Best Practices

The 501F Users Group’s 2018 conference and exhibition is only a few months away—Feb 25 – Mar 2, at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress, Orlando, Fla. It is your only chance in the coming year to visit with the major service providers and parts suppliers for the 501F fleet. Exclusive closed sessions for owner/operators with […]

European Technology Development Ltd conducts multi-client projects to address concerns and challenges within the international electric-power industry. Known as ETD Consulting, the 20-year-old UK company’s projects are aimed mainly at developing new tools, technologies, and methodologies for powerplant inspection, integrity, and life assessment/extension; and improvements to materials, welding, and design. Collaboration with the international power

What’s happening inside the fast-growing, hugely profitable, digital behemoths—one characterization is the “Big Five,” namely, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft—may be more important than what the electricity industry sees from the outside. We know they are driving the industry towards renewable energy through direct investments in solar and wind facilities and green electricity purchases.

It’s no secret, many of the electric power industry’s most capable engineers and technicians have retired recently or will do so in the next couple of years. But not Dave Lucier, founder and general manager of PAL Turbine Services LLC, headquartered near GE’s Schenectady works. He recently celebrated 50 years of service to the industry

Miguel Perez Ghisays, general manager of the privately held Termocandelaria peaking facility near Cartagena, Colombia, and his talented staff, embrace a process of continual improvement in all facets of operation and maintenance. Readers may recall the plant’s success in converting its two W501FC engines from gas-only to dual fuel in only 11 months after contract

We’re supposed to embrace change, but let’s face it, change is unavoidable. It occurs with every passing moment, even if you can’t sense it. So let’s talk about rates of change. In the gas-fired power industry, rates of change may be approaching chaotic effects. That’s the conclusion from 18 one-on-one half-hour interviews conducted over a

Recognized for its Best Practices in Safety and O&M Outage safety benefits from community outreach program People living in the communities near the Tuxpan F-class 2 × 1 combined cycles in Veracruz, Mexico, are a critical resource for the company. Management is concerned that local residents know what to do in an emergency and how

Recognized for its Best Practice in Performance Improvement Steam-turbine rotor/case upgrades and heating system extend outage intervals Lincoln Electric System’s Terry Bundy Generating Station is dispatched primarily to address peaks in the SPP market, resulting in daily on/off cycling. In 2016, the steam-turbine OEM significantly increased the equivalent operating-hour (EOH) factor for cold starts on

Recognized for its Best Practice in O&M and Safety Retrofit air-inlet filter house for emergency egress River Road Generating Plant (RRGP), 1 × 1 F-class combined cycle operated by GE for Clark Public Utilities and managed by PM Todd Gatewood, was built in 1996-1997. The legacy four-level air-inlet filter house was installed with no emergency

Recognized for its Best Practice in Performance Improvement Water-wash program gives year-round benefit A new powerplant with no leaking valves and latest-technology equipment generally doesn’t have to be concerned with losing a few points in its heat rate. Add 15 years of operation and that measurement of plant efficiency takes on a whole new meaning.