Power Engineering

Features
- Vertical Slice Reviews and Lessons Learned Guided SONGS Unit 3 SGR Outage
  A complicated outage was aided by a thorough understanding of earlier, similar projects.
- Converting Existing Synchronous Generators into Synchronous Condensers
  As gas and steam power generation plants approach the end of their operational life, plant owners face a challenging decision between upgrading or retiring the plant. Retiring a power generation unit can reduce a plant’s reactive power capacity, possibly creating a deficit that directly affects the local system’s reliability.
- Preparing for HAPs Compliance
  Associate Editor Lindsay Morris examines the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed Air Toxics Rule as well as compliance technologies.
- Wet FGD Purge Streams The Bane of WFGD Technology?
  Contributing Editor Brad Buecker writes that one drawback with WFGD is the toxic impurities that may come out of the flue gas.
- POWER-GEN International Returns to Las Vegas
  Conference Chair David Wagman offers a preview to the 2011 conference and exhibition.
- Integrated Factory Acceptance Tests
  A FAT can provide a valuable check of safety instrumented systems before final installation.
- Surge Flow Dust Volume and Dust Collector Evacuation Systems
  Effective dust collection system performance relies on the correct design of both the filtration and evacuation equipment.
Departments
- Opinion
  - Texas Sweat 'em
    For many Texans, this past summer was hot, dry and electricity constrained. The first two are at Mother Nature’s mercy. The third is man-made and a bit more difficult to solve. To understand why, we’ll need to look at what makes the Texas power market run.
- Clearing the Air
  - The Saga of Bull Run
    Let’s call a spade a spade. There is a witch hunt right now against coal combustion and the biggest targets are public utility boilers.
- Nuclear Reactions
  - Making the Cut
    In early August, Standard & Poor’s (S&P) downgraded the United States’ credit rating to AA+, one level below the top tier of AAA, knocking the U.S. out of the elite class and sending the stock market into a frenzy.
- What Works
  - Engineered Plastic for Cooling Towers
    Factory-assembled cooling towers formed of engineered molded plastics continue to gain favor over galvanized sheet metal models that once dominated the industry.
  - CHP System Helps Save Money on High On-peak Electric Rates
    Located on the south shore of Long Island about 60 miles east of New York City, the William Floyd School District has eight school buildings and a student population of around 11,000.
- Products
  - Emergency light fixture
    Birns Inc. has introduced a seismically qualified (per IEEE-344) emergency lighting solution for nuclear containment, the Birns Emergency Light Fixture-LED.
- Generating Buzz
  - U.S. Generating Capacity Additions Since World War II
- View on Renewables
  - Trends in State Renewable Energy Policy
    Given the lack of a federal energy policy, states have taken a leading role in designing and implementing renewable portfolio standards, or RPS. The lack of federal regulation in the area has resulted in states assuming their long-standing role as “laboratories” for public policy.