By David Wagman, Conference Committee Chair, POWER-GEN International
POWER-GEN International and NUCLEAR POWER International return to Las Vegas in December for the first time since 2005. It’s a safe bet you’ll find something of interest in the days of technical tours, workshops, conference sessions and exhibit hall openings that will be offered.
 The Las Vegas convention center will welcome exhibitors and delegates to POWER-GEN International and NUCLEAR POWER International. |
Returning this year is the highly popular and successful Energy Provider registration program. Here’s how it works. Any entity that generates electricity qualifies for the program. For a single $1,000 registration fee, Energy Providers may send an unlimited number of delegates to both POWER-GEN International and NUCLEAR POWER International. That includes Keynote Sessions, conference sessions, exhibition hall access and delegate lunches. Discounts are also available for pre-conference workshops. For details, contact me at 918-831-9866 or by email at davidw@pennwell.com.
Speaking of pre-conference workshops, they get underway on Sunday, Dec. 6, with four courses. “Basic Gas Turbine Metallurgy and Component Repair” explains superalloy materials, component damage experienced from service exposure, techniques used to analyze the remaining life of components removed from service, protective coatings, component repair technologies and quality assurance of repairs. The seminar includes many case study examples and involves attendees in developing component repair solutions.
“Understanding Fossil Power Plant Performance Using First Principles Models” is designed to provide attendees with an appreciation for how power plant components operate and interact with one another from a thermal performance perspective. Each trainee will be provided with a computer having an interactive, first principles fossil plant model complete with a boiler heat transfer model, utility reheat steam turbine, feedwater heater train, condenser, feed pumps and steam seal system. Participants will make changes to the plant model and learn about their cascading effects on surrounding components, as well as overall plant performance.
“An Introduction to the Design, Operation and Evaluation of Parabolic Trough Solar Power Plants” is for energy industry professionals interested in parabolic trough solar power plant technology and project development. This seminar provides project developers, power industry engineers and executives with an understanding of the principles of design, performance and economic evaluation of parabolic trough power plants, including thermal energy storage and hybridization with natural gas.
“Power Plant Construction Management – A Guide to Survival” is a perennial favorite among new construction and outage management personnel with responsibilities for planning, developing and/or running major power plant construction projects. In today’s power plant construction world, safety, cash flow, change orders and schedule are the parameters for success; this one-day course will cover the management of all of these. Course participants will also explore the commercial and contractual necessities of construction contracting, along with claims avoidance methods and examples of what can go wrong when prudent contracting is not practiced.
In all, you can choose from more than a dozen pre-conference workshops offered on Dec. 6 and Dec. 7. Also on Dec. 7, you can register for one of four technical tours, which will give you the chance to tour power generating facilities in and around the Las Vegas area.
Tours include a special hard hat look deep inside Hoover Dam. Our tour includes a look at one of the facility’s massive penstocks, a visit to the turbine hall and an awe-inspiring view of the dam and adjacent canyon highway bridge construction project from the level of the Colorado River.
 Make plans to tour Hoover Dam, one of four technical tours being offered to POWER-GEN International attendees on Dec. 7. |
A second tour will take delegates to NV Energy’s Chuck Lenzie and Harry Allen generating stations. At 1,100 MW, the Chuck Lenzie station is North America’s largest power plant using air-cooled condensers. The Harry Allen visit will allow delegates to see a new 500 MW expansion project, expected to be operational in 2011.
A third tour will take delegates just a short coach ride from the Las Vegas Strip to the Edward W. Clark Generating Station, a multi-technology natural gas-fueled power generating complex that includes 19 generating units with in-service dates ranging from 1973 to 2008. Originally built in 1954, the plant has shifted from base load to intermediate load and now to peaking duty as Las Vegas’ energy demand has grown. Major renovation work and new unit installations between 2007 and 2009 saw the plant roughly double its generating capacity while reducing emissions by half.
A fourth tour will visit Acciona’s Nevada Solar One, a 64 MW concentrating solar-thermal power plant in Boulder City, Nev. Completed in June 2007, the plant has helped make Nevada the largest per capita producer of solar power in the United States. Nevada Solar One uses 760 parabolic collectors and more than 182,000 mirrors, producing enough energy to power more than 14,000 households annually, with near-zero CO2 emissions.
Or, if you prefer, break away from the Strip for a nature tour of Red Rock National Conservation Area. Experience stunning views, brilliant red-washed landscapes and Native American history as you journey to this “jewel in the desert.” You’ll visit the Red Rock Canyon Visitors Center, experience the 13-mile scenic loop through the Canyon and stop along the way for a look at the rock formations, petroglyphs and pictographs. Geology and Native American folklore abound in this four-hour tour. Bring comfortable shoes and your camera when you visit this stunning area that’s a world away from the Strip’s glitter and glitz.
The annual Golf Tournament takes place Dec. 7 at Desert Pines Golf Club. A Dye-designed course, Desert Pines features thousands of mature pine trees lining the fairways. White sand bunkers protect large, undulating greens with water coming into play on nine out of 18 holes. Desert Pines is less than 15 minutes from the Las Vegas Strip. The course provides players of all abilities a fun and rewarding experience, one in which you’ll use every club in your bag. Golf Digest recognized Desert Pines as one of the best upscale courses in the country and voted one of the “Top Public Golf Courses in the Country.”
The evening of Dec. 7, plan to join Power Engineering magazine’s editors at the Las Vegas Hilton for the annual Projects of the Year Awards banquet. Every year the editors of Power Engineering magazine select the year’s best projects in nuclear, natural gas, coal and renewable energy. Don’t miss this gala banquet and awards program, which recognizes the industry’s best power generation projects.
On Dec. 8, the conference gets underway in earnest in the Barron Room of the Las Vegas Hilton with an outstanding Keynote Session. Speakers include Michael Yackira, president and CEO of NV Energy, Pierre Gauthier, president and CEO of Alstom Canada and U.S., and Keith Rattie, chairman, president and CEO of Questar Corp.
Mr. Yackira will offer a utility perspective on adding renewable energy to the generation mix. As former president of FPL Energy—one of the largest renewable energy power developers in the United States—he offers a unique insight from both sides of the table as a developer and as a power generation executive. NV Energy is also one of North America’s most resource-diverse power producers with assets that include coal, natural gas, solar, biomass, wind and geothermal.
Mr. Gauthier will discuss recent developments in carbon capture and sequestration technology along with climate change initiatives. He will share results from recent tests, discuss possible cost ramifications in selecting CCS technologies, outline problems that still must be resolved and suggest when commercial technologies may be available and under what conditions. He will also discuss carbon capture at natural gas-fired facilities.
Mr. Rattie will offer an engineer’s perspective on energy policy, global warming and what proposed cap and trade regulation may mean. His perspective will be that of a global warming skeptic and he will offer a number of counters to the “inconvenient truths” widely accepted by much of the mass media and popular opinion.
Following the Keynote Session the exhibit hall opens to delegates and the first conference sessions get underway. POWER-GEN International features sessions across 12 different tracks, including industry trends and competitive power, environmental issues, fossil technologies, gas turbine technologies, renewable energy, on-site power and plant performance. NUCLEAR POWER International sessions all take place on Wednesday, Dec. 9, and include “Construction Management: Delivering On-time and On-Budget Projects,” “Beyond the Nuclear Island,” “Vendor 101: How to be Successful” and “Nuclear Lessons Learned.”
In between conference sessions you’ll want to visit the POWER-GEN International and NUCLEAR POWER International exhibit floors. More than 1,100 companies are expected to exhibit this year and you’ll want to carve out plenty of time to walk the exhibit floor and meet the companies that want to do business with you. While you’re at it, make sure to enter this year’s POWER-GEN International car giveaway. This year you have a chance to win a rare and powerful beauty: the 2010 Chevy Corvette. Entering is easy—just take your entry card to sponsoring company booths, have it stamped and turn it in at the PennWell booth (#C5-685) for your chance to cruise the Strip in style before you drive your new car home.
For full details about POWER-GEN International and NUCLEAR POWER International, visit www.power-gen.com.
You could win this 2010 Corvette by taking part in the always-popular car giveaway.
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All delegates receive an entry card. Simply visit each of the car giveaway sponsors on the exhibit floor, have your entry stamped and return the completed card to the PennWell booth (#C5-685) before the drawing, which takes place at 1:30 p.m. on Dec. 10.