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Most people, when they imagine a power plant, picture equipment like smokestacks that stretch hundreds of feet into the sky, massive, spinning turbines and the hum of electric transmission lines […]
The post Unlocking the Benefits of Virtual Power Plants with Digital Technology appeared first on POWER Magazine.
Three major chemical processing companies announced the startup of a demonstration plant to show the viability of large-scale electrically heated steam cracking furnaces. BASF, SABIC, and Linde on April 17 […]
The post Groups Collaborate to Electrify Chemical Processing Plants appeared first on POWER Magazine.
A sweeping new proposed rule published in the Federal Register by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on April 6 establishes new nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions budgets that will require fossil fuel–fired power plants in 25 states to participate in an allowance-based ozone season trading program starting in 2023.
The proposal, which builds on the agency’s existing Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR), seeks to implement the EPA’s 2015 National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ozone of 70 parts per billion by imposing federal implementation plans (FIPs) on these states using its authority under the “good neighbor” requirements of the Clean Air Act. States affected are: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
The EPA’s existing CSAPR ozone-season NOx program limits NOx emissions from fossil fuel–fired electric generating units (EGUs) in 22 states during the ozone season, which runs from May 1 through September 30.…
A 7.3-magnitude earthquake caused some deficiencies at two of the three nuclear power plants (NPPs) located in relatively close proximity to the fault, but it did not cause any safety concerns, according to Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA).
The quake struck about 60 kilometers off the coast of Japan on March 16 at 2:36 p.m. UTC. The NPPs affected include the Fukushima Daiichi facility, site of the infamous nuclear disaster in February 2011. Other potentially vulnerable facilities were the Fukushima Daiini and Onagawa nuclear power stations.
At the Daiichi site, hundreds of seismically qualified tanks store treated water from the 2011 accident. The force of the quake reportedly moved some of these tanks up to 10 centimeters, but there was no leakage, according to the NRA. Also at the Daiichi site, a cooling pump for the Unit 5 reactor’s spent fuel pool temporarily stopped working, but later resumed operation and cooling functions at the site have been maintained, the regulator said.…
There are countless risks associated with power plant operations. For example, the risk of equipment failure is present in virtually every power plant system. In some cases, the risk is very low and could even be inconsequential. In others, it’s much higher and could be catastrophic, not only to plant operation, but also to the health and safety of workers. Understanding where the greatest risks lie and acting to reduce the likelihood of an unwanted incident should be high on every plant manager’s to-do list.
Digital technology has made the task of managing risk much easier. Tools are available today that can organize data and help users evaluate where the most probable and/or consequential failures are likely to occur. For example, risk-based asset integrity management (AIM) software, which often uses data imported from a plant historian or other legacy software systems, can sort and prioritize data to identify areas of concern and provide insight for decision-makers.
There are several companies that offer AIM products.…
The end of the year will bring the end of power production for three of Germany’s final six operating nuclear power plants. The 1,410-MW Brokdorf unit in Schleswig-Holstein, the 1,360-MW Grohnde unit in Lower Saxony, and the 1,288-MW Gundremmingen C unit in Bavaria will all be permanently taken off the gird on Dec. 31. That will leave three nuclear reactors in operation in Germany—the 1,335-MW Emsland unit in Lower Saxony, the 1,410-MW Isar 2 unit in Bavaria, and the 1,310-MW Neckarwestheim 2 unit in Baden-Württemberg. All three of the remaining units are slated to close by the end of 2022.
The nuclear phaseout in Germany has been planned for more than a decade. In May 2011, Germany’s then-Chancellor Angela Merkel officially endorsed the idea. Merkel had been a nuclear power supporter and actually overturned a phaseout policy enacted by a previous administration, but after the Fukushima disaster, her position changed. The decision to phaseout nuclear kicked the country’s Energiewende (or energy transition) into high gear.…