·       FGD Upgrades Will Assure a $5 Billion Annual Market

·       Renewable Energy Briefs

·       Utility E-Alert Headlines –August 1, 2014

·       “Industrial Boiler and Cement MACT Timing and Compliance Options” is the Hot Topic on August 14^th

• McIlvaine Hot Topic Hour Registration

FGD Upgrades Will Assure a $5 Billion Annual Market

Revenues for FGD suppliers will average about $5 billion per year over the next five years. This will be split between upgrades of existing systems and new systems.  This is the latest forecast in McIlvaine FGD Market and Strategies .  (www.mcilvainecompany.com)

Traditionally, most of the market has been for new systems.  The maturity of the market is established with the even split between new systems and upgrades by 2020.

The major markets for new FGD are now in Asia.  More than 70 percent of the new FGD orders in 2015 will be placed for Chinese power plants.

There is a large market developing to upgrade existing FGD systems.  The biggest upgrade market will be China.  The government has identified 100,000 MW of FGD which must be upgraded.  Adding an extra spray section will be one of the upgrade measures. 

This forecast does not include consumables such as lime and limestone.  Expenditures for these consumables have risen steadily and will continue to do so at a rate of approximately 5 percent per year until 2020.   After 2020, consumables expenditure growth will slow as the number of new coal-fired power plants built each year will be reduced and there will be increasing retirements of coal-fired power plants in Europe and the U.S.

This forecast is based on the assumption that a greenhouse gas reduction program is implemented.  There are mixed signals regarding the future of this program.  The U.S. has proposed a carbon trading program for coal-fired power plants which will result in retirement of nearly 50,000 MW of coal-fired capacity (20% of the existing fleet).   Australia has just repealed its carbon tax citing the high cost and lack of perceived benefits.

This forecast is also based on the continued success of the program to extract gas from shale. As long as gas prices remain at around $4-5/MMBtu, gas will be the preferred fuel for new power plants.  The U.S. is likely to generate all the gas it needs internally and will be able to export some quantity.  China has launched a big program to produce gas from coal.  This gas will be transported across the country and will fuel gas turbine plants in Eastern cities.

The Chinese gas-to-coal program will have the effect of reducing the longer range traditional FGD market.  However, a very large air pollution market will be created to capture the H₂S and particulate caused by the coal gasification process.

For more information on FGD Market and Strategies, click on: http://home.mcilvainecompany.com/index.php/markets/2-uncategorised/107-n027

Renewable Energy Briefs

SCE to Buy More Than 1500 MW of Renewable Power

Southern California Edison (SCE) has signed contracts with solar and geothermal energy producers representing more than 1,500 megawatts of clean, renewable power. Signed contracts include the purchase of more than 1,300 megawatts of new solar power and the re-contracting of 225 megawatts with an existing California geothermal energy project.

"SCE is committed to continuing to bring renewable power resources to our customers and helping achieve California's environmental goals," said Stuart R. Hemphill, SCE Senior Vice President, Power Supply and Operational Services. "These agreements will help us maintain diversity in our renewable energy portfolio."

These contracts resulted from an open and competitive process for all renewable resources designed to promote market development, contain costs, diversify power sources and help to meet the state's 33 percent Renewables Portfolio Standard goals. While solar is one of the fastest-growing renewable types and becoming a larger part of the state's renewable mix, SCE and other utilities have large portions of their renewable energy in the form of geothermal and wind generation. SCE's re-contracting with an existing geothermal project reflects the utility's commitment to cost effective and diverse renewable energy.

SunPower Breaks Ground on 135 MW Quinto Solar Plant

SunPower Corp. announced it has started construction on the 135-megawatt Quinto Solar Project in Merced County, CA. The system will generate power for Southern California Edison's customers, under a long-term power purchase agreement.  In accordance with the company's recently announced holdco strategy, SunPower expects to own and operate the solar power plant during construction.

Including the Quinto power plant, SunPower has more than 500 megawatts of residential, commercial and utility solar assets under contract around the world that it may choose to own for a period of time before a strategic sale or continue ownership post-construction during the operational phase of the project. Under this holdco strategy, SunPower expects to improve project margins and drive higher shareholder returns by capturing the material benefit of its lower system degradation rates, long term project life as well as benefitting from distributions from the project as an equity owner.

SunPower anticipates that about 295 jobs will be created during peak construction of the project, with approximately $80 million in local economic impact. The company estimates that more than $5 million of tax revenues will also be generated as a result of the project. After completion, which is scheduled for late 2015, the Quinto project is expected to generate enough electricity for 40,000 homes.

SunPower is constructing a SunPower® Oasis® Power Plant system at the approximately 1,000- acre site. Oasis is a fully-integrated, modular solar power block that is engineered to rapidly and cost-effectively deploy utility-scale solar projects while optimizing land use.

CBD Energy Secures 64 MW Solar Project in Thailand

CBD Energy Limited, a diversified clean energy company and leading global provider of solar systems, announced an agreement with Environmental Engineering Group Thailand (EEG) to construct a 64 MW solar park with a projected development cost of approximately $112,000,000. The project is supported by a 25-year power purchase agreement with the Thai Provincial Electricity Authority.

Everbright International Introduces a New Era of “Complete Incineration and No Landfills” in Suzhou City

China Everbright International Limited announced that the expansion project of Phase III of the Suzhou Waste-to-Energy Project passed the “72 +24” hour trial operation assessment on January 14, 2013, two and half months ahead of the scheduled commercial operation date, introducing a new era of household waste “Complete Incineration and No landfills” to the Suzhou Municipality.

Mr. Chen Xiaoping, Chief Executive Officer of Everbright International, said “With the Suzhou Phase III Project starting commercial operation, the Suzhou Project has a total daily waste processing capacity of 3,550 tons and is the nation’s largest waste-to-energy plant with the highest operational standards.

PG&E Celebrates 30 Years of Operations at Helms Pumped Storage

Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) marks 30 years of commercial operation at Helms Pumped Storage Project (PSP).  The hydroelectric facility was considered an engineering marvel when it was built and came on line in 1984, and continues to play a vital role today as well in California’s clean energy future.

Helms operators can take the plant from an idle state to full generation in eight minutes. That ability to quickly ramp up and down plays a key role in integrating intermittent renewable resources such as wind and solar onto the power grid, said John Conway, PG&E Senior Vice President for Energy Supply.

Nestled high in the Sierra Nevada Mountains about 50 miles east of Fresno, Helms features two reservoirs and three hydro pump-generators. The generators can produce a total of 1,212 megawatts of electricity.

During times of high electric demand, water flows downhill from Courtwright Lake at the higher elevation (8,200 feet) through the powerhouse. When there is excess generation online, the pumps can be reversed, pushing the water uphill from Lake Wishon at the lower elevation (6,500 feet) to recharge the upper reservoir.

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 Utility E-Alert – August 1, 2014

UTILITY E-ALERT

#1185 – August 1, 2014

Table of Contents

COAL – US

• Navajo Generating Station on track to end Operations by 2044
• Stanley-Alberici JV win EPC Contract for Emission Control at Edgewater, Sheboygan, WI

COAL – WORLD

·       Chinese Consortium Preferred Bidder for 450 MW Coal-fired Power Plant in Bosnia

GAS/OIL - US

• Company finds Natural Gas in Southeastern North Dakota

GAS/OIL – WORLD

·       TransAlta building 150 MW Combined Cycle Gas-fired Power Plant in South Hedland, Australia

·       Alstom wins Contract worth 335 Million Euros in Mexico

·       Tenaga signs HoA with SIPP Energy for proposed Joint Venture Combined Cycle Gas Turbine Power Plant in Pasir Gudang, Johor, Malaysia 

·       Gazprom Subsidiary to go Local for Gas Turbine Spare Parts

CO₂

• Sargent & Lundy receives engineering contract for Petra Nova Carbon Capture Project in Texas

NUCLEAR

·       Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant may shut down December 29

·       Westinghouse hopes for Nuclear Power Plant deal in Bulgaria

·       Rosatom signs MOU to build Floating Nuclear Power Plants with China

·       DOE awards Fluor $420 Million 3-year Contract for Paducah deactivation and shutdown

BUSINESS

·       Berkshire Hathaway Application to buy AltaLink receives Preliminary Approval

·       Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems to merge with Babcock-Hitachi

·       URS and Mobotec bring Proven NO_x Control Technology to the US Coal-fired Power Industry

·       Mercury Removal from Natural Gas and Industrial Stacks will generate Billions of Dollars in Annual Revenues for Solutions Providers

·       Upgrading Coal Plants around the World is the Best and Quickest Way to Reduce CO₂

HOT TOPIC HOUR

·       Many Mercury Sorbent Options discussed in Hot Topic Hour July 31

·       “MATS Timing and Technology Options” is the Hot Topic on August 7, 2014

·       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

“Industrial Boiler and Cement MACT Timing and Compliance Options” is the Hot Topic on August 14^th 

Operators of cement kilns and industrial boilers are in the process of making final decisions relative to mercury, HCl and toxics reductions. This webinar will help these operators compare the many options which are available.

The webinar will explore technology options including some very recent developments.  The catalytic filter and the post scrubbing mercury module are two newly proven technologies.  The decisions on upgrading precipitators or installing fabric filters, using dry or wet scrubbers, and whether to use sorbent traps or mercury CEMS all have to be made. 

Another question is how much time is left to make these decisions?  There is also the uncertainty regarding future regulations and whether to adopt technologies which provide flexibility.  One flexible approach is to invest in lower cost technology with the potential to upgrade.  Australia just abolished its carbon tax while the U.S. administration is talking about more CO₂ reductions. So the strategy for MACT compliance has to factor in the regulatory uncertainties.

The webinar will be collaborative.  A series of questions will be discussed. The program will be enhanced and initiated with a few short presentations by experts. The sequence will be based on a unique concept which compares the decision process to travel through a maze.

The large number of uncertainties makes it difficult to determine a course of action to deal with the Cement and Industrial Boiler MACT Standards.  You may initially reject plant retirement as a solution, but as the cost of the compliance options mount, you may have to revisit that decision.  You may make a tentative decision to use wet scrubbing, but then find that the water pollution control costs make this unattractive.  A dry scrubber may look attractive until you evaluate the restrictions on flyash sales and landfill costs.  The result is that the MACT decision process is complex and can be likened to a maze. 

The upcoming webinar will provide the equivalent of a GPS system to negotiate the maze. It could be called the MACT Global Decisions Positioning System^™ (GDPS).

MACT GDPS

GETTING STARTED

The first step is to identify all the resources to help you in the decision making.  McIlvaine has a number of free sites which explain each of the control options. They are displayed at Continuous Analyses.

Another good resource is the Council of Industrial Boiler Owners (CIBO).  They have some valuable summaries of the requirements.  All the information on issues is shown at: http://www.cibo.org/issues.htm.

The comparisons for proposed and final limits for each pollutant are shown at:

·       Comparison of Proposed, Final and Reproposed Emission Limits for Existing CISWI Units

·       Comparison of Boiler GACT LimitsCOMPARISON OF December 2012 FINAL to December 2011 Reproposal and FINAL March 2011 BOILER MACT LIMITS and June 2010 PROPOSED BOILER MACT LIMITS

There have been good presentations in McIlvaine webinars Third Time's the Charm? By Mack McGuffey, Troutman Sanders - Hot Topic Hour March 22, 2012.  Mack reviewed the history of Industrial Boiler MACT which shows that there have been substantial changes in the proposed limits each time the proposed rule has been revised.

CEMENT MACT - The Portland Cement Association (PCA) has also been active in analyzing the regulatory impact of the cement rule.  This rule was litigated in an April 18, 2014 opinion authored by Judge Kavanaugh, the D.C. Circuit upheld Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) emission standards for Portland cement plants but struck down the rule’s codified affirmative defense for violations that result from malfunctions, at least as applied to civil penalties assessed in citizen suits. http://www.velaw.com/resources/DCCircuitStrikesDownAffirmativeDefenseWhileUpholdingPortlandCementMACTRules.aspx

PCA staff have been among the presenters at McIlvaine Cement MACT webinars.  These can be found in the McIlvaine Global Decisions Orchard at 327310 - Cement Manufacturing 水泥生产. Trinity Consultants has provided a good summary of the rule at: http://www.trinityconsultants.com/Templates/TrinityConsultants/News/Article.aspx?id=2992

START THROUGH THE MAIZE

Plant retirement is the first consideration.  Capital investment to meet MACT will be substantial.  An old plant may only be valued at $500/kW.  Expenditures to meet MACT may, in an extreme case, be $400/kW, so you are nearly doubling your investment.  Will it be worthwhile?  Here are some of the factors to be considered. 

1^st Decision Tree Stop:  Plant Retirement Decision Tree

A study for CIBO showed that the average industrial boiler operator would have to pay as much as a $4/MMBtu premium to have access to natural gas. The capital cost of new gas turbine combined cycle plants is higher than the retrofit options whose capital cost is shown at CIBO Estimated Capital Costs For Air Pollution Control Equipment For Coal-Fired Industrial Boilers.

PCA expects only 20 cement plants to retire as a result of the MACT rule. This year cement production is expected to grow by over 6 percent.   Production will grow another 6 percent in 2015.  So the demand will be high.  Most plants will opt to consider the capital investment to meet MACT. Retirement is the initial stop in the maze, but will need to be revisited as the cost of the MACT compliance option is further developed. 

Particulate:  The decision to upgrade to meet MACT has to start with particulate control.  The MACT rule allows the operator to either meet a very low PM_2.5 limit or to separately measure toxic metals. Due to the difficulty in measuring toxic metals, virtually all plants will opt for the lower particulate limit.

2^nd Decision Tree Stop:  Particulate Decision

There are proposed regulations in the U.S. dealing with coal combustion residues and effluent water quality.  Dry scrubbers create combustion residues and wet scrubbers create effluent.  So MACT decisions have to take these future standards into consideration.

Many cement plants already have fabric filters.  They may need to upgrade to membrane bags to meet MACT.  In the mercury webinar in July, W.L. Gore pointed out that the leakage of activated carbon through the bags was more likely due to the seam failure than bag inefficiency.

3^rd Decision Tree Stop:  Solids Regulations and Flyash Salability

Industrial boiler owners are less concerned about flyash sales than the utility owners. However, it can be a consideration.

Cement plants are concerned with Clinker Kiln Dust (CKD) quality

The majority of CKD is recycled back into the cement kiln as raw feed.  In addition, new technology has allowed the use of previously landfilled CKD to be used as raw feed stock.  Recycling this byproduct back into the kiln not only reduces the amount of CKD to be managed outside the kiln, it also reduces the need for limestone and other raw materials, which saves natural resources and helps conserve energy.  Another principal use of CKD is for various types of commercial applications. These applications depend primarily on the chemical and physical characteristics of the CKD. The major parameters that determine CKD characteristics are the raw feed material, type of kiln operation, dust collection systems and fuel type. Since the properties of CKD can be significantly affected by the design, operation and materials used in a cement kiln, the chemical and physical characteristics of CKD must be evaluated on an individual plant basis.

4^th Decision Tree Stop:  NO_x Control Technology

There are a number of options for industrial boiler and cement plant owners. The advantages and disadvantages of each are:

HCl -  There is a requirement in MACT to reduce HCl.  EPA says much of the benefit of MACT is the SO₂ reduction which will coincidently take place with HCl capture.

5^th Decision Tree Stop:  Select FGD Type and Reagent

One McIlvaine website covers the wet option Wet Calcium FGD - Continuous Analyses.

Another McIlvaine website covers DSI, spray driers and circulating dry scrubbers Dry Scrubbing - Continuous Analyses.

Hot Gas Filtration for all MACT requirements—See McIlvaine Website Hot Gas Filters - Continuous Analyses.

6^th Decision Tree Stop - Air Toxics

Three air toxics addressed in MACT are mercury, HCl and toxic metals.  The HCl reduction is tied into the FGD.  The toxic metals will be removed by the particulate collector, so that leaves mercury as the remaining contaminant to address.  McIlvaine has covered all the options for mercury reduction at Mercury Removal - Continuous Analyses

There have been some new developments.  W.L Gore has successfully piloted their sorbent polymer composite on cement kilns.  It follows the baghouse and cooling system and functions at about 220^oF.  Non-carbon bentonite and kaolin based sorbents are also providing competition to activated carbon.

Panelists for Industrial Boiler and Cement MACT Timing and Compliance Options

Daryl Lipscomb, Global Business Manager, Environmental Division and Jon Miller Albemarle Sorbent Technologies Corporation Albemarle Corporation 

Keith Moore, President, Castle Light Energy Corporation

Nathan Schindler, Product Manager, Combustion Components Associates, Inc. 

Mike Widico, Vice-President Business Development, KC Cottrell, Inc.

Melissa Patasnick, Marketing Manger and Joshua Allen, Natronx Technologies, LLC

Peter Spinney, Director, Marketing & Technology Assessment, NeuCo, Inc.

The webinar on August 14th is free to plant operators and McIlvaine subscribers.  There is a charge for others. 

To register for the “Hot Topic Hour”, click on: http://home.mcilvainecompany.com/index.php/component/content/article?id=675

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