Current POWER white papers

Contact Matt Grant for more information about having your white paper published online.

Lighting the Way: The Digital Future of Reliable Power Transmission and Distribution

Owner operators face the challenge of implementing larger capital projects than ever before with limited resources and pressures to ensure projects are delivered on schedule, to specification, and within budget. The amount of information created on a capital project can be overwhelming and make it difficult for engineers and specialists to find what they need. Once the information is found, it is often out of context, and additional time is lost searching for related information in order to fully understand the design. This issue, coupled with information sitting in a variety of sources and disconnected systems results in wasting time – one of the company’s most valuable resources. Find out how Hexagon PPM brings tools, processes, and people together to help deliver projects on time, on budget, and with assured quality.

Design Considerations for Small Scale HRSGs

There are many factors to consider when designing a small scale heat recovery steam generator (HRSG). This paper discusses moving from single-cycle to combined-cycle cogeneration with a focus on projects that are under 20 MWe. It covers the benefits of cogeneration, also known as Combined Heat and Power (CHP), and emerging market drivers for CHP growth. The paper reviews design, typical arrangements, definitions and the relationship between gas turbines, HRSGs and steam turbine generator sets. Available resources from the U.S. Department of Energy also are identified.

Examining ICS/OT Exploits

Dragos currently tracks more than 3000 Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) that affect ICS/OT networks. Of these CVEs, more than 400 have at least one publicly available exploit and some with multiple. Public exploits affect every level of an industrial environment, providing adversaries pre-packaged tools capable of infiltrating and spreading through an ICS/OT network.

Download this whitepaper to enable operators to remediate ICS/OT vulnerabilities more effectively. You will learn:

What well-known organizations publish nearly 25% of all public ICS/OT exploits
Why the amount of ICS/OT CVEs decreased in 2020
Why the ability to pivot and persist within in ICS/OT network is the most common impact of a public exploit
What public exploits are useless within the context of an ICS/OT network
Based on the known public ICS/OT exploits, what vulnerabilities should be remediated first

In situ full pond stabilization provides a less expensive green solution to ash pond closure

We are well aware of the environmental impact of coal ash in the United States with potential hazards to both the air and water. Finding an acceptable solution that will provide a safe, permanent solution that is economically feasible has been the challenge. ALLU Soil Improvement System stabilizes from the bottom up, not just at the surface. Read how full pond stabilization can provide a less expensive green solution to ash pond closure.

AI Process Automation & Optimization for Power Generators

Power generators across the globe are facing new and more complex challenges than ever before. Mounting pressure for energy companies to reduce their emissions, minimize their carbon footprint, and increase demand reliability — as well as shifting business and consumer preferences — means that new, proactive solutions are needed now. One such solution that is not new to the industry but has yet to match the pace of others is artificial intelligence (AI). Historically, power generators have lagged behind other industries in the adoption of AI. A variety of implementation barriers are responsible for this. Here, we’ll explore these barriers and how the right AI solution can help power generators overcome them in a prioritized, proactive manner. Griffin’s COS has a proven track record of maximizing performance as existing systems have demonstrated 0.5% to 1% improvement in heat rate and reduction in emission rates in excess of 20%.

Global Electric Cyber Threat Perspective

The number of cyber intrusions and attacks targeting the Electric sector is increasing from Activity Groups (AG) and ransomware operations.

In 2020, Dragos disclosed three new AGs explicitly targeting the electricity sector: KAMACITE, TALONITE, and STIBNITE. Dragos’s threat intelligence team now tracks eleven AGs explicitly targeting industrial control systems in electric utility networks, and two of these possess ICS-specific capabilities and tools capable of causing disruptive events.

Prepare for the Activity Groups targeting your operational technologies with the insights in this free download, including:

• Key findings from our latest threat intelligence
• 11 Activity Groups that are currently targeting the Electric sector
• Current threats to each operational segment, from generation to distribution
• Lessons learned from real-world cyber events at electric utilities
• Recommendations to protect against specific threat behaviors

ABB Ability™ Genix Industrial Analytics and AI Suite

There’s a big difference between having data and being able to use it to optimize operations. Fortunately, current technology is helping to bridge that gap by applying artificial intelligence and machine learning to the challenge. This paper by the ARC the Advisory Group explores how cloud-enabled software, such as ABB Ability™ Genix Industrial Analytics and AI Suite, can help extend asset life, smooth process performance, promote safety and sustainability, and optimize supply chains.

An Executive’s Guide to Industrial Cybersecurity

As enterprises invest in digital transformation, industrial cybersecurity will increasingly serve as the critical enabler for safely and securely advancing business goals through technological innovation.

While this transformation of operational technology (OT) provides significant benefits, they can be diminished by increased cyber security risk.

Read this executive guide to learn how to secure operational technology systems. You’ll learn:

• How digital transformation and connectivity increase risk and exposure
• How the OT threat landscape is growing rapidly and increasing in sophistication
• Why remediating OT vulnerabilities requires a different approach than IT vulnerabilities
• Next steps executives should take to assess and address the unique challenges of OT cybersecurity

Engineering the plant of the future

As industrial plant and marine players accelerate digital transformation initiatives, focus remains on driving efficiency to stay profitable and competitive amidst complex challenges and eroded margins. Meanwhile, the energy transition is continuing to accelerate as the world responds to mounting climate change challenges. Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) priorities are mounting, fueled by growing regulatory requirements and shifting market demands. The need for efficient, data-driven, and green facilities is growing, increasing the pressure on the process and marine industries to transform how they engineer, build, and operate new and existing plants. Owner Operators and Engineering, Procurement and Construction companies (EPCs) now need to build clear strategies, powered by digital twins in the cloud, to empower the connected worker to drive sustainable outcomes and increase engineering efficiency and operational agility by connecting data, people, and processes. This whitepaper explores why a market that is more open to change than ever before is looking to drive resilience and embracing the plant of the future. It explores how future plants will operate, the key factors the industry must consider, and strategies to achieve the end goal of sustainable, efficient, modern plants and ships that are fit for purpose in the future.

Accelerate Digital Transformation with a Connected Workforce

The global pandemic has changed the way we work – and for many industrial companies, the change will be permanent.

The impact of COVID-19, and subsequent changes in how facilities are located, staffed, managed and digitized, and how customers are supported, are placing pressure on operations leaders.
Collaboration and access to accurate information remain critical for frontline workers to help solve problems and increase productivity, yet many leaders are now faced with the reality of a distributed and remote workforce. Most industrial workers are frontline or field workers, whose day-to-day duties require that they physically show up to their jobs. Most of these frontline jobs cannot be done remotely, yet these workers still need access to digital information, guidance, training, and support, which was previously given in person.

Industrial companies of every size are now prioritizing their digital transformation initiatives in order to maintain business operations and business continuity. Technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR) are now central to the corporate innovation portfolio of any business leader and crucial to accelerating digital transformation efforts at a time when enterprises most need it.

In this free eBook, learn how industrial connected worker solutions that leverage AI and AR are helping companies accelerate their digital transformation efforts.

How to Stop Boiler Tube Wastage Caused by Corrosion and Erosion

Boiler tube wastage is a major problem that affects unit availability and reliability, causing forced outages and ultimately costing the owner a tremendous amount of money. This white paper discusses how extending the life of the tubes can be achieved with the application of HVTS, High Velocity Thermal Spray. Companies that utilize HVTS report lower cost of ownership of their boilers and increased availability of their plant.

10 Step Guide to Choosing a CEM Solution

Finding the right continuous emission monitoring system (CEMS) takes time, but it is a necessary process to ensure emissions reduction regulations are met. Process industries like the cement industry have a variety of CEMS solutions to choose from, but how you do you know which one is right for your operations? In this 10 Step Guide, experts from SICK provide a guidelines on selecting the right CEMS.

This paper discusses how to:

Determine process parameters needed for a CEMS
Ensure CEMS complies with current standards or future regulations
Determine operational conditions of your CEMS
Factor in lifetime costs of CEMS and ROI

XBRL Tagging for FERC vs. the SEC: What’s the Difference?

Energy companies will soon start reporting quarterly and annual financial and operational data in XBRL® format to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The XBRL format isn’t new for public companies that have been submitting reports with XBRL tags to the Securities and Exchange Commission for years, but the taxonomy for tagging FERC forms will be different. In this paper, authors Percy Hung and Peter Larison help practitioners learn more about the differences as they look for XBRL software to meet FERC requirements.

Step 1 in Digital Transformation: Requirements Management

Energy & Utility businesses want to achieve Digital Lifecycle Excellence to prepare themselves for future success but are unsure what a logical first step might be.

An Integrated Requirements Management approach deploys quickly, provides a rapid time-to-value, and is a cost-effective way to give your project team a considerable advantage on their next project.

Download our latest ebook to read more about how converting your project teams from document-centric work processes to data-driven execution will help them to:

Streamline communications between customers and the supply chain
Use impact analysis to understand the effect of requirement and specification changes before they’re agreed to, and
Digitalize the most time-consuming parts of your bid & tender processes

MAXH₂O Desalter Helps Minimize Water Usage in Power Plants

The primary demand for water in a power plant is for condenser cooling. The methods used for condenser cooling in the power plant are once-through, evaporative cooling, and dry cooling. The quantity of water required for a cooling tower is determined by a parameter known as the cycles of concentration (COC). Therefore, one of the ways to save water is to increase the number of COC. Unfortunately, this increases the potential for scaling and corrosion because of the resulting higher levels of dissolved solids.

This paper addresses:

Methods used for cooling in power plants
Challenges with cooling tower blowdown
Solutions

Digital Lifecycle Excellence

Industry leaders must build a higher level of digital enterprise competence to become the best in the energy and utilities industry.

Intense global competition, explosive market dynamics and the industry’s energy transformation are all creating business strains not seen in decades. Harness information produced during the lifecycle to extract valuable insights and attain management excellence.

Learn how to optimize your physical and digital assets to deliver industry-leading performance in the energy and utility sector. Harness information produced during the lifecycle to extract valuable insights and attain management excellence.

The Asset Management and Predictive Analytics Solution for Clean Energy

Through the acquisition of Ensemble Energy, SparkCognition is offering the world’s first AI-enabled asset management platform for clean energy, supporting the industry in its transition towards renewables by reducing costs and increasing energy production. This whitepaper showcases how renewable operators can remain competitive in the growing energy landscape by investing in machine learning-based technology to create more efficient, optimized operations. See how the Ensemble Energy platform delivers material benefits to the bottom-line including:

Increased Revenue
Reduced O&M Expense
Improved Asset Management and Maintenance
Optimized Workforce Scheduling

On-line Silica and Phosphate Measurement to Protect Power Plant Assets

In power plants, water is the lifeblood of the electrical generating process. The characteristics of water/steam impact overall performance. Preventing silica deposition on assets and ensuring proper dosage of phosphate to prevent corrosion are critical.

With power generation companies facing a multitude of challenges ranging from tightening budgets to making operations more flexible, proper monitoring and control throughout the water/steam cycle enables plants to maximize reliability, safety and profitability. It begins with setting the foundations—monitoring the right chemicals at the right time and under budget. This has led to the growing importance of chemical-specific analyzers, including those for silica and phosphate, to provide dependable, automated, on-line measurements.

And more topics included in this whitepaper:

The importance of on-line analysis
Silica in the power plant water cycle
Phosphate boiler water treatment

Mission-critical data for reliable power in the age of renewables

The rapid growth of renewable deployments on grids worldwide has profoundly changed the electric-power value chain. Professionals at every link in that chain— from control-room operators to generating-fleet managers to regional transmission operators—face operational challenges that simply did not exist even 20 years ago.

Read this whitepaper to learn:

Why the strategic use of operational data is critical to navigating new challenges in the power industry
How to use operational data for better decision-making and optimizing costly, long-lived assets
How customers, such as Xcel Energy and EDF renewables, are leveraging operational data to achieve real-time situational awareness of distributed assets

The Sierra Wireless Perspective on Distributed Energy Grids and the Benefits of Implementing a Vehicle Area Network

Ongoing retirement of copper lease lines is forcing operators of distributed electricity grids to find new ways to deploy Direct Transfer Trip (DTT), an essential technique for clearing faults. LTE cellular delivers the performance and security DTT needs, at a cost dramatically lower than that of fiber-optic cabling. What’s more, LTE cellular is supported by management systems that create a solid foundation for complete grid modernization.To improve customer experience and reduce operating costs, utility companies are looking to streamline their field operations using a vehicle-based mobile workforce. Consolidating connectivity over a vehicle area network (VAN) reduces costs while increasing field productivity by providing workers access to corporate applications and enabling two-way communication. As fleet management systems and mobile workforce management software tools are becoming more powerful and sophisticated, implementing the right strategy for connecting your mobile workforce to the enterprise creates an opportunity for significant return on investment. This white paper outlines key strategies for streamlining operations, finding efficiencies and lowering costs with the right technology solutions.

Download the white paper to learn about:
• The Need for Alternative DTT Formats
• How LTE Cellular Does DTT Right
• Taking LTE Beyond DTT
• Mobility for the modern utility
• A comprehensive approach to cost reduction
• Real-life success stories using a vehicle area network (VAN) approach

The Connected Workforce

Mobility isn’t a new phenomenon and, in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, enabling remote work is quickly becoming a competitive advantage. Plenty of technology is available today for enabling a Connected Workforce, but the challenge is in breaking down departmental barriers and driving a consensus on the value of a unified, single source of truth. This new white paper from the experts at Operational Sustainability® will show you the importance of a Connected Workforce to ensure better decisions are made faster across your organization, how the pain of change compares to not changing at all, and what a comprehensive workforce strategy looks like.

How Digitization of Field Operations Benefits Wind Power Companies

Learn why leading wind energy companies like SGRE and Vestas rely on mobile technology to automate their site-to-office document workflows, deliver projects on-time and on-budget, and reduce wind turbine inspection time.

Realizing Augmented Reality for Utilities: The Role of Mobile Devices

Utilities continue to increase digitalization, influenced by grid modernization and an ever-more digitally proficient workforce. A survey of 150 utilities conducted by Zpryme explores how these organizations are using augmented reality (AR) and the role of mobile devices in the use of this emerging technology. The survey found that utilities recognize AR as an important technology that can significantly impact the mobile workforce, but they are uncertain about how to leverage its benefits. Learn more about how mobile AR solutions may benefit utilities frontline workers.

Sealed with a cord – Sulzer’s state-of-the-art sealing concept for axial split pumps

Axially split single and multi-stage pumps are commonly used to transfer large volumes of water at high pressure in power generation and water management applications.
Operators of this equipment rely on pump manufacturers to deliver cost-effective, reliable and durable machinery that takes advantage of the latest developments in technology and materials science to improve performance.
Energy consumption makes efficiency a spotlight factor in a pump’s total lifecycle cost and the sealing concept is playing a significant role within the system.

Download the paper to read about:

Streamlining cost of large industrial axial split pumps without affecting performance.
Providing more cost-effective, reliable and durable machinery, taking advantage of the latest developments in technology.
How material science on sealings has impact on performance.

Optimizing pump operations in offshore environments

Offshore operating environments present some of the toughest challenges to maintenance engineers. In the short-term, ensuring reliability is essential, while in the long-term, adapting performance to meet changing operational requirements is the best method of optimizing efficiency. Working with limited space together with the remote location of most offshore facilities means the task of delivering cost-effective, efficient and durable equipment requires considerable expertise.

The offshore industry faces two main challenges – maintaining the existing assets in the field and adapting equipment so that it is capable of maximizing the yields from oil and gas deposits. In each case industry expertise and engineering innovation will be required to deliver these goals.

Continuous Electrodeionization for Boiler Feed Water

Chemically regenerated ion exchange has been the conventional method of purifying boiler feedwater at power plants for over half a century. Recent improvements in continuous deionization (CEDI) technology has caused a shift towards chemical-free deionization systems. An RO/CEDI process has become cost competitive with traditional options and offers additional benefits such as reduced downtime, more consistent water quality and a smaller footprint. With careful planning and system design, CEDI can deliver a long service life and reliable production of feedwater without the use of chemicals.

Renewables Deal-Making Is in a State of Flux

While the last decade has been profoundly transformative for the global power landscape, no energy segment carved out as definitive an upward trajectory as renewables. But underpinning that growth is a set of trends stakeholders must weigh as they seek to take advantage of the evolving opportunities renewables offer.

Gas Engine Reliability Through Used Oil Analysis

This white paper, “Gas Engine Reliability Through Used Oil Analysis,” takes a close look at proper oil sampling procedures needed for reliable data trending, and the results you may expect to find. Furthermore, this paper explores Inductive Coupled Plasma (ICP), the method used to identify and quantify the different elements found in a used oil analysis report and what these can mean for the health of your engine.

Addressing stress corrosion cracking in the turbomachinery industry

Stress Corrosion Cracking is a common problem affecting turbomachinery components such as rotor discs, steam turbine blades and compressor impellers, and is a major factor driving component repair. This type of cracking may lead to catastrophic failures which result in unplanned down time and expensive repairs. A comprehensive root cause failure analysis is always needed to determine and confirm the root causes. Based on the findings of the analysis, different methods can be used to alleviate the cause of stress corrosion cracking. The design of the component, operating environment and other factors should be considered when selecting a method to mitigate stress corrosion cracking.

Energy Management Strategies to Plan for Peak Load Days

Managing commercial and industrial energy costs demands a more comprehensive approach than shopping around for the best price. From the lens of peak load days, this paper examines multifaceted strategies to reduce utility spend, meet sustainability goals, and potentially create a new revenue stream. Learn which mechanisms are available to help businesses avoid peak load cost surprises and prepare for the energy transition.

Asset Health as a Means for Integrated Asset Performance Management

Asset Health synthesizes asset data sources into asset health information and provides actionable intelligence for asset management via a dashboard – providing a cockpit for reliable operations. Asset Performance Management (APM) strives to optimize the performance of production assets across several areas, balancing the needs of each area while taking into account varied and sometimes conflicting business drivers. Successfully balancing those parameters requires an integrated approach to asset performance management, which is the main goal of Asset Health. This new white paper from Operational Sustainability, LLC® describes the parameters, processes, and outcomes.

7 Things FERC Filers Should Know About XBRL Reporting

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) filers are likely in the midst of preparing for next year’s XBRL reporting deadline. Since this type of reporting is new to the FERC community, it can feel like a daunting task with questions about where to start. This e-book will walk you through the basics of what you need to know to get started. It helps alleviate some of the initial guesswork with tips and tricks that help lay the groundwork.

Wärtsilä – Paving the Path to 100%

To address the economic, scientific, and political challenges surrounding the decarbonization of electricity, Wärtsilä created the Path to 100% initiative. The Path to 100% brings together thought leaders and industry experts to discuss solutions, raise awareness, and discover operationally and financially realistic approaches to building a 100% renewable energy future — not just city by city, but across entire states and nations.

CASE STUDY: Reduce Maintenance Concerns and Costs on Gas Turbine Fuel Control Valve Actuation

Many of the GE 7FA based combined cycle power plants built in the late 1990’s / early 2000’s, experienced oil contamination issues, primarily due to the requirements placed upon the lube / control oil system. Varnish and particulate contamination resulted in downstream impacts, especially within electrohydraulic servos and their small diameter control orifices. Parker’s Abex line of Jet-Pipe^® servos has proven to be a robust alternative to the OE servo valves.

How to Securely Transition to Remote Plant Operations in Response to Today’s Challenges

A myriad of complex market forces and a unique set of challenges have converged over the last decade, and even more so in the past few months, leading to the rapid adoption of new digital solutions in power plants. A key part of this evolution is finding new ways to securely operate from a remote environment. As new challenges have emerged, the need for secure remote operations has only accelerated.

This paper explores the current situation driving the need for remote user access for Operational Technology and looks at the technical solution that is making this possible. Learn how utilities are adopting this secure technology to solve the problems of today and prepare for the future.

Savings and Simplicity: Less Time Consumption with Smart Liquid Monitoring

Modern water monitoring operations are under pressure to reduce maintenance costs while at the same time there is a demand for more measurements. Digital technology has changed the industry’s analyzer capabilities; smart water monitoring systems are simple to use and make the whole measurement processes more efficient, which saves time and money.

Download our free eBook to learn:

How to save time and money in water monitoring processes
FAQs about smart liquid analyzers
Benefits of smart liquid monitoring you may not know about

Combustible Dust: NFPA® 652 is Finally Here… How Will It Affect Flame-Resistant Clothing?

Reducing the cost and compliance burden associated with meeting final remediation effluent requirements continues to be a key driver to technical innovation. As many power plants continue to struggle with the critical last step in their coal ash remediation processes – the final testing phase – some plants have successfully adopted the use of recently advanced sensor technology to measure real-time total suspended solids (TSS) to verify their discharge water is meeting specified requirements. Having the ability to monitor TSS real time, and obtain accurate results that are repeatable and verifiable with random lab tests, allows for users to automate functions such as controlling pumps transporting effluent, or start and stop pretreatment processes designed to keep effluent within permit guidelines.

7 Ways to Get Greedy with Your Information

As utilities move towards digital solutions, data is becoming more and more plentiful. As this happens, the wealth of operational data enables high-fidelity situational awareness.

To take the next step, best-in-class utilities have combined operational data from all parts of their processes with external contextual data to enable multiple ways to improve profitability through better efficiency and commercial alignment.

Does your data team have what it needs to help you deliver?
To find out, get greedy about information and ask your data team to help with these seven opportunities.

Continuous Real-Time TSS Monitoring for Coal Ash

Using Mission Critical Data in the Age of Renewables

In the age of increasing renewable energy, professionals at every level from control room to generating fleet managers and regional transmission managers are now facing entirely new problems. From new regulations, two-way power flow, shifting roles in power provider and consumer, navigating these new issues requires that power providers think differently about how they operate and continue to innovate.

See how Xcel Energy, AGL and others have used operational data strategically to navigate three new challenges:

Meeting Availability and Reliability Requirements
Maintaining Asset Profitability in Competitive Markets
Achieving Real-time Situational Awareness of Distributed Assets

Improve Boiler Efficiency
Select the Perfect Flowmeter

Know your options when selecting the appropriate flow meter technology to measure natural gas, water and steam in power generation. Measuring the flow energy — flows that cost money such as natural gas, waste gas, water and steam — in these boiler applications is critical for improving energy efficiency, identifying waste and minimizing the greenhouse gases going into atmosphere. In Sierra’s new white paper, discover which flow meter technologies provide the most accurate flow measurement data so you can optimize your boiler efficiency and energy production.

OT Experts Share Their Strategies for Power Industry

PAS asked OT security professionals in the power generation industry to share their top three pieces of advice to make a facility’s OT/ICS environment more secure from cyber attacks. The essays in this eBook provide a wealth of information and present an inside look at cybersecurity for critical infrastructure. Anyone with responsibility for critical industrial operations will benefit from the advice and experiences of those who have contributed to this eBook.

How Power Plants are Reducing Work-Related Injuries

Falls directly relate to two of the five most common injuries in the electric power industry, costing power plants many thousands of dollars each year in direct and indirect costs. This technical guide walks you through the scope of the problem as well as regulatory requirements for fall prevention. Step-by-step instructions on evaluating current circumstances are included along with a guide to evaluating potential solutions.

New Metering Solution Controls Condensate in HRSG Systems

Water in steam tubes can lead to trouble. However, a new solution, utilizing ultrasonic flowmeter technology, allows precise water detection in heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) systems, giving operators the opportunity to alleviate the problem before failure results.

Improving plant performance with digital technology

For many power companies, slight changes in plant efficiency can mean the difference between a unit being profitably dispatched or losing money while sitting idle. Digital technology can be the game-changer. With proper monitoring strategies, control loops can be tuned and maintenance can be optimized, leading to difference-making improvements in plant performance. This white paper explains what you can do to enhance your plant’s systems and capitalize on opportunities.

Solve obsolescence problems and extend plant life with a control system retrofit

Control technology has changed a lot since the average power plant entered service. Yet, most of these units still have long useful lives ahead of them. Upgrading to a new distributed control system can solve equipment obsolescence issues and extend the life of a plant well into the future. It’s important, however, to evaluate the available technology, and select the best system and configuration to meet not only budget and schedule constraints, but also performance and security needs.

Advancing Electric Utility Security

Utilities face serious difficulties from increased cyber and physical security threats. Learn how to use NERC-CIP security standards to develop and implement a plan that establishes and maintains a strong physical security profile for electric utility sites. By following these standards and implementing modern physical security technology available today, utilities can deter, detect, delay, assess, communicate, and respond to physical security threats in ways that far surpass those of even a few years ago.

Solving Three Lighting Problems for Power Generation Facilities

Switching to energy-efficient LED lighting is common among businesses today. But power generation facilities face unique challenges. Whether its coal, natural gas, other types of fossil fuels, or nuclear, typical LED products do not work well or last for a long time in a hot environment.

Facilities Managers and Plant Supervisors need to be informed before replacing lighting in their plants in order to not waste time or money. MyLEDLightingGuide has experience helping power generation facilities convert to LED.

This guide tackles three of the top lighting problems power generation facilities face:
1. The challenge hot environments create for lighting
2. The cost of engineering studies alone can be a deterrent to upgrade to LED
3. Bright security lighting is paramount

This guide also gives some guidance on selecting, ordering, and installing the right high temperature high bay or flood lights for that high-temperature environment.

Staying Connected with Mobile Devices in the Power Sector

A variety of factors contribute to power utilities feeling the pinch, and mobile solutions offer one way to cut costs by improving operations while extending service capabilities to customers. Mobile tech can increase front-line operator and field tech utilization, improve real-time communication with dispatchers, and connect faster with customers. Field technicians also can respond proactively to operational events with access to data such as asset information, maps and diagrams, and customer information. Because utilities typically have assets spread across a wide geographical area, none of that can happen without strong, reliable connectivity. Loss of connectivity can severely hamper field work functions.

This paper touches on how utility workers use mobile devices and describes advantages of Panasonic Toughbook rugged devices over consumer-grade models.

Leveraging IIoT Devices in the Power Gen Industry – Challenges and Opportunities

The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) brings significant opportunities to power generation along with some unique challenges around integrating distributed, intelligent devices into plants. To better understand these obstacles and explore how IIoT devices can complement the existing industrial control systems, Zpryme surveyed organizations that generate power from sources such as wind, solar and natural gas. In this report, we explore how companies are integrating IIoT devices, what are the challenges they face and the benefits they are getting from leveraging this technology.

The Impact of Oil Cleanliness on Your Equipment in the Power Industry

Covers the leading cause of lubricant-related equipment failure, measuring contaminants in your oil, how clean does oil need to be, the benefits of clean oil, how new oil gets contaminated, the best way to reduce contaminate-caused wear, and much more. Download the free paper now to find out more.

Enhancing Combustion Turbine Capabilities for 21st Century Power Markets

Learn How to Enhance Combustion Turbines to Profits Under New Market Rules

CTs are the modern fossil fuel workhorse
Combustion turbines (CTs) have become the stars of most utility generation fleets. They are cleaner and faster to respond than their coal-fired counterparts and have been the technology of choice for new assets over the last 20 years.

Are your CTs Renewable Ready?
However, the increase in generation from renewable assets has created additional opportunities for CTs. Renewable sources variable output can be nearly instantaneous, creating new demands for system operators. One reflection of this new need is the emergence of 5 minute dispatch in the energy markets.

A Modern, Modular Solution is Required
This article presents a technology engineered to equip existing CTs with rapid response capability while reclaiming capacity currently unattainable due to the ambient operating temperatures or altitude of the CTs’ site.

Ultrasonic Flowmeter Reveals Reason for Tube Failure in High-Heat Application

A major power generator was having a premature tube failure in the feed water heater of its 400 megawatt pulverized coal plants. The nature of the problem seemed to be: hot spots in the water wall and inconsistent water flow. To test their theory they measured the temperature of the hot spots, but measuring the flow of the return water was harder. They did not want to cut into the pipe and the return water was steam condensate under pressure, with temperatures running around 650°F. The issues continued when they discovered air in the line, damaged tubes, and uneven flow. The solution: FLEXIM’s WaveInjector designed to combat high temperatures. Download this white paper to find out how this meter helped to solve the problem.

How to Protect Control Assets Before the Cybersecurity Egg Cracks

The target is on the back of industrial control systems (ICS) within the power and process industries. The number of attacks, as reported by the Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT), has increased fourfold since 2010. Control systems at industrial facilities present a more attractive target to hackers as they offer a greater opportunity to exert control over the plant and cause potentially catastrophic damage. The attacks are growing in sophistication as hackers become more knowledgeable about the proprietary systems at the center of plant operations.

The challenge the industry now faces is hardening ICS cybersecurity before a potentially devastating attack occurs. In this paper, we will discuss the current state of cybersecurity in the industry and best practices for implementing a comprehensive ICS cybersecurity strategy.

The Power of Regulation Versus Well-Oiled Industry Standards

Industry experts David Batz, senior director of Cyber and Infrastructure Security at Edison Electric Institute, and Jason Haward-Grau, chief information security officer at PAS Global, discuss how leaders in the power and O&G industries are addressing compliance and cybersecurity standards.

Driving Efficiencies Throughout Your Shutdown, Turnaround and Outage Event

Understanding STO events are a core part of your business. Oracle’s Primavera Shutdown, Turnaround and OutagesSolution has been developed to support the transformation of your STO business by proving a predictable solution that supports scope, cost, schedule, risk and change throughout the STO event lifecycle.

ICS Cybersecurity: Protecting the Industrial Endpoints That Matter Most

This paper will examine how EDR should extend to proprietary endpoints, what security controls have the greatest effect on reducing risk for these cyber assets, and what best practices apply.

Security Issues in Today’s Power Marketplace

Security is a concern for anyone in today’s power generation marketplace. Intense global economic competition, geopolitical uncertainty and the “hacking economy” mean threats today are more pervasive than ever.

Utilities Incremental Gains Through EPPM

Enterprise project portfolio management is mission critical to the utilities industry and is driven by billions of dollars in capital investments. These large-scale projects, if they fail, have an impact on their company and their share price. Incremental gains are the key to managing risk in this rapidly evolving industry. EPPM provides that full end-to-end capability to support the capital asset life-cycle –- from planning, building and construction, operation and maintenance, to decommissioning.

Improved Plant Performance and Reduced CO2 Emission Through State-of-the-Art Condenser Cleaning and Air In-leakage Detection

Efficient condenser operation is critical to minimizing the operating costs and improving the performance of a turbogenerator unit or power plant. Efficient condenser performance is recognized by an improvement in heat rate and generation capacity, less fuel is consumed and a significant reduction in CO2 emissions can be achieved.

Sit/Stand Consoles in Today’s Plant Control Rooms

For any successful organization, a key attribute is providing employees with a healthy workplace environment. In demanding control room areas, employees are often required to sit tethered to their consoles and workstations for extended periods of time. Over the years, studies have shown that sedentary lifestyles-whether at work or home-can cause pain, fatigue, stress and other detrimental conditions. Movement throughout the day is very important as it helps keep the spine, circulation and muscles healthy when compare to prolonged inactivity, which can have adverse effects. Obviously, it can have a tremendous impact on worker productivity.

Optimizing the Steam Generation Cycle and Condensate Recovery Process for Profit

Are inefficient steam environments hurting your bottom line? Steam production in commercial industries can represent 10-60% of total energy consumption, so efficiency is vital. With effective instrumentation solutions, plants can reduce fuel consumption, lower maintenance costs, and recover valuable energy and resources.

7 Steps to Improve Utilities Asset Decommissioning

Global competition and volatile markets are creating a challenging business climate for project based firms which leave them with little room for error when managing projects. Utility companies have their own individual challenges when it comes to managing their asset’s lifecycles, but one area that is often overlooked or pushed off until the last minute is the decommissioning phase of their assets.

Optimize Your Shutdown, Turnaround, and Outage (STO) Performance

Optimize your shutdown, turnaround and outage (STO) performance. Based on the experiences of almost 200 respondents, this report will explore STOs among asset intensive companies. Specifically, how Best-in-Class companies view STOs as enterprise wide events, which are critical to success. Discover how to achieve operational excellence by reading this report.

Understanding Equipment Certification Programs for Potentially Explosive Areas

Explosions in a power generation facility can cause catastrophic damages, worker injury, and even death. It is crucial that accelerometers and pressure sensors be intrinsically-safe with low currents and/or voltages. But do you know which specific intrinsic safety certification is right for your application? Check out this definitive guide for more information.

The Practical Application and Innovation of Cleaning Technologies for Condensers

Maintaining clean condenser tubes is of vital importance for reliable, efficient power generation. Two major problems result from fouled tubes: (1) Loss of heat transfer, and (2) Under-deposit corrosion. Early identification of fouling characteristics and a fundamental knowledge of cleaning system capabilities are essential in determining the most effective cleaning technology. This paper discusses the common causes of condenser tube fouling and the practical application and innovation of cleaning technology. State-of-the-Art methods for off-line mechanical tube cleaning are presented, and their effects on tube condition examined.

Lockout/Tagout (LOTO): Automating the process

A clearly defined LOTO process is mandatory in all plants, be it manual or automated. Most people recognize time savings in accomplishing complex tasks as the real advantage in ‘automation’. Automation implies taking a complicated labor intensive manual process and making it more efficient and effective. However, for LOTO, the question is not merely ‘will it save time’ or ‘will it save money’? The real question is: can software make the process safer? There are lives at stake; there is no room for ‘bugs’ or ‘technical difficulties’. The good news is: the answer to both these questions is “yes”.

GE Customer Stories for Asset Performance Management

Being alerted to issues before they become production downtime is key to more consistent power production at greatest fuel savings. But how can you gain visibility across the myriad of new and vintage assets in a power generation environment? Bord Gáis Energy’s 445-megawatt gas combined cycle power plant at Whitegate provides power to 10% of Ireland. Download this GE Asset Performance Management Customer story and see how Bord Gáis saved 25% fuel savings as a result of their use of sensors, Big Data and diagnostic analysis to engineer greater reliability into their operations. See how you can get connected and reap the benefits of more reliable operating assets.

Managing Utility Capital Projects Using Enterprise Project Portfolio Management Solutions

Utility executives worldwide face a precarious balancing act: how to plan, build, and operate assets within an increasingly challenging business environment. Utilities face massive upgrades to aging infrastructure, so an increase in the number of capital projects in the near future is certain. The loss of institutional knowledge resulting from widespread workforce retirements within the next decade, however, leaves the current workforce at a disadvantage in managing these planned capital projects. Effective software solutions that equip utility staff – both at the executive and project level – to manage each stage of the project lifecycle will play a key role in addressing these challenges.

Winning Strategies for Maximizing Operational Efficiency and Customer Service for Utilities and Green Energy Companies

Savvy utility company CIOs frequently ask themselves if their technology is helping them meet their goals or simply adding to the challenges of an already complex industry. If you’re one of those CIOs, you’re probably working hard to find new and better ways to meet those challenges using technology to connect and improve every aspect of your business. If you want to learn how your utility can use technology to connect with consumers, equipment and employees better than ever before, download our new white paper “Winning Strategies for Maximizing Operational Efficiency and Customer Service for Utilities and Green Energy Companies.”

Mega-Project Management: Reducing Risk & Complexity Across the Value Chain

Mega-projects have become commonplace in the oil and gas industry. Offshore oil and gas development increasingly tilts toward the mega-project scale because of the burgeoning exploratory success the industry is enjoying in ultra-deep waters, where development projects costs routinely run into the billions and schedules can span half a decade or more.

Transforming the Utilities Industry with EPPM

With budgets in the billions, timelines spanning years, and life cycles extending over decades, water and power projects present enormous management challenges for the organizations sponsoring them. Oracle helps utilities rise to these challenges – and reap the corresponding rewards – by providing an enterprise project portfolio management (EPPM) solution that gives them visibility into and control over every aspect of their operations.

The Impact of Aging Infrastructure in Process Manufacturing Industries

Process manufacturing companies in the oil and gas, utilities, chemicals and natural resource industries rely on proprietary infrastructure to run their operations. Much of this infrastructure is rapidly aging, thus increasing the risk of failure. Subsequent disruptions hamstring operations and impede opportunities for growth, with the impact of these interruptions felt worldwide. As a result, executives in these industries must make tough decisions about where, when and how much to invest in infrastructure upgrades.

Elegant Solutions to Power and Gas Sector Challenges

Nat Gas and Power sectors are on a path of convergence in terms of reliable electricity supply across the American mainland. Reliable electricity supply is key driver in the power sector with marginal cost power markets where firm vs non firm gas supply with bilateral contracts is the means for monetization and supply in gas market. Yet growth projections of gas demand are primarily driven by gas fired generation expansion in power sector to fill gap between potential coal retirements and intermittent renewables from public policy mandates.

Asset Decommission in Utilities: Transforming the Business

Asset intensive organizations, like those in the Utilities sector, have their own industry specific challenges when it comes to managing their asset’s lifecycles, but one area that is often overlooked or pushed off until the last minute is the decommissioning phase of their assets. Leaders in the industry turn to three areas to transform their business – Risk and Financial Management, Operational Excellence, and Innovation.

The Importance of Decommissioning in Asset Intensive Industries

This report from the Aberdeen Group explores the challenges that those in asset intensive industries face when it comes to managing their asset’s lifecycles. Leaders in this industry turn to three areas to transform their business – Risk and Financial Management, Operational Excellence, and Innovation.

Medium Voltage On-site Generation Overview

It seems that just about everyone is looking for more power. As our dependency on electricity continues to grow, so does the need to design larger back-up generation systems. The transition from low voltage to medium voltage on-site generation is influenced by a mix of economic and system design considerations including: cabling distance, bus capacity, fault current capacity, switchgear cost, genset cost, and utility interconnection and integration configurations.

Understanding Differences in Elemental Analysis Methods

Elemental analysis is one of the most important tests on an oil analysis report. It determines concentrations of wear metals, contaminants, and oil additives in a sample. When reviewing metals on an oil analysis report, it is important to determine what procedure was performed to obtain the results as the value and accuracy can vary between procedures.

Mitigating Arc Flash Hazards

Mitigation is defined as, “to make milder, less severe or less violent”.

When applied to electrical workplace safety, arc flash mitigation involves taking steps to minimize the level of hazard and/or the risk associated with an arc-flash event. The most effective arc flash safety programs look to incorporate “safety by design” through Engineering Controls.

Industrial Vibration Sensor Selection Made Easy

Reliability Centered Maintenance managers at power generation plants use sensors & condition monitoring to keep their critical rotating machinery, such as pumps, motors, and cooling fans, running. Not only is it critical to monitor industrial machines, but it’s just as critical to choose the right monitoring instrumentation to do the job.

So, how do successful RCM teams go about choosing the right sensor?

Turn Down the Power

Given that electricity prices present a long-term upward trend, the imperative for greater energy efficiency is becoming more urgent. While regulation and legislation do have some effect in forcing change in the business community, a compelling business case — with clear methodology, reliable return on investment and financial efficiency — is much more powerful.

Gaseous Vs Diesel Fuel Gensets

Traditionally, the choice between diesel-fueled and gaseous-fueled generators has been relatively straightforward. Power density as well as capital cost advantages in large-kilowatt applications typically favored diesel for standby power of 150 kilowatts of electricity (kWE) or more—large commercial and industrial standby applications.

Oracle’s Project Portfolio Management Solutions: Optimized for Utilities

This eBook shows how project portfolio management solutions can help utility company optimize and operate projects for success, by providing real-world answers to your toughest challenges.