By Steve Blankinship, Associate Editor
Take advantage of most up-to-date discussions of what’s happening in the coal-fired sector by attending COAL-GEN 2009 in Charlotte, N.C. the August 18-21. The 9th convening of COAL-GEN is expected to attract 4,500 attendees and 350 exhibitors.
COAL-GEN 2009 offers 24 technical sessions across six tracks. New this year is a track devoted exclusively to circulating fluidized bed (CFB) technology. The track is offered as a special co-located users group event to address the new global interest in CFB. The event will focus on technology, projects, prospects, suppliers and users.
Keynoting the event beginning at 10 am on Wednesday, August 19 will be Frederick Buckman, president of Shaw Power Group and James L. Turner, group executive, president and COO of Duke Energy. Speakers from Tennessee Valley Authority and the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners are also expected.
Special Editors’ Briefings
Two webcast briefings hosted by editors from Power Engineering magazine will take place on the exhibit floor. On Wednesday, August 19 from 12:15 p.m. to 1:15 p.m. a briefing will be held entitled “Carbon Legislation: Action from Washington, D.C. and the States.” The briefing is open to all delegates and exhibitors. Speakers will include James Kerr of McGuire Woods Consulting; Sushma Masemore of the North Carolina Division of Air Quality; Bob Marlay, Director of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Climate Change; and Tom Hewson of coal industry consulting firm Energy Ventures Analysis.
On Thursday, August 20, from 12:15 p.m. to 1:15 p.m., a second editors’ briefing will cover “What the Stimulus Package Offers Coal Generators.”Panelists will brief attendees on clean coal funding, carbon capture and storage initiatives and how a smart grid may affect power generators. Speakers will include Mike Schewel of McGuire Woods Consulting; Mike Mudd, CEO of the FutureGen Alliance; and David Walls, Director, Energy, Navigant Consulting.
More Workshops Than Ever Before
COAL-GEN continues to expand the number of professional development workshops available to attendees by offering five pre-conference workshops. They are: “Power Plant Construction Management: A Guide to Survival,” “Capital Allocation Analysis at Coal-Fired Power Plants,” “Power Plant Fans: From Fundamentals to Optimized Performance, Efficiency and Reliability,” “Untapped Efficiency: Finding and Exploiting Low Hanging Fruit” and “Specialized Marketing, Sales & Communication Techniques to the Power Generation Market.”
Technical Tours
Two technical tours are available, both on August 18. Get a firsthand look at one of the country’s major coal-fired construction projects at Duke Energy’s Cliffside Steam Station. Cliffside’s modernization project consists of adding wet flue gas desulfurization to the existing 565 MW Unit 5 and building a new 800 MW Unit 6, which features advanced clean-coal technology and emission controls.
Or, plan to tour the Allen Steam Station. Allen is a five-unit coal-fired facility. Units 1 and 2 began operating in 1957; unit 3 in 1959; unit 4 in 1960 and unit 5 in 1961. In 2006, Duke Energy began installing flue gas desulfurization equipment at Allen. The project is expected to be completed this year.
Technical Sessions
As always, the heart of COAL-GEN is the array and quality of technical sessions. This year, 24 sessions are spread across six topic tracks, including the new CFB co-located event. Some highlights worth noting include:
Ultra Supercritical Coal Plants focuses on ultra supercritical (USC) steam technology. Papers address how ultra supercritical technology offers one of the best ways to add new baseload power while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Mercury Control Technologies addresses technical evaluations and economic considerations for mercury monitoring, control and optimization.
New Approaches to Reducing Risk and Improving Maintenance presents new approaches to reducing risk and maintenance costs. Papers cover new data analysis approaches, inspection and equipment control methods.
Emerging Technologies in Co-Firing Biomass cover the continued development of biomass co-firing. Presentations range from co-firing applications within an existing power plant to the technological challenges of co-firing.
And Carbon Capture and Sequestration Planning will provide an overview of carbon capture readiness, sequestration pilot results and pre-compliance preparation.
Megasessions
COAL-GEN’s megasessions focus on two of the biggest questions facing the coal industry: “Will the coal-fired sector survive?” and “What’s the latest with sequestration?”
Carbon Sequestration Projects – This megasession spotlights commercial and pilot projects across North America that are currently working to resolve a range of technical, legal and economic issues involved in long-term carbon storage. Panelists include Karen Ratcliff of Siemens; Rebecca Smyth of the University of Texas at Austin; Charles McConnell of Battelle; and Dwight Peters of Schlumberger Carbon Services.
Calling Hollywood: Coal Stays in ihe Picture – More than a few Hollywood stars would love to have coal’s staying power and coal will still be supplying a major portion of the nation’s and the world’s electricity long after most of today’s stars have faded from memory. This panel explores the leading role coal continues to play and features speakers reviewing the current status of coal-fired generation and discussing questions related to greenhouse gas emissions, integrated gasification combined cycle, clean coal technologies and more.