Hot Topic Hour on February 9, 2012 is Implementation of the MACT Rule
As you know on December 21, 2011, the U.S. EPA released the final “Utility MACT”
rule establishing mercury and air toxics standards for coal-and oil-fired
electric generating units (EGU) larger than 25 MW. All existing EGUs will have
three years to comply with the standards although the rule allows states to
grant specific units an additional year for equipment installation.
Many persons in the utility industry and others are concerned that the time
frame for achieving compliance and the cost of compliance will force utilities
to shut down many EGUs and cause serious issues with the reliability of electric
supply. To mitigate these concerns, EPA put a “safety valve” provision in the
rule that could allow some EGUs that are not able to install equipment for
compliance up to five years to achieve compliance. But the operator of an EGU
will not know if EPA will grant an extension until far down the road.
The publication of this rule raises many serious questions for the utility
industry. What is the best strategy to adopt? Will legal challenges delay or
soften the rule? What do we need to do to comply while maintaining our power
supply commitments? Can we achieve compliance in this short time frame and at
which plants? What is the most economic solution for our investors or
ratepayers?
The following speakers will address the impact of the Utility MACT on coal-and
oil-fueled power plant operators such as legal issues related to not achieving
compliance in time, cost implications and power reliability issues, as well as
the key issues to be considered when developing a strategy to achieve
compliance, control technologies and equipment that can be utilized to achieve
the emissions limits imposed by the MACT.
William (Bill) C Campbell, III,
Vice President and Senior Program Manager at AECOM, has provided professional
services to Utility clients to assist their management teams in assessing and
understanding the impacts of the new EGU MACT rules, released on December 21,
2011, on the fleet of Utility units. His presentation will address the
major implication of the rule on coal-fired boilers and using the available
options in the revised rule, the technical solutions to maintain compliance for
existing units.
Kevin Crosby,
Technical Director at The Avogadro Group, LLC and Brian Higgins,
Vice-President for Technology at Nalco Mobotec, Inc, will discuss the MACT/MAT
rule, complicating factors, CSAPR coordination and considerations for developing
a timely compliance strategy.
James "Buzz" Reynolds,
Vice-President of Wet ESP Technology at Siemens Environmental Systems and
Service, will present "Utility MACT PM Control with WESP Technology as an
Alternative to a Fabric Filter." Those coal-fired power plants with wet FGD
already installed should consider a WESP in lieu of a fabric filter as a way to
meet the Utility MACT standards plus future PM2.5 regulations. The
WESP offers a compact, high removal, low maintenance and pressure drop option
vs. a fabric filter plus provides additional emission capture to any upset in
the WFGD.
To register for the Hot Topic Hour on February 9, 2012 at 10:00 a.m. (central
time), click on:
http://www.mcilvainecompany.com/brochures/hot_topic_hour_registration.htm.
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Insights from EUEC
Many of you talked with us at the EUEC conference earlier this week. In fact
some of you are among the 100 people whose picture was captured at the podium or
at your stand. The pictures show up in our Global Knowledge Orchard under EUEC.
They show up in the Orchard under the person and company name as well. They will
also appear in publications such as this Insights and our other Newsletters and
Alerts.
You may ask: Why make this effort? The reason is that the one aspect lacking in
the digital world we are creating is the human contact. These pictures are a
small bridge to fill that gap.
There was a great deal of information provided to the attendees by 600 speakers.
The problem is that no one, including the assistant administrator of EPA, was
able to eliminate the confusion relative to the specific near-term requirements.
With the intervention of the courts and continuing rule changes, none of the
utilities want to invest a lot of capital. The result is that low capital
costs/high operating costs options are being put into play. Our Utility-E Alert
being issued tomorrow will have lots of specific details.
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Here are the Headlines for the January 27, 2012 – Utility E-Alert
UTILITY E-ALERT
#1059 – January 27, 2012
Table of Contents
COAL – US
§
EPA Administrator to Address EUEC 2012 on Mercury Standards Affecting 1,400
Power Plants
§
URS Awarded Contract for SBS Injection Technology on 2x650 MW Boilers at
Pleasants, WV
§
850 MW Coal-fired Plant Washington Loses Investor
§
FirstEnergy to Retire Six Coal-fired Power Plants
COAL – WORLD
GAS/OIL – US
GAS / OIL – WORLD
§
Foster Wheeler to Supply HRSG for Técnicas Reunidas, S.A.
§
RCR to Provide Equipment for BHP Power Station in Australia
§
Pöyry Awarded Owner's Engineering Services Contract for the Shoaiba II Power
Plant in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
CO2
§
Greenhouse Gas Regs for Power Plants Will Not be Finalized until After 2012
Elections
§
BOC Joins Drax-Alstom Alliance for Oxy-Fuel CCS Project in the UK
NUCLEAR
§
Planned Nuclear Power Plant in Utah Receives Water Rights
§
Westinghouse Receives Orders for Nuclear Safety Equipment
BUSINESS
HOT TOPIC HOUR
For more information on the Utility Environmental
Upgrade Tracking System, click on:
http://www.mcilvainecompany.com/brochures/energy.html#42ei.
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$6 Billion Fabric Filter Systems Market in 2012
Worldwide sales of fabric filter systems will be just under $6 billion according
to the latest forecast in World Fabric Filter and Element Market
published by the McIlvaine Company (www.mcilvainecompany.com).
The stone and cement and industry will continue to lead the way with purchases
of nearly $2 billion.
World Fabric Filter Systems Market ($ Millions)
Industry
2012
Asphalt
480
Chemical
190
Food
56
Industrial Boilers
43
Metals
365
Mining
411
Other Industries
739
Pharmaceutical
38
Power – New
464
Power – Retrofit
79
Pulp & Paper
102
Steel
1,108
Stone & Cement
1,907
Waste Incinerators
130
Total
6,112
The utility industry will be a minor purchaser this year but will become a
leading sector next year. New air toxic rules in the U.S. require coal-fired
generators to meet low particulate emission levels. EPA predicts that up to 100
fabric filters will be needed to meet these regulations. The cost of the
average fabric filter system when installed will be in excess of $40 million.
The $4 billion expenditure would be spread out over the 2013-15 period.
China will be the biggest purchaser in part because of its very large cement
industry. It is also the largest producer of steel.
In addition to the systems, plants will spend $2.4 billion for replacement bags
and cartridges. Bags are replaced every 3-5 years in most applications.
Bags for high temperature applications will cost up to ten times as much as
those for low temperature service. Membranes with non-woven substrates are
gaining market share over conventional needle felt composition.
For more information on World Fabric Filter and Element Market, click on:
http://www.mcilvainecompany.com/brochures/air.html#n021.
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Active Biomass Area Provides Jobs
McIlvaine’s Renewable Energy Projects and Update covers the very
active biomass field.
Just a few examples from a recent update follow.
*****
Southern Company has received its first fuel load delivery November 1 at the
Nacogdoches Generating Facility owned by its subsidiary Southern Power in
eastern Texas. The plant is the largest biomass facility in the United States.
This facility fulfills a 20-year contract to provide electric capacity to Austin
Energy.
In October 2009, Southern Company purchased the project from American
Renewables. The project has been under construction since November 2009 and will
be operational in mid-2012. Southern Company expects to employ approximately 38
full-time employees once the plant is constructed and, at peak construction,
expects approximately 1,000 workers onsite. Once the facility is fully
operational, it will produce 100 MW of electricity and use 1.1 million tons of
wood waste per year. The vast majority of the wood will come from within a
75-mile radius of the plant.
*****
The Gainesville Renewable Energy Center (GREC), a 100-MW biomass power project
located in Gainesville, FL, held a groundbreaking ceremony in October to
commemorate the start of construction.
Opening the proceedings, Jim Gordon, President of GREC said, “I’d like to
highlight the favorable economic impact that this facility will have, and in
fact is already having, in this community. Florida’s unemployment rate is in the
double digits and Alachua County’s is over 9 percent. In this tough economic
environment, GREC is creating new jobs and keeping current workers employed.
GREC began construction in March, and is already employing over 235 workers at
the site today. This number will rise to nearly 900 as construction activities
accelerate. Once GREC is operational, it will spend approximately $30 million
per year buying wood from the surrounding region. This money will support the
forestry industry, including landowners, loggers, truckers and others. In these
challenging economic times, I’m proud to say that GREC is doing its part to
stimulate economic activity in the region and put folks to work.”
GREC LLC has a 30-year contract with Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) to
sell all of the electricity from the facility to the utility. The 100-MW biomass
plant will be fueled by clean wood waste that includes the tops and limbs from
harvested trees, urban wood waste from landscaping contractors and power
line/roadway clearance contractors, and residue from lumber mill operations.
*****
Enviva LP, a leading manufacturer of processed biomass fuel in the United States
and Europe, announced that it has signed a contract with Richmond, VA-based
Dominion Virginia Power, one of the U.S.’s largest energy producers, to supply
biomass to two power facilities in southeast Virginia.
In April, Dominion announced plans to convert three 63 MW coal-burning peaking
plants to 50 MW continuous power plants using biomass. Enviva will supply two of
these plants, located in Southampton and Hopewell, VA. Biomass fuel provided by
Enviva is a renewable alternative to fossil fuels. Dominion’s application to
convert the power stations is pending before the Virginia State Corporation
Commission.
*****
The Government of Saskatchewan, SaskPower and the First Nations Power Authority
(FNPA) are working with the Meadow Lake Tribal Council (MLTC) to develop a
renewable power generation project in northern Saskatchewan.
The biomass project, known as the Meadow Lake Bioenergy Centre, will use wood
by-products from the NorSask Forest Products mill near Meadow Lake to generate
up to 36 MW of renewable, low-emissions power for the province of Saskatchewan.
SaskPower and MLTC signed a letter of intent and are now working on
mutually-agreeable terms for a 25-year power purchase agreement, which is
expected to be completed by the end of this year. The project is scheduled to be
in service in early 2014.
In addition to adding more renewable electricity to the province’s power system,
the baseload generation project will create about 300 new jobs in the Meadow
Lake region, including 25 permanent jobs at the facility.
*****
VIASPACE Inc., a clean energy company growing Giant King™ Grass as a low-carbon,
renewable biomass crop and its subsidiary VIASPACE Green Energy Inc., reported
that Biomass power plant provider DP CleanTech announced that it has been
contracted to convert an ageing coal-fired power plant to operate on biomass.
This conversion is being performed for TPK Ethanol of Thailand that is building
a plant to convert cassava (tapioca) into 1,000,000 liters of bioethanol per
day. The bioethanol plant requires both electricity and steam from the biomass
boiler. In the press release by DP CleanTech, wood waste is identified as the
primary fuel source, and Giant King Grass is cited as an alternative.
*****
Eastern Illinois University (EIU) and Honeywell unveiled the school’s Renewable
Energy Center (REC), one of the largest university biomass installations in the
country, as part of a grand opening ceremony held on campus for students,
faculty and the broader Charleston community.
The REC is a 19,000-square-foot steam plant that will provide heat for buildings
and classrooms across the university grounds. It is driven by two large biomass
gasifiers — the first application of this technology in Illinois and the
surrounding region — that use wood chips from forest residue for fuel.
To heat the campus, a material-handling system at the plant delivers wood chips
to the biomass gasifiers where they are broken down in a heated, oxygen-deprived
chamber, creating a synthetic gas that burns similar to natural gas. The gas is
then used to fire high-efficiency boilers, which results in more complete
combustion and lower emissions, and gives EIU a carbon-neutral solution for
heating its facilities.
The gasifiers will consume an estimated 27,000 tons of wood per year, replacing
the more than 10,000 tons of coal burned annually by EIU’s existing plant, which
will be decommissioned and repurposed for other university needs.
The REC also features a back-pressure turbine that is powered by superheated
steam from one of the boilers to generate electricity, as well as two
ground-mounted solar arrays. The turbine and arrays will provide other sources
of renewable energy for the university and generate almost 3 million
kilowatt-hours of electricity per year.
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
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You can register for our free McIlvaine Newsletters at:
http://www.mcilvainecompany.com/brochures/Free_Newsletter_Registration_Form.htm.
Bob McIlvaine
President
847-784-0012 ext 112
rmcilvaine@mcilvainecompany.com
www.mcilvaine@mcilvainecompany.com
Copyright © 2012 McIlvaine Company. All Rights Reserved
191 Waukegan Road Suite 208 | Northfield | IL 60093
Ph: 847-784-0012 | Fax: 847-784-0061
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