August 2014

August 2014 Vol. 158 No.
Vol. 158 No. 8 August 2014
2014 Plant of the Year:

Ivanpah
Marmaduke Award Goes to

Relocated Plant
Our First Water Award
HRSG Inspection for
Aggressive Use Scenarios
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Established 1882 Vol. 158 No. 8
August 2014
ON THE COVER
This access road on the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System site runs straight to
one of three concentrating solar power towers. The much longer road to developing this
landmark plant was anything but straight. Courtesy: NRG Energy
COVER STORY: PLANT OF THE YEAR

26 Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System Earns POWER s Highest Honor
Meeting 33% of Californias massive electricity demand with renewable generation
requires some equally massive plants, and the biggest yet came online this year in
the Mojave Desert. Getting the worlds largest solar thermal plant funded and built
required creative solutions and unusual partnerships to overcome an array of environmental, regulatory, and construction challenges.
26
SPECIAL REPORTS
MARMADUKE AWARD
36 KOMIPO Relocates an Entire Combined Cycle Power Plant

Its not the first time a power plant has been moved, but this South Korean unit is
one of the largest to be relocated. And, because both the original and new sites
were currently operating plants, logistics and timing were of much higher importance than when moving a decommissioned unit.
WATER AWARD
40 Jeffrey Energy Centers Constructed Wetland Treatment System

Our inaugural Water Award goes to a coal-fired power plant that shows how unconventional solutions can come from conventional fossil plants. By mimicking
natural processes, this large Midwestern coal-fired plant is able to effectively treat
flue gas desulfurization wastewater while protecting the environment and minimizing costs.
FEATURES
36
HEAT-RECOVERY STEAM GENERATORS
46 Strategies for Inspecting HRSGs in Two-Shift and Low-Load Service

Frequent operation of heat-recovery steam generators (HRSGs) in beyond-design
conditions often leads to more-frequent equipment degradation and failure. Heres
a detailed look at common unit failure mechanisms and HRSG inspection strategy
considerations for low-load operations and two-shift cycling. (See the web supplement for additional examples and photos.)
NUCLEAR
50 Welding and Fabrication Innovations Mitigate Reactor Pressure Vessel Embrittlement in Nuclear Plant Construction
Radiation-induced embrittlement of low-alloy weld filler metals has been a longtime
concern at nuclear power plants, but the latest manufacturing techniques and advanced welding technologies could be game-changers for the industry.
COAL COMBUSTION RESIDUALS
54 Solid Coal Ash-Handling System Avoids Problems Associated with Wet and
Dry Systems
A system first used in Europe is being adopted on other continents for its ability to
handle disposal of a range of coal combustion residuals efficiently, with minimal
water, and with a small environmental footprint.
August 2014 POWER
www.powermag.com
40
1
EMISSIONS
59 Treating WTE Plant Flue Gases with Sodium Bicarbonate

This article examines the range of factors, including operation and maintenance
complexity, to consider when determining if sodium bicarbonate is a better option
than traditional additives for treating waste-to-energy (WTE) flue gases.
POWER POLICY
64 Southeast Asias Energy Juggernaut

Energy demand for the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
is forecast to skyrocket in the coming decades. This report looks at how the regions
fuel mix for power generation has evolved, and what the regions supply and demand balance means for the worlds gas and coal trade.
46
SECURITY
68 Grid Security Gets Physical

Cybersecurity has grabbed the headlines lately, but as Pacific Gas & Electric found
out last year, defending against physical grid attacks is still important. Just how big
the threat of such attacks is remains highly controversial.
DEPARTMENTS
SPEAKING OF POWER
6 And the Winner Is . . .

GLOBAL MONITOR
54
8
8
9
10
11
12
12
France Slashes Reliance on Nuclear in New Draft Policy

Chile Axes 2.8-GW Hydro Project Permits
First Power for Argentinas Atucha 2 Nuclear Reactor
THE BIG PICTURE: GHG Pegboard
Indonesia Eyes Tightening Coal Exports
A Spanish Islands Wholly Wind-and-Water Power Solution
POWER Digest
FOCUS ON O&M
16 Intelligent Monitoring of Distribution and Emergency Power Systems Improves Availability

18 Trackers Optimize Yield of Utility-Scale Solar Plants
LEGAL & REGULATORY
24 Bright Future for Energy Storage

By Patrick Ferguson, senior associate, Davis Wright Tremaine
COMMENTARY
76 Effects of Urbanization on Generation in China

By Dr. Zeng Ming, Duan Jinhui, Wang Liang, and Gu Shanshan, North China Electric
Power University
16
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2
More Stories Than We Could Fit in Print!

Youll find more great technology, policy, and workforce articles associated with this
issue in the Archives at powermag.com (or enter titles in the Search bar):
Rapid Cycling: The Human Factor. Two-shift and load-following operation places
greater stress on plant equipment, but what about the staff? Rigorous training and a
healthy plant culture can help keep things running smoothly.
Germany Reforms Renewable Energy Laws. Internal and external pressures led
to the July adoption of a more market-based path toward future growth that remains
committed to renewables.
More Strategies for Inspecting HRSGs in Two-Shift and Low-Load Service

The State of the Microgrid Market: Promise and Present Realities
Military Microgrids: Wanted and Needed but Tough to Deploy
Interest Growing in Commercial and Community Microgrids
Islands Are the Low-Hanging Fruit for Microgrids
www.powermag.com
POWER August 2014
USA
LEBANON
KOREA
UAE
PAKISTAN
VIETNAM
THAILAND
INDONESIA
Lighting up the world

KOMIPO has been leading the Korean power generation industry by contributing to a stable power supply
with its outstanding power generation operation knowhow and techniques.
Our technology lights up the night.
38, Teheran-ro 114-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul 135-280, Republic of Korea
TEL +82-70-7511-1125
FAX +82-2-6933-2132
EDITORIAL & PRODUCTION

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Associate Editor: Sonal Patel
Associate Editor: Aaron Larson
Contributing Editors: Brandon Bell, PE; Charles Butcher; David Daniels, PE;
Steven F. Greenwald; Jeffrey P. Gray; Jim Hylko; Kennedy Maize;
Dick Storm, PE
Senior Graphic Designer: Michele White
Production Manager: Tony Campana, tcampana@accessintel.com
Marketing Manager: Cristane Martin
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POWER August 2014
SPEAKING OF POWER
And the Winner Is . . .

he 2014 POWER Plant of the Year
makes history, both as a project and
as our cover story.
The Plant of the Year award goes to the
most interesting, usually new, plant in
the previous year. Sometimes its a first,
like last years first U.S. ultrasupercritical
(USC) coal plant. This year its the worlds
largest solar thermal plant: Ivanpah Solar
Electric Generating System.
Awards provide snapshots of whats
happening in an industry at a given time.
By their nature, they are retrospective,
especially for long-lead-time utility-scale
generation. Though the John W. Turk, Jr.
plant was last years Plant of the Year, it
may well be the last USC plant built in the
U.S. The same may be true for Ivanpah
and concentrating solar power (CSP) towers. For a number of reasons, including
the decreasing cost of distributed photovoltaic generation vis vis utility-scale
CSP, Ivanpah may go down in the record
books as an extra-large pilot project.
Nevertheless, it is a noteworthy facility
for all sorts of reasons, as youll see in
our cover story.
For nine out of the past 11 years, the
Plant of the Year has been some sort of
coal plant. This year, for the first time, its
a renewable plant. That only seems fitting,
especially as the importance of renewable
generation increases globally.
A Shifting Balance of Power

According to the U.S. Energy Information
Administration, for 2013, the main sources
of U.S. generation were: coal, 39%; natural gas, 27%; nuclear, 19%; hydropower,
7%; and other renewables (biomass, geothermal, solar, and wind), 6%. Just over
50% of all new U.S. capacity in 2013 came
from natural gas (no surprise), while solar
accounted for 22%, coal added 11%, and
wind accounted for 8%; other renewables
made up the balance.
Globally, a report by the U.S. National
Renewable Energy Laboratory found that
renewables accounted for 23% of generation by 2012; the EIA estimates global
renewables generation for 2011 was 21%
and projects it will reach 25% by 2040.
6
Of course, weve all seen the balance

of power sources shift in response to
everything from politics to markets to
natural disasters, which is why POWER
award winners arent chosen simply
based on what technology is in ascendency. Were also looking for innovation, best practices, and projects that
help advance the sector in some way.
In several waysincluding technology
improvements, financing, and ownership
profileIvanpah moves the needle.
Innovation and Risk

Innovation almost always entails risk, and
the utility industry is notoriously riskaverse. When significant technology advances are attempted, cost and schedule
overruns almost always enter the picture.
Award-Worthy Projects
It could be argued that every power plant,
new or improved, is a winner because it
supplies much-needed electricity. However, to be an award winner, a project needs
to do something distinctivebe the first,
biggest, or most efficient; have overcome
daunting obstacles; or have developed
an ideal solution to a particular problem.
This years slate of POWER award winners,
covered in our August through December
issues, has an even more interesting mix
of projects than in years past. Its almost
as if economic and environmental constraints are making developers and owners
think outside the familiar boxes.
For example, combined heat and power
is becoming a more important component
in more places. And this year we are giving
This year, for the first time, its a renewable

plant.
In the U.S., cost and schedule overruns for nuclear plants are legendary. More
recently, new-technology coal plants are
seeing the same sorts of escalations. For
example, the cost of Southern Companys
Kemper County integrated gasification
combined cycle plant (designed to capture 65% of carbon dioxide emissions) has
risen from roughly $2 billion in 2006 to
well over $5 billion as of mid-2014. Anticipated plant startup has been delayed
by a year and is now expected in the first
half of 2015.
Developing Ivanpah wasnt fast or
cheap, either, for an even broader set of
reasons than those affecting advanced
coal plant development. Finding a balance
between potentially increased customer
costs and more efficient and cleaner generating technologies is never easy; however, if utilities, equipment manufacturers,
and investors never made that effort, wed
still be reading by smokey kerosene lamps
and heating our homes with particulatespewing carbon sources (as is still the
case in some parts of the world).
www.powermag.com
the Marmaduke Award to a combined cycle

plant that was disassembled and moved to
a completely new location to provide both
power and thermal energy.
And our first Water Award goes to a plant
that was committed to finding a unique solution to flue gas desulfurization wastewater
treatment that values both environmental
protection and economic rationality.
In our awards coverage in the months
ahead youll read about very large plants and
very small ones, because there are critical
roles for both scales. Its also clear from the
nominations received that Asia is actively
building considerable new capacity. Its not
only large nations like China and India that
are developing large-scale infrastructure, but
also smaller nations like South Korea building many right-sized plants in record time to
meet growing demand.
To all of you who work every day to
make your company worthy of notice in
one of our award-winning projects, congratuationsand keep up the good work!
Gail Reitenbach, PhD, Editor
(@GailReit, @POWERmagazine).
POWER August 2014
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France to Slash Reliance

on Nuclear in New Draft
Policy
France will cap its nuclear power capacity
at the current 63.2 GW, forcing closures
if new reactors come online, and instead
boost renewable generation if a bill unveiled by its energy ministry in mid-June
becomes law.
The draft policy setting out new longterm targets seeks to diversify the countrys energy sources. It lays out a 40%
carbon dioxide reduction target by 2030,
compared to 1990 levels. It also calls for
an increase in renewables share of final
energy consumption to 32% in 2030 (and
40% of electricity consumption)even
though the country is behind on a current target of 23% by 2020. One mechanism outlined to achieve the renewables
boost requires an overhaul of the contribution au service public de llectricit, a
tax on household power bills to fund wind
and solar output. The policy also requires
slashing total energy consumption in half
by 2050, and it banks on a massive expansion of the use of electric vehicles.
Meanwhile, though it caps nuclear capacity, the draft energy policy does not
set reactor closure dates or nuclear plant
lifespan limits. Those could be decided in
five-year energy plans to be passed by decree in the future.
We wont exit nuclear, thats not the
choice were making, Energy and Environment Minister Sgolne Royal told reporters.
Thanks to nuclear energy, we can implement this energy transition with no issues.
Frances President Francois Hollande
pledged during the 2012 election to slash
nuclears share of generation from the current 75%the highest in the worldto
just 50% by 2025 and to shutter Frances
oldest nuclear power plant, Fessenheim, by
the end of 2016. Though those goals have
been met with rigid opposition from unions
and political adversaries, the draft policy,
which follows a period of national energy
debate, would meet Hollandes pledges.
Among other consequences, power firm
EDF would be required to shutter older reactors when its European Pressurized Reactor (EPR) unit at Flamanville comes online
as expected in 2016 (Figure 1).
Chile Axes 2.8-GW Hydro

Project Permits
As the latest development in a contentious eight-year-long legal battle, Chiles
highest administrative authority in early
June revoked environmental permits for
five massive dams proposed in the countrys Patagonia region.
The decision by the Committee of Ministers means the 2.8-GW HidroAysn plan,
an $8 billion proposal to build five dams
on the Baker and Pascua Rivers (Figure
2) in Aysn, has effectively been stalled.
However, project developers will likely
appeal the decision in an environmental
court, prolonging the legal battle.
HidroAysn is owned 51% by Enels
Spanish subsidiary Endesa and 49% by
Chilean firm Colbun SA. The projects de-
velopers had called for more than 1,600

km of new power lines from the remote
region in southern Patagonia to supply
energy to central Chile. But though experts have warned that power-strapped
Chile must triple its current 18-GW generation capacity within 15 years to continue growing its economy and to feed
its energy-intensive mining sector, most
Chileans have opposed the controversial
hydroelectric scheme, sometimes with violent protests.
Opposition to the project also has the
international backing of the U.S.-based
Natural Resources Defense Council and International Rivers, environmental groups
that claim the environmental permits
originally granted in 2011 are wrought
with procedural irregularities and charges
of misconduct.
The government committee in June
reached a unanimous decision to repeal
environmental permission for the project,
after reviewing 35 legal cases against it. It
cited insufficient planning for the relocation of affected communities and the impact on local ecosystems for its decision.
[We are] willing to develop the hydroelectric project in Aysn, for which
[HidroAysn] has paid and will continue
to pay for water rights, mining protection
rights, sectorial administrative requests
and the protection of interests before financial and judicial institutions, wrote
Daniel Fernndez, executive vice-president
2. A megadam proposal. Chiles government in June stalled the 2.8-GW HidroAysn

project, an $8 billion proposal to build five dams on the Baker and Pascua Rivers in the remote
Aysn region in Patagonia. The Baker River (shown here) is Chiles largest in terms of volume of
water. Courtesy: Nadine Lehner/NRDC
1. Frances next nuclear generation. EDFs EPR plant under construction at

Flamanville is expected to come online in 2016.
The project is already behind schedule by four
years, with costs tripling to $11.6 billion. EDF in
June confirmed new concrete defects on the
internal reactor building that would take three
months to repair but would not affect the reactors start date. Courtesy: EDF
www.powermag.com
POWER August 2014
of HidroAysn, in a letter to the committee, which comprised the ministers of agriculture, energy, mining, and economy.
Earlier in May, Chile released a $650
million investment plan to reduce energy
costs and promote non-hydro renewable
energy development for the country that
imports about 60% of its primary energy
resources. The plan calls for a 30% cut in
marginal power costs on Chiles central
grid, which serves 90% of the countrys
citizens, by 2018. It also requires that
45% of power capacity installed between
2014 and 2025 be from solar, wind, and
geothermal sources to put Chile closer to
its target of producing 20% of its energy
from renewables. The government also
called for energy savings of up to 20,000
GWh per year.
Chiles power mix is dominated by hydropower, but droughts have left a country
with no indigenous oil or natural gas reserves energy-strapped (see Chiles Power
Challenge: Reliable Energy Supplies in
the September 2012 issue). Beyond calling on the state oil company to boost exploration, the country also hopes to build
a liquefied natural gas import terminal in
the mineral-rich north.
First Power for Argentinas

Atucha 2 Nuclear Reactor
Argentinas 692-MW Atucha 2 nuclear reactor achieved criticality in early June,
marking a major milestone for the countrys third reactor, development of which
began nearly four decades ago.
A pressurized heavy water reactor
(PHWR), Atucha 2 is now expected to
ramp up production in stages, reaching

full power within two or three months.
The reactor is expected to replace some
of the oil that Argentina exports but also
combusts for power generation.
The South American country now produces about 4.7% of its power from two
existing nuclear reactorsthe 335-MW
Atucha 1 plant 100 km northwest of capi-
3. Setting up for nuclear. This image shows workers loading fuel assemblies at the
Atucha 2 nuclear reactor in Argentina in December 2012. The reactor achieved criticality on June
3. Courtesy: Nucleoelctrica Argentina
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August 2014 POWER
www.powermag.com
THE BIG PICTURE: GHG Pegboard

Since the Supreme Courts landmark 2007 decision, the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) has sought to phase in greenhouse gas (GHG) rules for power plants and other
large stationary sources using three separate sections of the Clean Air Act (CAA): the
Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) Permitting Program, the Title V Permitting
Program, and the New Source Performance Standards (NSPS). Heres how those rules have
evolved. Notes: BACT = best available control technology; IGCC = integrated gasification
combined cycle; CCGT = combined cycle gas turbine. Copy and artwork by Sonal Patel,
a POWER associate editor (@sonalcpatel, @POWERmagazine).
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

MASSACHUSETTS ET AL. v. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY ET AL.
No. 051120. Argued November 29, 2006Decided April 2, 2007
New S
o
PSD/T urce Review
itle V P
ermitt
ing
ance
rform
rce Pe s
u
o
S
ard
New
Stand
Far-Reaching Consequences
(July 2008): Bush-era EPA asks the public how it
should respond to Massachusetts, warning that
regulating vehicle GHGs under any part of the CAA
would mean PSD and Title V permitting would apply
to all large GHG-emitting stationary sources.
Endangerment
Finding
(Dec. 2009): EPA
makes broad
determination that
GHG emissions
lth
endanger public hea
and welfare.
g
Reportin PA
): E
9
0
0
2
t.
(Sep
G
large GH
requires
egin
b
to
rs
emitte
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collectin
new
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system
g
in
rt
o
p
re
in Jan.
starting
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g Rule
Triggerin
es
EPA issu
):
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1
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0
(April 2
ilori
n that
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si
ci
e
d
(May 20 ng Rule
a final
G
H
G
10): EPA
le
ic
h
a
Final Tailpipe Rule
nnounc
motor ve l trigger
e
to tailo s three steps (May 2010): EPA sets GHG
s wil
rd
a
d
n
a
st
r PSD a
e
rc
u
so
stationary irements. V permit requir nd Title standards for new motor
ements
power p
g requ
vehicles.
to
lants
permittin
large GH and other
G emitte
rs.
A biomass exemption
(July 2011): EPA finalizes
a three-year deferral of
GHG permitting for
biomass facilities.
Biomass deferral deemed unlawful
(July 2013): D.C. Circuit vacates EPA
deferral rule for biomass permitting
but allows EPA to exempt biomass
from permitting program permanently
if it determines authority in CAA
to do so.
Unambiguous
ly
Compelled by statute
correct
(Aug. 2013): D.C. Circuit
(June 2012): D.
C.
upholds EPAs interpretaCircuit backs EP
As
tion of PSD permitting
rationale for GH
G
requirement as applying
regulation unde
r
to any regulated air
CAA, upholds
pollutant and finds it
Endangerment
crystal clear that PSD
Finding and
permitees must install
Tailpipe Rule.
BACT for GHGs.
Triggering and Tailoring Rules rejected

(June 2014): The Supreme Court throws out the EPAs
Triggering Rule and thwarts the EPA's authority to tailor
legislation to bureaucratic policy goals, but it affirms the
agencys authority to implement GHG controls for anyway
sources.
10
This pivotal case

found that CO2 and
other GHGs meet
the definition of
air pollutants
under the CAA.
www.powermag.com
The Boiler GHG settlement

(Dec. 2010): EPA enters
into a settlement
agreement with 12 states
and two environmental
A proposed
groups that requires NSPS
GHG rule fo
r
new power
covering GHG emissions
plants
(April 2012
from fossil fuel-fired power
): EPA prop
oses
that new bo
plants and refineries.
ilers,
and CCGT un IGCC units,
its meet a
standard of
1,000 lb CO
/MWh
2
gross.
ate
im
Cl
ts
en
The Presid
Action Plan
ident
New plant NSPS
2013): Pres
e
un
(J
a memoranes
(Sept. 2013): EPA
su
is
a
Obam
it
g
in
ct
EPA dire
re-proposes NSPS for
dum to the
s
te final rule
new GHG-emitting
to promulga
to
June 2015
power plants under
no later than
plant carbon CAA Section 111(b);
curb power
r
m new powe
fro
calling for natural
n
tio
llu
po
ll as from
we
gas plants to be
as
ts
an
pl
d,
te
uc
constr
combined cycle
modified, re
.
ts
an
power pl
plants and coal or
and existing
IGCC plants to have
partial carbon
capture and storage
as the best system
of emission
reduction. Rule to
be finalized in Jan.
2015.
A Clean Power Plan

(June 2014): EPA proposes
rules under CAA Section
111(d) for existing fossil fuel
fired power plants, setting
state-specific goals to slas
h carbon emissions from the
power sector by 30% from
2005 levels by 2030. It also
outlines a variety of approac
hes to achieve standards,
including energy efficiency
and coal-to-gas conversions
.A
final rule is expected in Jun
e 2015; guidelines call for
states to develop impleme
ntation plans by June 201
6
(with a one-year extension
option).
POWER August 2014
tal Buenos Aires and the 600-MW Embalse

plant in Cordoba. About 50% of the total
comes from natural gas, 25% from hydro,
15% from oil, and only about 2% from
coal. Following commercial operation of
Atucha 2 later this year, the countrys
nuclear capacity will jump 74%.
Argentinas government approved Atucha 2, which was based on the Siemens
PHWR design for the 1974-commissioned
Atucha 1 unit, in 1979. Construction began in 1981, but work was suspended for
lack of funds in 1994 when the project
was about 80% complete.
Nucleoelctrica Argentina was set up
in 1995 to take over the countrys nuclear
power plants and resume construction
of Atucha 2. However, no progress was
made until 2006, when the government
announced a $3.5 billion plan to support
the countrys nuclear plants and build new
ones. It required the completion of Atucha 2 (Figure 3) and the extension of the
operating lifetimes of Atucha 1 and the
1983-commissioned Embalse plant. The
life of the Embalse CANDU-6 reactor will
be extended by 25 years under a contract
signed in August 2011. That project is expected to last five years and cost about
$1.37 billion.
The governments 2006 plan also called
for the construction of a 27-MWe prototype of the CAREM reactor, a modular
simplified pressurized water reactor with
integral steam generators. First concrete
for the CAREM reactor was poured this
February. If successful, the research reactor could spawn larger versions (100 MW
or 200 MW) for construction in Argentinas
Formosa province by 2021.
coal mines, such as Bumi Resources and

Toba Bara Sejahtera, are owned by politically connected figures.
Benchmark prices for Asian coal have
dropped 16% to $72.38 a metric ton (mt)
as of June this year, trading at its lowest
levels since late 2009. One reason cited
for depressed prices is the rampant illegal
mining and exports that flood the market.
About 50 million to 60 million mt of coal
is illegally exported from Indonesia each
year (total exports were 383 million mt in
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Indonesia Eyes Tightening

Coal Exports
Indonesia, the worlds leading exporter
of thermal coal, in June again suggested
it could limit coal production and further
tighten its control on exports to protect
supply for domestic power plants.
However, the new rules arent expected until after the countrys presidential
election in July, and possibly not until
after a new government is inaugurated
in October.
About 70% of Indonesias coal production is exported, but the government projects that domestic demand for coal-fired
power plants will rise by 13% by 2015.
The new rules could come as a ministerial regulation on mines and shipments,
though how effective that will be remains
to be determined, experts say. As Reuters
reported in June, many of the countrys
August 2014 POWER
2012, according to the World Coal Association). The government, which levies royalties of 3% to 13.5% on exports of coal
produced in the country, has plans to build
14 dedicated coal terminals in the islands
of Kalimantan and Sumatra to tighten supervision and curb illegal exports.
However, the falling prices have already
begun forcing smaller coal producers in
the country out of business, further slashing output, observers note. That could
have repercussions for the countries to
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11
which the bulk of Indonesias coal exports are destined, including China, India,
South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. India,
for example, which relies on Indonesian
coal imports to keep up chronically short
power plant stocks, would have to rely on
increased shipments from Australia and
South Africa.
A Spanish Islands 100%

Wind-and-Water Power
Solution
El Hierro, the smallest island on Spains Canary archipelago, in June became what developers say is the first energy-isolated territory
to power itself solely with renewables.
The project, which was conceived in
1997 with construction officially beginning in 2005, entailed building a
unique wind-hydro system consisting of
a five-turbine, 11.5-MW wind farm, two
water reservoirs (Figure 4), a pumping
unit, a hydropower plant, and a seawater desalination plant. (The island also
has a fuel oil power station for backup
generation.)
Several islands around the world are
turning to renewables for power, but El
Hierro is the first to secure a constant
supply of energy using only wind and water power, experts say. The pumped storage system uses surplus power from the
$110 million wind farm to pump freshwater from the reservoir near the harbor to
a larger one about 2,300 feet above sea
level. When output from the wind turbines
drops, water is released through channels

to the lower reservoir through turbines to
generate power.
Developer Gorona del Viento S.A. says
the projects main success factor is related to the involvement in the project
of a wide range of partners, both political
and technical. The company is owned
60% by the Council of El Hierro, 30% by
Endesa, the Spanish subsidiary of Italys
Enel, and 10% by the Canary Islands Institute of Technology.
The feat marks a major development
for Spain as well, which today generates
about a third of its power from renewables
but has struggled to contain surging costs
of subsidies for renewable generators.
This June, as part of broader reforms
announced in July 2013, Spain adopted a
decree to overhaul its subsidy system for
renewable generators. The decree caps the
earnings of all 1,400 existing renewable
power facilities in the nation, granting
generators a rate of return of about 7%%
over their lifetimes. That rate, which may
be revised every three years, is based on
the average interest of a 10-year sovereign bond, plus three percentage points.
Industry Minister Jose Manuel Soria
said the measures were necessary to grant
stability to the system, guarantee reasonable returns on investment, and provide
certainty to the industry. Subsidies had to
be revised or the system would have soon
gone bankrupt, he said.
The measures would save the country
$2.31 billion in 2014 alone. According to
4. Green island. El Hierro, the smallest of Spains Canary Islands, is fully powered by
renewable sources consisting of a 11.5-MW wind farm and a pumped storage hydroelectric
plant. This image shows the lower reservoir at the Gorona power station. Courtesy: Gorona del
Viento
the Ministry of Energy, Spain has already

paid $76 billion to renewable producers
since 1998 and will pay another $193
billion over their lifetime. The retroactive move is not without opposition,
however, as some renewable companies
are challenging the reforms in the Supreme Court.
POWER Digest
S. Korea Extends Renewables Target
Deadline. South Koreas government on
June 9 said it would push back the target for mandatory use of renewable energy
by two years to ease requirements for the
power-strapped nations eight electric
utilities. The companies have reportedly
failed to meet annual requirements of the
2011-introduced renewable portfolio standard (RPS), which requires companies with
generation capacities of more than 500
MW to produce at least 2% by 2012and,
gradually, 10% by 2022of all power output from renewable sources. At the same
time, the government also decided to
recognize waste heat from power companies as renewable energy. The Ministry of
Trade, Industry, and Energy said the measures considered the realistic conditions
for the power companies in fulfilling their
RPS requirements.
India Fast-Tracks Transmission

Projects Worth $2B. Indias Ministry of
Power in late June approved nine transmission projects worth a combined $2.08
billion, opening them up to tariff-based
bidding from the private sector. The
measure to boost the countrys power reliability fast-tracks new 765-kV lines carrying up to 2.1 GW each to benefit the
congestion-afflicted states of Haryana,
Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya
Pradesh, and Maharashtra. The projects
had been mired in the government approval process. India has suffered a number of debilitating blackouts owing to a
lack of adequate power infrastructure.
In May and June, several southern and
northern Indian states saw power cuts
of more than seven hours a day. While
power generation capacity in the country
has grown by more than 50% over the
last five years, transmission capacity has
expanded only 30% over the same period.
Government plans outline an increase in
transmission capacity from the current 38
GW to 66 GW by 2017.
Denmark Slashes State Support of

Offshore Wind. Denmarks government
in mid-June agreed with its main opposition to postpone startup of the 600-MW
Kriegers Flak offshore wind project by two
12
www.powermag.com
POWER August 2014
years until 2022, just days after the countrys network operator scrapped plans to
build a high voltage direct current link to
the wind farm for cost reasons. The political agreement between the government
and the opposition Liberal Party would
also slash the Public Service Obligation energy tax paid by consumers to
$840 million per year from $1.19 billion
(with total reductions of $2.42 billion
by 2020). It also would reduce planned
near-shore offshore wind projects to 400
MW from 450 MW and put a price cap on
those projects. Additionally, it requires
slashing state subsidies to onshore wind
projects by $18.2 million through 2020.
Denmark has called for 100% of its entire
energy supply, including transport, to be
covered by renewables by 2020. In 2013,
the countrys 5,196 wind farms (with a total capacity of 4.8 GW, including 1.2 GW
of offshore wind) generated 9.4 TWh. No
generation data for 2013 is yet available,
but in 2012, Denmark generated a total
244 TWh.
Troubled Eskom Initiates Blackouts. South African power utility Eskom

initiated rolling blackouts lasting two
hours on June 17, citing a severely constrained electricity system. The incident
follows a similar event in March, which
was the first in the six years since the
utility was forced to take measures to
prevent a collapse of the grid. Eskom has
struggled to keep pace with soaring national demand by embarking on ambitious
plans to expand generating capacity. The
state-owned monopoly has also been under scrutiny for its financial management,
which some assert has delayed completion
of the 4-GW Medupi and Kusile coal-fired
power plants and prolonged Eskoms reliance on more expensive gas-fired plants.
In early July, work on the two plants was
again disrupted as construction workers
joined a nationwide metal and engineering workers strike.
Toshiba and GDF Suez to Partner

on 3.4-GW UK Nuclear Plant. Japanese
firm Toshiba Corp. and French company
GDF Suez on June 30 inked a deal that
would see Toshiba acquire a 60% stake
and GDF Suez retain a 40% holding in
NuGeneration Ltd. (NuGen), the UKbased nuclear power company that has
proposed to build three Westinghouse
AP1000 reactors at the Moorside plant
in West Cumbria. The companies said a
deal has also been concluded with UK
regulator the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority on the extension of a land
option agreement for the Moorside site.
The planned 3.4-GW plantthe largest
14
proposed nuclear plant in Europewill

be fully completed by 2024; each reactor is expected to take about four years
to build. Westinghouse intends to use
its Springfields facility, which currently
makes fuel for the entire UK fleet of advanced gas-cooled reactors, to manufacture fuel for the Westinghouse AP1000
reactors built in the UK. However, NuGen
has yet to make a final investment decision, which it said could possibly come
before the end of 2018.
Nigeria to Resume Work on 3-GW

Mambilla Hydro Project. Nigerias government on June 24 disclosed that work
on the much-delayed 3-GW Mambilla
Hydro Dam in Taraba state would soon
commence. Vice President Mohammed
Sambo said in a release that all designs of
the major hydro project have been completed, and as soon as other logistics are
in place, work will resume at the site.
The 1982-conceived project comprises
three dams across the River Donga and
a dozen 254-MW hydroelectric units. But
the controversial facility, which could be
Africas largest, has been repeatedly delayed. The government in 2006 awarded
tenders of $1.4 billion for the first phase
of the project to China Gezhouba Group
Co. Ltd. and China Geo-Engineering
Corp., but though a 15% payment advance was initiated, the government canceled that contract and re-awarded it to
another Chinese firm, Sinohydro, which is
building the $1.2 billion 700-MW Zungeru
hydro plant.
PETRONAS Advances 1.2-GW CHP

Plant in Malaysia. Siemens and Malaysian consortium partner MMC Engineering Services dn Bhd (MMCES) on June
23 received an order from Malaysias stateowned petroleum corporation, PETRONAS, for the turnkey construction of the
Pengerang Co-generation Plant (PCP) in
the state of Johor. Each of the plants four
co-generation units comprises an H-class
gas turbine, a waste-heat recovery steam
generator, a steam turbine, and associated mechanical, electrical, and control
systems. Siemens said the plant will be
able to produce 1,220 MWe of power and
up to 1,480 metric tons per hour of steam
for the Pengerang Integrated Complex
(PIC), PETRONAS mega development in
Pengerang, Southern Johor. The first unit
is slated to go online in mid-2017 and will
also supply power to the national grid for
public consumption. The remaining units
will supply to PICs facilities.
Sonal Patel is a POWER associate editor (@sonalcpatel, @POWERmagazine).
Most-Read Online in June

These were the most popular stories from the magazine at
powermag.com:
Managing the Changing Profile of a Combined Cycle Plant
Steam Turbine Rotor Vibration Failures: Causes and

Solutions
Just Hop on the Bus, Gus: 13 Ways to Hack a Power Plant
Site-Specific Factors Are Critical for Compliance with Final

316(b) Existing Facilities Rule
New Technology Is Key to Recruiting New Power

Workforce
The most popular stories from POWERnews were:
Carbon Rules Proposed for Existing Power Plants
The EEIs Campaign for Electric Utility Industry Supremacy
Siemens and MHI Considering Joint Bid for Alstom
The EPAs Clean Power Rule in Three Infographics
Supreme Court Chips EPA GHG Authority, Says Agency

Has No Power to Tailor Laws to Policy Goals
www.powermag.com
POWER August 2014
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Minimizing Downtime. Maximizing Performance.
INDUSTRIES SERVED:
Intelligent Monitoring of
Distribution and Emergency Power Systems
Improves Availability
Problematic power plant systems diminish availability and directly affect plant
productivity and efficiency. In order to
maintain availability, electrical testing
and maintenance services are imperative.
Two systems that service technicians often
need to address are the power distribution
system and the emergency power system.
For power distribution, customers can
face many challenges related to relay
maintenance and testing due to the use
of multiple generations of relays all in one
integrated protection scheme (Figure 1).
But one way to overcome this challenge
is to replace aging electromechanical relays with new-generation microprocessor-based relays or intelligent electronic
devices (IEDs). This retrofit is fast and
cost-effective, and can benefit plant owners and operators in a number of ways.
However, upgrading to IEDs is only the
first step toward realizing many benefits.
Configuring proper logic is the next.
Most IEDs come pre-programmed with
the manufacturers default settings and
can provide a basic level of system protection. However, they are rarely ideal for
meeting a facilitys specific protection
requirements. Working with a qualified
protection and/or integration engineer to
appropriately configure IED settings and
logic will maximize the following benefits
afforded by a newly retrofitted system.
Easier Regulatory Reporting
and Compliance
When condition and status monitoring, re-
mote control capabilities, and other similar

operations are integrated into the IEDs,
these self-test features can be used to protect the entire electrical system. In addition
to improving system reliability and increasing mean time between failures (MTBF), selftesting simplifies compliance with North
American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC)
PRC-005 protection system maintenance
program requirements for utilities.
NERC requires maintenance testing
procedures, testing intervals, and documented test results. When a protection
engineer approaches the design of the
relay application with NERC requirements
in mind, the self-test features of the IED
can be leveraged to automatically satisfy
many of these requirements.
For example, the IEDs can be programmed to continuously monitor the
internal health of components, including
DC circuits and trip coil circuits. They can
also validate signal status, analog inputs,
output circuits, and communication links.
The relays can even monitor breaker wear,
status of transformer auxiliaries, and ambient environmental conditions.
System designers can further simplify
NERC compliance by configuring the IEDs
to work in conjunction with a communication processor, reporting software, and
supervisory control and data acquisition
systems to automatically communicate results of the self-tests and generate documentation for NERC reporting.
Reduced Maintenance
NERC compliance primarily applies to utilities. But utilities and industrial facilities
alike have a need to reduce maintenance
time and costs. Maintenance concerns can
influence the design of a relay application, and self-testing features can be used
to alleviate some of these concerns.
A traditional system with multiple electromechanical switchboard components can be
complicated and unreliable. Such a system
requires diligent calibration, maintenance,
and repair to keep it functioning. When discrete components are eliminated and their
functions are programmed into an IED, there
are fewer components to test and maintain.
In addition, many inspection and testing
procedures are performed automatically and
continuously while the system is operating,
reducing the need for manual testing procedures along with the scheduled downtime
needed to perform the activities.
Properly functioning IEDs and power
distribution systems arent the only concerns for power plant operators. A compromised emergency power system can
mean trouble. Uninterruptible power supply (UPS) units and their batteries must
function properly during emergencies like
an unexpected plant trip. At this critical
time, batteries supply power to digital
control systems and emergency lube oil
pumps to enable automatic controls to
do their job and to provide lubrication
to the generator, respectively. If the bat-
2. Tests will tell. The useful life of battery systems is dependent upon many factors.
Regular testing can help plant owners determine when replacement is necessary. Courtesy:
Emerson Network Power
1. Relay maintenance can be challenging. In some cases, testing is complicated as a result of multiple generations of
relays being combined into one protection
scheme. Courtesy: Emerson Network Power
16
www.powermag.com
POWER August 2014
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3. Comparison of mean time between failures (MTBF). Increasing the num-
Times better
ber of annual preventive maintenance visits, compared to no preventive maintenance, increases

the MTBF. Courtesy: Emerson Network Power
Number of annual preventative maintenance visits
teries dont do their job, serious damage

and personal injury could result. Damaged equipment could take months and
cost millions to repair, while lost power
production could be even more expensive
and lead to fines and penalties. A proper
maintenance program can help by yielding
the following benefits.
Increased Battery Life
Every emergency power system contains
life-limited components that should be
maintained, according to the manufacturers specifications and as required by
NERC, and batteries are no exception. In
the event of a power outage, a single bad
cell in a string of batteries could compromise the entire backup system and leave a
plant without protection.
While UPS battery manufacturers may
market their batteries with a 10-year design life or life span, the actual service life
of the battery will be much shorter due to
the external factors that cause degradation.
The reality is that batteries lose capacity in
as few as three years due to several factors,
including usage, operating environment,
and insufficient maintenance.
Because of the many factors that can
affect the useful life of a UPS battery, it
is important thatas soon as it is placed
into servicea battery should be maintained with a program that identifies system anomalies and provides information
that trends end of life (Figure 2). Through
this type of maintenance program, plant
owners and operators are able to get the
most out of their investment in these critical assets.
Batteries that are beginning to fail
cause an imbalance that adversely affects
the life of other batteries in the string and
should be removed from service. And when
a UPS battery needs to be replaced, time
is of the essence, especially when considering the staggering financial impact that
an extended or unplanned outage can
have on an organization.
18
Maximized System Reliability

To avoid UPS battery failure that leads to
downtime, the best practice is an approach
that includes integrated battery monitoring and preventive maintenance (PM). In
Emerson Network Powers data analysis of
more than 450 million operating hours
for more than 24,000 strings of UPS batteries, the effect that regular PM had on
reliability was clear. This analysis revealed
that the MTBF for units that received two
PM service visits a year is 23 times better
than a UPS with no PM visits (Figure 3).
Furthermore, those with battery-monitoring systems installed at their site had
a reduced rate of outages due to bad batteries. While outages did still occur, the
incidents were isolated to cases where customers were either not watching their system or they did not know how to properly
analyze the data provided by the monitor.
This brought to light the need for experts
to correctly monitor the alarm data and
properly maintain the systems.
Improved System Availability
The use of stationary battery monitors with
remote professional analyst services gives
power plant operators a way to collect
comprehensive battery data and receive
early warning of alarm or out-of-tolerance
conditions. Ultimately, using this combina-
tion improves MTBF and another measure

of availability: mean time to repair. Power
plants can move away from the common
time-based maintenance cycles to a new
service model where there is faster notification of an event, followed by the ability
to have remote system engineers analyze
data and diagnose the problem.
Not having a power distribution system or
emergency power system working properly is
problematic to many power plants and can
have a detrimental effect on an organization. However, implementing the best practices in upgrade and maintenance services
can help owners and operators realize many
benefits, including simplified maintenance,
easier regulatory compliance, improved
safety, and better overall availability.
Wally Vahlstrom is director of technical services for Emerson Network Powers
Electrical Reliability Services group.
Trackers Optimize Yield of

Utility-Scale Solar Plants
The utility-scale solar market is rapidly
growing in North America, representing a
large area of opportunity for project and
product developers alike. The market more
than doubled in size between 2012 and
2013 alone, propelling the solar racking
and tracking sector to revenue of $8 billion. Analysts are projecting this strong
growth to continue in the coming years.
Solar trackersmotorized structures
that orient photovoltaic (PV) panels toward the sun throughout the dayin
particular are an increasingly important
aspect of utility-scale project development (Figure 1). With substantial research
and development advancements in recent
years, trackers are no longer cost prohibitive due to high manufacturing or operations and maintenance costs. For many
utility-scale projects, trackers can significantly increase yield by optimizing the
angle of incidence between a module and
incoming solar rays.
1. The Langel solar plant in France utilizes solar trackers. Solar trackers have
been proven to increase plant production compared to fixed-tilt systems. Courtesy: Exosun
www.powermag.com
POWER August 2014
WHERE WATER and POWER MEET

C U S T O M I Z E D WAT E R S O L U T I O N S T H AT F I T YO U R P O W E R P L A N T
Putting Nature to Work

A utility client was looking for ways to reduce selenium
and mercury from the industrial waste stream of a coal-fired
power plant. Their focus was on finding tools to preserve
environmental quality. Chris Snider led the team of client,
academic and Burns & McDonnell professionals in finding
the solution: constructed wetlands. At the end of an intensive,
2-acre pilot project a $3 million investment the client
has a blueprint to move on to a larger-scale wetlands that
will be a cost-effective, engineered filter for reducing
elements to below regulatory compliance levels.
Chris is a recognized technical leader in landfill design and coal

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Engineering, Architecture, Construction, Environmental and Consulting Solutions

3. Performance and price relationships. This graph shows energy yields dur-
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0
This article takes an in-depth look at the

potential benefits of horizontal, single-axis
solar trackers, the most commonly implemented tracker design, and examine the
considerations installers face throughout the
system design and construction processes.
Tracking Return on Investment
Solar trackers enable large-scale PV installations to better capture solar irradiance
as the sun moves across the sky (Figure
2). Output gains will vary, depending on

both project site and tracker technology,
with higher-performing models achieving
as much as a 25% performance increase
compared to fixed-tilt systems.
Furthermore, utilities across the U.S.
are increasingly implementing time-ofuse (TOU) rate structures, where electricity prices rise during periods of peak
demandtypically in the late afternoon
hours. As seen in Figure 3a case study
10 12 14
Hours
16
18 20
22 24
0.40
0.35
0.30
0.25
0.20
0.15
0.10
0.05
0.00
Price ($)
ing an average June day in comparison to

time-of-use prices. Courtesy: Exosun
Fixed tilt
Exotrack HZ
Price
Efficency (kW/kWpeak)
2. A unique drive mechanism. The balanced design of Exosun horizontal singleaxis solar trackers reduces stress on the motor and requires no maintenance. Courtesy:
Exosun
from a PV system located in Chowchilla,

Calif.a tracker-equipped project will
capture increased sunlight during peak use
hours, leading to increased revenue and
rates of return. Additionally, as electricity rates increase and TOU rates become
a mandatory consideration in project financing contracts, trackers will become a
system asset that helps secure financing.
For systems under a power purchase
agreement, irradiance is also a key factor,
further providing reason for trackers to be
integrated in systems to expedite return
on investment.
Operations and Maintenance

for everything under the sun
Energy Services operates and maintains the largest solar thermal power tower system in the world, Ivanpah.
With over 53,000 MW of power-generation assets, the NRG Energy Services

operations and maintenance team knows the importance of reducing costs
while keeping your energy and your revenue at a premium. Maximum availability
is our mission. Top-decile performance is our measure.
855.532.4984 | nrgenergyservices.com
NRG and Energy Services, an NRG Service, are registered servicemarks of NRG Energy, Inc. The plus signs
and plus clusters are servicemarks of NRG Energy, Inc. 2014 NRG Energy, Inc. All rights reserved. ES.2014.7.9

20
www.powermag.com
POWER August 2014
4. Ground coverage ratio (GCR) affects performance

more than panel orientation. Results are based on data from
5. Summer gains offset winter losses. Increased output

during summer months more than offsets lost production during the
winter, resulting in a total yield increase with trackers. Courtesy: Exosun
the Chowchilla, Calif., system. Courtesy: Exosun
Orien 30 Orien 20 Orien 10 Orien 0
2,120
300
2,080
2,060
2,040
2,020
2,000
1,980
1,960
Specific production (kWh/kWpeak)
Specific production (kWh/kWpeak)
2,100
Exotrack HZ Fixed-tilt
250
200
150
100
50
1,940
30
35
40
45
50
Ground cover ratio (%)
Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec.
Designing an Optimal System

Installers should be prepared to do their homework to find a
tracker that offers the ideal combination of affordability, performance, and reliability. World-renowned certification bodies, from
Underwriters Laboratories to the Canadian Standards Association,
perform tests related to product safety, performance, and durability in extreme environments. The highest quality trackers on
the market meet or exceed evaluation criteria in areas ranging
from accelerated aging to wind resistance, and are fully compliant with safety-focused manufacturing codes. Strong product
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22
warranties also speak volumes to a tracker providers commitment

to customers. If a PV system is expected to return dividends for
a minimum of 25 years, its trackers should be held to those same
standards of longevity.
Of course, smart system configuration is essential to achieving
maximum performance. As with any ground-mounted project, site
assessment begins with an evaluation of land size, cost, topography,
and weather patterns. When evaluating whether trackers are right for
a project, developers must weigh additional considerations.
An essential design aspect of tracker-equipped PV systems is
ground cover ratio (GCR), which is the ratio between the PV modules area and the total ground area. An increase in GCR negatively
affects system output (Figure 4). This is because the higher the
GCR, the smaller the distance between the tables, thus increasing
panel-on-panel shading. Unlike fixed-tilt systems, trackers with
an integrated backtracking program can position tables to avoid
shading adjacent panels.
Once weve selected the technology, site, and layout, its time
for installation. The latest advanced trackers are far less cumbersome and complex to install than their predecessors. High-quality
trackers offer a low-stress system, optimized for a fast and easy
installation process. Modular designs also significantly decrease
the amount of time, tools, and manpower required at a job site.
Seasonal Yield Variance
With a smart tracker system in place, PV plant developers and investors should expect to see immediate financial benefits. Figure
5 shows the annual performance of the PV plant in Chowchilla,
comparing results with and without trackers installed. Fixedtilt systems offer a minor performance advantage in the winter
months, when the sun is low in the sky, because a fixed-tilt installation is always tilted toward the south. Single-axis trackers
follow the movement of the sun throughout the day; therefore,
tracker-equipped plants will achieve significant gains throughout
the summer. In this particular case, the average annual production increase was 20.16%.
Solar tracker technologies have come a long way in recent years.
Todays solutions offer the simplicity and reliability PV plant developers require, at a desirable price point. With the right tracker
technology and an optimized implementation, installers can offer
their customers a safe, long-term solar investment opportunity.
Jay Johnson is vice president of business development for
Exosun Inc., a leading developer and supplier of solar tracking
systems.
www.powermag.com
POWER August 2014
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Bright Future for Energy

Storage
Patrick Ferguson
alifornia has set an ambitious target of connecting 1.3 GW
of energy storage to the grid by 2020. In October 2013,
the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) mandated
that 200 MW of this goal come in the form of energy storage
installed in individual buildings and homes. These energy storage systems have the ability to address one of the most difficult
challenges for renewable energy: storing the power created when
the sun is shining and the wind is blowing and then accessing
that power during peak energy demand periods. Energy storage
systems can also improve overall grid capability and efficiency by
providing services such as demand response and frequency regulation. (For more on energy storage, see The Year Energy Storage
Hit Its Stride in the May 2014 issue.)
Battery systems have long offered a means to store renewable energy. But batteries are back in the spotlight due to improvements in technology, falling production costs, and the
evolution of electricity markets to reward energy storage. Two
recent decisions by California regulators have the potential to
accelerate this trend. These initiatives could serve as a roadmap
for other states seeking to encourage the further development
of energy storage.
Lower Interconnection Barriers

New installation of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels supported by
battery systems has been stalled in California in recent years.
The states utilities were requiring that applicants complete extensive interconnection studies and pay thousands of dollars in
additional fees before they approved the connection of batterybacked solar systems to the grid. Such requirements had stifled
the interconnection of these types of behind-the-meter energy
storage systems.
A May 2014 CPUC decision exempts many solar storage projects
from these fees and interconnection study requirements. The decision clarifies existing policy set out in the Renewables Portfolio
Standard Eligibility Guidebook regarding the treatment of energy
storage systems under the states net energy metering (NEM)
program. Energy storage systems are to be exempt from interconnection application fees, supplemental review fees, costs for
distribution upgrades, and standby charges when interconnecting under the current NEM tariffs, provided these systems: (1) are
paired with NEM-eligible generation facilities (such as a rooftop
solar installation), and (2) qualify under the guidebook as an addition or enhancement to an NEM-eligible system. The decision
also places certain limitations on the size of the storage systems
and implements metering requirements aimed at protecting the
NEM program. These conditions are intended to help ensure that
any energy sent onto the grid from these battery systems is truly
green energy from the solar PV system and not simply brown
energy that had previously been pulled from the grid.
The CPUCs decision is widely considered a victory for distributed storage and correspondingly a rebuke to the California utilities
24
for having failed to take a more proactive and collaborative approach with customers and companies desiring to interconnect
these battery systems.
If the California experience portends the future of energy storage regulation, other state utility commissions should be expected to adopt new policies or clarify existing policies aimed at
lowering the barriers to entry for the installation of behind-themeter battery storage systems.
Distributed Storage Rebate Program

The California legislature has also recently re-approved funding
through 2019 for the Commissions Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP). California launched SGIP in 2001 with the goal of
reducing peak load demand by supporting emerging distributed
energy resources. The SGIP provides rebates for qualifying energy
systems installed on the customers side of the utility meter. The
SGIP was one of the key programs to encourage development of
solar PV systems in the state. In fact, these systems became so
popular that the CPUC launched a solar PV-only program known
as the California Solar Initiative.
The CPUC has confirmed that battery storage systems can qualify for SGIP rebates. While there have been relatively few battery
storage projects completed under the SGIP, the pace has increased
in recent years. In 2013 alone, the CPUC received SGIP proposals
for almost 25 MW of battery storage systems. Californias decision
to provide $83 million in annual SGIP funding through 2019 (for
a total of $415 million) should further accelerate the pace of
customer-sited storage. It offers a necessary bankable source
of funding for these projects.
Energy Storage Development Across the Country
The federal government is also helping to provide a platform for
the development and grid-scale testing of technologies such battery storage. For instance, in 2013, the Department of Energy
opened the Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF) at the National Renewable Energy Lab in Colorado. ESIF is the countrys
first research facility that will help researchers scale up promising clean energy technologies and offer the tools needed to test
how they interact with each other and the grid at utility scale.
Many Americans will likely someday rely in part on battery
systems to power their appliances and cars, store electricity generated by their solar PV panels, and help regulate the frequency
and efficiency of the overall power grid. By setting aggressive
targets, reducing the barriers to entry, and providing long-term
funding, California has incentivized the development of battery
storage systems. If these programs prove successful in California,
other states could begin offering similar incentives in the coming years.
Patrick Ferguson (patrickferguson@dwt.com) is a senior associate in Davis Wright Tremaines energy practice group in the
firms San Francisco office.
www.powermag.com
POWER August 2014
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PLANT OF THE YEAR
Ivanpah Solar Electric

Generating System Earns
POWER s Highest Honor
Courtesy: NRG
The era of Big Solar has arrived, and at the moment there are none bigger than
Ivanpah. For overcoming numerous obstacles to build the worlds largest solar thermal plant, the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System is awarded POWERs 2014
Plant of the Year Award.
Thomas W. Overton, JD
hen the 392-MW Ivanpah Solar

Electric Generating System in
Nipton, Calif., reached commercial operation in December 2013, with many
first-of-a-kind construction elements, it represented a number of significant milestones:
The largest solar thermal plant in the world,
the first large-scale concentrating solar power (CSP) project in the U.S. to employ power
tower technology, and the biggest project
funded to date by the Department of Energys
(DOEs) Loan Projects Office (LPO).
Now, Ivanpah records another milestone: The first renewable plant to receive
POWERs Plant of the Year Award.
When the facility reached commercial operation, it marked the successful conclusion
to a seven-year project that brought together
an unusual coalition of industry veterans and
newcomers and whichnotably for a plant
designed from the beginning to limit its impact on the desert ecosystemfaced some
unexpected environmental opposition.
Comprising three self-contained units
26
with a total capacity of 392 MW (377 MW

net), Ivanpah is a joint effort between BrightSource Energy, NRG Energy (through its
subsidiary NRG Renew, formerly NRG Solar), Google, and Bechtel. BrightSource began development in 2006, hoping to leverage
its experience in developing CSP technology
worldwide. NRG and Google contributed
substantial funding, while Bechtel supplied
engineering, procurement, and construction
(EPC) for the plant. NRG Renew is now the
majority owner and in charge of operations
for the joint venture.
Few power plants can be called small,
but nearly everything about Ivanpah is mammoth. The three-unit site sprawls over 3,500
acresnearly 5 miles from end to endnear
Nipton, Calif., about 40 miles southwest of
Las Vegas (Figure 1). The facility is large
enough to be visible from orbit, and the glow
of the three power towers is visible from
many miles away when the units are online.
The station uses 173,500 heliostats (each
with two mirrors) to concentrate sunlight on
www.powermag.com
the 459-foot towers. The towers were built

this high to increase efficiency and reduce
the already large footprint of the site; still,
the furthest heliostats out are more than half a
mile away from their tower. Four types of heliostats were used depending on the distance.
All of them were precisely placed using GPS
to ensure accurate alignment, and they are capable of withstanding 85-mph winds.
Each tower holds a 2,100-ton Riley Power
boiler that directs steam into a Siemens turbine generator at ground level. The boilers
retain enough heat from the previous day to
start up on sunlight alone, though an auxiliary boiler is used during cold start conditions
or when it is desirable to start up the plant
earlier in the morning. A 110-ton tuned mass
damper is located at the top of each tower to
keep it stable in high-wind conditions.
The facility relies on air-cooled condensers supplied by SPX Cooling Technologies
to condense the turbine exhaust. This design
was selected in order to help Ivanpah use
about 95% less water than a wet-cooled ther-
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PLANT OF THE YEAR

1. Simply enormous. The Ivanpah site
near Las Vegas covers 3,500 acres of the Mojave Desert. Each heliostat field is more than
a mile across. Courtesy: NRG
mal plant. In practice, the plant has been even

more water-thrifty than expected: Through
the first hundred days of operation, it used
only 6% of its allotted 100 acre-feet of water,
just under 20,000 gallons. The plants only
water needs are boiler makeup and mirror
cleaning. Water is sourced from two wells on
the site and purified for use.
Ivanpahs operating parameters are given
in Table 1.
Development
Oakland, Calif.based BrightSource began
development of Ivanpah in 2006. At the time,
the CSP sectorespecially solar towers
was still nascent, with only a few relatively
small demonstration projects in operation.
But BrightSource already had substantial
experience developing solar thermal technology, including the 6-MWt Solar Energy Development Center in Israels Negev Desert,
which came online in 2008. Ivanpah would
follow a similar designbut on a much larger scale. Originally planned for 400 MW, the
proposed site at Ivanpah dwarfed those earlier systems.
After selecting the site, BrightSource
filed for prequalification for the DOEs Loan
Guarantee Program in December 2006 and
submitted its application for certification with
the California Energy Commission (CEC) in
August 2007.
The design for Ivanpah underwent a
number of changes during development. As
originally proposed, it would have involved
10 smaller power towers, three each for two
28
100-MW units and four for a single 200-MW

unit. Construction was set to begin in 2009,
with completion slated for 2012. As is often
the case with power plant development, especially large, groundbreaking projects like
Ivanpah, those dates would slip.
In October 2007, BrightSource was invited
by the DOE to submit a formal application for
a loan guarantee, which was completed the following November. The application proceeded
swiftly by DOE standards, and the LPO would
give conditional approval for $1.37 billion in
loan guarantees (an amount later increased to
$1.6 billion) in February 2010.
The site for Ivanpah, on Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) land near Interstate 15,
was carefully chosen to leverage a number
of advantages. Foremost among these was
supplying renewable energy to Californias
investor-owned utilities, which are required
to obtain 33% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020. Power purchase agreements (PPAs) for Ivanpahs production were
signed with Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E,
for 118 MW to 126 MW from Unit 1 and 126
MW to 133 MW from Unit 3) and Southern
California Edison (SCE, for 126 MW to 133
MW from Unit 2) in 2009.
The Mojave Desert location enjoys some
of the highest insolation in the United States
(around 2,700 kWh/m2/yr), making it ideal
for CSP. It is also close to the 500-kV Eldorado-Lugo transmission line, which supplies
electricity to Southern California. This meant
that relatively little transmission infrastructure was needed despite Ivanpahs remote
location. Only one new substation and upgrades to an existing substation and a 115-kV
line (upgraded to 220 kV) were ultimately
needed. Finally, natural gas for backup and
startup generation could be supplied from a
pipeline just half a mile to the north.
Construction
In September 2009, BrightSource selected
Bechtel as the EPC contractor for Ivanpah.
In December, Bechtel signed a project labor
agreement with the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California and the
Building & Construction Trades Council of
San Bernardino and Riverside counties to ensure that Californias local union workforce
would benefit from the project. Ultimately,
on-site construction staff would peak at about
2,650, the majority of whom were local.
Meanwhile, the California Public Utilities
Commission (CPUC) approved the PPA with
PG&E in August 2009 and the contract with
SCE the following August.
The enormous size of the site and its impact on the desert environment proved to be
the first roadblock. Among the concerns was
a need to relocate desert tortoises, which
www.powermag.com
Table 1. Key operating parameters

for Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System. Ivanpah uses concentrated
sunlight to provide the heat for its steam generators. Source: NRG and National Renewable
Energy Laboratory
Parameter
Ivanpah
Output
392 MW (gross), 377 MW

(net)
Boiler inlet temp
368F
Steam temp
1,013F
Steam pressure
2,479 psi
Heliostats
173,500 (each holds two

mirrors)
Heliostat solar-field
aperture area
2,600,000 m3
Tower height
459 ft
Net generation (first

100 days)
116,000 MWh
Gross efficiency
28.72%
are native to the area and federally listed as

threatened under the Endangered Species
Act, and avoid damage to several protected
plant species. In February 2010, BrightSource agreed with the CEC and the BLM to
revise the initial design to reduce the overall
footprint. This was done largely by reducing
the number of power towers from 10 to three.
The new towers would also be substantially
taller: 459 feet vs. 371 feet (Unit 3) and 262
feet (Units 1 and 2) in the initial design.
This more focused layout would reduce
the overall footprint by about 12% and reduce
the footprint of the larger Unit 3where the
greatest environmental concerns layby
about 23%. The new design would have a
slightly smaller output but would need 40,000
fewer heliostats (Figure 2).
The new approach passed muster with the
CEC, which issued an operating license in
September 2010, and the BLM, which approved the project in October. BrightSource
and Bechtel broke ground shortly thereafter.
With licenses now in hand, NRG Energy
stepped forward to join the project, committing up to $300 million in funding. NRG
Renew had been on a shopping spree in California and Arizona, having agreed that June
to acquire nine solar development projects
from US Solar, an affiliate of Arclight Capital
Partners. Ivanpah would be its largest solar
project to date.
One last partner would come aboard, but it
came from a sector not normally known for
investments in power generation. Yet for several years prior, Google had been investing
more than $300 million in various renewable
energy initiatives, including $10 million in
BrightSource. None of its prior solar investments were the size of Ivanpah, however. In
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PLANT OF THE YEAR

2. Focused approach. A redesign of Ivanpahs layout reduced
the number of heliostats and power towers to limit the environmental
impact. The original design used multiple smaller towers per plant; the
new one used a single tower and heliostat field for each unit. Source:
POWER/Tom Overton
April 2011, Google was ready to make a more significant move, committing $168 million to the project.
Googles investment was part of its goal to spur development of
renewable energy. At the time, Rick Needham, Googles director of
energy and sustainability said, We hope [Ivanpah] can serve as a
proof point and spur further investment in this exciting technology.
Googles contribution helped close financing for the final $2.1 billion
price tag.
Construction of the plant required precise organization and man-
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3. Center of attention. The power towers generate steam in

2,100-ton boilers heated by concentrated sunlight. Here, one of the
boiler walls is being lifted into place. Courtesy: Bechtel
agement of many moving parts. The materials alone included 42

million heliostat components, including 22 million rivets, more than
7,500 tons of steel, 1,200 miles of cable, and more than 36,000 cubic
yards of concrete.
Installing the 173,500 heliostats according to schedule meant that
500 mirrors had to be delivered to the solar field every day for two
years. To make this work, the team devised a special transportation
system that would allow the project to meet its delivery targets.
With so much repetition at such a large scale, well-coordinated planning and innovative solutions helped create efficiencies. Equipment
was redesigned in order to develop a more efficient way of augering
holes and installing heliostat pylons, while allowing the project to better
protect the desert landscape and reduce impact to the environment.
Construction of the power towers and boilers represented significant first-of-a-kind elements that tested engineering teams and craft
labor. The towers were assembled in sections and in multiple assembly areas in order to maintain the schedule, while the boilers were
built in ten 90-ton structures in a common area. Boiler sections were
carefully lifted into place with specialized cranes (Figure 3).
A partial list of vendors and contractors is given in Table 2.
Environmental Impact
Ivanpah was designed from the beginning to minimize impact on the
desert ecosystem despite the large size of the facility. In addition to
revising the tower designs to shrink the footprint and relying on dry
cooling, the majority of the 170,000-plus heliostats were mounted in
place with little or no grading or even concrete foundations. Instead,
the supports were simply placed into the desert soil as is. While a lot
of holes still needed to be drilled, it avoided what would have amounted to a clear-cut wiping out thousands of acres of habitat.
Yet more obstacles were to come. By the spring of 2011, with construction under way, it became clear that there were many more desert
tortoises occupying the site than anticipated by the BLMs original
Biological Opinion for the project. BrightSource had already expended considerable effort and expense finding and relocating the tortoises. Nearly 16 miles of fencing had to be installed around the project
as part of the relocation effort, with another 50 miles being installed
off-site as a mitigation requirement (this latter project is ongoing). In
addition, more than 7,000 acres of tortoise habitat were purchased,
and endowments were posted for the long-term management of these
lands. BrightSource also employed teams of biologists (peaking at
more than 160) to work alongside the construction crews to ensure the
protection of tortoises (Figure 4).
But in April 2011, after the Western Watersheds Project filed a law-

30
www.powermag.com
POWER August 2014
G E N E R AT E
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PLANT OF THE YEAR

Table 2. Partial list of suppliers and
contractors for Ivanpah project.
Source: Bechtel, NRG
Contribution
Contributor
Engineering,
procurement, construction
Bechtel
Boilers
Riley Power
Steam turbines
Siemens Energy
Heliostat gear boxes
Conedrive
Heliostat frames
Gestamp Renewables
Solar field supply
BrightSource
Air-cooled condensers
SPX Cooling
Technologies Inc.
Structural steel, joists,

furnishing
Prospect Steel
Piping, shop fabricated
TEAM Industries Inc.
Earthwork
Las Vegas Paving Corp.
Electrical
Elemental Energy Inc.
suit against the BLM and the U.S. Fish and

Wildlife Service (USFWS) over a determination that allegedly underestimated the impact
on the tortoises, the BLM issued a stop-work
order on a portion of the site that had not yet
been screened for tortoises to reassess the
situation.
In June, after further study, the USFWS
issued a revised opinion stipulating new
protective measures that would reduce impact on the tortoises. BrightSource implemented a new program to locate and protect
tortoise eggs and hatchlings to help reduce
juvenile tortoise mortality (up to 98% of tortoise hatchlings fail to reach maturity). The
head-start program, as it became known,
identified egg-bearing female tortoises found
within the project boundary, monitored them
until the eggs were laid, and then took steps
to protect the nest. Once hatched, the juvenile

tortoises were moved to a protected area to
keep them safe from predators.
A few figures will illustrate just how much
had to be overcome to deal with the tortoises.
The original permit from the USFWS allowed
BrightSource to encounter no more than 38 of
the species. Ultimately, more than 170 were
found and relocated (or will be, once of age
some hatchlings are still being protected), and
more than $30 million has been spent to date
on tortoise protection measures.
Going Online
First flux was achieved with Unit 1 in February
2013 and with Unit 2 and 3 in May and June,
respectively. Unit 1 achieved the first sync to
the grid in August, and the last heliostat was
in place in October. Full operation of all three
units was achieved that December.
The project had an exemplary safety record: 31 months of work and 7.3 million
man-hours without a lost time accident, despite the great size and complexity of the
plant. Said Toby Seay, president of Bechtels
power global business unit, From completing several first-of-a-kind construction elements to protecting the environment, the
project was a successful collaboration among
everyone involved.
A full project timeline is shown in Table 3.
Moving Forward
To say the project partners were proud of the
accomplishment in bringing Ivanpah online
would be an understatement.
Power plant inaugurations can be lavish
affairs, but few are attended by sitting secretaries of energy, and fewer still by Grammynominated rock bands and dozens of media
representatives (including this author). Yet
such was the attention Ivanpah had garnered
by this spring that all of the above witnessed
the ribbon-cutting (Figure 5).
This is an exciting culmination of many
years of hard work by all of our partners at
Ivanpah, said David Ramm, chairman and
CEO of BrightSource. The completion of
this world-class project is a watershed moment for solar thermal energy.
Tom Doyle, president of NRG Renew,
said, We see Ivanpah changing the energy
landscape by proving that utility-scale solar
is not only possible, but incredibly beneficial
to both the economy and in how we produce
and consume energy.
Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz was effusive in his praise of the project. Investing in
clean energy isnt a decision that limits our economic potentialits an opportunity to lead the
global clean technology markets that are forming right now, he said. We simply cant afford
to be at the back of the trainwe have to be at
the front, leading the world in these industries.
Table 3. Key milestones for Ivanpah. Construction was completed in just 31 months
despite the size and complexity of the project. Source: NRG, Bechtel, CEC
Date
Project milestone
Dec. 2006
Brightsource files application for Department of Energy Loan Guarantee Program
Aug. 31, 2007
Brightsource files project application with California Energy Commission
Dec. 9, 2008
First contract for steam turbine generators signed with Siemens
Sept. 9, 2009
Engineering, procurement, and construction contract signed with Bechtel
4. We were here first. Protecting the
Dec. 2009
Bureau of Land Management fast-tracks Ivanpah application
threatened desert tortoise proved to be a

major challenge in getting Ivanpah built. The
project partners spent almost $35 million
protecting and relocating tortoises during
construction. Some of the efforts included
building temporary tortoise habitat such as
the burrow shown here. Courtesy: BrightSource Energy
Feb. 22, 2010
DOE offers $1.37 billion in loan guarantees; later increased to $1.6 billion
Aug. 3, 2010
CEC recommends approval of project
Aug. 8, 2010
BLM issues final environmenal impact statement
Sept. 9, 2010
Brightsource signs contract for boilers with Riley Power
32
Sept. 22, 2010
CEC issues operating license
Oct. 7, 2010
BLM issues approval of project
Oct. 12, 2010
Contract for second set of turbine generators signed with Siemens
Oct. 27, 2010
NRG joins project with $300 million investment; construction begins
Apr. 11, 2011
Brightsource closes financing as Google invests $168 million; project breaks ground
Aug. 6, 2011
Construction reaches halfway point, employment peaks at 2,650
Dec. 19, 2012
Construction 75% complete
Feb. 25, 2013
First flux
Apr. l5, 2013
First steam blows
Aug. 24, 2013
First sync to grid
Dec. 31, 2013
Ivanpah commences commercial operation
Feb. 13, 2014
Plant officially inaugurated
www.powermag.com
POWER August 2014
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PLANT OF THE YEAR

5. Star-studded opening. Joining VIPs from NRG Energy,
BrightSource, Bechtel, and Google at the Ivanpah inauguration were
U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz (third from right) and Isaac Slade
of the rock band The Fray (far left), which filmed a music video at the
site in 2013. Source: POWER/Tom Overton
LPO program has been controversial because of a handful of highprofile bustsmost notably solar PV manufacturer Solyndrait has
on the whole been highly successful in nurturing renewable energy
projects, with an approximately 98% success rate.
The LPO currently oversees a portfolio of more than $30 billion
that supports more than 30 closed and committed projects. Most notable here are five large CSP projects that are online or will come
online this year: Ivanpah; Abengoas Solana in Gila Bend, Ariz., and
Mojave Solar One in Barstow, Calif.; NextEra Energy Sources Genesis Solar in Blythe, Calif.; and SolarReserves Crescent Dunes in
Tonopah, Nev. Collectively, these projectstotaling about 1.3 GW in
capacityreceived nearly $6 billion in total LPO loan guarantees.
Questions Remain
Though the DOEs support of renewable energy projects has come

under fire, the department was happy to tout the success at Ivanpah.
This project was made possible by the successful public-private
partnership between the Department of Energy and the project sponsors, Peter Davidson, LPO executive director, said in a statement.
Through partnerships like this, we can continue to build an innovative clean energy economy in the U.S.
As large as the guarantee was, Ivanpah represents just a portion of
the 2.8 GW of LPO-financed large-scale solar (CSP and photovoltaic
[PV]) that is currently operating or under construction. Though the
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Yet concerns about big CSP projects like Ivanpah linger.

The inaugural tents at Ivanpah had scarcely been taken down before some analysts were questioning whether the demand for CSP has
dried up, at least in the U.S., and whether the environmental costs of
these vast projects are too great.
BrightSource explored plans for two separate two-unit, 500-MW
projects in California, both of which have now been suspended. One,
at Hidden Hills, about 30 miles northwest of Ivanpah, was suspended
in April; BrightSource cited changing dynamics in the California energy markets for the decision, according to a statement. The other
project, Rio Mesa in Riverside, was cancelled last year after repeated
difficulties in permitting.
A third 500-MW project, which BrightSource is developing with
Abengoa in Riverside, the Palen Solar Electric Generating System, is
still under consideration by the CEC, but the application has been delayed by concerns over bird deaths. That project was initially permitted as a parabolic trough generator, but BrightSource wants to change
the design to a two-unit solar tower station.
Whether those deathswhich have occurred at Ivanpah as birds
have been singed flying through the concentrated solar fluxis
a problem, depends on whom you ask. Its undisputed that several
dozen to several hundred birds have been killed over the past year or
so, and this was enough to create a mild kerfuffle in the media after
Ivanpahs inauguration.
Some of that attention was surely directed by critics of renewable
energy subsidies, and its worth noting that domestic cats in the U.S.
kill anywhere from 1.4 billon to 3.7 billion birds a year, according to
a recent USFWS study. (And this is without getting into the environmental impacts from fossil-fuel generation and climate change that
Ivanpah is intended to avoid.) Still, the problem was enough to at least
temporarily derail CEC permitting for Palen in December
One of the criticisms leveled against Ivanpah is its lack of thermal
storage, a point with some merit. (The response from project partners has been that adding storage would have increased the already
huge price tag beyond economic feasibility and lowered the plants
overall efficiency.) Still, as thermal storage methods become more
established, it would be tough to bet against CSP in the future. The
Solana project uses molten salt to store about 6 hours of energy, while
the Crescent Dunes plant will store about 10 hours.
Most observers expect thermal salt storage to be the model for CSP
plants in the future, but its unlikely that further progress in that direction
would be possible had Ivanpah gone bust. Standing on the shoulders
of giants is a common expression when speaking of technological advancement, but here the giant is a literal one, not just a figure of speech.
Congratulations to BrightSource, NRG Energy, Bechtel, Google,
and the project team that brought this high-profile plant to a successful conclusion.
Thomas W. Overton, JD is a POWER associate editor (@

thomas_overton, @POWERmagazine).

34
www.powermag.com
POWER August 2014
MARMADUKE AWARD
KOMIPO Relocates
an Entire Combined
Cycle Power Plant
Courtesy: KOMIPO
Korea Midland Power (KOMIPO) had a viable combined cycle power plant
where it didnt need one, and growing demand where new capacity had to
be added. The solution? Pack up and move. KOMIPO wins this years Marmaduke Award for excellence in power plant problem-solving. The award
is named for Marmaduke Surfaceblow, the fictional marine engineer and
plant troubleshooter.
Thomas W. Overton, JD
ower plants are, with good reason,

almost universally regarded as fixed
assets to be operated, maintained, and
retired on the spot where they were built.
The idea of relocating something as large
and complicated as a combined-cycle plant
more than 100 miles away would strike many
in the power sector as nonsensical. In most
places, when the need for a plant declines, it
gets bumped down the dispatch order and, if
superfluous enough, mothballed.
But South Korea is not most places.
This East Asian nation of 50 million citizens has experienced years of booming electricity demand that has run ahead of its ability
to maintain safe reserve margins. Last summer, grid operator Korea Power Exchange
was forced to cut national power use by 6
36
GW to head off looming electricity shortages.

The national energy ministry also demanded
that local companies implement measures
to reduce power use by 15% to avoid a grid
failure. (For more on the nations power challenges, see South Korea Walks an Energy
Tightrope in the November 2013 issue.)
That episode in 2013 was only the latest
in a series of events that have challenged the
nations grid stability. Similar circumstances
led to rolling blackouts in September 2011,
and the national reserve margin has at times
dipped below 4%. (By way of comparison,
the Electricity Reliability Council of Texas,
which has struggled with reserve margins as
much as any independent system operator in
the U.S., recently implemented measures to
keep its reserve margin above 13.75%.)
www.powermag.com
In such an environment, South Korea does

not have the luxury of idling power plants
that, through accidents of planning or geography, are being underutilized.
Power Mismatch
Korea Midland Power Co. (KOMIPO) is one
of the five regional generation companies
spun off from Korea Electric Power Corp.
(KEPCO) in April 2001 as part of the restructuring of the national electric power industry.
Headquartered in Seoul, it serves approximately 5.6 million customers in the countrys northwest. KOMIPO operates six plants
with a total capacity of 8,934 MW, about
10% of the national total. It also currently
has four plants with a capacity of 3,810 MW
under construction.
POWER August 2014
MARMADUKE AWARD
1. Capital workhorse. The liquefied natural gasfueled Incheon Thermal Power Site has
been serving the Seoul metropolitan area since 1968. The new CCPP Unit 3 is visible as the
second set of stacks from the left. Courtesy: KOMIPO
KOMIPOs largest plant is at Boryeong,

with its flagship facility being the eight-unit,
4-GW Boryeong Thermal Power Plant, the
largest coal-fired plant in South Korea and
the nations first ultrasupercritical plant (and
also a 2008 POWER Top Plant). There are
several smaller gas-fired plants at Boryeong,
as well as about 10 MW of hydro, solar photovoltaic (PV), and fuel cell generation.
Boryeong, however, is a significant distance from the capitol and its enormous power demand. Much of the capitals power needs
are served by KOMIPOs Incheon Thermal
Power Site, which has been supplying Seoul
since the late 1960s (Figure 1). Originally a
four-unit 1,150-MW oil-fired thermal plant,
Incheon switched to liquefied natural gas
(LNG) in 1987 in response to the national
governments fuel diversification policy.
By the 2000s, however, the original units
at Incheon were nearing end-of-life. The 504MW Incheon Combined Cycle Power Plant
(CCPP) Unit 1 was added in 2005, and when
the 509-MW CCPP Unit 2 was brought online
in 2009, the decision was made to retire and
dismantle thermal Units 3 and 4 while Units 1
and 2 received upgrades to extend their life a
few more years. But to retire those units would
mean adding new capacity to replace them.
Meanwhile, Boryeong CCPP Unit 4 was
experiencing significant operational issues
that were increasingly challenging its utilization. The high cost of LNG and the long distance to the capital demand center meant a low
spot in the dispatch order despite the national
power crunch. The plant was seeing capacity
factors around 46%, and projections suggested this low utilization would continue to fall
perhaps under 10%as the plant aged and fell
behind newer, more efficient plants.
KOMIPO had proposed a new CCPP at
Incheon as part of its input for the 4th Basic

Plan for Supply & Demand of Electric Power
(which took effect in 2008), and the national
government had approved the plan. But increases in the price of LNG in 2009 caused
the government to reexamine its plans for
CCPP generation, and a new plant was likely
to cost significantly more than initial projec-
tions. The need for new generation had not

changed, but a more cost-effective approach
needed to be found.
Faced with this dilemma, KOMIPO hit
upon the idea of moving the underused plant
at Boryeong to Incheon instead of building an entirely new plant. No one had ever
attempted to move a power plant in South
Korea before, but doing so would cost substantially less than a new one.
KOMIPO, KEPCO (which oversees the
national grid), and the national government
conducted feasibility studies of the idea during 2009, and the data suggested that the
move would experience lower costs and
fewer difficulties than a new greenfield plant,
in part because of the opportunity to take advantage of existing infrastructure. An added
plan to incorporate a new district heating system would also meet local demands for heating from expanding residential development
in the Incheon area.
The proposal garnered strong support
from the national and local governments.
The project was incorporated into the 5th
Basic Plan, and the national government
expedited the necessary permitting and approvals in order to complete the project as
quickly as possible. Incheon Metropolitan
City also swiftly approved the project be-
August 2014 POWER
www.powermag.com
37
MARMADUKE AWARD
2. A new home. The two Alstom turbine generators are shown here, having arrived at the
end of a long journey from the old plant. Courtesy: KOMIPO
unplanned outage for the other three units.

Still, as anyone who has conducted a
major repair or refurbishment project can
attest, taking apart a plant that has been running for 15 years carries with it a lot of risks
and unexpected events. Among other challenges, specialized lifting equipment had to
be custom-designed to move several critical
elements of the plant.
Though the project staff was fully committed, it had limited experience with this
sort of work. Certain problems could not be
avoided, and some damage to plant components occurred during the breakdown despite extensive protective measuresagain,
something to be expected when taking apart
a plant with this much mileage on it.
Safety was also a key concern because the
unusual nature of the job was sure to present
many unforeseen risks. To meet this challenge,
KOMIPO implemented rigorous accident prevention techniques across all job sites.
Community Outreach
cause of the need to increase local generation and district heating capacity.
Making It Happen
It was easy enough to propose moving a
nearly 500-MW power plant, but making it
happen was another thing entirely.
KOMIPO assembled a team to tackle the
challenge. Hyundai Engineering provided the
project engineering, while Kumho E&C and
Keangnam Enterprises would handle the dismantling, transport, and construction. Alstom
provided an upgraded compressor and a new
combuster for the gas turbine, upgrades to the
steam turbine and control system, and district
heating integration. KEPCO KPS handled
the disassembly and maintenance of the turbine as well as the additional upgrade work.
KOMIPO handled its own procurement and
maintained overall control of the project.
KOMIPO brought back many of the staff
and contractors who had been involved in
the construction of Boryeong CCPP Unit 4,
including Alstom and Hyundai Engineering.
This was necessary in part because many of
the plans and blueprints from the original
construction had been lost, and differences
were discovered in the plant from those plans
that were available because of later improvements and changes.
The project began in September 2009. The
first hurdle was figuring out how to break
down Unit 4 safely, without damaging the
components, and without disrupting the operations of the rest of the plant.
Unit 4 was an Alstom KA24 power block
consisting of two dual-fuel GT24 gas turbines, each with a triple-pressure Doosan
38
Heavy Industries heat-recovery steam generator feeding a single Alstom STF30C threecasing, triple-pressure reheat steam turbine.
All of these components would be reused in
the new Incheon CCPP Unit 3.
But Unit 4 was also only one block of the
four-unit Boryeong CCPP, and the rest of the
plant had to continue operating during the
project. This meant that the components of
Unit 4 had to be carefully disconnected from
the common-use facilities without disrupting
normal operation. Every single part to be removed had to be identified, a meticulous plan
had to be drafted to determine the order for
each task, and this plan then had to be coordinated with Boryeong CCPPs operating schedule so that the impact on operations would be
minimized. For the most part, the work had to
be conducted during periods of low demand
on weekends and in the middle of the night.
This proved so challenging that the initial
relocation and construction schedule was delayed considerably beyond the original dates.
To minimize the delay, KOMIPO organized
a Safe Facility Dismantling Task Force Team
that developed a methodology to separate
systems safely within the shortest possible
time after comprehensive examination of related facility impacts.
The demands on the KOMIPO employees
and contractors were considerable, but many
of them voluntarily gave up weekends and
took night shifts to keep the project moving.
The staff took ownership of the job and carried out their work with a full sense of responsibility. As a result, though the initial
schedule was delayed, in the end the dismantling work was completed without a single
www.powermag.com
Not everyone was initially in favor of the

relocation project, however. During the time
the Boryeong CCPP has been in operation,
the formerly suburban site has been overtaken by urban sprawl, and the plant is now
surrounded by large-scale residential development. And at the Incheon site, air quality
was already poor because of numerous industrial activities in the area.
Public opinion on the proposed relocation was initially fiercely opposed, largely
because of fears that a new power plant in
Incheon would worsen already compromised air quality. To address these concerns,
KOMIPO committed to implementing stateof-the-art emissions upgrades at the new
plant and maintaining emissions well below
national standards.
The company eventually resolved the public opposition by meeting with local officials,
including regional citizen groups, local autonomous bodies, and regional representatives.
Moving Day
With the disassembly under way, KOMIPO
had to address the next step: Getting the components the 180 kilometers from the old site
to the new one.
The disassembled plant was packed into
7,500 separate modules for shipment. Modules that were small enough to move by
road were loaded onto trucks and trailers. Of
these, the smallest could be transported on
the national expressways to the new site in
about 4 hours. Larger shipments had to travel
on local roads, a slower trip that took about
7 hours.
The largest elements, however, including
the turbines and generators, had to go by
POWER August 2014
MARMADUKE AWARD
3. Hot prospect. As part of the plant upgrades, a new district heating system was installed. The plant is capable of putting out up to 382 MWt of district heat. Courtesy: KOMIPO
sea on a 15,000-ton capacity barge. Though

both plant sites are along South Koreas west
coast, local conditions made the trip very
tricky. This region of the Yellow Sea can experience large tidal swings, in some areas as
much as 25 feet, as well as strong currents.
This meant the shipments had to be carefully
coordinated with the tides, and contingency
plans needed to be in place to shelter the
barges in the event of unfavorable conditions.
Though the trip would take about 12 hours
in perfect conditions, in some cases it took
several days to get the barges from Boryeong
to Incheon because of the need to seek refuge
from bad weather.
In all, it took three and a half months to move
all 7,500 shipments to the new site (Figure 2).
Back to Business
Reconstruction of the plantnow officially
Incheon CCPP Unit 3began on Sept. 13,
2010. The Basic Plan had the plant slotted for
generation in the winter of 2012, meaning the
team had a little over two years to complete
construction, a challenge even with a brandnew plant.
The new plant would not be the same as
the old one, however. Substantial improvements and upgrades were planned, beginning with incorporating district heating. The
steam turbine was converted to a condensing
extraction turbine, and a large heat exchanger
was installed to connect to the local district
heating system (Figure 3).
The gas turbines received Alstoms MXL2
4. Shining bright. In addition to its attractive exterior, the new plant incorporates solar PV
generation for its on-site buildings. Courtesy: KOMIPO
upgrade package, including an improved Alstom compressor that improved efficiency by

3.5%, while output was increased from 292
MW to 321 MW. Though steam turbine power output dropped with the addition of district
heating, the overall improvements and modifications boosted plant efficiency from 51.6% to
82.8%. As with the rest of the Incheon CCPP,
Unit 3 operates on LNG.
Emissions were also improved by upgrading the turbine burners. The old components
were replaced with Alstoms EV Alpha Burner, which optimizes gas supply and reduces
NOx to around 8 ppm. The new plant also
added a selective catalytic reduction system,
the first for a CCPP in South Korea.
KOMIPO took additional steps to reduce
the impact on the local area. The plant exterior was carefully designed to present an
attractive, aesthetically pleasing appearance through the use of graphic designs and
landscaping. The new office and warehouse
building included 304 kW of solar PV generation (Figure 4). Finally, though the plant
relies on once-through ocean cooling, the
water intake was designed to access deep
seawater through an intake about 165 meters away from the plant, rather than using a
surface-level intake. This would help protect
local fisheries and avoid problems with cooling water intake that occurred at low tide.
A Job Well Done

Despite the numerous challenges, the relocation project was ultimately completed on
time in December 2012, and the new plant
was upgraded and commissioned without a
single lost-time accident. In all, 4,600 people
worked on the project from start to finish.
The new plant entered commercial operation
on Dec. 31, 2012, and was officially dedicated on July 3, 2013.
Operations at the new Incheon CCPP
Unit 3 have vindicated KOMIPOs decision
to move the plant. The new unit has experienced much greater utilization, with a capacity factor of 77% since coming online. The
project was completed for $272 million, 30%
less than the cost of building a brand-new
plant. Total output has been boosted to 532
MWe (in combined-cycle mode) with up to
382 MWt of district heating (power output
in maximum heating mode is reduced to 446
MWe). The plant has met KOMIPOs promise to keep emissions low, with NOx held to 6
ppm to 7 ppm on average.
For executing an extremely challenging
plant relocation and upgrade, POWER recognizes KOMIPO and the project team with the
2014 Marmaduke Award.
Thomas W. Overton, JD is a POWER

associate editor (@thomas_overton, @
POWERmagazine).
August 2014 POWER
www.powermag.com
39
WATER AWARD
Jeffrey Energy Centers Constructed

Wetland Treatment System
Courtesy: Westar Energy
POWERs first Water Award goes to a plant that developed an innovative solution to a common problem: the economic and environmentally responsible disposal of flue gas desulfurization wastewater.
Gail Reitenbach, PhD
.S. coal power plants are finding that

they need to comply with an increasing number of stringent environmental
regulations, and while nobody in any industry
looks forward to additional regulatory burdens,
new rules can prompt new thinking about familiar processes that result in unexpected benefits. Westar Energys approach to handling
wastewater from its upgraded flue gas desulfurization (FGD) system is a perfect example.
A Kansas Coal King

Westar Energy (Westar) is an investor-owned
utility serving nearly 700,000 customers in
east and east-central Kansas and is the largest
energy provider in the state. It owns or purchases power from coal, natural gas, nuclear,
landfill gas, and wind generation facilities.
Westars Jeffrey Energy Center (JEC) is one
of the fleets four coal-fired plants; the others
are LaCyne, Lawrence, and Tucumseh.
JEC, located near St. Marys, in northeast
Kansas, is owned by Westar (92%) and Great
Plains Inc. (8%). Unit 1 began operation in
1978, Unit 2 in 1980, and Unit 3 in 1983. The
plant burns low-sulfur coal and was recognized
by the Powder River Basin Coal Users Group
in 2003 as that groups Plant of the Year.
Big Ideas from a Big Plant

At 1,857 MW, JEC is the largest power plant
in Kansas (Figure 1). With great size comes
great scrutiny, and JEC, like many coal plants,
40
has had to upgrade its environmental systems

over the years to comply with federal and state
regulations. JEC is also an example of how,
over time, new energy-related issues move to
the top of the list of societys concerns.
In a profile of the new constructed wetlands
system, Westar notes that at the dedication of
Unit 1, then-Vice President Walter Mondale
pointed to the JEC as representing the energy
wave of the future. At the time, shifting from
oil-fired generationwhen many plants relied
on imported oilto domestic coal was seen
as, and was, a major improvement.
Fast forward to our current energy and
environmental situation: As Westar notes,
coal is now often begrudgingly accepted
as a necessary part of our energy portfolio.
While the political landscape still includes a
few who celebrate the use of coal, more are
critical, and the majority avoid a stance if
given the opportunity. In reality, if America
is going to retain affordable, reliable electricity, coal is a necessary element. Its our job
to balance the cost, the environmental impact
and the operational effectiveness. Often that
balance requires innovation and partnership.
The JEC wetlands is a story of both.
Westar says that nearly 25% of the original
cost of JEC was spent on air quality control
measures, including burning low-sulfur coal
exclusively. Among the most recent environmental upgrades was rebuilding and upgrading the FGD systems on all three units.
www.powermag.com
The original scrubbers were designed to remove 60% of sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions. The
new limestone slurry scrubbers were designed to
remove 95% of SO2. Work on the project (by
URS, with Burns & McDonnell acting as owners engineer/construction management) began
in the third quarter of 2007 and was completed
in the second quarter of 2009. All three upgraded
scrubbers are in service and are meeting or exceeding emission rate expectations. Westar says
the new system is delivering a 97% reduction in
SO2 emissions. (Co-benefit mercury emissions
were reduced by at least 25%, and particulate
matter was reduced by at least 20%.)
Installation of the new scrubbing system
triggered the state water antidegradation standard. This requirement drove the need for evaluation and installation of new water control
technologies for the FGD wastewater. Prior to
installation of the new system, Westar had been
dewatering slurry, landfilling the gypsum, and
discharging water to Lost Creek after clarification and treatment for mercury removal.
The FGD system discharge required evaluation and treatment for constituents that include sulfate, selenium, mercury, and arsenic.
Westar partnered with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE)
to establish an agreement that temporarily
allowed the scrubber wastewater to discharge
to Lost Creek while Westar investigated potential methods for treatment.
As Westar engineers looked for a cost-
POWER August 2014
WATER AWARD
1. An unconventional plant facility This photo, taken June 2013, shows the proximity of the constructed wetland (under development) to the three-unit Jeffrey Energy Center. The
completed wetland now treats 100% of the wastewater from the 1,857-MW plants scrubbers
in an economical and environmentally friendly way. Courtesy: Westar Energy
to modify its discharges temporarily for the

experimental pilot phase. Westar notes that
these local chapters of nationally active organizations have significant interest in Kansas
River water quality, and their support was essential to the projects approval.
Westar hosted educational tours for the
groups, which resulted in their support for
this treatment approach as the most environmentally sound. The utility also updated
the groups on trial results throughout the experiment. When Westar approached KDHE,
having already obtained support from these
environmental groups helped demonstrate
that the chosen approach was appropriate.
Pilot Phase
effective way to handle the wastewater, they
settled on an approach that marries biology
and chemistry: a constructed wetland treatment system (CWTS).
Finding the Best Fit

Before Westars environmental and engineering staff decided upon the CWTS, with the
help of Burns & McDonnell, they researched
a number of innovative ways to effectively
treat the discharge:
Underground deep well injection.

Process through falling film evaporators
and crystallizer.
Process through reverse osmosis and
crystallizer.
Process with falling film evaporators, using the brine to condition fly ash for disposal in an on-site landfill.
Treatment with sulfate precipitation and
a CWTS, with water effluent sent back to
the plant for reuse.
Westar wanted to treat the discharge with the

most environmentally friendly and least costly
solution. Analysis showed the lowest-cost alternative was a constructed wetland paired with
sulfate precipitation pretreatment (Table 1).
In the chosen process, the FGD wastewater would first be treated in a traditional
wastewater treatment plant to remove sulfate.
Then it would be introduced into the wetland
process that was engineered and targeted for
removal of metals. The wetland discharge,
having been effectively treated for constituents of concern, could then be returned to the
plant for reuse.
Although this was the least expensive and
most environmentally friendly solution, a
constructed wetland system had never been
utilized in this application and was untested.
Westar began by developing a pilot system to mimic biological processes occurring
August 2014 POWER
in natural wetlands, with the ultimate goal of

deploying a full-scale system.
Getting Environmental Groups on

Board
The JEC site has long been a special one
for both wildlife and people. Approximately
7,700 acres of JECs total 10,500 acres are
leased for grain or hay production, and nearly
all of that acreage is open for public fishing,
hunting, and hiking. Water pumped from the
Kansas River fills two lakes comprising more
than 600 acres for plant make-up water. These
provide some of the states best fishing during warm months, and the larger lake offers
waterfowl hunting in winter. Handicappedaccessible docks at both lakes and an accessible waterfowl blind make the area attractive
for handicapped duck and goose hunters.
Additionally, The Oregon Trail Nature
Park was constructed for public use on the
plant site near the Oregon Trail to showcase
the natural ecosystems of Kansas. It includes
two ponds, three nature trails, a shelter house,
and picnic areas.
Before the utility got serious about the
constructed wetlands project, it contacted
the local Sierra Club chapter and members of
Friends of the Kaw, Kansas Riverkeeper. The
intent was to engage and educate them before requesting permission from the KDHE
The two-acre pilot wetland system, designed to

treat roughly 10% of the FGD wastewater, was
installed in December 2010. It included three
cell types: free water surface cells, vegetated
submerged bed cells, and vertical flow bed cells
(Figure 2). As Westar describes the differences:
Free water surface cells function in a

manner similar to a permanently flooded
marsh, with a shallow water depth and a
combination of aquatic species such as
cattail, bulrush, water lily, and arrowhead.
Vegetated submerged bed cells function
similarly to a fully saturated marsh with high
ground water levels and plant species such as
switch grass, inland salt grass, and sedges.
Vertical flow bed cells are similar to vegetated submerged bed cells except that
incoming water is applied evenly over the
surface of the cell, allowing vertical infiltration instead of horizontal flow.
Water was transferred through equal-size

cells in series through two parallel trains,
allowing each cell to be monitored for individual effectiveness. With a wide range of
target constituents, Westar needed to understand each cells strengths and weaknesses to
design a full-scale system.
The pilot cells were constructed in summer 2010, wetland vegetation plugs were
transplanted in November, and the utility
expected to start seeing treatment benefits in
Table 1. Treatment options. Evaluation of the estimated 15-year net present value costs
of technically viable alternatives showed a constructed wetland treatment system (CWTS) was
the best option. Source: Westar Energy
Flue gas desulfurization wastewater treatment option
15-year net present value
CWTS with lime only sulfate pretreatment
$57.5 million
Deep well injection (off site)
$59.6 million
CWTS with lime, gypsum, and sodium aluminate sulfate

pretreatment
$94.3 million
Brine concentration with fly ash conditioning
$98.2 million
Reverse osmosis/crystallization
$128.1 million
Evaporation/crystallization
$150.1 million
www.powermag.com
41
WATER AWARD
2. Pilot phase. The pilot wetland system was installed in December 2010 and included
three cell types (left to right): free water surface cells, vegetated submerged bed cells, and
vertical flow bed cells. Courtesy: Westar Energy
spring 2011. However, monitoring showed

removal of metals right away, most notably
in those cells designed to move flows vertically through the plant root zones and soil
layers (the vertical flow bed cells).
Constituent removal continued in spring,
and the plants exploded to fill the wetland
surface area by summer 2011, according to
a Westar report. Removal rates for the various cell designs were compared with those
for other treatments. Kansas State University
faculty and students did both field and lab
work to help the utility understand the capture mechanisms and magnitudes.
Overall, 19 water quality constituents
were shown to have been effectively treated
through the pilot wetland project, including
selenium, mercury, fluoride, nitrate, and nitrite, which are constituents of concern. The
only constituents of concern not treated effectively were chloride and sulfate. Chloride levels were historically low enough that
treatment is not necessarily required, while
pairing the wetlands with a targeted sulfate
precipitation process would overcome the
lack of sulfate removal by the wetlands.

Westar and Burns & McDonnell evaluated final treatment options and concluded
that full-scale wetlands combined with some
supplemental chemical removal of salts presented the most economical and environmentally benign approach. The KDHE approved
this plan in summer 2012.
Full-Scale Ahead
In mid-2012, Westar decided to proceed with
the full-scale wetlands. Through 2013 the pilot project was the testing ground that led to
the design and construction of the full-scale,
24-acre constructed wetlands. That full-scale
project, completed July 2014, now treats
100% of the sites scrubber wastewater discharge (Figures 3 and 4).
The extensive pilot research led to an optimized full-scale design consisting of two parallel vertical flow cells (19.2 acres combined)
followed in series by two parallel vegetative
submerged cells (4.5 acres combined). These
cell types proved the most effective at broadbased removal of target constituents.
3. Under construction. This shot shows one of the cells in the full-scale wetland under
construction. Cells are lined with a composite liner consisting of clay and HDPE flexible membrane liner. Courtesy: Westar Energy
42
www.powermag.com
Testing on the pilot system demonstrated

that the constituents are trapped within the
soil of the vertical flow cells, and sizing of
the wetland is based on the quantity of removed constituents that can be stored per
mass of soil. Once a cell is no longer able
to remove and contain the constituents, the
soil can be removed and landfilled. As each
cell is synthetically lined, closure in place is
also an option.
The full-scale wetland was designed to
mimic nature with one significant exception.
While the vertical flow cells proved exceptional at capturing constituents of concern,
their concentration at the surface raised the
question of exposure for the myriad species
of wildlife that would be attracted to the wetland. Westar was concerned that the captured
constituents might be moved away from the
wetlands via wildlife movements.
High concentrations at the surface would
also necessitate more frequent removal and
replacement of the plants and upper soil
layer. Since the water was to be pumped
between cells, Burns & McDonnell consultants suggested filling from the bottom
of the cells and collecting the treated water
at the surface for a bottom up approach.
This solved both concerns by concentrating
constituents several feet below the surface,
protecting wildlife, and greatly reducing
maintenance.
Avoiding negative effects on wildlife was
a concern because of high concentrations of
common as well as some uncommon species
in the area. The endangered Least Tern has a
large nesting colony near the wetlands, and
JEC contains more than 7,000 acres open to
the public for fishing and hunting and managed cooperatively with the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism.
In a video about the system produced by the
utility, Andy Evans, Westar manager of plant
support and engineering, calls the CWTS en-
4. Thriving wetland. Water piped from

the flue gas desulfurization system at the
plant enters the wetland cells from below the
surface. Courtesy: Westar Energy
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gineering with nature. Brad Loveless, executive director of environmental services, explains that the wetland relies on natural features that have
been going on for thousands of years.
Multiple Benefits
Westar has found that the CWTS offers multiple benefits when compared with alternatives.
A Natural Green Solution. The full-scale wetland uses available, naturally occurring soil, plant materials, and soil microbes. The
wetland will capture energy from the sun and remove carbon dioxide
from the atmosphere. Under controlled soil moisture conditions, each
wetland cell can be managed to enhance the interrelationship of soil
microbes with plant roots, which increases and maximizes the inherent ability of the system to chemically process, take up, and sequester
inorganics and metals found in scrubber wastewater effluent.
Energy Savings. The full-scale wetland provides significant savings in energy usage when compared with other options such as zero
liquid discharge or deep well injection. Less energy spent on equipment and processes means more energy is available for customers.
The wetland, for example, represents less than 5% of the annual energy costs required by falling film evaporators.
A Sustainable Solution. Constructed wetland systems normally
require more land area than mechanical treatment systems (which
means they will not be appropriate for all sites) and a grow-in period
for the development of plants, roots, and soil microbes. Once they
become fully functional, however, constructed wetlands are designed
to be passive and long-lasting sustainable treatment systems. They
require very little energy and maintenance compared with mechanical
treatment and are more economical to operate and maintain.
A Social Solution. Many critical stakeholders were found to prefer wetlands and the unique functions and values that they provide to
society. For example, wetlands perform as biological filters that help
keep streams, rivers, ponds, and lakes clean. They also provide valuable habitat for diverse wildlife.
Water Conservation. The wetland allows the treated water to be
reclaimed for reuse at the plant. (For the growing number of power
plants around the world faced with water availability constraints, this
may be a solution worth considering.)
Favorable Economics. The wetland treatment system is expected
to result in net present value benefits of $40 million over 15 years
in comparison with alternative zero liquid discharge treatments. This
savings includes both capital and operating savings that Westar says
will benefit customers through lower rates.
A Model for Future Systems

Westar has already shared its development challenges and successes
through numerous industry technical presentations and site tours for interested utilities. It does so to provide a model of an alternative water
treatment process for the rest of the industry that offers both improved
performance and significantly lower costs than other alternatives. Both of
those metrics are increasingly important to fossil-fired generating units.
Although site-specific factors always play a role in the viability of
alternative treatment approaches, for Westar, the bottom line is clear:
Total loaded costs of the full-scale wetland system and sulfate removal were $36.2 million.
The Edison Electric Institute recognized the importance of the
JEC CWTS in June by giving its annual Edison Award to the project.
POWER is proud to join the chorus of congratulations for Westar and
its staff with our first Water Award! Kudos for innovative thinking, a
design that makes no sacrifices, effective stakeholder communication,
and timely implementation.
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August 2014 POWER
www.powermag.com
45
Strategies for Inspecting HRSGs in

Two-Shift and Low-Load Service
Inspections of more than 500 units over the past 10 years reveals common challenges faced by mid-life HRSGs, particularly those used in combined cycle plants to
offset renewable generation and other aggressive operating strategies.
Peter S. Jackson, PE, David S. Moelling, PE, and James W. Malloy
teristic that varies greatly between HRSGs,

even those built by the same manufacturer.
Under cycling conditions, other undesirable side effects are also possible, such as
greater risk of water hammer in the reheat
piping, thermal quenching of hot component
surfaces due to spray valve degradation, and
leakage or failure of the pressure boundary at
tube-to-header welds, riser piping to drums,
crossover (connecting) piping, and drain
connections. Temperature control (heat tracing and in some cases portable heaters) may
also be required to prevent tube and header
failure during freezing conditions. Several
two-shift plants experienced thermal quenching or brittle fractures during the cold winter
of 2013 to 2014.
heat-recovery steam generator (HRSG)

is much like other power generation
equipmentrun it at design conditions
and chances are it will run with high availability and require only routine maintenance for
many years. Mechanical problems within the
HRSG are usually site- and vendor-specific,
but experience has identified many common
failure modes. The most common cause of
HRSG failures (after malfunctioning equipment such as sprays or duct burner controls)
is a change in operating profile, typically
from base load to daily cycling, especially in
markets with must-run wind generation. Although a change in operating routine doesnt
automatically translate into gross degradation
in HRSG reliability, pressure parts are often
susceptible to having less design margin and
more vulnerability to consequential damage
caused by other equipment.
This article identifies common unit failure
mechanisms you should consider when developing your HRSG inspection strategy for
low-load operations and two-shift cycling.
steel. Frequent startups also make it challenging for operators to maintain water chemistry
within acceptable limits, which results in
greater risks of single- and two-phase flow
accelerated corrosion (FAC) damage.
The changing thermodynamic characteristics of steam during startup conditions also
produce component stresses and excess condensate that must be quickly drained. Less
condensate is produced during fast startups,
though more attemperation spray may be required to control steam pipe metal temperatures than when undergoing a routine startup.
Low-load operations usually use more attemperation spray to control steam pipe metal
temperatures than when undergoing a standard startup. Since low-load operations are
generally at substantially lower pressures,
this also offsets some of the more aggressive
thermal characteristics of two-shift cycling
under low-load operations. Many HRSG designs present condensate removal challenges
during either type of start, which is a charac-
Experienced Inspectors
1. Leaky weld. A leaking 16-inch-diameter reheater crossover pipe in a cycling unit is shown.
Tetra Engineering Group Inc., has inspected

more than 500 HRSGs over the past 10 years
(many of which are F-class or G-class triplepressure duct-fired units in two-shift cycling
operation with reheat steam turbines), representing a cross-section of all the major HRSG
manufacturers (see sidebar). About 70% of
inspections were of large reheat HRSGs. The
inspected units represent all North American
Reliability Corp. regions as well as many
units in emerging markets (Mexico), and
the mature 50-Hz markets in Europe and the
Middle East. Uniquely, many of the Middle
East units are non-reheat units commonly integrated with a large desalination facility for
integrated power and water operations.
Our inspections have revealed that, over
time, most units experiencing rapid thermal
gradients (as a result of two-shift cycling)
present stress-related failures (for example,
creep, corrosion fatigue, or stress corrosion
cracking) in tubes, headers, and structural
46
HRSG Inspection Guide

In the future, HRSG inspections must become more comprehensive and identify critical damage earlier, all while being conducted
during fewer and shorter outages. The fol-
Courtesy: Tetra Engineering Group Inc.
www.powermag.com
POWER August 2014
HRSG Inspection Toolkit

A thorough inspection of a large, twoshifted heat-recovery steam generator
(HRSG)for example, behind a GE Frame
7FA, or Siemens W501F/Gwith reheater, typically requires about two days for
a three-man crew, which includes a field
supervisor, an HRSG engineer, and a nondestructive testing technician. These inspections are more detailed than boiler
insurer statutory inspections or inspections by appurtenance suppliers of nonpressure part components. The inspection
of a typical mid-life HRSG includes:
Visual inspection of HRSG gas path components, including combustion turbine

transition duct; high-temperature panels,
including tubes, headers, and their supports; crossover piping; risers; drains;
gas baffles; acoustic baffles; and related
structural components. An inspection usually includes emissions control equipment
inside the casing (CO catalyst, ammonia
injection grid, and SCR catalyst) as well as
duct burner components.
Borescope/videoscope inspection of waterside conditions of lead high-pressure
(HP) evaporator tube panels for evidence
of excessive deposits that will result in
under-deposit corrosion, and of intermediate pressure (IP) and low-pressure
(LP) evaporator tube panels for evidence
of two-phase flow accelerated corrosion
(FAC) wall thinning.
Ultrasonic testing (UT) of wall thickness
for selected (high-risk) tube, header,
and riser components, in order to trend
changes in the condition of mid-life
HRSG components. Drum baffle plates
lowing sections discuss and illustrate specific failure mechanisms that must be quickly
identified, beginning with the greatest impact
on forced outages and performance degradation (although several categories have been
combined for the sake of brevity). An online
supplement has also been provided that contains additional photos and further discussion of common failures that should guide a
HRSG inspection.
Grade 91 Components. Most large
HRSGs constructed since the late 1990s have
tube panels, interconnecting piping, outlet
steam manifolds, and in some cases bypass
piping constructed from Grade 91 creepstrength enhanced ferritic (CSEF) steel. Fabri-
August 2014 POWER
and in some instances cyclone separator can thickness are also measured
at some plants as surrogates for components that cannot be directly measured.
Magnetic particle testing of all accessible
tube-header weld connections in the HP
steam and reheater tube panels, as well
as all accessible link connections (lower
header-transfer pipe) and lower headerto-drains. Magnetic particle inspection of
accessible drain welds in the HP superheater and reheater sections is generally
recommended for mid-life HRSGs.
Ultrasonic testing shear wave or UT
phased-array inspection of Grade 91
components consistent with the plants
covered piping system program for
managing Grade 91 components.
Visual inspection of accessible HRSG
waterside components (for large combined cycle plants, this is generally
limited to drum surfaces and internals),
such as primary and secondary steam
separation devices, feedwater penetrations, chemical supply lines, instrument
and blowdown penetrations, and baffle
plates and their mechanical restraints
(bolting and/or welds).
External walkdown of drain manifolds
and associated valving below the HRSG
casing and pipe supports for interconnecting piping and drain systems in
the original equipment manufacturers
scope of supply.
Thermography of HRSG casings to identify hot spots. Plants with severe casing insulation degradation or deficiency
have used thermography to map regions
of the casing for insulation repairs.
cation, welding, post-weld heat treatment, and

performance problems with Grade 91 (and
other CSEF steels) have been well documented. Aggravating the problem, maximum metal
temperatures may increase slightly following
combustion turbine (CT) upgrades to accommodate fast starts and low-load operations.
Hig-Temperature Tube Leaks and Failures. The most significant damage that oc-
curs to HRSG components inside the casing is

generally leaks and failures of pressure parts,
principally tubes, headers, and connecting piping (Figure 1). Tube failures are the dominant
cause of lost plant reliability. While tube repairs are not always lengthy procedures, they
contribute substantially to the cost of two-shift
www.powermag.com
cycling duty. In todays merchant markets, a

forced outage can be a costly consequence of
aggressive operation without sufficient monitoring of component degradation.
High-temperature tubes experience leaks
and failures due to creep, thermal fatigue
(and combinations of both), quenching, and
inadequate condensate removal. Also, high
differential thermal stress due to exhaust gas
bypassing tube panels, side-wall or central
baffles failure, or other plant transients such
as single pull tensile overload, has resulted in
many tube failures in certain reheater designs.
The most common tube damage mechanism is bowing, which is usually caused by
differential thermal stress, quench, manufacturing variations in tube length, and the like.
Inspections of new units sometimes identify
small tube bows present prior to operation.
Many units exhibit bowing of reheater tubes,
especially those located below attemperator
sprays or in the first pass downstream of duct
burners. In some cases, tube bowing doesnt
change substantially over many years, but
other units have experienced ratcheting of
tubes to the point where the tubes kink and
develop local yielding that necessitates repair
or replacement.
Flow Accelerated Corrosion Thinning.
Perhaps the most notorious of HRSG tube

failure mechanisms is FAC. FAC wall thinning of pressure parts has been aggressively
addressed in the nuclear industry, where
several catastrophic failures occurred in
susceptible piping. The fossil-fueled power
generation industry has experienced FAC to
a lesser degree in external feedwater heaters,
attemperator spray valve downstream piping,
feedwater pump discharge piping, and steam
turbine extraction lines. Units with poor water chemistry control, extensive layup periods, or particular design configurations are
especially susceptible.
With a combined cycle fleet of large units
fast approaching mid-life, many have experienced some FAC wall thinning. The primary
areas where FAC thinning occurs in HRSGs
is either internal (tubes and headers) or in
boiler connecting piping (evaporator risers,
short feedwater piping segments between the
pumps, and the economizer inlets). Also, there
is a sizeable two-phase steam/water exposure
in low-pressure (LP) and intermediate-pressure (IP) components. This is in contrast to
conventional boiler experience, where FAC is
largely confined to feedwater lines that have
piping and feedwater heater components.
The best approach to managing FAC thinning is a combination of excellent water
chemistry control and vigilant trending of
component wall thickness in susceptible regions (most of which are inside the HRSG
casing). External feedwater piping can also
47

2. Cracked and dangerous. This Grade
91 hot reheat upper header link to the outlet
manifold cracked during operation of this twoshifting plant. Courtesy: Tetra Engineering
Group Inc.
be susceptible for combined cycle plants that

take feed pump suction from the LP drum.
Thick Section Components. Leaks and
failures in larger components such as headers, major connecting piping, and steam
piping can require lengthy outages with significant repair costs and commensurate loss
in operating revenue while repairs are completed. There have been instances of header
leaks due to long-term layup with inadequate
water chemistry control or failure to drain
and inert the waterside for extended periods.
Grade 91 interconnecting piping at the highpressure (HP) superheater or reheater (RH)

outlet manifolds are experiencing increasing
numbers of leaks due to inadequate material
properties, poor shop and field welding practices, and improper post-weld heat treatment
(Figure 2).
Water Hammer. Water hammer has occurred at many combined cycle plants. It is
often attributed to a combination of problems
related to steam or spray valve control, inadequate drainage of condensate, or abrupt
valve actuation. Water hammer is generally a
destructive transient; casualties typically include adjacent piping supports, with yielding
of steam piping a common end result (Figure
3). Good practice is to apply nondestrutive
testing inspection to components adjacent
to the most heavily damaged areas in order
to assess whether a crack exists that requires
repair.
Casing, Liner, and Gas Baffle Damage.
A frequent damage mechanism encountered

in old and new units is damage to gas baffles.
Due to the nature of their geometry and proximity to a variety of potential interferences,
these structures are often subject to fatigue,
distortion from thermal expansion, interference, and high vibrations, particularly in the
3. Hammered pipe. Water hammer can

cause significant damage to HRSG steam piping. In this unit, water hammer damaged its
cold reheat piping and supports. Courtesy:
Tetra Engineering Group Inc.
hot sections of the HRSG.

While some HRSG designs have no central baffles, those that do have experienced
frequent damage. While most exhaust gas
continues to pass through the tube panels,
the lower flow resistance along unblocked
lanes can result in downstream tubes experiencing significantly hotter conditions than
neighboring tubes. This flow and temperature
imbalance can cause very large differential
thermal stresses or a high local increase in
water/steam velocity, especially in evaporator sections. That in turn can aggravate FAC
wall thinning, which is found to be worse on
the tubes located at the end of tube panels

48
www.powermag.com
POWER August 2014

4. Steam leaks. Generally, larger thermal
stresses shorten the fatigue life of affected
components, particularly drums, thick section headers, and tube-to-header welds. The
photo shows a cracked reheater link transfer
pipe manifold that failed in a unit operated in
two-shift cycling. Source: Tetra Engineering
Group Inc.
(closest to the open area normally protected by gas baffles).

Quench Damage. Condensate formation
during startup is another well-known cause
of tube and header leaks and failures. Some
units have experienced repeated tube failures,
extreme tube bowing, and related problems
with attemperation spray equipment. One approach has been the installation of temporary
thermocouples to more accurately determine
the temperature variations in reheater and superheater tubes, which in turn can be used by
operators to better manage startup temperature transients.
Boiler and Steam Piping Damage.
Problems with boiler and steam piping are

often associated with the reheat piping, particularly in units where attemperator sprays
have been designed with too-short downstream straight pipe lengths (less than 10
pipe diameters). Incomplete atomization of
attemperator sprays sends liquid droplets
downstream that impact piping surfaces,
which causes significant localized thermal
stresses and may ultimately result in weld
cracks (Figure 4).
Drain Leaks and Failures. Drain pipe
failures are another relatively common category of problems found in mid-life units.
Drains are sometimes cocked or otherwise
bent during final construction when the prefabricated tube panel assemblies are fieldconnected to the drain system (Figure 5). The
result is drain welds that are often under considerable stress due to misalignment in their
casing holes and misalignment of drain tube
stubs with the field drain work.
While relatively easy to repair, drain leaks
have been known to cause boiler drum level
instability that resulted in an emergency plant
shutdown. Inspection of accessible drain
welds during scheduled HRSG inspections is
August 2014 POWER
5. Out of shape. Bending of this highpressure superheater drain was experienced

due to misalignment during construction.
Courtesy: Tetra Engineering Group Inc.
an effective way to reduce the likelihood of a

drain failure during operation.
Drum and Internals Damage. Damage
to drum surfaces and internals includes problems with baffle weld designs and accumulation of tubercle deposits over pits in HP and
LP drums and some small defects in drum
shell surfaces. Inspection of new units may
typically find no incidents of severe corrosion
of steam separation devices, development
of fatigue cracks, or other serious damage.
Units in mid-life operation may experience
cracking of drum-to-downcomer nozzles or
to feedwater supply piping. Sludge piles are
often evident in LP drums where iron transport is a problem due to inadequate control of
oxygen levels.
Stress Corrosion. Another damage
mechanism that has caused tube failures in
cold end components is stress-corrosion
cracking. This damage mechanism affects
susceptible materials and can result in tube
leaks or failures after just a few years of operation. Deposits on the inside diameter (ID) of
the pipe that tend to protect and concentrate
aggressive chemical species are commonly
found. Accumulation of deposits on the tube
ID implies problems with feedwater water
treatment and control.
Cold End Bowing. Occasionally, bowed
tubes are observed in the cold end of large
units. Sometimes the bowed tubes are near
the feedwater inlets where the inlet water
temperature may be significantly colder than
adjacent tubes, depending on the flow pattern in the harp design. This can lead to large
thermal stresses between tubes and potential
failure.
Flow Distribution Device Damage and
Failures. The internal tube arrangement of
many HRSGs requires flow distribution devices. Their specification depends on a variety of factors related to the CT, geometry
www.powermag.com
6. Bent burner. In extreme cases, the

duct burner runners are so damaged that replacement is the only option. Courtesy: Tetra
Engineering Group Inc.
of the transition duct, and general layout of

the HRSG, such as the order, number, and
arrangement of tube modules. Problems are
common with flow distribution devices, especially those installed upstream of the lead
tube bank, where they are often needed to redistribute flow to higher tube elevations. In
some cases a second flow distribution grid is
installed upstream of duct burners to further
redirect the exhaust gas flow, although this is
not common.
The most common design is a perforated plate, although large turning vanes and
smaller sets of turning vanes are often used.
The most common problem for a perforated
plate is fatigue damage that is attributable to
high gas velocity and inadequate structural
support to hold the perforated plate in position. Often the support structure behind the
plate experiences widespread fatigue failure
followed by metal fatigue in the ligaments
between the holes in the perforated plate. In
the extreme, flow distribution devices have
collapsed and become an obstruction in the
gas path.
Duct Burner Issues. Duct burners are
used to increase steam production, either to
compensate for reduced CT output due to
high ambient conditions or for additional
(peaking) steam production. Local overheating of tubes has been attributed in some cases to excessive duct firing. Other problems
with duct burners have involved the burner
elements themselves either being improperly
positioned or falling out of their supports
during operation so they were no longer
supported at both walls (Figure 6). In some
instances the accumulation of condensate in
burner runners during periods of long layup
has caused operational problems.
Peter S. Jackson, PE (peter.jackson@

tetra-eng.com) is director, field services,
David S. Moelling, PE (david.moelling@
tetra-eng.com) is chief engineer, and
James W. Malloy (james.malloy@tetraeng.com) is managing director (Europe)
for Tetra Engineering Group Inc.
49
NUCLEAR
Welding and Fabrication

Innovations Mitigate Reactor
Pressure Vessel Embrittlement in
Nuclear Plant Construction
New weld filler materials and fabrication processes are capable of eliminating toughness
losses associated with fast-neutron irradiation of reactor pressure vessel (RPV)
weldments in new nuclear power plants. This article examines these and other
techniques that could revolutionize the manufacturing of RPV components.
David Sandusky and David Gandy
eactor pressure vessel (RPV) shells in

the existing U.S. fleet of nuclear power
plants were typically constructed by
forging ring segments from ingots of lowalloy steel offering sufficient fracture toughness to withstand radiation-induced embrittlement across long-term operations. Thick,
roll-formed segments were joined, typically
by the submerged arc welding (SAW) process, via horizontal and vertical seam welds
incorporating low-alloy steel filler metals fed
in wire form from a spool into the weld pool.
Often, a thin coating of copper had been applied to the spooled wire to prevent rapid
oxidation of exposed surfaces, a practice that
continues today in the petrochemical and
other industries.
During the U.S. boom in nuclear plant construction in the late 1960s and early 1970s,
weld metal specifications targeted low-alloy
steel fillers that contained copper, along with
other residual elements and impurities. The
amount of additional copper incorporated in
individual RPV seam welds attributable to
the use of copper-coated wire was relatively
small, with no apparent detrimental effect on
their basic strength, ductility, and toughness.
However, any copper addition is ultimately
detrimental to toughness properties of irradiated low-alloy steels. Only after construction
had been completed on a significant number
of U.S. boiling water reactor (BWR) and
pressurized water reactor (PWR) vessels did
the potential for accelerated neutron-induced
embrittlement of welds in the reactor beltline due to elevated copper content and other
tramp elements become apparent.
The factors underlying this in-service
degradation mechanism have been well understood since the mid to late 1970s. Under
50
neutron fluence, copper is the most active element in the low-alloy steel matrix, highlighting the need to ban the use of copper coatings
on filler wire. Controlling copper content
during filler metal manufacturing is essential.
Initial reference temperature, which defines a
filler metals transition from high-toughness
ductile behavior to low-toughness brittle behavior, represents another key parameter.
The reference temperature for the nil ductility transition (RTNDT) of low-alloy steels, as
defined by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Section III, Subsection NB, increases under prolonged exposure
in high neutron flux environments, especially
for fillers with higher levels of copper. As this
parameter increases, RPV integrity analyses
must employ more conservative toughness
curves to retain the same margin against nonductile failure as existed in the weld fillers
unirradiated state. Low-alloy steel filler metals with lower initial RTNDT values thus offer more favorable toughness characteristics
after long-term neutron exposure.
According to a study recently completed
by the Electric Power Research Institute
(EPRI), lessons learned regarding irradiation
embrittlement of low-alloy weld metals have
been successfully applied as the construction
of advanced light water reactors (ALWRs)
has continued in Asia and Europe across the
past two decades. Metal manufacturing techniques in common worldwide use today are
capable of meeting tight specifications for
low-alloy steel fillers, and advanced welding
technologies have proven ability to join RPV
shell forgings.
Accordingly, seam welds in new plant construction are expected to be resistant to radiation-induced embrittlement over the lifetime
www.powermag.com
of new RPVs, even when located in the highfluence beltline region. Alternatives to conventional fabrication methods are emerging
that could provide significant benefits. Powder
metallurgy, for example, offers the potential to
revolutionize the U.S. and international manufacturing and fabrication of RPV shells and,
eventually, small modular reactors.
Current Practice
Today, RPV manufacturing and fabrication
methods employ single, large, forged ring
sections that eliminate the use of vertical
seam welds within the beltline region. In all
but one of todays ALWR designs, this single-piece ring forging also is tall enough to
span the height of the active fuel. As a result,
even the circumferential welds joining ring
sections are located above and below the active core, limiting their exposure to neutron
fluence.
The welding technologies applied to make
these full-thickness structural joints are significantly advanced relative to RPV fabrication practices from decades ago. Typically, a
narrow-gap or reduced-volume welding process, as opposed to a conventional V-groove
weld preparation, is involved. Most service
providers employ SAW with the narrow
groove reducing the amount of weld wire,
the number of welding passes, and the overall weld volume.
Gas metal arc welding (GMAW) also is
applied by at least one RPV manufacturer;
it requires just a single weld bead per layer, with mechanical oscillation applied to
weave the weld wire across the narrow gap to
achieve good sidewall fusion.
Generally, both SAW and GMAW narrow-gap processes reduce the time required
POWER August 2014
NUCLEAR
to complete the weld, the total heat input,
the width of the heat-affected zone, and the
amount of weld shrinkage and distortion. Use
of automation, along with tight process controls and improved filler metals, enables the
implementation of high-quality RPV shell
seam welds offering exceptional resistance
to in-service degradation mechanisms.
Filler metal manufacturing processes have
dramatically improved, enabling suppliers to
produce low-alloy steel weld metals with extremely low concentrations of copper. These
weld materials also have reduced levels of
residual elements and of nonmetallic impurities (such as phosphorus and sulfur) that are
known to contribute to toughness losses under neutron fluence.
Meeting tight filler metal specifications
for new plant construction involves the use
of precise manufacturing controls, plus management of the steel melting process to avoid
use of copper-bearing scrap and to control the
content of copper and other potentially problematic constituents in iron and other input
stocks. These tight chemistry controls also
contribute significantly to producing material
with a low initial RTNDT. Typically, specifications include an initial RTNDT equal to or less
than about 4F (20C) for all low-alloy steels
used for RPV fabrication, but actual values
can be substantially lower, especially for
weld filler metals. This results in seam welds
expected to experience only a limited loss of
toughness when irradiated with fast neutrons
over their service lifetime.
Comparative Assessment
To test this expectation, EPRI assessed the
relative impact of radiation-induced embrittlement on low-alloy weld filler metals used
for RPV fabrication in the existing U.S. fleet,
in ALWRs constructed more recently overseas, and in future plant designs. As shown in
Table 1, the study applied estimated end-oflife (EOL) fluence values and materials specifications to calculate the adjusted reference
temperature (ART) of horizontal and vertical
seam welds after 60 years of operation, defined per the methodology in U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission Regulatory Guide
1.99, Rev. 2 as:
ART = RTNDT + RTNDT + margin
Table 1 shows that the much higher copper
content of the low-alloy weld fillers used in
two operating U.S. BWRs and three operating U.S. PWRs resulted in significant and
sometimes dramatic upward shifts in RTNDT
relative to those estimated using the properties of actual ALWR filler metals. The shift in
ART and, thus, EOL toughness are substantial: For the operating BWR and PWR cases
in this limited data set, the predicted ARTs

after 60 years of operation exceed 120F
(49C) and 230F (110C), respectively. At temperatures above the ART, brittle fracture is
not a concern; lower ART values, therefore,
are desired.
Modern weld fillers exposed to the same
neutron fluence have predicted ART values
that remain well below 0F (18C), indicating
very limited embrittlement-related toughness loss after long-term radiation exposure.
These findings demonstrate that uniform
application of restrictive specifications in

the purchase of low-alloy steel filler metal
should eliminate embrittlement concerns,
even for cases of vertical seam welds in the
beltline region of ALWRs.
Table 2 provides the estimated shift in
transition temperature for modern filler metals applied in RPV seam welds for advanced
PWR designs, including Westinghouses
AP1000, Mitsubishis APWR, Korea Hydro
Nuclear Powers APR1400, and AREVAs
EPR. These estimates are based on projected
360
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August 2014 POWER
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51
NUCLEAR
Table 1. Adjusted reference temperature calculations after 60 years of
operation. Source: EPRI
Weld type
BWR
horizontal
weld
Endoflife
fluence
2.9 x 1017
Plant
Initial RTNDT
BWR Plant A
5F
Cu (%)
Ni (%)
0.27
0.59
(20.6C)
New ALWR
103F
0.04
0.88
(75C)
BWR
vertical
weld
1.3 x 1018
BWR Plant B
48F
0.22
1.00
(44.4C)
New ALWR
103F
0.04
0.88
(75C)
PWR
horizontal
weld
8.35 x 1018
PWR Plant A
5F
0.27
0.59
(20.6C)
New ALWR
80F
0.02
0.03
0.34
0.68
(62C)
PWR
horizontal
weld
9.19 x 1018
PWR Plant B
5F
(20.6C)
New ALWR
80F
0.02
0.03
(62C)
PWR
vertical
weld
3.5 x 1019
PWR Plant C
50F
0.22
0.83
(45.6C)
New ALWR
8F
0.02
0.03
(62C)
RTNDT
Adjusted RT
59.7F
123.5F
(33.2C)
(50.8C)
11.9F
79.2F
(6.7C)
(61.8C)
122.6F
130.6F
(68.1C)
(54.8C)
24.8F
53.3F
(13.8C)
(47.4C)
173.3F
236.8F
(96.3C)
(113.8C)
20.5F
39.1F
(11.4C)
(39.5C)
215.4F
276.9F
(119.7C)
(136.1C)
21.6F
36.9F
(12.0C)
(38.3C)
224.8F
230.8F
(124.9C)
(110.4C)
29.7F
20.6F
(16.5C)
(29.2C)
Notes: ALWR = advanced light water reactor, BWR = boiling water reactor, PWR = pressurized water reactor, RT =
reference temperature, NDT = nil ductility transition, Cu = copper, Ni = nickel.
fluence levels, as well as worst-case scenarios

regarding filler metal quality, with the initial
RTNDT being set at the maximum allowable
according to plant designers.
While RTNDT values are projected to be
significant over long-term operation with these
assumptions, ARTs remain very manageable
based in part on design features: The AP1000,
APWR, and APR1400 shells feature a ring
forging that spans the height of the beltline
region, positioning seam welds in locations
facing limited radiation fluence. The EPR em-
ploys two beltline shell forgings, but a stainless steel heavy reflector mounted inside the
core barrel shields the circumferential weld
between them. A similar reflector design is
employed by the APWR, and neutron shields
are included in the AP1000 design.
Although not illustrated in Table 2, for the
advanced BWR designs (General Electric/
Hitachis ABWR and ESBWR, and Toshibas
ABWR), the combination of modern filler
metals and design features also will result in
acceptable ARTs for RPV shell seam welds.
Table 2. Projected worst-case shifts in RTNDT for advanced PWR designs. Source: EPRI
Advanced
PWR design
AP1000
EPR
APWR
APR1400
Weld fluence - 1/4T

(n/cm2 E > 1 MeV)
Initial RTNDT
(maximum)
RTNDT +
margin
Adjusted RT
54
Not Available
20F
118F
98F
(29C)
(65.6C)
(36.7C)
60
7.2x1018
Effective fullpower years
60
54
4.6x1018
5.0x1019
4F
130.5F
126.5F
(20C)
(72.5C)
(52.5C)
20F
149.8F
129.8F
(29C)
(83.2C)
(54.3C)
10F
151F
141F
(23C)
(83.9C)
(60.6C)
Powder Metallurgy Fabrication

As noted earlier, ALWR and advanced BWR
and PWR designs employ large, forged rings
that eliminate the use of vertical seam welds.
Modular ring construction offers the potential for cost savings and reduced in-service
inspection.
However, given the diameter (up to 7
meters for an advanced BWR), height, and
wall thickness of these ring forgings, global
manufacturing capacity is extremely limited.
Requirements include melting capacity sufficient to produce high-quality low-alloy steel
in an ingot near 600 metric tons (mt) and a
forge press of appropriate configuration rated
at a minimum of 10,000 mt. In addition, special tooling and techniques are necessary for
the larger ring forgings to continue forging
the cylinder outside the legs of the press. Production costs are high, and orders commonly
must be made several years ahead of time due
to long backlogs. At present, no U.S. forging
operation is capable of producing RPV ring
sections sized for ALWRs.
Emerging powder metallurgy (PM) methods represent a potentially viable alternative to
conventional forging processes for the U.S. and
international manufacturing and fabrication of
RPV shells. Modern PM, initially developed
for aerospace applications, involves the introduction of powder-form materials to a can
shaped to the desired components form, followed by powder consolidation and hot isostatic processing (HIP) within the capsule created
by the can. The method allows near-net-shape
manufacturing of complex components based
on precise material specifications with reduced
lead times and life-cycle costs.
Since 2009, EPRI has been collaborating
with manufacturers to develop PM/HIP methods for scale-up production of pressure-retaining components sized for power industry
applications. Valves produced in near-netshape form have demonstrated required
microstructural and mechanical properties,
superior inspectability, improved weldability,
1. The valve shown here was

manufactured using powder metallurgy methods. The body was fabricated to assess microstructural and mechanical
properties, and inspectability. Courtesy: EPRI
Notes: 1/4T = 25% of the wall thickness, n = neutrons, E = energy, MeV = mega-electronvolt, RT = reference
temperature, NDT = nil ductility transition.
52
www.powermag.com
POWER August 2014
NUCLEAR
2. Fabricating with powder metallurgy and hot isostatic processing (PM/HIP). An SA-508 Class 1 Grade
3, 3,700 lb near-net shaped 16-inch diameter
boiling water reactor feedwater nozzle produced via PM/HIP. Courtesy: EPRI
fluence at the vessel wall similar to that in

advanced PWRs. Assuming the practicality of
locating a vertical seam weld in a flux valley,
its ART at 60 years operation is approximately
126F (52C), a manageable level.
The current state of the art in weld filler
metal manufacturing effectively resolves
concerns about irradiation-induced embrittlement of seam welds in RPV shells, including
in high-fluence beltline regions. This conclusion holds for advanced PWR and BWR
designs, for both horizontal and vertical
welds. In addition, PM-based manufacturing

innovations are expected to allow precisionengineered ring segments to be fabricated
from low-alloy steel powders, reducing the
barriers to entry facing U.S. manufacturers
and potentially reducing lead times and associated costs.
David Sandusky is a consulting engineering with more than 45 years of experience in

nuclear power plant materials applications
and David Gandy is a technical executive in
EPRIs Nuclear Materials area.
and the potential for reduced manufacturing

costs and lead times (Figure 1). Pressureretaining components fabricated from 316L
stainless steel powder are now accepted by
ASME for use in commercial nuclear power
plants (Code Case N-834). Ongoing PMbased research supported by the U.S. Department of Energy focuses on creating a U.S.
manufacturing capability for RPV internals
and shells designed for ALWRs and small
modular units. This in part includes extending ASME acceptance to other PM stainless
and low-alloy steels (Figure 2).
The size of components that could be
manufactured using PM/HIP is currently
limited by the size of available HIP furnaces.
The HIP unit must be constructed not just to
reach the necessary temperatures for the material involved, but also to contain the high
pressure at that temperature.
Constructing a PM/HIP facility capable of
producing advanced PWR shell rings appears
feasibleand offers long-term promise for
near-net-shape manufacturing of future small
modular reactors. PMs emergence could transform near-term RPV manufacturing and fabrication by leveraging the quality of modern weld
fillers to re-introduce the use of partial ring sections in the beltline region. The larger-diameter
RPVs of advanced BWRs indicate that PMbased components would be more economical
to produce in partial ring segments, probably
using HIP furnaces sized for PWR vessel shells.
The necessary vertical seam welds would then
be exposed to the full neutron fluence at the
midplane of the core, but this does not present
a significant embrittlement concern.
For ABWRs, the water gap required to accommodate internal pumps between the fuel
and the reactor vessel wall results in a low
EOL fluence. Vertical welds built using fillers
meeting tight copper and initial RTNDT specifications to join PM/HIP shell segments would
maintain a low ART. The ESBWR designs
larger core diameter results in peak neutron
August 2014 POWER
www.powermag.com
53
Solid Coal Ash-Handling System

Avoids Problems Associated with
Wet and Dry Systems
A coal ash-handling system that was first adopted in Eastern Europe could offer
plants in the U.S. and elsewhere a way to comply with multiple new environmental regulations.
Lili Kranitz
nvironmental and climate protection

does not stop at the stack of a power
plant. Disposal of separated combustion residuals, for example, must also be environmentally friendly. More and more nations
are enforcing increasingly strict regulations
for ash disposal to ensure unpolluted groundwater and air. For example, the anticipated
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
regulation for coal combustion residuals (see
sidebar), applies to operators and owners of
plants in the U.S.
Given the number and variety of environmental regulations that require retrofits for
compliance, adopted technologies must be
economic as well as environmentally effective. Although no single system is likely to
be the best choice for every situation, when
a technology can address multiple environmental concerns, it is worth considering.
This article looks at how the Circumix
Dense Slurry System (DSS) from GEA
Heat Exchangers offers a cost-effective and
environmentally friendly technology for the
management and disposal of power plant
coal ash. These systems are well known in
Eastern Europe and function successfully
in North America and on other continents.
Existing ash-handling systems can be economically retrofitted with this technology,
and new power plants also can benefit from
the system.
How the DSS Works

The Circumix DSS is a viable option for
both new and existing disposal facilities. It
processes combustion residuals from an extensive spectrum of coal qualities and from
a wide variety of combustion systems. DSS
can process various residualsincluding bed
ash, coarse ash, and fly ashby mixing them
with water to produce homogeneous slurry.
This water can also originate as wastewater
from the power plant. Other power plant byproducts, such as gypsum from the flue gas
54
desulfurization (FGD) process, can be added

to the slurry.
The core technology component is the Circumix mixer (Figure 1), which implements a
hydrodynamic mixing principle. The mixer
does not use mechanical agitation, such as
paddles or stirrers, but uses the impulse of
the flowing matter to transfer the mechanical
energy needed for mixing. Pumps circulate
the slurry with the proper velocity, and mixing is done in the pumps themselves and in
the turbulently circulating fluid.
The solid-to-water ratio in a lean slurry
system is typically 1:1020, whereas in dense
slurry it is approximately 1:1. Hydrodynamic
mixing produces a very homogenous mixture
that maximizes the availability of reactive
ions in ash products and results in near-stoichiometric use of the water contained in the
slurry. This requires careful preliminary testing, as all ashes differ in chemical composition. Test results allow us to calculate the
optimum setting.
Because the system features no mechanical agitation, power demand for the mixing
process is low, and maintenance of the mixer
is simple.
The number of mixers needed primarily
depends on the number of units and plant
availability requirements. Because the ash
system is an auxiliary system, a failure of
the mixers or any other ash-handling components would cause a trip of the power plant
or one of its units, which could not be tolerated. Consequently, a high degree of reliability/availability usually is required. The
standard solution is to provide a dedicated
mixer to each unit and install an extra mixer
for each two units as a common backup. It is
not uncommon to provide 100% backup for
each unit.
Safe operation is further increased by installing redundant capacities for the transport systems (backup transport pump trains
and extra transport pipelines). Normally,
www.powermag.com
the option of switching between mixers

and pump trains and pipelines is provided
so that each component can work with any
other components.
A further consideration in defining the
number of mixers and capacity of the transport system is a plants load pattern. Baseload plants are simpler, but a load-following
plant may find it necessary to install a smaller-capacity system and a larger-capacity one.
That is especially true for the transport pipelines, where the velocity of the flow must be
kept within a relatively narrow range. Mixers
typically can be controlled in a 30% to 110%
range.
The solids-to-liquid ratio is determined by
1. Hydrodynamic mixing. The core

component of the Circumix Dense Slurry System is the mixer tank. It is employed to mix
roughly 0.9 to 1.1 part of water with 1 part of
ash (depending on the properties of the combustion residuals). Courtesy: GEA EGI
POWER August 2014
Addressing Multiple New EPA Rules

The proposed U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Coal
Combustion Residuals (CCR) regulation targets the location, design, management, and closure of coal ash impoundments, with
an emphasis on controlling fugitive dust and protecting groundwater. (See Be Prepared for Coal Ash Regulations in the March
issue of POWER, available at powermag.com.) The proposed Effluent Limitation Guidelines (ELG) set numerical standards for
wastewater discharges from power plants and prohibit discharge
of coal ash transport water.
Coal-fired plants are affected by these two rules more than any
other type of power plant. The 80 or so U.S. coal plants that currently operate traditional wet slurry ash management systems and
that are not likely to be shut down will be required to change to
alternative ash management systems to comply with the new rules.
For most options presented in the ELG, dry handling is required for fly ash. All this really means is that transport water cannot be discharged. While dry handling conforms to the proposed
rule, it tends to be expensive. In addition, water is likely to seep
through dry-ash impoundments quite readily, which results in high
leachate volume and increased risks to groundwater.
the physical and chemical properties of the
solid particles and is automatically controlled
to maintain optimum viscosity and low-energy transport. Defining this optimum ratio is
the key to producing a mixture that contains
just enough water for the chemical processes
and mineral transformations. The process
starts as a wet system (though with much less
water than conventional slurry systems) but
ends as a dry system, with the additional benefit of the favorable properties of the cured
end-product: low hydraulic conductivity and
nondusting nature.
The dense slurry is transported to the disposal facility via pipelines with relatively
small diameters, in which erosion is minimized due to particles kept in suspension in
the viscous slurry.
The landfill is divided into cellsat least
three, but optimally four. Discharge is always
to one cell at a time. When one cell is filled
up, the discharge stops and starts at another
cell while earthworks and elevation work is
carried out at the cell that is full.
These cells are large areas with several
discharge points, some 70 to 75 meters from
each other, that are alternated on a roughly
weekly basis. Shifting the discharge points
also ensures that the impoundment is filled
evenly. When discharged, the fresh slurry
spreads in a thin layer over the solid deposit,
which does not subject the dikes to hydraulic
stress (Figure 2).
After disposal, the slurry solidifies
typically within 24 to 72 hoursand cures
to form a solid, compact matrix in about 60
to 90 days. The solidification process is not
August 2014 POWER
As explained in this article, the Circumix Dense Slurry System

(DSS) produces a dense and solid product and requires little to
no discharge of transport water. The volumes of both leachates
and excess water (if any) are orders of magnitude less than in
existing wet ash disposal (lean slurry) applications, and properly
engineered landfills are capable of collecting/capturing them all
(in trenches around the landfill area) so that these leachates are
all returned in a closed system to the power plant, where they can
be reused. The process also inhibits water infiltration, eliminates
the potential for future spills due to liquefaction, and exhibits
superior leach performance.
The EPA defines best available technology (BAT) as proven technology that is characterized by low complexity, low life-cycle cost,
the ability to utilize existing infrastructure, energy efficiency, and
conformity with effluent standards. Circumix meets these BAT
standards and is an economic ash management alternative that is
protective of the environment. For these reasons, NAES Corp. and
GEA EGI entered into an agreement that names NAES as the exclusive source of Circumix technology in North America. NAES is initiating testing programs at multiple plants throughout the U.S.
disturbed by fresh slurry being discharged

over the previous layer. In fact, the little
excess water that may seep down from the
fresh layer to the previous one may well
feed the long-term (60- to 90-day or more)
mineral transformations. The hardened
slurry also significantly reduces the risk of
releasing fugitive dust, compared with dryhandling systems.
There is very little free water, as most of
the process water is either consumed in the
hydration process or physically entrapped in
the cured product. The little excess quickly
evaporates. Because the hydraulic conductivity of the solidified slurry is low (measured values are 1 10-4 to 1 10-10 cm/
sec), the risk of groundwater pollution is
very slight.
Heavy metal dissolution is minimized
owing to the enhanced metal sequestration
properties of the material. Pollutants (metals)
are not chemically bound in the end product;
rather, the solid matrix structure retains the
pollutants and prevents them from being dissolved by not allowing water (such as rainwater) to penetrate the deposited material.
2. Slurry layers. After disposal, the slurry spreads in a thin layer and hardens within 24 to
72 hours. Courtesy: GEA EGI
www.powermag.com
55

3. Hungarian early adopter. At Mtra Power Plant the Circumix dense slurry system
has been in operation since 1998. After disposal of more than 22 million tons of fly ash, bottom
ash, and gypsum, the operator invested in a second disposal area, sufficient for use until 2025.
Courtesy: GEA EGI
Preparing a New Landfill Area

According to standard practice that complies
with regulations in the European Union, natural geological isolation such as a clay layer is
required under the disposal site. If such a geological structure is not available, an artificial
substitute layer with similar mineral structure
and leach performance must be installed.
In addition to this mineral layer, further artificial isolation is required, such as
a geomembrane or HDPE sheet with lower
hydraulic conductivity than the natural layer.
This geomembrane is covered by a drainage
system consisting of a gravel layer and perforated drain pipes. The gravel bed is protected
by a geotextile cover that filters out fine particles to prevent the gravel from clogging.
The end product of the DSS system is very
suitable for constructing such state-of-theart landfills at reduced cost. Dikes enclosing
the disposal area can be constructed from the
cured disposed material itself, and because
the material allows the construction of high,
multi-tier landfills, the overall area required
can be smaller.
of wastewater that must be treated and discharged and large pumping power demand.
Traditional slurry also poses risks to the
environment if accidentally released, as has
been seen most recently in the U.S. with the
2008 Kingston ash spill and this years Dan
River ash release. Due to the very lean conventional mixture, no mineral transformation
occurs. The end product is therefore a loose,
sand-like material that easily carries with the
wind and is easily penetrated by rainwater,
which can dissolve various pollutants.
The GEA Circumix DSS typically uses 1
part of water to 1 part of ash. Most of the

water is either consumed in the stabilization
process or retained in the porous solidifying
material. The capillary forces and low hydraulic conductivity of the cured slurry product significantly reduce leachate quantities,
and the sequestration of metals reduces their
concentration in the leachate.
DSS also offers several advantages in
comparison to dry ash-handling systems. Dry
ash handling is not in fact dry; such systems
mix approximately 10% to 15% water in the
ash to achieve a nondusting, transportable
material. Sprinkler systems or other wetting
methods are also often installed and used at
disposal sites for dust suppression. This requires significant amounts of water but does
not contribute to slurry stabilization.
Leachate water, if any, can be reused for
the GEA DSS. High levels of operational
safety mean no risk of spills, no dust hazard
or groundwater pollution, no use of heavy
machinery, easy landfill management, and
low wear and tear on mixing equipment.
Cost Effectiveness
Due to the speed-controlled pumps employed
for hydrodynamic mixing and transport in the
system, the DSS operates efficiently under
both part-load and full-load conditions of the
power plant. Transport of ash to the landfill
via pipelines is energy efficient, more environmentally safe, and less expensive than via
conveyor belts or transport by trucks.
Operation of the DSS is fully automatic
and can be supervised from a central control
station. This means that fewer staff are required than for typical ash-handling systems.
4. Tiered disposal. At the Mtra Power Plant landfill area, because DSS ash disposal is
not endangering surface water or groundwater, cultivated farmland and vineyards are in immediate proximity to the landfill. The ash disposal facility is now approximately 35 to 40 meters high
and contains almost 18 million cubic meters of solidified ash stone. Courtesy: GEA EGI
Comparison of Ash Disposal

Systems
Traditional coal ash disposal systems are
being phased out soon, owing primarily to
disadvantages that include environmental
hazards such as pollution of ground and surface waters, as well as fugitive dust commonly attributed to lean slurry ash handling.
Another major drawback is their unfavorable economy of operation. Lean slurry
contains roughly 10 to 20 parts of water to
1 part of ash. The result is large quantities
56
www.powermag.com
POWER August 2014

In addition, support services such as spreading/compaction by heavy equipment, lighting, manned security, and operators are not
required at the disposal site.
A further benefit arises from the use of
wastewatertypically plant wastewater such
as blowdown of wet cooling towers or FGD
wastewaterwhich can reduce costs for disposal or treatment of such water. Freshwater
is not necessarily required.
Because the GEA DSS enables disposal
facilities with relatively steep perimeter
walls, the total space required for disposal
can be reduced.
The DSS also can provide solutions for old
lean-slurry ash pond closure requirements. The
favorable properties of the solid final product
(including compressional strength measured
from approximately 13,000 to 166,000 lb/ft2)
enable it to act as a capping layer for a drained
lean slurry pond. Final closure of a disposal
facility in this way can significantly reduce
costs and long-term environmental risks.
ids. The solids-to-water mixing ratio is roughly 1:1, the density of the slurry is kept at 1.35 t/
m. The transport flow rate is 240 m/h, which
is managed with two centrifugal-type slurry
pumps per transport line, connected in series.
During its roughly 16 years of operation,
the Mtra Circumix system has safely disposed of more than 33 million m3 of dense
slurry. Over that time, a 1-square-kilometer
area was filled, layer by layer, reaching a final
height of 35 to 40 meters. The impoundment
consists of 15 tiers with an average height of
roughly 3 meters each.

The new operational landfill area is 60
acres in size. It complies with all European
landfilling standards pertaining to bottom
isolation, draining, and leachate collection,
as described above. This more recent disposal area is designed to be sufficient until
expected final closure of the power station,
which is scheduled for 2025 (Figure 4).
Lili Kranitz, MSc. (lili.kranitz@gea.com)

is an environmental economist at GEA EGI
Contracting/Engineering Co. Ltd.
Plant Experience
Power plant operators in several countries
including Hungary, Romania, India, and the
U.S.have chosen the Circumix DSS. By
2012, plants in these countries used the system to dispose of approximately 50 million
cubic meters (m3) of dense slurry. Some reference projects in Hungary have employed
the Circumix DSS since the 1990s. The most
important benchmark reference there is the
Mtra Power Plant.
The five-unit, 884-MWe (gross) Mtra
Power Plants coal units are primarily lignitefired (Figure 3). The complex, located in Hungary, uses approximately 8 million tons of
lignite per year, with a heating value of 7,000
kJ/kg on average. The plant operates a wet
FGD system that produces gypsum and FGD
water. The plant is subject to the following European Union requirements:
Council Directive 1999/31/EC (European

Commission) on the landfill of waste.
Directive 2006/118/EC on protection of
groundwater against pollution and deterioration.
Commission Decision 2000/532/EC replacing Decision 94/3/EC, establishing a
list of wastes.
The Circumix system has operated at this

plant without difficulty since 1998, with two
mixers in operation and two on standby. The
residuals to be disposed of consist of fly ash,
bottom ash, andafter a major upgrade in
2000FGD gypsum.
The mixers receive 160 tons of dry solids
hourly. Unlike some other systems, there is no
concern regarding the temperature of the sol-
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EMISSIONS
Treating WTE Plant Flue Gases

with Sodium Bicarbonate
An economic evaluation plus real-world analysis of plants that converted from
lime-based flue gas treatment to sodium bicarbonate treatment found that
although lime systems are more familiar, sodium bicarbonate systems can be
more economic for some waste-to-energy (WTE) plants when all costs and
operating scenarios are considered.
Dr. Peter Quicker, Martin Rotheut, Yves Noel, Marc Schulten, and Uwe Athmann
odium bicarbonate is an adsorbent that

has been used for a relatively short
time in industrial flue gas treatment
(FGT) processes. This additive is especially
interesting for operators of smaller waste-toenergy (WTE) facilities.
In order to compare the use of sodium bicarbonate and lime hydrate, which is usually
applied in (conditioned) dry flue gas cleaning systems, a dual approach was used. The
experience and data from practical operation
of plants that had, after retrofitting, experiences with both additives was one component. The other involved feeding data from
the literature on the issue into an economic
model that is able to consider a variety of different boundary conditions. With this dual
approach, two scenarios were calculated and
the influence of the different framework conditions on the results was evaluated using a
sensitivity analysis.
Background and Motivation

The most common systems for removing
acidic reacting components from flue gases
of power plantsparticularly sulfur oxides,
hydrogen fluoride, and chlorideare alkaline
scrubbers, often operated with lime components as neutralizing agent. Dry and semi-dry
techniques on the basis of limepredominantly Ca(OH)2are also established, especially for smaller installations. But big power
plants such as the 1,100-MW coal-fired Dry
Fork power plant in Gillette, Wyoming, also
are operated with dry lime-based methods.
A relatively new approach is the use of sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3), also known as
baking soda, as alkaline reagent for dry FGT.
Although the price for sodium bicarbonate
is significantly higher than for lime hydrate,
this reactant has some advantages that make
it interesting for use in flue gas cleaning. This
is especially true for WTE plants incinerating
municipal solid waste, waste wood, refusederived fuel, or sewage sludge, because of
their normally limited size.
August 2014 POWER
In Europe, especially in Germany, several

operators of WTE plants decided in recent years
to replace their existing flue gas cleaning system
with a dry process based on the use of sodium bicarbonate. This stimulated a controversial debate
about which process or additive is better, particularly more economical. In order to answer this
question, a variety of comparative studies were
designed. The comparison was usually carried
out by doing exemplary model calculations
based on typical operating parameters.
No practical experience from plant operation has been taken into account in any of the
studies so far. For example, differences in
operational management, unit availability,
and personnel and maintenance efforts have
not been considered. The study described
here was intended to make a first contribution to addressing this deficit.
stream. There the thermal decomposition,

also called activation, takes place:
2 NaHCO3 Na2CO3 + CO2 + H2O
This reaction can be observed, to a smaller
extent, beginning with temperatures of around
60C. A highly porous structure, which provides
a large surface area and thus ensures a high level
of activity for further reactions of the produced
Na2CO3 arises through the degassing of CO2
and water. Figure 1 shows scanning electron
microscope recordings of surfaces of bicarbonate particles before activation, and Na2CO3,
which occurred during activation.
Even if a certain proportion of the acidic components directly react with the bicarbonate, about
85% of the adsorbent is decomposed. Therefore
the actual reaction partner is soda-ash:
Chemical Reactions and Process

Conditions
Na2CO3 + 2 HCl 2 NaCl + CO2 + H2O
The use of sodium bicarbonate as an adsorbent

for acid gasesinstead of limedoes not require any conditioning of the flue gas, such as
increasing the relative humidity in the exhaust
gas. The deposition occurs as a gas-solid reaction, usually at temperatures of 180C to 200C
and residence times of less than 2 seconds.
The sodium bicarbonate is first ground to
increase its active surface area and injected
directly after the mill into the hot exhaust
Na2CO3 + 2 HF 2 NaF + CO2 + H2O

The reaction pathways for the reduction
of sulfur oxides are more complex and are
visualized in Figure 2.
The reaction of Na2CO3 with SO2 is highly
temperature-dependent and can be described
using the Arrhenius equation. Therefore, the
reaction rate can be almost tripled by increasing the temperature from 160C to 220C.
1. Before and after. Scanning electron microscope pictures of a NaHCO3 particle before
(left) and a Na2CO3 particle after (right) thermal activation. Courtesy: Solvay
www.powermag.com
59
EMISSIONS
2. Reaction pathways of sulfur oxides with sodium bicarbonate for
flue gas cleaning. The byproducts CO2
and H2O are indicated only for the thermal activation reaction. Source: Dr. Peter Quicker et al.
with a DeNOx catalyst, the differences are

said to be marginal, as the use of sodium
bicarbonate allows an almost isothermal
operation of the flue gas tract, and no energy costs arise from the reheating of flue
gas before the catalyst.
Real-World Study Approach
However, this behavior at temperatures above

400C is limited by sintering processes within
the grain (the surface structure of the particles). This sintering affects both the sodium
carbonate and its reaction products.
The reaction is limited with larger particle
diameters, above 30 m, by pore diffusion.
Performance of Bicarbonate
Compared to Lime
As noted above, most of the studies comparing lime and bicarbonate are model calculations based on assumptions. Operating
costsconsisting of additives, residue management, energy (electricity, gas, steam, compressed air) and investment costsare taken
into account. Proceeds from the commercial
provision of heat were also considered.
The results of such studies differ, according
to selected approach and boundary conditions.
Nevertheless, there are some common trends:
Lime hydrate is often described as the

more economical alternative.
Considering energy efficiency, effort of
retrofitting, operation and handling, and
residue management, sodium bicarbonate
shows advantages.
According to the literature, the economic advantage of lime hydrate for plants
equipped with selective noncatalytic reduction (SNCR) technology is greater.
For waste incineration plants equipped
Our investigation involved the examination

of plants that had, after retrofitting, experiences with both sodium bicarbonate and
lime hydrate systems. The operators were
several times thoroughly interviewed about
their opinions, and all relevant operational
data (such as additive and energy consumption, emission values, downtimes, and maintenance effort) was, if available, obtained in
detail and analyzed.
On the basis of this practically validated
data, an economic analysis and comparison
of the two processes and adsorbents was carried out, completed by a sensitivity analysis
for all relevant parameters.
With WTE plants (at least in Germany),
it is common to refer the consumptions of
waste when describing capacity, because
energy delivery is influenced by many (not
only technical) factors. Waste incinerated
in both plants is predominantly household
waste, with significant amounts of commercial waste. The capacity of Plant SD is about
110,000 tons/year; Plant WSs capacity is
about 370,000 tons/year. Plant SD delivers
about 50,000 MWh of electricity and 40,000

MWh of district heating each year to third
parties.
Plant WS has an electric output of 35 MW.
A figure for heat is not available because the
produced steam is delivered to a nearby coal
power plant that produces electricity with
its turbines and uses a varying share of the
steam for district heating, which is not separately accounted for.
Participating Plants
One of the plants participating in the study
was equipped with a wet scrubbing system
before reconstruction to the sodium bicarbonate process (Plant WS); the other one
(Plant SD) had a semi-dry flue gas cleaning
process (Figure 3).
Figures 4 and 5 give an impression of the
plants layout before and after reconstruction.
Plant SD was one of the first German
waste incineration plants to use sodium bicarbonate for FGT. It was retrofitted in 2005
from a two-step conditioned semi-dry flue
gas treatment with a spray absorber and additional dry lime hydrate injection to operation with sodium bicarbonate. The technical
components largely continued to be used.
The three lines at Plant WS were retrofitted in
2010/2011 to operation with sodium bicarbonate. Before retrofitting, the plant was operated
with a classic two-step washer system with an
upstream spray dryer to evaporate the wastewa-
4. Process schemes for Plant SD. These diagrams show the plant before (top) and
after reconstruction (bottom) to dry flue gas cleaning with sodium bicarbonate. Source: Dr. Peter
Quicker et al.
3. Participating plants. Plant WS is on

the top; on the bottom is Plant SD. Courtesy:
Plants WS and SD
Note: AC = activated carbon.
60
www.powermag.com
POWER August 2014
EMISSIONS
5. Process schemes for Plant WS. The top diagram is the before and the bottom
shows the configuration after reconstruction to dry flue gas cleaning with sodium bicarbonate.
Source: Dr. Peter Quicker et al.
Note: HFC = hearth furnace coke.
ter and a fabric filter to separate the evaporation

products and other particles in the flue gas.
At both plants, operators were very satisfied with the retrofitting process. The estimated time schedule could be met in both
cases. There were no significant problems
with legal or technical issues, and initial operation did not cause any difficulties.
Plant Operation
According to the staff questioned, operation of
the plants with sodium bicarbonate is considered
to be positive in almost every aspect and an improvement compared to the system used before.
The financial expectations could be met, in some
cases even exceeded, mainly due to drastically
reduced natural gas demand for reheating of the
flue gas upstream of the catalyst.
Furthermore, significant savings could
be achieved due to less maintenance and repair costs. An increase in availability and a
reduction in personnel expenditure could be
noted. Staff emphasized that the accident risk
with handling sodium bicarbonate is minimal
compared to highly caustic lime components.
Due to these advantages, acceptance by personnel is said to be very high.
The weaker buffer effect of sodium bicarbonate is considered disadvantageous. This
applies both in comparison with the washer operation as well as with conditioned dry flue gas
treatment via lime hydrate. Nevertheless, emission peaks are handled without any problem.
August 2014 POWER
Table 1 shows important operational parameters of both plants.
in the case of lime hydrate, intermediate products (Ca(OH)Cl) are formed and side reactions
(to CaCO3) take place, more of the reagent is
needed in practical operation than in theory.
The stoichiometric factor of lime hydrate
in dry applications is constantly above 1.6
and in the case of spray adsorption methods
with lime milk is more than 2.3. Stoichiometric factors of 3 and even considerably higher
may also occur. In Plant SD, stoichiometric
factors between 2.0 and 2.2 were run at twostep (modified) conditioned dry sorption. At
peaks, values up to 4 were reached.
Washers show stoichiometry between 1.0
and 1.1 as the additive is used for the pH value adjustment of the washing fluid and not
directly as a reaction partner. For Plant WS,
insufficient data were available to calculate
the stoichiometric factors before retrofitting.
In the case of sodium bicarbonate, the
stoichiometric factors are considerably lower
than for lime hydrate. Published values are
usually between 1.1 and 1.3. Only in exceptional cases are values higher than 1.4 given.
The stoichiometric factors, determined as
part of the study, for the use of bicarbonate
of all investigated samples were: Plant SD
1.17 and Plant WS1.26.
Considering the sodium contents already
present in the flue gas, which could be quantified by the analysis of boiler ashes, considerably lower stoichiometric factors result, which,
in the case of Plant SD, are even below 1.
Additive Consumption
Due to the chemical valence of calcium (II),
only half of the amount of calcium-based reagents is needed compared to adsorbents on
a sodium basis (valence I) to bind the same
amount of pollutant molecules in the flue gas, if
complete sorbent utilization is assumed. As the
sorption agent does not react completely and,
Residues
Compared to the use of lime hydrate, the use
of sodium bicarbonate leads to less residue,
despite the fact that stoichiometrically a
higher additive amount is needed. The reason
is the separation of CO2 and water vapor during the activation reaction and the reaction
Table 1. Important operational parameters for both plants. Source: Dr. Peter
Quicker, et al.
Plant WS
Unit
Before
retrofitting
Plant SD
After
retrofitting
Before
retrofitting
After
retrofitting
Reference period
years
Pressure drop FGTtotal
mbar
120-130
88
98
87
Electricity demand FGTtotal
MWh/y
29,250
14,850
11,271
10,949
Consumption bicarbonate
kg/twaste
8.2
11.2
Consumption Ca(OH)2
kg/twaste
7.2
8.9
Consumption CaO
kg/twaste
9.9
Stoichiometric factor
unknown
1.1-1.3
2.0-2.2 (4)
0.9-1.2
Consumption HFC/AC
kg/twaste
0.17
0.45
0.32
0.32
Consumption NH4OH
l/twaste
0.36
0.39
2.5
2,0
Consumption natural gas
m/twaste
11.01
1.44
10.2
Amount FGT residue
kg/twaste
28.4
34.6
41.8
28.4
Amount gypsum
kg/twaste
2.4
www.powermag.com
61
EMISSIONS
6. Emissions before and after retrofitting. This chart shows annual emission values as a percentage of the legal limit. Source: Dr. Peter Quicker et al.
Plant SD before retrofitting

Plant SD after retrofitting
Plant SD after retrofitting Plant WS before retrofitting
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
down to 3 m3/t waste in the last years could

be achieved.
By retrofitting Plant WS, electricity consumption for flue gas cleaning and ventilation could be reduced from 29.2 GWh/year
to 14.8 GWh/year. This is due to the reduction of pressure drop in the flue gas duct from
120130 mbar to 90 mbar by removal of the
scrubbers. The electricity demand for Plant
SD did not change after retrofitting.
Emissions
HCI
SO2
NOx
CO
SumC
Dust
Hg
HF
Sum HM PCDD/F
Notes: Sum C = sum of all organic carbon, Hg = mercury, Hf = hydrogen flouride, Sum HM = sum of heavy metals,
PCDD/F = sum of toxicity equivalents of dioxin and furans.
with acidic gas components and the lower

stoichiometric factors.
Data from Plant SD support this statement:
Through retrofitting, the amount of residue
was reduced from 42 kilograms/ton (kg/t) to
28 kg/t incinerated waste.
As a result of the low stoichiometric factors, the wet washing method results in the
least residue. The amount of residue in Plant
WS increased from about 28 kg/t waste up to
35 kg/t waste after reconstruction.
Energy and Efficiency

Energy efficiency in both plants was considerably improved through retrofitting. Crucial
for this was a big reduction in natural gas
consumption, which could be achieved because reheating of the flue gas up to catalyst
operation temperature is no longer necessary.
For Plant WS, referring to the average of the
three years before retrofitting, a reduction in
gas demand of 87% could be observed. In
Plant SD, a reduction of about two-thirds,
The statutory emission limits were safely

met by all considered methods, both before
and after retrofitting. The effects on stack gas
emission values resulting from the retrofitting
can be described as moderate (Figure 6).
As to be expected, the efficiency of the HCl
separation in Plant WS after retrofitting from
the washer system to dry flue gas treatment
was reduced by more than the power of 10.
The increase in clean gas emissions for the
parameter hydrogen fluoride (HF), which is
a result of less affinity of sodium bicarbonate
towards hydrogen fluorite, is also known.
Economic Comparison
An economic comparison of the dry sodium
bicarbonate and the conditioned dry lime
hydrate processes was carried out. Scrubber
2014
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62
www.powermag.com
POWER August 2014
EMISSIONS
systems were not included, because they are
currently not relevant for the German market.
In order to grasp the importance of different framework conditions regarding the economic efficiency of the methods, a calculation
algorithm was developed that is able to include
(besides the usual parameters of economic calculationsinvestment, additive, disposal, and
energy costs) additional parameters identified
as relevant after discussions with the operators.
There is, for example, the option to specify
higher availabilities due to longer maintenance
intervals or less-frequent downtimes, to integrate additional revenues through seepage water treatment, or to investigate different settings
for optimized heat management.
Two operation points have been considered as basic scenarios, where the additional
options previously discussed have initially
not been taken into account. One is a very
conservative approach. To achieve better
comparability, this approach is geared to the
assumptions and framework conditions of
a study on the economic comparison of dry
sorption carried out for the German Lime
Association. The second is an approach described as practical, for which a higher
stoichiometric factor for the use of lime and
an alternative residue composition (ratio
Ca(OH)Cl : CaCl2) has been considered.
Assumptions for economic calculations
are summarized in Table 2, available in the
online version of this article.
Results of the calculation, differentiated
by the two scenarios (conservative and practical) and by the kind of the NOx reduction
process, are listed in Table 3.
It has been shown that the conservative basic
scenario with selective catalytic reduction (SCR)
technology leads to the same overall result for
both additives. The higher price of bicarbonate is

compensated for by the energy demand required
for reheating the flue gases, which is necessary
when using lime hydrate. If a natural gas duct
burner would be used instead of a vapor gas
preheater for heating the flue gas, an annual cost
disadvantage of approximately 750,000 would
be noted when using lime hydrate. If the scenario
described as practical is considered, a significant
cost advantage of 13.8% for the operation with
bicarbonate is achieved.
For SNCR technology, flue gas reheating before the catalyst does not occur, and
the main disadvantage regarding energy efficiency of the method using lime hydrate is
not relevant. In this case, the conditioned dry
sorption with lime hydrate is therefore superior to the method using bicarbonate. Calculations for the conservative scenario lead to
a cost advantage of about 413,400/year, or
14%. Considering the practical scenario, the
costs for both methods, using bicarbonate or
lime hydrate, are about the same.
Both the conservative and practical
scenarios were used as reference points for the
sensitivity analysis of different framework conditions. Using this analysis, parameters relevant
for the economic efficiency can be identified as
well as those that are of less importance.
It has been shown that investment costs
have the lowest effect on the difference between the relative costs of both treatment
options. The following parameters basically
have a positive influence on the economic
efficiency of the bicarbonate method, compared to the lime hydrate process:
Low pollutant concentration in the exhaust gas

Dropping additive costs
Table 3. Results of the economic comparison of lime and bicarbonate.

Source: Dr. Peter Quicker et al.
Conservative scenario
SCR
Bicarbonate
SNCR
Lime
Bicarbonate
3,249,600 /y
3,110,400 /y
3,300,800 /y
2,735,400 /y
Total revenues
335,000 /y
193,000 /y
345,000 /y
193,000 /y
Overall
2,914,600 /y
2,917,400 /y
2,955,800 /y
2,542,400 /y
-2,800 /y
413,400 /y
-0.10%
13.99%
Difference (%)
Bicarbonate
SNCR
Lime
Bicarbonate
Lime
Total costs
3,154,600 /y
3,401,400 /y
3,205,800 /y
3,026,400 /y
Total revenues
335,000 /y
193,000 /y
345,000 /y
193,000 /y
Overall
2,819,600 /y
3,208,400 /y
2,860,800 /y
2,833,400 /y
Difference absolute
Difference (%)
August 2014 POWER
-388,800 /y
27,400 /y
-13.79%
0.96%
www.powermag.com
Increasing energy prices

Increasing disposal costs
Of course, an increase in availability also

has positive effects. Elimination of the gasfired reheating of exhaust gas upstream of the
catalyst has the strongest influence on economic efficiency. This is fully supported by
the experiences of the participating operators.
Positive Reception for Sodium

Bicarbonate
The operators and personnel of both plants
participating in the study consistently assess
the process of retrofitting and subsequent operation with sodium bicarbonate as very positive. Acceptance is high. Significant savings
through the elimination of maintenance and
repair costs as well as an increase in availability and a reduction in personnel hours could
be noted. Quantification of these effects is difficult because of the quality of available data,
so generalizations cannot be made.
In both cases, financial expectations of the
retrofits were fulfilled, and partly even exceeded, mainly because of drastically reduced
gas demand resulting from the elimination of
exhaust gas reheating before the catalyst.
The conducted conservative economic calculation results in comparable total costs for
FGT with lime hydrate and sodium bicarbonate, when the regarded plant is equipped with
a DeNOx catalyst. If SNCR technology is in
use, the option with lime hydrate has economic advantages for the conservative scenario.
Through the sensitivity analysis, parameters
were identified that have a significant influence on economic efficiency. For instance, the
increase in unit availability can contribute significantly to improved economic efficiency.
Altogether, the use of sodium bicarbonate
as an adsorbent for FGT is recommended especially at plants with the following conditions:
Practical scenario
SCR
Lime
Total costs
Difference absolute
SCR technology.
Rising energy costs.
Possibilities for commercial provision of
heat.
High disposal costs for residue from flue gas
cleaning (possible recycling interesting).
Low concentrations of acidic hazardous
gases (especially HCl).
The choice of suitable FGT methods for

new or retrofit plants also requires site-specific considerations.
Dr. Peter Quicker is a professor in the

Unit of Technology of Fuels RWTH Aachen
University, Aachen, Germany (info@
teer.rwth-aachen.de). Engineers Martin
Rotheut, Yves Noel, Marc Schulten, and
Uwe Athmann contributed to the research
and writing of this article.
63
POWER POLICY
Southeast Asias Energy Juggernaut

The 10 booming economies of Southeast Asia are rapidly emerging as energyconsuming giants. But as indigenous fuel production dwindles and competition for resources mounts, they all face a number of energy uncertainties.
Sonal Patel
Disparately Energy Poor

Economic growth over the medium term in
Southeast Asia, a region with a current population of about 600 million, is generally expected to average a robust 5.4% through at
least 2018, though experts note that gross
domestic product projections for individual
countries reflect their different stages of development and growth drivers. Indonesia, for
example, is projected to be the fastest-growing economy within the ASEAN-6, followed
by the Philippines; both countries are expected to see soaring growth in domestic demand
for energy and resources, strong infrastructure spending, and implementation of structural economic reforms. Among the CMLV
countries, Laos leads the pack at a booming
growth rate of 7.7% per year, though growth
in countries like Cambodia and Myanmar
isnt far behind.
Yet, experts note that of the 1.3 billion
people worldwide who still lacked access to
electricity at the end of 2013, 127.4 million
were in the ASEAN region. Most were in In64
donesia and the Philippines, which are populous and archipelagic countries where grid
connection has been challenging. But Cambodias electrification rate also stagnated at
31% in 2010, according to the International
Energy Agency (IEA), Myanmars at 49%,
and Laos at 63%. Only four countries in the
region (Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, and
Vietnam) have electrification rates greater
than 95%.
Beyond geographical challenges, the
disparity between economic growth and
electricity growth is explained by the availability of investment funding and energy resources, as well as the investment climate in
the electricity sector.
A Coal and Gas Future

However, that is slated to change, says the
IEA. The Paris-based autonomous organization in October 2013 projected that the expected near-tripling of the regions economy
and an estimated 25% increase in population over the next few decades through 2035
could send energy demand skyrocketing by
more than 80%an increase equivalent to
Japans current energy demand.
Whats more, coal and natural gas will
predominantly fuel Southeast Asias future.
In its central New Policies scenario, which
assumes countries will pursue national
pledges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

and phase out fossil fuel energy subsidies,
coal demandwhich has grown at doubledigit rates each year since 1990will triple,
accounting for about 30% of global growth.
Natural gas demand will surge by 80% to 250
billion cubic meters (bcm), the IEA says.
Those increases will be rooted in an immense jumpby more than the current
output of India, says the IEAin power
generation over the next two decades. Between 1990 and 2011, power demand already
surged five times to 712 TWh, even though
compared to developed countries on a percapita-basis, ASEAN demand remains relatively low. Basing its estimate on a scenario
that assumes highly probable deployment of
currently proposed energy policies and technologies, the Institute of Energy Economics,
Japan (IEEJ) projects electricity demand for
ASEAN will climb even more dramatically
over the next two decades, to 1,071 TWh in
2020 and 1,668 TWh in 2030.
Today, most of the regions power sector is
fueled by natural gas (44%) and coal (31%),
though diesel and heavy fuel oil dominate in
areas lacking grid access or transportation
and pipeline infrastructure (Figure 1). Renewables, too, have made their mark: About
10% of the regions power comes from hydro
and 3% from geothermal. The region is char-
1. ASEAN power capacity. Total power capacity for the 10 member countries of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is slated to soar from 176 GW in 2011 to about
460 GW in 2035. Coal will represent 40% of new additions, gas, 26%, and hydro, 15%, the
International Energy Agency projects. Courtesy: IEA
500
Other renewables
Bioenergy
400
Geothermal
Hydro
GW
onsensus is that the locus of world energy demand has shifted away from
the U.S. and Europe to Asia, driven
by the soaring economies of the 10 countries
that make up the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN), along with China
and India.
The so-called ASEAN-10 countries
comprising the ASEAN-6 (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore,
and Thailand) and the CLMV countries
(Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam)
are typically grouped with neighbors China
and India to constitute a region that is being
increasingly referred to as Emerging Asia.
And for good reason: With remarkable
progress over the past four decades in raising
income levels, reducing poverty, and developing manufacturing, some countries in the
region characterized by vast economic and
natural resource differences are poised to join
Japan, South Korea, and Singapore in income
and status over the next few decades if they
keep pace with changing economic needs.
300
Nuclear
Oil
200
Gas
Coal
100
2011
2020
www.powermag.com
2025
2030
2035
POWER August 2014
POWER POLICY
2. Championing coal. Alstom and consortium partner China National Machinery Import
and Export Corp. won a turnkey engineering, procurement, and construction contract for Southeast Asias first 1-GW ultrasupercritical coal-fired power plant in Manjung for Malaysian state
utility Tenaga Nasional Berhad. Alstom built the three 700-MW units at the existing Manjung
plant that went into operation in 2004 (at the far end of the island shown here). Manjung Unit 4
is slated for completion in August 2015. Courtesy: MJG-4.blogspot.com
acteristically devoid of any nuclear power

plants, and most plans for future ones are in
limbowith the exception of Vietnam, which
recently inked a deal for Russian expertise
and financing. Yet that plant isnt expected to
come online until at least 2020.
That means, by 2035, half of the regions
power profile will likely be coal-fired, compared to about one-third in 2013, the IEA
estimates. For the IEEJ, coals share will
climb only to about 36% by 2030. The increase is nonetheless substantial; ASEAN
data shows that coals share in the region
was just 13.4% in 1995. The shift is already underway: some three-quarters of the
thermal capacity now under construction is
coal-fired, the IEA notes. Most plants under construction are located in Vietnam (12
GW) and Indonesia (8 GW). Meanwhile,
most plants are of an average efficiency of
just 34% because they mostly use subcritical technologies.
According to Shoichi Itoh, a senior IEEJ
analyst who this April presented research
Banking on Mega Dams

Rivers are the lifeblood for the people of Southeast Asia, providing
food, freshwater, transportation, recreation, andincreasingly
energy. ASEAN expects hydropower to have the second-fastest
growth rate after coal as countries in the Great Mekong sub-region
probe and develop their vast hydropower potential for electricity trade with neighbors. That growth is being spearheaded by
the booming economies of Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar, but also
Vietnam (Figure 3) and Malaysia.
For Cambodia, plans are in effect to build 10 hydroelectric dams
between 2010 and 2019 to add 2 GW of new capacity. Ultimately,
Cambodia seeks to increase hydros share to 77% of its total capacity by 2030, compared to just 4% of its total 386-MW capacity
in 2007.
Laos already relies on hydropower for almost all of its electric
generation, but it plans to add more than 2 GW, all of it hydro, to
the grid, making it a major exporter of power (mostly to China).
Meanwhile, Myanmar plans to boost hydros share from 50% in
2007 to 98% by 2030 with 13.2 GW of new hydropower capacity in
the countrys Irrawaddy River basin.
Particularly interesting is Chinas financial stake in many of
these mega dams. According to the World Bank, Chinese stateowned enterprises invested more than $6.1 billion between 2006
and 2011 in 2.7 GW of capacity additions in Southeast Asiaor
about 46% of all hydroelectric capacity additions in Cambodia,
Laos, and Myanmarpresumably because power from those facilities is slated for export to Chinas energy-short southern regions.
Despite these grand ambitions, however, many planned mega dams
in the region wont come to fruition because they face the same social, environmental, and geopolitical factors afflicting similar massive hydropower projects around the world, experts point out.
Last October, Vietnam put on hold plans to build more than 420
August 2014 POWER
3. Hydro potential. The 2.4-GW Son La Dam on the Da River

in Vietnam is currently Southeast Asias largest hydropower facility,
though several bigger projects have been proposed. Featuring six
400-MW Francis type turbines and a 138-m high roller compacted
concrete gravity dam, the seven-year-long project was completed
in December 2012, three years ahead of schedule. Australian firm
SMEC in consortium with Nippon Koei and JPower supervised civil
works construction and equipment installation at the $3 billion plant
owned by state utility Electricity of Vietnam. Courtesy: Tycho/Wikimedia Commons
small hydropower dams after rain-overwhelmed reservoirs caused the

deaths of dozens of people. Cambodia has seen dam collapses, and in
Laos, environmental protests have stalled the $3.5 billion Xayaburi
dam on the Mekong River. In Myanmars war-torn northern Kanchin
state, the Chinese-backed 6-GW Myitsone project was suspended in
2011 amid allegations of perceived corruption and a lack of transparency about the projects social, economic, and environmental impacts. China continues to push for the projects revival.
www.powermag.com
65
POWER POLICY
4. Guessing gas. The 770-MW Wang Noi 4 combined cycle power plant shown here has
an efficiency of more than 57.3%, making it one of the most modern power plants in Thailand
and currently in all of Southeast Asia in terms of environmental compatibility and efficiency,
developers say. Courtesy: Siemens Energy
on coals global reemergence for the National Bureau of Asian Researchs Pacific
Energy Forum, ASEANs deliberate turn to
coal to meet its rapid increase of electricity
demand is because coal is the most costcompetitive per calorific value. In Asia,
prices of gas imports are indexed to crude
oil in the absence of gas-on-gas competition, unlike in the U.S. gas market, he
said. Aggressive use of coal therefore
could minimize capital outflow, especially
from economies with low-hydrocarbon
self-sufficiency.
The expected increases in coal capacity
are massive, he notes. Indonesia, which has
planned the largest total gross power capacity additions (100 GW) through 2035, plans
to boost its share of coal in the power mix
from 44% in 2011 to 60% in 2040. Thailand will add 55 GW through 2035, 44% of
which will be gas-fired and 35% coal-fired.
In Malaysia, at least 42 GW is planned for
installation, 38% gas and 33% coal (Figure 2). As gas prices gradually move to the
market price, forcing Malaysia to choose
whether to use domestically produced gas or
to export it as high-value liquefied natural
gas, coal plants are expected to take over as
the cheapest option for baseload power. And
in the Philippines, of 41 GW of new capacity planned, most will be coal-fired, boosting the fuels share in the countrys power
mix to 56% by 2035.
If capacity plans arent an adequate indication that the region is looking to bank heavily
on coal, the IEA also suggests that of about
$990 billion that will be required for ASEANs power sector through 2035, $440 billion will go towards power plantsand 40%
of those funds will be dedicated for coal-fired
66
capacity. Hydro investments (see sidebar)

represent 27% and other renewables, 17%.
Fuel Supply Implications for the

World at Large
Southeast Asias inordinate wealth in energy
resources has made it an increasingly significant region of interest for the world, and
particularly, for its energy-hungry neighbors
China, India, Japan, and South Korea. Indonesia, for example, is the worlds biggest
coal producer and, by far, the top exporter of
steam coal. Vietnam was as recently as 2011
the worlds largest anthracite exporter, but it
has since significantly slashed coal exports
(and even began importing coal for the first
time in its history) to divert shrinking output to a fleet of coal-fired power plant new
builds, which are expected to raise its coalfired capacity to 36 GW by 2020 (from 5.8
GW in 2011).
Natural gas currently makes up 67% of
Thailands power mix, but with indigenous
gas production forecast to diminish in the
2020s, Thailand has turned to importing
more liquefied natural gas (LNG) and building more efficient gas plants. As the country
considers prioritizing coal in the long term,
this April, Siemens and Japanese partner
Marubeni handed over the Wang Noi 4 combined cycle power plant (Figure 4) to Thai
state-owned utility Electricity Generating
Authority of Thailand.
Brunei, transformed into the worlds fifthrichest nation since its independence from
the United Kingdom in 1984 by its extensive
petroleum and natural gas fields, and neighbor Malaysia are the only two net oil exporters in ASEAN. The region harbors only
about 3.5% of the worlds proven reserves of
www.powermag.com
natural gas, yet Brunei was the first country

in Southeast Asia to export LNG in 1972, and
today, Malaysia and Indonesia stand among
the worlds top LNG exporters.
Conspicuously of late, however, much of
Southeast Asias surplus coal and gas production has been diverted to domestic markets. Malaysia and Indonesia have both seen
domestic shortfalls of natural gas and have
begun importing LNG to honor long-term
international contracts. Citing declining volumes from maturing production fields, gas
exports from the region, primarily from Malaysia, Myanmar, and Brunei, will fall from
62 bcm to 14 bcm by 2035, as will regional
net coal exports from Indonesia and Vietnam,
the IEA forecasts.
That will have deep implications for Asia,
specifically, which has become increasingly
resource-scarce. Japans dependence on
energy imports has dramatically increased
after the Fukushima accident, and South
Korea recently revised plans to expand its
own nuclear power sector. And with Chinas
import dependence for oil and gas surging,
the increasing energy demands of ASEAN
countries will only increase competition for
fuel resources in the future. Even with increased supplies from the Middle East and
potential U.S. exports of coal and gas, energy security is expected to remain a pervading medium-term issue in Asia for the
experts agree.
Joint Efforts to Address Gaps

Underpinning the process of cementing the
regions energy security, affordability, and
sustainability is the challenge of attracting
at least $1.7 trillion of cumulative investment in energy supply infrastructure through
2035at least 60% of which is required for
the power sector alone.
Acknowledging that addressing energy
gaps and energy poverty would narrow development gaps, improve energy access,
and facilitate economic integration of the
ASEAN region, the 10 countries are working jointly on an energy cooperation framework. In January 2007, Australia, China,
India, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand,
and ASEAN countries adopted the Cebu
Declaration focusing on energy security.
Later in 2010, ASEAN states adopted a
master plan on connectivity, which focuses on strategies to promote physical grid
interconnection in ASEAN-6 nations by
2015. That plan identified 15 transportation, communications, and energy priority
areas that would help link member countries. Among them is the implementation
of the Melaka-Pekanbaru Interconnection
and West Kalimantan-Sarawak Interconnection, to ultimately connect the grids of
POWER August 2014
POWER POLICY
Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Cambodia,
Vietnam, and the Philippines.
However, the feat is not without significant challenges, as an official with the ASEAN Secretariat confirmed in May: It requires
connecting around 9% of the worlds people
who live on just 3% of the worlds land mass,
and the new transmission must traverse
roughly three times more ocean than land in
order to do so.
Another significant ASEAN objective is
to encourage regionwide energy market integration to achieve balanced and equitable
economic growth for all countries. But as
well as improving physical infrastructure
in certain parts of the region, the proposed
ASEAN Energy Market Integration (AEMI)
concept that could become a reality by 2030
involves a liberalized flow of energy products and investments across ASEAN, reforms in domestic energy market structures,
and a harmonization of energy standards
and rules.
And, at the same time, ASEAN is looking to build a gas pipeline to link the gas
reserves of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Myanmar, the Philippines,
Brunei, and Thailand. Backed by major
oil and gas companies and slated to be op-
erational by 2020, the Trans-ASEAN Gas

Pipeline that will traverse more than 3,000
kilometers and transport 3,095 million cubic feet per day of gas is one of the largest
networks of its type in the world. The project is making progress: To date, 10 crossborder gas pipelines (at a cost of $14.2
billion) have been completed, and six more
remain. Eleven bilateral connections have
already been established.
However, experts warn that one of the bigger unresolved challenges in implementing
the initiative is that different countries have
different rules, which makes private companies reluctant to invest in the network. While
ASEAN has been working to speed up harmonization of policy, some countries have
begun discussing alternatives such as building LNG-receiving terminals rather than connecting pipelines.
Phasing Out Fossil-Fuel Subsidies

Another issue that experts contend Southeast Asian countries must grapple with to
cement investor interest concerns their
continued subsidies for fossil fuels. Despite reform efforts in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand, fossil fuel subsidies
amounted to $51 billion in 2012 (and
$12 billion for electricity) and continue

to distort energy markets, says the IEA.
Subsidized energy prices seriously burden
government resources and restrict investment in infrastructure by depriving energy
companies of the revenues needed for new
investment, it adds.
For example, Indonesias state budget for
2014 designated $5.85 billion in national
electricity subsidies. This January, however,
despite protests from businesses, the government said it would gradually increase power
tariffs for large-scale industrial users to completely eliminate subsidies for the sector by
the years end. In Malaysia, where higher
gas prices (and costly imports of LNG) have
made subsidies for power generation untenable, the government is also looking to increase tariffs.
In the Philippinesthe only country in
the region that does not subsidize power
companiesreliability is sketchy and prices
are high. Average retail tariffs in that nation
of 106.4 million people stand at $0.2026/
kWhmaking them the ninth-highest in the
world, and the second-highest in Asia after
Japan.
Sonal Patel is a POWER associate editor (@POWERmagazine, @sonalcpatel).
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67
SECURITY
Grid Security Gets Physical

Cybersecurity has grabbed the lions share of grid security attention, but last years
attack on a substation in California served as a reminder that physical attacks
are still a significant threat.
Kennedy Maize
he attack began at 12:58 a.m. on April 16,

2013. Between then and 1:07 a.m., attackers cut telephone and telecommunications
cables to Pacific Gas & Electrics (PG&Es)
Metcalf substation near San Jose, Calif., a 500kV facility on the strategic Path 15 in the California bulk power transmission system.
At 1:31 a.m., they opened fire on the substation, using high-powered assault-style
rifles. The attackers fired from multiple directions. A surveillance video (Figure 1;
viewable
at
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=RQzAbKdLfW8) shows multiple
muzzle flashes around 270 degrees during
the attack.
The assault lasted some 19 minutes as the
gunners knocked out 17 large transformers
that supply power over the well-known constrained path to Silicon Valley. PG&E notified
police by a 911 call at 1:41 a.m. By 1:45 a.m.,
transformers were cascading out of service.
The gunners apparently left the site by
1:50 a.m., just a minute before police arrived
at the scene. But the officers were unable to
immediately enter the substation, as the gates
in the hurricane fence surrounding the facility were still locked.
PG&Es grid operators were able to reroute power to avoid blackouts. But the damage was major, requiring nearly a month to
bring the substation back into service. The
cost was significant enough that both PG&E
and AT&T, whose telecommunications lines
were severed in the attack, offered $250,000
1. Midnight blast. This screen capture

from the Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) surveillance video of the attack on the Metcalf substation shows bullets striking the fence and
equipment inside. Courtesy: PG&E and Santa
Clara County Sheriffs Office
68
rewards leading the arrest and conviction of

the attackers.
PG&E also announced that it would build
opaque fences around important transmission substations, including at Metcalf, and
also provide round-the-clock security shifts.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the San
Franciscobased utility eliminated 24-hour
monitoring of substations in 2009.
What Is the Risk?

To date, more than a year-and-a-half after the
Metcalf assault, no arrests have followed and
no suspects have been publicly identified.
Yet the attack on the Metcalf substation
has fundamentally changed the discussion
about the security and resilience of the U.S.
electrical grid, which for several years has
been dominated by discussions about cybersecurityhow high-tech hackers could tap
into power system controllers and computer
software and cause enormous mischief. Now
its gotten physical.
Jon Wellinghoff, the assertive Nevadan
who chaired the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) at the time of the
Metcalf attack, had long been concerned
about the focus on cybersecurity of the bulk
power system (generating plants, switchgear,
and transmission and distribution) at the expense of the old-fashioned guns and bombs
approach to destruction and disruption. In
November 2012, six months before the Metcalf attack, Wellinghoff said, A coordinated
physical attack is a very, very unsettling thing
to me. His remarks came shortly after a
2007 report by the National Academy of Sciences was declassified. That report (available
online at http://bit.ly/1kV1y8J) found that
a terrorist attack on the bulk power system
could cost hundreds of billions of dollars
and result in thousands of deaths.
Wellinghoff commissioned FERCs grid
security maven, Joe McClelland, to study the
vulnerabilities of the grid to a conventional
attack. That study soon became a center of
controversy.
Shortly after the Metcalf attack, authorities alerted Wellinghoff. That apparently galvanized his thinking about the
physicalas opposed to cyberthreats to
www.powermag.com
the grid. But the federal officials had a disagreement. While Wellinghoff believed the
Metcalf attack may have been a precursor or
a training exercise for a terrorist attack, the
FBI, which was also involved in the Metcalf
investigation, disagreed, and classified the
details of the attack, meaning they could not
be discussed in public.
Wellinghoff then began sending out fairly
clear signals about his views on the physical vulnerabilities of the bulk power system,
without dwelling on the Metcalf assault. On
April 24, 2013, just days after the Metcalf
attack, he told a Bloomberg New Energy
Finance public meeting in New York, as
reported by SNL Energy, that studies had
shown that the nations whole electrical system would turn off if four substations in the
Eastern Interconnection, three substations
in the Western Interconnection and two
substations in Texas were destroyed. This
was a reference to McClellands work that
Wellinghoff had commissioned before the
Metcalf attack.
The Wellinghoff warning drew no interest, in part because he was constrained by the
FBI from mentioning the obvious connection to the Metcalf event. The FERC chair
also began briefing industry officials on the
findings of the FERC analysis of physical
threats. None of that information was classified, according to Wellinghoff and FERC
documents. Wellinghoff left FERC at the end
of November 2013.
Belated Publicity
The first public mention of the Metcalf attack came at a December 2013 hearing of the
House Energy and Commerce Committee.
The committee was grilling FERC on its current performance, a fairly routine occurrence.
Upsetting the conventional congressional
snooze-fest, California Democrat Henry
Waxman, who had been told of the Metcalf
attack and was briefed by the FBI, revealed
the incident during his questioning. He described it as sophisticated and employing
military-style weapons.
Both Waxman and Cheryl LaFleur, acting FERC chairman, discussed the attack in
generalities at the hearing but provided few
POWER August 2014
SECURITY
details, which were still classified. Waxman
said he had discussed the attack with the
FBI, and the law-enforcement agency agreed
to brief the House Energy and Commerce
Committee. LaFleur also said she would
permit FERC staff to discuss the attack with
the committee staff, although she refused to
reveal details because of the possibility of
copycat attacks. LaFleur acknowledged
that the April attack was the most sophisticated attempt to disrupt the electric grid that
she had ever encountered.
This time, the Metcalf event got some
public traction.
In early February, veteran electricity industry reporter Rebecca Smith of the Wall
Street Journal outlined what had happened.
A month later, she revealed in considerable
detail the internal FERC report on the key
vulnerabilities of the high-voltage transmission grid. She quoted Wellinghoff, now a
private citizen, that it was the most significant incident of domestic terrorism involving
the grid that has ever occurred in the U.S.
Smith clearly had a copy of the FERC report,
and the newspaper had been careful not to
identify the specific interconnections that the
agencys analysis said could bring down the
entire U.S. bulk power delivery system.
FERCs regular monthly public meeting took place just days after Smiths Wall
Street Journal article. Two commissioners
Philip Moeller and John Norrispushed
back against the notion that physical grid
security was a big problem and attacked the
newspaper for revealing the FERC analysis.
Moeller said the U.S. has the worlds most
advanced and robust electric transmission
system that can respond instantly to planned
and unplanned outages and even attacks.
However, highlighting any real or perceived
vulnerabilities and sharing specific security
information or responsive actions may inadvertently promote the prospect of additional
copycat attacks. Norris said that many
people have jumped on this reaction train,
and that he feared a focus on the physical
threats to the power grid would divert attention and syphon funding from smart grid
technologies that he favors. (Still, such attacks have also occurred outside the U.S.;
see sidebar.)
Pressure Mounts
Nonetheless, the pressure built on FERC to
take some action on the prospects that oldfashioned bullets, bombs, and wire cutters
could bring down the grid, not just hackers
with laptops in China or Los Angeles. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.),
Wellinghoffs political godfather, wrote
to FERC and the North American Electric
Reliability Corp. (NERC), urging action to
August 2014 POWER
Physical Grid Attacks Outside the U.S.

The U.S. is not the only country that has
seen physical attacks on its power system.
In late 2008, according to The Guardian
newspaper in the UK, a single person
was able, avoiding the nations ubiquitous closed circuit TV system, to climb
two 10-foot-high, razor-wire-topped and
electrified fences and crash a 500-MW
steam turbine generator at the Kingsnorth
coal-fired power plant in Kent, leaving a
calling card stating, no new coal.
According to the newspaper, He walked
out the same way and hopped over the
fence. The action, which might qualify
as ecoterrorism, shut the plant for four
hours. No accounts of the capture of the
protect the grid, as did Sens. Mary Landrieu
(D-La.), chairman of the Senate Energy and
Natural Resources Committee, and Lisa
Murkowski (R-Alaska), the ranking minority member.
In early March 2014, FERC ordered
NERC, FERCs private-sector reliability
police, to prepare standards within 90 days
on how to protect the grid from physical attacks. NERC has already been charged for
many years with developing cybersecurity
standards. LaFleur, the acting FERC chair,
said, Todays order enhances the grids resilience by requiring physical security for
the facilities most critical to the reliable
operation of the bulk power system. It will
complement the ongoing efforts of FERC
and facility owners and operators to ensure
the physical security of the grid.
The order gave NERC and the electricity
industry considerable flexibility in developing the standards. FERC told the grid operators to implement a three-step approach to
physical protection.
First was an assessment to, in FERCs
words, identify facilities that, if rendered
inoperable or damaged, could have a critical
impact on the operation of the interconnected
grid through instability, uncontrolled separation, or cascading failures of the bulk power
system.
Second, grid operators must evaluate
potential threats and vulnerabilities to those
facilities.
Third, they must develop and implement
a security plan to address potential threats
and vulnerabilities.
In late May, NERC delivered a mammoth,
800-plus-page plan to FERC, providing the
details of how the industry will respond
to physical security threats. According to
www.powermag.com
assailant can be found. Said a spokeswoman for plant operator E.On, It was extremely odd indeed, quite creepy. We have
never known anything like this at all, but it
shows that if people want to do something
badly enough, they will find a way.
In Australia last February, an overloaded
circuit breaker at a large coal-fired plant
in the state of Victoria caused a fire that
shut down the states third-largest power
plant. Officials told the Melbourne Herald
Sun that the event was sabotage, not an
accident of nature. The newspaper noted
that the blaze happened just hours after
the company locked out Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union workers.
a NERC press release, NERC submitted
the proposed response to FERC to a ballot
among its stakeholders. It received 86 percent approval.
But the other 14% had some words about
it. E&E EnergyWire reported that the sharpest critique of the NERC plan came from the
giant federally owned Bonneville Power Administration (BPA). BPA, which operates a
multi-thousand-mile, multi-state high-voltage
grid in the Pacific Northwest, commented,
It is virtually impossible to fully protect all
critical [bulk electrical facilities] from attack
by a determined foe. BPA has absorbed attacks on its transmission facilities going back
decades, though none that seriously damaged
the flow of power on its massive system.
Portland, Ore.based BPA commented
to NERC that the opportunity to attack the
transmission system is already available
. . . and implementable regardless of what
physical hardening is implemented. BPA
said, The biggest general question to answer is what will be considered adequate
protection. Will we need a 24-hour on-site
security force because the location is too remote to augment detection technology with
fast response?
The BPA response added, Will we need
security walls constructed to be as impervious as those of a maximum security prison?
The list of potential risk mitigation barriers is
endless, as is the cost of building and maintaining elaborate barriers for facilities that
cover acres of ground.
Much to Consider
In comments on FERCs physical security order, the Battelle Memorial Institute, a private,
nonprofit research institution in Columbus,
Ohio, offered what it billed as a common69
SECURITY
sense and integrated approach to both physical security and cybersecurity. Physical
security assessments of the bulk power grid
should include regional studies that cross
utility and system operator boundaries, said
a Battelle white paper. Just as transmission
expansions are now conducted regionally, so
should physical security risk assessments.
The Battelle reportRecommendations
for Implementing Comprehensive BulkPower System Security Standardssaid
that risk assessments for physical security
of the grid should look beyond the local and

instead to regional analysis in order to avoid
creating seams issues. The analysis also
called for sharing risk assessments between
operators, consistent with the NERC requirements. For instance, said Battelle, a
particular site may NOT be critical for maintaining service within the service territory of
the utility that owns/operates it, but may significantly increase the potential for problems
in external areas.
The Battelle report pointed to the enor-
If you need information on

the global power
generation industry,
look to
first.
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mous 2003 blackout in the Northeast and

Middle Atlantic states, where loop flows
through New York, Canada, and Michigan
were triggered by lines tripping in Ohio.
That event created outages in the New York
ISO, the Midcontinent ISO, and the PJM Interconnection.
The Battelle report also said that physical security should incorporate all-hazards
threat assessments to ensure that efforts to
improve security and resiliency of the bulk
power system do not unduly focus on a single
threat vector. It went on, Environmental
events, equipment failures, operational failures, and cyber attacks should all be considered alongside physical attacks for both their
likelihood of occurrence, as well as quantification of the impacts each would create.
Security plans should include measures
for dealing with events before, during, and
after their occurrence, and not simply focus
on preventing attacks. Since it is virtually impossible to prevent damage from all possible
attacks or other all-hazard events, security
plans should prioritize actions that will have
the most impact on overall system resiliency
across all threat scenarios.
In addition to hardening possible targets
of attack, the report said that it is important
that the standards allow for creating decoys
and that critical assets are not obviously identified by a singular focus on applying measures only to them. For example, if sudden
and/or significant improvements (fencing,
barriers, lighting, cameras, etc.) are made to
only a few assets, it would make them obvious targets for an attack.
Tailoring security plans to site-specific
conditions is also necessary. Specific security measures, such as upgraded fences,
barriers, and obscurants may be very effective in some locations, and nearly useless in others, said the white paper. The
highest leverage investments in an urban
environment will be very different than for
remote locations. The analysis adds that
differences in law enforcement and/or
utility crew response times will determine
what measures are most appropriate to deter attacks, but also to mitigate and recover
from damages caused by attacks. For the
most remote locations, remote detection,
alarms, and redundant communications
may be more important than the additional
hardening measures which can be defeated
with the additional time available for potential attackers.
FERC is likely to act on the NERC filing and comments to its March 2014 order
sometime this year, although the timing is
unclear.
Kennedy Maize is a POWER

contributing editor.
70
www.powermag.com
POWER August 2014
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POWER August 2014
ADVERTISERS INDEX
Enter reader service numbers on the FREE Product Information Source card in this issue.
Page
Reader
Service
Number
Apollo Valves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 . . . . . . . .12
Reader
Service
Page Number
Korea Midland Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 . . . . . . . . 2
www.apollovalves.com
www.komipo.co.kr
Applied Bolting Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 . . . . . . . .22
Lubrizol/Corzan Industrial Systems... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 . . . . . . . . 6
www.appliedbolting.com
www.corzancpvc.com
ASCO Valve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 . . . . . . . .19
MD&A
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 4 . . . . .29
www.ascovalve.com
www.mdaturbines.com
Baldor Electric. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 . . . . . . . .15
Membrana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 . . . . . . . .25
www.baldor.com
www.liquicel.com
Burns & McDonnell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 . . . . . . . .10
Mitsubishi Power Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 . . . . . . . . 4
www.burnsmcd.com
www.mpshq.com
CleaverBrooks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 . . . . . . . .16
NRG Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 . . . . . . . .11
www.cleaverbrooks.com/engineered
www.nrgenergy.com
Doosan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 . . . . . . . . 3
PIC Group Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 . . . . . . . .14
www.doosanheavy.com
www.picworld.com
Enercon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 . . . . . . . .26
Safway Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 . . . . . . . .17
www.enercon.com
www.safway.com
Ethos Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 . . . . . . . . 7
Schweitzer Engineering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 . . . . . . . .28
www.ethosenergygroup.com
www.selinc.com
Fairbanks Morse Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 . . . . . . . .18
Sealeze . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 . . . . . . . .24
www.fairbanksmorse.com
www.sealeze.com
Fluor Corp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 . . . . . . . . 9
TEAM Industrial Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 . . . . . . . . 8
www.fluor.com
www.teaminc.com
GEA Heat Exchanger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 . . . . . . . .21
Toshiba . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 2 . . . . . 1
www.power.gea-hx.com
www.toshiba.com/tic
Hach.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 . . . . . . . .23
Victory Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 . . . . . . . . 5
www.hach.com
www.victoryenergy.com
Hawk Measurements America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 . . . . . . . .20
Winsted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 . . . . . . . .27
www.hawkmeasure.com
www.winstedcustom.com
Kalenborn Abresist Corporation.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 . . . . . . . .13

www.abresist.com
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HA2009
75
COMMENTARY
Effects of
Urbanization on
Generation in China
Zeng Ming
Duan Jinhui
Wang Liang
Zeng Ming, Duan Jinhui, Wang Liang, Gu Shanshan
n 2013, urbanization in China reached 53.73%. Urbanization

has become an important field for national reform. On the one
hand, urbanization is effective for improving quality of life and
narrowing the urban-rural gap. On the other hand, the economic
development strategy promoted by the new Chinese government
shifts from being driven by exports to expanding domestic demand, and urbanization becomes a significance factor in that. In
2013, the Central Economic Working Conference put forward the
requirement to pursue a new urbanization that takes an intensive, smart, green and low-carbon path, which means new urbanization will have far-reaching influence on power generation.
First, the ongoing promotion of urbanization will result in
ever-increasing energy requirements, thus providing traditional
energy supply businesses with new opportunities. Meanwhile,
the shift in population distribution poses challenges for thermal
generation businesses. Second, new urbanization emphasizes efficient and clean utilization of energy resources, which provides
clean energy supply businesses with new opportunities.
Inluence on New Energy Generation

Green is the new urbanizations character, so new, low-carbon resources should be explored to meet increasing demand for electricity:
Inluence on Thermal Generation

In China, thermal generation will still be the main generation
form for a long time. The central government has formulated new
development strategies for energy facility constructionenergy
industry development together with urbanizationwhich will
affect the distribution of thermal power:
Optimization strategy for traditional thermal power distribution. Thermal power units in China are distributed mainly near
coal mines and load centers now. In the future, industrialization
and urbanization will proceed intensively and will be characterized by the dense distribution of industry, population, cities,
and towns. Therefore, the optimal distribution of thermal power
should consider energy resources, planning energy industry development together with urbanization distribution according
to the rule of maximizing comprehensive benefits while at the
same time guaranteeing the urban energy supply.
Coordinated planning of wind, solar, and thermal power sources.
China has proposed the planning of comprehensive energy bases and city clusters. Among the five bases, four are also located
in the key position of urban belts. In addition, according to the
planning target for energy bases, half of their capacity will be
delivered outside the urban area. Therefore, site selection for
thermal power should consider both energy resources and urbanization distribution to accelerate the coordinated dispatching of wind power, solar power, and hydropower.
Inluence on Distributed Generation

From now until 2020, urban development planning will be combined
with land reform, and new development zones of dozens of square
kilometers will be constructed. Under this trend, urban planning will
pay more attention to the coordination between public facilities
and resource supplies such as water, electricity, and fuel gas:
76
Distributed gas-fired generation. Currently, high-efficiency gas

generation accounts for a low share among total energy enduse utilization in China, while low-efficiency coal is in just
the opposite position. Therefore, the utilization of natural gas
should be enhanced urgently.
Distributed generation with renewable energy. The urbanization trend in China includes establishing dominant towns in
rural areas. Because of the low energy density of distributed
renewable energy, its capacity per unit area is relatively low
compared with traditional fossil energy. Therefore, it is appropriate for servicing small-scale houses and commercial buildings in these dominant towns.
Explore shale gas generation. Shale gas is yet in the early stage
in China. However, in light of the similar distribution of shale gas
resources and load centers, local generation from shale gas will
gradually replace coal-fired units. In addition, the Northwest has
abundant intermittent renewable energy, so sufficient local shale
gas can meet its increasing peak-shaving requirements.
Develop inland nuclear power. Nuclear power stations in China
are distributed in southeastern coastal areas. In the future,
with new urban planning, they should be near load centers to
meet the ever-increasing electricity demand.
Add environment-friendly generation. Urbanization will promote establishing dominant towns among rural areas based on
agriculture. Therefore, generation through refuse incineration
(waste to energy) and biomass will gain great importance.
In addition, although large amounts of private capital have

entered the power industry since the opening of the generation
market in 2003, because of the intrinsic character of the stateowned monopoly, most generation business is still owned by the
state. Private companies can hardly undertake large generation
projects due to capital shortages. Therefore, during the transition stage, they should comprehensively consider their geographic location, capital volume, and technical advantages, thus
maximizing advantages and minimizing disadvantages.
New urbanization in China is rapidly expanding, so generation
companies should assess the situation and identify their future strategy. Generation companies worldwide should choose a suitable direction for transition during urbanization, based on each countrys
urban planning, industrial policy, and resource endowment.
Zeng Ming is a professor at North China Electric Power University
(NCEPU) and a senior consultant to the National Development and
Reform Commission, National Energy Administration, State Grid
Corp. of China, and China Huaneng Group. Duan Jinhui, Wang Liang,
and Gu Shanshan are doctoral students at NCEPU.
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POWER August 2014
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August 2014 Vol. 158 No.

Vol. 158 No. 8 August 2014

2014 Plant of the Year:

Marmaduke Award Goes to

ONE CALL. ONE SOLUTION.

CIRCLE 1 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Established 1882 Vol. 158 No. 8

COVER STORY: PLANT OF THE YEAR

36 KOMIPO Relocates an Entire Combined Cycle Power Plant

40 Jeffrey Energy Centers Constructed Wetland Treatment System

HEAT-RECOVERY STEAM GENERATORS

46 Strategies for Inspecting HRSGs in Two-Shift and Low-Load Service

COAL COMBUSTION RESIDUALS

August 2014 POWER

59 Treating WTE Plant Flue Gases with Sodium Bicarbonate

64 Southeast Asias Energy Juggernaut

68 Grid Security Gets Physical

6 And the Winner Is . . .

France Slashes Reliance on Nuclear in New Draft Policy

16 Intelligent Monitoring of Distribution and Emergency Power Systems Improves Availability

24 Bright Future for Energy Storage

76 Effects of Urbanization on Generation in China

More Stories Than We Could Fit in Print!

More Strategies for Inspecting HRSGs in Two-Shift and Low-Load Service

POWER August 2014

Lighting up the world

Our technology lights up the night.

38, Teheran-ro 114-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul 135-280, Republic of Korea

EDITORIAL & PRODUCTION

Visit POWER on the web: www.powermag.com

GENERATING COMPANY ADVISORY TEAM

Audience Development Director: Sarah Garwood

Executive Offices of TradeFair Group Publications: 11000

ACCESS INTELLIGENCE, LLC

POWER August 2014

CIRCLE 3 ON READER SERVICE CARD

And the Winner Is . . .

A Shifting Balance of Power

Of course, weve all seen the balance

Innovation and Risk

This year, for the first time, its a renewable

the Marmaduke Award to a combined cycle

POWER August 2014

Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Americas, Inc.

CIRCLE 4 ON READER SERVICE CARD

France to Slash Reliance

Chile Axes 2.8-GW Hydro

velopers had called for more than 1,600

2. A megadam proposal. Chiles government in June stalled the 2.8-GW HidroAysn

1. Frances next nuclear generation. EDFs EPR plant under construction at

POWER August 2014

First Power for Argentinas

ramp up production in stages, reaching

You Have Boiler MACT

August 2014 POWER

THE BIG PICTURE: GHG Pegboard

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

Triggering and Tailoring Rules rejected

This pivotal case

The Boiler GHG settlement

A Clean Power Plan

POWER August 2014

tal Buenos Aires and the 600-MW Embalse

coal mines, such as Bumi Resources and