Competition, Culture and Change: Optimizing Power Generation

(Image Source: Reliability Management Group)

Time wasted, efficiency failures and low team morale are all all problems which those of us in the power generation industry must face on a day-to-day basis. A recent article by Power Magazine discusses the implementation of a WPO (work process optimization strategy) that can help combat lulls in efficiency that some in our field may face due to the current recession, as well as the increasing market demand regarding power generation companies. Items on the to do list include time management, streamlining daily and weekly scheduling processes, proper planning and management of tasks, training, computerized maintenance and a measurement system for success regarding the implementation. A brief summary of one of the most important parts of the new strategy is discussed in the article as follows:

"Managers want to know how the WPO is working and what they can do to remove obstacles to improvement. For years, supervisors cited work interruptions, manpower shortages, and coordination missteps as being the problems that prevented work from getting done as quickly or as well as they had hoped. Those obstacles remain, but the behavior modification is that now supervisors are supposed to document them, not just talk about them. This is a huge change that causes concern among supervisors, who wonder, 'Will we be held responsible for events out of our control? What happens to me if I'm at fault?'"

The importance of having an accurate and reliable measurement system is evident. Without a way to gauge the amount of progress you've made, it is unlikely that you will be able to develop a concise strategy for improvement during the next work cycle (quarter, season, etc.). By reporting work process mesures and key performance indicators, as well as a record of variables that occur which may decrease efficiency, the manager(s) of a power generation company can be sure, not only if they are taking the correct steps in their endeavors, but also what is causing the hiccups in their operations. In an era where power generation is one of the inciting factors of our species' development, power generating corporations should take heed to make sure that they're supplying their consumers energy in the most efficient way.

To read more about industrial power generation, check out Power and Composite Technologies:

www.pactinc.com

To read the article from Power Magazine, click here:

http://www.powermag.com/issues/features/Work-Process-Optimization-Meeting-the-Challenge-of-Change_2883_p5.html

Flue Symptoms: Separating Carbon Dioxide from Flue Gasses

Image Source: netl.doe.gov

A recent article from Power Online discusses a recent advancement of a research team at the Georgia Institute of Technology that could potentially usher in a new era of clean burning flue systems. As we’re all aware, in the United States, coal-burning power plants are responsible for roughly 33% of the country’s total carbon output. By using hollow fibers, the researchers have discovered a way to remove large volumes of carbon dioxide from flue emissions. The article from Power Online discusses some of the applications as well as its potential effect on the industrial power generation community:

“’The challenge with this [process] is to have a technology that not only physically works, but that can be built on a large scale and operated inexpensively,’ says David Sholl, who leads the membrane project as a professor in the Georgia Tech School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering…

… Membranes could theoretically separate the carbon dioxide from other gasses with less energy input. But no existing membrane materials can do the job while being robust enough to operate in the hostile flue-gas environment – and inexpensive enough for the large areas needed.'”

At The Power Generation Blog, we are always excited about potential new technologies in our field, but beyond that, we like to concern ourselves (whenever possible) with new energy producing processes that help out the environment. By reducing carbon emissions in coal plants, we can help our ecosystem while not having to move to alternative forms of power production. Coal won’t be as available as it is today for forever, but in the interim we might as well use what he have while finding more efficient and more environmentally-friendly ways to implement it.

To read more about power and composite technologies, visit PCT:

www.pactinc.com

To read the article from Power Online, follow this link:

http://www.poweronline.com/article.mvc/Hollow-Fibers-ARPA-E-Funding-Supports-0001

Big Plans Ahead for Nigeria...

A recent article from Power-Gen Worldwide discusses a large investment that the nation of Nigeria, private investors and international development and finance agencies will be making over the course of the next four years. Nigeria has recently fallen victim to power shortages that have begun to affect the country's infrastructure. The new project, which will cost the country and investors around $3.5 billion, will be implemented in order to increase the electrical output of the country from that of a 330/132 kV electrical grid to the new 700 kV grid, effectively more than doubling their energy supply. In the article from Power-Gen Worldwide, the president of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, was paraphrased regarding the state of the nation:

"Nigeria suffers from acute electricity shortages and President Jonathan has made increased power supplies a key part of government policy ahead of national elections scheduled for January. A reform of the power sector will be announced on 26 August, the presidency said. This will include a greater role for private-sector investors. Nigeria has urged its main upstream partners, such as Shell and Chevron, to increase gas supplies to the domestic market to increase power generation capacity. Most of the country's gas is supplied to the 22m tonnes/year Nigeria LNG plant on Bonny island or flared off."

This news is important for several reasons. First off, it serves as an excellent example of developing nations realizing that in order to prosper, major changes need to be implemented regarding power generation in order to facilitate the country's rapid expansion as new technologies become available to them. Secondly, this is an incredible opportunity for power generation investors to get in on the ground floor of a potential emerging world power. Finally, this news is important because it shows that the power generation industry is not something that can be affected by the now world-wide recession, even in developing nations. There are evidently good things on the horizon for those of us in the power generation industry.

To learn more about Power Generation Technology, check out Power and Composite Technologies:

www.pactinc.com

To read the article from Power-Gen Worldwide, click this link:

http://www.powergenworldwide.com/index/display/articledisplay/0386927987/articles/powergenworldwide/t-and-d/t-and-d-infrastructure/2010/08/nigeria-sets_out_plans.html

Going Down Under & Thinking Outside the Box

The North Head Sewage Treatment Plant in Sydney Harbor has recently been fitted with a $124 million hydroelectric plant which uses treated wastewater to produce electricity. This marks the first time in Australia's history that a hydroelectric plant has been used to generate power from treated sewage. This is accomplished by hydroelectric assemblies located in a 60-meter shaft that treat wastewater as it falls down. According to sydneywater.com.au, this means that the North Head plant now generates around forty percent of its own power. An article in Power Magazine discusses a brief history of this innovative technology:

"Sydney Water is pioneering the plant in Australia, but it isn't the first in the world to harness hydroelecricity from a wastewater plant. U.S.-based Aquarion Water Co. has launched a program that taps excess forces inside water pipes, using technology designed by New York alternative energy company Rentricity. That company's Flow-to-Wire system relieves excess water pressure delivered to customers at elevations lower than the water source. The inherent pressure differentials are used to spin turbines to create power."

These new approaches to otherwise wasted sources of energy are likely to become a staple of the power generation industry in the coming years. As the world's resources begin to become less and less available, companies will have to start looking for ways to generate power that would have previously been skimmed over. The application of the North Head sewage treatment plant of their wastewater to a hydroelectric power plant is just one of the few examples of how new ways of generating power can save money and improve efficiency.

To read the article from Power Magazine, follow this link:

http://www.powermag.com/issues/departments/global_monitor/Australia-Gets-Hydropower-from-Wastewater_2789.html

To view the list of improvements to the North Head facility from Sydney Water, follow this one:

http://www.sydneywater.com.au/majorprojects/North/NorthHeadSTD/index.cfm