Power Air Quality Insights No

Power Air Quality Insights
No. 79 October 25, 2012

WELCOME

The following insights can be sent to you every week. This alert contains the details on the upcoming hot topic hour, breaking news, and the headlines for the Utility E Alert for the previous week. This is one of a number of free services. You can sign up for any of these newsletters and of course request to be removed from the mailing list at any time. See registration following the newsletter.

· (Free) Hot Topic Hour on November 1^st is on “Cooling Towers and Cooling Tower Water Treatment as well as Co-generation to Eliminate Cooling”

(Free) “Hot Topic Hour” on November 1^st is on “Cooling Towers and Cooling Tower Water Treatment as well as Co-generation to Eliminate Cooling”

Next week we will open up our weekly Hot Topic Hour to non-subscribers at no cost. We will be discussing one of the most important issues facing power plants, which is what to do about cooling of condensed steam in the future. Power plants are facing regulations which will result in new designs if once-through water is to continue. But they also may need some new way to cool.

The hot topic last week included some interesting insights from Great Rivers Energy which sends low pressure steam to a co-located ethanol plant. We will be exploring the co-generation cooling options including co-location of sewage treatment and power plants as well as other options such as Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS).

We will touch on air cooled condensers vs. wet or hybrid cooling and discuss the two new 1000 MW CCGT plants using shale gas which will use air cooled condensers in PA.

Surface waters commonly contain a range of natural and man-made debris that must be removed to avoid damage to the pumps and downstream equipment and to allow the cooling processes to work efficiently. The type of debris can vary from light contamination in some cases to many tons per hour in some coastal locations, where jelly fish, for example, can be a challenge to maintaining a continuous supply of cooling water.

Ovivo will be making presentations relative to equipment to address these challenges. They can minimize the impact of water abstraction on the aquatic environment and, through strategic partnerships and product development, can offer a range of Fish Guidance, Fish Deterrent and Fish Recovery and Return systems. In addition to the environmental benefits, these systems can cut the owner’s trash disposal costs and reduce the chances of disruption to generation due to the loss of cooling water as a result of massive inundations of schooling species.

Ovivo has extensive experience of supplying intake screening for nuclear, hydro-power and fossil fuel power plants, which incorporate Brackett Green® and Brackett Bosker® screens, StopGates™ technology, HR Debris filters, automatic tube cleaning systems, Brackett Brieden™ automatic back flushing filters, Fish Guidance and Mexel 432^® bio-fouling control systems.

Ovivo has introduced a chlorine free chemical for dosing of cooling water circuits to control bio-fouling by microorganisms and mussels. This chemical is designed to treat the equipment surfaces rather than the water volume, which helps minimize the quantities of chemical used.

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 Environmental Upgrade Tracking System. The cost is $125.00 for non-subscribers.

	2012
DATE	SUBJECT
November 1	Cooling Towers and Cooling Water Issues	Power
November 8	FGD Scrubber Components	Power
November 15	Dampers and Expansion Joints for Coal-fired and Gas Turbine Power Plants	Power
November 29	Catalyst Selection for NO_x and Other Gases	Power
December 6	Boiler Feed and Cooling Water Treatment	Power
December 13	Co-firing Sewage Sludge, Biomass and Municipal Waste	Power
	2013
January 10	Update on Oxy-fuel Combustion	Power
January 17	Production of Fertilizer and Sulfuric Acid at Coal-fired Power Plants	Power
January 24	Gypsum Dewatering	Power
January 31	Filter media (forecasts and market drivers for media used in air, gas, liquid, fluid applications, both mobile and stationary).	Market Intelligence
February 7	Valves for Power Plants, Boilers and Water Treatment Facilities	Power

§ ThermoEnergy signs $1.1 million Contract for Ammonia Recovery Process system at Paiton 3, Indonesia

§ LG&E (Kentucky) plans earlier shutdown of Coal-fired Cane Run

§ LS Power (NJ) to build 900 MW Gas-fired Power Plant in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania

§ EPA grants Extended Stay of 45 Days for San Juan Generating Station (New Mexico)

§ Siemens signs New Long-term Agreements with Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA)

§ Toshiba and GE sign New MOU for Collaboration in Combined Cycle Power Generation Systems

§ B&W Subsidiary secures $170 Million Contract for Denmark Waste-to-energy Power Plant

In 2013, East Asian countries will spend $7.5 billion for equipment and services to monitor air and water. This is the latest finding in the McIlvaine report, Air and Water Monitoring World Markets. (www.mcilvainecompany.com)

Industry	2013
Asphalt	23
Bioclean	11
Chemical	106
Commercial & Residential	1,733
Electronics	101
FGD	372
Food	82
Gas Turbines	20
Government & Academia	1,285
Incinerators	93
Metals	192
Mining	111
Oil & Gas	26
Other Industries	220
Pharmaceutical	25
Power	1,348
Power SCR	95
Pulp & Paper	240
Refining	196
Steel	81
Stone	182
Surface Coating	18
Wastewater	473
Water	532
Total	7,567

East Asia will be the largest regional market with 34 percent of the world total of $22 billion. Water will account for two thirds of the East Asia total, while air will account for one third. Power represents the largest industrial sector with forecasted purchases of just under $1.3 billion. The very large program to build new coal-fired boilers throughout the region is accompanied by concern about air and water quality. China has adopted tough regulations to control emissions of SO₂ and NO_x. In addition, innovative measures are being taken to most efficiently utilize the water needed for power plant operation. These initiatives are contributing to the substantial market. China is building many ultrasupercritical boilers which include large expenditures for combustion optimization systems. These systems include monitoring of oxygen, coal flow, temperature and many other parameters. The boiler feedwater must be ultrapure and requires monitoring of dissolved oxygen and various other constituents related to purity and corrosion.

The construction of a large numbers of municipal drinking water and wastewater treatment facilities in the region will result in over $1 billion in monitoring expenditures next year in the region. The advantages of continuous monitoring rather than grab sampling are boosting sales for the more expensive instruments.

Improvements in transmission infrastructure to support renewable energy are described in McIlvaine’s Renewable Energy Projects and Update.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a final rule that promotes more efficient operation of the transmission system amid increasing integration of variable energy resources and benefits electric consumers by ensuring that services are provided at just and reasonable rates.

This rule adopts two reforms from a November 2010 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) by requiring transmission providers to offer customers the option of scheduling transmission service at 15-minute intervals and by requiring generators using variable energy resources to provide transmission owners with certain data to support power production forecasting. Although the rule does not require the standard approach to generator regulation service proposed in the NOPR, it gives guidance on how the Commission will evaluate proposed charges for that service.

The rule finds that transmission customers are exposed to excessive imbalance service charges because they cannot adjust their service schedules within each operating hour. Intra-hour scheduling gives customers the tool they need to manage that exposure when generation output changes within the hour.

The rule allows transmission providers to submit alternative proposals that are consistent with or superior to the 15-minute scheduling reform. Any alternative proposal will need to provide equivalent or greater opportunities for transmission customers to mitigate generator imbalance penalties and for the public utility transmission provider to lower its reserve-related costs.

The final rule finds that while power production forecasts help transmission providers manage reserves more efficiently, forecasts are only as good as the data on which they rely. By requiring new interconnection customers whose generating facilities are variable energy resources to provide meteorological and operational data to transmission providers engaging in power production forecasting, FERC finds that transmission providers will better be able to manage resource variability.

In May an initial breakthrough was made to further accelerate Germany’s shift to renewable energy. The country’s four major grid operators provided the German government with a new plan for a major grid expansion. The government is reviewing the plan and has recently intensified high-level meetings among national and state-level players.

Over 20 percent of all electricity in Germany comes from renewable energy. Of this, wind makes up the largest share. With Germany’s decision to abandon nuclear energy completely, wind energy — especially from offshore wind farms — is set to play an increasingly important role.

ABB, the leading power and automation technology group, has won an order worth around $55 million to supply three new substations and transmission infrastructure for the Brazilian utility Eólicas do Sul. The order was booked in the second quarter.

Brazil has traditionally relied heavily on hydropower for its electricity supply. This project is part of the government’s efforts to increase the share of wind power as part of its renewable energy portfolio. Brazil has added significant wind power in the past few years and currently has over 1500 megawatts (MW) of installed wind capacity with another 7000 MW in the pipeline over the next five years.

ABB will design, supply, install and commission the substations in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, bordering Uruguay. The project scope includes two turnkey 34.5/138 kilovolt (kV) substations, one 138/500 kV substation, step-up power transformers and air- and gas-insulated switchgear. ABB will also supply supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) and telecommunication systems as well as IEC 61850 compliant substation automation, control and protection equipment. Step-up transformers will increase the voltage of wind-generated power for integration into the transmission grid.

ABB will also supply and install two 138 kV overhead transmission lines to connect a new 400 MW wind power plant, one of the largest in the country, to the national electricity grid. The project is scheduled for completion by 2014

The German Federal Minister of Economics and Technology Dr. Philipp Rösler met for talks with the Norwegian Minister of Petroleum and Energy Ola Borten Moe in Berlin. Their discussions focused on Norway's approval for the building of the first submarine cable from Norway to Germany.

Minister Rösler stated: "I am happy that our work has been successful and that Norway has decided to build its first submarine cable link to Germany. These new power lines across the North Sea are essential for the future exchange of electricity between our countries. This exchange will strengthen the security of supply in Germany and take the pressure off the price of electricity for consumers and businesses. It will also allow us to use Norway's storage capacities in the future. The new DC power cables help to integrate renewable energies into the electricity system and to increase grid stability. Given the great challenges of Germany's energy reforms, this new submarine cable link is a major success and is good news for Germany. Norway is an important and reliable partner for us in the field of oil and natural gas, and in the future, this partnership will also be extended to the electricity sector."

The Norwegian network operator Statnett recently announced that it will be possible to connect two submarine cables to the Norwegian grid by 2021 due to a congestion of the domestic network. Since then, the Federal Economics Ministry and the Federal Network Agency have been in close contact with the parties involved. Statnett has now decided that the first interconnector will be built between Norway and Germany by 2018. The details of the funding, which are to be provided by Statnett and on the German side by the network operator TenneT and the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW), were to be fleshed out by the end of September.

§ LG&E (Kentucky) plans earlier shutdown of Coal-fired Cane Run