·       Wet Calcium FGD “Hot Topic Hour” On July 24

·       $9 Billion Fabric Filter System Market Will Expand From 4% to 8%/yr

·       Renewable Energy Briefs

·       Headlines for the June 20, 2014 – Utility E-Alert

·       McIlvaine Hot Topic Hour Registration

Wet Calcium FGD “Hot Topic Hour” On July 24

There is a big initial investment in wet FGD.  Operation and maintenance costs are also significant.  Regulators in the U.S. and China are putting pressure on operators to increase removal efficiency.  There are new challenges as regulations on mercury capture, wastewater and solid waste can dictate changes in wet FGD operation and design.

A new website, Wet Calcium FGD-Continuing Analysis, is being created for power plants that are making decisions about new or replacement systems as well as improved operation of existing FGD systems.  This site will be freely accessed.  It is part of a whole new wikinomics concept - Continuous Analyses.  Periodic webinars will be free to utilities.  The goal is to make this site the default starting point for utility decision makers.

The first webinar on July 24 will be introductory.  The comprehensive information which has been transferred from the protected McIlvaine sites to the free site will be reviewed.

With this e-mail we are also seeking input from others for this first webinar. This input is in three categories:

1.     Introduction of neutral niche experts who will provide future insights on some aspect of the decisions (EPRI, VGB, consultants and utility veterans).

2.     FGD system suppliers and others who can debate the important classifications, e.g. are spray tower, tray tower and sump scrubber, the three major design options.  (We are arbitrarily calling the Chiyoda jet bubbling reactor and the Alstom design sump scrubbers).

3.     Component suppliers to provide discussions of two components.  One will probably be blowers for calcium sulfite oxidation, but we are open to suggestion.  Over time we will be covering all the components.

So, if you fit one of the three categories above, we would like to hear from you.

Specific Issues which will be continually analyzed include, but are not limited to:

1.     Investment Decisions

a.      Why wet vs. dry

b.     Lime vs. limestone

c.      Forced vs. natural oxidation

d.     Tray tower, spray tower or sump scrubber

e.      Dewatering and wastewater

f.      Components

                                                    i.     Nozzles

                                                  ii.     Mist eliminators

                                                iii.     Materials of construction (FRP, stainless, etc)

                                                iv.     Fans

                                                  v.     Oxidation blowers and mixers

                                                vi.     Dampers, valves and couplings

                                              vii.     Belt filters, cyclones and other separators

                                            viii.     Instrumentation and controls

2.     Operation and Maintenance Decisions

a.      Change from forced to natural oxidation

b.     Change reagent

c.      Reduce component cost  by changing design of nozzles, belts, mist eliminators and blowers

3.     Performance Decisions

a.      Remove mercury with chemical additives and also reduce mercury re-emissions

b.     Improve SO₂ removal with baffles in the absorber or more nozzle banks

c.      Install HCl pre-scrubber

d.     Eliminate ball mill and buy powdered limestone

Click here for the Subscriber and Power Plant Owner/Operator Registration Form

Click here for the Non-Subscribers Registration Form   

Click here for the Free Hot Topic Hour Registration Form   

$9 Billion Fabric Filter System Market Will Expand From 4% to 8%/yr

There are major variables which could boost the fabric filter system revenue increases to as much as 8 percent per year over the next ten years. This is real growth and, when inflation is added, current dollar growth could be as high as 12%/yr.   It all depends on coal-fired power plants.  This is the conclusion reached by McIlvaine in World Fabric Filter and Element Market.  (www.mcilvainecompany.com)

FABRIC FILTER WORLD MARKETS

($ Millions)

Coal-fired power plants account for the majority of stack exhaust gas.  One of the new 3000 MW Chinese coal complexes will exhaust 9 million cubic feet of air per minute (cfm).  This is the amount being exhausted by 300 asphalt plants or 50 large cement plants and it is the amount exhausted from 9,000 welding operations. There are thousands of coal-fired boilers in China.  They discharge 3 billion cfm.  U.S. coal-fired power plants exhaust 900 million cfm.

Nearly all this exhaust gas is cleaned with electrostatic precipitators.  Worldwide only 7 percent is cleaned by fabric filters.  However, it is very likely that many coal-fired power plants will be required to install fabric filters.  Both China and the U.S. have tightened limits on fine particulate.  It will be difficult to meet the new limits with electrostatic precipitators.  Fabric filters will more than meet the new limits.

The switch to fabric filters is potentially driven by the need to remove mercury and acid gases.  Activated carbon requirements to remove mercury are less if fabric filters are utilized.  Dry scrubbing using lime and sodium injection is accomplished best with fabric filters to capture the reaction products.

McIlvaine is assessing the purchasing trends for each country and adjusting long-range forecasts accordingly. 

For more on: World Fabric Filter and Element Market, click on: http://home.mcilvainecompany.com/index.php/markets/2-uncategorised/110-n021

Renewable Energy Briefs 06 25 14

SCE Seeks More Small Scale Renewable Generation Projects in Fifth Round of Solicitations

Southern California Edison (SCE) has launched another round of solicitations for small-scale renewable source projects, including solar, wind, geothermal and biomass, with the goal of procuring up to 290 megawatts from smaller-scale renewable projects through a Renewable Auction Mechanism (RAM).

The request for offers is open to renewable electric energy-generating facilities between 3 and 20 megawatts. SCE has obtained 530 megawatts of renewable power for its customers through the previous four auctions.

RAM was adopted by the California Public Utilities Commission in December 2010 with the objective of lowering transaction costs and promoting the development of small-scale, system-wide renewable distributed generation. The program encourages development of resources that can use existing transmission and distribution infrastructure, promote competition, elicit the lowest costs for customers and contribute to the state’s renewables goals of 33 percent by 2020.

APS Seeks Renewable Energy Projects from Solar

Arizona Public Service Co. announces a Request for Proposal (RFP) from solar developers and installers to construct two 10-megawatt solar photovoltaic facilities – financed by APS through the company’s AZ Sun Program.

Projects must utilize commercially proven technology. When completed in 2015, the new solar facilities – one located on Luke Air Force Base and the other to be built in partnership with the City of Phoenix – will be owned and operated by APS. These facilities will join seven other AZ Sun Projects that are already online or under construction, totaling 170 MW of solar energy for Arizona – enough to power more than 42,000 APS customers.

More Energy Execs Believe U.S. Can Achieve Energy Independence Within Fifteen Years According to a KPMG Survey

More and more energy executives believe the United States can attain energy independence within the next 15 years, eliminating the U.S. dependency for foreign energy sources, according to the results of the 12th annual Energy Industry Outlook Survey conducted by the KPMG Global Energy Institute.

KPMG's annual energy survey, which polled more than 100 senior executives in the U.S. representing global energy companies, found that nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of energy executives believe the U.S. can attain energy independence by 2030, or sooner – up 10 percentage points from KPMG's 2013 survey. Of those 73 percent, 17 percent believe the U.S. could fully meet current energy demand with only U.S.-based sources by 2020. 

Other than the continued development of conventional and unconventional domestic energy reserves, the KPMG survey found that 37 percent of executives cite the development of energy transportation infrastructure such as pipelines and transmission lines as the most important action they believe the U.S. should take to attain energy independence. Twenty-three percent cite greater use of renewable energy sources and 20 percent point to greater use of alternative fuels for transportation, including natural gas, electricity and biodiesel.

InventivEnergy and NRG Energy Services Partner to Restart the Aspen Power Biomass Plant

InventivEnergy, LLC has selected NRG Energy Services LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of NRG Energy Inc., (NRG), to restart the Aspen Power biomass plant in Lufkin, TX and operate and maintain the facility once online to provide clean, renewable power for the Texas market. InventivEnergy is an asset management firm that is overseeing the plant, which first began operation in August 2011 as the first wood-based biomass power plant in the state.

The Aspen power plant has the capacity to deliver approximately 50 MW to the grid and uses locally sourced clean wood-waste biomass as its fuel supply. The plant employs a stoker type boiler with particulate emissions abatement and has selective catalytic reduction for NOx control.

Work to restart the facility began in mid-May and commercial operations are expected to be achieved by late July.

Aspen Power LLC commissioned the plant in August 2011. It can consume about 525,000 tons of logging debris and municipal wood waste per year. It was the first major wood biomass power plant in the state.

Toshiba to Supply Lithium-Titanate Battery for 2 MW Energy Storage System Project in the UK Led by the University of Sheffield

Toshiba Corporation announced that it has been selected to provide the battery for the United Kingdom’s first 2 MW scale lithium-titanate battery based Energy Storage System (ESS) to support grid management. The company’s 1 MWh SCiB™ battery will be installed in a primary substation in central England in September.

Large-scale ESS is increasingly seen as a versatile solution in managing electricity supply. Installed in wind and photovoltaic generation systems, ESS can help to overcome intermittent output and frequency fluctuations, as well as performing peak power buffering, and when connected to the grid they can support grid stability and reinforcement. This role in grid management will be investigated in the UK, in the Grid Connected Energy Storage Research Demonstrator project, led by the University of Sheffield, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), with support from both industrial and academic partners.

The ESS will be connected to the 11 kV grid at Western Power Distribution’s Willenhall primary substation, near Wolverhampton in the West Midlands. When the project starts operation in November this year, it will allow testing at realistic levels, and allow assessment of both the technical and economic potential of ESS in the grid.

For more information on Renewable Energy Projects and Update please visit

http://www.mcilvainecompany.com/brochures/Renewable_Energy_Projects_Brochure/renewable_energy_projects_brochure.htm

Headlines for June 20, 2014 – Utility E-Alert

UTILITY E-ALERT

#1180 – June 20, 2014

Table of Contents

COAL – US

• New Coal Ash Bill introduced in North Carolina
• Nebraska City Unit 1 to be scrubbed

COAL – WORLD

·       Yokogawa to supply Control Systems for Lara Supercritical Power Plant in India

·       Foster Wheeler Subsidiary awarded SCR Contract for SCR System by Turun Seudun Energiantuotanto Oy in Finland

·       Siemens secures €208 Million Order to supply Turbine Island for Jaworzno III Steam Power Plant in Jaworzno, Poland

GAS/OIL – US

• CB&I will design and build a Combined Cycle Natural Gas-fired Power Plant in Indiana
• Black & Veatch to build 495 MW Combined Cycle Project in Oklahoma
• PNM to build a $56 Million Natural Gas-fired Power Plant in New Mexico
• Rolling Hills Generating seeks Permits for Ohio Power Plant Project Upgrade

GAS/OIL – WORLD

·       GE supplies Four Gas Turbines to Jacobsen Electro for New Facility in Kinyerezi, Daar es salaam, Tanzania

·       Initial Tender announced for Oman’s 2,600 MW Gas-fired Power Project

·       Federal Government (Nigeria) and U.S. Investors sign MoU to construct Gas-fired Power Plant

·       The Partnership Fund starts installation of Gas Turbines at Combined Cycle Power Plant in Gardabani, Georgia

NUCLEAR

• Deal signed yesterday by China's Premier Li Keqiang on visit to Britain to design and run Nuclear Power Plants
• Babcock & Wilcox Nuclear Energy awarded Multi-year Fleet Services Contract from Dominion Generation
• AMEC wins Consultancy Contract for UAE Nuclear Energy Program

BUSINESS

·       Coal Gasification could completely change Asian Energy Outlook

·       $24 Billion will be spent on NO_x Control Systems and Consumables This Year

·       GSE Environmental files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection for North American Operations

·       Partnership provides Combustion Optimization Products

·       Exelon & Pepco file Merger requests with State and DC Regulators

·       Sime Darby sells Power Plants to B. Grimm Power in Chonburi province, Thailand

·       POSCO Energy acquires Tongyang Power (South Korea) for $431 Billion

HOT TOPIC HOUR

·       Coal Combustion Residue Hot Topic next Thursday expanded to cover Chinese Coal-to-Gas and Coal-to-Chemical

·       Upcoming Hot Topic Hours

For more information on the Utility Tracking System, click on: 

http://home.mcilvainecompany.com/index.php/databases/2-uncategorised/89-42ei

McIlvaine Hot Topic Hour Registration

On Thursday at 10 a.m. Central time, McIlvaine hosts a 90 minute web meeting on important energy and pollution control subjects. Power webinars are free for subscribers to either Power Plant Air Quality Decisions or Utility Tracking System. The cost is $300.00 for non-subscribers.

See below for information on upcoming Hot Topic Hours. We welcome your input relative to suggested additions.

Click here for the Subscriber and Power Plant Owner/Operator Registration Form

Click here for the Non-Subscribers Registration Form   

Click here for the Free Hot Topic Hour Registration Form   

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You can register for our free McIlvaine Newsletters at: http://home.mcilvainecompany.com/index.php?option=com_rsform&formId=5

Bob McIlvaine
President
847 784 0012 ext 112

rmcilvaine@mcilvainecompany.com

www.mcilvainecompany.com

191 Waukegan Road Suite 208 | Northfield | IL 60093

Ph: 847-784-0012 | Fax; 847-784-0061