The best part of reporting and writing about science and technology is pondering the possibilities.

Some of the possibilities we pondered about 20 some years ago are taking shape today, forcing people and industries grounded in convention to shed pre-conceived notions about commerce, technology and consumer services. For the power sector, an industry known for its dispositional resistance to change, breaking free from century-old concepts has been vexing. Those conventional concepts are being dismantled by demands driven by technological advances inside and outside the power sector.

Blockchain technology, for example, promises to remove the traditional utility from electricity transactions and could accelerate the decentralization of an industry that is already shifting to distributed energy resources. Imagine a world where every household or business that generates and stores electricity can enter into automated, peer-to-peer transactions with neighbors or sell power back into the grid at the market rate, rather than through a third-party utility.

I remember when utility executives scoffed at the idea of storing utility-scale power supplies in batteries. That was just 16 years ago. Last year, battery energy storage systems accounted for 1 GW of installed capacity worldwide. By most accounts, energy storage will be fundamental in supporting a grid congested with variable power supplies.

Imagine a day when it will be next to impossible for a nuclear power plant to meltdown. That day will be here in a few short years thanks to progress being made in the design and development of small modular rectors (SMR). In fact, the SMR market is expected to grow to around $1 trillion by 2035. Some contend SMR technology is the key to returning the nuclear industry from the edge of economic collapse.

Another major element in the power sector’s transformation centers around America’s century-old business model for electric utilities. The regulatory model that has long been used by utilities to generate a return on their investments in centralized power is losing its relevance in a world with a preference for cheaper distributed generation. In 2013, David Crane, former chief executive officer of NRG Energy, described the shift to distributed power as a “mortal threat” to utilities. “They can’t cut costs, so they will try to distribute costs over fewer and fewer customers,” Crane said at the time. As a result, he said, electric bills will rise, which will drive more customers to invest in distributed generation at their homes and businesses. Five years later, it appears Crane’s vision and strategy may have been spot on.

This is the future power producers should be preparing for. The industry is rewriting the rules for producing and delivering power and maintaining, operating and managing power generation assets.

The heart of this transformation can be found in the digital realm of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector, which promotes the unification of communications technology and the integration of telecommunications, computers, software, storage and audio-visual systems to enable users to access, store, transmit and manipulate information. Innovations based on digital ICT include artificial intelligence, augmented reality, blockchain, instant messaging, video-conferencing and robotics.

So what does the convergence of digital solutions, power generation equipment and advances in automation mean for you, the power professional with years of training in longstanding processes and procedures in power generation?

It will require a clear mindset, an ability to clear the board and see things for the first time. It’s important because the power sector is being reinvented to accommodate a renewable and digital revolution that has spawned new expectations from consumers.

At the turn of the century, more than half of the nation’s power was produced with coal and the prospects of renewable power and energy storage playing a starring role in U.S. power generation were quickly dismissed. The technologies were too expensive, unproven and difficult to integrate into a grid built around coal. Today, renewable power and energy storage are two of the biggest emerging markets in power generation. In 2017, renewable generation in the U.S. increased more than 13 percent versus 2016, with generation from solar growing more than 47 percent and wind more than 12 percent. The cost of energy storage has plunged in the last three years and some are predicting the global energy storage market will double six times between 2016 and 2030, mimicking the historic solar expansion between 2000 and 2015.

Power generation will be done in completely new ways in a few short years. What the future of power generation will look like is still unclear, but I’m looking forward to the journey.

POWER-GEN INTERNATIONAL 2018

Next-Gen technologies in power generation will be discussed in great detail during several conference sessions at POWER-GEN International 2018 Dec. 4-6 in Orlando, Florida. To join us in Orlando, go here: www.power- gen.com.

Industry observers have created a lot of hype surrounding the development and promise of small modular reactors. However, not a single company has built a commercial SMR unit in the U.S. and it may be several years before they even break ground.

The company making the most headway in the design and development of SMR technology is NuScale Power. The company’s SMR design, the first to be reviewed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), recently completed the first and most intensive phase of the NRC’s application review.

The NRC is expected to certify NuScale’s design, and the company’s first customer, Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS), is planning a 12-module SMR plant in Idaho slated for operation by the mid-2020s based on the certified design.

NuScale Chairman and CEO John Hopkins said the design is “positioned to revitalize the domestic nuclear industry.”

In May, Bloomberg New Energy Finance issued a report concluding more than a quarter of U.S. nuclear plants don’t make enough money to cover their operating costs. Nicholas Steckler, an analyst with Bloomberg, said 24 of the nation’s 66 nuclear plants won’t be profitable through 2021 or are already scheduled to be shut down. The decline stems from a glut of cheap gas-fired generation, flat demand for power, and power prices too low to cover basic operating costs. In short, the business of nuclear power is collapsing because the market cannot support the nation’s available capacity.

The optimism over SMRs is borne from the fact that the technology responds to some of the most prevalent causes for hesitation over nuclear power. Because the reactor is modular and designed for replication, inherent safety features are built into the plant. SMRs are designed with passive safety equipment so that, in the case of an emergency or if no power is available, the reactors can operate safely for several days before manual intervention is needed.

The chances of a meltdown are next to nil because the SMR design siphons the heat away.

SMR plants offer several hundred MW of generating capacity. They are designed for modular construction, meaning the parts can be put together offsite, then moved into place in the power plant. Conversely, large-scale reactors are built on site from the ground up, which usually calls for a large amount of land, materials, workers and equipment.

Meanwhile, NuScale said in June it has found a way to generate 20 percent more power from its SMR design. The revelation stems from advanced testing and modeling tools designed to optimize performance for UAMPS’ 12-unit SMR plant in Idaho. What’s more, the uprate would lower the cost of generation from $5,000/kWh to $4,200/kWh, and the levelized cost of electricity would also fall by as much as 18 percent. The results demonstrate why NuScale “is one of the most influential and innovative energy disruptors the world has ever seen,” Hopkins said.

UAMPS said it plans to begin preparing an Idaho National Laboratory site for the 12-unit project in 2021. “This new development is yet another way NuScale is changing the SMR game and pioneering this technology in the U.S.,” UAMPS CEO Doug Hunter said in a statement. “This substantial reduction in cost per kilowatt is not only incredibly good news for the country’s first SMR plant, which we are thrilled to be deploying, but also because it will increase the value of our plant over time.”

NuScale said UAMPS will “reap the benefits” of this optimization without licensing or construction delays. NuScale said the company’s achievements puts the U.S. on a path to beat foreign competitors like Russia, China, South Korea and Argentina in a race to be the first to market. Some estimates place global SMR capacity somewhere between 55 GW and 75 GW by 2035. If those numbers are realized, the global SMR market would be valued at around $1 trillion. In April, the U.S. Department of Energy awarded NuScale $40 million to assist the company in bringing its design to market.

“Twelve modules stacked side by side would give power producers and grid managers up to 600 MW of carbon-free capacity.”

Factory built and shipped by truck, each NuScale module provides about 50 MW of capacity. Twelve modules stacked side by side would give power producers and grid managers up to 600 MW of carbon-free capacity to help maintain perfect balance between supply and demand. What’s more, the cost of producing power with NuScale’s SMR technology is now below or competitive with all other sources of power generation.

The NuScale SMR is an advanced light-water reactor. Each module. is a self-contained unit that operates independently within a multi-module configuration. Up to 12 modules are monitored and operated from a single control room.

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The reactor measures 65 feet tall and 9 feet in diameter. It sits within a containment vessel.

The reactor and containment vessel operate inside a water-filled pool that is built below grade. The reactor operates using the principles of natural circulation; hence, no pumps are needed to circulate water through the reactor. Instead, the system uses a convection process. Water is heated as it passes over the core.

As it heats up, the water rises within the interior of the vessel. Once the heated water reaches the top of the riser, it is drawn downward by water that is cooled passing through the steam generators.

The cooler water has a higher density. It is pulled by gravity back down to the bottom of the reactor where it is again drawn over the core. Water in the reactor system is kept separate from the water in the steam generator system to prevent contamination. As the hot water in the reactor system passes over the hundreds of tubes in the steam generator, heat is transferred through the tube walls and the water in the tubes turns to steam. The steam turns turbines which are attached by a single shaft to the electrical generator. After passing through the turbines, the steam loses its energy. It is cooled back into liquid form in the condenser then pumped back to the steam generator.

Factory built and shipped by truck, each NuScale module provides about 50 MW of capacity. Photo Courtesy: NuScale

Features of NuScale’s SMR design include

– Thermal capacity — 160 MWt

– Electrical capacity — 50 MWe (gross)

– Capacity factor — >95 percent

– Dimensions — 76› x 15› cylindrical containment vessel module containing reactor and steam generator

– Weight — ~ 700 tons as shipped from fabrication shop

– Transportation — Barge, truck or train

– Cost — Numerous advantages due to simplicity, off-the-shelf standard items, modular design, shorter construction times, <$5,100/KW

– Fuel — Standard LWR fuel in 17 x 17 configuration, each assembly 2 meters (~ 6 ft.) in length; 24-month refueling cycle with fuel enriched less than 4.95 percent

In designing the NuScale Power Module and power plant, NuScale has achieved a paradigm shift in the level of safety of a nuclear power plant facility. It is a solution to one of the biggest technical challenges for the current fleet of nuclear plants.

NuScale’s comprehensive safety features are incorporated to provide stable long-term nuclear core cooling under all conditions, including severe accidents. These safety features include:

– The Triple Crown for Nuclear Plant Safey design safely shuts down and self-cools, indefinitely with no operator action, no AC or DC power, and no additional water.

– High-pressure containment vessel, redundant passive decay heat removal, and containment heat removal systems.

– The integrated design of the NuScale Power Module, encompassing the reactor, steam generators, and pressurizer, and its use of natural circulation eliminates the need for large primary piping and reactor coolant pumps.

– A small nuclear fuel inventory, since each 50 MWe (gross) NuScale Power Module houses approximately 5 percent of the nuclear fuel of a conventional 1,000 MWe nuclear reactor.

– Containment vessel submerged in an ultimate heat sink for core cooling in a below grade reactor pool structure.

In January, NuScale said the NRC agreed NuScale’s SMR design approach requires no safety-related power to safely shut down. “No operating nuclear plant in the USA can make that claim,” the company said in a June 6 press release.

POWER-GEN International 2018

Several advancements in Next-Gen Nuclear technology, including SMR designs, will be discussed during several conference sessions at POWER-GEN International 2018 Dec. 4-6 in Orlando, Florida.

The agency deemed the cyber activities as “significant” and “malicious,” alleging the Russian companies and individuals provided materials and technological support to Russia’s domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Security Service (FSB).

The U.S. agency specifically identified Russia’s underwater capabilities. “Russia has been active in tracking undersea communication cables, which carry the bulk of the world’s telecommunications data,” treasury officials said in a press release.

The sanctions mean all property and interests in property of the companies and individuals subject to U.S. jurisdiction are blocked. In addition, U.S. citizens are prohibited from engaging in transactions with them.

The companies targeted by the sanctions “have directly contributed to improving Russia’s cyber and underwater capabilities through their work with the FSB and therefore jeopardize the safety and security of the United States and our allies,” said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.   

The five companies and three individuals are:

·         Digital Security – for providing material and technological support to the FSB.  As of 2015, Digital Security worked on a project that would increase Russia’s offensive cyber capabilities for the Russian Intelligence Services.

·         ERPScan – for being owned or controlled by Digital Security. 

·         Embedi – As of May 2017, Embedi was owned or controlled by Digital Security.

·         Kvant Scientific Research Institute – for being owned or controlled by the FSB.  In August 2010, the Russian government issued a decree that identified Kvant as a federal state unitary enterprise that would be supervised by the FSB.

·         Divetechnoservices – for providing material and technological support to the FSB.  Since 2007, Divetechnoservices has procured a variety of underwater equipment and diving systems for Russian government agencies.

·         Aleksandr Lvovich Tribun – for acting for or on behalf of Divetechnoservices.  As of December 2017, Tribun was Divetechnoservices’ General Director.

·         Oleg Sergeyevich Chirikov – for acting for or on behalf of Divetechnoservices.  As of March 2018, Chirikov was Divetechnoservices’ Program Manager.

·         Vladimir Yakovlevich Kaganskiy – for acting for or on behalf of Divetechnoservices.  As of December 2017, Kaganskiy was Divetechnoservices’ owner. 

In March, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Russian hackers secured access to critical control systems to U.S. nuclear plants. “We now have evidence they’re sitting on the machines… that allow them to effectively turn the power off or effect sabotage,” Eric Chien, a security technology director at digital security firm Symantec, told The New York Times. “From what we can see, they were there. They have the ability to shut the power off. All that’s missing is some political motivation.”

The turbine manufacturer said Thursday the upgrade for the GT13E2 MXL2 gas turbine features key components manufactured with additive technology, a process used to print three-dimensional components, and can boost power production by up to 21 MW in combined cycle mode.

The lightweight design and precise configuration achieved with this process represents “a new frontier in turbine engineering and production,” GE said.  

What’s more, the improvements could save gas-fired power plants up to $2 million in fuel costs annually, GE said.

“This latest upgrade is really the first time we’re using additive-manufactured parts at the core of the turbine uprate,” said Andrew Passmore, senior product manager for the GT13E2.

The GT13E2 upgrade is the byproduct of improved technology and more than 10 million hours of experience operating the fleet of GT13E2 turbines. Thanks primarily to additive manufacturing, the new upgrade is capable of:

·         Reducing component cooling requirements by up to 25 percent

·         Increasing output up to 21 MW in combined-cycle configuration

·         Improving efficiency by up to 1.6 percent in combined-cycle mode

·         Providing maintenance intervals of up to 48,000 hours

GE also pointed to certain milestones surrounding its HA gas turbine, which debuted in 2016. The HA, GE said, has exceeded 118,000 operating hours to date and orders for 76 units have been made by 25 customers in more than 15 countries.

“We continue to see gas playing an important role in the world’s energy mix including as a complement to variable renewables,” said GE Power President and CEO Russell Stokes. “Our HA technology enables unprecedented levels of efficiency to help customers reach more aggressive emissions goals.”

GE’s power business has been struggling. In the first quarter, GE fell to third place behind MHPS and Siemens in gas turbine sales. What’s more, GE Power recorded $5.6 billion in orders during the first quarter, down 29 percent. Also, revenue fell 9 percent to $7.2 billion and segment profit dropped a whopping 38 percent to $273 million. The company’s latest setback was annouced earlier this week as the company revealed plans to shut down much of the operation at its Salem, Virginia, plant by 2019. The plan calls for 250 people to lose their jobs, though the facility would remain partially open as an engineering center employing 200.

The effort is in conjunction with PennWell’s Wall of Honor, a traveling wall highlighting the names of our military service personnel (past and present) and displayed at all PennWell power generation events in North America. The wall displays the branch, the company and the name of each person honored.

PennWell’s partnership with the Folds of Honor Foundation, a nonprofit organization, is an extension of the Wall of Honor and will help further honor the legacy of those listed on the Wall. Financial contributions to the Folds of Honor are used to educate the families of military men and women who have fallen or have been disabled while on active duty in the United States armed forces. Click here to make a contribution.

Founded in 2007 by Major Dan Rooney, an F-16 fighter pilot in the Oklahoma Air National Guard who served three tours of duty in Iraq, Folds of Honor is proud to have awarded scholarships in all 50 states, as well as Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, including more than 2,800 in 2016 alone. Folds of Honor is a 501(C)(3) nonprofit organization. 

To submit your name (or a colleague, friend or family member), click here. The name will be added to PennWell’s Wall of Honor on display at all PennWell power generation events in North America.

The 25-turbine project, known as Revolution Wind, is expected to begin construction in 2021 and is being built by Deepwater Wind, the same company that built Block Island Wind Farm, the nation’s first offshore wind farm, which began generating power in December 2016.

The new project is one of many offshore wind power projects scheduled to be built in U.S. waters. About 1,400 MW of U.S. offshore wind power projects have been announced in less than a month, said Nancy Sopko, director of Offshore Wind for the American Wind Energy Association. Sopko described the demand for offshore wind as a “golden opportunity for heavy manufacturing companies and shipbuilders to invest in American jobs, factories and infrastructure.”

The purchase is part of the state’s plan to procure a total of 250 MW in clean power projects. The plan also includes the purchase of 52 MW in fuel cell projects and a 1.6 MW Anaerobic digestion facility.

“Offshore wind, anaerobic digestion and fuel cells are the clean, resilient, and diverse energy sources that our state and nation need,” said Robert Klee, commissioner of the state’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

The selected developers will now begin negotiating 20-year contracts, which must be approved by the state’s Public Utilities Regulatory Authority.

In addition to Connecticut’s offshore wind purchase of 200 MW, Massachusetts and Rohde Island have agreed to procure 800 MW and 400 MW of offshore wind, respectively.

The company making the most headway in the design and development of SMR technology is NuScale Power. The company’s SMR design, the first to be reviewed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), recently completed the first and most intensive phase of the NRC’s application review.

The NRC is expected to certify NuScale’s design, and the company’s first customer, Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS), is planning a 12-module SMR plant in Idaho slated for operation by the mid-2020s based on the certified design.

NuScale Chairman and CEO John Hopkins said the design is “positioned to revitalize the domestic nuclear industry.”

In May, Bloomberg New Energy Finance issued a report concluding more than a quarter of U.S. nuclear plants don’t make enough money to cover their operating costs. Nicholas Steckler, an analyst with Bloomberg, said 24 of the nation’s 66 nuclear plants won’t be profitable through 2021 or are already scheduled to be shut down. The decline stems from a glut of cheap gas-fired generation, flat demand for power, and power prices too low to cover basic operating costs. In short, the business of nuclear power is collapsing because the market cannot support the nation’s available capacity.

The optimism over SMRs is borne from the fact that the technology responds to some of the most prevalent causes for hesitation over nuclear power. Because the reactor is modular and designed for replication, inherent safety features are built into the plant. SMRs are designed with passive safety equipment so that, in the case of an emergency or if no power is available, the reactors can operate safely for several days before manual intervention is needed.

The chances of a meltdown are next to nil because the SMR design siphons the heat away.

SMRs plants offer severl hundred megawatts of generating capacity. They are designed for modular construction, meaning the parts can be put together offsite, then moved into place in the power plant. Conversely, large-scale reactors are built on site from the ground up, which usually calls for a large amount of land, materials, workers and equipment.

Meanwhile, NuScale said this month it has found a way to generate 20 percent more power from its SMR design. The revelation stems from advanced testing and modeling tools designed to optimize performance for UAMPS’ 12-unit SMR plant in Idaho. What’s more, the uprate would lower the cost of generation from $5,000/kWh to $4,200/kWh, and the levelized cost of electricity would also fall by as much as 18 percent. The results demonstrate why NuScale “is one of the most influential and innovative energy disruptors the world has ever seen,” Hopkins said.

UAMPS said it plans to begin preparing an Idaho National Laboratory site for the 12-unit project in 2021. “This new development is yet another way NuScale is changing the SMR game and pioneering this technology in the U.S.,” UAMPS CEO Doug Hunter said in a statement. “This substantial reduction in cost per kilowatt is not only incredibly good news for the country’s first SMR plant, which we are thrilled to be deploying, but also because it will increase the value of our plant over time.”

NuScale said UAMPS will “reap the benefits” of this optimization without licensing or construction delays. NuScale said the company’s achievements puts the U.S. on a path to beat foreign competitors like Russia, China, South Korea and Argentina in a race to be the first to market. Some estimates place global SMR capacity somewhere between 55 GW and 75 GW by 2035. If those numbers are realized, the global SMR market would be valued at around $1 trillion. In April, the U.S. Department of Energy awarded NuScale $40 million to assist the company in bringing its design to market.

Factory built and shipped by truck, each NuScale module provides about 50 MW of capacity. Twelve modules stacked side by side would give power producers and grid managers up to 600 MW of carbon-free capacity to help maintain perfect balance between supply and demand. What’s more, the cost of producing power with NuScale’s SMR technology is now below or competitive with all other sources of power generation.

The NuScale SMR is an advanced light-water reactor. Each module^. is a self-contained unit that operates independently within a multi-module configuration. Up to 12 modules are monitored and operated from a single control room.

The reactor measures 65 feet tall and 9 feet in diameter. It sits within a containment vessel.

The reactor and containment vessel operate inside a water-filled pool that is built below grade. The reactor operates using the principles of natural circulation; hence, no pumps are needed to circulate water through the reactor. Instead, the system uses a convection process. Water is heated as it passes over the core.

As it heats up, the water rises within the interior of the vessel. Once the heated water reaches the top of the riser, it is drawn downward by water that is cooled passing through the steam generators.

The cooler water has a higher density. It is pulled by gravity back down to the bottom of the reactor where it is again drawn over the core. Water in the reactor system is kept separate from the water in the steam generator system to prevent contamination. As the hot water in the reactor system passes over the hundreds of tubes in the steam generator, heat is transferred through the tube walls and the water in the tubes turns to steam. The steam turns turbines which are attached by a single shaft to the electrical generator. After passing through the turbines, the steam loses its energy. It is cooled back into liquid form in the condenser then pumped by the feed water pump back to the steam generator where it begins the cycle again.

Features of NuScale’s SMR design include

·         Thermal capacity — 160 MWt

·         Electrical capacity — 50 MWe (gross)

·         Capacity factor — >95 percent

·         Dimensions — 76′ x 15′ cylindrical containment vessel module containing reactor and steam generator

·         Weight — ~ 700 tons as shipped from fabrication shop

·         Transportation — Barge, truck or train

·         Cost — Numerous advantages due to simplicity, off-the-shelf standard items, modular design, shorter construction times, <$5,100/KW

·         Fuel — Standard LWR fuel in 17 x 17 configuration, each assembly 2 meters (~ 6 ft.) in length; 24-month refueling cycle with fuel enriched less than 4.95 percent

In designing the NuScale Power Module and power plant, NuScale has achieved a paradigm shift in the level of safety of a nuclear power plant facility. It is a solution to one of the biggest technical challenges for the current fleet of nuclear energy facilities.

NuScale’s comprehensive safety features are incorporated to provide stable long-term nuclear core cooling under all conditions, including severe accidents. These safety features include:

·         The Triple Crown for Nuclear Plant Safey design safely shuts down and self-cools, indefinitely with no operator action, no AC or DC power, and no additional water.

·         High-pressure containment vessel, redundant passive decay heat removal, and containment heat removal systems.

·         The integrated design of the NuScale Power Module, encompassing the reactor, steam generators, and pressurizer, and its use of natural circulation eliminates the need for large primary piping and reactor coolant pumps.

·         A small nuclear fuel inventory, since each 50 MWe (gross) NuScale Power Module houses approximately 5 percent of the nuclear fuel of a conventional 1,000 MWe nuclear reactor.

·         Containment vessel submerged in an ultimate heat sink for core cooling in a below grade reactor pool structure housed in a Seismic Category 1 reactor building.

In January, NuScale said the NRC agreed NuScale’s SMR design approach requires no safety-related power to safely shut down. “No operating nuclear plant in the USA can make that claim,” the company said in a June 6 press release.

POWER-GEN International 2018

Several advancements in Next-Gen Nuclear technology, including SMR designs, will be discussed during several conference sessions at POWER-GEN International 2018 Dec. 4-6 in Orlando, Florida.

The Short-Term Energy Outlook released June 12 by the U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates the share of gas-fired generation will rise from 32 percent in 2017 to 34 percent in 2018 and 2019. Coal’s share of the generation pie is expected to drop from 30 percent last year to 28 percent this year and next year.

The outlook also projects U.S. natural gas production will reach new highs in 2018, averaging 81.2 billion cubic feet per day, up from 73.6 Bcf/d last year. In 2019, gas production is projected to rise again to an all-time high, averaging 83.8 Bcf/d.

Nonhydropower renewable resources accounted for less than 10 percent of U.S. generation in 2017. That number is projected to rise to more than 10 percent this year and to nearly 11 percent in 2019, EIA said. Meanwhile, hydropower’s share of U.S. generation will remain unchanged over the next two years at around 7 percent.

Daily wind power production is expected to average 746,000 megawatt-hours in 2018 and 777,000 MWh in 2019, up from 697,000 MWh last year.

“If factors such as precipitation and snowpack remain as forecast, conventional hydropower is forecast to generate 752,000 MWh/d in 2019, which would make it the first year that wind generation exceeds hydropower generation in the United States,” EIA said.

The AI system from Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems was added to Unit 2 at Taiwan Power Company’s Linkou Thermal Power Plant. The upgrade added combustion tuning functionality that looks at boiler efficiency, auxiliary power and other fiscal factors to optimize performance.

The AI system is a component of MHPS-TOMONI, a comprehensive digital solutions service designed to optimize the performance of thermal power plants. Two of the three supercritical units are now online. The third is expected to begin commercial production next year. Each unit has a capacity of 800 MW.

Combustion tuning requires a series of adjustments to parameters such as flue-gas emission characteristics, combustion balance, steam temperature and boiler efficiency. The goal is to optimize the process. Employing the AI system during the combustion tuning allowed the system to analyze changes in operating conditions and parameters and then recommend changes.

“As a result, the AI’s suggested parameters led to further improvements in economic efficiency,” MHPS said.  

Some of the possibilities we pondered about 20 some years ago are taking shape today, forcing people and industries grounded in convention to shed pre-conceived notions about commerce, technology and consumer services. For the power sector, an industry known for its dispositional resistance to change, breaking free from century-old concepts has been vexing. Those conventional concepts are being dismantled by demands driven by technological advances inside and outside the power sector.

Blockchain technology, for example, promises to remove the traditional utility from electricity transactions and could accelerate the decentralization of an industry that is already shifting to distributed energy resources. Imagine a world where every household or business that generates and stores electricity can enter into automated, peer-to-peer transactions with neighbors or sell power back into the grid at the market rate, rather than through a third-party utility.

I remember when utility executives scoffed at the idea of storing utility-scale power supplies in batteries. That was just 16 years ago. Last year, battery energy storage systems accounted for 1 GW of installed capacity worldwide. By most accounts, energy storage will be fundamental in supporting a grid congested with variable power supplies.

Imagine a day when it will be next to impossible for a nuclear power plant to meltdown. That day will be here in a few short years thanks to progress being made in the design and development of small modular rectors (SMR). In fact, the SMR market is expected to grow to around $1 trillion by 2035. Some contend SMR technology is the key to returning the nuclear industry from the edge of economic collapse. 

Another major element in the power sector’s transformation centers around America’s century-old business model for electric utilities. The regulatory model that has long been used by utilities to generate a return on their investments in centralized power is losing its relevance in a world with a preference for cheaper distributed generation. In 2013, David Crane, former chief executive officer of NRG Energy, described the shift to distributed power as a “mortal threat” to utilities.  “They can’t cut costs, so they will try to distribute costs over fewer and fewer customers,” Crane said at the time. As a result, he said, electric bills will rise, which will drive more customers to invest in distributed generation at their homes and businesses. Five years later, it appears Crane’s vision and strategy may have been spot on.

This is the future power producers should be preparing for. The industry is rewriting the rules for producing and delivering power and maintaining, operating and managing power generation assets.

The heart of this transformation can be found in the digital realm of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector, which promotes the unification of communications technology and the integration of telecommunications, computers, software, storage and audio-visual systems to enable users to access, store, transmit and manipulate information. Innovations based on digital ICT include artificial intelligence, augmented reality, blockchain, instant messaging, video-conferencing and robotics.

So what does the convergence of digital solutions, power generation equipment and advances in automation mean for you, the power professional with years of training in longstanding processes and procedures in power generation?

It will require a clear mindset, an ability to clear the board and see things for the first time. It’s important because the power sector is being reinvented to accommodate a renewable and digital revolution that has spawned new expectations from consumers.

At the turn of the century, more than half of the nation’s power was produced with coal and the prospects of renewable power and energy storage playing a starring role in U.S. power generation were quickly dismissed. The technologies were too expensive, unproven and difficult to integrate into a grid built around coal. Today, renewable power and energy storage are two of the biggest emerging markets in power generation.

In 2017, renewable generation in the U.S. increased more than 13 percent versus 2016, with generation from solar growing more than 47 percent and wind more than 12 percent. The cost of energy storage has plunged in the last three years and some are predicting the global energy storage market will double six times between 2016 and 2030, mimicking the historic solar expansion between 2000 and 2015.

Power generation will be done in completely new ways in a few short years. What the future of power generation will look like is still unclear, but I’m looking forward to the journey.

POWER-GEN International 2018

Next-Gen technologies in power generation will be discussed in great detail during several conference sessions at POWER-GEN International 2018 Dec. 4-6 in Orlando, Florida. To join us in Orlando, click here.