Power Magazine October Issue

In the October 2014 Issue: click here to view For more information, please visit us online at www.powermag.com

COVER STORY: COAL TOP PLANTS Camden Power Station, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa Described as “the largest return to service project in the world,” the recommissioned Camden Power Station saved almost $9.5 billion compared to the cost of new power stations of equal size. It also provided electricity for a nation with precarious energy security much sooner than a new-build project. Hitachinaka Thermal Power Station Unit 2, Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan Industry-leading efficiency for a coal-fired plant would likely have made this a Top Plant Award winner in any year. Getting the unit built on time—despite massive earthquake and tsunami damage to the site during construction—solidified the case. Mundra Thermal Power Plant, Mundra, Gujarat, India This supercritical plant is frugal with fuel, water, and site acreage even though it’s the world’s largest single-location private sector thermal power station. It has also set an Indian power sector generation record. Sesa Sterlite Captive Power Plant, Jharsuguda, Odisha, India This captive power plant, which serves the grid and an adjacent power-hungry aluminum smelter, has some of the most advanced environmental controls in India and is the first coal-fired unit in the country to employ high-concentration slurry disposal of dry and bottom ash. Trianel Coal Power Plant Lünen, North Rhine–Westphalia, Germany Even as Germany continues its transition to higher levels of renewable generation, reliable baseload capacity is needed, and this plant, arguably the cleanest and most efficient hard coal–fired plant in Europe, is helping to fill that role. features COMBUSTION TURBINES Quickly Boost Your Combustion Turbine Response Field test results of a new technology, provided exclusively to POWER, suggest that TurboPHASE has the potential to deliver added peaking capacity, especially during warmer days when output of the combustion turbine is otherwise limited. RENEWABLES A New Day for North American Hydropower? Despite the greater hype for newer renewable power technologies, hydropower still has a lot to offer. Retrofitting existing dams is one promising approach in the U.S., larger projects in Canada are moving forward, and pumped storage is seen as a perfect partner for variable renewable generation. MERCURY CONTROL Non-Carbon Reagent Injection for MATS Compliance Full-scale trials of a new product using a non-carbon reagent to remove mercury via chemical reaction show that it can provide economic and environmental advantages unavailable with carbon-based products. REGULATIONS A U.S. Power Industry Regulatory Update Delayed rules, challenged rules, reinstated rules . . . here’s a quick overview of where all the major federal power industry regulations stand as of Labor Day. READ MORE