The Latest Mercury, FGD, SCR, PM2.5 and New Coal Plant News

Project, technical, and regulatory developments are taking place at a rate which is very difficult to absorb. But our weekly Utility “E” Alert not only provides the facts but also insights you will not find anywhere else.  Below we list the headlines for the Alert which was issued last Friday along with our report on the highlights.

In this 27 page document the latest information on new coal-fired boiler projects, repowering programs, and status of FGD and SCR projects is provided. For example, Alliant is installing scrubbers on existing units as small as 113 MW plus is buying scrubbers for new plants as well.

We report developments on new projects such as the equipment ordered to date on the Basin Electric Dry Fork project, along with the names of the project manager, project engineer and construction manager.

We list 90 percent of the mercury CEMS awards to date with the name of the integrator and instrument supplier. This is data which we compiled through many hours of interviews with utilities and suppliers.  We also provide the latest update on the mercury rules in each state.

Joe Schwartz of McIlvaine also analyzes all the unresolved issues on mercury CEMS based on his discussions at the EPRI CEMS Users Meeting. These are important enough that we have decided to increase the number of Mercury CEMS “Hot Topic Hours”.  Instead of semi-annually we will now schedule them bi-monthly.

We cover the highlights of two webinars we conducted last week.  Our “Hot Topic Hour”, last Thursday, was on PM2.5.  Ron Myers of EPA provided the very latest on total particulate measurement. There are lots of problems and EPA should be commended for creating a website and involving stakeholders in the problem solving.

We reported on a special webinar on mercury control for low sulfur coal which was hosted by GE and facilitated by McIlvaine on the previous Monday. There are big synergies from coordinating combustion optimization, particulate control, and sorbent injection. There is a link from the article to the free recording of this audio/video discussion. There is also a link to another GE hosted webinar facilitated by McIlvaine on April 18.  To view these recordings click on:  http://www.mcilvainecompany.com/brochures/ge_webinar.htm

We commend GE for taking the open or Wikinomic approach to this new product launch. The negative aspect of informing competitors was far outweighed by the immediate and extensive impact on purchasers, specifiers, and what we call “influencers”. In fact, the interest was so high that separate webinars were conducted for each of these three groups.

The world’s latest information is in the brains and on the power points of the power industry travelers. In the case of the recording of the GE webinars, this information is immediately transformed from a one-on-one communication medium to a universal one.

The McIlvaine “Hot Topic Hours” are capturing this invaluable expertise weekly. There are already more than 70 hours of presentations and discussions involving more than 200 presenters and thousands of participants.  Most importantly, these presentations are also integrated into the decision trees.

The main contribution of Power Plant Air Quality Decisions is to build upon the information base. The recordings supplement the Alert, newsletters, and printed aspects of the decision trees. This organization of the world’s information has tremendous value and can even assist in leading the way to new approaches.

For example, in the Alert this week we propose consideration of “Create and Trade” as a way to address the greenhouse gas problem. Unlike “Cap and Trade”, the consumers only pay for cost effective greenhouse gas reduction.  Environmentalists who believe that reduction costs will be low will want to support this as a route to fast track reductions.  Utilities worried about the cost will want to support this as a way to avoid costly mistakes.  Rate payers will receive what they want, which is cost effective reduction.  This concept is explained at:   http://www.mcilvainecompany.com/brochures/NAtoAPC/Policy_Recommendations.htm

Utilities with more than 50 percent of the generation capacity in the U.S. are already subscribers to Power Plant Air Quality Decisions.  For more information on this unique service, click on:  http://www.mcilvainecompany.com/brochures/energy.html#44i

UTILITY E-ALERT

#824 – May 18, 2007

Table of Contents

COAL – U.S.

  • 50 Percent of Power Plants will be Subject to More Stringent State Mercury Rules
  • Alliant is out for Bids on FGD Systems
  • IGCC Power Plant in Taylorville, IL Would be Economic Boon, NIU Study Finds
  • SCR Tech Has Two Catalyst Regeneration Orders
  • 1200 MW Longleaf gets Georgia EPA Approval
  • Equipment Being Selected for Dry Fork Coal-fired Power Plant of Basin Electric
  • LS Power Switches to Hybrid Cooling System to Conserve Water at 1500 MW White Pine
  • 1500 MW Desert Rock to Control Mercury by 90 Percent
  • Mercury Monitoring Open Issues Identified
  • Utility Mercury CEMS Selections are Identified
  • NRG has a $16 Billion Repowering Program

COAL - WORLD

  • Emerson to Install PlantWeb® Digital Plant Architecture at Lanco Amarkantak Power Plant in India
  • Doosan to Build Tata Power’s 4000 MW Mundra Power Project
  • CEZ to Develop 600-700 MW Gacko II in Bosnia — Herzegovina
  • Queensland Coal Will cost A20¢/ton More and Money will Fund Research to Cut CO2 Emissions
  • Scottish Power Considers Converting Longannet and Cockenzie to Supercritical Operation
  • Honeywell to Automate 1200 MW Nuon Magnum IGCC Power Project in the Netherlands
  • Orissa Allots Coal Supply to Major Power Projects
  • Meirama to Switch from Lignite to Bituminous

GAS/OIL – U.S.

  • San Diego Gas & Electric Signs contract for Power from Two Peaking Plants

GAS/OIL – WORLD

  • Peerless Mfg. Co. Awarded SCR Order for Mesaieed Plant in Qatar
  • Fortum Corp. to Invest in 234 MW Power Plant near Helsinki, Finland
  • 410 MW Combined Cycle Expansion being Developed at Krasnodarskaya Plant

NUCLEAR

  • Sargent & Lundy is Owner’s Engineer for South Texas Nuclear Power Plant Expansion

RENEWABLES

  • Foster Wheeler to Supply CFB Boiler for Kaukaan Voima Oy Power Plant
  • Finavera Renewables Plans 366 MW of Wind Projects in British Columbia
  • Groundbreaking for 400 MW Peetz Table Wind Farm in Colorado

BUSINESS

  • PDVSA, Venezuela’s State Owned Oil Company, Buys AES’ Stake in Caracas Utility
  • Corn Belt Power Soliciting for 200 MW of Power
  • Hitachi Posts Loss, Hurt by Cost Overruns at MidAmerican
  • Rio Tinto to Join with BP in CO2 Reduction Projects
  • BHEL Plans to Increase Manufacturing Capacity to 15,000 MW per Year
  • UAE and Algeria to Partner in Aluminum Smelter Project that includes 2000 MW Power Plant
  • IPL Skandinavian and MAN B&W Building Power Plant in Uganda
  • Sorbent Technologies Begins Commercial Mercury Sorbent Shipments

GREENHOUSE GASES 

  • Wouldn’t Create and Trade of Greenhouse Gas Emissions be a Universally Acceptable Approach?
  • Global Temperature Change due to Natural Solar Radiation says Ashworth

HOT TOPIC HOUR

  • PM2.5 will be Expensive and Challenging to Meet Say Participants in the Hot Topic Hour Yesterday
  • Reagent Utilization for NOx Control Is “Hot Topic Hour” for May 24
  • Upcoming "Hot Topic Hours” & Conferences
  • Available Recorded “Hot Topic Hours”
  • Reduce Mercury Sorbent Requirement along with Greenhouse Gases, NOx, CO and SOx

Bob McIlvaine
847-784-0012
rmcilvaine@mcilvainecompany.com