The third power generation technology
used at MPP is the diesel-fueled peaker en-
gine. Lakeland Electric uses 20 remotely
operated EMD 20-cylinder reciprocating
engines driving 2.5-MW generators during
system emergencies.
MPP Unit 5 features the first Siemens
Power Generation W501G combustion
1. Three technologies. The 982-MW
C.D. McIntosh, Jr. Power Plant consists of
coal-fired Unit 3 (right), the gas- and oil-fired
Units 1 and 2, a 365-MW combined cycle
plant (left), and (not visible) 20 2.5-MW EMD
diesel engines used for emergency peaking.
Courtesy: Lakeland Electric
2. New lease on life. With low gas
prices, the combined cycle unit has assumed
baseload responsibilities from the coal-fired
units. To the right of the concrete stack is the
heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) with
selective catalytic reduction and ammonia
injection. At a right angle to the HRSG and
W501G combustion turbine is the bypass
stack. The 125-MW steam turbine is located
in the building in the background. Courtesy:
Lakeland Electric
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costs for you and a more sustainable environment for everyone. With a suite of
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May 2012 56
turbine (CT) installed in the U.S. Today,
the fleet totals 24 units. When purchased,
the W501G was configured with a West-
inghouse Distributed Processor Family
(WDPF) distributed control system (DCS).
The WDPF system was subsequently ex-
panded when the steam bottoming plant
was added in 2002.
By the time Unit 5 was built, the WDPF
system, first released in the mid-1980s
and updated to WDPF-II in the mid 1990s,
was a mature product that was rapidly ap-
proaching obsolescence. Replacing cards
that were no longer manufactured was
problematic, and the cost of parts when
available was quickly rising. Just as signif-
icant, some of the processors were operat-
ing at maximum capacity. By 2010, WDPF
was in need of immediate replacement. The
operating reliability of the entire plant now
hinged on the performance of a 25-year-old
control system.
Project Gets Commission Approval
Approval was received from the City Com-
mission in early 2010 to replace the obso-
lete Unit 5 control system with a modern
DCS. Siemens, the CT original equipment
manufacturer, was the natural choice, giv-
en its intimate knowledge of the W501G
and its integrated plant operating require-
ments and strategies. The Siemens SPPA-
T3000 is also the only control system that
has been retrofitted to an existing W501G.
With City Commission approval in hand,
plans were quickly made for Siemens en-
gineers and technicians to install the new
DCS during the already scheduled Octo-
ber/November 2010 Unit 5 outage.
The DCS replacement strategy took
two paths: upgrade the software and mini-
mize the hardware changes required. The
software upgrades began by ensuring that
the entire list of Siemens turbine techni-
cal advisories and function logic software
upgrades were installed with the new
DCS. For example, the new DCS includes
2-out-of-3 logic improvements for the CT
speed signals that were not available with
the old DCS.
The Siemens engineers began the soft-
ware upgrade by using the latest reference
functional software release for the W501G
and the steam turbine governor control.
Next, a one-to-one logic conversion was
completed based on the actual balance-of-
plant equipment and steam turbine auxil-
iary systems managed by the old WDPF
software. To ease the hardware transition
in the field, the controls engineers reused
the existing tagging system for all hard-
wired input and output (I/O) signals and
those signals transferred to the existing PI
plant historian.
Unlike the software upgrades that are in-
visible to the operator, the monitor screen
graphics used by the technicians to oper-
ate the plant are personalized to meet the
3. Operator interface upgraded. The
DCS upgrade used the graphic designs from
the earlier system to accelerate operators
familiarity with the new system. Suggestions
from the staff, based on almost a decade of
operation, were also used in the upgraded
DCS design. Source: Lakeland Electric
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plants unique needs. Siemens duplicated
the dozens of existing graphical screens of
the human-machine interface so well that
it took a sharp eye to recognize the differ-
ences. Many additional graphic monitor-
ing and alarm screens on 24-inch monitors
were added once the operators became fa-
miliar with the significantly increased ca-
pabilities of the T3000 DCS (Figure 3).
Field hardware upgrades began with
Siemens technicians removing all the old
cards and then stripping the remaining
equipment from the cabinets, with the ex-
ception of the original card-edge connec-
tors and card-edge connector wiring. The
hardware upgrades were configured such
that the new processors, I/O, and other
PROFIBUS modules could be used in con-
junction with the original card-edge con-
nectors to minimize wiring changes from
the field instrumentation to the cabinets.
The new I/O modules were tied to the
original field wiring by plugging the exist-
ing card-edge connectors onto a Siemens-
designed interface card.
A subcontractor simultaneously ran
the new cabling between cabinets and the
control room and all the (thin client) HMI
control stations. A web browser installed
on each thin client provides the user in-
terface hosted by the DCS Application
Server. Each management, maintenance,
operation, or engineering station has a
view of all aspects of plant control and
monitoring, although access can be deter-
mined by role. SPPA-T3000 applications
are hosted by a fault-tolerant application
server with a dual-redundant architecture
that eliminates single points of failure and
safeguards data integrity (Figure 4).
With the field wiring updated and new
4. DCS overview. The DCS upgrade can be visualized as consisting of three layers. The
field terminal cabinets retained their original WDPF card-edge connectors and field device wir-
ing. A central application/automation server was added that communicates with the HMI user
interfaces in the control room via redundant Ethernet cables. Thin client workstations connect
to the server using a web interface. Courtesy: Siemens Power Generation
5. Quick cabinet retrofit. The existing
field termination cabinets were stripped and
restocked with new control hardware, signifi-
cantly reducing the time required for the retro-
fit. Electrical & Controls Engineer Scott Fowler
noted that a new optical cable was run across
the plant to link all the remote cabinets togeth-
er with the control room. Source: POWER
Structural Bolting 101:
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|
May 2012 58
Twelve Lessons Learned
In a discussion with POWER during a plant visit in January,
Power Production Operations Manager Kevin B. Robinson, Elec-
trical & Controls Engineer Scott Fowler, and Senior MCO Mark
Penix (Figure 6) suggested a number of lessons learned that
will surely be of interest to those considering a similar DCS
upgrade project in the future:
Dont underestimate the amount of work required to start up
the heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) controls. It was
our experience that the hardest part of the field retrofit was
the HRSG, particularly tuning of its control loops and pro-
cesses. The drum bypasses were also particularly difficult.
Three people were assigned to the factory acceptance test
(FAT) checkout team: Fowler, Senior MCO Russ Horne, and Se-
nior Controls Specialist Joe Ferro. That was sufficient during
the five-day combustion turbine (CT) control system design
review at Siemens Orlando facilities and five days at the
Siemens Alpharetta, Ga., T3000 DCS facility that covered the
remainder of the plant equipment and systems integration.
However, the three-man startup team was insufficient when
the checkout of the controls became the construction critical
path.
Ensure that you have compiled lists and setpoint settings
for all the existing trips, unloads, and runbacks (TURs) of
the original control system prior to the FATs. Because the CT
vendor begins with a generic specification, you may find
that you have more TURs than you had with the original sys-
tem. You may not want all the suggested TURs, and you can
usually have them removed in advance of the FAT. We also
had to remove/override a few modified runbacks during the
commissioning process.
Compile a list of all your steam drain valve setpoints and
dead-bands. During steam plant startup, cycling drains can
wreak havoc on drum levels and plant stability.
Perform loop checkouts from the field through the control
system to the human-machine interface (HMI), and validate
proper response and ranges for every input and output (I/O).
We found several reversed analog loops and digital I/O points
during plant commissioning.
Ensure your engineers or technicians work with the distrib-
uted control system (DCS) supplier while calibrating the hy-
draulic servo valves and the inlet guide vanes. You will not
be able to do this in the future unless you develop proce-
dures during commissioning checkout.
Ensure that the startup work schedule is agreed to in ad-
vance, as hot commissioning of the DCS is likely to occur at
the end of the outage. For example, will commissioning be
a 24-hour-day process or limited to 12-hour days? If longer
than 12 hours each day, you may want two crews of vendor
engineers and two crews of owner engineers/technicians.
Mirror commissioning shift-change with the production de-
partments schedule, or there will be dead time during mul-
tiple shift changes.
Purchase enough site licenses. We have five HMI stations,
and when all HMIs are in use, we are unable to remotely log
in to our system via the Microsoft Terminal Server. Also, if
the vendor fails to properly log out from the system after
remotely dialing in, our personnel are unable to utilize our
fifth operating station. I recommend that you purchase one
or two extra licenses in addition to the number of HMIs
purchased.
Keep the same basic graphical display on the HMI as you
currently use to quicken operator transition to the new sys-
tem. One way to do this is to screen copy each of your cur-
rent graphic screens and provide copies to the DCS vendor
early in the project. Include a plant master screen and the
switchyard, if not already included in the original DCS screen
design. Require the vendor to return samples of the new HMI
screens as soon as possible in order to correct errors prior to
the FATs. Finally, get copies of the AutoCAD system files for
your files.
Send those members of the operations and controls staff
with the deepest understanding of plant operations, who are
proficient in reading logic diagrams, to each FAT. Empower
that team to make control and graphic changes to fit your
operations culture and preferences. Encourage the team to
customize the menus, add navigation shortcuts, or do what-
ever will improve the efficiency of operations.
Check and confirm that alarm designations and priorities be-
tween the combustion turbine portions of the DCS design are
consistent with those used on the remainder of the plant.
This would have been confusing to the plant operators had
it not been caught and corrected during the FATs.
Check and confirm that the labels and colors used to designate
valve and controller position are consistent between the CT and
remainder of the plant portions of the HMI design.
Contributed by Power Production Operations Manager
Kevin B. Robinson
6. Learn from the experts. In a January discussion with POWER,
Electrical & Controls Engineer Scott Fowler (left), Power Production Oper-
ations Manager Kevin B. Robinson (center), and Senior MCO Mark Penix
(right) shared a number of lessons learned. Source: POWER
May 2012
|
DCS cards and components in place,
Siemens personnel efficiently made the
hardware conversions and performed I/O
andloop checks on the combustion and
steam turbine trip and protection systems.
The subsequent plant startup of the com-
pleted DCS was completed without inci-
dent (Figure 5). However, the team had to
overcome a number of challenges to com-
plete the project on time (see sidebar).
Also completed during the double
major outage of the combustion and
steam turbines was a major inspection
of the W501G gas generator (at 47,468
hours) so the heavy mechanical portion
of the outage was the outage critical path.
However, as the mechanical work reached
about the 80% completion point, the criti-
cal path predictably shifted to the con-
trols upgrade work, forcing the controls
team to work around the clock for several
days to maintain the aggressive outage
schedule.
Highly Anticipated Results
One year after the DCS upgrades were
completed, Unit 5 is now operating base-
load as the utilitys lowest cost generator,
rather than cycling offline every three
days or so, as in past years.
A new low-load turndown capability was
also added during the DCS retrofit. The
combined cycle plant, originally able to op-
erate within emissions limits down to 50%
of CT baseload, now has the capability to
operate down to 30%. Unit 3 (the coal-fired
unit) is able to cycle down at night to about
50% load. Together, the wide operating
range of both units provides Lakeland Elec-
tric considerable operating flexibility when
meeting its MPP commitments.
During the summer of 2011, Unit 5 op-
erated continuously for 122 days until it
was knocked off-line by a lightning strike
that damaged the voltage regulator, air
emission monitor, and other equipment.
After a one-week outage for repairs, the
combined cycle plant resumed baseload
operation. As of mid-April, the 2012 YTD
equivalent availability factor was 82.7%,
which includes a combustor inspection
outage, and the equivalent forced outage
rate was only 1.43%.
The plant heat rate is much improved
with the installation of a new CT turbine
rotor and DCS in 2011. During and prior
to 2010, the plant heat rate was approxi-
mately 7,000 Btu/kWh. The plant heat
rate today is about 6,740 Btu/kWh. The
2011 gross average heat rate was 6,606
Btu/kWh.
Dr. Robert Peltier, PE is POWERs
editor-in-chief.
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May 2012 60
AIR EMISSIONS
Managing the Catalysts of a
Combustion Turbine Fleet
Natural gasfired fleets comprising diverse turbine unit types are operating
their units more these days because of the historic low price of natural
gas. With increased operating hours, fleet owners are challenged to find
the best ways to manage their SCR catalyst systems.
By Terry McTernan, PE, Cormetech Inc.
T
he majority of gas-fired combustion
turbine (CT) fleets have made broad in-
vestments in selective catalyst reduction
(SCR) systems in order to meet emerging air
emissions regulations. Low natural gas prices
have moved these plants to first in the dispatch
queue in many regions of the U.S., displac-
ing coal-fired plants. In fact, U.S. demand for
natural gas is projected to grow 2.5% per year
through 2035, effectively doubling the amount
of natural gas used for power generation.
Many utilities are responding to the predic-
tions that the relatively low natural gas prices
we are now experiencing will become a new
normal by either retiring selected coal-fired
plants, thereby avoiding billions of dollars in
environmental upgrades, or replacing those
same plants with natural gasfired equipment.
Some utilities have negotiated with regulators
a refuelingthe replacement of a coal plant
with a new gas-fired plant (a more efficient
plant with much lower emissions). Others have
repowered a plant, where the steam turbine
side of the old plant is retained but the boiler
island is removed and replaced with CTs and
heat recovery steam generators (HRSG). Other
utilities have not experienced load growth over
the past few years and are able to defer the re-
tire or reuse decision, for now.
One of the emerging operational decisions
utilities and merchant generators with a large
fleet of gas-fired combustion turbines must
face in an era when gas plants are running
baseload instead of cycling seasonally is de-
termining the most economic way to manage
NO
x
reduction SCR catalyst systems. In this
article we discuss the process of economical-
ly managing a fleet of SCR-equipped CTs.
Diversity of Units and SCR
CTs burning natural gas are able to achieve NO
x

emissions and ammonia slip as low as 2 ppm
when using an SCR catalyst with ammonia in-
jection. In addition to baseload CTs used in the
combined cycle plants discussed above, CTs are
also used in simple cycle plants that are usually
only called on to operate during periods of high
electrical demand. Both, when outfitted with an
SCR, present unique plant design challenges.
A more recent trend is to build combined cycle
plants with the capability to operate as either
a baseload or peaker unit, thus presenting new
challenges for both the steam generator design
and the NO
x
emission control system.
In a combined cycle plant, the SCR mod-
ules are housed within an inner section of the
HRSG at an optimized temperature location,
typically 600F to 800F. A typical SCR cata-
lyst bed housing appears as just another sec-
tion within an HRSG (Figure 1).
For simple cycle gas turbine applications, the
SCR reactor is located in an expanded outlet duct
immediately downstream of the turbine (Figure
2). The duct size is optimized to accommodate
the SCR catalyst reactor performance. The short
transition section from the turbine outlet to the
SCR inlet poses challenges with the system de-
sign. The turbine exhaust flue gas temperature
is often too hot to be efficiently treated by the
SCR system. Many units rely on the injection
of tempering air to cool the flue gas down to
exhaust temperatures below 900F (25F). An
economic evaluation considering a number of
design and operational parameters is performed
to determine if tempering air or a high-tempera-
ture catalyst is the best selection. The evaluation
must consider factors such as the capital and
operating costs, operating hour limits, volume
of catalyst, duct size and back pressure, purge
fan versus tempering air fan cost, cost of the air
distribution equipment, and so on.
For both systems, the SCR catalyst system
requires ammonia to be injected into and thor-
oughly mixed throughout the flue gas stream
(Figure 3). To deliver a uniform supply of am-
monia into the flue gas stream, a piping network
or an ammonia injection grid (AIG) is installed
upstream of the catalyst. The rate of ammonia
flow is then regulated across the grid via a se-
ries of control valves. It is critical that the am-
monia concentration within the exhaust gas be
homogenous as it enters the SCR catalyst bed to
prevent excessive slip of unreacted ammonia or,
inversely, areas starved of ammonia, resulting
in localized incomplete NO
x
reduction. Based
on analyses of SCR operating data and catalyst
samples, AIG and duct modifications may be
1. Typical combined cycle SCR. The
SCR is a separate section located within the
HRSG assembly where gas temperatures are
optimal for SCR performance, typically 600F
to 800F. Courtesy: Cormetech Inc.
2. Typical simple cycle SCR. The SCR
used on a simple cycle combustion turbine
(CT) is located in an enclosure attached to the
CT exhaust. Courtesy: Cormetech Inc.
May 2012
|
AIR EMISSIONS
warranted (see Improving SCR Performance
on Simple-Cycle Combustion Turbines in the
June 2010 issue of POWER or the archives at
www.powermag.com).
Plan Plant Maintenance
Site environmental management for air and
water systems is important to the ongoing op-
eration at any power plant. These systems need
routine oversight and must be maintained. Fail-
ure to properly manage them may result in per-
mit violations and associated fines, operating
restrictions, and bad publicity for the site.
Historically, many gas plants have been op-
erated cyclically with extended dormant peri-
ods due to high natural gas prices and a varying
demand for the electricity the plant provides.
For plants with an SCR system, stopping and
laying up the equipment may accelerate aging
of the catalyst system components, increasing
the importance of inspections and preventative
maintenance planning.
SCR catalyst systems may run with little
attention for three to five years and gradually
begin to show signs of performance loss and
system wear and tear. It is important to monitor
the equipment condition and evaluate the perfor-
mance demands against system capabilities to
ensure reliable operation and avoid emergency
outages. HRSG tube leaks, blinding of the cata-
3. Typical HRSG ammonia injec-
tion grid. Ammonia reacts with the NOx
in the exhaust gas stream over a catalyst to
form molecular nitrogen and water vapor. If
too much ammonia is used, unreacted ammo-
nia may also leave the stack (ammonia slip).
Courtesy: Cormetech Inc.
4. Keep your catalyst clean. Ash and other contaminants can blind the insulation layer
around the catalyst. Shown are the catalyst modules when clean (right) and when the catalyst
performance is reduced by blinded insulation (left). Courtesy: Cormetech Inc.
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Virtually no use of expensive compressed
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3266 MetFab 4c ad_Layout 1 11/3/11 10:03 AM Page 1
|
May 2012 62
AIR EMISSIONS
lyst inlet by dislodged liner insulation, plugged
ammonia injection lances, seal integrity, or ab-
normal turbine conditions may trigger a change
in the capability of the NO
x
emission control
system to perform adequately (Figure 4).
Catalyst materials, by far the largest invest-
ment component of the SCR, can vary widely
in their performance lifetime. The achievable
useful catalyst life is a function of many inter-
dependent and site-specific factors. The best
approach to stretching catalyst life is to develop
a responsible catalyst audit program to give
routine feedback on catalyst perform and re-
maining life. Responsible planning and auditing
can effectively reduce SCR operating costs and
avoid large, unbudgeted expenditures. Your best
approach is to make estimates of the SCR life-
cycle cost as a management tool.
SCR Fleet Life-Cycle Management
For plant owners and operators, a baseline
survey of each SCR unit within the fleet
is the logical starting point for the overall
catalyst management process and strategy.
This fleet approach is a comprehensive
and efficient way to provide an overall
management plan that will surely lead to
a lower cost structure and a more effective
approach to decision-making than if each
plant were to take on SCR system manage-
ment independently.
A fleet SCR manager should be ap-
pointed who would be responsible for reli-
able compliance with all environmental air
permitting requirements. That managers
first responsibility would be to develop
a comprehensive performance and mate-
rial status baseline at each site and then to
develop an ongoing preventative mainte-
nance strategy (Figure 5).
One of the major challenges for the fleet
SCR manager is to balance performance and
operating costs. SCR equipment is custom
5. Survey says. A fleetwide baseline survey of SCR performance and material status is the
first task that should be performed by a fleet SCR manager. Source: Cormetech Inc.
Collection of
unit history
and operating
requirements
and goals
Physical
inspection and
documentation
of plant
equipment and
function
Audit of
catalyst as
installed and
operating via
laboratory
tests
Performace
analysis
of system
capacity
and lifecycle
projection
Recommendations
for maintenance
and modifications,
as applicable
6. Take a quick sample. A sample tray
installed on a catalyst module enables tak-
ing a catalyst sample very quickly. Courtesy:
Cormetech Inc.
|
May 2012 64
AIR EMISSIONS
manufactured for the unique demands of each
plant, taking into account permit conditions
and operating demands as envisioned for fu-
ture years. SCR systems can achieve greater
than 95% NO
x
reduction; however, when the
efficiency of the SCR is pushed beyond 85%
NO
x
conversion, and/or if outlet emissions
are less than 5 ppm, it becomes much more
sensitive to a number of independent system
parameters.
These parameters include overall cata-
lytic potential, effective ammonia injection/
mixing into the flue gas stream, flue gas
characteristics for inlet NO
x
, velocity, and
temperature distributions. High-efficiency
SCR catalyst system designs can success-
fully address these concerns through system
modeling, flow correction devices, enhanced
catalyst volumes, and robust ammonia injec-
tion grid design.
As plants upgrade, repair, or otherwise
modify plant equipment in the future, the
performance environment for reliable emis-
sion control can be affected. Understanding
these potential impacts to the SCR system
is essential and should be carefully studied
before a modification is approved. For ex-
ample, components of the ammonia delivery
system may deteriorate over time or lack suf-
ficient functionality to meet the demands of
running with aging catalyst or tighter emis-
sion criteria.
A properly executed baseline survey con-
ducted by a qualified catalyst management
provider will serve to fully assess the current
condition of each SCR unit in the fleet. These
SCR system surveys must be site-specific, as
each location will have its unique history and
permitting requirements. The survey should
begin with each sites air permit requirements
and goals (which can vary significantly, based
on the age of the unit, geographic location,
cost of ammonia, and more), identification of
the SCR system supplier and equipment, and
site operating history. Next, site maintenance
records, catalyst test reports, and control room
feedback should be assembled. Finally, a doc-
umented physical inspection of the SCR cata-
lyst systems is recommended to help verify
the historical records and equipment status.
SCR Management Plan
Following data collection and physical inspec-
tions at the plant, diagnostic laboratory per-
formance testing may be needed to determine
whether or not the catalyst condition is suf-
ficient to meet performance requirements in
view of field operating data and system require-
ments. It is important to verify that the testing is
completed under conditions that closely match
actual SCR system operating conditions and not
under a set of theoretical or standardized design
conditions. The sample should represent a typi-
cal cross section of the SCR, and the operating
history should be known. A convenient method
for sampling purposes is to incorporate an eas-
ily removable sample tray within the catalyst
module (Figure 6).
The samples in the tray are quickly re-
moved when the unit is off-line or during
outages. This avoids rigorous drilling of
the catalyst to extract core samples that are
typically not required for units with homoge-
neous honeycomb product but may be recom-
mended for units with alternate products and/
or those that have localized impacts such as a
tube leak. Tests are conducted in a controlled,
laboratory environment on custom-built, val-
idated SCR catalyst test equipment, allowing
accurate determination of performance and
comparisons of the sample catalytic potential
with that of previously tested elements.
The assessment of field operating data
determines the performance requirements
of the SCR, the SCR operating conditions,
the test conditions for the laboratory perfor-
mance test, and the performance threshold.
Changes in the field operating data relative to
previous evaluations may warrant changing
the test conditions or the performance thresh-
old. An analysis of the field operating data
May 2012
|
AIR EMISSIONS
in conjunction with results of the laboratory
testing can determine if flue gas bypass and/
or an ammonia to NO
x
imbalance is adverse-
ly affecting performance of the SCR.
Predicting the remaining life of a catalyst
is tricky business. The usual approach is for
an analyst to analyze the trends found with
the laboratory test samples taken during a
series of audits and field operating data over
time and then compare those results with
data from similar units, selected on the ba-
sis of operating history. From this compari-
son, a prediction is made of the remaining
life of the catalyst during which the SCR is
reasonably expected to meet performance
requirements.
If the factors that affect catalyst deacti-
vation do not remain consistent throughout
the estimated remaining life, the future rate
of deactivation will differ from the current
observed trend. For this reason, periodic au-
diting to measure potential changes in the de-
activation trend is recommended to improve
the accuracy of the projected remaining life.
Other Recommendations
Some system improvements may be possible
in systems nearing an end-of-life condition
but with meaningful catalytic capacity re-
maining. For example, ammonia injection
systems may be redesigned, modified, ret-
rofitted, and/or repaired when performance
gains are identified. In redesigning ammonia
injection systems and associated ductwork,
the catalyst management organization may
employ computational fluid dynamic model-
ing as part of the optimization process. This
optimization process can result in a reduc-
tion of ammonia usage and improved overall
emission performance.
If survey results and diagnostic testing
reveal that catalyst bed remedial measures
or catalyst replacement is required, the fleet
SCR manager has several options to recom-
mend. SCR systems that contain catalyst
with substantial remaining catalytic activ-
ity may be candidates for refurbishment of
the SCR catalyst bed. This is a good option
for a plant that has deteriorated seals and/or
module wear and distortion that cannot prac-
tically be repaired by maintenance.
When the SCR catalytic potential has de-
graded and can no longer meet the plants
needs, the entire SCR reactor bed must be
addressed. In that situation, the options are
usually full replacement, partial replacement,
integrated reuse with new, or regeneration.
Each method has its advantages and disad-
vantages that must be considered within the
context of a given unit, plant, and fleet.
Logistics of individual unit replacement
and integration within a given outage period
must be considered at each plant. Early tri-
als to prove long-term durability and appli-
cability are recommended. Partial reuse may
be applied by integration with an advanced
module design, which can result in lower
total pressure loss. Regeneration is the pro-
cess of cleaning catalysts that are fouled by
contaminants that are removable by a special
aqueous-based chemical solution. This op-
tion may be considered if the catalyst deacti-
vation mechanism indicates reliable recovery
by the regeneration method and proven long-
term performance can be guaranteed.
Every plants operations are unique, so a
single catalyst cost estimate is not possible.
Instead, take a fleetwide view and manage
the life-cycle cost of SCR catalysts. This
approach will keep catalyst costs low over
the operating life while reliably meeting air
quality limits. And dont forget that routine
audits and inspections will help ensure a long
catalyst life.
Terry McTernan, PE (mcternanht@
cormetech.com) is manager of project
management for Cormetech Inc.
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are or how much experience you have.
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Regardless of age and experience,
|
May 2012 66
WATER MANAGEMENT
Think Water When Designing
CSP Plants
The operation of solar thermal power plants differs substantially from that of
fossil-fired plants, as the sun determines the generation rather than mar-
ket demand. However, design of the power island to minimize water usage
is very similar to that of a fossil plant. This renewable technology requires
renewed thinking of its water systems design.
By Dan Sampson, WorleyParsons
S
olar thermal plants exhibit many
unique design features that provide
both advantages and challenges to
water systems designers. One advantage
is that the plant operating profile is gener-
ally more consistent and predictable than
that of a fossil-fueled plant. On the other
hand, obtaining water is a challenge for
any power plant, particularly for concen-
trating solar power (CSP) plants that are
usually sited in arid regions. Special con-
veyance and treatment systems may also
be required if the water quality is poor in
those regions, increasing both capital cost
and system complexity.
Wastewater treatment presents an addi-
tional challenge for the plant designer. Most
CSP designs include evaporation ponds.
Although minimizing pond size minimizes
capital cost, doing so also tends to increase
treatment system complexity. Complete or
partial zero liquid discharge (ZLD) systems
may be required. (See Fundamentals of Zero
Liquid Discharge System Design in the Oc-
tober 2011 issue of POWER or the archives at
www.powermag.com.)
Air-cooled designs present special chal-
lenges as well, primarily with wastewater
treatment. Theres no large cooling tower
available to accept oil/water separator efflu-
ent, boiler blowdown quench water, or other
waste streams that are typically recycled in
the cooling tower. While of relatively good
quality, these waste streams present reclama-
tion challenges and again add complexity to
the treatment system design. Auxiliary cool-
ing towers may be available, but they may
not be large enough to accept the full volume
of these waste streams.
There are no easy fixes or rules-of-
thumb that apply to the design of a CSP
water system. This article presents a water
treatment system design approach for CSP
plants that minimizes complexity and cost
while still providing reliable and sustain-
able plant performance.
Predicting Water Usage
The amount of water used in a CSP plant,
much as in a conventional power plant, is
based on the number of operating hours.
Calculating solar thermal plant operating
hours is relatively straightforward. Several
computer programs are available that will
compute an estimated plant dispatch pro-
file based on the incident solar energy at
a specific geographic location. Table 1 il-
lustrates typical solar energy collected at a
site and an estimate of the electricity gen-
eration potential from a CSP plant.
The operating profile lists plant operat-
ing hours for a typical day for each month
of the year. In January, for example, the
operating profile indicates that the plant
begins producing power at approximately
8:30 a.m. and ceases power production at
approximately 3:30 p.m., a total of 7 hours.
The plant produces 765 MWh during the
operating period, assuming the power out-
put is averaged over each 1-hour period.
Ambient temperature during the operating
period averages 73F.
Thermal design data allows accurate
calculation of the plant general water de-
mands (cooling tower evaporation, boiler
blowdown, and other uses) but rarely pro-
vides sufficient granularity to accurately
model water usage for the typical solar
plant operating profile. Rather, a thermal
design case usually provides expected
plant output and general water demands
for a given set of ambient conditions and
a specific plant configuration, assuming
steady-state operation.
The typical thermal design process
would take the following design approach.
Table 2 lists the thermal design cases stud-
ied for this 255-MW design output proj-
ect, a design point that reflects the gross
maximum system generation at any time
of the year. So the typical winter design
case for this example would take the de-
sign output of 255 MW each hour at an
ambient temperature of 50F and a wet bulb
temperature of 41.7F.
There are two problems with this ap-
proach to determining this thermal design
case. First, its the wrong temperature for
January operation: The average ambi-
ent temperature during January operating
hours (not the daily average) is 73F. Sec-
ond, it assumes a continuous plant power
output of 255 MW during each hour of
operation.
The temperature issue can be resolved
simply by running additional thermal de-
sign cases. The traditional design cases
(hot day, annual average, winter, and so
on) are important, but they should be sup-
plemented with additional thermal design
cases that model the average ambient con-
ditions for a typical day for each month of
the year during plant operating hours, not
24-hour temperature averages. Although
this may seem excessive, this data granu-
larity is critical for accurately predicting
plant water usage. Using the average annu-
al case or some mixture of the traditional
thermal design cases increases the uncer-
tainty in water usage calculations.
The power production calculation can
also be easily resolved. Remember that the
thermal design case in this example lists
steady-state plant power production at
255 MW based on the maximum possible
generation at any time of the year (Table
1) and the design data at that design point
(Table 2). However, the plant never actu-
ally reaches this level of power production
in January. The amount of energy from the
sun is relatively low, and the sun doesnt
shine long enough.
As Table 1 indicates, plant power output
on a typical January day begins at about 32
MW, peaks at about 128 MW, and then de-
creases. Calculating water usage associated
with 7 hours of operation at a power output
of 255 MW would significantly overesti-
mate water usage for a typical day and, thus,
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May 2012 68
WATER MANAGEMENT
for the month. Rather, equivalent full power
operation should be calculated. The equiva-
lent full power operating hours can then be
used in conjunction with the thermal design
cases to accurately model water usage.
The operating profile predicts total pow-
er production for a typical January day of
765 MWh. The conventional thermal de-
sign approach assumes power production
of 255 MW during steady-state operation
over a 7-hour period. So, on a typical Jan-
uary day, the plant effectively operates at
255 MW for a period of 3 hours. Multiply
by the number of days in January (31) and
the plant effectively operates at full power
Table 1. A typical CSP plant operating profile. The yellow regions indicate no solar energy is recovered. The green areas are the
hours during which solar energy is recovered. The average power in kilowatts is shown for each hour. Because the time period is 1 hour, the
power in kilowatts is numerically the same as the energy generation, in kilowatt-hours. Source: WorleyParsons
Average power per hour (kW)
Hour of the day Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Average
0.5 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
1.5 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
2.5 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
3.5 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
4.5 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
5.5 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
6.5 0.00 0.00 0.00 23.53 101.08 131.06 64.85 22.21 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 28.56
7.5 0.00 0.00 87.43 158.97 219.44 246.16 191.70 161.74 149.05 84.80 15.32 0.00 109.55
8.5 31.99 68.58 192.95 217.86 228.29 245.46 211.16 195.35 210.71 168.11 104.42 32.06 158.91
9.5 90.31 111.04 192.43 221.84 236.94 244.02 208.88 211.39 218.00 171.63 113.85 84.57 175.41
10.5 93.53 100.74 193.28 219.01 227.01 243.23 231.61 206.25 214.74 164.56 110.04 86.54 174.21
11.5 94.64 90.38 184.90 222.30 228.71 239.21 227.69 201.96 210.36 160.59 104.67 76.33 170.14
12.5 100.05 78.77 183.84 233.23 229.59 243.22 214.19 213.95 201.12 173.66 113.59 87.39 172.72
13.5 109.41 94.48 195.57 233.31 225.48 243.40 222.68 215.15 202.24 189.09 124.11 103.88 179.90
14.5 128.18 120.94 183.71 198.64 223.52 242.63 216.50 215.38 194.99 191.88 135.09 122.53 181.17
15.5 116.99 154.20 178.15 190.90 220.48 234.58 223.37 212.59 199.80 168.90 77.83 92.84 172.55
16.5 0.00 43.16 133.38 154.84 187.48 207.83 196.66 173.42 134.70 10.02 0.00 0.00 103.46
17.5 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 54.02 112.35 97.28 42.82 1.30 0.00 0.00 0.00 25.65
18.5 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
19.5 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
20.5 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
21.5 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
22.5 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
23.5 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Other operating parameters
Avg. temp. (24 hours) 67 73 79 86 92 98 101 102 98 90 77 65
Avg. temp. (operating hours) 73 80 86 95 98 106 107 108 105 97 84 73
Total MWh produced 765 862 1,726 2,074 2,382 2,633 2,307 2,072 1,937 1,483 899 686
Number of days 31 28 31 30 31 30 31 31 30 31 30 31
Total energy produced (MWh) 23,718 24,144 53,495 62,233 73,843 78,994 71,504 64,238 58,110 45,981 26,968 21,270
Table 2. Three thermal design cases for the typical CSP plant described in Table 1. This design program defines the
water flows for the 255-MW CSP project for the three design cases normally used for a conventional thermal plant. There are problems with using
this standard approach for CSP plant design. Source: WorleyParsons
Thermal
case Configuration
Dry bulb
temperature
(F)
Wet bulb
temperature
(F)
Ambient
pressure
(psia)
Net
power
(MW)
Tower
evaporation
rate
(gpm)
Total demin-
erallized
water usage
(gpm)
Boiler
blowdown
quench
water (gpm)
Boiler blow-
down (gpm)
Quenched
boiler blow-
down (gpm)
High
pressure
blowdown
(lb/hr)
Total steam
flow (lb/hr)
1 Hot day 112.90 78.60 14.67 250 113.13 164.48 61.98 98.38 116.19 49,168 2,409,248
2 Annual average 83.20 57.80 14.67 254 83.76 164.48 61.98 98.38 116.18 49,168 2,409,248
3 Winter day 50.00 41.70 14.67 255 35.82 164.45 61.97 98.35 116.16 49,153 2,408,534
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May 2012 70
WATER MANAGEMENT
for a total of 93 hours in January. Water
usage for the month can be calculated from
the thermal design data based on this num-
ber of operating hours. Water usage for the
other months of the year can be similarly
calculated. Total annual water usage can
then be calculated by summing water us-
age for each individual month.
This method of estimating CSP plant
water usage significantly lowers uncer-
tainty in calculating both average and peak
water usage.
Now the plant water systems can be de-
signed based on the maximum water us-
age for the maximum operating day rather
than the hottest day thermal design case.
The judicious use of water storage also al-
lows for smaller water treatment systems
that still support the plant in all operating
scenarios.
Simplify the Design
Plant design is always a compromise. Simple
designs tend to use more water, while com-
plex designs tend to increase both operating
and capital costs. The most economic alter-
native often lies somewhere in the middle.
The trade-off is always project specific, but
there are some general design guidelines that
can be applied.
Figure 1 provides a relatively simple
solar plant water system process flow dia-
gram. It demonstrates that even simple
water systems for a CSP plant can be ex-
traordinarily complex.
In general, no special pretreatment is
needed, provided that the plant makeup
water quality allows cooling tower op-
eration at six cycles of concentration or
higher and also allows reverse osmosis
(RO) systems to operate at 60% recovery
or higher. Operation as low as four cycles
of concentration in the cooling tower may
be acceptable, depending upon land avail-
ability for evaporation ponds and the cost
of such ponds.
If influent treatment is required (lime
softening or ion exchange softening, for
example), then the plant capital and oper-
ating cost estimates should be adjusted to
reflect the increased manpower required
to operate these systems. Industry experi-
ence has clearly found that one full-time
operator must be dedicated solely to water
1. Conceptually simple, practically complex. A relatively simple CSP water treatment system can still be complex. These
water treatment systems, because of their typical location in arid climates with poor makeup water, are often much more complex than
systems for a typical thermal power plant of like rating. The average annual water balance of the example CSP system is illustrated. Yellow
boxes represent water flow rates; orange boxes represent water losses from the system. Source: WorleyParsons
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May 2012 72
WATER MANAGEMENT
treatment systems if makeup pretreatment
or any form of ZLD is used.
Membrane filtration (microfiltration,
ultrafiltration, or nanofiltration) should be
used any time plant makeup water is pro-
vided by either surface or recycled water.
These waters typically contain large con-
centrations of extremely small particles
that do not coagulate well. Traditional
multimedia filtration cannot consistently
remove these particles. Membrane filtra-
tion can remove these particles and protect
downstream equipment. Potable and well
waters typically do not require membrane
filtration.
Influent demineralization, which is cost
prohibitive for most fossil plants, may
make economic sense for CSP plants with
an evaporation pond. Demineralizers are
generally reliable and relatively simple to
operate. They remove all cations and an-
ions, unlike simple softening with ion ex-
change or lime. The waste stream produced
by demineralizers is concentrated and can
be sent directly to the evaporation pond.
Demineralizing half of the incoming water
would lower the concentration of all ions
by half, thus doubling allowable cooling
tower cycles of concentration and increas-
ing allowable RO recovery. A detailed eco-
nomic analysis should be performed, but
up-front demineralization usually provides
an excellent option for air-cooled plants.
Most of the water used in air-cooled plants
is for steam cycle makeup and mirror
washing, so the majority of water required
has to be demineralized in any case.
Always try to avoid complicated serial
water treatment processes. Lime softening
followed by RO followed by demineral-
ization may make sense in a fossil plant,
but it may be more trouble than its worth
in a CSP plant. CSP plant water usage is
generally lower than in a similarly sized
fossil plant (because dispatch is lower), so
operating cost doesnt increase as much as
might be expected when simpler but less-
efficient processes are used. Simpler de-
signs normally have a lower capital cost.
New and emerging technologies often
show great promise with significant poten-
tial savings in water and dollars, but the
process risk can be extremely high. Though
new approaches may provide benefit, any
design that incorporates new technology
should include redundancy or contingency
to mitigate the higher process risk.
Balance Water Quality
and Availability
Solar thermal plant locations exhibit remark-
able commonality. Theyre typically located
in extremely hot and arid environments far
from urban areas and other infrastructure.
Water is universally scarce. Groundwater
and/or surface water may be available, but
neither may available in sufficient quantity to
meet plant water consumption needs. Water
quality data is often nonexistent, particularly
its potential for scale and corrosion. Often,
the only option for water is drilling new wa-
ter wells. Water sources and supplies may
have to be mixed and matched.
New groundwater supplies must be
sampled early and often. At least one and
preferably multiple test wells should be
drilled and sampled monthly for at least a
year. Too many water systems have been
designed based on a single unrepresenta-
tive sample only to result in deficiencies in
the water treatment plant operation. Fur-
ther, the aquifer must be modeled to deter-
mine the potential for change over the life
of the plant.
For example, at one CSP plant location
groundwater quality was relatively good,
but other businesses held significant water
rights that had not been exercised in recent
years. Aquifer modeling determined that
groundwater quality would remain stable,
assuming that the current extraction rates
were maintained and the new CSP plant
demands were added, but water quality
would deteriorate significantly if other us-
ers began to withdraw at their maximum
allowable rates. If such situations occur, a
plant can be designed for the current wa-
ter quality, but provisions must be made
to add additional treatment equipment in
future years if other users increase extrac-
tion. That includes additional building
space, underground piping, evaporation
pond space, and so on.
Recycled water or degraded surface
water (usually agricultural run-off or
something similar) may also be available.
Though data may exist for the original
source water, data rarely exists for the
actual recycled water or degraded surface
water. Sampling becomes even more criti-
cal in such cases because these waters of-
ten exhibit significant seasonal variability.
The design water quality for each water
source should be determined by calculat-
ing the average and standard deviation of
all sample results. The design water qual-
ity becomes the average (mean) plus two
standard deviations for each constituent.
This approach provides the additional de-
sign margin necessary to account for his-
torical variability.
In addition, water chemistry must be
modeled for each potential water source
and for mixtures if the plant intends to
use more than one water supply. Mineral
solubility and chemistry modeling must
be performed. As stated earlier, accurate
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
130
120
110
100
90
80
70
7
7.25
7.5
7.75
8
8.25
8.5
F
pH
O
p
e
r
a
t
i
n
g

r
a
n
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e

p
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o
f
i
l
e

a
t

7
.
0
0

c
y
c
l
e
s
2. Calcite saturation at seven cycles of concentration in a cooling tower.
The blue columns indicate that no scale should form; red indicates a significant risk of scale
formation. When the same water is treated with a calcium carbonate dispersant, all of the bars
are blue. Source: WorleyParsons
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May 2012 74
WATER MANAGEMENT
prediction of water usage is especially
important in thermal solar plants. Mineral
solubility and chemistry modeling deter-
mine key water quality constraints that
significantly impact plant water usage.
Watch That Water Chemistry
Detailed mineral solubility analysis and a
detailed plant chemistry model are criti-
cal during the water system conceptual
design phase. Water balances too often
focus on simply balancing mass or water
flow. Chemistry creates many operating
and design constraints, including cooling
tower cycles of concentration, RO system
recovery, and equipment materials of con-
struction. Simply balancing mass is an in-
vitation to disaster because it doesnt point
to the increased risk of corrosion, scale
formation, and fouling.
There are many mineral solubility pro-
grams available in the marketplace, and
most specialty chemical suppliers have
been trained in their use. Designers must
either educate themselves or get expert
advice early in the design process. There
are also a number of computer programs
available that can evaluate the risk asso-
ciated with corrosion and scale formation
based on makeup water chemistry, cycles
of concentration, pH, and product dosage.
Most of these programs also include treat-
ment options for specific scales. Figure 2
shows the potential for calcite formation
of a typical recycled water source without
treatment.
Calcite is just one of many scales that
should be modeled to determine treatment
requirements and operating constraints.
Once all of the common scales have been
modeled, the mineral solubility analysis
sets the broad range of operating condi-
tions and chemical treatments required.
Table 3 provides an example of the op-
erating constraints based on the mineral
solubility analysis of the makeup water
profiled in Figure 2.
Theres still risk if the mineral solubil-
ity analysis is based on nonrepresenta-
tive samples. As stated earlier, potential
makeup waters should be sampled mul-
tiple times if no historical data exists. The
mineral solubility analysis should be per-
formed initially, but it should also be up-
dated as more data becomes available.
Minimize Wastewater Treatment
There are a host of possible options for any
power plant wastewater discharge: direct
discharge to some outside receiver, such
as a publically owned treatment works
(POTW); direct discharge to the environ-
ment (Clean Water Act National Pollutant
Discharge Elimination System [NPDES]
permit required); deep well injection;
direct discharge to evaporation ponds;
wastewater concentration with discharge
to evaporation ponds; and wastewater con-
centration to dryness (ZLD).
The lack of local infrastructure usu-
ally eliminates the POTW option for CSP
plants. Likewise, the lack of suitable re-
ceiving water often eliminates the NPDES
option. Deep well injection, however, is
often overlooked as a viable option. This
option requires a suitable aquifer for
wastewater reinjection. The capital cost
is moderatemore expensive than POTW
but less expensive than ZLD or evaporation
ponds. The process risk is moderate (mul-
tiple injection wells lower process risk,
but theres no absolute guarantee that the
well will work), but the simple technology
requires very little operator involvement.
Deep well injection should also be investi-
gated if ZLD or evaporation ponds in any
combination are anticipated.
As mentioned earlier, CSP plants tend
to be located in hot, dry locations. The
evaporation rate tends to be very high
and annual precipitation low. Evaporation
ponds are an attractive option provided
that land is available. Evaporation pond
size decreases as wastewater influent flow
to the pond decreases, so wastewater con-
centration systems can significantly lower
pond size and cost. However, larger ponds
may actually cost less than the wastewater
concentration equipment. Pond cost varies
widely, depending on environmental con-
straints, location, and pond type.
If the cost of larger ponds is within
20% of the cost of wastewater concentra-
Limiting constituents
Calcium phosphate, calcium carbonate, and silica generally limit cycles of concentration to approximately 7.
The extremely high ammonia in the recycled water will require the use of activated bromine for microbial
control. This chemistry must be provided and detailed by a qualified water treatment vendor. In general
terms it requires the use of sodium hypochlorite (bleach) to "activate" bromine. The resulting bromine
compound ("bromamine") is a more effective biocide than is available from the use of bleach alone. Non-
oxidizing biocide may be required from time to time to combat microbial growth if loss of oxidizing biocide
feed occurs. Most cooling systems control microbial growth with a free halogen residual. The extremely
high ammonia concentration would require excessive feed of chlorine and/or bromine to reach a free re-
sidual. Total halogen must be used with a target range established based on microbial test results. Daily
microbial testing (using "dipslides" or similar media) is essential.
Amorphous silica deposition risk increases at low temperatures (<80F) but is treatable.
High chloride concentration precludes the use of stainless steel. Titanium is recommended.
Mild steel corrosion can be controlled through the addition of pyrophosphate.
Recommended cooling tower limits
pH 7.07.4, not to exceed 7.6
Specific conductivity <10,000 uS/cm
Cycles of concentration <7 (operation up to nine cycles can be tolerated for short periods of time)
PO
4
(unfiltered) <9 mg/l
PO
4
(filtered) <9 mg/l
Delta PO
4
(UF-F) <2 mg/l
Pyrophosphate <11 mg/l
Calcium hardness <1,100 mg/l as CaCO
3
Total hardness <2,000 mg/l
Silica <150 mg/l
Total iron <3 mg/l (typical, depends on form of iron in makeup water)
Free halogen High ammonia concentration precludes chlorination to a free residual. See above.
Cooling tower chemicals required
Sulfuric acid: pH control
Sodium hypochlorite (bleach): microbial control
Sodium bromide (bromine): microbial control available in a single blend
Calcium carbonate: dispersant/scale inhibitor
Pyrophosphate: corrosion inhibitor
Table 3. Summary of cooling tower water treatment operating con-
straints. Source: WorleyParsons
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WATER MANAGEMENT
tion equipment, then discharge directly to
ponds. Wastewater concentration systems
are complicated, suffer from high operat-
ing cost, use significant auxiliary power,
and require additional manpower.
If wastewater concentration is neces-
sary, then keep the wastewater concentra-
tion system as simple as possible. Avoid
wastewater softening, filtering, and RO
systems. These technologies can be won-
derful options, but they always increase
complexity. Simple concentration systems
tend to be more reliable and easier to op-
erate. No plant manager or operator has
ever complained that water treatment is
too simple.
Simple wastewater concentration sys-
tems generally consist of one or more
evaporators (brine concentrators). These
systems can typically increase total solids
(the sum of dissolved and suspended sol-
ids) in wastewater to approximately 20%
to 25% with total dissolved solids of 12%
to 17% and total suspended solids of 3%
to 8%. Cooling tower blowdown total sol-
ids typically average 0.3% to 0.8%, with a
maximum of about 1.0%.
Evaporators recover almost all of the un-
concentrated plant wastewater and return
relatively pure water. The concentrated
water decreases in volume and increases
in total solids. Increasing total solids from
1% (the maximum in cooling tower blow-
down) to 20% (in evaporator blowdown)
reduces wastewater volume by a factor of
20. For example, sending cooling tower
blowdown with a flow of 100 gallons per
minute (gpm) through an evaporator would
result in a concentrated wastewater flow of
just 5 gpm and would also provide 95 gpm
of high-purity distillate suitable for reuse.
That means an evaporation pond sized for
100 gpm could decrease in size by a factor
of approximately 20.
Evaporation pond size can decrease
further through the judicious recycling of
lowtotal dissolved solids (TDS) waste-
water. Any wastewater stream with a lower
TDS than the cooling tower circulating
water should be returned to the tower
as makeup provided that its acceptable
for that use. Oil-water separator effluent
and quenched boiler blowdown are com-
monly discharged directly to an evapora-
3. An air-cooled CSP plant water management system, winter design case (monthly average data). In winter, the two air-
cooled towers cant process design boiler blowdown flow rates. The addition of an air cooler allows this lowtotal dissolved solids water to be redirected to
the reverse osmosis system. Yellow boxes represent water flow rates; orange boxes represent water losses from the system. Source: WorleyParsons
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May 2012 78
WATER MANAGEMENT
tion pond, but both can be used as cooling
tower makeup.
Evaporation to dryness without an
evaporation pond requires at least two ad-
ditional steps: thermal crystallization and
liquid/solids separation. These systems
exhibit extremely poor reliability and ex-
tremely high operating cost, and they re-
quire heavy operator involvement. They
should be avoided if possible.
Air-Cooled Plants Are Special
Air-cooled plants use much less water,
but they also present some special chal-
lenges. Quenched boiler blowdown, dis-
cussed above, is approximately 116 gpm
in the model shown in Figure 3. This rela-
tively pure water would normally be used
as cooling tower makeup. Lacking a large
cooling tower, the Figure 3 model instead
routes this flow to the auxiliary cooling
system wet surface air coolers (wet SACs).
(For more information on the design and
application of wet SACs, see Wet Surface
Air Coolers Minimize Water Use by Maxi-
mizing Hear Transfer Efficiency in the
September 2008 issue.)
During summer operation the wet SAC
evaporation rate is relatively high. The
wet SAC can receive virtually all of the
quenched blowdown as makeup. During
winter operation (as shown in Figure 3),
however, the wet SAC evaporation rate
lowers, and it cannot receive all of the
quenched boiler blowdown. This is good-
quality water, low in TDS, and could be
used as RO system feedwater. Quenched
blowdown is hot, however, so routing it
directly to the RO feed tank would cer-
tainly cause damage to the mixed bed ion
exchange resin downstream of the RO and
could cause damage to the RO itself. The
blowdown must be cooled before its used
as RO feed. An air cooler was added for
winter operation. Ambient temperatures
are lower, so the air cooler provides ad-
equate cooling of the blowdown during the
winter. Summer operation doesnt require
an air cooler because the wet SACs can
receive all of the quenched blowdown as
makeup.
Although this seems like a small change,
its important to remember that small wa-
ter volumes are extremely important in
air-cooled plantsmuch more important
than in water-cooled plants. The evapora-
tor in this design is sized to process ap-
proximately 100 gpm of wastewater. The
evaporator would have to be twice that size
if boiler blowdown were not reused within
the plant.
Its important to note that modeling the
average annual thermal design case would
not detect this unique design requirement
that occurs only during the winter months.
Wet SAC evaporation rate is high enough
to allow the use of all boiler blowdown as
wet SAC makeup during average annual
ambient conditions, obscuring the prob-
lems during winter operation. Once again,
the traditional annual average thermal
design case should not be used to estimate
water usage in an air-cooled plant; instead,
use the month-by-month method.
A water balance and thermal design is
case specific to each month of the year,
so avoid design and water plant sizing
problems by estimating water usage and
wastewater discharge for each month of
the year.
Daniel C. Sampson (dan.sampson@
worleyparsons.com) is a water/waste-
water engineer in the WorleyParsons
Sacramento Office.
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May 2012 80
SMART GRID
Ten Smart Grid Trends to Watch
in 2012 and Beyond
The year 2012 represents a turning point for the smart grid. Many foundation-
al elements have been tested; several have been successfully deployed.
Now the serious work of integration and value-generation begins, even
though the challenges remain substantial.
By Bob Gohn, Pike Research
S
mart grid technologiesparticularly in
the U.S. and Europeare at a pivotal
point. Sufficient initial steps have been
made on the part of both technology suppli-
ers and utility implementers that we are start-
ing to see some payoffssmall, to be sure, in
some cases, but significant in terms of prov-
ing technical and economic value.
Given that most elements of the smart grid
sit downstream from power generators, one
might ask why those on the generation end of
the industry should care (other than because
we are all electricity consumers). One reason
is that smart grid technologies will both chal-
lenge the operation of utility-scale generation
and become valued partners with traditional
generation. For example, sophisticated peak-
leveling programs can reduce the need for
fast-responding peaker plants with low ca-
pacity factors. Advanced forecasting, auto-
mated load-shifting capabilities, and other
communication and information technology
tools all along the transmission and distribu-
tion grid can make it easier for fossil-fueled
generators to integrate renewable generation
to maximize efficiency, lower overall emis-
sions, and balance portfolios.
In the medium to long term, smart grid
technologieswhich include myriad de-
vices and tools to strengthen and secure
power delivery systemswill inevitably
affect the business models and operating
practices of both utilities and independent
power producers.
This article, based on the recent Pike Re-
search white paper Smart Grid: Ten Trends
to Watch in 2012 and Beyond, sums up the
current status of the smart grid industry and
identifies the top trends.
1. Smart Meters Will Shift from
Deployment to Applications
For the past few years, utilities have been la-
ser-focused on getting smart meters into the
field. Federal stimulus money has fueled this
effort to a great extent in the U.S. But that
money is drying up, and a shift to making use
of all that data is under way.
Smart meters have reached (or are near)
critical mass. By Pike Researchs estimates,
some 200 million smart meters have been
deployed worldwide, and 40 million of those
are now installed at premises in North Amer-
ica. Utilities have begun to realize internal
cost savings from these new meters thanks to
features such as remote disconnect capabili-
ties and more efficient meter reading. How-
ever, new challenges will surface in the near
term as utility managers build out consumer-
facing services, such as web portals and use-
ful apps that flow from smart meter data.
It is time for the new meters to start de-
livering on some of the promises to help
consumers reduce consumption, lower their
spending on energy, and deepen their en-
gagement with utilities. Our expectation is
that this shift from deployment to applica-
tions will take longer than anticipated be-
cause utilities have never seen this volume of
data from meters, and no one has fully mined
the complexities. Eventually, some clever ap-
plications will surface from forward-thinking
companies that can see beyond the obvious
use of the data. However, that is likely to oc-
cur in the years beyond 2012.
2. Dynamic Pricing Debates
Will Escalate
Multiple studies show that dynamic pric-
ing does indeed reduce peak loads and that
its effects are enhanced with the application
of smart grid technology. However, variable
rates have some legitimate strikes against
them and, interestingly, opposition to dy-
namic pricing can be found on both ends of a
politically polarized spectrum. Those toward
the right fear Big Brother taking control of
their thermostats and appliances (here, utili-
ties = government). Those bent leftward see
the social good of universal electricity being
corrupted, leaving the vulnerable unprotected
(here, utilities = big business).
What has been missing from the broader
debate is this question: Who wins/loses in the
status quo of average rates? Heavy peak users
are effectively being subsidized by everyone
else. Efficient users are subsidizing ineffi-
cient users. In this context, consumer advo-
cates should be clamoring for the energy hog
consumer peakers to pay their fair share.
More capitalistic types should welcome sys-
tems that make energy a free market with
more consumer choice and effective pricing
mechanisms.
Programs are likely needed for disadvan-
taged groups, but this is not a new challenge
for policy makers. Regardless, there is grow-
ing evidence that even low-income consum-
ers are often able to respond to dynamic
pricing incentives and therefore share in the
economic benefits. Ultimately, regulators and
legislators armed with better data from pilot
programs and carefully considered consumer
protections integrated into service offerings
will need the courage to drive dynamic pric-
ing implementation forward.
3. Architecture Will Be the
New Buzzword
Silo-bustingintegrating previously in-
dependent functions, technologies, and peo-
plehas been a widely recognized attribute
of smart grid deployment. The better integra-
tion of substations, the distribution network,
and metering systems is key to the improved
grid management assumed to be required for
the future growth of electric vehicles and dis-
tributed renewable energy generation. Silo-
busting is easier defined than done.
Recent smart grid standards initiatives
around the world have accelerated the move-
ment toward a common architectural vision
(Figure 1). The fruit of these efforts will
emerge throughout 2012 with a tangible ven-
dor solution offering. Ciscos formal articula-
tion of its GridBlocks architecture this past
January provides perhaps the most compre-
hensive framework for considering specific
system implementations. Although focused on
the communications network, it offers a con-
sidered approach for broader systems interac-
tions. At a subsystem level, most of the major
smart meter manufacturers have just launched
more open and flexible metering platforms.
May 2012
|
SMART GRID
The adoption of an architectural filter for
smart grid systems evaluation similarly ap-
plies to smart grid software (both informa-
tion and operational technology) systems and
is especially important for smaller utilities.
4. Cyber Security Failure Risks Will
Near Inevitability
Smart grid cyber security at the end of 2012
is likely to look much as it did at the begin-
ning of 2012. This non-development owes
its existence to the continued non-existence
of enforceable cyber security standards. The
situation is dire enough that a recent Pike Re-
search blog post on cyber security standards
used Waiting for Godot as its graphic.
The details of the conundrum are too many
for full consideration here, but one thing
is clear: While some deride cyber security
standards as irrelevant, that is far from real-
ity. Utilities hesitate to invest in cyber secu-
rity that is not required for compliance with
something. That may sound cynical, but it is
pragmatic. Utilities do not know what cyber
security to buy, as they have no idea what
some as-yet-unwritten regulation will require
of them. An industry plagued by stranded as-
sets will be loath to voluntarily sign up for
more.
The lack of standards hinders vendors,
as well. In order to decide which technolo-
gies to develop and which to leave untapped,
vendors must predict what regulations will
be enacted around the globe. That is nearly
impossible, but vendors cannot be seen as in-
active in their market, so they have to build
something. Therefore, 2012 will most likely
see new cyber security products targeted at
smart grids. Unfortunately, not all vendors
see the same market. Cyber security prod-
ucts from different vendors thus often do not
integrate well. This adds further obstacles
to smart grid interoperabilitya feat that is
challenging in the best of cases.
A recent Pike Research report forecasts that
cumulative investment in smart grid cyber se-
curity through the end of 2018 will total nearly
$14 billion. But without any standards, all that
investment may not yield any meaningful im-
provements in smart grid protection. The con-
tinued lack of standards could also dictate a
continued lack of protection.
5. Consumer Backlash Will Not Go
Away
Health concerns, fears of privacy invasion
and hacking potential, and general conspir-
acy theories continue to slow down smart
meter deployments. Despite strong evidence
to the contrary, vocal minorities will continue
to push against these deployments. No matter
how much utilities try to blunt the protests,
they can expect to have to deal with this issue
for the near term at least.
In California, to deal with the pushback
problem, PG&E asked for and was granted
permission by state regulators to let custom-
ers opt out of having a smart meter installed;
instead, customers can keep their old analog
meters if they agree to pay a monthly fee. A
similar opt-out option is available in Maine.
In Michigan, Consumers Energy is taking a
proactive approach. While it has not yet de-
ployed smart meters, the utility has decided
to offer an opt-out program in advance of its
planned rollout.
Though opt-out offers look necessary, sav-
vy utility managers will acknowledge cus-
tomer fears and work to directly engage them
on this and other smart gridrelated issues.
Pecan Street, for example, is a public-private
initiative in Texas that is looking at smart me-
ters and the smart grid from the consumers
perspective.
6. DA and AMI Will Intersect
The past year has seen distribution automaton
(DA) projects and technologies emerge to the
forefront of smart grid applications. Com-
pared to the higher-profile smart meter and
advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) de-
ployments, DA investments often have clearer
paybacks, can be deployed gradually with a
tighter focus on problem areas, and (perhaps
most attractively) do not require any consumer
involvement (that is, behavior changes).
Consequently, AMI networking technol-
ogy suppliers seem to be thinking that it
should be easy to piggyback DA device com-
munications on the same network. This may
or may not be as easy as it seems, and there
are plenty of competing technologies for the
DA network (Figure 2).
DA applications are now becoming in-
creasingly complex, including recent efforts
at advanced, dynamic optimization of the
distribution grid. This is especially important
as distributed generation and plug-in electric
vehicles (EVs) edge toward widespread de-
ployment. (See POWERs March 2012 issue
for more on EV integration issues.)
Beyond the sharing of network infra-
structure, the more important intersection
between AMI and DA is occurring at the IT
and operational technology (OT) application
level. Smart meters, the endpoints of every
1. Layers of smart grid architec-
ture. In a fully integrated smart grid, individ-
ual technologies are able to interact with each
other seamlessly. Source: Pike Research
Note: AMI = advanced metering infrastructure, DA = dis-
tribution automation, HAN = home area network, LAN =
local area network, NAN = neighborhood area network,
WAN = wide area network.
2. Competing communication options. Distribution automation communications
options include both private and public systems and come in a range of bandwidths and prices.
Source: Pike Research
|
May 2012 82
SMART GRID
distribution network, can be very effective
sensors for dynamic voltage monitoring.
Capturing the smart meter data in a timely
way may be a challenge for the AMI net-
work. Often, however, the greater challenge
is making that information available to dis-
tribution management systems and other OT
systems in a complete, accurate, and timely
way. Also required are the analytics to iden-
tify the required information within the
pile of data.
Dominion Virginia Power is doing very
interesting pilots that use basic analytics to
identify sentinel meters to act as voltage
sensors for a simple but robust conservation
voltage reduction implementation. This novel
approach is delivering significant distribution
network optimization with relatively little ad-
ditional field equipment deployment.
It may not be obvious at first, but this line
blurring between different smart grid applica-
tions represents one of the key promises of de-
veloping a smart grid. By breaking through the
traditional application silos, a more general-
ized smart grid infrastructure can be leveraged
to deliver new applications and value beyond
the original, more narrowly focused business
cases. Pike Research believes 2012 will be the
year utilitiesespecially those completing
AMI rolloutswill take a long, hard look at
these wider application possibilities.
7. Microgrids Will Move from
Curiosity to a Reality
Pike Research has been monitoring and ana-
lyzing the worlds microgrid market since
2009, developing the worlds only database
on microgrid projects segmented into five ap-
plications and four major geographies. Based
in part on this data, Pike Researchs 2012
global microgrid market forecast shows that
North America will continue to lead in terms
of overall capacity (Figure 3). However, by
2017, the Asia Pacific region will lead in
terms of revenue.
3. Major microgrid capacity growth. Pike Research anticipates total microgrid capacity
(under its average scenario) to more than double in the next five years. Source: Pike Research
5,000
4,500
3,500
3,000
2,500
2,000
1,500
1,000
500
0
M
W
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Rest of world Asia Pacific Europe North America
May 2012
|
SMART GRID
There are two reasons why Pike Research
sees microgrids moving from a curiosity into
reality in 2012 and beyond, especially in the
U.S. The first is the adoption of the Insti-
tute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
(IEEE) P1547.4 safe islanding standards in
July 2011. These standards should acceler-
ate the shift from pilot validation projects to
fully commercial microgrid ventures. The
second is a series of recent Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission orders (719, 745,
and 1000), which all take steps toward har-
monizing innovation occurring independent-
ly at the wholesale and retail market levels.
Demand response (DR) is seen as a stop-
gap resource whose role will expand in mar-
kets characterized by volatility, high demand
peaks, and lack of new transmission-level
generation capacity. Microgrids are now be-
ing viewed as the ultimate reliable DR re-
source, since islanding securely takes load off
of the utility grid. (Also see POWERs Janu-
ary 2011 article on the U.S. militarys use of
microgrids to ensure supply reliability.)
There are other drivers in other global
markets. Interestingly enough, the entire
European Union is reportedly abolishing the
standard utility protocol of requiring invert-
ers of solar photovoltaic installations and
wind turbines to disconnect from the grid
during a disturbance. This action removes
one of the largest stumbling blocks to micro-
grid implementations, maximizing the value
of these distributed resources.
The Asia Pacific market may become
more robust in 2012 if the commercial/in-
dustrial segmentcurrently the smallest
microgrid segment globallytakes off due
to recent interest in data center microgrids,
many operating on direct current. Rumors are
swirling about projects as large as 500 MW
in one Asia Pacific country.
8. The Freeze on HANs Will Thaw
Just a Little
The freeze on smart meters connected to
home area network (HAN) interfaces will
thawjust a little bit. While the original
notion of a thriving market for AMI-driven
HANs has never materialized, there is evi-
dence that some utilities are keeping the
idea alive.
In the United Kingdom, for example, Brit-
ish Gas is in the midst of a huge rollout of
smart meters, with plans to install 2 million
of them in homes by the end of 2012. The
company is also providing a Landis+Gyr in-
home display and a communications link to
go along with the meters. The ZigBee-based
system transmits data among the various de-
vices and back to British Gas.
In the U.S., HAN deployments and trials
continue among several utilities. NV Energy
in Nevada has rolled out a DR program using
HAN technology that has more than 60,000
customers enrolled. The utility plans to dou-
ble that number over the next several years.
In Texas, AEP Energy has installed 450,000
smart meters and offers those customers the
choice of buying a companion HAN device
to manage electricity usage and control ap-
pliances. Similarly, Texas utility Oncor
makes in-home monitors and HAN devices
available to its residential customers who
have smart meters installed.
The question remains: Will these systems
be enough to spur consumers to alter their
energy consumption? Many more consum-
ers may choose instead to use other net-
worked devices, such as laptops, tablets, and
smart phones, to monitor and control their
energy usage.
9. Asia Pacific Smart Grid Adoption
Will Accelerate Even More
Smart grid technology can provide so-
lutions for Southeast Asias developing
|
May 2012 84
SMART GRID
countries, as well as for the more advanced
economies in China and Japan. In the case
of all three of these Asian markets, it is
clear that investments in smart grid tech-
nologies will as a whole radically increase
in 2012 and beyond.
Though quite small in scale, initial smart
grid rollouts in Southeast Asia (which will
be consuming over half of all Asia Pacific
electricity by 2020) are focusing on remote
or smart meters, investments in SCADA sys-
tems, and small steps toward automation.
In contrast, China is investing big in the
smart grid, with estimates of $250 billion
(about 1.6 trillion) by 2016, according to
government sources. The prime goal is to
upgrade the intelligence network by 2020 to
help solve power imbalance issues and en-
hance transmission efficiency. Chinas trans-
mission capabilities lag behind those of other
industrialized nations, with line losses of 8%
compared to 2.5% in Europe and the U.S. As
POWER has noted in previous articles (see,
for example, Chinas 12th Five-Year Plan
Pushes Power Industry in New Directions
in the January 2012 issue), China is empha-
sizing ultra-high-voltage transmission line
constructionincluding high-voltage direct
currentto stretch transmission all across its
huge mainland. Though China is also invest-
ing in smart meter deployment, we believe
the capability of these meters barely meets
the standard definition for smart meters in
terms of the data quality they will provide.
Japan had not seen much value in smart
grid technology in the past, but that changed
in March 2011 due to the disaster at the
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station.
Along with bolstering its own power infra-
structure, Japan is looking to create business
opportunities by tapping its technology lead-
ership with the so-called smart community
concept, which embraces renewable energy
sources and central energy management sys-
tems for monitoring and controlling power
flows. Along with smart homes and EVs,
smart communities apply IT and sensor net-
works to create intelligent transportation sys-
tems. Social healthcare systems are also part
of this effort to make cities smart.
Interestingly enough, Japan will deploy
this new smart city concept in the Tohoku
region, which was affected by the tsunami
disaster in 2011. Constructing a more ener-
gy-efficient power infrastructure also less
vulnerable to natural disaster is a crucial goal
for Japan, and smart meter deployments have
increased accordingly.
10. Stimulus Investments Will Bear
Mixed Fruit
Much hoopla surrounded the Obama ad-
ministrations investment of taxpayer dol-
lars into the smart grid back in 2009. A
total of $4.5 billion was invested under the
broad umbrella of the smart grid under the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
of 2009 (ARRA). The Obama administra-
tion deserves some kudos for at least rec-
ognizing the value of governments role in
stimulating innovation with new technol-
ogy for the power grid.
The original plan capped individual
grants at $20 million, which would have
fostered many small projects distributed
among many technologies, business mod-
els, and geographies. Due to political pres-
sure from utilities (and large vendors) that
cap per grant award was increased to $200
million before the final RFPs were re-
leased in May of 2009. Looking back, that
may have been a critical mistake.
Raising the cap encouraged large utili-
ties to focus largely on the deployment of
smart meters. While this was a necessary
step in the development of a smart grid,
utilities tend to become preoccupied with
rate-basing opportunities. Too many of
these ARRA project awards were therefore
cookie-cutter generic smart meter deploy-
ments that may have happened anyway. As
a result, stimulus funds deployed on behalf
of the smart grid have, in some cases, been
frittered away on poorly designed rollouts
of smart meters and AMI, underwriting
utility overhead charges instead of creat-
ing new green jobs.
Studies show that smaller, community-
based distributed energy projects generate
two to three times as many jobs as large-
scale renewable energy projects. One can
assume a similar multiplier for distributed
smart grid experiments focused less on
utility data collection and more on pushing
the envelope with renewables integration
and other problem solving. Thus, smaller
projects with municipal utilities may have
been a better employment gains bet.
The key role for government is to fund
research and development that would not
occur in the private sector. Requiring a
matching fund commitment for ARRA
awards was wise. But one wonders what
could have been if more of these ARRA
funds had been steered toward more cut-
ting-edge ideas such as microgrids, virtual
power plants, and renewables integration
elements of the smart grid that offer the
greatest utility to utilities, power produc-
ers, and consumers.
Bob Gohn is vice president, research at
Pike Research.
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May 2012 86
ENERGY STORAGE
Getting Bulk Storage Projects Built
Unpredictable periods of operation are one of the disadvantages of wind and
solar technologies. If there were an economic means of storing the energy
from the time of production to the time of demand, the value of renewable
energy sources would greatly increase. Here are some ideas for how to
bridge that gap.
By Jason Makansi, The Coalition to Advance Renewable Energy through Bulk Storage
B
ulk energy storage technologies (typi-
cally larger than 50 MW and grid con-
nected at transmission level voltages)
add needed flexibility to grid operations and
enhance the reliability and security of electric-
ity supply. Unlike traditional generation and
transmission assets, bulk storage facilities re-
spond within minutes to add or absorb small
or large increments of capacity to and from
the grid. These technologies also represent
an economic development and export oppor-
tunity. Such attributes are now widely recog-
nized by the industry. Thus, it is not our intent
here to review these attributes, which can be
found in many respected references, but rather
to focus on the policy framework necessary to
monetize these attributes (Figure 1).
Over the past year in particular, many con-
ditions necessary for bulk energy storage to
play a larger role in U.S. electricity grid man-
agement and operations have converged.
First, the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission (FERC) implemented FERC
Order 755, which supports the use of energy
storage facilities for ancillary services, and
FERC Order 1000, which allows multi-
value transmission projects to recover costs
from ratepayers on a regional basis. FERC
also issued a Notice of Inquiry on Electric
Energy Storage Technologies and Ancillary
Services to determine how storage assets
should be treated for accounting purposes.
Second, two states with the largest elec-
tricity systems in the countryCalifornia and
Texasare implementing state-level policies
conducive to storage. Not surprisingly, these
two states are also among the most aggres-
sive in developing renewable energy.
Third, the distributed energy storage sector
is suffering from a variety of issues related to
scale-up, operational safety, under-capital-
ized firms, private sector (venture capital and
private equity primarily) funding levels, and
general disenchantment with government-
sponsored research and development. History
suggests that at least a few of the companies
pursuing these technologies will ultimately
navigate the arduous path to a grid-scale
commercial product. However, the sector as
a whole, not unexpectedly by any means, has
clearly suffered setbacks this past year.
Finally, it bears repeating that bulk storage
technologiesprimarily underground cavern-
based compressed air energy storage (CAES)
and pumped hydroelectric storage (PHS)
have consistently exhibited the best econom-
ics on a life-cycle cost basis, compared with
virtually all of the scaled-up distributed stor-
age technologies, with the possible exception
of lead acid battery chemistry.
The Policy Gap
With dozens of active PHS and CAES projects
around the country, a fair question to ask, giv-
en this convergence of conditions noted above,
is, Whats the problem in getting commercial
bulk storage projects online? The answer is
that there are still several widely acknowl-
edged benefits and value streams associated
with bulk storage for which cost recovery/fi-
nancial return is elusive under current policy
and electricity market mechanisms.
In largely regulated jurisdictions, storage
isnt a sanctioned asset class like genera-
tion, transmission, or distribution assets for the
purposes of recovering costs either through
regulated rates of return or through contracts
between utilities and third-party or merchant/
independent project developers. In market-
oriented jurisdictions, monetizing the costs of
bulk storage through energy, capacity, renew-
able energy credits, and/or ancillary services
typically still leaves substantial benefits unpaid
for. The most notable of the ancillary services
important to storage is frequency regulation, for
which tariffs and products have been developed
in many organized electricity markets.
Whether in regulated or competitive regions,
the grid still must absorb shocks to the system,
and the intermittency/variability of renewable
energy has magnified this need. Thus, grid own-
ers/operators need shock absorbers, flexible
options that can respond quickly to system up-
sets, assets that can add load to the system when
necessary, assets that can absorb load from the
system, customers that will reduce their load de-
mand from the system, and so on.
Attractive
(IRR~30%)
Medium
(IRR~10%)
Not attractive
(Negative IRR)
Profitability
of the
business
case
Difficult Easy
Feasibility of implementation
Global market size
to 2030
Conventional stabilization
T &D deferral
Island/
off-grid
storage
Black-start
services
Balancing
energy
Industrial
peak shaving
Price
arbitrage
Residential
storage
Centralized
Decentralized
Mixed
> 50 billion
20 50 billion
< 20 billion
1. Good business case. Four or five energy storage technologies are expected to exhibit
an attractive internal rate of return (IRR) in the near future, based on an analysis of the availability
of technical alternatives, the technical complexity of the implementation, its match with long-
established business models, and other supporting business and industry trends. Calculations
are based on estimated storage prices for 2015 to 2030. Source: The Boston Consulting Group,
Revisiting Energy Storage: There Is a Business Case
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May 2012 88
ENERGY STORAGE
The electricity grid is described as the
worlds largest machine, or a just-in-time inven-
tory system, because electricity per se cannot
be stored, although it can be stored as energy
in other forms. It bears noting that 22,000 MW
of PHS already operates throughout the U.S.,
and one CAES facility has been operating for
almost 20 years. However, virtually all of these
facilities were built by vertically integrated utili-
ties before policies encouraging competition in
electricity supply were enacted.
In practice, the benefits and value streams as-
sociated with balancing, or shock absorption,
vary greatly, depending on the location within
the transmission or distribution system (and the
differing voltage levels) where balancing is con-
ducted. Now that electricity supply and delivery
has been disaggregated, the value and benefits
accrue to different stakeholders. However, the
problem is similar to the inability of certain
transmission projects to move forward because
it was simply too difficult to apportion the val-
ue, and recover the costs, to/from each class of
ratepayer that would benefit from having the
transmission line in place. Thus, through the
leadership and initiatives of several independent
system operators (ISOs), FERC instituted Or-
der 1000, which allows approved multi-value
projects to recover costs through an adder on
transmission tariffs across the region. Method-
ologies have been developed and approved that
quantify the value of these regional benefits.
Proposed Solutions and CAREBS
Functional Approach
At the federal and state levels, myriad poli-
cy solutions have been proposed, and some
instituted, to support the addition of energy
storage facilities, including:
Creating markets for grid ancillary servic-
es, the most accepted thus far being fre-
quency regulation (for example, in PJM,
MISO, CAISO, and NE-ISO).
Creating new market products, such as
ramping or flexible ramping in the orga-
nized markets to reflect the response val-
ue and flexibility of storage (in CAISO,
MISO, and others).
Allowing an investment tax credit for stor-
age facilities (Storage Technology for Re-
newable and Green Energy Act of 2011,
S.1845, pending before Congress).
Reducing the interval for bids into the
market to sub-hourly to accommodate so-
called Limited Energy Storage Resourc-
es and creating a real-time regulation
market (New York).
Mandating or encouraging a minimum
level of storage capacity in the market, that
utilities procure a minimum level of stor-
age, and that methodologies be developed
to assign a resource adequacy value to
storage, as is common for generation and
transmission resources, and institute pay
for performance and forward procurement
of flexible capacity (California).
Defining electricity used to charge storage
devices as wholesale not retail (Texas).
Creating a national interest value tar-
iff that would support distributed storage
(National Alliance for Advanced Technol-
ogy Batteries proposal).
As a complement to these initiatives, The
Coalition to Advance Renewable Energy
through Bulk Storage (CAREBS) advocates
a functional policy solution that:
Simplifies the task of integrating renewable
energy into grid operations without further
distorting existing ratemaking or market
mechanisms, or sacrificing reliability.
Avoids picking winners and losers and pro-
tecting existing or future asset classes by
focusing on the grid or market functional
need and not the technology or the asset.
Generation technology
Services
Bulk storage
(PHS, CAES)
a
Distributed
storage
b
Gas turbines,
combined
cycles
c
Cycling older
fossil plants
d
Hydroelectric
Demand
management
e
Synchronous
condensers
f
Traditional
ancillary
services
Regulation Y N Y Y Y N Y
Energy imbalance Y N ? Y Y N N
Spinning/operating reserve Y N N Y Y N N
Black start Y N N N N N N
Reactive power Y N N N ? N Y
Reliability reserves Y N Y N Y Y N
Supplementary reserves Y N Y N Y Y N
Additional
balancing
services
Absorbing load, decremental reserves Y N N N N N Y
Transmission line loading optimization Y N N N N N N
Shifting on-peak to off-peak Y N N N N N N
Other
desirable
attributes
Avoiding transmission upgrades, investment Y N N N N N N
Weekly balancing Y N N N N N N
Seasonal load shifting Y N N N N N N

Notes:
a. Bulk storage is the only solution set capable of providing all the components of regional balancing for grid management.
b. Technologies not yet scalable and economical for large-scale regional balancing service, but appropriate for distribution-level balancing.
c. Fast-acting (or flex) gas turbines respond faster than earlier models but are less efficient and have worse emissions profiles at part load.
d. Cycling older coal-fired plants can provide some ancillary services, but under aggravated emissions profiles and typically significant metallurgical damage to major components
and high operating costs.
e. Interrupting customer load through demand management programs can help balance the system, but typically for regional balancing, a substantial amount of load must par-
ticipate at the same time.
f. Synchronous condensers can absorb load from the grid but cant return it.
Conventional generation technologies cannot produce all the ancillary, balancing, and other services re-
quired by a modern grid. Source: CAREBS
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May 2012 90
ENERGY STORAGE
Minimizes government intrusion into the
marketplace while supporting core objec-
tives of expanding access to renewable
energy without sacrificing reliability or
further burdening ratepayers.
Leaves the determination of the need
for investment to those who own and
operate the grid, who can make judg-
ments about present and future need for
balancing.
The solution CAREBS proposes builds on a
strategy already moving forward for transmis-
sion and current practices in grid management.
First, grid balancing isnt new, although
the higher penetration of renewable energy
enlarges its importance generally and re-
quires that balancing be conducted within
shorter time intervals. Grid balancing (Table
1), part of which involves traditional ancil-
lary services, today is done with the gener-
ating assets that are the most flexible (that
is, those that can reduce or increase load
quickly), including hydroelectric plants (in
the Pacific Northwest), older and smaller
fossil-fired units (in much of the Midwest
and in Western states) that can cycle, demand
side management (especially California, and
fast-response gas turbine generators (most
everywhere). Unfortunately, the holistic
costs for grid balancingmany of which are
not routinely quantified by utilities, or which
impose externalities (emissions penalties, re-
liability impacts, and so on) that do not show
up in costsare not transparent or known
with any degree of precision on a real-time
basis. Therefore, better ways of providing
the balancing service, such as with bulk en-
ergy storage, are difficult to evaluate properly
(Figure 2).
Time resolution of
service/control
Days
Daily/hourly scheduling
Tens of minutes to hours
Load following
Seconds to minutes
Regulation
Unit
govenor
response
Load
frequency
control
Economic
dispatch
Real-time
operator
actions
Unit
commitment
2. Timing is everything. Operations planning timeframes dictate the required resources.
For example, frequency regulation may require a response of 1 to 2 seconds following a sys-
tem disturbance, 5 to 10 seconds for primary frequency response, and 10 seconds to several
minutes for normal regulation. Load following requires ramping synchronous loads during the
shoulder hours on either side of the daily peak load. A system of units is dispatched on an hourly
or daily basis through automatic generation controls. Source: MISO
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ENERGY STORAGE
Most notably, bulk energy storage has
one attribute critical for load balancing that
the other options do not: the ability to ab-
sorb load from the system and then return
it at a later time (the round trip efficiency
between the energy input to charge the stor-
age facility and the energy output must be
built into the system economics). Genera-
tors can only put load onto the system. Syn-
chronous condensers (rare in the U.S.) can
absorb load but cannot return it. Reducing
demand through agreements with custom-
ers can quickly reduce the need for supply
but isnt necessarily dependable or avail-
able in large capacity increments; nor does
it serve as a regional balancing solution. In
addition, some options, such as relying on
gas-fired generators, could add vulnerabili-
ties by stressing allied infrastructure, such
as natural gas pipelines.
Second, FERC, several ISOs, and a few
states have already solved a similar set of
issues facing transmission by allowing
multi-value projects to recover costs on
a regional basis. A new transmission line
not only delivers renewable energy from
one area to a dense load center, for exam-
ple, but it also strengthens the stability and
reliability of the electricity grid generally.
The positive environmental impact of con-
necting a wind-rich area with an urban load
center accrues to the region as a whole.
Bulk energy storage is no different. In
addition to bringing more renewable en-
ergy to more people more of the time, it is a
3. MISO wind curtailments 2008 to 2010. Wind generation grew to 3.8% of total
U.S. generation in 2010. However, there were also 2,117 wind curtailments in 2010 caused by
grid congestion or because the wind generation was surplus to requirements because it was
produced during off-peak hours when demand for electricity is low. Energy storage technologies
have the potential to absorb the surplus off-peak energy and release it to the market during peak
periods when prices are high. Energy storage has the potential to alleviate wind curtailment and
the need for additional transmission and generation to meet peak demand. Source: MISO
080910 J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J F A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D
Avg. 2008 2009 2010
240
210
180
150
120
90
60
30
0
A
v
e
r
a
g
e

c
u
r
t
a
i
l
m
e
n
t

p
e
r

i
n
t
e
r
v
a
l

(
M
W
)
A
v
e
r
a
g
e

d
u
r
a
t
i
o
n

p
e
r

c
u
r
t
a
i
l
m
e
n
t

(
h
o
u
r
s
)
24
21
18
15
12
9
6
3
0
Average curtailment per interval Average duration per curtainment
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May 2012 92
ENERGY STORAGE
grid optimization tool. Utilities that oper-
ate a bulk storage facility today are happy
to recount how invaluable the facility is to
guaranteeing reliability of electricity supply
and solving grid management problems as
they arise in real time. Every ISO/regional
transmission organization (RTO) that in-
cludes one or more bulk storage facilities
understands how valuable that facility is
to managing the grid and the market. Keep
in mind, however, that the investment was
recovered under a different vertically inte-
grated business model (Figure 3).
Thus, CAREBS advocates a straightforward
set of policy steps to quickly realize the benefits
of adding regional bulk storage by defining and
monetizing the balancing function:
Acknowledge the growing importance of
balancing in grid operations, especially
under high renewable energy penetrations,
by formally defining a balancing (or com-
pensating) function.
Acknowledge that the benefits of this bal-
ancing function accrue to all ratepayers in
the jurisdiction.
In the organized competitive markets,
separate and distinguish those aspects of
balancing that are not already covered by
existing market mechanismsthese value
streams can be recovered through existing
market mechanisms for energy, capacity,
renewable energy credits, and ancillar-
iesso that double-dipping is avoided.
Ensure that utilities and ISO/RTOs make
the full costs of balancing transparent to
all market participants.
Require that all integrated resource plan-
ning exercises, capital budgeting, cost
evaluations, forecasting, and grid model-
ing and simulation evaluate the need and
costs for the balancing function separately
from the need for generation, transmis-
sion, and distribution assets.
Allow all assets that can provide such bal-
ancing services to competeincluding bulk
energy storage, hydroelectric, gas turbine/
generators, demand management programs,
and fossil plants that can cyclefor the priv-
ilege of providing the services.
Allow investment recovery for provid-
ing the balancing or shock absorption
function through a mechanism similar to
multi-value transmission projects since
the concept is the same.
This set of policy steps will work in
regulated jurisdictions, organized markets,
and can be considered by FERC and the
state governments. In practice, it may be
best in some situations to consider ancil-
lary services as included in the balancing
function. In other situations, especially in
markets where components of ancillary
services are already procured by the ISO/
RTO through market mechanisms, it may
be best to define balancing as those ser-
vices, attributes, or benefits that are not
already available through other means.
Some jurisdictions would contract for ca-
pacity, energy, and balancing, while oth-
ers might contract for capacity, energy,
ancillaries, and balancing. Fully regulated
markets with largely unbundled utilities
could independently contract for balanc-
ing services or provide them through tra-
ditional means.
The ultimate goal is to lower the cost of
electricity to ratepayers, not to create new
protected classes of assets or continue to pro-
tect those that already exist.
Final Thoughts
Bulk energy storage has unique attributes
for providing balancing or shock absorp-
tion for grid management: It is truly
large-scale (individual systems run from
50 MW to 700 MW); it manages the grid
on a regional, or wide-area, basis; it can
absorb large increments of capacity from
the grid and return that capacity at a later
time; the CAES and PHS technologies
are fully commercial, with warranties and
guarantees necessary for financing and
the comfort of grid owners/operators; and
it represents the only large-scale storage
technologies that are economically com-
petitive in todays marketplace, especially
against low natural gas prices.
Under a formal and transparent process for
evaluating the need and costs for grid balanc-
ing, CAREBS believes that bulk storage can
compete without new subsidies or mandates,
because it is the only solution set capable of
providing all components of the balancing
function. The policy steps outlined here will
create the playing field necessary for grid
owners/operators to leverage the benefits
bulk storage brings to their stakeholders.
Jason Makansi (jmakansi@
pearlstreetinc.com) is president of Pearl
Street Inc., a technology deployment ser-
vices firm and executive director of The
Coalition to Advance Renewable Energy
through Bulk Storage, a public policy and
outreach organization. CAREBS members
include Dresser-Rand Corp., Haddington
Ventures LLC, HDR Engineering, TetraT-
ech, Magnums Western Energy Hub,
Eagle Crest Energy Co., WindSoHy, and
Hydrodynamics Group LLC.
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|
May 2012 94
NUCLEAR POWER
Too Dumb to Meter: Follies,
Fiascoes, Dead Ends, and Duds on
the U.S. Road to Atomic Energy
The commercial development of nuclear power began immediately after the
Second World War ended and the Manhattan Project secrets were released
to the public. As the headlinealso the title of a new bookimplies, the
development path was not always straight or even clearly marked. In this
POWER exclusive, the first chapter of Too Dumb to Meter begins a serial
presentation of the book.
By Kennedy Maize
O
n September 16, 1954, a dapper and
double-breasted U.S. Atomic En-
ergy Commission Chairman, Lewis
Strauss, stepped to the microphone at the
Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York City. He
was addressing a dinner meeting of the Na-
tional Association of Science Writers. An
ebullient Strauss bragged,
Transmutation of the elementsunlimited
power, ability to investigate the working of
living cells by tracer atoms, the secret of
photosynthesis about to be uncovered
these and a host of other results all in fif-
teen short years. It is not too much to expect
that our children will enjoy in their homes
electrical energy too cheap to meterwill
know of great periodic regional famines in
the world only as matters of historywill
travel effortlessly over the seas and under
them and through the air with a minimum
of danger and at great speedsand will
experience a lifespan far longer than ours,
as disease yields and man comes to under-
stand what causes him to age. This is the
forecast for an age of peace.
It didnt quite work out that way. Much of
the story of the atom focuses on the well-known
course of development of newer, bigger, stron-
ger bombs, and of the birthing problems and
maturation of civilian nuclear power plants.
Whereas most histories of technology
catalog success, this book details failure: ex-
plosive, expensive, repeated failure. This is
a less well-known story, but often more in-
teresting and more amusing. It also serves as
a cautionary account of the perils of govern-
ment hubris, public hysteria, and centralized
planning gone wild: misguided policy, mis-
understood history, misapplied engineering,
and mistaken economics.
This book brings to light some of the
things that went wrongoften terribly
wrongfrom conception through failed im-
plementation. It is a tale of the stubborn and
mistaken belief in the ability of big science,
big engineering, and big government money
to solve any technical problem.
This story begins not with the well-known
history of the Manhattan Project and its in-
trepid bomb builders, but with what came
nextimmediately after August 1945.
Chapter 1. The Madness of Nukes
Most Americans reacted joyously to the initial
news of the atomic bombs falling on Japan
in the summer of 1945, as the vast destruc-
tion spread by the atom spelled the end of the
Empire of the Rising Sun. Whatever these
mysterious bombs were, they did the job
and most were glad. Sen. Brien McMahon, a
young Connecticut Democrat who would seal
his brief place in history by becoming a chief
architect of the postwar Atomic Energy Com-
mission, was fond of saying that the bombing
of Hiroshima was the greatest event in world
history since the birth of Jesus Christ.
Yet, there was also a twinge of guilt in the
public sentiment after the first atom bombs fell,
particularly as the scope of the devastation in
the two Japanese cities became known. Writer
John Hersey captured the ambiguity beauti-
fully in an article titled Hiroshima, published
in the New Yorker in August 1946, a year after
the U.S. bomb destroyed that metropolis.
Herseys 36,000-word article, which oc-
cupied the entire edition of the magazine and
was immediately published as a book, per-
sonalized the effects of the atomic bomb in
spare, calm language that made the horror of
nuclear war accessible to any reader. It had
a profound impact on the way many people
viewed atomic energy for decades to come.
Herseywho had won a Pulitzer Prize for
fiction the year before with A Bell for Adano,
a tale of the U.S. military occupation of a
town in Italydescribed six survivors of the
nuclear inferno in Japan and how it changed
their lives. When the article appeared, the
magazines editors began the edition with
this introduction:
TO OUR READERS The New Yorker this
week devotes its entire editorial space to an
article on the almost complete obliteration
of a city by one atomic bomb, and what
happened to the people of that city. It does
so in the conviction that few of us have yet
comprehended the all but incredible destruc-
tive power of this weapon, and that everyone
might well take time to consider the terrible
implications of its use. -The Editors.
Hiroshima was a publishing sensation. The
magazine quickly sold out on newsstands (at fif-
teen cents an issue), and copies were soon being
scalped to collectors for ten dollars and more.
Reprint requests poured in to the New Yorker,
and Knopf produced a book that hit the stores in
October. The Book of the Month Club distrib-
uted copies to its members for free. It became
one of the most influential books of the last half
of the twentieth century.
Soon after, many Americans began to
wonder incredulously at those two terrible
pieces of blast and fire that fell out of the sky.
Just what were they? Clearly, a new force
had been unleashed, one that even most well-
educated Americans didnt understand and
couldnt quite comprehend.
Time magazine, in its July 1, 1946, cover
story on Albert Einstein and the bomb (the third
time Einstein had appeared on the magazines
cover), captured that feeling of combined awe
and befuddlement, writing in its signature style:
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May 2012 96
NUCLEAR POWER
It is typical of the dilemma of this civiliza-
tion that masses of men humbly accept the
fact of Einsteins genius, but only a handful
understand in what it consists. They have
heard that, in his Special and his General
Theories of Relativity, Einstein finally
explained the form and the nature of the
physical universe and the laws governing
it. They cannot understand his explana-
tion. To a small elite of mathematicians and
physicists, the score of equations in which
Einstein embodied his picture of the uni-
verse and its functioning are as concrete as
a kitchen table. To the layman they are as
staggering as to be told, when he is strain-
ing to make out the smudge which is all he
can see of the great cluster in the constella-
tion Hercules, that the faint light that strikes
his eye left its source 34,000 years ago.
Time concluded that most people would
never understand much about Einsteins the-
oriesthe fundamental ideas behind nuclear
energybeyond this limerick:
There was a young lady called Bright,
Who could travel much faster than light;
She went out one day, in a relative way,
and came back the previous night.
Much of this wonder and incredulity grew
out of the secrecy of the atomic adventure. As
it emerged after the war, the story of the Man-
hattan Project was a revelation. The largest
engineering and military production effort in
history had occurred in the United States over
a period of nearly five years, completely under
the unknowing noses of the American public.
It had all been hidden in veils of secrecy, and
now the story was beginning to unfold.
Just how secret? The vice president of the
United States, Harry S. Truman, didnt know
about the atomic bomb until after his boss,
President Roosevelt, died in April 1945. Four
months before the two bombs fell on Hiroshima
and Nagasaki and only three months before the
successful Trinity test at Alamogordo in the New
Mexico wilderness, Truman listened in astonish-
ment when he got his first briefing. With only
sketchy understanding of what had been going
on, he soon had to make the fateful decision to
let the atomic demon loose on the world.
Gen. Leslie Groves, the career military
man who ran the project, describes in his 1962
memoir, Now It Can Be Told, how the military
bamboozled Congress on the program through
1943. The enormous atomic bomb project was
buried in a series of War Department sub-ac-
counts within the impenetrable military budget.
Even the War Department bureaucrats respon-
sible for allocating the money were largely in
the dark. Groves talks about a bad moment in
late 1943, when Rep. Albert J. Engel (R-MI)
got wind of a major construction project in the
Tennessee woods at a place called Oak Ridge.
Engel wanted to make a trip to Oak Ridge to
see what was going on. In reply, Grove writes,
he was told that this work was highly secret,
and that the information he wanted could not be
given to him; eventually, he was persuaded to
forget his contemplated visit.
Ironically, while Groves and his atomic bomb
babysitters were able to keep most of Congress,
the vice president, most of the war and for-
eign policy bureaucracy, and all of the Ameri-
can people in the dark, that didnt work with
our sometimes ally and long-term adversary
throughout the twentieth centurythe former
Soviet Union. Stalin and his spymasters knew
a great deal about the secret endeavor and were
quickly able to demonstrate their own explosive
prowess with atomic science.
The Manhattan Engineering Districtthe
cover name for the atomic bomb programcre-
ated what Groves called the countrys greatest
single scientific success. It also created a cou-
ple of enduring myths. First, the bomb builders
success fed the notion that large, government-
directed and -funded scientific and engineering
programs can overcome almost any technical,
political, or social obstacles. The later success of
the Apollo moon project reaffirmed that belief.
The residue of that notion of government-driven
science can be seen in the subsequent history of
public policy in the twentieth century, and today.
The Nixon administrations hopelessly hubristic
War on Cancer in the early 1970s exemplified
the lingering paradigm of the Manhattan Proj-
ect, as did the Carter administrations support
for creating a giant synthetic fuels industry in
the 1980s, which turned into a colossal flop.
Today, in the bowels of the Department of En-
ergy, the Manhattan mentality remains, fueling
research and development in such areas as: how
to capture and stuff into the ground carbon di-
oxide from coal-fired power plants; how to eco-
nomically turn sunlight directly into electricity;
and how to midwife a new generation of nuclear
power technologies.
Almost immediately after the atomic
bombs fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the
United States went nuts over nukes. The shad-
owy world of the atom, rumored in technical
journals and occasional gee-whiz newspa-
per or magazine article in the pre-war press,
burst onto the scene in 1945. The result was a
tidal wave of enthusiasm for anything and ev-
erything atomic. Anyone associated with the
atom was a rock star; the atom was the future
of the universe; and the United States seemed
the master of that universe. The nation was
enthralled by hyper-optimistic notions about
what the atom could do, beyond blowing
up enemy cities and spreading radioactive
fallout around the globe. Trains, boats, and
planes would be atom-powered. Tiny atomic
reactors would sit in our basements and heat
our houses. Government would beat into
peaceful plowshares the most terrible sword
humankind had ever developed.
Writer Daniel Ford, who covered nuclear
energy for the New Yorker twenty-five years
after Hersey, described in his book, Cult of
the Atom, a general euphoria about atomic
energy. Ford linked that feeling to the un-
dercurrent of guilt left from the bombings.
Instead of reflecting on the horrors visited
upon Hiroshima and Nagasaki or on whether
the bombs should have been used in the first
place, Ford wrote, news reports helped to
alleviate the nations feelings of repulsion
and guilt by focusing public attention on the
more congenial aspects of the new force.
A mere two weeks after bombs fell on Japan,
Newsweek gushed that even the most conser-
vative scientists and industrialists were willing
to outline a civilization which would make the
comic-strip prophecies of Buck Rogers look ob-
solete. In December of 1945, just four months
after the attack on Japan, Popular Science maga-
zine proclaimed in a cover story headline We
can harvest the Atom. The article went on to say,
you will soon see mobile engines running on
U235, and cities heated by steam from stationary
graphite piles. A 1953 Look magazine article by
Gordon Dean, one of the original members of
the postwar Atomic Energy Commission, was
titled Atomic Miracles We Will See.
Over the years, the hyperbole rolled on.
The military, the civilian government, and
the popular press touted nuclear power as a
panacea to many of the military and domestic
problems that faced the nation. Bizarre notions
of the prospects of nuclear energy for enriching
civilian life took hold in these influential circles.
Take the family sedan. Ford Motor Co. in 1958
created a concept car, called the nucleon, de-
signed to be powered by a tiny nuclear reactor. It
existed, of course, only on drawing paper and a
3/8-scale clay mockup. But the Ford nucleon is
evidence of how the atom was the dream of the
age in the 1950s and 1960s.
Even comic strip characters were enlisted in
the army of atomic acolytes. One was Dagwood
Bumstead, the harried and harassed, suburban,
. . . misguided policy, misunderstood
history, misapplied engineering, and
mistaken economics.
May 2012
|
NUCLEAR POWER
sandwich-loving salary-man who was the ever
flappable hero of the Dagwood and Blondie
strip. The strip has been a fixture on newspaper
comic pages for more than 70 years and was the
prototype for generations of television sitcoms
from the Honeymooners to Ozzie and Harriet
and Ricky and Lucy to Mad Men.
In September 1948, Popular Science maga-
zine carried an episode titled Learn How
Dagwood Splits the Atom, a piece of pure
propaganda, but with considerable educa-
tional content. The following year, King Fea-
tures, the syndicate that distributed the strip to
newspapers around the country, published the
Dagwood atomic energy strip as a free-stand-
ing comic book. The Dagwood comic book
featured a foreword by well-known journal-
ist Bob Considine and a formal endorsement
from Gen. Leslie Groves. Although it is not
clearly stated in the document nor is there any
evidence to support the conclusion, it is hard
to believe that the book did not have Atomic
Energy Commission funding.
In 1951, the A.C. Gilbert Company of Fair
Haven, Connecticut, maker of toys for budding
scientists and engineers came out with the U-
238 Atomic Energy Lab, a briefcase-sized case
full of radiation goodies for inquisitive kids.
The fifty-dollar kit (very expensive for the day)
included four different types of uranium ore, a
Geiger counter for measuring radiation, a spin-
thariscope for seeing atoms split naturally, and
a miniature cloud chamber for tracking differ-
ent sub-atomic particles. The lucky child also
received a government-issued pamphlet titled
Prospecting for Uranium aimed at aiding
would-be prospectors (with the possibility of
a ten thousand dollar reward from the govern-
ment for a good discovery of uranium ore), and
a copy of the Dagwood comic book.
While the bombs were bad, the atom was
good. That was the message the government
was pitching in the aftermath of the war. The
popular president, Dwight Eisenhower, touted
what he dubbed Atoms for Peace in 1954
(partly to overcome widespread feelings that
the atomic scientists and bureaucrats were not
delivering on their hyperbolic claims), and the
Post Office issued a three-cent Atoms for Peace
first-class stamp in 1955. Some 133 million
stamps came off government printing presses.
Even Disney, the juggernaut of popular cul-
ture, got into the act of promoting the benefi-
cial atom. Working with publisher Simon and
Schuster in 1956, Disney produced the large-
format book Our Friend the Atom, written by
expatriate German physicist Heinz Haber. Dis-
ney artists illustrated the work. In the foreword,
Walt Disney himself (or a ghostwriter) wrote,
Atomic science began as a positive, creating
thought. It has created modern science with its
many benefits for mankind. In this sense our
book tries to make it clear to you that we can
indeed look upon the atom as our friend.
In 1954, New York publishing house Grosset
& Dunlap relaunched a series of books aimed
at ten- to fourteen-year-old boys intrigued with
technology. The books were the second genera-
tion of Tom Swift kids science novels, named
the Tom Swift Jr. line. Both the original Tom
Swift books, which began in 1910 and saw
distribution until 1941, and the post-war itera-
tion of the 1950s through 1971, were aimed at
similar generations of young readers, primarily
boys, hooked on technology.
The putative author of the second run of
books was Victor Appleton II: a concocted
moniker for a group of writers working on a
rigid formula that carried the series through
a dozen books. Their inspiration was the
phenomenal advancement of nuclear and
military science that characterized the end of
the war, as the public became drunk with the
prospects of science and technology in the
aftermath of the Manhattan Project.
When Tom Swift Jr. stepped onto the fic-
tional stage, everything seemed possible.
THE BALANCE OF POWER
C
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U
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,
M
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S
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N
S
,
B
A
L
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E
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F
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P
L
A
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T
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P
A
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S
,
E
M
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,
P
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O
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,
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F
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May 2012 98
NUCLEAR POWER
The original Tom Swift seriesalso writ-
ten, under the Victor Appleton pseudonym,
by a collection of authors writing to formu-
laarticulated a similar reverence for scien-
tific advancement and its purported solutions.
Tom Sr. invented the picture telephone, ver-
tical takeoff aircraft, and a giant military
tankall prescient, though not all of his in-
ventions eventually saw the light of day.
Tom Sr. also gave us the delightful Tom
Swifties puns, which remain a parlor game
among some aging pop literature raconteurs. In
the game, one is asked to come up with adver-
bial, adjectival, or other puns with Tom quotes,
mimicking the original Tom. For example:
Who would want to steal modern art?
asked Tom abstractedly.
Fire! yelled Tom alarmingly.
Its a unit of electric current, said Tom
amply.
Why invade Iraq? Tom said ironically.
Another batch of shells for me! Tom
clamored.
George W. Bush? asked a dumbfounded
Tom.
Tom Swift Jr.s escapades continued the
tradition and exemplified the technologi-
cal optimism of the nuclear world after the
end of World War II. Tom was the son of the
original, who by that time had made a fortune
from his inventions.
An ebullient eighteen-year-old, Tom Jr.
and his friends, relying on their own inven-
tiveness, his fathers advice, and the money
from his fathers engineering enterprises,
were able to conceive and develop a series of
new technologies, without the use of govern-
ment funds and in astonishingly short time.
These inventions inevitably saved the na-
tion from the nefarious plots of foreign gov-
ernments. Our adversaries in the Swift books
invariably were bogeymen from Eastern
Europe or South America. They were dark-
skinned, secretive, and motivated by hatred
of the United States and a desire to supplant
American power with their own.
All this played into the fears of the day. In
the wake of the war, Soviet power advanced
to conquer central and eastern Europe. Com-
munism captured China. Who lost China,
was the refrain of right-wing Congressional
Republicans, as if Harry Truman and the
Democratsnot U.S. support for the corrupt
government of Chiang Kai-shek, which led
to Mao Tse-tung and his agrarian Commu-
nistswere responsible.
But while the alleged traitors in our govern-
ment, proclaimed by Republican Sens. Joseph
McCarthy of Wisconsin and John Bricker of
Ohio and others in both parties, were said to
be selling the nation down the drain, technol-
ogy would rescue us. No one was as good as
the United States at turning basic science into
useful weapons, goods, and services. That
the godless Commies had managed to de-
velop their own nuclear weapons (which they
thankfully never used) was solely a result of
espionage and theft. This was the gospel of the
friendly atom circa 1954.
The Tom Swift books represented the tech-
nological illusions of the post-war period. Tom
was lanky, sporting a blond crew-cut, and al-
most always wearing a T-shirt with blue and
white horizontal stripes, and blue jeans. True
to formula, he had a heroic sidekick, Bud Bar-
clay, who was darker, shorter, and stockier
than Tom. A good athlete, Bud was not nearly
as intellectually gifted as Tom (who was?). He
often came to Toms rescue when the hero was
captured by the enemy. Also in sync with the
formula, Tom had a comic sidekick, Charles
Chow Winkler, a former cowboy chuck-
wagon cook who had become the Emeril
Legasse of Swift Enterprises. He was prone
to loud clothes and bizarre outbursts such as
brand my space biscuits that are as charming
as the earlier Tom Swifties. The infectious op-
timism of Tom Swift and his crew carried over
to government policy makers, such as Lewis
Strauss (pronounced Straws). A former
shoe salesman, he became a wildly successful
and rich investment banker. Appointed to the
newly created Atomic Energy Commission by
President Truman in 1946 and President Eisen-
howers choice as chairman in 1954, Strausss
optimism characterized the times.
Strauss also symbolized the shift from the
military to civilian control over the power of
the atom in the United States. The Manhattan
Engineering Division became the Atomic En-
ergy Commission after a politically conten-
tious battle, which in the end created a formal
structure outside the military for the develop-
ment of nuclear energy. The new structure,
however, did little to dilute the power of the
military over nuclear energy. The organiza-
tional chart changed, but the mind-sets of the
masters of the atom remained militaristic.
More to Come
In the next chapter, Manhattan Transfer, an
open fight for control of the development of
nuclear power explodes between the newly
created Atomic Energy Commission and the
military services, with the politicians playing
both sides against each other.
Kennedy Maize is a POWER con-
tributing editor and executive editor
of MANAGING POWER. Too Dumb to
Meter is available on Amazon.com and
is serialized by permission.
To subscribe, visit www.powermag.com/subscribe
or call 847-763-9509.
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MANAGING POWER POWER Handbook powermag. com
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If you need information on the
global power generation industry,
look to first.
IS YOUR PLANT OR
SMART GRID PROJECT
A WINNER?
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AWARD:
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Universidad Unit 2
2011 PLANT OF THE YEAR:
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Nominate it for a
Award today!
The Plant of the Year award will be presented to a plant that
leads our industry in the successful deployment of advanced
technologymaximizing e ciency while minimizing
environmental impact. In short, the Power Plant of the Year, featured
in the August issue of POWER, is the best of class over the past year.
If you know of a power plant or upstream smart grid
project thats worth bragging about, nominate it for
one of POWER magazines annual awards. Projects
anywhere in the world are eligible.
For award criteria details, see the online nomination forms. Award
nalists and winners will be selected by the editors of POWER
based on nominations submitted by you and your industry
peerssuppliers, designers, constructors, and operators of power
plants and smart grid projects.
The Marmaduke Award, named after the legendary plant
troubleshooter whose exploits have been chronicled in POWER
since 1948, recognizes operations and maintenance excellence
at existing power plants. The Marmaduke Award winner will also
be proled in the August issue.
Top Plants Awards recognize the best in class over the past year
in each of four generation categories: gas (September), coal-red
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The Smart Grid Award will go to the project that best demonstrates
the benets of smart grid technology implementation upstream from
the end user. The winning project will be proled in the August issue.
NOMINATIONS ARE DUE MAY 21, 2012.
Read about all the 2011 winners and
download entry forms from www.powermag.com
(under Also from POWER Magazine).
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Women
in
Europe 2012
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SPECIAL
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May 2012 102
Europe 2012
SPECIAL
ADVERTISING
SECTION
Curved belt conveyors: customized and efficient
For sustainable solids handling, BEUMER is a leading manufacturer of intra-logistics
systems for conveying, loading, palletizing, packaging, sorting and distribution
T
he BEUMER Group, with headquarters
in Beckum, Germany, and subsidiaries
around the world, manufactures advanced
products and systems for the efficient and
environmentally friendly transport of bulk
materials over rough terrain or obstacles. The
group supplies open troughed belt conveyors
for higher throughputs and closed pipe con-
veyors for tight-radius curves.
Not short-term gain but long-term suc-
cess is the guiding principle of BEUMER,
founded in 1935 by Bernhard Beumer and
still a family business. Employee involvement
in all its business processes, innovation,
communication, and ongoing dialog between
sales, engineering, and R&D are all key.
The company bases its long-term success
on controlled growth, a global presence,
and a wide range of services in three areas:
conveying and loading; palletizing and pack-
aging technology; and sorting and distribu-
tion systems. The BEUMER Group employs
around 3,000 people and generates annual
sales of around 500 million.
As a system provider BEUMER not only
supplies standard products but also designs,
builds and installs systems matching the
individual requirements of customers down
to the smallest detail.
BEUMER is a technology leader in curved
belt conveyors, in both open (troughed
belt) and closed (pipe conveyor) designs.
These efficient and sustainable bulk trans-
port solutions can span long distances and
large changes in elevation, thanks to their
sleek lines and ability to follow tight curves.
Rugged terrain, rivers, roads, rails and build-
ings are no obstacles, so transport with belt
conveyors is much faster than via trucks, for
example, as well as being less labor-inten-
sive. High-efficiency electric motors and low-
friction conveyor design help to save energy.
For all its products BEUMER offers a com-
prehensive service: maintenance, trouble-
shooting, repairs, spare parts, modernization
and expansion. The BEUMER Group also
places emphasis on sustainability, as mea-
sured by a special index. www.beumer.com
The BEUMER Group is known for its
expertise in belt conveyor systems
European vendors fill power plant needs worldwide
From coal conveyors to technology for smart grids, European firms provide a huge
variety of products and services of value to the global power generation industry
E
uropes variety of natural resources and
political persuasions has given rise to an
extremely diverse power generation industry.
While all the major energy sources are widely
used, a number of European countries rely
heavily on one in particular, whether that
be coal, nuclear, hydro, or even geothermal.
State-owned power producers operate along-
side some of the worlds most open markets.
As an article elsewhere in this issue
explains, new coal-fired power plants and
coal technology are likely to have a strong
future in Europe over the next decade. At
the same time, countries including Germany
and Denmark are moving purposefully and
credibly toward a carbon-free future based
on wind and solar power. New nuclear is
under construction while other European
nations vow to go nuclear-free for good. The
European gas market and gas pipelines from
Russia are always in the news, while pros-
pects for shale gas continue to tantalize.
This second annual Europe Special
Advertising Section showcases a wide spread
of products and services for the power indus-
try. Elsewhere in this issue of POWER you will
find these companies advertisements; in the
next few pages, the same vendors tell their
stories at greater length. Read on to find out
more about what Europe has to offer.
Inside
Alcatel-Lucent 105
BEUMER 102
Hadek Protective Systems 103
KIMA 103
NEM Energy 104
Servomex 104
Tyco 105
Not always tranquil: a planned new unit
at E.ONs Datteln power plant in Germany
has been a focus for anti-coal protests
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EUROPE SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
Dedicated fill-level measurement for coal mills
SmartFill is a fail-safe, high-precision, fill-level and temperature measurement system
for coal mills that helps ensure uniform grinding and optimum combustion properties
K
IMA specializes in high-performance
analog and digital closed-loop controls,
innovative sensor systems and databases
for the coal, minerals, cement and chemi-
cal industries. The companys central aim
is to optimize industrial processes towards
greater efficiency, higher productivity and
less environmental pollution.
To help achieve these targets in power
plants KIMA has adapted its technologies for
use in coal mills. In contrast to the traditional
methods of measuring fill level in ball mills,
KIMAs SmartFill is the only system which
takes all the necessary information directly
from its source: on the mill shell.
Classical methods such as microphones
and base- or bearing-mounted sensors strug-
gle with problems such as interference from
noise created by other mills and machinery,
ambiguities in locating the sources of sound,
and dust. None of these problems affect the
SmartFill solution. By providing plants with
previously unavailable information, SmartFill
thus brings many advantages. These include:
interference-free measurement no influ-
ence from other mills or machines nearby;
significantly enhanced precision of
measurement;
reliable and precise measurement of the
fill level;
independent measurements are pos-
sible on both sides of the mill, or in two
chambers;
better level measurement allows the mill
to operate with greater stability, with con-
sequent higher throughput, less wear and
more consistent particle size; and
self-powered system with integrated gen-
erator means that it is not necessary to
stop the mill to change batteries.
SmartFill has been used successfully in many
different types of ball mills in the cement and
mining industries. Within the last seven years
the system has been successfully sold and
installed in more than 450 applications.
KIMA also provides the next logical step
towards process optimization: the MillMaster
predictive control system for grinding pro-
cesses. Working unattended, MillMaster
controls grinding circuits in fully automatic
mode. A single MillMaster system keeps
up to six mills operating with optimum
performance. As well as improving grinding
performance, the system also increases plant
availability thanks to its ability to protect
against overfilling and similar malfunctions.
Keeping the fill level at a constant opti-
mum level makes for a more homogenous
product, which improves the combustion
properties of the coal. This, in turn, leads to
a reduction in unburnt carbon and, conse-
quently, better energy efficiency.
www.kimae.de
Attaching directly to the coal mill, the
SmartFill level measurement system does
not suffer from acoustic interference
Borosilicate lining protects chimneys from corrosion
Coal, oil and lignite firing gives chimneys a tough time, but Pennguard lining technology
from Hadek offers reliable performance for 20 years or more
H
adek Protective Systems is a specialist in the internal protection
of power station chimneys and flue gas ducts. Coal, oil and lignite
firing power stations need chimneys that will operate under low-
temperature, corrosive and sometimes variable conditions. In spite
of their severe operating environment, these chimneys are expected
to perform reliably for many years, with minimum downtime. The
Pennguard Block Lining System offered by Hadek can take it all.
The Pennguard Block Lining System forms an impermeable, acid-
resistant barrier inside chimney flues. The lining is based on closed-
cell borosilicate glass technology. Lightweight borosilicate glass
blocks manufactured under highly controlled conditions are attached
to the internal steel, concrete or brickwork surface of power plant
chimneys using a durable, flexible adhesive. The Pennguard Block
Lining System is used in new chimneys and is also frequently retrofit-
ted to existing chimneys.
A properly installed Pennguard lining offers a service life of well
over 20 years. Just as importantly, it requires virtually no mainte-
nance. Any small repairs or alterations can be performed quickly, with
minimum preparation and equipment. In addition to the Pennguard
lining system itself, Hadek provides a range of services, including fea-
sibility studies, engineering, on-site quality assurance and long-term
guarantees and performance monitoring.
The Pennguard Block Lining System has been installed all over the
world. Ongoing projects include:
3 x 626 MW lignite-fired Hongsa Power Station, Laos: one 250 m
concrete chimney with three steel flues will be Pennguard lined
during 2013;
1 x 1,300 MW coal-fired W.H. Zimmer Generating Station, Ohio, USA:
one 174 m concrete chimney with one free standing brick flue will
be Pennguard lined during spring 2012;
6 x 800 MW coal-fired Kusile Power Station, South Africa: two
220 m concrete chimneys, each with three steel flues, will be
Pennguard lined during 2012/2013. www.hadek.com
The acid-resistant Pennguard lining is applied to the inside surface
of the existing brick liner
|
May 2012 104
Gas analyzers aid efficiency at UK coal power plant
Servomexs world-leading expertise in monitoring combustion
gases has been recognized at the giant Drax facility
O
perator Drax Power has installed eight
SERVOTOUGH FluegasExact 2700 gas
analyzers from Servomex at its 3,960 MW
coal-fired power plant in Selby, UK. Drax is
the UKs cleanest and most coal-efficient
power plant, as well as the largest.
The FluegasExact is designed for tem-
peratures up to 1,750C (3,182F) in process
heaters, utility boilers, thermal crackers and
incinerators. It uses a zirconium oxide cell to
measure oxygen and a patented thick-film
catalytic sensor for combustibles.
Zirconia technology measures oxygen on
a wet basis, meaning that there is no need
to condition the sample gas first; thick film
technology monitors CO levels to 25 ppm.
With response times (T
90
) better than 20
seconds for O
2
and 30 seconds for combus-
tibles, the combustion process can be closely
controlled and breakthrough detected
extremely rapidly.
Both sensors operate in a heated,
insulated sensor head installed in a single
low-flow extractive probe. Manufacturing to
the highest quality standards ensures excep-
tional performance in tough environments
with the minimum of maintenance.
The installation has been a success, with
Drax engineers able to operate the combus-
tion process much closer to the optimum
air-fuel ratio. This has saved fuel, reduced
process downtime and further improved
emissions quality compared to a previous,
obsolete, analyzer installation.
Performance has been subsequently
improved by installing a new sulfur-resistant
combustibles sensor upgrade kit. This
improves the performance and longevity of
Servomex thick
film technology
in applications
where SO
2
levels
exceed 1,000 ppm.
Servomex has also provided full ser-
vice and support including installation
and commissioning for the SERVOTOUGH
FluegasExact analyzers.
The performance, accuracy and reli-
ability of the SERVOTOUGH FluegasExact has
established it as the industry choice for mon-
itoring combustion processes, so with this
installation Servomex is proud to actively
contribute to Draxs status as the UKs most
efficient coal-fired power station, says Chris
Cottrell, Managing Director, Servomex.
Servomex has been a pleasure to work
with and the contract was professionally
project managed with a flexible approach,
concludes Peter Muff, Project Manager, Drax
Power. www.servomex.com
Drax Power Station (above) and the
Servomex FluegasExact analyzer (right)
Record contract for HRSGs at Saudi power plant
NEMs distinctive know-how and continuous technological innovation have brought the
steam generation specialist a big order for a combined cycle plant conversion
N
EM Energy b.v., with a staff of over 550
dedicated employees, supplies custom
solutions and services for industrial, utility
and heat recovery steam generators (HRSGs)
in power generation and industrial applica-
tions throughout the world. NEM has now
powered over 3,500 MW worldwide.
A recent contract for the PP10 combined
cycle power plant in Saudi Arabia is the larg-
est project in the firms history. NEMs order
from Arabian Bemco Contracting Co. Ltd. in
Jeddah is for 40 unfired dual pressure heat
recovery steam generators. These steam
generators with integral deaerator are of the
vertical gas flow natural circulation type.
With a value of several hundred million dol-
lars the complete PP10 project is one of the
largest in history, and will create the worlds
largest combined cycle power plant. For NEM
it represents an entry to one of the most
promising HRSG markets globally.
The first phase of PP10 is already run-
ning as an open cycle power plant. The gas
turbines are site-rated at 55.9 MW per unit
and operate mainly on Arabian crude oil. The
conversion to combined cycle will increase
capacity from 2,200 MW to 3,500 MW, pro-
viding around 20% of the power needs of
the city of Riyadh, which has over 5.2 mil-
lion inhabitants. PP10 will have ten blocks
arranged in 4-on-1 configuration.
NEM is a global leader in steam gener-
ating equipment. The company supplies
HRSGs, direct fired boilers, process boilers
and power plant components such as divert-
ers and dampers. NEM also offers engineer-
ing and maintenance services.
HRSGs take up the largest portion of
NEMs activities. With over 80 years experi-
ence, the firm is driven by its distinctive
know-how and continuous technological
innovation, with an eye for new applications
such as steam generation for enhanced
oil recovery and solar power applications.
Services for HRSGs range from custom
design through to aftermarket services.
Being a global leader means maintaining
high standards in the quality of products and
services, and in the know-how and dedica-
tion of staff. Every detail of how NEM con-
ducts its business is managed with care and
meets strict quality standards.
NEM operates through business units in
the Netherlands, Germany, US, Dubai and
Malaysia. The main office is in Leiden, the
Netherlands. www.nem-group.com
NEM supplied two HRSGs for a combined
cycle plant in Portugal, which started up
in 2011
May 2012
|
Desuperheaters for extreme temperatures
Tyco Valves & Controls delivers robust solutions for hard-worked plants, says
Martin-Jan Strebe, director for global product management control valves
I
n the last 10 years, mod-
ern power plants have
increased their operating
temperatures and moved
to higher cycling in order
to generate energy more
efficiently. Tyco Valves &
Controls is meeting
these requirements
with an advanced
extension to its
range of TempLow
steam desuperheat-
ers. Designed for high
cycling applications, Tycos
TempLowHT desuperheater
provides precise and economical
steam temperature control.
At steam temperatures around
500C (932F), mechanical issues
and thermal deterioration can occur
in conventional desuperheater
designs. The TempLowHT product
operates within 6C of set pressure in
elevated temperatures up to 621C (1,150F)
and features an innovative design that relo-
cates all moving and welded components
to an upper air-cooled portion of the valve.
This eliminates the need for sliding trim
parts within the hot zone of the steam pipe,
prevents component fatigue, and delivers
extended lifespan.
TempLowHT incorporates the latest spray
nozzle technology and is engineered to
reduce frictional losses. Internal contours
optimize water swirl action to achieve consis-
tent droplet size. The high-quality machined
surface of the nozzle is available with a vari-
ety of configurations, enabling the product
to be customized to specific system require-
ments. This design increases the velocity
and rotating effect of the water before it is
sprayed into the pipeline, ensuring that the
water is injected in a fine, symmetrical hol-
low cone spray.
Tyco has engineered and constructed the
product with low maintenance in mind. A
Stellite seat provides long life and tight shut-
off, while a forged body with stainless steel
internal components significantly reduces
the risk of corrosion. The product is also
adaptable to changing needs with an injec-
tion probe that can be unscrewed from the
body for easier capacity changes, without the
need to replace the stem or seat.
Developments in power plant design
and the emerging trend for higher cycling
increase the risk of thermal shock and equip-
ment fatigue. Operators must consider the
demands placed on critical components.
The TempLowHT desuperheater has been
designed for high-load cycling applications
in combined cycle and heat recovery steam
generator (HSRG) plants, and provides an
innovative solution for precise steam tem-
perature control and prevention of thermal
stress fatigue failures.
Tyco Valves & Controls remains com-
mitted to supporting the power generation
industry with new innovations in product
design, engineering and construction.
Research and development into new and
more resilient materials is at the core of
Tycos strategy in the power industry, draw-
ing on the businesss global experience and
capability to provide local support for cus-
tomers operations.
www.tycoflowcontrol.com/valves
Field area networks are key to smart grid success
High wiring costs mean that wireless field area networks are often essential to connect
smart grid devices
S
mart meters and intelligent network
sensors are hailed as core elements
in the smart grid success formula, provid-
ing unprecedented visibility, control and
efficiency for consumers and power opera-
tors. Yet there is another powerful, if less
heralded, technology that is essential for
these revolutionary tools: wireless field area
networks (FANs).
Leading utilities are leveraging distribu-
tion automation (DA) and substation auto-
mation (SA) technologies to assure greater
efficiency and reliability. DA and SA provide
for much greater visibility and control of the
grid by the addition of intelligent sensors and
communications technologies at many points
within the control network.
In many cases, these intelligent sensors
are frequently difficult or prohibitively expen-
sive to reach using wired or fiber technolo-
gies. They may also require more bandwidth
availability than can be achieved cost-
effectively with technologies such as power
line carrier (PLC) or telephone services. As a
result, more utilities are turning to wireless
FANs to reach these devices.
More than just a wireless solution
Alcatel-Lucents wireless FAN solution is a
pre-tested, preintegrated set of open-stan-
dard wireless technologies designed to sup-
port mission-critical utility operations. Often
deployed in conjunction with Alcatel-Lucents
award winning IP/MPLS, microwave and
fiber optic backhaul solutions, it provides a
highly reliable, secure, ubiquitous and cost-
effective architecture.
Solution components include:
802.16e/WiMAX: Alcatel-Lucent has
become the utility industrys leading inte-
grator of 802.16e/WiMAX-based systems,
partnering with leading manufacturers to
provide mission-critical wireless broad-
band connectivity to substations and field
assets. Utilities such as OG&E, PECO/
Exelon, and PPL have turned to Alcatel-
Lucents solutions for their Smart Grid.
LTE: Alcatel-Lucent is the leader in bring-
ing Long-Term Evolution (LTE) to the util-
ity industry. An alternative technology to
WiMAX, LTE is the natural evolution of cel-
lular and WiMAX technologies. It provides
robust and highly scalable broadband con-
nectivity for both fixed and mobile appli-
cations that allow the utility to converge
its mobile data needs to a single network
technology.
lightRadio: Alcatel-Lucent lightRadio
portfolio includes a small 6 cm x 6 cm
x 6 cm form factor cube that combines
the functionality of both an antenna and
base-station device. It enables advanced
wireless solutions to be mounted on
power poles and buildings. This greatly
reduces the expense and regulatory
hurdles of building new communica-
tions towers that often accompany FAN
solutions.
Technology to trust
Alcatel-Lucent has provided the highest level
of technology and service to the worlds
leading utilities for more than 20 years. Its
wireless smart grid communications solu-
tions, deployed on electrical grids around
the globe, are enabling utilities to respond
rapidly to new demands and plan smarter
strategies for the future.
www.alcatel-lucent.com/smartgrid
|
May 2012 106
NEW PRODUCTS
TO POWER YOUR BUSINESS
Inclusion in New Products does not imply endorsement by POWER magazine.
Explosion-Proof Halogen Light
Magnalight.com announced the addition of the EPL-QP-1X150-100a quad-pod mounted light
tower designed to provide operators in hazardous locations with a powerful lighting solutionto
its extensive line of explosion-proof lighting equipment. The portable tower and removable lamp
assembly design of this tower provides versatile operating options, and a simple halogen lamp
provides effective yet economical illumination. Providing 1,500 square feet of work area coverage
with 1,520 lumens of light output, the tower light provides reliable illumination and convenient
portability in an easy-to-deploy lighting package. Equipped with a 150 W halogen bulb that
produces illumination in a wide ood pattern, the lamp housing on this unit is suitable for wet
areas and marine environments and tested to 500 hours of salt spray exposure in accordance with
MIL-F-8115C military specications. (www.magnalight.com)
New Burner Management System
Siemens Industry Inc. introduced two new SIMATIC Burner Management
Systems (BMS) to give end users greater exibility to cost-effectively comply
with revised 2011 burner standards. Designed with TUV-certied hardware and
customizable software, the compact BMS300F and BMS151F systems comply
with NFPA, IEC, and ANSI/ISA standards for single- or dual-fuel applications
with single or multiple burners. The models are also capable of meeting up to
SIL-3 with appropriate eld devices.
The BMS models are designed in accordance with the technical requirements
listed in both NFPA 85 and 86 standards for programmable logic solvers (section
4.11 of NFPA 85 and section 8.3 of NFPA 86). All critical BMS functions are
managed via IEC 61508 compliant components up to SIL-3, thereby ensuring
safety metrics are met. These systems are also compliant with ISA S84.00.01-
2004 and IEC 61511. An optional TUV-certied burner blocks library is also
available. (www.usa.siemens.com/fa-bms)
Easy-Use Spade Drill Bit
Spade drill bits are routinely used by
electricians who do wiring and cabling,
especially for drilling holes in wood for
conduit runs. But traditional spade bits
sometimes vibrate badly and dull after just a
few uses. The new IDEAL Power-Spade spade
bit helps eliminate these problems to provide
an increased level of performance, whether
the user is boring through wood, cement
board, composite enclosures, or ceiling tile.
Sporting a unique full-cone threaded tip,
the Power-Spade operates fast, requiring
up to 50% less force to achieve faster cuts
than other leading competitors spade bits.
Self-feeding action promotes smoother,
vibration-free drilling while the contoured
paddle quickly removes chips from the hole,
preventing lockup. This contoured paddle also
creates a more aggressive cutting blade angle
than traditional straight spades, resulting in
faster penetration and removal for optimum
hole nish. Breakouts are virtually eliminated
by the bits spur and reamer that perfectly
scribes the outside of holes. The bit is
available in a range of sizes from 0.5 inch to
1.25 inches. (www.idealindustries.com)
Need help? Need a job?
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READER SERVICE NUMBER 202
May 2012
|
Plant Engineers
New Madrid Power Plant
Associated Electric Cooperative Inc. (AECI) is owned by and provides
wholesale power to six regional and 51 local electric cooperative
systems in Missouri, northeast Oklahoma and southeast Iowa that
serve more than 875,000 customers. AECIs mission is to provide an
economical and reliable power supply and support services to its
members with the vision of being the nations lowest-cost wholesale
power supplier. AECI is a Touchstone Energy Cooperative.
AECIs New Madrid Power Plant is an electrical power generating facil-
ity that utilizes coal for combustion in the boilers to furnish steam to
the turbine/generator that produces electrical power for distribution
to our member cooperatives.
AECI is seeking applicants for a Plant Engineer with an emphasis on
instruments and controls and a Plant Engineer with an emphasis
on mechanical at its New Madrid Power Plant.
To learn more and apply for a position, please visit www.aeci.org and
complete your profile. You will be able to upload additional applicant
documents (i.e. resume, cover letter) and apply for a position.
AECI is fully committed to the concept and practice of equal oppor-
tunity and affirmative action in all aspects of employment. Please
reference the contact information below if you require assistance in
filling out an application. Individuals with disabilities should request
reasonable accommodations in accordance with the Americans with
Disabilities Act prior to an appointment.
(573) 643-6285
An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/D/V
E-Verify Participant
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ADSIZE: 1/4 pg.(3.375 X 4.875)
INSERTION #: HI-3636
PUBLICATION: Power Magazine
DATE: May Issue
CONTACT: Dan /Diane
Complete plant closure, assets of
For more information or to subscribe to our email/mailing lists, visit
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Please contact Mark Reynolds at 205 595 5999 or email mreynolds@hilcoind.com
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May 2012 108
READER SERVICE NUMBER 208 READER SERVICE NUMBER 209 READER SERVICE NUMBER 210
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OVER ONE MILLION PLUGS SOLD
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ADSIZE: 1/4 pg.(3.375 X 4.875)
INSERTION #: HI-3693
PUBLICATION: Power Magazine
DATE: May Issue
CONTACT: Dan /Diane

AVAILABLE IMMEDIATELY
Partial Listing Only. For more information or to subscribe to our email/mailing lists, visit
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|
May 2012 110
Meet the Editor
Thomas Overton, JD
Gas Technology Editor
Meet the founding editor of
GAS POWER. Tom has over 15
years of experience in scientifc
and professional publishing,
and is a licensed California lawyer specializing in
copyright and intellectual property issues. As gas
technology editor, he will provide GAS POWER
Direct readers the latest technical data through blogs,
commentary, webinars and more.
Visit www.powermag.com/gaspower/
and sign up for the GAS POWER
Direct e-newsletter to get
the latest gas-fred generation
technology news.

As gas market opportunities continue to fourish, trust the newest POWER brand,
GAS POWER, to deliver the latest global gas-fred generation industry news.
Well have exclusive gas-fred generation
industry coverage of ELECTRIC POWER 2012 & the
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www.powermag.com/gaspower

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Advertisers index
Enter reader service numbers on the FREE Product Information Source card in this issue.
Alcatel-Lucent 3 2
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Applied Bolting 57 34
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APr energy 89 54
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Atlas Copco 59 35
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Baker Concrete 73 44
Baldor electric 67 41
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Beumer 25 14
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BrUKs 82 49
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Carboline 45 25
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Caterpillar 29
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Chatham steel 21 12
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Chromalloy 11 7
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Clyde Bergemann 87 53
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day & Zimmerman 41 23
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diamond Power 79 48
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exxon/Mobil 23 13
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Fluor Corp 27 15
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General Physics 7 4
Hadek 47 52
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Harco 64 39
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Kiewit 37 21
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Metalfab 61 36
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Mitsubishi Power systems 33 19
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nalco Cover 3 59
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neM energy 51 29
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nol-tec systems 52 30
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Orion instruments 77 46
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Outotec 35 20
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Paharpur 63 38
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PiC Group 39 22
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Proenergy services Cover 4 60
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rentech Cover 2 1
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roberts & schaefer 69 42
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rolls-royce 15 9
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servomex 78 47
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stF spA 49 27
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superbolt 92 56
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swagelok 85 26
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taggart Global 91 55
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teAM industrial servce 13 8
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tiC 71 43
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turboCare 10 6
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tyco Flow Control 17 10
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verizon Wireless 55 32
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Westinghouse 19 11
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Williams Patent Crusher 75 45
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Zachry 28 16
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Reader
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Reader
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CLAssiFied AdvertisinG
Pages 107-110 to place a classified ad, contact
diane Hammes, 713-343-1885, dianeh@powermagcom
|
May 2012 112
COMMENTARY
Ensuring the Best Use of
Federal Energy Subsidies
By Keith B. Hall
T
he U.S. uses a combination of direct expenditures, tax
breaks, loan guarantees, and research funding to promote
various energy goals. We could rely solely on the free mar-
ket and avoid using federal subsidies, but we do not do that
now and appear unlikely to do so in the future. Accordingly, we
must decide how we will use subsidies. The complexity of the en-
ergy challenges we face makes it impossible to produce a precise
blueprint for the best use of subsidies, but we can outline some
general principles.
Implementing a Successful National Energy Policy
Federal subsidies should support a national energy policy that
balances three key objectives: achieving greater energy inde-
pendence, protecting the environment against accidents, and
operating in a sustainable manner.
Fairness. We should minimize the use of federal expenditures
and loan guarantees that are directed to specific companies.
Such subsidies are more likely to produce an unfair windfall for
a few lucky recipients and are more prone to actual or perceived
conflicts of interest and cronyism. Further, notwithstanding oc-
casional successes, the government has a poor track record of
picking economic winners and losers. Solyndra provides an ex-
pensive example.
Balance. A primary challenge relating to fossil fuels is
sustainability, while a primary challenge relating to renew-
able energy is practicalityits inability to affordably supply
most of our energy needs. It is not clear whether we will
have greater success at making fossil fuels more sustainable
or at making renewables more practical. For this reason, we
should pursue a balanced approach that supports research on
renewable energy while also promoting research on carbon
capture and sequestration, coal gasification, and other ways
that decrease fossil fuels environmental impact and increase
their sustainability.
Another reason to take a balanced approach is that even
though renewables might become our primary source of energy
someday, that is unlikely to happen anytime soon. At present,
about 45% of our nations electricity is generated by coal and
another 24% is generated by natural gas. The U.S. Energy In-
formation Administration (EIA) projects that by the year 2035,
coal will generate 39% of our electricity and natural gas will
generate 27%. If both electrical and non-electrical energy uses
are considered, our dependence on fossil fuels is even more pro-
nounced. They currently provide about 83% of our total energy,
and in 2035, they will supply about 77%. Thus, for at least a
generation, our continuing dependence on fossil fuels will make
it important to decrease our use of imported oil while working
to reduce fossil fuels environmental impact and increase their
sustainability.
At present, we arent taking a balanced approach in using
subsidies and instead are strongly favoring renewables. The EIA
reports that, during 2010, approximately 55.3% of all federal
subsides relating to electrical power were directed toward renew-
able energy, while 21.0% were directed to nuclear power, 10.0%
to coal, 8.2% to electricity transmission and distribution, and
5.5% to natural gas.
When subsidies are compared based on the relative amount
of electricity generated by particular energy sources, the tilt
toward renewables is even more pronounced. Subsidies di-
rected toward coal and natural gas amounted to about $0.64
per 1,000 kWh of electricity generated by those sources. In
contrast, subsidies for renewable energy were approximately
$15.43 per 1,000 kWh.
Renewables also received the largest share of federal subsi-
dies for non-electrical power. Biomass, biofuels, and other re-
newables received 77.7% of those subsidies in 2010, compared
to 20.7% for oil and gas. And again, renewables fare even better
when subsidies are compared based on the amount of power
generated. Subsidies relating to oil and gas were approximately
$75.83 per million Btu of power generation in 2010. In contrast,
renewables subsidies were about $2,011. We should work toward
a more balanced approach.
Strategic Action. World trade generally benefits our country,
but we should decrease our dependence on oil that is imported
from countries that are unstable or hostile to the U.S. Our de-
pendence on foreign oil already has decreasedfrom 60% of our
total consumption in 2005 to 49% in 2010and that percent-
age is still dropping. Furthermore, our largest foreign supplier is
now Canada, a friendly and stable neighbor. But the EIA projects
that imported oil still will account for 36% of consumption in
2035, and some of that will be from nations much less stable and
friendly than Canada.
In contrast, the EIA projects that the U.S. will be a net export-
er of natural gas by 2021 because of rapidly increasing domestic
production. A strategic move would be to use more cars that run
on natural gas, thereby decreasing our dependence on foreign
oil. But there is a chicken and egg problem: Most consumers will
avoid buying natural gas cars if there are few natural gas fueling
stations, and entrepreneurs will avoid opening fueling stations
if there are too few customers. We should give incentives for
consumers to buy natural gas vehicles and for entrepreneurs to
open fueling stations.
Federal energy subsidies will yield the maximum benefit if we
use them to promote a national energy policy that balances the
objectives of energy independence, environmental protection,
and sustainability, and if we use subsidies in a way that is fair,
balanced, and strategic.
Keith B. Hall (khall@stonepigman.com) is an attorney with
the law firm of Stone Pigman Walther Wittmann LLC in New
Orleans, La.
Nalco Comprehensive Solutions for Cost Effective
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Nalco Comprehensive Solutions for Cost Effective
Mercury Control Customized for Your Plant
Introducing MerControl
8034 Technology
Mercury Re-emission Control in W-FGDs
While w-FGDs will capture the oxidized form of mercury, some w-FGDs convert oxidized mercury back to
its elemental form (known as Mercury Re-emission) resulting in reduced capture eficiency and increased
stack emissions. MerControl 8034 technology can reduce up to 100% of mercury re-emissions in w-FGD
scrubbers while preserving gypsum quality and decreasing emission rates.
MerControl
7895 Technology Mercury Oxidation Catalyst

MerControl 7895 technology augments oxidation of mercury released during the combustion of coal and
can remove over 90% of mercury when used in conjunction with a w-FGD or SDA/FF. When applied with
activated carbon injection, the addition of MerControl 7895 technology signiicantly reduces total mercury
control costs while maintaining ly ash resale value.
Predict Hg Technology Mercury Removal in FGD Wastewater
Nalco signiicantly improves the performance of FGD wastewater systems by using innovative products
and services. We model our customers waste treatment plants, allowing us to accurately predict the
results of various mechanical, operational and chemical changes. We quantify potential gains in inancial
terms, allowing our customers to make decisions based on data, not guesswork.
Visit us at Electric Power, Booth #1841

Hear Nalcos Dr. Bruce Keiser present at Electric Power:
Simple and Effective Method to Control Mercury Re-emissions from w-FGDs
Wednesday, May 16, 1:30 3:00, Room 327.
For more information or to schedule a demonstration,
call 630-305-1328 or email nalcomobotec@nalco.com.
2012 Nalco Company Nalco, the logo and MerControl are trademarks of Nalco Company
Ecolab is a trademark of Ecolab USA, Inc.
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Experience That Really Stacks Up.
If youre building, operating, overhauling, refurbishing
or stafng a power plant, lets talk. Weve put together
an impressive team of power industry veterans who work
together to provide safe and reliable solutions for every
phase of a projects life cycle.
Please contact us to talk about how our services can
help you achieve maximum return on investment.
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