feb28update

The developers of a proposed 630 MW natural gas-fired power plant and an environmental group have settled a legal dispute that will allow the $800 million project to proceed. Under terms of the settlement with the Conservation Law Foundation, Footprint Power LLC of Bridgewater, NJ, agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions annually over the life of the power plant to meet the goals of a state law aimed at addressing climate change. Footprint also agreed to shut the power plant by the end of 2049. Footprint President Scott Silverstein said the carbon emissions requirements reflected the company’s commitment to the environment. The Conservation Law Foundation called the deal groundbreaking. The 630-MW power plant is replacing the coal-fired Salem Harbor Power Station, which is scheduled to shut down by May 31. The parties have asked the state’s Energy Facilities Siting Board, which oversees the siting of power plants, to approve the settlement. It was unclear when the board might act.

California mulls Easing Water Environmental Rules for Gas-fired Power Plants

California, grappling with how to keep the lights on and meet environmental goals after closing the San Onofre nuclear power plant, is considering allowing owners to delay retiring some older gas-fired generators. In an interview on February 4, California Energy Commission Chair Robert Weisenmiller said that the State Water Resources Control Board “has said we can go in and make a case with them for extending the lives of some of these units” and “we’re going to start the discussion with them.” Under rules introduced in California in 2010, there are 19 coastal power plants that must stop using ocean water for cooling, most by 2020. Most are expected to be retired or replaced with newer facilities. Shuka Rastegarpour, an environmental scientist at the state’s Water Resources Control Board, said the once-through cooling policy was written in such a way that the state’s energy agencies can request delays in its implementation if grid reliability becomes an issue.

Hot Topic Hour

Ambient Air Quality Rules will be Tough to Meet - Hot Topic Hour on Thursday, February 13, 2014

New modeling and monitoring procedures, some of which are only in draft but are being imposed on permit seekers, are creating major problems in moving new projects forward. Four experts weighed in on the impact of existing and proposed NAAQS standards.

Brian Stormwind, Manager Air Quality Engineering & Studies at AECOM, offered advice on “Dealing with Implementation of the 1-hour SO₂ NAAQS: Challenges and Options.” The stringency and nature of the 1-hour SO₂ NAAQS is expected to significantly impact industrial clients for attainment designations that are overdue for most areas. EPA's strategy seems to focus on the largest SO₂ sources (at least one thousand tons/year), while environmental groups have already submitted modeling with purported NAAQS violations due to selected sources to the EPA and state agencies for consideration in the current designation process. The Sierra Club has also sued EPA over the delays in the designations and may force EPA to speed up this process in a settlement agreement. A soon-to-be-released “Data Requirements Rule” will be very important in this regard. Brian came to the following conclusions:

Richard Hamel, Senior Project Manager Air Quality and Climate Change (AQCC) Practice at Environmental Resources Management (ERM), indicated the challenge with “Dark Skies Ahead: The Challenges of Modeling the New NAAQS for Fossil-Fuel Power Plants.” The new 1-hour SO₂ and NO₂ probabilistic NAAQS, as well as the newly tightened annual PM_2.5standard and the already stringent 24-hour PM_2.5 standard, have brought to the table a whole new set of challenges in showing compliance compared to the older, deterministic NAAQS. Richard made the following important observations:

Gale F. Hoffnagle, CCM, QEP, Senior Vice President and Technical Director Air Quality Consulting Practice Leader at TRC Environmental Corporation, enumerated problems related to obtaining permits under the new NAAQS. The changes to the NAAQS and the way they are being implemented result in very expensive permit applications. The fact that almost every permit is being challenged is leading to substantially longer permitting times and greater uncertainty. The burden is severe enough to limit development of new plants. There was a discussion as to what could be done to overcome this obstacle. The answer is that it will have to be done on a case-by- case basis

Mack McGuffey, Partner at Troutman Sanders LLP, conveyed the impact and status of the NAAQS. EPA is required to update its national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) every five years, but never in the history of the Clean Air Act has the Agency issued so many NAAQS revisions so quickly. A newly strengthened standard can seem like changing the rules of the game in the middle of a play to a facility seeking to construct a new boiler or turbine or modify its existing equipment, even before the newly revised standard has been fully implemented. Many of the standards are also subject to litigation, which can further complicate the picture. Due to the complex procedure involved in implementing NAAQS revisions, major emitting facility owners and operators should keep a close watch on the progress of EPA's recent and promised revisions, particularly those for fine particulate matter (PM_2.5), ozone and sulfur dioxide (SO₂), to avoid unwelcome surprises in the form of unexpected permitting and emission control requirements.

While many areas presently meet the current requirement of 84 ppb for ground level ozone, very few areas will be in attainment with the proposed 60-70 ppb.

Over 20 utility personnel signed up for the webinar. Utilities represented included:

Industry News

Ahlstrom Media Sales for Gas Turbines are Surging

In 2013 Ahlstrom sales in the advanced filtration sector which includes gas turbines surged ahead 29 percent to $98 million. This contrasts to slow growth in other sectors.

Segment	2013 Revenue ($ Millions)	% Comparable 2012	Area of Activity
Food & Medical	338	-5.9%	Food packaging, masking tape and medical gowns and drapes
Building and Energy	276	-0.3	Wind mill blades, wall and floor coverings
Advanced Filtration	98	29	Life science and gas turbine
Transportation	307	4.5	Filter media

NV Energy coping with Stellite Delamination

CCJ editors participated in a round table with NV Energy personnel to discuss the first gas-turbine major inspection at its Walter M Higgins Generating Station. Higgins is a 2 x 1 combined cycle powered by 501FD2 gas turbines from Siemens Energy Inc. The air-cooled plant began commercial operation in 1Q/2004 as Bighorn Generating Station, then owned by Reliant Energy Inc. Higgins has compiled some enviable statistics over the years, most recently 100% starting reliability in 2012: 131 starts in as many attempts.

The roundtable covered a number of issues including large steam valves. It focused on stellite liberation from high-pressure (HP) and hot reheat (HRH) valves serving in F-class combined cycles. Tight shutoff of parallel-slide gate and non-return globe valves has been compromised in some cases. This is an industry-wide problem and something NV Energy is dealing with at Higgins and other plants. The company’s experience was factored into the industry roundup published earlier. Click here for complete article text

Energy Efficiency by Optimizing Annual Testing Schedules -Coordinating Rata Testing with other Annual Test Requirements

Because it can be a significant undertaking to schedule the loads for a series of RATA tests, it makes economic sense to schedule other testing also requiring unit stability concurrently with the RATA tests. One of the most important tests that fits this category is performance testing for plant capacity and/or heat rate. Many plants are now required to perform capacity and/or heat rate demonstrations on a periodic basis to support their power purchase agreements or transmission reliability requirements. But even plants without performance test requirements can benefit from gathering performance related data during RATA testing.

$185 Billion Market for Gas Turbines in U.S. over Next 27 Years

The conventional wisdom, as reflected in U.S. government forecasts, is that the big increase in generating capacity in the U.S. will be for gas turbine and combined cycle plants. This capacity will grow by 185,000 MW requiring an annual investment of over $6.8 billion.

Fuel	2013 GW	2025 GW	2040 GW
Coal	254	254	254
Gas Turbine and Diesel	351	390	536
Fossil Total	605	644	790

The U.S. Energy Information Administration believes that the U.S. coal-fired capacity will remain at 254 GW over the next 27 years, while the gas turbine and diesel capacity will increase from 351 GW to 536 GW by 2040. Most of this capacity will be combined cycle as opposed to simple cycle. Therefore, the investment will be close to $ 1 billion per GW.

Peaking plants traditionally operated a short time per year when demand was at its highest. Today, a gas turbine peaking plant may operate for a substantial portion of the year to offset fluctuations in solar and wind generation. Since the efficiency of combined cycle plants is much higher than simple cycle and the greenhouse gas emissions much lower, regulators are demanding that peaking plants not only incorporate the steam cycle, but that they also have efficient NO_x reduction and CO oxidation systems.

Gas Turbine Fogging Nozzles require High Pressure Pumps

Mee is a supplier of fogging systems including the pumps. Here is the pump specification: High-pressure fog pump units shall be ceramic plunger type with all wetted parts being stainless steel, ceramic or Buna rubber. Pumps shall be operated at not more than 700 rpm at full flow and rated for not less than 2000 psi maximum operating pressure. Click Here For Complete Text

Yokogawa to provide Control System for 520 MW Combined Cycle Power Plant in Uruguay

Yokogawa announces that its subsidiary, Yokogawa Electric Korea, has received an order from Hyundai Engineering & Construction in South Korea, to supply a control system for a gas-fired power plant that it is building for UTE in Punta del Tigre, Uruguay. This is the first combined cycle gas turbine power plant in Uruguay and the order is Yokogawa's first for a power plant in this country. To increase the country's power generation capacity, UTE has commissioned the construction of a highly efficient combined cycle power plant next to its existing thermal power plant in Punta del Tigre. The new plant is expected to come online in June 2015. With an installed capacity of 520 MW, it will be Uruguay's largest thermal power plant.

For this project, Yokogawa will deliver a CENTUM^® VP integrated production control system for the monitoring and control of all plant facilities, including the gas turbines, exhaust-heat-recovery boilers, and steam turbines. The company will also supply an Exaquantum^™ plant information management system and DPharp EJA/EJX differential pressure/pressure transmitters, and will be responsible for the engineering, installation, and commissioning of these products. In addition, it will provide operator training services.

Condensate Polishing can be justified even at Peaking Plants

Increasingly, power producers find that condensate polishing (CP) technology is critical to maximizing NGCC facility performance, preventing serious equipment degradation and protecting valuable plant assets. One of the ways power producers are managing operations to achieve peak performance is by optimizing water chemistry on the heat recovery steam boiler condensate. When these plants were running as peaking plants in the past, condensate polishing (CP) was often left out of the balance of plant requirements due to cost constraints.

According to Graver, plants without CP are already facing consequences such as flow-accelerated corrosion, long cycle starts, inefficient operations with associated higher costs and future capital expenses to replace damaged equipment. Conversely, many plants with installed CP have realized significant operational benefits beyond strict reliance on blow-down and chemistry treatment. CP performs key functions such as safeguarding expensive assets, stabilizing cycle chemistry to achieve EPRI recommended iron levels, preventing CRUD transport and deposition while optimizing start up and operation of these units. These benefits are especially pertinent to facilities employing air-cooled condensers and the resulting high metal oxide loads.

Graver Water, a supplier of condensate polishing equipment (CP) for the power generation market for over 60 years, recently launched a range of state-of-the-art standardized products designed specifically for NGCC facilities. "With a variety of technologies and pre-engineered systems, we can install condensate polishing at a cost that will protect the assets and provide a significant ROI," says Michael O'Brien, President of Graver Water Systems. Products include:

· Graver AFA^® Backwashable filters for filtering and polishing return condensate

Cormetech says Solution to Siloxanes in Landfill Gas is Activated Carbon

Cormetech had three gas turbine units which co-fire either land fill gas or digester gas with natural gas at the time they made the following comments:

“Catalyst has been evaluated in both turbines and duct firing of these waste fuels. The primary catalyst concern when firing landfill of digester gas is a component in the fuel which can cause severe catalyst deactivation, namely siloxanes.

Siloxanes are a family of polymers commonly found in health and beauty products which find their way into general waste streams. They have been the subject of much study and concern due to their detrimental affect on both CO and NO_x catalyst deactivation. Siloxanes deposit on the surface and prevent the reactants from reaching active sites for conversion. Siloxane poisoning cannot be practically reversed. There has been some limited success in rejuvenation trails on CO catalyst. Unlike the coal or orimulsion fired applications, the solution to fire this fuel does not lie within the catalyst or SCR system design. Instead, a fuel treatment system must be employed which removes the siloxanes components. Selective elimination is not practical and successful treatment systems in operation strip both siloxanes and other components, including VOC’s. Activated carbon is needed to reach the removal levels necessary and can be either regenerated or disposed of, whichever is most suited to the specific site demands. Once cleaned, this waste fuel can be fired with little or no detriment to catalyst. The oldest units have been successfully operating approximately two and one-half years without difficulty. “

Optimizing Heat Rate and Ramp Rate at Dynegy’s Independence Combined Cycle Power Plant

At Electric Power in New Orleans in April, Peter Spinney of NEUCO will describe the technology, approach, and preliminary results associated with application of a closed-loop hybrid neural network first-principles optimizer at a 1,000 MW four-on-two combined cycle plant owned and operated by Dynegy in upstate New York. The optimizer is designed to optimally allocate fuel across plant blocks and sub-systems to minimize fuel costs while meeting capacity and ramp-rate commitments.

Specifically, this paper will describe how adaptive on-line learning neural networks are used in combination with rigorous thermodynamic modeling to employ the most efficient possible firing regime (i.e. loading across combustion turbines, HRSGs, duct burners, and steam turbines) while meeting the maximum capacity and load-following commitments bid into the New York Independent System Operator (ISO). In addition to describing the approach and operational and financial benefits, the paper discusses possibilities for further enhancing the application at the Dynegy power plant, as well as applications at other combined cycle plants.

Mitsubishi uses High pH Water Treatment for combined Cycle Feedwater

Generally in the water treatment of combined cycle plants, ammonia and hydrazine are used in the feedwater system and phosphates are used in the boiler system. However, in Mexico, the Tuxpan No. 2 and No. 5 power plants have adopted “High-AVT (high-pH water treatment),” in which ammonia is used to set the pH of feedwater higher than the conventional level, requiring no phosphates in the boiler system. Tuxpan No. 2 power plant started commercial operations in 2001. Since then, more than 10 years have passed with no problems having been found during equipment inspections. In response to such good operational results, MhI introduced high-AVT as an option for the water treatment of combined cycle plants. Click here for complete article text

Recent Posts on the Combined Cycle Journal Website

(Combined Cycle Journal will keep you updated on all the user group activities http://www.ccj-online.com/)

Industry News

Ahlstrom Media Sales for Gas Turbines are Surging

Regulatory Developments

Legal dispute over Salem, MA Power Plant Settled

California mulls Easing Water Environmental Rules for Gas-fired Power Plants

Hot Topic Hour

Ambient Air Quality Rules will be Tough to Meet - Hot Topic Hour on Thursday, February 13, 2014

Industry News

Ahlstrom Media Sales for Gas Turbines are Surging

NV Energy coping with Stellite Delamination

Energy Efficiency by Optimizing Annual Testing Schedules -Coordinating Rata Testing with other Annual Test Requirements

$185 Billion Market for Gas Turbines in U.S. over Next 27 Years

Gas Turbine Fogging Nozzles require High Pressure Pumps

Yokogawa to provide Control System for 520 MW Combined Cycle Power Plant in Uruguay

Condensate Polishing can be justified even at Peaking Plants

Cormetech says Solution to Siloxanes in Landfill Gas is Activated Carbon

Optimizing Heat Rate and Ramp Rate at Dynegy’s Independence Combined Cycle Power Plant

Mitsubishi uses High pH Water Treatment for combined Cycle Feedwater

Recent Posts on the Combined Cycle Journal Website