NEWS & TECHNOLOGY FOR THE GLOBAL ENERGY INDUSTRY SINCE 1882

Vol. 167 • No. 4 • April 2023

FOCUS ON
GAS POWER Page 18 & 22

How Electrification Is Changing Our World | 28

Geothermal Power Startups | 30
Working with EPCs | 32
 Moving forward
together in changing
energy markets

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 ON THE COVER
The dual-unit Patriot combined cycle
power plant in Lycoming County, Penn-
sylvania, completed a rotor upgrade
project on Unit 10—a Siemens Energy
SGT6-8000H combustion turbine. Cour-
Established 1882 • Vol. 167 • No. 4 April 2023 tesy: Siemens Energy and Cogentrix

SPEAKING OF POWER
The Future Looks Bright for Nuclear Power—Dare We
Use the ‘R’ Word Again? 5

GLOBAL MONITOR
India Eyes Major Expansion of Nuclear Power 6
Successful Test of Hydrogen in Gas Turbine
Driving a Natural Gas Compressor in Germany 7
THE BIG PICTURE: A History of Useful Energy Costs 8
India Commissions First Supercritical Coal Plant
Equipped with Air-Cooled Condenser 10
POWER Digest 11 7

FOCUS ON O&M
Considerations for Automatic Filtration of
Cooling Tower Water Systems 13
Cameras Are an Important Security Tool for
Power Plants and Substations 15

LEGAL & REGULATORY

CEQ’s New Guidance on NEPA Reviews for Clean Energy Projects 17
By John L. Watson

COVER FOCUS: GAS POWER

Optimizing Combined Cycle Power Plant Operations 18
Two natural gas–fired power plants operated by Cogentrix and utilizing Sie-
mens Energy technology achieved milestones after equipment upgrades, with
10
one setting a record for continuous operation.

Gas Power Outlook: Gas Turbines Will Play a Vital Role in Decarbonization 22
Natural gas–fired power generation continues to evolve with more-efficient
turbines and other equipment. Gas remains an important fuel, particularly as
gas-fired plants replace coal-fired generation and support demand for elec-
tricity, along with reducing emissions from the power sector.

FEATURES:
MARNIE SURFACEBLOW
Even Minor Alarms Can Lead to Major Safety Improvements 25
Minor problems at a power generation facility should never be dismissed, in
part because studying things that seem small can help plant operators take
stock of safety protocols and other measures that can pay dividends when
larger issues arise.
13
|
April 2023 POWER
www.powermag.com 1
 ELECTRIFICATION
Driving on Electric Avenue—Innovation Pushes Energy Transformation 28
Electrification in the energy sector is supporting decarbonization, through
continued growth in electric vehicles, the use of electricity for heating and
cooling, and electric appliances replacing gas-burning units. The increase
in electricity demand, though, could present challenges for utilities and the
power grid.

GEOTHERMAL
Startups Are Shaking Up Geothermal Power’s Prospects 30
New entrants are injecting millions of dollars into the geothermal power
industry, confident that innovation will scale up the niche renewable power
subsector in a highly material way. Efforts are technology-driven, seeking to
unlock geothermal’s vast potential across new applications outside conven-
25 tional power production, including energy storage, mineral extraction, dis-
tributed heat, and more.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Working with EPC Contractors: Guidance for Utilities
Embarking on Solar Development 32
Securing an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor for
your power generation project can be critical to the project’s success. Those
building renewable energy installations are finding the services of an EPC
invaluable, providing solutions to technology, labor, and supply chain issues.

INSTRUMENTATION & CONTROL

Instrumentation and Control for Reliability,
Efficiency, and Pollution Control 36
Power plant operators need to establish standard work processes for the cali-
bration of instruments and digital control systems. It’s a best practice in the
power generation industry, and plant managers should ensure they have a
28 strong asset performance management system to optimize operations.

COMMENTARY
Celebrating Diversity Drives Results 40
By Stephanie Hertzog, Sodexo

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POWER April 2023

The Future Looks Bright for
Nuclear Power—Dare We
Use the ‘R’ Word Again?
Aaron Larson
T
he term “nuclear renaissance” was
very popular in the early 2000s.
Nuclear power plant operators had
substantially improved existing plant per-
formance, and many new plants were be-
ing considered around the world, includ-
ing in the U.S. In fact, later in the decade,
contracts were signed and early site work
began on two dual-unit new-build nuclear
projects in the U.S.—the Vogtle and V.C.
Summer expansions—and more orders
were expected. Supply chains had begun
ramping up to meet the predicted de-
mand and the wheels appeared to be in
motion for big things to come.
However, early construction delays and
associated cost increases on the new-
build projects, as well as low natural gas
prices, resulting from fracking and hori-
zontal drilling, ultimately put the brakes
on. While nuclear plants continued to be
developed in China, Russia, and a few
other countries, the renaissance that was
predicted never materialized.
A New Nuclear Renaissance
There are many reasons to be optimistic
about the nuclear power industry today.
While new orders for reactors have been
slow to come in, particularly in the U.S.,
many experts are guessing they will
eventually appear. In the International
Energy Agency’s World Energy Outlook
2022 (WEO), a 524-page flagship report
released by the agency last October, the
“Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario”
projects nuclear power capacity world-
wide will more than double from 413
GW in 2021 to 871 GW in 2050. Other
scenarios are less optimistic in their pro-
jections, but all show substantial growth
in nuclear power capacity and generation
over the next 25-plus years.
Mark Gake, nuclear technology portfo-
lio manager with Black & Veatch, an en-
gineering, procurement, consulting, and
construction company headquartered in
Overland Park, Kansas, also presented
an optimistic view. Speaking in Orlando,
Florida, at POWERGEN International on
Feb. 22, Gake said, “What we see today
is that there’s a lot of momentum build-
|
April 2023 POWER
www.powermag.com
ing around this, a lot of new technology
entrants, a lot of potential.”
The demand is huge, according to
Gake, not only from utilities, but also
from industrial companies. “There is a
shift change driven a lot by decarboniza-
tion but also by energy security,” he said.
“It’s a large, large momentum shift.”
Gake noted that federal assistance is
also helping to propel the nuclear indus-
try forward. “There’s a lot of government
support right now, not only in the U.S., but
in Canada and Europe and other places
where the government is saying, ‘We need
to be part of this movement.’ ” he said.
What Countries Will Lead?
In a report titled “Energy Transition Trends
2023,” issued in February by international
law firm Clifford Chance LLP, it says be-
neath the WEO’s global forecasts are
“important details revealing new trends
which could fundamentally change the
world of nuclear energy.” Among those
details is the projection that 60% of new-
build plants will be constructed in China.
That means China’s nuclear fleet could
overtake the U.S.’s as the largest in the
world within the next 10 years.
Many other countries are showing in-
terest in nuclear power, too, often to help
meet carbon-free energy goals. The Unit-
ed Arab Emirates entered the nuclear
club in April 2021 when it placed the first
unit of its Barakah plant in commercial
operation—it now has three of the four
units online at the site. Other countries
building their first nuclear power plants
include Bangladesh, Egypt, and Turkey,
with more researching the option. While
Russia has been the dominant exporter
of nuclear technology over the past 10
years, its invasion of Ukraine has result-
ed in a lot of pushback against its offer-
ings, opening the door for suppliers from
Canada, China, France, South Korea, and
the U.S. to fill the gap.
Small Modular Reactors Provide
New Options
Excitement is building around several
small modular reactor (SMR) designs.
NuScale Power’s VOYGR SMR design
SPEAKING OF POWER
was in the news in early March when
Utah Associated Municipal Power Sys-
tems (UAMPS) announced that 26 of
the participants in its Carbon-Free Power
Project had voted to continue develop-
ment of the project, which aims to build a
six-unit VOYGR plant at an Idaho National
Laboratory site. The vote allows the proj-
ect to move into the next phase, which
involves completing and submitting a
combined operating license application
to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
expected by January 2024.
GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) has
also been making news with its BWRX-
300 SMR design. In February, officials in
Estonia selected the BWRX-300 for a proj-
ect to be constructed there. Prior to that,
GEH’s design had been selected by Ontar-
io Power Generation for its Darlington New
Nuclear Project, and last summer, the Ten-
nessee Valley Authority also began plan-
ning and preliminary licensing for potential
deployment of a BWRX-300 at its Clinch
River site near Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
Still, the analysis performed by Clif-
ford Chance suggests SMRs won’t play
a significant role in the power market
until after 2035. In the meantime, the
firm says, “Large-scale nuclear projects
remain very relevant and much-needed.”
Financing these projects, however, is
a major hurdle. The report says, “The
conventional project financing approach
used for other forms of power genera-
tion is not well-suited to the large capex
[capital expenditure], unique risks and
lengthy construction periods associated
with delivering major nuclear projects.
We would like to see international take-
up of the regulated asset base (RAB)
scheme being promoted in the UK, fur-
ther reducing the cost of financing which
would otherwise ultimately be borne by
consumers or taxpayers.”
Perhaps the most important item,
though, is finding a way for nuclear proj-
ects to obtain cost and schedule cer-
tainty. Unless that happens, this new
nuclear renaissance is likely to stall just
like the old one. ■
—Aaron Larson is POWER’s
executive editor.
5
India Eyes Major Expansion of
Nuclear Power
India’s government is pushing for con-
struction of more nuclear power plants
as the country looks to increase its
supply of cleaner energy. Officials have
made some ambitious pronounce-
ments, calling for as many as 20 new
nuclear power facilities to be brought
online over the next decade, more
than doubling the number of operating
nuclear power plants in the country. Of-
ficials in February announced that Hary-
ana state in northern India will be home
to that region’s first nuclear plant, as a
1,400-MW facility already is under con-
struction near Gorakhpur village, about
90 miles northwest of New Delhi. That
plant will feature two 700-MW pressur-
ized heavy-water reactors (PHWR) of
Indian design.
The U.S. and India in 2019 signed a
deal in which the U.S. pledged to sup-
port construction of at least six nucle-
ar power plants in India, and the two
countries in February revisited previous
agreements from as long ago as 2008
that could facilitate U.S. backing of In-
dia’s nuclear power program. Officials
in India also have signed civil nuclear
cooperation agreements with another
dozen countries, including Russia, Can-
ada, and France, that would support the
deployment of additional reactors. The
Nuclear Power Corp. of India (NPCI) has
received government backing to build a
1. India’s Narora Atomic Power Station features two of the 22 operating nuclear reactors in the
country, which has about 6.8 GW of installed nuclear power capacity. The Narora station has 440
MW of generation capacity. Courtesy: Government of India
6 www.powermag.com |
series of 700-MW PHWR reactors as
part of the country’s domestic nuclear
power program. Westinghouse and the
NPCI in 2016 had a broad agreement for
the U.S. company to build as many as
six reactors in India, but the deal col-
lapsed after Westinghouse declared
bankruptcy in 2017.
Jitendra Singh, India’s Union Minister
of State for Atomic Energy, said the agen-
cy is working with Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi’s regime on the installation of
nuclear power plants in new areas. Most
of India’s operating reactors are located
in the southern and western parts of the
country (Figure 1). Singh earlier this year
said the government is seeking invest-
ment from companies in the public sec-
tor to help advance India’s nuclear power
and other energy goals. Modi’s govern-
ment has talked about a goal of having
500 GW of energy from non-fossil fuel
sources by 2030, which would require a
rapid ramp-up of nuclear and renewable
energy generation capacity. Singh said
Modi’s government already has given ap-
proval for construction of at least 10 new
nuclear reactors.
Fast additions of nuclear power likely
would require changes to India’s his-
torical construction timelines of new
reactors. An analysis of data from the
International Atomic Energy Agency re-
leased earlier this year shows the me-
dian construction time for nuclear plants
in India historically has been just more
than 14 years, from the start of construc-
tion until connection to the power grid.
Officials have said the country must im-
prove that mark to achieve its nuclear
power goals, citing the same analysis
that shows China has been building and
commissioning nuclear reactors in fewer
than six years.
“India is looking to reduce its fossil
fuels by half by 2032; building nuclear
plants is seen as a central part of that
strategy,” said Irina Tsukerman, a geo-
political analyst and president of Scarab
Rising, a Connecticut-based business
advisory group. “From a safety perspec-
tive, it is not a significant risk given that
India is already a nuclear power. Civilian
plants would not necessarily introduce
any greater risk; the key would be coop-
eration with reputable companies and
Western states toward building safe and
well-maintained facilities.”
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for
Energy Resources Geoffrey Pyatt met
with Indian officials in Delhi in mid-Feb-
ruary, and described India as a “very cru-
cial” partner for supporting global energy
security as the world continues to face
issues stemming from Russia’s invasion
of Ukraine. Pyatt told local media, “The
business model of the civil nuclear indus-
try is changing. In the U.S., we made a
huge commitment to small and marginal
reactors which could be particularly suit-
able to the Indian environment as well.”
Pyatt, who was an official at the U.S.
Embassy in New Delhi for several years
and worked on a nuclear cooperation
agreement between the U.S. and India
that was approved by Congress in 2008,
said, “The U.S.-India energy and climate
agenda is one of the most important that
we have anywhere in the world. When I
look at where our strategic relationship is
going, I see the issues that I am now re-
sponsible for as being right at the center
of the picture because there is so much
potential to build on the strong founda-
tion to do even more,” he said.
Pyatt said his visit was designed to
strengthen a bilateral energy partnership
between the U.S. and India. He noted
that partnership also would include proj-
ects under the “Quad” framework, a
working group that includes Japan and
Australia, and is focused on cooperation
of the countries in the Indo-Pacific region.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken,
along with India’s External Affairs Min-
POWER April 2023

ister S Jaishankar, Japan’s Minister for
Foreign Affairs Yoshimasa Hayashi, and
Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs
Penny Wong, met in New Delhi in early
March to discuss an agenda for the re-
gion, including a clean energy transition.
“The Indian government is indeed
pushing nuclear particularly strongly and
the current plans may lead to tripling the
nuclear power generation capacity in the
next 10 years,” said François Le Scornet,
president and Cleantech & Climate Tech
senior consultant at Carbonexit Consult-
ing in France. “Despite this impressive
increase in capacity, nuclear would only
represent a small fraction of the Indian
power mix and renewables are also ex-
pected to boom during the same period.”
“Currently, India only has 6.8 GW of
nuclear power, barely 1.7% of its total
generation fleet,” said Tsukerman. “How-
ever, India does not just wish to diversify
its energy sources, it has aspirations to
become a global leader in nuclear tech-
nology. The shift toward nuclearization
would need to be seismic for that to
happen given the low levels of nuclear
power it has now. Importantly, India is
looking to put its expertise in fast reac-
tors and [the] thorium nuclear fuel cycle
to good use in that regard.”
“India has a long history of interna-
tional discussions and negotiations with
foreign nuclear vendors, from Canadian,
Russian, French to American and Japa-
nese reactor manufacturers,” said Le
Scornet. “In addition, the country de-
veloped its own technology and India
has a largely indigenous nuclear power
program today. For instance, the devel-
opment of 700-MWe PHWRs is to be
managed purely based on local capaci-
ties and India aims to develop a larger
model as well.” India’s PHWRs, designed
by NPCI, which also builds, commis-
sions, and operates the country’s reac-
tors, use uranium as fuel and heavy
water as a moderator. NPCI operates un-
der the Indian government’s Department
of Atomic Energy.
“Foreign companies like Areva and
Westinghouse have had in-depth dis-
cussion with Indian authorities about
new projects that focus on larger reac-
tor models, with EPR [evolutionary pres-
surized water reactor] models at Jaitapur
and the [Westinghouse] AP1000 model
at Kovvada and/or Chhaya-Mithi Virdi, re-
spectively. Russian AES-2006 and VVER-
1200 models are also considered for
other sites as well,” said Le Scornet.
—Darrell Proctor is a senior associate
editor for POWER.
|
April 2023 POWER
www.powermag.com
Successful Test of Hydrogen in
Gas Turbine Driving a Natural Gas
Compressor in Germany
A project led by two major European
gas transmission system operators
(TSOs) has successfully tested blending
rates of up to 25% hydrogen on a Titan
130 SoLoNOx Solar Turbines gas tur-
bine, which serves as a prime mover on
a natural gas compressor in Germany.
The project’s success marks a triumph
for Europe’s gas transmission sector,
which is seeking to diversify fuel used
to mechanically compress gas used at
different stages in the pipeline, from ex-
traction to distribution to end consumer.
Under a six-week project, GRTgaz
Deutschland, a company that operates
a 1,200-kilometer (km) gas transmis-
sion system in southern Germany, and
OGE, one of Europe’s leading gas TSOs,
collaborated with Solar Turbines, a Cali-
fornia-based gas turbine manufacturer
owned by Caterpillar. The companies set
out to test hydrogen blends in a Titan
130 SoLoNOx gas turbine that drives a
gas compressor at the MEGAL compres-
sor station in Waidhaus, Bavaria, which
is jointly owned by OGE and GRTgaz
Deutschland (Figure 2). The compressor
serves the MEGAL natural gas pipeline
system that offers a bi-directional cross-
border point at the German-Czech border
in Waidhaus.
“Preparations for the project started
two years ago when a mobile blending
plant the size of a 40-foot ISO shipping
container and a temporary hydrogen
supply were set up for the tests,” the
companies noted in a statement in Feb-
2. GRTgaz Deutschland, OGE, and Solar Turbines have successfully tested a low-emissions
Titan 130 SoLoNOx Solar gas turbine as a prime mover on a natural gas compressor using hy-
drogen blending rates of up to 25%. Courtesy: Solar Turbines
GLOBAL MONITOR
ruary. “The entire configuration was
acceptance tested by an independent
expert in accordance with the rules and
regulations applicable to public energy
supply and approved for operation. For
these tests, it was crucial not to com-
promise the safety and availability of the
compressor station.”
A natural gas compressor prime mover
is a key piece of equipment that provides
power to drive the compressor. While
reciprocating engines and electric mo-
tors are sometimes used as compres-
sor prime movers, gas turbines are the
most common, mainly because they are
typically lower cost than other options.
They also offer reliability and have fairly
low emissions. Gas turbines, however,
are usually powered by natural gas taken
from the pipeline system.
But the European Network of Trans-
mission System Operators for Gas (ENT-
SOG) suggested efforts to equip gas
grids to handle hydrogen blending at the
TSO and distribution system operator
(DSO) level will be important as hydro-
gen demand ramps up. The entity last
year suggested that blending percentag-
es of up to 2% volume of hydrogen into
the natural gas system is already pos-
sible. However, blending hydrogen vol-
umes of up to 20% may be required over
the mid-term, depending on national and
regional conditions, as well as customer
needs, requirements, and grid topology.
“In the long run, most sectors will retro-
fit to dedicated hydrogen systems. Yet,
this may not be possible for specific in-
dustrial processes e.g., the production of
chemicals which are largely dependent
7
 GLOBAL MONITOR

THE BIG PICTURE: A History of Useful

Energy Costs
A. INFLATION-ADJUSTED USEFUL ENERGY COSTS AS KEY

A FUNCTION OF TIME Oil (primary)

Coal (primary)
Gas (primary)
Coal electricity
Gas electricity
Useful energy cost ($/MWh in 2020 dollars)

Traditional biomass
Nuclear electricity
Hydropower
Biopower
Wind electricity
Solar PV electricity
Batteries (lifetime-adjusted)
P2X fuel from solar and wind
(modeled)

An energy cost study by researchers at the

Year
B. GLOBAL USEFUL ENERGY PRODUCTION
Useful energy production (EJ/year)
University of Oxford in the UK illustrates how the
energy landscape has evolved over the last 140
years. The graph at the top (A) shows the historical
costs of the principal energy technologies, while
the bottom graph (B) shows their deployment. “As
we approach the present in [A], the diagram
becomes more congested, making it clear that we
are in a period of unprecedented energy diversity,
with many technologies with global average costs
around $100/MWh competing for dominance,” the
researchers write.
“The long-term trends provide a clue as to how
this competition may be resolved: The prices of
fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gas are volatile,
but after adjusting for inflation, prices now are
very similar to what they were 140 years ago, and
there is no obvious long-range trend. In contrast,
for several decades the costs of solar PV, wind, and
batteries have dropped (roughly) exponentially at
a rate near 10% per year. The cost of solar PV has

decreased by more than three orders of magni-

tude since its first commercial use in 1958.”

The bottom graph (B) documents the slow

exponential rise in oil and natural gas production
over a century and the rapid rise and plateauing
of nuclear energy. “But perhaps the most remark-
able feature is the dramatic exponential rise in the
deployment of solar PV, wind, batteries, and
electrolyzers over the last decades as they
transitioned from niche applications to mass
markets,” the researchers add. “Their rate of
increase is similar to that of nuclear energy in the
1970s, but unlike nuclear energy, they have all
consistently experienced exponentially decreas-
ing costs.”

Source: Way et al., Joule 6, 2057–2082, September

21, 2022, 2022 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.-
joule.2022.08.009).
Year
—Sonal Patel is a POWER senior associate editor.
8 www.powermag.com |
POWER April 2023

3. The European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas (ENTSOG) is hosting
a working group to enable decarbonization of the gas value chain. This graphic illustrates an
example of a potential future scenario within a more interconnected energy system. Courtesy:
ENTSOG
on the methane molecule. As a conse-
quence, methane networks using natural
gas, biomethane and/or syngas depend-
ing on the region, will also play a role in
the future,” it said.
For now, however, gas TSOs and
DSOs must manage and accommodate
“diversity of technological choices for
the benefit and safety of the climate
and all consumers while ensuring that
achievements of the internal energy mar-
ket for gas and interoperability between
the different energy carriers are main-
tained and further developed, including
hydrogen,” the entity said (Figure 3).
ENTSOG noted that 2% hydrogen
volume blending is a “reasonable value”
as a starting point. “Even though some
sectors can already handle up to 10%
vol. H2 or even 25% vol. H2, 2% vol. H2
reflects the common minimum denomi-
nator due to the fact that some industrial
processes cannot handle more than 2%
vol. H2 nowadays. It is also worth men-
tioning that throughout Europe the con-
nected customers to the DSO or TSO
vary widely.”
The shift to higher shares of hydrogen
blends in natural gas will prompt new
challenges for TSO assets, including for
steel pipelines, which could suffer hydro-
gen embrittlement, and valves, whose
internal and external tightness at higher
hydrogen shares is still under study.
Because hydrogen has a significantly
lower molar weight than natural gas,
higher shares of hydrogen may require
changes to compressors. Compressor
|
April 2023 POWER
www.powermag.com
GLOBAL MONITOR
ENGINEERING
RELIABLE
AND SAFE
drivers must also adapt to hydrogen ad-
mixtures. “Most common gas turbines
ELECTRIC UTILITY
for pipelines can already burn a signifi- INFRASTRUCTURE.
cant amount of H2 in the fuel,” ENTSOG
noted. “However, based on the materi-
als used, control systems, stoichiom-
etry, and blading, suitable H2 thresholds milhouseinc.com
for existing turbines can vary between
1–20% vol. H2.”
According to GRTgaz Deutschland and
OGE, the successful testing of blending
rates of up to 25% at the MEGAL com-
pressor station mark a good first step.
“This test is a good example of working
collaboratively across national borders to
tackle and solve important issues in the
energy industry. In the spirit of interna-
tional partnership, I am convinced that
we will continue to write MEGAL’s suc-
cess story,” said Nicolas Delaporte, man-
aging director of GRTgaz Deutschland.
The companies noted that the test-
ing, which used only “green” hydrogen,
was conducted with various hydrogen
blending rates under different loads for
more than 200 hours. “Emissions and
turbine performance were measured,
demonstrating the turbine’s ability to
operate with the same available power
while meeting the required emission
levels,” they said. “The ability of the gas
turbine to safely start on the fuel blend
was also demonstrated.”
The successful testing is good news
for Solar Turbines, too. The company’s
16.5-MW Titan 130 gas turbine, which
is equipped with a SoLoNOx combus-
tion system, is a widely used industrial
9
 GLOBAL MONITOR
turbine. Introduced in 1997, the company
sells the gas turbine as a two-shaft mod-
el for compressor and mechanical drive
applications. It says the compressor set
is designed to deliver a simple-cycle
thermal efficiency of 36%. The company
says it has nearly 40 years of experience
in providing hydrogen-capable pack-
ages, logging more than 2 million hours
of operation with up to 70% hydrogen
gas. “As market and customer demands
come into play, more focus is on the [Dry
Low Emissions (DLE)] configurations for
higher hydrogen concentrations. Our
team is committed to operate gas tur-
bine packages on natural gas fuel with
increased volumetric concentration.”
The larger impact of the testing on
industry efforts, however, remains to
be seen. “The project shows the desire
and ability to expand and realize the hy-
drogen economy,” noted Dr. Thomas
Hüwener, a member of OGE’s board
of management. “But to do this, we
now need the right legal and regulatory
framework to accelerate Germany’s hy-
drogen economy supported by a strong
financing model.”
—Sonal Patel is a senior associate
editor for POWER.
India Commissions First
Supercritical Coal Plant Equipped
with Air-Cooled Condenser
NTPC, India’s largest energy conglom-
erate and its largest coal generator, in
March commissioned the country’s first
supercritical coal-fired plant equipped
with an air-cooled condenser (ACC). The
effort responds to concerted efforts by
the company and the Indian govern-
ment—which holds 51.1% of the com-
pany—to forge new pathways for coal
power that will proactively address wa-
ter sustainability issues.
The pioneering ACC was installed in
Jharkhand state at NTPC’s 2-GW North
Kanapura plant, which comprises three
supercritical units of 660 MW each (Fig-
ure 4). When conceived by the Indian
government in 1990 as a pit-head thermal
power plant (owing mainly to ample coal
availability from the nearby Tandwa block
coal fields), the plant’s original design
called for a closed-cycle conventional
condenser that would have required 55
million cubic meters (MCM) of water an-
nually. Initial plans called for the construc-
tion of a 22.5-meter (m)-high dam across
the nearby Garhi River, a tributary of the
Damodar River, to ensure a permanent
source of water to meet the water re-
quirements through the plant’s lifetime.
10
4. NTPC’s newly opened 2-GW North Kanapura plant in the vicinity of Tandwa town in
Jharkhand state is equipped with three coal-fired units and has a total capacity of 1,980 MW.
The pit-head and supercritical project is the first in India to include an air-cooled condenser.
Courtesy: NTPC
Building the dam, however, would
have required acquiring an estimated
5,000 acres. The dam would have also
required submerging fertile or forest land
and rehabilitating 10 villages. In 2014, the
Indian government reviewed its plans
and considered an ACC, which could po-
tentially reduce the annual water require-
ment by nearly a third to 20 MCM.
NTPC ultimately worked out an inte-
grated water management scheme that
included the incorporation of ACCs, a
low-height barrage within the river re-
gime, and a raw water reservoir within
the plant boundary. The new scheme
promised to halve costs. On March 1,
nine years after construction was kicked
off at the plant, the effort became a re-
ality as the North Kanapura project was
commissioned, marking a first for India,
it presents a “true example of sustain-
able development,” the company said.
The development is also notable, how-
ever, because while ACC technology utili-
zation is fairly common around the world,
it marks a potential new paradigm for
Indian coal generation. An ACC is a heat
exchanger, in which, steam is condensed
inside air-cooled finned tubes. It is a direct
dry cooling system. “The cool ambient air
flow outside the finned tubes is what re-
moves heat and defines the functionality
of an ACC,” explains SPG Dry Cooling. “In
thermal power plants, the steam from the
turbine exhaust flows into the ACC where
condensation occurs. Then the conden-
sate returns to the boiler in a closed loop.
Since the steam coming from the turbine
is at a low pressure, the ACC works at
a pressure close to a vacuum, and non-
condensable gases are removed continu-
ously by an air evacuation unit.”
www.powermag.com |
According to the U.S.-based ACC Us-
ers’ Group, the first direct ACC generat-
ing plant in North America, the 21.7-MW
coal-fired Neil Simpson plant in Gillette,
Wyoming, came online in 1969. By 2008,
dry cooling had become a standard prac-
tice at many thermal power plants in the
U.S., Europe, and China, even in places
that are not water-stressed.
While India relied on 179 coal pow-
er plants—a combined 204 GW—for
nearly 50% of its total generation as
of January 2023, it has so far shunned
the uptake of ACCs, owing to its high
capital costs, use of auxiliary energy,
and a relatively low reduction of water
footprints when compared to wet cool-
ing. “Although ACC is used to save the
water footprint of power plants, the
adverse impact of such devices on the
thermal efficiency of power plants is
a matter of concern,” Ravi Prakash, a
professor of mechanical engineering at
Motilal Nehru National Institute of Tech-
nology in Uttar Pradesh, told POWER.
Another reason India has avoided ACC
installations is that ACCs and integral
ACC components—including tube bun-
dles, gear boxes, and vacuum pumps—
would typically need to be imported,
which hinders cost-competitiveness.
However, recent events highlighting
regional vulnerabilities to water scarcity
paired with sustainability initiatives have
prompted energy conglomerates like
NTPC to re-examine the feasibility and
constraints of ACCs. The effort falls un-
der NTPC’s environmental, social, and
governance (ESG) strategy, which envi-
sions a more sustainable outcome for
the company’s 70-GW fleet, which in-
cludes 26 coal-fired power plants with a
POWER April 2023
 GLOBAL MONITOR
combined capacity of 51 GW. proposed system with deep sea water cooling increased by
Under NTPC’s ESG initiative, the company is, for example, 27.7%. This clearly demonstrates the multiple advantages of
pursuing a massive effort to diversify its fuel by growing its the proposed system.”
renewables portfolio from 10 GW to 60 GW by 2032. Along —Sonal Patel is a senior associate
with plans to decommission 1.4 GW of its coal capacity, it plans editor for POWER.
to blend up to 10% of biomass at its existing coal plants; ex-
plore carbon capture, utilization, and storage at two coal plants; POWER Digest
and reduce its air pollutant emissions from its overall fleet. The New Natural Gas–Fired Plant Approved for Philippines.
company has also notably committed to lead India’s energy ef- San Miguel Consolidated Power Corp. (SMCPC), a wholly
forts on water conservation. Along with furnishing new plants owned subsidiary of SMC Global Power Holdings Corp.,
with ACCs, efforts include adopting higher cycles of concen- said it received environmental approval to build the first phase
tration in circulating water systems, zero-liquid discharge, high of a two-unit, 56-MW natural gas–fired power plant in Zam-
concentrations of slurry disposal, and seawater desalination, boanga City in the Philippines. Total cost of the two-phase
including from flue gas–based systems. project, expected to be completed by September 2024, is
Now that the North Karanpura project is online, NTPC will estimated at about $55 million. SMCPC said the plant would
focus on completing its second ACC installation at the 2.4- help alleviate the power supply delivery and voltage stability
GW Patratu Super Thermal Power Project, which is under con- issues in Zamboanga. The group said it also would contribute
struction in Jharkhand. India’s giant equipment maker BHEL to economic development in the region. “This type of pow-
is serving as the engineering, procurement, and construction er plant helps address sudden fluctuations in the frequency
contractor on that project. and the voltage of the transmission system that are typically
According to Prakash, however, India will need much wider brought about by the intermittent operation of renewable en-
efforts to reduce its thermal power water withdrawals and con- ergy plants, unplanned outages of conventional power plants,
sumption. An estimated 40% of India’s thermal power plants as well as the daily operational cycle of large power consum-
are located in regions with high water stress, Prakash and five ers,” SMCPC said.
other authors note in a recently published paper, “Energy-Wa- Officials Set Operation Date for Second Reactor at Belar-
ter Nexus for Thermal Power Generation in India: Challenges us Nuclear Plant. Viktor Karankevich, energy minister for Be-
and Opportunities.” If the current level of water use by thermal larus, in March said the second unit of his country’s first nuclear
power plants continues and existing water-related regulations power plant could enter commercial operation in October. The
remain unchanged, water withdrawal could grow 4.3 times and minister said the current plan calls for the second of the two
consumption would increase 3.2 times by 2050, they suggest.
The paper studied several approaches to applying ACCs.
One possibility it studied entails an ACC that reduces the tem-
perature of air before entering into the condenser, using vapor
absorption chillers. The paper illustrated its analyses based on
the technology’s hypothetical use at a 300-MW JSW Vijay-
anagar Power Station unit. JSW is a thermal power plant lo-
cated in Toranagallu village in Karnataka state, in south India.
“The temperature and relative humidity of the ambient air have
a significant impact on an ACC’s auxiliary power consumption,”
the paper notes. However, the paper concludes that the use of
an ACC was “not feasible due to the high cooling loads in the
thermal power plants.”
A better alternative may be to use seawater for cooling
thermal power generation, it says. One approach the re-
searchers described entails drawing deep seawater of about
6C, pumping it (at 3 bar pressure) to flow to plant premises.
“First, this cool sea water is used to produce cooling effect
in air conditioning plant by passing through heat exchanger
where it cools the supply chilled water to 10C. The cool sea
water temperature rises from 6C to 14C; and provides a cool-
ing effect of 2,515 kW (nearly 716 Tonnes of refrigeration).”
The condenser cooling water, available at lower temperature
as compared to in-land plants, could lead to a reduction in the
condensing pressure. “Thus, turbine exhaust pressure can be
reduced to 0.05 bar and more power output can be obtained
as compared to in-land plant.”
After passing through the condenser, temperature of the
condenser cooling water would fall to about 26C, readying it
for desalination to provide freshwater and salt as a byproduct,
they said. While the approach is location-constrained—limited
to plants in coastal areas—“India has vast coastal bound-
ary,” the researchers noted. “When compared to conven-
tional inland plants, the electrical equivalent efficiency of the

|
April 2023 POWER
www.powermag.com 11
 GLOBAL MONITOR
Russian-built VVER-1200 reactors at the
site to be connected to the power grid
on a trial basis this month. Karankevich,
at a March meeting of government offi-
cials to discuss the plant, told Belarus’s
Belta news agency, “In April–September,
work will be carried out sequentially to
bring the reactor plant to its nominal ca-
pacity with testing as part of pilot opera-
tion. The readiness for commissioning
of the nuclear power plant as a whole
in accordance with the commissioning
programs is predicted in October 2023.”
Karankevich said the second reactor was
98% ready, and said work “is under way
at the final stage to start a chain reac-
tion and bring the reactor plant to the
minimum controllable level” of 1% of
reactor power. Belarus President Alex-
ander Lukashenko, at the meeting with
Karankevich, said, “The construction of
Belarus’s first nuclear power plant is one
of the biggest and most technologically
advanced projects that we have carried
out together with the Russians.” Unit 1
at the facility came online in November
2020. The VVER-1200 reactors were de-
signed and built by OKB Gidropress, a
Russian state-owned construction group.
Nigeria Food Company Factory Will
be Powered by Solar. Evtec Energy
has signed an agreement with technol-
ogy group MICT to partner on a $150
million solar photovoltaic power plant in
Nigeria. The 110-MW plant, under con-
struction since January of this year, will
power a factory of Tingo Foods, MICT’s
subsidiary in Nigeria. Officials said the
solar farm is expected to be completed
within 18 to 24 months. The food fac-
tory represents an investment of about
$1.6 billion, and was initiated after es-
tablishment of the African Continental
Free Trade Area, or AfCFTA, a program
promoting economic development in
Africa. Tingo officials said they chose
solar to power the facility to minimize
the factory’s environmental impact, and
also to secure a supply of electricity in
an area that has seen blackouts due to
load-shedding along the power grid. “In
addition to the significant environmen-
tal benefits of using on-site renewable
energy to power what is expected to
be the largest food processing plant in
Africa, we will achieve significant sav-
ings in energy costs, improving the
overall margins and profitability of this
extremely exciting and potentially large
business within our group,” said Darren
Mercer, CEO of MICT. Tingo is expected
to sign a power purchase agreement
with Evtec Energy for the electricity pro-
12
duced by the solar farm. Evtec Energy is
expected to receive financial support for
the project from Credit Suisse, JPMor-
gan Chase, and U.S.-based investment
bank Roth Capital Partners.
GE Renewable Energy Supplying
Turbines for Lithuanian Wind Farm. GE
Renewable Energy has been selected
by renewable energy developer and in-
vestor Inikti to supply four onshore wind
turbines for the 18-MW Otada onshore
wind farm in Lithuania. GE in early March
said the project is part of a portfolio that
will bring its installed onshore wind ca-
pacity in Lithuania to about 500 MW by
the end of 2023. The project, with four
5.5-MW GE turbines derated to 4.5
MW, is expected to be completed later
this year. Gilan Sabatier, GE’s chief com-
mercial officer of Onshore Wind Interna-
tional, said, “We’re delighted to start a
partnership with Inikti, and we are thrilled
they’ve selected our technology. We are
also very proud to keep contributing to
the energy transition in Lithuania, a coun-
try which is one of the most attractive
countries in Europe in terms of wind en-
ergy potential.” Aivaras Stumbras, CEO
of Inikti, said, “We are thrilled to have
chosen the partner with one of the most
modern and high-performance wind tur-
bines in the market. We hope that the
beginning of our cooperation with GE
will open up more opportunities for both
companies, not only as a customer, but
also as an installation and service provid-
er.” According to LVEA, Lithuania’s wind
power association, the country is now
approaching 800 MW of installed wind
power capacity. The country has a goal
of reaching 7 GW of installed renewable
energy capacity by 2030.
Oil Major Studying Offshore Wind.
Brazilian state-run oil company Petro-
bras in early March announced company
officials had signed a letter of intent with
Norway’s Equinor to study the feasibil-
ity of seven offshore wind power gener-
ation projects along the Brazilian coast.
Petrobras in a statement said the studies
will assess the technical, economic, and
environmental feasibility of the projects,
which the company said have potential
to generate up to 14.5 GW of electricity.
Petrobras in its statement said the com-
pany plans to spend about $6 billion on
exploration for offshore wind sites over
a five-year period, and said its efforts
would focus primarily in the Equatorial
Margin region off the coast of northern
Brazil. Petrobras said it expects Brazilian
environmental officials will support the
exploration project.
www.powermag.com |
New Solar Farm with Energy Storage
Planned in UK. Local officials have ap-
proved a developer’s plan for a 200-acre
solar farm near Chippenham in the UK,
about 90 miles west of London. Developer
Eden Renewables will build the 50-MW
facility at Forest Gate. The company re-
cently redesigned the project after receiv-
ing feedback from the local community
and area landowners. The solar farm will
use fixed-tilt mounting frames, which are
lower in height than the earlier planned
single-axis tracking mounting frames. The
developer said the installation will focus
on multifunctional land use, with areas set
aside for biodiversity, including trees and
hedgerows that “will provide effective and
immediate screening.” The changes come
amid concerns from local residents about
how the solar farm would impact the ar-
ea’s landscape. The site will include battery
energy storage. Current agricultural uses
of the area will be maintained, including
sheep grazing and beekeeping.
Groups Form Joint Venture for Bel-
gian Offshore Wind. EDF Renewables,
Jan De Nul Group, and Luminus have
formed a partnership to bid for a com-
mercial-scale offshore wind tender for the
first phase of the Princess Elisabeth Zone
in Belgium. The zone is an area identified
by the Belgian government to increase
the country’s domestic renewable elec-
tricity production by up to 3.5 GW. The
International Energy Agency reported Bel-
gium has the sixth-highest potential for
offshore wind generation capacity in the
world. Belgium also is working with other
North Sea countries to develop a com-
bined offshore electricity grid. According
to government data, the country has add-
ed nearly 2.3 GW of offshore wind gen-
eration capacity since 2020.
First Phase of Malawi Solar Plant
Comes Online. Serengeti Energy, an in-
dependent power producer (IPP) in Africa,
in mid-March announced it had commis-
sioned the Nkhotakhota 1 solar plant and
connected the facility to Malawi’s power
grid. The 21-MW plant is the first phase
of a $40 million two-phase project, with
commissioning of the 17-MW second unit
expected soon, according to Serengeti of-
ficials. The IPP said the second phase “has
reached mechanical completion while test-
ing and commissioning is underway.” The
plant when fully operational is expected to
supply up to 7 GWh of electricity annually
for Malawi under a 20-year power purchase
agreement with state-owned Electricity
Supply Commission of Malawi. ■
—Darrell Proctor is a senior associate
editor for POWER.
POWER April 2023

Considerations for Automatic
Filtration of Cooling Tower
Water Systems
Waste reduction and process efficien-
cies are key for companies wanting
smoother operations. As various indus-
tries, including power generation, seek
ways to improve operational efficiency,
cooling water treatment practices also
have evolved to meet the challenge.
Cooling towers remove waste heat,
and cool circulating water, for systems
at power stations (Figure 1), chemical
plants, and oil refineries. With some-
times tens of thousands of gallons of
water per minute flowing through cool-
ing towers continuously, filtration plays
a critical role in keeping systems clean,
efficient, and operational.
Cooling towers constantly cascade
water to scrub airborne contaminants
from the atmosphere and carry them
into the cooling system. These systems
can also be contaminated by water in-
gress, or by entrained solids resulting
from corrosion processes. Many cooling
water towers also incorporate a chemi-
cal treatment regime to combat micro-
biological growth and contamination.
Deposits and other damaging parti-
cles can reduce the efficiency of cooling
system components such as the heat ex-
changer and pipeline equipment. Cooling
water—and other working fluids com-
monly used in coolant streams—must
1. Automatic filtration solutions support con-
tinuous improvement programs for industrial
companies of all types, including power gen-
eration stations. Courtesy: Eaton/Getty Im-
ages
|
April 2023 POWER www.powermag.com
be kept clean to enable effective process
heat removal. Fouling of the heat ex-
changer surface by scale or contamina-
tion reduces energy efficiency and can
adversely impact the performance and
reliability of other cooling system assets.
Automatic Industrial Filtration
Industrial filtration helps to ensure con-
tinuous flow and worry-free operation
for cooling water systems. The market
offers many types of manual and auto-
matic solutions with automatic filtra-
tion, often based on backwashing and
mechanical cleaning technologies. Au-
tomatic filtration has advantages over
manual filtration methods, which can be
labor-intensive in their application. A first
step in determining the filtration need is
to consider the following questions:
■ How much dirt or particulate is being
collected? If the filtration method in
place requires only occasional main-
tenance—if cleaning and changeover
occur every few weeks—an auto-
matic system may not be necessary
(in general, an upstream strainer is the
best choice for noncritical applications
where 50-micron, or smaller, particles
will not adversely impact the process
or equipment). Conversely, if the fil-
tering element loads up quickly or re-
quires frequent manual cleaning, an
automatic system should take priority.
■ What degree of filtration is needed? A
particle size distribution, or PSD, anal-
ysis can determine the size and range
of particles representative of a given
cooling water system. Determining
the particle size range makes it easier
to select a filtration solution for opti-
mal performance and reliability.
■ What is the flowrate? The filtration
solution will need to handle the maxi-
mum flowrate to produce the desired
effect. Filtration rates are commonly
expressed in gallons per minute per
square foot of filter area (gpm/ft2).
Also, will pressure and flow be steady
or variable?
■ How much loss is tolerable? Back-
washing cleans filters to remove
accumulated contaminants. Some
filtration solutions require a consider-
ably greater backwash flow, causing
increased water consumption and
potential media loss. Mechanically
cleaned filters typically do not need
O&M
backflushing and will generate far
less water for disposal.
■ How much space will the system oc-
cupy? Industrial filtration systems vary
greatly in size and profile depending
on the filtration requirement and flow-
rate. It is wise to consult a partner
with experience in designing and in-
stalling customized filtration solutions.
■ How much effort will be required?
Whether the solution for your system
is a high-performance filter, a durable
maintenance-free strainer, or both, in-
vesting time to explore the full range
of options is worth it, as the right in-
dustrial filtration solution can pay divi-
dends for years.
■ What is the return on investment?
The right filtration solution can sig-
nificantly reduce operating expenses
and labor costs while helping compa-
nies abide by regulations and reach
their goals for responsible water con-
sumption and disposal.
Often the approach is to adopt a
multifilter system with enough extra
capacity to handle the process stream
while one or more filters are taken of-
fline for cleaning or replacement. An
alternative approach is a self-cleaning
automatic filter that does not require
downtime for maintenance.
Advantages to
automatic filtration
include reducing
water loss and
energy use,
combating particle
fouling and corrosion,
and increasing
process uptime.
Advantages to automatic filtration
include reducing water loss and en-
ergy use, combating particle fouling
and corrosion, and increasing process
uptime. It also reduces maintenance
demand and extends the life of cool-
ing system components, and aids in
13
 FOCUS ON O&M
achieving industry/environmental com-
pliance measures.
Industrial strainers and filters perform
essentially the same function, but filters
can remove particles of much smaller
size. The general rule is: “If you can’t see
it, you can’t strain it.” This means that par-
ticles down to 0.004 inches (0.1 millime-
ter)—or in other terms, 100 microns, or
150 mesh—can be removed effectively
with an upstream strainer. For anything
smaller, a filter will be necessary.
Regardless of whether a strainer or
filter is used, built-up particles in the fil-
tering element must be periodically re-
moved. Stopping the flow and manually
cleaning the element means the process
must be shut down or the strainer/filter
bypassed during maintenance. As nei-
ther scenario is optimal, this often be-
gins the search for a self-cleaning filter.
There are two standard automatic filtra-
tion designs: automatic backwashing
and mechanically cleaned filters.
Automatic backwashing systems ac-
complish cleaning through an integral
backwash function that provides an un-
interrupted flow. These commonly use
a rotating hollow internal arm to collect
debris deposited on the filter media. As
trapped particles build up, the pressure
drop through the filter increases until it
reaches a predetermined value at which
point a valve is opened, allowing fluid
and accumulated debris to exit through
the rotating arm.
Upstream Strainers Support
Efficient Filtration
An upstream strainer can also be a valu-
able addition to any cooling water tower
filtration system. Coarse upstream filtra-
tion provides protection for pumps and
for more delicate downstream filters by
removing large unwanted solids from
the cooling stream. Often, this solution
will pay for itself in terms of extended
filter element life, less downtime, and
reduced maintenance need.
Automatic backwashing filters are also
self-correcting during and after upsets.
During upset conditions, the filter will
start to backwash continuously. Once
the process returns to normal, backwash
interval times will also normalize. Clean-
ing frequency can be based on time, dif-
ferential pressure, manual selection, or
other application-specific criteria.
Typically, this type of filter is used
to remove particles larger than 50 mi-
crons and can handle debris loads of
about 200 parts per million (ppm). Au-
tomatic filters are best used in high-
14
2. In this automatic backwashing filtration
example, incoming flow passes through the
inner cylinder. Particles collect on the inside
surface of the screen chamber while filtered
liquids flow down and out of the chamber.
The backwashing phase is set to activate on
a timed cycle with a differential pressure over-
ride. Courtesy: Eaton
volume situations where fluid losses
up to 5% of total flow during cleaning
are acceptable.
The second automatic filtration de-
sign option uses a mechanical cleaning
disc to scrape accumulated debris off
the filtering media (Figure 2). Typically,
a pre-timed cleaning cycle helps to en-
sure a stable run of flow. Additionally,
should trapped debris increase the pres-
sure drop across the filter (thus creat-
ing an upset condition) the scraper can
be actuated at a predetermined value
(note that a reliable differential pressure
override function is critical to any well-
functioning filtration system). Debris
is then deposited at the bottom of the
filter housing where it can be removed
without interrupting the flow through
the filter.
This cleaning action makes mechani-
cal cleaning filters (Figure 3) suitable
for removing particles larger than 25
microns in diameter. Some of these
filters are able to handle higher debris
loads and more frequent purge cycles
than conventional automatic filters.
Most also use only a small amount of
filtered liquid to carry away and dis-
pose of the debris.
Note that either a strainer or a filter
creates a pressure drop and also a flow
restriction. Both factors must be ac-
counted for when designing the system.
Adding either as an afterthought may
require upsizing pumps to maintain ad-
equate flow volume and pressure.
www.powermag.com |
3. In this mechanical cleaning filtration ex-
ample, a cleaning disc is used to remove
contaminants from the filter element. Com-
pressed air at the top and bottom of the cen-
ter column is used to drive a magnet block
within the tube to which the cleaning disc is
magnetically coupled. As the magnet moves,
the disc is drawn along in close contact with
the filter media. This scraping action supports
a thorough cleaning cycle as debris is collect-
ed at the bottom of the unit. The low volume
discharged versus the volume of fluid treated
also helps reduce product waste. Courtesy:
Eaton
When to Use Bag or Cartridge
Filters
Where even finer filtration is required,
bag or cartridge filters can be considered
down the line. Bag or cartridge filters
use disposable media, which allows for
finer retentions and particulate removal.
A choice needs to be made between a
simplex system, where the filtration pro-
cess is interrupted when exchanging the
filter, or to avoid this by opting for a du-
plex or run-and-standby system. This mul-
tiple filter housing configuration can allow
continuous filtration allowing one side
to be cleaned while the other is being
maintained. Bag or cartridge systems will
require regular maintenance and system
designers must also consider the cost of
the consumables’ purchase and disposal.
Choosing the optimal industrial filtra-
tion solution is rarely a simple process.
There are many factors and approaches
to consider, and even facilities with
similar functions can have significantly
different design requirements including
the need for chemical or biological treat-
ment. The prudent path is to discuss
process requirements with a knowledge-
able expert or solutions provider and to
involve them early in the design stages,
which helps to spot challenges and op-
portunities that may not be obvious to
the untrained eye.
Automatic filtration can substantially
reduce entrained solids and potential de-
posits, improving cooling water system
operating efficiency. Installing an auto-
POWER April 2023

matic self-cleaning filter in a cooling wa-
ter system, for example, can protect heat
exchangers, pumps, valves and spray noz-
zles, while continuously removing particu-
lates and providing continuous flow, even
while the system is being backwashed.
—Ulrich Latz is global product manager,
Industrial Filtration, for Eaton
Technologies GmbH in Nettersheim,
Germany. Wim Callaert is senior product
manager for Eaton Technologies GmbH
in Sint-Niklaas, Belgium. Learn more
at eaton.com/filtration.
Cameras Are an Important
Security Tool for Power
Plants and Substations
Physical security of plants and substa-
tions has become a real concern for
power companies. In an interview with
NPR, Puesh Kumar, director of the U.S.
Energy Department’s Office of Cyberse-
curity, Energy, Security, and Emergency
Response, noted that there are more
than 3,000 electric utilities in the U.S.
operating more than 75,000 electric sub-
stations across the country. Additionally,
the U.S. Energy Information Administra-
tion lists 10,865 power plants in the U.S.,
|
April 2023 POWER www.powermag.com
all of which require some sort of secu-
rity. Protecting all of these sites is no
small task.
And recent incidents have proven that
protection is necessary. Three substa-
tions near Tacoma, Washington, were
damaged by vandals on Christmas Day
last year, causing more than 14,000 out-
ages on the Tacoma Power and Puget
Sound Energy systems. Earlier that
month, a firearms attack on a couple of
North Carolina substations knocked out
power to about 45,000 Duke Energy
customers. These events bring to light
the vulnerability that exists, and sug-
gest a risk-based approach to protecting
sites is warranted.
“What are those measures that would
actually buy down the risk?” Kumar
asked. He noted answering the ques-
tion often requires looking at the specific
equipment and geographic locations of
sites. It’s also important to evaluate all of
your security options.
Cameras and Monitoring Systems
Surveillance cameras offer a proven so-
lution for some locations. Cameras are
known to work, not only at power sta-
tions, but also at other facilities. The
FOCUS ON O&M
experience of American Iron and Metal
(AIM) provides one example of success.
With the price of metal skyrocketing
in recent years, AIM, a global recycling
and manufacturing company, became
an attractive target for petty thieves
and some organized gangs. “We’re in
an industry most people would view as
trash,” Guy Ouellet, the company’s di-
rector of Corporate Security, said, “but
scrap metal and other materials are
worth a lot of money and that attracts
all kinds of criminal elements.”
Rather than leave its more than 200 fa-
cilities to manage security on their own,
Ouellet wanted to centralize video moni-
toring of all AIM assets around the world.
“For that I needed to standardize the
equipment and software to ensure image
quality and our ability to scale the solution
as our companies grow,” he explained.
Ouellet approached Securmax, a
Montreal, Canada–based security sys-
tems integrator with 25 years of industry
experience, to help build an enterprise-
level security solution that could easily
adapt to the individual challenges facing
each site. Yan Bujold, vice president of
Sales for Securmax, suggested AIM de-
ploy more than 1,000 Axis pan-tilt-zoom,
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15
 FOCUS ON O&M
4. The AXIS P1468-XLE is a robust, impact-
and weather-resistant fixed camera that deliv-
ers excellent image quality in 4K resolution
under any light conditions. It is the world’s
first explosion-protected camera specifi-
cally designed to meet North American and
European directives for equipment intended
for use in potentially explosive atmospheres,
that is, Zone and Division 2 hazardous loca-
tions. Courtesy: Axis Communications
multi-directional and panoramic cameras
(Figure 4), as well as horn speakers, to
its facilities around the world. “I recom-
mended Axis cameras because, for me,
they’re the best cameras on the market,”
Bujold said.
“Before we install equipment at a site,
we look at crime statistics and other data
to help with our risk assessment,” Ouel-
let noted. “Estimating the likelihood of
problems coming from outside our walls
or from our own employees impacts
how we adapt our security solution to
that location.”
Now, AIM’s corporate security team
centrally manages the networked secu-
rity solution through a Genetec Security
Center video management system at
corporate headquarters. Among other
things, Securmax also equipped AIM’s
Montreal guards with Axis body-worn
cameras to document random searches
of employees for pilfering, and to mini-
mize wait times for truckers delivering
scrap metal, they installed 2N intercoms
at the yard gates in Montreal and Laval.
Analytics Provide a Solid Return
on Investment
AIM credits the Axis cameras with help-
ing the company make six to eight ar-
rests every week and recoup about $3.5
million a year. “I’m not telling you that
we catch every incident, but currently
we’re recouping our investment thanks
to our more advanced Axis security sys-
tem,” Ouellet reported.
Because AIM precisely tuned the in-
16
camera analytics to filter out things like
background traffic on a busy boulevard,
they’ve reduced false alarms from about
74,000 a day to a more manageable
38,000. The addition of Axis horn speak-
ers to properties has enabled AIM facili-
ties to stop potential trespassers before
they gain access. The cameras have also
improved site safety, enabling remote
security staff to distinguish between
simple water vapor emanating from a
shredder or black smoke indicative of a
malfunction or potential fire.
“We’re always pushing our Axis sys-
tem to the limit,” said Ouellet, “but it’s
the onboard analytics that make it possi-
ble for my corporate security staff to suc-
cessfully manage our globally integrated
security solution.”
AIM currently relies on two edge-
based analytics: AXIS Motion Guard and
AXIS Fence Guard. The company uses
motion guard to detect suspicious ac-
tivity in specific areas, especially after
hours. Because the analytic can be con-
figured to ignore ordinary background
motion like headlights, swaying foliage,
and small objects, it greatly reduces
false alarms. Ouellet’s team can pro-
gram the cameras to automatically play
a warning message from the Axis horn
speakers or turn on flood lights to scare
off intruders while sending emails and
live video streams to corporate security
so they can take action.
Having smart edge-based analytics are
what make the centralized security solution
feasible to manage.
With the addition of fence guard, the
camera can send an alert to security as a
suspicious person or vehicle approaches
a predefined virtual line such as a fenced-
in area. The perspective setting allows
the camera to focus on farther away ac-
tivity while ignoring foreground things
like foliage and animals.
While Ouellet applauds the clarity of
the cameras, having smart edge-based
analytics are what make the central-
ized security solution feasible to man-
age. “It would be impossible for our
small security department to monitor
all these cameras without analytics,”
Ouellet acknowledged.
Keeping an Eye on Everything
Ouellet is always looking for ways to
use technology to outsmart potential
www.powermag.com |
thieves. For instance, he installed ultra-
quiet, multi-directional Axis Q-line cam-
eras with black shadow lenses so that
suspects can’t see which way the lens
is pointing. “If the thief knows when the
lens is pointing away from him, he can
tell his partners when it’s safe to jump
the fence,” said Ouellet. “Why make it
easy for them?”
The Axis cameras and horn speakers
have become standard tools for enforc-
ing health and safety protocols through-
out the corporation as well. Among other
things, the system helps deter employees
from smoking in no-smoking areas and al-
lows site managers to see whether em-
ployees are following correct procedures
while operating front loaders. Because
some recycling facilities accumulate big
piles of flammable material, AIM installed
Axis thermal temperature alarm cameras
to remotely monitor temperatures and
alert staff to intercede and prevent fires in
the case of rising temperatures.
AIM plans to institute a network of
Axis horn speakers at its Montreal site.
“If we have a fire alarm, we will be able
to broadcast messages to the employ-
ees in a specific building or all the build-
ings on the entire site, if necessary,”
explained Ouellet.
Ouellet’s next goal is to mount Axis
cameras onto drones to expand sur-
veillance at massive properties such as
the 139-acre site that AIM operates in
the Arizona desert. “Because these are
large areas with no fence line, we tend
to get people motorbiking or riding
four-wheelers onto the property who
have no idea they are on private land,”
Ouellet said. He plans to take advan-
tage of the audio capabilities that are
built into some of the Axis cameras to
swoop down on trespassers and warn
them off.
“I think the future is technology,”
Ouellet said. Furthermore, he suggest-
ed working with a partner such as Axis
to influence the types of new systems
they embed on their cameras and other
devices is key to improving safety and
security. ■
—Sophie LaPlante is business development
manager, Cities – Canada with
Axis Communications.
POWER April 2023
 LEGAL & REGULATORY
CEQ’s New Guidance on
NEPA Reviews for Clean
Energy Projects
John L. Watson
T
he Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) earlier this
year published its updated “Guidance on Consideration of
Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Climate Change,” a docu-
ment for the assessment and disclosure of climate impacts
related to federal agency environmental reviews conducted
pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The
NEPA review focus is federal agency permitting for clean energy
and other infrastructure projects. It is theoretically designed to pro-
vide more clarity and predictability for agency reviews.
Although federal agencies are the authors of an environmental
impact statement (EIS), environmental analysis (EA), and NEPA-re-
lated decision documents, project proponents provide the underly-
ing environmental monitoring and other data that goes into the
agency process. This new guidance provides a detailed, and more
expansive, roadmap to help project proponents gather that data.
Other than the statutory authority to promulgate system-
wide NEPA-related rules, the CEQ has no agency-specific rule-
making authority. The guidance is not a rule or regulation and
does not apply to any particular project. Rather, it outlines what
agencies (and thus project proponents) should be analyzing in
terms of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate-resil-
ient design issues under the respective agency’s substantive
purview. As such, the guidance is designed to supplement
CEQ’s rules implementing NEPA.
Social Costs and Net Zero
The guidance in part addresses the appropriate use of an esti-
mate of the social cost of GHGs to disclose climate impacts.
Focusing on the Biden administration’s goal of reaching “net-
zero” carbon emissions by 2050, the CEQ provides specific
recommendations for renewable and low-GHG projects that
are designed to keep agency reviews more focused, and to
make projects more climate-smart and resilient. The guidance
replaces the 2016 emissions guidance that had been with-
drawn by the Trump administration. It specifically:
■ Updates the 2016 guidance considering science, case law,
and the climate crisis.
■ Emphasizes a “rule of reason” suggesting that the depth
of the agency analysis should be proportional to a project’s
impacts. It clarifies that projects that will reduce GHG emis-
sions can have less-detailed GHG emissions analysis.
■ Clarifies best practices including the need to quantify indi-
rect emissions, ostensibly to help projects avoid legal set-
backs and provide better transparency.
■ Recommends best practices for communicating climate
impacts, such as by noting relevant climate action commit-
ments and goals, and using the social cost of GHGs to gen-
erate monetary estimates of climate impacts.
■ Recommends that agencies mitigate GHG emissions to the
greatest extent possible.
■ Advances environmental justice by encouraging agencies
|
April 2023 POWER
www.powermag.com
to meaningfully engage with affected communities and ad-
dress environmental justice considerations.
■ Supports broad scale or programmatic approaches that can
make later reviews more efficient.
Consistent with CEQ’s NEPA implementing regulations, the
guidance tries to ensure that agencies evaluate reasonable al-
ternatives and mitigation measures that could avoid or reduce
potential climate change-related effects. Thus, NEPA reviews
should quantify proposed actions’ GHG emissions; place GHG
emissions in the appropriate context and disclose relevant GHG
emissions and relevant climate impacts; and identify alternatives
and mitigation measures to avoid or reduce GHG emissions.
Direct, Indirect, and Cumulative Effects
NEPA requires agencies to consider the reasonably foreseeable
direct and indirect effects of their proposed actions, and in addi-
tion to the no-action alternative, to focus on reasonable alterna-
tives. The term “direct effects” refers to reasonably foreseeable
effects that occur at the same time and place. The term “indirect
effects” refers to effects that are later in time or farther removed
in distance but that are still “reasonably foreseeable.”
“Cumulative effects” result from incremental effects when
added to the effects of other past, present, and reasonably
foreseeable actions regardless of what agency (federal or non-
federal) or person undertakes the actions. Thus, an agency will
consider the proposed action in the context of the emissions
from past, present, and reasonably foreseeable actions.
The CEQ references the environmental justice strategies re-
quired by Executive Orders 12898 (Federal Actions to Address
Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income
Populations) executed by President Clinton in 1994, and 14008
(Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad) executed by
President Biden in 2021. Federal agencies will identify any com-
munities impacted by the proposed action and consider how im-
pacts could amplify climate change-related hazards such as storm
surge, heat waves, drought, flooding, and sea level change.
The CEQ also references Executive Order 13985 (Advanc-
ing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities
Through the Federal Government) executed by President Biden
in 2021, which calls for advancing equity for underserved popu-
lations including rural communities and persons with disabili-
ties. Project proponents will be hand-in-glove with agencies
as they engage with affected communities and consider the
effects of climate change on vulnerable communities in design-
ing the action or selection of alternatives.
The CEQ guidance has enjoyed a tortured history of varia-
tions from administration to administration, but for the fore-
seeable future, this guidance forces proponents to consider a
broader range of “reasonable” alternatives and emphasizes the
“social costs” of a project and its cumulative impacts. ■
—John L. Watson (jwatson@spencerfane.com) is
of counsel with Spencer Fane LLP.
17
 GAS POWER
Optimizing Combined Cycle
Power Plant Operations
Cogentrix Energy and Siemens Energy have partnered to optimize 8000H-class gas
turbine reliability and outage planning. Under Cogentrix’s management, the Patriot
site successfully upgraded one of its combustion turbine rotors in 2021, and the
Liberty plant achieved a continuous operations record for H-class 60-Hz machines
at 206 days.
Mike Straubmuller
P
atriot and Liberty (together known
as the “Hamilton” portfolio) are
two natural gas–fired combined
cycle projects in Pennsylvania. Both
projects utilize Siemens Energy’s world-
class 8000H technology and started
commercial operations in 2016. Cogen-
trix took over management of the facili-
ties from previous owners in June 2020,
and the operational performance of both
plants has improved significantly since
that time.
Cogentrix is a private independent
power producer that provides best-in-
class technical, operational, financial,
and commercial capabilities. Cogentrix
has 40 years of experience operating
combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) pow-
er plants, including many equipped with
Siemens Energy’s technology. Today, Co-
gentrix operates a diverse fleet of natural
gas-fired projects with more than 9 GW
of capacity spread across the PJM Inter-
connection, ISO-New England, Electric
Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), and
SERC Reliability Corporation markets.
Cogentrix operational excellence is ex-
emplified by its CCGT fleet’s low Equiv-
alent Forced Outage Rate – demand
(EFORd) figures of 0.52% in 2020 and
1.01% in 2021, which compare favor-
ably with the North American Electric
18
Reliability Corporation (NERC) averages
of 4.26% and 5.07% in the same peri-
ods. In 2022, Patriot and Liberty had a
combined EFORd of less than 0.4%,
representing the best year of operations
under Cogentrix management.
Plant Designs
The Patriot (shown above) and Liberty
plants each consist of two units, each a
single-shaft clutched configuration, two
Siemens Energy SGT6-8000H combus-
tion turbines (CTs) with dry-low-NOx
combustors and evaporative coolers.
Each combustion and steam turbine
combination is connected to a 462-MVA,
23-kV generator equipped with a static
excitation system. The steam turbine
generators are two Siemens Energy
SST6-5000 tandem-compound reheat
type with cooling provided by air-cooled
condensers. The heat recovery steam
generators are two Vogt, three-pressure-
level with superheat and reheat systems,
and supplemental duct firing capabilities.
Both plants utilize 100% reverse os-
mosis/electro-deionization trains with ul-
trafiltration (UF) pre-filters and chemical
treatment. The water treatment systems
at both plants include a 635,000-gallon
storage tank for feedwater and the fire sys-
tems. Wastewater systems at both plants
are served by the local municipal system.
www.powermag.com |
Courtesy: Cogentrix Energy
Emergency diesel generators (EDGs)
are 1,000 kW connected to two essen-
tial services motor control centers. The
Siemens Energy SGT6-8000H turbines
short startup times, low heat rate, and
high operational flexibility help achieve
long and sustained run-times. In fact,
Cogentrix was able to achieve a 206-con-
secutive-day run time record at Liberty,
which is considered the longest of a Sie-
mens Energy SGT6-8000H unit. Modern
blade design and optimized packaging
promote high reliability while keeping op-
erations and maintenance (O&M) costs
and outage risk low.
Operational Improvements
Cogentrix has a very strong relationship
with Siemens Energy, which manufac-
tured the SGT6-8000H units and provides
maintenance services under long-term
service agreements (LTSAs). Together,
Cogentrix and Siemens Energy were
able to reduce ongoing maintenance
costs while incorporating financially
beneficial performance upgrades for the
gas turbines, including planned rotor up-
grades at both Liberty and Patriot.
Cogentrix has a strong track record
of improving plant performance and
embedding a reliability-focused mainte-
nance philosophy to ensure sustained
performance. As previously mentioned,
POWER April 2023

1. Ten members of the current Patriot plant
team, including General Manager Sean Davis
(far right), are standing near the units. Cour-
tesy: Cogentrix Energy
the company took over operations of
Hamilton in June 2020. Prior to Cogen-
trix assuming operations, the facilities
had struggled to implement techni-
cal advancements/enhancements for
power and reliability. When Cogentrix
stepped in, it was able to collaborate
with Siemens Energy and other original
equipment manufacturers to modernize
the facilities.
Cogentrix utilizes an operations model
developed from industry best practices
to perform an overall plant operations
management assessment. This was
completed by September 2020 and the
team implemented short-term changes
to staff and responsibilities (Figures 1
and 2). In late fall 2020 and into 2021,
the team had a very busy outage sea-
son across the four turbines, which in-
volved three hot-gas-path inspections,
one unit upgrade that included a CT rotor
exchange for outage duration efficiency,
and steam turbine and steam turbine
generator inspections.
Operational Excellence with Focus on
Safety and Training
Initially, the Hamilton project’s opera-
tions team experienced operational
bumps in the road and did not use the
experiences at both facilities to grow.
After Cogentrix stepped in as O&M and
asset manager, the Cogentrix fleetwide
operations model was utilized to im-
prove human error prevention and reli-
ability. The sites implemented human
error prevention training, work manage-
ment and process implementation, bud-
get development, and an environmental
stewardship program.
|
April 2023 POWER
www.powermag.com
Operating procedures were in place
prior to Cogentrix, but did not take ad-
vantage of lessons learned between the
two facilities that are identical and lo-
cated in close proximity to one another.
Areas that differed between the facilities
included: emissions response, steam
turbine heat up from cold start, and iden-
tified key plant parameters.
Cogentrix partnered with a human
performance improvement specialist to
provide Human Performance Initiative
training to all personnel in leadership po-
sitions. The process includes utilization
of error trap identification techniques and
tools to mitigate human performance er-
rors. The training was recorded, and then
the initiative was implemented across
the fleet at all levels in the plant. Human
performance improvement tools have
been integrated into each activity and
use of these tools brings critical thinking
and a broader perspective into every-
thing Cogentrix personnel do.
The development of the Hamilton
operations model and code of conduct
has added a great deal of value to the
qualification and training process for all
levels of the operations team. These
two programs and the work of the oper-
ations managers has improved consis-
tency across the two plants and opened
communications between the opera-
tions teams.
The qualification program at both fa-
cilities initially relied heavily on Siemens
Energy and vendor training provided dur-
ing the construction and commissioning
of the facilities. Staff turnover and pro-
motions required this thought process to
be challenged and improved to include
formal qualification processes for each of
the three operations roles in addition to
Siemens Energy training. All operations
personnel were required to retrain up to
their current position and complete any
upgrades that may have been overlooked
by the original process.
This model of training has and will en-
sure that both facilities maintain a highly
functional, dynamic operations team. The
operations qualification process concept
has begun to grow to include potential
training for the maintenance team as
well. Previously, maintenance personnel
were limited to attending vendor specif-
ic training or occasional in-house train-
ing but rarely anything that developed
the more advanced skills a plant of this
technology required. Additional planning
is taking shape for the mechanical and
ICE (instrumentation, controls, and elec-
trical) training program that will broaden
GAS POWER
the capabilities of these employees and
the Hamilton maintenance group as a
whole, including specialized training on
the latest technology.
Both facilities continue to use employ-
ee driven safety committees to identify,
document, and address safety concerns.
Safety ideas and improvements can be
shared more freely under the new Ham-
ilton portfolio format and the EHS (envi-
ronmental, health, and safety) manager
conducts cross facility safety meetings
with key employees to help foster this
practice. A centralized Cogentrix “Obser-
vation” database provides a tool to look
for behavior/site indicators that enable
safety incidents. Site housekeeping stan-
dards have been improved and Cogentrix
leadership provided a new perspective
on the importance of properly maintain-
ing the facilities and how that translates
into the Cogentrix safety culture.
Building a Collaborative Culture and
Improving Outage Performance
When Cogentrix took over control of the
facilities, they were renamed Hamilton
Patriot and Hamilton Liberty. This was
the first step toward creating a collab-
orative culture among both facilities that
was missing. Since then, Cogentrix has
actively sought to encourage teamwork
between the sister facilities, which has
yielded great results.
The operations managers from both
Hamilton facilities developed a compre-
hensive support structure that fostered
the exchange of information between
the plants and coordinated the train-
ing process through regular calls and
meetings. The maintenance managers
have undertaken a similar process to
help share lessons learned from both
outage and routine maintenance prac-
tices. These discussions and meetings
have resulted in savings in the form of
more competitive pricing structures
when negotiating as a team as well
2. Twelve members of the current Liberty
plant team, including General Manager Brian
Zechman (front row, third from the left), are
standing near the units. Courtesy: Cogentrix
Energy
19
 GAS POWER
3. The Liberty plant’s historical capacity factor, heat rate, Equivalent
Forced Outage Rate – demand (EFORd%), and Equivalent Availability
Factor (EAF) data from 2016 through 2022 is shown here. Courtesy:
Cogentrix Energy
4. The Patriot plant’s historical capacity factor, heat rate, EFORd%,
and EAF data from 2016 through 2022 is shown here. Capacity factor
and EAF were negatively impacted by a planned outage in the second
quarter 2021, during which a hot-gas-path inspection and Unit 10 up-
rate were conducted. Courtesy: Cogentrix Energy
as becoming more unified in the projects that each facility
chooses to pursue.
Outage performance improvement was a top Cogentrix prior-
ity. The fall 2020 outage on Liberty 10 was difficult for the team
as this was the first integrated large-scale outage for the sites.
This first large outage event was a hot-gas-path inspection that
led to numerous lessons learned. These lessons were shared
and leveraged, not just for the subsequent outage at Liberty 20,
but also at Patriot among both teams and contractors.
The team improved significantly from these events. Prior
to the start of the spring 2021 outages, Cogentrix manage-
ment reviewed all lessons learned with the operating teams,
integrated the Siemens Energy input through its Total Main-
tenance Service (TMS) assessment process, and redesigned
the outage execution structure as well as schedule adherence
expectations. Cogentrix promoted two new general managers
(previously the operations and maintenance managers) from
within the organization, leveraging the strengths of each to
gain buy-in on new processes. They worked together to imple-
ment the transition from the two sites working independently
to being fully integrated.
The two sites, which previously had few common lessons
learned, idea sharing, and support mechanisms, now have
three shared positions, meet regularly, share metrics and
goals, and leverage subject matter experts (SMEs) within their
groups. Cogentrix incorporated industry best practices and
fleetwide recommendations, and adopted practices to prevent
similar issues in subsequent outages. This was done in rapid
turnaround with a few months between the end of the first
20 www.powermag.com |
outage and the start of the remaining three. Other integrated
staff changes included:
■ Following the purchase of the Hamilton assets, the role of the
maintenance planner at each site was redefined with clearer
expectations related to outage preparation and execution.
■ The roles of the Hamilton portfolio engineer and EHS man-
ager were modified to better ensure that all safety, envi-
ronmental, and compliance reporting and training were
performed to the necessary standards and timeline.
■ The storeroom lead position became a shared role as well,
with the goal of bringing consistency across the portfolio
along with improving efficiency by having the two identical
facilities purchase and share high-dollar critical spare parts.
■ A Siemens Energy resident engineer was added. The position
shares time between both locations and is integral to day-to-
day operations, issue resolution, and outage planning.
Other measures have led to further improvement in outage
performance. For example, building on the Cogentrix relation-
ship with Siemens Energy has been a key focus area to be
able to optimize performance and outage management for the
STG6-8000H units. Following the first hot-gas-path inspection,
Cogentrix and Siemens Energy were able to take the lessons
learned and reduce future outage durations. The majority of the
improvements came from the better integration of site respon-
sibilities and Siemens Energy work scopes.
Plant personnel also placed additional emphasis on commu-
nications of scheduled activity durations and activity handoffs
for all on-site efforts, as well as impacts of various items to
overall outage duration. This earlier tracking led to productive
conversations and resource reallocation, as required.
Outage templates were developed utilizing the strengths
of the planners from both locations and contractor expecta-
tions were more clearly defined. A “point-of-contact” role was
defined, with expectations around how contract work is man-
aged and how each job is turned back to operations. Job plan
templates were developed to capture job procedures, contrac-
tor needs, parts needs, lockout/tagout needs, and turnover
requirements. Additionally, outage jobs were assigned to op-
erations and maintenance personnel for the development of
these job plans.
As a result of these changes, outage durations have de-
creased and completion of scope has increased to include
things like valve work, scaffold execution, and flow-accelerated
corrosion high-energy pipe repairs. The operations and main-
tenance teams at both facilities are now working together on
all aspects of plant maintenance and operational performance.
Cogentrix Long-Term Planning
In the Cogentrix operating model, the plant general manager is
a key component for financial planning. Initially, the staff was
not prepared to incorporate long-term capital improvements
that integrated into the Siemens Energy recommended main-
tenance events. The new general managers learned the pro-
cesses to build their budgets to align with Cogentrix corporate
financial planning and ensure plant reliability. These philosophi-
cal changes don’t happen overnight and the staff continues
to grow their skills using the financial planning tools and by
leveraging the new communication channels that have been
opened between the two facilities to maximize cost savings
and ensure long-term maintenance plans are supported for the
life of the plant.
POWER April 2023

Cogentrix has a longstanding and
highly constructive relationship with Sie-
mens Energy, including several plants
that utilize Siemens Energy technology
and are serviced under Siemens Energy
LTSAs. Cogentrix was able to collaborate
with Siemens Energy to restructure the
Hamilton LTSAs and better define both
routine maintenance and unit upgrade
opportunities. The Patriot 10 rotor up-
grade was the first under the new agree-
ment and yielded a 30-MW improvement
in unit output. This rotor exchange and
unit upgrade was completed in the
spring of 2021. The remaining Hamilton
units are scheduled for the same rotor
exchange and upgrade in 2025 and 2026.
In addition to the unit maintenance
and improvement support, the restruc-
tured LTSAs extended the commitment
of the Siemens Energy resident engi-
neer. This position has proven to be a
valuable communication tool between
Cogentrix, Patriot, Liberty, and Siemens
Energy. The resident engineer shares
time between the two facilities and can
respond to issues on-site with the full
resources of Siemens Energy, including
platform owners, engineers, and other
specialist employees, who are the SMEs
for these advanced machines.
Through the LTSAs, the Hamilton fa-
cilities continue to have full access to the
Siemens Energy district service team,
sales staff, and PDC group to ensure
that all the engines in the portfolio are
running reliably and meeting their design
output. The plants are also involved with
the Siemens Energy Alpharetta group
for support of the T3000 distributed con-
trol systems (DCSs) and have recently
entered a long-term Customer Service
Agreement that includes a DCS upgrade
to the latest version of the popular op-
erating system in 2024. This agreement
provides the team with 24-hour support
and access to Siemens Energy’s controls
system experts, similar to the level of
support provided by the LTSAs. The rela-
tionship between the Hamilton portfolio
and Siemens Energy has grown steadily
to become an important partnership on
key topics including training, O&M, and
capital improvements.
Improved and Sustained Performance
In addition to taking over O&M and as-
set management responsibilities, the Co-
gentrix team also took over all aspects of
commercial management for the Hamilton
portfolio. This includes daily power and gas
scheduling, hedging, capacity supply obli-
gation management, and risk monitoring.
|
April 2023 POWER
www.powermag.com
GAS POWER
Since Cogentrix assumed its O&M
and energy management responsi-
bilities, the plants have consistently TOTAL
achieved capacity factors near 90% (Fig- THE RMAL POWE R
ures 3 and 4) and have seen a significant
T R ANS FO RMATIO N
improvement in financial performance.
General Managers Sean Davis (Patriot)
and Brian Zechman (Liberty) have been PRAGMATIC
at the forefront of these efforts and are
extremely proud of their teams and the SOLUTIONS,
work that has been completed in just a
few short years.
“Our team has grown in respect and
PROFITABLE
trust of one another,” Zechman said.
“Mutual respect and trust are two key in-
RESULTS
gredients in enabling our team to achieve
goals aligned to a vision that moves us
forward together and yields success.”
We work with thermal
Building trust is also a key element in
power plants worldwide
the Cogentrix model. The team extends
to provide:
beyond the plant fence lines, and the
company believes employees need to • Total Asset Performance
see that in order to gain trust in the goals • Obsolescence Management
and expectations established. Cogen- • Owner Representation
trix employees are encouraged to bring • Engineering &
ideas to the table, and the company Technical Services
trusts them to have the capabilities and C
know-how to achieve measurable perfor-
M
mance improvements. The general man-
agers work to empower their employees Y
SINCE 2016, WE'VE:
to follow through on ideas with innova- CM
tive solutions as well as simple fixes to
MY
DELIVERED
long-term problems. This has fostered a
long track record of internal promotions CY
$170 MILLION
at the plant and corporate levels. in Life-Cycle Cost Savings to
Gas-Fired Power Plants
CMY
“Cogentrix has provided the Hamilton
facilities with resources not previously K
available. These resources have included SECURED
engineering, field support, and additional $135 MILLION
financing that has allowed both facilities in Savings for Long-Term
to address equipment issues and pur- Service Agreements
sue both safety and reliability improve-
ments,” said Davis.
The Cogentrix team has completed
many milestones since 2020. The in-
tegration of the plant staff, process re-
views and implementation, and changes
in overall operations philosophy have
changed the day-to-day routines of all
the site employees. These efforts have
helped the Hamilton portfolio achieve
industry-leading operating and reliability
metrics over the past several years.
“I believe both Liberty and Patriot are
on course to establishing themselves as
the fleet leaders within Cogentrix and
well-positioned to challenge others with-
in the industry on safety, reliability, and 2020 COMPANY 
performance,” said Davis. ■ OF THE YEAR
—Mike Straubmuller is vice president of
Operations with Cogentrix Energy Power Start Now with a Free Consultation
Management LLC. Several members of the STPowerServices.com
Hamilton team contributed to this article.
21
 GAS POWER
Gas Power Outlook:
Gas Turbines Will Play a
Vital Role in Decarbonization
Natural gas–fired power generation has seen its ups and downs over the past couple
of decades. In some cases, highly efficient combined cycle units were taken offline
because they just weren’t needed. But the future looks bright. As coal-fired plants
are retired, gas-fired plants will often be needed to take their place.
S. Can Gülen
O
n a cold and dreary October day
in 2013, I paid a visit to the Ul-
rich Hartmann Combined Cycle
Power Plant in Ingolstadt, Germany.
At that time, the plant was owned by
E.ON and in commercial operation
since 2011. Based on Siemens Energy’s
SGT5-8000H gas turbine, the plant was
the first one to break the 60% net LHV
(lower heating value) efficiency barrier.
On the day of my visit, at 10C ambient
temperature, the monitors in the opera-
tor room indicated 540 MW net output at
60.3% efficiency.
Several years later, when I was writing
my book on gas turbine combined cycles
(CRC Press, 2019), the plant, now owned
by Uniper and renamed Irsching Unit 4,
was in “cold standby,” that is, one step
removed from being completely “moth-
balled.” (Even at the time when I visited
the power plant in the fall of 2013, the
plant was averaging only one-fifth of its
planned capacity.) Apparently, the gener-
ation from coal and renewables (mostly
wind from what I could see) was such
that there was really not much need for
power from a plant (even a world-record-
holding one at that!) burning very expen-
sive natural gas imported from Russia.
Today, Irsching Unit 4 is fully opera-
tional and running in support of the wind
generation and at baseload as needed
(except for a 32-hour period in January
due to a leak). According to information
received by Industrial Info Resources
Inc. (IIR), in spite of the ongoing conflict
in Ukraine, the plant has enough gas to
operate at least until the end of the year.
When I was driving from Aachen to
Frankfurt in late November last year, I
passed by a coal-fired power station go-
ing (apparently) full blast with the plumes
from the two natural draft cooling tow-
ers covering the sky. On the other side
22
of the Autobahn, a few lonely wind tur-
bines with their slowly turning blades
highlighted the contrast in Germany’s
generation portfolio (see Figure 1 depict-
ing the situation last November). With
an aggregated carbon footprint of 554
grams of CO2 equivalents per kWh in
November 2022, Germany was one of
the worst polluters in Europe. (One day
in January, while writing this article, the
number went over 800!) So much for the
vaunted Energiewende.
Gas Turbine Advances
In terms of emerging technologies in the
gas power realm (read: gas turbines),
I do not have anything new to add to
those ably covered in an earlier POWER
article (see “Gas Turbine Technology Ad-
vances That Could Boost Their Future
1. Germany’s carbon intensity and electricity
Relevance” in the October 2021 issue).
production in November 2022. Source: elec-
I would also like to draw readers’ at- tricitymaps.com
tention to a National Academies report,
Advanced Technologies for Gas Turbines rating claims of major original equip-
(2020), which is publicly available. (I was ment manufacturers (OEMs), is not too
one of the contributors.) far ahead. The next target—70%—will
At the end of the day, for a technol- require new tricks, including a change
ogy that started in earnest in the 1930s in the underlying Brayton cycle. In the
with the pioneering work of Dr. Hans past, attempts to do just that, includ-
von Ohain and Sir Frank Whittle, to ex- ing through external (steam) cooling of
pect proverbial “eye-popping” advances the hot gas path and reheat combus-
is naive. In the last three decades, the tion, failed to make a big dent in per-
admirable increase in gas turbine com- formance. Although proven in the field,
bined cycle (GTCC) efficiency from the both attempts fizzled commercially due
low 50s (percent LHV) to above 60% can to complex designs with unfavorable op-
be attributed almost exclusively to the erability and installed (and maintenance)
increase in turbine inlet temperatures cost implications. On paper, both tech-
(TITs) from 1,300C to 1,700C, which, of nologies can make a significant contribu-
course, was primarily driven by advances tion to cover the five percentage points
made in metallurgy, manufacturing (such from 65% to 70%. However, it is quite
as single-crystal super-alloy hot-gas-path unlikely that the OEMs will dust off ei-
components, including stator vanes and ther technology. (Note that “sequential
rotor blades), and cooling techniques. combustion” gas turbines are still being
In early 2023, the goal post is set at offered by two OEMs and steam cooling
65% net GTCC efficiency, which, at least of stationary parts is still a feature in one
based on the published ISO baseload OEM’s product line.)
www.powermag.com |
POWER April 2023

The only other cycle modification that
can really lead to an appreciable efficien-
cy uptick is “constant volume combus-
tion.” (Note that the conventional gas
turbine Brayton cycle is an ideal proxy
for “constant pressure combustion.”) To
date, the best possible approximation of
this ideal is detonation combustion (as
opposed to the deflagration variant in
modern dry-low-NOx [DLN] combustors).
Pulsed detonation combustion has been
on the table since the 1950s primarily for
aircraft propulsion applications.
Currently, the research and develop-
ment (R&D) focus is on rotating deto-
nation combustion (RDC). In layman’s
terms, detonation combustion results
in an increase in cycle temperature and
pressure. This reduces the parasitic
power consumption of the compressor
and increases the net shaft output of the
gas turbine for the same amount of fuel
burn. While extremely difficult to fit into
an aircraft gas turbine jet engine, RDC
is readily implementable in a stationary
machine. The efficiency impact can be
significant, somewhere between one
and two percentage points in GTCC.
Even without the introduction of a
new (or old) trick in the basic gas tur-
bine cycle, incremental improvements
in efficiency can be expected. Going
much beyond the present state-of-the-
art—1,700C TIT—is highly dependent
on the availability of advanced materials
(including ceramic composites). Addi-
tive manufacturing (commonly known as
3D printing) can contribute by enabling
implementation of advanced film cooling
(approaching the effusion cooling ideal)
of the hot-gas-path components. Re-
gardless of what will be claimed by the
OEMs in the next decade, clearly at 60%
net LHV or higher field-clocked perfor-
mance today, GTCC will be the dominant
thermal technology for electric power
generation. In fact, with 400+ MW (ap-
proaching 600 MW!) in simple cycle in
60 Hz (50 Hz), one can simply replace
many coal-fired power plants (some in
the low 30s in net LHV efficiency) with
one gas-fired machine (40+% net LHV
efficiency) and achieve a significant re-
duction in CO2 emissions at minimal
cost. (Future retrofit options for GTCC
with or without post-combustion carbon
capture [PCC] makes the proposal even
more attractive.)
Hydrogen and Gas Turbines
Replacing coal-fired generation with gas
turbines, in simple or combined cycle, is
a slam-dunk. The incontrovertible proof
|
April 2023 POWER
www.powermag.com
of that is the transition from coal to nat-
ural gas in the U.S. in the last decade.
A hydrogen economy, at least with re-
spect to gas turbines running fully on H2,
however, is a mirage. The problem is not
whether gas turbines can burn H2 fuel or
not—they can and they do—the prob-
lem is to find, or, more aptly, to produce
enough “green” H2 to make a meaning-
ful impact on CO2 emissions.
From U.S. Energy Information Ad-
ministration (EIA) Form 923 data from
2020, the most efficient GTCC plant in
the country (Okeechobee Clean Energy
Center) generated about 9,500 GWh by
burning roughly 60 million MMBtu higher
heating value (HHV) natural gas fuel for
an impressive 59.4% (LHV) effective ef-
ficiency (translating to roughly 3.2 million
metric tons of CO2). Assuming it were
possible to utilize the entire U.S. wind
curtailment in 2020—13,000 GWh—in
a polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM)
electrolyzer to make H2 and burn it as
fuel at the Okeechobee plant, one could
meet only 50% of its fuel need for a
reduction of 50% in its CO2 emissions.
Retrofitting the same plant with 90%
PCC using chemical absorption technol-
ogy with a generic amine-based solvent
would do much better than this at a much
smaller cost (and complexity).
Green hydrogen is only green, if and
only if, the renewable energy resource in
its production is surplus, that is, curtailed
wind or solar energy. Dedicating a pri-
mary energy resource, including nuclear
energy, exclusively to H2 production by
diverting it from direct electric power
generation can only be green if the pow-
er grid in question is fully green to begin
with. This is the case only in a few places
in the world. Otherwise, each MW di-
verted to H2 production will be made up
by the existing grid with its particular CO2
emissions footprint (see “Should We Re-
ally Use Renewable Electricity to Make
Green Hydrogen? Not Always” in the
January 2023 issue of POWER).
Blue hydrogen produced by gasification
of biomass or coal (with carbon capture) is
a good way to make use of otherwise un-
palatable feedstocks. The technology is al-
ready available. The main hurdle is installed
and operating cost of the production plant.
There is an ongoing Department of Ener-
gy-funded front-end engineering design
(FEED) study to investigate the feasibility
of this route to blue H2 via gasification of
biomass (corn stover pellets) and Powder
River Basin (PRB) coal.
Coal gasification for blue methane pro-
duction (with carbon capture) can also
GAS POWER
be a viable alternative to burning coal di-
rectly for electric power generation. The
Great Plains Synfuels Plant in Beulah,
North Dakota, has been in operation pro-
ducing synthetic natural gas from lignite
for more than three decades. Carbon di-
oxide generated by the process is piped
to Canada for enhanced oil recovery.
Other Innovative Technology
One intriguing technology to generate
electric power using natural gas is the
semi-closed oxy-combustion gas turbine
with supercritical CO2 as the working flu-
id. The underlying thermodynamic cycle
is the Allam-Fetvedt cycle developed by
NET Power. The combustion of natural
gas with O2 generates a gas containing
mostly H2O and CO2. Capturing CO2 is
simply a matter of cooling the exhaust
gas downstream of the turbine in a heat
exchanger and condensing the H2O out
of the mixture.
The combustion process (and the tur-
bine) was demonstrated at a 50-MW
(thermal) test facility in La Porte, Texas.
A 300-MW commercial project has been
announced by NET Power and its technol-
ogy partners with a projected commercial
operation date in 2026. The transition from
pilot to commercial scale (a scale-up by a
factor of roughly 10 to 15) in a few years
is certainly a bold step. From an efficiency
perspective (including the cryogenic oxy-
gen plant), the projected performance, at
least for the introductory units, is compa-
rable to that of an advanced class GTCC
with PCC, which is likely to be less oner-
ous in capital expenditure.
Depending on its availability, H2 can
certainly be blended with natural gas to
be piped over long distances or on-site
on a case-by-case basis. Be advised
that to achieve 50% reduction in CO2
emissions (by mass), H2 content of the
fuel gas should be more than 75% (by
volume). This is small comfort, notwith-
standing the fact that modern DLN com-
2. Gas turbine (GT) evolution chart. (Turbine
inlet temperature [TIT] values are introduc-
tory/nominal—real values are probably closer
to 1,700C after 2020.) Source: S. Can Gülen
23
 GAS POWER
3. Projected gas turbine electric power gen-
eration. Courtesy: Forecast International
bustors are not yet there but eventually
will be fully hydrogen capable, suppos-
edly by 2030.
Co-locating small units capable of
burning 100% H2 with green H2 produc-
tion and storage to support large wind
or solar farms seems to be the best bet
for the future of smart use of gas tur-
bines with hydrogen. In this case, one
could easily substitute gas-fired recip-
rocating engines for small industrial and
aeroderivative gas turbines. Reciprocat-
ing internal combustion engines (RICEs),
essentially automotive engines on ste-
roids, can achieve high efficiencies (such
as high 40s in net LHV, which is a direct
result of constant-volume explosive
combustion in the cylinders) and they
are ideally suited to capacity firming of
intermittent renewable resources. While
not yet there, RICE manufacturers are
also engaged in extensive R&D to make
their machines fully hydrogen capable in
the near future.
Energy storage is one area where gas
turbines can make a strong contribution
to decarbonization of the electricity sec-
tor—with or without green H2. The obvi-
ous candidate is compressed air energy
storage (CAES), a field-proven technol-
ogy eminently suitable to long-duration
energy storage (LDES). Even so, one
has to be aware that the last CAES plant
(one of the only two in the world) went
into commercial operation in the early
1990s (McIntosh, Alabama). It is difficult
to predict when and where the third one
will be built but it would not be surprising
to see that happen sometime in the next
decade. There are adiabatic variants of
CAES (such as no combustion of natural
gas or another fuel) proposed by technol-
ogy startups, including cryogenic or liquid
air energy storage systems. One can also
add to the list thermal heat pump energy
storage technologies (such as Malta Inc.’s
thermo-electric energy storage system)
making use of closed cycle gas turbines.
There is no denying that natural gas
has received its share of bad publicity in
the fight against global greenhouse gas
emissions. While superior to coal in terms
of criteria pollutant and CO2 emissions, on
24
a wellhead to the plant stack basis with
leaks (and flaring) being factored in, natu-
ral gas has (understandably) very few
friends in the climate-conscious public.
Combined with high prices (except in the
U.S. with the shale gas fracking boon),
this put a brake on new gas-fired plant
construction in Europe and the U.S. in the
last decade. Industry forecasters such as
IIR and Forecast International (FI) expect
this trend to change in the next decade.
According to Britt Burt of IIR, and con-
firmed by Carter Palmer of FI, it is un-
likely that the revival will be on the scale
of what we saw during the 2012–2020
timeframe when over 102 GW of new
natural gas–fired capacity reached com-
mercial operation. Based on IIR’s market
tracking, 25 GW of new natural gas–fired
capacity is expected to be added in the
U.S. between 2023 and 2033. This is well
short of the 75 GW of coal-fired capacity
scheduled to retire over that timeframe.
FI sees sales of machines over 250
MW as the major driver in the gas tur-
bine market (Figure 3). The situation in
Europe is subject to some degree of un-
certainty, especially in countries depen-
dent on natural gas from Russia. It also
remains to be seen if liquefied natural
gas (LNG) exports from the U.S. to Eu-
rope will make natural gas–fired genera-
tion attractive again.
IIR has identified 156 natural gas–fired
projects in Europe in various stages of de-
velopment scheduled to kickoff through
this decade. If all of these were to be
built, it would represent more than 155
GW of natural gas–fired capacity. Howev-
er, not all of them are expected to move
forward. Outside the U.S., IIR foresees
most project development activity in the
UK, Italy, Poland, Greece, Germany, and
Belgium in Europe. Significant natural
gas–fired power development is also ex-
pected in Southeast Asia, the Middle East
and North Africa (MENA), and parts of
Latin America such as Brazil and Mexico.
If anything, what we have experienced
in the first two decades of the 21st cen-
tury should make us wary of making pro-
jections of any kind. Early on, natural gas
was extremely expensive and the GTCC
power plants built for baseload only a few
years earlier were running at low capacity
factors. Almost out of the blue, the shale
gas boon happened, and natural gas be-
came almost cheaper than coal. Then, the
OEMs started introducing their advanced
class gas turbines at a rapid pace with
ever-increasing efficiencies. Natural gas
replaced coal in the U.S. generation port-
folio at a quite dramatic pace.
www.powermag.com |
A change in the administration led to
attempts to resuscitate coal, but to no
avail—basic economics and environmen-
tal consciousness were too convincing
to reverse the trend. Then, COVID-19
crashed the scene, and the world econ-
omy slowed down dramatically. While
recovering from the pandemic-induced
economic distress, the war in Ukraine
brought home the realization that having
access to reliable energy is a vital com-
ponent of modern life.
The energy transition cannot be dic-
tated by politicians driven by public per-
ceptions. Untimely closures of nuclear
power plants and efficient GTCCs like
Irsching had already forced Germany
to burn coal in order to keep the popu-
lace warm. While I don’t know the ex-
act rating of the coal-fired plant I drove
by in November, it’s likely that one Sie-
mens SGT5-9000HL gas turbine (rated
at nearly 600 MW with >43% net LHV
ISO baseload) could match its output at
higher efficiency and a fraction of the
CO2 emissions.
To paraphrase the popular misquote at-
tributed to Mark Twain, the reports of gas
turbine technology’s twilight are greatly
exaggerated. As FI’s Palmer noted, CO-
VID-19 hit all industries to some degree
and gas turbine production suffered;
however, this was an anomaly rather
than some cyclic drop in production that
plagues most industries. With recovery
from the pandemic realized, the modern
world’s thirst for more power will not
disappear. Unused turbine capacity will
be turned back on (such as Irsching Unit
4, mentioned in the beginning), and coal
plants will continue to be converted to
gas turbine use.
There is no doubt that worldwide de-
ployment of wind and solar facilities will
continue at an increasing pace. It is high-
ly likely that eventually nuclear power
will make a strong comeback. Still, even
if the aforementioned embellishments
to the basic technology do not material-
ize, gas turbines in simple and combined
cycle will play a vital role in decarboniza-
tion of the electricity sector simply by
replacing coal-fired power plants and
supporting renewable energy resources
for capacity firming and/or emergency
backup in partnership with LDES. As
long as we accept the fact that the world
population and economic growth cannot
be arrested (or turned back), there is no
other way. ■
—S. Can Gülen is an American Society of
Mechanical Engineers (ASME) fellow with
Bechtel Infrastructure and Power Inc.
POWER April 2023

Even Minor Alarms Can Lead to
Major Safety Improvements
When investigating any potential problem, keep your eyes and your mind open to
other possible dangers.
Una Nowling, PE
“
I am starting to wonder if you ac-
cepted this assignment because of
… that,” stated Maya Sharma, lead
field engineer for Surfaceblow & Asso-
ciates International. She sipped her tea
in the reception area of the biomass
power station, watching her boss peer-
ing intently at a 1:100 scale model of
the boiler.
“Incredible! Fantastic! It’s so rare to
see these nowadays!” Marnie Surface-
blow, the firm’s vice president, walked
around the model, peering through
the plastic girders. “Look at the detail
on the fourth level turbine deck, Maya!
This wee plastic worker has a cute little
lunch pail and matching thermos! And
it’s in Royal Stewart tartan! Although I
don’t think I’d picnic next to the boiler
feed pump turbine …”
“Ma’am! Are you listening to me?”
Maya emphasized, nonplussed.
“Mmmm hmmm … I assure you this
is purely coincidence. I wanted to make
a sales call while we were in the Philip-
pines to scare up some new business,
and while talking to the plant manager
he mentioned this concern about their
biomass fuel silos. Wow, this model has
everything! I want to take it home with
me. I wonder if they’d trade some con-
sulting work for it. You know, in Grand-
pa Marmaduke’s day, we had an entire
modeling shop that would create these
for prospective clients on large jobs. It
added a certain elegance to the propos-
al, made it more real,” said Marnie.
“With respect ma’am, your last Prada
suit exhausted your petty cash, so no
more souvenirs—please. This power sta-
tion has a carbon monoxide problem,
and you know how I feel about poison-
ous gases,” Maya added while crossing
her arms and giving her boss “The Look.”
“Fine,” muttered Marnie, “probably
couldn’t get it through customs anyhow.
Do you think they would let me …”
“No, ma’am. Kindly return the plastic
plant engineer and their lunch accesso-
ries to the assigned position by the tur-
bine,” directed Maya.
|
April 2023 POWER
www.powermag.com
MARNIE SURFACEBLOW
1. Miguel presents data showing unusual hot spots occurring from time to time in the bottom
of the fuel storage silos. Source: POWER
Problems with a New Fuel
Luis Phillipe Santos had been the plant
manager for the last two years, and it
was clear that he was concerned—as
were his team of engineers and opera-
tors gathered in a spacious conference
room separated from the control room
by a large glass wall. “It was very good
that you called me and even better that
you were here in our country, Señora
Surfaceblow,” the plant manager began.
“We have doubts about our biomass si-
los and believe we are facing complete
disaster, so we are not able to operate.”
“Let’s go step by step through the is-
sues,” Marnie replied. “This was a small
lignite coal plant that was built sometime
during the Nixon administration and shut
down six years ago. Your company pur-
chased the plant three years ago, and
decided that since the mills had enough
capacity to grind the glorified dirt you
were burning before, you could retro-
fit them to burn biomass pellets. You
have retrofitted all four mills, and added
50,000 tonnes of sealed storage to pro-
tect it from the elements—thank good-
ness—and last year you did a successful
test burn with white wood pellets. Since
then, you’ve been burning biomass
for …” Marnie paused as she flipped
through her notes, while Maya assisted
by answering, “123 days.”
Luis Phillipe nodded agreement. “Yes,
very exact. However, we did make one
small change. After commissioning was
complete, we changed the fuel source to
white agricultural waste pellets—maize
cobs and stalks,” he said.
“With respect sir, that is not a small
change,” Maya interjected.
“Yes, well, to be profitable we must
adapt,” Luis Phillipe responded. “But now
we have doubts about the new pellets; I
will have my team explain. Miguel?”
A young man, who introduced him-
self as lead operator Miguel Flores, took
the floor and turned on a large display
showing multicolored plant data trends
(Figure 1). “Our remote monitoring engi-
neers in India alerted us of this, and we
confirmed it with hand measurements.
In the bottom of the fuel silos, we are
seeing temperature increases that come
and go. They started less than a week
after we loaded the silos with pellets.
They are hot spots from self-heating or
combustion in the bottom of the silos.
You see here, suddenly these two silos
that were measured at 25 to 28 Celsius
rise to nearly 50C, then return to normal
after we shut the mills down.”
“We are very cautious of this as we
encountered five mill fires from excess
fuel accumulation in the mills,” inter-
jected Valentina Diego, the plant mill
maintenance expert. “We greatly in-
creased the air flow and modified the
classifiers, so the pressure drop across
the mills is much higher and the pulver-
ized fuel is now flowing. However, we
are afraid these hot spots in the silos
25
 MARNIE SURFACEBLOW
will lead to disaster.”
“As well you should be,” Marnie stern-
ly replied. “Mill fires lead to not only
damaged equipment, but the potential
for an explosion, which could very easily
be fatal.”
Valentina nodded her head. “Indeed,
we have had one small pressure spike
from combustion …”
“I just heard ‘explosion,’ not ‘pressure
spike,’ ” Marnie interrupted.
“OK, then, expert lady, explosion from
fuel deposits in a fuel pipe,” Valentina
scowled.
Luis Phillipe stepped in, “Let us tell our
guests about the CO measurements.”
Marnie noticed Maya immediately tens-
ing, her full attention riveted on a wiz-
ened plant engineer. Looking as if he
carried more years of plant experience
than the rest of the room combined, a
gentleman introduced with reverence
as Señor Franco shakily stood up, and
with the help of Miguel called up another
screen onto the display.
“I always have doubts about this new
fuel, so I walk the power station and
monitor gases—explosive, poison, suf-
focating. I walk the station and always
watch,” the seasoned plant veteran ex-
plained. “So, this week I walk the floor
over the silos, and I find CO. And, I put
monitors over each silo.” Señor Franco
paused, while Miguel typed a few but-
tons and highlighted CO reading trends.
“Sir, I admire very much your dedica-
tion to safety. These CO measurements
are very low, one to eight parts per mil-
lion, and mostly under five. Is there not
always some CO near the fuel handling
system?” Maya asked.
Señor Franco shrugged, “Never have
I seen any CO above the fuel silos. It is
small, but my instruments are calibrated
daily.”
“That … does warrant notice, sir,”
agreed Maya. “I wish to examine all his-
torical data since operation on biomass
began.”
“And I want to examine the fuel silos
and the mills,” added Marnie. “Maya, can
I borrow your collection of gas sensors?”
Silo Operation and CO Monitoring
The plant was dark and relatively quiet,
save for occasional distant clangs and
conversation as the staff took advan-
tage of the unplanned outage to perform
some repairs and preventive mainte-
nance activities. Marnie, Señor Franco,
Miguel, and Valentina gathered around
the steel grating covering the fuel silos.
After tying off for safety, Marnie leaned
26
over to peer through the grating on top
of the silos, but her flashlight couldn’t
penetrate the lingering biomass dust
cloud. Not to be defeated, she produced
her high-powered hand-held green laser
and shone it down through the dust to
gauge the height of the fuel pile in each
silo. After a moment’s observation, she
asked, “Why are silos one and four near-
ly full of fuel, but silos two and three are
less than half full?”
“We have raised the plant capacity
with pellets step by step, starting with
the middle two mills. We were going to
start three-mill operation soon, but then,
well, the CO,” Miguel said. Then turn-
ing to Señor Franco, he asked, “Señor,
where was the CO most concentrated?”
Señor Franco pointed to the number
two and three silos, and replied, “Mostly
these, but a trace in the others. It drifts,
as you know.”
“And when did you install the perma-
nent CO monitors?” asked Marnie.
Miguel checked his notes and replied,
“Last month. We didn’t notice the CO in
the control room because it was under the
alarm point for worker safety, but not for
impending or slow combustion. We have
since corrected that error and are grateful
Señor Franco checked this himself.”
“Look, I know every safety agency has
exposure limit curves, but really now, CO
is like mercury—there is no lower limit
that is truly safe. And if it implies a fire,
then we have a serious problem. Where
are your temperature sensors on the si-
los?” Marnie asked.
Miguel pointed to one sensor mount-
ed in the grating and replied, “Also there
is one sensor every three meters until
above the bottom cone, there we have
four sensors.”
“Why at the bottom of the silo? Why
not near the top? The heat would rise to
the top,” Marnie said.
Miguel and Señor Franco shrugged.
Valentina offered, “I believe we thought
that would be the wettest area and prone
to more heating from the moisture.”
“I see,” said Marnie. “I noticed water
standing up here. Your roof is in terrible
condition, and here, right here,” she high-
lighted a tiny rivulet wending from the
wall, “it’s leaking into silo number two
right now!”
Valentina and Miguel both sighed.
Miguel responded, “We have spent
much on roof repairs, but our budget is
continually reduced. We do what we can,
but …”
“I know, but you also know this isn’t
good. Let’s examine the feeders and
www.powermag.com |
2. Marnie and Señor Franco inspect a mill.
Source: POWER
mills,” Marnie said, leading the way and
shaking her head.
Feeders and Mills
The number two and three feeders and
mills were currently open for inspection,
and it was clear there was water actively
draining in a slow drip from the bottom of
the silo cone. “How does your biomass
even flow when it’s that wet?” Marnie
asked.
“We have pluggage at first, and then
it will start to flow. Señor Franco says we
should redesign the bottom cone to be, I
think, a hyperbola? But we have not the
time, and we have the hot biomass and
CO to be concerned about,” answered
Miguel.
“You only have a small amount of
spilled biomass, but some of it looks
slightly charred.” Marnie frowned to her-
self, and then took her thermal camera
from her latest Prada purse and started
scanning the area. “I’m not seeing much
in the way of heat right now. And the CO
readings were low, despite the wet fuel
that should be self-heating. So, why …
let’s examine the mills,” she said.
Descending to the next level where
the mills sat open for inspection as
well, Marnie examined each in turn as
much as possible without requiring site
confined space certification (Figure 2).
“There’s some sign of wet fuel buildup
here, and in the pulverized fuel pipes,
and the downspout, and … everywhere,”
she noted.
“Señora,” said Señor Franco quietly,
“often the reject spouts are blocked
when the fuel is wet, and sometimes the
POWER April 2023

pulverized fuel pipes. I have doubts, as
the mill pressures are very high, yet fuel
will not flow. I wonder. Does the hot air
go where it should not?”
Marnie smiled at Señor Franco, and
took the elderly engineer’s hands in hers.
“Indeed, my wise friend, exactly what I
was thinking.” Marnie then fumbled for
her phone and called Maya.
“Maya! Have you been looking at the
control system data trends of mill op-
eration versus the CO measurements?”
she asked.
A long silence followed. “Yes, and
I believe I have an idea as to the prob-
lem,” Maya responded. “Can you please
inspect the connections from the silo to
the feeder, and from the feeder to the
mills, and see if there is evidence of bio-
mass fuel deposits that are, how you
say, baked on?”
“Give me a few minutes,” said Mar-
nie. With the help of Señor Franco, Mar-
nie was able to look up the fuel feed pipe
to the feeder, and then the two walked
back up a level to examine the connec-
tion between the feeder and the silo.
They looked at each other and nodded.
Marnie phoned Maya back. “Yes, the
deposits are present in both areas, but
much worse at the mill—practically car-
bonized in fact,” Marnie reported.
“Very good ma’am, we should call a
meeting and discuss many things,” re-
plied Maya.
“Oh, like in the Lewis Carroll poem: ‘Of
biomass and water, running all around,
and why the silo cone is warm, and CO
sometimes found?’ ” Marnie retorted.
A long silence followed. “Ma’am, is
your personal CO monitor working prop-
erly?” Maya asked, only partially kidding.
Relatively Simple Solutions
“So,” started Marnie, as the meeting
room discussions quieted down. “I have
some good news, some bad news, and
some terrible news. Which first?”
Miguel sighed, “The terrible news,
please.”
“Right!” Marnie exclaimed. “The ter-
rible news is there is no coffee. Why is
there no coffee? I don’t want to live in a
world without coffee …”
“Ma’am!” interrupted Maya, who held
out a steaming cup of what appeared to
be bunker fuel oil mixed with milk, that
is, power plant coffee.
“Thank you, my able assistant. Why
don’t you start with what you found from
your data analysis, while I try to replace
my blood with this,” said Marnie.
Maya stood and surveyed the audi-
|
April 2023 POWER
www.powermag.com
ence. “In my country, many believe wa-
ter carries energy. Water moves energy,
water can give energy, and it can take
energy,” she began.
“That explains why coffee is so pow-
erful,” muttered Marnie. Maya ignored
her and pressed on.
“My auntie Deepika believes such, and
in this case the problem is water is taking
energy from the mills by increasing the air
pressure drop moving the pulverized bio-
mass.” Maya flipped to a screen of plant
data trends over several months. “See
here, every occasion your biomass fuel
is wet, you must increase mill air flow to
dangerous levels. At 40% feeder speed,
you require nearly full primary air flow.
With coal, your mill operating pressure
was no greater than 18 mbar. Now you
routinely operate at 26 to 30 mbar, and
when the fuel is quite wet, the pressure
increases to 36 mbar. This has many unin-
tended consequences,” Maya said.
Bolstered by her coffee, Marnie stood
up and took over, “In addition, you know
that every step of the way the water is
going to not only turn the biomass into a
sticky paste, but it’s also going to encour-
age self-heating and hot spots as it wets
the biomass fuel—and then, if you’re re-
ally unlucky, you have combustion and
worse. So, pretty please with sugar on it,
fix the roof, or at least arrange sandbags
around the top of the silos, or something
for goodness sake to reduce water leaks
into the silo.”
Taking a sip of coffee, she continued.
“Up to now, you’ve been lucky and the
water isn’t reacting with your current
maize-based pellets. But every biomass
fuel is different, and you could easily find
that the next time you change the fuel,
you end up with a much hotter problem,”
Marnie said.
Luis Phillipe leaned back in his chair
and crossed his arms tightly. “This all
may be so, Señora Surfaceblow and Se-
ñora Sharma, but why are we detecting
heat in the silos, and why did Señor Fran-
co find the CO above the silos?”
Maya flipped to a slide that trended
the online CO monitor levels, the silo
temperatures, and mill operation pa-
rameters, and she then highlighted two
trends. “Note here please—both the
CO levels and the silo temperatures in-
crease only when the number two and
three mills are brought online, and the
trend follows the load, or more precisely,
the differential pressure across the mills.
And when the biomass is wetter and
your primary air flow is very high and the
pressure drop high, then I believe you
MARNIE SURFACEBLOW
are seeing backflow of hot air up into the
feeder from the mills, and to a lesser ex-
tent into the silos,” Maya speculated.
It was Marnie’s turn, and she flipped
to some slides showing digital camera
photos from her inspections. “I noted
that there were charred biomass pellets
spilled around the feeders, and that the
down-pipe from the feeder to the mills
shows signs of overheating. Even the
pipe to the silo has some carbon depos-
its on it. So, in this case, the fuel is being
overheated and there is some slow cook-
ing, but it’s coming from below, not from
above. This was further backed by anoth-
er observation Señor Franco made—that
when the biomass is wet, the rejects
chutes from the mills are clogged, and
this contributes further to high mill pres-
sures,” said Marnie.
Señor Franco shrugged, “I notice
things. Always, you must keep your eyes
open to changes.”
“Indeed, you must,” agreed Marnie.
“In this case, I think the solutions are
simple: keep the biomass as dry as pos-
sible, monitor your mill pressures more
closely, and see about performing main-
tenance on or upgrading your feeders
to provide much better hot air isolation
along the fuel flow path. This is some-
thing we can help you with.”
A Teachable Moment
After two long days of planning and
brainstorming solutions, followed by
grateful farewells, Marnie and Maya
walked to their rental car accompanied
by Señor Franco. As they walked, the
wise old engineer said, “Señora Surface-
blow, I almost forgot to mention that I
worked with your grandfather on the
original plant commissioning. You and
he are very different, but I see that you
carry in your bloodline an ability to see
the details—you seek wisdom, and you
know when you discover it. I am happy
to have met you and Señora Sharma, and
perhaps you both have given me energy
to continue working for just a few more
years.” Señor Franco shrugged, “After all,
it is said that to teach is to live on in the
work of those who learn.”
After they said farewell at the rental
car, both women sat silently in the car,
thinking. Marnie broke the silence by
asking, “Do you think it’s possible, Maya,
that we live on through teaching?”
“No,” replied Maya, “it is not merely
possible, it is the truth.” ■
—Una Nowling, PE is an adjunct professor
of mechanical engineering at the
University of Missouri-Kansas City.
27
 ELECTRIFICATION
Driving on Electric Avenue—
Innovation Pushes Energy
Transformation
A seismic shift is ongoing in the energy space, as transportation, industry, and other
sectors turn toward electricity and away from fossil fuels to supply their power.
Darrell Proctor
T
he push for decarbonization of the
electric power sector has several
elements, though many in the in-
dustry sum up the movement with one
word: electrification. Replacing technolo-
gies that use fossil fuels to produce elec-
tricity, and instead relying on resources
that reduce or eliminate carbon emis-
sions, has brought plenty of debate.
Much of the discussion centers on
whether the power grid (Figure 1) can
handle increased demand from electric
vehicles (EVs), from the commercial
and industrial sector for heating and
cooling, and from a residential com-
munity being urged to replace natural
gas–powered furnaces and appliances
with all-electric equipment such as heat
pumps and induction cooktops.
Those who spoke with POWER re-
peatedly noted the fight against climate
change as a reason to support electrifi-
cation, saying reducing the use of fossil
fuels is critical to decarbonizing the econ-
omy and meeting climate goals. There is
concern, though, that the transmission
grid is not ready to support a significant
increase in demand for electricity, as in-
frastructure already is challenged when it
comes to resiliency and reliability of the
power supply.
“No one entity is responsible for the
push toward electrification; however, ev-
1. Energy experts have said upgrades to in-
frastructure, and certainly to the transmission
grid, will be needed to support increased elec-
trification. Source: Envato Elements
28
ery business entity and economic sector
has a lot to gain from electrification’s im-
pacts on the energy grid,” said Hari Nayar,
vice president of Fleet Electrification and
Sustainability at Merchants Fleet, a na-
tional fleet management company. “Up
until recently, the grid has grown or-
ganically to support demand but has not
been the focus of proactive investments
to improve its modernity, security, and
resiliency that we are now seeing due to
surface transport electrification.”
Nayar said, “Though I believe the re-
sponsibility for pushing electrification is
shared, we are seeing certain sectors
eagerly lean in to take the lead. Demand
from both the commercial and passen-
ger vehicles industry has been surging
thanks in part to massive investments in
R&D [research and development] from
the OEMs [original equipment manufac-
turers] and enticing government incen-
tives. Many experts think that the utility
sector will be ready to generate enough
power for the electrification wave
through planned capacity increases and
efficiency improvements in other sec-
tors, but that doesn’t mean that residen-
tial homes and businesses are equipped
for this power distribution.”
Nayar, like others who spoke with
POWER, said, “One limiting factor is the
speed and scale at which the infrastruc-
ture can be put into place. Some grid op-
erators are already struggling to keep up
with demand in certain areas, and power
authorities fear the possibility of black-
outs with the overloading grid use.”
Working Smarter and Harder
Utilities and other power generators
planning for electrification know there’s
more to it than just managing loads on
the power grid. Nelly Maximous, vice
president, Energy Transition for Eaton in
North America, told POWER, “Electrifi-
cation is not just about adding new load
to the grid or building industrial or home
www.powermag.com |
energy systems. It requires that exist-
ing energy systems work smarter and
harder to accelerate decarbonization and
optimize how energy is used through in-
telligence, control, and automation.
“The bottom line is that today’s elec-
trical systems need to do much more
than just receive power from the electric
grid,” said Maximous. “Now, and in the
future, there is an enormous opportunity
to manage power far more effectively,
taking advantage of the levers available
with the energy transition including inte-
grating renewables and energy storage.”
Many in the energy sector believe any
discussion of electrification must begin
with the transportation/e-mobility sec-
tor, from EVs (Figure 2) to trains, boats,
planes, and more. Dan O’Shea, director
of Utility Strategy and Business Develop-
ment for ABB, told POWER: “If we were
to reach a 100% electrified car fleet, we
could expect an increase in total electric-
ity demand of up to 10–20% depending
on the country and the level of industri-
alization. In the short term, over the next
five years, given the current rates of e-
mobility adoption, we should see little
impact on the grid. This is even taking into
consideration countries such as Norway
where over 50% of new cars are EVs.”
O’Shea continued: “Currently, over-
all predictions signal that electricity de-
mand will grow 3,000 TWh by 2040 as a
result of electric vehicles. This would see
a compound annual growth rate increase
of 1.6% in today’s utilities, which on a
macro basis could be managed through
existing planning processes.”
Several utilities already have created
jobs and business divisions devoted to
electrification and its impact on power
generation and the grid. Said O’Shea,
“The challenges we can anticipate as-
sociated with mass EV charging include
geographical distribution, where distri-
bution transformers may need to be re-
placed due to overloading given that the
POWER April 2023

2. Adding EV charging infrastructure with
energy storage and onsite solar can help
existing energy systems support added elec-
tricity demand and enable more flexibility.
Courtesy: Eaton
energy load will be unevenly distributed
over their system; power peaks through-
out the day, as car power increases and
consumer demand for faster charging
grows; and rush hour peak demand. Giv-
en that two-thirds of the demand will be
for cars and buses, there will likely be an
afternoon rush hour peak possibly reach-
ing half of this new demand.”
Geography Lesson
Geographic distribution also plays into
electrification efforts in the residential
sector. Some municipalities are mov-
ing to ban natural gas hookups in new
construction; there’s been debate about
banning gas stoves due to methane
emissions. Such measures would impact
electricity loads in those jurisdictions,
but Paula Glover, president of the Alli-
ance to Save Energy, told POWER poli-
cymakers should consider other factors
before pushing changes.
“The most important aspects of elec-
trification are the cost of conversion for
the end user, energy costs post-conver-
sion, and energy efficiency,” said Glover.
“An end-user cost analysis is particularly
critical when considering impacts on
low-income and disadvantaged commu-
nities. If the cost of conversion or cost
of energy post-conversion places the
consumer in a worse position than she
would have been in but for electrifica-
tion, then policymakers must identify
strategies and solutions to fully eliminate
the harm.”
A poll conducted by Siena Research
in New York state, published in late
February, said just 39% of respondents
approve of a proposal to basically ban
any fossil fuel–burning equipment—in-
cluding gas-powered stoves—in new
residential construction. The costs of
equipment, such as heat pumps and
more—which often require an upgrade
to a home’s electrical panel—are top of
mind for many of those concerned about
a full-on push to electrify.
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April 2023 POWER
www.powermag.com
“Electrification should not be pursued
absent an initial investment in energy
efficiency, including sealing the build-
ing envelope and retrofitting the home
with the high-efficiency equipment and
appliances,” said Glover. “Focusing on
energy efficiency first will help define
equipment capacity needs, and will fur-
ther lower energy use for the consumer,
reducing their energy costs. If electrifi-
cation is the policy objective, then all
identified parties should be involved in
its implementation, including direct en-
gagement at the community level, par-
ticularly when considering low-income
and disadvantaged communities.”
Climate Change
Electrification is often seen as critical to
decarbonization, and as such, part of the
discussion around climate change. An-
ders Sjoelin, president and CEO of S&C
Electric Co., told POWER: “First, I believe
we need to talk about climate change, as
it is one of the greatest threats facing
future generations. This means decar-
bonizing our economies, beginning with
cleaner energy. Globally, sustainability
targets are driving electrification, and
this requires that our electrical infrastruc-
ture becomes more sustainable, intelli-
gent, resilient, and energy efficient.”
Sjoelin continued, “Any sustainability
conversation must include ways technol-
ogy can improve energy efficiency. The
industrial sector consumes more en-
ergy than any other, besides transporta-
tion, and most of the electricity powers
motors and machines such as pumps,
robotic arms, and conveyor belts. Ener-
gy-efficient technologies will continue to
evolve and help balance the growth in
demand for electricity from other sourc-
es, such as EV charging stations.
“Finally, power availability for consum-
ers is an essential aspect of electrifica-
tion. As the world’s power grids face
unprecedented complexity, the need
for more intelligent, reliable, resilient,
and modern grid technologies has never
been greater,” Sjoelin said.
“Transportation electrification is a
once-in-a-generation economic oppor-
tunity for utilities; they will be highly
motivated to partner with distributed
generation resources, and they are al-
ready integrating EV charging into ex-
isting demand management programs,
again using the same OpenADR proto-
cols as they use in managing other de-
mand-side resources,” said Rolf Bienert,
Technical and Managing Director of the
OpenADR Alliance, a group created to
ELECTRIFICATION
standardize, automate, and simplify de-
mand response and distributed energy
resources protocols. The group said its
mission is “to enable utilities and aggre-
gators to cost-effectively manage grow-
ing energy demand and decentralized
energy production, and customers to
control their energy future.”
Bienert told POWER, “Addressing cli-
mate change is a key aspect of electri-
fication. But there is an equal flexibility
and potentially lower costs for the con-
sumer as costs of renewable genera-
tion and storage battery costs continue
to plummet.”
Efficiency and Reliability
“The grid is unlikely to be updated in a
timely enough fashion to support elec-
tric vehicles and industrial equipment,”
said Robin Sarah Schneider, director
of Marketing for Green Cubes Technol-
ogy, a group developing electrification
solutions. “Local small- and large-scale
backup battery power can help ease the
transition by collecting power in off-peak
times and then providing electricity for
fast charging when it is most needed.”
Schneider said, “Legislation is start-
ing to push a rapid adoption of electric
systems, but end users are often ahead
of the curve because they recognize the
lower total cost of ownership that comes
with highly efficient electric systems.”
Those systems, though, in many
cases will be dependent on a reliable
power grid. Sustainability targets from
these stakeholders are already driving
the electrification push, according to
Sjoelin. “The question is how we make
sure that our infrastructure is ready for
it. We have been investing in the electric
grid for over a hundred years; we need
to make the most of what we have and
modernize it with smart and self-healing
technologies,” he said.
Sjoelin continued: “With the focus
on the electrical grid, utilities are at the
center of the energy transition; the key
to success is cooperation and collabora-
tion with all stakeholders. Who takes the
lead will vary, but certainly, federal and
local governments will play a key role
clarifying rules of engagement and driv-
ing investment. In addition, our electrical
industry must continue to educate the
stakeholders so they can better under-
stand the needs, challenges, and the
technology options that are available to
advance an intelligent and resilient mod-
ern electrical industry and grid.” ■
—Darrell Proctor is a senior associate
editor for POWER.
29
 GEOTHERMAL
Startups Are Shaking Up
Geothermal Power’s Prospects
Driven by ripe market conditions, technology startups are injecting investment and
innovation into geothermal power to unlock novel applications that could substantially
scale up the niche renewable power subsector.
Sonal Patel
W
hile this year’s CER-
AWeek  by  S&P Global—an an-
nual energy conference hosted
in Houston, Texas—once again heavily
focused on energy innovation solutions
that span the entire energy ecosystem,
U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm,
in a standout moment, enthusiastically
extolled one: geothermal energy. “Geo-
thermal is hot!” she declared at a fireside
chat that followed her keynote speech.
Queried about her optimism, the energy
secretary touted the multiple benefits of
harvesting the energy source stored in
the Earth’s crust. “The heat beneath our
feet is 24/7/365,” she said. “Depending
on how far down you go … you can pow-
er the entire world over with being able to
pull up heat from beneath our feet.”
Making the prospect a reality pres-
ents a lucrative opportunity to leverage
oil and gas (O&G) expertise, providing
an avenue for that sector to participate
in sustainable development and climate
action, she said. And if successful, it
could expand a much-needed portfolio of
carbon-free power and heat, and foster
cross-industry synergies.
Granholm’s declaration is notable giv-
en geothermal’s relatively undeveloped
potential. Today, worldwide, the techni-
cal potential of hydrothermal geothermal
resources is estimated to be about 200
1. The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) estimated that 15.96 GW of geo-
thermal power capacity was installed worldwide at the end of 2021. The red zones on this map
indicate high-temperature geothermal zones, while the black symbols indicate geothermal
power plants. Courtesy: IRENA
30
GWe and more than 5,000 GWth. But
according to the International Renew-
able Energy Agency (IRENA), the global
installed capacity for geothermal power
generation worldwide was 15.96 GW at
the end of 2021 (Figure 1). The number
represented 0.5% of the global renew-
able power market in 2022, epitomizing
what many experts consider a “niche”
status in the power generation space.
And while many countries have set geo-
thermal targets, growth in the market
has been historically hindered by a long
list of hurdles. These include challenges
associated with siting, higher-risk early
exploration phases, public resistance,
financing, regulations, market competi-
tion, and technological limitations.
Ripe Conditions for Geothermal
However, owing to a significant shift in
drivers, that may be poised to change.
The biggest driver, perhaps, is decar-
bonization. Climate change politics and
policies—charged by developing and
implementing nationally determined
contributions—have long facilitated the
development of renewable energy proj-
ects. Geothermal, uniquely, however,
provides decarbonized heat, which is
essential, given that heating and cooling
represent almost half of the total energy
use globally, and most are derived from
fossil fuel combustion, noted Ann Rob-
www.powermag.com |
ertson-Tait, president of GeothermEx, a
consultancy that has worked exclusively
in the geothermal sector for the past 50
years. “We have to think differently now.
We have to think more universally,” she
told POWER. “The decarbonization op-
tions for heat are immense in geother-
mal,” she said.
Energy security is also a growing con-
sideration. While geothermal energy has
been in commercial use for more than
a century, geothermal’s first boom was
spurred in the 1970s and 1980s, partly
due to the era’s oil crises. Installed geo-
thermal power capacity has increased at
an average annual rate of about 3%, driv-
en chiefly by countries looking to diversify
their energy resources, like Indonesia, Ke-
nya, Türkiye, and the U.S., IRENA noted.
The agency predicted that uncertainty of
energy supply in 2022, exacerbated by
the Russia-Ukraine conflict, has “resulted
in increased interest in accelerating de-
velopment of geothermal resources as
a strategic energy source.” The agency
noted the global energy market context
is similar to what it was during earlier en-
ergy crises. In addition, it said that coun-
tries are exploring “an array of fiscal and
economic incentives” that could facilitate
project financing and reduce project risks.
These include tax incentives, feed-in tar-
iffs, and direct subsidies.
Technology Innovation Ramping Up
Geothermal’s Game
Finally, technology advancements are
opening up new prospects and applica-
tions. Innovation for existing plants has
boosted efficiency improvements (Figure
2) and furnished plants with viable dis-
patchability (such as at the Organic Ran-
kine Cycle Puna Geothermal Venture plant
in Hawaii). And while many operational
geothermal power plants today are dry-
steam plants or flash plants, harnessing
temperatures higher than 180C, medium-
temperature fields utilizing binary cycle
technology are increasingly used for power
generation or combined heat and power.
POWER April 2023

2. Pilot installation of an SLB REDA Thermal power-efficient geothermal electric submersible
pump (ESP) at Zorlu Enerji’s high-enthalpy well field resulted in a net increase of 1.7 MW in
geothermal power supplied to the Turkish grid. Zorlu Enerji has requested 14 additional ESP
units for wells at its Kizildere Field, along with digital services for ESP monitoring and surveil-
lance. Courtesy: SLB
More novel technologies on the hori-
zon that could allow for geothermal en-
ergy production from deeper geothermal
resources include enhanced geothermal
systems (EGS), advanced geothermal
systems (AGS), and supercritical geo-
thermal systems. Geothermal startup
Fervo Energy, a company participating
in the U.S. government’s EGS laboratory
in Utah, plans to build, own, and oper-
ate power plants that will source energy
from hot rock reservoirs using existing
innovations, such as horizontal drilling
and distributed fiberoptic sensing.
Canadian firm Eavor Technologies,
meanwhile, is demonstrating an Eav-
or-lite facility—a full-scale prototype
closed-loop built in 2019 to demonstrate
its innovative Eavor-Loop technology. The
system connects two vertical wells with
many horizontal multilateral wellbores
creating a closed sealed radiator-like sys-
tem. Eavor, notably, is building its first
8.2-MWe commercial implementation of
an Eavor-Loop in Bavaria south of Munich
near Geretsried, Germany.
In March, another startup, California-
based GreenFire Energy, announced it
would provide its AGS closed-loop tech-
nology to run a closed-loop geothermal
test using a test well at Baker Hughes’
Energy Innovation Center in Oklahoma
City, Oklahoma. “The project will create
the first of its kind closed-loop geother-
mal laboratory in the world. GreenFire
Energy and strategic partner, Vallourec,
will provide in-kind materials and labor
for construction, testing, and piloting,”
the company said.
Leveraging Oil and Gas Expertise
Many startups entering the geothermal
space are notably bolstered by O&G
investments or have leadership teams
comprising lifelong O&G industry vet-
erans. That’s because geothermal re-
lies on some of the same technologies
|
April 2023 POWER
www.powermag.com
used in the O&G industry, including
drilling and well completion technolo-
gies, and underground resource assess-
ment technologies. EGS, for example,
was developed using technologies that
expanded U.S. shale oil and natural gas
production, including directional drilling,
hydraulic fracturing (fracking), and reser-
voir stimulation and management tools.
Among startups leveraging O&G exper-
tise to advance geothermal is Quaise. The
Boston-headquartered firm is developing
“millimeter wave” drilling systems that
have the potential to drill down to tempera-
tures of 500C and depths of 20 kilometers
(km) “to greatly increase the performance
and geographical reach of geothermal ener-
gy,” it said. The company plans to develop a
first-of-its-kind “100 MW+ geothermal field
by 2026 and to repower a full coal-fired ther-
mal power plant by 2028,” it said.
Another company, Houston-based
Sage, is working to optimize power gen-
erated from geothermal systems using
GeoTwin, a tool based on “decades of
experience modeling subsurface fluids
and processes in the drilling of oil and
gas wells.” The company targets lower
temperatures of 100C to 250C at depths
of 3 km to 6 km worldwide.
New Applications on the Horizon
Meanwhile, several startups are explor-
ing new geothermal energy applications,
such as recovering minerals from geo-
thermal brines, increasing synergies with
hydrogen production, improving the effi-
ciency of electricity production from me-
dium-temperature geothermal resources,
hybrid configurations, and carbon cap-
ture. These prospects extend geother-
mal’s usability and could potentially give it
more market clout, noted Amanda Kolker,
geothermal laboratory program manager
at the National Renewable Energy Labo-
ratory (NREL). “Geothermal is a triple
resource: an  energy  source for heating,
GEOTHERMAL
cooling, and power; a  storage  resource;
and a  mineral  resource,” she said. “The
Earth itself has the potential to address
a variety of hurdles in the transition to a
clean energy future.”
Geothermal hydrogen production has
so far been pioneered in Taupo, New
Zealand, by Halcyon Power, a 50/50
joint venture between New Zealand’s
Tuaropaki Trust and the Japanese firm
Obayashi Corp. Halcyon’s project began
production in December 2021 and uses
geothermal power to produce about 180
tonnes of hydrogen annually. Meanwhile,
in 2021, startup Geo40 commissioned
the world’s first sustainable large-scale
commercial silica recovery plant from
geothermal brine at the 110-MWe Ohaa-
ki electric power station also located in
the Taupo Volcanic Zone of New Zealand.
That project can produce 5,000 tons per
year of colloidal silica. The achievement
is notable because “Colloidal silica has
traditionally been manufactured in a very
carbon-intensive fashion, which required
quartz-rich sand to be melted in a blast
furnace at very high temperatures,” the
company said. “Geo40 extracts its silica
directly from solution downstream of
the power station, without the need to
disturb the surface with mining. The de-
pleted solution is then re-injected back
into the hydrothermal aquifer, helping to
maintain its water balance.”
Meanwhile, several companies are
also developing lithium extraction facili-
ties. Vulcan Energy Resources, developer
of the Zero Carbon Lithium project, says
it intends to produce a “battery-quality”
lithium hydroxide chemical product from
its combined geothermal energy and
lithium resource in Germany—Europe’s
largest lithium resource. In January, Vul-
can signed a binding term sheet for a
multiphase project with Dutch automak-
er Stellantis to develop new geothermal
projects aimed at decarbonizing the en-
ergy mix of Stellantis’ Rüsselsheim in-
dustrial site in Germany.
Finally, geothermal developers ven-
turing into carbon capture include Fervo
Energy. In February, the company an-
nounced that it would design and engi-
neer a fully integrated geothermal and
direct air capture (DAC) facility with sup-
port from the Chan Zuckerberg Initia-
tive (CZI). “Geothermal can deliver the
carbon-free power and heat needed to
make DAC a viable means for removing
carbon dioxide from the atmosphere,”
noted Tim Latimer, CEO of Fervo. ■
—Sonal Patel is a POWER senior
associate editor.
31
 PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Working with EPC Contractors:
Guidance for Utilities Embarking
on Solar Development
Engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractors deliver many
benefits to power projects. Besides the experience they bring that can help keep
schedules on track, they often have longstanding relationships with suppliers
that allow volume-based pricing discounts and priority sourcing of materials,
among other things.
Scott Canada
T
he U.S. Energy Information Admin-
istration (EIA) says the U.S. is set to
add 63 GW of photovoltaic (PV) pow-
er by the end of 2024. This is a huge stride
forward for renewable energy, as solar and
wind generation is expected to reach 16%
of the U.S. grid’s supply this year. That’s an
increase of 84% in just two years for solar
production alone. With the Inflation Reduc-
tion Act (IRA) in place, the trajectory for
solar will most likely continue to soar and
the utilities that opt to build and own solar
plants will reap the rewards.
How to Take Advantage of the
Inflation Reduction Act
With President Biden’s signature on the
IRA, the new legislation that dedicates
$369 billion to combating climate change
through investments in renewable ener-
gy, building and owning utility-scale solar
projects just got more attractive to utili-
ties across the U.S.
While there will continue to be a need
for utilities to contract with solar develop-
ers under power purchase agreements
(PPAs), the IRA incentivizes utilities to
explore the option of owning PV plants
themselves. That means working directly
with engineering, procurement, and con-
struction (EPC) contractors to design and
build solar projects that make the most
sense for their region, load profiles, and
regulatory environment (Figure 1).
One of the first choices utilities will
need to make for their solar projects is
whether the investment tax credit (ITC)
or the production tax credit (PTC) makes
more sense. Previously, owners of so-
lar assets were eligible only for the ITC,
which was calculated based on total proj-
ect cost. With passage of the IRA, own-
ers of solar projects now have the option
of choosing either the ITC or the PTC,
32
which is a 10-year stream of tax credits
calculated based on actual plant produc-
tion. Publicly owned, not-for-profit entities
such as municipal utilities and coopera-
tives have the additional option of receiv-
ing an amount equal to the ITC or PTC as
a direct payment from the U.S. Treasury,
rather than a tax credit.
Under the framework of the IRA,
the ITC is equal to 30% of total qualify-
ing costs for projects that meet certain
requirements with respect to prevail-
ing wages and apprenticeship ratios,
with adders of 10% each for domestic
content and for siting the project in an
“energy community.” Alternatively, a util-
ity could opt to pursue the PTC at a rate
of 2.7 cents/kWh (provided the project
complies with certain prevailing wage
and apprenticeship requirements) with
adders of 0.3 cent/kWh for domestic
content minimums and another 0.3 cent/
kWh for siting in an “energy community.”
Additionally, the PTC is adjusted annually
for inflation and is not subject to the ac-
counting rules related to “normalization,”
which have historically prevented utilities
from efficiently utilizing the ITC.
“EPCs aren’t able to prescribe what
makes the most financial sense for the
utility with respect to the election of ITC
or PTC, but they are able to help model
the inputs that utilities need to weigh
these two options. Additionally, EPCs can
develop labor, procurement, and schedul-
ing strategies that help utilities take maxi-
mum advantage of available incentives.
And they can take the headaches away
from some of the complicated reporting
requirements,” said Chester Klotz, vice
president of renewable energy for Mc-
Carthy Building Companies. “In the past,
developers have been able to more effec-
tively use the benefits of the ITC, but the
IRA has essentially changed the solar fa-
www.powermag.com |
1. McCarthy Building Companies mobilized
its workforce in September 2022 to construct
the Agave Solar Plant, a 150-MWac facility
located in Arlington, Arizona. The plant is ex-
pected to be in service providing power to
Arizona Public Service Co. (APS) customers in
time for summer 2023. Courtesy: McCarthy
Building Companies
cility landscape, putting utilities on a more
level playing field financially.”
Understanding all the options avail-
able under the IRA—and the necessary
reporting and compliance—requires
expertise that experienced and sophis-
ticated utility-scale EPCs are able to
provide. These EPCs will be able to opti-
mize a particular project’s tax credits by
ensuring that Davis-Bacon Act prevailing
wages are paid to workers and that a suf-
ficient number of registered apprentices
are utilized.
At the Elm Branch and Briar Creek
solar projects outside Dallas, Texas, Mc-
Carthy Building Companies’ Renewable
Energy and Storage team worked with
Adaptive Construction Services (ACS)
to develop a U.S. Department of Labor–
approved apprenticeship program that
employed approximately 50 U.S. military
veterans (Figure 2), who built the com-
bined 316-MW solar farms or completed
on-site training. The apprenticeship pro-
gram is now implemented on projects
that the firm builds around the country.
“With utility-scale solar construction
POWER April 2023
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 PROJECT MANAGEMENT
jobs on the rise around the nation, we are
continually working to help local skilled
craft workers, veterans, and those dis-
placed from jobs in other sectors to join
our solar project teams and receive the
training needed to develop rewarding ca-
reers in the growing renewable energy
sector,” said Matt McMullan, senior vice
president of renewable energy for McCar-
thy Building Companies. “Now, with the
IRA, utilities can be rewarded with federal
incentives for implementing programs that
create good-paying jobs and expand work-
force training pathways into these jobs.”
Building to Solar Industry Standards
As more utilities navigate the engineer-
ing and construction of solar projects they
will own and operate, it’s important that
utilities keep an open mind and are flexible
when new ideas or solutions are present-
ed by their EPC partner. They are able to
pass along lessons learned from a broad
spectrum of project sites they’ve built.
“Utilities have a playbook on how to
design and build combined cycle gener-
ating plants and many try to apply that
playbook to solar plants,” said Mark Skid-
more, PE, director of engineering and
R&D (research and development) for
McCarthy Building Companies. “While
that’s understandable, it doesn’t always
make engineering or financial sense.”
EPCs help evaluate design decisions to
achieve the goals of the solar plant and
bring innovations to utilities that may be
new to the area of development. Collabo-
ration is key to success. For example, if a
utility’s goal is to generate 500 GWh for
the life of a project with a specific produc-
tion profile, an EPC would come to the
table with design and equipment recom-
mendations needed to reach that end
goal based on modeling of data, experi-
ence, and reputable third-party research
that back up those recommendations.
“As a utility owner, we’re most likely
building to a bit of a different standard than
the market because of the long-term view
we take on assets,” said Jim Piotrowski,
director of renewable generation with Ari-
zona Public Service (APS). “For our 150-
MWac Agave solar project in Arlington,
Arizona, it was helpful to collaborate with
the EPC to come up with solutions that,
based on their experience, provided the
redundancy and reliability we need, and
determine how we can achieve what we
need to for the project’s lifecycle in the
most cost-effective way.”
Collaborative design and value engi-
neering are key benefits that an experi-
enced EPC can bring to the table, and
34
2. McCarthy was selected by Lightsource
bp as the engineering, procurement, and con-
struction (EPC) contractor for its Elm Branch
and Briar Creek solar farms, both located
south of Dallas, Texas. McCarthy trained many
area residents and military veterans to work
on these projects. Courtesy: McCarthy Build-
ing Companies
their importance should not be under-
stated. Those types of conversations be-
tween the utility and the EPC should be
taking place early and often.
Managing Sequencing, Scheduling,
and Supply Chain Issues
Once a utility has a site selected and
plans engineered for a solar farm, an
EPC can help ensure timely project de-
livery and navigate potential challenges
with equipment orders.
Today, solar modules are considerably
cheaper, with the Solar Energy Industries
Association (SEIA) reporting that prices
have fallen 52% over the last 10 years.
This, combined with the tax credits avail-
able in the IRA, have made the develop-
ment of utility-scale solar projects more
economically feasible for utilities.
Of critical importance is selecting an
EPC that keeps up to date with current
solar technology. Performance and pricing
for modules, inverters, and trackers are
constantly changing with improvements in
technology being released all the time. Now
that the IRA established two credits for
manufacturing, there will likely be an uptick
in solar products that can make a difference
in cost or performance of the PV plant.
EPCs should have established rela-
tionships with reputable vendors and
master purchase agreements that re-
sult in the best pricing, lead times, and
the ability to execute contracts quickly.
Some utilities try to save money by or-
dering parts directly, only to find it ends
up costing more in the long run because
they hit snags with delivery that, in some
cases, result in delayed projects. Doing
this can take away leverage that the EPC
has with product suppliers and trans-
fers the risk of supply chain issues from
the EPC to the utility. While it can make
sense for a utility to purchase modules
www.powermag.com |
or other elements of their solar project
in some cases, EPCs are equipped to
help in this process and even manage it
for utilities that are new to the process
of constructing and owning solar plants.
Understanding what makes sense for
each project involves transparent com-
munication between the utility and EPC.
“At APS, we take a long-view approach
to renewable energy project planning
and development, partly because of our
experience as solar facility owners, but
also due to current market conditions re-
lated to solar module availability,” stated
Piotrowski. “We’re managing lead times
for procurement on long lead parts by
ordering in advance of construction and
while utilities newly entering this space
may need to rely on the EPC for this, our
EPC partners provide for procurement
flexibility that allows us to plan ahead
and they design the project based upon
our equipment, site topography, and our
clean energy generation needs.”
Additionally, an EPC is able to vet ven-
dors to ensure they can deliver financially
on a client’s significant product invest-
ment. COVID, wars in other parts of the
globe, and shipping container issues have
all presented challenges to solar project
teams in recent years. Despite these un-
precedented times, EPCs are set up to
provide a turnkey, fixed-price, date-certain
contract. The value-added solution reduc-
es the complexity of building and owning
a solar plant for the utility.
“Having developed numerous large-
scale solar facilities over the years, APS
appreciates working with experienced
EPCs for the value they bring,” said Pi-
otrowski. “We find that successful
projects require early and frequent trans-
parent communication that allows us to
collaborate with our EPC partners by shar-
ing our project and sustainability goals as
well as what we’re bringing to the table.
While collaboration continues throughout
a project’s construction, we can rely on
the EPC to efficiently manage the design
and construction process, which allows
us to focus on providing affordable, reli-
able energy to our customers.” ■
—Scott Canada is senior vice president of
the Renewable Energy and Storage
group at McCarthy Building Companies,
which provides EPC services on utility-
scale solar projects across the
U.S. McCarthy has built or is currently
constructing more than 80 utility-scale
solar energy projects, delivering a
combined capacity of more than 9 GW
of clean energy production and over 775
MWh of energy storage since 2010.
POWER April 2023
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42725
 INSTRUMENTATION & CONTROL
Instrumentation and Control
for Reliability, Efficiency, and
Pollution Control
High-tech instrumentation and state-of-the-art modeling tools are helping power
plant operators achieve best-in-class performance, meet pollution targets, and bet-
ter predict failures. Calibration management software, advanced pattern recognition
techniques, and autonomous tuning systems are important pieces of an effective
enterprise asset management solution.
Jenny Bulach and Martha Saker pared to the capabilities of APR, which models are important to have routine

I
nstrumentation matters in today’s
power plants because it provides in-
sight to operations and performance
of assets in real time. Real-time data and
historical data can be used to predict is-
sues ahead of failures or before perfor-
mance problems arise.
Newer plants typically have more
sensors allowing better insight to asset
operations. Plants that are aging typical-
ly have minimal instrumentation on the
key assets. Regardless of which scenar-
io a plant is in, most plants do not have
large budgets to continually add more
instrumentation. Additionally, keeping
up with instrumentation availability and
calibrations also can be labor intensive
and expensive.
Getting the most out of existing in-
strumentation is key to plant reliability,
performance, and operations and main-
tenance (O&M) spend. Additionally, us-
ing software tools to understand the
differences between instrumentation
and calibration issues is also important.
Having software specific to track calibra-
tions can better organize and standardize
calibration activities between technicians
and keep a well-documented history.
allows for much earlier prediction, allow-
ing time to make a maintenance plan for
the asset.
Managing the calibration of all the in-
struments that feed APR-type technol-
ogy is not only labor intensive, but also
requires a lot of documentation. Many
times, an enterprise asset management
(EAM) system is able to track the calibra-
tion and preventive maintenance work
on instrumentation, but often the docu-
mentation does not keep track of the set-
tings and adjustments made to the level
of detail needed for technicians who do
the calibrations. Often, these details
are left to technician notes, notebooks,
and manuals, which are rarely all in one
place, or not kept at all.
Calibration management for instru-
mentation and control systems plays an
essential role in supporting the efficient
operation of the plant. Instrumentation is
also a fundamental element in the major-
ity of safety and shutdown systems, so
ensuring the reliability and performance
of these systems is paramount. Instru-
ments that provide data for predictive
calibration, and documentation of those
calibration activities.
Establishing standard work process-
es for calibration of instruments and
DCS systems is a best practice in the
industry (Figure 1). Those work process-
es must have a thorough process of de-
tailed documentation of the calibration
steps and outcomes.
GE’s asset performance management
(APM) health calibration management
workflow out-of-the-box configurable
graphs include:
■ Calibration measurement.
■ Calibration error.
■ Calibration historical error trend.
■ Calibration historical pass/fail trend.
Calibration management helps en-
sure a standardized approach for lifecy-
cle calibration management is executed,
as well as the best practice processes
to analyze the effectiveness of calibra-
tion strategies. After implementation,
instrument technical data can be clas-
sified and managed in a standard for-

Documentation of Calibration of
Instrumentation for Assets
Instrumentation and sensor data are
what feed any remote monitoring soft-
ware. When using advanced pattern
recognition (APR), the data coming in is
utilized for models to be able to predict
failures. Empirical models can detect
small discrepancies in data before a digi-
tal control system (DCS) may alarm. This
is how it is possible to detect asset is-
sues prior to the problems becoming a
failure. By the time a DCS is in alarm, the 1. GE’s asset performance management (APM) health calibration management software dash-
board. Courtesy: GE Digital
timeframe to failure is imminent com-

36 www.powermag.com |
POWER April 2023

mat, and the overall calibration plan and
results can be captured and preserved
in a fully auditable format, meeting the
compliance requirements of both the
Occupational Safety and Health Admin-
istration (OSHA) 1910 standard and the
International Organization for Standard-
ization (ISO) 9000 series standard. APM
calibration management interfaces
with EAM systems, allowing for seam-
less work-process integration between
maintenance, operations, engineering,
and instrumentation groups.
Neural Networks and Modeling
Controls
During the energy transition, focusing
on greenhouse gas emissions is even
more critical to get the best perfor-
mance out of your asset. As a power
plant operator, there are only so many
control screens and systems that can
be watched at once.
One way to help with the split deci-
sions necessary to operate the plant is
to have neural networks and predictive
modeling aiding in fine tuning aspects
of heat rate and pollution control sys-
tems. With a neural network and specific
customized modeling in a closed-loop
fashion, operators can focus on other op-
erating issues, while software is optimiz-
ing the controls with specific outcomes
like heat rate, NOx and CO2. This helps
the operator move from operating in a
comfort zone to the best zone (Figure 2).
A digital twin can provide many in-
sights using data, models, and analyt-
ics to your asset. For the plant manager,
having digital modeling or digital twins
of your plant operations can ensure the
optimal performance of the plant using
the technology available to aid your em-
ployees’ operations. This is also helpful
for making sure not only is the plant in
environmental compliance, but at a com-
pliance rate that optimizes heat rate and
pollution limits. For those working at an
enterprise level for plant performance
and controls, being able to compare
plant operations across plants, utilize
best practices, and understand poor per-
formers is one way to understand where
resources may be needed.
Overview of Instruments and How
to Improve Heat Rate and Operator
Differences
To exemplify the concepts above, we
will look at Autonomous Tuning, a neural
network model digital twin of the com-
bustion process in a gas turbine. In this
product, this digital twin is used as a
|
April 2023 POWER
www.powermag.com
2. GE Digital’s neural network optimizers
include autonomous tuning and BoilerOpt,
which is a boiler combustion software solu-
tion. Courtesy: GE Digital
method to maintain an up-to-date model
of the combustor as operating conditions
change. The digital twin is supported by
real-time data collected from three sourc-
es of instrumentation that already exist
in most power plants: the unit controller,
the continuous emissions monitoring
system (CEMS), and the fuel properties
monitor. The digital twin stores real-time
data from the data sources and uses it
to maintain a machine learning model of
the recent operation of the combustor.
Two support modules enable the
continuous update of the digital twin’s
machine learning model. The first is an ex-
ploration module that sends adjustments
to the unit controller to explore the space
of operation of the combustor, and collect
acoustics and emissions data at a wide
range of operating conditions. The second
is a model training module that uses the
data collected with the exploration mod-
ule to replace the previous machine learn-
ing model with a newer one.
In the architecture, a gas turbine digi-
tal twin is a software component that
is synchronized with the physical object
it represents and can support numer-
ous applications. On the top layer of
the architecture, we have the applica-
tions supported by the digital twin. The
digital twin-enabled application is an
optimizer that uses a machine learning
model of the combustion process in a
gas turbine to find optimal adjustments
to the turbine’s base schedule that will
allow it to operate with reduced acous-
tics and emissions while improving heat
rate, and without the need to manually
remap the unit.
The digital twin uses data extracted
from various devices and instrumenta-
tion in the power plant to maintain an
up-to-date machine learning model of
combustion, which supports an applica-
tion that calculates optimal performance
adjustments. Unlike manual mapping
performed during an outage, exploration
to refresh the digital twin is done when
the turbine is generating power.
INSTRUMENTATION & CONTROL
Case Study: GE Aeroderivative
LM6000PD Peaking Unit
The neural network model digital twin–
based control approach introduced
above was evaluated at a peaking com-
bined cycle powered plant. The plant is
located in an area where the fuel pro-
vider may change the natural gas com-
position daily, switching between fuels
with different lower heating value and
specific gravity.
Such a complex scenario had caused
issues with high emissions and acous-
tics over the year prior to the autono-
mous tuning implementation and had
required the invention of remote tun-
ers and field service mappers. Remote
tuners were often called to avoid stage
down for high acoustics/blow out and to
address problems with NOx (at baseload
operations) and CO (at low loads) emis-
sions that were at the upper end of the
allowed values. There were also issues
with operability risks and high emissions
in addition to the fall and spring mapping
events that were originally scheduled.
The digital twin–enabled optimizer
demonstrated its capability to adapt to
changes in ambient temperature and
fuel properties. The gas turbine oper-
ated for a space of one year without the
need for tuning services or remapping
events. The optimizer was able to drive
the combustor to acceptable conditions
without the need for human interven-
tion. Digital twins can enhance decision
making in power generation by leverag-
ing real-time sensors to maintain an up
to-date model of the operation of power
generation equipment, and allowing en-
gineers to track the evolution of its op-
erating conditions.
Helpful Tools Are Available Now
Using digital twins with instrumentation
and modeling of assets is how compa-
nies are going to be better at predicting
failures, achieving best performance,
and meeting pollution targets. Utilizing
software for calibration management
and advanced pattern recognition helps
plant managers predict asset failures
prior to the failure occurring. In addi-
tion, utilizing the closed-loop controls
systems, such as autonomous tuning,
is an effective way to help with incon-
sistencies in operations and asset per-
formance in regards to efficiency and
pollution controls. ■
—Jenny Bulach is an Energy Industrial
Principal with GE Digital, and
Martha Saker is Principal Product
Manager with GE Digital.
37
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 COMMENTARY
Celebrating Diversity
Drives Results
Stephanie Hertzog
T
he energy sector is facing unprecedented times as we
see oil and gas companies expanding into renewables, as
well as enhanced carbon capture for traditional fossil fu-
els. If there was ever a time we needed the best and brightest,
it is now. However, college students are asking if joining a tra-
ditional power company is akin to joining the tobacco industry.
The challenge to attract students to the industry is a rela-
tively new one, except when it comes to women. Women hold
just 22% of jobs in the traditional energy sector, according to
the International Energy Agency, even though they make up
39% of the global workforce.
Many of the problems faced by power companies are com-
plex and not easily solved. Can more women in energy be the
answer to these problems? There is no guarantee, but our
chances as an industry are a lot better if we have more diver-
sity of thought and ideas. We must push against the status
quo. We need to challenge each other. Ruth Bader Ginsburg
said, fight for the things that you care about but do it in a way
that will lead others to join you.
Diversity Leads to Greater Profitability
Diverse companies are more successful. I would like to think
this message is common knowledge, but I keep finding it’s not.
There are multiple studies on this topic. As one example, I’ll
reference McKinsey & Co.’s report from 2019 showing compa-
nies in the top quartile for gender diversity on executive teams
were 25% more likely to have above-average profitability than
companies in the bottom quartile. That was up from 21% in
2017 and 15% in 2014.
The case for ethnic and cultural diversity is even more com-
pelling. Top-quartile companies with regard to ethnic diversity
outperformed those in the bottom quartile by 36% in profitabil-
ity, up from 33% in 2017 and 35% in 2014. And yet, even with
all this data, the pendulum has barely swung.
I’ve been in energy services my entire career and had gotten
used to being the only woman in the room. It has been refresh-
ing to join Sodexo, a company where the culture is steeped
in leading-edge diversity, equity, and inclusion practices. I am
now rarely the only woman in the room. It has been enlighten-
ing to receive diversity scorecards, sponsor employee business
resource groups (we have nine, supporting and advocating for
African Americans, Asians, Native Americans and Aboriginals,
Latinos, women, the LGBTQ community, people with disabili-
ties, veterans, and people of all ages), lead mentoring circles
and to always be handed a diverse slate of candidates when
filling a position.
Change Requires All-Hands Participation
What can companies do? Companies need to start holding lead-
ers accountable for progress on diversity. As we all know, what
40 www.powermag.com |
gets measured gets done. I have seen in my own company
how senior-level sponsorship and high employee engagement
are critical to driving progress. At Sodexo, our bonus-eligible
employees have part of their bonus tied specifically to complet-
ing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) training and activities.
As a senior leader, a portion of my long-term incentive is tied
to the company achieving 40% female representation in the
Global Senior Leadership group by 2024.
Companies need to start holding
leaders accountable for progress
on diversity. As we all know,
what gets measured gets done.
What can employees do? Maybe you’re not the CEO or in
a position to change compensation plans at your company. In
hindsight, many of the things I receive by being part of a com-
pany that values DE&I did not need to be handed to me by my
employer. I could have instituted it or demanded it myself. Any
hiring manager can ask for a diverse slate. Everyone can as-
sess the diversity of their own team and their teams’ teams.
A quick Google search will lead you to many articles on DE&I
best practices you can adopt, but a few ideas include:
■ Lead Inclusively. Inclusion requires active, intentional, and
ongoing efforts to promote the full participation and sense
of belonging of every employee, client, and strategic partner.
Even if you are not in a management role, you can still be a
leader in inclusivity.
■ Coach, Mentor, and Sponsor. If you’re a senior leader, make
an effort to get to know your diverse employees and find
some you can actively sponsor. If you’re not a senior leader,
you may struggle to be a sponsor, but there is always some-
one earlier in their journey whom you can coach or mentor.
You can start a mentoring circle, and if you feel you need a
senior leader, ask someone to lead it.
■ Seek Out Training for You or Your Team. Does your company
currently require diversity training? If not, there are many
great resources available. Start by opening team meetings
with a diversity moment.
You don’t have to be the CEO to be a leader. Frankly, you
don’t even have to be a manager to make a difference in your
company. Grassroots efforts are often the most successful! ■
—Stephanie Hertzog is CEO of Energy and Resources
for North America, and Head of Global Strategic
Energy Accounts with Sodexo.
POWER April 2023
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