Generation Handbook

Energy and Power

Energy and Power Generation Handbook
Established and Emerging Technologies
Energy and Power
K.R. Rao, Editor

This comprehensive reference contains contributions by over 50

experts from around the world.
Generation Handbook
Topics cover aspects of power generation from all known sources of
energy around the globe, including solar, wind, hydro, tidal and wave
power, bio energy (including bio-mass and bio-fuels), waste-material,
Established and Emerging Technologies
geothermal, fossil, petroleum, gas and nuclear. Nanotechnology and the
role of NASA in photovoltaic and wind energy are also covered.

A unique aspect of this publication is its foundation in scholarly

discussions and expert opinions, enabling the reader to make decisions
regarding which energy source(s) may be used in a given situation.
K.R. Rao, Editor
The handbook, with nearly 700 pages, includes about 1,250 references
and over 750 figures, tables and pictures as well as an extensive index.
A brief biographical sketch is also included for each contributing author.

Rao

Three Park Avenue

New York, NY 10016
USA
www.asme.org

Job Name:67348 Date:11-06-17 PDF Page:67348cbc.p1.pdf

Color: Cyan Magenta Yellow Black
 Energy and Power
Generation Handbook
Established and Emerging Technologies

Editor
K. R. Rao
© 2011, ASME, 3 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10016, USA (www.asme.org)

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Energy and power generation handbook : established and emerging technologies / editor K.R. Rao.
  p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-7918-5955-1
  1.  Electric power production — Handbooks, manuals, etc.  I. Rao, K. R., 1933–
 TK1001.E56 2011
  621.31’21— dc22
2011009559
 DEDICATION

This ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK is Mr. VRP Rao, Fellow-IE for encouraging in me interest in actually
dedicated to: taking up of this project to cover energy generation sources “other
than nuclear,” especially renewable energy generation, and finally;
The late Dr. Baira Gowda, Pittsburgh, PA for introducing me to
ASME, in the late 1980s; Victims and Site Staff of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plants
at Japan devastated by the Tohoku-Taiheiyou-Oki Earthquake
Dr. Robert Toll Norman and Dr. Liane Ellison Norman, staunch and Tsunami of March 11, 2011. This publication is especially
supporters of the “Green Peace Movement” and Clean Energy at dedicated to these and other victims of Japan for the “Fortitude of
Pittsburgh, PA, where I was in the 1970s and 1980s, in whom I saw Japan as a Nation,” that shows national strength in their hour of an
firsthand what these movements symbolize; utterly tragic accident.
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The editor is indebted to several individuals who had directly or While it is difficult to chronicle everyone the editor contacted,
indirectly helped in coming up with this handbook. worthy of particular mention are Dr. Gregory J. Walker, University
My thanks are due to all of the 53 contributors whose dedi­ of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia; Mr. V. R. P. Rao F-IE,
cated efforts made this possible by their singular attention to Hyderabad, India; Dr. Hardayal Mehta of GE Hitachi Nuclear En-
detail, presentation of graphics, procuring the copyrights for the ergy, San Jose, CA; Mr. Richard Bunce of Siemens Energy, Inc.,
“artwork” and taking time to research the references to com- Orlando, FL; Mr. Roger Reedy of REEDY Engineering, Inc., Cam-
plement the write-up. Even while they succinctly conveyed the bell, CA; Ms. Katherine Knurek Martin, NASA Glenn Research
wealth of information and knowledge they acquired during their Center, Cleveland, OH; Mr. Clifford Wells of Structural Integrity
professional career, they followed the guidelines provided for Associates, San Jose, CA; Dr. Bob Swindemann, Oak Ridge, TN;
adhering to the page length. Mr. Roger Bedard formerly of EPRI; and Dr. E. V. R. Sastry, Os-
It was challenging to enlist 53 experts from around the world mania University College of Engineering, Hyderabad, India.
to address varied power and energy generation topics. The edi- This publication was ably supported by the staff of ASME Tech-
tor contacted professionals who knew the worldwide ensemble nical Publishing. My appreciation and thanks to them for their co-
of energy and generation experts. Efforts were made not to miss operation.
any power generation sources, and this was largely facilitated Finally, all of this enduring effort, spread over 18 months, would
by contacting over 100 practicing professionals and academia have never been possible had it not been for the constant help and
before settling down with 53 authors. The formidable task of untiring zeal provided by my wife, Dr. Indira Rao, that included all
acquiring the correct authors took over six months and was am- of the sundry-editorial chores associated with this project.
ply rewarded.
 CONTRIBUTOR BIOGRAPHIES
AGRAWAL, RAVI K. tinuously active in the heat exchanger industry since 1951. His
Dr. Ravi K. Agrawal is a Senior Process Man- work in this field has involved specification, design, maintenance,
ager at KBR. He is currently the process man- and repair of more than 3000 power and process heat exchangers.
ager and work group leader for a 600-MW From 1981 to the present, he has assisted in trouble-shooting,
Kemper County IGCC Project (formerly Mis- failure analysis, repair, modification, and replacement of more
sissippi Gasification Project). He has over 25 than 400 feedwater heaters at various power stations.
years of experience in a wide variety of tech- From 1982 through 2007, he and Stanley Yokell presented
nologies including gasification, syngas pro- annual seminars on Closed Feedwater Heaters and Inspection,
duction, gas-to-liquids, coal-to-liquids, bio- Maintenance and Repair of Tubular Exchangers. He is the author
mass conversion, bioethanol, carbon capture, of numerous papers on feedwater heaters and tubular heat trans-
acid gas removal, combustion, sour water treatment, and specialty fer equipment. With Mr. Yokell, he has written, Tubular Heat
chemicals. He is the inventor of two patents and six patent applica- Exchanger Inspection, Maintenance and Repair, published by
tions. He is also the author of over 60 technical publications in refe- McGraw-Hill Book Company 1997.
reed journals. Mr. Andreone served on the ASME Power Division Heat Ex-
Previously, he was with ETEC, Fluor Daniel, Woodward Clyde changer Committee. He has served on the ASME Boiler and Pres-
Consultants, and Argonne National Laboratory. As a principal at sure Vessel Code Committee’s Special Working Group on Heat
ETEC, he developed and executed marketing plans to increase Transfer Equipment, and the ASME Codes and Standards Com-
sales that resulted in ETEC being recognized by the Houston Busi- mittee for the ASME/ANSI Performance Test Code 12.1, Closed
ness Journal as the sixth fastest growing small business in 2002. Feedwater Heaters. Mr. Andreone received the B.Ch.E. from Vil-
He has been responsible for sales, engineering, construction, and lanova University.
startup of over 41 combustion and air pollution control systems
installed at several utilities and refineries. He is a registered Pro-
fessional Engineer in the states of Texas and Pennsylvania. Dr.
Agrawal holds a PhD and a MS degree in chemical engineering
from Clarkson University, as well as a B.Tech from Osmania Uni-
versity (Hyderabad, India). BAILEY, SHEILA GAYLE
Sheila G. Bailey has been a Senior Physicist
working in photovoltaics at NASA Glenn
Research Center for over 25 years. Her most
recent projects include nanomaterials and
nanostructures for space photovoltaics,
ANDREONE, CARL F. quantum wire IIIV solar cells and quantum
Carl F. Andreone, PE, Fellow of the ASME dot alpha-voltaics. She has authored or co-
is registered in Massachusetts. He was Pres- authored over 165 journal and conference
ident of Heat Transfer Consultants, Inc. until publications, nine book chapters and two
2001, but now practices as an individual patents.
contractor. He was a Staff Consultant at Dr. Bailey is on the Editorial Board of “Progress in Photovolta-
Stone & Webster Engineering Corporation, ics”. She is a member of the American Physical Society and a
Boston, MA, and held several other posi- speaker for the American Institute of Physics Visiting Scientist
tions from 1970 to his retirement in 1991. Program. She is a member of AIAA Aerospace Power Systems
Before joining Stone & Webster, he was a technical committee and the IEE Electron Devices Society Pho-
heat exchanger specialist with Badger America and Crawford & tovoltaic Devices Committee. She was the chair of the 4th World
Russell Inc. Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion in 2006. She is
Mr. Andreone gained broad experience as a maintenance engi- executive vice president of the Lewis Engineers and Scientists
neer on refinery exchangers at Aramco. His career includes nearly Association.
a decade with Lummus Heat Exchanger Division (now Yuba Heat Dr. Sheila Bailey was an adjunct professor at Baldwin Wallace
Transfer Corporation) as an application and product engineer on College for 27 years and is currently an associate faculty mem-
power and process heat exchangers. Mr. Andreone has been con- ber of the International Space University. She has a BS degree in
vi  •  Contributor Biographies

physics from Duke University, a MS degree in physics from the of Engineering & Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University. He
University of NC at Chapel Hill, and a PhD in condensed matter was a member of the Planning Commission’s Integrated Energy
physics from the University of Manchester in England. She spent Policy (2004 to 2005) Committee and on the working group for
a post-doctoral year at the Royal Military College (part of the Uni- renewable energy and energy efficiency and DSM for the Eleventh
versity of New South Wales) in Canberra, Australia. Five Year Plan.
Dr. Bailey is the recipient of the faculty excellence award from Dr. Banerjee has coauthored a book on Planning for Demand
Baldwin Wallace College and the Federal Women’s Program Side Management in the Power sector, a book on Energy Cost in
award. She is an Ohio Academy of Science “Exemplar”. She was the Chemical Industry, and a book on Engineering Education in In-
awarded the NASA Exceptional Service Medal for her work in dia. He has been involved in industrial projects with organizations
space photovoltaics in 1999. She has completed the Office of Per- like Essar, Indian Chemical Manufacturers Association, KSIDC,
sonnel Management’s Executive Potential Program. She was in- HR Johnson, Tata Consulting Engineers, BSES, Sterlite, Interna-
ducted into the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame in 2003 by Governor tional Institute of Energy Conservation and sponsored projects with
Taft. the Department of Science & Technology, UN, MERC, PCRA,
MNES, Hewlett Foundation.
Dr. Banerjee’s areas of interest include energy management,
modeling of energy systems, energy planning and policy, hydro-
gen energy, and fuel cells. He has conducted two international
training programs on solar energy and several National programs
on renewable energy and Energy Management.
BALDWIN, THOMAS L.
Thomas L. Baldwin, PE, PhD, IEEE Fel-
low, is a senior engineer at the Idaho Na-
tional Laboratory. He conducts engineering
studies and research in electrical power
generation and transmission for the U.S.
Department of Energy, U.S. Navy, and BOEHM, ROBERT F.
EPRI. His research interests are in distribu- Robert F. Boehm is a Distinguished Profes-
tion energy system design, industrial power sor of Mechanical Engineering and Director
systems, grounding issues, transformers, of the Energy Research Center at the Uni-
and the analysis of power quality problems. versity of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). His
Dr. Baldwin also holds the rank of professor at the FAMU-FSU work has been primarily in the area of re-
College of Engineering at Florida State University, Tallahassee, newable and conventional energy conver-
FL, and has conducted research at the Center for Advanced Power sion. He was on the faculty of the University
Systems since 1999. He is a Registered Professional Engineer in of Utah Department of Mechanical Engi-
the State of North Carolina. neering prior to coming to UNLV. He holds
Thomas L. Baldwin received the BSEE and MSE.E degrees from a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Califor-
Clemson University, Clemson, SC, and the PhD degree in electri- nia at Berkeley.
cal engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State Uni- Dr. Boehm is a registered professional engineer, a Fellow of the
versity, Blacksburg, VA, in 1987, 1989, and 1993, respectively. American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and has received sev-
Dr. Baldwin is a member of the IEEE Power and Energy Society eral awards, including the Harry Reid Silver State Research Award,
and the Industrial Applications Society and serves on several com- the UNLV Distinguished Teaching Award, and the Rudolf W.
mittees and working groups including Power System Grounding Gunnerman Silver State Award for Excellence in Science and
and the IEEE Green Book. Technology from DRI. He has been an invited lecturer at many
institutions here and abroad, and he has published over 400 papers
in heat transfer, design of thermal systems, and energy conversion
topics. He is the author or coauthor of the ten books. He serves as a
technical editor for Energy—the International Journal.

BANNERJEE, RANGAN
Rangan Banerjee is a Professor of the De-
partment of Energy Science and Engineer-
ing and currently the Dean of Research and
Development at the Indian Institute of Tech- BOYCE, MEHERWAN P.
nology Bombay. He was Associate Dean Professor Meherwan P. Boyce, PhD, PE,
(R & D) of IIT Bombay from 2003 to 2006 C.Eng (UK), is the managing Partner of The
and Head of the Department of Energy Sci- Boyce Consultancy Group, LLC. He has 50
ence and Engineering (2006 to 2009). years of experience in the field of TurboMa-
Dr. Banerjee is a Convening Lead Analyst chinery in both industry and academia. Dr.
for Industrial End Use Efficiency and a member of the executive Boyce is a Fellow of the American Society
committee for the Global Energy Assessment (2008 to 2010) coor- of Mechanical Engineers (USA), National
dinated by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analy- Academy of Forensic Engineers (USA), the
sis. He is also an Adjunct faculty (Honorary) in the Department Institute of Mechanical Engineers (UK), and
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  vii

the Institution of Diesel and Gas Turbine Engineers (UK), and CHORDIA, LALIT
member of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), and the Lalit Chordia is the Founder, President and
National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE), and several CEO of Thar Technologies, Inc., Pittsburgh,
other professional and honorary societies such as Sigma Xi, Pi Tau PA, USA. Prior to starting Thar Technologies,
Sigma, Phi Kappa Phi, and Tau Beta Phi. He is the recipient of the Dr. Chordia founded two other companies: Su-
ASME award for Excellence in Aerodynamics and the Ralph Tee- perx Corporation and Visual Symphony. He
tor Award of SAE for enhancement in Research and Teaching. He also holds an Adjunct Research Scientist posi-
is also a Registered Professional Engineer in the State of Texas and tion at Carnegie Mellon University. He is a
a Chartered Engineer in the United Kingdom. world-renowned expert in supercritical fluid
Industrial experience of Dr. Boyce covers 10 years with The technology and has pioneered its applications.
Boyce Consultancy Group, LLC., 20 years as Chairman and CEO Through his technological and commercial leadership, Dr. Chordia
of Boyce Engineering International Inc., founder of Cogen Tech- took Thar from one employee to a global leader in its field, with four
nologies Inc. His academic experience covers a 15-year period, technology groups in Pittsburgh and two international subsidiaries.
which includes the position of Professor of Mechanical Engineer- Dr. Chordia’s company was the recipient of two National In-
ing at Texas A&M University and Founder of the TurboMachinery stitute of Technology’s Advanced Technology Program (ATP)
Laboratories and The TurboMachinery Symposium, which is now awards. He has been featured in several international publications,
in its Fortieth year. including Fortune. Dr Chordia has numerous patents and publica-
Dr. Boyce is the author of several books such as the Gas Tur- tions to his credit. He has won numerous awards, including being
bine Engineering Handbook (Third Edition, Elsevier), Handbook cited as the 2002 National Small Business Exporter of the Year by
for Cogeneration & Combined Cycle Power Plants (Second Edi- the Bush Administration and the 2009 IIT Madras Distinguished
tion, ASME Press), and Centrifugal Compressors, A Basic Guide Alumnus Award. Dr. Chordia has a BS degree from IIT Madras
(PennWell Books). He is a major contributor to Perry’s Chemical and a PhD from Carnegie Mellon University.
Engineering Handbook Seventh and Eight Editions (McGraw Hill)
in the areas of Transport and Storage of Fluids, and Gas Turbines.
Dr. Boyce has taught over 150 short courses around the world at-
tended by over 3000 students representing over 300 Corporations.
He is chair of ASME PTC 55 Aircraft Gas Turbine Committee on
testing of aircraft gas turbines and a member of the ASME Ethics
EDEN, TIMOTHY J.
Review Board, Past Chairman of the following ASME Divisions
Dr. Timothy J. Eden joined the Applied Re-
Plant Engineering & Maintenance, the Conferences Committee
search Laboratory in 1990. He received a
and the Electric Utilities Committee.
PhD from the Pennsylvania State University
Dr. Boyce has authored more than 150 technical papers and re-
in 1996. His research interests include de-
ports on Turbines, Compressors Pumps, and Fluid Mechanics.
velopment and transition of the Cold Spray
Dr. Boyce received a BS (1962) and MS (1964) degrees in Me-
process, development and application of
chanical Engineering from the South Dakota School of Mines and
high performance aluminum alloys pro-
Technology and the State University of New York, respectively,
duced using Spray Metal Forming, design
and a PhD (Aerospace & Mechanical engineering) in 1969 from
and fabrication of functionally tailored ce-
the University of Oklahoma.
ramic and composite structures, material characterization, process
improvement, and material structure–performance relationships.
Dr. Eden is currently head of the Materials Processing Division in
the Materials and Manufacturing Office at the Applied Research Lab-
oratory. The Materials Processing Division includes the Advanced
Coatings, Metals and Ceramic Processing, High Pressure Laboratory,
and an Electronics Materials Initiative. He has participated in several
large multidiscipline research programs and has helped transferred
Cold Spray Technology to the U.S. Army, Navy, and to industry.

BRATTON, ROBERT
Robert Bratton is a principle investigator for
graphite qualification for the NGNP at the EECEN, PETER
Idaho National Laboratory. He has degrees Peter Eecen is research manager of the group
in Nuclear Engineering and Applied Me- Rotor & Farm Aerodynamics at the Wind
chanics and has been employed at the INL Energy department of the Energy research
for 18 years. He has worked on the NPR Centre of the Netherlands (ECN). His re-
MHTGR, Light Water Tritium Target Pro- sponsibilities are to establish the research
gram, and the National Spent Nuclear Fuel strategy and priorities and manage a group of
Program. He is a member of the ASME 20 researchers. In collaboration with the ECN
Project Team on Graphite Core Supports, which is developing fu- Wind Industrial Support group (EWIS), he is
ture design codes for graphite core design. responsible for the business development; an
viii  •  Contributor Biographies

important aspect of ECN is to bring to the market the developed the University of Tasmania. Simon sits on the advisory board for
knowledge and technologies in renewable energy. UTAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Power Systems and the
Peter holds a Master’s degree in theoretical physics and did his Clean Energy Council Emerging Technology Directorate.
PhD in the field of nuclear fusion at the FOM Institute for Plasma
Physics, after which he worked for 3 years at TNO in the field of
underwater acoustics.
Dr. Eecen joined the Wind Energy department of ECN in 2000 as
manager of the group “Wind and Waves,” concerning the wind and
wave descriptions for turbine loading and wind resource assess-
GONZÁLEZ AGUILAR, JOSÉ
ments. After that, he led the experimental department for a year.
Dr. Jose González is Senior Researcher in the
He has been working in the field of Operation and Maintenance
R&D Unit of High Temperature Processes at
of large offshore wind farms. He started the project of Operation
the IMDEA Energia Institute. He received his
and Maintenance Cost Estimator (OMCE). Since 4 years, Peter is
PhD in Physics from the University of Can-
heading the group Rotor & Farm Aerodynamics. This group aims
tabria (Spain) in 1999 and his Habilitation à
to optimize the aerodynamic performance of the wind turbine rotor
Diriger des Recherches from the University
and of the wind farm as a whole and reduce the uncertainties in
Paul Sabatier, Toulouse (France) in 2007. Be-
modeling rotor aerodynamics, wake aerodynamics, boundary lay-
tween 2000 and May 2009, he worked as
ers by development of CFD technology, development of aerody-
R&D engineer — Project manager at the
namic design tools for wind turbines and wind farms.
Center for Energy and Processes — MINES ParisTech. In Septem-
During his career in wind energy, Dr. Eecen performed re-
ber 2006, he became associate professor at MINES ParisTech (or
search in a variety of areas, which include modeling wind and
Ecole nationale supérieure des mines de Paris, ENSMP).
waves, resource assessments, uncertainties in wind measure-
The main research area of Dr. González is focused on the study
ments, remote sensing, operation, and maintenance. He was
and development of high temperature processes for energy and en-
responsible for measurements on full-scale wind farms and the
vironmental issues, with special emphasis in concentrating solar
ECN scale wind farm.
systems and plasma technologies. His expertise includes process
Peter is active in international organizations like IEA, MEASNET,
simulation from systems analysis (flow sheeting) to computational
TPWind, and European projects. He is coordinating the subprogram
fluid dynamics. José González has participated in 15 national and
Aerodynamics of EERA-Wind, the European Energy Research Alli-
international research projects, published 26 papers in peer review
ance. Ten leading European Research Institutes have founded EERA
journals, two international patents, and a French patent, and he is
to accelerate the development of new energy technologies by con-
author of more than 50 communications in national and interna-
ceiving and implementing Joint Research Programs in support of the
tional conferences.
Strategic Energy Technology (SET) plan by pooling and integrating
activities and resources.

HASEGAWA, KUNIO
Dr. Kunio Hasegawa graduated from Tohoku
GAMBLE, SIMON University with a Doctor of Engineering de-
Simon Gamble is an accomplished leader in gree in 1973. He joined Hitachi Research
the Australian renewable energy industry, Laboratory, Hitachi Ltd., over 30 years back.
with over a decade of practical experience in During his term at Hitachi, he was also a vis-
the technical, commercial, strategic, and iting professor of Yokohama National Uni-
managerial aspects of the renewable energy versity and Kanazawa University for several
development business. This leadership was years. Since 2006, Dr. Hasegawa serves as a
recently recognized through Simon’s selec- principal staff in Japan Nuclear Energy S­afety
tion as a Fulbright Scholar, through which Organization (JNES).
Simon will spend 4 months with the National Dr. Kunio Hasegawa is a member of Japan Society of Mechani-
Renewable Lab in Colorado investigating emerging renewable en- cal Engineers (JSME) and is a past member of the JSME Fitness-
ergy technologies and their application in remote power systems. for-Service Committee for nuclear facilities. He is also a member
Currently, as Manager Technology and Commercialization with of ASME and is involved in ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel
Hydro Tasmania, Simon is responsible for the development and Code Section XI Working Group, Subgroup and Subcommittee
implementation of Hydro Tasmania’s Renewable Energy and Bass activities.
Strait Islands Development Strategies; for the assessment of new He has been active for 3 years as a Technical Program Repre-
and emerging renewable energy technologies; for Hydro Tasma- sentative of Codes and Standards Technical Committee in ASME
nia’s Research and Development program; and for the prepara- PVP Division. He has been involved with structural integrity for
tion of remote area power system project feasibility assessments, nuclear power components, particularly, leak-before-break, frac-
project approvals, and business cases. ture and fatigue strengths for pipes with cracks and wall thinning,
Simon has a Bachelor of Civil Engineering and a Masters of and flaw characterizations for fitness-for-service procedures. Dr.
Engineering Science degrees from the University of Adelaide. Hasegawa has published over 100 technical papers in journals and
He also has a Master’s of Business Administration degree from conference proceedings.
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  ix

HEDDEN, OWEN F. was responsible for technology of metallurgical and environmen-

Owen F. Hedden retired from ABB Com- tal applications (including low-level nuclear waste) of thermal
bustion Engineering in 1994 after over 25 plasma.
years of ASME B&PV Committee activi- Dr. Hoffelner is member of ASME, ASM, and TMS, and he has
ties with company support. His responsibil- published more than 120 papers in scientific and technical books
ities included reactor vessel specifications, and journals.
safety codes and standards, and interpreta-
tion of the B&PV Code and other industry
standards. He continued working part-time
for that organization into 2002. Subse­
quently, he has been a part-time consultant to the ITER project
and several other organizations. Prior to joining ABB, he was with
Foster Wheeler Corporation (1956 to 1967), Naval Nuclear pro-
gram. Since 1968, Mr. Hedden has been active in the Section XI
Code Committee, Secretary (1976 to 1978), Chair (1991 to
2000).
In addition to Section XI, Owen has been a member of the JACOBSON, PAUL T.
ASME C&S Board on Nuclear Codes and Standards, the Boiler Paul T. Jacobson is the Ocean Energy Leader
and Pressure Vessel Committee, and B&PV Subcommittees on and a Senior Project Manager at the Electric
Power Boilers, Design, and Nondestructive Examination. He is Power Research Institute. Dr. Jacobson is
active in ASME’s PVP Division. Mr. Hedden was the first Chair also a faculty member in the Zanvyl Krieger
of the NDE Engineering Division, 1982 to 1984. He has presented School of Arts and Sciences, Johns Hopkins
ASME Code short courses in the United States and overseas. He University, where he teaches a graduate-
was educated at Antioch College and Massachusetts Institute of level course in ecological assessment. He
Technology. His publications are in the ASME Journal of Pres- holds a bachelor’s degree in b­iology from
sure Vessel Technology, WRC Bulletins and in the Proceedings Cornell University and MS and PhD d­egrees
of ASME PVP, ICONE, IIW, ASM, and SPIE. He is an ASME in oceanography and limnology from the University of Wisconsin-
Fellow (1985), received the Dedicated Service Award (1991), Madison. Dr. Jacobson has been engaged in assessment of electric-
and the ASME Bernard F. Langer Nuclear Codes and Standards ity-generation systems and living resources for more than 30 years.
Award in 1994. Much of his work over this period has a­ddressed the effects of
electricity generation on aquatic ecosystems.

HOFFELNER, WOLFGANG
Wolfgang Hoffelner is currently manager of
the High Temperature Materials project at
the Swiss Paul Scherrer Institute. He repre-
sents Switzerland in the Generation IV Sys-
tem Steering Committee and in the Project JENNER, MARK
Management Board for VHTRs. He sup- Dr. Mark Jenner is a biomass systems econ-
ports as PSI volunteer in the current ASME omist with the consulting firm, Biomass
Sect III Div. 5 Code development. He is Rules, LLC and the California Biomass Col-
also Managing Director of RWH consult laborative. Jenner creates and adds value to
LlC, a Swiss-based consulting entity for materials and energy- biomass through his expertise in biomass
related consultancy. In this function, he acts as task advisor and production and conversion technologies, as
materials data analyst for ASME LlC. Wolfgang has been Senior well as environmental and energy policies.
Lecturer for High Temperature Materials at the Swiss Federal In- Since 2009, Mark Jenner has been study-
stitute of Technology since 1986, and he is currently responsible ing the adoption economics of purpose
for the materials education within the Swiss Master of Nuclear grown energy crops with the California Biomass Collaborative,
Engineering Program. located at the University of California Davis. In 2003, he began his
Wolfgang received his PhD in Physics and has an MS in consulting firm Biomass Rules, LLC, which conducts feasibility
mathematics at the University of Vienna. He started his work as studies on value-added biomass projects and biomass inventories.
a research fellow at the same place. He improved his skills in In 2006, Mark wrote the BioTown, USA Sourcebook for the State
structural materials and mechanics during his time at ABB (for- of Indiana. Since 2007, Mark Jenner has written the biomass en-
merly BBC), where he was working in different positions ranging ergy outlook column for BioCycle Magazine.
from a scientist in the Research Laboratory, Group Leader in the Mark Jenner has a PhD in agricultural economics in production
Laboratory, and Head of Section Mechanics and Materials for systems, two MS degrees in manure management, a BS in agron-
Gas Turbines and Combined Cycle Plants. In 1990, he joined the omy, and 30 years of professional biomass experience spanning
Swiss Company MGC-Plasma Inc. as a Board member, where he three continents.
  •  Contributor Biographies

LYONS, KEVIN W. MCDONALD, DENNIS K.

Kevin W. Lyons is a Senior Research Engi- Denny McDonald is a Technical Fellow,
neer within the Manufacturing Engineering Advanced Technology Development & De-
Labo­ratory (MEL), National Institute of sign, The Babcock & Wilcox Company.
Standards and Technology (NIST). His Denny is currently responsible for the
current assign­ment involves supporting the technical development and design of oxy-
Sustainable Manufacturing Program in for- combustion within B&W. He has led the
malizing manu­facturing resource descrip- conversion of B&W’s 30 MWth Clean Envi-
tions, manufacturing readiness modeling, ronment Development Facility for oxy-coal
and simulation. His research interests are testing and is deeply involved in oxycombus-
design and manufacturing processes for sustainable manufactur- tion performance and cost studies, process, and equipment design
ing, simulation and modeling, and nanomanufacturing. From improvements, and emerging associated technologies. In addition
2004 through 2006, he served as Program Director for the Nano­ to advancing the technology, he provides technical support for dem-
manufacturing Program at the National Science Foundation onstration and commercial opportunities.
(NSF). From 2000 to 2004, he served as Program Manager of the Mr. McDonald joined B&W in 1972 and has worked in various
Nanomanufacturing Program at NIST. From 1996 to 2000, he engineering capacities through his career. Up to 1985, he worked
served as Program Manager with the Defense Advanced Research in various positions of increasing responsibility in the fields of
Projects Agency (DARPA), where he managed advanced design mechanical design of boilers, field problem resolution including
and manufacturing projects. From 1977 to 1992, he worked in involvement in startup of a large utility PC plant, and development
industry in various staff and supervisory positions in engineering of design standards. From 1985 to 1995, he managed B&W’s New
marketing, product design and analysis, factory automation, and Product Engineering department and had technical responsibility
quality engineering. for B&W’s scope of American Electric Power’s CCT-I Tidd PFBC
Demonstration Project. From 1995 until assuming his present posi-
tion in late 2006, he served as Manager of Functional Technology
responsible for development of B&W’s core performance analy-
sis and thermal hydraulic technologies including design standards
and software, boiler performance testing, advanced computational
modeling, and technical support of contract engineering and ad-
vanced coal-fired technologies including ultra-supercritical boilers.
In recent years, he has contributed significantly to B&W’s mercury
removal program as well as oxycombustion development.
Denny McDonald holds BS and MS degrees in Engineering and
is a licensed Professional Engineer in the State of Ohio. He has
published over 40 technical papers, authored chapters in the 40th
and 41st editions of B&W’s “STEAM — its Generation and Use”
and holds eight U.S. patents.

MARTIN, HARRY F.
Harry F. Martin retired from Siemens Energy
Corp as an Advisory Engineer at the Orlando
Florida Facility. He has over 40 years of en-
gineering experience in the power industry.
Most of this related to turbo machinery. His MEHTA, HARDAYAL S.
engineering career started at Westinghouse Dr. Mehta received his BS in Mechanical En-
Electric Corporation in Lester, PA. At West- gineering degree from Jodhpur University
inghouse, most of this experience was related (India), MS and PhD from University of Cal-
to steam turbines. However, he also had as- ifornia, Berkeley. He was elected an ASME
signments relating to gas turbines and heat exchangers. Harry held Fellow in 1999 and is a Registered Profes-
positions of various levels engineering responsibility and manage- sional Engineer in the State of California.
ment. With Siemens, his efforts focused primarily on steam turbine Dr. Mehta has been with GE Nuclear Di-
design and operation. vision (now, GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy)
Mr. Harry Martin has a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering since 1978 and currently holds the position
degree and Masters of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineer- of Chief Consulting Engineer. He has over 35 years of experience
ing. His experiences include design, product and technology de- in the areas of stress analysis, linear-elastic and elastic-plastic frac-
velopment, and operation of steam turbines. He has published 16 ture mechanics, residual stress evaluation, and ASME Code-related
papers. These have included the subjects of turbine design, blad- analyses pertaining to BWR components. He has also participated
ing development and operation of steam turbines including tran- as principal investigator or project manager for several BWRVIP,
sient analysis. He has ten patents. His technical specialization is BWROG, and EPRI sponsored programs at GE, including the
in thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and heat transfer. He is past Large Diameter Piping Crack Assessment, IHSI, Carbon Steel
Chairman of the Turbines, Generators and Auxiliaries Commit- Environmental Fatigue Rules, RPV Upper Shelf Margin Assess-
tee of the Power Division of the American Society of Mechanical ment, and Shroud Integrity Assessment. He is the author/coauthor
Engineers. of over 40 ASME Journal/Volume papers. Prior to joining GE, he
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  xi

was with Impell Corporation, where he directed various piping and tion III Subgroup on Strategy and Management, and is a Member
structural analyses. of the ASME BPV III Standards Committee. He has coauthored
For more than 25 years, Dr. Mehta has been an active member of over 25 conference papers, one journal article, coauthored an ar-
the Section XI Subgroup on Evaluation Standards and associated ticle on DOE spent nuclear fuel canisters for Radwaste Solutions,
working task groups. He also has been active for many years in and coauthored Chapter 15 of the third edition of the Companion
ASME’s PVP Division as a member of the Material & Fabrication Guide to the ASME Boiler & Pressure Vessel Code.
Committee and as conference volume editor and session developer. Mr. Morton received a BS in Mechanical Engineering degree
His professional participation also included several committees of from California Polytechnic State University in 1975 and a Mas-
the PVRC, specially the Steering Committee on Cyclic Life and ters of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering from the University
Environmental Effects in Nuclear Applications. He had a key role of Idaho in 1979. He is a Registered Professional Engineer in the
in the development of environmental fatigue initiation rules that state of Idaho.
are currently under consideration for adoption by various ASME
Code Groups.

NOTTINGHAM, LAWRENCE (LARRY) D.

Lawrence D. (Larry) Nottingham is a Senior
MILES, THOMAS R. Associate, Structural Integrity Associates
Thomas R. Miles is the President and Owner (SI), Inc. at Charlotte, NC. From June 1995
of T.R. Miles Technical Consultants, Port- to the present, he has been with Structural
land, Oregon, which designs, develops, in- Integrity Associates. From 1993 to 1995, he
stalls, and tests agricultural and industrial was Founder, President, and Managing Di-
systems for fuel handling, air quality, and rector of AEA Sonomatic, Inc., Charlotte,
biomass energy. Energy projects include NC. From 1986 through1993, Larry was
combustion and gasification of biomass fuels with Electric Power Research Institute at
such as wood, straws, stalks, and manures. Nondestructive Evaluation Center, Charlotte, NC. From 1972
Mr. Miles conducts engineering design and through 1986, Larry was with Westinghouse Electric Corp. as
feasibility studies and field tests for cofiring wood, straw, and coal. Manager at Steam Turbine Generator Division, Orlando, FL and
He has sponsored and hosted internet discussions on biomass en- Senior Development Engineer, at Large Rotating Apparatus Divi-
ergy since 1994 (www.trmiles.com). sion, Pittsburgh, PA.
Mr. Nottingham graduated with a BS Mechanical Engineering
degree in the University of Pittsburgh in 1971. His Professional
Associations and Certifications include Nondestructive Evalua-
tion (NDE) Level III Certification in Ultrasonic Testing, Penetrant
Testing (PT), and Magnetic Particle Testing (MT).
MORTON, D. KEITH Mr. Nottingham has been involved in design, design analysis,
Mr. D. Keith Morton is a Consulting Engi- maintenance, and nondestructive evaluation of turbines, genera-
neer at the Department of Energy’s (DOE) tors, and other power plant equipment and components since 1972.
Idaho National Laboratory (INL), operated His experience covers all aspects of design and design analysis
by Battelle Energy Alliance. He has worked including finite element stress analysis, fracture mechanics, mate-
at the INL for 35 years. Mr. Morton has rials testing and characterization, failure modes and mechanisms,
gained a wide variety of structural engineer- metallurgy, and nondestructive evaluation. He has extensive expe-
ing experience in many areas, including per- rience in the development and delivery of advanced nondestruc-
forming nuclear piping and power piping tive evaluation systems and procedures for numerous power plant
stress analyses, completing plant walk applications, with emphasis on turbine and generator components,
downs, consulting with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, de- including boresonic and turbine disk rim inspection systems.
veloping life extension strategies for the Advanced Test Reactor, At Structural Integrity (SI), Mr. Nottingham continues to pro-
performing full-scale seismic and impact testing, and helping to vide broad-based engineering expertise. Until 2007, he managed
develop the DOE standardized spent nuclear fuel canister. His all engineering development efforts for both nuclear and fossil
most recent work activities include performing full-scale drop tests plant inspection services. In his role as Development Manager, he
of DOE spent nuclear fuel canisters, developing a test methodol­ developed SI as a recognized technological leader in the power
ogy that allows for the quantification of true stress-strain curves generation NDE services community. He also has remained active
that reflect strain rate effects and supporting the Next Generation on a number of EPRI projects involving fossil power plant compo-
Nuclear Plant (NGNP) Project. nents, generator retaining rings, generator rotors, boiler tube, and
Mr. Morton is a Member of the ASME Working Group on the most recently developing guideline document for inspection and
Design of Division 3 Containments, is the Secretary for the ASME life assessment of turbine and valve casings. In 2007, Mr. Notting-
Subgroup on Containment Systems for Spent Fuel and High-Level ham assumed responsibility for SI’s turbine and generator condi-
Waste Transport Packagings, a Member of the ASME Working tion assessment efforts, with aggressive growth objectives.
Group on High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactors, a Member of Mr. Nottingham has published over 70 technical papers, re-
the Subgroup on High Temperature Reactors, a Member of the Sec- ports, and articles. He has been an invited presenter at numerous
xii  •  Contributor Biographies

conferences, workshops, and seminars on NDE and lecturer at a and of the requirements for efficient management and operation of
number of training courses. He provides training for advanced non- an electricity utility.
destructive evaluation technologies and has been invited lecturer at During the last 2 years, Marian has been involved in demand,
the United States Naval Academy. He currently holds 14 U.S. pat- supply, and regulatory aspects of frequency control ancillary serv-
ents related to turbine and generator component designs and NDE ices. This work includes improvement of dynamic response of hydro
systems. He is also a member of SI’s Board of Directors. turbines, improvement governing, new modes operation of hydro
machines, and impact of low inertia on the frequency control.
Marian has been involved in integration of renewable energy
sources to remote power systems with an aim to minimize diesel
consumption and reduce emission of GHG. His recent work in-
cluded energy storage (VRB, flywheels, diesel UPS), applications
of power electronics to maximize penetration of wind generation,
O’DONNELL, WILLIAM J.
control strategies for operation of small islanded systems, and im-
Bill O’Donnell has Engineering Degrees
provement of grid stability and reliability.
from Carnegie Mellon University and the
Marian has been the lead technical advisor for the connection
University of Pittsburgh. He began his ca-
of Woolnorth stages 1 and 2 wind farms in Tasmania as well as
reer at Westinghouse Research and Bettis,
Cathedral Rocks in South Australia. Marian has also been instru-
where he became an Advisory Engineer. In
mental from the developers perspective in development of fault
1970, Bill founded O’Donnell and Associ-
ride through capability on wind turbines. He has led studies to de-
ates, an engineering consulting firm special-
termine maximum viable wind penetration in Tasmanian power
izing in design and analysis of structures and
systems with the main sources of limitations being low inertia and
components. The firm has done extensive
low fault level.
work in the evaluation of structural integrity, including corrosion
fatigue, flaw sensitivity, crack propagation, creep rupture, and brit-
tle fracture.
Dr. O’Donnell has published 96 papers in engineering mechan-
ics, elastic-plastic fracture mechanics, strain limits, and damage
evaluation methods. He is Chairman of the Subgroup on Fatigue
Strength and a Member of the Subcommittee on Design of the POLING, CHRISTOPHER W.
ASME Code. He has patents on mechanical processes and devices Mr. Poling is currently the Program Director
used in plants worldwide. He is a recognized expert in Failure Cau- for The Babcock & Wilcox Company’s
sation Analyses. Post-Combustion Carbon Capture product
Dr. O’Donnell has given invited lectures at many R&D laborato- development project. He joined B&W in
ries, design firms, and universities. He is a registered Professional 2002 and has worked in areas of increasing
Engineer. He received the National Pi Tau Sigma Gold Medal responsibility including Lead Proposal En-
Award “For Outstanding Achievement in Mechanical Engineer- gineer for large Flue Gas Desulfurization
ing” and the ASME Award for “Best Conference Technical Paper” projects and as a Principal Engineer in
in 1973 and 1988. The Pittsburgh Section of ASME named Bill B&W’s Technology department. Prior to his
“Engineer of the Year” (1988). He was awarded the ASME PVP experience at B&W, Mr. Poling worked for 7 years at Ceilcote Air
Medal (1994). Pollution Control in Strongsville, Ohio as a Product Manager for
Dr. O’Donnell received the University of Pittsburgh Mechani- industrial wet scrubber systems. Mr. Poling earned his bachelor’s
cal Engineering Department’s Distinguished Alumni Award (1996) degree in chemical engineering from the University of Toledo. Mr.
and Carnegie Mellon University’s 2004 Distinguished Achievement Poling also earned his Executive Master’s in Business Administra-
Award for distinguished service and accomplishments in any field of tion from Kent State University.
human endeavor. He is a Fellow of the ASME and is listed in the En-
gineers Joint Council “Engineers of Distinction,” Marquis “Who’s
Who in Science and Engineering,” and “Who’s Who in the World.”

MUTHYA, RAMESH PRANESH RAO

Mr. Ramesh holds a Master’s degree in Me-
chanical Engineering from the Indian Insti-
PIEKUTOWSKI, MARIAN tute of Science from Bengaluru, India, and a
Marian Piekutowski is a recognized leader Master of Science from Oldenburg Univer-
in the field of power system planning and sity, Germany, in Application of Renewable
analysis including transmission, generation, Energy Technologies.
and economic analysis. He has been instru- Mr. Ramesh started his career in wind
mental in development of wind integration energy at the National Aeronautical Labo-
strategies for Hydro Tasmania. With more ratory, Bangalore, in 1979. He has many
than 30 years of working experience, he has firsts to his credit starting from development of indigenous wind
developed extensive understanding of regu- power battery chargers and transferred know-how to industry.
latory environment of electricity markets He made performance measurements on wind turbines for the
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  xiii

first time in India, which resolved many issues of underperfor­ rial for PVP Division covering select aspects of Code. KR is a
mance. In order to extend utility of measured wind information member of the Special Working Group on Editing and Review
to a larger area, he came up with the idea of localized wind maps (ASME B&PV Code Section XI) for September 2007 to June
superimposed on scaled survey maps. Over a hundred such re- 2012 term.
ports were created and were the basis for wind farming. He holds Dr. Rao is a recipient of several Cash, Recognition, and Service
a patent on passive speed control of windmills with Dr. S. K. Awards from Entergy Operations, Inc. and Westinghouse Electric
Tewari. He introduced small wind chargers in Indian Antarctic Corporation. He is also the recipient of several awards, certificates,
station. and plaques from ASME PV&P Division including Outstanding
Mr. Ramesh took over the position of the first full time Execu- Service Award (2001) and Certificate for “Vision and Leadership”
tive Director, Centre for Wind Energy Technology in 2002. He in Mississippi and Dick Duncan Award, Southeastern Region,
was instrumental in maximizing the benefits of the DANIDA- ASME. Dr. Rao is the recipient of the prestigious ASME Society
funded project. He went on to create ground rules for effective, Level Dedicated Service Award. KR is a member of the Board of
orderly, and sustainable growth of the field by continuous in- ASME District F Professional & Educational Trust Fund for 2008
teractions with the industry, the Government, and other stake to 2011.
holders. Dr. Rao is a Fellow of American Society of Mechanical Engi-
After a short stint in Canada as the scientific director/advisor to neers, Fellow of Institution of Engineers, India, and a Chartered
GP CO, Varrenes, Mr. Ramesh returned to India to help the Indian Engineer, India. Dr. Rao was recognized as a “Life Time Member”
wind industry. As the founding Managing Director of Garrad Has- for inclusion in the Cambridge “Who’s Who” registry of execu-
san India, Mr. Ramesh brought in some of the most sought-after tives and professionals. Dr. Rao was listed in the Marquis 25th Sil-
consulting practices to India that spans across the resource quanti- ver Anniversary Edition of “Who’s Who in the World” as “one of
fication to asset management techniques. One of the least attended the leading achievers from around the globe”.
to areas in terms of design documentation capabilities in India was
effectively addressed by Mr. Ramesh.
He has served as Chairman, Electro Technical committee #42
(ET-42), set up by Bureau of Indian Standards to interact with In-
ternational Electrotechnical committee on all wind energy-related
standardization efforts. He also chaired the committee that brought
RAYEGAN, RAMBOD
out draft grid code for wind turbine grid interconnection.
Rambod Rayegan is a PhD candidate in the
Presently, as the President, Wind Resource and Technology,
Department of Mechanical and Materials
at Enercon India, Mr. Ramesh is actively involved in bringing
Engineering at Florida International Uni-
in the best practices on all aspects of wind energy deployment
versity. Since January 2007, he has worked
in India.
as a research assistant at FIU in the sustain-
able energy area. He is also the president of
ASHRAE FIU Chapter since May 2009. He
has been a member of prestigious Honor
Societies like Tau Beta Pi, Phi Kappa Phi,
Sigma Xi, and Golden Key. He has published a number of con-
ference and journal papers in energy and sustainability area.
RAO, K. R.
Raised in Tehran, Iran, Rambod now lives with his wife in Mi-
K.R. Rao retired as a Senior Staff Engi-
ami. He has served as an instructor at Semnan University, Iran,
neer with Entergy Operations Inc. and was
for 5 years. He was selected as the best teacher of the Mechanical
previously with Westinghouse Electric
Engineering Department by students during the 2002 to 2003
Corporation at Pittsburgh, PA, and Pullman
academic year and the best senior project supervisor in the 2003
Swindell Inc., Pittsburgh, PA. KR got his
to 2004 academic year. He has served as a consultant in three
Bachelors in Engineering degree from Ba-
companies in the field of air conditioning and hydraulic power
naras University, India, with a Masters Di-
plants.
ploma in Planning from School of Planning
& Architecture, New Delhi, India. He com-
pleted Post Graduate Engineering courses in Seismic Engineer-
ing, Finite Element and Stress Analysis, and other engineering
subjects at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA. He
earned his PhD, from University of Pittsburgh, PA. He is a Reg-
istered Professional Engineer in Pennsylvania and Texas. He is REEDY, ROGER F.
past Member of Operations Research Society of America Roger F. Reedy has a BS Civil Engineering
(ORSA). degree from Illinois Institute of Technology
KR was Vice President, Southeastern Region of ASME Inter- (1953). His professional career includes the
national. He is a Fellow of ASME, active in National, Regional, U.S. Navy Civil Engineering Corps, Chi­
Section, and Technical Divisions of ASME. He has been the cago Bridge and Iron Company (1956 to
Chair, Director, and Founder of ASME EXPO(s) at Mississippi 1976). Then, he established himself as a
Section. He was a member of General Awards Committee of consultant and is an acknowledged expert in
ASME International. He was Chair of Codes & Standards Tech- design of pressure vessels and nuclear com-
nical Committee, ASME PV&PD. He developed an ASME Tuto- ponents meeting the requirements of the
xiv  •  Contributor Biographies

ASME B&PV Code. His experience includes design, analysis, fab- ROBINSON, CURT
rication, and erection of pressure vessels and piping components Curt Robinson is the Executive Director of
for nuclear reactors and containment vessels. He has expertise in the 1770-member Geothermal Resources
components for fossil fuel power plants and pressure vessels and Council (GRC), headquartered in Davis,
storage tanks for petroleum, chemical, and other energy industries. California. Since 1970, the GRC has built a
Mr. Reedy has been involved in licensing, engineering reviews, solid reputation as the world’s leading geo-
welding evaluations, quality programs, project coordination, and thermal association. The GRC serves as a
ASME Code training of personnel. He testified as an expert wit- focal point for continuing professional de-
ness in litigations and before regulatory groups. velopment for its members through its fall
Mr. Reedy has written a summary of all changes made to the annual meeting, transactions, bulletin, out-
ASME B&PV Code in each Addenda published since 1950, which reach, information transfer, and education services. GRC has
is maintained in a computer database, RA-search. Mr. Reedy members in 37 countries.
served on ASME BP&V Code Committees for more than 40 years Prior to his work at GRC, he held executive assignments in
being Chair of several of them, including Section III for 15 years. higher education and government and has twice worked in en-
Mr. Reedy was one of the founding members of the ASME PV&P ergy development. He has also taught at six universities and
Division. Mr. Reedy is registered. colleges.
Mr. Reedy is a Professional Engineer in seven states. He is a He earned his PhD and MA degrees in geography and a BA with
recipient of the ASME Bernard F. Langer Award and the ASME honors, all at the University of California, Davis.
Centennial Medal and is a Life Fellow of ASME.

ROCAFORT, LUIS A. BON

Luis A. Bon Rocafort graduated in 1999
from Purdue University with a Bachelor’s
RICCARDELLA, PETER (PETE) C. of Science in Mechanical Engineering de-
Pete Riccardella received his PhD from gree. During his undergraduate career, he
Carnegie Mellon University in 1973 and is received the National Action Council for
an expert in the area of structural integrity of Minorities in Engineering Scholarship,
nuclear power plant components. He co- which provided for tuition and a stipend, as
founded Structural Integrity Associates in well as work experience as a summer intern
1983 and has contributed to the diagnosis at the sponsoring company’s facilities. His
and correction of several critical industry work with BP Amoco, at their Whiting, IN, refinery involved
problems, including: plant facilities, cooling tower design and analysis, and pipe fluid
• Feedwater nozzle cracking in boiling flow analysis and modeling to optimize use of cooling water and
water reactors eliminate bottlenecks.
• Stress corrosion cracking in boiling water reactor piping and In 2001, Luis A. Bon Rocafort graduated with a Master’s of Sci-
internals ence in Mechanical Engineering degree from Purdue University,
• Irradiation embrittlement of nuclear reactor vessels having received the Graduate Engineering Minority Fellowship,
• Primary water stress corrosion cracking in pressurized water to cover his graduate school as well as provide work experience
reactors with DaimlerChrysler. The knowledge gained in the advanced ve-
• Turbine-generator cracking and failures. hicle design group, as well as the concept and modeling group
Dr. Riccardella has been principal investigator for a number of would prove useful in the modeling and analysis realm that he
EPRI projects that led to advancements and cost savings for the is currently working in. During his time with DaimlerChrysler,
industry. These include the FatiguePro fatigue monitoring sys- he characterized fluid flows inside an automatic transmission en-
tem, the RRingLife software for turbine-generator retaining ring gine, wrote data capture modules for a real-time driving simulator,
evaluation, Risk-Informed Inservice Inspection methodology for programmed autonomous vehicles for real-time driving simulator,
nuclear power plants, and several Probabilistic Fracture Mechan- and compared FEA stress analysis results to stress paint-treated
ics applications to plant cracking issues. He has led major failure parts to determine viability of two methods to real-world tests of
analysis efforts on electric utility equipment ranging from trans- manufactured parts.
mission towers to turbine-generator components and has testified Having graduated in 2001, Luis A. Bon Rocafort became a field
as an expert witness in litigation related to such failures. service engineer for Schlumberger Oilfield Services, performing as
He has also been a prime mover on the ASME Nuclear Inser­ a drilling service engineer. As a cell manager, providing services to
vice Inspection Code in the development of evaluation procedures ExxonMobil in the Bass Strait of the Southeast coast of Australia,
and acceptance standards for flaws detected during inspections. In he performs logging while drilling services and assists directional
2002, he became an honorary member of the ASME Section XI drilling efforts in order to fully develop a known field that has been
Subcommittee on Inservice Inspection, after serving for over 20 producing oil for more than three decades. Using advanced tools
years as a member of that committee. In 2003, Dr. Riccardella was and drilling techniques, undiscovered pockets of oils are identified,
elected a Fellow of ASME International. and drilling programs are developed.
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  xv

Luis A. Bon Rocafort joined O’Donnell Consulting Engineers, SEIFERT, GARY D.

Inc. in 2006. While working with OCEI, he performed static and Gary D. Seifert, PE, EE, is senior program
transient finite element analysis using a variety of elements and manager at the Idaho National Laboratory.
methods available through the ANSYS program. Other analyses He has responsibility for multiple technical
include, modal analyses, harmonic analyses, vibrations, fatigue life tasks for the U.S. Department of Energy,
analyses, inelastic analyses, creep analyses, among others. These Department of Homeland Security, the U.S.
analyses were done to evaluate vessels or structures to ASME, Air Force, U.S. Navy, and NASA, as well as
AISC, and IEEE codes and standards. various power systems upgrades at the Idaho
National Laboratory. Renewable projects
have included the Ascension Island Wind
Project and Ascension Island Solar Power projects, which have
displaced a significant amount of diesel generation resulting in ma-
jor financial and emissions savings.
Gary has been involved in multiple projects improving control
systems and adding automation. Other support tasks include Wind
Powering America, wind anemometer loan program, wind radar
integration, power system distribution upgrades, high reliability
power systems, relay system updates, smart substation upgrades,
fiber optic communication systems installations, National SCADA
Testbed, and the design of process control systems.
ROMERO, MANUEL ALVAREZ Gary is also currently involved in studies for multiple Depart-
Manuel Romero received his PhD in Chem- ment of Defense government wind projects and is leading a techni-
ical Engineering in 1990 at the University cal wind radar interaction project for the U.S. DOE and supporting
of Valladolid for his research on the solari- wind prospecting activities in Idaho and surrounding regions.
zation of steam reforming of methane. At Gary holds patents in thermal photovoltaic and Electro Optical
present, he is Deputy Director and Princi- High Voltage (EOHV) sensor designs. He was awarded a Research
pal Researcher of the High Temperature and Development top 100 award in 1998 for his work on the EOHV
Processes R&D Unit at IMDEA Energía. sensor and was instrumental in the implementation of the DOD’s
Dr. M. Romero has received the “Far- first island wind farm at Ascension air station.
rington Daniels Award” in 2009, the most Gary has a Bachelor of Science Electrical Engineering degree
prestigious award in the field of solar energy research, created in from the University of Idaho in 1981. He is an Adjunct Instructor
1975 by the International Solar Energy Society, conferred for his Department of Engineering Professional Development, University
intellectual leadership, international reputation, and R&D contri- of Wisconsin since 1991.
butions to the development of high-temperature solar concentrat-
ing systems.
In June 1985, Dr. Romero joined CIEMAT, Spain’s National
Laboratory for Energy Research, working as Project Manager until
2002 with responsibilities on R&D for solar thermal power plants
and solar hydrogen. In 2002, he became Director of the Plataforma
Solar de Almería, largely recognized R&D facilities for testing and SHEVENELL, LISA
development of solar concentrating technologies, and Director of Lisa Shevenell was awarded a B.A. in ge-
the Renewable Energy Division of CIEMAT since June 2004 until ology at New Mexico Institute of Mining
August 2008 with R&D activities on solar thermal power, photo- and Technology in 1984 and a PhD in Hy-
voltaics, biomass, and wind energy. drogeology at the University of Nevada,
During his career, Dr. Romero has participated in more than Reno in 1990. Shevenell conducted geo-
45 collaborative R&D projects in energy research, 15 of them fi- thermal exploration in Central America in
nanced by the European Commission, with special emphasis on the mid-1980s as part of a USGS-Los Ala-
high-temperature solar towers. He is coauthor of the European mos National Laboratory (LANL) team.
Technology Roadmap on High Temperature Hydrogen Production Additional basic and applied research was
Processes INNOHYP, contracted by the EC in 2005, and coauthor conducted while with LANL at numerous sites throughout the
of the European Technology Roadmap for Solar Thermal Power western United States. Work at Mt. St. Helens evolved into her
Plants, ECOSTAR, contracted by the European Commission in PhD research on the geothermal systems that formed after the
2004. He acted as member of the experts’ committee of the Energy 1980 eruption. Following her PhD, she worked at Oak Ridge
R&D Program of the VI and VII Framework Program of the EC National Laboratory for 3 years. Shevenell has been a faculty
until August 2008. member at the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology since
1993, where she has led numerous geothermal-related research
Dr. Romero is Associate Editor of the ASME Journal of Solar
projects and teams in Nevada. She is currently a member of the
Energy Engineering since January 2007 and at the International
Nevada Geothermal Technical Advisory Panel to NV Energy,
Journal of Energy Research (IJER) published by Wiley & Sons the Science Advisory Board to the National Geothermal Data
since December 2009. He was Associate Editor of the Interna- Center initiative being led by the Arizona Geological Survey,
tional Journal of Solar Energy since January 2002 until January Geothermal Energy Association Technical Advisory Commit-
2007. tee, and member of the Blue Ribbon Panel on Renewable
xvi  •  Contributor Biographies

Energy formed by Senator Harry Reid and former Board of Di- SPAIN, STEPHEN D.
rectors member to the Geothermal Resources Council, former Stephen D. Spain, PE, PEng, is Vice President
member of the Renewable Energy Task Force reporting to the of HDR’s Northwest Region, Hydropower
Governor and Nevada Legislature, and former Director of the Department and Director of Hydromechani-
Great Basin Center for Geothermal Energy. cal Engineering for all HDR and Project Man-
ager, Project Engineer, and Lead Mechanical
Engineer for numerous hydroelectric projects
throughout North America. Previously, he
was the Northwest Regional Manager for
Devine Tarbell & Associates (DTA), Duke
Engineering & Services (DE&S), Department Manager of Hydro
Mechanical and Electrical Engineering for Northrop Devine & Tar-
bell (ND&T), and Hydroelectric Project Engineer at the E.C. Jordan
Company in Portland, Maine. Stephen has served as the chair for the
American Society for Mechanical Engineers’ (ASME) Hydropower
Committee from 2006 to 2009.

SINGH, K. (KRIS) P.
Dr. K.P. (Kris) Singh is the President and
Chief Executive Officer of Holtec Interna-
tional, an energy technology company that
he established in 1986. Dr. Singh received
his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from
the University of Pennsylvania in 1972, a
Masters in Engineering Mechanics, also
from Pennsylvania in 1969, and a BS in Me-
chanical Engineering from the Ranchi Uni-
versity in India in 1967.
Since the mid-1980s, Dr. Singh has endeavored to develop in-
novative design concepts and inventions that have been trans-
lated by the able technology team of Holtec International into
equipment and systems that improve the safety and reliability of
nuclear and fossil power plants. Dr. Singh holds numerous pat- SRIRAM, RAM D.
ents on storage and transport technologies for used nuclear fuel Ram D. Sriram is currently leading the
and on heat exchangers/pressure vessels used in nuclear and fos- Design and Process group in the Manufac-
sil power plants. Active for over 30 years in the academic aspects turing Systems Integration Division at the
of the technologies underlying the power generation industry, Dr. National Institute of Standards and Tech-
Singh has published over 60 technical papers in the permanent nology, where he conducts research on
literature in various disciplines of mechanical engineering and standards for sustainable manufacturing
applied mechanics. He has edited, authored, or coauthored nu- and interoperability of computer-aided de-
merous monographs and books, including the widely used text sign systems. He also holds a part-time ap-
“Mechanical Design of Heat Exchangers and Pressure Vessel pointment in the Information Technology
Components,” published in 1984. In 1987, he was elected a Fel- Laboratory, where he conducts research on bioimaging and
low of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He is a healthcare informatics. Prior to that, he was on the engineering
Registered Professional Engineer in Pennsylvania and Michigan faculty (1986 to 1994) at the Massachusetts Institute of Tech­
and has been a member of the American Nuclear Society since nology (MIT) and was instrumental in setting up the Intelligent
1979 and a member of the American Society of Mechanical En- Engineering Systems Laboratory. At MIT, Sriram initiated the
gineers since 1974. MIT-DICE project, which was one of the pioneering projects in
Over the decades, Dr. Singh has participated in technology collaborative engineering. Sriram has coauthored or authored
development roles in a number of national organizations, includ- nearly 250 publications in computer-aided engineering and
ing the Tubular Exchange Manufacturers Association, the Heat healthcare informatics, including several books. Sriram was a
Exchange Institute, and the American Society of Mechanical founding coeditor of the International Journal for AI in Engineer-
Engineers. Dr. Singh has lectured extensively on nuclear tech- ing. In 1989, he was awarded a Presidential Young Investigator
nology issues in the United States and abroad, providing con- Award from the National Science Foundation, USA. Sriram is a
tinuing education courses to practicing engineers, and served as Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, a Sen-
an Adjunct Professor at the University of Pennsylvania (1986 ior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engi-
to 1992). neers, a Member (life) of the Association for Computing Machin-
Dr. Singh serves on several corporate boards including the Nu- ery, a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and a
clear Energy Institute and the Board of Overseers, School of Engi- Fellow of the American Association of Advancement for Sci-
neering and Applied Science (University of Pennsylvania), Holtec ence. Sriram has a BS from IIT, Madras, India, and an MS and a
International, and several other industrial companies. PhD from Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA.
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  xvii

TANZOSH, JIM M. mophysics Conference on Renewable Energy held in Beijing in

James Tanzosh is employed at the Babcock May 2009.
& Wilcox Company as the Manager of Ma- In 2005, he was the faculty leader of the award-winning FIU
terials and Manufacturing Technology for Solar Decathlon entry sponsored by the United States. In 2008,
the Power Generation Group in Barberton, as Project Director of the Future House USA project, he led a
Ohio. He has worked for B&W for 37 years consortium of academics, builders, industry sponsors, and lobby-
in a number of technical areas involved with ists to represent the United States in a ten-country, international
nuclear and fossil-fueled power generation demonstration project of renewable energy and environmental-
including commercial and defense reactor ly friendly construction that resulted in a 3200-sq ft zero-net-
programs, fast breeder reactor development, energy American House in Beijing, China. On July 16th, 2009,
and a large range of utility and industrial boilers covering a wide Dr. Tao hosted a visit from the U.S. Secretary of Commerce
range of fossil fuels, solar power, and biomass and refuse. He is Gary Locke and Secretary of Energy Steven Chu in the Ameri-
presently responsible for research and development and all aspects can House and was praised by both Secretaries as playing “vital
of materials and welding technology for the Power Generation role in building better collaboration between the United States
Group. He has been involved for the last 8 years with materials and and China in the area of energy-efficient buildings.”
manufacturing development of materials and designs of the ad- Dr. Tao has a PhD in Mechanical Engineering degree from the
vanced ultrasupercritical boiler. He has been a member of the University of Michigan, and a BS and MS in Mechanical Engi-
ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code and a member of a number neering from Tongji University in Shanghai, China.
of subgroups and committees in the area of materials, welding, and
fired boilers and is presently Chairman of the Subgroup on Strength
of Weldments.

TAO, YONG X.
Dr. Yong X. Tao is PACCAR Professor of
Engineering and Chairperson of the De- THAREJA, DHARAM VIR
partment of Mechanical and Energy Engi- Dr. Dharam Vir THAREJA is the Director
neering at the University of North Texas — Technical, SNC-Lavalin Engineering In-
(UNT). He is an ASME Fellow and Editor- dia Pvt. Ltd. since 2009 to date. Previously.
in-Chief of Heat Transfer Research with he was a consultant with SNC-LAVALIN
more than 20 years of research and teach- Engineering India Pvt. Ltd., Institute for De-
ing experience. Prior to joining UNT, he fence Studies and Analysis (IDSA), J&K
was the Associate Dean of the College of Power Development Corporation and HP
Engineering and Computing at Florida International University Power Development Corporation.
in Miami and a Professor of Mechanical and Materials Engineer- Dr. Thareja held various senior assign-
ing. An internationally known researcher in fundamentals of ments from 1990 through 2008, chronologically the most recent to
thermal sciences, refrigeration system performance, and renew­ the last are Chairman Ganga Flood Control Commission (GFCC),
able energy applications in buildings, he was also Director of the Ministry of Water Resources, Govt. of India (GOI); Member (De-
Building Energy, Environment, and Conservation Systems Lab sign & Research Wing), CWC, Ministry of Water Resources;
(BEECS) and Multi-Phase Thermal Engineering Lab (MPTE) at Commissioner, Indus Wing, Ministry of Water Resources; Chief
FIU. Engineer, CWC, Ministry of Water Resources; and Chief Project
Dr. Tao has produced a total of more than 154 journal pub- Manager, WAPCOS, Ministry of Water Resources. Dr. Thareja
lications, book chapters, edited journals and proceedings, and worked previously from 1973 to 1999 in several capacities in
peer-reviewed technical conference papers over the course of his CWC and WAPCOS. Dr. Thareja was responsible for several pub-
career and holds two patents. He has received more than 12.2 lications that include 21 notable ones.
million dollars of research funding as a single PI or Co-PI in He earned his PhD IIT, Delhi, India, MSc and BSc in Civil En-
multidisciplinary teamwork projects from the NSF, NASA, Air gineering from the College of Engineering, University Of Delhi,
Force, DSL, DOE, ASHRAE, and various industries. He was India. Dr. Thareja’s professional affiliations include Fellow, In-
the Associate Editor of the Journal of Science and Engineering stitution of Engineers (India), Member, Indian Water Resources
A­pplications. Society, Indian Geotechnical Society, Indian Society for Rock and
Dr. Tao is also an active member of the American Soci- Mechanics & Tunneling Technology. He attended several institu-
ety of Heating Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers tions including UN Fellowship; USBR, Denver, Colorado (USA);
(ASHRAE) and member of Executive Committee of the Heat University of California, Berkeley (USA); University of Arizona,
Transfer Division of ASME, and Editor of ASME Early-Career Tucson (USA); University of Swansea, Swansea (UK); and Hydro
Technical Journal. He has served on many technical committees Power Engineering with M/s. Harza Engineering Co., USA under
for ASME, ASHRAE, and AIAA. He was also the Program Chair the World Bank program.
for the 2009 Summer Heat Transfer Conference of ASME and, Dr Thareja’s professional work country experience includes the
as the Founding Chair, established the first US-EU-China Ther- Philippines, Burma, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Bhutan, and India.
xviii  •  Contributor Biographies

TOUSEY, TERRY following the Space Shuttle Columbia Accident. Dr. Viterna was
Terry Tousey, an Independent Consultant at on the team that created the world’s first multimegawatt wind tur-
Alternative Fuels & Resources, LLC and bines starting in 1979. He is the recipient of NASA’s Blue Marble
President of Rose Energy Discovery, Inc., Award for aerodynamic models, now named for him, that are part
has a diverse background in the alternative of international design tools for wind turbines and that helped en-
energy, resource recovery, environmental able passive aerodynamic power control in the wind energy indus-
and chemical industries. He has over 22 try. Dr. Viterna has also been recognized with NASA Glenn’s
years of experience in the development, im- highest Engineering Excellence award for his pioneering work in
plementation, and management of hazard- fuel efficient hybrid vehicles. He is certified for the Senior Execu-
ous and nonhazardous waste fuel projects tive Service and received his PhD in Engineering from the Univer-
and substitute raw material programs within the cement industry. sity of Michigan. He has also completed executive education in
Mr. Tousey has spent most of the last 5 years working on the com- business administration at Stanford University, public policy at the
mercialization of renewable energy technologies including gasifi- Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and international man-
cation and anaerobic digestion of waste biomass materials for the agement at the National University of Singapore.
production of heat and power.
Mr. Tousey was a key member of the management team at two
startup resource recovery companies where, among other things,
he directed the business development strategy for sourcing waste
materials into the alternative fuels and raw materials programs. He
has reviewed the quality and quantity of numerous waste streams WEAKLAND, DENNIS P.
for use as an alternative fuel or substitute raw material and has Mr. Weakland has over 28 years of experi-
researched a number of technologies for processing these mate- ence in materials behavior and structural in-
rials into a useable form. Mr. Tousey has extensive expertise in tegrity of major nuclear components at an
managing these programs from concept through startup including operating nuclear power plant. He is recog-
permitting, design, construction, operations, logistics, marketing, nized to have a broad understanding of mate-
and regulatory compliance. His work on a wide range of highly rials issues in the Industry by the leadership
innovative alternative energy projects, both captive and merchant, positions held in several organizations. He
over the course of his career, has made him uniquely knowledge- specializes in ASME Code compliance,
able in the dynamics of resource recovery and the mechanics of technical and program review, evaluation of
the reverse distribution chain of waste from the generator to the Industry technologies for degradation mitigation, evaluation of ma-
processor. terial degradation concerns, and the oversight of fabrication activi-
Mr. Tousey is an alumnus of Purdue University, where he ties for new or replacement components. His experience with
earned his BS Degree in General Science with a major concentra- Inservice Inspection and materials programs has provided him with
tion in Chemistry and minor concentrations in Biology and Math- a thorough understanding of nondestructive examination tech-
ematics. He is a member of the Water Environment Association, niques and applications.
New England Water Environment Association, and Missouri Wa- Mr. Dennis Weakland has served in several industry leadership
ter Environment Association and a past member of the National roles, including the Chairman of the Pressurized Water Reactor
Oil Recyclers Association and the National Chemical Recyclers Owners Groups Materials Sub-committee and the Chairman of the
Association. He has been an active participant in the Environmen- EPRI Materials Reliability Project (MRP). He currently is a mem-
tal Information Digest’s Annual Industry Round Table where Mr. ber of the ASME Working Group — Operating Plant Criteria and
Tousey has given a number of presentations on the use of waste as Task Group Alloy 600. He is an alumnus of Carnegie-Mellon Uni-
fuels in the cement industry. versity where he earned a BS in Metallurgy and Material Science
degree. He also has earned a MBA for the University Of Pittsburgh
Katz School of Business.
Prior to joining the nuclear industry in 1982, Mr. Weakland
spent 13 years in the heavy fabrication industry in the production
of river barges, towboats, and railroad cars.

VITERNA, LARRY
Dr. Larry Viterna is a loaned executive to
Case Western Reserve University from
NASA. At Case, he serves as the Technical
Director of the Great Lakes Energy Institute, WEISSMAN, ALEXANDER
leading the formation of technology devel- Alexander Weissman is a doctoral student in
opment efforts in renewable energy and en- the Department of Mechanical Engineering
ergy storage. Most recently at NASA, Dr. and the Institute for Systems Research at the
Viterna was Lead for Strategic Business De- University of Maryland. He is currently
velopment at the Glenn Research Center, a working on research in design-stage estima-
major federal laboratory with a budget of over $600M and a work- tion of energy consumption in manufactur-
force of 2500. Previously, he was assigned to the NASA Deputy ing processes. His broader research goals
Administrator in Washington, DC, where he coordinated the devel- include sustainable manufacturing and de-
opment of the implementation strategy for Agency-wide changes sign for environment. Prior to this, he
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  xix

worked as a software engineer and developer for an automated WILLIAMS, JAMES (JIM) L.
analysis and process planning system for water-jet machining. He James L. Williams is owner and president of
completed a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in computer engi- WTRG Economics. He has more than 30
neering in 2006 at the University of Maryland. years experience analyzing and forecasting
energy markets primarily as a consulting en-
ergy economist. He publishes the Energy
Economist Newsletter and is widely quoted
on oil and natural gas issues in the national
and international media. His clients and sub-
scribers include major oil companies, inter-
WEITZEL, PAUL S. national banks, large energy consumers, brokerage firms, energy
Paul Weitzel is employed by the Babcock traders, local, state, and U.S. government agencies.
and Wilcox Company as a Technical Con- Jim has an MSc degree in mathematics with additional post-
sultant and Team Leader for New Product graduate work in math and economics.
Development, Advanced Technology De- Mr. James Williams has taught forecasting, finance, and eco-
sign and Development, Technology Divi- nomics at the graduate and undergraduate level at two universities,
sion, Power Generation Group at Barberton, testified on energy issues before Congress, and served as an expert
Ohio. His involvement with B&W spans 42 witness in state and federal courts. His analysis of oil prices in
years, beginning as a Service Engineer at Texas identified weaknesses in the method the state used to col-
Kansas City starting up boiler equipment lect severance taxes on oil and contributed to a revision in the sys-
and is currently responsible for the Advanced Ultra Supercritical tem that resulted in higher revenues to the state as well as royalty
steam generator product development. Early on in his career, there o­wners.
was a time out to serve in the U.S. Navy as an Engineering Duty Williams’ first work in the oil and gas industry was as senior
Officer aboard the USS Midway as the Assistant Boilers Officer economist with El Paso Company, where he analyzed and forecast
and at Hunters Point Naval Shipyard as a Ship Superintendent for petrochemical prices and markets. He modeled and forecast the
repair and overhauls, primarily for the main propulsion plant — financial performance of El Paso Petrochemicals division as well
always on ships with B&W boilers. Primary assignments with as new plants and acquisition targets.
B&W have been in engineering and service roles with a strong He regularly analyses and forecasts exploration activity and
technical interest in thermodynamics, fluid dynamics, and heat its impact on the performance of oil and gas manufacturing and
transfer supporting performance and design of steam generators. service companies. His experience ranges from the micro to macro
He is the author of Chapter 3, Fluid Dynamics, Steam 41, The level.
Babcock and Wilcox Company. He is a member of ASME. Williams’ current research interests include global supply and
demand for petroleum and natural gas, country risk, and the influ-
ence of financial markets and instruments on the price of energy.

WILLEMS, RYAN
Ryan is a renewable energy engineer work- WOLFE, DOUGLAS E.
ing in the Technology and Commercialisa- Dr. Douglas E. Wolfe’s research activi-
tion group of the Business Development ties include the synthesis, processing, and
division of Hydro Tasmania. Ryan joined characterization of ceramic and metallic
Hydro Tasmania as an intern in 2005 prior coatings deposited by reactive and ion
to graduating from Murdoch University beam assisted, electron beam physical va-
with a Bachelor of Renewable Energy Engi- por deposition (EB-PVD), sputtering,
neering degree in early 2006. Ryan has plating, cathodic arc, cold spray, thermal
gained extensive knowledge in the field of spray, and hybrid processes. Dr. Wolfe is
Remote Area Power Supply (RAPS) systems in his time at Hydro actively working on nanocomposite, nano­
Tasmania. layered, multilayered, functionally graded, and multifunctional
Ryan has been extensively involved in RAPS on both King and coatings and the enhancement of coating microstructure to tailor
Flinders Islands and has a considerable level of understanding of and improve the properties of vapor-deposited coatings such as
the complexities and control of each power station. Ryan has also thermal barrier coatings, transition metal nitrides, carbides, and
developed tools for the analysis of energy flows in RAPS systems borides, transition and rare-earth metals, for a variety of applica-
utilizing a range of control philosophies and has applied his knowl- tions in the aerospace, defense, tooling, biomedical, nuclear, and
edge of renewable energy generation technologies and their inte- optical industries, as well as corrosion-resistant applications. Other
gration in the development of this simulation tool. Ryan has also areas of interest include the development of advanced materials
been involved in the King Island Dynamic Resistive Frequency and new methodologies for microstructural enhancement, design
Control (DRFC) project since its inception and has provided sig- structures/architectures, and coatings/thin films with improved
nificant technical assistance in the design of control logic and trou- properties. Dr. Wolfe received his PhD in Materials (2001), his MS
bleshooting during commissioning. degree in Materials Science and Engineering with an option in
xx  •  Contributor Biographies

Metallurgy (1996), and his BS degree in Ceramic Science and En- Each year from 1981 through 2007, Mr. Yokell presented two
gineering (1994) from The Pennsylvania State University. He has or three 4-day short, intensive courses on Shell-and-Tube Heat Ex-
been a member of The Pennsylvania State University Faculty since changers-Mechanical Aspects at various locations in the United
May of 1998 and currently has a dual title appointment as States, Canada, South America, and Europe. During this period,
Advanced Coating Department Head for the Applied Research he has also presented, in collaboration with Mr. Andreone, annual
Laboratory and Assistant Professor in the Department of Materials seminars on Closed Feedwater Heaters and Inspection, Mainte-
Science and Engineering. Dr. Wolfe has developed a short course nance and Repair of Tubular Exchangers. In addition, he has pro-
entitled, “Determination, Causes and Effects of Residual Stresses vided in-plant training to the maintenance forces of several oil
on Coating Microstructure and Properties” and established a world refineries, chemical plants, and power stations.
class state-of-the-art Coatings Research Facility at the Pennsylva- Mr. Yokell is the author of numerous papers on tubular heat
nia State University. His expertise include the development and transfer equipment including tube-to-tubesheet joints, trouble-
processing of vapor-deposited coatings as well as materials charac- shooting, and application of the ASME Code. He is the author of
terization using a variety of analytical techniques including: X-ray A Working Guide to Shell-and-Tube Heat Exchangers, McGraw-
diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), optical Hill Book Company, New York, 1990. With Mr. Andreone, he
microscopy (OM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), tribol­ has written Tubular Heat Exchanger Inspection, Maintenance and
ogy, electron probe microanalysis (EPMA), X-ray photoelectron Repair, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York 1997. He holds
spectroscopy (XPS), secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS), two patents.
transmission electron microscopy (TEM), etc. Other research in- Mr. Yokell is a corresponding member of the ASME Code Sec-
terests/topics include defining and developing structure-property- tion VIII’s Special Working Group on Heat Transfer Equipment
processing-performance relationships. Dr. Wolfe published more and is a member of the AIChE, the ASNT, the AWS, and the NSPE.
than 40 research manuscripts and technical memorandums. Mr. Yokell received the BChE degree from New York University.

YOKELL, STANLEY ZAYAS, JOSE

Stanley Yokell, PE, Fellow of the ASME is Jose Zayas is the senior manager of the
registered in Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, and Renewable Energy Technologies group at
New Jersey. He is President of MGT Inc., Sandia National Laboratories. His responsi-
Boulder, Colorado, and a Consultant to Hy- bilities in this role include establishing strat-
droPro, Inc., San Jose, California, manufac- egy and priorities, defining technical and
turers of the HydroPro® system for heat programmatic roles, business development,
exchanger tube hydraulic expanding, the and performing management assurance for
BoilerPro® system for hydraulically ex- the renewable energy-related activities of
panding tubes into boiler drums and the laboratory. He manages and develops
tubesheets, and the HydroProof® system for testing tube-to- programs to:
tubesheet and tube-to-boiler drum joints. • Bring together key renewable energy technology capabilities
From 1976 to 1979, Mr. Yokell was Vice President of Ecolaire to consistently implement a science-based reliability and sys-
Inc. and President and Director of its PEMCO subsidiary. From tems approach
1971 to 1976, he was President of Process Engineering and Machine • Leverage Sandia’s broader predictive simulation, testing/eval-
Company, Inc., (PEMCO) of Elizabeth, New Jersey, a major manu- uation, materials science, and systems engineering capability
facturer of heat exchangers and pressure vessels, where he held the with expertise in renewable energy technologies
position of Vice President and Chief Engineer from its founding in • Expand and accelerate Sandia’s role in the innovation, devel-
1953. Previously, he held the positions of Process Engineer and Sales opment, and penetration of renewable energy technologies
Manager at Industrial Process Engineers, Newark, New Jersey, and Mr. Zayas joined Sandia National Labs in 1996 and spent the
Shift Supervisor at Kolker Chemical Works, Newark, New Jersey. first 10 years of his career supporting the national mission of the
Mr. Yokell works in analyzing and specifying requirements, labs wind energy portfolio as a senior member of the technical
construction and uses, troubleshooting, and life extension of tu- staff. During his technical career, he had responsibilities for sev-
bular heat transfer equipment. He is well-known as a specialist on eral programmatic research activities and new initiatives for the
tube-to-tubesheet joining of tubular heat exchangers and mainte- program. Jose’s engineering research contributions, innovation,
nance and repair of tubular heat exchangers. and outreach spanned a variety of areas, which include active aero-
He renders technical assistance to attorneys and serves as an dynamic flow control, sensors, dynamic modeling, data acquisition
Expert Witness. Mr. Yokell’s more than 48 years of work in the systems, and component testing.
field has involved design and construction of more than 3000 tu- After transition to the position of program manager in 2006, Jose
bular heat exchangers, design and manufacture of process equip- has engaged and supported a variety of national initiatives to pro-
ment, consulting on maintenance and repair of a variety of process mote the expansion of clean energy technologies for the nation.
heat exchangers and pressure vessels, feedwater heaters and power Most recently, Jose has continued to lead the organization’s clean
plant auxiliary heat exchangers. From 1979 to the present, he has energy activities and has coordinated and developed the laborato-
assisted in troubleshooting, failure analysis, repair, modification, ries cross-cutting activities in advanced water power systems. This
and replacement of process and power heat exchangers. program focuses on developing and supporting an emerging clean
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  xxi

energy portfolio (wave, current, tide, and conventional hydro en- research program to address barriers affecting the continued deploy-
ergy sources). Through developed partnerships with key national ment and acceptance of wind energy systems across the natio­n.
labs, industry, and academia, Sandia is supporting and leading a Jose holds a bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering from
variety of activities to accelerate the advancement and viability of the University of New Mexico and a Master’s degree in Mechani-
both wind energy and the comprehensive marine hydrokinetics in- cal and Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Califor-
dustry. Additionally, Jose is currently leading a Federal interagency nia at Davis.
 CONTENTS

Dedication ������������������������������������������������������������������������� iii CHAPTER 3  Solar Thermal Power Plants: From

Endangered Species to Bulk Power Production
in Sun Belt Regions
Manuel Romero and José González-Aguilar.................... 3-1
Acknowledgements...........................................................iv
3.1    Introduction......................................................................3-1
3.2   Solar Thermal Power Plants: Schemes and Technologies.... 3-2
3.3    Parabolic-Troughs........................................................... 3-6
Contributor Biographies ��������������������������������������������������� v 3.4   Linear-Fresnel Reflectors...............................................3-12
3.5    Central Receiver Systems (CRS)...................................3-13
3.6   Dish/Stirling Systems....................................................3-19
Preface............................................................................ xxix 3.7   Technology Development Needs and Market
Opportunities for Solar Thermal Electricity (STE).......3-21
3.8    Nomenclature and Unit Conversions.............................3-23
3.9   References......................................................................3-23
Introduction.................................................................. xxxiii
CHAPTER 4  Solar Energy Applications in India
Rangan Banerjee.............................................................. 4-1
I.  SOLAR ENERGY
4.1    Introduction......................................................................4-1
CHAPTER 1  Some Solar Related Technologies and 4.2    Status and Trends.............................................................4-1
Their Applications 4.3   Grid Connected PV Systems............................................4-1
Robert Boehm.................................................................. 1-1 4.4   Village Electrification Using Solar PV............................4-2
4.5    Solar Thermal Cooking Systems.....................................4-2
1.1    Solar Power Conversion, Utility Scale............................1-1
4.6    Solar Thermal Hot Water Systems..................................4-3
1.2   Hydrogen Production and Use.......................................1-12
4.7    Solar Thermal Systems for Industries..............................4-4
1.3   Building Applications of Solar Energy..........................1-16
4.8    Solar Thermal Power Generation.....................................4-5
1.4    Closing Comments.........................................................1-19
4.9    Solar Lighting and Home Systems..................................4-6
1.5    Acknowledgments..........................................................1-19
4.10  Solar Mission and Future of Solar in India......................4-6
1.6   References......................................................................1-20
4.11  Conclusion.......................................................................4-9
4.12  Acknowledgments..........................................................4-10
4.13 References......................................................................4-10
CHAPTER 2  Solar Energy Applications and
Comparisons
Yong X. Tao and Rambod Rayegan................................. 2-1 CHAPTER 5  Solar Energy Applications: The Future
2.1    Introduction......................................................................2-1 (with Comparisons)
2.2   Large-Scale Solar Energy Plants for Power Luis A. Bon Rocafort and W.J. O’Donnell......................... 5-1
Generation........................................................................2-1 5.1   History..............................................................................5-1
2.3   Distributed Photovoltaic Systems for Buildings............2-12 5.2    Current Technologies.......................................................5-3
2.4    Solar Thermal Systems for Buildings............................2-18 5.3    Storing Energy.................................................................5-7
2.5   Solar Process Heat for Manufacturing 5.4   How Can Solar Energy Help............................................5-9
Applications...................................................................2-23 5.5   What the Future Holds...................................................5-11
2.6   Other Solar Energy Applications...................................2-26 5.6    Conclusion.....................................................................5-13
2.7    Summary........................................................................2-28 5.7    About the Authors..........................................................5-14
2.8   References......................................................................2-28 5.8   References......................................................................5-14
xxiv  •  Contents

CHAPTER 6  Role of NASA in Photovoltaic and Wind 9.8    Summary........................................................................9-15

Energy 9.9    Acronyms and Internet...................................................9-15
Sheila G. Bailey and Larry A. Viterna............................... 6-1 9.10 References......................................................................9-15
6.1    Introduction......................................................................6-1
6.2    Photovoltaic Energy.........................................................6-1
CHAPTER 10  Role of Wind Energy Technology in
6.3   Wind Energy..................................................................6-16
India and Neighboring Countries
6.4    Conclusions....................................................................6-21
M. P. Ramesh................................................................. 10-1
6.5    Acknowledgments..........................................................6-21
6.6    Acronyms.......................................................................6-21 10.1    Introduction..................................................................10-1
6.7   References......................................................................6-22 10.2    India.............................................................................10-1
10.3    China..........................................................................10-11
10.4    Sri Lanka....................................................................10-13
10.5    Summary and Conclusion..........................................10-13
II.  WIND ENERGY
10.6    Acronyms...................................................................10-14
10.7   References..................................................................10-14
CHAPTER 7  Scope of Wind Energy Generation
Technologies
Jose Zayas........................................................................7-1 III.  HYDRO AND TIDAL ENERGY
7.1  Introduction: Wind Energy Trend and Current Status....... 7-1
7.2   Sandia’s History in Wind Energy....................................7-2 CHAPTER 11  Hydro Power Generation: Global and
7.3   SNL’s Transition to Hawt’s in the Mid 1990s.................7-4 US Perspective
7.4   Moving Forward: State of the Industry............................7-8 Stephen D. Spain........................................................... 11-1
7.5  Future Trends.................................................................7-15 11.1    Introduction to Hydropower........................................11-1
7.6   Conclusion.....................................................................7-18 11.2   History of Hydropower................................................11-1
7.7   Acronyms.......................................................................7-19 11.3   Hydropower History of the United States....................11-2
7.8  References......................................................................7-20 11.4   Hydropower Equipment...............................................11-3
11.5   Hydropower for Energy Storage..................................11-8
11.6   Ocean and Kinetic Energy...........................................11-9
CHAPTER 8  Wind Energy in the U.S. 11.7   Hydropower Organizations and Owners....................11-13
Thomas Baldwin and Gary Seifert.................................... 8-1 11.8   Hydropower Worldwide............................................11-13
8.1   Introduction......................................................................8-1 11.9   The Future of Hydropower........................................11-14
8.2  Wind Turbine Technologies............................................8-1 11.10 References..................................................................11-14
8.3  Wind Resources in the U.S..............................................8-2
8.4   Wind Plant Economics.....................................................8-5
8.5  Technical Issues...............................................................8-7 CHAPTER 12  Hydro Power Generation in India —
8.6   Environmental Issues.......................................................8-8 Status and Challenges
8.7  Radar Impacts..................................................................8-8 Dharam Vir Thareja........................................................ 12-1
8.8  Local Impacts...................................................................8-9 12.1    Introduction..................................................................12-1
8.9  Addressing Needs for Wind to Reach its Full 12.2    Energy Scenario and Role of Hydro............................12-2
Potential in the U.S........................................................8-10 12.3   Basin Wise Potential and Development Scenario........12-4
8.10 Wind Farm Development...............................................8-11 12.4    Small Hydro Development..........................................12-7
8.11 Wind Resource Assessment...........................................8-11 12.5    Pumped Storage Developments...................................12-9
8.12 Wind Farm Design.........................................................8-16 12.6   Transmission, Set-up, and Status...............................12-10
8.13 Wind Energy Research..................................................8-19 12.7   Constitutional Provisions of
8.14  Acronyms.......................................................................8-22 Water and Power Resources......................................12-11
8.15 References......................................................................8-22 12.8   Regulatory Agencies..................................................12-11
12.9   Resettlement and Rehabilitation Policies...................12-11
12.10  Appraisal and Techno-Economic Clearances............12-11
CHAPTER 9  Wind Energy Research in the Netherlands
12.11 Hydro-Development in the Neighbouring
Peter Eecen...................................................................... 9-1
Countries....................................................................12-15
9.1    Introduction......................................................................9-1 12.12 Response and Achievement of Private Sector...........12-15
9.2   Wind Energy in the Netherlands......................................9-1 12.13 Issues, Constraints, and Challenges in
9.3   Historic View to 1990......................................................9-2 Development..............................................................12-16
9.4   Historic View 1990 to 2000.............................................9-3 12.14  Innovations for Future Projects..................................12-18
9.5   Historic View 2000 to 2010.............................................9-5 12.15  Conclusions................................................................12-19
9.6   Research Programs...........................................................9-8 12.16  Acronyms...................................................................12-19
9.7   Experimental Research Infrastructure 12.17 References and Government of India Websites
in the Netherlands..........................................................9-10 (in Public Domain).....................................................12-20
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  xxv

CHAPTER 13  Challenges and Opportunities in Tidal 15.17  Municipal Solid Waste as a Source of Energy...........15-17
and Wave Power 15.18 Waste Heat Recovery.................................................15-19
Paul T. Jacobson............................................................ 13-1 15.19  Conclusion.................................................................15-20
15.20 References..................................................................15-20
13.1    Introduction..................................................................13-1
13.2   The Resource...............................................................13-1
13.3    Engineering Challenges and Opportunities.................13-4
13.4    Sociological and Economic Factors.............................13-5 CHAPTER 16  Geothermal Energy and Power
13.5    Ecological Considerations...........................................13-6 Development
13.6    Summary......................................................................13-8 Lisa Shevenell and Curt Robinson................................. 16-1
13.7    Acronyms.....................................................................13-8 16.1    Introduction..................................................................16-1
13.8   References . .................................................................13-8 16.2   Brief Survey of the Literature......................................16-3
16.3    Six Potential Geothermal Production Systems............16-4
16.4   Geothermal Resource Development —
IV.  BIO, WASTE, AND GEO THERMAL Exploration, Drilling, and Reservoir Engineering ......16-5
16.5   Geothermal Electrical Power Generation ...................16-6
CHAPTER 14  BioEnergy Including BioMass and 16.6   Current US Geothermal Power Production
BioFuels Efforts..........................................................................16-8
T. R. Miles.......................................................................14-1 16.7   Comments on Enhanced Geothermal
14.1    Introduction..................................................................14-1 Systems and the Prospects for the Future ...................16-9
14.2   Biomass Fuels and Feedstocks.....................................14-1 16.8    Utility Impact on Geothermal Development..............16-10
14.3   Heat and Power Generation.........................................14-5 16.9   Geothermal Power Production Findings . .................16-11
14.4    Cofiring Biomass with Coal.........................................14-8 16.10  Environmental Benefits..............................................16-15
14.5   Gasification................................................................14-10 16.11  Potential Environmental Impacts...............................16-16
14.6   Torrefaction................................................................14-10 16.12 Comparison with other Renewable
14.7    Pyrolysis and Carbonization......................................14-10 Energy Sources..........................................................16-20
14.8   Biofuels......................................................................14-10 16.13  Competing in Energy Markets...................................16-20
14.9   Future Developments.................................................14-11 16.14  Sustainability.............................................................16-21
14.10  Conclusion.................................................................14-11 16.15 Direct Use of Geothermal..........................................16-22
14.11  Acronyms...................................................................14-11 16.16 Geothermal Heat Pump Findings...............................16-22
14.12 References..................................................................14-11 16.17  Summary and Conclusions........................................16-23
16.18  Acknowledgments......................................................16-23
16.19  Acronyms...................................................................16-23
CHAPTER 15  Utilizing Waste Materials as a Source 16.20 References..................................................................16-24
of Alternative Energy: Benefits and Challenges 16.21 Other Sources for Information...................................16-26
T. Terry Tousey.............................................................. 15-1
15.1    Introduction..................................................................15-1
15.2   Regulatory Overview...................................................15-1 V.  FOSSIL AND OTHER FUELS
15.3    Evaluating the Energy Value of a Waste.....................15-4
15.4   Examples of Waste Materials and By-products CHAPTER 17  Development of Advanced Ultra
That Can Be Used as a Fuel.........................................15-5 Supercritical Coal Fired Steam Generators for
15.5   Regulatory Drivers and Obstacles.............................15-10 Operation Above 700°C
15.6   Economic and Environmental Benefits Paul S. Weitzel and James M. Tanzosh......................... 17-1
of Waste to Energy.....................................................15-10 17.1    Introduction..................................................................17-1
15.7   Generating Heat Versus Power..................................15-11 17.2   Higher Net Plant Efficiency.........................................17-2
15.8   Business Risks, Liabilities, and Responsibilities.......15-12 17.3   Boiler Fuel Efficiency..................................................17-3
15.9    Storage and Handling of Wastes................................15-12 17.4    Selection of Turbine Throttle Pressure........................17-3
15.10 Sourcing Waste Materials: 17.5   Does the Double Reheat Cycle Make Sense?..............17-4
Understanding the Supply Chain...............................15-12 17.6   Advanced USC Steam Turbine Heat Balance
15.11  Transportation Logistics............................................15-13 and Turbine Cycle Description....................................17-4
15.12  Community Relations................................................15-13 17.7   Reducing Carbon Dioxide Emissions..........................17-5
15.13 Effect of Waste Minimization and 17.8   Examples of Current Ultra Supercritical
the Economy of Continuity of Supply.......................15-13 (USC) Operating Practice for B&W Steam
15.14 Recycling Versus Energy Recovery..........................15-14 Generator Designs........................................................17-6
15.15 Use of Anaerobic Digestion 17.9   Advanced USC Steam Generator Operational
and Gasification for Waste.........................................15-14 Design..........................................................................17-6
15.16 Utilizing Hazardous Waste Fuels 17.10 Furnace Enclosure . ...................................................17-12
in the Cement Industry: Case Study...........................15-15 17.11 Furnace Roof..............................................................17-13
xxvi  •  Contents

17.12  Convection Pass Enclosure........................................17-13 19B.16 Bioenergy Summary..................................................19-36

17.13  Convection Pass Heating Surface..............................17-13 19.1    Concluding Remarks.................................................19-36
17.14  Materials Development..............................................17-14 19.2    Acronyms . ...............................................................19-36
17.15 Failure Mechanisms...................................................17-14 19.3   References.................................................................19-37
17.16 Fabrication Methods and Welding
Development..............................................................17-15
17.17 Design Codes, Design by Rule, Design by CHAPTER 20  Coal Gasification
Analysis......................................................................17-15 Ravi K. Agrawal.............................................................. 20-1
17.18  Material Supply Chain...............................................17-15 20.1    Introduction..................................................................20-1
17.19  Cost of Electricity......................................................17-16 20.2   Theory..........................................................................20-2
17.20  Economics..................................................................17-16 20.3   Gasification Methods and Technologies . ...................20-3
17.21  COMTEST1400.........................................................17-17 20.4   Gasification Island Design Issues and
17.22 First Commercial Plants.............................................17-18 Cost Impacts...............................................................20-10
17.23  Advanced Ultra Supercritical Power Plant................17-19 20.5    Applications of Coal Gasification..............................20-12
17.24  Acknowledgement.....................................................17-19 20.6   Outlook......................................................................20-15
17.25 References..................................................................17-19 20.7   References..................................................................20-21
17.26 List of Acronyms and Abbreviations.........................17-20

VI.  NUCLEAR ENERGY

CHAPTER 18  Carbon Capture for Coal-Fired Utility
CHAPTER 21  Construction of New Nuclear Power
Power Generation: B&W’s Perspective
Plants: Lessons to Be Learned from the Past
D. K. McDonald and C. W. Poling.................................. 18-1
Roger F. Reedy.............................................................. 21-1
18.1    Introduction..................................................................18-1
21.1   Background..................................................................21-1
18.2   Oxy-combustion...........................................................18-2
21.2   History of the Section III Code....................................21-1
18.3    Post-combustion Carbon Capture..............................18-10
21.3   History of Rules for Nuclear Pressure Vessels:
18.4    Acknowledgements....................................................18-16
Prior to Section III.......................................................21-2
18.5   References . ...............................................................18-17
21.4    NRC Acceptance of Section III...................................21-3
21.5    ASME Code Philosophy..............................................21-4
21.6   Lessons Learned — Mostly Forgotten.........................21-4
CHAPTER 19  Petroleum Dependence, Biofuels — 21.7   Bad Welding — Before VWAC..................................21-4
Economies of Scope and Scale; US and Global 21.8    NRC and ASME Interpretations..................................21-5
Perspective 21.9    Content of Records......................................................21-6
James L. Williams and Mark Jenner............................... 19-1 21.10  Piping System Tolerances............................................21-6
19A.1  Introduction.................................................................19-1 21.11 Use of Computers and Finite Element
19A.2  Measures of Petroleum Dependence...........................19-1 Programs......................................................................21-7
19A.3  Consumption...............................................................19-3 21.12  Cyclic Loadings — Is Counting Cycles Valid?...........21-7
19A.4  Sectors.........................................................................19-4 21.13 New Approaches — Think Outside the Box
19A.5  Nimby (Not in My Back Yard).................................19-11 (The Case for Innovative Piping Support
19A.6  Price, Production, and Geopolitics............................19-14 Systems).......................................................................21-8
19A.7  Summary of Petroleum Dependence.........................19-16 21.14 Quality Assurance and Management...........................21-8
19B.1 The Economics of Bioenergy....................................19-16 21.15 Guidelines for Effective Quality Assurance
19B.2  Current US Biomass Utilization is Political..............19-17 Programs......................................................................21-8
19B.3 Technical Innovation Drives Economic 21.16  Summary....................................................................21-14
Growth.......................................................................19-18 21.17  Acronyms...................................................................21-14
19B.4 Building a Bioenergy Infrastructure..........................19-19 21.18 References..................................................................21-15
19B.5 Bioenergy Demand/Consumption.............................19-21
19B.6 Biomass Supply and Production Economics.............19-26
CHAPTER 22  Nuclear Power Industry Response to
19B.7  Non-energy Materials................................................19-32
Materials Degradation — A Critical Review
19B.8 Bioenergy Policy Benefits and Costs........................19-32
Peter Riccardella and Dennis Weakland........................ 22-1
19B.9  Payments or Subsidies...............................................19-33
19B.10 Biobased Everything.................................................19-34 22.1    Introduction..................................................................22-1
19B.11 Food Versus Fuel......................................................19-34 22.2   The Issues.....................................................................22-1
19B.12  Co2 Emissions from Biomass — Or Not...................19-34 22.3   Discussion....................................................................22-4
19B.13  Challenges With the Current RFS2 Policy................19-35 22.4   Fleet-wide Recognition................................................22-5
19B.14  Math in the Name of the Law....................................19-35 22.5    New Plants...................................................................22-7
19B.15 Policy Challenges for the Bioenergy 22.6    Summary......................................................................22-7
Industry......................................................................19-35 22.7   References....................................................................22-7
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  xxvii

CHAPTER 23  New Generation Reactors 25.13  Inspection Validation.................................................25-27

Wolfgang Hoffelner, Robert Bratton, Hardayal Mehta, 25.14 Repairs.......................................................................25-27
Kunio Hasegawa and D. Keith Morton........................... 23-1 25.15 References..................................................................25-28
23.1    Introduction..................................................................23-1
23.2   Generation IV Initiative and Related
CHAPTER 26  Steam Turbines for Power Generation
International Programs.................................................23-1
Harry F. Martin................................................................ 26-1
23.3    Short Description of the Generation IV Systems.........23-4
23.4    Advanced Reactor Projects..........................................23-6 26.1    Introduction..................................................................26-1
23.5   Status of Generation IV Plants: Sodium 26.2   General Information.....................................................26-1
Fast Reactors................................................................23-8 26.3   Turbine Configurations................................................26-9
23.6   Very-high-temperature Gas-cooled Reactor..............23-15 26.4   Design........................................................................26-14
23.7   Other Generation IV Systems....................................23-19 26.5    Performance...............................................................26-20
23.8   Technical Challenges.................................................23-22 26.6   Operation and Maintenance.......................................26-21
23.9   Design Considerations...............................................23-29 26.7    Summary....................................................................26-24
23.10  NDE (Non-destructive Examination) .......................23-31 26.8   References..................................................................26-25
23.11  Crosscutting GIF Issues.............................................23-31
23.12  International R&D.....................................................23-31
23.13 Outlook......................................................................23-32 VIII.  SELECTED ENERGY GENERATION TOPICS
23.14  Conclusion.................................................................23-33
23.15  Abbreviations.............................................................23-33 CHAPTER 27  Combined Cycle Power Plant
23.16 References..................................................................23-34 Meherwan P. Boyce....................................................... 27-1
27.1    Introduction..................................................................27-1
27.2   Typical Cycles.............................................................27-3
CHAPTER 24  Preserving Nuclear Power’s Place 27.3   Gas Turbine................................................................27-14
in a Balanced Power Generation Policy 27.4   Gas Turbine HRSG Systems......................................27-19
Owen Hedden................................................................. 24-1 27.5    Steam Turbine............................................................27-23
24.1    End of the Nuclear Road?............................................24-1 27.6    Combined Cycle Plants..............................................27-26
24.2   Nuclear Power’s Place: Maintaining 20% 27.7    Availability and Reliability........................................27-27
of Total Electric Power Generation.............................24-1 27.8   References..................................................................27-29
24.3   Five Primary Arguments of Groups Opposing
Nuclear Power..............................................................24-2
24.4    Present Concerns..........................................................24-8 CHAPTER 28  Hydro Tasmania —
24.5   Future Challenges, Opportunities................................24-9 King Island Case Study
24.6   Protecting the Environment — Simon Gamble, Marian Piekutowski and Ryan Willems..... 28-1
Unfinished Business...................................................24-10 28.1    Introduction..................................................................28-1
24.7    Conclusion.................................................................24-12 28.2   The King Island Renewable Energy Integration Project ..28-2
24.8   References . ...............................................................24-12 28.3   Off-grid Power System Development . .......................28-3
24.9   Other Resources ........................................................24-12 28.4   King Island Power System Overview..........................28-6
28.5   Performance of Renewable Energy Developments.....28-11
28.6    Assessment of Benefits .............................................28-13
VII.  STEAM TURBINES AND GENERATORS 28.7   King Island Proposed Developments.........................28-18
28.8    Conclusions................................................................28-23
CHAPTER 25  Steam Turbine and Generator Inspection 28.9   References..................................................................28-23
and Condition Assessment
Lawrence D. Nottingham................................................ 25-1
25.1    Introduction..................................................................25-1 CHAPTER 29  Heat Exchangers
25.2    Non-destructive Inspection Methods...........................25-2 in Power Generation
25.3   Turbine Design and Component Overview.................25-3 Stanley Yokell and Carl F. Andreone............................. 29-1
25.4   Turbine Components Requiring 29.1    Introduction..................................................................29-1
Periodic Life Assessment.............................................25-5 29.2    Shell-and-tube Heat Exchangers..................................29-1
25.5   Rotor Forging Assessment...........................................25-5 29.3    Plate Heat Exchangers.................................................29-2
25.6   Turbine Disks.............................................................25-10 29.4   Heat Exchangers Used in Power Plants.......................29-2
25.7   Disk Rim Blade Attachment Dovetails......................25-13 29.5   Design Point.................................................................29-6
25.8    Solid (Unbored) Turbine Rotors................................25-17 29.6    Performance Parameters..............................................29-8
25.9   Generator Rotors........................................................25-18 29.7   Overloads and Low Loads...........................................29-8
25.10 Generator Rotor Retaining Rings...............................25-19 29.8   Testing Power Plant Heat Exchangers for Structural
25.11 Generator Rotor Tooth-Top Cracking.......................25-23 Integrity and Tightness ...............................................29-9
25.12  Material Properties Characterization.........................25-26 29.9   References....................................................................29-9
xxviii  •  Contents

CHAPTER 30  Water Cooled Steam Surface Condensers 31.10 Best Practices, Environmental Regulatory Policies,
K. P. (Kris) Singh............................................................ 30-1 and Standards.............................................................31-14
31.11  Summary....................................................................31-14
30.1   Introduction..................................................................30-1
31.12  Disclaimer..................................................................31-15
30.2   Surface Condenser Construction..................................30-2
31.13  Acknowledgments......................................................31-15
30.3   Definitions....................................................................30-4
31.14  References..................................................................31-15
30.4   Thermal Centerline......................................................30-4
30.5   Condensate Depression................................................30-6
30.6  Bundle Designs............................................................30-7
CHAPTER 32  The Role of Nano-Technology
30.7   Surface Condenser Sizing............................................30-9
for Energy and Power Generation:
30.8  Tube Supports and Non-condensibles
Nano-coatings and Materials
Accumulation.............................................................30-11
Douglas E. Wolfe and Timothy J. Eden.......................... 32-1
30.9  Heat Transfer Relations for a Condenser with
Non-segmental Tube Supports...................................30-12 32.1    Introduction..................................................................32-1
30.10  Solution Procedure.....................................................30-13 32.2    Current State-of-the-art................................................32-1
30.11 Off-design Condition Operation and 32.3    Solar Cell.....................................................................32-1
Non-condensibles Removal.......................................30-14 32.4   Up-conversion Technology
30.12  Cathodic Protection....................................................30-15 and Nano-structured Materials.....................................32-3
30.13  Nomenclature.............................................................30-16 32.5   Fuel Cell Technologies................................................32-4
30.14 References..................................................................30-17 32.6   Wind Energy................................................................32-4
32.7   Turbine.........................................................................32-4
32.8    Chemical Reaction and Mineralization........................32-6
IX.  EMERGING ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES 32.9   Impact of Nano-structured Materials
and Coatings and their Future in Energy.....................32-7
CHAPTER 31  Toward Energy Efficient 32.10 Hard Coatings for Improved Wear Resistance ...........32-7
Manufacturing Enterprises 32.11 Nano-structured Configuration, Strategy
Kevin W. Lyons, Ram D. Sriram, Lalit Chordia and and Conceptual Design................................................32-9
Alexander Weissman.......................................................31-1 32.12 Coherent, Semi-coherent, Incoherent Interfaces........32-10
31.1   Introduction..................................................................31-1 32.13 Lattice Mismatch.......................................................32-10
31.2   Energy Efficient Manufacturing..................................31-3 32.14  Challenges..................................................................32-10
31.3   Unit Manufacturing Processes.....................................31-4 32.15  Coating Materials Selection.......................................32-10
31.4   Categorization of Unit Manufacturing Processes........31-4 32.16  Approach in Applying Coatings................................32-13
31.5  Determining Energy Consumption..............................31-5 32.17  Microstructure and Property Enhancement...............32-15
31.6   Improving Energy Efficiency.......................................31-7 32.18 Time-dependent Deformation (Creep).......................32-19
31.7  Improving Energy Efficiency Through Improved 32.19  The Future of Nano-materials and Coatings..............32-20
Product Design: A Case Study in Injection Molding.......31-8 32.20  Acronyms...................................................................32-20
31.8  Reducing Energy Consumption at Manufacturing 32.21 References..................................................................32-21
Facility: A Case Study at Harbec Plastics, Inc..........31-11
31.9  Improving Efficiency of Energy Generation and
Conversion with Emerging Technologies: A Case
Study in Use of Supercritical Fluids at
Thar Technologies.....................................................31-11 Index �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������I-1
 PREFACE

Energy and Power Generation Handbook: Established and technological answers, practicing engineers who are looking for
Emerging Technologies, edited by K.R. Rao, and published by greener pastures in pursuing their professions, young engineers
ASME Press, is a comprehensive reference work of 32 chapters who are scrutinizing job alternatives, and engineers caught in a
authored by 53 expert contributors from around the world. This limited vision of energy and power generation will find this pub-
“Handbook” has 705 pages and contains about 1251 references lication informative.
and over 771 figures, tables, and pictures to complement the pro- Equally important is that all of the authors have cited from the
fessional discussions covered by the authors. The authors are public domain as well as textbook publications, handbooks, scho-
drawn from different specialties, each an expert in the respective lastic literature, and professional society publications, including
field, with several decades of professional expertise and scores of ASME’s Technical Publications, in addition to their own profes-
technical publications. sional experience, items that deal with renewable energy and non-
This book is meant to cover the conventional technical discus- renewable energy sources. Thus, ASME members across most of
sions relating to energy sources as well as why(s) and wherefore(s) the Technical Divisions will find this book worth having.
of power generation. The critical element of this book will thus The discussions in this Handbook cover aspects of energy and
be balanced and objective discussions of one energy source vis-à- power generation from all known sources of energy in use around
vis another source, without making any recommendations or judg- the globe. This publication addresses energy sources such as so-
ments which energy source is better than another. lar, wind, hydro, tidal, and wave power, bio energy including bio-
A primary benefit of these discussions is that readers will learn mass and bio-fuels, waste-material, geothermal, fossil, petroleum,
that neither this nor that source is better, but together they complete gas, and nuclear. Experts were also invited to cover role of NASA
the energy supply for this planet. This perhaps could be obvious in photovoltaic and wind energy in power generation, emerging
even without going through the compendium of energy sources technologies including efficiency in manufacturing and the role of
covered comprehensively in a book. However, a unique aspect of NANO-technology.
this publication is its foundation in the scholarly discussions and The 32-chapter coverage in this Handbook is distributed into
expert opinions expressed in this book, enabling the reader to make nine (IX) distinct sections with the majority addressing power and
“value judgments” regarding which energy source(s) may be used energy sources. Depending upon the usage, solar, wind, hydro, fos-
in a given situation. sil, and nuclear are addressed in more than a single chapter. Re-
This book has the end user in view from the very beginning to newable Energy Resources are covered in Sections I through IV,
the end. The audience targeted by this publication not only includes and Non-Renewable in Sections V and VI; Sections VII through
libraries, universities for use in their curriculum, utilities, consult- IX cover energy generation-related topics.
ants, and regulators, but is also meant to include ASME’s global Cost comparison with conventional energy sources such as fos-
community. ASME’s strategic plan includes Energy Technology sil and fission has been made to ascertain the usage potential of
as a priority. Instead of merely discussing the pros and cons of renewable resources. This aspect has been dealt by authors while
“energy sources,” this publication also includes the application of emphasizing the scope for increased usage of renewable energy.
energy and power generation. Authors therefore dwell on measures for promoting research and
Thus, the book could be of immense use to those looking be- development to achieve the target of being cost-comparable.
yond the conventional discussions contained in similar books that Preceding all of Sections I through IX, biographical information
provide the “cost–benefit” rationale. In addition to which energy pertaining to each of the authors is provided followed by Chapter
source is better than the other and to which geographic location, Introductions. This information provides readers a fairly good idea
the discussions on economics of energy and power generation will of the credentials of the experts chosen to treat the chapter topic
portray the potentials as well. and a glimpse of the chapter coverage.
Instead of picturing a static view, the contributors portray a Section I, Chapters 1 through 6, deals with Solar Energy in
futuristic perspective in their depictions, even considering the re- 114 pages addressed by 10 experts from academia, NASA, and
alities beyond the realm of socio-economic parameters to ramifi- practicing professionals from the U.S., Europe, and India. Global
cations of the political climate. These discussions will captivate interest in solar energy is apparent not only from the current usage
advocacy planners of global warming and energy conservation. but also from the untapped resources and its potential for greater
University libraries, the “public-at-large,” economists looking for usage.
xxx  •  Preface

The last chapter of Section I, Chapter 6, is authored by experts In Section V, as part of Non Renewable Fuels for Power and En-
from NASA who elucidate NASA’s efforts in both Solar and ergy Generation—Fossil Power Generation comprising of Coal,
Wind energy sectors. This is appropriate since both of these en- Oil, Gas, and Coal Gasification is addressed by U.S. experts in
ergy sources constitute the most popular of the renewable energy Chapters 17 through 20 in 86 pages. The cutting edge of technol-
r­esources. ogy concerning the impact of CO2 emissions, climate change, and
In addition to the potential of Wind Energy already covered coal gasification is addressed by U.S. industry experts in this Sec-
in Chapter 6, it is covered in detail in Chapters 7 through 10 of tion. Both the U.S. and global economy are impacted by energy
Section II. The increase in usage of wind energy in the past few and power generation from petroleum and gas. This issue is also
years in the U.S. as well as in Asia and Europe surpasses any addressed in this Section by two U.S. economists. Chapters of this
other energy resource. Thus, the potential, like solar energy, is section will cover ongoing issues as well as the state-of-the-art
enormous yet is vastly untapped. Global interest in wind as en- technology.
ergy resource, although confined to countries uniquely located While contributors cover the existing generation methods and
with wind potential, is limited by technological consequences. technology, they also expound facets that deserve unique treatment.
Authors from Sandia and Idaho National Laboratories, a research For example, the fossil power generation industry, responsible for
laboratory in the Netherlands, and a practicing professional from 40 percent of carbon emissions, can be addressed with minimal
India discuss in 71 pages all of the ramifications of wind energy socio-economic impact largely by technological advances. Where-
including the public perceptions and ways to technologically as longer chimney heights and scrubbers were considered adequate
overcome environmental considerations including noise and vi­ technology for coal-fired units, technology has moved far ahead,
sual aspects. and there are items worth attention of the readers. ‘The Devil’s in
Section III deals with Hydro and Tidal Energy and has three the Details of these technological advances’!
chapters, Chapters 11, 12, and 13, devoted to Hydro Power in the A discussion about Fossil Power Generation is incomplete
USA and Asia in 40 pages. These three chapters are authored by without an understanding of “global warming,” “climate change,”
three expert practicing professionals at the helm of their organi- and the Kyoto Protocol for dealing with carbon emissions. Authors
zations and EPRI. Potential for this energy source is considerable of Chapters 14 and 15 associated with a premier fossil generation
in the U.S. and developing world, and lessons of experience with enterprise bring the wealth of their experience in covering the cut-
considerable “know-how” in hydro power are valuable for use in ting edge of technology related to carbon emissions. If the abun-
rest of the world. Tidal and Wave Power is unique and knowl- dant coal in the U.S. has to continue for coal-fired power plants as
edge based, a privilege of the developed nations even though rest a blessing instead of a bane, it has to transform the technology for
of the world have enormous potential for this energy source. This the use of coal. Authors aware of the efficiency of coal for power
is addressed with abundant reference material by an expert from generation, to meet the global competition, have, with the help of
Electrical Power Research Institute (EPRI). impressive schematics and examples, implicitly demonstrated the
Section IV covers diverse modes of energy and power genera- U.S. dominance in this field.
tion such as Bio Energy, Energy from Waste, and Geo Thermal A unique aspect of this handbook is the inclusion of a chapter
Energy addressed in 56 pages in Chapters 14, 15, and 16 by prac- by two U.S. economists who provide economic rationales for both
ticing professionals and academia. petroleum and bio fuels. With the help of abundant schematics, au-
Bio Energy including Biomass and Biofuels is not exclusive to thors drive home the point that a value judgment has to include be-
developed world. Even developing nations are aware of it although yond technical considerations economic parameters as well. Scope
not dependent upon this source of energy. Bio-energy technology of coverage will include U.S. and developed economies such as
has been discussed by a practicing professional with expertise in Australasia, Europe, and North Americas and developing econo-
this field in the U.S. and overseas. The author covers the potential mies including countries of Asia, South America, Africa, and Mid-
of bio energy’s future usage and developments, especially co-fir- dle East.
ing with coal. Previously, coal was converted to make gas that was piped to
Waste Energy has been addressed by a practicing professional customers. Recently, investigation has been progressing for “BTU
with knowledge of municipal and industrial waste in both devel- Conversion.” Technological advancement has prompted Coal Gas-
oped as well as underdeveloped or developing economies. Ur- ification, methanation, and liquefaction. Author addressed these
banization and concomitant suburban sprawl with demands for state-of-the-art-technologies in Chapter 20 including design issues
alternative sources of energy generation can release gasoline for and cost impacts.
automobiles. With the help of several schematics, the benefits The oil rig exploration on April 20, 2010 in the Deepwater Ho-
and challenges of utilizing waste are covered including waste rizon 40 miles off the coast of Louisiana was the largest accident
cycle, the regulatory perspective, business risks, and economic in the Gulf of Mexico, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. This has
rationale. not been addressed in the discussions of Section V, since this will
This book that has as its target to investigate all “known” energy distract from the main theme of the subject matter.
sources and Geothermal Power cannot be discounted now as well In Section VI titled Nuclear Energy, seven U.S. authors and one
as in the immediate future. Even though confined in its application each from Japan and Switzerland cover Chapters 21 through 24 in
to a few isolated locations in the world such as Iceland, USA, Aus- 67 pages. Throughout the world, the nuclear industry is experienc-
tralia, Asia, and Europe, its contribution for solving global energy ing a renaissance. The aspects addressed in this Section will be
and power problems can be considerable, if this partially tapped self-assessment of the current generation of Nuclear Reactors as
resource of this planet can be harnessed to the fullest extent. Tech- much as covering salient points of the next generation of Nuclear
nological intricacies of this topic are addressed by two authors, an Reactors. These and other issues of Nuclear Power Generation are
expert from the academia and in-charge of a professional organiza- taken up by these nine authors with a cumulative professional and
tion in U.S. nuclear-related experience of over 300 years.
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  xxxi

Previous generations of Nuclear Reactors built in the U.S. were of power generation, especially as they relate to Wind, Solar,
criticized for the costs, time taken, and security concerns. All of Fossil, and Nuclear Power Generation. Discussions pertain to
these factors were instrumental in stalling the pace of construction types of Turbine Configurations, their design, performance, op-
of nuclear reactors in this country. Self-assessment by owners, reg- eration, and maintenance. Turbine components, disks, and ro-
ulators, and consultants with the help of professional organizations tors including non-destructive methods have been covered in the
such as ASME has largely addressed several or most of the items, discussions. In Chapter 25, the author discusses generators and
so that if we were to build nuclear reactors, we are much wiser crucial components such as retaining rings and failures. Material
now than ever before. Several of the issues are technical, whereas properties are briefly addressed. In both Chapters 24 and 25, the
some are pseudo-management issues. The authors in Chapters 21 authors dwell upon the advanced technology and next generation
through 24 of this Section VI succinctly chronicle the items for of turbines.
helping the future generation of reactors that will be built. Tech- In Section VIII of the book, Selected Energy Generation Topics
nological advances such as 3-D FEA methods, alloy metals used have been covered in Chapters 27 through 30 in 79 pages. Topics
in the construction, and several other factors have made it possible selected for this Section stem from the importance of the topics
by even a slight reduction in safety factors without reconciling the for Renewable as well as Non-Renewable Energy Generation. The
safety concerns; likewise, thinking process on the lines of prede- topics include Combined Cycle Power Plants, A Case Study, Heat
signed and modular constructions has alleviated the time from the Exchangers, and Water Cooled Steam Surface Condensers.
initiation through the construction stages up to the completion of A recognized authority in Combined Cycle Power Plants with a
a nuclear reactor; the regulatory perspective has also gone beyond Handbook on the subject has authored Chapter 27 that covers gas
the U.S. bounds to countries that use the ASME Stamp of Approv- and steam turbines. The author has addressed the availability, reli-
al for their Nuclear installations. ability, and continuity of energy and power by using the combined
The future of the nuclear industry holds immense promise cycle power plants.
based on strides made in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. ASME Codes In Chapter 28, Hydro Tasmania—King Island Case Study has
and Standards are used globally in building Nuclear Reactors. A been authored by three professional engineers of Hydro Tasma-
discussion about Nuclear Power Generation is never complete nia, Australia, who address the renewable energy integration
without an understanding about the country’s energy regulatory project. The discussions cover benefits including the development
structure and decision-making process. In the first chapter of this project.
section, Chapter 21, A Perspective of Lessons Learned, has been Heat Exchangers are crucial components of Power Genera-
addressed by an author with several decades of experience in the tion discussed in Chapter 29 by two recognized authorities with
U.S. nuclear industry. Hopefully this could be useful in building several decades of professional experience. The discussions rally
new reactors. around design aspects, performance parameters, and structural
In Chapter 22, two experts with nuclear background provide a integrity.
critical review of the “Nuclear Power Industry Response to Ma- A well-recognized authority in nuclear industry with global
terials Degradation” problems, especially as it relates to the new experience has authored the role of Water Cooled Steam Surface
plants. Authors discuss the fleet-wide recognition of these issues. Condensers in Chapter 30. The author has covered design aspects,
Experts from Switzerland, Idaho National Laboratories, Gen- the construction details, and the related topics with schematics and
eral Electric, and Japan Nuclear Safety with knowledge of the next a technical discussion with the help of 55 equations.
generation of nuclear reactors have contributed Chapter 23 sum- Whereas the preceding groups can be considered as the “core”
marizing global efforts. Authors provided an assessment of the ex- of the book, the future of energy sources cannot be overlooked.
isting generation and potential for new projects. These recognized Indeed, ignorance cannot be considered bliss in overlooking
experts with several decades of professional and Code experience the energy and power generation potentials of the world. Ulti-
have addressed the ramifications of the past and current construc- mately, this planet’s very existence depends on augmenting the
tions while providing their perspectives for the next generation of energy and power generation resources. This could also imply
nuclear reactors. conservation of energy (also covered in several of the preced-
An ASME Code expert succinctly addresses in the last chap- ing chapters) and harnessing methods that could improve known
ter of Section VI (Chapter 24) the future of nuclear reactors that techniques.
seems to be at the crossroads. It is most appropriate that the author In the last section of this handbook (Section IX), Emerging En-
provides an open window to look at the current concerns, future ergy Technologies have been addressed in 36 pages, in two chap-
challenges, and most importantly the unfinished business to revive ters, by six authors. Use of untapped energy sources and peripheral
nuclear power generation in the U.S. items such as Conservation Techniques, Energy Applications, Ef-
Recent events such as at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plants ficiency, and suggestions for Energy Savings “inside the fence” is
at Japan devastated by the Tohoku-Taiheiyou-Oki Earthquake worthy of consideration.
and Tsunami of March 11, 2011 have not been addressed by the In pursuit of the above statements, Chapter 31, Toward Energy
authors, since these require a separate treatment and will distract Efficient Manufacturing Enterprises, has been addressed by two
from the main theme of discussions. authors from the U.S. government, an expert from industry and an
Section VII is titled Steam Turbines and Generators and has two author from academia. Energy efficiency is implied in conserva-
chapters, Chapters 25 and 26, authored by two industry experts in tion and saving of energy, and this has been dealt with by authors
52 pages. Interdependency of all the energy sources needs to be in this chapter.
addressed, especially as it relates to energy sources that are inter- The cutting edge of technology by the use of Nano-Materials
mittent, and this has been done in Section VII. and Nano Coatings has been dealt with in Chapter 32 by two au-
In Section VII, Chapters 25 and 26 will be dedicated to Tur- thors from academia. These experts deal in this chapter the use of
bines and Generators, since they are a crucial and integral part Nano Technology in Fuel Cells, Wind Energy, Turbines, Nano-
xxxii  •  Preface

structured Materials, Nano-coatings, and the Future of Nano-tech- For the reader’s benefit, brief biographical sketches as men-
nology in power generation. tioned before are included for each contributing author. Another
A publication such as this with over 53 contributors from around the unique aspect of this book is an Index that facilitates a ready search
world and nearly 700 pages with rich reference material documenting of the topics covered in this publication.
the essence of the contributors’ expertise can be a valuable addition to
university libraries, as well as for consultants, decision makers, and K. R. Rao Ph.D., P.E.
professionals engaged in the disciplines described in this book. (Editor)
 INTRODUCTION

This handbook has been divided into nine (“IX”) sections with solar lighting concepts (besides windows) are discussed. The
each section dealing with a similar or identical energy and power author uses 28 references along with 24 schematics, figures,
generation topic. pictures, and tables to augment his professional and scholastic
Section I deals with Solar Energy, which includes Chapters 1 treatment of the subject.
to 6. Chapter 2 by Yong X. Tao and Rambod Rayegan deals with
Chapter 1, “Some Solar-Related Technologies and Their Ap- “Solar Energy Applications and Comparisons.” The authors focus
plications” is addressed by Robert Boehm. In this chapter, the on energy system applications resulting from the direct solar radia-
source of energy that has been available to humankind since we tion including:
first roamed the earth is discussed. Some of the general concepts • Utility-scale solar power systems that generate electricity and
are not new, and several particular applications of these technolo- feed to the electricity grid. There are PV systems and solar
gies are enhancements of previous concepts. thermal power systems; the latter can also produce heat for hot
The discussion begins with the special effects that are possi- water or air, which is often referred to as the combined solar
ble with the use of concentration. For locations that have a high power and heat systems.
amount of beam radiation, this aspect allows some very positive • Building-scale solar power systems, also known as distrib-
properties to be employed. This yields a lower cost, more efficient uted power systems, which generate electricity locally for the
way of generating electricity. Limitations to the use of concentra- building, and may be connected to the grid, or may be stand-
tion are also outlined. alone systems, which require batteries or other electricity stor-
Another aspect discussed is the current situation of solar thermal age units. They are primarily photovoltaic systems.
power generation. This approach has been in use for many years. • Solar heating systems for buildings, which are either used as
Previously designed systems have been improved upon, which hot water systems or hot air heating systems.
results in more efficient and more cost-effective means of power • Solar high-temperature process heat systems for industrial
production. While trough technology has been more exploited than applications, which involve concentrated solar collectors and
other approaches (and is still a leader in the field), several other high-temperature furnaces for producing high-temperature
systems are gaining interest, including tower technology. Thermal heat for chemical processing of materials.
approaches are the most convenient to add storage into solar power • Other special solar heating systems for desalination plants and
generation. hydrogen production.
Photovoltaic approaches are described. New developments in There are additional solar energy applications in either the appli-
cells have both decreased costs and increased performance. Both ance category or even much smaller scales such as solar cooking,
high- and low-concentration systems, as well as flat plate arrange- solar lighting products, and instrument-level solar power sources
ments in tracking or non-tracking designs, offer a variety of appli- (watches, backpacks, etc.) The discussion of those applications is
cation modes, each with certain benefits and shortcomings. beyond the scope of this chapter. Outer space applications of solar
The use of solar-generated hydrogen is discussed. This offers an energy technology are also excluded. Investigations primarily un-
approach to a totally sustainable mobile or stationary fuel source dertaken in the United States of America are presented, although
that can be generated from the sun. some examples from global applications are also discussed to ad-
The solar resource can be used for lighting, heating, cool- dress the potentials and needs for wider applications of solar en-
ing, and electrical generation in buildings. The concept of zero ergy in the United States. The authors use 57 references along with
energy buildings is discussed. These are buildings that are ex- 46 schematics, figures, pictures, and tables to augment the profes-
tremely energy efficient and incorporate a means of power pro- sional and scholastic treatment of the subject.
duction that can result in net zero energy use from the utility Next is Chapter 3 dealing with “Solar Thermal Power Plants:
over a year’s period. Locations with a moderate-to-high solar From Endangered Species to Bulk Power Production in Sun Belt
resource can use this to make up for the energy used. Both solar Regions,” by Manuel Romero and José González-Aguilar.
domestic water heating (a concept that has been applied in the Solar thermal power plants, due to their capacity for large-scale
United States for well over a century) and building integrated generation of electricity and the possible integration of thermal
photovoltaic (PV) are also discussed. South-facing windows storage devices and hybridization with backup fossil fuels, are
that incorporate thin film PV could generate power and allow meant to supply a significant part of the demand in the countries of
lighting to penetrate the building. Finally, some exciting direct the solar belt such as in Spain, the United States of America, India,
xxxiv  •  Introduction

China, Israel, Australia, Algeria, and Italy. This is the most prom- About 96,000 villages are un-electrified (16% of total villages in
ising technology to follow the pathway of wind energy in order to India) and a large proportion of the households do not have access
reach the goals for renewable energy implementation in 2020 and to electricity.
2050. India’s development strategy is to provide access to energy to all
Spain, with 2400 MW connected to the grid in 2013, is taking households. Official projections indicate the need to add another
the lead on current commercial developments, together with the 100,000 MW within the next decade. The scarcity of fossil fuels
United States of America, where a target of 4500 MW for the same and the global warming and climate change problem has resulted
year has been fixed and other relevant programs like the “Solar in an increased emphasis on renewable energy sources. India has
Mission” in India recently approved for 22-GW solar, with a large a dedicated ministry focusing on renewables (Ministry of New
fraction of thermal. and Renewable Energy, MNRE). The installed capacity of grid-
Solar Thermal Electricity or STE (also known as CSP or Con- connected renewables is more than 15,000 MW. The main sources
centrating Solar Power) is expected to impact enormously on the of renewable energy in the present supply mix are wind, small
world’s bulk power supply by the middle of the century. Only in hydro- and biomass-based power and cogeneration. In 2010, India
Southern Europe, the technical potential of STE is estimated at has launched the Jawaharlal Nehru Solar Mission (JNSM) as a part
2000 TWh (annual electricity production), and in Northern Africa, of its climate change mission with an aim to develop cost-effective
it is immense. solar power solutions.
The energy payback time of concentrating solar power systems Most of India enjoys excellent solar insolation. 2Almost the entire
will be less than 1 year, and most solar-field materials and struc- country has insolation greater than 1900 kWh/m /year with about
tures can be recycled and used again for further plants. In terms of 300 days of sunshine. Figure 4-2 shows a map with the insolation
electric grid and quality of bulk power supply, it is the ability to ranges for different parts 2of the country. The highest insolation
provide dispatch on demand that makes STE stand out from other (greater than 2300 kWh/m /year) is in the state of Rajasthan in the
renewable energy technologies like PV or wind. Thermal energy north of the country. The solar radiation (beam, diffuse, daily nor-
storage systems store excess thermal heat collected by the solar mal insolation) values are available at different locations from the
field. Storage systems, alone or in combination with some fossil handbook of solar radiation data for India and at 23 sites from an
fuel backup, keep the plant running under full-load conditions. Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) MNRE report.
This capability of storing high-temperature thermal energy leads Rangan Banerjee discusses in this chapter, with the help of 24
to economically competitive design options, since only the solar schematics, pictures, graphics, figures, and tables, the chapter that
part has to be oversized. This STE plant feature is tremendously deals with Status and Trends, Grid-Connected PV Systems, Village
relevant, since penetration of solar energy into the bulk electric- Electrification Using Solar PV, Solar Thermal Cooking Systems,
ity market is possible only when substitution of intermediate-load Solar Thermal Hot Water Systems, Solar Thermal Systems for
power plants of about 4000 to 5000 hours/year is achieved. Industries, Solar Thermal Power Generation, Solar Lighting and
The combination of energy on demand, grid stability, and high Home Systems, Solar Mission, and Future of Solar Power in India.
share of local content that lead to creation of local jobs provide a The author uses 35 references and 24 schematics, figures, pictures,
clear niche for STE within the renewable portfolio of technolo- and tables to augment his professional and scholastic treatment of
gies. Because of that, the European Commission is including STE the subject.
within its Strategic Energy Technology Plan for 2020, and the U.S. Chapter 5, “Solar Energy Applications: The Future (with Com-
DOE is launching new R&D projects on STE. A clear indicator parisons)” is covered by Luis A. Bon and W.J. O’Donnell. This
of the globalization of such policies is that the International En- chapter traces the roots of solar energy from 1838 through cur-
ergy Agency (IEA) is sensitive to STE within low-carbon future rent technologies from an engineering perspective. Numerous
scenarios for the year 2050. At the IEA’s Energy Technology Per- diagrams and photographs are included, illustrating the technical
spectives 2010, STE is considered to play a significant role among concepts and challenges. Methods of concentrating solar power
the necessary mix of energy technologies needed to halving global are described including parabolic troughs, Fresnel reflectors, solar
energy-related CO2 emissions by 2050, and this scenario would towers, and sterling engine solar dishes. Methods of storing solar
require capacity additions of about 14 GW/year (55 new solar ther- energy to provide continuous power are described, including bat-
mal power plants of 250 MW each). teries, fly-wheel energy storage, water energy storage, compressed
In this chapter, the authors discuss, with the help of 21 figures, air, and superconducting magnetic energy storage. Current energy
schematics, and tables along with 72 references, the Solar Thermal use and production in the United States of America and worldwide
Power Plants — Schemes and Technologies, Parabolic-Troughs, are quantified. Solar energy’s potential future is illustrated by the
Linear-Fresnel Reflectors, Central Receiver Systems (CRS), Dish/ fact that it would require less than 1% of the land area of the world
Stirling Systems, Technology Development Needs and Market to produce all of the energy we need. Of course, solar energy’s
Opportunities for STE. The authors use 72 references along with future lies in its integration into the residential and commercial
27 schematics, figures, pictures, and tables to augment the profes- infrastructure. This challenge is expected to limit the contribution
sional and scholastic treatment of the subject. of solar energy to <0.1% of the USA energy consumption over the
Chapter 4 has been written by Rangan Banerjee and deals with next 25 years.
“Solar Energy Applications in India.” India has a population of 1.1 The final chapter of this section is Chapter 6 “Role of NASA in
billion people (one-sixth of the world population) and accounts for Photovoltaic and Wind Energy” by Sheila G. Bailey and Larry A.
less than 5% of the global primary energy consumption. India’s Viterna. Since the beginning of NASA over 50 years ago, there has
power sector had an installed capacity of 159,650 MW as on 30th been a strong link between the energy and environmental skills de-
April, 2010. The annual generation was 724 billion units during veloped by NASA for the space environment and the needs of the
2008 to 2009 with an average electricity use of 704 kWh per per- terrestrial energy program. The technologies that served dual uses
son per year. Most states have peak and energy deficits. The aver- included solar, nuclear, biofuels and biomass, wind, geothermal,
age energy deficit is about 8.2% for energy and 12.6% for peak. large-scale energy storage and distribution, efficiency and heat
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  xxxv

utilization, carbon mitigation and utilization, aviation and ground Department of Energy (DOE). INL’s mission includes ensuring
transportation systems, hydrogen utilization and infrastructure, the nation’s energy security with safe, competitive, and sustainable
and advanced energy technologies such as high-altitude wind, energy. INL’s Renewable Energy Program, consisting of wind, hy-
wave and hydro, space solar power (from space to earth), and nano­ dro, and geothermal energy systems, has conducted wind energy
structured photovoltaics. NASA, in particular, with wind and so- resource assessments, system integration, feasibility studies, tur-
lar energy, had extensive experience dating back to the 1970s and bine selection, and array designs since the mid-1990s. Engineering
1980s and continues today to have skills appropriate for solving support has been provided for the U.S. Department of Defense,
our nation’s energy and environmental issues that mimic, in fact, Wind Powering America, State of Idaho, commercial industries,
those needed for space flight. This chapter encompasses the his- and regional entities. INL is an international clearing house sup-
torical role that NASA and, in particular, NASA Glenn Research porting private parties, industry, and government agencies as an
Center, GRC, have played in developing solar and wind technolo- independent subject matter expert on wind power, resource as-
gies. It takes you through the programs chronologically that have sessment, and renewable energy systems siting. INL has extensive
had synergistic value with the terrestrial communities. It ends with wind analysis expertise, having collected and analyzed wind data
pointing out the possibilities for future NASA technologies that for more than 10 years. INL has installed met towers at more than
could impact our Nation’s energy portfolio. The technologies that 60 sites and collected data with SODARs. Wind analysis modeling
it has developed for aeronautical and space applications has given tools experience includes WAsP, WindSim, Windographer, NRG,
GRC a comprehensive perspective for applying NASA’s skills and SecondWind, as well as MS Excel-based models which have been
experience in energy on the problems of developing a sustainable developed internally over several years.
energy future for our nation. Authors use 70 references along with Thomas Baldwin, Gary Seifert, and the engineering team they
32 schematics, figures, and pictures to augment the professional work with bring a combined total of over 75 years of expertise to
and scholastic treatment of the subject. the power system integration, wind, solar, and renewable energy
Section II dealing with Wind Energy is covered in Chapters 7 field. Gary Seifert has been involved for over 30 years in electrical
through 10. and power systems projects for the Idaho National Laboratory. He
Chapter 7 is authored by Jose Zayas who addresses “Scope of is a Sr. Program Manager in INL’s Power and Renewable Energy
Wind Energy Generation Technologies.” The energy from the and Power Technologies Department. His background includes
wind has been harnessed since early recorded history all across the extensive power plants and total energy plants for the DOE and
world, and it has been a viable and dependable resource to support the DOD. These plants have included heat recovery and desalina-
our ever changing needs (pump water, grind grains, and now pro- tion plants to produce potable water and challenging power system
duce cost-effective electricity). i­ntegrations.
When the price of oil skyrocketed in the 1970s, so did world- Thomas Baldwin has been involved in power system design and
wide interest in wind turbine generators. The sudden increase in energy storage systems for 25 years at ABB, Florida State Univer-
the price of oil stimulated a number of substantial government- sity, and the INL. His background includes earthing and grounding
funded programs of research, development, and demonstration, systems, power quality assessments, applications of uninterrupt-
which led to many of the technology that drove the designs and the ible power supplies and superconducting energy storage systems,
industry that can be seen today. and industrial power system protection. Authors use 34 references
Since the early 1980s through today, wind farms and wind power along with 26 schematics, figures, pictures, and tables to augment
plants have been built throughout the world, and now wind energy the professional and scholastic treatment of the subject.
is the world’s fastest-growing clean energy source that is powering The next, Chapter 9, is by Peter Eecen which deals with “Wind
our industry as well as homes with clean, renewable electricity. Energy Research in the Netherlands.” The chapter describes the
Although the United States experienced a large influx of installa- developments within The Netherlands with regard to the wind en-
tions during the 1980s, it is not until recent years that wind energy ergy research since the first funding was organized by the National
in the United States has achieved large market installations and Wind Energy Research Program in the period 1976 to 1985. Wind
continued market acceptance. Through the 3rd Quarter of 2010, the energy research activities in the Netherlands have been and are
United States has approximately 37,000 MW of installed capacity, predominantly performed at the wind energy department of the En-
which approximately represents 2% of our energy consumption. ergy Research Centre of the Netherlands ECN and the interfaculty
Since the beginning, Sandia National Laboratories has had a wind energy department DUWIND at Delft University of Tech-
key role in developing innovations in areas such as aerodynam- nology. Both institutes are involved in wind energy research since
ics, materials, design tools, rotor concepts, manufacturing, and the start of the modern wind turbines. These institutes match their
sensors, and today, through continued partnerships with industry, research programs with each other so that a consistent research
academia, and other national labs, Sandia continues to develop and program in The Netherlands is in place.
deliver the next set of technology options that will continue to im- The research activities in wind energy have a strong focus on
prove the reliability and efficiency of wind systems. It is difficult international cooperation, where the cooperation was organized
to predict what the next generation of technologies will bring to through among others the International Energy Agency (IEA),
this industry, but we can be certain that as it continues to mature European Wind Energy Association (EWEA), European Academy
and leverage technologies from other sectors, the resulting turbines of Wind Energy (EAWE), the International Electrotechnical Com-
will be smarter, more efficient, and they will represent a significant mission (IEC), the European Energy Research Alliance (EERA),
percentage of our energy mix. The author uses 11 references along and European research projects.
with 37 schematics, figures, and pictures to augment the profes- In the Netherlands, the wind energy research is supported by
sional and scholastic treatment of the subject. an extensive experimental infrastructure. The Knowledge Centre
Thomas Baldwin and Gary Seifert cover “Wind Energy in the WMC that has been founded by the DUT and ECN is a research
U.S.” in Chapter 8. Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is a science- institute for materials, components, and structures. WMC is per-
based, applied engineering national laboratory supporting the U.S. forming blade tests for large wind turbines to 60 m in length. ECN
xxxvi  •  Introduction

made available a research wind farm where prototype wind tur- power adds considerable value for localized grids. Biomass sources
bines are tested, where a research farm of five full-scale turbines work more or less like thermal stations though for limited periods
are used for research activities, and where a scale wind farm is in a year. The author uses 14 references along with 16 schematics,
located for research on farm control and wind farm aerodynamic figures, pictures, and tables to augment the professional and scho-
research. At DUT, a large selection of experimental facilities is lastic treatment of the subject.
being used for wind energy applications. The most prominent fa- Section III deals with Hydro and Tidal Energy and has three
cilities are the wind tunnels, of which the Open Jet Facility is the chapters: Chapters 11, 12, and 13.
most recent addition. Chapter 11, “Hydro Power Generation: Global and U.S. Per-
The historic overview of the wind energy research activities spective” is by Stephen D. Spain. The development of dams on
in the Netherlands is written from the perspective of the research rivers, with associated benefits of water storage for flood control,
community and provides alternative insights as would be provided irrigation, and “hydropower” has played a vital role in advancing
by existing historic overviews that focus on the implementation civilization throughout history. Of these, hydropower ingeniously,
of wind energy and the development of support mechanisms. The and yet so simply, combines two of the most fundamental com-
description of research activities, the developed advanced design ponents of nature on planet Earth — water and gravity — to help
tools, developed knowledge, and intellectual property may pro- sustain our survival and improve our lifestyle.
vide an alternative source for further activities to reduce the cost This chapter describes the role of hydropower from past to
of energy of wind power. The author uses 22 references along with present and into the future. Hydropower has been demonstrated
ten schematics, figures, pictures, and tables to augment the profes- to be a safe, reliable, and renewable energy resource worldwide,
sional and scholastic treatment of the subject. essential to the overall power and energy mix, both traditionally
The last chapter of Section II, Chapter 10, is by M. P. Ramesh from rivers. Recent and growing development of pumped energy
covering “Role of Wind Energy Technology in India and Neigh- storage from lower to upper water reservoirs and evolving in the
boring Countries.” The interest in wind as a source of power in the future with tidal and wave energy from the oceans has also been
Asian region had an early start in India. Owing to a variety of in- covered by the author.
hibiting factors, it was a low key activity for a long time. Ramesh, Stephen D. Spain discusses, with the help of 18 schematics,
Muthya with his long and close association with the field has treated figures, pictures, and tables, the History of Hydropower, includ-
the subject of wind energy development as a source of power with ing in the United States, Hydropower Equipment, Hydropower for
a thorough understanding of development cycle in dismissive en- Energy Storage, Ocean and Kinetic Energy, and Hydropower Or-
vironments that are stronger in developing countries. ganizations. The discussions also include Hydropower Owners,
Indian engagement with wind power started as early as the late Worldwide Hydropower, and The Future of Hydropower. The
1950s but was mostly for nonelectric applications. Origins of us- chapter made extensive references to 27 publications.
age of wind for grid connection started only in the mid-1980s with Chapter 12, “Hydro Power Generation in India — Status and
few small turbines installed at known windy areas. Danida aided Challenges” is authored by Dharam Vir Thareja. Power generation
20 MW wind farms paved way for a steady and sustained growth in India has come a long way from about 1000 MW at the time of
of the field. This is treated with the backdrop of the grid situation independence (August, 1947) to about 160,000 MW as on 31st
and programmatic approach of the support from the government. March 2010 (end of Financial Year). The share of hydropower in
Approach to resource estimation is also treated rather cautiously the past six decades has also been impressive as it increased from
in India. about 500 MW at the time of independence to about 37,000 MW
China had been a little slow in taking to large-scale develop- as of March 2010. But the present level of hydropower is only
ment in renewable energy except for perhaps the biogas plants, about 25% of the ultimate installed capacity estimated at 150,000
which score over the Indian design in many ways. Slowly but MW.
surely, the Indian floating collector design is being replaced by The hydroproject implementation and ownership remained with
fixed dome Chinese design for community-based biogas plants. the State Governments or with the Power Corporations owned by
On wind power use over the last few years, there has been a dras- States or Central Government for about four and a half decades.
tic turn around in the approach to using re-technologies. It has Owing to slow pace of development and also in line with interna-
taken just 3 years for China to graduate to the second position tional stress for liberalization of economy, the Government of In-
in the top ten lists in terms of wind power capacity addition. If dia reviewed the policy of power development. In 1992, the power
one goes by the projections, the number one position may be sector was opened up allowing private capital participation in its
achieved. In 2007, it was at about 4 GW, and by 2009, the instal- development along and in parallel with continued development un-
lations touched an astounding 26 GW. With scores of companies der public sector.
undertaking development on a war footing, there is so much hap- India now possesses the needed financial resources and profes-
pening in China on wind power. A spate of wind turbine designs sional capabilities to utilize the in-house and global capacities for
has been developed, and prototypes are being built and tested. implementation of hydropower projects. The 50,000 MW initia-
Another paradoxical position is that though it is a country that tives leading to identification of 162 projects in a span of 2 years
produces about 40% of all solar photovoltaic devices, domestic (2004 to 2006) has been recognized as a laudable initiative. The
utilization is quite small. achievement of commissioning of about 8000 MW in the 10th plan
Sri Lanka has good wind resource. However, it cannot be ex- period (2002 to 2007), the target of over 15,000 MW in the running
pected to reach market sizes that India or China have. The potential 11th plan period (2007 to 2012) and 20,000 MW proposed during
and limitations have been briefly described. the 12th plan period (2012 to 2017) speaks of the ambitious plan
In this paper, Ramesh Muthya has attempted to capture some of of hydropower development. To achieve the targets of 11th and
the salient aspects of technology development and deployment in 12th plans, the fund requirement would be of the order of US$ 30
India in the context of power supply systems management. Main billion of which about 30% would be the share of private sector.
RE technologies dealt with are wind energy sources. Small hydro- The participation of private sector in the investment projections
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  xxxvii

for the 11th plan for infrastructure, which includes power sector, is renewable ocean energy projects. The remaining challenge is to
estimated to be at 30%. prioritize the issues and address the most pressing ones in a cost-
The hydropower that is yet to be tapped, projects with more than effective manner. For individual projects, this requires definition
75% of installation, are located in Himalayan region. This region and evaluation of questions required for site-specific permitting
is known for intense seismicity, wide range of geotechnical vari- and licensing. For the industry as a whole, this requires identifi-
ability, and extensive hydrologic pose challenges for infrastructure cation and acquisition of information that is transferable across
development. projects. Several nontrivial activities are outlined that can be
It has been planned to exploit the bulk of balance of hydropoten- taken to address the large array of outstanding issues. The author
tial in the next about two decades. To meet the target, the hydro- uses 70 references along with eight schematics, figures, pictures,
sector would require investment of US$100 billion requiring an and tables to augment the professional and scholastic treatment of
average of US$4 billion per year for another 25 years and, thus, the subject.
would remain attractive for financial institutions, project develop- Section IV covers diverse modes of energy and power genera-
ers, contractors, and consultancy organizations. tion such as Bio, Waste, and Geo Thermal energies.
The role of hydropower in the energy scenario; potential and sta- In the leading chapter of Section IV, Chapter 14, “BioEnergy
tus of development; small hydro- and pump-storage development; Including BioMass and Biofuels” is addressed by T. R. Miles. He
transmission setup and status; constitutional and regulatory pro- describes biomass fuels and discusses technologies that are suit-
visions; resettlement and rehabilitation policies; techno-economic able for biomass conversion. T. R. Miles draws from more than 35
appraisal procedures; hydropower development in the neighboring years experience in the design and development of biomass sys-
countries; response and achievement of private sector; the issues, tems, from improved cooking stoves in developing countries, to
constraints, and challenges in development; and innovations for industrial boilers, independent power plants, utility cofiring and
future projects are covered in this chapter. The author uses 16 sche- the development of biofuel processes.
matics and 48 references to supplement the textual discussions. Oil shortages in the 1970s stimulated the development of new
The last chapter of this section, Chapter 13, is “Challenges and technologies to convert biomass to heat, electricity, and liquid fu-
Opportunities in Tidal and Wave Power” by Paul T. Jacobson. els. Combined firing of biomass with coal reduces emissions, pro-
Power generation from waves and tidal currents is a nascent in- vides opportunities for high efficiency, and reduces fossil carbon
dustry with the potential to make globally significant contributions use. Cofiring and markets for transportation fuels have stimulated
to renewable energy portfolios. Further development and deploy- global trading in biomass fuels. Pyrolysis of biomass to liquid fu-
ment of the related, immature technologies present opportunities to els creates opportunities for coproducts, such as biochar, which
benignly tap large quantities of renewable energy; however, such can help sequester carbon and offset emissions from fossil fuels.
development and deployment also present numerous engineering, This chapter provides an overview of biomass fuels and resources,
economic, ecological, and sociological challenges. A complex re- the biomass power industry, conventional and new technologies,
search, development, demonstration, and deployment environment and future trends. Advances in combustion and gasification are
must be skillfully navigated if wave and tidal power are to make described. Thermal and biological conversions to liquid fuels for
significant contributions to national energy portfolios during the heat, power, and transportation are described with implications for
next several decades. stationary use.
A striking feature of the wave and tidal power technologies Topics in Chapter 14 include biomass fuels and feedstocks, heat
in various stages of development is their number and diversity. and power generation, cofiring biomass with coal, and conversion
Standardized classification of these technologies, as described technologies such as gasification, torrefaction, pyrolysis, carboni-
here, will facilitate their development and deployment. The prin- zation, and biofuels. Biomass fuel properties that are important to
cipal engineering challenge facing development of wave and tidal energy conversion are compared with coal. The effect of moisture,
power devices is design of devices that can survive and operate energy density, volatile content, particle size, and ash are related
reliably in the harsh marine environment. A significant advantage to the selection, design, and operation of biomass boilers. Mois-
of tidal and wave energy conversion, compared to wind and photo- ture, particle size, and density are shown to limit cofiring in exist-
voltaic generation, is the ability to forecast the short-term resource ing boilers. New technologies can offset these properties enabling
availability. more biomass to be cofired with coal. The transformation of ash
Environmental considerations play a large role in ongoing de- in biomass boilers is shown graphically in Figure 14-1. Biomass
velopment of the wave and tidal energy industry. The number types, sources, and supplies are evaluated including woody bio-
and novelty of device types, in combination with the ecological mass, wood pellets, urban residues, and agricultural residues. The
diversity among potential deployment sites, creates a complex ar- infrastructure and logistics of biomass are described. The current
ray of ecological impact scenarios. Efficient means of addressing state of harvesting systems for crop residues and herbaceous crops
ecological concerns are in need of further development, so that the is shown to highlight the need for higher fuel density and lower
industry can advance in an environmentally sound manner. Adap- costs. Life cycle analysis is shown to be a common method for
tive management offers a means of moving the industry forward in evaluating biomass sustainability.
the face of ecological uncertainty; however, the potential benefits Technologies for heat and power generation include combus-
of adaptive management will be realized only if it is implemented tion, domestic heat, district energy, small scale, industrial, and
in its more scientifically rigorous form known as active adaptive utility boilers for power generation. Industrial and utility systems
management. use spreader stokers, and bubbling and circulating fluidized bed
The ecological assessment challenge facing the wave and tidal boilers. Methods to improve combustion efficiency and emissions
energy industry is to acquire and apply the information needed to are explained. Technology needs are identified such as boilers for
ensure that systems, sites, and deployment scales are protective low-quality biomass fuels like poultry litter.
of ecological resources. Many reports have identified the range Pyrolysis and carbonization are discussed as methods to change
of environmental issues associated with wave, tidal, and other the form of biomass to enable increased use. Biochar is considered
xxxviii  •  Introduction

as a coproduct of pyrolysis or gasification that can be used to se- tems, where they are located, why they are there, and how geo-
quester carbon and improve soil fertility. thermal systems in nature behave. Brief historical perspectives of
Biofuel development is outlined with attention to the potential geothermal development are presented as background. The authors
benefits of using existing infrastructure in the pulp and paper in- discuss the three different types of power plants used to generate
dustry. The author concludes that future developments in biomass electricity and which type of power plant should be used to de-
energy will depend on public policy decisions regarding the use of velop the particular type of geothermal systems most efficiently.
biomass resources and on the development of biomass energy as a Current trends in geothermal development in the United States
means of offsetting carbon emissions from fossil fuels. The author are discussed. An overview of geothermal exploration methods,
uses 65 references along with 16 schematics, figures, pictures, and historically successful, and new methods is presented. Environ-
tables to augment the professional and scholastic treatment of the mental benefits and consequences and sustainability of geother-
subject. mal power development are also outlined. Additionally, there is a
Chapter 15, “Utilizing Waste Materials as a Source of Alterna- comparison to other types of renewable energy sources and how
tive Energy: Benefits and Challenges” is addressed by T. Terry geothermal is able to compete in energy markets.
Tousey. There are numerous waste streams, both industrial and Although the majority of the chapter focuses on power produc-
residential, that contain recoverable energy. However, many of tion from natural hydrothermal systems, the authors briefly intro-
them, in their “as-generated” form are not suitable to be used di- duce direct use applications, heat pumps, and enhanced geothermal
rectly as a fuel. Either they have contaminants that reduce their systems. The authors use 78 references along with 25 schematics,
energy value, or they are not in the proper physical form and need figures, pictures, and tables to augment the professional and scho-
to be processed in order to recover their energy value. The question lastic treatment of the subject.
then becomes, can the energy value of these materials be recovered In Section V, Fossil and Other Fuels are addressed in Chapters
economically? 17 to 20.
In this chapter, we will explore some of the benefits and chal- In Chapter 17, authors Paul S. Weitzel and James M. Tanzosh
lenges associated with using wastes and industrial by-products as cover “Development of Advanced Ultra Supercritical Coal-Fired
a source of energy. We will look at how different waste materials Steam Generators for Operation above 700°C.” The chapter pro-
are classified by the regulatory agencies and how this affects the vides a view into the development work advancing the steam con-
economics of using them as a source of energy. We will review the ditions to above 700°C for coal-fired steam generation. The term
economic and regulatory drivers for recovering the energy value for this technology is Advanced Ultra Supercritical (A-USSC).
of waste materials, and we will examine a few technologies being The European Union, China, India, and the United States, with
used to convert these materials into a usable form of energy, in- large reserves of coal providing a major portion of the fuel used
cluding anaerobic digestion and gasification. We will also address in those nations’ electric generating capacity, have committed and
the energy efficiency issues of using the calorific value of the waste undertaken programs to solve the materials issues for this fuel. The
to produce electricity versus using it directly in the production of program in the United States has been ongoing for over 10 years
heat. Finally, we will identify some specific examples of industrial and is sponsored by the Department of Energy and the Ohio Coal
and post-consumer waste streams that are currently being used for Development Office, along with four steam generator vendors that
energy production and look at their fuel characteristics. As part of shared costs. This program, “Boiler Materials for Ultrasupercritical
this, we will explore the benefits and challenges associated with Coal Power Plants,” addressed what is called the precompetitive
municipal waste to energy projects and we will look at a case study data development that was needed for ASME Code qualification
of the cement industry’s experience with using hazardous waste of new materials and the supporting technology to fabricate and
fuels. construct the higher-temperature boiler components.
This chapter strives to give the reader a broad overview of all The service life of materials has been a key factor in the his-
the aspects of implementing a waste to energy program. This in- torical development of this generator technology in order to pro-
cludes not only dealing with the potential operational, regulatory, vide satisfactory availability and reliability, and this advancement
and community relations issues, but also with the issues associated was built on following these previous lessons learned. The outline
with sourcing materials and the concept of reverse distribution. It of the program and discussion of results, along with an example
is important to understand that for a waste to energy program to design, are presented. A summary of the materials selected and
be successful, there must be an efficient mechanism in place to the weights of tubing and piping are included. Background on the
collect, process, and transport the material to the ultimate energy technology and terminology regarding efficiency and fuel impact
consumer. comparisons are provided.
Waste to energy will continue to play an increasing role in our The program work has provided a wealth of information that
future energy needs. These projects are unique in that their eco- will help assure the future introduction of A-USC technology. It is
nomics are almost always driven by disposal cost avoidance or important to carry forward the advancement of 700°C steam gener-
regulatory compliance, and therefore, they are not completely de- ation and meet the goal of lower cost of electric power generation
pendent on the price of fossil fuels or government support to make and achieve the significant reduction of carbon dioxide emissions.
them viable. For this reason, the economics are generally more fa- The authors use 20 references along with 17 schematics, figures,
vorable for these types of projects than a pure renewable energy pictures, and tables to augment the professional and scholastic
project. Hopefully, this chapter will give the reader the tools to treatment of the subject.
make an informed decision. The author uses 55 references along In Chapter 18, “Carbon Capture for Coal-Fired Utility Power
with ten schematics, figures, pictures, and tables to augment the Generation: B&W’s Perspective” is written by D. K. McDonald
professional and scholastic treatment of the subject. and C. W. Poling. Changing climate and rising carbon dioxide
Chapter 16 is authored by Lisa Shevenell and Curt Robinson (CO2) concentration in the atmosphere have driven global concern
who cover “Geothermal Energy and Power Development.” The about the role of CO2 in the greenhouse effect and its contribu-
chapter covers the basic geology of the types of geothermal sys- tion to global warming. Since CO2 has become widely accepted as
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  xxxix

the primary anthropogenic contributor, most countries are seeking Substitution of non-petroleum energy resources for petroleum is
ways to reduce emissions in an attempt to limit its effect. This ef- evident in the changes in the fuel mix in the post WWII era. Substi-
fort has shifted interest from fossil fuels, which have energized the tution is most difficult in the transportation sector because the high
economies of the world for over a century, to non-carbon emitting Btu content of petroleum relative to its weight and volume makes
or renewable technologies. it an efficient fuel for the purpose.
For electricity generation, the non-carbon technologies include The economics of bioenergy is much the same as the energy eco-
wind, solar, hydropower, and nuclear, while low-carbon technolo- nomics of fossil fuels. The frontier nature of the fledgling bioenergy
gies use various forms of biomass. Unfortunately, all current op- industry adds enormous complexity. Biomass energy feedstocks
tions are significantly more expensive than current commercial can be wet, with different levels of moisture, dry, little to no water,
fossil-fueled technologies. Although use of wind and solar for or liquid without any water. Fuels can be produced specifically
power generation are increasing, they are incapable of supplying for energy, or they can be a by-product residual from the produc-
base load needs without energy storage capacity, which is currently tion of a higher-valued product. Waste-derived fuels bring with
impractical at the scale required. The only technologies capable of them many layers of environmental regulation, further adding to
sustaining base load capacity and potential growth are coal, natural the complexity.
gas, and nuclear. The economic viability of many biofuels depends upon feed-
As the world grapples with CO2 management, it is becoming stock transportation costs as well as coproducts in the production
increasingly clear that for the sake of the infrastructure in many process. Ultimately, the use of biofuels is dependent on techno-
developed countries and to provide a low carbon emissions op- logical innovation, but the rate of innovation and implementation
tion for developing countries relying heavily on coal, some form of of new technologies is heavily dependent on public policy. Public
carbon capture and storage (CCS) will be necessary. In a carbon- policy can add incentives to reduce the costs and risks of supplying
constrained world, the long-term viability of coal depends on the biomass fuels. It can also add incentives to enhance the demand
technical and economic success of emerging technologies for cap- and market prices for biomass-derived energy. The authors use 61
ture and storage. This may first be in the form of retrofit for the ex- references along with 92 schematics, figures, pictures, and tables to
isting fleet, but considering the growth rate in emerging countries augment the professional and scholastic treatment of the subject.
such as China and India, new plants will also be necessary as soon In the final chapter of Section V, Ravi K. Agrawal discusses
as practical. “Coal Gasification” in Chapter 20. Fossil fuels supply almost all
Deployment of CCS is currently hindered by regulatory and so- of the world’s energy and feedstock demand. Among the fossil
cial issues related primarily to long-term CO2 storage. However, fuels, coal is the oldest and most abundant form of fossil fuel. Coal
capture technologies are in the demonstration phase and are ex- is widely available with reserves estimated to last over 140 years.
pected to be commercially available in the next decade. Carbon Coal is the lowest-cost fuel, and projections of the Energy Infor-
capture technologies are being developed by several companies mation Administration (EIA) indicate that coal is likely to remain
for use with fossil fuels, especially coal. This chapter provides an the cheapest fuel in the foreseeable future and will likely become
overview from B&W’s perspective of oxycombustion and post- cheaper as the price of other preferred energy sources rise. Based
combustion technologies for coal-fired steam and electricity gen- on the energy content in terms of price per BTU, electricity com-
eration, which are being developed for near-term deployment. The mands the highest premium, followed by oil and gas. This price
authors use eight references along with 20 schematics, figures, and differential is the key driver that determines the interest in coal and
pictures to augment the professional and scholastic treatment of its conversion into other energy substitutes.
the subject. Since electricity trades at the highest premium, the cheap-
In Chapter 19, James L. Williams and Mark Jenner discuss “Pe- est source of energy, coal, has been extensively used to generate
troleum Dependence, Biofuels — Economies of Scope and Scale; electricity. About 60% of global electric power is generated from
U.S. and Global Perspective.” Our purpose is to examine petroleum coal, and about two-thirds of coal produced is used for power gen-
dependence, identify risks of dependence, methods to mitigate de- eration. Unfortunately, coal has the largest carbon footprint when
pendence and risks, and provide a methodology for comparison compared to conventional fuels derived from oil and natural gas.
of alternative sources of energy presenting a disciplined approach Historically, most coal-based power plants are considered to be
to the analysis of fuels and distinguishing between the fuel and its “dirty” as only a few had controls to lower the emissions of SO2,
carrier or storage device. NOx and particulates, and even to date, virtually none have con-
The economic behavior of all fuels share many common charac- trols on mercury and CO2 emissions. Tightening of environmental
teristics. Principles concerning one fuel can be applied to others as regulations in countries like the United States, Europe, and Japan
the need arises. When comparing fuels, we focus on the cost per Btu has prompted installation of emission control devices. Future reg-
and Btu/lb and Btu/ft3 and emphasize the importance of efficiency in ulations on greenhouse gas emissions will have a major impact
converting Btu’s to mechanical or electrical forms of energy. on traditional coal-fired power plants. Another drawback of tra-
Fossil fuel economics are profoundly global in nature, and ditional coal-fired power plants is efficiency, which is low, about
bioenergy economics are local. The two meet and compete directly 25% to 30%. Increasing costs of fuel and emission controls have
at the consumer level. For example, biodiesel must be price com- led to the development of coal gasification as an efficient method
petitive with petroleum diesel at the pump. The policy questions to generate power from coal, while minimizing the environmen-
about whether it is worth subsidizing biofuels to reduce depen­ tal impact. Coal gasification involves conversion of coal into gas.
dence on imported petroleum are central to the issue. Gas generated via gasification is referred to as syngas and is rich
An international shortage of oil, which causes a price spike, can in CO and H2. Gasification of coal is typically conducted at high
result in as much damage to an oil-dependent economy as an inter- temperature and high pressure with the aid of gasification agents
ruption in imports. Dependence can be lowered by either increas- such as air/oxygen and steam. This chapter reviews gasification
ing domestic production or decreasing domestic consumption of methods and technologies that are now being actively pursued for
petroleum. coal. The state-of-the-art technology review highlights strengths
xl  •  Introduction

and weakness of gasification technologies that are currently being factors are not understood and properly addressed now, the costs
marketed. associated with new plants will escalate as it did in the past. In
In addition to generating power, syngas generated from coal can order to address the issues of concern, technical changes must be
be used for a wide variety of products including chemicals, fuels, made to codes and standards, but even more importantly, changes
and metals. Typical chemicals that can be produced from syngas must be made to the mindsets that caused the unjustified costs in
include hydrogen, methanol, ammonia, acetic acid, and oxygen- the past.
ates. Liquid fuels such as naphtha, diesel, ethanol, dimethyl ether, The largest mindset modification required pertains to quality as-
and methyl tertiary butyl ether can also be produced from syngas. surance. Quality assurance has been implemented on engineering
This chapter discusses applications of gasification to produce these projects since before the time of the pyramids. In simple terms,
products and identifies specialized processing steps necessary to quality assurance is the method used to assure that dimensions are
achieve the desired end product. The flexibility of coal gasification correct, that calculations are checked, that proper materials are
plants to coproduce multiple slates of products makes it more at- used, that processes used in construction are appropriate, and that
tractive than traditional power plants. work is appropriately inspected. The Egyptians did a great job of
Technologies to control contaminants in syngas generated from controlling their work because the pyramids have stood for thou-
coal are discussed with emphasis on end-use application. Removal sands of years. The design might be called an overkill, but who
of contaminates from syngas ensures that the emissions from coal knows? They were designed to last forever!
gasification plants are significantly lower than those from a tra- Has the quality control used in the post-1960s nuclear plants
ditional coal-fired steam generation units. Future regulations on enhanced quality any more than achieved by the use of commer-
greenhouse gas emissions will have a major impact on traditional cial codes and standards? With regard to the technical aspects of
coal-fired power plants. This chapter also provides a review of the the hardware, the answer is “probably not!” However, the cost
greenhouse gas removal technologies from syngas. difference between nuclear and commercial quality assurance is
The gasification process is complex and requires more capital extremely significant. The largest cost has been the cost of admin-
than traditional coal plants. This chapter discusses technologies istration of the QA program. Most of the administrative controls
available to treat the raw syngas for further processing. Raw syngas have resulted in wasted time and money. The nuclear quality as-
gas processing in Gasification Island is discussed as a combination surance programs have concentrated on documentation, which in
of blocks that combines several unit operations and processes. Sev- most cases is subjective evidence, not objective evidence. Very
eral options available to process the raw syngas within the block little time or effort was devoted to hardware evaluation. In the fu-
are discussed identifying efficiency improvements and cost associ- ture, a more practical approach is required. Chapter 21 addresses
ated with these processing steps. this issue.
Even for a known feedstock and a known end application, de- It is a fact that more than one-half of the nuclear plants operating
ciding on gasifier type and the design of the gasification island is a in this country were designed and constructed prior to the require-
complex issue. The most cost-effective path is not always straight- ments for the nuclear quality assurance programs mandated in the
forward. This chapter provides a discussion on options available early 1970s. Are the units designed and fabricated after 1971 any
to resolve conflicting issues between capital cost, operating cost, safer than the earlier plants using commercial quality control? The
and efficiency. record indicates that the answer is no.
Most of the future energy and chemical demands are projected There were a lot of other costly issues that arose after 1971 that
to come from countries such as the United States, Russia, China, also increased cost without enhancing quality. These were:
India, Australia, S. Africa, and Eastern Europe, and all of these
nations are rich in coal. Therefore, incentive for coal usage via 1. Inappropriate interpretation of codes and standards by un-
gasification as an alternative to meet energy and chemical demand qualified personnel
will be strong. This chapter provides an overview of the impacts of 2. Lack of understanding of the necessity of basic engineering
global energy consumption pattern and consumption growth areas judgments
on coal utilization. 3. Welding rejected by personnel unfamiliar with welding prac-
Since 2000, several gasification plants have become operational; tices
most of these plants have been installed in China. Chinese coal 4. Inappropriate record keeping
gasification activity is due to the encouragement of the Chinese 5. Lack of understanding of tolerances used in design and
government to develop coal-based fuels and chemicals as a strate- fabrication
gic issue due to their reluctance to become more reliant on foreign
oil. In recent years, interest in using syngas to reduce iron ore has The author addresses these and other issues that must be under-
picked up, especially in India. This chapter provides an outlook stood to avoid the mistakes and excessive costs of the last generation
and information on recent global activities in coal gasification. The of nuclear power plants. The author uses 47 references to augment
author uses 49 references along with 34 schematics, figures, pic- the professional and scholastic treatment of the subject.
tures, and tables to augment the professional and scholastic treat- In Chapter 22, Peter Riccardella and Dennis Weakland cover
ment of the subject. “Nuclear Power Industry Response to Materials Degradation — A
In Section VI titled “Nuclear Energy,” four chapters are covered Critical Review.” In this article, the authors summarize several
in Chapters 21 to 24. materials and structural integrity issues in operating nuclear power
Roger F. Reedy discusses in Chapter 21 “Construction of New plants in which they have personally been involved, through their
Nuclear Power Plants: Lessons to be Learned from the Past.” With- employment in technical and management positions in the indus-
out question, the costs associated with the construction of nuclear try for over 40 years. The issues include degradation and cracking
power plants in the 1970s and later escalated unreasonably. Al- of pressure vessels and piping in the plants that have collectively
though this increase was due to many factors, there are important cost the industry hundreds of millions of dollars. The article looks
factors that are still prevalent in the nuclear industry today. If these retrospectively at the root causes of these problems, itemizes the
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  xli

lessons learned, and recommends an approach going forward that disaster will reverse that. While the number of U.S. nuclear power
will anticipate and hopefully allows the industry to proactively ad- plants at risk of tsunamis is very small, there will be demands for
dress degradation issues in the future, for both the operating fleet additional safeguards for emergency diesel generators and their
as well as new plants that are currently in the licensing stages. The fuel supplies and the need for more flexible switchgear. Considera-
authors use 18 references along with five schematics and figures to tion of the location and operation of spent fuel pools will also be
augment the professional and scholastic treatment of the subject. required. New plant construction will be suspended.
Chapter 23 is titled “New Generation Reactors.” It is authored However, the demand for additional supply of cheap reliable
by Wolfgang Hoffelner, Robert Bratton, Hardayal Mehta, Kunio electric power capacity will continue. So will the demand for re-
Hasegawa, and D. Keith Morton, with Mr. Morton coordinating duction in power plant emission of carbon dioxide. Natural gas is
the chapter write-up. The history of mankind repeatedly provides little help in reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Wind and solar
examples where a need is recognized and creative thinking is able facilities do not have the capacity or reliability. That leaves hydro
to determine appropriate solutions. This human trait continues in and nuclear. As noted in this chapter, all the good locations for
the field of energy, especially in the nuclear energy sector, where hydro have been taken.
advanced reactor designs are being refined and updated to achieve Nuclear power advocates will have to carefully refute claims
increased efficiencies, increased safety, greater security through of damage and radiation risk at Fukushima. At least to date, Fuku­
better proliferation control of nuclear material, and increased use shima is no Chernobyl. Release of radioactive material at Fuku-
of new metallic and nonmetallic materials for construction. shima is about one-tenth of that at Chernobyl. The cores at three of
With minimal greenhouse gas emissions, nuclear energy can the six reactors, and the spent fuel rods at one, have been damaged,
safely provide the world with not only electrical energy produc- but no cores have exploded. No immediate deaths due to radiation
tion but also process-heat energy production. Examples of the have been reported at Fukushima versus 30 at Chernobyl. This
benefits that can be derived from process-heat generation include must be equated to deaths due to other power-generation sources.
the generation of hydrogen, the production of steam for extraction Consider coal mining and transport, refinery and pipeline explo-
of oil-in-oil sand deposits, and the production of process heat for sions, and long-term effects of air pollution caused by coal-burning
other industries so that natural gas or oil does not have to be used. plants.
Nuclear energy can advance and better the lives of mankind, while There is a greater risk to the public from the other major energy
helping to preserve our natural resources. This chapter provides producers than from nuclear. With electric energy needs increas-
the reader greater understanding on how advanced nuclear reactors ing, nuclear power production must be part of that increase. The
are not a “pie-in-the-sky” idea but are actually operational on a test author uses 30 references along with one table to augment the pro-
scale or are near term. fessional and scholastic treatment of the subject.
In fact, efforts are currently underway in many nations to design Section VII is titled “Steam Turbines and Generators” and has
and build full-scale advanced reactors. Many countries including two chapters: Chapters 25 and 26.
Japan, Canada, China, Korea, the United States, Germany, Russia, Chapter 25 “Steam Turbine and Generator Inspection and Con-
France, India, and more have significant ongoing efforts associated dition Assessment” is authored by Lawrence D. Nottingham. Mod-
with advanced nuclear reactors. This chapter briefly describes the ern turbines and generators are large, complex machines that utilize
six Generation IV concepts and then provides additional details, a vast array of materials, are often exposed to high stress levels and
focusing on the two near-term viable Generation IV concepts. The a number of potentially hostile environments and which suffer op-
current status of the applicable international projects is then sum- erative damage mechanisms as a direct result. While failures of the
marized. These new technologies have also created remarkable massive rotating components are relatively rare events, the con-
demands on materials compared to light water reactors. Higher sequences of such failures are severe and extremely costly to the
temperatures, higher neutron doses, environments very different owner/operator. Consequently, rigorous programs have evolved
from water, and design lives of 60 years present a real engineering for assessing current conditions, for detecting and quantifying ex-
challenge. These new demands have led to many exciting research isting flaws, and for predicting the remaining lives of the primary
activities and to new Codes and Standards developments, which components, with an overall objective of providing effective run/
are summarized in the final sections of this chapter. The reader is repair/replace decision making. In this chapter, the author, who has
encouraged to enjoy this chapter, for the future is just around the spent most of his 39-year professional career dealing with turbine
corner. The authors use 98 references along with 42 schematics, and generator condition assessment issues, presents an overview of
figures, pictures, and tables to augment the professional and scho- the state-of-the-art for inspection and remaining life assessment of
lastic treatment of the subject. critical rotating T/G components.
The last chapter of this section is Chapter 24, authored by Owen The chapter additionally provides background information on
Hedden and deals with “Preserving Nuclear Power’s Place in a machine design, materials, stress sources, applicable nondestruc-
Balanced Power Generation Policy.” In considering the future of tive evaluation methods, and analytical processes available for pre-
nuclear power for electricity production in the United States, it dicting remaining life, as related to and appropriate for an overall
is necessary to consider the present public perception of nuclear understanding of the assessment process. The author uses four ref-
power. It is also necessary to consider public perceptions of the erences along with 23 schematics, figures, and pictures to augment
various competing sources of electricity production. These include the professional and scholastic treatment of the subject.
coal, natural gas, and the several “green” or “renewable” sources, Chapter 26 Steam Turbines for Power Generation is written by
including hydro, wind, and solar. Harry F. Martin. Steam turbines have historically been the prime
The most recent nuclear power plant was completed in 1994. No source of power for electric power generation. This chapter will
new nuclear power plants have gone on line since then, but nearly focus on steam turbines currently being applied to power genera-
20% of our electric power is still provided by nuclear power. tion. The steam conditions will include those currently applied
In 2010, the media view had changed to accept resumption of to fossil-fired power plants, combined cycle and nuclear power
new reactor construction. Now, however, in 2011, the Fukushima units. In addition, future cycle pressures and temperature require-
xlii  •  Introduction

ments are discussed along with the material requirements for these The gas turbine section examines the various types of gas tur-
a­pplications. bines such as the Aeroderivative Gas Turbine, as well as the large
The chapter includes steam turbine fundamentals, equipment Frame-Type Gas Turbines. In this section, new trends on gas tur-
configurations, various design types and technology applications, bine compressors, combustors, and the hot section expander tur-
performance levels, performance testing, and operation and main- bine are discussed, and the effect each of these components have
tenance. Blading fundamentals are included along with current on the efficiency and environment are carefully examined to en-
technology improvements for increased performance. New seal- sure that they are operated as designed.
ing concepts including brush seals, retractable seals, and abradable The HRSG system is a critically important subsystem in a com-
seals are discussed. The effects of low pressure turbine exhaust bined cycle power plant. Under this section, the efficiency of energy
size and diffuser design on performance is included. transfer in multiple pressure steam sections is closely examined
This chapter should appeal to many types of readers. The pres- as are supplementary-fired HRSGs. Also examined are the Once
entation makes use of many references to permit the reader to ex- Through Steam Generators (OTSG) and compared to the traditional
pand his knowledge on a specific subject while limiting the size of drum-type steam generators. Also discussed in this section are the
the chapter. effects of deaerator, economizers, evaporators, superheaters, at-
Some of the topics included are seldom found in an overview temperators, and desuperheaters.
type presentation. These include moisture and solid particle ero- The steam turbine section deals with the reheat extraction and
sion, turbine heat transfer analysis, stalled and unstalled blade flut- condensing steam turbines with various sections, which match the
ter, and limit load. multiple pressure in the heat recovery steam generators. Various
Concepts of automated turbine control are discussed including steam turbine characteristics are described as to their effect on
rotor stress modeling concepts applied in control systems. The power and efficiency.
pros and cons of various operating modes such as the use of partial The chapter closes with a short analysis of some of the major
arc and full arc of admission high-pressure turbine designs and cost centers in a Combined Cycle Power Plant and the Reliability
sliding pressure are reviewed. The author covers the topic with and Availability of such power plant systems. The author covers
22 equations, 42 references along with 35 schematics, figures, and the topic with 31 equations, two references along with one table,
pictures to augment the professional and scholastic treatment of 37 schematics, figures, and pictures to augment the professional
the subject. and scholastic treatment of the subject.
Section VIII: Selected Energy Generation Topics and has four Simon Gamble, Marian Piekutowski, and Ryan Willems au-
chapters: Chapters 27 to 30. thored Chapter 28 and discuss “Hydro Tasmania — King Island
Chapter 27 is titled “Combined Cycle Power Plant” and is au- Case Study.” Hydro Tasmania has developed a remote island power
thored by Meherwan P. Boyce. Combined cycle power plants are system in the Bass Strait, Australia, that achieves a high level of
most efficient power plants available today for the production of renewable energy penetration through the integration of wind and
electric Power with an efficiency ranging between 53% and 57%. solar generation with new and innovative storage and enabling
A short summary of other power plants such as steam, diesel, and technologies. The ongoing development of the power system is
gas turbine plants are given. Combined cycle power plants come focused on reducing or replacing the use of diesel fuel while main-
in all sizes. In this chapter, we are emphasizing the larger plants taining power quality and system security in a low inertia system.
ranging in size from 60 MW to 1500 MW. These combined cycle The projects completed to date include:
plants have as their core the gas turbine, which acts as the Topping
Cycle and the steam turbine, which acts as the Bottoming Cycle. · Wind farm developments completed in 1997 and expanded to
In between the gas turbine and the steam turbine is a Waste Heat 2.25 MW in 2003;
Recovery Steam Generator (HRSG), which takes the heat from the · Installation of a 200-kW, 800-kWh Vanadium Redox Battery
exhaust of the gas turbine and generates high-pressure steam for (2003);
the steam turbine. · Installation of a two-axis tracking 100-kW solar photovoltaic
The Brayton (Gas Turbine) and Rankine (Steam Turbine) cycles array (2008), and
are examined in detail as they are the most common cycles used in · Development of a 1.5-MW dynamic frequency control resistor
a combined cycle power plant. Various modifications of the basic bank that operates during excessive wind generation (2010).
Brayton Cycle taking into account various cooling effects, such as re-
frigerated cooling and evaporative and fogging effects are examined. The results achieved to date include 85% instantaneous renewable
Also examined are intercooling, regenerative, and reheat effects. energy penetration and an annual contribution of over 35%, forecast
The Rankine Cycle is also examined in detail, taking into ac- to increase to 45% postcommissioning of the resistor. Hydro Tasma-
counts the effects of regeneration, reheat, backpressure and con- nia has designed a further innovative program of renewable energy
densation on the performance, power, and efficiency of the steam and enabling technology projects. The proposed King Island Renew-
turbine. able Energy Integration Project, which recently received funding
The Brayton Rankine Cycle, which is the basic cycle for a com- support from the Australian Federal Government, is currently under
bined cycle, is examined, and the effect of the above-described assessment to be rolled out by Hydro Tasmania (including elements
effects, as they are applied to the combination cycle, is discussed. with our partners CBD Energy) by 2012. These include:
Various techniques to improve Power and Efficiency, on such a
cycle are presented. · Installation of short-term energy storage (flywheels) to im-
The combined cycle power plant comprises of the Gas Turbine, prove system security during periods of high wind;
Heat Recovery and Steam Generator (HRSG), the Steam Turbine, · Reinstatement or replacement of the Vanadium Redox Bat-
and Condensers. Each of these major components is examined in tery (VRB) that is currently out of service;
detail, and furthermore, each of the major components are closely · Wind expansion — includes increasing the existing farm ca-
detailed to describe their operations. pacity by up to 4 MW;
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  xliii

· Graphite energy storage — installation of graphite block ther- rather, it is intended to illuminate the thermal-hydraulic concepts
mal storage units for storing and recovering spilt wind e­nergy; underlying the state-of-the-art condenser design technology to
· Biodiesel project — conversion of fuel systems and genera- possibly serve as the technical beacon for developing designs for
tion units to operate on B100 (100% biodiesel); and new challenging situations such as condensing of noncondensible-
· Smart Grid Development — Demand Side Management — es- laden geothermal steam. Inadequate removal of noncondensibles,
tablishing the ability to control demand side response through flow-induced vibration, entrainment of (corrosive) oxygen in the
the use of smart metering throughout the Island c­ommunity. condensate, excessive fouling, erosion of the tubes from flashing
action in the condensate are among the many ailments that can
This program of activities aims to achieve a greater than 65% afflict a surface condenser that require an in-depth understanding
long-term contribution from renewable energy sources (excluding of the thermal and hydraulic phenomena that are present in its
biodiesel contribution), with 100% instantaneous renewable en- operation. The mission of this chapter is to provide the neces-
ergy penetration. The use of biodiesel will see a 95% reduction in sary cerebral understanding to the designer to enable him (her)
greenhouse gas emissions. The projects will address the following to navigate through the many challenges that lie on the path to a
issues of relevance to small- and large-scale power systems aiming successful design.
to achieve high levels of renewable energy penetration: Special emphasis is placed on explaining the efficacy of a type
of tube support , called nonsegmental baffles that has not been used
· Management of low inertia and low fault level operation; to the extent in the industry as its thermodynamic merit would
· Effectiveness of short-term storage in managing system warrant. The mathematical means to quantify the advantage of the
security; nonsegmental baffle configuration over the conventional plate-type
· Testing alternative system frequency control strategies; and supports is provided.
· Impact of demand side management on stabilizing wind en- The author covers the topic with 55 equations, 18 references
ergy variability. along with seven tables, 11 schematics, figures, and pictures to
augment the professional and scholastic treatment of the subject.
The authors cover the topic with 24 equations, 12 references Section IX is titled “Emerging Energy Technologies” and has
along with two tables, 22 schematics, figures, and pictures to aug- two chapters: Chapters 31 and 32.
ment the professional and scholastic treatment of the subject. Chapter 31: “Toward Energy Efficient Manufacturing Enter­
Chapter 29, titled “Heat Exchangers in Power Generation” has prises” has been authored by Kevin W. Lyons, Ram D. Sriram,
been authored by Stanley Yokell and Carl F. Andreone describes Lalit Chordia, and Alexander Weissman. Industrial enterprises
shell-and-tube and plate and frame types of power plant heat ex- have significant negative impacts on the global environment. Col-
changers and tubular closed feedwater heaters and the language that lectively, from energy consumption to greenhouse gases to solid
applies to them. The chapter briefly discusses Header Type Feed- waste, they are the single largest contributor to a growing number
water Heaters and their application and use. It defines the design of planet-threatening environmental problems. According to the
point used to establish exchanger surface and suggests suitable ex- Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration, the
changer configurations for various design-point conditions and the industrial sector consumes 30% of the total energy, and the trans-
criteria used to measure performance. It does not cover power plant portation sector consumes 29% of the energy. Considering that
main and auxiliary steam surface condensers because of the differ- a large portion of the transportation energy costs are involved in
ences in how they are designed and operated The chapter briefly moving manufactured goods, the energy consumption of the in-
discusses the effects on the exchanger of normal and abnormal de- dustrial sector could reach nearly 45% of the total energy costs.
viations from design point during operation. The authors have sev- Hence, it is very important to improve the energy efficiency of our
eral schematics and references to supplement their discussion. manufacturing enterprises.
The last chapter of this section, Chapter 30, “Water Cooled A product’s energy life cycle includes all aspects of energy pro-
Steam Surface Condensers” has been authored by K. P. (Kris) duction. Depending on the type of material and the product, energy
Singh. Chapter 30 is devoted to providing a comprehensive exposi- consumption in certain stages may have a significant impact on
tion to the technologies underlying the design and performance of the product energy costs. For example, 1 kg of aluminum requires
steam surface condensers used to condense the exhaust steam from about 12 kg of raw materials and consumes 290 MJ of energy.
the low-pressure turbine in a power plant. The surface condenser Several different strategies can be used to improve the energy ef-
is an indispensable component in any power station and is also ficiency of manufacturing enterprises, including reducing energy
one whose performance directly affects both the thermodynamic consumption at the process level, reducing energy consumption
efficiency and the service life of the plant. In terms of sheer size, at the facilities level, and improving the efficiency of the energy
the surface condenser is the largest of any equipment in the power generation and conversion process. While the primary focus of
cycle, which alone makes it an important subject matter in the field this chapter is on process level energy efficiency, the authors also
of power plant technology. briefly discuss energy reduction methods and efficient energy gen-
The specific class of surface condensers considered in this chap- eration process through case studies.
ter is of the so-called water-cooled type, wherein the condensing of In this chapter, the authors introduce the concept of unit manu-
the exhaust steam occurs outside the tube bundle by extraction of facturing processes, which are formal descriptions of manufac-
its latent heat by the cooling water circulated through the inside turing resources at the individual operations level (e.g., casting,
of the tubes. machining, forming, surface treatment, joining, and assembly) re-
Empirical information on the design and operation of classi- quired to produce finished goods. They classify these processes
cal surface condensers is provided in the standards published by into mass-change processes, phase-change processes, structure-
the Heat Exchange institute, which is an industry consensus docu- change processes, deformation processes, consolidation processes,
ment that contains valuable practical guidance. Accordingly, the and integrated processes. Several mechanisms used to determine
material in this chapter is not a substitute for a design manual; energy consumption for these processes are described. This is fol-
xliv  •  Introduction

lowed by a method that describes how to improve the efficiency The role of coating constitution and microstructure including
of this energy consumption through improved product design for grain size, morphology, density, and design architecture is pre-
injection molding. HARBEC Plastics, Inc. is an innovator in im- sented with regard to the science and relationship with processing-
plementing sustainable manufacturing practices. This company, structure-performance relationships for select applications. The
which makes high-quality injection-molded parts, has made a impact of nanostructured materials and coatings and their future
considerable commitment to being green. Various techniques in energy are also discussed with regard to nanostructured con-
employed by HARBEC Plastics to improve energy efficiency are figuration, strategy, and conceptual design architectures. Coating
briefly described. A specific technique — using supercritical flu- materials and performance are also discussed related to materials
ids — that can be effectively used to improve energy efficiency in extreme environments such as power generation, erosion envi-
and to improve processes that generate energy from nontraditional ronment, and hot corrosion. The role of nanotechnology, nano-
sources is also outlined. Finally, the authors point out how best coatings, and materials for power and energy varies depending on
practices, regulations, and standards can play an important role in the working environment but, in general, can be classified into the
increasing energy e­fficiency. following categories of improved wear resistance, corrosion resist-
The authors cover the topic with 58 references along with three ance, erosion resistance, thermal protection, and increased surface
tables, 12 schematics, figures, and pictures to augment the profes- area for energy storage. Since not all environments are the same,
sional and scholastic treatment of the subject. slight modifications may be required to optimize nano-material
Chapter 32: “The Role of Nano-Technology for Energy and and nano-coatings for a particular application. These include com-
Power Generation: Nano-Coatings and Materials” has been au- posite coatings, functional gradient coatings, superhard coatings,
thored by Douglas E. Wolfe and Timothy J. Eden. Chapter 32 dis- superlattice coatings, metastable multifunctional, solid solution,
cusses a variety of nano-coatings and materials used in the energy nano-crystalline, multilayer coatings, and mixed combinations.
and power generation fields. Nano-coatings, nanocomposite coat- With all the material choices that we have ranging from binary,
ings, nanolayered coatings, functional graded coatings, and mul- ternary, and quaternary nitride, boride, carbide, oxide, and mixed
tifunctional coatings deposited by a wide range of methods and combinations, choosing the optimum coating material and design
techniques and their roles in assisting to generate energy and pow- architecture can be challenging. The approach to materials solu-
er for the fuel cell, solar cell, wind turbine, coal, combustion, and tions starts with understanding the system performance, operating
nuclear industries are discussed. Chapter 32 provides a brief de- environment, maintenance issues, material compatibility, cost, and
scription of the past and present state-of-the-art nanotechnology life cycle. Chapter 32 concludes with a summary of the future role
within different industrial areas, such as turbine, nuclear, fuel cell, of nanotechnology and nano-coatings and materials in the fields of
solar cell, and coal industries, that is used to improve efficiency power generation and energy.
and performance. Challenges facing these industries as pertain- The authors cover the topic with nine equations, 73 references
ing to nanotechnology and how nanotechnology will aid in the along with four tables, 20 schematics, figures, and pictures to aug-
improved performance within these industries are also discussed. ment the professional and scholastic treatment of the subject.
 chapter

1
SOME SOLAR RELATED TECHNOLOGIES
AND THEIR APPLICATIONS
Robert Boehm

1.1  olar Power Conversion,

S climate change and the impact of burning of fossil fuels on that.
Utility Scale Worldwide, there is a growing awareness of the greenhouse gas
increases in the atmosphere. At the present time, there is a rebirth
1.1.1 Introduction of solar power generation energy activity. Some of Europe has re-
The use of solar energy for generating power is a concept that acted with lucrative feed-in tariffs that have encouraged develop-
has been around for a long time. Some early examples of this, to ment, particularly in Spain and Germany. In the US, much of the
be dealt with in the sections that follow, include dishes and troughs encouragement is being given by individual states. This aspect is
that were developed in a flurry of creative activity between the late quite different than the wave of development under Carter, which
1800s and the early 1900s. There was somewhat of a hiatus from was primarily driven from the Federal level, and thus was easily
much development in first half of the 20th century until work again changed by a new president with a difference in philosophy. Now
resumed after the Second World War. This was driven by interest we find mandates, tax incentives, and rebate programs interwoven
in exploring space as well as other thrusts. An excellent summary in a great deal of society, including at the state and local levels.
of the early history of solar applications has been given by Butti Generally, new power sources require some types of financial
and Perlin [1]. incentives when bringing them to market. There is usually a need
Momentum to examine renewable energy generally picked up for some type of government support. Nuclear power has received
considerably with the oil embargo of the 1970s. At that time, Presi- massive subsidies, but these are masked somewhat by the fact that
dent Jimmy Carter outlined the challenge the US particularly, and both power applications and weapons development were at play
the world more generally, faced in terms of dealing with energy at the same time. Solar development has been plagued by the fact
issues. He warned that the situation was “the moral equivalent of that the costs of related equipment are high because the market
war” in a 1977 speech. In this same year, he was responsible for has been small, and the market has been small because the costs
forming the US Department of Energy, which combined some ex- are high. In the photovoltaic (PV) arena, one where a great deal
isting agencies, including the US Energy Research and Develop- of progress has been made with generally more financial support
ment Administration. He also initiated the Solar Energy Research from the government than other types of solar power generation,
Institute, in Golden, Colorado, that later became the National Re- historically a 20% reduction in cost has been realized for each dou-
newable Energy Laboratory (NREL). bling of production.
Following that time, interest again waned as a result of falling The development story is complicated by the overlaying eco-
energy prices. President Ronald Reagan removed the solar pan- nomic situations as well as political reasons. Solar installations
els that were placed on the White House under President Carter. tend to be high capital investment items because, in a sense, the
Oil again became the primary focus in energy. Various starts and fuel is being paid for upon construction. In good economic times,
stops to solar development followed, including the start of the this high cost, while still a concern, can be covered by loans. Dur-
large development of the Luz systems in the Mohave Desert area ing economic hard times, with the usual tightening of credit during
of California, which was later stopped when existing tax credits those periods, the solar market can become severely constrained.
went away. Such has been the situation in the latter half of the first decade of
Although many countries of the world, particularly Israel and the 21st century.
Japan, had active programs in solar water heating for many years, Two major ways of producing power are either by thermal
solar power generation had taken a low profile existence. About the means, where high temperatures from solar heating can be used in
turn of the 21st century this began to change. Not only was there some type of heat engine, or by photovoltaic approaches. Because
a heightened awareness of problems with continuing the reliance these are two quite different approaches, each will be touched upon
on Middle East oil, as had been the case all along, but this became separately in what follows.
more strikingly apparent as various types of strife broke out there,
including the wars in Iran and the terroristic activities of many Mid- 1.1.2 The Use of Concentration
dle East groups. Also, more and more people came to appreciate Concentration opens a number of opportunities for solar power
the concerns about peak oil. Simultaneously, concern grew about systems. In thermal systems, concentration allows much higher
1-  •  Chapter 1

temperatures to be generated than would be possible with simple these factors are considered, the areas where solar plants can be
flat plate systems. This, in turn, results in higher temperatures with- located are far less numerous. See Figure 1.3. Here, all land areas
in the associated thermal engine. As is well known from the Sec- with greater than a 3% grade have been eliminated. Another factor
ond Law of Thermodynamics, higher temperatures result in higher that comes into play that is depicted here is that the plant has to be
engine efficiencies. Another benefit of concentration that goes near a major power grid corridor. Construction of long lengths of
hand-in-hand with this one is that the profile of the heated element major power lines can be extremely expensive.
is relatively smaller than flat plate systems (comparing energy har- Concentration can be accomplished in a variety of ways in two
vested per unit area of collector). This allows special attention to be general categories: single axis (line focus) and dual axis (point
given to minimizing the heat loss from the receiver elements. focus) tracking. There are many kinds of single axis approaches
In PV systems, concentration permits tradeoffs between solar because of a fixed axis (which can be fixed in a variety of ways)
cells, which are generally more expensive, against tracking mecha- in one dimension and a moveable one in the other. In all of the
nisms and support structure including lenses or mirrors, which are concentrating systems, the beam can be developed either by re-
generally less expensive in comparison to the PV elements. Con- fracting or reflecting the incident energy. Generally applications
centration allows for each PV cell to produce proportionally more of refracting systems are less frequently used in practice, and these
power per unit, and concentration may also increase the cell’s ef- are usually for PV systems.
ficiency. One possible concern is that some types of cells (silicon Another issue in concentration is the way this takes place in
particularly) can have a significant negative temperature effect on terms of the imaging aspects of it [2]. This involves the concept of
efficiency compared to others. High ambient temperatures can re- imaging optics vs. non-imaging optics. In general, the latter has a
sult in noticeable decreases in production efficiency. great deal to offer in the design of concentrating systems over the
Direct beam radiation is required for concentrating systems to former. For one thing, the amount of light concentrated in non-
be effective. Diffuse components of the radiation are not of value imaging optical systems can be much greater than the comparable
in these approaches unless the concentration is small. In addition, situation in imaging systems. Secondly, non-imaging approaches
large amounts of flux are preferred to make the capital investment allow much better control of radiation, giving, say, more uniform
in these systems more profitable. Several locations in the world irradiance or controlling the distribution better.
meet this requirement. For example, solar radiation resource in the Lastly, but certainly not the least, cleaning is required for the
US is shown in Figure 1.1. This resource is enormous, as shown concentrating elements of all CSP systems. Some geographic areas
in Figure 1.2 which is a representation that a square area of land are more prone to lens or mirror soiling than others, but cleaning is
approximately 100 miles (161 km) on a side could furnish with a necessity. Usually, water is used for this purpose, so some water
current technology all of the US’s electricity needs. Of course the must be available for these kinds of systems even if it is not used
transmission of this generated power to the whole country poses a for cooling purposes. Some treatments are available that facilitate
significant problem. Storage is another with current technology. rain running off surfaces quickly if they are oriented in a direction
However, several issues come into play when the choices of lo- that gravity can be of assistance. It is desirable to have surfaces that
cations for concentrating solar plants are selected. For these plants, stow facing downward during periods of darkness and inclement
only the beam radiation is to be considered. Also, rugged landscape weather to minimize the cleaning requirements, but this may com-
is to be shunned. Generally a relatively flat area is preferred. When plicate the design requirements.

Fig. 1.1  The map of the US indicating the average solar radiation per year in units of W-hr/sq m
area/day is shown (Source: US Department of Energy)
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  1-

Fig. 1.2 In this representation from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the fact is
depicted that the total electricity requirements of the US could be furnished from solar
energy falling and converted on a square 100 mile x 100 mile (161 km x 161 km) area of the state of
Nevada

1.1.3 Thermal Power Generation Approaches collected by the solar field. There is both good and bad news about
these kinds of plants.
1.1.3.1 Rankine Cycles  Many solar thermal power generation Comparisons of the resulting operational levels of thermal
schemes (particularly the trough and tower systems to be discussed power plants when using concentration are given in Table 1.1 [3].
below) involve Rankine cycles to generate power from the heat Here the performance characteristics of trough and tower plants

Fig. 1.3  This plot of the southwestern US and northwestern Mexico shows the direct normal solar
flux (units of kW-hr/sq m area/day) only on land that has less than a 3% grade. Major transmission
lines are also shown (Source: NREL)
1-  •  Chapter 1

Table 1.1 Cycle Performance Comparison [3] 1.1.3.2 Trough Technology  This approach uses a fluid circu-
lating through a field of collectors where energy is reflected from
Type of CSP Maximum steam Potential cycle a very large dimension parabolic trough (often aluminized or mir-
temperature efficiency ranges, rored in some way on the inner side) to a small tubular arrange-
expected, °C %* ment along the axis. The small tube is often a metallic absorber
where the fluid flows and a glass tube (usually evacuated) is con-
Flat panels 110 7–10 centrically located around it to increase the resistance to heat loss.
Fresnel collector 310 20–26 A significant array of piping is used to connect all of the troughs
Parabolic trough 395 28–32 together to bring the heated fluid to the main power plant and to
Solar tower 550 35–42 return the cooled fluid back to the field.
*Depends upon many factors of plant design. The concentrator elements in the plant can offer a large wind
profile. It is the case that plants of this type, like most tracking
kinds of plants, have some arrangement for stowing their solar col-
are compared. Flat plate performance, which is not really a viable lection elements during high wind to give as low of a wind profile
approach in utility scale solar thermal power plants, is shown also as possible.
for completeness. Between 1984 and 1990 the Israeli company Luz International
On the plus side, the power block of these plants is in many built several plants using this technology in the Mojave Desert re-
respects common to conventional gas-fired or coal-fired units, al- gion of California. An interesting analysis of this development is
though there may be design differences due to the transient na- given in the book by Berger [4]. In all, a total of 364 MWe of these
ture of the solar source. This commonality greatly simplifies their plants was constructed. Each of these series of plants was over
design and operation. These plants can utilize conventional steam 15% more cost efficient than its predecessor [5].
plant components, from the turbine to the condenser. Any major Solargenix (now Acciona Solar Power), recently made further
power plant component manufacturer can supply the power block improvements to this technology and built plants that include a
for these plants. 1 MWe organic Rankine cycle plant in Arizona and a 64 MWe
The other side of the coin is that both the high and low tempera- (75 MWe maximum capacity) plant in Southern Nevada. The latter
tures of these types of plants may be limited. For example, solar is shown in Figure 1.4. This plant includes 760 parabolic troughs
plants typically operate at high temperatures that are lower than with more than 180,000 mirrors, 18,240 4-m long tubes, and heats
those of conventional plants. See Table 1.1 for typical values for the field fluid to 390°C (735°F).
solar plants. This poses implications for the condenser end. While It is usually the case that a synthetic oil circulates through the
the condensing temperature affects the operation of all Rankine field returning hot to a heat exchanger where the heat is transferred
plants, when the high temperature is moderate, the condenser tem- to steam. The steam then traverses a fairly conventional Rankine
perature has a relatively higher impact on plant efficiency. In gen- cycle engine.
eral, wet cooling offers lower condensing temperatures than does Several other companies have begun to develop potentially large
dry cooling. Since most solar thermal power plants will be located solar thermal plants that also use a line focus approach. One of
in arid regions of the world, scarce water for cooling could be a the approaches that may be used to replace the parabolic trough
significant limitation. includes a segmented set of nearly flat mirror facets that can in-

Fig. 1.4 Nevada Solar One, a 64 MWe (75 MWe maximum) plant built by Acciona Solar Power began elec-
trical production near Las Vegas during 2007 (Courtesy Acciona Solar Power)
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  1-

dividually follow the sun. This is denoted as Fresnel collector in also in the Mohave Desert region. See Figure 1.6. The tall tower
Table 1.1. One such manufacturer is Areva (Palo Alto, California) was illuminated by a surround field of 1818 heliostats. Each of
that is using a technology that was developed in Australia. See Fig- the heliostats had an area of 40 m2. The unit produced 10 MWe
ure 1.5. The benefits from this approach are claimed in the field de- when the receiver fluid was steam. A later modification to the
sign. The facets are lower to the ground and offer a smaller profile plant enlarged the field somewhat and used molten salt mixture
to the wind than do parabolic troughs. Also, the receiver tubes are of 60% sodium nitrate and 40% potassium nitrate as the receiver
stationary, so no flexible connections are required between trough fluid, with a heat exchanger to transfer the heat to steam for the
segments as is the case with the parabolic troughs, and thus the power block. Some degree of thermal storage was incorporated
new design is claimed to be able to handle high-pressure steam into both configurations. When steam was the receiver fluid, an
in the field. No heat exchanger would then be required to remove organic heat transfer fluid was used as the storage medium. When
heat from the field fluid for the Rankine cycle fluid for these types molten salt was used as the receiver fluid, it served as the storage
of designs. medium.
Abengoa Solar has two tower projects in Spain. See Figure 1.7.
1.1.3.3 Power Tower (Central Receiver) Systems  In the power One, PS10, is a tower that generates 11 MW of electricity. To do
tower system, a large number of ground-mounted mirrors are made this, it uses 624 heliostats that are each 120 m2 in area. Unlike Solar
to follow the sun on a nearly instantaneous fashion, reflecting the One in California, this plant does not use a surround field. Rather
sunlight to the top of a centrally located tower where a receiver sec- it has a north-side field, which Abengoa Solar feels is more appro-
tion is located. The receiver design could take a variety of forms, priate for their application. Next to PS10 is PS20 that is designed
but one involves a series of parallel tubes that cover the outside of to generate 20 MWe, and it started producing power in 2009. The
the structure or are located in the back of a cavity-type receiver. De- field consists of 1,255 mirrored heliostats, each with the same area
pending upon the type of fluid circulating through the receiver (both as those on PS10. PS20’s tower is 531 feet tall.
steam and molten salt have been used in various experiments that More recently some smaller configurations of these types of sys-
have been performed previously), there may or may not be a need tems have been proposed. When smaller towers are considered, the
for a heat exchanger to transfer the collected heat into steam for the fields are smaller and several units might be located in adjacent
conventional power block. Heat rejection systems for these types of spaces, perhaps more than one feeding a given power block.
units are either wet or dry cooling towers. Of course, the latter use
no water for cooling (ideal in desert areas), but operate at a slight 1.1.3.4 Dish Stirling Systems  These units are usually found on
deficiency in engine efficiency compared to wet cooled systems. a dish arrangement where both the mirror facets and the engine/
These kinds of systems can be large. The original unit was generator follow the sun throughout the day. Unlike the trough and
Solar One, located just outside of Barstow, California, which is the power tower arrangement which can be constructed for large

Fig. 1.5 A concept of a Fresnel (line focus) solar thermal plant has been put forth by AREVA. In this
approach, long and transversely nearly flat facets each rotate on the ground to focus the di-
rect beam radiation onto a fixed receiver overhead (Courtesy of AREVA)
1-  •  Chapter 1

Fig. 1.6  Shown is a solar central receiver plant that operated during the 1980s and 1990s near
Barstow, California. Courtesy of Sandia National Laboratories

power ratings from a single engine, this approach requires many the working fluid (a gas) is contained in the engine housing and is
smaller units (typically around 25 kW each) to be constructed. usually either hydrogen or helium. A low molecular weight fluid is
The basis of this approach is the Stirling cycle, which is known to preferred for this application because of its good heat transfer char-
be one of the more efficient thermodynamic engines because it has acteristics and low-pressure drop behavior. Ambient air is used for
nearly constant temperature heat transfer processes. In these devices heat rejection purposes. The dish maintains a high solar flux on the

Fig. 1.7  This photo shows PS10 in operation in the background and PS20 under construction in the
foreground. PS20 started power production in 2009 (From Abengoa Solar)
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  1-

heat input area of the engine, and air is circulated over a heat rejec- the sun shines only a fraction of the hours in a day. While this is
tion area, usually through one or more compact heat exchangers. obviously true about the sun, it does not have to be true about the
Two different designs of dish-Stirling systems are shown in power plant. The last big frontier in solar power generation is the
Figure 1.8. The one in the right foreground is a design developed use of effective means of storage. This would allow solar energy
by McDonald-Douglas in the 1980s that later sold the terrestrial collected during sunny periods to be used in periods when the solar
application rights to Stirling Energy Systems (SES). For many flux is low or zero in magnitude.
years this type of system held the highest demonstrated efficiency When the solar thermal system operates on a Rankine cycle, the
conversion rates of sunlight to electricity for any type of system of solution is clearly a thermal storage element in the plant design. A
around 30%. The SES unit used fixed mirror facets and an engine larger field than is needed to drive the plant during the day would
that was developed by the Scandinavian firm Kockums. SAIC In- be used, storing some of the energy to be used at a later time when
ternational developed the unit shown on the left side, and it used it is needed. Traditionally storage has not been used to any great
stretched membrane facets that could be focused by exerting a extent in solar thermal power plants because there were no incen-
slight vacuum on the chamber behind the membrane in each facet. tives for this to happen. However, with the possibilities of solar be-
It used an engine developed by Stirling Thermal Motors (STM). ing called upon to furnish 24-hour-a-day power, the issue becomes
Both units produced an output of nominally 25 kW. When installing quite important.
these kinds of systems, a significant pedestal has to be constructed Two approaches have been used in the past with solar thermal
that penetrates the ground a distance appropriate to counteract wind plants. As noted previously in this presentation, earlier designs
loads, but these types of units are designed to move to stow posi- have used either molten nitrate salts or high temperature heat trans-
tion in very high winds. fer fluids. When the latter is used, the storage tanks may have a
More recently SES in conjunction with Sandia National Labo- filler inserted, such as rock or something that is of lower cost than
ratories has redesigned several aspects of its system that they call the fluid being used. Molten salt has also been used for storage
the Suncatcher™. They have moved toward a more production- applications. In salt flowing systems, the latter cannot be allowed
oriented design, and several of these units are shown in Figure 1.9. to solidify (cool below the freezing/melting temperature, but still
Even more recently a 1.5 MWe solar field of this design has been greatly above ambient temperature) unless extensive heat tracing
installed outside Phoenix, Arizona. The exclusive development is incorporated in the design. Some newer designs have other flu-
sister company of SES is Tessera. ids adding or removing heat from non-flowing salt systems. These
As is the case with both the trough and power tower technolo- kinds of systems may be able to take advantage of phase change
gies, several companies are developing dish systems of this design. phenomena (solid/liquid) in the salt, offering additional storage ca-
Although much interest in this approach has been expressed, the pacity per unit volume of salt.
author is not aware of any systems of this type in actual commer- Designers often favor the two-tank approach in flowing systems.
cial production at the present time other than the one noted above. One tank is for hot fluid and the other is for cold fluid. A typical
1.1.3.5 Thermal Storage  It is often said that solar systems can- evening will begin with the hot tank fully charged and the cold
not be used to furnish a constant rate of power generation because tank relatively depleted. As the hot fluid is used during the night to

Fig. 1.8  Two different designs of dish-Stirling solar devices are shown on the University of Nevada,
Las Vegas (UNLV) campus in the early 2000s. The unit on the right is a design owned by SES and on the
left is a design from SAIC International (Courtesy of UNLV)
1-  •  Chapter 1

Fig. 1.9  Units of a recent design of the SES dish-Stirling system (the Suncatcher™) are shown here
at Sandia Laboratories undergoing evaluation (From Sandia Laboratories)

generate steam, it is returned in a cooled condition to the cold tank. respondingly lower cost than the monocrystalline variety. A good
Efforts have examined the use of stratified tanks with hot fluid on review of solar cell development through the date of publication
the top and cold fluid on the bottom, with a moving boundary be- has been given [6]. One type of cell given special attention to here
tween them (thermocline approach). is CdTe. While cadmium is toxic, and the amount of tellurium on
For dish-Stirling systems, as well as all PV systems discussed the earth’s surface is not well known and may be limited, this cell
below, storage presents a more difficult problem. Perhaps the fu- is still one to be kept in mind because of its relatively low cost. A
ture will bring some viable possibilities either including or beyond presentation at the 2010 Renewable Energy World Conference es-
storage batteries, but only time will tell. timated that these types of cells (less than $1/peak W at the time of
this writing and decreasing) would result in PV having grid parity
1.1.4  hotovoltaic Approaches to Utility Scale
P for 97% of the US customers by 2015 [7]. In this same presentation,
Power Generation it was noted that a thin film plant of 12.6 MWDC was completed in
Boulder City, Nevada, in 2008 for $3.2/WDC, the lowest price of all
1.1.4.1 Overview Comments  The photovoltaic effect has been plants investigated in that presentation.
known since Becquerel identified it in 1839. Many incremental de- Another type of cells that will be given some brief attention here
velopments have occurred at various time intervals after that. One are those of the multi-junction (often triple junction) types that have
was the discovery of a method of monocrystalline silicon produc- currently been used either on spacecraft or high concentration PV
tion by Czochralski in 1918. However, it was not until 1941 that systems (see more discussion on the latter below). One of the factors
the first monocrystalline cell was constructed. In the 1950s photo- that limits PV cells to the typically low efficiency that most dem-
voltaic cells received a great deal more attention where applica- onstrate is that a given semiconductor material is sensitive to only a
tions were apparent to the growing space exploration interests. In limited range of the solar spectrum. By using thin layers of carefully
1955 Hoffman Electronics-Semiconductor Division introduced a selected, but differing, materials, this sensitivity range is greatly ex-
commercial product that demonstrated 2% efficiency with 14 mW panded. The result is higher efficiency. From Figure 1.10, it can be
peak power for $25/cell. Both the types of cells and their associ- seen that triple junction cells show the highest of all efficiencies
ated efficiencies have grown with time. This is illustrated in Fig- indicated there. Another positive aspect of many types of multi-
ure 1.10. Now there are many companies producing a wide range junction cells is that their efficiency is less sensitive to increases in
of PV products for both utility applications as well as residential operational temperature than are those of the silicon type.
installations. In more recent times, attention has been brought to bear on con-
Silicon has been the mainstay of the industry for over a half centrating systems applied to photovoltaic systems [8]. In the period
century, has proven to be quite a durable product, and has shown when this paper was written, CPV (concentrating photovoltaic)
steady increases in efficiency and decreases in cost. In addition to systems had not lived up to their promise of large-scale applica-
the monocrystalline form that has all of these good characteristics, tions, partially because the cost of alternative fuels was relatively
silicon cells are also produced in an amorphous form that, although low, and flat plate PV approaches were being developed quite rap-
it has lower efficiency, can be applied in thin film form with cor- idly. The latter had the ability to be applied to roof structures, thus
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  1-

Fig. 1.10  The efficiencies and types of photovoltaic cells have been growing year by year (Courtesy L.
Kazmerski, NREL.)

opening a large market for them. Concern about tracker reliability use cells that can be one-sun units, and passive cooling could al-
was also a factor that held back CPV development. Since the mar- ways be used. On the other hand, high-concentration units will re-
ket was small, the companies involved in this technology could quire improved fill factors and other design features in addition to
not realize the economies of mass production and all of the related some well designed cooling system, either passive or active.
benefits that this implies. For example, very high concentration systems for PV applica-
This situation is obviously changing. For one thing, cell efficien- tions have been reported rendering up to 104 suns [9]. These are
cies have increased substantially over the years as noted above. Also, obviously not production systems, but rather special experimental
we are facing rapidly escalating conventional fuel prices, driven by systems. At the other end of the concentration range, JX Crystals is
higher costs of oil. Swanson [8] indicated that 10% of the output producing a 3´ system [10]. Hence a wide range of concentrations
efficiency goes to pay for everything but the cells, so if efficiency is potentially available for PV systems.
increases, it encourages the application of CPV approaches. The cells used in these kinds of systems can range from con-
One additional benefit of CPV systems compared to fixed flat ventional one-sun types up to multi-junction (mj), very high effi-
plate systems is their ability to capture more of the sun’s energy ciency, types. In between lie high-efficiency single-junction cells.
because of their tracking nature, compared to fixed flat plate PV It had been argued that high concentration systems were more ap-
systems. When more efficient cells can be applied to the CPV sys- propriate using high efficiency single junction than mj cells [11],
tems, this can greatly boost the energy generated for this approach. but that is changing in favor of the mj cells as the latter become
In all, Swanson [8] discusses the following benefits for CPV com- more developed for this market.
pared to fixed flat plate systems. Unlike concentrating thermal systems, where virtually all concen-
trators are of the reflecting type, CPV systems can have refracting
·  Lower cost
or reflecting configurations. Usually the distinction is if irradiation
·  Superior efficiency
is desired on single cells in tandem or a densely-packed array. Typi-
·  High annual capacity factor
cally Fresnel lenses are used for the former and mirror-like reflec-
·  Less materials’ availability issues
tors are used for the latter.
·  Less toxic material use (compared to some thin film systems)
Concentration not only boosts the cell incident flux, it also gen-
·  Ease of recycling
erates more heat within the cell compared to one-sun situations.
·  Ease of rapid manufacturing capacity scale-up
When concentrations are sought at very high levels, enhanced heat
·  High local manufacturing content
removal from the cell is almost always called for. This is because
For the purposes of this presentation we will put CPV into two most types of cells suffer a decrease in efficiency when the cell
categories with an imprecise division point: low concentration and temperature increases. See, for example, Ref. [12].
high concentration. This is a result, in general, of the temperature
of operation and the corresponding quality of cell required to ap- 1.1.4.2 High Concentration Photovoltaic (HCPV) Systems 
propriately utilize the concentrated beam. Low concentration will High concentration systems might be defined as using concentrations
1-10  •  Chapter 1

above 10, but this is not a precise definition. Many of the sys- from a large fan located on the side opposite from the PV array.
tems now being marketed have design concentrations in the The latter had high flux cells that were very similar to the ones used
range of 100´ to 500´, but 1000´ does not seem too far from on the Amonix units, but in this application they are mounted in a
reality. dense array at the focal point of the beam from the dish. They were
One of the companies that has been quite active in this field is mounted to a copper plate that had cooling water flowing over the
Amonix, which is located in the Los Angeles, California, area. back. A small pump forced the water through passages in the cop-
For quite some time, Amonix has been marketing a 25-kW sys- per plate and then through the radiators to give up the heat to the
tem and a 35-kW system with a 250´ concentration. More recently ambient air. Performance of this system is reported in a thesis by
they have moved to 500´ systems with multi-junction cells that Newmarker [14].
have nearly doubled their units’ output. Multi-junction cells are Two distinct differences are present between the two HCPV sys-
now being included in designs from several manufacturers [13]. tems shown here. First, in the dish system the flux comes from a
A building block for Amonix is a Megamodule™ (typically 5 or 7 large number of facets to a particular point on the PV array. This
of these are included in a given concentrating unit depending upon simplifies to the concentration assembly, but it also can cause hot
the power output sought) that consists of many dispersed cells each spots to exist. A similar kind of behavior is sometimes demon-
with a Fresnel concentrating lens mounted on a configuration that strated on dish Stirling units. A second issue that differs between
assures structural integrity. Cooling of the cells is performed pas- the Amonix unit and the SAIC unit is the cooling approaches used.
sively using a simply configured but quite effective heat sink on the In the first case the cooling is accomplished in a passive manner,
rear side of the system. As is the case with any high concentration while the latter is performed actively using the system denoted in
system, a two-axis tracker is used to follow the sun across the sky. Figure 1.13 [15]. There are plusses and minuses for each of the
In a similarity to operational aspects of dish Stirling systems noted approaches, but presumably the active system could offer better
above, the system must be mounted on a sunken support structure, control in varying conditions.
and their system goes into stow position (horizontal) when local 1.1.4.3 Low Concentration PV Systems  The other end of the
winds reach high values. A photo of several Amonix high concen- range of concentration involves the use of low concentration de-
tration PV (HCPV) systems is shown in Figure 1.11. signs. As was noted earlier, this is not a precisely defined category,
Another approach to HCPV systems is the use of a dish. Some but it might include concentration ratios of less than 10. For these
investigation of this type of system has taken place in the past (see kinds of systems, the precision of the tracking can be reduced sig-
Figure 1.12). In the figure, a design developed by SAIC is shown. nificantly. Also, the heat that needs to be removed from the cells
The nominal output of this device was also 25 kW, using fixed is greatly reduced and may all be done by passive interaction with
facet mirrors. The unit at the focus of the beam looks very much the ambient conditions. Finally, many of these systems use one-
like the Stirling engines shown in Figure 1.8, but in this case, it sun cells. In one such design by JX Crystals, a 3´ concentration
is entirely a cooling unit for the PV module that is located on the ratio is used. As was stated by the developer, the bulk of the PV
side closest to the facets. In fact, it is made up of four radiators that cells are replaced by reflecting aluminum that is on the order of 20
are similar to those found in trucks, and air is forced through them times less expensive than the cells [10]. This design uses aluminum

Fig. 1.11 An array of 25-kW Amonix designs in Spain at the Guascor Foton installation license partner
of Amonix. Newer units have much higher power output because of the use of multijunction cells
(From Amonix)
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  1-11

“valleys” with conventional cells mounted at the base of the valley.

One axis tracking is possible with a carousel type of arrangement
in this application. See Figure 1.14. This unit was installed flat on a
roof without penetrations. So the assembly can be installed without
compromising any roofing construction.

1.1.4.4 Tradeoffs between One-Sun, Low Concentration,

and High Concentration Systems

·  One-sun systems, particularly fixed, flat plate assemblies, are

simple to install and maintain.
·  One-sun systems take up more ground area for the same
power out than do concentrating types of systems, in general.
This is particularly true if cells like the lower cost but lower
efficiency CdTe type are used.
·  One-axis tracking on flat plate systems can be adapted that
increase the power output but do not increase significantly the
initial cost and maintenance expenses.
·  Tracking capabilities for high concentration systems must be
more precise than are needed in low concentration systems.
·  Low concentration systems can use one-sun cells and passive
cooling designs.
·  Some low concentration systems can be mounted on a flat sur-
face without penetrating the latter.
·  Each cell in a high concentration system produces signifi-
cantly more power than does each in a low concentration or
one-sun system.
·  Cell cooling is a key concern in high concentration systems.
·  High efficiency cells that are of high cost will be more cost
effective in high concentration compared to low concentra-
tion systems.
Fig. 1.12 A dish-PV concentrating system is ·  To minimize the costs of the tracking system per unit of power
shown operating on sun. The concentration is produced, high concentration systems must be on the order of
approximately 250x (From UNLV) 25 to 50 kW each to minimize the cost of the tracking system

Fig. 1.13  The schematic design of the assembly at the snout of the dish array shown in Figure 12 is
depicted here [15]
1-12  •  Chapter 1

Fig. 1.14  The JX Crystals one-axis tracking 3x concentration PV system is shown (Courtesy UNLV)

in the overall cost of power. These types of systems must have Hydrogen has been used to some extent over a large number
some careful design to minimize wind effects on the stability of years. It is not our purpose here to cover all aspects of its his-
of the installation and dissipate heat generated in the cell. tory. Instead we will give some insights on how this can be gener-
ated from solar energy, and how it might be utilized in the modern
world.
1.2 Hydrogen Production and Use
1.2.2 Generation of Hydrogen
1.2.1 Background Most of the world’s supply of hydrogen is generated from a
Hydrogen is the most commonly-occurring element in the universe. process called steam-methane reforming (SMR). In this technique,
It can be used for a variety of applications including manufacturing, methane (normally as natural gas) and steam are brought together
electricity generation, and motive power. In addition, it can be pro- at elevated temperatures (in the range of 700°C to 1100°C). A ma-
duced from solar and wind energy systems, and it makes an excel- jor hydrogen distribution system is located on the Gulf coast area
lent storage medium for these renewable resources. NASA (National of the US, and this is a significant part of a US hydrogen industry
Aeronautical and Space Administration) and the oil refining business that produced 10.6 million metric tons of hydrogen in 2006, most
have used hydrogen for years in achieving their goals with few hy- of it generated using SMR [16]. This is enough hydrogen to furnish
drogen accidents. In spite of all of these good qualities, why has it not 20 to 30 million cars with fuel or for energy uses in 5 to 8 mil-
been used more as a core fuel in the world? For one thing, it is not lion homes. SMR is currently the least expensive way to produce
a fuel in the sense as, say, natural gas and gasoline are fuels. Those hydrogen. Its drawbacks, however, from a sustainability point of
two examples can be found in reservoirs at various places around the view include that it uses what is essentially a non-renewable energy
globe. Hydrogen, on the other hand, is an energy carrier. It has to be supply (natural gas) and it generates greenhouse gases (primarily
produced, much like electricity has to be generated. CO2).
Another characteristic of hydrogen is that it is the smallest atom A cleaner approach, both environmentally as well as in hy-
in existence. The result of this is that it typically takes up a large drogen purity, can be electrolysis where water is broken into its
volume to store, and it is prone to leaking unless the containing molecular components using electricity. This is the second largest
system is extremely well sealed. It can cause stress corrosion and source of hydrogen, but the amount generated from this is much
hydrogen embittlement in some common materials that might be smaller than from SMR. This approach can be accomplished with
used in contact with it. Finally, it has a wide flammability range greenhouse gases liberation, but this depends how the electrical
compared to most common fuels. input is generated. If the latter is generated from dirty fossil-fired
None of these drawbacks is insurmountable. What is clear, plants, that fact becomes part of the hydrogen’s carbon footprint.
though, is that the infrastructure for generating, distributing, and On the other hand, electrolysis produces very pure hydrogen. So
utilizing hydrogen on a country-wide scale is not in place. How- when very high purity of hydrogen is needed, electrolysis is the
ever, it remains an intriguing option for future developments. desired source.
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  1-13

Fig. 1.15  The UNLV/Las Vegas Valley Water District solar powered hydrogen generation and fill-
ing station is shown. To the right in the figure is the electrolyzer system, to the left are the com-
pressor, storage and dispensing station, and in the rear two of the four PV panels are shown that
power the system

Because hydrogen can be made from electricity, if the electric- hydrogen on the sites where it is dispensed could furnish hydrogen
ity is made from renewably generated power, then the hydrogen for a significant amount of the US land area.
becomes renewable also. This approach is a good addition to a
time-variable renewable power generation source like solar or 1.2.3 Utilization of Hydrogen
wind. Like “making hay while the sun shines,” it is possible to Hydrogen can be used in the various ways any fuels are used:
save solar energy by the use of electrolytic hydrogen that is gen- combustion processes, engine fuels, electricity generation in fuel
erated from it. Certainly one of the drawbacks to this approach, cells, and others. Here a focus on transportation applications will
currently, is the high cost of generating hydrogen. When the cost be discussed. Not all transportation applications will be covered,
of the photovoltaic, or other means of power generation from the however. It is well known that hydrogen can be used to power
sun, is factored in with the cost of the electrolysis unit, this does rockets as has been shown over the years. It can also be used to fuel
equate to higher cost hydrogen than that available from SMR ap- aircraft, although this application has not been demonstrated to any
proaches. However, PV systems are decreasing markedly in cost, large extent to date. In what follows, we will discuss road vehicle
and there are new approaches called photoelectrochemical that applications. Generally the motive power for hydrogen road vehi-
could bring the costs down significantly. An example of this has cles will be internal compression ignition or spark ignition com-
been reported [17]. bustion engines and fuel cells.
Several solar powered hydrogen generation stations have been First consider using some type of internal combustion engine
developed over the last several years in the US. One of these (ICE) for motive power. In this application, the ICE is a machine
types of hydrogen generation and filling stations has been built that has been around significantly over a century so a great deal
by UNLV, Proton Energy, Air Products, and the Southern Ne- of infrastructure has been developed for both the manufacture as
vada Water Authority at the Las Vegas Valley Water District well as the maintenance of these devices. If they can be used for
headquarters in Las Vegas. This system uses four one-axis track- hydrogen applications, then one piece of the required hydrogen
ing flat plate PV units for power. This, or grid power, can then utilization infrastructure would be pretty much in place. What is
furnish the electricity to an electrolyzer. Water is converted there required to convert a conventional (say gasoline powered) engine
to hydrogen and oxygen, where the hydrogen is piped to a com- into a hydrogen power engine? It is actually quite simple. For one
pressor and the oxygen is vented. Storage of the hydrogen takes thing the spark timing must be changed quite significantly because
place at 6000 psi for refueling of hydrogen vehicles. A photo of of the ease of ignition of hydrogen as well as the resulting flame
the filling station with two of its four PV panels showing is given speed being so high. Also the fuel injection/air-fuel-ratio needs to
in Figure 1.15. be controlled quite carefully. For all of these reasons, the engine
One of the big issues in developing a hydrogen infrastructure for computer control must be appropriately calibrated. One of the
vehicle powering is how to transport the hydrogen from where it bigger concerns using hydrogen in ICE’s is to minimize the NOx
is generated to where it is used. Various options like using tanker formed. This can be done with high air fuel ratio. This however,
trucks or pipelines have obvious drawbacks. One possibility is to causes minimal power with normally aspirated engines.
have dispersed generation filling stations that make hydrogen on Of course, almost all modern engines use some type of fuel injec-
site. This could be used in locations where the solar resource is tion, and some of them (in addition to Diesel engines) use direct cyl-
very good, such as the Southwest portion of the US. In locations inder injection. Adaptation of direct injectors to hydrogen engines
that might have substantial wind availability, that resource could is important for a number of reasons. One of them is that the flame
be used. Consideration of local renewable resources to generate speed in hydrogen is extremely fast, much faster than typical hy-
1-14  •  Chapter 1

surfaces work well. Hydrogen is a drying fuel, and sliding metal

surfaces are to be shunned in hydrogen systems. Work has been on-
going related to special in-cylinder fuel injection systems at several
locations. One such design that combines an in-cylinder fuel injec-
tor integral with a spark plug, and which can be used to replace the
conventional spark plug is shown in Figure 1.16 [17]. Something
like this greatly simplifies the conversion of a hydrocarbon spark
ignition engine to a hydrogen in-cylinder fuel injected engine.
Another way that hydrogen can be used in vehicles is in con-
junction with fuel cells. Good insights into the development of fuel
cells have been recently given [19]. These devices are essentially
the opposite process of electrolyzers. In the latter, water and elec-
tricity are used to make hydrogen and oxygen. In fuel cells, hydro-
gen and oxygen (the latter usually from atmospheric air) combine
to make water and electricity. Hence fuel cell vehicles are really
electric vehicles that use hydrogen fuel to generate the electric-
ity. These devices have a number of very desirable characteris-
tics, including quiet operation and higher efficiency than ICE’s.
Fig. 1.16 An integral in cylinder fuel injector Down sides include that they are currently expensive and their
and spark plug assembly is shown. This assem- membranes can be poisoned with impurities in the air.
bly replaces the conventional spark plug of a The most typical type of fuel cell to use for vehicular propulsion
conventional spark ignition engine [18] is of the proton exchange membrane type. These cells operate at
relatively low temperatures (about 175°F or 80°C), have high power
density, can vary their output rather quickly (but not as fast as auto-
drocarbon fuels. Also, even more critically than HC fueled engines, mobile engines) to meet shifts in power demand, and are suited for
the combustion process may need to be controlled to minimize NOx applications–such as in automobiles–where quick startup is required.
formation. Direct in-cylinder fuel injection can offer a significant The proton exchange membrane is a semi-permeable membrane that
improvement over carburetion or port injection. However, hydro- allows hydrogen ions to pass through it. The membrane is coated on
gen fuel injectors, whether they be for port or direct cylinder injec- both sides with highly dispersed metal alloy particles (mostly plati-
tion of hydrogen need to be designed more carefully because of num) that are active catalysts. This type of fuel cell is sensitive to
the drying nature of hydrogen fuel compared to hydrocarbon fuels. fuel impurities. Cell outputs generally range from 50 to 250 kW,
This is because hydrocarbon fuels have lubricity, so sliding metal although they are also available in smaller sizes.

Fig. 1.17 An electric utility vehicle that has been converted to a fuel-cell-electric hybrid configu-
ration is shown. The space originally used for half of the original battery pack has been used for
a fuel cell unit and hydrogen storage tanks (Courtesy of UNLV)
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  1-15

Because fuel cells generate electricity, the vehicles that they

propel are electric. Most of the major automobile manufacturers
have been working on the development of fuel cell vehicles. The
first one of these vehicles to appear on the market is the Honda
Clarity. This is a model that succeeds the Honda FCX vehicles that
were evaluated on an experimental basis for several years.
Depending upon the function of the vehicle, it could be a
straightforward task to convert an all-electric vehicle to a fuel cell
hybrid design that uses hydrogen fuel. One such example is shown
in Figure 1.17. This Taylor–Dunn electric utility vehicle was con-
verted to be a hybrid hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle. In doing
this, approximately 50% of the original batteries were removed,
and the space they had taken was used to install a 5.5-kW fuel cell
and two high-pressure hydrogen storage tanks. Necessary power
control aspects were added to allow the system to operate off of a
base power from the fuel cell and to tap the storage battery reserve
power if needed for high load periods. When the fuel cell is actu-
ally producing more power than the vehicle needs for its motion,
the extra energy generated can be used to recharge the batteries.
A block diagram of the system used for this conversion is shown
in Figure 1.18a. In the companion curve (Figure 1.18b), the green
denotes the amount of power directly from the fuel cell, while the
red indicates the power that is from energy stored in the battery.
Whatever is used as the prime mover, one significant issue that
needs to be addressed is how the hydrogen is stored on board. As
noted earlier, because hydrogen has the lowest molecular weight
of all molecules, considerable space is needed to store it. It is not
unusual for gaseous hydrogen storage tanks to be designed to hold
5000 to 6000 psi, and in spite of this, the tanks have to be large
for reasonable vehicle range. Other means of storage have also
been applied. BMW, for example, uses liquefied hydrogen storage,
Fig. 1.18  a) The various major components of
which is more efficient space-wise than gaseous hydrogen stor-
the power system depicted for the vehicle con-
age. However, the liquid has to be stored at very low temperatures.
version shown in Figure 1.17. b) Some examples
Some boil-off of hydrogen due to heat transfer through the insu-
of the power draw during a driving cycle are
lated tank walls will occur. This might cause substantial loss of hy-
shown denoting what amount comes from the
drogen if the vehicle is not used for a long period of time. Another
fuel cell and what comes from the energy
way to store hydrogen is with metal hydride beds. These are like a
stored in the batteries (Courtesy of UNLV)
metal sponge to hydrogen, soaking up gas when the bed is cooled,

100

Gasoline
Liquid
Volumetric Hydrogen
Energy
10
Density, Hydrogen
MJ/L in Metal
Hydrides
Compressed
Gaseous
Hydrogen

1
1 10 100 1000
Fig. 1.19 An approximate comparison of the three ways of storing hydrogen in terms of the energy
stored per unit of weight and per unit of volume. These are contrasted to gasoline storage. Note
that liquefied hydrogen, although requiring very low temperatures for storage, achieves charac-
teristics on this map that are not too different than gasoline
1-16  •  Chapter 1

and releasing the hydrogen when the bed is heated. The downside in all of this is incorporating good estimates of cost increases of
is that the beds are heavy, and this approach has typically been conventional energy. If the latter remain stable (or nearly so) com-
used only in large vehicles like buses and trucks. The upside is that pared to current costs, a different set of conclusions may be drawn
hydrogen is stored in these beds at relatively low pressure (say 100 than if the conventional energy greatly increases in cost over time.
to 200 psi). An approximate map of the storage characteristics of One way to handle this is to consider two cost estimation scenarios.
hydrogen is shown compared to gasoline in Figure 1.19. One can be considering no increase in cost. The other can be for
A key element in designing with hydrogen in any application cost escalation at the average historical cost rate of increase. Each
is to allow venting to the atmosphere in case of some type of mal- state’s public utility commission, or even the local utility, should
function. Since the gas is so light, it will rapidly go straight up in be able to furnish the latter information.
the atmosphere in the area of the hydrogen leak as long as it has a Human comfort and possible indoor environmental pollution
clear passage upward. needs to be considered in energy efficient design. Many of these
factors have been discussed [22].
In the next section a concept that is attracting a great deal of in-
1.3  uilding Applications of Solar
B terest, particularly in the US and Europe, is discussed: Zero Energy
Energy Buildings. Generally these buildings have a great deal of energy
saving design incorporated in their construction, and they also in-
1.3.1 General Philosophy clude some means of alternative energy for generation to make up
Knowledge of interaction of solar energy with buildings is very for the energy used in the house. Following this, we discuss the two
important for the planning for a low energy future. Sometimes most-common types of solar add-ons for buildings. These are solar
these interactions need to be minimized as much as possible, and domestic water heating, and photovoltaics. In both of those ap-
at other times they need to be accepted to the full extent; but at all plications, a south-facing, unshaded orientation is preferred. Some
times, the building needs to be designed for smart solar interac- inclinations that are nearly southerly might offer less solar energy
tions. These may include the use of the photons in their basic form harvest than direct south, but the deficit may be small. Inclinations
(lighting and PV), and at other times the photon conversion to ther- to be used vary somewhat because of ease of application or desire
mal energy is desired (space and water heating). to achieve some particular goal. For good all year performance,
Of course the environmental conditions will have an impact on an optimal angle of orientation is to face south with a tilt angle
how all this is done. Hot, dry climates will have to be handled equal to the local latitude. If more winter input is desired, it can be
differently than temperate climates. It could be that different parts achieved by using a higher angle, but this will be at the expense of
of the building may be designed to achieve different kinds of out- summer input. Oftentimes solar units on homes will be mounted at
comes. Also, the orientation of the building compared to the sun whatever the roof inclination is. Of course, for flat roof installation,
path in the different seasons of the year should be carefully incor- any orientation can be achieved with a mounting system.
porated in the design. Cleaning is another issue. Rain, if it occurs periodically like it
By far, the most important aspect to general building design is does in many parts of the nation, will generally do a good job in
cost-effective energy conservation. Forms that this may take vary, cleaning solar collection units. Many solar collection systems have
but they almost always involve carefully chosen insulation and not been cleaned during their entire lifetime. If the atmosphere is
high performance windows. In addition, high electrical use devices particularly dirty, and rain is particularly sparse, it may be that a
in the house (particularly air conditioners in warm or hot climates) periodic cleaning may improve system performance.
need to be chosen for high efficiency.
A critical tool in good design is the use of building energy simu- 1.3.2 Net Zero Energy Buildings
lation (BES). Like many types of simulation software packages, This is a concept that has, on one hand, been around for a long
BES codes tend to range between codes that are extremely compre- time, but, on the other hand, is only now starting to catch on in the
hensive and often hard to master and easier codes that may not be US. In buildings of this sort, very good energy-conserving design
as detailed in their ability to analyze. BES codes that allow “what is coupled with some means of generating energy from a renew­
if” kinds of analyses to examine the changes to performance with able energy source. If the customer matches the net energy use
change in design are particularly good to use. One such example from the grid by an excess generation over the year, this is often
that is quite easy to apply is Energy10 [20]. There may be some called a net site zero energy building. In some quarters this is re-
aspects of the design that are not easily accounted for in this code, ferred to as a zero site energy building. Another distinction some-
but the major elements can be. It also allows changes to the build- times made is to denote a building as being net zero source energy.
ing design within a given sized and oriented structure. Codes can This is related to the site definition, but also accounts for losses
be used with detailed measurements to estimate the cost-effective- in generating the energy and bringing it to the consumer. A simi-
ness of conservation components on actual buildings [21]. lar definition can work for net zero energy costs. In some service
However, it is also critical that component costs of various op- areas, utilities pay local generators for the renewable energy they
tions be considered in the analysis, and these are sometimes more send to the grid. If the payment to the utility matches the payment
difficult to gather without direct access to the local construction in- from the utility, this is denoted as net zero energy costs. A similar
dustry data. One simple way to handle this (if cost information is definition can be based upon emissions.
available) is to consider a base case design, assess its performance On net zero energy buildings in a good solar climate, both a so-
and cost (both capital cost as well as operating costs), and then con- lar domestic water heater and a photovoltaic array will be applied.
sider “what if” options. Looking at simple payback may be sufficient Each of these topics is addressed separately in sections that follow.
to see what the long-term cost implications of the design may be. Of course the electricity demand for a building will typically be
After the basic structure has been optimized for performance greater than the energy demand for heating of water. As a result,
and cost, then various solar applications can be considered for their the size of the two collection systems is relatively much larger for
impact on the overall building. One of the significant problems the PV and smaller for the solar domestic water heating (SDWH)
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  1-17

and a way of connecting these two together. Finally, it is, of course,

necessary to merge this between the domestic water source and
the hot water system of the building. It is quite common to install
the SDWH system between the water input to the building and the
conventional water heating system. This allows the latter to serve
as “back-up.” If significant periods of inclement weather occur
minimizing the SDWH output, the conventional system can fur-
nish the necessary heating service.
Two types of SDWH systems will be described here, but it should
be remembered that many more options than those described are
available on the market. One of the two types of systems consid-
ered is the integrated collector-storage (ICS) configuration. The
other is a freeze-protected type that either allows the collector to
drain when heating is not taking place or uses an anti-freeze loop.
An ICS system and a collector for a freeze-protected system are
shown in Figure 1.21.
First consider the ICS system. It includes a combination collec-
tion/storage unit typically located on the roof of the building. The
collection/storage unit is often constructed of several very large

Fig. 1.20  Two examples of zero energy homes

are shown where the size of the PV array is much
larger in physical size compared to the SDWH
system (Credits: above, NREL #14164; below, UNLV)

system. See Figure 1.20 where some examples of the size of the PV
system can be compared to that of the SDWH system. It should be
noted that the first of these buildings uses a SDW heating system
that has freeze protection, while the second uses an integrated col-
lector storage (ICS) system. Both of these are described in the next
section.

1.3.3 Solar Domestic Water Heating

A great deal of the world has solar applied domestic water heat-
ing more than we have in the US. Europe, Asia, and the Middle
East are among those areas where this is the case.
In considering solar domestic water heating, several aspects
should be considered. Of course, a south or near-south exposure
for the solar collection unit is desired. Careful attention to the cli-
matic conditions is also required. Climates that have freezing con-
ditions at some points in the year will require freeze protection that
may not be required in more balmy regions. Some types of systems
may require a quite-heavy installation on or under the roof, and
the basic building design may not allow this without significant
strengthening of the structure. Water quality can have an important
effect on some types of systems. Also important for cost-effective
installations is the cost of the competing conventional energy used Fig. 1.21  Two of the many types of SDWH systems
for water heating. A rule of thumb that is almost always true is are represented here: a) the integrated col-
that conventional DWH (domestic water heating) systems that use lector-storage system as it is called today is
electricity for heat input are usually good candidates for SDWH shown in this sketch that accompanied a 1893 US
replacement. patent, and b) a cutaway view of a collector
Typical elements of a SDWH system include some type of solar type that might be used with a drain-down or an
collection element, some means of storing the water being heated, antifreeze protected system
1-18  •  Chapter 1

diameter copper tubes, perhaps 4 to 6 in. in diameter, that are con- “utility scale generation” addressed earlier in this review. Both dis-
nected with small tubing in a serpentine pattern. The hot water tributed generation issues as well as electrical storage issues have
supply source for the building is connected directly to the inlet of been reviewed [23].
this unit, and the outlet of the unit is connected to the conventional Usually, PV panels are placed on the roof of the building and
DWH system of the building. When hot water is used, the DWH oriented to the south or nearly south (depending upon the roof ori-
system supplies the water, the ICS system supplies the DWH, and entation). Since PV modules generate DC power, this needs to be
the water supply source feeds the ICS unit. Through a day, water converted to AC by use of an inverter. Various meters and discon-
use will allow the supply water to flow slowly (because the ICS nect switches are usually required by the local utility for final hook
unit has a very large volume relative to the demand use) through up to the grid. Some locations have what is called “net metering.”
the ICS unit, ultimately heating it to whatever the climatic condi- This means that the power meter for grid power can turn forwards
tions allow. This results in a system that has very little impact on (when the building is taking power from the grid) or backwards
floor space in the building. It operates in a totally passive manner. (when the PV system on the building is making more power than
That is: no pump or special piping is required other than to con- is being used locally). These systems allow the owner to sell PV
nect the unit to the water source and the conventional heater. No generated power at the same cost as power is purchased. Other lo-
second fluid, like anti-freeze solution, is required. Two downsides cations have a difference between the price that power is purchased
include the fact that the unit is heavy, and the location where it from the utility compared to the price at which it purchases power.
is located, if on the building, may need structural reinforcement. In these cases, the latter is less. Some locations may not have a
Another concern is that there is no positive freeze protection other selling price to the utility.
than the thermal inertia of the large unit filled with water. If severe In recent years, more interest in building-integrated photovolta-
freezing conditions occur in the local area, freeze damage would ics (BIPV) has developed. BIPV means that the PV array becomes
be an issue. Finally another drawback is that the storage of the hot much more a part of the building design, rather than simply panels
water occurs out in the weather and the night. This influences the that are mounted quite obviously on the roof. This can mean, for
overall efficiency of the system because of heat losses from the example, that the PV units could be of the same size and shape as
water at those times. the roofing tiles. An example of this is shown in the lower photo-
Many approaches have been put forth to make a system less graph in Figure 1.20 of the zero energy house. In fact this set of
susceptible to freezing. One of these uses an anti-freeze loop pictures shows the distinction between panels (upper picture) and
and is thus preferred over the ICS system where severe freezing BIPV (lower picture). BIPV could also mean that photovoltaic ele-
conditions can occur. The system may use two tanks (if so, the
first is called the preheat tank, and the second is called the back
up tank, the latter typically being the conventional water heater),
or one tank which serves both purposes. If only one tank is used,
a heat exchanger is incorporated, and care should be used to try to
achieve stratification in that tank. This is not always easy to accom-
plish. A distinct loop with a pump, thermostatic control system, ex-
pansion tank, and back flow preventer is filled with an anti-freeze
solution, typically a mixture of water and propylene glycol. When
the anti-freeze solution in the collector is warmer than the tank, the
pump is turned on. The anti-freeze solution moves from the collec-
tor to the heat exchanger with the result of heating the top of the
storage tank. The cooled anti-freeze solution circulates back to the
collector. The heat exchanger that is used can be one in the tank
(perhaps a bayonet unit), or a separate loop that brings water from
the tank to an external heat exchanger where it exchanges heat
with the anti-freeze solution. Obviously, this type of approach is
more complicated than the ICS approach, but it does offer positive
freeze protection. This can be an extremely important characteris-
tic. Every few years, the anti-freeze solution needs to be drained,
and the system recharged with a new solution.

1.3.4 Photovoltaic Applications on Buildings

Most photovoltaic systems on buildings are hooked in parallel
with the local electrical grid. This will mean the system must in-
terface to the local utility, and usually the latter will have fairly
strict rules about how this takes place. This, in a sense, allows the
local grid to serve as “storage” for the local PV system, furnishing
power when generation is not sufficient for the building require-
ments. Of course, if it is not desirable or if it is impossible to hook
to a grid because there is not one locally, then typically, storage
batteries will be needed. This off-grid type of system will not be
explored here, but there are certainly many of them throughout Fig. 1.22 Building integrated photovoltaics
the US. The placement of PV systems on buildings is normally re- (BIPV) are incorporated in a number of the fa-
ferred to as “distributed generation,” and this is in distinction from cades of this building [24]
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  1-19

Outdoor Air

Exhaust Indoor Air

Outdoor Air Supply Air

Return Air
Active Solar Sensible Indirect
Desiccant Heater Heat Evaporative
Wheel Wheel Cooler

Fig. 1.23 A possible solar driven desiccant dehumidification/cooling system

ments might be used for building siding, skylights, or windows. In Oftentimes these approaches require higher temperatures than are
some of these applications, the mounted elements may have to be typical from solar water heating systems. Currently the prices of
at least partially light transmitting. The upside of these arrange- these systems are quite high compared to conventional air condi-
ments is that power can be generated by almost any element of the tioning units.
building. However, the downside includes that the sun may not Another approach to cooling is to use a system with desiccants.
have access to these types of elements for all times of the day; and These materials will soak up water from moisture-laden air when
when it does, the angles might be quite obtuse. Of course, when the latter is circulated through the material. Both cooling and re-
the element is light transmitting, this means that the power harvest moval of water can occur without the use of a vapor compression
per unit of active area may be quite low compared to conventional or absorption cooling system. Desiccant cooling work has been re-
arrays located in optimal harvesting orientations. An example of an viewed by Daou et al. [28]. A possible cooling system using this
application is shown in Figure 1.22. kind of an approach is shown in Figure 1.23.
Potential shading is of particular concern in PV applications on
buildings. Depending upon the design of the system, it could be the
case that partial shading will completely shut down the production 1.4 Closing Comments
in the panel. While there are design features that can minimize this
potential problem, shading is undesirable. A summary has been given of some of the ways that solar energy
The current situation is that some lower cost PV panels (usually may be used in power generation, transportation, and building ap-
based upon cost per peak W generated) have lower efficiency than plications. While solar energy may be more useful in some areas
higher cost panels. Depending upon the limitations of the mount- of the country than others, some applications can be adapted in
ing location (say a smaller roof ), higher-performance panels may virtually all areas.
be desirable. The technology has, by and large, been expensive because a size-
able market has not developed in the past, which, in turn, kept the
prices up. Now, between a great deal of encouragement in terms of
1.3.5 Other Solar Applications in Buildings incentives on the Federal level as well as state and local levels, and
Several other solar applications in buildings are in various stages some technical breakthroughs, the markets are developing and prices
of development. Only a few will be noted here. are distinctly decreasing. Better means of storing energy are also
Solar lighting is a concept where actual sunlight is brought into coming along, so this periodic resource will be able to deliver useful
the building to provide a natural source. Of course, windows are an and economical energy 24 hours a day in the not-too-distant future.
example of this; and when the window has a good view from it, this Developments like this can assist the US in becoming much
may be irreplaceable. However, windows can be the source of large more energy self sufficient in a sustainable way. These are goals
heat gains or losses. In situations where this is not desirable, some that all should desire.
enhancements to the windows may be required. Included is a variety
of shading devices (usually preferred on the outside of the window),
some type of insulation (like drapes or louver blinds), window tint- 1.5 Acknowledgments
ing, and many other products on the market, as well as design as-
pects like overhangs and light shelves. If only good quality natural I particularly want to credit the excellent assistance by the vari-
lighting is desired, this might be accomplished with products like ous students over the years in the UNLV Center for Energy Re-
light conducting ducts through the roof [25] or solar hybrid lighting search, without whom the large scope of work we have carried
[26]. These devices are designed to minimize the thermal impact of out, some of it touched upon here, would not have been possible. I
bringing sunlight into buildings. A review of the operational aspects also appreciate the collaboration of several companies who funded
of many of these kinds of systems has been given [27]. and/or assisted us in a large number of the projects. A great deal of
Solar building space cooling is another technology that is mov- support was received from the US Department of Energy and the
ing more toward the market. One of these applications is that of a National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and that made the whole
solar absorption cooling unit that is driven by heat from the sun. operation possible.
1-20  •  Chapter 1

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 chapter

2
SOLAR ENERGY APPLICATIONS AND
COMPARISONS
Yong X. Tao and Rambod Rayegan
2.1 Introduction (watches, backpacks, etc.) The discussion of those applications is
beyond the scope of this Chapter. Outer space applications of so-
Strictly speaking, all the practical energy sources for applica- lar energy technology are also excluded. Investigations primarily
tions to human activities on the Planet Earth are from the sun. Even undertaken in the United States are presented, although some ex-
fossil fuels resulted from millions and millions years of layered amples from global applications are also discussed to address the
deposition of once living plants (and animals eating plants), which potentials and needs for wider applications of solar energy in the
obtained their energy intakes and conversion directly and indi- United States.
rectly from solar rays and reached their maturity before they were
buried. From ancient times to today, humans have used various
ways to harness direct solar radiation, from using it as a heating 2.2  arge-Scale Solar Energy
L
source to today’s electricity generation systems. Solar energy is
Plants for Power Generation
also responsible for such renewable energy sources as wind and
wave power, hydroelectricity and biomass. Today, the total energy One of the fastest-growing applications is in utility scale solar
consumption in the United States still predominantly comes from power generation systems. Under increasing pressure to reduce
fossil fuels, although recent interests in investing in wind and solar domestic dependence on foreign sources of energy, it has been rec-
electricity have been accelerating. ognized [1] that solar energy represents a huge domestic energy
In this chapter, only energy system applications resulting from resource for the United States, particularly in the Southwest where
the direct solar radiation will be discussed and are limited to com- the deserts have some of the best solar resource levels in the world.
mercial applications. The applications of solar energy systems can For example, an area approximately 12% the size of Nevada (15%
be categorized as follows: of federal lands in Nevada) has the potential to supply all of the
electric needs of the United States. In addition, solar power often
·  Utility-scale solar power systems that generate electricity complements other renewable power sources such as hydroelectric
and feed to the electricity grid. There are photovoltaic (PV) and wind power. Solar resources are typically higher during poor
systems and solar thermal power systems; the latter can also hydroelectric periods, and solar output peaks during the summer,
produce heat for hot water or air, which are often referred as whereas wind power typically peaks in the winter. Solar can com-
the combined solar power and heat systems. plement fossil power sources as well. Eskom, a coal-dominated
·  Building-scale solar power systems, also known as distrib- power utility in South Africa with one of the lowest power costs in
uted power systems, which generate electricity locally for the the world, has identified large-scale solar power technologies as a
building, may be connected to the grid or may be stand-alone good intermediate load power source for its grid. Although some
systems that require batteries or other electricity storage units. renewable power technologies provide an intermittent energy sup-
They are primarily PV systems. ply, large-scale thermal electric solar technologies can provide
·  Solar heating systems for buildings, which are either used as dispatchable power through the integration of thermal energy stor-
hot water systems, or hot air heating systems. age. Thermal energy storage allows solar thermal energy collected
·  Solar high-temperature process heat systems for industrial during the day to be used to generate solar electricity to meet the
applications, which involve concentrated solar collectors and utility’s peak loads, whether during the summer afternoons or the
high-temperature furnaces for producing high-temperature winter evenings. Although solar energy is abundant and free, it is
heat for chemical processing of materials. a diffuse energy source, so the cost to harness (or harvest) it with
·  Other special solar heating systems for desalination plants and solar collectors can be significant. As a result, electricity generated
hydrogen production. from solar energy is currently more expensive than power from
conventional fossil-power plants. However, the Western Gover-
There are additional solar energy applications in either the appli- nors’ Association has determined that even at moderate levels of
ance category, or even much smaller scales such as solar cooking, deployment, large-scale solar power can potentially compete di-
solar lighting products, and instrument-level solar power sources rectly with conventional fossil generation [1].
2-  •  Chapter 2

There are two major types of systems. One is solar thermal power
generation systems, which can be further categorized by solar col-
lector geometric characteristics as trough and tower systems. The
other type is large-scale PV (LSPV) systems. In this section, we
first describe the main technical features of the systems, followed
by discussion to compare those two systems in terms of their per-
formance, cost structure and barriers to wide applications.

2.2.1 Solar Thermal Power Generation Systems

Solar thermal power generation technology generally refers to
a power generation system that involves collecting solar radiation
through concentrated collectors to an absorber surface, which will
heat a carrier fluid to a high temperature. Through a piping and
boiling system, the hot fluid will be able to generate steam to power
a turbine by means of a standard Rankine cycle. A generator con-
nected to the turbine will then generate electricity. In general, such
a system can be seen as similar to a coal-burning power plant except
that the equipment component for steam generation with coal com-
bustion is replaced by a solar heating system. Currently, two types
of major solar thermal power systems have been in commercial-
scale operation. One is parabolic trough (or trough in short) tech-
FIG. 2.2  PARABOLIC TROUGH SCHEMATIC [1]
nology, and the other is the tower configuration (Fig. 2.1). Parabolic
dish with Stirling engine is another technology that has not been
developed enough yet to be available for large-scale operation. under construction or in the early stages of operation in support
of solar portfolio standards in Nevada and Arizona and a solar
2.2.1.1  Parabolic Trough Solar Power Technology  Although tariff premium in Spain.
many solar technologies have been demonstrated, parabolic trough Parabolic trough power plants use concentrated sunlight, in
solar thermal electric power plant technology represents one of the place of fossil fuels, to provide the thermal energy required to
major renewable energy success stories of the last two decades. drive a conventional power plant. As shown in Figs. 2.1a and 2.2,
The main reason is that it has been recognized as one of the lowest- these plants use a large field of parabolic trough collectors, made
cost solar-electric power options available today and has signifi- of non-optical mirrors for low cost, which track the sun during
cant potential for further cost reduction. Nine parabolic trough the day and concentrate the solar radiation onto a receiver tube
plants, totaling over 350 megawatts (MW) of electric generation, located at the focus of the parabolic shaped mirrors. A heat transfer
have been in daily operation in the California Mojave Desert for fluid (HTF) passes through the receiver and is heated to tempera-
up to 18 years [2]. These plants provide enough solar electricity tures required to generate steam and drive a conventional Rankine
to meet the residential needs of a city with 350,000 people. They cycle steam power plant. The largest collection of parabolic sys-
have demonstrated excellent availabilities (near 100% avail- tems in the world is the Solar Energy Generating Systems (SEGSs)
ability during solar hours) and have reliably delivered power to I through IX plants in the Mojave Desert in southern California
help California meet its peak electric loads, especially during the [2]. The SEGS plants were built in the 1985 to 1991 time frame.
California energy crisis of 2000 to 2001. Several new parabolic Figure 2.3 shows one of five 30-MW SEGS plants in the Kramer
trough plants have been built or are currently under develop- Junction site, California. The largest of the SEGS plants, SEGS IX,
ment. Growing interest in green power and CO2-reducing power located at Harper Lake, is rated 80 MW. All of the SEGS plants are
technologies have helped to increase interest in this technology “h­ybrids,” using fossil fuel to supplement the solar output during
around the world. New parabolic trough plants are currently periods of low solar radiation. Each plant is allowed to generate

A B
FIG. 2.1  TWO TYPES OF SOLAR THERMAL SYSTEMS FOR POWER GENERATION: (A) PARABOLIC TROUGH AND
(B) POWER TOWER [1]
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  2-

power tower systems around the world that have been built or were
under construction during 2009-2010 with general confidence that
uncertainty in the cost, performance, and technical risk of this tech­
nology is decreasing. A 2004 predictive analysis [3] shows that,
assuming the technology improvements are limited to current
demonstrated or tested systems and a deployment of 2.6 GWe
of installed capacity by the year 2020, tower costs could drop to
approximately 5.5¢/kWh (see Fig. 2.4), or better than trough sys­
tems. However, the data to confirm this prediction has yet to come.
Owing to the limited studies for power tower systems, our discus-
sion therefore mainly focuses on parabolic trough systems of the
following.
There are several technical challenges for the solar thermal power
systems that have been recently investigated. The overall goal is to
reduce the plant cost:

·  air or water cooling for Rankine cycles

·  optical durability and high-temperature selective coating
·  optimal piping design
·  performance evaluation technique

Air Versus Water Condenser Cooling. Kelly [4] conducted a

comparison study between the air cooled Rankine system and wa-
ter cooled one. He selected an 80-MWe trough system located in
Barstow, California, for both cases but with different modes of heat
rejection. The first case has a dry-air cooled condenser, whereas
the second case uses a wet cooling tower. The system is modeled
using GateCycle software, developed by GE Energy [5].
Figure 2.5 is a GateCycle [5] flow diagram and shows the system
FIG. 2.3  SOLAR TROUGH FARM IN KRAMER JUNCTION, schematic of an 80-MWe Rankine cycle in which the heat gener-
CALIFORNIA [1] ated from the condensers is removed by the dry air flow. The main
consideration for this application is to utilize dry air in the areas
where supply water is limited, such as in the desert. The Rankine
25% of its energy annually using fossil fuel. With the use of the cycle design closely followed that developed by Fichtner for the
fossil h­ybrid capability, the SEGS plants, in Southern California 55-MWe AndaSol project in Spain. The cycle is a conventional,
Edison on peak hours, have exceeded 100% capacity factor for single reheat design with five closed and one open extraction
more than a decade, with greater than 85% from solar operation. feedwater heaters. The live steam pressure and temperature are
1,450 lbf/in2 and 703°F, respectively, and the reheat steam tem-
2.2.1.2  Power Tower Systems  consist of a field of thousands perature is 703°F. The independent parameters studied include
of sun-tracking mirrors which direct insolation to a receiver atop a dry-bulb ambient temperatures, preferred initial temperature dif-
tall tower (Figure 2.1b). A molten salt heat-transfer fluid is heated ference, which is defined as the temperature difference between
in the receiver and is piped to a ground based steam generator. the dry-bulb temperature and steam condensation temperature, and
The steam drives a steam turbine-generator to produce electricity.
Because trough and power tower systems collect heat to drive cen-
tral turbine generators, they are best suited for large-scale plants:
50 MW or larger [2]. Trough and tower plants, with their large
central turbine generators and balance of plant equipment, can take
advantage of economies of scale for cost reduction, as cost per
kilowatt goes down with increased size. Additionally, these plants
can make use of thermal storage or hybrid fossil systems to achieve
greater operating flexibility and dispatchability. This provides the
ability to produce electricity when needed by the utility system,
rather than only when sufficient solar insolation is available to pro-
duce electricity, for example, during short cloudy periods or after
sunset. This capability has significantly more value to the utility
and potentially allows the owner of the solar power plant to receive
additional credit, or payment, for the electric generating capacity
of the plant.
In the summer of 2009, the first and only commercial power
tower plant in North America, Sierra SunTower plant, started to Fig. 2.4  Energy cost analysis for trough and
operate and interconnected to the grid. It is a 5 MW, commercial tower technology conducted (S&L: Sargent &
facility located in Lancaster, California. There are several more Lundy LLC; Sunlab: DOE National labs) [3]
2-  •  Chapter 2

Fig. 2.5  Flow diagram for an 80 MWe Rankine cycle with dry heat rejection [4]

energy value in terms of dollar per mega watt hours electrical. The this case, in addition to the parameters discussed above for the dry
output parameters to be investigated are the power output, overall air heat rejection case, the sensitivity of relativity humidity is also
efficiency, and capital cost and net cost benefit. studied.
The second model uses the water cooling tower as a means for It was found that for the dry heat rejection case with the range
discharging the condenser heat. Figure 2.6 shows that cycle. In of initial temperature difference studied (24°F to 49°F), the gross

FIG. 2.6  FLOW DIAGRAM FOR AN 80 MWE RANKINE CYCLE WITH WET HEAT REJECTION [4]
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  2-

energy output always increases as the initial temperature differ- efficiency will be 13.4% for the wet heat rejection case compared
ence decreases, no matter what the ambient temperature is. In the with 12.8% to 12.9% for dry heat rejection. However, the wet heat
meantime, the fan energy consumed in the air cooler also increases rejection requires raw water usage that is 13 times higher than that
monotonically with the ambient temperature. As a result, the highest of the dry heat rejection scenario.
net output (gross minus fan energy) occurs with an initial tempera- Optical Durability. One of the challenges in expanding the ap-
ture difference of 29°F because the incremental increase in the fan plications of concentrating solar power (CSP) technologies for
power demand at 24°F compared with 29°F is higher than the in- trough configuration is to reduce the cost of reflector materials
cremental increase in gross output. For a typical bin distribution while maintaining their high specular reflectance for long life-
of the dry-bulb temperature in Barstow, California, the ambient times, even under severe outdoor environments. A target of cost
temperature that yields both the longest available annual hours and reduction of up to 50% with a lifetime of 10 to 30 years to the solar
highest net energy is 83°F, although lower ambient temperature concentrator has been determined by the US DOE’s Solar Program
and lower initial temperature difference give the highest power [6]. These goals may be achieved with lightweight front-surface
output, from the thermodynamic point of view. The effect of am- reflectors that include anti-soiling coatings. Kennedy et al [6] con-
bient temperature on the capital cost, on the other hand, shows ducted a study to identify new, cost-effective advanced reflector
a different trend. Because the air-cooled condenser heat transfer materials that are durable with weathering. The CSP official pro-
area increases inversely with the initial temperature difference, the gram goals were set as follows:
highest cost for condenser cost corresponds to the lowest initial
temperature difference. For a reference initial temperature differ- ·  90% into a 4-mrad half-cone angle
ence point set at the highest value studied, i.e., the lowest energy ·  greater than 10 years under outdoor service conditions
output point, D, an allowable incremental capital cost in dollars, is ·  large-volume manufacturing cost of less than $1/ft2 ($10.8/m2)
defined as follows:
$ The following more aggressive goals have been pursued in the
( Net incremental output, MWHe)( Energy value, ) research community:
=
D[$] MWHe
Fixed Charge rate
·  95% reflectivity
(2.1) ·  15- to 30-year lifetime
This leads to the conclusion that the difference between the ·  cost goal of $2.50/ft2 ($27/m2) for structural mirrors (e.g.,
above-defined allowable cost and actual incremental capital cost self-supporting mirrors)
yields an optimal cost benefit at an initial temperature difference ·  reflectors themselves (not self-supporting) at $1.44/ft2
in the range of 35°F to 40°F. It is also found that this value is rela- ($15.46/m2)
tively insensitive to the selling price of electricity.
For wet heat rejection, the modeling results show that the gross In their study, several mirror materials were tested using various
power output of the turbine is nearly invariant with the ambient UV-VIS-NIR spectrophotometers with wavelengths from 250 to
temperature (within less than 0.56%). However, the consumption 2500 nm, infrared (IR) spectrophotometer (2.5 to 50 μm) and spec-
of water in the cooling tower to make up the evaporation loss is ular reflectometer (7-, 15-, and 25-mrad cone angle at 660 nm).
a strong function of ambient temperature, increasing more than Accelerated exposure testing was done by employing Weather
twice when the ambient temperature increases from 40°F to 120°F. Ometers, solar simulators, UV lamps, heating chamber, and gas
The effect of relative humidity on the power plant output is not oven at high-temperature exposures. The study focuses on three
significant for desert areas studied and may not be neglected for materials that are close to the target criteria:
high-humidity regions.
Overall, the 80-MW system with wet heat rejection will yield (1) thick glass (see Fig. 2.7a): Flabeg 4- to 5-mm silvered,
a net energy generation that is 4% to 6% higher than that with slumped glass mirrors with proprietary multi-layer paint sys-
the dry air cooling tower. The resulting annual solar-to-electricity tem commercially deployed at nine California SEGS plants,

A B C
FIG. 2.7  CONFIGURATION OF THREE SOLAR REFLECTORS: (A) THICK GLASS, (B) THIN GLASS, AND (C) SILVERED
POLYMERS [6]
2-  •  Chapter 2

or Pilkington (UK) (4-mm) and “Spanish” (Cristaleria proposed multi-layer coating and successfully predicted, optically,
Espanola S.A — Saint-Gobain Spanish branch) glass mir- a coating with αa = 0.959 and εe = 0.061 m at 400°C composed of
rors (3 mm) with copper-free and lead-free paint for pos- materials stable at high temperature. Further modeling to the entire
sible use at Solar Tres heat-collection element (HCE: air/glass/anti-reflective (AR) coat-
(2) thin (1 mm) lightweight glass (Fig. 2.7b) made by wet- ing, vacuum, AR coating/solar-selective coating/stainless steel)
silvered, copper-free processes, painted with commercially structure will advance the design in this aspect.
lead-free paints Optimal Piping Design. A main part of solar power plant is the
(3) silvered polymer with laminated UV screening film to pro- solar steam system [9]. The main elements include the solar col-
vide outdoor durability commercially available from Re- lectors, control system, HTF piping system, HTF pump system,
flecTech and solar heat exchangers. The piping system consists of header
piping, valves, and fittings, and its cost can constitute up to 10%
It was found that all the above three commercially available of the total solar system cost. The piping system design also af-
types of materials (glass, ReflecTech, and Alanod mirrors) may fects performance. For example, the pumping power required to
meet the 10-year lifetime goals based on accelerated exposure test- circulate the HTF through the system is a significant contributor
ing. However, a real outdoor lifetime may not be reliably predicted to the plant parasitic power requirement. Furthermore, the piping
solely based on accelerated exposure testing. Currently, the com- heat loss reduces the useful heat delivered by the solar field to the
mercially available solar reflectors have been in outdoor real-time power plant. Therefore, it is very important to obtain a reasonably
exposure testing for less than 6 years, and their actual durability accurate estimate through an optimal design and analysis of the
needs to be further determined. piping system. Two useful design tools are an internal solar field
Kennedy and Price [7] further modeled a high-temperature se- piping model, SolPipe, developed by Flabeg Solar International
lective coating for improving the material properties and achieving (Cologne, Germany), and a model by NREL. Figure 2.8 shows an
high efficiency of parabolic trough collectors while reducing the example of such design [9].
cost of solar electricity. This may be achieved by increasing the The key design variables that will lead to the final design through
operating temperature above the current operating limits of 400ºC. optimization are piping diameter, number of loops, field configu-
Current coatings such as Mo-Al2O3 cermet solar coating (cermets ration, cold fluid and hot fluid temperatures, and collector field
are highly absorbing metal-dielectric composites consisting of fine power ratings. Header diameters will be determined through the
metal particles in a dielectric or ceramic matrix), or multi-layer optimization model based on the cost criteria. Table 2.1 compares
Al2O3-based cermet, do not have the stability and performance the feature of these two models.
necessary to move to higher operating temperatures. Therefore, In general, for the case of a 30-MW plant, similar to the SEGS
it was proposed to develop high-temperature solar-selective coat- VI solar plant, both NREL and SolPipe models satisfactorily com-
ings using multiple cermet layers by physical vapor deposition. A pare the cost results of the headers as a whole (NREL: $16.6/m2
model using Essential Macleod™ [8] was developed to design the versus SolPipe: $16.5/m2). The results, however, differ in header

FIG. 2.8  SECTIONAL PIPING (H) CONFIGURATION FOR A 30-MW SOLAR TROUGH SYSTEM [9]
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  2-

TABLE 2.1  COMPARISON BETWEEN SOLPIPE AND NREL MODELS [9]

Feature SolPipe NREL

Overall layout H (80MW) or (30MW) with loops; also straight Presently H and I configurations
no-loop layout
Pipe sizing Sized based on design velocity set by user Optimizes each piping section (defined as header
piping between loop connections). See below.
Pipe wall thickness Uses Sked 40 piping Wall thickness is no thicker than needed for required
pressure
Piping/fitting capital costs Table lookup from vendor data Table lookup from vendor data
Piping/fitting labor costs Table lookup from vendor data Base on Bechtel experience
Insulation costs Table lookup from vendor data Table lookup from Solar Two data based on both ID
and thickness of insulation
Pumping power cost Not used Calculated for typical year
Heat cost Not used Calculated for typical year
Optimization for pipe size Not done Per section pipe D assumed®model calculates wall
thickness, then capital costs. equiv. heat loss cost
equiv. pumping cost. Then increases D to next std
size and recalculates cost for comparison. Within
this process, thickness of insulation is optimized.
Expansion loops Based on SEGS design; between every 2 loops Same
Loops Design based on SEGS Same
Valves/fittings Specified Same
Calculation method Simple arithmetic within cells Uses macros
Input data Entered in Input worksheet Entered in Input worksheet

piping sizes, which result in differences in cost estimate and in- cylinder has an AR coating on both surfaces to reduce Fresnel re-
stallation labor hours as well as fitting and insulation costs. Those flective losses from the glass surfaces, thus maximizing the solar
differences are primarily due to understandable differences in the transmittance. Getters, which are metallic compounds designed to
model assumptions and configurations. For example, for the HTF absorb gas molecules, are installed in the vacuum space to absorb
pressure drop for solar team systems, the NREL code is more in- hydrogen and other gases that permeate into the vacuum annulus
clusive because it includes all elements of the system (i.e., header over time. The receivers include an evaporable barium getter that
piping, solar field loops, and solar heat exchangers), whereas Sol- is used to monitor the vacuum in the receiver. One issue is hydro-
Pipe has a less sophisticated pressure drop calculation. gen buildup in the vacuum owing to the substantial thermal decom-
Performance Evaluation Technique. It is important to measure position of the HTF. A special hydrogen removal (HR) membrane
the field performance of a SEGS after years of service in order made from a palladium alloy was attempted to remove excess hy-
to determine the extent of system degradation compared with the drogen from the vacuum annulus [11, 12]. The reliability problems
original design. Price et al [10] presented a technique that uses an proved that this design was not feasible [13].
IR camera to evaluate the in situ thermal performance of parabolic The IR camera methodology presented here provides a useful
trough receivers at operating solar power plants. Through an ana- technique for rapid evaluation of parabolic trough receivers in an
lytical model, it was shown that the glass temperature measured
with the IR camera correlates well with modeled thermal losses
from the receiver. The work presented the results of a field sur-
vey that used this technique to quickly sample a large number of
receivers to develop a better understanding of how both original
and replacement receivers are performing after up to 17 years of
operational service.
The key component to the system performance is the HCE, as
shown in Fig. 2.9. It consists of a stainless steel tube with a cermet
solar-selective absorber surface, which is surrounded by an AR
evacuated glass tube. The HCE incorporates conventional glass-
to-metal seals and metal bellows to achieve the necessary vacuum-
tight enclosure and also to ensure for thermal expansion difference
between the steel tubing and the glass envelope. The vacuum en-
closure serves primarily to significantly reduce heat losses. The
multi-layer cermet coating is sputtered onto the steel tube to result
in excellent selective optical properties with high solar absorptance
of direct beam solar radiation and a low thermal emittance at op-
erating temperature to reduce thermal re-radiation. The outer glass FIG. 2.9  HEAT COLLECTOR ELEMENT (HCE) [10]
2-  •  Chapter 2

FIG. 2.10  ANALYSIS OF IR TEMPERATURE DATA ACROSS THE HCE [10]

operating solar field. A large number of receivers can be evaluated ·  test, evaluate, and improve performance of dish/engine com-
in a short period with the IR camera as shown in Fig. 2.10 where ponents and systems; and
both the IR image and temperature profile are analyzed. Wind ve- ·  develop tools for industry to characterize their systems and
locity has a significant effect on glass temperature, therefore it is components.
important to do the measurements when there is very little wind.
The field-testing helped identify that hydrogen buildup appears to In 2009, the SNL development team, along with many indus-
be an issue in some receivers, but not others. The initial Luz cermet trial partners, continued to operate, maintain, and improve the
receivers with HR appear to be performing adequately without a Stirling Energy Systems six-dish model power plant, cataloging
noticeable buildup of hydrogen. However, a number of replacement more than 100 development areas. They developed a real-time
receivers without the HR show signs of elevated glass temperature mirror characterization prototype system for 100% inspection of
that is indicative of hydrogen buildup. The recent new designs that mirrors on assembly line, engine simulator for development of
increase the hydrogen capacity of the getters addressed this prob- modern engine control hardware and software. SNL and Infinia
lem. Additional receiver testing is being conducted in controlled together further conducted optical and systems design of a 3-kW
laboratory experiments on a new receiver thermal loss test stand free piston Stirling engine dish system, which is hermetically
at NREL. The testing will further explore the relationship between sealed and requires no maintenance. Figure 2.11 illustrates one
thermal losses and receiver glass envelope temperature as a func- of the comprehensively developed, tested and analyzed Stirling
tion of receiver type and gas composition in the annulus. A new Energy Systems. The system consists of the following main
non-destructive instrument has been developed [14] to identify gas components:
composition and pressures in the receiver vacuum annulus. Pre-
liminary test results on a number of receivers removed from the ·  optical mirror and structure assembly
solar field show that hydrogen is present in receivers that exhibit ·  sun ray tracking mechanism and controller
elevated glass temperatures. The findings could be used to develop ·  hydrogen storage unit
the correlation between the glass temperature and hydrogen level. ·  power conversion unit, which is further comprised of Stirling
engine, heat receiver, radiator with cooling fan, frame, and
2.2.1.3  Parabolic Dish and Stirling Engine Technology  Para­ control unit.
bolic dish systems use a dish-shaped arrangement of mirror facets
to focus energy onto a receiver at the focal point of the collector. A The development team has conducted a number of tasks such as:
working fluid such as hydrogen is heated in the receiver and drives a
turbine or Stirling engine. Most current dish applications use Stirling ·  mirror loading analysis
engine technology because of its high efficiency. The Sandia National ·  velocity profiling and wind load analysis using computational
Laboratories (SNL) of the US Department of Energy has been pur- fluid dynamics models
suing the aggressive deployment of 25-kW dish-Stirling systems for ·  dish alignment optimization modeling and validation
bulk power [15]. The immediate objectives of the development are to ·  test facility development
·  improve reliability and reduce cost of dish/engine compo- ·  design tool development and validation
nents and systems; ·  rigorous field testing
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  2-

A B

C
FIG. 2.11  ILLUSTRATION OF A DISH/STIRLING ENGINE SYSTEM: (A) WHOLE SYSTEM; (B) POWER CONVERSION UNIT
(PCU), AND (C) STIRLING ENGINE [16]

It was reported that, in 2007 [16], the test unit, shown in Fig. this issue. When deployed horizontally, the PV land area needed
2.11 (A) had been in operation for 100,000 on-sun hours, which to meet 100% of an average US citizen’s electricity demand is
is equivalent to 28 years of daily solar operation. The one shown about 100 m2. This requirement roughly doubles to about 200 m2
in Fig. 2.11 (B) was running for 161,000 on-sun or test cell hours, per person when using 1-axis tracking arrays. By comparison, golf
which is equivalent to 45 years of daily solar operation. The initial courses and airports each currently occupy about 35 m2 per person
success further advanced the continued federal funding for acceler-
ating the development. As of today, no commercially proved units
or systems are available for wide deployment yet.

2.2.2 Large-Scale Photovoltaic Systems

There has been a surge of installing large-scale flat panel PV
array systems for utility power productions in the United States
and globally during last 5 years. The capacity of a single plant has
reached as high as 60 MW in Spain. Fig. 2.12 shows the Wyandot
Solar Energy Facility, a 12.6 megawatt (DC) solar PV facility
located in Upper Sandusky, Ohio. Starting power production in
May 2010, the system has 159,200 ground-mounted, thin-film solar
panels on a 77-acre plot of land, the largest solar project in Ohio.
Projects of similar size have been completed or are under construc-
tion in California, Florida, Nevada, Illinois, and other states.
Large-scale ground based PV systems face a fundamental ques- FIG. 2.12  WYANDOT SOLAR FACILITY IN UPPER SAN-
tion of land-use impacts. Denholm and Margolis [18] investigated DUSKY, OHIO, USA (COURTESY OF JUWI SOLAR, INC [17])
2-10  •  Chapter 2

in the United States, whereas land used to grow corn for ethanol which will be discussed in a later section, or in large arrays of
production exceeds 200 m2 per person, although this land is con- several hundred or thousand units to produce power on a utility
centrated in a fairly small number of states. They also pointed out scale. Dish and CPV systems have the potential advantage of mass
another factor of disrupting local ecosystems. Deploying tightly production of individual units, similar to the mass production of
packed PV arrays would create the most disruption but would re- automobiles or wind turbines, yet they can be integrated to a utility
quire the least amount of land area. In contrast, the use of pole- scale solar power plant.
mounted 2-axis arrays would require significantly more land but The key technology challenges for increasing the efficiency of
could be substantially less disruptive. Although the land-use re- CPV systems are optical elements and cell development. Spectro-
quirements for wide-scale deployment of PV are modest when lab, Inc., has developed since 2007 metamorphic multi-junction
considering both the large area of rooftop availability and when solar cells up to 40.7% efficiency and lattice-matched 3-junction
compared with other uses of land in the United States, additional terrestrial cells with 40.1% efficiency. These efforts were partially
studies are needed to better understand the potential opportunities supported by the High-Performance Photovoltaics program through
and impacts of PV on land use. For example, a more comprehen- DOE NREL [19]. The efficiency also benefits from high-band-gap,
sive estimate of rooftop availability is needed on a national ba- disordered GaInP top cells and wide-band-gap tunnel junctions un-
sis for both residential and commercial buildings. Actual shading der the terrestrial solar spectrum at high concentration.
impacts of ground based PV arrays are also important. Actual eco- Under a contract by US Department of Energy, SolFocus, Inc.,
system impacts of LSPV deployment need to be investigated to has developed a 1.6-MW system using the technology illustrated in
arrive at solutions of growing shade-tolerant native and beneficial Fig. 2.13. It possesses the following characteristics:
species under LSPV arrays. This also includes evaluation of best
practices to minimize the use of herbicides and other chemicals ·  optical efficiency: 74%
and the use of installation and maintenance techniques to provide ·  power unit efficiency: 27.0%
minimum impacts to the environment. ·  module efficiency: 25.3%
One of the alternative solutions to provide LSPV power genera- ·  acceptance angle: greater than 1 deg.
tion systems is using concentrated Photovoltaic (CPV) systems, ·  cell temperature: 50.8°C to 53.9°C
which have a higher energy conversion efficiency than flat panels — ·  module degradation: 1.2% per Kelvin
currently 40% [19] with potential up to 50 %. If deployed on a
large scale, they will require less land to produce the same amount The system uses primary and secondary mirrors (Fig. 2.13a) and
of energy. Although no proven commercial scale applications have optical rods to focus the sun’s rays to highly efficient multi-junction
been installed, the commercialization of this technology has been PV cells. Two examples of high-efficiency PV cell architectures are
accelerated. shown in Fig. 2.14, resulting in a high-efficiency inverted metamor-
Concentrated Photovoltaic systems use either parabolic dish phic 3-junction cell structure [21]. The combined mirrors, rod, and
mirror systems or a large array of flat Fresnel lenses to focus en- cells form a power unit, 20 of which are integrated into one panel.
ergy on PV cells. Unlike the dish and Stirling system, which is a Twenty-eight such panels are then mounted and combined on a dual-
solar thermal power system, in the dish and CPV systems, the solar axis tracking support as shown in Fig. 2.13 (b). Eventually, such a
PV cells generate direct current electricity, which is converted to system will could be scaled up to a utility scale capacity.
alternating current (AC) using a solid state inverter. Dish and CPV The target of this development is to provide an operational rate
systems are modular in nature, with single units producing power of greater than 3 MW with module manufacturing cost of less than
in the range of 10 to 35 kW. Thus, dish and CPV systems could $5/W. The developed automated assembly line was validated by a
be used for either distributed or remote generation applications, third party to have exceeded the cost target and was expanded to

A B
FIG. 2.13  SCHEMATIC OF CONCENTRATED PHOTOVOLTAIC (CPV) ARRAYS: (A) POWER UNIT, AND (B) 20-UNIT PANEL
AND 28-PANEL TRACKER ON A SINGLE POLE [20]
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  2-11

power output. They are categorized as undispatchable sources

compared with the conventional electricity generation used in the
United States. The variability of those sources has led to concerns
regarding the reliability of an electric grid if it derives a large frac-
tion of its energy from renewable energy (and variable) generation
into the electric grid. Denholm et al [22] investigated the impact of
those uncertainties. In their report, three classes of energy storage
were defined in Table 2.2.
The first two categories in Table 2.2 correspond to a range of
ramping and ancillary services, but do not typically require con-
tinuous discharge for extended periods of time for conventional
electricity. In the case of renewable energy-driven applications,
this could require discharge time up to an hour to allow fast-start
thermal generators to come online in response to forecast errors.
Bridging power typically refers to the ability of a storage device
to “bridge” the gap from one energy source to another. The third
category (energy management) corresponds to energy flexibility,
A B or the ability to shift bulk energy over periods of several hours or
more. Figure 2.15 illustrates a range of available energy storage
FIG. 2.14  SCHEMATIC OF 3-JUNCTION GaInP/Ga(In)As/ technologies used for both conventional and renewable energies,
GaInAs CELLS USING TRANSPARENT METAMORPHIC excluding the thermal energy storage applications. It can be seen
(MM) GRADED BUFFER LAYER, AND AN INVERTED MM that pumped storage hydro has the highest capacity and longest
GaInAs SUBCELL 3: (A) WITH GROWTH ON BOTH SIDES discharge time, and Nickel-cadmium has the least capacity and a
OF A GaAs SUBSTRATE AND (B) WITH GROWTH ON ONE relatively short discharge time. Double-layer capacitors have the
SIDE OF A GaAs OR Ge SUBSTRATE, FOLLOWED BY SUB- shortest discharge time suitable for power quality management. In
STRATE REMOVAL [21] general, bridging the gap in types of energy storage classes are
the ones suitable for renewable energy systems. However, when
the time comes for renewable energy systems to be of a signifi-
other manufacturing partners. The projected manufacturing capac- cant fraction of the overall electricity portfolio, the conventional
ity is to have a 100 MW capacity in 2010 [20]. power plants can serve as a backup system to the variable genera-
tion (VG) system in addition to the energy storage systems of each
2.2.2.1 Energy Storage Issues  Unlike in solar thermal power renewable energy plant.
systems where the harvested solar thermal energy can be stored in The technical and economic limits to how much of a system’s
molten salt or other media and produce steam to run turbine and energy can be provided by renewable energy are based on at least
generate electricity during nights or cloudy days, neither the dish- two factors: coincidence of VG supply and demand and the abil-
Stirling nor CPV systems use storage or hybrid fossil capabilities to ity to reduce output from conventional generators. There is no
provide a firm resource, although CPV systems could, in principle, simple answer, primarily because the availability and cost of grid
make use of battery energy storage. However, present battery stor- flexibility options are not well understood and vary by region.
age technology is comparatively inefficient and cost-ineffective. Although it is clear that high penetration of VG increases the
A grid-tie back feed capability has to be in place in order to make need for all flexibility options including storage, historically,
economic sense in the short run. More discussion is given in storage has been difficult to sell to the market. Both high costs
Section 2.2.3 on this topic. and its services that it provides face challenges in quantifying the
value of those services. The value of energy storage is best cap-
2.2.3 Energy Storage With Renewable Electricity tured when selling to the entire grid, instead of any single source.
Generation Therefore, evaluating the role of storage with renewable energy
In general, renewable energy sources such as PV and wind requires continued analysis, improved data, and new evaluation
energy have variable and uncertain (also referred to as intermittent) techniques.

TABLE 2.2  THREE CLASSES OF ENERGY STORAGE

Common name Example applications Discharge time Technologies (Fig. 2.15)

required
Power quality Transient stability, fre- Seconds to minutes Flywheels, capacitors, and superconducting magnetic
quency regulation energy storage (SMES)
Bridging power Contingency reserves, Minutes to ~1 hr Lead-acid, nickel-cadmium, nickel-metal hydride, and (more
ramping recently) lithium-ion
Energy management Load leveling, firm ca- Hours High-energy batteries (sodium-sulfur, sodium-nickel chloride
pacity, T&D deferral — ZEBRA, vanadium redox, zinc-bromine, polysulfide-bro-
mine), pumped hydro storage (PHS), compressed air energy
storage (CAES), and thermal energy storage (TES)
2-12  •  Chapter 2

FIG. 2.15  INSTALLED ENERGY STORAGE CAPACITIES AS OF NOVEMBER 2008 [22]

2.2.4 Comparisons ·  development of improved parabolic trough concentrators,

Among all the large-scale solar power systems, parabolic trough ·  reduction of solar field pumping parasites, and
systems and power tower systems have been proved to be best ·  development of a thermal energy storage technology for para-
suited for large-scale plants of 50 MW or larger. Trough and tower bolic trough plants.
plants, with their large central turbine generators and balance of
plant equipment, can take advantage of economies of scale for cost Although parabolic trough technology is the least-cost solar
reduction, as cost per kilowatt goes down with increased size. Ad- power option available today, it is still more expensive than power
ditionally, these plants can make use of thermal storage or hybrid from conventional fossil-fueled power plants. Recent increases
fossil systems to achieve greater operating flexibility and dispatch- in the price of natural gas have helped reduce the gap between
ability, accounting for situations in which sufficient solar insola- parabolic trough solar electricity and fossil energy in the United
tion is unavailable. Large-scale flat panel PV array systems for States.
utility power productions are also widely used because they are
easy to scale up or down. When tied to the electric grids, they pro- 2.2.6 Cost Reduction Potential
vide flexible, variable power generation options. However, their At current fossil energy prices ($5 to $7/MMBtu), large-scale
costs are much higher compared with parabolic trough systems. central solar generation must achieve costs in the range of $0.08
Concentrating PV systems and parabolic dish systems with Stirling to $0.10/kWh (nominal) to directly compete with fossil power al-
engine technology have relatively high efficiency. Dish and CPV ternatives. The Western Governors’ Association has shown that a
systems are modular in nature, and a single unit could produce significant reduction in the cost of energy is possible for parabolic
power in the range of 10 to 35 kW. They could be used for either trough solar power. Major cost reductions are possible through the
distributed or remote generation applications, or in large arrays of following efforts:
several hundred or thousand units for a utility scale application.
They also have the potential advantage of mass production of in- ·  plant scale-up: increasing the size of plants to 200 MW or
dividual units. larger
The largest group of solar systems in the world is the SEGSs I ·  development of advanced technologies: improved thermal
through IX parabolic trough plants in the Mojave Desert in south- storage, concentrator, and receiver designs
ern California, built between 1985 and 1991 and have a total ca- ·  learning curve: cost reductions through plant deployments.
pacity of 354 MW. These plants have generally performed well
over their 15 to 20 years of operation. There are no operating com- 2.2.7 Combined Solar Power and Heat System
mercial power tower or dish-Stirling power plants, although some For all the solar thermal power systems, there always are sub-
commercial purchase agreements have been in place to pursue systems that can be integrated to recover heat at various stages.
those options [1]. They not only produce additional hot water or air for heating but
also improve the overall plant efficiencies.
2.2.5 Reducing the Cost of Parabolic Trough Solar
Power
Parabolic trough technology has continued to advance in recent 2.3 Distributed Photovoltaic
years as a result of research and development efforts by the op- Systems for Buildings
erators of the existing trough plants, the parabolic trough industry,
and government-sponsored laboratories around the world. Key ad- Buildings have a significant impact on energy consumption.
vances during the last 10 years include Annually, buildings account for 40% of the energy consumption
of the world. Energy efficient design and quality construction can
·  reduction in operation and maintenance costs, drive the cost of powering a home down by more than 50%. But
·  development of improved trough receivers, to become zero energy buildings, i.e., where the net annual elec-
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  2-13

take DC electricity and convert it to AC for powering typical

household appliances as shown in Fig. 2.17. Residential PV sys-
tems can be connected to the electric utility distribution grid, so
power can be sold to the utility when on-site power generation
is more than demand. These grid-connected PV systems are the
most common and simplest PV systems installed in houses. Un-
less a home is being built on a site more than half a mile away
from any electric utility, or there is a very specific regular need
for battery backup, the Department of Energy [24] recommends
grid-tied systems. Essentially, grid-tied systems use the grid as
a battery. Facilities that offer emergency services during disas-
C ters are good candidates for battery backup systems. Candidates
A B
would include clinics, fire stations, police departments, and dis-
FIG. 2.16  THREE TYPES OF SOLAR CELLS: (A) MONO- patch facilities.
CRYSTALLINE SILICON, (B) POLY-CRYSTALLINE SILICON, During electricity conversion from DC to AC heat generation
AND (C) THIN FILMS MADE FROM A VARIETY OF MATE­ will be occurred. This heat should be dissipated in some way. In-
RIALS (Source: Wikipedia, Solar Cell) verters can be installed inside or outside the house, but indoor in-
stallation is more common, and the location of the inverter should
tricity consumption from utility is zero, homes must incorporate be close to the main electrical panel.
some type of on-site energy generation. Photovoltaic systems, as
the only available solar electricity production technologies for 2.3.1.3 Disconnects  All homes need one main disconnect.
buildings, are reasonably developed to the extent that numer- National Electrical Code [25] requires that each piece of PV equip-
ous companies warranty their building integrated solar products ment have disconnect switches in addition to the main feeder dis-
for 20 to 25 years. Most of recent building solar energy system connect, allowing service providers to disconnect the equipment
manufacturers combine reliability, functionality, and aesthetics from all sources of power. Some inverters have incorporated a
to remain in the solar market competition. Photovoltaic shingles disconnect switch into a box attached to the inverter. Disconnects
and slates are examples of these modern products. Some PV may be circuit breakers or switches. The number of disconnects in
companies provide ongoing Web-based monitoring of PV elec- grid-tied systems changes with the system’s complexity. In a sim-
tric output, notifying consumers if problems arise, to make the ple system, there would be disconnects on both sides of the inverter.
system highly reliable. In more complex systems, there may be disconnect switches for
There is an enormous potential for basing solar energy on build- each string of arrays, sub-array disconnects, main PV disconnects
ings. Today, there is enough residential and commercial rooftop for each inverter, sub-panel and AC disconnects. If there are multi-
space to site more than 500 GW of PV capacity, equivalent to plac- ple inverters, they must be combined in a dedicated sub-panel that
ing 4-kW PV systems on more than 125 million homes [23]. Cur- feeds one AC disconnect and a main feed AC disconnect.
rent US electric capacity is about 1000 GW. A PV power system
mainly consists of a few essential elements: PV panels with solar 2.3.1.4 Aesthetic Efforts  Manufacturers have produced PVs
cells, inverters, and disconnects. that can be installed in some roofing systems to make them closely
invisible. Some PVs look like a part of the roof rain-shedding sys-
2.3.1 System Components tem. Some PV systems are mounted very near the roof, parallel to
it, making them resemble skylights. Thin film PVs can be adhered
2.3.1.1 Cells and Panels  The majority of PV panels available directly to the flat part of raised seam metal roofs without changing
in the market right now fall into three categories depending on the the roof profile.
materials and manufacturing methods of the cells, the element de-
vice that converts the energy of sunlight directly into electricity by 2.3.1.5  Performance Measures  There are numerous efforts
the PV effect: cells made from a mono-crystalline silicon wafer, to measure the performance of PV systems in buildings. Measure-
poly-crystalline PV cells laminated to backing material in a mod- ment procedures are often inconsistent with each other. The Per-
ule, and thin films (Fig. 2.16). formance Metric Project [26] conducted by NREL is an attempt
to resolve differences among the various approaches in building
2.3.1.2 Inverters  Photovoltaics produce direct current (DC) performance monitoring. The project has determined which per-
electricity in the same way as batteries. Inverters, which can formance metrics have the greatest importance in building audit-
be called the most complex parts of a residential PV system, ing. Other NREL-conducted research [27] expands on previous

FIG. 2.17  SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM OF A TYPICAL RESIDENTIAL PV SYSTEM [24]

2-14  •  Chapter 2

FIG. 2.18  ENERGY FLOW DIAGRAMS FOR PV SYSTEMS IN BUILDINGS [27]

works in performance evaluation of grid-tied PV systems by deter- 2.3.1.6 Ongoing Developments for Thin Films  Developed
mining proper long-term energy performance metrics and provid- in 1954, thin-film solar cells have increasingly become a major
ing a standard procedure for measuring and characterizing them. market force in the PV industry, although still having a relatively
The procedure may be used to evaluate the power supplied to small market share compared with crystalline silicon modules. A
a building’s electrical system from a grid-tied PV system and thin-film PV cell is a solar cell made by depositing one or more
the implications for the building’s energy use. Figure 2.18 de- thin layers of PV material on a substrate. The thickness range of
picts the energy flow diagram and shows the highest level met- such a layer is wide and varies from a few nanometers to tens of
rics determined in the procedure. Table 2.3 shows all possible micrometers. Three main types of thin film solar cells are amor-
performance metrics in a grid-tied PV system. Based on project phous silicon (a-Si), cadmium telluride (CdTe), and copper indium
goals and the questions that should be answered by performance gallium diselenide (CIGS). Other types include dye-sensitized and
measuring, performance metrics will be selected. A simpler level organic cells.
of analysis called tier 1 yields monthly and annual results for the a-Si solar cells are fabricated on substrates such as low-cost soda
system, mostly based on utility meter readings and building and lime glass, stainless steel, and polyimide. The plasma-enhanced
PV system drawings. Tier 2 provides small time interval (i.e., 15 chemical vapor deposition is used for the deposition process. The
minutes) results, in addition to monthly and annual results based typical superstrate structure is p-i-n (intrinsic semiconductor region
on a data acquisition system with sub-metering. A flow chart rep- between a p-type semiconductor and an n-type semiconductor re-
resenting the grid-tied PV system performance measuring proce- gion) on glass or substrate structure of n-i-p (intrinsic semiconductor
dure is shown in Fig 2.19. region between an n-type semiconductor and a p-type semiconduc-

TABLE 2.3  HIGH-LEVEL AND RELATED METRICS [27]

High-level metrics Related metrics

Net PV system production Total PV system production
PV system standby use
Equivalent daily hours of peak rated PV production
Equivalent annual hours of peak rated PV production
Total incident solar radiation
PV system AC electricity generation effectiveness
PV system performance ratio
Maximum time-series net PV production
Average daily time-series PV production profiles
Total facility energy use Total facility electricity use
Peak demand of total facility electricity use without PV system
Facility electricity costs without PV system
Net facility energy use Facility’s electrical load offset by PV production
Facility’s total load met by PV production
Total electricity delivered to utility
Peak demand of net facility electricity use
Reduction of peak demand resulting from the PV system
Facility electricity costs
Energy cost savings accruing from PV system
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  2-15

processes have demonstrated prototype power modules, namely,

I. Project Definition
close-space sublimation, electrodeposition, spray, screen print-
ing, and vapor transport deposition [28]. Recent developments
A. Identify project goals.
B. List specific questions to be answered. are under way to produce CdTe solar modules with increased cell
C. Determine boundaries of the site to be analyzed. efficiency (laboratory efficiencies of 16.5% for thin-film CdTe
D. Select tier 1 or tier 2 analysis. solar cell has been demonstrated by NREL scientists [29]), stan­
E. Specify desired accuracy of results. dardization of equipment for deposition of the absorber layer,
F. Develop estimated budget for performance analysis. back-contact stability, reduction of absorber layer thickness to
G. Identify period of analysis. less than 1 μm, and controlled film and junction uniformity over
H. Gather basic site and PV system data. a large area [28].
I. Obtain pre-existing performance data. Thin-film copper indium selenide (CIS) is a direct band-gap
semiconductor and has a band-gap of ~0.95 eV. When gallium
(Ga) is added to CIS, the band-gap increases to ~1.2 eV, depend-
II. Measurement System Design ing on the amount of Ga added to the CIGS film. This material
has demonstrated the highest total-area conversion efficiency for
A. Select performance metrics to be measured. any thin-film solar cells. Some of the major developments for CIS
B. Identify data required for each metric. modules are undertaken to increase the CIGS solar cell efficiency
C. Specify physical location of each measurement. to scale up the laboratory range of 19.3% to 19.9%, prevent mois-
D. Specify frequency of each measurement. ture ingress for flexible CIGS modules, decrease absorber layers
E. Specify measurement equipment. to less than 1 μm, and investigate CIGS absorber film stoichiom-
F. Determine feasibility of measurements.
etry [28].
G. Estimate cost of DAS equipment and operation.
H. Calculate uncertainty of measurements.
Furthermore, developing approaches for using transparent wide
I. Resolve cost, uncertainty, and practicality with band-gap in CIGS and alloyed CdTe to increase the cell efficiency
expectations (steps I.E and I.F). up to 25% is also one of the ongoing research topics [30]. For
CIGS’s case, the relative Ga/In and S/Se compositions play the
key role in changing the thin film band-gap. CIGS thin films can
III. Data Collection and Analysis be prepared by thermal co-evaporation under different uniform and
sequential processes to elucidate the film formation and composi-
A. Validate data for quality control. tion control. For CdtTe solar cells, improving cell performance by
B. Assemble data for the period of analysis. controlling chemistry and materials processing during film depo-
C. Calculate monthly metrics. sition, post-deposition treatments, and contact formation has the
D. Calculate annual metrics. main focus.

2.3.2 Roof-Mounted BIPV Systems

IV. Reporting Results
2.3.2.1 Cement Tile Systems  This type of roof mounted sys-
FIG. 2.19  GRID-TIED PV SYSTEM PERFORMANCE MEA­ tem is the most common type of Building Integrated Photovolta-
SURING PROCEDURE [27] ics (BIPV) system. In this system, some cement tiles are replaced
by PV panels that are sized and mounted with the same overall
dimensions (Fig. 2.20). Usually, PV panels are lighter than the ce-
tor region) on foil with a transparent conducting oxide as a top con- ment tiles they replace; therefore, structural assessments to add any
tact and Al along with ZnO as the bottom contact [28]. To enhance supporting structure should be conducted before installing PVs.
the short circuit current, the ZnO/Al serves as a back reflector. In Photovoltaic panels follow the contour of the roof in exactly the
this way, the short-circuit current may increase by approximately
15%. With recent developments in tandem devices, the performance
of ZnO/Ag or ZnO/Ag/Al has been quite reliable for stable back
contacts. There is a great effort worldwide to introduce tandem de-
vices using a-Si as the top cell and microcrystalline absorbers as the
bottom cells. Some of the major challenges to produce a-Si solar
cells are [28] to increase the a-Si solar cell efficiency (a 12% to
13% range has been demonstrated for small-area laboratory solar
cells now), reduce the light-induced changes in the devices, develop
higher deposition rates for the microcrystalline bottom cell without
compromising on the opto-electronic properties of the a-Si tandem
devices, which could potentially have negative effect on the solar
cell performance, and ultimately reduce the manufacturing cost.
Thin-film CdTe solar cells with a perfect match with the solar
spectrum are one of the most promising thin-film PV devices.
Theoretical efficiencies for these devices are about 26%. Sev-
eral deposition processes have been developed for the growth of
the absorber layer. Most of deposition processes results in 10%
or higher efficiency for thin film CdTe solar cell. Five of these FIG. 2.20  CEMENT TILE SYSTEMS [24]
2-16  •  Chapter 2

Mono- or poly-crystalline PV can also be set between sheets of

glass to create a dappled effect, blocking the majority of sunlight
to make electricity, but allowing shaded light through. This reduces
solar gain to the interior of the building while producing electricity.
Ground-mounted PV systems may be applicable for buildings
with large land holdings mostly located in rural areas. Commonly,
solar ground-mounted systems involve steel or aluminum frames
attached to a concrete foundation. The lower edge of ground-
mounted arrays should be high enough to clear vegetation and ac-
cumulated dirt or snow.
Either crystalline or thin-film PV technologies can be utilized in
these systems. In cold climates of northerly latitudes, sun-tracking
systems are used to maximize the solar energy harvest of ground
mounted arrays. It is only worth installing trackers in regions with
mostly direct sunlight. In diffuse light, tracking has no noticeable
effect on solar gain by PV panels. Ground-mounted PV systems
are more suitable with respect to rooftop systems for high-wind re-
gions. Some areas have restrictions on installing ground-mounted
PV systems for aesthetic or agricultural reasons.

2.3.4 Integration Issue

Because solar energy is not available all the time, the continu-
FIG. 2.21  THIN-FILM PV LAMINATE FOR STANDING SEAM ous usage of electricity by buildings requires power to be drawn
METAL ROOFS [24] from either an energy storage facility charged by the building solar
energy system during the production period or from the conven-
same way as the cement tiles. Since PV tiles are replacing roofing tional electricity grid. Energy storage such as battery banks is ex-
materials, they should be compliant with local and national roofing pensive and inefficient unless they are used in remote areas where
regulations. Electrical connections are made between each tile. In the utility grid is not available. The best solution is for PV systems
some cases, a single module will replace a set of three or four tiles, to have an interconnection with the grid, a scheme of net energy
reducing the number of connections. metering that allows a PV system to export excess electricity to the
utility and import it back when needed. Most electric utilities in
2.3.2.2 Thin-Film PV Laminate for Standing Seam Metal the United States have adopted regulations and guidelines to help
Roofs  These types of BIVPs are common and easy to install with design PV systems that operate in parallel with the utility systems.
no additional structural support required. Solar laminate PV is In residential applications, because each of the distributed systems
installed on metal raised seam roofs between the seams as shown usually has a very small capacity such as less than 5 KW, the im-
in Fig. 2.21. It is directly attached with glue during installation pact of back feed due to net metering to the grid is negligible. For
of the roof without replacing the metal on the roof. The roof commercial-scale applications, the impact could be significant.
ridge, as an easily accessible place for maintenance, is used for Coddington et al (2009) [31] investigated four investor-owned
electrical wiring and connections. Since they have no glass com- utilities in the United States that operate secondary network dis-
ponents, they have higher durability than other types of BIPVs. tribution systems and that have allowed PV systems to be inter-
Thin-film PV laminates are approximately half as efficient as the connected to those networks. Six PV systems in four cities were
mono- or multi-crystalline modules, but also currently cost about examined with their capacities ranging from 17 to 676 KW. Sev-
half as much. eral approaches were adopted by the utilities. There are two types
of electric distribution systems: radial and secondary network dis-
2.3.2.3  Shingle Systems  Photovoltaics can replace shingles in tribution system. In the radial system, which comprises more than
two ways. In the first method, shingled roofs take advantage of thin- 90% of the distribution system in North America, single feeders
film PV. This lightweight plastic replacement for shingles comes serve single transformers, each of which serves multiple electricity
in relatively long strips to replace courses of asphalt shingles and consumers. In other words, the radial system contains no closed
reduce the number of electrical connections. In the second method loop. In contrast, the secondary network distribution system (or
roof, shingles powered by solar energy — PV shingles — serve more simply, network) uses multiple feeders that serve multiple
to replace ordinary shingles. Electrical lead wires extend from the transformers, which in turn serve multiple electricity consumers. It
underside of each shingle and pass through the roof deck, allow- means the consumer is simultaneously served from more than one
ing interior roof space connections. The sun’s heat helps bond the primary feeder, which increases reliability of the system. Therefore,
shingles together, forming a weather-resistant seal. customers served from a network system will not experience an
outage if any of the network feeders are interrupted. Alternatively,
2.3.3 Non-Roof-Mounted Systems customers served from radial systems will experience outages
South-facing walls have the potential to generate electricity using when the radial feeder is interrupted. For this reason, networks are
BIPVs. They can be covered in PV vertically or can be slanted to act as preferred electrical distribution systems for areas with high-load
PV and window shading at the same time. A filtered window or filtered concentrations such as high-rise commercial buildings, to provide
skylight can be made by setting thin-film PV between two sheets of excellent service reliability.
tempered glass. This type of PVs may cost the owner three times more Networks incorporate an important design feature at each net-
than regular PVs, but can make a powerful architectural impact. work transformer called “network protectors” (NPs), which ensure
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  2-17

FIG. 2.22  SIMPLIFIED ELECTRICAL DIAGRAM FOR THE MOSCONE CENTER PV SYSTEM [31]

reliability and continuous operation if one or more feeders are lost the loads within the island are not within the direct control of the
due to a device failure or if the utility must conduct maintenance power system operator [32].
activities. The normal direction of the current flow on network The accepted interconnection of the PV system on the secondary
feeders is from the utility toward the loads. An NP is installed network happens when it is ensured that the electricity produced
on the low-voltage side of each network transformer and detects by the PV system is not fed back toward the utility system. The
current flow direction. If the direction of the current flow reverses general recommendations are to minimize, reduce, or eliminate the
during a short-circuit condition on the high-voltage side of one possibility of back feed from the PV system through the NPs [31].
of the network transformers, NP detects this reversal and inter- As more and more commercially installed distributed PV systems
rupts the current from flowing back toward the utility system by increases, it will be imperative to have a comprehensive solution
opening its contacts. This design prevents undesired current flow for seamless integration of distributed solar power systems with
and allows the network to maintain uninterrupted service to util- the utility grid. Recent research and development in smart grid
ity customers. technology have been emphasized to address this issue.
Figure 2.22 shows an example of such system for the Moscone
Center PV System investigated by Coddington et al [31]. That ex-
ample system generates approximately only 3.18% of the energy
for the entire building uses in the course of a year. Because the
minimum daytime load is typically much greater than the PV sys-
tem generation capability, there is no chance of any power flowing
out toward the utility system. This is the case for almost all the
cases studied in [31]. However, perceivably a commercial scale
PV system may produce a flow-back current when its electricity
generation is higher than customer demand. In these cases, back-
flow current actuates the corresponding NP and may cause the
device to open unnecessarily. In addition, the NP is designed to
re-close for a pre-defined forward flow condition, and it is possible
to have a setting where the NP might try to re-close out of synch
on an islanded distributed generation. Islanding is a condition in
which a portion of the utility system that contains both load and FIG. 2.23  KILOWATT-HOURS GENERATED PER INSTALLED
distributed resources remains energized while isolated from the re- KWAC FOR SINGLE-AXIS TRACKED FLAT-PLATE, CON-
mainder of the utility system. Distributed resource islanding is an CENTRATOR, AND FIXED ROOFTOP SYSTEMS SITED IN
islanding condition in which the distributed resource(s) supplying ARIZONA [33]
2-18  •  Chapter 2

systems for buildings do not generate electricity. These systems

employ the heating potential of the sun to heat water or air to be
used for domestic consumption, pool heating, or space condition-
ing. Solar water heating systems for domestic consumption or pool
heating are well-established technologies, whereas space condi-
tioning with solar heated water or air is not yet mature enough for
building applications.

2.4.1 Solar Water Heating Systems

Solar water heating accounts for 11.7% of the energy used in the
FIG. 2.24  COMPARISON OF FLAT-PLATE ROOFTOP AND
US residential sector [34]. It is a well-developed, highly effective,
FIELD SYSTEM COSTS AND AVERAGE ANNUAL PRODUC-
and environmentally friendly technology. Key functions of solar
TION FOR RECENT INSTALLATIONS IN ARIZONA [33]
water heating systems are collecting solar heat and protecting the
system against freezing. Different anti-freezing mechanisms affect
2.3.5  arge- and Small-Scale PV Systems
L the total heating system and its components. First, solar collectors
Comparison with water heating application will be discussed. Systems will be
The cost per watt of installing and operating distributed PV sys- analyzed in the next section.
tems is higher than the costs of similar utility systems because of the
economics of scale. In the case of a new, large building where the 2.4.1.1 Collectors  Solar collectors for buildings have been
builder might choose to integrate and install PV systems at the time of available in the market for over a century and have been greatly
construction installation, costs may be low, but, in general, there are developed and enhanced in these years. Improved materials and
added costs associated with rooftop systems; especially for retrofits, modern testing and commissioning significantly raise efficiency,
there can be permit, architectural, structural, and electrical issues. durability, and reliability of solar collectors and the whole thermal
On the other hand, distributed systems avoid transmission losses system as well.
through delivering power where it is needed, and residential and There are three types of solar collectors for building water heat-
commercial systems can be financed along with the rest of a build- ing: flat-plate collector, evacuated tube collector, and batch heater.
ing. Results of an NREL-conducted research [33] show that the in- Flat-Plate Collector (Glazed or Unglazed). This collector is
stallation and operation of PV systems for buildings may cost more the most common solar collector for use in solar water heating. A
than twice the installation and operation cost in utility approaches glazed flat-plate collector is typically 2 in. or 3 in. thick and consists
with the same capacity. Figures 2.23 and 2.24 illustrate a comparison basically of an insulated metal box with a glass or plastic cover (the
of rooftop and field PV systems. Concentrating PV has often been glazing) and a dark-colored absorber. It resembles a skylight when
presented as a lower-cost approach to utility scale power and could it is installed on the roof. The glazing reduces heat loss and traps
be a major player in this market as discussed in earlier sections. heat inside the collector. Absorber coating plays a significant role
The kilowatt rating in Fig. 2.23 was determined from the DC elec- in energy efficiency of the collector. Selective coatings like black
tricity generated at 1000 W/m2 for flat-plate or 850 W/m2 for con- chrome, black nickel, and aluminum oxide with nickel enable the
centrator systems. The AC rating was assumed to be 85% of the DC conversion of a high proportion of solar radiation into heat. Flat-
STC rating. There are several reasons for lower performance of fixed plate collectors heat the circulating fluid to a temperature notice-
rooftop systems with respect to CPV systems. In most rooftop sys- ably less than that of the boiling temperature of water and are best
tems, PV panels are installed in a horizontal configuration that is not suited to applications where the demand temperature is 86°F to
an optimal position for year-round sunlight. The efficiency of a solar 158°F (30°C to 70°C).
cell decreases by increasing its temperature. If the temperature of the Evacuated Tube Collector. An evacuated-tube collector con-
panel increases because of poor ventilation from close contact with tains several rows of glass tubes interconnected with a manifold,
the roof, performance of the panel is negatively affected. In practical along the top of the collector. Each tube is evacuated to eliminate
cases, panels may be shaded by a nearby building or tree. heat loss through convection. Inside the glass tube, a flat or curved
In Fig. 2.24 relative costs, kWh electricity output per installed selective coated aluminum or copper fin is attached to a metal pipe.
kWac and kilowatt-hour electricity output per dollar spent have
been compared for rooftop and field PV systems. In this analysis,
tracked PV systems represent utility scale solar systems. Results
show that the field PV systems generated nearly twice as many
kWh per dollar spent, compared with the rooftop PV systems.
Therefore, given a fixed budget, the field approach results in higher
electricity generation in comparison to retail approach. This also
implies that public support for utility market incentives would
yield a higher rate of return for the investment.

2.4  olar Thermal Systems for

S
Buildings
Solar thermal systems are among the most cost-effective renew-
able energy options that have a great potential for use in build- FIG. 2.25  SCHEMATIC FLUID FLOW IN THE HEAT PIPE
ing energy systems. In contrast with PV systems, solar thermal EVACUATED TUBE COLLECTOR
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  2-19

2.4.1.2  Systems  There are four fundamental terms that help

categorizing solar water heating systems: Active and passive
systems, and direct and indirect systems. Active systems employ
pumps to move fluid through pipes in contracts to passive systems
that use warm fluid buoyancy and gravity for fluid circulation. In
direct heating systems, potable water is the HTF; but in indirect
systems, an independent piping system and heat exchangers isolate
HTF from potable water.
Whether the system is active or passive, direct or indirect, solar
heating system components may be combined in different ways to
achieve efficient water heating. All non-obsolete combinations are
as follows:
Batch Heater (or ICS) Passive Direct System. Since the tank
and collector are combined in ICS, potable water is the HTF in
this system. Plumbing system pressure helps to fill the tank with
cold water when the hot water is consumed. The system shows the
best performance if water is consumed during late afternoon and
evening. When the heat transfer direction changes from hot water
to the ambient, a check valve should be considered to avoid reverse
thermosiphoning. Reverse thermosiphoning may be stopped by the
pipe run’s arrangements.
Thermosiphon Passive Systems. Thermosiphon systems are also
known as convection heat storage units. No pumps are used to en-
FIG. 2.26  BATCH HEATER (Source: US Department
force circulation. The unit relies on natural convection and gravity
of Energy)
to transfer the fluid between the collector and the tank. The tank
is located in a higher level than the collector to permit thermosi-
phoning. Both direct and indirect mechanisms can be applied on
The heat-carrying fluid circulates through this metal pipe. Evacu- thermosiphon passive systems (Fig 2.27). Some direct units use
ated tube collectors can provide higher temperatures in comparison collectors with built-in tanks. In these prepackaged units, the tank
to flat-plate collectors. There are three types of evacuated tube solar is mostly mounted on the roof. In other units, tanks are located
collectors for buildings: direct flow, heat pipe, and thermosiphon in the attic spaces above the collectors. Direct systems are not
evacuated tube solar collectors. (Thermosiphoning is the upward recommended in climates with severe freezing. Indirect systems
motion of heated fluid by natural convection.) A direct-flow evacu- are equipped with heat exchangers within their tanks and may use
ated tube collector has two pipes that run down and back, inside non-freezing fluids for freeze protection. However, water pipes
the tube. One pipe is for inlet fluid, and the other is for outlet fluid. and tanks containing water must be in conditioned spaces in cold
In this type, collector tubes are not easily replaced, and all of the climates. Stagnant conditions, which can lead to overheating fluid,
fluid could be pumped out if a tube breaks. A heat pipe collector should be considered in warmer regions.
employs a fluid in the metal pipe that has a low boiling point and Drainback Active Indirect System. Drainback systems use water
is resistant to freezing. Because of the vacuum, the liquid boils at as the HTF most of the time; however, a mix of water and propyl-
a lower temperature than it would at atmospheric pressure. The ene glycol has been also recommended. The collector and pipes
vapor rises to the top of the pipe. Heat-carrying fluid flows through are discharged when temperature falls near the freezing point. To
the manifold and absorbs the heat. The fluid in the heat pipe con- avoid overheating, these systems also drain back when the water
denses and flows back down to the tube. Fig 2.25 demonstrates temperature is near a pre-specified high temperature. High temper-
the schematic fluid flow in the heat pipe evacuated tube collector. atures occur during warm and low-demand days. No electric valve
Thermosiphon evacuated tube solar collectors are preferred where is used in this system. Therefore, there is no concern of decreasing
temperatures are not likely to drop into the freezing zone. They use the system capacity during a power outage. A schematic of a drain-
an integrated tank and work passively with heated liquid from the back active indirect system is illustrated in Fig 2.28(a).
evacuated tubes rising into the tank. With the tank included in the Controller-Based Active Direct Systems. Controller-based
system, water flow is controlled by the household water pressure. mechanisms can be applied only to active systems that use a pump
Water pumps, expansion tanks, and electronics are reduced in this to circulate water between the storage tank and collectors. These
system, which makes the system very economical. Thermosiphon systems operate only when a pump is on. A differential pump con-
evacuated tube collectors will be described in more detail in the troller directs system operation. The controller detects the temper-
Systems section. ature of the solar collector as well as that of the storage tank. The
Batch Heater: Batch heaters are also known as integrated collec- controller turns the pump on whenever the collector is hotter than
tor storages (ICSs). The solar collector, combined with the storage the stored water (by 4°F to 8°F). These differential temperatures
tank in the batch heater, is shown in Fig. 2.26. This is the cheapest are pre-set by the installer in accordance with the specific charac-
and oldest solar water heating system, which one can trace back to teristics of the installation. Another approach is to use a PV module
the late 1800s. In the batch heater, water pressure in the plumbing to power a DC pump. When the sun shines, the pump runs. In this
system pushes the water through the pipes and the tank. This system system, check valves are needed to stop reverse thermosiphoning
should not be used where there is a chance of freezing. A 40-gallon and freeze prevention valves are used to protect the system against
batch heater can place more than 500 lb on the roof, which should freezing like many other solar heating systems. However, direct
be considered in the structural design of the building’s roof. systems are never recommended for climates with severe freezing
2-20  •  Chapter 2

A B
FIG. 2.27  SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM OF A THERMOSIPHON PASSIVE SYSTEM: (A) DIRECT SYSTEM AND (B) INDIRECT
SYSTEM [24]

conditions. A schematic of a controller based active direct system shunt load to the system, which can be an outdoor radiator or a bur-
is illustrated in Fig 2.28(b). ied un-insulated pipe. Glycol must be changed every 10 to 15 years.
Pressurized Glycol Active Indirect System. A non-toxic glycol
or a mix of the glycol with water is used as the HTF in pressurized 2.4.1.3 Freezing Issue  In northern regions where freezing days
glycol systems. They are suitable for regions with temperatures occur, different anti-freezing mechanisms are employed, which
below the freezing point of water during some periods of the year. has a major effect on the system’s components and connections.
Glycol is circulated in the system using a pump that may be pow- There are five methods for preventing freezing in the solar water
ered by a PV module. Because these systems are pressurized, fill heating system: draindown, drainback, water flow, freeze preven-
and drain valves must be incorporated to add or change the col- tion valves, and pressurized glycol. In the draindown system, when
lector fluid. As depicted in Fig 2.29, an expansion tank is needed the collector inlet temperature falls to a pre-specified temperature,
to absorb excess glycol pressure caused by thermal expansion as a draindown valve isolates the collector inlet and outlet from the
glycol is heated. Since glycol is used as the heat transfer medium, tank. At the same time, it opens a valve that allows water in the
a heat exchanger is needed to transfer solar heat absorbed by glycol collector to drain away. This method is no longer in use and is not
to the water. Stagnant conditions should be controlled by adding a certified by the Solar Rating and Certification Corporation. In the

A B
FIG. 2.28  SCHEMATIC OF (A) A DRAINBACK ACTIVE INDIRECT SYSTEM AND (B) CONTROLLER-BASED ACTIVE DIRECT
SYSTEM [24]
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  2-21

and high capital costs are main reasons for keeping them as aux-
iliary heaters. One of the most advantageous solutions is using a
solar system that serves both water and partial space heating pur-
poses. There are passive and active methods to employ solar heat
for space heating. Active solar space heating systems take advan-
tage of the same solar collectors as solar water heating systems.
The only difference is their high demand for collector and storage
capacity, which makes them complex and expensive.

2.4.2.2  Passive Systems  In solar passive space heating sys-

tems, the sun’s heat is transferred to the building through design
features such as large sun-facing windows and thermal mass in
walls and floors, to absorb heat during the day and release it dur-
ing the night. Passive systems may have direct gain, indirect gain
or isolated gain designs. Direct gain refers to the heat gained by a
building element like tile or concrete through direct solar radia-
tion. Indirect gain refers to the heat gained by the building through
an intermediate medium such as the walls or roof. Isolated gain
refers to the heat gained by an area that is not a primary living area.
A sunroom attached to a house that absorbs some heat from the
warmer air flowing to the primary living area can be a good exam-
ple of isolated gain in passive solar system design.
FIG. 2.29  PRESSURIZED GLYCOL ACTIVE INDIRECT
SYSTEM [24]
2.4.2.3 Active Systems  There are three different approaches in
active solar space heating:
Direct Air-Space Heating. Direct air-space heating is the sim-
drainback system, fluid that drains from the solar collector is col- plest solar space heating system. An air-based solar collector that
lected in a drainback tank, which is located in a conditioned space. employs air as the HTF is used in this system. Air is drawn by a
In the water flow method, water is circulated through the collec- fan into the air-based collector, and the heated air directly goes to
tor by a pump with a freeze switch. This method needs electricity the building. A simple controller activates the fan when air tem-
to work. Therefore, it is unreliable when there is a power outage. perature in the collector is higher than that in the house. Direct
Freeze prevention valves allow water to drain out of collectors air-space heating systems should be controlled properly to avoid
when the weather is cold. Pressurized glycol systems are more overheating. In some systems, air enters a storage medium such
complex than other systems. They use a mix of a non-toxic glycol as rock in order to stabilize the supply temperature. In other cases,
(usually propylene or ethylene glycol) and water as working fluid. this system is used as a pre-heating system for ventilation air in
commercial buildings. A special type of air-based collector called
2.4.1.4 Further Development  Use of polymer material for con- a perforated plate collector is commonly used for air pre-heating
structing solar water heating systems has recently drawn the atten- purposes (Fig. 2.30).
tion of some experts. A noticeable manufacturing cost and weight Solar-Powered Radiators. Radiators can be fed by liquid-based
reduction may be maintained by using polymers instead of glass, solar collector systems. Collectors in this system are exactly the
copper, and steel in the collectors and the piping. There are some same as water heating collectors that comprise flat-plate and evac-
challenges to overcome in order to ensure the successful use of uated tube solar collectors. Baseboards and other radiators need
polymers in solar water heater systems: the thermal conductance of high volumes of water at temperatures around 150°F (65°C). Solar
polymers is much lower than that of metals, which results in lower systems cannot provide that, unless they use over-large collector
efficiency. The polymer industry is developing new high-conductance arrays and storage systems. For this reason, a boiler must be added
polymer materials manufactured with chemical additives. The du- to the system. In this combined system, the solar part works as a
rability of some polymers under intense sun exposure is uncertain. pre-heating system for the boiler to reduce its oil or gas.
Additional UV-resistant coatings may help the durability issue of Solar-Powered Radiant Floors. Radiant floor systems require
polymers. Non-accelerated experiments in the future may provide a temperatures around 100°F (38°C), which are easily achievable by
better picture of the durability of polymer solar heating systems. The using solar collectors. Therefore, solar-powered radiant floors can
use of plastic heat exchangers, thin-film plastic absorbers and glaz- operate as stand-alone heating systems. Radiant floor heating sys-
ings, plastic collectors, and plastic storage vessels are high on the tems are compatible with solar hot water systems. These systems
research agenda of some laboratories. If results from the field experi- are expensive in comparison to solar-powered radiators. Evacuated
ments of these systems are promising, the work will be continued tube collectors are suitable for cold climates, and flat-plate collec-
toward final product development and manufacturing. tors can operate in mild climates. Modern radiant floor systems
use a lightweight durable cross-linked polyethylene network called
2.4.2  olar Heating and Cooling for Air-
S PEX. Some manufacturers present packages integrating various
Conditioning Systems components.

2.4.2.1  Space Heating  Solar space heating systems are usu- 2.4.2.4  Solar Absorption Technology  Solar absorption is a
ally employed as auxiliary space heaters, especially in residential space cooling system that demands high temperatures. Therefore,
buildings. Technical limitations, weather condition requirements, evacuated tube and concentrating type collectors are suitable for
2-22  •  Chapter 2

connected, either in series, or in parallel, to the solar absorption

system. The series configuration allows use of solar heat even if
the fluid temperature in the storage tank is not high enough to
drive the cooling system. On the other hand, in the parallel con-
figuration, the fluid in the storage tank may be heated up by the
auxiliary sources.
For optimum operation of the system, using a double-hot-storage
tank system as illustrated at Fig. 2.32 is highly recommended. In
this system, one of the tanks (tank b in Fig. 2.32) provides heat-
carrying fluid at about 10°C to 15°C lower than the other one.
When the temperature of the fluid reaches the value of the lower
temperature storage, the pump is activated with valves Va1 and Va2
open. If it exceeds a pre-specified value, the pump stops for a few
minutes. If the collector temperature goes over the hotter tank set
point during this period, the pump is reactivated with valves Vb1
and Vb2 open. If not, the operation starts again with the colder tank
recovering the load of the system.
To have long continuous working periods, using a cold storage
is necessary. In addition, using a cold storage reduces the required
chiller capacity to meet the peak load. The load can be in series
with the chiller and the cold storage or in parallel. The series ar-
rangement is not recommended as the cold storage, and the chiller
cannot maintain the load independently. The parallel arrangement
is a good alternative that provides three different options for the
FIG. 2.30  A PERFORATED SOLAR COLLECTOR (Source: US system to supplement the load: by the cold storage, directly by the
Department of Energy) chiller, and indirectly by the chiller through cooling the storage
only. The double-cold-storage tank configuration as depicted in
Figure 2.33 is recommended to avoid stratification in the cold stor-
this purpose. A schematic diagram of a solar absorption cooling age. Only a couple of degrees temperature gradient in the cold stor-
system is illustrated in Fig. 2.31. Solar absorption systems, which age can already adversely affect the COP of the system. Chilled
are used for space cooling, are relatively low-capacity chillers. water is taken from tank b and returned to tank a. The tank b level
These low-capacity chillers are often single-effect water lithium is changed by the flow rate of the two pumps. At close flow rates of
bromide, driven by hot water. Solar absorption systems can usu- the pumps, the fluid level in tank b remains stable.
ally provide 30% to 60% cooling load of the building and are
usually equipped with an auxiliary heat source and a storage unit. 2.4.2.5  PV/Thermal Hybrid Systems  A significant amount of
Since solar absorption is an expensive technology, it is best to research and development work on the PV/thermal hybrid technol-
use a solar system that serves more than just the cooling needs of ogy has been carried out since 1970. Chow [37] recently published
a house to maximize the return on the investment and not leave a review outlining theoretical models of the technology and their
the system idle when cooling is not required. Water heating and/ validation. The integrated design of both PV and thermal fluid
or space heating can be provided with the same equipment used channels such as those shown in Fig. 2.34 allows the harvesting
for the solar cooling system. Different arrangements of solar col- of heat from a PV panel that is otherwise lost to the ambient; thus
lectors, absorption chillers, storage unit, and the load result in maximizing utilization of the total surface area and increasing the
different system performance [35]. The auxiliary source can be overall energy conversion efficiency. Despite significant devel-
opment efforts, however, its commercial applications have been
limited [37].

FIG. 2.31  SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM OF A SOLAR ABSORP- FIG. 2.32  SCHEMATIC OF A DOUBLE-HOT-STORAGE TANK
TION COOLING SYSTEM [36] SYSTEM FOR SOLAR ABSORPTION COOLING
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  2-23

processes require heating at a lower temperature range such as be-

tween 80°C and 250°C. Therefore, all the following solar collector
types could be the candidates for supplying the process heat [40]:

·  advanced flat-plate collectors

·  evacuated tube collectors
·  compound parabolic concentrator (CPC) collectors
·  parabolic trough collectors
·  linear concentrating Fresnel collectors
·  concentrating collectors with stationary reflector

2.5.1 Advanced Flat-Plate Collectors

Advanced flat-plate collectors for process heat are based on
those widely used in building hot water solar systems. In order to
achieve a temperature higher than 80°C, it is necessary to reduce
FiG. 2.33  CONFIGURATION FOR DOUBLE-COLD-STORAGE
the collector heat losses mainly on the front side of the collector,
TANK SYSTEM
but without sacrificing too much of the optical performance at the
same time. The improvements include hermetically sealed collectors
2.5  olar Process Heat for
S with inert gas fillings, double covered flat-plate collectors, vacuum
Manufacturing Applications flat-plate collectors, and combinations of the above mentioned. For
example, if the standard glass in the collector is replaced by AR
The industrial sector of US economy consumes a significant glass, it has been experimentally confirmed that the efficiency of a
amount of energy, particularly in manufacturing processes. The 2-AR collector is more than 33% better than a standard collection,
primary metals industry is one of the most energy-intensive in the as illustrated in Figure 2.36.
manufacturing sector [38]. Throughout evolution of manufacturing
technology, heating through combustion is the dominant, tradition- 2.5.2 Evacuated Tubes
ally economical mode of delivering the required energy. It naturally Evacuated tubes have been used for years in the main markets
contributes to tremendous climate-changing gas emissions. During globally [41]. Because of the increasing quantity of vacuum,
the past decades, investigations have shown that solar energy might currently vacuum tube collectors have been a standard compo-
provide an alternative solution to the high-temperature heat re- nent of solar thermal systems working at higher temperatures.
quirement. However, the main reason for the investigation still lies The main advantage is that they can also be used with less col-
on economic and process requirements. For example, the replace- lector area compared with a standard flat-plate collector. In the
ment of electrolysis or electrothermal processes with direct reduc- direct-flow vacuum collectors, the stagnation temperature can
tion processes for aluminum production using high-temperature reach 300°C; however, owing to the limit of working fluid, such
solar process heat may well be economical, especially when the
costs of CO emission are included in the analysis. In particular,
aluminum production by carbothermal reduction is a very high-
temperature, energy-intensive process. The temperature required
for the process is in the range of 2300 to 2500 K and therefore
is too high for practical process heat addition from combustion
sources alone. Only electric-arc furnaces or highly-concentrated
solar reactors are capable of supplying process heat at these high
temperatures. The unique opportunities for such industrial imple-
mentation of solar process heat may make possible a direct thermal
route from the ore to metal. One of the in-depth investigations of
such scenarios was presented by Murray [38]. Aluminum Com-
pany of America (Alcoa) demonstrated the following direct reduc-
tion process:

                   3SiO2 + 9C ® 3SiC + 6CO 1500–1600°C (2.2)

  2Al2O3 + 3C ® Al4O4C + 2CO 1600–1900°C (2.3)
Al4O4C + 3SiC ® 4Al + 3Si + 4CO 1950°C to 2200°C (2.4)

This process makes the solar-thermal processes a good candidate

to achieve the desired temperature. Figure 2.35 illustrates the solar
process heat system that could be used for such an application [39].
Although the investigation focuses on the complexity of the
manufacturing processes, not on the solar heat system itself, it
points out the great potential of solar thermal systems to be an al-
ternative energy for process heat applications.
The solar process heat for direct aluminum production may be FIG. 2.34  LONGITUDINAL CROSS-SECTIONS OF COMMON
an extreme case in terms of temperature range. Many industrial PVT/A COLLECTOR DESIGNS [37]
2-24  •  Chapter 2

FIG. 2.35  ENGINEER’S VIEW OF A SOLAR POWER FOR ALUMINUM PROCESSING [39]

as glycol, in a region where winter conditions could be below between the lower temperature solar application field of flat-plate
freezing, the maximum temperature has to be kept at less than collectors (T < 80°C) to the much higher-temperature applications
170°C [42]. field of focusing concentrators (T > 200°C).
As shown in Fig. 2.37, an ideal CPC concentrator can concen-
2.5.3 Compound Parabolic Concentrator Collectors trate isotropic radiation incident on an aperture “a” within a solid
Compound parabolic concentrator collectors use a CPC to con- angle Q, with the normal to this aperture without losses. The
centrate solar radiation on an absorber. Because they are not focus- minimal possible aperture “b” on to which the radiation can be
ing (non-imaging), they are a natural candidate to bridge the gap delivered is shown in Figure 2.37. A full CPC can achieve the
maximum concentration Cmax within the angle Q, where Cmax =
1/sin(Q). In practice, cost reduction often yields a design of CPC
with truncated configuration to eliminate the upper part of the

A B
FIG. 2.37  APERTURE OF A CPC CONCENTRATOR: (A)
FLAT ABSORBER PARALLEL TO THE FLAT ENTRANCE
FIG. 2.36  EFFICIENCY CURVES OF A SINGLE-, DOUBLE-, APERTURE A AND (B) ACCEPTANCE ANGLE AS A FUNC-
OR TRIPLE-GLAZED AR COLLECTOR [40] TION OF HALF ACCEPTANCE ANGLE Q[40]
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  2-25

FIG. 2.38  SCHEMATIC OF A LINER CONCENTRATING FRESNEL COLLECTOR [40]

mirrors. Developments have been undertaken since 1970 to achieve and absorption chiller applications, respectively. The operation
a high temperature between 150°C and 200°C. The most recent temperature range is 100°C to 400°C [41].
one utilized evacuated tubes with CPC reflectors.
2.5.6 Concentrating Collectors With Stationary
2.5.4 Parabolic Trough Concentrators Reflector (CCStaR)
Parabolic trough concentrators as discussed in Section 2.2 can Concentrating collectors with stationary reflector (CCStaR) is
be scaled to meet the requirements of process heat in industrial also referred as a fixed-mirror solar collector [43, 44]. The fixed
applications. For example, to achieve a required temperature of reflector can be linear mirrors like Fresnel geometry (Fig. 2.39)
100°C to 130°C, a parabolic trough system can generate steam or a smooth parabolic segment. The key requirement to reach the
either in a direct (loop) or indirect (through a heat exchanger) mode. highest possible efficiency for CCStaR is for the receiver to rotate
The steam can then be distributed through the process plant. and form an angle to the aperture.
Theoretically, it is possible to reach concentrations of 40 to 50
2.5.5 Linear Concentrating Fresnel Collectors suns. The capability of these collection systems to concentrate
Linear concentrating Fresnel collectors are based on the simple solar energy is described in terms of their mean flux concentration
geometric configuration shown in Fig. 2.38. It consists of an array ratio C̃ over a targeted area A at the focal plane, normalized with
of uniaxially tracked mirror strips to reflect sunlight onto a station- respect to the incident normal beam insolation I,
ary thermal receiver. In addition to their relatively simple construc-
tion, linear concentrating Fresnel collectors have low-wind loads. Q
C� = solar
The stationary receiver can easily be integrated with a high-ground IA
application such as covered parking lots.
Similar to parabolic trough systems, linear Fresnel collectors where Qsolar is the solar power intercepted by a collector surface.
can be scaled down from large-scale power generation applications C̃ is often expressed in units of “suns” when normalized to I = 1
to a thermal capacity of 50 kW to several megawatts for industrial kW/m2. The solar flux concentration ratio typically obtained is at
process heat applications. Commercially, there are several demon- the level of 100, 1000, and 10,000 suns for trough, tower, and dish
stration projects in Germany and Italy for industrial process heat systems, respectively.

FIG. 2.39  BASIC CONFIGURATION OF A CCSTAR [44]: (A) ROTATING RECEIVER AND (B) DEFINITION OF THE SOLID
ANGLE, Q
2-26  •  Chapter 2

The averaged optical efficiency in this range of concentration seawater desalination [45]. A pump running on electricity is re-
ratios falls to about 60%. Therefore, the current development rests quired to provide the pressure difference.
on a more realistic target of 15 suns with the working tempera- Photovoltaic-powered RO is widely viewed as one of the most
ture range between 80°C and 140°C. This technology will serve promising forms of renewable-energy-powered desalination, espe-
as a good candidate for the food industry for pasteurizing, boiling cially used in remote areas. Small-scale PV-RO has received much
and sterilizing and textile industry for bleaching and dyeing. Other attention in recent years, and numerous demonstration systems have
process applications could be found in chemical industry and ab- been built. Two types of PV-RO systems are available in the mar-
sorption refrigeration systems. Again, only a handful of govern- ket: brackish-water and seawater PV-RO systems. Different mem-
mental and industrial demonstration projects have been established branes are used for brackish water, and much higher recovery ratios
for CCStaR systems, and wide commercialization of this applica- are possible, which makes energy recovery less critical [46].
tion has yet to be realized. The ED process uses electromotive force applied to elec-
trodes adjacent to both sides of a membrane to separate dissolved
minerals in water. The separation of minerals occurs in an indi-
2.6 Other Solar Energy vidual membrane called a cell pair, which consists of an anion
Applications transfer membrane, cation transfer membrane, and two spacers.
The complete assembly of the cell pairs and electrode is called
2.6.1 Photovoltaic-Driven Desalination Systems a membrane stack (Fig. 2.41). Electrodialysis reversal (EDR) is
The electricity produced from PV systems can be used for a similar process, except that the cations and anions reverse to
desalination applications by running pumps in either reverse routinely alternate the current flow. In design applications, the
osmosis (RO) or electrodialysis (ED) desalination units. In RO polarity is reversed four times per hour, which creates a clean-
applications, AC is required for the pumps; therefore, a DC/AC ing mechanism and decreases the scaling and fouling potential of
inverter has to be installed. In contrast, ED uses DC for the elec- the membrane. Electrodialysis and EDR are best used in treating
trodes at the cell stack, and hence, it can use the energy supplied brackish water with TDS of up to 5000 ppm and are not economi-
from the PV panels directly with some minor power condition- cal for higher concentrations. A DC voltage difference is required
ing. For sustained operation, the system requires energy storage to provide the potential to the separation process occurring across
capacity. the membrane.
Reverse osmosis is a physical process that occurs under the os- Electrodialysis using conventional power has been used in
motic pressure difference between salt water and pure water. In commercial applications since 1954, more than 10 years before
this process, a pressure greater than the osmotic pressure is ap- RO. Production of potable water seems mostly the focus of this
plied on salt water (feedwater), and clean water passes through the type of systems. Because of its modular structure, ED can be
synthetic membrane pores separated from the salt. A concentrated available in a variety of dimensions with capacities from small
salt solution is retained for disposal (Fig. 2.40). The RO process is (<2 m3/day) to large (145,000 m3/day). In the United States, ED
effective for removing total dissolved solid (TDS) concentrations systems have 31% of the total installed capacity. In Europe and
of up to 50,000 parts per million (ppm), which can be applied for the Middle East, ED has 15% and 23% of the total installed ca-
both brackish-water (1500 to 10,000 ppm) and seawater (33,000 pacity, respectively. The EDR process was developed in the early
to 45,000 ppm). It is currently the most widely used process for 1970s. Today, the process is used in 1100 installations world-

FIG. 2.40  SCHEMATIC OF A PV-RO SYSTEM [45]

 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  2-27

FIG. 2.41  SCHEMATIC OF A PV-ED SYSTEM [45]

wide. The installed PV-ED units are only of small capacity and 2.6.3  olar Chemical Reactors for Hydrogen
S
are mainly used in remote areas. In general, desalination systems Production
that incorporate renewable energy resources are still far from There have been significant investigations in the literature during
achieving their full potential. the last decade to investigate the method of hydrogen production
using solar energy. Three basic pathways have been utilized for pro-
2.6.2 Other PV-Driven Applications ducing hydrogen with solar energy: electrochemical, photochemical,
During the last decade, the continuous decline in manufactur- and thermochemical [49-51]. The thermochemical process is based
ing costs for PV has rapidly increased the pace of development in on the use of concentrated solar radiation as the energy source of
the variety of applications. Examples include solar powered cars high-temperature process heat for driving an endothermic chemical
[47] and boats [48]. However, the commercial applications of such transformation. Large-scale concentration of solar energy is mainly
products still have a long way to go until achieving market-ready based on three optical configurations using parabolic reflectors,
status. Of course, solar-powered space exploration vehicles, satel- namely, trough, tower, and dish systems [51]. As discussed above,
lites, space stations, and instruments have been in applications for the capability of these collection systems to concentrate solar energy
a long time, which are not part of the discussion in this chapter. is described in terms of their mean flux concentration in units of

FIG. 2.42  FIVE THERMOCHEMICAL ROUTES FOR SOLAR HYDROGEN PRODUCTION [50]
2-28  •  Chapter 2

There are other types of reactor designs such as the two-cavity

type for ZnO carbothermal reduction where the inner cavity acts as
the solar absorber and the outer one as the reaction chamber, and
the vortex type that can be used for the combined ZnO reduction
and CH4 reforming [54]. Those solar hydrogen production systems
have been assessed for the economics [55-57]. The assessments
indicate that the solar thermochemical production of hydrogen can
be competitive with the electrolysis of water using solar-generated
electricity and, under certain conditions, might become competi-
tive with conventional fossil-fuel based processes at current fuel
prices, even before the application of credit for CO2 mitigation and
pollution avoidance. The weaknesses identified from these eco-
nomic evaluations are primarily related to the uncertainties in the
viable efficiencies and investment costs of the various components
owing to their early stage of development and their economy of
scale. It was recognized that further development and large-scale
demonstration are needed.

FIG. 2.43  SCHEMATIC OF THE “ROTATING-CAVITY” S­OLAR

REACTOR CONCEPT FOR THE THERMAL DISSOCIATION 2.7 summary
OF ZnO TO Zn AND O2 AT 2300 K [50]
In this chapter, a number of commercial applications of solar en-
ergy are presented. By far, PV-driven applications are dominant in
the present markets in terms of annual productions of cells, panels,
“suns.” Higher concentration ratios correspond to lower heat losses and systems and the number of installations in buildings and other
from smaller areas and, consequently, higher attainable tempera- applications. The impacts of distributed PV and thermal systems
tures at the receiver. Solar thermochemical applications, although are tremendous simply because of the sheer volume of applications.
not as far developed as solar thermal electricity generation, employ While solar hot water systems are relatively less expensive, the chal-
the same solar concentrating technologies [51]. lenge to significantly bring down the cost of PV systems to compete
In Fig. 2.42, five thermochemical routes for solar hydrogen pro- against the conventional fossil fuel-based electricity requires both
duction are depicted. The chemical source of H2 is water for the technological breakthroughs and non-technical measures.
solar thermolysis and the solar thermochemical cycles, fossil fuels From the most active perspective of emerging applications, large-
for the solar cracking, and a combination of fossil fuels and H2O for scale solar thermal power plants have been gaining momentum
the solar reforming and solar gasification. All of those routes involve in both governmental and private investments and developments.
endothermic reactions that can make use of concentrated solar radia- This is mainly because of the potential economical benefits of such
tion as the energy source of high-temperature process heat [52]. systems among the renewable energy portfolios at the utility scale.
No matter which route is taken, the reactors designed for the Recent acceleration in project implementation and increase in
processes basically consist of an irradiation receiver and a reaction funding opportunities from various governments indicate a global
chamber with a feeder of fuel (H2O or fossil fuels). Figure 2.43 expansion in this field.
shows one type of solar reactor, the rotating-cavity solar reactor, The development in solar process heat technology has been rel-
which is used for thermal dissociation of ZnO to Zn and O2 based atively slow. The motivations for further development will most
on the following reaction: likely rely on new methods or requirements in material processing
or manufacturing processes, which could be achieved only by us-
1 ing solar energy. Also, regulations that account for the economic
First step (solar): ZnO ® Zn + O2 (2.5)
2 values of environmental impacts may speed up the adoption of so-
Second step (non-solar): Zn + H2O ® ZnO + H2 (2.6) lar energy systems for process heat requirements as an alternative.
As one of the special solar process heat options, systems that
As shown in Fig. 2.43, the reactor consists of a rotating conical produce hydrogen using solar energy have been attracting much at-
cavity-receiver (1), which contains an aperture (2) for access of tention. So far, they have been mainly in the research and develop-
concentrated solar radiation through a quartz window (3). The solar ment stages. No commercial-scale demonstration project has been
flux concentration is further enhanced by incorporating a CPC (4) reported. The application potential for this technology is, however,
in front of the aperture. Both the window mount and the CPC are very high.
water cooled and integrated into a concentric (non-rotating) conical
shell (5). A screw powder feeder continuously feeds ZnO particles
from the rear of the reactor (6). The centripetal acceleration therefore 2.8 References
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 chapter

3
SOLAR THERMAL POWER PLANTS:
FROM ENDANGERED SPECIES TO
BULK POWER PRODUCTION IN
SUN BELT Regions
Manuel Romero and José González-Aguilar
3.1 INTRODUCTION less than 1 year, and most solar-field materials and structures can
be recycled and used again for further plants.
Solar thermal power plants, due to their capacity for large-scale But in terms of electric grid and quality of bulk power supply, it
generation of electricity and the possible integration of thermal is the ability to provide dispatch on demand that makes STE stand
storage devices and hybridization with backup fossil fuels, are out from other renewable energy technologies like PV or wind.
meant to supply a significant part of the demand in the countries of Thermal energy storage systems store excess thermal heat collected
the solar belt [1]. Nowadays, the high-temperature thermal conver- by the solar field. Storage systems, alone or in combination with
sion of concentrated solar energy is rapidly increasing with many some fossil fuel backup, keep the plant running under full-load
commercial projects taken up in Spain, USA, and other countries conditions. This capability of storing high-temperature thermal
such as India, China, Israel, Australia, Algeria, and Italy. This is energy leads to economically competitive design options, since
the most promising technology to follow the pathway of wind en- only the solar part has to be oversized. This STE plant feature is tre-
ergy in order to reach the goals for renewable energy implementa- mendously relevant, since penetration of solar energy into the bulk
tion in 2020 and 2050. electricity market is possible only when substitution of intermediate-
Spain with 2400 MW connected to the grid in 2013 is taking load power plants of about 4000–5000 hours/year is achieved.
the lead on current commercial developments, together with USA The combination of energy on demand, grid stability, and high
where a target of 4500 MW for the same year has been fixed and share of local content that lead to creation of local jobs provide a
other relevant programs like the “Solar Mission” in India recently clear niche for STE within the renewable portfolio of technolo-
approved and going for 22 GW-solar, with a large fraction of gies. Because of that, the European Commission is including STE
thermal [2]. within its Strategic Energy Technology Plan for 2020, and the US
Solar Thermal Electricity or STE (also known as CSP or Con- DOE is launching new R&D projects on STE. A clear indicator of
centrating Solar Power) is expected to impact enormously on the the globalization of such policies is that the International Energy
world’s bulk power supply by the middle of the century. Only in Agency (IEA) is sensitive to STE within low-carbon future scenar-
Southern Europe, the technical potential of STE is estimated at ios for the year 2050. At the IEA’s Energy Technology Perspec-
2,000 TWh (annual electricity production) and in Northern Africa tives 2010 [5], STE is considered to play a significant role among
it is immense [3]. Worldwide, the exploitation of less than 1% of the necessary mix of energy technologies needed to halving global
the total solar thermal power plant potential would be enough to energy-related CO2 emissions by 2050, and this scenario would
meet the recommendations of the United Nations’ Intergovernmen- require capacity additions of about 14 GW/year (55 new solar ther-
tal Panel on Climate Change for long-term climate stabilization mal power plants of 250 MW each).
[4]. One MW of installed concentrating solar thermal power avoids STE systems consist of a large reflective surface collecting the
688 tons of CO2 compared to a Combined Cycle conventional incoming solar radiation and concentrating it onto a solar receiver
plant and 1360 tons of CO2 compared to a conventional coal/steam with a small aperture area. The solar receiver is a high-absorptance
plant. A 1-m2 mirror in the primary solar field produces 400 kWh radiative/convective heat exchanger that emulates as closely as
of electricity per year, avoids 12 tons of CO2 and contributes to a possible the performance of a radiative black body. An ideal so-
2.5-ton savings of fossil fuels during its 25-year operation lifetime. lar receiver would thus have negligible convection and conduc-
The energy payback time of concentrating solar power systems is tion losses. In the case of a solar thermal power plant, the solar
3-  •  Chapter 3

energy is transferred to a thermal fluid at an outlet temperature exergetic value, more than 93% of the energy may be theoretically
high enough to feed a heat engine or a turbine that produces elec- converted to mechanical work by using thermodynamic cycles [8],
tricity. The solar thermal element can be a parabolic trough field, or to Gibbs free energy of chemicals by solarized chemical reac-
a linear Fresnel reflector field, a central receiver system or a field tions [9]. According to thermodynamics and Planck’s equation, the
of parabolic dishes, normally designed for a normal incident ra- conversion of solar heat to mechanical work or Gibbs free energy
diation of 800–900 W/m2. Annual normal incident radiation varies is limited by the Carnot efficiency, and, therefore, to achieve maxi-
from 1600 to 2800 kWh/m2, allowing from 2000 to 3500 annual mum conversion rates, the energy should be transferred to a ther-
full-load operating hours with the solar element, depending on the mal fluid or reactants at temperatures close to that of the sun.
available radiation at the particular site [6]. Even though solar radiation is a source of high temperature and
The first generation of commercial STE projects is mainly based exergy at origin, with a high radiosity of 63 MW/m2, sun-to-earth
on technological developments and concepts that matured after geometrical constraints lead to a dramatic dilution of flux and to
more than two decades of research. Nevertheless, the current solar irradiance available for terrestrial use; only slightly higher than
thermal power plants are still based on conservative schemes and 1 kW/m2 with a consequent supply of low temperatures to the ther-
technological devices which do not exploit the enormous potential mal fluid. It is, therefore, an essential requisite for solar thermal
of concentrated solar energy. Commercial projects use technologies power plants and high-temperature solar chemistry applications to
of parabolic troughs with low concentration in two dimensions and make use of optical concentration devices that enable the thermal
linear focus, or systems of central tower and heliostat fields, oper- conversion to be carried out at high solar fluxes and with relatively
ating with thermal fluids at relatively modest temperatures, below low heat losses. A simplified model of a STE plant is depicted in
400°C [7]. The most immediate consequence of these conservative Fig. 3.1.
designs is the use of systems with efficiencies below 20% nominal Solar reflective concentrators follow the basic principles of
in the conversion of direct solar radiation to electricity; the tight Snell’s Law of reflection [10]. In a specular surface, like the mir-
limitation in the use of efficient energy storage systems; the high rors used in solar thermal power plants, the reflection angle equals
water consumption and land extension due to the inefficiency of the angle of incidence. The most practical and simplest primary
the integration with the power block; the lack of rational schemes geometrical concentrator typically used in STE systems is the
for their integration in distributed generation architectures and the parabola. Even though there are other concentrating devices like
limitation to reach the temperatures needed for the thermochemical lenses or Compound Parabolic Concentrators [11], the reflective
routes used to produce solar fuels like hydrogen. parabolic concentrators and their analogues are the systems with
In the first commercial projects involving parabolic trough tech- the greatest potential for scaling up at a reasonable cost. Parabolas
nology, some improvements are being introduced, such as the use are imaging concentrators able to focus all incident paraxial rays
of large molten salt heat storage systems able to provide high de- onto a focal point located on the optical axis (see Fig. 3.2).
grees of dispatch for the operation of the plant, such as the plants The paraboloid is a surface generated by rotating a parabola
Andasol 1 and 2 in Guadix, Spain, with 7.5 hours of nominal stor- around its axis. The parabolic dish is a truncated portion of a pa-
age, or the use of direct steam generation loops to replace thermal
oil at the solar field. Central towers are opening the field to new Direct solar radiation
thermal fluids like molten salts (Gemasolar tower plant in Seville,
Spain) and air, and new solar receivers like volumetric absorbers.
In parallel, a new generation of concentrating solar thermal
power systems is starting deployment. This new generation is OPTICAL CONCENTRATOR
characterized by its modularity and higher conversion efficiencies.
Concentration
The design strategy is based on the use of highly compact heliostat Concentrated
losses
fields, using mirrors and towers of small size, and looking for in- solar radiation
tegration into high-temperature thermodynamic cycles. There are
currently some initiatives with prototypes at an experimental stage
and announcing large commercial projects like the one proposed RECEIVER
HEAT
by BrightSource with a prototype of 6 MWth at the Neguev desert Receiver
losses STORAGE
in Israel, the 100 kWe prototype promoted by the AORA company
Heat
and researchers of the Weizmann Institute in Israel, and the 5 MWe
prototype built by the company eSolar in California.

FOSSIL BACKUP
3.2 SOLAR THERMAL POWER PLANTS:
SCHEMES AND TECHNOLOGIES HEAT
ENGINE
3.2.1 Solar Concentration: Fundamentals for STE Rejected heat

Plants Electricity
Solar energy has a high exergy value since it originates from
processes occurring at the sun’s surface at a black-body equiva- Fig. 3.1  Flow diagram for a typical solar ther-
lent temperature of approximately 5777 K. Because of this high mal power plant
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  3-

Fig. 3.2 Configuration of ideal parabolic concentrator (left) and flux profile reflected by a typi-
cal concentrator including sunshape (right)

raboloid. For optimum sizing of the parabolic dish and absorber as depicted in Fig. 3.2, the flux profile obtained onto the target can
geometries, the geometrical ratio between the focal distance, f, the be described by a Gaussian shape. The reflected ray direction has
aperture diameter of the concentrator, d, and the rim angle, Q, must an associated error that can be described with a Normal Distribu-
be taken into account. The ratio can be deducted from the equation tion Function. The errors of a typical reflecting solar concentrator
describing the geometry of a truncated paraboloid, x2 + y2 = 4fz, may be either microscopic (specularity) or macroscopic (waviness
where x and y are the coordinates on the aperture plane and z is of the mirror and error of curvature). All the errors together end
the distance from the plane to the vertex. For small rim angles, the up modifying the direction of the normal compared to the refer-
paraboloid equals to a sphere and in many cases spherical facets ence reflecting element. However, it is necessary to discriminate
are used, therefore, in most solar concentrators, the following cor- between microscopic and macroscopic errors. Microscopic errors
relation is valid: are intrinsic to the material and depend on the fabrication process,
and can be measured at the lab with mirror samples. Macroscopic
1 errors are characteristic of the concentrator and the erection pro­
f /d = (3.1)
4 tan (Q / 2 ) cess, therefore, they should be measured and quantified with the

final system in operation [12]. It is relatively easy to quantify all
that random errors onto the target by using the standard deviation
For example, a paraboloid with a rim angle of 45 deg has f/d of
of the reflected rays (s2 = S si2) or by fitting the solar concentrated
0.6. The ratio f/d increases as the rim angle decreases. A parabolic
flux to a normal distribution function with a standard deviation s,
concentrator with a very small rim angle has very little curvature
commonly known as beam quality. Typical beam qualities of solar
and the focal point far from the reflecting surface. Because of that,
reflective concentrators used in STE plants are of a few milliradi-
STE systems making use of cavity receivers with small apertures
ans and their values determine the size of the absorber or cavity.
should use small rim angles. Conversely, those STE systems using
Beam quality convolves with the sunshape leading to an increment
external or tubular receivers will make use of large rim angles and
of the acceptance angle of the absorber, receiver aperture, or cav-
short focal lengths.
ity from 2.qS (ideal value corresponding to the size and errors of
The thermodynamic limit or maximum concentration ratio for an
the sun) to 2. b (real value of the acceptance angle including all
ideal solar concentrator would be set by the size of the sun. By ap-
sources of errors).
plying the geometrical conservation of energy in a solar concentra-
The concentrator with more extended use is the parabolic trough
tor, the following expressions are obtained for 3D and 2D systems
it is a 2D parabolic reflector with a linear focus and single axis
(for a refraction index n = 1, and assuming a flat aperture area):
tracking. The concentration ratio C for this system is determined
by the ratio between the aperture of the parabolic surface and the
1 (3.2)
C max,3D = £ 46,200 total area of the tubular receiver (Eq. 3.4).
sin 2 θ S
AC L ·L L
1 C= = A = A (3.4)
C max,2 D = £ 215 (3.3) AR 2π R·L 2π R
sin θ S
Where AC is the aperture area of the concentrator, AR is the area
Then the semi-angle subtended by the sun is qS = 4.653 ´ 10−3 of the receiver or absorber, LA is the width of the aperture of the
rad (16’), and the maximum concentration values 46,200 for 3D concentrator, L is the length of the concentrator and R is the radius
and 215 for 2D. For real concentrators, the maximum ratios of of the receiver tube (Fig. 3.3). According to this, the following
concentration are much lower because of microscopic and macro- relations are obtained:
scopic, tracking and mechanical, sunshape, and other errors.
In a real mirror with intrinsic and constructional errors, the re- R (3.5)
= sin β
flected ray distribution can be described with “cone optics” and, r
3-  •  Chapter 3

2β ometries with large mirror areas and work under real operating
conditions (Fig. 3.5).
Parabolic PTC and LFR are 2-D concentrating systems in which the incom-
reflector ing solar radiation is concentrated onto a focal line by one-axis track-
r ing mirrors. They are able to concentrate the solar radiation flux 30 to
80 times, heating the thermal fluid up to 450ºC, with power conver-
Θ sion unit sizes of 30 to 80MW, and therefore, they are well suited for
LA centralized power generation at dispatchable markets with a Rankine
R steam turbine/generator cycle. CRS optics is more complex, since
R: radius receiver the solar receiver is mounted on top of a tower and sunlight is con-
LA: collector aperture centrated by means of a large paraboloid that is discretized into a
Θ: rim angle field of heliostats. This 3-D concentrator is, therefore, off-axis and
2β: acceptance angle heliostats require two-axis tracking. Concentration factors are be-
tween 200 and 1000 and unit sizes are between 10 and 200 MW, and
Fig. 3.3 Rim angle and acceptance angle in a they are, therefore, well suited for dispatchable markets and integra-
parabolic trough concentrator
tion into advanced thermodynamic cycles. A wide variety of thermal
fluids, like saturated steam, superheated steam, molten salts, atmos-
LA pheric air or pressurized air, can be used, and temperatures vary be-
= sin Q (3.6) tween 300ºC and 1000ºC. Finally, DE systems are small modular
2r units with autonomous generation of electricity by Stirling engines
or Brayton mini-turbines located at the focal point. Dishes are para-
Where r is the distance from the edge of the parabola to the bolic 3D concentrators with high concentration ratios (1000–3000)
center of the receiver, 2b is the acceptance angle and Q is the rim and unit sizes of 5–25 kW. Their current market niche is in both
angle of the concentrator. distributed on-grid and remote/off-grid power applications.
Then the Concentration Ratio C can be expressed also as:

C=
sin Q
=
sin Q
C2 D max (3.7)
Ratio f/D
π sin β π 6 2 1.5 1 0.8 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3
12000
The concentration ratio for a parabolic trough can reach a maxi-
mum value of 67.7 (for a refractive index n = 1), considering the ψ= 0 mrad
best case when the rim angle Q = p/2 rad and the acceptance angle
is b = qs = 4.7 ´ 10−3 rad. In practice and because of imperfections 10000
of the reflective surface, errors on tracking and absorber tube posi-
tioning for large collector assemblies of 5.8 m of aperture and 100
Concentration ratio, C

m length, the typical values of C are between 20 and 30. ψ= 1

8000
If we repeat the same analysis of C for a 3D parabolic reflector,
the expression leading to the maximum concentration is:

sin 2 Q·cos2 (Q + β ) 6000

C= (3.8)

2
sin β
ψ= 3

Figure 3.4 represents C versus the rim angle Q obtained from 4000
Eq. 8. As it can be observed the maximum concentration ratio
is reached for a rim angle of 45 deg. and, according to equation
1, for a focal ratio of f/D = 0.6. This optimum concentration is ψ= 6
i­ndependent of the acceptance angle of the system. The acceptance 2000
half-angle b is the sum of the half-angle subtended by the Sun,
qs, and the optical error associated to the concentrator system, y,
as b = qs+y. Typical values of C are 1000 to 3000 for parabolic
dishes between 5 and 10 m diameter.
0 20 40 60 80
3.2.2 Solar Thermal Power Plant Technologies
Four concentrating solar power technologies are today rep-
Rim angle, Θ (o)
resented at pilot and commercial-scale [13]: parabolic trough Fig. 3.4 Concentration ratio versus rim angle at
collectors (PTC), linear Fresnel reflector systems (LFR), power different beam qualities of the concentrator
towers or central receiver systems (CRS), and dish/engine sys- (y = 0 corresponds to an ideal concentrator of
tems (DE). All the existing pilot plants mimic parabolic ge- b =q S)
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  3-

Curved
Absorber mirror
Absorber tube and
Tube reconcentrator

Curved mirror

Pipe with
thermal fluid

Parabolic Trough Linear Fresnel

Receiver / Engine Solar

Receiver
Reflector

Heliostats

Dish/Engine Central Receiver

Fig. 3.5 Schematic diagrams of the four STE systems currently scaled up to pilot and demonstra-
tion sizes

Typical solar-to-electric conversion efficiencies and annual nancial support strategy for market deployment. At present direct
capacity factors are listed in Table 3.1 below [6]. The values for capital costs of STE and power generation costs are estimated to
parabolic troughs, by far the most mature technology, have been be 2–3 times those of fossil-fueled power plants, however, indus-
demonstrated commercially. Those for linear Fresnel, dish and try roadmaps advance 60% cost reduction before 2025 [7]. In fact
tower systems are, in general, projections based on component governments at some countries like Spain are already accelerat-
and early commercial projects and the assumption of mature de- ing the process of drastic tariff reduction with the goal of STE,
velopment of current technology. With current investment costs, PV, and wind energy becoming tariff-equivalent in less than one
all STE technologies are generally thought to require a public fi- decade.

Table 3.1 Characteristics of Solar Thermal Electricity System (adapted from Ref. [15]).
Fresnel systems are not included since performance data available are not
conclusive for a comparative assessment

Parabolic troughs Central receiver Dish–Stirling

Power Unit 30–80 MW* 10–200 MW* 5–25 kW
Temperature operation 390ºC 565ºC 750ºC
Annual capacity factor 23–50%* 20–77%* 25%
Peak efficiency 20% 23% 29.4%
Net annual efficiency 11–16%* 7–20%* 12–25%
Commercial status Mature Early projects Prototypes-demonstration
Technology risk Low Medium High
Thermal storage Limited Yes Batteries
Hybrid schemes Yes Yes Yes
Cost W installed
$/W 3.49–2.34* 3.83–2.16* 11.00–1.14*
$/Wpeak** 3.49–1.13* 2.09–0.78* 11.00–0.96*
* Data interval for the period 2010–2025.
** Without thermal storage.
3-  •  Chapter 3

Every square meter of STE field can produce up to 1200 kWh collectors. A drive unit placed on the central pylon is commanded
thermal energy per year or up to 500 kWh of electricity per year. by a local control unit in order to track the sun. At present, all com-
That means a cumulative savings of up to 12 tons of carbon di- mercial PTC designs use a single-axis sun-tracking system [18].
oxide and 2.5 tons of fossil fuel per square meter of CSP system Thermal oils are commonly used as the working fluid in these
over its 25-year lifetime [14]. After two decades of frozen or failed collectors for temperatures above 200ºC, because at these operating
projects, approval in the past few years for specific financial incen- temperatures, normal water would produce high pressures inside
tives in Europe, the US, India, Australia and elsewhere, is now the receiver tubes and piping. This high pressure would require
paving the way for launching of the first commercial ventures. stronger joints and piping, and thus raise the price of the collectors
Spain with 2400 MW connected to the grid in 2013 is taking the and the entire solar field. However, the use of demineralized water
lead on current commercial developments, together with USA for high temperatures/pressures is currently under investigation in
where a target of 4500 MW for the same year has been fixed and Spain at the Plataforma Solar de Almería (PSA) and the feasibility
other relevant programs such as the “Solar Mission” in India has of direct steam generation at 100 bar/400ºC in the receiver tubes of
been recently approved for 22 GW-solar, with a large fraction be- parabolic trough collectors has already been proven in an experi-
ing thermal [2]. mental stage [19]. For temperatures below 200ºC, either a mixture
of water/ethylene glycol or pressurized liquid water can be used
as the working fluids because the pressure required in the liquid
phase is moderate.
3.3 PARABOLIC-TROUGHS The oil most widely used in parabolic-trough collectors for
temperatures up to 395ºC is VP-1, which is a eutectic mixture of
3.3.1 The parabolic-trough collector (PTC) 73.5% diphenyl oxide/26.5% diphenyl. The main problem with
Parabolic-trough collectors are linear-focus concentrating solar this oil is its high-solidification temperature (12ºC), which requires
devices suitable for working in the 150ºC–400ºC temperature range an auxiliary heating system when oil lines run the risk of cooling
[16]; current research with new thermal fluids intends to increase below this temperature. Since the boiling temperature at 1013mbar
the operating temperature up to 500ºC [17]. The concentrated ra- is 257ºC, the oil circuit must be pressurized with nitrogen, argon,
diation heats the fluid that circulates through the receiver tube, thus or some other inert gas when oil is heated above this temperature.
transforming the solar radiation into thermal energy in the form of Blanketing of the entire oil circuit with an oxygen-free gas is a
the sensible heat of the fluid. Figure 3.6 shows a typical PTC and must when working at high temperatures because high-pressure
its components. mists can form an explosive mixture with air. Though there are
Collector rotation around its axis requires a drive unit. One drive other suitable thermal oils for slightly higher working temperatures
unit is usually sufficient for several parabolic-trough modules con- with lower solidification temperatures, they are too expensive for
nected in series and driven together as a single collector. The type large solar plants.
of drive unit assembly depends on the size and dimensions of the The typical PTC receiver tube is composed of an inner steel
collector. Drive units composed of an electric motor and a gearbox pipe surrounded by a glass tube to reduce convective heat losses
combination are used for small collectors (aperture area < 100 m2), from the hot steel pipe [6]. The steel pipe which has a selective
while powerful hydraulic drive units are required to rotate large high-absorption (>90%), low-emission (<30% in the infrared)

Fig. 3.6 Typical parabolic-trough collector (PTC test facility at the Plataforma Solar de Almería,
Spain) (Source: Eduardo Zarza, Plataforma Solar de Almería)
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  3-

coating that reduces radiation thermal losses. Receiver tubes with iron glass is used for the silvered glass reflectors and the glass to
glass vacuum tubes and glass pipes with an anti-reflective coat- improve solar transmission.
ing achieve higher PTC thermal efficiency and better annual Two PTC designs specially conceived for large solar thermal
perfor­mance, especially at higher operating temperatures. Receiver power plants are the LS-3 (owned by the Israeli company SOLEL
tubes with no vacuum are usually for working temperatures below Solar Systems) and EuroTrough (owned by the EuroTrough Con-
250ºC because thermal losses are not so critical at these tempera- sortium), both of which have a total length of 100 m and a width of
tures. Due to manufacturing constraints, the maximum length of a 5.76 m, with back-silvered thick-glass mirrors and vacuum absorber
single receiver pipe is less than 6 m, so that the complete receiver pipes. American Solargenix design has an aluminum structure.
tube of a PTC is composed of a number of single receiver pipes However, other collector designs are recently becoming commer-
welded in series up to the total length of the PTC. The total length cially available in the short-to-medium term like the ones developed
of a PTC is usually within 25–150 m. by the companies Solargenix, Albiasa, or Sener [17]. The main con-
Figure 3.7 shows a typical PTC vacuum receiver pipe. The straint when developing the mechanical design of a PTC is the maxi-
outer glass tube is attached to the steel pipe by means of flexible mum torsion at the collector ends, because high torsion would lead
metal differential expansion joints which compensate for the dif- to a smaller intercept factor and lower optical efficiency.
ferent thermal expansion of glass and steel when the receiver tube In a typical parabolic-trough collector field, several collectors
is working at nominal temperature. At present there are only two connected in series make a row, and a number of rows are connected
manufacturers of PTC vacuum absorber tubes: the German com- in parallel to achieve the required nominal thermal power output at
pany Schott and the Israeli company SOLEL. The flexible expan- design point. The number of collectors connected in series in every
sion joint used by these two manufacturers is shown in Fig. 3.7. row depends on the temperature increase to be achieved between
The glass-to-metal-welding used to connect the glass tube and the the row inlet and outlet. In every row of collectors, the receiver
expansion joint is a weak point in the receiver tube and has to be tubes in adjacent parabolic-trough collectors have to be connected
protected from the concentrated solar radiation to avoid high ther- by flexible joints to allow independent rotation of both collectors
mal and mechanical stress that could damage the welding. An alu- as they track the sun during the day. These flexible connections are
minum shield is usually placed over the joint to protect the welds. also necessary to allow the linear thermal expansion of the receiver
As seen in Fig. 3.7, several chemical getters are placed in the tubes when their temperature increases from ambient to nominal
gap between the steel receiver pipe and the glass cover to absorb temperature during system start-up. Two main types of flexible
gas molecules from the fluid that get through the steel pipe wall to connections are available: flexible hoses and ball joints.
the annulus. Flexible connections are also needed to connect the row to the
Parabolic-trough collector reflectors have a high specular reflec­ main field pipe header inlet and outlet.
tance (>88%) to reflect as much solar radiation as possible. Solar
reflectors commonly used in PTC are made of back-silvered glass 3.3.2 Electricity Generation with Parabolic-Trough
mirrors, since their durability and solar spectral reflectance are bet- Collectors
ter than the polished aluminum and metallized acrylic mirrors also The suitable parabolic-trough collector temperature range and
available in the market. Solar spectral reflectance is typically 0.93 their good solar-to-thermal efficiency up to 400ºC make it possible
for silvered glass mirrors and 0.87 for polished aluminum. Low- to integrate a parabolic-trough solar field in a Rankine water/steam

Glass pin to evacuate the air Vacuum between the glass cover Glass-to-Metal weld
and the steel pipe

Steel pipe with selective coating 'Getter' to keep and maintain

Glass cover the vacuum Expansion bellows

Schott design
Solel design
Fig. 3.7 Evacuated receiver tube design with glass-to-metal welds for parabolic trough collec-
tors, and details of commercial tubes supplied by the companies Solel and Schott
3-  •  Chapter 3

power cycle to produce electricity. The simplified scheme of a typ- were designed and implemented by the LUZ International Limited
ical solar thermal power plant using parabolic-troughs integrated company from 1985 to 1990. All the SEGS plants are located in
in a Rankine cycle is shown in Fig. 3.8. The technology commer- the Mojave Desert, Northwest of Los Angeles (California, USA).
cially available at present for parabolic-trough power plants is With their daily operation and over 2.2 million m2 of parabolic-
the HTF (Heat Transfer Fluid) technology, which uses oil as the trough collectors, SEGS plants are this technology’s best exam-
heat carrier between the solar field and the power block. The solar ple of commercial maturity and reliability. Their plant availability
field collects the solar energy available in the form of direct solar is over 98% and their solar-to-electric annual efficiency is in the
radiation and converts it into thermal energy as the temperature range of 14–18%, with a peak efficiency of 22% [16].
of the oil circulating through the receiver tubes of the collector’s The electricity produced by the SEGS plants is sold to the local
increases. Once heated in the solar field, the oil goes to the steam utility, Southern California Edison, under individual 30-year con-
generator, which is an oil-water heat exchanger where the oil trans- tracts for every plant. To optimize the profitability of these plants, it
fers its thermal energy to the water that is used to generate the is essential to produce the maximum possible energy during peak-
superheated steam required by the turbine. The steam generator is, demand hours, when the electricity price is the highest. The gas
therefore, the interface between the solar system (solar field + oil boilers can be operated for this, either to supplement the solar field
circuit) and the power conversion system (PCS) itself. Normally, or alone. Nevertheless, the total yearly electricity production using
the steam generator used in these solar power plants consists of natural gas is limited by the Federal Commission for Energy Regula-
three stages: preheater, evaporator, and superheater. tion in the United States to 25% of the overall yearly production.
Though parabolic-trough power plants usually have an auxiliary Peak-demand hours are when electricity consumption is more
gas-fired heater to produce electricity when direct solar radiation is and, therefore, the tariff is the highest. Off-peak and super off-peak
not available, the amount of electricity produced with natural gas hours are when electricity consumption is low, and the electricity
is always limited to a reasonable level. This limit changes from one price is, therefore, also lower. At present, 16% of the SEGS plants’
country to another: 25% in California (USA), 15% in Spain, and no annual net production is generated during summer peak-demand
limit in Algeria. Typical solar-to-electric efficiencies of a large so- hours, and the revenues from this are in the order of 55% of the an-
lar thermal power plant (>30 MWe) with parabolic-trough collec- nual total. These figures show how important electricity generated
tors is between 15% and 22%, with an average value of about 17%. during peak-demand hours is for the profitability of these plants.
The yearly average efficiency of the solar field is about 50%. Thanks to the continuous improvements in the SEGS plants, the
The maturity of PTC systems is confirmed by the SEGS plants. total SEGS I cost of $0.22/kWhe for electricity produced was re-
The plants SEGS (Solar Electricity Generating Systems) II to IX, duced to $0.16/kWhe in the SEGS II and down to $0.09/kWhe in
which use thermal oil as the working fluid (HTF technology), SEGS IX [20].

Steam at 104 bar/371 ºC

Oil at 390 ºC Super-heater Steam turbine

Condenser
Oil circuit

Steam generator

Solar Field
.

Auxiliar heater Deaerator

Re-heater
Oil at 295 ºC
Oil expansion vessel

SEGS Plant
Fig. 3.8 Typical flow diagram of a SEGS plant with oil as heat transfer fluid in the solar field
(Source: Eduardo Zarza, Plataforma Solar de Almería)
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  3-

Table 3.2 Main characteristics of Nevada Solar One Plant

Solar field Power block

Solar collector assemblies 760 Turbine generator gross output 75 MWe
Aperture area (m) 5 Net output to utility 72 MWe
Aperture area (m2) 470 Solar steam inlet pressure 86.1 bar
Length (m) 100 Solar steam reheat pressure 19.5 bar
Concentration ratio 71 Solar steam inlet temperature 371°C
Optical efficiency 0.77
Number of mirror segments 182,400
Number of receiver tubes 18240
Field aperture (m2) 357,200
Site area (km2) 1.62
Field inlet temperature (°C) 300
Field outlet temperature (°C) 390

With the revival of commercial STE projects since 2006 in US In this case, the solar field has to be oversized so that it can
and Spain, a new generation of SEGS-type plants has come to the simultaneously feed the power conversion system and charge the
arena. This is the case of the Nevada Solar One project of 75 MWe storage system during sunlight hours. Thermal energy from the
in US, the Ibersol project in Puertollano, Spain or the Shams One storage system is then used to keep the steam turbine running and
100 MW plant in Abu Dhabi [21]. Nevada Solar One started grid- producing electricity after sunset or during cloudy periods. Yearly
connected operation in June 2007 and it is considered a milestone hours of operation can be significantly increased and plant amor-
in the opening of the second market deployment of PTC technol- tization is thus enhanced when a storage system is implemented.
ogy in the world after SEGS experience. Since then, more than 40 However, the required total investment cost is also higher.
PTC plants (about 50 MWe each) are constructed and started op- For temperatures of up to 300ºC, thermal mineral oil can be
eration between the period 2007 and 2013 and more than 2 GW on stored at ambient pressure, and is the most economical and practi-
track in the US [2]. Main characteristics of NSO Plant are shown cal solution. Synthetic and silicone oils, available for up to 410ºC,
in Table 3.2. have to be pressurized and are expensive. Then, molten salts can
In spite of their environmental benefits, there are still some ob- be used between 220 and 560ºC at ambient pressure, but require
stacles to the commercial use of this technology. The main barriers parasitic energy to keep them liquid.
at present are the high investment cost (2500–4000 $/kW, depend- Two pioneer projects introducing thermal storage are the plants
ing on plant size and thermal storage capacity) and the minimum Andasol-I and Andasol-II. This PTC plants installed in Guadix,
size of the power block required for high thermodynamic effi- Spain, have a nominal power of 50 MWe each and an oversized
ciency. However, these barriers are shared by all the solar thermal solar field (510,120 m2 mirrors surface area) with an integrated 1010
power technologies currently available [22]. MWth molten-salt thermal storage system to extend the plant’s full-
One of the strategies to mitigate risk perception and increment load operation 7.7 hours beyond daylight hours leading to a capac-
the capacity factor of the power block is to integrate a parabolic- ity factor of 41%. Basically, the system is composed of [24]:
trough solar field in the bottoming cycle of a combined-cycle ·  2 tanks (cold and hot) containing 28,500 tons of nitrate molten
gas-fired power plant. This configuration is called the Integrated salts at 2 different temperature levels (292 and 386ºC). Mol-
Solar Combined Cycle System (ISCCS). Though the contribu- ten salt composition: 60% NaNO3 + 40% KNO3.
tion of the solar system to the overall plant power output is small ·  6 heat exchangers (series connected) located between the
(10%–15% approximately) in the ISCCS configuration, it seems tanks, which allow storage charging and discharging from
to be a good approach to market penetration in some developing and to the Heat Transfer Fluid (HTF) of the plant, in this case,
countries, which is why the Government of Algeria has promoted Dowtherm A.
an ISCCS plant and the World Bank, through its Global Environ- ·  3 cantilever pumps in each tank to transfer the molten salt
ment Facility (GEF), is promoting ISCCS plants in Morocco and from one tank to the other through the 6 heat exchangers
Egypt [23]. Figure 3.9 shows the schematic diagram of a typical (counterflow). There is a spare pump unit in the cold tank.
ISCCS plant. ·  6 electrical heating devices in the bottom of each tank to main-
tain salt temperature above 292ºC during long maintenance
3.3.3  hermal Energy Storage and New Thermal
T periods (salts crystallize at 238ºC and solidify at 221ºC).
Fluids ·  Electrical heat tracing in piping and heat exchangers parts to
In many countries, the market penetration of STE systems is keep temperatures at adequate levels.
based on feed-in-tariffs or green certificates linked to significant ·  A natural convection system through tanks foundations in or-
restrictions or regulations regarding the use of hybrid concepts like der to decrease concrete temperature.
ISCCS schemes. Because of that the use of thermal energy storage ·  A drainage tank to ease draining of piping and heat exchangers.
systems with an oversized solar field is pursued to optimize eco- Figure 3.10 shows Andasol plant flow diagram and Fig. 3.11 an
nomics and dispatchability of PTC plants. aerial view of the two tanks, pumps and salt circuit. As it can be
3-10  •  Chapter 3

90 + X M Wel
Steam Turbine

Forced
draught fan

X MW el
Fuel
Supplementary Firing

200MW Gas Turbine

Solar Field for

High Pressure Steam Fuel

Solar Field for

Low Pressure Steam
Fig. 3.9 Hybrid STE plant making use of the ISCCS scheme (Integrated Solar Combined Cycle System).
The solar field is integrated in the bottoming cycle of a combined-cycle gas-fired power plant
(Source: SolarPACES)

observed, the introduction of a third circuit with molten salts adds countries such as Italy are planning further steps with the use of
more complexity with a number of new heat exchangers and heat molten salts both for thermal storage and solar field, like the 5-MW
tracing to avoid the salts thawing. It is still early to know the final demonstration project Archimede [25].
result in terms of energy management and operational robustness. Even though molten salts are nowadays the preferred option for
Early operational data demonstrate the capacity of the plant to sup- demonstration and first commercial projects with storage in the US
ply electricity several hours after sunset. and Spain, there are other options under development and assess-
The company ACS-Cobra is constructing three more 50-MWe ment like the use of concrete or other solid bed materials [26],
plants similar to the Andasol projects, Extresol 1 (in collabora- and the use of Phase change media (PCM) [27]. PCM provide a
tion with the company Sener) and Extresol 2 in Torre de Miguel number of desirable features, e.g., high volumetric storage capaci-
Sesmero (Badajoz, Spain), and Manchasol 1 in Alcázar de San Juan ties and heat availability at constant temperatures. Energy storage
(Toledo, Spain). This company is also planning 2 more plants, Ex- systems using the latent heat released on melting eutectic salts or
tresol 3 in Badajoz, and Manchasol 2 in Ciudad Real [17]. Other metals have often been proposed, but never carried out on a large
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  3-11

Superheated Steam (104bar/380ºC)

395 ºC Oil

Steam turbine

Molten salts
(hot tank) G
Condenser
Steam
Solar Field

generator

. Deaerator

Molten salts
(cold tank)
Reheated Steam 17bar/371ºC Preheater
Reheater
295 ºC Oil
Oil expansion vessel

Fig. 3.10 Andasol plant scheme introducing a molten-salt circuit with two storage tanks to incre-
ment capacity factor (Source: Eduardo Zarza, Plataforma Solar de Almería)

scale due to difficult and expensive internal heat exchange and accomplished in two modes: by the latent heat of the salt and also
cycling problems. Heat exchange between the heat transfer fluid the sensible heat of the salt and the ceramic matrix.
(HTF) and the storage medium is seriously affected when the stor- PCM are extremely suitable for direct steam generation PTC
age medium solidifies. Encapsulation of PCMs has been proposed plants. If the superheated steam required to feed the steam turbine
to improve this. Combining the advantages of direct-contact heat in the power block were produced directly in the receiver tubes of
exchange and latent heat, hybrid salt-ceramic phase change stor- the parabolic-trough collectors, the oil would be no longer neces-
age media have recently been proposed. The salt is retained within sary, and temperature limitation and environmental risks associated
the submicron pores of a solid ceramic matrix such as magnesium with the oil would be avoided. Simplification and cost reduction of
oxide by surface tension and capillary force. Heat storage is then overall plant configuration is then evident since only one fluid is

Fig. 3.11 Aerial view of power island and detail of molten-salt storage tanks and heat exchangers
of Andasol plant. This 50 MW plant stores thermal energy excess in 28,500 tonnes of nitrate molten
salts able to provide up to 7.7 equivalent hours of operation at nominal capacity (Andasol-I plant,
Guadix, Spain) (Source: ACS/Cobra Energía (Spain))
3-12  •  Chapter 3

used. This effect combined with the increment of efficiency after in-confidence agreement with Sydney University regarding CLFR
removing intermediate heat exchanger might lead to a reduction technology. This company was later reconstituted as Solarmundo
of 15% of the cost of the electricity produced. The disadvantages and it built a 2400 m2 LFR prototype collector field at Liege in
of this concept originate from the thermo-hydraulic problems as- Belgium 2000, but test results were not reported. Later the com-
sociated with the two-phase flow existing in the evaporating sec- pany moved to Germany and was renamed the Solar Power Group.
tion of the solar field. Nevertheless, experiments performed at in a SPG signed an exclusivity cooperation agreement with DSD In-
2-MWth loop at the Plataforma Solar de Almería (PSA) in Spain dustrieanlagen GmbH a company of the MAN/Ferrostaal group. A
have proven the technical feasibility of direct steam generation 800kW Linear Fresnel pilot operating at 450°C has already been
with horizontal parabolic-trough collectors at 100 bar/400ºC with- tested in Plataforma Solar de Almería with components developed
in the framework of two European projects, Direct Solar Steam by Solar Power Group, and the technology is expected to be com-
(DISS) and Integration of DSG Technology for Electricity Produc- mercially available by 2012 [7, 31].
tion (INDITEP) [28]. Two pre-commercial projects, Puertollano Back in Australia, in early 2002, a new company, Solar Heat
GDV and Real-DISS, are under development in Spain to demon- and Power Pty Ltd (SHP), was formed after acquiring the pat-
strate the technical feasibility of direct steam generation combined ents covering the Australian CLFR work. SHP immediately made
with a power block [17]. extensive changes to the engineering design of the reflectors to
lower cost and has become the first to commercialize LFR tech-
nology. SHP initiated in 2003 for Macquarie Generation, Aus-
tralia’s largest generator, a demonstration project of 103 MWth
3.4 Linear-Fresnel Reflectors (approximately 39 MWe) plant with the aim of supplying pre-
3.4.1  istorical Evolution of Linear-Fresnel
H heat to the coal fired Liddell power station. Phase 1 of the project,
Reflector Systems completed in 2004, resulted in a 1350 m2 segment not connected
to the coal fired plant, and was used to trial initial performance,
Conceptually, Linear-Fresnel Reflectors (LFR) are optical ana-
and it first produced steam at 290°C in July 2004. The expan-
logues of parabolic troughs. They are 2-D concentrating reflec-
sion to 9 MWth was completed by 2008. Activities of the com-
tors with linear focus, where the parabolic reflective surface is
pany moved to the US and were continued by Ausra, Palo Alto.
obtained by an array of linear mirror strips which independently
Ausra established a factory of components, tubular absorbers and
move and collectively focus on absorber lines suspended from
mirrors in Las Vegas and built the Kimberlina 5-MW demonstra-
elevated towers [13, 29]. They are fix focus reflectors where the
tion plant in Bakersfield at the end of 2008. In 2010, Aura has
absorber is static. Reflective segments are close to the ground and
been purchased by AREVA that is committed to the commercial
can be assembled in a compact way up to 1 ha/MW. The objec-
deployment of this technology.
tive is to reproduce the performance of parabolic troughs though
The third technology player after SPG/MAN and AREVA is
with lower costs. However, optical quality and thermal efficiency
the German company NOVATEC Biosol [7]. The technology of
is lower because of a higher influence of the incidence angle and
NOVATEC is based upon its collector Nova-1 aimed to produce
the cosine factor, and therefore, the temperature obtained at the
saturated steam at 270ºC. They have developed a serial produc-
working fluid is also lower (150–350ºC). Because of that, LFR
tion factory for pre-fabricated components and a 1.4 MW small
are mainly oriented to produce saturated steam via direct in-tube
commercial plant in Puerto Errado, Murcia, Spain. This plant is
steam generation, and application into ISCCS or in regenerative
grid connected since March 2009 [32]. NOVATEC is promoting
Rankine cycles, though current R&D is aiming at higher tem-
50 MW plants mixing PTC and LFR fields, where LFR provides
peratures above 400ºC.
pre-heating and evaporation and PTC field takes over superheat-
In contrast, LFRs typically use
ing. The company claims that this hybridization results in 22% less
·  lower-cost non-vacuum thermal absorbers where the stagnant land use and higher profitability.
air cavity provides significant thermal insulation
·  light reflector support structures close to the ground
·  low-cost flat float glass reflector 3.4.2  uture Technology Development and
F
·  low-cost manual cleaning, because the reflectors are at human Performance Trends
height. Even though some solid commercial programmes are underway
on LFR, still it is early to have consolidated performance data with
The LFRs also have much better ground utilization, typically respect to electricity production. The final optimization would
using 60–70% of the ground area compared to about 33% for integrate components development to increment temperature of
a trough system, and lower O&M costs due to more accessible operation and possible hybridization with other STE systems like
reflectors. parabolic troughs.
After some pioneering experiences [29], the first serious devel- There are many possible types of receiver, including evacuated
opment began on the CLFR Australian design at the University of tube and PV modules, but the most cost-effective system seems to
Sydney in 1993, in which a single field of reflectors used multiple be an inverted cavity receiver. In the case of SHP technology, the
linear receivers and reflectors which change their focal point from absorber is a simple parallel array of steam pipes at the top of a
one receiver to another during the day in order to minimize shad- linear cavity, with no additional redirection of the incoming light
ing in the dense reflector field. These are called the Compact Lin- from the heliostats to minimise optical losses and the use of hot
ear Fresnel Reflector systems, or CLFR systems and cover about reflectors. In the case of SPG technology, the absorber is a sin-
71% of the ground compared with 33% for trough systems [30]. In gle tube surmounted by a hot non-imaging reflector made of glass,
1994, a company called Solel Europe entered into a commercial which must be carefully manufactured to avoid thermal stress un-
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  3-13

Receiver dynamic performance would also affect the potential integration

with other STE systems such as PTC or CRS. Until now most
comparative assessments vis-à-vis parabolic troughs are not
Sun rays
economically conclusive, revealing the need to use much larger
fields to compensate lower efficiencies [33]. In order to achieve
Tower break even costs for electricity with current LFR technology, the
cost target for the Fresnel solar power plants need to be about 55%
of the specific costs of parabolic trough systems [33].
Mirror strips

Fig. 3.12 Scheme of compact LFR system with a

multitower array and dynamic aiming strategy 3.5 Central Receiver Systems (CRS)
of mirror strips
In power towers or central receiver systems, incident sunrays are
tracked by large mirrored collectors (heliostats), which concentrate
der heating, and exhibit some optical loss. Both systems can pro- the energy flux onto radiative/convective heat exchangers called
duce saturated steam or pressurized water. At present, AREVA solar receivers, where energy is transferred to a thermal fluid,
and NOVATEC are looking for new absorbers able to work at tem- mounted on top of a tower (Fig. 3.13). Plant sizes of 10 to 200 MW
peratures above 450ºC. By 2015, according to developers, Linear are chosen because of economy of scale, even though advanced
Fresnel can be expected to be operating with superheated steam at integration schemes are claiming the economics of smaller units
500°C yielding an efficiency improvement of up to 18.1% relative as well [34]. The high solar flux incident on the receiver (averag-
to current saturated steam operation at 270°C [7]. ing between 300 and 1000 k W/m2) enables operation at relatively
For reflectors, automation is a key issue that has been demon- high temperatures of up to 1000ºC and integration of thermal en-
strated by NOVATEC. Additional effort should be given to the op- ergy into more efficient cycles in a step-by-step approach. CRS can
timized demonstration of multi-tower arrays to maximize ground be easily integrated in fossil plants for hybrid operation in a wide
coverage ratios (Fig. 3.12). variety of options and has the potential for generating electricity
However, it is the lack of reliable information regarding with high annual capacity factors through the use of thermal stor-
annual performance and daily evolution of steam production that age. With storage, CRS plants are able to operate over 4500 hours
should be targeted as a first priority. Still, some concerns remain per year at nominal power [35].
regarding the ability to control steam production, because of the The heliostat field and solar receiver systems distinguish so-
pronounced effect of cosine factor in this kind of plants. This lar thermal tower power plants from other STE plants, and are,

Fig. 3.13 Aerial view of the first commercial solar towers in the world. PS20 with 20 MW at the front
and the PS10 with 11 MW at upper left. Heliostat field layout is formed by hundreds of tracking mir-
rors focusing concentrated light onto the receiver aperture. PS20 and PS10 have been developed
and the technology is owned by Abengoa Solar S.A. and are located in Sanlucar la Mayor, Seville,
Spain (Source: Abengoa Solar, S.A.) (All rights reserved on Figure 3.13 to Abengoa Solar, S.A. © 2010)
3-14  •  Chapter 3

therefore, given more attention below. In particular, the heliostat

field is the single factor with the most impact on plant investment.
Collector field and power block together represent about 72% of
the typical solar-only plant (without fossil backup) investment, of
which heliostats represent 60% of the solar share. Even though
the solar receiver impacts the capital investment much less (about
14%), it can be considered the most critical subsystem in terms of
performance, since it centralizes the entire energy flux exchange.
The largest heliostat investment is the drive mechanism and re-
flecting surface, which alone are almost 70% of the total.

3.5.1 Technology of Heliostats and Solar Receivers

The collector field consists of a large number of mirrors, called
heliostats, with two-axis tracking and a local control system to
continuously focus direct solar radiation onto the receiver aperture
area. During cloud passages and transients the control system must
defocus the field and react to prevent damage to the receiver and
tower structure. Heliostats fields are characterized by their off-axis
optics. Since the solar receiver is located in a fixed position, the
entire collector field must track the sun in such a way that each and
every heliostat individually places its surface normal to the bisec-
tion of the angle subtended by sun and the solar receiver. Each and
every heliostat has its own elevation and azimuthal angle updated
about every 4 sec.
Heliostat field optical efficiency includes the cosine effect, shad-
owing, blocking, mirror reflectivity, atmospheric attenuation and
receiver spillage [36]. Because of the large area of land required,
complex optimization algorithms are used to optimize the annual
energy produced by unit of land, and heliostats must be packed as
close as possible so the receiver can be small and concentration
Fig. 3.14 Lateral view of a typical glass-metal
high. Since the reflective surface of the heliostat is not normal to
heliostat with T-shape supporting structure
the incident rays, its effective area is reduced by the cosine of the
formed by pedestal, torque tube and trusses.
angle of incidence; the annual average cosine varies from about 0.9 Reflective surface is made of facets with a me-
at two tower heights north of the tower to about 0.7 at two tower tallic frame and glass mirror. Local control
heights south of the tower. Of course, annual average cosine is box is located at the bottom of the pedestal
highly dependent on site latitude. Consequently, in places close to (Source: Abengoa Solar, S.A.) (All rights reserved on Figure 3.14
the Equator a surround field would be the best option to make best to Abengoa Solar, S.A. © 2010)
use of the land and reduce the tower height. North fields improve
performance as latitude increases (South fields in the Southern
hemisphere), in which case, all the heliostats are arranged on the a heavy, rigid structure, second-surface mirrors and reflecting sur-
North side of the tower. faces of around 40 m2 [40] , to designs with large 100–120 m2
The combination of all the above-mentioned factors influencing reflecting surfaces, lighter structures and lower-cost materials
the performance of the heliostat field should be optimized to deter- [41]. Since the first-generation units, heliostats have demonstrated
mine an efficient layout. There are many optimization approaches beam qualities below 2.5 mrad (standard deviation of reflected
to establish the radial and azimuthal spacing of heliostats and rows rays including all heliostat errors but not including intrinsic to the
[37]. One of the most classic, effective and widespread procedures solar disk) that are good enough for practical applications in so-
is the “radial staggered” pattern, originally proposed by the Uni- lar towers, so the main focus of development is directed at cost
versity of Houston in the 1970s [38]. Integral optimization of the reduction.
heliostat field is decided by a tradeoff between cost and perfor­ In Spain, some developments worthy of mention are the 105-m2
mance parameters. Heliostats, land and cabling network must be GM-100 [42] and more recently, the 90-m2 and 120-m2 Sanlú-
correlated with costs. Cost and performance also often have re- car heliostats finally adopted for the first commercial tower power
verse trends, so that when heliostats are packed closer together, plant PS10 promoted by the company Abengoa Solar [43].
blocking and shadowing penalties increase, but related costs for Recently, the company SENER has developed a similar 115-m2
land and wiring decrease. A classical code in use since the 1980s heliostat for its Gemasolar plant. Estimated production costs of
for optimization of central receiver subsystems is DELSOL3 [39]. large area glass/metal heliostats for sustainable market scenarios
Mature low-cost heliostats consist of a reflecting surface, a sup- are around $130–200/m2. Large-area glass/metal units make use of
port structure, a two-axis tracking mechanism, pedestal, founda- glass mirrors supported by metallic frame facets.
tion and control system (Fig. 3.14). The development of heliostats Recently, some developers are introducing substantial changes in
shows a clear trend from the early first generation prototypes, with the conception of heliostat design. A number of projects based upon
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  3-15

Fig. 3.15 Different configurations of solar receivers. From left to right and top to bottom: a)
External tubular cylindrical, b) Cavity tubular, c) Billboard tubular and d) Volumetric

the paradigm of maximum modularity and mass production of com- materials, the kind of thermal fluid used, or heat transfer mecha-
ponents are claiming small-size heliostats as a competitive low-cost nisms. According to the geometrical configuration, there are basi-
option. Companies like Brightsource, eSolar, Aora, or Cloncurry cally two design options, external and cavity-type receivers. In a
are introducing heliostat units of only a few square meters. Bright- cavity receiver, the radiation reflected from the heliostats passes
source with an ambitious program of large projects is making use through an aperture into a box-like structure before impinging on
of single-facet 7.3-m2 heliostats [44] and the company eSolar with the heat transfer surface. Cavities are constrained angularly and
a multi-tower plant configuration presents a highly innovative subsequently used in North-field (or South-field) layouts. Exter-
field with ganged heliostats of extremely small size (1.14 m2 each) nal receivers can be designed with a flat plate tubular panel or are
that implies the large number of 12,180 units for a single 2.5 MW cylindrically shaped. Cylindrical external receivers are the typical
tower [45]. If such small heliostats may reach installed costs below solution adopted for surround heliostat fields. Figure 3.15 shows
200 $/m2, it can only be understood under aggressive mass pro- examples of cylindrical external, billboard external and cavity
duction plans and pre-assembly during manufacturing process by receivers.
reducing on-site mounting works. Annual performance and avail- Receivers can be directly or indirectly irradiated depending on
ability of those highly-populated fields are still under testing. the absorber materials used to transfer the energy to the working
In a solar power tower plant, the receiver is the heat exchanger fluid [47]. Directly irradiated receivers make use of fluids or parti-
where the concentrated sunlight is intercepted and transformed cle streams able to efficiently absorb the concentrated flux. Particle
into thermal energy useful in thermodynamic cycles. Radiant flux receiver designs make use of falling curtains or fluidized beds. In
and temperature are substantially higher than in parabolic troughs, many applications, and to avoid leaks to the atmosphere, direct
and therefore, high technology is involved in the design, and high- receivers should have a transparent window. Windowed receivers
performance materials should be chosen. The solar receiver should are excellent solutions for chemical applications as well, but they
mimic a black body by minimizing radiation losses. To do so, cavi- are strongly limited by the size of a single window, and therefore,
ties, black-painted tube panels, or porous absorbers able to trap clusters of receivers are necessary.
incident photons are used. In most designs, the solar receiver is The key design element of indirectly heated receivers is the
a single unit that centralizes all the energy collected by the large radiative/convective heat exchange surface or mechanism. Ba-
mirror field, and therefore, high availabilities and durability are a sically, two heat transfer options are used, tubular panels and
must. Just as cost reduction is the priority for further development volumetric surfaces. In tubular panels, the cooling thermal
in the collector field, in solar receivers, the priorities are thermal fluid flows inside the tube and removes the heat collected by
efficiency and durability. Typical receiver absorber operating tem- the external black panel surface by convection. It is, there-
peratures are between 500ºC and 1200ºC and incident flux covers a fore, operating as a recuperative heat exchanger. Depending
wide range between 300 and over 1000 kW/m2 [6, 46]. on the heat transfer fluid properties and incident solar flux,
There are different solar receiver classifications criteria depend- the tube might undergo thermo-mechanical stress. Since heat
ing on the construction solution, the use of intermediate absorber transfer is through the tube surface, it is difficult to operate at
3-16  •  Chapter 3

an incident flux above 600 kW/m2 (peak). Table 3.3 shows how 3.5.2 Experience in central receiver systems
only with high thermal conductivity liquids like sodium it is pos- Although there have been a large number of STE tower projects,
sible to reach operating fluxes above 1 MW/m2. Air-cooled re- only a few have culminated in the construction of an entire ex-
ceivers have difficulties working with tubular receivers because perimental system. Table 3.4 lists systems that have been tested all
of the lower heat transfer coefficients. To improve the contact over the world along with new early commercial plants. In general
surface, a different approach based on wire, foam or appropri- terms, as observed, they are characterized as being small demon-
ately shaped materials within a volume are used. In volumet- stration systems between 0.5 and 10 MW, and most of them were
ric receivers, highly porous structures operating as convective operated in the 1980s ([6], [36], [55]). The thermal fluids used in
heat exchangers absorb the concentrated solar radiation. The the receiver are liquid sodium, saturated or superheated steam,
solar radiation is not absorbed on an outer surface, but inside nitrate-based molten salts and air. All of them can easily be rep-
the structure “volume.” The heat transfer medium (mostly air) is resented by flow charts, where the main variables are determined
forced through the porous structure and is heated by convective by working fluids, with the interface between power block and the
heat transfer [58]. Volumetric absorbers are usually made of thin solar share.
heat-resistant wires (in knitted or layered grids) or either metal The set of experiences referred to has served to demonstrate the
or ceramic (reticulated foams, etc.) open-cell matrix structures. technical feasibility of the CRS power plants, whose technology is
Good volumetric absorbers are very porous, allowing the radia- sufficiently mature. The most extensive experience has been col-
tion to penetrate deeply into the structure. Thin substructures lected by several European projects located in Spain at the premises
(wires, walls or struts) ensure good convective heat transfer. of the Plataforma Solar de Almería [55] and the 10 MW Solar One
A good volumetric absorber produces the so-called volumetric [56] and Solar Two plants [57] in the US. At present, water/steam
effect, which means that the irradiated side of the absorber is and molten salts are the heat transfer fluids being selected for the
at a lower temperature than the medium leaving the absorber. first generation of commercial plants.
Under specific operating conditions, volumetric absorbers tend
to have an unstable mass flow distribution [49]. Receiver ar-
rangements with mass flow adaptation elements (e.g., perforated 3.5.3  ater/Steam Plants from PS 10 Project to
W
plates) located behind the absorber can reduce this tendency, as Superheated Steam
well as appropriate selection of the operating conditions and the Production of superheated steam in the solar receiver has been
absorber material [53]. A number of initiatives have formulated demonstrated in several plants, such as Solar One, Eurelios, and
air-cooled volumetric schemes for STE plants, both for atmos- CESA-1, but operating experience showed critical problems
pheric pressure ([51], [52]) and for pressurized systems [46], related to the control of zones with dissimilar heat transfer coef-
though still commercial plants with these technologies are miss- ficients like boilers and superheaters [55]. Better results regard-
ing. Though air-cooled open volumetric receivers are a prom- ing absorber panel lifetime and controllability have been reported
ising way of producing superheated steam, the modest thermal for saturated steam receivers. The good performance of saturated
efficiency at the receiver (74% nominal and 61.4% annual av- steam receivers was qualified at the 2‑MW Weizmann receiver that
erage) must still be improved [53]. At present, all the benefits produced steam at 15bar for 500 hours in 1989 [58]. Even though
from using higher outlet temperatures are sacrificed by radiation technical risks are reduced by saturated steam receivers, the out-
losses at the receiver, leading to low annual electricity produc- let temperatures are significantly lower than those of superheated
tion, so it is clear that volumetric receiver improvements must steam, making applications where heat storage is replaced by fossil
reduce losses. fuel backup necessary.
Selection of a particular receiver technology is a complex task, PS10, the first commercial CRS plant in the world, adopted the
since operating temperature, heat storage system and thermody- conservative scheme of producing saturated steam to limit risk
namic cycle influence the design. In general, tubular technologies perception and avoid technology uncertainties. The 11 MW plant,
allow either high temperatures (up to 1000ºC) or high pressures located near Seville in South Spain, was designed to achieve an an-
(up to 120bar), but not both [54]. Directly irradiated or volumet- nual electricity production of 23 GWh at an investment cost of less
ric receivers allow even higher temperatures but limit pressures to than 3500€/kW. The project made use of available, well-proven
below 15 bar. technologies like the glass-metal heliostats developed by the Span-
ish INABENSA company and the saturated steam cavity receiver
developed by the TECNICAL company to produce steam at 40 bar
Table 3.3 Operating temperature and flux and 250ºC [43]. The plant is a solar-only system with saturated
ranges of solar tower receivers steam heat storage able to supply 50 minutes of plant operation
at 50% load [6]. The system makes use of 624 heliostats of 121 m2
Fluid Water/ Liquid Molten salt Volumetric each, distributed in a North-field configuration, a 100-m high
steam sodium (nitrates) air tower, a 15 MWh heat storage system and a cavity receiver with
four 4.8 ´ 12 m tubular panels. The basic flow diagram selected
Flux (MW/m2) for PS10 is shown in Fig. 3.16. Though the system makes use of a
- Average 0.1–0.3 0.4–0.5 0.4–0.5 0.5–0.6 saturated steam turbine working at extremely low temperature, the
- Peak 0.4–0.6 1.4–2.5 0.7–0.8 0.8–1.0 nominal efficiency of the power block (30.7%) is relatively good.
This efficiency is the result of optimized management of waste
Fluid outlet 490–525 540 540–565 (700–1000) heat in the thermodynamic cycle. As summarized in Table 3.5, the
temperature combination of optical, receiver and power block efficiencies lead
(ºC) to a total nominal efficiency at design point of 21.7%. Total an-
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  3-17

Table 3.4 Power towers in the world (only PS10, PS20 and Gemasolar are commercial
grid-connected projects)

Project Country Power (MWe) Heat transfer fluid Storage media Beginning operation
SSPS Spain 0.5 Liquid Sodium Sodium 1981
EURELIOS Italy 1 Steam Nitrate salt/water 1981
SUNSHINE Japan 1 Steam Nitrate salt/water 1981
Solar One U.S.A. 10 Steam Oil/rock 1982
CESA-1 Spain 1 Steam Nitrate salt 1982
MSEE/Cat B U.S.A. 1 Nitrate salt Nitrate salt 1983
THEMIS France 2.5 Hitec salt Hitech salt 1984
SPP-5 Russia 5 Steam Water/steam 1986
TSA Spain 1 Air Ceramic 1993
Solar Two U.S.A. 10 Nitrate salt Nitrate salt 1996
Consolar Israel 0.5* Pressurized air Fossil hybrid 2001
Solgate Spain 0.3 Pressurized air Fossil hybrid 2002
PS10 Spain 11 Water/steam Saturated steam 2006
PS20 Spain 20 Water/steam Saturated steam 2009
Gemasolar** Spain 17 Nitrate salt Nitrate salt 2011
* Thermal
** Project under construction.

nual efficiency decreases to 15.4%, including operational losses algorithms in central control systems applied to aiming point strate­
and outages. PS10 is a milestone in the CRS deployment process, gies at heliostat fields allows achieving a flexible operation with
since it is the first solar power tower plant developed for commer- multi-aperture receivers. The company Abengoa Solar, developer
cial exploitation. Commercial operation started in June 21st 2007. of PS10 and PS20, is at present designing a superheated steam re-
Since then the plant is performing as designed. The construction ceiver for a new generation of water/steam plants [59].
of PS20, a 20 MWe plant with the same technology as PS10, fol- China also has selected superheated steam for the first tower
lowed. PS20 started operation in May 2009. With 1,255 heliostats construction (Dahan) of 1 MW located in Yanqing, 65 km North
(120 m2 each) spread over 90 ha and with a tower of 165 m high, of Beijing. It is a small project promoted by the Chinese Ministry
the plant is expected to produce 48.9 GWh/year. of Science and Technology and the Chinese Academy of Science.
Saturated steam plants are considered a temporary step to the The water/steam receiver is a joint development with Korea.
more efficient superheated steam systems. Considering the prob- But the most advanced strategy is the program announced by the
lems found in the 1980s with superheated steam receivers, the cur- BrightSource Industries (Israel) Ltd (BSII), is that it has already
rent trend is to develop dual receivers with independent absorbers, built a demonstration plant of 6 MWth located at the Neguev des-
one of them for the preheating and evaporation and another one for sert in June 2008 [44]. The final objective of BSII is to promote
the superheating step. The experience accumulated with heuristic plants producing superheated steam at 160 bar and temperature of

Fig. 3.16 Basic scheme of PS10 solar thermal power plant with saturated steam as thermal fluid
(Source: Abengoa Solar, S.A.) (All rights reserved on Figure 3.16 to Abengoa Solar, S.A. © 2010)
3-18  •  Chapter 3

Table 3.5 Annual energy balance for the PS10 plant at nominal conditions

Nominal rate operation

Optical efficiency 77.0% 67.5 MW à 51.9 MW
Receiver and heat handling efficiency 92.0% 51.9 MW à 47.7 MW
Thermal power to storage 11.9 MW
Thermal power to turbine 35.8 MW
Thermal power/electric power efficiency 30.7% 35.8 MW à 11.0 MW
Total efficiency at nominal rate 21.7%
Energetical balance in annual basis
Mean annual optical efficiency 64.0% 148.63 GWh à 95.12 GWh
Mean annual receiver & heat handling efficiency 90.2% 95.12 GWh à 85.80 GWh
Operational efficiency (start-up/stop) 92.0% 85.80 GWh à 78.94 GWh
Operational efficiency (breakages, O&M) 95.0% 78.94 GWhà 75.00 GWh
Mean annual thermal energy /electricity efficiency 30.6% 75.00 GWhà 23.0 GWh
Total annual efficiency 15.4%

565ºC (named DPT550). With those characteristics, they expect heat transfer fluid and thermal storage media. To be usable, the
up to 40% conversion efficiency at the power block for unit sizes operating range of the molten nitrate salt, a mixture of 60% sodium
between 100 and 200 MW. The receiver is cylindrical, dual and nitrate and 40% potassium nitrate, must match the operating tem-
with a drum. The first commercial Project under development in peratures of modern Rankine cycle turbines. In a molten-salt power
California is Ivanpah Solar in California of 400 MW and expected tower plant, cold salt at 290°C is pumped from a tank at ground
to commission in 2012, followed by a 1.8 GW unit more in Califor- level to the receiver mounted atop a tower where it is heated by
nia and 400 MW unit in Nevada [2]. Planned conversion efficiency concentrated sunlight to 565°C. The salt flows back to ground level
from solar to electricity is 20%. into another tank. To generate electricity, hot salt is pumped from
The combination of recent initiatives on small heliostats, com- the hot tank through a steam generator to make superheated steam.
pact modular multi-tower fields and production of superheated The superheated steam powers a Rankine-cycle turbine. The col-
steam may be clearly visualized in the development program of the lector field can be sized to collect more power than is demanded by
company eSolar. This company proposes a high degree of modu- the steam generator system, and the excess salt is accumulated in
larity with power units of 46 MW covering 64 ha, consisting of the hot storage tank. With this type of storage system, solar power
16 towers and their corresponding heliostat fields sharing a sin- tower plants can be built with annual capacity factors up to 70%.
gle central power block. With replication, modularity sizes up to As molten salt has a high-energy storage capacity per volume (up
500 MW and upward may be obtained [60]. Within the develop- to 500–700 kWh/m3), they are excellent candidates for solar ther-
ment program of STE in the US, eSolar has four plants totalizing mal power plants with large capacity factors. Even though nitrate
334 MW [2]. Figure 3.17 depicts the first two modules of 2.5 MW salt has a lower specific heat capacity per volume than carbonates,
each installed in 2009 by eSolar in Lancaster, California, and al- they still store 250 kWh/m3. The average heat conductivity of ni-
ready in operation. It can be observed that each receiver has two
independent cavities and the heliostat layout consists of identical
arrays to maximize replication and modularity that clearly penalizes
optical efficiency and cosine factor. Each tower is associated with
12,180 flat heliostats of 1.14 m2 each and a single 46 MW com-
mercial plant would contain 194,880 heliostats [45]. The receiv-
ers are dual-cavity, natural-circulation boilers. Inside the cavity,
the feedwater is preheated with economizer panels before entering
the steam drum. A downcomer supplies water to evaporator panels
where it is boiled. The saturated water/vapor mixture returns to the
drum where the steam is separated, enters superheater panels, and
reaches 440°C at 6.0 MPa. Each receiver absorbs a full-load power
of 8.8 MWth. Overall plant efficiency expected by eSolar would be
23% solar to electricity [60].

3.5.4  olten Salt Systems: Solar Two and

M
Gemasolar Fig. 3.17  First experimental example in the
world of a multitower solar array corre-
For high annual capacity factors, solar-only power plants must
sponding to eSolar’s Sierra Solar generating
have an integrated cost-effective thermal storage system. One such station with two full-sized heliostat fields in
thermal storage system employs molten nitrate salt as the receiver Lancaster, California (Source: eSolar)
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  3-19

trates is 0.52 W/mK and their heat capacity is about 1.6 kJ/kgK. The plant is designed to operate around-the-clock in summertime,
Nitrates are a cheap solution for large storage systems. leading to an annual capacity factor of 74%. Fossil backup cor-
Several molten salt development and demonstration experi- responding to 15% of annual production will be added. The lev-
ments have been conducted over the past two decades in the US elized energy costs are estimated to be approximately $0.16/kWh.
and Europe to test entire systems and develop components. The Gemasolar might represent a breakthrough for STE technology.
largest demonstration of a molten-salt power tower was the Solar Construction works started in November 2008 and commercial op-
Two project, a 10-MW power tower located near Barstow, CA. eration is scheduled for May 2011.
The purpose of the Solar Two project was to validate the techni-
cal characteristics of the molten-salt receiver, thermal storage, and
steam generator technologies, improve the accuracy of economic
projections for commercial projects by increasing the capital, op- 3.6 DISH/STIRLING SYSTEMS
erating, and maintenance cost database, and distribute information
3.6.1  ish–Stirling Technology: Subsystems and
D
to utilities and the solar industry to foster a wider interest in the
first commercial plants. The Solar Two plant was built at the same Components
site as the Solar One pilot plant and reused much of the hardware Dish–Stirling systems track the sun and focus solar energy onto
including the heliostat collector field, tower structure, 10 MW tur- a cavity receiver, where it is absorbed and transferred to a heat
bine and balance of plant. A new, 110 MWht two-tank molten-salt engine/generator. An electrical generator, directly connected to
thermal storage system was installed, as well as a new 42 MWth the crankshaft of the engine, converts the mechanical energy into
receiver, a 35 MWth steam generator system (535°C, 100 bar), and electricity (AC). To constantly keep the reflected radiation at the
master control system [61]. focal point during the day, a sun-tracking system continuously ro-
The plant began operating in June 1996. The project success- tates the solar concentrator on two axes following the daily path of
fully demonstrated the potential of nitrate-salt technology. Some the sun. With current technologies, a 5 kWe Dish–Stirling system
of the key results were: receiver efficiency was measured at 88%, would require 5.5 m diameter concentrator, and for 25 kWe, the
the thermal storage system had a measured round-trip efficiency diameter would have to increase up to 10 m. Stirling engines are
of over 97%, and the gross Rankine-turbine cycle efficiency was preferred for these systems because of their high efficiencies (40%
34%, all of which matched performance projections. On one oc- thermal-to-mechanical), high-power density (40–70 kW/liter), and
casion, the plant operated around-the-clock for 154 hours straight potential for long-term, low-maintenance operation. Dish–Stirling
[62]. On April 8, 1999, testing and evaluation of this demonstra- systems are modular, i.e., each system is a self-contained power
tion project was completed and subsequently was shut down. generator, allowing their assembly in plants ranging in size from a
To reduce the risks associated with scaling up hardware, the few kilowatts to tens of megawatts [65].
first commercial molten-salt power tower should be approximately The concentrator is a key element of any Dish–Stirling system.
three times the size of Solar Two. One attempt to prove scaled-up The curved reflective surface can be manufactured by attached
molten-salt technology is the Gemasolar project being promoted by segments, by individual facets or by stretched membranes shaped
Torresol Energy, a joint venture between the Spanish SENER and by a continuous plenum. In all cases, the curved surface should
MASDAR initiative from Abbu Dhabi ([63], [64]). Table 3.6 sum- be coated or covered by aluminum or silver reflectors. Second-
marizes the main technical specifications of Gemasolar project. surface glass mirrors, front surface thin-glass mirrors or polymer
With only 17 MWe, the plant is predicted to produce 112 GWhe/ films have been used in various different prototypes.
year. A large heliostat field of 304,750 m2 (115 m2 each heliostat) First-generation parabolic dishes developed in the 1980s were
is oversized to supply 15-hour equivalent heat storage capacity. shaped with multiple, spherical mirrors supported by a trussed
structure [66]. Though extremely efficient, this structure concept
was costly and heavy. The introduction of automotive industry
Table 3.6 Technical specifications and design concepts and manufacturing processes has led to optimized com-
performance of the Gemasolar project mercial versions like the 25-kW SunCatcher system developed by
the company Stirling Energy Systems (Fig. 3.18) that has earned
Technical specifications the world’s highest recorded peak efficiency rating, 31.25%, for
converting solar energy-to-grid quality electricity. Another good
Heliostat field reflectant surface 304,750 m2 example of the latest developments in Dish–Stirling systems is the
Number heliostats 2650 10-kW Eurodish prototype. The Eurodish concentrator consists of
12 single segments made of fiber glass resin. When mounted, the
Land area of solar field 142 ha segments form an 8.5-m diameter parabolic shell. The shell rim is
Receiver thermal power 120 MWth stiffened by a ring truss to which bearings and the Stirling support
Tower height 145 m structure are later attached. Thin 0.8‑mm-thick glass mirrors, are
Heat storage capacity 15 hours glued onto the front of the segments for durable and high reflectiv-
Power at turbine 17 MWe ity around 94% [67].
Power NG burner 16 MWth As in central receivers and parabolic trough absorbers, the re-
Operation ceiver absorbs the light and transfers the energy as heat to the
engine’s working gas, usually helium or hydrogen. Thermal fluid
Annual electricity production 112 MWhe working temperatures are between 650ºC and 750ºC. This temper-
Production from fossil (annual) 15% ature strongly influences the efficiency of the engine. Because of
Capacity factor 74% the high operating temperatures, radiation losses strongly penalize
3-20  •  Chapter 3

Fig. 3.18 Row of dish-Stirling systems (Stirling Energy Systems SunCatcher) of 25 kW each at the Mar-
icopa solar plant in Arizona (Source: Stirling Energy Systems)

the efficiency of the receiver; therefore, a cavity design is the opti- heated and cooled in constant-temperature, constant-volume pro­
mum solution for this kind of system. cesses (Fig. 3.19). This possibility of integrating additional exter-
Two different heat transfer methods are commonly used in nal heat what makes it an ideal candidate for solar applications.
parabolic dish receivers [68]. In directly illuminated receivers, the Since the Stirling cycle is very similar to the Carnot cycle, the theo-
same fluid used inside the engine is externally heated in the re- retical efficiency is high. High reversibility is achieved since work
ceiver through a pipe bundle. In indirect receivers, an intermediate is supplied to and extracted from the engine at isothermal condi-
fluid and a heat pipe is used to decouple solar flux and working tions. The clever use of a regenerator that collects the heat during
temperature from the engine fluid. The phase change guarantees constant-volume cooling and heating substantially enhances the fi-
good temperature control, providing uniform heating of the Stir- nal system efficiency. For most engine designs, power is extracted
ling engine [69]. by kinematics of the rotating crankshaft connected to the pistons
Stirling engines solarized for parabolic dishes are externally by a connecting rod. An example of a kinematic Stirling engine
heated gas-phase engines in which the working gas is alternately is shown in Fig. 3.20. Though theoretically, Stirling engines may

Fig. 3.19 Ideal Stirling cycle presents isothermal compression and expansion plus a regenerator
That leads to a high thermodynamic efficiency
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  3-21

have a high life-cycle projection, the actual fact is that today their similar to those of Advanco/Vanguard [66]. The project was fro-
availability is still not satisfactory, since an important percentage zen for several years until in 1996, Stirling Energy Systems (SES)
of operating failures and outages are caused by pistons and moving acquired the intellectual and technology rights to the concentra-
mechanical components. Availability is, therefore, one of the key tor and the US manufacturing rights to what is now called the
issues, since it must operate for more than 40,000 hours in 20-year Kockums, 4-95 Stirling engine-based PCU [65]. The re-designed
lifetime, or ten times more than an automobile engine. One option 25-kWe system named SunCatcher is being qualified in a com-
to improve availability is the use of free-piston designs. Free-piston mercial basis at the Maricopa Solar Plant in Arizona (Fig. 3.20).
engines make use of gas or a mechanical spring so that mechanical The plant totalizes 1.5 MW with 60 dishes and is in operation since
connections are not required to move reciprocating pistons. Appar- January 2010. Commercialization is expected in California with
ently, they are better than kinematic engines in terms of availabil- two large plants of about 800 MW each.
ity and reliability. The most relevant program in developing dishes In Europe the most important development is the EuroDish sys-
with free-piston technology is promoted by the company Infinia. tem. The EuroDish project is a joint venture undertaken by the
European Community, German/Spanish Industry (SBP, MERO,
3.6.2 Dish–Stirling Developments Klein+Stekl, Inabensa), and research institutions DLR and
Like the other CSP technologies, practical Dish–Stirling de- CIEMAT. The engine used in the EuroDish is SOLO Kleinmo-
velopment started in the early 1980s. Most development has been toren 161. Two new 10-kW EuroDish units were installed at the
concentrated in the US and Germany, though developed for com- Plataforma Solar de Almeria, Spain, early in 2001 for testing and
mercial markets they have been tested in a small number of units demonstration. In a follow-up project called EnviroDish, additional
[70]. units were deployed in France, India, Italy and Spain to accumulate
The first generation of dishes was a facet-type concentrator operating experience at different sites. The peak system efficiency
with second-surface mirrors that already established concentration was first measured at 20%. The estimated annual production of
records (C = 3000), and had excellent performances, though their a EuroDish system operating in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is
estimated costs for mass production were above $300/m2. Their ro- 20,252 kWh of electricity with 90% availability and an annual ef-
bust structures were extremely heavy, weighing at 100 kg/m2 [55]. ficiency of 15.7% [65]. SBP and the associated EuroDish indus-
The 25 kW Vanguard-1 prototype built by Advanco was operated try have performed cost estimates for a yearly production rate of
at Rancho Mirage, California, in the Mojave desert in production 500 units per year (5 MW/year) and 5000 units per year, which
mode for 18 months (February 1984 to June 1985). This system corresponds to 50 MW/year. The actual cost of the 10-kW unit
was 10.7 m in diameter with a reflecting surface of 86.7 m2 and without transportation and installation cost and excluding founda-
a 25 kW PCU made by United Stirling AB (USAB) model 4-95 tions is approximately US$10,000/kW. The cost projections at pro-
Mark II. This engine had four cylinders with a 95 cm3 cylinder dis- duction rates of 500 and 5000 units per year are US$2,500/kW and
placement. The working gas was hydrogen at a maximum pressure US$1,500/kW, respectively based upon replication of automotive
of 20 MPa and temperature of 720ºC. Engine power was control- mass-production processes.
led by varying the working-gas pressure. McDonnell Douglas later
developed another somewhat improved dish system making use
of the same technology and the same engine. The dish was 10.5 m 3.7  ECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT
T
and 25 kW. The 88 m2 parabolic dish consisted of 82 spherically
curved glass facets. Reported performances and efficiencies were
NEEDS AND MARKET
OPPORTUNITIES FOR SOLAR
THERMAL ELECTRICITY (STE)
From the 1970s to the 1990s the development of solar thermal
electricity technologies remained restricted to a few countries and
only a few, though important, research institutions and industries
were involved. The situation has dramatically changed since 2006
with the approval of specific feed-in-tariffs or power purchase
agreements in Spain and the US. Both countries with more than
6 GW of projects under development and more than 1 GW in oper-
ation at the end of 2010 are undoubtedly leading the commerciali-
zation of STE [2]. Other countries such as India, China, Australia
and Italy adopted the STE process. Subsequently a number and va-
riety of engineering and construction companies, consultants, tech-
nologists and developers committed to STE are rapidly growing.
A clear indicator of the globalization of STE commercial de-
ployment for the future energy scenario has been elaborated by the
International Energy Agency (IEA). This considers STE to play
a significant role among the necessary mix of energy technologies
Fig. 3.20 Kinematic Stirling engine V-161 of 10 kWe for halving global energy-related CO2 emissions by 2050 [5]. This
manufactured by Solo Kleinmotoren with pis- scenario would require capacity addition of about 14 GW/year (55
tons situated in V and connected to a tubular new solar thermal power plants of 250 MW each). However, this
array heat exchanger (Source: Solo Kleinmotoren) new opportunity is introducing an important stress to the developers
3-22  •  Chapter 3

of STE. In a period of less than 5 years, in different parts of the Reduce costs through:
world, these developers of STE are forced to move from strategies
·  improved designs, materials, components, subsystems and
oriented to early commercialization markets based upon special
processes;
tariffs, to strategies oriented to a massive production of compo-
·  exploitation of economies of scale.
nents and the development of large amounts of projects with less
profitable tariffs. This situation is speeding up the implementation Increase solar share through:
of second generation technologies even though in some cases still
·  suitable process design;
some innovations are under assessment in early commercialization
·  integration of storage.
plants or demonstration projects. The projected evolution of Lev-
elized Electricity Costs of different STE technologies is depicted In all cases, R&D is multi-disciplinary, involving optics, materi-
in Fig. 3.21. LEC value may be reduced an additional 30% when als science, heat transfer, control, instrumentation and measure-
moving to future sites with very high Direct Normal Irradiance. ment techniques, energy engineering and thermal storage.
The reduction in electricity production costs should be a con-
sequence, not only of mass production but also of scaling-up and 3.7.1 Trough and Linear Fresnel Power Plants
R&D. A technology roadmap promoted by the European Indus- To further reduce costs and increase reliability in next genera-
try Association ESTELA [7] states that by 2015, when most of tion PTC and LFR technology, the following are expected:
the improvements currently under development are expected to
be implemented in new plants, energy production boosts greater ·  Lighter and lower-cost structural designs including front sur-
than 10% and cost decreases up to 20% are expected to be face mirrors with high solar-weighted reflectivity of about
achieved. Furthermore, economies of scale resulting from plant 95%.
size increase will also contribute to reduce plants’ CAPEX per ·  Development of high-absorptance coatings for tube receivers
MW installed up to 30%. STE deployment in locations with very (96% and higher) able to work efficiently at over 500ºC.
high solar radiation further contributes to the achievement of cost ·  Development of medium temperature thermal energy stor-
competitiveness of this technology by reducing costs of electric- age systems (Phase Change Materials, molten salts, concrete)
ity up to 25%. All these factors can lead to electricity generation suitable for solar-only systems;
cost savings up to 30% by 2015 and up to 50% by 2025, reaching ·  Continued improvement in overall system O&M, including
competitive levels with conventional sources (e.g., coal/gas with mirror cleaning, integral automation and largely unattended
stabilized Electricity Costs <10€c/kWh). Similar projections are control;
published in another recent roadmap issued by the IEA [71]. ·  System cost reductions and efficiency improvements from
Other roadmaps coordinated by R&D centers expect larger influ- substituting water for synthetic oil as the heat-transfer fluid
ence of innovations (up to 25%) in cost reduction [72]. Some of (Direct Steam Generation technology)
the key general topics on medium to long-term R&D proposed by
the STE community are [22]: 3.7.2 Power Tower Plants
Build confidence in the technology through: Power tower R&D in the United States, Europe, and Israel is
concentrated in the two most relevant subsystems with regard to
·  pilot applications based on proven technologies; costs: heliostat field and solar receiver. The following improve-
·  high reliability of unattended operation; ments are expected:
·  increased system efficiency through higher design tempera- Improvements in the heliostat field as a result of better optical
tures; properties, lower cost structures, and better control. Improvements
·  hybrid (solar/fossil fuel) plants with small solar share. in materials should be analogous to those for trough collectors.

Fig. 3.21 Evolution of Levelized Electricity Cost for STE technologies based upon technology road-
maps and industry
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  3-23

In general terms, optical performance and durability of existing m2 square meter

heliostats is acceptable (95% availability and beam quality below mbar millibar
2.5 mrad), therefore, R&D resources should focus basically on cost mrad milliradian
reduction. MW Megawatts (106 Watts)
Development of water/superheated steam and advanced air- MWe Megawatts electric (106 Watts)
cooled volumetric receivers using both wire-mesh absorbers and MWth Megawatts thermal (106 Watts)
ceramic monoliths is the subject of various projects. Dual-aperture NSO Nevada Solar One
receivers for water/steam and volumetric receivers for air still need O&M Operation and Maintenance
further development for scale-up, materials durability and thermal PCM Phase Change Material
efficiency. PTC Parabolic Trough Collector
Heat storage is another key issue for CRS development. The PV Photovoltaics
new developments in air-cooled receivers have led to the devel- R&D Research and Development
opment of advanced thermocline storage systems making use of SEGS Solar Electricity Generating Systems
packed-bed ceramic materials. This system has shown excellent SHP Solar Heat and Power
performance for small units of a few MWh but pressure losses and SPG Solar Power Group
design restrictions appear when size is increased. STE Solar Thermal Electricity
Finally, more distributed control architectures, system integra- TWh TeraWatt hour (1012 Wh)
tion and hybridization in high-efficiency electricity production W/mK Watts per meter and Kelvin
schemes should be developed as already mentioned for trough
systems.
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heated Steam Generation In Solar Towers, As An Option For Increas- org/data/vgborg_/Forschung/roadmap252.pdf.
 chapter

4
SOLAR ENERGY APPLICATIONS IN INDIA
Rangan Banerjee
4.1 INTRODUCTION Udaya Semiconductors manufactured solar cells in India. Since
1992, the manufacture of solar cells was liberalized. At present,
India has a population of 1.1 billion people (1/6th of the world the solar cell and module manufacture is predominantly driven by
population) and accounts for less than 5% of the global primary en- large private sector companies like Tata BP Solar, Moser Baer [8].
ergy consumption. India’s power sector had an installed capacity Figure 4.4 shows the trend in growth of production capacity of
of 159,650 MW [1] as on 30th April, 2010. The share of installed cells and modules. A large part of the PV manufacturing capacity
capacity from different sources is shown in Fig. 4.1. (70% or more) caters to the international market. At present, in the
The annual generation was 724 Billion units during 2008–2009 established PV plants, the capacity utilization of installed produc-
with an average electricity use of 704 kWh/person/year. Most states tion capacity is above 90%. During 1999–2009, India’s PV module
have peak and energy deficits. The average energy deficit is about production has increased from about 11 MW/year to about 240
8.2% for energy and 12.6% for peak [1]. About 96,000 villages are MW/year (a compound annual growth rate of 36 % per year).
unelectrified (16% of total villages in India) and a large proportion Figure 4.5 shows the cumulative deployment of PV modules
of the households do not have access to electricity. produced in India. It can be seen that exports accounted for 525
India’s development strategy is to provide access to energy to all MW (66%) of the total module production. PV applications in-
households. Official projections indicate the need to add another clude solar lanterns, solar home lighting and street lighting, solar
100,000 MW within the next decade. The scarcity of fossil fuels power plants (isolated-off grid) and grid-connected systems, and
and the global warming and climate change problem has resulted PV for telecom applications. Almost all the commercial PV capac-
in an increased emphasis on renewable energy sources. India has a ity is based on crystalline silicon. Recently, Moser Baer has set
dedicated ministry focussing on renewables (Ministry of New and up an 80-MW capacity line for manufacture of amorphous silicon
Renewable Energy, MNRE). The installed capacity of grid con- modules.
nected renewables is more than 15,000 MW. The main sources Solar thermal systems are indigenously available for water heat-
of renewable energy in the present supply mix are wind, small ing, drying and cooking. Figure 4.6 shows the trend in the growth
hydro- and biomass-based power and cogeneration. In 2010, India of the cumulative installed capacity of flat plate collectors in India.
has launched the Jawaharlal Nehru Solar Mission (JNSM) as a part The actual installation of solar hot water systems was about 3.5
of its climate change mission with an aim to develop cost-effective million m2 in March 2010 [10]. The installed solar hot water col-
solar power solutions. lectors in India are about 3.5 m2/1000 people in India as compared
Most of India enjoys excellent solar insolation. Almost the en- to the world average of 30 m2/1000 people. Cities like Bangalore
tire country has insolation greater than 1900 kWh/m2/year with and Pune have a large number of solar hot water installations in
about 300 days of sunshine. Figure 4.2 shows a map with the domestic buildings.
insolation ranges for different parts of the country. The high-
est insolation (greater than 2300 kWh/m2/year) is in the state of
Rajasthan in the north of the country. The solar radiation (beam,
4.3 GRID CONNECTED PV SYSTEMS
diffuse, daily normal insolation) values are available at different
locations from the handbook of solar radiation data for India [2] The progress of grid connected PV systems in India was slow
and at 23 sites from an Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) till 2008. The capacity of the largest grid connected PV system in
MNRE report [3]. 2008 was 239 kW. The average capacity factor of grid connected
PV systems was 14% in 2002–2003. Recent efforts to provide a
preferential tariff for solar PV and the launch of the JNSM has
4.2 STATUS AND TRENDS resulted in an increased emphasis on grid connected PV systems.
In December 2009, two MW scale grid connected PV plants were
Figure 4.3 shows the different end uses for energy. For solar en- installed at Jamuria, Asansol, West Bengal (Fig. 4.7) [9] and
ergy applications the two distinct routes are solar photovoltaics (PV) Amritsar in Punjab resulting in an increase in the present installed
and solar thermal. An overview of solar PV [4, 5] and solar thermal grid connected PV power to 6 MW. In 2009–2010, a total of 8 MW
[5–7] reveals steady growth and developments in applications. of grid connected PV plants were installed taking the total grid
The Indian PV industry started in 1976 with the research and connected PV capacity to 10 MW.
development efforts of Central Electronics (CEL). In the 1980s, The largest grid connected system in India is a 3 MW system at
public sector undertakings like CEL, Bharat Heavy Electricals and Yalesandra in Kolar district in Karnataka (Fig. 4.8) (commissioned
4-  •  Chapter 4

operation and bill collection. Some of these systems are trying out
prepaid metering [13].
Figure 4.9 shows a schematic of a solar PV power system along
with typical voltage values. One of the main issues in an isolated
system is matching the supply with the demand. Figure 4.10 shows
the load profile measured on a typical PV village electrification
project. Several attempts have been made to improve the capacity
factor and the economic viability by linking with a constant/base
load. In many of the island grids solar photovoltaic systems have
been hybridised with the existing diesel micro-grids. BHEL has
installed a 50 kW (peak) PV system along with a diesel engine
generator and battery storage (two 75-kVA diesel generators) at
Bangaram island in Lakshwadeep in 2006 [15]. The system oper-
ates as a 24 hour power supply for the island.

4.5  OLAR THERMAL COOKING

S
SYSTEMS
In India, the first solar cookers were developed by the National
Physical Laboratory in 1954 with a circular parabolic reflector fo-
Fig. 4.1  Share of power generation Installed cussing on to a cooking pot. Subsequently, box type solar cookers
capacity 2010 [1] were developed in 1961. It is estimated that about 0.5 million solar
cookers have been installed in the country [17, 18]. Most of these
cookers are used for supplementary cooking.
In the early 1990s, solar dish cooker for community application
in June 2010) [11] at a cost of Rs. 590 million (14 million US $). (Scheffler cooker) was developed and manufactured in India. The
The system has twelve 250 kW inverters supplying power to the aperture area of the dish is about 7 m2. The automatically tracked
grid at 11 kV level. The cost of electricity generation is estimated parabolic reflector is located outside the kitchen and reflects the
to be Rs 16.9 /kWh and the plant occupies an area of 15 acres. A
simulation of the output of 1 MW peak rated power plant located in
different regions of India reveals the effect of varying solar insola-
tion and ambient temperature [12]. The annual generation from a
1 MW peak plant varies from 1752 MWh in Rajasthan (cost of gen-
erated electricity Rs13 or US 26 ¢/kWh) to 1462 MWh in Kolkata
(Rs 16.5 or US 33 ¢/kWh) [12].

4.4  ILLAGE ELECTRIFICATION

V
USING SOLAR PV
It is difficult to obtain accurate data on the number of village
electrification systems using solar PV that are operational in the
country. Table 4.1 provides an estimate of different systems in se-
lect states. Many systems are 4- to 6-hour grids only meeting the
residential loads during the evening. Systems can be single phase
AC or three-phase AC. Table 4.2 provides an estimate of the ca-
pacity factor of a few sample village electrification systems. An
analysis of sample systems [7] reveals that the average cost of sup-
ply can be reduced by 25% (average value Rs. 32/kWh) or more
through optimal sizing and distribution planning.
There are several examples of successful solar PV distributed
generation systems in the islands. For example, the nine solar mini-
grids in the Sunderbans installed by the West Bengal Renewable
Energy Development Agency have a total peak rating of 345 kW
and meets the needs of 1750 consumers. An example of a 26 kW
peak system in the Sundarbans (battery capacity 2 V, 800 Ah) had
a capital cost of Rs 10.6 million Rupees and supplied 120 users
[13]. The users paid a fixed monthly connection charge of Rs1000.
The model used in the Sunderbans was to have a fixed monthly
charge irrespective of use but couple it with loads limiters for each Fig. 4.2 Average annual daily normal insola-
connection. Village co-operatives would be responsible for plant tion for India Data Source [3]
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  4-

End-uses

Cooking Transport Electricity Cooling Heating

Cooling Motive Power Lighting Heating

Fig. 4.3 Energy end-uses [4]

incident solar energy through an opening in its mouth wall. A sec- 4.6  OLAR THERMAL HOT WATER
S
ondary reflector is used to focus the solar radiation on to the cook- SYSTEMS
ing vessel. Figure 4.11 shows a schematic of a Scheffler cooker.
Table 4.3 lists some of the large community installations of solar Solar thermal hot water heaters are a manufactured, installed
cooking in India. The cooking system installed at Tirumala Tirupati and serviced by indigenous manufacturers. There are 56 Bureau of
Devasthanam at Tirumala in Andhra Pradesh (see Fig. 4.12) is Indian Standards (BIS) approved manufacturers of flat plate collec-
considered to be one of the world’s largest solar cooking system, tors and 23 MNRE approved manufacturers (assemblers) of evacu-
consisting of 106 automatically track parabolic concentrator’s gen- ated tube-based systems in the country. The actual installation is
erates steam. This system was installed in 2002 with a capital cost about 3.5 million m2 in 2010 [9]. The cost of a typical 100 litres
of Rs. 11 million. The system generates 4 tonnes of steam per day per day household system is about Rs 20,000 (US 500$). Most of
180°C (10 kg/cm2 pressure). Government provided 50% subsidy the manufacturers are small and medium size companies with no
for this plant. It is estimated that the savings are around 118,000 L single manufacturer having more than 15 % share [22]. Figure 4.13
of diesel per year. shows a 25,000 lpd solar water heating system installed at a student
In 2006, 300 community solar dish cookers (2.3 m diameter) hostel at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay at Mumbai
were installed in tribal school in Maharashtra. The project cost was 23]. The residential sector accounts for 80% of the total solar water
Rs. Eight million and estimated LPG savings was 110 kg annually heater demand. Other potential users are hotels and hospitals.
resulting in a payback period of 6 years [19]. A framework was proposed for estimation of potential of solar
Solar concentrator systems generating steam seem suitable for water heating systems for a target area and a country [24, 25]. The
community kitchens, hotels. The technology is available though framework has been applied to Pune and extrapolated to get the
the payback period for LPG replacement is about 6 years. potential of solar water heating in India. The estimated potential

250
PV modules
PV cells
200
Production (MW)

150

100

50

0
1986 1991 1996 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Year
Fig. 4.5 Cumulative production (in MW) of solar
Fig. 4.4 Growth of production capacity of cells PV in India Source: Mnre Presentation, Solar Energy Con-
and modules Data Source [9, 4] clave, January 2010
4-  •  Chapter 4

Installed Capacity of Solar Water Heating Systems (million sq.m.)

3.5

2.5

1.5

0.5

0
1989-90 1991-92 1993-94 1995-96 1997-98 1999-00 2001-02 2003-04 2005-06 2007-08 2009-10
Year

Fig. 4.6 Growth of solar water heating systems in India [4]

of solar water heating in India is 60 million m2 leading to annual 4.7  OLAR THERMAL SYSTEMS FOR
S
electricity savings of 12.2 billion kWh, The potential estimated is INDUSTRIES
used for the synthesis of S-curve for solar water heating systems
(Fig 4.14). The payback periods for hotels and hospitals range be- Many industries have low-temperature process heat requirements
tween 2 and 4 years while the payback is higher for single house- (hot water, steam) which is ideal for the application of solar ther-
holds due to the discrete sizes of solar water heaters available, mal systems. In India, there have been several installations of flat
morning peak hot water usage patterns. plate and evacuated installations of flat plate and evacuated tubu-
Figure 4.15 shows an estimation of the impact of electric water lar collectors for preheating boiler feedwater and low-temperature
heaters on the load curve for Pune in Maharashtra [26]. It can be seen process heating.
that electric water heating contributes significantly to the morning
peak of the utility. Solar water heaters can effectively reduce morn-
ing peak. The MNRE provides an interest subsidy for end-users and a
capital subsidy for government institutions. Some state governments
(Delhi) also offer a capital subsidy. Some municipalities like Banga-
lore, Thane, and Kalyan are making solar water heaters compulsory
for new housing units, hotels, and hospitals.

Fig. 4.7  1 MW SPV Power Plant installed by West

Bengal Green Development Corporation Limited Fig. 4.8  3 MW system at Yalesandra in Kolar dis-
at Jamuria Village in Asansol, West Bengal [9] trict in Karnataka [11]
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  4-

Table 4.1  Sample isolated solar PV power plants in India

Name of the plant PV capacity Inverter Battery Battery Connected Number of Plant capacity
(kWp) capacity capacity voltage (V) load (kW) households factor (%)
(kVA) (Ah)
Dound-II, Chattisgargh 1 1.5 200 48 0.3 25 5.8
Latdadar, Chattisgargh 2 3 400 48 0.7 30 7.1
Chatal, Chattisgargh 3 5 400 48 0.7 24 4.4
Gudagarh, Chattisgargh 4 5 800 48 1.2 60 6.3
Sura, Udaipur, 17.25 15 1200 120 5.0 50 7.3
Rajasthan
Nurda Village, Jharkhand 28 20 1200 120 9.5 350 8.5
Anandgarh, Bikaner, 34.5 2*15 2*1200 120 10 50 7.5
Rajasthan.
Source: http://mapunity.org/projects/gvep and Rajasthan Renewable Energy Corporation (RREC).

A solar pond of 6000 m2 was constructed at Bhuj in Gujarat to pro- A municipal hospital of the Thane Municipal Corporation in
vide process heat to a dairy in 1990 to 1991. Table 4.4 provides a Kalwa, near Mumbai has installed a 160 tonnes of Refrigeration plant
few examples of industrial solar flat plate water heating systems in based on solar thermal energy has been commissioned in 2010. This
the country. has 184 Scheffler dishes to generate 700 kg/hour of steam that runs
A system of imported line focussing parabolic concentrators for vapor absorption refrigerator to generate chilled water at 7°C. The
producing process steam at 150°C and 100 kg/hour was installed project is developed by Sharada Inventions Nasik at a cost of Rs. 40
at a silk factory in Mysore in 1987 [27]. Scheffler dishes have been million. The system has agro residue-based briquette fired boilers as
used to generate saturated steam at 5 bar (20 dishes of 12.64 m2) a back up to generate steam on cloudy days or days with low solar
in a demonstration project supported by the Ministry of New and insolation. The estimated annual electricity savings is about 1 million
Renewable Energy at the Global Hospital and Research Centre, kWh with money savings of Rs. 4.5 million. The payback period is
Mount Abu. The overall efficiency reported was about 28%. about 9 years. The Government has provided a capital subsidy of Rs.
A Fresnel paraboloid dish (ARUN160) [28] with two-axis tracking 12.4 million reducing the payback period to about 6 years. The system
has been developed by Clique and has been installed at Mahananda also has a solar dehumidifier developed by IIT Bombay.
dairy at Latur in Maharashtra (Fig. 4.16). This is a 160-m2 dish that
is used to replace steam fed from a 1-tonne/hour boiler. Figure 4.17
shows a schematic of its integration into the dairy utility system. The 4.8  OLAR THERMAL POWER
S
boiler can be used as a backup for days where there is inadequate en- GENERATION
ergy from the solar system, resulting in a reliable heat supply system
without any need for storage. Solar dryers have been used in India for India has limited experience in solar thermal power generation.
different crops, food products and timber. It is estimated that more than There was a demonstration 50 kW line focussing parabolic col-
10,000 m2 of dryers are operational in the country [21]. Solar cooling lector demonstration plant (imported) at the solar energy centre at
systems have also been demonstrated based on vapour absorption cy- Gwalpahari (near Delhi) by the Ministry of New and Renewable
cles with lithium bromide-water. A 25-TR (tonnes of refrigeration) Energy. Due to maintenance problems the unit was derated and
solar air conditioning plant with a collector area of 280 m2 has been then combined with a biomass gasifier system.
installed in Ahmedabad [21]. The capital cost is Rs. 5.8 million with An integrated solar combined cycle plant with a 35-MW so-
the solar component accounting for Rs. 4 million. lar component (based on line focussing parabolic collectors) was
planned at Mathania in Rajasthan in early 1990s. However, this
plant was not installed due to problems in obtaining multi-lateral
Table 4.2 Isolated SPV power plants in India [14] funding. Demonstrations units based on imported paraboloid dishes
have been installed near Hyderabad (20 kW rating) and at Vel-
S. no. State PV Capacity No. of power lore (10 kW rating). At present, there are no grid connected solar
(kWp) plants thermal power plants in operation in the country. The launch of the
JNSM has resulted in an increased interest in solar thermal power
1 Maharashtra 5 2 generation.
2 Chattisgargh 1–6 108 There are several indigenous manufacturers who are developing
3 Rajasthan 5–34 83 solar concentrator systems that generate steam either through para-
4 Jharkhand 28 1 bolic trough concentrators (KIE Solatherm), Fresnel paraboloid
5 Orissa 2 11 dish (Clique), Scheffler (Gadhia solar) or Compact Linear Fresnel
6 Haryana 10 – Reflectors (KG Design Services, Coimbatore). An energy sector
7 Mizoram 25 1 manufacturing company Thermax also has planned demonstration
8 UP (NTPC) 11.9 kW 1 projects for solar power generation based on CLFR and parabolic
9 West Bengal 25 kW 15 concentrator technology.
Installed capacity (As on 31/01/2009): 2.8 MWp MNRE has funded a national solar thermal power plant cum
Total number of SPV power plants: 230 nos. testing facility. This is planned as a consortium led by the Indian
 4-  •  Chapter 4

Battery
bank
Distribution feeder 1

Solar PV DC Power AC
array distribution conditioning distribution
board unit board

DC voltage (Volts): 48, 96, 120 and 240

Distribution feeder 2
AC dist. Voltage (Volts) : 230 and 415 Data
acquisition
system

Fig. 4.9  Schematic of SPV power plant [16]

Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai with the Solar Energy lights installed in the country. It is estimated that there are 72 mil-
Centre and several industry partners (Tata Power, TCE, L&T, KIE lion households in India which use kerosene for lighting in rural
Solatherm, Clique). The facility is to be located at the Solar En- India. This represents the target potential for solar lighting sys-
ergy Centre at Gwalpahari (near Delhi) and will supply 1 MW of tems in the country. Table 4.5 provides specifications of some of
electricity to the Haryana grid (during sunshine hours). The plant is the solar PV lanterns and home systems available commercially in
expected to be operational in 2011 and will enable testing of solar India. Innovative financing schemes that enable rural households
components and systems. It is planned to develop a simulator for a and low-income users to afford solar lighting and home systems
solar-based power plant and validate with the prototype plant. The have been implemented by companies like SELCO and a few non-
unique feature of this facility is its ability to integrate and test dif- government organisations. At present, a 90% capital subsidy is
ferent medium and low-temperature solar concentration technolo- available for solar home systems in remote areas. In India, it is
gies. The objective of this facility is to promote the development of estimated that 3600 million liters of kerosene are used for domestic
cost-effective solar thermal power plants in the future in India. lighting [29]. Replacing kerosene-based lighting with solar light-
There is an ongoing research project at IIT Bombay, supported ing systems will result in significant savings in annual kerosene
by MNRE, to develop 3 kW Stirling engine for solar applications. subsidy and carbon dioxide emissions.
At present, there are no indigenous Stirling engine suppliers. In
Pune, there is a group working on integration of solar dishes with
a steam engine at the 10-kW level. 4.10  OLAR MISSION AND FUTURE OF
S
SOLAR IN INDIA
4.9  OLAR LIGHTING AND HOME
S The Jawaharlal Nehru Solar Mission (JNSM) was announced by
SYSTEMS the Indian government in 2009 and formally launched in January

Solar lighting systems in India were developed in the 1970s.

As per the MNRE, there are about 580,000 solar home lighting
systems, 790,000 solar lanterns (Fig. 4.18) and 88,000 solar street

1200.0

1000.0
Average Load
800.0
Load (kW)

600.0

400.0

200.0

0.0
0:00:00 4:48:00 9:36:00 14:24:00 19:12:00 0:00:00

Time (hours)

Fig. 4.10 Load profile taken over a day (5 kW

system) [14] Fig. 4.11  Schematic of a Scheffler cooker [21]
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  4-

Table 4.3 Large Solar cooking installations

in India [4,20]

S. no. Location Cooking Collector area

capacity
people/day
1. Sri Sai Baba 40,000 73 reflective dishes
Sansthan, Shirdi, of 16 m2 each
Maharashtara (1168 m2 )
2. Brahmakumaris 600 75 m2
training centre,
Hubli
3. Brahmakumaris 2000 265 m2
Ashram, Gurgaon,
Haryana
4. Brahmakumaris 10,000 800 m2
Ashram, Talleti, Fig. 4.13  Solar water heating system at IIT
near Mount Abu Bombay, Mumbai [23]
5. Rishi Valley 500 94 m2
School, Chitoor
District, Andhra
Pradesh 43370 million has been approved for implementation of the mis-
6. Tirupalli in 15000 106 collectors of sion till 2013 (1 billion US$) for 1000 MW of grid connected solar
Andhra Pradesh 9.2 m2 each (at the 33 kV level), 100 MW of solar plants at the low tension/
(975 m2) 11 kV level and 200 MW of off-grid solar plants.
7. Auroville, 1000 15 m diameter The National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) one of the
Pondicherry, solar bowl largest public sector generation companies in the world has a fully
Tamil Nadu concentrator owned subsidiary the NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd. (NVVN).
NVVN has been designated as the nodal agency to purchase solar
power fed to 33 kV and above and is expected to bundle solar power
with coal-based power. The power sold through NVVN can be
used to meet the renewable purchase obligations of different Indian
2010. Table 4.6 shows the targets set by the JNSM. It is expected utilities. The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission has noti-
that 20 GW of grid connected solar power will be established in fied a renewable based preferential tariff that is based on a capital
India till 2022. 20 million solar lighting systems is the target set for cost of Rs 170 million/ MW for solar PV and a capacity utilization
2022. Incentives have been announced for rooftop solar PV sys- factor of 19% and a capital cost of Rs 130 million/MW for solar
tems including a generation-based incentive. For off grid systems, thermal and a capacity utilization factor of 23%. This results in an
a capital subsidy and a 5% interest soft loan have been offered. The effective preferential tariff of Rs 18.4/kWh for solar photovoltaics
capital subsidy is about Rs 70 to 90/W peak and about Rs 2100 to and a preferential tariff of Rs 15/ kWh for solar thermal.
6000/m2 for different solar thermal concentrator systems. The sub- Solar water heaters for low-grade heating are already viable for
sidy is estimated to be 30% of the market cost. An amount of Rs residential and commercial applications. These are now ready for

80
Actual installed (million sq. m.)
Diffusion curve
70 Upper limit of uncertainity
Insta lled Ca pa city o f So la r Wa t er H ea ting

Lower limit of uncertainity Potential =60 million sq.m.

60
Systems (million sq. m.)

50

40

30

20

10

0
1988 1998 2008 2018 2028 2038 2048 2058 2068 2078
Year

Fig. 4.12  Solar cooking system at Tirumala Tirupa- Fig. 4.14 Diffusion curves for solar water heat-
ti Devasthanam, Andhra Pradesh [20] ing systems in India [4]
4-  •  Chapter 4

1000
Typical day of January
900
Typical day of May
800
Total Consumpti on =14300 M Wh/day
700
Energy Consumption (MW)

600
53% Total Consumpti on = 13900 M Wh/day
500

400
Total Consumption =760 MWh/day
300

200 Total Consumption = 390 MWh/day

100

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
Hour of day

Total Electricity Consumption of Pune

Electricity Consumption for water heating of Pune

Fig. 4.15 Load curve representing energy re-

quirement for water heating [26]

widespread diffusion and market penetration. Application engi-

neering and optimal sizing is needed to have a larger number of
installations in hotels and hospitals. Changes in the building codes Fig. 4.16 Arun160 at Mahananda Dairy, Latur,
and a regulatory push will enable their faster adoption. A recent Maharashtra [28]
study supported by the MNRE has proposed that utilities provide
a rebate of Rs 75/m2 for solar collectors installed to offset electric
water heating [35] since it results in electrical energy savings and
peak power savings. to promote the next generation of solar thermal power plants in
Solar thermal systems in industry have a significant potential to the country. MNRE and Department of Science and Technology
replace/reduce oil-fired steam generation. At present a few demon- are supporting solar research and training efforts that will enable
stration systems based on dish (ARUN160) and Scheffler technolo- development of cost-effective solar thermal systems.
gies have been installed. It is expected that these technologies along In solar photovoltaics, the incentives provided in the JNSM
with CLFR would effectively diffuse into the industrial steam market. are likely to see the growth of the domestic market — both grid
Technology development and cost reduction efforts are needed in or- connected — large and rooftop and off grid applications. India is
der to penetrate the industrial steam market. likely to significantly increase its production capacity of cells and
For solar thermal power generation a large number of agree- modules. Based on the applications and announcements made by
ments have been signed with many of the international suppliers solar PV companies, it is expected that the cell and module capac-
in the states of Gujarat and Rajasthan. By 2012, it is expected that ity would increase to more than 1000 MW per year by 2012. India
India will have several grid connected solar thermal plants. Indig- has a research based on capabilities in materials, amorphous sili-
enous technology development and operating experience is likely con, thin films, and new solar cell concepts. This is being supported
by the MNRE and the Solar Energy Centre. A National Centre
for Photovoltaics Research and Education has been planned at IIT
Bombay to facilitate and enhance PV research. The entry of com-
Table 4.4 Industrial applications of solar panies like Moser Baer who have a track record of innovation and
flat plate systems [22] cost reduction is likely to drive down costs.
The Indian government has announced its intent to support solar
Comments energy in country through the JNSM and has provided financial
Panchmahal dairy, 20,000 lpd 80°C 236 flat plate support for solar implementation. There exists a manufacturing
Godha preheating boiler collectors storage base in the country that can take up this mission. This needs to be
feed water 20,000 litres supported by a critical mass of researchers and technology devel-
savings 110 litres/ opers. It is important to assess the actual performance of imple-
day furnace oil mentation and cost reduction of solar technologies supported by
the JNSM. The mainstreaming of solar technologies will depend
Synthokem Labs 10,000 lpd boiler 16% reduction
on the innovations and technology solutions provided that will re-
Pvt. Ltd., feed water preheat in energy cost, 2
duce costs and improve reliability. An enabling policy environ-
Hyderabad years payback
ment has been provided by the JNSM. India has a rapidly growing
Kangaroo Industries, Electroplating
energy sector. If technology developers, researchers, and industry
Ludhiana 100 lpd
take up the challenge and develop cost-effective solar solutions,
GFTCL Kakinada 120,000 lpd 1309 collectors,
India can have an increasing solar share in the future energy mix.
Boiler feedwater Payback period 5
Under such a scenario, India has the potential to be a solar manu-
preheating years
facturing hub for the world.
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  4-

Fig. 4.17  Solar system for a dairy in Maharashtra

4.11 CONCLUSION mental in innovative financing for Solar Home systems resulting in
a total deployment of 220,000 Solar Home Systems. In Sri Lanka,
The conditions for solar energy in India are similar to the condi- the Japanese Government has provided assistance of 860 million
tions prevalent in other countries of South Asia — Nepal, Bangla- Yen (INR 350 million) to set up a 400 kW grid connected PV plant
desh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. All these countries have electricity at Hambantota.
shortages and a large proportion of the population without access In India, there is a well-developed indigenous industry for solar
to convenient energy sources. In Bangladesh, about 70% of the flat plate heater and solar PV cells and modules. The capability for
households are not connected to the grid. There have been a growth concentrated solar thermal and solar thermal-based power genera-
in the deployment of solar home systems (solar PV systems 40 W tion is being developed through a few R&D projects. The attractive
to 75 W) and solar flat plate water heating systems in Bangladesh tariffs being provided under the JNSM is expected to encourage
and Nepal. In Bangladesh, an NGO Gramee Shakti has been instru- leading international suppliers to set up solar thermal power plants

Table 4.5  Specifications of solar PV lanterns

and solar home systems [30–32]

S. PV Light Battery Cost

no. Module
Solar lanterns
1. 10 Wp 7 W CFL 12 V, 7 Ah Rs 3300
2. 5 Wp 5 W CFL 6 V, 5 Ah Rs. 1600
3. 3 Wp 2.5 W LED 6 V, 4.5 Ah Rs. 1600
Small home systems
1. 18 Wp 1 CFL (9 W/ 12 V, 20 Ah Rs. 8000
11 W)
2. 37 Wp 2 CFL (9 W/ 12 V, 40 Ah Rs. 13000
11 W) or
1 CFL and DC
Fan
3. 50 Wp 9 W and 11 W 80 Ah Rs. 18000
CFL, portable
4-B/W TV
4. 74 Wp 2 CFL, 1 DC 12 V, 75/80 Rs. 28000
Fan, 1 B/W Ah
Fig. 4.18 Commercially available solar lantern
TV
[33]
4-10  •  Chapter 4

Table 4.6  JNSM targets [34]

S. no. Application segment Target for Target for Target for

Phase I Phase II Phase III
(2010–2013) (2013–2017) (2017–2022)
1. Solar collectors 7 million m2 15 million m2 20 million m2
2. Off grid solar applications 200 MW 1000 MW 2000 MW
3. Utility grid power, including roof top 1000–2000 MW 4000–10000 MW 20000 MW

in India. Several collaborative projects in solar energy are being 10. Ministry of New and Renewable Energy cumulative achievements as
proposed. In India, there is an Indo-UK collaborative research on 31st March, 2010; http://www.mnre.gov.in/; Last accessed on July
project with multi-institutions in both countries to study the stabil- 5, 2010.
ity and field performance of PV cells, modules and systems in both 11. The Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission (KSERC)
countries. A joint Indo-EU research programme plans to support (http://www.kseboa.org/kseb/)
collaborative research projects in solar energy between EU, and
12. Doolla, S. and Banerjee, R., “Diffusion of Grid-Connected PV in India:
Indian research organisations and industry. The US has planned An Analysis of Variations in Capacity Factor”, Proceedings of IEEE Pho-
to set up a Joint Centre for Solar Energy research between leading toVoltaic Specialist Conference, 20-25 June 2010, Hawaii, USA.
US and Indian research agencies and companies and is currently
evaluating different proposals submitted by interested organisa- 13. Moharii, R.M. and Kulkarni, P.S. 2009 ‘A case study of solar pho-
tovoltaic power system at Sagardeep Island, India’, Renewable and
tions in both countries.
Sustainable Energy Reviews, Volume 13, Issue 3, 673-681.
The potential growth and untapped demand for energy and the
availability of good solar insolation makes the Indian sub-continent 14. Sivapriya, M. B., 2008. M.Tech Dissertation ‘Optimal Placement and
an emerging solar market. The challenge however is to devise cost- Sizing of Distributed Generators in Microgrid’, Department of Energy
effective solution that fit the customers’ ability to pay. Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay.
15. http://www.bhel.com/images/pdf/ENJune2006.pdf; last accessed
on July 7, 2010
4.12 Acknowledgments 16. Manoj, M. V., 2009. M.Tech Dissertation ‘Design of Isolated Power
Systems for Village Electrification’, Department of Energy Science
The author is grateful to Mr. Balkrishna Surve for assistance in and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay.
preparing this chapter.
17. Pohekar, S.D., Kumar, D. and Ramachandran, M., 2005. ‘Dissemina-
tion of cooking energy alternatives in India- a review.’ Renewable and
Sustainable Energy Reviews, Volume 9, Issue 4, 379-393.
4.13 References
18. Purohit, P., Kumar, A., Rana, S., and Kandpal, T. C., 2002. ‘Using
  1. www.powermin.nic.in/indian_electricity_scenario/introduction. renewable energy technologies for domestic cooking in India: a meth-
htm Last accessed on June 22, 2010. odology for potential estimation’, Renewable Energy, Volume 26, Is-
sue 2, 235-246.
  2. Mani, A., 1981. ‘Handbook of solar radiation data for India’, Allied
Publishers. 19. Chandak, A., Dubey D. and Kulkarni R., ‘Development of 2.3 m dia. Solar
community dish cooker’, presented at Asia Regional Workshop on Solar
  3. Solar radiant energy over India, Indian Meteorological Department Cooking and Food Processing” Kathmandu, Nepal, 16 - 17 April 2007.
(IMD) - MNRE available at http://www.mnre.gov.in/sec/solarradiant­
energyoverIndia.pdf Last accessed on July 6, 2010. 20. Gadhia Solar, http://www.gadhia-solar.com/ Last accessed on Octo-
ber 15, 2010.
  4. Pillai, I. R. and Banerjee, R., 2009. ‘Renewable energy in India: Sta-
tus and potential’, Energy 34, 970-980. 21. Sukhatme, S. P. and Nayak, J. K., 2008. Principles of Thermal Collec-
tion and Storage, Solar Energy, 3rd Edition, Tata McGraw Hill Pub-
  5. Bhargava, B., 2008. Photovoltaic Technology Development in India: lishing company, New Delhi.
an overview, 25 years of renewable energy in India, Ministry of New
and Renewable Energy, New Delhi, 45-73. 22. Report on ‘Solar water heaters in India: Market assessment studies and
surveys for different sectors and demand segments’ submitted to MNRE
  6. Kumar, A., Development and Promotion of low temperature solar by Greentech Knowledge Solutions (P) Ltd., available at mnre.gov.in/pdf/
thermal energy technologies in India, 74-95. greentech-SWH-MarketAssessment-report.pdf, (2010). Last accessed on
  7. Manoj, M.V. and Banerjee, R., 2010. ‘Analysis of Isolated Power July 6, 2010.
Systems for Village Electrification’, accepted for publication in En- 23. Personal communication, Executive Engineer, Electrical, IIT Bom-
ergy for Sustainable Development. bay, Powai. Mumbai 2010.
  8. India Semiconductor Association (ISA) report on the ‘Solar PV Indus- 24. Pillai, I. R. and Banerjee, R., 2006. ‘Potential of solar water heating
try 2010: Contemporary Scenario and Emerging Trends’, supported systems for India’, Proceedings of Renewable Energy 2006, Chiba,
by office of the Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) to the Government Japan, 557-560.
of India.
25. Pillai, I. R. and Banerjee R., 2007. ‘Methodology for estimation of
  9. Annual Report 2009, Ministry of New and Renewabale Energy Source potential for solar water heating in a target area’, Solar Energy 2007;
(http://www.mnre.gov.in) 81 (2): 162-172.
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  4-11

26. Pillai, I. R., 2008. Ph.D. Thesis on ‘Diffusion of Renewable Energy 31. Chaurey, A. and Kandpal, T. C., 2009. ‘Solar lanterns for domestic
Technologies’, Department of Energy Science and Engineering, In- lighting in India: Viability of central charging station model’, Energy
dian Institute of Technology Bombay, 2008. Policy, 37, 4910–4918.
27. Thomas, A., 1996. ‘Design methodology for a small solar steam gen- 32. Mukerjee, A.K., 2000. ‘Comparative study of solar lanterns’, Energy
eration system using the flash boiler concept’, Energy Conversion and Conversion & Management 41 621-624.
Management, Volume 37, Issue 1, 1-15.
33. Tata BP Solar India Limited, http://www.tatabpsolar.com Last ac-
28. Presentation on ‘Capacity Building for Solar Thermal Energy in India cessed on October, 18, 2010.
presentation’ at Two day Indo -German Dialogue on Accelerated Dis-
34. Towards Building Solar India – JNSM Document available at http://mnre.
semination of Solar Energy Technologies in India – 5 March, 2010,
gov.in/pdf/mission-document-JNNSM.pdf Last accessed on July 6, 2010.
Kochi.
35. Report on ‘Scheme and Framework for Promotion of Solar Water
29. Deshmukh, R., Gambhir, A., Sant, G., ‘Need to Re-align India’s Na-
Heating Systems by Utilities and Regulators’ submitted to MNRE by
tional Solar Mission’, Prayas (Energy Group), Pune, 2010.
ABPS Infrastructure Advisory Private Limited, January 2010 avail-
30. http://www.geda.org.in/solar/so_slr_hmlight_spec.htm Last accessed able at http://www.mnre.gov.in/pdf/abps-SWHS-u&r-report.pdf Last
on July 6, 2010. accessed on July 6, 2010.
 chapter

5
SOLAR ENERGY APPLICATIONS:
THE FUTURE (WITH COMPARISONS)
Luis A. Bon Rocafort and W.J. O’Donnell

5.1 History material selenium with a thin layer of gold. The resulting cells had
a conversion efficiency of about 1% due to the properties of sele-
5.1.1 Awakening nium, which in combination with the material’s cost precluded the
Solar energy can trace its roots to the early 19th century, when use of such cells for energy supply.
in 1838 French physicist Edmund Becquerel [1],[2] published his The first solar energy system for heating household water on
findings about the nature of materials being able to turn light into rooftop was developed by Charles Tellier [2] in the late 1880’s.
energy. He discovered the photovoltaic effect while experimenting This concept is shown in Figure 5.3. He used a non-concentrating
with an electrolytic cell made up of two metal electrodes. Bec- solar motor for refrigeration much like a solar heat pump. The
querel found that certain materials would produce small amounts solar water heater that is employed today largely in warm cli-
of electric current when exposed to light. At the time this was an mates originated in the late 19th century. Further advancements
interesting discovery that was not appreciated. in solar refrigeration at that time were halted, Tellier’s efforts
Twenty years passed before Auguste Mouchout [1], a French concentrated on refrigeration while transporting across the
mathematics teacher, designed and patented the first machine that oceans.
generated electricity using the sun. Mouchout began his work with At the turn of the 20th century, in 1904, Henry Willsie recognized
solar energy in 1860. He produced steam by heating water using a one of the fundamental limitations of solar power generation as be-
glass-enclosed, water-filled iron cauldron. Mouchout then added a ing the inability to generate power without sunlight. He developed
reflector to concentrate additional radiation onto the cauldron, thus a concept to store generated power and use it at night. His meth-
increasing the steam output. He succeeded in using his apparatus od consisted keeping the water warm at night by storing it in an
to operate a small steam engine. insulated basin. Tubes were then inserted into the heated water,
At the 1878 Paris Exhibition, he demonstrated a solar generator and sulfur dioxide flowed through the tubes, transforming it into a
that powered a steam engine, similar to the one shown in Fig­ure 5.1. high-pressure vapor, which operated an engine. Two small power
This engine included a mirror and a boiler that drove an ice-maker plants were built using this method.
that produced a block of ice. Later in 1869, Mouchot wrote one of The next big advancement for solar energy came at the hands
the first books devoted to solar energy: “Le Chaleur Solaire et les of Calvin Fuller, Gerald Pearson and Daryl Chaplin [2] of Bell
Applications Industrielles.” Mouchout’s work help lay the founda- Laboratories who accidentally discovered the use of silicon as a
tion for our current understanding of the conversion of solar radia- semi-conductor, which led to the construction of a solar panel with
tion into mechanical power driven by steam. an efficiency rate of 6% in 1954. The first practical means of col-
The next promising discovery concerning solar technology came lecting energy from the sun and turning it into a current of electric-
from an Englishman who while developing a method for continu- ity was at hand. The invention of the solar battery resulted in a
ally testing an underwater telegram cable used selenium and noted major improvement in the ability to harness the sun’s power into
that the conductivity of the selenium rods decreased significantly electricity.
when exposed to strong light. Willoughby Smith [2], an electrical In 1958, Vanguard I [8] was launched; it was the first satellite
engineer, discovered the photoconductivity of selenium, which led that used solar energy to generate electricity. Photovoltaic silicon
to the invention of photoelectric cells. solar cells provided the electrical power to the 6.4-inch, 3.5-pound
Shortly after, William Adams [5], [6] wrote the first book about satellite, demonstrating the potential for solar energy to generate
Solar Energy called: “A Substitute for Fuel in Tropical Coun- reliable power. An illustration showing the solar cells used in the
tries.” With the use of mirrors, Adams and his team were able to satellite is shown in Figure 5.4.
power a 2.5 horsepowered steam engine, bigger than Mouchout’s Throughout history discoveries of little consequence have a way
0.5 horsepowered steam engine. His design, known as the Power of becoming more as time passes on. Solar energy has been on a
Tower concept is shown below in Figure 5.2 in a more current quest for a long time, to demonstrate to us as a society the potential
setting. there is in harnessing the sun’s rays for power, and ultimately for
Charles Fritts [2] created the first working solar cell in 1883 turn- our survival. Solar energy has to become part of our solution in the
ing the sun’s rays into electricity. Fritts coated the semiconductor grand scheme of our energy supply make up.
5-  •  Chapter 5

Fig. 5.3 Rooftop Household Water Heater [7]

Fig. 5.1  Solar steam engine [4]

5.1.2 Revival ability of the power grid. Some reexamination of the traditional
Every time a shortage of fuels is encountered, be it raw materi- concepts concerning power generation and delivery must be re-
als, processing capacity shortage, or transportation interruptions, a vised in order to take advantage of the non-traditional methods of
push for renewable energy sources and technologies emerge until power generation (solar, wind, wave, etc.). Local on-site genera-
the short term problem is solved. This cycle is not new, and will tion and storage must be a part of any plan that will succeed in the
continue until permanent solutions are found. It seems that every future. Better use of energy by appliances and other equipment
time the cycle emerges, the duration of the push for new technol- must be implemented to reduce energy losses due to inefficiencies.
ogy is prolonged. In the future, this cycle will be long enough to Site specific power generation plans that take advantage of the lo-
achieve a satisfactory solution that does not involve finite fuel re- cal strengths available must be considered and a system designed
sources. that can help lower the load on the national grid system.
The cost of producing energy using solar radiation has come Solar electric systems are now used to power many homes, busi-
down significantly over the last century, but the biggest hurdle, nesses, holiday cottages, even villages in Africa. Solar cells can be
the availability of sunlight will always limit solar energy technol- used to power anything from household appliances to cars and sat-
ogy until an adequate advancement in energy storing technologies ellites. Solar technology is becoming increasingly cost-effective as
is found. Improving efficiencies in production, transmission and more distributors enter the market and new technologies continue
delivery systems, along with improvements on appliances and to offer more choices and new products. Technologies that can be
electrical equipment will help reduce our power needs. Using an used to advance solar energy into the future are discussed in the
improved infrastructure will help increase the efficiency and reli- next section.

Fig. 5.2  Power Tower (Courtesy of DOE/NREL, Credit —

Sandia National Labs) Fig. 5.4  Vanguard I satellite illustration
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  5-

5.2 Current Technologies heat up to temperatures that surpass those of flat plate collectors.
Tube collectors have an advantage over flat-plate collectors with
Solar technology can be divided into two categories; passive, regards to the shape of the tube; since it is cylindrical the collector
and active. Passive technologies tend to rely on scientific concepts surface will always be perpendicular to the sun.
and phenomena to convert solar irradiation to power, while active
technologies use mechanical systems to augment the power pro- 5.2.1.3 Thermal Mass  A thermal mass is a solid or liquid
duction. This enhancement can come at a cost to the efficiency of body that has the capacity store heat during the day and then re-
the system. Passive technologies use the sun’s rays and scientific leases the heat slowly when the heat source is removed. The use
concepts of thermal heat and mass transfer to either cool or heat of thermal mass has become popular in the world of building
mediums like air or water. While the goal of active technologies is design as an alternative to passively heating an interior space. Us-
to produce measu­rable power, which can then be transmitted, used ing a thermal mass will prevent extreme temperature fluctuations
on demand, or stored in a battery for use when power can not be during the day by serving as a thermal inertia, in other words, sof-
generated. tens the temperature fluctuation experienced, by absorbing heat
during the day, and slowly releasing this heat at cooler tempera-
5.2.1 Passive tures of the night, effectively heating the space. A thermal mass
Passive solar energy technology uses sunlight to generate en- will absorb heat from the surroundings, as long as the surround-
ergy without the aid of a mechanical system. The main goal behind ing temperature is hotter than the mass, once the temperature
these types of technology is to convert sunlight or solar radiation around the mass gets cooler, the thermal mass releases the stored
into usable heat (water, air, thermal mass), causing thermally in- heat to the surroundings. This phenomenon is illustrated below in
duced ventilation, or stored for future use. Passive solar technolo- Figure 5.5.
gies include direct and indirect solar gain for space heating, solar The use of thermal mass in building design, construction, and
water heating systems based on the natural convection, use of ther- rehabilitation has increased due to renewed interest in green con-
mal mass and phase-change materials for slowing indoor air tem- struction. Thermal masses can reduce the load on heating and cool-
perature swings, solar cookers, the solar chimney for enhancing ing systems, while increasing individual comfort.
natural ventilation, and earth sheltering. Passive solar technologies Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED [10])
also include the solar furnace and solar forge, but these typically is a rating system for buildings that use criteria such as energy
require some external energy to power auxiliary systems that help savings, water management, among others to score how sustain-
align their concentrating mirrors or receivers, which has shown able a building is. The LEED rating systems was created by the
over time to be impractical and not cost effective for wide-spread U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), and are internationally ac-
use. Energy used for space and water heating, however, have dem- cepted benchmarks for design, construction, and operation of high
onstrated to be a good use of passive use solar energy. performance green buildings.

5.2.1.1 Thermosiphon  This method of passive heat exchange 5.2.1.4 Solar Cooker  A solar cooker is a cooking apparatus
is based on natural convection. Natural convection causes the cir- that uses sunlight to cook food. Solar cookers by nature require
culation of the fluid within a loop when the fluid is heated, which sunlight to perform and are usually reserved for outdoor use, but
causes it to expand and become less dense. The denser fluid, the cool with careful planning and design could be adapted to be used in-
water, moves to the bottom of the loop, while the less dense fluid, the doors, concept shown in Fig­ure 5.6.
hot water, will rise to the top of the loop. Convection moves heated Use of optics and appropriate materials can ensure every home
liquid in the system as it is replaced by cooler liquid returning by in the future can prepare meals using this form of passive solar
gravity. This type of system could be used in moderate temperature
regions to pre heat incoming cold water for an instant water heater.
This would reduce the electrical demand on the instant water heater
and increase the overall efficiency of the system. A similar system is
shown in Figure 5.3.

5.2.1.2 Thermal Collectors  Solar collectors can be non-

concentrating and concentrating. In non-concentrating collectors,
the collector area is the same as the absorber area. In these types the
whole solar panel absorbs the solar energy. Flat plate and evacuated
tube solar collectors are two types of non-concentrating solar collec-
tors that are used to collect heat for space heating or domestic hot
water. Flat plate collectors consist of a dark flat-plate absorber, a
transparent cover that allows solar energy to pass through but reduces
heat losses, a heat-transport fluid (air, anti-freeze, or water) flowing
through tubes to remove heat from the absorber, and an insulating
backing. Fluid is circulated through the tubing to transfer heat from
the absorber to an insulated water tank. This may be achieved di-
rectly or through a heat exchanger.
Evacuated tube collectors consist of evacuated glass tubes which
heat up a fluid in order to heat water, or to provide space heating.
The tubes are evacuated, that is under vacuum, such that convec- Fig. 5.5 Thermal mass temperature fluctua-
tion and conduction heat losses are reduced. This allows them to tion [9]
5-  •  Chapter 5

Fig. 5.7  Solar chimney [11]

move to higher elevations creating an updraft through the chimney

(similar to a thermosiphon). The movement of the air in the chim-
ney can be used to suck in air at the base of the chimney, which
Fig. 5.6 Indoor Solar Cooker Design (Courtesy would cause air drafts along the building to which the chimney is
DOE/NREL, Credit — Tsuo, Simon) attached. This can be used to circulate cooler air inside the build-
ing, as shown in Figure 5.7. Although this system is not ideal in
every location or climate, its concept can be applied on most new
technology whenever possible, reducing the demand on the electri- construction to improve natural ventilation using simple heat con-
cal grid as well as on natural gas. vection concepts.
In order for a solar cooker to perform satisfactorily, they must use A solar chimney can also be used in colder climates to circulate
some form of concentrated sunlight, by way of mirrors or reflective hot air inside the building by reversing the flows into the structure,
metals, to direct the energy used to the cooking area. They must also or even devising a closed loop system that will help reduce the load
convert sunlight to usable heat. A solar cooker must also be ther- on your heating appliance. In hotter climates combining the solar
mally insulated, that is once the heat is trapped inside the cooker, chimney technology with water can increase the cooling effect by
and it should be insulated so that the heat does not escape. using evaporation cooling.
Solar cookers can reach temperatures of 300°F. Although this is
significantly less than what can be achieved with your stovetop, or 5.2.1.6 Solar Furnace  A solar furnace is a structure used
conventional oven, it will still cook food. The catch is that it takes to harness the rays of the sun in order to produce high tempera-
longer to cook the food. Improvements in concentrating materials tures, usually for industrial applications. This is achieved using
and amplification of the suns rays could reduce the amount of time a parabolic reflector, concentrating direct sun light, also known
required to cook the food using a solar cooker. Another limitation as direct insolation, onto a focal point. The solar furnace con-
is that the cooker must be used around the times when the sun is sists of an array of plane mirrors which in turn reflects sun light
highest in sky to take full advantage of the solar power. onto a large curved mirror. After the rays bounce off both set of
The cooker can be used to warm food and drinks and can also mirrors they are then focused onto a small area that can reach
be used to pasteurize water or milk. Unlike cooking on a stove or more than 6,000°F, useful for some industrial processes. The
over a fire, which may require more than an hour of constant su- solar furnace at Odeillo in the Pyrenees-Orientales in France is
pervision, food in a solar cooker is generally not stirred or turned shown in Figure 5.8.
over, both because it is unnecessary and because opening the solar
cooker allows the trapped heat to escape thereby slowing the cook- 5.2.2 Active
ing process. Air temperature, wind, and latitude also affect cook- Active solar technologies are used to convert solar energy
ing efficiency. Careful planning must be used when using a solar into light, heat, ventilation, cooling, or to store heat for future
cooker to ensure the food is prepared properly as to take advantage use. This type of solar energy generation uses electrical or me-
of the cooking method. chanical equipment, i.e., pumps and fans, to increase system
efficiencies. Solar hot water systems that use pumps or fans to
5.2.1.5 Solar Chimney  Using passive solar energy, improve- circulate a working thermal fluid through solar collectors are
ments can be made to the natural ventilation of buildings through one type of active solar technology. Another type of active solar
the use of convection heat transfer concepts. A solar chimney uses technology used to convert sunlight to electric power is by use
solar energy to accomplish this. The solar chimney is not a new of photovoltaic, or with concentrating solar power. The latter
concept, it is not even recent, and it has been implemented in the focuses the sunlight to boil water which is then used to provide
past by Persians and Romans. power. Another concept that uses concentrating solar power is
A solar chimney works by absorbing solar energy during the day the Stirling engine dishes which use a Stirling cycle engine to
and heating the chimney and the air in it. This heated air wants to power a generator.
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  5-

Fig. 5.8  Solar furnace in France [12]

5.2.2.1  Photovoltaic  Photovoltaic technology is an evolving power consumption is generating interest in a recent field known
one. Currently, there are many competing technologies, such as as Green Construction. Some concepts in green construction use
thin film, monocrystalline silicon, polycrystalline silicon, amor- building-integrated photovoltaic to cover the roofs or sides of an
phous cells among others. The efficiency for these different tech- increasing number of buildings to generate some of the power re-
nologies can vary from 5% – 18% depending on the technology. A quired for these buildings (see Figure 5.10 and Figure 5.11). If
PV Power Plant using this technology is shown in Figure 5.9. sized correctly an energy neutral building could be achieved. An
The earliest significant application of solar cells was as a back- oversized system could sell the extra power generated to the power
up power source to the Vanguard I satellite in 1958, which allowed company or trade it for power at night when no power is generated
it to continue transmitting for over a year after its chemical battery by the PV in the absence of energy storage methods.
was exhausted. The successful operation of solar cells on this mis- The high cost of solar cells limited terrestrial uses throughout
sion was duplicated in many other Soviet and American satellites, the 1960s. This changed in the early 1970s when prices reached
and by the late 1960s, PV had become the established source of levels that made PV generation competitive in remote areas with-
power for them. out grid access. Early uses included powering telecommunication
After the successful application of solar panels on the Vanguard stations, offshore oil rigs, navigational buoys and railroad cross-
I satellite (see Figure 5.4), in the 1970s, photovoltaic solar panels ings. The 1973 oil crisis had the effect of increasing the produc-
became more than back up power systems on spacecraft. Photo- tion of PV during the 1970s and 1980s. Economies of scale which
voltaic went on to play an essential part in the success of early resulted from increasing production along with improvements in
commercial satellites such as Telstar, and they remain vital to the system performance brought the price of PV down tenfold in less
telecommunications infrastructure today. Branching out from the than 15 years.
aerospace industry, PV was adopted by electronics manufacturers,
builders and others.
The use of PV in construction has led to some advances in sys-
tem integration, increase in efficiency of domestic appliances and
a shift in the design and architecture paradigm. Consideration of
how the different systems interact with each other and how to re-
use waste heat, waste water and refuse to generate power or reduce

Fig. 5.9  PV plant (courtesy of DOE/NREL, Credit — Steve Fig. 5.10  Building integrated PV (Courtesy of DOE/
Wilcox) NREL, Credit-BP Solarex)
5-  •  Chapter 5

Fig. 5.13 Concentrating solar trough (Courtesy of

DOE/NREL)

Fig. 5.11  PV residential solar array (Courtesy of

DOE/NREL) storage. A parabolic trough is made up of a parabolic reflector, a
receiver, and a working fluid. Sunlight hits the parabolic reflector
surface which concentrates light onto the receiver positioned along
the reflector’s focal line. The receiver is usually a tube located at
5.2.2.2  Concentrating Solar Power  Concentrating photovol­ the parabola’s focal point, and it is filled with a working fluid. The
taic systems use sunlight concentrated onto photovoltaic surfaces reflector usually tracks the sun during the daylight hours thus in-
for the purpose of electrical power production. Solar concentra- creasing its solar input. Parabolic trough systems provide the best
tors of all varieties may be used, and are often mounted on a solar land-use factor of any solar technology.
tracker to make sure the cell faces the sun as it moves across the
sky. Solar tracking increases flat panel photovoltaic output. The 5.2.2.2.2  Fresnel Reflectors  Concentrating Linear Fresnel Re-
concentrated sunlight coming from a concentrating mirror has flectors are Concentrating Solar Power plants which use many thin
many uses, like the ancient legend that claims Archimedes used mirror strips instead of parabolic mirrors to concentrate sunlight
polished shields to concentrate sunlight on the invading Roman onto two tubes with working fluid. In this configuration, flat mir-
fleet and repel them from Syracuse. Something of a non-lethal rors can be used and a cheaper alternative to the parabolic concept
crowd control, before its time. can be implemented on less space. A sample of this technology is
shown in Figure 5.14.
5.2.2.2.1  Parabolic Trough  Auguste Mouchot used a parabolic
trough to produce steam for the first solar steam engine in 1866. 5.2.2.2.3  Stirling Engine  A Stirling solar dish consists of a
Concentrating Solar Power systems use lenses or mirrors and track- stand-alone parabolic reflector that receives sunlight onto a receiver
ing systems to focus a large area of sunlight into a small beam or positioned at the reflector’s focal point. The reflector may track
focal point as shown in Figure 5.12 and Figure 5.13. The concen- the Sun along one or two axes. The concentrated sunlight is used
trated heat is then used as a heat source for a conventional power to heat a working fluid in a Stirling Engine. It drives a Stirling
plant. A wide range of concentrating technologies exists; the most Cycle, although it could be used to boil water and produce steam
developed are the parabolic trough, the concentrating linear Fres- to drive a steam generator. Power output of this system depends on
nel reflector, the Stirling dish and the solar power tower. the working fluid and the process of power generation. The Stirling
Various techniques are used to track the Sun and focus sunlight. solar dish combines a parabolic concentrating dish with a Stirling
In all of these systems, a working fluid is heated by the concen- heat engine which normally drives an electric generator as shown
trated sunlight, and is then used for power generation or energy in Figure 5.15. The advantages of Stirling solar over PV cells are
higher efficiency of converting sunlight into electricity and longer
lifetime.

5.2.2.2.4  Solar Tower  The Solar Tower concept uses solar col-
lectors to warm the air near the surface which is then channeled up
the central tower. Turbines are placed at the bottom of the tower
to make electricity from the updraft. The solar tower is an active
version of a solar chimney, shown in Figure 5.7, an old technique
for providing cooling to a home by creating a natural updraft from
heated air inside a chimney. The downside is the large amount of
space needed for this concept to function properly.
One of the most effective configurations has an 800 to 1,000
meter tower with a canopy of 2.5 km radius on the ground similar
to one shown below in Figure 5.16.
Fig. 5.12 A linear concentrator power plant The land use factor for this technology is high, thus making this
using parabolic trough collectors (Courtesy of alternative more attractive as the prices for traditional energy gen-
DOE/NREL) eration and delivery climbs. This technology can also be appropri-
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  5-

Fig. 5.14 Linear Fresnel reflectors (Courtesy of DOE/NREL)

ate for rural communities where the delivery of power is restrictive must be used as it is generated, either by transmitting it for im-
in either cost or feasibility. mediate consumption, or storing it for later use when no output is
generated. Using Solar Energy to generate power can be done in
5.2.2.2.5  Solar Bowl  A solar bowl is a spherical dish mirror many ways, as shown in Section 5.2, the problem with Solar En-
that is fixed in place like the one shown below in Figure 5.17. The ergy Generation, is that when no sun is available, little or no power
receiver follows the line focus created by the dish (as opposed to can be produced. It is possible, however, to generate more power
a point focus with tracking parabolic mirrors). The receiver is on than it is needed when sunlight is available, and that power can ei-
trackers moving along the bowl maximizing the amount of direct ther be stored for use at night, or cloudy days, or it can be sold back
insolation it can absorb. It is similar to a solar engine, except that the to the utility by way of net metering as shown in Figure 5.18.
tracking mechanism is on the generator, thus making it smaller than Designing a system that optimizes storage involves many as-
the one used on the dish. This setup is also less prone to weather is- sumptions, particularly on energy use, number of days without
sues, and does not require a structure to support the dish. sun, and design life of the system. Consider a traditional battery
system to be used in conjunction with PV panels to provide the
same level of power to a couple of secluded homes like the one
5.3 Storing Energy shown in Figure 5.19. For the secluded home in a location with
a low number of sunny days, the energy storing system could be
Solar energy is not available at night, making energy storage an very expensive, compared to a secluded home whose location has
important issue in order to provide continuous power. Solar power a high number of sunny days. The land use factor dedicated to the
is an intermittent energy source, meaning that all available output solar power plant will be higher in a location with a low number of

Fig. 5.15  Stirling solar engine (Courtesy of DOE/NREL,

Credit — Infinia Corporation) Fig. 5.16  Solar Tower concept [13]
5-  •  Chapter 5

Fig. 5.19  Solar PV and battery system [15]

nickel cadmium, and electrical cars use some variation of the nick-
el metal hydride form.
The chemical makeup of the battery and its size have been
studied extensively by scientists to determine what combination
Fig. 5.17  Solar Bowl [14] works best for specific uses. The lithium ion battery is currently the
newest battery technology around that packs a lot of energy into a
lightweight form. Although care must be taken so that this battery
sunny days. A higher land use factor is necessary to accommodate does not overheat and explode, a phenomenon many early laptop
more solar PV panels to generate extra power to store in the extra computer users faced when using lithium ion batteries.
battery storage to maintain the power throughout the longer period
without sunlight. 5.3.2 Flywheel Energy Storage
There are many energy storing methods in use today. Some of Accelerating a rotor (flywheel) to high speeds and maintaining
these methods, like potential energy have been around for more than that speed to create rotational kinetic energy is a method of storing
a thousand years, others like batteries are more recent and both are generated power. This would be the equivalent of a mechanical
still being refined to improve system efficiencies. Methods for stor- battery. The energy is released when the flywheel turns a generator
ing energy include; Batteries, Flywheel, Water (Hydro Reservoir), which creates electricity using the rotational energy stored in the
Compressed Air, and Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage. flywheel. To store energy in the flywheel, the generator is reversed
thus creating a motor that spins the flywheel. This method of stor-
5.3.1 Batteries
ing power is simple in concept, but has its difficulties in reducing
Batteries use a controlled chemical reaction that takes place in- all the friction losses in the system to enable the appropriate use
side a series of cells, which have a positive and negative electrodes of this technology. To reduce the friction losses, a combination of
divided by a conductive electrolyte separator. When the battery is a vacuum chamber and magnetic bearings are used. This energy
connected to a load, positively charged ions will travel from the
negative electrode to the positive electrode, providing an electric
current that can be used to provide electrical power. Reverse this
process, and you can recharge a battery. The chemicals used vary
and impact the characteristics of the battery. For instance, a car
battery is usually made with lead acid, while a laptop battery uses

Fig. 5.18  Sample energy storage usage [16] Fig. 5.20  Flywheel energy storage system [17]
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  5-

effective at generating power. Using excess solar energy to pump

water to a higher reservoir, which can later be used to turn genera-
tors on its way down to the lower reservoir, is a unique system of
energy storage. The land use factor for this type of system could
be very large, and the efficiencies are somewhat lower than other
energy storing technologies, but for some locations and large-scale
deployments it may make sense (see Figure 5.21).

5.3.4 Compressed Air

Another concept that uses potential energy is using compressed
air to turn turbines and produce electricity. The advantage of using
compressed air is that natural gas is used sparingly since the com-
pressed air drives the turbine. The air can be compressed using extra
power generated from an oversized system and stored underground,
under a cap rock. The compressed air is used later by releasing to
the surface where it can be used to drive a power generating system
(see Figure 5.22).

5.3.5 Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage

This type of energy storing system stores energy in a magnetic
field. This type of system is composed of three parts: supercon-
ducting coil, power conditioning system and cryogenically cooled
refrigerator. One of the advantages of this system is that once the
coil is charged the current does not decay, meaning the magnetic
Fig. 5.21 La Muela pumped storage facility [19] energy can be stored for prolonged periods of time. The stored
energy can easily be used by discharging the coil. Superconducting
storage has the advantages of safety, little maintenance and provid- Magnetic Energy Storage is the most efficient method of storing
ing regular output of electricity (see Figure 5.20). and using stored energy, although it is more suited for short dura-
tion energy storage due to the energy requirements of the process,
5.3.3 Water Energy Storage and the high cost of its materials, especially the superconducting
Using water to store solar energy might seem cheap, but it really wire. As such, it is mainly used to improve power quality.
depends on how you want to store the energy and then reclaim the
saved energy later. Using water as a thermal mass is cheap, but
limited in the uses for the reclaimed energy. Instead consider using
5.4 How Can Solar Energy Help
the generated power to pump the water to a higher reservoir, now
we have a flexible solution, although costly. According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), a
Using potential energy to generate power is not new; we have governmental agency within the Department of Energy (DOE), the
had hydroelectric dams for a long time, and are proven very residential energy use breakdown shown in Figure 5.23, illustrates

Fig. 5.22 Compressed air storage diagram (Courtesy of DOE/NREL)

5-10  •  Chapter 5

Fig. 5.23  Household energy used, data (Courtesy

of EIA)

that the majority of the household energy use, relates to comfort

level of the occupant. More than half of the energy used in the
home is used to handle heating air and water and Air Condition- Fig. 5.25  Sample load profile — residential vs.
ing. Household energy demand can be reduced substantially by im- commercial
proving natural lighting during the day, making appliances more
energy efficient, along with improvements in insulation, and using
energy efficient windows, and doors. highest consumption occurs. A historical trend is shown below in
Building energy use breakdown is shown in Figure 5.24 is simi- Figure 5.26. Residential and commercial energy usage is less than
lar to residential energy use breakdown with the exception of water half of the total energy usage in the USA; also evident in this figure
heating, since not as much heated water is needed in commercial is the growth of energy use in these sectors, more than 300% in
buildings. Lighting use in buildings is much higher also, to accom- 60 years. Residential energy usage is more than commercial en-
modate all of the buildings’ occupants and interior offices. ergy usage, and both are less than industrial and transportation
Also, there is a greater use of computers and electronics in a energy usage. The percentage of each sector compared to the to-
building than in a residential home. Buildings and residences can tal has been constant across all sectors over time; in essence they
also benefit from the methods described above. Buildings oper- have grown at the same rate over the last 60 years. Solar energy
ate mainly during the day, whereas residential energy use occurs technologies, passive and active, can be used as an added energy
mainly in the evening hours as shown in Figure 5.25. A solar PV reservoir to spur growth and opportunity across all sectors, as well
system could be readily used by the building as power is generated, as make up for losses due to non-production related problems asso-
although the space available to mount a PV system does not read- ciated with traditional fuel sources, interruptions in transportation,
ily match the ratio of a residential home, where the ratio of energy refining, processing and overall delivery schedule issues of some
needed to possible solar energy generation through PV is closer to of these fuels, namely, oil and gas.
unity. Energy used in buildings is greater than in residential homes, Over the last 60 years the bulk of our energy has been produced
although there are more residential homes than buildings. Hence by limited resources, namely fossil fuels. Fossil fuels currently ac-
the discrepancy in energy use by sectors shown in Figure 5.26. count for 84% of the energy consumed by the USA. Nuclear power
Energy use in buildings is close to constant from the start of busi- currently provides 8.5% of our energy, and has only contributed
ness until the end of the day, and then there are slow drop-offs for to our energy portfolio for the last 5 decades. Renewable energy,
a smaller workforce during the early to late evening shift. Resi- which has contributed as much as 9.3% in 1949, currently contrib-
dential energy use is low and constant during the day hours where utes 7.4% as shown in Figure 5.27. The bulk of renewable energy
space and water heating, or air conditioning maintains the home at came from hydroelectric power and biomass.
some preset level. Then, when the home is occupied, energy use
increases, as shown at the end of the day, when hot showers, dinner
and home entertainment is used at length.

5.4.1 Energy Usage and Production

If we consider energy consumption in the USA we can look at
the different sectors that consume energy to determine where the

Fig. 5.26 Energy usage by sector, data (Courtesy

Fig. 5.24  Building energy use, data (Courtesy of EIA) of EIA)
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  5-11

Fig. 5.29  2009 total energy breakdown for the

USA (Courtesy of EIA)
Fig. 5.27  Historical energy consumed makeup
(Data courtesy of EIA)

5.5 What the Future Holds

5.4.2 Solar Energy’s Role
The renewable energy portfolio for the USA is shown in Figure Energy Information Administration publishes annually informa-
5.28. The majority of renewable energy is attributed to hydroelec- tion on energy use and trends it expects in the near future. Figure
tric power and biomass. An increase in the last 20 years from other 5.32 illustrates their expectation that renewable energy will double
energy sources shows promise, specifically for geothermal, wind, in the next 25 years, although they expect much of the growth from
and solar energy. Passive solar energy can help reduce fossil en- wind and biomass generated power.
ergy consumption across many categories in residential and com- Solar power is expected to increase more in proportion to wind
mercial energy use, as well as industrial processes. Local on-site power. A paradigm shift needs to occur that will include solar power
active solar energy power generation can help reduce industry’s as a greater contributor if we want to supplant the 84% energy
energy demand by having local power plants that run on active so- produced by fossil fuels in the long term future. The USA with an
lar technologies, like a Stirling engine, or one of the many solar PV estimated population of over 300 million, according to the U.S.
configurations. Efforts like these can provide power cheaply when Census Bureau, uses 21% of the world’s energy. China follows the
it is needed the most as shown in Figure 5.25. Using solar forges USA in energy consumption with a 17% portion of the world’s en-
and furnaces can also reduce industry’s reliance on fossil fuel for ergy. Next is Russia with 5.8% followed by India with 5.2%. Other
high temperature processes. countries are shown in Figure 5.33, this data obtained from World
For 2009, the total energy used in the USA is estimated at 94.6 Bank data. While the energy use of the USA, China and India are
Quadrillion BTU, with 7.7 Quadrillion BTU provided by renewable increasing, most of the world’s other economies have lived with
energy as seen in Figure 5.29. These figures indicate that for 2009 a more constant usage level for the better part of 50 years. China
8.2% of the total energy used in the USA came from renewable and India, the world’s two largest populations, currently use only
sources. Solar Energy provided 1% of the 8.2%, which is a 0.08% 1,484 and 529 kgoil/capita respectively (see Figure 5.34). These
of the total energy needed in the USA. Figure 5.30 and Figure 5.31
show the room for improvement in solar energy infrastructure as
there is ample solar irradiation in the USA and the world.

Fig. 5.28  Historical renewable energy makeup Fig. 5.30  Potential PV capacity for the USA (Cour-
(Data courtesy of EIA) tesy of NREL)
5-12  •  Chapter 5

Fig. 5.31  Potential PV capacity for the world

(Courtesy of NREL)

two nations are positioned to be economic superpowers, and in Fig. 5.33 World energy use equivalent, selected
their ascension will become major energy consumers. countries, World Bank
There is a great opportunity for solar energy; passive and active,
to become part of the growth that these emerging nations need to
satisfy their energy demand without adding further strain to current
panels, which would equate to 697e9 m2. The world’s land surface
worldwide energy supplies.
area is just north of 148e12 m2; this would be less than 0.5% of
5.5.1 Solar’s Potential the world’s total land area. Figure 5.35 illustrates world land use
required versus power demand, for different PV configurations.
Solar irradiation on Earth’s surface varies from 200 W/m2 in
This figure does not take into account facilities, wiring, and instal-
the late morning hours, or early evening hours to 1,000 W/m2 at
lations. Also not considered in these land use calculations are cost
peak, and the available hours of usable sunlight range from less
and efficiency losses due to storing, transmitting, converting and
than 2 hours to 7 hours depending on the region. The amount
using the power generated. No credit is taken for future improve-
of solar radiation converted to usable power varies from 5% to
ments to PV technology and power delivery methods. Figure 5.36
30% dependent on the type of generating technology used. Us-
shows the area required for PV installations depending on overall
ing current PV technology, a 230-W panel that occupies 1.67 m2
system efficiency. Improvements in certain areas of the system will
receiving 1000 W/m2 solar irradiation would be 13.8% efficient at
offset losses in others and it is expected that efficiencies will im-
peak production. This same panel at 800 W/m2 will only produce
prove over time, thus requiring less land use to provide the same
165.6 W, making it 12.4% efficient.
power, or the ability to increase the power generation to promote
Assuming we need a global power level consumption of 20 tera-
growth.
watts (TW; 1 TW = 1e12 W), a theoretical land use can be found
Considering USA’s possible energy usage of 120e15 BTU, we
to determine the feasibility of solar providing 20 TW of power.
would need 96.4e9 kWh/day average of energy production to meet
Assuming we use the 230 W panel discussed above, which oc-
our demand. Using the same solar panel from above that produces
cupies 1.67 m2 of area, and that this panel receives 5 hours on sun
1.15 kWh/day, we would need 83.8 billion panels that would
per day average, we can expect this panel to deliver 1.15 kWh/day.
occupy about 140e9 m2. The land mass of the USA is listed at
To satisfy world energy usage of 20 TW, on average this would
9.8 million km2 by the CIA. The USA would have to use at least
be equivalent to 480 TWh/day, we would need about 417.4 billion

Fig. 5.32 Expected energy makeup in USA, energy Fig. 5.34 World energy use per capita equiva-
information administration (Data courtesy of EIA) lent, selected countries, World Bank
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  5-13

Fig. 5.35 Area use by PV required to meet ex-

pected power demand
Fig. 5.37  Potential concentrating capacity for
the USA (Courtesy of NREL)
1.5% of its land mass to become energy independent using solar
PV technology at its current level.
Another technology that could be used to generate the power
sun concentrating solar can produce twice as much as a PV array
needed, would be concentrating solar power, this gives us the abil-
if configured properly.
ity to get more energy per unit area used thus lowering the system
There are, however, some clarifications that must be made re-
size. Figure 5.37 shows the concentrating solar energy potential
garding these calculations. We used a yearly energy demand
similar to Figure 5.30, which shows PV energy potential for the
number and averaged it over the whole year, as opposed to the
USA. These figures show that in the USA we can expect a maxi-
actual demand per month, which varies according to region and
mum above 8.3 kWh/m2/day to a minimum of less than 1.3 kWh/
season. We also assumed we could store energy not used during
m2/Day for concentrating solar heat flux compared to a maximum
generation indefinitely, and without a loss. Both of these assump-
above 6.8 kWh/m2/day to a minimum of less than 2.2 kWh/m2/day
tions lead to a bigger system, or development of more efficient
for PV solar heat flux.
technologies at converting solar energy to usable power.
Assuming we can build our power plant at a region with the maxi-
mum solar irradiation of 8.3 kWh/m2/day and a 30% efficiency,
which many solar engines can achieve at today’s standards, we
have the potential of 2.5 kWh/day, which would require a total 5.6 Conclusion
area of 38.6e9 m2. This means that we can build many plants that The future of solar energy lies in the successful integration of
are composed of both PV and concentrating solar engines to take solar technologies into our current residential and commercial in-
advantage of each technologies’ strengths. For instance, PV can frastructure. This will allow the extension of our finite resources,
produce energy under cloud cover, which for concentrating sys- essentially giving us time to solve the long term problem of sup-
tems is not possible, and while there is no cloud cover under direct planting these sources with renewable energy sources without
sacrificing current lifestyle and comfort levels. We have to supple-
ment the current 84% energy from finite resources.
Active solar energy for general consumption for residences,
businesses and industrial complexes has proven effective in recent
years and is gaining widespread adoption as backup energy.
Passive solar energy, like thermal collectors, or solar water heat-
ers, can pre-heat water that is being circulated to traditional water
heaters. This could reduce the 19% of residential energy currently
used for water heaters. Implementing other passive solar energy
techniques can promote growth and prosperity.
Active solar technologies generate power that can be inserted to
our power grid immediately. Any location can have a small power
plant that provides excess power produced to the national grid to
help meet demand at peak times, which generally occur during the
day, when solar power production is viable.
The expansion of active solar power generation is inhibited by
the low 0.08% of USA energy that it provides now, and the < 0.1%
that is expected over the next 25 years. This can be dramatically
Fig. 5.36 Area required for 20 TW demand, as a changed by ongoing improvements in the technology of solar power
function of efficiency improvement generation and storage.
5-14  •  Chapter 5

5.7 about the Authors   4.  Wolf, Martin, I. N. (Year). Solar Energy Utilization By Physical Meth­
ods. Science, Volume 184, page 383.
Luis A. Bon Rocafort and W.J. O’Donnell are with O’Donnell
  5.  Bradford, Travis. Solar revolution: The economic transformation of
Consulting Engineers, Inc, located in Bethel Park, PA. Their work the global energy industry. 2006.
is in related energy fields (renewable, nuclear, gas, etc.), high tem-
perature, and high pressure component design. They have worked on   6.  Sukhatme, S. P. Solar Energy: Principles of Thermal Collection and
solar energy projects with Stirling engines, as well as frame con- Storage. 2nd Edition. Tata McGraw-Hill. Delhi, India. 1996.
struction for PV panels. OCEI has solved structural problems in   7.  Quaschning, Volker. Solar thermal water heating. Renewable Energy
frames, poles, towers, etc. for flow induced vibrations, harmonic, World, 02/2004.
random vibration, wind, wave and other loading phenomena that   8.  Naval Research Laboratory. “Vanguard Satellite Marks 45 Years in
these renewable technologies may experience. Their extensive Space.” NRL Press Release 21-03r. 3/10/2003.
work with high temperature materials in the creep regime solves
  9.  New4Old. 2010. http://www.new4old.eu/Default.aspx.
advanced solar energy system problems.
10.  National Resources Defense Council. http://www.nrdc.org/
buildinggreen/about.asp.
5.8 References 11.  “A Theory of Power” ISBN 0595330304 Vail, Jeff (2005-06-28). Pas-
sive Solar & Independence. Retrieved on 2007-03-10.
  1.  Sam Elliot, Alex Nies (Lead Author); Dawn Wright (Topic Editor) . “So­
12.  PROMES. 2010. http://www.promes.cnrs.fr/.
lar Energy.” In: Encyclopedia of Earth. Eds. Cutler J. Cleveland (Wash-
ington, D.C.: Environmental Information Coalition, National Council 13.  EnviroMission Limited. 2010. http://www.enviromission.com.au/.
for Science and the Environment). [First published in the Encyclopedia
14.  Auroville Universal Township. 2010. http://www.auroville.org/
of Earth May 5, 2010; last revised date May 5, 2010; retrieved October
research/ren_energy/solar_bowl.htm.
11, 2010 <http://www.eoearth.org/article/Solar_Energy>.
15.  Astralux Solar. 2010. http://www.AESsolarenergy.com.
  2.  “This Month in Physics History. April 25, 1954: Bell Labs Demon­
strates the First Practical Silicon Solar Cell.” American Physical 16.  Power from the Sun. 2010. http://www.powerfromthesun.net/chapter1/
Society.  2009.  http://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/200904/ Chapter1.htm.
physicshistory.cfm.
17.  Beacon Power. 2010. http://www.beaconpower.com/products/about-
  3.  Cutler Cleveland (Lead Author);Peter Saundry (Topic Editor). flywheels.asp.
“Mouchout, Auguste.” In: Encyclopedia of Earth. Eds. Cutler J.
18.  Iberdrola. 2010. http://www.iberdrolarenovables.es.
Cleveland (Washington, D.C.: Environmental Information Coalition,
National Council for Science and the Environment). [First published 19.  U.S. Energy Information Administration. 2008. http://www.eia.gov.
in the Encyclopedia of Earth August 18, 2006; Last revised Date Au-
20.  U.S. Census Bureau. 2010. http://www.census.gov.
gust 18, 2006; Retrieved October 11, 2010 <http://www.eoearth.org/
article/Mouchout,_Auguste>. 21.  World Bank. 2010. http://www.worldbank.org.
 chapter

6
ROLE OF NASA IN PHOTOVOLTAIC AND
WIND ENERGY
Sheila G. Bailey and Larry A. Viterna

6.1 INTRODUCTION It carried two separate radio transmitters to transmit scientific

and engineering data concerning, among other things, performance
Since the beginning of NASA over 50 years ago there has been a and lifetime of the 48 p/n silicon solar cells on its exterior. The bat-
strong link between the energy and environmental skills developed tery powered transmitter operated for 20 days; the solar cell pow-
by NASA for the space environment and the needs of the terrestrial ered transmitter operated until 1964, at which time it is believed
energy program. The technologies that served dual uses included that the transmitter circuitry failed. The solar cells were fabricated
solar, nuclear, biofuels and biomass, wind, geothermal, large-scale by Hoffman Electronics for the U.S. Army Signal Research and
energy storage and distribution, efficiency and heat utilization, Development Laboratory at Fort Monmouth. Until the use of those
carbon mitigation and utilization, aviation and ground transporta- silicon cells on Vanguard 1 solar cells were really just a novelty –
tion systems, hydrogen utilization and infrastructure and advance powering toys mostly. As photovoltaic’s pioneer Martin Wolf ob-
energy technologies such as high-altitude wind, wave and hydro, served, the success of solar cells on Vanguard “was the salvation
space solar power (from space to earth) and nanotech photovolta- of the solar cell industry.” Setting a record at the time for satellite
ics. NASA, in particular with wind and solar energy, had extensive longevity, Vanguard 1 proved the merit of space solar cell power.
experience dating back to the 1970’s and 1980’s and continues Silicon cells supported the emerging commercial satellite indus-
today to have skills appropriate for solving our nation’s energy try and provided power for multiple NASA and military missions.
and environmental issues that mimic in fact those needed for space The differences between the functionality of silicon cells in space
flight. NASA has long been interested in maturing new laboratory as opposed to on the ground gradually became apparent. The Van
level technologies into industry products and has a well-founded Allen trapped radiation belts were discovered in 1958 by the Ex-
system of interactions with Universities for research leading to plorer 1 satellite that transmitted data for 22 days. However, there
Proof-of-Concept and then to prototype demonstrations and mis- were many failures both in the Russian Sputnik series of satellites
sion applications with industry. The capability to assess and then and in the U.S. Explorer and Vanguard series of satellites. As a
test the feasibility for future commercial development is a well- direct result of the Sputnik crisis, the Congress and the President
honed NASA skill. This has certainly promoted new businesses of the United States created the National Aeronautic and Space
and job growth as a result. That is particularly evident in the case Administration (NASA) on October 1, 1958. NASA absorbed
of photovoltaic energy but also relevant for wind energy as well. into itself the earlier National Advisory Committee for Aeronau-
tics intact: its 8,000 employees, an annual budget of $100 million,
three major research laboratories-Langley Aeronautical Labora-
6.2 PHOTOVOLTAIC ENERGY tory, Ames Aeronautical Laboratory, and Lewis Flight Propulsion
Laboratory-and two smaller test facilities. It quickly incorporated
other organizations into the new agency, notably the space science
6.2.1 The Early Years group of the Naval Research Laboratory in Maryland, the Jet Pro-
In 1954, Chapin reported a solar conversion efficiency of 6% for pulsion Laboratory, JPL, managed by the California Institute of
a silicon single-crystal cell marking the beginning of modern day Technology for the Army, and the Army Ballistic Missile Agency
photovoltaics [1]. At approximately the same time the first thin film in Huntsville, Alabama, where Wernher von Braun’s team of en-
solar cells of CdS/Cu were being developed by the US Air Force gineers were engaged in the development of large rockets. The lat-
Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio [2]. These cells had an efficiency of ter became the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center in 1960.
~1.5%. In 1955 the first III-V cells (GaAs, InP) were made and by In 1959 NASA established Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC),
1956 GaAs had a reported efficiency of 6% [3]. By 1958, small in 1961 the Johnson Space Center (JSC) and in 1962 the Launch
area Silicon solar cells had reached an efficiency of 14% under Operations Center that became, along with Cape Canaveral Auxil-
terrestrial sunlight. The big push to develop solar power, however, iary Air Force Station, the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in 1963.
came from its obvious space application. On March 17, 1958 the There are now ten NASA centers.
world’s first solar powered satellite was launched, Vanguard 1 (see The Vanguard served as the progenitor of practical photovoltaic
Figure 6.1) [4]. applications from Space to Earth, demonstrating the importance of
6-  •  Chapter 6

were also involved in testing, understanding the space environ-

ment and technology development specifically for the solar pow-
ered missions that they supported.
At the beginning of the 1960s, a large number of organizations
under the Department of Defense and NASA supported research
and development on energy conversion devices. Upon the recom-
mendation of the Solar Working Group of the Interservice Group
for Flight Vehicle Power a conference was organized by the Insti-
tute for Defense Analysis to include research from Universities,
industry and government on photovoltaic devices. That conference
on April 14, 1961 was the 1st Photovoltaic Specialist Conference
(PVSC). Since the 4th conference in 1964 the PVSC has been
supported by the IEEE Electron Devices Society. The 37th IEEE
PVSC will be held in Seattle in June of 2011. The conference is
notable for the record of photovoltaic research not just in the U.S.
but worldwide. A Space Photovoltaic Research and Technology
(SPRAT) conference was started in 1974 and has always been held
at NASA GRC sponsored by the Photovoltaic Branch. The 22nd
SPRAT will be held in the fall of 2011.
The early NASA missions (Pioneer, Beacon, Vanguard, and Ex-
Fig. 6.1  Vanguard 1 Satellite Model at the Pa- plorer) were Earth orbiting and included many failures. Tiros 1, see
rade of Progress Show at the Public Hall in Figure 6.2, gave us our first TV image from space.
Cleveland, OH Echo 1 was the first passive communication satellite that relayed
voice and TV signals in August, 1960. Many of the NASA early
satellites focused on learning more about the Earth and its space
Space in developing the simplest, most benign source of energy yet environment. However, in 1959 Pioneer 4 passed within 60,000
conceived. In 1961 many of the staff from the silicon cell program km of the moon and in 1962 Mariner 2 successful flew by Venus.
at Fort Monmouth transferred to NASA Lewis Research Center, NASA’s project Mercury, beginning with Alan Shepard in 1961,
LeRC, (now John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field, GRC) had two suborbital and four successful human orbital flights end-
in Cleveland, Ohio. From that time to the present, the Photovoltaic ing with Gordon Cooper in 1963. The Gemini program followed in
Branch at NASA Glenn has served as the research and develop- 1965 with the first manned orbital maneuvers and the first extra –
ment base for NASA’s solar power needs. Impressed by the light- vehicular activity (EVA). The manned lunar program (Apollo) be-
weight and reliability of photovoltaics, almost all communication gan in 1964 resulting in the first man on the moon in 1969. The
and military satellites and scientific space probes have been solar program ended with Apollo 17 in 1972 after landing 12 astronauts
powered. NASA’s space flight centers, especially JPL and GSFC, on the moon. Skylab, our first orbital space station, followed in

Fig. 6.2  First Television Picture from Tiros 1 Sat-

ellite, April 1, 1960 Fig. 6.3  Skylab
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  6-

1973, and was the first NASA human mission to be powered by tended from all segments of the solar cell community. The work-
photovoltaic arrays, see Figure 6.3. shop was divided into three separate sessions:
During these early years, unmanned missions continued to use
(1) Solar Intensity and Spectrum Conditions for Terrestrial Pho-
solar cells for primary power, and there were improvements in the
tovoltaics
space silicon solar cell developed by NASA: Use of n-on-p silicon
(2) Terrestrial Sunlight Simulation
semiconductor type (rather than p-on-n) for superior radiation re-
(3) Methodology for Measurements and Calibration of Solar
sistance (1963); Use of shallow junction silicon cells for increased
Cells
blue response and current output (1971); Use of back-surface fields
(BSF) and low/high junction theory for increased silicon cell volt- A set of procedures for testing solar cells for terrestrial applica-
age output (1972). Research was focused on understanding and tions resulted from that workshop. The issues that the workshop
mitigating the factors that limited cell efficiency (e.g., minority addressed were equally important in the space program. The inten-
carrier lifetime, surface recombination velocity, series resistance, sity and appropriate spectral distribution for solar simulation and
reflection of incident light, and non-ideal diode behavior). standard test procedures were concerns for both communities.
While both the terrestrial and the space markets were focused in ERDA had established, as a goal of the National Photovoltaic
improving cell efficiency, a new set of requirements arose in ad- Program, that low-cost solar cell arrays be developed with a life-
dressing the needs of the space community. Early satellites needed time of 20 years. As part of this program, JPL purchased a quan-
only a few watts to several hundred watts. The power source must tity of solar cell modules from various manufacturers. Some these
be available, reliable and ideally have a high specific power, watts modules were installed in the ERDA Photovoltaic Systems Test
per kg, (W/kg) since early launch costs were ~ $10K/kg or more. Facility, STF, located outdoors at NASA Lewis (Glenn) Research
The cost of the power system for these satellites was not of para- Center in Cleveland, OH, see Figure 6.4 [10].
mount importance since it was a small fraction of the satellite and The first of these modules were installed in early 1976. The ef-
launch cost. The size of the array was important for many early fects of the environment on modules installed in the Systems Test
satellites due to the body-mounted array design, therefore limiting Facility (STF) were of particular interest for several reasons: first,
total power. The launch of Telstar in 1962 created new markets because JPL needed data to begin evaluating the capability of dif-
for space photovoltaics (i.e., terrestrial communications) [5]. Tel- ferent module designs towards attaining the ERDA lifetime goal,
star’s beginning of life (BOL) power was 14 W but high radiation and second, because the modules in the STF were utilized in arrays
caused by a nuclear weapon test reduced the power output. There whose voltage output is relatively high (approx 200 V dc). With
was a great deal of both theoretical and experimental research in respect to the latter point, little or no data existed regarding envi-
the ‘60s. The early CdS/Cu solar cells were found to degrade over ronmental effects on solar cell modules used in arrays delivering
time. CdTe cells were developed reaching efficiencies of ~ 7.5%. these relatively high output voltages. The objective of the work
However, the higher efficiency and stability of the silicon solar was to acquire data under standard, easily reproducible, labora-
cells assured their preeminence in satellite power for the next tory conditions for modules both before and after exposure to the
3 decades. environment. The data so obtained were intended to serve as the
Research on thin film cells, because of their higher specific beginning of a database that was used to evaluate the effects of
power and projected lower costs, was also funded at lower levels environmental exposure and use on representative terrestrial solar
by the space community. As the first photovoltaic devices were cell modules used in the STF.
being created there were corresponding theoretical predictions In the latter years of the ‘70s the National Photovoltaic Program
emerging citing ~20% as the potential efficiency of Si and 26% of run by DOE had several projects, one of which was the Tests and
an optimum bandgap material (1.5eV) under terrestrial illumina- Applications Project that was managed for DOE by NASA Lewis
tion [6]. In addition the concept of a tandem cell was proposed to
enhance the overall efficiency. An optimized three-cell stack was
soon to follow with a theoretical optimum efficiency of 37% [7].
Aside from the cell response to a radiation environment, the goals
of both the terrestrial and space community were the same. In the
sixties, researchers at NASA Lewis, Goddard, Langley and JPL
contributed to the growing base of knowledge about photovoltaics
in general and particularly their use in space.
Although the price of silicon solar cells dropped by about 300
percent between 1956 and 1971 the cells still cost $100/watt com-
pared to the price of electricity of $.05/watt [8]. A new industry
was born in that time span to provide cells for the space markets
and also a growing Department of Defense (DOD) surveillance
market.

6.2.2  he ‘70s and ‘80s: A Strong Link between

T
Space and Terrestrial Photovoltaics
The ‘70’s involved interaction between NASA and the Energy
Research and Development Administration (ERDA), that was
the predecessor of the Department of Energy (DOE) founded in
1977. A Terrestrial Photovoltaic Measurements Workshop under
the joint sponsorship of ERDA and NASA was held at the NASA Fig. 6.4 Dr. Lou Rosenblum during a television
Lewis Research Center in March 1975 [9]. Nearly 100 people at- interview at the STF in 1977
6-  •  Chapter 6

Fig. 6.5 ERDA/NASA PV Applications

Research Center (LeRC). The testing part of that project was dis- ers, highway dust storm warning signs, remote automatic weather
cussed previously. The Applications effort was intended to intro- stations for NOAA, U.S. Dept of Agriculture insect survey traps,
duce PV power systems to a wide range of potential users with a water chiller for a remote drinking fountain, and a PV power
near-term applications in order to accelerate their entry into the system for a Papago Indian village.
commercials market, see Figure 6.5 [11]. The Upper Volta project mentioned above was the beginning of
Applications which indicated near-term cost-effectiveness, tech- several projects sponsored by AID. The intent was to stimulate inter-
nical feasibility, solar cell promotional value, and/or substantial use est and awareness on the part of planners and decision makers from
multiplication were considered for joint cost shared experiments. By Third World countries and within the international development
the end of 1978 seven different applications comprising a total of 16 assistance community. The AID/NASA/DOE projects in­cluded
systems were brought to operational status. In addition at that time a large village power system in Gabon (four sites) and the Utirik
four additional experiments were being developed: an air pollution I­sland in the Marshall Islands, PV powered vaccine refrigerator sys-
monitor in New Jersey, two seismic sensors in Hawaii and a village tems in 18 countries, a farmhouse system and two water pumping-
power system in Arizona. In addition to the DOE sponsored projects, irrigation systems in Tunisia, five medical clinic systems in
LeRC installed a PV-powered water pump and grain grinder in the G­uyana, Ecuador, Kenya and Zimbabwe and a PV powered remote
remote African village of Tangaye, Upper Volta, see Figure 6.6. earth s­tation in Indonesia [12]. LeRC personnel installed two of the
This project was sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International projects and then managed the contracts to U.S. companies such as
Development (AID). Photovoltaic systems applications approach- Solar Power Corp., Solavolt, Solarex and Hughes Aircraft for the
ing near-term cost-effectiveness in the late ‘70s were almost exclu- remaining projects. The last project was completed in 1984.
sively associated with remote applications where the user’s loads In 1982 a space station task force was established by NASA to
were powered by batteries, thermoelectric generators, or small en- provide focus and direction for Space Station planning activities.
gine-generators without any utility connections or back-up power It also provided Congress and the current Administration with suf-
supplies. During implementation of these experiments LeRC per- ficient information to allow them to make an informed decision on
sonnel worked closely with the user in selection of loads and load whether the U.S. should proceed with a Space Station as the next
profiles as well as designing array structures that would integrate major national initiative. Space station planning actually began
well with the environment of the site. LeRC personnel also pro- when NASA was created in 1958 and was given a higher priority in
vided the installation and checkout plus at least one site visit per the early years over a lunar landing program. However President’s
year. The systems ranged in size from 25 watts to 3.5 kW. Operat- Kennedy’s announcement in 1961 to land a man on the moon post-
ing data was collected. The installed systems included PV powered poned the possibility of a Space Station to the post-Apollo era.
refrigerator at remote sites, U.S. Forest Service forest lookout tow- Skylab, America’s first space station, was launched in 1973. A
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  6-

Fig. 6.6 Tangaye Upper Volta village Africa Solar Electric System

decision was made in 1972 to construct a reusable transportation sembly and reduced costs (1977); Development of large-area so-
system and a great deal of NASA’s resources were focused on lar cells to reduce array cell and assembly costs (1983); A variety
building and testing a Space Shuttle that first flew in 1981. In 1984 of array blanket materials and laminating technologies, welding
Pres. Reagan directed NASA to develop a permanently manned methods, and large area encapsulants were developed and evalu-
space station (SS) within a decade. NASA embarked on a defini- ated for thermal cycling durability for increased orbital lifetime
tion phase to completely define cost, capabilities, and components (1972-1990); Developed materials and methods to protect arrays
of the initial Space Station [13]. The original design for the SS against the effects of atomic oxygen and damaging plasma interac-
was to provide 75 kW of continuous electrical power (60 kW for tion effects in low Earth orbit (1985-1995).
the customer and 15 kW for SS needs) that could grow to 150 kW. The major goals of NASA in the mid ‘80s were essentially
The requirements of a permanent system, the need for evolution- the same as today. High efficiency, low mass, increased radia-
ary growth, human presence, operational flexibility, and multiplic- tion tolerance and low cost continue as the primary focus of the
ity of use drove the power technology long operational lifetime, photovoltaic program [14]. However, it was already recognized
maintainability, growable/modular subsystems, safety and crew that III-V solar cells offered higher efficiency and greater radia-
accommodations, ground independence including on-board moni- tion tolerance than silicon solar cells. NASA focused on develop-
toring and control, and user friendliness. Because of the extremely ment of a cascade III-V cell structure and also on ultralightweight
large arrays, the high power level technology may include high CLEFT technology. The CLEFT process permitted the growth
voltage power distribution whether or not the solar array power of thin single-crystal films on reusable substrates, thus reduc-
is generated at high voltage. That, in turn, would require space ing both cell cost and weight [15]. NASA also began to explore
plasma compatibility. At that point in time a number of alternative InP cells that had substantially greater radiation resistance than
energy sources were also considered. These included solar planar GaAs.
or concentrator arrays of either silicon or gallium arsenide solar
cells. The arrays could be either erectable or deployable or some 6.2.3 The ‘90s to 2010
combination of both. Solar dynamic systems were also considered It should be noted that after the large increase in the DOE Solar
for SS power. The idea that the power system should by designed Program budget during Pres. Carter’s years that reached almost
to incorporate technology that can later evolve to an operational $700M, the PV budget, including concentrated solar power, fluctu-
readiness state and replace the technology used on the initial SS ated above and below $100M from 1986 to 2006. NASA’s budget
was incorporated in these first designs of SS. during this time span was about 10% of the DOE budget. DOE
The work that was accomplished in the evolution of the silicon focused on reducing PV module costs and increasing production
space solar cell design can be seen in Figure 6.7. while NASA focused primarily on increasing solar cell efficiency.
Accomplishments included: Development of wrap around con- Both programs were remarkably successful although it is important
tacts for high efficiency silicon cells to enable automated array as- to acknowledge that DOD also invested more dollars than NASA
6-  •  Chapter 6

Fig. 6.7 Evolution of the Silicon Space Station Solar Cell Technology

in space photovoltaics primarily on technology development while The New Millennium Program was created in 1994 to acceler-
NASA invested in research. ate the insertion of advanced space-related technologies into future
In the ‘90s the gap between theoretical efficiencies and experi- science missions using deep-space and Earth-orbiting technology
mental efficiencies for silicon, gallium arsenide and indium phos- validation spacecraft. This included the use of new solar cells and
phide became almost non-existent. Thin film cells of amorphous array designs. Both GRC and JPL were involved in the technology
silicon, CuInSe2 and CdTe renewed the enthusiasm for the prom- development for solar arrays and solar cells for this program.
ise of lower costs for the terrestrial community and the potential
for increasing the thin film efficiency and making them on flex-
ible substrates excited the space community. Satellites grew in
both size and power requirements and structures were designed to
deploy large solar arrays during these two decades. However, the
mass and fuel penalty for attitude control still dictated a move to
more efficient cells. The first GaAs solar cells reached flight status
in 1983 on the Living Plum Shield (LIPS)-II satellite [16]. In 1997
the first dual-junction GaInP/GaAs cells were launched into space,
a technology that quickly supplanted single-junction GaAs, and
then was itself supplanted by triple-junction GaInP/GaAs/Ge cells.
NASA JPL completed in 1991 the Advanced Photovoltaic Solar
Array (APSA) program that demonstrated a lightweight deploy-
able flexible array wing using 55micron silicon cells or 100micron
GaAs/Ge solar cells. As might be expected the space commercial
community was and still is risk adverse in moving laboratory cells
into space. DOD had sufficient funds to develop cell production
and array assembly capabilities concurrently while NASA’s cell/
array development has generally followed a very different path,
governed by limited funds and lack of a specific mission need [17].
Program needs have followed from the demonstration of a space-
ready component or device. While this does leverage funding both
in the terrestrial and military communities it does not always ad- Fig. 6.8 Deep Space 1 spacecraft represented
dress NASA specific issues. pictorially
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  6-

Almost all of the photovoltaic power systems used in space have

been flat-panel arrays. The Deep Space 1 mission, the first of the
New Millennium missions launched in October of 1998, tested the
use of a Fresnel lens concentrator with dual-junction solar cells on
an asteroid/comet fly-by mission, see Figure 6.8.
The Solar Concentrator Array with Refractive Linear Element
Technology (SCARLET) concentrator array [18] on this mission
performed flawlessly and produced 2.5 kW of power at Air Mass
Zero (AM0), with a power density of 200 W/m2 and a specific
power of 45 W/kg [19]. During a highly successful primary mis-
sion, Deep Space 1 tested 12 advanced, high-risk technologies in
space. In an extremely successful extended mission, it encountered
Comet Borrelly and returned the best images and other science
data ever from a comet. During its fully successful hyperextended
mission, it conducted further technology tests. The spacecraft was
retired on December 18, 2001.
The largest solar power system ever flown in space is that of the Fig. 6.10 ISS solar array wing
International Space Station (ISS), see Figure 6.9.
The SS Project Office at LeRC (Work package 4) had a major
role in the early SS project with the goal of selecting, designing, into panels of 200 cells, with the panels assembled into accordion-
building, and verifying the performance of flight hardware in- folded 107 ft by 38 ft (34 m by 12 m) wings (Figure 6.5), produc-
cluding: Performed and managed early trade studies of the power ing ~32 kW of power per wing. The final array was delivered to the
system design and technology selection (1983-1991); Managed Space Station in March, 2009. ISS electrical power system hard-
contract with Rocketdyne and subcontractors to design, build and ware was sized to provide a total of 75 kW of continuous orbital
test SS hardware (1990-1995); Tested key flight components such power, during both the sunlit and eclipse portion of the orbit, with
as the beta gimbal roll rings, the radiators, the power electronics Nickel-hydrogen batteries providing the storage capacity for the
boxes, etc. (1994-1999); Developed, built and tested the hollow eclipse operations. The system generates about 110 kW of average
cathode assembly for the plasma contactor (based on research power, that after battery charging, life support, and distribution,
performed in the Ion Thruster Branch) to protect SS from plasma supplies ~46 kW of continuous power for research experiments.
damage (1993-1999). A key technology development effort for the The Russians also supply an additional 20 kW of solar power to
space station arrays was to reduce the cost involved in the intercon- the ISS. A total of 32,800 cells are bonded to the flexible panels of
nection and lay-up of solar arrays. This was done by developing a each wing, see Figure 6.10.
larger area solar cell and developing the “wrap-through” contact to The total array assembly has a total of 262,400 silicon solar cells
allow all of the cell electrical interconnection to be done from the that could produce ~250 kW of photovoltaic array power (8 wings
back side of the solar cell. at 32 kW each). ISS is expected to have an operational lifetime
The ISS array uses silicon cells, one of the first uses of large area extending to 2020. The solar array system for ISS was managed
(8cm by 8cm) cells, with wrap-through contacts allowing all the by NASA GRC and built by Lockheed Martin. Today GRC still
electrical connections to be made from the backside. The front sur- provides monitoring and problem solving for the power system of
face of this cell is shown in Figure 6.4. ISS cells were assembled ISS.

6.2.4 Planetary Missions

Dr. Geoffrey Landis kindly contributed this section on planetary
missions. Solar arrays were used to power the Surveyor spacecraft,
the first US missions to land on the moon, and also powered the

Fig. 6.9 Backdropped by the blackness of space

and Earth’s horizon, the International Space
Station is seen from space shuttle Discovery as
the two spacecraft begin their relative sepa- Fig. 6.11 The Pathfinder lander (left) and Sojourner
ration on March 25, 2009 rover (right) on Mars
6-  •  Chapter 6

cells [21]. Dust accumulation was monitored on that mission by

the Materials Adherence Experiment (MAE) instrument. and was
thought to be the limiting problem with using solar arrays on Mars.
The MAE measurements indicated a steady dust accumulation at a
rate of ~0.29% per day [22].
In 2003 the Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) mission (see Fig-
ure 6.12) were launched.
At over six years of operations on Mars, it is an understatement
to comment that the performance of the MER solar arrays is quite
unlike that of any other space array. The MER rovers, Spirit and
Opportunity, have now been on the surface of Mars for 6.5 years.
They demonstrated the first use of triple-junction GaInP/GaAs/Ge
solar cells on Mars [23]. A significant finding of the MER mis-
sion was that in the Martian spring, wind events remove dust from
the solar arrays, and hence dust accumulation was not an insuper-
able limit to solar array lifetime on Mars [24]. The Opportunity
rover has now passed its 13th mile, and continues to drive. After
4.8 miles of traverse, the Spirit rover has become stuck at the fea-
ture named “Troy.” As a result of this immobility, it was unable
to change its tilt to optimize solar energy during the winter. It is
now the middle of the southern-hemisphere Martian winter, and
Fig. 6.12 The solar arrays on the Mars Explora- on March 22, 2010, the Spirit Rover stopped communicating with
tion Rover “Spirit” viewed in true color on the Earth due to a low-power fault. Although it is possible that as Mars
1229th day of operation on Mars (Image courtesy approaches the southern-hemisphere summer, the amount of inci-
NASA/JPL and Cornell University) dent solar power available may increase to a level sufficient that
the solar arrays might gradually recharge her batteries and allow
the spacecraft computer to reboot. At the moment, it is unclear
Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package, ALSEP, scientific whether Spirit’s mission will resume.
package left on the moon by the Apollo-11 mission, although later The success of a PV power system on Mars has been remark-
ALSEP packages used radioisotope power. ably demonstrated. As opposed to the more common mode of
The first lander on Mars, the 1976 Viking mission, was powered spacecraft operation the MER power generation is so minimal and
by a radioisotope source, but in 1997 NASA launched the Mars variable that the mission power profile must be adjusted to the ex-
Pathfinder Lander and Sojourner rover (see Figure 6.11), the first pected power generated. The impact of unpredictable factors such
use of solar power on the surface of another planet [20]. The cells as atmospheric conditions and dust accumulation and removal on
that powered Pathfinder were single-junction GaAs on Germanium the solar panels limits the accurate prediction of array power.

Fig. 6.13  Phoenix Lander, seen during spacecraft integration

 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  6-

Fig. 6.14  Phoenix Ultraflex arrays, as deployed on Mars

In 2007 the Mars Phoenix mission was launched, arriving in about 115°C (239°F) at the closest approach of the spacecraft to
May of 2008. The Phoenix mission was the first chosen in NASA’s the Sun.
Scout program, sent to the polar region of Mars. It used a lander Two other spacecraft also flew at the high-intensity region,
that was intended for the 2001 Mars Surveyor project that was can- Helios A, launched on 10 December 1974, which reached 0.31 AU;
celled. The lander was powered by two 1.8m diameter solar arrays and Helios B, launched on 15 January 1976, which reached 0.29
and lasted a little more than five months in the Martian northern AU. Both of these spacecraft used silicon cells that were slightly
plains. A picture of the spacecraft during assemble with extended modified for high-intensity use in conjunction with surface mirrors
arrays can be seen in Figure 6.13 and deployed on Mars in Figure to reduce the intensity on the array.
6.14. The Phoenix lander uses the UltraFlex array that had been Following Mariner and Helios, there were no further missions in-
chosen as the array for NASA’s Orion program. The mission was ward of Venus until the ambitious MESSENGER mission to orbit
not designed to survive the polar winter, during which it was ex- Mercury, launched August 3, 2004. The spacecraft, built by Johns
pected to be covered with several meters of dry ice, and as expected, Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory for the NASA mission, is de-
it fell silent due to low-power fault in early Martian autumn, on signed to operate under solar power at a distance as close as 0.3
November 2, 2008, and was not subsequently recovered. Follow- astronomical units from the sun, where the solar intensity is 11 times
ing the winter, a recent flyover by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter that seen in Earth orbit. To minimize temperature, the same tech-
suggested there was severe ice damage to the lander’s solar panels nique as used on the Helios mission was adapted to the MESSEN-
over the course of the Martian winter. GER array, and much of the surface of the solar cell array was popu-
Launched in 1999, the Stardust mission was a probe to gather lated with Optical Solar Reflector (OSR) mirrors, see Figure 6.15,
dust from the comet Wild-2 and return the material to Earth. Be-
cause the mission would operate at low temperatures, 10-Ohm-cm
silicon cells outperformed the state of the art (at the time) GaAs
solar cells, and hence Si cells (16.3% efficient at AM0, 28°C) were
used for the mission [25]. Stardust broke the record for the farthest
spacecraft from the sun powered by solar energy, at a farthest dis-
tance of 2.72 Astronomical Units (AU) from the sun. This record
was subsequently broken by the Dawn mission to the asteroids
Vesta and Ceres [26], launched in launched in July 2007, with a
power of 10.5 kW at AM0 1-sun conditions, and a power at 3 AU
estimated at 1.4 kW. The distance record will be set again by the
Juno mission to Jupiter .[27]
NASA has also been interested in missions operating at dis-
tances closer to the sun. Starting in 1962, NASA sent a number
of probes inward toward Venus, and one probe, Mariner 10, to
fly past Venus on the way to a series of three encounters past Mercury.
This was the first NASA mission that came closer than half an
astronomical unit to the sun, encountering Mercury on March 29,
1974 [28]. To avoid overheating the solar panels at solar intensity Fig. 6.15  Solar panel for the MESSENGER mission
approaching ten times the intensity at Earth orbit, the solar panels to Mercury, seen in the assembly phase. Note
were rotated up to 76° away from normal to the incident sunlight. the optical reflectors covering much of the
By this technique, the solar cells were kept at a temperature under surface of the array
6-10  •  Chapter 6

with a cell to OSR ratio of 1:2, to limit the solar absorbance and
avoid overheating the panels. The arrays are also operated at a tilt
angle to the sun, to reduce the projected area illuminated limiting the
array temperature below the maximum of 150°C (actual maximum
temperatures seen on the mission are closer to100°C). The solar cells
are 0.14-mm thick, 3 cm by 4 cm Advanced Triple Junction (ATJ)
cells with a minimum efficiency of 28% at 1-sun AM0. This mission
is operating successfully at distances close to the sun, and will reach
Mercury early in 2011 [29].
The Solar Dynamics Observatory mission was launched Feb.
11, 2010. Although this gets no closer to the sun than 1 AU, spec-
tacular images of the dynamic nature of our sun are being recorded.
The total available power is 1450 W from 6.6 m2 of solar arrays
operating at an efficiency of 16%. The cells are Ultra Triple Junc-
tion (UTJ) cells with a nominal efficiency rating of 28.3% AM0
at 28°C.

6.2.5 Programmatic Accomplishments

Both GSFC and JPL have been involved in array development Fig. 6.16  Profile Etching of InP
and dealing with issues concerning the solar cells related to their
specific NASA missions. Due to the efforts of Dr. Edward Gaddy,
GSFC became experts in electrostatically clean arrays, necessary commercial companies, Amberwave and Wakonda Technologies.
for their Earth monitoring missions and also developed expertise The lure of being able to produce a high efficiency III-V cell on a
in photovoltaic power systems to be used near the sun. JPL work, flexible substrate that potentially could be used in a low-cost roll to
supported primarily by Paul Stella, developed cells and arrays roll manufacturing process drove the efforts of the program.
unique to the needs of missions to Mars and other planets. The Advanced Photovoltaic Concepts effort in the GRC program
From the ‘90s until 2001 GRC had a diverse research program led by Dr. Sheila Bailey included investigating possible methods
to develop solar cell technology that spanned advanced high ef- for direct conversion of photons to electrical energy using other
ficiency III-V solar cells, advanced thin film technology, space en- than the conventional II-VI, III-V or silicon and germanium semi-
vironmental effects, measurement and calibration, and advanced conductor p/n junction solar cells. Approaches included organic
photovoltaic concepts. The three programs with the most overlap semiconductors, nanostructured materials, quantum dots, quantum
with the terrestrial community were the advanced thin film tech- wells, and optical antennae/rectifier devices, among other potential
nology program, the high-efficiency III-V program, and the ad- concepts. This effort also involved investigating integrated power
vanced photovoltaic concepts program. The other programs were and propulsion solar sails for low-cost microsatellites for near
focused solely on space applications. Earth space and deep space applications and integrated thin film
The Glenn program in thin film solar cells worked on approaches power also applicable to dirigibles, balloons, and reusable space
to reduce the mass of solar arrays. The best thin film cells required flight vehicles. One of the achievements from this effort was the
processing temperatures in excess of 600°C, which prohibit the development of the first SiC solar cell [38]. These cells were de-
use of current polyimide substrates. A low-cost flexible substrate veloped for high temperature, high light intensity, and high radia-
would also benefit the terrestrial community by replacing the tion missions such as experienced by solar probes. The project was
e­xpensive and fragile heavy glass structures. Thin-film research funded by the JPL Solar Probe Program. The cells were developed
led by Dr. Aloysius Hepp focused on developing the capability to and tested by GRC (Dr. Sheila Bailey) and Rochester Institute of
produce polymer or inorganic or hybrid solar cells on lightweight Technology, RIT (Dr. Ryne Raffaelle). The performance was es-
polymer substrates by finding a lower temperature deposition pro­ pecially noteworthy at high temperature (300 °C) and under con-
cess for CIGS cells, for example, or by finding a high temperature centration (150 suns) [39].
survivable polymer substrate [30]. The thin film group worked on In 2001-2002 a technology review committee from NASA, DOE
both approaches. A new single-source precursor for CIGS cells and AFRL was formed to assess solar cell and array technologies
was patented [31]. Additionally the ability to interconnect the thin required for future NASA science missions. After consultation
films cells and produce an integrated array was part of the Glenn with mission planning offices, solar cell and array manufacturers,
Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) program. This is now universities and research laboratories, an assessment of the state
a commercial product of Ascent Solar. of the art of solar cells and arrays was made and compared with
The high efficiency III-V program led by Henry Curtis and later the projected needs. A technology development program was pro-
David Wilt included efforts to enhance the efficiency of space cells posed in high efficiency cells, electrostatically clean arrays, high
by texturing the surface of GaAs [32] and InP [33] (see Figure temperature solar arrays, high power arrays for solar electric pro-
6.16). pulsion, low-intensity/low-temperature array conditions for deep
Later efforts involved the Epitaxial Lift-Off (ELO) of these cells space mission, high radiation missions, and Mars arrays that oper-
[34] and a patent for the ELO of InP [35]. Today a commercial ate in dusty environments [40]. The results of that study were re-
company, MicroLink Devices, uses that technology to market both markably prophetic in predicting the directions that high efficiency
GaAs and InP based devices. The III-V effort also focused on the multi-junction cells would take and the recommendations are still
possibility of fabricating the multi-junction (MJ) III-V cells on valid today.
lower cost substrates, both silicon [36] and polycrystalline germa- The Advanced Photovoltaic Concepts effort was split into three
nium [37]. Both of these technologies resulted in the formation of more focused programs in 2002: An Extended Temperature project
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  6-11

Fig. 6.17 Technology readiness levels

led by Dr. Geoffrey Landis; An Advanced Blanket and Array future missions in general terms and must retain the flexibility to
Technology project led by Michael Piszczor; and a Quantum Dot adjust to changes in mission plans. Even to a greater part, the re-
Technology project led by Dr. Sheila Bailey. At about the same search projects in themselves generate enablers for advanced mis-
time frame there was competition based internal funding (Direc- sions. They can drive the technology, cost, schedule and risks and
tor’s Discretionary Fund, DDF) for the projects: Quantum Dot Al- in some cases the entire feasibility of advanced, highly demanding
pha Voltaics, Size-graded Quantum Dot Thin Film Solar Cells and missions. Several areas of research were noted as impressive by the
Quantum Wire III-V Photovoltaics. The entire program was enti- peer review panel: Transition of lattice-mismatched semiconduc-
tled Energetics and ran through 2004. The Energetics program was tor growth to industry, MJ Thin-Film PVs at 20%, Quantum Dot
reviewed by an outside panel from the National Research Council diagnostics and fabrication, and extended-temperature solar cell
(NRC) in 2002 and then again by a technical peer review panel development that was directed at a specific NASA mission.
in 2003. The Photovoltaic program was commended for the qual- NASA has a set of Technology Readiness Levels that are illus-
ity of their projects, the technical achievements and the technical trated in Figure 6.17.
direction. It was noted that the choice of direction in any truly ad- The Energetics Program had two major thrusts relative to pho-
vanced research enterprise is difficult. In part this is due to the fluid tovoltaics: Advanced Space Technology at TRL levels 2-5 and
nature of long-range mission plans that in many cases are beyond Technology Maturation at TRL levels 3-6. While focused on mis-
the horizon of budget timelines, a particularly severe problem for sion uses for NASA the program had a great deal of synergy with
NASA. Thus, any specific research goals can only address potential terrestrial photovoltaics [41].

Vibration Isolation
System

Spatial Light
TiS Tunable Laser Modulator
Ar Pump Laser Scanning Probe
Fiber Optic Microscope

STM Head

Lock-In Amp STM Controller Probe Tip

Fiber Optic
Coupler Sample

Fig. 6.18  Schematic of STORM setup

6-12  •  Chapter 6

The tunneling current due to photoexcited carriers is clearly

discernable. STORM can be used to investigate quantum dot
structures, enabling analysis of both the optical and electrical
characteristics.
2. A theoretical analysis of photovoltaic materials and quantum
dots (1., 2., & 3.) yielded a potential quantum dot cell struc-
ture for an amorphous silicon thin film cell with an interme-
diate band of CuInSe2 or CuInS2 quantum dots [44].
3. An intensive effort to synthesize quantum dots while con-
trolling size and yield, providing suitable cladding, and dis-
persion onto appropriate substrates resulted in the following
accomplishments: (See Figures 6.20 and 6.21).
4. A polymeric quantum dot solar cell was fabricated using 1%
w/w CuInS2 in P3OT on ITO coated PET flexible lightweight
substrate, see Figure 6.22 [45].
Three patent disclosures were filed as a result of this work [46,
47, 48]

In 2004 Dr. Bailey’s proposal “Nanomaterials and Nano­

structures for Space Photovoltaics” was selected for funding
from the Intramural Call for Proposals Human and Robotic
Technology (H&RT). The program was for 4 years and 6 mil-
Fig. 6.19 A 6 µm ´ 6 µm STORM image of alternating lion dollars. It funded senior researchers at GRC, JPL, RIT,
doped and undoped epilayers of InP Penn State, Univ. of Toledo, and Univ. of Houston. Research
would be conducted on developing new nano-materials and
The quantum dot project and three DDF projects all had value nano-structures in three different systems which offer the
for the terrestrial community. Some of the accomplishments of this potential for radical advances in space power generating ca-
program are listed below: pability by enabling higher efficiency and/or higher specific
power, better radiation tolerance, favorable temperature coef-
1. A new diagnostic technique was developed which has the ficients, and lower cost for future space solar arrays.
capability to interrogate the optical bandgap as a function
of position within a semiconductor microstructure by Scan-
Three different cell structures were explored with the following
ning Tunneling Optical Resonance Microscopy or STORM.
generic goals:
This technique involves the use a broadly tunable continu-
ous wave Coherent 899-01 Ti:Sapphire laser. Output from •  Identify suitable nanomaterials (matching the bandgaps, elec-
the laser is intensity modulated by a high-speed ferro-electric tron affinities, and compatibility of various PV materials to
liquid crystal modulator and fed into the single mode fiber. the desired properties).
The output from the optical fiber is used to illuminate the •  Selecting a compatible structure commensurate our devel-
tip-sample junction in a Digital Instruments D3100 scanning oped ability to manufacture the nanomaterials (i.e., colloidal
probe microscope. The change in the STM tunneling current synthesis, laser ablation, or Stranski-Krastanow growth).
due to the photo- induced carriers is measured. The change •  Incorporation of nanomaterials into a complete device struc-
in this photo-enhanced portion of the tunneling current as a tures.
function of the laser frequency can be used to determine op- •  Characterization of cell structure for intended H & RT space
toelectronic bandgaps, see Figures 6.18 and 6.19 [42], [43]. utilization.

Cu
In
CuInS2 and CuInSe2
Single-source precursor (SSP) S
(PPh3)2Cu(m-SEt)2In(SEt)2
(PBu3)2Cu(m-SEt)2In(SEt)2
(PPh3)2Cu(m-SePh)2In(SePh)2

P Et
Ph
Fig. 6.20  SSP is heated in a mixture of DOP (dioctylphthalate) and hexanethiol
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  6-13

for NASA went to essentially zero in 2006, resulting in significant

losses to the Photovoltaic Branch at GRC. Small research efforts
have continued based on Space Act Agreements (SAA) with Uni-
versities, businesses and other Government Agencies. A SAA with
the Univ. of Toledo has continued the quantum dot cell funding
utilizing a new cell design. A SAA with AlphaMicron is to create a
window that has a self-regulating controllable tint that is powered
using solar cells developed by NASA GRC. Some NASA funding
existed under the Constellation program that has been cancelled in
President Obama’s 2011 budget
In recent years two new terrestrial installations have been installed
at GRC. A 2 KW system was installed connected to the grid and a
solar concentrator system developed by Greenfield Solar utilyzing
vertical junction silicon solar cells patented by Bernard Sater who is
currently a Distinguished Research Associate at NASA GRC.
There has been a low-funded thermophotovoltaic (TPV) pro-
gram at GRC for many years. Dr. Donald Chubb has provided ex-
pertise in selected emitters and testing for multiple programs and
David Wilt and Eric Clark have designed and built III-V cells for
these systems. Dave Wolford has provided expert testing. Ther-
mophotovoltaics converts heat energy from the sun or a nuclear,
combustion or radioisotope heat source to electric energy. Ther-
mal energy from any of the thermal sources is supplied to an emit-
ter. Infrared radiation from the emitter is directed to photovoltaic
Fig. 6.21 A 1 µm ´ 1 µm tapping mode AFM image of (PV) cells where the radiation is converted to electrical energy.
colloidal CulnS2 (mercaptoacetic acid) quantum In order to make the process efficient, the energy of the photons
dots on glass reaching the PV array must be greater than the bandgap energy
of the PV cells. Shaping of the radiation or spectral control is ac-
complished by using a selective emitter that has large emittance
The three solar cell material areas targeted were: for photon energies above the bandgap energy of the PV cells
•  Epitaxially grown III-V nanostructures (quantum dots and and small emittance for photon energies less than the bandgap
quantum wires) inserted into State of the Art, SOA, multi- energy or by using a gray body emitter (constant emittance) and
junction space solar cells, a band pass filter. The bandpass filter should have large transmit-
•  Thin film amorphous silicon solar cells with silicon or chal- tance for photon energies above the PV cells bandgap energy and
copyrite quantum dots, and large reflectance for photon energies below the PV cells bandgap
•  Thin film, flexible polymeric solar cells incorporating quan- energy. A back surface reflector on the PV a­rray can also be used
tum dots and/or carbon nanotubes. to reflect the low-energy photons back to the emitter. It is also
possible to combine all three of these methods [49]. There are
The actual program ran for 11 months until Nov. of 2005 with a terrestrial uses for TPV systems both in waste heat energy con-
remarkable number of publications, 37, by the principal scientists version and also as a primary low-maintenance system for remote
involved in the project. locations.
In 2005, a new NASA administrator changed the NASA direc-
tion to focus efforts on developing a new rocket to address the
challenges in Bush’s 2004. “Vision for Space Exploration.” To 6.2.6 The Future for Photovoltaic Energy
accomplish this Dr. Griffin completely cut many of NASA’s re- The President’s budget for FY 2011 proposed to invest an ad-
search and technology programs. The photovoltaic research budget ditional $6 billion in NASA over the next 5 years. The intent is to

0.25
Al Grid Contact
0.20 CIS QD Doped P3OT

0.15
Intrinsic P3OT
Current (mA)

Al busbar
0.10
ITO
0.05 Mylar (PET)

0.00
-7.5 -2.5 2.5 7.5 12
12.5
5
-0.05
Voltage (V)

Fig. 6.22 Current versus voltage characteristics of CuInS2 quantum dot doped P3OT on ITO junction
6-14  •  Chapter 6

reinvigorate research and technology development. Areas of inter- possible power technology candidates. The scope is space-focused
est to the PV community are a focus on transformative technology beyond Low Earth Orbit, LEO, with a timeline through 2050. The
development and flagship technology demonstrations to pursue technology concepts must remain within the laws of physics, be
new approaches to space exploration, robotic precursor missions referenced and sourced from academically-respected sources and
to multiple destinations in the solar system, cross-cutting tech- be realistic and achievable based on current experimental results or
nology development aimed at improving space capabilities and demonstrated technologies. There are thirteen listed breakthrough
accelerating the next wave of Climate change research and ob- capabilities including many that would require power. However,
servations spacecraft. These were discussed in the May 24, 2010 “Ubiquitous Access to Abundant Power” is focused on energy
Space Exploration Workshop [50]. It should be noted that the fol- generation, storage, and distribution. The workshop was an ex-
lowing programs are still under discussion and formulation and are ercise in discussing an array of technologies and deciding if the
therefore subject to change. concepts are “risky” enough to be included in the study or if they
In the Enabling Technology Development and Demonstration, are too risky. Concepts were characterized and the challenges and
ETDD, there will be a combination of short duration projects to hurdles to technology development will be addressed. There is a
test concepts or provide in-space technology demonstrations, time assessment such as more near term or closer to the 40 year
near-term development and demonstration of prototype systems, end of the timeframe. Some of the supporting technology concepts
long-range development of technologies critical to future human relevant to PV included Multifunctional Photovoltaic Materials,
exploration and an infusion path for promising, game-changing Microradioisotope Power Sources (alpha or beta voltaic), Power
technologies. Some of the proposed areas relevant to PV are high- Beaming/Wireless Power Transfer, etc.
efficiency space power systems and advanced in-space solar pro- The Multifunctional PV Materials refers to providing energy
pulsion. The ETDD program also encompasses human exploration generation in addition to one or more other primary function.
telerobotics that will, of course, require power although there are These materials often consist of nanoscale PV, such as quantum
no details as yet concerning that. dots, embedded in the primary material. Multifunctional PV can
The ETDD program is expected to feed the Flagship Technol- be developed for structures, corrosion-resistant paint, light-filter-
ogy Demonstration Program. This program demonstrates the tech- ing windows, or radiation protection. An assumption made here
nologies needed to reduce the cost and expand the capability of was that additional research would be necessary to qualify nano­
future space exploration activities. They are large-scale demon- scale PV and develop composite materials. Quantum dot solar cells
strations in space of technologies that could be transformation and are particularly attractive for space applications due to inherent
improve the capability and reduce the cost of future exploration radiation resistance, which may significantly increase solar cell
missions. The intent is to provide $400M to $1B each, including lifetime [52]. Several research organizations have developed tech-
launch vehicle, for a project lifetime of no longer than five years. niques for dispersing quantum dots in a solvent, potentially lead-
The proposed demonstration most interesting to the PV community ing to a multifunctional paint that provides energy generation and
is the Advance In-Space Propulsion Demonstration. The intent of aesthetics [53]. With additional nanotechnologies, this paint could
this is to deliver revolutionary benefits by combining advanced provide corrosion resistance, self-healing properties, or dust miti-
space propulsion with efficient, lightweight, array technology. The gation coating. Structural materials that provide energy may result
top-level requirements is to have a 10 to 70 kg/kW specific mass, from a combination of carbon nanotubes and photovoltaic tech-
including the power system but excluding propellant and propel- nologies. Carbon nanotubes increase the conductivity and improve
lant tankage. There are numerous missions that could be enabled the performance of many photovoltaics, and they may provide
by Solar Electric Propulsion, SEP. structural stability for rigid, thin-film cells, reducing the mass of
The Exploration Precursor Robotic Missions, xPRM, also offer photovoltaic arrays [54]. Over the next 40 years, new photovoltaic
opportunities for PV power in some cases. The intent is for “a steady materials will likely be developed that could significantly improve
stream of robotic precursor missions”. The effort would consist of these applications, in addition to providing new, multifunctional
two Programs, the xPRP and xScout. xPRP would provide a set of capabilities. Terrestrial challenges overlap with space exploration
linked flight mission, instrument developments, and research and challenges; however, the space environment is more extreme, and
development for the purpose of acquiring applied precursor knowl- space systems require a higher level of ruggedness. Exploration-
edge of human spaceflight. These are estimated to be in the $500M specific research will be necessary to develop and validate terres-
to $800M range. The xScout missions are focused, less-expensive, trial technologies for lightweight, radiation-hard, long-duration
higher-risk missions, with a cost cap of $200M including launch. All solar arrays. If multifunctional solar cells can be incorporated into
of these missions are designed to quantify the engineering bound- a space exploration architecture with minimal additional cost, risk,
ary conditions associated with space environments beyond LEO, to and weight, then power generation can be provided by distributed
identify hazards and ensure safety, to identify resources and to fa- and ubiquitous systems. With these technologies, power generation
cilitate sustainability, lower launch mass and “living off the land”, will be limited by surface area and proximity to the Sun; however,
and to provide knowledge to inform the selection of Human Explo- with improvements in low-power electronics and energy storage,
ration destinations. The missions would have an average launch rate many architecture elements could become power self-sufficient,
of one mission every 18 months, with a goal of one every year. A potentially including suits, rovers, portable electronics, sensors,
number of missions have been proposed but it will take time for the and other distributed systems.
details to emerge of the power systems requirements. The Microradioisotope Power Sources use energetic particles
There is also an effort being made at NASA Headquarters to look from radioactive decay to create electron-hole pairs in semicon-
at Breakthrough Capabilities that will, within the next 40 years, ductors. Here there are assumed to be engineering challenges
provide technology breakthroughs both within and outside of the with efficiently converting energy released by radioactive decay
space industry that will have a large impact on human exploration with lifetime-limiting damage to the conversion unit. These are
programs. One of these is entitled “Ubiquitous Access to Abundant several examples of the technology concepts: alphavoltaics [55]
Power” [51]. A report will be published by the end of 2010 with betavoltaics. thermoelectric conversion. The conversion process
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  6-15

can be direct or indirect. There are several challenges to microra- announcement that yielded a number of high-leverage, high-risk
dioisotope power sources that will require engineering and design research studies targeting some of the key challenges facing future
solutions, or in some cases new materials and physical models. SSP systems. The major challenges are the system mass and launch
These systems are relatively complex, and several of the potential costs, device efficiencies (solar array, convertor to microwave or
technologies have multi-stage energy conversion processes. Im- laser, receiver), power management and distribution, thermal man-
provements in efficiency, lifetime, and mass are necessary at each agement, assembly, integration, maintenance and repair, and low-
of these stages. New nanomaterials may be required for efficient cost manufacturing of space-qualified systems.
conversion of radiated particles without material damage. With In 2006 Dr. Geoffrey Landis reexamined the economics of SSP
microradioisotope power sources, NASA could replace batteries, [62]. He pointed out the synergy with terrestrial solar systems that
fuel cells, and power generation technologies in all portable elec- would integrate solar and microwave receivers on the ground and
tronics, medical technologies, sensors, spacesuit power, and some use SPS to beam to receivers when ground solar was unavailable.
satellites and rovers with radioisotope power sources that last for In 2009 Dr. Landis examined the SSP concept on a physics basis
years or decades. [63]. Some of his conclusions were that, although a space location
In the President’s new approach to Space Exploration there is a for solar panels gets more sun than a ground location, it is not that
focus on the development of technology both to benefit space ex- much more than the best ground locations; electromagnetic beam
ploration and terrestrial applications. There is a belief that, rather diffraction means that SPS is inherently large and switching to la-
than delaying human space exploration, the resulting technology ser transmission reduces size but loses on efficiency; solar arrays
benefits will actually speed the process for accomplishing human in space produce 3.5 times more power than non-tracking arrays on
missions. The new office of NASA Chief Technologist has been the ground or 2.2 times more than a tracking array (accounting for
formed. The strategy has focused on the foundation of early stage transmission losses, this reduces to 1.63 times more power/solar-
innovation and basic research efforts. Providing a steady stream cell area; if the cost of solar arrays is less than 61% of the total SPS
of technology demonstrations that will enable a flexible path of cost, the array is better on the ground; GEO is only reasonable orbit
capabilities that will begin with a set of crewed flights early in choice; can space cell cost equal cost of cheap terrestrial cells?
the next decade. After the early missions the focus will shift to a John Mankins also discusses new directions for space solar power
2025 human mission to a near-Earth asteroid and 2035 human mis- in a 2009 publication [64]. He discusses some of the key issues
sion to Mars orbit and return and a later Mars surface mission. The associated with cost-competitive space solar power in terrestrial
technology development program seeks to change the game by ex- markets and ends with an example of the kind of novel architec-
panding the alternatives available for human exploration through tural approach for space solar power that is needed.
timely, strategic and significant technology investment. Space Solar Power makes the most sense in reaching isolated
communities where the cost of terrestrial based power is very high.
6.2.7 Beamed Power from Space to Earth It might also make sense for military applications if the ground
The concept of generating electrical power in space and beaming system was designed to be portable. A major stumbling block for
it to Earth was first proposed by Dr. Peter Glaser in 1968 [56]. Gla- space-based system is the high cost to launch a kilogram. However
ser proposed putting a large solar array in geosynchronohnus orbit the idea of beaming power in space from SPS to other satellites,
(GEO) and beaming the power to the ground using microwaves. for example, might provide one of the first tests for SSP and also
Since that time numerous studies have investigated the possibili- provide a potential useful commodity in space.
ties of beamed power from space to earth. These studies usually
evolved around assessing the current technologies, systems con- 6.2.8 The People
cepts, and terrestrial markets that could provide a customer base. It is perhaps important here to note that although most of NASA’s
A major study led by DOE with support from NASA was con- photovoltaic work has been discussed here without names there
ducted from 1976-1980 [57], [58]. This study proposed providing were indeed people behind these accomplishments and leaders
the primary electrical power to the U.S. with as many as 60 space who greatly contributed to and indeed made these efforts possible.
power satellites (SPS) in GEO with a base power of 5 to 10 GW of In the early years of the Photovoltaic Branch at LeRC, contribu-
continuous energy per satellite. Both the U.S. National Research tors to the photovoltaic community included Americo Forestieri,
Council (NRC) and the Congressional Office of Tecnology Assess- Cosmo Barona, Henry Curtis, Dr. Irv Weinberg, Victor Weizer,
ment (OTA), in reviewing the proposed SSP concept in 1980-1981, Bernard Sater and others. NASA GRC played a pivotal role in
concluded that although the solar power satellites were technically the history of the PVSC. The 4th conference was actually held in
feasible they were economically unachievable [59]. The report sug- Cleveland and five chairs (Americo Forestieri, Dr. Henry Brand-
gested revisiting the concept in ten years and continuing related re- horst, Cosmo Baraona, Dr. Dennis Flood and Dr. Sheila Bailey) of
search to further develop the needed technologies. In 1995, a “Fresh the conference have been from the Photovoltaic Branch. Chairs of
Look” study was performed by NASA [60]. This study looked at both the 1st, 2nd and 4th World Conferences were from GRC.
new marketplace conditions, different orbital possibilities, and dif- In the ‘70s and early ‘80s Dr. Henry Brandhorst led the PV
ferent modes of power transmission encompassing about 30 SSP group followed by Dr. Dennis Flood from 1985 to 2000. Dr.
system concepts. While finding the prospect for power from space Flood had the enviable capabilities of in-depth technical knowl-
more viable technically than in 1980 it was still exceptionally chal- edge, effective communication skills and the ability to motivate
lenging. In 1999 and 2000 NASA conducted the SSP Exploratory and guide subordinates. His leadership created a productive, ca-
Research and Technology (SERT) program [61]. The program de- pable and knowledgeable group of PV researchers and technology
fined new systems concepts, better defined technical challenges, developers. Lead researchers in the PV branch at GRC over the
and initiated strategic research projects involving businesses, other years included Dr. Irving Weinberg who began the InP effort in
agencies and laboratories, universities and in-house resources. In the branch, Henry Curtis who participated in many space flight
2002 the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Electric Power projects, Victor Weizer who was an expert in silicon solar cells,
Research Institute (EPRI), and NASA jointly issued a broad area Russel Hart, Dr. Dave Brinker, Phillip Jenkins, Dave Scheiman and
6-16  •  Chapter 6

Dr. Dave Snyder who were experts in measurement and calibration megawatt turbine technologies in use today, including: steel tube
techniques, and Dave Wilt who was an expert III-V metal-organic towers, variable-speed generators, composite blade materials, high
vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) crystal grower . Dr. Geoffrey lift-to-drag airfoils. In addition, key engineering analysis, design
Landis is a renown expert in planetary photovoltaics and serves on and measurement capabilities were developed such as models for
the Science team of the Mars Exploration Rovers (MER). Dr. Sheila aerodynamic performance, structural dynamics, fatigue life, wind
Bailey has led the nano-technology efforts. Michael Pisczcor is an measurement and acoustics. The outstanding success of wind en-
expert in array technology and is now chief of the Photovoltaic ergy can be seen today in the growth of the installed power capac-
and Power Technologies Branch. Dr. Donald Chubb and Dave ity. In 2008 and 2009 the U.S. increased its installed capability for
Wolford are TPV experts. Dr. Edward Gaddy, who recently retired wind energy by 45% and achieved the largest installed capacity of
from GSFC and now is at John Hopkins Applied Physics Labora- any country in the world. Nearly all of this increased capacity was
tory, and Dr. Bruce Anspaugh who has retired from JPL and Paul from horizontal-axis wind turbines that generate electrical energy.
Stella currently with JPL, were icons in the Space PV world. Large horizontal-axis wind turbines are in fact the dominant type
in use throughout the world and owe much of their characteristics
to the NASA technologies and the DOE investment.
6.3 Wind ENERGY The large wind turbines developed under the NASA-led tech-
nology development effort set several world records for diameter
In the decade from 1975 through the 1985 the United States and power output. Figure 6.23 shows the size and power output of
government worked with industry to advance the technology and the designs developed.
help enable large commercial wind turbines. The impetus for this All turbines shown were built and operated in single or multiple
effort was two events on the world stage (1) an oil embargo by the units with the exception of the Mod-5A that was a competitive de-
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in 1973 sign to the Mod-5B, the winner in a down selection process. Each
followed by (2) the fall of the Shah of Iran in 1979. In response of the remaining turbines will be discussed below.
to the first crises, in 1975, the NASA Lewis Research Center in NASA designed, constructed and operated its first experimental
Ohio (now named the Glenn Research Center) took on the role of wind turbine, the Mod-0, in Sandusky Ohio (see Figure 6.24).
leading the technology development of large horizontal-axis wind The Mod-0 had a rotor diameter of 38 meters and a power
turbines, the dominant type of wind turbine in use today. The fol- rating of 100 kilowatt. The size of the Mod-0 was nearly ideal
lowing pages document the development of major wind turbine because it was large enough to be representative of electric util-
systems and technologies, their impact on the industry and future ity wind turbines but not too large to be overly costly to make
development areas that could benefit the industry. changes to the hardware. As further explanation, a critical param-
As a major national laboratory, NASA’s Lewis Research Center eter for aerodynamic performance is the Reynolds number. The
(now named the Glenn Research Center) in Ohio had the facili- size scale of the Mod-0 resulted in the airfoils operating above
ties and engineering capabilities necessary to advance wind tur- the critical value of 1 million for modern airfoils. Alternatively,
bine technology. At that time, as it is still true today, NASA was the relatively small size of the turbine allowed NASA to select
able to successfully apply its capabilities in areas such as propeller off the shelf commercial products for key components such as the
and turbine design, structural analysis, advanced materials, aero- gearbox and generator. This allowed for many technologies to be
dynamics, instrumentation and power system control to the design tested and developed on the Mod-0 at much lower cost than on a
of wind energy systems. During the 1970’s and ‘80s, with funding larger scale turbine.
from the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy Given that it was the first wind turbine design for NASA, the
(DOE), and the Department of Interior (DOI) a total of 13 experi- Mod-0 operated as mostly expected with regard to most design
mental wind turbines were put into operation including four major goals. Power /speed control were excellent and synchronization
wind turbine designs. This program pioneered many of the multi- with the utility grid’s line frequency was found to be easier than

Fig. 6.23  Size and rated power output of wind turbines developed under the NASA-Led program
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  6-17

significant alternative blade development program began and over

the next year successful blades were developed that were made
from wood or fiberglass.
With the Mod-0 design proven reliable, four other turbines of
a more powerful version of the Mod-0 were built and operated
throughout the US. The generator was doubled in size to 200kw,
but most all other characteristics remained unchanged. These wind
turbines were designated the Mod-0As were built in partnership
with Westinghouse. They were installed and operated at Culebra
Island, Puerto Rico; Clayton, New Mexico; Block Island, Rhode
Island and Oahu, Hawaii. These turbines were instrumental in de-
fining the grid interaction and electrical characteristics for small
utilities (soft grids) and large utilities (hard grids).
The next step was increasing the size of wind turbines. Under the
technical management of NASA in Cleveland, the General Elec-
tric Company (Space Division/Valley Forge) scaled up the Mod-0
wind turbine in Sandusky Ohio to achieve 2 megawatts of power
output from a 61 meter diameter rotor [65]. The Mod-1 wind tur-
bine shown in Figure 6.25 was the world’s first multi-megawatt
wind turbine under partnership with commercial industry.
It was installed and operated in Boone North Carolina and
helped develop the transportation and erection methods for large
wind turbines. The Mod-1 location next to residential housing
however uncovered two unexpected environmental impacts – low-
frequency acoustic emissions and electromagnetic television inter-

Fig. 6.24 NASA Mod-0 wind turbine, installed in

Sandusky, Ohio in 1975 became the test bed for
developing new technologies for large hori-
zontal axis wind turbines

anticipated. One important exception to the Mod-0’s excellent per-

formance was the blade stress and life. Within months of begin-
ning operation, cracks were found in the aluminum blades near the
hub of the rotor. Even though this was a significant challenge, it
fostered the development of reliable wind turbine blades and im-
proved system design. It took two years and the best of NASA’s
capabilities in materials, structures and aerodynamics testing and
analysis to resolve the problems. The causes were several. First,
analytical methods to model the coupled aeroelastic structural be-
havior needed to be improved. The rotor used a rigid hub causing
blade loads to be resolved primarily by internal stress rather than
dissipated into acceleration of blade mass. The cyclic bending load
out of the rotor plane was higher than expected. The problem was
further defined through NASA wind tunnel testing that showed that
the truss tower and access stairs in the center blocked much of the
wind passage. The Mod-0 was designed with the rotor downwind
of the tower. As the blades passed by the tower each revolution,
the aerodynamic forces changed significantly resulting in damag- Fig. 6.25 The NASA/General Electric Mod-1 wind
ing fatigue stresses. Removal of the stairs resolved much of this turbine was the world’s first multi-MegaWatt
factor. Finally, the riveted aluminum blades were found to not be a commercial prototype wind turbine (derived from
good choice for a fatigue driven machine such as a wind turbine. A the Mod-0 in Sandusky, Ohio)
6-18  •  Chapter 6

ference. The same truss tower and downwind rotor configuration

as the Mod-0 gave the Mod-1 a similar “tower shadow” effect on
the blade aerodynamics. This manifested itself as a sound wave
that was propagated and focused towards local residential hous-
ing in the mountainous site. NASA developed a new analytical
model [66] to predict the low-frequency sound waves due to the
rotation of the blades through the wake of the tower. Studies us-
ing this analysis tool showed that decreasing the rotational speed
could reduce the sound levels by 10dB. This change was imple-
mented and noise complaints from residents came to an end. The
electromagnetic interference proved more difficult to solve at this
mountainous site. Residents were provided cable television as a lo-
cal solution. Challenging as the world’s first multi-megawatt wind
turbine was, it was instrumental in developing location standards
for wind turbines near populated areas.
In an effort to further build the wind industry, NASA and DOE
awarded the design and construction of the next generation of
lower cost wind turbines to Boeing Engineering and Construction
using new technology proven out at the NASA Mod-0 wind tur-
bine in Sandusky, designated the Mod-2 (Figure 6.26), the 300 foot
diameter rotor produced 2.5 megawatts.
One of the new technologies was the steel monopole tube tower
and the upwind rotor configuration. The steel tube was unproven
at these large sizes and a primary concern was the possibility of
a mechanical vibration occurring at a resonant natural frequency
that could destroy the wind turbine. The tube tower, referred to
by NASA as the “soft tower” had a natural frequency that would
be excited by the rotor as it increased in speed during startup.

Fig. 6.27 The NASA / DOI / Hamilton Standard WTS-

4 (4 megawatt) wind turbine in Wyoming typified
the “compliant” design approach and held the
world record for power output for over 20
years

Development of the steel tube tower required NASA to advance

the structural analysis models and create electronic control systems
to quickly increase the rotational speeds before resonance vibra-
tions damage the wind turbines. This “soft” steel tube tower is used
throughout the industry today. Five Mod-2 wind turbines were put
into operation. Another technology introduced on the Mod-2 was
partial span (tip) pitch control as seen in Figure 6.26. This technol-
ogy reduced the weight and cost of the aerodynamic power control
compared to full span pitch control used on the Mod-1. The clus-
ter of three Mod-2 wind turbines at Goodnoe Hills in the state of
Washington produced a total of 7.5 megawatt of power in 1981.
Two other Mod-2 turbines were built and operated in California
and Wyoming.
Success in moving from the early rigid towers to lighter and
“softer” towers provided a basis for applying this “compliant” de-
sign approach throughout the wind turbine system. The 4 mega-
watt WTS-4 wind turbine shown in Figure 6.27 is an example of
this compliant design approach.
Designed by Hamilton Standard, under the technical manage-
ment of NASA and with funding this time from the Department
Fig. 6.26 The NASA / DOE/ Boeing Mod-2 (2.5 mega- of Interior, the WTS-4 was placed into operation in Wyoming in
watt) wind turbine was a second generation de- 1982. It featured a “soft” steel tube tower, fiberglass blades, tor-
sign that pioneered the lower cost “soft” steel sional springs and dashpots in the drivetrain, and a flexible teetered
tube towers used in the industry today hub (to be discussed later). To this day, the WTS-4 is the most
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  6-19

powerful wind turbine to have operated in the US and it held the wind turbine development and support. The original orders of 100
world record for power output for over 20 years. A second com- commercial units of the Mod-5B for Hawaii were cancelled and
mercial prototype with a smaller generator (3 megawatts) desig- the industry partners left the US wind turbine market. European
nated the WTS-3 was constructed and operated in Sweden. countries, in particular Denmark, on the other hand developed a
The last generation of wind turbines developed under the long-term public policy and technology program to address their
NASA-led program was the Mod-5. Two competing designs were nation’s oil dependency. The effect of the change in US policy in
developed as a parallel effort, the 7.3 megawatt Mod-5A design in 1986 can be seen in Figure 6.29 [67] where the Europeans came
partnership with the General Electric Company, and the 3.2 mega- from behind to take the lead in installed wind turbine capacity.
watt Mod-5B design in partnership with Boeing Engineering and Denmark specifically went on to capture the dominant position
Construction. Government funding limitations allowed only one to in a market that exceeded $15 billion a year by 2004. Fortunately,
be funded - the Mod-5B. With a rotor diameter of nearly 100 me- US wind industry manufacturers such as General Electric are now
ters, the Mod-5B (Figure 6.28) was the world’s largest operating back in the market and have recovered substantial position. In
wind turbine into the 1990’s. 2010, the US took the lead again in the world for total installed
It demonstrated an availability of 95 percent, an unparalleled wind energy capacity.
level for a new first-unit wind turbine. The Mod-5B had the first The success of both the US and European manufacturers owe
large-scale variable speed drive train using a double fed induc- much to the NASA program and the technologies already discussed
tion generator, the industry standard today. It also featured a sec- including the “soft” steel tube towers, variable speed generators,
tioned, two-blade rotor that enabled easy transport of the very large structural dynamic and acoustic emission modeling. Other tech-
blades. nologies not discussed include the NACA (predecessor to NASA)
The significant government and industry effort led by NASA 6 series airfoils, used widely throughout the industry and pioneered
begs the question of what happened to these large commercial pro- on the NASA Mod-0. Also, more accurate modeling of stall aero-
totypes in terms of the development of the utility scale wind turbine dynamics [68] that helped enable the early industry’s dominant use
market in the 1990’s. The story is an important case study of public of passive fixed pitch power control. These are just a few of the
policy and business decisions that set the course of the emerging examples of impact on this important industry.
wind industry in the US. In 1982 the price of oil decreased by a Some technologies developed under the NASA program have
factor of 3. By 1986 the US government began to phase out large yet to be fully duplicated by industry. One example is the ability
to produce multi-megawatt power using a flexible two blade rotor.
Two blades can capture essentially the same energy in the wind
as three blade turbines but offer several cost and reliability advan-
tages. First, there is a direct cost reduction of not having to buy
one blade, a very expensive component.  Second, the reduction in
weight at the rotor permeates throughout the entire system and usu-
ally yields about a 25% reduction in system weight.  Weight is a
surrogate for cost because it affects material, manufacturing and
transportation costs. Third it is easier to assemble – some two blade
turbines have been assembled by lifting the rotor by the tower. 
Fourth, two blade rotors require a smaller gearbox ratio because
the typically operate at higher tip speed ratios. This also reduces
the torque in the drive train for the same amount of power. Fifth,
two blades easily allow for flexibility in the rotor hub that can ef-
fectively uncouple the rotor plane from the motion of the tower.
The simplest is the teetered hub used on the NASA Mod-2, WTS-4
and Mod-5B turbines (Figure 6.30).
The uncoupling of the cyclic loads into the drivetrain also greatly
increases reliability of key components in the drivetrain.  Today’s
wind turbine industry uses a rigid hub and has experienced a broad
and critical problem of gearbox failures in the drivetrain. None of
the multi megawatt wind turbines NASA developed had gearbox
problems, and some ran for over a decade. The WTS-4 (4MW) and
WTS-3 (3 MW) still hold records for operating time and total en-
ergy produced – and they were prototypes. The ability of NASA to
successfully design and construct these flexible rotor systems was
the result of its expertise in helicopter and rotorcraft technology,
something very few other countries in the world possess.
Another technology that could be adopted by today’s industry
is automated blade manufacturing. Today all large wind turbine
blades in the world are manufactured using hand layup of the com-
posite materials, a very labor intensive process. Thus most blades
Fig. 6.28 The NASA/DOE/Boeing Mod-5 in Hawaii pio- are imported from countries where labor is relatively inexpensive.
neered variable speed generators and was the Figure 6.31 shows an automated blade manufacturing system de-
world’s largest operating wind turbine into veloped on the NASA-led program that could be implemented in to
the 1990s enhance the US wind industry manufacturing capabilities.
6-20  •  Chapter 6

Fig. 6.29 A US public policy change in 1986 postponed US leadership in wind energy

Several automated designs were developed and blades were fab-

ricated and tested in lengths up to 50 meters.
Details of the all the efforts and results by NASA and its partners
are too broad to do justice within this chapter. An extensive list
of reports on the technology development conducted during the
Large Horizontal Axis Wind turbine program can be found in the
references [69]. It should assist those active in the field of wind en-
ergy in locating the technical information they need on wind power
planning, wind loads, turbine design and analysis, fabrication and
installation, laboratory and field testing, and operations and main-
tenance. That bibliography contains approximately 620 citations
of publications by over 520 authors and co-authors. Sources are:

Fig. 6.31 NASA’s blade technology program de-

Fig. 6.30  Flexible rotor hubs such as the Mod-5B veloped 50 meter blades using automated man-
teetered hubs could reduce costs and increase ufacturing techniques that could be adopted
the reliability of today’s drivetrains today
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  6-21

c­ontributions in wind energy, solar power, batteries, and fuel cells.

Many of the people who spearheaded these achievements still
work at GRC, augmented with new talent in a broad range of aero-
space technologies. GRC also currently serves as the lead center
for power and propulsion technology within NASA. The technolo-
gies that it has developed for aeronautical and space applications
has given GRC a comprehensive perspective for applying NASA’s
skills and experience in energy on a problem with national and
global implications.
Perhaps what is needed is an “Apollo-type” effort to solve our
nation’s energy crises. One could envision a national effort directed
at renewable energy and the environment that would combine not
only the DOE’s program in renewable energy but also would en-
compass contributions from multiple other agencies (NASA, DOD,
EPA, Commerce, Transportation, etc.) NASA GRC could provide
a lead role in such an endeavor based on its history of projects,
ranging from concept studies and fundamental research efforts, to
proof-of-concept experiments and commercial prototype demon-
strations. NASA’s ability to work cooperatively with other agencies
in developing technologies, it’s long-standing interest in alterna-
tive/renewable energy research, demonstrating technologies, and
infusing these products into commercial applications and it’s capa-
bility to lead and coordinate projects makes it an ideal choice to lead
the way to developing a sustainable energy future for our nation.

6.5 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Fig. 6.32 NASA’s light weight compliant design
approach and technologies may enable low Dr. Bailey would like to acknowledge the significant contribu-
cost and reliable offshore wind turbines in the tions of Dr. Geoffrey Landis of the Photovoltaic and Power Tech-
future nologies Branch, George Schmidt, Deputy Director of Research
and Technology Directorate, and Dr. Ryne Raffaelle, Director of
the National Center for Photovoltaics, DOE.
(1) NASA reports authored by government, grantee, and contrac-
tor personnel, (2) papers presented by attendees at NASA-spon-
sored workshops and conferences, (3) papers presented by NASA 6.6 ACRONYMS
personnel at outside workshops and conferences, and (4) outside
publications related to research performed at NASA/DOE wind AFM Atomic Force Microscopy
turbine sites. AFRL Air Force Research Laboratory
ALSEP Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package
6.3.1 The Future of Wind Energy AMO Air Mass Zero
Today and into the future, NASA will continue to develop new APSA Advance Photovoltaic Solar Array
technologies for the aeronautics and space industry that will find AU Astronomical Unit
application in the future wind industry as well. As a vision for this CIGS Copper Indium Gallium Diselenide
future, perhaps the emerging offshore wind industry is a case in CLEFT A Peeled Film Technique
point [70]. Currently no offshore wind turbines exist in the US, D3100 Model Number
but there are a number of wind farms in the shallow waters off of DDF Director’s Discretionary Fund
Europe. A primary challenge to this new industry is getting the DOD Department of Defense
weight and cost of deployment reduced. Deeper waters will require DOE Department of Energy
floating wind turbines where weight and reliability will be even DOI Department of the Interior
more important. Some of the design characteristics of the com- ELO Epitaxial Liff-Off
pliant wind turbines pioneered by NASA such as flexible towers, EPA Environmental Protection Agency
articulated blades and drive trains as well as downwind rotors and ERDA Energy Research and Development
free yaw (Figure 6.32) may offer significant advantage to this new Administration
offshore industry (U.S. Offshore Wind Collaborative) for many ETDD Enabling Technology Development and
years into the future. Demonstration
GaAs Gallium Arsenide
GRC Glenn Research Center
6.4 CONCLUSIONS GSFC Goddard Space Flight Center
H&RT Human and Robotic Technology
In the wake of Apollo, GRC, then named Lewis Research C­enter, IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics
helped the predecessor to DOE by making major foundational Engineers
6-22  •  Chapter 6

InP Indium Phosphide 10. I Weinberg, H. Curtis and A. Forestieri, Effects ofF OutdooR Ex-
ISS International Space Station posure on Solar Cell Modules in the ERDA/NASA LewisS Research
ITO Indium Tin Oxide Center Systems TestT Facility, NASA TM X-73657, 1977.
JPL Jet Propulsion Laboratory 11. A. Ratajczak, W. Bifano, J. Martz, and P. O’Donnell, NASA Lewis Re-
KSC Kennedy Space Center search Center Photovoltaic Application Experiments, AIAA/ASERC
LED Light Emitting Diode Conference on Solar Energy: Technology Status, Phoenix, Ariz./ Nov.
LeRC Lewis Research Center 27-29, 1978.
MAE Materials Adherence Experiment 12. W. Bifano, R. DeLobard, A. Ratajczak and L. Scudder, Status of DOE
MER Mars Exploration Rovers and AID Stand-Alone Photovoltaic System Field Tests, Proc. Of the
MOD Module 17th Photovoltaic Specialist Conference, pp1159-1167, 1984.
MSFC Marshall Space Flight Center 13. A. Forestieri and C. Baraona, Space Station Power System, Proc. Of
NACA National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics the 17th Photovoltaic Specialist Conference, pp7-11, 1984.
NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NRC National Research Council 14. J. Mullin, J. Loria, and H. Brandhorst, The NASA Photovoltaic
Terchnology Program, Proc. Of the 17th Photovoltaic Specialist
OPEC Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
Conference, pp12-16, 1984.
P30T Poly 3-Octyl-Thiophene
PET Polyethylene Terephthalate 15. J. Fan, R. McClelland, and B. King, GaAs CLEFT Solar Cells
PV Photovoltaics for Space Applications, Proc. of the 17th Photovoltaic Specialist
PVSC Photovoltaic Specialists Conference Conference, 1984, pp32-35.
RIT Rochester Institute of Technology 16. T. Trumble and F. Betz, Evaluation of a Gallium Arsenide Solar Panel
SAA Space Act Agreement on the LIPS-II Satellite, Proc. Of the 17th Photovoltaic Specialist
SEP Solar Electric Propulsion Conference, 1984, pp12-16.
SPRAT Space Photovoltaic Research and Technology 17. P. Stella and R. Kurland, “Thin Film GaAs for Space – Moving Out
SSP Space Solar Power of the Laboratory”, Proc. Of the 23rd IEEE Photovoltaic Specialist
STF Systems Test Facility Conference, 1993, pp 21-26.
STM Scanning Tunneling Microscopy 18. P. A. Jones, et al., “The SCARLET Light Concentrating Solar Array,”
STORM Scanning Tunneling Optical Resonance 25th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, Washington DC, 1996.
Microscopy
TPV Thermophotovoltaic 19. J. Stubstad, et al., “SCARLET and Deep Space 1: Successfully
Validating Advanced Solar Array Technology,” AIAA paper AIAA-
UTJ Ultra Triple Junction
99-4487, Space Technology Conference & Exposition, Albuquerque
WTS Wind Turbine System NM September 28-30 1999.
xPRM Exploration Precursor Robotic Missions
xPRP Exploration Precursor Robotic Program 20. G. Landis, P. Jenkins, and D. Scheiman, “Photovoltaic Cell Operation
xSCOUT Exploration Scout Missions on Mars,” 19th European Photovoltaic Science and Engineering
Conf., Paris, France, June 7-11 2004, 3674-3677.
21. R. Ewell and D.R. Burger, “Solar Array Model Corrections from
Mars Pathfinder Lander Data,” 26th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists
Conference, Sept.-Oct. 1997. 1019-1022.
6.7 REFERENCES
22. G. Landis and P. Jenkins, “Measurement of the settling rate of at-
mospheric dust on Mars by the MAE instrument on Mars Pathfinder,
  1. Chapin D.M., Fuller C.S., Pearson, G.L. (1954), “A new silicon
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photocell for converting solar radiation into electrical power”. J. Appl
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IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conf., 2009.
  2. Reynolds D.C., Leies G., Antes L., Marburger R.E. ,“Photovoltaic
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B33.
 chapter

7
SCOPE OF WIND ENERGY
GENERATION TECHNOLOGIES
Jose Zayas
The author wishes to acknowledge many figures in this chapter that were provided by Sandia National Laboratories, and which are used
here with permission.

7.1 I NTRODUCTION: WIND ENERGY who constructed wind turbines. In 1956, a 24-m diameter wind
TREND AND CURRENT STATUS turbine had been installed at Gedser, where it ran until 1967. This
was a three-bladed, horizontal-axis, upwind, stall-regulated turbine
The energy from the wind has been harnessed since early recorded similar to those used through the 1980s and into the 1990s for com-
history all across the world. There are proofs that wind energy pro- mercial wind energy development, see Fig. 7.1. The popularity of
pelled boats along the Nile River around 5000 B.C. The use of wind using the wind energy has always fluctuated with the price of fos-
to provide mechanical power came somewhat later in time — by sil fuels. When fuel prices fell in the late 1940s, interest in wind
200 B.C. simple windmills started pumping water in China, and turbines decreased, but when the price of oil skyrocketed in the
vertical-axis windmills with woven reed sails were grinding grain 1970s, so did worldwide interest in wind turbine generators.
in the Middle East. The Europeans got the idea of using wind power The sudden increase in the price of oil stimulated a number of
from the Persians who introduced it to the Roman Empire by 250 substantial government-funded programs of research, develop-
A.D. By the 11th century, a strong focus on technical improvements ment, and demonstration. In the USA, this led to the construction
enabled wind power to be leveraged by the people in the Middle of a series of prototype turbines starting with the 38-m diameter
East extensively for food production. Returning merchants and cru- 100-kW Mod-0 in 1975 (Fig. 7.2) and culminating in the 97.5-m
saders carried this idea back to Europe where the Dutch refined the diameter 2.5-MW Mod-5B in 1987.
windmill and adapted it for draining lakes and marshes in 1300s. Similar programs were pursued in the UK, Germany, and Swe-
In the late 19th century settlers in America began using windmills den. There was considerable uncertainty as to which architecture
to pump water for farms and ranches, and later, to generate electricity
for homes and industry applications. Although the industrial revolu-
tion influenced the propagation of wind energy, larger wind turbines
generating electricity continued to appear. The first one was built
in Scotland in 1887 by prof. James Blyth from Glasgow. Blyth’s
33-ft. tall, cloth-sailed wind turbine was installed in the garden of
his holiday home and was used to charge accumulators that powered
the lights, thus making it the first house in the world to have its wind
power supplied electricity. At the same time across the Atlantic, in
Cleveland, Ohio, a larger and heavily engineered machine was con-
structed in 1888 by Charles F. Brush. His wind turbine had a rotor
17 m in diameter and was mounted on an 18-m tower. Although rel-
atively large, the machine was only rated at 12 kW. The connected
dynamo had the ability to charge a bank of batteries or to operate up
to 100 incandescent light bulbs, three arc lamps, and various mo-
tors in Brush’s laboratory. The machine was decomissioned soon
after the turn of the century. In the 1940s, the largest wind turbine of
the time began operating on a Vermont hilltop known as Grandpa’s
Knob. This turbine, rated at 1.25 MW fed electric power to the local
utility network for several months during World War II.
In Denmark, wind power has played an important role since the Fig. 7.1  Early wind farm in Tehachapi, CA
first quarter of the 20th century, partly because of Poul la Cour (Source: webcoist.com)
7-  •  Chapter 7

Fig. 7.3  SNL 34-m VAWT

Fig. 7.2 NASA Mod-0 wind turbine
security needs of postwar America. Sandia’s original emphasis on
might prove most cost-effective, and several innovative concepts ordnance engineering — turning the nuclear physics packages
were investigated at full scale. In Canada, a 4-MW vertical-axis created by Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore National Labo­
Darrieus wind turbine was constructed and this concept was also ratories into deployable weapons — expanded into new areas as
investigated by one of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) National national security requirements changed. In addition to ensuring
labs, Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia). The 34-m diameter the safety and reliability of the stockpile, Sandia applied the
Sandia Vertical Axis Test Bed was rated at 500 kW and was tested expertise it acquired in weapons work to a variety of related areas,
at the USDA-ARS site in Bushland, TX, see Fig. 7.3.
In the UK, an alternative vertical-axis design using straight
blades to give an ‘H’ type rotor was proposed by Dr Peter Mus-
grove and a 500-kW prototype was constructed. In 1981, an in-
novative horizontal-axis 3 MW wind turbine was built and tested
in the USA. This machine used a hydraulic transmission and, as
an alternative to a yaw drive, the entire structure was orientated
into the wind. The best choice for the number of blades remained
unclear for some time and the industry and research entities ex-
perimented with large turbines constructed with one, two, or three
blades, eventually converging with three.
Since the early 1980s through today, wind farms and wind power
plants have been built throughout the country, and now wind en-
ergy appears to be the world’s fastest-growing energy source that
will power our industry as well as homes with clean, renewable
electricity, see Fig. 7.4.

7.2  ANDIA’S HISTORY IN WIND

S
ENERGY

Sandia National Laboratories’ (Sandia) roots lie in World War Fig. 7.4 Modern Wind Farm in New Mexico (GE
II’s Manhattan Project and its history reflects the changing national 1.5 MW)
 energy and power generation handbook  •  7-

such as energy research, supercomputing, treaty verification, and of the blade size required for it to work: instead, engineers opted to
nonproliferation. start up the turbine manually and to use the Darrieus design.
That expertise both in terms of capabilities and facilities was To test the aerodynamics of the turbine, a larger working model
applied to wind energy during the mid-1970s, when the price of oil was built on the rooftop of the main administration building at San-
rose to unprecedented levels, and the nation began a commitment dia. This model measured 5 m across the outer edges of the two
in identifying alternative, clean, and affordable energy generation. bowed blades, each constructed out of a shank of steel covered by
For the last 35 years, the laboratory has been committed to this mis- foam and fiberglass, then molded into the characteristic teardrop
sion and has contributed key technology advancements targeted at airfoil shape commonly used in the aircraft industry. Putting the
reducing the cost of delivered wind energy, while improving the test turbine in motion was no easy feat — researchers patiently
reliability and efficiency of wind system. Historical contributions waited for the wind to begin to blow, strapped themselves onto
are captured below and are represented in time by the SNL Vertical the roof of the building and spun the blades by hand. Whenever a
Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) Program, Rotor Innovations, Mate- thunderstorm, with its accompanying high winds, would blow into
rial and Manufacturing Program, to today’s diverse wind research Albuquerque — night or day — the engineers rushed to the labora-
portfolio structured to meet the industry’s needs and develop the tory, climbed to the roof, and began turning the blades.
next generation of components that will continue to improve the Starting the blades was not the only problem, however. To sus-
efficiency, reliability, and cost effectiveness of wind turbines. tain their rotation, the blades had to be turning at least two to four
times faster than the wind so that lift could work properly. At this
7.2.1 Sandia’s VAWT Program early stage in the turbine’s development, the blades required certain
wind conditions, which did not occur on a daily basis. In the spring
7.2.1.1  History: Transition to The Modern Vertical Axis of 1974, however, the winds cooperated, the VAWT blades rotated
Wind Turbine  French inventor Georges Jean Marie Darrieus smoothly on their own, and the demonstration phase began.
filed the first patent for a modern type of vertical axis wind Another factor engineers had to consider was that under certain
turbine (VAWT) in France in 1925, then in the U.S. in 1931. His conditions, wind turbines can literally spin apart; they go into what
idea received little attention at that time, so little in fact that two is known as a runaway condition. Researchers knew that if their
Canadian researchers re-invented his concept in the late 1960s for VAWT had a load to power — a generator for example — the
the National Aeronautics Establishment of Canada without knowing load would act as a brake against runaway, but at that time, there
Darrieus’ patent. They later learned of the French inventor, and was no load in the test system. For this reason, they built a disc
today’s VAWT is known as Darrieus-type wind turbine. brake consisted of a commercially available automobile disk cali-
In 1973, the Atomic Energy Commission, a predecessor to per clamped onto a machined disk.
the current DOE, asked Sandia National Laboratories, a national
laboratory devoted to engineering research and development, to 7.2.1.3  Tech Transfer: Moving to Industry  Some two years
investigate and develop alternative energy sources. Using their ex- after constructing the rooftop model, Sandia built a second, larger
tensive experience in aerodynamics and structural dynamics from wind turbine- this one on the ground. With a blade span of 17 m, the
years of work with delivery systems for weapons, Sandia’s engi- turbine’s main purpose was to show that it could compete in cost
neers began to look into the feasibility of developing an efficient with the more traditional horizontal-axis machines. An economic
wind turbine that the industry could manufacture. During this time, study from 1976 supported the research: vertical and horizontal
the Canadians shared their re-invention with Sandia, and interest in axis wind turbines, or HAWTs, should indeed be comparable in
the VAWT concept began in earnest. performance and price if some improvements were made to the
VAWT’s design.
7.2.1.2  R&D Beginning: From Desktop to Rooftop  The first The 1976 study suggested these improvements. First, two blades
Darrieus-type VAWT in America was actually only 12 in. tall and would be better — the earliest design had three. Next, slimming
was constructed on top of an engineer’s desk. To demonstrate down the shape of the turbine would improve its design, and the
that the VAWT concept worked, Sandia’s engineers used a fan to turbine’s efficiency could be improved with better airfoil shapes.
create wind for the miniature turbine and a blackboard to perform Finally, the study also found that a blade span of at least 17 m
their calculations — using these simple means, they converted was best. During its first year of operation, 1976, this experimental
non-believers. machine was the largest VAWT in existence, and its performance
Darrieus’ concept appeals to engineers because it works on the compared favorably with that of a horizontal-axis machine.
principle of aerodynamic lift. Lift is what keeps an airplane in the The first VAWT blades were expensive because they were made
sky — the wind actually pulls the blades along. In contrast, the tra- of aluminum, fiberglass, and a man-made honeycomb-like material,
ditional Holland-type windmill operates on the principle of drag, all of which had to be carefully fitted together. Alcoa Industries was
meaning the wind has to push a manmade barrier, such as a blade. interested in reducing manufacturing costs of VAWT blades and in
Modern vertical- and horizontal-axis wind machines both use the mid-1970s developed an extrusion process in which partially
lift, which makes them more efficient compared with traditional molten bars of aluminum are forced into a die cut into the shape
windmills. of airfoil. The aluminum is under such pressure that it melts and
Sandia’s original modal VAWT combined Darrieus’ design with flows through the die, where it cools and resolidifies. The result is a
another concept for a wind turbine, called Savonius after its inven- uniformly manufactured airfoil in the required shape. The process
tor, a Swede. Because the Darrieus VAWT could not start itself, dramatically reduces the cost to manufacture VAWT blades, and it
some researchers thought it might be at a disadvantage. The turbine continues to be used today.
Savonius design used some lift, but its theoretical advantage was in Alcoa won a DOE contract a few years later, in 1979, to construct
using cups or vanes to trap the wind — employing the principle of four low cost VAWTs, each to have a 17-m blade span and to de-
drag — and so it was able to catch the wind and start itself in mo- liver 100 kW of electricity. Construction lasted from January 1980
tion. However, the Savonius element was soon abandoned because until March 1981; however, because of DOE budget constraints,
7-  •  Chapter 7

only three of the units were installed. Each of the sites was chosen power needs, but its purpose is research, not power production. For
for a specific application: Bushland, Texas, to demonstrate an ag- this reason, instruments are strategically mounted on the VAWT
ricultural application, Rocky Flats, Colorado, to confirm structural to measure its parameters, especially stress on the blades. Weather
and performance tests, and Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, to conditions that affect the VAWT’s performance are also recorded,
demonstrate the VAWT’s applicability to the utility grid. including the wind direction and speed, ambient temperature, and
Their successful operation — more than 10,000 hours for the barometric pressure.
Bushland machine — convinced two companies to commercial- A special feature of the Test Bed is that it can run over a continu-
ize this design. VAWTPOWER and FloWind each manufactured ously variable range of rotor speeds, from 25 to 40 rpm, whereas
VAWTs for use in California, where weather conditions favor us- most wind turbines are designed to turn at a constant speed. The
ing the wind’s power for electricity. The result was more than 500 large, bowed aluminum blades are made of sections of specially
VAWTs were operating in California and producing electricity by designed airfoils that are bolted together; three different sizes and
the mid-1980s (Fig. 7.5). designs increase efficiency and regulate power through stall.
The work at Sandia and its Test Bed includes validating com-
7.2.1.4  Using the Information for a New, Larger Machine  puter models, testing airfoil designs, and developing various con-
Because the 17-m VAWTs showed such success, the DOE trol strategies. The work is part of improving the first-generation
Wind Program directed Sandia to develop an expanded research design, which has been commercialized in California, as well as
machine. System studies indicated 34 m was a good size for the developing next-generation VAWTs. Transferring technology
blade diameter to test the new airfoils, and the size made economic from its national laboratories to the commercial sector is a major
sense. In cooperation with the Department of Agriculture, the goal of the DOE, and Sandia’s development of the VAWT and
culmination of planning began in 1984. its subsequent adoption by industry is a good example of such a
Called simply the 34-m Test Bed, this VAWT is a research tool program.
for testing and developing advanced concepts. It can produce 500
kW of electricity, more than half of the local community’s normal 7.2.1.5  The Future of VAWT Research  Within the DOE’s
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) is
the Wind and Waterpower program, which oversees the current
federal wind energy program, including wind research and
development supported by the national laboratories. The DOE
supported Sandia’s efforts to develop VAWT technology, which
serves as the basis for private industry to develop new generations
of VAWTs with greater efficiency and longer life expectancy than
any machine produced in the past. To this end, the Department
supports its laboratories’ forming cooperative research agreements
with commercial firms to improve wind turbine designs.
The DOE’s program for the vertical axis wind turbine came a
long way since Sandia built its 30-cm-tall desktop version, and
many of the elements which we see today on utility scale horizon-
tal axis wind turbines (HAWT) were developed during this time.
In the mid-early 1990s, it was apparent that the industry had
chosen a new path, and that it would convert primarily to the three-
bladed HAWT. There are many reasons why that path was taken;
in particular, the pursuit of higher wind resources at higher eleva-
tions, but it is difficult to quantify where VAWTs would be today
if that decision would have been different.

7.3  NL’S TRANSITION TO HAWT’S IN

S
THE MID 1990s
Although VAWT technology had proven its feasibility to com-
pete as a viable wind energy architecture, there was a fundamental
shift in the early to mid-1990s that ended the investment of utility-
scale VAWTs. Additionally, the industry in the U.S. had dimin-
ished given an expiration of the production tax credit, see Fig. 7.6.
During this period, designers were seeking larger machines that
could sweep a larger area and take advantage of the more benign
higher velocity wind found at higher altitudes, see Fig. 7.7.
During this time, Sandia began to focus its research activi-
ties in HAWT technology and take the capabilities and core-
competencies of the laboratory and apply them synergistically to
HAWTs. Although the industry in the U.S. had dwindled, Sandia
Fig. 7.5  FloWind commercial 19-m VAWT commer- transitioned and began applying their 20-year wind energy experi-
cialized in cooperation with Sandia ence to wind rotors. Since that time and continuing today, Sandia
 energy and power generation handbook  •  7-

Fig. 7.6 BTM Consult U.S. annual installed capacity

has been engaged in developing next-generation blades that are 7.3.1 Rotor Innovation
designed to be innovative, low-cost, reliable, and maximize energy Wind turbine blades are designed to maximize energy capture
capture. Programs in aerodynamics, structural dynamics, materials and survive structurally the stochastic wind input for a 20-year de-
and manufacturing, and testing and evaluation provided the foun- sign life. Although these structures appear quite simple from the
dation for the research program. exterior, there is immense innovation that has been applied over

Fig. 7.7 Wind turbine evolution

7-  •  Chapter 7

Structurally, wind turbine blades are driven and designed to sur-

vive high fatigue cycles [4], and survive the environment conditions
throughout the design life. Given these design constraints, compos-
ite materials lends themselves well for this application, and today,
fiberglass dominates the market given its low cost and ease of manu-
facturing. Most wind turbine blades are designed and manufactured
in three sections, a high and low pressure skin, and one or two shear
webs as the main support member (Fig. 7.8). In order to save weight
and prevent large unsuspended panel buckling, the panels are sand-
wich type structures with a core material, balsa wood or foam.
A large challenge for structural designers is the non-linear rela-
tionship as the weight of the blade scales to the third power of the
length, see Fig. 7.9.
As wind turbine blades have gotten larger (30 to 60 m today)
Fig. 7.8 ANSYS FEA wind blade cross section innovative designs and utilization of advanced materials have en-
abled rotors to scale and remain competitive. A large portion of
Sandia’s research is targeted at evaluating the utilization of lighter-
stronger materials, such as carbon fiber to optimize the structural
the history that have enabled blades to be efficient, reliable, and integrity of the blade.
cost-effective. In order to maximize the efficiency of the rotor, Over the past decade, Sandia’s blade program has developed three-
designers focus on balancing structural requirements and aerody- blade designs that have evaluated strategic methods for optimizing
namic efficiency to maximize the operational coefficient of per- structural design, aerodynamics, and weight. All designs have taken
formance, Cp. into account economics, manufacturing, and performance to validate
the next generation of blades for the industry (Fig. 7.10).
Equation 7.1: As an example, in 2002, Sandia developed a blade design utiliz-
1 ing “flatback” airfoils for the inboard section of the blade to achieve
Wind Power = ρ AC pV 3, a lighter, stronger blade. Flatback airfoils are generated by opening
2
up the trailing edge of an airfoil uniformly along the camber line,
where r = air density, A = rotor swept area, Cp = coefficient of thus preserving the camber of the original airfoil. This process is in
performance, and V = wind velocity. All utility-scale rotors today distinct contrast to the generation of truncated airfoils, where the
are comprised of three lift-based blades, which theoretically have trailing edge the airfoil is simply cut off, changing the camber and
a collective maximum efficiency of 59%, known as the Betz limit subsequently degrading the aerodynamic performance. Compared
[1,2]. Advancements in computational fluid dynamic modeling to a thick conventional, sharp trailing-edge airfoil, a flatback airfoil
coupled with airfoil evaluation and testing have enabled operation- with the same thickness exhibits increased lift and reduced sensi-
al rotors today to have Cp in the high 40s to low 50s. That is quite a tivity to soiling [7].
remarkable engineering accomplishment, given the random nature Today, several manufacturers incorporate carbon fiber in their
of the wind input and the fact that there is limited control authority blade designs and are evaluating the utilization of inboard structur-
in the system, variable speed and pitch. ally efficient flatback type airfoils.

Fig. 7.9 WindStats blade weight-vs-rotor diameter

 energy and power generation handbook  •  7-

Fig. 7.10  SNL’s carbon fiber innovative blade designs. Top to bottom: CX-100 — Carbon spar blade,
TX-100 — off-axis carbon skins for aeroelastic tailoring, and BSDS — optimized structural/aero
blade design

7.3.2 Manufacturing Research component suppliers to displace risk and large capital investment
Typical utility-scaled wind turbine blades being manufactured in manufacturing infrastructure.
today can range between 30 and 60+ m in length, but given that the As an example, focusing on a record year, 2009, where approxi-
majority of the installations are land-based, the range is between mately 10,000 MW were installed across the U.S. and assuming an
30 and 45+ m (Fig. 7.11). Wind turbine blades pose manufacturing average machines being 1.5 MW in size (~40-m blades), ~20,000
and supply chain challenges given their large size, large amount of blades were manufactured just to meet the U.S. installations. A
raw materials, and significant labor content associated to the vari- typical 40-m blade weighs approximately 12,500 lbs and is com-
ous accepted manufacturing processes. Additionally, in order to posed of fiberglass, some OEMs have carbon fiber on spar cap,
meet the demand and support large and emerging global markets, core material (balsa wood or foam), and a resin system (epoxy,
some utility scaled turbine manufacturers have their own blade polyester, or vinylester) and is primarily manufactured through an
manufacturing, while others have chosen to purchase them from infusion process. Out of the total weight of a blade, the dry fiber-
glass can represent 70% of the total weight, the resin 25%, and the
rest is the coring material. The raw material supply and delivered
quality is crucial to manufacturing a high-quality product that can
not only meet the certified requirements, but can survive the indus-
try average design life of 20 years.
In manufacturing, Sandia, through the support from DOE, has
embarked on a manufacturing program to address the challenges
and opportunities of manufacturing high-quality cost-effective
wind blades. The program is multi-disciplinary in nature, where
quality, reliability, and cost-effectiveness are the primary metrics
for success.
As blade length increases, the associated increase in blade
weight places additional loads on both the rotor and the supporting
structure. This increase in blade length has also resulted in scaling
issues for structural aspects like bond lines, root attachments, and
thick laminate infusion. In addition to gravitational loads, wind tur-
bines also experience tens of millions of fatigue cycles during their
operational lifetime due to turbulence in the wind, making fatigue
resistant materials necessary for design. Wind turbines also often
operate in difficult and harsh environments, which necessitate the
Fig. 7.11 Picture of utility scale blade manufac- use of coatings for protection. Finally, since wind must compete
turing (courtesy of TPI) with other generation resources, there is a cost constraint on the
7-  •  Chapter 7

blades of around $5 to $7/lb. These three factors create a uniquely turing implementations. Through this research, the turbine OEMs
challenging design problem for wind engineers. have been able to discover material solutions to challenging design
To address and ensure quality, the program targets improvement problems, and material suppliers have been able to evaluate their
opportunities in robust and lean manufacturing techniques to mini- products and fast-track them into the industry.
mize human errors, given the labor intensiveness in manufactur-
ing, and nondestructive inspection techniques (NDT) to indentify
and address issues in the finish product prior to shipment and de- 7.4  OVING FORWARD: STATE OF THE
M
livery. Nondestructive techniques typically used for wind blades, iNDUSTRY
ultrasonic and thermography, provide mixed results and vary in
applicability given the complex geometry and internal architec- Although the U.S. experienced a large influx of installations
ture. Through experience and design, knowledgeable manufactur- during the 1980s, it is not until recent years that wind energy in the
ers inspect critical regions and developed guidelines for acceptable U.S. has achieved large market installations and continued market
flaws. SNLs manufacturing program evaluates all available appli- acceptance. Over the past few years, the Federal government has
cable NDT techniques to develop a portfolio of options that will continued to provide a production tax credit (1.8 ¢/kW/h), and it
minimize false-positive inspection results, which can lead to field is the combination of large amount available land with adequate
problems where cost of repair grows exponentially. resource, renewable portfolio standards, tax credit, renewed mar-
Given expert projections or the results of industry studies, such ket pull for clean energy, and technology viability that has spurred
as the DOE 20% by 2030 scenario where the analysis documents this growth.
the viability and improvements needed to achieve 20% wind en- As can be seen in Fig. 7.6, the U.S. industry has experienced an
ergy by the year 2030, it is clear that a robust, reliable, and high- exponential growth over the last five years, and many states have
quality wind blade supply chain is needed for the industry. chosen to have a significant percentage of wind in their system
(Fig. 7.12). Today, the U.S. has the largest installed capacity, but
7.3.3 Materials Research there is significant competition from emerging countries, such as
Sandia National Laboratories has performed research in the area China, which installed over 13 GW in 2009.
of wind turbine materials for over 20 years. A primary effort of that Through the third quarter of 2010, the U.S. has approximately
work has been a partnership with Montana State University to pro- 37,000 MW of installed capacity, which approximately represents
duce the DOE/SNL/MSU Composite Material Fatigue Database. 2% of our energy consumption [5]. Additionally, the growth of the
The database features the results of over 10,000 mechanical tests industry has enabled wind energy to emerge as the leader of the
of wind turbine blade materials and is the largest publically avail- new-generation clean energy portfolio (Fig. 7.13).
able data set of its kind in the world [3]. The focus of much of this The growth and acceptance of the industry has disrupted the in-
research has been in the area of high-cycle composite fatigue. This stallation trends of the more traditional forms of generation, such as
research has been broad in focus, with investigations of resins, fib- natural gas. Over the past three years, wind energy has represented
ers, resin–fiber interfaces, fabrics, adhesives, and design/manufac- on average 35% of all new-generation installations (Fig. 7.14).

Fig. 7.12 Wind energy installed by State — end of 2009

 energy and power generation handbook  •  7-

Unfortunately, 2010 is not continuing the growth of the last few

years, and as a matter of fact, it is expected that 2010 will be a dif-
ficult year for the industry (Fig. 7.16). This change is not solely due
to the deep economic crisis being experienced, it is also a function
of lower energy demand, lower-cost energy sources, and available
transmission.
The 20% by 2030 report also has serves as key document to
drive DOE’s activities and investment in research and develop-
ment. Through a balance program portfolio, Sandia, in coordina-
tion with other laboratories, academia, and industry, supports the
industry and develops the next generation of technology targeted
at improving the efficiency and reliability and promote a larger
market acceptance.

7.4.2 Aeroacoustics
As wind turbines continue to be deployed across the nation, the
likelihood of wind farms being sited near inhabited areas increases.
An important constraint on wind turbine placement arises due to
the consideration of wind turbine noise. As a key design metric,
the noise generated by a turbine can determine its required set-
back distance from residences or buildings and depends on local
community noise regulations. Noise is typically measured on a
logarithmic or decibel scale [9, 10]. As an example, a six-decibel
increase in the noise of a turbine would double the required turbine
setback distance; likewise, a six-decibel decrease in noise may
allow the turbine to be half as far away. Wind developers seek
to place turbines in locations with the optimal wind resource, but
as installations encroach populated areas, the noise constraint can
prevent the optimal placement and adversely impact the economics
of a wind farm.
Noise involves several distinct elements, including the source,
the propagation through the atmosphere, and the perception, all
of which are relevant to wind turbine acoustics and design. It is
important to recognize that not all noise is the same, and that not
all noise is perceived in the same way. Tones, or noise at discrete
frequencies, tend to be perceived as more bothersome to humans
than broadband noise, which is spread over a continuous range of
Fig. 7.13  EIA U.S. installed capacity by genera- frequencies. Low-frequency noise propagates through the atmo­
tion source sphere more efficiently than high-frequency noise; hence, it can
travel over large distances.
There are two primary sources of noise generated by wind
In 2010, overall energy demand is down and combined with low turbines: mechanical noise, and aero-acoustic noise. Mechanical
natural gas prices, it is expected to be a low year for wind.

7.4.1 DOEs 20% by 2030 Scenario

In May of 2008, the Department of Energy (DOE) sponsored a
National Study to analyze the feasibility of 20% of the U.S. energy
by 2030 delivered from wind energy [6]. The 20% by 2030 scenario
report outlines the required advancements in technology, as well
as improvements in the siting process, the manufacturing scale-up,
and the integration needs in order to achieve the goal.
Since being published, the report has provided the wind indus-
try with a target that has become a unifying objective that is both
recognized and acknowledged as an achievable goal. The analysis
results captured a scenario that predicts the need for 305 GW to
be online by 2030 (Fig. 7.15). Although mostly land-based tech-
nology, the capacity target does include 54 GW of offshore wind
as well. In order to achieve the 305 GW, the analysis projects a
scale-up to a steady state ~16 GW annual installation by 2016. As
an example of feasibility, in the record year in 2009 ~9.9 GW were
installed; showing the ability of the industry to scale to meet the Fig. 7.14  EIA annual installed capacity by gen-
demand. eration source
7-10  •  Chapter 7

Fig. 7.15 DOE 20% by 2030 cumulative trend

noise involves machinery-generated noise from the gearbox, near a turbine, this noise is modulated by the passage of the rotat-
bearings and generator. This noise can directly radiate from the ing blades, resulting in a characteristic “swoosh, swoosh” sound.
machinery components and cause vibration in the surrounding Trailing edge noise imposes a rather strict design constraint on the
structures, such as the nacelle and tower (called “structure-borne” tip speed of wind turbine rotors, limiting how fast the turbine rotor
noise). Mechanical noise often occurs at well-defined tones asso- can rotate (Fig 7.17).
ciated with the rotational frequencies of the machinery compo- A key scientific challenge involves the fact that the precise rela-
nents, such as gears and individual gear teeth. Unlike aero-acoustic tionship between the shape of a blade design and its aeroacoustic
noise, mechanical noise sources are often easier to isolate since noise signature is not well understood, which makes blade de-
the source and location is well known and can lend themselves signers apprehensive to large changes that could result in a higher
to effective mitigation through the use of insulating material in acoustic signature. This constraint tends to limit innovation in
the nacelle and vibration isolation to prevent structure-borne blade design.
noise. Key acoustic research being conducted at national labs, univer-
Aero-acoustic noise is the noise created due to the motion of the sities, and industry is targeted at developing the underpinning tech-
rotating turbine blades relative to the surrounding air. Aero-acoustic nology and analytical tools to better understand the phenomena
noise is the result of several complex fluid dynamical phenomena (Fig. 7.18). Once successful, we can expect that not only will wind
that occur on a wind turbine blade and is usually broadband in turbines be able to be sited closer to populated areas but also the
nature, meaning that the noise signal is spread over a continuous overall efficiency of wind systems will increase.
range of frequencies. A particularly important aero-acoustic noise
source is trailing edge noise, which results from the flow of air past
the aft or trailing edge of a blade. For an observer on the ground

Fig. 7.17 Measured sound pressure levels (DU97

Fig. 7.16 DOE 20% by 2030 annual capacity addi- airfoil — sharp TE, flatback and flatback with
tion and U.S. annual wind installations splitter plate)
 energy and power generation handbook  •  7-11

fashion that is typical of turbulent flows. This unsteady, stochastic

operating environment is especially important when considering
both fatigue and extreme loads on the turbine rotor, tower, and
drive-train. The aerodynamic response to the wind inflow is deter-
mined by the blade aerodynamic characteristics.
Modern HAWT blades are comprised of a continuous sequence
of two-dimensional airfoil sections defined along the span of the
blade. Blades are typically designed with non-uniform twist, taper,
and chord distributions along the span in order to maximize en-
ergy capture. Power-generating torque is generated by lift forces,
while drag acts to decrease torque and power. Thus, airfoil sec-
tions with high lift-to-drag ratios are critical for good turbine per-
formance. However, other considerations also govern the selection
and design of airfoils for blades, such as structural constraints on
the thickness of the airfoils and performance of the airfoils under
soiled conditions.
Under design conditions and steady, uniform inflow, air flows
smoothly over the wind turbine blades, leading to predictable per-
formance and loads and optimal energy capture. However, various
phenomena, such as sudden wind gusts or insect and dirt build-up
on the blade leading edge, can lead to dramatic changes in the flow
over the blades that have important consequences for both loads
Fig. 7.18  Flatback CFD analysis: note the asym- and energy capture. Parts of the blade may enter stall, or an un-
metric vortex shed of the trailing edge which steady form of airfoil stall known as dynamic stall. In either case,
results in high acoustic emission the flow detaches, or “separates,” from part of the blade, leading
to large changes in lift and drag forces. Separated flow regions
may become three-dimensional, such that near the blade surface air
7.4.3 Aerodynamics moves radially along the blade instead of flowing from the leading
The discipline of aerodynamics plays a critical role in wind to trailing edge. These complex phenomena are difficult to measure
turbine design for two main reasons: first, aerodynamic blade lift experimentally at full scale, as well as difficult to model (Fig. 7.20).
forces are responsible for creating the torque on the rotor neces- However, modeling approaches based on Computational Fluid Dy-
sary to drive the generator; and second, aerodynamic forces create namics (CFD) offer the ability to model these off-design aerody-
the primary loads that drive the structural design of the turbine. namic phenomena important to wind turbine design.
The aerodynamic forces are the result of complex fluid-dynamical Wind turbine rotors slow down the wind as they extract kinetic
processes occurring in the wind, over the blades themselves, and in energy from it, resulting in a region of low momentum air down-
the wake of the turbine. The fluid dynamical system surrounding wind of the turbine known as the wake. The flow in the wake is
a turbine is multi-scale in nature, creating a significant modeling also quite complex and three-dimensional. Flow perturbations
challenge for aerodynamicists (Fig. 7.19). The scales range from caused by fluid motion in the wake are felt by the blades, affect-
rotor-scale fluctuations in the atmospheric boundary layer down to ing rotor performance and loads. Thus, any engineering model for
micron-scale turbulent fluctuations in the boundary layer surround- a wind turbine rotor must consider both the blade forces as well
ing the rotor blades. as the behavior of the wake. Wakes tend to persist for large dis-
The turbine inflow, or oncoming wind seen by the rotor, is not tances downwind from turbines (Fig. 7.21). They interact with and
uniform; in fact, it varies both in time and space in a stochastic modify the inflow seen by turbines placed downwind of turbines in
a wind farm array. This can have important implications for energy
capture and reliability of large wind farms.

7.4.4 Sensors and Condition Health Monitoring

Although most machines today share the same architecture as
the older machines, advancements in sensors, controls, and power

Fig. 7.20 CFD solution showing near-surface

flow streamlines over the inboard region of a
utility-scale wind turbine blade, showing a re-
Fig. 7.19 CFD-based results on flatback airfoil gion of three-dimensional separated flow
7-12  •  Chapter 7

rotor blade, the cost of the interrogator used to measure the sensor
signal, and the optimal/reliable method for integrating and protect-
ing the sensor to maximize survivability.
Examples of adoption of new sensor technologies can be seen in
several commercial machines today [8].
As an example, several wind manufacturers rely on fiber optic
networks on the blades to enhance operation and control strategy.
These sensors offer the flexibility in that many sensors can be
placed in a single fiber line and can be incorporated in the manu-
facturing process.
As we foresee future designs, it is important to acknowledge that
innovation will continue to play a key role in making wind systems
Fig. 7.21 CFD solution visualizing the helical more reliable and cost-effective. Sensor technologies are just one
structure of the wake of a wind turbine oper- of those key elements that will continue to contribute to turbine
ating in a uniform wind, demonstrating the per- optimization. It is conceivable that sensors will not only contribute
sistence of the wake well down-wind from the to single turbine improvements in the future, and can be utilized for
rotor, which is located at the left end of the wind plant operations, as machines could have the ability to adapt
figure to address real-time conditions.

7.4.5 Advanced Control Strategies

electronics have provided opportunities for designers to develop In order to continue to reduce wind turbine costs, future large
algorithms and operational strategies that continually attempt to multi-megawatt turbines must be designed with lighter-weight ro-
maximize energy capture, load management, and reliability. tors, potentially implementing active controls strategies to mitigate
A typical turbine today relies on hundreds of sensors for their ef- fatigue loads while maximizing energy capture and adding active
fective operation and survivability. The role of those sensors vary damping to maintain stability for these dynamically active struc-
from control observers (i.e., wind speed, high-speed shaft RPM, tures operating in a complex inflow environment. Development,
pitch position, etc.), fault detections (generator over temp, cable evaluation, and testing of advanced controls to mitigate fatigue
twist, etc.), to conditional health monitoring (gearbox lubricant loads caused by complex turbulent inflow are crucial for future
quality, vibration levels, etc.). The effective operation of these sen- designs.
sor systems or networks is crucial for the safe operation of the ma- The wind turbine is a highly non-linear dynamic machine that
chine and must operate reliably throughout the design life, which operates over a large turbulent wind regime. Current conventional
is typically 20 years. This strategy is increasingly important for designs are limited to linearized models about nominal wind speed
offshore deployed systems, as machines are more complicated and operating points that require gain scheduling to transition between
have limitations in access when compared to land-based systems. each nominal wind speed operating point [7]. Today, commer-
In the future sensor systems may play an even larger role on cial machines rely on either classical single-input–single-output
wind turbines. Currently, Sandia as well as other European labora- (SISO) controllers or state-space multiple-input–multiple-output
tories are all engaged in the development and application of sensor (MIMO) controllers based on linearized models. While adequate
and operational measurement methods. Some of the key objectives for controlling the “stiff” machines of the past, these methods are
include: determination of inflow loads and damage state (Sandia not ideal for stabilizing future large multi-megawatt turbines that
National Laboratories), advanced condition monitoring of gear- will experience greater dynamic coupling due to greater flexibility
boxes (National Renewable Energy Laboratory), and monitoring and lower rotor speeds. To meet these future challenges, Sandia
of localized aerodynamic flow conditions (RisÆ DTU National focuses on advanced control methods and paradigms that are de-
Laboratory) [7a]. These technologies are all targeted at building signed to meet multiple control objectives with a single unified
a smarter wind turbine that can itself, identify the loads being ap- control loop, where multiple control actuators and multiple sensors
plied by the wind, the damage created by these loads, and deploy can be used to greatest advantage to reduce fatigue loading, stabi-
control strategies to mitigate the loads while maintaining optimal lize the complex structure, and maximize power.
power productions. Moving forward, the possibility of designing full non-linear dy-
In order for newer, higher fidelity sensors to be adopted, there namical system in a non-linear/adaptive control design may allow
are several challenges/observations that must be addressed: sensor for the potential to capture more energy in below rated-power con-
arrays and interrogator must have minimal cost, simple installa- ditions, efficient transition between below and rated-power condi-
tion, and an operational life on the order of years and tens of years. tions, and for above rated-power conditions to mitigate and reduce
Over these long durations of application, the sensor must also fatigue loads on turbine components and blades. This results in
maintain calibration and sensitivity, otherwise Type 1 and Type 3 longer operational life for the wind turbine components (gearboxes,
errors (false positive and false negative) will reduce the reliability blades, etc.).
and usefulness of the technology. Sandia’s sensor program is fo-
cused on identifying sensor technologies that can potentially fulfill
these design requirements. Currently, Fiber Bragg strain sensors
interrogated over fiber optic lines, ruggedized accelerometers, hot-
film aerodynamic sensors, and aerodynamic surface pressure taps
are all simultaneously being investigated (Fig. 7.22). Each sensor Fig. 7.22  Sandia’s sensor blade — includes strain
technology is evaluated to determine the relative cost which is dic- gauges, fiber optics FBG’s, thermo­couples, and
tated by the number of sensors required to accurately monitor the accelerometers
 energy and power generation handbook  •  7-13

7.4.6 Advanced Architecture

Recent technology innovation in rotor technology — including in-
dividual blade pitch control, passive bend-twist and sweep-twist cou-
pling (aero-elastic tailoring), and fast-acting active aerodynamic load
control — offer the potential for further enhancing turbine energy cap-
ture and decreasing turbine cost of energy (COE). There is a significant
amount of research domestically and globally that showcase the value
of these innovation, and ongoing research in both controls and sensing
will provide the operational architecture to make them a reality. Fig. 7.24  2 MW wind turbine blade being trans-
Advanced control architectures that fully take advantage of ported
these innovations can provide the technology pathway to continue
to refine these large machines and ensure that safety, efficiency,
blade manufacturing due to its high labor content, the size of the
economics, and reliability metrics are fully realized.
components, and need for improve quality and reliability.
With today’s computational capabilities and the researchers’
ability to model the integrated system, multidisciplinary approaches
7.4.8 Testing and Evaluation
are a key to improving the technology and ensuring that the maxi-
As wind turbines have grown in size and capacity over the last
mum efficiencies are attained (Fig. 7.23).
three decades, the importance of reliability and technology innova-
7.4.7 Revitalizing U.S. Clean Manufacturing tion have been quite apparent. Even though, these “Gentle Giants”
look much like their predecessors of the 1980s — three-bladed,
In order to continue to support the growth of the wind industry,
upwind configuration — technology improvements have been vital
local and cost-competitive manufacturing is an important aspect to
for the success of this vibrant industry. Every component and sub-
provide sustainability and the green economy. The wind industry
component of the turbine including airfoils, materials, structures,
provides a series of jobs that will require a trained a robust work-
and sensor and control systems have to be tested and evaluated
force. Like any other energy industry, the opportunities span from
prior to being deployed and accepted.
engineering, service and operation, and manufacturing. A big chal-
All engineered components and systems must go through a testing
lenge for the U.S. in the manufacturing area is the labor cost when
phase in order to validate the engineering assumptions made in the
compared to other parts of the world. While the industry in the U.S.
design, analysis and manufacturing processes. The key question for
was ramping up, a large percentage of the components were being
testing is why, when, and is some cases how? As the wind industry
imported. Today given the persistence of the U.S. market, many
has gone through its maturity phase, the trial-and-error days of going
companies have established U.S. manufacturing, but in order to
straight to the field and patching flaws real-time are hopefully long
continue to capitalize on this opportunity, a cost-effective manu-
gone. This has been driven and enabled by both the fidelity of today’s
facturing strategy must be developed to displace the higher labor
engineering tools and computing capacity, as well as the requirement
costs. Unlike the semiconductor industry, which has predominantly
to certify components and systems to standards and the shear cost of
left the U.S., wind turbine components have the opportunity to stay
building and testing structures of this magnitude (Fig. 7.25).
given their large size, the countries manufacturing capabilities, and
transportation and logistics cost (Fig. 7.24).
Sandia’s Advanced Manufacturing Initiative (AMI) is targeted
at evaluating the manufacturing process, optimizing the process
flow, identifying opportunities for automation, and improving
quality and plant output. The initial program is targeting wind

Fig. 7.23  SNL integrated aeroservoelastic Fig. 7.25 ANSYS FEA blade model and calculated
strategy analysis
7-14  •  Chapter 7

Wind energy components pose many challenges when it comes

to testing and evaluation. Not only does wind have a series of
unique components, the size of the components and the measure-
ment requirements can make testing quite costly and challenging.
Take for example a typical utility-scale wind turbine blade, which
is 30 to 60 m in length, weighs 10 to 20 tons, and is quite complex
in shape. As previously explained, modern blades are predomi-
nately made of a combination of fiberglass and carbon fibers, resin,
and balsa or foam. Each one these materials has to be certified
and tested by their respective manufacturer and must be brought
together to design a blade which itself has to be certified. Airfoils
are now optimized for aerodynamic and acoustic performance and
are tested rigorously in wind tunnels to ensure this performance
Fig. 7.27  Sandia’s sub-scale test site in Bush-
under a variety of simulated field conditions. Moreover, the shape
land, TX
must lend itself to not only localized aerodynamic performance,
but must also be coupled to the structural and manufacturing de-
sign, where the internal structure is designed to take advantage of
the materials available and how they will be organized or stacked code. Additionally, the tools are only able to model the article to
to develop a structurally efficient blade. Also, as part of the de- a certain degree of fidelity within a certain operational envelope,
sign phase, the manufacturability must be continually evaluated and many practical elements can diverge from the model in the as-
to ensure that the blade can be manufactured to the specifications manufactured, as-installed final product. The lessons learned and
without the introduction of defects. data gathered from lab and field testing, at both full-scale and sub-
Although, there will be several sub-scale testing phases through- scale enables engineers to continually improve their designs, the
out the engineering process, the entire completed blade must also result of which can be clearly seen in the viability and resilience of
be tested for structural strength and aerodynamic performance to the wind industry.
validate the computer models and receive certification. These tests
can be both complex and costly due to the size of the structure and 7.4.9 Design Tools
the complex testing and loading requirements, which must repli- Wind turbines are designed and optimized to capture as much
cate such things as, in the case of fatigue loading, the number of energy as possible in a given wind resource. Research into inno-
and magnitude of loading cycles that a blade will see over its 20- vative wind turbine design improvements is being performed on
year life (Fig. 7.26). It is key at this point that the tested article is all components of the wind turbine in order to improve the over-
close to the final design, as it can cause significant cost increases all reliability and efficiency of the machines in the field. Example
and project delays to redesign, rebuild, and retest. research topic areas include towers, generators, drive trains, and
Coincidently, these complex testing processes must also be blades. With the component size of today, the ability to build and
completed as applicable for other components of a wind turbine, test these components is cost prohibited and would delay the prod-
including gearboxes, generators, controllers, etc. In order to com- uct cycle significantly.
pletely be sure that the system will operate as predicted, all com- Additionally, changes to individual component technology af-
ponents should be evaluated together to validate that the systems fect system behavior and result in both costs and benefits for any
will work reliably. Sandia’s technology program relies on this ap- given innovative idea. It is vital to understand not only the ben-
proach and evaluates the technology at the sub-scale test site in efits resulting from an innovation but also to understand the nature
Bushland, TX (Fig. 7.27). and magnitude of resulting costs that may be present elsewhere
The tools used to develop and evaluate these designs are only in the system. Common system costs may include the following:
as good as the data used to validate and improve the fidelity of the increased forces and moments elsewhere in the system, increased
complexity or decreased energy capture. Use of system dynamic
models enables researchers to assess overall cost and benefit of
new ideas even to the point that effects on final cost of electricity
(COE) may be determined.
The system dynamics model of a wind turbine includes phys-
ics representing three major areas as seen in Fig. 7.23. It includes
elements to describe aerodynamic and structural aspects as well as
wind turbine controls interactions. The combination of these el-
ements is known as an aeroelastic, or aeroservoelastic, problem
due to the coupled interactions of the aerodynamics, structural de-
flections, and controls that are involved.
The system model is used to assess the wind turbine design with
respect to typical design requirements (Fig. 7.28). Wind turbines
are designed for a 20-year life and are subjected to stochastic turbu-
lent wind input, extreme loads, and operation through component
faults. Potential failures are assessed in terms of ultimate loads,
fatigues loads, and functional requirements, such as blade-tower
Fig. 7.26 Utility scale static testing at NREL’s clearance. Finally, the system model can be used to simulate the
NWTC efficiency of energy capture during normal operations.
 energy and power generation handbook  •  7-15

Fig. 7.28 Graphical representation of a system dynamics simulation and responses

7.5 FUTURE TRENDS future. Technology innovations that balance efficiency improvements
and reliability are especially attractive, and national labs, industry, and
Although the wind energy industry has experienced a large growth academia are engaged to develop and implement these technologies.
over the last decade, both nationally and globally, technology improve- Additionally, although the U.S. has an immense resource in par-
ments continue to be required in order for the industry to be competi- ticular in the Great Plains region (Fig. 7.29), technology that is
tive and continue to be a key part of the energy mix of today and the viable in lower resource sites and offshore is needed.

Fig. 7.29 U.S. 80-m wind map

7-16  •  Chapter 7

7.5.1 SMART Rotor

Since the global acceptance of the utility-tied, three-bladed up-
wind configuration over 30 years ago, engineers and scientist across
the globe have developed innovative techniques and improvements
to increase the efficiency, availability, and reliability of wind tur-
bines. Efficiency improvement options are always attractive given
the strong coupling to cost-of-energy (COE) and because of the
ease of calculating the return on the investment. Revolutionary
examples of innovation over the last 30 years include the use of Fig. 7.31 Microtab active aero concept and CFD
laminar airfoils, the transition to variable speed and pitch from calculation
stall-regulated designs, and many more. These innovations have
enabled the wind industry to become globally cost-competitive and
to install products that are designed for a 20-year lifespan. Initial results from Sandia’s SMART rotor program have
As we look to the future, the large “low-hanging fruit” of effi- shown the ability of these methodologies to significantly reduce
ciency improvement areas for land-based deployment are no longer system loads and enable designers to increase the rotor size for
there, and designers, engineers, and scientist at national labs, uni- a given architecture, yielding a net annual energy increase (Fig.
versities, and manufacturers are evaluating, designing, and imple- 7.32).
menting concepts that are focused on refining and improving the In order to fully realize the benefits of active aerodynamics, the
technology. localized conditions must be understood. Cost-effective sensor
Ongoing research — taking place both domestically and inter- technologies that provide the necessary information (load, pres-
nationally — focused on next-generation concepts has identified sure, etc.) and have the appropriate resolution must be collocated
the viability and feasibility of both passive and active aerodynamic near the actuators to be able to control the surface effectively and
surfaces on wind turbine blades. efficiently. Although the initial results are quite promising, it is im-
There are two ways to implement passive aeroelastic coupling portant to keep cost, reliability, and maintainability in mind in or-
on a wind turbine blade: off-axis materials and geometric sweep der to ensure the implementation and acceptance by the industry.
(Fig. 7.30). Innovation, such as the SMART program, will always be a part
A key advantage of the passive methods is the simplicity ver- of technology development. Although cost-competitive, the wind
sus authority that the design enables. By passively modifying the industry must continue to identify improvement areas to increase
blade, the rotor is able to change the incident angle resulting in an viability and ensure that wind can compete in a diverse energy sec-
overall load reduction over the entire power curve spectrum. The tor of the future.
result is the ability of designing a larger rotor that captures more
energy and manages the system loads. The disadvantage is that the 7.5.2 Offshore Wind
wind is not constant and is quite random in nature. Since the system Although developers will continue to pursue economically fea-
is passive, designers must identify the primary design point and sible land-based sites to install projects, concerns or limitations in
try to maximize performance throughout the operational envelope. our transmission system, NIMBY, and limited land on most coastal
Initial field evaluation studies of both methodologies have shown states are all reasons why a strong interest has been spurred in ex-
energy capture improvements ranging from 5% to 10% [11]. ploiting our coastlines for offshore wind installations. There are
Sandia’s active aerodynamics program focuses on designing and many attractive reasons why offshore wind installations should be
implementing low energy-consuming, fast-acting, and simple aero pursued on the Gulf coast, the Atlantic or Pacific coast, and/or the
surfaces that can modify the localized flow in order to affect the Great Lakes. The U.S. has an excellent offshore wind resource, and
high-frequency content in the wind (Fig. 7.31). This capability will approximately 78% of our total energy consumption is consumed
provide designers with a new set of actuators that can be managed by the 28 states with a coastline (Fig. 7.33). Currently, there are
to fine-tune the performance of machines and will be able to adapt no installed offshore projects in the U.S., but there are 13 projects
to local atmospheric phenomena that are difficult to resolve with being proposed, totaling to 2.4 GW.
current actuation. Several European countries have already leveraged their coast-
lines for offshore projects; there are currently 39 installed offshore
projects totaling over 2 GW (Fig. 7.34). Although the modern
wind industry has many decades of experience, the offshore wind
industry is quite young, and several of the initial projects have ex-
perienced several technical premature reliability challenges since
their installation.
Fundamentally, offshore machines are quite similar to the land-
based systems that we have become accustomed to, but both are
driven by economic and environmental differences. Offshore ma-
chines must be equipped with systems and an operational archi-
tecture that provide accessibility and enable them to survive the
challenges of the offshore environment (Fig. 7.35).
From a resource perspective, it is well understood that wind
over the water is often more consistent and less turbulent than on
land. This typically translates to higher capacity factors and more-
Fig. 7.30 Left: swept K&C STAR design and Right: predictable electrical output. Coincidently, the design of the ma-
SNL off axis design chine from the foundation to the rotor must take these differences
 energy and power generation handbook  •  7-17

Fig. 7.32 Active Aerodynamic strategy — improvements in energy capture and cost of energy

into account, as well as the impact of the hydrodynamic loading resource, research and development must be performed for deeper
induced by the ocean in order to design a machine that is efficient, water depths where jacketed or floating structures will be needed
reliable, and cost-effective. All current offshore installations in Eu- (Fig. 7.36).
rope today have been installed in fairly shallow waters (<30 m), There are many advantages as to why offshore projects should
which have provided the opportunity to leverage well-known be pursued in the U.S. Outside of a key advantage of proximity to
foundation designs (primarily monopole) from other industries. large load centers, offshore machines can be significantly larger
Unfortunately, if the U.S. wants to capitalize on its vast offshore than the typical land-based machines being installed today (1 to 2.

Fig. 7.33 Land-based and offshore wind resource map

7-18  •  Chapter 7

balance of an offshore project is not the same, as the turbine rep-

resents a much smaller percentage of the total cost (~25%). Cost
associated with the support structure, the electrical infrastructure,
and operations and maintenance (O&M) are significantly higher
for offshore projects; hence which is why current offshore projects
come in at a higher cost (Fig. 7.37).
To outweigh these challenges, future designs must be smarter
and able to operate and report upcoming failures and service re-
quirements prior to a catastrophic system failure. As an example,
new machines could incorporate a sensor network that increases
the fidelity in operation and condition health monitoring. Given
that the turbine cost does not dominate the total cost of the installa-
tion as the land-based system does, innovation in this area is criti-
cal and a cost-effective way to enable reliable offshore turbines.

Fig. 7.34  Siemens offshore machines — Copenha- 7.6 CONCLUSION

gen Harbor (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
The last 30 years of investment in the wind industry have trans-
formed this old technology into the fastest-growing clean energy
source in the world. Through record setting years, wind energy
5MW) since the limitations in both infrastructure and transportation deployment both worldwide and in the U.S. continues to show the
can be mitigated by having coastal manufacturing and barging the effectiveness of policies and incentives, coupled with a clean, af-
components to the installation sites. Typical offshore machines to- fordable, and reliable energy supply.
day range from 2 to 5 MW, but larger turbines are being designed There is still an immense set of technology options that can
and tested. There are several challenges associated with offshore potentially improve wind systems, such as condition health moni-
wind as well. In comparison to the land-based machines, the cost toring systems, distributed sensor networks, advance materials

Fig. 7.35 Offshore wind turbine with complex design condition shown (courtesy of NREL)
 energy and power generation handbook  •  7-19

Fig. 7.36 Offshore wind foundation/platform designs (courtesy of NREL)

options, such as nanoparticles to strengthen local areas, etc., but Like the leadership and direction that DOE’s 20% by 2030 report
evaluating and balancing these technologies on an economic basis outlined, there are several new ongoing studies targeted at evaluat-
is the key. Sandia National Laboratories in conjunction with other ing and calculating the feasibility of large penetrations of renew-
labs, academia, and the industry will continue to explore these op- able in the future energy mix, with all studies showing that wind
tions in order to continue to innovate. energy will represent a significant percentage of the clean energy
portfolio. Additionally, with current administration goals, which
aggressively suggest up to 10% renewable energy by 2012 and
25% by 2025, it is important to understand that not only clean tech-
nology viability and feasibility is needed, but also a robust supply
chain and manufacturing sector is imperative to meet these goals.
As we foresee, a future for the wind industry where there will
be offshore and land-based machines available and installed glo-
bally, it is important to acknowledge that technology innovation
will need to play a key role in making wind systems more reliable
and cost-effective. As the leader of the clean energy portfolio, the
wind industry must continue to find ways to improve the technol-
ogy and pave the road for other upcoming technologies. It is hard
to predict what the future energy picture will look like, but there is
a high probability that if this industry continues to innovate, grow,
and lead, it will have a key role in our energy future.

7.7 ACRONYMS
AMI: Advanced Manufacturing Initiative
Fig. 7.37 Offshore life-cycle cost breakdown CFD: Computational Fluid Dynamics
7-20  •  Chapter 7

COE:       Cost of Energy 3. John F. Mandell and Daniel D. Samborsky, DOE/MSU Composite
DOE:       Department of Energy Material Fatigue Database:Test Methods, Materials, and Analysis,
FBG:       Fiber Bragg Grating SAND97-3002 UC-1210, Sandia National Laboratories
FEA:       Finite Element Analysis 4. H. J. Sutherland and John F. Mandell, Application of the U.S. High
GW:       gigaWatt Cycle Fatigue DataBase to Wind Turbine Blade Lifetime Predic-
HAWT:      Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine tions, Energy Week 1996, Book VIII: Wind Energy, ASME, Janu-
MIMO:      Multiple-Input Multiple-Output ary-February, 1996, pp. 85-92.
MW:       megawatt 5. http://www.awea.org
NDT:      Non-Destructive inspection
Technology 6. http://www1.eere.energy.gov/windandhydro/wind_2030.html
NREL:      National Renewable Energy   7a. http://www.risoe.dtu.dk/?sc_lang=en
Laboratory 7. Rush D. Robinett, III and David G. Wilson, Maximizing the Perform-
O&M:      Operations and Maintenance ance of Wind Turbines with Nonlinear Aeroservoelastic Power Flow
SISO:      Single-Input Single-Output Control, AWEA 2009
SMART:     Structural Mechanical Adaptive Rotor
7. Dale E. Berg and Jose R. Zayas, Aerodynamic and Aeroacoustic
Technology
Properties of Flatback Airfoils, AIAA Symposium 2008
SNL or Sandia: Sandia National Laboratories
USDA: United States Department of 8. Mark A. Rumsey and Joshua A. Paquette, Structural Health Monitor-
Agriculture ing of Wind Turbine Blades, SPIE Conference 2008
VAWT:         Vertical Axis Wind Turbine 9. M. Barone, D. Berg, W. Devenport, and R. Burdisso, Aerodynamic
and Aeroacoustic Tests of a Flatback Version of the DU97-W-300 Air-
foil. SAND2009-4185, Sandia National Laboratories, August 2009.

7.8 rEFERENCES 10. S. Wagner, R. BareiB, G. Guidati, Wind Turbine Noise. Springer-
Verlag, Berlin, 1996.
1.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betz%27_law
11. D. Berry, T. Ashwill, Design of 9-Meter Carbon-Fiberglass Proto-
2. Gijs A.M. van Kuik, The Lanchester–Betz–JoukowskyLimit, Wind type Blades: CX-100 and TX-100, SAND07-0201, Sandia National
Energy Journal. 2007; 10:289–291 Laboratories, 2007
 chapter

8
WIND ENERGY IN THE U.S.
Thomas Baldwin and Gary Seifert

8.1 INTRODUCTION be installed in many locations, providing income, jobs, and elec-
tricity for homes and businesses.
Humans have been harnessing the energy in the wind for sev- Wind energy is a particularly appealing way to generate electricity
eral thousand years. Early uses included sailboats and windmills because it is essentially pollution-free once the energy used to manu-
used to pump water and grind grain into flour — hence the term facture the turbine is offset. More than half of all the electricity that
wind mill. In the 1800s, settlers in the western United States used is used in the United States is generated from burning coal, and in the
wooden windmills to pump water, and many are still standing. In process, large amounts of toxic metals, air pollutants, and greenhouse
the late 1800s, the windmill was connected to an electric generator gases are emitted into the atmosphere. Developing just 10% of the
to produce electricity — hence, wind turbine. wind potential in the ten windiest U.S. states would provide more
In the 1970s and 1980s, wind turbines were clustered into than enough energy to displace emissions from many of the nation’s
wind farms and connected to the electric grid in California, which fossil-fuel power plants and offset their growth for many years.
marked the first commercial, utility-scale use of wind energy. The Wind farms and plants can also revitalize the economy of rural
size of those wind turbines were 100 kW and smaller. In the fol- communities, providing steady income through lease or royalty
lowing decades, wind turbine technology progressed quickly, and payments to farmers and other landowners. Although leasing ar-
by 2010, grid-connected wind turbines were typically in the 2-MW rangements can vary widely, in 2010, a reasonable estimate for
range and turbines as large as 6-MW have been deployed [17]. income to a landowner from a single utility-scale turbine was ap-
Adequate wind speeds are essential to the success of wind energy proximately $4,000 a year, depending on the wind resource, the
facilities. The potential energy in wind is determined as a func- size of the turbine, and other factors. For a typical farm, income
tion of the cube of the speed. Given the cubic relationship between from wind comes with little interruption in farming activities with
power and wind speed, when wind speed doubles there is eight about one acre removed from agricultural production per turbine.
times more power available. Farmers can grow crops or raise livestock next to the towers. While
In 2009, wind supplied about 1.8% of the electricity in the United wind farms may extend over a large geographical area, their actual
States [1]. However, experience shows that wind can provide up “footprint” covers only a very small portion of the land, making
to one fifth of a power system’s electricity, and that amount can wind development a cooperative way for farmers to earn additional
increase with optimized system designs. For example, wind power income.
currently provides more than 20% of the electricity distributed in
northern Spain and in Denmark. A goal is to increase wind genera-
tionin the United States to 20% by 2030 [2]. 8.2 WIND TURBINE TECHNOLOGIES
Utility transmission lines carry wind-generated electricity from
vast and sparsely populated areas where the wind is most abundant, Wind energy systems transform the kinetic energy of wind into
like the Great Plains, to large cities where demand for electricity is mechanical and then into electrical energy, which is distributed for
high. At the moment, there is insufficient transmission infrastructure industrial, commercial, and residential use.
connecting the windiest parts of the country with large cities. En-
hancing the transmission line power capacity for utility-scale wind 8.2.1 Types of Wind Turbines
plants is a key issue that must be resolved in the coming years [35]. There are two basic designs of wind electric turbines: horizontal-
Most regions of the United States are served by “power pools” axis (propeller-style) machines and vertical-axis, or “egg-beater”
of utilities that join together to generate electricity and transmit it style as shown in Fig. 8.1. The horizontal-axis wind turbines are
to where it is needed. The name “power pool” is descriptive of the commonly used in the United States, constituting nearly all of the
electric power coming from many different sources (a coal-fired “utility-scale” (100 kW, capacity and larger) turbines. The use of
power plant, a hydro plant, and others) flows into a “pool” from vertical turbines continues to lag at the utility scale because of the
which it is distributed to thousands of end users. A power pool high cost to place the rotors into the higher wind speeds at eleva-
can easily absorb the electric power from a wind plant and add tions of 80 to 100 m above ground. However, use for residential
it to the generation mixture up to a penetration level of around units is gaining popularity with regular new entries in the market.
20%. Wind penetration greater than 20% requires advancements in Wind turbines vary substantially in size. Table 8.1 depicts a
transmission capacity, forecasting accuracy, and energy storage as variety of historical turbine sizes and the rated amount of elec-
addressed in the Wind Energy Research section. Wind plants could tric power they are capable of generating. In 2010, offshore wind
8-  •  Chapter 8

Table 8.2 Definitions of wind power classes

Wind class Description

1 V < 5.9 m/s
2 5.9 ≤ V < 6.9 m/s
3 6.9 ≤ V < 7.5 m/s
4 7.5 ≤ V < 8.1 m/s
5 8.1 ≤ V < 8.6 m/s
6 8.6 ≤ V < 9.4 m/s
7 V ≥ 9.4 m/s

tion. In the wind energy resource maps, wind velocity characteris-

tics are categorized and presented in terms of wind classes. Table
8.2 lists the definitions of the wind classes, which range from class 1
(the lowest) to class 7 (the highest). Each class represents a range
Fig. 8.1  Typical wind turbine configurations
of mean wind power density or approximate mean wind speed at
specified heights above the ground. Areas designated as class 4
turbines operatedat the 5-MW range with rotor diameters reaching or greater are suitable for most wind energy applications. Class 3
120 m. Technology developments foresee growth to the 10-MW areas are transitional,where the power purchase costs become im-
range projected by 2015. Onshore turbines are operating up to the portant. Class 2 areas are marginal and class 1 sites are generally
3-MW range with 100 m rotor diameters. not suitable for development.
NREL conducted a preliminary review and validated the AWS
Truepower’s (formerly AWS Truewind) 80-m map estimates for
8.3 WIND RESOURCES IN THE U.S. 19 selected states (6 Western states, 6 Midwestern states, and 7
There are three parts that make up a successful wind energy Eastern states) using tower measurements at heights of about 50 m
project. They includea wind resource, an energy sale contract, and greater from more than 300 locations.
and a transmission/grid interconnection. Successful wind projects
have tended to cluster along transmission grid corridors that have 8.3.1 Wind Resource Potential
a­dequate wind. At the beginning of a project, a survey of wind In a joint effort between NREL and AWS Truepower of Albany,
r­esources must be conducted to ensure that a desired location has New York, a national dataset was produced of estimated gross ca-
adequate energy supply. Wind resource maps, developed by the pacity factors. These resource maps identify potential energy re-
U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), provide general wind charac- sources, both on and offshore. The data is interpreted to a spatial
teristics for areas of interest and are used to screen locations for resolution of 200 m for heights at 80 m and 100 m. Wind power is
suitable investigation. A review of these maps provides an initial greatly impacted by the turbine height, as illustrated by Table 8.3.
decision point whether further exploration is warranted. Wind re- Mean wind speed is based on the Rayleigh speed distribution of
source at the local level can vary significantly. Local wind mea­ equivalent mean wind power density. The power available in the
surements and evaluations should be conducted for the specific wind depends on air density as well as wind speed. In Table 8.3,
site of interest, a process known as micro-siting and validation. An wind speed is reported for standard sea-level conditions. To main-
evaluation characterizes the wind resource and predicts the turbine tain the same power density at higher elevations, wind speed must
performance and economic feasibility. increase 3% per 1000 m (5%/5000 ft) of elevation gain.
The Wind Powering America organization also provides high- Each wind power class is designed to span a range of power den-
resolution wind maps and estimates of wind resource potential. sities. For example, Wind Power Class 3 represents a wind power
The maps show the predicted mean annual wind speeds with a density range between 150 W/m2 and 200 W/m2. The offset cells
spatial resolution of 2.5 km for a height of 80-m above the terrain, in the first column of Table 8.3 illustrate this concept.
the typical wind turbine hub height. Locations with annual average
wind speeds greater than 6.5 m/s at the 80-m height are considered 8.3.2 Potential Energy Supply for the U.S.
to have suitable wind resource for development of most areas. Useful wind energy resources for generating electricity can be
The U.S. DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory found in nearly every state. In the 20% Wind Energy by 2030 re-
(NREL) has identified practical locations for wind energy explora- port issued by the U.S. DOE in 2008, a scenario has been pre-

Table 8.1 Changes in wind turbine rotor diameters, power ratings and estimated energy output
over time

Typical dimensions 1981 1985 1990 1996 1999 2000 2010

Rotor diameter (m) 10   17   27    40    50    71    120
Power rating (kW) 25 100 225   550   750 1,650   5000
Annual energy (MWh) 45 220 550 1,480 2,200 5,600 17,500
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  8-

Table 8.3 Classes of wind power density at 10-m and 50-m; vertical extrapolation of wind speed based
on the 1/7 power law

10 m (33 ft) 50 meter (164 feet)

Wind power class
2
Power density [W/m ] Mean speed [m/s (mph)] Power density [W/m2] Mean speed [m/s (mph)]

1 0 0 0 0
2 100 4.4 (9.8) 200 5.6 (12.5)
3 015 5.1 (11.5) 300 6.4 (14.3)

4 200 5.6 (12.5) 400 7.0 (15.7)

5 250 6.0 (13.4) 500 7.5 (16.8)

6 300 6.4 (14.3) 600 8.0 (17.9)

400 7.0 (15.7) 800 8.8 (19.7)
7 1000 9.4 (21.1) 2000 11.9 (26.6)

sented by which 20% of the nation’s electricity could be produced The two lines shown in Fig. 8.2 plot the installed power capacity ver-
by wind energy by the year 2030. [2] By comparison, wind energy sus capacity factor at two different hub heights. As Table 8.3 indicates,
accounted for less than 2% of the nation’s electricity in 2009 [1]. taller hub heights would result in greater power capacity. Turbine
U.S. wind resource potential is significantly greater than 20% of manufacturers tend to design turbines for sites with capacity factors
U.S. demand in 2009. North Dakota alone is theoretically capable of 30% or greater. Research and design of lower-wind speed turbines
of producing enough wind-generated energy to exceed 25% of the would support the development of 25% capacity factor sites.
nation’s 2009 electricity energy demand (3,950 TW/h [3]). In 2010,
however, electric transmission constraints would prevent much of 8.3.2.1 Wind Maps  NREL provides both a national wind re-
that electricity from being distributed to load centers throughout source assessment of the United States and high-resolution wind
the county; transmission will be discussed later in this chapter. The data as a service to the public. The national wind resource as-
theoretical potentials of the windiest states are shown in Table 8.4. sessment was created for the U.S. DOE in 1986 by the Pacific
These wind potential estimates resulted from a collaborative Northwest Laboratory and is documented in the Wind Energy
project between the NREL and AWS Truepower. This is the first Resource Atlas of the United States, October 1986, and subse-
comprehensive update of the wind energy potential by state since quently updated with modern 80 m maps available on NREL and
1993. NREL has worked with AWS Truepower for almost a de­ DOE websites. According to NREL:
cade updating wind resource maps for 36 states and producing
validated maps for 50-m height above ground level. U.S. DOE’s The wind resource assessment was based on surface wind
Wind Powering America project supported the mapping efforts,and data, coastal marine area data, and upper-air data, where
the results are publicly available. Table 8.4 indicates that the wind applicable. In data-sparse areas, three qualitative indicators
resources available in the United States vastly exceed current elec- of wind speed or power were used when applicable: topo-
tric energy demand. As discussed later, careful selection of sites is graphic/meteorological indicators (e.g., gorges, mountain
essential to ensure adequate power generation. summits, sheltered valleys); wind deformed vegetation; and
Wind power facilities tend to develop in areas with adequate lo- eolian landforms (e.g., playas, sand dunes). The data was
cal transmission infrastructure and capacity factors of 35% or greater. evaluated at a regional level to produce 12 regional wind
Figure 8.2 indicates that much more wind power capacity could be resource assessments; the regional assessments were then in-
installed if sites with capacity factors as low as 25% were developed. corporated into the national wind resource assessment.

Table 8.4  The top 20 states for wind energy potential, measured in billions of kWh, factoring in
e­nvironmental and land use exclusions for wind classes of 3 and greater

Ranking State TWh/Yr Ranking State TWh/Yr

1. North Dakota 1,210 11. Colorado 481
2. Texas 1,190 12. New Mexico 435
3. Kansas 1,070 13. Idaho   73
4. South Dakota 1,030 14. Michigan   65
5. Montana 1,020 15. New York   62
6. Nebraska   868 16. Illinois   61
7. Wyoming   747 17. California   59
8. Oklahoma   725 18. Wisconsin   58
9. Minnesota   657 19. Maine   56
10. Iowa   551 20. Missouri   52
Source: An Assessment of the Available Windy Land Area and Wind Energy Potential in the Contiguous United States, Pacific Northwest Laboratory, August 1991.
PNL-7789.
8-  •  Chapter 8

Fig. 8.2 U.S. Cumulative rated capacity vs. gross capacity factor [5]

The conterminous United States was divided into grid cells ¼ typically limited to areas that are well exposed, such as ridgetops
degree of latitude by ¹⁄ ³ degree of longitude. Each grid cell was and tables. In heavily wooded areas, turbines are best placed in
assigned a wind power class ranging from 1 to 6, with 6 being clear spaces with limited wind obstructions. In any region, mea­
the windiest. The wind power density limits for each wind power suring a potential site’s actual wind resource (micro-siting) is an
class are shown in Table 8.1. Each grid cell contains sites of vary- essential step when developing a wind farm and designing tur-
ing power class. The assigned wind power class is representative bine arrays.
of the range of wind power densities likely to occur at exposed
sites within the grid cell. Hilltops, ridge crests, mountain sum- 8.3.2.3 High-Resolution Wind Data  High-resolution wind da-
mits, large clearings, and other locations free of local obstruc- tasets are geographic shape-files generated from the original raster
tion to the wind will be well exposed to the wind. In contrast, data. According to NREL, the original raster data varied in resolution
locations in narrow valleys and canyons, downwind of hills or from 200 m to 1000 m cell sizes and provide an estimate of annual
obstructions, or in forested or urban areas are likely to have poor average wind resource for specific states or regions. The data is sepa-
wind exposure. rated into two distinct groups: NREL produced and AWS Truepower
Wind classes are defined in Table 8.2. The degree of certainty produced/NREL validated [36].
with which the wind power class can be specified depends on three The NREL-produced map data only applies to areas of low sur-
factors: the abundance and quality of wind data; the complexity face roughness (i.e., grassy plains), and excludes areas with slopes
of the terrain; and the geographical variability of the resource. A greater than 20%. For areas of high surface roughness (i.e., forests),
certainty rating was assigned to each grid cell based on these three the values shown may need to be reduced by one or more power
factors, and is included in the Wind Energy Resource Atlas of the classes. The AWS Truepower-produced resource estimates factor
United States [36] (Fig. 8.3). surface roughness into their calculations and do not exclude areas
with slopes greater than 20%. This data was produced in coopera-
8.3.2.2 Local Terrain Effects  When using public wind maps, tion with U.S. DOE’s Wind Powering America program and have
it is important to consider the effect of local terrain, which may been validated by NREL and other wind energy meteorological
not be well represented on such data sources. A site’s topogra- consultants. To download state wind resource maps, visit the Wind
phy affects its power density (W/m2), which will impact both the Powering America website and the Idaho National Laboratory’s
number of turbines that can be placed on a site and turbine spac- (INL) Virtual Renewable Energy Prospector (VREP) website. It
ing (see the Wind Farm Development section of this chapter). In is important to emphasize that all of these publicly available data
areas with relatively flat terrain, such as the Great Plains, power is intended to be used as initial screening tools only. Site-specific
density tends to be greater than in mountainous areas. In areas measurements, as described in the Wind Farm Development sec-
with complex, mountainous terrain, wind turbine placement is tion, are required to make sound decisions.
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  8-

Fig. 8.3 Map of U.S. wind resource at 80-m height above ground level [6]

8.4 WIND PLANT ECONOMICS Plains states. While larger wind farm power may cost less than 5
to 6 cents/kWh in the northern Plains, it may cost 6 to 7 cents/kWh
From 1990 to 2010, the cost of electricity from utility-scale wind in small sites.
systems dropped by more than 80%. In the early 1980s, when the In the case of offshore wind farms, the distance that power must
first utility-scale turbines were installed, wind-generated electricity be transmitted to shore and water depth are potentially significant
cost as much as 30 cents per kilowatt-hour. Now, state-of-the-art cost elements, yet offshore farms can be significantly closer to
wind power plants can generate electricity between 3 and 8 cents/ population and load centers, changing transmission impacts.
kWh with tax incentives, a price that is competitive with and often
lower than new coal- or gas-fired power plants. 8.4.1 Energy Subsidies and Incentives
The DOE is working with the wind industry to develop a next In 2008, the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) asked Management
generation of wind turbine technology. The products from this Information Services Inc. (MISI) to prepare an independent assess-
program are expected to generate electricity at prices that will be ment [7] of the amounts and types of federal incentives provided
lower still and allow expansion to lower wind speed requirements from 1950 to 2006 and the energy sources targeted with each type
around the nation. of incentive. As summarized in Fig. 8.4, the largest beneficiaries
The most important factors in determining the cost of wind-gen- of federal energy incentives have been oil and gas, receiving more
erated electricity from a wind farm are (1) size of the wind farm; than half of all incentives provided since 1950. Carbon-emitting
(2) wind speed at the site; (3) cost of installing the turbines; and sources (oil, natural gas, and coal) combined account for approxi-
(4) grid interconnection and transmission costs. Each of these fac- mately 73% of all incentives over this time period.
tors can have a major impact. Generally speaking:
·  The larger the wind farm, all other factors being equal, the 8.4.1.1 Wind Power Plants Cost Comparison to Other
lower the cost of energy; R­enewable Energy Sources  Wind is the lowest-cost renewable
·  The higher the wind speed, the lower the cost of energy; energy resourceto develop in the beginning of the 21st century and
·  The less expensive construction costs are, the lower the cost consistently ranks low in utility integration resource planning.
of energy;
8.4.1.2 Production Tax Credit for Wind Energy  A 1.5-cent
·  The closer to transmission, the lower the cost of energy.
per kilowatt-hour [1] production tax credit (PTC) for wind energy
On isolated ridgelines, for example, wind farms are likely to be was included in the Energy Policy Act of 1992. Passage of the
smaller and cost more to install than in the flat terrain of northern credit reflected recognition of the important role that wind energy
8-  •  Chapter 8

Fig. 8.4 Summary of Federal Energy Incentives from 1950 through 2006

can and should play in the nation’s energy mix. It also was in- Under the ARRA program, the federal government will give
tended to partially correct an existing bias of the federal energy a cash rebate for 30% of the cost of building a renewable-
tax code, which has historically favored conventional fossil energy energy facility, awarded 60 days after an application is approved,
technologies, such as oil and coal, as shown in Fig. 8.4. which is contingent upon the first energy date. Investors are also
Generally, the credit is a business credit that applies to electric- given valuable accelerated depreciation deductions, which help
ity generated from wind plants for sale at “wholesale” (i.e., to a offset taxes. Critics have used the government subsidies as a way
utility or other electricity supplier which then sells the electricity to to draw negative attention to renewable energy, but in a report
customers at “retail”). It applies to electricity produced during the by the Environmental Law Institute (ELI) for the years 2002 to
first 10 years of a wind plant’s operation. The company that owns 2008 the government provided more subsidies to fossil fuels than
the wind plant subtracts the value of the credit from the business to renewable energy sources. Approximately $72 billion dollars
taxes that it would otherwise pay. in fossil fuel subsidies represented a direct cost to tax paying
As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act 2009 Americans, whereas only $29 billion were given to the renewable
(ARRA), legislation (H.R. 1) expanded the eligibility criteria by fuels. The numbers explain the need for government subsidies for
removing the wind turbine size capacity limitation. This allowed all all types of fuels. Fossil fuels have been well established as the
Renewable Electricity Production Tax Credit (PTC) eligible facili- prime energy generation source, and the incentives are written in
ties to use the 30% Business Energy Investment Tax Credit (ITC) as permanent provisions. Renewable fuels incentives are mostly
on any size of wind turbine project. The 30% credit is applied to the time-limited and are not as useful or effective as they could be
total project cost. Confirmation of the tax credits and their applica- if they were permanent. On a final note from the study done by
tion to this specific project were confirmed by three methods. The ELI, more than half of the subsidies for renewables are for the
following documents show the details of these different incentives: processing of corn into ethanol (Environmental Law Institute,
2009) [11].
Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service FORM 8835
[8] (Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, 2009), 8.4.1.3 Green Pricing Programs  There are several reasons for
Renewable Energy Production Tax, FORM 3468 [9] (Depart- the cost premium (typically 2 to 3 cents per kilowatt-hour) that
ment of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, 2009), most green marketers charge for wind-generated electricity. Green
Investment Credit Tax, FORM 3800 [10] (Department of the pricing varies from state to state and is regulated by state public
Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, 2009) utility commissions.
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  8-

Assume wind energy costs 2 cents more per kilowatt-hour full capacity for the same amount of time.
(2 cents/kWh) than the rest of the electricity a utility is generating
or buying — a conservative estimate. If the utility were to decide A
to use wind energy to generate 10% of its electricity (more than Capacity factor = (8.1)
B
nearly all utilities in the United States), then the added cost would
be 0.2 cents/kWh. An average U.S. home uses about 800 kWh per where:
month, so a ratepayer would pay an extra $1.60 per month or about A = Actual amount of power produced over time.
a nickel a day. B = Power that would have been produced if the turbine oper-
At times when the prices of natural gas, oil, and other fossil fuels ated at maximum output 100% of the time.
are increasing, such as 2005, wind energy is more economical. A A conventional utility power plant uses fuel, so it will normally
study of wind integration into the New York State electric power run much of the time unless it is idled by equipment problems or
system, looking at a 10% addition of wind generation (3,300 MW for maintenance. A capacity factor of 60% to 95% is typical for
of wind in a 34,000-MW system), projected a reduction in pay- conventional fossil fuel and nuclear power plants and 30% to 50%
ments by electricity customers of $305 million in one year. [12] for hydropower plants [13].
Natural gas prices are lower in 2010 than they were in 2005, but A wind turbine’s prime mover is the wind, which blows steadily
utility companies are still interested in adding wind. at times and not at all at other times. Modern utility-scale wind tur-
bines typically operate 65% to 90% of the time, often at less than
8.4.1.4 Energy Payback Time for a Wind Turbine  The “en- full capacity. Therefore, annual capacity factors ranging between
ergy payback time” is a term used to measure the net energy value 25% and 40% are common, although they may operate at much
between production and the construction of a wind turbine or other higher capacity factors during windy times.
power source. It is expressed in the number of years required for a It is important to note that while capacity factor is almost en-
plant to operate in order to generate the total energy required for its tirely a matter of reliability and market demand for a fueled power
manufacture, construction, operation, and retirement. Several studies plant, it is not for a wind plant. For a wind plant, it is a matter of
over the years have examined this quantity and have concluded that economical turbine design and wind resource. With a large rotor
wind energy has one of the shortest energy payback times of any energy and a small generator, a wind turbine could run at full capacity
technology. Wind turbines typically take between 3 and 8 months, de- whenever the wind blew and have a 60% to 80% capacity factor,
pending on the local average wind speeds to reach the payback point. but it would produce very little electricity compared to investment.
From this point forward, the wind turbine will generate emission-free The optimal electricity per dollar of investment is gained by us-
electricity. By comparison, conventional fossil-fuel power plants re- ing a larger generator with high wind resource and optimizing the
quire several years to pay back the infrastructure’s embedded energy capacity factor and revenue. Wind turbines are fundamentally dif-
and continue to generate emissions for their entire life. ferent from fueled power plants in this respect and their inability to
be dispatched by grid operators.
8.4.1.5 Cost of Non-Dispatchable Energy  Some criticsclaim
that since wind power cannot be dispatched to address correspond- 8.4.2.2 Availability Factor  The Availability Factor is a mea­
ing load demand, a utility should have available equal proportions surement of the reliability of a wind turbine or other power plant.
of power producing capability from dispatchable fossil fuel gen- It refers to the percentage of time that a plant is ready to generate
eration as connected wind power. For example, 100 MW of fossil- (i.e., not out of service for maintenance or repairs). Modern wind
fuel generation is needed for every 100 MW of wind turbines to turbines have an availability of more than 95%, higher than most
allow for the times when the wind is calm. other types of power plant.
Utilities use complicated statistical models to determine the
value in added energy and power capacities that each new gen-
erating plant adds to the system. According to those models, the 8.5 TECHNICAL ISSUES
energy capacity value of a new wind plant can be equal to the prod-
uct of its capacity and capacity factor. Thus, adding a 100-MW 8.5.1 Grid Operations with Wind Power
wind plant with an average capacity factor of 35% to the system is Modern wind turbine systems can provide very good voltage reg-
approximately the same as adding 40 MW of conventional fueled ulations, but the output from the power plant cannot be con­trolled
generating capacity with an 87.5% availability factor. by grid operators, rather it is dependent on the environment.
The exact answer depends on, among other factors, the correla- Wind power fluctuations are stochastic in nature, but not com-
tion between the time that the wind blows and the time that the util- pletely random. Since the wind does not blow all the time a wind
ity sees peak demand and diversity of multiple wind farms and rate farm’s contribution to a utility’s generating capacity is the subject
structures and agreement determined by the PUC/PSC. Thus, wind of debate.
farms whose output is highest in the spring months or early morning Utilities must maintain enough power plant capacity to meet ex-
hours will generally have a lower capacity value than wind farms pected customer electricity demand at all times, plus an additional
whose output is high on hot summer evenings or cold winter days. reserve margin. They schedule many resources, including wind,
to meet those loads. All other things being equal, utilities gener-
8.4.2 Turbine Performance ally prefer plants that can generate as needed (that is, conventional
plants) to plants that cannot (such as wind plants).
8.4.2.1 Capacity Factor  The Capacity Factor is a commonly However, despite the fact that the wind is variable and some-
used metric employed in measuring the productivity of a wind times does not blow at all, wind plants do increase the overall sta-
turbine or any other power production facility. It compares the tistical probability that a utility system will be able to meet demand
plant’s actual production over a given period of time with the requirements while reducing the cost of fossil fuel input. A rough
amount of power the plant would have produced if it had run at rule of thumb is that the capacity value of adding a wind plant to
8-  •  Chapter 8

a utility system is about the same as the wind plant’s capacity fac- and other interested parties to develop methods of measuring and
tor multiplied by its capacity. Thus, a 100-MW wind plant with a mitigating wind energy’s effect on birds and accommodating spe-
capacity factor of 35% would be similar in capacity value to a 35- cial issues.
MW conventional generator. For example, in 2001 the Colorado Wind energy can also negatively impact birds and other wild-
Public Utility Commission found the capacity value of a proposed life by fragmenting habitat, both through installation and opera-
162-MW wind plant in eastern Colorado (with a 30% capacity fac- tion of wind turbines themselves and through the roads and power
tor) to be approximately 48 MW [14]. lines that may be needed. This has been raised as an issue in areas
The exact amount of capacity value that a given wind project with unbroken stretches of prairie grasslands or of forests. More
provides depends on a number of factors, including average wind research is needed to better understand these impacts.
speeds at the site and the match between wind patterns and util- Bat collisions at wind plants generally tend to be low in number and
ity load (demand) requirements. It also depends on how dispersed to involve common species which are quite numerous. Human distur-
geographically wind plants on a utility system are, and how well- bance of hibernating bats in caves is a far greater threat to species of
connected the utility is with neighboring systems that may also concern. Still, a surprisingly high number of bat kills at a new wind
have wind generators. The broader the wind plants are scattered plant in West Virginia in the fall of 2003 has raised concerns, and
geographically, the greater the chance that some of them will be research at that plant and another in Pennsylvania in 2004 suggests
producing power at any given time, increasing wind power’s con- that the problem may be a regional one. The wind industry has joined
tribution to the electric grid. with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. DOE’s NREL, and
Bat Conservation International to form the Bats and Wind Energy
Cooperative (BWEC), which funded the 2004 research program and
8.6 ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES is continuing to explore ways to avoid or reduce bat kills.

8.6.1 Wildlife Considerations 8.6.1.1 Additional Information Sources 

Birds occasionally collide with wind turbines, as they do with ·  Comparative Impacts of Wind and Other Energy Sources on
other tall structures such as buildings. Avian deaths have become a Wildlife
concern at Altamont Pass in California, which is an area of exten- ·  Avian Collisions with Wind Turbines: A Summary of Exist-
sive wind development and also high year-round raptor use. De- ing Studies and Comparisons to Other Sources of Avian Col-
tailed studies and monitoring following construction at other wind lision Mortality in the United States
development areas indicate that this is a site-specific issue that will ·  Wind Turbine Interactions with Birds and Bats: A Summary
not be a problem at most potential wind sites. However, it is an of Research Results and Remaining Questions, National Wind
important issue which should be considered during planning and Coordinating Committee.
layout with site specific studies. Overall, wind turbines’ impact on
birds is low compared with other human-related sources of avian
mortality. See “Avian Collisions with Wind Turbines,” for more 8.7 RADAR IMPACTS
information. Figure 8.5 presents results of that study.
No matter how extensively wind is developed in the future, In the first decade of the 21st Century, deployment of wind
bird deaths from wind energy are unlikely to ever reach as high p­ower systems around the world grew significantly. This growth
as 1% of those from other human-related sources such as hunt- has led to many interaction issues between wind farms, military,
ers, house cats, buildings, and autos (house cats, for example, are aviation and weather radar systems. The UK RAF issued three
believed to kill 1 billion birds annually in the United States alone). studies in 2005, which illustrated new interactions and the need for
Wind turbine causes are proportionally insignificant. Areas that are additional review. The U.S. government is also concerned about
c­ommonly used by threatened or endangered bird species should the same issues and initiated a military readiness review in 2006,
be regarded as less suitable for wind development. The wind and issued interim policies that had the unfortunate effect of delay-
i­ndustry is w­orking with environmental groups, federal regulators, ing over 4 billion dollars of wind projects in 2005 and over 600
billion since. Diligent efforts reduced this impact significantly and
established new and reasonable policies.
Mitigation and coexistence is the goal for wind energy devel-
opers, yet defense entities are focused on eliminating wind radar
interaction, creating impasses in many locations. Many mitigation
methods have been successfully implemented, including wind
farm/turbine site adjustments, radar (software or hardware) up-
grades, and improved assessments. Early communication between
affected parties in a wind farm development is a key to identifying
possible problem areas and solutions to those problems.
The use of wind farms in the United States to generate elec-
tricity has increased dramatically from 2000 to 2010 [17]. Such
installations can have over 100 turbines with blade-tip heights
over 120 m (400 ft) above ground level (AGL). Blade-tip heights
of over 180 m (600 ft) AGL are expected within a few years.
Building a wind farm involves many considerations, including
consultation with various aviation interests, both civil and mili-
tary, and also with weather radar installations. These parties may
Fig. 8.5 Causes of bird fatalities [15] raise objections to a proposed wind farm for a variety of reasons.
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  8-

Data from the national network of Weather Surveillance Radar- manufacturers are aggressively upgrading the radar system to
1988, Doppler (WSR-88D) systems are a key component in the allow discrimination between airplanes and turbines and foster
decision making process of issuing weather forecasts and severe co-existence.
weather warnings, and supporting air traffic safety. Experience
has shown that when wind farms are located “close” to weather
radar systems, the turbine towers, rotating blades, and the wake 8.8 LOCAL IMPACTS
turbulence induced by the blades negatively impact data quality
and can degrade the performance of radar algorithms particularly Local opposition to proposed wind farms sometimes arises be-
due to Doppler return from the turbine blades. Another example, cause some people perceive that the development will spoil the
the wind turbines might appear as echoes on the display of radar view that they are accustomed to. It is true that a large wind farm
used in air traffic control (ATC) and reduce radar sensitivity near can be a significant change, but while some people express concern
and over wind farms. These echoes may distract the air traffic about the effect wind turbines have on the beauty of our landscape,
controller from the aircraft echoes which are his main interest and others see them as elegant and beautiful, or symbols of a better,
can reduce the effectiveness of the radar by masking genuine air- less polluted future.
craft returns. The visual effect of wind farms is a subjective issue. Most of the
Recognizing the radar concerns relating to the Wind Radar Issue other criticisms made about wind energy today are exaggerated or
is the first step. Supporting a resolve to such concerns as quickly untrue and simply reflect attempts by groups to discredit the tech-
as possible is the next step. Protecting our borders, to provide air nology, worry local communities, and turn them against proposed
traffic support, forecasting the weather, and preceding with rapid projects. In the electronic age, myths and misinformation about
development of domestic sustainable energy resources are all im- wind power spread at lightning speed and due diligence are needed
portant. They are all vital to national security. The wind indus- to dispassionately inform decision makers of the facts.
try is in a confusing and uncertain position because it is unclear
how many projects will be affected by Wind Radar. The broad- 8.8.1 Visual Impacts
brush approach being taken by some stops all development over a Visual impacts can be minimized through careful design of a
multi-state region pending outcome of a study and often downplays wind power plant. Using turbines of the same size and type and
industry and military operational experience. A number of U.S. spacing them uniformly generally results in a wind plant that sat-
government installations have both wind turbines and functional isfies most aesthetic concerns. Computer simulation is helpful in
radar co-existing, and the British military has a track record of suc- evaluating and demonstrating visual impacts before construction
cessfully addressing this challenge. Policies on wind turbine im- begins. Public opinion polls show that the vast majority of peo-
pacts to radar should explore the solutions used elsewhere in the ple favor wind energy, and support for wind plants often increases
world and look at ways of mitigating the problem and developing after they are actually installed and operating. The bibliography
new technologies, rather than limiting wind development in large references [30, 31], and [32] provide more information on public
areas. Wind turbines are installed at U.S. Air Force bases and near attitudes toward wind.
airports in the United States and elsewhere, and the experience at Shadow flicker is occasionally raised as an issue by close neigh-
those sites demonstrate this is a solvable challenge. Several radar bors of wind farm projects. A wind turbine’s moving blades can
manufacturers are confident that the majority of radar systems can cast a moving shadow on a nearby residence, depending on the
perform well in presence of wind turbines, albeit with some opti- time of the year (which determines how low the sun is in the sky)
mization, modifications, and upgrades. Impacts, costs of mitigation and time of day. It is possible to calculate very precisely whether a
technologies and DOD and FAA guidelines should be able to help flickering shadow will in fact fall on a given location near a wind
streamline the development and integration processes and integrate farm, and how many hours in a year it will do so. Therefore, it is
correction technologies. Systems updated toASR-9 have had good easy to determine the time and duration of the flicker. Normally,
experience mitigating wind systems and others are having good it should not be a problem in the United States, because at U.S.
luck with their ASR-11 radar in presence of turbines. latitudes (except in Alaska) the sun’s angle is not very low in the
The DHS and DOD have contested many proposed wind tur- sky. Further, the appropriate setbacks for noise will be sufficient
bines, which stalled development of several thousands of MW of to prevent shadow flicker problems from becoming longer-term
wind energy nationwide (billions of dollars of investment). The impacts.
large number of denials is a serious impediment to the nation’s
growth of sustainable energy. 8.8.2 Acoustic Noise
Technology can help, as Radar is basically designed to filter Impacts and levels of audible noise emanating from a wind tur-
out stationary objects and display moving ones, and moving wind bine depend on its surroundings and proximity to civilization.
turbine blades create radar interference. It is possible to modify a Noise was an issue with some early wind turbine designs, but
radar installation to eliminate this problem, according to a consult- it has been largely eliminated as a problem through improved
ing firm that has studied it for the British government [16]. That engineering and through appropriate use of setbacks from nearby
study concludes that “ . . . radars can be modified to ensure that air residences. Aerodynamic noise has been reduced by changing
safety is maintained in the presence of wind turbine farms. Indi- the thickness of the blades’ trailing edges, adjusted tip speed and
vidual circumstances will dictate the degree and cost of modifica- by making machines “upwind” rather than “downwind” so that
tion required, some installations may require no change at all while the wind flows throughthe rotor blades first, then the tower (on
others may require significant modification.” turbines with the rotor “downwind” of the tower, a thumping
If a wind project is proposed near an airport or military air- noise occurs each time a blade passes behind the tower). A small
field, this issue will likely require further technical investiga- amount of noise is generated by the mechanical components of the
tion. The interference is generally limited to objects (airplanes) turbine. To put this into perspective, a wind turbine 300 m away is
that are physically obscured over and nearby turbines. Radar no noisier than the reading room of a library.
8-10  •  Chapter 8

8.9  DDRESSING NEEDS FOR WIND

A to transportpower from wind plants to population centers. Such a
TO REACH ITS FULL POTENTIAL redevelopment will be expensive, but it will also benefit consumers
IN THE U.S. and national security by making the electrical transmission system
more reliable, reducing dependence on fossil energy, and reduc-
8.9.1 Consistent Policy Support ing shortages, sensitivity and price volatility due to natural gas and
Since 1999, the federal production tax credit has been extended other fossil fuels. National energy policy addressing transmission
four times, but three times (2000, 2002, and 2004) Congress al- grids will be a key component for the development of the wind
lowed the credit to expire before acting, and then only approved industry’s future over the next two decades.
short durations. Lapses in the PTC have a significant effect on Wind is an intermittent energy source and therefore adds com-
wind turbine installations as evidenced in Fig. 8.6. These expiration- plexity for grid operators. At current levels of use, wind integra-
and-extension cycles inflict a high cost on the industry, cause large tion has not yet become a significant issue on most utility systems.
lay-offs, and hold up investments. Long-term, consistent policy Current best practice is to permit wind production to operate up to
support would help unleash the industry’s pent-up potential. the point where wind generates about 10% of the electric power
that the system is delivering in any given hour of the day. At this
8.9.2 Electric Transmission operating level, there is enough flexibility in the form of spinning
reserve built into the system for generation reserve backup, vary-
8.9.2.1 Nondiscriminatory Access to Transmission Lines  To ing loads, etc. Studies show, that there is effectively little differ-
provide a stable electric power grid, system operators must main- ence between a system with 10% wind production and a system
tain the balance between power consumption by customer loads with 0% wind generation. Observations of actual wind generation
and power production by the generation facilities. For each hour at 10% indicate that the power variations introduced by wind are
of the day, the operators dispatch a sufficient amount of generation smaller than routine variations in customer load demand.
to meet the expected load. Transmission grid operators typically At the point where wind is generating 10% to 20% of the power
charge generation providers substantial penalty fees if they fail to it can become a larger concern for grid operators. Significant im-
deliver electricity when it is scheduled to be transmitted. One pur- provement can be achieved with wind forecasting and spatial di-
pose of these fees is to deter power providers from using transmis- versity. Both are the subjects of current research and involve the
sion scheduling as a “gaming” technique to raise spot prices or application of statistical tools. Concepts of an energy grid overlay
gain advantage against competitors. to the power grid are possible solutions to creating a virtual super-
Because the wind is variable, wind plant owners naturally cannot wind plant where the power production across vast distances is in-
guarantee delivery of electric power for transmission at a sched- tegrated together to form very predictable wind power generation.
uled time. Wind energy needs a modified policy that recognizes the Once wind is generating more than about 20% of the electricity,
different nature of wind plants and allows these plants to compete the system operator can incur significant additional expense because
on a fair basis. of the need to procure additional equipment that is solely related to
the system’s increased variability and/or managing load differently.
8.9.2.2 New Transmission Lines  The transmission grid of the These figures assume that the utility system has an “average”
wind-rich Great Plains, which covers the central one third of the resource portfolio that is complementary to wind’s variability
United States, was designed to meet the power needs of a less (e.g., hydroelectric dams and natural gas peaking plants) and
densely populated region. In order to capture and transmit the an “average” amount of load that can vary quickly (e.g., elec-
wind energy, extensive grid develop is required. At present, this tric arc furnace steel mills). Actual utility systems can vary quite
system consists mostly of smaller-power rural transmission ser­ widely in their ability to handle as-available output resources
vice. A series of extra-high-voltage transmission lines is needed like wind farms, especially when they are part of a larger grid

Fig. 8.6 Annual and cumulative growth in U.S. Wind Power Capacity [17]
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  8-11

system. However, as wholesale electricity markets grow, fewer, Typically, mechanical engineers are not involved in all aspects
larger utility systems are emerging. Therefore, over time, more of these steps, but need to be aware of them in order to properly as-
and more utility systems will be able to integrate larger ratios of sess a candidate site’s viability. A given site may have an excellent
renewable power. wind resource, but other factors (i.e., if it is near an airport or lacks
For detailed information on this topic, see “Grid Impacts of adequate transmission) may prevent its project development. The
Wind Power: A Summary of Recent Studies in the United States,” following sections address the project development steps typically
Milligan et al, NREL [33]. handled by engineers.
Industry and utilities note that one of the biggest constraints to
the expanded growth of wind power in the United States will be
the ability of the transmission grid to deliver large amounts of wind 8.11 WIND RESOURCE ASSESSMENT
energy to customers. AWEA, DOE, and WPA work together to
transform electric industry practices, including the area of trans- A site’s wind resource is a key factor in determining the ability
mission, through technology, planning advocacy and outreach. to generate income. There are many steps involved in resource as-
Transmission is an important factor in the development of wind sessment, but the end goal is estimating how much annual energy
energy because some of the best wind resources in the country are (MWh) can be generated at a site. Wind resource metrics include
located in areas remote from the large electric markets. By expand- average wind speed at a certain height, frequency distribution of
ing and upgrading transmission systems, the nation could have bet- wind speeds at the site, and wind shear. Each metric will be dis-
ter access to wind energy, which could be more easily moved from cussed individually.
distant areas to population centers where electricity demand is
greatest. Moreover, by facilitating the expansion and geographical 8.11.1 Power Available in the Wind
dispersion of wind power across a wide area, an upgraded trans- Average wind speed is one of the most frequently discussed
mission grid improves both the reliability and capacity of wind. metrics of a farm or plant site. Because it is a single number, it is
When the wind is not blowing at one location, it is usually blow- easy to discuss and is the metric used to define wind classes (refer
ing somewhere else. Thus, dispersed wind power compensates for to Table 8.1). However, relying on a site’s average wind speed
short-term fluctuations and increases capacity value. can be very misleading because of the cubic relationship between
Electric utilities originally developed their electric transmis- instantaneous wind speed, instantaneous power available, and the
sion grids over time to connect local load with local generation, total annual energy production. It is important to understand the
and then gradually those local utility grids were interconnected in nature of the power available in the wind.
furtherance of reliability benefits, into a “national electric grid.” The following equation describes the amount of power, P, avail-
That national grid was never intended to function, and never has able in the wind as a function of air density, ρcross-sectional or
functioned, to move truly large amounts of power from one re- “swept” area, A, of the rotor, and the wind speed, v.
gion of the country to another. America’s electric grid could be 1
designed to function much like the interstate highway system func- P= rAv3 (8.2)
tions to efficiently transport goods across the country. This “elec- 2
tric superhighway” would allow low-priced clean energy to reach Note that this equation does not describe the power delivered to
consumers across the country. Such a national grid would require the grid. To calculate grid power, one must account for generator
state, regional, and national rethinking in terms of transmission efficiency and line losses. The total available energy is obtained
line construction processes, yet provide vastly improved transfer from the time integral of the power.
capability.
E = ò P(t )dt (8.3)

8.10 WIND FARM DEVELOPMENT Consider for example the impact of the wind characteristics on
the annual energy available at two sites having the same annual
To be viable, a candidate wind plant site needs to have the average wind speed, but very different distribution of wind speeds.
f­ollowing components: It is assumed that each project has four discrete wind speeds evenly
·  Favorable economics distributed over the year (a quarter of the time is equal to 2190
o Ability to generate income hours). The site data is provided in Table 8.5. For both sites, the
§  Sufficient wind resource simplified wind speed distributions yield the same annual average
§  Buyer/PPA wind speed of 10 (m/s). However, Site A’s average cubic wind
o Reasonable construction costs speed, which is proportional to power, is 2020 (m/s)3, nearly dou-
§  Roads ble that of Site B. If one assumes the turbines placed at each site
§  Cost effective turbine have equal rotor diameters (i.e., equal swept area) and each site ex-
§  Interconnection fees periences the same air density over the course of a year, then site
· Transmission/path to market A will generate approximately double the energy that Site B gener-
o Proximity to transmission lines ates. This over-simplified example demonstrates the importance of
o Cost effective interfacing substation a site’s wind speed frequency distribution in addition to its average
· To be legally permissible velocity and the importance of having actual long-term wind speed
o Siting/permitting data to assist in decisions and optimization.
§  Environmental impacts
§  Radar impacts 8.11.2 Wind Speed Frequency Distribution
§  Local concerns The best way to determine a site’s wind speed frequency distri-
· Access to financing bution is to measure the wind speed over the course of a full year at
8-12  •  Chapter 8

Table 8.5 Average wind speed

Site A Site B
Time (hours/yr) Wind speed (m/s) Wind speed Time (hrs/yr) Wind speed (m/s) Wind speed
cubed (m/s3) cubed (m/s)3
2190 2  8    2190 8  512 
2190 8  512  2190 9  729 
2190 12 1728 2190 11 1331
2190 18 5832 2190 12 1728
Averages 10 2020 Averages 10 1075

a minimum. In professional practice, many investors are requiring (i.e., free stream). The variation of wind speeds at different heights
wind sampling over the course of 2 years to gain more confidence is known as wind shear.
in a site’s wind resource. Anemometers placed on meteorologi- Wind shear is an important factor in determining the optimal
cal towers have been the most common instrument used to collect tower height for wind turbine performance. To optimize tower
wind speeds up to the early part of this decade. Sonar and laser height, two competing factors are considered. First, in general,
type instruments capable of measuring wind speed and direction at wind speeds increase with height above the ground, which can lead
various heights without use of tower (SODARs and LIDARs) have to greater energy production and ultimately greater income. Con-
become more widely used since 2005. versely, taller towers increase a project’s capital and operations
Regardless of which instrument is used to measure wind speed and maintenance (O&M) costs. Increased capital costs include the
and direction, data collection is a fairly uniform process. Most cost of the towers themselves, transportation costs to the site, taller
data loggers used in 2010 sample wind speed and direction every cranes required to erect the turbines, stronger/larger foundations,
2 seconds and report wind speed and direction in 10-minute av- and roads suitable to carry the loads. O&M costs increase because
erages. Wind resource engineers use this data to develop wind of the increased nacelle height, which will affect everything from
speed frequency distribution curves similar to the one shown in routine maintenance (due to the increased time and energy required
Fig. 8.7. for technicians to gain access) to replacing large components, es-
The wind speed frequency distribution can be used to estimate the pecially blades and gearboxes.
annual energy (kWh) production as plotted in the figure. Although In order to optimize tower height, a clear understanding of the
12 mph wind is the most frequent, occurring at 6% of the time, the site’s wind shear is crucial. Experience has shown that wind shear
22 mph winds generate the greatest amount of energy annually. This varies daily, seasonally and with changes in wind direction (es-
reflects the cubic relationship between wind speed and power. pecially for sites with mountainous topography). The best way to
understand wind shear is to directly measure wind speed and direc-
8.11.3 Wind Shear tion at multiple heights, preferably including the hub height and
As with other flows,wind blowing across land has velocity pro- rotor diameter. Figure 8.8 shows the hub height, top and bottom
files. In general, wind nearest the ground has the least velocity and of the rotor of a Suzlon S-88 wind turbine with an 80-m tower and
wind at higher levels above the ground has the greatest velocity 88-m rotor diameter.

Fig. 8.7  Frequency distribution graph of wind speeds collected over a 5-month period in 2009 from a
site in Idaho. The x-axis indicates wind speed. The bars indicate percent of time that a given wind speed
occurred during the period (left vertical axis). The black diamonds indicate energy (right vertical
axis) [18]
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  8-13

During the 1990s and 2000s, the amount and quality of public
data available for prospecting has increased considerably. Low-
tech prospecting may be as simple as observing tree growth. If the
wind blows consistently from one direction, a tree will “flag” as it
grows. That is, the trunk will bend away from the prevailing wind,
and the branches will tend to grow on the downwind side as shown
in the photograph of Fig. 8.9.
There are many sources of public information that can be useful
for prospecting. The U.S. DOE’s Wind Powering America (DOE–
WPA) program has produced publicly available wind maps for the
nation (refer to Fig. 8.3) and many individual states.
In addition to wind maps, DOE-WPA initiated a state anemom-
eter loan program in the early 2000s. In this program, DOE-WPA
provided dozens of met-towers to participating states. The met-
towers are loaned on an annual basis to interested landowners —
both public and private. If the site shows promise, it is possible for
the tower to remain a second year and continue collecting data. If
not, the tower is removed and installed at another location in the
state. DOE-WPA does charge the landowners to participate, but
requires that the data collected be made publicly available for the
common good. More than 20 states participate in the anemometer
loan program.
Much of this data has been collected on 20-m and 30-m tow-
ers, which are considered short by 2010 wind resource assessment
standards. These data are not meant to be relied upon for wind
project development. Instead, they are meant to be indicators of
Fig. 8.8 Wind turbine near Mountain Home, ID sites which show sufficient promise that a developer or other in-
(Photo Courtesy of Todd Haynes, 2008) terested party might invest in installing taller met-towers or other
instrumentation. State of the art wind resource instrumentation is
discussed in the Micro-siting/Data Collection section. Links to the
In practice, few meteorological towers are as tall as wind tur-
publicly available met-data can be found by clicking on the respec-
bine towers (i.e., they cannot measure wind speed at hub height).
tive states at the website as shown in Fig. 8.10.
As a result, wind speeds are measured at various heights (typically
For example, by clicking on the Idaho link on the website leads
10-m intervals) along the met-towers. The measured wind speeds
to websites hosted by the INL and Boise State University, both
are used to create a velocity profile which can be extrapolated to
of which contain further links to wind data collected at individ-
the turbine’s hub height and maximum rotor height. Meteorologists
ual sites in Idaho. Other states with anemometer loan programs
have developed relationships to estimate wind speed at one height
(shown in Fig. 8.10) have similar public data sources. The Idaho
given a known wind speed at another height. In North America, the
National Lab map contains data going back to the program’s
power law is most often used.
a
n æ hö (8.4)
=
n0 çè h0 ÷ø
In the power law, v0 is a known velocity at height v0 and v is an
unknown velocity at height h. The exponent α is the wind shear
exponent. Under very precise meteorological conditions, the wind
shear exponent has been shown to be a α= 1/7. In practice, these
conditions are not often present. Inexperienced wind resource en-
gineers and developers will assume that a α= 1/7 in the absence of
measured data. This can lead to inaccurate estimates of annual en-
ergy generation, and thus inaccurate estimates of income potential.
Wind resource engineers should exercise caution when estimating
wind shear, and reminded that for a given site, wind shear will vary
under different atmospheric conditions. The best way to know a
site’s wind shear is to measure it. A discussion of various instru-
ments available follows in the Micro-siting section.

8.11.4 Prospecting
Given the costs associated with installing met-towers or other
instrumentation, wind farms developers typically engage in “pros- Fig. 8.9 Gerald Fleischman, wind energy engi-
pecting” sites before actually measuring data. Prospecting involves neer at the Idaho Office of Energy Resources,
collecting cursory information in a low cost manner to determine if stands near a flagging tree (Photo Courtesy of Kurt
a site warrants a more detailed resource assessment. Myers, 2002)
8-14  •  Chapter 8

Fig. 8.10 Map of states which participate in the DOE-WPA anemometer loan program [19]

inception in 2002; see Fig. 8.11. The Boise State University Col- expected to have good wind (i.e., ridge tops or other high points)
lege of Engineering became involved in 2008 and contains data and others at places which are expected to have less wind. This
collected and analyzed since that time. By clicking on one of will enable the wind resource engineer to create a more realistic
the dots on the map at the website, the user will find raw data model of the wind speeds across the site than would be the case if
and summary data for that site, similar to the data shown in measurements were only taken on ridge tops.
Fig. 8.12.
8.11.5.2  SODARs and LIDARS  In addition to MET-towers,
8.11.5 Micro-siting other instruments have gained popularity in the wind resource assess-
Once a candidate site has been identified through the prospect- ment field over the last decade. Sonic Detection and Ranging (SO-
ing process, the next step is to collect “investment grade” data. DAR) instruments use sound to measure wind speed and direction,
This data is typically collected with a tall tower (60-m or greater) taking advantage of the doppler shift. Light Detection and Ranging
or a sensor which measures multiple heights without a tower (LIDAR) instruments use light to measure wind speed and direc-
(S­ODAR/LIDAR). tion. Both SODARs and LIDARs are able to measure wind speed
and direction at multiple height intervals without using a tower.
8.11.5.1 Met-Towers  In 2010, the most commonly installed This allows an engineer to collect measurements higher above the
met-towers are 60-m tall. Taller towers are available, but it can ground than can be done with most towers, which can lead to more
be difficult to obtain permits for towers taller than 200 ft (60 m) accurate estimates of wind shear at a given site. In practice, SO-
because of FAA regulations regarding lights and the can be cost DARs and LIDARs are often used in conjunction with met-towers
prohibitive. Regardless of height, met-towers typically contain to create very high resolution wind maps of a potential site. Figure
multiple instruments. This can include anemometers at 10-m height 8.14 shows a typical SODAR setup.
intervals, a direction vane and temperature sensor. SODARs and LIDARs have both advantages and disadvantages
Most counties in the U.S. require that met-towers taller than 33 ft as compared to met-towers. Advantages include the ability to mea­
(10-m) obtain conditional use or special use permits. Additionally, sure at more heights as already discussed. Another advantage is the
in 2010, the wind industry was made aware of concerns from crop fact that they can be moved to different locations much easier than
dusters over met-towers being installed on or near farmland. These towers. One disadvantage to these technologies is that they tend
issues typically do not prevent met-towers from being installed. to cost more than towers. However, the costs are coming down
They are addressed here to alert the reader to be cognizant of the and nearing convergence with tall towers in 2010. Another disad-
need to inform appropriate officials, especially since most met- vantage to SODARs is the noise emitted. They are generally not
towers do not have lights at the top. suitable for placement near residences or places of business. This
Many companies manufacturer met-towers in North America. is often not an issue with wind resource assessment, because wind
Typical packages include the tower, appropriate instrumentation and farms also tend to be located away from homes and b­usinesses.
a choice of data loggers. A typical met-tower is shown in Fig. 8.13.
Depending on the geographic footprint of the project being con- 8.11.6 Data Analysis
sidered, more than one met-tower may be necessary. This is espe- Data is typically collected at 2-second sample rates and aver-
cially true in complex (i.e., mountainous) terrain. When placing aged over 10-minute intervals. This data is used to create frequency
multiple met-towers, it is advisable to locate some towers at points distribution curves (similar to Fig. 8.7), calculate a sites average
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  8-15

Fig. 8.11 Map of individual anemometer loan program sites in Idaho. Idaho National Laboratory and
Boise State University are partners which analyze and post these data [20]

wind speed, and also to create wind roses. A wind rose is helpful green slice), there is only slightly more energy from the northwest
in determining the orientation of a wind turbine array. It indicates than from the southeast. This suggests that southeasterly winds are
the direction of the prevailing wind(s), the percentage of time that typically higher velocity than those from the northwest.
wind comes from any particular direction and the percentage of
energy associated with a wind direction. The site represented in 8.11.6.1 Data Analysis Tools  There are many software packages
Fig. 8.15 has two prevailing wind directions: the northwest and available to analyze wind data and create frequency distribution
the southeast. It is interesting to note that although the wind comes curves, wind roses and the like. Some are offered by the met-tower
from the northwest much more frequently than the southeast (the manufacturers. Others are offered as services along with data
8-16  •  Chapter 8

Fig. 8.12 Example of the summary sheet and links to analyzed (XLS) and raw data available from the
anemometer loan program [21]

loggers. Some are similar to Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) 8.12 WIND FARM DESIGN
software codes in that they use measured wind speeds at one or
more locations on a site to create a high resolution wind map of After a candidate site is deemed viable in the wind resource as-
the candidate site. Some create visualizations of how various wind sessment process, the design process may be initiated. There are
turbines will look from a distance when placed at a given site. The many steps involved in the design of a wind power facility. The
sophistication of these packages in increasing rapidly in 2010 and steps below are typically handled by a combination of mechanical,
wind developers and engineers are encouraged to become familiar electrical and civil engineers.
with several options to determine which will best suit a project’s
needs. 8.12.1 Turbine Selection
The U.S. DOE’s INL has created free data analysis software At any given site, different turbines will perform differently. It
tools which are based in MS Excel. This software allows a user to is typically the job of a mechanical engineer to select an optimal
input wind data which has been measured at a site (regardless of turbine given a site’s wind speed and turbulence characteristics.
the instrument). It contains power curves for a variety of commer- The selection process consist of (i) the selection of the number and
cial wind turbines. The user is able to compare the performance of type of turbine, including the manufacturer and power capacity,
a variety of wind turbines for a given site. Figure 8.12 was created (ii) the tower height, and (iii) the blade length. The cost optimiza-
using the INL software, which is available for download at biblio- tion process considers both income from energy generation and the
graphic reference [34]. costs for construction, operation, and maintenance.
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  8-17

necessary to erect the turbines. When roads are built,curves must

be of sufficient radius to accommodate the long blades of modern
turbines, as shown in Fig. 8.16. Crane pads must be sufficient to
support cranes as shown in Fig. 8.17. Civil engineers typically de-
sign a wind farm’s roads and crane pads.

8.12.4 Electrical Collection System

Typical wind farm design in the United States includes many
electrical power systems aspects. Wind farm engineers need to be
cognizant of electrical grid and transmission issues when looking
for suitable locations and planning their developments. Available
transmission capacities, voltage levels, proximity to loads, and
many other factors need to be considered. The voltage level of the
proposed interconnect with the utility’s transmission will have a
direct impact on the cost of the interconnection equipment and the
economics of the wind project. Most wind projects above 20 MW
in size typically attempt to tie in to transmission voltage levels
between 69kV and 230 kV, while only very large projects above
500 MW attempt interconnects at voltages above 230 kV due to
substation costs.
Once an interconnect application is filed with a utility, both the
utility and the wind developer’s electrical engineers start more in-
depth analyses of the power system from both perspectives. The
utility will model its system and the wind farm addition with soft-
ware programs addressing items such as load flow, system volt-
ages and voltage support equipment, potential harmonics, system
dynamics and stability, and any other power quality areas of con-
cern. The wind developer’s engineers will analyze the wind sys-
tem with similar modeling tools and calculations and will refine
the wind farm electrical design based on this interaction with the
utility and other design factors. Layout and spacing of the wind
Fig. 8.13 A 50-m met-tower in southern Idaho (Photo turbines drives much of the design for theelectric power collector
Courtesy of Todd Haynes, 2009) system, along with other aspects such as soil thermal conductivity,
electrical resistivity, and underground soil and rock characteris-
8.12.2 Turbine Placement and Layout tics. Therefore, the electrical engineers must work closely with the
The layout of a turbine array is a critical step in wind farm de- meteorologists doing the wind turbine layouts to put together an
sign. Proper spacing between turbines is necessary to prevent one appropriate design.
turbine from being in another turbines wake, which can decrease Transformers and cables are sized to keep losses and voltage
energy output, increase turbulence, and increase O&M costs. Al- dropsbelow acceptable levels (typically less than 5%) for the
though each site should be carefully modeled to precisely space
turbines, some rules of thumb or best practices exist. Side-to-side
spacing of turbines, perpendicular to the prevailing wind direction,
should be separated by 3 to 4 rotor diameter lengths. For front to
back spacing, parallel to prevailing wind direction, turbines should
be spaced 8 to 12 rotor diameters apart. In sites with a singular or
predominant prevailing wind (such as indicated in the rose graph
of Fig. 8.15), the low-end of the range can be used. In sites with
frequent winds from multiple directions and having a more bal-
anced wind rose pattern, the greater spacing distances should be
used. Turbine layouts can be optimized using computer models.
One advantage to wind energy is that it allows a site to continue
with its traditional land use. For wind turbines placed on active
farmland, it may be necessary to consider the land’s current use
when creating a turbine array. For example, a landowner may pre-
fer that some income from energy be forfeited in order to continue
farming the majority of the land. In other words, rather than placing
all turbines in the optimal spots for energy production, they may be
moved to areas not farmed, such as irrigation pivot corners.
Fig. 8.14 Boise State University engineering stu-
8.12.3 Access Road Design dent Ken Fukumoto stands next to a Triton™
Access roads must have adequate width andbases to support SODAR near Mountain Home, ID (Photo Courtesy of Todd
trucks transporting tower sections and blades as well as the cranes Haynes, 2009)
8-18  •  Chapter 8

Fig. 8.15 Example of a wind rose graph (total 10-minute intervals: 524592. Intervals used in calcula-
tions: 217906. Percent data used: 41.5) [20]

project and to keep cables from being damaged due to overheat- electrical resistivity tests and wind turbine grounding requirements
ing. The latter concern is related to the soil thermal conductivity that must be part of every wind farm design.
determined in testing and number of cables in parallel, and designs Wind turbines are designed with circuit breakers and/or contac-
should consider appropriate cable sizing and deratings based on tors and fault protection devices that monitor voltages, frequency,
applicable electrical codes and good design practices. Wind farm current and other parameters in order to protect the turbines. Addi-
collector systems are typically run underground to reduce potential tional fault protective systems to protect the wind farm transform-
bird and environmental impacts, and once the electrical system is ers, cables and other equipment should be designed in the electrical
far enough away from the turbines or back to the substation, it usu- system and substation at the point of interconnect. These systems
ally transitions back to overhead power lines to keep costs down. usually include high and low side transformer breakers and switches,
Typical collector system voltages are from the 25 kV and 35 kV electronic protective relays, feeder breakers and relays, switch-
voltage classes with 34.5 kV being a common nominal voltage.
Some smaller projects may have systems at 25 kV or lower distri-
bution voltages. Typical wind turbine output voltages are 575 V
to 690 V, so step-up transformers are located either in the turbine
nacelle or on the ground next to the turbine to increase the volt-
age to the collection voltage level and reduce transmission losses.
Grounding of the wind turbine and electrical system is also a sig-
nificant component of the electrical design, and is related to the

Fig. 8.16  Truck transporting a 44-m blade to a Fig. 8.17 Cranes used to erect tower and rotor
wind farm near Bliss, ID (Photo Courtesy of Todd Hay- sections at a wind farm near Bliss, ID (Photo Cour-
nes, 2008) tesy of Todd Haynes, 2008)
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  8-19

gear, grounding transformers, current and potential transformers, utility companies. Grid operators must constantly balance load de-
and r­elated equipments. Other items that may be incorporated in mand and generation supply on the electric grids. Since typical us-
the substation include metering equipment, control building and ers do not schedule their demand ahead of time, grid operators must
backup batteries, voltage support equipment, such as switched ca- forecast demand ahead of time and adjust generation to meet the
pacitor banks or reactors, and other equipment determined neces- forecast. Forecasts and scheduling are done hourly in many mar-
sary during the project design. kets and sub-hourly in other markets. The grid is kept in balance
by adjusting generation power levels. Output from most traditional
8.12.5 Permitting energy sources thermal generators and hydropower can be control-
Engineers typically support the permitting process steps by led, or “dispatched,” by grid operators to meet the load forecasts.
p­roviding: Intermittent energy sources, such as wind, cannot be con­trolled by
grid operators. In fact, the power produced by intermittent sources
·  topographical maps describing the proposed turbine array,
is accounted as negative loading on the grid. As currently config-
·  visual simulations of the turbines from a distance (such as
ured, this fact increases the complexity of keeping electric grids
how they might be visible from a nearby city or town),
in balance.
·  estimates of sound levels at the property boundary, and
·  technical details about the proposed turbines. 8.13.1 Grid Integration
During the permitting process, wind farm developers must con- During some periods, the output from wind plants is increasing
sider potential environmental impacts, radar proximity, and local or decreasing at the same time as load, which helps keep the grid
ordinances regarding sound, set back, and flicker. in balance. At times when wind is increasing and load is decreas-
ing, or vice-versa, the wind output makes balancing the grid much
more difficult.
8.13 Wind Energy Research The Bonneville Power Administration’s (BPA) balancing con-
trol area in the Pacific Northwest has the largest penetration of
From 1998 through 2009, installed wind power capacity grew wind generation in the nation at approximately 30% of peak load
very rapidly. At the end of 2009, the cumulative total capacity of (3000 MW of 10,500 MW) [22]. The U.S. DOE has a stated goal
wind power in the United States was greater than 35,000 MW [17]. of 20% wind energy nationally by the year 2030 [1], and BPA
Given wind power’s intermittent nature, there is evidence that this was well ahead of this goal in 2009. Its experiences are consid-
rapid growth is adding complexity to grid operators and electric ered a leading indicator of wind power’s effects (both positive

Fig. 8.18 Plot of 7-day period in December 2010, showing load (red line) and generation contributions
from several energy sources on the Bonneville Power Adminstration grid [23]
8-20  •  Chapter 8

Fig. 8.19 Plot of 7-day period in March 2010 showing load and wind generation on BPA’s grid, which
demonstrates several wind ramp, both upward and downward [22]

and negative) on electric transmission grids. BPA has created a dent with a down-ramp in load. The down-ramp beginning around
Wind Power section on its website which contains many resources 8 p.­m. was coincident with a down-ramp in load; this had the effect
r­egarding wind power’s grid impacts (http://www.bpa.gov/corporate/ of assisting grid operators in balancing the grid.
WindPower/). Wind ramps such as these demonstrate some of the most press-
Some of the data is near real-time, such as Fig. 8.18, which plots ing research needs for continued growth in wind energy. Ongoing
BPA’s total load and total generation from several sources, includ- research in grid integration, specifically forecasting, storage and
ing wind, over a rolling 7-day period. The red line indicates the daily development of hybrid energy systems, is intended to allow greater
load cycles; the blue, green and brown lines indicate generation percentages of intermittent generation on electric grids.
contributions from wind, hydro and thermal energy sources respec-
tively. During this 7-day period, the contribution from wind was 8.13.1.1 Forecasting  Grid operators balance the grid by fore-
near-zero, which is not unusual during the winter season. There was casting load and adjusting generation output accordingly. Since
around 1000MW contribution from wind on December 9, 2010. utility companies cannot directly dispatch wind, the ability to fore-
While there is often little wind generation during the winter cast wind output would be beneficial by allowing them to properly
months, the spring and fall months tend to have much more signifi- adjust output from other generation — to account for changes in
cant contribution. Figure 8.19, showing a 7-day period in March load and wind generation simultaneously.
2010, indicates wind energy contributed 2000 MW or greater on State-of-the-art monitoring and statistical computation technolo-
March 12, 13, 14, and 17. The figure also demonstrates the phe- gies allow wind farm developers and operators to fairly accurately
nomena known as “wind ramps,” dramatic increases or decreases predict how much energy can be generated annually at a facility.
in wind power over a short period of time. An extreme wind ramp However, knowing when that energy will be available is a much
occurred on March 17, when wind power generation increased more difficult problem. Utility companies are continually work-
from 0 MW around noon to greater than 2000 MW around 4 p.m. ing to keep the grid in balance, and rely on short- and medium-
This up-ramp was followed by a down-ramp, which was nearly as term load forecasts, ranging from hour-ahead to 24-hours-ahead.
extreme. From approximately 8 p.m. March 17 to 3 a.m. March 18, The ability to accurately forecast wind plant outputs in those time
wind power generation decreased from around 2500 MW to around frames has been identified by BPA as a high priority [24]. Similarly,
1000 MW. While these ramps are interesting to study alone, it is the U.S. DOE Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Office
important to view them in relationship to changes in load (red line). (EERE) provided funding in 2010 to two research projects with
The March 17 up-ramp provided a more difficult situation than the goal of improving short-term wind forecasting. The research
the down-ramp. This is because most of the up-ramp was coinci- teams include collaborators from private companies, universities,
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  8-21

the DOE, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The U.S. DOE recognizes the need to develop larger scale energy
(NOAA) [25]. storage for improving grid integration. Through the Advanced
Research Projects Agency-Energy (DOE ARPA-E) 12 grid-scale,
8.13.1.2 Storage  To allow high percentages of intermittent rampable energy storage research projects were initiated in 2010
energy generation on transmission grids, economical grid-scale [26]. The project teams include private companies, universities and
energy storage is arguably more important than forecasting. Such national laboratories. Figure 8.20 indicates some of the ARPA-E
storage would allow energy from wind, solar, and other intermit- targets, with respect to cost, energy and power, for the research.
tent sources to be generated when available and stored until it was
needed to meet load. Although many forms of energy storage are 8.13.1.3 Hybrid Energy Systems  While wind, solar, and other
readily available (batteries, reservoirs, capacitors, etc.), few are renewable energy sources tend to be intermittent, other energy sources,
economical, large-scale and ubiquitous. In 2010, pumped-hydro such as nuclear, tend to operate most efficiently at steady state.
storage is both large-scale and relatively cost effective, but it is Electric load tends to be cyclic in nature, varying daily and season-
not ubiquitous; that is, the number of candidate sites is limited by ally. Figure 8.21 shows the electric demand (load) in California on
topography, availability of water and environmental considera- November 12, 2007. The load is lightest at night and in the morning,
tions. Batteries (including chemical and flow) are ubiquitous, but and peaks in mid/late afternoon. The shape of such curves will vary
are not economical on large scale. Capacitors and ultra-capacitors regionally and seasonally, but all have peaks and troughs.
are ubiquitous and relatively economical, but cannot store large Neither intermittent sources nor steady-state base-loading en-
quantities of energy over time. ergy sources naturally lend themselves to match such cyclic load

Fig. 8.20 Power costs and energy costs are displayed for a range of energy storage technologies
[27]
8-22  •  Chapter 8

Fig. 8.21 Example of a 24-hour load cycle on the California Electrical System [29]

patterns. Hybrid Energy Systems (HES) offer a possible solution DARPA Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
by combining steady-state and intermittent energy sources to meet DHS Department of Homeland Security
electrical demand when needed and create liquid fuels at times of DOD Department of Defense
low-demand. The INL is actively researching HES. The following DOE Department of Energy
excerpt introduces the HES concept. DOE-WPA Department of Energy Wind Powering America
FAA Federal Aviation Administration
Broadly described, HES are energy product production plants HES Hybrid Energy Systems
that take two or more energy resource inputs (typically includes INL Idaho National Laboratory
both carbon and non-carbon based sources) and produce two ITC Investment Tax Credit
or more energy products (e.g., electricity, liquid transportation kVa Kilovolt amps
fuels, industrial chemicals) in an integrated plant. Nuclear en- kW Kilowatts
ergy integration into HES offers intriguing potential, particu- kWh Kilowatt-hours
larly if smaller (<300 MWe) reactors are available. Although LIDAR Light Detection and Ranging
the concept of using nuclear energy in a variety of non-electri- m/s Meters per second
cal process applications is certainly not new, renewed interest MISI Management Information Services Inc.
in more tightly coupled energy product plants (such as HES) MS Excel Microsoft Excel
that meet the objectives outline above have gained additional MW Megawatts
interest recently, an interest likely sparked by sharpening energy NEI Nuclear Energy Institute
security concerns. Studies have shown that non-nuclear inte- NREL National Renewable Energy Laboratory
grated (hybrid) energy systems can have appealing attributes O&M Operations and Maintenance
in terms of overall process efficiency, enhanced electric grid PPA Power Purchase Agreement
stability, renewable energy integration, and economic perfor­ PTC Production Tax Credit
mance, and lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions. These attributes SODAR Sonic Detection and Ranging
seem to be sufficiently compelling that several significant com- USDOE United States Department of Energy
mercial investments in fossil-renewable HES are being made VREP Virtual Renewable Energy Prospector
in the United States while the U.S. Defense Advanced Research W/m2 Watts per meter squared
Projects Agency (DARPA) has openly solicited information re- WSR-88D Weather Surveillance Radar-1988, Doppler
garding nuclear energy integration schemes. In testimony be-
fore the U.S. Senate, a senior researcher at Rand Corporation 8.15 REFERENCES
summed up the potential value of hybrid systems well, stating
“. . . the combined use of fossil and solar or nuclear technolo-   1. (U.S. Energy Information Administration, http://www.eia.doe.gov/
cneaf/electricity/epm/table1_1.html,http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/
gies may make for cost-effective and environmentally superior
electricity/epm/table1_1_a.html, accessed 12/13/10)
approaches” [28].
  2. 20% Wind Energy by 2030, US Department of Energy Office of En-
ergy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (DOE-EERE) Wind and Hy-
dropower Technologies Program (WHTP), July 2008
8.14 ACRONYMS
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AGL Above ground level cneaf/electricity/epa/epa_sum.html, accessed 12/3/10)
ARRA American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of
  4. Source: An Assessment of the Available Windy Land Area and Wind
2009
Energy Potential in the Contiguous United States, Pacific Northwest
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ASR-9 Grumman Terminal Radar
ATC Air Traffic Control   5. http://www.windpoweringamerica.gov/pdfs/wind_maps/us_wind_
BPA Bonneville Power Administration potential_chart.pdf
BWEC Bats and Wind Energy Cooperative   6. http://www.windpoweringamerica.gov/pdfs/wind_maps/us_windmap_
CFD Computational Fluid Dynamics 80meters.pdf
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  8-23

  7. Analysis of Federal Expenditures for Energy Development, Manage- 22. DOE Bonneville Power Administration, Wind Generation Capacity
ment Information Services, Inc., September 2008. http://www.transmission.bpa.gov/business/operations/Wind/WIND_
InstalledCapacity_current.xls
  8. Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service. (2009). Form
8835 23. http://transmission.bpa.gov/Business/Operations/Wind/baltwg.aspx

  9. Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service. (2009). Invest- 24. Haynes, Todd; Dawson, Paul; and Nuss, Kevin, Forecasting for Wind
ment Credit, Form 3468 Energy, February 2010, prepared for Bonneville Power Administration.
25. http://www1.eere.energy.gov/windandhydro/news_detail.html?news_
10. Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service. (2009). General id=16316
Business Credit, Form 3800
26. http://arpa-e.energy.gov/ProgramsProjects/GRIDS.aspx
11. Environmental Law Institute. (2009). Estimating U.S. Government
Subsidies to Energy Sources: 2002-2008. 27. U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy
(DOE ARPA-E), Grid-Scale Rampable Intermittent Dispatchable
12. “The Effects of Integrating Wind Power on Transmission System Plan- Storage Funding Opportunity Announcement (DE-FOA-0000290),
ning, Reliability, and Operations: Report on Phase 2: System Perform- page 12, March 2010.
ance Evaluation,” Executive Summary, p. 2.13.
28. Aumeier, Steven, Cherry, Robert, Boardman, Richard and Smith,
13. http://www.jcmiras.net/surge/p130.htm Joseph, Nuclear Hybrid Energy Systems: Imperatives, Prospects, and
Challenges, pp. 2, October 2010
14. http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy01osti/30551.pdf
29. http://currentenergy.lbl.gov/ca/index.php
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Bird Mortality 30. S. Krohn and S. Damborg, “On public attitude towards wind power,”
Renewable Energy, vol. 16, no. 1/4, pp. 954-960, 1999, Pergamon
16. http://www.bwea.com/aviation/ams_report.html
Press, Inc.
17. Wiser, Ryan and Bolinger, Mark, “2009 WindTechnologies Market
31. M. Wolsink, “Wind power implementation: The nature of public at-
Report”, August 2010, pp 3. http://www.windpoweringamerica.gov/
titudes: Equity and fairness instead of backyard motives,” Renewable
filter_detail.asp?itemid=2788
and Substanable Energy Reviews, vol. 11, no. 6, pp. 1188-1207, Aug.
18. This frequency distribution graph was taken from publicly available 2007, Elsevier Ltd.
wind data posted on the Idaho National Laboratory website.http://
32. I. Bishop “Determination of thresholds of visual impact: the case of
www.inl.gov/wind/idaho/
wind turbines” Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design,
19. http://www.windpoweringamerica.gov/anemometer_loans.asp vol. 29, no. 5, pp. 707–718, 2002, Pion Ltd.
20. http://www.inl.gov/wind/idaho/ 33. http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy03osti/34318.pdf
21. http://coen.boisestate.edu/WindEnergy/WindData/index.asp 34. http://www.inl.gov/wind
 chapter

9
WIND ENERGY RESEARCH IN tHE
NETHERLANDS
Peter Eecen

9.1 INTRODUCTION 9.2  IND ENERGY IN THE

W
NETHERLANDS
Interest in the application of modern wind energy grew in the
Netherlands in the 1970s when the limit of fossil fuels became In the last 20 years, the amount of wind energy has grown at a
clear. Wind energy has been an important source of energy in The rate of approximately 30% per year. In Europe, at the end of 2008
Netherlands for centuries and the country was known for the many a total amount of 64.5 GW wind energy has been installed onshore
wooden wind mills especially in the coastal regions. At the same and 1.5 GW offshore. In the Netherlands, the installed wind en-
time, research activities in the modern wind energy were started, ergy capacity amounts 1921 MW onshore and 228 MW offshore.
which have led to the relatively large wind energy research com- During 2009, the Netherlands decommissioned 106 turbines (total
munity in the Netherlands today. capacity 34.8 MW) and installed new turbines totaling 101.4 MW
Wind energy research activities in the Netherlands are predomi- to have a total of 2216 MW installed wind power which generated
nantly performed at the Energy research Centre of the Netherlands 4% of the national electricity demand. Wind energy has an impor-
(ECN) and the Delft University of Technology (DUT). Both in- tant role in the extension and replacement of electricity production
stitutes are involved in wind energy research since the start of the capacity.
modern wind turbines, the 1970s. These institutes match their re- The official target for the Netherlands for the implementation
search programs with each other as close as possible. ECN Wind of renewable energy, set in a European context, is 14% in 2020.
Energy has a research staff of 55 scientists and DUT has a research However, the Netherlands has the ambition to reach the share of
staff of 15 permanent researchers and more than 35 PhD students. renewable energy of 20% in 2020. In order to reach that ambition,
Another institute dedicated to wind energy research is the founda- the share of renewable electricity generation in the total electricity
tion Knowledge Centre WMC that has been founded by the DUT production should reach 35%. Based on this ambition, the Nether-
and ECN in 2003 with an additional research staff of 25 scientists. lands has set the target for installed wind energy capacity in 2020
Although the major part of the wind energy research is concen- at 4000 MW onshore and 6000 MW offshore.
trated in these institutes, many other universities and scientific in- Currently, the cost of electricity production using onshore wind
stitutes contribute to the research with dedicated and specialized turbines reaches the cost of fossil Electricity production (6 - 8 €ct/
research. kWh). Offshore, the cost of wind energy electricity production is
The current wind energy research and associated industrial ac- strongly depending on the complexity of the wind farm, such as
tivities are taking place in an international context, mostly the distance to the coast, water depth, soil, etc. The cost offshore is
European context, therefore the research activities not only take in the order of 12 to 18 €ct/kWh. However, it is expected that the
account of the long-term energy research program of the Dutch relatively young offshore wind technology will experience a strong
government, such as the long-term energy research program EOS learning curve, leading to significant cost reductions. This is one
[1], but also of the R&D priorities defined in the international of the reasons that the Dutch government balances its funding be-
context, such as the Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) of the tween supporting the implementation and funding further innova-
wind energy sector [2]. The three wind energy research organi- tion by supporting wind energy research with a focus on the further
zations are well represented in international bodies such as Eu- development of offshore wind energy.
ropean Wind Energy Association (EWEA), European Academy Geographically, the Netherlands has a central position with re-
of Wind Energy (EAWE), International Energy Agency (IEA), gards to the North Sea. In the next decades, offshore wind energy
International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), International will be a significant part of the total wind energy capacity in the
Network for Harmonised and Recognised Measurements in Wind countries surrounding the North Sea. The conditions are relatively
Energy (MEASNET), European Wind Energy Technology Plat- favorable: the average wind speed is high, the water depths are
form (TPWind) and the European Energy Research Alliance moderate (20 to 50 m), and there are many harbors to access the
(EERA). farms. In order to realize the ambitious targets, substantial R&D
9-  •  Chapter 9

effort is required. The wind energy research program in the Neth- Examples are the know-how developed in the field of noise emis-
erlands has therefore been focused on offshore applications since sion reduction, material expertise and fatigue properties that led to
the beginning of the century. Not only because most capacity must significant improvements of wind turbines. However, while The
be installed offshore, but in addition, the offshore application has Netherlands significantly invested in wind energy research, the
the highest challenge in knowledge, technology, reliability, instal- development of large scale wind energy was not realized. The na-
lation and maintenance that is also applicable to onshore applica- tional realization of wind turbines always was far below the targets
tions. The knowledge institutes in the Netherlands active in the and also the national industry was largely overtaken by interna-
field of wind energy are collaborating intensively. The long-term tional competition.
collaboration between the Energy research Centre of the Nether- In the first phase of the NOW research program, the compari-
lands ECN and Delft University of Technology DUWIND has led son was made between horizontal and vertical axis wind turbines.
to among others the common foundation Wind turbine Materials Technical options were investigated and no choice could be made
and Constructions WMC where blade tests are performed. then. Both options were considered for the exploratory phase and
In the 1990s, the Netherlands had several wind turbine manu- experimental turbines of both types were realized. Although there
facturers, among which Lagerwey, Nedwind en Windmaster. Al- were no solid arguments to not further develop the vertical axis
though these manufacturers did not develop to large global players, wind turbine and given that the horizontal axis turbine was the
the Netherlands still has significant knowledge in the field of de- dominant design in the international market, a decision was made
velopment and manufacturing of wind turbines. Currently, in the to stop the further development of vertical axis wind turbines. In
Netherlands wind turbines are being developed by for instance the mean time Polymarin built a floating 15 m Darrieus turbine in
XEMC Darwind, 2B-energy, VWEC, Lagerwey Wind, STX- the Gaasperplas in Amsterdam in the early 1980s.
Harakosan and EWT. In addition, the Netherlands has a strongly From 1977 to1978, a larger turbine with horizontal axis was de-
developed industrial sector in the field of offshore technology, signed, the HAT25. The name indicated the rotor diameter of 25 m
which is heavily involved in the installation of offshore wind en- of this turbine. ECN, the National Aerospace Laboratory NLR and
ergy. The activities range from offshore engineering to the devel- Eindhoven university of Technology were responsible for parts
opment of installation and maintenance vessels and foundations. of the research program. The 25-m HAT (horizontal axis turbine)
Large Dutch players are among others Ballast Nedam, Mamoet experimental wind turbine was erected at the site of ECN and the
van Oord, Heerema, IHC Merwede, Fugro, and MSC Gusto. Be- turbine had the typical half concrete, half steel tower. It has been
cause of the strong Dutch knowledge position in offshore wind operated by ECN since August 1981 and extensive measurement
energy by the collaborative applied research activities, the Dutch campaigns have been performed at this turbine. The experiments
industry is involved in the Construction of offshore wind farms in have been used for validation of codes, testing of control strate­
The Netherlands, Denmark, Germany and the United Kingdom. gies, analyses of load cases, etc. Alternative rotors have been
installed, such as the FLEXHAT rotor and many more. Some
prominent measurements on the 25-m HAT turbine are the axial
9.3 HISTORIC VIEW TO 1990 force measurements to verify the computer program PHATAS,
which calculates static and dynamic loads in the large wind turbine
The first proposals for producing electricity from wind in The components and dynamic loads in the large turbine components.
Netherlands date from the 1920s. After some experiments in the These were used to determine excitation and response frequency
1930s, there were more experiments until the 1970s without too spectrums for different modes of operation and to determine the
much success. Especially in the 1960s, the fossil fuels were cheap fatigue characteristics of the machines by means of the rain flow
and the general idea was that nuclear energy would provide cheap counting method.
energy for a long time. The Energy research Centre of the Neth- In 1985 a prototype of the advanced 1 MW NEWECS-45 was
erlands in that time was called Reactor Centre of the Netherlands built and in 1986 a start was made with the experimental wind farm
(RCN). In 1975, a national committee reported that wind energy is Sexbierum, near the city of Sexbierum in the Netherlands. This
the preferred option for large scale renewable energy, and remark- wind farm consisted of 18 turbines with rotor diameter of 18 m
ably, these large numbers would not be installed only onshore, and rated at 300 kW totaling 5.4 MW. Seven towers were installed for
specifically offshore wind energy in the North Sea should be inves- meteorological measurements. Especially the wake measurements
tigated. A committee guided by RCN had the assignment to define in this wind farm were unique for that time. Also the effect of the
the first Dutch national research program on wind energy. wind farm on the environment, and especially birds, was part of the
The first funding of Dutch wind energy research was organized research, where it was concluded that wind farms do not pose an
by the National Wind Energy Research Program (NOW) phase excessive threat to birds.
in the period 1976 to 1985 which was followed by the 1986 to In the Netherlands, the research activities on wind energy always
1990 NOW phase to stimulate technological, economical and did have a large international focus and was based on international
environmental research related to wind energy. The intention of cooperation. Already in the IEA R&D WECS [3] program that was
these programs was to give The Netherlands a leading role in the initiated in 1977, the Netherlands participated with the objective
development of wind energy given the rich wind history. And in- to perform cooperative research, development and demonstration,
deed, these programs facilitated the development of wind energy and exchange of information in the field of wind energy utiliza-
as a realistic energy option for the next decades. The 1986 to 1990 tion. From the early 1970s, the Netherlands, just as many other
Integral Wind Energy Program (IWP) was intended to initiate the countries were exploring the use of wind energy. After the oil cri-
large-scale application of wind energy in the Netherlands and to sis, an urge to collaborate between R&D institutes in wind energy
provide an incentive for the further development of cost-effective led to the start of the International Energy Agency Implementing
wind turbines. In 1990, these programs led to a large involvement Agreement for Co-operation in the Research and Development of
of Dutch industry in wind energy research and contributed to the Wind Turbine Systems [4]. A manual for structural safety analy-
accumulation of wind technology know-how in the Netherlands. sis of wind turbines was prepared and technical feasibility stud-
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  9-

ies were carried out on multi-unit offshore wind farms. Already In 1997, NOVEM carried out a feasibility study of a demonstra-
in 1981, it was concluded that it was technical feasible to install tion project of a near shore wind farm. The wind farm is meant
a large, multi-unit offshore wind farm with 50 to 200 turbines on to gain experience and knowledge of offshore installation, con-
individual support structures, with rotor diameters between 50 and struction and operations. The idea to have a demonstration off-
110 m in water depths of 10 to 45 m. The study group on recom- shore wind farm was steadily further developed and the wind farm
mended practices completed a study of power performance test- became operational in 2007. The realization of the farm included
ing and studied recommended practices for wind turbine costing, an extensive monitoring and evaluation program. The farm is high-
evaluation of fatigue, acoustics, safety and reliability, quality of lighted further in this Chapter.
power, etc. As early as 1980, a new task was initiated by ECN on Around the same time, engineering design codes came avail-
wake effects of wind turbines. The objective to better estimate the able, like the wind field generator for aeroelastic codes SWIFT, an
performance of arrays of wind turbines led to the theoretical and aerodynamic correction method for 3D effects TIDIS, an optimiza-
experimental modeling of turbine clusters, among others experi- tion tool for blade design BLADOPT, and a tool for calculations on
ments in the Dutch TNO wind tunnels [5, 6]. The measured data noise emissions from blades SILANT. In 1999 the DUT developed
still are used for analyses and validations today. In addition, gener- the method NewGust to quickly generate extreme turbulence gusts
ated turbulence levels and associated dynamic effects were part of for load calculations. These codes have been used by industry and
the studies. The Dutch TNO wake interaction model MILLY was most of these codes are still in use today.
tested against wind tunnel experiments. In 1983 the Netherlands The objective of the project 3D effects in stall was to improve
joined the IEA agreement for cooperation in the development of methods that are used in order to predict the effect of rotation on
Large-Scale Wind Energy Systems [3] with ECN as the contract- sectional aerodynamic coefficients, particularly the lift coeffi-
ing party. One of the activities was to prepare the specifications for cients. The project was a cooperation between ECN, DUT and the
the 3 MW 80 m GROHAT turbine with an industrial consortium. National Aerospace Laboratory NLR. In the first stage, following
the ideas of Herman Snel, boundary layer equations in a rotating
frame of reference were developed by NLR and subsequently put
9.4 HISTORIC VIEW 1990 TO 2000 in integral form. In parallel, the aerodynamic analysis program
XFOIL was purchased and improved by ECN and DUT resulting
The wind energy research activity in The Netherlands in the in a more accurate prediction of lift coefficients near stall. In the
period from 1990 to 2000 period was concentrated at ECN Wind second stage, the integral form of boundary layers in the rotating
Energy and the Delft University of Technology. Additional activi- frame of reference was implemented in the improved XFOIL by
ties were carried out by the Dutch organization for Applied Scien- NLR. The resulting program called RFOIL was validated using
tific Research TNO and research and development by the industry. the experimental aerodynamic field data from ECN’s HAT25 ex-
ECN focused on aerodynamics, durability and fatigue, electrical perimental wind turbine. In addition, power curve predictions were
conversion and regulation, criteria for certification and standards, validated by experimental data. In the third stage, an engineering
and offshore applications. The primary focus of the ECN program method was developed by ECN, allowing the effect of rotation on
is the improvement of the institute’s research potential in order to the lift coefficient to be obtained without having to perform a cal-
be able to react adequately to possible assignments from industry culation with RFOIL. The main result of the project was the code
and therefore the program is oriented towards the development of RFOIL, which is more accurate than its predecessor in rotating
measuring methods, simulation models, test procedures, etc. The cases like wind turbines. The RFOIL code is to date still freely
development of measuring methods is facilitated by the availabil- distributed by ECN and is in use with most wind turbine manufac-
ity of the HAT25 turbine at the Petten site. In the same period, the turers and wind energy researchers.
Delft University of Technology plays an important role in research ECN coordinated the JOULE II project Dynamic Inflow [8],
and researcher training, with predominant focus on fundamental research on the validation of 3D effects in stall. These effects de-
aspects, such as aerodynamics and loads. The 1991 to 1995 TWIN scribe the wake induced unsteadiness and non-uniformity of the
program administered by NOVEM was followed by the 1996 to flow in the rotor plane. Aim of the project was the definition and
2000 program. The main focus in these programs are further re- implementation of engineering models within computer codes for
search in rotor aerodynamics, especially dynamic and 3D effects dynamic load calculations. These models have been qualified by
and development of engineering rules; design tools for rotor de- means of comparison with both existing sophisticated models (dy-
velopment, o.a. buckling and optimization through cost functions; namic vortex wake calculations) and experiments on turbines with
inventory of extreme wind conditions; reduction of emission noise, a large range of rotor diameters. Important dynamic inflow effects
o.a. through design and field testing of rotor blades with serrated were found at fast pitching transients and at yawed flow condi-
edges and empirical research in which serrated edges and tip tions. The effects were predicted well with the newly developed
shapes are tested in wind tunnels; standards and certification; and engineering methods. The projects provided many insights in the
design and construction of light weight turbine concepts such as behavior of the induced velocities in the rotor plane under several
the FlexHat research [7]. The FlexHat program aimed at diminish- conditions. Measurements and calculations showed important ef-
ing internal peak loads, by employing the dynamics of the rotor fects of dynamic inflow on the mechanical loads at fast pitching
instead of withstanding them. Flexibility is introduced in the four transients and at yawed conditions. At fast pitching transients large
main degrees of freedom of the rotor, resulting in a variable speed overshoots in the loads were apparent. At yawed conditions, the
conversion system with soft characteristics, rotor control by means influence of the skewed wake on the induced velocities effected the
of passive activation of the tip in combination with variable speed, phase and amplitude of the azimuthally binned averaged flat wise
an elastomeric teeter with elastomeric teeter limiters (bumpers), moments. For partial span pitch conditions and for wind gusts, the
and a flex beam which is moderately flexible in flap wise direction dynamic inflow effects were much less. Direct evidence of dynamic
and stiff in torsional direction. The components were tested on the inflow was found in the wake flow measurements in the wind tun-
HAT25 research turbine, located at ECN Petten. nel at pitching transients and yawed conditions. An interesting
9-  •  Chapter 9

result was that under yawed conditions, the skewed wake does not In 1999 several projects were started under the Ecology,
only effect the axial induction (which was expected from helicop- Econ­omy and Technology funding scheme: One of the projects
ter aerodynamics), but also the in plane velocities. The dynamic researches the possibilities of producing large blades from ecologi-
inflow effects were predicted well with the engineering methods, cally friendly materials. The other is the DOWEC project.
developed in the project. The Dutch Offshore Wind Energy Converter project (DOWEC)
Delft University of Technology coordinated the Joule project included NEG Micon, LM Glassfiber, Van Oord ACZ, DUT and
“Structural and Economic Optimization of Bottom Mounted Off- ECN and was started as a concept study for offshore wind turbines
shore Wind Energy Converters” (Opti-OWECS) with the aim to [10]. The goal of the DOWEC Concept Study was to make an in-
reduce cost of electricity by extending the technology and dem- ventory of all wind turbine concepts in order to select the most
onstrating practical solutions for offshore wind turbines. An in- optimal concept for a 5 to 6 MW offshore wind turbine. In the
novative integral design methodology was developed, the OWECS first phase the DOWEC concept study aimed at the choice of the
design approach, considering all components of an offshore wind optimal wind turbine concept. These turbines should be able to
farm. The design solution is then considering criteria like levelized withstand the severe wind and wave conditions at the Dutch North
production costs, adaptation to local site conditions, dynamics of Sea. In the design process, the wind turbine was not treated as an
the system, installation effort as well as availability of the turbines. isolated system, but the designs of different wind turbine concepts
This also required a novel offshore wind farm cost model which were evaluated as an integral part of a complete large-scale off-
was developed at DUT. shore wind farm. All significant properties like the structural loads,
During this period, the Dutch wind energy research was strongly the power performance, the system reliability, the costs of the elec-
involved in international cooperation, like numerous European tric infrastructure, maintenance costs and installation costs were
projects and participation in IEA Annexes. The Dutch researchers determined for the optimized designs. The concept study resulted
have been heavily involved in the development of design guide- in five feasible concepts for far offshore wind turbines of 5 to 6
lines and IEC International Standards. MW. These concepts were quantitative ranked based on the cost
For instance, TASK XVIII — Enhanced Field Rotor Aero- of generated energy. Furthermore, qualitative criteria like devel-
dynamics Database has been operated by ECN [9]. In 1998, the opment risk and market potential were taken into consideration
ExCo approved Task XVIII to extend the database developed when finalizing the choice of concept. From these concepts, one
in Task XIV and to disseminate the results. The objective of the was selected by industry for further development. The industrial
ANNEX-XIV was the coordination of full-scale aerodynamic tasks resulted in the engineering, purchase, and construction of a
test programs on wind turbines, in order to acquire the maximum 2.75 MW wind turbine. The turbine has been erected and tested at
of experimental data at minimum costs. In these full-scale aero­ the ECN Wind turbine Test site Wieringermeer. The final result of
dynamic test programs local aerodynamic quantities (forces, inflow the DOWEC project should have been the realization of a 6 MW
velocities, inflow angles) are measured at several radial positions offshore wind turbine which is optimized for exploitation in large
along the blade. The supply of local aerodynamic data, is a major wind farms in the North Sea addressing all design and operational
step forward in understanding the very complicated aerodynamic aspects in a cost-effective way. The realization of this turbine
behavior of a wind turbine. In conventional test programs only never happened, but the design of the 6 MW turbine was delivered
blade (or rotor) quantities are measured. Usually these quantities in 2003. The design is publicly available and the information has
are integrated over the rotor blade and they are not only influenced been used extensively. For instance the 5 MW reference turbine
by aerodynamic effects, but also by mass effects. Then the local defined by NREL is largely derived from it and many aspects of
aerodynamic properties of the blade can only be derived indirectly, the DOWEC 6 MW design can be found in modern offshore wind
introducing an uncertainty. Since aerodynamic field experiments turbines installed today (Fig. 9.1).
are typically very time consuming, expensive and complicated be- At the end of the decade, ECN developed and patented a novel
cause of the large volumes of data and the extensive data reduction technique to visualize the stall behavior of rotor blades. The power
it is very advantageous to cooperate. And because specific turbine performance of stall regulated turbines in some cases varied con-
configurations that are investigated experimentally may exhibit a siderably and to quantify the cause, a measurement technique was
very different aerodynamic response characteristics, the combi- required, which could be applied on large commercial wind tur-
nation of measurement data on very different facilities will pro- bines, was fast enough to monitor the dynamic changes of the stall
vide much more insight about the general validity of aerodynamic pattern, and was not influenced by the centrifugal force and most
phenomena. importantly did not disturb the flow. The technique developed
In 1999 a new Dutch wind energy research strategy was formu- and patented at ECN was called Stall Flag Method [11] and was
lated by the government, and with input from Dutch wind turbine composed by small reflecting sheets covering with a hinged non-
and blade manufacturers, engineering firms and end users such as reflecting sheet. When glued to the blade the hinged non-reflecting
utilities, insurance companies and certifying institutes the follow- blade will open upon stall and the reflecting part becomes visible.
ing priority subjects were set: During night time, the reflecting parts can be recorded by camera
if the turbine is lit by a light source. With this technique problems
(1) New developments: offshore, innovative materials and re-
can be searched for, optimum locations for stall strips and vortex
cycling.
generators can be found and insight can be obtained into the prob-
(2) Testing and measuring: condition monitoring systems, wind
lem of multiple stall. The statistical stall behavior is characterized
turbine test facilities.
from the sequences of thousands of analyzed images. This leads
(3) Databases: failure statistics of wind turbines and components.
to the visualization of the stall pattern, the blade azimuth angles
(4) Design tools: reliability, wind turbine control and aerody-
and the rotor speed. It also measures the yaw error and the wind
namics.
speed from the optical signals of other sensors, which are recorded
The research programs at ECN and DUT were shaped after these simultaneously. For example, the delay in the stall angle by vortex
priorities and the research projects were defined accordingly. generators can be measured with an accuracy of one degree from
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  9-

r­elated projects. The unique database on wind characteristics con-

sists of quality controlled and documented wind field time series
supplemented with tools that enable easy access and a simple
analysis through an internet connection. The statistics database
contains a list of all time series, the derived statistics together with
other parameters. The raw time series (74.6 GB) consist of files of
10-minute periods in a common format. The accessibility of the
database has been developed during the operational years of the
database and is quite easy to use and it is comprehensive. From
numerous areas over the world, controlled and high quality data
have been added to the database. Important data consists of wake
measurements, three component offshore measurements, extreme
complex terrain measurements and long-term data sets covering
time spans of at least 20 years. Reports [12, 13] are available on de-
scription of data that have been added by ECN to the international
wind database [14].
An interesting spin off of the research at DUT is the develop-
ment of the Ampelmann [15]: a motion compensated platform to
safely access offshore wind turbines. The initial feasibility study,
preliminary design, and proof of concept of an offshore access
system named Ampelmann was supported by SenterNovem. The
Fig. 9.1  The NM90 2.75 MW wind turbine (also Ampelmann is a ship-based self stabilizing platform that actively
known as DOWEC turbine) at the ECN test site in compensates all vessel motions to make offshore access safe, easy
the Wieringermeer as seen from the measure- and fast. The base of the Ampelmann is mounted on the deck of the
ment mast (109 m) (Source: [ECN, taken by R. Nijdam]) vessel or barge and takes care of the motion compensation, keeping
the top side of the Ampelmann stationary. The gangway, which is
mounted on the top side, can now be easily deployed onto the off-
shore structure enabling safe offshore crew transfer. To achieve this,
the stall flag signals. Many experiments have confirmed the inde- the vessel is equipped with a set of motion sensors and a Stewart
pendence of stall flags from the centrifugal force and that stall flags platform. The motions of the ship are continuously registered in six
respond quickly to changes in the flow. degrees of freedom by the motion sensors on the deck of the ves-
sel and instantaneously fed into a control system in order to keep
the top plate of the Stewart platform motionless compared to the
9.5 HISTORIC VIEW 2000 to 2010 fixed world. On this top plate, a transfer deck is installed. By extend-
ing a gangway between the transfer deck and the offshore structure,
In 2000, almost 40 MW of wind capacity was installed in the the structure can be accessed in an easy and safe way, even in high
Netherlands. This is a continuation of the slow but steady instal- waves. The Demonstrator project was sponsored by We@Sea, Delft
lation rate of 40 to 50 MW in the last 4 years. At the time, the University of Technology, Shell, Smit, Heerema fabrication, SMST,
national target was 2750 MW installed wind power in 2020 and and Ecofys with the common goal to further develop and test its de-
therefore it was necessary to go offshore. In 2000, preparations sign, compensation performance, operational procedures and safety
for the necessary step to offshore were taken at the technical and systems in the harsh offshore conditions of the North Sea. Currently,
administrative level. The research in wind energy became focused various Ampelmann systems are in use for daily delivery of person-
on offshore application and a demonstration offshore wind farm nel to fixed platforms in the North Sea.
was tendered. The consortium which was called Noordzeewind In 2005, ECN completed the wind resource atlas of the Dutch
and consisted of Shell Renewables, energy company Nuon Inter- part of the North Sea for several heights. ECN developed the atlas
national, bank ING Bank, engineering firm Jacobs Compimo, and by combining data from two sources: the numerical weather pre-
NUON owned project developer WEOM won the tender for the diction model Hirlam and the meteorological stations at the North
Near Shore Wind farm. According to the requirements in the envi- Sea, thus combining a source with dense spatial sampling and a
ronmental effect report for the Near Shore Wind farm, a monitor- source with accurate (measured) values. At the ECN website, maps
ing and evaluation program had to be carried out. The outlines of with the mean wind speed at 60, 90, 120, and 150 m above sea
this program, which cover environmental, economical and techni- level are published. ECN can for every location at the North Sea
cal aspects were drafted early 2000. According to these outlines, and for each height produce a time series of 10 years based on the
this program started with an evaluation of the undisturbed situ- Hirlam data which is validated by using the measurement stations.
ation. The entire program aimed at learning as much as possible The wind resource in such a location is expressed in terms of the
from the near shore demonstration wind farm in order to better wind speeds and wind directions, the turbulence intensities, and
realize the future larger offshore wind farms that are necessary to the stability classes (Fig. 9.2).
reach the national targets.
As a follow-up to the JOULE project “Database on Wind Char- 9.5.1 UpWind
acteristics,” Sweden, Norway, United States, The Netherlands, UpWind is a large European project funded under the EU’s
Japan, and Denmark formulated IEA Task XVII. There was an Sixth Framework Programme (FP6). The project looks towards the
urgency to initiate an international effort to collect, describe and wind power of tomorrow, more precisely towards the design of
store high-quality wind data measured by several wind energy very large wind turbines (8 to 10 MW), both onshore and offshore.
9-  •  Chapter 9

developed models. DUT proved the concept in their wind tunnel.

Researchers observed load reductions between 70% and 90% and
concluded a significant amount of fatigue blade load alleviation is
possible. This was confirmed by research at ECN that is concen-
trating on the application of synthetic jets for this purpose. DUT
has carried out experiments in the Open Jet Facility with a rotating
2 m diameter wind tunnel model.

9.5.3 WE@SEA
The 4-year WE@SEA program on offshore wind energy is
funded from the Dutch national natural gas fund. This program
is run by a consortium consists of companies in offshore technol-
ogy, wind energy technology, offshore wind farm development,
logistics, investors, energy consultants, environment, and other
stakeholders and was operated from 2004 to 2008. The program
of €26 million concentrated on medium-term research in the re-
search lines: offshore wind power generation; spatial planning and
environmental aspects; energy transport and distribution; energy
market and finance; installation, operation and maintenance, and
dismantling; education, training, and knowledge dissemination;
and the PhD@ Sea project at DUT. The PhD@Sea research sub-
jects were divided over the research lines of the overall program.
Its topics are: large blades; wind turbine concepts; morphology of
the North Sea bed; grid stability of large-scale integration of wind
energy in electrical power systems; park-grid interaction; offshore
access through the Ampelmann; reliability, availability, maintain-
ability, and serviceability analyses and scenarios.

9.5.4 Controlling Wind and Heat & Flux

Fig. 9.2  Mean wind speed at the Dutch part of Over the years 1999–2003, ECN invented and patented two
the North Sea at 120 m in height (Source: [ECN, wind farm control techniques, the one called Heat & Flux, the
Arno Brand]) other Controlling Wind. The concept Heat & Flux aims at maxi-
mizing the power output of a wind farm by adjusting the axial in-
duction of the windward turbines below their individual optimum
Furthermore, the research also focuses on the requirements to the for power production, which means making them more transparent
wind energy technology of 20 MW wind turbines. The challenges for the wind than usual by realizing an axial induction factor below
inherent to the creation of wind farms of several hundreds MW the Lanchester–Betz optimum of 1/3. This will reduce the veloc-
request the highest possible standards in design, complete under- ity deficit in the wake and increase the output of the downwind
standing of external design conditions, the design of materials with turbines. Other benefits are decreased average loading of the up-
extreme strength to mass ratios and advanced control and measur- wind turbines and decreased fatigue loading of the turbines in the
ing systems geared towards the highest degree of reliability, and wake. ECN quantified the effects of “Heat and Flux” farm control.
critically, reduced overall turbine mass. The aim of the project is to For this purpose models have been developed for calculating the
develop the accurate, verified tools and component concepts the in- power and energy production with “Heat and Flux” operation. The
dustry needs to design and manufacture new, cost effective type of models have been developed in close interaction with wind tunnel
turbines. UpWind focuses on design tools for the complete range experiments on model turbines and farms and have been tested in
of turbine components addressing the aerodynamic, aero-elastic, full-scale experiments on a row of five 2.5-MW turbines. Quali-
structural and material design of rotors. The UpWind consortium, tatively, the wind tunnel tests and the field experiments revealed
composed of 40 partners, brings together the most advanced Eu- positive effects of simple “Heat and Flux” control settings on sev-
ropean specialists of the wind industry. In most work packages, eral occasions. Quantitatively, the accuracy and reliability of the
researchers from the Netherlands are involved and the following wind tunnel measurements are questionable because of the large
work packages have coordinators from the Netherlands: Metrol- scatter and the conditions that deviate from full scale in various
ogy, Upscaling and Rotor structure and materials. aspects. The full-scale experiments point at comparable optima for
“Heat and Flux” control settings as model predictions of the model
9.5.2 Smart Rotors developed by ECN. This method has been implemented in ECN’s
For many years DUT is carrying out research work on smart ro- Control Tool for designing wind turbine control algorithms.
tors in the context of the Dutch INNWIND and the EU UPWIND
projects. The objective of smart structures for rotor blades is to 9.5.5  ind Tunnel Experiment Mexico and
W
alleviate significant blade loads by applying spanwise-distributed Mexnext
load control devices without incurring lower reliability or higher In the past, the accuracy of wind turbine design models has been
maintenance. DUT concentrates on the investigation of concepts, assessed in several validation projects [16]. They all showed that
feasibility, and integrated design; aerodynamics; structural inte- the modeling of a wind turbine response which can be either the
gration; control, identification, and experimental investigation of power or the loads is subject to large uncertainties. These uncer-
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  9-

tainties mainly find their origin in the aerodynamic modeling where a 10-m diameter turbine. An obvious difference between the two
several phenomena such as 3-D geometric and rotational effects, types of experiments lies in the larger size of turbine diameter the
instationary effects, yaw effects, stall, and tower effects, amongst latter experiment. But in addition to the NASA-Ames experiment,
others, contribute to unknown responses, particularly at off- the Mexico experiment also included flow field measurements. Es-
design conditions. The availability of high quality measurements pecially the flow field of inflow and wake are interesting, where the
is considered to be the most important pre-requisite to gain insight flow field is important for the understanding of discrepancies be-
into these uncertainties and to validate and improve aerodynamic tween calculated and measured blade loads. This is mainly because
wind turbine models. For this reason, the European Union project the load calculations are done in two steps. First, the flow field
“MEXICO: Measurements and EXperiments In COntrolled condi- around the blade, the induction, is calculated, and second from that
tions has been carried out [17]. The project was coordinated by the loads are derived. Where in conventional experimental pro-
ECN and was carried out with ten institutes from six countries. grams, only blade loads are measured, it is not possible to distin-
They co-operated in doing experiments on an instrumented, guish between these two sources of discrepancies. The addition of
3-bladed, 4.5-m diameter wind turbine placed in the 9.5 m2 open flow field measurements should open up this possibility.
section of the Large Low-speed Facility (LLF) of German Dutch At the end of the MEXICO project, due to budget reductions,
Wind Tunnel (DNW) in the Netherlands (see Fig. 9.3). The LLF is the database was still in a rather rudimentary form and only limited
described later in this Chapter. The measurements were performed analyses had been carried out. Especially since it is a huge amount
in December 2006 and resulted in a database of combined blade of data which requires a lot of effort to analyze. Therefore it is
pressure distributions, loads, and flow field measurements that can beneficial to organize the analysis of the MEXICO data in a joint
be used for aerodynamic model validation and improvement. project under IEA Wind in which various countries share this task.
A similar previous experiment was performed by the National Given the platform for discussion and interpretation of the results
Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in the National Aeronau- the outcome of the data analysis shall be better than the summed
tics and Space Administration (NASA) Ames wind tunnel [18] on result from individual projects.
ECN is the Operating Agent of the IEA Wind Task 29 called
MEXNEX(T) which has the objective to improve aerodynamic
modes used for wind turbine design. In this task the access of the
Mexico data is provided and a shared thorough analysis of the data
takes place. This includes an assessment of the measurement un-
certainties and a validation of different categories of aerodynamic
models. The insights are compared with the insights that were
gained within IEA Wind Task 20 on the NASA-Ames experiment
and other wind tunnel experiments.
Special attention is paid to yawed flow, instationary aerodynam-
ics, 3-D effects, tip effects, non-uniformity of the flow between the
blades, near wake aerodynamics, turbulent wake, standstill, tunnel ef-
fects, etc. These effects are be analyzed by means of different catego-
ries of models like CFD, free wake methods, engineering methods,
etc. As such, the Task will provide insight on the accuracy of differ-
ent types of models and the following activities are performed.
(1) Processing and presentation of the measured data and the as-
sociated uncertainties. High quality measurement data are pro-
vided to the partners to facilitate and compare calculations.
(2) Analysis of tunnel effects. Since the 4.5-m diameter wind
turbine model was placed in the open jet section of the LLF
facility (9.5 m x 9.5 m) the ratio of turbine diameter over tun-
nel size may make the wind tunnel situation not fully repre-
sentative of the free stream situation. The tunnel effects have
been studied with advanced CFD models. Supporting infor-
mation on tunnel effects will also be obtained from eight ad-
ditional pressure measurements, which were measured with
taps in the collector entrance. These pressures measure the
speedup in the outer flow (outside the wake) needed for the
mass conservation of the tunnel flow.
(3) Comparison of calculational results from different types of
codes of the various partners with the MEXICO measurement
data. This is proving to be a thorough validation of different
codes and it provides insights into the phenomena that need
further investigation.
(4) Deeper investigation into the observed phenomena. A
deeper investigation of different phenomena using isolated
Fig. 9.3  The Mexico wind tunnel experiment
sub-models, simple analytical tools, or by physical rules.
in the DNW wind tunnel (Source: [ECN, photo Toon
These phenomena that are investigated include 3-D effects,
Westra]).
9-  •  Chapter 9

1 million to 3 millions, the characteristics of several airfoils with

vortex generators, zigzag tape, trip wires, trailing edge wedges or
Gurney flaps of 1% and 2% chord heights have been established.
In some cases a stethoscope was used to determine the transition
location. The DU airfoils are included in the ATG software pack-
age of ECN.

9.6 RESEARCH PROGRAMS

The research programs described here concern the programs of
ECN Wind Energy, Knowledge Centre WMC and the Wind En-
ergy group at DUT, DUWind.

9.6.1  nergy Research Centre of the Netherlands

E
ECN and Knowledge Centre WMC
The Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands is dedicated to
the research in efficient use of energy and infrastructure, deploy-
ment of renewable energy sources, clean conversion of fossil fuels
and development of energy analyses and policies. While targets
for the near and medium term have been set in Europe, substantial
further acceleration of new technologies is required to meet the
long-term goals of reducing the dependence on fossil fuels and the
CO2 emissions. ECN aims to carry out groundbreaking research
Fig. 9.4  MEXNEXT result: axial traverse from
that will have a major influence on energy transition and brings
PIV measurements compared to AWSM predic-
technologies to every stage of development. The strength of ECN
tions (Source: [ECN])
lies in its portfolio, which enables the development of new genera-
tions of technologies. Many technologies developed by ECN have
reached maturity in recent years, increasingly resulting in third-
instationary effects, yawed flow, non-uniformity of the flow
party economic activity. ECN focuses on the needs of government
between the blades (i.e., tip corrections), and the wake flow
and industry. In addition, it conducts contract research for compa-
at different conditions.
nies and governmental institutions and to a large extent for the Eu-
(5) Comparison with results from other (mainly NASA-Ames)
ropean Union. ECN collaborates intensively with other knowledge
measurements. It is investigated whether these findings are
institutes and universities.
consistent with results from other aerodynamic experiments,
ECN Wind Energy has the mission to develop high-quality
particularly the data provided within IEA Wind Task 20 by
knowledge and technology for large-scale cost effective applica-
NREL from the NASA-Ames experiment.
tion of wind energy and transfer these to the market. ECN Wind
A large variety of results have been obtained, the data are ana- Energy has the ambition to contribute substantially to lowering the
lyzed on quality and tunnel effects. PIV measurements in the wake production costs of offshore wind energy to a level at which it is
have been analyzed, and a comparison has been made between the competitive with fossil-fuel generation in 2020.
observations from the NASA-Ames and MEXICO experiments. The long-term research program of ECN Wind Energy is com-
The effects from airfoil imperfections have been estimated which bined with the long-term research program of Knowledge Centre
is important for the comparison with models. A typical example WMC because of the close co-operation between the two organi-
of the comparison between calculated and measured results are zations and the fact that the programs are complementary and
shown in Fig. 9.4 where the results are compared to predictions by dependent on each other. ECN Wind Energy and WMC organize
the ECN code AWSM, a numerical code based on the Generalized their research in four priority areas:
Prandtl’s Lifting Vortex Line Method.
(1) Rotor and Farm Aerodynamics
9.5.6 DU Airfoil Data (2) Integrated Wind Turbine Design
(3) Operation and Maintenance
In the last 15 years DUT has developed many airfoils for wind
(4) Materials and Structures
turbine application [19]. These airfoils are called the DU airfoils
and are applied world-wide in wind turbine blades ranging from 6 The research is supported by extensive experimental facilities
to 60 m. The development of the DU airfoils has been supported and an Experiments & Measurements group that is MEASNET
by the European Commission, the Dutch Ministry of Economic and ISO17025 accredited.
affairs and the DUT in the framework of the educational and re- In the field of Aerodynamic research, ECN Wind Energy aims at
search program of the section Wind Energy of the Faculty of Civil optimizing the aerodynamic performance of the wind turbine rotor
Engineering and Geosciences, which is at present the Wind En- and of the wind farm as a whole. By developing new knowledge,
ergy section of the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering. The two- methods and design software, the results of the long-term research
dimensional aerodynamic characteristics of the DU airfoils have can directly be transferred to the industry. An additional result of
been extensively verified in the Delft University low-speed low- the research is that Intellectual Property is generated. The tools and
turbulence wind tunnel for various Reynolds numbers. In addi- Intellectual Property are used for research purposes of turbine and
tion to the clean configuration for Reynolds numbers ranging from blade manufacturers and project developers or are directly applied.
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  9-

A unique feature of its research is the combination of theoretical Aero-elasticity: rotor aerodynamic models are coupled to struc-
and numerical research with the various experimental test facili- tural dynamic models and the resulting aero-elastic models are veri­
ties: wind tunnels, scale wind farm and full-scale test wind farm in fied and validated against measurements and used for integrated
the Wieringermeer. The aerodynamic research is divided in rotor design. Improvements are needed for simulations concerning ob-
aerodynamics and wind farm aerodynamics. lique inflow, individual pitch, large deformations and complex
Research in the field of rotor aerodynamics aims at the develop- drive train and support structure geometries. Coupling the improved
ment of advanced aerodynamic design tools. ECN has a tradition aerodynamic models to structural dynamic models (multi-body or
in developing BEM, but also developed the aerodynamic free wake FEM) improves the results obtained from simulations. To enable a
model based on lifting line panel method AWSM. A new code is straightforward coupling the ECN develops the Aero-module. This
being developed where also the boundary layer is being modeled. module couples the aerodynamic codes to aeroelastic codes, such
This method where the external pressure field of the rotating panel as TURBU and PHATAS which have been developed by ECN.
method that includes the wake is combined with a three dimensional Research in wind turbine control aims at the improvement of
unsteady boundary layer model will lead to an accurate method that the present control algorithms, and the development of new ones,
is significantly faster than full Navier–Stokes field solvers. It is called mainly targeting reduction of the cost of energy. To this end, the
ROTORFLOW. In a Dutch consortium ECN has developed the following objectives are pursued:
RFOIL 3D code, a modified version of the XFOIL software. The pro-
·  optimal power and rotor speed control,
gressively advanced aerodynamic design tools are used to design and
·  load reduction in the mechanical components of the wind
model future large wind turbine rotors with increased accuracies.
turbine,
Research in the field of wind farm aerodynamics aims at the
·  high availability and reliability of the wind turbine,
understanding of the flow field in and around wind farms, which
·  easy and robust commissioning of the controller,
is especially relevant for the construction and operation of large
·  coping with all grid requirements.
offshore wind farms. Insight in wake effects in wind farms is es-
sential. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) are applied for the ECN developed the user-friendly ECN Control Design Tool
further understanding of flow phenomena in wind farms. The re- which provides the wind turbine control engineer with an excel-
search comprises the development of validated wake models and lent set of tools in an open-source MATLAB environment, cov-
CFD wind farm models using commercial solvers as well as the ering the complete process of turbine modeling, control design,
development of dedicated wind farm aerodynamics CFD solvers. stability analysis and compilation of the final controller into ex-
Interesting model challenges are combined, such as the modeling ecutable code for linking to advanced simulation software for
of the atmospheric boundary layer, the flow inside the wind farm, load calculations or to dedicated hardware. Furthermore, the fol-
the modeling of the turbine including its control, the wind farm lowing four major control components of the integral approach
control as well as the optimization of this system. are investigated
The FarmFlow program is a validated tool developed by ECN to
·  Optimized feedback control (OFC), aiming at removing limi-
calculate the wake effects of large offshore wind farms. It is unique
tations for up-scaling of wind turbines, such as high turbine
that it calculates both wake losses and added turbulence levels with
loads and stability problems,
an accuracy currently unmatched. The FarmFlow tool allows the
·  Extreme event control (EEC), dealing with prevention of unnec-
user to accurately optimize the lay-out of the wind farm with re-
essary standstill and/or increased loads due to extreme events,
spect to power output and, in conjunction with aero-elastic codes,
·  Fault-tolerant control (FTC), having the task of detection of
the possibility to perform design calculations on wind turbines that
minor (sensor) faults followed by recovery actions,
are placed in wind farms (Fig. 9.5).
·  Optimal shutdown control (OSC), for preventing the accumu-
In the field of Integrated Wind Turbine Design research, ECN
lation of damage in cases of a turbine shut-down caused by a
Wind Energy and WMC aim at the improvement of the design
severe failure.
process in industry by developing new, improved models, con-
cepts and tools for the integrated system design. ECN focuses on ECN develops design tools for large wind turbines and these
aero-elasticity, control and concept studies. WMC is dedicated to tools are constantly improved in order to address aeroelastic sta-
the development of the integrated design tool and the blade design bility issues and to minimize cost of energy. The advanced tools
module. The research in the field of integrated design is among are developed to reduce uncertainties in design load calculations,
others. through an improved modeling of the physics involved. ECN up-
holds the quality and validity of its computer programs through
participation in European benchmark studies and through feedback
from field experiences. Aeroelastic and hydromechanical behavior
of a wind turbine are modeled using sophisticated tools like, e.g.,
AeroModule (including BEM and AWSM for rotor aerodynamics)
and PHATAS and TURBU for dynamic load modeling of the tur-
bine and support structure in time domain and frequency domain
respectively. Wind and wave fields for use in the time domain code
are generated with the SWIFT and ROWS code respectively. For
quick assessments of aeroelastic turbine behavior the code BLAD-
MODE is used and development and testing of custom made
commercial control algorithms for wind turbines is done with the
Control Design Tool. The BLADOPT: program optimizes rotor
Fig. 9.5 ECN FarmFlow wind farm calculation blade geometry for lowest cost of energy. WMC has developed the
model (Source: [ECN]) FOCUS code which includes several of these design tools.
9-10  •  Chapter 9

Research in the field of Electrical Systems and Components ·  Unsteady aerodynamics

aims at the design and optimization of electrical systems in a wind ·  Smart structure rotors
turbine that is connected to the wind farm grid; statically and dy- ·  Design methods
namically. ECN developed, in collaboration with TUD Electrical ·  Offshore components and design
Power Processing, two types of models: EeFarm and DynFarm. ·  Dutch wind energy in Europe.
These programs are used with the developed FarmFlow code that
calculates the wake losses in wind farms to optimize offshore wind The focus of DUWIND program is on the development of tur-
farm designs. bine and wind farm technology, ranging from basic research through
For more than 15 years ECN Wind Energy is developing methods technology development to design support for the industry. Being
and tools to optimize the Operations and Maintenance (O&M) a university, DUWIND provides courses for students and for pro-
of offshore wind farms and in fact, ECN is one of the few insti- fessionals in the wind energy industry. As is indicated before, DU-
tutes carrying out long-term R&D on this topic. The scope of work WIND closely co-operates with the wind energy group of ECN.
comprises the development of models and software (Decision Sup- Many projects are performed jointly, and mutual use is made of
port Tools) to analyze the O&M aspects, to determine costs and the research facilities. DUWIND and ECN together form the Dutch
downtime, identify cost drivers, and to optimize the O&M strat- node of the European Academy of Wind Energy EAWE. DUWIND
egy and the development of diagnostics and measurement tech- is part of the international wind energy research community. It is
niques for those situations where condition based maintenance is one of the founding members of the European Academy for Wind
preferred instead of preventive or corrective maintenance. ECN’s Energy and has started the Academy conference series ‘The Science
leading role in the field of O&M for offshore wind farms has been of making Torque from Wind’. DUWIND contributes to the Wind
recognized for many years. Major project developers make use of Energy Technology Platform of the European Commission, the Eu-
ECN’s knowledge and models to develop O&M strategies for their ropean Energy Research Alliance (EERA) and to the wind energy
offshore wind farms. Turbine designers apply the knowledge in the programs of the International Energy Agency. It has participated in
design process of offshore wind turbines. all Framework Programs of the European Commission.
WMC aims with the research on Materials and Structures at
increasing its knowledge of the structural behavior of the blade
and its materials under the complex loading and the environmental 9.7  XPERIMENTAL RESEARCH
E
conditions and to make this knowledge applicable for wind turbine INFRASTRUCTURE IN THE
and blade manufacturers. With this knowledge current designs and NETHERLANDS
the design of the next generation of blades are further optimized.

9.6.2 Delft University of Technology DUT 9.7.1 Blade Testing and Material Research at WMC
Research on wind energy at the Delft University of Technology Knowledge Centre WMC is a research institute for materials,
began 30 years ago, starting with the tip vane project, an aerody- components and structures. The major activities are fundamental
namic research project at the faculty of Aerospace Engineering. and applied research on fiber reinforced plastics and wind tur-
Nowadays DUWIND is the wind energy research organization of bine structures. WMC is active in research projects for the Eu-
the Delft University of Technology. Since an increasing number ropean and Dutch governments and industry and performs blade
of research questions require a multi-disciplinary approach, DU- and material tests on contract basis for the international industry.
WIND was established in August 1999 as an interfaculty research WMC develops design tools, the FOCUS software, that are being
organization, specifically for wind energy. World-wide, DUWIND used worldwide by many of the largest wind turbine manufac-
now is one of the largest academic research groups in wind energy. turers. Results of the research work are published and presented
Its research program covers almost all aspects of modern wind tur- internationally.
bine technology, and is undertaken across 5 faculties in 13 groups. The Knowledge Centre WMC has a history from 2000, when
The five faculties are 1. Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, 2 Fac- it was started as “WMC-Group” in the Delft University of Tech-
ulty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences 3.Faculty of Electrical nology doing quite a lot of full-scale testing work on rotor blades.
Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science, 4 Faculty of However, the test facility at Delft University of Technology be-
Mechanical and Materials Engineering and 5. Faculty of Technol- came too small for the next generation of large rotor blades. There-
ogy, Policy and Management. Each of the research groups at these fore, in order to keep track with the market’s needs another, larger
faculties has its own specific expertise therefore the DUWIND re- location needed to be found to continue the activities. A larger
search group covers a wide area of wind energy research. test facility was built in Wieringerwerf, in the northern part of the
The research program of DUWIND has been reformulated and is Netherlands where a new industrial site and yacht-basin “Water-
published in October 2008. The program encompasses approximately park Wieringermeer” was developed.
60 PhD positions, which implies a doubling in size of DUWIND For the new laboratory a location was chosen close to open wa-
compared to 2007. From the start the core of the research program ter, on the borders of the IJsselmeer. Now the sometimes very large
is the technology development of wind turbines and wind farms, in- structures that are brought for testing can also be transported by
cluding the underlying basic research. The program focuses on long- water. Starting 2003, as the centre moved from Delft to Wiering-
term research efforts, mainly performed by PhD researchers. Long erwerf, the former “WMC-Group” of the DUT continued its work
term is to be understood as leading to useful results in a 5- to 10-year as a new foundation with a new name: Knowledge Centre WMC,
time frame after starting the PhD research. The program is made up established by the Delft University of Technology and the Energy
and executed by the research groups at the five TU-Delft faculties, research Centre of the Netherlands ECN. With its links to both
and is “bottom-up”: a new topic is included only when it can be em- organizations the new Knowledge Centre WMC can continue to
bedded in an existing expertise group, and when funding is found. combine fundamental and applied research on wind turbine and
The PhD students will have activities in five sub-programs: fiber reinforced plastics structures.
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  9-11

With the background of continuous testing and development

of tests, WMC is actively involved in international standardi-
zation committees. For the experimental research WMC has a
laboratory for material research and a large test area with a ded-
icated strong floor enabling testing of structures of over 60 m
in length, such as rotor blades for large wind turbines. Testing
machines up to 300 tons are available for material and compo-
nent testing, both static and fatigue. The facility is one of the
largest of its kind and has its own mechanical, electro technical
and hydraulic workshops for development and maintenance of
equipment and test rigs.
The research topics for WMC in national and European research
projects are amongst others:
·  Material behavior under complex and fatigue loading
·  New materials
·  Condition monitoring
·  Reliability of design codes
·  Reliability of full-scale testing
·  Connection methods
·  Design recommendations and standards on full-scale testing Fig. 9.6 ECN Wind turbine Test site Petten
of wind turbine rotor blades (Source: [ECN, Picture by Aris Homan])

On the other hand, WMC is performing more fundamental

research activities in the context of many international projects. From 2003, ECN has expanded its wind turbine facilities with
WMC initiated the EU project OPTIMAT BLADES to investi- a wind turbine test site in the municipality of Wieringermeer. The
gate the behavior of Fiber Reinforced Plastics and WMC is work site is located just south of the village Kreileroord, at about 30 km
package leader for materials research in the UPWIND project. The distance from ECN’s main offices in Petten (Fig. 9.6). This unique
projects executed for industrial research purposes include: facility is a combination of:
·  Testing of materials Four locations for prototype wind turbines up to 6 MW, re-
·  Numerical analyses cently expanded with a fifth location for prototype wind tur-
·  Design evaluation bines up to 10 MW.
·  Verification tests on mechanisms Five Nordex N80/2500 research wind turbines; these wind
·  Strength and fatigue behavior of components and connections turbines are equipped for experimental research.
·  Development of design software: the integral wind turbine Three meteorological masts, 108 m, 108 m, and 100 m high
design software FOCUS equipped with atmospheric measurement equipment.
·  Full-scale verification tests on (sub)components such as: A scaled wind farm consisting of ten turbines rated 10 kW
– Wind turbine rotor blades (or parts thereof) and 14 meteo masts up to 19 m height.
– Wind turbine pitch bearings and hubs A measurement pavilion with offices, a computer centre and
– Connections advanced glass fibre based data acquisition system.
For larger wind turbines, the potential power yields scales with
the square of the rotor diameter, but the blade mass scales to the
The research wind farm — consisting of five Nordex N80 wind
third power of rotor diameter (square-cube law). With the gravity
turbines — enables ECN to perform wind farm specific research
load induced by the dead weight of the blades, this increase of
and development programs. The site also comprises five prototype
blade mass can even prevent successful and economical deploy-
locations. These locations enable manufacturers to test, optimize
ment of very large wind turbines. In order to meet this challenge
and certify prototypes together with ECN. Supporting facilities are
and allow for the next generation of larger wind turbines, higher
three meteo towers, a 36 MVA grid connection, data collection
demands are placed on materials and structures. This requires
equipment and a test site control center. A fourth meteo mast of 100
more thorough knowledge of materials and safety factors, as well
m height is expected early 2011. The test site also accommodates a
as further investigation into new materials with a higher strength
unique facility, which allows ECN to perform accurate wind field
to mass ratio. Furthermore, a change in the whole concept of struc-
measurements in a scale wind farm. This Scaled Wind Farm —
tural safety of the blade is required. WMC is performing research
consisting of ten Aircon P10 turbines plus fifteen measurement
activities in this field in order to improve both the empirical and
towers — allows for the development and testing of wind farm
fundamental understanding of materials, extend the material data­
specific control strategies. The site has a favorable wind climate:
base, study effective blade details, establish of tolerant design
the average wind speed at 100 m height is 8.3 m/s. With this wind
concepts and probabilistic strength analysis and establish material
climate, not only do the five Nordex N80 turbines produce about
testing procedures and design recommendations.
30,000,000 kWh per year from which the income of the green elec-
tricity gives a solid base for the financial exploitation of the site,
9.7.2 ECN Wind Turbine Test Site Wieringermeer the wind conditions allow for fast fulfillment of the experimental
At the Petten site, ECN has operated a wind turbine test site for capture matrices of the test turbines.
many years. The size of the turbines allowed at the site is limited Many research programs have been carried out at the experi-
and therefore it is not in use anymore since the year 2000. mental facility of ECN, also many European programs. The fact
9-12  •  Chapter 9

that the research turbines are owned by ECN and a proper research nels is limited due to scaling effects. Therefore, ECN has overcome
agreement has been reached with the manufacturer, allows ECN to this problem by building the scaled wind farm facility which con-
optimally use these research turbines for its R&D programs. What sists of relatively small wind turbines together with many measure-
was obvious from many defined programs is that it is very difficult ment masts that measure the wind conditions in the wind farm and
to execute these programs in commercial wind farms since wind above the wind farm. The scale of this wind farm is not too small to
farm operators are reluctant to facilitate research programs that alleviate the dominant scaling effects and the scale is not too large
might conflict with maximum energy production. to permit the building of sufficient meteorological masts.
ECN investigates aspects like operation and maintenance strate­ The ECN scaled farm consists of ten permanent magnet, direct
gies; wake effects, noise effects, effect on birds and condition drive, pitch-controlled wind turbines. The turbines have 10 kW rated
monitoring. Other important activities are the development of im- power, a rotor diameter of 7.6 m and a hub height of 7.5 m. It is
proved wind farm control strategies and new advanced measure- essential that the researchers have full access to the hardware and
ment techniques. software of the wind turbines. The scaled farm has been designed in
Currently, in 2010, plans are made to extend the research wind a way that allows ECN performing experiments without any risks for
farm. Some fourteen turbines in the range from 5 MW to 8 MW the environment as well as the turbines themselves. As a result, ECN
are to be set up over the coming years, at least seven will be dedi- is able to adapt the controllers as well as the turbines for the dedicated
cated offshore turbines. ECN intends to purchase seven turbines experiments. A dedicated wind farm controller has been installed. In-
for further research activities and a further seven proto-type test side and around the wind farm a network of fourteen measurement
locations will be made available. A fifth proto-type location has masts has been installed, which measure the wind velocity field from
already been created and a XEMC-Darwind turbine is being built 3.6 m to 19 m height. This covers the rotor area and up to one rotor
and will be tested in 2011. diameter above the rotor. The large number of meteorological masts
within the wind farm permits to measure at the same time single,
9.7.3 ECN Scale Wind Farm double, triple and quadruple wakes while simultaneously measur-
A recent addition to the ECN experimental research infrastruc- ing the external conditions with three nearby 108 m meteorological
ture is the ECN scale wind farm. It has been designed to further masts. The unusually densely spaced wind measurements gives the
advance the knowledge in wind fields in and around wind farms, unique possibility to capture the complete wind field, which gives
including the understanding of wakes and turbine-turbine interac- valuable additional information compared to the usual measurement
tion. The development of large-scale offshore wind power implies of the wind speed at a single location. Furthermore, most of the wind
the construction of even larger wind farms. At the moment, the large measurements will be performed using 3D sonic anemometers thus
uncertainties connected to the wind field in the wind farm leads to fi- capturing the three wind velocity vectors of the wind field.
nancial risks when investing in these large wind farms. Furthermore, The scaled farm is located in ECN’s large wind turbine test field
the cost of wind energy should be reduced even further. Therefore, in Wieringermeer in between the prototype turbines. The scaled
improved models are required describing the flow within and around wind farm and its surroundings are characterized by flat terrain,
wind farms so that optimized wind farm control strategies can be consisting of mainly agricultural area, with single farmhouses and
developed. The high-quality data of the ECN scale wind farm are rows of trees. The lake IJsselmeer is located at a distance of 1 km
used for the development and validation of wind farm aerodynamic East of the scaled wind farm. Great care has been taken to ensure
models and wind farm control strategies (Fig. 9.7). undisturbed inflow of the wind in the scaled wind farm.
The understanding of unsteady wind fields within and around This worldwide unique research facility shall give further insights
wind farms could be greatly increased when more detailed mod- in the field of wind farm aerodynamics, wake interaction and wind
els or measurements of the wind field in a wind farm would be farm control. The high quality data are used for the development and
available. The same applies to understanding the response of many validation of wind farm aerodynamic models and wind farm control
turbines within a wind farm on the mutual wakes. One reason for strategies. This will allow operating a wind farm at maximum effi-
this is that adequate measurements are lacking and the models are ciency while guaranteeing at the same time a maximum in reliability
not (yet) accurate enough. In full-scale wind farms meteorological and a minimum in mechanical and electrical loads. A unique feature
masts are very expensive and the number of masts is thus limited. installed in the wind farm controller is that the controller can adjust the
On the other hand, the value of modeling wind farms in wind tun- yaw of the turbines to exact positions, as well as the pitch angle. Since
it has been measured that the yaw angles of the ECN research turbines

Fig. 9.7  The scale wind farm in between two pro-

totype turbines (Source: [ECN]) Fig. 9.8  The scale wind farm (Source: [ECN])
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  9-13

are seldom equal when the wind is along the row, this feature will for fundamental research as well as for applied research and many
make comparison with models more easy and the experimental results students use the tunnels for their practical. The wind tunnels avail-
more accurate. The side by side comparison of the two rows allows the able at DUT are indicated in Table 9.1.
demonstration of small differences due to changes in turbine or wind
farm control (Fig. 9.8). The Delft Open Jet Facility
9.7.4 Experimental Facilities at Delft In 2009, at the Delft University of Technology, a new octagonal
DUWIND has access to all experimental facilities of TU-Delft. 500 kW 30 m/s open jet facility began operation that can test model
The most important ones that have an important role in the wind rotors up to 1.8 m for concepts such as flexible smart dynamic ro-
energy research are: tors and controls. For this kind of experiments the large advantage
of the OJF over the other wind tunnels at DUT is that it has an open
·  The wave tank of the faculty of Civil Engineering and Geo-
jet and an outlet diameter of almost three meters and can handle
sciences, where the scale model of the motion-compensating
very large models that may obstruct the airflow quite considerably.
offshore access system, the Ampelmann, has been tested.
The new wind tunnel offers more possibilities than ever before for
·  The Low Speed Low Turbulence Tunnel of the faculty of Aer-
teaching, such as laboratory courses involving model rotors, and
ospace Engineering, where all of the Delft University airfoils
research; parameter studies can be executed effectively and effi-
have been measured. The test section is 1.25*1.80 m, with a
ciently. The initial plans for the OJF were made in the 1980s in
max wind speed of 120 m/s. The LST has an very low turbu-
response to growing interest in wind energy. The development was
lence level: <0.1%.
delayed because of several reasons, one of them the large budget
·  Structures and Materials Laboratory of the faculty of Aero-
that was needed for the construction. When the wind group at DUT
space Engineering, where innovative composite materials,
became part of the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering in 2003 it
such as thermoplastic composites and smart materials, are
was possible to seriously proceed with the construction of the fa-
produced and tested.
cility. The requirement was that the OJF should be versatile and
·  The Smart Structures laboratory at the Delft Centre for
also be used for other research than research into wind turbines.
Systems and Control, faculty of Mechanical, Maritime and
Construction of the OJF started in November 2006 and the opening
Materials Engineering is set up to run real time control on
of the tunnel was in 2009.
structures and to test the performance of active laminates pro-
The dimensions of the OJF are very impressive. A large fan
duced at the materials laboratory.
powered by a 500 kW electric motor enables it to achieve a maxi-
Especially for wind energy research, the wind tunnels are impor- mum speed of around 120 km per hour. Air is rotated 180 degrees
tant and are elaborated in the next section. through a long diffuser and two rows of corner vanes. It then passes
through a short diffuser before entering the “settling chamber.”
9.7.5 Wind Tunnels at TU Delft Here, five fine-mesh screens reduce the turbulence and velocity
The Delft University of Technology has a large selection of wind deviations in the airflow. Via a contraction the air is then blown
tunnels available with a wide range in wind speed from low speed into the test section as an even jet stream and cooled at the end by
to large speed. The most recent addition, the Open Jet Facility, is an enormous cooling radiator and guided back to the fan. Some
very relevant for wind energy application. The tunnels are applied of the many unique technical features in this project are the high

Table 9.1 List of wind tunnels at Delft University of Technology

Low-speed windtunnels
Name Type # Dimensions test Cross-section Vmax (m/s)
section (W ´ H)
BXF oj 4 5 ´ 10 cm rectangular 25
M-tunnel oj/cc 1 40 ´ 40 cm rectangular 35
W-tunnel oj 1 40 ´ 40 cm rectangular 35
BLT cc 1 125 ´ 25 cm (´540 cm) rectangular 38
LTT cc 1 180 ´ 125 cm octagonal 120
OJF cc 1 285 ´ 285 cm octagonal 35

High-speed windtunnels
Name Type # Dimensions test Cross-section M-Range
section (W ´ H)
TST-27 bd 1 280 ´ 270 mm rectangular 0.5–4.2
ST-15 bd 1 150 ´ 150 mm rectangular 0.7–3.0
ST-3 co 1 30 ´ 30 mm rectangular 1.5–3.5
HTFD bd 1 350 mm circular 6.0–11.0
9-14  •  Chapter 9

be conducted over a higher range of airspeeds. The Mexico experi-

ment, described earlier has been performed in this wind tunnel.

9.7.7  he Offshore Wind Farm Egmond aan Zee

T
(OWEZ)
In the beginning of the century, the government formulated a target
for wind energy that required the development of offshore wind farms
due to the restricted possibilities onshore. Besides the focus of the
wind energy research on offshore developments, an offshore demon-
stration wind farm should be built relatively close to shore in order to
demonstrate the feasibility, but more importantly acquire knowledge
and subsequently decrease the cost of offshore wind energy. The gov-
ernment decided on the final location for the demonstration project
100-MW Near Shore Wind farm. The location is situated in Dutch
territorial waters of the North Sea between 10 and 18 km from the
coast near the village of Egmond aan Zee. After a tender procedure,
the Egmond Building Combination (EBC), a joint venture of Bal-
last Nedam and Vestas, built the 108 MW wind farm on the order of
Fig. 9.9  The rotor of the wind race car of ECN Shell Renewables and Nuon. The Offshore Wind farm Egmond aan
in the OJF (Source: ECN, Picture by P. Eecen) Zee (OWEZ) comprises 36 Vestas V90 wind turbines of 3 MW each
and associated support systems. Each wind turbine is connected by
a transition piece to a steel monopole foundation, piled to a penetra-
power motor, the modular adjustable frequency drive, the thermal
tion depth of about 30 m. The power generated is transmitted through
sensors, and the large cooling fan (Fig. 9.9).
three 34 kV cables to shore, which land north of IJmuiden harbour.
The OJF is mainly used by PhD students, graduates and mem-
A substation, located near Wijk aan Zee, transforms the voltage from
bers of the permanent academic staff. It fulfils an important role
34 kV to 150 kV and transmits the power into the national grid. In-
in research into the aerodynamic effects that wind can have on
vestment costs are around 200 million € and financed on balance by
buildings and ships as well as in the field of sports. The vast ma-
Nuon and Shell. The wind farm initially has been operated by EBC
jority of the models are made in the faculty’s own workshop. To
under a 5-year warranty, operations, and maintenance contract. The
accommodate these research activities, the OJF is constructed to be
wind farm produced approximately 350 GWh per year.
extremely versatile. The wind energy group at DUT uses the OJF
In the context of realizing the wind farm, an extensive Monitor-
extensively, for instance for the verification and validation of the
ing and Evaluation Program (MEP) was carried out. In that con-
various calculation models. In the context of the large scale Euro-
text, a meteorological mast was installed and data from the turbines
pean research project Upwind experiments in the OJF contribute to
were collected. The meteorological mast has a height of 106 m
the definition of new concepts for wind turbine blades, including
above sea level and measures the wind conditions at three levels.
smart rotors.
Data collected in the MEP includes contractual issues, project or-
9.7.6 German–Dutch Wind Tunnels at DNW ganisation; permits; technical description of the design, support
structure, wind turbines, and electrical design; assembly and instal-
DNW, the German–Dutch Wind Tunnels, is a non-profit foun-
lation; planning versus execution; budget; health, safety, security,
dation and was established by the German Aerospace Center DLR
and environment management; risk management; financing, insur-
and the Dutch National Aerospace Laboratory NLR. Its headquar-
ance, and power purchase agreements; quality assurance manage-
ters are in the Noordoostpolder in the Netherlands and it has wind
ment; requirements and qualifications; monitoring and evaluation
tunnels situated in a number of locations in the Netherlands and
program; and lessons learned [20]. This information has been made
Germany. DNW operates its own large, low-speed facility and the
available [21]. Commercially sensitive data that has been collected
aeronautical wind tunnels of DLR and NLR. DNW provides solu-
during the execution of the MEP is on the subjects: corrosion and
tions for the experimental simulation requirements of aerodynamic
lightning; dynamics of turbines; aero-elastic stability; scour pro-
research and development projects. These projects can originate in
tection; electricity production, disruptions, failure data, availabil-
the research community (universities, research establishments or
ity, maintenance, and reliability; power quality, grid stability, and
research consortia) or in the course of industrial development of
power forecasts; and wind turbine P–V curve and wake effects.
new products. Most of the industrial development projects origi-
ECN and DUT have executed several projects with selections of
nate in the aeronautical industry, but the automotive, civil engi-
this data under an NDA agreement with NoordzeeWind.
neering, shipbuilding and sports industries have also benefited
from DNW’s capabilities.
The wind tunnel of DNW used for the experiments in the Euro­ 9.7.8  he Offshore Wind Farm ‘Prinses Amalia
T
pean project Mexico is the large low-speed facility (LLF). The Windpark’
DNW LLF wind-tunnel facility allows testing over a wide range of The second offshore wind farm in Dutch National waters of the
conditions and flight regimes. Due to the modular design of the wind North Sea is Prinses Amaliawindpark. This wind farm is situated
tunnel a number of test sections can be used. These include open jet, some 23 km offshore from IJmuiden, in block Q7 of the Dutch
9·5 m × 9·5 m (0 < V < 62 m/s), 8 m × 6 m (0 < V < 116 m/s) and continental shelf. This is just outside the 12-mi zone south-west of
6 m × 6 m (0 < V < 152 m/s) closed test sections. The open jet wind- OWEZ. The wind farm consists of 60 Vestas V80 wind turbines of
tunnel configuration allows large model heights above the ground 2 MW each with a total capacity of 120 MW. The water depth at the
at zero to low speeds. The closed jet test sections enable testing to site is between 19 m and 24 m. The project is owned and developed
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  9-15

by a group of companies of ENECO Holding NV, Econcern BV, MEASNET International Network for Harmonised and
and Energy Investment Holdings. It was built by Vestas Wind Sys- Recognised Measurements in Wind Energy
tems A/S, Van Oord Dredging, and Marine Contractors BV under — www.measnet.org
separate construction contracts. Initially, the windfarm is operated MEP Monitoring and Evaluation Program executed
by Vestas Offshore, an affiliate of Vestas, under a 5-year warranty, at the Offshore Wind farm Egmond aan Zee
operations, and maintenance contract. During its operation, more NLR Nationaal Lucht- en Ruimtevaartlaborato-
and more research is carried out at the ‘Prinses Amaliawindpark’, rium — www.nlr.nl
also in the context of the FLOW program. OWEZ Offshore Wind farm Egmond aan Zee —
www.noordzeewind.nl
RCN Reactor Centre of the Netherlands
9.8 SUMMARY STX-Harakosan www.stxwind.com
This Chapter is an attempt to provide insight in the wind energy TNO Dutch organization for Applied Scientific Re-
research of the Netherlands. The result is not complete and must be search
regarded as a personal selection of the activities that have been per- TPWind European Wind Energy Technology Platform
formed in all the years of wind energy research in the Netherlands. — www.windplatform.eu
A more extensive overview can be found in Verbong [22], written VWEC VWEC Wind Energy Consult
in Dutch. The research in wind energy is concentrated at the wind WMC The Knowledge Centre Wind turbine Materi-
energy department of the Energy research Centre of the Netherlands als and Constructions — www.wmc.eu
ECN and the interfaculty wind energy department DUWIND at XEMC Darwind www.xemc-darwind.com
Delft University of Technology. Both institutes have been involved
in wind energy research from the start in the 1970s and closely match 9.10 REFERENCES
their research programs. ECN Wind Energy has a research staff of
  1. Energie Onderzoek Subsidie (EOS) carried out by Agentschap NL
55 scientists and DUT has a research staff of 15 permanent research- (www.agentschapnl.nl, www.senternovem.nl/eos).
ers and more than 35 PhD students. Together ECN and DUT belong
  2. Strategic Research Agenda, EWEA 2005.
to the top 5 of the international wind energy research groups.
In the Netherlands, the wind energy research is supported by   3. IEA Large-Scale WECS Annual Reports, 1978 to 1990.
an extensive experimental infrastructure. The Knowledge Centre   4. IEA R&D WECS Annual Reports, 1978 to 2010.
WMC that has been founded by the DUT and ECN has a research   5. P.E.J. Vermeulen, Report of the IEA Technical Meeting on Wakes
staff of 25 scientists and is a research institute for materials, com- and Clusters,, February 2-3 1981, MT-TNO 81-04676.
ponents and structures. WMC is performing blade tests for large
  6. P.E.J. Vermeulen, P.J.H. Builtjes, J.B.A. Vijge, Mathematical mod-
wind turbines to 60 m in length. ECN has a research wind farm eling of wake interaction in wind turbine arrays, MT-TNO 81-01473.
where proto-type wind turbines are tested, where a research farm
of 5 full-scale turbines are used for research activities and where a   7. G. A. M. van Kuik, J. W. M. Dekker, The FLEXHAT program, tech-
nology development and testing of flexible rotor systems with fast
scale wind farm is located for research on farm control and wind
passive pitch control, Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial
farm aerodynamic research. At DUT a large selection of experi- Aerodynamics, Volume 39, 1992, Pages 435-448.
mental facilities are being used for wind energy applications. The
most prominent facilities are the wind tunnels, of which the Open   8. J.G. Schepers, H. Snel, Final results of the EU JOULE projects ‘DY-
NAMIC INFLOW’, presented at the ASME ’96, ECN-RX-95-062.
Jet Facility is the most recent addition.
  9. J.G. Schepers et al., Final report of IEA ANNEX XIV. Field Rotor
Aerodynamics, ECN-C-97-027.
9.9 ACRONYMS AND INTERNET 10. H.B. Hendriks and M. Zaaijer, DOWEC Dutch Offshore Wind Energy
Converter 1997 – 2003. Executive summary of the public research
2B-energy www.2-benergy.com activities.
AgencyNL www.agentschapnl.nl, formerly known as Sen 11. G.P. Corten and H.F. Veldkamp, Insects can halve wind-turbine
terNovem www.senternovem.nl power, NATURE, VOL 412, 42-43, 5 July 2001.
DUT Delft University of Technology — www. 12. P.J. Eecen, S.A.M. Barhorst, ‘Data added to International Wind Data-
tudelft.nl base, IEA Annex XVII’, ECN-C-03-128.
EAWE European Academy of Wind Energy — www.
13. P.J. Eecen, S.A.M. Barhorst, ‘Extreme wind conditions, Measure-
eawe.eu
ments at 50m Meteorological Mast at ECN, Petten’, ECN-C-04-019.
ECN Energy research Centre of the Netherlands —
www.ecn.nl 14. G.C. Larsen and K.S. and Hansen, Structure and Philosophy, RISO-
EERA European Energy Research Alliance — www. R-1299.
eera-set.eu 15. www.ampelmann.nl.
EWEA European Wind Energy Association — www. 16. J.G. Schepers et al. Verification of European Wind Turbine Design
ewea.org Codes, VEWTDC. European Wind Energy Conference, EWEC,
EWT Emergya Wind Technologies — www.ewt Copenhagen, July 2001.
international.com 17. H. Snel, J.G. Schepers and B. Montgomerie. The Mexico project the
IEA International Energy Agency — www.iea.org database and first results of data processing and interpretation In ‘The
IEC International Electrotechnical Commission — Science of Making Torque from the Wind’, August 2007.
www.iec.ch 18. S. Schreck. IEA Wind Annex XX: HAWT Aerodynamics and Mod-
Lagerwey Wind www.lagerweywind.nl els from Wind Tunnel Measurements. NREL/TP-500-43508, NREL,
LSEO Landelijke Stuurgroep Energie Onderzoek December 2008.
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19. W.A. Timmer and R.P.J.O.M. van Rooij, Summary of the Delft Uni- 21. www.senternovem.nl/offshorewindenergy/technology_nsw/ www.
versity wind turbine dedicated airfoils, AIAA-2003-0352. monitoring_mep-nsw/index.aspwww.noordzeewind.nl.
20. Offshore Windfarm Egmond aan Zee, General report OWEZ_R_141_ 22. G. Verbong, Kwestie van lange adem, de geschiedenis van duurzame
20080215. energie in Nederland (history of renewable energy in the Netherlands).
 chapter

10
ROLE OF WIND ENERGY TECHNOLOGY
IN INDIA AND NEIGHBORING
COUNTRIES
M. P. Ramesh

Abstract China had been a little slow in taking to large-scale development

in renewable energy except for perhaps the biogas plants which
Renewable energy technologies except for large hydroelectric score over the Indian design in many ways. Slowly, but surely, the
power have, until recently, played a marginal role in most of the Indian floating collector design is being replaced by fixed dome
countries in terms of energy supply mix and it is no different in Chinese design for community-based biogas plants. On wind power
developing nations such as India. Global concerns about excessive use over the last few years, there has been a drastic turn around in
consumption and mitigation efforts have put Renewable Energy the approach to using re-technologies. It has taken just 3 years for
Technologies on centre stage not merely because of their novelty China to graduate to the second position in the top ten lists in terms
but out of necessity. In this paper we attempt to put in perspective of Wind power capacity addition. If one goes by the projections,
the opportunities and challenges that these emerging technologies the number one position may be achieved. In 2007, it was at about
face in a wide range of situations afforded by different countries 4 GW, and by 2009, the installations touched an astounding 26 GW.
in the region. Approach taken by different countries is analyzed With scores of companies undertaking development on a war foot-
with a peep through the recent historic information and its influ- ing, there is so much happening in China on wind power. A spate of
ence on present and future developments. An attempt is made to wind turbine designs has been developed, and prototypes are being
estimate future role of the renewable energy technologies in the built and tested. Another paradoxical position is that though it is a
energy market. country that produces about 40% of all solar photovoltaic devices,
domestic utilization is quite small.
In this paper, an attempt is made to capture some of the sa­
10.1 Introduction lient aspects of technology development and deployment in India
in the context of power supply systems management. Main RE
Renewable energy technology applications in India have been of
technologies dealt with are wind and solar energy sources. Small
recent origin if we discount the traditional use of solar drying, use
hydro power adds considerable value for localized grids. Bio-mass
of biomass, and agricultural waste for heating purposes. First wind
sources work more or less like thermal stations though for limited
mills for pumping were designed at National Aeronautical Labora-
periods in a year.
tory (NAL), Bangalore during 1959-1961 (Fig. 10.1) and deployed
in different parts of the country. It was perhaps a little ahead of the
times. During this time, it was generally felt that we have electrical
power to be able to provide free electricity to agricultural pump sets 10.2 India
in rural areas. With this back drop, there was no way large-scale India, with its agro-based economy has always been a low per
deployment of wind mills could be financed. However, the designs capita energy consumer. With a large population. the total energy
developed were quite good, and until 2000-2001, some of these consumed could reach fairly high levels in decades to come. On the
windmills were still seen around (Fig. 10.2). ground, the fact remains that there will be a steady growth in the
Once NAL stopped working on these mills, there was a long per capita consumption, but it may not be at the expected rates due
holiday for any effort in the country on any scale. The oil shock to a variety of reasons.
of 1972-1973 rekindled the interest to some extent, and it was
strengthened during 1976 again due to global shortage of oil. This
time around, there were some sustained efforts to introduce renew- 10.2.1  lectricity Generation, Distribution and
E
able energy technologies for low-grade applications, such as so- Management
lar hot water systems, solar cookers, improved stoves (chulas) for India is among the fast-developing nations with significant
biomass, water pumping windmills, and other such devices which growth rates over the past 5 years. It has also been a country with
could be used in a decentralized manner. one of the lowest per capita energy consumption. With an economy
10-  •  Chapter 10

(MOP). MOP has set up public sector undertakings, such as National

Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) to build, own, and operate huge
generating stations in strategically located places and has arranged
for evacuation of power through the Power Grid Corporation of In-
dia Limited (PGCIL). With central and state government-run entities
managing the system, economics associated was relatively easy so
long as the states concerned were able to come to an understanding.
For example, if there is surplus power available in a given state at
a given time and a neighbor state had a need, the two distribution
companies (both owned by Government) would come to an agree-
ment and bills would be settled in due course after the supplies are
completed.
With a view to enhancing public–private partnership reforms
were brought into the electricity market by allowing Independent
Power Producers (IPPs) to build and operate generating stations.
The state would purchase the electricity at a pre-agreed price under
a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). Based on this scheme, several
coal- and oil-based hydroelectric stations were set up. They were
used for peaking requirements and served as reserve capacities.
IPPs were largely restricted to respective state boundaries. Due to
the nature of financing such projects, IPPs were able to obtain a
Fig. 10.1  One of the 70 windmills (model WP 2) minimum guaranteed grid access for supply of power. Even if at
installed in rural India during early 1960s a given time, the distribution company was not able to use the en-
ergy and has asked the IPP to back down, they would be eligible
to charge for deemed generation. Provisions were also put in place
on the upswing, this is expected to change in the coming decades. wherein electricity could be purchased from IPPs at negotiated
In a situation where there is a deficit, the targets sets are also some- prices in case of urgent need.
what conditioned by knowledge of available resources. Table 10.1 In order to resolve any issues that may arise in the overall manage­
demonstrates that there is a trend of about 6% to 7% growth though ment, a quasi-judicial body known as the Central Electricity Regula-
the year 2008 to 2009 showed a slowing down. This is attributed tory Commission (CERC) has been set up at the central Government
to the general economic crisis around the world including India. It level and each state has its own State Electricity Regulatory
is seen that the growth rate has reached earlier levels during 2009
to 2010.
India with an installed capacity of about 153 GW (2010) of con-
ventional power generation has a peak capacity shortage of about
13% and about 10% in terms of delivered energy (Table 10.2). It
should be noted that it is the restricted demand that is projected and
not the full demand. There are a number of circumstances under
which the demand is to be deferred and this will be done in consul-
tation with the consumer in advance.
With a country that is on a fast track development, projections
have it that the demand may touch 300 GW by 2022. Table 10.3
gives the existing and projected installed capacities till 2022. These
projections assume that there will be space for private and private–
public funded power generation projects in the years to come.
It is expected that most of this would come from Coal based
generating stations for base load. Although nuclear power is some-
times considered as an alternate source for baseload, the progress
is rather slow, and a look at the achieved plant load factors leaves
some doubts about its becoming as significant as is expected. Major
hydroelectric projects seem to be no longer feasible looking at the
number of impediments that need to be overcome. Apart from being
expensive if one considers all costs involved, they are also fraught
with population relocation and associated human problems.
Growth rate of thermal and other installations is given in Fig. 10.3.
It can be seen that thermal installations are maintaining steady
growth and in fact over the last 2 years there is an upward trend.
Hydroelectric and nuclear powers have tabled off to some extent
and wind has shown a stunted growth rate.
Management of electricity is shared between the State Govern-
ment and the Central Government. Policy and major infrastructure re- Fig. 10.2 NAL’s windmill (WP-2) found to be
lated issues are handled at the central level through Ministry of Power operational in 2001 at Pondicherry
 energy and power generation handbook  •  10-

Table 10.1 Electricity consumption and sources (BU) [1]

Year 2004–2005 2005–2006 2006–2007 2007–2008 2008–2009 2009–2010

Target  586.40 621.50 623.00 710.00 774.10 781.55
Achievement 587.40 617.50 662.50 704.50 723.60 771.55
% of target 100.20 99.40 99.90 99.20 93.40 97.73
% growth 5.20 5.10 7.30 6.30 2.70 6.60
Thermal 486.10 497.20 527.50 559.00 589.90 640.90
Nuclear 16.80 17.20 18.60 16.80 14.70 18.60
Hydro 84.50 103.10 116.40 128.70 113.00 106.70
Wind#   6.00 9.60 11.40 13.00 18.00
Biomass and other#   3.20 4.80 7.20 7.00 8.00
#
MNRE.

Commission(SERC). One of the primary functions of SERC is to other renewable energy gets larger, problems with grid manage-
take into account the energy mix available in the state, the demand ment become serious. A case in point is the Tamil Nadu grid. The
and paying capacities of different sections of the society, and to fix state has a firm power in terms of thermal and Hydro power apart
a just price for the electricity. It is possible to bring to the regulators from the Nuclear power coming from Central sector in the range
any grievances for redress. SERC in consultation with CERC also of 9000 MW. The state presently has over 4500 MW wind power
mandates the Renewable Energy Purchase Obligations (RPOs) for installed in various parts of the state. Incidentally Tamil Nadu
their state and provide a preferential tariff. The SERC would also Electricity Board has considerable experience with wind power in
define the conditions of supply and evacuation to the bodies who their grid. Based on anticipated wind power generation levels dur-
are managing the generating stations and distribution companies. ing high wind season, the distribution company could set limits to
The system in place gives ample room for negotiation. The flip side draw from central pool. This will impact savings so that in case of
of negotiation is that it inhibits rapid development. sudden wind power drops to a low grid frequency, the board has
System operators are familiar with generating stations whose out- to import energy at a much higher tariff. With a must run status
put could be controlled and scheduled in advance. Fairly good esti- for wind power generators, the board would have to pay for en-
mates of loading patterns are also available. Therefore, mostly, the ergy supplied by wind generators at negotiated fixed price and also
demand side management in terms of available generating power pay the central pool at higher tariff. When the state exports surplus
in short term is employed. The state entities are required to give power while frequency approaches rated frequency of 50 Hz, they
their day ahead, week ahead, and month ahead requirements to load would get lower tariff from other consumers on the grid. The distri-
dispatch centers. In order to prevent over drawl from any specific bution companies would also have to provide nearly free electricity
state, a system known as Availability Based Tariff (ABT) has been to agricultural pump sets and get grants from the State Government
put in place. Under this system, for any over draw of power when to make good the expenses it would incur while managing the sys-
grid frequency is low, the specific state will have to pay higher tar- tem. This would make the distribution companies wary of higher
iff. Similarly surplus power supplied when frequencies are higher penetration levels of wind or any other RE technology powered
attracts lower tariff. This mechanism is termed Unscheduled In- generation. Presently, the size of solar power in grid interactive
terchange charges (UI). The UI charges are settled everyday and mode is very small and therefore most of the complexity envisaged
monthly bills are reconciled among participating agencies, i.e., and experienced is from wind power on the grid. The Small hydro
the Central pool, concerned state distribution companies and other accounts for a sizeable potential particularly in the northern and
stake holders. State utilities or distribution companies are required north eastern states of the country.MOP posts 161351.80 MW as
to pay the IPPs and also honor the inter-state and Centre-State com- the installed capacity in India out of which 16,429.42 MW comes
mitments. With decades of experience behind them, they normally from RE technologies. Grid codes, tariff fixation, and planning of
are able to balance the grid in an optimal manner. grid extension address the issues connected with RE power. Tech-
Distribution companies will have no issues with renewable en- nological situation with the renewable energy application in India
ergy technology-based systems getting into the system if the mag- are dealt with in the following paragraphs with particular emphasis
nitudes are small. However, when the proportion of the wind or on grid connected wind power.

Table 10.2 Energy required and fulfilled [2]

Energy Peak
Year Requirement Availability Surplus/deficits (−) Peak demand Peak met Surplus/deficits (−)
(MU) (MU) (MU) (%) (MW) (MW) (MW) (%)
2007–2008 7,39,345 6,66,007 73,338 −9.9 1,08,866 90,793 18,073 −16.6
2008–2009 7,77,039 6,91,038 86,001 −11.1 1,09,809 96,785 13,024 −11.9
2009–2010 8,30,594 7,46,644 83,950 −10.1 1,19,166 1,04,009 15,157 −12.7
10-  •  Chapter 10

Table 10.3  Projection of electricity consumption in India [3]

Year ending 2007 2012 2017 2022

Peak load at substation busbar [GW] 100 153 218 298
Anticipated consumption [GWh] 690 969 1392 1915
Anticipated CUF (capacity utilization factor) 0.7876 0.723 0.729 0.734

10.2.2 Policy Support Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA), a finan­
The trends indicate that the demand and supply gap would not cing agency under MNRE, provides an interest subsidy through
narrow down over time. Therefore, there are huge opportunities nationalized banks.
for additional capacities and energy savings. Government of In- Large grid connected systems do not have any subsidy attached.
dia set up an independent Ministry of New and Renewable Energy The projects had to be financed based purely on their merits af-
(MNRE) quite early to nurture and promote use of renewable en- ter taking into consideration the depreciation benefit. In the initial
ergy on a large scale. This ministry at the federal level plays a years, it was possible to write off 100% of the cost of equipment
catalytic role and has set up laboratories and knowledge centers in the first year against the gross profit. In the recent times, it has
that cater for needs of the industry. As the nodal ministry it deals been reduced to 80%. There will be a 5-year electricity tax holi-
with other relevant ministries and other governmental bodies which day in addition to this. In most of the states, the private wind tur-
have common areas of interest, such as finance ministry or power bine deployments were for captive consumption. The distribution
ministry with a focus on development of all RE technologies. The companies permitted using the grid with a banking arrangement.
Indian energy supply systems be it fuel or grid power, has been There is a charge attached to it as a percentage. Apart from these
traditionally dominated by Governmental bodies or public sector enabling policy measures, some local governments introduced ad-
undertakings. This includes distribution systems. Therefore, it is ditional benefits to attract private investments. One of the most
useful to look at the way electricity market is presently managed to attractive features was the sales tax write off in the states of Ma­
have the right perspective. dhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. With this, marginal sites became
Initially, when the exposure was small, India went along the sub- attractive enough to merit projects coming up. It did give a good
sidy route for most of the RE devices. It was administered through boost to wind farming in these two states but the scheme was not
State nodal agencies which are institutions set up by local gov- renewed.
ernments. Some specific models which had been demonstrated to Once the tariff fixation came under the purview of the CERC/
work satisfactorily were enlisted by MNRE. When a wind mill of SERCs purchase price from RE technologies, it became a fully
a specific design was purchased under intimation to the respective transparent process. It was possible to seek re-consideration. With
state nodal agency, subsidy was released to the buyer upon suc- a capacity addition of around 1500/2000 MW annually, for about
cessful commissioning. The amount of subsidy was decided upon 3 years, there was a very slight slowdown in the capacity addition.
the basic cost of the equipment and its affordability by an average Though this was to some extent attributed to general recession, the
user. For example, a water pumping windmill will get INR 25,000 outlook remained optimistic for wind power.
(US$500). A wind solar hybrid system will attract nearly 80% cost
of the equipment because of the very high cost of the solar panels. 10.2.3 New RE-Based Incentives
Administration of these subsidies was fraught with considerable The field which was doing very well with income tax-based re-
delays and not so mature technologies make it less attractive. One bates and captive generation attracted mostly profit-making concerns
of the more successful program was the solar water heater subsidy. from manufacturing and to some extent from venture capitalists.

120000 14000

100000 12000
Thermal & Hydro

Wind & Nuclear

10000
80000
8000
60000
6000
40000
4000
20000 2000
0 0
1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010

Hydro Thermal Wind Nuclear

Fig. 10.3 Growth of installed power in India (MW) [4]

 energy and power generation handbook  •  10-

There was an interest from quite a few financial institutions, infra-

Table 10.4 MERC feed in tariff order [6]
structure developers to enter the electric power industry in a major
way. With global concerns about excessive dependence on fossil fu- Annual Mean
els and consequent threat to energy security, government started to Tariff fixed
Wind Power CUF
consider green energy as a means of mitigating the risks. Presently, (INR/kWh)
Density (W/m2)
there are only few options to get sizeable capacities dependent on RE
technologies. One is wind power which can give aggregated capaci- 200−250 20% 4.29
ties of 100, 200 MW of installed power against 1000 or 2000 MW 250−300 23% 3.73
thermal units. Mini and micro-hydro units and biomass-based gen- 300−400 27% 3.18
eration units are the other options. Under the regulatory authorities’ > 400 30% 2.86
directions, each state was required to have a certain percentage of
electricity generated using greener technologies.
wind power densities inversely with the tariff. That is, wind farm-
able areas with lower wind power densities attract higher tariff.
10.2.3.1 Generation-Based Incentive Following the CERC recommendations, Maharashtra Electricity
Regulatory Commission (MERC) has announced a tariff structure
Investor bases were not growing at the same rate as was envisaged
given in the Table 10.4.
and this engendered a need to find ways of roping in more inves-
They have also indicated a range of anticipated plant load fac-
tors into the field. In 2008, MNRE moved a proposal to encourage
tors. Though there is considerable debate regarding this aspect,
investors with no possibility of claiming accelerated depreciation
the wind industry welcomes it as a welcome change in the policy.
to enter the market. A pilot scheme of 50 MW on a first come first
Other wind active states are following up on similar schemes.
served basis for GBI at a 0.5 INR was proposed by MNRE. There
However, there will be considerable public consultations, hearings,
was considerable enthusiasm to get things underway. However, the
and opposing views from various stake holders in front of the State
scheme did not take off due to a number of administrative issues.
Electricity Regulatory commissions before passing an order on the
However, a proposal was pushed through the planning commis-
feed in tariff takes typically 6 months to 1 year. Law provides for
sion to finance ministry to allow up to 4000 MW to come under
appeal against orders, there will always be some additional delays
the GBI scheme. Projects were commissioned between 17.12.2009
in implementation of such orders.
and 31.03.2012. Driving considerations were encouraging large In-
dependent Power Producers (IPPs) and attracting Foreign Direct
10.2.3.2 Clean Development Mechanism
Investments. GBI would encourage higher efficiency of operation
thereby increasing productivity. Clean Development Mechanism implementation (CDM) in India
Some of the preconditions and limitations to avail the GBI are with respect to wind power projects was considered as a way of
that one cannot avail accelerated depreciation for the project. It is making wind power projects an attractive option in terms of return
also not possible to sell power to third party. The INR 0.50 is pay- on investment, particularly in areas with moderate potential. Till
able over and above what the SERC would fix as the feed in tariff. date, about 5543 MW [7] of wind power have been registered under
This can somewhat be negated if the SERC takes into account the 357 projects. Most of the wind power feed-in tariff orders have a
GBI component while fixing the tariff. The incentive period is lim- provision for the transmission company/electricity board to get a
ited to 10 years during which first 4 years maximum pay out shall share of the CDM revenue. This makes it much less attractive to
not exceed INR 1.55 million/MW in any given year with an overall avail CDM benefits, considering the amount of paper work asso-
cap of INR 6.2 million. There will be no upper or lower limit to the ciated with such claims. For smaller projects where depreciation
number of MW that gets registered under the scheme. Till Octo­ was the main driver, the preparation of Project Design Document
ber 6th, 2010, a total of 261 MW of projects were registered under (PDD), validation, and maintenance would sometimes cost more
the GBI scheme [5]. Taken as a percentage of the MW commis- than the costs incurred. In addition, part of CDM revenue would
sioned during more or less the same period, this is about 20% of become payable to the Transco/electricity board. These issues make
the projects. This percentage is likely to grow over the next 2 years, the idea of going in for CDM benefits for IPPs set up with the sole
rapidly considering that quite a few international companies are purpose of making projects viable by sale of electricity attractive.
seriously perusing projects. This is because such IPPs would have a team of professionals who
· The allocation is for 4000 MW installed capacity to be used would be very carefully monitoring everything that happens in the
up before 2012. wind farm and necessary documentation and follow up will be part
· The 0.5 INR/kWh would be provided for first 4 to 10 years of portfolio management.
depending on the discretion of SERC concerned.
· Either this benefit could be availed or the 80% depreciation 10.2.3.3 Renewable Energy Certificates
could be availed, but not both.
India, with its geological spread, has an uneven distribution of
· Scheme cannot be used for third party sale of electricity or
renewable energy availability. While South, Southwestern, West-
self consumption.
ern states have good potential, eastern states of the country, small
SERCs may take into account GBI element while fixing feed in states, such as Delhi, have to almost entirely depend on conven­
tariff. This may result in some erosion of additional income antici- tional resources for their energy requirements. A financial instru-
pated under this scheme. ment similar to CDM mechanism has been devised to increase
This is being administered by IREDA in conjunction with state share of RE in the national perspective. The idea is that there is an
distribution companies. Investors would naturally go to high wind obligation on the part of distribution companies, captive genera-
areas so that their ROIs are better. With a view to encourage wind tors, and open access consumers who constitute obligated entities.
farming in not so windy areas, CERC and SERCs are relating the They would have to meet a part of their consumption through use
10-  •  Chapter 10

of renewable energy. The quantum of such an obligation is decided Eight states in India — Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Kar-
by the SERC and obligated entities should top up their obligation nataka, Tamilnadu, and Andhra Pradesh have perused wind power
by purchase of renewable energy certificates. with varying degrees of success (Fig. 10.5). It is seen that Tamil-
In states where renewable energy projects are concentrated, the nadu has 4566 MW of installed wind power and has been con-
RPO can be easily fulfilled. Once this obligation is met with, the sistently leading the pack. It is followed by Maharashtra with
state may have little incentive to encourage signing up for more 2004 MW installed. Gujarat, from where the grid connected wind
projects. Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) is another route power utilisation started takes the third place with 1667 MW.
through which the surplus RE could be traded. This is facilitated Karnataka is similar to Maharashtra in terms of site conditions. The
by first registering RE projects with a centrally administered reg- wind farmable sites are mostly in mountaneous regions. Karnataka
istry which would enable selling of RECs. The generation infor- has 1396 MW installed. Rajasthan has picked up installations in the
mation would be compiled and sent to the registry. Each MWH recent times and presently has 846 MW of installed power. Kerala
will constitute a unit. The Load Dispatch Centre (LDC) keeps track has just started recently with a total of 27 MW. The figures shown
of the energy generated. A mechanism has been formulated to get are as of 31.03.2010 [8]. Though mountains of Kerala show high
this information to the registry for registered projects. This would potential, the access, infrastructural development-related difficul-
be verified by National Load Dispatch Centre (NLDC) and REC ties have resulted in a slow development relative to other states. For
would be issued. These certificates can be traded on the Power Ex- example, Ramakkalmedu, a complex terrain site with one of the
changes. They cannot be sold or purchased outside. There would be country’s highest wind speeds has no grid access for evacuation on
a floor price and a ceiling revised from time to time by CERC. This Kerala side. Though evacuation through Tamil Nadu can be done,
scheme fosters higher utilization of renewable energy in the coun- the interstate power transmission rules were not as yet available for
try as a whole. The scheme is in an advanced state of becoming op- private sector. It was an administrative bottleneck which had no
erational. The mechanism has been debated for nearly a year since easy solution.
being formally announced. Ultimately, it has to be implemented Indian forays in the wind turbine field are two decades old and
through SERC through specific tariff orders for actual implementa- till today few of the first machines installed are working reason-
tion. This may take some time as each state will have to consider ably well. There is an issue with the nature of winds in India. It is
the REC mechanism in the state’s own perspective. There are of a seasonal phenomenon, and averages are not very high as may be
course issues of grid congestion and management, which will con- desired. On the other hand, there are cyclonic conditions that can
tinue to be debated by the distribution companies and the load dis- push the wind turbines to limits of their design and that needs to be
patch centers where component of renewable energy is high. Being taken into account at the design level as the exact place where the
engineering problems, it they are likely to get sorted out by suitable turbines get deployed cannot be controlled. With a peak deficit and
measures, such as good quality forecasting and grid management energy deficit of over 10% at present, the supply and demand gap
techniques. is unlikely to be closed presently or in the future, unless all avail-
able resources are deployed to the fullest extent and that includes
10.2.4 Growth of Wind Turbine Field wind power.
Among all new renewable energy sources, wind energy continues At around this time, the European certification procedures were
to remain at forefront and is likely to remain so in the foreseeable getting consolidated. The system of certification was in an evo-
future. With the first machines making their appearance way back lutionary mode. Notwithstanding this, India adopted a policy that
in 1985 to 1986 with 55 kW units a steady growth was seen over the wind turbines that get installed in India shall have a valid type
the past two decades. In the recent times, notwithstanding its nature certificate. This could be the cause of moderate growth rates that
of being an unsteady source of power, wind and other renewable have also been sustainable. With wind power equipment getting
energy technologies are listed alongside conventional sources like installed more often than not far away from load centers, there was
thermal power. Major part of the RE technologies come from Wind always an issue with grid extension. Enhancing evacuation facili-
(11807 MW). The development showed a steady growth over last ties is a time-consuming process. With moderate growth rates of in-
5 years, installations did not show any significant impact of global stalled capacities, the mismatch between machine deployment and
economic slowdown (Fig. 10.4). grid connection has fewer problems. There are very few instances

Installed Wind Power in India (MW) over the years

14000
12000
10000

6000
4000
2000
0
92 93 94 95
9 96 97
7 98 99 00 01 0
02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10
Upto current year
Fig. 10.4 Growth of installed wind power in India [4]
 energy and power generation handbook  •  10-

locations for collecting long-term data. India, notwithstanding this

major effort, does not possess long-term reference data sought by
most of the consultants for reducing uncertainties in energy cal-
culations. However, it has to be recognized that if the data from
this program is rejected, there is no other data in public domain.
For over a decade, this was the only source of wind information
based on which wind farms were set up. In the recent times, manu-
facturers and developers carry out measurements prior to setting
up projects. In fact, most of the major wind farm developers have
their own private data bases created through measurements. This
information is not available in public domain due to commercial
considerations.
The primary purpose of establishing these masts has been largely
justified by installation of wind farms in the area in large num-
bers. For example, initially, there were just two to three masts in
Aralvoimozi pass in southern tip of India. Presently, there are over
2000 MW of wind power equipment deployed in and around this
single location. However, there is a price to pay. Present-day wind
farming practice looks for long-term data from near the sites pro-
posed, and this is impossible to get.
Monsoon-based wind system makes the western and south west-
ern part of the country windier than the eastern and north eastern
parts of the country. Southwest monsoon winds start from June and
the movement would continue till September, and Northeast mon-
soon movement would start by October and continue till January.
Southwesterly movement would be far stronger compared to the
Fig. 10.5 Indian states where wind is being
receding north easterlies. Therefore, there would occur low wind
a­ctively exploited (installed capacity As on
31.03.2010)

when grid availability is an issue for the wind farms already set up
or the ones which are being set up.
Over a period of the next 10 to 12 years, the turbines grew in size
and largely turbines of Danish origin made their way into the In-
dian soil. Tax breaks, soft loans from World Bank facilitated rapid
growth of installed capacity. After the initial rush of early 1990s
and soft loan options were exhausted, rate of growth started fall-
ing for next 2 to 3 years. By this time, there was some operational
experience gained, and it was feasible to get an idea of what to
expect. On a parallel information on the resource availability, grid
integration issues were better understood.

10.2.5 The Wind Resource

Initial years of wind energy development largely depended on the
data Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) collected through a
countrywide network of observatories. This data was not very help-
ful in getting a good estimate of the resource availability. It became
essential to start an independent measurement program which was
independent of the normal meteorological observations. Under this
project, initially during 1986–1988, a network of wind monitor-
ing stations was established initially in the states of Tamil nadu,
Karnataka, Orissa, and Gujarat. The locations were so chosen that
wind turbines could be established at a future date. Twenty-meter
tall masts were equipped with anemometers and direction vanes
installed at 10 and 20 m agl and solid state data loggers were used
to store data automatically. Figure 10.6 shows one such installation
in a complex terrain.
Over the years, more than five hundred such stations were estab-
lished and the data collected for periods of 1 to 5 years. It is perhaps
one of the longest sustained efforts by MNRE to gather resource
information on a national level. Presently, the winds are measured Fig. 10.6 Wind monitoring station in the early
at 50 m agl, and there are four 120-m masts installed at strategic years
10-  •  Chapter 10

months during October/November and again in March/April. June, Effect of monsoon can be seen in Fig. 10.8. The wind activity
July, and August months normally exhibit high winds with latter strengthens during these 3 months and areas with mean sea eleva-
part of May and early part of September showing some winds. tions above 600 to 700 m experience sufficiently high winds. Con-
While the location-specific measurements have been instrumen- sequently, most of the outputs from wind turbines installed in India
tal in bringing about wind farming in a significant manner, there produce nearly 70% of their annual outputs during these 3 months.
has been a felt need to get an assessment of wind power poten- Many of the wind farmable areas are to be found in Southern
tial at a global level. Under a joint program between Riso National Tamilnadu, parts of Karnataka, hills of Maharashtra, vast plains
Laboratory-Danish Technical University and CWET collaboration, of Gujarat and Rajasthan. Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh
a meso-scale modeling exercise for the entire country was un- have some interesting pockets. Looking at the high capital cost and
dertaken. To the extent feasible, the map has been validated. The return on investment, there was a consensus that areas in wind class
results have not changed the earlier perceptions about windy and II and above are wind farmable. With this stipulation, the given
non-windy areas except some portions. Figure 10.7 shows results area must have an annual WPD of over 200 W/m2 at an extrapo-
of the modeling and mapping effort for winds at 80 m agl. The lated height of 50 m agl to merit installation of grid connected wind
country has, by and large, class II wind zones mostly in the western turbines. There is a debate about how do we arrive at the long-term
and southern parts. East coast has some patches where higher wind WPD with limited measurements on site. An estimated 48,564 MW
power densities can be expected. East coast line is also fraught with potential has been indicated for India. This estimate is based on
cyclonic conditions with regularity. Some portions of the hills of an interpolated wind power density map of India. Source for this
Uttaranchal show some promise. Hills of Kashmir show high wind estimation was the recorded wind speeds from over 500 on-site
activity according to this meso-scale modeling. However, detailed measurements carried out in different parts of the country. It was
measurements are required for validation of the estimates made. assumed that 1% of the area coming under 200 W/m2 and above
There are quite a few locations across the country in complex ter- would become available for wind farming and a generous spacing
rain that has not been captured in totality by the model because of is provided between the wind turbines. With class II winds, it is a
the coarse grid size. However, it is possible to create maps with reasonable assumption. Wind industry estimates that the potential
higher resolution for specific places. is higher and can reach 100,000 MW. One basis could be that the

Fig. 10.7 Meso-scale wind power density map of India [9]

 energy and power generation handbook  •  10-

Fig. 10.8 Wind Power Density map during monsoons [9]

1% assumption is strictly not correct and the procedure adopted to was seen that the turbine operation and control could be done on a
arrive at wind farmable areas was not sufficiently rigorous. How- computer, data collected for off line analysis. After 20 years, many
ever, the electrical infrastructure itself can be an inhibitor for very of these turbines are still functional.
rapid development even in known windy areas. With much interest generated in wind turbine technology, quite a
few industrialists and venture capitalists started getting into the field
10.2.6 Technology Deployment and Certification to manufacture, install, and operate wind turbines in collaboration
Europe, notably Denmark and Holland, had just introduced com- with turbine manufacturers, notably from Denmark. There were
mercial versions of grid connected wind turbines of 40 to 55 kW joint ventures between Indian companies and companies from the
size during early 1980s. The first grid connected wind turbine in Netherlands, Japan, and United States. Two important events took
India was established in 1985 in Gujarat in a factory campus. The place after the demonstration wind farms were set up. First factor
40 kW rated wind turbine was connected to the Gujarat Electricity was the Income Tax Rule by which the cost of the wind turbines
Board’s grid and worked for a few years. Due to O & M-related could be written off by the company installing them as deprecia-
difficulties, the turbine could not be kept working for long. Sub- tion in the first year. This was later reduced to 80% in the first year.
sequently, a number of 55 kW turbines were introduced to India Therefore, any profit-making company could use this provision to
under demonstration projects. Installed at known windy locations, set up wind farms. The second important factor was that the World
they gave the electricity boards hands-on experience and were seen Bank made available soft loans through the Government of India.
as something actually feasible. At the same time, the effort to col- These two key factors promoted wind power deployment in a major
lect wind data at a height of 20 m agl was initiated because that was way. By 1993 to 1994, around twenty-seven companies registered
about the height of wind turbines. By 1989, Denmark came up with with the Government as suppliers of wind turbines. Quite quickly,
a novel idea of bringing 200/225 kW wind turbines adding up to the World Bank Loan was exhausted. At the same time, the wind
20 MW under a bilateral arrangement with the Government of turbines that were installed without sufficient analysis were doing
India. Accordingly, by 1991, three wind farms of 10, 6, and 4 MW badly. Quite a few models started having spare part-related issues,
were established in the states of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. The sys- lack of back office support from technology providers became a
tems came with central monitoring systems. For the first time it serious bottleneck. In Europe, quite a few companies were taken
10-10  •  Chapter 10

over by other companies, and traceability of necessary documen- it easier to get their manufacturing facilities certified under
tation became big challenges. Around this time, type certification 9001-2000.
systems were being evolved in Europe. Though there was some
With a view to have good quality of supplied equipment and en-
interest in Indian market for American companies, their own in-
sure safe operation for 20 years or more, a system has been put in
ternal markets were attractive enough for them to pursue Indian
place which is independent of Indian type certification. It is possible
clientele. With many complaints about problems with turbines,
to market any wind turbine in India with a valid type certificate. The
fear of second-hand machines finding their way to India eventu-
validity of a type certificate is verified on a quarterly basis in order
ally reached Government of India. In 1997, there was a hurricane
to ensure that there are no delays in admitting a new model. CWET
in Gujarat and about 149 wind turbines suffered major damages. It
verifies conformity and validity of type certificates all models by a
was then decided by the Government that type certification should
careful study of the type certificates and related documents and cre-
be available for a given model to permit it to be connected to a grid.
ates a list of models which have all the satisfactory documents. This
It also became a pre-condition for availing accelerated deprecia-
list is widely published and available on the web pages of CWET.
tion. Lending agencies also made it a policy that the turbines with
Under the original rules, there was a provision to allow marketing
type certification alone will get financing. The type certification
of models which were under type certification at CWET. In order to
was somewhat country specific and as a temporary safety measure,
have more models and therefore more competition, the rules were
GOI started insisting on permitting only those wind turbines which
modified to extend this facility to models registered for certification
possessed a valid type certificate. MNRE issued guidelines for se-
under any recognized and accredited certification body.
lection of wind turbines for deployment and set forth the criteria in
detail. The original guidelines issued in 1995 has seen quite a few 10.2.7 Design of Wind Turbines in India
amendments and modifications based on the need of the industry.
With liberalization the need to design and develop new turbines
The lack of India-specific certification system was creating some
was not felt in India. It was easy to get manufacturing rights under
confusion as to which system to follow to ensure some safety for
technology transfer arrangements from European countries under
large investments that were being made in the field.
joint venture or agency basis or as subsidiary manufacturing units.
The Ministry set up Centre for Wind Energy Technology (CWET)
Original estimates of wind farming potential were around 20,000
as an autonomous institution in 1999 under an Indo Danish collabo-
to 25,000 MW. At this level, there was no serious interest in invest-
ration. One of the primary objectives of the center was to create an
ing time and effort to develop Indian designs. Indian industrialists
India-specific certification system. The Riso National Laboratory,
were content to get technologies from elsewhere and concentrate
Denmark was appointed as the technical consultant for the project.
on manufacture, deployment, and maintenance. There were a few
With their assistance, Type Approval Provisional Scheme was pre-
isolated attempts but were abandoned after a few trials. Some of
pared by the year 2000 (TAPS-2000) [10]. This was based on the
the notable ones are 200 kW turbines by Himalaya Machinery Co,
International Electro-technical Committee (IEC) standards. It was
Gujarat, and Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited (BHEL, a public
formulated such that certification carried out elsewhere could also
sector undertaking). After a few prototypes, Himalaya Machinery
be taken up for recertification under which the machine suitability
Company abandoned the project. BHEL surprisingly went into col-
for the so-called Indian working conditions. There are three cat-
laboration with Nordex A/S for a 250-kW design.
egories of type certificates that could be obtained by manufacturers
A more recent trend is toward getting wind turbines designed
under this scheme.
by consultants and concentrate on manufacture of these designs.
1. Simplest system accepts the existing type certificate and Under this arrangement, the manufacturer is not bound by the usual
checks the following: technology transfer related restrictions. This affords a freedom of
making any decisions about the wind turbine without having to
a. Effect of lower grid frequency,
seek concurrence from the joint sector partners. There are quite
b. Frequent interruptions in power — 350 grid outages per
a few models of this type which are undergoing prototype testing
year as against 20 grid outages as per IEC,
and certification. The via media here is that this will not come in the
c. An extra load case for extreme wind which was not part
way of commercial deployment. Presently, turbines of up to a rated
of the IEC,
capacity of 2.5 MW are under testing in India.
d. No changes in the design which has been verified by an
With much hands-on experience with the wind turbine behav-
accredited certification body,
ior in India, several locally relevant modifications have been im-
e. A safety and function test is carried out.
plemented in many already deployed wind turbine models. One of
2. In case the manufacturer wishes to introduce any changes the most notable changes was inclusion of blade extenders in many
in the design that would affect the loading on wind turbine models to give higher swept area and, therefore, higher energy cap-
components, it is possible under TAPS-2000 to take up a ture. This was quite a popular method with wind turbines in the
certification that will investigate effects of such changes on capacity range of 200 to 300 kW. Though this may have had an
the integrity of the system as per accepted methods of evalu- impact on the maintenance of type certificates, such modifications
ation. This would also require a type measurement as per occurred during a time when the rules for validation of type certifi-
IEC. cation were getting formulated. In the recent times, blade extenders,
3. Provisions are also made for taking up a full certification for if used, would be evaluated as part of design evaluation. CWET as
a new design. Under this, the manufacturer would submit a certification body was not able to take up any design-related activ-
the entire documentation for design verification, provide a ity in house. However, a number of attempts were made to nurture
typical turbine for type measurements, and have a manufac- knowledge creation centers in laboratories. This has lead to some
turing quality system in place. Though ISO 9001-2000 was indigenous understanding of the design process. However, with in-
not insisted upon, a verification of manufacturing system flux of fully developed designs and customer comfort with such an
against a checklist was essential. Slowly, the industry found approach inhibits very serious attempts at having to develop fully
 energy and power generation handbook  •  10-11

Table 10.5  Power supply mix in China [11] Notwithstanding the fact that China has the second largest in-
stalled capacity of grid infrastructure in the world, there are short-
Source Capacity (million kW) % of total capacity ages of power and has a reputation of having largest carbon foot
print in the world. Looking at a need-based and realistic scenario,
Thermal 652.00 74.60 the sector development will be largely based on coal and other fos-
Nuclear 9.08 1.00
Hydro 197.00 22.50 sil fuel-based systems. Twenty-four Million kW nuclear power sta-
Wind 16.13 1.80 tions are under construction. Apart from the new thermal stations,
Total 874.21 there are major initiatives to de-commission old and inefficient
thermal stations in order to improve overall system efficiency.
There is a good case for RE technologies in China from every
indigenous designs as at the end of proto-type development there point of view. Legendary infrastructure for manufacture, availabil-
could be no takers. Besides this, with the continuous interaction ity of very large tracts of land that can be employed for any other
with Indian wind turbine manufacturers the designers overseas have productive use, Government’s commitment to make use of every
a clearer design check lists. There is also a marked difference in the possible resource to the fullest extent to meet its own internally set
approach in the recent times. Presently many of the Indian wind goals of reducing dependence of fossil fuels are just a few factors
turbine manufacturers have research facilities and design centers es- which make China destination next for wind power community.
tablished in Europe. Since they are owned by Indian companies, the Enactment of Renewable Energy Law (REL) followed up by poli-
designs made by them would become indigenous to India. cies and programs has made development of wind power one of the
fastest growing field in China speeding past Germany in terms of in-
stalled capacity. Like all things Chinese, magnitude of operations is
10.3 china enormous. The speed at which things are happening makes informa-
tion presented always appear to be a little dated. GWEC’s wind power
China has today a total installed capacity of 874.21 Million kW installation count for wind lists 25,802 MW by the end of 2009.
installed power (Table 10.5). It has been a slow starter in the field
of wind energy. A variety of driving factors were instrumental in 10.3.1 The Resource
the sudden burst of interest in a field that is undeniably linked with There are a number of estimates of wind power potential made
pollution free power generation. The apparently impulsive change for China. Initial years of wind farming depended almost entirely
of attitude was followed up with massive planning and implemen- on the meteorological information available from weather service
tation phases that catapulted China as the next destination for wind and used the 10-m data. Based on this data the northern and eastern
power. China is poised to take on United States of America in terms parts of the country appeared to possess relatively higher potential.
of capacity additions. It is a clear demonstration of what political Chinese Meteorological Administration put the figures at 4350 GW
will can achieve in any given situation. After the initial rush of of reserve and of that 297 GW was expected to be exploitable. Sub-
the way things were put in place, it is possible to perceive a well sequently, under a United Nations Environment Program, numer­
thought out strategy to make things work on ground at a pace that ical simulations put the number at 1400 GW as the exploitable
was difficult to comprehend initially. potential. The National Climate center carried out its own simula-

Fig. 10.9 Near term potential areas where very large-scale installations are planned
10-12  •  Chapter 10

tions and has put the potential at 2548 GW at 10 m agl. Thus, it is seen arid zones in Mongolia is a reality. China boasts of one of the larg-
that there are different estimates available on the potential [12]. est forestation programs in the world. One of the suggested ideas
There are at least seven locations (Fig. 10.9) which can support to conservation of humidity and prevention of desertification was
10 GW of wind power in the northern and north eastern parts of the to have wind breakers. Farmers would plant suitable trees along
country in the near term. boundaries of farms to prevent crops from getting damaged due to
winds simultaneously serving as barriers to dehumidification. It has
a. East and western inner Mongolia,
been suggested in the past that a series of wind turbines may be in-
b. Kumul in Xinjiang,
stalled to serve as wind breakers. They would, in addition, provide
c. Juquan in Gansu,
electricity. At a policy level, China mooted the RELin 2004 and
d. Bashang in Hebei,
it was implemented by 2005. It became essential for the utilities
e. western part of Jilin and
to have a certain percentage of RE technologies on the grid and
f. shallow seas off Jiangsu.
was mandated to buy all energy from non-hydro renewable energy
Keeping in view the extraordinary growth plan, a major initiative technologies at a preferential tariff. There were penalties to be paid
of setting up exclusive measuring stations was drawn up with masts for non-compliance. As is normal for developing countries during
of 50 m, 70 m, 100 m and 120 m height to match with the proposed the initial years, it was mandatory to have 70% of the components
hub heights at four hundred locations spread across known windy to be sourced from within the country. This was later amended to
areas in 2006. Results of these measurements used in conjunction encourage investments. It is mandatory for the power generators to
with actual generation from various wind farms already running source 3% of their electricity from non-hydro renewable sources
would give a better estimate of the potential in foreseeable future. and by 2020 the percentage share is to reach 8%.
One of the difficult situations is the distances between load cen­ By 2009, the REL was amended to include grid access, clear
ters and high wind potential areas. With load centers mostly along mandate for the transmission companies to arrange to absorb all
Eastern coast, potential areas to the North and North West, the grid the energy produced by RE technologies. An RE fund was set up
extension can become quite a challenge. However, the problem has to finance extra costs that would be required to integrate unsteady
been addressed at a planning level. inputs from wind and other RE technologies. The amendment also
addressed the issue of the price difference between coal generated
10.3.2 The Growth of the Sector electricity and renewable energy would have to be shared by all
There is a certain incredulity associated with the growth of wind stake holders. An additional cess of 0.04 €/kWh is charged to fund
power in China. Chinese wind power development started together additional integration costs. Wind energy also commands a higher
with India with lower end grid connected wind turbines getting in- tariff ranging between 0.56 €and 0.65 €/kWh to be paid over 20
stalled under trial basis. Initial forays by wind power failed to im- years of the service life of the turbine [13]. This constancy of policy
press the leadership for quite a few years. Around 2004, there was for considerable time period would send right signals to the inves-
a big turnaround in the government stand toward wind technology. tors. If one looks at the consistent development of wind power in
By 2006, the changed scenario toward wind started to show results. Tamil Nadu in India was partly because there was a certainty on
Installed capacity of wind power equipment started doubling every ROI though it was somewhat lower compared to other competing
year (Fig. 10.10). Government’s enthusiasm toward wind power states.
could be understood when one sees that there are 70 odd manufac- While such positive law and its implementation have fostered a
turers of wind turbines in China. galloping installation rate, there appears to be a gap between ex-
Being a fast-developing country, the need for power is one of the pectation and the realities. For many wind power companies who
highest in the world. It is also under internal and external pressure set up shop in China keeping in view booming market a need to re-
to use less polluting resources. Cities have reportedly high pollution calibrate their expectations seem to be imminent. Frequently bidding
levels. Gradual advancement of desertification in the windswept processes for project implementation have gotten into a difficult sit-

Chinese wind power capacity addition in MW

30000

25000

20000

15000
addition Upto
10000

5000

0
1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010
Fig. 10.10 Growth of installed capacities of wind power in China
 energy and power generation handbook  •  10-13

uation due to the fact that they were based on the price bids for sale certificate. With so much planned, there are considerable number
of energy. Obviously, lowest cost per kWh supplied would get to do of designers and certification bodies working on Chinese projects.
the projects. With so much competition, project financing gets into In fact, the pace at which work gets ordered and executed, most
very difficult situations. Under the circumstances, established wind of the independent design companies engaged do not have time
turbine manufacturers from world markets could not match the local for any new assignments perhaps for next few years. Keeping in
prices and were disadvantaged to some extent. view export market potential type, certification as per international
standards is also pursued by a large number of manufacturers.
10.3.3 Technology Development
China has always been perceived as a master where mass pro-
duction and heavy engineering are concerned. Their planning and 10.4 Sri Lanka
execution capabilities are almost unparalleled when it comes to
mega projects. When they set their mind to any such ventures, the Sri Lanka has been pursuing wind energy for over 15 years. Ta-
development path is never cluttered by any impediments. When it ble 10.6 gives a synopsis of installed capacity as of 2009.
came to wind energy development, the same principles were ap- As can be seen, there is considerable hydro power availability
plied. There is so much encouragement for developing indigenous in the country which can be profitably used by installing sizeable
designs that there are now over 70 wind turbine designs being de- wind turbine capacity thereby reducing dependence on the thermal
signed, tested, and sold. Some of the leading turbine models have power generation. NREL wind resource assessment shows high
started making their way into foreign markets. Most notable ones potential along the northwestern part of the country and central Sri
are the Goldwind, Sinowel, Dongfang have a combined manu- Lanka where hills are to be found. Southeastern coast line also has
facturing capacity of about 8.2 GW annually. With targets set at few areas which can support wind farm activity. It is estimated that
13.5 GW/year requirements, there is bound to be a shortfall of about 24000 MW wind power installations could be planned with
hardware if the installations have to go at the expected rates. about 10% of land made available from the identified windy areas.
The similarity with Indian situation ended with experimental With the grid capacity available presently, there is a smaller
phase. Though China started off in the initial years with imported possibility of major development. A number of prospective IPPs
wind turbines, looking at the enormity of possibilities, develop- are approaching the opportunity with a view to develop large wind
ment of indigenous design became a priority area for development. farms for generation and sale to the Ceylon Electricity Board. Pro-
Most of the European and many American wind turbine companies spective Independent Power Producers entering wind market are
including a lone Indian turbine manufacturer started establishing known to be setting up measurement systems to gather authentic
facilities for indigenous manufacture. With the newly found access information on the resource availability.
for component manufacture at lower costs, quite a few Chinese
component manufacturers became exporters of WT components
and subassemblies. There was a need for having 70% of wind tur- 10.5 Summary and Conclusion
bine components to be sourced from within the country that has
It is expected that next decade on shore wind power would be
also been done away with.
the most exploited resource world over and Asian region would see
With a need for indigenous designs and the freedom it affords
sizeable installations. New ways of handling the variable nature of
the manufacturers, there was a push to have designs carried out
the wind power availability will cease to be an issue with the grid
both in house and through design consultancy became quite an at-
managers. Infrastructure development will continue to be a source
tractive route both for the consultancies and large number of state
of concern from evacuation point of view. In a country like India
owned companies. It is notable that Europe, by this time had a
grid extension can take considerable effort and time because of
growing body of wind turbine design consulting houses and China
right of way issues and net work congestion at certain times could
was requiring such quick design know how. Therefore, there was
adversely affect the stability of grid. The engineering problems
a matching of requirements and availability. It is a normal prac-
associated with such issues have solutions.
tice for a wind turbine company which has its proprietary rights on
Field being highly capital intensive will have to have sops either
its designs and would always have a say in everything to do with
in kind or financing mechanisms to make them viable. It cannot be
the particular model either under a joint venture or a licensed pro-
assumed that increased cost of energy would result in making wind
duction. A design consultant makes no such pre-conditions. This,
more attractive as the input costs would also go up with increased
coupled with the need for type certified turbines not being a pri-
energy costs. Electricity distribution companies are now willing to
mary concern, gave an impetus to the approach taken by most of
discuss issues. This is a big improvement in the approach. Fore-
the newly formed design teams in publicly held companies. This
casting wind power has caught imagination of the grid managers
is in complete contrast to Indian situation where much importance
and in India there is a commercial and policy push to get short-
is placed on a type certification for the models deployed in com-
mercial space.
Table 10.6 Installed power in MW as of 2009 [14]
The National Bureau of Quality and Technology set up the
Chinese Wind Turbine Standardization Technical Committee
(CWSTC) and a national technical committee TC 50 was set up CEB
with constituents drawn from industry, academia, and relevant in- HYDRO 1207 MW
stitutions. The committee interacts with IEC TC 88 on matters re- THERMAL 548 MW
lating to wind turbine testing and certification standards. A number WIND 3 MW
of equivalent standards which correspond to IEC standards have PPP
been published. With much indigenization, the turbines produced SMALL HYDRO 184 MW
with in China get a type certificate. However, there is a lack of THERMAL 742 MW
TOTAL 2684 MW
clarity as to the accreditation status of the body issuing the type
10-14  •  Chapter 10

term forecasting introduced formally and this could pave the way REC Renewable Energy Certificate
for higher penetration levels. Therefore, the outlook appears to be REL Renewable Energy Law
quite optimistic. ROI Return On Investment
RPO Renewable energy Purchase Obligation
SERC State Electricity Regulatory Commission
TAPS-2000 Type Approval Provisional Scheme – 2000
10.6 ACRONYMS (year of adoption)
TWh Terra Watt hour
ABT Availability Based Tariff
UI Unscheduled Interchange
BU Billion Units (Billion kWh)
W/m2 Watts/ square meter
CEA Central Electricity Authority
WPD Wind Power Density
CEB Ceylon Electricity Board
CERC Central Electricity Regulatory Commission
CUF Capacity Utilization Factor
CWET Centre for Wind Energy Technology 10.7 REFERENCES
EPS Electrical Power Survey
GBI Generation Based Incentive   1. Ministry of Power Annual Reports
GOI Government of India   2. http://www.powermin.nic.in/indian_electricity_scenario/pdf/
GW Giga Watts Annual_Report_2009-10_English.pdf
Hz Hertz   3. Ministry of Power http://www.powermin.nic.in/generation/pdf/17th%20
IEC International Electrotechnical Committee EPS.pdf
INR/kWh- Indian Rupees/ kilowatt-hour
  4. Ramesh. M.P. (2007) ‘Wind Resource Assessment in India: A pro-
IPPs Independent Power Producers
gram with a difference’ International Journal of Environmental Stud-
IREDA Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency ies,64:695-708 figures updated till March 31st , 2010
IWTMA Indian Wind Turbine Manufacturer’s Association
LDC Load Dispatch Centre   5. IREDA http://119.82.68.103/IREDawindmill/form/frmuserlogin.aspx
magl meters above ground level   6. MERC_Final RE Tariff Order(SuoMotu)_14July_2010
MNRE Ministry of New and Renewable Energy
  7. http://cdmindia.nic.in/
MOP Ministry of Power
MU Million Units   8. State wise installed capacity www.iwtma.co.in
MW Mega Watts   9. Srivalsan E. et al, CWET, Indian Wind Atlas (2010)
NAL National Aerospace Laboratories
10. TAPS 2000 amended 2003 http://www.cwet.tn.nic.in/Docu/TAPS-2000
NTPC National Thermal Power Corporation
amended.pdf
O&M Operation and Maintenance
PGCIL Power Grid Corporation India Limited 11. http://english.gov.cn/2010-01/07/content_1505403.htm
PPA Power Purchase Agreement 12. Li Junfeng, Shi Pengfei, Gao Hu, 2010 China Wind Power Outlook.
PPP Private Public Partnership
13. http://www.gwec.net/index.php?id=125
Ps/kWh Paise/kilowatt hour (100 paise = INR 1)
RE Renewable Energy 14. http://www.ceb.lk/generation/Digest%20Report%202009/Brouchure.pdf
 chapter

11
HYDRO POWER GENERATION:
GLOBAL AND US PERSPECTIVE
Stephen D. Spain
11.1 INTRODUCTION TO HYDROPOWER water wheels. The Greek engineer Philo of Byzantium first docu-
The development of dams on rivers, with associated benefits of mented in “Parasceuastica” circa 200 BC that hydropower from
water storage for flood control, irrigation, and “hydropower” has Tympanum and Noriatype waterwheels was used to lift ore from
played a vital role in advancing civilization throughout history. Of mines, to grind grain and to saw lumber. There is also evidence that
these, hydropower ingeniously and yet so simply combines two Egyptians were using the combination of water and gravity to turn
of the most fundamental components of nature on planet Earth — water wheels for grinding wheat into flour in early centuries BC.
water and gravity — to help sustain our survival and improve our And water wheels mills have been documented in China since 200
lifestyle. AD. Figure 11.1 [2] illustrates an example of an early waterpower
This chapter will describe the role of hydropower from past to development.
present and potentially into the future. Hydropower will be dem- After another thousand years, the so-called Dark Ages, fast for-
onstrated to be a safe, reliable, and renewable energy resource ward to the industrial revolution, when waterpower development
worldwide, essential to our overall power and energy mix, both and technology increased dramatically, with transition from wood
traditionally from rivers, through recent and growing development to cast iron waterwheels. That invention was attributed to the Brit-
of pumped energy storage from lower to upper water reservoirs ish engineer John Smeaton, who in the 19th century wrote “An
and evolving in the future with tidal and wave energy from the Experimental Enquiry Concerning the Natural Powers of Water
oceans. and Wind to Turn Mills and Other Machines Depending on Cir-
cular Motion.” Ironically, the industrial revolution was also when
coal became readily available and steam power was developed,
11.2 HISTORY OF HYDROPOWER presenting hydropower with competition, which was less reliable
seasonally, because of low river flows during the summer and icing
For nearly 5000 years humans have in the cradles of civilization during winter.
Babylonia, Egypt, India, Persia, and the Far East constructed dams Water power technology advanced again, when the French en-
on rivers for drinking water, irrigation and flood control. The re- gineer, Benoit Fourneyron, developed a higher efficiency water
mains and upgrades to these ancient structures exist throughout the turbine, directing water into the center of the wheel and then radi-
planet. Some of the outstanding waterworks of antiquity eventually ally outward. French countryman Jean Poncelet also contributed
declined into disuse because the knowledge of their designers and by designing an outward to inward flowing turbine using these
builders was not preserved by the generations who inherited them. same “reaction turbine” principles. In the United States, S. B.
Although history does not record exactly when irrigation systems Howd obtained a U.S. patent for a similar design in 1838. Within
and dams were first constructed, archeology in ancient China, In- 10 more years James B. Francis had perfected these designs to cre-
dia, Iran, and Egypt does reveal that attempts at harnessing riv- ate a modern hydro turbine that now bears his name, achieving a
ers began thousands of years ago and provided lifelines on which remarkable milestone of 90% efficiency.
civilizations depended. Menes, the first Pharaoh of Egypt, ordered Meanwhile, Cragside, Rothbury, England was the site of the
irrigation works to draw from the River Nile. In China, dams were world’s first “hydroelectric” power project, developed in 1870. The
constructed on the Min River for flood control and diversion of first “industrial” use of hydroelectric power in the United States
water to nearby farm lands. The sacred books of India cite the very occurred in 1880, when 16 brush-arc lights were powered using
early operation of dams, channels, and wells; evidence that this a water turbine at the Wolverine Chair Factory in Grand Rapids,
land may have been a birthplace of this science and art. Persians Michigan. A hydroelectric dynamo also powered city street lamps
of ancient times also recognized the importance of irrigation to the in Niagara Falls, New York. And in 1882, the Vulcan Street plant
sustenance of civilization, excavating underground water tunnel in Appleton, Wisconsin became the first hydroelectric station to
systems and constructing many dams [1]. use the “Edison system.”
As for “hydropower,” dams storing water also created an abrupt The United States saw further hydroelectric developments
difference from upstream to downstream water elevations to con- throughout the late 19th and into the 20th centuries. The first alter-
centrate the force of gravity and then canals diverted flow to turn nating current (AC) hydroelectric plant was installed at Willamette
11-  • Chapter 11

fixed blade propeller, and the invention of the hydracone draft tube
by W. M. White. By the 1920s, hydroelectric plants were being de-
veloped for peak demand power and pumped storage was used to
store energy at Candlewood Lake near New Milford, Connecticut.
Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, hydropower continued to be
developed internationally as a viable means of power. And with
the development of electricity and ready generation by hydropower
and other technologies, the growth of world energy consumption
consequently has been dramatic during the past 100 years.
Hydroelectric capacity became to be rated in two ways: by a
facility’s installed power “capacity” (typically in watts, kilowatts,
and for larger projects in MW’s or one million watts) and rated in
energy production over time (typically in kw-hours or MW-hours).
However, a hydro-electric plant rarely operates at its full power
rating all the time, over a full seasonal year. Thus, the relationship
between installed power capacity and actual annual energy gen-
erated is known as the plant capacity factor. This ratio between
potential and actual energy varies by site, river and hydrology, but
typically ranges from less than 40% to more than 60%.

11.3  YDROPOWER HISTORY OF THE

H
UNITED STATES
In the colonies of North America, and specifically in the United
States since its inception in 1776, hydropower was initially used
to provide energy for growing industries. Population centers and
industries have always tended to be located along rivers, for drink-
ing, irrigation and process water, and later for power. Before elec-
tricity, water driven wheels initially powered shafts, connected
directly or by belts to machinery, to produce flour, textiles, and
other manufactured goods. With electricity, power could be gener-
ated by water wheels and transmitted wherever needed remotely,
beginning with street lighting and trolleys. By 1890, there were ap-
proximately 200 electricity generating plants in the United States
and Canada using water for some or all their power. This genera-
tion industry accelerated between 1895 and 1915, with the advent
of new technologies, and after World War I hydroelectric equip-
ment and plant designs grew further and began to be standardized.
Fig. 11.1  Waterpower developed in Europe [2] By the early 1900s, hydroelectric power accounted for more than
40% of the United States’ supply of electricity [3].
In the United States, as the population saw street lights, electric
Falls in Oregon City, Oregon in 1889. That plant produced hydro- trolleys and learned the benefits of electricity for the home and in-
power electricity transmitted at a revolutionary 4000 volts, through dustry, demand continue to increase. The Federal Water Power Act
a single phase power line for 13 miles to Portland, where it was was created in 1901, encouraging developers but requiring permis-
then transformed down to 50 volts for distribution and local use. sion from the government to build hydroelectric plants on rivers
Later in Europe, a 175-km-long, 25,000 volt demonstration line large enough to carry boat traffic. In 1902, the Bureau of Reclama-
between Frankfort on Main, Germany was used to connect with tion was created to manage water resources and have the authority
the first three-phase hydroelectric system. As hydropower gained to build hydropower plants at dams in the western U.S. Demand
credibility as a viable energy source, other countries worldwide was so great that by 1920, the Federal Power Act was created by
began to plan and develop hydroelectricity. The first publicly- the Federal Power Commission (later becoming the Federal En-
owned hydro-electric plant in the Southern Hemisphere was com- ergy Regulatory Commission) to issue licenses for hydropower
pleted in Tasmania in 1895 to supply street lighting to the city of development on all public lands.
Launceston. Throughout the 1920s, urban Americans received more access
Other technology developments or that era included: high head to power, while rural dwellers were left behind. Rural customers
reaction turbines in 1901 at Trenton Falls, New York; a low head battled with public utility commissions for access to electricity
plant with direct connected vertical shaft turbines and generators throughout the 1920s and 1930s. When President Roosevelt was
in Michigan; a fully submerged hydroelectric plant in Maryland in elected, only 10% of rural Americans had electricity. In 1933, he
1906; and a commercially installed vertical thrust bearing in Penn- created the Tennessee Valley Authority, primarily as a means to
sylvania. Numerous inventors contributed turbines and generator invigorate the economy and control flood waters along the Ten-
and related component developments, including: S. J. Zowski’s nessee and Mississippi Rivers, but also as a means to provide
Francis reaction turbine for low head applications, Forrest Nagler’s electricity to rural Americans. Eight years after TVA’s inception,
 energy and power generation handbook  •  11-

household electricity in the region grew from 6000 homes to early Later, the FPC was granted authority to authorize all hydro-
500,000. By 1936, the issue had gotten so contentious that the Ru- electric projects built by utilities that were engaged in interstate
ral Electrification Act (REA) was created to mitigate demand. The commerce. Boulder (now Hoover) Dam started operating in 1936
REA enabled the government to make low-cost loans to non-profit on the Colorado River, with the capacity to produce at the time
cooperatives such as farmers to assist with electrifying their com- a significant 130,000 kW of electricity. In 1937, the U.S. Army
munities [4]. Corps of Engineers (USACE) completed Bonneville Dam on the
Prompted by the Great Depression in the 1930s and World War Columbia River, and the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA)
II in the 1940s, the United States federal government began mas- was established. By 1940, the United States had over 1500 hy-
sive public work programs to develop many large hydropower droelectric facilities, which produced almost one-third of power
projects. These projects put people to work, while both creat- in America.
ing and meeting a growing demand for electricity. Public work After the rush of the 1930s and 1940s, fewer hydropower plants
projects and organizations included the Tennessee Valley Author- have been developed in the United States. Several legislative poli-
ity and Bonneville Power Administration, two federal agencies cies have made the construction of dams less feasible, including
with missions to develop hydropower projects in the mid-Atlantic the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, National Environmental Policy
and Northwest respectively. Notable new hydropower projects in- Act, and Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act.
cluded Grand Coulee dam on the Columbia River and Hoover dam The major historical developments in hydroelectricity in the
on the Colorado. By the 1940s, hydropower provided about 75% United States are chronicled in the following Table 11.1 [5].
of all the electricity consumed in the West.

11.4 HYDROPOWER EQUIPMENT

Table 11.1  Concise History of American
Besides the essential civil works of dams, waterways, and pow-
Hydropower [5]
erhouse structures, the mechanical and electrical hydropower
equipment basically consists of turbines, generators, controls,
1879 Thomas Edison demonstrates incandescent lamp, Menlo
transformers, and transmission systems. A typical layout of a hy-
Park, New Jersey.
dropower project is shown in Fig. 11.2 [6] below, with its major
1880 Brush arc light dynamo driven by water turbine in Grand
equipment.
Rapids Michigan.
Hydro turbines are effective rotary engines that extract potential
1889 American Electrical Directory lists 200 electric compa-
and dynamic energy from a fluid flow and convert it into usable
nies that use waterpower.
power. Historically, there were four basic types of waterwheels,
1891 Ames, Colorado; Westinghouse alternator driven by Pel-
described briefly below.
ton waterwheel.
1891 60 cycle AC system introduced in United States. •  An “overshot” waterwheel, which operates by having water
1893 Mill Creek, California; First American three-phase hydro­ supplied from above, flowing down one side of buckets to cre-
electric plant. ate a weight imbalance, causing the wheel to turn, as illustrated
1895 Niagara Falls, New York; 5000 horsepower, 60-cycle, in Fig. 11.3 [7]. Ideally, the bottom of the wheel should be
three-phase generators. above the lower water level to eliminate churning resistance.
1897 Minneapolis, Minnesota; hydroelectric plant at St. •  The “breastshot” waterwheel was similar, but positioned at
Anthony’s Falls on the Mississippi. the same level as the water source.
1901 Federal Water Power Act •  An “undershot” waterwheel was positioned above the water
1902 Reclamation Act of 1902 establishes Bureau of Reclama- source, with flat panels for the water to paddle underneath.
tion for water and hydropower. •  The “pitchback” is similar to the overshot, positioned below
1911 R. D. Johnson invents differential surge tank and Johnson the water source, but turns inward rather than out.
hydrostatic penstock valve.
Efficiencies for these early water wheels varied greatly. The
1914 S. J. Zowski develops reaction (later refined by “Fran-
pitchback wheel was considered to have the highest rating at over
cis”) turbine runner for low head.
80% the overshot at 70%; breastshot 50%; and then the undershot
1931 Construction begins on Hoover Dam, Colorado River, in
at only 20% [7].
Arizona, Nevada.
Modern turbines were developed during the past few hundred years,
1937 Bonneville Project Act creates Bonneville Power Admin-
based largely on fundamentals of the waterwheels just described.
istration.
1941 First power generated at Grand Coulee Powerplant, 11.4.1 Francis Turbine
Washington, later 6800 MW
The first modern reactive water turbines were developed from
1969 National Environmental Policy Act — ensures environ-
the 1700s through the 1800s by Jan Andrej Segner, Jean-Victor
mental considerations for power.
Poncelet, and Benoit Fourneyron. Then in 1849, James B. Francis,
1978 Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act — encourages
while working as chief engineer of the Locks and Canals company
small-scale hydropower production.
in the water-powered factory city of Lowell, MA, improved on
1986 Electric Consumers Protection Act — gives equal consid-
these designs to create a turbine with a 90% efficiency. Francis
eration to non-power values.
applied scientific principles, mathematics, graphical methods, and
1994 National Hydropower Association — established to pro-
testing methods to produce these improvement and those tech-
mote value of hydropower.
niques greatly improved the state of the art of turbine design and
engineering for the future. The modern Francis turbine is shown
below in Fig. 11.4 [8].
11-  • Chapter 11

Fig. 11.2 Typical layout of a hydropower project [6]

Fig. 11.3 Overshot Waterwheel (Courtesy of Whitemill) [7]

 energy and power generation handbook  •  11-

Fig. 11.4  Francis Turbine [8]

11.4.2 Kaplan Turbine used for this purpose. The result is a compromise in performance
In 1912, Viktor Kaplan living in Brno, Moravia, developed and and net cycle losses, but provides renewable, load balancing, and
obtained a patent for an adjustable blade propeller turbine. Later economical power because of price differentials from off to peak.
Mr. Kaplan installed a demonstration of his unique design at
Poděbrady, Czechoslovakia. In 1922, the Voith Hydro company 11.4.5 Hydroelectric Generators
of Germany adopted and introduced a standard 1000 horsepower With the discovery of electricity and the invention of the genera-
size version of the new “Kaplan” turbine. Soon after, a larger tor, hydro power evolved from water wheels driving only shaft-
8 MW Kaplan unit went on line at Lilla Edet, Sweden. This marked connected mechanical equipment to the ability to transmit that
the commercial success and widespread acceptance of the design, power across long distances for use elsewhere. In 1821, Michael
which is still very popular, because of its relatively high efficiency Faraday’s experiments with electromagnetism led to the Maxwell
over a wide range of head and flow (Fig. 11.5) [9]. in 1868 and subsequently applied to modern machinery including
hydroelectric units [13]. Present day hydroelectric governors can
11.4.3 Pelton Turbine be digital processor controlled. The algorithms are described be-
The Pelton wheel is another efficient water turbine, specialized low. Invention of the first rotating field “dynamo.” If an electric
for higher heads. It was invented by Lester Allan Pelton in the current field drives a dynamo, it is a motor. If the field is driven
1870s. The Pelton wheel extracts energy from the impulse or mo- by external mechanical means, the dynamo becomes a generator.
mentum of moving water, as opposed to its weight like traditional The combination of this new dynamo and traditional water wheels
overshot water wheel. Although many variations of impulse tur- resulted in hydro-electricity!
bines existed prior to Pelton’s design, they were less efficient than Dynamo’s evolved into two basic types of modern hydroelectric
Pelton’s design; the water leaving these wheels typically still had generators: synchronous and induction.
high speed, and carried away much of the energy. Pelton’ paddle •  “Synchronous generators” produce power with rotating elec-
geometry was designed so that when the rim runs at half the speed tromagnetic fields that are surrounded by stationary coils
of the water jet, the water leaves the wheel with very little speed, which then generate three phase-alternating currents. The “ro-
extracting almost all of its energy, and allowing for a very efficient tors” draw field excitation from an external power source and
turbine (Fig. 11.6) [10]. the “stators” can self-regulate their voltage, produce “reactive
power, and generate electricity independently from the elec-
11.4.4 Pump Turbine trical transmission grid.
A hybrid of these types is a pump turbine, used in modern bulk •  “Induction generators” are driven slightly faster than syn-
energy storage projects. The concept is to store energy in the form chronous speed by the prime mover, or hydro turbine. These
of flow pumped from a lower to an upper reservoir during low machines rely upon the grid for excitation, cannot produce
demand and then generating from upper to the lower during peak generate voltage until the generator is connected to the
loads. A turbine crossed between a pump and Francis turbine is grid, and are not self regulating. They are simpler and less
11-  • Chapter 11

Fig. 11.5 Vertical Kaplan Turbine (Courtesy Voith-Siemens) [9]

expensive than synchronous generators, but now are typically blades and jets, depending on the type of turbine, the governor then
used only in relatively small units [11]. increases or decreases water flow to the unit. This speed sensing
and control loop forms the basis of governor control.
There are other variations of the speed sensing governor with
11.4.6 Hydroelectric Controls more complicated feedback loops. Those include speed droop, to
Turbine generators require controls and ancillary equipment. damping response and prevent overcompensating and overshoot-
These include turbine flow governors, generator field exciters, elec- ing, especially in system of multiple units operating together at a
trical power and support system controls, and electrical fault and plant to follow grid frequency and load. The servomotor’s speed is
safety protection. The following are brief descriptions of each. directed by its position and cannot operate outside of the position’s
parameters. Speed droop, by definition, is the governor character-
11.4.6.1  Governors  A hydroelectric governor controls the istic that requires a decrease in speed to produce an increase in gate
speed and power of the turbine by regulating water flow. The the- opening. A compensating dashpot provides an additional method
ory is to sense and control output by sensing and controlling input. of balancing. It moves proportionally in the opposite direction to
The first centrifugal flyball speed controlling governor was invent- droop. The dashpot also adds temporary droop to the governor sys-
ed in 1788 by James Watt [12]. Although invented originally for tem and provides compensation for the effects of inertia of the unit
the purpose of controlling steam turbines, the flyball mechanical and the water column.
governor was soon adapted to control hydro turbines. The flyball A flyball and mechanical governor arrangement is shown in
design consists of a rotating governor speed sensing shaft, which Fig. 11.7.
is either directly driven, belt connected or motor driven by the hy- Dynamic control theory was later refined mathematically by James
dro turbine. The governor shaft is arranged with flyballs that rotate
and extend outwards with increasing centrifugal speed. Through •  Proportional — This simplest compensation is based on the
levers, valves, hydraulic oil power systems, and operating gates, premise that the controller output is directly proportional to an
 energy and power generation handbook  •  11-

Fig. 11.6 Plan view of a Pelton turbine installation (Courtesy Voith Siemens Hydro Power Generation [10]

output. The correction signal is proportional to the difference A schematic of turbine generator control loop is shown in
between the process variable and set point. Fig. 11.8.
•  Integral — accumulative correction based compensation. Hydroelectric governor types have evolved as follows:
•  Differential — rate of correction based compensation.
•  Flyball — flyball weights mounted as rotating pendulums
•  “PID” — combined proportional, integral, and derivative
sensitive to speed changes.
correction-based compensation.
•  Gate shaft — flyballs, with oil hydraulic leveraging, and me-
chanical gate flow control.
•  Mechanical cabinet — central hydraulic relay, with motor
driven flyballs, oil pilot and servo hydraulic leveraging, and
mechanical gate flow control.

Fig. 11.7  Flyball and speed sensing governor Fig. 11.8  Hydroelectric governor control loop
schematic (Source: Woodward Governor) (Woodward Governor)
11-  • Chapter 11

•  Electrical cabinet — electrical analog, hydraulically lever- of the earth and clouds. This makes these energy sources vari­
aged, mechanical. able and somewhat unreliable for the purposes of power planning
•  Electronic — solid state analog and mechanical. and meeting demand. Because both residences and industry loads
•  Digital — modern digital processor and mechanical. are also variable, a variable supply will require power reserves to
match and balance changes in generation and demand.
Therefore, other sources of reliable, flexible, and dispatchable
11.4.7 Exciters
generation are required to provide large electrical system capacity
Exciters provide the direct current (DC) to energize the mag- and balancing reserves on a daily, hourly, and real-time basis. In
netic fields within a generator. The DC field on the hydraulically addition to system reserves, there is also a need for energy stor-
driven rotor then induces alternating current (AC) power output in age to balance potentially excess generation, for example, shifting
the generator stator. Original exciters were the rotating type, either wind power at night, when demand is low, to peak demand hours
driven directly from the turbine shaft or driven by a motor, while during the day. Conventional hydropower projects do this by shut-
modern exciters are typically solid-state or “static.” Rotating excit- ting down units and storing energy in the form of water, and that is
ers are either brush or brushless, to transfer the DC excitation cur- already the most common, although perhaps not well known, form
rent to the generator field. Static excitation for the generator fields of energy storage in the world. As variable renewable energy and
is supplied by field-flashing voltage from storage batteries or from the associated ratio of wind and solar generation to system load
solid-state rectifiers powered by station service. grows, so too will additional energy storage be required to balance
Hydroelectric turbines, generators, governors, and exciters are supply and demand, and assure grid reliability.
typically connected through transformers to a large electrical trans- A typically modern variable wind energy supply and grid de-
mission grid. These electrical power systems operate at a nearly mand is shown in Fig. 11.9.
constant frequency, at 60 Hz or 50 Hz depending on the location. Hydroelectric generation, and specifically hydroelectric pumped
Usually, a single unit or plant cannot affect the larger transmission storage, is uniquely positioned to provide large-scale integration of
system frequency. Once synchronized, the generating unit speed is variable renewable energy resources. Hydropower is itself a sus-
essentially locked to system frequency and follows load demand. tainable resource, which can also balance other renewable energy
This is how most units and plants are operated. resources, by providing relatively large capacity energy storage
and reserves. Hydropower is already the preferred technology pro-
viding system reserves throughout the world. While there are many
11.5  YDROPOWER FOR ENERGY
H potential solutions such as batteries to absorb excess energy and
STORAGE maintain a balanced energy system, pumped storage in particular is
a proven, successful technology on a large scale in terms of power
The modern development of wind power and solar power pro- capacity and time duration. Hydroelectric pumped storage can pro-
vide excellent sources of renewable energy. These renewable re- vide other valuable ancillary benefits in addition to energy storage,
sources consume no fossil fuels, emit zero pollution, and are driven including hydrologic seasonal storage, immediate electrical load
by free and practically limitless wind and sunshine. The main chal- balancing, frequency control, and incremental and decremental
lenge of the renewable wind and solar energy is that their sources power reserves. It has historically been used to provide reserve ca-
of power and therefore outputs are variable. Wind comes and goes pability to balance system load and allow large, thermal generating
with the weather. And sunshine comes and goes with the rotation sources to operate at optimum conditions. And as variable genera-

Fig. 11.9  Variable wind energy supply and grid demand (Source: Bonneville Power Administration)
 energy and power generation handbook  •  11-

tion resources increase, pumped storage is being chosen worldwide wave energy available is directly related to the heights and time
as the preferred means to integrate all of these resources. intervals between wave peaks. The distribution of ocean surface
Europe has led the world in renewable energy and in addressing energy is often described by a wave energy spectrum. The energy
the associated challenge of balancing reserves for over a decade. in the spectrum, in turn, can be characterized using the significant
The United States is now on track to significantly develop renew- wave height and peak period. The wave height, peak period, and
able wind and solar energy comparable to the proportional levels shape of the energy spectrum will combine to establish the design
with the electrical grid of the European Union, now the benchmark criteria, type of machine, and energy output of a wave energy con-
for successfully integrating variable renewable energy. For exam- version system.
ple, Denmark’s experience shows that introducing greater variable
supply into the generation mix can very likely lead to a greater 11.6.1 Hydrokinetic Turbine Types
demand for system reserves. Norway and Sweden, with their pre- Horizontal axis hydrokinetic turbines utilize a fixed or variable
dominately hydropower-supplied grids and strong interconnections pitch rotor with its rotational axis parallel to the flow. Due to vari-
with other countries, are generally able to accommodate power in- ations in flow direction at some sites, horizontal axis turbines may
rushes during periods of high-wind generation and then return that require yaw control to keep the rotor aligned with the flow direc-
energy during low-wind periods. Those experiences, now given tion. Horizontal axis turbines can be rigidly mounted to the chan-
the rapid deployment of thousands of new wind turbines and solar nel bottom or suspended from a floating structure. Depending on
arrays in the United States, indicate that large-scale hydroelectric the flow speed and diameter of the rotor, horizontal axis turbines
pump storage must be planned and implemented as soon as possible can either directly drive a generator or connect to a generator via
or existing power and storage reserves will become overwhelmed, a reduction gear.
unbalanced, and renewable energy resources underutilized. Open rotor, horizontal axis machines are very similar to modern
wind-turbines, consisting of a rotor that is driving a horizontally
aligned drive-shaft. These machines can further be divided into ro-
11.6 OCEAN AND KINETIC ENERGY tors that use variable pitch blades and rotors that use fixed pitch
blades. In addition, many machines of these types make provisions
Over 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered by oceans. Renewable for either active or passive yaw of the turbine blades to orient with
energy resources associated with the world’s oceans now include the flow direction. A gearbox is often incorporated into the nacelle
wave, tidal, undersea geothermal, and offshore wind. Kinetic energy of the turbine to increase the shaft speed and reduce the size of the
machines developed for tidal currents are also being applied to con- generator required (Fig. 11.10).
vert energy from free-flowing river reaches without dams [14]. Ducted rotor horizontal axis turbines utilize a steel or fiberglass
The available power and energy at a tidal energy site is depen­ duct to align the direction of the flow with the rotor. This flow
dent on the differential range of tide levels, local tidal current ve- alignment allows the turbine to operate efficiently over a range of
locities, volume of the tidal basin, cross sectional geometry of the flow directions without yawing the rotor. The rotor directly drives
channel, and channel bottom roughness. The physical processes a generator that is housed within the support structure for the rotor
driving tidal exchanges are well understood and highly predict- and duct. The diameter of the generator allows for a large number
able, because of the primary gravitational pull and rotation of the of generator poles, enabling the relatively slow speed of the tur-
moon around the earth. As a result, the potential of tidal energy can bine to be converted into electricity. A large diameter bearing is
be extraordinarily predicable and reliable over the life of a project. required between the armature and the stator to maintain the align-
For a free-flowing river, capturing hydro kinetic energy is depen­ ment of the rotor (Fig. 11.11).
dent on the river hydrology over time, flow volume, velocity pro- Vertical-axis hydrokinetic turbines consist of a rotor that turns
file, and channel gradient, cross section and roughness. around a vertical axis of rotation. Vertical axis machines can ac-
Harnessing energy from waves, similar to the weather, is less commodate fluid flows from all directions without having to re-
predictable, more complex and potentially more powerful. Potential verse the direction of turbine rotation. Vertical axis turbines are

Rotor Blades Generator

Pitch Control Gear Box

Sealed
Thrust Bearing
Yaw Control
Foundation

Fig. 11.10 Open rotor horizontal axis tidal turbine [ASME Hydromechanical Guide]
11-10  • Chapter 11

Rotor
Rotor

Stator
Duct

Armature

Bearing
Fig. 11.11 Ducted rotor horizontal axis tidal turbine (Source: ASME Hydromechanical Guide)

typically suspended from a structure on the water surface with the A point absorber is a wave energy device that is smaller than the
generator and associated electrical equipment above water. A se- length of the waves from which it extracts energy. Point absorb-
ries of vertical axis turbines can be installed across a channel form- ers extract energy from the waves by oscillating in one or more
ing a “tidal fence.” degrees of freedom, creating destructive interference as they move
in the waves. Symmetric point absorbers generally extract energy
11.6.2 Wave Energy Converters from the waves by moving vertically (heaving) in the water col-
Wave energy conversion systems are best deployed offshore in umn. The efficiency of a symmetric point absorber is indepen­
deep water where the waves are generally linear and long crested. dent of the wave direction and generally performs well over a wide
Those devices are not subjected to the non-linear forces applied range of wave frequencies (Fig. 11.12).
to systems operating in shallow water, where wave breaking may Typically, asymmetrical point absorbers extract energy from the
occur. The wave energy available in deep water is also greater than waves by pitching back and forth about an enclosed horizontal axis
that in shallow water due to avoiding the effects of bottom friction, point, with a wheel or pendulum. The device pitches in the water,
as their waves begin to lose energy. while an internal mechanism swings, converting the wave power

Piston

Torus Buoy

Piston
Torus Buoy

Hydraulic
Cylinder
Spar Buoy
Linear Bearing

Mooring

Accumulator

Damper Plate
Turbine

Fig. 11.12 Symmetric point absorber wave turbine (Source: ASME Hydromechanical Guide)
 energy and power generation handbook  •  11-11

Asymmetrical
Buoy

Generator
Stationary
Spar Buoy

Mooring Line

Pendulum

Fig. 11.13 Asymmetric point absorber wave turbine (Source: ASME Hydromechanical Guide)

into mechanical power. Electrical energy is then produced through An attenuator is a floating multiple-segment device that is ar-
the use of hydraulic cylinders and turbines or through a linear-to- ranged and moored in-line with the principal wave direction. Wave
rotary mechanism coupled to a rotary electric generator. The effi- crests run along the length of the attenuator, causing flexing be-
ciency of an asymmetric point absorber is sensitive to the direction tween segments. The flexing extracts kinetic energy through hy-
of the waves, therefore provisions must be made in the mooring draulic pumps or similar mechanical–electrical converters. This
system to orient the device toward the predominant wave direction. type of wave energy conversion system must always be aligned
The shape of asymmetric point absorbers is also usually optimized with the predominant wave direction (Fig. 11.14).
for a single-wave frequency. As such, the efficiency is reduced for Shallow water wave energy conversion systems are located
wave lengths away from the design point (Fig. 11.13). near shore, reducing the need for expensive subsea transmission

Buoyant Cylinder

Mooring Line

Power Conversion

Piston

Rotary Turbine
Bearing

Accumulator Hydraulic
Cylinder
Fig. 11.14 Attenuator wave energy conversion system (Source: ASME Hydromechanical Guide)
11-12  • Chapter 11

Reservoir
Ramp
Mean Water Level

Wicket
Gates
Generator
Runner

Tailrace

Fig. 11.15 Overtopping wave energy system (Source: ASME Hydromechanical Guide)

cables and deep water mooring systems. As waves approach the basin is elevated over the sea-level, creating a low hydraulic head,
shore, they begin to “feel” the effect of the bottom and generally which is converted into electricity using a low-head vertical hydrau-
the height of the waves increase and the wavelengths decrease. The lic turbine. Overtopping systems can be installed on shore or de-
effect of bottom friction also removes energy from the waves as ployed on floating platforms. Overtopping systems can use either
they approach the shore, and when the steepness of the wave face traditional fixed blade propeller or Kaplan turbines to covert the
reaches a critical value, the wave will break, dissipating a large stored wave energy in the reservoir into electricity (Fig. 11.15).
portion of its energy. Shallow water wave energy systems harness Oscillating water column wave energy conversion systems con-
the energy of these shallow water waves either just outside the sist of a sealed chamber open near the bottom to allow waves to
breakpoint or, if the bottom is steep, on the shoreline. enter and exit under an air chamber. The wave action inside the
An overtopping wave energy device typically consists of an en- structure compresses the air-column into a nozzle. A bi-directional
closed basin into which waves spill. The water inside the enclosed air-turbine can then be used to convert the pressure differential into

Powerhouse Bi-directional
Air Turbine

Sealed
Chamber

Fig. 11.16 Oscillating wave to air column energy system (Source: ASME Hydromechanical Guide)
 energy and power generation handbook  •  11-13

electricity. The most common type of turbine used in oscillating Service Center is located in Denver, Colorado. Examples of hy-
water column systems is the wells turbine, a slow speed reaction dropower projects include Grand Coulee Dam in Washington
device designed to spin in the same direction regardless of the flow and Hoover Dam in Colorado [20].
direction. Oscillating water column systems can be built on ex- •  Also in the United States, the Department of Defense, Corps
isting civil structures such as breakwaters or installed on fixed or of Engineers is a agency that has developed and now manages
floating platforms (Fig. 11.16). many federal hydroelectric projects throughout the U.S. The
There are many other promising types of wave, tidal and kinetic Corps’ Hydroelectric Design Center is located in Portland,
energy converters being developed. Some of those designs are yet Oregon. Hydropower projects include Chief Joseph, Bon-
unproven while the ocean energy industry matures technologically neville, the Dalles, and many other dams on the Columbia
and commercially, similar to what the now more established river River, as part of the Federal Columbia River Power System
hydroelectric industry was only a hundred years ago. (FCRPS), in collaboration with the Bonneville Power Ad-
ministration and Reclamation [21].
•  State and Public Utility Districts and Municipals PUDs are
11.7  YDROPOWER ORGANIZATIONS
H jurisdictions throughout the U.S. created to manage public
AND OWNERS generation and demand for electricity, natural gas, sewage
treatment, water, and communications.
For reference to the established and still evolving industry of hy- •  Utilities also include large and small publically and privately
dropower, the following hydroelectric resource organizations and held companies. There are hundreds of utilities for thousands
U.S. owners are active and listed below. of hydroelectric projects owned, operated, and maintained
throughout the country.
11.7.1 Organizations •  In the United States, the larger non-federal hydroelectric
•  The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) is, projects are licensed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Com-
as its name implies, a professional organization of mechani- mission (FERC). FERC hold licenses for about 1700 hydro­
cal engineers, founded in 1880. The ASME develops me- electric projects, totaling approximately 55,000 MW of installed
chanical codes, standards, guidelines and books for industry capacity, or about half of all U.S. hydroelectric capability [22].
and reference. Its vision is to be the premier organization
to promote the art, science, and practice of mechanical and
multidisciplinary sciences throughout the world [16]. Re- 11.8 HYDROPOWER WORLDWIDE
lated to hydropower, the ASME includes a Hydro Power
Technical Committee (HPTC) and a Power Test Committee In 2010, world energy usage has grown to a total of approxi-
(PTC). mately 500 quadrillion (1015) BTU per year. Of that, renewable
•  The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) is a pro- energy sources, including hydropower, wind, and solar energy
fessional organization founded in 1852 to represent civil en- contribute about 50 quadrillion BTU, or 10%, compared to oil,
gineers internationally. It is the oldest national engineering coal, gas, nuclear, and consumable sources of energy. In terms of
body in the United States [17]. “electrical” energy, world annual generation and usage is presently
•  International Committee on Large Dams (ICOLD) is an in- approximately 19 trillion (1012) kilowatt-hours. Of that world total
ternational non-governmental organization dedicated to shar- electrical energy production, renewable energy sources contribute
ing professional information on the design, construction, and approximately 3.5 trillion watt-hours, or 18%. Hydroelectric en-
maintenance of large dams. It was founded in 1928 with head- ergy comprises most of that renewable energy at about 3 trillion
quarters in France. watt-hours, from about 822,000 MW of installed capacity, provid-
•  The Institute of Electric and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is ing about 16% of the world’s electricity [23].
an international non-profit professional body founded to pro- To put this number in perspective, the hydropower plants on
mote the advancement of technology related to electricity. It the mighty Columbia River and its tributaries in the Pacific North-
was incorporated in New York from the merger of the Ameri- west of United States, including Grand Coulee Dam, have a total
can Institute of Electrical Engineers and the Institute of Radio installed capacity of about 27,000 MW, which is about 28% of
Engineers [18]. the United States hydroelectric capacity and 3% of hydroelectric
•  International Electro-technical Committee (IEC) is an inter- capacity worldwide [24].
national non-governmental standards organization that pre- Brazil, Canada, Norway, Switzerland, and Venezuela are the
pares and publishes international standards for all electrical, only countries in the world that rely on hydroelectric power for
electronic, and related technologies. It was founded in 1906, the majority of their internal electric energy production. Paraguay
and presently has over 130 countries subscribing to its prac- produces all of its electricity from hydroelectric dams, but then
tices [19]. exports 90% of its production to Brazil and to Argentina. Norway
produces 99% of all its electricity from hydropower [25].
11.7.2 Owners For now, the world’s largest hydroelectric project is Three
•  In the United States, the Department of Interior, Bureau of Gorges Dam in China, which has a design capacity production of
Reclamation is an agency which oversees water resource approximately 22,000 MW. Next is Brazil and Paraguay’s Itaipu
management as it relates primarily to water diversion, deliv- Dam, built in 1984 with a capacity of 14,000 MW. Guri Dam in In-
ery, storage, and associated hydroelectric power generation dia is third at approximately 10,000 MW. The largest hydroelectric
throughout the western United States. The Bureau was founded project in the United States is Grand Coulee, begun in 1934, now
under the Reclamation Act of 1902, with its original purpose with an installed capacity of approximately 7000 MW.
to study potential water development projects in each western These large-scale hydroelectric power stations are the largest
state with federal lands. Reclamation’s hydroelectric Technical power producing plant of any kind on the planet. In fact, many of
11-14  • Chapter 11

Fig. 11.17 Graphic of hydropower worldwide over historical time [25]

very large hydroelectric facilities are capable of generating over 11.9.2 Energy Trends
several times the installed capacities of the world’s largest nuclear Over the past 100 years, world electrical energy demand and
or fossil powered power plants. supply have risen dramatically. Hydroelectric supply grew initially
At the other extreme in size is small hydro, which refers to a in the late 1800s and first half of the 1900s, but has not kept pace
plant developed on a scale that serves a small community or in- with overall energy demand, at least in the U.S., as can be seen
dustrial plant. The definition of a small hydro project varies but a from Fig. 11.17 [27] below.
generating capacity of up to 10 (MW) is generally accepted as the So what is the future for hydropower, for the next ten, hundred,
upper limit of what can be termed small hydro. Small-scale hy- and thousand years? Will other renewables such as solar, wind,
droelectricity production grew during the industrial revolution and and ocean wave energy increase dramatically? Or will nuclear fis-
has resurged during the past decade. Small-scale hydro worldwide sion and fusion come back and along with other yet undiscovered
has a capacity that is not so small after all, in total estimated to be exotic energy sources? And meanwhile, will hydropower on the
about 85,000 MW. simple dependable renewable workhorse on rivers for millennia
continue to have value for future “generations”? We think so, but
only time will tell!
11.9 THE FUTURE OF HYDROPOWER
11.10 REFERENCES
11.9.1 Renewable Portfolio Standards
A Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) is a governmental policy   1.  Dams and Public Safety (Part I) by Robert B. Jansen, U.S. Depart-
which requires electricity providers to obtain a minimum percent- ment of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation (1980). http://ussdams.
age of their power from renewable sources, such as wind, solar, bio­ com/ussdeducation/Media/damsfrombegin.doc.
mass, and geothermal by a certain date. An RPS typically places   2.  Wikipedia, water wheel, illustration released to public domain. http://
an obligation on electricity supply companies to produce a speci- upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0d/Agricola1.jpg.
fied percentage of their electricity from renewable energy sources.
  3.  U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. http://www.usbr.gov/power/edu/history.
Certified renewable energy generators earn certificates for every html and the U.S.
unit of electricity they produce and can sell these along with their
electricity to supply companies. Supply companies then typically   4.  “Tennessee Valley Authority Act (1933).” Major Acts of Congress.
pass the certificates to a state-level regulatory body to demonstrate Ed. Brian K. Landsberg. Macmillan-Thomson Gale, 2004. eNotes.
com. 2006. 15 Nov, 2010. http://www.enotes.com/major-acts-congress/
their compliance with their regulatory obligations. As the RPS is
tennessee-valley-authority-act.
market-mandated, it relies almost exclusively on the private mar-
ket for its implementation. Supporters of RPS mechanisms state   5.  U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. http://www.usbr.gov/power/edu/history.
that market implementation will result in competition, efficiency, html and the U.S.
and innovation that will drive down costs and make them more   6.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hydroelectric_dam.svg.
capable of competing with fossil fuel energy sources. The Renew-
  7.  http://www.whitemill.org/z0028.htm.
able Electricity Standard (RES) is the proposed national policy in
the United States and seeks to have 25% of electricity produced by   8.  http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/M_vs_francis_
renewable resources by 2025. In the United Kingdom, it is known schnitt_1_zoom.jpg.
as Renewables Obligation, and supports the large-scale generation   9.  http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/S_vs_kaplan_
of renewable energy [26]. schnitt_1_zoom.jpg.
 energy and power generation handbook  •  11-15

10.  http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/S_vs_pelton_ 20.   http://www.usbr.gov/power/edu/history.html.

schnitt_1_zoom.png.
21.  http://www.nwp.usace.army.mil/hdc/home.asp.
11.  http://www.powergeneratorinfo.com/synchronous-generator/
22.  http://www.ferc.gov/industries/hydropower.asp.
synchronous-generator.php.
23.  International Energy Outlook, by the U.S. Energy Information Admin-
12.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flyball_governor. istration (2010). http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/ieo/pdf/0484(2010).pdf.
13.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control_theory. 24.  Federal Columbia River Power System, http://www.bpa.gov/power/
14.  David Elwood, excerpted from ASME HPTC, Hydromechanical pgf/hydrpnw.shtml.
Handbook, updated draft manuscript 2010. 25.   http://www.economist.com/node/12970769?story_id=12970769.
16.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Society_of_Mechanical_ 26.  http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/states/maps/renewable_portfolio_states.
Engineers. cfm.
17.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Society_of_Civil_Engineers. http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/what_we_do/uk_supply/
energy_mix/renewable/policy/renew_obs/renew_obs.aspx.
18.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE.
27.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_energy_resources_and_
19.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Electrotechnical_Commission. consumption.
 chapter

12
HYDRO POWER GENERATION IN
INDIA — STATUS AND CHALLENGES
Dharam Vir Thareja
12.1 INTRODUCTION 8000 MW in the 10th Plan period (2002 to 2007), the target of over
15,000 MW in the running 11th Plan period (2007 to 2012) and
Power generation in India has come a long way from about 20,000 MW proposed during the 12th Plan period (2012 to 2017)
1000 MW at the time of independence (August, 1947) to about speaks of the ambitious plan of hydro power development [4]. To
160,000 MW as on 31st March 2010 (end of Financial Year). The achieve the targets of 11th and 12th plan, the fund requirement
share of hydro power in this growth, in these over six decades, has would be of the order of US $ 30 billion of which about 30% would
also been impressive as it increased from about 500 MW at the be the share of private sector. The participation of private sector in
time of independence to about 37,000 MW as of March 2010. But the investment projections for 11th plan for infrastructure, which
the present level of hydro power exploitation is only about 25% of includes power sector also, is estimates at 30% [5].
the ultimate installed capacity estimated at 150,000 MW. The hydro power that is yet to be tapped, projects with more than
The demand of power is increasing rapidly (at the rate of over 75% of installation are located in Himalayan region. This region
8% per annum) so has been the realization that hydro power en- is known for intense seismicity, wide range of geo-technical vari-
ergy, being a renewable source, be exploited to its full available ability even in short stretches, extensive hydrologic variations over
potential. In this endeavor, of the balance over 113,000 MW of and within the year both for water and sediment flows, which pose
power, i.e., yet to be commissioned, projects with about 14,000 MW challenges for infra-structure development, during project con-
are under construction and about 100,000 MW are under various struction and their operation and maintenance stages. With about
stages of implementation. 70,000 MW of installation that is lined up for implementation in
The hydro project implementation and ownership remained with the Himalayan region, India will continue to remain a source of pro­
the State Governments or with the Power Corporations owned by fessional grooming with innovations in project planning, investi-
States or Central Government for about four and a half decades. gation, analysis, hydrological and sedimentation studies, structural
Due to slow pace of development and also in line with interna- design, construction methodologies and judicious construction
tional stress for liberalization of economy, the Government of In- equipment decisions. The expert consultancy, construction, and
dia reviewed the policy of power development. In 1992, the power project management organizations will get opportunities to plan
sector was opened up allowing private capital participation in its projects, which can be implemented in time frame of five years.
development along and in parallel with continued development The constraints of infra-structure will require to be integrated in
under public sector (under the Five-Year Plan system) [1]. With the project formulation. The experience of projects that have been
inherent constraints associated with hydro power development, completed and those under construction will have to be pooled to
construction activity in the private sectors did not show expected decide the way forward for implementation of future projects with-
results in the initial period of over one decade. But it is picking out time and cost over-runs.
up now and at present projects aggregating to about 25,000 MW It has been planned to exploit the bulk of balance hydro potential
are allocated to private developers on build, own, operate, and in the next about two decades [6]. To meet the target, the hydro-
transfer basis (BOOT). Of these, projects with installed capacity of sector would require investment of US$ 100 billion requiring an
20,000 MW are under various stages leading to their implemen- average of US$ 4 billion per year for another 25 years and thus
tation including survey investigation, DPR preparation and clear- would remain attractive for financial institutions, project develop-
ances, about 4000 MW are under construction and over 1400 MW ers, contractors, and consultancy organizations.
are in operation. Role of hydro power in the energy scenario; potential and sta-
India now possesses the needed financial resources and profes- tus of development; small hydro- and pump-storage development;
sional capabilities to utilize the in-house and global capacities for transmission set-up and status; constitutional and regulatory pro-
implementation of hydro power projects in the challenging envi- visions; resettlement and rehabilitation policies; techno-economic
ronment. 50,000 MW initiatives leading to identification of 162 appraisal procedures; hydro power development in the neighboring
projects and completion of their Pre-feasibility Reports (PFRs) in countries; response and achievement of private sector; the issues,
a span of 2 years (2004 to 2006) has been recognized as a laud- constraints and challenges in development; innovations for future
able initiative [2,3]. The achievement of commissioning of about projects; are covered in this Chapter.
12-  •  Chapter 12

12.2  NERGY SCENARIO AND ROLE

E
OF HYDRO
12.2.1 Energy Scenario
12.2.1.1  Installed Capacity and Share of Hydro  India has a
total installed capacity of about 1,59,400 Megawatt (MW) of power
from all conventional energy sources, as on 31st March 2010.
Fuel-wise breakup is covered in Table 12.1.
In terms of percentages, the distribution is 64.3% thermal, 23.1%
hydro, 9.7% renewable, 2.9% nuclear-based, and is depicted in
Fig. 12.1.
Hydro energy is a renewable source but for accounting purposes
only small hydro projects (projects up to 25 MW capacity) are con-
sidered in the renewable category and their regulation is controlled
by Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government
of India whereas hydro and thermal energy development is gov- Fig. 12.1 Installed capacity vs. share of hydro-
erned by Ministry of Power and nuclear energy by Atomic Energy source: [7]
Commission and Nuclear Power Corporation.
The share of hydro generation in the total generating capacity
of the country remained at over 40% in the first three decades of global average. With impending economic growth, a sharp rise in
power development. Thereafter, it has shown a downward trend consumption is inevitable. Per capita power consumption will rise
to its present level of about 23%. This can be attributed to the fact from about 670 kWh at present and is expected to go to 2000 kWh
that from mid-1970s, the Government started relatively favoring in next two decades. The National Electricity Policy announced
thermal power development vis-à-vis hydro with the objective of in 2005 [8] aims at access of electricity by all households and per
increasing the pace of development as in its view hydro projects capita availability of electricity to be increased to 1000 units by
were taking unduly long time in completion and thus affecting the 2012.
pace of development. This caused relative set back to the pace of India’s grid connected power generation capacity will need to
hydro development and in the process adversely affecting optimum go up by 3 to 4 times from the present about 160 GW to 400 to
desired thermal-hydro mix of 60:40 for smooth operation of sys- 600 GW if India is to meet the growing demand and to attain status
tem. This policy was not a prudent one. Hydro — being a perennial of economic superpower. Since hydro power is one of the cleanest
source of power gifted by nature with many other advantages over and most reliable sources of energy India has targeted to exploit
other resources as detailed in the subsequent paragraphs, deserved bulk of its potential in the next two decades.
to be given a rather high priority. Regarding the long time and
delays in completion of hydro projects one had to take cognizance 12.2.2 Role of Hydro
of the fact that unlike thermal, hydro development-particularly of
medium and large projects—would, in certain cases (depending 12.2.2.1  Distinct Economic and Social Advantages  Hydro
upon geography, location, type of development envisaged), in- power is a renewable and non-polluting source of energy. Devel-
volve some inherent problems, including resettlement and reha- opment of hydro has a long-term economic advantage as the an-
bilitation, delay in land acquisition, interstate disputes, law and nual operating costs are a tiny fraction of the initial capital cost.
order problem, delay in investment decision, environmental clear- Hydroelectric projects have long useful life extending over 50
ances, contractual disputes, geological surprises, etc. The only way years and help in conserving scarce fossil fuels. Hydro’s autonomy
to enhance the share of hydro is to accept that these problems are from the fuel price is a single distinct advantage. The flexibility of
inherent part of hydro development and the way forward is in the storage hydro (using reservoirs) also makes it a compelling partner
prompt resolution by mobilizing requisite resources/inputs. to ensure security in mixed power systems. Multi-purpose hydro
reservoirs can service the increasing need for water management
12.2.1.2  The Country’s Rising Energy Needs and Necessity and thus bring security of water supply as well as power. These
of Hydro Power Exploitation  India’s per capita electricity con- projects results in far greater socio-economic benefits by bringing
sumption is among the lowest in the world at about 1/5th of the in the dimensions of irrigation, providing potable drinking water,
flood mitigation, drought protection, water resource management
and larger community-based economic development of remote,
and backward areas, in addition to power generation.
Table 12.1  Fuelwise breakup of
installed capacity. Source: [7]
12.2.2.2  Synergy with other Renewable Energies  Storage hy-
dro and, in regions where the quantity of water is limited, pumped
Fuel MW
storage can solve a plethora of system challenges. It can follow
Thermal 102453.98 load fluctuations, so that fossil-fuel plants can continue to operate
Hydro 36863.40 at their best efficiency. Wind power produces a variable and inter-
Renewable 15521.11 mittent supply and hydro can provide the firming capacity to en-
Nuclear 4560.00 sure both security and quality in the system. Similar synergies with
Total 159398.49 solar, bio-generation, and marine power are being viewed when In-
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  12-

dia is aiming toward generating significant additional power from 12.2.3.2  Electricity Act 2003  With the liberalization of the
renewable sources in the next two decades. National Solar Mission economy, the Government of India has been encouraging and
has set a target of generating 20,000 MW of solar power by 2020 inviting private sector for investment in the power sector. Ac-
[9]. The wind energy potential is estimated at 50,000 MW [10]. cordingly, a conducive policy environment has been created by
modifying the Electricity Act repealing the Indian Electricity Act,
12.2.2.3  Favorable Impact on and Resilient to Climate 1910, the Electricity (Supply) Act, 1948 and the Electricity Regu-
Change  In terms of climate change, hydro power tends to have latory Commission Act, 1998. The new Electricity Act, 2003 [12]
a very low greenhouse gas footprint. As water carries carbon in deals with the laws relating to generation, transmission, distribu-
the natural cycle, scientists have investigated the extent to which a tion, trading, and use of electricity. The Act has specific provision
new reservoir might accelerate carbon emissions. Many reservoirs for the promotion of renewable energy including hydro power and
around the world have been monitored and it has been established cogeneration. It has been made mandatory that every state would
that hydro power is one of the cleanest methods of power genera- specify a percentage of electricity to be purchased from renewable
tion. By employing hydro power generation in place of fossil-fuel by a distribution licensee. This act has permitted direct commercial
technologies, a significant offset of greenhouse gas emissions can relationships between generating companies and consumers/ trad-
be achieved. Storage-based hydro power projects can absorb the ers. The Act has provided a generating company the right to open
fluctuations in the inflows that are expected to increase on account access through state/central transmission facilities.
of climate change and ensure availability of designed power out-
put. In India, tendency of converting storage based hydro develop- 12.2.3.3  National Electricity Policy  The Policy announced in
ment to run-of-river schemes is being discouraged. 2005 [8] underlines that hydro energy potential needs to be ex-
ploited and private sector would be encouraged through suitable
12.2.2.4  Proven Efficient, Flexible, and Reliable Power promotional measures. The policy stipulates that progressively the
Source  In terms of efficiency, hydro power shows the best con- share of electricity from hydro would need to be increased.
version rate (90%) due to the direct transformation of hydraulic
forces to electricity. It has the most favorable energy payback ratio 12.2.3.4  National Water Policy  The government has brought
considering the amount of energy required to build, maintain, and out a national water policy in the year 2002 [13]. It has been stipu-
fuel a power-plant compared with the energy it produces during its lated in the policy that in the planning and operation of system,
normal life span. water allocation priority should broadly be in the order of drinking
In respect of flexibility, the storage of potential electricity water, irrigation, hydro power, ecology, agro industries and non-
in reservoirs, hydro power has the capacity to provide base and agriculture industries, navigation and other uses. The priority for
peak-load. It is the ideal back-up source for intermittent electricity hydro-development is very high in the list of water uses for differ-
sources such as wind, solar and optimizes efficiency of less flexible ent purposes.
fossil or nuclear generating options. Hydro power has the capacity
to follow demand fluctuations almost instantly and offers a quick
12.2.3.5  Mega Power Project Policy  Keeping in view the re-
response to failings in power grids.
quirements of power projects located in certain special category
Regarding reliability hydro power is a proven and well-
advanced technology based on more than a century of experience. States of J&K, Sikkim and the seven states of North East the
It is a backbone of an integrated renewable grid, a clean source of minimum qualifying capacity of hydro power plants to avail mega
renewable energy with the capacity to make a significant contribu- project benefits, has been reduced from 500 MW to 350 MW in
tion to the world’s ever-growing need for electricity. the revised Mega Power Projects policy so that they can avail the
advantages of reduced duties and taxes [14].
12.2.3  olicies Conducive to Emphasis on
P 12.2.4 National Level Resolve
Hydro Power Hydroelectricity being a clean and renewable source of energy
12.2.3.1  Hydro Policy  The new Hydro Policy announced by with highest energy pay back ratio, maximum emphasis would have
Government of India in 2008 [11] has liberal provisions that would to be laid on the full development of the feasible hydro potential
in the country. Slow pace of development for some years should
provide the private sector players a level playing field with trans-
not be viewed with discouragement instead more focused approach
parent Selection criteria for awarding projects and induce large
with national level resolve and matching resources needs to be
private investments in development of hydro power projects. The
channelized in harnessing hydro potential speedily, as it is also
objectives of the hydro power policy are:
one of the easiest and best way to facilitate economic development
    (i) Inducing private investment in Hydro Power Development of States, particularly, North-Eastern States, Sikkim, Uttarakhand,
  (ii) Harnessing the balance hydro-electric potential on priority Himachal Pradesh and J&K, where a large proportion of our hydro
(iii) Improving resettlement and rehabilitation to generate sup- power potential is located. Hydro projects call for comparatively
port for hydro development larger capital investment and therefore, debt financing of longer
(iv)  Facilitating financial viabilities tenure would need to be made available. Central Government has
  (v) Enable developers to recover his additional costs includ- to remain committed to policies that ensure financing of viable
ing upfront investments through merchant sale of power up hydro projects. State Governments need to review procedures for
to a maximum of 40% of the saleable energy. There is a land acquisition, and other approvals/clearances for speedy imple-
deterrent for delay as the merchant power will be reduced mentation of hydroelectric projects. Working for future projects
by 5% for every 6 months of delay in commissioning of will demand innovations in planning, design and construction and
the project. for sustaining the pace of development, the Central Government
12-  •  Chapter 12

will have to be more vigorous in extending its support to the State

Governments, power corporations and private developers by offer-
ing expert services of Central Public Sector Corporations, Central
Government Departments and also facilitating timely availability
of global expertise as and when required.

12.3  ASIN WISE POTENTIAL AND

B
DEVELOPMENT SCENARIO
12.3.1 Hydro Potential
India with a total geographical area of 329 million hectares is
a land of diversity blessed with a large number of rivers as well
as mountains. As these rivers flow from their source in mountains
and hills, they provide plenty of scope for large-scale hydro power
development. In the peninsular rivers there is a very wide dispar-
ity between the discharge in the monsoon period and the non-
monsoon period, with the variation being as much as 25 times.
Therefore, in case of hydro projects on these rivers, large storage
capacity is often required to balance out the flows in order to in-
crease the firm benefits from hydroelectric power. The Himalayan
Rivers being snow fed have a more equitable distribution of water
flow and therefore, large numbers of run-of-the-river type or small
storage capacity hydroelectric projects yielding substantial firm
power are feasible. In addition, a few reasonably large to very large
capacity storage based sites are available to provide the needed
stability and security to the hydro power system. Considering the
topography and heavy to moderate rainfall in most of the regions/ Fig. 12.2 Basin-wise Map of India with their hy-
areas, there are extremely large numbers of possible sites for de- dro potential. Source: [15, 17]
velopment of pumped storage schemes for providing much needed
peaking capacity. Only attractive scheme with high heads, proxim-
ity to load centers and economy in cost of civil structures has been try was undertaken during the period 1953 to 1959 by the Power
targeted for development. Accordingly, Himalayan Region and in Wing of the erstwhile Central Water and Power Commission [15].
particular Arunachal Pradesh & Sikkim, has been kept out of the This study placed the economical and utilizable hydro power po-
focus of identifying pumped storage schemes. tential of the country at 42100 MW from 250 schemes, at 60%
load factor (corresponding to an annual energy generation of 221
12.3.1.1  Systematic Assessment  The first systematic and com­ billion units).
prehensive study to assess the hydro-electric resources in the coun- The Reassessment studies (1978 to 1987) of Hydro Electric Po-
tential were undertaken by CEA for providing up-to-date data of
hydro electric potential of the country and facilitate development
Table 12.2 Basin-wise probable installed of hydro power capacity [15, 16].
capacities. Source: [15] The Reassessment study completed in 1987 revealed that the Hy-
dro Electric Power Potential of the country was of the order of about
River Basin No. of Probable installed 84,000 MW at 60% load factor (with probable installed capacity of
Schemes capacity (MW) about 1,50,000 MW corresponding to an annual energy generation
of 442 billion units) from a total of 845 Nos. schemes. With seasonal
Himalayan Rivers energy, the total energy potential is assessed to be around 600 billion
Indus 190 33,832 units per year. In addition, 56 Nos. sites for development of Pumped
Brahmaputra 226 66,065 Storage Schemes with likely aggregate installed capacity of about
Ganga 142 20,711 94,000 MW were also identified in various regions of the country as
Sub-total 558 120,158 detailed under a separate section of this chapter.
Peninsular Rivers The basin-wise hydroelectric power potential of the country as
Central Indian River 53 4152
per Reassessment Studies is covered in Table 12.2 and is also de-
System
picted in the map of India in Fig. 12.2.
West Flowing Rivers 94 9430
of Southern India 12.3.2 Development of Hydro Power
East Flowing Rivers 140 14,511
of Southern India 12.3.2.1  Pre-independence Development  Hydro-electric De-
Sub-total 287 28,093 velopment in India started in 1897 with the commissioning of the
Total 845 148,701 first station of 200 KW capacity at Sidrapong near Darjeeling in
Pumped Storage 56 94,000 West Bengal. Tapping of hydro power generation was generally
Schemes an open field, subject to obtaining permission from local authori-
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  12-

ties, especially in case of private developers. A few private utility Table 12.4 Sector-wise installed Capacity
companies, princely States and industrial houses constructed hydro at the end of the completed 10th Plan
power stations of varying capacities, from the micro/mini to a few (2002–2007). Source: [7]
tens of megawatts according to their requirements. It took quite
some time before some of the provincial governments undertook Sector Installed Capacity
the development. Shiva Samudaram Power House on river Cauvery Central 7562
with initial capacity of 7.92 MW in 1902 increasing to 47 MW in State 25789
1938 came up with the initiative of Mysore State. Governments Private 1306
in the State of Himachal, Punjab, Madras, and Kerala also took Total 34654
lead in hydro power construction. Major contribution was made
by renowned industrial house of Tata’s in bringing up three major
hydro-stations in the Western Ghats in Maharashtra, namely; 40 MW The National Hydro-electric Power Corporation (NHPC) was set
Khopoli (5 ´ 8 MW) in 1915, 48 MW Bhivpuri (4 ´ 12 MW) during up in 1975. North-Eastern Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO)
1922 to 1925, and 90 MW Bihra (5 ´ 18 MW) in 1927. was set up in 1976 to implement the regional power projects in the
Total installed hydro capacity at the time of independence (Au- North-East. Subsequently two more power generation corporations
gust 1947) grew up to 508 MW in a span of about 50 years since were set up jointly by Central and State Governments in 1988 viz.
the first development. There were many reasons for such a small Tehri Hydro Development Corporation (THDC) and Nathpa Jhakri
growth in power development such as absence of concerted efforts Power Corporation (NJPC).
and funding at the centre level, adverse effects of two world wars, It would be seen from the above that hydro share was more than
lack of interest from financial institutions and private enterprise, 45% at the end of 3rd Plan which reduced to about 26% at the end
and apprehension of lack of demand/slow demand growth. of 10th Plan. The sector-wise breakups of installed capacity at the
end of 10th Plan is given in Table 12.4. The contribution of private
12.3.2.2  Post-independence Development  After 1947, the Gov­ sector up-till the year 2007 has been only about 4%.
ernment of India accorded a very high priority to development of
power sector and decided to undertake projects under public fund- 12.3.2.3  Plan-wise Status of Achievements Vs. Targets of
ing in a pattern of centrally planned economy — the 5-Year Plan Hydro Capacity  The details of hydro capacity actually added to
Model. Plan-wise growth of hydro power up to the part of on-going the grid vs. targeted for addition from 4th Plan onward is presented
11th Plan and its share as a percentage of total power installation in Fig. 12.3.
is presented in Table 12.3. Staring from 1951, the launching of 1st A review of this status reveals that in none of the plan periods
Plan, 5-year hydro power development up till 4th plan, remained targets could be achieved. The shortfall has been relatively less up-
mainly with States. From 5th Plan onward, the Central Govern- till 7th Plan whereas in 8th Plan the shortfall had reached 75%. In
ment entered in a big way by way of setting-up power corporations. the 9th Plan and the last completed Plan, i.e., 10th Plan only about
50% of the planned hydro capacity could be achieved.
The Working Group of power for the 10th Plan had recommended
hydro capacity addition of 14,393 MW comprising of 8742 MW in
Table 12.3 Plan-wise growth of installed
central sector, 4481 MW in state sector and 1170 MW in Private Sec-
capacity of hydro power. Source: [4, 18]
tor. However, hydro capacity of 7886 MW comprising of 4495 MW
in Central Sector, 2691 MW in State Sector and 700 MW in Private
Plan-wise growth of power and share of hydro power
Sector could actually be commissioned during the 10th Plan. The
Plan period Installed capacity at the end of contribution of private sector in this capacity addition has been
plan (MW) about 9%. The main reasons for slippages in 10th Plan are delay in
Hydro Total Hydro as supplies / erection by suppliers/contractor, delay in award of works,
% of total delay in clearances/investment decisions, law and order problems
and such other reasons like delay in environmental clearances,
1st Plan (1951–1956) 1061 2886 36.78
2nd Plan (1956–1961) 1917 4653 41.19
3rd Plan (1961–1966) 4124 9027 45.68
Three Annual Plans 5907 12957 45.58
(1966–1969)
4th Plan (1969–1974) 6966 16664 41.80
5th Plan (1974–1979) 10833 26680 40.60
Annual Plan (1979–1980) 11384 28448 40.01
6th Plan (1980–1985) 14460 42585 33.96
7th Plan (1985–1990) 18307 63636 28.77
Two Annual Plans 19194 69065 27.79
  (1990–1992)
8th Plan (1992–1997) 21658 85795 25.46
9th Plan (1997–2002) 26269 105046 25.40
10th Plan (2002–2007) 34654 132329 26.19
11th Plan (2007–2012)* 36863 159398 23.13
Fig. 12.3 Planwise hydro capacity (MW), targets
*11th plan is ongoing; status is given up to 31st March 2010. vs. achievements. Source: [4, 6, 18]
12-  •  Chapter 12

Fig. 12.4 Planned Share of Private Sector in

11th Plan. Source: [4]

geological surprises, natural calamities, R&R issues, delay in sign-

ing of MOU, court cases, etc.
In the continuing 11th Plan, hydro power capacity addition of
15627 MW was targeted. The share committed to Private Sector
as depicted in Fig. 12.4 shows their increasing role. In the first 3
years of this running plan, projects with 2210 MW of installation
have been commissioned and up-till the completion of this plan
an additional about 6000 MW is likely to be loaded. The expected
achievement would thus be 8237 MW against a target of 15,627
MW, which again would be short by 50%.

12.3.3 Acceleration of Development Fig. 12.5  Map of India showing states. Source:
To give necessary fillip for development of the balance hydro [20]
electric schemes and with a view to prioritize the large number of
identified schemes to harness vast untapped hydro resources in the
order of their attractiveness for implementation, ranking studies were allotted on its applicability to each individual project and 400
were carried out by CEA in October, 2001. The Ranking Study schemes with probable installed capacity of about 1,07,000 MW
gives inter-se prioritization of the projects which could be consid- were prioritized under categories A, B & C. The categorization A
ered for further implementation including their survey & investiga- implies ease whereas C indicates difficulties in implementation.
tion so that hydro power development is effected in an appropriate River Basin-wise summary of categorization of the schemes is
sequence. given in Table 12.5.
The ten major aspects which play vital role in the implementa-
tion of the hydro projects were adopted in the criteria considered 12.3.3.1  50,000 MW Hydroelectric Initiative  A further step
for ranking study. These were R&R aspects, international aspects, forward toward accelerated development of hydro power has been
interstate aspects, potential of the scheme, type of scheme, height when Honorable Prime Minister of India launched a two year pro-
of dam, length of tunnel / channel, accessibility to site, status of gram for preparation of Preliminary Feasibility Reports (PFRs) in
the project and status of upstream or downstream hydroelectric de- respect of 162 hydroelectric schemes, located in 16 States, (Fig.
velopment. For each of the criteria, certain marks with weightage 12.5 shows Map of India with States) with installed capacity of

Table 12.5 Basin-wise categorization for accelerated development. Source: [19]

River System Category A Category B Category C Total

Nos. MW Nos. MW Nos. MW Nos. MW
Himalayan Rivers
Indus 11 4088 51 8811 17 6080 79 18979
Brahmaputra 52 7800 97 42574 19 12954 168 63328
Ganga 20 2023 54 9616 1 600 75 12239
Sub Total 83 13911 202 61001 37 19634 322 94546
Peninsular Rivers
Central Indian 3 283 9 1425 1 186 13 1894
West Flowing 1 35 10 958 14 1508 25 2501
East Flowing 11 1412 26 6469 2 88 39 7969
Sub Total 15 1730 45 8852 17 1782 77 12364
Total 98 15641 247 69853 54 21416 399 106910
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  12-

Table 12.6 State-wise number of preliminary

feasibility reports and their installation.
Source: [3]

Sl. no. State Number of Installed

Schemes Capacity (MW)
1. Andhra Pradesh 1 81
2. Arunachal Pradesh 42 27293
3. Chhattisgarh 5 848
4. Himachal Pradesh 15 3328 Fig. 12.7 Share of Private Sector in the capac-
5. Jammu & Kashmir 13 2675 ity addition planned for 12th Plan (2012–2017).
6. Karnataka 5 1900 Source: [18, 21]
7. Kerala 2 126
8. Madhya Pradesh 3 205
9. Maharashtra 9 411
The state-wise distribution of schemes with their total installa-
10. Manipur 3 362
tion is depicted in the bar diagram in Fig. 12.6. Since long period
11. Meghalaya 11 931
is required for development of DPRs, obtaining various clearances
12. Mizoram 3 1500
like Environment & Forest clearances, CEA clearance, investment
13. Nagaland 3 330
decision and achieving financial closure, regular monitoring is
14. Orissa 4 1189
being done to ensure start of their construction in the 11th Plan
15. Sikkim 10 1469
itself.
16. Uttarakhand 33 5282
As of now, excluding the projects that may slip from 11th Plan, a
Total 162 47930
shelf of 87 projects with installation aggregating to over 20,000 MW
that have the probability of their being amongst the list of projects
for development in 12th Plan have been short listed. Their sector-
about 50,000 MW. The scheme was formulated by CEA and sanc- wise distribution covered in Fig. 12.7 shows a further increasing
tioned/funded by the Ministry of Power on 31st March, 2003. The role of private sector.
state-wise details of Preliminary Feasibility Report prepared under
the above program are given in Table 12.6.
Based on the projected tariff of the various schemes, 77 projects 12.4 SMALL HYDRO DEVELOPMENT
with installed capacity of 33951 MW were selected for preparation
of Detailed Project Report and development. 12.4.1 The Aim and Focus of Small Hydro Program
In India, about 70% of the population lives in villages. These
12.3.4  trategy for Hydro Development during 12th
S villages are scattered all over the country, including those in re-
Plan period (2012 to 2017) mote and hilly areas. To achieve 100% electrification target by
To achieve the ambitious program of hydro capacity addition 2012 is a stupendous task. Keeping in view the large investment
of over 20,000 MW during 12th Plan (2012 to 217), a shelf of required for transmission and distribution system, as against grid
109 candidate hydro projects aggregating to 30920 MW, having connectivity, the decentralized energy access to these villages and
higher level of confidence for realizing benefits during 12th Plan, semi-urban centers is being aimed at through renewable energy
based on their status of preparedness, had been finalized [18]. including small hydro sources. India is blessed with an abundance
of sunlight, water and biomass and vigorous efforts of last two
decades in tapping these sources are now bearing fruits. India
has the world’s largest program to harness all viable renewable
energy sources to produce electricity, for local supply as well as
for feeding into the larger grid. India is the only country, which
has an exclusive Ministry (MNRE) dealing with New and Renew-
able Energy Sources. As per MNRE, hydro power projects up to
25 MW station capacity have been categorized as Small Hydro
Power (SHP) projects, which includes Micro (up to 100 KW) and
Mini (101 to 2000 KW) projects. These are connected to the intra-
State system and come under the direct jurisdiction of the respec-
tive State Electricity Regulatory Commission.
The MNRE has taken a decision that out of the total grid interac-
tive power generation capacity that is being installed, 2% should
come from small hydro. Today, the SHP program is essentially
private investment driven. Private sector entrepreneurs are finding
attractive business opportunities in small hydro and State Govern-
ments have also realized that the private participation may be nec-
Fig. 12.6 State-wise number of projects and in- essary for tapping the full potential of rivers and canals for power
stallation identified for 12th Plan (2012–2017). generation. The focus of the SHP program is to lower the cost of
Source: [18, 21] equipment, increase its reliability, and set up projects in areas,
12-  •  Chapter 12

which give the maximum advantage in terms of capacity utiliza- subsidy available from the Ministry is linked to use of equipment
tion. A series of steps have been taken to promote development of manufactured as per IEC or other prescribed international stand-
SHP in a planned manner and improve reliability and quality of ards. MNRE is providing financial support to state governments/
the projects. Concurrently, efforts are being made to renovate and agencies for overall estimation of potential in a state, identifica-
modernize old SHP projects and complete languishing projects. tion of new potential SHP sites and preparation of state perspective
The procedure for allotment of sites has also been streamlined plan.
and made transparent. While some states continued with allotment It has been made mandatory that all newly commissioned SHP
of already identified sites, some other even allowed identification projects should be tested for performance and quality to avail sub-
of potential sites by the entrepreneurs themselves. Number of fi- sidy. Accordingly, necessary onsite testing facilities have been cre-
nancial institutions and banks are financing the projects. ated at the Alternate Hydro Energy Centre (AHEC), IIT Roorkee
with 3 sub-centers at Jadavpur University, Kolkata, National Insti-
12.4.2  enewable Energy Policy of Central/State
R tute of Technology, Thiruchirapally and Maulana Azad National
Government Institute of Technology, Bhopal. The entire testing is being coordi-
The Government of India have announced various policies, i.e., nated by AHEC [23, 24].
the National Electricity Policy in 2005, Tariff Policy in 2006 [22]
and Hydro Policy in 2008 and amended the Electricity Act in 2003 12.4.4 Potential and Status of Development
to create a conductive atmosphere for investments in the power The Estimated Potential for power generation in the country
sector including development of SHPs. from small hydro power development is over 15,000 MW. The ac-
Section 86(1) (e) of Electricity Act, 2003 empowers Electricity tual potential of small hydro power (SHP) is likely to be much
Regulatory Commission to promote co-generation and generation more than that assessed as different states are offering sites for self-
from renewable sources of Energy by providing suitable measures identification by prospective bidders for installation of the small
of connectivity with the grid and sale of electricity to any person, hydro power stations. Out of 15,000 MW small hydro power in
and also specify percentage of renewable energy to be procured as natural streams, canal falls and dam toes mostly in Himalayan
“Renewable Purchase Obligation” for distribution licensees in the and other hilly regions were fast flowing and perennial streams can
States. easily be exploited to tape this renewable source of energy, 5415
Section 61(h) of Electricity Act, 2003 further stipulates that the potential sites with an aggregate capacity of 14,305 MW have been
Appropriate Regulatory Commission shall subject to provisions of identified. As of now, about 700 hydro power schemes with an in-
the Act, specify the terms and conditions for determining of tariff, stalled capacity of 2550 MW have been completed; schemes with an
and in doing so, shall be guided by the promotion of co-generation installed capacity of about 500 MW are under implementation [24].
and generation of electricity from renewable sources. Thus, there is great scope for exploitation of the balance capacity.
In compliance to the mandate as indicated above in the provi-
sions of Electricity Act, 2003 the Central and State Electricity Reg- 12.4.5  conomic Viability of SHP and Comparison
E
ulatory Commissions issue from time to time specific regulations/ with Other Sources
orders on Tariff and other important issues relating to small hydro SHP projects are low cost development schemes, which cannot
power projects. The State Governments have also announced spe- justify investment on transmission system. The primary respon-
cific policies for SHP projects through private participation. The sibility to evacuate power from SHP’s rests with the distribution
facilities available in the State include wheeling of power pro- licensees. As such, the cost of installation per MW as well as cost
duced, banking, buy-back of power, facility for third party sale, of per unit generation is high for SHP when compared with con-
etc. Government of India and the State Governments are provid- ventional sources. A comparison between conventional and non-
ing fiscal and financial incentives like concessional import duty, conventional sources to have an idea of the order of cost in India is
custom and excise duty relief, sales tax relief, capital subsidy, and given in Table 12.7.
tax holiday.
For promoting small hydel projects the hydro policy lists out the
following measures/incentives. Table 12.7 Source-wise cost of installation
per MW and energy generation per unit.
   (i) Incentives to Private Sector during the execution of the
Source: [24]
project in the form of capital subsidy.
  (ii) Special incentives for execution of small hydro projects in
Source Cost per MW Per unit energy
the North Eastern Region by the Government departments/
installation generation
SEB/State agencies.
(Rs. in Crores) (Rs.)
  (iii) Financial support for renovation and modernization and
up-rating of old small hydro power stations. Renewable
Small hydro* 5–7 2–4
12.4.3 Projects Under MNRE Subsidy Schemes Solar PV 17 12–17
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is giving financial Solar thermal 13 10–13
subsidy, both in public and private sector to set-up SHP projects. Biomass 4.5 2–4
In order to improve quality and reliability of projects, it has been Wind 5–6 2–4
made mandatory to get the project tested for its performance by an Conventional
independent agency and achieving 80% of the envisaged energy Thermal 4.5 2.5 to 3
generation before the subsidy is released. In order to ensure project Gas based 3.5
quality/performance, the ministry has been insisting to adhere to Hydro 5–7.5
IEC/International standards for equipment and civil works. The * Highest efficiency and longest life amongst renewable sources.
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  12-

12.4.6  Issues Constraints, Appraisal, and Clearances the frequency goes down and load shedding becomes necessary. In
The Constraints perceived in development of the small hydro case of storage type plants such fluctuating demand can be met by
segment are technical, procedural and cost-related in nature. The storing surplus water and releasing water during the shortfall. In
technical barriers include factors such as accessibility to the sites case of multi-purpose schemes, the water release schedule is more
and risks involved in transporting heavy equipments to the sites. often dictated by other demands like irrigation, and power genera-
The procedural issues primarily relate to the number of clear- tion is not a priority item. Therefore, in general, power generation
ances required before taking the project. Typically, a developer is not according to the demand and the requirement of frequency
is required to get a project allotment from the state nodal agency, regulation is being met in a very limited way by hydro power
obtain clearance from MOEF where forest land is involved (in plants. The option in such cases is the implementation of pumped
projects costing more than Rs.100 crores), clearance from the Ir- storage schemes. When compared with conventional hydro power
rigation/Water Resources Department, clearance from the state projects, in the case of pumped storage schemes, the environmen-
government on land availability, etc. tal impacts are very much limited. Also, because of re-circulation
There are hardly any databanks available on water flow from of water, the problem of silt is absent.
small streams and rivulets and there is uncertainty risk like hydrol- In order to provide peaking power the use of natural gas and DG
ogy, power tariff, natural calamities and geological surprises. sets for power generation has been increasing over the years in some
of the regions of our country. In view of this, an utmost need for such
a power generation system, which can provide peak power in a shorter
12.5 PUMPED STORAGE DEVELOPMENTS gestation period utilizing renewable energy resources at comparable
economics and which can be installed relatively nearer to the load
12.5.1 Role of Pumped Storage Schemes center so that the transmission and distribution losses can be consider-
In India the base load requirements would generally be met ably reduced, is being felt. Pumped storage schemes are being consid-
by thermal and nuclear generating plants, whereas peaking loads ered as the best option to fulfill these requirements.
would be met from conventional hydro projects along with pumped
storage schemes. The demand for peak power is growing faster 12.5.2 Status of Development and Potential
compared to the average demand. The large untapped conventional In India, the need for developing pumped storage schemes was
hydro potential located in Himalayan River basins would need to realized as early as 1960 and the first pumped storage plant could
be developed to meet the peaking power requirements of North- be commissioned at Nagarjuna Sagar in Andhra Pradesh in the year
ern and North-eastern regions. The eastern region, though, deficit 1980 with an installed capacity of 700 MW. Since then pumped
in hydro resources (rich in thermal) would benefit from the large storage plants with their aggregate capacity of 4804 MW are in
hydroelectric potential in the north eastern region to meet the peak- operation. The operational pumped storage plants are: Kadamparai
ing requirement. However, the development of pumped storage (400 MW) in Tamilnadu; Bhira (150 MW), Ghatghar (250 MW),
schemes in Western and Southern region could be visualized in a Paithan (12 MW) and Ujjaini (12 MW) in Maharashtra; Srisailam
significant magnitude to meet the peaking requirements due to lack Left Bank (900 MW) in Andhra Pradesh; Purulia (900 MW) in
of availability of sufficient conventional hydro potential resources West Bengal; Kadana (240 MW) and Sardar Sarovar (1200 MW)
in these regions. Due to inter-state disputes involved on harness- in Gujarat; Panchet Hills (40 MW) in Bihar [25].
ing of water and thereby in harnessing some of the conventional In view of the increasing role of pumped storage schemes for pro-
hydro potential in Southern region and also due to decrease in the viding much needed peaking capacity and also bringing improvement
availability of water in river systems on account of upstream con- in the power system, the systematic identification and preparation of
sumptive uses, pumped storage schemes are becoming inevitable inventory of attractive pumped storage schemes was attempted in the
for meeting the peak loads. country for the first time along with reassessment study (1978 to 1987)
The hydrological uncertainties with hydro power projects carried out by CEA to assess the hydroelectric potential of the coun-
are much more, compared to PSS and in a dry year when the dis- try. Fifty-six potential sites have been identified for pumped storage
charges is abnormally low, the hydro power projects may fail to schemes with total installation of about 94,000 MW with individual
even peak load. In such conditions, PSS is very helpful as it re- installed capacity varying from 600 MW to 2800 MW. Region wise/
circulates the stored water only and loss of water is due to seepage State wise distribution of potential sites for installation of pumped
and evaporation losses only. The discharge of peninsular Indian storage schemes is given in Table 12.8.
rivers has significant seasonal fluctuation, during monsoon, the
discharge is very high, so the hydro power projects are able to take 12.5.3 Economic Viability
based load also. However, in non-monsoon period discharge is Although these schemes do not provide additional energy and
very low and therefore one has to depend upon the thermal plants. infact consume some energy from the existing power system, in-
Under such condition, the peak power becoming available from creasing emphasis of their use in Indian power system is inevitable
PSS would be the best way forward. in view of high peak load demand and the pumped storage projects
Further, if hydro power project is available to supply power at possess the unique capability to re-deliver the energy as and when
the cost lower than PSS, it is definitely preferable to get power system requires. Their reservoir is usually of a smaller size com-
from hydro power project than PSS. In fact, if the hydro power is pared to those of conventional hydro power station with similar
so much abundant, there is no need to run thermal power plants. capacity. This benefit is increased by adopting pumped storage
But there are two problems being experienced with hydro power with higher operating head since the size of reservoir can be made
plants. The first problem is with the run-of-the-river scheme and smaller. Also, their reservoir can be located on a small stream
the second with multi-purpose projects. In these plants, the genera- which would not pass any significant impact on the surrounding
tion of power depends upon the discharge availability, which is environment. With the decline of available sites for conventional
not consistent with the demand. If discharge is surplus, it can be hydroelectric generation, in times to come, the development of
spilled through spillway. But when there is shortfall in discharge, pumped storage schemes would attract additional attention. The
12-10  •  Chapter 12

Table 12.8 Potential Sites identified for country would be divided into five (5) regions (Northern, Southern,
installation of pumped storage schemes. Western, Eastern and North Eastern) and the transmission plan-
Source: [26] ning process would aim at achieving regional self sufficiency. The
planning was so far based on a Region as a unit and accordingly
Region/State Number of Portable total the power systems have been developed and operated on regional
Schemes installed capacity basis. Today, strong integrated grids exist in all the five regions of
identified (MW) the country and the energy resources developed are widely utilized
Northern Region within the regional grids. Presently, the Eastern and North-Eastern
Jammu and Kashmir 1 1650 Regions are operating in parallel.
Himachal Pradesh 2 3600 To construct, operate and maintain the inter-State and interregional
Uttar Pradesh 2 4035 transmission systems the National Power Transmission Corporation
Rajasthan 2 3780 (NPTC) was set up in 1989. The corporation was renamed as POWER
Sub total 7 13065 GRID in 1992. It has a network of about 75,000 circuit km of trans-
Western Region mission line and wheels almost half of the total power generation of
Madhya Pradesh 7 11150 India [27]. With the proposed inter-regional links being developed, it
Maharashtra 18 27070 is envisaged that it would be possible for power to flow anywhere in
Sub total 25 38220 the country with the concept of National Grid becoming a reality dur-
Southern Region ing 12th Plan Period. The intra-state transmission system is built by
Andhra Pradesh 1 1650 state transmission and distribution utilities.
Karnataka 4 7900 Evacuation of power from hydro projects has been planned
Kerala 2 4400 basin-wise. Comprehensive transmission system for each basin has
Tami Nadu 1 2700 been evolved by CEA for development in a phased manner and
Sub total 8 16650 components of the transmission system associated with specific
Eastern Region generation and transmission system from the pooling stations to the
Bihar 1 2800 de-pooling stations have been identified. As the transmission sys-
Orissa 1 2500 tem for evacuation of power from the hydro projects would benefit
West Bengal 4 3785 the region where these projects are located, as well as other regions
Sub total 6 9085 which will avail the power, the probable buyers who would have
North-Eastern Region a long-term commitment for the transmission charges for each of
Manipur 2 4350 these transmission systems, have also been identified.
Assam 1 2100 For power evacuation from North-Eastern Region, where bulk
Mizoram 7 10450 of untapped hydro potential is available, planning of appropriate
Sub total 10 16900 transmission system through the chicken neck area is of utmost im-
All India Total 56 93920 portance. Transmission corridor through the chicken neck has been
planned considering the evacuation not only from North-Eastern
Region, but also hydro power from Sikkim and Bhutan to Northern
and Western Regions in the country. Transmission system com-
pumped storage schemes improve the economics of fuel as has prising of 800 kV HVDC bi-pole lines and 400 kV double circuit
been demonstrated by the recently implemented Purulia Pumped AC lines in the hybrid systems have been planned for evacuation
Storage Scheme in West Bengal. It is desirable to make pumped of power through the chicken neck area.
storage scheme as a part of thermal power plant just like the DG The Electricity Laws have been passed with a view to make trans-
backup of thermal power plant and absorb the cost of pumped stor- mission as a separate activity for inviting greater participation in in-
age scheme in the cost of thermal power plant and accordingly the vestment from public and private sectors. The participation by private
tariff of thermal plant requires to be structured instead of working sector in the area of transmission is proposed to be limited to con-
out separate tariff for pumped storage scheme. Also, in cities and struction and maintenance of transmission lines, whereas operation
towns of India, consumers are investing heavily in captive gen- remains under the supervision and control of Central Transmission
erators and invertors, to avoid inconvenience due to abrupt break- Utility (CTU)/State Transmission Utility (STU). On selection of the
down. The savings on account of this cost and to the environment private company, the CTU/STU would recommend to the CERC/
can be accounted toward the economic viability of PSS. SERC for issue of transmission license to the private company.
Today, because of continuous shortage of power, off peak power All the project developers would be required to obtain Long
for pumping operation is costly making the pumped storage look Term Open Access (LTOA) for evacuation of power and for trans-
unviable. But this situation may not continue in times to come. mission of power to the identified beneficiaries. If exact buyers/
A sizable part of pumped storage potential would need to be ex- States could not be identified, to start with, the project developer
ploited at some point of time in the future. should specify the target Regions where the power would be ab-
sorbed, and accordingly, apply for LTOA for firming up of the
transmission system. While planning the dedicated evacuation sys-
12.6  RANSMISSION, SET-UP, AND
T tem from hydro power projects constraint of Right of Way (ROW)
STATUS specially in hilly areas needs to be kept in view.

12.6.1 Implementation Set-up and Requirements 12.6.2 Status of Development and the Challenges
In order to optimally utilize the dispersed sources for power gen- In the ongoing 11th Plan, the main focus of transmission system
eration it was decided right at the beginning of the 1960s that the development is the formation of the National Power Grid together
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  12-11

with strengthening of regional and state grids. The aggregate inter of power and to aid and advise the Central Government in formula-
regional transmission capacity which was 14,000 MW at end of tion of tariff policy.
10th Plan is proposed to be increased to about 38,000 MW by the The main functions of the SERC would be to determine the tariff
end of 11th Plan and about 75,000 MW by the end of 12th Plan. for electricity, wholesale bulk, grid, or retail to determine the tariff
The 11th Plan has a generation capacity addition program of payable for use by the transmission facilities, to regulate power
around 78,700 MW. A perspective transmission plan has been purchase and procurement process of transmission utilities and dis-
drawn in order to evacuate this power and transmit it to the load tribution utilities, to promote competition, efficiency and economy
centers. Accordingly it is envisaged that about 5400 ckm (circuit in the activities of the electricity industries, etc. Subsequently, as
kilometer) of 765 kV lines, 49,200 ckm of 400 kV lines, 35,300 ckm and when each State Government notifies, other regulatory func-
of 220 kV lines and 5,200 ckm of 800 kV / 500 kV HVDC lines tions would also be assigned to SERCs.
would be added during the 11th Plan. Uptill the end of 10th Plan
765 kV, 400 kV and 220 kV lines were 2184 ckm, 75,722 ckm and
114,629 ckm, respectively. 12.9  ESETTLEMENT AND
R
For the 12th Plan involving 100,000 MW of capacity addition REHABILITATION POLICIES
which includes over 20,000 MW of hydro, the expected transmis-
sion requirement would be 25,000 to 30,000 ckm of 765 kV lines; A National Policy on Resettlement and Rehabilitation (R&R)
50,000 ckm of 400 kV lines; 40,000 ckm of 220 kV lines and 4,000 for Project Affected Families was formulated in 2003, and it came
to 6,000 ckm of HVDC 800 kV lines. Total fund requirement into force with effect from February, 2004. The provisions of the
would be of the order of US$ 50 billion [28]. National R&R policy (INRRP) were revised in 2007. The policy
The challenges and the areas of concern in the development of provides for the basic minimum requirements, and all projects
transmission system are: obtaining of forest clearances, conserving leading to involuntary displacement of people must address the
of right of way, land acquisition, minimizing the impact of natural rehabilitation and resettlement issues comprehensively. The State
resources, and cost-effectiveness in evacuation. Governments, Public Sector Undertakings or agencies, and other
requiring bodies shall be at liberty to put in place greater benefit
levels than those prescribed in NRRP 2007 [30].
12.7  ONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS OF
C The Policy addresses the need to provide succor to the asset less
rural poor, support the rehabilitation efforts of the resource poor
WATER AND POWER RESOURCES sections, namely small and marginal farmers, SCs/STs and women
The Constitution of India was adopted on January 26, 1951 [29]. who have been displaced. Besides, it seeks to provide a broad can-
In it, the subject of “Power” was kept as a concurrent subject with vas for an effective dialogue between the Project Affected Families
both Centre and State empowered to legislate on it. The subject (PAF) and the Administration for Resettlement and Rehabilitation
of “Water Resources” was kept primarily as a State subject, with to enable timely completion of project with a sense of definite-
Centre having some power to intervene in interstate aspects/issues. ness as regards costs and adequate attention to the needs of the
To carry out major economic development in a centrally planned displaced persons. The objectives of the Policy are to minimize
manner — the 5-Year-Plan model was adopted under the overall displacement, to plan the R&R of PAFs including special needs of
supervision/watch of Central Planning Commission. Tribal and vulnerable sections, to provide better standard of living
Electricity Act, 2003 provides an elaborate institutional frame to PAFs and to facilitate harmonious relationship between the Re-
work and financing norms of the performance of the electricity in- quiring Body and PAFs through mutual cooperation. Proper imple-
dustry in the country. The Act envisaged Creation of State Elec- mentation of National Policy on Rehabilitation and Resettlement
tricity Boards (SEBs) for planning and implementing the power would be essential in this regard so as to ensure that the concerns
development programs in their respective States. The Act also pro- of project-affected families are addressed adequately. Because of
vided for creation of central generation companies for setting up smaller requirement for land of SHP’s, the no. of PAF is minimum.
and operating generating facilities in the Central Sector. The Cen- However, provisions of R&R policy need to be implemented wher-
tral Electricity Authority constituted under the Act is responsible ever applicable.
for power planning at the national level. Hydro power development is not being seen in isolation but as
a “Comprehensive Project Development Initiative.” The model for
development includes benefit for the basin reserve area, incorpo-
12.8 REGULATORY AGENCIES rates the entire planning and development, accommodates the in-
terests of the populace by making them stake holders. This Tehri
Government of India has promulgated Electricity Regulatory Township is the best example and veritable role model worth rep-
Commission Act, 1998, now a part of Electricity Act, 2003, for set- licating, which has been developed along with the construction of
ting up of Independent Regulatory bodies both at the Central level 1000 MW hydroelectric project in Uttarakhand State of India.
and at the State level namely The Central Electricity Regulatory
Commission (CERC) and the State Electricity Regulatory Com-
mission (SERCs). The main function of the CERC are to regulate 12.10  PPRAISAL AND TECHNO-
A
the tariff of generating companies owned or controlled by the Cen-
tral Government, to regulate the tariff of generating companies,
ECONOMIC CLEARANCES
other than those owned or controlled by the Central Government, if 12.10.1 Appraisal of DPRs
such generating companies enter into or otherwise have a compos-
ite scheme for generation and sale of electricity in more than one 12.10.1.1  Appraising Agencies  All the multi-purpose water
State, to regulate the inter-state transmission of energy including resource development project proposals with hydro power devel-
tariff of the transmission utilities, to regulate inter-state bulk sale opment component are first appraised by CWC, then by the Advi-
12-12  •  Chapter 12

sory Committee on Irrigation, Flood Control and Multi-purpose project, basic data and planning, general design philosophy, project
projects of MoWR. After clearance of the Advisory Committee, features, capacity basis (power Potential studies), construction
CEA examines and clears the hydro power component of the planning, geological investigation details of inter-state/international
scheme. For single purpose hydro power projects, CEA act as a implications; details of survey and investigations, hydrological de-
single agency for techno-economic clearance. tails, etc. along with check list as per prescribed format. The chap-
Section 8 of Electricity Act, 2003, provides that “any generating ters in PPR will be prepared based on CWC Guide Lines.
Company intending to set up a hydro-generating station shall pre- After approval of Hydrology, CEA will give approval (in princi-
pare and submit to Authority for its concurrence, a scheme estimated ple) for installed capacity, number of units, energy generation, etc.
to involve a capital expenditure exceeding such sum as may be after receipt of clarification, if any.
fixed by Central Government, from time to time by notification.” The Developer/State Government shall also submit Environment
The Authority, on receipt of such schemes, examines them from Impact Assessment Report together with R&R Plan, Environment
techno-economic aspects before it accords its concurrence. and Disasters Management Plans along with broad cost estimates
At present, the Central Government has fixed the following cost and application for forest clearance (if required to the Ministry of
limits for submission of the schemes for concurrence of CEA. Environment and Forest. If the schedule tribe population is affected
the R&R Plan will also be submitted to the Ministry of Social Jus-
  i) In relation to a scheme for generating station prepared by tice and Empowerment/Tribal affairs. The concerned Ministries
a Generating Company and selected through a process of will accord relevant clearances after due appraisal and if required,
competitive bidding by the competent Government, rupees obtain Defense clearance, from Ministry of Defense also.
one thousand crores;
  ii) In relation to a scheme for the Generating station prepared
12.10.2.2  Detailed Project Report (DPR) Preparation Stage 
by a Generating company whose tariff for sale of electricity
Hydro electric projects are capital intensive involving high tech-
is determined by the Central Electricity Regulatory Com-
nology and relatively long gestation period. Due to their complex
mission or any State Electricity Regulatory Commission,
Rs.2500 crores. nature, a large amount of preparatory work is done by the project
iii) In relation to a scheme for renovation and modernization proponents. Preparatory work covers detailed field investigations,
of existing power generating stations, rupees five hundred planning, assessment of benefits, design and engineering studies,
crores and detailed cost estimates based on analysis, cost of inputs and equip-
  iv) In relation to all other schemes, rupees two hundred and ment, identification and tie up of inputs, project need, justification
fifty crores. and economics and environment studies, safety aspects, etc.
    v) All hydroelectric schemes utilizing water of inter-state riv- The Developer after completing the preparatory work will pre-
ers shall be submitted to the Authority for its concurrence. pare Detailed Project Report (DPR) of Hydroelectric Project in ac-
cordance with the “Guidelines for preparation of Detailed Project
For private sector HEPs, the clearance from the State Govern- Report of Irrigation & Multipurpose Projects” published by Cen-
ment would be required in the area of water availability, Reha- tral Government [31]. After obtaining the required clearances as
bilitation and Resettlement (R&R) of displaced persons, land stated under Para on “Development Stage”, shall submit to the
availability and E&F clearance. The Report duly accepted by State Central Electricity Authority complete DPR for accord of Techno
Government is to be submitted to CEA. Economic Clearance as required under section 8 of Electricity Act
Techno-economic examination of project reports of hydro elec- 2003.
tric/multi-purpose project is an interactive and complex pro­cess The civil cost estimates forming part of DPR shall be prepared
and involves various disciplines like hydrology, civil design, based on “Guide lines for preparation of Estimates for River Val-
electrical and mechanical formations with a view to finalize the ley Projects” published by Central Water Commission [32] and the
features of the project based on the optimal plan development of Electrical & Mechanical cost estimates shall be prepared as per
water resources, and also considering techno-economic feasibility prescribed CEA Performa [33].
and requirements of system.
CEA coordinates examination of DPRs with CWC, CSMRS, and 12.10.2.3  Finalization of Project Cost  On receipt of the DPRs
GSI on aspects pertaining to their respective specialized discipline. of hydro projects, copies of the same would be forwarded to CWC
and GSI in addition to examination in the various divisions of
12.10.2 Documents to be Submitted for Appraisal CEA.
The procedure given hereunder is the one in practice and not The Developer shall interact, provide clarifications/additional
emerging from role assigned to CEA under the Act. The objective information and obtain approval for Hydraulic structures, Con-
of such a procedure is to expedite the appraisal process so that struction Machinery/Equipment, civil cost estimates, etc. from
developers get the clearance quickly from CEA. The under listed CWC, Construction Materials from CSMRS, Geological aspects
development stage is a part of DPR preparation stage but by com- from GSI and Electro-mechanical designs, cost estimates of elec-
plying with this prior to undertaking the rigor of DPR would help trical and mechanical works, etc. from CEA.
overall saving in time of getting concurrence from CEA. The total cost estimates of the project shall be finalized by
CEA after approval of electrical and mechanical cost estimates
12.10.2.1  Development Stage  The Developer will prepare a and civil cost estimates and including cost of environmental and
Preliminary Project Report (PPR) of Hydro Power Project based R&R/Tribal Welfare Works as cleared by Ministry of Environ-
on survey and investigation and Hydrology and submitted to CEA. ment and Forest and Ministry of Social Justice and Empower-
CEA will forward PPR for examination and approval to CWC for ment. The financial costs shall be submitted by the Developer
hydrology and Inter-State/International aspects and to GSI for Geo­ based on the financial package and these shall be examined and
logical aspect (in principle). PPR will contain basic concept of the finalized in CEA.
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  12-13

Two check lists, Check List-A and Check List-B have also been     iv) Investigations (Geological, Seismic, Foundation, Hy-
included to be filled in and submitted along with DPR. The gist of drological and Meteorological, etc.)
these checklists is as under. The complete details of these check-       v)  Hydrology
lists are given in the document “Guidelines for Formulation of     vi)  Land acquisition and resettlement of ousters
Project Reports for Hydro Power Projects” [33, 34].   vii)  Design and model studies carried out
viii)  Floor control and drainage
    ix) Power planning and related proposals regarding trans-
Check List-A First Stage Check List for Hydro
mission system, energy charges, etc.
Electric Projects
   x) Construction program and man power and plant planning.
a) Registration of the Company as per the Company Act and xi)  Foreign exchange and financial resources
authorization of the State Government/Central Government xii)  Estimates
as the case may be in accordance with Section 10 Electricity xiii)  B.C. ratio and revenue
Act, 2003 xiv)  Ecological aspects and Soil Conservation (if needed).
b) Land and water availability certificate from State Government
c) Clearance from Ministry of Environment and Forest, Govt. Details of Financial Package
of India
d) Justification of the Scheme from power supply–demand a) Financial package should be in CEA prescribed Performa
consideration 1001–1004 filled up as under:
e) Completed cost, Present Day Cost (for SEBs) and both for 1001  Financial package Summary.
Generating Companies in Public Sector as per CEA formats - Broad details of hard cost, interest during construc-
f )  Financial and commercial aspects as per CEA format tion and financing charges.
g)  Defense clearance, if applicable 1001  Financial Package Abstract.
h)  Salient features as per CEA format - Financial structure i.e., Amount of foreign/domes-
i)  Cost estimates as per CEA format tic debt and equity (Foreign/ domestic/ promoters/
other partners), exchange rates, etc.
Legal Aspects (As applicable) 1002  Financial Package Details.
- Details of each debt package (Amount, source, in-
Compliance under Indian Electricity Act
§  terest rate, repayment period, moratorium period,
Power Purchase Agreement (PPA)
§  financing charges, etc.)
Tariff Notification
§  1003  - Phasing of expenditure and drawl of fund statement.
Equity participation
§  b) Commitment letters from foreign/ domestic lenders along
Change of name of implementing agency
§  with their terms and conditions.
General/Specific conditions.
§  c)  Equity partner agreement
d) Package wise Interest during Construction (in respective cur-
Check List-B Second Stage Check List for Hydro rency) along with detailed calculations.
Electric Projects e) Package wise Financing Charges (in respective currency) in-
a)  General Data of Project (Location, State, District, etc.). cluding guarantee fee and commitment charges along with
b) Registration of the Company as per the Company Act and calculations.
authorization of the State Government/Central Government f ) In case of projects of SEBs / Central Sector the calculation of
as the case may be in accordance with Section 10 of Electric- IDC and financing charges are required both at current and
ity Act, 2003. completed cost.
c) Land and water availability certificate from State Government. Break up of Cost Estimates
d) Clearance from Ministry of Environment and Forest, Govt. Break up of Cost Estimates of Electrical and Mechanical and
of India. Civil works of Hydro Electric Project as per CEA format / CWC
e) Justification of the Scheme from power supply- demand con- Guidelines.
sideration. The Check List-A is for checking of legal and other major clear-
f ) Completed cost, Present Day Cost (for SEBs) and both for ances at the time of receipt of DPR. If the requirement as per Check
Generating Companies in Public Sector as per CEA formats. List-A are not met, the proposal would not be accepted for process-
g)  Financial and commercial aspects as per CEA format. ing in CEA. The Check List-B is for checking of the completeness
h) Rehabilitation and resettlement plan from State Revenue De- of the DPR. If the requirements as per Check List-B are not there,
partment. the proposal would be returned.
i)  Defense Clearance, if applicable. If the proposal is found to be meeting the requirements as per
j) Section 8 and 9 of Electricity Act, 2003 (for private sector Check List-A and Check List-B, it would be further processed
projects). and clarifications/additional information, if necessary, may be
k) Competent Government’s recommendation of DPR and cost sought.
(in case of private generating companies).
l) Detailed information regarding the following aspects of con- 12.10.3 Aspects Appraised by Different Agencies
cerned Hydro Electric Project must be incorporated in the
Detailed Project Report/Feasibility Report: 12.10.3.1  Aspects Appraised by CWC  Central Water Com-
        i)  Planning mission and wherever necessary in consultation with MOWR, ex-
      ii)  Inter-state/International aspects amines and accords approval to the issues like hydrology of the
    iii) Survey (Topographical, construction material, etc.) project, design and cost estimates of civil components, inter-state/
12-14  •  Chapter 12

international aspects, dam safety aspects, etc. A brief about the designs of turbine or pump/turbine (for PSSs), generator or motor/
objective of appraising these aspects is given as under: generator (for PSSs), main step-up transformer along with cooling
Hydrology: CWC appraise the hydrological inputs and hydro- arrangement/system, switch-yard equipment (conventional or gas
logical studies. It includes assessment of quantities of available insulated switchgear), single line scheme, control and protection
water at the project site and time variation, estimation of design equipment, auxiliary services and transportation, etc. included in
flood, silt studies for estimation of life of the project. They play a the DPR.
vital role in the planning of hydro electric projects and the design Cost of E & M Works: For E & M Works, estimated cost is
of various hydraulic structures. An over estimate of water avail- verified by CEA based on cost data of similar equipment available
ability may lead to larger investment and project may become in CEA.
costlier resulting in a higher installation. On the other hand, lower Evacuation of Power: CEA examines the adequacy of power
estimates of water availability may result in a wastage of some evacuation system proposed by the project authorities to evacuate
hydro potential and non-utilization of selected site optimally. the power generated by the project and suggests necessary modi-
Construction Machinery: CWC carry out appraisal of the fications, if any.
construction planning machinery and construction methodology, Construction Program: CEA examines activity-wise, item-
number and type of equipment required, use rate of equipment, wise and year-wise targets/schedule for construction for each of
unit rates of work, etc. in order to have a realistic estimates of the the major components of the project, which are based on detailed
cost of the project and the time required for construction. Bar/PERT Chart. The completion cost of the scheme is worked out
Foundation Engineering, Dam Safety and Civil Design based on detailed construction Program.
Aspects: CWC have specialized formations to examine founda- Financial and Commercial Aspects: Financial and commercial
tion engineering aspects and civil design aspects of civil structures aspects of a hydro-electric projects are examined by CEA, which
including dam safety aspects for various structures related with includes examination of financial package, calculation of interest
hydro electric schemes. during construction based on different financial packages, leveled
Inter-State/International Aspects: CWC also examines inter- tariff calculation with the objective of assessing as to whether the
State/international aspects related with a hydro electric project in project is attractive enough to proceed further.
consultation with Ministry of Water Resources, if considered nec-
essary and provides necessary suggestions to CEA. 12.10.3.3  Aspects Appraised by GSI  The geological aspects
Cost Estimates of Civil Works: Before cost estimates of civil are appraised by Geological Survey of India (GSI).
works are cleared by CWC, the project is evaluated from the angle The objective of appraisal is to assess the adequacy of mapping
of various aspects like hydrology, civil design, dams design, gates drilling, drifting, geological investigation and impact of geologi-
design, dam safety, foundation engineering, power plant engineer- cal features on designs. The BIS and guidelines of CWC form the
ing, barrage and canal design, construction machinery aspects, basis. The objective is that the rock type, weathering limit, the
etc. by CWC. It is essential because the cost depends upon all the overburden depth projected and marked on the drawings is based
above mentioned clearances. A change anywhere in these aspects on the input of investigations carried out at site. The drive of the
may affect the cost aspect. checking is that there is no room for geological surprises during
Once all the aspects are finalized, the cost estimates included in construction as this can be one of the main factor leading to time
DPR are verified. To verify the estimated cost of civil works, hour- and cost over runs.
ly use rates of equipment and analysis of rate of main works, like
excavation, concreting, RCC works, stripping, filling, grouting, 12.10.3.4  Aspects Appraised by CSMRS  Central Soil and
etc. are determined for each activity. Based on the construction Material Research Station (CSMRS) carries out appraisal of con-
designs, finalized, the quantities of the items required are worked struction material aspects in regards to suitability of different ma-
out. Based on these, the estimated cost of civil works proposed in terials and their source for use in the project.
DPR is reviewed and finalized.

12.10.3.2  Aspects Appraised by CEA  12.10.3.5  Clearance from MOEF  Development of hydro-
Legal Aspects: CEA examines and ensures whether the project electric projects has also adverse impacts on the surrounding
authorities have complied with all the legal provisions. environment. Hydro-electric projects may involve submergence
Justification of the Project: CEA carries out studies and fore- causing environmental and ecological aspects, rehabilitation and
casts the ‘Power Supply Position’ with and without the proposed resettlement and forest land. This necessitates scrutiny and clear-
project and examine the need/justification of the project from ance from Ministry of Environment and Forest. In case the projects
system demand point of view. Necessary inputs/information re- involve diversion of forest land, clearance is also required from for-
garding future system demand in both peak demand and energy est angle from MOEF under Forest Conservation Act, 1980 [35].
requirement for these studies is provided by Electric Power Survey
Report published by CEA. 12.10.3.6  Clearance from Defense  If a hydro-electric project
Hydro Power Planning Aspects: CEA examines the general involves Defense aspects, then the clearance is also required from
layout of the hydro scheme as proposed by the project authorities Defense angle. The request is made to Ministry of Power to take up
and suggest modification, if any. CEA also examines the power the case with the Ministry of Defense.
potential studies carried out by the project authorities for the years
for which hydrological data is available, proposed installed capac- 12.10.4 Techno-economic Clearance
ity and number and unit size, etc. CEA also examines the overall After CEA satisfies itself about the technical and economic vi-
basin development and how the project proposal fits into it. ability of the project and if necessary inputs/clearances for the
Designs Aspects of E & M Works: From the point of view scheme are tied up, it accords concurrence to the proposal as pro-
of suitability of electro-mechanical design aspects, CEA examines posed or subject to some conditions as an interim step prior to its
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  12-15

occurrence. At times when, MoEF clearance is pending, CEA ac- Nepal, with its major river systems comprising of Kosi, Gandaki,
cords conditional clearance so that the developer could take ad- Karnali, Mahakali and Southern Rivers, has total hydro potential
vance action for initiating certain activities including financial estimated at 83,000 MW. India and Nepal have jointly imple-
tie-up. The intimation regarding accord of concurrence for hydro- mented projects that includes Pokhra (1 MW), Trisuli (21 MW),
electric projects are given to the Project Authorities, Ministry of Western Gandak (15 MW) and Devi Ghat (14 MW) during the
Power, Planning Commission and other Government Departments period 1968 to 1983. In case of Myanmar, with its major river sys-
for further action. tems comprising of Ayeyawady, Thanlwin, Sittaung, Chindwin,
Techno Economic Concurrence of CEA: After all the speci- the total hydro potential is estimated at 39,720 MW. The existing
fied statutory sanctions and clearance from various Government Umbrella agreement on power exchange between India and Nepal
Departments/Organizations are obtained, CEA’s concurrence is and similar level of understanding between Myanmar and India
conveyed as per Section 8(2) of Electricity Act, 2003. are the instruments to be utilized for exploitation of the available
Final Financial Package: CEA also examines the final finan- hydro power resources.
cial package (after the financial tie-up with lending financial in- The present stage of development in these three countries is not
stitution has been done) submitted by the project authorities, and even at 5% level. Also their in-house power demand is far less than
accords its approval. their hydro power potential. India being a major market of power,
Issues Related with Techno-economic Appraisal of Hydro tremendous scope of inter-country cooperation for further exploi-
Schemes. Often, it is found that the DPR submitted by the Project tation of hydro power for the mutual benefit of the region is being
Authorities lack details required for proper examination and finali- seen as a way forward.
zation of the project features. DPRs lack proper surveys and inves-
tigations studies, hydrological data/studies, design details, proper
power potential studies, proper evaluation of quantities of civil 12.12  ESPONSE AND ACHIEVEMENT OF
R
works, detailed cost estimates, etc. PRIVATE SECTOR
During the course of examination when deficiencies involving
data/investigation, etc. are found, back references are made to the Unlike thermal, hydro development-particularly of medium and
project authorities for obtaining complete information and it nor- large projects-would, in certain cases (depending upon geography,
mally takes some time for them to attend to such observations. In location, type of development envisaged), involve some inherent
case the DPRs of hydroelectric projects are prepared as per the problems such as (i) difficulty of investigation at detailed project
guidelines of CWC and various quarries/clarifications raised by preparation stage; (ii) environmental aspects/clearance at project
CEA/CWC/GSI are replied promptly by the Project Authorities, approval/clearance stage; (iii) inter-state aspects/issues; (iv) reha-
a scheme could be accorded concurrence by CEA within a short bilitation of populaces/land acquisition; and (v) natural and geolog-
period after the receipt of DPR. ical risks and uncertainties particularly in the Himalayan regions.
These problems need to be recognized as part of hydro develop-
ment and to be promptly resolved by commandeering all requisite
12.11  YDRO-DEVELOPMENT IN THE
H resources/inputs. Only a handful of private companies that could
NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES recognize the long-term advantages of hydro, remained in the field
in first one decade of opening up of power sector to private com-
In the next over two decades when India would reach its targeted panies. In this period, encompassing 8th (1992 to 1997) and 9th
power installation of about 600 GW, with domestic hydro capac- (1997 to 2002) 5-year plans, the private companies contribution
ity of 150 GW at that time, the share of hydro would be at about in adding to hydro capacity has been less than 550 MW in a total
25% level only. To achieve the desirable thermal-hydro mix, one hydro capacity addition of about 7000 MW.
of the better option is to collaborate, at this stage itself, with the The reforms which were initiated in the 1990s when the power
neighboring [20] hydro rich countries viz. Bhutan, Nepal, Myan- sector was opened up to private sector got strengthened with the
mar, for joint exploitation of available hydro potential. At present, enactment of Electricity Act 2003, followed by open access regula-
co-operation at national level, in the field of hydro power develop- tions, national electricity policy and national tariff and integrated
ment, with these three countries, exist. In the case of Bhutan a good energy policy [37].
degree of success in joint co-operation for construction of hydro Private companies which had not shown much interest in under-
projects has been demonstrated which needs to be replicated with taking hydro power projects because of high capital cost, long ges-
Nepal and Myanmar. The hydro potential of these three countries tation periods, geological risks and high rate of royalty/free power
is estimated at 150 GW, i.e., equal to India’s potential [10]. demanded by the state governments in the first over one decade is
Bhutan with its major river systems comprising of Torsa, Wang- no more the trend. The hydro sector which historically had mainly
chu (Raidak), Sankosh and Manas, has total hydro potential capac- central and state utilities is now witnessing interest from over 50
ity of 30,000 MW. Through project specific agreements Chukha, new players looking at investment across the value chain.
(336 MW), Kurichu (60 MW), Tala (1200 MW) projects have been In the second decade (encompassing 10th and the running 11th
commissioned and Punatsangchu-I (1200 MW) and Mangdechu Five Year Plan up to 31st March 2010), a total of 900 MW is the
(600 MW) projects are under construction. Both countries signed share of private companies in a total hydro capacity addition of
an umbrella agreement in 2006 wherein both the governments have over 10,000 MW; whereas capacity under construction with them
agreed to facilitate, encourage and promote development and con- is 4000 MW. In the 12th Plan about 40 projects with installed ca-
struction of hydro projects and associated transmission system as pacity aggregating to about 8000 MW are expected to be commis-
well trade in electricity. Projects are to be developed both through sioned by private companies, against a total of over 20,000 MW
public and private sector participation and would be governed by programmed hydro capacity addition. In addition projects with
separate project implementation and power purchase agreements over 15,000 MW are under various stages of DPR preparation. The
[36]. increasing interest shown by private sector with each successive
12-16  •  Chapter 12

strengthening of existing roads, efficient and reliable tele-commu-

nication links, better road transport/air services, etc. are required
for their early implementation. Development of infrastructural fa-
cilities in hydro rich States needs to be planned and implemented
jointly by Central and State agencies well in advance so as to fa-
cilitate hydro development in these States.
The royalty demanded by some to the States on use of water
by hydro projects is unduly high. This requires co-operation of
the central and state governments to arrive at a realistic royalty
structure. Also, there is a need to take a fresh look on the varying
practice of free power to the Host State. Security costs, common
infrastructure facilities, R&R costs should be borne by the states in
lieu of royalty received by them This will not only reduce the cost
of generation but will make State Governments partner in ensuring
that hydro-development proceeds uninterrupted [38].
Fig. 12.8  Trend of increasing participation by Hydro electric projects involve submergence and often require
private companies in successive plans. Source: reserved as well as unreserved forest land for their implementa-
[4, 21] tion. The impact on ecology, monuments, seismicity, resettle-
ment and rehabilitation, catchment area treatment, flora and fauna
are assessed in the Environment Appraisal of the project. Forest
plan since the power sector reforms in 1992, is amply clear from clearances also require compensatory afforestation on the non-
the bar diagram in Fig. 12.8. forest lands. Identifying such land in view of availability of non-
forest land in some of the hydro rich states like Arunachal Pradesh,
Himachal Pradesh, is difficult. The resolution of these aspects is
12.13 I SSUES, CONSTRAINTS, AND often time consuming and results in delays in the clearance of the
CHALLENGES IN DEVELOPMENT projects. For the projects identified for implementation, basin-wise
environmental clearance needs to be initiated by joint efforts of
12.13.1 Issues in Hydro Development State and Central agencies rather than leaving it for developers to
The issues which need to be favorably addressed by State and undertake project-wise such works.
Central Government agencies to facilitate uninterrupted and accel- Recent norms of Net Present Value and its upfront payment for
erated development of hydro power potential include: assessing the cost of forest diversion need to be reviewed. Particu-
Unlike in the past when inadequate financial resources used larly, in case of storage schemes, huge financial burden, as at times
to be the main cause, at present, some of the power generation it works out to be of the order of 20% of the project cost, makes
schemes are not able to take off and some other on-going are facing them unviable. Such a step would encourage providing pondages
hurdles on account of interstate disputes on water and power shar- more than the bare minimum needed for peaking in case of run-off-
ing, resettlement and rehabilitation issues, flood mitigation ben- river type of hydro development.
efits to the lower riparians, etc. The power generation should be The Ministry of Environment and Forests insist on treatment of
de-linked from river water at least for those schemes which are run very highly degraded areas of free draining catchment, i.e., up to the
of the river in nature as they do not hurt the riparian rights of the next project upstream, at the project cost, whereas degradation of
downstream states or are the cause of the said problems. This could catchment takes place due to various economic activities such as ris-
help avoid water related politics plaguing hydro power sector. In ing population pressure, developmental activities, over grazing and
the long run, to ensure that neither water nor power development is pressure of agricultural activities, wood requirement, etc. With a view
used as leverage for intra and inter-state political ends, centre need to decrease not only the project cost but also discipline the contribut-
to seriously work toward enacting a legislation that would bring ing player, a review is required to be made to equitably apportion the
water into the Concurrent List. cost amongst various beneficiary sectors like agriculture, irrigation
Planning of the hydro electric project requires long-term hydro- and flood control, etc., along with power component.
meteorological data which are collected at specific locations by Unfounded concerns of environmentalists often, hold up ex-
various State and Central Government agencies in the country. ecution of well thought out and investigated projects thereby es-
This hydrological data is at times not available in the reasonable calating the project cost manifold. Without making a distinction
vicinity of the project for adequate period, without inconsistencies, whether a project is good or bad, some NGOs are opposing all
as required for optimum planning of hydro schemes especially the hydro projects. Multi-lateral financial institutions fear backlash
for projects in the Himalayan region. This results in constraints in from these NGOs and are averse to support hydro projects. The
power potential estimation and confidence in project economics. Central and State Government agencies need to work jointly to
There is need to pool the available wisdom and to do the best that ensure such dampening trends are not allowed to propagate.
is possible in the available circumstances. In the recent times, State Governments are encouraging devel-
The developers face difficulties in obtaining data related to hy- opment of run-off-river (ROR) type hydro projects only and in
drology, toposheets, geology, remote sensing, previous experiences some cases, possible storage projects are being converted into 2
of working in the project area and the projects in the vicinity. The or 3 ROR schemes. These are driven by short-term narrow gains
procedure for obtaining related data that can help in better assess- even though the reason quoted is submergence of agricultural land
ment of the cost and benefits needs to be streamlined. besides R&R issues.
For development of hydro electric projects located in the re- Active construction of sanctioned H.E. Schemes is held up in a
mote areas, infrastructural facilities like construction of bridges, number of cases simply on account of serious problems and diffi-
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  12-17

culties in acquiring required land at various stages of construction completely ruled out. The success of mitigation measures not only
viz., during pre-diversion and post diversion periods, for start of depend upon the preparedness but also on the accessibility of the
active construction, for compensatory afforestation and for resettle- site. All these factors, inter-alia, result in cost escalations and time
ment and rehabilitation. In the case of Tehri hydro-electric project over runs. The construction time and the cost of a hydro project
even religious sentiments by projecting that the sacred Ganga no being greatly influenced by the geology of the project area and its
more remains sacred once it meets and emerges from power house accessibility, the developers and the financial institutions of the
tail race, were excited. There is a need to handle these issues with projects in Himalayan region should be mentally prepared to ac-
sensitiveness so that the requirement of the country for exploiting cept and accommodate such eventualities, then only innovative
the available hydro resources optimally, is not derailed. ways would emerge that would lead to successful completion of
It is well established that storage schemes provide necessary projects [39, 40].
regulation to increase power generation during lean flow period Hydro-electric projects are generally located in remote hilly areas
and also provide flood moderation, irrigation, and drinking wa- and construction of long transmission lines in difficult terrain for
ter supply benefits besides increasing benefits from downstream evacuation of power from these projects to the load centers takes
projects and improving power system stability. Therefore, any considerable time. With State authorities taking time in exercis-
move to convert storage schemes into ROR schemes needs to be ing the option of buying whole power from the private developers,
strongly discouraged as such sites being the gift of nature, once lost identification of power buyers and power delivery locations takes
can never be retrieved. time, thus, delaying the finalization of transmission system associ-
There has also been slow progress on the tariff formulation to ated with such hydro projects. The transmission system needs to be
allow a premium on sale rate for hydro projects during peak period. firmed up well in time so that completion of the transmission lines
Hydro power is most suited for peak generation and therefore early matches the commissioning schedule of such projects. Now, that a
implementation of ‘peak time tariff’ would help mobilize invest- bulk of projects have been allocated, the project developers could
ments for this sector. Hydro power being environmentally clean at least indicate the region (s) to which they intend to supply power
and a renewable source of power need to be given special incen- rather than the exact buyer(s) of the power to facilitate firming up
tives and hydro power basin developmental area linked conces- of the transmission work at this stage.
sional tax, which can be a big resource mobilization for R&R. Manpower constraint has been perceived as a major challenge
Concurrence of CEA is required under Electricity Act for setting for increasing capacity addition. Whereas, manpower at the higher
up of a hydro power generation station estimated to involve a capi- level is being supplied by the market, the technician level man-
tal expenditure exceeding such sum as may be notified by the Cen- power is a major constraint which has to be appropriately dealt by
tral Government from time to time. The limit is presently Rs.500 utility companies, academics and professional Institutions.
crores. Since the cost of SHP’s is lower than this stipulation, SHP’s Community involvement is essential to know the requirements of
are generally not required to obtain concurrence of CEA. There is a the locals and accordingly decide the resource endowments. Skills
need to ensure that appraisal agencies prove as facilitator. development commensurate to technology deployment is desirable
The Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) must be con- so that operation and maintenance can be done by locals.
cerned to ensure that hydro power development is encouraged and Govt. of India had initiated ‘adopt an ITI’ scheme to build up
not increase, beyond requirement, coal based power generation. skilled manpower around the project area. Under the scheme, the
It needs to champion the development of hydro including putting project developer is expected to adopt an Industrial Training Insti-
forth the suggestions for extension of benefits of renewal energy tute (ITI) or open a technical training centre in the neighborhood of
to it. the project well before commencement of construction activities,
RTI Act at times becomes a deterrent with fears of decision be- upgrade the facilities for training of students in different trades
ing reviewed and questioned. Such an environment, particularly needed for the project. This would provide an opportunity to local
in public sector units, is leading to delaying development of hy- residents to improve their skills to get employment opportunities in
dro power projects. Contractual arrangements need to be revisited the project. Likewise, health and education facilities with remote
to facilitate mid-term review due to contractual difficulties and areas can be improved utilizing the facilities created during project
uncertainties. construction in a systematic plan of regional development.
The scheme of private sector participation in development of Industry is also being motivated to take initiatives in Mission
transmission projects will need to be expanded to cover larger Mode to develop skills in the country like build up a pool of high
number of projects. The procedure will need to be re-visited to pressure welders by arranging training and certification of their
ensure that developments of these projects are achieved as per the capability. These measures will not only help building up skilled
targeted schedules. manpower force in the country but also provide employment oppor-
tunity to youth in the project area benefiting the PAPs. It is neces-
12.13.2 Constraints in Hydro Development sary to ensure their implementation through appropriate monitoring
The constraints which are inherent to hydro power development mechanism. Involvement of power generating and transmission
projects, have to be understood by the developers and ways and utilities will be helpful in ensuring the success of these initiatives.
means would need to be devised to ensure that constraints are con- There is a need to establish a Hydro Power Institute with exper-
verted to opportunities. The constraints include: tise in Planning design, engineering, project management for pro-
Features of the hydro-electric projects, being site specific, de- motion of new technologies in the hydro power projects, pooling
pend on the geology, topography and hydrology at the site. In spite and dissemination of experience of planning, design, construction,
of detailed investigations using state-of-the-art techniques that are and operation maintenance including failures experienced during
carried out at the time of preparation of Detailed Project Report, project implementation.
there is still possibility of hydro projects facing some uncertainties An independent agency for construction management, quality
in the sub-surface geology during implementation of the project. control is considered essential to ensure timely completion, quality
The Geological surprises during actual construction cannot be and completeness of hydro power projects.
12-18  •  Chapter 12

Better quality control at manufacturers’ works is desirable as operating range, and costs. From the smallest to the largest, all
this would reduce the erection and operational problems. Manufac- developments have a footprint, especially evident in the cumula-
turers need to review the quality assurance program of the E&M tive effect of many small schemes. Smaller-scale hydro plays an
and HM equipments. important role in remote areas, in community developments, the
A Central warehouse of latest construction machinery needs large number of run-off river and pumped storage are required
to be created for use by various developers to suit the site to meet the peaking demand, the storage based hydro cater to the
requirements. power system stability and meeting multiple demand of water,
There is a need to redesign Tunnel Boring Machines suitable for mega schemes will continue to be the most environmentally be-
Himalayan geology as the experience of using TBM in Himalayan nign in supporting grid systems and powering industrial and urban
Geology has not been encouraging. But there are projects, which centers.
envisage about 5 km of tunnel from one face and the use of TBM The least-cost option for producers desiring additional capac-
may be unavoidable. For successful completion of these projects ity is almost always to modernize existing plants, when this is an
in a reasonable time, selection of the most suited type of the TBM option. Equipment with improved performance can be retrofitted,
based on the geo-technical investigation inputs is essential. Also often to accommodate market demands for more flexible, peaking
for achieving the desired progress, fore-probing as the excavation modes of operation. Most of the hydro equipment in operation to-
progresses, will need to be made integral to the construction meth- day will need to be modernized by 2030. The layout plans of civil,
odology. Also, the seismic prediction methodology needs improve- electro and hydro mechanical components need to account for this
ment for assessing geological conditions in underground works to need of the future.
minimize geological surprise and the time and cost over-run. Most hydro power projects in the country suffer execution
To facilitate competition and to ensure that hydro development problems and delays due to the inability to assign and distribute
does not suffer for want of experienced contractors, qualifying re- risks amongst the stake-holders vis-à-vis the contractors, develop-
quirements need to be rationalized to facilitate financially sound ers, banks and financial institutions and the governments (State/
parties having experience in other civil infrastructure works to en- Centre). The risks assessment itself is a complex and continuous
ter into hydro project construction work. process and needs innovative treatment. Risk management can be
achieved by logical risk allocation and sharing the cost of risk and
12.13.3 Challenges in Hydro Development overcoming the challenges posed by land acquisition problems;
Hydro development projects involves working with the natural law and order issues; security of people involved with projects and
factors like topography, geology, hydrology and by virtue of their the projects itself and issues of local public interest besides the in-
being spread over a large area, they inherently involve wide variety herent risks of disasters and disaster management. The key element
of field conditions, and managing these for successful tapping of in the direction of rendering the process of Risk Mitigation more
this precious resource is a challenge. Some of the challenges with effective is hydro power development accorded the Renewable En-
the way forward are: ergy status so that the portfolio benefits starts become available
Hydro sector has been assigned an important role in the power [44].
scenario and it is expected that the current imbalance of its reduced A model contract document for hydro projects has recently been
share vs. thermal, would gradually be set right. With use of ad- developed by a committee under the chairmanship of Chairperson,
vanced analysis and design tools along with modern construction CEA. The document includes Risk Register indicating the various
equipment based methodologies and effective project management risks and proper allocation of the risk, between the employer and
techniques, that are available in abundance, efforts would be made contractor. The model contract document is under discussion with
to establish hydro power plants in a shorter time frame so that the the stake holders and after taking their inputs into consideration,
targets set for the Five Year Plan period are achieved [41, 42]. the same may be ready for adoption. This is an attempt to minimize
Geological surprises could be minimized by adopting suitable disputes in contracts. 
means during planning and investigation stage and their impact on The private sector role is increasing in the development of hy-
time and cost over runs could be reduced during construction stage by dro power with more than a dozen groups engaged more actively
timely decision and timely adoption of more suited/alternative con- in the development of hydro power projects besides keen interest
struction methodologies and equipments. During planning stage, the shown by many. Developers may be having love for this sector, but
suitable project specific program of investigations has to be planned the financial sector seems to be insensitive to the issues of hydro
and there should be regular interaction amongst planning, design and power development and the risks of investments. A major relook is
engineering formations with engineering, geology and geo-physical required to bring in greater degree of predictability with elements
experts. Geological investigations should be taken up after certain in building greater certainly to factor like assessments of geology,
preparatory works like accurate topographic surveys, procurement of time of completion and cost. The success of private sector depends
good quality drilling machines, specialized manpower with drifting, on its will to learn to live and work through uncertainties and the
etc., are complete. During construction stage, site engineer must en- regulatory institutions. It is expected that government policy mak-
sure that geo-technical experts closely observes the formations after ers would be more sensitive to the development issues of hydro
every round of excavation, Project specific data of projects in opera- power [45, 46].
tion is available with the respective project authorities for reference
and use. Underground civil works are properly secured to avoid un-
necessary rock falls and hill slopes in proximity of major surface civil 12.14 I NNOVATIONS FOR FUTURE
structures are properly stabilized. Also adequate supplies of alterna- PROJECTS
tive materials, spares and equipments are readily available to cater to
varying site requirements [43]. Many technically feasible hydro power projects are financially
The Challenge is to continuously improve hydro power technol- challenged because of their remote location or they are at such high
ogy in terms of environmental performance, materials, efficiency, altitude that their access road is available during non-snow period
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  12-19

of 6 to 8 months only. High up-front costs for such projects are a 12.15 CONCLUSIONS
deterrent for investment. There are yet another set of projects that
are storage reservoir based with weak foundation conditions, i.e., An analysis of the energy scenario of India indicates that hy-
overburden in the river bed extends for a large depth. Many a times dro power development has a very important role in meeting the
when flood discharge for such projects is very high and abutments energy needs of the country. To meet the ever increasing power
are steep, locating a concrete gravity type structure to support a demand, India would need to increase its installation from 160 GW
spillway, in the river bed, is a challenge. The provision of spillway at present to 4 times. The present stage of hydro exploitation at
in the bank involve not only extensive slope stabilization measures 25% level of its potential estimated at 150 GW, would also need
during construction but at times become safety concerns during to be accelerated to achieve the desired hydro thermal mix. An
operation and maintenance phase of the project. Another category investment of over US$ 100 billion would be required in a period
of projects are the ones that involve long lengths of tunnels as of about two decades to meet the planned target of hydro power
the water carriers and for some reaches, locating adits, to control projects. A significant role of private participation in exploiting
length to be excavated from each face to be in the manageable lim- the balance of over 100 GW of hydro is being envisaged. To meet
its, becomes a topographical constraint. Conventional construction the ambitious targets set for the coming Five Year Plans, pooling
methodologies need to be replaced with innovative solutions for of resources from the Engineering Consultancy firms, Contractors,
their development. Stand alone, some of these projects may look Equipment Manufacturers and Suppliers Groups is very essential.
economically unattractive but they need to be implemented to ser­ Fund requirements would be of the order of US$ 30 billion for hy-
vice the social good of the remote localities and at the times to meet dro sector up to 12th Plan and US$ 50 billion for 12th Plan (2012
the requirements of stability of the power system. The reservoir to 2017) for transmission sector.
based storage projects do value addition in firming up the energy Since balance of the project construction is pre-dominantly lo-
generation of the cascade of downstream projects. There is a need cated in the Himalayan region, which is known for wide range of
to take-up these projects by apportioning part of their cost to social rock mass strengths with dry to very high quantity of water ingress,
development objectives and for the other set of projects, their cost and when it comes to underground works, predicting their locations
can be off loaded to the downstream projects that are getting ben- is a challenge, India would remain a hub for innovations in hydro
efited. In this way the economic viability of projects gets justified power development. Many of these projects, with large installed
and the hydro power development could proceed unhindered. capacities, would require mega-size companies to play the needed
Now, that investor’s confidence in hydro-sector is encourag- role in their development. With its ambitious plan of exploiting the
ing, the main challenge for the power utilities would be to ensure vast potential of small hydro sector and the incentives declared by
risk reduction and timely return. In the process, of advantages of the Government to boost the construction activity, smaller groups
low operating cost in comparison to high capital investment with could find attractive avenues for investment and engineering.
lengthy lead time for planning, permitting and construction, would The Government of India and the State Governments have car-
be physically experienced by developers. This is the only way that ried out amendments in the policies to attract developers to take ini­
the investor will remain glued to this sector and in the process more tiative for construction of project on BOOT basis. There are well
appropriate financing model will develop that would ensure long- laid out procedures for appraisal and accord of techno-economic
term sustainability of development with optimum role for public concurrence to the Detailed Project Reports, as a pre-requisite to
and private sectors. Green markets and trading in emissions reduc- meet the requirement of undertaking project construction.
tions will undoubtedly provide incentives in some areas so also The issues, which need further favorable consideration by the
the interconnection between countries and the formation of power Government agencies have been discussed, the constraints in de-
pools will build investor confidence. velopment that have been listed are required to be viewed as a chal-
India’s massive program to develop Himalayan water resources lenge to be overcome by being partners in the development. The
for hydroelectricity has produced a large amount of data on rates determination of developers to face challenges inherent to hydro
of sedimentation of reservoirs and the sediment related damage to power development of Himalayan rivers would lead to abundant
turbines and under water parts. Invariably the volume of incoming advantages in terms of attractive revenue from the sale of energy,
sediment has been much higher than hydroelectric engineers had in the operational phase of the project.
predicted prior to project construction. The hydro power development in the neighboring hydro rich
The natural processes in the Himalayan region are so predominant countries would also need to proceed at a faster pace to meet the
that there is no requirement to seek human intervention as the cause growing energy need of the region. The security of consumption
of siltation. In other words, artificial reservoirs will silt up rapidly in can be viewed with comfort as a large populace of India would
this very dynamic region regardless of human influences — negative serve as an assured market for all times to come.
or positive. Unless effective sediment management strategies suited to The private participation, which has shown an increasing trend
the type of development (ROR or storage) are integral to the project of their contribution, since expects timely return of their invest-
formulation, the project may suffer losses during operation and main- ments, the Governments cannot escape but to become partners and
tenance stage and returns may get affected. play a more aggressive role in resolving the hindrances at local and
The low strength rocks would be encountered in some of the Government levels.
projects in Himalayas. The aggregates produced from such rocks
may not meet the required standards stipulated in the specifications.
As against long distance transportation of acceptable quality ag- 12.16 ACRONYMS
gregates which would make the project economics unviable, when
locally available inferior quality aggregates are used to generate AHEC : Alternate Hydro Energy Centre
both coarse and fine fractions for concrete, innovative engineering BOOT : Build Own Operate and Transfer
and well researched construction material studies would have to be CEA : Central Electricity Authority
undertaken to justify the compliance to the safety norms. CERC : Central Electricity Regulatory Commission
12-20  •  Chapter 12

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Delhi, India organized by Indian Society for Rock Mechanics and
46. India’s Electricity Sector — Widening Scope for Private Participation -
Tunneling Technology, New Delhi, India.
www.powermin.nic.in/whats_new/pdf/brochure-revised.doc.
 chapter

13
CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES IN
TIDAL AND WAVE POWER
Paul T. Jacobson
ABSTRACT virtually all hydropower is generated by conventional means
involving impoundment of water bodies and passage of water
Power generation from waves and tidal currents is a nascent in- through turbines placed in water control structures. Conventional
dustry with the potential to make globally significant contributions hydropower constituted 6% of all primary energy production and
to renewable energy portfolios. Further development and deploy- 15.8% of net electricity generation worldwide in 2007 [4]. There
ment of the related, immature technologies present opportunities to is substantial potential for expansion of conventional hydropower
benignly tap large quantities of renewable energy; however, such generation through construction of new hydropower dams, ex-
development and deployment also present numerous engineering, panded generation at existing hydropower facilities, and instal-
economic, ecological, and sociological challenges. A complex re- lation of turbines at existing dams that currently lack generating
search, development, demonstration, and deployment environment capacity. The International Hydropower Association estimates
must be skillfully navigated if wave and tidal power are to make that conventional hydropower can be expanded by 70% world-
significant contributions to national energy portfolios during the wide, mostly in developing countries [5]. The US-based National
next several decades. Hydropower Association has established the goal of doubling
hydropower’s contribution to the nation’s energy portfolio, with
capacity increases coming from development of new pumped stor-
13.1 INTRODUCTION age projects, conversion of non-powered dams, new capacity and
modernization at existing hydroelectric facilities, and hydrokinetic
Societal demand for energy continues to grow. Over the period
projects, including in-stream, wave, and tidal power projects. The
1980 to 2007, total global primary energy consumption grew at an
EPRI [6] estimates that conventional hydropower capacity (exclu-
average annual rate of 2.0% [1]. While improvements in the effi-
sive of pumped storage) could be increased 18% by 2025, with just
ciency of energy use have the potential to slow this rate of growth,
over half of that increase coming from new capacity at existing,
an ever-increasing world human population and industrial and eco-
non-powered dams.
nomic development ensure that demand for energy will continue
New dam construction is constrained or precluded in many parts
to grow into the foreseeable future. Thus, worldwide energy con-
of the world, including the US, by siting constraints and concerns
sumption is projected to grow at an average annual rate of 1.4%
about the environmental effects of dam construction and opera-
over the period 2007–2035 [2].
tion. Furthermore, the presumed low carbon status of conventional
Societal concern regarding climate change resulting from car-
hydropower is threatened by reports that reservoirs used for hydro-
bon emissions associated with fossil fuel consumption is driving
power generation can be net sources of greenhouse gas emissions,
worldwide efforts to reduce net emissions of carbon dioxide and
most notably methane [7-9].
other greenhouse gases. A recent study by the Electric Power Re-
Emerging technologies for hydropower generation such as wave
search Institute (EPRI) [3] demonstrated that 58% reduction from
power and tidal power do not require impoundment of water bod-
2005 emission levels can be achieved by 2030 for the US electricity
ies. These technologies have the potential to add significantly to
sector (including electro-technologies and electric transportation)
hydropower generating capacity while avoiding many of the siting
given aggressive deployment of a suite of energy technologies,
and environmental concerns associated with conventional hydro-
including conservation and improved efficiency of energy use. A
power and other forms of power generation.
key point highlighted by this study is that deployment of a diverse
array of technologies allows the target reductions in carbon emis-
sions to be achieved in a more cost-effective manner.
Other considerations favoring renewable power generation in- 13.2 THE RESOURCE
clude the environmental effects associated with extraction and
consumption of fossil fuels, a desire to reduce reliance on foreign Tidal power and wave power are potential sources of significant
suppliers, and concerns regarding long-term supply of fossil fuels. quantities of domestic, renewable, low-carbon energy. Coastal ar-
Waterpower constitutes a minor but significant contribution to eas are in closest proximity to these renewable resources. Tidal
meeting future energy demand with renewable sources. Currently, power is, by its nature, limited to coastal areas, whereas wave
13-  •  Chapter 13

power tends to increase with distance from shore. According to the ·  In the North Atlantic south of Iceland and west of Scotland
Census Bureau, 48.9% of the US population lived within 50 miles (90 kW/m) [12]
of a coastline in 2000. These figures include coastlines with very ·  In the North Pacific south of the Aleutian Islands and off the
limited wave and tidal energy (such as in the Great Lakes and the west coast of Canada, Washington, and Oregon (75 kW/m)
Gulf of Mexico). Nonetheless, potential for local, ocean-based [13]
power generation has relevance for a very significant portion of the ·  Between 40°S and 60°S in the Southern Hemisphere
US population. Ocean-based power generation has the potential (140 kW/ m, southwest of Australia) [12]
to supply renewable energy to areas of high demand, without oc-
cupying limited terrestrial open space or requiring long-distance It should be pointed out that the high latitude areas exhibiting
transmission. the highest annual mean wave power also exhibit the greatest sea-
Quantification of wave and tidal energy resources is of value sonal variability. The maximum monthly average wave power is
both for assessing potential for resource development and for sit- approximately 200 kW m-1 in both the Northern and Southern
ing of generating facilities. Hemispheres [12].
An ongoing US Department of Energy (USDOE)–sponsored
13.2.1 Wave Energy study being conducted by EPRI has estimated that the total avail-
able energy flux across the continental shelf break for the United
Power density of waves for a given sea state is:
States is approximately 2640 TWh/yr (Table 13.1) [14]. Estimates
of annual mean wave power density are being mapped along the
P = kH s2Tz (13.1) coastlines of the United States extending out to 50 nautical miles
from the shoreline (see Figure 13.2).
where P is the wave power flux (kW m-1), Hs is the significant
wave height (m), Tz is the mean wave period (s), and k is a con- 13.2.2 Tidal Energy
stant usually in the range of 0.4 to 0.6, depending on the relative Hydraulic power density (P, W m-2) is a function of the density
amounts of energy in the short-period, wind-driven component and of water (r, kg m-3) and its speed (V, m s-1), scaling with the third
the longer-period swell component of the given sea state. power of the water speed [15]:
Wave power develops over the unobstructed length of open wa-
ter acted upon by the wind (called the fetch); thus, wave climate in 1 3
P= ρV
the US tends to be best along the Pacific coast, which is exposed 2 (13.2)
to prevailing westerly winds. Wave power is diminished by inter- -3
action of wave energy with the sea bottom. This effect becomes Given the density of sea water (1024 kg m ), power density
insignificant with water depths greater than half a wavelength; can be high in tidal currents. Water speed of just 1.0 m s-1 yields
thus, wave power generally increases with distance offshore out a power density of 0.5 kW m-2, while a tidal stream of 3.0 m s-1
to a depth of approximately 200 m, which corresponds to the ap- yields a power density of 13.8 kW m-2 (Figure 13.3).
proximate depth of the continental shelf edge. The total power extracted (Pextracted) from a tidal stream scales
The magnitude of the global wave energy resource is estimated with cross-sectional area of the intercepted flow (A) and the effi-
to be 2 TW (18,000 TWh/yr) [10]. The Carbon Trust [11] estimates ciency with which the energy is extracted (ηe) [16]:
that approximately 13%-20% of this natural worldwide wave en- 1
ergy resource constitutes a practical resource (accounting for site Pextracted = ηe ρ AV 3
2 (13.3)
availability and technical factors). Figure 13.1 shows an estimate
of the global distribution of annual mean wave power based upon The theoretical maximum limit on extraction of energy from the
a prediction of wave climatology over the period 1997–2006. An- total kinetic flux in unconstrained flow (known as the Betz limit)
nual mean wave power is greatest: is 59%; however, several authors have questioned the relevance of

Fig. 13.1  Annual average wave power density (Source: Cornett [13])
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  13-

Table 13.1  Mean annual wave energy flux

estimated from WaveWatch III multi-partition
hindcast sea state parameters and
reconstructed spectra and aggregated
by region [14]
Region Total Available Flux (TWh/yr)
West Coast 590
East Coast 200
Alaska 1,360
Bearing Sea 210
SE Atlantic 40
Gulf of Mexico 80
Puerto Rico 30
Hawaii 130
Total 2,640 Fig. 13.3 Hydraulic power of seawater (P; kW m-2)
as a function of current speed (V; m s-1).

Betz’s assumptions to a tidal scenario [17-19]. Resource assess- (which excludes sites with annual average power densities less than
ment based on the energy flux in undisturbed flow is considered 1 kW/m2) is 115 TWh/yr [29, 30]. This suite of sites includes:
to be only preliminary by some (e.g., 18), and others (e.g., 20)
·  Alaska (many sites), 109 TWh/yr
consider such an approach to be flawed. True resource assessments
·  Puget Sound, Washington, 3.5 TWh/yr
should be based on energy extraction modeling that incorporates
·  Golden Gate, San Francisco, California, 2 TWh/yr
knowledge of the undisturbed kinetic energy flux and site-specific
·  Western Passage, Maine, 0.5 TWh/yr
information on channel characteristics [18, 20-23].
As a consequence of these challenges, energy resources avail- Since this estimate does not encompass all potential sites in the
able from tidal streams are not as well characterized as is the wave US, and it excludes sites with annual average power densities less
energy resource. Global estimates of the tidal resource range from than 1 kW/m2 that may ultimately prove to be exploitable, the esti-
>100 TWh/yr [24] to >3500 TWh/yr [25]. Additionally, several mate of 115 TWh/yr likely is a lower bound on the total available
published documents report a practical, global resource of approxi- US tidal energy resource. A USDOE-sponsored study presently is
mately 800 TWh/yr [11, 26-28], although it is unclear if the latter working toward a more comprehensive, rigorous estimate of the
value comprises multiple independent estimates. total available US tidal energy resource.
EPRI examined the tidal energy resource at many, but not all, As of August 2009, worldwide installed capacity of tidal in-
potential US tidal energy sites. The aggregate estimate at these sites stream energy conversion devices (TISECs) totaled 2 MW, none
of which was in the United States.

Fig. 13.2  Annual average wave power for the West Coast of the United States (Source: Jacobson
et al. [14])
13-  •  Chapter 13

13.3  NGINEERING CHALLENGES AND

E Within level 1, tidal technologies are further classified accord-
OPPORTUNITIES ing to
·  the primary method of energy conversion (i.e., lift, drag, Ven-
Electricity generation from ocean waves and tidal currents
turi)
presents a rich array of engineering challenges and opportunities.
·  principle motion of the hydrodynamic subsystem (i.e., linear
While the earliest known patent for a wave energy conversion
oscillation, rotation, uni-directional [over a half tidal cycle])
device was filed in 1799 [31], the technology to cost-effectively
·  orientation of rotational axis (i.e., vertical; horizontal, parallel
deploy wave energy conversions and TISECs still is in an early
to flow; horizontal, perpendicular to flow)
stage of development. A large number of device types compete
·  number of hydrodynamic subsystems per device
for limited capital to support research, development, deployment,
·  number of lift or drag elements (i.e., blades) per hydrody-
and demonstration activities (RDD&D); however, the corollary
namic subsystem
is that there is a notable absence of technology lock-in, and the
·  incorporation of free stream velocity augmentation (e.g.,
door is open to new entrants and innovation. From among the
ducted versus unducted rotor)
thousands of concepts and patents that exist, hundreds have pro-
·  capture area of hydrodynamic subsystem(s) (i.e., aggregate
gressed to the stage of rigorous laboratory tow- or wave-tank
area of the tidal stream intercepted or swept by the hydrody-
tests of physical models, and only a few dozen have progressed
namic subsystem[s])
to the stage of short-term tests in natural waters. Long-term test-
ing (>1 year in duration) of prototype devices in natural waters Within level 2, the power take-off system is classified accord-
is rarer still [29]. The USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and ing to
Renewable Energy (EERE) maintains a database of marine and ·  rated electrical power of device (i.e., “nameplate” or “nomi-
hydrokinetic technologies [32] that listed 129 technologies as of nal” output)
November 2008. The database classification of these technolo- ·  rated flow speed (i.e., flow speed at the center of the capture
gies according to development stage is listed in Table 13.2. It area corresponding to the rated electrical power)
should be pointed out that the USDOE-EERE database is only a ·  generator type (i.e., singly fed asynchronous, singly fed syn-
partial listing, with poorest representation of the earlier technol- chronous, doubly fed asynchronous, doubly fed synchronous,
ogy stages. Furthermore, the database was last updated in late linear)
2008, and since that time, there has been growth in the number ·  gearbox/differential specification (e.g., gear ratio, lever ratio)
of technologies in each stage and stage advancement for some ·  electrical/energy conversion and output (e.g., DC-AC, 33 kV;
technologies. hydraulic-AC, 11 kV)
A striking feature of the technologies in various stages of de-
velopment is their diversity [33]. This diversity has motivated Within level 3, the reaction and control subsystems are classified
development of various classification schemes. The most useful according to
classification scheme may be that of Myers et al. [34], which clas- ·  the basic form of the foundation/anchor (i.e., monopole, mul-
sifies wave and tidal technologies separately at three levels corre- tipile, single-point anchor, multipoint anchor, gravity base,
sponding to three major subsystems of the devices: pontoon)
1. The hydrodynamic subsystem, which classifies the means by ·  working water depth range
which the device captures energy from the environment and ·  presence/absence of an alignment mechanism for hydrody-
converts into motion that is suitable for extraction namic subsystem and whether it is active or passive
2. The power take-off subsystem, which classifies the means ·  presence/absence of power regulation and whether it is active
by which mechanical work is converted to a form of energy or passive
useful for conveyance to shore (e.g., electricity, hydrostatic For wave energy converters (WECs), level 1 classifies the de-
pressure) vice according to
3. The reaction subsystem, which classifies the means by which
the device is held on station. ·  the combination of exciting forces on the primary conver-
sion component and the type or source of opposing force (i.e.,
This system of classification is useful for engineering, economic, buoyancy, inertia, or lift in combination with buoyancy, iner-
and environmental assessment. tia, lift, seabed, or shoreline)
·  axis of motion (i.e., heave, surge, or pitch)
·  number of moving members
Level 2 for WECs provides a description of the power take-off
Table 13.2 Classification of devices listed in system with respect to
USDOE’s Marine and Hydrokinetic Technology
·  rated electrical power
Database [32]
·  power matrix (power output as a function of significant wave
Technology Stage Number height and wave energy period)
·  generator type (see level 2 above for TISECs)
Commercially available 1
·  gearbox/differential specification (see level 2 above for
Full-scale prototype 28
TISECs)
Scale model testing — sea trials 42
·  electrical/energy conversion and output (see level 2 above for
Scale model testing — tank testing 23
TISECs)
Detailed design 30
·  energy storage/smoothing type (i.e., mechanical, electrical,
Concept design 5
other, none) and capacity (i.e., seconds at rated power)
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  13-

Level 3 (reaction and control subsystems) characterizes thus, design and control of adaptive devices are a topic rich in en-
gineering and economic opportunity.
·  the type of anchoring system (see Level 3 above for TISECs)
As discussed, reliable resource assessment requires energy ex-
·  the working depth range
traction modeling involving fairly detailed, site-specific factors.
·  the alignment mechanism for the hydrodynamic subsystem
This encompasses device specification, device placement, and ar-
(presence/absence and active/passive)
ray design. Far-field effects of TISEC arrays on coastal hydraulics
·  presence or absence of power regulation and whether it is
also have implications for environmental resources. Much work
active or passive
remains to be done to enhance our understanding of the recipro-
The above classification/characterization scheme presented cal influences and effects of TISEC arrays and the coastal areas in
by Myers et al. [34] reflects the diversity of technologies and the which they are placed.
early stage of development of the industry. This scheme or a simi- Design and siting of TISECs have been primarily focused on
lar one will be useful for system description and specification and economical extraction of energy; however, siting of TISEC devices
for standards development. The scheme will also be useful for may be constrained by concerns about potential adverse effects
evaluation of environmental effects, because the scheme is struc- on fish and other aquatic life — especially as projects use larger
tured according to the major components of the devices and their and more numerous devices. Some early results suggest that ad-
operation. verse effects on selected biota are minimal or non-existent [37-39].
The principal engineering challenge facing development of tidal However, many ecological questions remain unanswered (see EC-
and wave power devices is design of devices that can survive and OLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS below), and incorporation of
operate reliably in the harsh marine environment. Deployment sites biological considerations in device design (such as rotational rate,
are attractive precisely because they are high-energy sites. For eco- tip speed ratio, leading edge thickness, and noise and vibration
nomic reasons, generating capacity of the devices is less than peak characteristics) may relax possible ecological constraints on device
extractable power at the site, but devices must be designed and size, number, and placement.
built to withstand extreme events during which the environment is
substantially more energetic and turbulent. This is true primarily
for WECs, because wave action is more strongly affected by local 13.4  OCIOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC
S
weather conditions than are tidal currents. FACTORS
A significant challenge that cannot be overlooked is that installa-
tion, operation, monitoring, maintenance, and repair must occur — While potential development of wave and tidal energy garners
at least in part — at sea. Working from a vessel and in water af- great enthusiasm from many because it is a renewable, domestic,
fects logistics, safety, and cost. These challenges are exacerbated emission-free means of generation, it also raises significant con-
by the high-energy characteristics of favorable project sites. The cerns on the part of others, and ambivalence in some, because it
cost and logistical considerations favoring infrequent maintenance involves industrialization of sites that typically have not been in-
and repair are opposed by the harsh marine environment in which dustrialized. Such areas may be heavily transited by ships, may
the devices must operate. Transport of the large, heavy devices by be used for recreational and commercial fishing, and perhaps are
ship from manufacturing to deployment sites, however, is likely even degraded by other anthropic coastal activities; however, they
easier than it would be over land. generally do not have permanent, fixed industrial facilities. Public
A significant advantage of tidal and WEC relative to other re- ownership of these apparently “unoccupied” sites allows for multi-
newable energy technologies is the ability to forecast the short-term ple, pre-existing, potentially conflicting uses [40, 41]. Thus, wave
resource availability. Significant wave power at high-quality wave and tidal projects constitute novel human footprints on the marine
sites arises from large waves that develop and propagate over large landscape with the potential to displace pre-existing activities, and
expanses of open ocean. Given the time required for such waves to they are scrutinized as such.
propagate over the ocean, wave power is forecastable 24–48 hours, Visibility and noise — two factors affecting public acceptance
or longer, in advance. Tides are even more predictable because of onshore and offshore wind generation — are not a significant
they are governed by the motion of the Sun and the Moon relative factor with regard to public acceptance of wave and tidal projects.
to the Earth. Tide tables are computable centuries in advance, and The above-water profile of wave and tidal devices is much reduced
while local and regional weather can alter tide predictions, sig- compared with that of wind turbines, and noise effects are minimal
nificant effects on tidal currents are manifested at the time scale or non-existent for the human passersby.
of hours and days rather than minutes or seconds. This degree of Wave and tidal energy development presents an opportunity to
forecastability facilitates integration of wave and tidal power into apply existing maritime industry support services to a new indus-
the electric grid for which generation and load must be balanced in try. Ocean engineering capabilities and experience are transfer-
real time. By contrast, wind and photovoltaic generation are sub- rable from ship building, offshore oil and gas development, and
ject to unpredictable, short-time scale variation in energy reaching the emerging offshore wind industry. Local job creation related to
the device due to gusty winds and passing clouds. manufacture, installation, operation, and maintenance of wave and
Substantial enhancements to the efficiency of wave energy ex- tidal energy projects is often cited as an important benefit.
traction can be achieved by tuning devices to near-term wave condi- Capital costs for wave and tidal energy conversion devices are
tions. This can be accomplished through adjustments of buoyancy related to the engineering challenges noted above. Perhaps the
and power take-off characteristics. The complement to wave-by- most authoritative analysis of device costs for current devices is
wave tuning to improve efficiency of wave energy extraction is reported by Callaghan and Boud [42]. Their estimates of capital
near-term prediction of quiescent periods during periods when the costs and cost of energy are presented in Table 13.3. Their analysis
most energetic waves are potentially damaging to WECs. Success- assumes projects are limited to 10 MW, which also limits econo-
ful prediction and adaptation to wave characteristics present oppor- mies of scale. These costs are higher than costs for other technolo-
tunity for substantial gains in the capacity factor of WECs [35, 36]; gies, including more established renewables. However, costs can
13-  •  Chapter 13

Table 13.3 Current capital cost and cost of

energy for wave and tidal energy conversion
devices and arrays [42]

Initial Device Capital Cost ($/kW)1

Device Type Prototype Production Model
Wave 6600–14,000 2600–6600
Tidal 7400–12,000 2200–4600
Initial Array Cost of Energy (¢/kWh)1
Device Type Central Range Uncertainty Band
Wave 34–39 18–68
Tidal 18–23 14–28
1
All values are converted from UK to US currency at a rate of
$1.54/£.

be expected to decline with cumulative capacity installation (as

has occurred with other renewable energy technologies) [43] and
eventually equal or better the costs of other renewable energy tech-
nologies [44]. Organizations promoting development of the wave
and tidal power industry and others consider government support
and subsidies essential to acquiring the cumulative installation
that will reduce unit costs and allow the industry to become cost-
­competitive [28, 45].

13.5 ECOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Wave and tidal power have received substantial scrutiny regard- Fig. 13.4  (a) Relationship of selected activi-
ing their potential for causing adverse ecological effects. The nov- ties required to deploy wave and tidal devices
elty of the devices and their interaction with the environment have at the utility scale, (b) the altered relation-
raised many questions that remain unanswered and have generated ship of activities with the addition of adaptive
many other questions that are difficult to articulate and address in management
the context of specific project proposals. As a consequence, en-
vironmental review contributes substantial uncertainty and cost
to the permitting and licensing process. Many of the engineering countless designs. The diversity of wave and tidal energy devices
issues — as well as uncertainty regarding many of the ecologi- was noted above under engineering challenges and opportunities.
cal concerns — that must be resolved to create a viable wave and It is unknown which types of devices will provide the best balance
tidal power industry can be addressed only through deployment of reliability, cost-effectiveness, and environmental performance.
of prototype devices and demonstration projects in open-water
settings. Environmental permitting, however, requires answers to 13.5.2 Siting
the outstanding questions. This scenario creates a circular prob- Siting refers to the environmental setting of the project and its
lem that precludes its own solution (see Figure 13.4a). Resolution components. Siting encompasses geographic scales ranging from
of this dilemma requires careful definition of the questions to be the region to the estuary or coastal water body and the location
answered regarding environmental effects, and relaxation of one within a specific water body. While most biological entities and
or more of the requirements depicted in Figure 13.4a. Adaptive physical/chemical environmental factors are broadly distributed,
management (discussed below) is the primary means of resolving they come together in combination and proportion in unique, site-
this dilemma. specific ways. As a consequence, organisms respond to variability
Three major factors control the potential for adverse ecological in their environment on both large and small geographic scales
effects (the three S’s): system, siting, and scale. [46]. For example, presence or absence of a particular species of
marine mammal or fish may depend on the geographic region;
13.5.1 System abundance may vary among water bodies, and distribution within
System refers to the wave or tidal-generating equipment and all a water body will be variable but non-uniform over the long term.
of its supporting structure including electricity transmission equip- The environmental resources that are present to interact with a
ment. This is the technology side of the project-environment inter- given technological system are thus highly site-specific. The en-
action. System characteristics are still poorly defined at the level ergy resource to be exploited, however, may be extremely local-
of the ocean renewable industry. “Technology lock-on” does not ized within a water body (see Figure 13.5), thereby limiting siting
yet exist in this industry; there are many modes of operation and options.
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  13-

ment during project operation to detect environmental effects.

Adaptive management plans for wave and tidal projects have in-
cluded requirements that the project will be modified or removed
if adverse effects are detected. This process has been identified as
the principal means of permitting deployment of wave and tidal
energy devices in the face of substantial uncertainty regarding their
environmental effects (Figure 13.4b) [50-53]. While incorporation
of adaptive management into licensing and permitting of wave
and tidal power projects allows the projects to go forward, project
owners are at risk of having to substantially modify or remove the
project if monitoring reveals unacceptable environmental effects.
Given the limited scale and duration of wave and tidal projects
under the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s Hydrokinetic
Pilot Project criteria, this appears to be an acceptable trade-off for
at least some projects.

13.5.5 The Assessment Challenge

If we consider the number of wave and tidal device configura-
tions that could be deployed (nsystem), the number of sites energeti-
cally suitable for development (nsite), and a number of project size
classes (nscale), the industry-wide number of scenarios relevant to
ecological effects assessment (nassessment) can be seen to be an n-
cubed problem:

nassessment = nsystem × nsite × nscale (13.4)

Individual device and project developers find themselves alone

in a metaphorical ocean of ecological assessment space. Given the
novelty of the impact assessment scenarios they encounter, and an
apparent lack of useful existing information, device and project
Fig. 13.5 Geography and power tidal power den- developers face multifaceted, expensive environmental monitoring
sity in the vicinity of Western Passage, East- and assessment programs. To date, project developers have relied
port, Maine, USA (Source: Bedard [70]) on government funding to help meet these costs.
Some have asserted that subsequent projects will benefit from
the effort applied to initial projects and encounter lesser environ-
13.5.3 Scale mental assessment requirements. This will be true only if the ques-
At the level of the individual project, scale comprises factors tions implicit in the monitoring and assessment efforts are credibly
such as the number and unit size of the devices, the spatial foot- answered by the initial stage projects, and only to the degree the
print of the deployment site, and the total generating capacity of results are transferrable to other projects. Adaptive management
the project or magnitude of energy it dissipates. Deployment scale plans are not guaranteed to yield defensible, transferrable results.
also is relevant for water bodies and geographic regions, because In its initial formulation, adaptive management was designed pri-
the potential for cumulative effects across multiple sites increases marily to promote learning about managed natural resource sys-
with the aggregate scale of the industry. The relationship between tems [48, 49]. In its active form, adaptive management designs
ecological effects and deployment scale is likely to be non-linear — current management decisions to optimize learning about how the
at least for some types of interaction; thus, extrapolation of effects system responds to management; in its passive form, data available
across scales may be unreliable. For example, the behavioral re- at each step is used to update current management, with the result
sponse of fish migrating out of an estuary may differ, depending on that management and environmental effects are confounded and
the number and size of tidal turbines in a given tranche. Behavioral learning is compromised [54]. Among the countless initiatives that
response — and the ability to respond — may be further affected invoke adaptive management, few if any embody its defining char-
by the number and spacing of tranches in an estuary. Behavioral acteristics, especially the attributes of active adaptive management
response, in turn, may affect survival rate. Limiting the scale of [55]. Wave and tidal energy project applications of adaptive man-
demonstration and early-stage commercial projects reduces the agement are at risk of conforming to this pattern. Projects that are
potential for impacts, but it also compromises the ability to detect, small in scale and limited in duration, are designed from the outset
quantify, and characterize specific impacts that may or may not to minimize the potential for detectable adverse impacts, whereas
occur at larger scales of deployment. the work of Walters and Holling [54] indicates that dramatic ac-
tions are more informative. Furthermore, since the adaptive man-
13.5.4 Adaptive Management agement plans call for modification of the project if any adverse
Adaptive management is a structured process of learning by do- effects are detected through monitoring, the project-as-experiment
ing [47-49]. It involves treating the management action or policy is terminated prematurely. These attributes of adaptive manage-
decision (in this case, deployment of the wave or tidal energy ment plans for wave and tidal energy projects are characteristic of
project) as a quasi-experiment. Monitoring is conducted prior to evolutionary and passive adaptive management — weak forms of
deployment to provide baseline information and following deploy- adaptive management that compromise learning.
13-  •  Chapter 13

The ecological assessment challenge facing the wave and tidal ·  lower variability over time scales of seconds and minutes,
energy industry is to acquire and apply the information needed to compared with other renewables such as wind and solar, and
ensure that systems, sites, and deployment scales are protective 48-hour to centuries-scale forecastability for wave and tidal
of ecological resources. Many reports have identified the range of power, respectively, facilitate grid integration
environmental issues associated with wave, tidal, and other renew-
able ocean energy projects [52, 56-69]. The remaining challenge is The wave and tidal energy industry is in an early stage of de-
to prioritize the issues and address the most pressing ones in a cost- velopment, and a large amount of RDD&D remains to be done.
effective manner. For individual projects, this requires definition The nascent character of the industry is reflected in the diversity
and evaluation of questions required for site-specific permitting of device types in various stages of pre-commercial development.
and licensing. For the industry as a whole, this requires identifi- The principal engineering challenge facing wave and tidal device
cation and acquisition of information that is transferrable across developers is design of devices that can survive and operate re-
projects. Several non-trivial activities can be taken to address the liably in the harsh marine environment. Operation, monitoring,
large array of outstanding issues: maintenance, and repair are all made more difficult by the marine
environment in which the devices are deployed. Operation and
1. Explicitly define conceptual models of the interaction of wave maintenance costs are expected to be a very significant component
and tidal devices and arrays with the environment. These of the cost of electricity from wave and tidal devices.
conceptual models can be used to identify commonalities Previously reported capital costs for wave and tidal devices over-
among systems and sites and opportunities for information lap substantially, ranging from approximately $6600 to $14,000
transfer. The conceptual models can also serve as peer- per kW for prototype devices and from $2200 to $6600 per kW
­reviewed points of departure for design of project-specific for production devices. The corresponding cost of energy esti-
assessment and monitoring programs. mates range from 18 to 23 ¢/kWh (central range, 14–28 ¢/kWh un­
2. Use risk-based approaches to identify the most significant certainty band) for tidal device arrays and 34–39 ¢/kWh (central
environmental issues and prioritize them for detailed assess- range, 18–68 ¢/kWh uncertainty band).
ment. Although many quantitative values of risk are likely to Environmental considerations play a large role in ongoing de-
be project-specific, generic analyses will still be useful for velopment of the wave and tidal energy industry. The number and
triage. The conceptual models will help identify opportuni- novelty of device types, in combination with the ecological diversity
ties for cross-cutting quantitative risk analyses. among potential deployment sites, creates a complex array of eco-
3. Based on the conceptual models and risk analyses, identify logical impact scenarios. Efficient means of addressing ecological
overarching questions and information requirements that concerns are in need of further development so that the industry can
need not or cannot be effectively addressed in the context of advance in an environmentally sound manner. Adaptive manage-
individual projects. ment offers a means of moving the industry forward in the face of
4. Based on the conceptual models and the risk analyses, iden- ecological uncertainty; however, the potential benefits of adaptive
tify questions of broad relevance to regulators and resource management will be realized only if it is implemented in its more
managers. Parse the broadly relevant permitting and licens- scientifically rigorous form known as active adaptive management.
ing questions into narrow questions suitable for rigorous
assessment, and parse them in ways that maximize transfer-
ability across projects. 13.7 ACRONYMS
5. Develop generic protocols for active adaptive management
of wave and tidal energy projects to serve as a template for kV kilovolt(s)
project-specific adaptive management plans. kW m–1 kilowatt(s) per meter
N lower case n number (count)
The foregoing steps provide a means of efficiently allocating RDD&D research, development, deployment, and
monitoring and assessment activities among government agencies demonstration
and laboratories, university researchers, project developers and TISECs tidal in-stream energy converters
industry collaboratives. The foregoing steps also provide oppor- TW terawatt(s)
tunities for thorough review by the relevant academic, regulatory, TWh/yr terawatt-hour(s) per year
and stakeholder communities while displacing duplicative but less USDOE-EERE United States Department of Energy - Office
thorough efforts. of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
WEC wave energy conversion/wave energy c­onverter

13.6 SUMMARY
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 chapter

14
BIOENERGY INCLUDING BIOMASS AND
BIOFUELS
T. R. Miles
14.1 INTRODUCTION and is often at 20% MC wet basis. The remaining moisture will
migrate through the cells to the surface and evaporate with volatile
Oil shortages in the 1970s stimulated the development of new combustion gases. Since the chemical energy in the fuel cannot
technologies to convert biomass to heat, electricity, and liquid fu- be converted to gas faster than the water evaporates, the moisture
els. Combined firing of biomass with coal reduces emissions, pro- tends to regulate the rate of combustion. This feature is useful
vides opportunities for high efficiency, and reduces fossil carbon use. when burning wood with coal on a grate or when burning high-
Cofiring and markets for transportation fuels have stimulated global alkali fuels like agricultural crops and residues. Biomass combus-
trading in biomass fuels. Pyrolysis of biomass to liquid fuels creates tion cools the coal flame which moderates the rate of combustion.
opportunities for co-products, such as biochar, which can help se- The low-temperature biomass flame prevents high-temperature ash
quester carbon and offset emissions from fossil fuels. This chapter agglomeration.
provides an overview of biomass fuels and resources, the biomass Moisture in biomass is important to boiler design and efficiency.
power industry, conventional and new technologies, and future For example the efficiency, based on the higher heating value of
trends. Advances in combustion and gasification are described. Ther- the fuel (HHV), of a small wood boiler that generates 20,000 pph
mal and biological conversions to liquid fuels for heat, power, and steam at 400 psig, with a stack temperature of 580°F, can be 69%
transportation are described with implications for stationary use. with fuel at 20% MC. Efficiency drops to 57% at 50% MC. If an
economizer is used to reduce the stack temperature to 325°F than
efficiency is 78% at 20M% and 67% at 50% MC.
14.2 BIOMASS FUELS AND FEEDSTOCKS Europe has developed grades of biomass based on moisture con-
tent for use in heat and power generation [4, 5]. The U.S. has not
yet developed similar standards.
14.2.1 Biomass Properties
Combustion properties of biomass are apparent when compared 14.2.1.2  Density and Energy Density  The dry bulk density
with coal. The distinguishing features of biomass compared with coal of biomass fuels is often 7 to 10 lb/ft3 (112 to 160 kg/m3) com-
are higher moisture content (MC), lower energy density, higher vola- pared with coal at 40 to 60 lb/ft3 (640 to 961 kg/m3).This results
tile matter content, variable particle size, and higher volatile ash com- in a low-energy density. Table 14.1 shows that the as-fired heating
ponents [1]. Tables 14.1 and 14.2 show the composition of biomass value (HHV) of PRB coal with high ash and moisture is similar to
fuels compared with coal. The coal and switchgrass were cofired at a dry biomass at 10% MC. Wet wood chips at 50% MC are 4,200
utility power plant. The coal is from the Powder River Basin (PRB), Btu/lb and 24 lb/ft3 and have about one-third the energy density of
Wyoming, which is a major source of coal for North American utili- PRB coal. When grass or wood are pulverized for suspension firing
ties. The switchgrass is an herbaceous crop from Iowa [2]. The wood the energy density is also 20% to 30% of PRB coal. Because of
is an urban wood waste mix from a biomass power plant [3]. this low-energy density, biomass systems that replace coal require
larger facilities for fuel receiving, storage, and handling. It is often
14.2.1.1  Moisture  Living biomass contains about 50% to 70% practical to design a separate system for the preparation, handling,
water. Except in very dry or very cold environments, wood fuels and delivery of biomass fuel.
will stay moist (50% MC) when stored in log form or when chipped Biomass is densified into pellets to offset the difference in en-
and stored in bulk piles. Crop residues are either harvested green ergy density between wood and coal for cofiring. Biomass pellets
(>70% MC), in damp field conditions (>35% MC), or in dry con- at 10% MC and 40 lb/ft3 have an energy density of 300,000 Btu/
ditions (<15% MC). Dry grasses and crop residues are often 12% ft3 which is similar to the PRB coal. Torrefaction combined with
MC. The as-fired higher heating value (HHV) of woody biomass densification is another method of increasing the energy density of
and wet field crop residues is often 50% to 65% of the dry higher biomass for cofiring with coal (see Section 14.6).
heating value when adjusted for moisture.
When biomass fuels are burned, the moisture must first evapo- 14.2.1.3  Volatile Content  Biomass has a higher volatile con-
rate. Free water evaporates until the moisture remaining is chemi- tent than coal. Table 14.1 shows that when ash and moisture are
cally bound in the cells. This is called the fiber saturation point removed biomass contains approximately 84% volatile carbon and
14-  •  Chapter 14

16% fixed carbon which means that more than 80% of the biomass one second to dry; one second to devolatilize; and one second for
solids convert to gas before burning. The rest remains as charcoal char burnout [6]. Pulverized coal (PC) boilers often have less than
which burns in direct contact with air. When biomass is burned 2.5 seconds residence time available for complete particle burnout
on a grate up to two-thirds of the air required for combustion is because coal is crushed and milled in a roller mill to sizes of 70 to
introduced under the grate in order to promote gasification and 90 µm. Biomass particles are sized to ensure complete combustion
combustion. The gases, together with suspended fuel particles, are when cofired with coal. Since wood is not as brittle as most coals,
burned, with overfire air in a fireball above the grate. The coal rep- it takes more energy, and many more operations, to mill biomass to
resented in Table 14.1 contains about 50% fixed carbon and 50% this fine particle size than coal. One commercial plant in Denmark
volatile carbon. In a coal boiler about 80% of the combustion air is has been pulverizing biomass separately for cofiring. Biomass is
introduced through the grate where most of the combustion occurs. milled to less than ¼ in (6 mm) and compressed to high-density
Coal combustion on a grate usually results in low flame height but pellets. Pellets are then pulverized in a roller mill that was modified
volatiles in coal can produce streams of unburned hydrocarbons for biomass [7].
that are difficult to completely burn. By burning wood with coal the Processing biomass to a uniform dense format for thermal or
long volatile wood flame can help burnout products of incomplete chemical conversion is the object of current research funded by the
combustion from coal. U.S. Department of Energy [8]. Their goal is to reduce moisture
High volatile matter causes challenges for burning biomass from 50% MC to 10% MC and to increase bulk density from as
cleanly on fixed or travelling grates and in bubbling fluidized beds low as 5 lb/ft3 (80 kg/m3) to 15 lb/ft3 (240 kg/m3) at an affordable
because it is difficult to mix the evolving combustible gases with cost. The final product will be similar to densified biomass pellets
sufficient air, and at a high enough temperature, to ignite and com- that have been pulverized. This research may result in a form of
pletely burn the carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons. Bubbling biomass that is more efficient to convert to heat and power.
fluidized bed boilers have the advantage of delivering a uniform
flow of combustion air up through the bed but if the fuel is not 14.2.1.5  Volatile Ash  Biomass contains less ash than coal but it
distributed evenly, then incomplete combustion occurs. A circulat- contains volatile components that can cause slagging, deposits, and
ing fluidized bed boiler provides even better control of fuel and air corrosion in boilers. Clean wood that is used to make residential
resulting in higher combustion efficiency and lower emissions of wood pellets contains less than 0.5% ash. Bark from wood process-
unburned carbon. ing residues contains 3% to 5% ash. Urban wood residues (UWW),
which is composed of mixtures of clean wood and contaminants,
14.2.1.4  Particle Size  Biomass fuels can derive from either contains 5% to 15% ash. Herbaceous energy crops and residues
woody or non-woody sources. When wood is chipped or milled, often contain 5% to 8% ash. The range 5% to 15% may be similar
it breaks into a wide range of particle sizes. Wood chips are usu- to coal but the composition of the biomass ash causes it to behave
ally thick particles (>3 mm, > 0.125 in.). Most wood particles take differently in combustion. The switchgrass in Tables 14.1 to 14.2
longer to burn than pulverized coal. Non-woody biomass such as is a native prairie grass that has been considered for production as
straw can be thin (>0.25 mm or >0.01 in.) when it is milled. Thin an energy crop. When heated to combustion temperatures, some
particles volatilize rapidly so they burn easily in suspension with of the inorganic components, such as potassium or sodium, phos-
pulverized coal. phorous, sulfur, and chlorine, melt or vaporize [9, 10]. Potassium
Biomass boilers are designed to provide long residence times to and sodium react with chlorine and sulfur to form salts that melt at
allow thick biomass particles sufficient time to burn. Boilers with low temperatures, or condense in cold parts of boilers to promote
fixed or travelling grates, and fluidized beds allow thick particles corrosion. The concentrations of these compounds are important
time to burn completely. When burned in suspension biomass is when designing a biomass boiler or gasifier to prevent slagging and
often dried and sized to ensure complete particle burnout. A 1- deposition on heat transfer surfaces. The transformations of mineral
mm-thick wood particle takes approximately 3 seconds to burn: matter in biomass during combustion and cooling in a boiler are
shown in Fig. 14.1.
Table 14.2 shows that wood and switchgrass have much higher
Table 14.1 Composition and Fuel Values of concentrations of these alkali metals than coal. Alkali metals in
Biomass Fuels Compared with Coal coal are more tightly bound and do not usually melt or vaporize
except at high temperatures [11]. Rice straw and animal manures
As received Coal Switchgrass Wood
are biomass fuels that can cause severe slagging, fouling, and cor-
Moisture % 33.52 6.34 16.67 rosion. They contain sufficient alkali and silica to cause a eutectic,
Ash % 5.51 6.34 4.62 or low melting temperature, of about 1450°F (750°C) which is be-
Volatile % 28.98 73.84 66.02 low combustion temperatures in a typical boiler. The partially mol-
Fixed carbon % 32.00 14.48 12.69 ten ash can block fuel on grates, agglomerate fluidized bed media,
Btu/lb (HHV) Btu/lb 7,774 7,458 6,967 erode boiler tubes, and deposit on boiler tubes which reduces heat
transfer, blocks gas flow, and promotes corrosion.
Dry basis An awareness of the behavior of these compounds in combus-
Ash % 8.24 5.70 5.54 tion has led to more efficient boiler designs which offset the effect
Volatile % 43.60 78.84 79.23 of the volatile inorganic compounds. The choice of a combustor
Fixed carbon % 48.16 15.46 15.23 can reduce the effect of volatile alkali on boiler performance [12].
Btu/lb (HHV) Btu/lb 11,696 7,965 8,361 Corrosive elements like chlorine can be separated and volatile ele-
MAF (HHV) Btu/lb 12,746 8,446 8,851 ments can be sequestered in the ash by controlling temperatures in
the fuel bed [13]. While additives like calcium can be used to offset
Source: Powder River Basin Coal and Iowa Switchgrass — Amos, the effect of low melting fuels, it is an additional cost and operating
2002 [2], Urban Wood Waste — Miles et al [3] expense for a boiler owner.
 energy and power generation handbook  •  14-

Table 14.2 Ultimate analysis of biomass fuels residues for a total resource potential of 1,366 million dry tons per
compared with coal year. This compares with about 1 billion tons of coal that are mined
each year and primarily used for power. While coal is supplied
Ultimate (dry basis) Coal Switchgrass Wood
to power plants primarily from Wyoming, biomass is distributed
C % 67.98 48.41 48.77 throughout the country.
H % 4.48 4.80 5.76 In 2009, biomass, including biofuels, waste (landfill gas, mu-
N % 1.16 0.22 0.27 nicipal solid waste, biosolids), wood, and wood derived fuels, ac-
S % 0.55 0.12 0.07 counted for 3.884 quadrillion Btu, or 50% of the 7.745 quadrillion
Ash % 8.24 5.70 5.54 Btu of renewable energy consumed in the U.S. [15]. Biomass pro-
O2 % 17.58 40.16 39.59 vided 3.3% of the energy for heat, power, and transportation. Bio-
Cl % 0.02 0.14 0.06 fuel production increased to 1.546 quadrillion Btu in 2009 while
Na2O % 0.067 0.003 0.177 wood and wood derived fuels decreased to 1.891 quadrillion Btu.
K2O % 0.004 0.809 0.265
14.2.2.1  Woody Biomass  Consumption for fuel in the U.S.
Alkali lb/MMBtu 0.06 1.02 0.53 represents about 118 million dry tons of wood per year. Accord-
Ash lb/MMBtu 7.05 7.16 6.63 ing to the Energy Information Agency (EIA) about 9% (173 tril-
SO2 lb/MMBtu 1.18 0.38 0.21 lion Btu) of the 1.891 quadrillion Btu of wood energy consumed
in 2009 was used for power generation and the rest was used for
Source: Powder River Basin Coal and Iowa Switchgrass — Amos, domestic heat [15].
2002 [2], Urban Wood Waste — Miles et al [3] Until the 1970s, biomass fuels used for heat and power were
primarily wood residues from sawmills. Wood residues continue
to be important sources of fuels. Following the first oil shortage,
14.2.2 Biomass Types, Sources, and Supplies other sources of wood fuels were developed, such as urban wood
Biomass is an abundant fuel in portions of North America. Re- waste (UWW). UWW became an important source of fuel when
cent studies in the U.S. have identified more than 1 billion tons of the expansion of independent power plants in California and in
biomass available for conversion to heat, power, or liquid fuels the Northeastern states overtook wood industry residues. UWW
[14]. These studies have identified 368 million dry tons per year includes landscape prunings, pallets, packaging and construc-
of forest resources and 998 million tons per year of agricultural tion, and demolition debris. Wood recovered and diverted from

Fig. 14.1  Transformations Mineral Matter in Biomass (Source: Miles et al, Alkali Deposits Found in Biomass Power
Plants: ☺A Preliminary Investigation of Their Extent and Nature, 1996 [3])
14-  •  Chapter 14

landfills is milled to size at intermediate sites and delivered to lem in the highly populated areas of the Eastern U.S. Heavy
power boilers. Regulators ensure that contaminants, such as metals, mercury, and other contaminants pose practical, operation-
heavy metals, do not enter the fuel or the waste from these power al, and legal constraints to the use of biosolids in industry. Thermal
plants. Industrial consumers and independent biomass power conversion of biosolids is usually limited to municipalities. Many
plants pay up to $4/MMbtu ($60/dry ton) equal to about $60/ton conversion and pollution control issues have not yet been resolved
of PRB coal. [20].
Forest residues that should be removed to prevent forest fires are
expected to be a second large source of woody biomass. This wood 14.2.2.4  Agricultural Residues  The current use of residues
accumulates through re-growth or disease, such as infestation by from annual crops, like wheat straw and corn stover, is limited
the mountain pine beetle in the Rocky Mountains. While contracts to small quantities for bedding and mulch. They are disperse and
to remove this wood often provide for residues to be mulched and not harvested in large concentrations. Few areas in the world use
redistributed on site some public agencies provide transporta- straws or residues for energy or fiber in quantities of 200,000 tons
tion incentives for contractors to haul forest residues for use as per year (tpy) or more. Denmark consumes more than 1 million
soil amendment, fuel, or fiber. Wood residues are usually sized by tpy wheat straw for heat and power. Switchgrass, miscanthus, and
chippers and grinders in the field to a maximum length of 3 or 4 in. other herbaceous energy crops are under development as poten-
(10 cm). These fuels are usually available at a delivered cost of $2 tial energy crops but so far they are not in commercial production.
to $6/MMBtu ($5 per cubic yard or $60/ton). Danish technology was incorporated in a cofiring demonstration
Orchard pruning and other woody agricultural residues are typi- of switchgrass in Iowa in 2006. In that project, it required sev-
cally processed by the same contractors who process wood resi- eral years to establish the crop, develop cultivation and harvesting
dues and are similar in delivered form and cost. Annual prunings techniques, and to organize businesses to supply 200,000 tpy to
are usually mulched. Orchard replacement, or tear-outs, generates generate 37 MWe from biomass [2, 21]. Power production and cel-
large volumes of wood. Orchard prunings have become an impor- lulose to liquid fuel projects that intend to use large quantities of
tant fuel for biomass power plants in California. corn stover and wheat straw residues are still in development and
negotiating contracts with potential suppliers.
14.2.2.2  Wood Pellets  Wood is the primary residential biomass Animal manures are often suggested as potential biomass fu-
heating fuel. EIA reports that 430 trillion btu of wood, equal to about els. Feed and bedding are transported to concentrated animal feed
27 million tons of dry wood, was consumed for heating in 2009 [15]. operations (CAFO). Wastes from CAFOs are often concentrated
Approximately 1.2 million tons of clean wood residues are densified in areas that have low energy demand. Their use must be carried
to wood pellets for residential fuel [16]. Additional wood pellet ca- out in coordination with growers. They are still used as fertilizers
pacity is under construction to reach a growing export market. and soil amendments. They usually cost about $10/ton or about
Wood pellets are characterized by their low moisture (<10% MC), $0.75/MMBtu. Litter and bedding from poultry and hog opera-
and high density (40 lb/ft3, 640 kg/m3). Residential consumers de- tions contain partially digested feed which carry high concentra-
mand low (<0.5%) ash content. Bagged fuels at the pellet plant tions of nutrients which make them costly to convert to heat and
command prices of about $10/MMBtu ($150/ton). Pellets are sold power due to slagging, deposits, corrosion, and pollution control
at retail outlets for $12 to 20/MMBtu ($200 to $300/ton). Clean [22].
wood residues for residential wood pellets are becoming scarce
in many parts of the U.S. The Pellet Fuels Institute has instituted 14.2.3 I nfrastructure and Logistics of Biomass
a “standard” grade of pellets for commercial use which allows Supply
a higher ash content. Pellets containing agricultural residues are The infrastructure for delivering large quantities of woody bio-
made by a few companies but they find it difficult to sell them to mass has been well developed by the pulp, paper, and wood product
existing power plants [17]. industries. Systems for harvesting, handling, processing, storing,
Global wood pellet production has reached 13 million tons. and feeding woody biomass to new uses are similar to equipment
Consumption has grown to more than 8 million tons per year in already in industrial use [23]. Even a small, 5-MWe power plant,
Europe where they are used extensively for cofiring with coal [18]. consuming 70,000 tpy, depends on several small contractors. New
In countries, like Sweden, domestic wood pellet heaters and boil- equipment like mobile grinders and screens help individual con-
ers can compete with fossil fuels. Bulk pellets are sold for com- tractors supply 30,000 tons or more per year. Large consumers
mercial and industrial use. Some U.S. and Canadian mills supply sometimes develop their own fuel supply companies. A 50-MWe
wood pellets to Europe for cofiring but low-cost oil and natural gas facility may have more than 100 suppliers.
have limited the widespread use of commercial or industrial wood A few companies specialize in supplying both fiber and fuel. One
pellets in the U.S. company in the South supplies more than 14 million tons per year
of chips and fuel to pulp mills, engineered wood products plants,
14.2.2.3  Urban Residues  Municipal waste contributed 18 bil- pellet mills, and biomass power plants. Companies that handle res-
lion kilowatt hours (kWh) or one-third of the 54.3 billion kWh of idues in related industries, such as composting or soil amendments,
net electrical generation from biomass energy in the U.S. in 2009 use their fleets of trucks to supply plants with biomass.
[15]. Landfill gas contributed 7.3 billion kWh or 40% of the total Equipment and infrastructure to supply crop residues and herba-
from waste. Wood and wood derived fuels such as black liquor ceous crops as fuels is less developed. Most equipment for harvest-
contributed 36.3 billion kWh or two-thirds of net electrical gen- ing, handling, baling, and hauling agricultural residues is designed
eration from biomass. Increased recycling and composting and the for limited annual use of about 400 hours and less than 10,000 tons
difficulty of obtaining sites and permits have limited the growth of per year. Manufacturers are starting to develop advanced systems
municipal waste-to-energy plants [19]. to supply large-scale biomass conversion facilities. Since no large
Biosolids from municipal wastewater treatment are often sug- biomass facilities have been built, this development is still funded
gested for heat and power generation because disposal is a prob- by equipment used in feed and forage crops. Some companies that
 energy and power generation handbook  •  14-

are experienced in the large volume export of hay and straw are po- and boilers, small chip, and pellet furnaces. Small scale is often de-
sitioning themselves to supply large power stations, and cellulose fined by air quality regulations. Heating systems were considered
to liquid fuel plants. small up to 25 MMBtuh (7.4 MW, 26.4 GJ). Proposed new regu-
Most of the existing harvesting and handling equipment for field lations for boilers have reduced that level to10 MMBtuh (3 MW,
crops and residues is designed for materials that contain less than 10.55 GJ) [28]. Above 10 MMBtuh new boilers will be required
15% MC. Equipment must still be developed for harvesting, bal- to employ more efficient pollution control devices such as ceramic
ing, storing, and reclaiming large volumes of wet (35% MC) her- filters or electrostatic precipitators to control fine particulates (e.g.,
baceous feedstocks, like sweet sorghum or wet corn stover. less than 2.5 microns). Some states have special air quality regula-
tions starting at 2.5 MMBtuh (2.64 GJ).
14.2.4 Biomass Sustainability and the Environment
Development of biomass energy has been paralleled by an in- 14.3.2.2  Domestic Heat  Domestic heating appliances, such as
crease in the forest resource and a reduction in timber harvesting cord wood and chip fired furnaces, include indoor and outdoor boil-
and processing. A large portion of wood fiber is now imported. The ers that are regulated at the state and federal level. Manufacturers
global trade in wood, wood products, and wood fiber, including of these appliances must submit their equipment for certification
solid and liquid biomass fuels, has raised public concern about the by approved laboratories. Acceptable emissions levels are then es-
environmental impacts of increased biomass use for energy. Con- tablished by either federal (e.g., EPA) regulations or state rules.
tracts from public agencies frequently require analyses of envi- Similar air quality regulations exist in Canada and Europe. Emis-
ronmental impacts and sustainability. U.S. Department of Energy, sions from domestic boilers has improved in recent years. Future
U.S. Forest Service and other agencies are increasingly investigat- improvements may be guided by improved control over ash con-
ing impacts of biomass use. Life cycle analyses are employed to stituents during combustion. New devices are designed to promote
evaluate the potential for carbon capture and sequestration or stor- incorporation of volatile ash components in the grate ash rather
age (CCS or CSS) and the net cost of energy projects [24, 25]. than being emitted from the stack. It is estimated that emissions in
Europe could be improved 75% by replacing old equipment [29].
Many European wood burning appliances are now sold in North
14.3 HEAT AND POWER GENERATION America. These include hot water and steam boilers. These sys-
tems are usually designed for clean fuels with little provision for
14.3.1 Industry ash removal. Wood pellet boilers are now installed in hospitals,
Biomass has been used for heat and power by the wood industry schools, and small commercial applications. Since emissions are
for many years. Systems are designed according to industry stan­ minimal, there is often no gas cleaning equipment but some indus-
dard practices [26, 27]. Fuels have changed from the simple use trial gas filtration devices, like ceramic filters, are now adapted to
of wood industry residues to fuels from many sources. Paper com- domestic appliances.
panies are now finding new and efficient ways to convert residues There are about ten times as many cordwood heating appliances
and waste lignin, in the form of black liquor, to heat, power and in use in the U. S. as there are pellet appliances. Cordwood fur-
synthesis gas via gasification. Pulp mills are investigating the po- naces usually consist of a firebox with different arrangements for
tential of becoming biorefineries to produce pulp heat, power, and under fire and over fire air to control combustion and emissions.
liquid fuels as co-products. The largest of these are outdoor wood boilers (OWB) and air heat-
Independent power producers and utilities have usually built ers for shops and greenhouses. Use of these appliances depends
wood burning facilities where there are financial incentives and on local supply, demand, and regulations. Manufacturers are of-
long-term power purchase agreements. Early small-scale (<5 MWe, ten members of the Hearth Products Association [30] or the Pellet
<200 tpd) biomass powerplants were built by large steam consum- Fuels Institute [16].
ers with abundant wood wastes. Today these small systems are pri-
marily in demonstration projects where capital costs are paid with 14.3.2.3  District Energy  North American homes are disperse
public funds. A small number of companies supply this market and there are few incentives for developing infrastructure for dis-
with boilers and specialized wood chip handling systems. trict heating networks so the U.S. has not used biomass for district
Large biomass plants consume1000 tpd and generate 20-30 MWe. heat to the extent that is found in Europe. Interest has increased as
A few biomass plants generate 50-80 MWe. These plants are small building, business, and academic campus arrangements seek envi-
compared with coal fired power plants but they are important to local ronmental and economic benefits with public assistance.
economies since they process from 200,000 to 400,000 tpy biomass.
Utilities, developers, and investors wanting to engage in biomass 14.3.2.4  Small Biomass Boilers  The wood boiler in a sawmill
energy have many resources today. During the last 20 years, many traditionally powered a steam engine. When industry changed to
engineering firms have designed and built biomass energy systems. oil, gas, and electricity these boilers were abandoned except to
Equipment is supplied by traditional vendors that supply the wood generate low-pressure steam or hot water for lumber dry kilns.
products industry and coal utilities. Private companies have taken Small sawmills are now supplied by companies that make small
over the business of promoting biomass energy projects in public dry kilns, small industrial boilers, and small outdoor wood boil-
conferences and publications. All states have incentives for biomass ers. Small wood chip and pellet boilers have become increasingly
power through waste reduction and recycling. Local, state, and feder- popular for public schools and hospitals.
al agencies regulate biomass installations. Air, water, solid waste, and Small boilers use simple grates. Chipped or ground wood fuel is
building permits are usually the first contact with public agencies. pushed onto the grate by an auger or ram (Fig. 14.2).
These boilers usually have fixed grates although some moving
14.3.2 Combustion grates are now available. The grate usually has slots or pinholes
14.3.2.1  Small-Scale Systems  Small-scale biomass combustion to provide under grate or primary combustion air. In the case of
equipment includes direct fired heaters for dryers, small furnaces staged combustors or gasifiers, the combustible gases are burned
14-  •  Chapter 14

Fig. 14.2 Small reciprocating grate boilers in Denmark (Source: Miles et al [3])

in a firetube boiler. Fuel requirements are 300 to 1100 lb/hour (130 federal regulations may require more stringent gas and particulate
to 500 kg/hour) or up to about a truckload per day. Ash is removed emissions which may add 20% to 30% to the cost of a small boiler
manually or by an auger that intermittently collects ash at the end system.
of the grate and conveys it to an isolated pot. Vendors prefer not Future developments in small boilers are likely to include im-
to develop travelling grates for continuous ash removal because of proved combustion and emissions and designs for low-quality fu-
added cost in a competitive market. Increased use of urban wood els. Small boilers for straws, corn stalks, and agricultural residues
and agricultural residues may cause suppliers to develop grates are used in Europe but have not been used in the U.S. Improve-
that will burn higher ash fuels. ments in gas cleaning include electrostatic precipitators adapted
Companies that specialize in small wood heating systems usu- from large biomass boilers. Emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx),
ally provide the fuel handling system (including a receiving bin volatile organic carbons (VOCs), and other hazardous air pollut-
and metering equipment), and the firebox, boiler, gas cleaning ants (HAPS) for small boilers are usually controlled through best
equipment, exhaust stack, and controls. They design and fabricate management practices (BMP). BMPs are issued through local en-
the fuel feeding and firebox. They usually outsource the firetube vironmental agencies.
boiler, gas cleaning, fans, and stack. They integrate the system and
controls and commission the installation. When a small boiler is 14.3.2.5  Small-Scale Power Generation  There is interest in
installed in a separate building, the capital cost is usually com- small-scale (e.g., 25 to 250 kWe) power generation in locations
prised of one-third for the boiler and fuel equipment, one-third for like Alaska or Hawaii where off-grid power is expensive. Small
the heat distribution or integration to an existing heating system, steam turbines are inefficient and require special operators so they
and one-third for the building and civil construction. It is more are often integrated with larger industrial processes. There have
economic to install a small boiler in an existing building. been many demonstrations for generating power at the small scale
Particulate removal in small boilers is most often by cyclone or but few proven systems. Steam engines, Stirling engines, Organic
multi-cyclone before exhausting gases to a stack. Local regulations Rankin Cycle (ORC) systems, and small-scale gasifiers have been
sometimes require baghouse filters or electrostatic precipitators demonstrated but are not in commercial use due to high cost. Bio­
for gas cleaning. Ceramic fiber filters can also be used. Proposed mass gasification with solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) have been
 energy and power generation handbook  •  14-

investigated [31]. Partial combustion of biomass to make a char- ever, small turbines (500 KWe to 1,000 kWe) are expensive and
coal (biochar) co-product with the waste heat used to generate heat require too much labor unless it is shared with other processes. It
or power has been proposed but no commercial systems are in is also often difficult to optimize turbine operation with varying
operation. steam demand.
Small biomass power plants generate 25 MWe or less consum-
14.3.2.6  Small Industrial Boilers  Direct fired wood burners ing up to 40 wet (20 dry) tons per hour and 1000 wet tons per
are used to heat wood dry kilns, and wood dryers for pellets and day. Fuel sources can typically supply 200,000 to 300,000 tpy wet
shavings. These are either pile burners, staged combustors, cyclonic wood to power plants. No plants of this size in North America burn
suspension burners, or register-style suspension burners. Suspension straw or crop residues. There are straw burning plants in Europe,
burners require clean dry fuel that has been milled to <0.250 in. (<6 notably in England and Denmark.
mm). They are used where products of combustion do not contami- The U.S. has more than 11,353 MWe of installed biomass power
nate the dried product. These burners are best used where the fuel is capacity [15]. Many of these plants were installed in the 1980s when
generated on site because of the very low density of fine dry fuels. special power contracts were provided to utilities and independent
Pollution control for these burners often depends on whether the heat power producers [32]. Most of those contracts have expired. In
is used in a boiler or dryer. California, for example, there are 31 plants running, and 11 plants
Small industrial boilers are similar to small institutional boilers that are idle. The idle plants are in various states of disrepair. Many
with the addition of travelling grates for continuous ash removal. need major investments to restart. The total operating capacity is
They typically provide process steam to food and fiber industries about 610 MW, and the idle capacity is about 122 MW [33]. New
at rates of up to 20 MMBtuh or 600 HP (5MW, 21.1 GJ). Fuel biomass plants are being built and more are expected as utilities are
requirements are 1 to 2 dry tons per hour. Boilers are pile burning required to increase renewable energy.
combustion cells, underfed stokers, spreader stokers with travel-
ling grates, and gasifiers. Wood boiler suppliers usually also supply 14.3.2.7  Spreader Stoker Boilers  Spreader stoker boilers
boilers for coal, oil, and gas. Boiler designs often include improved with moving grates have been the preferred combustion technol-
combustion air control. While gasifiers and fluidized bed combus- ogy for woody biomass in North America (Fig. 14.3). These in-
tors have generally not been successful at the small scale, some clude travelling grates and vibrating grates that are water or air
new suppliers are developing efficient systems that comply with cooled. Travelling and reciprocating grates must be designed so
the more stringent emissions regulations. Installations often in- that ash loads are not excessive. Otherwise, fuels with ash that
clude the fuel preparation and handling equipment, furnace, boiler, melt at low temperatures can cause clinkering. Large facilities that
multi-cyclone, baghouse, or electrostatic precipitator, induced burn biomass with high ash, such as the 55-MWe boiler in Min-
draft fans, and stack. Some vendors also supply pollution control nesota that burns poultry litter, use water cooled vibrating grates
equipment. Small wet scrubbers may also be used if the fuel has [34]. Combustion is staged in a tall furnace so that fuel gasifies
the potential to emit acid gases from chlorine or sulfur. New regu- on the grate and volatile gases are burned above the grate. Alkali
lations will require improved control of NOx and CO emissions. compounds condense and deposit on the water walls where they
Power is usually not generated in small-scale systems. Back are removed with soot blowers. Superheater inlet temperatures
pressure turbines are sometimes used to reduce pressure for large are limited and tube spacing in convection systems is adjusted
steady process heat consumers, such as lumber dry kilns. How- to ease cleaning and limit corrosion. Similar boilers are used

Fig. 14.3 A Spreader stoker travelling grate boiler (Source: Miles et al [3])
14-  •  Chapter 14

for burning straw in Spain, Denmark, and England. These chal- bed agglomeration [12]. A portion of the spent media is usually
lenging fuels have stimulated major advances in moving grate removed and refractory materials, such as calcium and magnesium
boilers resulting in efficient air mixing for complete combustion, oxides, are added to the bed to prevent agglomeration. When fu-
reduction of hazardous air pollutants, and improved particulate els such as urban wood waste that contain sand and calcium are
collection [35]. burned, the media is often screened and re-circulated so they can
operate for several years without completely replacing the bed me-
14.3.2.8  Fluidized Bed Boilers  Fluidized bed boilers were in- dia. Fluidized bed boilers have generally not been used for straws
troduced to wood, refuse, and bio-solids combustion in the U.S. in and agricultural residues.
the 1970s by domestic and European companies (Fig. 14.4) Fluid- Major components for large biomass plants, such as boilers and
ized bed boilers afford uniform mixing of fuel and air for good con- turbine systems, are supplied by several international companies.
trol of combustion temperatures. A typical project will attract suppliers from Europe and North
Low-peak combustion temperatures can be maintained which America.
help prevent formation of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and melting of
ash. Fluidized bed boilers are less sensitive to variations in parti-
cle size and moisture than travelling grates. Two plants in Europe 14.4 COFIRING BIOMASS WITH COAL
burn poultry litter in bubbling fluidized bed boilers [36]. Alkali
from these fuels can build up on the sand media in fluidized beds Combined firing with coal has long been seen as a good method
by forming a coating of alkali silicates which eventually causes to convert biomass to power. It has the highest energy yield and

Fig. 14.4 Bubbling and circulating fluidized bed boilers (Source: Miles et al [3])
 energy and power generation handbook  •  14-

the greatest potential for carbon substitution and sequestration. It Biomass can be fed into the recycle loop of a CFB which is uniquely
represents a near-term, low-risk, low-cost, and sustainable energy suited to staged combustion for temperature and emissions control.
strategy. Cofiring can take advantage of the higher efficiency and Recent studies show that when biomass is cofired up to 25% with
heat rate of coal compared with wood. When cofiring up to 7% coal in a fluidized bed the cofiring can have a beneficial effect on
biomass the heat rate of a coal facility can be 10,000 to 12,000 agglomeration and fouling. Alkali in biomass was found to react
Btu/kWh compared with 14,000 Btu/kWh for a wood plant [37]. with the ash rather than the bed media and was removed rather than
Cofiring can take advantage of the large installed coal infrastruc- reacting with the chlorine and sulfur [18].
ture that consumes more than 1 billion tons of coal per year. Cofir- Biomass is often cofired in pulverized coal (PC) boilers. PC boil-
ing combined with carbon sequestration at coal plants would make ers are tangentially fired (corner-fired) or wall fired. Biomass is
a significant impact on carbon emissions. Biomass-coal cofiring milled and injected into these boilers either by adding burners or
reduces CO2 and SO2 emissions and it may reduce NOx emissions. by substituting biomass for coal in individual burners. Burners that
It is the most effective measure to reduce CO2 emissions because are usually selected are low in the furnace so that the char particles
it substitutes coal, which has the most intensive CO2 emissions per have an opportunity to burn out before entering the convection sec-
kWh electricity production, with biomass, which has zero net CO2 tions of the boiler. A single burner or injector will consume 5 to
emissions [38]. 6 tph of biomass or approximately 90 MMBtuh.
Cofiring has been the subject of extensive research and develop- Wall-fired boilers have an array of individual burners arranged
ment in Europe and North America [39–42]. It has been stimulated on one wall or on opposing walls. Advanced combustion modeling
by the requirement for utilities in Europe to comply with obliga- has improved the design and efficiency of these burners to reduce
tions under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate emissions and increase efficiency.
Change (UNFCCC). The International Energy Agency (IEA) Task Current research identifies density, moisture, and particle size
32 on Combustion and Cofiring reports more than 30 boilers that as the principal limitations for biomass cofiring [47]. Methods to
cofire with biomass [43]. Increased cofiring has caused millions increase density, reduce moisture, and reduce particle size will sig-
of tons of biomass to be imported to Europe. Most of the biomass nificantly increase the potential for cofiring. Wood pellets have pro-
fuel has been pelletized for ease of use in the coal handling equip- vided a suitable format for handling large volumes for automated,
ment. low-maintenance biomass firing. In Europe, wood pellets are
Cofiring in the U.S. has been limited. In 2008, there were added to the coal prior to milling. With modifications to the mill,
66 plants with a biomass/coal cofiring capacity of 3,772 MWe. up to 12% biomass can be added to coal. In the process of densi-
Total plant capacity was 6,147 MWe [44]. There have been fication the biomass is sized, dried, resized, densified, and cooled.
many feasibility studies. New cofiring capacity is expected in Wet biomass requires about 15% of the biomass raw material to be
areas like the Southeast where biomass supplies are abundant, burned to provide heat for drying. Waste heat sources from the coal
where there is good potential for afforestation of range and for- plant have been considered for drying wood fuels. Densification
est lands, and where renewable portfolio standards (RPS) are consumes about 150 kWh per ton of fuel. It can add $100 per ton to
becoming mandatory [45]. The cost of fuel and capital equip- the cost of the biomass or about $6/MMBtu.
ment have been the principal constraints for cofiring in the U.S. Wood has been the principal biomass fuel that has been cofired
While legislation encourages the production of electricity with with coal. Straw cofiring has been limited to a few plants in Europe.
renewable fuels biomass fuels have been more expensive than One pellet plant in Denmark prepares 240,00 tpy straw pellets for
alternatives. cofiring with coal [7]. Two dedicated roller mills at one plant fur-
A test cofiring coal with switchgrass in a PC boiler was conducted ther reduce the pellets to a 90-µm size for firing. That plant can fire
in 2006 [46]. A combination of public incentives was required to up to 100% straw.
close the gap between the cost of coal and the cost of biomass. The Milling and direct firing biomass has been employed with saw-
delivered price of coal to the burner tip equaled $35/ton but the dust, and with straw, in two locations in the U.S. The specific
cost of biomass was $70/ton. While the cost of coal has increased, energy required for processing 1,000 lb straw bales in Iowa was
biomass is still expensive compared with coal. 35 kWh per ton of biomass fired [48]. Another method of cofir-
It is often possible to fire only 5% biomass with coal in older ing biomass with coal is to burn the high-alkali straw in a low-
stoker boilers due to the low density of biomass. Corn cobs, pa- pressure boiler and superheat the steam in a wood or coal boiler
per cubes, or wood from local sources have been added in small that is less prone to fouling. This was demonstrated at a plant in
quantities on travelling grates to prevent agglomeration. The higher Ensted, Denmark [38]. No new plants have been built using this
volatile flame cools the coal fire and reduces clinkering. Alkali in technique.
the biomass fuel reacts with the sulfur in the coal to reduce sul- Torrefaction has also been considered for cofiring. Torrefaction
fur emissions which can also help prevent corrosion. In these increases the energy density of biomass through drying and partial
applications cofiring is best suited to boilers that are operated at pyrolysis. Torrefaction reduces the overall energy required for den-
60% of their rated capacity. Cofiring of biomass with coal can also sifying and burning biomass [49]. The first torrefaction plant will
be limited by the volume of a combustor since biomass requires produce 60,000 metric tons per year for a utility in the Netherlands
more combustion volume and more water wall surface area than [50]. Delivered costs of torrefied fuel have not yet been validated
coal. Many older stokers are being retired and replaced with more by industrial use. Neither densification nor torrefaction are used for
efficient circulating fluidized bed boilers which can accept higher cofiring in the U.S.
proportions of biomass with coal. Gasification is another method suitable for cofiring. Gasifica-
Circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boilers burn coal at the indus- tion is expected to be employed as a method of cofiring waste and
trial and utility scales. Suppliers report that many new or retrofit high-alkali fuels where the contaminants can be removed with
facilities are being planned with systems that will allow biomass to a hot gas filter before the producer gas is burned in the boiler.
be cofired when it becomes required or economic. In a few cases, Removal of sulfur and other contaminates may be necessary
CFBs have been modified to completely replace coal with biomass. to protect equipment for selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of
14-10  •  Chapter 14

nitrogen oxide emissions. Gasification of biomass for cofiring that it is difficult to control the torrefaction process. Above 285°C
has been demonstrated at Lahti, Finland. No further plants have (545°F) the process can become exothermic and it is difficult to
been built [51]. control the reactor temperature.
The first industrial torrefaction plant is being installed by RWE
and Topell in the Netherlands [50]. At 60,000 metric tons per year,
14.5 GASIFICATION it is intended to demonstrate the economic viability of converting
wood to carbonized wood for industrial use in coal fired boilers.
Gasification occurs early in combustion when fuels are heated The dried, torrified, and densified wood is expected to be sold at
and volatile solids convert to gases before combustion. Gasifica- pelletized wood prices. Perceived benefits are increased energy den-
tion emerged for industrial use in the late 1970s. At that time it, sity and reduced transportation costs. The best location for torrified
was considered as a means of retrofitting biomass fuels to ex- biomass processing may be at a coal-fired facility where the product
isting wood boilers. Gasification technologies include fixed bed can be fired directly. The torrefaction plant would take advantage of
updraft, and fluidized bed or circulating fluidized bed reactors. the shared utilities and services in order to put biomass into a more
Early systems were fixed bed updraft or downdraft gasifiers. They c­onvenient form while reducing the cost of processing.
were based on the gasifiers that had been used to make metha-
nol and ammonia from coal and biomass before these chemicals
were made from coal or natural gas. Fluidized bed gasifiers were
also developed. Commercial gasifiers and several demonstration 14.7 PYROLYSIS AND CARBONIZATION
facilities were built in Europe and North America. One, at Var- Heating wood to convert volatile and fixed carbon to vapors,
namo, Sweden, was an integrated combined cycle power plant oil, and gas has long been a goal for public and private develop-
[52]. Subsidies for these demonstrations ended between 1998 ment. Pyrolysis oil can be used to generate power in combustion
and 2000. turbines or engines. While there has been extensive development
Gasification has not been applied to the extent that was once ex- to produce pyrolysis oils, there are apparently no successful com-
pected because it has had few advantages over direct combustion. mercial pyrolysis plants for heat and power generation. Commer-
Only a few industrial scale biomass gasifiers are in use in North cial developers of pyrolysis technologies point to several limits to
America. Some gasifiers capable of converting wet fuels have been commercialization including bio-oil handling, storage, utilization,
successful in direct heating applications. Gasification is now seen as and upgrading technologies [56].
a means of cofiring biomass with coal or gas, and a means of repow- Pyrolysis or gasification can also produce carbonized biomass
ering district heating plants for efficient combined heat and power as a co-product. Pyrolysis of three tons of dry biomass can produce
[53, 54]. Gasification could solve the principal problems associated approximately 16 MMBtu (16.9 GJ) of energy, that can be directly
with cofiring biomass: moisture, density, and particle size. fired or cofired with coal, and one ton of charcoal. The charcoal,
Companies installing gasification systems have focused on heat or biochar, can be applied as a soil amendment to improve plant
applications and reforming gas for use in engines and turbines. growth, restore soil fertility, capture nutrients, and sequester
T­urbine applications largely stopped in the 1990s and have not been c­arbon [57]. When applied to soils with low organic matter, the
actively pursued by industry in favor of direct combustion in boilers. biochar can stimulate the growth of additional biomass, thereby
While gasification has long been considered for small-scale power increasing the sequestration of carbon in the soil. While markets
generation, there are few commercial situations where gasifiers can are still in development, the production of biochar as a co-product
compete with industrial steam boilers and turbines. Installed costs can improve the feasibility of a gasification or pyrolysis process.
for small-scale gasifiers with generators ($2,500 to $10,000/kWe) The permanent sequestration of the carbon is attractive to utilities
can be two to four times as much as comparable steam systems that have considered combined energy and biochar for disposal of
($2,500 to $3,500/kWe). Even subsidized plants have not demon- prunings from power line right of ways.
strated commercial viability or long periods of availability. None- As with cofiring or liquid fuels, policy decisions will be required
theless, several companies in Europe and North America continue to make co-production of energy and biochar feasible. Carbon cur-
to develop gasifiers for small-scale and industrial use. rently has a low value in the U.S. market. Technology improve-
The most suitable applications for gasification appear to be pro- ments are also needed. Current technology development is limited
duction heat and for synthesis gas, principally carbon monoxide and by a clear understanding of process conditions. Technologies must
hydrogen, for conversion to ethanol, methanol, and other chemicals be specific to the feedstocks and location. Commercial producers
through thermal catalytic or biochemical processes [55]. need better knowledge of the science of pyrolysis, better technolo-
gies to refine the bio-oil, and experience with developing projects
efficiently [58].
14.6 TORREFACTION
Torrefaction has been promoted as a useful method for solv- 14.8 BIOFUELS
ing the challenges of biomass fuel. Biomass is heated to between
250°C and 300°C (482°F to 572°F) in the absence of air until the Biofuels include ethanol [59] and biodiesel, bio-oils, Fischer–
moisture and light volatiles are removed. Heating reduces the me- Tropsch fuels [60], and products of liquefaction [61]. The biofuels
chanical strength of the biomass so that less energy is required to industry that has been developed on ethanol and biodiesel from
densify or pulverize it for cofiring. No energy is gained in the pro­ grains accounts for an increasing share of biomass energy produced
cess. Utilities consider torrified wood to be a good form of biomass in the U.S. [15]. Alcohols and derivatives produced through ther-
for cofiring if it can be made economically. mal and biological processes are expected to play a critical role
Torrefaction processes are in development. Some industrial car- for sustainable transportation fuels in the future [62]. These in-
bon producers that have attempted to make torrefied wood attest clude biofuels from cellulosic ethanol, and advanced biofuels from
 energy and power generation handbook  •  14-11

ligno-cellulosic feedstocks, and algae. Several technologies and generation, conversion to transportation fuels, and for carbon se-
pathways are being explored including production of intermedi- questration. Cofiring, combustion, torrefaction, pyrolysis, gasi-
ate products for processing in existing refineries. Many challenges fication, and biochemical conversions are all suitable options.
remain in the synthesis of these products [61, 63]. Biofuels may Biomass conversion can be combined with carbon strategies such
become the highest value products of biomass renewable energy as biochar and afforestation to increase carbon sequestration.
[64]. While transportation markets may be able to afford biofuels, Continued growth and development of biomass, development of
power generation is not likely to be a major consumer unless they improved resource management, infrastructure, and conversion
can be delivered at competitive prices. technologies will depend on energy and carbon markets and public
The pulp and paper industry can add biofuels to their current policy decisions.
production of fiber and combined heat and power. Although the
paper industry has been in decline in the U.S., it has the potential
for being a suitable platform for biorefineries. Experts point out 14.11 ACRONYMS
that the existing industry has several advantages [65].
BMP Best Management Practices
•  It is among the top10 manufacturers in 42 states. Btuh British thermal units per hour
•  It generates nearly 70% of its own energy needs. CAFO Concentrated Animal Feed Operation
•  It generates over 80% of all biomass power generated in the CEC California Energy Commission
U.S. through combined heat and power. CFB Circulating Fluidized Bed
•  It maintains high operating rates with low cost typically 24/7. CO Carbon Monoxide
•  It is skilled at running and maintaining large integrated facilities. CCS Carbon Capture and Storage
•  It handles more biomass than any other industry. CSS Carbon Capture and Sequestration or storage
•  It consistently improves its safety record and environmental DOE U.S. Department of Energy
footprint. EIA Energy Information Agency, U.S. Department
•  It utilizes the most intensely recycled material in our society. of Energy
Biorefinery processes have been demonstrated at the pilot and in- EPA Environmental Protection Agency
dustrial scale. The industry has made fuels through biological and GPY Gallons Per Year
thermal processes from biomass and black liquor. Processing options HAPS Hazardous Air Pollutants
include adding a biorefinery, preprocessing fiber to extract hemicel- HHV Higher Heating Value, Btu/lb
luloses (termed Value Prior to Pulping), new value from spent pulp- IEA International Energy Agency
ing liquors, and biodiesel from tall oil. The typical plant capacity of kWh Kilowatt Hours
1,000 tpd would be similar to a 30-MWe boiler. Incremental invest- LHV Lower Heating Value, Btu.lb
ments for biorefining would cost from $90 to $250 million. MMbtuh Million Btu per hour
Studies estimate that the pulp and paper industry has the poten- Mt Metric Mon
tial and infrastructure to support biorefineries for liquid fuels. The MW Megawatt, Thermal
fitting of 90 biorefineries to existing pulp and paper mills would MWe Megawatt, Electric
produce 17 billion gpy of oil or 44% of the current USDOE Tar- NOX Nitrogen Oxides
gets. Large capital support will be required to start the industry at NREL National Renewable Energy Laboratory
current oil prices of $3/gallon. The industry would need prices of ORC Organic Rankin Cycle
$100/barrel for most options. OWB Outdoor Wood Boiler
PC Pulverized Coal
PPH Pounds Per Hour
RPS Renewable Portfolio Standard
14.9 FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS SCR Selective Catalytic Reduction
SOFC Solid Oxide Fuel Cell
Future developments in biomass energy depend on policy deci-
Tph Short Tons Per Hour
sions regarding the use of biomass resources and the development
Tpy Short Tons Per Year
of biomass as an alternative fuel source. European countries have
UNFCCC United Nations Framework Convention on Cli-
used income from oil and gas to subsidize the development of bio-
mate Change
mass technologies for combined heat and power. U.S. constituen-
UWW Urban Wood Waste
cies have passed legislation encouraging biomass use but private
VOC Volatile Organic Sompounds
utilities will only build biomass power generation when they can
obtain power purchase agreements that will allow them to finance
new capacity. The lack of energy and carbon policies would sug-
14.12 References
gest that biomass may remain a low priority and even coal CSS
technologies will not be implemented until we have experienced
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 chapter

15
Utilizing Waste Materials as a
Source of Alternative Energy:
Benefits and Challenges
T. Terry Tousey
15.1 INTRODUCTION posal costs, but it also eliminated the environmental liabilities as-
sociated with land filling their waste.
The generation of waste, whether industrial or residential, is a There are numerous non-hazardous industrial by-products and
fact of life in our society today. Nearly everything we do creates post-consumer wastes that contain recoverable energy including
some type of waste. It is estimated that the United States alone gen- black liquor from the pulp and paper industry, distillation bottoms
erates 7.6 billion tons per year of non-hazardous industrial waste from chemical purification processes, wood collected from con-
[1], 48 million tons per year of hazardous waste [2], and 250 mil- struction and demolition (C&D) debris, scrap tires, used oil, and
lion tons per year of municipal solid waste (MSW) [3]. carpet waste. There are also certain hazardous wastes such as spent
Many of the waste streams and industrial by-products we gen- solvents, paints, inks, and other discarded organic chemicals that
erate each year contain recoverable energy. Capturing and utiliz- have energy value. And of the 250 million tons of household waste
ing this energy can create a positive impact both economically generated each year, over 80% of this is organic material consist-
and environmentally. It not only extends a material’s life cycle, ing of paper and paperboard, plastics, wood waste, yard trimmings,
but it also reduces the volume of waste sent to landfills, conserves and food scraps; all of which can be used as a source of energy
non-renewable resources, and helps reduce manufacturing costs by [4].
providing a lower cost alternative to the rising costs of energy and In this chapter, we will explore some of the benefits and challenges
waste disposal. Depending on the waste and the fossil fuel it is associated with using these wastes and industrial by-products as a
replacing, it may even help reduce our carbon footprint. source of energy, and we will look at some of the current and po-
The volume of waste we generate continues to grow each year. tential opportunities for doing so. Using these materials as a source
In the United States, MSW generation has increased from 88 mil- of energy is not without its challenges. Many of these streams, in
lion tons in 1960 to 250 million tons in 2008 [4]. The amount of their “as generated” form are of low energy quality, or they are het-
industrial waste has grown as well. Some of this increase is due to erogeneous and need to be processed to recover their energy value.
the fact that we have 120 million more people in the United States If the material is to be sent off site for energy recovery, there must
today than we did 50 years ago, but much of it is a result of our be an efficient mechanism in place to collect, process, and trans-
changing lifestyles and consumption habits. Today, we use sig- port the material to the ultimate energy consumer. The entity using
nificantly more disposable items than we did 50 years ago, and we the waste or by-product will need to obtain permits and will most
have developed thousands of new chemicals, plastics, paints, and likely have to modify their existing fuel handling and combustion
adhesives; all of which generate their own production by-products system to accommodate using the alternative material. All these
that need to be disposed of. Figure 15.1 shows the growth in MSW things add costs. However, what makes a waste-to-energy project
generation rates from 1960 to 2008. unique is that the economics are almost always driven by disposal
Utilizing waste in the production of energy is not a new con- cost avoidance or regulatory compliance. Therefore, they are not
cept. A number of industries initiated programs in the mid-1970s completely dependent on the price of fossil fuels or government
and early 1980s after the Arab oil embargo and the Iran-Iraq war support to make them viable. For this reason, the economics are
drove up energy prices exponentially and stricter environmental generally more favorable for these types of projects.
laws caused waste disposal costs to escalate. To remain competi-
tive, companies began searching for ways to reduce their energy
costs and to manage their waste in a more environmentally friendly 15.2 REGULATORY OVERVIEW
yet cost-effective manner. What they found was that by recover-
ing the energy value of the by-products they generated from their 15.2.1 Defining a Waste
manufacturing processes, they could produce their own heat and Before undertaking a waste-to-energy project, it is important to
power on site. This not only lowered their energy and waste dis- have a clear understanding of the regulatory status of the material
15-  •  Chapter 15

associated with the growing volume of municipal and industrial

waste. It was amended and strengthened in 1984 with the pass-
ing of the Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments, which among
other things required phasing out land disposal of hazardous waste.
Nonhazardous industrial solid waste and MSW are regulated un-
der Subtitle D of RCRA, and hazardous waste is regulated under
Subtitle C [5].
The definition of a solid waste under RCRA serves as the start-
ing point for determining the regulatory system under which a
waste must be managed. For example, a material cannot be a haz-
ardous waste unless it is first defined as a solid waste [6]. Under
RCRA, the term “solid waste” means any garbage, refuse, sludge
from a waste treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air
pollution control facility and other discarded material, including
solid, liquid, semisolid, or contained gaseous material resulting
from industrial, commercial, mining, and agricultural operations,
Fig. 15.1  MSW Generation Rates, 1960–2008 (Repro- and from community activities. The term does not include solid or
duced from EPA Non Hazardous Waste) [51] dissolved material in domestic sewage, or solid or dissolved ma-
terials in irrigation return flows or industrial discharges that are
point sources subject to permits under the Federal Water Pollution
you will be handling. Terms such as by-product, sludge, solid Control Act. It also does not include source, special nuclear, or by-
waste, hazardous waste, municipal waste, and spent material all product material as defined by the Atomic Energy Act [7].
have specific meanings within the regulatory world that define how In defining a solid waste, the EPA intended to capture the waste
a material is classified when it is discarded. These waste classifica- generated by all industries. With the recent emphasis on the use of
tions determine the regulatory requirements as to how, when, and biomass as a source of renewable energy, it is important to point
where the material can be disposed of or beneficially reused and that the definition of solid waste includes discarded materials from
can affect the economics of handling the material. Before spend- agricultural activities. Many sources of biomass come from agri-
ing any capital, you need to make sure there are no regulatory ob- cultural activities, and you need to be aware that just because a ma-
stacles or added environmental costs that would make the project terial is considered renewable does not mean it is not a solid waste.
uneconomical due to the material’s regulatory status. Materials such as animal manure and food waste treated by anaero-
In the United States, the governmental agency regulating the
generation, treatment, and disposal of waste materials is the US
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The primary goal of the
EPA in regard to waste generation and disposal is to reduce, re- Is Material discarded by
use, and recycle. Although they do not consider energy recovery, being:
a form of reuse or recycling, they do consider it a viable option in
the waste management hierarchy. Figure 15.2 depicts the EPA’s 1) Abandoned;
preferred solid waste management hierarchy. 2) Inherently waste-
The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) is the like;
primary law governing the disposal of solid and hazardous waste 3) A discarded military
in the United States. It was enacted in 1976 to address the problems No
munition: or
4) Recycled?
Material is
not a
Yes RCRA
Solid
Waste
Is waste excluded from
the definition of solid
waste or granted a Yes
variance from being
defined as a solid waste?

No

Material is a RCRA
Solid Waste

Fig. 15.2  Solid Waste Management Hierarchy (Re- Fig. 15.3 Is a Material a Solid Waste? (Reproduced
produced from EPA Non Hazardous Waste) [51] from EPA RCRA Orientation Manual) [52] [53]
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  15-

bic digestion to produce biogas and crop residue burned for energy
recovery could be subject to the solid waste rules. Non-hazardous Is waste recycled by being:
solid waste is regulated at the state level, and different states have
different rules. Thus, it is important to review the solid waste regu- 1) Used as an ingredient;
lations for the state where the project will be implemented as this 2) Used as a product
could affect the economics. Figure 15.3 shows a simple flowchart substitute; or
3) Returned to the
of some of the questions to be addressed in determining whether a
production process?
material is an RCRA solid waste.
Hazardous waste is a subset of solid waste. The EPA defines
hazardous waste very broadly as liquid, solid, contained gas, or Yes
sludge wastes that contain properties that are dangerous or poten-
tially harmful to human health or the environment [8]. Because Is waste reclaimed?
this definition is so broad the EPA has developed a set of criteria
and definitions to help in making hazardous waste determinations.
No
“Characteristic” hazardous wastes are wastes that are hazardous Yes
because of their ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity, or toxicity.
“Listed” hazardous wastes are wastes generated from a specific Is recycled waste:
list of industries and common manufacturing processes or from a
list of over 500 commercial chemical products that are considered 1) Used in a manner
hazardous waste when discarded [9]. Figure 15.4 shows a simple constituting disposal Waste is a
flowchart of some of the questions to be addressed in determining (i.e. applied to the RCRA Solid
whether a material is an RCRA hazardous waste. land); Waste
To complicate matters the EPA has developed some exclusions 2) Burned for energy
Yes
and exemptions from the definition of solid waste and/or hazard- recovery, used to
ous waste for certain wastes when they are reused or recycled (40 produce a fuel, or
CFR 261.2(e) and 261.4) [6] [53]. Other recycled wastes may still contained in fuels;
be considered a solid waste or hazardous waste, but are subject to 3) Accumulated
less stringent regulatory controls [6] [52] [53]. Although the pur- speculatively; or
4) A dioxin-containing
pose of this is to promote beneficial reuse and recycling, it can
waste considered
create confusion. Figure 15.5 shows a flowchart of some of the
inherently waste-like?

No
Is material a Solid
Waste?
Waste is not a
RCRA Solid Waste
Yes
No
Is waste excluded from
the definition of Facility must determine if waste is a:
hazardous waste? Yes
1) Spent material;
No 2) Sludge;
Waste is 3) By-product;
not a 4) Commercial chemical product; or
Is the waste a No Hazardous 5) Scrap Metal
characteristic or listed Waste
hazardous waste?
Fig. 15.5 Are all Recycled Wastes Hazardous
Wastes? (Reproduced from EPA RCRA Orientation Manual)
Yes [52] [53]
Yes
Is waste de-listed?
questions to be addressed in determining whether a recycled waste
No is an RCRA solid waste and, if so, if it is a hazardous waste.
Interpreting the rules can be tricky, so you should seek profes-
The waste is a RCRA
sional advice if you are not familiar with them. The flowcharts
hazardous waste
are only meant to be a guide and do not replace reviewing the
regulations. In addition, the regulations change and get amended
Fig. 15.4  Hazardous Waste Identification Process from time to time. Today, you might be utilizing a by-product as
(Reproduced from EPA RCRA Orientation Manual) [52] [53] a source of energy that is excluded from the definition of a solid
15-  •  Chapter 15

waste, and tomorrow, that exclusion could be taken away. Your As you might expect as you go from handling a by-product to a
economics could change significantly if you have to start comply- non-hazardous solid waste to a hazardous waste, each permit gets
ing with a new set of regulations. This is why most companies more onerous and more expensive than the next. While you may
look to recover their initial capital fairly quickly as a change in the be able to comply with the permit restrictions, the cost of all the
regulations could make the project no longer cost-effective. regulatory controls and reporting requirements may become too
expensive relative to the energy savings.
15.2.2 Air Permits
If you are going to combust a material as a fuel whether it is
a by-product, a waste, or a fossil fuel, you are going to need an 15.3  valuating the Energy Value
E
air permit. Even if you are just switching from a fossil fuel to a of a Waste
by-product fuel, you will most likely be required to amend your
permit. Depending on whether the material is classified as a by- In evaluating a waste-to-energy project, you need to determine the
product, a non-hazardous solid waste, or a hazardous waste will economic value of the waste you will be using. This value is based
determine what kind of permits you will require. The type of air on energy content of the waste as compared with the fossil fuel it is
permit required will determine how much capital you will have to replacing — less any costs associated with handling the waste. Differ-
allocate to items like air emission controls. ing types of materials have different energy values, require different
In general, the combustion for energy recovery of non-hazardous handling equipment, and require different air pollution control mea­
industrial by-products and industrial solid wastes is regulated under sures. Thus, it is important to make sure that the energy savings real-
section 112 of the Clean Air Act (CAA) [10]. This is better known ized from using the waste are sufficient to overcome any additional
as the “Boiler MACT” and affects any boiler or process heater that capital and operating costs required to handle the material.
has the potential to emit more that 10 tons/yr of any single hazardous In the United States, the energy value of a material is based on its
air pollutant (HAP) or more than 25 tons/yr of any combination of BTU (British Thermal Unit) content. The most common fossil fuels
(HAPs). There are 188 compounds that are considered HAPs [11]. used for energy production are coal at 11,000 to 13,000 BTU per
Facilities that combust materials classified as MSWs are regulated pound, fuel oil at about 138,500/gal and natural gas at about 1030
under section 129 of the CAA [10]. The air-permitting requirements BTUs/cu ft. If electricity is being used as a source of energy, which is
and controls for this type of device are more stringent than under Sec- expressed in kilowatts per hour, it is necessary to convert kilowatts to
tion 112. In addition to meeting the MACT standards for HAPs, they BTUs to make an energy comparison. One kilowatt is equal to 3412
also have emission limitations for nine additional pollutants, and there BTUs.
are requirements for operator training, preconstruction site assess- Since the BTU content of different materials is expressed us-
ments, and monitoring that are not included in Section 112. ing different denominators, the economic value of a fuel is usually
Facilities that burn hazardous waste as a fuel or incinerate it are stated on a price per million BTU basis ($/MMBTU) to compare
regulated under what is known as the Hazardous Waste Combus- one fuel to another. Current pricing in the United States for some
tion MACT (40 CFR 63 — Subpart EEE) [48]. Needless to say, the of the more common sources of energy as of the end of May 2010
regulatory standards for burning hazardous waste are much more is listed in Table 15.1. (Coal pricing is as of the end of 2009.)
restrictive than for burning by-products or MSW. Thus, if you were burning natural gas in your boiler at $5.02 per
The CAA also regulates a number of common air pollutants MMBTU and you had the opportunity to supplement this with a high
such as particulate matter, ground-level ozone, carbon monoxide, energy content liquid by-product from your manufacturing process at
sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, and lead, which are known as “cri- minimal additional cost, it would certainly make economic sense to do
teria pollutants” [12]. The EPA sets specific allowable levels for so. If you were replacing fuel oil at $14.73 per MMBTU, you could
these pollutants, and if a geographic region has not attained these probably afford to pay something for the liquid by-product fuel, as-
standards, they are considered non-attainment areas. If you plan to suming you had the permits to accept the material. On the other hand,
locate your waste-to-energy project in a non-attainment area and if you are looking at substituting for the use of coal in your boiler at
have the potential to emit any of the criteria pollutants in excess $2.59 per MMBTU with a solid material such as tires that required
of the specified regional thresholds, you will have more stringent shredding and the steel belts removed to feed the material to the boiler,
permitting requirements and potentially require more expensive air the economics may not warrant the investment unless you could re-
emission controls. ceive a disposal fee for the tires.
As you can see, a waste-to-energy facility can be subject to dif-
ferent regulatory requirements based on the type of waste it will Table 15.1 US Energy Prices (See reference to
be handling, the potential it has to emit certain air pollutants, the 13, 14, 1, and 16 under “Energy Source”)
amount of those pollutants it is going to emit, and whether it is
located in a non-attainment area. Thus, a project may be viable if Energy Source Price $/MMBTU
it is located in an attainment area, but the same project may not
be economical if it is located in a non-attainment area requiring Coal (average delivered $64.87/ton $2.591
expensive emissions controls. price - industrial) [13]
It is important to evaluate all the potential regulatory costs as- Heating oil (NY Harbor) $2.04/gal $14.73
sociated with an energy recovery project before you begin. In ad- [14]
dition to air permits, you may be subject to other permitting and Natural gas $5.02/MMBTU $5.02
regulatory requirements depending on the state you are located in (industrial) [15]
and the type of waste you are handling. You may be subject to Electricity (industrial $0.0669/kwh $19.60
local siting and zoning requirements, and the project may even average) [16]
change a facilities current zoning permit (i.e., from agricultural to Note:
industrial). (1) Assumes 12,500 BTUs/lb for coal.
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  15-

A waste-to-energy program can generate savings in two ways: The net effect of all of these is a reduction in operating costs,
first by reducing your cost of fossil fuels and second from receiv- which will help them remain completive in the global market and
ing a tipping fee for handling the material. If you are recovering a reduction in their carbon footprint.
energy from a by-product you generate on site, the tipping fee is
not a necessary component as you have the benefit of eliminating 15.4.1.1  Chemical Industry  The chemical industry consumes
the cost to disposal of the material. However, if you are operating about 6% of the total US domestic energy use and about 25% of all
a program that is based on bringing in outside waste as a source of US manufacturing energy use. Half the energy consumed is used
energy many times, the energy savings is not enough to cover all for process heating and cooling and for power, with the other half
the costs of handling and processing the waste, so you will need to being used as raw materials feedstock. About one-fifth of electric-
charge a tipping fee. You also need to look at how efficient your ity used by the chemical industry is produced onsite, primarily by
system is at converting the material to useable energy. When deal- means of cogeneration [17].
ing with a heterogeneous waste, do not assume what you calculate In most organic chemical production processes, chemical distilla-
on paper is reality. In determining the true net energy value of a tion is used to separated and purify the products. The distillation pro­
waste, you need to make sure you consider all the associated costs cess generates by-products that are typically high-molecular-weight
including environmental, processing and storage, transportation, organic compounds. These compounds can have an energy content
and energy efficiency losses. as high as 16,000 to 18,000 BTUs/lb. Typically, they are relatively
clean streams with low moisture content and very little other contami-
nants such as toxic metals that might create air emission issues when
combusted. Most are liquids so the cost to convert a boiler to burn
15.4  xamples of Waste Materials
E these by-products is relatively small. In addition, the majority of the
and By-products That Can Be by-products are not considered a hazardous waste under RCRA, so the
Used as a Fuel facility does not have to go through an expensive permitting process to
There are a number of different business models that can be de- burn the material. Thus, these materials offer an excellent opportunity
ployed in developing a waste-to-energy project. The model used to be used as an alternative fuel.
depends on the waste generator’s need for energy, the type of Many chemical companies have been using these by-product
waste generated, the volume generated, and the logistics involved streams in their boilers for over 30 years. Faced with significant
in transporting the material. For those manufacturing facilities that increases in energy costs beginning in the mid 1970s and higher
generate significant amounts of energy-bearing by-products, one disposal costs beginning in the early 1980s, the industry has been
method is to utilize the material on site to produce its own heat able to reduce operational costs through the use of these materials
and power. Another method is for energy-intensive industries like as a fuel. A facility with a 100 MMBTUs per hour boiler fueled
utilities, cement plants, and asphalt plants to develop a program to with natural gas at $5.02/MMBTU could save about $2,200,000
accept energy-bearing wastes from third parties to procure a lower per year by replacing 50% of their natural gas with a zero-cost
cost fuel source. In yet another model, a company might set them- by-product fuel. This would be in additional to the avoided cost to
selves up as a merchant plant specifically to accept and process transport and dispose of the material.
wastes generated by others and produce a fuel or generate power
which they would sell, presumably for a profit. 15.4.1.2  Pulp and Paper Industry  The US pulp and paper
In this section, we will look at some examples of industries utiliz- industry uses about 15% of the total energy consumed by all do-
ing their own by-products as a source of energy, and we will also mestic manufacturing sectors [18]. In 2008, the industry generated
look at some examples of post-consumer wastes that can or are being 65% of its own energy [19]. The industry is one of the largest users
used for energy or power production. This will be a broad overview, of cogeneration generating 37% of the total energy produced by
as in the space provided not much detail can be given. However, a cogeneration within all manufacturing sectors in 2008 [19].
number of articles have been written on recovering the energy value The manufacture of paper involves a pulping process where the
of many of these materials, and you are encouraged to investigate lignin and hemicellulose in wood are broken down and separated
them further if you would like more detailed information. from the cellulose. The most widely used process for this is the
Kraft Process, which uses sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfide to
15.4.1 Industries Utilizing Energy Recovery break the bonds that link the lignin to the cellulose. This process
The industrial sector offers numerous opportunities to recover generates a by-product stream called black liquor, which is about
energy from the by-products generated off their manufacturing 85% water, but contains the lignin and hemicellulose along with
processes. Industries such as in the chemical, steel, pulp and paper, the reaction by-products of sodium carbonate and sodium sulfate.
petroleum products, and aluminum industries all generate large Most of the water is evaporated through the use of multiple ef-
quantities of energy-bearing by-products that need to be managed. fect evaporators to concentrate the material to 65% to 80% solids.
They also consume a great deal of energy for process heating and At this point, the energy value of the black liquor is about 6000
cooling and power. By using the energy value of their by-products BTUs/lb [18]. The black liquor is then sent to a recovery boiler
to fuel their boilers or produce power, they can where the material is combusted to produce steam for the cogen-
eration of electricity and process heat. The recovery boiler also
·  reduce energy costs recovers sodium sulfide and sodium hydroxide, which is returned
·  eliminate transportation and disposal costs to the pulping process.
·  reduce fossil fuel use In the process to recovery, the energy value of the black liquor
·  eliminate the long-term environmental liabilities associated is energy intensive in itself and very complicated. The evaporation
with off-site disposal of the black liquor consumes around 3.78 million BTUs of steam
·  reduce CO2 emissions associated with transporting materials per ton of pulp. The recovery boiler consumes another 1.13 mil-
off site lion BTUs per ton of pulp in the form of supplemental fuel and
15-  •  Chapter 15

electricity. However, the boiler produces 9 to15 times as much ·  C&D debris
energy in the form of heat, which is used to produce steam and ·  scrap tires
electricity through the use of cogeneration [18]. ·  municipal wastewater treatment sludge
The effort the pulp and paper industry goes through to recover ·  used oil
the energy value of the black liquor is a good example how com- ·  auto shedder residue
plex the process can get. Unlike the distillation by-products from ·  rice hulls, oat hull and peanut shells
the chemical industry, which can be used directly as a fuel, the by- ·  beer yeast
products of the pulp and paper industry require multiple process- ·  food processing wastes
ing steps to recover their energy value, and the process requires a ·  cooking oil grease from food establishments
significant capital investment on the part of the industry. However, ·  used oil filters
the combination of energy cost savings and avoided disposal cost ·  rail road ties
makes the effort well worth it. ·  non-hazardous refinery wastes
·  wire chop
15.4.1.3 Steel Industry  Energy accounts for about 17% of the ·  carpet waste
total manufacturing cost in the production of steel. About 10% of ·  used pallets
the electricity used by the steel industry is produced on site, prima- ·  non-hazardous spent solvents
rily through cogeneration [20]. Two by-product streams are gener-
15.4.2.1 Scrap Tires  There are approximately 300,000,000
ated in the production process: coke oven gas and blast furnace
scrap tires generated each year in the United States [24]. For years,
gas. Both are used as an alternative source of energy in the coking
they were simply stockpiled on vacant land until a number of major
and steel-making process.
fires caused states to begin regulating the collection and disposal of
Coke oven gas is a by-product of converting coal to coke. The
tires in the late 1980s. Most states now ban the land filling of whole
coal is heated in coke ovens, and the volatiles in the coal are driven
tires, although many still allow land filling of shredded tires.
off at temperatures approaching 2000°F. This raw gas is made up of
Tires have an energy content averaging 14,000 BTUs/lb [24].
water vapor, tar vapor, aromatics, naphthalene, ammonia gas, hydro-
As a solid fuel, they offer some advantages over coal in that they
gen sulfide gas, and hydrogen cyanide gas. For the coke plant to use
are higher in BTU content and lower in sulfur and nitrogen content,
the raw gas for energy, it is sent to an on-site by-products plant to be
which helps reduce SOx and NOx emissions. The main consum-
cleaned and to recover useful chemicals. After the gas is cleaned and
ers of tires as a fuel are cement plants, pulp and paper mills, and
the chemicals recovered, the resulting gas is sent back to the coke oven
utilities. Since they already burn a solid fuel in the way of coal,
and to the blast furnace to be used as a source of energy [21]. The
the capital costs required to utilize tires as a supplemental fuel is
energy content of the gas is low at 500 BTUs/cu ft, but the volume
relatively small. Most cement plants are able to burn whole tires,
is significant. One ton of coal converted to coke generates 9500 to
reducing the processing costs of the collectors and enabling the ce-
11,500 cu ft of coke oven gas or the equivalent of about 5,000,000
ment plants to charge a tipping fee for disposing of the tires. They
BTUs [22]. This is more energy than the coke oven requires, so about
can also handle the steel belts in the tires because one of the raw
half of the gas is used elsewhere in the plant or sold.
materials in making cement is iron. Utilities and pulp and paper
Blast furnace gas is a by-product of the blast furnace where iron
mills require the tires to be chipped and, in some cases, require
ore is mixed with coke and reduced to pig iron, which goes on to the
the steel belt to be removed so they generally pay a fee for the tire
steel-making furnaces. The gas has a very low BTU content of only
derived fuel. Currently, 54% of the scrap tires generated each year
90 BTU/cu ft, but the volume is so large (2.5–3.5 tons of gas per ton
are used as a fuel. The use of the tires as a fuel has also helped
of iron produced) that a significant amount of energy can be recovered
reduce the number of stockpiled tires from 1,000,000,000 in 1990
from the stream [23]. The gas is cleaned and used in the boilers and in
to an estimated 128,000,000 by 2007 [24].
the blast stoves, which pre-heat the blast furnace air.
Similar to the pulp and paper industry, the steel industry goes
through a tremendous amount of effort to recover the energy con-
tent of their by-products. However, it provides a significant energy
savings versus flaring the gas, which they did in the past.

15.4.2 Non-Hazardous Solid Waste

US industries generate 7.6 billion tons per year of non-hazardous
industrial waste [1]. Although non-hazardous waste is not subject
to the same stringent regulatory requirements as hazardous waste,
handling and disposing of these materials are still a large expense
for industry. Much of the non-hazardous industrial waste gener-
ated each year is not suitable for energy recovery. Ninety-seven
percent of the volume is wastewaters, and a majority of the re-
maining waste consists of inorganic materials such as coal ash,
foundry waste, slag, and cement kiln dust. However, there is still a
significant amount of material that has recoverable energy content.
The United States also generates a significant amount of munici-
pal “post-consumer” waste such as scrap tires and used oil filters,
which can be used for energy recovery. Examples of non-hazardous
industrial waste and municipal post-consumer waste that have re- Illegally Dumped Tires Along A Creek (Illegal Dump-
coverable energy content include ing Prevention Handbook — EPA)
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  15-

The market for tire-derived fuels took time to develop, as ini-

tially there was no collection or processing system in place to man-
age the logistics of moving the scrap tires from the consumer to
the energy user. As with many potential waste-to-energy streams,
if there is no efficient method to move the material, it is difficult
to establish a recycling market. Today, there is a well-developed
network of collectors, processors, and energy consumers for scrap
tires.
Scrap tires can be recycled to make products such as crumb rub-
ber for use in asphalt or artificial turf, and these end uses do com-
pete for the tires as a source of energy. However, even though these
markets provide a more value-added end use for the scrap tires,
the cost of shredding the tires to such a small size generally makes
these options too expensive. If there is not a fuel outlet for the tires
in a particular region, and they have to be shipped a long distance,
then these other uses can become a viable outlet.

15.4.2.2  Construction and Demolition Debris  C&D debris is

generated from the renovation and C&D of both residential and
Sewer Sludge (30% Solids and 70% Moisture)
commercial properties. The amount of C&D material can change
significantly from year to year based on the economy. In 2003, the Sludge disposal represents a major cost of the wastewater treat-
EPA estimated that 164 million tons of C&D waste was generated ment process. Prior to the end of 1991 when the practice was banned
in the United States [25]. in the United States, much of the sludge was disposed of inexpen-
C&D debris is made up of 22% to 45% combustibles such as sively by ocean dumping. In 1993, the EPA established management
wood (20%–30%), asphalt shingles (1%–10%), and plastics (1%– standards for the final use or disposal of sewage sludge includ-
5%). The remaining 47% to 75% consists of non-combustibles ing rules for land application, land filling, and incineration (Title
such as concrete and rubble, drywall, metals, and bricks [25]. Most 40 CFR Part 503) [49]. As municipalities began looking for cost-
of the asphalt shingles are recycled by crushing and mixing with effective ways to dispose of their sludge in compliance with the new
hot mix asphalt, which offers a higher economic return than use rules, a number of treatment technologies were developed to meet
as a fuel. However, this still leaves about 25% of the stream avail- the new treatment standards including alkaline (lime) stabilization,
able for energy recovery or about 42,500,000 tons/yr. There is not composting, heat drying, anaerobic digestion, and incineration.
a lot of data on the energy value of wood from C&D debris, as it On a dry basis, sewer sludge typically has an energy value of be-
can vary based on moisture content, but it most likely averages tween 6000 and 9000 BTUs/lb. The problem is that mechanical drying
between 7000 and 8000 BTUs/lb. Wood from demolition projects of the sludge can only get the moisture content down to 70% to 80%.
typically has lower moisture content and subsequently higher BTU Thus, the material is still too wet and too low in energy content to
content than other biomass as the material is aged. be used directly as a fuel. However, a number of methods have been
The C&D industry is made up of a fairly sophisticated network explored to recover the energy in the wet sludge. Some municipalities
of collectors and transfer stations where the materials are sorted that incinerate the sludge have added heat recovery systems to capture
and the useable materials are sent for recycling and the rest sent the waste heat off the incinerator to produce steam. The steam is used
to landfill. Most of the wood is used as a fuel in industrial boilers; to produce power for the facility through cogeneration.
however, the clean wood has to be separated out from the painted Heat drying the sludge on site has also become a popular alter-
wood or wood treated with wood preservatives. The EPA estimates native, particularly in densely populated areas, as it reduces the
that only about 50% of the wood is clean enough to be used for en- volume of the sludge and destroys the pathogens. In addition, the
ergy recovery because of potential air emission issues. This would product produced off the dryer can be used as a fertilizer because
equate to about 21,250,000 tons. Before the wood can be used as of its nitrogen content or as a fuel because of its energy content.
a fuel, it has to be chipped. The estimated market value for wood The problem with heat drying is that it requires a lot of fuel, typi-
chips delivered to a utility power plant is $18 to $30 per ton, de- cally natural gas, to dry the sludge as it is 75% water, and it re-
pending on a lot of factors including transportation costs, moisture quires a significant capital investment. Therefore, the industry has
content, and market demand [55]. Assuming an average of 7400 been looking at ways to capture the energy value of the sludge to
BTUs/lb for C&D wood waste, this would equate to between $1.21 assist in the drying process and reduce fuel costs.
and $2.03 per MMBTU or about 45% to 78% of the price of coal. In 2005, a group out of Chicago built a unique gasification and
drying system at the Philadelphia wastewater treatment plant. The
15.4.2.3 Municipal Wastewater Treatment Sludge  There is system would gasify the dried sludge and then use the energy pro-
approximately 7,000,000 dry tons/yr of sewage sludge generated duced from the gasification process, in the form of waste heat, in
from the roughly 16,000 publicly owned wastewater treatment a dryer to partially dry the sludge prior to feeding it to the gasifier.
plants in the United States [26]. Sewage sludge is a by-product The benefit of this was that it was a closed-loop system, and by us-
of the municipal wastewater treatment process. As generated, it is ing the energy content of the sludge to assist in the drying process,
mostly water, and it is typically sent through a belt press or centri- no fossil fuels would be required for the dryer. The facility had
fuge to bring the solids content up to 20% to 30%. The resulting operational issues due to the quality of the sludge, but it did have
cake, commonly referred to as biosolids, is an odiferous substance limited success. The facility has since ceased operations due to
that must be carefully handled and monitored to ensure public some political factors, but other municipalities are currently evalu-
safety. ating or operating similar technologies.
15-  •  Chapter 15

There is also resurgence at municipal wastewater treatment outlet for the used oil, the collection company may charge the genera-
plants in using anaerobic digestion to treat the sludge and produce tor, pick it up for free, or even pay for it.
biogas. The biogas, which usually contains 50% to 60% methane, Used oil is generated in small quantities from many different
can be used as a fuel for the sludge dryer or in a boiler to pro- sources. Thus, there must be an efficient system in place to collect
vide heat and hot water to the plant. If the biogas is cleaned up, all this volume and move it to the used oil burner. Over the years, a
it can also be used in a cogeneration system to produce on-site well-established network of collection points (e.g., automotive repair
power. Municipalities have historically flared their biogas as they shops, oil change shops, and garages) and collectors has developed
viewed anaerobic digestion as part of the wastewater treatment to consolidate the used oil before shipping it to processing facilities
process rather than a source of renewable energy. This mind set and the end users. Being a liquid with high energy density, the used
has changed in recent years as energy costs have increased. Mu- oil can be shipped fairly long distances and still be competitive as an
nicipalities are now looking for ways to improve the efficiency of alternative fuel, depending on the fuel oil market.
their digesters to produce more biogas, which can be used on site Used oil can also be re-refined back into a base stock for lubri-
to reduce energy costs. This will also help reduce sludge disposal cating oil, and this outlet does compete against the fuel outlets for
costs as improving the efficiency of the digester will reduce the the supply of used oil. However, this market is still developing,
volume of solids they generate. and it has taken a long time to do so for two reasons. First, even
The next few years will be an interesting period for the mu- though it creates a higher value-added end product, the economics
nicipal wastewater treatment industry. They have the potential to have been marginal in the past versus using the material directly as
transform themselves from a wastewater treatment industry that a fuel. Second, there has always been a stigma attached to products
consumes a great deal of energy to an industry that produces its made from a waste material that they are inferior. As such, some-
own power. The problem today is that there are so many new tech- one driving a $40,000 car has generally not been willing to take the
nologies being marketed to the industry, each touting itself as the risk (perceived or not) of damaging his/her engine for a few dollars
most efficient in recovering the energy value of the sludge, that in savings from using a lube oil made from a re-refined base stock.
the industry does not know which method to focus on. Municipali- This has been an issue with recycled anti-freeze as well. This per-
ties are also very conservative, and they take a long time to make ception is changing as re-refining technologies improve and the in-
changes so it is too early to predict if a single technology will rise dustry strives to educate the consumer, but it is still an issue. Thus,
to the top or if a number of different technologies will be used most used oil will likely continue to be used an alternative fuel.
based on each facility’s particular situation. Time will tell.
15.4.2.5  Auto Shredder Residue  Approximately 12 to 15 mil-
15.4.2.4  Used Oil  Approximately 1.35 billion gallons of used lion automobiles are disposed of annually in the United States [29].
oil are generated each year in the United States [27]. This includes The cars are stripped of reusable parts and then sent to shredding
spent automotive lubricating oils, hydraulic fluids, compressor operations, where they are shredded into smaller pieces. The metal
oils, and metal working oils. is recovered and sold to scrap metal processors. The remaining
Used oil has been used as an alternative fuel for decades. However, material, called the auto shredder residue (ASR), comprises about
because of the issues over improper management of used oil over 15% to 20% of the vehicle [30].
the years, the EPA established a set of regulations in 1985 primarily The United States generates approximately 5 million tons of
directed at used oil burned for energy recovery. The main driver of ASR each year, and nearly all of it is land filled. ASR is composed
these rules was to keep off-specification oil from being burned in of plastics, rubber, foam, residual metal pieces, paper, fabric, glass,
non-industrial boilers such as those in apartment buildings. Then, sand, and dirt. Approximately 20% to 50% of the ASR, on a dry
in 1992, the EPA finalized standards establishing requirements for basis, is combustible, including the plastics, fabric, and rubber. To
generators, transporters, transfer facilities, collections centers, proc-
essors, re-refiners, burners, and marketers of used oil (Title 40 CFR
Part 279) [50]. Although not as stringent as the hazardous waste rules,
it does require the generators, transporters, and burners to maintain
records and ensure the proper management of the used oil [28].
Of the 1.35 billion gallons of used oil generated each year, the
EPA estimates that 780 million gallons are used as a fuel, 165 mil­
lion gallons are re-refined back into lube oil base stock, and
426 million gallons are land filled or disposed of improperly. Of
the material used as a fuel, most is burned in asphalt plants (38%),
with the rest being burned in small space heaters in garages and
automotive centers (14%), industrial boilers (12%), utility boilers
(10%), steel mills (10%), cement kiln (4%), and other (12%) [27].
Depending on the quality of the used oil, it can have up to 140,000
BTU/gal. It is mostly used a replacement for fuel oil in large industrial
boilers or furnaces capable of burning the material with no additional
air emission controls. As a secondary market, used oil will compete
with natural gas. If natural gas is priced at $5.00 per million BTUs
and it takes 7.14 gal of used oil to equal one million BTUs, then the
equivalent value of the used oil would be $0.70/gal. Rarely, it is used
as a replacement for low-cost coal as the price would have to be be- Typical Auto Shredder Residue (California DTSC —
low $0.36/gal to be competitive. The market forces are dynamic in the Evaluation of Shredder Residue as Cement Manufacturing
used oil business. Depending on the price of fuel oil and the available Feedstock)
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  15-

use the material as a fuel, you would first have to remove all of the
incombustibles. Even then, the fuel quality of the material would
be marginal because of the heterogeneous nature of ASR. It is es-
timated that the fuel value of the unprocessed material is roughly
5000 BTUs/lb. After removal of the incombustibles, the fuel value
could be as high as 9000 to 10,500 BTUs/lb [29].
Over the years, the cement industry has looked at using ASR as
an alternative fuel, but because of the contaminants and the cost to
process the material, it has never been economically viable. An-
other option to recover the energy value of ASR is to use gasifica-
tion. Gasification is more amendable to heterogeneous materials
such as ASR, and it has a better emission profile than combustion,
which would be an advantage due to the contaminants in the ASR.
The biggest issue is that the material can still be land filled inex-
pensively. A recent report showed landfill costs averaged $43/ton
in the United States in 2009 [31]. Given the capital costs and the
costs to segregate out the non-combustibles, it would be difficult
to make the economics work. However, because of regional differ-
ences in tipping fees, this might be a viable option in some parts
of the county.

15.4.2.6  Carpet Waste  An estimated 2,940,000 tons of post-

consumer carpet was disposed of in 2009; most of it in landfills
[32].
Recycling post-consumer carpet is a difficult task, not so much
from a processing standpoint, but because a mechanism for collect-
ing, sorting, and transporting used carpet has not established. There
are also no regulatory drivers other than the push to reduce the
amount of waste sent to landfills. Waste carpet does create waste
management problems as takes up a large amount of landfill space
due to its bulk. However, only 278,500 tons or 9.5% of the carpet
waste stream were recycled or used for energy in 2009 [32].
There is gradually a network of collectors and processors being
developed to manage the logistics of moving waste carpet from
the consumer to the processor, but it is still in its infancy. Like
any new waste recycling industry, these challenges are being taken
on by individual entrepreneurs. The carpet industry has created an
association, Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE) to try and
accelerate the recovery process. A key factor in trying to develop
the fledging collection industry is to have a high-volume outlet for
the collected material. It is a which-comes-first scenario. You can-
not develop a successful recycling business if you cannot get the
supply, and at the same time, companies are not going to set up the
Carpet Scrap at Landfill (CARE web site: Paul
collection and transfer network if they do not have a viable outlet
Humber)
for the material. Thus, the industry is trying to develop fuel outlets
where large volumes of waste carpet could be consumed in the
short term while the recycling market is being developed.
Depending on the type of carpet (nylon versus polypropylene), it was determined that producing a fuel product for cement plants
its BTU value can range from 7400 BTUs/lb to 12,000 BTUs/lb was not cost-effective when you take into account the capital costs
(17.17 MJ/kg to 28.10 MJ/kg) [33]. The average is closer to 7500 and operating costs of shredding the carpet. Cement plants burn
BTUs/lb as most carpet is made of nylon. The carpet can have up coal, so there, fuel costs are low, and therefore, there would not be
to 25% calcium carbonate as this is used in the backing of the car- any economic advantage for them to use the material unless they
pet. This increases the ash content, which would create a problem could receive a tipping fee.
if it was used as a fuel in a traditional boiler. However, cement The carpet manufacturing industry does generate carpet scrap
kilns use calcium carbonate as a raw material, so this would be less from their production process, and most of this material ends up in
of a concern if they were to use the material as a fuel. There may local landfills. However, one company, Shaw Floors, in an effort
be a potential emissions issue though as nylon carpet has higher to reduce landfill and energy costs installed a gasification system in
nitrogen content than coal, and this could create a potential for 2006 to manage their carpet waste. The syngas produced from the
increased NOx emissions. gasification process is combusted, and the waste heat is used in a
CARE conducted a study on the cost of collection, shredding, waste heat boiler to produce steam for their manufacturing process
and providing the waste to a cement plant as a fuel. Because of the [34]. Key to the economics of this program is that the material does
low cost to landfill carpet (CARE estimated this at $35 per ton), not have to be collected and transported, which saves costs.
15-10  •  Chapter 15

15.5  egulatory Drivers and

R energy technologies as they are not yet economically viable based
Obstacles on today’s energy prices.
Regulations can also be a deterrent to a waste-to-energy project.
Regulations can be both a driver and an obstacle to the utiliza- When handling a material that is classified as a solid waste, you
tion of a waste or a by-product as an alternative source of energy. become subject to a myriad of rules and regulations that can sig-
In most cases, waste disposal regulations have created opportuni- nificantly drive up your costs. Regulatory compliance is expensive.
ties by restricting how a particular waste stream can be disposed of, Depending on the waste, you will most likely need a solid waste
which usually drives up the costs to manage the waste. permit or even a hazardous waste permit. If you have the potential
Prior to the enactment of the Solid Waste Disposal Act in 1965 to emit certain air pollutants, you will be required to obtain air
and more specifically RCRA in 1976, there was very little interest permits, and you may be required to install additional air pollution
in capturing the energy value of a waste. The cost to landfill mate- control equipment. If you will be storing any type of oil or grease,
rials was inexpensive as there were no landfill standards and there you may be subject to regulation under the Spill Prevention, Con-
were no restrictions on what could be land filled. Thus, most waste, trol, and Countermeasures program of the Clean Water Act. Thus,
toxic or not, was land filled, as this was the most cost-effective you will be opening yourself up to a whole new set of rules and
disposal option. As the regulations began to change, many of these reporting requirements that may affect the economic viability of
materials were restricted from landfills or forced to go to a hazard- the project.
ous waste landfills so companies were faced with rising disposal It is also important to be aware that regulations do change. You
costs. Driven by the need to find alternatives, many industries like may be handling a material today as a by-product that is subject to
the chemical industry and the pulp and paper industry began to one set of rules, and suddenly, it gets reclassified as a solid waste
look at using their by-products as an alternative source of energy. subject to a whole new set of rules. This could change the econom-
The ban on land disposal of certain hazardous waste in the late ics of the project such that it is no longer viable.
1980s and early 1990s is another example of the regulations driving A good example of what can happen is currently taking place.
the development of waste-to-energy programs. In 1984, Congress On June 4, 2010, the EPA published a proposed rule under the
enacted the Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments to RCRA, CAA that would classify certain non-hazardous secondary materi-
which imposed a gradual ban on the land disposal of just about all als such as scrap tires, distillation bottoms, and sewage sludge as
organic hazardous waste including refinery and chemical wastes. solid wastes when burned in a combustion unit. Under the current
This caused a rapid increase in disposal prices, as commercial in- regulations, when these materials are burned for energy recovery,
cineration was the only option for some of these wastes. This was they are not considered a solid waste, and the activity is regulated
an expensive option costing as much as $1000 per ton compared under Section 112 of the CAA, which regulates emissions from
with the $100 to $200 per ton they had been paying to landfill their industrial and commercial boilers. If the new rule goes into ef-
waste. Faced with these higher costs, companies began to look for fect, these materials, when combusted for energy recovery, may be
ways to use the energy value of their wastes to produce a hazard- considered a solid waste subject to the more stringent Section 129
ous waste fuel for the cement industry. The refinery waste was a rules of the CAA, which regulates the emissions from MSW incin-
sludge, and at the time, the cement industry was set up only to burn erators. If the rule is promulgated, facilities currently using these
hazardous waste liquids. Seeing an opportunity a group of enter- materials as a fuel such as cement plants, utilities, and pulp and
prising companies began to develop methods to blend the refinery paper plants would have to comply with the more stringent Section
solids with slop oil, another by-product of the refineries, to pro- 129 rules. This will most likely increase their costs of using these
duce a liquid fuel. The programs were successful, and the cement materials as a fuel and may cause them to discontinue the practice
industry began accepting a significant volume of blended refinery if the additional costs outweigh the fuel savings.
wastes as a fuel. At one point in the early 1990s, this accounted for
almost 30% of the hazardous waste fuels being burned by the ce-
ment industry. While the cement industry still charged a disposal 15.6  conomic and Environmental
E
fee, the cost to the refineries was much less than incineration as the Benefits of Waste to Energy
cement plants benefited from using the energy value of the waste.
Regulating the disposal of scrap tires and the prohibition on Rarely do you run across an opportunity that not only benefits
ocean dumping of sewage sludge are other examples of regulations the economics of the manufacturing sector, but also has a positive
creating opportunities for waste-to-energy projects. In all these sit- impact on the environment. Using wastes and industrial by-prod-
uations, the regulations drove up the cost to manage the particular ucts as a source of energy in the manufacturing process rather than
waste stream, making energy recovery an attractive option. disposing of them in landfills can accomplish this goal.
The enactment of regulations does not always drive waste-to- Waste-to-energy projects can provide a cost benefit to both the
energy projects from a command and control perspective. Over the facility using the waste and the company generating the waste. The
years, there have been a number of federal programs initiated to facility using the energy value of the waste is able to reduce manu-
encourage energy recovery as a method of waste disposal. During facturing costs, which helps them remain competitive in today’s
the late 1970s and 1980s, as a result of rising energy prices brought global economy. For some cement plants, implementing the haz-
on by the Arab Oil embargo and the Iran-Iraq war, a number of ardous waste fuels programs in the 1980s was a question of survival
government programs were implemented to help promote the pro- at a time when the industry was struggling with high energy costs,
duction of electricity through MSW to energy projects. Initially, the overcapacity, and low-cost imports. Some of these plants would not
burning of hazardous waste fuels was exempted from the RCRA be operating today had it not been for these programs. Not only did
regulations to help foster alternatives to landfills. Currently, the it save jobs, but it actually created jobs because of the testing and
government is providing grants and low-interest loans to help pro- processing required in operating a waste-to-energy program.
mote new technologies that will convert wastes into transportation The generator of the waste benefits from the waste-to-energy
fuels. This level of support is critical for many of these wastes to programs by way of reduced disposal costs. While they will most
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  15-11

likely still pay a disposal fee, it will usually be less than their other producing electricity and consider the efficiency losses in convert-
alternatives due to the fact that the disposal facility is recovering ing the energy in the material into electricity, the economics may
the energy value of the waste. In the case of a hazardous waste, not look as attractive; particularly if you produce less than 1 MW.
which would otherwise have to be incinerated, the disposal cost In the case of a steam turbine, the electrical efficiently can range
savings can be significant. There can also be intangible cost sav- from a high of 37% to a low of 10%, depending on its size [35].
ings to the generator by avoiding the future environmental liabil- The rest of the energy is either lost internally or exhausted in the
ities associated with landfilling if that is their alternative. If the form of low-pressure steam. If you are using a boiler to produce
generator is recovering the energy value of their own waste on site, the steam, there will also be a 10% to 15% energy loss in con-
they will have the added benefit not having to pay to transport and verting the fuel to steam. Thus, if you assume a 25% electrical
dispose of their material. efficiency for the turbine and an 85% efficiency for the boiler, the
There are a number of environment benefits to waste-to-energy total amount of electricity produced will amount to only 21.25%
projects as well. The waste is destroyed, which reduces the volume of the original energy input. Therefore, the $19.60/MMBTU value
sent to landfills, and it conserves natural resources by reducing the for the electricity you are purchasing is really worth only $4.16.
amount of fossil fuels we use. If the waste is a biomass, and it is MMBTU if you are producing it yourself. In other words, this is
replacing a fossil fuel, this can help reduce our carbon footprint. what you could afford to pay for fuel and break even on making
Depending on the waste and the fuel it is replacing (i.e., coal), it your own electricity versus buying it at $0.0669/kwh. This excludes
can also help reduce emissions such as sulfur dioxide. If the waste any operating and maintenance costs and capital payback so the
would have otherwise been incinerated, using it as a fuel can cre- actual value would be lower. However, this also assumes you are
ate a net reduction in overall emissions. This is due to the fact that not capturing and utilizing the low pressure steam off the turbine
you are using it to replace an existing emission source (i.e., fossil (CHP), which would significantly improve overall efficiencies and
fuel) rather than creating a new source by incinerating the mate- the economics of the project. If the fuel is essentially free as it is
rial. If you are recovering the energy value of the material on site, for the chemical industry in using their distillation by-products, the
you also eliminate off-site transportation, which reduces the use of economics of producing electricity can be attractive, particularly if
transportation fuels and the corresponding emissions from burning they are using the low pressure steam off the turbine for process
the fuel. heating. However, if you have to spend a lot of money to clean up
the waste before you can use it to produce electricity, the econom-
ics can fade fairly quickly.
15.7 Generating Heat Versus Power If the waste fuel is clean enough, you may be able to use it as a
fuel in an internal combustion engine to power a generator. These
There are a number of methods that can be used to recover the systems typically have higher electrical efficiencies (30%–35%),
energy value of a waste or industrial by-product. This includes but they are not as flexible in the types of fuels they can handle.
If the material is not a liquid or a gas, you will have to process it
·  using it directly as fuel in an industrial furnace to provide heat
into a form that can be used by the engine. If you use anaerobic
to a process such as in a cement kiln or blast furnace
digestion or gasification to convert the waste into a gaseous fuel,
·  using it as a fuel in a boiler to produce steam for process heat-
you will have to do some clean up on the gas before you can use
ing or to power a steam turbine to produce electricity (or both
it directly in the engine. Most of these engines are designed to run
in the case of co-generation)
on clean fossil fuels, and while the industry is working to modify
·  using it directly in internal combustion engine to power a gen-
them to handle dirtier, lower-quality fuels, there are still issues to
erator to produce electricity
overcome. In the case of gas turbines, they have a very low toler-
·  changing its physical form (i.e., gasification of a solid or
ance for sulfur, and many gaseous streams like digester gas have a
anaerobic digestion of a liquid) to produce a useable fuel
high hydrogen sulfide content. Reciprocating engines are more for-
The decision on which method to use depends a lot on whether giving, but they may require more maintenance than normal due to
you plan on producing heat or power. If you are paying a high contaminants in the fuel and they may lose some efficiency using
cost for electricity or if you have no requirement for heat, you lower-quality fuels. Digester gas from the anaerobic treatment of
will probably want to use the energy value of the waste to produce municipal sewer sludge is high in siloxanes, which will condense
electricity. If you have the option of producing combined heat and out on engines parts, so these need to be removed before using the
power (CHP), you may also want to consider producing electric- gas in an internal combustion engine. It should be pointed out that
ity. However, for most facilities that have a heat requirement and these issues are not insurmountable, and there is standard equip-
operate a boiler or industrial furnace, the simplest and generally ment available to clean up the biogas. It just becomes a question
most economical method to recovery energy from a waste or by- of how expensive it is to clean up the gas versus the value of the
product is to use it directly as a fuel. One of the biggest advan- electricity produced. It may be more economical to use the gas in
tages in using it as a fuel is that there is less energy efficiency a boiler to produce heat.
losses as you are combusting the material directly to produce heat. In the case of syngas produced from the gasification of a solid,
While other options may appear to provide more economic value, this gas will also have to be cleaned as it will contain tars that
when you consider the additional capital and material processing will condense out on the engine parts. In addition, the fuel value
costs coupled with the energy losses inherent in some of these of syngas, as produced, can be as low as 125 to 150 BTUs/cu ft,
processes, you may find that they are not the most cost-effective which is generally too low for most engines to run on. Thus, you
option. may be better off combusting the syngas to produce heat and using
As an example, the economic value of producing your own elec- a waste heat boiler to produce steam. You also need to consider
tricity from a by-product stream looks attractive on a BTU basis the additional labor costs involved in processing and feeding the
($19.60/MMBTU) if you are paying $0.0669/kwh. However, once materials to the gasifier. As with the biogas, it becomes a question
you take into account the additional capital and operating costs of of the cost versus savings.
15-12  •  Chapter 15

There is no simple answer to the question of which method is enough supply, but also to understand the dynamics of the market.
the most efficient in recovering the energy value of a waste. It is You may find that you have to reach out further to find enough
obviously less capital intensive if you can just use it direct in a supply, and the added transportation costs could make the project
boiler or a furnace to produce heat. However, there are many fac- uneconomical. You need to be aware of other projects that may
tors that can influence the decision, and no single technology will compete for the same material and what effect that may have on the
work in all situations. It can depend on the cost of electricity versus availability of supply and costs.
the cost of fossil fuel. It can depend on the physical form of the Most risks can be managed and minimized, but you need to be
waste and quality of the waste. Environmental costs and capital conscious of them and develop a plan to address them before they
costs can be a factor. Processing costs, including labor, need to be become a problem.
taken into account. These all have to be looked at on a project-by-
project basis.
15.9 Storage and Handling of
Wastes
15.8  usiness Risks, Liabilities, and
B
Responsibilities The storage, handling, and feeding of the waste material can be
a critical bottleneck in operating any waste-to-energy project,
In any new business venture, you need to evaluate the risks particularly if it is in a form you are not used to handling. Many
versus the reward. Implementing a waste-to-energy project is no projects run into operational problems not with the energy recov-
different. You need to evaluate all the risks, liabilities, and re- ery technology, but with the material handling system. If the mate-
sponsibilities you will be taking on before you begin. You may rial is a solid, it gets hung up or bridges in the storage tanks or the
understand the risks in your own business, but in implementing feed system because it is too wet or sticky. If it is a liquid, it gets
a waste-to-energy project, you may be opening yourself up to a too thick to pump, or it turns out to be corrosive to the materials of
whole new set of risks and liabilities you are not accustomed to construction. Waste materials never seem to arrive in the condition
dealing with. This includes environmental risks, operational risks, you expect based on the initial sample you received. Thus, you
employee health and safety risks, community relations risks, and need to try and find out as much as you can about how others han-
waste supply risks. If these are not managed properly, you could dle the material and what problems they have run into to minimize
jeopardize the any savings you may have enjoyed from the project down time.
or, worse, adversely affect your entire business. You also need to take the necessary safety precautions based
If the management of waste is not your primary business, you on the material you will be handling. If you will be handling flam-
may want to employ the services of others who are versed in this mable materials, make sure you have the proper explosion proof
area to help run the program. Your facility will most likely be sub- equipment. If you are going to be shredding materials, you need
ject to a new set of environmental rules due to the waste materials to be aware of the potential for dust explosions. If you will be pro-
you will be handling, and if you are not familiar with the regula- ducing a biogas, you may need to compress it and store it in pres-
tions governing these materials, you could find yourself subject to surized tanks. You need to make sure you have the proper storage
penalties and fines for not properly managing the wastes. containment to prevent any environmental releases.
The waste may contain chemicals that you or your employees All these things may add costs on the front end of the project,
are not familiar with. Thus, you will need to train your employ- but they will seem trivial compared with the lost production time if
ees in the proper handling of these materials and equip them with you have a material handling problem after the project has begun.
the proper personal protective gear. You will also need to make
sure you have the proper handling and storage equipment in place,
so you do not have an environmental release. You need to make 15.10 Sourcing Waste Materials:
sure you have all the proper permits and proper paperwork con- Understanding the Supply
trols. From an operational standpoint, you need to make sure that Chain
handling and using the waste do not interfere with the ongoing
operations of the plant or affect the quality of the products you are Probably the most critical aspect of a waste-to-energy project is
manufacturing. ensuring the supply of waste. For those companies who are recov-
You should never underestimate the importance of good com- ering the energy value of their own on-site generated material, this
munity relations when it comes to implementing a waste-to-energy is not a factor. However, for those who plan on accepting waste
project. If you let the relationship with the community become from outside sources to supply their waste-to-energy program, this
adversarial, your entire project could be at risk. Do not make the becomes the most important piece of the puzzle in developing a
mistake of assuming no one will object to the project because it project. Whether you plan on using scrap tires, hazardous waste, or
is “green” or because it will reduce the use of fossil fuels and the agricultural biomass waste, if you do not have a plan to secure your
use of landfills. Whether the concern is truck traffic, noise, dust feedstock, you run the risk of a failed project.
control, or air emission, there is always a possibility that someone To understand how waste moves from the generator to the re-
will object to some aspect of the project. Thus, it is critical to keep cycler, you need to understand the concept of reverse distribution.
the community involved from the beginning and keep an open dia- In a typical supply chain system, goods move from the producer to
logue with them about the progress of the project. the wholesaler to the retailer and, ultimately, to the consumer. In
Risk of losing your supply is an obvious but important factor the waste business, everything moves in reverse.
to consider in the waste-to-energy business. The generator of the In every successful waste management program, whether it is
waste will always be looking to find a more cost-effective way to municipal waste or industrial waste, there is an intricate network of
handle their waste. Thus, it is important that you do a thorough haulers, processors, and transfer stations that collect, process, and
investigation of the market for the waste not only to ensure there is deliver the waste from the generator to the end disposal site or a re-
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  15-13

cycler. Each type and class of waste generally has its own network distribution chain to help hold down transportation costs and make
set up for the movement of the waste, and these networks take time the waste collection and disposal system more economical.
to evolve and grow when a new material enters the waste recycling Even with the use of transfer stations and collection networks,
market. For example, there is a whole mechanism in place today sometimes the transportation economics just won’t work. If a ma-
for scrap tires and used oil whereby small haulers pick up the waste terial is not very dense like MSW or ASR, you cannot afford to
from the tire store or the oil change shop and move it to sites where ship it very far and be competitive with local landfill prices. This is
the materials are consolidated and then on to the processor and, especially true today as transportation costs keep increasing due to
ultimately, to the fuel user. The hazardous waste industry has a the rising cost of transportation fuels. If the waste is not generated
network of specially licensed haulers that collect small quantities near the location where it will be used, you will always run the
of waste solvents from body shops, printers, and dry cleaners and risk that increased transportation costs could kill the project. When
bring them to blenders who produce a hazardous waste fuel that developing a waste-to-energy project, it is important to look at the
gets shipped to cement plants to be used as an alternative fuel. Solid available supply in the market area and determine what effect a
waste moves from the curb to a transfer station, where it is sorted large increase in transportation costs will do to the economics.
and bulked for hauling to a landfill or a recycler. A whole cottage
industry usually made up of small entrepreneurs, each providing a
link in the chain, gets built up over time in every successful waste 15.12 Community Relations
management system, which allows for the smooth flow of materi-
als from the generator to the ultimate disposer or recycler. One of the biggest mistakes people make when they implement
Depending on the material you plan on using for your waste-to- a waste-to-energy project is to not involve the public in the pro­
energy project, you generally need to work within the collection cess from the beginning. This is particularly important when you
network, if it is already set up, to be assured of a steady supply. are planning to accept waste from off site. Most of us get caught
Many times, the volume from an individual generator is not large up believing that, because we are performing a valuable service
enough to supply your entire requirement, or they do not have by keeping wastes out of landfills and reducing fossil fuel con-
enough to ship full truckloads. The material might not be in the sumption, there would be no reason for anyone to object to the
proper physical or chemical form to be used directly in the energy project. Never underestimate what objections the community may
recovery system. Thus, the waste flows through a system of col- have with the project, as doing so could be fatal to the project.
lectors and intermediary transfer points to be segregated, sorted, Local residents could raise concerns about increased truck traffic,
shredded, or blended to produce a material in the form that the potential odor issues, dust control, noise, fire, or explosions. They
energy recovery facility can handle. Once established, these sys- will want you to assure them that you are not emitting pollutants
tems are very efficient and cost-effective at taking small volumes that could create health issues. It takes only one concerned citizen
and bulking them up to deliver full truckloads to the ultimate user. with a loud-enough voice in the community to make your permit
While you could go out and set up your own supply chain, this will review and approval process a long, frustrating, and potentially fu-
add marketing and logistical costs to the project, which you may or tile experience.
may not wish to incur. It is important to build and maintain a positive relationship with
A key aspect of these networks of collectors and processors is that the entire community, not just the city council. If there is a concern
they act as a buffer between the generator of the waste and the con- from a citizen about some aspect of the project, you need to listen
sumer. The collectors and processors will typically have more than and be empathetic to their concerns. Their perception of a situation
one outlet for the waste to ensure they can service the generator in case may or may not be accurate, but the fact that they are worried or
your facility is temporarily down and cannot receive material. It is concerned should be acknowledged and respected. As technical in-
important to understand that using waste for energy is not like buying dividuals, we tend to assume that risk communication is simply an
fuel oil. You cannot just turn it off when you do not need it. Genera- educational process. Explain the scientific facts, and once the com-
tors continue to produce waste whether you are taking it or not. The munity understands them, they will agree with your assessment of
facility generating the waste may only have so much storage capac- the risk [54]. Unfortunately, risk communication does not work
ity, and if it gets full and they cannot move the material off site, they that way. People want you to address their concerns, perceived or
may have to shut down their production. The collectors and processors not, and they definitely do not what to be talked down to.
smooth out the distribution chain to ensure this does not happen. This So before you get to far down the road on your project, it is a good
is an important point to consider if you decide to enter into a 100% idea as part of your feasibility study to identify what community rela-
exclusive supply agreement with a waste generator. What happens if tions issues you could have. Remember, while air permits and solid
your facility goes down and you temporarily cannot take the waste? waste permits are handled at the state and federal level, siting and zon-
Similarly, what happens if the supplier of the waste has an operational ing permits are made by the community. Their decisions are made
problem and temporarily cannot supply the waste? Sole sourcing has on trust and credibility, and no matter how much good science you
its advantages, but it has its risks as well. present, they will not believe you if they do not trust you. While you
may not need to hire a risk communications consultant, you need to be
versed in how to handle any issues that may arise.
15.11 Transportation Logistics
Transportation is one of the biggest costs associated with waste 15.13  ffect of Waste Minimization
E
management, and it can make or break a waste-to-energy project. and the Economy of
As discussed in the last section, the logistics involved in moving Continuity of Supply
small quantities of waste from the point of generation to the waste-
to-energy facility can be a complex task. This is where transfer One thing to remember when managing a waste-to-energy
stations and processors can provide a valuable link in the reverse project is that you do not always control your own destiny. A
15-14  •  Chapter 15

change in the regulations, a change in your waste supplier’s manu- the case with solid waste, there will always be entrepreneurs trying
facturing process, or a downturn in the economy can all affect the to perfect a way to produce a value added product from the waste
volume and/or quality of waste you receive. While you cannot con- stream. Thus, it is important to stay current on any new value-
trol these events, you need to be aware of them and be prepared to added recycling technologies that are being developed so you are
mitigate their effect. not wondering someday what happed to your waste supply.

15.13.1 Economic Conditions

This risk applies to both the generator of the waste and the en- 15.15  se of Anaerobic Digestion
U
tity operating the waste-to-energy program. On the supply side, and Gasification for Waste
the volume of a particular waste stream could be reduced if the
generator’s business slows down, or it could be eliminated com- Many wastes streams have the potential to produce energy, but
pletely if they stop manufacturing the product that generates the they are either too dilute (i.e., organic wastewaters and animal ma-
waste or they move their operations overseas. On the demand side, nure) or, due to their physical characteristics (i.e., carpet waste or
the waste-to-energy facility’s requirements for the waste could de- auto fluff ), are not suitable to be burned in a convention combus-
cline if their energy demand is reduced due to a cut in production tion device.
as a result of a slow economy. There are a number of technologies available today that can con-
This scenario is actually being played out right now because vert these materials into a usable fuel. Some are thermal, some are
of the current state of the economy. Many cement plants have re- chemical, some are biological, and some are thermochemical. Two
duced production or even shut down because of the lack of cement technologies that are currently getting a lot of attention are anaero-
sales. This cutback in production has affected their consumption of bic digestion and gasification. Anaerobic digestion is a biological
hazardous wasted fuels such that waste generators are now having process that can convert the organics in a wastewater stream into
difficulty finding an outlet for their material. That is why it is not a biogas, which is mostly methane and carbon dioxide. The biogas
always a good idea for either the generator or the user to be sole can be used as a fuel in a boiler or an internal combustion engine.
sourced, at least without a backup plan. Gasification is a thermochemical process that can convert solid
carbon containing wastes like MSW, carpet waste, or ASR into
15.13.2 Waste Minimization a gaseous fuel, which is mostly carbon monoxide and hydrogen.
In managing a waste-to-energy program, you need to remem- This “syngas” can be combusted as a fuel or cleaned up and further
ber that companies are not trying to make waste as it generally refined to produce liquid chemicals.
costs them money to get rid of it. Plus, it is a cornerstone of the The question is whether these technologies can be cost-effec-
EPA’s policy to reduce the amount of waste generated. Thus, com- tive. The technologies are not in question. Anaerobic digestion is a
panies are always looking for ways to reduce the volume of waste naturally accruing process that produces methane from the decom-
they generate, and this can affect the volume of waste available position of organic matter in the absence of oxygen. The use of
for energy recovery. A good example of this is the US cement in- anaerobic digesters has been around for over 150 years. In devel-
dustry that in 1995 was burning close to 325,000,000 gal/year of oping countries, simple home-based anaerobic digestion systems
hazardous waste fuels in 23 cement plants. Today, due to waste are used to provide energy for cooking and lighting. Gasification
minimization, the economic slowdown, a move away from organic was used in the 1800s to produce town gas from coal for heating
solvents in paints and coatings, and manufacturing moving over- and lighting, and it was used during WWII to power motor vehicles
seas, the volume has dropped to approximately 200,000,000 gal/ in Europe.
year burned in 11 cement plants. The potential issue with these technologies is that they can be-
come too complex and too expensive for the particular application.
The anaerobic digestion process can be simple or complex, depend-
15.14  ecycling Versus Energy
R ing on how efficient you want to make the process. More efficient
Recovery means shorter hydraulic retention times, better conversion of the
volatile solids to biogas, and higher methane concentrations in the
When evaluating a waste-to-energy project, you need to be aware biogas. One of the things you can do to optimize the system is to
of the other value-added recycling alternatives that may compete put more energy into it in the form of heat. A mesophilic digester,
for the supply of the waste. The EPA’s preference is to reuse or which is the most common, operates most efficiently at around
recycle a waste if it cannot be reduced. While they accept energy 98°F. It can operate at 68°F, but you compromise efficiency. A
recovery as a viable waste management option, it is not their first thermophilic digester operates in the range of 122°F to 149°F. The
choice. If the waste can be reused or recycled, they will promote higher temperature accelerates the anaerobic process and generates
this over energy recovery. more biogas, which more than compensates for the extra energy
Almost all waste materials have a recycling or reuse option. input. This also translates into smaller tanks and less capital costs.
Scrap tires can be made into crumb rubber to be used in asphalt However, thermophilic digestion is more sensitive to upsets, so it
or artificial turf. Waste solvents can be recycled, and used oil can requires better monitoring. There is also an optimum carbon-to-
be re-refined back into lube oil base stock. The biogenic portion of nitrogen ratio for the anaerobic process to work efficiently. Most
MSW, municipal wastewater treatment sludge, and animal manure waste streams do not have the perfect ratio, so you either have to
can all be composted to make fertilizer. It comes down to a ques- blend different waste streams to make up the deficiency of one
tion of economics. For some of these wastes, the current value of with the other or accept the lower yields.
the recycled product does not justify the cost it takes to recycle the As you can see, there are a lot of variables to consider if you are
waste. Thus, using them as a source of energy is the most cost- going to use anaerobic digestion to recover energy from a waste
effective option. This is not to say things could not change. If you stream. Depending on how complex the system becomes, you may
can acquire a raw material at no cost or even get paid to take it as is need additional manpower to monitor the system, which will add
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  15-15

operating costs. The biogas may also need to be upgraded, depend- plications are based on replacing natural gas as a fuel, and while oil
ing on your end use. The gas will be saturated with water vapor, prices have been increasing, natural gas has stayed relatively low
and it will generally contain hydrogen sulfide. The moisture will over the last year, at $4.00 to $5.00 per MMBTU. Thus, when you
have to be removed, and depending on what you will be doing with take into account the capital costs and operating costs for some of
the biogas, the hydrogen sulfide may also have to be removed. If these projects, the returns are marginal at best. The economics can
you are digesting municipal wastewater treatment sludge, the bio­ make sense in certain situations particularly if there is a disposal
gas will also contain siloxanes, which have to be removed if you cost issue. Refineries are currently looking at gasification for some
plan on burning the gas in an internal combustion engine. of their hazardous oil-bearing waste to reduce disposal costs and
So why go through all this effort. If the organic concentration produce energy for the refinery. Each project needs to be evaluated
in the stream is high enough, there is the potential to produce sig- individually, as what works for one waste stream will not neces-
nificant amounts of biogas. This biogas can be used in an on-site sarily work for another.
boiler to provide heat or to produce process steam, or it can be
used in an internal combustion engine to produce electricity. It
can also be upgraded to natural gas pipeline specifications to be 15.16  tilizing Hazardous Waste
U
fed into the gas pipeline system or to produce compressed natural Fuels in the Cement Industry:
gas for vehicle fuel. The process can also reduce disposal costs. If Case Study
you are an industrial facility discharging a high-strength organic
wastewater stream to a municipal wastewater treatment plant, you The cement industry’s experience over the last 30 years using
will most likely be subject to significant surcharges. Anaerobic di- hazardous wastes as a fuel in the production of cement can provide
gestion will reduce the level of volatile organic compounds in the a valuable insight into the benefits and challenges of implementing
stream as well as producing biogas. The main use for biogas is as of a sustainable waste-to-energy program.
a replacement for natural gas. Unfortunately, with current natural
gas prices in the United States being so low, it is difficult to make
the economics work for many of these digester projects. However,
if disposal cost avoidance is factored into the equation the project
may make economic sense.
Gasification can also be a challenging operation, depending on
how complex you want on make the system. The advantage of the
gasification is that it can handle a wide variety of feedstock. How-
ever, the feedstock may still require pre-processing to be fed it
into the gasifier. This could add significant costs to the project,
making it uneconomical. Gasification does have lower emissions
than combustion in a boiler due to the limited amount of oxygen
and lower temperature profile. The syngas produced from a simple
gasification process will be relatively low in BTU content. Thus,
the easiest way to use the energy value of the syngas is to combust
it and use the resulting heat for process heat or in a waste heat
boiler to produce steam. If it you want to use it in an internal com-
bustion engine, the syngas would need to be cleaned as it contains
tars that could condense out in the engine. Cleaning the gas can be
a very expensive option.
Gasification has its advantages and trade-offs just like any
other energy recovery technology. Whether it becomes a signifi-
cant player in the waste-to-energy market remains to be seen. The
syngas does have the potential to create a number of different
value-added chemicals and fuels through the Fischer-Tropsch
process, so it will definitely play some role in the future.
Both anaerobic digestion and gasification offer promising alter-
natives for recovering the energy from waste. Numerous municipal
wastewater treatment plants use anaerobic digestion, and a lot of
work is being done to improve the efficiency of the process. It is
increasingly be used on farms to treat animal manure. Gasification
has applications with difficult to handle wastes like ASR and carpet
waste. As an example, Shaw Floors, a carpet manufacturer, cur-
rently gasifies 14,000 tons/yr of carpet scrap generated from their
production process and produces steam for their facility. There are
also projects being explored to gasify MSW and produce ethanol,
methanol, butanol, and other chemicals from the syngas through
the Fischer-Tropsch process. Fig. 15.6 Cement Manufacturing Process Pre-
The current issue in the United States with all of these alterna- heater/Pre-calciner (Reproduced from US Department
tive technologies is that land disposal costs and energy costs are of Energy: Energy and Emission Reduction Opportunities for the
still relatively inexpensive. The economics of many of these ap- Cement Industry) [36]
15-16  •  Chapter 15

Cement is produced in long rotary kilns, which can be 10 to yet governing the disposal of waste solvents, landfills were still an
25 feet in diameter and 200 to 750 feet long. The principal raw ma- inexpensive option. Thus, the cement plants had difficulty finding
terials are limestone (71%), clay, shale, silica sand, and iron ore. enough material to supply their needs. The waste fuel they did get
The raw materials are ground together and fed into the kiln, where was of poor quality as the suppliers did not understand the fuel
the mixture is heated to 2700°F. The limestone is calcined driving needs of the cement plant, and there was little, if any, quality con-
off carbon dioxide, and the resulting calcium oxide reacts with the trol. Therefore, most of the early programs failed, and the cement
other ingredients to form golf ball–sized nodules called clinker. industry abandoned the practice of using waste solvents as a fuel.
The clinker is ground with 5% gypsum to make cement [36]. This The enactment of RCRA in 1976 began to change of all this.
process requires a lot of energy in the way and heat, which is pro- Solvents and other organic chemicals could no longer be disposed
duced from burning fossil fuels. Fuel can account for as much as of as a liquid in landfills, and thus, it became more expensive to
one-third of the cost of producing cement. dispose of these materials. A number of enterprising entrepreneurs
There are three basic types of cement plants: wet process, long began to see the value of these wastes as a source of energy, and
dry, and pre-heater/pre-calciner. In the wet process, the raw feed is gradually, a network of collectors and blenders began to emerge to
mixed with water and fed into the kiln as a slurry. In the long dry collect the solvent wastes from the generator, blend it, and provide
process, the raw materials are fed to the kiln as a dry powder. The it as a fuel to the cement plants. Waste solvents typically contain
pre-heater/pre-calciner technology is a dry process, but the feed is about 9000 to 14,000 BTUs/lb, depending on moisture content and
sent through a series of cyclones before it enters the kiln, and the other contaminates, so if blended correctly, they could provide a
waste heat off the kiln is used in the cyclones to pre-heat and pre- fuel comparable in energy value to coal. From an environmental
calcine the raw materials. Figure 15.6 shows the flow of materi- standpoint, the cement plants provided a sound method to destroy
als through a pre-heater/pre-calciner plant. The energy required to the waste due to their high temperatures and long gas residence
produce 1 metric ton of clinker and the thermal efficiency for each times. In addition, since 71% of their raw feed is limestone, the
process is shown in Table 15.2. process acts as a natural scrubber to neutralize any acid gases that
Thus, a wet process plant that produces 500,000 metric tons/yr may be formed. The plants also use bag houses or electrostatic pre-
of clinker would use about 3,125,000 million BTUs per year or cipitators to collect any particulate they generate. Thus, the cement
about 125,000 tons of coal, while a pre-heater/pre-calciner plant of industry already had the necessary controls in place to combust the
the same size would use only 2,155,000 million BTUs per year or waste effectively.
about 86,200 tons of coal. At current coal prices, that would be a As the network of collectors and blenders began to develop,
savings of about $2,517,000 per year. another group of enterprising companies began to emerge as on-
In the early 1980s the cement industry in the United States was site fuel managers for the cement plants. The cement industry did
struggling. They had just recovered from the effects of the 1973 not understand the hazardous waste regulations, and they were
through 1975 recession as the economy was entering another not familiar with handling the flammable organic chemicals that
downturn in 1981. At the same time, fuel costs were increasing were in the waste fuels they were receiving. There was also poor
due to the energy crisis created by the Arab oil embargo in 1973 to communications between the blenders and the cement plants re-
1974 and the supply disruptions caused by the Iran-Iraq war, which garding scheduling, acceptance criteria, and temporary plant out-
began in 1980. Even though the cement industry used coal as their ages, so both groups were becoming frustrated with the other. The
primary fuel source, the policies put in place by Congress in the on-site fuel managers became the bridge between the two. These
late 1970s to encourage the use of alternate fuels including coal put fuel managers would take care of getting the proper permits for the
pressure on coal supplies causing its price to increase as well. The cement plant, constructing the tanks and ancillary equipment to
dollar had also begun to strengthen against other currencies in the process the wastes, and setting up an on-site laboratory to test the
early 1980s, which made exporting cement to the United States an incoming material. They also entered into long-term agreements to
attractive option for other countries who were experiencing their operate the fuel-blending facility on behalf of the cement plant and
own economic downturns. Thus, even as the US economy began to to source the waste fuels for them. This allowed the cement plant
improve in 1982, low-cost imports caused cement prices to decline to go back to making cement, letting those knowledgeable in the
further in an already depressed market. waste business manage the waste fuel operations and deal with the
The older wet cement plants were much more vulnerable to the suppliers.
depressed pricing due to their higher energy use. Some of these Cement plants are huge energy consumers capable of using
plants had explored the use of waste solvents as an alternative fuel 50,000 to 100,000 gal/day of waste fuel. Much of the hazardous
in the mid 1970s in an attempt to reduce costs, but their experi- waste was generated in small quantities or even drums, which the
ences were a dismal. There was no real collection network set up to cement plants were not set up to take. Thus, the on-site fuel manag-
supply the waste fuels, and since there were no regulations in place ers worked closely with the network of collectors and blenders to
provide an uninterrupted flow of waste from the generator to the
cement plant. The collectors would pick up the drums from the
Table 15.2 Approximate Energy Required to small generators, bring them to a processor who would bulk and
Produce 1 metric ton of Clinker [36] blend the materials, and then provide a fuel product to the on-site
fuel managers. The on-site fuel manager would test the incoming
Type of Kiln Energy Required Percent loads and make the final fuel blend prior to providing it to the ce-
(Million BTUs per Thermal ment kiln. The fuel density of the waste solvents was high to allow
metric ton) Efficiency the materials to be shipped long distances economically. Disposal
prices were also high enough to cover any additional transportation
Wet process 6.25 27%
costs. Gradually a national network of transporters, brokers, trans-
Long dry process 5.64 30%
fer stations, and fuel blenders was developed to efficiently move
Pre-heater/pre-calciner 4.31 40%
the material from the generator to the cement plants.
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  15-17

From 1981 through 1991, the industry grew from three cement their on-site fuel managers in an effort to backward integrate.
plants burning hazardous waste fuels to over 23 plants burning Unfortunately, tipping fees continued to decline, and eventually,
more than 325,000,000 gal/year and saving over 1,000,000 tons/yr many cement plants decided that the environmental risks, potential
of coal. Regulations promulgated in 1984 by the EPA banning most fines, lost production, and loss of focus on their core business were
organics including refinery waste from landfills fueled the growth not worth the savings, and they discontinued their hazardous waste
of the industry. The hazardous waste fuel programs became a win/ fuels programs. By 2006, there were only 14 cement plants left
win for everyone as the generators paid a lower disposal fee than burning about 240,000,000 gal/year of hazardous waste fuels.
if they had to incinerate their waste, the cement plants were able to Today the hazardous waste fuel industry has developed into a
reduce their operating costs, and the programs had the support of mature business. The network of collectors and processors is fully
the regulators as it offered a competitive alternative to landfills at developed, and the waste moves smoothly from the generator to
a time when the EPA was trying to eliminate the land disposal of the cement plant. The cement plants that are left burning under-
hazardous waste. stand the regulations and the waste materials that they are han-
Unfortunately, the success of these programs brought some dling. Most have taken over the on-site operations from the fuel
unexpected consequences. As the burning of hazardous waste in managers as a way to reduce costs. Gone are most of the entrepre-
cement plants grew, it brought a lot of attention to itself. The haz- neurs that helped create the business. Due in part to the down turn
ardous waste incinerator industry who had spent millions of dol- in the economy, only 11 cement plants are left burning hazardous
lars permitting and building their facilities felt the cement plants waste fuels, and the volume burned is approximately 200,000,000
had an unfair advantage since the burning of hazardous waste fuels gal/year. Only three of these plants continue to use the older wet
was not regulated under RCRA. The storage was regulated un- process cement technology.
der RCRA, but the burning was regulated by the individual states It may be good for those in the biomass-based renewable energy
through air permits. Thus, they began to lobby against the waste business to take stock of the cement industry’s experience with
fuel programs. In addition, environmental groups felt that because hazardous waste fuels as they strive to develop their own network
the burning was not regulated under RCRA, it was causing harm of collectors, processors, and energy recovery facilities. There ap-
to the environment. Numerous battles were waged in Washington pears to be a lot of similarities.
over a 4- to 5-year period on how to regulate the burning of hazard-
ous waste fuels, and hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent
by all parties. 15.17 Municipal Solid Waste as a
This all came to a head in 1991 when the EPA finally enacted the Source of Energy
Boiler and Industrial Furnace (BIF) regulations, which regulated
the burning of hazardous waste as a fuel. The rule put standards in Combustion of MSW for energy recovery is receiving renewed
place for the types of fuels that could be burned and the levels of interest as a result of increasing energy prices over the last few
containments in the fuels. It also required that the cement plants to years and the push to develop renewable energy alternatives. Al-
perform stack tests and maintain continuous emissions monitor- though regulated as a solid waste, the biogenic portion of the waste
ing on their stacks. While the industry felt this rule would finally stream is considered a renewable source of energy. These waste-
legitimize the waste fuels business and quiet the retractors, it had to-energy facilities burn MSW in large furnaces and recover the
the opposite effect as it brought an even higher level of scrutiny to waste heat to produce steam for heat and power, which is sold.
the industry. There were also some ambiguities in the new rules Some of the existing plants in large metropolitan areas also sup-
that left things open to interpretation, which, in turn, led to some port district heating and cooling systems by providing steam to
EPA regions enforcing the rules differently than others. Cement supplement the city’s heating, cooling and hot water system. In
plants began getting hit with significant fines for non-compliance, 2008, approximately 32 million tons of MSW was combusted for
and suddenly, the cement companies who had always been viewed energy recovery, representing about 13% of the total volume of
as a good neighbor in their community providing high-paying jobs MSW generated [37].
were being looked upon as villains who were threatening the health The municipal waste-to-energy industry has had its challenges
of the residents. The cement plant managers were spending an in- throughout the years. The plants have high capital costs with an
ordinate amount their time going to public meetings and respond- average plant, costing between $110,000 and $140,000 per daily
ing to the concerns over these programs. ton of capacity, and they have high operating costs requiring about
As you might expect, the cement industry began to sour on the 60 people to operate a 1000-tons-per-day plant [38]. An official
use of hazardous waste fuels. The industry was operating in a sold- from a major operator of municipal waste-to-energy plants testified
out condition at the time, and there were some in the industry who before Congress in 2005 that a new facility capable of processing
claimed the burning of waste fuels reduced production due to the about 2250 tons of trash per day and generating 60 megawatts of
water content of the fuels. The cement industry was also on an electricity would cost about $350 million and have an operating
expansion mode, building new and more energy efficient plants cost of about $28 million a year [39].
that did not need the waste fuel programs to be competitive. In These high capital and operating costs make it difficult for mu-
addition, the costs to operate the hazardous waste fuel programs nicipal waste-to-energy plants to compete against inexpensive land­
under the new BIF rules were increasing. Then, beginning in 1993, fill prices. In the example above, the operating costs alone for a
the supply of waste fuels started to decline as the effects of waste 2250-tons-per-day plant equates to $34/ton. A recent report showed
minimization, recycling, and other EPA initiatives began to take the average landfill price in the United States for 2009 at $43/ton
hold. As the volumes declined, so did the tipping fees as the indus- [31]. This number is also skewed by the higher prices paid in the
try started to fight over the reduced volume. Each cement company Northeast. Landfill prices in the Midwest and Southeast are closer
began to search for ways to protect their fuel supply. Some formed to $36/ton. As a result, many municipalities that operate waste-to-
joint ventures with the large hazardous waste management compa- energy plants require the MSW collected within the community to
nies; some purchased a network of fuel blenders, and others bought be sent to the facility. As you might expect, most waste-to-energy
15-18  •  Chapter 15

plants are concentrated in highly densely populated areas like the

Northeast, where landfill costs and the costs to transport the waste
to the nearest landfill are high.
Most of the growth in the US waste-to-energy business came be-
tween 1978 and 1995. As a result of the Arab oil embargo in 1973,
a number of laws were enacted by Congress to aid in the devel-
opment of alternative energy technologies including waste to en-
ergy. In 1978, the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA)
was enacted, which required utilities to purchase electricity from
small power plants like waste-to-energy plants. By guaranteeing a
market for the electricity produced from waste-to-energy plants,
PURPA enabled developers to find funding for these projects that
would have otherwise been viewed as too risky by the financial
community. Other laws were also enacted that provided insured
loans, loan and price guarantees, and purchase agreements for
biomass projects, including waste-to-energy projects using MSW
[40]. To ensure these facilities received enough waste, municipali-
ties also enacted flow control measures that required solid waste
within the municipality to be sent to the waste-to-energy facility.
Thus, the facilities were guaranteed a market for the electricity
they produced, and they were guaranteed a supply of waste at the
tipping fee they needed. As a result, by 1987, 110 waste-to-energy
plants were in operation and an additional 220 in planning or under
construction [40].
Everything began to change by the early 1990s. Most of the fa- Fig. 15.7 Breakdown of MSW Stream 2008 (Repro-
vorable tax laws were repealed or allowed to expire, and in 1994, duced from EPA Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling,
the US Supreme Court upheld a challenge to flow control, ruling it and Disposal in the United States: Facts and Figures for 2008)
violated interstate commerce. Landfills had lowered their tipping [37]
fees, making it difficult for waste-to-energy plants to compete due
to their high capital and operating costs. The public also started
to question the quality of air emissions from the plants and began
opposing siting new facilities in their communities. Meanwhile,
environmental groups were promoting recycling and warning that graphic nuances and whether any materials were removed from the
waste-to-energy would discourage recycling. A number of waste- stream to be recycled. The trend does show that the energy value
to-energy projects were canceled in favor of waste recycling pro- of MSW has been increasing over the years as plastics continue to
grams. Despite these obstacles, 37 additional waste-to-energy make up a larger share of the mix.
facilities came on line from 1990 to 1995, but by 1995, growth of the Estimates of the energy value of MSW from the Waste to En-
industry ground to a halt [40]. While there have been some capacity ergy Research and Technology Council (WTERT), an industry
expansions of existing plants in the last few years and communi- trade group, would seem to put the energy level somewhat lower.
ties have found ways around the flow control ruling, not a single According to WTERT a typical waste-to-energy plant will produce
new plant has been build since 1995. In fact, the number of plants a net 500 to 600 kWh of electricity per ton of MSW [38]. Using
has decreased from 102 plants in 2000 to 87 plants in 2007 [41]. the earlier assumption of 21.25% for the electrical efficiency of a
MSW waste-to-energy plants make their money in three ways. boiler/steam turbine system and using an average of 550 kWh per
They charge a tipping fee for the waste they receive, they sell any ton, the calculated gross energy input would be about 8.83 MM
scrap metal recovered, and they sell the energy they produce in the BTUs per ton of MSW or about 4417 BTUs/lb. This appears to be
form of power or heat. The amount of energy they can produce is more in line with other estimates of industry data.
dependent on the energy value of the incoming material. Figure WTERT also suggests that the price a waste-to-energy plant
15.7 shows the breakdown of materials that make up the MSW receives for the electricity they sell is about $0.04/kwh [38]. For
stream [37]. Over 80% is combustible, making the stream a good a 1000-tons-a-day plant generating 550 kWh per ton of MSW
candidate for energy recovery. this would equate to $22,000 per day in revenue from the sale
To quantify the energy value of MSW, the US Energy Informa- of electricity or about $22 per ton of MSW. With an estimated
tion Administration (EIA) has developed estimates of the energy $140,000,000 capital cost for a plant this size, the sale of electricity
content for each of the individual components that make up the would barely cover the cost of capital based on a 20-year amorti-
MSW stream. The current values are given in the Table 15.3 [42]. zation rate, let alone operating costs, overhead, and profit. Thus,
Using these values, EIA has come up with an estimated energy the tipping fee makes up an important component of the revenue
value for MSW of 5865 BTUs/lb as of 2005. This compares to stream if the facility is going to cover its costs. And based on my
5040 BTUs/lb in 1989 [43]. They have also started to track the en- experiences, if the facility was located in the Midwest, where most
ergy value of the biogenic versus non-biogenic portions of MSW of the electricity is produced from coal, the price received for the
as there is an ongoing debate over what portion of the MSW stream electricity probably would not be much more than about $0.025/
should be considered renewable energy. While this method pro- kwh or about $13.75 per ton of MSW.
vides a good way to follow trends, the energy content of the MSW A number of other technologies including pyrolysis, gasifi-
received at each individual facility will be different based on geo- cation, and plasma arc gasification are currently being explored
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  15-19

Table 15.3 Typical Heat Content of Materials MSW in the landfill start to decay, and the landfill becomes a huge
in Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) anaerobic digester. Like any anaerobic digestion processes, this
(Million BTUs per Ton) creates biogas, which is mainly methane and carbon dioxide. Prior
to the last few years, the gas was either vented or flared. Rising
Materials Million BTUs per Ton energy cost and improved technology have created an opportunity
to collect and clean the gas and burn it in an internal combustion
Plastics engine to generate electricity or produce pipeline quality gas and
Polyethylene terephthalatec, e (PET) 20.5 feed it into the natural gas pipeline.
High density polyethylenee (HDPE) 19.0 Capturing methane off landfills provides not only an economic
Polyvinyl chloridec (PVC) 16.5 benefit by lowering energy costs, but also a powerful environmen-
Low density polyethylene/ Linear low tal benefit as well. MSW landfills are the second largest anthropo-
24.1
density polyethylenee (LDPE/LLDPE) genic source of methane emissions in the United States, accounting
Polypropylenec (PP) 38.0 for 22% of the total and releasing an estimated 30 million metric
Polystyrenec (PS) 35.6 tons of carbon equivalent to the atmosphere in 2008 alone [44].
Othere 20.5 Methane is 21 times more potent of a greenhouse gas than CO2 so
Rubberb 26.9 reducing its emissions while recovering its energy value provides
Leatherd 14.4 a unique opportunity to help solve two issues [44].
Textilesc 13.8 Another area that is garnering some interest these days is to com-
Woodb 10.0 bine the gasification of MSW with the Fischer-Tropsch process to
Fooda, c 5.2 convert the syngas off the gasification process to ethanol, metha-
Yard trimmingsb 6.0 nol, and other chemicals. The Fischer-Tropsch process uses cata-
Newspaperc 16 lysts to convert the carbon monoxide and hydrogen in the syngas
Corrugated Cardboardc, d 16.5 to various chemicals. It has been used commercially in a number
Mixed papere 6.7 of industries for years, mostly using coal as the feedstock. There
a
Includes recovery of other MSW organics for composting. are a number of US and Canadian companies currently working to
b
Energy Information Administration, Renewable Energy Annual 2004, “Aver- commercialize this in the MSW market. Another US-based com-
age Heat Content of Selected Biomass Fuels,” Washington, DC, 2005. pany has developed a process to produce ethanol from the syngas
c
Penn State Agricultural College Agricultural and Biological Engineering and using microorganisms instead of catalysts. Once again, time will
Council for Solid Waste Solutions, Garth, J. and Kowal, P. Resource Recovery, tell whether these technologies will be economical in a full-scale
Turning Waste into Energy, University Park, PA, 1993. operation.
d
Bahillo, A. et al. Journal of Energy Resources Technology, “NOx and N2O
Emissions During Fluidized Bed Combustion of Leather Wastes,” Volume 128,
Issue 2, June 2006, pp. 99–103. 15.18 Waste Heat Recovery
e
Utah State University Recycling Center Frequently Asked Questions. http://
www.usu.edu/recycle/faq.htm. Just about every industry exhausts a certain amount heat from
(Reproduced from US Energy Information Administration, Methodology for their industrial processes. For some industries such as petroleum,
Allocating Municipal Solid Waste to Biogenic/Non-Biogenic Energy, May chemical, power, steel, and glass manufacturing, the amount can
2007) [42] be significant. This exhausted heat is lost energy and lost profits.
Recovering the energy value contained within the waste heat could
reduce production costs, save non-renewable fossil fuels, and re-
as alternatives to combustion in converting MSW into energy. duce greenhouse gas emissions. One such project was initialed in
The technologies are not new, but they have not been applied to 2005 by Integral Power, LLC, a private company, at a petroleum
processing MSW until now. Pyrolysis and gasification are simi- coke pant in Port Arthur, Texas. The 1800°F to 2000°F flue gas off
lar technologies. Both expose the waste to high temperatures with the coke calcining kilns, which had been exhausted out the stack in
limited or no oxygen present. In pyrolysis, the MSW is heated the past is now used to produce 450,000 lb per hour of high-pres-
by an external source to temperatures of 750°F to 1500°F with sure stream. The steam is used to make electricity, and the excess
no oxygen present, which causes the materials to decompose and is sold to a neighboring refinery.
produce a gaseous fuel, a liquid fuel, and a solid fuel (char). In Unfortunately, many waste heat recovery projects cannot justify
gasification, the MSW is exposed to just enough oxygen to allow a the capital expense because the streams are too low in temperature,
small amount of the material to combust creating an internal source or the volume of exhaust gas is too small, making energy recovery
of heat to drive the decomposition process and produce a gas­eous impractical. In other situations, the gas may be too dusty or cor-
fuel. Plasma arc gasification exposes the waste to temperatures rosive, making energy recovery too expensive due to the frequent
in excess of 10,000°F using plasma torches to convert the waste maintenance required on the recovery equipment. For some com-
material into gas and a slag by-product. In all these technologies, panies, the competition for capital within the organization may be
the gas or liquid produced can be used to produce electricity simi- such that the return on invested capital for these projects is not
larly to a typical waste-to-energy facility. The potential advantage quick enough. This is why a lot of projects are taken on by third
of these technologies is that they produce fewer emissions than parties under a build-own-and-operate scenario.
combustion, and they are more efficient at recovering the energy For low- to medium-temperature waste heat, there are a number
content of the waste. However, they have not yet been scaled up on of recovery technologies such as absorption chillers (200–400°F)
MSW to determine their economic viability. to provide air conditioning or refrigeration, organic rankine cycle,
Capturing the methane gas off of landfills provides another op- and kalina cycle systems (200–1000°F) to produce electrical power
portunity to recover energy from MSW. Over time, the organics in and heat pumps (<200°F) for heating and cooling. The use of these
15-20  •  Chapter 15

technologies on small projects has been limited in the past due to $14/MMBTU [47]. These higher energy costs make waste-to-
the capital cost relative to the amount of energy recovered [45]. energy projects a viable alternative.
Waste heat recovery offers an opportunity to produce tremen- Waste-to-energy will continue to play an increasing role in our
dous amounts of energy that is currently being wasted. However, future energy needs. As our population continues to grow, so will
further work needs to be done to develop technologies to make the volume of waste we generate, and it will need to be managed in
low-temperature heat recovery more economical. some fashion. While the battle of energy recovery versus recycling
will continue to be waged, most agree that there is a need for both.
It will be important for policy makers to continue to support the
15.19 Conclusion private sector in their efforts to make energy recovery more ef-
ficient and affordable. While waste-to-energy is not going to solve
Waste-to-energy projects are usually driven by one of two factors: the world’s energy problem, it can certainly be a part of it.
reducing energy costs or reducing disposal costs. Many times, both
are a factor. This was the case in the 1980s when we saw incredible
interest in alternative fuels spurred by high oil costs. A multitude of
legislative incentives were initiated to spur investment in waste-to- 15.20 References
energy. At the same time waste disposal, costs were rising due to the
enactment of new regulations that put stricter controls on the man-   1. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Waste - Non Hazardous
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of waste-to-energy projects being implemented both in the industrial Hazardous Waste Report (Based on 2007 Data). http://www.epa.gov/
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  4. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Municipal Solid Waste in the
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ing, and processing of the waste to recover its’ energy value? If nonhaz/municipal/pubs/msw07-rpt.pdf
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History of RCRA. http://www.epa.gov/waste/laws-regs/rcrahistory.
fail. Energy markets are extremely volatile and unpredictable, so if
htm
the energy savings are marginal, a minor shift in energy prices or a
loss of governmental support could quickly make the project uneco-   6. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Introduction to: Defini-
nomical. Thus, it is important not to get caught up in the euphoria of tion of Solid Waste and Hazardous Waste Recycling (40 CFR 261.2
waste-to-energy and implement a project just because it is the latest and 261.9). http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/inforesources/pubs/hotline/
training/defsw.pdf
trend. It needs to be based on a sound, sustainable economic model.
This model can take different forms. It could be based on solving   7. U.S. Senate, Solid Waste Disposal Act (As Amended), Section 1004.
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sustainability. Whatever the reason, there needs to be a driver.
  9. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Wastes — Hazardous Waste
In the United States, if there is not a regulatory driver for a par- Types. http://www.epa.gov/waste/hazard/wastetypes/index.htm
ticular waste, it is difficult to make the economics of a waste-to-
energy project work because of low landfill costs and relatively low 10. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Clean Air Act — Title I — Air
energy costs. This was evidenced by the carpet industry’s effort to Pollution Prevention and Control. http://epa.gov/oar/caa/title1.html
try and develop a program to use scrap carpeting as a fuel within 11. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, The original list of hazardous
the cement industry. The exception is if you can use the energy air pollutants. http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/188polls.html
value of your own wastes or by-products on site. Here you have the 12. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Six Common Air Pollutants.
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the material. This avoided cost can offset the additional capital and
13. U.S. Energy Information Administration, Average Price of Coal De-
processing costs associated with a waste-to-energy project.
livered to End Use Sector by Census Division and State. http://www.
Many European countries as well as Japan use waste to energy eia.doe.gov/cneaf/coal/page/acr/table34.html
far more extensively than the United States. However, this has
been driven by reduced landfill capacity and subsequent environ- 14. U.S. Energy Information Administration, Spot Prices of Crude Oil,
mental laws restricting the use of landfills and governments pro- Motor Gasoline, and Heating Oils, January 2009 to Present. http://
www.eia.gov/pub/oil_gas/petroleum/data_publications/weekly_
moting waste-to-energy. In addition, energy costs in these counties
petroleum_status_report/current/pdf/table11.pdf
are generally much higher than they are in the United States. Den-
mark, a country with a population of about 5.5 million people, has 15. U.S. Energy Information Administration, Natural Gas Prices. http://
30 municipal waste-to-energy plants that supply of good portion www.eia.gov/dnav/ng/ng_pri_sum_dcu_nus_m.htm
of the district heating and electricity for cities and communities 16. U.S. Energy Information Administration, Average Retail Price of
[46]. However, the country’s average industrial cost of electricity Electricity to Ultimate Customers. http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/
in 2009 was about $0.17/kwh, and their natural gas cost was about electricity/epm/table5_3.html
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  15-21

17. U.S. Energy Information Administration, Chemicals Industry Analy- 34. Shaw Floors Web site, Energy. http://www.shawfloors.com/Environ
sis Brief. http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/mecs/iab98/chemicals/energy_ mental/EnergyDetail
use.html
35. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Combined Heat and Power
18. U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Efficiency and Renewable En- Partnership — Technology Characterization: Steam Turbines, (page 8).
ergy — Energy and Environmental Profile of the U.S. Pulp and Pa- http://www.epa.gov/chp/documents/catalog_chptech_steam_turbines.
per Industry. http://www1.eere.energy.gov/industry/forest/pdfs/pulp pdf
paper_profile.pdf
36. U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Efficiency and Renewable En-
19. American Forest and Paper Association, 2010 AF&PA Sustainability ergy — Energy and Emission Reduction Opportunities for the Cement
Report. Industry. http://www1.eere.energy.gov/industry/imf/pdfs/eeroci_dec
03a.pdf
20. U.S. Energy Information Administration, Steel Industry Analysis Brief.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/mecs/iab98/steel/expenditures.html 37. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Wastes - Non-Hazardous
Waste - Municipal Solid Waste. Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Re-
21. American Iron and Steel Institute, The Coke Oven By-product
cycling, and Disposal in the United States: Facts and Figures for 2008.
Plant, Mike Platts, http://www.steel.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=
http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/nonhaz/municipal/pubs/msw2008rpt.pdf
How_Steel_is_Made&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm
&CONTENTID=12307 38. Waste-to-Energy Research and Technology Council Web site, An-
swers to FAQ. http://www.seas.columbia.edu/earth/wtert/faq.html
22. Metals Advisor, Coking Process Description. http://www.energy
solutionscenter.org/HeatTreat/MetalsAdvisor/iron_and_steel/process_ 39. Statement of Michael Norris, Director of Business Development,
descriptions/raw_metals_preparation/coking/coking_process_ American Ref-Fuel Company. Testimony Before the Subcommit-
description.htm tee on Select Revenue Measures of the House Committee on Ways
and Means. http://webharvest.gov/congress110th/20081126141752/
23. U.S. Department of Energy Office of Industrial Technologies — En-
http://waysandmeans.house.gov/hearings.asp?formmode=printfriend
ergy and Environmental Profile of the U.S. Iron and Steel Industry,
ly&id=2697
pp. 46, 51. http://www1.eere.energy.gov/industry/steel/pdfs/steel_
profile.pdf 40. U.S. Department of Energy, National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
Managing America’s Solid Waste. http://www.nrel.gov/docs/legosti/
24. Rubber Manufacturers Association, Scrap Tire Markets in the United
fy98/25035.pdf
States, 9th Biennial Report (May 2009). https://www.rma.org/publi
cations/scrap_tires/index.cfm?PublicationID=11502&CFID=342464 41. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Wastes — Non-Hazardous
&CFTOKEN=87096242 Waste — Municipal Solid Waste. Municipal Solid Waste in the Unit-
ed States, 2007 Facts and Figures, p. 150. http://www.epa.gov/epa
25. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Proposed Rule Making:
waste/nonhaz/municipal/pubs/msw07-rpt.pdf
Identification of Non-hazardous Secondary Materials That Are Solid
Waste — Construction and Demolition Materials — Building-Related 42. U.S. Energy Information Administration, Methodology for Allocat-
C&D Materials (March 18, 2010). http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/ ing Municipal Solid Waste to Biogenic/Non-Biogenic Energy (May
nonhaz/define/pdfs/cd-building.pdf 2007). http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/solar.renewables/page/mswaste/
msw.pdf
26. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Biosolids Generation, Use
and Disposal in the United States. http://www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/ 43. U.S. Energy Information Administration, Municipal Solid Waste
rrr/composting/pubs/biosolid.pdf (MSW) Heat Content and Biogenic/Non-Biogenic Shares. http://www.
eia.doe.gov/cneaf/solar.renewables/page/mswaste/mswtable1.html
27. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Proposed Rule Making:
Identification of Non-hazardous Secondary Materials That Are Solid 44. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Landfill Methane Outreach
Waste — Used Oil (March 18 2010). http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/ Program. http://www.epa.gov/lmop/basic-info/index.html
nonhaz/define/pdfs/used-oil.pdf
45. Northwest CHP Application Center. An Overview of Industrial Waste
28. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Introduction to: Used Oil (40 Heat Recovery Technologies for Moderate Temperatures Less Than
CFR 266 Subpart E and Part 279). http://www.epa.gov/solidwaste/ 1000ºF (September 2009). http://chpcenternw.org/NwChpDocs/An
inforesources/pubs/hotline/training/uoil.pdf OverviewOfIndustrialWasteHeatRecoveryTechForModerateTemps.
pdf
29. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Proposed Rule Making:
Identification of Non-hazardous Secondary Materials That Are Solid 46. Waste-to-Energy Research and Technology Council, Energy Re-
Waste — Auto Shredder Residue (March 18 2010). http://www.epa. covery — European Countries. http://www.seas.columbia.edu/earth/
gov/epawaste/nonhaz/define/pdfs/auto-shred.pdf wtert/globalwte_europe.html
30. California Environmental Protection Agency, Evaluation of Shredder 47. Europe’s Energy Portal. http://www.energy.eu/
Residue as Cement Manufacturing Feedstock (March 2006). http://
48. Code of Federal Regulations, Title 40, Part 63, Subpart EEE — Na-
www.dtsc.ca.gov/TechnologyDevelopment/upload/auto_shredder_
tional Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants from Hazard-
report.pdf
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31. The Envirobiz Group, Waste Business Update, Average US Mu- c=ecfr&sid=91c20f8e8507bf661f597fcc2cb29648&tpl=/ecfrbrowse/
nicipal Solid Waste Gate Rates Increased by 2% in 2009 (May 20, Title40/40cfr63b_main_02.tpl
2010). http://www.envirobiz.com/envirobiz-waste-business-update.
49. Code of Federal Regulations, Title 40, Part 503 — Standards for the
asp
Use or Disposal of Sewage Sludge. http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/
32. Carpet America Recovery Effort, Annual Report 2009. http://www. text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=bc8b9aa7babf9677b5fdde559a2f19b7&rgn
carpetrecovery.org/pdf/annual_report/09_CARE-annual-rpt.pdf =div5&view=text&node=40:29.0.1.2.41&idno=40
33. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Homeland Security Research 50. Code of Federal Regulations, Title 40, Part 279 — Standards for the
- Emissions from Combustion of Post-Consumer Carpet in a Cement Management of Used oil. http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-
Kiln (2005). http://www.epa.gov/nhsrc/pubs/reportConsumerCarpet idx?c=ecfr&sid=bc8b9aa7babf9677b5fdde559a2f19b7&rgn=div5&v
050905.pdf iew=text&node=40:26.0.1.1.9&idno=40
15-22  •  Chapter 15

51. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Non-Hazardous Waste. 54. Katherine E. Brown. Purdue University, Department of Communica-
http://www.epa.gov/osw/basic-solid.htm tion. Why Rules for Risk Communication are not Enough: A Problem-
Solving Approach to Risk Communication.
52. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, RCRA Orientation Manual.
http://www.epa.gov/osw/inforesources/pubs/orientat/rom.pdf 55. Burlington Electric, Joseph C. McNeil Generating Station, Wood Fuel
Facts, Wood Fuel Costs. https://www.burlingtonelectric.com/page.
53. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Definition of Solid Waste and
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downloads/soliddef.ppt
 chapter

16
Geothermal Energy and
POWER Development
Lisa Shevenell and Curt Robinson

ABSTRACT This declaration recognized that “Geothermal energy is the only

renewable energy source which is totally independent of daily,
Geothermal energy constitutes an indigenous, sustainable, seasonal, and climatic variation, allowing it to provide power with
continuous, base load renewable resource available to power de- a higher availability than any other energy source including fos-
velopers on most continents. This chapter discusses geothermal sil fuels and nuclear.” While not strictly true in the case of being
energy basics, resource exploration, and types of resources along independent of seasonal fluctuations as efficiency declines in the
with their utilization, sustainability, benefits, and the potential summer months, geothermal is being recognized as a base load re-
environmental consequences of resource development. The cur- newable power source in contrast to others such as wind and solar
rent state of knowledge and possible expansion of the resource that operate intermittently.
base via Enhanced Geothermal Systems technologies are also Hot springs have been utilized for thousands of years for heat-
discussed. ing, cooking, bathing, and preparing hides. Some of the earliest
traces of human use, and settlement near hot springs, can be found
in Asia and Europe. Geothermal hot springs and their minerals
16.1 INTRODUCTION were believed to have healthful benefits (balneology) and used for
at least 5000 years. One of the best-known sites for healthful hot
Geothermal literally means “earth heat.” Areas where energy springs is Bath, England, which was developed by the Romans in
can be tapped due to high heat flow in the top 5 km of the Earth’s 75 AD and was named Aquae Sulis (the waters of Sulis), after a
crust are considered geothermal. Geothermal is one of the least Celtic deity associated with the site. Other sites were used by hu-
recognized renewable energy resources, and as such, is signifi- mans as many as 10,000 years ago in the US [3].
cantly underutilized in the US despite being the only base load It is estimated that annually, geothermal energy is more than a
renewable power source, exclusive of hydroelectric, available 24 $3 billion world-wide business and the prospects for geothermal
hours per day. The Earth is a natural source of geothermal energy, power development increase each year. The recent global recession
which can be converted into electrical power. In the simplest and in 2009 and 2010 slowed the infusion of private equity, but sev-
most understandable sense, geothermal energy can be extracted eral national governments continue to commit financial resources
from a subsurface region of hot rock “the reservoir” via fluids that to geothermal development. In 2009, the US government granted
are heated as they flow through permeable rocks and fractures in $400 million to more than 120 geothermal research, development,
the reservoir. Those fluids can then be brought to the surface un- and deployment efforts. This is a 20-fold increase in geothermal
der pressure via wells, where they can drive a turbine or heat ex- research dollars compared to the average annual amount invested
changer to produce electricity. Sometimes these heated fluids reach in the previous two decades. This commitment of capital is open-
the surface naturally to form hot springs or geysers. One of the ing the door to innovative research into drilling technologies, op-
best-known of such geothermal features in the world is the Old erations in high-temperature environments, improved resource
Faithful Geyser in Yellowstone National Park. Geothermal and assessments, enhanced geothermal systems, and more efficient
hydrothermal systems are virtually synonymous, because a geo- geothermal heat pumps.
thermal power system requires a working fluid (water or steam) to In 2010, geothermal energy generated 10,715 megawatts (MWe)
facilitate the transfer of the earth’s heat to the surface and then into of electric power worldwide and another 50,583 MWt (megawatts
a turbine or heat exchanger. thermal) through direct use applications [4]. It is thought that geo-
“Although the Earth is an immense source of heat, most of this thermal power, if developed and managed properly, can provide
heat is either buried too deeply or is too diffuse to be exploited eco- sustained and continuous energy for the United States and much of
nomically” [1]. However, technologies have advanced, resource the world for thousands of years. “Domestic resources are equiva-
assessment and surveillance tools have improved, and economics lent to a 30,000-year energy supply at our current rate of use for
have changed in the last 30 years. The April 2010 meeting of the the United States!” [5]
World Geothermal Congress resulted in The Bali Declaration [2], Commercial production of geothermally generated electric
which proclaimed that geothermal energy can change the world. power humbly began in 1904 in Larderello, Italy. By 1913,
16-  •  Chapter 16

Larderello was producing 12.5 MW of electricity and it continues There are several technological approaches to developing geo-
to produce today. Other areas that have notably been developed thermal power. Geothermal heat pumps (also known as ground
over the years include New Zealand (1958), the United States source heat pumps) and direct use applications (building heating,
(1960), and Japan (1961) [6]. greenhouses, spas, fish farms) are relatively simple technologically
The ten nations leading geothermal power production in and inexpensive to develop. In contrast, the production of elec-
2010 (in descending order) are: US (3093 MWe), Philippines tricity can require considerable inputs of capital, technology, and
(1904 MWe), Indonesia (1197 MWe), Mexico (958 MWe), Italy labor, as will be discussed in subsequent sections.
(843 MWe), New Zealand (628 MWe), Iceland (575 MWe), J­apan There are two general categories of natural geothermal systems
(536 MWe), El Salvador (204 MWe), and Kenya (167 MWe) [7]. that have been exploited to date, those with an upper crustal source
Seven of these ten countries occur in the Pacific Ring of Fire of magmatic heat (magmatic-heated systems), and those without
(Fig. 16.1), named for its volcanic and seismic activity related to that source of heat (amagmatic or extensional systems). Many
subduction of the tectonic plates. Additional countries developing actively exploited magmatic-heated systems are associated with
or expanding existing geothermal resources are Turkey, Australia, magmatism along crustal plate boundaries. The convecting, vis-
Chile, China, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, New Guinea, and cous mantle is moving large, rigid portions of the crust in differ-
Peru. Turkey and Iceland have had the greatest relative geother- ent directions at different speeds. Molten material moves up along
mal development of the last 5 years. Bertani [7] observed that a spreading centers at mid-ocean ridges to create new crust while
total of 10,715 MWe of geothermal electric energy is being pro- older pre-existing oceanic crust moves outward toward continen-
duced worldwide in 2010 and 18,500 MWe of production are pro- tal plates (Fig. 16.2). As oceanic crust encounters the continental
jected by 2015. plates, it subducts underneath the continental crust, and descends
At the time of this writing, the US is the leading producer of into hotter portions of the earth. Partial melting of the descending
geothermal power. The most productive states in 2010 are: Cali- “slab” forms magma bodies, which, because of their buoyancy, be-
fornia (2553 MWe), Nevada (442 MWe), Utah (46 MWe), Hawaii gin to rise through the overlying continental crust. These magma
(35 MWe), and Idaho (16 MWe) [7]. Bertani [7] predicts that by bodies heat the upper crust, and produce volcanic activity when
2015, the US will have 5400 MWe in production. Other anticipated they reach the surface (Fig. 16.2). Figure 16.1 shows the loca-
geothermal producing states are Alaska, Florida (from oil and gas tions of plate boundaries and the relative motion along them. Ac-
wells), New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, and Wyoming. tive magmatic-heated geothermal systems commonly occur along
Estimates on the amount of available geothermal energy in the these plate boundaries in the vicinity of volcanoes and favorable
US have varied widely, but a recent report by the US Geological fault structures.
Survey (USGS) estimates 39,000 MW from conventional hydro- The second type of geothermal system is the amagmatic or
thermal systems and 517,000 MW from Enhanced (engineered) extensional-type. These systems do not typically occur along
Geothermal Systems (EGS) [8]. The estimate for conventional plate boundaries, nor do they occur in close proximity to young
hydrothermal systems may be conservative. For instance, the magmatism or volcanic activity, but instead they are commonly
USGS estimate for conventional systems in Nevada is only 1391 found in areas where the Earth’s crust is pulling apart and thus
MW, whereas an estimate using additional data not utilized by thinning. Where thinning occurs (Fig. 16.3), depths to the hot
the USGS indicates there are likely over 5000 MW that could be mantle are less and temperature gradients are higher. Addition-
developed in the near term [9]. The USGS EGS estimate is of the ally, extension produces open fracture networks (faults) through
same order of magnitude as was obtained in an extensive study which geothermal fluids (rain, snow) are able to circulate to rela-
on the feasibility of exploiting EGS systems, which notes up to tively great depths (up to 4+ km) and attain temperatures of up
100 GWe (100,000 MW) of generating capacity over the next 50 to 200°C or greater. There are indications that the depth of pen-
years [10]. etration of meteoric fluids in fault systems is enhanced if there is
It is obvious that renewable energy development is sensible, a strike-slip component to crustal motion, or in other words, if
economical, and environmentally necessary. Geothermal power the crustal tectonics can be characterized as transtensional (shear
development has several advantages over other forms of renew- plus stress that pulls fault planes apart) instead of purely exten-
able energy. First, geothermal energy systems provide continuous sional [16, 17]. Examples of electricity-producing amagmatic
base load power. Second, geothermal energy power plants require systems can be found in the Great Basin of the western US, and
a smaller footprint than other renewable power plants such as western Turkey. Other types of hydrothermal systems are dis-
wind or photovoltaic. Third, geothermal energy power plants have cussed in some detail in the section on Six Potential Geothermal
comparatively small environmental impacts, if they are managed Production Systems.
effectively. The ability of a liquid-dominated geothermal reservoir to produce
The Earth was formed nearly five billion years ago and it can electricity is correlated with the temperatures in fluids developed
be said that it never quite cooled off. The earth is losing heat con- from a geothermal well, because the enthalpy or heat content of a
tinuously to space. The Earth’s core is molten and thought to be liquid-dominated resource is largely determined by temperature.
approximately 5500°C [11]. There are at least four sources of heat The USGS and other expert sources [8] consider liquid-dominated
which create some form of geothermal energy: (1) convection and geothermal resources above 150°C to be high-temperature, 90°C
the migration of denser materials downward, (2) heat from radio- to 150°C to be moderate-temperature (power generation), and re-
active decay of potassium, thorium, and uranium isotopes, (3) the sources below 90°C to be low-temperature (historically, directly
remnant heat from gravitational collapse, and (4) impacts from used). Low-temperature resources (<90°C) were historically be-
planetesimals [12–14]. lieved to not yield enough heat to generate power. That changed
Geothermal areas occur in areas of high heat flow in the upper in 2006 when a power system developed by UTC (United Tech-
part of the crust where it can be utilized. Normal geothermal gra- nologies Corp.) was installed at Chena Hot Springs, Alaska and
dients are approximately 25°C/km, and geothermal areas occur in began generating approximately 225 kWe of power using 74°C
areas with greater gradients. well water.
 energy and power generation handbook  •  16-

Fig. 16.1  Map of the world showing locations of plate boundaries (ring of fire) around the Pacific
Ocean (Source of data used to plot the map can be found at [15])

16.2 BRIEF SURVEY OF THE LITERATURE Techniques; Geothermal Well Drilling; Reservoir Engineering;
Single-Flash Steam Power Plants; Double-Flash Steam Power
Geothermal technologies are evolving and there are several Plants; Dry-Steam Power Plants; Binary Cycle Power Plants; Ad-
key sources (some referenced in this chapter) that can provide the vanced Geothermal Energy Conversion Systems; Energy Analysis
basis for future study of geothermal systems. Many geothermal Applied to Geothermal Power Systems; and several case studies;
practitioners regard Ronald DiPippo’s first and second editions and the second edition includes a chapter on the environmental
of Geothermal Power Plants [18] and [19] to be outstanding re- impact of geothermal power plants. The so-called MIT report,
sources for geothermal power developers. Some of the chapters The Future of Geothermal Energy [10], is a useful reference and
are: Geology of Geothermal Regions; Exploration Strategies and is available online, and includes chapters on subjects such as

Fig. 16.2 Cross section of the earth showing plate tectonic processes

16-  •  Chapter 16

Fig. 16.3 Idealized cross-section across the Basin and Range showing the alternating basins and
ranges characteristic of the Great Basin of the western U.S.

Geothermal Resource-Base Assessment, Recoverable EGS Re- 16.3.1 Natural Hydrothermal Systems
source Estimates, Review of EGS and Related Technology, Sub- Natural hydrothermal systems represent the oldest and most
surface System Design Issues, Drilling Technology and Costs, conventional source of geothermal power production. These sys-
Environmental Impacts, and Economic Analysis. Another good tems are subterranean reservoirs that transfer and circulate water
reference is Geothermal Systems: Principles and Case Histories that contains extractable heat toward the surface (the fluid is com-
[20]. Additionally, Geothermal Energy: An Alternative Resource monly called brine or working fluid). There are two types of natural
for the 21st Century [6], has chapters that address heat transfer, hydrothermal systems; those that contain water (liquid) and others
geothermal systems, exploration, and assessment; it does not dis- that contain steam (vapor). Steam-dominated systems are relatively
cuss some of the largest geothermal fields in production. rare but include some of the world’s largest producing geother-
mal reservoirs, including The Geysers in northern California and
Larderello in Italy. There are two geologic environments that host
16.3  IX POTENTIAL GEOTHERMAL
S these natural hydrothermal systems: magmatic and amagmatic
PRODUCTION SYSTEMS (e­xtensional) (see previous discussion and figures).

Most experts agree there are essentially six different types of 16.3.2 Enhanced Geothermal Systems
geothermal production systems: (1) Natural Hydrothermal Sys- Deep systems are the domain of EGS or HDR and are expected
tems, (2) Enhanced/Engineered Geothermal Systems - EGS (pre- to reside from 3 km to 10 km or deeper and require considerable
viously known as Hot Dry Rock — HDR), (3) Magmatic Systems, technology to develop, because sufficient permeability for fluid
(4) Geopressured and Co-Produced Geothermal Fluids, (5) Direct flow is usually not present under natural conditions. In such cases,
Use Systems (or Low-Grade Systems), and (6) Geothermal Heat a 3-dimensional network of permeable fractures needs to be created
Pumps (Ground Source Heat Pumps or GeoExchange) [21, 5]. (or engineered) in the subsurface, through which fluid flow can be
Each system requires different engineering and technological ap- induced to enable production of fluids as in a conventional geother-
proaches for their development (see below). All systems require mal power system. Engineering efforts historically have focused
heat, permeability/porosity for circulation, and a working fluid to on the inducement of fracturing in the subterranean region, and/or
extract the heat. Strategies for sustaining (renewing) production expanding or creating a fracture space (that increases permeabil-
over time are also important. ity/porosity) to develop a geothermal aquifer. Research is ongoing
 energy and power generation handbook  •  16-

to determine how to keep these fractures open to allow long term 16.3.5 Direct Use System
aquifer development. Other technological approaches may require As the name implies, Direct Use involves the direct use of hot
injection of working fluids to create a reservoir or aquifer where water for providing heat energy for residential, commercial, or mu-
no fluids are present. This practice would be impractical in arid nicipal purposes. Generally, source fluid temperatures are less than
climates where water supplies are scarce. It is believed that these 100°C — temperatures not formerly considered sufficient for geo-
systems could be developed on most continents if the technologi- thermal power production. Although typically underutilized in the
cal challenges can be overcome. US relative to many other parts of the world, direct use systems are
While some EGS systems are expected to exploit high tem- employed in several cities in the United States, including Boise,
peratures located at great depths, other EGS may be relatively Idaho, Klamath Falls, Oregon, and Reno, Nevada. Boise has an ex-
shallow but are underproductive (or naturally non-productive) tensive district-heating system for the State Capitol region. Direct
geothermal systems that are manipulated in an attempt to make use can be employed for heating, drying, aquaculture, horticulture,
energy extraction economical. Only a few systems of this nature and de-icing sidewalks and roads.
have been created and none have been commercially successful to
date. In the 1970s and 1980s, an experimental site was developed 16.3.6 Geothermal Heat Pumps
at Fenton Hill, New Mexico that produced up to 10 MW of power Also referred to as GHPs, geothermal heat pumps use the con-
over a 30 day period [22]. More recently there have been devel- stant temperature of the earth for heating and cooling applications
opments in Australia [23] and in Europe at Basel, Switzerland, for residential and commercial buildings. The principle behind this
and Soultz, France [24, 25]. The Basel EGS project was put on application is that temperatures remain fairly constant a few feet
hold following inducement of a magnitude 3.4 earthquake during below the surface of the earth. These systems use heat pumps to
fluid injection in 2006. This earthquake unnerved the local popula- extract heat from underground for space heating and to pump heat
tion and caused a small amount of non-structural damage in the into the ground when cooling of buildings is required. It is interest-
town [26]. ing to note that Fort Knox, Kentucky installed the largest geother-
A study published in 2006 evaluated the quantity of potential en- mal heat pump system in the world with more than 150 geothermal
ergy available and development issues related to EGS. “Based on heat pumps in use in 2006, and has thereby reduced their fossil
growing markets in the United States for clean, base load capacity, fuel energy use by 20% [28]. “Geothermal heat pumps provide an
the panel thinks that with a combined public/private investment of important example of how low-grade thermal energy, available at
about $800 million to $1 billion over a 15-year period, EGS tech- shallow depths from 2 to 200 m, can be used to provide substantial
nology could be deployed commercially on a timescale that would savings in the cost of heating and cooling of buildings” [5].
produce more than 100,000 MWe or 100 GWe of new capacity by
2050. This amount is approximately equivalent to the total R&D
investment made in the past 30 years to EGS internationally, which
is still less than the cost of a single, new generation, clean coal 16.4  EOTHERMAL RESOURCE
G
power plant” [10]. DEVELOPMENT — EXPLORATION,
DRILLING, AND RESERVOIR
16.3.3 Magmatic Systems ENGINEERING
These subterranean regions are systems that are molten or semi- Considerable attention must be given to a number of details dur-
molten and host temperatures greater than 650°C. It is believed ing the development of a potential geothermal power production
that several technological breakthroughs will be required to drill site (well). The following variables must be considered: explora-
and extract heat from these promising regions [21]. Natural sites tion and assessment of the resource site, depth required to develop
occur adjacent to stratovolcanos (Cascades), hot spots (Hawaii), the well, production temperature, fluid flow rate, power potential,
and divergent tectonic plate boundaries (Iceland, East African Rift connectivity to a grid, geology, and geomorphology, hydrochem-
Valley). In 2009, drilling experiments penetrated the supercritical istry, drilling resources, power generation systems, and human re-
temperature zone at the Iceland Deep Drilling Project (IDDP) and sources. In many cases, the human dimension (labor, government
encountered magma [27], but significant fluid flow rates were not officials, regulatory agencies, etc.) can be just as challenging as the
encountered. It is thought that these magmatic resources may be geotechnical problems an organization might encounter.
developed for geothermal power in the future [14]. Exploration of a potential geothermal development site is a criti-
cal component of a project’s success. There are many exploration
16.3.4  eopressured and Co-Produced Geothermal
G techniques that can be employed to achieve an accurate assessment
Fluid Systems of the resource. Geologists, geophysicists, geographic information
Found in deep sedimentary basins in various locations in the system (GIS) experts, hydrogeologists, remote sensing experts,
United States and other parts of the world, geopressured systems and others can be called upon to assist in assessing the potential
are known to “contain three forms of energy: methane, heat, and location, depth, and capacity of a resource. The developer must
hydraulic pressure,” [5]. Geothermal fluids, co-produced in con- understand that the average geothermal gradient will yield 25°C to
junction with oil and gas, represent a resource that has long been 30°C per kilometer. Steeper gradients will yield higher tempera-
ignored by oil and gas developers. It is thought that this resource tures at shallower depths, and thus greater opportunities for eco-
could be harnessed to produce electrical power for the petroleum nomical extraction. Geological expressions on the surface, such as
producer or for sale. “Like geopressured resources (areas of rapid geysers, fumaroles, thermal springs, mud pots, faults, sinter, tufa,
sedimentation that are characterized by pressures and tempera- borates and other deposits can provide clues that the explorer can
tures), co-produced water can deliver near-term energy savings, use to evaluate and develop the resource. Combs and Muffler [29]
diminish greenhouse gas emissions, and extend the economical use suggested six steps in assessing a potential resource: (1) literature
of an oil or gas field” [5]. search, (2) airborne survey, (3) geologic and hydrologic survey,
16-  •  Chapter 16

(4) geochemical survey, (5) geophysical survey, and (6) drilling. known to have been mined at Columbus Marsh based on informa-
Although published in 1973, these steps are still relevant today. tion in the literature. A search was conducted on a geochemical
Methods of assessment have improved, yet two general techniques database of existing water analyses, and water sampling was also
have proved critical for early stage geothermal exploration for de­ conducted near these borate crusts. Both sets of data indicated high
cades: (1) chemical geothermometer calculations of spring and subsurface temperatures. In 2006, Kratt [40] used satellite remote
well waters, and (2) temperature gradient measurements, and heat sensing data (ASTER satellite imagery) to identify borate-rich
flow calculations. evaporite crusts on the playa. Subsequent field work included fur-
Chemical geothermometers can be used to estimate subsurface ther characterization of these borates using a field spectrometer.
reservoir temperatures, if an accurate thermal spring or well wa- Shallow temperature surveys were then conducted to delineate
ter chemical analysis is available. Calculation of geothermometers possible drilling targets (Fig. 16.4). Temperature surveys identi-
from spring chemistry has been a key component of early stage fied three anomalies on the margin of the playa, although anomaly
geothermal exploration for decades. Although there are many dif- A is an artifact removed after performing an albedo (a measure
ferent geothermometers (e.g., see [30] for a partial listing, and [31] of how strongly an object reflects light) correction. However, the
for geothermometer and plotting spreadsheets), two general forms other two anomalies remain and can be used to delineate drilling
are most commonly used: SiO2 geothermometers (the equation targets. As a measure of corroboration, a 7-m-deep temperature
for which varies depending on the fluid temperature at depth; e.g., probe at the southwest anomaly confirmed that temperatures are
[30]), and the empirical Na-K-Ca [32] geothermometer, often em- continuing to rise rapidly with depth.
ployed with a Mg correction [33]. After a potential geothermal resource has been assessed via ex-
The second critical type of data collected and used for decades ploration and the prospects for developing the geothermal resource
in geothermal exploration, is temperature gradient and related are positive, a more comprehensive drilling program will begin.
heat flow calculation. A comprehensive heat flow database can be Geothermal developers have been the beneficiaries of technologi-
found at the Southern Methodist University (SMU) geothermal cal breakthroughs in the oil and gas industries. There are many
laboratory web site [34]. As of fall 2010, SMU has been funded to similarities between oil and gas development and geothermal de-
update thermal data for North America. Maps and products (to be velopment. The one key difference is that geothermalists are seek-
discussed in a later section) will be updated with new data and data ing heat and therefore require equipment that can be used in higher
types (e.g., those not necessarily obtained purely for geothermal temperature environments. Metallurgical breakthroughs have pro-
exploration purposes). vided more resistant drill bits that require less replacement and less
Wright [35] suggested seven geophysical techniques in explo- downtime during the drilling operation.
ration: (1) shallow surveys of thermal gradients and heat flow, Drilling a geothermal production well can be one of the most
(2) electrical methods, including resistivity surveys, telluric cur- challenging and costly aspects of developing a geothermal re-
rents, electromagnetic, magnetotelluric, and audio magnetotelluric, source, and production wells are estimated to represent 25% to 40%
(3) gravity and microgravity surveys, (4) airborne and ground mag- of the costs associated with developing a power plant, according
netic surveys, (5) seismic studies including microseismics, refrac- to some experts (e.g., [41]). These costs can include road and drill
tion surveys, and reflection surveys, (6) radiometric heat production pad construction, casing, cementing, labor, mud to avoid boiling of
surveys, and (7) borehole geophysical logging and seismic profiling. the water, etc. The depth of the well and the geological formations
“The culmination of an exploration program is marked by explora- present will determine how long drilling will actually take. A good
tory drilling of borewells” [35]. The exploratory wells can be used understanding of the subsurface geology can help the developer
to evaluate anomalous temperature conditions, assess permeability, better manage drilling costs. Conventional geothermal wells can be
and conduct production tests to assess the capacity for power pro- shallow or exceed several thousand meters. In the future, it is ex-
duction [6]. Many of the electrical methods mentioned by Wright pected that developers will embrace the development of EGS, that
[35] are no longer in use, but magnetotelluric (MT) and Control- is, enhanced or engineered geothermal systems. Since temperatures
led Source Audio Magnetotelluric (CSAMT) surveys have become increase with depth, improved drilling technology in the future will
very important tools for the geothermal exploration community. facilitate the economic extraction of heat from greater depths [6].
In the fall of 2006, a geothermal exploration workshop was host- Many geothermal plants employ a system of wells for both ex-
ed by the Geothermal Resources Council in which both traditional traction and injection of geothermal fluids. One of the keys to suc-
and new methods of geothermal exploration were highlighted [36]. cessfully managing and sustaining a geothermal reservoir is the
Many of the more traditional methods of exploration (as noted development of an aquifer replenishing system, which means that
in the previous paragraph) are the more advanced and expensive the optimal siting of and development of injection wells can be just
forms of exploration that typically take place after geochemical as important as the drilling of production wells.
evaluation of the thermal waters. However, one older, inexpensive,
early stage exploration tool has recently been revitalized and sig-
nificantly improved: the measurement of shallow subsurface tem-
16.5  EOTHERMAL ELECTRICAL
G
peratures. Measurements of temperatures at 2 m depths at many
locations throughout a site over a short period of time can be used
POWER GENERATION
to locate thermal anomalies and define possible drilling targets The technology of geothermal power generation is very similar
[37, 38]. These surveys are helpful for locating blind geothermal to other methods of electrical power generation. In the simplest
systems, as documented by [39] which provide several examples of terms, steam is produced to turn the turbines that charge the
where 2 m temperature surveys were used to identify geothermal generator to produce electrical power. Generally, there are three
anomalies as a follow-up investigation of borate occurrences ini- types of geothermal power plant systems: Dry Steam, Flash Steam,
tially located in the field with remote sensing techniques. and Binary-Cycle. Power generation systems vary in size, ranging
Figure 16.4 shows an example of one such shallow tempera- from kilowatts to multi-megawatts, and variations of design may
ture survey at Columbus Marsh, Nevada. Historically, borate was result in hybrid systems such as flash-binary systems.
 energy and power generation handbook  •  16-

Fig. 16.4 ASTER satellite image showing results of a shallow temperature survey (uncorrected) at
Columbus Marsh, Nevada (Source: [39])

16.5.1 Dry Steam turbine (Fig. 16.6). According to DiPippo [18], “The single-flash
Dry Steam, the oldest and simplest type of power plant steam plant is the mainstay of the geothermal power industry. It
(Fig. 16.5) was first developed in the Larderello field in Italy in 1904. is often the first power plant installed at a newly-developed liq-
It has also been employed commercially at The Geysers (California) uid-dominated geothermal field.” It is most efficient for high-
since 1960. Steam from a geothermal well drives the turbine directly. temperature systems, typically >180°C.
Larderello and The Geysers are the two main dry steam production
areas in the world. Other dry steam areas are found in Matsukawa, 16.5.3 Binary-Cycle Power
Japan; Kamojang, Indonesia; Poihipi Road at Wairakei, New Zea- These systems require a heat exchanger (Fig. 16.7), which al-
land; and Cove Fort, Utah in the United States. “The general charac- lows the heated brine (water) to cycle through a heat exchanger
ter of a dry-steam reservoir is that it comprises porous rock features and heat a secondary working fluid that has a lower boiling point
fissures or fractures . . . that are filled with steam,” [18]. than water. These working fluids are then vaporized, the steam
from which turns the turbine. “The working fluid, chosen for its
16.5.2 Flash Steam appropriate thermodynamic properties, receives heat from the geo­
Superheated fluids are introduced into a tank and “flashed” (rap- fluid, evaporates, expands through a prime-mover, condenses,
idly boiled) to vapor, the steam from this vaporization drives the and is returned to the evaporator by means of a feed pump” [18].
16-  •  Chapter 16

Fig. 16.5 Dry steam power plant (Source: [42])

Fig. 16.7 Binary cycle power plant (Source: [42])

Some of the benefits derived from a binary-cycle system include 16.6  URRENT US GEOTHERMAL POWER
C
the ability to use a lower-temperature resource as well as a closed PRODUCTION EFFORTS
loop such that water is not lost and all produced water is re-
injected. Binary cycle systems also reduce the likelihood of build- Geothermal development in the US largely occurred in the late
up of calcium carbonate or other mineral scaling in the wells and/or 1980s and early 1990s, with relatively little additional geothermal
turbines. It should be noted that some binary systems use the Ran­ development until 2005 when the 30 MW Galena 1 power plant
kine cycle or organic Rankine cycle (ORC). Working fluids used was installed at Steamboat, NV. New BLM leasing rules were
are typically isopentane or isobutene. Experiments are currently written over a 2-year period and once completed, the result was the
being considered that would use CO2, metal organic compounds, first totally competitive lease sale on August 14, 2007. Table 16.1
and other compounds as working fluids. shows the results of leasing from 2007 to 2010 for Utah, Nevada,
These examples clearly do not present an exhaustive discus- and California, the latter two in which geothermal development in
sion of power plant systems, but they do suggest that some power the US has been most active as of 2010.
plant systems might be more applicable to a particular geothermal During 2005 and 2006 the Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
resource’s temperature and geochemistry. However, some reser- was re-writing rules for leasing. One of the main changes was that
voir fluids can be used with both binary and flash, an example of all leases would go to competitive bid; they would only be leased
which is the Bradys power plant in Nevada (Fig. 16.8). non-competitively if they were not sold during auction. After par-
cels were available for lease following the two year rule-writing
and decade long lull in the geothermal industry as a whole, leasing
activity began to boom in 2007.
Geothermal activity is compared among western states in the
next two figures. As can be seen in Fig. 16.9, California produces
more geothermal electric power than all of the other states com-
bined, but Nevada leads the country in active geothermal projects
as of April 2010 (Fig. 16.10). More geothermal exploration and
research has been conducted in Nevada both recently and histori-
cally, and the business climate and regulation in Nevada are more
favorable than in some surrounding states, resulting in Nevada
having the most geothermal exploration and development of any
state in the country in recent years.
Geothermal development has been steadily increasing since
2005 (Figs. 16.11 and 16.12) following the resumption of leasing
in 2007. Figure 16.12 shows the annual capacity in the western
US installed between 2005 and 2010; a steady trend of increasing
geothermal capacity is seen after 2005. A total of 7057 MW of
capacity were under development as of April 2010 [49]. This is
more than double the installed capacity in 2010, indicating that
geothermal energy production had begun to accelerate by 2010,
partly in response to renewable portfolio standards set for utili-
Fig. 16.6  Flash steam power plant (Source: [42]) ties and the public desire for clean, renewable, indigenous power
 energy and power generation handbook  •  16-

Fig. 16.8 View of Bradys Power Plant and fumaroles from a distance. Bradys geothermal plant is
operated by ORMAT, NV, and has both flash and binary units producing power (Source: [43], Photo by Mark
Coolbaugh. Nov. 2, 2002)

sources. Of the traditional renewable power sources (wind, solar, “The total amount of heat contained in HDR at accessible
biomass, and geothermal), geothermal is a base load power source depths has been estimated to be on the order of 10 billion
with the highest capacity factor (discussed below) and is, thus, of quads (a quad is the energy equivalent of about 180 million
greatest utility in displacing traditional, fossil fuel, base load power barrels of oil and 90 quads represents the total US energy con-
sources. sumption in 2001). This is about 800 times greater than the es-
timated energy content of all hydrothermal resources and 300
times greater than the fossil fuel resource base that includes
16.7  OMMENTS ON ENHANCED
C all petroleum, natural gas, and coal [52]. Like hydrothermal
GEOTHERMAL SYSTEMS AND THE energy resources already being commercially extracted, HDR
PROSPECTS FOR THE FUTURE holds the promise for being an environmentally clean energy
resource, particularly with regard to carbon dioxide emissions,
Enhanced or Engineered Geothermal Systems (EGS; Fig. 16.13) which can be expected to be practically zero” [50].
have received renewed and focused attention since the publication
of the MIT Report [10]. Some of the earliest experiments for EGS The MIT Report advanced the enormous potential that EGS
were conducted by the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the might hold:
1970s at Fenton Hill, New Mexico. At the time, the experiments
attempted to exploit so-called Hot Dry Rock (HDR) resources by “By evaluating an extensive database of bottom hole tem-
drilling to a depth of about 3000 m, identifying a 195°C resource, perature and regional geologic data (rock types, stress lev-
penetrating and hydrofracturing the granite, injecting and extract- els, surface temperatures, etc.), we have estimated the total
ing a working fluid, and ultimately producing about 4 to 10 MWe EGS resource base to be more than 13 million exajoules (EJ,
of power [6, 22, 50]. The Fenton Hill experiment was active be- where one EJ is equivalent to 1018 joules). Using reasonable
tween 1974 and 1979 and was eventually closed in 1995. Other assumptions regarding how heat would be mined from stimu-
experiments followed, including the Rosemanowes Quarry, in lated EGS reservoirs, we also estimated the extractable portion
southwestern England. Several EGS experiments are taking place to exceed 200,000 EJ or about 2000 times the annual consump-
at Soultz-sous-Forets in France, Landau in Germany, Cooper Basin tion of primary energy in the United States in 2005. With tech-
in Australia; and in the US. nologic improvements, the economically extractable amount
Why are researchers interested in EGS and HDR? Duchane and of useful energy could increase by a factor of 10 or more, thus
Brown [50] aptly summarize its potential: making EGS sustainable for centuries” [10].
16-10  •  Chapter 16

Table 16.1 Results of competitive geothermal leasing in the

western U.S. between 2007 and 2010

Parcels Parcels Total Average

Offered Sold Acres Receipts per Acre
Nevada BLM geothermal leases
2007 43 43 122,849 $11,669,821 $94.99
2008 35 35 105,212 $28,207,806 $268.11
2009 108 82 323,223 $8,909,445 $27.56
2009N 26 12 91,987 $49,223 $0.54
2010 114 75 212,370 $2,762,292 $13.01
Total 326 247 855,640 $51,598,587
Source: [44]
2009N — refers to non-competitive sales.

California BLM geothermal leases

2007 17 17 14,722 $53,761 $3.65
2008 10 10 5,352 $256,242 $47.87
2009 15 15 11,399 $131,126 $11.50
2010 9 9 4,887 $1,984,943 $406.16
Total 51 51 36,362 $2,426,073
Source: [45] and [46]

Utah BLM geothermal leases

2007 3 6017 $3,675,696 $610.86
2008 44 144372 $5,400,738 $37.41
2009 1 1 228 $57,250 $251.05
2010 17 17 60,320 $335,393 $5.56
Total 18 65 210,938 $9,469,077
Source: [47] and [48]

The 13 million EJ is the geothermal resource base (stored ther- where fractures will occur is difficult, so the practice is to drill one
mal energy) and not the power that can be generated. The MIT well, stimulate (hydrofracture) it, and try to map the fractures, in
report [10] includes several maps of estimated temperature at depth. part by monitoring microearthquakes. A second well is then drilled
This data was used to estimate available energy, and one such map to intercept the fractures. Because much of this EGS resource may
is reproduced here for 6.5 km depth (Fig. 16.14). be fairly deep, keeping fractures open at depth will be a challenge.
EGS continues to offer great potential, and experiments in de- Research is being conducted to improve the assessment of the sys-
veloping geothermal power using this approach are ongoing. The tems, so as to help locate and drill into fractures.
U.S. Department of Energy committed $132.9 million specifically Other areas that may provide prodigious amounts of energy are at
to EGS-related experiments in 2009 (EGS demonstrations and EGS the margins of volcanic activity. Experiments are continuing at the
components research) and another $98.1 million to innovative ex- Icelandic Deep Drilling Project and Newberry Caldera in Oregon,
ploration and drilling. Experiments are taking place at Desert Peak, as well as other sites for this type of resource, including Hawaii.
Nevada and at The Geysers in California. The EGS projects funded
include sites at already productive hydrothermal systems (i.e.,
Desert Peak has a power plant, but one unproductive well can be 16.8  TILITY IMPACT ON GEOTHERMAL
U
stimulated) as well as at existing oil and gas wells that also produce DEVELOPMENT
hot water from considerable depths (4.6+ km).
However, experts are not yet in agreement on how geothermal Utilities are continuing on the path of integrated resource plan-
resources will be developed. Some argue that conventional hydro- ning (IRP) to provide energy services to their customers. Utilities
thermal systems ought to be developed first, while others claim that use IRP principles to assess the cost effectiveness of all supply
more than $1 billion needs to be invested in deep EGS before it and demand side options available to provide electric service.
can be developed, and another group asserts that the appropriate Based on the assessment, utilities build a renewable energy and
technology for economical drilling in high-temperature regimes is energy efficiency portfolio to serve customer needs. Two geother-
not yet available. However, it is clear that some fairly significant mal technologies — power production and geothermal heat pumps
hurdles need to be cleared before this technology will be economi- (GHP) — can be included in the utilities’ portfolios. As a result,
cal. Research should include an improved knowledge of the rock utilities can play an important role in promoting more geothermal
mechanics of potential EGS reservoirs. How to create and predict d­evelopment.
 energy and power generation handbook  •  16-11

Fig. 16.9 Installed capacity in the U.S. as of April 2010 (Source: [49])

In recognition of this role, a Utility Geothermal Working Group 16.9  EOTHERMAL POWER
G
(UGWG) was formed at the 2005 Geothermal Resources Coun- PRODUCTION FINDINGS
cil Annual Meeting. This group provides annual update reports.
The UGWG’s mission is to accelerate the appropriate integration Based on information gained at various public events, geother-
of geothermal technologies into mainstream applications. To help mal power generation is of great interest to utilities; however, some
a­ccomplish its mission, the group conducts periodic training events utilities regard geothermal power plants as a risky proposition based
in the form of webcasts and workshops. on the possibility that the first wells drilled into the geothermal

1400

1200

1000
MW in Development

800

600

400

200

0
ka

a
a

ia

pi
o

g
o

ai

an
ad

ta

go
ah

ad

in
rn

ip
ic
as

aw
U

m
ex

ss
si
ev

re
ifo

or
Id

Al

ui

yo
H
O

si
ol
M
N

al

Lo

is
C

W
C

ew

M
N

Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 4

Fig. 16.10 Total capacity in development in the US as of April, 2010 (Source: [49])
16-12  •  Chapter 16

Fig. 16.11 The number of projects under development has been steadily increasing since 2006
(Source: [49]).

reservoir will not be successful. Geothermal power plants are also ·  The control of the entire geothermal resource to preclude com-
capital-intensive, requiring significant funding up front before the peting interests for the same fluid/steam supply
project produces any revenue. Utilities are more confident with ·  The use of proven technologies
the plants and are more willing to negotiate a financeable power
purchase agreement (PPA) with a developer, if the following five Utilities may be willing to enter into PPAs if the output com-
conditions are met: pares favorably with the “default power plant,” which currently is a
gas-fired combined cycle plant. The utilities estimate purchasing
·  A delineated geothermal resource, with a bankable report that power from the default choice in the range of $65 to $90/MWh. The
defines probable long term performance price includes capital, operation and maintenance (O&M), and fuel
·  A defined permitting path without pitfalls costs.
·  A credible developer with a proven project management track The price that a geothermal power plant developer can offer to
record a utility in a PPA largely depends on (1) the exploration, drilling,

Fig. 16.12 Total installed capacity in the western U.S. from 2005 to 2009 (Source: [49]).
 energy and power generation handbook  •  16-13

Fig. 16.13 Schematic of a two-well EGS in a low permeability formation showing hydraulically stimu-
lated area with created fractures (Source: [10] and [51])

and development costs of getting the project on line and (2) the sume that the plant is on-line 90% of each year. At an annual factor
financing charges associated with the costs. The costs for a typical of 0.15, reflecting an interest rate of 13% to 15%, the capital financ-
20 MWe power plant can be seen in the Table 16.2. ing costs are $76/MWh [55].
A major impact to development cost is the local, regional, na-
tional, and global competition for commodities such as steel, ce- Table 16.2 Typical costs for construction of a
ment, and construction equipment. Geothermal power is competing 20 MWe power plant in the US
against other renewable and non-renewable power development,
building construction, road and infrastructure improvements, and Cost
all other projects that use the same commodities and services. Until Development Stage (Millions of $)
equipment and plant inventories meet the increase in demand for
these commodities and services, project developers can expect the Exploration and resource assessment 8
costs of them to rise. Well field drilling and development 20
Using the above costs as a basis, a typical geothermal power Power plant, surface facilities, and 40
plant has a capital cost of $4000/kW (kW of generating capacity). transmission
This capital cost is translated to a MWh cost by applying an annual Other costs (fees, operating reserves, 12
factor reflecting interests rates for financing the total capital cost. and contingencies)
At an annual factor of 0.2, reflecting an interest rate of 18% to 20%, Total Cost 80
the capital financing costs are $104/MWh. The financing costs as- (Source: [54])
16-14  •  Chapter 16

Fig. 16.14 Calculated temperature at a depth of 6.5 km (Source: [53])

Typical O&M cost for a plant is about $15/MWh [55]. The O&M efficiencies, low mechanical stress on the turbine, reduced turbine
costs include reservoir management and assume that the power blade erosion, and the reduced need for full time operators to be
plant uses Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) technology for energy present.
conversion with air to air cooling towers. ORC technology uses a If the power plant uses a different technology or water to air
moderately high molecular mass organic fluid such as butane or cooling towers, the O&M costs are likely to be higher. Using these
pentane to absorb the heat from the geothermal fluid and drive the two annual factors and adding the O&M cost to the annualized
turbine. The technology has the benefits of high cycle and turbine capital costs, the developer may be able to offer a utility output in

Fig. 16.15 Comparison of freshwater consumption for power production showing natural gas con-
sumes far more water than geothermal. This is an important consideration as many geothermal
systems are located in arid environments (Source: [56])
 energy and power generation handbook  •  16-15

the range of $91 to $119/MWh. This price could be lowered if the proximate CO2 emissions from power generated from coal, oil,
utility were to finance the power plant construction. natural gas, and geothermal flash and binary. The geothermal
plants clearly have negligible (or none in the case of binary) CO2
emissions relative to fossil fuels, with coal emissions at approxi-
16.10 ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS mately 2191 lbs/MWhr, and natural gas at approximately half that
amount [56]. However, CO2 emissions are relatively unknown for
Geothermal, along with other renewables, is well known to be a geothermal systems. For instance, emissions are not measured at all
more environmentally friendly source of power than traditional fos- in Nevada geothermal power plants. California power plants only
sil fuel power sources that produce considerable green house gases. report CO2 emissions above a threshold of 2,500 metric tons of
Figures 16.15 to 16.17 illustrate this point graphically in comparison CO2 per year per facility [57]; thus values reported by the Califor-
to fossil fuel sources. Figure 16.15 shows the significant difference in nia Air Resource Board are biased toward higher numbers because
freshwater consumption between a state of the art design of a natu- the data does not include the relatively low emitting geothermal
ral gas-fired power plant and a state of the art design of a geothermal sources, and ignore binary sources all together. Also, these values
plant in California [56]. In this comparison, the natural gas-fired plant do not take into consideration that CO2 emissions will likely vary
consumes about 361 gal/MWhr in power production whereas the flash with time and older plants have lower emissions because water has
plant consumes approximately 5 gal/MWh and binary geothermal cycled through earlier via re-injected water which had previously
plants consume none [56]. Clearly, geothermal plants are more practi- degassed the originally entrained CO2. Hence, the values illustrat-
cal in many western states with geothermal potential because of the ed in Fig. 16.17 are to be thought of as rules of thumb more than
lack of un-appropriated water rights in the arid states. In fact, most hard and fast numbers. They illustrate that geothermal plants emit
geothermal plants under construction or development as of late 2010 far less CO2 than fossil fuel power sources, and are a more desirable
were binary plants that would not impact local water resources at all, source of power from the perspective of greenhouse gas emissions
assuming all would be air cooled. Most will be air cooled due to the and the accompanying concerns over climate change.
paucity of water in many western states. Figure 16.18 illustrates the dramatic difference in environmen-
Particulate emissions from geothermal plants are also consider- tal impact between geothermal power and fossil fuels. The figure
ably less than in fossil fuel plants. Figure 16.16 clearly illustrates shows the skyline of Reykjavik, Iceland in 1932 when fossil fuels
that coal plants (on average) emit 2.23 lbs/MWh of particulates, were used as the power source in contrast with current day Rey-
whereas natural gas plants emit only 0.14 lbs/MWh. Geothermal kjavik where the power is now from hydroelectric and geothermal
power plants have no particulate emissions and pose no risk to hu- power plants. Currently, Iceland as a whole produces approximately
man health with respect to this type of pollutant. 18% of its electricity from geothermal power generation. A total of
Geothermal plants also have relatively small emissions of green- 88% of Iceland’s housing is heated using geothermal district heat-
house gases relative to fossil fuel plants. Figure 16.17 shows ap- ing [58]. This combination results in a much cleaner environment

Fig. 16.16 Comparison of particulate emissions among three types of power production (Source: [56])
16-16  •  Chapter 16

Fig. 16.17 Comparison of CO2 emissions among six types of power production. (Source: [56])

and better air quality than was historically the case during fossil Potential environmental impacts from geothermal power plants
fuel power generation. include:
·  Gaseous emissions (i.e., H2S pollution of atmosphere (rou-
tinely mitigated))
16.11  OTENTIAL ENVIRONMENTAL
P ·  Visual impacts, noise, construction, disturbance of wildlife
IMPACTS habitat and vegetation
·  Water pollution; (Brine pollution of environment (routinely
Although geothermal power plants have had a strong record of
mitigated))
safety and performance as many potential environmental impacts
·  Reservoir drawdown
are routinely and successfully mitigated, there is some poten-
·  Land subsidence
tial for adverse impacts if proper management strategies are not
·  Induced seismicity
implemented.
·  Water use

Fig. 16.18 Reykjavik, 1932 (on fossil fuels) on the left. Modern day Reykjavik using geothermal e­nergy
(Source: [59])
 energy and power generation handbook  •  16-17

·  Disturbance of natural hydrothermal manifestations (i.e., ces- 16.11.4 Reservoir Drawdown and Land Subsidence
sation of spring discharge) Overproduction without sufficient re-injection can lead to fluid draw-
·  Landslides; catastrophic and creeping down and subsidence. Such was the case at the Dixie Valley power plant
·  Hydrothermal explosions and induced boiling (rare) in Nevada, which resulted in increased fumarole activity, new thermal
features, a “dead zone” in vegetation from excess CO2 emissions, and
16.11.1 Gaseous Emissions ground subsidence in the late 1990s. Water from a shallower, cool well
Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S) is a common gas in geothermal sys- has been added to the re-injected fluid to maintain reservoir pressures.
tems, but is routinely mitigated at power producing systems us- Insufficient re-injection is common at flash power plants where a portion
ing scrubbers. In fact, this unwanted H2S has been used to help of the produced fluid is lost to the atmosphere (Fig. 16.19).
produce scale inhibitor in countries around the world and has im-
proved profitability at these sites. Scale (precipitates of minerals) 16.11.5 Induced Seismicity
can be inhibited from forming in pipes, flash vessels, and heat Induced seismicity has been reported in both EGS reservoir stim-
exchangers using waste from the production of geothermal fluids ulation (e.g., Basel, Switzerland) and natural hydrothermal systems
[60]. under production. The Geysers, California present one example of
a natural hydrothermal system being associated with induced seis-
micity. An excerpt from the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory
16.11.2 V
 isual Impacts, Noise, Construction, (BSL) web site quotes a 1992 bulletin:
Disturbance Of Habitat And Vegetation
Aesthetic impacts can be expected from any type of develop- “There were no earthquakes (ML ³ 2.5) observed in the area
ment, some of which are transient, and many of which, such as of the geothermal field between 1949 and 1975. Starting in
visual impacts, are mitigated with vegetation, paint that blends with 1976 earthquakes were observed in the geothermal field and
the surroundings, and smaller structures. the rate steadily increased to a rate of at least 12 earthquake
(ML ³ 2.5) per year since 1984. The maximum annual rate
16.11.3 Water Pollution was 26 earthquakes (ML ³ 2.5) which occurred in 1988 (this
Because geothermal fluids typically have total dissolved solids is equivalent to 40 percent of the annual rate for the entire
greater than potable water, there is the potential to impact potable central coast ranges).”
water supplies if not managed properly. However, this issue is rou-
tinely mitigated by re-injecting the fluids back into the geothermal The Berkeley Seismological Laboratory (BSL) has pub-
reservoir, which has the added, substantial advantage of maintain- lished yearly maps of seismicity for The Geysers, California
ing reservoir pressures and increasing the lifetime of the resource area [62]. The year-to-date map for 2010 is reproduced be-
relative to practices that do not include re-injection. low (Fig. 16.20) showing the concentration of seismic activity

Fig. 16.19 Excess production without sufficient re-injection between 8000 and 10,000 ft at Dixie Valley,
Nevada caused reduction in reservoir pressure and surface cracks from subsidence (Source: [61])
16-18  •  Chapter 16

at The Geysers relative to the surrounding area. The BSL has 16.11.6 Water Use
published these annually since 1998, and the pattern retains the Some parts of the world are relatively arid (e.g., western US
same essential configuration each year, showing that produc- where most natural hydrothermal systems occur in the country)
tion at the Geysers has consistently induced seismicity since and water consumption can be a serious impediment to geother-
at least 1998. As can be seen in Fig. 16.20, most of the earth- mal development. For instance, in the western US, water rights are
quakes have been relatively small; however, some notably (felt) typically fully appropriated and not available for use in cooling
larger events took place in 2005: two earthquakes with magni- towers for binary systems. Binary working fluids are commonly
tudes >4.0 on May 8 and 9, and three b­etween magnitude 3.0 and cooled in air-cooled condensers, resulting in a significant reduc-
3.99. tion in power production efficiency in the summer months (up to
Note, Fig. 16.20 shows a concentration and greater density 25%). Flash plants lose some percentage (typically £ 20%) of fluid
of small earthquake events in part due to the higher density of in the process of boiling to turn the turbines and subsequent evapo-
m­icroearthquake sensors deployed at The Geysers than is the case ration of the condensate in cooling towers. In such cases, it may be
for the rest of the state. The sensors at The Geysers are a combina- necessary to locate a secondary source of water to re-­inject into the
tion of surface and borehole instruments, including up to 49 differ- reservoir to maintain pressures.
ent borehole monitoring sites; this is clearly not the typical s­ensor
deployment density [63]. In contrast, the Northern California Seis- 16.11.7 D
 isturbance of Natural Hydrothermal
mic Network (NCSN) reports data from 794 operating stations [64]. Manifestations
Hence, the borehole sites alone account for over 6% of the sensors Overproduction of a resource can result in disturbance of natu-
used by the NCSN to monitor all of northern California. ral hydrothermal features, or even cessation of spring discharge.

Fig. 16.20 Induced seismicity at the Geysers geothermal system from the first part of 2010 (Source:
[63])
 energy and power generation handbook  •  16-19

Fig. 16.21a Ohaaki Pool in 1963 prior to geother- Fig. 16.21c Ohaaki Pool following various reme-
mal development (Photograph provided by R. Glover. diation measures at the pool to mitigate impacts
Source: [65]) of geothermal development (Photograph provided by
R. Glover. Source: [65])

ated with a geothermal system occurred at the Zunil (Guatemala)

geothermal field in 1991. Locals believed the slide was caused by
a well explosion or volcanic activity, but later studies attribute the
slide to natural causes. The landslide occurred at night and bur-
ied 23 people alive. It also decapitated a 260°C geothermal well,
which required 14 months to repair [66].

Fig. 16.21b Ohaaki Pool in 1969 following the

initiation of geothermal development (Photograph
provided by R. Glover. Source: [65])

One illustrative example occurred at Ohaaki Pool in New Zea-

land. Prior to 1963, the pools were active (Fig. 16.21a–c). Fol-
lowing initiation of well testing during which the discharge
flowed into the river in 1969, the spring levels dropped signifi-
cantly. Subsequently, the produced geothermal waters were re-
injected into the ground through wells, and also, in 1989, some
led directly into the Ohaaki Pool; so that it overflowed again,
although not without significant setbacks and displeasure to peo-
ple of the Ngati Tahu people for which the Ohaaki pool is a
taonga (treasure). One of the early attempts at filling the pool
was with water from a well 0.5 km distant so that the water was
cooled before it reached the pool, this resulted in the formation
of an unsightly gray amorphous silica sludge in the pool. This
problem was overcome by discharging hot separated water at
160°C directly into the pool [65]. Hence, production can have
unintended consequences, but in many cases can be mitigated
successfully with some effort.

16.11.8 Landslides
Geothermal systems tend to occur in altered rocks, and when Fig. 16.22 Landslide on hydrothermally altered
they are on steep, poorly vegetated slopes, natural creep and land- slope at Zunil, Guatemala (Source: [61], Photos cour-
slides can ensue (Fig. 16.22). An example of a landslide associ- tesy of Fraser Goff)
16-20  •  Chapter 16

16.11.9 Hydrothermal Explosions and Induced Boiling could impact how the RPS is implemented. Currently, geothermal
These impacts are rare, but induced boiling can occur in over- is a preferred energy source to apply toward an RPS because it is
produced systems. These effects might occur as a result of hot base load power. However, if TRECs are an option, they could be
water withdrawal, subsequent pressure reduction, with or without applied in lieu of building additional geothermal capacity because
inflow and contact of cold water with hot rock. This is another rea- the market would be focused on the value of the electricity energy
son to have a sound reservoir management and re-injection strategy rather than its reliability. The impact of TRECs on RPSs and po-
along with pre-production data gathering to understand steady state tential impact on geothermal development are currently unclear.
conditions. Federal Production Tax Credits (PTC) are also in place, although
many of the past PTCs in the US have not truly provided an incen-
tive to geothermal power development because of the short duration
16.12  OMPARISON WITH OTHER
C of the PTC (i.e., a short time between enactment of the incentive
and the required “placed in service date.”). Often a PTC has been
RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES
put into place with a two year sunset clause, and it can take 5 years
Capacity factor is the ratio of the net electricity generated, for for a power plant to be constructed and placed into initial operation.
the time considered, to the energy that could have been generated Hence, the PTC has been largely ineffective as an incentive for the
at continuous full-power operation during the same period. The fol- geothermal industry, and most projects that have benefited from a
lowing is a comparison of capacity factors for renewable energy PTC have been well underway before the PTC law was passed or
sources; clearly, geothermal has the highest, and hence, is the best extended. Based on a report from 2007, the PTC has had very little
choice for production of base load power (24 hours per day, 7 days effect on base load renewables, such as geothermal [72] because of
per week). the short time between announcement of the PTC and the placed in
service date.
Technology Capacity factor In 2009, the PTC was extended through 2013, which provides
Geothermal 97% a more realistic window over which to develop a project. As of
Biomass 80% 2010, the PTC for geothermal and other renewables was 2.2 cents
Hydro 40–70% per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for the first 10 years of operation. This 2.2
Wind 26–40% cents/kWh is inflation adjusted from 1.5 cents/kWh from the origi-
Solar 22–32% nal bill passed in 1992 ([73]EPACT, 1992; 26 USC § 45). Since
the PTC inception, it has expired and been reinstated three times,
However, the efficiency in geothermal power production de- and has been extended two additional times [72], adding to the
creases in summer time, particularly in air cooled systems (the overall ineffectiveness of this tax credit for the geothermal industry
predominant binary systems in the western US). Efficiency can de- because it did not allow for long term planning. Now that there
crease by 25% in the hottest summer months as air cooling of the is a longer time period to develop projects, the PTC should lead
binary working fluid becomes less efficient. to additional geothermal development. Unfortunately, this longer
PTC time frame took effect during the severe economic downturn
of 2009 to 2010.
The PTC is a credit that is applied to the taxes due rather than
16.13 COMPETING IN ENERGY MARKETS
adjusted income, and hence is more beneficial to the operator than
Some factors that help geothermal power plants compete in en- deductions from income would be. However, if there is no profit
ergy markets include: in the first years of operation, there is no tax liability, and the tax
credit is not helpful as it cannot be applied. This situation may
·  Renewable energy portfolio standards (RPS) give rise to the formation of alliances between the geothermal op-
·  Federal tax credits and programs erator and a partner with tax liabilities toward which this credit
·  Increased fossil fuel costs could be applied (a more detailed discussion of PTCs can be found
·  Climate change concerns at [74]).
·  Security concerns Because PTCs have not been as valuable to the geothermal in-
Renewable energy portfolio standards (RPS) vary from state dustry as they could be, the American Recovery and Reinvestment
to state but, essentially, they are regulations that require a certain Act of 2009 (H.R. 1) extends a 30% investment tax credit (ITC)
percent of a utility’s energy portfolio to contain renewable energy to geothermal in lieu of the PTC. The ITC was added to help the
(geothermal, wind, solar, hydro, biomass, municipal solid waste, industry during economically uncertain times as well as provide
qualified hydropower, marine and hydrokinetic) by a particular an alternative to the PTC, which are not enticing to early stage de-
date (Table 16.3 lists RPS for states that will be producing new velopers due to routinely short sunset dates. ITCs provide a pre-
geothermal energy in the near term). With RPSs, the electric utility development tax credit so that developers need not wait until their
companies are required to generate or purchase this percentage of operation is in production to realize the benefits. However, the ITC
renewable energy, subject to varying degrees of enforcement de- could potentially benefit unscrupulous would-be developers seek-
pending on the state, the rigor of which varies by state. Note that ing investor capital. Because production revenues are not required
Texas reported their values as 5880 MW, which is approximately to reap the benefits of ITC, there is less incentive for developers to
10% of their current utilization (listed as ~10% in Table 16.3). complete projects than in the case of PTC, where production must
Clearly, California has the most aggressive RPS at 33%, with the occur for the tax benefits to be realized. The ITC could also encour-
overall average power generated by renewable energy expected age some developers to overestimate the resource in order to obtain
to be a minimum of 19.4% by 2025 for the western US (excluding 30% of a larger capital project cost.
Alaska and Wyoming). However, the adoption of tradable renewa- As of fall 2010, in lieu of either of these tax credits, geother-
ble energy credits (TRECs) by some states (e.g., California in 2010) mal, wind, biomass, and solar projects could opt to receive a grant
 energy and power generation handbook  •  16-21

Table 16.3 Renewable portfolio standards An additional factor that makes geothermal, as well as all other
for western U.S. states that have the ability to renewables, more attractive, is the prevalence in the media of discus-
produce geothermal power in the near term, in- sions of climate change partially due to electricity generation using
cluding Gulf states with existing hot oil wells fossil fuels. Additionally, the US in particular would benefit from
(Texas is the only Gulf state with a current greater energy independence and ability to use its indigenous sources
RPS) of power while increasing economic growth through development
of geothermal resources. Geothermal generation can help in these
2010 2015 2020 2025 Type matters and is also a good alternative for construction of distributed
AK None power sources that are less vulnerable to large scale power disrup-
AZ 2.5% 5% 10% 15%1,2 RPS tion through natural or human caused (terrorism) disasters than are
CA 20% 33%1,2 RPS large (e.g., 2000 MW) coal fired power plants. As an example,
CO 20%1 RPS N­evada currently has 11 producing power plants, most in remote
HI 20%1 RPS areas, with another approximately 60 projects in various stages of
ID 10% Target development. Another example is a small power station at Chena,
MT 15%1,2 RPS Alaska where the geothermal waters are used to heat, cool, and power
NM 20%1,2 RPS a small resort. These types of power plants are not as vulnerable to
NV 20% 1
25%2 RPS disruption as large megawatt, high value facilities. Similarly, as in
OR 25%1,2 RPS the case of Nevada, it is highly unlikely that widespread wildfires or
TX ~10% RPS earthquakes would disrupt more than one power station at a time.
UT 20%1,2 RPS Hence, there are a variety of factors that are making geothermal
WA 15% 1,2
RPS power plants more attractive and economical including PTC, ITC,
WY None PPA and general public opinion. However, reduced risk in drilling
is needed as this is a very expensive up-front cost that entails con-
The bulk of the data were obtained from: siderable risk. Also, additional research is needed to better iden-
1
[67] tify productive faults. Reservoir management strategies have been
and evolving, but the geothermal systems are all very complex, so trial
2
[68] and error, along with sophisticated numerical modeling, is still part
Additional Sources: of reservoir management. Research is also needed to improve ef-
Arizona: [69] ficiencies in energy conversion as well as efficiencies in air cooling
California: [70] for working fluids in binary systems.
Idaho: [71] Additionally, the limited availability of electric transmission
lines in areas of high geothermal potential could limit develop-
ment. However, many states have done transmission studies to ac-
count for the most likely placement of renewable energy power
of up to 30% of the capital cost of the project. Because financing plants. Renewables are different than fossil fuel generation because
can be difficult for geothermal operations in the early stages of the resource is location specific, whereas fossil fuels can be trans-
development due to high risk/cost resource definition and resource ported for use at generating facilities near existing transmission.
characterization, this incentive could prove very useful to the ad- So, although geothermal is becoming increasingly competitive in
vancement of the industry. A comprehensive list of federal and the energy markets, there are yet many hurdles to overcome and
state incentives for renewable power generation can be found at manage.
Reference [75].
In addition to these various government programs (PTC, ITC,
grants), volatile and increasing fossil fuel costs have made geo- 16.14 SUSTAINABILITY
thermal energy development more cost competitive and attractive
over the years. However, fossil fuel costs fluctuate both up and Sustainability of a resource is the ability to utilize it in such a way
down, thus creating the possibility that at any given time, fossil as to meet the needs for the present generation without compro-
fuel power generation may be more or less expensive than geo- mising the needs of future generations. In the case of geothermal,
thermal power generation. One advantage to offset this uncertainty this requires that the resource is not overproduced so that it can be
is the use of long term Power Purchase Agreements (PPA), which used in the future. Natural, unexploited hydrothermal systems can
are routinely used by utilities to purchase from geothermal power have durations of 5000 to 1,000,000 years. However, it is difficult
producers. The advantage to these is that geothermal has no fluc- to anticipate how a resource will respond to development and re-
tuation in fuel costs and reasonably estimated operation and main- ­injection, and the strategy will likely be altered throughout the life
tenance and debt service costs such that a fixed price over a fixed of the resource. It is unknown how long a geothermal resource will
period of years (often 20 years) can be negotiated. In many of these be sustainable because it is possible to overproduce or misman-
PPAs, the utility is required to purchase the specified level of power age the resource. It also is unknown how sustainable a particular
and must adjust other sources of power as load values fluctuate resource will be because there are limited data available worldwide
throughout the year. This guarantees stable pricing for the utility (106 years at Larderello, Italy), and less in the US (a maximum of
as costs of other sources of power fluctuate, while providing the 50 years at one site, The Geysers). In theory, a geothermal resource
geothermal power producer a guaranteed income stream. Hence, should be sustainable for hundreds of years if properly managed,
after the high risk of exploration and development of a geothermal but the length of sustainability will depend on the initial quantity
resource has been overcome, long term operations are relatively of hot fluid, rate of power generation, and consumption (water and
low risk and operating costs are fairly stable. heat loss). The age of waters in geothermal systems varies, but can
16-22  •  Chapter 16

be quite old (e.g., ~10,000 years in NV), so re-injection into these

systems in particular is vital as there will not be any natural re-
charge in a reasonable time frame. Fluids taken from the reservoir
must be returned to it after power generation to maintain the re-
source. Exploitation that exceeds natural recharge greatly reduces
system lifetimes. Re-injection of water is the key. The longevity of
a geothermal system will be a function of the power output, well
density, injection strategy, initial reservoir temperature and pres-
sure, and permeability.

16.15 DIRECT USE OF GEOTHERMAL

Geothermal water for direct use applications has typically been
underutilized in the US. Other parts of the world (e.g., Japan, Ice-
land, 28 countries in Europe) [76] take significant advantage of
lower temperature resources, which have many uses. Geothermal Fig. 16.24 Schematic of heat exchanger (Source:
fluid can be used directly in many applications: aquaculture, bath- [59])
ing, biofuels production, biogas production, cement drying, c­oncrete
block curing, cooking, fabric dyeing, food processing, greenhouses,
heat pumps, heating and cooling, hydrogen p­roduction, lumber dry-
16.16  EOTHERMAL HEAT PUMP
G
ing, onion and garlic dehydration, paper processing, pasteurization,
pulp drying, refrigeration, snow melting, soft drink carbonation, soil
FINDINGS
sterilization, soil warming, vegetable dehydration and water heating. Geothermal heat pumps (GHP), also known as ground source
One use of geothermal water is space heating and this is often heat pumps (Fig. 16.25), provide an energy efficient technology
accomplished using heat exchangers (Figs. 16.23 and 16.24) to ex- used in the U.S. and around the world [77]. Although this technol-
tract the heat and transfer it to a secondary fluid, typically potable ogy has been in existence since the 1940s, it still has not realized
water. This water is then circulated through the building, complex, its full market potential, but it is gaining ground. A December 2008
or district in a closed loop to provide space heat. The geothermal Oak Ridge National Laboratory Report [78], described the barriers
water is re-injected into the reservoir, making this side of the heat to GHP system adoption and methods to overcome them. The bar-
exchanger a closed loop as well. One reason heat exchangers are riers include (1) high installation costs, (2) consumer’s and regu-
used rather than using the geothermal water directly is that geo- lator’s lack of awareness of the technologies, (3) lack of business
thermal fluids typically have varying levels of dissolved constitu- models that support long term adoption, (4) lack of infrastructure
ents that may precipitate in pipes as it cools along a heating loop. to install and maintain systems, and (5) lack of new technologies
Use of potable water minimizes mineral precipitation because the and methods of installation.
dissolved solids are typically less than what is found in geothermal The report describes that utilities, individually and collectively,
fluids. Space heating results in no net consumption of either fluid. can push through the barriers by adopting large, pilot scale GHP
installation programs for new and retrofit sites. The size of a
system needed to deliver comfort (heat in the winter, cool in the
summer) is measured in tons, where a one ton system can heat or
cool 46.5 m2 (500 ft2). Model utility programs could start with
a goal of several hundred tons of GHP systems installed in the
first year, and then scale up to thousands of tons per year based
on the results of the earlier years. An average house is approxi-
mately 186 m2 (2000 ft2), so 1000 installed tons would heat and
cool a­pproximately 250 homes.
The program can consist of four segments, some of which fol-
low one another, while others can be done at the same time: (1)
providing education that maintains and enhances customer, in-
staller, and other stakeholder awareness and skill levels, (2) select-
ing GHP installation sites, (3) installing and commissioning GHP
equipment, and (4) evaluating retrofit performance and revising
project implementation.
The UGWG used the above model program concept and assisted
the Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority (OMPA) in submitting
a GHP system marketing and rebate proposal to the Oklahoma
Fig. 16.23 This is a “plate type” heat exchanger, State Energy Office. The state accepted the proposal for the Ameri-
which passes hot geothermal water past many can Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 funding. The state
layers of metal plates, transferring the heat will offer a rebate of $1000 per ton for up to 2340 tons of GHP
to other water passing through the other side installed by OMPA members by March 31, 2012. This rebate is
of each plate where the heated fluid is used in addition to the $800 per ton that OMPA and its members offer
for space heating (Source: [59]) their customers.
 energy and power generation handbook  •  16-23

Fig. 16.25  Figure illustrating the concept of geothermal heat pumps. The one on the left is in the
winter time when heat is harvested from the ground, whereas the one on the right is for summer
when heat in the building is transferred to the ground (Source: [59])

OMPA members have conducted studies showing that GHP sys- but these emerging economies can also mitigate their production of
tems provide a 0.5 kW per ton reduction in summer peaks. Over a greenhouse gases, and rely on indigenous power supplies.
25-year period and a 5% discount rate, using current capacity costs There are a few impediments to geothermal power production. The
of $100 per kW/year, the savings represent a net present value of most significant has been the lack of public and private capital, par-
$1400 per ton. The GHP systems also reduce the building’s carbon ticularly in the wake of the global economic recession, which began
footprint by 17 million Btu/ton annually. in 2008. The global capital markets have been recovering, and it is
In an effort to take the OMPA model nationally, the UGWG has the belief of the authors that within the next two to three years this
formed a “Geo Hero” Working Group. The Geo Hero Working obstacle will have been removed. Some projections on geothermal
Group has six objectives: power development suggest that 18,000 MWe may be in production
by 2015. There are many ambitious and sound development plans in
1. Enhance communications between and among utilities that
the US, East Africa, Central America, South America, and Australia.
have geothermal heat pump (GHP) programs or are consider-
Geothermal energy is an attractive renewable energy source. The
ing such programs,
beauty of a geothermal resource is that it constitutes a ready and
2. Use the combined group purchasing power to reduce the cost
reliable source of power, easily developed in some regions, but cer-
of GHP installations by taking advantage of marketing ef-
tainly developable, as technology improves, in many parts of the
ficiencies,
planet. Geothermal power production promises to be a significant
3. Quantify the cost and benefits of GHP programs, including
source of energy in the future. From its humble origins in 1904 in
carbon footprints and the “non-energy” benefits such as jobs,
Larderello, Italy to now producing about 11,000 MWe globally,
comfort, safety, and extended equipment life,
new geothermal power technologies will enable many countries to
4. Transform the market of installing, operating, maintaining,
embrace and develop this vast and dependable source of base load
evaluating, and improving GHP systems in homes and busi-
energy.
nesses in the U.S.
5. Work with utility oversight organizations to describe the ben-
efits of GHP in meeting the requirements of renewable energy
and energy efficiency portfolios, and 16.18 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
6. Work with state utility regulatory commissions to gain ap- There are several individuals who greatly assisted in assembling
proval for utility investments in GHP systems to be included this information. Many thanks go to Marcelo Lippmann, Ron
in the rate base. DiPippo, Subir Sanyal, Sabodh Garg, and Guy Nelson for their kind
GHP systems appear to be promising because of the 2010 ARRA and able advice and input. Many thanks to Mark Coolbaugh, Larry
(American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) funding that is avail- Garside, and Karl Gawell for their thoughtful reviews and input.
able to help them move to the market place.

16.19 ACRONYMS
16.17 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
ARRA American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
This chapter reviewed and discussed potential geothermal pro- ASME American Society of Mechanical Engineers
duction systems, resource development and engineering, electrical ASTER Advanced Spaceborn Thermal Emission and Reflection
power production, enhanced geothermal systems, potential environ- BLM Bureau of Land Management
mental benefits and impacts, energy market, sustainability, direct BSL Berkeley Seismological Laboratory
use, and geothermal heat pumps. It is our conclusion that the envi- CPUC California Public Utilities Commission
ronmental benefits of geothermal energy far outweigh the potential CSAMT Controlled Source Audio Magnetotelluric
impacts. Geothermal power production is particularly important to DOE Department of Energy
developing economies; not only can economies historically depend- EGS Enhanced Geothermal Systems
ent on imported fossil fuels change their consumption practices, EJ Exajoules
16-24  •  Chapter 16

GHP Geothermal Heat Pumps 14. Wohletz, K., and Heiken, G., “Volcanology and Geothermal
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IRP Integrated Resource Planning ig.utexas.edu/research/projects/plates/data.htm.
ITC Investment Tax Credit 16. Faulds, J.E., Coolbaugh, M., Blewitt, G., and Henry, C.D., 2004,
MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology “Why is Nevada in hot water? Structural controls and tectonic model
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MWh Megawatt-hour Resources Council Transactions, pp. 649–654.
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PPA Power Purchase Agreement
PTC Production Tax Credits 18. DiPippo, R., 2005. “Geothermal Power Plants – Principles, Applica-
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R & D Research and Development
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TREC Tradable Renewable Energy Credits tions, Case Studies and Environmental Impact,” Oxford: Elsevier Ltd.,
UGWG Utility Geothermal Working Group p. 493.
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 chapter

17
DEVELOPMENT OF ADVANCED ULTRA
SUPERCRITICAL COAL FIRED STEAM
GENERATORS FOR OPERATION
ABOVE 700°C
Paul S. Weitzel and James M. Tanzosh
17.1 INTRODUCTION tion such as reliable water level and pressure gages, Watt’s con-
cerns were probably well founded in limiting the operating pres-
Advanced Ultra Supercritical (A-USC) is a term being used sure to about 0.034 MPa (5 psig). After Watt’s patents began to
to describe a coal fired power plant design with the inlet steam expire, Richard Trevithick is credited with engine improvements
temperature to the turbine at 700°C to 760°C (1292°F to 1400°F). that permitted increasing steam pressure, to 1MPa (145 psig), to
Nickel alloy materials are required. The term Ultra Supercritical achieve 17% thermal efficiency by 1834.
(USC) is a term for plants currently designed and operating at Another milestone, American Electric Power’s (AEP) Philo
600°C (1112°F) using available and suitable ferritic and stainless plant Unit 6 steam generator was the first commercial supercriti-
steels. Increasing efficiency of the Rankine regenerative-reheat cal unit in service early in 1957, Figure 17.1. Philo was 120 MW,
steam cycle to improve the economics of electric power generation 85 kg/s, 31 MPa/621°C/565°C/538°C (675,000 lbs/hour, 4500
and achieve lower cost of electricity has been a long sought after psi/1150°F/1050°F/1000°F) supplied by The Babcock and Wilcox
goal. Efficiency has more recently been recognized as a means for Company. In 1959, Philadelphia Electric Company's Eddystone
reducing the emission of carbon dioxide and its capture costs, as steam generator provided by Combustion Engineering, Inc., deliv-
well as a means to reduce fuel consumption costs. Programs have ered 325 MW, 252 kg/s, 34.5 MPa/649°C/565°C/565°C (2,000,000
been established by nations, industry support associations and pri- lb/hour, 5000 psi/1200°F/1050°F/1050°F and later operation at
vate companies to advance the technology in steam generator de- 4700 psi/1130°F/1030°F/1030°F) [2]. The net plant heat rate for
sign and materials development of nickel based alloys needed for Eddystone was 8534 Btu/kWh, 39.99% (HHV) net plant efficiency
use above 700°C. The worldwide abundance of less expensive coal without environmental system auxiliary power. These two units
fuel has driven economic growth. The challenge is to continue to led the world toward many supercritical boilers that followed and
advance the improvement of efficiency for coal fired power gen- are the predominant type for large electric power steam thermal
eration technology, representing nearly 50% of the United States’ plant selection. Stainless steel materials were used for this service.
(U.S.) production, while helping to maintain economic electric Nickel alloys are being evaluated for ASME Code acceptance up
power costs with plants that have favorable electric grid system to 760°C (1400°F) steam conditions.
operational characteristics for turndown and rate of load change Note that the reheat steam temperatures at Philo and Eddystone are
response. stepped lower than the main steam temperature. Obtaining enough
The Newcomen steam engine operated at about 0.5% thermal heat to reach the reheat temperature set points through a reasonable
efficiency in 1750 [1]. Major efficiency milestones such as James control range was a problem handled in this manner. Current USC
Watt’s 1769 patented improvement to a Newcomen steam engine and proposed A-USC turbine designs incrementally step up the re-
by adding a separate condenser is credited with achieving 2.7% heat temperature and use a feedwater train with a HARP configura-
thermal efficiency by 1775 and became a major propellant of the tion (extraction to a heater above reheat point) so that the percentage
Industrial Revolution due to the economic benefit of the fuel sav- of reheat flow to main steam flow is 75 to 80% instead of 85 to 92%
ings attained. Watt’s 1782 patent for expansive working, double as with the earlier vintage designs. This helps improve efficiency,
acting cylinder engine, is credited with achieving 4.5% efficiency meet the required heat absorption through the steam temperature
by 1792. James Watt, however, is also assailed for causing delay in control range and allows the reheat tubing to better utilize the stress
economic advancement due to his reluctance to raise the working capability of the materials where thickness is set by manufacturing
pressure of the steam engine. Lacking in good boiler instrumenta- rules and not as much by pressure stress limits.
17-  •  Chapter 17

petitive rates while reducing CO2 and other fuel-related emissions

by as much as 17-22%. Steam temperatures and pressures up to
760°C/35 MPa (1400°F/5000 psi) are required [3]. Combining CCS
with A-USC plants will provide lower cost of electricity generation
with 90% carbon capture.

17.2 Higher Net Plant Efficiency

Net plant efficiency is a relative measure of how much fuel is used
to generate a net output of electricity. The higher the efficiency of a
plant, the less fuel input is required and fewer emissions are produced
for the electrical output. Net plant efficiency is affected by three
main components. These are net turbine heat rate (NTHR), boiler
efficiency, and auxiliary power consumption. The NTHR is the ratio
of steam turbine input from the net boiler heat flow, Btu/hour, di-
vided by the gross generation, kW. The heat flows are the main and
reheat steam energy flow minus feedwater and spray attemperation
energy flow. Usually, for large units, the boiler feed pumps are steam
turbine driven saving on the electrical conversion losses over electric
Fig. 17.1  AEP Philo Universal Pressure Steam driven pumps while lowering overall gross generation. The cycle ef-
Generator B&W Contract UP-1 (Source: The Babcock ficiency is improved with use of the turbine driven boiler feed pump
& Wilcox Company) (TDBFP). Variable frequency or hydraulic coupling electric motor
driven feedpumps may alternatively be used.
Special research programs both in Europe (such as the THER- The Net Plant efficiency or its reciprocal term Net Plant Heat
MIE AD700 program) and in the US DOE Boiler Materials for Rate (NPHR) is a key evaluation parameter for electric power plant
Ultrasupercritical Coal Power Plants have set a goal to improve economics and the wholesale market cost of electricity. Practice
thermal efficiency and reduce carbon dioxide emission through ap- in the US is to define net plant efficiency as the ratio of net gener-
plication of materials with higher temperature capability to 760°C ated electric energy by the fuel energy, on a higher heating value
(1400°F) [3-5]. The project, managed by the Electric Power Re- (HHV) basis. The net plant heat rate (NPHR) is:
search Institute (EPRI) and the consortium also includes the US
domestic boiler manufacturers Alstom Power, Babcock Power, NPHR = NTHR/ ((hBlr /100) ´ (100 – %AP)/100)
Babcock and Wilcox, Foster Wheeler. In addition there is a spon- ((kJ/kWh (Btu/kWh)) (17.1)
sored program for the development of A-USC steam turbine ma-
terials through meetings and collaboration between the boiler and Where:
turbine manufacturers which has included Alstom, General Electric NTHR = net turbine heat rate, Btu/kWh, input heat by steam
and Siemens. It is recognized that increasing the steam temperature divided by net generator output power
must be accompanied by the development of improved materials hBlr = boiler fuel efficiency, %, this is the fuel higher heating
that are capable of surviving causes of failure and providing useful value (HHV) energy input to steam
economic life. The effort of this materials development consortium %AP = percent auxiliary power in % of gross power generation
is to address the competitive industry wide data needs such ASME
Code allowable stress and other properties to qualify the new mate- The net plant efficiency is the reciprocal of the net plant heat
rials. Achieving the ASME Code acceptance of materials for high rate multiplied by 3412.9 Btu/kWh times 100% and relates the fuel
steam temperature is demonstrated in simulated laboratory experi- energy to the net power to the electric grid.
ments, in actual coal firing field service trials and in fabrication
and construction practices has been a mission of the Ohio Coal hPlant = 100 % (3412.9 / NPHR) (17.2)
Development Office (OCDO) and the US Department of Energy
(DOE) NETL by sponsoring this research effort. As an example Additional factors lower the net plant efficiency from the starting
representing the work of the industry program, this chapter will de- point of net steam turbine efficiency. These are the auxiliary power
scribe steam generator design and materials development work of consumption and boiler fuel efficiency (defined by ASME Power Test
the Babcock and Wilcox Company’s efforts, supported both B&W Code, PTC 4). Boiler fuel efficiency is the percent of fuel input heat
internally and externally by the OCDO / DOE program. absorbed by the steam (working fluid), and is primarily dependent on
Advanced ultra supercritical coal fired generators (A-USC) have ultimate fuel analysis (constituents C, H, S, N, O, H2O, ash, etc.) and
the potential for lower cost of electricity especially when combined the operating conditions of the fuel and gas side of the boiler. The Heat
with the requirements to capture carbon for sequestration (CCS). Loss Method accounts for the dry gas loss (excess air and exit gas
The plant production costs per megawatt-hour are the lowest for temperature), the loss due to moisture (air, fuel and the product from
A-USC w/CCS based on plant economic studies for coal firing, fuel hydrogen), ash residue sensible heat, unburned carbon loss, radia-
see Chapter 18. Advanced cycles, with steam temperatures up to tion and convection loss from the boiler setting and other unmeasured
760°C, will increase the efficiency of coal-fired boilers, before loss. Boiler efficiency is typically in a range from about 85 to 92%. If
adding CCS, from an average of 36-39% efficiency (for the cur- the allowance for auxiliary power is 6% of gross generation a result
rent domestic fleet) to about 47% (HHV). This efficiency increase for the A-USC plant efficiency with 52.7% steam turbine efficiency is
will enable coal-fired power plants to generate electricity at com- computed to be about 45%, on a HHV basis.
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  17-

17.3 Boiler Fuel Efficiency 100°F, 560R), the Carnot cycle attains an efficiency of 69.9%,
(= (1 − 311/1033) ´ 100%). Note that pressure is not involved in
The net plant heat rate discussed above was based on the US the calculation of Carnot Cycle efficiency. The 760°C inlet work-
standard practice of boiler efficiency based on higher heating value ing fluid Carnot cycle efficiency of 69.9% compares to an expected
(HHV). In the US the standard is HHV whereas in Europe the prac- example A-USC steam turbine net efficiency of 52.7% (6825 kJ/
tice is to use lower heating value (LHV). The fuel HHV is obtained kWh (6475 Btu/kWh) NTHR). This efficiency only considers the
by laboratory analysis in an oxygen bomb calorimeter. The Lower output generated for the heat input by the steam to the prime mover
Heating Value (LHV) of the fuel is computed by subtracting the and not the efficiency losses in producing the heat input from the
latent heat of vaporization for water produced by fuel hydrogen fuel to the steam.
combustion and fuel moisture content. The formula for calculation How to best apply the capital funding available on a power plant
of lower heating value is: project is a critical question for the plant designer. The cost basis of
technological improvements must be known to make an economic
LHV = HHV − Hfg (M + 8.94 ´ H2 )/100 (17.3) evaluation in today’s competitive marketplace. A good reference
on this issue is an ABB paper written by H. Kotschenreuther, “Fu-
Where: M, fuel moisture % by weight ture High Efficiency Cycles.”(7) This paper reported the ranking of
Hfg, water latent heat at reference temperature 25°C (77°F) several technology improvement steps for better plant efficiency.
H2, fuel hydrogen % by weight From least cost to highest cost per efficiency improvement, million
German Marks DM / % net LHV efficiency (million $/% net LHV
Example is the difference for an Ohio coal (12540 Btu/lb HHV, efficiency), these were:
5.2% moisture, 4.83% hydrogen):
1.  Reducing condenser back pressure, 5.4 (4.6)
LHV = 12540 Btu/lb − 1049.7 (5.2 + 8.94 ´ 4.83)/100 2. Increasing to 8th extraction point feedwater heater, raising
(Eq. 17.3 with coal values) feedwater temperature, 6.7 (5.7)
 = 12540–507.85 3.  Raising live steam and reheat temperature, 14.5 (12.3)
 = 12032 Btu/lb LHV (27,998 kJ/kg) 4.  Raising live steam temperature, 15.0 (12.7)
5. Using separate boiler feedpump turbine (BFPT) instead of
In accounting for the boiler energy input, the LHV basis will not main turbine driven pump, 16.8 (14.2)
charge the boiler with as much energy input as the HHV basis so 6.  Raising live steam pressure, 46.2 (39.1)
the efficiency will be higher. For the Ohio coal example this will 7.  Changing from single to double reheat, 67.0 (56.7)
be different by +4.1% in the NPHR (HHV basis) and the efficiency 8.  Using separate BFPT condenser, 71.7 (60.7)
would be 45% net HHV and 46.9% net LHV. This tabulation clearly shows that to optimize plant efficiency,
Example difference for Pittsburgh Natural Gas (23170 Btu/lb raising steam temperature before raising steam pressure is better
HHV, 0% moisture, 23.53% hydrogen): by a 3:1 cost/benefit ratio.
LHV = 23170 Btu/lb − 1049.7 (0 + 8.94 ´ 23.53)/100
(Eq.17.3 with gas values) 17.4 Selection of Turbine Throttle
 = 23170–2208.13
Pressure
 = 20899 Btu/lb LHV (48,545 kJ/kg)
In earlier studies proposing higher efficiency power plant de-
The LHV basis efficiency will be higher than the HHV basis. sign there was the belief that increasing the throttle pressure to
For the Pittsburgh Natural Gas example this will be +9.53% in 45 MPa (6500 psig) and greater was required in order to meet the
the NPHR (HHV basis). A natural gas power plant with this fuel plant efficiency goals [2]. Throttle pressure for the desired throttle
achieving 55.43% (LHV) net efficiency would be 50.0 % (HHV) temperature of 700°C to 760°C (1292°F to 1400°F) will ultimately
net plant efficiency. be determined by the turbine manufacturers’ recommendations. At
Steam turbine Rankine cycle efficiency should be compared the beginning of the present work of the US A-USC consortium,
to the Carnot cycle heat engine efficiency. The Carnot cycle ef- throttle pressure was discussed and determined most feasible in the
ficiency, with a reversible externally heated engine operating in a range of 5000 to 5500 psi. Pressure vessel thickness for cycling op-
cycle where the working fluid undergoes isothermal heat addition, eration and the practicality of the optimum or maximum available
isentropic expansion, isothermal heat rejection, and isentropic com- work per mass of the working fluid are major considerations.
pression represents the ideal cycle for maximum thermal efficiency. According to the Second Law of Thermodynamics the maxi-
The formula for the Carnot Cycle thermal efficiency of a heat engine mum useful work possible per pound mass of working fluid in a
is provided in fundamental engineering thermodynamics textbooks, process between two states is the difference of the available en-
also in STEAM/Its Generation and Use, Edition 41 [6], and is: ergy. The available energy, AE, for a process is defined between
the two end states as:
hc = 1 − Tc /Th (17.4)
AE = h1 − h2 − T0 (s1 − s2) kJ/kg (Btu/lb) (17.5)
Where Carnot efficiency, hc, is the ratio of useful work output
divided by heat input, Tc is the colder absolute temperature of the Where:
energy rejected from the cycle, and Th is the absolute temperature h1, enthalpy at state 1, from the heat supplied, kJ/kg (Btu/lb)
of the energy supplied to the working fluid. h2, enthalpy at state 2, the heat rejected state, kJ/kg (Btu/lb)
Using the example where heat is supplied at 760°C (1033°K, T0, absolute Temperature at the ambient condition for heat
1400°F, 1860R) and the cycle rejects energy at 38°C (311°K, rejection, K (R)
17-  •  Chapter 17

s1, entropy at state 1, kJ/kg K (Btu/lb R) 17.5 Does The Double Reheat Cycle
s2, entropy at state 2, kJ/kg K (Btu/lb R) Make Sense?
A process cannot achieve more useful work than the available en- The double reheat cycle has normally been considered to pro-
ergy between the two end states. Figure 17.2 shows the available en- vide 1.5% to 2.0% points of efficiency above single reheat for
ergy for steam at five operating throttle temperatures, 1000°F, 1100°F, 538°C to 593°C (1000 to 1100°F) throttle temperature. A study [8]
1200°F, 1300°F and 1400°F, and each exhausting to 1.5 in. Hg and reported the double reheat cycle would only provide 0.7% ad-
100°F. Considering a single reheat cycle, the optimum available en- vantage above single reheat turbine with 35 MPa 680°C/700°C
ergy peaks at about 2500 psia for 1000°F, about 4000 psia for 1200°F (5075 psig 1256°F/1292°F) inlet conditions. The lower throttle
and at about 5000 psia for 1400°F. Because higher pressure results temperature was due to reluctance to spin at 3600 RPM with
in higher component costs, the optimum available energy should be 1292°F or higher main steam temperature. The cost of nickel al-
sought. Due to concerns that very thick pressure parts will require a loy steam leads for the second reheat pressure at 300 psi requiring
very limited rate of load change and longer start up times, the steam larger diameter piping is also a cost concern. The promotion to a
generator design must optimize the operating pressure with the design double reheat steam cycle still needs careful study and advocacy
temperature and select materials with optimum properties and cost. by steam turbine vendors. Operation of a double reheat cycle was
Throttle pressure for the Rankine cycle prime mover, a steam tur- considered more difficult because of controlling the differen-
bine where work is produced by expansion of the steam, is fundamen- tial between the HP, IP 1 and IP 2 steam temperatures. The first
tal to the optimum amount of available energy of the working fluid at A-USC plants will more likely be single reheat and double reheat
the specified operating throttle temperature. Temperature is the more may be adopted later.
important factor regarding cycle efficiency. Selection of pressure is of
secondary importance toward efficiency while of major importance
in steam turbine design and operation. Setting the HP throttle pres- 17.6 Advanced USC Steam Turbine
sure, the IP inlet pressure and the LP exhaust pressure is important for Heat Balance and Turbine
the optimization and meeting acceptable operating conditions for the Cycle Description
prime mover. The turbine expansion line end states, throttle inlet and
exhaust pressure must be set to achieve available energy utilization The A-USC steam generator for the development study is de-
and not operate the exhaust too wet or too superheated. signed for 750 MW gross and designed to provide high efficiency
Achieving the optimum available energy per mass of working using nickel alloy components for higher temperature operation.
fluid at the higher design temperature is the key to higher cycle The steam turbine throttle conditions are 35 MPa/732°C/760°C
efficiency. The increased efficiency means a smaller set of equip- with 67.7 mBar condenser pressure (5000 psi/1350°F/1400°F and
ment is needed to produce the equivalent capacity compared to the 2 in. Hg). An additional new requirement of an A-USC steam gen-
plant designed for lower efficiency at lower temperature and pres- erator is to deliver cooling steam from a source such as the primary
sure. Higher steam pressure does help reduce the flow path pipe superheater outlet at 1.5 % [8] of main steam flow rate to the HP
size needed to deliver the energy flow. The more compact plant outer casing. 1.5% cold reheat steam is retained at the turbine for IP
equipment will help with cost savings as long as pressure vessel turbine outer casing cooling. Feedwater temperature to the econo-
thickness and material costs are at the optimum. The costs of the mizer for proposed steam turbine designs has ranged from 630°F
higher priced nickel alloys must be balanced with the savings in to 649°F at MCR. An adapted single reheat steam turbine cycle is
less fuel consumption, lower weight and size of equipment, and used in this analysis. The turbine stage isentropic efficiency used
cost avoidance for emission allowance requirements. for the example in the study is HP — 89%, IP — 96%, LP — 92%.

900
Available Energy (Work)
850

800
Available Energy Btu/lb

1400F AE
750
1300F AE
700
1200F AE
650 1100F AE
600 1000F AE

550

500
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000
Pressure psia
Fig. 17.2  Available Energy Btu/lb as a function of pressure psia (Source: The Babcock & Wilcox Company)
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  17-

A-USC steam turbine stage efficiencies are expected to lie in the CCS equipment and the auxiliary power consumption required [3].
following ranges depending on configuration offered by the vari- Efficiency improvements and auxiliary power reduction are possi-
ous vendors; HP-89.2 to 93.3%, IP-90.5 to 96.6%, LP-90.6 to ble after the first results of pilot tests for both post-combustion and
95.8%. USC turbine performance is expected relate similarly oxy-combustion capture methods and need to be demonstrated at
for A-USC turbines [8,9]. The steam generator outlet conditions larger scale. Heat integration with the water/steam cycle is impor-
are 36.2 MPa/735.5°C/760°C (5250 psig, 1356°F, 1400°F). Inlet tant to produce the steam and meet the functional requirements for
feedwater temperature is 332.8°C (631°F). solvent regeneration on post-combustion. Flue gas cooling prior to
A-USC Plant Turbine Heat Balance is shown in Figure 17.3. CO2 purification and compression heat recovery can be useful in
Alstom originally provided the steam turbine and feedwater heater the reduction of fuel input.
configuration to the materials development consortium for a sin- Carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) will affect plant net ef-
gle reheat machine. There are five low-pressure feedwater heaters. ficiency. Auxiliary power for the CPU, additional cooling tower,
Heater number 2 has a drip pump to forward the drain flow into the air separation unit (ASU), polishing scrubber, with some reduction
condensate to heater 3. Heater 4 is an open type and supplies the of the standard plant auxiliary power, the oxy-combustion total
electric booster pump suction. Heater 5 is after the booster pump auxiliary power is about 20.5% of gross power generation. Oxy-
and this is where one minor modification was made to the Alstom combustion A-USC plant efficiency with Ohio coal is estimated to
cycle, the heater 5 drip pump is removed and the drains cascade be 38.1% (HHV) with 90% capture of carbon dioxide, comparing
to heater 4. This sacrifices 3.9 Kcal/kWh (7 Btu/kWh) on the heat very well with current supercritical plants without carbon capture.
rate. Heater 6 is the deaerator operating at 1.2 MPa (170 psia). Reducing the economizer gas outlet temperature is a little more
The turbine driven boiler feedpumps are before heater 7. Heater 8 difficult because of the higher feedwater temperature of A-USC.
is on cold reheat extraction. Heater 9 is a heater above reheat The gas temperature of the SCR for NOx control needs to remain
point (HARP). A desuperheater 10, on the third extraction point high enough through the load range and have the excessive gas
is the last feedwater heater before the economizer and exhausts to temperature reduced for the structural design limitations of the flue
heater 7. and airheater. Rather than quenching the hotter flue gas in the
FGD scrubber, integrated flue gas heat recovery is useful before
and after the airheater, especially if it will reduce costs. Removal
17.7 Reducing Carbon Dioxide of flue gas moisture is needed for CCS equipment and the utiliza-
Emissions tion of latent heat of the flue gas moisture should be considered in
the overall plant net efficiency based on HHV of the fuel. Often
New plants designed with A-USC steam conditions for 45% net water recovery from the flue gas moisture is also needed to help
plant efficiency will produce about 20% less CO2 than the average alleviate the plant water consumption.
subcritical plants that are the majority of units in services, Fig- Oxy-combustion methods for carbon capture incorporate heat
ure 17.4. New high efficiency A-USC plants could be built car- integration for oxygen preheating and compressor cooling. Oxy-
bon capture ready for later addition of carbon capture equipment. gen is supplied instead of air so that the nitrogen is low and the
A-USC will lower the CO2 per MW thus reducing the size of the carbon dioxide concentration increased.

Fig. 17.3  A-USC Steam Turbine Heat Balance for MCR (Source: EPRI Report [12])
17-  •  Chapter 17

Fig. 17.4  CO2 Reductions vs. Net Plant Efficiency — National Coal Council [11]

Recycled flue gas is returned to the burner zone to dilute the 17.8 Examples of Current Ultra
flame temperature, control furnace exit gas temperature and main- Supercritical (USC) Operating
tain the level of convection heat transfer capability of the boiler. Practice for B&W Steam
This protects the furnace tube metals, avoids refractory and allows Generator Designs
better operational characteristics with load turndown. The amount
of recycle gas is determined considering the furnace and convec- Millmerran 1 and 2 — Queensland, Australia, Figure 17.5. Two
tion pass protection and steam temperature control functions. 420-MW units supplied for 354.36 kg/s 24.9 MPa/568°C/596°C
Three forms of flue gas recycle have been considered: hot, 0.018 MPa (2,812,430 lb/hour 3610.5 psi/1054°F/1105°F/556°F
cold, and warm. Hot recycle of flue gas, also called gas recircu- 5.4 in. Hg) with heater above reheat point (HARP), firing 34.8%
lation (GR), was popular starting as early as the 1950s for fur- ash fuel. Tube materials used are 347H, T91, T22, and T12.
nace protection and reheat steam temperature control. GR has Weston 4 — Wisconsin Public Service, see Figure 17.6. Steam
lost favor with coal firing primarily due to maintenance problems generator firing PRB coal supplies steam to the 590 MW turbine
with GR fan erosion. Gas bypass control is now preferred. Hot at a rate of 458.75 kg/s 26.0 MPa/585°C/585°C/291°C (3,641,000
gas at about 700°F and higher was taken after the economizer lb/hour 3775 psi/1085°F/1085°F/556°F) with a HARP feedwater
and before the airheater and then recirculated to the furnace. cycle. The operating mode is sliding pressure. The main and reheat
Hot recycle needs a high temperature fan and filtration system. steam leads are P92 grade [10].
Sorbent injection, depending on the fuel's sulfur content, may be The current state-of-the-art limits in the United States for USC
needed. Otherwise, an increase in the sulfur concentration in the units has main steam temperatures to about 605°C (1121°F), and
furnace will accelerate the rate of corrosion. Hot recycle is not hot reheat temperatures to about 613°C (1135°F). The highest main
preferred for advanced ultra supercritical designs. Cold recycle steam pressures of about 30.5 MPa (4423 psi) have been designed in
is used to return flue gas to the pulverizers meeting the primary Europe while the highest main steam and reheat temperatures have
air function of the coal milling system. The recycle gas is cooled been commissioned in Japan. The most advanced cycle conditions
and cleaned (SOx, particulates). The same gas is forwarded to for the current market in the U.S. have been developed for the John
the compression purification unit (CPU). The CPU does provide W. Turk, Jr. AEP Hempstead project, commercial in 2012. B&W
further cleaning of the carbon dioxide while meeting the pipe- is supplying the 600 MW net boiler design at 26.1 MPa/602°C/
line requirements. An SCR is not required for oxy-combustion, 608°C (3785 psi / 1116°F/1126°F/570°F feedwater).
as the CPU will have capability to remove the small amount of
NOx. Warm recycle is flue gas pulled from the airheater gas out-
let, cooled using a condensate heat exchanger, filtered using an 17.9 Advanced USC Steam
electrostatic precipitator or a baghouse and sent by the secondary Generator Operational Design
recycle stream back through the airheater to the burner windbox.
Flue gas exiting the boiler is cooled in the regenerative airheater A supercritical plant uses a steam generator design that oper-
with two gas streams returning to the furnace (pulverizer primary ates at full load above critical pressure 22.1 MPa (3208 psia). The
and secondary gas). Refer to Chapter 18 to diagram of Gas Cycle surface tension property of water becomes zero at the critical point
Flow Diagram for Oxygen-Combustion. 373°C (704°F) and water does not boil to form two-phase bubbles
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  17-

meets set point from 50 to 100% load. Reheat steam temperature

control range meets set point from 60% to 100% load.
Control of the variable pressure Benson steam generator is ac-
complished with a method of logic that handles the transition from
the recirculating mode using the boiler circulation pump to the
‘once through mode’ where all the water entering the economizer
leaves from the superheater outlet. A minimum circulation flow
rate is established with the boiler feed pump and the boiler circula-
tion pump to permit initial firing. Water that is not evaporated is
drained from the vertical separator and water collection tank sys-
tem to the condenser and polishing system. The load and steam
generator pressure increase with increased firing rate demand. The
turbine valves are controlling the minimum pressure build up and
the pressure ramp curve. Two-phase flow is accommodated until
the critical point is reached at about 75% load where the transi-
tion to single-phase flow occurs at critical pressure. The load when
the vertical steam separator runs dry because the entering fluid is
converted completely to steam is called the Benson point. This
load will usually be at about 30% to 40% At a point, the boiler
circulation pump is shut off and the boiler feed pump will control
the feedwater flow to meet the furnace enthalpy pickup demand
function (from the economizer outlet to the superheater inlet). By
this method, the proportion of steam generator surface serving as
Fig. 17.5 Millmerran 1 and 2 (Source: The Babcock & “evaporator” and as superheater is controlled as a function of load
Wilcox Company) and stabilized. Steam temperature is controlled by multiple stages
of spray attemperation and the temperature difference across the
first stage attemperators is used to trim the relationship between
spray and feedwater flow in the furnace. The steam temperature con-
as in a subcritical pressure boiler. The term Benson boiler is a de- trol for faster transients must account for the time delay of the water
sign that is capable of operating on a variable pressure ramp and entering the economizer to leave the superheater outlet, which takes
is capable of start up from zero pressure at initial firing and up to about 15 minutes at minimum circulation flow load and about 3 min-
supercritical pressure at higher load. utes at MCR load. If outlet steam temperature of a variable pressure
Traditionally, supercritical steam generators were controlled to steam generator is controlled by the feedwater to firing rate ratio, the
maintain constant throttle pressure. Split pressure allows the fur- tube metals will suffer damage due to the error in required feedwater
nace waterwalls to operate supercritical and the final superheater flow caused by transit time delay.
and steam turbine operate variable pressure to reduce steam tem-
perature throttling and cyclic stress on the pressure part metals.
Unit load demand is set to demand firing rate and feedwater flow.
Steam temperature is controlled by the adjustment of the ratio of
firing rate to feedwater flow. The furnace enclosure is kept super-
critical to avoid subcritical two-phase flow and the high tempera-
ture excursions that occur with dryout or Departure from Nucleate
Boiling (DNB). DNB causes high metal temperature tube failure
due to the inadequate steam film heat transfer coefficient. The in-
side tube wall temperature is suddenly higher when the water film
dries out so that the steam cooling mass flux is too low. A Benson
boiler must be designed with furnace circuitry that with correct
operating conditions and variable pressure mode will be capable of
permitting appropriately located dryout to occur.
Supercritical plants require feedwater purity so that tube side
deposition will not cause overheating damage. Condensate polish-
ing with oxygenated water treatment (OWT) is required to achieve
excellent water purity. Even many natural circulation (drum type)
units now use OWT. The deposition has been greatly reduced so
that the requirement for frequent chemical cleaning is almost elim-
inated. The steam generator pressure drop of the furnace enclosure
stays very close to new unit values. This also stops the increase of
boiler feedpump power over time between acid cleaning.
Controls and design of equipment of an A-USC plant must
achieve cold start up, warm restarts, hot restarts, load cycling, and
shutdown. The design is set so the Benson point, defined below, is Fig. 17.6  Weston 4 (Source: The Babcock & Wilcox
estimated to be at 45% load. Final steam temperature control range Company)
17-  •  Chapter 17

The A-USC design study has focused on the boiler arrangement power is reduced at part load. The boiler can operate with zero
and pressure part details requiring specification to meet the high- pressure on start up due to the waterwall design and pumping a
temperature, high-pressure steam conditions of an advanced ultra minimum circulation flow rate. There are no valves between the
supercritical steam plant with steam turbine conditions, 35 MPa / economizer inlet and the superheater outlet.
732°C / 760°C 67.7 mBar (5014.7 psia / 1350°F / 1400°F / 2” Hg). Modified sliding pressure operation uses throttle valve reserve
The use of steam at 1350oF was considered because of the material so the valves are slightly closed at 90% to 95% load and some
allowable strength limits required much thicker pressure vessels boiler stored energy can respond more quickly to rapid load change
and the need to permit cycling service was a major factor. Higher near full load. Temperature loss due throttling is milder and not
allowable stress values have been specified since earlier studies ap- a very severe problem on metals. Split pressure is used in some
plying the 740 nickel alloy used for superheater tubes and headers systems to operate the boiler waterwalls a full pressure and throt-
and will permit considering temperatures to 760°C (1400°F). The tle at a location between the primary and final superheater. The
limiting areas for the design are the secondary superheater outlet turbine metal temperatures remain at set point values and the throt-
headers, the startup system steam separators and water collecting tling loss in temperature can be made up in the final superheater.
tank, and the furnace enclosure. The superheater outlet conditions Many once through boilers both subcritical and supercritical oper-
are set with about 5 % main steam lead pressure drop. In order to ated at constant pressure where the turbine valves are modulated
minimize the thickness and size of these headers, a two header ar- through the load range for turbine control. There will significant
rangement with double end outlets is selected. This also allows the temperature throttling loss and metal temperature change with load
header ligament spacing to be larger with tube sections alternating modulation.
to the headers. The steam turbine would have two inlets to the HP Partial load cases for 80%, 60% and 40% load are included
casing, which means a forging is required to transition from the normally to evaluate the design at steam temperature control load
four main steam pipes from the steam generator into two. points and to help determine the Benson point load where the steam
The startup system steam separators (VS) and water collecting generator achieves once through operation producing entirely
tank (WCT) are the other large diameter thick wall vessels, which vapor leaving the evaporator and no longer produces water drain
are significantly affected by the selection of the turbine throttle flow from the vertical steam separator. Variable pressure opera-
conditions and rate of transient load change. These “water side” tion reduces throttling temperature loss by the turbine valves and
components must be fabricated from ferritic or nickel material to maintains full steam temperature to the steam turbine over as wide
avoid internal corrosion. The steam separator design is based on a control range as possible, part load operation may be a constrain-
an inside diameter mass flux (steam flow per cross sectional area). ing limit and may set material selection and tube thickness require-
Therefore, for a required separator cross sectional area, the number ments at section transition points. Full load, MCR, normally will
of smaller diameter separators must be greater in order to maintain set the material alloy selection requirements. A wider steam tem-
reasonable thicknesses for the much higher turbine throttle condi- perature control range, even using variable pressure, will require
tions. Water collecting tanks are sized based on required volume increased tube thicknesses and higher pressure drop unless higher
for transients. Use of two tanks is considered where diameter and alloy materials are used in a greater portion of the heating surfaces.
thickness must be limited and the elevation above the boiler cir- The steam temperature control range for main and reheat steam
culation pump needs to be high enough to protect the inlet suction and the minimum circulation flow load requirements are param-
head. Note: “water side” refers to components that will normally eters determined by the partial load analysis.
start up containing water, and may contain steam at higher load. The steam generator needs to provide auxiliary steam for soot-
“Steam side” refers to components that will contain air or vapor blowing, steam for emissions equipment and steam turbine HP
at start up. cooling steam. The source for sootblowing steam is usually the
Setting the design is needed to determine the material selection, primary superheater. The A-USC steam turbine HP and IP outer
size, quantity and the requirements necessary to provide an eco- casings require cooling steam and special inlet nozzle designs to
nomic estimate for a steam generator that would meet the higher the inner casing connection otherwise the outer casing material
plant efficiency desired. A steam turbine cycle analysis was needed would need to be a nickel alloy or would be unacceptably thicker,
to evaluate the benefit of performance level compared to cycle and a limit to faster load change rates. HP casing cooling will in-
configuration, complexity, and potential economic cost. The steam volve an additional steam lead from a source on the steam genera-
generator economic evaluation was needed to validate the premise tor. The primary superheater outlet steam before attemperation has
that the gain in plant efficiency would be justified and support the been selected. This will provide about 1.5% of the main steam flow
higher capital cost of the equipment requiring special metal al- rate at about 550°C (1025°F) flowing along the inner casing and
loys while limiting the increase of the levelized cost of electricity be admitted to the first stage blades. The cold reheat steam will
(LCOE). provide about 1.5% of reheat flow rate for IP casing cooling and
Variable Pressure operation, using a mode sometimes called admit the steam to the inlet blading [9]. The turbine cycle would
pure sliding pressure, of the boiler and turbine provides a better provide steam to the air heater preheating steam coils as is nor-
heat rate at part load and reduces the thermal stress damage to the mally required.
turbine and boiler very high temperature pressure parts. The cri- The steam generator heat absorption process results in an en-
terion is to have small changes in the temperature of the turbine thalpy increase along a high process pressure path through the se-
metals, which are very thick pressure parts. Turbine valves are op- ries of components starting at the economizer inlet and leaving the
erated wide open from about 25% load to MCR reducing the steam final superheater outlet. This is shown in the Temperature versus
temperature quench from throttling. The turbine high-pressure sec- Enthalpy (T-h) diagram, Figure 17.7. There is no high capacity and
tion exhausts at a higher temperature to the cold reheat steam line. economic way to reach supercritical pressure steam conditions at
The reheat steam temperature control range is wider down to as lower pressure and lower boiling temperature in order to use lower
low as 55% load. The throttle pressure rides on a ramp based on alloy enclosure walls and then compress steam for superheating in
the steam flow pushed through the throttle area. Boiler feed pump the convection tube bank sections. The placement and adequate
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  17-

design of the heating surface to accomplish this thermodynamic shows the different heating surface banks and the steam conditions
process is the art and experience of steam generator design. The for several loads. The line originating at the critical point, 22.1
extension to higher steam temperatures requires careful evaluation MPa (3208 psia) and running out to about 1055 Btu/lb enthalpy
and selection of materials for the furnace enclosure at these condi- at 6000 psi is the “pseudo film boiling” line where the fluid below
tions. There is no flat region on the T-h diagram for a steam gener- acts like water and above the line acts like steam. It can be seen that
ator process at 34.5 MPa (5000 psi) as there is for a 241 MPa steam the A-USC steam generator is primarily in the greater proportion
generator. Ferritic alloys T23 and T92 with coatings are some of through the load range, a superheater.
the materials being considered for higher sulfur fuel and low NOx It should be noted for the design case displayed on the h-P dia-
combustion. gram, Figure 17.8, the steam temperatures of the components run
The throttle conditions required for this high efficiency plant ne- nearly parallel to the isotherms so the metal temperature change in
cessitate boiler and piping materials, which are stronger than the cur- the upper load range has a very desirable minimal change.
rently used ferritic and austenitic materials. Nickel based super alloys The advanced ultra supercritical steam generator is fundamen-
are required for major portions of the superheater and reheater. This tally the same as current supercritical boiler design because fuel
is due to the need to maintain reasonable thin wall pressure compo- type rules govern arrangement of the “gas side.” The working fluid
nents with the high design pressure and temperature requirements of “side” will be stretched out in the load range that operates above
cycling service. Economizer sections can be fabricated with currently critical pressure. The overall heating surface that functions for su-
available carbon steel materials. Enclosure walls can be fabricated perheating duty is of greater proportion. The sequence of place-
from SA213T92 (and SA213T23material). ment for which type of heating surface is first, second, etc., may be
Several heating surfaces that function as preheating, “evapora- different than is common in the current USC supercritical boiler.
tor” or steam generating, superheater, and reheater handle the heat The heating surface for reheating duty is required to operate over a
absorption duty of the steam generator. Preheating is the job of the wider temperature range, inlet to outlet.
economizer, which receives the entering feedwater. The amount Fuel characteristics, burner placement and gas injection points
of preheating is limited so that two-phase steam is not produced to still govern the size of the furnace required, the spacing distance
enter the furnace wall enclosure circuits. Operating variable pres- to the first tube bank and the side to side spacing of the banks as a
sure must be handled like a drum boiler to avoid a steaming econo- function of gas temperature. It is evident there is usually more than
mizer. Evaporation is accomplished in the furnace wall enclosure. one way to address the requirements and criteria for a successful de-
The lower enclosure will be spiral panels or may be vertical tube sign arrangement. In addition to the requirements to use advanced
panels where the unit size is large enough to have the proper steam material alloys, the major differences between a conventional su-
flow per foot of perimeter, lb/hour ft. The lower furnace enclosure percritical unit and the A-USC unit are in the heating surface re-
will become superheating surface near full load and will increase quired for the superheater and reheater resulting from lower gas
temperature quickly with absorption. The reheating duty is treated to fluid temperature difference and the much greater superheating
the same as superheating except the location sequence in the gas absorption duties that are required of these components. The higher
path and the allowed steam side pressure drop must be careful- temperature feedwater from the turbine cycle affects the ability of
ly designed. Figure 17.8, h-P, Enthalpy versus Pressure diagram the economizer bank to achieve lower gas outlet temperatures and

Ultra Super Critical Boiler Temperature Enthalpy Diagram

Pressure,

1500
7000
6500
6000
5500
5000
4500
4000
3500
FSH Out

1400
Int SH Out

1300 Platen Out

Int SH In

PSH Out
1200 Platen In
CPE Out
Separator
Upper Furn Out

1100
Lower Furn Out
Temperature, F

1000

7000 6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 0

900
Furn Inlet

800
Econ Inlet

3000 psig
700 2500 psig

2000 psig

1500 psig

600
1000 psig

500 500 psig

400
400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700 1800
Enthalpy, Btu/lb USC TH DIAGRAM, VS 1.0 lgc
3/28/02 psw 08/20/02

Fig. 17.7 Temperature–Enthalpy T-h diagram for A-USC (5250 psi 1350°F) [3]
17-10  •  Chapter 17

Temperature
ENTHALPY-PRESSURE DIAGRAM
Advanced USC Air Fired PC
1600
1800.00
1500

BMCR
Reheater
1700.00

1400
1600.00 SSH Outlet
1300
Platen Outlet
1500.00 SSH Inlet 1200
ISH Outle t
Platen Inl
PSH Outleet
ISH Inlet t 1100
1400.00 PSH Inlet
Upper Stringers
Enclos
ure
1000
1300.00

Vertical Separator
1200.00
Lower Furnace Outlet 900
Enthalpy (Btu/lbm)

1100.00
pseudo-film boiling

1000.00

800
900.00

800.00
Econ Outlet
700
700.00

BMCR
Econ Inlet
600.00 600

80%
60%

500.00
500
40%

400.00
25%

400

300.00
300

200.00
200

100.00
1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

4500

5000

5500

6000
0

500

Pressure (psig)

Fig. 17.8  Enthalpy–Pressure h-P Diagram for A-USC (Source: The Babcock & Wilcox Company)

meet furnace panel inlet temperature limitations through the load the 200 to 300°F higher steam temperature above current normal
range. The proportion of heating duty is mostly superheating. practice. The following “DNA chart” in Table 17.1, shows the var-
The steam generator arrangement for electric utility service has ious feature design options that may be incorporated in the steam
evolved with the changes to industry requirements. Unit size has generator. There has certainly been more than one way to achieve
become as large as up to 1400 MW, and sometimes as small as a functional and market successful design.
20 MW. Supercritical plants are usually larger than 400 MW in the There are several arrangement styles. The two pass design versus
present market place. The economy of scale improves electricity tower design is often a subject of debate in the selection process.
production cost and yet the production capacity and operating flex- Selection preference should be well founded on experience for the
ibility of the unit must be a good fit with the electric grid service fuel utilized. The two pass design is said to be the most predominant
area requirements and the utility financial outlook. configuration worldwide. The tower design has also found success.
Utility steam generator size currently seems to be in a range There is much literature and third party opinion that can be found,
from 400 to 1000 MW, with about 750 to 850 MW being gener- particularly on the internet about the benefits of each design. There
ally the most representative. The first A-USC demonstration unit are also variants on design arrangements worthy of evaluation, the
planned in Germany at Wilhelmshaven by Eon was to be 400 MW. ranch style (like the Philo 6 design) and the modified tower design,
Commercial sizes would be planned at 1000 MW. There is a wide which is a combination of two pass and tower features.
range of desired features sought by the marketplace, mostly due to Some of the positive opinions for the two pass design are shorter
customer preference in the need to utilize particular coals. A steam steel structure, timesavings of parallel construction sequence, less
generator designed to use a wide variety of coals and maybe gas complicated high temperature tube sections support, considered
and oil too, would require several additional features to cope with more economical to erect, less sootblowing required to clean the
wide differences in operational needs due to the shift in the heat pendant surfaces than high temperature horizontal surface in the
absorption characteristic for the fuel type. tower design. The examples of negative opinions are concern for
The selection of certain features and arrangement used for the ash concentration and erosion at the arch turn, non-drainable sur-
A-USC steam generator may evolve due to the need to better suit face, and wall enclosure thermal differentials.
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  17-11

Table 17.1 ONCE THROUGH ADVANCED ULTRA SUPERCRITICAL PRODUCT

STRUCTURE TREE “DNA CHART”

Arrangement “Two Pass” (B&W Carolina Design)

Tower
Modified Tower
Ranch
New Configuration
Reheat Single Reheat
Double Reheat
Non-reheat
Pressure Profile Variable Pressure
Split Pressure
Fixed Or Constant Pressure
Furnance Enclosure Up-up First, Second, Third Pass Partial Mix Header System
Spiral Tube Full Mix Header System
Vertical Tube Bifurcated Transition
Transition Header
Convection Pass Platens
Surface Horizontal In Furnace (Tower)
Pendants
Wingwalls
Curtain Wall
Division Wall
Horizontal Banks
Screen
Stringer Tubes
Convection Enclosure Water Cooled Economizer Enclosure
Surface Steamwater Colled Boiler Enclosure
Steam Colled RH Enclosure
Primary SH Enclosure
“Birdcage” Enclosure
Backpass Series Downpass
Parallel Downpass
Three Downpass
Furnace Bottom Flat
7.5 Degree Dihedral Floor
Hopper Dry
Wet
CCS (Carbon Capture Air Fired, Scr, Post-combustion LP Auxilliary Generation
Storage)
Oxy-combustion GR (Gas Recirculation)
GT (Gas Tampering)
Firing Pulverized Single Wall Firing
Cyclone Opposed Walls
BFB 4 Walls
CFB Corner Tangential
Emissions OFA
Low NOx Burners
SCR

Some of the positive opinions for the tower design are better gas ative aspects of both designs have been incorporated that keep the
flow distribution resulting in lower tube metal upset temperatures, designs viable in the market place.
high ash fuels allow removal falling back through wider tube spacing The furnace enclosure is one of the first considerations in the
to a single furnace hopper. Examples of negative opinions are taller design process. The enclosure must contain the combustion gas
steel structure and crane required, complication of tube section sup- products and lower the adiabatic gas temperature to a low enough
port for higher loads and thermal differentials with the enclosure. value entering the first convection surfaces. This is the furnace exit
Both the two pass and tower designs have found success and gas temperature (FEGT), a design criteria set by the coal ash char-
preferences in selected applications. Countermeasures for the neg- acteristics for slagging and fouling properties.
17-12  •  Chapter 17

Predominantly, the furnace enclosure is a vertical updraft struc- per bottom, designed for A-USC steam conditions. The steam gen-
ture with burners firing either on a single wall, front and rear walls erator is referred to as a Benson™ boiler designed to operate in the
(opposed firing), all four walls, or from at or near the four corners. variable pressure mode.
The furnace plan area and height to the FEGT exit plane are geo- The lower furnace normally includes spiral tube circuitry up
metric controlling parameters for the enclosure that are set by ther- to about the arch (refer to Figures 17.5 and 17.6) where intercon-
mal intensity limits and environmental emissions requirements. nected transition headers on each wall provide for the conversion
An ash hopper configuration is normally used for “dry bottom” to vertical upper furnace tubes. A more recent design improvement
furnaces with front and rear walls inclined at angles greater than includes a vertical tube lower furnace enclosure with optimized
45o. A chain conveyor in a water trough is the most used method multiple lead ribbed (OMLR) tubing and is expected to simplify
to remove and dewater the slag and ash. Slagging or “wet bottom” fabrication and construction, improve operation and maintenance
furnaces are sometimes used for certain types of coal. The molten and lower costs (refer to Figure 17.9). The boiler convection pass
ash runs like a lava stream to a tank or chain conveyor. The furnace configuration is typical of a B&W design that includes two parallel
floor for a “wet bottom” may be nearly flat and retain the layer gas paths in the downpass. Control dampers, located at the bottom
of molten slag that flows to the openings. Normally pin stud and of the downpass, bias the flue gas flow to each of the gas paths to
refractory covering are needed to prevent erosion with wet bottom control reheat outlet steam temperature throughout the load range.
furnaces and the furnace absorption is reduced. Regenerative air heaters are located downstream of the economizer
Combustion gas from the burners is cooled primarily by radia- flue gas outlet to heat both the primary and secondary air.
tion to the furnace enclosure to a temperature (design FEGT for A vertical tube enclosure is recommended for the lower furnace
the coal) suitable to prevent unmanageable slagging before passage of the A-USC plant. This technology uses special ribbed tubing and
through the immersed tube rows for convection heating duty. Ra- operates at mass-flux conditions comparable to drum type boilers.
diant platens are very wide spaced tube sections that can prevent When the vertical tube furnace becomes accepted it is expected to
bridging of ash. Platens serve to lower the FEGT in the same man- replace the spiral wound enclosure technology for units larger than
ner as the furnace enclosure. As the gas becomes cooler, convec- 500 MW with high steam flow per foot of enclosure perimeter. Spi-
tion banks with closer and closer spaced tube rows are allowed. This ral wound furnace circuitry is normally utilized in the lower furnace
maintains the gas velocity while the gas density increases permit- for a sliding or variable pressure unit. Fewer slightly larger tubes
ting lower free flow area and preventing excessive erosion and draft
loss. The economic engineering design of the convection surface
tends to be placed so the steam is flowing counter to the gas flow
direction (counter-flow) thus requiring less heating surface area than
needed if parallel flow (gas and steam flow in same direction) or
in mixed flow. Steam flow in the same direction as the gas flow is
sometimes needed and is used to moderate the gas and steam tem-
perature upsets and unbalances. Final main steam and reheat steam
outlet banks will usually be parallel flow design. Outlet tube rows
are shielded behind rows in the tube bank interior to limit the direct
radiation from the open cavities between banks. This combination
of flow arrangements is usually the best economically considering
the tradeoff in metals alloy requirement and quantity of heating
surface.
The sequence of which type of heating duty surface is placed
in the gas flow sequence is judged by the dependence on the heat
available through the load range to meet the outlet temperature
control set point. An intermediate superheater bank is most likely
placed before the final superheater bank. This is to better handle
the metal temperature upsets. Next is the final reheat superheater,
and then the primary superheater, the primary reheater and econo-
mizer follow. With higher reheat outlet temperature, the placement
of more final bank surface may be needed with caution to han-
dling the wider upset temperatures possible. Intermediate reheat
attemperation may be selected. Control of reheat outlet temper-
ature without use of attemperation is desired because spray will
reduce efficiency. Gas recycle from an oxy-combustion process
would lend a hand in controlling reheat steam temperature. Coal
fired steam generators for A-USC combined with carbon capture
sequestration (CCS) appears to offer an advantage in lower cost of
electricity.

17.10 Furnace Enclosure

Fig. 17.9  A-USC Steam Generator B&W Two Pass
The primary steam generator design case is a once-through or “Carolina” Design (Source: The Babcock & Wilcox
steam generator or “boiler” for pulverized coal (PC) fired, dry hop- Company)
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  17-13

are used in the spiral, increasing the mass-flux and routing the tubes nace is required for the ultra supercritical steam generator design.
around the furnace periphery to pass through the varying heat flux T-91 or T-92 will be required otherwise. Vertical tube lower furnace
zones providing more even fluid outlet temperatures. The spiral may be utilized if the cooling flow per foot of perimeter is high
wound tubes with internal multi-lead ribbing eliminate problems enough. Larger units, greater than about 750 MW and with fuels that
with distribution, flow instability and uneven heat absorption by the tend to less emissions design constraints, may accept this design.
furnace tubes. Near the elevation of the furnace arch work point,
transition headers and piping are used for the conversion from spiral
wound tubes to vertical smooth tubes in the upper furnace and arch. 17.11 Furnace Roof
The furnace walls utilize a gas-tight welded membrane con-
struction, with wall tubes bent to accommodate openings for the The roof is made up of sections of membrane tube panels and sec-
low NOX burners, OFA ports, observation ports, access doors, soot tions of loose tubes. In areas where loose tubes are used, the tubes
blowers and test connections. The furnace construction is such that are flat studded where applicable to protect the backup refractory.
the walls will be shipped in panels, with headers attached where Roof tubes, tie bars, tight roof casing and seal boxes are arranged to
feasible. Integral windboxes are attached to the furnace walls on form a structural grid to contain furnace or penthouse pressure.
the unit providing optimum air distribution controlled by the burner Seals around penetrating vertical tube legs are constructed with
and OFA port assemblies. a layer of refractory, at the roofline, and shop applied seal plates
The lower furnace uses vertical tubes with a particular internal welded to the tube legs which are seal welded together in the field to
configuration called optimized multiple-lead ribbed tube (OMLR). afford a completely metallic enclosure. The superheater and reheater
Using vertical tubes in the lower furnace would save on fabrica- tube legs are restrained at the roofline. Tube leg length and flexibility
tion and erection cost, especially in the case where T92 material for excessive differential motion is provided in the header distance
is needed. The pressure drop would also be lower saving pumping from the roof for all expected temperature differentials.
power and slightly improving unit efficiency. There will also be
cost savings due to less pressure part design thickness requirements
for the lower furnace, economizer and pre-boiler equipment. 17.12 Convection Pass Enclosure
Optimized multiple lead ribbed (OMLR) tubes permit operation
with a lower design mass-flux that is comparable to drum type boil- The convection pass enclosure is the wall surface enclosing the
ers, in sliding pressure once-through boilers thus achieving furnace convection pass heating surface tube banks. The convection pass
circuitry with a Natural Circulation Characteristic (NCC). The Natu- enclosure utilizes a welded membrane construction. It is partially
ral Circulation Characteristic is an effect where an increase in heat shop assembled to reduce field erection. Tubes are bent to accom-
absorption from an upset results in an increase of tube mass-flux and modate doors and other openings. The convection pass enclosure
less excursion of the outlet enthalpy and temperature. NCC results is supplied with steam from the vertical separators and could be
in lower tube-to-tube outlet differential temperatures during upset/ cooled by reheat steam or the second reheat steam in the case of a
unbalances. Once- through boilers normally have tubes operating double reheat cycle.
with a high mass-flux, equal or greater than 2000 kg/s m2 (1,475,000
lb/hour sq ft.) and will have a Forced Circulation Characteristic
(FCC). FCC produces an effect where increased heat absorption due 17.13 Convection Pass Heating
to upsets results in reduced mass flux for tubes in a panel at fixed Surface
pressure drop. This causes tube outlet enthalpy and temperature to
increase. The FCC design mass flux must be high enough so that The superheater, reheater and economizer heating surface ar-
when upsets reduce the mass flux, it is still high enough to moderate rangement are a combination of radiant and convective heat trans-
the increase in tube temperatures. fer surface. Pendant radiant platens are supported from the roof
A-USC boilers may use spiral or vertical tube lower furnace de- or by stringers. At the rear of the boiler, the gas turns down into
signs depending on the ability to achieve Natural Circulation Char- the horizontal convection pass area where the tube surface is end
acteristics, (NCC). Natural circulation drum boilers usually have supported at the enclosure walls or stringer supported. The longer
tubes operating with mass-flux lower than 1150 kg/s m2 to 850,000 length banks are stringer supported by economizer tube legs and
lb/hour sq ft. A supercritical boiler tube circuit, with special ribbed are usually primary superheater and horizontal economizer sur-
tubes, can be designed to operate with a Natural Circulation Char- face. Double reheat cycles would have portions of the second
acteristic through nearly the complete load range and achieve the (low-pressure) reheater in both down passes and some final outlet
benefit of moderated excursions during heat upsets. There are spe- pendant surface.
cial design considerations for applying vertical tube lower furnace Tube bank side spacing is determined based on the relative flue
walls. Unit size and minimum control range for steam temperature gas temperatures and the fouling characteristics of the coal ash.
are particular criteria. Maximum gas velocities based on the erosion potential of the fly-
This new OMLR vertical tube development also requires coordi- ash may also affect the required side spacing. Tube shielding and
nation with the economizer outlet enthalpy conditions. The higher erosion barriers may be utilized selectively to provide local protec-
economizer outlet enthalpy from the advanced ultra supercritical tion in areas of potentially high ash concentration. The surface is
conditions used in this study, most likely will require the furnace also arranged to promote effective use of sootblowing in maximiz-
to be spiral wound circuitry using T-92 or T-23 material. The lower ing heat transfer performance.
furnace area must absorb the same amount of heat whether spiral or Even with the best designed burner and furnace system and the most
vertical. While the spiral tube routing passes through all the horizon- cautious operating instructions and practices, there will be periods of
tal zones of varying heat flux, certain vertical tubes will pass upward operation where very rapid load changes will occur that cause flue
through only the higher heat flux zones. Reducing the economizer gas and superheater flow unbalances with resultant gas and steam
outlet enthalpy for application of T-23 in a vertical tube lower fur- temperature upsets and unbalances. The convection tube metal
17-14  •  Chapter 17

requirements for materials and thicknesses are determined in accord- 17.14.1 Problems to Overcome
ance with ASME Code allowable stress and temperature oxidation Material related failures in steam generators are often due to
limits by considering temperature and flow unbalances of the flue inadequate data on material properties, internal oxidation and
gas and steam paths. Superheater and reheater outlet tubes with the corrosion, fireside corrosion and erosion, inadequate welding
highest expected steam temperatures are typically placed in the in- procedures and fabrication techniques [6]. Proponents of the ad-
terior of the tube bank to avoid high tube metal temperatures due to vancement of steam plant efficiency believed that finding new
cavity radiation. Coal-ash corrosion in the high temperature areas is materials, and by adapting those from other fields of applica-
also considered in developing the tube metal requirements. tions, that steam conditions up to 1400°F were possible. Indus-
The 750 MW A-USC steam generator is smaller and narrower try experience gained in the materials development program
in width by 20% compared to a conventional supercritical unit improved analysis methods, will help achieve lengthy service
because of the lower heat input requirements resulting from the exposure time of the materials that is essential to the new prod-
higher efficiency. However, header and piping weight is less than uct introduction.
the conventional supercritical unit. The overall suspended weight
of the boiler is 10% more and the increase in tubing weight is 16%
more than a conventional supercritical unit. 17.15 Failure Mechanisms
Three failure mechanisms appear to raise a higher level of con-
cern of proponents and future owners of A-USC plant technology.
17.14 Materials Development Adequate mechanical properties, in particular creep rupture strength,
steam oxidation and exfoliation, and coal ash corrosion, pose threats
Major components, in-furnace tubing for the waterwalls, to the economic service life of components.
superheater/reheater and external piping, headers and other
accessories require advancements in materials technology 17.15.1 Mechanical Properties
to allow outlet steam temperature increases of 300°F up to Determining the thermal coefficients of expansion, conduc-
1400°F. Experiences with projects such as the pioneering Ed- tivity, ductility and other mechanical properties is important to
dystone supercritical plant and the problems with the stainless the design and fabrication of materials. In addition, welds, and
steel steam piping and superheater fireside corrosion provided weldments for both thick sections and tubes were tested. To
a lesson for A-USC development [12]. Industry organizations achieve 1400°F (760°C) steam temperatures, longer creep rup-
recognized that a thorough program was required to assure ture strength testing at higher temperatures is very important to
adequate development of new and improved materials and the A-USC design. Creep rupture tests have now achieved in
protection methods to advance to the high temperature steam excess of 30,000 hours [14]. To gain benefits from the higher
conditions. costs, high strength nickel-based materials must be used to the
The DOE/OCDO Materials Development Program for A-USC optimum level of their strength capability.
technology includes nine task categories [13,14].

Task 1. Conceptual Design and Economic Analysis. Design and 17.15.2 Steamside Oxidation
estimating to provide component material selection, Laboratory testing of plain and coated specimens at 650°C,
quantity, economic evaluation. 750°C and 800°C with exposure times out to 10,000 hours,
Task 2. Mechanical Properties of Advanced Alloys. Develop data have produced some interesting results [15]. Oxidation rates
on new advanced alloys. and weight loss were lower for materials with chromium con-
Task 3. Steamside Oxidation and Resistance. Characterize tent of more than 12% with ferritic steels and 19% Cr for iron
rates, temperature limits, and protection methods for based austenitic materials. Shot peening or blasting has been
exfoliation. effective for increasing oxidation resistance at lower test
Task 4. Fireside Corrosion Resistance. Characterize alloys and temperatures, but such surface cold work treatment of ma-
protection methods in laboratory, pilot and field tests terials, used above 700°C does not produce effective results.
for Eastern, Midwestern and Western coals on water- Additional results can be found in these references [16,17].
wall and superheater components.
Task 5. Weldability. Test alloys and dissimilar materials in com- 17.15.3 Fireside Coal Ash Corrosion
ponent forms to develop processes and procedures. Fireside corrosion is due to attack by molten coal ash con-
Task 6. Fabricability. Test alloys using standard shop processes taining elements such as sulfur forming alkali sulfates, etc., that
(machining, bending, swaging, etc.) to develop data and attack the outside tube surfaces. The presence of chloride can
procedures. aggrevate the corrosion. In the lower furnace, corrosion by sulfi-
Task 7. Coatings. Test protection methods, both existing and dation can occur and is aggrevated by reducing or alternating by
new material combinations and application methods. reducing or alternating oxidizing and reducing conditions, the
Task 8. Design data and rules. Provide improved analysis tech- outside tube surfaces. Low NOx burners and unburned carbon
niques and compile data, rules and guidelines, and sub- may also attribute to corrosion of the waterwalls, superheater
mit code cases. and reheater [18]. With a dependence on the fuel type, the cor-
rosion rates typically increase up to a maximum, at about 690
The program tasks were led by a boiler supplier or the Electric to 730°C (1274 to 1350°F), and then decrease at still higher
Power Research Institute (EPRI), with participation in most cases temperatures. A-USC at 700 to 760°C will result in outside
by other boiler suppliers, U.S. laboratories and universities. EPRI tube metal temperatures greater than 815°C (1500°F) and it is
and Energy Industries of Ohio (EIO) are providing technical and thought that above certain tube metal operating temperatures,
administrative program management. corrosion will be reduced. Chromium content of the base mate-
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  17-15

rial and protection measures with weld cladding should provide sion of temperature in the steam generator components. Table 17.2
adequate service lifetimes. shows a possible listing of materials selected for consideration in
Laboratory tests with coal ash and in situ testing programs have component applications in the more recent A-USC design study.
been performed to expose various materials and coatings/claddings
[13,14,18]. Testing was conducted to determine rates in typical 17.17.2 Design by ASME Section I
coal ash environments with three coal types: Eastern, Midwestern Through sponsorship by the DOE/OCDO Materials Development
and Western. Western coal would be preferred as the fuel for the Consortium, a new ASME formula for pipe and tube thickness de-
first launch of A-USC. Higher chromium content in the base mate- sign was submitted and accepted, Section I Appendix A-317, July
rial or with coatings, at a level of about 27%, will help to reduce 1, 2006. The new formula will be more accurate for thicker compo-
the corrosion rates. New projects with conditions for oxy-combus- nents at high temperature. ASME A-317 minimum thickness, t:
tion CCS are in progress at pilot testing facilities [19].
t = D (1–e-P/SE)/2 +C +F (17.6)

17.16 Fabrication Methods and Where:

Welding Development D, outside diameter of component, in.
P, design pressure, psi
To avoid problems that introduce defects in the fabrication S, ASME Code allowable stress, ksi
processes, various tests were performed to acquire knowledge on E, efficiency, -
handling the new alloys in processes such as bending, machining, C, allowance for threading, in.
swaging and welding. F, allowance for expanding, in.
Shop process trials formed a basis for establishing fabrication pro- For an A-USC boiler, C = F = 0.
cedures. Shop welding practices, particularly with dissimilar metal
welds (DMW), were tested in many combinations of product forms The ASME Section I allowable stress values are provided in
and materials. Field welding procedures were also evaluated when Figure 17.10. Alloy 740 and Haynes 282 data are being submitted
installing test sections to determine procedural limitations [14,20]. for code cases to ASME.

17.17 Design Codes, Design by Rule, 17.18 Material Supply Chain

Design by Analysis
One of the major questions regarding the readiness to construct
The design methods for ASME Section I have used formula that an A-USC plant is the material supply chain ability to meet sched-
have undergone improvements in the history of the Code to meet ules starting as soon as 2015 for components and new materials in
high standards of safety and better calculation techniques for the the quantities and sizes required. Several meetings and discussions
product form. Unfired pressure vessels may be designed by formula have been ongoing with the worldwide materials suppliers to ad-
or by analysis (Section VIII Div 1 or Div 2). Analysis will be re- vise them on the planning and required materials. The production
quired to supplement section I “design by rule” methodology for of large diameter nickel alloy for piping and headers is presently
these advanced plants. limited by the ingot size of the equipment for the current vacuum
induction melting (VIM) process. Obtaining longer lengths of major
17.17.1 Materials Selection piping will incur cost and delivery impacts to the A-USC technol-
Many candidate materials are under evaluation for A-USC. In ogy projects. Suppliers have indicated that when production in-
the specific process of design, a primary selection list provides vestments can be justified by the market, there should be suitable
consideration of the increasingly capable metals for the progres- availability of material supplies.

Table 17.2 Material Selection

Alloy Composition (Nominal) Application

210 C, 106C Carbon Steel Economizer, Piping, Headers
T12 1Cr-.5Mo Waterwalls
T22 2.25Cr-1Mo Waterwalls, Reheater
T23 2.25Cr-1.6W-V-Nb Waterwalls, Reheater
T91 9Cr-1Mo-V Waterwalls, Reheater
T92 9Cr-2W Waterwalls, Reheater, Piping
347 HFG 18Cr-10Ni-Nb Superheater, Reheater
310 HCbN 25Cr-20Ni-Nb-N Superheater, Reheater
Super 304H 18Cr-9Ni-3Cu-Nb-N Superheater, Reheater, Piping, Headers
617 55Ni-22Cr-9Mo-12Co-Al-Ti Superheater, Reheater, Piping, Headers
230 57Ni-22Cr-14W-2Mo-La Superheater, Reheater, Piping, Headers
740 50Ni-25Cr-20Co-2Ti-2Nb-V-Al Superheater, Reheater, Piping, Headers
282 58Ni-10Cr-8.5Mo-2.1Ti-1.5Al Piping Headers
17-16  •  Chapter 17

50.00
Allowable Stress, ksi
45.00 740

230
40.00
617

35.00 S 304H

310HCbN
30.00
347HFG

25.00 T92

T91
20.00
T23
15.00 T22

10.00 T12

210C
5.00

0.00
650 700 750 800 850 900 950 1000 1050 1100 1150 1200 1250 1300 1350 1400 1450 1500 1550 1600 1650 1700
Temperature F

Fig. 17.10 Material Allowable Stress (Source: The Babcock & Wilcox Company)

Relative cost ratio (to T22 = 1 on weight basis) of alloy tubes is fer to the independent system operator (ISO) is made considering
generally expected to range as shown in Table 17.3. expense recovery primarily for the fuel. The competitive order for
The cost of nickel alloys is such that the full extent of their tem- selection by the ISO is based on the unit’s offer curve and the abil-
perature stress capability should be utilized. ity to compete will be the measure of success.
Estimated material weights and sizes are shown in Table 17.4
and Table 17.5 for new alloys in 800 MW A-USC steam genera-
tors. Boiler dimensions are approximately 100 ft depth, 65 ft width, 17.20 Economics
and 150 ft height.
Evaluation of the economic cost of these new candidate materials
necessary in the application to ultra supercritical steam power plants
17.19 Cost of Electricity shows that the potential thermal efficiency improvement may be vi-
able and is within the allowable margin expected for achieving equal
Levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) is an evaluation method or better cost of electricity and significant reductions in emissions per
used to determine electric plant production costs of a kWh over kilowatt-hour. The improved heat rate of the A-USC boiler and steam
the plant’s economic life in terms of capital, operating (fuel and turbine would allow a 750 MW plant to have a capital cost of 13%
maintenance), and fixed costs. While there is a variance of costs more than a conventional PC subcritical plant. It has been determined
between studies for regional conditions, the LCOE may be used to that considering cost reductions due to smaller equipment in other ar-
provide judgment criteria between the relative merits of different eas of the plant along with fuel savings, the capital cost of the A-USC
power generation technology options. Capital and fuel are two ma- boiler itself could be 40% higher than a subcritical boiler.
jor categories with the highest expenses for a thermal plant.
The net plant heat rate (NPHR) or net plant efficiency is the
factor with high impact to the cost of electricity. This will be es-
pecially true with the addition of CCS. The day-ahead pricing of- Table 17.4  Weight of Boiler Tube

Total Tube Weight 7,070,000 Lbs

Table 17.3 Relative Cost Ratio

Carbon steel 420,000 lbs
T12 500,000 lbs
T23 to T92 2,600,000 lbs
Alloy Cost Ratio
Stainless Steel 1,600, 000 lbs
T22 1 Alloy 230 1,100,000 lbs
T23 2   1.75² OD × 0.400² MW
T92 3   2.00² OD × 0.165² / 0.355² MW
Super 304 H 5 Alloy 740 850,000 lbs
310 HCbN 9   1.75² OD × 0.290² / 0.400² MW
Nickel Alloys 46   2.00² OD × 0.280² / 0.400² MW
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  17-17

Table 17.5  Weight of Boiler Pipe Key materials identified that will have the greatest impact on the
ability to meet the efficiency and LCOE targets, are Inconel® alloy
Total Pipe/Header Weight 2,000,000 lbs 740 and Haynes® alloy 230. The development of these two alloys
and their performance capability and price are critical in attaining
Carbon Steel 400,000 lbs the eventual market success of the A-USC technology. Providing
P91/92 1,000,000 lbs an exercise in the total delivery process steps through an adequate
Alloy 230 100,000 lbs period of operational performance testing and materials examina-
  18.5² OD × 2.5² MW tion is planned in the COMTEST1400 program.
  26.5² OD × 4.0² MW
Alloy 740 375,000 lbs
  1.75² OD × 0.825² MW
17.21 COMTEST1400
  20² OD × 1.750² / 2.250² MW
  35² OD × 3.0² MW To answer the perceived questions and gain acceptance of
A-USC, a concept to design, build and operate A-USC compo-
nents at small scale delivered into the hands of an electric utility
The material cost for the conceptual boiler design including the operator has been developed by the U.S. Materials R&D Consor-
nickel based super alloys was developed based on current pricing tium. The COMTEST1400 project would be similar in purpose to
for the commercially available materials and estimated pricing for the AD700 project conducted over 5 years at Eon’s Scholven F
the new super alloys [4]. This cost was compared to the cost of a Plant, Gelsenkirchen, Germany. Potential owner/operator criteria
subcritical PC boiler of approximately the same capacity output. and concerns are being addressed for a test facility to operate and
The advanced ultra supercritical boiler was found to have a capi- put into practice the technology of an advanced ultra supercriti-
tal cost of approximately 32% more than a comparable subcritical cal steam generator possibly at up to 350 bar (5000psi) 760°C
boiler. This percentage increase is below the estimated 40% in- (1400°F).
crease allowable for an A-USC plant to be economically viable on The COMTEST 1400 program is to show potential owners that
an equal cost of electricity basis. Figure 17.11 provides a graphic the new materials and delivery process procedures of fabrication
depiction of the equipment cost allocation. and construction are well defined and put through acceptance trial
The tubing weight increase is due to the heat transfer at a lower of first commercial practice. This will also help with bounding the
temperature difference between the hot gas and the colder fluid costs of the A-USC steam generator as a deliverable product with
in the tubing. The ultra supercritical boiler has the same gas side an affordable and practical plant life cycle. The design, material
temperature conditions as a conventional supercritical unit while supply, fabrication, quality procedures, construction, start up and
the steam is at higher temperature. Accordingly, more heating sur- operating procedures would be provided, put through first use so
face is needed to achieve the required heating duty. However, the the product is better known to the utility owners and operators.
energy absorption from the boiler inlet to outlet is lower and the Four different concept approaches are being considered:
amount of steam flow to be heated is lower, making the steam path
smaller for the same power output as compared to a lower effi- 1. A-USC components placed inside the setting of an existing
ciency steam cycle. The higher efficiency reduces the fuel input boiler,
and the combustion products gas weight flow, which also means 2. Totally external components with separate firing system, or
the size of equipment from pulverizers, furnace, flues, air heaters, 3. A gas slipstream boiler outside of an existing boiler that can
and environmental systems are smaller. be isolated from the gas side and be better protected while

Fig. 17.11  Capital Cost Comparison [4]

17-18  •  Chapter 17

Fig. 17.12  COMTEST1400 SLIPSTREAM CONCEPT (Source: The Babcock & Wilcox Company)

also posing less chance of damage or loss of operations to the ing the load demands at various locations by taking delivery and
host boiler, or, transmitting power produced by the many generating plants. This
4. A hybrid combination of the slipstream and internal compo- competitive market is served by units at plants which must bid a
nents. pricing offer, dollars per MW, for a range of load, one day ahead
and that have various operating restrictions, cost structures and
The slipstream concept is shown in Figure 17.12. The slipstream characteristics that may or not align well with the power grid’s
boiler could be modular and operate at a different gas flow loading needs at each hour of the day. Low net plant heat rate, low fuel
than the host boiler. It is expected to operate for about 15,000 hours, cost, wider load turndown range, and fast rate of response are char-
allow for cycling and subsequently, the components would be exam- acteristics that will enable the unit to achieve positive net income
ined for evidence of deterioration. It would provide reassurance to to pay the bills. The owner planning a new generating unit must
potential electric utility A-USC plant owners that the materials and factor these considerations into the design. The entry level for a
fabrication procedures developed for critical components will per- new unit in this market is larger capacity and very capital intensive.
form satisfactorily at these conditions. Extensive test instrumentation A-USC plants require careful planning and development to gain
would be included to permit performance and material evaluations. market acceptance.
The major U.S. OEM’s participating in the materials R&D consor- The tendency has been to select a larger unit size, greater than
tium would take part in the COMTEST1400 program. The facility 450 MW and averaging about 750 MW. Economy of scale has nor-
would be seen as a U.S. national R&D facility for demonstrating mally resulted in the delivery of a lower cost per MW installed and
features of a high efficiency steam generator. This program would a lower levelized cost of electricity (LCOE). The steam turbine/
undertake the complete exercise of all aspects of placing A-USC steam generator capacity for an A-USC plant must be carefully
into practice, design specification, supply chain, quality assurance, studied to address the market conditions of how well the capacity
fabrication procedures, field assembly, start up and test operation. and operating characteristics will fit with the requirements of the
Control and operational experience would also be gained on the electric grid operation and needs of the ISO.
relative newer methods used for a variable pressure boiler that has Eon, Gelsenkirchen, Germany, had previously announced the
some, but fewer plants introduced in the U.S. Operation and weld- planned development of an A-USC demonstration plant at Wil-
ing practices were difficult lessons to learn when once-through helmshaven (about 500 MW with 700°C conditions). The plant
boilers were first introduced in the late 1950s and 1960s. Opera- would have started in 2014 and is now delayed or abandoned
tion and maintenance training must be supported extensively when due to market and technical reasons. Components were tested at
a new A-USC product is introduced. the Scholven F plant over 5 years in the AD700 program. Sub-
sequent inspections found cracking with the alloy 617 material.
The preferred commercial size unit was stated (for Europe) to
17.22 First Commercial Plants be at 1000MW. China has been constructing 1000MW units.
Going forward with the COMTEST1400 program is needed to
The true customer of an operating electric generating unit is the further the acceptance of advanced ultra supercritical power
transmission grid independent system operator (ISO) that is meet- plants.
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  17-19

The U.S. R&D consortium for A-USC is proposing that the 17.24 Acknowledgement
timeline for COMTEST1400 is between 2010 and 2015. An air
fired A-USC demonstration plant would be proposed to be built in This development effort is supported by several organizations
the period from 2015 to 2020. The demonstration of oxy-combus- and individuals besides the authors, who would like to thank the
tion at scale also should occur from 2015 to 2020. Oxy-combustion many contributions. The B&W participants in the Materials De-
A-USC should be demonstrated 2020 to 2025. Air fired A-USC velopment Consortium project — Al Bennett, Walt Mohn, Jeff
pulverized coal plants could be commercial after 2020, with oxy- Sarver, Steve Kung, Ed Robitz, John Sanders, and John Siefert.
combustions A-USC plants commercial by 2025. This schedule The project management and sponsors, Robert Romanosky, Patri-
keeps the introduction of the first technology practice separate so cia Rawls, Fred Glaser of the U.S. Department of Energy, Robert
that two new features are not handled at the same time. National Purgert, Energy Industries of Ohio (EIO), Marrio Marrocco, Ohio
and industry support is needed to gain experience and acceptance Coal Development Office (OCDO), Ramnath Viswanathan and
of these first plants. John Shingledecker of Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI).
The DOE, OCDO, and The Babcock & Wilcox Company have
provided funding. Other organizations and personnel from Al-
stom, Babcock Power, and Foster Wheeler are contributing in their
17.23 Advanced Ultra Supercritical project tasks and internal company development efforts. Keep-
Power Plant ing the sound economic foundation for lower cost electric power
has been the goal of these efforts by advancing the state of the art
The success of the development of Advanced Ultra Supercritical for higher efficiency power generation using abundant low cost
steam generators for thermal power plants will be measured in the coal and reducing carbon emissions of the major energy source of
perceptions of how well these criteria are met in the design: power.
– Steam generator and plant process with high (HHV) net
efficiency
– Minimize the cost of CO2 capture and sequestration 17.25 References
– Near zero emissions for NOx, SOx, PM, PM10, Hg
  1. Burstall, AF., “A History of Mechanical Engineering”, MIT Press,
– Utilizing abundant lower cost coal
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 1965.
– Reduce auxiliary power consumption
– High availability   2. Silvestri, GJ., et.al., “Optimization of Advanced Steam Condition
– Better maintainability Power Plants”, Diaz-Tous, IA., (ed.), Steam Turbines in Power Gen-
– Safe and simple operation eration — PWR-Vol. 3, Book No. H00442, ASME, 1992.
– Be the favored plant for base load operation and ability to dis-   3. Bennett, AJ, Weitzel PS, Boiler Materials for Ultrasupercritical Coal
patch with lower LCOE Power Plants — Task 1B, Conceptual Design, Babcock and Wilcox
– Compatible with grid requirements providing load cycling and Approach, USC T-3, Topical Report, DOE DE-FG26-01NT41175 &
sustained turndown capability OCDO D-0020, February 2003.
– Fast starting; cold, warm and hot restart; turn down to mini-   4. Booras, G. “Task 1 C, Economic Analysis”, Boiler Materials for
mum load—all with low stress damage accumulation Ultra-supercritical Coal Power Plants, DOE Grant DE-FG26-
– Achieve economies of scale 01NT41175, OCDO Grant D-00-20, Topical Report USC T-1,
– Better by comparison in lower cost of ownership for the higher February 2003.
perceived value
  5. Viswanathan, R., Shingledecker, J., Phillips, J., In Pursuit of Efficiency
The power generation units delivering the best value could very in Coal Power Plants, (ed. Sakrested, BA) 35th International Techni-
well be those operating with A-USC conditions and CCS tech- cal Conference on Clean Coal and Fuel Systems 2010, Clearwater,
FL, June 2010.
nology. Pulverized coal-fired steam power plants offer potential
advancement to even higher thermal efficiencies through the de-   6. Kitto, JB, Stultz, SC., Steam/its generation and use, Edition 41, The
velopment and application of pressure part metallurgy capable of Babcock & Wilcox Company, Barberton, OH, 2005.
higher temperatures at higher pressures to optimize the available   7. Kotschenreuther, H., “Future High Efficiency Cycles”, Coutsouradis,
energy of the working fluid. D., et al. (eds.), Materials for Advanced Power Engineering, Part I,
Design concepts of a 750 MW advanced ultra supercritical 31-46, 1994 Kluwer Academic Publishers, Printed in the Netherlands.
steam generator have been developed starting with the current ar-
rangements typical of present day application. New and signifi-   8. Wheeldon, J., Engineering and Economic Evaluation of 1300°F Series
Ultra-Supercritical Pulverized CoalPower Plants: Phase 1. EPRI, Palo
cantly different steam generator arrangements are very likely to
Alto, CA: 2008. 1015699.
be developed.
Customer training for operation and maintenance becomes   9. Zachary, J., Kochis, P., Narula, R., “Steam Turbine Design Considera-
very important. The introduction of the once-through boiler tions for Supercritical Cycles”, Coal Gen 2007, August 2007.
had some bad experiences with problems besides the design for 10. Bennett, AJ., Progress of the Weston Unit 4 Supercritical Project in Wiscon-
subcritical operation, also with bad operation and control and sin, (BR-1790), Power-Gen International, Orlando, Fl, Nov­ember 2006.
with lack of good maintenance practice such as welder qualifi-
cation. One such example was the problem with the fluid tran- 11. National Coal Council, “Opportunities to Expedite the Construc-
tion of New Coal-Based Power Plants”, Library of Congress Catalog
sit time delay causing the slow action to control events created
# 2005920127.
15 minutes earlier. Careful design of the advanced ultra super-
critical plant, simulation, training and qualification will be of 12. Silvestri, GJ., “Eddystone Station, 325 MW Generating Unit 1-A Brief
prime importance. History, ASME, March 2003.
17-20  •  Chapter 17

13. Viswanathan, R., “U.S. Program on Materials Technology for Ultrasu- 17.26 List of Acronyms and
percritical Coal Power Plants”, Electric Power Research Institute, Palo Abbreviations
Alto, CA, March 2006.
14. Viswanathan, R., et al., “U.S. Program on Materials Technology for ASME PTC ASME Power Test Code
Ultrasupercritical Coal-Fired Boilers”, in Proc. of the 5th International ASTM American Society for Testing and Materials
Conference on Advances in Materials Technology for Fossil Power A-USC Advanced Ultra Supercritical
Plants, ASM International, 2008. B&W The Babcock & Wilcox Company
15. Sarver, JM., Tanzosh, JM., “Characterization of Steam-Formed Ox- CCS Carbon Capture Sequestration
ides on Candidate Materials for USC Boilers”, Sixth International DOE United States Department of Energy
Conference on Advanced Materials for Fossil Power Plants, Sante Fe, EIO Energy Industries of Ohio
NM, September 2010. EPRI Electric Power Research Institute
FEGT Furnace Exit Gas Temperature
16. Unocic, KA., Pint, BA., Wright, IG., “Characterization of Reaction
FCC Forced Circulation Characteristics
Products from Field Exposed Tubes”, Sixth International Conference
on Advanced Materials for Fossil Power Plants, Sante Fe, NM, Sep- FGD Flue Gas Desulphurization
tember 2010. HHV Higher Heating Value
ISO Independent System Operator
17. Totemeier, TC., Goodstine, SL., “Oxidation of Candidate Alloys and LCOE Levelized Cost of Electricity
Coatings for A-USC Applications”, Sixth International Conference on LHV Lower Heating Value
Advanced Materials for Fossil Power Plants, Sante Fe, NM, Septem-
MCR Maximum Continuous Rating
ber 2010.
NCC Natural Circulation Characteristics
18. Gagliano, MS., Hack, H., Stanko, G., “Fireside Corrosion resistance NPHR Net Plant Heat Rate
of Proposed USC Superheater and Reheater Materials: Laboratory and NTHR Net Turbine Heat Rate
Field Test Results”, 33rd International Technical Conference on Coal OFA Over Fire Air
Utilization and Fuel Systems, Clearwater, Fl, June 2008. OMLR Optimized Multi Lead Ribbed Tube
19. Kung, SC., “On Line Measurements of Gaseous Species in Pilot Scale OWT Oxygenated Water Treatment
Combustion Facility for Fireside Corrosion Study”, Sixth International PC Pulverized Coal
Conference on Advanced Materials for Fossil Power Plants, Sante Fe, PRB Powder River Basin
NM, September 2010. SCR Selective Catalytic Reduction
20. Mohn, WR., Tanzosh, JM., “Considerations in Fabricating USC TDBFP Turbine Driven Boiler Feed Pump
Boiler Components from Advanced High Temperature Materials”, in USC Ultra Supercritical
Proc. of the 4th International Conference on Advances in Materials VS Vertical Separator
Technology for Fossil Power Plants, Hilton Head Island, SC, ASM WCT Water Collection Tank
International, October 2004.
 chapter

18
Carbon Capture for Coal-Fired
Utility Power Generation:
B&W’s Perspective
D. K. McDonald and C. W. Poling

18.1 INTRODUCTION States, it is very difficult to ignore the abundance and low cost
of domestic coal. Coal is the most abundant and lowest-cost fuel
Changing climate and rising carbon dioxide (CO2) concentra- for power generation in the United States that preserves long-term
tion in the atmosphere have driven global concern about the role of energy security. In addition, developing nations such as China and
CO2 in the greenhouse effect and its contribution to global warm- India are relying heavily on coal to fuel their growing economies,
ing. Since it has become widely accepted as the primary anthropo- and most of the increased coal-fired electricity-generating capacity
genic contributor, most countries are seeking ways to reduce CO2 projected in 2030 will be in those countries.
emissions in an attempt to limit its effect. This effort has shifted As the world grapples with CO2 management, it is becoming
interest from fossil fuels, which have energized the economies of increasingly clear that for the sake of the infrastructure in many
the world for over a century, to non–carbon-emitting or renewable developed countries, and to provide a low-carbon emissions op-
technologies. tion for developing countries relying heavily on coal, some form of
For electricity generation, the non-carbon technologies include carbon capture and storage (CCS) will be necessary. In a carbon-
wind, solar, hydropower, and nuclear, whereas low carbon tech- constrained world, the long-term viability of coal depends on the
nologies use various forms of biomass. Unfortunately, all current technical and economic success of emerging technologies for cap-
options are significantly more expensive than current commercial ture and storage. This may first be in the form of retrofit for the
fossil-fueled technologies. Although use of wind and solar for existing fleet, but considering the growth rate in other countries,
power generation is increasing, they are incapable of supplying new plants will also be necessary as soon as practical.
base load needs without energy storage capacity which is currently Deployment of CCS is currently hindered by regulatory and
impractical at the scale required. The only technologies capable of social issues related primarily to long-term CO2 storage. Cap-
sustaining base load capacity and potential growth are coal, natural ture technologies are in the demonstration phase and are expected
gas, and nuclear. Nuclear has a long lead time to commercial op- to be commercially available in the next decade, but storage re-
eration, and concerns about long-term disposal of waste have not mains a hindrance to deployment globally. Europe has been in
been resolved. Natural gas, although lower in carbon emissions the lead regarding carbon controls, but the value of CO2 remains
than coal, still produces CO2, and its availability and price have too low to support CCS projects and unresolved public concerns
proven to be volatile. Although recent discoveries have signifi­ about long-term storage reliability, and liabilities are blocking
cantly increased availability of natural gas reserves, the pricing demonstration projects. In North America, the Canadian prov-
impact of higher cost extraction methods is not yet known. ince of Alberta has taken bold steps to define a reasonable value
In many countries, including the United States, coal is an abun- for CO2 and to address storage issues, but in general, Canada is
dant and low-cost source of fuel for generating electricity. Fig­ relying on the United States to determine the best methods and
ure 18.1 shows the International Energy Agency’s (IEA’s) global timing of carbon controls. As a result, CCS has stalled in many
electricity-generating capacity by fuel in 2007 and that projected countries until the storage issues are resolved, and a reasonable
for 2030. It should be noted that the current IEA forecast indi- value is set for CO2.
cates more than a 70% increase in coal-based power generation by The two primary storage options are enhanced oil recovery
2030. In the United States, coal currently fuels about 50% of power (EOR) and deep saline reservoirs. The deep saline reservoirs
generation and represents an enormous infrastructure investment. have more than sufficient capacity, but the impact of CO2 and co-
Consequently, it will take considerable investment to move away sequestered constituents on the reservoirs are not clear. This option
from this base load fuel. has not been widely practiced, and demonstration projects to study
Figure 18.2 shows the EIA’s estimate of total recoverable coal the effects are in progress. The near-term hope for deployment in
resources, which shows the United States having the largest supply the United States hinges primarily on EOR. There is significant ca-
in the world. Since energy security is a major issue in the United pacity, but it is limited, and although millions of tons of CO2 have
18-  •  Chapter 18

18.2 OXY-COMBUSTION
Oxy-combustion is a means of removing nitrogen from the
combustion process to produce a gas with a high concentration of
CO2, which can then be easily purified, compressed, and used or
stored. Typical combustion of coal with air produces a flue gas that
is primarily nitrogen with some water, about 14% CO2, and some
minor constituents. Capturing the CO2 at this low concentration is
challenging and requires reactive regenerable solvents as described
in Section 18.3. By concentrating the CO2 to 70% or greater by
volume, it can be further purified to 99% purity, compressed, and
either stored or used. To concentrate the CO2, the coal is burned
with nearly pure oxygen producing combustion byproduct, which
contains CO2 at about 85% by volume dry.
Fig. 18.1  Worldwide installed electric gener- Combustion with gases having a higher concentration of oxygen
ating capacities by fuel, 2007 and 2030 than air has been used for decades in the glass and metal-melting
industries, and experimentation with coal is not new. However,
adapting oxy-combustion to modern power plant scale, understand-
already been used for EOR, concerns about use of EOR for long- ing its impact on coal combustion byproducts and the performance
term storage are mounting, which may either significantly slow or of constituent removal systems, plant performance, economics, and
even block this avenue. reliability have been seriously addressed only in the past decade.
Despite these challenges, carbon capture technologies are being This section will describe the oxy-combustion process, the devel-
developed by several companies for use with fossil fuels, espe- opment path B&W and Air Liquide (AL) have jointly pursued and
cially coal. There are several potential carbon capture technologies the current state-of-the art.
for coal. The three coal-based technologies closest to deployment
are pre-combustion, including Integrated Gasification Combined 18.2.1 Process Description
Cycle (IGCC), oxy-combustion, and post-combustion including An oxy-combustion plant consists of a steam generator or boiler,
amine- and ammonia-based systems. In addition, chemical loop- coal preparation equipment, and systems to remove various unde-
ing, membrane, and biological carbon capture methods are in the sirable constituents such as particulate, SO2, SO3, Hg, and water
early development stages. from the combustion byproducts. These components are generally
The Babcock & Wilcox Company (B&W) is aggressively pursu- of conventional, proven design and materials. In addition, oxygen
ing several approaches for generating electricity that address the car- is supplied by an air separation unit (ASU), and the product gas,
bon issue including nuclear, concentrated solar receivers for steam which is primarily CO2, is treated and compressed in a compres-
generation, and biomass firing in addition to capture from existing sion and purification unit (CPU).
and new coal- and natural gas–fired steam-generating plants. This Combustion of coal with nearly pure oxygen results in a by-
chapter provides an overview of oxy-combustion and post- product that is primarily CO2, some water, and minor constituents
combustion technologies for coal-fired steam (and electricity) gen- such as SOx, NOx, Hg, CO, oxygen, nitrogen, and argon. Because
eration, which are being developed for nearer-term deployment. of the small amount of nitrogen, which composes 78% of air, the
quantity of combustion byproduct is only about one-fourth of what
would result if air were used. Figure 18.3 shows the relative flows
and compositions for the oxidant (air or nearly pure oxygen mixed
with recycled flue gas) and the resulting combustion byproducts.
Removal of nitrogen from the combustion process not only signifi-
cantly reduces the mass flow, but it also increases the concentration

Oxygen CO2 Oxygen CO2

+ Coal CO2
+ Coal
Nitrogen Nitrogen
CO2

100 100
H2O H2O H2O 20 to 30% flow rate
CO2 75
to CO2 capture
75
process
CO2 CO2
50 N2 N2 50

Lb/hr
25 25

O2 O2
0 0
Air Flue Gas Flow rate Oxidant Flue Gas Flow rate to
to Stack Compression

Air Combustion Oxycombustion

Fig. 18.2  WORLDWIDE COAL SUPPLIES (2008) Fig. 18.3 Oxidant and combustion byproducts
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  18-

of the constituents in the combustion byproduct by at least a factor small boiler simulator (SBS) burning bituminous and sub-
of four and, unless tempered by recycling flue gas, significantly bituminous coals. The results of this testing using the cold recycle
increases the flame temperature. process proved that the process could be safely and easily operated
In most oxy-combustion processes, flue gas is recycled to main- and demonstrated NOx reductions up to about 70% compared with
tain an acceptable flame temperature, dilute corrosive constituents, air firing, volumetric concentrations of CO2 of 80% and higher,
and provide mass flow for heat transfer. Some or all of this recycle and indicated heat transfer and constituent removal processes per-
gas is cleaned of undesirable constituents such as particulate, SO2, formed similar to air firing.
SO3, and water prior to recycling so it acts as a diluent for cor- These encouraging results prompted modification of B&W’s
rosive constituents. In the absence of recycle, high temperatures 30-MWth Clean Environment Development Facility (CEDF) for
and high concentrations of corrosive constituents would increase oxy-firing and testing with bituminous, sub-bituminous, and lig-
boiler tube corrosion rates exponentially requiring much more ex- nite coals in both cold and warm recycle configurations in 2007-
pensive high-grade materials to resist this combination. Opinions 2008 [4, 7]. As shown in Figure 18.4, the CEDF is small-scale
vary concerning the location in the process from which the recycle power plant using a single 100-MBtu/hr (essentially full-scale)
is extracted and the quantity of recycle that would result in the burner firing into a specially designed boiler followed by a full
lowest cost and highest plant efficiency. Most studies by those in complement of backend gas cleanup systems. Although CO2 was
the industry would agree that for pulverized coal combustion, suf- “caught and released,” all of the processes were tested. At the time,
ficient recycle to approximate the combustion conditions with air it was the first oxy-combustion plant to operate at this scale in the
firing is optimum. The reasons will be explained further in sections world. Coal was successfully fed both indirectly for bituminous
18.2.3.1 and 18.2.3.2. and directly from the pulverizer using recycled flue gas to dry and
convey the coal. The results of these tests confirmed control phi-
18.2.2 State of Development losophies for transitioning and all major trips, as well as showing
Oxy-combustion was first explored by B&W for EOR in 1979, NOx reduction as high as 70% and SO2, SO3, Hg, and particulate
but low oil prices proved it to be uneconomical. As interest in CO2 removal performance similar to air firing.
emissions was increasing in the mid-1990s, it was given further In 2008, a comprehensive effort was made to determine the
consideration as a means of concentrating CO2 for storage or use. best processes including optimization and integration options for
Since then, oxy-combustion has been aggressively developed, and the power block, ASU, and CPU and to further refine individual
in 2001, B&W teamed with AL to bring the ASU and CPU into component designs. Twenty-seven cases were analyzed using As-
the process and improve the overall efficiency and economics. Sev- pen’s HYSYS software modeling the entire plant including steam
eral engineering studies and cost estimates for both retrofit and new and gas cycles as well as the ASU and CPU processes. Perform-
unit applications were carried out. In addition, proposals to build a ance and costs for the various equipment and integration options
25-MWe retrofit and a 350-MWe commercial greenfield plant were were analyzed using the same fuel and site conditions, and the
made to potential customers. Small pilot testing co-sponsored by same time frame and financial assumptions used in the DOE study
the US Department of Energy (DOE) and the State of Illinois was “Pulverized Coal Oxy-combustion Power Plants” DOE/NETL-
carried out from 2001 to 2004 in B&W’s 1.5-MWth (5 MBtu/hr) 1291 Rev. August 2008 [8] so it could be used as the base case for

Coal
processing
area
Co
nve
pa ction
ss

Furnace
Ele
Dry pre ctros
cip tati
scrubber ita c
tor
Air
heater Wet
Pulverizer scrubber
Main Baghouse
Control
room Baghouse
area

Limestone
storage
silo

Fig. 18.4 Clean Environment Development Facility (30 MWth) oxy pilot

18-  •  Chapter 18

comparisons. All three recycle location options and the impact of

reducing the recycle quantity were considered. The benefit of con-
ventional super-critical and ultra-super-critical steam conditions
was also evaluated. As a result, the warm recycle process was se-
lected for low-sulfur fuels, and the best approach for heat integra-
tion was identified.
This work led to development of a demonstration plant design
based on 150 MWe of gross electrical generation and a commercial
plant design for 700-MWe gross.

18.2.3 Design Considerations

18.2.3.1  Recycle Quantity  As mentioned, the quantity of re-
cycle for an oxy-combustion pulverized coal-fired boilers is gener-
ally about the same as would be present with air firing on a mass
basis primarily due to material considerations in the boiler. It has
been shown that some reduction in recycle and cost may be pos-
sible with relatively low steam temperatures, but such a unit would
not have the same air firing capability. However, for the purpose
of an oxy-combustion plant, low or no recycle is not practical and
would deliver minimal cost savings.
Current designs recycle about 70% of the flue gas back to the
boiler to control flame temperature, dilute corrosive constituents,
and provide mass for convective heat transfer. The expectation is
that with low or no recycle, the equipment will be proportionately
smaller and less expensive. This misconception is based on the idea
that the cost of the equipment is closely related to the gas volume
Fig. 18.5 Typical Boiler
flow, and since oxy-combustion produces 25% to 30% of the flow
from an air-fired plant (see Figure 18.3), substantial savings can be
gained. But low or no recycle is not practical for steam generation, The total heat absorption in the boiler is defined by the desired
and it would not deliver the savings that might be expected. steam flow, temperature, and pressure to the steam turbine. The
Recycle provides the gas mass flow to balance radiant and con- heat absorption necessary to limit the furnace exit gas temperature
vective heat transfer in the boiler, so steam temperatures can be to the desired value, which is a function of the slagging properties
achieved economically. In a boiler, the heat is transferred to the wa- of the coal, sets the furnace heat transfer area. The remainder of the
ter and steam contained in metal tubes by radiation and convection. heat is absorbed in the convection pass.
Radiation dominates within the furnace at high gas temperatures, The lower gas flow will reduce the cross-section proportionally
but as the gas temperature decays, convection tends to dominate assuming that gas velocity, which drives heat transfer, is main-
(see Figure 18.5). To withstand the much higher heat fluxes from tained, but surface reduction will be driven by the lower required
radiation in the furnace, which are driven by flame temperature, absorption. Tube rows will be much shorter requiring more bends.
water is used to cool the tubes, and boiling occurs in the upper fur- As recycle decreases, furnace absorption increases, convection
nace. Steam is generally one-fifth as effective as water at cooling pass absorption decreases, and convection pass volumetric gas
the tubes, so super-heating is done in the convection pass where flow decreases. The lower gas flow leads to a smaller convection
heat fluxes are lower and cost-effective materials can be used. pass cross-section to maintain gas velocities that drive convective
The amount of furnace absorption is set so the furnace exit gas heat transfer. However, the absorption required does not decrease
temperature is not too high. For coal, this temperature is limited to as rapidly as the volumetric flow so the amount of surface required
prevent slagging and fouling of the heat transfer surfaces, which is not proportional to the gas flow. This means a longer convec-
would inhibit steam generation. Reduction of the recycle quantity tion pass with shorter straight tubes and more tube bends per unit
significantly increases flame temperature and burner zone heat re- area, making significant cost reduction unlikely. As a result, even
lease, also increasing furnace slagging concerns and radiation heat though the quantity of surface decreases, the cost will not decrease
fluxes. This results in much higher gas and tube metal temperatures as drastically and may actually increase.
and requires higher alloys in the furnace because radiation is a As a result of these factors, the overall cost of the boiler may
function of temperature to the fourth power. The higher gas tem- actually increase despite its smaller size, that is, if suitable
perature and resulting greater log mean temperature difference will materials even exist that will provide properties that preserve
require less furnace heat transfer surface, but that savings in ma- current reliability. Recent work has also shown that decreasing
terial quantity is quickly overcome by the higher alloy material, convection increases difficulty in achieving higher advanced
fabrication, and installation costs. steam temperatures and steam cycle efficiencies. In fact, to
Modern furnaces are made of carbon and low-alloy steels. A achieve super-critical steam temperatures of 1300°F or higher,
significant metal temperature increase would require higher alloys, it may be necessary to increase rather than decrease recycle
many of which costing at least five times that of current furnace ma- (relative to air firing mass flow) owing to material limitations
terials. So even if furnace surface could be reduced by 50%, the ma- for even the latest materials like Inconel 740. Increasing recycle
terial cost alone would almost triple, and the welding costs would be reduces flame temperature and radiation and, more importantly,
much higher due to pre- and post-weld heat treating requirements. increases the flow available for convective heat transfer, which
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  18-

is essential in achieving high steam temperatures. Therefore,

significantly decreasing recycle would not be expected to re-
duce the boiler cost, and it makes design for higher steam tem-
peratures and efficiencies more difficult or impossible.
There is also less cost savings than might be expected in the
equipment downstream of the boiler. The expectation of savings
proportional to gas flow reduction for the downstream equipment
overlooks three important facts: (1) the cost of these systems is not
primarily in the vessels, flues, and casings; (2) the performance
and sizing of the gas cleaning systems are linked to the relation-
ship between pollutant concentration and the gas volume flow, not
the volume flow alone; and (3) perimeter is proportional to the
square root of the area; meaning if the gas flow is 30% compared
with air firing, the enclosure material will be reduced on the order
of 45%. Fig. 18.6  Flue Gas Recycle Options
Although the gas volume decreases as recycle is decreased, the
same mass of pollutant must be treated. This increases the con-
centration impacting performance. For example, since the quantity recycle, for high sulfur coals, takes the secondary recycle after the
of ash does not change, the ash removal systems must have the FGD but before flue gas drying.
same capacity and will be about the same cost. For an electrostatic Warm recycle takes the secondary recycle immediately after the
precipitator, the same power is required for the same loading, and gas heater at about 300°F to 400°F and particulate removal. There
sparking may tend to occur at a lower voltage. The plate area is is no other treatment of this stream before entering the boiler. The
set by these factors, not gas flow alone. In a fabric filter, the lower hot recycle process takes the secondary recycle immediately after
gas flow decreases the equipment size by the square root of the the boiler at about 700°F to 750°F. Hot particulate removal (not
volume, but higher loading requires a lower filtration velocity to shown) is necessary to protect the fan needed to blow it into the
maintain a practical back-pulsing frequency increasing cost. boiler, but there is no other treatment.
When the complete systems are considered, cost reductions in Each of these options has advantages and disadvantages. Cold
the equipment downstream of the boiler on the order of 30% to recycle cleans the recycled gas the most and reduces the constitu-
40% are realistic if it were possible to have no flue gas recycle ent concentrations in the boiler the most. Both warm and hot recy-
at all. In a typical power plant, the equipment downstream of the cle return hotter gas to the boiler, improving fuel efficiency, but the
boiler can represent 20% to 25% of the total boiler island cost, and gas is untreated so the concentrations of constituents like SO2 and
the boiler island in an oxy-combustion plant is about 33% of the to- moisture within the boiler are higher. Warm and hot recycle are
tal plant cost. So assuming the boiler cost does not increase, the net reasonable with low-sulfur coals, but not when coal sulfur is high.
savings would be less than 10% of the boiler island and less than In addition, particulate removal for hot recycle is challenging, and
3% of the total plant cost total, while introducing significant per- it has been shown that the increased fan power, owing to the higher
formance and reliability risks, since such a boiler design, if even gas temperature, offsets the fuel efficiency gain, so warm recycle
possible, would be very challenging and a first of a kind. Material is more practical. Testing has also shown that the impact of higher
limitations, the need to drive to higher steam temperatures for ef- moisture levels on combustion is manageable. As a result, warm
ficiency, and marginal cost benefit at higher risk make reduction of recycle is preferred by B&W and AL for low-sulfur coals. For
recycle unattractive as a design improvement. high-sulfur coals sufficient sulfur removal in the secondary recycle
Design of an oxy-combustion pulverized coal plant with low or stream is necessary, or cold or cool recycle should be used.
no recycle is questionably feasible using known materials, fabri-
cation, and construction methods. It is also doubtful whether, if 18.2.3.3  Solid Particulate, SO2, SO3, and Moisture Removal 
achieved, it would be economical. Since many components would If no constituents are removed in the recycled flue gas, the concen-
operate under unprecedented conditions, performance and eco- trations in the boiler will be the same as the products of combustion
nomic risks would also be greatly increased until proven, and it of the coal with oxygen, which can be four or more times as high as
would not be capable of air firing. with air firing. If a constituent is completely removed from the flue
gas before recycling, the recycled flue gas will dilute the constitu-
18.2.3.2  Recycle Location  There are four main options recy- ent to the same level as experienced with air firing. To design the
cle options with oxy-combustion: “cold, cool, warm, and hot recy- boiler for reasonable conditions using conventional materials and
cle”. Generally, recycled flue gas is returned to the boiler in two equipment, solid particulate, sulfur, and moisture must be removed
streams. Primary recycle is used to dry and convey the coal, so to achieve acceptable levels throughout the process.
it must be cooled and dried for all three options. The secondary As in an air-fired unit, particulate is removed downstream of the
recycle is returned to the furnace to provide mass for the boiler. air-heater to protect the fans handling recycled flue gas and the CPU
Oxygen is added at any of three primary locations: in the burner, in compressor. This can be accomplished using conventional equip-
the primary recycle, and in the secondary recycle. ment such as electrostatic precipitators or fabric filters in the same
The cold recycle process for very high sulfur coals, takes the configuration relative to the primary scrubber for a conventional
secondary recycle after flue gas drying as shown in figure 18.6, plant. A fabric filter follows a dry scrubber and precedes a wet
cleans and cools the entire flue gas flow from the boiler removing scrubber. The induced draft fan and recycle fans are downstream
particulate, sulfur compounds, Hg, and moisture before sending of the primary scrubber and particulate removal equipment.
the primary and secondary recycle back to the boiler. The remain- The recycle configuration and design of the power block equip-
der of the flue gas is sent to the CPU and then to storage. Cool ment are dependent on the sulfur, chlorine, and moisture content in
18-  •  Chapter 18

the fuel. For low-sulfur coals, warm recycle can be used, r­emoving pulsing in the fabric filter will also significantly reduce the amount
only solid particulate in the secondary recycle stream, but the pri- of air ingress. Provisions for temporary events such as on-line
mary recycle stream must be scrubbed, and moisture must be re- maintenance activities must also be considered to avoid exceeding
moved if it is used for drying and conveying coal in the pulverizers. the inlet capacity of the compression and purification equipment
For medium sulfur coals, some sulfur removal in the secondary and reducing delivery of purified CO2.
stream will be necessary, and for high-sulfur coals, all of the flue
gas leaving the boiler must be scrubbed. The removal must be suf- 18.2.4 Power Block Equipment Options
ficient to prevent unacceptable levels of SO2 in the furnace, which In arranging the power block equipment, the options are essentially
will result in more rapid and aggressive corrosion of the high- the same as with air firing. The combustion process can be pulverized
temperature portions of the secondary and reheat super-heaters, es- coal, cyclone, or a fluidized bed. The boiler is followed by a gas-to-
pecially if significant chlorine is also present. In addition, higher gas heat exchanger that reduces the exiting flue gas temperature and
SO2 will produce higher SO3 levels, which can be deleterious to transfers the heat to the recycle flue gas returning to the boiler in the
the downstream equipment owing to acid formation. same manner as an air-heater for air firing. Internal leakage is less
Because of the higher concentrations of SO3 and moisture in the of an issue since gas is leaking to gas and the impact is a tradeoff in
flue gas, the acid dew point is elevated compared with air firing. power between the fans. However, if oxygen is introduced into the
To prevent corrosion in the equipment downstream of the boiler as recycle gas prior to the air-heater, care must be taken to minimize
much SO3 must be removed as practical, and the gas temperature loss to the flue gas exiting the boiler since it will be lost to the com-
should be kept above the acid dew point sufficiently to prevent acid pression process, resulting in a double loss: the power to produce the
condensation in cooler areas of flues and equipment. SO3 removal oxygen and the power to process it in the CPU.
can be accomplished with a dry scrubber and fabric filter combina- For low- or medium-sulfur coals, a dry scrubber followed by a
tion, or if a wet scrubber is used, dry injection of a sorbent such as fabric filter can be used as the primary removal system. For high-sul-
Trona (Na3(HCO3)(CO3) · 2H2O) upstream of the fabric filter can fur coals, a wet scrubber may be required. The choice is determined
be effective. by (1) the process being used (“warm, cool, or cold” recycle) and
Since the flue gas will leave the primary scrubber saturated with (2) the resulting SO2 concentration in the furnace and corrosion
moisture, moisture must be removed prior to the compression pro­ constraints imposed by materials. The higher moisture level in the
cess and, as mentioned previously, if recycled flue gas is used in flue gas from oxy-combustion increases the saturation temperature.
the pulverizers. This can be accomplished by several means such For a dry scrubber, an approach margin leaving the dry scrubber
as direct contact or quench coolers. Saturated flue gas at relatively must be maintained to prevent condensation in the fabric filter or
low temperature leaving quench-type coolers must be sufficiently downstream equipment. These constraints may limit the amount of
reheated before fans or compressors to prevent damage from for- slurry that can be introduced and the corresponding removal effi-
mation of water droplets. ciency. For a wet scrubber, the outlet temperature will be naturally
higher by 20°F to 30°F owing to the higher saturation temperature.
18.2.3.4  NOx  During oxy-coal combustion, NOx production is As a result, moisture is removed after the primary scrubber and be-
much lower than with air firing. This is partially due to the absence fore sending to the compression equipment. If the primary recycle is
of nitrogen, since nearly pure oxygen is being used instead of air, used to dry the coal, as with pulverized coal combustion, both streams
and partially due to a re-burning effect from the recycled flue gas. must be dehumidified. In addition, a very low SO2 concentration
Together, these have resulted in 50% to 70% lower NOx produc- entering the compression system may be required. To accomplish
tion. In addition, NOx is oxidized to NO in the compression and these requirements, a secondary scrubber and flue gas cooler may be
purification step.
However, since oxy-combustion plants currently start with air
firing to a minimum stable load and then transition the oxidant
from air to oxygen, NOx emissions during startup can be an issue
if there is a limit on short-term emissions, and there is no removal
equipment such as selective catalytic reduction.

18.2.3.5  Air Infiltration  Careful design and installation are nec-

essary to minimize infiltration of air into the process during oxy-
combustion. Ingress of air has two key detriments: (1) it adds mass
and dilutes the CO2 concentration, which must be handled in the
CPU; and (2) it adds nitrogen, which increases NOx formation in the
combustion process. Only those portions of the process that operate
below atmospheric pressure are susceptible to air infiltration. This is
generally from the boiler to the ID and secondary recycle fan inlets
and potentially just before the inlet of the primary recycle fan.
Location of fans, including booster fans, to minimize negative
pressure differences relative to atmosphere, reduces the driving
force. Design of the flues and equipment in this portion of the pro­
cess to minimize potential for infiltration and careful quality con-
trol of welding during fabrication and installation will minimize
leakage. Replacement of air with clean, dry CO2 for uses such as
flame scanner cooling, sealing of openings in the boiler, and back- Fig. 18.7 ASU power versus purity
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  18-

necessary. Babcock & Wilcox Company has developed a polishing Used by permission from Air Liquide
scrubber combined with direct contact cooling for this purpose.
260
18.2.5  ir Separation and CO2 Purification and
A
240
Compression
In oxy-combustion, the nearly pure oxygen is produced by an 220
ASU, and the flue gas produced is prepared for transportation and Reference line
storage by a CPU. Oxygen purity impacts the CO2 purity entering 200

the CPU and affects the cost and power required. The lower the 180
- 17% w/o integration
CO2 concentration, the more energy it takes to purify and com- - 24% with integration
press the product gas, and the larger the equipment must be to ac- 160
commodate the greater flow. At the same time, producing oxygen
140
with higher purity requires more energy, so an optimum is desired.
Studies have shown that above 95% purity, the cost of producing 120
oxygen increases significantly, whereas the benefit to the CPU is Pure O2 Year IGCC Year 2000 Oxycombustion Oxycombustion
minimal (see Figure 18.7). As a result, 95% purity is generally ac- 2000 ASU 2010 ASU 2015
Note: the darker portion of the bars represent heat integration gain
cepted, with the remaining 5% being about two-thirds argon and Used by permission of Air Liquide
one-third nitrogen.
Three primary technologies for separating oxygen from air are Fig. 18.8 Reductions in ASU specific energy
available: cryogenic separation, adsorption (Vacuum Swing Ad-
sorption) and permeation (hollow fiber membranes). Cryogenic systems contribute all but a small portion of the incremental cost
separation is the only one that allows production of oxygen in large and parasitic power relative to a conventional air-fired plant. Air
quantities (up to 7000 metric tons of oxygen per day in a single Liquide has made significant investment in addressing cost and
train). Two new technologies are under development: chemical power consumption and has achieved impressive gains.
looping and ion transport membranes. Chemical looping is the use Air separation is a proven technology. But, oxy-combustion re-
of an oxygen carrier, such as iron, oxidized in air, conveyed to quires much different oxygen conditions than typical cryogenic air
the combustion process where the carrier is depleted of oxygen separation applications, including IGCC, and provides opportunity
through participation in the combustion process. The carrier is then for heat integration with the steam cycle. Through our collabora-
recovered, re-oxidized, and the cycle is repeated. Various processes tion, AL has gained a better understanding of boiler requirements
and carriers are currently being tested at the laboratory scale but and has optimized the ASU design (see Figure 18.8). First the ASU
are not yet economical or practical for large power plant applica- was adapted to oxy-combustion conditions, resulting in a 17% re-
tion. Ion transport membranes are made of solid inorganic ceramic duction in specific energy. Further improvement produced an ad-
materials, which permit a diffusion of oxygen ions (O2-) through ditional 7% when the heat of compression is integrated into the
the ceramic crystal structure under the influence of oxygen par- steam cycle. This represents a 24% reduction in specific energy
tial pressure. This kind of membrane operates at high temperature compared with a state-of-the-art IGCC ASU. This design is com-
between 700°C and 950°C. It means that natural gas is required mercially available, and AL has established a target for another
to heat the air going to the membrane, making this solution less 10% reduction in the next 5 years to reach 140 kWh/metric ton of
attractive for a pulverized coal boiler. pure O2 (contained in an oxygen stream at 95% O2, atmospheric
The conventional method of air separation is based on cryogen- pressure and under ISO conditions). Primarily as a result of this
ics operating on the principle that various gases liquefy at differ- significant power reduction, oxy-combustion can have efficiency
ent pressures and temperatures. Air is 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and cost advantages over the other options [1].
and 1% minor constituents, mostly argon. The condition where Air Liquide has also demonstrated the ability to change load at
oxygen becomes liquid differs from nitrogen or argon, although a rate as high as 5% per minute at industrial scale (>2000 metric
argon is very close. The moisture and CO2 in air would freeze ear- tons per day), and it has developed operating methods to maximize
lier than oxygen becomes liquid and therefore are removed after revenue and/or allow partial capture. To maximize revenue, design
compression by adsorption on fixed beds. The air flows through a for “peak-shaving” uses a highly flexible ASU incorporating cryo-
first vessel filled with adsorbent that stops water, CO2, and some genic liquid storage. During the hours when the electricity price is
hydrocarbons and N2O. When the adsorbent is saturated, the air is high, full output is achieved by running the ASU at reduced load
directed to another vessel when the first is regenerated with dry and and making up the oxygen shortfall from the stored LOX. This
warm nitrogen flowing counter to the air. This temperature swing maximizes revenue by minimizing parasitic power and maximiz-
adsorption process is a very efficient and well-proven technique ing net power output. When electricity prices are low and the lost
to achieve the very low levels of freezing components required by generation has minimal economic impact, the ASU is operated at
cryogenic applications. The dry air is cooled to the point where a higher load to allow for oxygen storage. One other advantage
oxygen becomes liquid, leaving most of the nitrogen and argon in of this design is that it allows constant and stable operation of the
gaseous form. The degree of purity depends on how precisely the ASU at its design load, which increases its efficiency.
process is controlled to the specific temperature and pressure, and To achieve partial CO2 capture the plant is designed for both
as previously shown, more purity requires more energy. air and oxy-combustion capability, and a partial sized ASU is in-
In recognition of the unique and different requirements for the stalled with LOX storage. When CO2 capture is desired, the plant
oxygen in a power plant versus conventional air separation for is operating in the oxy-mode using the ASU and LOX, and when
commercial oxygen production, B&W teamed with AL in 2001. it is air fired, the remainder of the time, only the ASU is oper-
In addition, AL was interested in developing the CPU. These two ated to store oxygen. This approach minimizes capital investment
18-  •  Chapter 18

Used by permission from Air Liquide tem (WFGD/DCC), as well as the ASU and CPU. The warm recy-
cle process is used, and the secondary recycle with only particulate
removal is shown with green flues. The remainder of the flue gas
shown with blue flues has SOx, particulate, and moisture removed.
The smaller yellow flue is the primary recycle, and the gas pipe
to the CPU is shown in lighter blue. Because it is only 150-MWe
gross, the steam cycle is sub-critical at 2400 psi and 1050°F main
and reheat steam temperatures. It was designed for a western lo-
cation where water is scarce so it uses dry cooling with very low
fresh water makeup and is zero liquid discharge [2, 5, 6].
The only air emissions in the oxy-mode come from the CPU
vent and are extremely low. In fact, during oxy-combustion the
NOx, SOx, Hg, and particulate are predicted to be below current
power plant measurement accuracy. Since CO is not removed in
the process, unless oxidation to CO2 is incorporated, it would be
about the same as an air-fired plant. The plant would capture over
90% of the CO2 produced, which is more than 1 million tons per
year. That leaves about 105,500 tons/yr of CO2 that would also be
emitted from the CPU vent.

18.2.7 Commercial Plant Considerations

Fig. 18.9 CO2 Purification method and specific Oxy-combustion has yet to be demonstrated at utility scale. At
e­nergy the date of publication, the largest plant that has been successfully
operated is 40 MWth. A 30-MWe electric plant is being designed
and parasitic power for oxy-operation. The amount of time for air for retrofit in the Callide power plant for CS Energy in Australia.
or oxy-firing depends on the amount of CO2 capture necessary. However, it is ready for commercial-scale demonstration. Follow-
As CO2 value increases over time, additional ASU capacity can ing a demonstration at a meaningful scale, B&W and AL expect
be added to achieve a full capture plant. This approach has been to be ready to provide full-scale commercial plants. In prepara-
estimated to reduce the initial capital for the ASU and CPU and tion, a 700-MWe gross (518-MWe net) reference design has been
increase the CO2 avoided cost. The impact on CO2 cost avoided developed to more thoroughly understand and resolve design and
could be less than 5% compared with a full (90%) capture plant cost issues. It is based on sub-bituminous coal with a modern
when coupled with “peak shaving” operation, operating air fired super-critical boiler with steam conditions of 3500 psi and 1100°F
during peak hours and oxy-firing off-peak. main and reheat steam temperatures. The net plant efficiency is
Purification and compression of the flue gases are achieved in expected to be about 31.5%, which is approaching the current coal-
the CPU. Three levels of purification are possible, depending on fired fleet average without CCS (note this process achieves 33.6%
the product gas purity requirements: no purification, cryogenic with bituminous coal at sea level as shown in Figure 18.12). Like
separation (cold box), and cryogenic and distillation. Each of these the demonstration plant, the air emissions in the oxy-mode are very
requires a certain amount of energy to achieve a desired purity low with NOx, SOx, Hg, and particulate below current power plant
and discharge pressure. Figure 18.9 shows that the lowest energy measurement accuracy and CO about the same as with air firing.
requirement for purification of CO2 concentrations between 70% This size plant would capture about 4.5 million tons of CO2 per
and about 93% involves refrigeration for partial condensation or year, which equates to more than 90% of the CO2 produced [3].
refrigeration and distillation, depending on the degree of purity de-
sired. The higher the purity, the higher the capital cost. 18.2.8  urrent Performance and Cost Comparison
C
The CPU is designed to achieve a low specific energy, on the or- With Other CCS Technologies
der of 120 kWh/metric ton of CO2 captured. In an oxy-combustion As part of the integration study work mentioned in Sec­
plant, the non-condensable gases, such as oxygen, nitrogen, and tion 18.2.2, performance and cost data were taken from DOE
argon, are vented from the CPU as the only source of air emissions.
As a result, the emissions from an oxy-combustion plant are ex-
tremely low, essentially no particulate, Hg, heavy metals, HF, HCl,
or SOx. Only small amounts of NO, CO, O2, Ar, and CO2 are emit-
ted to the atmosphere. CO is the only constituent with no removal
in the process, but methods to promote oxidation and increase the
CO2 captured exist, although at added cost.
WFGD/DCC
The ASU and CPU together currently represent about 30% of
the capital cost of a new plant and about 70% of the total parasitic SDA
power. However, AL supports ongoing efforts to further reduce
power and cost.

18.2.6 Demonstration Plant Description and Features

Figure 18.10 shows a model of the demonstration plant design
indicating all major equipment including the boiler, dry scrubber
(SDA), fabric filters, moisture removal, and sulfur polishing sys- Fig. 18.10  150-MWe gross demonstration plant
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  18-

less power. It would be operated when in the oxy-mode and during

all or a portion of the air firing period to store LOX. If more capture
is desired later, the ASU can be retrofit to provide more capacity.
Revenue can also be optimized by “swing operation” in which
the plant is operated in the air-fired mode during peak periods
when net output is higher (due to smaller ASU), power is in high
demand, and electricity selling prices are high, and operated in the
oxy-mode when the selling price is low and net output is lower.
If the operating profile for the plant is well defined, swing opera-
tion can also improve revenue for an oxy-plant. The ASU would be
designed for part load as defined by the operating profile and LOX
storage provided. When full load output is not required, the boiler
load is reduced, but the ASU is operated at full output to produce
more oxygen than required for combustion. The additional oxygen
References: DOE/NETL 2007 -1291 “Pulverized Coal Oxy-combustion Power Plants” Rev. 2,
DOE/NTL 2007-1281 “Cost and Baseline for Fossil Energy Plants” Rev.1 , and B&W/AL Integration Study
is stored as LOX, and the net electricity generation will be reduced
according to the higher power consumption by the ASU. When full
Fig. 18.11 Comparison of net plant efficiency for load is needed, LOX is used to make up the difference between ASU
CCS options capacity and operating load. Obviously, a plant designed in this man-
ner must have a well-understood operating profile. By generating
reports for comparison with the B&W/AL warm recycle de- more net power when electricity prices are higher and storing LOX
sign. Figures 18.11 and 18.12 show the net plant efficiency when electricity prices are lower, profitability can be maximized.
and levelized cost of electricity for several options based on
data from DOE reports noted at the bottom of the charts [8]. 18.2.10 Retrofit Potential for Oxy-combustion
Air fired technologies are shown with the white shaded back- Initially oxy-coal combustion was favored as a retrofit technology.
ground, conventional carbon capture technologies with a light However, early studies using small (<400 MWe), old units with no
gray shaded background, and future carbon capture technology scrubber or SCR required a high investment because (1) basic SOx
predictions with a darker gray shaded background. The tech- and NOx equipment was included in the retrofit cost, (2) small unit
nologies are identified along the bottom; Cases 3 and 4 are post- costs are negatively impacted significant by economy of scale, (3) the
combustion with super and ultra supercritical steam conditions, older units suffered from relatively high air infiltration for a variety
Cases 5 and 6 are oxycombustion with super and ultra super- of reasons, and (4) the subcritical steam cycles were of low efficiency
critical steam conditions, and the two options encircled in black by comparison to current capability. After accounting for the signifi-
are the B &W-AL warm recycle process with super and ultra cant increase in parasitic power, the net heat rates were high, and
supercritical steam conditions. Supercritical steam conditions along with the high capital costs, high costs of electricity resulted.
are 3500 psi, 1110/1150°F, and ultra-super-critical are 4000 Because of these high costs, many began to view oxy-combustion
psi, 1350°F/1400°F. Case 7 uses ion transport membrane tech- only as a greenfield technology. In addition, partial capture with oxy-
nology for oxygen separation. The average IGCC performance combustion is not as flexible as with post-combustion carbon capture
from the referenced DOE/NETL 1281 study on the same basis (PCCC) and may require more capital investment.
is also shown. It was also believed by some that oxy-combustion is not as easy
Figure 18.11 compares the net plant efficiencies. The warm re- to retrofit as PCCC. Actually, oxy-combustion and PCCC require
cycle design, encircled in black, promises noticeably higher effi- very similar site characteristics, and oxy-combustion has the advan-
ciency compared with the other carbon capture technologies. When tage of not imposing on the steam turbine. Both require particulate
ultra-super-critical steam conditions become available in a decade
or so, the efficiency is expected to be comparable to a today’s cur-
rent modern air-fired super-critical power plant design.
Figure 18.12 compares the levelized cost of electricity and its
components for the same options using the same shading scheme.
All are based on the same financial assumptions burning the same
bituminous coal and estimated in 2007 dollars, not including own-
er’s costs. Again, warm recycle promises much lower costs, and fu-
ture high-temperature steam boilers will improve costs even further.
These comparisons indicate that oxy-combustion promises to be very
competitive with both IGCC and post-combustion technologies.

18.2.9 Partial Capture and Swing Operation

Although oxy-combustion requires conversion of the entire pro­
cess, a plant can be operated to achieve partial capture and benefit
from both lower capital cost and higher revenue. This is accom-
plished by designing the plant to be capable of air firing and pro-
viding liquid oxygen storage and an ASU sized for part load. The
plant would operate air fired for part of the time and oxy-fired for
part of the time, depending on what percentage of CO2 capture is Fig. 18.12 Comparison of Levelized Cost of Elec-
desired. The smaller ASU would require less capital and consume tricity for CCS Options
18-10  •  Chapter 18

removal and SO2 scrubbing and space for compression equipment. necessary to help decrease maintenance costs and because impuri-
Post-combustion carbon capture requires space for a polishing ties in particulate matter (coal fly ash, for example) can contribute
scrubber, the absorption and regeneration towers, re-boiler, piping, to corrosion and solvent degradation. The reduction of NOx and
pumps, and so on, and it requires either major modifications to the SOx is necessary because these compounds are reactive toward
existing low-pressure steam turbine or a separate boiler to produce many solvents and because of purity specifications in the transport
the significant amount of low-pressure regeneration steam. Oxy- lines. The absorber design pressure is generally higher than a typi-
combustion requires space for a dehumidifier, which also polishes cal FGD system, so the flue gas must be conveyed through the CO2
some SO2, and the ASU. Overall, the total footprint of this equip- absorption system using a blower or compressor.
ment is essentially the same. Thus, the base plant requirements for The optimal scrubber inlet temperature for the process described
oxy-combustion compared with PCCC are essentially the same, herein is somewhat lower than the conditions at which the FGD
but PCCC has the added complication of steam turbine modifica- system operates. The flue gas must therefore be cooled before en-
tions or another boiler for low-pressure regeneration steam. tering the absorption section of the CO2 absorption system. The
For 90% carbon capture, both technologies have about the same process utilizes a direct contact cooler to accomplish this.
retrofit requirements and similar cost. The greatest advantage The direct contact cooler is an open spray tower in which the
PCCC has for retrofit applications is the ability to install a smaller, flue gas is cooled by contact with water before entering the ab-
lower-cost system and remove only part of the CO2. But it has been sorber. Water is pumped to an array of spray nozzles in the top of
shown by DOE and others that the cost of CO2 removed or avoided the tower, and the flue gas enters from the bottom. The flue gas is
for partial capture is higher than 90% capture. cooled as it passes upward through the tower counter-currently to
the liquid. The water is then collected in the vessel sump, where it
18.3  OST-COMBUSTION CARBON
P is recycled to the spray nozzle array after cooling.
CAPTURE The direct contact cooler has dedicated re-circulation pumps to
circulate cooling water through the tower. A dedicated heat ex-
18.3.1 Process Description changer is used to provide the required cooling to the re-circulated
In the remainder of this section, PCCC technology shall simply water. Process water is used as makeup to the circulation system as
be referred to as “PCCC.” It is called “post-combustion” because required, and a bleed stream is purged from the system to remove
it captures CO2 from the flue gas downstream of the boiler. The trace amounts of acid gases and other contaminants captured dur-
technology lends itself well to retrofits because a PCCC system is ing the cooling process in the spray column.
a stand-alone system that does not require boiler modifications to
accommodate its inclusion in the flue gas train. Babcock & Wilcox 18.3.1.2   CO2 Absorber System
Company’s PCCC system works by absorbing CO2 directly from
flue gas in an absorber unit using a regenerable solvent. The CO2- 18.3.1.2.1  Packed Bed CO2 Absorber Column  The flue gas leav-
laden solvent from the absorber is then sent to a solvent regen- ing the direct contact cooler then enters the CO2 absorber. The absorber
erator unit where the solvent is heated, and the CO2 is released in is usually a packed column-type unit utilizing metal packing to increase
a concentrated stream. This CO2 stream can then be compressed the effective area for mass transfer occurring within the tower. Struc-
and permanently stored in appropriate geological strata. The sol- tured packing generally facilitates the desired absorption performance at
vent, after being relieved of CO2 in the solvent regenerator, is then a relatively low pressure drop, compared with random packing or trays.
recycled to the absorber unit for additional CO2 capture. Figure This can become a significant advantage in terms of energy savings,
18.13 shows an overview of the major chemical/physical processes given the large volumes of flue gas generated by electric utilities.
within the basic PCCC system design. The flue gas entering the CO2 absorber is contacted counter-
18.3.1.1  Flue Gas System  Flue gas enters the CO2 absorp- currently with a solvent solution. The solvent used is typically an
tion system after pre-treatment to reduce particulate matter, NOx, amine solution or an amine solution with additives. The regenerated
and SOx to very low levels. The reduction of particulate matter is (or lean) solvent solution is introduced at the top of the column,
using low-pressure weir/trough-type liquid distributors to feed the
solution over the packing via gravity overflow. The solvent solu-
tion subsequently absorbs CO2 from the flue gas in the packed bed
section(s). At the bottom of the absorber column, the CO2-laden (or
rich) solvent solution exits the absorber via a CO2 absorber bottoms
pump and is then pumped to the solvent regeneration system.
The flue gas that exits the top of the final absorption section
of packing often contains some residual amount of solvent, which
is either entrained or present in the gaseous phase of the flue gas
stream. Since this solvent solution is costly and must be conserved
as much as possible, a water wash packed section is typically lo-
cated at the top of the absorber between the final absorption packed
section and the mist eliminator, so that the solvent is recovered (by
either physical impaction or by gaseous absorption) before the flue
gas exits the absorber.
After passing through the water wash section of the absorber, the
flue gas then passes through an entrainment separator (which may be
either a chevron-type or a mesh pad) before exiting the absorber.
Fig. 18.13 Generic regenerable solvent-based 18.3.1.2.2  Rich Solvent Solution Heating/Lean Solvent Solution
PCCC flow sheet Cooling  CO2 absorption by amine solvents is a temperature-swing
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  18-11

process. CO2 is absorbed from flue gas with relatively cool solvent 18.3.1.3.3  Lean Solvent Stream Conditioning  The lean solvent
and is then stripped from the solvent solution by heating the solu- solution from the bottom of the regenerator column passes through
tion in a regenerator tower. Before entering the regenerator, it is a heat exchanger, as described in Section 18.3.1.2.2, and is then
advantageous to pre-heat the rich solvent stream by exchanging returned to the CO2 absorber by the regenerator bottoms pump.
heat with the hot, lean solvent stream. This conserves energy that The lean solvent is cooled further by a trim cooler before entering
would otherwise be used to heat the rich solvent solution to the re- the absorber. This ensures positive control of the lean solvent inlet
generator operating temperature. This serves a dual purpose, since temperature, which is a critical parameter.
the lean solvent stream leaving the bottom of the absorber is too Some solvents may require additional purification other than the
hot for effective CO2 absorption. Cooling the lean solvent stream reclaimer as previously described. In this case, a small portion of the
by exchanging heat with the rich solvent solution saves a signifi- lean solvent stream is directed to additional processes such as filtra-
cant quantity of cooling water. The heat required in the regenerator tion units, ion-exchange units or activated carbon beds, to remove
is provided by a re-boiler heat exchanger, which uses steam to boil impurities (particulate and dissolved) from the solvent stream.
the solvent stream, thereby releasing the absorbed CO2.
18.3.2 State of Development
B&W is conducting a major effort to develop a PCCC process
18.3.1.3  Solvent Regenerator System
suitable for the capture of CO2 at coal-fired utility plants. If CO2 can
18.3.1.3.1  Solvent Regenerator Tower  The heated, rich solvent be economically captured from these large point sources and sub-
stream from the CO2 absorber enters the top of the regenerator sequently stored outside the atmosphere, emissions of greenhouse
tower where it is heated as it flows downward by gravity through gases, and their potential impacts on the climate system, could be
the tower. The regenerator tower may utilize trays or beds of pack- reduced significantly. This effort is being conducted in parallel with
ing to provide the required mass transfer surface area for the regen- a variety of other B&W studies aimed at the reduction or capture
eration of the solvent. As the rich amine solution is heated, CO2 of CO2, including major programs in ultra-super-critical boilers and
is released from the liquid stream and passes upward through the oxy-coal combustion. Processes such as regenerable solvent-based
tower as a vapor, along with steam. The CO2/steam mixture is pro- PCCC have several advantages for near-term application at coal-
gressively purified as it passes upward in the tower and ultimately fired power plants: (1) they are commercially available (for other
leaves through the top of the tower where it passes to the con­ industrial applications), (2) they are applicable to both new and ex-
denser. The released CO2 passes through a short rectification sec- isting coal-fired plants (unlike IGCC, for example), and (3) they can
tion at the top of the column to remove any traces of solvent, and be applied to either the entire flue gas stream, or only a portion of it
then leaves the solvent regenerator from the top of the tower and (unlike both IGCC and oxy-coal combustion).
passes to the regenerator condenser. Regenerable solvent scrubbing using simple amines, as de-
The re-boiler heat exchanger for the regenerator column uses ployed by the petrochemical industry since 1934, is currently the
steam to heat the solvent solution to the required temperature only commercially available PCCC technology. These convention-
for effective stripping. The reboiler units create a vapor stream, al systems are capital intensive and have a high operating cost. It
which passes upward from the bottom of the regenerator tower and is B&W’s intent to find better solvents, improve the process flow
through the tray section. Condensation of a portion of the strip- schemes, make better use of heat sources in the power plant, and
ping vapor as it contacts the solvent, which cascades downward better manage solvent life. Babcock & Wilcox Company believes
through the tray section, heats the solvent solution, and drives off that the development of a superior PCCC process is a key develop-
the absorbed CO2. ment target to ensure the continued use of coal in a carbon-con-
The regenerator unit may also have an additional reboiler, strained world.
which is referred to as the reclaimer. The reclaimer is similar in In a regenerable solvent-based PCCC process, CO2 is removed
size to the reboiler, but is used to purify the solvent. As the sol- using a wet scrubber, or absorber, similar to the wet scrubbers used
vent runs through successive absorption/desorption cycles over for removing SO2 from flue gases. There are some important dif-
time, there is a small amount of degradation that occurs due to ferences between CO2 and SO2 scrubbers, however. First, CO2 is
side reactions. The byproducts created by these side reactions present in much greater quantities than SO2, meaning that the sol-
must be periodically removed from the solvent. The reclaimer vent must be regenerable, or reusable. After absorbing CO2, the
unit performs this function. A small slipstream of solvent from rich solvent is therefore directed to a regenerator wherein the CO2
the lean solvent stream is periodically directed to the reclaimer
unit where it is vaporized into the regenerator unit. The byprod-
ucts are left behind in this process and are recovered from the C02 Pilot
Power
Plant
reclaimer as a “heavy heel.” Control
Lab
Plant Integration
18.3.1.3.2  CO2 Stream Conditioning  From the top of the re-
generator column, the gaseous CO2 stream leaves the unit and
passes through a condenser, which cools the gas stream enough to Discovery Screening
Concept Process
Detailed
Engineering
Commercial
Design
condense steam and excess solvent solution. After passing through Selection
Design
Demo

the condenser, the nearly pure CO2 stream passes through a regen-
erator reflux drum to further remove condensed water and solvent
solution entrained in the gas stream. Simulation
Modeling
Flow
Modeling
The purified CO2 stream from the top of the regenerator reflux
drum then proceeds to the CO2 dehydration/purification/compres-
sion system. The liquid stream from the bottom of the regenerator Fig. 18.14 B&W’s PCCC process development
reflux drum is returned to the regenerator column. program
18-12  •  Chapter 18

Wetted‐Wall Column
Gas Out

Advantages
►
Differential reactor
• “Slice of absorber or regenerator”
►
Known process conditions
• Contact area
• T, p, compositions, flow rates

Objectives
►
Fundamental solvent data
• Equilibrium (VLE)
• Mass transfer coefficients
• Chemical reaction rate constants
►
Input data for simulation models
Solvent Gas In
Out Solvent
In

Fig. 18.15 Sources of process design information Fig. 18.16  Wetted-wall column

is removed from the solvent and directed to compression and stor-

age, while the lean solvent is returned to the absorber. Second, model can be used to predict the overall performance of the pro­
CO2 is less soluble in water and therefore more difficult to remove cess. The model predictions must be verified at each step.
from flue gases than SO2. This means that the solvent must have a
strong affinity for CO2 to allow for its capture in a reasonably sized 18.3.2.1  CO2 Control Laboratory  This laboratory is used to
absorber. Unfortunately, solvents with a strong affinity for CO2 evaluate potential CO2 solvents to reduce the regeneration energy
can be undesirable for the regeneration process because they tend required while maintaining a reasonable rate of absorption. It
to require significant energy to release the captured CO2. The net contains two major test facilities: a wetted-wall column (WWC) for
result of these factors means that if conventional amine scrubbing precise measurements of fundamental mass transfer and chemical
were to be used for CO2 capture at a coal-fired power plant, the kinetics data and a fully integrated bench-scale process for studies
electrical output of the plant would be reduced by about one-third of process design concepts. These laboratory-scale tools facilitate
and the cost of electricity would increase by 50% to 100%. the characterization and selection of solvents, as well as the evalu-
B&W’s PCCC process development approach, illustrated ation of novel process flow sheets and heat integration approaches.
in Figure 18.14, is aimed at finding better solvents, improving These tools have been carefully characterized and validated against
process design, making better use of heat sources in the power data from other laboratories.
plant, and better managing solvent life and corrosion issues. This The WWC, shown in Figure 18.16, is a gas-liquid contactor
work is being conducted using a stage-gate approach to carry wherein CO2 absorption or desorption can be studied under pre-
ideas from discovery through initial screening, selection of an cisely controlled conditions. Its primary advantage is that, due
improved process concept, preparation of process and detailed to its simple geometry, the area of contact between the gas and
engineering designs, and finally demonstration of the process at liquid (solvent) is accurately known. The solvent flows verti-
commercial scale.
Figure 18.14 also illustrates a variety of tools that have been put
into place by B&W to support the PCCC development activities.
These tools are invaluable for the support of a commercial PCCC WWC Data Analysis
product. Significant resources and funding have been devoted to
Flux = NCO = KG Awwc (pCO – p*CO )
the creation of these tools. The rationale for selecting these particu- 2 2 2

lar tools can be illustrated by considering the kinds of information • Awwc is known for WWC
needed to develop a conceptual design for an improved regenerable • Plot of flux versus pCO yields both KG and p*CO
2 2
• Chemical reaction rate constant can be extracted from KG
solvent-based CO2 absorber. This information is illustrated in Figure
0.0004
18.15. The regenerator design requires essentially the same informa-
0.0003
tion, since it simply runs the absorption process in reverse. 0.0002
Absorpon

The rate of CO2 absorption, or flux NCO2, can be expressed as the 0.0001
Slope = KG
p*CO
product of an overall mass transfer coefficient, KG, the effective gas-
Flux (mol/s-m2)

2
0.0000

liquid contact area, Aeff, and the driving force for mass transfer ex- -0.0001
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800

pressed as the difference between the actual partial pressure of CO2 -0.0002 Desorpon

and the partial pressure of CO2 that would be required to bring the -0.0003

phases into equilibrium, (pCO2 – p*CO2). Key information on the fun- -0.0004

damental characteristics of a solvent can be generated in laboratory- -0.0005

-0.0006
scale equipment. This information is generated for conditions at a PCO (Pa)
2
particular point in the absorber or regenerator. By generating in-
formation over a wide range of conditions, a computer simulation Fig. 18.17  Fundamental Data Produced by WWC
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  18-13

cally upward through the tube at the center, exits at the top, and
flows downward over the outside surface of the tube in a thin
film. This solvent is contacted with the CO2-containing gas,
which flows upward through the annular space around the tube.
Careful control of temperature, pressure, and concentrations
permits the generation of high-quality fundamental data on the
mass transfer, chemical reaction kinetics, and thermodynamic
properties of the solvent. This information is then used in com-
puter simulation models to predict process performance.
Figure 18.17 illustrates how WWC data is used to character-
ize a solvent. If the CO2 flux — the rate at which CO2 is either
absorbed or desorbed — is plotted as a function of the CO2 partial
pressure in the gas, a straight line is obtained. Since the area of gas-
liquid contact is known, the overall mass transfer coefficient can
be calculated from the slope of the line. The point at which the line
crosses the x-axis defines the thermodynamic equilibrium value of
CO2 vapor pressure in the liquid phase for the given conditions.
Through careful design of the experiments, the chemical reac-
tion rate constant for the reaction of the solvent with CO2 can be
extracted from the overall mass transfer coefficient. All of this in-
formation is crucial for proper prediction of solvent performance Fig. 18.19 PCCC pilot plant
in the process.
The bench-scale PCCC unit, illustrated in Figure 18.18, is a fully used at larger scale, including the absorber column at the left, the
functional process testing facility, designed to operate at a very regenerator column at the right, and the electrically heated reboiler
small scale. The unit contains most of the equipment that would be at the lower right in the photograph. In a full-scale process, heat
to the reboiler would normally be provided by steam. The unit is
designed to capture approximately one kilogram of CO2 per hour.
Bench-Scale PCCC Process The columns are of modular design, and the process can be op-
erated in a variety of modes, providing flexibility for development
work. The unit provides the opportunity to examine the perfor­
Advantages Solvent Makeup
mance of a new solvent in a fully integrated process, facilitates
Integrated process Stack CO2
parametric studies of the important independent process variables,
Product
Modular column design
Multiple modes of operation
and provides data for computer simulation model validation. It can
also be used to evaluate solvent management issues such as degra-
Objectives Absorber Regenerator dation and corrosion.
First look at new solvents
Impacts of operating conditions
18.3.2.2  PCCC Pilot Plant  The PCCC pilot plant, which is
L/G, T, P, CO2 loading Rich Solvent Energy

Mass and energy balances Flue shown in Figure 18.19, is used to evaluate potential CO2 solvents
Gas

Solvent management studies

Lean Solvent
and process flow schemes aimed at reducing the regeneration en-
0.9 kg/hr CO2 capture ergy required while maintaining a reasonable rate of absorption.
Relative to the bench-scale data provided by the CO2 control labo-
ratory, the primary advantage of the PCCC pilot plant is that it can
provide high-quality, quantitative data representative of full-scale
equipment. The pilot plant is installed in a building adjacent to
B&W’s small boiler simulator (SBS-II), which is a facility that
simulates a coal-fired power plant from the coal pile to the stack.
The pilot plant operates on approximately half of the flue gas flow
from the SBS-II, which is approximately 3100 lb/hr of flue gas, or
7 tons/day of captured CO2. It can also be operated in a re-circulation
mode using synthetic flue gas, which is a mixture of nitrogen and
manufactured CO2.
Conditioned flue gas exiting the SBS-II system first flows to
a blower, which provides the motive force required to move the
gas through the direct contact cooler and absorber tower. The flue
gas is then cooled to the desired absorber operating temperature in
the direct contact cooler, wherein the flue gas is directly contacted
with cooling water as it flows through a bed of packing. The flue
gas then enters the base of the absorber tower (2 ft in diameter and
approximately 55 ft high) where it is contacted by the solvent, and
CO2 is removed. The CO2 removal portion of the absorber consists
Fig. 18.18 Bench-scale PCCC unit of two beds of packing. A third bed of packing at the u­pper end of
18-14  •  Chapter 18

the absorber tower is a water-wash section to reduce solvent losses One of the primary goals of this project was to create a scalable
to the flue gas stream. Clean flue gas is exhausted to the atmos- model, which could be used as a basis for comparison for techno-
phere, first through a carbon filter, and then through the SBS-II economic evaluations, as well as to enable B&W to respond to
stack. requests for preliminary pricing and equipment descriptions for
Rich solvent from the base of the absorber is pumped through PCCC systems. During the design phase of the project, most of the
a carbon bed and particulate filter, the cross heat exchanger, and key departments within B&W, which would typically be involved
a trim heater before it enters the upper portion of the regenerator in a contract to engineer, procure, and construct the PCCC system,
(also 2 ft in diameter and approximately 55 ft high). In the regener- were engaged in the process. This methodology led to further ben-
ator, CO2 is thermally driven from the solvent solution as it passes efits such as the establishment of preliminary design teams for the
down through beds of packing. A natural gas-fired boiler provides future product, as well as the development of a preliminary supply
steam to the reboiler, which drives the regeneration process. chain of vendors and fabricators for the various materials, equip-
The captured CO2 is exhausted through the carbon filter and ment, and services required.
SBS-II stack. The lean solvent leaving the bottom of the regenera- The PCCC Reference Plant design includes contributions from
tor is cooled as it flows, first through the cross heat exchanger and nearly all departments in the company, including engineering
then a trim cooler before it flows into the solvent cycle tank. From disciplines such as structural mechanics, technical design, instru-
the solvent cycle tank, the lean solvent is pumped back to the top mentation and controls engineering, and process engineering, as
of the absorber. well as non-engineering disciplines such as purchasing, cost esti-
Nearly all pilot plant operations are controlled from the con- mating, scheduling, and transportation. Babcock & Wilcox Com-
trol room using four workstations. Personnel and equipment are pany Construction Co., Inc., was also involved in the process,
protected by a safety interlock system. Over 400 instruments pro- not only providing estimated pricing for erection of the proposed
vide extensive process information to the control system as well as equipment, but also assisting in designing the plant for ease of
to a data acquisition system. Data collected allows for the comple- constructability.
tion of both mass and energy balances. The building is well venti- The PCCC Reference Plant project has led to the development
lated, and an ambient air monitoring system continuously samples of a full package of engineering documentation, which includes a
the air at 10 locations throughout the building for the presence of complete set of piping and instrumentation drawings, a 3-D plant
solvent vapor. All waste water is sequestered in the waste water layout model using PDMS (Figure 18.20), various equipment lists
storage tank, and the water is analyzed to determine the proper and schematics, mechanical designs and fabrication sketches for
disposal method. major process vessels, foundation and structural steel designs,
Construction of the pilot plant began in June 2008. First full RFQ packages and equipment specifications for all major pieces of
operation on an amine solvent was achieved in June 2009. Base- equipment, various construction estimates, man-hour estimates for
line tests to fully characterize pilot plant performance on a conven- all technical and non-technical disciplines, process flow diagrams
tional 30 wt% monoethanolamine solvent have been completed. with complete material and energy balances, and more.
The results of these tests will serve as a basis of comparison for
other solvents, and as validation data for computer-based process 18.3.4 Commercial Plant Considerations
simulation models. Babcock & Wilcox Company’s regenerable solvent-based
After completion of the baseline tests, development testing of PCCC system is based on technology, which has been used for
advanced solvents and processes has begun. The most promising over 75 years in the oil and gas industry. However, many challenges
process concepts identified through bench-scale CO2 control labo-
ratory testing, and supported by computer simulation modeling,
are selected and fully characterized and optimized through testing
in the pilot plant.

18.3.3 Reference Plant Description and Features

At the time of writing, a commercial-scale demonstration of re-
generable solvent-based PCCC has not been performed at a coal-
fired utility power plant. Thus, the size of the first demonstration
plant is not yet known, so a complete engineering design of a com-
mercial plant is not required at this time. However, much work can
be done in advance of the first commercial plant design to gain
understanding in key areas such as chemical and physical process
simulation, equipment sizing and selection, supply chain develop-
ment, capital and operating cost evaluation, understanding the in-
tellectual property landscape, and integration of the PCCC system
with the power plant.
Thus, B&W launched the PCCC Reference Plant design project.
Using design tools such as Aspen Plus® and ProTreat®, the project
team performed numerous process simulations to calculate equip-
ment sizes for a theoretical plant, which is designed to remove 90%
of CO2 from a flue gas stream containing 1500 metric tons per day
of CO2, based on burning a typical eastern bituminous (Illinois #6)
coal and using a typical amine-based solvent (30 wt% aqueous mo- Fig. 18.20 A 1500-metric tons per day PCCC Refer-
noethanolamine, or MEA) as the scrubbing solution. ence Plant
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  18-15

that have been addressed in existing applications have entirely new Emissions. Depending on the solvent properties, as well as the
ramifications and impacts when this technology is used in the power type(s) of solvent reclamation equipment used in the PCCC system,
generation industry. Moreover, a host of new issues arises when the potential exists for new emissions in the various gas, liquid, and
the existing technology is applied to coal flue gas, which involves a solid effluent streams. For example, depending on the volatility of
different process stream in terms of volume, temperature, pressure, the solvent, additional treatment beyond the rectification/wash sec-
and chemistry. New contaminants are present in coal flue gases, tion at the top of the absorber (as described previously) may be
which have never been addressed before by the existing technol- required. Also, depending on whether the system is designed to
ogy. Operating pressure is much higher, and gas volume is much operate in a water-generating or water-consuming mode — both
lower for oil and gas applications. The sheer size of the equipment of which may be possible, depending on the solvent and the final
required for power plant applications may reach the upper design system design — certain compounds may be present in any liquid
limits for some of the important sub-systems within the PCCC effluent streams that are generated, which may require treatment
system. by the power plant’s waste water treatment system. Finally, de-
This section includes general discussions of some of the key is- pending on the solvent used and the type of solvent reclamation
sues that must be considered when applying the technology de- system used, the effluent streams from such equipment would be
scribed herein to PCCC for coal-fired flue gas at commercial scale a solid waste, which could require off-site disposal. All of these
for the power generation industry. effluent streams must be considered not only when evaluating vari-
Flue Gas Pre-Scrubbing. Depending on the concentration of ous PCCC technologies, but also during the PCCC system design
NOx and SO2 in the flue gas entering the PCCC system, a pre- phase once a technology is selected.
scrubber may be required upstream of the regenerable solvent ab- Solvent Degradation and System Corrosion. Two of the most influ-
sorption train. Residual NOx and SOx in the flue gas are absorbed ential and least understood parameters in designing a PCCC system
in the solvent, and at significant levels, this can lead to formation for coal flue gas applications are solvent degradation and system cor-
of byproducts, which can be detrimental to the performance of the rosion. These concepts are highly interrelated and interdependent, and
solvent (this is described in more detail later). a change in one area often directly impacts the other.
Pre-scrubbing of the flue gas upstream of the PCCC system can Solvent degradation is the primary mechanism for the loss of
take several forms. If the flue gas has already been treated by tra- the available solvent loading capacity in the absorber of a PCCC
ditional flue gas desulfurization (FGD) systems, such as dry or system. As the concentration of degraded solvent increases in the
wet scrubbers, then the performance of these processes could be circulating solution, there is less free (un-reacted) solvent to react
enhanced by either chemical additives or physical modifications with the CO2 in the inlet flue gas to the absorber. This directly im-
to the existing FGD systems, where only nominal performance pacts the removal capacity of the circulating solution, thus caus-
enhancements are required. However, if a significant amount of ing the absorber CO2 removal efficiency to decrease. This can be
additional NOx/SOx removal is required, then a separate pre- offset by increasing the circulation rate of solvent; however, this
scrubber unit may be necessary. Depending on the design of the also increases the reboiler duty, which increases steam (energy)
PCCC system, it may be possible to achieve the required level consumption. Another option is to add solvent reclamation equip-
of pre-scrubbing by using chemical additives such as sodium bi- ment to lower the concentration of degradation species to accept-
carbonate, lime, or other alkaline reagents to the direct contact able levels. Several different equipment options are discussed
cooler. below.
Partial Boiler Load Operation. Many larger power generation Solvent degradation occurs through several different mecha-
plants are considered to be base loaded and as such operate at or nisms: (1) oxidative, (2) thermal, and (3) chemical.
near full load — or at least at steady state — for extended periods. Oxidative degradation occurs when the re-circulating solvent
However, many of these plants still do adjust their operation based comes into contact with oxygen, which is contained in the enter-
on changes in electrical demand. For other plants, adjusting load is ing flue gas from the power plant. Another possible location for
a constant process, which takes place weekly, daily, or even hourly. oxidative degradation, which is more often overlooked and less sig-
Thus, the PCCC system must be designed with this important pro­ nificant, is in the regenerator. Oxygen can be regenerated as a by-
cess consideration in mind. product of thermal degradation reactions, released from oxidative
The amount of flue gas generated is one of the primary sizing degradation species as they are processed in the regenerator, or car-
criteria for the direct contact cooler and CO2 absorber, whereas ried to the regenerator as dissolved oxygen. This oxygen can then
the amount of CO2 removed from the flue gas is one of the pri- react with a solvent molecule to form further degradation species.
mary sizing criteria for the regenerator. These vessels are generally A second degradation mechanism is thermal degradation, which
designed according to the maximum values of these parameters, is the formation of heat-stable salts at elevated temperatures. These
but the internals for these vessels, and the ancillary equipment that compounds cannot be regenerated to the original solvent in the base
supports their operation, must be designed for maximum opera- PCCC system regenerator. These reactions are significantly en-
tional flexibility. Equipment such as pumps, piping systems, heat hanced by elevated temperatures and are most prevalent at the rich
exchangers, and tanks must all be designed to perform within ac- solvent exit of the cross-heat exchanger, the reboiler, regenerator
ceptable limits throughout the expected range of the operation of bottoms, and the lean solvent entrance to the cross heat exchanger.
the power plant. In addition, the solvent reaction to form thermal degradation spe-
In addition to designing specific equipment for maximum flex- cies often produces NH3 as a breakdown byproduct.
ibility, the overall operation of the PCCC system must be consid- A third solvent degradation mechanism is chemical degradation,
ered as well. Especially in cases where the amount of flexibility wherein the circulating solvent reacts with SO2 and NO2 in the
required cannot be achieved simply by changing flow rates, inlet flue gas to the PCCC system. Both of these contaminants will
temperatures, and/or pressures, for example, options such as re- quickly react with the solvent, forming heat-stable salts.
circulation loops, bypasses, or semi-batch operation can also be Other conditions that increase the solvent degradation rate in
considered to provide reliable operation during low boiler load. an existing system are as follows: (1) increased temperatures in
18-16  •  Chapter 18

the cross heat exchanger, reboiler, or regenerator (due to foul- Another area where the PCCC system can be optimized is to
ing, for example); (2) higher corrosion rates leading to higher the footprint/layout. Since PCCC technologies are generally well
concentrations of metals in the circulating solution; (3) excursions suited for retrofit applications, the proposed equipment will likely
of ash (metals) to the PCCC system; (4) higher CO2 loading in be required to fit into an existing space at a power plant, and many
the reboiler (which leads to increased temperature and therefore plant locations have moderate to severe space limitations. Certain
increased thermal degradation); and (5) lower CO2 loading in the types of equipment can be configured to require minimal footprint,
lean solvent feed stream at the top of the absorber (which increases where real estate is at a premium. For example, vertical thermosi-
the driving force of and therefore the rate of various oxidative and phon re-boilers could be used in lieu of horizontal shell and tube
chemical degradation reactions). designs, or absorber/regenerator tower diameters could be mini-
There are many methods to decrease the concentration of deg- mized based on the type of internals used therein. Pumps, heat ex-
radation species in the re-circulating solution including ion ex- changers, and instrumentation can be located in areas, which not
change, thermal re-claimers (which are discussed above), activated only provide the functionality required, but also allow for ease of
carbon beds, filtration, electrodialysis, vacuum distillation, and maintenance while being located such that the amount of footprint
degradation inhibitors. Ion exchange and electrodialysis are most required is minimized.
effective at removing ionic degradation species such as oxidative Power Plant Steam Usage/Heat Integration. As discussions con-
species. Activated carbon beds are generally used to remove deg- tinue regarding the concept of installing PCCC to help r­etain coal
radation precursors. Filtration is used to remove particulate (e.g., as a viable fuel source for power generation in the future, perhaps
ash) and pipe scale resulting from corrosion. Thermal reclaimers no single aspect of PCCC has garnered more discussion than the
and vacuum distillation are used to regenerate and remove all types amount of energy required to operate such systems. Because the
of degradation species. solvents used to absorb CO2 are too e­xpensive for once-through
Solvent degradation is further compounded by corrosion prod- operation, they must be regenerated and recycled. However, the so-
ucts. As corrosion occurs in the PCCC system, the metals concen- called “energy penalty” for doing so is s­ignificant.
tration in the system increases catalyzing degradation reactions and Energy requirements for PCCC can be minimized in a number
forming higher concentrations of degradation species. Conversely, of ways. Electrical power consumption (i.e., from motors, heaters,
as the concentrations of degradation products increase for many and instrumentation) can be minimized as indicated above. Heat
solvents, the corrosivity of the solution increases. This, in turn, ac- recovery can be accomplished by integrating systems such as boiler
celerates the corrosion rate within the PCCC system. feed water heaters, heat exchangers within the PCCC system,
Corrosion takes many forms and occurs in several locations and inter-coolers within the CO2 compression system. Perhaps the
in the PCCC system. One of the most significant locations for most significant impact can be made by integrating or modifying
corrosion is in the regenerator bottom, where aqueous (liquid- the existing boiler systems to generate some or all of the steam
phase) water and gaseous CO2 are present, creating the possi- required for solvent regeneration in ways that reduce the total
bility of CO2 pitting, which forms small pinpoint holes that can amount of steam required (or maximize the efficiency of energy
be difficult to detect. This type of corrosion is also often found recovery from this steam).
at galvanic cells, which are created where two different metals In addition to using novel approaches to maximizing energy
are welded together. Both corrosion and erosion are a concern consumption in the steam cycle, one must also consider the source
at the rich solvent inlet of the regenerator, where the feed stream of the solvent regeneration steam. Typically, the assumption in
is present in both liquid and gaseous phases owing to flashing. many PCCC engineering studies to date has been that the steam re-
Both erosion and corrosion in this area can cause significant vi- quired for solvent regeneration will be withdrawn from the cross-
bration and, ultimately, mechanical failure if the system is not over header located between the intermediate- and low-pressure
designed properly. Two other areas where corrosion is a concern, steam turbines. However, the amount of steam generally required
because of both high temperatures and the ability for gaseous for most current PCCC system designs may require a quantity of
CO2 to evolve from solution, are the rich outlet and the lean inlet steam that would negatively affect the operation of the turbine, to
of the cross heat exchanger. Corrosion in both of these areas can the extent that such schemes are not practical.
be addressed by proper material selection during the design phase In cases such as this, alternative sources of regenerator steam
of the PCCC system. must be considered. Such sources could include over-firing the
General Process Optimization. In addition to the options discussed boiler to create additional steam, placing additional heating sur-
above, many other opportunities exist both in the design phase and face in the existing boiler, or perhaps a separate steam generator
during actual operation of the PCCC system. Power consumption altogether, such as a circulating fluid bed fired with biomass or
can be minimized by using heat integration strategies as discussed in a gas turbine with a heat recovery steam generator. Of course,
the next section, as well as by selecting the proper equipment for the such sources may also create additional amounts of CO2 as well
intended application, and by tuning the system during startup. Split as other regulated contaminants, which may trigger major permit
feed arrangements, wherein a semi-lean solvent stream is taken from changes and require additional environmental controls. Ultimately,
the middle of the regenerator and fed to the middle of the absorber, the optimum approach for a given power plant will depend on fac-
can help improve absorber performance in some cases. Inter-cool- tors such as the amount of land and type of fuel available, age and
ing can be of benefit in moving the so-called absorber temperature condition of the existing boiler(s), permit limitations, and federal,
bulge (an area of maximum temperature in the absorber tower as the state, and local regulations.
gradient is mapped out from top to bottom) to decrease the amount
of regeneration steam required. Vapor recompression in the regen- 18.4 Acknowledgements
erator system can also help to decrease the amount of regeneration
steam required in some cases. In addition, the operating temperature Figure 18.1 was developed by B&W based on data from IEA,
and pressure, as well as the lean and rich solvent loading, can all be World Energy Outlook 2009. The 2007 pie chart on the left is based
optimized based on the specific solvent being used. on Annex A — Tables for Reference Scenario Projections, Table
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  18-17

Reference Scenario: World, Page 623. The 2030 pie chart on the 2. McDonald (B&W), Tranier (Air Liquide), “Oxy-coal is Ready for
left is based on Table 6.2, Capacity additions by fuel and region in Demonstration,” 35th International Technical Conference on Coal Uti-
the 450 Scenario (GW), Page 234 and for retirements, Figure 6.7, lization & Fuel Systems Conference, Clearwater, FL., June 2010.
World installed coal capacity and retirements/mothballing in the 3. McDonald, D. K., et al, “Status of B&W PGG’s Oxy-coal Combustion
450 Scenario, Page 235 was used. The results were cross-checked Commercialization Program” Electric Power Conference 2010, Balti-
that with Figure 9.3, World power-generation capacity in the 450 more, MD, May 2010.
Scenario (GW), Page 323. 4. Farzan, McDonald (B&W), Varagani, Docquier, Perrin (Air Liquide),
Figure 18.2 was generated from the EIA data Table 8.2 “Evaluation of Oxy-coal Combustion at a 30MWth Pilot,” 1st Interna-
World Estimated Recoverable Coal, December 31, 2008 (public tional Oxyfuel Combustion Conference, Cottbus, Germany, September
domain). 2009.
Figures 18.7, 18.8, and 18.9 are used by permission from AL.
5. McDonald, D. K., et al, “Oxy-fuel Process Developments Leading to
Figures 18.11 and 18.12 were developed by B&W using data
Demonstration Plant Design,” 1st International Oxyfuel Combustion
generated by B&W and taken from the DOE reports referenced on Conference, September 2009, Cottbus, Germany.
the figures (public domain).
All other figures and information were developed by B&W 6. McDonald, D. K., et al, “B&W and Air Liquide’s 100 MWe Oxy-fuel
Power Generation Group. Demonstration Program,” 34th International Coal Utilization and Fuel
Systems Conference, June 2009.
7. McDonald, D. K., et al, “30 MWt Clean Environment Development
18.5 References Oxy-Coal Combustion Test Program,” 33rd International Coal Utiliza-
tion and Fuel Systems Conference, June 2008.
1. Tranier J. P., et al, “Air Separation Unit and CO2 Compression and Pu-
rification Unit for Oxy-coal Combustion Systems,” 35th International 8. Ciferno, J., et al, “Pulverized Coal Oxy-combustion Power Plants,” Fi-
Technical Conference on Coal Utilization & Fuel Systems Conference, nal Report, August 2007, DOE-NETL-2007/1291, Revision 2 August
Clearwater, FL, June 2010. 2008.
 chapter

19
PETROLEUM DEPENDENCE, BIOFUELS —
ECONOMIES OF SCOPE AND SCALE;
US AND GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE
James L. Williams and Mark Jenner

The economic behavior of all fuels share many common character- bars show U.S. recessions. There is a clear economic risk of high
istics and it is important for the reader to apply principles concerning prices for nations that import a significant volume of their oil.
one fuel to others as the need arises. In many cases, we use the United
States as an example. This is because there is better long-term data
available than for other countries. In addition, it is a reference point to
compare countries especially when evaluating the impact of policies.
When comparing fuels we will focus on the cost per Btu and Btu/lb
and Btu/ft3. Efficiency in converting Btu’s to mechanical or electri-
cal forms of energy is important as well. The scale of the “conversion
plant” may affect efficiency and fuel use for a particular purpose.

19A.1 INTRODUCTION
Our purpose is to examine petroleum dependence, identify risks
of dependence, methods to mitigate dependence and risks and pro-
vide a methodology for comparison of alternative sources of energy.
We will not emphasize carbon emissions, but will provide tools for
examining the economic impact of various methods of reducing
emissions. We will compare petroleum with selected biofuels. Our
goal is to present a disciplined approach to the analysis of fuels and
to distinguish between the fuel and its carrier or storage device.
As terminology is often not well defined, we will define terms that Fig. 19A.1  Source [1, 3, 4, 5]
could lead to ambiguity. This chapter has two (2) Parts: Part A
dealing with Measures of Petroleum Dependence, and Part B We can use the graph to argue that high oil prices cause reces-
addressing Bioenergy Economics. sion. However, risks to oil exporters can be seen in the same graph. If
In the following discussion, the term “petroleum” includes crude the graph demonstrates that high prices cause recessions, it can also
oil, natural gas liquids and petroleum products, unless mentioned be viewed from the producer’s perspective. Recessions cause low oil
otherwise. prices. Dramatic dips in prices are also evident in economic weakness
outside the U.S. as in the case of the Asian Financial Crisis. A dramatic
increase in production by one or more OPEC members can have a
19A.2 M
 EASURES OF PETROLEUM similar effect and large decreases in production or exports often lead
DEPENDENCE to spikes in price. The October 1973 Embargo is an example. The em-
bargo was a response to importing countries supporting Israel in the
A nation dependent upon petroleum imports faces two major risks: Yom Kippur War. While it is often called the OPEC or Arab Oil Em-
a cessation of imports and a dramatic increase in price. For import- bargo, neither is correct. OPEC member Venezuela did not participate;
ing nations, a spike in prices can cause extreme economic damage. Iran, which is Persian, did join the embargo. Oil price fluctuations pose
Figure 19A.1 shows oil prices in 2009$ and nominal dollars. The economic risks to producers and consumers alike.
19-  •  Chapter 19

We say a nation is dependent if it is a net importer of petroleum decrease in the number of days that commercial stocks could cover
(crude oil and/or petroleum products). There are several commonly consumption. Before the SPR, the petroleum industry maintained
used measures of dependence: (1) petroleum imports as a percentage levels it thought appropriate to cover normal business risk as well
of total petroleum consumption, (2) the number of days total petro- as interruption due to hurricanes and geopolitical risks of embar-
leum stocks cover petroleum imports, (3) the number of days total gos, wars and revolutions. With the advent of the SPR there was no
stocks cover consumption, (4) the percentage of petroleum in total en- need for the industry to maintain stocks to cover geopolitical and
ergy consumption, and (5) the percentage of petroleum imports from hurricane risk and commercial inventories declined to a level com-
the top 5 suppliers [6, 7]. In the long run, only imports as a percentage mensurate with the normal business risk.
of consumption matter. The others help understand how much risk an
importing country might have to mitigate in the short-term. 19A.2.3 Days Coverage — Imports
Days import coverage is the number of days petroleum stocks or
19A.2.1 Import Percent of Consumption inventories can replace imports (stocks/imports). If we view imports
Net petroleum imports as a percent of consumption is the most gen- as a percent of consumption as a strategic measure of dependence,
eral and intuitive measure of import dependence. U.S. depen­dence on then days of import coverage is tactical in the sense that it is a rela-
imports of crude oil and petroleum products was about 35% at the time tively short-term measure. It is more focused on the threat of im-
of the 1973 Oil Embargo [4]. By the late 1970s, it approached 50% be- port interruption than days coverage. This graph shows the number
fore declining to below 30% in the early 1980s. It rose steadily to 60% of days petroleum inventories can replace imports for commercial
in 2006 before falling below 50% during the 2008 to 2009 recession. stocks and total stocks, which includes the Strategic Petroleum Re-
Import dependence generally declines during periods of high prices serve. Including the SPR, current import coverage is only marginally
and recession. The causes will become clear later (Fig. 19A.2). better than it was at the time of the 1973 embargo. Most of the in-
crease since 2008 is due to the impact of the recession (Fig. 19A.4).
Every U.S. President since Richard Nixon has called for energy

Fig. 19A.2  Source [3–5]

19A.2.2 Days Coverage — Stocks

Fig. 19A.4  Source [3–5]
Days coverage (Fig. 19A.3) is the number of days petroleum
stocks (crude oil and petroleum products) can supply the market. In independence by which they mean petroleum independence. It is
the graph below days coverage (stocks/consumption) is presented patently obvious that by this measure the U.S. is not significantly
with and without the stocks in the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve better off than it was at the beginning of the 1973 Oil Embargo or in
(SPR). It is worth noting that as the stocks in the Strategic Petroleum 1979 at the time of the Iranian Revolution and Iraq-Iran War which
Reserve increased in the early 1980s there was a corresponding followed. The problem is not unique to the United States. However,
it is only one side of the dependence issue.

19A.2.4 Export Dependence

Oil exporters are generally more dependent upon oil and its price than
those dependent upon imported oil. Figure 19A.5 shows how wildly
OPEC export revenue fluctuates over time. Half of the time since 1975
the annual fluctuation in inflation adjusted OPEC revenue exceeded
20%. In five of the 35 years, the annual change exceeded 40%.
OPEC net export revenue shows the organization is in a far bet-
ter position than it was in most of the 1980s and 1990s, but a bet-
ter measure might be per capita export revenues (Fig. 19A.6). While
there is improvement from the period of 1980s and 1990s, we see in
Fig. 19A.6 that on a per capita basis, even in 2008 at the time of the
highest oil price in real or nominal dollars, OPEC’s inflation adjusted
per capita exports were far below the peak in 1980. The large fluctua-
tions in revenue from oil make planning and budgeting very difficult
Fig. 19A.3  Source [3–5] for exporters, and place heavy stress on the political establishment.
 energy and power generation handbook  •  19-

Fig. 19A.5  Source [2]

Fig. 19A.7  Source [4]

production. In Fig. 19A.8, we show both oil production and total

petroleum production, which includes petroleum liquids from natu-
ral gas wells compared to consumption.

Fig. 19A.6  Source [2]

Most exporters maintain sovereign wealth funds where they

invest money during periods of high oil prices to draw on when
prices are low. However, as in the U.S. most, if not all, govern-
ments can reverse actions of their predecessors. The most recent
example among the exporting nations is Venezuela. Venezuelan
president Hugo Chavez has spent most of his country’s funds and
leveraged future earnings with loans from foreign investors to fund
military expansion and social programs, which have been less than
effective. The mere existence of large funds in exporting nations is
attractive for those who hope to assume power in the future.
With OPEC’s heavy dependence on export income, it is little
Fig. 19A.8  Source [4]
wonder that in late 2008 in the face of declining demand in OECD
member countries and falling prices, OPEC was asking for guar-
antees of consumption before investing in additional production There are only three periods where U.S. petroleum consumption
capacity. fell for more than 2 years in a row. The two largest declines started
in 1978 and 2005.
Consumption fell 19% from a peak of 18.8 million barrels per day
19A.3 CONSUMPTION in 1978 to 15.2 million b/d in 1983. The second period started in 2005
at the all time high of 20.8 million barrels per day for U.S. consump-
We return to the case of importing nations with the U.S. as an tion. By 2009, it was down 10% at 18.7 million b/d. Both periods
example. If petroleum independence can be achieved it is most shared two characteristics: (1) A dramatic spike in crude oil prices
likely through a combination of an increase in production and a de- and (2) an exceptionally severe recession. The reasons the most re-
crease in consumption. Lower consumption comes from improving cent period showed only half the decline of the period starting in 1978
efficiency, fuel substitution, conservation or a weak economy. An may provide clues toward an energy policy that could significantly
examination of the history of U.S. petroleum consumption gives reduce petroleum consumption and with it dependence on imports.
insight into where to place the current emphasis (Fig. 19A.7). Oil consumption declined following the 1973 oil embargo and
Until the end of World War II, U.S. production was roughly ensuing spike in price, but quickly resumed an upward trend. The
equal to consumption and the U.S. was not petroleum dependent. big change came in 1979 when oil prices spiked again. That spike
For most of the post-WWII era consumption increased faster than was the result of lost production from the Iranian Revolution and
19-  •  Chapter 19

the Iraq-Iran War that followed. With that spike came back-to-back
recessions in the United States and a rapid decline in petroleum
consumption. There were multiple factors involved. Higher prices
led to conservation and some improvements in efficiency, but there
was also considerable fuel switching.

19A.4 SECTORS
Changes in consumption from the standpoint of conservation, pol-
icy and from fuel switching vary by sector. We will look at each of
the five sectors: residential, commercial, industrial, electric power and
transportation. This will help us later when we examine the potential
for alterative fuels and the characteristics required. We look at not only
petroleum but also how its consumption compares with other fuels.
We use 1949 and 2009 data because they are the first and most recent
complete years of data available. We use 1978 because it was the year
of the first peak in total U.S. petroleum consumption (Fig. 19A.9).
Fig. 19A.11  Source [4]

1980s, it stands at 706,000 b/d for 2009. With some liberal rounding
of percentages, in 1949 at the end of World War II residential en-
ergy consumption equally split with 20% each for biomass, coal,
petroleum, natural gas and electricity. At that time, 41% of the en-
ergy consumed at home required the homeowner to bring in logs
from the woodpile or shovel coal from the coal bin into the coal-
fried furnace. In some cases, the owner would do both, heating the
home with coal and cooking with an old-fashioned wood stove (see
Figs. 19A.10 through 19A.15).
By 1978, at the time of the first peak in U.S. petroleum consump-
tion, direct consumption of coal represented less than one percent
of residential energy consumption and biomass was down to four
percent. Electricity including system losses to generate and distrib-
ute power constituted 49% of total residential energy use. Petro-
leum (16.2%), natural gas (30.8%) and electricity (48.8%) replaced
Fig. 19A.9  Source [3–5] coal (0.3%) and most of the wood (3.8%) used for heating. Coal
and wood shared two characteristics. They were labor intensive for
19A.4.1 Residential the consumer and particulate matter in the smoke was visible at the
Residential petroleum consumption peaked in 1972 at 1.523 mil- point of consumption i.e. the residence.
lion barrels per day drifting down to 1.377 million b/d in 1978. By In 2009 we find electricity the dominant residential fuel (68.8%)
1981, it was down to 800,000 b/d. Relatively stable since the early followed by natural gas (23.0%), petroleum (5.5%), biofuels
(2.0%), solar (0.5%) and geothermal (0.2%).

Fig. 19A.10  Source [4] Fig. 19A.12  Source [4]

 energy and power generation handbook  •  19-

Changes in residential mix of petroleum fuels over time give

additional insight into fuel switching. In 1949, 58.9% of residen-
tial petroleum consumption was distillate (heating oil), 25.0% was
kerosene (heat, light & cooking) and 16.1% propane (heat, light
and cooking). In the 1950s, it was common to heat with distillate
(heating oil) and cook with propane. By 1972 when residential pe-
troleum consumption peaked heating oil was 61.5% of the residen-
tial petroleum market, kerosene declined to 8.6% and propane was
up to 29.3%. Between 1978 and 1983, residential heating oil use
dropped 53% and propane went down by 30%. Heating oil con-
sumption never recovered, but propane returned to the 1972 level
of consumption and is now 58.8% of the total residential market
for petroleum. Propane is “ideal” for residences where natural gas
is not available because of its flexibility for cooking or heating and
the advantage that it is stored on site. Many rural areas are sub-
ject to extended power outages during severe winter storms giving
Fig. 19A.13  Source [4] propane an advantage over electricity. It is commonly used to fuel
backup generators when the power is out (Fig. 19A.16).
In the very short-term, residential energy consumption is more or
less fixed. Consumers can adjust temperatures lower in the winter
and higher in the summer, but switching fuels or increasing efficiency
requires capital investment in a different heating or cooling system.
These changes take place over years or decades. The switch to an elec-
tric furnace in a home can happen quickly, but switching to natural gas

Fig. 19A.14  Source [4] Fig. 19A.16  Source [4]

requires a new furnace and at a minimum a pipe from the residence to

Petroleum use for residential energy has been flat since the early
the main line. At the extreme, it takes the development of more pipe-
1980s despite a 33% increase in population. There is relatively little
line infrastructure at the local, state and/or national level. Better insula-
opportunity for additional switching from petroleum to natural gas
tion, doors, and windows that are more efficient can obviously reduce
or electric power. Biofuels, solar and geothermal sources may make
residential consumption of energy for heating and cooling.
some inroads into the residential market, but with only 700,000 b/d
of residential petroleum consumption (5.5%) it cannot repeat the
800,000 b/d decline in the 1970s and early 1980s. The residential
segment has little to contribute to future energy security.

19A.4.2 Commercial
The commercial sector’s consumption of petroleum peaked at
746,000 b/d in 1973 a year later than residential use and by 1978
when total petroleum consumption peaked commercial consump-
tion was down to 685,000 b/d. Its decline was less abrupt not reaching
a low point of 332,000 b/d until 1998. Since then it has been rela-
tively stable near 350,000 b/d (see Fig. 19A.17 through 19A.23).
In 1949, commercial energy consumption was dominated by coal
(37%) followed by petroleum (24%) and natural gas (21%). Elec-
tricity was only 14% of commercial consumption. By 1978, coal
was virtually eliminated as a commercial fuel (0.3%). Electricity
(49%) was dominant followed by natural gas (31%) and petroleum
Fig. 19A.15  Source [4] (16%). The introduction of air conditioning in commercial build-
19-  •  Chapter 19

Fig. 19A.17  Source [4] Fig. 19A.20  Source [4]

Fig. 19A.18  Source [4] Fig. 19A.21  Source [4]

Fig. 19A.19  Source [4] Fig. 19A.22  Source [4]

 energy and power generation handbook  •  19-

Fig. 19A.25  Source [4]

Fig. 19A.23  Source [4]

ings fuels exceptionally rapid growth in electricity use from the

mid-1960s to mid-1970s. Supermarkets and other businesses even
advertised air-conditioned shopping. In little more than a decade,
air-conditioning became the norm in the commercial sector. In the
last 30 years, all of the increased energy consumption in this sector
has been electric power. By 2009, electricity (69%) was the norm
followed by natural gas (23%) and petroleum (5%).
The use of residual fuel oil and distillates dominated commer-
cial petroleum consumption in the first half of the post WWII.
The heavy residual fuel oil was used primarily as a boiler fuel for
heating and in some cases for electric power generation. Residual
fuel oil generally has a relatively high sulfur content and greater
pollution than other petroleum products making it less desirable
in urban settings. Similar to the residential sector, the commercial
sector uses relatively little petroleum and little prospect for improv-
ing future energy security through lower consumption.

19A.4.3 Industrial
While the residential and commercial sectors use petroleum Fig. 19A.26  Source [4]
primarily for heating the industrial sector also uses it as process

Fig. 19A.24  Source [4] Fig. 19A.27  Source [4]

19-  •  Chapter 19

fuel and a feedstock to make products. The products are primarily Liquid petroleum gases dominate petroleum products used by
what we refer to as plastics but also include products such as rub- the industrial sector. Since liquids striped from natural gas well are
ber, tar and asphalt. While some biofeedstocks can substitute for a major source significant source of LPG this has less impact on
petroleum, we anticipate relatively little substitution and that petro- petroleum dependence than is indicated by Fig. 19A.30.
leum will maintain something close to its current market share of
29% for the foreseeable future (see Fig. 19A.24 through 19A.30). 19A.4.4 Electric Power Generation
Petroleum consumption for electric power generation peaked
in 1978. It then plummeted from 1.747 million b/d to 478,000 in
1985. In addition to a recession, it is clear was a structural change
between 1978 and 1985. Use fell dramatically between 2006 and
2009 to 175,000 b/d.  Since 1949, the only fuel to see declines in
the power sector has been petroleum. The advent of nuclear power
slowed the rate of growth in the use of other fuels, but for decades,
coal use grew at a slightly rater rate than total fuel use in this sec-
tor. In 1949, it was 43% and it now represents 48% of all fuel used
on a Btu basis. Because increased concern about CO2 and other
emissions cleaner burning natural gas is making inroads into coal’s
market share (see Figs. 19A.31 through 19A.38).

Fig. 19A.28  Source [4]

 
Fig. 19A.31  Source [4]

Fig. 19A.29  Source [4]

Fig. 19A.30  Source [4] Fig. 19A.32  Source [4]

 energy and power generation handbook  •  19-

Fig. 19A.33  Source [4] Fig. 19A.36  Source [4]

Fig. 19A.34  Source [4]

Fig. 19A.37  Source [4]

Fig. 19A.35  Source [4] Fig. 19A.38  Source [3]

19-10  •  Chapter 19

When we look at fuel use in the petroleum for power gen-

eration, we see the now expected pattern of a strong decline in
the use of residual fuel since the late 1970s. While pollution is
certainly one of the major factors price is another. Coal is less
expensive but does not explain the most recent drop since 2005.
While some of the latest decline could be attributed to the
recession, the primary reason is the recent disparity between the
price of petroleum and the price of natural gas on a Btu basis.
With the development of technology to produce natural gas from
shale formations and the prolific production from these wells the
linkage between oil and gas prices collapsed. Natural gas (Fig.
19A.38) is now far less expensive than petroleum based on en-
ergy content and absent a collapse in oil price will continue to
be the fuel of choice for power generation in facilities that have
the ability to switch between oil and natural gas. Natural gas
and petroleum are used in peaking plants that can be quickly
brought online to meet changes in demand. This is particularly
important in the summer for air-conditioning. However, the use

Fig. 19A.39  Source [4]

Fig. 19A.42  Source [4]

Fig. 19A.40  Source [4]

Fig. 19A.41  Source [4] Fig. 19A.43  Source [4]

 energy and power generation handbook  •  19-11

Fig. 19A.46  Source [4]

Fig. 19A.44  Source [4] weight of its fuel tank are major considerations in vehicle efficiency.
For this reason, unlike other sectors fuel substitution is difficult be-
of natural gas as a base load fuel is on the rise (Figs. 19A.39 to
cause you have to carry your Btus with you. While this does not pre-
19A.44).
clude the use of natural gas the weight of containers to carry the gas
under high pressure to achieve a similar range to gasoline or diesel is a
19A.4.5 Transportation major impediment (Figs. 19A.45 and 19A.46).
The consumption of petroleum for transportation has exhibited
consistent growth through out the last six decades. In 1949, petro- 19A.5 NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard)
leum represented 77% of fuel use for transportation with almost all
of the remainder coming from coal to power steam locomotives. Perception and reality in assessing pollution impact of fuels are
By 1978, 97% of transportation fuels came from petroleum and often quite different. Advertisements for electric powered vehicles
3% from natural gas. In 2009, petroleum was down slightly to 94% often give the impression that they are nonpolluting. Clean elec-
with natural gas and biofuels at 3% each. The recent increase in tric vehicles are not “clean” and neither are electric furnaces or air
biofuels is due primarily to ethanol as a gasoline additive. It is used conditioning. They appear to be clean at the point of consumption
as an oxygenate to reduce pollution and is heavily subsidized. (my back yard), but at primary level of fuels to generate power
Transportation shows consistent growth in petroleum consump- (somebody else’s back yard) they are not. It is important to note
tion. It is the only sector besides industry to have significantly that 47.8 percent of the electricity generated in the U.S. in 2009
higher levels of consumption than 1949. Transportation is unique. came from coal vs. 31.4 percent combined from nuclear (21.8%),
Unlike other sectors that use fuel at a fixed location, vehicles hydroelectric (7.0%), wind (1.8%), geothermal (0.8%), and solar
whether they are automobiles, trucks, trains of airplanes, must (0.02%). The remainder comes from natural gas (18.4%), biomass
carry their fuel with them. The volume of the fuel, its weight and the (1.1%) and petroleum (1.0%) (Figs. 19A.47 to 19A.49).

Fig. 19A.45  Source [4] Fig. 19A.47  Source [4]

19-12  •  Chapter 19

Fig. 19A.50  Source [4]

Fig. 19A.48  Source [4]

Fig. 19A.49  Source [4]

Fig. 19A.51  Source [3, 4]

19A.5.1 E
 nd Use or Consumer Energy versus Primary
Energy Consumption
To illustrate the point we will look at the residential sector. Fig-
ures 19A.50 and 19A.52 show energy use by source at the point
of consumption. Figures 19A.51 and 19A.53 replace the electric
power use with the primary fuel used to generate the power. The
contrast is stark. Instead of disappearing, use of coal increases
240% over our six-decade time horizon. Natural gas increases to
12 times the 1940 level.
Looking at the share of each fuel on a primary fuel basis shows that
coal use, which was 32% of the energy used by the residential sector
in 1949, is about the same in 2009 at 33%. Petroleum use declines
from 22% to 6%, hydroelectric slips from 6% to 5%, natural gas grows
from 21% to 37% and by 2009 nuclear power is the source of 15%
of residential energy. Despite the recent interest in renewable energy,
biofuels have fallen from 19% of residential energy consumption in
1949 to 3% in 2009. Renewable energy from hydroelectric, biofuels,
solar, geothermal, and wind power has decline from 25% of total resi-
dential use in 1949 to 10% today. Over that period residential energy
consumption grew 278% while renewable energy consumption only Fig. 19A.52  Source [4]
 energy and power generation handbook  •  19-13

Fig. 19A.53   Source [3, 4] Fig. 19A.55  Source [4]

increased 51%. If nuclear is lumped in with renewables the market
share at 25% is the same as it was in 1949 (Figs. 19A.54 to 19A.58).
For brevity, we will avoid primary fuel graphs for commercial
and industrial consumption, which tell a story similar tends to the
residential sector. So little electricity is used in the transportation
sector (Fig. 19A.40) that use at the point of consumption is virtu-
ally the same as primary fuel consumption.

19A.5.2 Ultimate Fuel Use

If we role transportation in with other sectors we see that petroleum
has been the fuel with the greatest growth over the last three genera-
tions. As it is the only fuel imported in significant quantity it must nec-
essary be the focus on the consumption side of energy independence.
Section 19A.4.5 demonstrated that growth in petroleum consump-
tion is primarily due to demand for transportation fuels. Substitution
is difficult because unlike the other sectors transportation requires that
consumers carry their energy with them. To substitute electricity or
natural gas for petroleum effectively, it will be necessary to have an

Fig. 19A.56  Source [4]

Fig. 19A.54  Source [4] Fig. 19A.57  Source [4]

19-14  •  Chapter 19

Fig. 19A.60   Source [3, 4]

Fig. 19A.58  Source [4]

energy storage device with similar capabilities to the gasoline tank in

an automobile. It must store enough energy to allow a 300+ mile range,
weigh no more than a full tank of gasoline and occupy a similar vol-
ume. Once an easily rechargeable battery can meet those conditions,
any primary fuel can substitute of petroleum. While automobiles that
are more efficient can help, significant changes in energy dependence
will come from better storage devices that allow for fuel substitution.

19A.6 P
 RICE, PRODUCTION, AND
GEOPOLITICS
Any discussion of the reaction of oil production to prices must be
separated between OPEC and non-OPEC nations. Presented with a
graph of world oil production and oil prices it would be difficult to
explain the influence of prices on production. Rising prices in the
late 1970s were met with lower production when higher production
would be expected (Figs. 19A.59 to 19A.64).
If production is separated into OPEC and non-OPEC the picture
becomes clearer. An examination of non-OPEC production shows Fig. 19A.61  Source [3, 4, 8]
there are long lags between a change in crude oil price and changes

Fig. 19A.59  Source [3, 4] Fig. 19A.62  Source [3, 4, 8]

 energy and power generation handbook  •  19-15

Fig. 19A.65  Source [3, 4, 8]

Fig. 19A.63  Source [3, 4, 8]

Fig. 19A.64   Source [3, 4, 8]

Fig. 19A.66  Source [3, 4, 8]

in production. A higher price tends to lead to higher production, but

it comes with a long delay.
Oil prices surged in the late 1970s. In response, drilling activity
in the U.S. and Europe skyrocketed to historic highs.
However, it was several years before the investment paid off in
higher production. Drilling for oil is like most other capital invest-
ments. It requires a major initial investment and may take years to
complete a drilling program. In new areas for production pipeline
infrastructure must be put in place to bring the oil to market. If the
reservoir is offshore, the costs are higher and infrastructure takes
longer to build.
In general, non-OPEC production is not subject to much political
risk. However, the breakup of the Soviet Union had a major impact
on crude oil production. Production fell over 5 million barrels per
day. At least half of the FSU decline was made up by higher pro-
duction in other non-OPEC countries.
Most oil producing countries left to their own devices produce
near capacity to maximize short-term revenue. If all countries be-
haved this way, oil production would be higher and prices l­ower.
Outside OPEC, production is almost never shut-in with low
prices. Fig. 19A.67  Source [4]
19-16  •  Chapter 19

Fig. 19A.68  Source [4]

Fig. 19A.70  Source [4]
19A.6.1 OPEC
OPEC formed 50 years ago to represent the interests of export- Many of the major changes in OPEC production and international
ing nations. Member countries share the common characteristic that oil prices were not the result of deliberation within the organiza-
they are net exporters of crude oil and those exports are a significant tion. Historically, OPEC production has been heavily influenced by
portion of their international trade. While dependable sources of oil wars & revolutions. The following is an abbreviated list:
and oil prices are of great importance to importing counties like the •  1973 Embargo (not just Arab, Persian)
U.S. and China, on a relative scale, they are far less important than •  Iranian Revolution
reliable customers, access to shipping lanes or pipelines, and prices •  Iraq-Iran War
are to exporters. For example, the latest CIA World Factbook shows •  Gulf Wars I & II
Venezuela dependent on petroleum for 90% of exports, 50% of gov- •  PDVSA strike in Venezuela
ernment revenue and 30% of GDP. For Saudi Arabia oil was 90% of •  Attacks by revolutionary groups in Nigeria
exports, 80% of the government budget and 45% of GDP. For either
country, a 20% change in oil price is the difference between a growth Each of the events above led to higher oil prices. Often other
economy and recession (Figs. 19A.65 to 19A.70). members of OPEC made up for supply interruptions.
A more detailed discussion is available on the “Oil Price His-
19A.6.2 Price Relation Not as Clear with OPEC tory” page at www.wtg.com.
OPEC production changes do not follow same pattern as non-
OPEC production. In time of low oil prices OPEC will often cut
19A.7 S
 UMMARY OF PETROLEUM
back on production to shore up prices, but unlike most non-OPEC
producers, OPEC attempts to maintain a cushion of spare capacity
DEPENDENCE
to guarantee supply in the case of a supply interruption or greater A nation that depends on imports for a significant portion of its
than expected demand for crude oil. OPEC also increases produc- consumption is dependent on petroleum. An international shortage
tion if they deem the price too high. of oil, which causes a price spike, can cause as much damage to
an oil dependent economy as an interruption in imports. Depen­
dence can be lowered by either increasing domestic production or
decreasing domestic consumption of petroleum. In countries with
non-petroleum energy resources, other primary sources of energy
can be substituted over time. Substitution is most difficult in the
transportation sector because the high Btu content of petroleum
relative to its weight and volume makes it a relatively efficient fuel
for the purpose. Significant substitution will occur when batteries
or onboard natural gas storage comes close to matching the energy
per pound and energy per cubic foot of petroleum fuels.

PART B
19B.1 THE ECONOMICS OF BIOENERGY
The economics of bioenergy is much the same as the energy eco-
nomics of fossil fuels. The frontier nature of the fledgling bioenergy
industry adds enormous complexity. Biomass energy feedstocks
Fig. 19A.69  Source [4] can be wet, with different levels of moisture, dry, little to no wa-
 energy and power generation handbook  •  19-17

ter, or liquid without any water. Fuels can be produced specifically for vestment in a new bioeconomic infrastructure has been halted by
energy, or they can be a byproduct residual from the production of a the downturn in the US economy.
higher-valued product. Waste-derived fuels bring with them many lay- Sadly, competition for scarce biomass resources has turned indus-
ers of environmental regulation, further adding to the complexity. try counterparts solidly against each other. Many livestock farmers
Conversion technologies are nearly as variable from thermal gasi- and industry groups have become anti-ethanol because demand for
fication and pyrolysis technologies to biological anaerobic digestion corn has been strained with the expansion of the corn ethanol in-
technologies. Access to oxygen changes the emissions and conver- dustry. Similar battles are brewing over forest residuals. Should the
sion efficiency for all systems. Technology innovations are also oc- natural forest debris be kept in the forest creating a threat to fire or
curring in biomass production, harvest, transportation, and storage. removed and used for fuel? The biggest and meanest political battles
Densification technologies, such as baling and pellet mills, can have are occurring across conflicting regulatory boundaries. Is waste pa-
a large economic impact on the storage and handling of biomass. per fodder for recycled paper, a source of fuel, or a regulated waste?
The bottom line is that the supply of bioenergy inputs and out- This is the political chaos in which this narrative on bioenergy be-
puts must be balanced with the everyday demand for energy, food, gins. Navigation of this political minefield is not as difficult as it ap-
fiber, building materials, and all the other products and services pears on the surface. There are no easy steps to follow to economic suc-
that rely on plant-based materials to succeed. The lack of market cess. There are no assurances that the policy makers will get it together
infrastructure for bioenergy projects means that input prices, tech- while there is still time. However, if one stays rooted in technology and
nology efficiency, output yields and prices must be created for each efficiency, the economics of bioenergy follow closely behind.
project. This all adds considerable costs. In the Energy Information Administration (EIA) analysis of US
Like fossil fuel supplies, biomass feedstock quantities can be in- energy consumption in 2009, renewable energy accounted for over 8
creased, but ultimately are limited by what is accessible in the short- percent of energy consumption [20]. Half of this renewable energy
run. Bioenergy supplies and reserves will increase as we learn more. consumption in the US in 2009 was derived from biomass fuels. This
Biomass fuels have emissions also. Some pollutants of concern are a includes 10.7 billion gallons of corn-based ethanol, 0.7 billion gallons
greater liability than fossil fuels, although many are lower. biodiesel, 1,800 megawatts (MW) generation capacity from landfill
This chapter is written to provide the most objective perspective gas power plants and several million tons of pellet fuel production.
possible. Again, like any industry, and certainly like any of the fossil The 2008 recession caused transportation fuel consumption to
fuel industries, the foundation for economic success is rooted in tech- plummet, but expansion in ethanol, wind and solar fuels have also
nology. That is why this manual focuses almost completely on tech- increased. EIA also reported that during the years 2008 and 2009,
nology. The basic outline of this part is to provide a broad overview carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions declined by 10 percent (Fig. 19B.1)
of infrastructure, technology, and policy before outlining bioenergy [9]. Most of the decline in CO2 emissions is due to the decline in liq-
demand factors, supply factors, and policy influences in bioenergy. uid petroleum products, but other reductions came from fuel switch-
ing away from costly coal to natural gas and increased utilization of
existing nuclear power capacity to save money on the increased cost
19B.2 C
 URRENT US BIOMASS UTILIZATION
of coal. On much smaller levels the increases in renewable fuels,
IS POLITICAL ethanol, biogas, wind, and solar, have played a role.
Bioenergy and biomass today are mired down in the politics of The interrelationship between the economy, technology and
food, energy, forestry, solid waste remediation, air quality, water policy is complex. As the economy was sputtering in 2008 and into
quality, and climate policy. A convergence of rising oil prices, de- 2009, it was a race to identify the fundamental cause of the eco-
mand for ethanol to replace the fuel oxygenate, heighten awareness nomic chaos. There were plenty of explanations of what was hap-
of climate issues, and global conflict placed biomass energy and pening, but there were as many different explanations as there were
bio-based products firmly in the political arena. economists to be asked. In March of 2009, the USDA, Economic
In the political vernacular of bioenergy, biomass has the le- Research Service (ERS) identified 17 factors that have influenced
gal qualifier that it composed of is carbon of recent origin as op- the long and short run supply and demand for commodities [10].
posed to prehistoric fossil carbon. Fossil coal and crude oil can The analysis compares underlying factors of economic shocks in
be described as ancient biomass. Ecologically speaking biomass three time periods: 1970s, 1990s, and 2006 to 2008.
is anything made from plant material. Until the politics of climate
change and greenhouse gas emissions imposed time constraints on 7,000 6%
biomass, fossil fuels like coal, crude oil, and natural gas were gen- Annual estimated energy-related
carbon dioxide emissions (left axis)
erally considered ancient biomass. The current political vernacular 6,000 4%
Percent change from previous year
Million metric tons carbon dioxide

biomass now implies “recently created,” therefore ancient biomass

(fossil carbon) is not included as biomass in this discussion. 5,000 2%
The basic elements of various biomass materials are: carbon (C),
hydrogen (H), oxygen (O), nitrogen (N), sulfur (S), chlorine (Cl), 4,000 0%

and ash. These are the fundamental building blocks of life: carbohy-
3,000 -2%
drates, fats, oils, water, proteins, oxygen and carbon dioxide. They
are also the components of environmental pollutants like greenhouse Change from previous year (%)
2,000 (right axis) -4%
gases (carbon dioxide, methane gas, and nitrous oxide), VOCs (Vol-
atile Organic Compounds), ammonia gas, as well as treated organic 1,000 -6%
wastes in wastewater and municipal solid waste (MSW). The basic
chemical footprint of biomass is increasingly held hostage by the 0 -8%
policies that have evolved over many decades.
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009

Since 2005, billions of public and private money have been in-
vested in the development of bioenergy projects. Much of this in- Fig. 19B.1  US Carbon dioxide emissions [9]
19-18  •  Chapter 19

The 17 economic factors are laid out in Table 19B.1. A very Laws, Policies, Economics,
instructive part of the presentation is that supply and demand ef- and Programs Behavior,
fects are identified individually. The decisions that are made in an
and Choice
economy depend on who is buying (demand) and who is selling
(supply). Economic supply decisions are different than economic
demand decisions. It is highlighted here because too often prices
and quantities get discussed as they only have one implication.
The US economy is not driven by a single factor. In this case, a
serious economic shock was caused by 17 factors. We tend to look
for binary, yes/no, 0/1, solutions to any of our economic and po-
litical crises. The reality is nearly always a heterogeneous, interde-
pendent cluster of many issues. Leaders and law makers tend to do
a knee-jerk, rapid response when often times that response only ag-
gravates the problem. This is brought up here because this is much
like bioenergy economics. There are multiple long and short-run Science and Technology
supply and demand effects that ultimately determine if a bioenergy
industry or project will enjoy economic success or failure. Fig. 19B.2 Relationship of policy, economics, and
Even on the surface, the influence of policy on economics be- technology [11]
comes clear. Rapidly increasing prices, particularly in agriculture
and energy markets, were the precursor to this significant contrac- star. The most compelling region however is the intersection of the
tion in economic activity during the last 2 years. Success in under- human choice and technology — without the influence of policy.
standing the complex biomass economics requires a fundamental While there are many factors motivating the adoption of bioen-
understanding of the interrelationship of technology, policy and ergy like energy independence and local economic development,
economics, Fig. 19B.2 [11]. a principal driver is greenhouse gas (GHG) emission control. This
Policies that influence economic behavior and choice will be de- is driven almost entirely by the definition of carbon dioxide (CO2)
mand-related policies. Policies that influence science and technol- as the standard of measure in greenhouse gas (GHG) degradation.
ogy will be supply-related policies. When the laws and policies With the Kyoto Treaty (1997) [12], CO2 switched from being a
serve as a guide for human choice without becoming irrelevant, quality-of-life enhancer, to that of a quality-of-life destroyer. As
they operate in the intersection of the three regions identified with a this is chapter is being written the US public and private sectors
simultaneously love carbon and hate carbon. The subsequent mo-
rass of public policies creates a harsh environment with which to
Table 19B.1  Factors affecting the US economy
commercially develop biomass energy and products.
during economic shocks [10]

Contributing factor 1970s 1990s 2006–2008

19B.3 T
 ECHNICAL INNOVATION DRIVES
Long run ECONOMIC GROWTH
Demand
Export demand growth X X X In an economy without political and administrative costs, eco-
Due to food demand growth X X nomic growth is driven by technical change and efficiency. This
Due to population growth X is important because it is technical change and innovation that
New use/innovation: biofuels X drives economic growth. The laws and policies can speed technical
Supply change up or slow it down, but without technical change there is
Slow production growth X X X no economic growth. Successful industries are able to operate with
Declining R&D investment X X regulatory overheads that are much lower than the economic re-
Land retirement X X turns of doing business. Technical innovation can offset increased
Short run regulatory administrative costs.
Demand One of the great examples of increasing technical and economic
Government food policies X X X efficiency in agriculture is the dairy industry. In the last 60 years,
Supply pounds of milk produced per cow each year has grown from an
Government food policies X X X average of about 5,000 pounds/cow/year in 1949 to over 20,000
Weather-induced crop losses/ X X X pounds/cow/year in 2009. Over the same time period, the number
failure of cows in the US dairy herd has dropped from 24,000,000 in 1949
Macroeconomic to less than 10,000,000 in 2009. Remarkably, total milk produced
Economic growth X X has also increased by 50 percent. This means that sixty percent of
Depreciation of U.S. dollar X X X the 1949 dairy herd is now producing 50 percent more milk than
Rising oil prices X X the 1949 dairy herd. To get that amount of production in 1949 it
Accumulation of petrodollars/ X X would have required 3.5 times more cows than were being milked
foreign reserves in 2009. That is some significant technical innovation.
Futures market/speculation X X These increases in productivity are fairly constant across all
Inflation X of US agriculture. USDA, Economic Research Service (ERS)
Financial crisis X X keeps track of changes in total factor productivity for the industry
(Fig. 19B.3) [13]. Total factor productivity (TFP) is essentially a
 energy and power generation handbook  •  19-19

3.0 ether (MTBE) from fuel about 7 years ago [15]. It was replaced
Index of
Outputs
relatively quickly with ethanol. This created a very large demand
2.5 for ethanol and spawned the construction of ethanol plants across
the country. Then that ethanol like “gold-rush” came to an abrupt
2.0
halt with the oxygenate demand having been met, just as the US
economy went into a recession.
Index, 1948 = 1.0

Total Factor
Productivity The economic roller-coaster of the US biofuels industry expan-
1.5
sion has left the nation a bit confused about whether the home-
grown ethanol industry has been a worthwhile investment or not.
1.0 It is important to note that the addition of MTBE was to reduce
Index of fuel emissions. That was a healthy step forward. The replacement
0.5
Inputs of MTBE with ethanol was to further reduce water quality issues
from underground gasoline storage tanks. That is an environmental
0.0
benefit that we still enjoy. Significant environmental progress has
been made even as the economy wrestles with continued invest-
1948
1950
1952
1954
1956
1958
1960
1962
1964
1966
1968
1970
1972
1974
1976
1978
1980
1982
1984
1986
1988
1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
ment in biofuels.
Fig. 19B.3 Increases in the Total Factor Produc- In addition to having little infrastructure in place for primary
tivity of US agriculture, 1948 to 2008 [13] bioenergy markets, there is an additional challenge in adapting sig-
nificant existing biomass processing infrastructure. Management of
measure of the output from all the inputs. By indexing annual val- liquid and solid wastes treat undervalued carbon as an economic
ues, ERS tracks changes in productivity. In Fig. 19B.3, the inputs liability. There are actually multiple infrastructure issues here.
are indexed relative to 1948 being equivalent to 1.0. Since 1948,
·  A new infrastructure must be developed for new bioenergy
TFP in US agriculture has increased 2.5 times. These gains in ef-
products.
ficiency imply fewer residuals (wastes).
·  The existing waste treatment infrastructure must be trans-
Gains in agricultural efficiency and productivity can be extended
formed to maximize resource value rather than minimize
to reduced environmental stress and even reduced energy consump-
liabilities.
tion. In 2009, the Keystone Center put out a report on environ-
·  Biomass materials are light and bulky, so local cost reduc-
mental indicators for principle crops in US agriculture [14]. In this
tion favors locally fueled projects. The central process-
Field to Market report, improvements in US soybean production
ing/distribution networks of existing fossil fuels will be
from 1987 to 2007 were shown to decrease energy use, soil loss,
supplemented/offset by distributed generation of biomass
climate impact based on sustainability indicators. Land-use and ir-
feedstocks.
rigation water use also increased in efficiency.
As commercial production systems expand beyond single pro­cesses, A quick look at the 80-year history of US soybean production
multiple, integrated technologies are better able to utilize all the inputs provides a nice illustration on the impact of a viable, mature eco-
and byproducts more completely. When the proper combination of nomic infrastructure (Fig. 19B.4) [16]. Back in the 1920s and 1930s,
technologies is aligned, it is possible to move to a production system soybeans were grown as a forage crop for cattle. It has taken a full
with negligible or zero wastes. This is particularly true with agricul- 80 years to reach the production levels of over 3 billion bushels. It
tural, forestry, and biomass energy systems. Leftovers must simply be was not a management decision, but the development of production
processed to enter the market with as high a value as possible. technologies, new processing technologies, new uses and markets,
With increasing popularity corporate America is establishing depart- and the development of ocean going vessels that could move large
ments of sustainability. These new units are charged with conserving bulky protein products around the globe economically. It has even
power, fuel, and water. They represent market-based efficiency gains. taken a few wars and famines to have developed the current levels
Just like the examples above with agriculture, conservation of energy of US soybean production.
and resources is a win for the environment, energy, and economics.
Sadly, even when environmental agencies have units that focus on Beans (million bu)
3,250
conservation and value-added programs, nearly always they are subju- 3,000
gated to more politically popular punitive compliance programs. 2,750
2,500
2,250
19B.4 B
 UILDING A BIOENERGY 2,000
INFRASTRUCTURE 1,750
1,500
The thermodynamic efficiency of energy utilization is not enough
1,250
to provide economic success. It also takes a market demand, which 1940 1960 1980 2000
1,000
may not be driven by mass-balance energy utilization.
Biomass energy does not have well-developed supply systems 750
3% of current
and markets. Plan A in the biofuels commercial experiment was 500 production
to develop a fuel product that dovetailed seamlessly into the exist- 250

ing liquid transportation fuel sector. The corn-based ethanol is the 0

'24 '30 '36 '42 '48 '54 '60 '66 '72 '78 '84 '90 '96 '02
result of that commercial experiment.
The US ethanol industry really took off after about a third of Fig. 19B.4 Eighty years of US soybean produc-
the states legislatively banned, or phased-out, methyl tertiary butyl tion [16]
19-20  •  Chapter 19

In many ways this is not unlike the development of the US bio- Arbitrary economic friction threatens the success of this risky,
fuels industry. At the 1940 levels of production, soybeans were bold approach. For example, if the policy implementation cost in-
grown at only 3 percent of 2005 levels. Based on the data in this creases the debt servicing fees described above by 5 percent, then
chart, 1940 was about 16 years into the development of the mature the new bioeconomy must pay an effective debt service cost of
soybean marketing infrastructure. 15 percent before we have economic growth. If the policy imple-
On the other hand, developing an economic infrastructure on the mentation cost increases the effective interest by 10 percent, the
reuse of residuals requires a realization that carbon emissions are breakeven economic bar now requires more than a 20 percent re-
biomass resources that are in the wrong place. We should all be turn. In this last example, the additional implementation costs have
working together to pull leftover carbon (emissions) back into the consumed all economic growth — which is not economically sus-
economy as more biomass for energy, compost, organic nutrients, tainable.
and biobased fibers. The goal is a higher value of life using fewer
resources. By intensively managing our resources there are fewer 19B.4.2 Uncertainty and Prices
emissions. The result (not the goal) is zero waste. The US economy in general works like it does because there is
Adding value to waste organics is about getting more from less. a lot of historical information on production, purchases, and prices
Solid waste recycling and composting pulls solid waste “emis- [17]. If something changes quickly, then all the analysts get ner­vous
sions” back into the economy. Now the same thing needs to be and there are “adjustments” to compensate. In the bioproduction
done with greenhouse gas emissions. Our new carbon policies must ecosystem, there is insufficient historical data. This makes investing
make recycling emissions easy and relatively costless. much more risky. Investors do not like to lose money so when they
Unfortunately, that is not the direction we are going in at the mo- loan money for an anaerobic digester or a gasifier, they charge higher
ment. The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) is interest rates to cover additional risks. Startup costs are higher for
the enabling statute for the revised Renewable Fuel Standards (RFS2) new technologies, because it is difficult to estimate budgets without
regulations. EISA was legislatively written to create an economic de- years of experience. Also data collection is expensive and sometimes
mand for biofuels. The motivation was to increase the supply and de- data on test burns or on the feedstock quality will need to be meas-
mand for a locally grown, cleaner liquid fuel. Between 2007 when the ured for the first time.
statute was written by the legislators and 2010, EPA switched the pri-
ority from increasing demand to restricting greenhouse gas emissions. 19B.4.3 All Prices are Relative
As promulgated in 2010, the rule makes it difficult for biofuels This is always true in economics. It is even more apparent in
to qualify for the RFS economic benefits. While EPA can legally emerging market structures that do not have robust prices [17].
do this, proceeding as the agency has proposed will halt economic Most biomass energy economic analyses have been conducted by
growth in biofuels production. The additional emission criteria modeling stand-alone enterprises. The economics tend to reflect
EPA has added to biofuels make other non-RFS uses like making the retrofitting of an existing facility with new equipment, us-
electricity from biomass more compelling. ing product prices based on a similar existing market. These eco-
Substantive and sustainable change is achievable, but the risks nomic studies are excellent first steps into an industry that barely
are real. Policies can be written that promote enhanced quality of exists.
life and more efficient use of resources. The biomass industries All studies are most relevant the minute they are complete. The
need to guide the policies. more time that passes for most price-based economic studies, the
less relevant they become. The anaerobic digestion studies done 20
19B.4.1 I ntergenerational Costs of Increasing years ago have little economic value today. The livestock we are
Government Administrative Costs producing today are more efficient at converting feed to meat than
A newer infrastructure based on small, locally grown biomass they have ever been and we produce less manure per animal than
and renewable energy systems will cost trillions of dollars [35]. In we did 20 years ago. And in the case of anaerobic digesters, the
addition to these large physical system capital costs, we must add newer digesters being installed operate more consistently than the
in interest on the trillions of dollars of federal stimulus money that earlier digesters.
must eventually be repaid across multiple generations. In addition, biomass energy studies conducted on an energy price
If interest on this new production and distribution network is assumption tied to $40 a barrel crude oil, will have a significantly
7 percent, and the cost of living is 3 percent, then we effectively different result when crude oil sells for $130 a barrel.
pay 10 percent interest on the new infrastructure until the trillions All biomass energy markets must be contractually established or
of dollars of borrowed stimulus capital are paid off. This can work used internally at the production site. There are no terminal markets
if the new bioeconomic infrastructure is returning more. If the aver- (grain elevators or stockyards) for a producer to deliver a load of
age of all renewable energy projects is a 20 percent return before biomass energy to sell. This is a profoundly different marketing
paying the debt and half of that (10 percent) goes to service the strategy than existed for grain and livestock 50 years ago. If a fa-
collective debt, the economy still grows. cility intends to develop a biomass energy or alternative market, it
Unfortunately neither the legislative (Congress) nor administra- must first find a buyer/client — and sign a contract.
tive (agency) lawmakers are very good at writing costless laws.
Policy collisions between poorly crafted oversight regulations and 19B.4.4 Data Collection
funding programs are costly to industry, government and consum- On the bioenergy frontier, the risks of failure can be capitalized
ers. For years now the USDA and the Department of Energy have into a proven, turn-key system or each valuable lesson-learned can
been funding biomass energy projects and research in which indus- be pieced together from scratch. Data collection is very expensive,
try and government have invested billions of dollars. When the bio- but one way to lower the risks of failure is to collect the best data
mass utilization/carbon emission laws are written to exclude those available on the frontend. If a project fails for lack of good pre-
investments, the false-start dollars get added to the debt without liminary data, then the cost of not collecting that real-time data
any hope of a return. becomes very high [17].
 energy and power generation handbook  •  19-21

Kinds of data that need to be collected fall into three basic cat- 19B.4.6 The Price Impact of Recycling
egories: input quality, technology emissions, and product quality The concept of reuse and recycling enhances efficiency, but
(relative to the intended market). Technology providers that offer it is not without its impacts [17]. In the case of paper recycling,
turn-key conversion technology systems may charge more for their increased efficiencies gained by salvaging used paper created a
services than it appear to merit, but they are trying to recapture their greater supply of paper from the original supply of pulp wood. The
costs of collecting all the data to make their technology work. It is excess supplies of waste biomass feedstocks exist because these
possible to independently develop a commercial biomass conver- waste materials are under developed and so they have a negative
sion technology from scratch, but then the independent developers value. As the supply of paper increased from recycling, the price
must collect the input quality, emissions and product quality data also dropped.
themselves. Inputs will have more competition. The feedstock price will
One caution about using historically tabled data. It is possible move upward as competition for undervalued feedstocks increases.
to find data tables on manure and biomass quality and energy con- Corn for ethanol, for instance became more expensive when corn for
tent. These are excellent starting points for preliminary planning. animal feed became less available. As more industries compete for
They are used extensively throughout this document. However, the same materials they will put pressure on keeping their own in-
once money begins to be invested in any project, it is time to begin put costs down. As bioenergy, chemical and fiber products become
collecting project-specific data. Unfortunately, there are millions more reliant on biomass feedstocks, each firm will compete for the
of dollars that get spent on investments that are made on the aver- least cost input into the process, driving biomass feedstock prices
age data that has been created for planning, and too often the site- down. Even though there are contradictory forces on feedstock
specific inputs do not have the same quality characteristics as the prices, this is part of the challenge of establishing a bioeconomy.
average tabled data. When the project advances to the point where
money is being spent on the project, it is time to collect project-
specific data. 19B.5 B
 IOENERGY DEMAND/
CONSUMPTION
19B.4.5 Waste Treatment versus Biomass Processing
The evolution of the valuable environmental benefits and the in- The demand component of the supply-demand economic rela-
creasing value of producing energy have created some confusion tionship focuses on markets and prices. Demand is about “How
about whether it is better to save the environment, or have eco- much are consumers willing to pay for this?” And, “Where can this
nomic growth. The right answer is both, and that is possible with product be sold?” Demand can be thought of as managing markets
well planned bioenergy enterprises. Just as the specialized, ethanol and prices.
plants are learning the benefits of diversification, businesses built There are two important things to understand about demand.
on making a profit are learning the economic value of environmen- First, demand choices are different than supply decisions. Sec-
tal remediation. Many waste management businesses are watching ond, it is important to recognize that there are specific factors that
the economic excitement associated with biofuels and are adjusting influence demand choices [19]. These are: increases in income,
their cost-minimizing business models to operate more like profit a change in preferences, changes in the prices of related goods,
centers [18]. number of buyers, and expectations of future price. These factors
Cost recovery is not the same as a profit center. Waste treat- become most important in the policy discussion, since policy seeks
ment functions minimize liabilities and costs. The highest value to influence either supply or demand decision choices.
of a cost-minimizing project is zero cost. Zero costs (without Economics is ultimately about balancing the supply with de-
profits) do not excite investors and bankers. Even when costs are mand. In the emerging bio-production systems, pollutants that
zero, a profit only occurs if there is also revenue (profit = revenue are in surplus quantities are being aligned with legitimate energy
costs). needs. The beauty is that the environment is enhanced, alternative
Waste remediation projects can generate a profit, but that profit is energy forms are developed and the economy grows. While that is
based on remediation services rather than commodity production. the vision, reality requires a few more steps.
Biomass methane energy projects (landfills, wastewater treatment The Department of Energy reports that the consumption of en-
digesters and manure digesters) have evolved as energy (commod- ergy in 2009 has been growing. The US energy consumption has
ity) enterprises with in a waste treatment facility. The facility’s pri- been hovering at about 100 quadrillion btu since 2003. In 2009,
mary function is to remediate the waste and stabilize the carbon. that level of energy consumption fell a healthy 5 percent to 94.8
Then they attempt to recover some costs by developing methane quadrillion btu [20]. US energy consumption has not been this low
gas utilization. The first goal is to remediate waste and the cost since 1997. Fossil fuel consumption fell 5 percent to 78.6 quadril-
recovery benefit from energy is an afterthought. lion btu. Most of this reduction in energy consumption has been
Waste treatment industries have a legal, health and environmen- driven by the harsh economic reality that the recession created for
tal mandates that impose enormous costs. They are offsetting some energy consumers. As illustrated in Fig. 19B.1 though, GHG emis-
of those expenses through bioenergy production. Bioenergy profit sions have dropped by 10%, even without explicit CO2-reduction
centers in turn are learning to more efficiently utilize their resources policies.
similar to the cost recovery management of waste treatment facili- Renewable energy consumption increased to 7.75 quadril-
ties. The two different business models are merging into a single, lion btu in 2009. This is 8.2 percent of US energy consumption.
very efficient low-cost profit center. While renewable energy consumption that is less than 10 percent
As waste remediation moves toward energy production, a sec- this is not trivial. Written out in long hand, 7.75 quadrillion btu is
ond benefit emerges. Waste remediation shifts from a service- 7,745,000,000,000,000, or 7.745 ´ 1015.
oriented industrial sector to a product-producing industrial sector. Half of the renewable energy (3.884 quadrillion btu) came from
Economic wealth is generated from what was initially only a service biomass energy sources. Wood and derived fuels made up 24 per-
industry. cent of renewable energy, which the EIA defines this as wood and
19-22  •  Chapter 19

wood pellet fuels. Sometimes this EIA category also includes black biomass feedstocks and also about the market price of the final
liquor and other wood waste liquids. product. It is part of the same question, “Can bioenergy produc-
Biofuels (ethanol and biodiesel) made up 20 percent of the re- tion and use be profitable?” All biomass is chemically composed of
newable energy consumed last year. This is derived from 10.7 bil- carbon. Green plants take in CO2 and respire oxygen, O2, through
lion gallons of ethanol 0.7 billion gallons of biodiesel in that were photosynthesis. The life-giving benefits of living biomass are that it
produced in 2009. This 11.4 billion gallons of biofuels accounted constantly replenishes our supply of breathable O2 and stores solar
for over 4 percent of the combined US petroleum and biofuels energy biochemically in carbon-based plant products.
consumed. That small, but growing share of biofuels in US energy A common emerging carbon policy theme is to establish a price
consumption represents a home grown fuel with environmental of carbon through an emissions market. The underlying principle is
benefits. based on capping an upper level of emissions and then establishing
The remaining 6 percent of bio-based renewable energy, 0.447 an emission trading market based on emission credits and debits.
quadrillion btu, comes from biogenic MSW, landfill gas projects, This has worked fairly well for some criteria air pollutants and has
and digester projects. The only category that has been increasing the also been explored for water quality permit trading.
last few years has been energy production from landfill gas projects.
This is primarily because digester projects must include the high cost 19B.5.1.1  Positive Carbon Value  Carbon is already valued in
of biomass liquid storage containers, while landfill biomass container many markets. Foods and feeds that are bought for sugar, starches,
costs are included in the landfill operation costs. fiber, and oils are being purchased for a value-added carbon mar-
Other non-bio renewable energy consumption sources include ket. Fuels that contain hydrocarbons are purchased for a carbon
hydroelectric (35 percent), wind (9 percent), geothermal (5 per- market. The implicit value of our carbon-based, food and energy
cent), and solar (1 percent). Hydroelectric has remained fairly markets already represent coarse approximations of the value of
constant, but hydroelectric energy availability has more to do with carbon. These food and energy carbon prices are also traded on
annual droughts and floods than with other energy policies. Wind the basis of their inherent positive value rather than on the cost of
continues to grow rapidly and solar energy consumption has grown mitigating a negative liability (emission market).
at a slower rate. An easy example of a common commodity that is traded on its
The other non-renewable energy sources consumed in 2009, in- carbon value is corn grain or shelled corn. Corn grain has a primary
clude petroleum (37 percent) and coal (21 percent), both of which market in the US for livestock feed. While there are multiple com-
declined. Nuclear (9 percent) and natural gas (25 percent) consump- ponents within corn that make it an excellent ingredient in livestock
tion remained about the same. The shifts in nuclear and natural gas feed, the main component is the energy in starch. Starch is a basic
consumption resulted in lower CO2 emissions because these fuels polysaccharide carbohydrate (C6H10O5)n [21].
emit less CO2 per btu than petroleum and coal. These shifts have Figure 19B.5 contains general food, fuel, and livestock feed
been due more to economic concerns than an interest in emission “demand-side” prices. These prices represent prices that con­
reductions. Only time will tell if it is a temporary adjustment or one sumers of these goods actually pay for these products. These values
that is longer-term. should be considered as illustrative rather than definitive. The
prices in dollars per ton are presented on a log scale because the
19B.5.1 T
 he Price of Carbon, or Carbon price differences between different markets differ by orders of
in Demand — $/lb magnitude. The conventional food prices include meat from $2 to
The big-money question in bioenergy development is, “What $5 per pound, butter, cheese, and even cold breakfast cereal at $3
is the price of carbon?” This is asked in reference to the cost of per pound (as-is basis).

Luxury food (liquor, gourmet cheese), $ 10/lb $20,000/ton

Organic food, $4.5/lb $9,000/ton

Conventional food, $3/lb $6,000/ton

Liquid fuel - retail, $3/gallon $1,000/ton

Liquid fuels - intermediate, $2/gal, $75/bbl $600/ton

Fuel pellets, natural gas, $220/ton, $5/MMBTU $200,000/ton

Livestock feed, $3.5/bu corn $140,000/ton

Hay, straw, corn stalks $60/ton

$40/ton

$10 $100 $10,000 $10,000

Fig. 19B.5  Common carbon products and their value in dollars per ton ($/ton) [22]
 energy and power generation handbook  •  19-23

Each horizontal bar in Fig. 19B.5 represents a different class of carbon credit prices from the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX)
products. Each of these classes can be divided into dozens of more from January 2006 until mid-2010 [24]. The CCX, Carbon Finan-
narrowly defined products. These classes and categories represent cial Instrument (CFI) contract is just one product that is handled
separate economic demand functions. There is no single demand by the CCX, and the spot prices generally are much lower than the
function for biomass, there are literally thousands demand func- futures prices and other instruments. However, the spot prices work
tions for products that are derived from plant products. The com- best for illustrative purposes. The term “vintage” refers to the origi-
modities listed in Fig. 19B.1 are not bought and sold on carbon nation year of the traded CFI. Each CFI contract represents one ton
content, but on their inherent end use value which is a function of of CO2 equivalent. The log scale prices in Fig. 19B.6 are below the
carbon content. The higher valued products are generally not sold prices indicated in Fig. 19B.5 ($10/ton).
in the units of $/ton either, but doing so at least puts the prices on This value of carbon (CCX credit traded prices) has a rather
the same unit. unique character. The carbon emission value in this market can
Water is a principle component, particularly for the food and feed be either a positive value (revenue) or a negative value (cost), de-
products. Monetizing the price of the product as carbon is very con- pending on who is buying and selling. If an energy user is emitting
servative. If carbon represents only 5 percent of the actual product ancient, fossil carbon, this carbon emission price is a cost that must
for instance, the value of that product in terms of carbon alone would be mitigated. If the energy end-user is using a recent carbon, bio-
increase 20 fold. In a similar way, the greenhouse gases are stan­ mass fuel, this carbon emission price is a revenue.
dardized on carbon-equivalence. Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Global The price of the CFI, carbon credits in Fig. 19B.6 rose through
Warming Potential (GWP) values, which are established to estimate June of 2008 for several reasons. First, the European Union has
climate change, are not based on a chemical equivalent of carbon, implemented mandatory carbon emission limits. This has in-
but an estimated risk of radiation of carbon dioxide (CO2) [23]. creased the value of CO2 emission credits globally. Second, there
Finally, it is noteworthy that the value in Fig. 19B.5 ($/ton) is was general anticipation that the US legislature was on the verge
on a log scale. If presented on a linear scale, the lesser carbon end- of establishing its own federal carbon legislation. The more con-
use values do not show up. A case can be made that food, fuel and fident early carbon traders and emitters became that legislative
feed values drop by nearly a magnitude for each market. Only coal action was on the horizon, the more stable the price became.
is the outlier in this hierarchy. The price of coal, in this case the Oddly when those legislative discussions did begin in 2009, the
wholesale price of IL coal, is well below the other fuels. Because it carbon emission price began to fall. Other carbon trading instru-
is such a low priced fuel, the inefficiencies associated with power ments are trading at a higher value than the spot prices presented
generation and costs of transportation are less concerning. here, but the CFI contracts represent a ton of CO2 equivalent.
Remediation costs are commonly paid on emissions. Homeown-
19B.5.1.2  The Price of Emission or the Negative Value of ers and industries pay for treatment and remediation of water, air
Carbon  It is fundamental to understand that emissions, pollution, and solid waste emissions. A Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) land-
and wastes are the production of materials that are produced in fill may collect a $40/ton tipping or gate fee to take a ton of MSW
quantities that overwhelm the demand for those products. While that would be considered an emission of sorts. Like the categories
there may be academic value in identifying an output that is exter- in Fig. 19B.5, a ton of MSW is not equal to a ton of carbon. Gener-
nal to an analytical system as an externality, it does not facilitate ally a ton of MSW is about 60 percent biogenic material [25]. As
the utilization of the isolated materials. One way of thinking about the solid was remediation costs move from service provider back to
emissions is to consider them as unused surplus inputs that can the consumer these costs increase. A residential solid waste fee of
not be assimilated back into the current system as it has been de- $10 per month for pick up of 200 pounds per month (50 lbs/week)
signed. The key is to redesign the system to assimilate the surplus becomes $100 per ton to the homeowner.
materials. The issue of whether biomass is a resource or a liability will
The price of carbon as defined by the CO2 emissions market has continue to be developed in subsequent sections.
a story of its own. Figure 19B.6 represents the vintage 2003 spot
19B.5.2 BTUs and the Best Value
If energy is the currency by which value is to be assigned, it is
$10.00
fairly straight-forward to convert nearly any carbonaceous material
into an energy value (dollars per million btu, $/MMBTU). These
energy values take historical price data and add a tabled higher
heating value, (HHV) value [26]. The resulting information con-
CCX CFI Spot Price ($)

tained in the new constructed values is diminished in quality by

addition of the tabled values. The $/MMBTU energy value is not
a perfect measure, but it allows comparisons that are not possible
$1.00
between barrels and bushels. It also uses the information of interest,
energy, as the denominator.
Prices in terms of $/MMBTU is not a conventional energy value
[27]. These new energy values work like prices in that if one is
buying energy, a low $/MMBTU is the goal. If someone is selling
energy, a high $/MMBTU is not bad.
$0.10
There are trade-offs in using this new metric.
9/5/05 3/24/06 10/10/06 4/28/07 11/14/07 6/1/08 12/18/08 7/6/09 1/22/10 8/10/10 2/26/11
·  Care must be exercised in comparing inputs with outputs.
Fig. 19B.6 Vintage 2003 carbon credit closing Crude oil or shelled corn are intermediate fuels, not final prod-
values — Chicago Climate Exchange [24] ucts. Neither fuel product can be put into a gas tank, they both
 19-24  •  Chapter 19

must be refined and delivered to a retail market. The refining $1 per gallon production tax credit. This is really a production
and processing costs are not captured in this simple energy (supply-side) economic issue. These energy values are based on
value metric. the purchase price of these materials, so they reflect a demand-
·  Some historical price data is wholesale, some is retail. Some side event.
moves into industrial markets, some through residential mar- Biodiesel fuel can be made biologically with many different
kets. These are all distinctly different markets — that are not plant and animal oils. It is possible using thermal technologies like
captured in the energy values. pyrolysis to convert solid fuels like wood and grass into biodiesel.
·  Conversion efficiencies, which are discussed frequently here, Some of the thermal conversion technologies used for biomass are
are not included in these energy values. not too different from the chemical and thermal technologies al-
ready established in the petrochemical industry.
The initial feedstock in use before the economic down turn in
19B.5.3 Energy Values and Ethanol 2008 was nearly always virgin vegetable oil, or soybean oil. Since
With crude oil, gasoline, shelled corn, and ethanol all in the same the economy turned south, there has been great interest in converting
$/MMBTU units, they can be graphed on the same chart (Fig. 19B.7). existing facilities to handle more of the used and waste oils. But
Crude oil prices serve as a good benchmark for energy prices. The demand for biodiesel has declined with the supply, so the market
price of biodiesel fuel has followed the diesel fuel prices.
$60.00
Figure 19B.8 shows crude oil, rendered, number 2, yellow grease,
Crude Oil
Shelled Corn
soybean oil, diesel fuel and biodiesel fuel. The diesel fuel prices
$50.00
Gasoline
Ethanol $60.00
$40.00 Crude Oil
Soybean Oil
$/MMBTU

$50.00 Diesel
$30.00 Biodiesel
No. 2 Yellow Grease
$40.00
$20.00
$/MMBTU

$30.00
$10.00

$20.00
$0.00
1/6/06
3/6/06
5/6/06
7/6/06
9/6/06

1/6/07
3/6/07
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9/6/07

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9/6/08

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3/6/09
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7/6/09
9/6/09

1/6/10
3/6/10
5/6/10
7/6/10
11/6/06

11/6/07

11/6/08

11/6/09

$10.00

Fig. 19B.7  Wholesale energy values of ethanol, $0.00

1/6/06
3/6/06
5/6/06
7/6/06
9/6/06

1/6/07
3/6/07
5/6/07
7/6/07
9/6/07

1/6/08
3/6/08
5/6/08
7/6/08
9/6/08

1/6/09
3/6/09
5/6/09
7/6/09
9/6/09

1/6/10
3/6/10
5/6/10
7/6/10
11/6/06

11/6/07

11/6/08

11/6/09
corn, gasoline, and crude oil [27]

y-axis scale has been set to the same scale of $/MMBTU for each
chart so the charts can be compared. The fuels of most interest are Fig. 19B.8  Wholesale energy values biodiesel,
gasoline and ethanol since they are both final products rather than soybean oil, yellow grease, diesel fuel, and
intermediate fuels like crude oil and corn. crude oil. (Source [27])
This chart indicates that on an energy value-basis that gasoline is come from the retail prices reported by the EIA, which reflect the
generally a better value than ethanol as a transportation fuel. If the fuel taxes that consumers pay. The biodiesel prices are whole sale
goal is to purchase energy, then lower energy values are preferred. prices for B-100 (100 percent biodiesel). These do not include the
This is really all the chart indicates. It does not show that ethanol is blender credit, or the other fuel taxes. This means that the spread
not a viable transportation fuel. Ethanol has had more commercial between the energy value of diesel fuel and biodiesel fuel is much
success as a fuel additive rather than as a primary fuel. Ethanol has greater than what is shown here.
become an industry in part because of its environmental qualities This is the entire point of Fig. 19B.8. For biodiesel to be competi-
and probably even more so because of its energy independence and tive with diesel fuel, it must have a similar energy value. Currently,
local rural development benefits. These other parameters indicate it does not. In fact for much of the time since January of 2006 the
that benefits other than energy content need to be part of the energy principal biodiesel feedstock, soybean oil, has had the same energy
value metric. value as retail diesel fuel.
Like crude oil refineries, ethanol plants produce multiple prod- Soybean oil is far too valuable to be used as a fuel in its first use.
ucts: ethanol, distillers grains, corn (vegetable) oil, heat, and CO2. Soybean oil is generally used as a food ingredient. The demand for
As this industry matures, the biofuel facilities will become even food-grade vegetable oil is too strong for the biodiesel industry to
more efficient. This chart also shows that on a dollar/energy unit compete. This is part of the reason the food vs. fuel debate is not the
basis, that corn is a lower-valued feedstock than crude oil. It is perceived threat that some have implied. The food uses of biomass
grown locally, which feeds into the energy independence and local will always out-compete the fuel and animal feed uses. Edible bio-
economic development opportunities. mass can be used for other uses, but when there is a food scarcity,
the fuel uses will lose.
19B.5.4 Energy Values and Biodiesel Figure 19B.9 shows the spread between the wholesale, untaxed
In July of 2010 as this chapter is being written the US biodie- biodiesel energy value and the taxed, retail price of diesel fuel. It
sel industry has gone through a severe contraction. In addition could be argued that this additional cost per energy unit of bio­diesel
to moving through the same economic recession that the rest fuel is the non-monetary benefit of energy independence, local eco-
of the country went through, the biodiesel facilities lost their nomic development and environmental benefits of using biodiesel
 energy and power generation handbook  •  19-25

that during 2009 natural gas has been running very close to coal on
a $/MMBTU basis. The coal price series used here is Illinois basin
coal. The coal in Appalachia can be 50 percent higher in price.
This might push the energy value of coal above the energy value
of natural gas. This is significant since natural gas emits about half
the CO2 as coal. Corn is presented for perspective. It is not used as
a significant commercial fuel.
Figure 19B.11 presents the retail prices for residential heating
fuels. The EIA only presents heating season prices for propane and
heating oil. This is one market where biomass fuels are very com-
petitive with the conventional fuels. Particularly during the heating
seasons, fuel pellets have been more affordable that propane and
heating oil. Depending on the region, the same is likely true for
electricity. Only corn grain as a fuel is a better value. Which is
interesting because at current prices, corn is an expensive ingredi-
ent into both biofuels and livestock feed, but it still a good value as
Fig. 19B.9 Energy value margin between whole- a heating source for residential heat.
sale biodiesel and diesel fuel [27]
$60.00
Fuel Pellets
Corn Grain
over fossil diesel fuel. The bottom line is that there has to be a vi- $50.00 Heating Heating Heating
Res. Heating Oil
able market for this more costly fuel alternative. The development Season Season Season
Res. Propane
Res. Electric
of more efficient and cost-effective production technologies for $40.00 Heating Season
biodiesel production will be the fastest way to reap the other non- $/MMBTU
monetary benefits using biodiesel fuel. Currently the additional $30.00
costs are not sustainable.
$20.00
19B.5.5 Energy Values and Residential Heat
The residential heat energy values tell a different story than the
$10.00
transportation fuels. The residential appliances are stationary, so
solid fuels play a role. Wood has been burned as long as man has
$0.00
known how to make fire. As cord wood, it is produced locally and
11/6/06

11/6/07

11/6/08

11/6/09
1/6/06
3/6/06
5/6/06
7/6/06
9/6/06

1/6/07
3/6/07
5/6/07
7/6/07
9/6/07

1/6/08
3/6/08
5/6/08
7/6/08
9/6/08

1/6/09
3/6/09
5/6/09
7/6/09
9/6/09

1/6/10
3/6/10
5/6/10
7/6/10
consumed locally. It is imported into urban areas.
There is no estimation of energy conversion losses. Since
all the values in this chart are being discussed as heating fuel, Fig. 19B.11 Retail residential heating energy
this chart would be more accurate if it included the conversion values of heating oil, propane, electric, fuel
efficiencies that Dennis Buffington, Pennsylvania State Univer- pellets, and corn [27]
sity, uses [28]. The value of efficiency will continue to be devel-
oped in other sections.
Figure 19B.10 compares the wholesale value of various heating 19B.5.5.1  More Benefits than Energy  As discussed energy is no
fuels. The two most common for heat are natural gas and heating longer the only component of carbon-based fuels that play a role. In
oil. Coal is used extensively in power generation. The three fossil the case of fossil fuels and biofuels, one significant characteristic is
fuels presented here maintain a fairly equidistant margin between density. In general bio-based fuels tend to be less dense than the more
each other. The one significant shift in the fuels presented here is conventional fossil fuels. This has significant economic implications.
Figure 19B.12 shows a progression of charts that begin with fuel data
graphed with energy value plotted against fuel density.
$60.00
The first chart of Fig. 19B.12a shows a scatter chart of liquid,
Corn Grain
Coal solid and gaseous fuels in terms of energy value and their density.
$50.00
Natural Gas Coal for instance has the lowest energy value and the highest den-
Heating Oil
sity. Natural gas has a low energy value and a low density. Natural
$40.00
gas is popular though because it piped directly to the end user, so
$/MMBTU

the density issue does not interfere with delivery. For the liquids
$30.00
and solid fuels though, the more dense the fuel the cheaper the de-
livery and utilization costs. Figure 19B.12b simply identifies the
$20.00
fuels by various phases (gas, liquid, or solid).
In Fig. 19B.12c, the groups of fuels by phase are bisected by arbi-
$10.00
trary transects to illustrate that within each phase, the lower energy
value with a high density has greater value. This is primarily
$0.00
to lower the transportation and handling costs of both the feed-
1/6/06
3/6/06
5/6/06
7/6/06
9/6/06
11/6/06
1/6/07
3/6/07
5/6/07
7/6/07
9/6/07
11/6/07
1/6/08
3/6/08
5/6/08
7/6/08
9/6/08
11/6/08
1/6/09
3/6/09
5/6/09
7/6/09
9/6/09
11/6/09
1/6/10
3/6/10
5/6/10
7/6/10

stocks and the fuel end products. Mixed grass hay for instance
has a low density and energy value, but to replace the absolute
Fig. 19B.10  Wholesale energy values of coal, energy value of a ton of coal, it may require 10 to 12 tons of
heating oil, natural gas, and corn [27] grass hay.
 19-26  •  Chapter 19

$35.00

$30.00
Liquid fuels Biodiesel

$25.00 Gasoline Diesel fuel

Soybean oil
Ethanol
$/MMBTU

$20.00
#2 Yellow grease

$15.00
Fuel pellets Heating oil
Propane
Crude oil
$10.00
Corn
Gases DDGS
Wheat straw

$5.00 Solid fuels

Natural gas Coal
Compost
Mixed grass hay
$0.00
0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0 70.0 80.0 90.0
Lb/ft3
Fig. 19B.12a Energy value by density for various fuels [29]

So far in this discussion of non-energy characteristics that have technology, number of producers, expectations of future prices,
economic value, the only one that has been discussed is density. taxes, subsidies, and regulations [31]. These factors make the entire
One other non-energy characteristic that merits discussion is the supply curve, or relationship between quantity and price, increase
impact of carbon dioxide emissions on value. or decrease (shift). Only when looking at a specific commodity, like
When a million btu of natural gas is burned, about half the CO2 the price of the current sugarcane crop, does a price-point move up
is emitted as with the combustion of a million btu of coal. Assign- or down a static supply curve. Unfortunately very specific supply
ing CO2 emission values collected from EIA to the same collection relationships get lumped together in ways that add confusion and
of fossil and biofuels and plotting energy, value, density, and CO2 blur the lines of biomass economic opportunities.
emissions on the same chart produces and effect like that presented
in Fig. 19B.13. Here the least cost value (energy and density) is one 19B.6.1 Defining Biomass Supplies
that also emits the least CO2. These are only relative relationships Supply and demand curve charts are generally used by economist
presented to illustrate some of the pressures that various fuel char- to make their point to other economists. It is important in understand-
acteristics bring to the economic success of a project. ing these conceptual tools that a supply curve for corn grain will look
different than one for corn stalks. There is a tendency to discuss bio-
mass opportunities as though biomass is a single commodity. It is not.
19B.6 B
 IOMASS SUPPLY AND PRODUCTION Supply curves for switchgrass, hybrid poplars, forest slash, sawdust,
ECONOMICS manure, food waste, sugarcane, and any other source of biomass for
energy, will have a different price/quantity relationship.
The “supply” side of the economic supply-demand relationship Corn grain, for instance, can be sold for food, feed, ethanol bio-
focuses on quantities available for sale. This discussion provides fuels, or as solid-fuel for residential heat. The dry, left-over corn
information on where biomass fuel is going to come from to power plant after grain harvest can be harvested for fuel in advance cel-
and fuel this nation. Economists tend to focus on prices and markets lulosic biofuels or it can be left on the field to provide residual
(demand), while engineers look more intently at inputs, technol- organic matter and nutrients to the soil. Or it can be harvested be-
ogy and output quantity — which supply economics (Fig. 19B.14). fore it matures as corn silage, wet, and this can be used as animal
Supply economics describe from where and how much biomass it feed or digested anaerobically for the production of biogas fuels.
ill take to fuel an energy project. The popular discussion tends to focus on the end-use or markets
There is more to supply economics than may appear on the sur- available. These are demand issues. In this example, supply-side
face. Factors that typically influence supply are: the price of inputs, component is just corn.
 energy and power generation handbook  •  19-27

$35.00
Liquid fuels

$30.00 Intermediate
Biodiesel Liquid fuels

$25.00 Gasoline Diesel fuel

Soybean oil
Ethanol
$20.00
$/MMBTU

#2 Yellow grease

$15.00 Heating oil

Fuel pellets
Propane
Crude oil Solid fuels
$10.00
Corn
Gases DDGS
Wheat straw

$5.00
Natural gas Coal
Compost
Mixed grass hay
$0.00
0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0 70.0 80.0 90.0
Lb/ft3

Fig. 19B.12b Energy value by density for various fuels by phase [29]

The bioenergy markets are only just developing, so there is lim- of biomass often play a greater role in this decision than the avail-
ited fuel-specific demand information. It is not uncommon for sup- able feedstocks, technologies and market do.
ply quantities and qualities to be discussed in terms of demand, or
the conditions of marketability. This is a reasonable first step, but 19B.6.2 C
 onversion Technology Project Scale
it also creates allocation challenges. If a biomass supply has been and Scope
determined for a specific use, it is dangerous to allocate that single Project Size or Scale Production data on emerging conversion
source for multiple applications. While supply contracts can aid in technologies is difficult to find. Often times the data collection
dedicating specific supplies for specific uses, they are not without requires access to the technology of interest. This is accomplished
limitations. On the one hand, until a project is far enough along by beginning on a very small scale, or size, and gradually work up
that biomass suppliers are willing to sign supply contracts, a given to a commercial scale project. The basic economic sizes are labora-
biomass supply is available to the highest bidder. tory scale, pilot scale, commercial scale or industrial scale. These
On another hand, if a dedicated, 10 megawatt (MW) biomass scales are set by the intended goal or purpose rather than by specific
power plant is being built in the shadow of a 800 MW commer- size. For instance, a commercial biodiesel plant might be as small
cial coal-fired power plant even supply contracts may be chal- as 3 million gallons per year, while a pilot cellulosic ethanol plant
lenged. It may be 5 years after the biomass power plant is op- might be more than 3 million gallons of production capacity per
erational that the commercial plant begins to co-fire biomass and year. It is more about whether the biodiesel plant can make money
coal. Even at a fuel mix of only 2 percent biomass at the 800 MW or the pilot cellulosic ethanol plant is being used to gather data for
power plant will require an equivalent of biomass to operate 16 a larger plant.
MW of power. Whether the co-fired plant is looking at fuel vol- The scale categories can be defined as: [32]
umes or power production the new biomass demand at compet-
ing power plants will test the strength of the initial biomass supply ·  A laboratory-scale project is small enough to fit on a lab table-
contracts. top. The purpose of this size is to perfecting the process; there
This co-firing example brings up the issue of whether it is best are no commercial economic considerations.
to blend biomass with other fuels, or co-fire, or whether it is best ·  Pilot-scale projects are the intermediate step between labora-
to utilize biomass alone in a conversion technology. The answer tory and commercial. Technology developers need confidence
is that there are some situations where it makes the best economic in their technologies — a proof of concept — to attract in-
sense to focus purely on biomass alone. There will be many more vestors and clients. The scale of these pilots is large enough
opportunities to co-fire or blend a small amount of biomass with to test the equipment at a rigorous level, but small enough to
existing conventional fuels. Unfortunately the politics and policies minimize economic risks to the developer.
19-28  •  Chapter 19

$35.00
Liquid fuels

$30.00 Intermediate
Biodiesel Liquid fuels

$25.00 Gasoline Diesel fuel

Soybean oil
Ethanol
$20.00
$/MMBTU

#2 Yellow grease
Gases

$15.00 Heating oil

Fuel pellets
Propane
Crude oil Solid fuels
$10.00
Corn
DDGS
Wheat straw

$5.00
Natural gas Coal
Compost
Mixed grass hay
$0.00
0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0 70.0 80.0 90.0
Lb/ft3

Fig. 19B.12c Energy values by density for various fuels [29]

·  The purpose of a commercial-scale plant is to be economi- “conventional” corn-based, dry mill ethanol plant was designed
cally viable. These projects are economic experiments. to produce ethanol and manage the byproducts of distillers grains
Hundreds of millions of dollars are on the line. Public grants (DDGS) and carbon dioxide (CO2). Since energy costs continue to
and loans do not guarantee success, but provide some risk pro- rise, this fledgling industry continues to innovate combining bio-
tection. Once the “first of its kind,” commercial-scale project mass gasification or anaerobic digestion for fuel sources. They are
risks are removed, subsequent projects should operate without cultivating research in new markets for the DDGS, reusing mu-
public assistance. nicipal wastewater, developing CO2 product enterprises, and find-
ing new ways to utilize the waste thin stillage. Highly specialized
Finally, industrial-scale projects are replications of the success-
biofuels facilities are diversifying.
ful “first” commercial-scale projects. A key factor in the rapid ex-
Combining economies of scale (specialization) and scope
pansion of the dry-mill corn ethanol industry was that investors
(diversification) are creating exciting new realities. This is happen-
knew the established technologies were replicable.
ing across the nation. Landfills are pumping their methane to manu-
Should a biomass energy project be “Large and Specialized
facturing facilities for a fuel source. Large livestock facilities are
(Industry)” or “Small and Diversified (Sustainable Agriculture)?”
diversifying into energy projection from methane digesters. Etha-
Both business models work, but the “large”/“small” designations
nol, biodiesel and fuel pellet mills are all continuing to innovate to
are political terminology. For biomass energy projects to succeed
be large enough to capture economies of scale, but diversify into
over the long-run, they will need to avoid playing political games
multiple product lines to reduce waste and increase revenue. Large
for as long as possible.
efficient, facilities are nesting lesser enterprises within the umbrella
In economics, specialization is referred to as economies of scale.
of the specialized enterprise to more completely utilize company
By specializing, firms spread capital investments over more units
resources.
of production output. This means they get larger and focus on a
Economies of scope imply that the sum of the total system is
single output. The result is a lower per-unit cost of production and
greater than the sum of the parts (individual enterprises).
more competitive cost structure. In agriculture we talk about farms
getting larger and fewer in numbers. This is due to economies of
scale. 19B.6.3 Biomass Supplies
Diversification of an asset, means that assets have multiple uses In 2005, the US Department of Energy (DOE) and the US De-
and produce multiple outputs. This is referred to as economies of partment of Agriculture (USDA) published their landmark report
scope. A “diversified” farm produces multiple commodities. The on biomass available for use in US petroleum-derived markets
 energy and power generation handbook  •  19-29

$25.00
Diesel fuel
Biodiesel
Gasoline

$20.00

Heating oil
$15.00
Crude oil
$/cu. ft

Ethanol

$10.00

Fuel pellets
$5.00
Corn
Coal
DDGS
Natural gas Propane Compost
Wheat straw Mixed grass hay
$0.00
50.0 60.0 70.0 80.0 90.0 100.0 110.0
kg CO2/MMBTU
Fig. 19B.13 Density value by energy emission for various fuels [29]

[33]. The goal was to see if the biomass land resources could Ethanol demand grew faster than supplies as states began switch-
sustain a feedstock supply of 1 billion tons of biomass to replace ing from using MTBE as a fuel oxygenate to ethanol as an oxygen-
30 percent of the US petroleum consumption. They determined that ate in 2005 and 2006. The industry has been trying to move from
1.3 billion tons: 998 billion tons from agriculture and 368 billion a fuel additive market to a fuel market through the development of
tons from residual forest biomass; had the potential to offset one cars and engines that run well on E-85 fuels (85 percent ethanol
third of the US petroleum consumption — without taking away and 15 percent gasoline), but progress has been slow. This change
from the current food and finished wood uses. is requiring both the production of more cars that can run on either
This study “fueled” the race to a biofuel platform. It occurred gasoline or E-85 (flex-fuel vehicles) and the installation of E-85
when oil supplies were challenged with pipeline repairs and hur- pumps to provide easy access to commuters.
ricanes. Greenhouse Gas (GHG) mitigation was on the horizon. One of the challenges that ethanol has to overcome is that it is
The race was on. The Billion Ton Study, as it has become known not as energy dense as gasoline. Ethanol has about 76,000 million
as, is a seminal, thoughtful estimate of biomass resources. Over btu (MMBTU)/gallon while gasoline has about 125,000 MMBTU/
time, cases have been made that sources of biomass that were gallon. Any economic value from using E-85 instead of gasoline
considered in the study will not be allowed or available [34]. has to also overcome the lower energy density.
Other cases have been made that the Billion-Ton Study is very Advanced biofuel production (from cellulose) is a new great
conservative and in fact biomass can do more in time. Gains from challenge. On a technical basis, turning fiber into fuel is quite fea-
technology efficiency, reductions in energy consumption, and the sible. The primary constraint is in doing it economically, such that
inclusion of sources of biomass not considered, seem to indicate the revenues are greater than the costs. The yields for converting
that on a technical supply basis, biomass can play a significant cellulose to ethanol have been in the 80 to 100 gallon per ton range.
role as a fuel. Some yields have been reported higher, but to really understand the
The most notable biofuel production in the US is the growth of commercial yield of conversion of fiber to fuel, there needs to be a
the starch-based ethanol industry. It has grown from a vision of commercial sector producing it.
agriculture in the 1980s to a significant industry today. In 2009, The two longest-running leaders in producing ethanol from bio-
the EIA reports that US fuel consumption relied on 4 percent bio- mass are Verenium Corp in Jennings, Louisiana (1.5 million gal-
fuels in 2009 [20]. The Renewable Fuels Association reports that lons/year) and KL Energy in Upton, Wyoming (1.0 million gallons/
in 2009, 10.6 billion gallons of ethanol were produced in the US year). Most of the other projects are fairly fluid. Biomass Rules,
(Fig. 19B.15) [36]. LLC maintained a database of proposed projects that totaled 700
 19-30  •  Chapter 19

Fig. 19B.14 Matrix of biomass feedstocks, technologies and outputs, BioTown, USA Sourcebook, 2006 [30]

million gallons of annual capacity through 2009 (Fig. 19B.16) [37]. The risks associated with starting up a new biofuel project can-
These 55 projects are presented on the basis of feedstock source. not be understated. When the “normal” risks are combined with the
Unfortunately the cellulosic biofuels policies such as the 2010 Re- economic shocks of the last 2 years, maintaining an advanced bio-
vised Renewable Fuels Standards (RFS2) may not include some of
these proposed projects.

12,000

10,000

8,000
million gallons

6,000

4,000

2,000

0
1994
1984

1986

1988

1990
1991
1980

1983

1985

1987

1996

1998

2009
1981
1982

1989

1992
1993

1995

1999

2001

2006
1997

2000

2004

2007
2002
2003

2008
2005

Fig. 19B.15 US ethanol production in millions of Fig. 19B.16 Proposed US cellulosic biofuels

gallons per year [36] projects [37]
 energy and power generation handbook  •  19-31

fuels project list also became more difficult. An excellent alternative Currently it is more cost effective to install a generator on a large
advanced biofuel project list that is available on the internet is main- landfill than it is to install a generator on a large anaerobic digester, be-
tained by the Biofuels Digest on their industry data page [38]. cause the landfill costs the “container” out as a landfill operation cost.
Algae projects have a life of their own. Algae have many poten- A digester project, however, must include the “container” as well as
tial markets available to algae production including: human food the electrical generator or end-use technology in the project budget.
and nutrition, livestock feed, water quality remediation, CO2 re- Industrial digesters are experiencing new-found interest. Anaer-
mediation, and energy. These markets can also serve multiple mar- obic digesters provide some recoverable energy in addition to or-
kets at the same time. As a result the investment risk can be spread ganic stabilization. Sources of industrial organic wastes can have
out more easily for algae markets. Two algae industry associations higher biological oxygen demand (BOD)/energy contents than
have been formed in the US with scores of projects under develop- more common feedstocks such as manure. In fact, many on farm
ment. Algal research has been conducted in all the market areas manure digesters seek out higher strength feedstocks from industry
for decades, so there is a wealth of knowledge already available in to add to their farm digester projects.
the scientific literature and community. The challenge here again is On-farm manure, anaerobic digesters for energy production,
to develop a commercial production system that provides greater have been underdevelopment in the US for 40 years. There was a
revenues than costs (Fig. 19B.17). steep learning curve in the 1970s and 1980s with many failures, but
2,500
they have reached a certain level of technological maturity. There
are two US digester manufacturers that have each installed over 30
digesters each. Manure digesters that are built by the commercial
2,000 venders today operate pretty close to their specifications. US EPA
AgSTAR program keeps track of operating digester projects in the
US [41]. Currently they report over 130 manure digesters with a
megawatt hours

1,500 generation capacity of about 50 MW.

Finally the U.S. fuel pellet industry is growing at an unpre­cedented
rate and is estimated to have a production capacity of over 6 million
1,000
tons of fuel pellets per year. This is up from about one million tons
of production capacity 5 years ago. Statistics from the Pellet Fuels
500
Institute show that in the 2000 to 2001 heating season North America
produced 730,000 tons of wood biomass pellets [42]. That annual
production capacity from 10 years ago is about the size of pellet
0 plants that are being constructed currently (Fig. 19B.18).
2006
2002
2000

2004
1960

1974
1976

1986
1988
1958

1966
1968
1970

1980
1982

1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
1948
1950
1952
1954
1956

1962
1964

1972

1978

1984

1,600,000
Fig. 19B.17  US biomass power plant capacity by
year, [39] 1,400,000

Biomass power projects are one of the least documented uses of bio- 1,200,000 1994-1995 production
mass energy. There are datasets around that track various components 2005-2006 production
of biomass power, but it seems that each dataset track just a little dif- 1,000,000
2009-2010 capacity
Tons

ferent data than each other. An excellent resource on biomass energy

data is the Department of Energy, Biomass Energy Data Book [39]. 800,000

Using biomass for heat is even more difficult to quantify. The 600,000
paper and forest products industry have become very good at pro-
viding process heat for their industries by converting production 400,000
residuals into fuel. The 2005, DOE, Billion-Ton Study referenced
200,000
above identifies 140 million tons of biomass that are already used
in existing wood and paper industry facilities. 0
The electricity generating capacity from solid waste landfills Northeast Southeast Great Central Mountain U.S. Pacific
Lakes
is impressive. The US EPA Landfill Methane Outreach Program
(LMOP) reports roughly 500 landfill gas projects have a genera- Fig. 19B.18  Change in the US fuel pellet infra-
tion capacity of 1,800 MW, not including the significant amount of structure over the last 15 years [42]
landfill gas that provides fuel for direct use in local industries [40].
Those 500 projects have over 6 billion tons of waste in place. Before the turn of the 21st century, an average sized pellet mill
There are more resource-efficient ways to utilize the carbon stored was as small as 10,000 tons/year capacity. That increased to 30,000
in solid waste than entombing it in landfills. Composting, recycling, tons/year, and now is over 100,000 tons/year. Among this class of
and energy production are some of the ways to add value to these mills was the biomass crop fuel pellet cooperative, Show Me En-
underutilized materials. Utilizing municipal solid waste (MSW) as ergy, Missouri. In 2008, the Green Circle Bio Energy, Inc. opened
a fuel is a popular feedstock because MSW is already delivered a 500,000 tons/year facility in Cottondale, Florida.
to the existing facilities. Biomass fuel transportation and handling Not all the new pellet mills are super-sized. Many mills using lo-
costs are cost-prohibitive. Since biomass tends to be less dense cal materials with domestic markets are still being built in the 30,000
than fossil sources, transportation and storage costs for biomass tons per year capacity range. Some are driven by more than foreign
are proportionally higher on a per ton basis. The installation of a markets. Colorado has two “mid-sized” pellet mills in the 100,000
conversion technology project at or near a landfill can capitalize on to 200,000 ton/year capacity range. They are making fuel out of the
the delivered biogenic MSW materials. dead trees left behind by the devastating pine beetle epidemic.
19-32  •  Chapter 19

The fuel pellet industry is not immune to a challenged economy. If biomass is regulated as a pollutant then the chances of develop-
Dixie Pellets in Selma, Alabama, which had an annual production ing an industry become increasing limited. As mentioned above, the
capacity of 400,000 tons, closed its doors last September. Another difference between waste treatment and biomass processing is often
older mill in northwest Montana reportedly also closed its doors in one of semantics. Publicly supported wastewater treatment technol-
January 2010. The Montana mill had an annual capacity of 30,000 ogy aerates wastewater to grow biota to consume the carbon energy
tons and is nestled in the Rocky Mountains. in the wastewater and then removed as biosolids. These stabilized
biosolids are hauled off to be land applied generally at a cost greater
than their value. Alternatively, wastewater could grow beneficial
19B.7 NON-ENERGY MATERIALS species of algae, consuming the carbon energy in the wastewater
and then processed as value-added biobased products and energy.
Finally, regarding biomass supply economic issues, is managing This is not an engineering problem, but a policy problem. Stat-
the non-energy considerations. Since biomass is composed of plant ute and regulation-specific, legal responsibilities by public agents
parts, there are always nutrients and other residuals either going entrusted with public health and the environment, have no incen-
into the process or coming out of a process that may not have direct tive to adapt policies that achieve multiple objectives. This biomass
energy value, but have other values. In fact, unless biomass energy policy barrier is looming-large for the carbon-regulated industries.
projects optimize all the energy and non-energy components, eco- Biomass residuals in many ways form the foundation for the en-
nomic success will be limited. Biomass energy production almost vironmental pollutants that are emitted everyday. In the air, they
always has low profit margins — if any. When biomass projects are greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide equivalents of CO2, CH4, N2O,
become profitable, it is because all the parts have found the highest- and fluorinated gases; and other air pollutants such as Volatile Or-
valued market in which to contribute to project revenues. ganic Compounds (VOC); Criteria Pollutants like carbon monoxide
Once again algae makes a great example. One algal technology de- and Nitrogen Oxides (NO2) as well as Hazardous Air Pollutants. In
velopment driver is the opportunity to use algae to capture waste CO2 the water they are Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), ammonia,
from power plant exhaust. CO2 is a limiting nutrient in green plant pro- nitrite, phosphorus, and total organic carbons. In solid waste they
duction. When algae are exposed to enriched concentrations of CO2, are wood, paper, and cardboard, but also include the liquid and air
they grow more biomass. Co-locating algal CO2 sequestration projects components also. These compounds are made up of the basic build-
with power plants to absorb the surplus (waste) CO2 is intuitive. ing blocks of life.
These are residuals, surpluses, and leftovers from using and pro-
Eqn. 19B-1: Photosynthesis ducing life-giving food, fiber, and fuels. The residuals are not in-
6CO2 + 6H2O + sunlight Þ C6H12O6 + 602 herently bad. In fact, it was only after they began to accumulate in
large enough concentration that we became aware of the environ-
Several commercial carbon dioxide manufacturers are co-locating mental impact of these organically-derived pollutants. The process
with corn ethanol plants because approximately one third of the of regulating surplus biomass became formalized in the 1970s with
bushel of corn leaves the ethanol process as CO2. Needless to say, the landmark environmental statutes like the Clean Air Act and the
CO2 is a non-energy resource with significant value. Clean Water Act.
Other common non-energy resources that need to be included
in the economic evaluation are: nitrogen, phosphorus, water, and 19B.8.1 A
 Brief History of US Environmental
even salt remediation. Consider if a common wastewater treat- Regulation
ment technology of the future included secondary treatments In the early 1970s, the US was facing serious environmental
that aerated algal tank to burn off the energy of the wastewa- challenges. Rivers were on fire because of combustible chemicals
ter. Instead of relatively valueless biosolids, wastewater treat- that were discharged from industry. Acid rain was a serious prob-
ment plants may produce a value-added algae for bioenergy or lem. Even litter, a pollutant without a discharge source (non-point),
biopower production. was everywhere. A suite of federal statues including the Clean Air
Act and the Clean Water Act opened a new era of environmental
oversight and regulation.
19B.8 B
 IOENERGY POLICY BENEFITS There are many legitimate reasons for the current federal and
state regulatory structure. The regulation of pollution in air, water,
AND COSTS and solid waste are defined in each enabling environmental statute.
Biomass policies have many benefits as well as costs. Statutory A starting place is an abbreviated listing of the 40-year history of
legislation is written by legislators. Laws are also created by the the U.S. EPA [43].
courts through tort law. These are the two primary vehicles to es-
tablishing new laws. A third vehicle for establishing law is through 1970 President Nixon forms the EPA
promulgation of regulations, which are the implementation lan- 1970 The Clean Air Act (CAA) is passed.
guage for statutory law. Regulatory law is written by Administra- 1972 Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of
tive agencies as opposed to the legislators or the courts. 1972 are passed.
Biomass shows up as regulated wastes in liquid, gaseous, and 1976 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA, solid/
solid forms. Biomass can be food, animal feed, clothing, forestry hazardous waste) is passed.
products, and energy products. It is grown on private and public 1977 Clean Water Act (CWA) of 1977 is passed.
lands for wildlife preservation, erosion control, human recreation, 1980 Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation
and for waste remediation. Consequently, production and harvest and Liability Act (CERCLA, superfund) was passed.
of all of these forms of biomass are subject to the laws that oversee
and govern the use of these products. There is nothing simple or In the 1990s a new environmental imbalance began to surface,
straight forward about biomass policy. greenhouse gases (GHG). In 1992, the United Nations Framework
 energy and power generation handbook  •  19-33

Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was adopted by the UN is different than greenhouse gas legislation (GHG) [48]. All of
and later made available for member signatures in Rio de Janeiro, these agencies focus on the management of carbon, hydrogen, oxy-
Brazil in June of 1992 [44]. The Framework Convention continues gen, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur. Again, these elements are
to evolve. In December of 1997 the Kyoto Protocol for the UNFC- the basic building blocks of life.
CC was adopted in Kyoto, Japan. This Kyoto protocol sets binding Environmental compliance does not need to cost society. If the
targets for 37 industrialized countries to reduce GHG emissions policies are structured correctly they can be neutral or contribute to
back to 1990 levels from 2008 to 2012 [45]. While the US has not economic growth (Table 19B.2). Keeping in mind the factors that
ratified the Kyoto Protocol, its inception has created a benchmark influence demand (prices) and those that influence supply (costs),
reference to carbon emissions as a driving force in policy. it is pretty easy to see the role various federal statutes play on the
Today, references to air pollutants (GHG, CO2, CH4), water economy.
pollutants (Biological or Chemical Oxygen Demand — BOD,
Table 19B.2 Historical economic implications
COD), and solid waste (MSW, yard waste, manures, biosolids);
of the legislative economic impact [48]
are managed as costly social and economic liabilities. The poli-
cies isolate and segregate surplus and residual forms of carbon,
while the solutions to recycling these resources back into the Economic Impact
economy depends on using them — not isolating them. Tech- Positive Neutral Negative
nically biomass and bioenergy holds great potential to convert
all waste treatment into resource and economic development. Energy Independence and
However, carbon-phobic law makers, regulators, and community Security Act (EISA) X ??
groups stand against it. 2008 Farm Bill X
There is confusion in the laws at every level about whether car- Generic Cap and Trade
bon and biomass are wastes or resources. Under federal law, bio- Legislation ?? X ??
mass is legally defined as, “any organic material that is available Clean Air Act (CAA) X
on a renewable or recurring basis.” [46] The Agriculture Title of
the US Code of Regulation explicitly defines the term “biomass” Clean Water Act (CWA) X
to include: Resource Conservation
X
and Recovery Act (RCRA)
. . . agricultural crops; trees grown for energy production;
wood waste and wood residues; plants (including aquatic
plants and grasses); residues; fibers; animal wastes and other Basically the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) is
waste materials; and fats, oils, and greases (including recy- statutorily directed at creating economic growth by reducing US
cled fats, oils, and greases). dependence on foreign energy, though EPA did not interpret the
implementation regulations (Revised Renewable Fuel Standards)
It also excludes paper that is commonly recycled, and unseg- in this context. The 2008 Farm Bill is intended to strengthen food,
regated solid waste. This is a regulatory definition established by feed, and fuel markets for US agriculture. It also has some envi-
an administrative agency like the US Department of Agriculture ronmental directives. Cap and Trade policy, in general, simulates a
as implementation language to a statute, which is established by market based on reducing costs and liabilities. Like waste remedia-
legislators. tion, this is policy is driven by minimizing costs. Participants enter
Statutory language carries more weight than regulatory language. the carbon-sequestration market to reduce their carbon emission
There are numerous statutory waste remediation definitions that compliance costs. While it simulates a market, it does not create
take precedence over the USDA regulatory definition. For instance, wealth. Carbon has a lot of value, so this can have either positive
the statutory definition of a solid waste is not based on the physical or negative economic impacts so some of the policy outcomes are
form of the material, (i.e., whether or not it is a solid as opposed to unclear.
a liquid or gas), but on the fact that the material is a waste. RCRA
§1004(27) defines solid waste as [47]:
19B.9 PAYMENTS OR SUBSIDIES
Any garbage, refuse, sludge from a wastewater treatment
plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control Commercial agriculture, whether organic or conventional, large
facility, and other discarded material, including solid, liq- or small, is a small business. Farmers make significant financial and
uid, semisolid, or contained gaseous material, resulting from quality of life sacrifices to keep from having their facilities fore-
industrial, commercial, mining, and agricultural operations closed upon when the weather or the markets move in ways that cost
and from community activities. them. Generally, because the Department of Agriculture (USDA)
and the Department of Energy (DOE) understand the very real eco-
These differences between these technical and legal definitions nomic benefit of bioenergy industries, they tend to provide economic
are barriers to biomass energy development. The greater the differ- incentives for farmers and energy entrepreneurs to get into the busi-
ences are, the more costly the adoption. Within the context of solid ness of biomass production and bioenergy conversion.
waste, the above legal definitions are still workable. However, as Both the USDA and DOE have given away billions of dollars in
the legal priorities shift to carbon mitigation, new statutes will take funding for these purposes. It is classical infrastructure develop-
a precedence over the current legal prioritization. ment policy. Grants and loans help defray the multitude of financial
The USDA and DOE continue to fund biomass energy projects, and technical risks associated with developing start-up industries.
and EPA has begun to regulate carbon emissions under the Clean Providing financial incentives to keep the cost of the raw products
Air Act (CAA) through the “Title V GHG Tailoring Rule,” which low is paid back many times as value is added along the processing
19-34  •  Chapter 19

chain. Honest wealth creation provides taxable income and eco-

}
100%
12% of Income
nomic growth. Payments to producers and processors lower the 90%

cost on the supply-side of economics. 80%

} 6% of Income
Payments made from the government to the private sector to US personal energy expeditures
70%
promote industry development and commerce are also subsidies.
Investing public money in startup biobased product industries is 60%

generally viewed as a worthwhile public investment. Subsidizing 50%

an industry is not. 40%

A tremendous resource to all involved in the bioenergy industry US Dipossible Income less food and energy expenditures
30%
development is the Database of State Incentives for Renewables
& Efficiency [49]. This is a repository of nearly all state and federal 20%

incentive programs for renewable energy and energy efficiency. 10%

It is easy to navigate and it is populated with more information 0%
continuously.

1955

1961
1963

1967
1969

1973

1977

1981

1987

1993

2007
1949

1959

1965

1971

1975

1983

1989

1995
1953

1979

1985

1991

2001
2003

2009
1951

1999

2005
1957

1997
Fig. 19B.19  US disposable income spent on food
and energy (1949–2009) [53]
19B.10 BIOBASED EVERYTHING
USDA is administering a demand-side program for the federal than 20 percent of personal consumption in the US is spent on food
government. It is referred to as the Bio-preferred program author- and energy leaving over 80 percent of disposable income to spend on
ized through the last two Farm Bills. Through this authorizing other things. The benefit is the US food and fuel component of the per
legislation the federal government is required to buy biobased capita disposable income is some of the lowest in the world.
products when they are available and competitive. Regarding the food and energy price inflation, the prices of food
Essentially the USDA is developing market standards for thou- and energy are volatile. Figure 19B.20 illustrates the last 5 years
sands of biobased product the government uses [50]. This benefit is of food and energy price changes relative to the rest of consumer
tremendous in itself as it increased the demand for products made prices [54]. The food and energy price indices add enough distor-
from biomass, including energy. A secondary benefit is that the tion that the US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor and Sta-
cost of developing market standards for new products is borne by tistics (BLS) keeps track consumer prices with food and energy
the federal government. Once established, the private sector also and without food and energy. The indices in Fig. 19B.20 represent
has access to these standards. The BioPreferred program has estab- changes from the previous 12-month period.
lished a list of 40 biobased product categories and their minimum Food and energy are considered inelastic in demand. This means
biobased content [51]. This is a great biomass policy! that consumer buying habits do not change as rapidly with a change
in price as they change with regard to other purchases [55].

6.0
19B.11 FOOD versus FUEL
5.0
The politics surrounding food and fuel are about as serious as
4.0
two political issues can be. There were some food shortages in Asia
% change (12 month)

(rice) in 2008, which had nothing to do with US ethanol policies. 3.0

Ethanol has been made primarily of corn in the US and there is 2.0
a perception that corn is a critical component of human diets in 1.0
this country. According to the latest USDA, World Agricultural
0.0
Outlook Board Report, in most recent market year of 2009/2010,
41 percent of US corn was used for livestock feed, 34 percent was -1.0

used for ethanol (some of which also is used as livestock feed) [52]. -2.0
About 15 percent of the US corn supply last year was exported. -3.0
Food prices went up with oil prices in 2007/2008. They are com-
Jun-05

Dec-05
Mar-06
Jun-06

Dec-06
Mar-07

Mar-09
Jun-07

Dec-07
Mar-08
Jun-08

Dec-08

Jun-09

Dec-09
Mar-10
Sep-05

Sep-06

Sep-07

Sep-08

Sep-09

ing back down. No one likes the price of food and fuel to go up.
Therefore the US government has a long-standing precedent of CPI-All CPI-All (less food & energy)
working at keeping food and fuel prices very affordable. The US
farm program payments and many other programs directed toward Fig. 19B.20  Consumer price indices for food and
food and fuel programs are the frequent topic of political change. energy relative to all other consumer prices
They get labeled as subsidies and heralded as the bane of the mis- [54]
use of government spending. These programs, as with all govern-
ment programs, should be transparent and openly debated. What is 19B.12 C
 O2 EMISSIONS FROM BIOMASS —
often poorly communicated though is that by keeping the prices of OR NOT
raw food and fuel commodities low, the input costs of development
of the end uses is also kept low. Over the past year, the Department of Energy (DOE) and the
According to the US Department of Commerce, Bureau of Environmental Protection Agency have been battling it out over
Economic Analysis (BEA) statistics the share of income is about whether biomass emissions add to GHG accumulation. In Decem-
12 percent of disposable income while the share of disposable income ber 2009, EPA declared carbon dioxide a human health hazard.
spent of energy is about 6 percent [53]. Figure 19B.19 shows that less This announcement came as a climate summit was beginning in
 energy and power generation handbook  •  19-35

Copenhagen. It also was necessary for EPA to regulate it as they of advance biofuels, while cellulosic biofuels must account for 16
do with other Clean Air Act emissions. Since then EPA has been billion gallons. The renewable fuels and the biomass-based diesel
going about establishing federal regulations on restricting the emis- are already within reach. The less certain standards are for the other
sions of carbon dioxide from industry. 20 billion gallons of advanced and cellulosic biofuels.
The Department of Energy, also part of the federal Administration, In the great toolbox of government policies (commercial, envi-
has been following the IPCC protocols on accounting for greenhouse ronmental, health, age, etc.), some of the more efficient contain
gas emissions (including carbon dioxide). The central difference be- outcome or performance criteria. The less efficient policies focus
tween the EPA intent to regulate CO2 and the DOE/IPCC efforts is on managing the inputs and technologies to try to shape the out-
that the latter group does not count emissions from biomass. The DOE/ comes. Renewable Fuel Standards are performance criteria, but the
IPCC methodology considers biomass carbon to be resident in the bio- accounting system that was developed for corn-based ethanol in
sphere. With about 4 percent of our energy consumption coming from RFS1 is too complicated to expand to all biomass feedstocks, tech-
biomass fuels, there is a large difference between counting biomass nologies and fuels that could possibly be used for transportation fuels.
carbon dioxide emissions and not counting them. That, however, did not stop EPA from developing very restrictive
In May of 2010, the DOE, Energy Information Administration layers of compliance and record keeping in the RFS2 rules.
(EIA) released its Annual Energy Outlook on the state of energy While the premise is still on performance criteria of utilizing
on out into the future [56]. The EIA has been following the United 36 billion gallons of biofuels, most of the regulation deals with
Nations International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for more qualifying feedstocks, technologies, combinations of feedstocks
than 10 years [57]. In the Annual Energy Outlook 2010 (AEO) and technologies and keeping records of billions of gallons of fuel
report there is a section entitled, “Accounting for carbon dioxide produced. The cost of noncompliance and recordkeeping falls on
emissions from biomass energy combustion,” in which the DOE commercial fuel producers.
discusses the IPCC history [58]. The last footnote in this AEO The RFS2 rules may work in the technical sense — especially for
section (Footnote #78), presents the emission estimates for vari- those fuels that closely resemble ethanol. For other less traditional
ous bio­fuels and technologies if carbon dioxide emissions were transportation fuels like bio-oils from thermal conversion, natural
counted. gas from biogas, hydrogen and electricity, the RFS2 rule serves as
In June 2010, the EPA issued its Greenhouse Gas (GHG) tailoring a barrier to entry in the transportation fuel market.
rule, which contradicts the IPCC characterization of biomass GHG Adhering to an EPA-specific mandate that causes the RFS2 stan­
emissions [59]. The EPA recently solicited comments on how to dards to fail economically is a barrier to the Congressional intent.
bridge this gap [60]. Maintaining the existing path of EPA to regulate This does not mean renewable fuels standards cannot be created that
all CO2 is an economic barrier to biomass energy adoption. There promote energy independence and reduce carbon emissions. It does
seems to be no concern for the current sagging economic growth by mean that the EISA can not be implemented as written.
EPA. Without a recognized differential between biomass CO2 emis-
sions and fossil CO2 emissions, there is little reason to develop a
bioenergy industry. This US policy “Waterloo” will require one of 19B.14 MATH IN THE NAME OF THE LAW
the two biomass policies to emerge as a clear leader. The DOE policy
Because essentially every biomass conversion technology is
is more conducive to wealth creation and will promote a healthier
experimental, or existing commercial technologies are nearly ob-
environment.
solete, there is limited data to put into the economic planning mod-
els. If actual data exists it is typically proprietary or in too small
of quantity to be useful. Models can be populated with the latest
19B.13 C
 HALLENGES WITH THE CURRENT commercial technology data, but the new technologies are so much
RFS2 POLICY more efficient that the answers that come out of the models based
on older technologies have no value.
The revised Renewable Fuels Standard regulations (RFS2) of This does not stop models from generating numbers. Reputable
the Energy Independence and Security (EISA) Act of 2007 became policy institutions have taken funding to model scenarios for EPA,
effective on July 1, 2010 [61]. This law is intended to benefit the and then later publicly declared that the method in which the num-
nation by developing energy independence, renewable fuels, a bers are being employed is without meaning. Estimates are being
cleaner environment and economic growth. Two and a half years inserted into sophisticated process models as placeholders for bet-
after becoming law, the clarity expressed in the language of the ter data in the future. Outputs from models which were generated
EISA statute is less apparent in the RFS2 implementing regulation as a terminal use of the data and model assumptions are being used
overseen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. EPA is as input data into further processing. Government agencies and in-
responsible for developing and implementing regulations to ensure stitutes are required by law to produce a number, but it appears
that transportation fuel sold in the United States contains a mini- to matter less whether the output value has any mathematical or
mum volume of renewable fuel. statistical value. Excellent planning tools like Life Cycle Analyses
The objective of the new law is to establish the utilization of 36 (LCA) are being codified into laws that cannot be adequately sup-
billion gallons of biofuels by 2022. The minimum limits are 15 bil- ported by neither the data nor the models. It is math in the name
lion gallons for “renewable fuels” and 21 billion gallons of “advanced of the law.
biofuels.” The difference is that renewable fuels (corn-based ethanol)
must reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by a minimum of 20
percent lower than gasoline or diesel fuel. Advance biofuels must re- 19B.15 P
 OLICY CHALLENGES FOR THE
duce GHG emissions by a minimum of 50 percent.
Within the advanced biofuels category are two other subsets:
BIOENERGY INDUSTRY
“biomass-based diesel” and “cellulosic biofuel.” Biomass-based Unfortunately in this depressed economy there is little hope for a
diesel must account for one billion gallons of the 21 billion gallons reversal in the ever-increasing costs of the increasing number of regu-
19-36  •  Chapter 19

lations required to startup a bioenergy project. The two forces working directly at the consumer level. For example, biodiesel must be price
here generally are the technical efficiency gains from innovations by competitive with petroleum diesel at the pump. The policy ques-
engineers which are beginning to be overwhelmed by the economic tions about whether it is worth subsidizing biofuels to reduce de-
cost of poorly conceived, politically influenced costly regulations. pendence on imported petroleum are central to the issue. It could be
For economic success in bioenergy, there must be economic argued that subsidizing biofuels or other alternatives would allow
growth. If the cost of regulatory compliance overwhelms the importing nations to reduce military budgets as a nation that is not
chance for profit, economic success will not happen. Because many dependent on petroleum imports has less need to field a navy to
of the environmental components are made from the elements of protect petroleum shipping lanes. Those savings could be used for
biomass, policies that promote the complete utilization of these subsidies or development of better technologies.
materials will also keep them out of the environment. Technical Wealth creation is what drives economic growth. This originates
efficiency leads to environmental quality. This is a tough sell to the from gains in technological efficiency. Public policies influence the
legislators and regulators though. economics positively and negatively, but the foundation of eco-
nomic growth is derived from technological innovation. With or
without government intervention innovation will shape the energy
19B.16 BIOENERGY SUMMARY future.

There are many reasons to be excited about the potential expan-

sion of a biomass energy industry: energy security, reduced carbon 19.2 ACRONYMS
dioxide emissions, local rural economic development, and distrib-
uted generation (local production and local use) to name a few. AEO   Annual Energy Outlook, Energy Information Admin-
Unfortunately there is a great deal of confusion about whether these istration, Department of Energy.
benefits outweigh the social trade-off and costs of doing so. BEA    Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analy-
New markets are being developed (economic demand) as well sis
as new biomass feedstocks (economic supply). In addition a new BLS     Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics
market and distribution infrastructure is under development. These BOD          Biological Oxygen Demand
new economic structures can ease traditional energy supplies as Btu        British Thermal Unit
well as remediate traditional environmental stresses. It is possible C6H12O6      Molecular formula of glucose/sugar, a common car-
for the energy and environmental efficiencies to translate into new bohydrate.
wealth creation and economic growth. This can not happen without (C6H10O5)n       The molecular formula of Starch, which is a basic
rapid and severe assistance with public policy. polysaccharide carbohydrate.
Public policy can add incentives to reduce the costs and risks CAA    Clean Air Act, a US federal statute
of supplying biomass fuels. It can also add incentives to enhance CCX   Chicago Climate Exchange, a US carbon credit market
the demand and market prices for biomass-derived energy. Exist- place.
ing air, water, and solid waste laws and regulations dealing with CERCLA   US federal statute, Comprehensive Environmental Re-
organic wastes (biomass) are also part of the solution. There must sponse Compensation and Liability Act
be public acknowledgement that existing human health and envi- CFI         The CCX, Carbon Financial Instrument, a financial con-
ronmental benefits that are currently being overseen by respective tract representing an avoided carbon dioxide emission.
agencies actually can be substituted through the biological and CH4              Molecular formula of methane. Methane is a hydrocar-
thermal energy conversion of biomass to energy. So from a carbon bon and the principle component of natural gas and bi-
or biomass policy perspective new incentives must be implemented ogas. It has also been designated as a greenhouse gas and
to enhance supply and demand, and the old single-function envi- determined to be harmful to human health by the EPA.
ronmental regulations must be adapted and transformed into multi- CO2      Molecular formula of carbon dioxide.
function energy and bioproduct development laws. COD         Chemical Oxygen Demand
These are not small requisites, particularly as the US economy DDGS     Dried Distillers Grains and Solubles. The corn mash
struggles to recover from a significant recession. There is no room remaining from dry mill ethanol production is distill-
for missteps. The most likely risk is that the cumulative administra- ers grains. DDGS refers to distillers grains that have
tive costs of complying with multiple new regulations and invest- been dried for transportation and preservations. The
ment in new capital will slowly overwhelm the economic benefits solubles refer to solids from other processes that are
from wealth creation. Economic success of the biomass energy in- combined with the distillers grains. This is a
dustries will be determined by the efficiency and speed at which EIA       The US Department of Energy, Energy Information
leaders and the general public can find confidence in a biomass Administration
energy paradigm. It is now more of a political and public policy EPA     The US Environmental Protection Agency
question than one of technology. Because even if the technical ad- ERS      USDA, Economic Research Service. The agency
vantage today is marginal, these frontier technologies will continue within the United States Department of Agriculture
to become more efficient as they develop. The technical aspect in that conducts economic analyses on the agricultural
the near term will take care of itself. industry.
GHG   Greenhouse  Gases   http://www.epa.gov/climate
change/emissions/index.html
GWP   Global warming potential is a constructed measure
19.1 CONCLUDING REMARKS based on a compounds influence on radiative forcing.
Fossil fuel economics are profoundly global in nature and bioen- For further reading see: http://www.ipcc.ch/publica
ergy economics are local. However, the two meet and compete tions_and_data/ar4/wg1/en/ch2s2-10.html
 energy and power generation handbook  •  19-37

H2O     Molecular formula of water 12. The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement linked to the Unit-
HHV         Higher heating value includes the condensation of ed Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The Kyoto
combustion products and for biomass appears to by Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on 11 December 1997. http://
6% to 7% greater than the lower heating value (LHV, unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/items/2830.php.
without condensation included) [25]. 13. Agricultural Productivity in the United States. USDA, Economic Re-
HAP   Hazardous Air Pollutants, a component of the Clean search Service. http://www.ers.usda.gov/Data/AgProductivity/.
Air Act http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/pollsour.html 14. “Environmental Resource Indicators for Measuring Outcomes of On-
LCA    Life Cycle Analysis Farm Production in the United States.” Field to Market: The Keystone
LMOP     The US EPA Landfill Methane Outreach Program Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture. First Report, January 2009.
http://www.epa.gov/lmop/ http://www.keystone.org/spp/environment/sustainability/field-to-
MMBTU    Million btu (1 btu x 1,000,000) market.
MSW        Municipal solid waste 15. “Motor Gasoline Outlook and State MTBE Bans.” Tancred Lidderd-
MTBE     Acronym for methyl tertiary butyl ether http://www. ale. US Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration.
eia.doe.gov/emeu/steo/pub/special/mtbeban.html http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/steo/pub/special/mtbeban.html.
MW     megawatts
16. “Lessons learned from 80 years of US soybean production.” Mark
NBER     National Bureau of Economic Research Jenner, PhD. Biomass Rules, LLC. 2005. http://biomassrules.com/
NIMBY       Not in my back yard biomass_economics.html.
NO2       Nitrogen Oxides, a criteria pollutant of the Clean Air
Act, National Ambient Air Quality Standards 17. “San Benito County Sourcebook of Biomass Energy.” Mark Jenner, PhD,
Biomass Rules, LLC. Central Coast Recycling Market Development
OPEC         Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
Zone. October 2008. http://www.recycleloan.org/San%20Benito%
RCRA       Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, a US fed- 20County%20Biomass%20SourceBook.pdf.
eral statute
RFS2   Acronym for the 2010 revision of the renewable fuels 18. “New Bioenergy — Profit Meets Waste Remediation.” Mark Jenner.
standards. These are the implementation regulations BioCycle. Biomass Energy Outlook. Volume 48, Number 8. page 50.
August 2007. http://www.jgpress.com/archives/_free/001400.html.
the 2007.
SPR       Strategic Petroleum Reserve 19. Economics, Roger A. Arnold, South-Western, Thomson. Seventh Edi-
TFP        Total Factor Productivity [13] tion. Chapter 3.
UNFCCC    United Nations Framework Convention on Climate 20. “Renewable Energy Consumption and Electricity Preliminary Sta-
Change [43, 44] tistics 2009. US. EIA, DOE. August 2010.” http://www.eia.doe.gov/
USDA       United States Department of Agriculture cneaf/alternate/page/renew_energy_consump/rea_prereport.html.
VOC     Volatile Organic Compounds 21. Definition of “starch,” Webster’s Online Dictionary http://www.
WTRG      WTRG Economics websters-online-dictionary.org.
22. Mark Jenner, PhD. Biomass Rules, LLC. 2010. www.biomassrules.com.

19.3 REFERENCES 23. It is convenient for illustration to standardize a potential effect or

outcome of a compound, but there is no substitute for direct relation-
ships. The data regarding CO2 increases in the atmosphere is pretty
  1. NBER National Bureau of Economic Research www.nber.org.
straight-forward. The data regarding the GWP of GHG is less so.
  2. EIA Short-Term Energy Outlook www.eia.doe.gov. The GWP is not covered in this chapter but more information can
be found on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
  3. WTRG Economics (J. L. Williams www.wrtg.com 479-293-4081).
website at: http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/wg1/en/
  4. Energy Information Administration, Department of Energy www.eia. ch2s2-10.html.
doe.gov.
24. Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), Market Data http://www.chicago
  5. FRED® Federal Reserve Economic Data, Federal Reserve Bank of St. climatex.com/market/data/summary.jsf Accessed 08/08/2010.
Louis research.stlouisfed.org.
25. “Methodology for Allocating Municipal Solid Waste to Biogenic and
  6. “The Coming Energy Crisis?” by James L. Williams and A. F. Alhajji, Non-Biogenic Energy.” Energy Information Administration, Office
February 2003. WTRG Economics www.wrtg.com. of Coal, Nuclear, Electric and Alternative Fuels, US Department of
Energy. May 2007. http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/solar.renewables/
  7. “Measures of Petroleum Dependence and Vulnerability in OECD
page/mswaste/msw.pdf.
Countries” by A. F. Alhajji and James L. Williams, April 21, 2003.
WTRG Economics www.wrtg.com. 26. Oak Ridge National Laboratories, Bioenergy Feedstock Development
Program, Feedstock Conversion Factors. http://bioenergy.ornl.gov/
  8. Baker Hughes rig count page www.bakerhughes.com.
papers/misc/energy_conv.html.
  9. “U.S. Carbon Dioxide Emissions in 2009: A Retrospective Re-
27. Biomass Energy Values & Prices, Biomass Rules, LLC. http://www.
view” EIA. May 5, 2010. http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/environment/
biomassrules.com/price_energy_value_home.html.
emissions/carbon/index.html.
28. Performing Energy Calculations, Dennis E. Buffington, Professor,
10. This article, “Agricultural Commodity Price Spikes in the 1970s and
Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Pennsylvania State Univer-
1990s: Valuable Lessons for Today,” by May Peters, Suchada Langley
sity, Cooperative Extension. H83. First Ed. 06/08 http://www.abe.psu.
and Paul Westcott, in the March 2009 issue of Amber Waves is just
edu/extension/factsheets/h/H83.pdf.
a great piece of economics. http://www.ers.usda.gov/AmberWaves/
March09/Features/AgCommodityPrices.htm. 29. Interaction of Energy Value, Density, and CO2 Charts. Biomass Rules,
LLC, www.biomassrules.com, and WTRG Economics, www.wtrg.
11. Ineffective, Minus-5 Regulations. Mark Jenner, PhD. 2004. http://
com. 2010.
biomassrules.com/which.html.
19-38  •  Chapter 19

30. “BioTown, USA Sourcebook of Biomass Energy.” Indiana State 47. EPA. RCRA, Superfund & EPCRA Call Center Training Module, In-
Department of Agriculture & Reynolds, Indiana. Mark Jenner, Bio- troduction of Solid Waste and Hazardous Waste Recycling (40 CFR
mass Rules, LLC. 2006. http://www.in.gov/oed/files/Biotown_Source section 261.2 and 261.9). October 2001. http://www.epa.gov/wastes/
book_040306.pdf. inforesources/pubs/hotline/training/defsw.pdf.
31. Economics, Roger A. Arnold, South-Western, Thomson. Seventh Edi- 48. Mark Jenner, Sorting Priorities of Economic Growth, Energy, and the
tion. Chapter 3. 2005. Environment. Burning Bio News. Vol. 3, No. 5. http://biomassrules.
com/eNews/BBNv3n5.pdf. Also “Prevention of Significant Deteriora-
32. “Scaling the biomass energy Mountain.” Mark Jenner. BioCycle tion and Title V Greenhouse Gas Tailoring Rule” EPA. 40 CFR Parts
Magazine. Biomass Energy Outlook. July 2007. Vol. 48. No. 7. p. 60. 51, 52, 70, and 71. Federal Register, Vol. 75, No. 106, June 3, 2010.
http://www.jgpress.com/archives/_free/001380.html. http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2010-06-03/pdf/2010-11974.
33. “Biomass as feedstock for a bioenergy and bioproducts industry: pdf#page=1.
The Technical Feasibility of a Billion-ton Annual Supply.” Perlack, 49. Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency, www.
Robert, D, Lynn L. Wright, Anthony F. Turhollow, Robin Graham, dsireusa.org.
Bryce J. Stokes and Donald C. Erbach. Oak Ridge National Labora-
tory, US Forest Service, and Agricultural Research Service. Depart- 50. USDA BioPreferred Program to increase the purchase and use of
ment of Energy and Department of Agriculture. April 2006. http:// r­enewable, environmentally friendly biobased products. www.
feedstockreview.ornl.gov/pdf/billion_ton_vision.pdf. biopreferred.gov.

34. The 2010 EPA Revised Renewable Fuel Standards (RFS2) do not in- 51. The list of 40 biobased product categories and their minimum bio-
clude woody biomass from federal lands. based content can be found at: http://www.biopreferred.gov/files/Bio
Preferred_product_categories_June_2010_FINAL.pdf.
35. “Building An Infrastructure From Scratch,” Mark Jenner, PhD. Bio-
Cycle Biomass Energy Outlook Column. Vol. 50, No. 7. July 2009. 52. USDA, “World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates,” World
Agricultural Outlook Board. WASDE-486 http://www.usda.gov/oce/
36. Renewable Fuels Association. Industry Statistics. Historical US. Fuel commodity/wasde/latest.pdf.
Ethanol Production. http://www.ethanolrfa.org/pages/statistics/#A
53. US Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis. Na-
[Referenced 9/18/2010].
tional Income and Product Accounts. Table 2.5.5 Personal consump-
37. Burning Bio News. Biomass Rules, LLC, Greenville, IL. Vol. 3. No. 5 tion expenditures by function. http://www.bea.gov/national/nipaweb/
http://biomassrules.com/eNews/BBNv3n5.pdf. TableView.asp?SelectedTable=74&Freq=Year&FirstYear=2008&
LastYear=2009. The USDA calculates a similar figure at less than
38. Advanced Biofuels Tracking Database release 1.1, Biofuels Digest
10 percent of disposable income. The values presented here are more
Data Page, Biofuels Digest. http://biofuelsdigest.com/bdigest/free-
conservative and still quite low.
industry-data/.
54. US Department of Labor and Statistics, Bureau of Labor and Statistics
39. “Biomass Energy Data Book, Energy Efficiency and Renewable (BLS) Consumer Price Index (CPI) Food and energy price indices for
E­nergy. Department of Energy.” Biopower. Table 3.2. http://cta.ornl. last five years. http://www.bls.gov/cpi/.
gov/bedb/biopower.shtml [accessed 9/18/2010].
55. “Elasticity of Demand,” Don Hofstrand. Co-Director, Ag Marketing
40. US EPA Landfill Methane Outreach Program Website. [Access Resource Center. Iowa State University. March 2007. http://www.ag
9/18/2010]   h ttp://www.epa.gov/lmop/projects-candidates/opera mrc.org/business_development/getting_prepared/business_and_eco
tional.html Other excellent sources of landfill biomass data are the nomic_concepts_and_principles/elasticity_of_demand.cfm#.
State of Garbage in America Survey produced by BioCycle Magazine
http://www.jgpress.com/archives/_free/001782.html#more and the 56 Annual Energy Outlook 2010. US Department of Energy, US Energy
Methodology for Allocating Municipal Solid Waste to Biogenic/Non- Information Administration. May 11, 2010. http://www.eia.doe.gov/
Biogenic  E nergy  h ttp://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/solar.renewables/ oiaf/aeo/index.html.
page/mswaste/msw_report.html. 57. The earliest reference I could find was the IPPC methodologies on the
41. US EPA AgSTAR Program. Guide to Anaerobic Digesters. http:// EIA website was a 1994 manual created in Paris, France. http://www.eia.
www.epa.gov/agstar/operational.html. doe.gov/oiaf/1605/archive/87-92rpt/chap2.html#Estimating_Emissions.
42. Data combined from historical files of the Pellet Fuel Institute and 58. http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/aeo/index.html.
Biomass Rules, LLC. www.biomassrules.com.
59. US EPA Title V Greenhouse Gas Tailoring Rule, Fact Sheet. http://
43. EPA Website, Timeline of Accomplishments. http://www.epa.gov/ www.epa.gov/nsr/documents/20100413fs.pdf.
history/timeline/70.htm.
60. Call for information on Greenhouse Gas Emissions Associated with
44 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Bioenergy and Other Biogenic Sources. http://www.epa.gov/climate
UNFCCC. Status of Ratification. http://unfccc.int/essential_back change/emissions/biogenic_emissions.html.
ground/convention/status_of_ratification/items/2631.php.
45. Kyoto Protocol. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate 61. “RFS2 Takes Effect,” Mark Jenner, PhD. Biomass Energy Outlook.
Change. http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/items/2830.php. BioCycle Magazine, July 2010. Volume 51. Number 7.

46. USC Title 7, Chapter 107—Renewable Energy Research and De-

velopment, Section 8101. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/casecode/us
codes/7/chapters/107/sections/section_8101.html.
 chapter

20
COAL GASIFICATION
Ravi K. Agrawal
20.1 Introduction tricity. About 60% of global electric power is generated from coal,
and about two-thirds of coal produced is used for power genera-
Fossil fuels supply almost all of the world’s energy and feed- tion. Therefore, generation of electricity and the consumption of
stock demand. Among the fossil fuels, coal is the oldest, most coal are intricately linked. Unfortunately, coal has the largest car-
abundant, and widely available form of fossil fuel. Coal constitutes bon footprint when compared with conventional fuels derived from
over 75% of the world’s fossil fuel. Since the beginning of the in- oil and natural gas. Historically, most coal-based power plants are
dustrial revolution, coal has been the backbone of the world energy considered to be “dirty” as only a few had controls to lower the
system. Before the discovery of oil and gas, coal was used to gen- emissions of SO2, NOx, and particulates, and even to date, virtu-
erate town gas via gasification for lighting and heating purposes. ally none have controls on mercury and CO2 emissions. Tightening
During World War II, coal gasification technology was extensively of environmental regulations in countries such as United States,
used in Germany to produce oil substitutes. After World War II, Europe, and Japan has prompted installation of emission control
oil replaced coal as the major source of energy, and the interest in devices. Table 20.1 summarizes the current US New Source Per-
coal gasification remained dormant until the recent rise in energy formance Standards (NSPS) on SO2, NOx, particulates, and Hg.
prices. Since 2000, several gasification plants have become opera- Also shown in Table 20.1 are emissions from a typical coal-fired
tional, most of these plants are for the production of chemicals and power generation unit and a coal-based integrated gasification
only a handful of plants for power generation. combined cycle (IGCC) unit.
Coal is among the cheapest fuel available. Figure 20.1 compares
the historical and projected price of major energy sources in the
Table 20.1 Comparison of US NSPS Emission
United States [1]. Projections of the Energy Information Admin-
Standards Versus Emissions From an IGCC
istration (EIA) indicate that coal is likely to remain the cheapest
Unit and Coal-Fired Power Plant [2,3]
fuel in the foreseeable future and will likely become cheaper as the
price of other preferred energy sources rise. Based on the energy
content in terms of price per Btu, electricity commands the highest Emissions Typical Coal NSPS Projected
premium, followed by oil and gas. This price differential is a key Unit IGCC
driver that determines the interest in coal and its conversion into SO2, lb/MMBTU 0.17 1.2 0.03
other energy substitutes. NOx, lb/MMBTU 0.15 0.15 0.02
Particulates, lb/MMBTU 0.02 0.03 < 0.01
Mercury Removal – – 90+%

The control of contaminants and pollutants from an IGCC unit is

generally dictated by the more stringent downstream requirements,
especially those of the gas turbine and/or the downstream catalyst
requirements and not necessarily the environmental regulations.
As a result of these requirements, the emissions from a coal-based
IGCC units are significantly lower than the current NSPS require-
ments. For IGCC applications, additional power can be generated
by diluting the syngas with hot water, steam, or nitrogen from
the air separation unit (ASU) unit, while simultaneously reduc-
ing NOx. Therefore, the design requirements for IGCC ensure
that the emissions from coal gasification plants are significantly
Fig. 20.1  United States energy prices and pro- lower than those from a traditional coal-fired steam generation
jections (2008 dollars per million Btu) [1] units.
Future regulations on greenhouse gas emissions will have a ma-
Since electricity trades at the highest premium, the cheapest jor impact on traditional coal-fired power plants. This will lead
source of energy, coal, has been extensively used to generate elec- to accelerated implementation of coal gasification–based power
20-  •  Chapter 20

plants, as gasification provides for an efficient method to generate duced from gasification is rich in CO and H2 and can be used for
power from coal while minimizing the environmental impact. the production of electricity, chemicals, and liquid fuels. Typical
Another important application of coal gasification is for the pro- chemicals that can be produced from syngas include: hydrogen,
duction of chemicals and oil substitutes. Clearly, gasification is methanol, ammonia, acetic acid, and oxygenates. Liquid fuels,
one technology that converts “dirty fuels” such as coal, petroleum such as naphtha, diesel, ethanol, dimethyl ether (DME), and me-
coke, and other carbonaceous materials, into alternates for cleaner thyl tertiary butyl ether, can also be produced from syngas. In re-
and high-value energy sources such as oil and natural gas. This cent years, interest in using syngas to reduce iron ore has picked
conversion is possible because all fossil fuels come from the same up, especially in India. Thus, coal gasification can be effectively
source and have very similar chemical composition. All fossil fu- used to provide syngas as a feedstock or an agent for a variety of
els are made up of carbon and hydrogen, with a small amount of applications.
oxygen. Coal is very heterogeneous and varies widely in chemical
composition. Carbon is the dominant ingredient of coal and forms
the basis for classifying coal. In broad terms, coal is classified into 20.2 Theory
four ranks: anthracite, bituminous, sub-bituminous, and lignite.
Anthracite and bituminous coals are referred to as high-rank coals Gasification can be considered to be the conversion of a car-
and have the highest carbon content. Sub-bituminous and lignite bonaceous material into a gas that has a chemical value. For ex-
are considered low-rank coals as they contain significant amount ample, consider the reaction of carbon with half the amount of
of moisture. Bituminous and sub-bituminous are the most com- oxygen required for combustion. This reaction may be referred
mon coals used. Table 20.2 summarizes the properties of selected to as gasification, as it results in an intermediate gaseous product,
fuels [4]. CO that has approximately 70% of the fuel value of carbon. Since

Table 20.2 Chemical and Fuel Properties of Selected Fuels [4]

Elemental Bituminous Sub-Bituminous No. 2 Nat. Gas

Analysis (wt %) Fuel Oil
Carbon 75.5 70.8 86.1 75.0
Hydrogen 5 5.0 13.2 25.0
Oxygen 4.9 15.3 0.8
Nitrogen 1.2 1.0 0.005
Sulfur 3.1 0.4 0.7
Ash 10.3 7.5
Higher Heating 13,100 12,100 19,700 23,800
Value, dry
basis, BTU/lb
Atomic H/C 0.795 0.855 1.840 4.000
Ratio
Atomic O/C 0.049 0.162 0.007 0.000
Ratio

Methane is the main ingredient of natural gas, and its prop- oxygen is involved, this reaction is also referred to as partial
erties are shown in Table 20.2 to represent natural gas. Table oxidation.
20.2 shows that coal has similar constituents as oil and natural
gas, but also contain undesirable components such as oxygen and C + ½ O2 ► CO
(20.1)
inorganic mineral matter (ash). Ash is an oxidized form of inor- Gasification
ganic mineral matter that is inherently present in coal. The pres- C + O2 ► CO2
ence of undesirable components lowers the heating value of the (20.2)
Combustion
fuel and/or increases material handling requirements. The fuel
characteristics defined by the atomic H/C ratio indicate that the Carbonaceous materials generally contain hydrogen; therefore,
normalized hydrogen content of coal is about half that of oil, and the gasification products will include hydrogen resulting in a higher
only one-fifth that of natural gas. This ratio indicates that coal is than 70% capture of fuel value in syngas. The efficiency of a gasi-
lower in hydrogen and higher in carbon, when compared with oil fication process is the sum of thermal and chemical energy of the
or natural gas. Therefore, coal can be converted to oil or natu- original fuel captured in syngas, minus any auxiliary energy re-
ral gas by either adding hydrogen or rejecting carbon. Gasifying quired to process coal into syngas. The thermal energy represents
coal with steam to generate hydrogen and rejecting excess carbon the amount of energy that can be recovered in form of steam while
as carbon dioxide can make up the hydrogen deficiency in coal. cooling the hot syngas. The chemical energy is represented by the
The excess O/C ratio of coal is adjusted by rejecting the oxygen heating value of the syngas.
with hydrogen and carbon. Gasification also helps in removal of Reactions occurring during coal gasification are quite complex.
inorganic matter from carbon and hydrogen as ash. Syngas pro- As coal is heated to gasification temperature, coal devolatilizes
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  20-

into volatile products rich in hydrocarbons, leaving behind a mented the gasification technology. Of over 60 gasification tech-
carbon-rich residue referred to as char [4]. The devolatilization nologies developed in the 1970s [5-9], only a fraction appear to
products react with oxygen and steam to yield syngas rich in car- have survived the crash of the 1980s. With each boom, technology
bon monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, steam, and methane. providers attempt to resurrect previously abandoned technologies.
Modern gasifiers operate at high temperatures, where most devola- Additional discussion on these recent coal gasification activities
tilized products do not survive or are not favored by equilibrium. has been documented elsewhere [2,10-15].
Therefore, modeling of gasification reactions may be simplified by The classification of methods for gasification has predominantly
considering only the principal reactions involving carbon, carbon been based on the type of reactor used to contact coal with gasifying
monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, steam, and methane. The agents. Air, oxygen, and steam are the most common gasification
most important of the reactions are: agents. Gasifiers are lumped into three broad categories: moving
bed gasifiers, fluidized bed gasifiers, and entrained bed gasifiers.
All of these technologies were invented in Germany prior to World
Partial oxidation:  C + ½ O2 ► CO (20.3)
War II. Lurgi invented the moving bed gasifier, Winkler invented
Water gas shift:  CO + H2O ◄ ► CO2 + H2 (20.4) the fluidized bed gasifier, and Kopper-Totzek (K-T) invented the
entrained bed gasifier.
Methanation:  CO + 3 H2 ◄ ► CH4 + H2O (20.5)
In a moving bed gasifier, coal is fed from the top, and the packed
Steam-carbon reaction:  C + H2O ► CO + H2 (20.6) reacting bed of coal moves slowly downwards by gravity. The gas-
ification agents introduced from the bottom of the gasifier gasify
Boudouard reaction:   C + CO2 ► 2 CO (20.7) the coal as it moves up the gasifier. In a fluidized bed gasifier, the
gasification agent lifts coal particles as it bubbles through the bed
The partial oxidation and other gas phase reactions are gener- and gasifies the coal. In an entrained bed gasifier, the coal particles
ally fast and approach equilibrium at high gasification tempera- are entrained with the gasification agent.
tures. The methanation reaction is favored at lower temperatures Other gasification techniques such as molten salts and under-
and high pressures. Steam-carbon and the Boudouard reactions are ground gasification are still in their early stages of demonstration
the slow reactions and are the rate-limiting step in some gasifiers. and are not expected to contribute significantly in the near future.
The syngas composition depends on a number of things including Discussion on these technologies can be found elsewhere [10-15].
the type of coal, gasifier residence time, oxidant, and gasification
temperature and pressure. 20.3.1 Moving Bed Gasifier
Historically, gasification was conducted at low temperatures The moving bed technology is the oldest of the gasification tech-
(<1300°F), where some of the products of devolatilization survived nologies used for gas production. In a moving bed gasifier, coal is
gasification conditions. Syngas generated by low temperature gas­ introduced from the top and gasified counter currently by gasifica-
ifiers is rich in hydrocarbons, including methane and tars (condens­ tion agents from below (Figure 20.2).
able volatiles). Early in the 1900s, prior to the development of air The gaseous products are removed from the top of the gas­
separation plants for producing O2, gasification reactions were ifier, and the ash is removed from the bottom. Initial gasifiers had
conducted using air to generate heat for the endothermic gasifica- air mixed with steam that was passed below a rotating grid at the
tion reactions. The dominating reaction in these gasifiers was the bottom. The outgoing ash heats the incoming air to gasification
slow steam carbon reaction, which required multiple reactors. temperatures. As the gasification agents move up the gasifier, they
The development of large air separation plants in the mid-1900s oxidize the remaining char in the ash to carbon monoxide and car-
aided the development of modern gasifiers that use oxygen. These bon dioxide. The oxidation reactions produce heat required for the
modern gasifiers are truly partial oxidizers as steam is used only endothermic gasification reactions. As shown in Figure 20.2, this is
for moderation purposes and not necessarily for the steam car- the hottest zone in the gasifier. As the remaining gasification agents
bon reaction. These gasifiers typically operate at pressures above
300 psia and temperatures above 2500°F. Fast partial oxidation
reactions make these modern gasifiers compact. Partial oxidation–
based gasifiers now dominate the present gasification arena.

20.3  asification Methods and

G
Technologies
Gasification is an old technology that was initially developed for
production of town gas for heating and lighting purposes. During
World War II, the German interest in gasification was for produc-
tion of syngas for motor fuels and chemicals. Interest in gasifica-
tion waned after World War II owing to the discovery of cheaper
energy sources, except in South Africa, where due to an oil em-
bargo imposed by the United Nations, South Africa continued to
rely on its coal reserves to meet their fuel needs. The Arab oil crisis
in mid-1970s renewed interest in gasification, only to be lost again
to the oil price crash in mid-1980s. With each decline in oil price,
several companies abruptly abandoned their gasification efforts. Fig. 20.2 Typical depiction of a moving bed gasi-
This, along with the mergers, acquisitions, and spin-offs, has frag- fier and relevant temperature profile [7,16]
20-  •  Chapter 20

and oxidation products move up, they gasify the downward moving handle caking coals. As the coal moves down, it is heated by the
char produced in the zone above. When the hot product gas moves upward-flowing syngas that leaves the gasifier. The heat causes the
up, it heats the raw coal. As the coal is heated, moisture is initially coal to dry followed by devolatilization. Some of the devolatilized
driven off followed by devolatization of coal where gas­eous prod- products escape gasification and leave the gasifier with syngas. As
ucts rich in hydrocarbons and char are formed. Some of the hydro- the devolatilized coal moves down, it is gasified with combustion
carbons escape the gasifier and remain in product gas. The char products from the combustion zone below. In the bottom combus-
product continues to react as it moves down the gasifier. The ther- tion zone, char is oxidized with oxygen to burn off the remaining
mal efficiency of these counter-current gasifiers is good as the out- carbon from ash and to provide energy for the gasification reac-
going ash heats the incoming gasification agents, and the outgoing tions. In the dry ash mode of operation, excess steam is injected
product gases heat the incoming coal. This can be seen from the with oxygen to keep the temperature below the ash fusion tempera-
temperature profiles shown in Figure 20.2. In later versions, air is ture. A motor driven rotating ash grate is used to remove ash in a
replaced with oxygen to improve the quality of syngas. “dry” state and also to support the coal bed. In order to improve
Ash can either be rejected as a solid or as a liquid slag. In the dry throughput, carbon conversion, and decrease tar production, Brit-
ash mode of operation, excess steam is injected with air/oxygen ish Gas modified their Lurgi gasifier by increasing the combustion
to maintain the temperature below the ash-slagging temperature, temperature to melt the ash. In the BGL gasifier, water-cooled noz-
the temperature at which ash melts. In the slagging version, the zles replace the ash grate at the bottom. The water-cooled nozzles
steam flow is limited to maintain gasification temperature above are used to introduce steam and oxygen into the gasifier. The mol-
ash-slagging temperature, and molten slag is removed from a pool ten slag is cooled in the slag trap by quenching, and the solidified
in the base of the gasifier. slag is removed through a lock-hopper arrangement.
The Lurgi gasifier is one of the oldest and most well-established Despite the popularity of the Lurgi gasifiers, there are several
moving bed technologies. Through the years, the Lurgi gasifier limitations that increase the capital and operation costs. Some of
has undergone improvements, and several versions are now avail- the limitations of Lurgi are moving internal parts (that require
able. Figure 20.3 shows two versions of a Lurgi gasifier as dif- maintenance), long residence time due to low reaction rates (which
ferentiated by the ash rejection technique [5,15]. The pressurized limits throughput), inability to feed coal fines, and the requirement
version of Lurgi developed in 1930s uses top-mounted lock hop- to include additional gas cleanup systems to handle tars, ammo-
pers to feed the coal. The Lurgi dry ash gasifier uses a pressurized nia, and phenols. Because of these reasons, recent activity in com-
oxygen-blown counter-current gasifier and has been used widely mercial application of moving bed technology has been limited. A
in South Africa, the United States, Germany, the Czech Republic, summary of other “historical” moving bed gasifiers can be found
and China. British gas modified a Lurgi style gasifier to operate elsewhere [6-9].
at high temperatures, causing the ash to be rejected as slag and
improved the throughput and carbon conversion efficiency. This 20.3.2 Fluidized Bed Gasifiers
slagging version is currently marketed as a British Gas and Lurgi A generic depiction of a fluidized bed gasifier and the relevant
(BGL) gasifier. temperature profile are shown in Figure 20.4 [7,16]. In a fluidized
In a Lurgi gasifier, coal is spread evenly on the bed by means bed gasifier, a gasification agent is passed through a bed of coal
of a motorized distributor. A stirrer is included in some designs to fines at a high-enough velocity to suspend the solid and cause the

A. Lurgi dry bottom gasifier B. British Gas/Lurgi (BGL) slagging gasifier

Fig. 20.3 Depiction of popular moving bed gasifiers [5,15]

 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  20-

Both the BHEL and Drying & Gasification Combined Cycle. Tech-
nologies have been planned for demonstration in the future.
Another version of the pressurized fluidized technology has
been developed by the Gas Technology Institute. Gas Technol-
ogy Institute’s U-Gas pressurized fluid bed gasifier is one of the
few survivors from the late 1970 era and is shown in Figure 20.5
[15,18]. In the U-Gas process, dried and milled coal is fed into the
gasifier via a lock-hopper. The gasification takes place in a fluid
bed, which is kept fluidized by the gasification agents steam and air
or oxygen. The sloping grid at the bottom serves as a distributor of
the gasification agents and to route the agglomerated ash out of the
gasifier. The key to the operation is ash agglomeration and separa-
tion of low carbon ash from the fluidized bed. This is accomplished
by keeping the temperature near the sloping grid close to the ash
softening temperature. Because of relatively low operating tem-
perature, the predominant reaction in the gasifier is the slow steam
Fig. 20.4 Depiction of fluidized bed gasifier and carbon reaction, which results in limited throughput. In addition,
the relevant temperature profile [7,16] lack of ability to preferentially oxidize refractory-like char from
coal in the fluidized bed results in low carbon conversion [19].
In order to overcome these drawbacks, KBR and Southern Com-
pany Services have jointly developed a transport reactor technolo-
bed to behave as a fluid. The dry coal feed introduced into the gy to obtain higher circulation rates, velocities, and riser densities
hot fluidized bed mixes rapidly with the bed material and almost than in conventional circulating beds, resulting in a more uniform
instantaneously attains the gasification temperature. This leads to temperature profiles, higher throughputs and higher carbon con-
higher throughputs in fluidized beds, as compared with moving bed version [20,21]. The KBR transport reactor integrated gasification
gasifiers. Because of rapid mixing of raw coal with the bed mate- (TRIG) is presented in Figure 20.6. The TRIG gasifier is refractory-
rial, the product gas composition is uniform, and the formation of lined pipe with no internals. In TRIG technology, dry coal is fed
tars and phenols are minimized. The maximum bed temperature of through lock-hoppers into the upper section of the mixing zone,
a fluidized bed gasifier is limited by the ash softening temperature, where it undergoes rapid devolatilization and gasification reac-
where ash begins to stick to other particles and solid surfaces. Flu- tions. The char along with recirculating ash is separated from
idized bed gasifiers have the flexibility to handle all types of coal the syngas in a cyclone and is recycled back to the gasifier via a
and are especially efficient in gasifying high-ash coals.
The Winkler gasifier developed in 1920s was the first commer-
cial application of a fluidized bed process [17]. The Winkler pro­
cess was used extensively by the Germans during World War II
to generate syngas required for the Fischer-Tropsch process. The
Winkler process operates at atmospheric pressure and has limit-
ed application due to its high capital and operating cost. The low
throughput and high cost of syngas recompression led to the devel-
opment of pressurized version of the Winkler technology. Rhein-
braum, the developer of the high-pressure version of the Winkler
technology, refers to the process as high-temperature Winkler
(HTW) process, a misnomer as it is the high-pressure feature that
distinguishes it from the original Winkler process. Pressurized op-
erations were achieved by use of a lock-hopper arrangement fol-
lowed by a screw feeder to feed dry coal into the gasifier. In 1986,
Rheinbraum built a 600-t/d oxygen-blown HTW plant in Germany
[13]. The plant operated at 10 bar, and the syngas was used for the
production of methanol.
Some developers are also working on modifying the HTW to
better adapt to local coal properties, such as high ash or high mois-
ture [10,13]. Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited (BHEL) in India is
developing an air-blown fluidized bed gasifier to handle high-ash
Indian coals. Similarly, Herman Research Laboratories (HRL) in
Australia is developing another version of an air-blown fluidized
bed gasification process that is more suitable to high-moisture coals.
The uniqueness of the HRL technology is the use of hot syngas to
dry high-moisture coals in an up-flow entrained dryer. Coal is pres-
surized in lock hoppers and screw fed into the hot syngas leaving
the gasifier. Dried coal is separated in a cyclone and then screw
fed to the gasifier. Herman Research Laboratories refers to this Fig. 20.5 Depiction of U-Gas pressurized fluidized
technology as Integrated Drying & Gasification Combined Cycle. bed gasifier [15,18]
20-  •  Chapter 20

ash is rejected as a liquid slag, the efficiency of slagging gasifiers

with high-ash coal is low, owing to the rejection of the sensible heat
of the molten ash. High temperature used in the entrained bed gasifi-
ers reduces the residence time requirement and results in syngas rich
in CO, CO2, H2, H2O, and very low amounts of hydrocarbons. Both
slurry and dry feed entrained bed gasifiers are available. Compared
with slurry feed gasifiers, the dry feed gasifiers operate at higher
temperatures. Entrained bed gasifiers have many advantages that
include high capacity per unit volume, high carbon conversion, and
a product gas that is essentially free of heavy hydrocarbons. On
the other hand, high gasification temperatures result in a number
of challenges: burner and gasifier reliability due to corrosive and
sticky slag, and the requirement to cool extremely hot syngas. Ox-
ygen consumption in entrained bed gasifiers is typically the highest
among the gasifier types.
The original entrained bed gasifier is the Koppers-Totzek (K-T)
gasifier. The K-T gasifier was invented and commercialized in
Germany in the 1940s. The K-T process has been extensively used
to produce ammonia. In 1950, Heinrich Koppers GmbH installed
three gasifiers for Tippi Oy at Oulu, Finland, for the production of
ammonia. Since then, K-T gasifiers have been installed in Greece,
Turkey, India, South Africa, Zambia, and elsewhere, mostly for
ammonia manufacture [6].
Many modern entrained bed gasifiers have features that resem-
ble aspects of the original K-T gasifier. The traditional atmospheric
pressure K-T gasifier is horizontal and ellipsoidal with two burner
heads mounted on the ends. Some plants installed in India use four
burner gasifier designs [6]. In the K-T process, pulverized coal is
Fig. 20.6 Depiction of KBR TRIG technology [20,21] premixed and entrained with steam and oxygen and injected into
the gasifier burners. In addition to the high gasification tempera-
tures of 3300°F to 3500°F, the multiple burner assembly combina-
standpipe and J-leg. The gasification agent, air or oxygen, along tion improves turbulence, resulting in high carbon conversion and
with a relatively small amount of steam, is introduced into the liquefaction of ash. Most of the ash flows down the gasifier walls
bottom section of the mixing zone where it is rapidly consumed as molten slag and drains into a slag quench tank. A waste heat
by the re-circulating char from the J-Leg. The rapid mixing of boiler is mounted on the top of the gasifier to recover heat from the
bed material results in a uniform temperature and minimizes the hot product gases and to generate steam.
amount of steam needed to moderate the partial oxidation reac- In the late 1970s, Shell and Koppers started a joint program to
tion. This makes the TRIG technology more of a partial oxidizer, develop a pressurized version of the K-T gasifier. After the take­
and therefore, it is more compact than fluidized bed gasifiers. An over of Koppers by Krupp, the partnership was dissolved and each
additional advantage of the TRIG is that it can be designed in
either air-blown mode or oxygen-blown mode, depending on the
application.

20.3.3 Entrained Flow Gasifiers

In entrained flow gasifiers, coal and the gasification agents are
co-currently fed, and the coal particles are entrained with the re-
acting gases (see Figure 20.7). Since high velocities are required
to entrain coal, the residence time in these gasifiers is short to
maintain reasonable gasifier size. High-carbon conversion at these
conditions can be achieved by using finely ground coal and
high gasification temperatures (> 2500o F). Typically, coal and
gasification agents are introduced into the gasifier at high veloci-
ties through one or more burners. The burners can be oriented in
many different ways: tangentially, radially opposed, or axially.
Consequently, there are several variations of entrained flow gasi-
fiers available in today’s market [10,13,22-34].
The entrained bed gasifier performance is affected to a large de-
gree by the mixing efficiency of the burners and flow characteris-
tics. Gasifiers with multiple burners have higher carbon conversion
because of high turbulence and high gasification temperatures. The
entrained bed gasifier is operated at temperatures higher than the ash Fig. 20.7 Depiction of generic entrained bed gas-
melting temperature to enable removal of ash as liquid slag. Since ifier and relevant temperature profiles [7,16]
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  20-

started working independently on developing the gasifier technol- Since the breaking of the Shell-Prenflo consortium, each has
ogy. Shell built a demonstration facility at their refinery in Deer added additional features to include minor variations such as addi-
Park, Texas that operated from 1987 to 1992. Krupp-Koppers built tion of the quench zone to cool the syngas. A variation of the Pren-
a pilot plant at Furstenhausen, Germany that operated from 1988 to flo design is also being offered as Prenflo Direct Quench (PDQ)
1992. The Krupp-Koppers process was called Prenflo (Pressurized process. The PDQ process is a down flow design where dry coal is
Entrained Flow). Both Shell and Prenflo gasifiers share many com- fed through four opposed burner at the top into a gasifier equipped
mon features (see Figure 20.8). with a membrane wall. The raw gas is quenched directly with water
In 1990s, Udhe joined Krupp for the development and market- at the bottom exit. The quenched Shell design maintains the up-
ing of the Prenflo technology. Early in 2002, Shell and Krupp- flow gasifier design, but incorporates a water quench system down-
Udhe announced that the Shell and Prenflo technologies would stream of the gasifier and upstream of the syngas cooler [33].
be merged and offered as a single technology. More recently, this The origins of the GE Coal gasification process lie in Texaco’s
partnership has been dissolved and Shell and Prenflo technologies gasification technology gasifying heavy petroleum refinery streams.
are once again being offered separately [10]. Texaco’s gasification technology has been widely used since the
Many features of the Shell Coal Gasification Process (SCGP) early 1950s for production of chemicals [9]. In the 1980s, Texaco
and Prenflo processes are very similar to the original KT process. designed the Kingsport Gasification facility in Tennessee for pro-
All three processes have two horizontally opposed burners through duction of chemicals and the first coal-based IGCC plant at South-
which dry pulverized coal is introduced into the gasifier. The hot ern California Edison’s Cool Water Station in California.
product gases flow upward through a vertical membrane cylindri- GE Energy acquired the Texaco Coal Gasification process from
cal wall. This is similar to the waterwalls used in boilers to keep Chevron in 2004 after Texaco was purchased by Chevron [10].
the refractory cool by using water in tubes. Molten ash entrained The GE process uses slurry feed down-flow entrained flow gasifier
with the upward-flowing syngas is deposited on the waterwalls (Figure 20.9). Coal is wet milled, slurried with water, and charged
and flows downwards. The slag coats the waterwalls and offers into the gasifier with a piston pump. Slurry feed is introduced into
a protective insulating layer augmenting the thin layer of refrac- the gasifier with oxygen through a single burner that is located
tory on the membrane wall. The slag is removed through the bot- centrally at the top of the gasifier. The reactor shell is a refractory-
tom of the gasifier floor and quenched in a water bath. The sudden lined vessel. The slag is quenched and removed from the bottom
drop in temperature of the slag causes it to solidify and break up of the gasifier via a lock-hopper arrangement. The water leaving
into fine, inert, glassy, black grit. The cooled and solidified slag is the lock-hopper is separated from the slag and recycled for slurry
removed through a lock-hopper arrangement. The top of the gas­ preparation. GE offers three variations to cool the syngas: a radi-
ifier is quenched with a portion of the cooled product gas to ensure ant boiler, a total water quench, and a combination of the two. The
solidification of fly slag before it enters the syngas coolers. The selection among these three alternatives is a choice of cost and
solidified fly ash carried with the product gas is removed in a cy- application. In the total water quench, less heat is recoverable as
clone downstream of the syngas cooler. high-pressure steam, whereas with a radiant boiler, high-pressure

A. Shell Coal gasifier B. Prenflo gasifier

Fig. 20.8 Depiction of Shell and Prenflo gasifiers [25,26]

20-  •  Chapter 20

The ash is removed as molten slag through a tap hole at the

bottom of the gasifier. The molten slag is quenched in water and
crushed and is continuously removed via a pressure let down sys-
tem. The E-Gas process is one of few technologies that do not use
a lock hopper arrangement to remove slag.
The Siemens Gasification process also has had a long history
of ownership. In 1975, Deutsches Brennstoffinstitut Freiberg de-
veloped this process for gasification of German coals. In the past,
the technology has been marketed under the name GSP, Noell, and
Future Energy. Siemens acquired Future Energy gasification tech-
nology in 2006 and is marketing it as Siemens Fuel Gasification
(SFG) technology [10].
Siemens technology features a top-fired burner through which
coal and gasification agents are introduced and is shown in Figure
20.11. This feature somewhat resembles that of GE technology.
But unlike the GE process, the Siemens process is based on a dry
feed system, and the gasifier wall is refractory lined and cooled
with water. The spirally wound cooling screen is covered with SiC
castible refractory and layers of solid and molten slag. To provide
for flexibility, Siemens offers both total quench and partial quench
design.
The Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) process is an air-blown,
two-stage, dry feed, up-flow gasifier with a membrane wall and
no refractory [23]. The two-stage concept, as shown in Figure
20.12, is similar to the E-Gas technology; the differences being an

Fig. 20.9 Depiction of GE gasifier [29-31]

steam is generated. The radiant boiler option is more efficient but

a more capital intensive option because of the exotic alloys needed
for the syngas cooler.
Dow originally developed the E-Gas Technology in 1970s. The
E-Gas technology is now being marketed by ConocoPhillips [10,28].
Similar to the GE technology, E-gas uses a slurry coal feed system
that is fired into the bottom of a horizontal cylinder with two opposed
burners (see Figure 20.10). The burner section is very similar to the
KT technology. All the oxygen required for gasification is fed through
these two burners. In addition, a portion of the coal is fed just above
the first-stage burner zone to cool the syngas. In theory, this behaves
as a staged fuel burner. Since there is no oxygen fed to the second
stage, some products of devolatilization remain in the syngas product
as it flows upward. The syngas is cooled in fire tube syngas coolers
to generate steam. Char produced in the second stage is removed in a
hot, dry filter downstream of the syngas coolers and recycled back to
the first stage. The two-stage operation improves the efficiency and
reduces oxygen requirements, but increases capital cost. Fig. 20.10 Depiction of E-Gas gasifier [10,28]
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  20-

The TPRI gasifier is a dry coal–fed, oxygen-blown, two-stage

up-flow entrained bed reactor with a membrane wall. The two-
stage concept is similar to the slurry fed, oxygen-blown, E-gas
and the dry-feed, air-blown, MHI processes. In the TPRI process,
coal along with steam and oxygen is fed to the first stage. In the
second stage, only coal and steam are fed. The TPRI gasifier is
also offered in two variations to cool the syngas: steam generation
mode and quench mode. The TPRI gasifier has been proposed for a
250-MW IGCC GreenGen project in China, similar to the shelved
US FutureGen project, to demonstrate IGCC with carbon capture and
sequestration. The TPRI is jointly owned by major Chinese power
companies including China Huaneng Group, China Huadian Corp,
China Power Investment Corp., China Datang Corp, and China
Guodian Corp. Therefore, TPRI is well positioned to be a major
technology provider both inside China and internationally. For
the US market, TPRI has formed an alliance with Houston-based
Future Fuels and is working on a 270-MW Good Spring IGCC
project. This project will be the first-of-a-kind IGCC project that
applies non-Western technology to a US project.
The Electric Power Development Corporation in Japan has been
working on developing the EAGLE gasifier, which is similar in
concept to TPRI. The EAGLE gasifier is a dry coal–fed, oxygen-
blown, up-flow entrained bed reactor with a membrane wall. Dry
coal is fed at two levels into the gasifier. The first level operates

Fig. 20.11 Depiction of Siemens gasifier [10,15]

air-blown and dry feed system. The first stage is operated in com-
bustion mode at high enough temperatures to allow the ash to be
removed as slag. In the second stage, coal is introduced to cool
the syngas by the devolatilization reactions. The char is separated
from the gas in a cyclone and candle filter and recycled back to the
first stage. This technology was recently demonstrated at Nakoso
Power Plant in Japan using a modified M701DA gas turbine [23].
Among several technologies being developed in China, two
technologies, opposed multi-Bruner (OMB) and Thermal Power
Research Institute (TPRI), have recently appeared in the market
place and are threatening to break the monopoly of Western tech-
nologies (see Figure 20.13). The OMB technology developed by
East China University of Science and Technology is a slurry fed
down-flow–entrained gasifier. Four top-mounted, opposed fired
burners introduce the slurry with oxygen into the gasifier. The
reactor is a quench design with special internals to reduce water
carryover. The slag is removed via a lock-hopper arrangement. A
unique feature of the OMB technology is the particulate removal
system, where the particles are removed from the syngas with a
combination of jet mixer, cyclone, and a water scrubber. The OMB
technology is also being developed using a dry coal feed system
with a membrane wall. In principle, the dry feed OMB gasifier de-
sign feature will make the gasifier design very similar to the Pren-
flo Direct Quench. Fig. 20.12 Depiction of MHI gasifier [15]
20-10  •  Chapter 20

A. OMB gasifier B. TPRI gasifier

Fig. 20.13  Depiction of OMB gasifier and TPRI gasifier [15]

oxygen rich, whereas the second level is starved of oxygen. The requirement. Although it may be more economical to slurry feed
hot syngas leaving the burner zone is quenched with cooled syn- the coal, there is a significant energy penalty associated with it
gas, very similar to the art practiced in the Shell technology. because valuable energy is consumed in vaporizing water used for
There are several other gasification technologies currently being slurring the coal.
developed by various organizations in several countries. Most of During the initial stages of planning, care should be given to
these technologies are in various stages of development and further the development of a block flow diagram, which clearly defines
away from commercialization. Additional information on these de- the processing steps required to meet the project objectives. This
veloping technologies may be found elsewhere [10,13,15]. is a challenging task, since a wide variety of products including:
power, chemicals, fuels, and metals can be produced with syngas.
In addition, the design provides the ability to generate multiple
20.4  asification Island Design
G products. Therefore, project developers like to have flexibility built
Issues and Cost Impacts into the plant, making the design a complex task.
Irrespective of the end application, the unit processes and unit
Even for a known feedstock and a known end application, de- operations in the gasification island are similar. However, the de-
ciding on a type of gasifier and the design of the gasification is- sign criterion may not necessarily be the same. Figure 20.14 is a
land is a complex issue. The most cost-effective path is not always typical block flow diagram that describes various unit operations
straightforward. Often there are conflicting issues between capital in a typical gasification island. Further definition of the block de-
cost, operating cost, and efficiency. High efficiency is desirable pends on the specific application. This flow sheet is typically used
as it reduces the plant size and the amount of emissions from the to define the project basis and establish a cost estimate of the gasi-
plant. This is the key reason why most of the gasification technol- fication island.
ogy providers are now offering various options to address these is- Several studies on cost indicate that for a given gasification is-
sues. For syngas cooling, some technology providers are providing land scheme, the capital cost of various gasification technologies
at least two options: syngas cooler or quench. The use of a syngas are within 10% of each other, with the dry feed systems being on
cooler to generate high-pressure steam increases both efficiency the high side [14,35]. Air blown gasifiers would fall on the lower
and capital cost. The cost of the syngas coolers can be a very sig- side of the cost spectrum. Although these studies focus on the type
nificant portion of the overall IGCC capital, and in several of the of gasifier as a differentiating factor in determining cost, packaging
currently operating plants with large water tube syngas coolers, other unit operations within the gasification island are critical for
it represented as much as 20 % of the total Gasifier Island capital optimizing cost and efficiency.
cost. On the other hand, quench systems result in lowering both Relative costs of various gasification blocks identified in Fig-
capital cost and efficiency, but increase operating cost. Dry feed- ure 20.14 are shown in Table 20.3. These cost numbers are based
ing coal improves efficiency but increases both capital and operat- on several studies available in the open literature [14,35-38]. The
ing cost due to the need for lock hoppers and the pressurization wide range in relative cost reflects the various options available to
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  20-11

Fig. 20.14  Block flow diagram of a typical coal gasification island

perform the same unit operation. For coal preparation and feed, temperature moving bed gasifiers are probably not going to be eco-
the low cost option reflects slurry feed systems and the high cost nomical going forward as they require large reactor volumes.
option is for dry feed systems. During the initial stages, the high- The ash removal system is generally considered to be an integral
pressure coal feeding block would need to be defined for the type part of the gasifier and its cost is reflected in the cost of the gasifier
of feeder required: slurry feed or dry feed. Although most of the block.
gasifier developers promote a particular type of feed, GE’s pursu- The high cost of syngas cooling is one area where a number of
ance of dry feeding coal clearly indicates that the developers are technology providers are already providing options to balance cost
not closed to improving their technology to improve capital cost and efficiency. Well known options for cooling syngas include:
and/or efficiency. quench, syngas coolers, and a combination of both. The syngas
Table 20.3 indicates that the ASU is one of the costliest blocks cooler provides an option to raise steam while cooling the raw syn-
in oxygen-blown gasifiers. The compression cost for an air-blown gas. The steam can be either saturated or superheated. Production
system would be about half that of ASU. Entrained bed gasifiers of superheated steam requires the use of exotic alloys, making it an
generally promote the use of oxygen; however, MHI’s recent suc- expensive option. The efficiency improvements due to raising super-
cess with an air-blown entrained bed gasifier suggests that air may heated steam will need to be evaluated during the initial stages of the
also be an option in the future, at least for power generation. In gasifier island design. The low cost range in Table 20.3 reflects the
general, air-blown gasifiers are considered to be more efficient and direct quench option, where the energy from the hot raw syngas in
economical for power generation purposes. In fact such flexibility not recovered, thereby lowering the plant efficiency.
is already built into the fluid bed systems that can be designed in Selection of a particulate filtration device is another area where
either oxygen to air, depending on the production mode. options such as filters, cyclones, and/or wet scrubbing are available.
For IGCC applications, the higher efficiency gasifiers will likely In many gasification applications, a barrier filter is used. Removal
be based on a dry feed and air-blown system. Combustion turbines of the entrained particulate matter from the raw gas at temperatures
designed to fire natural gas offer the option to extract air while fir- above the dew point avoids condensation problems and keeps the fly
ing in syngas mode. The extracted air can be used to supplement ash dry to facilitate its removal. Dry fly ash recovery significantly
all or part of the air requirement to the ASU for oxygen-blown sys- reduces the buildup of salts in the recycle process water and the
tems. In the air-blown mode, the extracted air can be recompressed cost of wastewater clean-up. Fluid bed gasifiers use cyclones at the
to supplement the main air compressor. The use of extraction air gasifier exit to recover the bulk of the particulates and char material
reduces auxiliary power requirements. which are then recycled back to the gasifier. The quench systems
The gasifier is another area of the gasifier island that contributes used for cooling syngas also remove fly ash, chlorides, metals, and
significantly to the capital cost. The high end numbers reflect en- some sulfur from the raw syngas. Therefore, in a quench system the
trained flow membrane lined gasifiers and fluidized bed gasifiers. treatment and disposal of water becomes challenging. The syngas
Low reaction rates in fluidized bed gasifier will require multiple cooling and particulate filtration are two operations whose costs
gasifiers. The low number reflects cost of a transport gasifier that are comparable to that of the gasifier. Therefore, careful evaluation
operates as a partial oxidizer and at lower temperatures [38]. The of these blocks is essential to optimize cost.
mode of operation, gasification versus partial oxidation has sig- The definition of the low temperature syngas treatment block is
nificant impact on gasifier size and oxidant requirements. The low mainly dependent on the end use application. For example, if the
application is for IGCC, then removal of condensate from the syn-
gas prior to mercury and sulfur removal is desirable. Removal of
Table 20.3 Relative Cost of Various Blocks in condensate facilitates the removal of ammonia and chlorides from
the Gasification Island the syngas. For chemical production or IGCC carbon capture, the
sour syngas has to be shifted, and heat integration and gas humidifi-
Gasification Island Block Low High cation prior to shifting for systems using syngas coolers (rather than
a quench system) become important. The number of stages required
Coal Prep and Feed 5 15
for shift, either one or multiple stages, depends on the application.
ASU 20 25
For example, for hydrogen production either two or three stages
Gasifier 15 25
would be preferred to maximize hydrogen production. For IGCC
Syngas Cooling 5 20
carbon capture, a single stage may be sufficient to meet the project
Particulate Removal 5 15
requirements. Depending on the shift catalyst requirement, the syn-
LT Syngas Treatment 5 10
gas will need to be conditioned to meet the required H2O/CO ratio.
Acid Gas Removal Unit 10 20
In schemes using upstream quench systems the conditioning step
Utilities and Offsites 15 20
may be eliminated. The conditioning can be performed in a saturator
20-12  •  Chapter 20

or a scrubber that not only humidifies the sour syngas, but also fa- Clearly, the definition of each block within the block flow dia-
cilitates removal of mercury, ammonia, and chlorides. gram (Figure 20.14) will need careful evaluation to optimize the
The Acid Gas Removal (AGR) processes are very effective at re- cost and efficiency. Search for a “cookie cutter” design (one design
moval of H2S down to very low levels but are less effective at COS fit all) is desirable but will be challenging as the optimum design
removal. Some of the shift catalyst hydrolyzes COS to H2S and HCN will depend on a number of items including: feedstock type, loca-
to NH3. Depending on the hydrolyzing capability of the shift catalyst tion, permits, end application, developer preferences, etc. There-
and the application, an additional hydrolysis reactor may be required fore, options to define the block flow diagram during the initial
to remove COS and HCN. Downstream of the shift and hydrolysis planning stage should be carefully evaluated to minimize changes
reactors the syngas is further cooled to remove excess condensate to the project schedules and cost.
prior to treating the sour syngas for mercury removal.
The syngas treatment area also includes the removal of trace
components such as mercury. In existing IGCC plants, mercury 20.5  pplications of Coal
A
removal is not practiced. This will change in the future, at least Gasification
in United States, Europe, and Japan. In most IGCC projects being
explored in these regions, mercury removal is being seriously con- Syngas generated from coal can be used for a wide variety of prod-
sidered. For chemical applications, mercury removal is generally ucts including: power, chemicals, fuels, and metals. In addition, the
practiced to avoid coating and poisoning downstream catalysts. plant can be designed to produce multiple slates of products. In this
Typically, sulfided carbon or impregnated metal are used as bed sub-section, application to individual products is highlighted. Co-
material to remove mercury. production can be achieved by integrating the desired applications.
Technologies for acid gases removal such as H2S, CO2 or com-
bination of the two have been used extensively in the natural gas 20.5.1 Power Generation
processing industry. Several types of AGR technologies are avail- In the United States and throughout the world, most of the elec-
able to remove acid gases. Most popular technologies use solvents tricity is generated from coal. In most of the power plants, coal is
to absorb acid gases. The AGR technology is generally categorized burned in a boiler to generate steam. Steam is then expanded in a
by nature of the solvent bonding with the acid gas, which is ei- turbine to generate power. The turbine exhaust is condensed and
ther physical or chemical. In a physical solvent process, the bonds pumped back to the boiler to generate steam. Figure 20.15 repre-
between the solvent and acid gas are weak, and therefore, reduc- sents a typical coal-based power plant that is based on Rankine
ing pressure regenerates the solvent. In a chemical solvent process, cycle.
heat is required to break the gas-solvent bonds and regenerate the The cycle of converting heat to work, better known as the Ran­
solvent. Therefore, the selection of the solvent type will need to be kine Cycle, is about 25 to 30% efficient. In many power plants
based on the comparison of capital cost and efficiency for a given the exhaust (flue) gas from the boiler is generally not treated and
application. emitted to the atmosphere. This is the main reason why coal-based
In a typical AGR process the sour syngas is contacted counter- power plants are considered “dirty”. Tightening of the emission
currently with a solvent in an absorber to remove the acid gases. regulations globally has resulted in installation of scrubbers for the
For carbon capture case, two absorbers will be required — one for removal of sulfur dioxide and selective catalytic reduction for the
H2S removal and the other for CO2 removal. The treated syngas removal of NOx.
from the absorbers then leaves the gasification island for its ap- In order to improve efficiency, newer power plants use gas tur-
plications, power generation or chemical synthesis. bines to generate power. The gas turbine is based on Brayton cycle
The solvent leaving the absorber contains the acid gases and is that uses the fuel in a combustion turbine to generate electricity
regenerated. The regeneration is performed by either heat and/or by expanding hot gases over rotating turbine blades. Typical effi-
by pressure reduction, depending on the nature of the solvent. Both ciency of this cycle is 35% to 45%. In addition, heat can be recov-
physical and chemical solvent processes are well suited to remove ered from the hot turbine exhaust to generate steam. The steam is
both H2S, as well as, CO2. In the carbon capture mode, the sol- expanded in a steam turbine to generate additional electricity. The
vent is regenerated in a two-step process; one for generating CO2, combination of combustion turbine and steam turbine is shown in
and the second for liberating H2S. After regeneration, the acid-gas Figure 20.16. The “combined cycle” arrangement increases the
free lean solvent from the bottom of the regenerator is cooled and overall energy efficiency to about 60%.
pumped back to the absorber. The H2S containing acid gas leav- Typically, natural gas is the fuel of choice that is used to gener-
ing the regenerator is further processed to recover sulfur. H2S pro- ate hot combustion gases to be expanded in a combustion turbine
duced during solvent regeneration is typically converted to sulfur
or sulfuric acid. Conversion to sulfur is more expensive as sulfur
plants are more expensive than sulfuric acid plants. However, if STEAM
CONDENSER
POWER
TURBINE
there is no market for sulfuric acid, conversion of H2S to sulfur
may be the only choice.
For low sulfur coals, direct oxidation technologies are available. SUPERHEATED
In direct oxidation technology, H2S is directly oxidized to sulfur in STEAM CONDENSATE

an absorber. Typically, the oxidation agents include SO2 or oxy-

gen that is dissolved in an AGR solvent. The sulfur crystals are
COAL TO STACK
removed by filtration. The solvent along with make-up oxidant is BOILER
recycled back to the absorber. Direct oxidation technologies have
an advantage as they oxidize H2S to sulfur in one step and do not
require a Claus unit. Direct oxidation technology is not applicable Fig. 20.15  Block flow diagram of a generic coal-
for the removal of CO2. fired power plant based on Rankine cycle
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  20-13

leading to a large volume of gas to be treated. Removal of CO2

POWER
STEAM CONDENSER from high-pressure syngas provides an advantage for the IGCC ap-
TURBINE
plication as compared with traditional coal-fired power plants. For
carbon capture based IGCC application, CO in syngas will need to
SUPERHEATED
STEAM
CONDENSATE be shifted to CO2 to facilitate the capture. Additionally, the acid
gas removal system will need to be designed to remove both H2S
and CO2, and the gas turbine will need to be modified to use a
NATURAL GAS TO STACK
GAS
TURBINE HEAT RECOVERY STEAM GENERATOR fuel rich in hydrogen. Search for higher efficiency and tightening
environmental regulations will make coal-based IGCC plants an
attractive option to generate electric power in the future.
Fig. 20.16  Block flow diagram of a gas fired
combined cycle unit based on combined Brayton 20.5.2 Liquid Fuels
and Rankine cycles One of the more attractive applications of gasification is the con-
version of coal into liquid fuels. Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) synthesis
was used in World War II to convert coal to liquid fuels [39-43].
to generate power. In some regions of the world due to high natural Since then this technology has been used extensively in South Africa
gas price or limited natural gas supply, alternate fuels such as coal where due to an oil embargo, South Africa had to rely on its exten-
derived syngas is being pursued for power generation. In IGCC sive coal resources to provide liquid fuels, as mentioned earlier.
applications, natural gas is replaced with syngas as fuel in the gas The process to generate liquid fuels was originally invented by
turbine (see Figure 20.17). The gasification process is more com- Badische Anilin und Soda Fabrik (BASF) in 1913. BASF used a
plex and involves significantly more capital (see Figure 20.14 and high-pressure catalytic process to produce long chain hydrocar-
Table 20.3). In places such as Europe, India, China, and Africa bons and oxygenates from CO and H2. In the mid-1920s, Fischer
where natural gas is not available in abundance, coal gasification and Tropsch used coal derived syngas to generate straight chain
is being seriously considered. Where natural gas commands a high hydrocarbons (popularly referred to as wax) and light hydrocar-
price, there may be enough incentive to process coal into a gaseous bons. They used an active iron based catalyst for their synthesis.
fuel for power generation purposes. The conversion of CO and H2 can be represented by the equation:
For IGCC applications, syngas needs to free of particulates and
sulfur. In recent projects, removal of trace metals such as mercury
CO + 2H2 ► -[CH2]- + H2O (20.8)
and arsenic is also being explored. The IGCC application facili-
tates the integration between the steam and air/oxygen systems to
Although BASF originally invented the process, the reaction is bet-
improve efficiency. While firing syngas in a combustion turbine
ter known as the F-T reaction. The F-T reaction requires H2/CO ratio
designed with flexibility of firing natural gas, some of the air from
of 2. The H2/CO ratio of syngas produced from coal varies from about
the combustion turbine compressor can be extracted for use in other
0.6 to 0.8, depending on the type of gasifier and the amount of steam
parts of the plant, as discussed earlier.
or water added to the gasifier. Therefore, the syngas has to be shifted
The extracted air can be used in the air separation plant to gen-
to produce additional hydrogen by the water gas shift reaction:
erate oxygen (for oxygen-blown gasification systems), or further
compressed to provide air for air-blown systems. For the steam side
integration, steam generated in the gasification island during syngas CO + H2O ◄ ► CO2 + H2 (20.9)
cooling is used in the steam turbine to generate additional power,
thereby increasing power output. A typical integration of the gasifi- The overall F-T reaction is represented by combining these two
cation island with the power island is depicted in Fig­ure 20.18. reactions to yield:
The combined cycle efficiency of a coal-based power plant is
less than that of natural gas fired units due to the additional en- 2CO + H2 ► -[CH2]- + CO2 (20.10)
ergy requirements to process coal and syngas. In several countries,
regulators and environmental lobbyists are calling for the capture The use of iron based catalyst promotes the water-gas shift re-
and sequestration of CO2, especially from coal-based power plants. action which makes them ideally suited for coal-based syngas. In
Removal of CO2 from traditional power plants will be challenging recent years, cobalt based catalyst has become popular for F-T syn-
as the exhaust from these plants are close to atmospheric pressure thesis. Cobalt does not promote the water-gas shift reaction and
the coal derived syngas has to be shifted prior to the F-T synthesis,
thereby requiring additional processing. Cobalt based catalyst are
POWER
STEAM
CONDENSER
more suited to process syngas derived from natural gas as it in-
TURBINE
herently contains more hydrogen. The H2/CO ratio of natural gas
based syngas is typically about 2 and therefore does not require
SUPERHEATED
STEAM
CONDENSATE shifting. This process is popularly referred to as Gas-to-Liquids
(GTL) technology. Similarly, conversion of coal derived syngas to
liquid fuels is popularly referred to as Coal-to-Liquids (CTL).
COAL GASIFICATION SYNGAS TO STACK
ISLAND
GAS
TURBINE
HEAT RECOVERY STEAM GENERATOR The wax products from the F-T synthesis reactions need to be
hydro-treated, hydro-cracked, and fractionated to produce naphtha and
diesel. Figure 20.19 summarizes major processes and unit operations
Fig. 20.17 Generic block flow diagram depicting that are typically required to convert syngas into liquid fuels, such as
the substitution of natural gas with coal in a naphtha and diesel. Liquid fuels from the F-T pro­cess are essentially
combined cycle plant sulfur free and therefore command a higher premium in the market.
20-14  •  Chapter 20

Fig. 20.18  Block flow diagram depicting a typical integration of the gasification island with the
power island

Methanol, one of the top ten chemicals produced globally, can In recent years, China has been converting methanol to DME
also be produced from syngas. Methanol can be used directly or for use as a substitute for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and die-
blended with other petroleum products to produce a clean burning sel. The dehydration reaction of methanol takes place over an acid
transportation fuel. Similar to the F-T reactions, methanol can also catalyst by the following reaction:
be produced by CO and H2 by using copper and zinc based catalyst
according to the reaction: 2 CH3OH ► CH3OCH3 + H2O (20.12)

CO + 2H2 ► CH3OH (20.11) In addition to its usage as a liquid fuel substitute, methanol is an
important chemical intermediate to produce formaldehyde, methyl
The methanol process also requires H2/CO molar ratio of 2. The tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), acetic acid, methyl amines, and methyl
CO/H2 ratio from a typical coal gasifier is less than 0.8. Therefore, CO halides.
has to be shifted to prior to conversion of syngas to methanol. Both
F-T catalysts and the methanol synthesis catalyst are expensive and sus- 20.5.3 Synthetic Natural Gas
ceptible to poisons such as chlorides and sulfur. Therefore, prior to the Conversion of coal into synthetic natural gas (SNG) is some-
synthesis, syngas must be treated to remove these contaminants. Am- times desirable to facilitate the transport of fuels with higher en-
monia and halides are typically removed by water scrubbing. During ergy density to the market place. SNG is primarily methane, and is
the water wash step, the ratio of H2O/CO can be adjusted to meet the synthesized over a nickel based catalyst by the following reaction:
shift catalyst requirements. H2S can be removed with any preferred
AGR system that will satisfy the specifications required to prevent CO + 3H2 ► CH4 + H2O (20.13)
poisons from reaching the catalyst. Typically, a COS hydrolysis unit
may be required to convert COS to H2S as most AGR systems do The methanation reactions are exothermic and the heat can be
not remove COS. The acid gas removal will need to remove H2S to used to generate steam as shown in Figure 20.20. Capability of pro-
match the syngas specifications for liquid fuel synthesis, as discussed ducing superheated high-pressure steam has created interest in the
earlier. development of a catalyst that can operate at higher temperatures.
This reaction requires the H2/CO ratio of 3, which indicates that
RECYCLE GAS TAIL GAS CO will need to be shifted to a higher extent than required for the
PURGE

FISCHER- COOLING
STEAM
SYNGAS
TROPSCH AND
SYNTHESIS SEPERATION

SYNGAS METHANE
HEAVY
ENDS SYNTHESIS COOLING SNG
WAX

NAPHTHA
HYDROCRACKING
AND DISTILLATION
HYDROGEN
HYDROTREATMENT BOILER
DIESEL FEED
WATER

Fig. 20.19 Major process blocks for converting Fig. 20.20 Major process operations to convert
syngas to liquid fuels syngas to SNG
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  20-15

liquid fuel processes discussed earlier. To eliminate methanation

catalyst poisons, the syngas will need to be scrubbed with water
to remove ammonia and halogens. During the water wash step, the
ratio of H2O/CO can be adjusted to meet the shift catalyst require-
ments. Sulfur compounds will need removal by the AGR system
to eliminate catalyst poisons. Some CO2 may also need to be re-
moved by the AGR system to meet the natural gas specifications.

20.5.4 Hydrogen and Ammonia

For hydrogen synthesis from syngas, all of the CO will need
to be shifted. The sour shift catalyst can accomplish most of the
desired shifting. However, to bring the CO concentration down to
low levels, low temperature sweet shift may be required. To elimi-
nate catalyst poisons, the syngas will need to be scrubbed with
water to remove ammonia and halogens. Both sulfur compounds
and CO2 will need removal by a dual AGR system. Since the entire
CO needs to be shifted in multiple stages, the syngas will have
to be adjusted to meet the required H2O/CO ratio. Humidifying Fig. 20.22 Global energy consumption by fuel
with steam or quenching with water can achieve the desired adjust- type [44]
ment. If the hydrogen is for ammonia production purposes, then
the gas­ifier can be either enriched air blown or oxygen blown. For
all other purposes the gasifier must be operated in oxygen-blown and SNG. As discussed earlier, for some applications, syngas gen-
mode to minimize diluting the hydrogen with nitrogen. erated from coal can be substituted for oil or natural gas. Two of
Ammonia catalyst is poisoned with CO and CO2. Typically after the fastest growing economies, China and India, have limited oil
the three stages of shift and AGR, about 0.1 to 0.5 % CO and CO2 and gas resources, but are rich in coal reserves. Therefore, incen-
still remain. They are removed by using nickel based catalyzed re- tive for coal usage via gasification as an alternative to supplement
action with hydrogen to produce methane, which is relatively inert oil and natural gas will be strong. Gasification processes are capital
to the catalyst. Figure 20.21 shows the schematics for a typical gas intensive, and therefore, its future is closely linked to the projected
conditioning in an ammonia plant. energy prices. The interest in coal gasification is intimately linked
The gases after methanation steps contain residual water vapor. to the global energy market, but not vice-versa. The impacts of
Water vapor acts as a temporary poison to the ammonia synthesis global energy consumption pattern and consumption growth areas
catalyst and must be removed. The gases are cooled and dried with on coal utilization are briefly reviewed in the following sections.
molecular sieves to remove trace amounts of water. The molecular
sieves also remove CO2, H2S, COS, H2O and organic solvents. A 20.6.1 Global Energy Consumption Pattern
liquid nitrogen wash column removes any remaining CO, CH4, and The global energy and the industrial feedstock markets are domi-
Ar. The cryogenic effect is generated by injecting liquid nitrogen nated by fossil fuels. In 2006, fossil fuels accounted for about 450
into the purified hydrogen stream. The amount of nitrogen added Quadrillion (1015) Btu of energy consumed globally (see Figure 20.22)
in the nitrogen wash is adjusted to obtain the desired ratio of 3:1 [44]. Among the fossil fuels, liquid fuels dominate the market at about
between nitrogen and hydrogen for the ammonia synthesis. 38%, followed by coal at about 28% and natural gas at about 24%.
All of these fossil fuels satisfy special niches in the marketplace.
NITROGEN
Over 74% of liquid fuel is consumed by the transportation sector,
and the industrial sector consumes the balance. Industrial sector
represents those that use the fuel as a feedstock to produce end
STEAM
products such as: chemicals, plastics, metals, glass, cement, paper,
etc. About 62% of coal is used for electricity generation, while
SHIFTED
about 34% is consumed by the industrial sector. Major consumers
AMMONIA
SYNGAS
METHANATION COOLING
MOLECULAR
SIEVES
AMMONIA
SYNTHESIS
of natural gas are the industrial sector, which consumes about 43%,
followed by electricity production at about 35%.
Figure 20.22 shows that fossil fuels will continue to dominate the
BOILER energy markets, and its usage will continue to grow in the foresee-
FEED
WATER able future. The oil consumption trend shows a slow down during
WATER 2009 to 2011 due to global recessions. As the world economy picks
back up, the consumption is expected to return to the normal con-
Fig. 20.21  Schematics for converting shifted
sumption levels. Natural gas consumption is expected to follow tra-
syngas to ammonia
ditional usage pattern. Since the new millennium (2000 A.D.), coal
usage has accelerated, and according to EIA, its usage in the near
20.6 Outlook future is expected to grow at a much faster rate than all of the other
fossil fuels. However, the type of technology used to utilize the coal
Coal plays a pivotal role in the global energy market. Coal is will be influenced by future regulations implemented to address
widely available with reserves estimated to last over 140 years and concerns regarding greenhouse gas emissions. Increase in energy
is among the lowest cost fuel. In addition, coal can be gasified and demand and regulations on greenhouse gas emissions will likely
converted to other energy resources such as liquid hydrocarbons promote coal usage via gasification. This is because gasification
20-16  •  Chapter 20

provides for a cleaner and more efficient method to utilize coal

while simultaneously providing an efficient option to capture the
greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.
The increase in global energy demand will not be uniform and is
expected to come from emerging markets.

20.6.2 Identifying Growth Markets

Based on the growth rate the markets can be classified into two
categories: industrial and emerging markets. The industrial mar-
ket represents a mature economy where the growth rate is slow
and predictable. EIA defines the industrial market as the Organiza-
tion for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) mem-
bers that represent United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Japan,
South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand. The emerging markets
are those that are in process of industrialization and represent rap-
idly growing economies. The emerging market is represented by
countries not belonging to OECD and includes Russia, China, In-
dia, Brazil, and countries in Middle East and Africa. This group is
Fig. 20.24 Coal consumption in selected world
referred to as the non-OECD nations. The energy consumption of
regions [44]
these two groups is shown in Figure 20.23 [44].
Figure 20.23 shows that before the new millennium, the non-
OECD nations consumed less energy and at a slower rate than
OECD nations. Since the beginning of the new millennium, the in meeting the future energy demand. As mentioned earlier, coal
energy demand in non-OECD nations has grown at a much faster reserves are abundant and amount to about 930 billion short tons,
rate than OECD nations. And, in 2007, the energy consumption or about 140 years of reserves at the present consumption rate [44].
in non-OECD nations surpassed the total energy consumed by the Over 90% of coal reserves are in countries such as United States,
OECD nations. According to EIA, by 2030 non-OECD nations are Russia, China, India, Australia, South Africa, and Eastern Europe;
estimated to consume about 60% of the total world energy. This the nations where most of the growth in energy demand is projected
accelerated consumption of energy resources in non-OECD na- by EIA to occur. Therefore, most of the growth in energy demand
tions is primarily due to demand from China and India. will most likely be met by coal.
According to the EIA [44], the combined energy usage in China and Coal consumption in selected world regions is shown in Figure
India has grown from 10% of the total world’s energy consumption in 20.24 [44]. According to EIA, United States, China, and India ac-
1990 to 19% in 2006 and is projected to grow to 28% in 2030. Other count for over 90% of net increase in coal consumption. Figure
non-OECD economies in Middle East, South America, and Africa are 20.24 also shows that China’s coal usage has grown exponentially
also expected to grow at a robust rate. Therefore, in the foreseeable since the beginning of the new millennium and is projected to grow
future the growth in energy demand will be in non-OECD nations. rapidly in the foreseeable future. China’s coal usage is expected to
quadruple from 2000 to 2030 and will account for about half of the
20.6.3 Energy to Fuel the Growth Markets world coal consumption [44]. Figure 20.24 also indicates that India
The coal consumption data shown in Figures 20.22 and 20.24 consumes about one-fifth as much coal as China. Also, India’s coal
suggests that most of the energy demand in non-OECD nations has usage growth is faster than that of the United States.
been met by coal; and coal will continue to play a dominant role Over two-thirds of the coal consumed by China, United States,
and India is predominantly for power generation. Over half of the
electric power in the United States is generated from coal, compared
with 80% in China and 70% in India. Furthermore, coal accounts
for two-thirds of electricity generation in non-OECD. Therefore,
in the foreseeable future coal is likely to continue dominating the
power market in these countries. Although most of the coal usage
will follow the traditional usage, there exists a good opportunity
for coal gasification to capture part of the market.

20.6.4 Outlook for Coal-to-Liquids

In 1970s oil shortage caused by the Arab oil embargo led to a
steep increase in oil prices (See Figure 20.25).
To minimize impact of imported oil, United States and Europe
led conservation efforts to minimize oil usage by replacing oil with
natural gas, especially in the existing electricity generation sector.
They also explored development of alternate energy sources. Clearly,
high oil prices have had the most impact on the interest in coal
gasification. Several books and reviews documenting the results of
these developments have been discussed earlier in this chapter and
Fig. 20.23 Comparison of energy consumption by elsewhere [5-15]. The collapse of oil prices in the 1980s led to a
OECD and non-OECD nations [44] steep decline in gasification activities. Most of the projects were
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  20-17

oil supplies, and OPEC members do not increase their production

quota to meet the oil demand. The low-price case represents a sce-
nario where both OPEC and non-OPEC nations increase access and
production limits. This low-price case scenario played out in 1980s
when the OPEC nations flooded the oil market causing the oil prices
to drop precipitously. The low oil prices caused high cost producers
and unconventional sources to decrease, if not stop their production.
The low-price scenario is the most unlikely of all of three scenarios
mainly because the energy demand in non-OECD nations is unful-
filled [44]. In addition the sources for cheap new oil appear to have
been depleted, and oil companies are exploring options to dig deeper
and deeper to produce oil. Therefore, oil price is expected to increase
in the foreseeable future.
As the price of oil rises, liquid fuels from alternate sources become
increasingly attractive. In 2006, only 3.1 million barrels per day of
alternate liquid fuels were produced worldwide [44]. Alternate liq-
uid fuels currently being produced include biofuels, Fischer-Tropsch
Fig. 20.25 Oil prices — where it was and where it liquids and oxygenates. Biofuels are derived from biomass, typically
is headed [45] food sources such as corn and sugar cane. Ethanol and “bio-diesel”
(esterified vegetable oil or animal fat) constitute the bulk of the bio-
terminated by the mid-1980s, and gasification remained mostly dor- fuels being produced today. Biofuels produced from food sources are
mant through the later part of the century. The future in gasification sometimes referred to as the first Generation Biofuels. The second-
exists as long as fortunes can be made in the energy markets. generation Biofuels technologies use non-food sources such as cellu-
Figure 20.25 also shows the decline in the world oil prices in losics to produce mainly ethanol (or “cellulosic ethanol”). Cellulosic
2000 due to global economic slowdown led by a mild recession in ethanol can be produced by gasifying non-food biomass or by break-
the United States caused mainly by the bursting of the dotcom bub- ing down the cellulosic structure with enzymes. Technologies are
ble and the September 11th terrorist attacks on the United States. also being developed to pyrolytically convert biomass to liquid fuels.
To stop the decline in oil price, the Organization of the Petroleum In recent years, due to environmental concerns and government sub-
Exporting Countries (OPEC) implemented production quota cuts. sidies, there has been a significant increase in the second-generation
Even after three production quota cuts, OPEC was unable to stabi- biofuels activity [47]. However, the contribution to the alternate liq-
lize the oil price. This led the EIA in 2002 to forecast a mere rise of uid fuel pool due to cellulosic biofuels is expected to be small.
1.3% in the price of oil between 1999 and 2020 [45]. Low energy Oxygenates are defined as oxygen containing organics such as
prices basically implied that there would be little interest in coal alcohols and ethers. Methanol is the most popular alcohol produced.
gasification. Methanol is typically not used as a fuel; instead it is converted to
In the new millennium, most energy forecasters, including Chi- MTBE or DME to be used as a fuel substitute or an additive. DME
na’s leaders had expected the energy growth in China to follow is also used as a substitute for LPG and diesel. Oxygenates can be
the past growth pattern at 3 to 4% [46]. However, in reality the produced via gasification, as discussed earlier.
growth in China’s economy during the early part of the millennium Production of alternate liquid fuels from non-food biomass,
caused the energy consumption to increase more than four fold of coal, natural gas, etc. typically involves the use of gasification to
the estimate and surprised the world markets. This rapid growth produce syngas for synthesis. Table 20.4 summarizes coal gasifi-
in China caused realignment in world’s energy market in which cation–based liquid fuels plants that have recently become opera-
China established itself as the fastest growing market worldwide.
The rapid growth in China led to increased oil demand and was
one of the reasons that caused oil price to soar to $150 per barrel in
2008. The rapid increase in the oil price curbed oil consumption,
and the world’s economy slowed down once more. This caused oil
price to plummet to about $30 per barrel, before recovering to the
$60 to 70 per barrel range. The slow-down in economic growth
and the bursting of the financial bubble in early 2009, will likely be
short-lived, and the oil price and consumption are expected to re-
cover in 2010 [44]. With the recovery in global markets, EIA sees
a robust growth in oil consumption leading to high oil price as the
likely outcome. The high oil price theory can also be supported by
the fact that the per capita energy consumption in China and India
is still below world average, even after the rapid growth in energy
consumption seen in recent years.
In order to bracket an estimate of future oil price, EIA presented
three oil-price cases representing different scenarios (see Fig-
ure 20.26) [44]. The reference case reflects the assumption that
OPEC members will maintain their share of world oil supply with
a quota system. The high-price case represents a scenario where Fig. 20.26  Forecast of global oil prices based
the non–OPEC oil–producing nations restrict world access to their on three price cases [44]
20-18  •  Chapter 20

Table 20.4 Recent Activity in Coal-to-Liquids Table 20.5 Recent Activity in Coal-to-SNG

Projects Projects

Plant/Project Name Year Country Product Plant/Project Name Year Country Product
Arckaringa 2014 Australia CTL POSCO 2013 South Korea SNG
Haolianghe, 2005 China Methanol Secure Energy Systems 2010 United States SNG
Heilongjiang SNG
Jinling, Nanjing 2005 China Methanol Hunton Energy 2013 United States SNG
Shaanxi Shenmu 2005 China Methanol Peabody/ConocoPhillips 2013 United States SNG
Chemical Plant SNG Plant
Yankuang Cathy 2005 China Methanol South Heart 2013 United States SNG
Yulin 2006 China Methanol Taylorville Energy 2015 United States SNG
Dahua Chemicals, 2007 China Methanol Center
Dalian Indiana Gasification United States SNG
Shenmu 2007 China Methanol SNG Project
Wison 2007 China Methanol Mississippi Gasification United States SNG
Yongcheng 2007 China Methanol SNG Project
Chemicals
Kaixiang Chemical 2008 China Methanol
Plant the EIA numbers indicates that over 800 new plants will be built
Puyang Plant 2008 China Methanol by 2030 worldwide! In the US, EIA [44] estimates that the coal us-
Shenhua, Majiata 2008 China H2/CTL age for CTL purposes will increase by 0.7%, and CTL plants may
Jiangsu Sopo Group/ 2009 China Methanol consume about 68 million tons of coal in 2030. Coal-based liquid
Praxair fuel production by 2030 is estimated to be 257,000 barrels per day
Shenhua Baotou 2009 China Methanol [44] or about 20 plants over the next 20 years.
Shenhua Ningxia 2009 China Methanol At an average capital cost of about $50,000 per barrel per day
Yankuang Luan 2009 China Methanol capacity, CTL plants will demand a major commitment of capital
Fertilizer investments. High capital cost and lack of demand for oil are per-
Anhui Huayi 2010 China Methanol haps key reasons as to why many of these projects have not yet
China Blue 2010 China Methanol materialized, at least in the OECD countries.
Chemical
Shandong Jiutai 2010 China Methanol 20.6.5 Outlook for Coal-to-SNG
Shenhua Ningxia 2010 China DME High natural gas prices in early 1980 led to the interest in produc-
Shilin 2010 China Methanol tion of SNG from coal. As discussed earlier, syngas generated from
Inner Mongolia 2011 China Methanol coal gasification process can be converted to methane. The use of
Chemical Plant existing pipelines to transport SNG created interest in several mine
Hulunbeir 2013 China Methanol mouth coal gasification projects. The collapse in energy prices in the
Tata/Sasol 2014 India CTL late 1980s caused most of these projects to be put on hold. In recent
Medicine Bow United States CTL years the concept of coal-based non-IGCC unit attracted some atten-
Rentech Strategic 2012 United States CTL tion [48]. The non-IGCC concept reflects a combination of SNG unit
Fuels and and a combined cycle unit, but not necessarily at the same site. Typi-
Chemicals Center cally, SNG is transported via pipelines to an off-site combined cycle
unit. This concept appears attractive in the United States where the
regulatory permitting process for a SNG plant or a chemical plant
tional or those that have been recently proposed. The table is sorted is less cumbersome than permitting a power plant. In Europe, the
by country to highlight the countries where gasification projects threat of being cut-off from natural gas supplies originating in Rus-
are active. The year denotes the time when the plant became opera- sia has increased interest in coal-based SNG units to enhance energy
tional or is planned to start-up. Table 20.4 is based on information security. In China and India, SNG projects appear attractive due to
available from several sources and news articles. The databases lack of natural gas resources. Table 20.5 summarizes recent activi-
of NETL [11] and the Gasification Technology Council [12] are ties for SNG applications. The data has been compiled from several
probably two of the more comprehensive lists that are freely avail- sources, as mentioned earlier. The interest in coal gasification–based
able on the web. Table 20.4 indicates that most of the reported SNG appears low, even in China and Europe, where one would have
activity in recent years has been in China for the production of assumed that national security interest would have prompted a few
methanol. To reduce dependence on foreign oil, China has been SNG projects. In recent years no SNG plants have been built, but
using methanol as a fuel, fuel supplement and fuel intermediate. there are some projects in the planning phases. In the United States,
There has been some CTL activity in the United States. However, competition from the liquefied natural gas (LNG) and shale gas has
due to lack of financing and weak oil demand, these projects are limited interested in SNG.
either being delayed or being shelved.
By 2030, EIA [44] estimates that the worldwide production of 20.6.6 Outlook for Coal-to-Electricity
alternate liquid fuels will increase by another 10 million barrels Currently the global consumption of electricity is about 20 tril-
per day. Assuming an average plant size of 12,000 barrels per day, lion kilowatt-hours. By 2030, EIA estimates electricity consump-
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  20-19

present. In addition, due to the strong economic growth in the non-

OECD countries, the growth rate of electric generation capacity
in the non-OECD is projected by EIA to be about three times that
of OECD countries. In China and India, the electricity demand is
even higher, and generating capacity is estimated to increase at an
annual rate of 4.4%. The per capita energy consumption in China
and India is a fraction of the average per capita consumption in
OECD nations and indicates a strong continuing demand for power.
Strong continuing demand for power reflects a strong continuing
demand for coal as discussed earlier in section 20.6.3.
To meet the growing power demand shown in Figure 20.27, elec-
tricity generation capacity is estimated to grow by about 1800 gi-
gawatts (GW) by 2030, effectively doubling the present generation
capacity [44]. China, United States, and India account for about
60% of the estimated generation capacity increase. Over two-thirds
of this new demand in these three countries is estimated to be met
by coal. By 2030, EIA anticipates China to add about 600 GW
Fig. 20.27 Global net electric power produc- of coal-based capacity, doubling its coal usage for power genera-
tion [44] tion. India’s coal-based power capacity is project to increase by
64 GW in 2030, representing a growth of over 80%. In the United
States, about 46 GW of coal-fired generating capacity is projected
to be added by 2030 [44]. Assuming an average power plant size to
tion to increase by 50% (see Figure 20.27) [44]. This implies that be 400 MW, the EIA estimate indicates that over 1700 coal-based
the global generating capacity has to increase by at least 50%, to power plants will be built over next two decades in these three
maintain the present availability ratio. countries, most of them in China.
In the OECD countries the electricity markets are well estab- Table 20.6 summarizes recent coal gasification–based power
lished and mature, and therefore, the demand in electricity re- projects that have recently become operational or those that have
quirements is predictably slow as seen in Figure 20.27. In the been planned. The table represents data from several sources, as
non-OECD, a large amount of electricity demand goes unmet at mentioned earlier. Several coal gasification projects have been

Table 20.6 Recent Activity in Coal-to-Electric

Power Projects

Plant/Project Name Year Country Product

Mulgrave IDGCC 2013 Australia Power
ZeroGen 2015 Australia Power
Huadian Banshan 2010 China Power
China-Tai Yangzhou Power 2011 China Power
Dongguan 2011 China Power
GreenGen 2012 China Power
Thermoselece Vresova 2007 Czech Republic Power
RWE 2015 Germany Power
Sanghi IGCC Plant 2002 India Power
APGENCO/ BHEL/NTPC 2011 India Power
Sulcis IGCC Project 2005 Italy Power
Nakoso IGCC 2007 Japan Power
Clean Power CCPR&D 2008 Japan Power
J-Power/ Chugoku-Eagle 2016 Japan Power
Kowepo Taean IGCC # 1 2013 South Korea Power
Powerfuel 2013 UK Power
Delaware Clean Energy 2002 United States Power
Cogen Project
Edwardsport IGCC 2011 United States Power
Sweeny IGCC 2013 United States Power
Kemper County IGCC Project 2014 United States Power
Goodspring IGCC 2015 United States Power
Summit Texas Clean Energy 2015 United States Power
Cash Creek 2015 United States Power
Hydrogen Energy California 2015 United States Power
20-20  •  Chapter 20

proposed worldwide. Projects listed in Table 20.6 account for one option to generate additional revenues. Concerns regarding
less than 10 GW, or a fraction of projected power demand. One greenhouse gas emissions will make the gasification units finan-
reason for this low number could be that the developers are cially more attractive than traditional steam cycle based power
choosing the more economical traditional direct coal combustion plants in the future.
for steam cycle based power plants over the gasification route.
In order to compete with these traditional units, the gasification 20.6.7 Outlook for Coal-to-Chemicals
technology has to be better packaged to be financially attractive. As discussed earlier, a major end user of natural gas is the in-
Perhaps co-production of a high-value product such as a liquid dustrial sector. Because of the strong economic growth in non
fuel substitute or a high-value chemical along with power is OECD nations led by China and India, and the demand for “green”

Table 20.7 Recent Activity in Coal-to-Chemicals Projects

Plant/Project Name Year Country Product

Australian Energy Co 2015 Australia Ammonia
Hefei City Ammonia Plant 2000 China Ammonia
Puyang Ammonia Plant 2000 China Ammonia
Zhong Yuan Dahua Group Ltd. 2000 China Chemicals
Haolianghe Ammonia Plant 2004 China Ammonia
Huala Hengsheng 2005 China Ammonia
Jinling 2005 China Ammonia
Liuzhou Chemicals 2005 China Ammonia
Sinopec, Zhijiang 2005 China Chemicals
Dong Ting Ammonia Plant 2006 China Ammonia
Hubei Ammonia Plant 2006 China Ammonia
Shuanghuan Chemical 2006 China Ammonia
Sinopec Wuhan, Hubei 2006 China Ammonia
Sinopec, Anqing 2006 China Ammonia
Sinopec, Yueyang 2006 China Ammonia
Sinopec/Nanjing 2006 China Ammonia
Weihe Chemical 2006 China Chemicals
Yunnan Tianan 2006 China Ammonia
Sinopec Qilu 2007 China OxoChemicals
Synthesis Energy /Hai Hua 2007 China Chemicals
Yunnan Zhanhua 2007 China Ammonia
Yuntianhua Chemicals, Anning 2007 China Ammonia
Yunzhanhua Chemicals, 2007 China Ammonia
Huashan
Dalian 2008 China Ammonia
Shanxi Jincheng Anthra 2008 China Chemicals
Shenhua, Majiata 2008 China Hydrogen
Tengzhou, Fenhuang 2008 China Ammonia/Methanol
Yongcheng Shell Plant 2008 China Chemicals
Jiangsu Linggu 2009 China Ammonia
NCPP 2009 China Chemicals
Guiozhou Kaijang 2010 China Ammonia
Guizhou Chemical Plant 2010 China Ammonia
Ningbo 2010 China Ammonia/Methanol
Shanxi Chem Yangkuang Coal, 2010 China Ammonia
JinCheng
Tianjin Chemical Plant 2010 China Ammonia
Datong, Shenyang 2018 China Chemicals
DEWA/Sino Global 2015 Dubai Chemicals
Paradip Gasification H2/Power 2010 India Hydrogen
Plant
Jindal Steel 2011 India Chemicals
Gail India RCF India Chemicals
Elnusa Indonesia Chemicals
Coffeyville Syngas Plant 2000 United States Ammonia
Faustina Hydrogen Products LLC 2010 United States Ammonia
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  20-21

ethanol in the United States, there has been a growing demand for   9. Nowacki, P., ed., 1981, Coal Gasification Process, Noyes Data Corp.
chemicals, especially ammonia, for production of fertilizers. In the 10. Gasification Technology Council. http://www.gasification.org/
United States, the demand for ammonia has been met with natural
gas. Recent finds of abundant shale gas in the United States have 11. NETL, Gasification World Database 2007, http://www.netl.doe.gov/
technologies/coalpower/gasification/database/Gasification2007_web.
kept natural gas prices low and limited the use of coal for chemi-
pdf.
cals. In Asian countries, China, India, and Japan, limited supply of
cheap natural gas has increased the deployment of coal gasifica- 12. Gasification Technologies Council Database, http://www.gasification.
tion projects for production of chemicals. Table 20.7 summarizes org/database1/search.aspx.
coal gasification–based chemical plants. Not included in this table 13. Higman, C., and M. van der Burgt, 2008, Gasification, 2nd ed., Elsevier.
are the projects for methanol that have been listed earlier in Table 14. Holt, N., 2001, Integrated gasification combined cycle power plants,
20.4. During the recent years, the rapid rise in the chemical pro- In Encyclopedia of Physical Science and Technology, 3rd ed., Aca-
duction rate in China has caused production surpluses [49]. Over- demic Press.
supply in the market results in suppression of profit margins, and
15. Stiegel, G., http://www.netl.doe.gov/technologies/coalpower/gasification/
perhaps, this is one reason why fewer plants have been proposed
pubs/pdf/DOE%20Gasification%20Program%20Overview%202009%
beyond 2010. 2009-03%20v1s.pdf.
In summary, recent activity in coal gasification is due to the de-
sire to have diversity in energy sources due to political conflicts, 16. Alpert, S. B., M. J. Gluckman, 1986, Coal Gasification Systems for
national security, and terrorism. The Chinese government has con- Power Generation, Annual Review of Energy, 11, pp. 315-355.
tinued to encourage development of coal-based fuels and chemi- 17. Squires, A. M., 1982, Proceedings of Joint Meeting of Chemical
cals as a strategic issue due to their reluctance to become more Industry & Eng Society of China and AIChE, Beijing, Sept 19-22,
reliant on foreign oil. In order to encourage coal usage, the Chi- pp. 322-353.
nese government has eliminated requirements for special permis- 18. Lau, F., 2009, Commercial Development of the SES U-Gas Gasifica-
sion for these units; as a result many projects were simultaneously tion Technology, 2009 Gasification Technologies Conference, Colo-
implemented causing a surplus in the market [46]. In the long run, rado Springs, CO.
the growth and success of coal gasification for power, chemicals, 19. Agrawal, R. K., 1991, Effect of Pyrolysis Conditions on Gasification
fuels, or metals will be based on capital cost–related issues and Reactivity of Chars, Presented at the 8th Annual International Pitts-
the price of oil/natural gas. Therefore, as noted in Section 20.4, burgh Coal Conference, Pittsburgh, PA.
careful consideration must be paid while selecting and defining
20. Smith, P. V., KBR Transport Gasifier, 2005 Gasification Technology
the process blocks within the gasification island. Finding ways to
Conference, San Francisco, CA.
protect against the relative pricing volatility between coal and con-
ventional fuels will be a key commercial issue. Since there are nu- 21. Challand, T., KBR Transport Gasifier — The Path Forward, 2006
merous applications for syngas, gasification offers the advantage Gasification Technology Conference, Washington, DC.
to coproduce chemicals, fuels, or metals along with power. These 22. Trapp, B., N. Moock, and D. Denton, 2004, Coal Gasification: ready
polygeneration facilities provide for flexibility, lower exposure to for prime time, Power, 148(2), pp. 42-50.
uncertainties, and lower production cost. 23. Peltier, R., 2007, IGCC demonstration plant at Nakoso Power Station,
Japan, Power, pp. 32-36.

20.7 References 24. van Holthoon, E., 2009, Shell Coal Gasification — Leading Tech-
nology across Multiple Applications, 2009 Gasification Technologies
Conference, Colorado Springs, CO.
  1. US Energy Administration Information. Annual Energy Outlook 2010
Early Release Overview. http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/aeo/overview. 25. Radtke, K. R., D. Battensby, and C. Marsico, 2005, Renaissance of
html. Gasification based on Cutting Edge Technologies, VGB Power Tech,
9, pp. 106-115.
  2. Ratafia-Brown, J., L. Manfredo, J. Hoffmann, and M. Ramezan, 2002,
Major Environmental Aspects of Gasification Based Power Genera- 26. Elcogas, IGCC Puertollano, http://212.170.221.11/elcogas_body/
tion Technologies, Final Report, US Dept. of Energy. images/, IMAGEN/TECNOLOGIAGICC/thermie.pdf.
  3. Bechtel, Global Energy and Nexant, 2003, Gasification Plant Cost and 27. US Dept of Energy, Wabash River Coal Gasification Repowering
Performance Optimization, Final Report to US Dept. of Energy, DE- Project: A DOE Assessment, DOE/NETL-2002/1165.
AC26-99FT40342.
28. Wabash River Energy Ltd., Wabash River Coal Gasification Repower-
  4. Agrawal, R. K., 1984, “Kinetics of Biomass and Coal Pyrolysis,” ing Project, US Dept. of Energy Report No. DE-FC21-92MC29310.
Ph.D. thesis, Clarkson University.
29. McDaniel, J., 2002, Tampa Electric Polk Power Station IGCC Project,
  5. Reimert, R., G. Schaub, et al., 1989., Gas Production, Ullmann’s En- US Dept. of Energy Report No. DE-FC-21-91MC27363.
cyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry, 5th ed., Vol A12, VCH Verlags-
30. Tampa Electric Company and US Dept. of Energy, The Tampa Elec-
gesellschaft.
tric IGCC Project, Topical Report No. 19, July 2000.
  6. Encyclopedia of Chemical Processing and Design, J. J. McKetta and
31. Tampa Electric IGCC Project, Topical Report No. 19, DOE, July 2000.
W. A. Cunningham, eds., Vol 9, 1979.
32. Zhou, Z. Project and Technology Updates — Power, Chemicals, and
  7. Hebden, D., and H. J. F. Stroud, 1981, Coal Gasification Processes,
Fuels, GTC 2009 Conference.
in Chemistry of Coal Utilization, 2nd Suppl. Vol, M. A. Elliott, ed.,
Wiley-Interscience, pp. 1599-1752. 33. van den Berg, R. E., et al., Method and System for Producing Syn-
thesis Gas, Gasification Reactor and Gasification Systems, US Patent,
  8. Proceedings of 10th Synthetic Pipeline Gas Symposium, Chicago, IL,
Appl. No. US2006/0260191A\2006.
Oct 1978.
20-22  •  Chapter 20

34. Wabash River Coal Gasification Repowering Project, 2002, DOE/FE- 42. Falbe, J., ed., 1982, Chemical Feedstocks From Coal, John Wiley.
0448.
43. Steynberg A., and M. Dry, 2004, Fischer-Tropsch Technology, Stud-
35. DOE/NETL-2007/1281 Cost and Performance Baseline for Fossil En- ies in Surface Science and Catalysis, Volume 152, Elsevier.
ergy Plants, May 2007.
44. Energy Information Administration, 2009, International Energy Out-
36. van der Burgt, M. J., 1998, How to reduce capital cost of IGCC look, DOE/EIA-0484.
power plants, 17th EPRI Conference on Gas-Fired Power Plants,
45. Energy Information Administration, 2002, International Energy Out-
San Francisco.
look, DOE/EIA-0484.
37. Holt, N., 1998, IGCC Power Plants — EPRI Design and Cost Stud-
46. Rosen, D. H., and T. Houser, 2007, China Energy, Joint Project by the
ies, EPRI/GTC Gasification Technologies Conference, San Francisco,
Center for Strategic and International Studies and Peterson Institute
CA.
for International Economics.
38. DeLallo, M. R., J. S. White, T. L. Buchanan, 1998, Economic Evalua-
tion of Advanced Coal Gasification Technologies for Power Generation, 47. Ethanol Producer Magazine, Proposed Ethanol Plant List, 2009,
EPRI/GTC Gasification Technologies Conference, San Francisco, CA. United States and Canada, http://www.ethanolproducer.com/article.
jsp?article_id=5461.
39. Storch, H. H., R. B. Anderson, L. J. E. Hofer, C. O. Hawk, and N.
Golumbic, 1946, Synthetic Liquid Fuels from Hydrogenation of Car- 48. Agrawal, R. K., and T. Joyner, “Integrated Gasification Combined
bon Monoxide, Bureau of Mines, US Government Printing Office, Cycle Growth Sector Projections,” ASME Power 2008 Conference,
Washington, DC. Lake Buena Vista, FL, July 22-24, 2008.

40. Stranges, A. N., Germany’s Synthetic Fuel Industry 1927-45, AIChE 49. UNESCO/Shell Chair in Coal Gasification, UNESCO 2007.
2003 Spring National Meeting, New Orleans, LA.
41. Agrawal, R. K., 1991, Design of Fischer Tropsch Synthesis Facility,
US Department of Energy, Pittsburgh Energy Technology Center,
Contract No. DE-AC22-91PC89854.
 chapter

21
Construction of New Nuclear
Power Plants: Lessons to Be
Learned from the Past
Roger F. Reedy
21.1 BACKGROUND could contain any leakage from the reactor pressure vessel or the
associated piping. Because this large pressure vessel was designed
During the 1960s and 1970s, when most nuclear plants in the to contain any leakage, it was called a containment vessel.
United States were being designed and constructed, costs escalated Although the military of the United States had the first nuclear
in an uncontrolled manner. This was due to many factors, and all reactors constructed in the early 1950s, the first commercial nu-
interested parties had an influence on the results. This chapter will clear power plant, Shippingport, went into operation on Decem­
address these issues, not to accuse or place blame, but to analyze ber 2, 1957 [4]. Although the Shippingport power plant produced
and discuss in order to learn from the past. commercial power, it was financed and jointly owned by the AEC
The first commercial nuclear power plants were designed and and Duquesne Light Co. The first privately owned commercial
constructed in the mid 1950s and early 1960s. Because these plants nuclear power plants, Dresden, owned by Commonwealth Edison
were based on the new technology of using nuclear reactions to Co., and Rowe, owned by Yankee Atomic Electric Co. were placed
heat water, thus producing steam to turn the turbines, there were no in operation in 1960 and 1961, respectively [5, 6].
Codes or Standards that specifically addressed nuclear power plant The Shippingport plant had a cylindrical containment vessel,
components. Therefore, these early plants used the most applicable but because they were much larger, the Dresden and Rowe nuclear
Codes and Standards that were available at the time [1–3]. That plants used spherical containment vessels which were more than
was the proper course of action. 300 ft in diameter. The primary reason for using spherical contain-
At the time, the question was, what was available in terms of ment vessels was to prevent the required thickness less than 1 1/2
Codes and Standards? What Codes and Standards were really ap- in. thick, because pressure vessels greater than 1 1/2 in. thick would
propriate for pressure vessels and piping in a nuclear power plant? have to be stress relieved (post-weld heat treated) in the field. At
The designers of some nuclear power plant systems considered that the time, this was thought to be an impossible task. However, in
question and determined that the nuclear reactor that contained the the mid-1970s, two different containment vessels, each 2 in. thick,
nuclear fuel was equivalent to a boiler in a fossil fuel power plant. were easily post-weld heat treated in the field by Chicago Bridge
Other designers felt that the nuclear reactor was an unfired pressure & Iron Co. [7]. For these three plants, the containment pressure
vessel. The available Code for the design and construction of the vessels were designed and constructed to the rules of the ASME
boiler were the American Society of Mechanical Engineer’s Boiler Section VIII Code.
and Pressure Vessel Code, Section I, “Power Boilers” and Section Today, many engineers believe that the American Society of
VIII, “Unfired Pressure Vessels.” [1, 2]. Both approaches were cor- Mechanical Engineers (ASME) published the Section III Code for
rect because the differences between the two ASME Codes were Nuclear Components in order to make nuclear power plants safer.
minimal for the design and construction of the pressure vessel. The That is not the case, as will be identified in the short history outlin-
appropriate Piping Code used was ASME B31.1, “Power Piping” ing the development of ASME Code for Nuclear Components.
[3]. Both Section I and Section VIII were used for the first nuclear
power plant reactor pressure vessels, and B31.1 was used for the
associated pressure piping, regardless of whether Section I or Sec- 21.2 HISTORY OF THE SECTION III CODE
tion VIII was used for the nuclear reactor pressure vessel.
The designers of the first nuclear power plants felt that a leak-
tight pressure vessel should be built around the nuclear reactor and 21.2.1 Nuclear Components
critical piping so that any leakage from the reactor vessel or pri- As stated earlier, the first commercial nuclear power plants
mary coolant piping would not allow radioactive steam to escape were designed, constructed, and placed in service in the mid-
to the atmosphere. There were several important technical issues 1950s and early 1960s. The success of these commercial nuclear
associated with the construction of a large pressure vessel that power plants were an incentive for system designers to design and
21-  •  Chapter 21

construct larger plants, which meant the nuclear reactors would The rules for design of the reactor pressure vessel were drasti-
also be larger and thicker. cally different from the rules of Section VIII. Formulas were given
At the same time, oil refineries and chemical plants were be- to determine the minimum thickness of the shell, but a complete
ing constructed for new processes. These new processes required stress analysis considering all operating loads and conditions was
higher pressure and temperatures which also caused the pressure required. In addition, the stress theory was changed from maxi-
vessels to be much thicker than those designed and constructed mum tensile stress theory to a shear stress theory. Stress limits
previously. In order to reduce costs associated with the thicker were provided for primary and general membrane stress, primary
steel, the increased amount of welding, the cost of new equipment local membrane stress, and primary bending stress. In addition,
for forming operations, and the requirements for volumetric ex- secondary stresses and peak stresses were required to be evaluated.
amination of welds, there was a need for pressure vessel Codes to The new allowable stresses were based on using three-dimensional
reduce required thickness. stresses identified as “stress intensities.” Rules were also added for
That means that the nuclear industry and other industries were the evaluation of fatigue or cyclic service.
looking for ways to reduce costs and schedules. Companies fabricat- It was felt by the ASME Committee that the additional restric-
ing pressure vessels were seeking a new approach for the design and tions and requirements would compensate for the reduction in the
fabrication of heavy wall pressure vessels. In 1955, the ASME Code safety factor or design factor. When ASME contacted the Atomic
Committee responded to this need by forming the Special Commit- Energy Commission (AEC) to obtain acceptance of the new Nu-
tee to Review Stress Basis. The purpose of the Committee was to clear Code (Section III), the Commission was skeptical and con-
evaluate how pressure vessels could be made thinner [8]. The Spe- cerned that Section III would not be as safe as Section VIII [12].
cial Committee was not investigating how pressure vessels could be It took several years of investigation before the AEC was able to
made safer. The Criteria document clearly states that the investiga- accept the new Section III Code. The AEC never stated that Sec-
tion centered on how the allowable stresses for pressure vessels could tion III was a better or safer Code than Section VIII. Records of
be increased, thus permitting thinner pressure vessels at less cost. pressure vessel and boiler explosions from the mid-1960s dem-
The original assignment for the Special Committee was to de- onstrate that no explosions can be attributed to faulty rules in
velop a new ASME Code for heavy wall Section VIII pressure Sections I or VIII [13].
vessels [9]. By 1958, the Committee was making good progress Although Section III was first published in 1963 the new Section
on developing a new Code. However, the nuclear industry was VIII Pressure Vessel Code, based on the technical requirements
also growing and needed some means to permit the use of thinner of Section III was first published in 1968 as Section VIII, Divi-
nuclear reactors. The nuclear industry was able to convince the sion 2 [14]. The publication of the new Section VIII, Division 2 all
Committee that it would be easier to develop a Code for nuclear along with Section III was the culmination of the effort to publish
components than to develop a general Code that would be avail- ASME Codes that would provide for the use of thinner and less
able for all industries, regardless of service requirements. After all, costly pressure vessels. There is no doubt that Section III is more
in the nuclear industry, the pressure vessel is only required to con- appropriate for the design and construction of pressure vessels in
tain steam or water. In other industries, the service products are far nuclear service, but it cannot be proven that Section III or Section
more complex. The fluids contained in pressure vessels for other VIII, Division 2 provides for the design and construction of safer
industries were sometimes corrosive, toxic, poisonous, or explo- pressure vessels.
sive. Based on this, the task group changed courses and developed
a Pressure Vessel Code for nuclear components, with the idea that
a new Section VIII Code would be easy to develop after the origi-
nal concepts for making thinner vessels were incorporated into the 21.3  ISTORY OF RULES FOR NUCLEAR
H
Nuclear Pressure Vessel Code [10]. PRESSURE VESSELS: PRIOR TO
The only way to reduce the required thickness was to reduce SECTION III
the safety factor (design factor) and to compensate for that reduc-
tion by other means. The concept to be followed was that the new Having identified the development of ASME Section III above,
ASME Code could be used to construct pressure vessels that would it is important to also review how the ASME Code addressed the
be as safe as those constructed to the rules of Section I or Section issue of design and construction of nuclear reactor and containment
VIII. In order to achieve the proper compensation, each part of the pressure vessels prior to the publication of ASME Section III.
Code had to be critically evaluated. In general, ASME publishes Code Cases to the Boiler and Pres-
The approach taken was that new rules would be required for sure Vessel Code in order to provide alternative rules to those al-
permitted materials, design methodologies, fabrication details, ready in the Code. Because there were no Code rules that addressed
non-destructive examination, and testing. Also, new rules would the design and construction of the pressure vessels needed for the
be required for overpressure protection of the pressure vessels. new nuclear power plants, Code Cases were published to modify
With regard to materials, the new Code would require limita- the rules of Section I and Section VIII [15–21].
tions on melting practice and provide rules for Charpy impact test- The first ASME Code Cases that addressed design and construc-
ing. Many fabrication details permitted in Section VIII would be tion of nuclear pressure vessels appeared in late 1959. Note that
prohibited. The new Code would require that all main seams in the this is a number of years after the first commercial nuclear power
reactor vessel be examined by radiography. The rules for testing plants were placed into operation. It should also be noted that these
and overpressure protection were also to be modified. new Code Cases were Section VIII Code Cases.
At the time the new Nuclear Code was published in 1963, the
design factor or safety factor for Section VIII was 4 [11]. That is, Case 1270 N — “General Requirements for Nuclear Vessels” [15]
the allowable stresses were based on the minimum tensile strength Case 1271 N — “Safety Devices” [16]
of the material to be used divided by 4. For the new Code, the al- Case 1272 N — “Containment and Intermediate Containment
lowable stresses were to be based on a design factor of 3. Vessels” [17]
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  21-

Case 1273 N — “Nuclear Reactor Vessels and Primary Vessels” joints and attachment welds and identified the types of nozzles that
[18] were to be used to facilitate volumetric examination of the attach-
Case 1274 N — “Special Material Requirements” [19] ment welds. The case required the use of the design formulas as
Case 1275 N — “Inspection Requirements” [20] well as a complete stress analysis of the pressure vessel. The stress
Case 1276 N — “Special Equipment Requirements” [21] limitations were the same as those for containment vessels except
that the 10% increase in allowable stress was not permitted. In
other words the design of the reactor vessel was more conservative
21.3.1 Analysis of Nuclear Cases than the design of the containment vessel [18].

21.3.1.1 Case 1270 N 21.3.1.5 Case 1274 N

Case 1270 N states, “All vessels that are an integral part of nu- Case 1274 N provided rules for the materials to be used in the
clear installations shall be constructed in accordance either with design and construction of nuclear reactors and containment ves-
the requirements of Section I or else with the requirements of Sec- sels [19].
tion VIII” [15].
This Code Case provides the General Requirements for the 21.3.1.6 Case 1275 N
design and construction of pressure vessels to be used at nuclear
power plant sites. Case 1275 N provided rules for non-destructive examination of
The nuclear reactor vessel is identified as, “any vessel, any tube, the pressure vessels. Primarily the Case addressed the use of ultra-
or an assemblage of tubes, regardless size, in which nuclear fuel is sonic examination of the welds [20].
present and in which the nuclear chain reaction takes place.”
Primary vessels are defined as, “those vessels regardless of size, 21.3.1.7 Case 1276 N
other than the reactor vessels, which are an integral part of the pri- Case 1276 N provided rules for the construction and use of bel-
mary coolant system during normal operation and which contain lows expansion joints [21].
or may contain coolant at the operating conditions of radioactivity When these seven Code Cases are reviewed in detail, it can be
level, pressure and temperature.” seen that they are the true forerunner of Section III. The only sig-
Containment vessels are, “outer vessels which enclose the reac- nificant difference between the seven nuclear Code Cases and Sec-
tor vessel or portions of the primary coolant circuit or both. The tion III is that the design factor or safety factor in Section III has
containment vessels are not normally pressurized and are built to been reduced from 4 to 3 and the stress theory has been changed
contain the radioactive substances that may be released in case of from maximum stress to shear stress using the Tresca theory of
an accident or failure of the reactor vessel or the primary coolant failure. The Cases did not provide rules for evaluating fatigue.
circuit or both.”
Intermediate containment vessels are defined as, “those vessels
within the containment vessel that encloses a portion or all of the
primary reactor vessel. The intermediate containment vessels may
21.4 NRC ACCEPTANCE OF SECTION III
or may not be pressurized during normal operation but they are in- The basic Code for all these nuclear Code Cases was Section
tended to contain the primary coolant that may be released in case VIII (Division 1). Outside of the fact that Section III had a reduced
of an accident or failure of the vessel which they enclose.” design factor (safety factor) and required increased stress analysis,
Secondary vessels are, “all other vessels which do not contain including the valuation for fatigue, Section III offered almost noth-
reactor coolant or are not otherwise subject to irradiation.” ing that was not already required by Section I for Section VIII plus
the seven nuclear Code Cases. The prominent new rule in Section
21.3.1.2 Case 1271 N III that was not included in the seven nuclear Code Cases was pro-
visions for fatigue analysis [22].
Case 1271 N provided the rules for safety devices on pressurized
Many people have argued that Section III provided construction
water reactors and boiling water reactors as well as containment
rules for a safer pressure vessel than one constructed to the rules of
vessels. This Case was important because it was essential that ra-
Section I or Section VIII with the seven nuclear Code Cases. Un-
dioactive effluent never be released to the public [16].
less a reduction in design factor (sometimes erroneously referred
to as the safety factor) with some increased stress analysis can be
21.3.1.3 Case 1272 N shown to make a pressure vessel safer, the argument is completely
Case 1272 N identified the fabrication rules addressing welded without merit. A truer statement and a better argument is that Sec-
joints, stress relieving, and Charpy impact testing for containment tion III is just as safe as Section I or Section VIII (Division 1),
vessels. It also provided design rules requiring that the formulas even though the design factor or safety factor had been very sig-
of Section VIII be followed with the stress values increased by a nificantly reduced from 4 to 3 [11, 22].
factor of 10%. It further provided that both primary and secondary From the above background, it is easy to understand why the
stresses be calculated and that the combination of the two was not AEC was reluctant to accept Section III with its lower the design
to exceed three times the allowable stress values without the 10% factor. Much of the compensation for the reduced design factor
increase [17]. was already required by the rules in the Code Cases for the reactor
vessel. The Code Cases depended on the use of Section I or Sec-
21.3.1.4 Case 1273 N tion VIII with a design factor of 4. The AEC was really question-
ing how Section III with a safety factor of 3 was as good as the
Case 1273 N addressed the design and construction of nuclear Code Cases that were based on rules of section VIII along with the
reactor vessels and primary vessels. It provided limitations on weld safety factor of 4. In fact, at a public meeting in Chicago, the AEC
21-  •  Chapter 21

representatives stated they could not accept the new Section III questioned by others, but in no case may the engineer be overruled
Nuclear Code until they were convinced that pressure vessels con- by someone not in the chain of responsibility. Quality assurance
structed to that Code were as safe as pressure vessels constructed personnel are never allowed to overrule engineers. It must be re-
to the rules of Section VIII. It took a number of years for that to membered that the ASME Code is an engineering document.
happen [12].
The items used to justify that Section III was as safe as Section
VIII were steam receivers for jet aircraft catapults on board the 21.6  ESSONS LEARNED — MOSTLY
L
aircraft carrier USS Constellation (CV-64). The steam receivers FORGOTTEN
replaced old Section VIII pressure vessels that only lasted about
one year before they had to be replaced. The new steam receivers It has been more than 25 years since the last nuclear power plant
were designed and fabricated by Chicago Bridge & Iron Co. to was constructed in the United States. From 1970 to 1985, many
the rules for nuclear reactors in the draft Section III Code before costly mistakes were made during the construction of nuclear power
the final version of the document was published [23]. The new plants. Many experts determined that nuclear plant construction
steam receivers never had to be replaced. When the Atomic Energy costs were not properly controlled. There is a lot of truth in that
Commission (AEC) reviewed the data, they were impressed and statement.
accepted Section III with the reduced design factor and the new Many of the mistakes that were made during construction were
fatigue design rules as being as safe as Section VIII. administrative in nature and were due to misunderstandings and
Today, many people including regulators and Code users are lack of knowledge regarding Codes, Standards, and Regulations.
convinced that Section III is required to be met because it produces The big problem is that these mistakes were expensive and time-
safer pressure vessels. The facts are completely contrary to that consuming, and resolution of the issues was often entrusted to the
assumption. Section III came into existence as a means to reduce wrong people.
thickness of pressure vessels used in the nuclear industry. The Now that construction of new plants is starting again, and in
driving factor behind the new Section III was really an effort to the some cases, restart of the construction of partially completed plants
reduce costs of heavy wall pressure vessels. is proceeding, many of the issues being raised are the same issues
that were a significant factor in the unwarranted costs of construc-
tion many years ago. In the past 25 years, most of the experienced
21.5 ASME CODE PHILOSOPHY managers from the previous construction efforts have either died,
retired, or left the nuclear industry. Some companies have worked
In order to effectively use the lessons learned from the past mis- on new nuclear plants overseas, but administrative and regulatory
takes it is necessary for engineers and others that work with the issues overseas are different from those in the United States. If we
ASME Section III Code to understand ASME Code philosophy. don’t use our knowledge of the lessons learned from the last gen-
This misunderstanding of Code philosophy cost hundreds of mil- eration of power plants, the cost of nuclear power construction will
lions of dollars in the construction of the old nuclear plants. Some unnecessarily skyrocket again.
key philosophical points in the ASME code are identified below. This chapter is intended to highlight the Lessons Learned from
the past, provide background for the avoidance of some of the
21.5.1 Compliance With Code pitfalls, and suggest innovative solutions for the future. There
Once a pressure vessel or other component has been completed is no doubt that a comprehensive program to avoid the mistakes
and is CodeStamped, Section III requirements have been met. The from the past will significantly reduce costs and schedules. How-
Code no longer applies to that item and the only way the Code ever, to do so will require a firm commitment by all levels of
Stamp can be removed is by an action initiated by ASME. Inspec- management.
tors, regulators, Owners, or other interested parties cannot, under
any circumstances, remove the Code Stamp. If there are any ques-
tions concerning the Code Stamp being applied to the pressure ves- 21.7 BAD WELDING — BEFORE VWAC
sel or other component someone must take the case to ASME and
request an evaluation and hearing. This hearing is a legal process The issue of bad welding and nuclear power plant sites was
and lawyers are expected to participate. highlighted by the television program, “60 Minutes” [24]. The
program showed inspectors and others proclaiming that the welds
21.5.2 Codes are Never Retroactive on the nuclear structures were inadequate and undersized. The pri-
New Code provisions cannot be made a requirement for any mary allegation was against the fillet welds on piping supports.
pressure vessel or other component that has been completed and In order to address this criticism, many of the plants under con-
Code stamped. In other words, the Code is not a retroactive re- struction at the time underwent a review of all the fillet welds on
quirement. piping supports [25]. One nuclear power plant went so far as to re-
inspect all the support welds three times. This was a considerable
21.5.3 Engineering Judgment effort because there were 17,000 supports in the plant that were re-
For situations that are not addressed by the Code, the Code re- examined three times.
quires the responsible engineers to use engineering judgment based One of the basic problems was that inspectors were measuring
on the principles and philosophy of the Code. In general, these en- the size of fillet welds using fillet weld gages distributed by compa-
gineering judgments should be documented. nies that sold welding materials. The inspections were performed
by placing the gauge over the fillet welds and shining a flashlight
21.5.4 Role of the Engineer from behind the gauge. If the inspector could see light the between
The engineers responsible for the Code design are profession- the gauge and the weld, the weld was documented as an acceptable.
als in terms of education and experience. Their judgments may be This is the origin of all the “bad welding.” It is no coincidence that
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  21-

the use of these gauges required the use of more welding materials. document can now be downloaded from the EPRI website at http://
There is no doubt that these gauges were effective sales tools. myepri.com. On the website, the document can be found by search-
Obviously fillet welds on a large structure will vary in profile. ing for “NP-5380.” The document consists of three volumes which
These welds are not part of a Swiss watch. Something had to be can be downloaded. The first volume is the acceptance criteria,
done to correct the problem. the second volume is the sampling plan, and the third volume is a
Because this welding issue was a significant concern to the training program for inspectors [28–30].
whole industry, Reedy Associates (now known as Reedy Engineer- In summary, it can be stated that there never was any significant
ing) contacted a group of nuclear power plant utilities and helped undersized welds (bad welds) at nuclear power plant construction
form the Nuclear Construction Issues Group (NCIG) to resolve the sites. The real problem was that the inspectors were not properly
welding issue [25]. Participants included nuclear power plant util- trained to inspect structural welding. Also, inspection from plant
ity companies, Architect/Engineers, the American Institute of Steel site to plant site was not uniform. For that reason a training pro-
Construction (AISC), the American Welding Society (AWS), and gram was included as part of the final NCIG report on structural
Reedy Associates. welding.
One of the problems to be addressed was the lack of uniform The training program and specific inspection guidelines ad-
acceptance criteria for fillet welds. While working on the correc- dresses cracks, weld size, incomplete fusion, weld overlap, craters,
tion of this problem, NCIG continually informed the US Nuclear weld profiles, undercut, ferocity, arc strikes, length and location of
Regulatory Commission (NRC) of progress toward resolution of welds, slag, and spatter. The training program for inspectors was
the issue, which was a concern for all parties involved. specifically accepted by the NRC.
The following is a quote from the American Welding Society Another significant part of the report is a sampling plan. The
(AWS) D1.1 Structural Welding Code-Steel [26]. sampling plan provides a common sense approach to determin-
ing whether or not there is a significant issue regarding undersize
“1.1.1.1 The fundamental premise of the Code is to provide welds. An important aspect of the sampling plan is that it could be
general stipulations adequate to cover any situation. Ac- used for sampling almost anything and it has a 95/95 criteria. That
ceptance criteria for production welds different from those is, the plan provides 95% assurance that 95% of the sample meets
specified in the Code may be used for a particular application the required criteria.
provided they are suitably documented by the proposer and The sampling plan was accepted by the NRC in April 1987 [31].
approved by the Engineer. These alternate acceptance cri- The training program for inspectors was accepted in June 1985
teria can be based upon evaluation of suitability for service [32]. The use of the VWAC documents in the 1980s resulted in
using past experience, experimental evidence or engineering savings greater than $100 million [33]. If the inspectors have been
analysis considering material type, service load effects, and properly trained at the start of construction, the cost of nuclear
environmental factors.” power plant construction before 1985 could have been reduced by
many hundreds of millions of dollars [33].
In addition, the D1.1 Commentary provides further clarification.

“C1.1.1.1 The workmanship criteria provided in Section 3 of 21.8 NRC AND ASME INTERPRETATIONS
the Code are based upon knowledgeable judgment of what ASME Interpretations provide answers to questions raised by
is achievable by a qualified welder. The criteria in Section users of the ASME Code [34]. These Interpretations have been
3 should not be considered as a boundary of suitability for published since 1976 because of a ruling of the US the Supreme
service. Suitability for service analysis would lead to widely Court [35]. The ASME Interpretations are not new rules, but are
varying workmanship criteria unsuitable for a standard code. mandatory because they help clarify what is written in the ASME
Furthermore, in some cases, the criteria would be more liberal Code. Many ASME Interpretations are written primarily because
than what is desirable and producible by a qualified welder. code users are not familiar with nor understand the rules and phi-
In general, the appropriate quality acceptance criteria and losophy of the ASME Code.
whether or not a deviation is harmful to the end use of the During the 1980s, the NRC published some documents that
product should be the Engineer’s decision. When modifica- made statements that were completely contrary to requirements in
tions are approved, evaluation of suitability for service using the Code. As a result questions were sent to ASME that asked for
modern fracture mechanics techniques, a history of satisfac- clarification of the Code requirements. The replies to the questions
tory service, or experimental evidence is recognized as a suit- asked were not taken seriously by the NRC. As a result, ASME and
able basis for alternate acceptance criteria for welds.” [26]. the NRC staff held meetings to resolve the issue of acceptance of
the ASME Interpretations. The result of the meeting was that the
These statements helped form the basis for the uniform accept- NRC agreed to accept ASME Interpretations of the Code.
ance criteria identified in the welding report produced by NCIG. The resolution of this issue was very significant. Hopefully the
Although many people stated that the issue could not be re- issue will not arise again. Code users should be aware that ASME
solved using the methodology and approach used by NCIG, in less will answer most questions sent to them. The Foreword of the
than 12 months, NCIG published an acceptance criteria for inspec- ASME Code states:
tion of fillet welds, a sampling plan for determining whether or not
an issue of undersize welds really existed, and a training program “Only the Boiler and Pressure Vessel Committee has the
for inspectors. The NRC accepted the NCIG Visual Weld Accept- authority to provide official interpretations of this Code. Re-
ance Criteria (VWAC) in June 1985, 11 months after the task was quest for revisions, new rules, Code Cases, or interpretations
started [27]. Although this project was initiated and managed by shall be addressed to the Secretary in writing and shall give
Reedy Associates, EPRI agreed to publish the document. The full full particulars in order to receive consideration and action
21-  •  Chapter 21

(see Mandatory Appendix XX covering preparation of techni- the records contained readings from thermocouples, furnace tem-
cal inquiries)” [36]. perature, and miscellaneous data that was superfluous in every
respect.
Mandatory Appendix XX states, Based on that, the team was asked to identify the essential data
that was in each record for PWHT. The result was that the essen-
“Code Interpretations provide clarification of the meaning of tial PWHT data in the records was a very small portion of the data
existing rules in the Code, and are also presented in ques- being kept. All that was required to be maintained was a record of
tion and reply format. Interpretations do not introduce new the number of hours and temperature of post-weld heat treatment
requirements. In cases where existing Code text does not fully for each item.
convey the meaning that was intended, and revision of the After reviewing the PWHT records the team looked at all the
rules is required to support an interpretation, an Intent Inter- essential records using the same approach. The result was a tabu-
pretation will be issued and the Code will be revised.” lation of the essential data for each of the essential records. The
change in record-keeping was phenomenal. One utility conserva-
Obviously, the clarifications given in Code Interpretations must tively estimated that it had saved more than $50 million each year
be followed. in record-keeping costs.
The full NCIG report, “Guidelines for the Content of Records to
Support Nuclear Power Plant Operation, Maintenance and Modi-
fication (NCIG-08)” can be downloaded from the EPRI website,
21.9 CONTENT OF RECORDS http://myepri.com [37], and searching for “NCIG-08.” This task
was also initiated and managed by Reedy Associates (Reedy En-
A significant problem in the nuclear industry is the huge number
gineering) [38].
of documents to be maintained for equipment. A common joke was
that a valve could not be shipped until the weight of the records for
that single valve was equal to the weight of the valve itself. Both
the ASME Code and NRC documents identify records to be main- 21.10 PIPING SYSTEM TOLERANCES
tained at a nuclear power plant. In 1987 the NRC found some instances were piping system sup-
As stated in the NCIG report entitled, “Guidelines for the Con- ports were not placed as shown in the drawings. The result was that
tent of Records to Support Nuclear Power Plant Operation, Main- the NRC issued IE Bulletin No. 79-14. All utilities were requested
tenance and Modification (NCIG-08)”: to have a walk down of the piping systems to assure that plants
were constructed in accordance with the drawings. The piping sys-
“Utilities are committed to meet the provisions of the NRC tem supports were the primary concern.
regulatory requirements which require that the Owner keep The inspectors examining the supports found deviations in sup-
records which would be of “significant value” in demonstrat- port locations that varied from a fraction of an inch to 1 ft or more.
ing capability for safe operation; The physical relocation of the supports to correct the situation was
a very significant problem. Correction was extremely costly and
• Maintaining, reworking, repairing, replacing, or modify- time-consuming. The problem was that engineers did not specify
ing an item; tolerances on the dimensions for locating supports. It was often
• Determining the cause of an accident or malfunction of impossible, because of other constraints, to place supports at the
an item; and exact locations shown on the drawings.
Placing tolerances on dimensions has always been a task that
• Providing required baseline data for inservice inspection.
engineers like to avoid. Until IE Bulletin No. 79-14 was published,
many engineers felt that it really was not necessary to specify
“The intent of the regulatory requirements is to ensure that tolerances for piping and the related supports. IE Bulletin 79-14
the necessary data is available in the records to accomplish changed that assumption, but it was a very costly lesson learned.
these four purposes. These Guidelines provide a means to de- The Foreword to the ASME Code states,
fine this data and provide a method for rationally selecting
the best source of data which is necessary for support of op- “The Code does not fully address tolerances. When dimen-
eration, maintenance, and modification of the plant.” sions, sizes, or other parameters are not specified with toler-
ances, the values of these parameters are considered nominal
The problem is that the records are identified by the name of the and allowable tolerances or local variances may be consid-
record, and not by content. The result has been maintenance of a ered acceptable when based on engineering judgment and
huge set of documents for each item in the nuclear plant. NCIG standard practice as determined by the engineer.”
took on the task of identifying the essential data required for each
item, and suggested practical means to condense the records. NCIG decided to address the issue of tolerances. The first thing
For example, the ASME Code requires post-weld heat treatment the NCIG team did was to ask each of the architect/engineering
(PWHT) records to be kept. The result is that for one item, that firms to identify the largest tolerances they had ever used for lo-
record maybe 6 or 8 in. thick if all data is maintained. The task of cation of supports in any plant. That is, tolerances at any plant,
resolving this issue involved members of the team to review the whether it was a refinery, a chemical plant, or a fossil fuel power
records for post-weld heat treatment and report what was found. plant were to be tabulated. Each of the architect/engineers helping
As might be expected, the data in the records were different at in the task group gathered the data.
each plant. There was no understanding of which data was essen- Based on the data gathered, the largest of all the tolerances iden-
tial for the maintenance and operation of the equipment. However, tified were judged to be acceptable. The NCIG report for this task
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  21-

is, “Guidelines for Piping System Reconciliation (NCIG-05)” [39]. type of problem that engineers with no design and construction ex-
The Executive Summary in that document states: perience encounter. These engineers must be trained to understand
Code philosophy before they undertake any reanalysis projects. The
“The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the ASME Boiler reanalysis of the piping systems will cost millions of dollars and
and Pressure Vessel Nuclear Code require a reconciliation nothing will be achieved. There is no Code, Standard, or a NRC
of the as-built installation of piping systems with the as- regulation that requires any of this type of reanalysis effort.
analyzed piping system. The need for a consistent approach It should be understood that most consultants and design engi-
by the industry in performing these reconciliations led to the neers practicing today have never designed any new ASME Code
development of a position paper prepared by the Pressure pressure vessels, piping systems (including supports), or other
Vessel Research Committee (PVRC) and entitled ‘Technical components in nuclear power plants. Further, most did not under-
Position on Piping System Installation Tolerances.’ The pa- stand ASME Code philosophy. Without that experience and un-
per, published as Welding Research Council (WRC) Bulletin derstanding, proper design evaluations cannot be made. This is a
316, provides recommendations for performing piping system lesson that must be learned from past experience.
reconciliations and includes tolerances on piping configura- The full NCIG report, “Guidelines for Piping System Recon-
tion and locations of piping supports.” ciliation (NCIG-05)” can be downloaded from the EPRI website,
http://myepri.com, and searching for “NCIG-05” [37].
This task was also initiated and managed by Reedy Associates
This document provides guidelines for implementing the PVRC
(Reedy Engineering) [41].
Technical Position. Specific tolerances are provided for piping
dimensions, component weights, and support locations and orienta-
tions. Piping systems that meet the specified tolerances are accept-
able without need for further reconciliation or reanalysis. When the 21.11  SE OF COMPUTERS AND FINITE
U
specified tolerances are exceeded, the out-of-tolerance item must ELEMENT PROGRAMS
be evaluated by the Designer. Recommendations are provided for
performing these design evaluations. A common problem in the nuclear industry is that many engi-
The NRC staff has reviewed this document and issued a favora- neers and consultants are performing stress analysis of components
ble review letter(Appendix B). The NRC concludes that this docu- that have already been designed. This is a futile task that has no
ment represents a technically acceptable approach for performing value. These engineers and consultants often use finite element
reconciliations of the as-built installation of piping systems with analysis (FEA) to evaluate the design of ASME Code components
the as-analyzed piping system.” [42]. The use of FEA as a stress analysis tool to evaluate compo-
Further, the Introduction states: nents previously designed, demonstrates that the engineer or con-
“Section III of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code con- sultant have no comprehension of the ASME Code philosophy.
tains reconciliation requirements in NCA-3554, ‘Modification of The ASME Code is not compatible with finite element programs.
Documents and Reconciliations with Design Report.’ NCA-3554 Finite element programs are not even consistent. For example, dif-
requires that significant differences between the as-built piping ferent answers will be obtained if a different mesh is used. Even if
system and the construction drawings must be reconciled with the the same program is used by two different engineers, there is little
Design Report. chance that the stress results will be consistent. Without consistent
The implementation of IE Bulletin No. 79-14 [39] and NCA- results, the work performed is meaningless.
3554 [40] has proven to be both costly and time-consuming be- It must further be recognized that finite element programs will
cause, at present there is no agreement on what are significant identify maximum stress at some points, but it cannot break down
differences or the tolerances to be applied, the definition of detail these maximum stresses into general membrane stresses, general
required for as-built documentation, and the detail of analysis re- bending stresses, or secondary stresses. There are no post-processors
quired for the evaluation process. The approach provided in these available to perform this task. Yet without knowing the category
Guidelines represents collective industry judgment and is based on of stress, it is impossible to evaluate the design in accordance with
good engineering practice.” ASME Code requirements. However many consultants make a lot
In spite of all the efforts to resolve the issue of piping system of money running these futile programs.
tolerances in the 1980’s, some utilities today (2010) are making There is an article in May 2010 issue of Mechanical Engineering
new efforts to walk down the piping systems for the purpose of Magazine [43] that addresses the use of finite element computer
re-analyzing the stresses in the piping due to the location of the programs. It points out the significant problems and a lack of un-
supports. In many cases, the piping systems were designed and derstanding that most engineers have about the use and application
constructed to the 1967 B31.1 Power Piping Code. In that regard, of these FEA programs. The article is written by Jack Thornton.
the Introduction to B31.1 states: For the most part, ASME Code formulas and stress analysis are
based on the theory of shells of revolution and beams on elastic
foundation. To evaluate a stress analysis based on Code formulas
“This Code shall not be retroactive, or construed as applying and stress analysis, with a finite element program is a completely
to piping systems erected before or under construction at the futile task and waste of money.
time of its approval by the United States of America Stand-
ards Institute.”
21.12  YCLIC LOADINGS — IS COUNTING
C
The important point is that once an ASME Code piping system CYCLES VALID?
has been installed, it is completely inappropriate and unwise to re-
analyze the piping system to the provisions in later Codes and Ad- Some consulting firms sell hardware and software to be used
denda. To do so is a complete waste of time and money. This is the to count the number of cycles on some pieces of equipment in a
21-  •  Chapter 21

nuclear power plant. It is extremely difficult to understand the 21.14  UALITY ASSURANCE AND
Q
value of counting the number of cycles. The design life of any MANAGEMENT
piece of equipment is not based on a hypothetical number of stress
cycles. Further the ASME Code methodology for evaluating cyclic In the past, the role of quality assurance was not fully understood
loadings is an approximate guess at best. by management. Often management would assign all responsibil-
The authors of the fatigue rules in Section III stated in a com- ity for body control or on the assurance issues to the Quality Assur-
mentary that the rules are extremely conservative and may be in- ance Manager. This was the wrong thing to do for many reasons.
correct by a factor of 5. That is, the number of allowable stress One reason for not assigning quality assurance issues to be re-
cycles may be 5 times the allowable number obtained using the solved by the Body Assurance Manager is that the resolution of the
Code rules. In a nuclear plant, welds are inspected on a periodic ba- issues must be directed by the manager responsible for the condition
sis. Before any weld would fail, a crack would show. There would being evaluated. It is up to the manager involved to provide the reso-
be plenty of time to repair the weld before any failure would occur. lution because he is the only person in authority who has the technical
Counting stress cycles for any piece of equipment is another futile understanding and know how to determine the resolution. Further,
task that is time-consuming and costly. the Quality Assurance Manager has to be independent of production.
Before cyclic loading can cause failures, cracks will be developed If the Quality Assurance Manager is making technical decisions, he
that can be found by die penetrant examination. Cyclic design rules is violating the basic principle of Quality Assurance [45]. The NRC
are theoretical and cannot be used to accurately predict failure. should be notified any time this type of violation occurs.
It was common years ago for the Quality Assurance Manager to
determine whether or not a provision of the Code was violated. The
21.13  EW APPROACHES — THINK
N Quality Assurance Manager is absolutely the wrong person to make
OUTSIDE THE BOX (THE CASE FOR decisions regarding violations of the Code. The Quality Assurance
INNOVATIVE PIPING SUPPORT Manager does not have the knowledge and background that would be
required to make these decisions and even if properly qualified, the
SYSTEMS) quality assurance manager must never make production decisions.
During the last phase of nuclear power plant construction, pip- Unfortunately, the situation is still occurring at some utilities.
ing supports consisted of large welded structures. Typically, these The result is very costly and time-consuming as well is being
individuals supports weight hundreds of pounds and were diffi- worthless. This is a lesson that must be learned for the new plants
cult to install. Often the installed location was not as shown in the that will be constructed.
drawings because of different types of interferences. This caused
problems with tolerances and interfaces with other equipment.
It was difficult, time-consuming, and very costly to move for 21.15  UIDELINES FOR EFFECTIVE
G
modify the large welded supports. A new approach is required for QUALITY ASSURANCE PROGRAMS
the construction of the new nuclear power plants.
Some organizations have adopted a modular construction ap- 21.15.1 Lessons Learned
proach to reduce time, control costs, and shorten construction
During the last phase of nuclear power plant construction, one of
schedule. Large welded supports for piping, cable trays, and HVAC
the largest factors, if not the largest factor, in cost over-run was the
are not really ideal for modular construction. However there is a
inappropriate application of quality assurance. For the most part,
practical solution to the problem.
senior management assigned “quality assurance” to the Quality
With regard to the ASME Code, Section III, the solution is in the
Assurance Manager and the quality assurance team. Management
use of Code Case N-500-2, “Alternative Rules for Standard Sup-
had the attitude that quality assurance was “their” job.
ports for Classes 1, 2, 3, & MC, Section III, Division 1.” This Case
Because the Quality Assurance Manager and his team were not
allows for the use of MSS SP-58, “PIPE HANGERS AND SUP-
(and could not) be fully cognizant of all aspects of plant construc-
PORTS — MATERIALS, DESIGN AND MANUFACTURE.”
tion, they adopted the concept of verifying that all procedures were
There is at least one company that provides standard supports
fully complied with. In other words, the quality of an item was
for piping, HVAC, and cable trays. The supports have been used
judged on the basis of compliance with procedures when it should
around the world and refineries, chemical plants, power plants,
have been judged on whether or not it complied with the technical
and other similar facilities. The same standard supports are now
specifications.
available for use in nuclear power plants by implementing Case
N-500-2. 21.15.2 General Principles
These MSS SP-58 [44] pipe supports as permitted in the Case
are not welded, are movable, light weight, and easily modified. (a) The purpose of a Quality Assurance Program for fabri-
They consist of standard parts, with special bolts that can be tight- cating items is to ensure that the items meets the require-
ened with a 1/4 turn. These simple supports can be installed in less ments of the Design Basis Documents, drawings, and
than 5 to 10 min. whereas a large welded (still simple) support specified Codes and Standards. Quality of an item is as-
often takes more than one man-day to fabricate and install. (This sured when it is verified that the item meets the specified
does not include moving or modifying the welded support.) technical acceptance criteria.
These SP-58 supports can be compared to a child’s ERECTOR (b) Because documentation by itself is not necessarily suf-
SET, but the MSS SP-58 supports are easier to be installed and ficient to establish the quality of the item, it may be nec-
can be installed more quickly. The use of standard supports should essary to review items during the appropriate stages of
save time for installation, and should save money and material and fabrication.
welding costs. Standard supports seem to be a logical next step; (c) It is the responsibility of senior company management to
modular construction for nuclear power plants. determine the most effective way to implement the produc-
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  21-

tion process. Management must ensure that production ac- the examiners must be capable of performing the work
tivities are modified when necessary to correct problems. activity they monitor.
(d) Inspectors may work at any level in the organization, as (6) The goal of the Program must be quality products — not
long as the Quality Assurance Program requires them to merely compliance with procedures. Anyone can verify
report significant non-conforming conditions to senior compliance with the procedure, but only skilled techni-
management. These personnel may offer suggestions for cal personnel can verify that items meet the technical re-
change, but must remain completely independent of all quirements of the acceptance criteria.
engineering or production decisions. Inspectors and qual- (7) In practice, compliance-based Quality Programs tend to
ity assurance personnel must never be responsible for the concentrate on process, activities, tasks, procedures, and
final determination of whether or not equipment complies paperwork without necessarily relating them to end re-
with the technical specifications. sults. In the past, some Programs required all activities to
be performed to procedures and documented, but this ap-
proach causes increased costs and reduced product qual-
21.15.3 Quality Assurance Program [46] ity. (Often inspectors felt that if there were no procedures
and the activity was not documented, it must be assumed
(a) An effective Quality Assurance Program must be practi- the activity was not performed.)
cal and performance-based. (8) Performance-based Quality Programs tend to be more fo-
(b) Responsible management must determine which work cused on the end results that directly contribute to safe and
activities affect the quality of an item or service. reliable plant operation and de-emphasize the processes
(c) Responsible management must determine the extent of used to obtain the desired results. If the primary focus of
training required for personnel. Personnel need not be the program is other than product quality, the result will
trained for activities they are not required to perform. be that unnecessary documentation will be generated, and
(d) Responsible management must define requirements of other costly, but non-productive, activities will needlessly
the Quality Assurance Program and resolve issues asso- increase the cost of the products or services.
ciated with program implementation. (9) 10 CFR 50, Appendix B allows a “graded approach” for
(e) The responsible engineering personnel must identify the Quality Assurance Programs. Management must take full
requirements to be met from Codes and Standards used advantage of this in order to have an effective Program
for design and construction. [47].
(10) In the past, Quality Assurance Programs concentrated on
21.15.3.1 Comments documentation and procedures and the assurance of qual-
ity for items was a secondary goal. This approach was of-
(1) An effective Quality Assurance Program will improve ten completely ineffective and costly in time and material.
quality and safety and also reduce costs. Quality Assur- Many problems were caused by the fact that verifiers often
ance Programs that do not achieve this result are inad- did not understand the production processes used and the
equate and counter-productive. acceptance criteria established for these items. Often items
(2) Company management must take complete possession of were judged to be non-conforming because of minor incon-
and must fully control the Quality Assurance Program sequential details in the documentation. For example, if the
and its implementation. The Quality Assurance Manager procedure required signatures in the documentation to be in
must not control the Program or its implementation. Be- black ink and the actual signature was in blue ink or red ink,
cause this principle was not fully understood in the past, the equipment was identified as “non-conforming” because
the implementation of the program became extremely ex- the documentation did not comply with the procedure.
pensive without improving quality in any way.
(3) Quality Assurance Programs must be simple, straight
21.15.4 Organization
forward, and concentrate on the achievement of qual-
ity by doing things correctly the first time. It is possible (a) Senior management must be responsible for establishing the
to eliminate non-conformance reports. When items are provisions of the program, verifying its implementation, and
non-conforming, the work effort is triple. (The work is assessing its effectiveness. Senior management must ensure
performed, then the non-conformance is removed, and fi- that production and engineering management are continu-
nally the work is correctly performed. One way to elimi- ally involved in the implementation of the Program.
nate some non-conformances is perform examinations of (b) Questionable conditions must be reported to the level of
the work while it is still in progress.) management responsible for production or engineering
(4) Management must instill the “team concept” and eliminate of the item. Management must then evaluate the condi-
any “we/they” attitudes. The Quality Assurance Program tion to determine whether or not it is a concern.
must then reflect the value of and management’s support (c) Items and services must be accepted or rejected on the
for working together to resolve all issues in a cooperative basis of established acceptance criteria. These criteria
fashion. Managers and supervisors must continually as- may be modified, amplified, or eliminated, as determined
sure that “we/they” attitudes are eliminated immediately. by responsible production or engineering management.
“We/they” attitudes lead to fights which no one can win. With proper justification, these criteria may be changed
(5) Inspectors and auditors must fully understand the techni- by the organization that developed the criteria, for the
cal activities they are monitoring. When these personnel purpose of accepting a non-conforming item.
do not understand the technical activities, the “we/they” (d) Qualification examination of lead auditors must include
attitudes immediately come to the forefront. Preferably, technical questions regarding the work activities they are
21-10  •  Chapter 21

expected to monitor and the proper use of acceptance crite- procedures for design and analysis without comprehensive
ria. These questions must be developed by engineering and understanding by the engineer has led to faulty designs).
production personnel, not the Quality Assurance Team. (c) Registered Professional Engineers cannot be overruled
(e) Auditors may require training to understand the technical on technical issues by anyone not a Registered Profes-
aspects of the work they audit. The qualification docu- sional Engineer without raising serious issues regard-
mentation of all auditors must include the specific work ing safety. Quality Assurance personnel must never
activities they are qualified to audit and their specific be allowed to overrule the responsible Professional
technical qualifications for this work. The auditors’ tech- Engineer.
nical qualifications must be updated yearly. (d) Responsible engineering management must establish
(f) Management responsible for design or construction must requirements for the extent of, and methods for, design
identify equipment attributes that are required to be veri- control.
fied by independent inspectors. (e) The criteria to determine the adequacy of design inputs,
(g) Management responsible for design or construction must level of detail, and extent of verification must be iden-
specify hardware items that are subject to the require- tified by the manager responsible for the design of the
ments of the Program. Management may determine that item. The methods and extent of verification of design
some items are outside the scope of the Program. activities must be determined by the responsible engi-
(h) Management must determine acceptance criteria and pro- neering manager.
gram scope, requirements, and goals. (f) Engineering standards (industry or company-originated)
(i) Quality must be achieved and maintained by those who may be used rather than develop new written procedures
are assigned responsibility for performing the work [line for designing items or performing stress analyses. For de-
organizations such as design, fabrication, construction, sign and analysis activities, emphasis must be placed on
installation, testing operations, maintenance, etc.]. the knowledge, experience, and understanding by design-
ers. If procedures are used to control design activities,
they must provide administrative details only and must
21.15.4.1 Comments allow the design engineer to determine how detailed de-
sign work is to be accomplished.
(1) Inspectors must report questionable conditions to respon- (g) Engineering management is responsible for assuring that
sible production or engineering management for the ap- engineers are qualified for the engineering work they per-
propriate managers to resolve the condition. form.
(2) Products and services must be accepted/rejected on the (h) Engineering judgment must be verified and accepted by
basis of established acceptance criteria. These criteria engineering management.
may be modified, amplified, or eliminated as determined (i) Designs must be checked by qualified engineers or re-
by responsible production or engineering management. viewed by engineers knowledgeable in the design re-
(3) An item must not be considered “non-conforming” until quirements for the items being fabricated. It is desirable
it is so classified by the responsible production or engi- that the verification of the design work must be on a con-
neering management. tinuing basis with the involvement of the responsible de-
(4) Engineering is responsible for determining the appropri- signer during the design process.
ate acceptance criteria for equipment.
(5) If the quality program is not being implemented as docu-
mented, responsible line management may change the 21.15.5.1 Comments
system to meet required objectives.
(6) Quality Control personnel must be part of the produc- (1) Responsible engineering management must establish
tion organization, but have the organizational freedom to requirements for the extent of, and methods for, design
express any concerns regarding product quality to the ap- control.
propriate level of management. (2) Established engineering standards (industry or company-
(7) Responsible line management must identify the charac- originated) must be used rather than written procedures
teristics to be verified. Not all activities or characteristics on how to design or analyze items. Emphasis must be
require verification by independent personnel. placed on knowledge, experience, and understanding and
(8) The QA group may report to any level in the organiza- supervision, not procedures and checklists.
tion as long as they are able to keep the appropriate level (3) Ensure that engineers are qualified and, when possible,
of responsible production or engineering management use Registered Professional Engineers.
informed regarding the effectiveness of the program. (4) Design control procedures must be limited to administra-
tive details. In other words, technical information and data
21.15.5 Design Control must not be included in the design control procedures.
(5) Engineering management must set the criteria for any
(a) Engineering is the art of making practical application of limits on the use of engineering judgment.
the knowledge of pure sciences, in the economical design (6) Designs must be checked by peer engineers or reviewed
and construction of engines, bridges, buildings, mines, by engineers knowledgeable of design requirements. It
ships, and industrial plants. is desirable that design reviewers or checkers work on a
(b) Engineering design and analysis is a highly professional continuing basis with the responsible designer.
discipline and must be conducted using qualified engineers, (7) Responsible production or engineering management
peer reviews, and good supervision (use of step-by-step must determine how computer programs are to be veri-
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  21-11

fied. Benchmarking computer programs is not a valid 21.15.7.1 Comments

means of program software verification.
(8) Engineers must be aware that they are responsible for all (1) It is intended that instructions, procedures, and drawings
technical assumptions in every computer program they use. be clear and concise, and minimized to allow flexibility
(9) Responsible engineering management must ensure that and judgment in routine matters.
engineers using computer programs fully understand the (2) The department manager must ensure that procedures are
computer program, all built-in assumptions, and the lim- in place to ensure that applicable Codes and Standards
its of its scope. Further, the responsible engineers must are met.
know how to verify their engineering designs and analy-
ses by other means. 21.15.8 Document Control
(10) All designers must understand that when computer pro-
grams are used to design or perform stress analysis, the (a) Responsible production or engineering management
designer is fully responsible for all assumptions built into must define which documents contain or define accept-
the computer program. The engineer/designer must as- ance criteria and the associated controls to ensure that
sure that the computer program is compatible with the items and services are properly accepted.
theory of failure inherent in the type of stress analysis and (b) The appropriate manager responsible for the work be-
design requirements of the applicable construction code ing documented must determine the level of documenta-
used. (Finite Element Analysis computer programs are tion required, and the level of reviews and approval for
not compatible with the stress analysis requirements of changes.
the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, Section III, (c) Documents that define processes or procedures within
which requires the determination of primary membrane, the scope of the Program must be controlled to ensure
primary bending, secondary, and peak stresses.) that work activities are being performed as required.

21.15.6 Procurement Document Control 21.15.8.1 Comments

(a) Management is responsible for defining the requirements
necessary to ensure the quality of hardware furnished by (1) There is often too much documentation being controlled
suppliers. because responsible management has not clearly identi-
(b) The responsible manager must determine the detail nec- fied which documents must be controlled.
essary to be specified in procurement documents for (2) If a document provides technical criteria for acceptability
equipment and services to be procured. of products or services, that technical data is required to
(c) Emphasis must be on items and services, rather than pro- be retained. However, it is not necessary to control all
grammatic activities. related documentation.
(d) The responsible production or engineering management (3) Responsible production or engineering management must
must provide input to the quality assurance provisions to define which documents contain or define acceptability
be included in procurement documents. criteria and the associated controls to assure products and
services are properly accepted.
(4) Documents which define processes or procedures necessary
21.15.6.1 Comment to attain quality must be controlled to assure work activities
are being performed as required by line management.
(1) The manager must determine the level of quality assur- (5) Only retain essential technical data.
ance to be consistent with the importance and complexity (6) Only Engineering can define essential technical data.
of the item or service to be procured.

21.15.7 Instructions, Procedures, and Drawings 21.15.9 Control of Purchased Items and Services
(a) The responsible manager must determine the level of (a) The manager responsible for specifying use of purchased
detail to be contained in instructions, procedures, and items or services must determine whether source evalu-
drawings. It is intended that these documents be clear ation, evaluation of objective evidence of quality, or in-
and concise, and minimized to allow flexibility and judg- spection and examination upon delivery is to be used for
ment in routine matters. The department manager must acceptance.
ensure that procedures are in place to ensure that applica- (b) The manager is responsible for acceptance or rejection
ble Codes and Standards are met. of purchased items and services, as well as resolution of
(b) Responsible production or engineering management non-conformances.
must identify those technical activities that specifically (c) Procured items must be evaluated by review of objective
require written instructions, procedures, and drawings, evidence.
because not all activities require instructions, procedures, (d) Some, but not all, documentation can be considered “ob-
or drawings. jective evidence.” “Objective evidence” means evidence
(c) Personnel may perform activities routine to their occupa- that does not contain opinions or judgments.
tion without written instructions or procedures. Written (e) Documented test results are objective, but any document
procedures or instructions are only required when man- which relies on judgments is “subjective evidence.”
agement determines they are not necessary to properly (f) Most documentation is “subjective evidence.” If the doc-
control the work activities. umented evidence cannot be directly verified as “first-
21-12  •  Chapter 21

hand” evidence, it is not “objective.” Subjective evidence 21.15.12.1 Comments

is based on judgments, not direct facts.
(g) Responsible management is responsible for establishing (1) Responsible production or engineering management must
necessary controls regarding traceability. identify which characteristics are required to be inspected,
and when and how results are to be documented.
(2) If quality control is part of the production group, it will
21.15.9.1 Comments
help eliminate the “we/they” syndrome, which creates
hard feelings and conflicts.
(1) Source evaluation may include surveys, audits, interviews, (3) Management must emphasize that production workers or
and review of supplier history and non-conformances, as supervisors are permitted to perform in-process verifica-
appropriate to the scope of work to be performed. tions.
(2) The primary source of objective evidence is the product (4) Workers and their supervisors are responsible for product
itself and its characteristics, not documentation. conformance with specified requirements.
(3) Anyone reviewing objective evidence of quality must be (5) When a technical operation is reviewed, it must be by per-
technically knowledgeable of the items and services be- sonnel who fully understand the work being performed.
ing evaluated. (6) Program auditors must never be allowed to require extra
(4) Responsible production or engineering management must provisions to be added to a supplier’s program without
identify when source receipt inspections are adequate to concurrence of responsible production or engineering
assure conformance with specified requirements. management of the auditing company after it is deter-
(5) Audits of quality programs, documentation, and proce- mined these added measures are absolutely necessary.
dures are a completely inadequate method to determine (7) The quality control organization must be part of produc-
the quality of items. tion.
(8) Many inspectors improperly consider in-process verifica-
21.15.10 Identification and Control of Items tions to be inspections. In-process verifications may be
performed by any personnel and are never to be consid-
(a) Responsible engineering management must specify the ered inspections or examinations. These verifications are
identification and traceability requirements for items to for informational purposes only.
ensure that only correct and accepted items are used or
installed.
21.15.13 Test Control
21.15.10.1 Comment (a) The responsible manager must determine which items are
to be tested, the type of test required, and the appropriate
(1) Management must assure that the Program provides for acceptance criteria.
actions to be taken once traceability of an item is lost. In
most cases, traceability can be easily reestablished using 21.15.13.1 Comment
common sense approaches.
(1) If tests are performed in accordance with Codes or Stand-
21.15.11 Control of Processes ards, the engineering manager must assure that the provi-
(a) The responsible manager must determine the controls sions of those documents are met.
necessary for special processes, such as welding, non-
destructive examination, and heat treatment of items. 21.15.14 Control of Measuring and Test Equipment
(b) The program must define acceptable tolerances for quali- (a) Management must identify the attributes, of measuring
fication time limits. and test equipment used to verify conformance to speci-
fied requirements that affect the quality of the item or
21.15.11.1 Comment process.
(b) Management must determine calibration periods, because
(1) The responsible manager must establish the type of docu- it is a risk decision.
mentation required and the control of personnel qualifi- (c) Equipment required to be controlled and calibrated must
cations. be identified by the responsible manager, who must also
determine the type, range, accuracy, and tolerances re-
21.15.12 Inspection quired for calibrated devices.
(d) An organization may perform periodic checks on meas-
(a) Responsible production or engineering management must uring and test equipment to determine that calibration is
identify which attributes are required to be inspected, and maintained.
when and how results are to be documented.
(b) The responsible manager must ensure that inspectors
have the necessary technical expertise to understand and 21.15.14.1 Comments
accept the work they inspect.
(c) “Activities affecting quality” must be determined by the (1) More frequent calibrations reduce risks. If measurement
appropriate management, not by the Quality Assurance with a calibrated instrument is required, equipment mea­
Team. sured with instruments found to be out of calibration can
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  21-13

be cause for rejection. If the out-of-calibration condition A non-conformance is a deficiency in characteristic that renders
is found after shipment, the item may be still be accept- the quality of an item unacceptable.
able after re-verification. (3) A deficiency in documentation or procedure may make
(2) The manager must determine corrective actions when an item or activity questionable, but by itself will never
non-conforming test equipment is found. make an item non-conforming.
(3) When periodic checking is used, discrepancies need only (4) A deficiency in procedure could result in an item being
be resolved to the prior check, provided that the discrep- unacceptable, but a non-conformance of an item can be
ancy is discovered by the periodic check and there is found only by examination or evaluation of the item, not
documentation of the work performed since the previous review of a procedure.
check. (5) The quality of an item is rendered unacceptable (non-
(4) Management must determine calibration periods, be- conforming) only by identification of a deficiency in a
cause it is a risk decision. More frequent calibrations re- hardware characteristic.
duce risks. If measurement with a calibrated instrument (6) A deficiency in documentation or procedure may render
is required, equipment measured with instrument out of the quality of an item indeterminate and require an evalu-
calibration can be cause for rejection. If the out of cali- ation and disposition of the item by the responsible engi-
bration condition is found after shipment, the item may neering organization.
be rejectable. (7) Reports of deficiencies in documentation or procedures
(5) Not all measuring equipment must be calibrated. Only that identify the questionable condition of an item may
calibrate equipment when close, critical tolerances must be documented on a questionable condition report and
be verified. Often machined surfaces (gasket and flange resolved by verification of the acceptable condition of the
surfaces) can be visually verified. hardware.
(6) Whether or not it is believable, in the past, a number of (8) An example of a completely inappropriate non-con-
prominent organizations calibrated even rulers and mea­ formance report is an 800 page NCR that was written
suring tapes. Such activities clearly illustrate quality as- because some inspectors (illogically, to say the least)
surance programs that are completely out of control. measured the outside diameter of 1/2 in. diameter tubes
at 90° and 180° to determine the ovality of the tubes.
21.15.15 Handling, Storage, and Shipping They determined that the differences in ovality exceeded
the 8% limited identified in Section III of the ASME
(a) The responsible manager must identify the necessary con- Code. Each measurement was identified as a non-con-
trols for handling, storage, and shipping of equipment. forming condition. In reality, there were no non-con-
forming conditions because the tubes were many times
21.15.15.1  Comment thicker than required. The inspectors never should have
been allowed to identify the conditions found as being
(1) The necessary controls must be practical, yet anticipate
non-conforming.
possible accidents, and methods for correction.
(9) At one nuclear power plant construction site, 2000 NCRs
21.15.16  Inspection, Test, and Operating Status were evaluated to determine how many NCRs actually
described equipment that was non-conforming. The rea-
(a) The responsible manager must identify the inspection, son the results of the evaluation was that only one non-
test, and operating status to be identified and controlled. conformance report correctly identified a non-conforming
condition for the hardware. Four of the non-conformance
21.15.16.1 Comment reports were questionable, but further evaluation showed
that the conditions were not of concern. All of the other
(1) The procedures for controlling inspections, tests, and op- 1995 reports identified nothing that was non-conforming.
erating status must be clear and understood by all those
working in the vicinity. At the time, the cost of processing one non-conformance re-
port was estimated by 16 different nuclear utilities as some-
21.15.17 Control of Non-Conforming Items where between $3500 and $7000. If $3500 is conservatively
taken as the true cost, almost $7 million was spent on nothing.
(a) The quality of an item is rendered unacceptable (non-
However that cost does not include the cost of writing up and
conforming) only by identification of a deficiency in an
identifying the conditions in the first place.
essential hardware characteristic.
(b) A deficiency in documentation or procedure may render
the quality of an item indeterminate, but it does not mean 21.15.18 Corrective Action
that the item is non-conforming. Further evaluation may
be used to determine the acceptability of the item. (a) When a condition adverse to quality is identified, the re-
sponsible manager must determine the cause and identify
the corrective action. When similar non-conformances
21.15.17.1 Comments are identified, the root cause must be reevaluated to deter-
mine the proper course of action to preclude repetition.
(1) The emphasis must be placed on control of hardware, not on (b) Responsible production or engineering management
documentation which has no impact on hardware quality. must establish appropriate corrective action to ensure the
(2) Example of an appropriate definition: final acceptance of the hardware.
21-14  •  Chapter 21

(c) The Quality Assurance Program must distinguish be- (4) Responsible production and engineering management
tween “significant conditions adverse to quality” of the must determine which data is essential and provide means
hardware or service and issues concerned with adminis- for collection, storage, and retrieval of that essential data.
trative procedures and documentation. Non-essential data must not be maintained as a perma-
(d) The responsible production or engineering manager must nent record.
define conditions that are “significant.”
(e) Production organizations responsible for the adverse
quality condition of the hardware are responsible for de- 21.15.20 Audits
termining and taking both corrective action and preventa- (a) When a technical operation is audited, it must be by per-
tive action. sonnel who understand the work being performed.
(b) The audit frequency must be specified in the Quality As-
surance Manual. The frequency must be commensurate
21.15.18.1 Comments
with the schedule of activities.
(c) Senior management must ensure that all personnel per-
(1) Whether or not the condition is, or could be, adverse to forming audits have the proper technical experience and
the quality of an item, and its significance, must be deter- skills to understand the work they are auditing.
mined by the responsible engineering group. (d) Auditors of suppliers may recommend to responsible
(2) The corrective action program must focus on correction management that extra provisions be added to a suppli-
of significant conditions adverse to the quality of hard- er’s Quality Assurance Program, but the final decision
ware. to do so belongs to the responsible line manager in the
(3) The quality program must distinguish between significant auditor’s organization.
conditions adverse to quality of the hardware and correc-
tions to administrative procedures and documentation. 21.15.20.1 Comments
(1) Only qualified engineers should be used to audit design
21.15.19 Quality Assurance Records control.
(a) Responsible production and engineering management (2) Auditors may recommend changes to a supplier’s quality
must determine which data is essential and provide assurance program, but must never be allowed to force
means for collection, storage, and retrieval of that essen- suppliers to change their program.
tial data. (3) Auditors can only accept or reject a supplier’s quality
(b) Required records must be indexed. assurance program. However, the auditors manager may
(c) Radiographs may be reproduced. require the supplier to make changes before an order is
(d) Quality assurance records are to be maintained with the placed.
goal of saving the necessary technical information that
may be required during plant operation.
(e) If data is required to be kept, it is permissible to verify 21.16 SUMMARY
and summarize the required data in a new format, and
keep the summary, rather than the original record. New nuclear power plants are now in the early phases of design
(f) Records may be generated and stored electronically. Re- and construction. In order to assure that costs and schedules do not
tention that are unique to electronic records. get out of control, it will be necessary to evaluate and learn the les-
sons from the past. Although new people are involved, everyone
should be aware and learn from the mistakes of the past.
21.15.19.1 Comments The ASME Code has been looked upon by many as a hindrance.
People should recognize that the Code changes all the time and
(1) Non-essential data must not be maintained as a perma- that if new changes are required people should inform ASME. The
nent record. ASME Code Committee is anxious to address and resolve new is-
(2) Documentation must be maintained on the basis of tech- sues and to modify the Code and in the third as necessary to meet
nical information that may be required later, not on the new ideas for design and construction.
basis of the title of the document. It is desirable to elimi-
nate collection of unnecessary information that has no
usefulness after the plant is in operation. Senior manage- 21.17 ACRONYMS
ment is responsible for ensuring that this goal is met.
(3) The Program must address how electronic records are ASME American Society of Mechanical Engineers
generated, identified, authenticated, stored, and main- AEC Atomic Energy Commission
tained for as long as required. If records are generated VWAC Visual Weld Acceptance Criteria
electronically, the Program must describe the means of AISC American Institute of Steel Construction
identifying the individual who generated the record and AWS American Welding Society
the means of verifying that the individual is authorized NCIG Nuclear Construction Issues Group
to generate the record. If records are converted from one NRC US Nuclear Regulatory Commission
media to another, (e.g., paper to magnetic or magnetic to EPRI Electric Power Research Institutes
optical disc) the Program must describe the process for PWHT Post-weld heat treatment
verification of the contained information. PVRC Pressure Vessel Research Committee
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  21-15

HVAC Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning 27. NRC letter from Mr. James P. Knight to Mr. Douglas E. Dutton, dated
BPVC Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code June 26, 1985
ASA American Standards Association 28. Visual Weld Acceptance Criteria, Volume 1: Visual Weld Accept-
BPVC Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code ance Criteria for Structural Welding at Nuclear Power Plants (NCIG-
01, Revision 2) (EPRI NP-5380)
29. Visual Weld Acceptance Criteria, Volume 2: Sampling Plan for Visu-
21.18 REFERENCES al Reinspection of Welds (NCIG-02, Revision 2) (EPRI NP-5380)
30. Visual Weld Acceptance Criteria, Volume 3: Training Manual for In-
  1. ASME BPVC Section I, Power Boilers—1952
spectors of Structural Welds at Nuclear Power Plants Using the Accept-
  2. ASME BPVC Section VIII, Unfired Pressure Vessels—1958 ance Criteria of NCIG-01 (NCIG-03, Revision 1) (EPRI NP-5380)
  3. ASA B31.1 Code for Pressure Piping—1955 31. NRC letter from Themis P. Speis to Mr. Walter H. Weber, dated April
9, 1987
  4. Duquesne Light Co.
32. NRC letter from Mr. James P. Knight to Mr. Douglas E. Dutton, dated
  5. Commonwealth Edison Co.
June 26, 1985
  6. Yankee Atomic Light Co.
33. Information from nuclear utility members of NCIG to author
  7. Chicago Bridge & Iron Co., Author
34. Mandatory Appendix XX of Section III of the ASME Code, 2010
  8. Criteria of Section III of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code Edition
for Nuclear Vessels
35. ASME v. Hydrolevel, 456 U.S. 556 (1982) No. 80-1765
  9. Author’s discussions with Committee members
36. Foreword to Section III of the ASME Code, 2010 Edition
10. Author’s attendance at Special Committee meetings
37. EPRI website—Not necessary to sign in as Member
11. ASME BPVC Section VIII, Unfired Pressure Vessels—1962
38. “Guidelines for the Content of Records to Support Nuclear Power
12. Author’s discussion with Mr. James Mershon of the AEC Plant Operation, Maintenance and Modification (NCIG-08),” Vol-
umes 1 & 2 (EPRI NP-5653, November 1988)
13. National Board of Boiler and Pressure Vessel Inspectors
39. NRC Bulletin published in 1979.
14. ASME BPVC Section VIII, Division 2 Alternative Rules for Pressure
Vessels—1968 40. NCA-3554, “Modification of Documents and Reconciliation With
Design Report, Section III of the ASME Code
15. Case 1270 N—“General Requirements for Nuclear Vessels
41. “Guidelines for Piping System Reconciliation (NCIG-05)” (EPRI NP-
16. Case 1271 N—“Safety Devices”
5639, May 1988
17. Case 1272 N—“Containment and Intermediate Containment Vessels”
42. Author’s review of stress analysis and discussions with inexperienced
18. Case 1273 N—“Nuclear Reactors and Primary Vessels” engineers
19. Case 1274 N—“Special Material Requirements” 43. Mechanical Engineering Magazine, May 2010, “The Question of
20. Case 1275 N—“Inspection Requirements” Credibility” by Jack Thornton

21. Case 1276 N—“Special Equipment Requirements” 44. MSS SP-58, “PIPE HANGERS AND SUPPORTS—MATERIALS,
DESIGN AND MANUFACTURE.” 1993 Edition
22. ASME BPVC Section III, Nuclear Vessels—1963
45. Author’s discussions with NRC officials
23. Author participated in the design
46. These guidelines meet NRC Regulations 10CFR50, Appendix B, and
24. CBS Telecast of “60 Minutes” early 1984 Section III of the ASME Code
25. Author’s personal knowledge
47. Minor items should not be considered the equivalent to major safety
26. AWS D1.1 Structural Welding Code-Steel—1985 related items
 chapter

22
NUCLEAR POWER INDUSTRY RESPONSE
TO MATERIALS DEGRADATION —
A CRITICAL REVIEW
Peter Riccardella and Dennis Weakland

22.1 INTRODUCTION 22.2 THE ISSUES

In the 1960s, nuclear power for electricity production was 22.2.1 Cast Stainless Steel Piping Inspection Issues
one of the greatest future economic promises, both in the United For economic reasons, one PWR vendor switched to centrifu-
States and internationally. Electricity “too cheap to meter” was gally cast stainless steel (SS) for primary coolant loop piping. A
the claim, and US utilities and supplier corporations jumped in few years after this decision was made, it was discovered that the
whole-heartedly. Yet 50 years later, the industry is just pulling piping could not be ultrasonically inspected as required by the in-
out of decades-long doldrums. No new nuclear plants have gone service inspection (ISI) code [1]. The inspection problem still ex-
on line in the United States for over 30 years. All US Nuclear ists today, some 40 years later, and although the cast piping has not
Steam System Suppliers (NSSSs) are either foreign owned or yet shown any propensity for degradation, there are risks involved
have major overseas partners, and we no longer have the do- because the lack of inspection has not allowed for the identification
mestic infrastructure and capacity to produce the components of precursors to serious material degradation problems that might
needed for new plants. The current nuclear fleet, although oper- occur.
ating safely and economically, generates only about 20% of US
electricity. Given shortages of domestic fossil fuels and concerns 22.2.2  low Accelerated Corrosion of Carbon Steel
F
about greenhouse gases and global warming, not taking greater Piping
advantage of this United States–developed energy resource de- With the public and regulatory focus on the integrity of the reac-
fies logic. tor coolant boundary, the industry got a wake-up call in late 1986
What happened? And what can the industry do to keep this from when catastrophic failure of a large feedwater line resulted in the
reoccurring during the current reemergence of nuclear power as deaths of several workers at a nuclear power plant. Although the
a major clean energy source of the future? Many of the problems failure of the line was not a nuclear safety concern and was not
were no doubt political and beyond the scope of this technical the first such failure from flow accelerated corrosion (FAC) in the
article. Yet most were self-inflicted, many of them related to com- power industry, it was the first in the nuclear industry to result in
ponent mechanical and structural integrity that can and should a fatality. This event demonstrated the need to look beyond the
be avoided in the future, if we can learn from the lessons of the nuclear safety related boundaries. This failure resulted in Bulletin
past. 87-01 [2] and Generic Letter 89-08 [3] being issued by the NRC
The purpose of this article is to highlight the issues that the mandating inspections of carbon steel piping that may be affected
authors have personally seen and been involved in, as engineers by FAC. Prior to this event, there were approximately eight events
and technical managers in the nuclear industry for over 40 years. associated with FAC on the secondary side of nuclear power plants
The authors’ backgrounds combine employment at major nuclear between 1981 and 1986 [4], and although this failure mechanism
vendors during the formative days of the industry, plus utility en- was known in other industries, the transfer to nuclear power plants
gineering perspective provided by a co-author who was a utility was not made because of the focus of resources and inspections
participant and ultimately chairman of the industry’s generic Ma- on the systems within the nuclear systems. As with nuclear safety-
terials Reliability Program. The article looks retrospectively at the related piping systems, there was a general reliance on the robust
root causes of these problems, itemizes the lessons learned, and engineering and materials of construction resulting from the use of
recommends an approach going forward that will anticipate and the ASME Code. However, that code does not address corrosion,
hopefully prevent the industry from repeating these mistakes in stating that preventing it is the responsibility of the plant owner.
the future. The Figure 22.1 is an example of the type of failure that can occur
22-  •  Chapter 22

Fig. 22.2  Through-wall crack and part-depth

circumferential crack in V. C. Summer reactor
vessel hot-leg outlet nozzle [7]

22.2.4 IGSCC of Sensitized SS in BWR Piping [8]

Even though sensitization of SS was a relatively well-known
phenomenon, unstabilized SS was used extensively in BWR com-
ponents and piping, which were subjected to sensitization-inducing
fabrication practices (heat treatment and welding). The concern first
revealed itself in nozzle safe-ends, which were sensitized owing to
their inclusion in the vessel post-weld heat treatment process. These
“furnace-sensitized” components cracked relatively early in BWR
plant lifetimes. Higher dissolved oxygen levels in BWR coolant
makes this form of intergranular stress corrosion cracking (IGSCC)
almost exclusively a BWR concern. Somewhat ironically, however,
it was one of the reasons cited for the use of Inconel and cast SS
piping in PWRs.
Fig. 22.1 Rupture of a 6-in. (152.4 mm) feedwater The sensitized safe-ends were replaced relatively quickly, and
pipe in an area thinned by internal corrosion [5] ceased to be used in newer plants, but a more insidious, far-reaching
problem lurked — weld sensitization of essentially all welds in SS
piping systems (typically 300~500 welds per plant). In 1974, there
was a massive outbreak of IGSCC in small diameter (25 cm [<10 in.])
from internal erosion of the pipe wall of moderate energy piping SS piping. In typical fashion, a great deal of effort was expended by
in a power plant. All power plants are now routinely inspecting the BWR vendor and utilities to justify the belief that it would not
and monitoring over long periods the areas where flow-induced affect larger diameter piping, until IGSCC was discovered in larger
erosion/corrosion may occur. diameter lines. (1978 — first incidence of IGSCC in large diameter,
24 in. [61 cm] piping at KRB in Germany; 1982 — first domestic
22.2.3  ickel Base Alloy Primary Water Stress
N incidence of IGSCC in large diameter, 28 in. [71 cm] piping at Nine
Corrosion Cracking [6] Mile point 1.)
In the early 1970s, Alloy 600, and its weld metals, Alloys 82 and The impact of this one issue on capacity factor losses has been
182, came into favor for numerous PWR locations because of its massive (see Figure 22.3), and it shows that a generic issue, if left
good mechanical properties, weldability, the fact that it is a single- unmanaged for too long, has the potential to affect the entire fleet
phase alloy (requiring no post-weld heat treatment), good general of plants. Some BWR utilities have spent on the order of $50 to
corrosion, and pitting resistance, and it was thought to be a good $100 million, replacing entire piping systems in their plants. All
transitional material (i.e., its thermal expansion coefficient is in- BWRs eventually implemented some form(s) of remedy, including
termediate between those of SS piping and low-alloy steel compo-
nents). However, it has proven to be susceptible to primary water
stress corrosion cracking (PWSCC) in the PWR primary coolant
environment, resulting in cracking problems in numerous compo-
nents, including:
o  steam generator tubing
o  pressurizer nozzles and heater sleeves
o  reactor pressure vessel (RPV) top head penetrations
o  RPV bottom-mounted instrument penetrations
o butt welds between component nozzles and piping, often re-
ferred to as “safe-ends” (see Figure 22.2)
PWSCC and associated leakage have cost the PWR industry
hundreds of millions of dollars in mitigation and repair activities,
not to mention the dollars associated with extended outage times, Fig. 22.3 Capacity factor losses due to IGSCC in
increased regulatory burden, and damage to its reputation. BWRs [17]
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  22-

piping replacement, water chemistry improvement, residual stress more than just costs impacted the system failures of buried piping
improvement, weld overlays, or combinations thereof. components. Some of the integrity issues for buried piping were
related to changing environmental conditions on both the inside
22.2.5 Reactor Vessel Embrittlement [9] and outside walls of the piping. For example, many fire protection
Another problem that has proven to be life limiting for some systems were installed using cast iron cement–lined piping due to
plants (e.g., the early shutdown of Yankee Rowe) and has led to its good history of resistance to OD corrosion damage. However,
expensive analyses and operating restrictions for others is embrit- if soil around the buried gray cast iron becomes acidic due to run-
tlement of the reactor vessels due to neutron irradiation. The issue off or other sources, it is subject to corrosive damage. The dam-
arose from the effects of neutron damage to low-alloy steel mate- age mechanism called “graphitization” occurs. Unlike the typical
rial not being understood prior to the manufacturing. As data was wastage observed during the corrosion of steels, there may be no
obtained from material surveillance programs, it was found that apparent wall loss when cast iron pipe corrodes. The iron simply
small amounts of some alloying materials in base metal and welds “rusts” in place, leaving behind only brittle graphite flakes, and the
could significantly impact the toughness of the materials when remaining matrix reaches a level that cannot withstand the pres-
subjected to neutron irradiation damage. For example, the pres- sures or mechanical loads imposed on the pipe. Since gray cast iron
ence of copper in reactor vessel welds was found to accelerate neu- is brittle by nature, when a crack occurs, it tends to be much larger
tron embrittlement. This copper had been added as a coating to the than would occur in ductile materials. The rusted item keeps its net
weld rods to prevent them from rusting while in storage. In most shape but lacks strength as shown in the Figure 22.4.
low-alloy steels, these elements are non-contributors to the mate- However, a more widespread failure mechanism was coming into
rial properties in the un-irradiated state and therefore not essential. play for many of the inland waterway power plants, which affected
The industry and the manufacturers quickly limited the levels of el- both buried and above-ground piping. The intake of raw water
ements found to be detrimental during neutron exposure in power from rivers and water sources for bulk cooling at the plants brought
reactors. Plants continue to monitor the effects on the materials of with it active organic life. These organisms adhered to the inside
construction through the use of test specimens installed in the reac- of the piping and bred in stagnant or low-flow areas, corroding
tor, which are periodically removed for testing. Although this issue the piping materials by a mechanism known as MIC or microbio-
has been managed well over the past two decades, it continues to logically influenced corrosion. As industrial sites along the rivers
demand significant resources for research and continued vigilance. and water sources reduced their discharges, the once polluted rivers
Most of the issues concerning neutron damage of reactor vessel became even more alive with active organic life (mussels, clams,
steels are long-term issues (1 to 2 decades in the future), making it and bacteria), thus aggravating the condition. Although MIC dam-
hard to dedicate current resources to them when other plant issues age itself is very localized, there are thousands of localized sites
have nearer term consequences. However, the safety implications along the length of a piping system, creating small areas of leak-
of a brittle fracture of a RPV make this one of the top priorities for age. Figure 22.5 shows a typical example of the degree of wall
the industry to monitor and manage successfully. thickness loss in piping in localized areas.
The industry developed programs to address the concerns with
22.2.6 Buried Piping the failure of safety related buried piping in the 1990s (Nuclear
At the time of construction, it was recognized that, like water Energy Institute [NEI] 07-07 Groundwater Initiative). These pro-
and sewage lines in municipalities, corrosion of buried carbon steel grams provided sound guidance, but each plant addressed the
and cast iron piping systems was inevitable without some form concerns on a plant-specific basis, and since the failures lacked
of corrosion control measure. This is why these systems were significant nuclear safety consequences, most buried piping fail-
designed with protective coatings applied to the exterior of the ures were treated as a repair upon self-identification (leakage) ba-
piping to isolate the pipe material from the potentially corrosive sis. Recently, some of the plants have taken on the very expensive
environment or had sacrificial or impressed current cathodic pro- option to replace the piping with high-density polyethylene piping
tection systems applied. So with all the forethought, why are these that is unaffected by the failure mechanisms currently impacting
systems failing? The coating systems commonly applied were hy-
drocarbon-based materials, and over time, they lose adhesion or
become brittle and crack. The coating systems performance can
be further reduced when, during installation, a nick in the coating
occurred and provided a location for corrosion to take hold. This
occurred more often than one would assume since the installers
did not know or have an appreciation of the long-term impact of
a small nick or “holiday” in the coating. When we turn to sys-
tems protected by various cathodic protection means, we find that
lack of understanding and the costs associated with maintenance
have taken a toll on the systems. Maintenance of an impressed or
sacrificial cathodic protection system requires maintenance of the
voltage sources, connections, control mechanisms, or anodic con-
sumables, which became expensive for plants on limited budgets.
And with a failure mechanism that is long term (5 to 10 years)
in nature having no near-term failure manifestation or impact on
system operation or system integrity, these protection systems be-
gan to fall into disrepair, eventually resulting in leakage failures
of the piping systems. As is typical with buried systems (regard- Fig. 22.4 An example of a failure in cast iron
less of industry), they are out of sight and out of mind. To be fair, piping [18]
22-  •  Chapter 22

The Nuclear Power Industry is an industry that is constantly under

the microscope of public opinion and perception. The importance
of managing materials degradation in a proactive manner so as to
preclude failures and public reaction cannot be overstated. No ex-
ecutive wants to read in the morning newspaper that his plant is the
subject of a piping or component failure due to any reason.
To understand the industry’s historical approach to materials
degradation issues, one must look to the initial design and licensing
process as the foundation upon which the approach was built. The
materials of construction drew heavily from the Nuclear Navy ex-
perience, which in large part has provided robust materials for use
within the power generation industry. Although the materials had
proven to be robust in the operating environment of a ship, there
was little true academic understanding of how the materials would
perform when scaled up from small and exceptionally well-main-
tained Navy power plants to larger power-generating plants, with
little fundamental research into the applicability of such scaling.
Access to detailed materials degradation information developed or
observed by the military was generally unavailable to NSSSs and
the utilities. Nonetheless, there was a fundamental belief and as-
sumption that the materials of construction would not be subject to
significant degradation during the 40-year design operating life of
the power plants.
Acceptance of the hypothesis that robust materials of construc-
tion would not be subject to degradation leads to an assumption
that any material failure must be caused by factors other than basic
material degradation. As a consequence, significant engineering,
quality control, and manufacturing resources were spent and fo-
cused on addressing factors such as fatigue, fabrication defects, and
stress loading. It should be noted that this effort has proven to be
very successful, since relatively few industry failures have resulted
from these factors. However, few if any resources were focused on
fig. 22.5 Example of localized wall thickness
the potential for material degradation due the interaction of system
loss due to microbiologically influenced cor-
operating environment with the materials of construction.
rosion (MIC) [18]
The lack of focus on materials degradation issues early in the
design and construction time frame was understandable since the
metal buried piping systems. In addition, the industry has recently available experience base indicated that no degradation had been
developed an initiative to address the maintenance, repair, and observed, material testing in the power reactor environment was
replacement of these systems through NEI Initiatives APC 09-53 very expensive, and the time horizon for the materials testing was
[10] and NEI-09-14 [14]. extremely long before one could see any results. Coupling these
thoughts with the competitive economic considerations that ex-
isted for building a plant in the 1960s and 1970s (i.e., four vendors
22.3 DISCUSSION competing for an expanding but finite market), it is understand-
able that one would not spend significant resources looking for un-
The above paragraphs highlight some key materials degradation observed and unexpected degradation of materials that have been
issues that have affected nuclear power plants. The balance of this demonstrated to be robust. Other important factors at the time were
chapter will present the authors’ view of how the industry manage- the high interest rates and long construction time frames for the
ment approach has contributed to the material issues listed. Some plants, causing the abandonment of some construction projects due
common threads run through all of these issues, namely, to public fears of high electric rates from a technology that was
purported to be “too cheap to meter.”
· plant design and construction decisions focused on reducing
The utility perspective on how to address the materials integ-
cost without a full understanding of their impact
rity issues of nuclear power plants is rooted in two areas: (1) an
·  s hort-term perspective versus an entire life cycle perspec-
expectation of minimum of maintenance costs and (2) a fix upon
tive of managing plant issues
identification of issues. As noted in the opening paragraph, the ex-
·  outage/maintenance cost focus
pectation of the nuclear power proponents was that the costs of
·  cost- and compliance-based management of technical/reg-
operation were going to be small and that the materials of construc-
ulatory based issues
tion were so robust that maintenance problems would be virtually
·  failure to learn from foreign and other plant operating ex-
non-existent. Second, much of the utility management experi-
perience (rather than ask the question, “Why does it not
ence was rooted in the fossil fuel power generation arena, where
apply?” ask the question: “Could this be me?”)
a “repair and continue operating” philosophy was the standard ap-
The overall approach to issue management is complex and indi- proach. The impact of managing in a highly regulated environment
vidual aspects of it cannot be addressed without impacting others. (from a technical rather than a rate base perspective) was not fully
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  22-

appreciated. The management approach to fossil generation plants in the area of repair and replacement of power plant components
was to fix what failed when it self-identified or replace/repair that, in the 1972 Edition of the ASME Inservice Inspection Code
known wear locations at each scheduled outage. However, nuclear [1], it was relegated to just a few pages. There were essentially no
power plants brought significant demands for mandated periodic formal written rules for addressing generic material degradation
inspections (ISIs [1]), extensive documentation of all activities, mechanisms; all the regulation and Codes were focused on local
and determination of the root cause for any form of degradation. defect identification and repair. Again, this is a natural extension
These costs and the costs associated with the loss of production from the assumption of robust materials of construction, not sub-
and the associated repair/replacement activities led many in the ject to generic degradation, so defect identification was considered
utility industry to adopt an analytical approach to plant materials appropriate. The NRC regulation focused on the maintenance of
degradation issues, which allowed the plant to continue to operate pressure boundary integrity and identified defects needed to be re-
while working toward regulatory resolution. paired and managed to conform to the safety and regulatory mar-
As a result, an initial mind set of trying to analyze an issue into gins identified in the plant licensing commitments. Therefore, the
acceptance was widely applied. Since the plants were designed industry’s approach was to determine what was allowable under
and manufactured with very conservative assumptions of loading their licensing basis and meet the Code of construction. When a
and material properties (don’t forget that the experience base still defect or condition was identified by the industry, the regulator
showed very few failures), from an engineering perspective, when would generally issue generic guidance to require all plants to as-
material degradation was identified, one could typically show that sess the potential for the defect/condition. Each plant would en-
all safety margins, regulatory requirements, and code requirements sure that they met their regulatory commitments and determine if
are met, even though material degradation was identified. It was the condition was applicable to their plant. As one can imagine, it
manageable by analysis, and therefore, the power plant could con- was in each plant’s best interest to first ensure that all regulation
tinue to operate and generate revenue. The industry became adept and Codes were met and then to define the issue in a manageable
at defining why a particular degradation mechanism was applica- fashion, which meant to technically define the problem/issue ad-
ble only to specific components or specific operational histories dressing the specific attributes of the condition and determine if
at a small number of plants, essentially putting our problems into those attributes are applicable to the individual plant (i.e., How can
small manageable boxes rather than integrating our operating ex- I justify that this is not an issue at my plant?).
perience over broader and more generic horizons. Since construction of PWR plants happened over a time frame
The nuclear industry was considered so ‘technical’ and robust of 20+ years, materials degradation mechanisms did not affect all
through the application of NRC regulation and ASME code re- plants at the same time or to the same degree. With the exception
quirements that there was a general feeling/consensus that, if a of IGSCC in the BWR fleet (which were constructed over a shorter
utility was meeting these requirement there was no need to go any ~10-year period), degradation identified at a power plant was more
further. There was little or no benefit for a utility to go beyond or less considered to be a plant-specific issue in the late 1970s and
the regulatory or Code requirements because these additional ac- early 1980s. The treatment of each issue or set of issues as plant-
tions would have to be justified from a cost perspective to the rate specific led to a wide array of solutions. One of the most prevalent
regulators or at a minimum to the shareholders. Additionally, the was to use an engineering approach to show how your plant was
utility would have to address why a deviation from the standard different from the plant that had the problem, thus eliminating your
or an enhancement action was necessary or desirable to industry plant from the affected population and thereby minimizing the
oversight organizations and other utilities. Generally, the nuclear economic impact on your plant or utility.
power community would view this “extra” action as becoming The first significant materials degradation issue for the PWR
mandated or highly recommended for use at other plants, thus in- fleet was the cracking of Steam Generator Alloy 600 tubing. When
creasing the cost of current operation. With all the baggage that the issue was first identified, the immediate reaction was that this
would come along with going beyond the NRC or ASME require- cracking affected only those plants that either were on phosphate
ments, there is little wonder that the management approach was to chemistry or changed from phosphate to AVT (all volatile chem-
meet the requirements, period. istry), then it was only those plants with tight U-bends that were
This led to a period of what we will call “management by regu- over-bent, then it was the expansion methods used at the tubesheets,
lation” by the NRC in the late 1970s through the 1990s. This was then the thermal treatment of the alloy 600. As the issue became
a natural evolution from the compliance-driven mind set of con- more widespread, all the plants came to the understanding that the
struction and licensing used by personnel making the leap from a issue was all Alloy 600 tubing and that the stresses and other con-
plant under construction to a power production facility. Couple this ditions were simply drivers for the degradation process. The indus-
with a large influx of retired Navy personnel into the utility busi- try finally decided that component replacement with Alloy 600,
ness following the TMI event, who were comfortable with the rule/ thermally treated tubing was the answer, only to find that although
procedure-based approach to issues that was very successful in the it lasted longer, it also degraded. Now the industry has moved to
US Navy. Both the utility industry and regulator were comfortable Alloy 690 tubing, which will most likely have a longer operating
with this approach; however, the regulations and codes were devel- life than Alloy 600TT, but given enough time, it will likely also
oped and based on a robust material philosophy and not geared to suffer degradation events. Hopefully, this will be longer than the
the detection of degradation in robust materials, such as Alloy 600. operating lifetime of the power plants.
The Codes and regulations used a sampling approach to the iden-
tification of materials degradation that focused on areas of high
stress and potential for construction/fabrication defects. Again, it 22.4 FLEET-WIDE RECOGNITION
was assumed by the Code committees and the regulator that the
likely locations for a piping system integrity issue would be a weld The first segment of the US Nuclear fleet to recognize that a
location since the materials in general would not be subject to deg- fleet-wide approach to materials degradation issues was required
radation. So little emphasis was placed on the need for guidance was the BWR plant owners. To address the issue of IGSCC in the
22-  •  Chapter 22

SS piping and components within the reactor coolant system, a load-follow, it was argued that the US fleet was unaffected. Ad-
consortium of all BWR owners was formed under the auspices of ditionally, it was also determined that there are differences in the
EPRI. The BWRVIP (Boiling Water Reactor Vessel and Internals Alloy 600 chemistries and that only certain manufacturing heats
Program) was born in part because all these plants were of rela- may be affected. When one US plant identified leakage from their
tively similar material design and had a common NSSS supplier, Alloy 600 head penetrations, the immediate reaction was that this
which made addressing proprietary design issues easier than in the was a vendor-specific (B&W) design issue and affected only
PWR fleet, which had three NSSS vendors at the time. The BWR- those heats of materials. The approach of finding reasons why it
VIP executive leadership was determined to manage the inspec- did not affect me was alive and well. Why did we assume that the
tion and repair approaches from a utility perspective and not wait French and B&W Alloy 600 experience was not applicable to the
for the NRC to drive actions. The approach was to proactively entire PWR fleet?
address the degradation and prepare repair and mitigation strate- We believe the answer lies in the emphasis on outage and cost
gies as a fleet, then meet and discuss with the regulator the techni- impact. To assume that all Alloy 600 welds and materials would
cal basis for the strategies, gain their insights, and address their crack would require the development of new inspection technolo-
concerns in a non-reactive manner. The BWRVIP issued guid- gies, increase outage durations, and risk the potential extension of
ance documents requiring each BWR owner to perform certain an outage for repair and treatment of any findings. The PWR fleets
actions, and the executives of each BWR plant held each other waited until head inspections were mandated by the regulator to
accountable. Thus, the BWRVIP guidance became a method of begin inspections. It should be noted that research dollars were not
self-governance. being spent to determine the degradation mechanism drivers at the
The self-governance approach allowed the BWR owners to plan time. In the early 2000s, another PWR experienced through-wall
and pool their resources to address potential issues. The early iden- leakage of a reactor coolant loop dissimilar metal weld [7], Fig-
tification and investigation of the degradation mechanism allowed ure 22.2 and in a B&W plant, the reactor vessel head was found
for the development of repair and mitigation strategies that could to have a nearly through-wall cavity the size of a football at the
be accomplished during non-outage or crisis periods. The BWR- base of an Alloy 600 reactor vessel head penetration [6]. These
VIP developed inspection, repair, and mitigation approaches that events prompted the regulator to issue inspection orders for all
were required to be performed by all BWR owners, hand in hand. reactor heads [11].
Taking a fleet approach to standardize the inspection and reme- This served as a wake-up call to the PWR fleet. The change in
diation approach, the BWRVIP actively engaged the regulator to the PWR approach came after the reactor vessel head degradation
keep them informed of the intended actions and technical basis for event in 2002. The PWR fleet executives established a NEI initia-
applying the measures. The regulator watched the implementation tive to develop a similar proactive self-governance approach for
of the guidance closely to determine if all plants were indeed im- the PWR fleet as the previously discussed BWRVIP. The regula-
plementing the inspection and repair strategies specified. The net tory order for PWR reactor head inspections [11] was difficult and
result of this proactive self-governance by the BWR fleet led to a a potential harbinger of things to come for other Alloy 600 weld
significant decrease in the NRC mandated regulation in the 1990s locations. The industry formed a task force to develop an Industry
and 2000s, allowing the utility resources to be focused on address- Materials Degradation Initiative that would provide guidance to
ing and resolving the issue rather than responding to regulatory utilities that would go beyond the current regulation and ensure a
mandates. proactive approach to potential materials degradation issues that
Although this fleet-based approach was working for the BWR affect reactor coolant pressure boundary components. NEI 03-
owners in the late 1980s and 1990s, the PWR fleet was still in a 08 [12] was issued in May 2003 for implementation by January
mode of engineering their problems away through differences in 2004.
design or defining failure mechanisms as unique to particular op- This initiative identified all the current industry guidance of the
erating approaches or transients. As a result, the NRC staff issued time into three categories: mandatory, needed, and good practice.
nearly a dozen generic communications to the PWR fleet and only Each utility was required to establish a program in compliance
three to the BWR fleet between 1985 and 2000. Despite the expe- with the requirements of the NEI 03-08 Initiative, reviewing all
rience gained by the PWR fleet in addressing the degradation of industry documents identified in the initiative to ensure that each
Alloy 600 materials in steam generators, the PWR owners contin- plant operated by the utility was in compliance with all aspects
ued to hold fast to technical beliefs developed for the tubing that of the referenced guidance documents. Each utility was required
it was environment and stress related and pertained to thin wall to implement the referenced document guidance as written if it
materials only. It was felt that the stress distributions and envi- was identified as either mandatory or needed. This prompt ac-
ronments were so different that Alloy 600 piping in the reactor tion forestalled further regulatory action addressing Alloy 600
coolant loop would not be affected. In fact, the PWR arguments inspections. The industry guidance for the inspection of reactor
were strong enough that the regulator and ISI Code Committee vessel heads and the NRC Order 03-09 were used to develop an
allowed a risk-based approach to inservice inspections to actually ASME Code Case N-729 [15] addressing RPV head inspections,
reduce the frequency of inspection of Alloy 600 locations based and subsequently, the requirements of the order were rescinded.
on inspection history to date and the assumed robustness of the The industry has subsequently developed a number of similar in-
material. spection and repair documents for Alloy 600 concerns, including
The French indicated in the 1990s that they had observed EPRI Materials Reliability Program Document MRP 139 [16] and
degradation of the Alloy 600 penetrations in their reactor vessel several ASME Code Cases.
closure heads and other Alloy 600 weld locations. What was the One would think that, after living through the Steam Genera-
US PWR reaction to this operational experience in France? Ini- tor tubing, BWR piping, and PWR Alloy 600 experiences, the in-
tially, it was that the cracking was caused by the French operat- dustry would take a more enlightened perspective to all materials
ing approach of load-following with their reactors and that this degradation issues, namely, if it happened somewhere else, why
additional thermal cycling was the cause. Since US plants do not should I not think it will happen here. Buried piping degradation
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  22-

has taken a long time for plants to address. The system is largely 22.6 SUMMARY
out of mind (being buried), and failures self-identify and can be
fixed by a patch or replacement of a short segment of piping. In summary, a review of material degradation issues that have
These failures are of minor safety significance, but are a recurring affected the current fleet of nuclear plants, and the industry’s ap-
maintenance headache and public embarrassment for both utilities proach to addressing them, has led the authors to observe several
and the regulator. When a failure occurs at a plant, how far does trends that have been pervasive in many of them. These include
one go to resolve the issue? The industry has recently adopted NEI the following:
Initiatives APC 09-53 [9] and NEI-09-14 [14] for buried piping. ·  Plant design and construction decisions focused on reducing
These documents will require aggressive assessment and inspec- cost without a full understanding of their impact
tion and reasonable assurance of structural/leak integrity of all ·  Short-term perspective verses an entire life cycle perspective
buried piping, with an emphasis on pipes containing radioactive ·  Outage/maintenance cost focus
materials. ·  Cost- and compliance-based management of technical/regula-
tory-based issues
·  Failure to learn from foreign and other plant operating experi-
22.5 NEW PLANTS ence. (i.e., rather than “Why it does not apply?” — ask the
question: “Could this be me?”)
Can the US nuclear industry move successfully forward in the
future? There is certainly hope in that the industry, in general, has The authors have identified a number of steps that can and are
been adopting a more generic view of materials degradation events being adopted to avoid such problems in the future, or at least to
and that it has demonstrated a significant resolve to proactively ad- minimize their financial and political impact. These include the
dress materials issues. The development of a technical understand- following:
ing of the physics of degradation processes and longer-term testing · Adopt a generic perspective to materials degradation issues,
of materials will certainly help the industry manage the issues in such as embodied in NEI 03-08 (Materials Initiative) [12],
a responsible manner. Also, as a result of the materials degrada- NEI 97-06 (Steam Generator Guidelines) [13], and NEI 09-14
tion problems experienced, new plants will most certainly imple- (Buried Piping) [14].
ment the remedies and new materials that have been developed as · Utilities need to take a long-term approach to plant ownership
solutions to these problems in the operating fleet. However, the rather than focus on short-term goals such as outage length
industry will need to maintain its vigilance in the identification and quarterly profitability.
of degradation throughout the plant systems. One cannot assume · We also encourage a nuclear fleet approach rather than an in-
that a failure is always a one-time event. This evolution from a dividual utility approach to materials degradation issue reso-
repair/crisis response approach is evident in the recent industry ini- lution.
tiatives. Adopting the industry-wide approach to address material
failures and mitigation activities should be integrated into the plant The industry must recognize that it is managing an academic/
performance metrics to provide a gauge on how well we, the indus- technical/political regulated industry and go beyond an analysis
try, are addressing the material condition of the plant on a holistic and design basis approach to material issue resolution. And finally,
level rather than a component-specific level. they must understand the need for basic physical understanding
With all the positive activities going on throughout the industry, of degradation mechanisms, accepting a holistic approach to issue
it would be remiss not to mention one ongoing concern: the loss of resolution.
corporate technical knowledge as many 30+ year utility and ven-
dor employees are retiring. The loss of the technical staff that lived
through the problems of the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s without or- 22.7 REFERENCES
derly succession planning and knowledge turnover can lead to the
improper response when new forms of degradation are identified   1. ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, Section XI, Rules for In-
at plants (as they most certainly will). There are fewer materials service Inspection of Nuclear Power Plant Components. In: ASME
personnel in the industry following the retirement of many “old Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code. New York: American Society of
timers,” as most utilities are not replacing this discipline in their Mechanical Engineers, first published in 1968, various issues and ad-
denda through 2007.
engineering ranks and those that remain have less available time to
ensure that industry organizations and researchers are addressing   2. NRC Bulletin No. 87-01: Thinning of Pipe Walls in Nuclear Power
both the current plant concerns and looking to the future to antici- Plants, issued July 9, 1987.
pate the next issue(s) on the horizon.   3. NRC Generic Letter 89-08, Erosion/Corrosion-Induced Pipe Wall
The NSSSs and NRC have staffed up to be prepared for a surge Thinning, issued May 2, 1989.
of new plant licensing and construction, bringing much needed
  4. NRC IEN 82-22, Failure in Turbine Exhaust Lines, issued July 9,
new blood into the industry. With proper succession planning and 1982.
technology transfer, it is hopeful that we can stem the loss of cor-
porate technical knowledge described above. But if the surge loses   5. PSB-54A from Babcock & Wilcox Power Generation Inc.
steam and takes longer to realize than currently planned, it is not   6. Gorman, J., Hunt, S., Riccardella, P., and White, G. A. PWR Reactor
clear how long the economics will support this increased staffing. Vessel Alloy 600 Issues, Chapter 44, ASME B&PV Code Companion
It is also unclear how well our understanding of the materials and Guide.
issues in 30- and 40-year-old plants will translate into, “new plant”   7. US NRC Information Notice 2000-017, 2000, Crack in Weld Area of
knowledge. Like all phases of life, there is definitely a generation Reactor Coolant System Hot Leg Piping at V. C. Summer (Supple-
gap in knowledge between the existing plants and the new passive ment 1, 2000; Supplement 2, 2001). Washington, DC: US Nuclear
design plants. Regulatory Commission.
22-  •  Chapter 22

  8. Ford, F. P., Gordon, B. M., and Horn, R. M., 2006, Corrosion in boil- 13. NEI 97-06: Steam Generator Program Guidelines.
ing water reactors, ASM Handbook, Volume 13C, Corrosion: Envi-
ronments and Industries, Cramer, A. D., and Covino, B. S., Jr., eds., 14. NEI 09-14: Buried Piping Integrity Initiative.
ASM, Metals Park, OH, p. 341. 15. ASME Code Case N-729, Alternative Examinations Requirements
  9. NRC Generic Letter 92-01: Reactor Vessel Structural Integrity, issued for PWR Reactor Vessel Upper Heads with Nozzles Having Pressure-
March 2, 1992. Retaining Partial-Penetration Welds.

10. NEI Initiative APC 09-53: Buried Piping Integrity Initiative, issued 16. EPRI Materials Reliability Program, MRP-139, Primary System Pip-
December 9, 2009. ing Butt Weld Inspection and Evaluation Guidelines.

11. NRC Order US NRC Issuance of Order Establishing Interim Inspec- 17. Griesbach, T. J., and Gordon, B. M., Materials Aging Management
tion Requirements for Reactor Pressure Vessel Heads at Pressurized Programs at Nuclear Power Plants in the United States, IAEA 2nd
Water Reactors (EA-03-009). Washington, DC: US Nuclear Regula- International Symposium on Nuclear Power Plant Life Management,
tory Commission; 2003. October, 2007, Shanghai, China.
12. NEI 03-08: Guideline for the Management of Materials Issues. 18. Weakland, D. P., Personal Files.
 chapter

23
NEW GENERATION REACTORS
Wolfgang Hoffelner, Robert Bratton,1 Hardayal Mehta,
Kunio Hasegawa and D. Keith Morton1
ABSTRACT especially in the nuclear energy sector, where advanced reactor
designs are being refined and updated to achieve increased efficien-
In 1999, an international collaborative initiative for the develop- cies, increased safety, greater security through better proliferation
ment of advanced (Generation IV) reactors was started. The idea control of nuclear material, and increased use of new metallic and
behind this effort was to bring nuclear energy closer to the needs of non-metallic materials for construction. With minimal greenhouse
sustainability, to increase proliferation resistance, and to support con- gas emissions, nuclear energy can safely provide the world with not
cepts able to produce energy (both electricity and process heat) at only electrical energy production but also process-heat energy pro-
competitive costs. Six reactor concepts were chosen for further de- duction. Examples of the benefits that can be derived from process
velopment: the sodium fast reactor (SFR), the very-high-temperature heat generation include the generation of hydrogen, the production
gas-cooled reactor (VHTR), the lead or lead-bismuth cooled liquid of steam for extraction of oil-in-oil sand deposits, and the produc-
metal reactor, the helium gas-cooled fast reactor, the molten salt re- tion of process heat for other industries so that natural gas or oil
actor (MSR), and the super critical water reactor. In view of sustain- does not have to be used. Nuclear energy can advance and better the
ability, the Generation IV reactors should not only have superior fuel lives of mankind while helping to preserve our natural resources.
cycles to minimize nuclear waste, but they should also be able to pro- These are noble and lofty goals. This chapter provides the reader
duce process heat or steam for hydrogen production, synthetic fuels, greater understanding on how advanced reactors are not a “pie-in-
refinery processes, and other commercial uses. These reactor types the-sky” idea but are actually operational on a test scale or are near
were described in the 2002 Generation IV roadmap. Different projects term. In fact, efforts are currently under way in many nations to
around the world have been started since that time. The most advanced build full-scale advanced reactors. The reader is encouraged to en-
efforts are with reactors where production experience already existed. joy this chapter, for the future is just around the corner.
These reactors include the SFR and the VHTR. The other reactor
types are still more in a design concept phase. This chapter briefly de-
scribes the six Generation IV concepts and then provides additional
details, focusing on the two near-term viable Generation IV concepts. 23.2 Generation IV initiative
The current status of the applicable international projects is then and related international
summarized. These new technologies have also created remarkable programs
demands on materials compared with light water reactors (LWRs). The challenge of global warming and the resulting necessity to
Higher temperatures, higher neutron doses, environments very differ- promote energy technologies with low carbon dioxide emissions
ent from water, and design lives of 60 years present a real engineering led to an increased interest in nuclear power toward the end of the
challenge. These new demands have led to many exciting research last century.
activities and to new Codes and Standards developments, which are To support this interest on an international scale, a worldwide ini-
summarized in the final sections of this chapter. tiative was launched with the aim of overcoming certain limitations
of current nuclear power plants (LWRs) with respect to sustainabil-
ity, economics, safety and reliability, and proliferation resistance.
23.1 INTRODUCTION These developments led to the Generation IV International Fo-
The history of mankind repeatedly provides examples where a rum (GIF). The goals of this initiative are given in the Generation
need is recognized and creative thinking is able to determine appro- IV roadmap [1], and they are summarized in Table 23.1.
priate solutions. This human trait continues in the field of energy, The development of nuclear power can be divided into several
plant-generations as shown in Figure 23.1. Advanced reactors,
based on current nuclear power plant technology (EPR, AP1000,
1
This manuscript has been co-authored by Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC, un-
ESBWR, advanced Canadian deuterium uranium reactor [CAN-
der Contract No. DE-AC07-05ID14517 with the US Department of Energy. DU], APWR, etc.), are called Generation III+. Generation IV reactors
The US Government retains, and the publisher, by accepting the article for pub- go beyond LWR technology. They are intended to be commer-
lication, acknowledges that the US Government retains a non-exclusive, paid- cially available along the guidelines given in Table 23.1 by about
up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form 2030. It was also recognized that joint international research and
of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for US Government purposes. development (R&D) would be necessary to meet this ambitious
23-  •  Chapter 23

Table 23.1 Goals for Generation IV nuclear power plants as defined by the Generation IV
International Forum) [1]

Goals for Generation IV Nuclear Systems

Generation IV nuclear energy systems will provide sustainable energy generation that meets clean air ob-
jectives and promotes long-term availability of systems and effective fuel utilization for worldwide energy
Sustainability production.
Generation IV nuclear energy systems will minimize and manage their nuclear waste and notably reduce the
long-term stewardship burden, thereby improving protection for the public health and the environment.
Generation IV nuclear energy systems will have a clear life-cycle cost advantage over other energy sources.
Economics Generation IV nuclear energy systems will have a level of financial risk comparable to other energy
projects.
Generation IV nuclear energy systems operations will excel in safety and reliability.
Safety and reliability Generation IV nuclear energy systems will have a very low likelihood and degree of reactor core damage.
Generation IV nuclear energy systems will eliminate the need for offsite emergency response.
Generation IV nuclear energy systems will increase the assurance that they are a very unattractive and the
Proliferation resistance and
least desirable route for diversion or theft of weapons-usable materials, and provide increased physical pro-
physical protection
tection against acts of terrorism.

goal. The following six concepts were chosen for further R&D activities does not extend to a demonstration phase, which involves
consideration: the detailed design, licensing, construction, and operation of a pro-
totype or demonstration system in partnership with industry.
·  (Very) High-temperature reactor (VHTR)
Other international collaborations in the field of advanced reac-
·  Sodium fast reactor (SFR)
tors exist. They are, however, complementary to GIF rather than
·  Lead fast reactor (LFR)
competing with GIF. Only the three most important projects should
·  Super critical water reactor (SCWR)
be mentioned here: GNEP, INPRO, and SET-plan.
·  Gas-cooled fast reactor (GFR)
According to a very recent announcement [3], the Global Nu-
·  Molten salt reactor (MSR).
clear Energy Partnership (GNEP) is to change its name to the Inter-
Fusion reactors are sometimes called Generation V nuclear national Framework for Nuclear Energy Cooperation (IFNEC) and
power plants. establish a new mission statement as it aims to broaden its scope
According to [2], the R&D performed within GIF focuses on with “wider international participation to more effectively explore
both the viability and performance phases of system development. the most important issues underlying the use and expansion of nu-
The former phase examines the feasibility of key technologies, clear energy worldwide.”
such as suitable or novel structural materials or advanced fuel con- Historically, the US Department of Energy (DOE) has outlined
cepts. The latter phase focuses on the development of performance four overarching goals for the original GNEP Program: (1) to de-
data and optimization of the system. However, the scope of GIF crease US reliance on foreign energy sources without impeding

Generation I
Generation II
Early Prototype Generation III
Reactors Commercial Power Generation III +
Reactors Advanced Generation IV
LWRs
Evolutionary
Designs Offering - Highty
Improved Economical
Economics for - Enhanced
Near- Terms Safety
- Shippingport Deployment
- Minimal
- Dresden, Fermi I
- ABWR Waste
- Magnox - Proliferation
- LWR-PWR, BWR - System 80+
- CANDU Resistart
- AGR
Gen III Gen III+ Gen IV
1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030

Fig. 23.1  Development path of nuclear power plants [1]

 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  23-

US economic growth, (2) to use improved technologies to recover The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) project IN-
more energy and reduce waste when recycling spent nuclear fuel, PRO was established in 2001 by bringing together technology
(3) to encourage the use of energy sources that emit the least at- holders, users, and potential users to consider jointly the interna-
mospheric greenhouse gases, and (4) to reduce the threat of nuclear tional and national actions required for achieving desired innova-
proliferation. tions in nuclear reactors and fuel cycles [5, 6]. Since the early part
The partnership has a three-tiered organization structure. The of 2009, it has been determined to structure the project’s task into
Executive Committee comprised of Ministerial-level officials, the following four areas, with a forum for dialogue by members as
provides the high-level direction. The Steering Group, whose a crosscutting vehicle for communication:
members are designated by the Executive Committee, carries
·  methodology development and its use by members,
out actions on behalf of GNEP at the direction of the Executive
·  future nuclear energy vision and scenario,
Committee. At a September 2007 meeting of the Executive Com-
·  innovative technologies,
mittee, two working groups were established to address matters
·  innovation in institutional arrangement.
concerning “reliable nuclear fuel services” and “infrastructure
development.” The first results of the INPRO activity are listed in reference
Currently, the Nuclear Fuel Service Working Group is address- [7] for the assessment of innovative nuclear reactors and fuel
ing how to design and implement an effective nuclear energy in- cycles.
frastructure using fuel leasing and other economically viable and The visions for a sustainable energy supply in Europe are de-
proliferation-secure arrangements. The Infrastructure Develop- scribed in the European Strategic Energy Technology (SET)-plan
ment Working Group is addressing the financial, technical, and hu- [8]. With respect to high temperature reactors, thermal technolo-
man resource issues involved in creating an international nuclear gies for the use of heat and/or steam from high-temperature reac-
energy architecture based on GNEP’s Statement of Principles. tors (oil, chemical, and metal industry; synfuels and hydrogen
In October 2007, the DOE announced the first set of technical production; seawater desalination; etc.) shall be proposed. Two
and conceptual design development awards — over $16.3 million reactor concepts are included: a prototype sodium-cooled fast re-
to four multinational industry consortia led by Areva, Energy So- actor coupled to the electricity grid and a demonstrator reactor
lutions, GE-Hitachi Nuclear Americas, and General Atomics. In (either lead or gas cooled), not coupled to the grid. The operation
announcing the decision, the Assistant Secretary of Nuclear En- of the prototype and demonstrator reactors from 2020 will allow
ergy indicated that the grants “enable DOE to benefit from the vast a return of experience that, coupled with further R&D, will en-
technological and business experience of the private sector as we able commercial deployment starting around 2040. At the same
move toward the goal of closing the nuclear fuel cycle.” time, a coordinated program of crosscutting research will be
In an April 2009 statement, the DOE announced that the Depart- conducted in all aspects of nuclear reactor safety, performance,
ment cancelled the US domestic component of the GNEP [4]. It lifetime management, waste handling, and radiation protection to
further said, “The long-term fuel cycle R&D program will con- serve both the development of future Generation IV reactors but
tinue but not the near-term deployment of recycling facilities or also the continued safe and competitive operation of current nu-
fast reactors. The international component of GNEP is under in- clear plants that are providing 30% of the European Union (EU)
teragency review.” electricity.

Fig. 23.2 The deployment perspectives of advanced nuclear plants, after [13]. Most important R&D
activities are also shown
23-  •  Chapter 23

23.3 Short description of the cepts. Performance of components under service conditions that
Generation IV systems are significantly different than the current LWRs is also a consider-
able challenge for design and design codes.
The six nuclear technologies proposed within GIF are not en-
tirely new plants. They are based on some experience gained with
experimental reactors or even with large-scale pilot plants like the 23.3.1 Liquid Metal-Cooled Reactors
sodium-cooled French Superphenix [9]  or the gas-cooled Ger- Liquid metal reactors (LMRs) are designed for high-power den-
man HTR [10]. The SCWR is basically a pressurized LWR run- sity cores, taking advantage of the high heat removal and high heat
ning a super critical steam cycle that has an impact on pressure and transport capability of the coolant. Coolants can be mercury, sodium
temperature. Most plant experience exists with SFRs and HTRs. or lead/lead-bismuth. The very first liquid metal cooled nuclear re-
Hence, this chapter will emphasize these two types of reactors. actor (Clementine [15]) used mercury coolant, which is liquid at
Lists of SFR and HTR plants can be found in the literature (e.g., room temperature. However, because of disadvantages including
[11, 12]). An assessment of the timeline for deployment of several high toxicity, low boiling point, a high neutron cross section and
Generation IV nuclear systems is shown in Figure 23.2 [13]. The other disadvantages, it has fallen out of favor. The sodium reactor
current status of the main operation and design parameters of the technology is rather mature but remains to be commercialized suc-
different systems is shown in Table 23.2. cessfully. Lead-cooled systems are less mature but they show some
The next group behind the most advanced concepts of the SFR advantages due to the high boiling point of the coolant.
and VHTR are as follows: SCWR, LFR, and GFR with expected
demonstration plant availability later than the SFR and the VHTR. 23.3.1.1  Sodium Fast Reactors The sodium-cooled fast reactor
The least developed is the MSR with the longest expected time (SFR) system features a fast-spectrum reactor and closed fuel recycle
for a demonstration plant. Even if the time scale is questionable, system. The primary mission for the SFR is management of high-
Figure 23.2 gives quite a good picture regarding the maturity of the level wastes and, in particular, management of plutonium and other
different systems. actinides. With innovations to reduce capital cost, this mission can be
Besides fuel and fuel cycle issues, structural materials are also extended to include electricity production, given the proven capability
considered a significant development goal for several of the con- of sodium reactors to utilize almost all of the energy in the natural

Table 23.2 Summary of important operation and design data for the generation IV reactors [14]

Data PWR SCWR VHTR SFR LFR GFR MSR

Coolant inlet 290 280 400-600 370 400 450 656
temperature (°C)
Coolant outlet 320 510 750-950 550 550 850 700-850
temperature (°C)
Pressure (MPa) 16 25 7 0.1 0.1 7 0.1
Maximum radia- 100 10-70 1-10 200 200 200 200
tion dose (dpa)
Coolant water water helium liquid sodium liquid Pb/PbBi He/CO2 molten salt
super-cooled
Critical RPV, inter- RPV, internals, RPV, internals, cladding cladding RPV, fuel/core core
components nals, cladding cladding
cladding
Metals ferritic steels, ferritic- ferritic- ferritic- ferritic- ferritic- Ni-base
austenitic martensitic martensitic martensitic martensitic martensitic
steels, zir- steel, austenitic steels, steels, steels, steels (RPV)
caloy steels, Ni-base,ODS austenitic austenitic
Ni-base, ODS steels, ODS steels, ODS
Ceramics graphite, C/C, SiC, TiC, other graphite
SiC/SiC, SiC ceramics
Main damage corrosion, corrosion, high temperature corrosion, creep corrosion, creep corrosion, creep corrosion, creep
mechanisms embrit- embrittle- corrosion, (thermal/ (thermal/ (thermal/ (thermal/
tlement, ment, low creep, low irrad.), low irrad.), low irrad.), low irrad.), low
low cycle cycle fatigue cycle fatigue cycle fatigue, cycle fatigue, cycle fatigue, cycle fatigue,
fatigue irrad. irrad. irrad. irrad.
Design Codes ASME Div ASME Div. 5, ASME Div. 5, ASME Div. 5, ASME Div. 5, ASME Div. 5, ASME Div. 5,
1, RCC-M RCC-MRx RCC-MRx RCC-MRx RCC-MRx RCC-MRx RCC-MRx
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  23-

uranium versus the 1% utilized in thermal spectrum systems. An used in the past, and some of them are running today, or they are in
important safety feature is that the system operates at atmospheric engineering stage. Projects on gas-cooled fast reactors also existed
pressure. However, sodium reacts chemically with water and with air, as an alternative to sodium-cooled fast reactors from the 1960s
which has to be taken into consideration by reliable design measures. through the 1980s, but no prototype was ever built. However, the
Three concepts are currently studied for the SFR: concept was considered in the GEN IV roadmap, and development
work for GFR is ongoing [18]. The attractive characteristic of a
·  A medium- to large-size (600-1500 MWe) loop-type SFR
gas-cooled reactor is the high coolant temperature that could in
with minor actinide (MA) bearing mixed uranium-plutonium
principle be reached (about 1000°C). This would enable using nu-
oxide (MOX) fuel, supported by a fuel cycle based upon
clear energy not only for electricity generation but also for process
advanced aqueous processing at a central location serving a
heat or even combined processes. One main drawback of the GFR
number of reactors.
is its low thermal inertia, which could have detrimental tempera-
·  A medium size pool-type SFR with uranium-plutonium-
ture excursions in case of a loss of coolant accident.
minor-actinide zirconium metal alloy fuel, supported by a fuel
cycle based on pyro metallurgical processing in facilities co-
23.3.2.1  Very-High-Temperature Reactor  The unique capa­
located with the reactor.
bility of very-high-temperature reactors (VHTRs) to produce
·  A small size (50-150 MWe) modular pool-type SFR with sim-
process heat above 600°C makes them a strategic reactor type
ilar metal alloy fuel, supported by a fuel cycle based on pyro
that can efficiently produce hydrogen through steam electrolysis,
processing at a central or regional location.
or supply both hydrogen and high-temperature heat for producing
Details about these three concepts including expected opera­ synthetic fuels from coal or biomass, or supply high-temperature
tional parameters are described in [16]. process heat and hydrogen or synthetic fuels as chemical reactants
to varied industrial plants including petro-chemistry and steel
23.3.1.2 Lead-Cooled Fast Reactor (LFR)  The LFR uses a fast- making. Today, the VHTR system shows the most active R&D
neutron spectrum and a closed fuel cycle for efficient conversion of cooperation in the framework of the GIF and the greatest number
fertile uranium. It can also be used as a burner of minor actinides from of national projects of prototypes in the next two decades.
reprocessed spent fuel. Lead is relatively chemically inert compared The VHTR operates with thermal neutrons currently with a
with sodium, which is an important safety aspect. However, corrosion once-through fuel cycle. It uses helium as the cooling medium and
issues with structural materials still have to be resolved. In the GIF graphite as the moderator and core structural material. The VHTR
Roadmap, the LFR was primarily envisioned for missions in electricity can be designed either with a pebble bed core or with a prismatic
and hydrogen production, and actinide management. The following core. For both designs, tri structural-isotropic (TRISO) fuel is used.
two designs are currently considered in the GIF-framework: It is a type of micro-fuel particle. It consists of a fuel kernel com-
·  The Small Secure Transportable Autonomous Reactor posed of UOX (sometimes UC or UCO) in the center, coated with
(SSTAR) with mixed uranium-plutonium nitride (MN) fuel. four layers of three isotropic materials. The four layers are a porous
·  The European Lead-cooled System (ELSY) with MOX fuel. buffer layer made of carbon, followed by a dense inner layer of py-
rolytic carbon (PyC), followed by a ceramic layer of SiC to retain
Details about the current status of the LFR developments are fission products at elevated temperatures and to give the TRISO
given in [17]. particle more structural integrity, followed by a dense outer layer of
PyC. The fuel kernels remain the same for both core concepts.
23.3.2 Gas-Cooled Reactors The VHTR can be considered as a good example of how the
Gas-cooled reactors use gas (carbon dioxide or helium) as cool- availability of suitable structural materials can influence the tech-
ant. Using a thermal neutron spectrum, these reactors have been nical concepts. Table 23.3 shows the changes of proposed concepts

Table 23.3 Short-term changes of the VHTR design and operation data as a result of materials
limitations and viable design options (IN617, 800H, 230 are designations for nickel-based super-
alloys, T91 is an advanced 9Cr1Mo martensitic steel) [Original work]

2002 2009 Comments

Gas outlet temperature at least 1000°C probably 850°C, eventually no structural ceramic
920°C components required
Reactor pressure vessel 600°C eventually < 450°C, probably use of T91 questionable,
temperature < 350°C probably PWR RPV steel
Intermediate heat exchanger He-He He-CO2, He-steam, He-He IN617/800H/230 sufficient,
steam generator required
Electric energy conversion direct cycle He-gas turbine indirect cycle, steam turbine no high temperature He
(vertical) turbine with vertical shaft
Thermal plant I-S hydrogen synfuel, hydrogen (not limited new requirements
to I-S), chemical industry,
steel industry
23-  •  Chapter 23

for gas-cooled reactors from 2002 (original GEN IV roadmap) to Mixed Core Design: This is a pressure vessel concept that is being
2009. Both the gas outlet temperature and the gas inlet temperature evaluated at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. The core consists of a fast
were considerably reduced, which was mainly a result of current spectrum inner region and a thermal spectrum outer region.
structural material limitations and minimal design data.
However, the variety of processes that can make use of heat or More details about current GIF-SCWR projects can be seen in
steam coming from a VHTR increased considerably even with de- [20].
creasing operation temperature. Hydrogen production, petroleum
23.3.3.2 Molten Salt Reactor  An MSR uses fuel that is
refining, oil recovery, coal and natural gas derivatives, petrochemi-
dissolved in a fluoride salt coolant. The technology was partly
cals, and ammonia and nitrate production are currently considered
developed in the 1950s and 1960s in the United States at the Oak
as priority candidates for use of nuclear heat from a high-tem-
Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), where two prototype reactors
perature reactor. A detailed discussion about envisaged combined
were built. Compared with solid-fuelled reactors, MSR systems have
processes can be found in the literature [19].
lower fissile inventories, provide the possibility of continuous fission-
product removal, avoid the expense of fabricating fuel elements, and
23.3.2.2  Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor  The GFR is a fast neutron employ a homogeneous isotopic composition of fuel in the reactor.
spectrum system using helium at about 7 MPa pressure as the These characteristics, among others, enable MSRs to have potentially
cooling medium [18]. The GFR can be considered as a complement unique capabilities and competitive economics for actinide burning
to the SFR deployment, which benefits from a more mature and extending fuel resources. Earlier MSRs were mainly considered
technology The GFR combines the advantages of a fast neutron as thermal neutron spectrum graphite-moderated reactor concepts.
spectrum with those of high temperatures. It can be deployed for Since 2005, R&D has focused on the development of fast spectrum
closed fuel cycles for the minimization of wastes, when the minor MSR concepts (molten salt fast reactor [MSFR]). This would allow
actinides are recycled. The high outlet temperatures potentially extended resource utilization and waste minimization. Additionally,
provide improved economy in the power conversion units and advantages of the molten salt concept like high boiling point and
also permit process heat applications, similar to the VHTR. In the liquid fuel could be used.
VHTR, the use of graphite increases the thermal inertia of the core, Apart from MSR systems, other advanced reactor concepts are
thereby limiting the maximum temperature during transients. On being studied within Generation IV using liquid salt technology.
the other hand, GFR cores have relatively low thermal inertia that Liquid salt is considered a primary coolant for the advanced high-
would lead to the development of very high temperatures in case of temperature reactor (AHTR). It is also considered for intermediate
a loss of coolant accident. Current efforts are investigating design heat exchange use as an alternative to secondary sodium in SFRs
features to overcome this problem. or to secondary helium in VHTRs.

23.3.3 Other Gen IV Systems Two baseline concepts are currently considered:

23.3.3.1  Super Critical Water Reactor  The SCWR is basi­ ·  The MSFR as a long-term alternative to solid fuelled fast neu-
cally a LWR using water in a super critical status. It is a high- tron reactors. The potential of MSFR has been assessed but
temperature, high-pressure water-cooled reactor that operates above specific technological challenges must be addressed and the
the thermodynamic critical point of water (above 374°C, 22.1 MPa). safety approach has to be established.
The main advantage of the SCWR is improved economics because of ·  The AHTR as a high-temperature reactor with higher power den-
the higher thermodynamic efficiency and plant simplifications. The sity than the VHTR and passive safety potential from small to
various design options include fast and thermal neutron spectra as very high unit power (>2400 MWt).
well as opportunities to utilize conventional or advanced fuel and fuel Both concepts have large commonalities in basic R&D areas,
cycles. Two SCWR concepts have evolved from existing LWR and particularly for liquid salt technology and materials behavior
pressurized heavy water reactor designs: (1) a large reactor pressure (mechanical integrity and corrosion).
vessel containing a reactor core analogous to conventional LWR More details about current GIF-MSR projects can be seen in [21].
designs and (2) designs with distributed pressure tubes or channels
containing fuel bundles, analogous to conventional CANDU and
Reactor Bolshoy Moschchnosty Kanalny (RBMK) nuclear reactors.
The following concepts are considered within GIF: 23.4 advanced reactor projects
University of Tokyo Thermal and Fast Spectrum Designs: These For the near future, traditional light or heavy water reactors
are pressure vessel design concepts that have been under develop- will be the choice of technology. This group of reactors under-
ment at the University of Tokyo since 1989 (thermal version) and went and continues to undergo significant improvements in safety
2005 (fast version). The thermal version is called “Super LWR,” and in performance. Besides traditional large nuclear power
and the fast reactor version is called “Super Fast LWR.” stations, small reactors for local energy supply (electric ther-
High-Performance Light Water Reactor (HPLWR): This is a mal) are being studied in different countries. Therefore, it may
pressure vessel design that is under development in Europe and is be useful to briefly consider these reactor developments in this
partially funded by the European Commission. chapter.
CANDU-SCWR: This is a pressure-tube reactor that is being de-
veloped by the Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd that uses a thorium 23.4.1 Concepts and Innovation Technologies for
fuel cycle and a separate heavy water moderator with enhanced Next-Generation Light Water Reactors
safety functions. Light water reactors are still considered the best choice for fu-
SCWR-SM: This is a pressure vessel design under development ture electrical energy supply. The design concepts for the next-
in the Republic of Korea that utilizes a solid ZrH2 moderator. generation LWR system are (1) best safety and economy in the
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  23-

2030 time frame, (2) simplifying operation and maintenance, (3) Table 23.5 Typical next-generation PWR plant
dramatically shortening the time for construction, (4) dramatic re- concept [23]
duction of the quantity of spent fuel produced, reduction of the
consumption of uranium, radioactive waste, and exposure to radia- Electric output 1780 Mwe (plant efficiency
tion, and (5) improvement of performance for plant life (approxi- 40%)
mately 80 years).
Fuel average burn-up 70 gigawatt days/ton
23.4.1.1  Advanced Light Water Reactors  This section sum­ Primary coolant temperature 330°C
marizes a more detailed description given in [22]: hot leg
Advanced boiling water reactor (ABWR) derived from a Gen-
Steam generator surface area 8500 m3 high efficiency type
eral Electric design.
System 80+ is an advanced pressurized water reactor (PWR), Primary coolant flow rate 29000 m3/hour/loop
which was ready for commercialization but is not currently being
Safety system 4 train direct-air-cooling
promoted for sale.
hybrid system
The Westinghouse AP1000, scaled up from the AP600, received
final design certification from the NRC in December 2005, the first Ultimate heat sink air and sea water
Generation III+ type to do so. It represents the culmination of a
1300 man-year and $440 million design and testing program.
GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy’s ESBWR is a Generation III+ tech-
nology that utilizes passive safety features and natural circulation
principles and is essentially an evolution from its predecessor de- 23.4.1.2 Heavy Water Reactors  The CANDU-9 (925-1300
sign, the SBWR at 670 MWe. MWe) was developed as a single-unit plant. It has flexible fuel
Mitsubishi’s large APWR (1538 MWe) — advanced PWR — requirements ranging from natural uranium through slightly enriched
was developed in collaboration with four utilities (Westinghouse uranium, recovered uranium from reprocessing spent PWR fuel, mixed
was involved in the early stages). oxide (U & Pu) fuel, direct use of spent PWR fuel, to thorium.
Areva NP (formerly Framatome ANP) has developed a large India is developing the advanced heavy water reactor (AHWR)
(1600 and up to 1750 MWe) European pressurized water reactor as the third stage in its plan to utilize thorium to fuel its overall
(EPR), which is currently under construction in Finland. nuclear power program. The AHWR is a 300-MWe reactor moder-
Together with German utilities and safety authorities, Areva NP ated by heavy water at low pressure.
(Framatome ANP), is also developing another evolutionary design, Projects in many other countries are based on these types of
the SWR 1000, a 1250-MWe BWR with 60-year design life now plants. Table 23.4 tabulates major specifications for the BWR.
known as Kerena. Major specifications for the next-generation PWR are shown in
Toshiba has been developing its evolutionary advanced BWR Table 23.5. The values in the tables are typical values based on
(1500 MWe) design, originally BWR 90+ from ABB then West- Japanese expectations. Several innovative technologies are needed
inghouse, working with Scandinavian utilities to meet European to develop these designs of next-generation LWRs.
Utilities Requirements (EUR). There are some very important technological steps involved
A third-generation standardized VVER-1200 reactor of 1150 to with the new generation of LWRs that are shown in Figure 23.3.
1200 MWe is, among others, an evolutionary development of the
well-proven VVER-1000 reactor in Russia.
23.4.2 Small Modular Reactors
As nuclear power generation has become more established since
the 1960s, the size of the reactor units has grown from 60 MWe
to more than 1600 MWe, with corresponding economies of scale
in operation. At the same time, there have been many hundreds of
smaller reactors built both for naval use (up to 190 MWt) and as
Table 23.4 Typical next-generation BWR neutron sources, yielding enormous expertise in the engineering
plant concept [23] of small units. The IAEA defines “small” as under 300 MWe. The
contents of this subsection are based on [24, 25].
Electric output 1700 to 1800 MWe Designs for small modular reactors (SMRs) are being developed
Fuel large bundle in several countries, often through cooperation between govern-
ment and industry. Countries involved include Argentina, China,
Safety system hybrid (optimized passive and Japan, Korea, Russia, South Africa, and the United States. Small
active system) modular reactor designs encompass a range of technologies, some
Primary containment vessel double containments being variants of the six Generation IV systems selected by GIF,
 outer: steel containment whereas others are based on established LWR technology.
vessel Such reactors could be deployed as single or double units in
 inner: steel plate reinforced remote areas without strong grid systems, or to provide small-
concrete containment vessel capacity increments on multi-unit sites in larger grids. They feature
simplified designs and would be mainly factory-fabricated, potentially
Countermeasures of seismic isolation systems offering lower costs for serial production. Their much lower capi-
external events: reinforced building tal cost and faster construction than large nuclear units should
  earthquake make financing easier. Other advantages could be in the area of
  airplane crash proliferation resistance, as some designs would require no on-site
23-  •  Chapter 23

Fig. 23.3 Key technologies for developing next-generation LWR [23]

re fueling, whereas others would require re fueling only after sev- as a coolant; core temperatures are rather hot, about 550ºC, versus the
eral years. Some could be used with advanced fuel cycles, burning 330ºC typical of conventional reactors.
recycled materials. Other concepts for advanced SMRs have been proposed by com-
Numerous concepts exist for SMRs based on LWR technology. mercial and research organizations in several countries, and some
Several such designs are being promoted by nuclear industry com- aim to commence licensing activities in the next few years. As an
panies, including AREVA, Babcock & Wilcox (mPower), General example of the licensing activities, on the regulatory side, the US
Atomics, NuScale, and Westinghouse (IRIS). Others are being de- Nuclear Regulatory Commission held a workshop in October 2009
veloped by national research institutes in Argentina, China, Japan, on small- and medium-size nuclear reactors covering issues such as
Korea, and Russia. Two small units designed to supply electric- licensing, design basis, staffing, etc. However, no firm plans to con-
ity and heat are under construction in Russia, based on existing struct demonstration plants have yet been announced.
icebreaker propulsion reactors. These will be barge-mounted for If multiple modular units on a single site were to become a com-
deployment to a remote coastal settlement on the Kamchatka pen­ petitive alternative to building one or two large units, then SMRs
insula. Some other designs are well advanced with initial licensing could eventually form a significant component of nuclear capac-
activities under way. ity. They could also enable the use of nuclear energy in locations
Several SMR designs are HTGRs (e.g., the Pebble Bed Modu- unsuitable for large units, and some designs could extend the in-
lar Reactor [PBMR]). These designs are well suited to heat or co- tended use for non-electricity applications. Whether SMR designs
generation applications. There are also several other concepts for can be successfully commercialized, with an overall cost per unit of
advanced SMR designs, including liquid metal-cooled fast reactors. electricity produced that is competitive with larger nuclear power
These are generally at an earlier stage of development, with some the plants and other generating options, remains to be seen.
subject of GIF collaborative efforts. One example in this category
is the 4S design from Toshiba of Japan, a sodium-cooled “nuclear
battery” system capable of operating for 30 years with no re fueling. 23.5 Status of Generation IV
It has been proposed to build the first such plant to provide 10 MW plants: SODIUM FAST REACTORS
of electricity to a remote settlement in Alaska, and initial licensing
procedures have begun. Another example in this category is the Hy- Sodium fast reactors belong together with the high-temperature
perion Power Module, a lead-bismuth cooled LMR, developed by reactors in the group of Generation IV reactors where industrial
Hyperion Power. experience from the past already exists. Table 23.6 lists the reac-
A recent SMR candidate is the travelling-wave reactor, which is cur- tors according to history and future expectations. It can be seen that
rently promoted by TerraPower [26]. According to [27], a traveling- there is a strong current activity in Asia.
wave reactor requires very little enriched uranium, reducing the risk of
weapons proliferation. The reactor uses depleted-uranium fuel packed 23.5.1 The Japan
inside hundreds of hexagonal pillars. In a “wave” that moves through In Japan, the Fast Reactor Cycle Technology Development
the core at only a centimeter per year, this fuel is transformed (or bred) (FaCT) project is carried out by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency
into plutonium, which then undergoes fission. The reaction requires a (JAEA) in corporation with Japanese utilities under the sponsor-
small amount of enriched uranium (not shown) to get started and could ship of the Japanese government. The FaCT project was planned
run for decades without re fueling. The reactor uses liquid sodium based on a feasibility study of the commercialized fast reactor
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  23-

Table 23.6 Current and past SFR projects [ORIGINAL WORK]

U.S. Europe Russia Asia

Past Clementine, EBR I/II, Dounreay, Rhapsody, BN-350
SEFOR, FFTF Superphenix
Cancelled Clinch River, IFR SNR-300
Operating Phenix BN-600 Joyo, FBTR Monju,
Under Construction BN-800 PBFR, CEFR
Planned S4, PRISM ASTRID BN-1800 S4, JSFR, KALIMER

cycle system in 1999 to 2005 [28]. From the feasibility study, an The diameter and wall thickness of the reactor vessel are con-
advanced loop-type SFR was selected for future nuclear energy sidered to be 10.7 m and 50 to 60 mm, respectively. A shortened
systems. This is because the SFR meets sustainability, economy, piping, two-loop cooling system, and integrated intermediate heat
nuclear proliferation resistance, safety, etc. Japan sodium-cooled exchanger (IHX) with a primary pump are introduced into the de-
fast reactor (JSFR) was launched in the FaCT project to develop sign from the view point of reduction of cost, safety, maintain-
for commercialization through innovation technologies. ability, and manufacturability. A containment vessel (CV) would
The development of innovative technologies on advanced com- be rectangular in shape, because the pressure load to the CV is not
ponent structures is expected to be completed by about 2015. high compared with that to LWRs. A double-wall structure of steel
System and component designs and trial manufacturing of compo- plate reinforced concrete is applied to all parts of the building. The
nents will start after 2015. A demonstration fast reactor is sched- volume of the reactor building is about 150,000 m3, which is less
uled for operation around 2025. A commercialized fast reactor than one-half of a current advanced PWR.
cycle system will be constructed around 2050. Regarding demonstration and commercialization of the JSFR,
Innovative concepts and technologies for SFRs are shown in there are several innovative technologies for design study. The
Figure 23.4 taking JSFR as an example. Table 23.7 shows the de- current status of innovative technologies under development in-
sign specification for the JSFR. The size of a reactor vessel for the cludes the two-loop cooling system, increased reliability of the
JSFR of an advanced loop-type SFR will be minimized, and the reactor system, a simplified fuel-handling system, a passive re-
reactor core internals will be simplified. actor shutdown system, mitigation measures against core disrup-

Economic Competitiveness Plant design study Higher reliability

Reduction of Mass & Volume Sodium technology
1) Shortened pipng with 1) Sodium leak tightness
high chromiun steel with double wall piping
Secondary
pump 2) Higher reliable SG with
2) 2 loop cooling system double wall tube

3) Integrated pump-IHX
SG 3) Higher maintenance
component ability inside of sodium
boundary
4) Compact reactor vessel
Higher safety
5) Simplified fuel handling Integrated Core safety
system pump-IHX
1) Passive shutdown and
6) CV with steel plate decay heat removal
reinforced concrete
building 2) Re-criticality free core
Long operation by high Reactor Vessel
burn-up fuel Seismic reliability

7) Advanced fuel material The large scale sodium 3) Seismic reliability in core
test complex assemblies

Fig. 23.4 Innovative technologies for the JSFR [29]

23-10  •  Chapter 23

table 23.7 Specification for JSFR [29] value. Based on the reduction of reactor building volume and
structural weight, adopting a simplified configuration, adopting
Item Specifications the twin-plant concept, and pursuing scale merit by enlargement
of the power output, the construction cost per unit of electricity for
Electricity output 1500 MWe the JSFR would be competitive with that of future LWRs.
Thermal output 3570 MWt
23.5.2 Korea
Number of loops 2 In Korea, there are 20 commercial nuclear power reactors under
Primary sodium temperature and 550/395°C operation, producing about 36% of the total electricity in Korea. En-
flow rate 3.24×107 kg h–1 / loop ergy resources of crude oil, natural gas, and coal are insufficient,
and hydropower is also limited. Nuclear energy is a key energy re-
Secondary sodium temperature and 520/335°C source, especially with the aspect of large reductions of greenhouse
flow rate 2.7×107 kg h–1 / loop gas emissions. About 97% of energy resources are imported from
Main steam temperature and 497°C abroad, and it is expected that the share of nuclear power should
pressure 19.2 MPa increase to 48% after 12 years. The Korean Atomic Energy Research
Institute (KAERI) is currently designing Generation IV fast reactors,
240°C aiming for construction completion and operation in 2028 [30].
Feedwater temperature and flow rate
5.77×106 kg h–1 / loop Technology developments for a SFR are categorized as (1) ad-
Plant efficiency ≈ 42% vanced design studies of the core design, (2) development of ba-
sic technologies, and (3) development of advanced technologies.
Fuel type TRU-MOX The advanced design studies consist of core design, heat transport
Burn-up (average) ≈150 gigawatt days / ton system design, and associated mechanical and structural design.
The core designs are being performed for 600 to 1200 MWe trans-
Breeding ratio breakeven (1.03), 1.1, 1.2 uranium (TU) burner core and a 1200 MWe break even core. Sys-
26 months or less; four tem analysis codes and sodium technology studies are performed
Cycle length as the development of basic technologies. Passive decay heat re-
batches
moval circuit (PDRC) experiments, S-CO2 Brayton cycle system,
Na-CO2 chemical reaction test, and metal fuel technologies are
tive accidents, and a minor actinide–bearing MOX (U/Pu mixed conducted in the development of advanced technologies.
oxide) fuel core. Specifications of an advanced reactor system concept for Gen-
A method to evaluate the economic competitiveness was devel- eration IV are tabulated in Table 23.8. Many items for the ad-
oped by the Demonstration Fast Breeder Reactor (DFBR) project vanced concept are to be determined. The conceptual design for
and was modified and improved for the JSFR at the present currency KALIMER-600 was finished in 2006, and the advanced concept

Table 23.8 Specification of advanced concept for generation IV [30]

KALIMER-600 Candidate Concepts Advance Concepts

Power, MWe 600 600/900/1200 to be determined
Conversion ratio 1.0 0.5-0.8, 1.0 0.5-0.8, 1.0
Reactor Core exit temperature °C 545 510-550 to be determined
Cladding material Mod. HT9 Mod. HT9 / FMS to be determined
Fuel type U-TRU-Zr U-TRU-Zr U-TRU-Zr
Number of loops 2 2, 3 to be determined
Reactor vessel diameter, m 11.4 minimization to be determined
IHTS pipe length, m 118 minimization to be determined
In-vessel rotating plug 2 rotating plugs 2 rotating plugs with 2 rotating plugs with
multi wave-guide tubes multi wave-guide tubes
NSSS Steam generator tube type helical single tube helical single tube / to be determined
double wall tube
GDC-4: double-ended - leak-before-break for RV, leak-before-break for RV,
guillotine break IHTS piping IHTS piping
Residual heat removal system PDRC PDRC PDRC
Seismic isolation horizontal horizontal horizontal
BOP Energy conversion system Rankine Rankine / S-CO2 Brayton to be determined
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  23-11

is currently being developed. After testing the passive decay heat ticularly plutonium-239) is produced as well as uranium-233.
removal circuit, an integral testing loop will be constructed. A draft ·  Advanced heavy water reactors (AHWRs) burn the uranium-
action plan was prepared by the Korean government in 2007, and a 233 and plutonium-239 with thorium-232, getting about 75%
standard safety analysis report and final safety analysis report will of their power from thorium. The used fuel will then be re-
be approved by the Korean government. A demonstration reactor processed to recover fissile materials for recycling.
will be constructed and operated by 2028.
23.5.3.3 Fast Breeder Test Reactor  The second stage of the
23.5.3 India Indian nuclear program is based on plutonium fuelled FBRs. A
40 MWt fast breeder test reactor (FBTR) is in operation in India
23.5.3.1 Historical Perspective  India adopted a nuclear energy
since 1985 [35,37]. Reference [37]  provides a description of the
strategy taking into account indigenous resources for long-term
reactor and summarizes the operating history of the reactor. It is
energy security and sustainability. The currently known Indian
a loop-type SFR located at the Indira Gandhi Center for Atomic
nuclear energy resources comprise 61,000 tons of uranium and
Research (IGCAR), Kalpakkam. The reactor design is based on the
about 800,000 tons of thorium. Considering low inventory of
French reactor Rapsodie, with several modifications, which include
uranium and for long-term sustainability of nuclear energy, India
the provision of a steam-water circuit and turbine-generator in place
selected a closed fuel cycle–based three-stage nuclear power
of a sodium-air heat exchanger in Rapsodie. Heat generated in the
program in the 1950s. At that time, the country had just become
reactor is removed by two primary sodium loops and transferred to
independent and had no large-scale industrial infrastructure. The
the corresponding secondary sodium loops. Each secondary sodium
necessary pressure vessel technology for LWRs did not exist at that
loop is provided with two once-through steam generator modules.
time. Moreover, LWRs would have also needed a technologically
Steam from the four modules is fed to a common steam-water circuit
complex uranium enrichment facility. Therefore, using indigenous
comprising a turbine generator and a 100% dump condenser. The
LWRs was not a feasible option at that time. Also, India had a
reactor uses a high plutonium mono-carbide as the driver fuel. Being
smaller grid necessitating installation of small power reactor
a unique fuel of its kind without any irradiation data, it was decided to
systems. Considering these aspects, the country adopted the 220
use the reactor itself as the test bed for this driver fuel. The FBTR was
MWe PHWR technology. The details of these PHWRs and the
synchronized with the grid in July 1997. The operating experience of
newer indigenously designed 540 and 700 MWe reactor systems
this FBTR has provided sufficient feedback and confidence for India
are provided in [31–33]. Pressurized heavy water reactors were
to launch upon the construction of a 500 MWe fast reactor.
also chosen in the first stage so as to produce maximum plutonium
essential for the fast breeder reactor (FBR)–based second stage of
the program. 23.5.3.4 Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR)  The proto­
The second stage comprises FBRs, utilizing plutonium-based type fast breeder reactor (PFBR), designed by the IGCAR, is a
fuel. The plutonium and uranium reprocessed from the first stage 500 MWe, sodium-cooled, pool-type, mixed-oxide (MOX) fuelled
would be effectively utilized in the initial part of the second stage. reactor having two secondary loops. Reference [38]  describes the
This initial part will use well-proven oxide fuel-based reactors salient design features including the design of the reactor core,
(FBRs), and subsequently, at an appropriate stage, when all the new reactor assembly, main heat transport systems, component handling,
necessary technologies have been developed and demonstrated, steam water system, electrical power systems, instrumentation and
metallic fuel-based FBRs will be introduced. control, plant layout, safety, and R&D.
India has envisaged robust thorium reactor technologies as a Figure 23.5 shows the flow diagram of the main heat transport
promising sustainable future energy resource for the country. Stud- system. The primary objective of the PFBR is to demonstrate techno-
ies indicate that once the FBR capacity reaches about 200 GWe, economic viability of FBRs on an industrial scale. The reactor
thorium-based fuel can be introduced progressively in the FBRs power is chosen to enable adoption of a standard turbine, as used
to initiate the third stage of the program, where the U-233 bred in fossil power stations, to have a standardized design of reac-
in these reactors is to be used in the thorium-based reactors. The tor components resulting in further reduction of capital cost and
proposed roadmap for the third stage therefore comprises thorium- construction time in the future and compatibility with regional
based reactor technologies, incorporating the (Th-U-233) cycle. grids.
India is one of the leading countries in the world in thorium re- Better safety features of a pool-type reactor, i.e., the main vessel
search and has gained that experience through thorium irradiation with no nozzles leading to high integrity of the vessel, relatively
and the operation of U-233 fuelled research reactors. large thermal inertia leading to ease in design of decay heat re-
moval with lower heat capacity requirements and availability of
more time for the operator to act, and large diameter of the main
23.5.3.2 Future Nuclear Cycle Program  Nuclear power
vessel with internals leading to significantly lower strain in the
supplied 2.5% of India’s electricity in 2007 (coal, hydro, and gas
main vessel in case of core disruptive accident, led to a selection
provided 68%, 15%, and 8%, respectively). This share is forecasted
of the pool-type design for primary circuit configuration. The pool-
to reach 25% by 2050 [34]. With about six times more thorium
type concept also enables further extension of the design to larger
than uranium, India has made utilization of thorium for large-scale
power reactors in the future.
energy production a major goal in its nuclear power program,
The main vessel is made of highly ductile AISI 316LN material,
utilizing a three-stage concept [35,36]:
and it satisfies leak-before-break criteria. The reactor is designed
·  Pressurized heavy water reactors (PHWRs) fueled by natural ura- to meet the regulatory requirements of Atomic Energy Regulatory
nium, plus LWRs, producing plutonium-239 as a by-product. Board (AERB). The responsibility for construction, commission-
·  F ast breeder reactors using plutonium-based fuel to breed ura- ing, operation, and maintenance of the reactor is with Bhartiya Vi-
nium-233 from thorium-232. The blanket around the core will dyut Nigam (BHAVINI), a part of India’s Department of Atomic
have uranium as well as thorium, so that further plutonium (par- Energy.
23-12  •  Chapter 23

SECONDARY SODIUM CIRCUIT

SAFETY GRADE 2 LOOPS 613K
DECAY HEAT 3NPa
REMOVAL CIRCUIT
4 LOOPS
SURGE TANK 792K
6 NM
763K

AR 16.7NPa TURBINE GENERATOR TRANSFORMER

IP IP IP 500 MPa

STEAM
GENERATOR
(4 Nos.) REHEATER

SSP

0.01MPa
SODIUM

313K
628K
SEA
CONDESER
303K

502K 320K

CONDENSATE
EXTRACTION PUMP

INTERMEDIATE
PRIMARY
SODIUM PUMP HEAT EXCHANGER

REACTOR HP HEATERS BOLER DEAERATOR LP HEATERS

FEED PUMP

PRIMARY SODIUM CIRCUIT STEAM WATER SYSTEM

Fig. 23.5  Flow diagram of the main heat transport system of the PFBR [38]

23.5.3.5  Advanced Heavy Water Reactor  The AHWR is a outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty due to its weapons
300 MWe, vertical, pressure tube-type, heavy water moderated, program, it has been for over three decades largely excluded from
boiling light water-cooled natural circulation reactor [39]. The fuel trade in nuclear plants or materials. This forced it into nuclear
consists of Th-Pu oxide and Th-U233 oxide pins. The fuel cluster energy self-sufficiency extending from uranium exploration and
is designed to generate nearly 65% of energy out of U-233, which mining through fuel fabrication, heavy water production, reactor
is bred in situ from thorium. In AHWR, minor actinides produced design and construction, to reprocessing and waste management.
in U-233 pins are much smaller in quantity as compared with those Now, foreign technology and fuel are expected to boost India’s
produced in Th-Pu pins. This shows the advantage of a thorium nuclear power plans considerably. All plants will have high
fuel cycle in this regard. indigenous engineering content. In the context of India’s nuclear
Advanced heavy water reactor has adopted the well-proven trade isolation over three decades, Larsen & Tubros (L&T), India’s
pressure tube technology. There are several passive safety systems largest engineering group, has produced heavy components for
for normal reactor operation, decay heat removal, emergency core PHWRs and has also secured contracts for 80% of the components
cooling, confinement of reactivity, etc. A number of major experi- for the FBR at Kalpakkam. It is qualified by the American Society
mental facilities have been built and planned to validate the new of Mechanical Engineers to fabricate nuclear-grade pressure
concepts used in AHWR. The core damage frequency targeted is vessels and core support structures, achieving this internationally
1 ´ 10-7 per year or less. Even though the AHWR is primarily recognized quality standard in 2007. L&T plans to produce
designed to work with U-233/Pu-Th MOX fuel, the design has the 600-ton ingots in its steel melt shop and has a very large press
flexibility to accept other fuel types. Figure 23.5a shows the sche- to supply finished forgings for nuclear reactors, pressurizers, and
matic arrangement of different systems in AHWR. steam generators. Other nuclear equipment manufacturers in India
India has also acquired considerable experience in thorium ir- include BHEL, Bharat Forge, HCC, etc.
radiation in research reactors and thorium also has been introduced The AERB, formed in 1983, is responsible for the regulation and
in PHWRs for initial flux flattening. With the sustained efforts over licensing of all nuclear facilities and their safety. To fulfill its mis-
years, India has acquired experience over all aspects of the thorium sion of stipulating and enforcing rules and regulations concerned
fuel cycle. An example is the KAMINI (Kalpakkam Mini) reactor with nuclear and radiological safety, AERB is in the process of
at IGCAR, perhaps the only reactor in the world that uses U-233 developing codes and guides for various aspects of nuclear reac-
as fuel. This fuel was bred, processed, and fabricated at Bhabha tor design. Reference [33]  provides some details of the design and
Atomic Research Center, Mumbai. construction codes followed in the Indian nuclear program. Design
of Indian PHWRs is based on ASME B&PV Code, Section III. In
23.5.3.6  International Collaborations and Availability of those cases where the code rules could not be met in letter, they have
Materials and Technical Knowledge  India has a flourishing been met in spirit by carrying out the required material characteri-
and largely indigenous nuclear power program. Because India is zation and component qualification tests. The in service inspection
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  23-13

Fig. 23.5a Simplified schematic arrangement of the AHWR [39]

program follows a combined philosophy of ASME Code Section BN-800 reactor, which is now under construction. The new tech-
XI and the Canadian Code CSA/N281.5-05. Design of the concrete nical solutions are based on the substantial positive experience in
containment is based on the French Code RCC-G. To avoid a mix- operating fast reactors in Russia (~125 reactor years), specifically
ture of codes, AERB is in the process of writing its own codes. It the BN-600 reactor. The innovations make it possible not only to
has already published five Safety Codes, 45 Safety Guides covering solve strategic problems, such as increasing safety, improving ecol-
various aspects of nuclear power plants, and 51 other safety support ogy (including burning actinides), and non-proliferation but also to
documents. A few others are in various stages of preparation. make large improvements in economic performance.
The development of BN-1800 is based on the maximum pos-
23.5.4 Russia sible use of tested solutions, implemented in BN-350, -600, and
Following recent information from the literature [40], Russia -800 reactors and the use of new technical solutions that increase
has significant experience with sodium-cooled reactors. The BN- safety and cost effectiveness. The following technical solutions
350 prototype FBR generated power in Kazakhstan for 27 years (to have been tested:
1999), and about half of its 1000 MWt output was used for water
desalination. It used uranium enriched to 17% to 26%. Its design ·  three-loop scheme for the power generating unit, sodium in
life was 20 years, and after 1993, it operated on the basis of an the first and second loops, working body water/steam;
annual license renewal. Russia’s BOR-60 was the demonstration ·  integrated arrangement of the first (radioactive) loop with the
model preceding it. main and backup vessels.
The construction of the first BN-800 reactor is well under way.
It has improved features including fuel flexibility — U+Pu ni- 23.5.4.1  Economic Performance  Economic performance is
tride, MOX, or metal, and with breeding ratios up to 1.3. However, improved by the following:
during the plutonium disposition campaign, it will be operated ·  increasing the power;
with a breeding ratio of less than one. It has enhanced safety and ·  increasing the efficiency of the steam-power cycle up to 45.5%
improved economy — operating cost is expected to be only 15% to 47% by increasing the coolant temperature in the three loops,
more than VVER. It is capable of burning up to 2 tons of plutonium using the working body in the third loop with trans-critical
per year from dismantled weapons and will test the recycling of mi- pressure, using schemes with sodium intermediate superheat-
nor actinides in the fuel. In 2009, two BN-800 reactors were sold to ing of steam, and optimizing the construction and layout of the
China, with construction due to start in 2011. turbine system;
The BN-1800 is next in this development chain. This power ·  increasing the rated service life of the power-generating unit
generating unit is designed to meet the requirements of the strat- up to 60 year, increasing the service life of the replaceable
egy for developing atomic energy in Russia in the first half of equipment by a factor of 1.5–2 compared with that achieved
the 21st century. The development time is the next 15 years, and in BN-600;
construction could start after 2020. The design includes the de- ·  increasing the time interval between re-loadings to 1.5 to 2 years
velopment of advanced technical solutions as compared with the and reaching an installed capacity utilization factor of 0.9.
23-14  •  Chapter 23

23.5.4.2  Safety  Safety is improved by using safety systems CEA for the R&D. It was followed by the preliminary design and
based on a passive principle of action: implementing a system then a detailed design by a Chinese design team. The third phase
for emergency cool down with natural circulation in all loops, (1993–2006) of the R&D activities was concentrated on the CEFR
developing passively actuating (based on a change in flow rate design demonstration. Nearly 50 subjects were proposed from the
and temperature at the exit from the core) systems for influencing conceptual, preliminary and even the detailed design. For the re-
the reactivity, passively actuating systems for protection from an cent and near-term R&D activities of fast reactor technology, the
increase in pressure in the first and second loops, optimizing safety emphasis of their efforts is as follows:
systems that localize the consequences of the chemical activity
(1)  Use the CEFR as a tool to verify the computer codes used
of the coolant (systems for automatic protection of the steam
for the CEFR design and to be used for the prototype and
generator, quenching sodium fires).
demonstration of a fast reactor, which have the same main
technical selections.
23.5.4.3 Proliferation Resistance  Proliferation resistance is (2)  The CEFR is a model for studying CEFR safety properties.
increased by the following processes: (3)  Research to support the safe operation of the CEFR.
·  using nitride fuel, which permits satisfying the conditions that (4)  Applied research for the following fast reactor prototype or
are important for safety (core breeding ratio — about 1); demonstration, including the establishment of rigs and fa-
·  sodium void effect over the core as a whole (about zero), cilities for models that test key components and systems, as
achieving nitride-fuel burnup 13% h.a. and higher; well as research related to the simplification of the systems.
·  implementing a cost-effective fuel cycle, which permits burning (5)  R&D for an advanced SFR system mainly including an innova-
actinides, and technological support for the non-proliferation tive SFR concept, reactor design and safety features, advanced
regimen — elimination of the fuel-cycle stage where plutonium fuel cycle strategy, and new technology and new materials.
is separated in a pure form.
23.5.6 Europe
In Europe, particularly in France, strong interest in SFRs already
23.5.5 China
exists. With respect to industrial application, the Superphenix was
According to recent information [41], basic research on fast re- the most important plant. Also in Germany, a fast sodium breeder
actor technology in China was started in the mid-1960s and con- reactor existed (SNR 300 in Table 23.6). However, this plant never
tinued for approximately 20 years. During this period, there was went into operation. Currently, several fast reactor concepts are
no clear civilian nuclear power program in the country; thus, little being considered in Europe as shown in Figure 23.6. The SFR is
manpower and few resources were devoted to this research area. In considered as the reference technology.
1986, the National High-Tech Program was launched, and fast re- Sodium as a coolant has several advantages: high conductivity,
actor technology development was brought into line with this pro- liquid from 98 up to 883°C at a pressure of 1 bar, low viscosity,
gram. An applied basic research project was executed until 1993 compatible with steels, industrial fluid, and low cost. The main
with an engineering target of a 60 MW experimental fast reactor. It disadvantages of sodium are its reactivity with air and water and
was considered to fully meet the requirements of the reactor design the fact that it is opaque. Lead is basically a good coolant showing
and safety analysis. The conceptual design of the China Experi- no reactivity with air and water, but it is corrosive, it is toxic, has
mental Fast Reactor (CEFR) was a 65 MW reactor matched with a very high density and it can become solid. Helium is consid-
a 20 MW turbine generator and was finished in 1993, as a result ered as an inert and transparent alternative having no temperature
of international cooperation with the Russian FBR Association for constraints. However, helium has low density and a high pressure
the technical design of the CEFR main systems and with France reactor concept is needed. Current ongoing research, design, and

Fig. 23.6 European perspective concerning fast reactors [42]

 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  23-15

prototype projects shall provide the basis for the future fast reactor gram was funded from 1984 to 1994. One of the products of this
plant concept chosen. program was the PRISM reactor design [45,46].
In France, the SFR is the candidate prototype of a Generation IV PRISM is an advanced fast neutron spectrum reactor plant design
system to be built as early as 2020. This project is called ASTRID with passive reactor shutdown, passive shutdown heat removal,
and mixed oxide fuel (U, Pu) O2 is considered the reference fuel and passive reactor cavity cooling. The reactor supports a sustain-
for the core of this reactor [43]. The core design of French ad- able and flexible fuel cycle to consume transuranic elements within
vanced sodium-cooled fast reactors is mainly driven by safety, the fuel as it generates electricity. The essence of the reactor tech-
competitiveness, and flexibility margins compared with previous nology is a reactor core housed within a 316 stainless steel reactor
SFR projects. Performance objectives include improvement of vessel. Liquid sodium is circulated within the reactor vessel and
safety features, flexible management of plutonium (optimization of through the reactor core by four electromagnetic pumps suspended
uranium resources) and transmutation of minor actinides (environ- from the reactor closure head. Two intermediate heat exchangers
mental burden decrease), high burnup rate, high operating avail- inside the reactor vessel remove heat for electrical generation.
ability, and proliferation resistance enhancement with integrated The PRISM technology is deployed as a power block with two
fuel cycle. The ASTRID prototype reactor will provide valuable reactors side by side supporting a single steam turbine generator
information about SFR-MOX fuel reprocessing that will help de- set. The plant is divided into two areas: the nuclear island (reactors
termine an industrial treatment process that can meet the Genera- through steam generators) and balance of plant (steam turbine to
tion IV objectives of economics, proliferation, waste minimization, generate electricity). The nuclear island is two reactors in separate
and safety. Metallic fuel and carbide fuel are being considered for containments, plus steam generators, and shared services, in a
long-term use. single, seismically isolated, partially buried building as depicted
Astrid is called a “self-generating” fast reactor rather than in the cutaway view of a PRISM reactor nuclear island shown in
a breeder in order to demonstrate low net plutonium production. Figure 23.7. Each reactor heats an intermediate coolant loop, send-
ASTRID is designed to meet the stringent criteria of the GIF in ing heat to a steam generator. Steam from the steam generators is
terms of safety, economy, and proliferation resistance. CEA plans combined and sent to the balance of plant, where a single turbine
to build this plant at Marcoule. generator produces electricity.
The Astrid program includes development of the reactor itself A draft Licensing Plan and preliminary Design Control Docu-
and associated fuel cycle facilities: a dedicated MOX fuel fabrica- ment (DCD) for the PRISM reactor were delivered to the US NRC
tion line (possibly in Japan) and a pilot reprocessing plant for used in May 2010.
ASTRID fuel. The program also includes a fabrication of fuel rods
containing actinides for transmutation (called Alfa), scheduled to
operate in 2023, though fuel containing minor actinides would not 23.6 VERY-HIGH-TEMPERATURE
be loaded for transmutation in ASTRID before 2025 [44]. GAS-COOLED REACTOR
23.5.7 United States The other type of advanced reactor for which former industrial
In 1983, DOE began the Advanced Liquid Metal Reactor experience exists is the (very) high-temperature gas cooled reactor.
(ALMR) program with a goal to increase the efficiency of uranium Past and current projects are listed in Table 23.9.
usage by breeding plutonium and create the condition wherein The main advantage of a VHTR is its capability to provide high-
transuranic isotopes would never leave the site. The ALMR pro- temperature heat for industrial processes. It is therefore primarily
considered as a technology for the production of CO2-free process
heat.
In the Generation IV roadmap, the VHTR was still assumed to
be operated with a direct cycle helium gas turbine and/or a heat
source for hydrogen production with thermochemical water splitting
(iodine- sulfur process). Lacking structural materials and economic
considerations led to a considerable change in the original project
parameters as discussed already in an earlier section. The VHTR has
a graphite core and it can be designed as a pebble bed or with pris-
matic blocks. Fuel for either core option utilizes the TRISO coated
fuel particles (Figure 23.8). The performance of both concepts is
comparable and therefore both designs are currently being pursued.

23.6.1 United States

The most significant Generation IV effort in the United States
is the Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) effort. This demon-
stration plant is expected to be operational in 2021.
In May 2004, the US DOE released a Request for Information
and Expressions of Interest on the NGNP, the objective of which
was “. . . to conduct research, development, and demonstration of
a next-generation nuclear power reactor in order to establish ad-
vanced technology for the future production of safe, efficient, and
environmentally acceptable power and to demonstrate the economic
Fig. 23.7 Cutaway view of a PRISM nuclear island and technical feasibility of such facilities to the US electric power
[45] industry.” President George W. Bush signed the Energy Policy
23-16  •  Chapter 23

Table 23.9 Past and present high-temperature gas-cooled reactors [Original work]

U.S. Europe Africa Asia

Past Peach Bottom and Fort St. AVR and THTR-300,
Vrain both prismatic (P) Germany, both pebble
bed (PB)
Cancelled PBMR (PB), South Africa
Operating HTR-10 (PB), China, HTTR
(P), Japan
Under construction HTR-PN (PB), China
Planned NGNP

Act of 2005 on August 8, 2005 (Public Law 109-58 2005), creat- mercial LWR technology. Next Generation Nuclear Plants will
ing the Next Generation Nuclear Plant project. The law instructed use new, high-temperature, gas-cooled reactor technologies to
that DOE shall establish the Next Generation Nuclear Plant project, produce energy that is able to run both a primary and a secondary
with a prototype to be sited at Idaho National Laboratory. The cen- industrial application — for example, generating electricity while
terpiece is to be the development of reactor, fuel, and associated supporting petroleum refining or bio- and synthetic-fuel produc-
technology for the production of hydrogen as well as electricity. tion through the provision of hydrogen and/or the provision of
The DOE and the NRC submitted a joint NGNP licensing strategy process heat.
to the US Congress in 2008. About 40% of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions come
R&D specific to NGNP mentioned in the Energy Policy Act from industrial processes in high-energy consuming sectors. With
(2005) and conducted to date is based on the gas-cooled VHTR NGNP systems, the process heat or steam generated by the high-
concept promulgated in the Generation IV technology roadmap. temperature nuclear reactors will be used to power applications
The VHTR system uses a thermal neutron spectrum and a once- such as power generation using advanced highly efficient turbines;
through uranium cycle. The VHTR system is primarily aimed at plastics manufacturing; petroleum refining and fuels production;
relatively faster deployment of a system for high-temperature pro- and producing ammonia for fertilizer. By integrating energy gen-
cess heat applications, such as coal gasification and thermochemi- eration and production operations, NGNP technologies will allow
cal hydrogen production, with superior efficiency. The reference high energy consuming industries and sectors to reduce carbon
reactor concept has a 600-MWt helium-cooled core based on ei- dioxide emissions, limit their need for fossil fuels, and become
ther the prismatic block fuel of the Gas Turbine–Modular Helium more competitive. The basic technology for the NGNP has been
Reactor (GT-MHR) or the pebble fuel of the PBMR. The primary established in former high-temperature gas-cooled reactor plants
circuit is connected to a steam reformer/steam generator to deliver shown in Table 23.9.
process heat. The VHTR system has coolant outlet temperatures After studying a variety of options, DOE determined that a high-
at 1000°C. It is intended to be a high-efficiency system that can temperature gas-cooled nuclear reactor (HTGR) with a 750°C to
supply process heat to a broad spectrum of high-temperature and 800°C outlet would best meet the operating parameters associated
energy-intensive, non-electric processes. The system may incorpo- with these objectives. DOE, through the Idaho National Labora-
rate electricity generation equipment to meet cogeneration needs. tory, has conducted design and trade studies with input from the
NGNP is envisioned to extend the application of nuclear energy commercial industry to define the gross operating parameters of
into the broader industrial and transportation sectors, reducing fuel the NGNP so that it will be (1) capable of generating process heat
use and pollution and improving on the safety of existing com- for electricity and/ or hydrogen production, or for other uses and
(2) configured for low technical and safety risk with highly reliable
operations. The target core outlet temperature of 750°C to 800°C
associated with the NGNP design would be capable of meeting
the needs of many industrial-process-heat end users. Studies con-
ducted to date can be accessed via the NGNP Web site [48].
The NGNP project includes R&D, design, licensing, and con-
struction activities conducted in two phases, leading to operation of
a NRC-licensed prototype Generation IV reactor and an associated
energy delivery system. Phase 1 is the phase that covers selecting
and validating the appropriate technology; carrying out enabling
research, development, and demonstration activities, determina-
tion of whether it is appropriate to combine electricity generation
and hydrogen production in a single prototype nuclear reactor and
plant and to carry out initial design activities for a prototype reac-
tor and plant, including development of design methods and safety
analytical methods and studies. Phase 2 is the phase that covers
development of a final design for the prototype nuclear reactor
Fig. 23.8 TRISO coated fuel particle [47] and plant through a competitive process; application of licenses
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  23-17

to construct and operate the prototype nuclear reactor from the US reactor vessel. The core barrel and graphite core are located in a
NRC and construction and start up operations for the prototype large pressure vessel.
nuclear reactor and its associated hydrogen or electricity produc- Helium gas enters the vessel near the bottom and flows up in the
tion facilities. Both phases include R&D and licensing activities. outer risers in the permanent graphite reflector blocks reaching
The prototype reactor should produce hydrogen and/or electric- the plenum above the core where the gas is forced down through
ity and could also demonstrate other uses for the high-tempera- the peb­bles and out the vessel to the secondary side of the plant. A
ture process heat generated by the reactor. The prototype reactor small portion of the gas in the top plenum flows down the openings
design would be generic enough that plants can be replicated at for the control rods, cooling them during operation. The helium
multiple sites within the United States. coolant is an inert noble gas that does not react with materials in
the core at high temperatures nor changes phase with temperature
23.6.1.1 Pebble Bed Version  One HTGR technology being increase. Further, because the pebbles and reactor core are made
examined by the NGNP is the pebble bed design based on a of refractory materials, they cannot melt and will degrade only at
fundamental fuel element, called a pebble, that is a graphite sphere the extremely high temperatures encountered in accidents (more
(6 cm in diameter- size of a tennis ball) containing about 15,000 than 1600 degrees C), a characteristic that affords a considerable
uranium oxide particles with a diameter of 1 mm (Figure 23.8). margin of operating safety. The graphite core structure represents a
The uranium oxide kernel is encased in a pressure vessel made large thermal capacitance combined with the low core power den-
of several high-density ceramic coatings. The strongest layer is a sity results in slow thermal transients. Because the pebbles form a
tough silicon carbide ceramic. This layer serves as a pressure vessel packed bed, the helium is distributed evenly through without the
to retain the products of nuclear fission during reactor operation need of flow channeling.
or accidental temperature excursions. Figure 23.9 illustrates the To re fuel the pebble core, pebbles pass through the bottom of
construction of a pebble. About 330,000 of these spherical fuel the graphite core and new pebbles are added at the top of the core.
pebbles are placed into a graphite core built from graphite blocks. This operation is performed continuously during reactor operations
In addition, as many as 100,000 unfueled graphite pebbles are allowing the reactor to stay on line. During operation, one pebble
used with the 330,000 fuel pebbles to shape the core’s power and is removed from the bottom of the core about once a minute as a
temperature distribution by spacing out the hot fuel pebbles. The replacement is placed on top. In this way, all the pebbles gradu-
graphite core is constructed from graphite blocks forming an open ally move down through the core like gumballs in a dispensing
cylindrical volume. An optional center graphite column can be machine, taking about six months to do so. This feature maintains
placed at the center of the void forming an annular core for the the optimum amount of fuel for operation without requiring excess
pebbles. The graphite acts: activity. It eliminates an entire class of excess-reactivity accidents
that can occur in current water-cooled reactors. Each expended
·  as a structure forming the core, pebble is measured to determine the remaining fuel and is stored.
·  as a neutron moderator and reflector, and The stored pebbles are recycled through the core until the remain-
·  as a solid heat absorber and conduction path to an ultimate ing nuclear fuel is below a minimum quantity. Also, the steady
heat sink in case of an accident. movement of pebbles through regions of high and low power pro-
duction means that each experiences less extreme operating condi-
The graphite core is restrained by lateral restraint straps to keep tions on average than do fixed fuel configurations, again adding
the graphite blocks compressed in a cylindrical structure. On the to the unit’s safety margin. After use, the spent pebbles must be
outside of the graphite core is a metallic core barrel that restrains placed in long-term storage repositories, the same way that spent
the core during an earthquake and acts as a thermal shield to the fuel rods are handled today.

Fig. 23.9 Pebble construction [49]

23-18  •  Chapter 23

23.6.1.2 Prismatic Core Version  The basic fuel element in estals or columns support each graphite column. The area between
a prismatic high-temperature gas-cooled reactor is a ceramic fuel the columns is the lower plenum. A metallic core barrel restrains the
particle approximately 1 mm in diameter. The spherical fuel particle graphite structure during seismic events and acts as a thermal heat
is a ceramic pressure vessel containing a uranium oxy-carbide shield for the reactor vessel. The graphite reactor structure is the
kernel. The ceramic pressure vessel retains the products of nuclear solid neutron moderator and reflector in the core. Graphite remains
fission during operation or accidental temperature excursions. The solid at temperatures well above those experienced during accidents.
particles are placed in a fuel compact typically containing 4000 to The graphite has a high heat capacity creating a large heat sink for
7000 particles. The fuel compacts are typically 12.7 mm in diameter the core in case of the accident. Further, the high heat capacity and
by 50 mm in length. The fuel compacts are pressed into channels low power density of the reactor core results in very slow and pre-
drilled into graphite blocks. There are 14 to 15 compacts in each dictable temperature transients.
channel. Graphite fuel blocks have 210 channels; thus, each fuel The reactor vessel contains the reactor core structure and shut-
block contains approximately 3126 compacts. down cooling system used for re fueling. Helium coolant enters near
The reactor core consists of an assembly of hexagonal prismatic the bottom of the reactor vessel and flows up the outside of the core
graphite blocks in annular configuration consisting of three annu- barrel to the plenum above the graphite core structure. Helium flows
lar rings (Figure 23.10). The center and outer portions of the core out of the plenum down through the coolant holes in the fuel blocks
are made from unfuelled graphite reflector blocks. The center ring to the lower plenum and out the vessel. The outer and inner reflector
contains the active ring of graphite fuel element blocks. The outer has no helium flow with all convection cooling occurring in the ac-
reflector blocks have full core height channels for control rods. tive core. A considerable margin of safety is gained by the use of the
Some of the fuel blocks also contain full height vertical channels inert noble gas helium as the coolant. The gas does not react with the
for control rods and the reserve shut down system. The reserve reactor core materials at high temperatures encountered in accidents
shut down system uses ceramic-coated boron carbide pellets using (>1600°C). The helium coolant does not moderate neutron; its use
gravity to fill the channels upon activation. Inherent in the design does not add or subtract reactivity.
of high-temperature gas reactors (both prismatic and pebble bed Refueling the core is handled remotely using a re fueling machine
core designs) is the ability to shut down the reactor during an acci- located above the reactor vessel. A lever arm is attached to an ex-
dent. As the core heats during an accident, the inherent large nega- tendable shaft lowered through an opening in the reactor vessel into
tive temperature coefficient stops the chain reaction in the active the core. The grapple on the end of the lever arm interfaces with the
core effectively shutting down the reactor. graphite block. Each block is then transferred to a lift station (anoth-
The active core is 10 blocks high with 102 fuel columns. With the er extendable shaft into reactor vessel) where it is pulled up into the
inner and outer reflector blocks, the physical graphite reactor struc- shielded re fueling machine. The shielded re fueling machine then
ture is 6.83 meters in diameter and 13.59 meters high. Graphite ped- takes the block to adjacent dry storage. The remaining fuel blocks

Fig. 23.10 Core design of a prismatic high-temperature reactor [50]

 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  23-19

are distributed in the core to control power peaking and flux profile Table 23.11 Performance data of the Chinese
in the core. The fuel cycle is a once through, three-year cycle with HTR-PM [54]
one-half of the active core re fueled every 20 months.
Reactor module numbers 2
23.6.1.3  Secondary Side of Prismatic or Pebble Bed Reactors 
Thermal power/module 250 MWt
The helium coolant leaving the reactor vessel can be used for
process heat as well as electricity generation. A direct Brayton Lifetime 40 years
cycle can use the reactor coolant in a high-temperature gas
Core diameter/height 3.0 / 11m
turbine. An indirect Rankine cycle requires a steam generator to
transfer heat from the helium coolant to produce steam. Typical Primary system pressure 7.0 MPa
efficiencies of the two cycles depend on the outlet temperature of
Helium inlet/outlet temperature 250°C / 750°C
reactor. At a 700°C reactor outlet temperature, the Rankine cycle
can achieve approximately 40% efficiency. At a higher reactor Helium mass flow rate 96 kg / second
outlet temperature of 900°C, the Brayton cycle efficiency is
Fresh steam temperature/pressure 566 °C / 13.2 MPa
approximately 47%. Transferring heat for industrial applications
requires unique and custom design of heat exchangers to interface Electric power 210 MWe
with the industrial application.

23.6.2 South Africa On March 13, 2010, long-term (50 days) full power operation
The South African PBMR started in 1999 with the development of HTTR at a reactor outlet coolant temperature of about 950°C
of a direct Brayton cycle plant for electricity generation and low was successfully completed, and various performance data was
temperature cogeneration applications such as desalination. The obtained. Main future demonstration activities will go toward in-
plan was to build a demonstration plant called the DPP400 at Es- dustrialization of the I-S hydrogen process and a HTGR cascade
kom’s Koeberg site and the RSA national utility Eskom was the energy plant for 79% efficient production of hydrogen, electricity
targeted customer. This plant was designed to generate 165 MW and freshwater. A nuclear commercial hydrogen production plant
of electricity using a 400-MWt annular core pebble bed reactor is envisaged by 2030.
coupled to a direct Brayton cycle power conversion unit.
23.6.4 South Korea
During the last few years, growing interest in HTRs for high-tem-
perature process heat or cogeneration applications became visible. The South Korean NHDD project intends to build a VHTR for
Particularly, the US NGNP could become the first customer for a hydrogen production. No decision has been taken with respect to
pebble bed plant of this type. As a result of these developments and core design (prismatic block or pebble bed). The gas outlet tem-
also of national funding problems, the board of PBMR decided to perature is expected to be 950°C, and the reactor power should be
change to an indirect steam plant that could be used for electric- 200 MWt. A cold reactor vessel option is being considered. Hydro-
ity generation and/or process heat. The most recent plant design is gen shall be produced in a five-train sulfur-iodine thermo-chemical
based on a 2 ´ 250-MWt reactor layout where each reactor has its plant. Technology selection should be finished by 2012, and start-
own primary cooling circuit and steam generator. On the secondary ing of operation of the demonstration plant is scheduled for 2026.
side, the steam generators are connected to a common steam header.
Although the project advanced quite far, the South African govern- 23.6.5 China
ment, in September of 2010, decided to stop funding the effort. China built a pebble bed type of demonstrator (HTR-10) that is
based on the former German experience. The HTR-10 experience shall
23.6.3 Japan be used for the new HTR-PM demonstration plant [53]. The HTR-PM
A demonstration plant for a prismatic core is in operation in Ja- plant will consist of two nuclear steam supply systems. Each of these
pan (HTTR) [51]. This system was originally designed as a heat modules consists of a single zone 250 MWt pebble-bed modular reac-
source for hydrogen production with the thermochemical iodine- tor and a steam generator. The two modules feed one steam turbine
sulfur process [52]. The main parameters of the plant are summa- and will generate 210 MW of electric power. A pilot fuel production
rized in Table 23.10. line will be built to fabricate 300,000 pebble fuel elements per year.
This line is closely based on the technology of the HTR-10 fuel.
The main performance data of the HTR-PM is listed in Ta-
Table 23.10 Characteristics of the Japanese ble 23.11.
HTTR [51]

Thermal power 30 MWt

23.7 OTHER GENERATION IV SYSTEMS
Fuel coated fuel particle/prismatic
block type In contrast to the SFR and VHTR systems, only little to no ex-
perience exists with industrial plants for the other Generation IV
Core material graphite systems. Projects for these reactor types are currently in a concep-
Coolant helium tual or preliminary design phase.

Inlet temperature 395°C 23.7.1 Lead-Cooled Fast Reactor (LFR)

Outlet temperature 950°C (max.) Designs of LFRs are closely related to the SFR. The experience
with reactors having lead or lead bismuth as coolants is by far, less
Pressure 4 MPa established than with SFRs. Russia has experimented with several
23-20  •  Chapter 23

Table 23.12 Key design data of GIF LFR

concepts [17]

Parameter / system SSTAR ELSY

Power (MWe) 19.8 600
Conversion ratio ≈~
~1 ~
~1
Thermal efficiency (%) 44 42
Primary coolant lead lead
Primary coolant natural natural
circulation
(at power)
Primary coolant natural natural
circulation for
decay heat removal
Core inlet 420 400
temperature (°C)
Core outlet 567 480
Fig. 23.11 Small secure transportable autono- temperature (°C)
mous reactor (SSTAR) [17]
Fuel nitrides MOX, (nitrides)
Fuel cladding Si-enhanced F/M T91 (aluminized)
lead-cooled reactor designs and has used lead-bismuth cooling for 40 material stainless steel
years in reactors for its Alfa class submarines. A significant new Rus-
sian design is the BREST fast neutron reactor, of 300 MWe or more Peak cladding 650 550
with lead as the primary coolant, at 540°C, and super-critical steam temperature (°C)
generators. A pilot unit is planned at Beloyarsk and 1200 MWe units Fuel pin 25 10.5
are proposed. A smaller and newer Russian design is the Lead-Bis- diameter (mm)
muth Fast Reactor (SVBR) of 75–100 MWe. This is an integral de-
sign, with the steam generators sitting in the same Pb-Bi pool at 400°C Active core height/ 0.976 / 1.22 0.9 / 4.32
to 495°C as the reactor core, which could use a wide variety of fuels. equivalent
Rosatom, the Russian Nuclear Energy State Corporation, has diameter (m)
put forward two fast reactor implementation options for a govern- Primary pumps – Eight pumps,
ment decision in relation to the Advanced Nuclear Technologies mechanical,
Federal Program 2010–2020. The first focuses on a lead-cooled integrated in the
fast reactor such as BREST with its fuel cycle. The second scenario steam generator
assumes parallel development of fast reactors with lead, sodium
and lead-bismuth coolants and their associated fuel cycles. The Working fluid supercritical CO2 at water-superheated
second scenario is viewed as the most favored, since it is believed 20 MPa, 552°C steam at 18 MPa,
to involve lower risks than the first one. 450°C
If implemented it would result in technical designs of the Gen- Primary /secondary Four Pb-to-CO2 heat Eight Pb-to-H2O
eration IV reactor and associated closed fuel cycles technologies heat transfer system exchangers steam generators
by 2013, and a technological basis of the future innovative nuclear
energy system featuring the Generation IV reactors working in Safety grade decay reactor vessel air reactor vessel air
closed fuel cycles by 2020. heat removal cooling system cooling system
Interest in the LMR technology exists also in other countries plus multiple plus four direct
like the EU, as indicated already earlier in the SFR-section. One direct reactor reactor cooling
design project is the small secure transportable autonomous reactor cooling systems systems plus four
(SSTAR) [55]  shown in Figure 23.11 with mixed uranium-pluto- secondary loops
nium nitride fuel [17]. The other design project is the European systems
lead-cooled system (ELSY) [56]  with MOX fuel (design data see
Table 23.12) [17].
this system, which has never been built before. ALLEGRO shall
23.7.2 Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor (GFR) incorporate (on a reduced scale) all of the architecture of a GFR,
An experimental demonstration reactor (ALLEGRO) [57]  is excluding the power conversion system. It shall contain main
currently planned in the EU as already indicated above. It should materials and components foreseen later for an industrial GFR.
be built in the coming decade. It will have a thermal power of The safety principles are those proposed for GFRs: core cooling
around 80 MW and it will not produce any electric energy. Its through gas circulation in all situations and ensuring a minimum
main purpose is the demonstration of the technical feasibility of pressure level in case of leaks. This is done with a specific guard
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  23-21

PWRs, plans for a demonstration plant are not very far developed.
Several design options using pressure vessel and pressure tube
technologies are currently under consideration with the aim of pro-
viding a spectrum of possibilities for consideration for the next
generation of water-cooled reactor technology. These design op-
tions are being used to define high priority R&D areas and will
contribute to the definition of a future design that will improve and
optimize all GIF metrics.
The SCWR system is primarily designed for efficient electricity
production, with an option for actinide management based on two
options in the core design: the SCWR may have a thermal or fast-
spectrum reactor and a closed cycle with a fast-spectrum reactor and
full actinide recycle option based on advanced aqueous processing
at a central location. Figure 23.13 shows a schematic of a “super fast
LWR” that has been developed by the University of Tokyo.

23.7.4 Molten Salt Reactor

The MSR projects are also primarily in a conceptual design
phase. Two options of a MSR are currently being considered [21]:
the thermal version of the AHTR and the MSFR.
The defining aspects of an AAHTR are the use of coated particle
fuel embedded within a graphitic matrix cooled by liquid fluoride salt
[58]. A Pebble Bed Advanced high-temperature Reactor (PB-AHTR)
operating at ~900 MWt is the most actively developing commercial
scale plant design [59]. The plant design is currently transitioning
from a conceptual to an initial engineering scoping phase.

Fig. 23.12 Proposed GFR arrangement [18]

containment. The ALLEGRO demonstrator (Figure 23.12) will

also support the development and qualification of an innovative
refractory fuel element that can operate at the envisioned high
reactor temperatures.
The reactor pressure vessel is a large metallic structure (inner
diameter 7.3 m, overall height 20 m, weight about 1000 tons, and
thickness of 20 cm in the belt line region). The material selected, a
martensitic 9Cr1Mo steel (industrial grade T91, containing 9% by
mass chromium, and 1% by mass molybdenum) undergoes negligible
creep at the operating temperature (400°C). The reference mate-
rial for the internals is either 9Cr stainless steel or SS316LN.
The primary arrangement is based on three main loops (3 × 800
MWt), each fitted with one IHX–blower unit, enclosed in a single
vessel.
This single component limits the consequence of a simultaneous
rupture of the first and second safety barrier (fuel cladding and the
primary system).
Specific loops for decay heat removal in case of emergency are
directly connected to the primary circuit using a cross duct piping
in extension of the pressure vessel. They are additionally equipped
with heat exchangers and forced convection cooling.
This system arrangement allows for the extraction of the residual
power in any accident condition. Additionally, a passive natural
gas circulation system can be used in most cases due to the low
pressure drop of the core design [18].

23.7.3 Super Critical Water Reactor

The SCWR is a water-cooled reactor that operates above the ther-
modynamic critical point. Although the SCWR builds on current Fig. 23.13 Super fast LWR (schematic) [20]
23-22  •  Chapter 23

Table 23.13 Reference design characteristics of the MSFR [21]

Thermal power (MWt) 3000

233 233
Fuel molten salt composition (mo1%) LiF-ThF4– UF4 or LiF-ThF4– UF4– (Pu-MA)F3 with LiF = 77.5 mol%
Fertile blanket molten salt composition (mol%) LiF-ThF4 (77.5–22.5)
Melting point (°C) 550
Operating temperature (°C) 700–800
233
Initial inventory (kg) U-started MSFR TRU-started MSFR
233
Th U Th Actinide
38300 5060 30600 Pu 11200
Np 800
Am 680
Cm 115
3
Density (g/cm ) 4.1
Dilatation coefficient (/°C) 10–3
Core dimensions (m) Radius: 1.15
Height: 2.30
Fuel salt volume (m3) 18
9 out of the core
9 in the core
Blanket salt volume (m3) 8
Thorium consumption (ton/year) 1.112
233
U production (kg/year) 93(233U-started MSFR)
188 during 20 years then 93 (TRU-started MSFR)
Breeding ratio (233U-started MSFR) 1.085

Starting from the ORNL Molten Salt Breeder Reactor project 23.8.1 Fuel and Fuel Cycle
(MSBR), an innovative concept has been proposed, resulting from In a once-through fuel cycle, the spent fuel consisting of pluto-
extensive parametric studies in which various core arrangements, nium, uranium, neptunium, minor actinides (americium and curium),
reprocessing performances and salt compositions were investigated. and fission products is disposed of in a final repository. In case of
The primary feature of the MSFR concept is the removal of the fuel reprocessing, uranium and plutonium are separated. Only the
graphite moderator from the core (graphite-free core). still usable portion of uranium is recycled and the rest are disposed
In the USA, a PB-AHTR (900 MWt) is being actively devel- of. Separation can be done either chemically (liquid extraction) or
oped. A research, development and demonstration roadmap is un- electro-metallurgically. High amounts of uranium are lost this way
der study for component testing to support a PB-AHTR prototype and plutonium together with the minor actinides are the long-living
scale plant and a development path for the structural materials is be- elements in the nuclear waste. Additionally, plutonium bears a prolif-
ing established. In Europe, since 2005, R&D on MSR has been fo- eration risk. Fast reactors can operate with mixed fuel containing ura-
cused on fast spectrum concepts (MSFR) that have been recognized nium, plutonium, and minor actinides that allows fuel cycles where
as long-term alternatives to solid-fuelled fast neutron reactors with only the fission products remain as waste. This means that the uranium
attractive features (very negative feedback coefficients, smaller fis- resources last for a very long period of time and nuclear waste would
sile inventory, easy in service inspection, and simplified fuel cycle). no longer contain long-living products as shown in Figure 23.14.
MSFR designs are available for breeding and for MA burning. The Basically, there are two routes for fuel treatment being considered.
MSFR design characteristics are shown in Table 23.13. Separate U and Pu (as already done) or separate U and Pu but also
separate the minor actinides and produce mixed fuel. Weapon grade
plutonium remains separate in this process chain until mixing, which
23.8 Technical challenges is considered a proliferation risk. Therefore, concepts are under de-
velopment to separate uranium, plutonium, neptunium, and the minor
Main technical challenges for advanced reactors are fuel, fuel actinides in one-step, where plutonium does not appear as a separate
cycle (high level waste), and structural materials able to operate fraction. The two concepts are summarized in Figure 23.15.
safely over a long period of time (60 years and more) under very The fuel and fuel cycle options for the different plants are com-
demanding exposure conditions. prehensively described for the different reactor types in [61]  in the
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  23-23

Fig. 23.14 Influence of advanced fuel cycle on life-time and radio-toxicity of high level waste (ALI :
annual limit on intake) [60]

respective sections: VHTR, SFR, LFR, SCWR, GFR, and MSR.

The Global Actinide Cycle International Demonstration (GACID)
[60] project shall demonstrate that the SFR can manage effec­tively
all actinide elements in the fuel cycle, including uranium, pluto-
nium, and minor actinides (neptunium, americium and curium).

23.8.1.1  Advanced Recycling Center (ARC)  The ARC starts

with the separations of spent nuclear fuel into three components: (1)
uranium that can be used in CANDU reactors or re-enriched for use in
LWRs; (2) fission products (with a shorter half-life) that are stabilized
in glass or metallic form for geologic disposal; and (3) actinides [the
long-lived radioactive material in spent nuclear fuel (SNF)]  that are
used as fuel in the Advanced Recycling Reactor (ARR).
The electrometallurgical process is proposed to perform sepa-
rations. This process uses electric current passing through a salt
bath to separate the components of SNF. A major advantage of this
process is that it is a dry process (the processing materials are sol-
ids at room temperature). This significantly reduces the risk of in-
advertent environmental releases. Additionally, unlike traditional
aqueous MOX separations technology, electrometallurgical sepa-
rations does not generate separated pure plutonium making elec-
Fig. 23.15 Concepts for advanced fuel recy- trometallurgical separations more proliferation resistant.
cling. Option 1 consists of two aqueous separa- The actinide fuel (including elements such as plutonium, ameri-
tion steps where U, Pu, and Np are extracted in cium, neptunium, and curium) manufactured from the separations
one stage and the minor actinides are extracted step is then used in PRISM to produce electricity in a conventional
in another stage. The GANEX process releases U, steam turbine. Figure 23.16 shows a schematic of the ARC. The so-
Pu, and the minor actinides in one process step. dium coolant in the PRISM or ‘burner’ reactor allows the neutrons
For both options, only the fission products (FP) to have a higher energy, converting them into shorter-lived fission
have to be disposed [60] products. An ARC is proposed to consist of an electrometallurgical
23-24  •  Chapter 23

Fig. 23.16 Schematic of the advanced recycling center ARC [62]

separations plant and three power blocks of 622 MWe each for a progressively in the FBRs to initiate the third stage of the program,
total of 1866 MWe [62]. where the U-233 bred in these reactors is to be used in the thorium-
Besides the well-known oxide fuel, other types like carbides, ni- based reactors [35]. The proposed roadmap for the third stage therefore
trides, or metallic fuel options are currently considered as options. comprises thorium-based reactor technologies, incorporating the
(Th-U-233) cycle. India is one of the leading countries in the world
23.8.1.2  Other Fuel Cycles in thorium research and has gained that experience through thorium
irradiation and the operation of U-233 fuelled research reactors.
23.8.1.2.1  Thorium Cycle  As alternatives to uranium/plutonium
based fuels, thorium fuel cycles are being explored to become 23.8.1.2.2  Molten Salt  A totally different type of fuel is used in
independent from the uranium supply. India has envisioned robust MSRs. Here fuel and cooling are the same medium. Table 23.14
thorium reactor technologies as a promising sustainable future energy lists the different salts that are currently being considered.
resource for that country. Studies indicate that once the FBR capacity Included are also molten salt options as primary coolant of the
reaches about 200 GWe, thorium-based fuel can be introduced AHTR and as an intermediate coolant for the SFR.

Table 23.14  Fuel and coolant salts for different applications (An MEANS ACTINIDES) [21]

Reactor type Neutron Spectrum Application Carrier Salt Fuel System

7 7
MSR breeder thermal fuel LiF-BeF2 Lif-BeF2-ThF4-UF4
7 7
non-moderated fuel LiF-ThF4 LiF-ThF4-UF4
7
LiF-ThF4-PuF3
MSR breeder thermal / non-moderated secondary coolant NaF-NaBF4
MSR burner fast fuel LiF-Naf LiF-(NaF)-AnF4-AnF3
LiF-(NaF)-BeF2 LiF-(NaF)-BeF2-AnF4-AnF3

LiF-NaF-ThF4
7
AHTR thermal primary coolant LiF-BeF2
SFR intermediate coolant NaNO3-KNO3-(NaNO2)
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  23-25

Table 23.15 List of several structural materials considered for advanced nuclear

reactor systems [63]

Alloy Class Description

Ferritic-martensitic steels (e.g., HT9,T91, Iron-based bcc steels, typically containing 2.25-12% wt% chromium for those used in vari-
NF616, HCM12A, ODS steels) ous nuclear applications. These steels have high thermal conductivity, and good resistance
to radiation induced void swelling, and low thermal expansion coefficients. They are limited
by creep strength and maximum service temperature. Ferritic alloys with higher chromium
contents have higher strength at high temperatures. Oxide-dispersion-strengthened (ODS)
variants are designed to add strength while retaining other good properties.
Austenitic stainless steels (e.g., PNC316, Iron-based fcc steels containing 16-25wt% chromium. These steels have higher strength and
Inconel 800H) better corrosion resistance than ferritic-martensitic steels but are typically limited by void
swelling resistance under irradiation and have some susceptibility to stress-corrosion
cracking in water-cooled nuclear systems.
Nickel-based alloys (e.g., IN617, HA230, Nickel-based alloys that have the greatest high-temperature strength, creep strength and
X-750, IN600, IN718, IN792LC) corrosion resistance for alloys in the Fe-Cr-Ni system. These alloys have not typically been
considered for in-core applications with exposure to significant neutron damage because of
radiation embrittlement. These alloys have some susceptibility to stress-corrosion cracking in
water-cooled nuclear systems.
Ceramics and ceramic composites Ceramics and ceramic composites are considered for applications at temperatures above
(e.g., C, SiC, SiC/C, SiC/SiC) those where metals can be used. Ceramic composites have improved ductility under tension
as compared to pure ceramics.

steel is certainly the best-suited material (as far as high-tempera-

23.8.2 Structural Materials ture strength is concerned) but material uniformity through thick
This subsection will concentrate on structural materials, including sections and welding issues are concerns. This steel belongs to the
fuel cladding. The main structural components besides cladding are class of martensitic 9-12% Cr. The development and the properties
the reactor pressure vessel, core and core support materials, interme- of these steels are described in [65]. Generally, the microstructures
diate heat exchanger, steam generator and piping. There are many of the 9% to and 12% Cr steels are designed by balancing austenite
requirements for all of these nuclear reactor structural materials: and ferrite stabilizers to produce 100% austenite during austeniti-
zation and 100% martensite during a normalizing (air-cooling) or
·  The material must be available, affordable, and it must have quenching treatment following austenitization.
good fabrication and joining properties. The superior high temperature and corrosion behavior together
·  Cladding and ducts/piping must possess low neutron absorption. with the relatively moderate costs made this class of materials at-
·  The materials must have good elevated temperature mechani- tractive for several high-temperature applications. For martensitic
cal properties, including creep resistance, long-term stability, steels developed in 1970–1985 (to which grade 91 steel belongs),
and compatibility with the reactor coolant. carbon, niobium, and vanadium were optimized, nitrogen (0.03%-
·  Materials used in a high-energy and high-intensity neutron
field must be resistant to irradiation-induced property changes
(radiation hardening and embrittlement, swelling, phase insta-
bilities, creep, and helium-induced embrittlement).
A summary of the materials considered for Generation IV ap-
plications is given in Table 23.15 [63].

23.8.2.1 Pressure Boundaries  Reactor pressure vessel steels

and other pressure bearing components for LWRs are low alloy steels
with good weldability and high fracture toughness. A disadvantage
of this well-established class of materials is the inability to develop
a creep resistant microstructure. For hot vessel options, alternative
materials have to be considered. They must have more elements
for solid solution strengthening and precipitate forming.
Figure 23.17 shows a comparison of the allowable stresses for
1000 hours [64]. This means that for higher temperatures, the
1000-hour stress rupture data was used. The steep drop of grade A
508 (which is the conventional low alloy RPV steel) that is a result Fig. 23.17 Allowable Stress Values for Repre-
of missing creep properties can be seen. For more than 1000 hours, sentative RPV-Steels (1000 hrs stress rupture
the effect becomes much more pronounced. The mod 9Cr-1Mo data) [64]
23-26  •  Chapter 23

vessel applications. Negligible creep, creep-fatigue interactions,

cyclic softening, and the necessity to produce large welded ves-
sels for more than 60 years design life need still more informa-
tion about this materials than currently available. The less creep
resistant 2¼ Cr-1Mo is sometimes considered as an alternative.
Figure 23.18 gives an impression about the dimensions of a RPV
for a VHTR [66]  resulting from the low power density of the core,
which is a major contributor to the passive safety feature of these
reactors. Castability, forgability, and weldability are the most im-
portant material properties with respect to manufacturing.
Creep resistant materials with good corrosion resistance and
superior high-temperature strength are also required for other ad-
vanced nuclear plant components.
Austenitic steels and super alloys (iron-based and nickel-based)
belong to this class. They have been significantly improved over
the last few decades similar to the ferritic-martensitic materials.
They are of high importance for several components that operate in
corrosive environments at elevated temperatures. They have some
problems to accommodate higher irradiation levels as shown in
the next section. Nevertheless, they are prime candidates for high-
temperature applications outside the irradiation environment, like
the intermediate heat exchanger for a VHTR, steam generator, or
turbo-machinery.

23.8.2.2  Cladding Materials  Cladding materials in advanced

reactors are exposed to an extremely challenging environment
including neutron irradiation, corrosion, and fuel interaction combined
with significant stresses. The specific conditions in advanced fast
reactors can subject cladding and duct/piping to doses of greater than
200 dpa within 5-7 years of operation. Such doses combined with
other environmental factors cause degradation of material properties.
Increase of ductile to brittle transition temperature (DBTT), helium
embrittlement, swelling, thermal creep, irradiation creep and
environmental damage by coolant-clad or fuel-clad interactions are
predominant damage mechanisms posing very challenging demands
on cladding materials. A summary of irradiation-induced damage
Fig. 23.18  Dimensions of a VHTR pressure vessel mechanisms is shown in Table 23.16 [67].
compared with a PWR vessel [66] Austenitic materials (iron-based and nickel-based) would be
candidates for high corrosion and high thermal creep resistance.
0.05%) was added, and the maximum operating temperature was However, they are extremely susceptible to irradiation-induced
increased to 593ºC. Although these steels have been extensively damage [68]. Figure 23.19 [69]  shows a comparison of the swell-
in use in the power-generation industry throughout the world, they ing behavior of materials with austenitic matrix and materials with
are still considered only as potential candidates for Generation IV ferritic-martensitic matrix. Results from ferritic-martensitic oxide

Table 23.16 Irradiation-induced types of damage [67]

Effect Consequence in Material Type of Degradation in Component

Displacement damage formation of point defect clusters and dislo- hardening, embrittlement
cation loops
Radiation-induced segregation diffusion of detrimental elements to grain embrittlement, grain boundary cracking
boundaries
Radiation-induced phase transitions formation of phases not expected according embrittlement, softening
to phase diagram, phase dissolution
Helium formation and diffusion void formation (inter- and intra-crystalline) embrittlement, creep type damage
Irradiation creep irreversible deformation deformation, reduction of creep life
Swelling volume increase due to defect clusters and local deformation, eventually residual
voids stresses
Irradiation-induced stress corrosion cracking grain boundary effects enhanced stress corrosion cracking
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  23-27

Figure 23.20 Microstructure of different fer-

ritic ODS materials [14]. a) Commercial alloy
PM2000. b) Commercial alloy PM2000 after severe
plastic deformation to produce nano-grains
(material from G. Korb [72]). c) Advanced ferritic
19% Cr ODS alloy (Japanese development [73])

Fig. 23.19 Swelling and embrittlement behavior mum properties. A typical representative for a ferritic ODS alloy
of different cladding materials re-plotted [69] is the commercial alloy PM2000 (Plansee), which is, however, no
longer produced (due to weak market demand). It contains Y2O3
particles with an average diameter of about 25 nanometer (nm)
dispersion strengthened materials (ODS) are also included. This [Figure 23.20 (a)]. Within the European Project EXTREMAT
class will be described later. [72], nano-grained PM2000 was produced by severe plastic de-
Besides irradiation-induced damage, helium related damage can formation (SPD). This process had, however, no influence on the
occur for fast spectra and particularly in fusion plants. Helium is dispersoid size.
a result of trans-mutant reactions. Helium diffuses to all kinds of A typical microstructure resulting from the SPD-process is
sinks: point defects, dislocations, and grain boundaries. Depend- shown in Figure 23.20 (b). In recent years, advances in under­
ing on its concentration, it can form intra granular as well as inter standing the mechanical alloying process have resulted in the de-
granular clusters and bubbles. Helium bubbles at the grain bounda- velopment of the advanced ODS ferritic alloy, known as 14YWT
ries considerably reduce toughness of a material. nano-structured ferritic alloy [74], which contains a high number
Increasing the creep strength and decreasing the tendency for for- density of O-, Ti-, and Y-enriched clusters, or nano-clusters with
mation of helium bubbles at the grain boundaries is a challenge for sizes of ~2–5 nm. These nano-clusters possess an unusually high
material design. One possible solution is the introduction of very degree of thermal stability and are primarily responsible for the ex-
fine non-metallic inclusions, so called dispersoids, in the metallic cellent combination of mechanical properties of the nanostructured
matrix. This class of materials is called oxide dispersion strength- ferritic alloys at room and elevated temperatures.
ened (ODS). Dispersoids can be introduced into austenitic, ferritic, Helium is also attracted by dispersoids (Figure 23.21), which
and martensitic matrices. The idea to improve the creep properties would be a key advantage of ODS steels in nuclear applications.
of alloys by the introduction of ceramic particles is not new. Dis- The combination of a high number density of nano-clusters and
persion strengthened nickel-base alloys (e.g., MA6000) were seri- nano-size grains typical of the 14YWT NFA may improve its toler-
ously considered and already researched as material for un-cooled ance to neutron irradiation damage by providing efficient sinks for
gas-turbine vanes in the 1980s [70]. At Asea Brown Boveri, a trapping point defects and transmutation products such as helium.
second stage vane was even put into operation in an experimen- This represents a promising direction for developing materials for
tal land-based gas turbine. It consisted of an ODS-blade that was applications in advanced nuclear energy systems. Ferritic steels
brazed into a precision cast top and root pieces [71]. Shaping of the with 19% Cr could also be produced with nano-sized dispersoids.
ODS-blade, and finally costs, were the major reasons why this de- Figure 23.20 (c) shows the TEM-micrograph of the Japanese de-
velopment never went into production. At the same time, interest in velopment 19 Cr ODS [73,76]. The dispersoid size is about one
ferritic and ferritic-martensitic ODS alloys emerged from nuclear order of magnitude lower than that of alloy PM2000.
fusion research, since the ferritic matrix showed both swelling and Manufacturing of fuel pins made of advanced ODS alloys has
irradiation creep properties superior to that found in an austenitic already reached a stage where experimental claddings were pro-
matrix. Nickel-based alloys could also not be used in a nuclear fu- duced for reactor irradiation or fuel pins were produced for actual
sion environment due to their tendency for helium formation and reactor use [77]. Figure 23.22 shows pins fabricated to be tested in
embrittlement. Satisfactory qualities of ODS alloys could only be the BOR-60 reactor. First results were reported in [78]  and they
achieved by powder metallurgical techniques. In a first step, an can be summarized as follows. The fuel pin irradiation test of the
alloy powder and dispersoids (usually yttrium oxide Y2O3) are ODS claddings was carried out at high cladding temperatures of
mechanically alloyed. This step leads to finely distributed ceramic 700°C and 650°C in BOR-60. Vibro-packed MOX fuels with low
dispersoids in the powder mass. The homogenous milled powder oxide to metal (O/M) ratio were used. The integrity of the ODS
product is consolidated by hot isostatic pressing and/or hot extru- cladding fuel pins was maintained up to the burnup of 5.1 at%
sion. Finally, the material undergoes a heat treatment to get opti- and the neutron dose of 21 dpa, and the fuel cladding chemical
23-28  •  Chapter 23

over-focus under-focus
Fig. 23.21 Migration of helium to oxide disper-
soids in the ferritic ODS alloy PM2000. Large
bubbles are formed around dispersoids (3), in-
Fig. 23.23 Graphite core elements for a pebble
termediate size bubbles are either in the matrix
bed reactor [80]
or along dislocations (2), and small bubbles
are located at loops (1). Dislocations and loops
are not visible under these contrast condi-
tions. (plotted from Chen et al [75]) being procured. New fine-grained isotropic graphite types with
high strength and low irradiation damage are required to achieve
high outlet-gas temperature, long life, and continuity of supply.
interaction (FCCI) of the ODS claddings was very small. These Dimensional changes and creep under irradiation are the most
results suggest that the ODS claddings and low O/M ratio fuels are important design parameters that are currently being established
the most appropriate fuel pin systems for high-burnup fuel. The for different grades of graphite. For a more detailed discussion
irradiation of ODS cladding fuel pins continues in BOR-60 to a of graphite in a VHTR environment, refer to the literature [79].
burnup of 15 at%, and post-irradiation data will be acquired. Graphite components for a pebble bed core and for a prismatic core
ODS materials are basically under consideration also for other are shown in Figures 23.23 and 23.24.
structural applications like high-temperature reactor internals. Other components where the temperature requirements of gas-
cooled reactors (VHTR and GFR) cannot be accommodated with me-
23.8.2.3  Non-metallic Materials  The most important non- tallic materials are GFR cladding and parts of a VHTR control rod.
metallic component is the graphite used for core construction of Another non-metallic material of interest is ceramics. However,
the high-temperature reactor. This includes the permanent inside the main problem with solid ceramics is the very low ductility.
and outside reflectors, the core blocks, and the core supports. Such To overcome this problem, ceramics are usually “toughened” by
cores have been built for earlier HTRs, but insufficient information making compounds of ceramic fibers and the ceramic matrix. The
about the old grades of graphite hamper usage today (and the old production procedure consists in principle in a woven (fibers) pre-
grades may no longer be available) and improvements were found form, which is infiltrated by the precursor of the matrix (often a
to be necessary. New graphite grades that are anticipated to show resin). This assembly is then treated at very high temperatures for
improved performance under VHTR in service conditions are graphitization or carbonization.
There are different qualities of such materials available that
were produced with different methods. Sometimes a porous matrix
remains, which is not necessarily an obstacle for application. Ma-

Fig. 23.22 Prototypes of ODS fuel pins for SFR Fig. 23.24 Graphite fuel element block for a
reactors [14] prismatic VHTR core [81]
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  23-29

centration, water conductivity, and surface finish. Corrosion data

under SCWR conditions shows that the oxidation rate of steels, es-
pecially ferritic-martensitic (F/M) steels, is rather high, increasing
rapidly above 500°C. In addition to general corrosion, stress corro-
sion cracking (SCC) (inter-granular and trans-granular) is expected
to be a critical degradation mode in an SCWR [84].
Molten salt can also affect the surface of (unprotected) struc-
tural materials. Nickel-alloys (Ni-W-Cr) are expected to have the
required stability. However, details of chemical composition and
long-term behavior still need to be investigated [85].

23.8.2.5 Materials Modeling  After the introduction of quantitative

descriptions of creep and creep-damage mechanisms in metals in
the middle of the last century (e.g., collective work by Norton,
Monkman-Grant, etc. [86,87]), it took about 25 years to develop
a working engineering understanding of creep-fatigue interactions
Fig. 23.25  Fuel element options for a GFR. The
(e.g., collective work by Manson, Coffin, Mowbray, etc. [88]). The
cladding material proposed is a SiCf/SiC com-
introduction of damage mechanics in terms of subcritical crack
pound [82]
growth and the introduction of constitutive laws for creep-fatigue
interactions (e.g., Chaboche) was a further improvement in lifetime
assessments of structures. With the current availability of large
terials of this type exist already (SiCf/SiC, Cf/SiC, Cf/C where the computer clusters operating in parallel mode, numerical solutions
f stands for fiber) in aerospace applications. They are very expen- of equations for atomistic behavior became very attractive.
sive and they can undergo similar damage under irradiation as de- Although it is well accepted that damage starts at atomistic levels,
scribed for graphite. Such composites were proposed as cladding it is not easy to bridge the gap between atomic and structure levels
base-material for the GFR (Figure 23.25) [82]. Particular attention and requires an understanding of the related physical phenomena
must be paid to gas-tightness of these materials in case of GFR on a range of scales from the microscopic level all the way up to
cladding where the fission gas that has to remain contained in the macroscopic effects.
cladding provides an internal pressure. It is very difficult to guar- Determination of the lifetime of components exposed to severe
antee the necessary tightness without long-term experience. This is environments such as in VHTRs is very demanding, particularly
the reason why currently for claddings, more complex assemblies when damage interactions (like creep-irradiation or strength-
consisting of fiber reinforced base material with a liner are being microstructure, toughness-irradiation induced phases) must be
studied for the GFR. considered. The simulation of materials behavior under such ex-
treme conditions needs to encompass broad time (nanoseconds to
23.8.2.4  Influence of Environment  The cooling media used 60 years) and length (nanometers to meters) scales from atomistic
in the different advanced reactors provide an additional challenge descriptions of primary damage formation to a description of bulk
for the materials used. Under operating conditions, they can property behavior at the continuum limit. This requires a multi-
deteriorate the surface of components, which can lead to a loss scale, multi-code modeling approach that begins at the atomistic
of the load carrying cross section or to local damage like grain level with ab initio and molecular dynamics techniques, moving
boundary attacks or pitting. From these defects, cracks can grow through the meso-scale using reaction rate theory models, lattice
that finally leads to component failure. It is not possible to cover kinetic Monte-Carlo and dislocation dynamics, and ends with the
corrosion issues in detail in this chapter. This discussion will macro-scale using finite element methods and continuum models.
confine the considerations to only a few key aspects. Experimental validation of the modeling results is mandatory.
Liquid metals may selectively deplete constituents from alloys, and Materials modeling is currently part of many national and interna-
impurities may chemically react with them. Chemistry control will be tional research projects. For further details see [89,90].
required for all coolants. The primary issue with sodium is its chemi-
cal reactivity in air and water. Experience with existing SFRs have
shown that there is only a moderate corrosion problem expected. In 23.9 Design considerations
the case of lead, the temperature becomes important. Between 400°C
and 500°C, a compact stable oxide is formed on austenitic and fer- Finally, components operating safe and reliably for the antici-
ritic-martensitic steels. The metal-oxide layer becomes unstable above pated design life (60 years for some components) have to be man-
550°C. Therefore, protective coatings (e.g., FeAl) are envisioned. For ufactured. These components undergo different types of damage
an assessment of the long-term behavior, the interactions of irradia- during their lifetime, as listed in Table 23.17.
tion, corrosion, and erosion must be better understood. The effects of It can be seen that damage occurs on different scales in a mate­
embrittlement and cyclic thermal/mechanical loading on the design rial. The micro-scale where micro- and nano-structure play the
life of components must be studied [83]. most important role. Accumulation of these effects on the micro-
In case of gas-cooled reactors (particularly HTRs), the impu- scale leads to response on the macro-scale, which finally manifests
rities in the chemically inert helium determine the corrosion be- itself in component failure. One of the big challenges is to predict
havior. Oxidation, carburization, and de-carburization can occur or to monitor the development of damage under the very demand-
depending on the temperature. ing and complex conditions in an advanced nuclear plant. Cur-
The key variables affecting corrosion identified for SCWRs rently many attempts to improve lifetime prediction and lifetime
are temperature, water density (pressure), dissolved oxygen con- assessments are made. Besides programs for the establishment
23-30  •  Chapter 23

Table 23.17  Damage events occurring on

different scales [91]

Exposure Microscale Macroscale

Temperature phase reactions, segregations hardening/softening, embrittlement
Irradiation displacement damage, phase reactions, hardening, embrittlement, swelling
segregations, helium damage
Environment surface layer, local attack (pitting), grain reduction of carrying cross section,
boundary attack, formation of local stress subcritical crack growth, unexpected
raisers premature failure
Impact and static load dislocation movement, diffusion controlled plastic deformation, creep deformation,
dislocation and grain boundary processes, buckling, plastic collapse, sub-critical and
critical crack growth, unexpected
premature (catastrophic) failure
Cyclic Load dislocation movement, local micro-crack cyclic softening, ratcheting, subcritical
formation, intrusions/extrusions crack growth, premature failure
Combined exposures: (synergistic) damage accumulation (synergistic) damage accumulation,
creep-fatigue, unexpected damage, premature failure
irradiation creep,
corrosion fatigue,
stress corrosion cracking

of materials data for the relevant materials under relevant condi- ·  Task 2: Regulatory Safety Issues in the Structural Design Cri-
tions, many activities exist to use advanced materials modeling teria of ASME Section III Subsection NH and for Very High
tools like ab initio, molecular dynamics, kinetic Monte Carlo, Temperatures for VHTR & GEN IV
dislocation dynamics together with constitutive models, fracture ·  Task 3: Improvement of ASME NH Rules for Grade 91 (neg-
mechanics and other methods to get an improved understanding of ligible creep and creep-fatigue)
materials damage as mentioned before (see [91]). Although very ·  Task 4: Updating of ASME Nuclear Code Case N-201 to Ac-
good progress has been achieved, it is clear that enormous efforts commodate the Needs of Metallic Core Support Structures for
are still necessary to extend these techniques to real-life compo- High-Temperature Gas Cooled Reactors Currently in Devel-
nent assessments. opment
Structural components have the additional requirement of ·  Task 5: Collect Available Creep-Fatigue Data and Study Ex-
passing licensing requirements. As load-bearing elements that isting Creep-Fatigue Evaluation Procedures for Grade 91 and
maintain the integrity of the reactor core, structural materials Hastelloy XR
face considerable scrutiny. While creep, fatigue, corrosion, and ·  Task 6: Review and Assessment of Operating Condition Al-
irradiation all present a challenge for nuclear materials, they also lowable Stress Values and Recommended Corrective Ac-
pose a significant challenge for designers. A key requirement in tions
the design process of any power system is the use of proven, con- ·  Task 7: Review of Current Intermediate Heat Exchanger Ex-
servative design criteria. high-temperature structural design meth- perience and Recommended Code Approach for Intermediate
odology uses inputs of material properties (tensile, creep, fatigue, Heat Exchanger
compression, toughness, etc.), but also mechanical models cover- ·  Task 8: Creep and Creep-Fatigue Crack Growth at Structural
ing multi-axiality, creep-fatigue interactions or negligible creep Discontinuities and Welds
criteria are required. ·  Task 9: Update and Improve Subsection NH — Simplified
Design is limited by design rules given in design codes like Elastic and Inelastic Design Analysis Methods
the ASME B&PV code. These codes are challenged by the re- ·  Task 10: Update and Improve Subsection NH — Alternative
quirements of advanced nuclear plants. New materials have to be Simplified Creep-Fatigue Design Methods
considered, viable temperature limits established, and the design ·  Task 11: Selection of Candidate Materials for Incorporation
procedure as a whole need to be reconsidered. It has to be men- Into ASME Subsection NH
tioned that irradiation and corrosion are typically not part of most ·  Task 12: NDE and ISI Technologies for HTRs
design codes and discussions about this issue are ongoing. The
following tasks were performed to improve ASME B&PV Code, The main portion of these tasks is centered around creep and
Section III rules with respect to the needs of constructing a VHTR. creep-fatigue. This task list describes work that has been performed
These tasks were funded by the US DOE with the exception of between 2006 and 2010. This work is going on with the aim to
Task 12, which was funded by the US NRC. deepen findings of the first period and to convert these results into
new code rules. This has led to the situation that new code rules
·  Task 1: A Review of Structural Material Properties for Both for high-temperature gas reactors and for liquid metal reactors are
Base Metal and Weldments for Alloy 800H and Grade 91 Steel currently under development and approval. It is the final aim to
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  23-31

develop a separate ASME Section III, Division 5 code contain- Modern advanced analysis, testing, and modeling techniques
ing rules for high-temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGRs) and would also allow taking samples directly from highly exposed
for liquid metal reactors (LMRs). This code should also contain components for further examination and residual life assessments.
guidance with respect to corrosion and irradiation damage. Ad- Such techniques are: advanced transmission electron microscopes,
vanced bonding techniques and surface coatings should also be X-ray and neutron beamline techniques, nano-indentation or me-
considered. chanical testing of extremely small (typically 1-2 micrometers)
samples produced by focused ion beam techniques [94]. Modeling
for deeper understanding of materials behavior can be done on dif-
23.10 NDE (Non-Destructive ferent scales ranging from atomistic scale to macro-scale. These
Examination) methods are currently under consideration and under development
in different research projects.
Tasks 8 and 12 point directly to the need for advanced condition
monitoring and non destructive evaluation. Compared with cur-
rent LWRs, monitoring of the condition of an advanced plant is 23.11 CROSSCUTTING GIF issues
much more demanding. Coarse-grained materials, different types
of damage, missing long-term experience, and visibility are only A few crosscutting tasks were defined within GIF that are relevant
some key issues to be addressed. for several of the reactors. Only two of them will be briefly men-
Reliability is an essential factor for the SFR. It is important to tioned: the working groups on proliferation risk and physical protec-
design and construct plants with highly reliable reactor compo- tion (PR&PP) and the risk and safety working group (RSWG).
nents, taking into account manageable maintenance, easy repair, PR&PP has been defined as follows:
and inspection capability. Simple configurations of components
such as a single-piece forged core support structure for compact ·  Proliferation resistance is that characteristic of a nuclear energy
reactor vessels, shortening lengths of piping, etc., are developed system that impedes the diversion or undeclared production
from the viewpoint of inspection accessibility and reducing inspec- of nuclear material or misuse of technology by the Host State
tion locations. Reduction of high stress regions and welding lines seeking to acquire nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive
are also considered for component structures to reduce inspection devices.
workloads. ·  Physical protection (robustness) is that characteristic of a
One of the innovative technologies for SFRs is to develop ad- nuclear energy system that impedes the theft of materials
vanced non destructive examination (NDE) technology. Inspec- suitable for nuclear explosives or radiation dispersal devices
tion for the core support structures is considered a key point for (RDDs) and the sabotage of facilities and transportation by
reliability. As sodium is optically opaque, conventional inspection sub-national entities and other non-Host State adversaries.
techniques are not easy to apply for core structures immersed in In addition to the establishment of the PR&PP Working Group,
or under a sodium environment. An inspection technique using the GIF has recognized the need for a Risk and Safety Working
an under-sodium viewer (USV) is being developed to visualize Group to address the approach to be adopted for the safety of future
the components using ultrasonic waves [92]. The USV system nuclear energy systems. The GIF also recognized that an interface
consists of a matrix arrayed transducer, which has a large number with the activities of the PR&PP Working Group would be needed,
of small piezoelectric elements to transmit and receive ultrasonic and thus noted:
echoes without a mechanical scanning device. The transducer has
a signal processing device using the synthetic aperture focusing ·  A need for integrated consideration of safety, reliability, pro-
technique to synthesize images of the inspection targets with high liferation resistance, and physical protection approaches in or-
resolution. Tests under sodium confirmed that the target could be der to optimize their effects and minimize potential conflicts
visualized clearly within 2 mm resolution [93]. between approaches.
Development of an under-sodium area monitor (USAM) is ·  A need for mutual understanding of safety priorities and their im-
also in progress to reduce the size and weight of the transducer plementation in PR&PP and RSWG evaluation methodologies.
with higher resolution. The monitor system is based on the same The efforts of these two groups continue to be carefully coor-
principles of the above USV system. The USAM uses optical dia- dinated. This has been largely accomplished so far via the close
phragms as the ultrasonic wave receiver instead of piezoelectric working relations between the leaderships of the two groups. Ad-
elements. A simulated flaw width of 0.2 mm was successfully de- vances by either group have relevance to the other and are mutu-
tected in an underwater imaging test. ally beneficial to both. It also continues to be important to assess
To apply the USAM system to core support structures, a trans- and understand the impact of all specific design features in relation
port system is required to deliver the USAM sensor to a target loca- to objectives of safety performance, physical protection, and pro-
tion under a sodium environment. An under-sodium vehicle driven liferation resistance.
by electromagnetic pumps is also being developed. Experimental
fabrication of a prototype vehicle and a performance test in a static
water pool have confirmed that the vehicle has enough speed and 23.12 INTERNATIONAL R&D
stability.
Further developments of non destructive examination technolo- The GIF provides a forum for multi-lateral R&D cooperation. Its
gies under a sodium environment are ongoing to confirm the ap- member countries meet regularly to discuss the research required
plicability of the systems, utilizing underwater and under-sodium to support the development of next-generation reactors. According
testing facilities. to Bouchard [2], it has resulted in a tremendous brainstorming ef-
The fact that other types of damage are expected to occur in ad- fort, from R&D teams from over twelve countries and EURATOM,
vanced reactors led to a re-consideration of surveillance samples. on a scale rarely matched in history, which, in turn, produced
23-32  •  Chapter 23

numerous collaborative projects in reactor and fuel technologies. the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty due to its weapons program, it
Even if the six nuclear systems studied within the GIF correspond has been for over three decades largely excluded from trade in nuclear
to concepts already known, their development within the GIF has plant or materials. This forced it into nuclear energy self-sufficiency
benefited from the exchanges between technical experts represent- extending from uranium exploration and mining through fuel fabrica-
ing most of the main world nuclear actors, originating from both tion, heavy water production, reactor design and construction, to re-
academia as well as industry sectors. processing and waste management. Now, foreign technology and fuel
Though technical exchanges started earlier, sometimes on a are expected to boost India’s nuclear power plans considerably. All
bi-lateral level, multi-lateral cooperation emerged to principles, plants will have high indigenous engineering content. In the context of
accepted by all, which duly recognize background property infor- India’s nuclear trade isolation over three decades, L&T, India’s larg-
mation and dealt satisfactorily with all property rights (intellectual, est engineering group, has produced heavy components for PHWRs
commercial, etc.). The GIF thus appears as the only existing large and has also secured contracts for 80% of the components for the FBR
scale international structure enabling multi-lateral cooperation at Kalpakkam. It is qualified by the American Society of Mechanical
within a sound legal basis that ensures that its R&D activities are Engineers to fabricate nuclear-grade pressure vessels and core support
carried out in an equitable manner between partners. structures, achieving this internationally recognized quality standard
The R&D performed in GIF focuses on both the viability and in 2007. L&T plans to produce 600-ton ingots in its steel melt shop
performance phases of system development. The former phase and have a very large press to supply finished forgings for nuclear
examines the feasibility of key technologies, such as adequate reactors, pressurizers and steam generators. Other nuclear equipment
corrosion resistance in lead alloys or super critical water, fis- manufacturers in India include BHEL, Bharat Forge, HCC, etc.
sion product retention at high temperatures for particle fuel in The AERB of India, formed in 1983, is responsible for the
the very-high-temperature gas-cooled reactor. The latter phase regulation and licensing of all nuclear facilities and their safety.
focuses on the development of performance data and optimiza- To fulfill its mission of stipulating and enforcing rules and regu-
tion of the system. lations concerned with nuclear and radiological safety, AERB
The scope of GIF activities does not extend to any demonstra- is in the process of developing codes and guides for various
tion phase, which involves the detailed design, licensing, construction, aspects of nuclear reactor design. Reference 6 provides some
and operation of a prototype or demonstration system in partner- details of the design and construction codes followed in the In-
ship with industry. To help prepare for future commercialization of dian nuclear program. Design of Indian PHWRs is based on
Generation IV systems, a Senior Industry Advisory Panel (SIAP) the ASME B&PV Code, Section III. In those cases where the
provides advice on GIF R&D priorities and strategies. Specifically, code rules could not be precisely met, they have met the intent
this panel contributes to discussion on strategic review of R&D by carrying out the required material characterization and com-
progress and plans for the GIF systems from the industry perspec- ponent qualification tests. The in service inspection program
tive, by addressing issues such as industrial interest, technical follows a combined philosophy of the ASME B&PV Code,
viability, economics, licensing, risk management, project man- Section XI and the Canadian Code CSA/N281.5-05. Design of
agement, and industrial infrastructure. The SIAP contributes concrete containments are based on the French Code RCC-G.
valuable views on system deployment, future nuclear fuel cycles, To avoid a mixture of codes, AERB is in the process of writ-
and international frameworks for nuclear safety standards and ing its own codes. It has already published 5 Safety Codes, 45
regulations. Safety Guides covering various aspects of nuclear power plants,
But it is not only the GIF that promotes and performs interna- and 51 other safety support documents. Additional safety docu-
tional R&D collaborations. Much work is also done within IAEA ments are in various stages of preparation.
or within the EU or other countries. At the inception of the NGNP
Project, experts from DOE national laboratories, gas reactor ven-
dors, and universities collaborated to establish technology R&D 23.13 OUTLOOK
plans to help guide NGNP R&D. These plans [95 thru 98]  out-
lined the testing and computational development activities needed An overview of advanced options for the generation of nuclear
to qualify the materials and to validate the modeling and simula- power was given. The considerations were focused on power plants
tion tools to be used in the design and operation of the NGNP. The expected to become commercially available in 10 to 30 years from
technology R&D plans drew on worldwide experience gained from now. Concerns about uranium resources and long living constitu-
the six demonstrations and/or prototype HTGRs that were built ents in LWR waste (plutonium, minor actinides) support fast re-
and operated over the past 60 years. The plans included detailed actor concepts. In addition, nuclear power is also considered as
descriptions of the required technical activities with associated a low CO2 emission, thermal heat source for industrial processes
schedules and budgets for project completion, which formed the like hydrogen production or refinery processes. Currently, the most
baseline for execution of the R&D needed for the NGNP project. mature advanced reactors are the SFR and the high-temperature
The R&D activities are organized into the following four major gas-cooled reactor (VHTR). The high-temperature gas-cooled re-
technical areas: (1) fuel development and qualification, (2) graph- actor has the advantage that it produces high-temperature heat that
ite qualification, (3) high-temperature materials qualification, and can not only be used for electricity production but also for process
(4) design and safety methods validation. To accomplish these ob- heat in applications like synthetic fuel, hydrogen production, steel
jectives, the R&D program draws upon expertise at DOE national and other industries. Better fuel economy can certainly be reached
laboratories (including Idaho National Laboratory and ORNL) and with fast reactors, like the SFR. With respect to combined cycles,
a broad array of universities, along with international facilities and they are less flexible. There are also economic challenges still
expertise accessible to DOE via the GIF. to be overcome. Projects for both technologies exist in different
Countries like India, with strong nuclear R&D programs, are countries and the technical obstacles appear to be manageable for
also part of international R&D networks. India has a flourishing and currently envisioned operating conditions. Challenges still exist in
largely indigenous nuclear power program. Because India is outside the field of fuel and fuel cycle optimization as well of structural
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  23-33

materials. Fuel claddings are of particular importance in order to GFR: helium gas-cooled reactor, gas-cooled fast reactor
reach the ambitious goals of thermal efficiency and burnups. In- GIF: Generation IV International Forum
creasing the gas outlet temperature for the next-generation VHTRs GNEP: Global Nuclear Energy Partnership
to 950°C will also require more advanced materials. Another big GT-MHR: gas turbine modular helium reactor
challenge is the transfer of existing concepts like the GFR, MSR, GWe: electric power in gigawatts
and SCWR into prototypes. h.a.: fraction of heavy metals being fissioned
HCC: Indian nuclear power engineering company
HPLWR: high-performance light water reactor
23.14 CONCLUSION HTGR: high-temperature gas-cooled nuclear reactor
HTR: high-temperature reactor (gas-cooled)
After reading this chapter, one cannot be immune from the HTR-PM: Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor–Pebble Bed
excitement that all of the people involved in this great adven- Module (China)
ture are experiencing around this planet of ours as advanced HTTR: high-temperature Engineering Test Reactor
Generation IV reactors begin their journey from the design IHTS: intermediate heat exchanger system
boards to reality. This chapter reveals just how rapid the next IHX : intermediate heat exchanger
generation of nuclear reactors are proceeding. To support this IAEA: International Atomic Energy Agency
effort, ASME is currently developing new Codes and Stand- IFNEC: International Framework for Nuclear Energy Coopera-
ards for these types of reactors, as are other societies and other tion (has replaced designation “GNEP” since 2010)
nations. People worldwide are diligently working now for the IGCAR: Indira Gandhi Center for Atomic Research
future benefit of all. INPRO: International Project on Innovative Nuclear Reactors
and Fuel Cycles of IAEA
IRIS: International Reactor Innovative and Secure
23.15 Abbreviations I-S: iodine sulfur process for hydrogen production
ISI: in service inspection
ABWR: advanced boiling water reactor JAEA: Japan Atomic Energy Agency
AECL: atomic Energy of Canada Ltd JSFR: Japanese sodium cooled fast reactor
AERB: atomic Energy Regulatory Board KAERI: Korean Atomic Energy Research Institute
AHTR: advanced high-temperature reactor LFR: lead fast reactor
AHWR: advanced heavy water reactor LMR: lead or lead-bismuth cooled liquid reactor, liquid metal
AISI: American Iron and Steel Institute reactor
ALLEGRO: prototype French gas-cooled reactor (GFR) L&T: Larsen & Tubros
ALMR: advanced liquid metal reactor LWR: light water reactor
APWR: advanced pressurized water reactor MA: minor actinide
ARC: Advanced Recycle Center MN: mixed uranium-plutonium nitride
ASME: American Society of Mechanical Engineers MOX: mixed uranium-plutonium oxide
ASTRID: French SFR prototype reactor MSBR: molten salt breeder reactor
at%: atomic percent MSFR: molten salt fast neutron reactor
BHAVINI: Bhartiya Vidyut Nigam MSR: molten salt reactor
BHEL: Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd./India NDE: non destructive examination
BREST: Russian lead fast reactor NGNP: Next Generation Nuclear Plant
CANDU: Canadian deuterium uranium reactor NHDD: Nuclear Hydrogen Demonstration Project of KAERI
CEA: French Atomic Energy Commission NRC: US Nuclear Regulatory Commission
CEFR: China experimental fast reactor ODS: oxide dispersion strengthened
CV: containment vessel O/M: oxide to metal
DBTT: ductile to brittle transition temperature ORNL: Oak Ridge National Laboratory
DCD: design control document PB-AHTR: pebble bed advanced high-temperature reactor
DFBR: demonstration fast breeder reactor PBMR: pebble bed modular reactor
DOE: US Department of Energy PDRC: passive decay heat removal circuit
ELSY: European lead-cooled system PFBR: prototype fast breeder reactor
EPR: European pressurized water reactor PRISM: Power Reactor Innovative Small Module
ESBWR: Economic simplified boiling water reactor PR&PP: proliferation risk and physical protection
EURATOM: European Atomic Energy Community PWR: pressurized water reactor
EXTREMAT: materials for extreme conditions (EU-FW6-project) PyC: pyrolytic carbon
FaCT: fast reactor cycle technology development RBMK: Reactor Bolshoy Moschchnosty Kanalny
FBTR: fast breeder test reactor R&D: research and development
FBR: fast breeder reactor RDD: radiation dispersal device
FCCI: fuel-cladding chemical interaction RPV: reactor pressure vessel
F/M: ferritic-martensitic RSWG: risk and safety working group
FP: fission product SCC: stress corrosion cracking
GACID: global actinide cycle international demonstration SCWR: super critical water reactor
GANEX: group actinides extraction SET: European strategic energy technology
GEN IV: Generation IV SFR: sodium (cooled) fast reactor
23-34  •  Chapter 23

SIAP: Senior Industry Advisory Panel tion IV Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor System,” GIF Symposium,
SMR: small modular reactors Paris (France), 9-10 September, 2009, www.gen-4.org/GIF/About/
SNF: spent nuclear fuel documents/GIFProceedingsWEB.pdf (2009), pp. 213-221.
SPD: severe plastic deformation 17. L. Cinotti, C.F. Smith, H. Sekimoto, “Lead-cooled Fast Reactor
SSTAR: small secure transporable autonomous reactor (LFR) Overview and Perspectives,” GIF Symposium, Paris (France),
SVBR: Russian modular lead–bismuth fast reactors 9-10 September, 2009, www.gen-4.org/GIF/About/documents/
TRISO: tri-structural-isotropic GIFProceedingsWEB.pdf (2009), pp. 173-178.
TU: trans-uranium 18. P. Anzieu, R. Stainsby, K. Mikityuk, “Gas-cooled Fast Reactors
USAM: under-sodium area monitor (GFR): Overview and Perspectives,” GIF Symposium, Paris (France),
USV: under-sodium viewer 9-10 September, 2009, www.gen-4.org/GIF/About/documents/
VHTR: very-high-temperature (gas-cooled) reactor GIFProceedingsWEB.pdf (2009), pp. 127-133.
VVER: V  odo-Vodyanoi Energetichesky Reactor; Water-Water 19. T. J. O’Connor, “Gas Reactors — A Review of the past, an Over-
Energetic Reactor view of the Present and a View of the Future“, GIF Symposium,
Paris (France), 9-10 September, 2009, www.gen4.org/GIF/About/
documents/GIFProceedingsWEB.pdf (2009), pp. 77-91.
23.16 REFERENCES 20. H. Khartabil, “SCWR: Overview,” GIF Symposium, Paris (France),
  1. GEN IV Roadmap, http://gif.inel.gov/roadmap (2002). 9-10 September, 2009, www.gen-4.org/GIF/About/documents/
GIFProceedingsWEB.pdf (2009), pp. 143-147.
  2. J. Bouchard, “The Global View,” GIF Symposium, Paris (France), 9-
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 chapter

24
PRESERVING NUCLEAR POWER’S
PLACE IN A BALANCED POWER
GENERATION POLICY
Owen Hedden
24.1 END OF THE NUCLEAR ROAD? TABLE 24.1  U.S. ELECTRICITY GENERATION
FUEL SHARES, PERCENT
In considering the future of nuclear power for electricity pro-
duction in the U.S., it is necessary to consider the present public 1989 2008
perception of nuclear power. It is also necessary to consider public
perceptions of the various competing sources of electricity produc- Coal 53.4 48.2
tion. These include coal, natural gas, and the several “green” or Natural gas 11.9 21.4
“renewable” sources, including hydro, wind, and solar. Note that Nuclear 17.8 19.6
petroleum is no longer part of this discussion; its use has dimin- Hydro 9.2 6.0
ished to barely 1% of electricity production. Petroleum 5.5 1.1
Chapter 24 makes extensive use of referenced publications of Wind 0.1 1.3
the Nuclear Energy Institute, to take advantage of their expertise Wood 0.9 0.9
on specific subjects. This chapter also makes extensive use of ref- Waste 0.3 0.4
erenced quotations from the works of established authors in the Geothermal 0.5 0.4
field to minimize misinterpretation of their work. Solar 0.0 0.0
In 1994, about the time that the last nuclear power plant was Other 0.1 0.7
completed, USA Today announced [1]: “Essentially, the nation (Derived from EIA/doe.gov Monthly Energy Review)
decided that nuclear power wasn’t worth the price.” . . .“Nuclear
energy provides only 21% of our electrical needs, 4% of our total
energy consumption. Is it worth the trouble? Not until the prob-
lems of waste, safety and cost are completely resolved.”
Year-by-year trends in the 20-year period spanned by this Table
No new nuclear power plants have gone on line since then, but in-
were remarkably consistent. Coal and hydro gradually diminish-
creases in plant efficiency mean that nearly 20% of our electric power
ing, natural gas rapidly increasing, petroleum almost disappearing,
is still provided by nuclear power. While there has been an increase
wind starting to pick up, and everything else little changed.
of over 17% in our electric power consumption since 1994, nuclear
The nuclear power plants we have keep running better and bet-
power has been able to maintain its share without building new
ter, and new ones are now on their way, despite vocal opposition.
plants, by increasing availability and up-rating power output. Those
These should insure that nuclear power’s place will be maintained,
increases are remarkable, but we cannot plan on that continuing.
or even expanded. Since opposition is expected to continue, nu-
Now, in 2010, the media view is changing [2]: “The newest nu-
clear power’s place will also need to be continually defended.
clear power plant in the U.S. opened nearly 15 years ago, but many
more may be coming soon. A new reactor in Tennessee is sched-
24.2.1 Increasing Use of Renewables - Going “Green”
uled to come on line by 2013, two more are under construction
When you really want to go “green,” by reducing electric power
in Georgia, and the NRC is reviewing applications for another 21
plant emission of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrous oxides,
reactors (27 reactors, NRC reported in August) at 17 sites.”
or mercury, remember that nuclear produces none of them. Hy-
dropower has similar advantages, and is a significant contributor
24.2 NUCLEAR POWER’S PLACE: in Europe. Wind and solar have similar emission omission, but
MAINTAINING 20% OF TOTAL are not available continuously; and must have equivalent back-
ELECTRIC POWER GENERATION up power available on short notice. Through links to Norway and
Sweden, which have extensive hydro facilities, Denmark is able
Table 24.1 shows the share of U.S. electricity production from to take advantage of its wind power generation by sending and re-
each of the usually considered sources for the years 1989 and 2008. ceiving electricity through underwater cables as needed. You may
24-  •  Chapter 24

recall that Denmark and Sweden are separated by as little as 2 mi ters 1 through 5, wind in Chapters 7 through 10 and hydro in Chap-
of water. In the U.S., hydro is perceived to have environmental ters 11 and 12. Chapters 13 through 16 discuss other renewables
disadvantages and is actually seeing a decrease in national output. that altogether presently provide less than 4% of U.S. electric
power output [5].
24.2.1.1  Denmark’s Example  Denmark is often cited as a prime
example of use of wind energy, producing 20% of its electricity 24.2.2  Change in Public Perception
and no longer needing to import oil. That is somewhat misleading, The primary factor affecting nuclear power has been the ac-
since Denmark now has its own (North Sea) oil and exports its sur- cident at Three Mile Island in 1979. Fortunately, there is recent
plus. It still has to import as much coal as it did before it developed evidence of a change in media/public automatic reaction to fear of
wind power. Denmark also has by far the highest electricity rates in nuclear power proposals:
Europe; the residential rate in 2008 was 38 cents per kilowatt-hour Quoting The Economist, [6] on the subject Lessons to be
[3a]. The average U.S. residential rate in 2008 was 11.26 cents per Learned: “After the accident on Three Mile Island in 1979, Amer-
kilowatt-hour [4]. icans grew scared of nuclear power and stopped building new reac-
tors, even though no one died in that accident. Had the nation not
24.2.1.2 Alternative Energy Solutions — Renewable Hydro, panicked, it would now have many more nuclear reactors, making
Wind, Solar  Development of alternatives to coal and petroleum, the shift to a low-carbon economy significantly easier.”
and more recently, natural gas, for generation of electricity, was an Similarly, in The New Yorker, [7] in the context of changing
on-going goal long before the recent concerns of global warming attitudes toward nuclear power as a source of electricity, from its
and carbon dioxide. Think Boulder/Hoover Dam on the Colorado initial acceptance until that acceptance “was gone, obliterated by
River, built 75 years ago to supply electric power to Los Angeles, the accidents at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania, in 1979 (where no
still going strong. Thirty-five years ago, hydro-electric provided one was killed) and at Chernobyl, Ukraine, in 1986 (which caused
15.8% of U.S. electricity generation, about the same as petroleum thousands of deaths). But the giant anti-nuclear demonstrations of
and natural gas, with coal providing 44.4%, nuclear already up the time, in Europe and America, were fuelled at least as much by
to 9%, and no recordable generation from solar, wind, or even the fear of nuclear war as by fear of nuclear reactors.” “Then, in-
wood or waste. Table 24-1 shows more recent distribution of conveniently for the world but conveniently for the nuclear power
electric power sources. Hydro-electric has become less popular. industry, a new truth intruded. Nuclear winter was over, but global
Hydro’s share has fallen by 35% since 1989, and kilowatt-hour warming was here, and the ideological categories got thoroughly
generation has fallen 10%. Evidently some old, small dams have scrambled.”. . .”And nuclear power plants have one great advan-
been retired. tage over the fossil-fuel kind: they do not emit carbon dioxide, a
Solar and wind now get most of the attention, and subsidies. green-house gas that is hastening the world toward climatic disrup-
Individual use of both solar panels and windmills has been com- tion and disaster.”
mon in some regions for many years, so proposals for large-scale
applications were no surprise. Little is said about their liabilities. 24.3 FIVE PRIMARY ARGUMENTS OF
First are availability and reliability, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. GROUPS OPPOSING NUCLEAR POWER
Another source with the same generating capacity must always be This chapter includes discussion of nuclear power opposition’s
available. The American public demands no less. Batteries would five primary arguments;
be ideal, but are ruled out by cost. Hydro would be a good green 1.  Fear and Three Mile Island,
source, but in most parts of the country hydro is already fully uti- 2.  Nuclear proliferation,
lized. Existing coal, natural gas, or nuclear-driven steam generators 3.  Waste/spent fuel disposal,
take time to warm up and bring on-line, unless they are running 4.  New construction costs, and
on stand-by, which is very inefficient/expensive. New natural-gas 5.  Vulnerability to terrorist attack.
fired turbines (like jet engines) or combined-cycle units are used in
some areas; these can come on-line much more quickly than steam The Three Mile Island and Chernobyl accidents are considered,
generators. as well as comparison of risks of the competing generation tech-
Conservation and environmental advocacy groups say the prob- nologies. Also, comparisons are made with wastes and waste dis-
lem can be easily addressed by a “smart” electricity distribution posal associated with those technologies - coal is an easy target.
system, but that is more easily said than done. It requires electricity
distribution infrastructure we do not have. 24.3.1 Three Mile Island vs. Chernobyl — It Can’t
Solar and wind are also require a large amount of land in relation Happen Here
to their power output. Wind farms make poor neighbors, because Fundamental differences in reactor design and operation say
of rumble from the turbine blades; at least, that is what the neigh- “no.” All U.S. commercial power reactors are “light water” reac-
bors within a half mile say. Bird-kill, ranging from eagles to bats, tors designed to “fail-safe” — shut down automatically in case of
is an additional disadvantage. Another aspect is the requirement an accident without operator intervention. The reactor vessel must
for high-voltage power lines from the wind or solar panel farms be designed so that its structural failure would be an incredible
located where the conditions are right and the land is cheap, to the event. In addition, a containment structure is required that will con-
urban power distribution centers. The same conservation groups tain all the products of the failure of a major component (steam
that advocate the “energy farms” fight the construction of new generator, pump, etc.) other than the reactor vessel. Even the U.S.
power lines to serve them. Not-in-my-back-yard (NIMBY) is alive graphite-moderated pressurized water reactors designed using the
and well. same principles as the RBMK reactors are designed to fail-safe;
Renewable energy sources are discussed much more thoroughly shut down automatically in case of an accident. Not the RBMK
and objectively in earlier chapters of this handbook, solar in Chap- reactors at Chernobyl.
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  24-

24.3.1.1  Three Mile Island (TMI)  On March 29, 1979, on TMI Cohen also states, regarding Chernobyl, “Post-accident analyses
Unit 2, main feedwater flow was inadvertently blocked. With a indicate that had there been a U.S.-style containment, none of the
relief valve stuck open things quickly went to hell. Everything else radioactivity would have escaped, and there would have been no
that could go wrong did. The operators did not know quite what injuries or deaths.”
to do. Not realizing the relief valve was stuck open, they thought
the reactor had too much water, and shut down some emergency 24.3.2 Public Tolerance for Loss of Life in Energy
pumps. As pressure in the reactor dropped, the water flashed into Production
steam, which prevented fuel rods from cooling. About a third of the If those dead-set against nuclear power are concerned because
core eventually melted. This was all abetted by instrument prob- of loss-of-life, they should be aware of the risks of other energy
lems, equipment malfunctions, and computer-system breakdowns. sources. If they are genuinely concerned with preventing deaths
From the point of view of the owner, the plant was lost. But from in energy production, they should be directing their energies else-
the point of view of the public safety, nothing happened. Radioac- where, toward natural gas production, pipelines, oil drilling and
tive water was confined to the plant. Radioactive gas releases were refining, coal mining and burning, and various related emission
never significant and were quickly diluted and released. Physicists sources.
from my employer at the time were all over the area downwind of All energy sources cause health risks. We just pay more at-
the plant immediately afterward and never found any evidence of tention to some than to others. Particularly severe accidents cap-
radioactive fall-out. ture our immediate attention, but as they accumulate over time
A recent Fact Sheet from the Nuclear Energy Institute [7a] they become routine and we accept them as part of the cost of
reported: their use. Long term accumulation of lower level risks is even
“In 1990, the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes more readily accepted. A report on severe accidents worldwide,
of Health released the results of a two year study of cancer data in 1969 to 1987 [8a] summarizes annual deaths related to energy
107 U.S. counties that contained, or were adjacent to, major nu- production worldwide, but it also provides a reminder of annual
clear facilities that had begun operations before 1982. Among the deaths related to electricity production in the United States. From
counties were York, Lancaster and Dauphin near the TMI plant in coal, primarily mine disasters, more than 200 deaths annually;
Pennsylvania. The study, which compared cancer mortality rates from dam failures, more than 200; from oil, from sources ranging
in the 107 counties with rates in counties with no nuclear facilities, from transport to refineries to tank farms to oil platforms, more
found no increased cancer mortality for people living near the nu- than 135 deaths annually; from nuclear radiation, 31, once, at
clear installations. The study also found no evidence that leukemia Chernobyl.
for any age was linked to routine operations at the TMI reactors or While none of these directly involve U.S. electricity generat-
to the accident at TMI 2.” ing facilities (except perhaps dam failures) it does not take much
The accident did have beneficial consequences for U.S. nucle- thought to recall loss of lives due to coal mine cave-ins and refinery
ar reactor safety due to improvements in regulation, safety sys- fires, vs. zero losses in U.S. nuclear power plants.
tems, and operator training and supervision. Radiation physicist
Bernard Cohen [8] of the University of Pittsburgh, wrote “the av- 24.3.2.1  Chernobyl Deaths — Radiation Exposure  There were
erage number of operating hours per year for (U.S.) plants has in- 31 immediate deaths at Chernobyl, most due to radiation. Addi-
creased by 12%. Unplanned shutdowns have been reduced by 70% tional deaths due to the accident have been the subject of consider-
accident rates for workers have declined more that three-fold, the able speculation. Four months later, that total remained the same.
volume of radioactive waste has declined by 72%, and radiation About 200 had been treated for radiation sickness and survived.
exposure to workers has been cut in half.” Associated costs aver- Nobody beyond the site was reported to have symptoms of direct
aged $20 million per plant. radiation sickness.
Five years later, a Russian physicist claimed on British televi-
24.3.1.2  Chernobyl  Then, in April 1986, there was Chernobyl.
sion that 7000 of the 600,000 cleanup workers had died, of acute
All the four Chernobyl reactors, and many other Russian reactors,
radiation sickness. It was promptly pointed out that that was about
are of a design they call RBMK. That design was known here
the expected figure of deaths from all causes among 600,000 peo-
to be fundamentally faulty, with a built-in instability. On loss of
ple of the age spectrum involved.
coolant, unlike U.S. reactors which then shut themselves down,
Ten years later the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency prepared a
the RBMK can run away unless shut down by the operators. But
factual report. From the beginning, the effect of radioactive io-
the electrical engineers, not the operators, were running an ex-
dine on the thyroid, particularly in children, had been a primary
periment on Unit 4. They had by-passed or disabled the safety and
concern. Nearly 700 cases of childhood thyroid cancer had been
emergency systems, including the backup diesel generators. They
reported, with three deaths; many more cases were expected. The
chose to continue the experiment when things started to go wrong.
other major effect was psychological, fear of becoming a cancer
Unfortunately, the core meltdown, explosion, and radioactivity
victim. There had been no increase in overall cancer rates in adults
release followed.
in the affected regions.
U.S. commercial reactor design vs. RBMK, summarized by
Almost 20 years later [9], the Chernobyl Forum said the acci-
Cohen [8]:
dent would lead to far fewer deaths from cancer than had at first
1. A reactor which is unstable against loss of water could not be been predicted. “The Chernobyl Forum comprises a number of
licensed in the United States. United Nations agencies, including the International Atomic En-
2. A reactor which is unstable against a temperature increase ergy Agency and the World Health Organization, and also the
could not be licensed here. governments of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine.” The Chernobyl
3. A large power reactor without a containment [structure] Forum estimates 9,300 will die from cancer as a result of exposure
could not be licensed here. to radiation from the plant. Greenpeace says 100,000. “However,
24-  •  Chapter 24

this figure also includes deaths from causes other than cancer . . .” documented in 1956, but locally it was an accepted risk because
What is the pre-accident number of expected deaths over the time mining paid well. Mining was discontinued in the 1980s, because
period and population considered? That is the type of information of public concern about radioactive sites. The State of Colorado
that must be included to put such claims into context. forced a Superfund cleanup that required the complete destruc-
Regarding Chernobyl, Cohen [8] also states that the effect of tion of the town of Uravan, site of a major mill. It took 20 years
Chernobyl radiation exposures worldwide, after about 50 years, to remove virtually all traces of radioactive contamination from
will be enough to cause about 16,000 deaths. For comparison, he the site. It is now fenced in with warning signs “Radioactive, Do
also points out that that is still less than the number of premature Not Enter.” There are no homes within nine miles. Now, with the
deaths caused every year by air pollution from coal-burning power promise of a new uranium mill and resumption of mining in the
plants in the United States. area, some of the assumptions forcing the shutdown and cleanup
are being questioned.
24.3.2.2  Comparative Risk — Nuclear versus Coal-Burning Everyone assumed there was or would be an increase in leuke-
Power Plants  Consideration of comparative risk and associated mia cancer rates, birth defects, and other serious conditions. How-
costs can pose controversial conclusions. As an example, Prof. ever, sources cannot be found for the “documented increases.” The
Cohen [8] notes that NRC’s 1975 Reactor Safety Study estimates “yellowcake” uranium oxide as produced by the mills, before being
that a nuclear power plant will cause an average of 0.8 deaths enriched elsewhere, has a negligible radioactivity level. The locals
across its lifetime (the total of various risks including accidents are actually very well informed technically regarding radiation lev-
and radiation exposure). He then notes that the NRC-mandated els, unlike the environmental activists. One of locals who worked
safety improvements following the Study increased plant costs in the Uravan mill noted that the radiation levels he received there
by an average of $2 billion. This equates to $2.5 billion per life were about the same as someone who worked in Grand Central
saved, which amounts to $4.16 billion in 2010 dollars [10]. Co- Station in New York, constructed of radon-emitting granite. This
hen then draws two conclusions; first, that what we spend to save has been documented; a worker at Grand Central receives a larger
a single life in making nuclear power safer could save thousands dose than the Nuclear Regulatory Commission allows a uranium
of lives if spent on causes such as cancer screening or transporta- mill to emit at the site boundary. A recent study of health records
tion safety. Second, that the addition to the cost of nuclear plants of Uravan from 1936 to 2004 showed a significant increase in lung
made them more expensive than coal-burning plants, which the cancer, but in men only, in the underground miners, many of whom
utilities then ordered. But a coal-burning plant causes an esti- were heavy smokers. The rates for those who worked in the mill, or
mated 1000 to 3000 deaths over its operating lifetime, primarily the women in town, who received environmental exposure, were
from air pollution. So all those premature deaths from a coal- essentially normal. The overall Uravan mortality rate was 10%
burning plant are caused by saving one life caused by an equiva- lower than the national average. There was less heart disease, prob-
lent nuclear power plant. As is noted elsewhere in this chapter, ably reflecting the life-style of people who liked outdoor activities.
there are about 600 coal-burning power plants and 100 nuclear Now, mines are required to be ventilated, and have severe limits
power plants in the United States. on radon exposure.
When there is no alternative to the need for a new source of The World Health Organization does not classify uranium as
electric power available 24/7, these are powerful conclusions to a human carcinogen. There is no compelling evidence that low
present to groups opposing new nuclear power plants. The dis- amounts of radiation cause health problems. The U.S. Nuclear
parity is still conclusive, even using the 125 deaths per plant Regulatory Commission regards amounts below about 10 rems
estimated following the Reactor Safety Study by the Union of (100 mSv) to be in that category. It sets the annual nuclear worker
Concerned Scientists, a leading nuclear power opposition group. dose limit at 5 rems, and notes that the actual worker dose is 1
Add to this the fact that many new power plants will be needed rem. The average U.S. annual dose is 0.62 rem. For 100 people
in the coming decades, and this “safety” factor becomes more receiving a 10 rem dose, one cancer could be expected; however,
powerful. 42 would get cancer for other reasons.
Much needed advances in coal-burning technology are presented
in Chapters 17 through 21. 24.3.3 Nuclear Proliferation
“There is no connection between reprocessing of used nuclear
24.3.2.3  Risks of Uranium Mining  This section is included be- fuel in the U.S. with the proliferation of nuclear weapons” [3b].
cause of recent environmentalist protests about re-establishment Major nuclear power electricity generating countries France, Rus-
of a uranium milling operation at a site in southwestern Colorado sia, England, Canada, and Japan continue used fuel reprocessing,
that has been dormant since 1979. A recent New Yorker article recycling about 95% of the material in the fuel rods to produce new
[11] reviewed local attitudes in an area where many miners have fuel rods, while reducing the volume of high-level nuclear waste
died of lung cancer. The first large mill to process ore was built by one-half or one-third. France, Israel, North Korea, and Paki-
in 1912, to extract radium, which is a decay product of uranium. stan all developed nuclear weapons before they developed nuclear
Eventually, radium was replaced by less poisonous and more power, and of them, only France has developed significant electric-
effective substances, and vanadium became the primary prod- ity generating capability.
uct, Vanadium mills discarded uranium in their tailings. Then,
in 1943, a new mill was built to process vanadium tailings into 24.3.4 Radiation Exposure, Radioactive Waste,
uranium oxide, for the Manhattan Project, the national project to Waste Disposal
build the atomic bomb. After the war, with the nuclear arms race, Waste accumulation in dumps seldom gets our attention, and
around 900-uranium mines were opened across the Colorado Pla- air-borne waste gets even less attention. We know it is there but
teau, with essentially no regulation. Mill tailings, which contain there is little we can do about it. What we do not know, which
radium and other radon emitters, were a major risk for public con- can hurt us, is that nuclear power plants are not the only source of
tamination. Many miners died of lung cancer in an epidemic, first radioactive or toxic emissions.
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  24-

Here is an interesting statement in Nuclear News [12], quoting to build “interim” spent fuel storage facilities on their own plant
Lord Marshall, Chairman of Britain’s Central Electricity Generat- sites. Meanwhile, their payments to the Nuclear Waste Fund
ing Board, in 1986: continue.

“Earlier this year, British Nuclear Fuels released into the Irish 24.3.4.1  Used Fuel Disposal Strategy  The Nuclear Energy Insti-
Sea some 400 kilograms of uranium, with the full knowledge tute (NEI) has provided a detailed description of the present status
of the regulators. This attracted considerable media attention, of used nuclear fuel disposal in Industry Supports Integrated Used
and, I believe, some 14 parliamentary questions. Fuel Management Strategy, April 2010 [13]:

“I have to inform you that yesterday the CEGB released about “The nuclear energy industry supports a three-pronged, inte­
300 kilograms of radioactive uranium, together with all its ra- grated used fuel management strategy:
dioactive decay products, into the environment. Furthermore,
we released some 300 kilograms of uranium the day before 1. Interim storage of used fuel at centralized, volunteer loca-
that. We shall be releasing the same amount of uranium today, tions.
and we plan to do the same tomorrow. In fact we do it every 2. Research, development and demonstration of advanced fuel
day of every year so long as we burn coal in our power sta- utilization and recycling technologies.
tions. And we do not call that ‘radioactive waste;’ we call it 3. Development of a permanent disposal facility.
coal ash.” Used fuel storage at nuclear plant sites is safe and secure. How-
ever, interim storage sites at centralized volunteer locations will
Nuclear News then continued “A similar situation exists for ra- enable the movement of used fuel from both decommissioned and
dium and thorium in fly ash and bottom ash collected as a result of operating plants before recycling facilities or a repository begin
burning coal.” operating.
Recently, in The New Yorker magazine [7] . . .“In the United A research and development program should be implemented
States, coal plants (there are 600 of them, as against 100 nuclear for advanced nuclear fuel utilization and recycling technolo-
ones) . . . dispose of their most dangerous waste by sending it up gies, including a commercial demonstration plant. The objec-
the chimney free of charge. And these plants — which, accord- tives of reprocessing and recycling uranium fuel are to reclaim
ing to one estimate, cause 24,000 premature deaths every year — a significant amount of energy that remains in the fuel and to
could help trigger a worldwide “accident” far bigger than a Three reduce the volume, heat and toxicity of byproducts placed in the
Mile Island or even a Chernobyl: catastrophic, irreversible climate repository.
change.” (Cohen [8] reaches a similar conclusion; over 16,000 An integrated used fuel management program includes key ele-
deaths.) ments phased in during the short, medium and long terms.
The toxic elements in these annual air-borne emissions from Short-term goals include:
coal-fired power plants in the United States have been quantified
[3c]: 48 tons of mercury, 88 tons of lead, 80 tons of chromium, and ·  Continuing the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s en-
50 tons of arsenic, total 266 tons. The Environmental Protection dorsement of waste confidence.
Agency says coal-fired power plants account “for 40% of all do- ·  Signing of standard contracts between the U.S. Department of
mestic human-caused mercury emissions.” Solid waste from coal, Energy and energy companies for managing used fuel at new
which includes both ash and scrubber sludge, totals 130 million nuclear plants, which was accomplished in 2008.
tons, which is three times as much volume as all U.S. municipal ·  Adequately funding the repository licensing process, includ-
garbage. Coal ash is usually contaminated with heavy metals ura- ing the NRC’s review of DOE’s Yucca Mountain repository
nium, radium, and thorium. construction application. The Obama administration has an-
The Environmental Protection Agency is presently holding hear- nounced its intent to terminate this project and withdraw
ings on a proposal to reclassify waste from coal-burning power DOE’s license application with prejudice, signaling that it
plants from special waste to hazardous waste, increasing the does not intend to resubmit the application. DOE has estab-
amount of regulation. lished the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear
Annually U.S. nuclear power plants produce 2000 tons of used Future to recommend strategies for used fuel management.
fuel. In 50 years of operation, the U.S. nuclear power industry has The industry believes the Yucca Mountain licensing process
produced about 60,000 tons of high-level waste. Not to minimize should continue. Ultimately, a geologic repository will be
the problem, but compare this with the annual U.S. production of needed somewhere. Even if a facility is not built at Yucca
130 million tons of coal ash, much of it contaminated with heavy Mountain, completion of the licensing process will yield vital
metals. lessons that will inform the commission’s deliberations and
Political will is a major factor obstructing efficient reduction facilitate completion of a facility when a new site is selected.
of high-level nuclear waste. In the 1970s the Carter Administra- However, if the administration halts the licensing process, the
tion halted recycling of spent fuel rods from nuclear power plants industry believes it should be done in a manner that would
claiming that recycling the fuel would make plutonium available facilitate resuming the process at a later date should that be
for nuclear weapons. Subsequently, in 1982, Congress passed the warranted.
Nuclear Waste Policy Act. It required the Federal Government to ·  Establishing a research and development program for ad-
take possession of the high-level waste produced by the nuclear vanced fuel utilization and recycling technologies, including
power plants by 1998. The utilities have paid ($17.4 billion to government partnerships with industry.
March 31, 2010) for the development and operation of a waste ·  Identifying and developing volunteer sites for interim stor-
re­pository which was built at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Its use age and advanced fuel utilization and recycling development
has been blocked politically, and the utilities have been forced facilities
24-  •  Chapter 24

Medium-term goals include: “In combination with actual testing, transportation con­tainer
manufacturers use computer programs and scale models to
·  Moving used fuel to interim storage sites, ideally at advanced
evaluate the containers’ protective capabilities and verify —
fuel utilization and recycling development sites.
with a substantial margin of safety — that the containers meet
·  Continuing research, development and demonstration of ad-
NRC and international requirements. For example, drop test-
vanced fuel utilization, recycling and fuel fabrication tech-
ing of full-scale and partial-scale transportation containers in
nologies to make them more cost effective and efficient.
Germany and Japan have validated previous simulations.”
·  Licensing a repository
Long-term goals include: 24.3.4.4  ASME Requirements for Construction of Used Fuel
·  Commercial advanced fuel utilization and/or recycling. Containers  The American Society of Mechanical Engineers has
·  Operating the repository” provided rules for construction of these containers in Boiler and
Pressure Vessel Code Section III Rules for Construction of Nuclear
24.3.4.2  Established Record of Safe Transportation  Integrity Facility Components, Division 3, Containments for Transportation
of the containers used to ship and subsequently store used nuclear of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High Level Radioactive Material and
fuel at interim storage sites and recycling facilities or the final geo- Waste [15].
logic repository is essential. In the Nuclear Energy Institute’s Fact
Sheet Experience, Testing Confirm Transportation Of Used Nu- 24.3.4.5  NRC Requires a Shipment Security Plan  Continuing
clear Fuel Is Safe, Reliable, February 2009, [14] NEI provides the the quotation of the Nuclear Energy Institute’s Fact Sheet: [14]
criteria for, and experience with, used fuel shipping containers: “NRC regulations also require the establishment of a security plan
to ship used nuclear fuel safely to the used fuel repository at Yucca
“Over the past 40 years, the U.S. nuclear energy industry has Mountain, Nev., and implementation of this plan before shipments
safely transported more than 3,000 shipments of used nuclear begin. The shipper must track and monitor these shipments care-
fuel over 1.7 million miles. It has completed these shipments fully over the entire route. The agency must review and approve
with no injuries, fatalities or environmental damage result- in advance the plan and procedures to protect against radiological
ing from the radioactivity of the cargo. Since 1971, nine acci- sabotage or theft.”
dents involving commercial used nuclear fuel containers have
occurred — four on highways and five during rail transport. 24.3.4.6  Low Level Radioactive Waste  Disposal of low level
Four of these accidents involved empty containers, and none radioactive waste also follows an orderly Regulatory process. Most
resulted in a breach of the container or any release of its ra- of the following is taken from a fact sheet provided by NEI: Dis-
dioactive cargo.” posal of Commercial Low-Level Radioactive Waste, [16]
What is Low-Level Waste?  “Low-level waste is solid mate-
“The containers that transport the used nuclear fuel are ex- rial contaminated with low levels of radioactivity. It includes such
tremely robust, with multiple layers of steel, lead and other items as gloves and other personal protective clothing, glass and
materials to confine radiation from the used fuel. These spe- plastic laboratory supplies, machine parts and tools, filters, wiping
cially designed containers weigh between 25 and 40 tons for rags, and medical syringes that have come in contact with radioac-
truck transport and between 75 and 125 tons for rail ship- tive materials. Low-level waste from nuclear power plants typi-
ments, including the weight of the used fuel. Typically, for cally includes water purification filters and resins, tools, protective
every ton of used fuel, there are about 4 tons of protective clothing and plant hardware. Low-level waste does not include
shielding.” used fuel from nuclear power plants or waste from U.S. defense
programs.”
24.3.4.3  The NRC-Required Tests of Used Fuel Containers  “The low-level waste from nuclear power plants accounts for
“The NRC must approve containers that transport used nuclear half the volume and most of the radioactivity in low-level waste
fuel. Before the agency certifies container designs, they must meet produced in the United States. The remaining low-level waste is
rigorous engineering and safety criteria. In addition, the container produced by several thousand other industrial facilities and institu-
designs must be shown, by test or analysis, to survive a sequence tions that use radioactive materials. They include medical research
of four hypothetical accident conditions simulating the cumulative laboratories, hospitals, clinics, pharmaceutical companies, govern-
effects of impact, puncture, fire and submersion. The test sequence ment and industrial research and development facilities, universi-
involves: ties and manufacturing facilities.” This waste is produced from use
of radioactive isotopes or X-ray machines in a number of benefi-
·  a 30-ft free fall onto an unyielding surface, which would be cial activities. These are as varied as diagnosis and treatment of
equivalent to the cask being struck by a train traveling 60 mi/ disease, medical research, non-destructive testing of pipelines, air-
hour planes and bridges, eradication of insect pests, food preservation,
·  a puncture test allowing the container to fall 40 inches onto a and smoke detectors.
steel rod 8 inches long and 6 inches in diameter The radioactivity in approximately 95% of all low level waste
·  a 30-minute exposure to fire at 1,475 degrees Fahrenheit that fades to background level within 100 years.
engulfs the entire container submerging the same container The radioactive isotopes for these beneficial applications are
under 3 ft of water.” typically produced in small research or teaching reactors. An in-
·  Separate, undamaged containers are also subjected to im- teresting development a few years ago was that groups opposed to
mersion in 50 feet of water. Furthermore, casks must survive nuclear power forced an end to production of these isotopes in the
greater than 600 feet of water pressure for one hour without United States. Hospitals, researchers, and inspection agencies had
collapse, buckling or inleakage of water.” to import them from Canada.
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  24-

24.3.4.7  Safe Disposal of Low-Level Waste — Three Sites  “The struction costs for the 35 plants not on line in 1984. These costs
Nuclear Regulatory Commission established technical require- ranged from $932/kW for McGuire 2 (1100 MW PWR, commer-
ments for low-level waste disposal sites. They require, among cial operation, 1984) to $5192/kW for Shoreham ([800 MW BWR,
other things, that natural resources in the area, such as wildlife closed 1989). This range of 5.6/1 indicates clearly that some utili-
preserves, be avoided. The site also must be sufficiently isolated ties were much better able to manage design and construction costs.
from groundwater and surface water, and the site must not be in These figures are assumed to include added cost from engineering
an area of geological activity (such as volcanoes or earthquakes). and Regulatory changes following both the Reactor Safety Study,
Regardless of design, all low-level waste disposal sites use a series noted in 24.3.2.2 and TMI accident discussed in 24.3.1.1.
of natural and engineered barriers to prevent radioactivity from One factor seldom mentioned in discussion of the costly delays
reaching the biosphere.” in construction is the cost of money at that time of high inflation.
“The Transportation Department and the NRC regulate the ship- For instance, utility bonds were paying as much as 16%. At that
ment of radioactive materials, including low-level waste.” rate compounded annually, cost doubles in five years. Presently,
There are three disposal facilities currently accepting low-level utility bonds pay around 4%; in five years those will have paid a
radioactive waste: little over 20%. Now is a good time for a utility to borrow.
Roger Reedy discusses construction costs and “lessons learned”
·  “Barnwell, S.C. Barnwell is licensed by South Carolina to re-
much more informedly and completely in Chapter 21.
ceive wastes in Classes A, B and C. The facility accepts waste
from Connecticut, New Jersey and South Carolina. 24.3.6 Vulnerability to Attack
·  Richland, Wash. The facility is licensed by the state of Wash- These discussions of the five primary objections to nuclear
ington to receive wastes in Classes A, B and C. It accepts power plants will conclude with this section addressing security
waste from states that belong to the Northwest Compact and resistance to terrorist attack. Since September 11, 2001, these
(Washington, Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and threats have been prominent in public concerns. Physical and ad-
Wyoming) and the Rocky Mountain Compact (Colorado, Ne- ministrative barriers to plant access have been established. Before,
vada and New Mexico). plant tours would include a visit to the control room and the spent
·  Clive, Utah. Clive is licensed by the state of Utah to accept fuel pool. Not anymore.
Class A waste only. The facility accepts waste from all re-
gions of the United States.
24.3.6.1 Nuclear Plant Safety Features  Now, in addition to the
One new LLW disposal facility has been licensed but is not yet property perimeter fencing, a double chain-link fence surrounds
operating: the key components of the plant, including the cooling towers.
There is single-point road access, and a perimeter intrusion detec-
·  Andrews County, Texas. In September 2009, the Texas Com- tion system. Within that, additional authorization is required for
mission on Environmental Quality issued a license for Waste access to “vital areas.”
Control Specialists LLC to build and operate a facility at its The Nuclear Energy Institute [19] provides the particulars on
site in Texas. The facility, expected to begin operating in the containment structures: “The same features that safeguard the
2010, will accept Classes A, B and C low-level radioactive public and the environment from a radiation release also defend the
waste from Texas and Vermont, as well as the federal govern- reactor from outside interference. The reactor is typically protected
ment.” by about 4 ft of steel-reinforced concrete with a thick steel liner,
and the reactor vessel is made of steel about 6 in. thick. Steel-rein-
24.3.5 Cost of New Construction forced concrete containment structures are designed to withstand
Citing government support of a particular energy source as the impact of many natural disasters, including hurricanes, torna-
resulting in competitive advantage is pointless - all benefit from does, earthquakes and floods, as well as airborne objects with a
substantial research and development incentives (support) or non- substantial force.”
regulation. Some benefits just have been in place longer than others. “An independent study confirms that the primary structures of a
Bryce [3d], cites 2009 estimates of construction cost per kilo- nuclear plant would withstand the impact of a wide-bodied com-
watt of capacity and capacity factors for mercial airliner. The Electric Power Research Institute conducted
(a)  nuclear, $4000 to $6700, with 90% capacity factor a state-of-the-art computer modeling study on the impact of a Boe-
(b)  offshore wind, $5000, with 30-40% capacity factor ing 767 crash. EPRI concluded that typical nuclear plant contain-
(c)  solar, $6000, but with only 23% capacity factor ment structures — as well as used fuel storage pools and steel and
(d)  coal, $2300, with 72% capacity factor [4b] concrete fuel storage containers — would withstand the impact
(e)  natural gas, $850, with 41% capacity factor [4b] forces and shield the fuel”
Nuclear Energy Institute [20] provided a practical example of
These are cited to again make the point that construction costs implementation of their emergency preparedness planning when
for the most popular renewables are comparable to nuclear con- a strong Gulf Coast hurricane struck three nuclear power plants.
struction but that efficiency and availability are much less. While While this did not test the plant’s ability to resist an attack by
their fuel costs may be nil, nuclear fuel cost is less than that of coal, stealth, deceit, or force, it demonstrated the effectiveness of their
which is the only competing high-availability generating plant. programs in response to a forced shutdown, subsequent power res-
And again, nuclear power generation produces no carbon dioxide, toration, and their interaction with the surrounding communities.
and, compared to coal, infinitesimal amounts of toxic waste. Nuclear power plants are among the few power sources unaf-
fected by destruction of surrounding infrastructure, interruptions in
24.3.5.1  Excessive Nuclear Plant Construction Cost  Rhodes the transportation of fuel supply and other factors. Because nuclear
[18], p.4, cites a report in Forbes magazine in 1985 blaming mis- power plants refuel every 18 to 24 months, they can operate despite
management (described in great detail) for the disparity in con- prolonged interruptions that impact fuel supplies for other energy
24-  •  Chapter 24

sources. This capability underscores the need for a diverse energy increased development. Natural gas production has been revolu-
portfolio. tionized by commercialization of horizontal drilling and fracturing
of gas-bearing shale deposits. Just within the city of Fort Worth,
24.3.6.2  Cyber Security  Cyber security is another potential form Texas, there are now 1200 productive gas wells tapping the Barnett
of attack that is now being addressed by the U.S. Department of shale. With the jump in gas production, its price dropped. The 2010
Homeland Security (DHS). The goal of the DHS National Cyber price is now around 2.2 cents per kilowatt-hour. With new field de-
Security Division’s Control Systems Security Program is to reduce velopment in Texas and Pennsylvania, predictions are that prices
industrial control system risks. The Control Systems Security Pro- will stay down for a few years, and utilities are wondering if they
gram coordinates activities to reduce the likelihood of success and should delay new nuclear plant construction.
severity of impact of a cyber attack against critical infrastructure Environmentally, while natural gas is more polluting than nu-
control systems through risk-mitigation activities. The Control clear or renewables, it is less polluting than coal. Gas-fuelled elec-
Systems Security Program activities include: tric generating units, even the combined cycle units, are relatively
cheap and quick to build. Cross-country gas transmission lines are
1. Research for the rapid development and deployment of hard- a serious liability, however. Pipelines blow up only occasionally
ened control systems with built-in security but when they do they destroy lives and property. This is a problem
2. Conduct of rigorous tests to reveal exploitable system vul- that nuclear power avoids.
nerabilities and then develop system fixes
3. Development of integrated risk analysis to assess the ability
24.4.1.2  Renewables  Given our inability to store energy from
of power companies to mitigate potential risks.
wind and solar, they will remain bit players. But technological
US-CERT, United States Computer Emergency Readiness disruptions such as occurred with natural gas drilling into shale
Team, is the operational arm of the National Cyber Security Divi- deposits keep occurring. A breakthrough in energy storage tech-
sion at the Department of Homeland Security. US-CERT interacts nology could do the same for electricity production from wind and
with federal agencies, industry, the research community, state and solar.
local governments, and others to disseminate reasoned and action-
able cyber security information to the public. Its role is to provide 24.4.1.3  Nuclear  Nuclear electricity production cost is 2.03 cents
information updates, warnings, training and assistance in avoiding per kilowatt-hour. “The uranium fuel for U.S. nuclear plants is
internet attacks that could cripple or commandeer plant computer abundant, readily available from reliable allies, such as Canada
systems. and Australia, and low in cost. Coupled with industry success over
the past 20 years in reducing operating costs, the low fuel cost
24.3.6.3  Cyber Security Implementation  Implementing a cyber makes America’s 104 nuclear energy plants among the lowest-
security solution includes people, processes and technology to cost sources of electricity available. Once built, new nuclear power
mitigate identified security risks [21]. Control systems need to in­ plants would provide the same degree of price stability for con-
corporate authorization, authentication, encryption, intrusion de- sumers.” [22]. Note: availability of cheap uranium is one of the
tection and filtering of network traffic and communication. The justifications for accumulating and storing used fuel rods rather
National Electricity Reliability Council works with Department of than reprocessing them to recover usable fuel and reduce the vol-
Homeland Security to protect the North American electric system ume of waste. A recent study [23] has reported that the availabil-
from cyber and physical attacks. The National Electricity Reli- ity of natural uranium will not constrain any reasonably expected
ability Council has created a collection of practices to help power growth of nuclear power in this century. It further recommends,
companies protect critical facilities against a range of cyber and strongly, interim storage of spent nuclear fuel for a century or so in
physical threats. regionally consolidated sites.

24.4.2 License Renewal Activities

24.4 PRESENT CONCERNS The current fleet of nuclear power plants was licensed for either
30 or 40 years. Most have developed programs to extend their
24.4.1 Maintaining Supply Diversity licenses for another 20 years. Four units have already begun op-
“Fuel diversity is one of the great strengths of the U.S. electric erating beyond 40 years, and three more are scheduled to begin
supply system. Each source of electricity has unique advantages in 2010. An additional 59 units have received their license exten-
and disadvantages, and each has its place in a balanced electricity sions and 27 are under review. These total 93 units; a few more
supply portfolio” [22]. Coal-fired power plants still generate nearly applications are expected as the other units approach the end of
half of our electricity. their licenses. The point is, even with license renewal, additional
plants will be needed to satisfy demand for more clean electric
24.4.1.1  Natural Gas  It can be concluded, as indicated in Table generation.
24.1 and Section 24.3.5, that natural gas is presently the leading
competitor for increased share of the electrical generation market. 24.4.3 New Plant Designs - New Licensing Process
“Natural gas-fired electricity generation has more than doubled The licensing process imposed by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
since 1990. Nearly all power plants built over the past 15 years Commission (NRC) on the present fleet of nuclear power plants
are fueled by natural gas. However, natural gas is subject to sig- evolved as a series of steps that contributed to delays in construc-
nificant price fluctuations because it also is used as a heating fuel tion with each design change. A new, more efficient process was
and in industrial processes” [22]. In 2008 the average price of nat- addressed as part of the 1992 Energy Policy Act. The new pro­cess
ural gas increased 27% to 5.00 cents per kilowatt-hour (peaking provides for certification of standardized designs, early site ap-
at 7.36 cents per kilowatt-hour on July 2). Those prices triggered proval and combined construction and operating licenses.
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  24-

Status as of July 2010: could be ready for commercial use in the United States by the end
of this decade, while others are expected to be available after 2020:
NRC had issued four new design certifications and was cur-
rently reviewing four advanced new designs. There are two ad- AREVA Antares
vanced designs for pressurized water reactors of 1600 to 1700
MW and two for boiling water reactors of 1350 to 1600 MW AREVA based the design for the Antares on the concept of a
capacity. gas-cooled (helium) reactor. The company is developing the
NRC had issued four early site permits and had two additional 250 MW design in the context of the Generation IV Interna-
applications under review. It is currently reviewing applications tional Forum.
for 17 combined construction and operating licenses; with several
two-unit proposals, they include 27 new reactor units. Babcock & Wilcox Co. mPowerTM Reactor
There is concern in the industry that the increased workload for
NRC’s review staff for new reactors as well as license renewal will The mPowerTM reactor design is a passively safe, modular
result in licensing delays, and that this will be exacerbated by po- 125-MW advanced light water reactor with a below-ground
litically-driven budgetary demands for reduction of expense/staff containment. B&W intends to apply for NRC design certifi-
for all Federal agencies. cation.
There is also concern regarding recruitment and training of new
nuclear power plant operators. The existing generation of plant op- GE Hitachi (GEH) Nuclear Energy Power Reactor Innovative
erators is maturing. With renewal of licenses for existing plants Small Module (PRISM)
and licensing of new plant designs and construction, there is going
to be a significant need for new licensed plant operators. The PRISM is a 311-MW advanced reactor cooled by liq-
uid sodium. GEH plans to apply for a combined license for a
24.4.4 Training for Plant Operation prototype.
The TMI accident, in which operator error was a major factor,
brought about major changes in reactor operator training, plant General Atomics Gas Turbine Modular Helium Reactor (GT-
operating experience sharing, emergency response capability, ra- MHR)
diation protection, and many other areas of nuclear plant design,
operations and maintenance. The Institute of Nuclear Power Op- The GT-MHR is a high-temperature gas reactor with ad-
erations in Atlanta was formed nine months after the accident to vanced gas turbine technology.
drive operational excellence, open communication and continuous
improvement among all U.S. nuclear plant operators. Hyperion Power Generation Hyperion Power Module (HPG)
Operators receive rigorous training and must hold valid federal
licenses. Nuclear power plant operators spend one week out of The HPG is a 25-MW liquid metal-cooled reactor about the
every six in training. Proficiency in the operation and maintenance size of a hot tub. The company plans to apply for NRC design
of plant components and systems is essential. All nuclear power certification.
plant staff are subject to background and criminal history checks
before they are granted access to the plant. The NRC requires com- NuScale Power Inc. NuScale Reactor
panies that operate nuclear power plants to have a fitness-for-duty
program for all personnel with unescorted access to vital areas of The NuScale is a 45-MW light water reactor. The company
the plant. The NRC requires companies to conduct random drug plans to apply for NRC design certification.
and alcohol testing on their employees. At least half of all employ-
ees are tested annually. Pebble Bed Modular Reactor Ltd. PBMR

24.4.4.1 ASME Nuclear Training Seminars  ASME Nuclear The PBMR is a high-temperature 165 MW reactor with a
Training Seminars offer a number of training courses that would closed-cycle, gas turbine power conversion system. PBMR
be of value for plant engineers, planning and maintenance person- Ltd plans to apply for NRC design certification.
nel. One course that might be of use to plant operators is Nuclear
Power Plant Startup Operations and Maintenance. It is generally Toshiba 4S (Super-Safe, Small and Simple)
during plant startup when plant operating staff learns to address
problems such as piping and equipment vibration, thermal expan- The 4S is a 10-MW sodium-cooled reactor. Toshiba plans to
sion and loose parts monitoring. The course provides background apply for NRC design approval.
and lessons learned regarding the operation and maintenance of
plant components and systems. Westinghouse-Led Consortium International Partnership
International Reactor Innovative and Secure

24.5 FUTURE CHALLENGES, The IRIS is a modular, light-water reactor design, with each
oPPORTUNITIES module capable of producing between 100 and 300 MW. The
consortium plans to apply for NRC design certification.
24.5.1 Longer-Term Advanced Nuclear Plant Designs
The Nuclear Energy Institute has prepared a listing [24] of As it happens, three designs employ light-water reactors, three use
highly advanced new reactors based on new technologies. Some liquid-metal reactors, and three use high-temperature gas reactors.
24-10  •  Chapter 24

Further information on each is found on the nrc.gov site for nuclear ronmental movement as Stewart Brand, the creator of the Whole
reactors; advanced reactors. Earth Catalog, and Patrick Moore, an early stalwart of Greenpeace,
As the U.S. demand for clean electric power increases, the avail- now support nuclear” [7]. For example, as compiled by the Nuclear
ability of these small modular reactor designs should be attractive Energy Institute [25]:
for applications or locations that do not need or want the 1000+
MW size. ·  Stewart Brand: “Now we come to the most profound envi-
ronmental problem of all . . . global climate change. Its effect
24.5.2 U.S. Fabrication Capability-Limitations or on natural systems and on civilization will be a universal per-
Opportunities manent disaster. . . . So everything must be done to increase
energy efficiency and decarbonize energy production. Kyoto
The cessation of new plant construction in the U.S. was accom-
accords, radical conservation in energy transmission and use,
panied by the abandonment of much of the U.S. heavy component
wind energy, solar energy, passive solar, hydroelectric energy,
manufacturing capability. When a market for replacement of steam
biomass, the whole gamut. But add them all up and it is still
generators and reactor vessel heads finally developed, these had to
only a fraction of enough. . . . The only technology ready to fill
be fabricated in Canada or overseas. France, Germany and Italy in
the gap and stop the carbon dioxide loading of the atmosphere
Europe, and Japan and South Korea in Asia, have all developed
is nuclear power. . . . It also has advantages besides the over-
capabilities for major component fabrication. China’s participation
whelming one of being atmospherically clean. The industry is
is inevitable.
mature, with a half-century of experience and ever improved
The only U.S. commercial nuclear power plant supplier main-
engineering behind it. . . . Nuclear power plants are very high
taining a manufacturing facility is Babcock and Wilcox; they
yield, with low-cost fuel. Finally, they offer the best avenue
have been manufacturing major components for the U.S. (nuclear)
to a ‘hydrogen economy,’ combining high energy and high
Navy. These are in the same size range as most of the modular de-
heat in one place for optimal hydrogen generation. “If all the
signs discussed above, indicating that market is available for U.S.
electricity you used in your lifetime was nuclear, the amount
participation.
of waste that would be added would fit in a Coke can.”
24.5.3 Unanticipated Operating Problems ·  Patrick Moore: “A more diverse mix of voices are taking
a positive second look at nuclear energy—environmentalists,
The existing nuclear power plants were designed with material
scientists, the media, prominent Republicans and Democrats
degradation due to fatigue and irradiation as the primary concerns.
and progressive think tanks. They are all coming to a similar
Neither has turned out to be a concern, but unanticipated forms of
conclusion: If we are to meet the growing electricity needs in
degradation have appeared and been dealt with. It has been noted
this country and also address global climate change, nuclear
that these have occurred at about ten year intervals, so more may
energy has a crucial role to play.”
be anticipated in the present plants, and also in the new plants after
·  Anglican bishop Rev. Hugh Montefiore Former chairman
they come on line and develop their own operating experience.
and trustee for Friends of the Earth: “I have been a committed
The new participants in the U.S. nuclear power industry must not
environmentalist for many years. It is because of this commit-
be complacent.
ment and the graveness of the consequences of global warm-
24.5.4 The Nuclear Fuel Cycle ing for the planet that I have now come to the conclusion that
A recent study [23] focuses on the “nuclear fuel cycle,” a con- the solution is to make more use of nuclear energy.”
cept that includes both the kind of fuel used to power a reactor
and what happens to the fuel after it has been used. It observed 24.6.2 Integrated Energy Parks
that there has been very little research on the fuel cycle for the Nuclear power plant waste disposal, as discussed in Section
last 30 years and has looked at the underlying assumptions. Then 24.3.4, clearly needs further action for resolution. There have been
the expectation was that the uranium supply was limited and that discussions within the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to utilize
fuel reprocessing would be necessary. Now, it is expected that the their nuclear-focused national laboratories, Los Alamos, Idaho,
supply of natural uranium will not be a concern for the rest of this Sandia, Savannah River, and Oak Ridge as “integrated energy
century, and that the present once-through cycle will continue to parks.” These laboratories have decades of experience with nuclear
be the most economic. This will provide time for research to de- materials and technologies, and their communities are familiar
termine the best fuel cycle for the coming generation of nuclear with nuclear issues and interested in keeping the jobs. Their use for
power plants. The report concludes that significant changes are interim nuclear waste storage would allow the federal government
needed in the planning and implementation of used fuel storage to meet its obligations under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, which
and disposal options, and that these must be integrated with studies requires DOE to take possession of the nuclear waste. This would
of the optimal fuel cycle. alleviate security concerns regarding present storage in about
one hundred twenty locations across the country; these regional
national laboratories have well-established security. It is also con-
24.6 PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT — sistent with the NEI strategy [13] and a recent study [23] recom-
UNFINISHED BUSINESS mending regional consolidation of used fuel.
These DOE sites would also appear to be appropriate sites for
24.6.1 An Inconvenient Truth the research needed to develop an optimal nuclear fuel cycle and
Inconveniently for the world but conveniently for the nuclear the eventual optimal reprocessing and geologic repository needs for
power industry, global warming is here. Nuclear technology is present and future energy resource or waste management benefits.
the only large-scale baseload, energy generation technology with
a near-zero carbon footprint. Several prominent opponents have 24.6.2.1  Feedback on Problems  The possibility exists that an
come to appreciate this fact. “Such founding fathers of the envi- additional benefit of the merging of commercial nuclear activities
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  24-11

with the military nuclear activities at the DOE national laboratories to the U.S. for conversion into fuel for commercial reactors. That
would result in feedback on U.S. Navy’s operating experience with program will continue for years to come [3e].
the pressurized water reactors in over 100 nuclear-powered subma-
rines and 11 aircraft carriers, information that could be important 24.6.4 Permanent Geologic Repository
to the continued safe and reliable operation of commercial nuclear Whatever the outcome on once-through fuel cycle versus fuel
power reactors. This has never been permitted because of security recycling, a permanent repository for high-level nuclear power
concerns that originated before the global spread of nuclear power plant waste will be required ultimately. Section 24.3.4.1 quotes a
plant technology. discussion of this by the Nuclear Energy Institute in Industry Sup-
Only when problems have come up and the commercial nuclear ports Integrated Used Fuel Management Strategy [13]. The Nu-
power industry discovers that a technology exists to address it do clear Energy Institute has also issued a Key Issue [27] - Repository
we get a clue that the Navy must have had the same problem. An Development, quoted extensively herein:
example is steam generator tube corrosion. U.S. heat exchanger
manufacturers were building vertical U-tube steam generators hav- 24.6.4.1  Government Mandates Used Nuclear Fuel Reposi­
ing stainless steel tubes for the nuclear Navy (In 1957, I worked in tory  Congress passed legislation in 1982 directing the U.S. De-
a shop that had forty steam generators under construction for the partment of Energy (DOE) to build and operate a deep geologic
nuclear Navy). The manufacturers followed that practice in steam repository for used nuclear fuel and other high-level radioactive
generators for their first nuclear power plants. In the early 1960s, waste. Under this legislation—the Nuclear Waste Policy Act—
the Navy switched to Ni-based tubing for steam generators for a Congress set a deadline of 1998 for DOE to begin moving used nu-
new design prototype (I was a project engineer for the D1G/D2G), clear fuel from nuclear power plants. Because of delays, however,
and the manufacturers soon followed suit on their new commercial the 1998 deadline is long past due.
units. Also at this time, the manufacturers discovered that there In 1987, Congress adopted an amendment to the Nuclear Waste
was a small company in Richland, WA that had developed a tech- Policy Act that directed DOE to study Yucca Mountain, Nev. — a
nology for inserting a flexible probe through the U-tubes to quickly remote desert location — as the site for a potential repository for
detect location and measure depth of corrosion. Very convenient. geologic disposal of used nuclear fuel. DOE’s study of the site
Coincidentally, Richland WA was also the location of the DOE was delayed until 1992, partly because Nevada refused to issue the
Hanford Laboratory, and not much else. environmental permits needed for surface-disturbing work. After
several court cases, the state issued the permits, and DOE began
24.6.3 Recycling Used Fuel its studies.
Used fuel recycling has been mentioned previously, in 24.3.3 in In 1994, DOE started building a system of tunnels at the site.
the context of nuclear proliferation and in 24.3.4.1 as an important Scientists conducted extensive volcanic, seismic, geological, hy-
element in a used fuel disposal strategy. The present situation is drological and geochemical studies in these tunnels to assess how a
summarized very concisely by the Nuclear Energy Institute [26]: repository would perform over tens of thousands of years. DOE pub-
“For economic and national security reasons, the United States lished the results of these scientific and technical analyses in a com-
does not currently recycle used nuclear fuel. After its use once in prehensive evaluation of the site that demonstrated a Yucca Mountain
the reactor, companies remove it for ultimate disposal in a reposi- repository is capable of protecting public health and safety.
tory. This ‘once-through’ fuel use is called an ‘open’ fuel cycle. Based on this comprehensive evaluation, in 2002, Congress and
The recycling and reuse of nuclear fuel is called a ‘closed’ fuel President George W. Bush approved Yucca Mountain, Nev., as the
cycle. This approach would capture the vast amount of energy still site of the repository.
remaining in used nuclear fuel.” To fund the federal program, the 1982 legislation established the
Nuclear Waste Fund. Beginning in 1983, consumers of electricity
“The federal government plans to evaluate both the open and produced at nuclear power plants have paid a fee into the fund of
closed fuel cycles, including the benefits and availability of one-tenth of a cent for every kilowatt-hour of electricity produced.
advanced recycling technologies. The nuclear industry en- Commitments to the Nuclear Waste Fund, including interest, now
dorses this plan, which could result in long-term environmen- total over $34 billion.”
tal and energy security benefits for America.”
24.6.4.2  DOE Submits Yucca Mountain License Application 
In June 2008, the U.S. Department of Energy submitted to the U.S.
24.6.3.1  Converting Used Fuel into New Fuel  After one cycle Nuclear Regulatory Commission a license application to build
in a reactor, about 95% of the material in the fuel can be reused. a deep geologic repository for used nuclear fuel and other high-
France, Great Britain, and Japan all have had fuel reprocessing op- level radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain, Nev., a remote desert
erations as part of their nuclear power programs for many years. location.
The reprocessed fuel, which contains plutonium as well as ura-
nium, is called MOX (mixed oxide). Reprocessing also reduces 24.6.4.3  Blue Ribbon Commission Formed to Evaluate Alter-
the volume of high-level nuclear waste by one-half or one-third. natives  The Obama administration announced plans in 2009 to
Reactors must be converted to use MOX fuels. The French have terminate the Yucca Mountain program and empanel a blue-ribbon
been converting some of their reactors to operate with MOX fuel commission of experts to study alternatives. On Jan. 29, 2010, the
of 95% depleted uranium oxide and 5% plutonium oxide. Energy Secretary announced the formation of a Blue Ribbon Com-
mission on America’s Nuclear Future to provide recommendations
24.6.3.2  Converting Weapons into New Fuel  While the U.S. for developing a safe, long-term solution to managing the nation’s
does not permit reprocessing of U.S. used reactor fuel, it does dis- used nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste from defense
mantle nuclear weapons. Since the mid-1990s, Russia has been programs. The commission will produce an interim report within
shipping bomb-grade nuclear material from dismantled warheads 18 months and a final report within 24 months.”
24-12  •  Chapter 24

24.7 CONCLUSION   9. The Economist, April 22, 2006, p. 77.

Nuclear power has had an important role in U.S. electric power  10. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI inflation data, bls.gov/data/inflation.
production for over 20 years. The other primary competitors over  11. The New Yorker, The Uranium Widows, Peter Hessler, September
this period have been coal and natural gas. Coal use has been 13, 2010.
gradually diminishing; while cheapest, it has many environmental
 12. Nuclear News, October 1986.
disadvantages. Natural gas use has been increasing rapidly because
on increasing supply and decreasing cost. It has few disadvantages  13. Nuclear Energy Institute Policy Brief Industry Supports Integrated
apart from producing carbon dioxide, a “greenhouse” gas. Re- Used Fuel Management Strategy, April 2010.
newables such as wind and solar may be popular currently, but  14. Nuclear Energy Institute Fact sheet Experience, Testing Confirm
are presently not capable of baseload operation and thus require Transportation Of Used Nuclear Fuel Is Safe, Reliable, February
baseload-capable full time backup, and are expensive. Hydro- 2009.
electric power is the only renewable baseload (available 24/7)
 15. ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code Section III Rules for Con-
electricity generation source. However, hydro-electric percent of
struction of Nuclear Facility Components, Division 3, Containments
total electric generation has actually been decreasing; evidently all for Transportation of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High Level Radioac-
the best sites have already been utilized. tive Material and Waste, The American Society of Mechanical En-
Nuclear power is relatively economical and is the only remain- gineers, 2010 Edition.
ing baseload electricity generation source that produces no carbon
dioxide and thus does not contribute to global warming. The pri-  16. Nuclear Energy Institute Fact sheet Disposal of Commercial Low-
Level Radioactive Waste, September 2009.
mary barrier to increasing nuclear power generation evidently is
long-term waste disposal, which, while not a technical problem,  17. U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Annual
has become a political barrier. 2008 Table 5.2.
 18. Richard Rhodes, Nuclear Renewal, Common Sense about Energy,
Whittle Books, 1993.
24.8 REFERENCES  19. Nuclear Energy Institute Key Issues, Plant Security, Nuclear Plant
   1. USA Today, Dec. 13, 1994, p. 14A. Safety Features.

   2. Parade, June 6, 2010: The Rise of Nuclear Power. Intelligence Report:  20. Nuclear Energy Institute Key Issues, Safety and security Nuclear
(Parade is a nationally distributed Sunday newspaper supplement.) Plants’ Structural Strength, Emergency Plans Perform Well Through
Hurricane Katrina, 2005.
   3. Robert Bryce, Power Hungry, The Myths of “Green” Energy and the
Real Fuels of the Future, PublicAffairs, 2010   21. ENERGY-TECH magazine, August 2010, Wireless Internet plant
security, K.S. Raj.
 3a. Bryce, p. 107.
 22. Nuclear Energy Institute policy brief, U.S. Needs New Nuclear Plants
 3b. Bryce, p. 271. to Meet Energy Demand, Maintain Supply Diversity.
 3c. Bryce, pp. 58–59.  23. R&D magazine, The future of the nuclear fuel cycle, September 17,
2010.
 3d. Bryce, p. 262.
 24. Nuclear Energy Institute Key Issues, New Reactor Designs, Longer-
 3e. Bryce, p. 273.
Term Advanced Nuclear Plant Designs.
  4. U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Annual
 25. Nuclear Energy Institute News and Events - Environmentalists.
2008 Table 7.4.
 26. Nuclear Energy Institute Key Issue, Recyclng Used Nuclear Fuel.
  5. U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Annual
2008 Table 8.4b.  27. Nuclear Energy Institute Key Issue, Repository Development.
  6. The Economist, May 8, 2010, p. 36.
  7. The New Yorker, March 22, 2010, p.19–20.
24.9 OTHER RESOURCES
 7a. Nuclear Energy Fact Sheet The TMI 2 Accident: Its Impact, Its Les-
sons, August 2010. The Necessity of Fission Power, Hans Bethe, Scientific American, January
1976, pages 21-31, and a book by the same title, 1991, Touchstone.
  8. Bernard L. Cohen, The Nuclear Energy Option: An alternative for
the 90s, Plenum Press, 1990. Blaming Technology, Samuel C. Florman, 1981, St. Martin’s Press.
 8a. Nuclear News, April 1991. International Energy Agency, 2009 World Energy Outlook.
 chapter

25
STEAM TURBINE AND GENERATOR
INSPECTION AND CONDITION
ASSESSMENT
Lawrence D. Nottingham
CREDITS by conduction through the insulation to the rotor and stator core
where the convective cooling occurred. Step increases in unit out-
The material presented in this chapter includes certain text put were achieved coincidental with major ventilation improve-
owned by Structural Integrity Associates, Inc. (SI), reproduced ments—sealed machines with integral gas coolers; increases in
with the permission of SI. All figures, photographs, and diagrams gas pressure from 15 to 30 to 45, 60, and 75 psi, and therefore
presented are owned by SI. increased heat dissipation capacity; the use of lower density and
higher heat capacity cooling gases as the cooling medium; direct
gas cooling of the stator and rotor coils; liquid (water) cooling of
25.1 Introduction the stator coils; and even water cooling of the rotor coils in some
non-domestic designs. Additionally, advances in insulation materi-
The fundamental design concepts embodied in steam turbines als enabled operation at higher temperature without degradation of
and generators are fairly simple—allow high pressure steam to ex- the insulating properties of the materials. At one point in the mid-
pand through a series of blades mounted to a rotating member to 1970s through mid-1980s, cryogenically cooled superconducting
extract thermal energy from pressurized steam and convert it to generators were considered the next design generation, and at least
mechanical energy in the form of torque. Then utilize this torque one prototype machine was built domestically.
to rotate a large electromagnet past a series of conductors to pro- As these advances were made, machine complexity increased
duce current flow in the conductors—pretty simple. However, as dramatically. Hydrogen gas was found to be a very effective cool-
simple as this seems, these are very complicated machines that in- ing medium, and it quickly became the standard. Where it was once
volve essentially all aspects of engineering—statics and dynamics, necessary only to pass ambient air through the machine, it became
heat transfer, fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, ferrous and non- necessary to create sealed systems and maintain high Hydrogen pu-
ferrous metallurgy, organic and inorganic chemistry, steam cycle rity because of the explosive nature of Hydrogen when mixed with
chemistry, materials behavior (stress/strain), fracture mechanics, air. Elaborate labyrinth and gland sealing systems for the rotors,
corrosion, erosion, electrical (power) engineering, electric circuits integral hydrogen coolers, hydrogen dryers, and auxiliary support
and circuit models, electromagnetics, control theory and controls, systems resulted. Where the inherent rigidity of components in
power system analysis, dielectrics and electrical insulation, tribol- small machines generally avoided vibration issues, elaborate coil
ogy, and various forms of materials joining from glues and resins bracing systems were required as the machines grew is size and the
to soldering, brazing, and welding. coils became longer and more flexible and therefore more prone to
Looking back at the evolution of steam turbines and genera- vibration and fatigue. Rotor bearing systems evolved from simple
tors, it quickly becomes clear that the single-most limiting factor sleeve bearings with pooled lubricant to relatively complex tilting
that has controlled machine output capacity has almost universally pad bearings with elaborate seals, pumped lubricant, and complex
been the ability to dissipate heat from the generator. While nu- auxiliary support systems to remove particulates, cool the oil, and
merous, significant advances have been made in turbine efficiency safely remove hydrogen gas.
and unit rating, were it not for the generator output limitations, In parallel, advances in materials were required to keep pace
the additional mechanical work required to power the generator with the increased size of major components, particularly rotor
could easily be provided by simply adding more turbines. In fact, components. Stress in a rotating component is directly related to
that has been one means of powering larger generators—adding size (diameter) and rotational speed—larger and faster both equate
turbines in tandem driving a single generator. Early generator de- to increased stress. For integral pole rotors, i.e., those having mag-
signs featured air cooling, at ambient pressure and temperature, netic poles integral to a single piece rotor as found exclusively in
and conventional cooling schemes—convective cooling of the ro- steam turbine generators, a maximum of four magnetic poles was
tor steel and stator core and indirect cooling of the electrical coils established as the practical limit for number of poles. To produce
25-  •  Chapter 25

electrical current at a specific frequency, which in the US is 60 Hz, and it is easy to understand that many, many combinations are
the magnetic poles must pass the stator coils at that frequency; con- possible.
sequently, 3600 and 1800 RPM are the operating speeds for 2-pole Insofar as the scope of this document is concerned, there are
and 4-pole rotors, respectively. With the speed defined, stresses many, many tests routinely performed on various turbine and gen-
can be determined based on the size, and limits can be established erator components and typically classified as maintenance tests.
based on the stress capacity of the material. So, to build larger ma- For the generator, these may include electrical tests to assess the
chines, materials had to evolve accordingly. In addition to the load viability of ongoing operation of the existing generator insulations,
carrying capabilities of the materials, for generators, specific alloys tests to confirm that the stator end turn bracing continues to main-
evolved to provide specific electrical characteristics. tain the coil end turns properly detuned from natural frequencies,
Turning to the turbines, many of the advances came via materi- tests for stator core tightness, wedge tightness tests, and so on. For
als improvements, and alloy evolution and selection were based the turbine, maintenance inspections include inspection of the sta-
on operation at high temperature in a steam environment. Material tionary and rotating blades for cracking and other signs of distress
improvements have allowed designers to take turbines to higher including droplet erosion, water cutting, tenon cracking, tie wire
temperatures and pressures, with increased output as a result. Simi- cracking, and many others; they include dimensional measure-
lar to the generator rotors, at a given speed, turbine rotor size ef- ments to confirm clearances at seals, and so on. These maintenance
fectively establishes the stress and therefore the material properties inspections generally detect conditions that can and are remedied
required for the rotor. Additionally, and again in a similar fashion at that time. Each test or measurement typically has an established
as for the generator rotor, specific alloys evolved for the various limit, and once the limit is exceeded, the parts are either repaired
turbines based on certain design conditions. For higher tempera- or replaced. This might involve, for example, tightening of the
ture rotors, which tend to be the smaller, typically high pressure generator stator end turn bracing, re-wedging the winding slots to
(HP) and some intermediate pressure (IP) units, high temperature tighten the compression on the coils, removing and replacing dam-
creep and temper embrittlement may be issues. Consequently, aged hard metal erosion shields on the turbine blades, and an ar-
specific alloys evolved to provide enhanced resistance to these ray of similar actions for the various other components. This class
damage mechanisms. For the larger low pressure (LP) units, on of inspection and assessment is not subject to further discussion
the other hand, the lower operating temperatures mean that creep within the scope of this document. Treatment of all of these tests,
and embrittlement likely are not issues. However, the larger size inspections, and assessments would require many, many volumes
dictates higher strength materials because of the generally higher of material, even if covered only at the most rudimentary level.
stress associated with larger size. So, different materials evolved to Rather, the body of this document deals for the most part with the
meet these requirements. Other considerations involved in material larger rotating components. These components are not necessarily
evolution and selection include corrosion resistance and possibly subject to regular inspection at each turbine-generator overhaul,
steam, water droplet, and hard particle erosion resistance. And but are subject to critical analysis and re-inspection based on pro-
since blade velocity is directly related to diameter, different con- jections of damage progression into the future, or at intervals pre-
siderations come into play in these regards. Design of the smaller scribed by the manufacturer based on historical information. They
HP and IP rotors with the shorter blades will involve different con- are included because the inspections are much more involved, time
siderations than the large LP rotors with long blades running at consuming, and costly, and so are performed on an as-needed basis
blade tip velocities near or exceeding Mach speeds. rather than as part of the routine maintenance. Additionally, failure
Vibration and vibration analysis also was an integral and impor- is typically much more catastrophic than the components covered
tant part of the expansion of turbine size and capacity. Analogous to by the maintenance tests, and immediate replacement is typically
the small generators, in which the components were relatively small not an option because of long lead times and high costs that pre-
and stiff, growth in size typically equated to increased flexibility clude the possibility in most instances of maintaining spares. Even
and therefore lower natural frequencies. As turbine blades grew in repairs are typically very long, costly operations.
size, so did the need for dynamic analysis to assure that natural fre-
quencies remained well away from any operational frequencies.
Operating hand in hand with all of these design and material con- 25.2 Non-destructive Inspection
siderations and evolution, improved design tools and computeriza- Methods
tion have enabled improved precision and reduction of conservatism,
resulting directly in increased turbine and generator output. And A number of inspection methods are used to assess various
this leads directly into the subject of this document—turbine and turbine and generator components for flaw conditions that could
generator inspection and condition assessment. In the older ma- lead to failure or other operational issues if left unattended.
chines, there was greater uncertainty associated with certain as- Without going into great detail, some brief description of the
pects of the designs, particularly materials and design calculations. relevant inspection methods is necessary as a background for the
Coincident with the evolution of improvements in materials and component-specific information to follow. Most of the basic in-
reduction in the uncertainty associated with certain behavioral spection methods recognized by the American Society for Non-
characteristic was an increased ability to take advantage of these; destructive Testing (ASNT) are employed in some form for one
that is, to work closer to the limits. And so, condition assessment is or more of the various components that are subjected to periodic
an issue for old and new alike. inspection. For those unfamiliar with non-destructive evaluation
Inspection and condition assessment of steam turbine and gen- (NDE), there are a number of basic NDE methods: ultrasonic, eddy
erator components is a complex process involving a significant current, radiography, and a number of others. Each method has very
number of components, an array of different materials, numer- specific requirements that must be met to become a certified prac-
ous potential damage mechanisms, and the full range of available titioner. In general, there are three levels of qualification for each
non-destructive evaluation (NDE) methods and techniques. Add method, Levels I, II, and III, listed in order of increasing respon-
to this data analysis and then the stress and fracture evaluations, sibility. For example, a Level I must work under the supervision
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  25-

of a Level II or III, can implement an inspection, but cannot in- color-contrast MT. For subsurface flaws, because the leakage field
terpret results. A Level II can work independently and perform associated with a flaw is relatively weak and localized, detection
all stages of an inspection, including interpretation. A Level III does not typically extend to a significant depth into the part. How-
can additionally develop and write procedures and administer a ever, MT procedures can be effectively applied for the detection of
qualification program, as examples. Each qualification level has flaws under thin coatings, for example, paint.
specific requirements in terms of education, experience (typically Liquid Penetrant Testing (PT)—This method is limited to the
while certified at the next lower level), and training, and each re- detection of flaws that are open to an accessible surface of the com-
quire periodic requalification by examination. ponent. The principle upon which PT relies is that of capillary ac-
Visual Testing (VT) is exactly as it sounds—visually assessing tion of a liquid. A penetrant liquid is applied to the surface to be
components or assemblies for signs of distress. While this might inspected and is drawn into surface flaws by capillary action. The
sound simple and even trivial insofar as recognizing it as a dis- surface is then cleaned of all remnant penetrant, and a developer is
cipline, quality VT is actually one of the more demanding of the applied to draw the penetrant from the flaw to the surface to make
various NDE methods because it requires extensive knowledge of it visible. Similar to MT inspection, the liquid penetrants come in
operative damage mechanisms and the visual signs that are asso- color contrast and fluorescent, the latter requiring the use of ul-
ciated with each. VT obviously requires access to the surface(s) traviolet light and also the more sensitive. The penetrant material
under examination, although direct access is not mandatory. Video itself is specifically designed via controlled color, surface tension,
probes, mirrors and other devices are often used to view surfaces and viscosity to enhance the process. Cleanliness and surface prep-
and assemblies that are otherwise inaccessible. aration are very important considerations in PT inspection. Any
Ultrasonic Testing (UT)—UT is the material testing analogy to contaminant that prevents the introduction of the penetrant into the
active sonar—ping and listen. UT involves the introduction of high flaws can reduce the effectiveness of the inspection or even render
frequency sound waves into a component using a transducer that it completely useless. Similarly, contaminants that hold penetrant
converts electrical voltage into deformation and the opposite. Cer- can lead to false calls. Surface cleaning methods that upset the
tain materials possess this piezoelectric property. The voltage is surface, such as abrasive grit blasting and grinding, are generally
applied as a very short pulse, which causes the material to resonate considered incompatible with PT inspection as the flaws can be
briefly. By coupling the transducer to the surface of a component, smeared over or peened closed.
the mechanical oscillation of the transducer can be coupled into Eddy Current Testing (ET)—ET inspection is an electromagnetic
the component as a short duration sound wave. Similarly, when inspection method that is effective in detecting and characterizing
a sound wave strikes the piezoelectric element of the transducer, surface and near-surface flaws in conductive materials. When cur-
a voltage is created. The basic concept of UT is to introduce the rent is passed through a coil that is held in close proximity to the
sound into the part, where it will reflect from a flaw back to the surface of a conductive material, the magnetic field developed by
transducer and therefore produces a measurable voltage. The prop- the coil induces current flow, i.e., eddy currents, in the conductive
agation mode and direction are controlled via the use of a refract- material. So long as all things remain constant–material conductiv-
ing wedge between the transducer and the component. The sound ity, magnetic permeability, proximity, material condition–the char-
field propagation direction is used to define the direction in the part acteristic impedance of the coil remains constant. However, any
from which the reflection occurs. Because propagation velocity for change, including the presence of a discontinuity within the eddy
a specific propagation mode in a given material is constant, the current field, changes the impedance. Consequently, the impedance
propagation time provides a measure of reflector location along the can be monitored as a means of assessing the surface for the pres-
beam, and the voltage of the return signal gives some indication of ence of flaws. Alternatively, a secondary pickup coil can be used to
the significance of the reflector—larger flaws cover more of the measure the eddy currents directly, with the same result. Eddy cur-
field and therefore in general produce more significant reflection rent inspection provides advantages over other surface inspection
amplitudes. UT can often be effectively used to detect and charac- methods in that the output can easily be recorded and positionally
terize flaws at locations completely otherwise inaccessible, includ- correlated. It therefore lends itself to automation. ET inspection can
ing flaws located at hidden internal surfaces of components and also be very sensitive, even to very small, tight cracks that likely
flaws internal to the material itself, i.e., subsurface flaws. There might go undetected by other surface inspection methods.
are numerous variations, or techniques, employed in optimizing an There are other inspection methods such as Radiographic Test-
inspection for a specific application. These will be discussed to the ing (RT), Infrared Thermography (IRT), and others that are not
degree necessary along with the various applications. generally used for any of the covered turbine and generator appli-
Magnetic Particle Testing (MT)—This is a method for detect- cations, so additional detail on these is not provided.
ing surface connected and near-surface flaws at accessible surfaces
of ferromagnetic materials. When the material is magnetized, any
flaw lying in the magnetized material disrupts the field, forcing the 25.3  urbine Design and Component
T
magnetic flux around the flaw. This establishes magnetic poles at Overview
the flaw. The magnetic field can be developed directly by passing
current through the part or indirectly by passing current through While it is well beyond the scope of this work to provide signifi-
a conductor located in close proximity to the part. By then dis- cant detail on turbine and generator design, certain information is
tributing fine particles of ferromagnetic material over the part, the required in order to put into the right context the information that
particles are attracted to the field established by the flaw. Color is provided on inspection and condition assessment. As is typically
contrast particles are available in different colors to provide the the case, certain damage and failure mechanisms, and therefore the
best contrast to the background color of the component. Fluores- means of dealing with them, are related directly to the design or
cent particles are available, typically in liquid suspensions, for use to specific design details. There are many different types of steam
with ultraviolet light to make them more visible. Wet fluorescent turbines, the differences founded in the underlying principles in-
MT (WFMT) is typically considered to be more sensitive than dry, volved with the conversion of thermal energy to work. There are
25-  •  Chapter 25

condensing and non-condensing turbines, reheat turbines, extrac- sitting in the lower half of the casing with the upper half removed.
tion turbines, induction turbines, and so on. In the power plant, the In most cases, the two sections of the hybrid HP/IP and IP/LP ma-
most commonly found is the condensing turbine, which exhausts chines are opposing flow, but this is not always the case.
steam that is already partially condensed and at a pressure below at- In terms of the turbine combinations, any combination that can
mospheric into a condenser. The basic concept is to extract work by be imagined has probably been built at some time or other. The
allowing the steam to expand through a series of blades that turn the predominant arrangement in more modern turbines is the tandem
rotor onto which the blades are attached. The blades through which compound arrangement in which the machines are all aligned
the steam initially passes are very small. Small blades maintain ac- along a single shaft axis and coupled directly one to the next. Such
ceptably low stress when exposed to the high pressure steam; yet an arrangement might have an HP turbine, followed by an IP tur-
extract significant work because of the high pressure even though bine, followed by one or more LP turbines, and then the genera-
acting on relatively small areas. To allow the expansion and make tor. As mentioned above, there are many, many variations on the
most efficient use of each successive row of blades, the blades in- number of turbines involved in driving the generator and on how
crease in size along the flow direction. As the pressure drops, greater they are arranged. There are single turbines driving the generator,
area is required to extract meaningful work, and the blades can be up through and including five turbines (most that could be found)
larger and yet maintain acceptable stress levels because of the lower including an HP, IP, and 3 LP turbines. In these arrangements,
pressure. Typically, turbines for power generation use have been the same steam flows from the HP, then to the IP, and then to the
manufactured in one of three basic types: high pressure (HP) tur- LP(s). In a reheat unit, the steam returns to the boiler after passing
bines, intermediate pressure (IP) turbines, and low pressure (LP) through the HP, where it is reheated before passing through the
turbines. In any of these designs, the blades are arranged around the IP, which for this reason is also commonly called a reheat turbine.
rotor in rows, where each row has duplicate blades within it and Cross compound is another option in which there are two genera-
the blades increase in size along the steam flow direction through tors driven by separate turbines. A cross compound unit typically
the turbine. In addition to these basic types, there are also hybrids, has a 3600 RPM, 2-pole generator driven by an HP or an HP/IP,
for example, HP/IP and IP/LP turbines that combine the two into a or an HP and an IP, plus an 1800 RPM, 4-pole generator driven by
single unit. In such case, the two are still separated internally in sec- an one or more LP rotors. These still use the same steam and can
tions, e.g., the HP section and the IP section, but are combined into involve reheat steam to the IP turbines or IP sections.
a single rotor in a single casing. Output for steam driven generators in the US, of which there
Regardless, the HP turbines will typically be the smallest ma- are on the order of 2500 and 3000 operating units devoted to com-
chines having relatively small blades, IP will be larger machines mercial power generation, ranges for the most part between 50 and
with larger blades, and the LPs are the largest machines with the 1200 megawatts (MW), although a significant number of smaller
largest blades. In terms of pressures and temperatures, the HP sees units also can be found, even as small as 2 MW, operating typically
the highest pressures and temperatures, followed by the IPs which at municipal facilities. Regarding the age of the units, not too many
might see equivalent temperature but not equivalent pressure, fol- steam power plants have been built in the US since the mid- to late
lowed by the LP. The last few blade stages in the LP typically 1970s, so the fleet is aging, with the majority near or past the half
see some level of condensation before the steam exhausts into the century mark.
condenser. In addition to the various pressure designations for the So, just from these generalized descriptions some of the impor-
turbines, they are also characterized by flow direction, single flow tant considerations that could impact the approach to inspection
or double flow. Whereas HP and IP machines are generally single and life assessment might include:
flow, i.e., having steam flow in only one axial direction, it is more
·  Types of turbines comprising the unit—HP, IP, HP/IP, LP,
common for LP rotors to have the steam enter at the axial center
etc.;
of the machine and flow equally in both outward directions, i.e.,
·  Unit rating and therefore the sizes of the machines—also with
double flow. In the latter double flow (DF) turbines, there is no net
second order affects such as the materials used as impacted by
axial thrust and therefore no requirement for thrust support provi-
imposed stress, which is related to size;
sions in the design. A typical DFLP rotor is shown in Figure 25.1
·  Age of the unit as this dictates the materials that would have
been used and certainly the accumulated service hours;
·  Rotational speed of the unit;
·  Pressure and temperature of the steam;
·  Temperatures of the various components; and,
·  State of the steam along the flow, i.e., condensing or not.
For the generator, it is a bit simpler. A generator is a generator
in terms of the overall design concept. The rotor has sections of
the body containing a number of axial slots running the full length
of the body and solid sections that form the magnetic poles. Coils
are wound into the axially machined slots and around the magnetic
poles that are integral to the rotor forging. The coils are held in
place by slot wedges, and where the coils exit the slots and wrap
around to the opposite side of the pole, large rings are assembled
over the end turns to support them. A DC voltage applied to the ro-
tor windings, i.e., the excitation voltage, creates the magnetic field
associated with each magnetic pole.
Fig. 25.1  DFLP rotor sitting in the bottom half- The stator is essentially a large core of ferromagnetic, electrical
shell grade material surrounding the rotor and built up by many thou-
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  25-

sands of very thin laminations stacked axially and having integral the steam flow direction at the admission side of the rotating stages
slots running the full length to contain and support the stator coils. for optimum performance, form the support members for the rotat-
Similar to the rotor windings, the stator coils are held in the slots ing blades. The disks can be non-integral to the central shaft, as
by wedges and connected in the end turn area to form the 3-phase shown, partially integral meaning that the smaller disks are inte-
winding. gral to the shaft and the larger disks are separate, assembled com-
As opposed to the turbines, of which there are many different ponents, or fully integral to the shaft. Assembled disks typically
variety, as described above, all generators take on these same com- involve an interference (shrink) fit. Historically, the smaller HP
mon features. The distinguishing features in the generator are gen- and IP rotors had integral disks and LP rotors had assembled disks.
erally linked directly to output, heat generation, heat capacity, and The evolution from fully non-integral, to partially integral, to fully
heat dissipation: integral disks essentially followed directly the evolution and avail-
ability of larger, quality forgings. Some HP and IP designs feature
·  Unit rating;
blades that are directly mounted to the shaft without the presence
·  Stator cooling method, e.g., conventional, gas inner cooled,
of disks, per se. Other major components include the bearings that
direct water cooled, etc.;
support the rotors and couplings that form the connection interface
·  Ventilation gas, typically air or Hydrogen;
between adjacent rotors.
·  Ventilation gas pressure (even if having water cooled coils,
the rotor and the remainder of the stator are still gas cooled);
and,
·  Temperature rating of the insulation materials. 25.5 Rotor Forging Assessment
Having now established some basic design fundamentals, we Considerable research and development activities have been
can delve deeper into the issues associated with inspection, condi- expended over the years to develop inspection and analysis tools
tion assessment, and remaining life analysis. We will start with that reduce outage and analysis times and provide realistic assess-
turbines and move to generators. ments of remaining life. For the central shafts, forging production
standards have provided the appropriate surface from which to
launch relevant inspection protocols. The process that results in
25.4  urbine Components Requiring
T a useful rotor forging begins with one of a number of rotor forg-
Periodic Life Assessment ing specifications which have evolved over the years to provide
optimum performance under a number of operational conditions.
Figure 25.2 provides a schematic of a turbine rotor cross sec­ The classic material breakdown for applications in fossil plant ro-
tion. Remember that the stationary components were defined as tors is:
routine inspection and maintenance components, at least for the
purposes of this document, and are therefore not included. ·  HP and IP rotors having operating temps up to 1050° F—Cr-
Regardless the type of rotor, i.e., HP, IP, or LP, there are many Mo-V (typically 1Cr-1Mo-1/4V) forgings;
common features rotor to rotor. Generally, there is a central shaft ·  LP rotors and discs—3.5Ni-Cr-Mo-V;
and most often (at least for older vintage rotors) the rotor shaft has ·  Generators—Ni-Cr-Mo-V; and,
a central bore hole. The disks, positioned appropriately along the ·  Some very old units may be just Cr-Mo or Ni-Mo-V (1940s)
shaft to provide spaces between for the stationary blades that adjust but those would be the exceptions.

Fig. 25.2 Turbine rotor (DFLP) cross section

25-  •  Chapter 25

Specifications include: establish the correct calibration sensitivity based on the bore or
backwall reflection.
·  A-469 Vacuum-Treated Steel Forgings for Generator Rotors;
Considering the complex configuration of the final machined
·  A-470 Vacuum-Treated Carbon and Alloy Steel Forgings for
rotor, however, ISI is not so easily accomplished from the outer
Turbine Rotors and Shafts (this is a Ni-Cr-Mo-V materials);
periphery. This is true regardless whether the subject rotor is a tur-
and,
bine rotor, which has the disk configurations at least and possibly
·  A-471 Vacuum-Treated Alloy Steel Forgings for Turbine Ro-
assembled disks covering the OD, or a generator rotor that has the
tor Disks and Wheels (also Ni-Cr-Mo-V materials).
full-length integral winding slots cut into the body. However, the
One designation that is referenced occasionally is that of C-grade presence of the central bore hole provides a convenient, typically
rotor material. C-Grade is a designation that was applied to 1950s uniform surface from which to inspect the central material for po-
and earlier vintage 1Cr-1Mo-1/4V forgings that were austenitized tentially detriment flaws. Failures that initiate at the rotor bore sur-
at 1850°F. These forgings were found to exhibit low ductility and face, where in-service stresses are highest, propagate by low cycle
notch sensitivity (low fracture toughness). The austenitizing tem- fatigue or high temperature creep. Failures that initiate subsurface
perature was lowered in the mid-1950s to 1750°F which improved typically initiate by link-up and growth of inherent discontinuities
ductility and toughness, designated as D-Grade material. Much of remnant from the steelmaking process, but then propagate by low
the early development activities associated with forging in-service cycle fatigue. Because the predominant stress is a hoop stress, i.e.,
inspection (ISI) was centered on inspection of C-Grade rotors, al- tangential, the flaw of main concern is in a radial–axial orientation,
though the inspections now are recommended for most, if not all, normal to the primary stress direction. The study of linear elastic
rotors. fracture mechanics tells us that a surface flaw of axial length (L) by
Older forgings, particularly those made prior to the advent of radial depth (a) has a crack tip stress intensity that is the same as a
vacuum degassing practices, were prone to concentrations of im- subsurface flaw that is the same length but twice the radial dimen-
purities and flaws near the forging centerline. In the ingot, as the sion, i.e., L × 2a, if acted on by the same stress. This factor, when
solidification of the molten steel progressed from the outside in- combined with the fact that the stress is highest at the bore surface,
ward, impurities tended to concentrate within the last to solidify, means that the bore surface flaw is of major concern. However,
so toward the ingot center. Then, as the solidified ingot was forged the subsurface flaws, particularly those in close proximity to each
to form the basic shaft shape, these impurities were further con- other such that linkup is possible, cannot be discounted.
densed to the center section, concentrating them along and around Ultrasonic inspection of the rotor material from the bore surface,
the shaft axis. A simple solution for removal of these impurities a practice that has become known generically as boresonic inspec-
and flaws was to bore the rotor along the axis. tion, has become standard throughout the industry. Typically, the
In their final configurations, turbine and generator rotors are inspection involves the introduction of ultrasonic waves in dif-
subjected to any number of significant stress conditions. However, ferent directions relative to the bore surface to look for flaws at
the single most significant concern in terms of consequences of a different orientations. Because of the criticality of surface and near-
failure is a rotor burst. High speed rotation creates significant hoop surface flaws, located where stresses are highest, the inspection is
stress that is highest at the shaft center and falls off with increasing typically designed to concentrate on the first few inches of material
distance from the center. The central bore hole, in fact, acts as a radially outward from the bore. In most applications of ultrasound,
stress concentration and thereby increases the stress at the bore sur- there is a limitation on the ability to detect and assess flaws located
face even further. Even so, until recently, when steelmaking prac- at and very near the test surface, i.e., the surface from which the
tice evolved to the point of making suitably clean large ingots and ultrasonic waves are launched, in this case the bore surface. This
forgings, the benefits associated with flaw removal via the presence is typically a very shallow distance, measured in hundredths of an
of a bore overrode the negative impact on stress. Conse­quently, inch, but in this case it is, nonetheless, the most important material
in the US nearly all large rotors have central bore holes. There in terms of flaw criticality. Consequently, boresonic inspection is
are some exceptions, for example some rotors made during World supplemented using reliable surface inspection methods, generally
War II, when boring machines were otherwise occupied, and more MT or ET inspection.
recently when forging quality improvements have allowed for the Boresonic systems currently in use are all fully automated, fea-
elimination of the bore, but, in general, the presence of a bore is turing motorized, external scanning mechanisms that transport the
relatively standard for the vast majority of the US fleet. transducers systematically through the bore via a probe head and
The raw forging, typically in the form of a series of contiguous series of drive rods to accomplish complete and reliable coverage
cylindrical sections made to encompass the final rotor shape, is of the material. Figure 25.3 presents a photograph of a turbine rotor
fairly easy to inspect from the outer periphery, and specifications inspection underway. The scan is accomplished either in a raster
evolved accordingly for acceptance inspection of the forging. For mode in which the transducers undergo alternating clockwise and
the central material, ASTM A-418 is one such inspection stan­ counterclockwise 360° rotations with an axial index between, or in
dard. In the early days of ultrasonic inspection and still in many a continuous helical scan. The raster mode allows the transducers
cases to this day, ultrasonic inspection instruments were (are) cali- to be hard wired to the external instrumentation and data acquisi-
brated using a series of calibration blocks containing reflectors tion system, while the helical scan mode requires the use of slip
of the size of interest and located at various test distances repre- rings in the circuit to prevent continuous twisting of the wires. The
sentative of the volume of interest in component being inspected. automated systems contain motion pickups to record probe head
For large rotors, this means very large blocks. ASTM A-418 was position along with the inspection data. This enables the generation
developed for the specific purpose of eliminating the calibration of positionally-correlated data images for analysis purposes. More
blocks by using either the bore in the case of a hollow cylinder information on data analysis is presented later.
or the far wall in the case of the solid cylinder as the calibration Boresonic inspection is supplemented with a surface inspec-
reflector. Theoretically derived relationships between the reflector tion to cover the zone in which the UT is ineffective. The surface
of interest and the reflection from a bore or backwall are used to inspection is typically either MT or ET. Bore MT is conducted
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  25-

that is still very attractive to many. A typical MT indication associ-

ated with an axial bore crack is shown in Figure 25.4. Likely the
best of both worlds is the use of ET as the primary inspection, with
full digital data acquisition and storage concurrently with the UT
inspections, followed by bore MT if/as necessary to corroborate
ET indications.
Bore surface preparation typically involves honing the bore to
provide a smooth, uniform surface condition, void of any conditions
that would upset the transducers or otherwise interfere with effec-
tive coupling of the ultrasound into and out of the rotor material.
In manual UT, the operator has full control of the transducer and
can compensate for minor surface irregularities by over-scanning
and feel. But in automated UT, the transducers traverse the surface
one time and with limited capability to compensate for irregulari-
ties. Consequently, the surface must be smooth and regular. Most
bore inspection specifications require that all oxide and contami-
Fig. 25.3 Boresonic drive attached to an HP/IP nants are removed and that a 63-µ-inch finish is provided for the
rotor inspection. This surface finish is critical for the proper contact of
the UT probes and equally important for reliable detection and
characterization of surface MT indications. Rotors typically have
using a central conductor and therefore indirect magnetization. shrink-fit assembled end plugs that must be removed to access the
The inspection relies on residual magnetization, i.e., the magne­ bore, and this operation is typically done by machining the plugs.
tizing field is applied and then released while the magnetic particle For bores that have a uniform bore diameter, typically only a sin-
suspension is applied. The inspection utilizes color-contrast parti- gle plug is removed and the inspection is conducted from one end.
cles in a wet suspension. Viewing of the surface is performed using Often, however, rotors may have steps, transitions, and even bottle
an optical borescope or miniature camera in combination with a bores. These features likely were put in at the time of manufacture
high intensity light source. Bore ET inspection is conducted using to remove material containing detected flaws. Depending upon the
a more or less conventional eddy current probe that is scanned over details of the bore configuration, access from both ends of the bore
the entirety of the bore surface. for honing and delivery of the inspection systems may be required,
For rotor bore surface inspection, MT and ET each provide cer- in which case both end plugs must be removed.
tain advantages and disadvantages. By virtue of the fact that ET is Data analysis, for the most part, is now a largely automated pro­
an electronic inspection method, the data can be digitally recorded cess that converts the ultrasonic data into flaw tables that include
for archival retention purposes. The inspection method requires that the location of each flaw centroid, expressed in most cases in terms
the ET probe is scanned over the surface, thereby making the in- of radial depth, R (inches), axial position, Z (inches), and circum-
spection compatible with the boresonic scanning. In fact, the probe ferential position, q (degrees), as well as dimension in each direc-
is typically included in the boresonic probe head such that the data tion as well. At one time, sizing of indications was based solely on
can be acquired concurrently with the boresonic inspection data, the amplitude of the ultrasonic response using area/amplitude cor-
which results in a real time savings. This advantage notwithstand- relations based on the response from flat bottom holes (FBHs) in
ing, the main advantage of ET owes directly to the fact that the calibration blocks. However, this sizing method has long been rec-
data is acquired along with the digitally stored positional informa- ognized as inaccurate because response amplitude is impacted by
tion and so the coordinate reference system is consistent with that
used for the boresonic inspection. In the analysis phase of a bore
evaluation, the data is combined based on proximity of indications
and the local stress level. Closely proximate indications in regions
of high stress must be considered as a single flaw, the boundary
of which encompasses the entire volume containing the individual
flaws. The logic is that, if the ligament stress is high enough, the
individual flaws will soon link. Even small errors in flaw location
therefore can lead to significant errors in combining the individual
indications into an equivalent flaw size. And the error can go ei-
ther way—overly conservative by combining individual flaws that
have wider separation or treating individually flaws that should be
combined. The primary deterrent to bore MT inspection is that the
inspection must be conducted using some visual device, such as an
optical borescope or camera, to view the surface. Unfortunately,
when using such devices, there is no effective way to provide the
same positional precision as can be attained when using precision
optical encoders in conjunction with automated positional systems.
And the fact that the ET inspection can be conducted concurrently
with the UT means that both sets of data have exactly the same
position reference datum. However, the advantage of the bore MT Fig. 25.4 Image of a bore axial crack in an HP
is that it provides the ability to “see” the indication, a capability turbine rotor
25-  •  Chapter 25

many variables in addition to flaw size. Flaw orientation relative the startup rate to assure that the peak thermal stress is not present
to the beam direction, flaw shape, morphology, and composition concurrent with the peak mechanical stress. This typically means
can all impact the reflection amplitude, not to mention material slow ramp up to full speed or even hold points at certain speeds
structure and its affect in terms of attenuating the sound. Conse- to allow the rotors to soak at the temperatures to equilibrate there
quently, without a priori knowledge on all of these other variables, before continuing. Material properties are also impacted by tem-
size analysis based on amplitude alone is prone to significant error. perature, and in general, higher temperature means more ductility
And any such errors are always non-conservative; that is, all of the and less susceptibility to brittle fracture. These warming practices
variables that impact amplitude tend to lower the amplitude and also allow for the materials to pass the brittle-to-ductile transition
therefore make the flaws appear smaller than actual. temperature range before reaching peak stress. For the generator,
This is not meant to imply that early practitioners did not rec- temperatures are much lower and thermal stresses are typically not
ognize and account for these errors. To the contrary, significant even a consideration. Once at speed and fully on line and at opera-
correction and safety factors were applied to account for the poten- tional temperature, the hoop stresses that predominate in the shaft
tial sizing error. Unfortunately, the flaw sizing processes and algo- central material remain effectively constant until the unit shuts
rithms based on response amplitude simply resulted in significant down. Minor stress cycles accumulate with major load, and there-
uncertainty. As a direct result, extremely conservative approaches fore thermal swings, but these account for only a small fraction of
were utilized to make it absolutely certain that failures would not the accumulated damage and life consumption. By far, cold starts
occur. For many years, beginning in the early 1980s, related R&D account for the majority of life consumption, followed by hot starts
efforts concentrated on the removal of conservatism without as- for which the thermal stresses are not additive, followed by major
suming unacceptable risk of failure. load swings.
More recently, flaw sizing algorithms based on dynamic echo Engineering analysis of indications detected via the rotor bore
response, hit envelope, tip diffractions, and amplitude drop have inspections is performed using component-specific analysis pro-
evolved and have improved the accuracy of the flaw sizing results, grams. While there are other analysis programs used by various
and therefore reduction in the safety factors that must be applied. analysis providers, the SAFER (Stress And Fracture Evaluation
Ultrasonic images like those shown in Figure 25.5 are also re- of Rotors) computer analysis program that was developed by the
viewed as part of the data analysis process and to perform spot Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) sets the standard and
checks on selected flaws from the flaw tables. will be presented here in that regard. SAFER provides two distinct
As stated earlier, the primary concern for the central material analysis options, deterministic and probabilistic. In a deterministic
in a rotor forging is low cycle fatigue. The stress cycle is related analysis, single-value input parameters are used. These are typi-
to start/stop operation and to a much lesser degree to load swings. cally worst case values to provide the most conservative solution,
When a unit is brought up to speed and then put on line, the tur- which is in the form of a go–no-go answer. That is, the future duty
bine rotors heat up and the rotational (centrifugal) stress increases cycle is input, along with conservative parameters in the form of
with increasing rotational speed. The startup procedure can have a flaw sizes, material properties, and stresses, and a conservative es-
significant impact on peak stress, as the peak thermal stress occurs timate of remaining life is determined. Alternatively, the SAFER
during the startup transient conditions and then is significantly re- program provides the means to perform probabilistic analyses. Un-
duced once temperatures equilibrate and stead state operating con- der this analysis option, all input parameters are input as statistical
ditions have been reached. It is therefore good practice to control distributions, and a Monte Carlo simulation is exercised to deter-

Fig. 25.5 Ultrasonic images (sectional views) used in data analysis, In this case representative of a
calibration block containing machined reflectors
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  25-

mine the probability of failure in a specified operational interval. better side of the distribution rather than toward the worse side.
This analysis removes a great deal of conservatism and therefore is This means that material samples must be removed from the ro-
more realistic. However, in order to take advantage of the lowered tor for testing purposes. Sample removal and testing is discussed
conservatism, the owner must be willing to deal with the output in later.
the form of a probability of failure in a specified operational life. Another consideration in assessing certain rotors is that of dam-
The owner must decide the probability of failure that represents an age by high temperature creep. As with other topics mentioned at
acceptable risk. Typically, operators consider a 0.1% probability various points within this document, the purpose is not to describe
of failure over the intended operational period until the next sched- creep in great detail, but simply to provide sufficient information to
uled inspection to be acceptable, and for Nuclear units the accept- enable a reasonable understanding of its importance. Creep occurs
able risk is more typically 0.01% (1 in 10,000). But the comfort essentially by atomic level diffusion of defects in the atomic struc-
level is something that only the owner/operator can define based ture. When subjected to elevated temperature above about 850°F
on their tolerance for risk. In reality, there is risk associated with and sufficient stress, vacancies and dislocations migrate within
operation of a unit regardless the assessment that is conducted. The the atomic structure until they reach a grain boundary, at which
probabilistic approach merely quantifies this risk. point they are pinned. As the process proceeds, additional “flaws’
The analysis process involves three primary tasks. The first is continue to accumulate at the grain boundaries, eventually form-
a transient thermal-elastic finite element stress analysis to deter- ing microscopic voids or cavities. At first, these will be distributed
mine the distribution of stress and temperature in the near-bore relatively randomly, but eventually, as the process continues, they
region of the rotor. It is important to evaluate the typical cold start­ become “oriented”, i.e., more prevalent along grain boundaries
up condition(s) for that specific unit to ensure that these factors that are normal or near-normal to the principal stress direction. Ul-
are included in the analysis. Information required to perform the timately, the size and density of cavities becomes sufficient that
transient stress analysis of a rotor is listed below. they begin to link to form micro-cracks. These eventually coalesce
to form macro-cracks. Once cracks are formed, they can propagate
·  Description of the rotor periphery as a function of axial
by creep or fatigue, or a combination creep-fatigue mechanism. In
location;
its initial stages, creep is consider more a materials properties de-
·  Description of the rotor bore geometry as a function of axial
gredation mechanism in that the properties begin to degrade before
location;
any measurable flaw can be detected. However, once cracks are
·  Blade weights and mass center location or rim loads for each
formed, creep is a double edged sword because not only is a frac-
stage;
ture mechanics flaw present, but it is growing into material around
·  Inlet and outlet steam temperature and pressure versus time
the crack that is likely also degraded via creep cavities and/or
during a ‘typical’ startup;
micro-cracks. Once creep reaches this point of progression, failure
·  RPM versus time during a typical startup;
is typically not far behind.
·  Heat balance diagram for the unit at full load;
Temper embrittlement is yet another damage mechanism that
·  Service history of the unit (online time and starts); and,
can be experienced in higher temperature rotors. Whereas creep
·  Rotor material data—fracture appearance transition tempera-
involves diffusion of atomic level vacancies and dislocations, tem-
ture (brittle/ductile temperature), composition, yield strength,
per embrittlement involves diffusion of certain impurity elements
fracture toughness.
(i.e., phosphorus, tin, lead, sulfur, arsenic, etc.) to prior austenite
This is followed by the linkup analyses of the NDE data based grain boundaries. Here they provide easy fracture paths, lowering
upon the proximity of indications and local stress and temperature. fracture toughness and increasing the fracture appearance transi-
This linkup analysis utilizes the spatial variation of stress and tem- tion temperature (FATT) accordingly. Temper embrittlement typi-
perature in the rotor to predict whether or not neighboring indica- cally occurs in the temperature range of 600°F - 1000°F, although
tions should be combined and considered as larger indications. degree of embrittlement is a function of exposure temperature
The third task is to perform the critical crack size evaluation. within this range, with the greatest effects occurring in the range
This is either done deterministically using specific values for the of 600°F to 750°F, targeting the back ends of the HP and mid-
various input parameters or probabilistically using statistical ranges dle of the IP sections. It seems more than logical that increased
derived from historical databases. Where the deterministic ap- content of tramp elements would increase susceptibility to temper
proach is exercised here as the third step, it can be followed by the embrittlement and quantitative chemical analysis can be used to
probabilistic analysis if additional rigor is considered justifiable, determine the level of tramp elements in the material. However,
or the analysis can proceed directly to the probabilistic analysis, no correlation to composition with which to predict susceptibility
bypassing the deterministic. In this probabilistic treatment, the val- is known to exist.
ues of stress, initial crack size, fatigue crack growth rate, creep Certain HP and IP rotors, or at least regions within these rotors,
crack growth rate, and fracture toughness are treated as random operate within the temperature ranges at which creep and/or tem-
variables. If available, rotor-specific material properties and their per embrittlement are potential considerations. In the analysis of
associated distributions are used. In those instances where rotor- the rotor forgings, in fact, even in the absence of detectable flaws,
specific materials property data is not available, literature values these mechanisms may become life-limiting. Every NDE method
available for the same class of material in similar rotors are used. and technique, as implemented for a specific application, has an
It is recognized, however, that the distributions for the various da- inherent detection threshold beneath which flaws will not be de-
tabase properties are relatively broad, i.e., having relatively large tected. As the properties degrade, at some point the flaw size need-
standard deviations. This factor alone can have a dramatic impact ed to grow to failure within some defined operating interval can
on the outcome. If this level of analysis falls short of indicating the fall below the detection threshold of the inspection, at which point
desired remaining operating life with acceptable risk, then the next the detection threshold flaw must be considered as the life-limiting
level of analysis would require rotor-specific material properties, case. Said another way, if a flaw is present just below the detec-
with the hope that the properties are determined to be toward the tion threshold, and if that flaw is larger than that needed to grow to
25-10  •  Chapter 25

failure within the next duty cycle, then the properties in combina- of the stress concentrations associated with attachment geometries.
tion with a near-detectable flaw become life-limiting and the rein- Some operate at temperatures sufficient to cause long term thermal
spection interval must be shortened to preclude risk of a failure. damage, and others operate in regions where steam conditions are
suitable for the formation of stress corrosion damage.
The other region that is considered highly susceptible to crack-
25.6 Turbine Disks ing is the bore/keyway region of shrink-assembled disks. The de-
signs of shrunk-on disks typically involve some form of an axial
For the purposes of this discussion, the disk is divided into three key at the shrink-fit interface to prevent the disk from rotating rela-
parts, the hub, which is the relatively large, heavy body, central tive to the shaft under upset loading conditions. While the entire
part including the bore and keyway, the thinner web section that disk is susceptible to IGSCC, the bore is more prone than most
extends outward from the hub, and the rim section where the blades other surfaces because the nominal rotational stress is highest at
are attached. See Figure 25.6. the bore. Additionally, because of the stress concentration effect
Turbine disks are generally susceptible to intergranular stress of the keyway, the keyway surfaces are even more prone to crack-
corrosion cracking (IGSCC) and are particularly sensitive when ing. Another significant factor that can impact IGSCC in the bore
operating in unsuitable steam chemistry. Additionally, and poten- and keyway regions owes to the fact that there is no steam flow
tially as important as or even more important than operating condi- in these regions. While other surfaces exposed to steam flow can
tions are the conditions present during shutdown. While cracking be cleaned of contaminants by the flow, the bore and keyway sur-
can occur essentially anywhere on the disks, certain areas are faces are not flushed in any way. Consequently, once contaminants
more prone to damage than are other areas. Highly susceptible are introduced into these regions, the IGSCC process continues
areas include those having higher stresses combined with either unabated.
high temperature exposure or geometric considerations that tend Disks operating at and beyond the phase transformation zone
to trap contaminants that contribute to the stress corrosion dam- (PTZ), i.e., where the steam is transforming from dry to wet and
age progression. This typically means that the blade attachment beyond, are particularly prone to IGSCC. For many years, IGSCC
regions are prone regardless. All operate at elevate stress because was known as an operative damage mechanism and was considered
to be a function only of steam chemistry and the local operating
conditions, i.e., those conditions present during operation in and
beyond the PTZ. More recently, the process has been better defined
and it now appears that the initiation occurs during unprotected
shutdowns [1]. The droplets and liquid films which form on the
blade/disk surfaces in and beyond the PTZ during operation do not
initially create damage because neither contains any oxygen, even
in units with hundreds of ppb of oxygen in the steam. However, in
addition to the liquids, deposits of contaminants such as chlorides
can form during operation. During shutdown these deposits are still
present, and if there is no protection the deposits absorb moisture.
Unlike the moisture present during operation, however, this mois-
ture does contain oxygen, and when present in combination with
the deposits of contaminants remaining from operation, becomes
highly acidic. This environment first breaks down the passivity
on the PTZ surfaces, which leads to pitting. Repetition of the un-
protected shutdown situation eventually leads to a critical pit size
which, during operation in the concentrated liquid film, will grow
into a micro-crack. This micro-crack can then grow (propagate) as
a corrosion-fatigue or stress corrosion crack only during operation
because this is the only time that the stress exists. However, initia-
tion stems directly from unprotected periods of shutdown. If the
turbine and the PTZ are protected with dehumidified air, starting
day one and continuing during subsequent period of shutdown, the
deposits remain dry and therefore do not cause passivity break-
down and pitting. As a consequence there are no initiating centers
for corrosion fatigue and stress corrosion cracking.
Pulling all of these factors together, it means that the most sus-
ceptible disks are the last downstream in the steam flow, typically
the last couple stages in the LP rotors. These disks are also the
largest on the rotors and therefore the ones that can do the most
damage in the event of a catastrophic failure, which can occur if
bore/keyway cracks propagate to a critical size. A failed disk is
shown in the photograph of Figure 25.7.
Turning now to the inspection of shrunk-on disk bores and key-
ways because the cracks occur at inaccessible surfaces, UT is the
only available inspection option unless the rotor is de-stacked, i.e.,
Fig. 25.6 Shrunk-on disk and inspection locations the disks removed to enable implementation of surface inspec-
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  25-11

(the array), an electronic pulser/receiver unit that provides inde-

pendent pulsers and receivers for each of the transducer elements,
and timing circuitry that controls the sequence and the timing inter-
vals (phasing) at which the elements are pulsed. This, as opposed
to the single element of conventional pulse-echo transducers or the
transmit/receive pair of conventional pitch–catch search units. If
some or all of the elements are pulsed sequentially with a small,
yet precise, timing delays imposed one to the next, certain beam
characteristics can be varied, and in fact controlled. A linear array
consists of a number of linear elements, arranged either in a single
row or in a two-dimensional array pattern, while an annular array
is an arrangement of concentric ring elements.
The linear phased array (LPA) technology provides the abili-
ties to steer the ultrasonic beam to angles other than straight in
front of and normal to the transducer element and to focus the
beam at some point along the beam axis. The easiest way to un-
derstand how this works is to view it from a point in front of
the transducer but not on the axis normal to the transducer face.
Fig. 25.7  Failed turbine disk The propagation time required for each beam to get to that point
from each of the transducer elements can then be calculated based
purely on geometric considerations since the propagation veloc-
tion methods. Because of the cost associated with de-stack and ity and the precisely defined element locations within the array
re-stack, which may even necessitate high speed balancing of the transducer are known. So, if the elements of the array transducer
rotor, inspection with the disks remaining on the shaft is by far the are pulsed at very precise timing intervals based on the different
preferred approach. However, in many cases, the geometries of propagation times such that all of the beams reach the defined
the surfaces available for transducer placement often detract from point at the same time, the beam has effectively been steered in
the effectiveness of the inspection. that direction and focused at the defined position along the beam
Stresses at the bore and keyway are tangential; consequently, direction. All of the beams are in phase and additive at this de-
cracks tend to grow in a radial/axial plane. In UT, optimum detec- fined point, but out of phase and destructively interfering else-
tion for cracks at the opposite surface of a component occurs when where. The timing sequence and delays required to do this are
the beam is in a plane normal to the corner created by the intersec- collectively called the phasing or focal law. By picking another
tion of the crack with the component surface. Additionally, the beam direction and/or another point along beam direction, a simi-
best approach angle within this plane is within the range of 30° to lar calculation can be made, thereby creating a new focal law.
60° and best at 45° relative to the corner. For this application, the Because these operations are all performed very quickly and ef-
beam is therefore optimum when maintained in a radial/circum- ficiently in the control computer, a series of focal laws can be im-
ferential plane and at 45° relative to the ID surface. At the outer plemented to sweep the beam through a series of angles at a fixed
extremes of the hub, some designs have relatively short cylindri- increment, for example, 30° through 60° at 1° increment, very
cal sections that make it easy to accomplish this optimum beam rapidly.
propagation direction, but only over the lengths of the cylindrical As described above, the linear array is used primarily to influ-
sections. Looking back to Figure 25.6, it certainly goes without ence beam direction, electronically focus the beam, and/or a com-
saying that a beam cannot be maintained in a radial/circumferen- bination of the two. A true spatial representation of the linear array
tial plane under the web section, and other geometry can impact data requires that the data be presented in polar coordinates rather
the effectiveness of the inspection as well. This is not to say that than the Cartesian plots that are used to present x/y raster scanned
adequate coverage cannot be achieved. However, going back sev- data. The amplitudes at all digitization points along each of the
eral years when ultrasonic data was presented as a time/amplitude waveforms are typically presented in colors, thereby creating a 2-
trace on a CRT (or more recently, digital) screen and when the dimensional view in the plane of the swept beam. These plots have
ultrasonic beam angle was fixed to a single value for a particu- become known as sectorial, or S-scans, because they represent sec-
lar transducer/wedge combination, achieving high reliability was tors of the cross section of the component in the plane of the beam.
very difficult and tedious. On one particular manufacturer’s de- A typical S-scan image is provided in Figure 25.8. In this case,
signs, the web sections are continually changing contoured radii; the scan is of a calibration block containing a stack of side drilled
consequently, to best cover the entirety of the bore, a series of holes, with a cartoon of the block shown at the left and the S-scan
compound curved wedges had to be used, and each applied only image to the right to show the relationship between the component
to a single location on the web. and the resulting S-scan image.
The advent of computer based data acquisition and analysis This is the same technology that has been used in the medical
systems and the use of linear phased array ultrasonic technology field for many years, baby’s first fetal picture being a prime exam­
have resulted in improved flaw detection and sizing in general, and ple. However, because of the extreme amounts of data needed to
particularly so for this difficult application. Since this is the first create such an image, instruments required very high speed pro­
mention of phased array UT, some brief description of the tech- cessors, which made them very expensive and limited their use to
nology will be provided before proceeding on the disk inspection medical applications. Advances in processor speed and the corre-
application. sponding reduction in processor cost have now permitted the entry
An ultrasonic phased array system includes an array transducer, of array systems into industrial applications over the past ten years
which contains multiple, precisely positioned transducer elements or so.
25-12  •  Chapter 25

and proper adjustment of the transducer can be difficult to achieve.

Consequently, the more prevalent design incorporates motor driven
motion axes to properly position the transducer on the surface. The
scanner shown in Figure 25.9 has motor driven raise and lower of
the scan arm, extension along the scan arm, and two rotational axes
at the transducer. Once the transducer is properly positioned, the
rotor rotation is typically provided by power rolls or a large lathe.
Rotational position is acquired along with the ultrasonic data such
that the data can be positionally correlated via an optical encoder
or similar device.
Full automation, digitally recorded data, and full imaging capa-
bilities have significantly enhanced the inspection of turbine disks,
reduced inspection and analysis time, and improved the accuracy
and reliability of the inspections. And the introduction of the LPA
technology described above has further enhanced the process. Fig-
Fig. 25.8 Ultrasonic linear array S-scan image ure 25.10 provides an S-scan LPA image of cracked disk superim-
of a calibration block containing a series of posed over a dimensionally accurate drawing of the disk. In this
side-drilled holes case, the crack extends along the top of the keyway and axially
along the bore of the disk beyond the end of the keyway. The par-
ticular S-scan image was acquired with the transducer on one face
of the disk web. The image clearly shows the nominal responses
Now that the inspection technology has been described, atten- from the disk bore and the top of the keyway, plus the cracks ex-
tion can return to the application at hand, inspection of turbine tending from the keyway. Because the data provides an accurate
disk bore and keyway surfaces. Quality inspections are performed dimensional representation of the various reflectors, it is possible
using some form of scanning device to assure complete and ac- not only to detect the presence of a crack, but also to measure its
curate coverage of disk. Some scanners are more-or-less crawling depth, a very important consideration in the stress and fracture re-
devices that somehow traverse the OD of the disk to transport the maining life evaluation to follow.
transducer(s) over the various surfaces. More often than not, how- For the remaining life assessment, the geometries of the hub
ever, the scan is accomplished using a fixed transducer positioning and web sections of shrunk-on turbine disks vary too radically one
device and by then rolling the rotor to scan the transducer around to the next to enable development of any generic life assessment
the periphery. A scanner of this type is shown in Figure 25.9. Po- computer program that would cover any appreciable portion of the
sitioning devices used in this application can be relatively simple, fleet. Consequently, stress and fracture evaluations are typically
more-or-less a transducer on a stick. However, such devices are performed on a case-by-case basis using general purpose finite ele-
often not very effective in the tight confines between blade stages ment analysis programs such as ANSYS.

Fig. 25.9 Typical transducer positioning device for turbine disk inspection

 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  25-13

25.7  isk Rim Blade Attachment

D
Dovetails
Turbine blades can be attached directly to the rotor shaft or to
the rim of the disks, whether integral or shrunk-fit. The photograph
of Figure 25.11 shows an example of one blade attachment con-
figuration referred to as a fir tree or Christmas tree dovetail for
obvious reasons. Blades attached at the rim of a disk of the fir tree
dovetail attachment design are typically one of two basic designs,
an axial entry blade attachment as shown in Figure 25.11, or a
straddle-mount or tangential entry blade attachment. In the axial
entry design, the fir tree configuration is machines in a repeating
pattern axially through the rim of the disk, thereby forming a series
of female slots around the periphery of the rim to accept the blades.
In this configuration, the slots and mating blades can be straight
through the disk rim, straight but at an angle, or curved in passing
through. The general configuration of the fir tree is fully exposed
on both faces of the disk rim, as in Figure 25.11.
In the straddle-mount or tangential-entry design, the fir tree
geometry is machine fully around the periphery of the disk, the
disk forming the male side of the attachment dovetail. The blades
have the mating fir tree dovetail configuration machined up and
into each blade base such that when full engaged on the disk rim,
the blades straddle the rim of the disk. To permit loading of the
blades onto the rim, the dovetail hooks are removed from the rim
for a short segment of the rim sufficient to allow one blade to be
dropped over the loading slot and then moved circumferentially to
engage the dovetail. In this design, the blades are actually referred
to as buckets, and the loading slot on the rim is called the loading
notch. The buckets are loaded sequentially by dropping them over
the notch and then sliding them tangentially until the stage is full
Fig. 25.10  Linear phased array S-scan image of and only the notch remains. A notch block is then pinned between
cracked disk keyway the buckets located on either side of the notch to keep the buckets
in place and prevent tangential motion during service. Figure 25.12
provides a photograph of a 3-hook straddle-mount dovetail attach-
ment. Loaded blades can be seen to the extreme left and right of
the photograph, with the blades between removed to expose the fir
tree dovetail geometry and the loading notch.

Fig. 25.12 Straddle-mount, tangential entry

Fig. 25.11 Typical fir-tree blade attachment buckets and rim with loading notch showing
25-14  •  Chapter 25

There are other designs as well, for example a tangential entry Cracking also occurs in the finger-pin design, in which cracks can
design in which the dovetail on the disk rim forms the female side occur at the bottoms of the slots in the disks, around the pin holes,
of the attachment and the male side is on the blades. However, and at the geometry transitions along the sides of the slots.
these are found more prevalently on relatively small industrial tur- But corrosion-related cracking mechanisms are not the only ones
bines and infrequently in the turbines built for commercial power possible in the blade attachment dovetails. Unfortunately, creep
generation. The vast majority of the US fleet involves one of the and temper embrittlement are not only possible in the rotor body
two designs presented above at lease on most, if not all stages. but also in the high temperature blade attachments. Consequently,
Within the majority of the US fleet, there is one exception inspection and condition assessment are not limited to just the last
found frequently on LP rotors. That is, on the last stage and some- few stages in the LP rotor blade attachments. In the first few stages
times last two stages of certain LP rotors, a pinned blade attach- of the HP and also the first few stages of reheat IP turbines, tem-
ment configuration has been used extensively and is still in use. peratures are adequate to develop high temperature creep and/or
In this design, a series of side-by-side, parallel slots are machined temper embrittlement, particularly given the accumulated service
fully around the disk rim. The slots are initially narrow at the slot hours that the majority of the fleet has now experienced.
bottoms with transitions at different radial positions to form wider Each of these variations on blade attachment configuration
slots and narrower plates toward the OD of the arrangement. The presents its own inspection challenges. Starting with the tangential-
buckets have matching fingers extending from beneath the bucket entry, straddle-mount design, this inspection is typically not too
foil and into the rim slots. Holes are then drilled axially through the difficult if implemented using the LPA UT inspection technology.
disk rim plate fingers and the bucket fingers, and pins are inserted to Because each hook represents a potential crack initiation site, each
hold the buckets in place. must be inspected independently. The inspection is performed by
Exceptions also typically exist on the first few stages of HP sec- introducing a UT beam from the side of the disk immediately be-
tions, all of the HP stages in some designs, and typically, some of neath the blade. The beam is directed up into and across the dove-
the entry stages in reheat IP sections. This encompasses the smaller tail to the opposite side at the appropriate beam angle to address a
blades, located at much smaller diameters, where disk, per se, is given hook directly. Prior to the availability of linear phased array
therefore not needed. In such case, the blades are typically attached UT, this meant that an assessment had to be performed to define
directly to the shaft proper without the radial extension of a disk. the geometry of the underlying dovetail configuration and then
In such case, the shaft typically provides the female geometry of carefully selecting the appropriate fixed beam angle and transducer
the attachment and the blade has the male attachment geometry. position on the side of the disk for optimum interrogation of each
Designs encountered routinely included T-slots and fir tree slots hook. From there, implementation was merely a matter of imple-
directly into the shaft OD. menting each of the inspections from each side of the disk—not a
To this point, the only damage mechanisms presented for the terribly challenging undertaking, but certainly tedious and time-
disks have been related to stress corrosion cracking, and it is clear consuming.
that this mechanism is important only for the last few stages of With the introduction of the LPA technology, this inspection can
the LP that operate in or past the PTZ. This mechanism was dis- now be performed very quickly and effectively, and with much
cussed earlier primarily in the context of the bore/keyway crack- greater reliability and sizing precision. Transducer placement is es-
ing. However, the same considerations apply equally for the blade sentially the same as for the fixed angle inspections—on the side of
attachments for the stages that operate in or past the PTZ. Crack- the disk beneath the blade attachment, with the beams directed up
ing typically occurs in the inside radii at the corners of the fir tree and into the dovetail hooks on the opposite side of the attachment.
dovetail hooks on the disk side of the attachment and propagate ei- However, the ability to sweep the beam makes it much easier to
ther across the fir tree or more radially across the hook. Such crack- infer the geometry and to establish the most effective transducer
ing occurs in both the axial-entry and straddle-mount designs in the position. The real time imaging capability of the LPA technology
appropriate wet stages. Figure 25.13 shows a cracked dovetail in a makes it possible to perform some manual scanning to define the
typical tangential-entry, straddle-mount blade attachment dovetail. most optimum transducer location along the face of the available
test surface, and the resulting image provides instant recognition
of the associated dovetail geometry to the trained operator. Ad-
ditionally, inspection of each side of each disk dovetail can be ac-
complished in a single scan pass around the disk owing to the beam
sweeping capabilities of LPA, which results in significant time
savings. Figure 25.14 provides an LPA S-scan image of a typical
tangential-entry, straddle-mount dovetail design having significant
cracking. The image is superimposed over a sketch of the geom-
etry to assist with recognition of the various reflectors. In this im-
age, the more significant reflections are from the tapered geometry
of the hooks, while the numbered smaller reflections are from the
cracks, which are located on geometric features of the dovetail that
produce no reflections unless cracks are present.
Blade attachments that enter the blades directly into contoured
slots in the shaft, i.e., smaller blades stages in the HP and IP sec-
tions, are inspected using the same protocol except that the ultra-
sound enters from available surfaces on the shaft between the blade
stages and is directed inward toward the dovetails. This inspection
Fig. 25.13 Wet fluorescent MT indication of a is made difficult only by the limited space for transducer placement
cracked dovetail hook and manipulation between the stages. Often, special transducers
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  25-15

Fig. 25.14 Typical LPA S-scan image of cracked dovetails

and transducer wedges are required to enable inspection from very an inspection. And the inspection may involve variable axial angu-
limited and often complex configured surfaces. Higher frequencies lation of the beam or circumferential angulation, or some of each,
are typically used to increase resolution, keeping in mind that the depending on the exact disk configuration and the crack location
entirety of the geometry of the attachment is downsized signifi- and orientation.
cantly relative to the typical straddle-mount designs, and the ultra- Moreover, even after having addressed the various test surface
sonic propagation distances are reduced, as well. configurations and optimum beam angulation requirements, the in-
Inspection of the exposed faces of the axial-entry design can be termittent nature of the blade dovetails as they pass the transducer
accomplished using appropriate surface inspection methods, pri- during a rotational scan means that the data analysis must be per-
marily MT or ET. However, cracks are not always present only at formed on a pattern recognition basis. And, there is a question re-
the exposed faces, but can initiate away from these surfaces where lated to the number of beam angles required to cover the geometry
detection is much more difficult and requires subsurface inspec- properly. Going back to the days of fixed angle UT, the possible
tion methods and techniques. Ultrasonic inspection has become the combinations of beam angle and transducer location were almost
standard inspection approach for this application. However, axial- endless, meaning many transducer/wedge combinations and many
entry blade attachment dovetails present a significant inspection scans resulting directly in significant inspection duration. By com-
challenge, even when utilizing the LPA technology. The inspec- parison, for the tangential-entry, straddle-mount design, the geom-
tion is complicated by the fact that the geometries of available test etry is constant within the circumferential scan and limited to two
surfaces for transducer placement can and do vary significantly or three fixed locations to interrogate, i.e., two or three hooks. In
from rotor to rotor and from one disk to the next on the same rotor. the axial-entry design, however, the geometry changes in a direc-
In general, for this design the disk web is relatively thin and the tion essentially normal to the circumferential scan direction, so it is
disk rim section typically is much wider. From a design viewpoint, difficult to define the number of beam angles required to cover the
the idea is to reduce the mass acting on the hub to the degree pos- geometry properly. So, more is better. Then, there is the question
sible to minimize bore/keyway stresses as possible, yet to provide of whether to introduce the beam along the geometry (i.e., axially),
sufficient web to adequately support the rim and blade loads. Addi- or into the geometry (i.e., circumferentially), or both.
tionally, where stages involve relatively small, low mass blades, a The LPA technology simplifies this considerably, and the op-
single disk can support multiple blade stages, in fact up to three per timized inspection typically utilizes a combination of the two:
disk. Going all the way back to Figure 25.6, which depicts a disk beams angulated axially and beams angulated circumferentially,
associated with axial-entry blade attachments, this particular disk both introduced during a circumferential scan. For the latter, a vari-
would support two stages of blades and has tapered sides beneath ety of fixed axial interrogation angles should be performed to cover
the disk rim section. Other configurations might involve radii on the full axial length of the attachment dovetail. Alternatively, two
the underside of the rim or an elevated rim with straight, parallel dimensional arrays can be used to steer the beam both axially and
sides for some distance beneath the rim before the contour to the circumferentially. Regardless, because the scan is circumferential
relatively thin web starts. and the geometry is machined axially across the rim, the resulting
The best ultrasonic approach for these attachments involves in- data represents intermittent, yet sequential passage by the dove-
troduction of the beam from the underside and/or sides of the rim tails. Consequently, data analysis is primarily performed on the
section, with the beam looking up through the rim at the dovetail. basis of pattern recognition, i.e., looking for response(s) that do
This involves any number of contoured wedges needed to match the not fit the typical pattern created as the dovetails pass. Because
many different surface contours that might be encountered during so many beam angles and so many crack locations are possible,
25-16  •  Chapter 25

Fig. 25.15  LPRimLife finite element models of two different dovetail types, tangential-entry (left)
and curved axial-entry (right)

data analysis can be a very time consuming, tedious undertaking. comprising the vast majority of those currently in service, includ-
Because of the generation of a large number of beam angles, the ing: the tangential-entry, straddle-mount; the straight axial-entry;
LPA technology can produce a huge amount of data very rapidly the curved axial-entry; and, the dovetail finger plates. Figure 25.15
and very reliably. However, sorting through all of the data looking shows finite element meshes generated within LPRimLife for
for relevant indications can be a very detailed and time-consuming typical tangential-entry, straddle-mount and the curved axial-entry
process. blade attachment designs, while Figure 25.16 shows a model of the
Remaining life assessment for disk rim dovetails can be as de- pinned plate dovetails.
manding an undertaking as the inspections, owing to the large On the various fir tree dovetail designs, one of the prime con-
number of different geometries that may be encountered. The siderations that must be factored into the analysis, and which is
state-of-the-art for the LP disk rim analysis of SCC in LP blade integral to the LPRimLife program, is stress redistribution. As a
stages at and beyond the PTZ is the EPRI LPRimLife compu- crack grows, the cracked hook loses capacity to carry load; con-
ter code. This program includes geometry modeling leading to sequently, the load must be redistributed to other hooks on the fir
finite element analysis for any of the geometric configurations tree dovetail. The LPRimLife program includes consideration for

Fig. 25.16  LPRimLife finite element model of the pinned plate attachments
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  25-17

both initiation and crack growth, and it is extremely important to flaws impose the most restrictive limitations. Consider, for exam-
consider the impact of redistributed stresses on initiation times and ple a built up LP turbine rotor having a central shaft and assembled
on subsequent crack growth rates at other hooks, and upon dimin- disks such as shown in Figure 25.2. This certainly would not be a
ished growth rate because of lowered stress at the initial crack. This prevalent design, and such a rotor may not even exist–solid shaft
analysis is extremely complex in execution, requiring an iterative with assembled disks–but it is useful to make a point. In such case,
process at very fine crack extension intervals to properly assess this there would be very few, if any, locations along the body of the ro-
primary consideration as it impacts remaining life. tor at which an ultrasonic beam could be introduced into the shaft
One outcome of an analysis can be that the worst (i.e., deepest material. In the more likely cases in which the involved rotors have
or biggest) crack in a dovetail does not represent the worst case integral disks, access to OD surfaces appropriate for launching the
condition. Consider a dovetail design having three hooks, as an ultrasound is still very limited, typically to the small lands between
example. If only one hook is cracked, that means that the other the disks and the sides of the disks themselves. When using the
hooks are still in the initiation stage and can continue to support ad- surfaces between disks, the inspection is often further complicated
ditional load redistributed from the cracked hook. This might take by the presence of relatively narrow lands and grooves placed there
significant time, allowing continued operation over an extended for sealing purposes. When using the sides of the disks themselves,
period. In another case, if all three hooks have cracks, even small the geometries may well complicate the inspection because the
cracks, at the same position along the dovetail (i.e., stacked), then transducer wedges must be contoured to fit. Consequently, for any
all have passed initiation and are in the growth mode. In such case, but flat sides on the disks, special wedges may be required.
the remaining life may well be less than for the large, single-hook Regardless, even for locations where appropriate transducer
crack. So, the analyst must understand these interactions and care- placement can be accomplished, an optimum inspection for radial–
fully choose the crack conditions to analyze such that the worst axial flaws is achieved only in the cross sectional plane of the trans-
case condition is defined during the analysis. The natural tendency ducer—that is, directly under the transducer. For locations axially
is to pick the largest crack and analyze that, but in this case, the removed from this plane, for example, under the disk center, some
largest crack may not be the most life limiting case. level of coverage can be achieved using beam spread. However,
Another prime consideration in the analysis of tangential- beam intensity decreases with increasing distance from the beam
entry, straddle-mount dovetails is the stress analysis around the axis, so sensitivity diminishes accordingly. Additionally, for the
notch block. The hooks immediately adjacent to the notch block flaw of interest, i.e., the radial–axial flaw, the reflectivity of a given
are prime locations for crack initiation, typically ahead of other flaw in the direction of the transducer decreases due to its orienta-
regions around the periphery, due to elevated stress associated tion relative to the beam direction. Together, these factors mean
with the stress singularity created by the notch in addition to the that reflection amplitude for a given flaw decreases away from the
added load of the notch block being supported by the blades on cross sectional plane of the transducer, and the wider the disk, the
either side. This is not always the worst case crack location, as lo- more significant the sensitivity reduction. In some cases involv-
cal machining variations and localized exposure history may cause ing relatively wide disks, inspection beneath the disk center sim-
cracking elsewhere ahead of the notch block region. Consequently, ply cannot be accomplished using single transducer, pulse-echo
comprehensive inspection should not be waived and just the area techniques. Even if the beam angle is appropriately modified such
around the notch block tested. However, the tendency is for the that beam intensity is maintained, the directionality of the reflec-
notch block area to initiate first; consequently, this is a good loca- tion makes detection of the radial–axial flaw less than optimum. In
tion to concentrate initial inspection efforts. such case, the only option is to use a transmitter on one side of the
disk and a receiver appropriately positioned on the opposite side
to receive the reflected signal. This then introduces the necessity
25.8 Solid (Unbored) Turbine Rotors to coordinate the positions and motion of two independently held
transducers.
As alluded to earlier, some older turbine rotors were made with- For the narrower disks, there are ways to compensate for the
out bore holes. Additionally, modern steelmaking and forging reduced sensitivity effects, for example by simply increasing gain.
practices have now made it possible to make forgings for which the However, there are other complications that cannot be accounted.
benefits of lowering the central stress via elimination of the stress The way to best assess the position of a reflector is to scan it un-
concentrating bore typically outweigh the potential for having an til the peak response is obtained, which generally means that the
undetected critical flaw in the forging. The compound effects of flaw is then located on the peak intensity point within the beam,
lowering the stress and increasing the tolerable flaw size simple i.e., the beam axis. On these rotors, the ability to scan axially is
based on the difference between a surface and subsurface flaw in- typically limited severely by the geometry; consequently, for any
crease the critical flaw size to the point that it is simply not likely fixed beam angle the exact axial position of the reflector remains
to occur by modern practices. unknown and the appropriate gain increase needed to compensate
For the older unbored rotors, the need for periodic inspection is for its off-axis position therefore cannot be defined.
obvious. They can contain significant flaws and clusters that can There is also the possibility that the reflector can be offset radi-
link up to eventually form critical flaws. Unfortunately, failure ally, i.e., away from the rotor centerline. The same considerations
of modern solid forgings is not totally unheard of; consequently, apply for these. Looking first only within the cross sectional plane
owners seek to have these rotors inspected as well. Inspection of of the transducer and considering only a straight, radial beam, a
these rotors is not a trivial undertaking, and even under the best of radial–axial flaw that is offset significantly from the rotor centerline
circumstances and when using the most comprehensive and effec- is more aligned with the beam than normal to it as the transducer
tive inspection approaches available, the best that can be accom- passes over it; consequently, sensitivity to this flaw is significantly
plished is a partial inspection. diminished because of its orientation. By comparison, the same
Access and the ability to direct beams into the material at the reflector located at or near the rotor centerline comes into a plane
appropriate angles for detection of the more critical radial–axial normal or near normal to the beam at two positions within the scan
25-18  •  Chapter 25

around the rotor. To inspect for off-axis, radial–axial flaws, angle

beams are required, and to cover any appreciable radial distance,
multiple angles are required as shown in Figure 25.17. The further
the zone of coverage from the rotor axis, the higher the refracted
angle required for optimum detection.
And then there is the combination of these limitations when at-
tempting to address off-axis, radial–axial flaws that are additionally
under the disk and away from the cross-sectional plane of trans-
ducer placement. Compound refraction of the beam away from the
rotor axis and pitched to direct it under the disk is required to detect
flaws that are located in the rotor.
So, from all of these, it can be seen that a good inspection will
require multiple angles radially and axially from all access loca-
tions and typically implemented in all combinations, plus pos-
sibly pitch–catch arrangements for some areas. It is easy to see
that the inspection can become very complicated and very time-
consuming to implement. Fortunately, the LPA technology dis-
cussed previously as implemented for turbine disks can also Fig. 25.18 Inspection from the disk side surfaces
be used here to simplify and streamline this inspection as well.
Certainly, it is feasible and relatively straight forward to imple-
ment the various radial angle beam inspections in the plane of the
transducer, i.e., those shown in Figure 25.17, during a single scan
by utilizing the beam steering capabilities of a single dimensional off-axis flaws, the transducer can be skewed somewhat and then
linear array. By adding a refracting wedge that pitches the beam the axial steering repeated during a second scan around the disk.
appropriately in the axial direction under the disk, and then using Several skew angles may be required to cover fully adequate ra-
the same steering process to steer the beam radially, the inspec- dial depth from the rotor centerline, and the inspection should be
tion under the disk can be accomplished. As the axial length of repeated from both faces as shown and in both skew directions.
the disk increases, multiple axial angles may be required. Alterna- As with the other inspections defined earlier, the axial sweep and
tively, a 2-dimensional array can be used to steer both axially and beam skew +/– can all be accomplished concurrently using a 2-D
radially. array.
An optional or supplemental technique that can be used in cer- Once the inspection data have been acquired and processed and
tain situations involves introduction of the beam from the sides the flaws defined as best possible, the rotor analysis follows the
of the disks. This is relatively easy to implement on disks having same procedure using the same computer program as defined for
flat sides and particularly effective when they are tapered, getting bored rotors. Typically this is done using the EPRI SAFER pro-
narrower toward the OD of the disk. In this case, the beam is the gram or similar.
first introduced radially toward the rotor axis and steered axially
using the array, as shown in Figure 25.18. Then, to cover for
25.9 Generator Rotors
Turning now from the turbines to the generators, those having
central bore holes are inspected with the same boresonic equip-
ment and following the same inspection protocols and procedures
as those used for turbine boresonic inspection. Disassembly and
reassembly of the rotor is a bit more involved than for the tur-
bine rotors, which merely require bore plug removal to access the
bore surface. The generator rotor bore contains insulated conduc-
tors that carry the DC current to the rotor windings. There must be
some means of getting the DC to the rotor windings, and the bore
provides a convenient path to get the excitation from the exterior,
past the seals, and past the bearing journals. Once beyond the seals
and journals, conductive radial studs bring the DC to the shaft OD
where additional conductors contained typically in wedged slots
running along the shaft OD connect from the studs to the rotor
windings. These conductors are insulated from each other and from
the ground potential of the rotor itself, and are typically installed as
a completed assembly. Once the bore plug has been removed from
the collector or exciter end of the rotor, the insulated and sealed
radial stud components must be removed, and then the insulated
axial conductor assembly can be removed.
The axial conductor assembly extends into the rotor only to
Fig. 25.17 Multiple angle beam inspection for a point somewhat inside the bearing journal and not to the rotor
off-axis planar reflectors body. This rotor section is typically much smaller in diameter and
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  25-19

therefore operates at much lower stress and, because the sections

are typically uninterrupted cylindrical shapes, these areas can alter-
natively be inspected conveniently from the OD. Consequently, a
plug can be installed in the bore from the turbine end of the rotor,
and a bore inspection of the full body length can be conducted
without disassembly of the leads. This saves the expense of re-
moving the additional rotor end plug, the radial stud assemblies,
and the axial conductors. It eliminates the need for certain replace-
ment parts and for a new replacement bore plug. And an effective
inspection can be conducted from the OD toward the shaft end
where the leads are located. But the plug must be 100% reliable
in containing the honing oil and honing debris and containing the
couplant fluids used during the ultrasonic inspection; otherwise,
the leads will have to be removed and reinsulated after the fact,
potentially extending the outage.
Additionally, some manufacturers install steel filler bars in the
generator rotor bores over the length of the body section to replace
the magnetic material removed by placement of the bore. Because
the magnetic flux lines pass through the rotor body, the theory is Fig. 25.19 Typical air gap pickup ventilated gen-
that the use of the flux bars improves the magnetic efficiency of the erator rotor
rotor. Some manufacturers adhere to this practice, while others do
not. Where flux bars are present, obviously these must be removed
to provide access to the bore for honing and inspection. For the most part, inspection of a generator rotor from the OD is
Otherwise, inspection of a generator rotor from the bore is iden- very difficult at best, and provides little value because of the limi-
tical to inspection of a turbine rotor. Typically, the generator is tations imposed by the slots and the surface machining configura-
longer than the turbines, somewhat longer than the LP rotors, and tions. There are exceptions, but most cases are very difficult.
significantly longer than the HPs, IPs, and even HP/IP combined Limited inspections can be performed on unbored generator ro-
rotors, so inspections take a bit more time. Additionally, there is tors during rewinds, when the slots are stripped of their windings.
typically a step in the bore near the end of the axial conductors, Special probe wedges can be contoured to fit the slot bottoms, thus
the nominal bore being of a diameter selected to best clear indi- enabling inspection of the body length over much of the volume.
cations and the conductor bore being of a fixed diameter set by If including beam spread in the equation, and if performed using
standard conductor sizes. Any steps and transitions take special LPA swept beams, this approach attains approximately 75%-80%
bore preparation processes, and the different sizes may require coverage of the rotor volume. If inspection can additionally be
that some of the fixtures be changed to accommodate and/or re­ conducted from the OD surface of the rotor at the magnetic poles,
calibration of the test system. So, additional time must be pro- then the remainder of the rotor has good coverage as well. Other-
vided accordingly. wise, the limited inspection from the slot bottoms is the best that
Inspection of unbored generator rotors, however, is an alto- can be achieved.
gether different application than described for turbines. Winding Analysis of a generator rotor is typically much simpler than
slots run from one end of the body to the other over more than that of a turbine for several reasons. First the geometries are
half of the rotor periphery—likely closer to 65% - 70%, leaving relatively uniform, so fewer sections need to be modeled. For
some 30% or so comprising the poles, which in most cases do not example, the rotor body cross section is the same from one end
have slots. Even in the pole sections, some designs include ammor­ to the other and can be modeled as a single section. Turbines, on
tisseur windings, axial conductors that are there to carry surface the other hand, have numerous sections, disk sizes, blade loads,
currents cause by electrical fault conditions, including motoring. etc., each requiring geometry-specific analysis. Second, because
While the ammortisseur slots, if present, are shallow and leave suf- generator rotors operate much cooler than the turbines, thermal
ficient space between for spot inspections, the winding slots run on stresses and transient thermal events are negligible. These typi-
the order of six inches or so deep, leaving narrow teeth between cally are not even considered in the analysis unless specifically
that are typically on the order of ½-inch or so wide at the narrowest analyzing the impact of significant transient events or fault con-
point. So, inspection of the rotor central material from the slotted ditions. And finally, because the generator rotors operate much
sections of the rotor is effectively not possible. That is, the thin, cooler, thermal degradation mechanisms, such as creep and tem-
long rotor teeth do not lend themselves to reliable inspection of the per embrittlement, do not pose any form of a threat. Aside from
rotor central material. Additionally, the rotor typically has other these factors that make the generator rotor analyses much sim-
machining that interferes with implementation of any meaningful pler, the treatment of the flaws is performed exactly the same as
inspection from the OD, even from the poles. For example, some for the turbine rotors.
manufacturers machine some form of land and grove configuration
along the rotor to increase the surface area for cooling purposes.
In some designs, the lands and grooves as part of the ventilation 25.10 Generator Rotor Retaining
delivery design. Even here, though, where the machining is useful Rings
only in the slotted region, because the pattern is produced by turn-
ing the rotor, it is present at the poles as well as the slotted portions. Retaining rings are high strength ring forgings that are assem-
Figure 25.19 shows an air gap pickup ventilated rotor and a typical bled onto each end of AC generator rotors to support the rotor end
rotor OD machining configuration. turn windings. The rotor windings are contained over the length of
25-20  •  Chapter 25

Fig. 25.20 Generator rotor retaining ring and supported end turn windings

the rotor body in axial slots machined into the rotor body. Provi- The rings used on modern generator rotors are typically made
sions are included in the configuration of the rotor teeth, i.e., the from a high strength, non-magnetic, austenitic steel alloy which
material remaining between the slots, for wedges to contain and is one of several possibly compositions. These rings operate in
support the windings in the slots. At the ends of the rotor body, the the magnetic field created by the generator rotor and therefore are
winding coils exit the slots and wrap around the solid pole sections heated magnetically and thus producing heating losses. The use
of the rotor, re-entering a symmetrical slot on the opposite side of of non-magnetic material minimizes the heating losses and so in-
the pole. The retaining rings support the windings in the end turn creases generator efficiency. Domestic generator manufacturers
region where they are otherwise unsupported and cannot support first used non-magnetic materials during the 1940s, and continue
their own centrifugal load in the cantilevered configuration. Fig­ to use non-magnetic materials to the present. Over the years,
ure 25.20 shows the coil/slot/ring arrangement. The retaining ring catastrophic retaining ring failures have occurred occasionally,
is assembled in all cases using an interference fit which places the and for some non-magnetic ring failures, the investigations that
ring under tensile stress when at standstill. Most often, the shrink ensued found the failures to be attributable to intergranular stress
fit is between the end of the rotor body and the inboard end of the corrosion cracking (IGSCC). In addition, vast amounts of related
retaining ring, although some limited designs place the shrink fit research have shown that IGSCC can occur even in the presence
at the outboard end of the retaining ring, typically onto a fluted of relatively benign environments, including moisture. Following
section of the rotor. Typical designs also include a circumferential the discovery that IGSCC is an operative damage mechanism un-
key assembly at or near the shrink fit region to prevent axial move- der certain exposure conditions, this damage mechanism quickly
ment of the ring. This can be a separate key in a machined keyway, became a major concern. One alloy in particular, containing nom-
scalloped bayonet fit, mating step, or others. The shrink fit at the inally 18% Manganese and 5% Chromium (generically known
nose of the retaining ring and the circumferential key can be seen as 18-5), received a great deal of attention, in fact the major-
in Figure 25.20. ity, because of the large number of rings made from this alloy.
The shrink fit is designed such that the ring maintains intimate This alloy was used extensively by most generator manufacturers
contact with the rotor even under maximum overspeed and electri- world-wide for many years. In fact, it was the industry standard;
cal fault heating conditions such that full and continuous support consequently, thousands of the 18-5 rings have been placed into
of the winding coils is maintained at all times, even under the most service.
extreme fault conditions. The shrink fit interface also provides a The history of retaining ring failures shows that there have been
current path for surface currents circulating under certain abnormal very few domestic failures involving the 18-5 material and attrib-
operating conditions, and must maintain contact to minimize arc- utable to IGSCC, although failures of this alloy have been more
ing and subsequent related damage. Some designs include specific pervasive world-wide. In a study conducted by EPRI in the early
provisions, i.e., specific additional current conductors under the 1980s, a total of 39 failures were found to have occurred on retain-
rings to carry these surface currents, while others rely solely on the ing rings in general world-wide [2]. Of these, nine were of the 18-5
retaining ring and conduction through the fit. alloy. Of the nine 18-5 ring failures, two were not really retain-
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  25-21

ing rings but zone cooling rings that additionally had pre-existing for those not able or inclined to implement appropriate mitigation
machining tears, two occurred in Europe in water-cooled rotors measures with which to enable continued operation of 18-5 rings,
that had water leaking directly onto the rings (water cooled rotors replacement likely is the most reliable and least involved solu-
are not offered by domestic manufacturers), one was caused by tion. Still, many owners have not been inclined to replace rings,
condensation during prolonged, improper storage, one was attrib- particularly given the relatively exemplary operating history. As
utable to an overspeed incident and not IGSCC, one was attributed a result, through the mid- and late-1980s, EPRI invested heavily
to low ductility material and not IGSCC, and one involved a crack in related research directed toward justifiable avoidance of ring
that was discovered during an inspection but not associated with a replacement based on valid condition assessment and effective
failure in the normal definition of failure. This accounts for eight of moisture mitigation. The EPRI program was directed toward all
the defined failures, leaving a single 18-5 retaining ring failure that aspects of an effective asset management approach. It addressed
is germane to a discussion of IGSCC in rings of designs typically inspection, moisture monitoring, moisture mitigation, and analyti-
implemented by domestic manufacturers. And, even this failure cal assessment protocols, with the overall objective of providing
had extenuating circumstances including low gas temperature, op- viable options to the utility owner-operator to allow continued
eration of the ring in the cold gas (not typical), high moisture con- safe, reliable operation of 18-5 rings. This research led to the fol-
tent, and lower bound fracture toughness [3]. Other failures may lowing advancements:
have occurred since, but the noted EPRI study is the last known
· effective non-destructive evaluation procedures with which to
comprehensive study that has been published, so information on
detect extremely small flaws, well smaller than those required
more recent failures is sketchy at best.
to cause sudden failure;
So, a reasonable question might be—with thousands of rings
·  effective equipment and procedures to ensure that rings are
in services in the US alone for many, many years, why only one
maintained at all times in appropriately dry environments;
IGSCC failure? The simple answer is that moisture exposure is
·  monitoring systems with which to assess ongoing environ-
typically not that usual an event. If we look at the generator as a
mental conditions, make the appropriate adjustments if/as
whole and specifically at the retaining rings, in general the rings
necessary, and discontinue operation when unable to control
in most typical designs operate at elevated temperature. Typical
properly;
operating temperatures are, in fact, well above the point at which
·  quantification of the actual crack depths necessary for sudden
moisture can condense on the rings, even if the cooling gas con-
failure and demonstration that they are relatively large—for
tains significant moisture. One could then speculate that exposure
example, even the low fracture toughness of the single IGSCC
must occur when the machines are shut down, whether remain-
failure described above withstood a crack 0.6-inch deep × 1.1-
ing closed or open to the environment. All available literature on
inch long before it failed; and,
this topic suggests that this is most likely the case. In one possible
·  development of a probabilistic life assessment computer
exposure scenario, consider the operating generator that has mois-
code (RRing-Life) to statistically account for all of the fac-
ture in the cooling gas when it is shut down and goes on standby.
tors potentially impacting crack initiation, crack growth, and
This could definitely lead to exposure. Or consider the rotor sitting
failure.
unprotected on an outdoor turbine deck. An earlier study, for ex-
ample, showed that most of plants where damage in 18-5 rings has Ring replacement, which is very expensive to the owner, can be
been found are outdoor units located in high humidity regions of avoided in many cases except those in which flaws have already
the country—along the southeastern seaboard and gulf coast [4]. grown to excessive sizes or where other specific conditions cannot
So that at least implies that the exposure occurred when the rotors be maintained within acceptable limits. Effective non-destructive
were sitting on the turbine decks. evaluation (NDE) provides the means to assess current condition
But laboratory experiments and published data indicate rapid in terms of existing cracks and/or less dramatic evidence of prior
growth rates, so even under the limited time exposures experienced moisture exposure. Moisture mitigation procedures can be imple-
during standby, why have we found many damaged rings, but gen- mented to minimize future exposure to hostile environments. And,
erally having relatively minor damage, and only one failure? One probabilistic condition assessment provides a realistic means to
published report addresses a potential re-incubation time [4]. The assess the potential for crack initiation and growth and for ring
laboratory data shows that crack growth stops when the moisture failure.
is removed. However, when reintroduced to an existing crack, sev- From an owner’s viewpoint, inspections are ideally conducted
eral hundred hours are required before the crack begins to grow with the rings assembled to the rotors in order to avoid ring re-
again. Perhaps, this provides the explanation—perhaps the rings moval and reassembly costs. From an NDE standpoint, it is also
simply do not see sufficient exposure, over sufficient durations, advantageous to perform the inspections with the rings assembled
and at sufficient frequency to grow crack to failure. to the rotor because of the shrink-fit that tends to hold cracks open
None of this is meant to imply that this problem is trivial or that and make them more readily detectable. The materials used for
it should be ignored. This is a very demanding application for any retaining rings acquire their properties via work hardening, typi-
material, requiring extremely high strength of up to 180 ksi yield cally mandrel expansion. This process leaves the resulting forging
strength or possibly even a bit higher, good fracture toughness on in a state of relatively high compressive residual stress, likely in
the order of 150 ksi root inch, high corrosion and stress corrosion the tens of thousands of pounds per square inch (psi). On the other
resistance, and appropriately low magnetic permeability. In the hand, when assembled to the rotor, shrink fit stresses are highly
wake of the discovery that these rings are susceptible to IGSCC, tensile, on the order of 80, 90, 100 or even greater psi tensile, de-
a new alloy having 18 Manganese, 18 Chromium composition pending on the rotor size. The change in stress from highly tensile
(18-18) was developed as a suitable replacement. Ring suppliers to moderately high compressive when the ring is removed from the
and generator manufacturers quickly adopted recommendations rotor has a crack closure affect that profoundly impacts the ability
for wholesale ring replacement, an expensive proposition consid- to detect the cracks using ultrasonic techniques. When an interface
ered by many to be unsupported by the failure history. However, (gap) that provides the acoustic impedance mismatch required to
25-22  •  Chapter 25

cause a reflection is reduced to some value that is a fraction of the Manual inspections are very difficult and reliability suffers
UT wavelength, the sound merely passes through and beyond the appreciably.
gap. Squeezing the cracks closed has this affect. Consequently, ul- As compared to UT, eddy current (ET) inspection does not suf-
trasonic inspection (UT) approaches, performed with the rings on fer loss of sensitivity due to crack closure. When the surface cracks
the rotor and under tensile shrink fit stress, provide the most effec- are squeezed shut under high compressive stress, the oxide that has
tive means of inspecting inaccessible surfaces. formed on the faces of the crack serves as an electrical insulator
EPRI research [3] clearly demonstrated that the reliability of such that, even when the faces of the crack are pressed together,
detecting any specific crack in retaining rings is appreciably en- there is still an electrical discontinuity which ET picks up very
hanced through the application of multiple inspection methods readily. PT inspection is about the only other option, but because
and modes. Clearly, the detectability of a crack is affected by PT relies on capillary action to pull the penetrant into the crack, PT
many variables—size, shape, morphology, orientation, location, does suffer from crack closure. Therefore, for removed rings, ET
and so on. One of the most likely locations for cracking to oc- provides a superior inspection option.
cur is along the edges of the rotor teeth in the shrink fit region. For outer surface inspection of assembled rings, PT and ET pro-
This is because the moisture, when present, tends to wick along vide the two options. Even when the rings are assembled, damage
the coil/slot-wall interface, where it then contacts the ring at the forms on retaining rings tend to be tight and not particularly condu-
tooth edges. Tooth edges, unfortunately, also constitute ultrasonic cive to rudimentary PT approaches. The application of a visible PT
reflectors in and of themselves; consequently, it can be difficult at inspection using the typical procedures appropriate for these PT
times to distinguish between pure geometry and geometry with a systems is simply not adequate for reliable detection. For optimum
co-located crack. This is true of conventional, contact shear wave results, the PT should be lipophilic and non-hygroscopic, such that
(S-wave) UT techniques, which are typically used for the basic the PT in and of itself does not constitute moisture exposure poten-
detection scans on the rings. However, other techniques provide tial. It should be high resolution, fluorescent, and it should be im-
for improved discrimination between the two reflectors and are plemented using lengthy penetrant application and developer dwell
typically used to supplement the conventional inspection for this times. Eddy current inspection is also effective on the outer surface
exact reason. for the inspection of assembled rings. ET can be implemented ei-
Time-of-flight diffraction (TOFD) UT is a dual transducer ul- ther manually, typically only to corroborate PT indications locally,
trasonic technique that places the two transducers on opposite or using the same basic data acquisition and imaging system when
sides of area of interest, directed toward each other. One is the testing large areas, in which case, automation is considered neces-
transmitter and the other is the receiver, and reflector depth be- sary. Eddy current arrays are now also available for rapid surface
low the test surface is calculated based on the time of flight us- inspection on retaining rings.
ing a simple geometric triangulation algorithm. TOFD relies on For the analysis of retaining rings, the only available computer
forward-reflected and diffracted responses and therefore does not analysis program specifically used to perform remaining life as-
respond at tooth edges in the same way as the conventional back- sessments of IGSCC in non-magnetic retaining rings is the EPRI
reflection approaches. And TOFD can discriminate very posi- RRing-Life program. This is a fully integrated program that in-
tively and reliably between a surface indication (geometry) and cludes built-in finite element modeling capabilities with which to
a subsurface indication (crack tip diffraction) via the propagation perform stress analyses for specific, generic ring designs. It is a
time depth calculation. However, TOFD relies on tip diffraction probabilistic code that provides exposure probabilities based on
responses to make this distinction, and these diffraction responses detailed assessment of a number of exposure sources. For exam-
are generally low in amplitude relative to reflections. Because ple, the code includes a link to National Weather Service statis-
cracks are intergranular, they do not always produce sufficiently tics such that the local environmental conditions can be applied
coherent tip responses for reliable detection. Consequently, this for the location of the unit during machine-open intervals. This is
technique can miss cracks. However, even so, TOFD still can play not exact data, for example, humidity conditions on exact dates,
a significant role. TOFD is extremely effective for discrimination but statistical representations that provide probabilities of expo-
and sizing purposes when it does detect, and can easily be per- sure when open to the environment in general for the local cli-
formed as a supplemental inspection at the shrink-fit regions, at matic conditions. It provides the means to bias this information
all other geometric discontinuities such as steps and transitions based on implementation of specific moisture mitigation provi-
where cracks are most likely to occur, and as needed in other sions applied at the plant or where known exposure events have
locations where indications have been detected during the basic occurred. It provides statistical exposure probabilities from spe-
pulse-echo detection scans to further characterize the indication cific events such as cooler leaks and leaks in water-cooled wind-
source. Other techniques can also be utilized as needed to aid in ings. The program divides the analysis into three basic generator
flaw discrimination and proper classification including a mode- operational modes—running, stand-by, and open. Consequently,
converted L-wave (MCLW) UT inspection technique, an inner it provides the ability to define when the rings are most likely to
surface creeping wave inspection, and focused beam approaches. see exposure such that maintenance and mitigation dollars can
Collectively, when implemented properly, these techniques result be spent most effectively. One of the most effective uses of the
in a reliable inspection. The appropriately prepared inspector will program, once all of the modeling is complete and the basic ex-
have a number of tools in the toolbox in the way of multiple in- posure scenarios have been quantified, is to perform sensitivity
spection approaches with which to optimize detection reliability studies. The variables can be systematically altered to determine
and characterization accuracy. which are most sensitive to change. Again, by defining those var-
Regardless which inspections are performed, inspection ef- iables that are most sensitive to change, the owner can define the
fectiveness is dramatically dependent upon full automation. The most effective mitigation program and thereby maximize return
use of robotic scanners, effective position manipulation and posi- on investment.
tion acquisition, digital UT data acquisition, and state-of-the-art A class of magnetic materials was also utilized on older ma-
data imaging capabilities significantly enhance the inspections. chines and is still used in some instances, even on new genera-
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  25-23

tors. For the most part, the primary damage mechanism in these redundant inspection approaches still improves reliability of the
rings is fatigue—primarily low cycle fatigue due to start/stop op- inspection.
eration and possibly high cycle fatigue under limited, abnormal For an analytical assessment of remaining life of retaining rings
conditions. However, when discussing fatigue issues in rings, other than 18-5 and/or damage mechanisms other than IGSCC,
they apply equally to the non-magnetic alloys as to the magnetic typically these would be conducted using general purpose finite
rings. The magnetic rings just don’t appear to suffer IGSCC as element stress analysis programs, such as ANSYS or similar, and
the non-magnetic rings do. One possible high cycle fatigue driver general fracture analysis procedures. In general, however, cracks
involves torsional oscillations of the rotor due to electric system propagating by any mechanism other than IGSCC are not so read-
unbalance, both steady state and those related to transient events. ily disrupted. Whereas IGSCC growth in 18-5 rings can be arrested
A disturbance on the electrical system puts a sudden torque on the by eliminating the corrosive environment, fatigue cracks for exam-
rotor. Because of the very limited torsional damping in the rotor ple will continue to grow so long as the stress cycling continues.
system, the torsional oscillations decay slowly and therefore ac- Additionally, initiation time for fatigue cracks typically represents
cumulate many, many cycles on the rotors from a single torsional the vast majority of life, leaving little for growth. As a result, once
event. These can lead to torsional cracking of shafts, excitation of detected, cracks typically must be dealt with at the time, either by
higher order turbine blade frequencies that can fatigue blades, and local removal or ring replacement.
torsional relative motion of shrink assembled components. Years
ago, a shrunk-on turbine disk failed in a unit operating near a steel
mill that was operating an electric furnace. The cracking initiated 25.11 Generator Rotor Tooth-Top
by fretting fatigue, but once initiated grew by torsional fatigue. Cracking
The transients introduced by the electric furnace were blamed for
the failure. Similarly, a retaining ring failure that occurred more Two specific cracking mechanisms exist on typical domestic
recently was attributed to exactly the same situation. It too was generator rotors. Each is specific to a particular design approach
located near a steel mill operating an electric furnace. The torsional and therefore is generic to a particular manufacturer or to manufac-
events caused fretting fatigue initiation of cracks at the shrink fit turers producing similar designs. The first occurs in the retaining
of the retaining ring, and the cracks then were driven to failure ring shrink-fit area on rotors having Tee top teeth and in designs
by the continuing torsional oscillations produced frequently by the that leave some of the Tee-top in the shrink fit region. The mecha-
transient torque events. nism is fairly straight forward. When the ring is assembled to the
Otherwise, operative damage mechanisms are not generic to rotor, the shrink fit imposes a compressive load on the rotor teeth.
the fleet, but limited to specific designs, specific alloys or subsets This further imposes an inward bending stress on the cantilevered
of alloys, and possibly to specific operating conditions. An is- sides of the Tee-top. The function of the Tee-top is to mate with a
sue known to exist for certain magnetic rings is that of hydrogen matching wedge that supports the outward winding load developed
embrittlement, but it has only been defined for rings of a specific by rotation of the rotor. When at speed, therefore, the winding load
alloy and, even for this alloy, for rings beyond a certain yield bears outward on the cantilevered sides of the Tee-top. The stress,
strength within the particular alloy. Programs for these rings in this condition, is a concentrated tensile stress at the inside ra-
include hardness tests to predict yield strength, coupled with dius where the Tee-top intersects the radial side of the tooth. The
inspections for the detection of existing cracks. Another non- general configuration and loading is shown in Figure 25.21. In this
magnetic alloy known as Gannaloy, a Nickel–Titanium–Chromium– diagram, the downward load occurs at standstill from the retaining
Aluminum alloy, was used by one manufacturer for a number of ring shrink fit, and the upward load occurs during operation due to
years on certain generators. Several failures have occurred and the winding and wedge load.
the manufacturer has recommended replacement of all Gannaloy The stress cycle is start/stop operation, and the stresses are high
rings. Failure investigations have not provided adequate insight enough that low cycle fatigue cracks can initiate in the radius, as
relative to the failure mechanisms nor any means to predict or shown, in as few as several hundred start/stop cycles. The end
prevent failure; consequently, the manufacturer’s recommenda- result of this cracking is unknown as no failures are known to
tions appear to be appropriate and well-founded, without options have occurred. The proposed end result is that the teeth lose their
as those available for well-maintained and periodically inspected ability to support the shrink fit load at some point, so the retain-
18-5 rings. ing ring bears inward on the windings, thereby crushing the insu-
Inspections for retaining rings other than the 18-5 rings do not lation around and between the winding coils. The failure would
vary appreciably form the 18-5 inspections. The same procedures then be an electrical failure involving turn to turn shorts or coil to
are valid and the same implementation means, i.e., full automa- shaft grounds, the latter of which can be very destructive, melting
tion, digital acquisition, and quality imaging capabilities, are still copper and rotor steel and resulting directly in retirement of the
important. Crack closure is still an issue for free standing rings, rotor.
although MT inspection provides and additional option for free Inspection of this region requires removal of the retaining rings
standing magnetic rings. Additionally, fatigue cracks and similar and the end wedges to expose the radius where the cracks initi-
as found in magnetic rings do not have the branched, intergranu- ate. Inspection can then be by any surface technique inclusive of
lar nature of IGSCC cracks. Consequently a more coherent crack PT, MT, or ET, although because of the proximity to the winding
tip is present, increasing the detection reliability when using ul- components, the introduction of magnetic particles and/or liquid
trasonic tip diffraction techniques. As a result, the application of penetrants certainly introduces significant risk of contaminating
redundant inspection techniques is not as much an issue. Having the windings and the winding insulation. Therefore ET inspection
said that, however, geometric reflectors still present a discrimina- provides the better option.
tion challenge when using conventional, pulse-echo techniques; A second generator rotor tooth-top issue exists for many rotors
consequently; some form of positive tip diffraction UT, such as that have steel wedges having hardness that closely matches the
TOFD, adds significantly to the inspection, and application of rotor hardness and involves a fretting fatigue initiation mechanism.
25-24  •  Chapter 25

Fig. 25.21 Tooth Tee-top configuration (left) and loading (right)

Fretting occurs more readily where the materials are of similar Fretting damage can lead to transverse (radial–circumferential)
hardness, i.e., where there are steel wedges, and therefore is worse cracks which, under certain circumstances, can grow under pure
where harder ferritic steel wedges are used. Relative motion is cre- bending fatigue. If a crack reaches the critical depth at which the
ated by the once-per-revolution bending of the rotor. If a location bending stress is sufficient to grow the crack, stress cycles accu-
on the rotor surface is selected and then followed through a full ro- mulate very rapidly, once per revolution, so the cracks typically
tation, the location will be at maximum compressive bending stress grow very rapidly to failure. However, it also appears that there
when at 12:00, at neutral bending stress when at 3:00, at maximum are some mitigating circumstances that reduce the likelihood of
tensile bending stress when at 6:00, back to neutral at 9:00, and a fretting crack reaching the critical depth necessary for growth
finally back to maximum compressive when the location returns by pure bending. First of all, fretting in and of itself is a deflec-
to 12:00. Put another way, the rotor surface length changes as the tion controlled process, so as the fretting crack grows deeper, it is
rotor rotates, shorter at 12:00 and longer at 6:00. growing out of the surface deformation; consequently, it arrests at
The wedges, however, are not necessarily locked to the rotor, at some point. Additionally, because the cracks are relatively small,
least at slow speed, so they are not forced to undergo equivalent the presence of a crack is not sufficient to impact the deflection. A
strain. Consequently, there is a relative motion between the wedges second influencing factor is that associated with Poisson effects in
and the rotor. The relative motion experienced by any given wedge both the rotor and the wedges. As the rotor comes up to speed and
is equivalent to the strain accumulated in the rotor over a length expands radially, Poisson dictates that it must grow shorter as well.
equivalent to the wedge length minus any length that is locked to Additionally, the radial compressive load on the wedges causes a
the rotor. If viewed from the wedge, there is symmetry over the Poisson lengthening of the wedges. The axial contraction of the
length of the wedge; the axial center of the wedge therefore sees no rotor and axial expansion of the wedges, coupled with the fact that
relative motion at any speed. During startup as the rotor speed in- the wedges are locked to the rotor at the wedge centers, introduces
creases, the bearing load of the windings and wedge increases and, a compressive component of stress on the surface of the rotor teeth
as the normal force increases, the friction force increases accord- in the rotor material that has not yet locked to the wedge. As the
ingly. This locks more and more of the wedge to the rotor, work- speed increases and the Poisson effects increase, the compres-
ing from the wedge center toward the ends as the rotational speed sive loads accumulate toward the ends of the wedges. A second
increases. At some point the entire wedge locks to the rotor and potential source of axial compressive stress in the rotor derives
no relative motion occurs from this point on until speed is reduced from the forging process and residual stresses that can remain in
during shutdown. Fretting cannot occur at slow speed because the the rotor. When these compressive stresses are combined with the
pressure load on the bearing interface is not sufficient to cause axial bending stresses, the resultant axial tensile stress is reduced;
damage, even though the relative motion is high. At full speed and consequently, the fretting crack must reach a greater depth before
at some point before reaching full speed, the wedges lock to the ro- the axial bending stress alone can take over and grow the crack.
tor over their full lengths; consequently, the wedges see the same Overall, a conclusion that must be drawn is that the stress situa-
strain as the rotor, but without relative motion. At some intermedi- tion is relatively complex and includes a number of contributory
ate speed, however, the bearing load and the relative motion occur factors, many of which reduce the severity or the end result of this
concurrently at levels sufficient to cause fretting fatigue damage. crack initiation mechanism.
Because the critical motion is limited to the material around the Susceptibility to fretting damage is associated with a number of
wedge ends, damage is limited to these same localized regions on rotor design considerations. First is the bending flexibility of the
the rotor, i.e., at and around the rotor wedge ends. rotor, as related to the length/diameter ratio. Longer, leaner rotors
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  25-25

are more susceptible than are short, stout rotors. Susceptibility is

further a function of the number of accumulated start/stop cycles,
given that the combination of relative motion and compressive
bearing load occur only at intermediate speeds, which are experi-
enced only during startup and shutdown. Location along the length
of the rotor is also important. Because maximum bending stress
occurs at the axial center of the rotor, the shaft axial center is more
susceptible than the ends. And susceptibility is a function of wedge
length. The amount of strain that accumulates over the portion of
the wedge that is not locked down at any given speed equates di-
rectly to the amount of relative motion at that speed.
Another issue that involves a totally different initiation mecha-
nism can ultimately lead to similar transverse cracking in the ro-
tor in the immediate vicinity of the wedge ends on the underside
of the tooth-top dovetails where the wedges contact the teeth. In
this case, damage initiates from electrical arcing between the ro-
tor teeth and winding wedges. Certain transient fault and steady
state conditions can cause unbalance between the electrical phases,
which reflects over to the rotor as motor currents. Events that can Fig. 25.22 Generator rotor showing overheat-
cause these transient events include motoring incidents, line faults ing damage associated with circulating cur-
such as closely proximate lightning strikes, and so on. Steady state rents at the wedge ends and the end of the
conditions can result, for example, if the unit is operated with un- transverse flexibility slots
balanced transformers on the three phases. The currents in the rotor
conduct at the rotor surface, traveling down the rotor and typically
around it at the retaining rings and them back along the opposite like a good visual inspection of the rotor, concentrating on the are-
side of the rotor. In the rotor winding slot region, the currents tend as defined above as being most prone to damage: the teeth surfaces
to conduct in the wedges, arcing to the rotor teeth at the ends of adjacent to the wedge ends and the ends of the wedges themselves,
the wedges and then back into the next wedge. Unlike the fretting the teeth and wedges and nose of the retaining ring adjacent to
damage, which tends to occur only where the rotor wedges are the shrink fit, and the rotor material around the ends of the trans-
steel and therefore relatively closely matched in hardness to the verse flexibility slots. Figure 25.22 provides a photograph of a ro-
rotor material, these surface currents tend to cause arcing damage tor displaying definite signs of overheating damage on the teeth
at the ends of any of the slot wedges. In fact, where other materi- and wedges in the immediate vicinity of the wedge ends. In this
als are used for the wedges, for example, aluminum or other lower photograph, the slot run horizontally, and one of the poles is shown
electrical resistance material, the arcing is more prevalent because covering the bottom ~1/3 of the photo. The end of one of the trans-
of the lower resistance of the wedges, and, therefore, the increased verse flexibility cross slots can be seen at the bottom right corner
potential for the current to travel in the wedges and arc to the rotor of the photo. This also exhibits very definite signs of overheating
at the wedge ends. associated with circulating surface currents.
Where arcing occurs, localized heating results and the severity is For less extensive electrical damage and for any level of fretting
a function of the electrical current level. If the arcing is sufficient, damage, however, the damage does not manifest itself in any way
the heating can actually be sufficient to cause phase transforma- that produces visible symptoms on the accessible surfaces. To de-
tion, i.e., re-austenitization and even melting. Damage can run tect these damage forms requires either ultrasonic inspection tech-
the gamut, from very minor heating, localized spark erosion, re- niques or disassembly of the rotor–at least removal of the retaining
austenitization, to melting, in which case, the melted zone is also rings and the rotor slot wedges–to access the crack initiation sur-
going to be surrounded by re-austenitized material, and so on. faces and permit inspection by some surface inspection method.
When the heat source is removed, the re-austenitized material is For wound rotors, even when the rings and wedges are removed,
quenched, resulting directly in a nugget of untempered marten- the use of PT and MT methods for the detection of cracks carries
site, which is very brittle and almost certainly cracks immediately the same risks as defined earlier for the axial cracking of the tooth-
under the imposed stress. Because the local stress is primarily an tops. The inspections must be conducted in very close proximity to
axial bending stress, any resulting cracks tend to form in a radi- the winding components, including the slot insulation, and the risk
al–circumferential plane, just like the fretting cracks. In this case, of contamination is significant. This can be done, but it requires
however, the depth of the resulting crack is not limited like it is for extreme caution and extensive steps to protect the windings and in-
fretting cracks. Arcing damage is related to current levels and can sulation. For rotors that are being rewound, i.e., those from which
immediately generate relatively deep cracks and otherwise dam- the winding coils and insulation have been removed, either MT
aged material. It is certainly possible to cause damage sufficient to or PT are perfectly acceptable test methods, although viewing the
retire the rotor. Other areas on the rotor where damage may also underside of the tooth-top can be challenging, particularly if using
occur is at the retaining ring shrink fit and at the ends of transverse the more sensitive fluorescent MT or PT, which requires viewing
flexibility slots that are cut across the poles to equalize the mo- under UV illumination.
ments of inertia about the pole and quadrature axes and therefore An alternative is to inspect the disassembled rotor using the ET
to minimize twice per revolution vibration. inspection method. This, of course, still requires full disassembly
Inspection for tooth-top cracking of this type can take any of a to expose the initiation surfaces, and special ET probes, configured
number of forms and include any of a number of NDE methods. to match the geometry. This inspection benefits immensely from
For moderate to severe electrical arcing damage, there is nothing automation, i.e., automated or semi-automated scanning, and full
25-26  •  Chapter 25

digital data acquisition and surface imaging. This requires a scan- And then there is the issue of the availability of the data to the
ner that matches the slot geometry in some way and that holds the owner/operator. Often this information is simply not readily avail-
ET probe at the proper attitude in close proximity to the examina- able. So, in all likelihood, the analysis will be conducted using
tion surface. The use of an ET array, i.e., an array of probes that public domain database properties, of which significant quantities
collectively cover the entirety of the test surface width, speeds up are typically available through various sources.
the inspection significantly in that the entirety of a tooth top sur- Unfortunately, the spread in data for the key material property
face can be inspected in a single scan pass along the length of the input variables is typically significant; consequently, one is faced
rotor. One manufacturer, in fact, the primary manufacturer in the with making a decision on which value to use for the analysis. If
US for which fretting fatigue of generator rotor tooth-tops is an performing a deterministic analysis, this means deciding the spe-
issue, recommends removal of the retaining rings and slot wedges cific value that will be used, and for the sake of conservatism in the
and implementation of an ET inspection protocol. Unfortunately, analysis, a worst case assumption is typically used. While this is
the disassembly and reassembly costs far exceed the inspection the conservative approach, it means that the real value for the vari-
costs, likely by at least an order of magnitude. able will, in nearly all cases, be better than the value used for the
An alternative for the detection of underside tooth-top crack- evaluation. In most cases, this analysis results in significant overly
ing without rotor disassembly involves UT from the outer surface conservative outcomes as a direct result. And, when one considers
and, in most cases, is implemented using the linear phased array. that this may apply for multiple variables, conservatism stacks on
In some limited cases, the rotor OD surface is uniform and allows conservatism to a point at which it is not even reasonable. Even if
scanning of the transducer along the tooth length. This permits a performing a probabilistic analysis, the spread in the data still re-
fairly simple inspection protocol that utilizes either an LPA or con- sults in overly conservative assessments in the form of higher than
ventional UT approach. However, in most cases, the linear array actual probability of failure because of the inclusion of the worst
is required because of the rotor OD surface conditions. The com- case values even on a statistically applied basis.
plex surface configurations that are typical in these rotor designs The solution is in the ability to more closely define the variables,
can be observed by looking back at Figures 25.19 and 25.22. The in this case, the specific material properties, and the most effec-
machined lands and grooves effectively prevent axial scanning of tive means of better defining the material properties uses samples
the tooth top. The LPA technology provides the means to set the extracted from the most critical region of the component being
transducer in one stationary position along the tooth and to then assessed. For a turbine rotor forging, this most often means the
sweep the beam through a series of angles to cover some length of near-bore material. For a turbine disk, it could mean the material
the underside surface of the tooth-top. By utilizing multiple of the near the rim for blade attachment studies, and so on. A miniature
lands and grooves, the entirety of the wedge end regions can be sample removal tool is available for extraction of samples from
covered adequately. the surface of a rotor bore, the side of a turbine disk, or other loca-
Analysis of rotors for transverse cracking due to either fretting tions as needed and as appropriate. This specialized machining tool
fatigue or arcing damage relies on finite element analysis using extracts a small wafer, about the size of a quarter dollar, leaving a
general purpose finite element programs such as ANSYS. That is, smooth dimple in the surface. The tool is shown in a rotor bore in
there is no custom, special purpose program with which to analyze Figure 25.23.
specific tooth-top dovetail cracking situations on specific rotors. Analysis of the dimple has shown that it produces no meaningful
The analysis of fretting fatigue indications involves determina- increase in local stress, so the dimple can remain with no further
tion of the crack depth required to grow by once-per-revolution conditioning. Miniature samples can be analyzed in the lab to quan-
bending fatigue. If detected indications are smaller than this criti- tify material chemical composition, measure hardness (thereby
cal flaw growth size, with appropriate safety factors applied, then estimating yield strength), and define material microstructure. Ad-
further operation can be justified with limited risk of failure. For ditionally, mechanical properties can be better characterized using
damage caused by electrical arcing, the analysis is not this sim- automated ball indenture testing. Properties that can be quantified
ple. Arcing damage includes not only the resulting cracks, but also using miniature samples and the automated ball indenture test
the damaged material surrounding the cracks. Consequently, the
only way to assure future safe operability involves removal of all
damaged material and metallographic verification of complete re-
moval. Once this has been accomplished, then the modified rotor
configuration can be modeled and analyzed to determine the im-
pact of the new configuration on remaining life.

25.12  aterial Properties

M
Characterization
When stress and fracture analysis indicates less that desired
remaining life for a primary component, the uncertainty associ-
ated with material properties most often is a significant contribu-
tor. Consider, for example, that many of these components–rotor
forgings, shrunk-on disks, retaining rings–were forged prior to the
development of modern fracture mechanics approaches to crack
propagation and ultimately to failure of the component. Conse-
quently, even when the original material properties data is avail-
able, they may well not include fracture toughness or even FATT. Fig. 25.23 Miniature sampler inside a rotor bore
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  25-27

include yield strength, ultimate tensile strength, fracture appear- requires extensive analysis, most often involving 3-D finite ele-
ance transition temperature, and fracture toughness. ment stress analysis, to define the appropriate maximum allowable
Additionally, the sampler can be used to extract samples from repair depth and to define the optimum final repair geometry.
the high temperature regions of HP and IP rotors to assess the ma- Repair of assembled components can often become very in-
terial for creep damage and for temper embrittlement. volved owing to the necessity of disassembling the components
from the rotors. Generator rotor tooth-top repairs, regardless the
design and the elected repair method, require fan, retaining ring,
25.13 Inspection Validation and wedge removal and reassembly upon completion of the re-
pairs. Because this involves removal and reassembly of relatively
The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) has supported massive components, it is not unusual for the rotor to require re-
an extensive turbine and generator condition assessment program balancing before being returned to service. Similarly, repair of
over the years. This program has effectively dealt with the primary shrunk-on turbine disks and repairs for generator rotor coupling
aspects of T/G condition assessment, i.e., inspection validation keyway cracking involve removal and reassembly of shrunk-on
and remaining life assessment. EPRI maintains NDE validation components, with similar processes involved.
specimens for rotor bore inspection and turbine disk inspection. For the generator rotor tooth-top axial cracking associated with
These test beds comprise samples with known flaws (known only the retaining ring shrink fit, there are a number of fixes available.
by EPRI, not the participating inspection vendor) that are used One, identified as a short ring fix, involves removal of any exist-
in blind tests to assess the capabilities of various inspection ap- ing cracks by local grinding or machining of the radius, increasing
proaches. Some of the samples contain artificial flaws in the form the radius at the initiation site in the process. Then the original or
of electron discharge machined (EDM) notches, drilled holes, etc. duplicate retaining rings are reassembled, and the crack initiation
Some of the mockups contain more realistic, yet still man-made, and growth clock is essentially reset. This fix can be implemented
flaws in samples made by a hot isostatic press (HIP) process to only up to certain crack depths; otherwise the reduction in area
metallurgically join segments with artificial flaws inserted at the associated with crack removal in and of itself structurally com-
interfaces. Still other samples have been removed from service- promises the tooth integrity and ability to perform its intended
exposed components and so contain naturally occurring flaws. function.
The EPRI T/G program has additionally led the way on the re- In a long ring fix, a longer retaining ring is used such that the cir-
maining life assessment aspect of condition assessment via pro- cumferential key can be removed from the original shrink fit area,
duction of the SAFER stress and fracture program for rotor bore thereby permitting full removal of the Tee-top over the length of the
assessment, the LPRimLife computer code for assessing turbine existing shrink fit. The key is moved inboard on the rotor body rela-
disk rim blade attachment dovetails, and RRing-Life for probabi­ tive to the shrink fit, which necessitates the longer retaining ring.
listic assessment of generator retaining rings. The machining dimensions at the two fits, the new shrink area where
These resources have contributed immensely to the advance- the Tee tops have been completely removed and the extended nose
ment of the state-of-the-art for T/G assessment and are available to where the key has been moved, are designed such that the former
interested parties for further use as the need arises. carries the shrink fit load. The latter sees no appreciable shrink fit
load, if any, but carries the outward load at speed. This fix requires
new retaining rings, and additionally a rotor rewind to accommo-
25.14 Repairs date insulation modifications associated with the new ring design.
However, this is a more permanent fix, providing increased fatigue
The first and most obvious repair that can be implemented for life, whereas the short ring fix only resets the fatigue clock. Other
any number of the described flaw conditions, at least those at or repairs involve removal of the Tee-tops by machining the sides off
very near a free surface, is to remove them by local excavation. rather than machining the OD, or combinations of the two.
This is typically done by grinding, carefully removing the flaw, A number of repairs are available for the transverse cracking at the
and ultimately putting the geometry at the site of the local mate- wedge ends that occurs either by fretting or negative sequence arc
rial removal in the best condition possible to minimize the impact damage. While these repairs vary in detail, they generally improve
on local stresses. Confirmatory inspections, most often MT or PT, the situation by removing any pre-existing damage by machining,
are implemented along the way to track the flaw for minimum ma- and in the process, relieve the contact at the ends of the wedges such
terial removal while confirming complete flaw removal. Because that the accumulated strain is distributed over greater length of the
these inspection methods have inherent detection thresholds, i.e., rotor tooth. This lowers the axial stress that drives the process.
a flaw size that cannot be detected, final confirmation by metal- In addition to these very specific repairs, most if not all domestic
lographic replication often follows the MT or PT. Machining for manufacturers and any number of independent repair organizations
flaw removal is another option. Over-bores and bottle bores are now have established repair welding procedures and processes in
often implemented to remove flaws detected at or near the rotor place. In the case of turbine disk rim blade attachment cracking, it
central bore surface. The generator rotor tooth-top cracking issues is not at all uncommon to simply machine away the entire outer pe-
each have repairs that involve crack removal by machining, and in riphery of the disk and then replace the material with a weld build-
these cases, the repairs actually do improve the stress situation, so up of material. The attachment geometry is than machined into the
there is dual benefit. More is presented on these later. new material and the blades are reassembled. Another approach
Unfortunately, except for very rare situations, as for the genera- involves similarly machining the entire dovetail region from the
tor rotor tooth-top repairs, repair by local material removal can only disk and then replacing it with a ring forging that is welded to the
increase the local stress. Consequently, each repair has a maximum periphery. Weld repairs are also routinely used, for example, to
depth beyond which the benefits of removing the flaws are overrid- replace cracked shaft ends and to build up material to enable resto-
den by the negative impact of increased stress, and some other re- ration to original configurations where rubs and other events have
pair or replacement must be considered. And each repair typically forced material removal in the journal and seal areas.
25-28  •  Chapter 25

Much has been presented on the state-of-the-art for inspecting 25.15 References
major turbine and generator rotating components. Advances in mod-
ern inspection technology provide the ability to characterize flaws as 1. Engelhardt G, Macdonald DD, Zhang Y, and Dooley B. “Determin-
never before. LPA ultrasonic inspection technology is a prime exam- istic Prediction of Corrosion Damage in Low Pressure Steam Tur-
ple. A great deal of effort and expense has been expended to develop bines.” 14th ICPWS, Kyoto, Japan. August 2004. Also published in
very specific, computerize remaining life assessment programs for PowerPlant Chemistry, 2004, 6(11), pp 647–661.
specific turbine and generator components, and the accuracy of the 2. Viswanathan R. “Retaining Ring Failures.” Workshop Proceedings:
analyses has improved as a direct result. Additionally, probabilis- Retaining Rings for Electric Generators. Palo Alto, CA: Electric
tic approaches are available and are typically used to remove some Power Research Institute, August 1983. EPRI EL-3209.
of the conservatism inherent to the deterministic analysis process. 3. Nottingham LD, Ammirato FV, MacDonald DE, Zayicek PA, and
We have the means available through miniature sample removal Elmo PM. “Evaluation of Nonmagnetic Generator Retaining Rings”
and testing to better define material properties. And, we have any Palo Alto, CA: Electric Power Research Institute, October 1994.
number of repair options available, some relatively generic and oth- TR-104209.
ers applying to specific components. And so, yes, the state-of-the-
4. Kilpatrick NL, Schneider M. “Update on Experience with In-
art for turbine and generator condition assessment has evolved, and Service Examination of Nonmagnetic Rings on Generator Rotors”
continues to do so, with an ever present objective of extracting all Workshop Proceedings: Generator Retaining Ring Workshop.
possible useful life from these very expensive machines and compo- Palo Alto, CA: Electric Power Research Institute, May 1988.
nents, while maintaining acceptable exposure to risk. EL-5825.
 chapter

26
Steam Turbines for
Power Generation
Harry F. Martin
Used with permission of Siemens Energy Inc.: The state- full speed units and the higher costs, cross compound units are
ments, recommendations and conclusions set out in this chapter not currently in favor. Casing configurations for fossil units are
are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of typically high-pressure unit, intermediate-pressure unit, and one or
Siemens Energy Inc. or its affiliates. more low-pressure units exhausting to the condenser. The high-
pressure and intermediate-pressure units are frequently combined
into one casing (HP–IP).
26.1 INTRODUCTION Steam turbines use both reaction and impulse designs. The fun-
damentals of these blade design types will be discussed as they are
Steam turbines have historically been the prime source of power currently applied. The selection of the type blading has a signifi-
for electric power generation. Turbines come in a variety of types cant impact on the turbine design.
with regard to inlet and exhaust steam conditions, casing and shaft Steam turbines employ digital control systems that can provide
arrangements and flow directions. This chapter will focus on steam automatic turbine control to avoid mal-operation. These systems
turbines currently being applied to power generation. The steam can be supplied by the turbine supplier or by others. In some in-
conditions will include those currently applied to fossil fired power stances these interface directly with the overall plant and boiler
plants, combined cycle and nuclear power units. control systems.
Currently, fossil fired plants, whether coal fired or gas fired, typi- Equipment supplied for the last 20 years have greatly increased
cally supply steam at 1800 to 3500 psig steam pressures with 950 to inspection intervals per the recommendations of the turbine sup-
1050°F main steam and reheat temperatures. Double reheat units are pliers. The inspection interval for major inspections can be 8 to
few and will not be discussed in this chapter in much detail. Com- 10 years. Sometimes the inspection interval is defined in terms of
bined cycle plants (CC) typically have multiple drum heat recovery equivalent operating hours (EOH) which includes the number of
steam generator (HRSG) with inlet temperatures of 1050°F for main startups in the determination.
steam and reheat steam (see Chapter 27). While no new nuclear units
have been installed in recent years, plans are underway to apply the
AP1000 nuclear systems (see Chapters 23 and 24). Past steam condi- 26.2 GENERAL INFORMATION
tions were typically saturated steam (0.2% moisture) and reheat tem-
perature of 500°F. All current applications are condensing designs Any discussion of steam turbines should include some thermo-
with regenerative extraction, except for CC units. Current applica- dynamic concepts. The first law leads to the writing of the general
tion can be used up to 8 to 10 inHgA exhaust pressure. The applica- energy equation for a steady flow processes.
tion of air cooled condensers is more prevalent in CC applications.
Current designs are axial flow turbines. However, in some ap- (PE)1 + (KE)1 + u1 + (pv)1 + Q = (PE)2 + (KE)2 + u2 + (pv)2 + W
plications, radial flow stages are used in the inlet stages. Typical (26.1)
arrangements are tandem compound. This means more than one
turbine casing’s rotors are coupled together on the same shaft. For Where:
example a turbine train consisting of a high-pressure turbine (HP),  PE = the gravitational or stored mechanical energy of the fluid
an intermediate-pressure turbine (IP) and two low-pressure tur- KE = the mechanical kinetic energy of the fluid
bines (LP) would have all of these in line and coupled to an electric        u = the internal energy of the system
generator. Cross compound units (two or more shafts) are currently    pv = the pressure volume product or flow work
in use. Some arrangements have the HP and IP on one shaft along      Q = heat added
with a generator and the LP turbines on a separate shaft along with    W = shaft work
another generator. In many instances the low-pressure turbine shaft
is running at half speed and has larger annulus areas to reduce LP Since enthalpy (h) is equal to u + pv, the work for a flow system
turbine exhaust velocity and associated leaving losses. However, with no heat added, or negligible changes of potential and kinetic
due to increased blade height and associated exit annulus area for energy can be written as:
26-  •  Chapter 26

The speed of sound can be written as:

V* = (dp / dr)1/2 (26.5)

Where:
V* = velocity at the critical point or the sound velocity
p = pressure
r = density

Mach No. (M) is defined as the ratio of the local velocity to the
local sound velocity.
The relationship between area and pressure for an isentropic
flow process can be written as:

dA A
= [1 − M 2 ] (26.6)
dp ρV 2

Where:
Fig. 26.1  Carnot cycle A = area
V = Velocity

From this relationship we can deduce the flow passages for dif-
W = Dh (26.2) ferent flow velocities. These are summarized in Figure 26.3. The
significance of this figure is the differences in the behavior of a
diffusing passage between subsonic and supersonic diffusers and
The second law of thermodynamics dictates that all cycles must the development of supersonic velocity in turbines.
reject heat. The efficiency of a cycle can be defined as: From the definition of an isentropic process the following useful
relationships can be developed:
h = work / heat added
or  V 2 − V12 
h1 − h 2 =  2  (26.7)
h = (heat added – heat rejected) / heat added (26.3)  2gJ 

A reversible cycle is one that is reversible in all aspects and The condition when the velocity is zero is referred to as the stag-
could produce the same thermodynamic state points run in either nation state or total condition:
direction. This of course is an idealization. However this concept
is useful. For example the Carnot cycle is defined as one in which V22
heat is added and rejected at constant temperature and the expan- ht − h2 = (26.8)
sion and compression is accomplished with no losses. This cycle is 2gJ
shown on a temperature entropy diagram in Figure 26.1.
The resulting efficiency of such a cycle is defined as:

h = (Ta – Tb) / Ta (26.4)

This is the maximum possible efficiency for a cycle operating

between temperatures Ta and Tb.
The steam turbine cycle is a Rankine cycle. This cycle consists
of compression of water, heating and evaporation of steam in a
boiler, expansion in turbine and heat rejection in a condenser. A
theoretical version of this cycle is shown as Figure 26.2. Most
units use a reheat cycle with regenerative heating though the use
of feedwater heaters using steam extracted at various locations
throughout the turbine (see Chapter 29). Regenerative heating
reduces the heat added and the heat rejected by the cycle. While
the output power is also reduced, the net effect is an improved
cycle efficiency.
There are a number of gas dynamic concepts that have signifi-
cant impact on turbine design and application. These will be dis-
cussed in the following paragraphs. Fig. 26.2 Theoretical Rankine cycle
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  26-

wU
W= (Vθ1 − Vθ2 ) (26.12)
g

For steady flow with uniform conditions and no leakage we may

write:

w
W= ϖ (r1Vθ1 − r2 Vθ2 ) (26.13)
g
Fig. 26.3  Subsonic and supersonic expansion
Where:
Where in the English system: v = rotational speed in radians/second
J = 778 ft-lbf/Btu r  = radius
g = 32.2 lbm ft/lbf sec2 w = flow rate

From perfect gas relationships and the continuity equation the Writing this equation in terms of enthalpy produces:
following non-dimensional flow term can be developed:
 V 2 − V22 
W = w  h1 − h 2 + 1  (26.14)
 2 k +1 
 2gj 
mR Tt   p2  k  p2  k  (26.9)
= 2gJCp   −  
A2pt  pt 
   pt   A turbine stage consists typically of a stationary row of blades,
and a rotating row of blades. The stationary blades are often re-
Where: ferred to as nozzles. The stationary row and the rotating blades
   m = mass flow act together to allow the steam flow to produce work on the rotor.
    T = temperature in degrees Rankine Many stages are included in a turbine casing to produce the shaft
    R = gas constant output to drive the generator.
Cp = specific heat at constant pressure Turbine stages, with the exception of last stages of the low-
     k = specific heat ratio pressure turbine, are typically classified as either an impulse stage
or a reaction stage. In a pure impulse stage the entire stage pres-
A plot of non-dimensional flow and pressures ratio is shown sure drop is taken across the stationary row of blades. However, in
as Figure 26.4. Note the dashed portion of this curve illustrates practice this is not practical and about 5% to 20% of the stage drop
the double value of this equation. The flow reaches a maximum is taken across the rotating blade. The addition of another station-
at the critical pressure ratio (p*/Pt). For real gases such as steam, ary and rotating row to this stage forms a “Curtis” stage. However,
the values of critical pressure ratio and acoustic velocity are found this type of design is not in use in current designs for large steam
in steam tables. However, there are many instances where perfect turbines.
gas analysis is very useful in steam turbine analysis. The velocity triangles and general stage arrangement are shown
The purpose of blading in a turbine is to transform the kinetic in Figure 26.5. Referring to this figure, the power developed by an
energy of the incoming fluid into useful work. Newton’s second impulse turbine can be written as:
law of motion can be applied to develop a momentum theorem.

w
Fθ = (Vθ1 − Vθ2 ) (26.10)
g

Where:
 F = force in the tangential direction
V = velocity in the tangential direction

We can derive m the following equations:

w
W= (U1Vθ1 − U 2 Vθ2 ) (26.11)
g

Where:
—
W = power
 U = turbine wheel speed
 Vo = tangential velocity
 w = mass flow rate

For a constant diameter the relationship may be written as: Fig. 26.4  Flow vs. pressure ratio
26-  •  Chapter 26

wU 2  cos α1   cos β2 
W= − 1 1 + (26.15)
g  v   cos β1 

Where
v = velocity ratio

Reviewing Equation 26.15, the advantages of small values of a1

and b2 are evident. This is a characteristic of impulse blading.
In a reaction turbine pressure drop occurs in both the stationary
and rotating blades. In a reaction turbine there is an increase in the
relative velocity leaving the passage. In a symmetrical stage, the
enthalpy drops are equal for the fixed and rotating rows. This is a
50% reaction stage. For a 50% reaction turbine the power can be
written as:

wU
W= (2V1 cos α1 − U) (26.16)
g

The typical constructions of these two types of turbine stages are

shown as Figure 26.6. Due to the higher pressure drops across the
stationary row in an impulse stage, the sealing for the stationary
row is at a lower diameter. However, a flow system design involv-
ing the leakage along the shaft, the sizing of the pressure balance
holes in the rotor and the possible inclusion of a seal at the inner
diameter between the rotating and stationary row is required in an
impulse or Rateau turbine. This is discussed in Reference [1]. In
an impulse stage the design should set the reaction at the hub to be
positive to ensure good stage performance. Therefore, some degree
Fig. 26.5 Velocity diagram for simple stage of reaction is required. Considering the radial variation of station-

Fig. 26.6 Impulse and reaction stage

 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  26-

ary exit pressures, the reaction is usually increased as the stage rial limitations for high temperature inlets. The Rateau type control
heights get larger as you proceed through the turbine. Generally stage has better performance than the Curtis type control stage.
these stages are designed such that there is a radial in flow into the The control stage combined with inlet valves serves as the flow
cavity between the stationary row and the rotor. control for the turbine. As load is reduced the control valves can be
Important stage characteristics of a turbine stage application are operated in a sequential valve mode with constant pressure opera-
velocity ratio, and stage loading coefficient. The velocity ratio is tion meaning that a 4 valve unit could operate with between 1 and
defined as the ratio of the blade wheel speed to the velocity that 4 valves open and the control stage operating at admissions of 25%
would be obtained by the isentropic expansion through the stage to 100%. Therefore, the control stage blade loading at 25% arc of
stagnation pressure drop. admission is significantly higher and has a higher pressure ratio than
at 100% admission. This is true since the pressure downstream of the
control stage is essentially proportional to flow and the nozzle inlet
n = U / Cis (26.17)
pressure is still at 100% pressure. The nozzle is typically choked at
this condition but the absolute velocity entering the rotating blade is
Where: supersonic. At partial admission, the losses are higher, however, the
 v = velocity ratio reduced throttling loss and the higher inlet pressures provide overall
 U = wheel speed part load cycle efficiency improvements. There are many operating
Cis = isentropic stage velocity strategies that exist with today’s plants and control systems. These
will be discussed in more detail in 26.6. However, a partial arc de-
The stage loading coefficient is defined as the work done in the sign when operating at part load will generally produce a better part
stage divided by the wheel speed squared. load heat rate than a typical full arc design.
In the low-pressure turbine, the steam is expanded from inlet
∆H pressures of 60 to 230 psia to typical condenser pressures of 1 to 3
ψ= (26.18) inHgA. This increase in specific volume requires rapid increases in
U2
flow area especially in the last few stages. In these stages the de-
sign is significantly different than typical impulse or reaction blade
Impulse turbines can have higher stage loadings and therefore, design mentioned in the preceding paragraphs. In these stages the
fewer stages than can be used efficiently for a reaction turbine for work done is quite large. The LP turbine can contribute up to 60%
the same expansion. This generally means higher losses, as will be of the unit output and the last stage alone can produce 10% of
discussed later. the total output. Therefore, the efficient design of these stages is
Figure 26.7 shows the variation of efficiency for nominal reac- important.
tion and impulse blading with velocity ratio. The figure illustrates The stage design is driven by consequences of the radial equilib-
the advantages of impulse blading for lower stage velocity ratios rium equation in the Meridional (axial–radial) plane.
and higher blade loadings. In addition, the benefit of reaction blad-
ing when lower stage loadings can be utilized is illustrated.
In the first stage of a high-pressure turbine, an impulse or Rateau 1∂P Vθ2 ∂ Vr ∂ Vr (26.19)
= − Vz − Vr
stage is often utilized. This stage is commonly called the Control ρ∂r r ∂ Z ∂ r
Stage. Currently, single stage control stages are utilized. However, in
the past Curtis stages were used. The Curtis stage was popular when The first term on the right hand side shows the effect of a swirl-
large temperature drops were required due to rotor and blade mate- ing flow such that the static pressure increases with radius. This

Fig. 26.7 Effect of stage type on aerodynamic efficiency

26-  •  Chapter 26

effect is significant at the exit of stationary rows where high tan-

gential velocities occur. The second and third terms are referred
to as the streamline curvature terms. The effect of the streamline
curvature terms become significant at end wall regions of the blade
path where wall tapers and abrupt changes occur.
Figure 26.8 shows the pressure drop across the stationary blade
row is greater at the base than at the tip. Consequently, the steam
velocity leaving the base or inner diameter is greater than at the
tip as shown in Figure 26.9. The space between the stationary and
rotating blades (see Figure 26.10) is the region with significant
change in relative inlet angle to the rotating blade. There is a ra-
dial variation of reaction. Therefore, the base sections approach an
impulse design with high turning. Therefore, blades with a large
amount of twist are required.
Computerized flow field programs both axi-symmetric and
three-dimensional are used in the design of low-pressure end blade
paths. The process usually starts with the axi-symmetric approach.
Very early versions of these methods are discussed in References
[2] and [3].
Annulus areas have increased with larger blades and high tip
speed. Tip speeds exceed Mach 2 and exit relative velocities are
supersonic. Hub-to-tip ratios have been reduced from the stan­
dard 0.5 of the past to values near 0.4. New LP flow field and sta-
tionary blade design concepts have permitted this change, while
Fig. 26.8 Pressure distribution last stage maintaining hub reactions to acceptable levels. Many designs use

Fig. 26.9 Velocity distribution between stationary and rotating blades

 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  26-

stream towards the exit plane and the blade loading will increase.
At a certain pressure, the flow in the passage is fully expanded and
the blade loading reaches its maximum value. Further decreases in
back pressure will not affect the flow pattern inside the blade pas-
sage downstream of the throat of the blade. Therefore, the blade
loading will not change with lowering of the exhaust pressure.
This condition is referred to as “limit load.” This is the reason that
the load–vacuum correction curves provided by turbine suppliers
reach a point where the power of the unit will not increase with
further decreases in back pressure. Figure 26.13 shows isobars for
a blade passage at the transonic point and after limit load has been
reached.
LP turbines expand into the wet region, and they usually em-
ploy moisture removal devices to reduce moisture content. This
moisture removal has a twofold benefit. First, the performance is
improved through the reduction in moisture losses in the blade
path and the reheating effect caused by the reduction of moisture.
Second, the less moisture available the less blade tip erosion will
occur.
Fig. 26.10 Blading velocity The causes of moisture losses are:
·  Condensation shock losses
·  Braking losses
·  Drag losses
converging diverging sections to limit losses. Stationary blade de-
·  Miscellaneous losses
signs utilize blade lean and sweep [4, 5] to control the flow field
and limit losses. Condensation shock losses occur when the rapidly expanding
The performance of the LP turbine is significantly affected by the steam, after crossing the saturation line, fails to reach equilibrium.
performance of the diffuser and the flow path directing the steam In other words although the moisture level has theoretically reached
to the condenser. Diffuser design is currently done using compu- a level as high as 3.5%, fog formation has not taken place. The
tational fluid dynamics (CFD) computer programs. Reference [6] longer the delay in reaching equilibrium the greater the buildup of
discusses effective use of such computer codes. The inclusion of super-saturation and the larger the loss.
the effect of the last row blade flow distribution is emphasized in Braking losses occur when moisture strikes the rotating blades
the reference. Modeling, using uniform flow distributions or model and causes a negative torque.
test data using uniform distributions, has shown to be ineffective in Drag losses are of two types. Drag losses due to fog drops and
predicting exhaust diffuser performance. drag loses due to large drops torn off trailing edges of stationary
Figure 26.11 shows the variation in total exhaust loss as a func- rows. The loss occurs due to dragging and accelerating of the drop-
tion of volumetric flow for three LP turbine designs using a variety lets by the steam.
of last row blade sizes and exhaust annulus. This factor is a sig- Miscellaneous losses include centrifugal losses of water be-
nificant influence in selecting which design should be applied to ing centrifuged out by the rotating blades, boundary layer losses
a given cycle. However, one must also consider the variations in caused by the waviness of the deposited water film, the losses gen-
condenser pressure and load demand through the year to select the erated by the kinetic energy of the blades being transformed into
correct configuration. heat and continuous under cooling losses. The under cooling is the
Leaving loss is the kinetic energy of the absolute velocity leav-
ing the last row (L-0R) of the LP turbine. This is generally defined
in terms of Btu’s. Actually there are leaving losses for the exit
of each turbine. However, the leaving loss of the last stage of the
LP turbine is the most significant. The leaving loss for the L-0R
for an LP turbine is obtained through integration of the exit flow
properties obtained from a CFD calculation. The leaving loss is a
part of the total exhaust loss. Figure 26.12 shows a diagram rep-
resenting the expansion of the last stage of an LP turbine on an
enthalpy-entropy diagram (HS diagram). Note that the stage exit
static pressure, Ps-b, is less than the downstream condenser pres-
sure. Therefore, the exhaust diffuser has recovered some of the exit
kinetic energy from the blade path. The total exhaust loss (T.E.L.)
is the value shown in Figure 26.11 at various volumetric flows.
At low volumetric flows, the flow at the base of the blade will be
recirculating and high hood losses are obtained.
Transonic turbine blades behave similarly to converging-diverg-
ing (CD) nozzles. This is true even if the blade is not a CD section
per se. The throat area of the blade at this point is sonic. As the
exit pressure decreases the passage shock wave will move down- Fig. 26.11 Total exhaust loss
26-  •  Chapter 26

Fig. 26.12 LP turbine last stage expansion

Fig. 26.13 Limit load

 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  26-

loss associated with the rapidly expanding steam not being able to N = number of throttling
catch up with the equilibrium moisture level. K = kinetic energy annihilation coefficient (usually used as 0.8
Not only is there a loss associated with non-equilibrium but the for step seals
flow passing capability of the stage can be affected. Depending on
the wetness, the flow passing capability could be increase by 5% Equation 26.20 was shown to produce high flow rates for straight
to 6%. Reference [7] provides information on both efficiency and through seals in Reference [9]. This reference provides useful co-
flow passing effects of moisture in turbines. efficients for certain commonly used seal designs.
Addressing last row erosion has become more important with Finite element analysis computer codes and individual supplier
the larger tip speed designs in use today. Different blade designs special computer codes are the dominant mechanical design tools
use a variety of protection. Stellite tips have been brazed onto the in use today. However, it is useful to verify design concepts with
upper portions of the blades. Blades have been flame and laser an appropriate equation. Reference [10] provides explanations and
hardened. The protection strategy is a function of the blade mate- equations that have been used for this purpose.
rial used. Reference [8] provides both a description of the erosion
process and relative erosion resistances of various materials. The
primary source of erosion are the droplets that come from water 26.3 TURBINE CONFIGURATIONS
collected on the upstream stator blade. The water droplets are torn
off the blade trailing edge and accelerated to a speed less than The primary applications of steam turbines utilized in power
steam speed. Therefore, the droplets have a relatively low abso- generation are used in conventional fossil fired (coal or oil) power
lute velocity but a high relative velocity to the rotating blade. See plants, nuclear units and combined cycle power plants. Most new
Figure 26.14 for the velocity diagram of this process. The water applications in the past 15 years have been combined cycle units.
droplets will vary in size up to the largest droplet size that can be In fossil plants the sizes range from 100 to 1500 MW. Typi-
supported in the flow stream. cal steam conditions are 2400 psig and 1000°F main stream and
There are many types of sealing currently used in steam turbines 1000°F reheat. However, higher pressure and temperature units are
depending on the application. A good general equation for seal operating. New fossil units have been few but significant efforts
flow is the “Martin’s equation.” A form of this equation can be have been made in retrofitting existing plants to improve reliability
written as: and efficiency.
Figure 26.15 is a longitudinal section of a fossil steam turbine
rated at greater than 800 MW The main steam inlet pressure is
( ρ)
2
1− 1 supercritical and main steam and reheat temperatures are 1050°F.
1700KAP0 (26.20)
W= This is single reheat cycle. The unit is a tandem compound design
P0 V0 N + ln ρ
with a shaft speed of 3600 rpm. There are eight feedwater heaters
in the cycle. The design utilizes shared bearings. This means that
Where, each elements rotor does not have two bearings.
 W = leakage flow, lb/hour Flow enters the single flow HP turbine using side inlets through
 A = area, sq. in. control valves (not shown) and flow through the blade path to the
Po = Absolute inlet total pressure, psia. HP exhaust. The HP cylinder exhaust is in the base and steam flows
 Vo = inlet specific volume, ft3/lbm to the reheater. The HP turbine is a single flow design therefore,
 r = ratio of inlet total pressure to exit static pressure requiring a dummy piston for thrust balancing. Feedwater heating

Fig. 26.14 Droplet impact velocity

26-10  •  Chapter 26

Fig. 26.15 Longitudinal section of supercritical pressure turbine 4 flow LP for 3600 RPM

steam is extracted from the HP section blade path and the HP ex- The LP is a four-flow 2 cylinder design. The LP inlet zone uses
haust. The turbine is a full arc design and inlet pressure exists be- a flow guide to reduce losses. The blade attachments are tee root in
tween the inner and outer cylinder for a portion of the HP section. the front end and side entry at the exhaust end. The last row blade
The HP extraction chamber is formed between the inner and outer is a free-standing blade. The exhaust diffuser outer diameter sec-
cylinder. All of the rotating rows use single tee root attachment to tion is attached to the inner casing and the inner diameter the dif-
the rotor. The rotor does not have a bore except for a test specimen fuser section is part of the outer cylinder. The diffuser performance
bore located away from the main body of the rotor. The stationary is somewhat negatively affected by the LP outer cylinder bracing.
blades are attached to the inner cylinder. The unit is down flow exhaust to the condenser. The rotor again is
Flow enters the IP turbine through side mounted reheat valves a no bore rotor except for test bore locations. The extraction zones
(not shown). The IP turbine is a double flow design without the are contained in the inner cylinders. The extractions in each turbine
need for a dummy piston. The IP first row is a diagonal low reac- are symmetrical. However, the lowest pressure and the next to the
tion design. This design reduces the axial space requirements of lowest pressure heaters are supplied from different LP turbines.
the blade path and provides a lower relative total temperature to Most fossil units being manufactured today use no bore rotors.
the first rotating row for mechanical strength considerations. The However, at least one manufacturer supplies welded rotors. These
blade attachments are tee root. The IP flow exits to the LP turbines welds are usually between similar materials but welding between
through the cover using a large diameter large turning radius el- dissimilar materials is also done depending on the application.
bow. Extraction flow is supplied from two internal locations and The unit in Figure 26.16 is for 50 Hz application and therefore
the IP exhaust. The internal extractions are unbalanced with the rotates at 3000 rpm. It is very similar to the unit in Figure 26.15 ex-
higher pressure feedwater heater supplied from the generator end cept that it is a six flow LP end (3 double flow turbines). The unit is
and the lower pressure heater from the turbine end. The extraction also for supercritical pressures. Some components are scaled from
zones are contained inside the inner casing. The IP rotor is no bore 50 to 60 Hz or from 60 to 50 Hz depending on the original design.
except for the test section. LP end rotating blades are typically scaled.

Fig. 26.16 Longitudinal section of supercritical pressure turbine 6 flow LP for 3000 LP

 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  26-11

Fig. 26.17 Longitudinal section of HP–IP and double flow LP

Figure 26.17 shows a retrofitted unit. The HP is a full arc ad- The LP rotor and inner cylinder were retrofitted. The LP cyl-
mission design. The high- and intermediate-pressure blade paths inder utilizes a single inner cylinder design, and the LP extrac-
are combined into one casing (HP–IP). The retrofitted components tions are symmetrical and separated by the partitioning of the
are the inner cylinder and rotor. The rotor is a no bore design. The inner cylinder. There is a no bore rotor. The blades use tee root and
HP–IP inner cylinder appears much thicker than in reality. This is side entry blade attachments. The last stationary blade (L-0C) uses
due to the fact that longitudinal section includes a large support slots on the surface of the blade to remove moisture for improved
rib. The rib controls cylinder deformation. The HP uses integrally performance and reduced erosion. In addition, a low diameter seal
shrouded reaction blades with tee root attachments. The IP blade is used for the last stationary row (L-0C). Figure 3.2 of Reference
path utilizes a diagonal low reaction stage to limit axial space re- [11] shows the LP design of the same supplier as Figure 3.1 of this
quired for the blade path and to reduce relative total temperature on reference. Note all low diameter sealing is used and the front end
the first rotating row for mechanical reasons. The IP rotor utilizes stages are impulse design.
reaction stages with double tee root blade attachments for the in- Figure 26.18 shows essentially the same design HP–IP as Fig­
tegral shrouded blading. The IP blade path exhaust flow turns and ure 26.17, except that the HP uses a partial arc design with a control
flows between the inner and outer cylinders. This provides cooling stage. The space between the exit of the control stage and the inlet
for the inner and outer cylinders. There are three dummy pistons row of the reaction blade path facilitates uniform flow into the reac-
in this design (HP, IP, and LP) to balance thrust. The HP and the tion blade path during partial admission for improved perfor­mance
IP blade paths are thrust balanced independently. There is an equi- and reduced non-uniform blade loading effects. The nozzle block
librium pipe connecting the HP exhaust to downstream side of the of the control stage is a slide in design compared to previously used
HP dummy. Spring back seals are utilized over the rotating row of bolted on nozzle blocks. The control stage rotating blade is mounted
blades in the HP and IP. The dummies use spring back seals and in to the rotor using a pinned root design. Note that the control stage
some cases retractable seals (see section 26.5). Another supplier’s blade is quite wide relative to the width of the other HP stages. This
HP–IP turbine design is show as Figure 3-1 of Reference [11]. This is due to high loading requirements during partial arc admission.
design uses impulse type blading and has a disc diaphragm type Current combined cycle units do not have feedwater heaters but
construction. This requires essentially no dummy piston. instead have inductions (reference Chapter 27). Typically, there

Fig. 26.18 Longitudinal section of HP–IP turbine with control stage

26-12  •  Chapter 26

Fig. 26.19 Longitudinal section of an HP and IP/LP turbine for combined cycle application

is an induction from the intermediate-pressure drum downstream the use of airfoil shaped supports in the base of the turbine. These
of the HP turbine and a low-pressure drum induction at the LP supports are also used for oil flow to the bearing and instrumenta-
inlet or inside the LP turbine. Therefore, the flow increases from tion connections. The outer cylinder has two vertical joints. These
the HP inlet to the exhaust of the LP turbine, as opposed to flow are; the connection of the IP and LP cylinders and the connection
decreasing in a conventional fossil steam plant with extractions of the LP cylinder and the exhaust diffuser section. After initial
for feedwater heating. For this reason, the HP turbine typically has assembly, the joints need not be broken and the cylinder can be
smaller blade heights and sealing is more important for improved lifted as one outer cylinder. A large dummy leak off connection
efficiency. However, due to the increasing flow downstream of the is shown connecting the low-pressure side of the dummy to the
HP turbine, the incentive for very high HP efficiencies is less in induction zone.
CC power plant. Figure 26.20 shows the HP turbine for a CC plant using an im-
Figure 26.19 shows a combined cycle stream turbine with 1800 pulse blading design. Note the smaller dummy piston. The rotor is
psig inlet stream pressure and main steam and reheat temperatures machined to a disc diaphragm construction with axial pressure bal-
of 1050°F. The design is an HP–IP/LP design using shared bear- ancing holes to control leakage flow and axial thrust. The sealing
ings. The HP is a separate single flow turbine with a barrel con- mounted in the stationary blades is on a low diameter with small
struction. These types of turbines do not have a horizontal joint on radial clearance spring back seals.
the HP outer cylinder. The inlet is volute design and inlet pressure Figure 26.21 shows the longitudinal section of an HP–IP, LP
exists for almost the entire section of the space between the in- design for combined cycle application. This design is used for
ner and outer cylinders. The unit has a bottom HP exhaust. These higher megawatt applications than the arrangement shown in Fig-
applications have non-return valves in the piping going to the re- ure 26.19. The design uses an HP–IP design similar to what is used
heater since they are operated with bypass systems. The HP rotor is in typical fossil power plants. The LP is a double flow unit using a
a no bore design uses tee root integral shrouded blades. titanium last stage and has side exhausts since the application uses
The IP/LP design is a straight through design from the IP inlet side mounted condensers.
to the axial flow exhaust. The inlet is a bottom side entry. A very The HP–IP turbine uses a large inner cylinder that is also the
large dummy is required at the inlet end for thrust balancing. Due carrier of the stationary blades and HP dummy seals. The design
to the large exhaust area of the IP/LP design the unit is not inde- utilizes dummy pistons to balance the thrust. The HP thrust is bal-
pendently thrust balanced. The region between the inlet to the first anced with the HP dummy while the IP thrust is balanced with a
stage and the dummy is cooled with HP exhaust steam to provide unique dummy piston arrangement at the turbine end of the shaft.
long creep life to the rotor in this area. The rotor is welded between The HP is a full arc of admission design.
the IP and LP parts of the shaft to permit the use of different mate- The latest designs applied to nuclear units have been in the ret-
rials to satisfy high temperature and high strength requirements of rofit market. New units will most likely reflect this approach for
the different ends of the turbine (see Section 26.4). The rotor uses design. Especially if a verified design concept is required. Nuclear
integral shrouded blades in IP and front stages of the LP sections. units typically run at half speed relative to fossil applications.
Interlocked blades are used in the LP end. The last stage of this Therefore, in the countries using 60 Hz electrical systems the rota-
particular turbine uses a titanium blade due the very large blade tional speed would be 1800 rpm.
height. Figure 26.22 shows a retrofit application for nuclear HP turbine
There is an induction between the IP and LP blade paths. This that formerly had a control stage design. Nuclear units operate pri-
induction may not be operative below 20% load. The exhaust uses marily at full power and the application of full admission units has
an axial diffuser. The design of this diffuser is improved through some advantages. In all applications the ability to pass the licensed
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  26-13

Fig. 26.20 Impulse HP turbine for combined cycle applications

power flow is a critical criterion. Non-equilibrium two phase flow rying the stationary blades and providing extraction chambers. The
has been shown to be a significant issue in some applications [7]. blades are tee root construction.
This unit uses a diagonal design first stage. The unit has unbalanced In the nuclear cycle, there is only an HP and LP turbine due to
extractions in the HP. One extraction supplies the high-pressure the relatively low inlet pressures of nuclear cycles. Between the
feedwater heater and the other supplies the first stage of a two stage HP exhaust and the LP inlet, steam usually flows through a mois-
reheater for superheating the flow to the low-pressure turbine. The ture separator reheater. The separator is required since HP exhaust
inlet shows a diagonal stage with a flow guide to reduce losses. steam is wet. The reheater uses either HP inlet steam or HP inlet
The design features a small inner cylinder and blade rings for car- and HP extraction steam to reheat the HP exhaust steam after the

Fig. 26.21 HP–IP, LP turbine for combined cycle application

26-14  •  Chapter 26

Fig. 26.22 HP nuclear turbine

moisture is removed. Moisture removal effectiveness of today’s computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has made complicated analy-
separators is quite high and essentially all of the moisture is re- sis routine. This has improved the performance and reliability of
moved before reheating. today’s steam turbines. The use of advanced analysis tools has also
Figure 26.23 shows a nuclear LP turbine. The unit is a double improved costs through more effective material utilization.
flow turbine using tee root and side entry blade attachments. This Steam turbine materials for the current applications have not
design utilizes a shrunk on discs design. The first stage disc is changed significantly over the years but the processing of the ma-
keyed, as well as, shrunk on to the rotor. Many nuclear LP turbines terials has improved to reduce impurities. Blading materials are
today use integral rotors to mitigate high stress and stress corro- typically 12%Cr stainless steels. However, Cr content can be as
sion. However, the disc design of Figure 26.22 has been verified high as 16%. Currently, there a number of titanium designs for
with service and analysis and is accepted in the industry. the very high tip speed blades. These are mostly being operated
The extraction zones are separated by sections of the inner cyl- in combined cycle units. For moisture protection of low-pressure
inder. These extractions in the wet regions of the blade path also blades, either flame hardening or stellite shields brazed to the
provide moisture removal. In addition, moisture removal slots are blade are used. Some alloys, that cannot be flame hardened, can
located at the outer boundary of the flow passage and slotted hol- be laser hardened. Titanium blades, in a combined cycle appli-
low stationary blades are employed at the L-0 location. cation, do not require shielding. Reference [8] provides useful
information on droplet erosion and the relative resistance of ma-
terials to erosion.
26.4 DESIGN Most HP and IP rotor materials are made of low alloy steel.
These steels are nominally 1%Cr. However, the rotor should have
Turbine design technology has developed to analysis based high strength and toughness at the high operating temperatures.
methodology as opposed to a scaling or experienced based meth- Most rotors are made from one forging per element. However,
odology. The application of finite element analysis (FEA) and some designs utilize smaller forgings welded together at the OD to

Fig. 26.23 LP nuclear turbine

 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  26-15

form the rotor body. The design of rotors for future higher temper- number in steam is generally near one the use of relative total tem-
atures will most likely utilize more welded construction. Reference perature is appropriate.
[12] discusses design changes for higher temperature applications.
In this reference the welding of 12%Cr and 3.5NiCrMoV is dis- Vr 2
cussed. Figure 26.19 illustrates a current application where the LP Trt = Ts + (26.21)
2gJCp
and IP rotors are joined by welding. This is discussed in Reference
[13]. Some rotors of this type have used solid rotors with different
heat treatment to obtain the appropriate high strength for the LP Where:
and the higher temperature properties for the IP end. Trt = the relative total temperature
For HP and IP rotors, fracture mechanics evaluations are made Vr  = relative velocity,
with the objective that the any flaw that cannot be detected in the   g = gravitational constant
rotor does not propagate to critical crack size during the life of the J = Joules constant
rotor in order to preclude a rotor burst. This evaluation includes Cp = specific heat at constant pressure
the material toughness and the effect of operation during the target
life of the unit. The control of relative velocity is often used to reduce the op-
In many applications the HP and IP cylinders are designed to carry erating temperature of the components such as blades and rotors.
the stationary blades as opposed to have a special blade ring. Figures This concept for cooling IP rotors is discussed in Reference [17].
26.15, 26.16, 26.17, 26.18, 26.19 and 26.21 show this type of con- For LP rotors, solid rotors, welded rotors and shrunk on disc ro-
struction. In this arrangement, the inner cylinder must be designed tors are used in the industry. For shrunk on disc rotors the required
to maintain the required degree of roundness to provide proper ori- disc shrink fit is evaluated with the objective to preclude discs
entation during operation. These cylinders typically use an axial rib coming loose during startup transients and overspeeds. Some discs
to aid in this aspect. Figure 26.19 illustrates the concept of a blade are keyed to the shaft intending to prevent the disc from overspeed-
ring construction in the IP portion of the IP/LP turbine. Figure 26.22 ing relative to the shaft in the event that the disc would come loose.
shows the blade ring construction for a nuclear HP turbine. Blade Fracture mechanics is also applied in the design of LP rotors.
rings provide some advantages for control of deformation to control Rotors are evaluated for high cycle fatigue. The calculations
seal clearances but can increase cost and outage time at inspections need to address all anticipated loading on the shaft. In addition,
and other outages requiring significant disassembly. the effect of torsional stress for short circuits and the stress due to
HP and IP casings, rotors and valves are designed to a particular misalignment are included.
life. The life factors in operating time and cycles. The cyclic life Thrust balance of the rotor is usually done such that HP, IP and
will vary depending on the application. For example, a nuclear unit LP turbines are balanced independently. This limits the number
does not see many startup and shutdown cycles or load changes. of design cases needed to check thrust and the size of the dummy
Therefore, duty cycles are required, as well as, startup and shut- pistons. Large dummy pistons are not required with impulse blad-
down profiles for cyclic duty evaluation. ing. This leads to lower dummy leakage rates. In some designs
HP and IP rotors generally are the limiting items in low cycle independently balancing of thrust is not practical such as the HP,
fatigue, with HP rotor usually the most critical. The rotors are de- IP/LP design shown in Figure 26.19. In this case, the axial thrust
signed with the objective that the limiting location meets the duty produced in the LP end of the IP/LP is too large to contain. There-
cycle requirements for the application. The allowable stresses must fore, the thrust can be offset through a built in unbalance in the
include the effect of high temperature on the fatigue strength. Typ- HP or the thrust bearing is selected to accommodate the maximum
ical limiting locations are in the blade attachment areas or in some loading.
other fillet location at the intersection of a large and small radius In the past, double inner cylinder construction was typical for
on the shaft, e.g., HP dummy piston. If the limiting blade attach- LP turbines. However, with the use of FEA, the single inner cyl-
ment location is not visible, the geometry can be altered to make inder design can be designed for the required operating life. How-
this location visible during inspections. Stress-relieving grooves ever, the blade carriers may be made of a higher alloy. This is
are generally used to both relieve the stress of the blade attach- particularly true when moist steam is present in the blade path at
ments and to put the limiting stress location in a more inspectable that location. The increase in carbon content can help reduce the
location. potential for flow assisted corrosion. The casings need to provide
The operating temperatures and transient temperature distribu- sufficient flow area for the inlets and extraction areas to prevent
tions are required for this type of analysis. The temperature through- large pressure losses in these areas. The peak stresses of these de-
out the turbine needs to be specified since most analysis is done signs usually occur at full temperature. In this case, the cyclic duty
using the entire component, such as: rotor, cylinder or valve body. of the casing can be assessed just knowing the times and tempera-
A heat transfer analysis is done using appropriate flow information ture ranges during operation.
and convective heat transfer coefficients. In some designs radiation Since the outer pressure boundary of the LP inner cylinder is the
heat transfer is important, since steam is an absorbing re-emitting condenser, thermal shields are generally used over most of the cyl-
medium [14]. References [15] and [16] describe in great deal heat inder outer diameter. These help to limit the thermal stresses in the
transfer analysis that can be applied to steam turbines. Some of casings. The large axial gradients seen in LP turbines and the stiff-
these correlations have been verified from actual steam turbine data. ness variation in the casing, lead to the potential for ovality at the
Reference [15] even includes data verified from actual turbine rotor exhaust end of the machines, prudent design changes and appropri-
bore temperature measurements. This reference is specifically for a ate setting of radial clearances are used to address this situation.
reaction turbine design. Reference [16] is primarily for an impulse HP and IP blade paths are typically designed on a unit specific
design. However, many of the methods are transferable. basis. This is done, in order to better match the individual cycle
For heat transfer the appropriate temperature to be used is the requirement, while achieving high levels of efficiency. Typically,
relative adiabatic wall temperature. However, since the Prandtl the process is computerized to achieve optimization. The process
26-16  •  Chapter 26

heating (bypass operation in HP), and transient overloads are usu-

ally addressed in blade mechanical design margins.
The LP end blading design is usually the result of an iterative
process in which axi-symmetric and three-dimensional flow field
methods are used to produce a blade path that meets aerodynamic
efficiency and mechanical limitations. CFD codes are even
capable of some degree of unsteady analysis. For example in
Reference [4] unsteady analysis shows that the stationary blade
wake effect is more pronounced at the base of L-0R blade than at
the tip.
The blade profiles are generally Mach number dependent such
that sections with subsonic, transonic and supersonic relative exit
Mach numbers would have different shapes and velocity distribu-
tions. A converging diverging section is often applied at exit Mach
number is greater than 1.4. However, LP turbines are subject to
large variations in flow conditions due the large variation in volu-
metric flows. Therefore, each design should address the specifics
of the intended application.
In addition to improved airfoil aerodynamics, flow field effects
to improve performance have been aided by improved CFD ca-
pability. For example, the use of lean and sweep in LP stationary
blades increases performance. Figure 26.25 shows an illustration
of a stationary blade design using improved CFD analysis. This
concept is discussed in References [4] and [5].
The LP end blades are tuned blades. This means that all modes
of vibration below some harmonic of running speed are tuned. For
example one supplier may use the 7th harmonic. Free-standing and
interlocked blade designs are currently being used. The interlocked
designs have much greater stiffness after the blades are “locked
up.” Lock up occurs when the blade interlocking features come
into contact. This is typically between 50% and 70% of running

Fig. 26.24 Bowed blade

would have prescribed limits that might include a set of basic sec-
tions, blade root attachments, etc. The design process would se-
lect blade section, stage loading and reaction in order to achieve
the best efficiency while meeting cycle parameters such as: inlet
temperature, inlet and exit pressures and flow. The blade could be
bowed or just taper twisted. Typically, in the HP turbine, the blades
would be bowed due to the low aspect ratio, blade height to blade
chord. Figure 26.24 depicts a bowed blade arrangement for an HP
turbine. Reference [18] discusses the concept of bowed blading.
At low aspect ratios the reduction of secondary flow losses is more
significant. Bowed blades are also applied in IP turbines and the
front stages of LP turbines. See Reference [19] for a description of
one approach to automated design and optimization. This process
can be utilized in HP, IP turbines and for the un-tuned blades of
LP turbines.
The HP, IP, and front stages of LP blades are typically integrally
shrouded, or one piece construction as compared to older designs
that may have used shrouds that were riveted to the blade. The
shrouds typically are made tight at assembly for added mechanical
strength. Some integrally shrouded blades are designed to run with
small gapes between blades. The concept is to reduce tip deflection
and add mechanical damping. Typically, these blades are un-tuned
which means they do not have speed or frequency limitations dur-
ing operation to address harmonic effects.
The blade attachments are typically tee root, double tee root (for
larger blades), and side entry roots. The designs need to address Fig. 26.25 Last stage stationary row with sweep
aerodynamic and centrifugal loadings. Flow disturbances, windage and lean
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  26-17

cient variation in natural frequency blade to blade, this vibration is

suppressed. In free-standing blades mix–tuning has been quite suc-
cessful in eliminating un-stalled flutter. However, in interlocked
blades mix-tuning is not possible due to the interlocking. How-
ever, mis-tuning requires a more significant change to the blade
and attempts to change the aerodynamic characteristic of the blade
to blade interaction. This is quite difficult as explained in Refer-
ence [20]. However, a computer code (TRACE) that solves the
Reynolds-Averaged Navier Stokes equations in the relative frame
has been applied to analyzing un-stalled flutter. Figure 26.27 (taken
from Reference [20]) shows the computation of aerodynamic
damping for three different Mach numbers. The aerodynamic
damping is expressed in terms of logarithmic decrement. ND rep-
resents the nodal diameter pattern of the vibrating coupled blade
structure. Negative ND indicates a backward traveling wave while
a positive ND indicates a forward traveling wave. Un-stalled flutter
is always seen in the backward traveling wave. Negative log decre-
ment means the blade is unstable. Combined with knowledge for
the mechanical damping of the system, this approach can be used
to determine the susceptibility to un-stalled flutter.
Moisture erosion of rotating blades in the wet steam region re-
sults from liquid droplets impinging on or near the leading edge.
See Reference [8] for a detailed description of this process. Dam-
aging droplets are not the moisture in the primary blade flow. The
primary source of the water that erodes the blades comes from
Fig. 26.26 Interlocked LP turbine last row moisture deposited on the upstream stationary row. This deposi-
rotating blade tion is caused by inertial and diffusion processes. The moisture
flows to the trailing edge of the blade and drops are formed in
the slow moving wake behind the trailing edge of the stator. The
droplets are broken up into smaller droplets by the drag force of the
speed due to the centrifugal untwist of the blade. Tuned blades are steam. This process creates a distribution of coarse moisture that
verified on prototype designs by use of a rotating test. The blade can range up to 500 microns or more. These droplets are slowly ac-
frequency control for subsequent units typically uses some type of celerated and carried to the rotating blade. Figure 26.14 illustrates
stationary frequency test. The fact that these blades require tun- the water droplet velocity in this process.
ing for reliable operation leads to operating speed restrictions at
no load and off frequency limits on line. However, not all modes
require a speed restriction. Figure 26.26 illustrates an interlocked
last row rotating blade design that includes a mid-span snubber and
a shroud interlocking feature. This figure also illustrates a four lug
side entry root “fir tree root.”
The blade attachment for these large blades is typically a side
entry fir tree root or a pinned root. The root steeple stresses will
limit the number of speed cycles a design can tolerate and thus
could affect the cyclic duty potential for some designs. Blade roots
are sometimes rolled or shot peened to improve their HCF, LCF,
and stress corrosion capability.
For LP end blades, the start of stall flutter can be assessed and
consideration for this built into the operating guidelines (see Sec-
tion 26.6). However, un-stalled flutter does not occur at off design
conditions and therefore, the protection is in the design itself. In
the past a variety of methods were used to predict un-stalled flutter
such as:
· Dynamic cascade tests and analytical predictions based on
these results
·  Model turbine tests
· Using experienced based criteria such as Strouhal number or
reduced frequency.
These methods have produced moderate success.
Mix-tuning is a process of slightly modifying a nominal blade to Fig. 26.27 Aerodynamic damping for three
achieve some prescribed natural frequency variation. In un-stalled different Mach numbers as a function of nodal
flutter, the blades vibrate at the same frequency. If there is suffi- diameter
26-18  •  Chapter 26

Fig. 26.28  Seal configurations

Erosion protection is in general twofold: blade tip protection Figure 26.28 shows one supplier’s seal application philosophy.
through flame hardening, or adding stellite strips, etc., and mois- The seals in the HP and IP turbines are stepped design for reduced
ture removal. Moisture removal can employ slotted end walls, leakage. Because of the reduced blade height, sealing is most impor-
slotted stators and even heating of the stator blade to evaporate tant in the HP turbine and becomes less of a factor as the blade height
the moisture. Generally, the slotted stator uses two locations for increases. For this reason, impulse blading with its disc diaphragm
removal of stator blade surface water. One is located on the pres- construction with low diameter sealing (see Figure 26.6) is some-
sure surface and one on the suction surface. If a hollow blade is times applied for low flow small blade height turbine designs. Seals
used for evaporating surface moisture, the steam is extracted from in the LP turbine in this application use tip to tip sealing that employ
another location, generally a LP extraction zone, and piped into many seals but can accommodate large differential expansions.
the stator with appropriate drainage provisions. This water can One new seal concept is the use of abradable seal material on the
be sent either to the condenser or to a low-pressure feedwater seal carrier ring. The concept of this approach is shown in Figure
heater. 26.29. The clearance is reduced. However, in the event of a rub
Turbine exhaust hood design can have a significant impact the abradable material wears as opposed to seal. The leakage flow
on turbine performance. Exhaust hoods can be either axial (see reduction with this approach has been approximately 20%.
Fig­ure 26.19), radial or as is most common radial/axial, see Fig­ Currently brush seals are being applied in steam turbines (see
ure 26.21). Axial diffusers in general provide the best performance. References [21, 22]). The concerns of large pressure ratio and high
The ideal situation is to have a diffusing exhaust hood where fence height requirements have been addressed and brush seals
the turbine blade exit pressure is less than the condenser pres- have been successfully operated in steam turbines. Figure 26.30
sure. However, this cannot exist over the entire operating range. shows a diagram of a brush seal application. The brush seal is
Therefore, the design point of the diffuser is quite important. As installed with a clearance and the “bristle blow down effect” re-
discussed in Reference [6], CFD can be used quite effectively sulted in as much as a 50% reduction in leakage. Brush seals can
in design. However, the blade path hood interaction needs to be be installed in a variety of arrangements such as a spring back or
included. retractable seals.
For units that have significant condenser pressure variations sea- Retractable seals have been used in certain locations in HP and
sonally, it may be prudent to design the diffuser to a slightly off- IP turbines. To date, applications have been in the glands and
design condition. For example, if a unit that needs to generate peak dummy pistons. The concept is to use spring force to hold the seal
power in the summer time, it may be prudent to sacrifice some of ring segments at a larger diameter until pressure forces overcome
the performance in the winter months in order to maximize the the spring load and move the ring segments to a lower diameter.
performance when the power demands are the highest. This approach permits smaller radial clearances during operation
Sealing has made a significant improvement in turbine perfor­ while having more rub protection during startup, thus reducing the
mance. In addition, some of the sealing concepts being applied re- concern for seal rubs affecting seal performance. This concept is
duce the potential for seal rubs and therefore, reduce the efficiency discussed in Reference [23].
degradation. Turbine efficiency degradation is inevitable but the Honeycomb seals have been applied in LP turbines. These have
degree of degradation between overhauls can be affected by seal mostly been applied over free-standing blades (Figure 26.31). They
selection as well as prudent turbine operation (see section 26.6). provide for better sealing and greater rub protection than would be
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  26-19

certain instance produce particle rebound that can cause damage to

upstream nozzles suction surface.
While the impact of transient operation (e.g., Startup) is debated
in the literature, Reference [25] supports the impact of transient
operation and concludes that bypass systems have a significant im-
pact on reducing hard particle erosion.
In general, reducing velocity and flow turning will reduce SPE.
Typically the impulse nozzle will have greater turning and higher
velocity than a reaction stationary blade design. Erosion would be
expected to vary with the kinetic energy of the particle, thus pro-
ducing a variation with velocity squared. Reference [26] shows a
power law dependence of velocity on solid particle erosion with
the exponent varying between 1.91 and 2.52. Even in a reaction
blade path the reduction of stage pressure ratio would have a sig-
Fig. 26.29 Abradable coating
nificant impact on SPE reduction.
The impact of solid particle erosion can be reduced through the
application of coatings. For control stages, coatings have been in
achieved with a hard liner. Therefore, clearances are smaller with service for more than 26 years. The boride diffusion coating can be
this seal compared to a hard liner. applied to nozzle vanes and rotating blades as needed. The success
Solid particle erosion (SPE) damage to turbine blade paths is of this coating application has been documented to extend the pe-
the result of iron oxide particles (magnetite) entering the steam riod of maintenance due to solid particle erosion [27]. The time in-
turbine. These particles can result from exfoliation from the boiler terval for SPE damage to be addressed could double when coatings
and steam piping. There have been many papers discussing the are used. The nozzle design can also have a significant impact on
generation of these particles and ways to remedy the situation ex- erosion as discussed in Reference [28]. In addition, the increased
ternal to the turbine. Reference [24] discusses this topic in great nozzle pitch reduces SPE. For many units with control stages,
detail. Minimizing exfoliation is a most effective way to reduce valve management features are available that will permit switch-
SPE in steam turbines.
SPE is found in the regions of the high-pressure turbine (HP)
and intermediate-pressure turbine (IP) near inlets to the turbine.
Damage has also been seen in valves, cylinders, blades and rotors
in the dummy pistons. The HP damage can be in the blade path
for units with or without a control stage. If hard particle damage is
an issue, the control stage blades would be significantly impacted
primarily due to the high velocities at partial arc operation.
In the blade path, the larger particles cannot follow the steam as
it accelerates and turns in the blade passage. This causes the parti-
cles to impact blade pressure surface of the stationary row. Refer-
ence [24] provides calculations that show that damaging particles
do not travel at steam speed. However, designs with higher nozzle
exit velocities will produce higher particle impact velocities. The
higher velocity and greater steam turning make impulse designs
more susceptible to SPE. Particles that leave the nozzle will impact
the rotating blade with more negative incidence than the steam due
to the slower particle velocity. Therefore, particles will impact on
the inlet suction or convex side of the blade. This effect cannot
only cause leading edge erosion of the rotating blade but can under

Fig. 26.30 Brush seal Fig. 26.31 Honeycomb seal

26-20  •  Chapter 26

ing from partial arc to full arc during startup. This can significantly not typically used and flow control concepts are used to improve
reduce the stage velocity and therefore reduce solid particle ero- performance.
sion at a time when hard particles are being generated. This valve In a typical reaction steam turbine the distribution of the average
mode transfer feature permits the return to partial arc operation to losses are as a percentage of the total loss are shown as follows:
improve performance at part loads.
Future designs will need to address significantly higher pressure
HP turbine IP turbine
and temperature. Designs are currently being developed for 5000 psi,
1300°F steam conditions. Therefore, there will be more use of Profile loss 54 68
materials that utilize higher chromium (10-12%) for rotors and Secondary flow loss 32 24
casings. In addition, the need to address significant temperature Leakage loss 14 8
variation in the same casing will lead to greater use of welding
of dissimilar materials. In addition, there will be a need for more
Nickel based materials for casings. In a study reported in Refer- The efficiencies of today’s HP and IP turbines are quite good
ence [29] in 1992, it was concluded that the next step in future op- relative to the use of parallel sided blading and straight seals. Cur-
timized steam conditions for a double reheat pulverized coal cycle rently efficiencies can be as high as 90% for the HP turbine ele-
would be between 4000 psi, 1100°F/1100°F/1100°F and 5000 psi, ment including valve losses, and 93.5% for the IP turbine including
1200°F/1100°F/1100°F. valve losses. The performance of the LP turbine will vary signifi-
It is interesting to note that a 325 MW rated turbine generator cantly with the level of moisture, the condenser pressure and the
with 5000 psi inlet pressure and 1150°F steam inlet temperature exhaust arrangement.
and double reheat of 1050°F/1050°F went into service at The Ed- Performance verification is an important subject. Overall heat
dystone Generating Station in 1957. The unit operated until 1975 rate testing has been addressed by ASME PTC 6 committee. Refer-
and is now an ASME Historical Mechanical Engineering Site. ence [30] documents the code for standard fossil and nuclear units
with regenerative feedwater heaters and Reference [31] is for com-
bined cycles.
26.5 PERFORMANCE Reference [30] now combines the full-scale and the alternate
test into one report. The PTC 6 committee recommends the use of
The common method of defining performance for the overall the code for conducting acceptance tests of steam turbines and any
turbine is heat rate. This is defined as the heat added to the cycle other performance test where performance levels are to be obtained
to develop one kW of output. This is really the reciprocal of ef- with a minimum of uncertainty. In fact, the code recommends the
ficiency. Typically heat rate is expressed in Btu/kW-h or kJ/kW-h. use of the full-scale test with a condensate flow measurement for
The turbine heat rate only includes the heat that is transferred to the fossil unit steam turbines. However, the alternative test uses fewer
steam and not the heat released by the fuel. The plant heat rate will measurements and makes greater use of correction curves for cy-
always be higher than turbine heat rate. Heat rates are calculated cle adjustments. The uncertainty of the full test is reported to be
using the ASME steam tables. ±0.25% on unit heat rate, while the alternative test reports an un-
The blading and sealing currently utilized in steam turbines have certainty of 0.33%. For nuclear units the where most of the cycle
reached such high levels that significant improvements in heat rate is wet the accuracy is between ±0.375% and 0.5%. For combined
will require higher steam pressures and temperature. The direction cycles the test procedure of Reference [31] reports an uncertainty
of these efforts was discussed in Section 26.4. of ±0.50%.
The performance of the steam turbine is obtained by computer These tests are quite expensive due to the instrumentation re-
models that are proprietary to the specific turbine supplier. How- quirements including a flow section for flow measurement. In
ever, most models have similar methodologies in that the essential fact very few “pure” code tests are conducted since other arrange-
losses are included and that some simplification is used to reduce ments are frequently made during the negotiation, installation or
the complexity of the blade path to a computer model. test phases. Therefore, unit by unit specific test definitions are
Typically, losses addressed are blade profile losses, second- frequently used for unit verification. When tests are conducted,
ary flow losses, leakage losses, and moisture losses. The blade the condenser pressure is of particular importance. The vacuum
profile losses are typically corrected for surface roughness and corrections are developed by the turbine supplier by a variety of
Reynolds number, Mach No., trailing edge thickness, and inci- methods, such as CFD modeling, model testing, and experience
dence angle. Secondary flow losses are associated with the turn- with similar units.
ing of the boundary layer on the end walls of the blade passage. For measurement of HP, IP efficiencies a standard efficiency
The losses can be evaluated from cascade testing, CFD modeling, test can be conducted to by measuring the pressures and tempera-
model turbine testing, etc. These losses are typically correlated tures (enthalpy drop test). Tests on HP turbines can be conducted
with ratio of blade pitch to height. It is this loss that a bowed blade at valves wide open to eliminate valve losses in the data. In some
will affect. cases pressures downstream of the valves are measured and the
The application of multi-axis numerically controlled machines efficiency definition uses this point as the inlet condition. How-
to manufacture machined blades has eliminated the use of parallel ever, it can be difficult at times to measure pressures far enough
sided blades. In HP, IP, and the front stages of LP turbines using downstream of bends, and other flow disturbances to get accurate
reaction blading, shapes such as “bowed” blades are typically used pressure readings.
for performance improvements. Bowed blades typically shaped as High- and intermediate-pressure turbine enthalpy drop tests are
shown in Figure 26.24. The improvement comes from forcing flow typically within ± 0.6% uncertainty. In many designs, the perfor­
toward the hub and tip of the blade passage thus suppressing the mance levels are affected by leakages from items, such as HP, IP
vortex that is developed in the passage. References [18] and [19] and LP dummy piston leakages, and inlet seal leakages. To deter-
discuss this concept in detail. In impulse designs bowed blades are mine the level in some instances tests referred to “influence factor”
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  26-21

Fig. 26.32 Heat balance diagram

tests (see Reference [11]) are conducted to evaluate these effects. subcritical units sliding pressure operation is an option. Therefore,
The need for this type of testing is certainly design dependent. justification can be made for either full or partial arc designs with
Figure 26.32 shows a turbine heat balance diagram for a super- a control stage. Performance over the load range and load reserve
critical pressure inlet HP turbine with single reheat. The inlet tem- requirements need to be considered. Reference [32] discusses
peratures are 1050°F/1050°F. The unit has separate HP, IP and 2 many options for operation with full arc, partial arc and full arc
double flow LP turbines. The unit has 8 feedwater heaters, which are designs with overload valves. Reference [33] discusses compari-
supplied by extractions from the turbine. This unit has one heater sons between full arc and partial arc designs. These two references
above the reheat pressure. This means that an extraction comes illustrate that the design of the unit makes a significant difference
from the blade path of the HP turbine before the HP exhaust. This in the off design performance. For a partial arc design, it has been
cycle makes a big improvement in heat rate since in this instance shown that operating with full pressure partial arc admission until
the feedwater temperature was increased by almost 50°F. However, 50% admission and then sliding the inlet pressure for further load
most plants use the HP exhaust (cold reheat) as the highest pressure reduction is an attractive operating strategy for heat rate improve-
extraction. Reasons for the lower pressure extractions are initial ment and it can also minimize cyclic stresses in the rotor relative
cost and potential reliability issues with high-pressure heaters. to pure constant pressure operation. One important consideration
The other extraction arrangements are somewhat typical. There is the prediction, years in advance, as to how the unit will be oper-
are three extractions from the IP and three from the LP casing. The ated. Therefore, operating flexibility ought to be considered.
extraction flows varying from 5% to 11% of the local blade path
flow. The LP inlet pressure for this design is relatively low com-
pared to most US power plants for this size. This means larger pip- 26.6 OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE
ing from the IP to the LP turbine. However, with longer blades in
the IP back stages relative to the shorter blades in the front stages of Operational concerns for steam turbines encompass a variety of
the LP turbine, there is a potential for performance improvement. issues. Some of these are low cycle and high cycle fatigue, material
The rated heat rate for this unit is quite good at 6946 Btu/kWh. creep, vibration, steam chemistry, and water induction. Steam tur-
HP turbines can be either full arc or partial arc of admission bines currently in use have a large variety in the types of operating
units. If the unit is planned to be operated at part load for a signifi- instructions and control systems to address operation issues. How-
cant period of time, a partial arc design ought to be considered. For ever, many units today employ a digital hydraulic control system
26-22  •  Chapter 26

Fig. 26.33  Startup recommendation

that permits starting and loading the steam turbine in a controlled Since more units are cycled today, automated control is more
fashion as to adhere to the limits recommended by the supplier. critical since these units start and shutdown more frequently.
There are a number of limits that must be adhered to prior to In addition, with automatic control, there are varying operating
admitting steam to the turbine. The steam temperature must be strategies that can be implanted to reduce stress. Reference [34]
high enough to limit too large of a mismatch between steam and discusses this topic for a combined cycle plant. If the operation
metal temperatures for items such as steam chests, cylinders, and is not controlled by a controller, the operator would need to fol-
rotors. In addition, enough superheat is required to limit internal low a set of instructions for loading and unloading, as shown in
condensation. The inlet pressure and temperature recommen- Figure 26.34.
dations are obtained from the controller or the instructions. Fig­ Turbine control systems usually use some type of on line com-
ure 26.33 shows one such recommendation in graphical form to putation of rotor stress to control low cycle fatigue damage dur-
limit rotor stress during initial admission of steam and rolling time ing startup, shutdowns and load changing. These calculations are
to synchronous speed. For units that have bored HP–IP rotors long generally addressing the low cycle fatigue limiting location on
heat soak times at less than full speed are required to heat the bore the rotor. These locations are either in the blade attachments ar-
to temperature near or above the Fracture Appearance Transition eas of the HP and IP turbines. The calculations are numerical
Temperature (FATT). This is done to have sufficient ductility in but in some instances use mathematical relationships to deter-
the rotor to prevent crack growth of any cracks in the rotor of a size mine the thermal stress. This approach can factor in the actual
below or at the ability of inspection techniques to identify. Some rates of temperature, speed and/or load change, as opposed to the
reduced acceleration to full speed is required for a cold rotor even linearization of the assumed event while using a chart. The con-
with today’s rotors. trol system output can also advise the operator regarding desired
The startup of a steam turbine is a complicated process of checks steam conditions for reducing stresses at startup. In addition, the
if manually done. That is why controllers are now available that amount of margin remaining or an extrapolated peak stress can
perform the following functions while controlling turbine compo- be provided for either manual or controller action. These can be
nent stress, avoiding blade and rotor resonance ranges: provided for a number of components such as HP and IP valves,
and HP and IP rotors.
·  Starting the turbine from turning gear speed to nominal speed The boundary temperatures for the models can be obtained us-
·  Synchronization ing steam temperatures and applying appropriate heat transfer rates
·  Loading and unloading between zero and rated load to the surfaces. In some instances appropriate metal temperatures
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  26-23

Fig. 26.34 Load changing recommendation

measured on casings are applied as the surface temperature for the 18 psia to about 26 psia represent the stall flutter limit for the blade.
rotor. Guidelines for allowable increases in temperature are pro- Un-stalled flutter is not addressed by operation but by the design of
vided to the operator. In general, the rotor limits the low cycle fa- the blade. These lines are determined by calculation and testing.
tigue of the turbine. However, if a stationary part, such as a steam Exhaust hood sprays provide some protection for windage heat-
chest, needs additional limits, these need not be modeled. Ther- ing. This cooling of the blade by an exhaust hood spray is aided
mocouples installed directly into the part can be used to monitor by the recirculating flow that would be present at the base of the
component stress. For example, in a steam chest shallow and deep large last row blade during windage heating. Thermocouples in the
thermocouples are routinely used to provide either a controller or exhaust hood provide input to alarm messages or input to activate
operator information relative to the stress limits. hood spray directly.
When starting a partial arc design unit that has the capability There are times when feedwater heaters need to be removed
to transfer from full arc to partial arc operation, it could be ben- from service. In general, rules are applied on what heaters can be
eficial to the transfer to governor valve control with the unit in removed without reducing turbine load. As heaters are removed
single valve mode. The reason is that once the unit is loaded, the from service, flow is increased in the following stages of the tur-
inlet temperature and the control stage exit temperature will in- bine. This produces overload potential for the blades which is to
crease rapidly and the rate of change may be more than desired. If be avoided. Reheater sprays increased above the design can also
the unit is in single valve mode, transferring to partial arc would produce overloading situations throughout the turbine among other
reduce the control stage exit temperature, thus reducing the rotor undesirable issues.
stress. Data showing this is situation is shown in Reference [33]. The control of steam purity is an important aspect of turbine
Control systems can help protect the turbine from a variety of operation. The presence of corrosive impurities in steam can cause
other issues that could affect turbine reliability. The rotor train ac- damage to turbine components. The damage is caused by corrosion,
celeration rate can be set to provide a more rapid speed increase stress corrosion, corrosion fatigue, and erosion-corrosion. Caus-
and to limit operation in regions of rotor critical speeds or tuned tics, salts, and acids must be controlled. Deposition of i­mpurities
blade resonances for the tuned LP end blades (usually the last three can also cause thermodynamic losses and distress by lowering the
stages of the LP turbine). efficiency of blades and upsetting the pressure distribution. De-
Condenser pressure limits are in intended to prevent blade dam- posits can reduce the flow passing capability of the blading due to
age through high cycle fatigue and to avoid excessive windage deposits especially in HP turbines with their relatively small blade
heating. One such limit curve is shown as Figure 26.35. This par- passages. Stress corrosion has been a significant issue in some ro-
ticular chart is for a combined cycle unit. The LP induction pres- tor and blade attachment designs in LP turbines.
sure is used as an indicator of last stage flow since there are no Limits for steam chemistry are sometimes provided with differ-
extractions or inductions beyond this location. The horizontal lines ent allowables for different stages of operation. For example dif-
at low flows are the low flow limit line. One limit is for alarm and ferent limits for normal operation at load and startup. The normal
the other is for automatic trip. The angled lines that rise from about operating limits are more restrictive. When operating with poorer
26-24  •  Chapter 26

Fig. 26.35 Exhaust pressure limitations

chemistry than ideal, the limit may have time restrictions. When
Minor Medium Minor Major
operating with steam from an auxiliary boiler such as supplying
gland steam during startup, more latitude is generally given for 25,000 50,000 75,000 100,000
chemistry limits. 125,000 150,000 175,000 200,000
Generally, continuous or routine monitoring of samples taken at
the HP inlet and the Hot Reheat inlet is recommended. When steam
enters, the cycle from multiple pressures from separate steam Recommendations are provided for inspections to be made on
sources such as in a combined cycle unit, each source should be line in varying time intervals to identify items such as instrumenta-
monitored. References [35], [36], [37] and [38] provide more in- tion errors, drain malfunctions, feedwater heater drain valve and
formation regarding the issue of steam chemistry in power plants. non-return valve operation.
Some retrofit designs and new unit applications since the 1990s Special attention to the oil lubricating system is warranted. Some
have recommended 8- to 10-year inspection intervals. Some of units use large supplemental cleaning systems that vary from par-
these inspection intervals may be based on equivalent operating tial to 100% oil flow capability.
hours. One definition in a published standard is defined as. The inspection recommendations for individual units and, if ap-
plicable, the calculation of equivalent operating hours may be dif-
ferent than the example given above.
Te = Ta + AN (26.22) The collection and tracking of data on shaft vibration levels
and phase angles is recommended. This is helpful information
Where: to review especially going into a long turbine outage, since it
Te = equivalent operating hours may highlight the need for additional work that is currently
Ta = actual operating hours unplanned.
   N = number of total starts (cold, warm and hot) The potential for water damage is present. Therefore, it is im-
   A = multiplier on the number of starts portant to review plant design, operating practices and instru-
mentation against the requirement of Reference [40]. New units
Reference [39] discusses inspection and overhaul of large steam should address these concerns in the initial design. Systems to
turbines. This reference recommends a value of A in Equation 26.22 detect the potential for water damage are sold as retrofits to exist-
of between 20 and 30. ing plants.
Intermediate inspection intervals may also be recommended
with varying degrees of component inspections. For example if mi-
nor, medium and major inspections are defined with only a major 26.7 SUMMARY
inspection requiring total opening of inner and outer casings. Over
a 200,000 hour equivalent operating time frame, inspections could The state of technology available in the current steam turbines
be recommended as follows designs is quite advanced. Advances in Finite Element Analysis,
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  26-25

Computational Fluid Dynamics and Computer Aided Design have sented at the 2000 International Joint Power Generation Conference,
made this possible. Some of the design methods and concepts have Miami Beach, Florida, July 23–26.
been validated through the application to retrofit designs, as well 13. Zabrecky, J.S., Bezugly, J.A., Brown, M.K., and Martin, H.F.,
as, new units. Very large annulus areas are available on full speed “High Power Density 60 Hz Single Flow Steam Turbine with
units. Significant heat rate improvements will require higher pres- 42 Inch Titanium Last Row Blade for Advanced Combined Cycle
sure and temperature steam conditions. Application”, PWR-VOL. 34, 1999 ASME Joint Power Generation
Extended service intervals are becoming more common for new Conference.
and retrofit units due to the increased reliability of the current de- 14. Hottel, H.C., and Egbert, R.S., “Radiant Heat Transmission from
signs. The use of equivalent operating hours is currently being ap- Water Vapor”, AIChE Transactions, Vol. 38, 1942.
plied to steam turbines. Automated control systems have aided in
improving reliability and operating flexibility. 15. “Cyclic—Duty Turbine Boiler Operating Practices”, Electric Power Re-
search Institute Report EPRI CS-3800, Project 911-1 December 1984.
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standing the current state of technology in steam turbines. Due to 16. Brilliant, M., and Tolpadi, A. K., “An Improved Analytical Approach
space limitations a great deal of material could not be included. to Steam Turbine Heat Transfer”, Proceedings of ASME Power 2004,
However, the use of references has attempted to provide resources March 30-April 1, 2004, Baltimore, Maryland.
for additional information. In addition to references cited in the 17. Oeynhausen, H., Drosdziok, A., Ulm, W., and Termuehlen, H.,
text, References [41] and [42] will also provide useful general “A­dvanced 1000 MW Tandem Compound Reheat Steam Turbine”,
information. P­resented at 1996 ASME Joint Power Generation Conference.
18. Chen, S., and Martin, H.F., “Blading Design to Improve Perfor­
mance of HP and IP Steam Turbines” PWR-Vol. 30, Proceedings of the
26.8 References International Joint Power Generation Conference, 1996.

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26-26  •  Chapter 26

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33. Silvestri, G.J., and Martin, H.F., “An Update On Partial-Arc Admis- 38. “Proceedings: Fifth International Conference on Fossil Plant Cycle
sion Turbines For Cycling Applications”, Presented at the Electric Chemistry”, EPRI, Palo Alto, CA. 1997. TR-108459.
Power Research Institute 1985 Fossil Plant Cycling Workshop, Nov­
ember 5–7, 1985, Miami Beach, FL. 39. “Recommendations for Inspection and Overhaul of Steam Turbines”,
VGB-R115Me, Published by VGB Technical Association of Large
34. Ulbrich, A., Gobrecht, E., Siegel, M. R., Schmid, E., and Armitage, Power Plant Operators”
P. K., “High Steam Turbine Operating Flexibility Coupled With
Service Interval Optimization”, ASME Paper IJPGC2003-40072, 40. “Recommended Practices for the Prevention of Water Damage to
Presented at the International Joint Power Generation Conference Steam Turbines Used for Electric Power Generation”, ASME TDP-
June 16–19, 2003, Atlanta, Georgia. 1-2006 (Revision of ASME TDP-1-1998).
35. “The ASME Handbook on Water Technology for Thermal Power
Systems”, Paul Cohen, ed., ASME, 1989. 41. “Marks Standard Handbook for Mechanical Engineers”, Eighth Edi-
tion, McGraw Hill Book Company.
36. “Proceedings: Eighth International Conference on Cycle Chemistry in
Fossil and Combined Cycle Plants with Heat Recovery Steam Gener- 42. Sanders, W. P., “Turbine Steam Path”, Published by PennWell.
 chapter

27
COMBINED CYCLE POWER PLANT
Meherwan P. Boyce
27.1 INTRODUCTION also used widely as standby power. The thermal efficiency of these
plants vary between 28% and 42%.
27.1.1  Thermal Power Plants  are power plants operating
on carbon-based fuel such as coal, natural gas, and petroleum 27.1.2  Combined Cycle Power Plants  are associated with
products. There are five major types of thermal power plants in electrical power plants, which uses the waste heat from the prime
use on the power grid today: mover for the production of steam, and consequently, the steam
is used in a steam turbine for the production of additional power.
27.1.1.1  Steam Turbine Power Plants  produce electric power This is usually a combination of the Brayton Cycle (gas turbine)
by creating steam at high pressure and temperature (superheated as the topping cycle and the Rankine Cycle (steam turbine) as the
steam at 2000 psia/138 bars and 1500ºF/815ºC) in boilers, which is bottoming cycle. However, technically the term “Combined Cy-
then expanded through a steam turbine causing the turbine to drive cle” can be used for any combination of two or more cycles. Many
a generator, which then produces electric power. The steam leav- small plants use the Diesel Cycle as the topping cycle, with the
ing the turbine is usually sent to a condenser, which maintains a Rankine Cycle as the bottoming cycle; there are plants that have
vacuum and where the steam is condensed back to a liquid conden- used the Brayton Cycle as both the topping and the bottoming cy-
sate (water). The steam turbine follows the Rankine Cycle. Steam cles. Figure 27.1 shows a large combined Cycle Power Plant. The
turbine power plants can produce up to 2000 MW of power and Combined Cycle Power Plant is not new in concept, since some
are most widely used plant types in the world. These plants have a have been in operation since the mid-1950s. These plants came
thermal efficiency between 28% and 35%. into their own with the new high-capacity and efficiency gas tur-
bines in the 1990s.
27.1.1.2  Simple Cycle Gas Turbine Power Plants  are Combined cycle power plants are the most efficient power
plants that follow the Brayton Cycle; in gas turbines, the air is plants operating on the power grids through out the world with
compressed in the compressor section of the turbine to a high an efficiency ranging between 45% and 57%. These power plants
pressure (580 psia/40 bars) and temperature (1300ºF/704ºC), come in all sizes. In this chapter, we will be emphasizing the larger
and in the combustor the air is further heated to a higher tem- plants ranging in size from 60 to 1500 MW. These combined cycle
perature (2600ºF/1426ºC) at constant pressure. The gas leaving plants have as their core the gas turbine, which acts as the Topping
the combustor is at a high pressure and high temperature and Cycle, and the steam turbine, which acts as the Bottoming Cycle.
is then expanded through the turbine section. The gases leav- In between the gas turbine and the steam turbine is a waste heat
ing the turbine are at a pressure of about (15.0 psia/1.03 bars) recovery steam generator (HRSG), which takes the heat from the
and a temperature of about (1200ºF/649ºC). The turbine drives exhaust of the gas turbine and generates high pressure steam for
the gas turbine’s compressor and the generator, which produces the steam turbine.
electric power. These gas turbines can produce up to 300 MW The Fossil Power Plants of the 1990s and into the early part of
of power. The gas turbine power plant can be installed in 12-18 the new millennium will be the Combined Cycle Power Plants,
months, and thus have been used widely in developing nations with the gas turbine as being the center piece of the plant. It is es-
where energy requirements change rapidly. These plants have a timated that from the year 1997-2010, an addition of 147.7 GW of
thermal efficiency between 25% and 45% depending on the size combined cycle power has been built. These plants have replaced
of the plant. the large Steam Turbine Plants, which were the main fossil power
plants through the eighties. The Combined Cycle Power Plant is
27.1.1.3  Diesel Engine-Based Power Plants  are plants that not new in concept, since some have been in operation since the
follow the Diesel Cycle. These plants for the most part are based on mid-1950s. These plants came into their own with the new high-
the medium speed (700-1500 rpm) and low speed (100-300 rpm) capacity and efficiency gas turbines.
diesel engines. High-speed diesel engines (1500 rpm and above) The new market place of energy conversion will have many new
are used mostly for vehicular drives, and low output generator sets and novel concepts in combined cycle power plants. Figure 27.2
(below 1 MW). Most of the medium-speed diesel engines produce shows the heat rates of these plants, present and future, and Figure
up to 7 MW, and some of the low-speed diesels produce as much 27.3 shows the efficiencies of the same plants. The plants refer-
as 100 MW. These plants are used in countries where there is a enced are the Simple Cycle Gas Turbine (SCGT) with firing tem-
very low power requirement. They are widely used on islands or peratures of 2400°F (1315°C), Recuperative Gas Turbine (RGT),
in remote locations where there is no major network grid. They are the Steam Turbine Plant (ST), the Combined Cycle Power Plant
27-  •  Chapter 27

Fig. 27.1  A typical combined cycle facility showing two plants of 4 Gas turbines each

(CCPP), and the Advanced Combined Cycle Power Plants (ACCP) increase in efficiency does not lead to a decrease in availability. From
such as combined cycle power plants using Advanced Gas Turbine 1996 to 2000, we have seen a growth in efficiency of about 10% and
Cycles, and finally the Hybrid Power Plants (HPP). a loss in availability of about 10%. This trend must be turned around
In the area of performance, the steam turbine power plants have an since many analysis show that a 1% drop in the availability needs
efficiency of about 35%, as compared to combined cycle power plants, about 2%-3% increase in efficiency to offset that loss.
which have an efficiency of about 55%. Newer gas turbine technology The time taken to install a steam plant from conception to produc-
will make combined cycle efficiencies range between 60% and 65%. tion is about 42-60 months as compared to 22-36 months for com-
As a rule of thumb, a 1% increase in efficiency could mean that 3.3% bined cycle power plants. The actual construction time is about 18
more capital can be invested. However, one must be careful that the months, while environmental permits in many cases take 12 months

Fig. 27.2 Typical heat rates of various types of plants

 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  27-

Fig. 27.3 Typical efficiencies of various types of plants

and engineering 6-12 months. The time taken for bringing the plant for mechanical drives such as driving a compressor or pump. The
on line affects the economics of the plant, the longer the capital em- gases from the turbine exhaust at a temperature between 900°F
ployed without return, accumulates interest, insurance and taxes. (482ºC) and 1100°F (593ºC), depending on the turbine efficiency
and the turbine firing temperature. The hot gases (approximately
27.1.3  Cogeneration  is the production of two or more forms 90 lb/sec (40.8 kg/sec) for a 15-MW turbine to about 1400 lb/sec
of energy from a single plant. The most common application of (636 kg/sec) for a 200-MW turbine) are piped into a boiler where
the term is for the production of electrical power and steam for steam is generated for use as process heat or for use in an extrac-
use in process applications. This does not mean that other types of tion or back-pressure steam turbine.
cogeneration plants are not being designed and used. Cogeneration Cogeneration plants are also known as Combined Heat Power
plants are used to produce power and use the direct exhaust gases (CHP) plants and are widely used in Europe, where they provide
from the prime movers for preheating air in furnaces, or for the use steam heating as well as power to large city centers. Figure 27.4
in absorption cooling systems, or for heating various types of fluids is a photograph of such a plant where the steam is bled after inter-
in different process applications. Between 1996 and 2006, cogen- mediate pressure (IP) stage of a three-stage steam turbine, which
eration plants accounted for 3% of the new power being generated consists of a high pressure (HP) stage, and intermediate pressure
worldwide, amounting to 19.6 GW of power. (IP) stage and a low pressure (LP) stage.
A typical cogeneration plant uses the waste gases from the gas
turbine to produce steam in a HRSG, or waste heat boilers (WHB);
these terms are often used interchangeably, for use in various 27.2 TYPICAL CYCLES
chemical processes. The steam could be used directly in an absorp-
tion chiller for producing refrigerated air or in a steam turbine to The combined cycle power plants discussed in this chapter is
drive a cooling system, or to produce more power. Water is heated using the Brayton Cycle as the topping cycle (gas turbine) and the
to provide hot water for all types of usage. Rankine Cycle (steam turbine) as the bottoming cycle. This by far
Cogeneration systems are also used in petrochemical plants where is the most widely used configuration of the combined cycle power
the prime mover drives are used to drive compressors to compress plant used in the power industry.
process gasses and then the heat used to produce steam for use direct
in processes, or to operate an extraction, condensing or back-pressure  27.2.1 The Brayton Cycle
steam turbine to drive a compressor or pump and the extracted steam The gas turbine is a power plant that produces a great amount of
used for a process application. Thermodynamically, the cogenera- energy for its size and weight. The gas turbine has found increasing
tion plant is very similar to a combined cycle power plant. service in the past 40 years in the power industry both among utili-
A typical cogeneration plant in a refinery or a chemical plant ties and merchant plants as well as the petrochemical industry, and
generates high-pressure steam, which then is used in an extracting utilities throughout the world. Its compactness, low weight, and
condensing steam turbine. It usually extracts part of the steam at a multiple fuel application make it a natural power plant for offshore
lower pressure for use in various chemical processes; the rest of the platforms. Today, there are gas turbines that run on natural gas,
steam goes through the second part of the steam turbine and then diesel fuel, naphtha, methane, crude, low-Btu gases, vaporized fuel
to the condenser. The steam turbines usually drive separate genera- oils, and biomass gases.
tors; however, the system can be designed in a way that both the The last 20 years has seen a large growth in gas turbine tech-
gas turbine and the steam turbine drive the same generator. nology. The growth is spearheaded by the growth of new high-
In most chemical plant applications, the gas turbine is a single- temperature materials technology, new coatings, and new cool-
shaft unit if it is used for power generation, and a twin shaft is used ing schemes for the hot section of the gas turbine. This, with the 
27-  •  Chapter 27

Fig. 27.4 Steam bled after IP stage of steam turbine for town center heating purposes

conjunction of increase in compressor pressure ratio, has increased Thus, the overall cycle efficiency is
the gas turbine thermal efficiency from about 15% in the 1950s to
over 45% in the mid-1990s.
The Brayton Cycle, which is the base cycle of the gas turbine, in hcyc = Wcyc/Q23 (27.5)
its ideal form consists of two isobaric processes and two isentro-
pic processes. The two isobaric processes consist of the combustor
Increasing the pressure ratio and the turbine firing temperature in-
system of the gas turbine and the gas side of the HRSG. The two
creases the Brayton Cycle efficiency as shown in Eq. (27.5). This re-
isentropic processes represent the compression (compressor) and
lationship of overall cycle efficiency is based on certain simplification
the expansion (turbine expander) processes in the gas turbine.
assumptions such as the following: (1) m¦ « ma (between 1.5% and
A simplified application of the first law of thermodynamics to the
2.5% of the mass of air); (2) the gas is calorically and thermally per-
air-standard Brayton Cycle in Figure 27.5 (assuming no changes 
fect, which means that the specific heat at constant pressure (cp,) and
in kinetic and potential energy) has the following relationships:
the specific heat at constant volume (cv) are constant; thus, the specific
Work of compressor
heat ratio g remains constant throughout the cycle; (3) the pressure
ratio in both the compressor and the turbine are the same, and (4) all
Wc = ma(h2 – h1) (27.1) components operate at 100% efficiency. With these assumptions the
effect on the ideal cycle efficiency as a function of pressure ratio for
Work of turbine the ideal Brayton Cycle operating between the ambient temperature
and the firing temperature is given by the following relationship:
Wt = (ma + mf)(h3 – h4) (27.2)

Total output work  1 

ηideal = 1 − γ −1  (27.6)
 
Wcyc = Wt – Wc (27.3)  Pr γ 

Heat added to system where Pr is the pressure ratio, and γ is the ratio of the specific heats.
The above equation tends to go to very high numbers as the pres-
Q23 = m¦LHV (fuel) = (ma + m¦)(h3) – mah2 (27.4) sure ratio is increased. In the case of the actual cycle, the effect of
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  27-

Figure 27.6 shows the effect on the overall cycle efficiency of

the increasing Pressure Ratio and the Firing Temperature. The
increase in the pressure ratio increases the overall efficiency at a
given firing temperature; however, increasing the pressure ratio
beyond a certain value at any given firing temperature can actu-
ally result in lowering the overall cycle efficiency. It should also
be noted that the very high-pressure ratios tend to reduce the op-
erating range of the turbine compressor. This causes the turbine
compressor to be much more intolerant to dirt build up in the inlet
air filter and on the compressor blades and creates large drops in
cycle efficiency and performance. In some cases, it can lead to
compressor surge. Surge is the reversal of flow in a compressor
and can lead to a flameout, or even serious damage and failure of
the compressor blades and the radial and thrust bearings of the
gas turbine.

27.2.1.1  Inlet Cooling Effect  The power in a gas turbine is

greatly reduced by the increase in ambient temperature. A 10ºF/
Fig. 27.5 The air-standard Brayton Cycle 5.6ºC rise in temperature decreases the power output by about 4%.
There are several techniques that are used for cooling the turbine
compressor inlet from the simple evaporative cooling to the more
complex and costly refrigerated inlet cooling.
the turbine compressor (hc) and expander (ht) efficiencies must ·  Evaporative methods: either conventional evaporative cool-
also be taken into account, to obtain the overall cycle efficiency be- ers or direct water fogging
tween the firing temperature Tf and the ambient temperature Tamb of
the turbine. This relationship is given in the following equation: ·  Refrigerated inlet cooling systems: utilizing absorption or
mechanical refrigeration
·  Combination of evaporative and refrigerated inlet sys-
tems: the use of evaporative cooler to assist the chiller system
to attain lower temperatures of the inlet air
  γ −1 
 
 ·  Thermal energy storage systems: these are intermit-
 Tamb Pr  γ   tent use systems where the cold is produced off-peak and
 ηtTf − 
ηc  1 − 1  then used to chill the inlet air during the hot hours of the
ηcycle =  (27.7)
  γ −1      γ −1   day.
 Pr  γ  − 1    Pr  γ  
  
 Tf − Tamb − Tamb    27.2.1.2  Evaporative and Fogging Systems  Traditional evapo-
  ηc 
   rative coolers that use media for evaporation of the water have been

Tamb= 15 C EFF. COMP =87% EFF. TURB. = 92%

THERMAL CYCLE EFFICIENCY (%)

PRESSURE RATIO

Fig. 27.6 Overall cycle efficiency of the pressure ratio

27-  •  Chapter 27

widely used in the gas turbine industry over the years, especially in 27.2.1.4  Combination of Evaporative and Refrigerated
hot climates with low humidity areas. The low capital cost, installa- Inlet Systems  Depending on the specifics of the project, loca-
tion, and operating costs make it attractive for many turbine-operating  tion, climatic conditions, engine type, and economic factors, a
scenarios. Evaporation coolers consist of de-mineralized water be- hybrid system utilizing a combination of the above technologies
ing sprayed over the media blocks, which are made of fibrous corru- may be the best as seen in Figure 27.7. The possibility of using an
gated material. The airflow through these media blocks evaporates the evaporative system ahead of the mechanical inlet refrigeration sys-
water; as water evaporates, it consumes about 1059 BTU (1117 kJ)  tem should be considered. This may not always be intuitive, since
(latent heat of vaporization) at 60ºF (15°C). This results in the re- evaporative cooling is an adiabatic process that occurs at constant
duction of the air temperature entering the compressor from that of enthalpy. When water is evaporated into an air stream, any reduc-
the ambient air temperature. This technique is very effective in low- tion in sensible heat is accompanied by an increase in the latent
humidity regions. The work required to drive the turbine compres- heat of the air stream (the heat in the air stream being used to ef-
sor is reduced by lowering the compressor inlet temperature, thus fect a phase change in the water from liquid to the vapor phase).
increasing the output work of the turbine. The inlet temperature is If fog is applied in front of a chilling coil, the temperature will be
lowered by about 18ºF (10°C), if the outside temperature is around decreased when the fog evaporates, but since the chiller coil will
90ºF (32°C). The cost of an evaporative cooling system runs around have to work harder to remove the evaporated water from the air
$50/kw. stream, the result would yield no thermodynamic advantage.
Direct inlet fogging is a type of evaporative cooling method, To maximize the effect, the chiller must be designed in such
where de-mineralized water is converted into a fog by means a manner that in combination with evaporative cooling the maxi-
of high-pressure nozzles operating at 1000 to 3000 psi. (67-200 mum reduction in temperature is achieved. This can be accom-
bars). This fog then provides cooling when it evaporates in the plished by designing a slightly undersized chiller, which is not
air inlet duct of the gas turbine. The air can attain 100% relative capable of bringing the air temperature down to the ambient dew
humidity at the compressor inlet and thereby gives the lowest point temperature, but in conjunction with evaporative cooling the
temperature possible without refrigeration (the web bulb tem- same effect can be achieved. In this manner, the system is tak-
perature). Direct high-pressure inlet fogging can also be used ing the advantage of evaporative cooling to reduce the load of 
to create a compressor intercooling effect by allowing excess refrigeration.
fog into the compressor, thus lowering temperatures in the first
few stages of compression and thus further boosting the power 27.2.1.5  Intercooling and Reheat Effects  The intercooling of
output. the air in the compressor of the gas turbine by adding an intercooler
between compressor stages and the reheating of the gases in the tur-
27.2.1.3  Refrigeration Systems  The refrigerated inlets bine section of the gas turbine will increase the work that the turbine
are more effective than the previous evaporative cooling sys- will produce. The net work of a gas turbine cycle is given by:
tems as they can lower the temperatures by about 45ºF-55ºF
(25°C-30°C). Two techniques for refrigerating the inlet of a gas Wcyc = Wt – Wc (27.8)
turbine are vapor compression (mechanical refrigeration) and
absorption refrigeration. In a mechanical refrigeration system,
And can be increased either by decreasing the compressor work
the refrigerant vapor is compressed by means of a centrifugal,
(intercooling) or by increasing the turbine work (reheating). Multi-
screw, or reciprocating compressor. Centrifugal compressors
staging of compressors is sometimes used to allow for cooling be-
are typically used for large systems in excess of 1000 tons
tween the stages to reduce the total work input. Figure 27.8 shows
(12.4 ´ 106 BTU/13.082 ´ 106 kJ) and would be driven by an
a polytropic compression process 1-a on the P-V plane. If there is
electric motor. Mechanical refrigeration has significantly high
no change in the kinetic energy, the work done is represented by
auxiliary power consumption for the compressor driver and
the area 1-a-j-k-1. A constant temperature line is shown as 1-x.
pumps required for the cooling water circuit. After compres-
If the polytropic compression from states 1 to 2 is divided into
sion, the vapor passes through a condenser where it gets con-
two parts, 1-c and d-e, with constant pressure cooling to Td = T1
densed. The condensed vapor is then expanded in an expansion
between them, the work done is represented by area 1-c-d-e-j-k-1. 
valve and provides a cooling effect. The evaporator chills cool-
The area c-a-e-d-c represents the work saved by means of the two-
ing water that is circulated to the gas turbine inlet chilling coils
stage compression with intercooling to the initial temperature. The
in the air stream.
optimum pressure for intercooling for specified values P1 and P2
Absorption systems typically employ lithium bromide (LiBr)
is
and water, with the LiBr being the absorber and the water acting
as the refrigerant. Such systems can cool the inlet air to 50oF
POPT = P1P2 (27.9)
(10ºC). The heat for the absorption chiller can be provided by
gas, steam, or gas turbine exhaust. Absorption systems can be
designed to be either single or double effect. A single-effect sys- Therefore, if a simple gas turbine cycle is modified with the
tem will have a coefficient of performance (COP) of 0.7 to 0.9, compression accomplished in two or more adiabatic processes with
and a double-effect unit, a COP of 1.15. Part load performance intercooling between them, the net work of the cycle is increased
of an absorption system is relatively good, and efficiency does with no change in the turbine work.
not drop off at part load like it does with mechanical refrigera- The thermal efficiency of an ideal simple cycle is decreased by
tion systems. the addition of an intercooler. Figure 27.9 shows the schematic
The costs of these systems are much higher than the evapora- of such a cycle. The ideal simple gas turbine cycle is 1-2-3-4-1,
tive cooling system; however, refrigerated inlet cooling systems in and the cycle with the Intercooling added is 1-a-b-c-2-3-4-1. Both
hot humid climates are more effective due to the limitation of the cycles in their ideal form are reversible and can be simulated by a
evaporative cooling system in high humidity climates. number of Carnot Cycles. The Carnot Cycle is the most efficient
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  27-

Fig. 27.7 Evaporative and refrigerated inlet systems

cycle between two thermal reservoirs. Thus, if the simple gas tur- Notice that if the specific heats are constant, then
bine cycle 1-2-3-4-1 is divided into a number of cycles like m-n-o-
p-m, these little cycles approach the Carnot Cycle as their number
γ −1
increases. The efficiency of such a Carnot Cycle is given by the
relationship T3 Tm  P2  γ
(27.11)
= =
T4 Tp  P1 
Tm
ηCARNOT = 1 − (27.10) All the Carnot cycles making up the simple gas turbine cycle have
Tp
the same efficiency. Likewise, all of the Carnot cycles into which the
cycle a-b-c-2-a might similarly be divided have a common value of
efficiency lower than the Carnot cycles, which comprise cycle 1-2-
3-4-1. Thus, the addition of an intercooler, which adds a-b-c-2-a to
the simple cycle, lowers the efficiency of the cycle.
The intercooling of the compressed air has been very successfully 
applied to high-pressure engines. This system can be combined
with any of the previously described systems. The addition of an
intercooler to a regenerative gas turbine cycle increases the cycle’s
thermal efficiency and output work because a larger portion of the
heat required for the process c-2i in Figure 27.9 can be obtained
from the hot turbine exhaust gas passing through the regenerator
instead of from burning additional fuel.

27.2.1.6  Mid-Compressor Flashing of Water  Another man-

ner of intercooling is the injection of demineralized water into the
mid-stages of the compressor to cool the air and approach an iso-
thermal compression process, as shown in Figure 27.10. The water
injected is usually mechanically atomized so that very fine droplets
Fig. 27.8 Multistage compression with Inter- are entered into the air. The water is evaporated as it comes in con-
cooling tact with the high pressure and temperature air stream. As water
27-  •  Chapter 27

Fig. 27.9  Air-standard with intercooling cycle

evaporates, it consumes about 1058 BTU (1117 kJ) (latent heat of schematic of the regenerative cycle and its performance in the T-S
vaporization) at the higher pressure and temperature resulting in diagram. In an ideal case, the flow through the regenerator is at
lowering the temperature of the air stream entering the next stage. constant pressure. The regenerator effectiveness is given by the
This lowers the work required to drive the compressor. The steam following relationship:
or water injected for cooling purposes also increases the mass flow
through the system and therefore increases the power output of the T3 − T2
turbine. The steam to be injected, can be obtained from the use of ηreg = (27.12)
T5 − T2
a low-pressure single-stage HRSG and is injected at the first com-
pressor section discharge and/or injection in the combustor if steam Thus, the overall efficiency for this system’s cycle can be writ-
is being used for controlling the NOx output in the combustor. ten as

27.2.1.7  Regeneration Effect  In a simple gas turbine cycle, (T4 − T5 ) − (T2 − T1 )

ηRCYC = (27.13)
the turbine exit temperature is nearly always appreciably higher (T4 − T3 )

than the temperature of the air leaving the compressor. Obviously,
the fuel requirement can be reduced by the use of a regenerator 27.2.1.8  Reheat Effect  The Reheat Cycle increases the turbine
in which the hot turbine exhaust gas preheats the air between the work, and consequently, the net work of the cycle can be increased
compressor and the combustion chamber. Figure 27.11 shows a without changing the compressor work or the turbine inlet tempera-

Fig. 27.10 Mid-compressor cooling showing a schematic as well as an actual application in a GE LM

6000 Engine (Courtesy of GE Corporation)
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  27-

expansion process. Figure 27.13 shows the intercooled regenera-

tive reheat cycle, which approaches this optimum cycle in a practi-
cal fashion. This cycle achieves the maximum efficiency and work
output of any of the modified Brayton Cycles. With the insertion of
an intercooler in the compressor, the pressure ratio for maximum
efficiency moves to a much higher ratio.

27.2.2 The Rankine Cycle

The Rankine Cycle employing water-steam as the working fluid
is the most common thermodynamic cycle utilized in the produc-
tion of electrical power. It is the cycle utilized by a steam turbine.
A schematic of a steam power plant is shown in Figure 27.14; wa-
ter enters the boiler feed water pump at point 1 and is pumped isen-
tropically into the boiler. The compressed liquid at 2 is heated until
it becomes saturated at 2a, after which it is evaporated to steam
at 2b and then superheated to 3. The steam leaves the boiler at 3,
expands isentropically in the ideal engine to 4, and passes to the
condenser. Circulating water condenses the steam to a saturated
liquid at 1, from which state the cycle repeats itself.
The thermodynamic diagrams corresponding to the steam power 
plant in Figure 27.14, showing the thermodynamic states, are
shown in the pressure-volume (P-V) diagram in Figure 27.15, and
the temperature entropy (T-S) diagram in Figure 27.16. The work
done by the steam turbine (Wst) based on the T-S diagram in Figure
27.16 is given by:

Wst = m� st (h3 − h4 ) (27.14)

where m� st is the mass flow of the steam, and h3 and h4 are steam
Fig. 27.11 The regenerative gas turbine cycle enthalpies (Btu/lb; kJ/kg) at points 3 and 4.
The network produced by the system, Wnet, is the turbine work
ture by dividing the turbine expansion into two or more parts with less the pump work, WP, required to raise the water to the desired
constant pressure heating before each expansion as seen in Figure pressure and is expressed below:
27.12. This cycle modification is known as reheating. By reasoning
similar to that used in connection with intercooling, it can be seen that Wnet = Wst – WP (27.15)
the thermal efficiency of a simple cycle is lowered by the addition of
reheating, while the work output is increased. However, a combina- Wnet = m� st (h3 – h4) – WP (27.16)
tion of regenerator and reheater can increase the thermal efficiency.
The above analysis assumes an ideal isentropic expansion from
27.2.1.9  The Intercooled Regenerative Reheat Cycle  The points 3 to 4. In a steam turbine the actual process is not isentro-
Carnot Cycle is the optimum cycle and all cycles attempt to reach pic, and some loss does occur. The actual expansion is from points
toward this optimum. Maximum thermal efficiency is achieved by 3 to 4a. The pump work is much smaller than the turbine work
approaching the isothermal compression and expansion of the Car- and can be neglected when estimating the overall performance and 
not Cycle, or by intercooling in compression and reheating in the efficiency of steam plants.

Fig. 27.12 Reheat cycle and T-S diagram

27-10  •  Chapter 27

Fig. 27.15 Pressure-volume diagram of a typical

steam turbine power plant

The overall thermal cycle efficiency of the system can be increased

by preheating boiler feed water and the incoming combustion air by
using hot exhaust from the boiler or gas turbine if available.

27.2.2.1  Heat Rate and Steam Rate  The heat rate is a modified
Fig. 27.13 The intercooled regenerative reheat
reciprocal of the thermal efficiency and is in much wider use among
split-shaft gas turbine cycle
steam-power and turbine engineers. The heat rate for a turbine is de-
fined as the heat chargeable in Btu per kilowatt hour or horse-power-
The energy input requirement to the system, Qin, is given by hour turbine output. Again the basis upon which the turbine output is
taken should be specified. Turbine heat rate should not be confused
Qin = m� st (h3 – h2f) (27.17)
with the heat rate of the steam-power plant known as the station heat
rate. The station heat rate, like station thermal efficiency, takes into
The thermal efficiency of the system, η, is then given by:
account all the losses from fuel to switchboard.
The heat rate (HR) for a straight condensing or non-condensing
Wnet (27.18)

η= turbine is
Qin
m� st (h3 − h2f )3415
m� (h − h ) − Wp HR = Btu/kW-hr (27.20)
η = st 3 4 (27.19) Wnet
m� st (h3 − h2f )

Fig. 27.14 Schematic of a steam turbine power Fig. 27.16 Temperature-entropy diagram of a

plant typical steam turbine power plant
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  27-11

or densate is heated by part of the steam extracted from the high- 

pressure turbine at an intermediate pressure, point 6. The rest of
m� st (h3 − h2f )2544.4 the extracted steam is reheated in the reheater and enters the tur-
HR = Btu/Hp-hr (27.21) bine at point 7. The heated water enters the second pump at point 3 
Wnet from which it enters the boiler at point 4. The compressed liquid
where  h1 = enthalpy of throttle steam at 4 is heated until it becomes saturated at 4a, after which it is
h2f = enthalpy of liquid water at exhaust pressure evaporated to steam at 4b, and then superheated to 5. The steam
Wnet = output (kW or Hp) leaves the boiler at 5, expands isentropically in the ideal engine
Steam rate is defined as the mass rate of steam flow in pounds to 6, and in the real case to 6a where it is extracted for regenera-
per hour divided by the power or rate of work development of the tion and reheat. The superheated steam now leaves the reheater at
turbine in kilo-power-hour. The steam rate, therefore, is the steam 7, expands isentropically in the ideal engine to 8 and in the real
supplied per kilo-watt-hour or horsepower-hour unit of output. The case to 8a where it passes to the condenser. Circulating water
heat rate may be obtained by multiplying the steam rate by the heat condenses the steam to a saturated liquid at 1, from which state
chargeable. the cycle repeats itself.

27.2.2.2  Turbine Component Efficiency  The turbine may

27.2.3 The Brayton-Rankine Cycle
consist of three turbine sections the high-pressure (HP), interme- The combination of the gas turbine with the steam turbine is
diate-pressure (IP), and the low-pressure (LP) sections. Each of an attractive proposal, especially for electric utilities and process
these sections has their own efficiencies. These are also known as industries where steam is being used. The schematic of this cycle is
isentropic efficiency and are given as: shown in Figure 27.19; the hot gases from the gas turbine exhaust
are used in a steam recovery steam generator, which may be sup-
plementary fired to produce superheated steam at high tempera-
h3 − h4 a tures for a steam turbine. Figure 27.20 shows the distribution of
ηisentropic = (27.22)
h3 − h4 the energy in a Brayton-Rankine combined cycle. About 40% of
the energy is converted to power by the gas turbine; the remainder
60% of the energy is collected in the HRSG and is used to power a
The turbine efficiency is the ratio of the real output of the turbine steam turbine, which produces about 20% of the energy as power.
to the ideal output. The engine efficiency is, primarily, of interest The computations of the combined Brayton and Rankine cycle
to the designer as a means of comparing the real turbine with the are divided up into three parts:
ideal.
1.  The work of the Brayton cycle (gas turbine) is the same as
Mechanical Efficiency already outlined.
2.  The work of the Rankine Cycle (steam turbine) is also the
The mechanical efficiency of a turbine takes into account the same as already shown for that cycle.
bearing and gear losses of the turbine, the power factor of the gen- 3.  The computation of the exchange of the heat from the gas
erator, and mechanical losses of the generator bearings. turbine to the steam turbine needs to be further examined.
The heat exchanged in the HRSG also known as the waste heat
27.2.2.3  The Regenerative-Reheat Rankine Cycle  It is 
boiler is produced by the exchange of the heat from the gas turbine
evident from the Rankine Cycle shown in Figure 27.16 that con-
exhaust, to the steam condensate.
siderable amount of heat is required to raise the temperature of
the water from 2 to 2a. The Rankine Cycle has the disadvantage
4Q1 = mg(h4a– hexhaust) = ms(hlS – h4S) (27.23)
that the fluid temperature at the pump discharge is much lower
than the fluid temperature at the turbine inlet. One way of over-
coming this disadvantage is to use the internal system heat rather
than the external heat to minimize this difference in the tempera-
tures. This concept is called the regenerative heating. In the gas 
turbines, the regenerative heating is accomplished by using the high-
temperature exhaust gases. In the steam turbines, intermediate- 
pressure steam rather than exhaust steam is used for heating the
feed water.
As the high-pressure steam expands through the steam turbine,
the steam gets very wet at low pressures. This wet steam is detri-
mental for a turbine; it results in reduction of efficiency and also
nozzle and blade erosion. The reheat cycle involves heating of the
steam withdrawn after partial expansion. This idea, combined with
regenerative heating for improved thermal efficiency, is common
practice in central power plants.
A simplified concept of the regenerative reheat steam cycle is
depicted in Figures 27.17, and the thermodynamic cycle of the
same is shown in Figure 27.18. The water enters the first pump
at point 1 from where it enters the feed-water heater at point 2. Fig. 27.17 Schematic of a regenerative-reheat
In the LP economizer/ feed-water heater, the pressurized con- steam turbine power plant
27-12  •  Chapter 27

Fig. 27.18 Temperature-entropy diagram of a regenerative-reheat steam turbine power plan

where: Pump work
mg  = mass flow of the gas turbine exhaust
h4a   = enthalpy of gas turbine exhaust
hexhaust  = enthalpy of the gas in the exhaust stack Wp = mS(h4S – h3S)/hp (27.25)
ms = mass flow of the condensate and steam
h1s = enthalpy of the superheated steam The combined cycle work is equal to the sum of the net gas turbine
h4s = enthalpy of the steam condensate (water) work and the steam turbine work. About 50%-60% of the design out-
put of the gas turbine is available as energy in the exhaust gases. The
Turbine work exhaust gas from the turbine is used to provide heat to the recovery
boiler. Thus, this heat must be credited to the overall cycle. The fol-
WtS = mS(h1S – h2S) (27.24) lowing equations show the overall cycle work and thermal efficiency:

FIG. 27.19 Schematic of the combined cycle

 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  27-13

Fig. 27.20 Energy flow diagram of combined cycle power plant

Overall cycle work 27.2.4 Components of a Combined Cycle Power Plant

In the traditional combined cycle plant, air enters the gas tur-
bine where it is initially compressed and then enters the combus-
Wcyc = Wgt + Wst – Wc – Wp (27.26) tor where it undergoes a very high rapid increase in temperature
at constant pressure. The high-temperature and high-pressure air
Overall cycle efficiency then enters the expander section where it is expanded to nearly
atmospheric conditions. This expansion creates a large amount of
energy, which is used to drive the compressor used in compressing
the air, plus the generator where power is produced. The compres-
Wcyc sor in the gas turbine uses about 50%-60% of the power generated
ηcyc = (27.27)
mfgt (LHV) by the expander.
The air upon leaving the gas turbine is essentially at atmospheric
pressure conditions, and at a temperature between 950°F and 1200°F
The combination of the Brayton and Rankine cycles is one of the (510°C-650°C). This air enters the HRSG, where the energy is
most efficient cycles in operation for practical power generation transferred to the water to produce steam. There are many different
systems. The Brayton Cycle (gas turbine) and the Rankine Cycle HRSG units. Most HRSG units are divided into the same amount
(steam turbine) is combined as such to have the gas turbine as the of sections as the steam turbine. In most cases, each section of the
topping cycle and the steam turbine as the bottoming cycle. Ther- HRSG has a pre-heater, an economizer, and feed-water, and then a
mal efficiencies of the combined cycles can reach as high as 60%. superheater. The steam entering the steam turbine is superheated.
In the typical combination, the gas turbine produces about 60% In most large plants, the steam turbine consists of three sec-
of the power and the steam turbine about 40% of the total power tions: a high-pressure (HP) turbine stage with pressures between
produced. Individual unit thermal efficiencies of gas turbines are 1500 and 1700 psia (100.7-114.2 bars), an intermediate-pressure
about (28%-45%) and the steam turbine is about (30%-35%). The (IP) turbine stage with pressures between 350 and 550 psia (23.51-
steam turbine utilizes the energy in the exhaust gas of the gas tur- 36.9 bars), and a low-pressure (LP) turbine stage with pressures
bine as its input energy. The energy transferred to the HRSG by between 90 and 60 psia (6-4 bars). The steam exiting from the
the gas turbine is usually equivalent to about the rated output of the HP stage is usually reheated to about the same temperature as the
gas turbine at design conditions. At off design conditions, the inlet steam entering the HP stage before it enters the intermediate stage.
guide vanes (IGV) are used to regulate the air so as to maintain a The steam exiting the IP stage enters directly into the LP stage after
high temperature to the HRSG. it is mixed with steam coming from the LP superheater.
27-14  •  Chapter 27

The steam from the LP turbine enters the condenser. The con- compressor of the turbine and drive the generator to produce power. 
denser is maintained at a vacuum of between 2 and 0.5 psia (0.13- To drive the turbine, air compressor requires about 50%-55% of
0.033 bars). The increase in back-pressure in the condenser will the power generated by the turbine section of the gas turbine. The
reduce the power produced. Care is taken to ensure that the steam gas leaves the turbine at temperatures of up to 1200ºF (648ºC). The
leaving the LP stage blades has not a high content of liquid in the gas has energy to produce enough power to drive steam turbine
steam to avoid erosion of the LP blading. rated at about 60% of the turbine rated power.
The new gas turbines also utilize low NOx combustors to re- The industrial heavy-duty gas turbines employ axial-flow com-
duce the NOx emissions, which otherwise would be high due to pressors and turbines. The industrial turbine consists of a multistage
the high firing temperature of about 2300°F (1260°C). These low axial-flow compressor; and turbine. Figure 27.21 is a cross-sectional 
NOx combustors require careful calibration to ensure an even fir- representation of the GE Industrial Type Gas Turbine, with can an-
ing temperature in each combustor. New type of instrumentation nular combustors, and Figure 27.22 is a cross-sectional representa-
such as dynamic pressure transducers have found to be effective in tion of the Siemens annular combustor gas turbine.
ensuring steady combustion in each of the combustors.
Combined cycle plants have several advantages. These include: 27.3.1 Compressor Section
(1) high thermal efficiencies (50% to 65%), (2) rapid startup (2-hour The industrial heavy-duty gas turbines employ axial-flow com-
cold start), and (3) low first installed costs ($600 to $900 per kilo- pressors and turbines. The industrial turbine consists of a 15-17
watt). Maintenance costs for combined cycles range from US $0.003 stage axial-flow compressor; in the industrial gas turbines, the
to US $0.007 per kilowatt hour (similar to cogeneration plants). loading per stage is considerably less and varies between 1.05 and
This section discusses the three major components of a com- 1.3 per stage. The adiabatic efficiency of the compressors has also
bined cycle power plant: increased, and efficiencies in the high 1980s have been achieved.
Compressor efficiency is very important in the overall perform-
1.  Gas turbine ance of the gas turbine as it consumes 55% to 60% of the power
a.  Compressor generated by the gas turbine.
b.  Combustor An axial-flow compressor compresses its working fluid by first
c.  Turbine expander accelerating the fluid and then diffusing it to obtain a pressure
2.  Heat recovery steam generator increase. The fluid is accelerated by a row of rotating airfoils or
3.  Steam turbine blades (the rotor) and diffused by a row of stationary blades (the
stator). The diffusion in the stator converts the velocity increase
27.3 Gas Turbine gained in the rotor to a pressure increase. One rotor and one stator
make up a stage in a compressor. A compressor usually consists
The gas turbine consists of three basic components: the gas of multiple stages. One additional row of fixed blades (IGV) is
compressor, the combustor, and the gas expander (turbine). The frequently used at the compressor inlet to ensure that air enters the
air enters the compressor section of the gas turbine where the air first-stage rotors at the desired angle. In addition to the stators, ad-
is compressed to a very high pressure. Compressor pressure ratios ditional diffuser at the exit of the compressor further diffuses the
of 17:1 to 35:1 in gas turbines used in a commercial combined fluid and controls its velocity when entering the combustors.
cycle are common. The compressed air then goes into a combustor In an axial-flow compressor, air passes from one stage to the
where the compressed air is injected with about 1.5% to 3.0% of next with each stage raising the pressure slightly. By producing
fuel gas by weight to air and combusted to very high temperatures low-pressure increases on the order of 1.1:1-1.4:1, very high effi-
up to 2500ºF (1371ºC). This hot and pressurized gas is expanded ciencies can be obtained. The use of multiple stages permits over-
through the turbine. The turbine produces energy to drive the air all pressure increases up to 40:1. The rule of thumb for a multiple

Fig. 27.21  A frame type gas turbine with can-annular combustors (Courtesy of GE Power Systems)
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  27-15

Fig. 27.22  A frame type gas turbine with an annular combustors (Courtesy of Siemens Power Systems)

stage gas turbine compressor would be that the energy rise per low-pressure compressor followed by a high-pressure compressor.
stage would be constant rather than the pressure rise per stage. There are also two turbine sections; the reason there is a large space
Figure 27.23 shows multistage high-pressure axial-flow com- between the two turbine sections is that this is a reheat turbine and
pressor-turbine rotor. The turbine rotor depicted in this figure has a the second set of combustors are located between the high-pressure

Fig. 27.23  A high-pressure ratio compressor-turbine rotor (Courtesy of ALSTOM)

27-16  •  Chapter 27

and the low-pressure turbine sections. The compressor produces oxidizer molecules to bring about a complete reaction to stable
30:1 pressure in 22 stages. The low-pressure increase per stage also molecular forms in the products. The air enters the combustor in
simplifies calculations in the design of the compressor by justifying a straight through flow, or reverse flow. Most aero-engines have
the air as incompressible in its flow through an individual stage. straight through flow type combustors. Most of the large frame
type units have reverse flow. The function of the recirculation zone
27.3.2 Combustor is to evaporate, partly burn, and prepare the fuel for rapid combus-
All gas turbine combustors perform the same function: they in- tion within the remainder of the burning zone. Ideally, at the end
crease the temperature of the high-pressure gas. The gas turbine of the burning zone, all fuel should be burnt so that the function
combustor uses very little of its air (10%) in the combustion process. of the dilution zone is solely to mix the hot gas with the dilution
The rest of the air is used for cooling and mixing. New combus- air. The mixture leaving the chamber should have a temperature
tors are also circulating steam for cooling purpose. The air from the and velocity distribution acceptable to the guide vanes and turbine.
compressor must be diffused before it enters the combustor. The ve- Generally, the addition of dilution air is so abrupt that if combus-
locity of the air leaving the compressor is about 400-600 ft/sec (122-  tion is not complete at the end of the burning zone, chilling occurs,
183 m/sec), and the velocity in the combustor must be maintained which prevents completion. However, there is evidence with some
below 50 ft/sec (15.2 m/sec). Even at these low velocities, care must chambers that if the burning zone is run over-rich, some combus-
be taken to avoid the flame to be carried on downstream. tion does occur within the dilution region. Figure 27.25 shows the
The combustor is a direct-fired air heater in which fuel is burned distribution of the air in the various regions of a typical reverse
almost stoichiometrically with one-third or less of the compres- flow, can annular combustor. The theoretical or reference veloc-
sor discharge air. Combustion products are then mixed with the ity is the flow of combustor-inlet air through an area equal to the
remaining air to arrive at a suitable turbine inlet temperature. De- maximum cross section of the combustor casing. The flow veloc-
spite the many design differences in combustors, all gas turbine ity is 25 fps (7.6 mps) in a reverse-flow combustor and between 
combustion chambers have three features: (1) a recirculation zone, 80 fps (24.4 mps) and 135 fps (41.1 mps) in a straight-through flow
(2) a burning zone (with a recirculation zone that extends to the di- turbojet combustor.
lution region), and (3) a dilution zone, as seen in Figure 27.24. The
air entering a combustor is divided so that the flow is distributed 27.3.3 Air Pollution Problems
between three major regions: (1) primary zone, (2) dilution zone,
(3) annular space between the liner and casing. 27.3.3.1  Smoke  In general, it has been found that much visible
The combustion in a combustor takes place in the primary zone. smoke is formed in small, local fuel-rich regions. The general ap-
Combustion of natural gas is a chemical reaction that occurs be- proach to eliminating smoke is to develop leaner primary zones.
tween carbon, or hydrogen, and oxygen. Heat is given off as the
reaction takes place. The products of combustion are carbon diox- 27.3.3.2  Unburnt Hydrocarbons and Carbon Monoxide 
ide and water. The reaction is stoichiometric, which means that the Unburnt hydrocarbon (UHC) and carbon monoxide (CO) are only
proportions of the reactants are such that there are exactly enough produced in incomplete combustion typical of idle conditions.

Fig. 27.24 Cross section of a can annular combustor

 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  27-17

Fig. 27.25  A typical reverse flow can annular combustor used in large gas turbines

27.3.3.3  Oxides of Nitrogen  The main oxides of nitrogen pro- reactions between the nitrogen (N2) and the oxygen (O2) in the air
duced in combustion are NO, with the remaining 10% as NO2. that occur at the elevated temperatures and pressures in gas turbine
These products are of great concern because of their poisonous combustors.
character and abundance, especially at full-load conditions.
In 1977, NOx control was required to meet the EPA standards 27.3.3.4  Dry Low NOx Combustor  The gas turbine combus-
of 75 ppm; it was recognized that there were a number of ways to tors have seen considerable change in their design as most new
control oxides of nitrogen: turbines have progressed to dry low NOx Combustors from the wet
1.  Use of a rich primary zone in which little NO formed, fol- combustors, which were injected by steam in the primary zone of
lowed by rapid dilution in the secondary zone the combustor. The DLE approach is to burn most (at least 75%)
2.  Use of a very lean primary zone to minimize peak flame tem- of the fuel at cool, fuel-lean conditions to avoid any significant
perature by dilution production of NOx. In the DLE combustor, a small proportion of
3.  Use of water or steam admitted with the fuel for cooling the the fuel is always burned richer to provide a stable “piloting” zone,
small zone downstream from the fuel nozzle while the remainder is burned lean.
4.  Use of inert exhaust gas recirculated into the reaction zone The DLE combustors often experience the following major
5.  Catalytic exhaust cleanup problems:
·  Auto-ignition and flash-back
“Wet” control became the preferred method in the 1980s and
·  Combustion instability
most of 1990s since “dry” controls and catalytic cleanup were both
at a very early stages of development. The catalytic converters These problems can result in sudden loss of power because a
were used in the 1980s and are still being widely used; however, fault is sensed by the engine control system and the engine is shut-
the cost of rejuvenating the catalyst is very high. down. Auto-ignition is the spontaneous self-ignition of a combus-
There has been a gradual tightening of the NOx limits over tible mixture. For a given fuel mixture at a particular temperature
the years from 75 ppm down to 25 ppm, and now the new tur- and pressure, there is a finite time before self-ignition will occur.
bine goals are 9 ppm. Diesel engines (knocking) rely on it to work, but spark-ignition
Advances in combustion technology now make it possible engines must avoid it.
to control the levels of NOx production at source, removing the DLE combustors have premix modules on the head of the com-
need for wet controls. This of course opened up the market for bustor to mix the fuel uniformly with air. To avoid auto-ignition,
the gas turbine to operate in areas with limited supplies of suit- the residence time of the fuel in the premix tube must be less than
able quality water, e.g, deserts or marine platforms. the auto-ignition delay time of the fuel. If auto-ignition does occur
Although water injection is still used, dry control combus- in the premix module, then it is probable that the resulting damage
tion technology has become the preferred method for the major will require repair and/or replacement of parts before the engine is
players in the industrial power generation market. Dry low NOx run again at full load.
was the first acronym to be coined, but with the requirement to
control NOx without increasing carbon monoxide and unburned 27.3.4 Turbine Expander Section
hydrocarbons; this has now become dry low emissions (DLE). The axial-flow turbine is used in more than 95% of all gas tur-
The majority of the NOx produced in the combustion chamber bine applications. The axial-flow turbine, like its counterpart the
is called “thermal NOx.” It is produced by a series of chemical axial-flow compressor, has flow, which enters and leaves in the
27-18  •  Chapter 27

Fig. 27.26 Schematic of an axial-flow turbine with the distribution of the pressure, temperature,
and the absolute velocity in the turbine section

axial direction. There are two types of axial turbines: (1) impulse have about 50% reaction. The impulse stages produce about twice
type and (2) reaction type. The impulse turbine has its entire en- the output of a comparable 50% reaction stage, while the efficiency
thalpy drop in the nozzle; therefore, it has a very high velocity of an impulse stage is less than that of a 50% reaction stage.
entering the rotor. The reaction turbine divides the enthalpy drop Since 1950, turbine bucket material temperature capability has
in the nozzle and the rotor. Figure 27.26 is a schematic of an axial- advanced approximately 850ºF (472ºC), approximately 20ºF/10ºC
flow turbine, also depicting the distribution of the pressure, tem- per year. Figure 27.27 shows the development of cooling schemes
perature and the absolute velocity. and blade materials as a function of firing temperatures. The im-
Most axial-flow turbines consist of more than one stage; the portance of this increase can be appreciated by noting that an in-
front stages are usually impulse (zero reaction) and the later stages crease of 100ºF (56ºC) in turbine firing temperature can provide

Fig. 27.27  Firing temperature increase with blade material and advanced cooling schemes
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  27-19

a corresponding increase of 8% to 13% in output and 2% to 4% ciency due to an increase in the amount of air used in cooling. The
improvement in simple-cycle efficiency. rule of thumb in this area is that if you need more than 8% of the
The new advanced gas turbine blades have seen improvement in air for cooling, you are loosing the advantage from the increase in
three major areas: the firing temperature.
In high-temperature gas turbines, cooling systems need to be
1.  Blade material
designed for turbine blades, vanes, endwalls, shroud, and other
2.  Blade cooling schemes
components to meet metal temperature limits. Blade platforms also
3.  Blade coating
need to be cooled as well as transition pieces, which connect the
combustor to the first stage turbine nozzles. The following five ba-
27.3.5 Blade Material sic air-cooling schemes are the most commonly used, and in many
The high temperatures that are now available in the turbine cases, all five cooling schemes are used in cooling blades and tur-
sections (turbine inlet temperature 2650ºF/1454ºC) are due to im- bine nozzles.
provements of the metallurgy of the blades in the turbines. The
1.  Convection cooling
stage 1 blade must withstand the most severe combination of tem-
2.  Impingement cooling
perature, stress, and environment; it is generally the limiting com-
3.  Film cooling
ponent in the machine.
4.  Modified transpiration cooling
In the 1980s, IN-738 blades were widely used. IN-738 was
5.  Water/Steam cooling
the acknowledged corrosion standard for the industry. Direction-
ally solidified (DS) blades, first used in aircraft engines more than 
25 years ago, were adapted for use in large airfoils in the early 27.3.7 Coatings
1990s and were introduced in the large industrial turbines to pro- There are three basic types of coatings: thermal barrier coatings,
duce advanced technology nozzles and blades. The directionally diffusion coatings, and plasma-sprayed coatings. The advance-
solidified blade has a grain structure that runs parallel to the major ments in coating have also been essential in ensuring that the blade
axis of the part and contains no transverse grain boundaries, as in base metal is protected at these high temperatures. Coatings ensure
ordinary blades. The elimination of these transverse grain bounda- that the life of the blades is extended and in many cases are used
ries confers additional creep and rupture strength on the alloy, and as sacrificial layer, which can be stripped and recoated. Life of
the orientation of the grain structure provides a favorable modulus coatings depends on composition, thickness, and the standard of
of elasticity in the longitudinal direction to enhance fatigue life. evenness to which it has been deposited. The general type of coat-
The use of directionally solidified blades results in a substantial in- ings is very little different from the coatings used 10-15 years ago.
crease in the creep life, or substantial increase in tolerable stress for These include various types of diffusion coatings such as alumi-
a fixed life. This advantage is due to the elimination of transverse nide coatings originally developed nearly 40 years ago. The thick-
grain boundaries from the blades, the traditional weak link in the ness required is between 25 and 75 mm thick. The new aluminide
microstructure. In addition to improved creep life, the directionally coatings with platinum increase the oxidation resistance and also
solidified blades possess more than 10 times the strain control or the corrosion resistance. The thermal barrier coatings have an in-
thermal fatigue compared to equiaxed blades. The impact strength sulation layer of 100-300 mm thick and are based on ZrO2-Y2O3
of the directionally solidified blades is also superior to that of equi- and can reduce metal temperatures by 50°C-150°C. This type of
axed, showing an advantage of more than 33%. coating is used in combustion cans, transition pieces, nozzle guide
In the late 1990s, single-crystal blades were introduced in gas vanes, and also blade platforms.
turbines. These blades offer additional creep and fatigue benefits The interesting point to note is that some of the major manu-
through the elimination of grain boundaries. In single-crystal ma- facturers are switching away from corrosion protection-based
terial, all grain boundaries are eliminated from the material struc- coatings toward coatings, which are not only oxidation resistant,
ture, and a single crystal with controlled orientation is produced but also oxidation resistant at higher metal temperatures. Thermal
in an airfoil shape. By eliminating all grain boundaries and the barrier coatings are being used on the first few stages in all the
associated grain boundary strengthening additives, a substantial advanced technology units, as well as on turbine combustors, tran-
increase in the melting point of the alloy can be achieved, thus sition pieces and in some cases even on turbine compressor blades.
providing a corresponding increase in high-temperature strength. The use of internal coatings is getting popular due to the high tem-
The transverse creep and fatigue strength are increased, compared perature of the compressor discharge, which results in oxidation
to equiaxed or DS structures. The advantage of single-crystal al- of the internal surfaces. Most of these coatings are aluminide-type
loys compared to equiaxed and DS alloys in low-cycle fatigue life coatings. The choice is restricted due to access problems to slurry
is increased by about 10%. based, or gas phase/chemical vapor deposition. Care must be taken
Development of directionally solidified blades as well as the in production; otherwise, internal passages may be blocked. The
new single-crystal blades, with the new thermal barrier coatings, use of pyrometer technology on some of the advanced turbines has
and the new cooling schemes, is responsible, for the increase in located blades with internal passages blocked causing that blade to
firing temperatures. The high-pressure ratio in the compressor also operate at temperatures of 35°C-70°C.
causes the cooling air used in the first stages of the turbine to be
very hot. The temperatures leaving the gas turbine compressor can
reach as high as 1200ºF (649°C), requiring the compressor cooling 27.4 GAS TURBINE HRSG SYSTEMS
air to be cooled, and the cooling passages require to be coated.
The waste heat recovery system is a critically important subsys-
27.3.6 Cooling Schemes tem of a cogeneration system. In the past, it was viewed as a sepa-
The cooling schemes are limited in the amount of air they can rate “add-on” item. This view is being changed with the realization
use, before there is a negating an effort in overall thermal effi- that good performance, both thermodynamically and in terms of
27-20  •  Chapter 27

reliability, grows out of designing the heat recovery system as an 27.4.2  Multi-pressure Steam Generators:  these are becom-
integral part of the overall system. ing increasingly popular. With a single pressure boiler there is a
The gas turbine exhaust gases enter the HRSG, where the en- limit to the heat recovery because the exhaust gas temperature can-
ergy is transferred to the water to produce steam. There are many not be reduced below the steam saturation temperature. This prob-
different configurations of the HRSG units. Most HRSG units are lem is avoided by the use of multi-pressure levels.
divided into the same amount of sections as the steam turbine. In
most cases, each section of the HRSG has a pre-heater, an econo- 27.4.3  Pinch Point  This is defined as the difference between
mizer and feed-water, and then a superheater. The steam entering the exhaust gas temperature leaving the evaporator section and the
the steam turbine is superheated. saturation temperature of the steam. Ideally, the lower the pinch
The most common type of an HRSG in a large combined cycle point, the More heat recovered, but this calls for more surface area
power is the drum-type HRSG with forced circulation. These types and, consequently, increases the back-pressure and cost. Also, ex-
of HRSGs are vertical; the exhaust gas flow is vertical with horizon- cessively low pinch points can mean inadequate steam production
tal tube bundles suspended in the steel structure. The steel structure if the exhaust gas is low in energy (low mass flow or low exhaust
of the HRSG supports the drums. In a forced circulation HRSG, the gas temperature). General guidelines call for a pinch point of 15ºF
steam water mixture is circulated through evaporator tubes using to 40ºF (8ºC to 22ºC). The final choice is obviously based on eco-
a pump. These pumps increase the parasitic load and thus detract nomic considerations.
from the cycle efficiency. In this type of HRSG, the heat transfer
tubes are horizontal, suspended from un-cooled tube supports lo- 27.4.4  Approach Temperature-  This is defined as the differ-
cated in the hot gas path. Some vertical HRSGs are designed with ence between the saturation temperatures of the steam and the inlet
evaporators, which operate without the use of circulation pumps. water. Lowering the approach temperature can result in increased
steam production, but at increased cost. Conservatively high ap-
27.4.1  Once Through Steam Generators  (OTSG) are finding proach temperatures ensure that no steam generation takes place
quick acceptance due to the fact that they have smaller foot print in the economizer. Typically, approach temperatures are in the
and can be installed in a much shorter time and lower price. The 10ºF to 20ºF (5.5ºC to 11ºC) range. Figure 27.29 is the temperature
OTSG unlike other HRSGs does not have a defined economizer, energy diagram for a system and also indicates the approach and
evaporator, or superheater sections. Figure 27.28 is the schematic pinch points in the system.
of an OTSG system and a drum-type HRSG. The OTSG is basi- Off-Design Performance-This is an important consideration for
cally one tube; water enters at one end and steam leaves at the other waste heat recovery boilers. Gas turbine performance is affected
end, eliminating the drum and circulation pumps. The location of by load, ambient conditions and gas turbine health (fouling, etc.).
the water to steam interface is free to move, depending on the total This can affect the exhaust gas temperature and the air flow rate.
heat input from the gas turbine, and flow rates and pressures of Adequate considerations must be given to how steam flows (low
the feed-water, in the tube bank. Unlike other HRSGs, the once- pressure and high pressure) and superheat temperatures vary with
through units have no steam drums. changes in the gas turbine operation.
Some important points and observations relating to gas turbine The HRSG consists of various pressure levels, which compare
waste heat recovery are: with the type of Steam Turbine used, the efficiency desired and the

Fig. 27.28 Comparison of a drum-type HRSG to a OTSG (Courtesy of Innovative Steam Technologies)

 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  27-21

HRSG feed-waters will cause serious corrosion damage in steam

systems by attaching to the walls of metal piping and other metal-
lic equipment and forming oxides (rust). It also combines with any
dissolved carbon dioxide to form carbonic acid that causes further
corrosion. Most deaerators are designed to remove oxygen down
to levels of 7 ppb by weight (0.0005cm³/L) or less. A deaerator is
provided with each HRSG to remove the dissolved gases and add
heat to the HRSG feed-water system.

27.4.6 Economizers
An HRSG economizer is a heat exchanger device that captures
and transfers heat to the HRSG’s feed-water. The feed-water or
return water is pre-heated by the economizer from the exchange of
heat between the exhaust gas from the gas turbine at that point, af-
ter most of its heat has already been transferred to the superheaters,
reheaters, and evaporators. This results in the main heating circuit
in the HRSG do not need to provide as much heat to produce a
given output quantity of steam.

27.4.7 Evaporators
In the evaporator, water is converted to saturated Steam. The
evaporator section is usually of a natural circulation design with-
out the need for assisted circulation devices at any load. The entire
evaporator section, including the steam drum, is designed to generate
dry saturated steam. The evaporator shall be designed fully drain-
able and of all welded construction.

27.4.8 Attemperators
Attemperators can be classified into two types: direct contact
and surface. The direct contact design uses a spray where the steam
and the cooling medium (water and saturated steam) are mixed. In
the surface design, the steam is isolated from the cooling medium
by the heat exchanger surface. Spray attemperators are usually pre-
ferred on all units that have attemperation requirements; however,
Fig. 27.29 Energy transfer diagram in an HRSG
some surface type attemperators are occasionally used in some in-
of a combined cycle power plant
dustrial units.

27.4.9 Desuperheaters
Desuperheaters (DSH) are used to deliver steam to auxiliaries,
costs. The most common types of HRSGs used in Combined Cycle which may require the steam at lower temperatures and are often
applications have two or three level of pressures, these pressure used with a pressure reducing station. These desuperheaters may
levels match the sections of the Steam Turbine. The major compo- be a drum type or an external spray type.
nents of the HRSG as shown in Figure 27.30, consists of for each
pressure level the following components: 27.4.10 Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) System
·  Preheater and deaerators Most of the HRSGs are furnished and installed with a complete
·  Economizers selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) system to control concentra-
·  Evaporators tions of NOx generated by the gas turbine. SCR is a means of con-
o  Steam drums verting nitrogen oxides, also referred to as NOx, with the aid of
·  Superheaters and reheaters a catalyst to diatomic N2, and water, H2O. A gaseous reductant
o  Attemperators typically anhydrous or aqueous ammonia is added to the stream of
o  Desuperheater exhaust gas and is absorbed onto a catalyst.

In addition to these components, the HRSG also houses the  27.4.11 Design Considerations
following components:
·  Selective catalytic reduction system 27.4.11.1  Forced Circulation System  Using forced circu-
·  Ammonia injection grid system lation in a waste heat recovery system allows the use of smaller
tube sizes with inherent increased heat transfer coefficients.
Flow stability considerations must be addressed. The recircu-
27.4.5 Deaerator lating pump is a critical component from a reliability stand-
A deaerator is a device that is widely used for the removal of air point and standby (redundant) pumps must be considered. In
and other dissolved gases from the feed-water to steam-generating  any event, great care must go into preparing specifications for
systems such as an HRSG. In particular, dissolved oxygen in this pump.
27-22  •  Chapter 27

Fig. 27.30  A schematic of a typical HRSG

27.4.11.2  Back-pressure Considerations (Gas Side)  These 27.4.11.3  Supplementary Firing of HRSG Systems  There are
are important, as excessively high back-pressure s create perfor­ several reasons for supplementary firing an HRSG unit. Probably
mance drops in gas turbines. Very low-pressure drops would require  the most common is to enable the system to track demand (i.e., pro-
a very large heat exchanger and more expense. Typical pressure duce more steam when the load swings upward, than the unfired unit
drops are 8 to 10 inches of water. can produce). This may enable the gas turbine to be sized to meet

Fig. 27.31 Supplementary fired exhaust gas steam generator

 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  27-23

the base load demand with supplemental firing taking care of higher IP and LP turbines, the basic design is reaction; however; in these
load swings. Figure 27.31 shows a schematic of a supplementary turbines, there is about 10% reaction at the root and at the tip going
fired exhaust gas steam generator. Raising the inlet temperature at from about 60% reaction to about 70% reaction at the tips in the LP
the waste heat boiler allows a significant reduction in the heat trans- turbine. The impulse turbine produces about two times the power
fer area and, consequently, the cost. Typically, as the gas turbine output as the 50% reaction type turbine; the reaction turbine on
exhaust has ample oxygen, duct burners can be conveniently used. the other hand is more efficient. Thus, the combination of the high
An advantage of supplemental firing is the increase in heat re- pressure stages being impulse and the later stages being about 50%
covery capability (recovery ratio). A 50% increase in heat input reaction produces a high-power and efficiency turbine.
to the system increases the output 94%, with the recovery ratio In most large plants, the axial-flow steam turbine consists of three
increasing by 59%. Some important design guidelines to ensure sections: a high-pressure turbine stage (HP) with pressures between
success include: 1450 and 4500 psia (100-310 bars), with temperatures as high as
1212°F (656°C) an intermediate-pressure turbine stage (IP) with
·  Special alloys may be needed in the superheater and evapora-
pressures between 300 and 600 psia (20.6-41.7 bars), and a low-
tor to withstand the elevated temperatures.
pressure turbine stage (LP) with pressures between 90 and 60 psia
·  The inlet duct must be of sufficient length to ensure complete
(6.1-3.1 bars). The steam exiting from the HP stage is usually re­
combustion and avoid direct flame contact on the heat transfer
heated to about the same temperature as the steam entering the HP
surfaces.
stage before it enters the IP stage. The steam exiting the IP stage
·  If natural circulation is utilized, an adequate number of ris-
enters directly into the LP stage after it is mixed with steam com-
ers and feeders must be provided as the heat flux at entry is
ing from the LP superheater. The steam from the LP turbine enters
increased.
the condenser. The condenser is maintained at a vacuum of between
·  Insulation thickness on the duct section must be increased.
0.13 and 0.033 bars. The increase in back-pressure in the condenser
will reduce the power produced. Care must be taken to ensure that
the steam leaving the LP stage blades has not a high content of liquid
27.5 STEAM TURBINE in the steam to avoid erosion of the LP blading reheat system.
The usual steam turbine consists of four basic parts: the rotor, Steam turbines used in modern combined cycle power plants are
which carries the blades or buckets; the stator consisting of cylin- simple machines. The following are the important requirements for
der and casing, which are often combined, and within which the a modern combined cycle steam turbine:
rotor turns; the nozzles or flow passages for the steam, which are 1.  Ability to operate over a wide range of steam flows
generally fixed to the inside of the cylinder; and the frame or base 2.  High efficiency over a large operating range
for supporting the stator and rotor. In small steam turbines, the 3.  Reheat possibilities
cylinder casing and frame are often combined. Several other sys- 4.  Fast startup
tems such as the lubrication systems, steam piping systems, and a 5.  Short installation time
condensing system make up the rest of the turbine. 6.  Floor mounted installations
There are two major types of flow characteristics in steam tur-
bines, the impulse turbine and the reaction turbine. The steam vol- The plants operate over a wide range of steam flows, as the
ume increases whenever the pressure decreases, but the resulting  plants are now often cycled between base load and 50% of the
velocity changes depend on the type of turbine. These velocity chang- base load in a 24-hour period. Thus, this requires a high efficiency
es are distinguishing characteristics of the different types of turbines. over a wide operating range. Combined cycle power plants operate
The degree of reaction (R) in an axial-flow turbine is defined as at many pressure levels. It is not uncommon that the same manu-
the ratio of the change of enthalpy drop in the rotor to the change facturer’s plant using the same gas turbine operates at two or three
in total enthalpy drop across the stage: pressure levels. The combined cycle steam turbine has fewer or
even no bleed points as compared to any where between four and
eight bleed points for feed water heaters.
H rotor Rapid startup is very often important since many of these plants
R= (27.28)
Hstage are started up on a daily basis. Great care in design must be exercised
due to rapid increase in temperatures. This does not allow for rotor
By definition, the impulse turbine has a degree of reaction equal wheels, which use a shrink fit on to the shaft. There have been cases
to zero. This degree of reaction means that the entire enthalpy drop during rapid startup the rotor wheel “walking” on the shaft due to the
is taken in the nozzle, and the exit velocity from the nozzle is very different growth rates between the shaft and the rotor wheel.
high. In practice, there must be a pressure drop across the rotating Reheat of the steam is being used in many of today’s steam tur-
blades to generate flow. Since there is no change in enthalpy in bine. Reheat improves overall combined cycle efficiency.
the rotor, the relative velocity entering the rotor equals the relative There are five basic types of shaft and casing arrangements of
velocity exiting from the rotor blade. Most steam turbine HP stages steam turbines: single casing, tandem-compound, cross-compound,
are typically impulse stages by design but average a reaction of 5% double flow, and extraction steam turbines. Figure 27.32 shows
reaction at full load. schematics of various steam turbine arrangements.
For a symmetric flow (50% reaction), the enthalpy drop in the
rotor is equal to the drop in the stationary part of the turbine. This 27.5.1  ingle-Flow Single-Casing Extraction
S
also leads to equal pressure drop across the stationary and rotating Steam Turbines
parts. Due to the difference in the turbine blade, diameters at the In a single-flow turbine, the steam enters at one end, flows once
tip and the root of the blade the reaction percentages are different through the blading in a direction approximately parallel to the
to counteract the centrifugal forces acting on the steam flow. If this axis, emerges at the other end, and enters the condenser. In turbines
was not done, too much flow would migrate to the blade tips. In with a single casing, all sections are contained within one casing
27-24  •  Chapter 27

Fig. 27.32 Schematic arrangements of various steam turbines

and the steam path flows from throttle to exhaust through that sin- same rotor. This type of unit is completely balanced against end
gle casing. Figure 27.32A shows a simple path where steam enters thrust and gives large area of flow through two sets of low-pres-
a turbine and is exhausted to the atmosphere or a condenser; it also sure blading.
shows an extraction for cogeneration purposes. This is the most
common arrangement in small and moderately large turbines. 27.5.3 Cross Compound Turbine
The extraction flow stream turbine is the term applied to a tur- A cross compound design typically has two or more casings,
bine where part of the flow is extracted for various reasons such as coupled in series on two shafts, with each shaft connected to a
steam for the plant or for absorption type chillers or for any other generator. In cross compound arrangements, the rotors can rotate
plant process. These turbines maybe back-pressure or condensing at different speeds but cannot operate independently as they are
depending on the application and are used most commonly in a aerodynamically coupled. The cross compound design is inher-
cogeneration application. ently more expensive than the tandem—compound design, but has
a better heat rate, so that the choice between the two is one of
27.5.2  ompound-Flow or Tandem
C economics. Figure 27.32D shows a turbine setup where there are
Compound Turbine three casings each with their own generator and a reheat between
Compound-flow or tandem compound turbine is the term applied the HP and the IP Section. Figure 27.33 is a schematic of a three
to a machine in which the steam passes in sequence through two section steam turbine in two casings. The HP and IP turbine sec-
or more separate units, expanding in each. The two units arranged tion is in one casing, and the LP turbine is a double flow turbine in
in a tandem compound design have both casings on a single shaft another casing. Figure 27.34 is a photograph of the lower half of a
and driving the same electrical unit. In most cases, the HP exhaust steam turbine casing housing the HP and IP turbines. Figure 27.35
is returned for reheating before entering the IP turbine. Most often, is a close up of the regulating (first stage) nozzle and the regulating
the high-pressure and the intermediate-pressure portions are in one stage rotor followed by the other stages nozzles and rotors.
casing and the low-pressure portion in another. The IP exhausts
into crossover piping and on to one or more low-pressure turbines. 27.5.4 Steam Turbine Characteristics
In Figure 27.32B, two sections are used, an HP and an LP section. Understanding the effect of the steam operating conditions on
Figure 27.32C indicates a condition where split steam is used in a efficiency and load is very important in operating steam turbines
double-flow, low-pressure section. at their optimum operating conditions. The two types of steam tur-
LP turbines are typically characterized by the number of paral- bines are condensing steam turbines and the back-pressure steam
lel paths available to the steam. The steam path through the LP turbines. Steam inlet temperature and pressure, and turbine exhaust
turbines is split into parallel flows because of steam conditions and pressure and vacuum, are the significant operating parameters of a
practical limitations on blade length. Typically several LP flows in steam turbine. The variations in these parameters affect steam con-
parallel are required to handle the large volume of flow rates. The sumption and efficiency. In a 100-MW steam turbine at a pressure
steam enters at the center and divides the two portions passing axi- of about 600 psia (41.4 bars) and 660ºF (350ºC), a 1% reduction
ally away from each other through separate sets of blading on the in steam consumption can cost $500,000/year and about $900,000/
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  27-25

Fig. 27.33 Schematic of a typical compound turbine

year. This is based on a boiler efficiency of about 85% and LHV of

fuel at 18,900 BTU/lb (10,500 kcal/kg).
Turbine steam inlet pressure is a major parameter, which affects
turbine performance. To obtain the design efficiency, the steam
inlet pressure should be maintained. Lowering steam inlet pres-
sure reduces turbine efficiency and increases steam consumption.
A 10% increase in steam pressure will reduce the steam consump-
tion by about 1% in a condensing steam turbine and will reduce the
steam consumption by about 4% in a back-pressure steam turbine.
The effect on efficiency for 10% increase in pressure for a con-
densing steam turbine is about 1.5% and 0.45% for a back-pressure
steam turbine.
Turbine steam inlet temperature is another major parameter that
affects turbine performance. Reducing steam inlet temperature re-
duces the enthalpy, which is a function of both the inlet temperature
and pressure. At higher steam inlet temperatures, the heat extraction
by the turbine will also be increased. An increase of about 100ºF
(55ºC) will reduce the steam consumption by about 6.6% in a con-
densing steam turbine, and 8.8% in a back-pressure turbine. The ef-
fect on efficiency for a 100ºF (55ºC) will be an increase of 0.6% in
efficiency for a condensing steam turbine, and 0.65% in efficiency
for a back-pressure turbine. It should be noted that the overall ef-
ficiency in most cases for a condensing steam turbine (30%-35%) is
about twice that of a back-pressure turbine (18%-20%).
In condensing or exhaust back-pressure steam turbines, the in-
crease of this back-pressure will reduce the efficiency and increase
the steam consumption, keeping all other operating parameters. In
condensing steam turbines, the condenser vacuum temperature will
also increase if the removal of heat from the condenser is reduced.
Thus, in a water-cooled condenser, if the temperature of the inlet
water is increased, the power produced by the turbine is decreased
because the back-pressure will be increased.
Fig. 27.34 Lower half of an HP-IP turbine casing In summary, the condensing steam turbines are more efficient
with the rotor in the casing and produce more power than a back-pressure steam turbines. The 
27-26  •  Chapter 27

Fig. 27.35 HP stage nozzles/diaphragms and rotors

condensing steam turbine is also more efficient. The cost of a con- exit temperature is 2400°F (1315°C). The concept of reheat applied
densing steam turbine is about $25/kW more than a back-pressure here involves the use of two combustors. The second combustor is
turbine. used to reheat the air between the IP and LP gas turbines. The exit of
the gas from the LP turbine is sent to an HRSG and the steam pro-
duced to a steam turbine. In many of these plants, there are two reheat
27.6 COMBINED CYCLE PLANTS gas turbines, each with their own HRSGs and one steam turbine.
Combined cycle power plants and cogeneration projects are
Combined cycle plants have several advantages. These include: capital intensive, with installed first costs ranging from $800 to
(1) high thermal efficiencies (50%-65%), (2) rapid startup (2-hour $1000 per kilowatt. The choice of plants depends on a host of fac-
cold start), and (3) low first-installed costs ($600-$900 per kilowatt. tors including:
Maintenance costs for combined cycles range from US $0.003 to
·  Location of the plant
US $0.007 per kilowatt hour (similar to cogeneration plants).
·  Annual utilization
As several gas turbine cogeneration plants utilize steam turbines
·  Power and heat demand ratios
(both back-pressure and condensing), cogeneration and combined
·  Utility electric rates
cycles are similar in several aspects—design and operation lessons
·  Net fuel rate
learned in one can be applied to the other.
·  Type of fuel
The new combined cycle power plants placed into operation
·  Fuel cost
in the late 1990s have reached as high as 2800 MW. In this spe-
·  Rate of return criteria
cific plant, each module consisted of the gas turbine, HRSG, and
·  Plant first cost ($/kW)
steam turbine on a single shaft producing 350 MW through a single
·  Operations and maintenance costs
generator; there were a total of 8 such modules in the plant. Other 
combined cycle configurations commonly used are two (com- Table 27.1 is an analysis of the competitive standing of the
monly known as 2:1 configuration) or three (commonly known as various types of power plants, their capital cost, heat rate, opera-
3:1 configuration) gas turbines each with their own generators and tion and maintenance costs, availability and reliability, and time
HRSG units, producing steam for one steam turbine with its own  for planning. In examining the capital cost and installation time
generator. of these new power plants, it is obvious that the gas turbine is the
Another combined cycle gas turbine is a reheat gas turbine operat- best choice for peaking power. Steam turbine plants are about 50%
ing at a 30:1 pressure ratio with two combustors; each combustors higher in initial costs than combined cycle plants, which are about
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  27-27

Table 27.1 Economic and Operation Characteristics of Plant

Fixed  
Heat Rate Variable Operation Time from
Capital (Btu/ Operation and and Planning to
Cost ($/ kWh;kJ/ Net   Maintenance Maintenance Completion
Type of Plant kW) kWh) Efficiency ($/MWh) ($/MWh) Availability Reliability (mo)
Simple Cycle Gas 300–350 7582; 8000 45 5.8 .23 88%–95% 97%–99% 10–12
Tur­­bine (2500ºF/
1371ºC)
  Natural Gas Fired
Simple Cycle Gas   400–500 8322; 8229 41 6.2 .25 85%–90% 95%–97% 12–16
  Turbine Oil Fired
Simple Cycle Gas   500–600 10,662; 32 13.5 .25 75%–80% 90%–95% 12–16
  Turbine Crude Fired 11,250
Regenerative Gas 375–575 6824; 7200 50 6.0 .25 86%–93% 96%–98% 12–16
Turbine Natural Gas
Fired
Combined Cycle Gas   600–900 6203; 6545 55 4.0 .35 86%–.93% 95%–98% 22–24
  Turbine
Advanced Gas Turbine   800–1000 5249; 5538 65 4.5 .4 84%–90% 94%–96% 28–30
  Combined Cycle  
  Power Plant
Combined Cycle Coal  1200–1400 6950; 7332 49 7.0 1.45 75%–85% 90%–95% 30–36
  Gasification
Combined Cycle   1200–1400 7300; 7701 47 7.0 1.45 75%–85% 90%–95% 30–36
  Fluidized Bed
Nuclear Power 1800–200 10,000;  34 8 2.28 80%–89 92%–98% 48–60
10,550
Steam Plant Coal   800–1000 9749;   35 3 1.43 82%–89% 94%–97% 36–42
  Fired 10,285
Diesel Generator-  400–500 7582; 8000 45 6.2 4.7 90%–95% 96%–98% 12–16
  Diesel Fired
Diesel Generator-  600–700 8124; 8570 42 7.2 4.7 85%–90% 92%–95% 16–18
  Power Plant Oil Fired
Gas Engine Generator  650–750 7300; 7701 47 5.2 4.7 92%–96% 96%–98% 12–16
  Power Plant

$600-$900/kW. Nuclear power plants are the most expensive. The Structures and Infrastructures (20%). Figure 27.37 shows the cost
high initial costs and the long time in construction make such a distribution over the life cycle of combined cycle power plant. It is
plant unrealistic for a deregulated utility. interesting to note that the initial cost runs about 8% of the total life
In the area of performance, the steam turbine power plants have cycle cost, and the operational and maintenance cost is about 17%,
an efficiency of about 35%, as compared to combined cycle power and the fuel cost is abut 75%.
plants, which have an efficiency of about 55%. Newer gas turbine Worldwide experiences in Combined Cycles Power Plants in-
technology will make combined cycle efficiencies range between dicate high availability, reliability, and thermal efficiency in most
60% and 65%. As a rule of thumb, a 1% increase in efficiency of these plants.
could mean that 3.3% more capital can be invested.
The time taken to install a steam plant from conception to pro-
duction is about 36-42 months as compared to 22-24 months for 27.7 AVAILABILITY AND RELIABILITY
combined cycle power plants. The time taken for construction af-
fects the economics of a unit, the longer the capital employed with- The Availability of a power plant is the percent of time the plant
out return, accumulates interest, insurance and taxes. is available to generate power in any given period at its acceptance
Natural gas is the best choice for a combined cycle power plant, load. The acceptance load or the net established capacity would
both from initial cost as well as maintenance costs. Diesel fuel be the net electric power generating capacity of the power Plant
would be the second best option and would run about 15%-20% at design or reference conditions established as result of the perfor­
higher in the total life cycle cost of the plant. mance tests conducted for acceptance of the plant. The actual
The initial cost of a combined cycle plant, as shown in Figure power produced by the plant would be corrected to the design or
27.36, is made up of various components such as the Gas Turbine reference conditions and is the actual net available capacity of the
(30%), Steam Turbine (10%), the HRSG (10%), Mechanical Sys- power plant. Thus, it is necessary to calculate the effective forced
tems (15%), Electrical Systems (12%), Controls (3%) and the Civil outage hours, which are based on the maximum load the plant can
27-28  •  Chapter 27

Fig. 27.36 Cost composition of different plant areas in a combined cycle power plant

produce in a given time interval when the plant is unable to pro- mode, the control systems, and the firing temperatures. The reli-
duce the power required of it. The effective forced outage hours is ability of the plant is the percentage of time between planned over-
based on the following relationship: hauls and is defined as:
(MWd − MWa )
EFH = HO x (27.29)
MWd (PT - FO - EFH)
R= (27.31)
where: PT
•  MWd = desired output corrected to the design or reference
conditions. This must be equal to or less than the plant load Availability and reliability have a major impact on the plant
measured and corrected to the design or reference conditions economy. Reliability is essential in that when the power is needed 
at the acceptance test. it must be there. When the power is not available, it must be
•  MWa = actual maximum acceptance test produced and cor- generated or purchased and can be very costly in the operation
rected to the design or reference conditions. of a plant. Planned outages are scheduled for non-peak periods.
•  HO = hours of operation at reduced load. Peak periods are when the majority of the income is generated;
as usual, there are various tiers of pricing depending on the de-
The availability of a plant can now be calculated by the following mand. Many power purchase agreements have clauses, which
relationship, which takes into account the stoppage due to both forced contain capacity payments, thus making plant availability criti-
and planned outages, as well as the forced effective outage hours: cal in the economics of the plant. A 1% reduction in plant avail-
ability could cost $500,000 in income on a 100-MW plant.
(PT − PM − FO − EFH) Starting reliability is another very important factor in a plant.
A= (27.30)
PT This reliability is a clear understanding of the successful starts that
have taken place and is given by the following relationship:
where:
•  PT = time period (8760 hrs/yr) number of starting successes
SR =
•  PM = planned maintenance hours (number of starting successes + number of starting failures)
•  FO = forced outage hours
(27.32)
•  EFH = equivalent forced outage hours
Reliability of a plant depends on many parameters, such as the The insurance industry concerns itself with the risks of equipment
type of fuel, the preventive maintenance programs, the operating failure. For advanced gas turbine combined cycle power plants, the

Fig. 27.37 Combined cycle power plant life cycle cost

 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  27-29

frequencies of failures and the severity of failures are major con- pressures continue, combined cycles will become more important.
cerns. In engineering terms, however, risk is better defined as: There is also a significant interest in converting existing gas tur-
bines in simple cycle operation to combined cycle operation, and
Risk = probability of failure ´ consequences of failure (27.33) existing steam plants to modified combined cycle power plants.
Results indicate that for a base-loaded plant running 5000 full-load
where the consequences of failure include the repair/replacement equivalent hours per year, the production costs are between 20%
costs and the lost revenue from the downtime to correct the failure. and 25% less for a combined cycle plant at a fuel cost of $30/bbl.
Actions taken, which reduce the probability and/or consequences  At fuel costs of $120/bbl, these costs are about 60%-70% less. A
of failure, tend to reduce risk and generally enhance insurability. commonly used rule of thumb is that 50% to 60% of the gas turbine
Because of the high risks associated with insuring advanced gas output can be added by using the Rankine Cycle (steam turbine) as
turbines, demonstrating successful operation is important to the the bottoming without any further fuel usage.
underwriting process.
Operating and maintenance costs are usually broken up into two
categories: variable costs, and fixed costs. Variable operating costs
include consumables and spare parts, while fixed operating costs
include staff, insurance, taxes, and interest. The variable cost of a 27.8 References
combined cycle is lower than the gas turbine, which is due to the
fact that these costs are driven by the gas turbine spares, which can 1. Boyce, M. P., 2006, Gas Turbine Engineering Handbook, 3rd ed.,
be distributed over a larger output of a combined cycle. Elsevier, New York.
As these combined cycle power plants move toward coal-based 2. Boyce, M. P., 2010, Cogeneration & Combined Cycle Power Plants,
fuels and the move toward higher turbine inlet temperatures and 2nd ed, ASME Press, New York.


  Sources of figures and tables cited in this chapter are from
the following publications of the author.
 chapter

28
Hydro Tasmania — King Island
Case Study
Simon Gamble, Marian Piekutowski and Ryan Willems
Abstract in the dynamic resistor could be recovered with the VRB and
used to cover periods of low wind generation.
Hydro Tasmania has developed a remote island power system ·  Wind expansion — includes increasing the existing farm ca­
in the Bass Strait, Australia, that achieves a high level of renew­ pacity by up to 4 MW;
able energy penetration through the integration of wind and solar ·  Graphite energy storage — installation of graphite block ther­
generation with new and innovative storage and enabling technolo­ mal storage units for storing and recovering spilt wind energy.
gies. The ongoing development of the power system is focused ·  Biodiesel project — conversion of fuel systems and genera­
on reducing or replacing the use of diesel fuel while maintaining tion units to operate on B100 (100% biodiesel); and
power quality and system security in a low inertia system. In recent ·  Smart Grid Development—Demand Side Management — es­
years Hydro Tasmania has undertaken several renewable energy tablishing the ability to control demand side response through
developments on King Island with the aim to reduce dependence the use of smart metering throughout the Island community.
on diesel, reduce operating cost and greenhouse gas emissions,
and demonstrate the potential for renewable energy penetration in This program of activities aims to achieve a greater than 65%
power systems. This has been achieved through the substitution of long term contribution from renewable energy sources (exclud­
diesel based generation with renewables such as wind and solar ing biodiesel contribution), with 100% instantaneous renewable
and the integration of enabling technologies such as storage and energy penetration. The use of biodiesel will see a 95% reduc­
a dynamic frequency control resistor. The projects completed to tion in greenhouse gas emissions. The projects will address the
date include: following issues of relevance to small and large scale power
systems aiming to achieve high levels of renewable energy
·  Wind farm developments completed in 1997 and expanded to penetration:
2.25 MW in 2003;
·  Management of low inertia and low fault level operation;
·  Installation of a 200 kW, 800 kWh Vanadium Redox Battery
·  Effectiveness of short term storage in managing system se­
(2003);
curity;
·  Installation of a two-axis tracking 100 kW solar photovoltaic
·  Testing alternative system frequency control strategies; and
array (2008), and
·  Impact of demand side management on stabilizing wind en­
·  Development of a 1.5 MW dynamic frequency control resistor
ergy variability.
bank, that operates during excessive wind generation (2010).
The results achieved to date include 85% instantaneous renew­
able energy penetration and an annual contribution of over 35%, 28.1 INTRODUCTION
forecast to increase to 45% post commissioning of the resistor. 28.1.1 Hydro Tasmania
Hydro Tasmania has designed a further innovative program of re­
Hydro Tasmania is Australia’s leading renewable energy busi­
newable energy and enabling technology projects. The proposed
ness contributing 50 per cent of Australia’s electricity produced
King Island Renewable Energy Integration Project, which recently
from renewable energy sources. Hydro Tasmania is a Government
received funding support from the Australian Federal Government,
Business Enterprise, owned by the State of Tasmania. Hydro Tas­
is currently under assessment to be rolled out by Hydro Tasma­
mania owns and operates a portfolio of renewable generation as­
nia (including elements with our partners CBD Energy) by 2012.
sets, consisting of ~2,250 MW of hydropower and ~280 MW of
These include:
wind generation. Hydro Tasmania retails electricity via Momen­
·  Installation of short term energy storage (flywheels) to im­ tum, our wholly owned retail business. We offer consultancy ser­
prove system security during periods of high wind; vices internationally to clients in the water and energy sectors via
·  Reinstatement or replacement of the Vanadium Redox Battery our engineering consultancy business, Entura.
(VRB), that is currently out of service due to an operational Hydro Tasmania is responsible for the generation, distribution
event that led to damage to the system’s cell stacks. It is envi­ and retail of electricity on the Bass Strait Islands (BSI), specifically
sioned that a proportion of the wind spill currently consumed King and Flinders Islands. The cost to supply electricity on these
28-  •  Chapter 28

islands is much greater than the revenue derived from selling the Island community consists of a population of around 1600 peo­
electricity to customers, who pay a tariff slightly higher than that ple, and is noted for its beef and dairy industries, as well as kelp
available in mainland Tasmania but still well below the marginal (seaweed) farming and tourism. Being a remote island community,
cost of supply. The difference in cost and revenue is reimbursed to King Island is not connected to either mainland Tasmania or main­
Hydro Tasmania by the Tasmanian State Government; this pay­ land Australia for its electricity supply. Until recent times, electric­
ment is known as the Community Service Obligation (CSO) [1]. ity generated on the island was derived entirely from diesel fuel;
To bridge the gap between the cost of production of energy and however, wind power now contributes to a significant portion of
the revenue collected from customers Hydro Tasmania has im­ the island’s annual energy demand. Wind power is recognized as
plemented over the last ten years a number of improvements to being a cost effective supplement to diesel fuelled generation and
the power system, focused to this date on King Island. The de­ is an important electricity source on King Island due to the excel­
velopments have been constructed in stages; an approach that has lent wind resource present in Bass Strait.
allowed a progressive reduction in diesel fuel usage (and cost as­ It is noted that King Island development includes substitution of
sociated with running hours and maintenance), building on lessons diesel fuel by bio-fuels however this substitution while achieving
learned and utilizing available technologies at the time. By reduc­ significant reduction in GHG emission needs to be considered with
ing the cost of electricity supply on the island, the level of CSO all its limitations. There is limited supply of feed stock to produce
contribution from the Tasmanian Government is reduced. Each the biofuel and the price of the feed stock will tend to shadow
project has demonstrated a return on investment, where the cost oil prices [2]. Consequently in further discussion the distinction is
to implement the changes has been less than the total reduction to made between renewable energy options (wind, solar, etc.) and the
CSO they generate. supplementary role of fuel substitution.
With current rising trends and uncertainty in diesel fuel prices
coupled with concerns of fuel availability and uncertain annual 28.1.3 Bass Strait Island Energy Vision
growth of the customer load on the islands, the cost of generating Hydro Tasmania’s long term vision for the Bass Strait Islands
electricity on King Island is very likely to grow. To alleviate this is to develop innovative renewable energy power systems with the
increase in operational cost and mitigate the ongoing exposure to following objectives:
diesel price volatility, Hydro Tasmania is increasing the installed
· Reduce cost of subsidy paid by the Tasmania Government;
capacity of renewable generation on the island and improving con­
· Achieve total sustainability in electricity supply — eliminate
trol measures to maximize use of renewable energy.
fuel price exposure (including minimal use of bio-fuels);
This chapter will outline Hydro Tasmania’s achievements to
· Develop a world leading Tasmanian Renewable Energy dem­
date and paint a picture of the way forward towards a sustainable
onstration project; and
energy future for King Island.
· Implement an approach that can be utilized as an island power
28.1.2 King Island system solution around the world.
King Island is one of the larger islands located in Bass Strait, a Achievement of the vision would see indigenous renewable re­
body of water between the north coast of Tasmania and the south sources, such as wind, wave and solar utilized in conjunction with
coast of Victoria on mainland Australia (Figure 28.1). The King sustainably harvested biomass resources to fuel power production.
Enabling technologies such as storage and dynamic resistors would
be utilized to maximize the contribution of renewable resources,
with integration coordinated via an advanced system controller.
Active management of demand side is achieved through the de­
ployment of smart grid technology, with customers directly par­
ticipating in interrupting and deferring load. The vision has been
expressed diagrammatically in Figure 28.2.
Achieving this vision will result in significant improvements in
emissions intensity on the islands, power sector and the local sus­
tainable harvesting and production of energy will greatly improve
environmental outcomes. Positive social impact will be achieved
through job creation and skills development, and via enhancing
tourism and the brand value of the region.
Hydro Tasmania’s current BSI renewable energy development
program will see significant progress towards this long term vi­
sion. Attainment of the vision will require broad and ongoing en­
gagement and participation of the stakeholders, including the State
Government, island communities and industry participants.

28.2  he King Island Renewable

T
Energy Integration Project
A key project for Hydro Tasmania under the BSI program is
the King Island Renewable Energy Integration Project (KIREIP).
FIG. 28.1  KING ISLAND: LOCATED IN BASS STRAIT This is a portfolio of innovative projects utilizing new and existing
(Source: Hydro Tasmania) technologies to increase the use of renewable energy in an elec­
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  28-

FIG. 28.2  LONG-TERM VISION FOR BSI — SUSTAINABLE ELECTCTRICITY SUPPLY (Source: Hydro Tasmania)

tricity network, reducing emissions and improving the quality of It is envisioned that the lessons learned in the development and
power supply on King Island. The project will build on previous operation of this program of projects will be applicable to other
accomplishments to demonstrate the potential of renewable energy off-grid systems throughout the world and in the larger Austra­lian
working in conjunction with enabling technologies and establish a electricity system to help achieve Australia’s renewable energy
showcase for sustainable energy development. target of 20% renewable generation by 2020. The advantages of
KIREIP is partly funded by the Australian Government via a using a system on the scale of the BSI to develop this understand­
Renewable Energy Demonstration (REDP) grant [3]. Hydro Tas­­ ing include:
mania will receive up to $15.28 m in grant funds to assist in the
·  Generally a smaller system will experience problems with in­
demonstration of a number of innovative technologies imple­
creasing variable generation much earlier than a large system;
mented in a power system for the first time.
·  Wind variations in smaller systems (with a much higher in­
Initial experience in small scale remote systems with integration
stalled capacity ratio and no locational diversity) are much
of intermittent (variable) renewable energy sources to the power
greater and faster than in a large system;
system, has revealed a number of issues which might be perceived
·  Cost effectiveness of pilot projects: some of the enabling
as potential obstacles in large scale development of renewable
technologies are not considered commercially viable, how­
generation in wider markets. The perception of renewable energy
ever, testing them in small scale system with much higher fuel
technologies being unsuitable to supply base load generation or to
costs makes pilot projects more attractive — so this can be
meet high priority loads has also pervaded the traditional players
achieved in a cost effective manner; and
in the power industry [4]. One of the aims of KIREIP is to assist
·  Establishment of test conditions with very high penetration of
in dispelling these myths, and to demonstrate the portfolio of tech­
wind generation is not possible in a large interconnected sys­
nologies that will be required to support a much more significant
tem — having control of an entire power system is required.
contribution from renewable energy in our future power systems.
The King Island system has shown some promising results with The KIREIP represents a unique opportunity to develop and de­
increased utilization of renewable energy beyond the norm for a ploy renewable and enabling technology in a real world system at
system of this scale, successfully operating with wind generation a scale significantly larger than lab scale test facilities.
supplying up to 80% (typically limited by the minimum output of
a single diesel generator) of instantaneous customer demand and
over a third of the annual energy demand. The proposed project 28.3  ff-Grid Power System
O
aims to further improve the integration of wind generation with the Development
system, by use of selected combinations of new technologies and
operational strategies. The specific projects will address issues of The term Remote Area Power Supply (RAPS) generally refers to
direct relevance to both small and large scale power systems, aim­ power systems servicing load in remote locations, or locations where
ing to achieve moderate to high levels of renewable energy pen­ a connection to a main grid is either not available or undesirable.
etration on an annual basis. There are many thousands of RAPS systems in use worldwide,
28-  •  Chapter 28

accounting for thousands of MW of installed capacity, and cover considers the stages of development targeting the achievement
a range of sizes and compositions, but share a few common char­ of certain renewable penetration targets (or diesel fuel reduc­
acteristics: tion targets) then the levels may look like those outlined below
in Table 28.1.
· Consist of one or more reciprocating thermal generators, typi­
Each level will have differing incremental benefits depending
cally diesel fuelled;
on factors such as load, resource and complexity. The levels can be
·  Usually supplied from a single power stations (no locational
combined together into any given project development step. Figure
diversity of sources),
28.3 is a representation of the relationship between the level of
· Usually accepting lower supply standards than in large sys­
renewable energy penetration achieved and the resulting technical
tems, and
complexity (and commercial immaturity) of the system. As renew­
· Are not normally associated with extensive distribution net­
able penetration is increased, the system becomes more complex,
works.
may require more exotic technologies and generally requires more
RAPS systems can range in size from several kW (for example effort to successfully integrate all components.
a stand-alone power supply for a farm) to tens of MW, as would There are two key trade-offs present in the decision making
be typical for a RAPS system servicing load in Pacific Island [5]. process. One is a risk based assessment of the level of renewable
They may be automated, requiring little in the way of servicing or penetration desired versus the risk associated with both the tech­
operator attendance or may be completely manual in nature, re­ nology deployed (many are in early stages of commercialization)
quiring the intervention of onsite personnel to start and synchro­ and the skills of the system operator and maintenance staff. The
nize generators as the load varies during the day. second relates to the degree of system security required versus the
Traditionally in remote systems the energy is supplied by recip­ cost burden of achieving that level of performance, either in ad­
rocating generators burning fossil fuels such as diesel. This type ditional thermal plant operation or in enabling technology, such as
of generation is cheap to establish, reliable, flexible to operate and power storage. Expectations on system security need to balance the
has robust dynamic characteristics. However, the cost of purchas­ objective of operational cost reduction through renewable technol­
ing and transporting diesel fuel to remote areas results in very high ogy deployment, and the provision of levels of power quality akin
short term marginal costs. These costs are further affected by small to main interconnected networks.
volume transactions. High fuel costs result in higher electricity Each of these “levels” of RAPS development will now be dis­
costs than those experienced in larger interconnected systems and cussed in turn in greater detail.
may be borne by the end user, resulting in stunted economic devel­
opment, or may be subsidized in part or full by a relevant govern­ 28.3.2 Level 1 RAPS Development
ment. In either case, there generally exists a motivation to reduce Historically the initial phase (Level 1) has been to deploy fossil
the marginal cost of electricity supply in these systems. fuel based energy systems. Typically this is in the form of diesel
In recent years, this has been accomplished by integrating re­ engines but could also be other form of gas generation operated on
newable energy generation with the aim of reducing the amount Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG). This level of development gen­
of fossil fuel required to service the customer demand. Depending erally includes all the auxiliary equipment and systems required
on the abundance of resource, wind power and more recently solar to operate the power station and associated distribution system,
photovoltaic (PV) technologies can provide electricity at less than and will include protection devices and some level of automation.
the marginal cost of fossil fuel derived power. While the integra­ Level 1 systems are generally built with an emphasis on reliability
tion of intermittent renewable generation presents some operational and may not include provision for future integration of renewable
challenges and generally increases overall system complexity, real technologies such as control system scheduling different genera­
savings in the cost of electricity supply can be realized, resulting tion technologies, separate from diesel generator reactive power
in an overall improvement in local economic development while sources.
maintaining comparable level of power supply security. Level 1 in the Bass Strait Island context refers to the original
construction and commissioning of King and Flinders Island Power
28.3.1 Phases of Development Stations. It is unlikely that integration of future renewable genera­
Typically the development of a remote power supply, such as tion was a major influencing factor in the design of these original
the type on King Island will be developed in various stages. If one power systems. In today’s more rapidly evolving power systems

TABLE 28.1  SUMMARY OF DEVELOPMENT LEVELS (Source: Hydro Tasmania)

Level Description % RE (Typical)

1 Initial fossil fuel based power supply with low capital costs and high fuel and O&M prices. 0%
2 Incorporate renewable energy at a proportion that needs minimal consideration for ad­ 30%
ditional support equipment
3 Increase the level of renewables penetration over that of Level 2 through the use of renew­ 45%
able energy enablers and other system support technologies. Integration of RE limited by
the minimum output of diesel generation,
4 Build upon the enabling technologies used in Level 2, to achieve the aim of 100% renew­ >60%
able penetration at times when conditions permit. That is, allowing the diesel engines to be
temporarily shut down when RE output exceeds the demand. May also install further RE.
5 Substitution of remaining mineral diesel with biodiesel. Biodiesel still has a GHG foot­ >60%
print, so minimizing the total fuel use will minimize the GHG emissions.
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  28-

FIG. 28.3  LEVELS OF RAPS DEVELOPMENT (Source: Hydro Tasmania)

the selection of plant to allow greater flexibility under conditions Technology complexity can also influence selection, especially
of high renewable energy contribution is more critical. for sites where access and availability of maintenance personnel
can be problematic. Power supplies in exceptionally remote areas
28.3.3 Level 2 RAPS Development typically utilize renewable technologies with little or no sched­
The next phase (Level 2) would typically be to incorporate uled maintenance required. A prime example is the use of fixed
renewable energy at a proportion that needs minimal considera­ tilt solar PV/battery systems in remote telecommunication repeater
tion for additional support equipment. The amount of renewable stations.
generation that can be integrated into the system will depend on the Finally the cost of a specific technology is a major influence in
technology used; simple technology with low levels of control will its selection. Whilst wind turbines such as simple stall regulated
generally be harder to integrate without support equipment, result­ induction generators will usually cost less than an equivalent pitch
ing in lower penetration levels without impacting on system reli­ regulated Doubly Fed Induction Generator (DFIG) turbine, the
ability. The maximum amount of integrated renewable energy also compromise is that generally a lower level of penetration can be
reflects acceptable supply risks and associated costs of providing achieved without the use of additional support technology. There
reserves. Generation with a higher level of control is more flexible is danger that the development using initially lower specification
in operation and thus easier to integrate, resulting in higher pene­ equipment may critically limit the potential amount of renewable
tration potential. An example would be the comparison between a energy integration. A greater level of control typically results in
simple stall regulated wind turbine generator (WTG) and a more easier integration and higher levels of potential renewable penetra­
expensive pitch regulated machine. The power output from a stall tion whilst maintaining an appropriate level of system reliability.
regulated machine is not controlled, and as such tends to impact on Typically, sizing of renewable generators will be dependent
the reliability of a power system at lower penetrations than would on several factors including the size and number of existing die­
a controlled output machine. sel generators, operational philosophy and required level of sys­
In Level 2 systems, the key considerations are: tem security, expected load growth and the specific technologies
selected.
·  Selection of appropriate renewable technologies; As discussed above the level of technology used combined with
  o  Availability of resource; the existing generation and load profile will have the greatest im­
  o  Environmental factors such as climate; pact on the appropriate generator sizing. The primary considera­
  o  Ease of maintenance/accessibility; tion for selection of an appropriate generator size is the impact
   Operational impacts (capability diagram, availability of on the scheduling of thermal generation. The main constraint
fault ride through, need to supply inertia, controllability, is generally the minimum level of thermal generator contribu­
impact on quality of power supply); tion required to maintain system security (provision of reserves,
  o Cost of technology; and regulation, and adequate fault level current contribution), whilst
  o Renewable penetration requirements/expectations. maintaining the generators output within normal operating ranges.
·  Appropriate sizing of the capacity of renewable generators — This is particularly relevant in retrofit systems where the original
higher instantaneous penetration possible with greater control power system was not designed to incorporate renewable genera­
capabilities. This affects the size of the largest contingency tion technologies. In these cases the existing generators may not
and required reserves; and be sized appropriately to make the most efficient use of the new
·  Compatibility with existing plant. renewable capacity. Ideally at this stage renewable generation
28-  •  Chapter 28

may allow to reduce scheduled generation to a single diesel op­ by Level 3 systems will be governed by minimum loading require­
erating at or close to its minimum output. The system needs to ments on the firm generation used, hence can be dictated by Level
be designed in such a manner that the generator in service will 1 plant decisions. At this stage of development it is useful to ensure
have sufficiently high fault current to allow correct operation of that the firm generation is sized appropriately to take full advan­
protective relays. With wind displacing diesel generation the sys­ tage of the increased renewable generation capacity.
tem inertia becomes lower and this will result in faster frequency
changes allowing less time for operation of emergency protec­ 28.3.5 Level 4 RAPS Development
tions (under frequency). Operation with significantly variable Level 4 systems build upon the enabling technologies used in
system inertia and fault current makes it difficult to correctly set Level 3, with the addition of support technologies that allow 100%
protective relays. renewable penetration at times when load conditions permit. Whist
Level 2 projects will have renewable generators sized such that the technology considerations presented in Level 3 apply, all of
a meaningful contribution to the load is made without impact­ these criteria must be met by supporting technology without sup­
ing on the stations ability to maintain a reliable supply. Provi­ port from online thermal generation. To allow for “zero-diesel” op­
sion of auxiliary equipment to support the thermal generators in eration whenever renewable energy conditions allow reserve must
maintaining system security is beyond the scope of Level 2 and be provided by a firm source. Reserve provided by an energy stor­
falls under the scope of Level 3 developments. Level 2 in the age device would limit the achievement of zero-diesel operation to
King Island context is equivalent the initial development at Hux­ times when storage was charged. The length of time (hours/year)
ley Hill of 3 ´ N29 Wind Turbine Generators (WTG), where a that zero-diesel operation is achieved will depend on the capac­
nominal 15% utilization of renewable energy on an annual basis ity of renewables installed and the available indigenous resources.
was achieved. Increasing the capacity of renewables will increase the duration of
zero diesel operation; however, it is likely that there will be dimin­
28.3.4 Level 3 RAPS Development ishing returns as with increasing installed capacity the instantaneous
Level 3 projects increase the level of renewables penetration renewable energy generation will exceed the demand more fre­
over that of Level 2 through the use of renewable energy enabling, quently. Economically the contribution of the project may remain
and other system support technologies. Typically, Level 3 projects positive, but return on investment could decrease. This is a case of
will seek to minimize the use of thermal generation by having an optimization such that a limit is set to stop “chasing the tail.”
installed renewables capacity in excess of the load for some per­
centage of the load duration curve. Additionally, the use of support 28.3.6 Level 5 RAPS Development
technology to minimize the role of the thermal generation in sys­ Although the previous development levels can achieve high lev­
tem security is required; including systems to support both regula­ els of renewable energy penetration on utility scale RAPS systems
tion and reserve levels. Key problems/considerations include: there is currently a technical and economic limit to this resulting in
a portion fossil fuel consumption remaining. Level 5 development
·  Maintaining raise and lower reserves with high levels of re­
aims to substitute this for a cleaner more sustainable alternative like
newable penetration;
biodiesel substitution for mineral diesel. Although the substitution
·  Providing fault level current for operation of conventional
of biodiesel could be undertaken at any stage of the system develop­
distribution network protection systems;
ment it still must be sourced at a cost either directly as a processed
·  Provision of frequency regulation;
fuel or through raw materials if the processing is internal to the
·  Provision of voltage regulation and reactive power; and
system. In our Australian RAPS experience biodiesel costs are not
·  Availability of secondary (additional supplementary) renew­
significantly more cost effective than mineral diesel and are more
able resources.
costly in marginal cost terms to renewable alternatives. So under­
It is noted that high renewable energy penetration requires a taking the earlier levels of development to minimize diesel uses is
significant reduction in diesel output and preferably only diesel in more cost effective and will minimize the volume of biodiesel re­
operation so the maximum supply to load is equal to the demand quired leading to more sustainable outcomes. Additionally there is
minus minimum diesel generation. However this limits the raise still a non-zero carbon footprint impact from the use of biodiesel,
reserve provided by the diesel min service to about 50% to 60% typically around 70% to 85% reduction [7], so minimizing the fuel
of rated diesel capacity. This is not sufficient to cover some large use will also have a greater impact on the total carbon footprint.
swings in wind generation output without activation of under fre­ At this level of development considerations such as the ability to
quency load shedding. In some systems an option called low load locally produce fuel are a concern, with care to ensure the produc­
diesel is implemented [6]. Typically this option is supported by tion is local if possible, feedstock are sustainably harvested and
one diesel manufacturer and it is for small size diesel only (ap­ there are no adverse flow on effects, such as providing competi­
proximately 300 kW). Larger diesel will have minimum output tion for food production. Having significantly reduced the volume
defined at about 30% of rated value. It is noted that the approach of biofuel required management of these issues is more readily
adopted here is based on non-firm power supply. This means that achievable. Also as mentioned before, the price of biodiesel will
under single diesel operation a trip of the diesel generator will re­ tend to shadow the oil prices.
sult in system black out and the restoration of power supply in a
diesel based system takes typically 5 to 30 minutes depending on
the availability of the station operator. This approach may not be 28.4  ING ISLAND POWER SYSTEM
K
acceptable in all RAPS systems. OVERVIEW
All of the above measures will contribute to maximizing the ef­
fectiveness of renewable generation in the system, thus reducing 28.4.1 Currie Power Station
the reliance on fossil fuel based generation and the associated high Electricity on King Island is supplied by Currie Power Station
cost. Generally, instantaneous renewable penetration achievable an autonomous power system, not connected to mainland Australia
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  28-

or to Tasmania, located in the Bass Strait. The power system is

owned and managed by Hydro Tasmania.
Power for the island is largely sourced from diesel and wind
generation at the power station near the town of Currie. Diesel
must be imported to the island, the costs of which make gen­
eration from wind energy an attractive alternative. The Currie
power station incorporates the diesel, wind and photovoltaic
generation panels on site. Key power system details are provided
in Figure 28.4.
Annual consumption on the power system is 16 GWh and peak
demand can reach 3.3 MW. Forty-five percent of annual demand is
generated from wind energy. Under the current arrangement, 3-4
GWh of generated wind energy is spilled (not used) every year.
This equates to 25% of the island’s electricity consumption.

28.4.2 Distribution System

Radiating from the power station at Currie are four 11 kV feeders
that supply power over 450 km of distribution network as shown in
Figure 28.5. Two feeders supply the town of Currie and the abat­
toir and two longer, lightly loaded feeders supply beef and dairy
farms around the island. There is some meshing of the network
within the two longer feeders with manually operated switching
points. The distribution system has most of its load within a short
distance of the power station, although the system is generally
lightly loaded and must cover substantial distances for an 11-kV
distribution system.

28.4.3 Load Profile

The load on King Island is characterized by a typical residential
load profile, with daily peak demands occurring in the morning
and the evening (Figure 28.6). Due to the moderate climate on the
island, there is little or no air-conditioning load, with annual peak
loads experienced during the cooler winter months. Typical daily
FIG. 28.5  KING ISLAND DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM (Source:
Hydro Tasmania)

minimum load is around 1,200 kW overnight, with a peak load

of around 2,800 kW occurring later in the morning. Due to the
presence of some industrial loads such as the dairy and abattoir,
greater loads are experienced during the week, with lower daily
demand on weekends. These industrial loads account for roughly
half of the King Island’s annual electricity demand, and depending
on maintenance schedules, can push the maximum daily load as
high as 3,300 kW.

28.4.4 Power Station Development

In recent years Hydro Tasmania has undertaken several renew­
able energy developments on King Island with the aim to reduce
the use of diesel fuel for the supply of electricity and therefore,
reduce the associated cost and greenhouse gas emissions. This has
been achieved primarily through the substitution of diesel based
generation with renewable generation such as wind and solar. In
addition, Hydro Tasmania has implemented a number of renew­
able energy enablers; these technologies do not directly generate
renewable energy but rather enable the existing renewable genera­
tion to be utilized more effectively. To date, the projects imple­
mented on King Island include:
·  Huxley Hill wind farm development completed in 1997;
·  King Island Renewable Energy Expansion (KIREX) project
FIG. 28.4  CURRIE POWER KEY POWER SYSTEM DETAILS completed in 2004 and included:
(Source: Hydro Tasmania)   o  An expansion of the existing Huxley Hill wind farm;
28-  •  Chapter 28

Load Profiles

3000

2500

2000
Load (kW) March Average
June Average
1500
September Average
December Average
1000

500

0
0:00
1:00
2:00
3:00
4:00
5:00
6:00
7:00
8:00
9:00
10:00
11:00
12:00
13:00
14:00
15:00
16:00
17:00
18:00
19:00
20:00
21:00
22:00
23:00
Time of Day

FIG. 28.6  2005 DAILY LOAD PROFILES [MONTHLY AVERAGE] (Source: Hydro Tasmania)

  o  Installation of a Vanadium Redox Battery (VRB); feeders and covers the entire island; comprising of approxi­
  o  Upgrade to supervisory control system; mately 450 km of overhead lines. The current power system
·  Two-axis tracking 100 kW solar photovoltaic array installed is shown schematically in Figure 28.7:
by KI Solar Pty Ltd in 2008; and
The system has been designed for unattended operation and em­
·  Dynamic resistive frequency controller completed in 2009.
ploys a central station controller to automatically schedule genera­
tion assets according to system and renewable energy generation
28.4.5 Current Asset Configuration conditions. Known as the Sequencer, this PLC based control sys­
The King Island power system consists of the following com­ tem is the overall controller of the power station.
ponents:
28.4.5.1  Power Station System Controller  The Sequencer
·  A Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) based system con­
schedules individual generators according to system loads and sta­
troller;
tion operational constraints, and provides for fully automatic and
·  Four Diesel Generators with a total installed capacity of 6,000 kW;
unattended station operation. It also handles black start events,
·  Five Wind Turbine Generators (WTGs) with a total installed
emergency load shedding and station alarming.
capacity of 2,450 kW;
While the Sequencer is the overall controller, each of the power
·  Vanadium Redox Battery (VRB), rated at 200 kW both charge
station elements (Diesels, WTGs, VRB, Solar, and Resistor Bank)
and discharge with an energy rating of 800 kWh;
are essentially self-regulating. That is, the sequencer only provide
·  Two-axis tracking solar array rated at approximately 100 kW;
start/stop signals and/or provides an operating setpoint, with the ex­
and
ception of the solar which is self-dispatching and not controlled by
·  A dynamic resistor capable of controlling frequency with a
the sequencer at all. The Sequencer does not manage functions such
total rating of 1,500 kW. These assets are all connected to an
as voltage, frequency or load control, or low level fault handling.
11-kV bus which supplies power to the 11 kV distribution
The general philosophy of the system operation is to maxi­
network. The distribution network is split over four separate
mize the use of renewable energy sources to supply the customer
load, whilst retaining sufficient “firm” generation capacity to en­
sure reliable operation. In general terms, the Sequencer issues
Currie Power Station a power set-point to the wind farm, and based on the actual re­
Resistor
3x N29
2x V52

VRB

newable output will schedule one or more diesel generators to

pick up the rest of the load. The Sequencer performs a high level
supervisory and scheduling role and is essentially responsible
D1 D2 D3 D4 for implementing operational constraints such as ensuring suffi­
cient spinning reserve is carried by the system appropriate to the
765

conditions, ensuring availability of reactive power and adjusting

11 kV BUS operational margins based actual variability of renewable energy
resources.
763

764
761

762

28.4.5.2  Diesel Generation  King Island Power Station was origi­

Services

nally constructed to accommodate 4 ´ 1,200 kW diesel generator

Station

Solar

sets with provisions for adding a fifth machine if needed in the

CUSTOMER LOAD future. The initial installation comprised 2 ´ 1,200 kW sets and
1 ´ 800 kW set giving a firm capacity of 2,000 kW. Station capac­
FIG. 28.7  ONE-LINE DIAGRAM OUTLINING THE OVERALL ity has since been increased by adding a fourth set (1,200 kW)
STATION TOPOLOGY (Source: Hydro Tasmania) and has recently been further upgraded with replacement of three
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  28-

1,200 kW sets to 1600 kW machines, giving the station an installed N29 with the system during high wind conditions results in a step
capacity of 6,000 kW. This allows operation according to an N-1 change in the output of the generator. If this happens in light load
redundancy regime for firm capacity. conditions a large overfrequency event is observed. Under some
The generating sets are arranged for automatic operation and conditions this overfrequency may upset operation of other wind
can operate for periods of time without supervision. Essential turbines if they have limited operational frequency range (e.g., 48-
maintenance and daytime supervised operation of the station is 51 Hz). Also this type of wind turbine tends to produce greater
carried out under contract by skilled operators. Output from all fluctuations in wind turbine output possibly resulting in flicker
the thermal generators are fed into the distribution system via problems.
11 kV metal-enclosed switchgear and power cables to the over­ In 2000 a proposal was developed to enhance the existing Hux­
head feeder lines. ley Hill wind farm to increase the penetration of wind power, with
There are four diesel generators, three of which are rated at the aim of further reducing cost of electricity supply through sav­
1,600 kW and produce electricity at 11 kV, and one 1,200 kW ma­ ings in diesel fuel use. The project was known as the King Island
chine that produces power at 415 V. Each Diesel generator has its Renewable Energy Expansion (KIREX) project.
own PLC control system, which communicates with the Sequencer KIREX supplemented the existing Huxley Hill wind farm with
PLC. The real and reactive power load is shared between the run­ two additional WTGs, specifically Vestas V52s capable of produc­
ning generators proportionally to machine rating; the kW load is ing a maximum of 850 kW of power each, increasing the total rated
shared through a load-share line setup and kVAr sharing handled capacity of the wind farm to 2.45 MW. These WTGs were com­
by the Sequencer PLC, which determines the total kVAR load on missioned in 2003 and are pitch regulated doubly-fed induction
the Diesel generators and sends a setpoint to each Diesel PLC. machines.
There are a number of operational constraints in the diesel sys­ A Vanadium Redox Battery (VRB) energy storage system was
tem that the Sequencer considers when scheduling diesels and also installed as part of KIREX (see below). The objective of the
wind generation: storage system was to increase the recoverable portion of renew­
able energy and to smooth the variable output of the wind farm to
·  Maximum load: each diesel has a specified real and reactive
enhance the use of wind power to displace diesel generation.
power capacity that should not be exceeded. The Sequencer
Finally, a substantial upgrade to the existing control system was
works to ensure a sufficient number of diesel generators are
needed in order to optimize the operation of system components to
online at any given time to prevent overloading;
deliver power with adequate system security at the least cost.
·  Minimum Load: this is the minimum load that a Diesel gen­
erator should run at in order to ensure efficient operation and
28.4.5.5  Vanadium Redox Battery  The Vanadium Redox Battery
avoid problems associated with extended operation at low
energy storage system was installed with the assistance of an Aus­
power levels; and
tralian Federal Government Renewable Energy Commercialization
·  Maximum Pickup: this is the maximum load that a Diesel
Grant. The VRB technology was not widely available at the time,
generator can instantly pick up in the event of another gen­
and this installation represented the first such project in Australia.
erator failure. This parameter is used to ensure that there is
The installation represented an early demonstration of the technol­
sufficient spinning reserve available to cover loss of either
ogy for the suppliers, and the commercial risk and demonstration
diesel or wind generation without interrupting supply to the
value was recognized in the awarding of the Government grant.
customer.
Overall characteristics of VRB technology can be very attractive
The diesel generators form the “backbone” of the power system. for RAPS and wind applications however the technology is not yet
Whilst they are the most expensive power source to operate they mature and its availability is limited. Very few VRB battery sys­
are also the most reliable, and are considered to be the only “firm” tems are currently in operation, these are predominately located in
generation capacity in the system as they can be relied upon to Japan, US, Austria and Germany.
supply the customer load regardless of the time of day, season or Vanadium Redox Battery (VRB) technology was developed by
environmental conditions. Maria Kazacos at the University of New South Wales in 1985 [8].
This is a flow battery which stores separately positive and negative
28.4.5.3 Frequency Control  Traditionally, the diesel generators electrolytes. In a chemically neutral state the electrolyte is a mix­
provide both isochronous frequency control and voltage control/ ture of vanadium pentoxide and diluted sulfuric acid. The energy
reactive power support. With the installation of the Dynamic Re­ is stored chemically in different ionic forms of vanadium. When
sistive Frequency Controller (DRFC) described below, the diesel the battery operates the electrolyte is pumped from storage tanks
system can at times be run in droop mode with the DRFC control­ into cell stacks where one form of electrolyte is electrochemically
ling frequency. This occurs when there is excess renewable energy oxidized and the other is electrochemically reduced. This reaction
generation available than is required to supply the load with the creates a current that is collected by electrodes and made available
diesel generator(s) at minimum load. The advantage of this is the to an external circuit. The reaction is reversible allowing the bat­
ability to hold diesel generation at the minimum load as well as tery to be charged, discharged and recharged. The reaction formula
conversion of excess renewable energy into spinning reserve. This is as follows:
concept is covered in more detail in section 28.8. In the current
system the diesels are still required to provide voltage control and Negative Reaction: V2+-e-→® V3+ (28.1)
fault level current to ensure correct operation of the distribution
system protection devices. Positive Reaction: VO2++2H++e-→® VO2++H2O (28.2)

28.4.5.4  Huxley Hill Wind Farm  In 1998 three Nordex N29 The electrolytes are circulated through the cell stack by pumps.
(250 kW) WTGs were installed. These are stall regulated simple During the chemical reactions the imbalance in volumes build up
induction machines. Their output is not regulated. Synchronizing and there is a need to rebalance electrolyte on regular basis.
28-10  •  Chapter 28

equipment to utilize excess renewable generation to provide re­

serves and control frequency without the expense of additional
energy storage. Similar systems have been trialed at much smaller
scale in Alaska [9] and Antarctica [10]. This recently completed
project was associated with a substantial upgrade to the power sta­
tion control system and is currently undergoing extensive testing.
The new control system employs the DRFC enabling the load to
be varied rapidly in order to absorb excess wind generation rather
than spill it through shutting down or throttling back wind turbines.
Instead of reducing output, the wind turbines are be allowed to
produce as much power as possible, with the excess generation
absorbed by the DRFC. As the resistor loading can be adjusted rap­
idly, this effectively converts previously spilled wind into spinning
reserve that is used to supplement diesel generation. Maintaining
the power balance between generation and demand in this way al­
lows the DRFC to maintain system frequency.
Shifting system reserve requirements away from the diesels en­
ables the control system to operate diesel at minimum output level,
FIG. 28.8  VRB LAYOUT (Source: Hydro Tasmania) reducing fuel use, whilst without the DRFC the diesel would need
to do all the regulation. Whilst this can occur only during periods
of wind spill, a further increase in renewable energy generation
The VRB system consists of two major components — the bat­ increases the amount of time that the system experiences spill, and
tery (also known as the Wet Side) and the inverter. The VRB PLC thus increases the time that diesels can be run at minimum load­
controls the wet side, and interfaces with the inverter controller ing. This in turn reduces the amount of overall energy contribution
to load the battery. In order to use the VRB, the Wet Side must from the diesel generators.
be running and the system pressurized. Figure 28.8 shows the wet Figure 28.10 shows a simulation of the effect of the new DRFC
side of the VRB in the foreground (electrolyte tanks, insulated pipe and control method on diesel output and wind utilization over a
work and pumps) and the cell stack in the rear. half hour time period. Note that under the new control method
The VRB is able to both store energy and return the stored en­ the diesel output remains at minimum output of 300 kW for
ergy to the power system, and as such can act as a load or a gen­ the majority of the time, saving an average of around 120 kW.
erator. When storing energy the VRB is said to be charging and Over a year this equates to a substantial amount of diesel fuel
when returning energy to the power system the VRB is said to be saved. The wind spill component of the chart is treated as system
discharging. Charging has priority over discharging, such that the reserve.
battery is kept fully charged if wind is available. The DRFC enables the running diesel generators to remain on
VRB is a very attractive storage system as the energy storage minimum loading whenever the island’s load is less than the com­
(tanks) is separated from the power source (cell stack). This sup­ bined solar and wind output (solar is self dispatched and included
ports scalability of both power and storage elements. The elec­ as a load offset). Modeling of the King Island energy demand com­
trolyte is very robust and difficult to damage provided a specified pared with historic wind data and expected solar output indicates
operating range is maintained. The electrolyte can be charged and that this will occur for about half of the year — resulting in signifi­
discharged very frequently with more than a 10,000 charge cycles cant diesel fuel and thus GHG emission savings.
during the lifespan being quoted. The round cycle efficiency is re­
ported about 70%. The battery has very good short term overload
properties however to utilize them the converter needs to be sized
appropriately. The battery does not have memory, it can be fully
discharged without damaging the battery so the depth of discharge
cycle in much greater than in other batteries. The maintenance re­
quirements are minimal.
The King Island installation incorporated a 200 kW cell
stack, with sufficient electrolyte storage for 800 kWh of energy
storage.

28.4.5.6 Solar  In 2008, six dual axis tracking solar photovoltaic

systems (Figure 28.9) were installed by CBD Energy Ltd, add­
ing approximately 100 kW of renewable energy generation to the
power station. The units selected by CBD Energy were Solon XL
movers. The use of solar power on King Island was pursued to
demonstrate how a variety of renewable energy technologies may
operate in such an integrated system.

28.4.5.7  Dynamic Resistive Frequency Controller  Hydro

Tasmania developed the dynamic resistive frequency control tech­ FIG. 28.9  SOLAR PV INSTALLATION, SOLON XL MOVERS
nology in response to a gap in the availability of existing control (Source: Hydro Tasmania)
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  28-11

FIG. 28.10  DYNAMIC RESISTIVE FREQUENCY CONTROLLER — BENEFITS (Source: Hydro Tasmania)

The resistor is designed to maximize the level of wind genera­ or approximately 35% has been achieved — this equates to ap­
tion that can contribute directly to the load thus maximizing wind proximately 4,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions. The impact
utilization. The remaining portion of wind generation that cannot of the incremental integration of renewable energy technologies
be used by the system to supply the customer load is currently con­ into the power system can be seen in Figure 28.11. Each phase of
verted into waste heat in the resistor. It should be noted that: development has resulted in an increase in the utilization of renew­
able energy in system, and an associated reduction in emissions.
·  The resistor heating (wasted energy) in short term provides
The integration of renewable energy generation and enabling
fast frequency regulation capability and provides both rise
technology in the King Island power system has demonstrated
and lower regulation if the operating point is within the active
a significant benefit in terms of diesel fuel and Greenhouse Gas
regulation range;
(GHG) reduction. The King Island power system is being recog­
·  In some cases the operating point can operate at the lower or
nized internationally as being world leading in terms of renewable
upper limits providing reserve in one direction only;
energy integration in Remote Area Power Supply systems. The
·  The air resistor units could be substituted by other forms of
individual contribution and performance of each of these develop­
storage including thermal storage (water heating) or chemi­
ments will now be discussed briefly in turn.
cal storage with adequately specified properties matching
variability of wind generation. It is noted that a portion of ap­
28.5.2 Huxley Hill Wind Farm
proximately 15% of currently wasted energy could be stored
The first wind development on King Island, the three Nordex
and then be recovered when required.The DRFC consists of
N29 (250 kW) WTG represented Australia’s second commercial
3 ´ 500 kW load banks, which provides a total installed ca­
wind farm. The project received no external funding support and
pacity of 1.5 MW. Each bank is subdivided into two 250 kW
resulted in an immediate saving in fuel consumption.
sub-banks. The loading of each sub-bank is controlled by a
Penetration of renewable energy into the system reached an an­
phase-angle controller (PAC) and coordination of operation
nual average of 18% in the years following commissioning. This
of individual PACs is carried out by the dedicated PLC. The
resulted in a 16% reduction in annual diesel fuel use or approxi­
DRFC has two operation modes:
mately 590 kiloliter reduction in diesel use per annum. In terms of
1. Droop Mode. The DRFC receives a load (kW) setpoint from the development level philosophy discussed above, Huxley Hill
the Sequencer PLC then controls the resistive load to achieve wind farm represented a Level 2 development project.
the load setpoint.
2. Isochronous Mode. The DRFC controls system frequency 28.5.3 Vanadium Redox Battery
autonomously. Commissioning and operation of the VRB was challenging as
this occurred very early on in the development of the technology
A description of when and how the Resistor Bank changes be­
with no past operational experience available in the public domain.
tween Droop mode and Isochronous mode is included in Table
The VRB has suffered downtime as a result of cell stack failure in
28.2. The basic operating modes of the resistor are summarized in
2004, as well as a number of inverter failures. Following the failure
Table 28.2.
of several cell stacks in 2004, the cell stacks were repaired by the
manufacturer and returned to service. Significant downtime fol­
lowing the cell stack repairs has been caused by repeated failures
28.5  ERFORMANCE OF RENEWABLE
P of the VRB inverter. Inverter problems have also been experienced
ENERGY DEVELOPMENTS in a similar installation in Moab (Utah, US) [11]. At Moab it was
decided to replace the inverter while Hydro Tasmania adopted the
28.5.1 System Performance temporary solution of limiting VRB output to 150 kW.
With the exception of the VRB, the renewable energy develop­ Following an operational event a strategy decision was made to
ment program has been a resounding success; as a direct result of put the VRB in an extended “out of service” state while new cell
these projects an annual reduction of 1.39 million liters of diesel, technologies were assessed. A detailed investigation into the state
28-12  •  Chapter 28

TABLE 28.2  OPERATING MODES OF DRFC (SECTION 28.9.3: VANADIUM REDOX BATTERY)
(Source: Hydro Tasmania)

Wind conditions System DRFC

Low winds All energy produced by the wind turbines Resistor is in stand by mode to provide lower
is used to supply the load. The diesel reserve to respond to over frequency events
generator(s) operate in isochronous mode to
provide frequency control
Medium winds or Amount of wind energy used to The resistor may be either on standby to pro­
high wind and high supply load is limited by the firm reserves vide over frequency control such as the case
loads required for secure operation. Under some above, or it may absorb some excess wind
conditions part of wind generation will be under a setpoint issued by the sequencer.
absorbed by the resistor. During times of high
load all wind energy is used to supply load
with the remaining power balance supported
by diesel generation. Diesel operates in iso­
chronous mode
Very high wind At light loads a single diesel operates at The resistor is partially loaded providing both
and low loads minimum output and the rest of the load is rise and lower regulation.
supplied by the wind turbines. Spill of wind
generation is absorbed by the resistor, provid­
ing effective reserves. The amount of wind
energy used to supply the load is limited by
the level of reserve available to support secure
operation. Resistor operates in isochronous
mode and diesel in the droop mode.

of the VRB was conducted in July 2007. The subsequent report The VRB battery offers excellent overload capability which has
outlined the following main conclusions: been specified as 100% overload for 100 seconds and 50% over­
load for five minutes. Unfortunately performance of the inverter
·  Cell stack damage was extensive and stacks would need to be
has restricted the operation of the battery in this way. It is noted
replaced in order to return the VRB to service;
that VRB characteristics were matching the variability of wind
·  Failure was determined to be a result of a combination of over­
generation very well with very frequent changes over between
charging and subsequent high temperature operation; and
charge and discharge cycles.
·  Temperature interlocks to limit operation at high temperatures
The AC to AC efficiency of the VRB on King Island to date is
were inadequate.
55%. Following an upgrade the similar plant at Moab has achieved
The operational regime adopted by Hydro Tasmania for the VRB an efficiency of 68%. The main reason for lower efficiency of King
reflected best practice as based on the knowledge of the technology Island VRB was operation with too high electrolyte temperature
at the time. Subsequent development of the VRB technology inter­ due to a lack of coolers.
nationally led to the development of a different set of operational Hydro Tasmania is currently evaluating the role and function
parameters and practices. of the VRB battery with an aim to update the design and control
Hydro Tasmania believes that knowledge gained through inves­ system to improve availability, efficiency, and the effectiveness of
tigations and experience would allow for successful operation of a the VRB to reduce diesel use. Subject to replacement or successful
restored VRB system. repair of the inverter, the VRB may be included under the resistor

D ie s e l R e d u c t io n a n d G H G E m is s io n S a v in g s

P e r c e n ta g e D i e s e l S a v e d G re e n h o u s e G a s S a vin g s (T o n n e s )

100% 5 ,0 0 0

90% 4 ,5 0 0

80% 4 ,0 0 0
G H G E m is s io n s A
P e rc e n t a g e D ie s e

70% 3 ,5 0 0
(T o n n es)

60% 3 ,0 0 0
H u x le y H ill K IR E X
S o la r & R e s is t o r
50% 2 ,5 0 0

40% 2 ,0 0 0

30% 1 ,5 0 0

20% 1 ,0 0 0

10% 500

0% 0
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Ye ar

FIG. 28.11  HISTORICAL CONTRIBUTION OF RENEWABLE ENERGY ON KING ISLAND (Source: Hydro Tasmania)
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  28-13

control (DRFC) as the high priority load. The VRB will be charged testing and commissioning, the power system was operated with
as the first (highest priority) switchable load subject to its state of higher levels of renewable penetration than had been attempted
charge (SOC). If the state of charge is 90 to 100%, VRB charging previously. During this phase, a number of power station opera­
load will be replaced by a resistor. tions were improved, allowing the system to maintain reliability in
the face of increased renewable energy penetration.
28.5.4 Vestas V52 The resistor is currently undergoing a commercial test period,
The two Vestas V52 turbines have performed almost entirely which will verify the benefit the resistor is providing to the sys­
without incident since commissioning in 2003, and have provided tem. The results so far have been very promising; even under
a significant contribution to the energy balance of King Island. constrained operation the resistor has allowed for the saving of
The selection of variable speed turbines has proven to be a suc­ over 850 MWh since May 2008. Annually the DRFC is projected
cess and has resulted in much more stable output of wind gen­ to reduce diesel consumption by a further 8-10% without the addi­
eration compared to the unregulated Nordex machines. Between tion of any further renewable generation or storage.
them, the Vestas WTGs have supplied the majority of the renew­ Technical performance of the resistor can be seen in Figure
able energy contribution, and produced an average of around 28.12. Diesel regulation is reduced and system frequency is im­
3,900 MWh per annum, or around 25% of the average annual proved when the DRFC is in isochronous mode.
energy demand for FYE 2006. Operational experience with these The DRFC will form an integral part of the King Island Power
turbines has been exceptional, with effective regulation of power system when combined with the proposed KIREIP, resulting in
output facilitated through the Vestas Online (VoL) control sys­ one of the most advanced RAPS systems in the world.
tem providing stable wind power output even in challenging wind
conditions. This regulation has allowed the sequencer control
system to maintain high levels of wind penetration even in the 28.6 ASSESSMENT OF BENEFITS
absence of the VRB.
Performance of these turbines exceeded expectations — on the 28.6.1 Introduction
whole, the KIREX project achieved business case projections re­ Hydro Tasmania has developed an Energy Simulation Model
gardless of the VRB performance. (ESM) as a tool to simulate various energy production scenarios
for the King Island power system. Specifically, the model is used
28.5.5 King Island Solar to estimate future annual diesel fuel use based on a given system
The solar array is expected to deliver around 200 MWh a year topology (e.g., number and type of wind turbines, storage tech­
to the Currie Power Station, resulting in CO2 savings of around nologies, etc.) and some assumptions such as annual load growth.
180 tons per annum. To date the two-axis tracking array has dem­ The model has been designed to replicate the specific scheduling
onstrated the advantage of diversifying resources, as there are pe­ methodology/logic that is used now in the power station control
riods during the year that are seasonably calm (little or no WTG system, as well as proposed future methodologies that will be en­
output), yet there is sufficient sunshine to allow a reduction in die­ abled with proposed projects coming online. This tool provides the
sel use. forecast performance data that underpins the investment decisions
in new assets on King Island.
28.5.6 Dynamic resistive frequency controller Inputs into the ESM include time series data as well as pa­
Commissioning of the resistor presented a unique challenge, rameters that characterize the operation and performance of the
as this was the first installation of this size in the world. During simulated system components. The time series data consists of

Difference Between Frequency Controllers

Resistor Controlling Frequency Diesel Controlling Frequency
2,000 51.0
1,800 50.8
1,600 50.6
1,400 50.4
Diesel (kW)
Frequency (Hz)

1,200 50.2
Power (kW)

Wind (kW)
1,000 50.0 Load (kW)
800 49.8 Resistor (kW)
Frequency (Hz)
600 49.6
400 49.4
200 49.2
0 49.0
16:21:00

16:21:15

16:21:30

16:21:45

16:22:00

16:22:15

16:22:30

16:22:45

16:23:00

16:23:15

16:23:30

16:23:45

Time

FIG. 28.12  DYNAMIC RESISTIVE FREQUENCY CONTROL — PERFORMANCE (Source: Hydro Tasmania)
28-14  •  Chapter 28

10 minutely average values for customer load, wind speed and this means that the sun’s position relative to the surface of the array
solar irradiation. The load and wind speed data are actual values will change for each hour of the year — for a two axis tracking ar­
recorded on the Island during the 2005/06 financial year, and the ray the surface will always be pointed towards the sun. In addition,
solar resource data is based on 25+ year ANZSES data for Mel­ the angle of a tracking (or non-tracking) surface is calculated; this
bourne and Launceston. allows the calculation of the angle of incidence — the difference
There are three system component categories that can be included between the direction of the beam radiation and the direction that
in a scenario: “firm” generation such as diesel or gas engine gen­ the array surface is pointed. The angle of incidence is also calcu­
erators, renewable generation including wind and solar and storage lated for a horizontal plane.
technologies such as VRB and Graphite Energy Storage, though any The ratio between the angles of incidence for the horizontal
storage technology can be modeled if the round trip efficiency is plane and the tilted (PV surface) plane is a geometric factor which
known. In the King Island context, the system topology is set up to describes the increase in direct irradiance compared to the hori­
reflect the generating assets that are currently used in the system. zontal surface by tilting the plane towards the sun, as described in
Scenarios that have been modeled include additional generating Figure 28.13.
and power system enabling assets, such as: This ratio between the horizontal and tilted surface radiation is
calculated for each time step and applied to the direct beam radia­
·  Vanadium Redox Battery;
tion resource. The diffuse radiation component is then added to give
·  Graphite Energy Storage;
the global solar resource for the PV array for that hour, in kWh/m².
·  Additional wind turbine generators;
Having calculated the global radiation impinging on the tracking
·  Diesel UPS; and
surface in kWh/m², the total array output is calculated as the prod­
·  Dynamic Resistive Frequency Controller.
uct of the calculated solar radiation and the rated output of the solar
The model is based on Visual Basic code as an Excel macro and array. Note that no shading is modeled in the simulation.
works through several distinct “modules” of code. The first mod­
ule is concerned with reading in the simulation inputs, such as the 28.6.2.3 Storage  Storage availability in the simulation is based on
number and type of wind turbine generators to be modeled, number two parameters: the ability of the storage device to accept energy
and size of diesel generators, the load scheduling of diesels, etc. from renewable spill, and the ability to supply power to make up for
The next module is the annual energy simulation itself, which shortfalls in renewable output. At this point in the simulation, avail­
works on a 10 minute time step analysis of the energy flows within ability of each storage device modeled is assessed according to the
the power system. All calculations are based on time step averages, previous time step state of charge, as well as parameters particular
i.e., average customer load, average wind speed, etc. The model steps to each device. Such parameters may include operating hours — it
through each time step of the year, reading in customer load, wind is possible to define a certain period of the day where operation is
speed, and solar resource from a time series of data stored within the allowed, outside of which the storage device will be deemed una­
model. The availability of storage devices is then determined, based vailable. Availability is based on the ability of the storage device to
on the previous state of charge. The amount of diesel generation re­ produce minimum output for the time step (or hours if a minimum
quired as per the selected control methodology is then calculated, run time is set). Should a particular storage device become available
based on the wind/solar/storage available. Wind/solar spill is then for power production, a flag is set, and the subsequent control code
calculated, and distributed between available storage devices subject determines required power output if the storage device is needed
to the particular limits as set out in the system setup page. Each stage (i.e., if there is a shortfall in renewable energy production).
of the simulation process is discussed in more detail below.
28.6.2.4  Diesel  Diesel generator output is simulated in the model.
28.6.2 Simulation Modules Diesels are configured by the user in setting up the simulation, in­
cluding limits such as minimum and maximum output, fuel effi­
28.6.2.1 Wind  Wind turbine output is determined according to ciency curves, and “load table” scheduling of machines. Given the
wind speed as recorded in a time series. Wind turbine output for calculated wind, solar and storage output available for the hour, the
each simulated wind turbine is based on power production curves required diesel generation is calculated through one of two control
specific to each turbine. The simulation includes a number of tur­ philosophies.
bine power curves as specified by manufacturers.
For each time step of the simulation the power output of each
“available” wind turbine is calculated, and is separated between 28.6.3 Modeling Control Philosophy
individual machines in order to differentiate between them when Three discrete control philosophies can be modeled within the
scheduling output in the control element of the simulation, as well ESM tool, namely the Instantaneous Wind Penetration (IWP)
as when distributing wind spill between storage devices. method, the Resistor method, and the Diesel UPS method.

28.6.2.2 Solar  Solar output is based on a number of different pa­ Direct Beam

rameters including array size and tracking mode, as well as a time
series of solar radiation resource — similar to the wind speed time
series. The solar resource is given in terms of average global, direct Angle of
and diffuse irradiation impinging on a horizontal surface Diffuse
and direct solar values are used in order to determine the increase
in solar radiation per unit area for a surface that is not horizontal,
i.e., is tilted at some angle.
For each time step of the year, the position of the sun is calculated FIG. 28.13  EFFECT OF TILTING A SURFACE TOWARDS
relative to the orientation of the solar array. For a fixed tilt array THE SUN
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  28-15

28.6.3.1  Instantaneous Wind Penetration Method  The Instan­ where:

taneous Wind Penetration method is a simulation of the station
·  D is the Diesel output;
control philosophy which was introduced with the KIREX up­
·  L is the customer load;
grade. It is has since been superseded by the resistive frequency
·  Rt is the total renewables contribution to the load; and
control method, however has been modeled to provide a post-
·  S is the storage output (0 if no storage available or required).
KIREX benchmark to determine the relative value of the new
control method. This methodology has also been used to calibrate Should the total renewable output exceed the renewable contri­
the model against years of historical data to ensure that the model bution to load, the excess renewable component is spilled, and no
provides a reasonably accurate estimation of diesel fuel use. output from energy storage is allowed. Renewables to customer is
The IWP method works by limiting the penetration of renew­ables limited by the IWP, and the diesel generation required is simply the
(exclusively wind in the past) to a factor known as the Instantane­ balance of customer load less renewables to customer. The result­
ous Wind Penetration. Allowable wind power is calculated by mul­ ing spill is then distributed between available storage devices.
tiplying the customer load by the IWP, typically 70% in good wind Figure 28.14 indicates the energy balance under IWP control
conditions. Thus at any given time, at least 30% of the load must be methodology (no storage is included). The minimum diesel re­
supplied by diesel generators. In the actual control system, the IWP quirement rises with the customer load and assumes a 70% IWP.
can be changed by the station operators, or modified by the sequencer Note that the diesel used in this example is higher when compared
itself to adjust to wind conditions. When wind conditions are such to the diesel generation required using the resistor based control
that wind turbine power output is highly variable (such as periods of method discussed below (purple line).
frequent wind gusts) the IWP is typically lowered; this limits the ef­
fect of fluctuating wind output on the system, and allows more diesel 28.6.3.2  Resistor Method  The resistive frequency control method
generation to supply the load. In the past this has been effective in is a new control methodology that has been implemented on the
limiting system outages caused by erratic wind turbine output. Island with the commissioning of the DRFC. Where the IWP method
Historically, the average annual IWP for King Island was around sought to limit wind generation to ensure a percentage of diesel gen­
49%. Thus an average figure of 49% is assumed in the simulation eration was online to maintain system security, the resistor control
for the entire year. In calculating the hourly diesel load under this method utilizes wind spill and a resistor in order to provide both raise
control philosophy, the customer load is multiplied by 0.49 to de­ and lower reserve, and regulates the power balance between supply
termine the maximum renewables output for that hour. and demand to maintain frequency. This allows the online diesel(s)
to remain at minimum loading rather than above minimum in a regu­
Ra = IWP * L (28.3) lating range. As a result, in periods of excess renewables generation,
the total renewables supplying the customer load is not limited by an
where: IWP factor, but rather by minimum diesel loading constraints.
To calculate the diesel generation requirement, it is first necessary
·  Ra is the maximum renewable contribution to the load (com­ to determine how many diesels are required due to reactive power
bination of wind and solar); requirements. Occasionally there exists a situation where the custo­
·  IWP is the instantaneous Wind Penetration (0.49); and mer power load can be satisfied by renewables and a single diesel —
·  L is customer load. however the reactive power demand requires that two machines
If the combined wind and solar output is less than this figure, then be online. The number of machines is determined, and as such a
the model examines the availability of storage devices to supplement minimum diesel requirement is calculated based on the minimum
the output. Should a storage device such as the carbon block or VRB load limits on the machines. Maximum renewable output to supply
be available for power production as assessed in the previous storage customer load is limited by this minimum diesel requirement. Thus
module then the required diesel output for that hour is equal to: renewables allowed to supply the customer load is calculated:

D = L – Rt – S (28.4) Ra = L – (ND × Dmin) (28.5)

Energy Balance, IWP Method

2,500
Renewable Spill
2,000
Renewables to
Customer
Energy (kWh)

1,500
Diesel
1,000
Generation
Customer Load
500
Resistor Diesel
0 Comparison
10:00

14:00

16:00

20:00

22:00
0:00

2:00

4:00

6:00

8:00

12:00

18:00

Tim e  
FIGURE 28.14  ENERGY BALANCE FOR IWP CONTROL LOGIC (Source: Hydro Tasmania)
28-16  •  Chapter 28

where: balance using the D-UPS method are shown in Figure 28.15. Note
that under D-UPS control philosophy, some hours require no diesel
·  Ra is the maximum renewable contribution to the load (com­
generation as there is sufficient excess renewable energy genera­
bination of wind and solar);
tion to cover the entire load.
·  L is customer load;
·  ND is the number of diesels required (as calculated from reac­ 28.6.4 Diesel Fuel Use
tive demand); and Once the loading on each online diesel is determined, a fuel ef­
·  Dmin is the minimum loading allowed on a diesel in kW. ficiency curve is applied to calculate the fuel used for the time step.
Should the combined renewables output be less than Ra, then The fuel efficiency curve can be specific to each individual die­
as in the IWP case, storage devices are examined to determine if sel (as would be the case for machines of different capacities and
any additional output can be used to supplement the renewables types). The fuel curves used in the King Island model are derived
output. Thus Equation 28.4 is used to determine diesel output. As from manufacturer specifications for the models installed at the
can be seen in Figure 28.15 the diesel output is kept to a mini­ station.
mum level during periods of wind spill under the resistor control The model can be set up to include a number of different fuels
method. such as biodiesel and takes into account the effect on fuel effi­
ciency for each fuel type.
28.6.3.3  Diesel-UPS Method  An extension of the resistive fre­
quency control methodology will occur with the installation of the 28.6.5 Scheduling Order of Preference
proposed Diesel Uninterruptible Power Supply (D-UPS) project. There is a scheduling order of preference between renewable
The intention of the D-UPS is to provide ancillary services normally technologies in supplying the renewable contribution to the cus­
provided by an online diesel generator (such as voltage control, tomer load. In the simulation, the default order of preference is:
inertia and fault level contribution) through the use of a flywheel
1.  Wind power generated by existing assets;
and diesel generator (normally offline) separated by a clutch ar­
2.  Solar power generated; and
rangement. The D-UPS also provides an instant start capability,
3.  Wind power generated by future assets.
which will protect the system from generation shortfalls caused by
fluctuations in renewable energy production. As discussed above, This “merit order” reflects the philosophy adopted by Hydro
the intended outcome of this installation is to allow the power sta­ Tasmania where the assets that are installed earlier get dispatched
tion to run without a diesel generator providing power at times first; on a “first come first serve” basis. The merit order can be
when the renewable energy generation is well in excess of the total changed to suit the scenario and the solar power can be modeled
customer demand. While this operational methodology is not yet as a direct load offset, which is useful when modeling distributed
available at the station (as the D-UPS project is yet to commence), generation that is not controlled by the power station sequencer.
the modeling methodology is representative of what is intended to Thus the customer load is first addressed by existing wind out­
be implemented once the project is commissioned. This operating put, followed by solar output, followed in turn by future wind out­
philosophy is required to examine projects that are scheduled to be put. For example, if the total allowable renewable contribution
implemented post D-UPS commissioning. to the load can be supplied entirely by the existing wind assets,
Note that a D-UPS is not entered into the firm generation table only existing wind output is used; solar and future wind output
as a schedulable diesel. The purpose of the D-UPS is not to provide is spilled in the simulation, along with any excess existing wind
energy in the same way that the conventional diesels do, but rather generation.
allow the station to operate under a different logic, i.e., the abil­ The example in Figure 28.16 shows a case where all the existing
ity to run the station without diesel generators online when there wind is used, as well as some solar generation. The sequence of
is sufficient renewable energy generation. Results of the energy calculations in the model follows:

Energy Balance, D-UPS Method

2,500 Renewable Spill

2,000 Renewables to
Customer
Energy (kWh)

1,500
Diesel
Generation
1,000
Resistor Diesel
Comparison
500
Customer Load

0
14:00

18:00

20:00
12:00

16:00

22:00
2:00

10:00
6:00
0:00

4:00

8:00

Time

FIG. 28.15  ENERGY BALANCE FOR D-UPS BASED METHOD (Source: Hydro Tasmania)
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  28-17

Future
JV Wind
Maximum Storage Wind
Capacity
Renewable
Generation
To Resistor
(Unrecoverable
JV
Future
Wind JV
Future
Wind Future Spill)
Maximum Wind Wind Wind
Renewable JV Wind
Generation
to Load
Power (kW)

Total Renewable
Generation
Solar
Solar Solar Solar
Renewable Renewable
Generation Generation
Spilled To Storage
Customer Load

Exist
HT Wind
Wind Exist
HT Wind
Wind

Renewable
Generation
Diesel To Load
(Minimum
Load)

FIG. 28.16  RENEWABLE CONTRIBUTION BASED ON SCHEDULING ORDER OF PREFERENCE (Source: Hydro Tasmania)

A. Load balance calculation, determining the maximum re­ achieved practically through active pitch control on wind turbines
newables contribution to load based on customer load and as well as shutting down turbines and solar modules.
minimum diesel requirements; Spill absorbed by the storage device(s) is added to the state of
B. A percentage of the total renewable energy generation di­ charge, less any inefficiency assumed for each particular storage
rectly contributes to the load; device. Alternatively, any output for the hour from storage devices
C. The remainder renewable energy generation that cannot be is subtracted from the state of charge. Additional standing losses
used to supply the load directly is “spilled” either to avail­ (such as Graphite Energy Storage cooling) are subtracted from the
able storage or through unrecoverable means — resistor or state of charge. The resulting state of charge is known as the “End
through throttling of wind turbine blades (this is explained of Time Step SOC”, and is used to determine storage availability
below); in the next time step.
D. A proportion of the spilled renewable energy is sent to any Limitations on the amount of energy that can be accepted by
available storage. Storage availability may be limited by a given storage device is governed by two factors: the state of
state of charge, i.e,. if the storage is full; and charge of the device, and the maximum power input the device
E. Any remaining generation must be spilled through other can handle. For example, a VRB storage device may be sized such
means, such as a resistor, reduction in wind or solar output that the inverter can produce or accept 200 kW of power (short
through set point control or switching off of generators. term overload capabilities are not modeled in the simulation), and
store 800 kWh of energy. If the VRB SOC was 500 kWh, then the
28.6.6 Spill Distribution and Storage Balance ability to accept spill would be limited by the inverter rated power
Should the system experience spill during the time step (indi­ of 200 kW. If the SOC was 700 kWh, then the SOC is the limiting
cated in column C in Figure 28.16), this spill is distributed between factor, and the spill acceptable is 100 kWh. Note that whilst in
the available storage devices (D). Again, there is an order of pref­ practice the VRB could accept 200 kW of power for half an hour
erence between renewable sources when allocating spill, as well as to store 100 kWh, the simulation assumes an average power over
an order of storage devices if more than one is present (e.g., VRB the hour, and thus would assume 100 kW of input into the VRB
and Graphite Energy Storage). Any spill over the amount able for the hour.
to be absorbed by the storage device(s) is assumed to be spilled
through other means (E) which could include a lower priority stor­ 28.6.7 Modeling Results
age device, resistor or through reduction in output. In the case of The above set of routines is repeated for each model time step
spill where no storage is present it is assumed that spill is absorbed for an entire year, with the resulting parameter values stored in
through a resistor or through reduction in output. It should be noted an Excel spreadsheet. At the end of each year examined, the total
that an actual resistor is not modeled in the simulation, as any energy figures for each generator and storage device modeled are
spill in excess of a theoretical resistive capacity will be achieved calculated and copied into an annualized results page. For simula­
through reduction in output. Note that reduction in output can be tions requiring multiple years of simulation with load growth, the
28-18  •  Chapter 28

above is repeated for each year, with the customer load time series system parameters are “tuned” by operators over months of the
data multiplied by the specified load growth factor. year. The later is more prominent during the earlier months of
The end result of a simulation run is a 25 year forecast of an­ KIREX operation, as parameters were initially set to conservative
nual energy production from each generation type (i.e., renewable, values to achieve system stability prior to tuning the system for
diesel and storage). The output of a particular scenario can then maximum renewable penetration. The simulation model does not
be compared to the modeling output of a base or reference case consider turbine availability or changes to operating parameters on
(typically the base case is a model run of the current system topol­ a month to month basis. This leads to discrepancies in WTG output
ogy) which allows a comparison of diesel use between the two between months, however annual WTG energy production is quite
scenarios. For example, a model run of the current system can be comparable between the simulations and historic data.
compared with a model run of the current system with additional The model has also been calibrated to simulate pre-KIREX oper­
wind installed. The comparison of diesel use between each case ating conditions. Whilst only two years of pre-KIREX data is avail­
will form the basis of diesel savings afforded by the additional able to calibrate the model, this is countered by the fact that the sys­
wind project, which becomes the basis for the financial modeling tem was not subject to constant tuning during this period as was the
The combination of energy and financial modeling underpin the case for the beginning of the KIREX data. A comparison between
business cases for each proposed project. the historic and simulated diesel fuel use is detailed in Figure 28.18
This scenario comparison approach allows for the assessment The ESM tool has provided the analytical capability to assess
of individual project benefits under a number of different circum­ the potential benefits of the proposed suite of future developments
stances such as load growth, asset capacity, etc. This in turn en­ on King Island.
ables the ability to optimize asset sizing to provide the greatest net
benefit.
28.7  ING ISLAND PROPOSED
K
28.6.7.1  Performance of System Modeling  The model has been DEVELOPMENTS
calibrated against historic operating data to confirm the validity of
Hydro Tasmania proposes to further develop the King Island
the modeling results. Two years of the simulation were compared
system, to achieve greater levels of contribution from renewable
against historic operational data in order to calibrate the model to
resources and to demonstrate further innovative enabling technolo­
closely follow the operation of the pre-KIREX plant. The subse­
gies. The scope of work for the King Island Renewable Energy In­
quent three years of simulation were generated using historical
tegration Project (KIREIP) is comprised of the following discrete
data, including both hourly load and wind speed data. Diesel sav­
sub-project components:
ings have been calculated both against historic and KIREX simu­
lated data. The monthly comparison between both simulated cases ·  Biodiesel — Augmenting the existing diesel tanks and asso­
and actual historic data is shown in Figure 28.17. ciated infrastructure to allow the use of B100 in the diesel
Note that the red line indicates the combined output of the three generators;
Nordex machines under the original pre-KIREX operating philos­ ·  D-UPS — The installation of an auxiliary Diesel-UPS to al­
ophy. This line follows the actual historic WTG performance as low 100% renewable energy penetration at times of high re­
measured prior to the implementation of KIREX. This serves to newable energy production;
demonstrate the level of accuracy that the simulation tool models ·  VRB — Reinstatement or replacement of the existing Vana­
the system based on historic wind data. The blue line represents dium Redox Battery (VRB) energy storage system;
the simulated KIREX wind output. The discrepancies between the ·  Wind— Expansion of the existing wind farm by up to 4 MW
simulated output and the historic data are due to scheduled and for a total wind farm capacity of up to 6.45 MW;
unscheduled turbine down-time, variance between recorded wind ·  Thermal Energy Storage — Installation of a Thermal En­
speeds and actual wind speeds encountered by individual turbines, ergy Storage system with integrated energy recovery system,
data resolution and shifts in KIREX operating philosophy as control and

Comparison between historic WTG Output and Modelled Output

700000
WTG #5
600000
500000 WTG #4
kWh Output

400000
WTG #3
300000
200000 WTG #2

100000 WTG #1
0
Jun-02

Jun-03

Jun-04

Jun-05

Jun-06
Mar-02

Mar-03

Mar-04

Mar-05

Mar-06
Sep-01
Dec-01

Sep-02
Dec-02

Sep-03
Dec-03

Sep-04
Dec-04

Sep-05
Dec-05

Model Total
Predicted (No
KIREX)
Model Total
Month Predicted (KIREX)

FIG. 28.17  RENEWABLE CONTRIBUTION BASED ON SCHEDULING ORDER OF PREFERENCE (Source: Hydro Tasmania)
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  28-19

Total Monthly Diesel Fuel Use (L): Comparison between Simulated and Historic Data

350000

300000

250000
Fuel Used (L)

200000
Historic
Simulation
150000

100000

50000

0
Jul-01

Aug-01

Sep-01

Oct-01

Nov-01

Dec-01

Jan-02

Feb-02

Mar-02

Apr-02

May-02

Jun-02

Jul-02

Aug-02

Sep-02

Oct-02

Nov-02

Dec-02

Jan-03

Feb-03

Mar-03

Apr-03

May-03

Jun-03
Financial Year

FIG. 28.18  COMPARISON BETWEEN HISTORIC AND SIMULATED DIESEL FUEL USE ON KING ISLAND (Source: Hydro Tasmania)

·  Smart Grid — Deployment of Demand Side Management 28.7.1 Biodiesel

infrastructure and Smart Grid technology, in the way of an Hydro Tasmania has been monitoring the development of bio­
interconnected network of centrally controlled smart meters. diesel as a potential mineral diesel substitute for the BSI. By
implementing biodiesel, Green House Gas (GHG) emissions can
Schematically the project elements are described by Figure be substantially reduced. There are, however, differences in the
28.19. The items shaded in blue represent the new elements properties between biodiesel and mineral diesel. It is desirable to
proposed under KIREIP. The KIREIP aims to achieve a >65% test the performance of biodiesel in controlled conditions prior to
utilization of renewable energy, including 100% instantaneous pen­ implementation.
etration when conditions allow, and a reduction in GHG of >95% A trial will be undertaken at the King Island Power Station in
through the use of biofuels. This project will be implemented over order to prove the biodiesel in one of the existing engines, test fuel
the next 3 years through the assistance of an Australian Govern­ supply logistics, test the suitability of existing fuel infrastructure
ment REDP grant of up to $15.28 m. and trial the reliability of the biodiesel supplier.
The following is a brief description of each of the projects pro­ The trial is proposed to run for 6 months. At the end of the trial,
posed for King Island under KIREIP. a decision will be made on whether to fully integrate biodiesel into

FIG. 28.19  PROPOSED KING ISLAND RENEWABLE ENERGY INTEGRATION PROJECT (Source: Hydro Tasmania)
28-20  •  Chapter 28

the power station and to similarly implement biodiesel at the power of the flywheel will tend to resist the changes in frequency by re­
station on Flinders Island. leasing inertial energy. The flywheel is dimensioned to provide
about 15 second support at the rated output. If the frequency was
28.7.2 Diesel Uninterruptible Power Supply to fall below the threshold (49-49.5 Hz) or if the reserve levels on
The Diesel Uninterruptible Power Support (D-UPS) project seeks DRFC are very low the diesel engines starts and it achieves full
to enhance the value of existing renewable energy generation on speed in about 6 seconds. When the speed of diesel is the same as
King Island by allowing all diesel units to remain offline during pe­ the system frequency the clutch recloses and diesel engine starts
riods of time where renewable energy generation exceeds the cus­ normal operation as controlled by the governor. It is observed that
tomer demand, resulting in 100% renewable energy penetration. inertia of the flywheel is at least 10 times larger than inertia of
The project involves the installation of uninterruptible Diesel standard diesel generator and this slows down significantly system
Power Supply at the King Island Power Station. This is a com­ response thus allowing more time for correct operation of control
mercial technology that is typically used as a backup power supply systems. D-UPS does not need to start the diesel engine in case of
in industrial processes that are very sensitive to interruptions in the all frequency disturbances as some will be smoothed by inertial
power supply, such as data centers, semiconductor manufacturing response. The big advantage of D-UPS is that it avoids synchroni­
facilities and airports [12]. zation of a new diesel engine at a time when the frequency is not
Although common in other industries (with thousands of units stable. It is noted that D-UPS is usually equipped in the oversized
installed world-wide), diesel UPS systems are novel in a RAPS generator/synchronous motor allowing significant supply of reac­
application. The proposed UPS consists of a diesel engine, gen­ tive power to the system and also injecting significant fault current
erator/motor connected to a flywheel (rotating mass) and a clutch when required.
separating diesel engine and the generator. A conceptual arrange­ After startup of diesel UPS and stabilization of the system fre­
ment is shown in Figure 28.20. Many different types of DUPS quency another diesel generator is started and the diesel UPS re­
and UPS systems have been considered but this solution was se­ turns to its synchronous condenser (standby mode). The benefits of
lected due to its simplicity and suitability for operation at remote this application include reduction of diesel consumption, reduction
areas. in running hours of diesel engines and improved security of the
The purpose of the DUPS will be enhanced from its traditional supply. In the case of machine outages the diesel UPS can be used
use of providing supply in case of loss of mains to additionally as a primary generator. With wind generation operating, and the
provide a frequency stabilization function. As a frequency stabi­ DRFC is operating in isochronous mode the frequency is control­
lizer it will provide fast reserves allowing minimization of reserves led by the DRFC and voltage, reactive power and fault level is
carried out by diesel generators, and supporting conditions under supplied by the Diesel UPS in synchronous condenser mode. The
which the system could be supplied exclusively by wind genera­ diesel UPS will start providing load when available reserve is low
tion with diesels on stand by. or when the frequency falls below the threshold (49-49.5 Hz).
It is intended to operate the King Island system with no diesel The D-UPS technology is mature and the changes required by
generators in service whenever possible, supported by diesel UPS this project will be limited to control algorithms, which are able
operating in synchronous condenser mode with the engine disen­ to be implemented by the supplier. The plan is for the D-UPS to
gaged by the clutch. During a frequency disturbance the high inertia operate in parallel with the load; in a typical installation the D-UPS

FIG. 28.20  DIESEL UPS — HITZINGER UNIT AS EXAMPLE (Source: Hitzinger)

 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  28-21

is used in series with the main electricity supply. It is this change greater percentage of time running in 100% renewable mode. This
in system topology that entails the main integration risk of this project derives much of its benefit due to the enabling nature of
project. the D-UPS project. As such, this project cannot proceed without
To address this risk the operation of the King Island system with successful performance of the D-UPS. The wind farm will be built
a D-UPS has been investigated through dynamic system modeling with well proven wind turbine generator technology. Development
(EMTDC). This model will also be used to refine the control logic approvals are already in place for an additional two wind turbines
associated with the D-UPS and will confirm the performance re­ on Hydro Tasmania land at the Huxley Hill wind farm site.
quirements of the D-UPS for the project to be technically feasible.
Hydro Tasmania will then work with the D-UPS manufacturer to 28.7.5 Graphite Energy Storage
confirm the suitability of the standard product. The function of the graphite energy storage (thermal storage)
technology as developed by Australian company CBD Energy Lim­
28.7.3  anadium Redox Battery Repair or
V ited is to store large amounts of thermal energy for later use. The
Replacement process takes advantage of the patented process in which graphite
As discussed above the VRB unit has not been operational since is heated to high temperatures, and the heat extracted using imbed­
March 2007. Much development in VRB cell stack technology ded heat exchangers. This heat is then available for process heat
has taken place since the original VRB project and it is envisioned requirements or to be converted back to electricity using a steam or
that the existing VRB can be restored by replacing the cell stacks Organic Rankine cycle turbine generator. The construction process
with those of a new design. The new VRB cell stacks incorporate for these units is outlined in Figure 28.21.
improved materials, improving reliability. In addition, inverter The Graphite Energy Storage technology is currently being
technology has become commonplace since the original unit was commercialized by CBD Energy and represents a leading thermal
installed; what was once a custom designed unit can now be pur­ storage option in the proposed KIREIP. A carbon block prototype
chased as a standard product with much greater confidence of fit module was constructed by CBD Energy for commissioning and
for purpose and performance. testing in the final quarter of 2007. Independent verification of the
It is expected that by using the existing VRB infrastructure a performance of the prototype storage module has verified that:
refurbish option will be significantly less costly than a complete
·  The Energy Storage Module accept electrical energy and suc­
VRB development project. In addition to the cell stacks, the in­
cessfully converts into thermal (heat) energy;
verter will also be replaced in order to improve the utility of the
·  The thermal energy was able to be stored within the module
battery, and allow it to fulfill additional roles. In addition to the re­
for a period of time with the measured loss of temperature
view of VRB rectification options, Hydro Tasmania will be assess­
ranging between 4% and 5% per day;
ing the option for the replacement of the VRB against replacement
·  The stored thermal energy was able to be extracted in the form
with an alternate energy storage technology. Other chemical stor­
of steam; and
age technologies, such as zinc bromine (ZBr) and sodium sulphur
·  The steam produced was of temperature and pressure con­
(NaS) will be assessed in this process.
sistent with the requirements of a conventional steam turbine
28.7.4 Wind Farm Expansion generator for electricity generation.
An increase in the wind farm capacity on King Island by up to 4 It is thought that the use of graphite energy storage technology
MW will increase the level of wind power available allowing for a within the King Island project will demonstrate both the potential

FIG. 28.21  GRAPHITE ENERGY STORAGE MODULE-CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUE (Source: CBD Energy)
28-22  •  Chapter 28

for the technology in RAPS and as a means of storage for utility sary infrastructure, establishing baseline data and then deploying
scale applications, particularly associated with solar thermal gen­ wind driven demand response.
eration, and with smoothing and firming of wind farm output. In the BSI context the Smart Grid can provide matching of the
demand to the available supply as much as possible through in­
28.7.6 Smart Grid novative tariffs such as real time pricing or using communication
The Smart Grid is the next phase in the evolution of electrical technologies including wireless and power line carrier technolo­
power generation, transmission and distribution. gies to shed and restore controllable loads. The objectives of the
The King Island smart grid project is being designed to cater for Smart Grid project are:
a large variety of potential applications. The initial focus will be
·  Enable demand side response to improve reliability and mini­
on facilitating demand response to improve system reliability and
mize generating costs
minimize generating costs. Later phases will be implemented in
·  Engage customers in smarter energy consumption through in­
order of priority and as budget allows, improving customer retail
novative products
services, addressing distributed generation, electric vehicles, in­
·  Facilitate distributed generation, storage and electric vehicles
creasing system reliability, improving power quality and reducing
·  Improve the performance and cost effectiveness of the power
operating expenses.
system and network.
The design will accommodate the same infrastructure as in other
island power systems and the National Electricity Market (NEM). The immediate benefits from a Smart Grid project on King Is­
A key requirement is to design a smart grid that will remain rel­ land will be the ability to:
evant long into the future. Use of international standards wherever
·  Switch off diesels at a greater frequency;
practical, including a standards based smart grid design and devel­
·  Delaying diesel start up;
opment process, aims to achieve this future flexibility.
·  Delay second diesel start up;
High level use cases have been developed focusing initially on
·  Switch off second diesel at a greater frequency, and
the smart grid coordinating demand response to improve system
·  Provide the infrastructure to allow introduction of time of day
reliability and minimize generating costs. Use cases have also been
tariffs and in particular a wind spill tariff to customers.
developed for improving customer retail services, integrating dis­
tributed generation, electric vehicles, increasing system reliability, At this time the above smart grid benefits have yet to be modeled
improving power quality and reducing operating expenses. in terms of their positive impact on the state subsidy.
The cost and performance of the communication system between
system control at Currie Power Station and customer meters, equip­ 28.7.7  ing Island Centre for Renewable Energy
K
ment and appliances is expected to significantly shape the smart grid Excellence — KICREE
solution. The technical requirements are currently being developed Hydro Tasmania has proposed a Renewable Energy Centre of
through system modeling of the demand response opportunity. Excellence for King Island. If developed this will be a unique and
The plan proposed for implementing the King Island smart grid specialized Centre for renewable energy learning and research. It
begins with community engagement prior to rolling out the neces­ is envisioned that the Centre will:

FIG. 28.22  CONCEPT FOR KING ISLAND CENTRE FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY EXCELLENCE (Source: Hydro Tasmania)
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  28-23

·  Be a showcase of integrated renewable energy systems to demonstrate the development path for enabling technologies
provide renewable energy case studies for conferences, work­ to allow significant adoption of renewable energy in larger
shops and courses such as a renewable energy implementation systems over a 10-year to 20-year timeframe;
course; ·  Wind variations in smaller systems (with a much higher in­
·  Have the potential to provide a live testing facility for pilot stalled capacity ratio) are much greater and faster than in large
projects concerning new renewable energy products; and systems, allowing the identification and resolution of future
·  Provide the chance to utilize Hydro Tasmania’s working re­ issues likely to be encountered in large systems.
lationship with UTAS more closely and provide a live testing ·  Cost effectiveness of pilot projects, in general some of the en­
facility for PhD/MSc research. abling technologies are not considered commercially viable,
however, testing them in small scale system with much higher
The center would leverage off the existing assets and those to be base electricity cost (particularly systems using an expensive
implemented under KIREIP. With future investment new connec­ fuel such as diesel) makes pilot projects more attractive — so
tion infrastructure and research facilities could offer a world class this can be achieved in a cost effective manner;
working power system to test and confirm the performance of early ·  Establishment of test conditions with very high penetration of
development stage renewable technologies. Visually the concept is wind generation is generally not possible in a large interconnect­
expressed in Figure 28.22 ed system — having control of an entire power system is a truly
unique opportunity and would prove to be an excellent facility
for international research and to demonstrate the world class in­
28.8 Conclusions novation achieved in the Australian renewable energy sector.
On King Island Hydro Tasmania has achieved some promising It is envisioned that the lessons learned in the development and
results in the increased utilization of renewable energy, success­ operation of the King Island power system will be applicable to
fully operating the power system with wind generation supplying other off-grid systems throughout the world.
up to 80% of instantaneous demand.
Off-grid systems are invariably more expensive to operate due
to high fuel costs. Diesel fuelled power generation is the preferred 28.9 References
choice for these systems, as evidenced by the prevalence of such
 1. Community Service Obligation (CSO), http://www.treasury.tas.gov.
systems internationally. These systems are excellent targets for the au/, Accessed: 13/10/2010.
displacement of diesel fuel with renewable energy.
Hydro Tasmania’s experience indicates that there is a natural  2. Schmidhuber, Biofuels: An emerging threat to Europe’s Food Security?
limit of the penetration of renewable energy that can be achieved Impact of an Increased biomass use on agricultural markets, price­s
and food security: A longer-term perspective, 2006, http://www.
without specifically reinforcing the off-grid power system. In our
notre-europe.eu/uploads/tx_publication/Policypaper-Schmidhuber-EN.
experience this limit is typically of the order of 30% on an annual pdf, Accessed: 13/10/2010.
basis. Beyond this level we have experienced issues with frequen­
cy control, and high spinning reserve requirements to cover the  3. Renewable Energy Demonstration Program, http://www.ret.gov.au/
variability of renewable energy sources such as wind turbines. energy/energy%20programs/cei/acre/redp/Pages/default.aspx.
Hydro Tasmania has developed a dynamic resistive frequency  4. Diesendorf, The base load fallacy, 2007, http://www.sustainabilitycentre.
controller to address the issue of spinning reserve under high wind com.au/BaseloadFallacy.pdf.
conditions. Early results indicated that this approach will enable the  5. Pacific Island Renewable Energy Project, Pacific regional Energy As­
displacement of a further 5-10% of diesel fuel on an annual basis. sessment, 2004, SPREP, UNDP, GEF, PIREP.
The next major limitation on renewable energy penetration is
 6. Diesel & Wind Systems, Denham, http://www.daws.com.au/projects/
the elimination of minimum diesel operation.
Denham.html, Accessed: 12/10/2010.
The proposed King Island Renewable Energy Integration
Project is a portfolio of innovative projects utilizing new and exist­  7. Beer, et al. “Final Report (EV45A/2/F3C) to the Australian Green­
ing technologies to increase the use of renewable energy in a grid house Office on the Stage 2 Study of Life-cycle Emissions Analysis of
connected network, reducing emissions and improving the quality Alternative Fuels for Heavy Vehicle”, 2002.
of power supply. The project will demonstrate the future potential  8. Skyllas-Kazacos, M. An Historical Overview of the Vanadium Re­
of renewable energy working in conjunction with energy storage dox Flow Battery Development at the University of New South
and other enabling technologies, to contribute significantly to the Wales, Australia, http://www.ceic.unsw.edu.au/centers/vrb/overview.htm,
development of advanced off-grid systems, and a lower carbon in­ Accessed: 13/10/2010.
tensity Australian Electricity Market.  9. NREL, Power Flow Management in a High Penetration Wind-Diesel
The proposed project aims to achieve 100% instantaneous re­ Hybrid Power System with Short-Term Energy Storage, 1999, http://
newable energy penetration, and a 65% annual contribution from www.nrel.gov/docs/fy99osti/26827.pdf. Accessed: 13/10/200.
renewable generation. Switching off of the last diesel requires the 10. PowerCorp, Mawson Wind-Diesel http://www.pcorp.com.au/index.
introduction of alternative sources to provide for voltage control and php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=73. Accessed:
fault current to enable correct protection operation and system iner­ 13/10/2010.
tia. At this point in the project design the D-UPS is believed to be the
11. VRB Energy Storage for Voltage Stabilization Testing and Evaluation
most appropriate technology for the provision of these services. of the PacifiCorp Vanadium Redox Battery Energy Storage System
The benefit of using a system of the scale of the BSI for this at Castle Valley, Utah 1008434, , http://mydocs.epri.com/docs/public/
project in demonstrating these scenarios includes: 000000000001008434.pdf. Accessed: 13/10/2010.
·  In general a smaller system will experience problems much 12. Hitzinger, Dynamic Diesel UPS Pure sine wave 24/7/365, http://www.
earlier than a large system so it is a very good test bed and will hitzinger.at/assets/pdf/hitzinger_usv_e.pdf, Accessed: 13/10/2010.
 chapter

29
HEAT EXCHANGERS IN POWER
GENERATION
Stanley Yokell and Carl F. Andreone
29.1 INTRODUCTION head exchanger. The tubesheet that does not move is called the
stationary tubesheet. The end of the unit to which the stationary
This chapter describes shell-and-tube and plate and frame types tubesheet is fastened is called the stationary end. The tubesheet
of power plant heat exchangers and tubular closed feedwater heat- that is free to move is called the floating tubesheet. The con-
ers and the language that applies to them. The chapter briefly dis- tainment attached to the floating tubesheet is called the floating
cusses Header Type Feedwater Heaters and their application and head.
use. It defines the design point used to establish exchanger surface U-tube and floating-head bundles may be welded to the shell
and suggests suitable exchanger configurations for various design- at the stationary end or they may be held in place by flanged, gas-
point conditions and the criteria used to measure performance. It keted joints. The latter are designated removable bundle heat ex-
does not cover power plant main and auxiliary steam surface con- changers. The closure of the shell at the U-bend or floating-head
densers because of the differences in how they are designed and end is called a shell cover.
operated The chapter briefly discusses the effects on the e­xchanger Shell-side fluid may also be arranged for single-pass, two-pass
of normal and abnormal deviations from design point during or multi-pass axial flow. It may also be arranged to flow in one
o­peration. of these ways: (1) across the tubes from a centrally located inlet
to an outlet on a common centerline (cross-flow); (2) across the
tubes split into two equal masses by a plate at the shell center line
29.2 SHELL-AND-TUBE HEAT (split flow); (3) into the tube bundle through two equal-sized in-
EXCHANGERS let connections equispaced along the shell, with each incoming
stream split by a plate at the shell center line (double split flow);
Shell-and-tube heat exchangers consist of tubes manifolded and (4) into a centrally located inlet and out through two separate,
together in such a way that one fluid (the tube-side fluid) flows equal-sized outlets near the shell ends (divided flow). Figure 29.1
through inside of the tubes and another (the shell-side fluid) flows is picture of a typical shell-and-tube heat exchanger.
outside the tubes. In U-tube configurations, the tube ends are mani- Closed Feedwater Heaters are a special type of shell-and-tube
folded together in a single plate called a tubesheet or tubeplate. heat exchanger in which the inlet steam may be segregated in an
In straight tube configurations, there are two tubesheets. U-tube enclosure surrounding a number of tubes whose function is to
configurations are always an even number of passes. Straight tube desuperheat steam extracted from various turbine stages optimized
configurations may be single or multipass. to reheat the feedwater, thereby optimizing the fuel needed too
The tubes are supported and flow of shell-side fluid is guided increase the plant efficiency and the fuel needed to generate the
along the tube length by perforated plates or other devices called required steam for the turbine. Steam exiting the desuperheater
tube supports or baffles. The assembly of tubesheet, tubes, and enters the next zone called the condensing zone. A third group of
tube supports or baffles is called a bundle or nest. tubes may be enclosed in a subcooling zone to subcool condensate.
To guide the tube-side fluid into and conduct it from the tubes, a Feedwater heaters in boiling water and pressurized water nuclear
chamber is fastened to each tubesheet at its tube-end face. The seal power plants do not receive superheated steam, therefore they do
of the chamber to the tubesheet is hydraulically tight. Depending not have desuperheating zones.
upon its mechanical configuration, the chamber is called a channel, The Tubular Manufacturers Association’s TEMA Standards
bonnet, or return cover. [1] and the various Heat Exchange Institute Standards, such as
The rear or inner face of the tubesheet(s) and the external sur- HEI Standards for Closed Feedwater Heaters [2], HEI Standards
faces of the tubes and the tube supports or baffles that make up the for Power Plant Heat Exchangers [3] have systems widely used
exterior of the bundle or nest are contained in a chamber called the to designate the types of tubular exchangers used in power plants
shell. Its containment of the bundle of tubes is hydraulically tight. and schemes of designating exchanger sizes. Figure 29.2 shows
If both tubesheets of a straight-tube unit are integrally fastened the TEMA type designations. The HEI Standards have a figure that
to the shell, the exchanger is called a fixed-tubesheet exchanger. shows the various type designations. The HEI does not permit re-
If one tubesheet is fastened immovably to one end and the other producing the figure. Readers can view the figure in the original
tubesheet is free to move axially, the exchanger is called a floating- standards.
29-  •  Chapter 29

Fig. 29.1  Shell-and-tube heat exchanger [Atlas Industrial Manufacturing, Clifton, New Jersey]

29.3 PLATE HEAT EXCHANGERS shell and tube heat exchangers require an approach that gives 5°C
or more. For the same amount of heat exchanged, the size of the
A plate heat exchanger is a type of heat exchanger that uses
plate heat exchanger is smaller because of the large heat transfer
metal plates to transfer heat between two fluids. It consists of a
area afforded by the plates (the large area through which heat can
series of thin (0.005mm to 0.007mm), corrugated plates gasketed,
travel). Expansion and reduction of the heat transfer area is pos-
welded or brazed together depending on the application of the heat
sible in a plate heat exchanger.
exchanger. The plates which are available in sizes up to 4 ft 0 in. ´
Another advantage of the plate heat exchanger is that it is easily
8 ft 0 in. (~1220 mm ´ ~2,500 mm) are compressed together with
dismantled for inspection and cleaning. The plates are also easily
long bolts around the periphery in a rigid frame to form an arrange-
replaceable due to the fact that plates can be removed and replaced
ment of parallel flow channels with alternating hot and cold fluids.
individually. The main weakness of the plate and frame heat ex-
Figure 29.3 illustrates a typical plate heat exchanger.
changer is the necessity for the long bolts which hold the plates
Its major advantage over shell-and-tube exchangers is that, be-
together. Although these bolts are seen as a weakness towards this
cause the fluids spread over thin corrugated metal plates, they en-
type of heat exchanger, it has been successfully run at high tem-
counter more heat transfer surface in a given amount of space than
peratures and pressures.
do shell-and-tube units. The greater surface greatly increases the
All plate heat exchangers look similar on the outside. The dif-
transmission of energy and rapidity with which the temperature of
ference lies on the inside, in the details of the plate design and
the exiting fluids changes.
the sealing technologies used. Hence, when evaluating a plate heat
Their major disadvantage is that the plates are assembled with
exchanger, it is very important not only to explore the details of
gaskets that have to be made leak tight by means of long rods
the product being supplied, but also to analyze the level of research
threaded on the ends. In recent years, some manufacturers have
and development carried out by the manufacturer and the post-
produced plate heat exchangers in which the gasketed joints are
commissioning service and spare parts availability.
eliminated by welding the plates together. Such construction is ac-
ceptable only when the fluids will not foul the surfaces. The gap
between adjacent plates is very small, usually less than 2.5 mm
(0.10 –in.). Filters are required in many applications with river wa- 29.4  EAT EXCHANGERS USED IN
H
ter or brackish sea water. POWER PLANTS
Plate heat exchangers (PHEs) were introduced to industry in
Except for Closed Feedwater Heaters, which have their own set
1923. The plate heat exchanger design restricts its use to medi-
of HEI Standards, heat exchangers used in power plants are usually
um- and low-pressure liquids. Welded and brazed units can accept
built in accordance with the requirements of the HEI Standard for
higher pressures.
Power Plant Heat Exchangers [3]. The standards specify accept-
The plates are manufactured in hydraulic presses that press the
able materials of construction. Users of the standards use their data
thin sheets over dies to produce the corrugations. The corrugations
sheet templates to specify design point conditions, off design point
in adjacent plates are at right angles to each other to provide 1-1/4-
conditions, and possible excursions that could affect the life of the
mm to 1-1/2-mm channels through which the fluid flows from plate
exchangers. Virtually all heat exchangers used in power plants are
pair to plate pair. Most plate heat exchangers used in power plants
built to the rules of Section VIII Division 1 of the ASME Boiler
have stainless steel plates sealed with rubber or rubberized gaskets
and Pressure Vessel Code (Code) [4]. Those exchangers installed
cemented to gasket surfaces on the plate edges.
in areas that are inaccessible because of radiation may be built to
The plates produce an extremely large surface area, which al-
Section III of the Code. Some miscellaneous exchangers in the Re-
lows for the fastest possible transfer. Making each chamber thin
actor Building may be built to Section III Class C.
ensures that the majority of the volume of the liquid contacts the
The following lists most of the exchangers used for various
plate, again aiding exchange. The troughs also create and maintain
services, the heat transfer mode and the TEMA types used for the
a turbulent flow in the liquid to maximize heat transfer in the ex-
service.
changer. A high degree of turbulence can be obtained at low flow
rates and high-heat transfer coefficient can then be achieved.   1.  Turbine building closed cooling water heat exchangers
As compared to shell and tube heat exchangers, the temperature   2.  Service water exchangers
approach in a plate heat exchangers may be as low as 1°C whereas   3.  Shutdown cooling water exchangers
 energy and power generation handbook   •  29-

Fig. 29.2 TEMA type designation system [Tubular Exchanger Manufacturers Association Tarrytown, New York Standards of
the Tubular Exchanger Manufacturers Association, 9th Ed., 2007, The Tubular Manufacturer’s Association, Tarrytown, New York.]

  4.  Turbine lube oil coolers 29.4.1 Turbine Building Closed Cooling Water Heat
  5.  Gland steam condensers Exchangers
  6.  Closed feedwater heaters The heat transfer mode of these exchangers is sensible heat trans-
  7.  Header type feedwater heaters fer. The TEMA types used are AEL, AEM. BEM, AFL, AFM,
  8.  External drains coolers BFM, AGL, AGM, BGM usually arranged horizontally. The units
  9.  Steam generator blowdown coolers have large diameters. The shells may be E type (single pass), F type
10.  Bearing oil coolers (two pass with longitudinal baffle) or G type (split flow) depend-
11.  Emergency diesel engine jacket water coolers ing upon the flows and temperatures. The tube side is usually multi-
12.  Sample coolers. pass. Channel construction depends upon accessibility requirements.
With the exception of closed feedwater heaters, the operating There are few operating problems with these heat exchangers.
pressures on both shell and tube sides are moderate. The tube
sides of the highest feedwater heaters in the cycle operate at the 29.4.2 Service Water Exchangers
feedwater pump pressures. The following briefly discusses these The heat transfer mode of these exchangers is sensible heat
e­xchangers. transfer. The TEMA types used are AEL, AEM. BEM, AFL, AFM,
29-  •  Chapter 29

Fig. 29.3 All welded plate type bearing oil cooler [Alpha Laval, Richmond, VA]

BFM, AGL, AGM, BGM usually arranged horizontally. The units close so shell expansion joints are not required. There are few op-
have large diameters. The shells may be E type (single pass), F erating problems. Units that lie idle between shutdowns should be
type (two pass with longitudinal baffle) or G type (split flow) de- cleaned regularly.
pending upon the flows and temperatures. The tube side is usu-
ally multipass. Channel construction depends upon accessibility 29.4.4 Turbine Lube Oil Coolers
requirements. There are few operating problems with these heat The heat transfer mode of these exchangers is sensible heat
exchangers. transfer. The TEMA types used are BEU and AEU. Channel con-
figuration depends upon accessibility requirements. Large vertical
29.4.3 Shutdown Cooling Water Exchangers channel up. Tube joints are expanded. Some units have the tubes
Shutdown cooling water exchangers are provided in pairs. They seal welded to the tubesheets to avoid the possibility of water en-
are used only during shutdowns. Consequently the practice is pe- tering the lube oil which flows in the shell. The shell is baffled to
riodically to test the integrity of the exchangers. The heat transfer the extent that the allowable pressure drop permits. There are few
mode of these exchangers is sensible heat transfer. The TEMA operating problems.
types used are AEM and NEN. Channel configuration depends
upon accessibility requirements. The tube side is usually single or 29.4.5 Gland Steam Condensers
two pass. Tube-to-tubesheet joints are expanded. Some units are The heat transfer mode of these exchangers is transfer of latent
built with seal welded and expanded tube-to-tubesheet joints for heat of condensation transferred to the cooling stream. The TEMA
maximum leak tightness. The terminal temperatures are sufficiently types used are BEU and AEU, AEL, AEM, NEN, BEM. The

Fig. 29.4 Typical steam generator blowdown cooler [Schematic drawing by MGT Inc., Boulder, CO]
 energy and power generation handbook   •  29-

channel type depends upon accessibility requirements. The fixed into the condenser neck. A duplex heater consists of two heat ex-
tubesheet types are single pass with shell expansion joints. This changer modules, for example Low Pressure Heater 1 and Low
exchanger takes the full condensate flow which requires the unit to Pressure Heater two in a common shell. The heater modules are
be short and fat. Tube joints are expanded but may be seal welded. either pure condensing or have a condensing zone with an integral
There are few operating problems. drain cooler. They are separated by a partition wall in the shell.
Turbine extraction steam of different pressure and temperature is
29.4.6 Closed Feedwater Heaters fed through separate steam inlet nozzles. The feedwater flows from
Closed feedwater heaters in fossil stations may have one, two, the channel through the U-tubes of the first module while extrac-
or three heat transfer zones. Those in nuclear plants may have tion steam the lower pressure condenses on the outer surface of the
one or two. The distinction is that steam from the boiler in fossil tubes. The feedwater heated in module 1 flows through the tubes
plants is superheated, whereas steam from the steam generator of the second module and heated to a higher temperature by the
in nuclear ones is saturated or wet saturated steam. The mode of higher pressure extraction steam entering the second module steam
heat transfer in desuperheating and subcooling zones is sensible. inlet (Fig. 29.6).
In condensing zones, latent heat of condensation is transferred to The condensate is discharged at the shell bottom through noz-
the feedwater. zles with the flow from the second heater controlled by means of a
Most modern feedwater heaters are U-tube designs, constructed valve that controls the levels in the shell. If a module has an inte-
with either full access or manway access channels (see Fig. 29.5). gral drain cooler zone, part of the bundle is flooded.
Most U-tube construction has the channel welded to the tubesheet, Venting channels are set in the bundle lane at the lowest pres-
the tubesheet welded to a skirt and the skirt welded to the shell. To sure. Flows in the channel are separated by dividing it into three
extract the bundle requires cutting the shell at a designated cut line. spaces using internal shrouds or angular plates. The channel inlet
However, some few heaters have the channel and shell flanged nozzles is connected to the first shroud and the water outlet nozzle
enabling bundle extraction. At one time, some feedwater heaters to the second shroud. Between the shrouds, the feedwater flows
used floating head designs such as TEMA types AES and DES. For from heater 1 to heater 2.
complete descriptions and nomenclature, the reader should refer to
the HEI Closed Feedwater Heater Standards. 29.4.6.2  Header Type Feedwater Heaters  Header type, high-
Subcooler designs may be full pass, partial length or partial pass pressure feedwater heaters consist of a tube bundle with multiple
full length, with full pass, partial length being the most common. bend tube coils enclosed in a shell. The tubes are individually
Feedwater heaters may be mounted horizontally or vertically, with welded to separate inlet and outlet header pipe nipples. They are
some heaters mounted in the condenser neck. designed as single-, two-, and three-zone heaters. Single-zone ones
Properly designed and operated feedwater heaters present few are straight condensing; two-zone ones have a condensing and sub-
problems providing that they are not in cycling service. Those in cooling zone and three-zone ones have desuperheating, condens-
cycling service may be subject to corrosion because of incomplete ing and subcooling zones. They may be installed horizontally or
removal of non-condensibles during startups or having air fill the vertically.
shell during shut down with tubes that will likely corrode. Tube The literature on Header Type Feedwater Heaters states that they
bundles having corrosion-prone materials, such as carbon steel or have lower maximum stresses during transient operation condition
copper alloys, must be protected by suitable blanketing arrange- and therefore fewer potential failure mechanisms than tubesheet
ments that will prevent the air coming in contact with the wet tube heaters [5]. This is because the design minimizes thermal stresses
surface. Proper operation includes careful monitoring of the liquid by isolating the cold feedwater from the hot water stream. Header
level, making sure operating vents are properly functioning and type feedwater heaters are also known as “snake” heater because of
startup vents are used when bringing the heaters on line. the sinuous passage of the feedwater tubes. It has traditionally been
Feedwater heaters are installed in strings with the highest point used in German high-efficiency, coal-fired plants. But it is seldom
heater receiving the highest pressure extraction steam from the used in the United States. The reluctance in the United States has
turbine and the lowest point heater the lowest pressure extraction to do with the perception that no domestic heater manufacturer is
steam. The operation of the string is affected if one or more heat- sufficiently skilled to produce reliable header type heaters; the con-
ers is bypassed. Feedwater heaters may also be installed in parallel struction requires welding the tubes to nipples, which is one cause
strings with one string carrying most of the load when the second for concern.
string is bypassed. The world’s largest header-type feedwater heaters weigh more
Procurement of feedwater heaters requires preparing specific for- than 270 tons when empty. Three header type heaters and a sepa-
the-purpose procurement specifications. These include feedwater rate desuperheater usually form a complete high-pressure train.
data sheets that describe design point conditions, overload condi- The heaters are usually installed upright and, depending upon the
tions and low load conditions. Typically the User specifies the antic- piping system, have three or four water passes.
ipated conditions and the Manufacturer fills in the data that reflects The principal cost savings for header type feedwater heaters
the Manufacturer’s prediction of steam and condensate properties, is that the cylindrical headers require only relatively thin walls
heat transfer rates, outlet temperatures, and pressure drops. compared with conventional U-tube heaters designed for the same
It is important for Users to examine Manufacturers’ designs for operating conditions. Reference [5] states that the wall thickness
conformity to procurement specification including the manufac- is only 10% to 20% of the wall thickness of conventional high-
turer’s procedures and standards, ASME Code calculations, vibra- ­pressure hemi-head channel design U-tube heaters.
tion calculations and other calculations that determine the longevity
of the heaters. 29.4.7 External Drain Coolers
The heat transfer mode of these exchangers is sensible heat transfer.
29.4.6.1  Duplex Closed Feedwater Heaters  Duplex feed- The TEMA types used are AEL, AEM. BEM, NEN. T­emperature lev-
water heaters are arranged horizontally and are normally inserted els are low on both sides with terminal temperatures relatively close,
29-  •  Chapter 29

Fig. 29.5 Three-zone, high-pressure, manway access feedwater heater undergoing hydrostatic test-
ing [Photograph by MGT Inc., Boulder, CO During Shop Inspection]

obviating the need for expansion joints. There are few operating prob- not usually require shell expansion joints. Tubes are expanded into
lems. These coolers are also short and fat. They take all the feedwater grooved tubesheet holes. Plate exchanger types may be gasketed or
matching up the same number of parallel strings as the heaters. all welded. There are few operating problems.

29.4.8 Steam Generator Blowdown Coolers 29.4.11 Sample Coolers

Blowdown is a hot mixture of feedwater and flashed steam. The The heat transfer mode of these exchangers is sensible heat
heat transfer mode is a combinations of sensible heat transfer and transfer. TEMA type does not apply. Sample coolers are small (1
condensation of flashed steam. Blowdown coolers typically are mul- to 2 sq. ft surface) catalog items with a tube(s) coiled in a tank.
titube U-tube types. See Fig. 29.4 for a typical blowdown cooler There are few operating problems.
d­esign. See the accompany figure for typical construction. There
may be differential expansion problems between the passes of hori-
zontal units with shell side condensation if the subcooling range is
29.5 DESIGN POINT
long.
The design point is a set of specific steady state operating condi-
29.4.9 Bearing Oil Cooler tions, which fixes the heat content and state of the fluids entering
The heat transfer mode of these exchangers is sensible heat trans- and leaving an exchanger. The design point determines exchanger
fer. Many utilities employ older, radiators with motor driven blow- size. Exchanger configuration and construction are affected by
ers, which have ineffective heat transfer rates, and require a large d­esign point conditions.
footprint, and frequent and involved cleanup and maintenance.
Current technology is to use plate and frame units which have very 29.5.1 Design Point Conditions
close temperature approach capability. Construction is all welded
The following conditions establish the thermal and mechanical
with built in cleaning connections and self-draining capability.
design of a heat exchanger:
Depending on the source of the cooling water, unit may require
frequent flushing and cleaning. A.  Inlet and outlet temperature of each stream
B.  Operating pressure of each stream
29.4.10 Emergency Diesel Engine Jacket Water Coolers C.  Flow quantities of each stream
The heat transfer mode of these exchangers is sensible heat D.  Composition of each stream
transfer. The TEMA types used are TEMA types AEL, AEM. E.  Condition of state of each stream
BEM, NEN, and Plate heat exchangers. Shell and tube types do F.  Permissible pressure drop in each stream.
 energy and power generation handbook   •  29-

Fig. 29.6  Schematic representation of dual feedwater heater [Schematic drawing by MGT Inc., Boulder, CO]

29.5.2 Effect of Design Point on Configuration j) Non-condensibles with vapor entering; non-condensibles
For various fluid states, the design point affects choice of con- and condensate leaving
figuration, mechanical design and construction. The heat transfer k) Superheated liquid in flashed and heated; two-phase
mode is related to types of exchangers and design and construction v­apor-liquid out
details. The use to which the exchanger will be put also may af- l)  Gas–liquid mixture in and out
fect the configuration. For example, a fluid that must remain con- m)  Saturated liquid in; two-phase liquid-vapor out
tamination free should circulate at a higher pressure than the other 3.  Construction
fluid. This may affect the configuration. In addition, such a situa- 4.  Possible Operating Problems
tion might call for double tubesheet construction.
For various fluid states, the following paragraphs show how
design point affects choice of configuration, mechanical design, 29.5.3 Normal Deviations from Design Point
and construction. The heat transfer mode is related to types of ex- Some normal operating deviations from design point occur when
changers and design and construction details. The reader of these there is a difference in cooling water temperature between winter
notes should be aware that not all possibilities are covered and that and summer and changes in demand elsewhere in the system.
the use to which the exchanger will be put also may affect the Cooling water changes are dealt with by using bypasses to main-
configuration. tain constant service water velocity in the cooling stream. Changes
In assessing the suitable configuration, designers consider the in demand are dealt with by bypassing the process streams and re-
following: circulating to keep flow rates through the exchanger constant.
1.  Heat Transfer Mode In feedwater heaters, changes in demand cause changes in the
2.  Type to Use Suitable for the Heat Transfer Mode. flow rates and pressures of the steam and feedwater to the heater.
O­rdinarily, when demand is moderately below capacity, the r­eduction
A partial list of heat transfer modes and types of exchangers in feedwater demand is balanced by generating less steam r­esulting
used is as follows: in greater pressure drops between stages with correspondingly lower
 EMA types AEL, AEM, BEM, AFL, AFM, BFM, AGL, AGM,
T temperatures. In this circumstance, lower kW output is achieved.
BGM, NEN are usually arranged horizontally. When demand is intermittent and it is economical to take a
b­oiler off the line thereby reducing feedwater demand, heaters may
a)  Gases heated or cooled leaving as gases. be bypassed or shut down. Putting heaters into and taking them out
Some feedwater heaters are arranged vertically to save space. of operation frequently can result in more rapid erosion, corrosion,
and mechanical damage than what would occur for continuous op-
b)  Pure vapor condensing isothermally eration in the design point range.
c)  Mixed vapors of insoluble liquids condensing
d)  Mixed vapors of soluble liquids condensing 29.5.4 Abnormal Deviations from Design Point
e)  Liquids heated or cooled
Abnormal deviations from Design Point conditions result from
f)  Gases desuperheated, vapors condensed
the following:
g) Vapors condensed and condensate subcooled (Feedwa-
ter heaters in fossil and nuclear stations 1.  Insufficient design surface
h) Gases desuperheated, vapors condensed and condensate 2.  Excess design surface
subcooled (Feedwater heaters in fossil stations) 3.  Inadequate venting
i) Vapors with large amounts of non-condensibles enter- 4. Inadequate level control in vaporizers, condenser-subcoolers
ing; condensate and saturated non-condensibles leaving and feedwater heaters.
29-  •  Chapter 29

29.6 PERFORMANCE PARAMETERS 29.7 OVERLOADS AND LOW LOADS

To assess the performance of a heat exchanger, it is neces- An overload raises the duty demanded of a heat exchanger. The
sary to measure the flows through each side, the inlet and outlet balance is upset, causing changes in metal temperatures. Shell ex-
temperatures and pressures on each side and to know the ther- pansion joints may not be adequate in fixed tubesheet equipment.
mal properties of the fluids flowing. Using these data, the perfor­ Tube-to-tubesheet joints may fail.
mance engineer can calculate the amount of heat being trans-
ferred (duty), the log mean or weighted temperature difference 29.7.1 Overloads in Closed Feedwater Heaters
between the shell- and tubeside flows and the overall coefficient If the turbine operates between its design load and its overload
of heat transfer achieved and compare these data with the manu- limit, more steam is demanded than at the design point. To provide
facturer’s heat exchanger data sheet. By plotting performance the steam, the steam generator or boiler requires more feedwater.
versus time, the performance engineer can determine the rate of To maintain the specified terminal temperature difference (TTD)
fouling and estimate the appropriate interval for cleaning the ex- and drains cooling approach (DCA), more bleed steam is required.
changer. Therefore, the flows on both sides of the exchanger are increased.
Steam flow is an uncontrolled flow that is a function of the operat-
29.6.1 Performance Parameters for Closed Feedwater ing conditions. At overload conditions, the heater will most likely
Heaters maintain the specified TTD but the outlet temperature will be lower
Two parameters are used to describe the performance of Closed than the design basis.
Feedwater Heaters-Terminal Temperature Difference (TTD) and On the shell side of the heater, the total pressure loss will be
Drains Subcooler Approach (DCA). The HEI Standard for Closed increased. If the steam and drain nozzles are not sized to handle
Feedwater Heaters defines TTD as the difference between satura- the overload flows, the tubes and nozzles will be eroded because
tion temperature corresponding to the entering extraction steam of the high steam velocity. Steam distribution may be impaired
and the outlet feedwater temperature. The TTD may be positive or if distribution dome area is not large enough for the overload
negative. The standard defines DCA as the temperature difference flow.
between the drains leaving the shellside of the heater and the enter- If the zonal cross flow baffle and tube support systems are not
ing feedwater on the tube side. designed for the overflow, there will be vibration damage to the

Fig. 29.7 Typical Bourdon tube test gage used in testing high pressure feedwater heaters [Photograph
by MGT Inc., Boulder, CO During Shop Inspection]
 energy and power generation handbook   •  29-

tubes and support plates. Vibration damage to the tubes will be lo- that hydrostatic testing does not disclose minute leaks (weeping)
cated near the back face of the tubesheet, at the penetrations of the through the tube-to-tubesheet joints because the graduations of the
tube supports by the tubes, approximately midway between tube test gages are too coarse to indicate minute pressure drops [5]. De-
supports and in the U bend region. The baffles and tube supports pending upon the service of the exchangers such leaks may be in-
will also be damaged by being rubbed and pounded by the tubes. significant or they may be unacceptable. In high-pressure feedwa-
In desuperheating feedwater heaters, the desuperheater may ter heaters, minute leaks of feedwater through the tube-to-tubesheet
not be able to handle the increased flow unless provision has been joints can cause wire drawing, which erodes the tubesheet metal
made in advance in sizing the unit or to bypass the excess extrac- giving the eroded part the appearance of worm holes.
tion steam to the condensing zone. Most high-pressure and some intermediate-pressure feedwater
In addition to the extra steam demand, the quantity of drains flow heaters have the channel side faced with weld metal cladding.
to the heater will be increased. The amount of steam flashed from Worm holing can create cavities in the softer tubesheet metal
drains cascaded from higher pressure heaters will, therefore, increase leading to loss of capacity and sometimes to end of life of the
leading to surges and possible difficulties in controlling liquid level. heater.
If the shell contains a flash chamber for flashing the cascaded drains, To avoid such outcomes, prudent purchasers require Manufac-
and the chamber is only large enough to handle design point flow, it turers to perform non-destructive testing in addition to the ASME
may flood and shift flashing to the condensing zone. Code required hydrostatic testing. These consist of liquid penetrant
On the tube side, the higher feedwater flow can erode nozzles, pass examination of tube-to-tubesheet joints, gas-bubble testing of tube-
partitions and pass partition covers and the tubesheet and tube ends. to-tubesheet joints, and mass spectrometer testing the heater with
In addition, the pressure drop through the tubes will be increased. helium–air mixture in the shell and sniffer examination of the tube-
to-tubesheet joints. The requirements for the procedures used in
29.7.2 Low Loads in Closed Feedwater Heaters such testing are given in Section V, Non-destructive Testing of the
In fossil stations low load conditions in feedwater heaters with ASME Code.
desuperheating zones result in the tube metal temperature being too
low at the desuperheater exit. Consequently the steam will start to
condense while the steam velocity is high and droplets of conden- 29.9 REFERENCES
sate will be hurled at the adjacent tube support and the tubes even-
tually eroding the support or tubes causing the tubes to erode and [1] Standards of the Tubular Exchanger Manufacturers Association, 9th
leak or the unsupported tube span to become longer than required ed., 2007 The Tubular Exchanger Manufacturer’s Association, Tar-
to resist destructive tube vibration. rytown, New York.
[2] Standards for Closed Feedwater Heaters, 8th Ed, 2008, The Heat Ex-
change Institute, Cleveland, Ohio.
29.8 TESTING POWER PLANT HEAT [3] Standards for Power Plant Heat Exchangers, 4th Ed., 2004, The Heat
EXCHANGERS FOR STRUCTURAL Exchange Institute, Cleveland, Ohio.
INTEGRITY AND TIGHTNESS [4] ASME Boiler & Pressure Vessel Code, American Society of Mechani-
cal Engineers, New York, New York. A new edition is published at
The purpose of the ASME-required hydrostatic testing ASME three-year intervals with Addenda published biennially along with
Code-stamped heat exchangers is to test the ability of the structure Code Cases and Interpretations.
to withstand the test pressures. For this purpose, Manufacturer’s
use calibrated Bourdon tube type test gages as shown in Fig. 29.7. [5] Youssef, M., “Header type feedwater heaters as retrofits for cycling
units.” Power-Gen Europe 94: May 25-27, 1993 Paris.
The ASME Code does not permit visible leakage during hydro-
static testing. [6] Yokell, Stanley, Pressure Testing Feedwater Heaters And Power Plant
However, in constructions in which the back face of the tubesheet Auxiliary Heat Exchangers, Paper No. 2010-27106, presented at the
is not visible during hydrostatic testing, Users should be aware ASME PowerGen Conference, July 2010, Chicago.
 chapter

30
WATER COOLED STEAM SURFACE
CONDENSERS
K. P. (Kris) Singh

30.1 INTRODUCTION A reliable design for collection and expulsion of the non-con-
densibles is particularly important in the surface condensers used
The subject of this chapter is the capital equipment in a steam in geothermal plants where the steam extracted from the ground
power plant that is used to condense the exhaust steam from the has a large fraction of associated gases.
lowest pressure turbine, by using water as the cooling medium. In Toward that end, the designer should ensure that the condensed
the applied heat transfer literature, such heat transfer equipment steam — the condensate — does not have the opportunity to come
is often simply referred to as the “Surface Condenser.” A surface in contact with the non-condensibles, lest it reabsorb some of the
condenser is necessarily a large piece of equipment because more non-condensibles. Theoretically, condensate at its saturation tem-
than 60% of the thermal energy produced by a power plant ends perature cannot absorb any non-condensibles. However, as we will
up as low enthalpy (waste) heat. This is because of the inherent discuss later, the mechanism of condensation implies a certain
thermodynamic limitation of the Rankine Cycle, which must be amount of subcooling no matter how artful the design. A faulty
rejected by the condenser to the environment. The heat transfer design can further accentuate the subcooling and increase the non-
area in a power plant’s surface condenser easily dwarfs that in any condensible absorption. Moreover, a subcooled condensate also
other heat exchanger in the plant. brings down the plant cycle efficiency since the heat lost to the
Classical thermodynamics holds that the lower the tempera- cooling water (outside environment) in the process of subcooling
ture of the heat sink, the higher the efficiency of the Carnot cycle. must be supplied by the boiler.
Therefore, attaining the lowest possible condensing temperature in In addition to serving as the “heat sink” for the power plant, the
the heat sink of the Rankine Cycle—the surface condenser—is a surface condenser also acts as the dump for vents and drains and
primary goal in surface condenser design. Since the saturation tem- turbine bypass steam at various levels of pressure and quantity.
perature and pressure of steam vary in a proportional manner at low While some of these so-called dumps are continuous, most are in-
pressures, the objective of low condensing temperature translates termittent or sporadic.
to that of a low condenser operating pressure. Accordingly, surface Finally, the surface condenser performs a secondary, yet quite
condensers are operated at as high a level of vacuum (typically 1.0 to important, function of cooling the condensate so it can be “pol-
2.5 in. of mercury absolute) as the quantity and temperature of the ished” (removed of solids and other dissolved impurities) in filters
cooling water would allow. The subatmospheric condition in the and demineralizers. These multi-faceted functions of the surface
condenser and portions of turbine assembly and auxiliaries pro- condenser accord it a pivotal place in the power cycle.
motes leakage of air into the system. In boiling water type of n­uclear The above summary of condenser design considerations, how-
plants the motive steam acquires additional non-condensibles ever, only dwells on the system aspects. Many more considera-
due to radiological disassociation of water into hydrogen and oxy- tions pertain to the condenser as a heat transfer hardware. Of
gen. Whatever their origin, these so-called non-condensibles tend particular importance in this category is steam jet erosion of the
to collect in the lowest pressure region in the power cycle which tubes. The steam leaving the last row of blades in a typical power
is the steam space in the surface condenser. Unless removed con- cycle is usually very slightly wet. Consideration of economy in
tinuously and efficiently, they may sharply interfere with the heat power plant design frequently leads to too small a distance be-
transfer process in the condenser. Kern [8] quotes observed data tween the low-pressure turbine exhaust flange and the top row
of Othmer which indicates that even 1% volumetric concentration of tubes in the condenser tube bank. The wet steam issuing from
of air in steam reduces the condensing film coefficient by approxi- the turbine does not have adequate distance to sufficiently decel-
mately 45%. erate before hitting the tubes. Numerous condensers have suf-
The oxygen in the non-condensibles is another source of concern. fered widespread tube failures due to this reason. This problem
Oxygen is known to actuate corrosion of condenser internals. Auste- has become much more common with the increase in the size of
nitic stainless steel tubing can become highly susceptible to stress the power plants. Large turbine wheels in bigger plants mean that
corrosion in the presence of even small concentrations of o­xygen. the steam coming out of the turbine will be more maldistributed,
Therefore, efficient collection and removal of non-condens­ibles is of resulting in tube wastage even in units where the average steam
paramount importance in surface condenser design. inlet velocity into the condenser is quite modest. It is common
30-  •  Chapter 30

in coal fired and nuclear power plants to place low-pressure feed­

water heaters, and other pipings in the path of steam inlet, which
in many cases may further aggravate the steam velocity maldis-
tribution. Finally, as mentioned above, the condenser is the re-
cipient of vents and drains from the scores of equipment in the
power plant. It is also the ultimate dump of “high energy” steam
in the event of an abnormal condition. These connections some-
times contribute to the aforementioned problems of tube erosion
and non-condensible blanketing. Of course, conventional heat
exchanger operational problems, namely tube surface fouling,
flow-induced vibration, structural integrity under thermal and
pressure transients, etc., and perils of off-design operation, must
be contended with.
The off-design operating condition pertaining to colder cool-
ing water (in winter months) is particularly nettlesome. Colder
cooling water means lower condensing pressures in the con-
denser and a higher rate of condensation. Since the specific
volume of steam rises inversely with pressure, the twin condi-
tions of lower pressures and higher steam flow rate can cause Photograph A: A two-tube pass rectangular
a marked increase in the steam inlet velocity and threaten the 900mw supercritical coal-fired plant (Courtesy
specter of rapid tube erosion. It must also be noted that the sur- Holtec International)
face condenser produces the maximum reduction in the volume
of the heating medium (steam) at only a small fraction of the
pressure loss available in typical shell and tube heat exchang-
ers. The i­ncoming steam pressure is only 1 or 2 in. of mercury
above the absolute vacuum. Ideally, the designer would wish
that no pressure loss occur due to flow of steam across the bank
of tubes. Loss of pressure would imply corresponding drop in
the condensing temperature difference between steam and cool-
ing water, causing a decreased temperature and a concomitant
drop in the heat duty. Pressure loss due to flow of steam across
tube banks cannot be eliminated; it can, however, be minimized.
Indeed, minimization of the pressure loss, along with efforts to
provide a steam distribution in natural accord with the steam
demand pattern dictated by heat transfer laws, and efficient ac-
cumulation of non-condensibles, are three key considerations
in surface condenser design. In the following sections, we will
review the theoretical premise and state-of-the-art design prac-
tice in surface condenser technology with a brief discussion of
industrial terms in design and operation.
Photograph B: Condenser for 80MW combined
cycle plant (Courtesy Holtec International)
30.2  URFACE CONDENSER
S
CONSTRUCTION
No matter what the shape of the shell, due to the large volumet-
The foregoing narrative of the design objectives in a power plant ric flows involved, the designer always arranges the steam flow to
condenser makes it abundantly clear that it cannot be a direct con- be transverse to the tube bundle in the so-called cross flow arrange-
tact type unit. The importance of the purity of the condensate for ment. In large steam surface condenses the steam inlet — referred
reliable operation of the power plant was realized early on by James to as the “condenser neck” — is usually in the form of a tapered
Watt who in 1765 is known to have preferred a shell-and-tube type dome to provide a well distributed steam flow on to the tube banks
condenser over a direct contact cooler. Modern surface condensers (Fig. 30.1). The condenser neck is attached to the turbine exhaust
are housed in circular shells when the heat transfer surfaces are less by an expansion joint, which facilitates alignment during instal-
than roughly 50,000 sq. ft. and in rectangular shells for larger units. lation, and absorbs differential movements due to settling of the
In some instances, elliptical and obound shells have also been foundation and due to thermal expansions. This arrangement, how-
used. A rectangular shell provides maximum use of plant space, ever, gives rise to the potential of condenser uplift due to axial
but is poorly shaped to withstand vacuum (see Photograph A). contraction of the expansion joint under vacuum conditions. In
A circular shell is an excellent structural shape for vacuum con- Europe, the common practice has been to eliminate the expansion
ditions, but it does not lend too well to a tube layout leading to joint, and “hang” the condenser from the turbine exhaust instead.
the most desired steam distribution. A circular shell is also the The condenser is mounted on flexible foundations to provide ther-
most rugged construction requiring minimum amount of bracing mal expansion absorption ability to the system. In either of the two
to withstand vacuum load. Circular cross-section condensers are schemes of connections, the designer must exercise extreme care
typically used in small power plants (see Photograph B). while designing the condenser supports.
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  30-

Another method is to employ an “integral double tubesheet.”

Such a tubesheet is made by drilling deep serrations in the tube
holes at mid-tubesheet thickness. The outer boundaries of these
cylindrical serrations intersect producing an interconnected set of
cylindrical voids around each tube at mid-tubesheet thickness (see
Fig. 30.2). The pressure in this catacomb of annuli can be moni-
tored by an outside connection.
Most condensers are either single tube pass or two-tube pass.
The number of tube passes is dependent on the available cooling
water flow rate. The overall heat transfer coefficient in a surface
condenser is strongly dependent on the tube velocity. Therefore,
the condenser designer attempts to maximize the tubeside flow ve-
locity within the constraints of the available pumping head and
in-tube velocity limits for various tube materials derived from past
operating experience. These considerations sometimes lead to a
two-pass design. The heat transfer implications of one- and two-
pass designs on the shellside steam flow will be discussed in a later
section.
Unlike a feedwater heater, a power plant cannot be operated with
the condenser out-of-service. For this reason, surface condensers
Fig. 30.1 Two-pass rectangular surface are often made with the so-called divided waterbox, wherein the
c­ondenser tube bundle is separated into two parallel banks, each equipped
with its own circulating water inlet and outlet connections. This
arrangement permits the tubes in one bank to be serviced (cleaned,
The bottom part of the condenser shell — the “hotwell” — serves plugged, etc.) by opening the waterbox while the other bank is
to store the condensed steam for pumping up through the feedwater operating. An obvious demerit of this set-up is the possibility of
heater trains, and finally into the boiler. excessive loads on tube-to-tubesheet joints due to large metal tem-
Surface condensers are generally of the straight tube, fixed perature differences between the operating bank and out-of-service
tubesheet type [1, Chapter 11]. An expansion joint is usually pro- bank of tubes.
vided in the shell to reduce tube-to-tubesheet joint loads due to The long span of tubes between the two tubesheets requires lat-
differential thermal growth between the tubes and the shell. Other eral support to prevent excessive sagging and failure from flow
concepts to alleviate start-up and operating conditions have been induced vibrations. The plates used to support tubes are also
proposed and tried. One approach entails use of “compression used to support the rectangular shell panels in rectangular shells
bolts” to pull up the two tubesheets together, and thus place the [1, C­hapter 1], and therefore must be sized as load-bearing mem-
tube bundle under a compressive axial pre-stress, before making bers. The tubes are, of course, the heart of any tubular heat ex-
the last shell-to-tubesheet joint. This pre-stress reduces the operat- changer. The selection of the correct tube material is particularly
ing condition tube axial stress, which is assumed to be tensile ow- important in surface condenser design, because of the sheer quantity
ing to the circulating cold water inside the tubes. of heat transfer surface involved. Copper bearing materials, such
Much of the condenser structural design effort is devoted to es- as Admiralty, Copper Nickel, Aluminum Bronze etc., were com-
tablishing the tubesheet thickness, which cannot be ascertained us- monly used for tube materials in the 1970s and 1980s. Problems
ing standard formulas due to its shape (frequently rectangular), the associated with the copper contamination of condensate as well
presence of large untubed regions, and occasionally large mechani- as the circulating water have prompted the use of stainless steel
cal loads transmitted from the cooling water nozzle connections. and titanium. Copper carryover has been named as a prime agent
HEI surface condenser standards [2] recognize the wide variations behind the so-called tube denting failure in steam generators of
in the tubesheet drilled hole pattern and other design parameters, the pressurized water reactor nuclear plants. Boiling water r­eactor
and recommends the use of stress analysis techniques of the type suppliers have also expressed concerns regarding the detrimental
described in reference [1] for determining the tubesheet thickness.
Prompted by the overriding concern of condensate purity, the con-
denser suppliers have devised several schemes to ensure that the
cooling water does not leak into the steam space. Using closely
spaced double tubesheets [1, Chapter 10] is a classical recourse.
The space between the two tubesheets is filled with pure conden-
sate at a pressure higher than the waterbox pressure. This arrange-
ment ensures that any leak path developed across the inner or outer
tubesheet would cause the pure condensate to leak into the steam
space or the waterbox, which would be a non-contaminative event,
and which is quickly detected by monitoring the pressure in the
inter-tubesheet space.
The double tubesheet construction also affords the opportunity
to use a corrosion resistant exotic alloy, such as Muntz metal, in the
waterbox closure tubesheet, and carbon steel for the shell closure
tubesheet (inner tubesheet). Fig. 30.2 Integral double tubesheet
30-  •  Chapter 30

Table 30.1 Commonly used tubing materials PTC 12.2 provides the guidelines for locating the measurement
points.
ASME Code designation Comment Condensing steam temperature: It is the saturation temperature
corresponding to the condensing pressure as defined above.
SA-249-304 Most common in the U.S. Initial temperature difference: qI = Tc − ti (in Fig. 30.3)
SA-249-304L Temperature rise: Dt = to − ti
SA-249-316 Common the U.S.
Terminal temperature difference: qo = Tc − to
SA-268-S44660 Sold under the trade name “Seacure”
Multi-pressure condenser: In some large power plants equipped
SA-268 S43035 Sold under the trade name AL-6XN
with parallel turbines, the condensers for the different exhausts
SB-338 Grade 2 Titanium
may utilize the same cooling water progressively heated in succes-
sive condensers. The condenser receiving the coldest water would,
of course, maintain the lowest steam pressure. The successive con-
effect of copper species in the BWR reactor internals. These de- denser would operate at increasing higher steam pressures consis­
velopments have practically banished copper-based alloys from tent with the entering cooling water temperature. Such a group of
nuclear fueled p­ower plants. As a result, titanium, despite its high condensers is referred to as “multi-pressure condenser.”
cost, has emerged as a tubing material of choice of many power Condensate depression: As will be discussed later, the temper-
plants. ature of the condensate is always a few degrees lower than the
Table 30.1 provides a listing of the commonly used condenser coincident condensing steam temperature. The drop in the local
tubing material at the present time. pressure due to the flow of steam across the tubes also reduces the
corresponding saturation temperature and hence the temperature
of the condensate is reduced. These effects, among others, result in
30.3 DEFINITIONS the temperature of hotwell condensates being a few degrees below
the condensing steam temperature. This temperature difference is
Certain terms are unique to the parlance of surface condenser
known as “condensate depression” or “condensate subcooling.”
technology. They are explained below to familiarize the reader
Multi-pressure condensers are usually arranged such that the
with the established terminology.
coldest condensate is cascaded to the next coldest condensate and
Heat duty: Like all heat exchangers, the heat duty of a surface
so on. This results in even greater condensate depression in the
condenser is equal to the net heat transfer rate to cooling water.
last (highest pressure condenser) hotwell. Excessive condensate
However, at the risk of small errors, the industry [2] has also
depression is undesirable since it increases the likelihood of non-
adopted the simple definition of heat duty as l Ws, where Ws is the
condensible absorption by the subcooled water.
quantity of steam entering the condenser, and l = 950 Btu/lb for
Heat head: It is the old term for “initial temperature difference,”
condensers in turbine service, l = 1000 Btu/lb for condensers in
defined earlier.
engine service.
Condenser pressure: The static pressure in the condenser varies
in the shell due to pressure loss from steam flow across the tubes, 30.4 THERMAL CENTERLINE
and also due to changes in the local steam velocity. The industry
defines the condenser pressure as the average static pressure in the It is of some interest to determine the plane transverse to the
plane transverse to the crossflow direction at a distance not greater tube bank axis which divides the heat transfer area in such a man-
than 12 in. from the first tube or tubes in the steam path. ASME ner that the steam consumption on both sides of it is equal. This

Fig. 30.3 Thermal centerline in a two-pass condenser

 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  30-

plane is known as the “thermal centerline.” If the incoming steam Thus, for a one-tube pass condenser of length ℓ�, the thermal cen-
were to have a flow front of uniform velocity, then locating the terline is located at distance cℓ from the inlet waterbox tubesheet,
condenser steam inlet opening symmetrically with respect to the where c� is defined by Eq. (30.8).
thermal centerline would be the ideal arrangement for steam flow. (ii) Two tubepass condenser: Let AT denote the net effective
Velocity maldistribution in the steam, pointed out earlier in this surface area equally divided in the two-tube passes. � de-
chapter, tends to muddy up the significance of the thermal center- notes the net tube length. The surface area in the inlet
line; nevertheless, its notion is important in locating the condenser tube pass to the left of the thermal centerline (point 0’ in
steam inlet section. Fig. 30.3) is given by
The amount of heat transferred to the cooling water over a dif-
ferential surface area dA is given by the elementary heat exchange c� c AT
AT
formula: 2� 2
Similarly, the net heat transfer surface in the inlet pass plus the
dQ = U dA (Tc − t) (30.1) tubes to the right of the thermal centerline in Fig. 30.3 is given by
where U is the overall coefficient of heat transfer. Assuming U (1 - c) �
and the condensing temperature Tc to be constant all over, the heat 0.5 AT + = AT (1 - 0.5c)
2�
transferred over a surface area A is given by integrating the above
equation [3, Chapter 5] for the derivation of this equation). The heat duty in the tube surface in the first pass to the left of
the thermal centerline is given by substituting 0.5c hT for h in
Q = Wt Ct (Tc − ti) (1-e−h) Eq. (30.2).
(30.2)
where: Q1 = Wt ct (Tc − ti) (1 - e -0.5c η T )
Wt = Coolant flow rate (30.9)
Ct = Coolant specific heat (also implied to be constant over the
range of cooling water temperatures in the condenser) The heat duty provided by the outlet pass tube surface to the left
ti = Inlet temperature of cooling water and h is defined as of the thermal centerline is given by
UA
η= (30.3) Q2 = QT − Q@h = hT (1–0.5c)
Wt Ct

The surface area A is measured from the location where cooling where QT = Wtct (Tc − ti) [1-e−ht]
water enters the tubes. It is convenient to define A as a fraction of hence
the total effective surface area in the condenser, AT.
Q2 = Wtct (Tc − ti) [(1-e−hT) − {1-e−hT(1–0.5c)}] (30.10)
Let
A = x AT (30.4) The requirement for the thermal centerline is
then
Q1 + Q2 = 0.5 QT
h = x hT (30.5)
Substituting for Ql, Q2 and QT from the foregoing, we have
where hT is recognized as the number-of-transfer units (NTU) of the
condenser in the heat exchanger literature [3, Chapter 6].
1 – e–0.5c hT + e–hT (1–0.5c) – e–hT = 0.5 (1 – ehT)
We will now proceed to derive the expressions for locating the
thermal centerline in “one-tube pass” and “two-tube pass” con-
densers. This equation can be solved for c, resulting in:

(i) Thermal centerline in one-tube pass condenser: let A = 2 é -m + (m 2 + 4 n) 1/ 2 ù

cAT define the location of the thermal centerline. Using c= �n ê ú (30.11)
ηT ê 2n ú
Eq. (30.2), we have ë û

QT = Wt Ct (Tc − ti) (1-ehT) (30.6a) where n = e−hT

and m = 0.5 (1 – n)
0.5 QT = Wt Ct (Tc − ti) (1-e−chT (30.6b)
The above expressions for the thermal centerline have been de-
rived in the context of the surface condenser. They are, however,
which yields equally valid for any process condenser wherein the assumption of
1-e−hT = 2 (1-e−chT) (30.7) spatially constant U, cT can be justified.
Table 30.2 shows the computed values of c for typical values of
Equation (30.6) can be solved for c to give: NTU, hT, for one- and two-tube pass condensers.
We observe from Table 30.2 that for a given size condenser
1 é 2 ù
c= �n (measured by its NTU), the thermal centerline moves closer to the
ηT êë 1 + e-ηT úû
(30.8)
geometric centerline of the tube bundle in a two-tube pass unit in
comparison to a one-tube pass unit. Therefore, we conclude that
30-  •  Chapter 30

Table 30.2  c for different values of hT Table 30.3 Saturation temperature

depression due to the presence
Value of NTU; Value of C of air (RT 2/l = 30°F assumed)
hT
One-tube Two-tube Ca (%) DTa (°F)
pass tube pass tube
0.05 0.015
1 0.38 0.49 0.1 0.03
2 0.28 0.44 5 1.54
3 0.21 0.38 30 10.70
10 0.07 0.27
gases to derive the effective film coefficient hi corresponding to
this vapor pressure difference. According to Silver:
the consumption of steam in a two-tube pass condenser is more 1/ 2
evenly distributed relative to a one-tube pass design. æ g ö λ2 (30.13)
hi = f ç ÷
It is also noted that the relative location of the thermal centerline
è 2pRTc ø Tc V
as defined by c depends only on the NTU of the condenser. In
particular, the location of the thermal centerline is independent of where:
individual inlet and outlet temperatures. g = acceleration due to gravity
R = Gas constant for water per unit weight
l = Latent heat of vapor at saturation temperature Tc
30.5 CONDENSATE DEPRESSION V = Specific volume of vapor
f = Molecular exchange condensation fraction: surmised to be
As stated before, subcooling of the condensate is undesirable equal to 0.036 by Silver & Simpson [6].
on two counts: (i) it lowers the thermodynamic efficiency of the
power cycle, and (ii) it enhances the propensity of the condensate Table 30.4 reproduced from Silver [5] gives the interface coef-
to reabsorb non-condensibles. Although a multitude of effects are ficient hi as a function of condensing temperature Tc.
responsible for condensate subcooling (or condensate depression), We note from Table 30.4 that interface coefficient hi drops rap-
three basic mechanisms have been identified which are innate to idly as the condensing temperature is reduced, indicating that the
the process of condensing itself. These are: temperature drop across the vapor–liquid film interface increases
i. Reduction of the partial pressure of steam around the as the operating pressure is reduced. If m denotes the rate of con-
condensing surface due to increased localized concentra- densate formation per unit heat transfer surface area, then continu-
tion of non-condensibles. ity of heat transfer yields:
ii. Temperature difference between condensing vapor, and hi DTi = m l
condensate film surface; and
iii. Temperature drop across the condensate film. or
ml
i. Reduction of partial pressure of steam: Silver [4] has DTi =
hi
shown, using partial pressure laws and Clapeyron’s equa-
tion, that the drop in the local steam saturation tempera- or
ture due to the presence of air is given by mTcV
Dti = 1/ 2
2
RTc é 1 ù (30.12) æ g ö
DTa = �n ê fç l
λ ú
ë 1 - ca û è 2pRTc ÷ø

where ca is the fractional air concentration around the condensing
surface. RTc2/l for surface condenser conditions is of the order of Table 30.4  hi as a function of condenser
30°F. Table 30.3 shows DTa as a function of local air concentra- pressure
tion, ca.
We observe from Table 30.3 that the depression of the satura- Condenser Condenser Pressure, lb/in2 hi, Btu/ft2h
tion temperature can become significant in the air cooler region of temperature, temperature abs. °F
surface condensers and in geothermal condensers, where air con- Tc (°F) (°R)
centration of the order of 30% is possible. This effect is, however, 80 540 0.5069 3420
rather unimportant in the condensing zone in well-designed units. 82 542 0.5410 3600
ii. Temperature drop between the condensing vapor and 84 544 0.5771 3800
the surface of the liquid film: 86 546 0.6152 4000
88 548 0.6556 4220
Silver [5] pointed out that when liquid and vapor phases are not in 90 550 0.6982 4450
equilibrium, but condensation is occurring, the escaping pressure 92 552 0.7432 4680
of molecules must be less than the incident pressure of molecules 94 554 0.7906 4920
on the liquid surface. Therefore, the vapor pressure of the vapor 96 556 0.8407 5180
must exceed that of the liquid. Silver [4] used kinetic theory of
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  30-

or condenser bundle designs. We will review them in the next section,

3/2 1/ 2 before taking up the subject of thermal/ hydraulic design of surface
mTc æ 2pR ö condensers.
DTi =
ç ÷ (30.14)
fλ è g ø
iii. Temperature drop across the condensate film: In his land- 30.6 BUNDLE DESIGNS
mark work on film condensation in 1916, Nusselt [7] de-
rived the expression for the equivalent film coefficient Numerous considerations govern the layout of the tube bundle.
under quiescent condensing conditions on a horizontal They can be summarized by the following seven, somewhat inter-
tube. Nusselt’s result is usually expressed in the form: related points.
i. Pressure drop: The drop of steam pressure should be min-
é k f 3ρf 3 g λ1/ 4 ù imized to keep the saturation temperature as high as pos-
h f = 0.725 ê ú (30.15)
ëê µ f do DT f ûú sible. This means providing generous steam penetration
lanes throughout the bundle or shallow bundle depth.
ii. Spatially Uniform Pressure Drop: The air cooler region is
where kf, rf and mf, respectively, denote the conductivity, density
the pressure sink — the region of lowest pressure — in the
and dynamic viscosity of the liquid film. DTf is the temperature
condenser. The design should provide for equal pressure
drop across the condensate film. If m is the condensate drainage
drop from the bundle periphery to the air cooler from all
rate per unit of heat transfer surface area per unit time, then for
locations around the bundle. This would inhibit localized
steady state conditions
high velocities and result in maximum utilization of all
available heat transfer surface. Emerson’s rendering of an
hf DTf = m l
“ideal” condenser (Fig. 30.4) has this attribute. The so-
or called multi-folded bundle concept (Fig. 30.5), common
in some European power stations, portrays this feature.
ml (30.16) iii. No stagnant regions: The bundle layout should provide
DTf =
hf for a complete sweep of all heat transfer surface in the
condensing zone. Pockets of air accumulation can form
If the average condensate film thickness is denoted by df then
in seemingly wide open bundles, due to steam lane ar-
elementary one dimension conduction relationship yields:
rangements.
kf (30.17) iv. Minimize velocity fluctuations: In a well-designed con-
hf = denser, the steam continuously condenses as it penetrates
hf
the tube nest, causing a reduction in the volumetric flow
Equations (30.13) to (30.15) can be combined to furnish the con- rate. Designers provide for gradually narrowing steam
densate film thickness as a function of condensate drainage rate: lanes for this purpose. The so-called church window lay-
1/ 3 out (Fig. 30.6) pictorially illustrates this concept.
éµ d mù
δ f = 1.54 ê f 2o ú (30.18) v. Optimize velocity distribution: High velocity in the pri-
êë ρf g úû mary condenser region would produce excessive (undesir-
able) pressure loss. On the other hand, the velocities in the
Equation (30.15) gives the corresponding film coefficient hf. air cooler portion must be high enough to maintain good
The temperature drop across the condensate film is given by rear- heat transfer rate. Designers accomplish this by using a
ranging Eq. (30.13). “tighter” layout pitch in and around the air cooler zone.
vi. Optimize bundle cross-section: As the steam condenses
é k 3 p 3 g 3λ 3 ù on the upper row of tubes, it sends condensate “raining”
DTf = 0.28 ê f f 4 ú (30.19)
ëê µf dohf ûú down on the tubes below. A certain amount of the “rain” is
desirable as it breaks the condensate film boundary layer
The total temperature drop due to the three aforementioned and increases the heat transfer rate. But it may also cause
mechanisms is tube surface “inundation” and reduce the heat transfer
rate. The aspect ratio of the bundle (width-to-height ratio),
DTd = DTf + DTi + DTa (30.20) and condensate loading on the tubes determines whether
the condensate cascading through the bundle would aid or
The theoretically calculated value of the condensate temperature inhibit heat transfer. Intermediate condensate collection
using the above equation is, however, is subject to much uncertaint­y trays have also been used to mitigate tube inundation. The
for the obvious reason that the assumptions made en route deriving plant architect/engineers should consider the bundle as-
the equations do not hold up well in the practical hardware. The pect ratio in deciding upon the turbine foundation layout
effect of vapor velocity, splashing of condensates on tubes from to enable optimal condenser performance.
tubes above, velocity recovery, tube surface inundation, etc. tend vii. Condensate reheat: As described in the preceding section,
to distance the practical conditions from the theoretical analysis. a certain amount of subcooling of the condensate is
Nonetheless, the theoretical results provide valuable insight into unavoidable. The condensate can, however, be reheated by
the physical phenomena, and provide a rough quantitative measure providing for intimate contact with fresh steam as it falls
of the relative importance of various mechanisms involved. toward the hotwell. The design must provide for adequate
The concerns of condensate depression and excessive stream- lateral clearances between bundles and the bundles and
side pressure drop have led to the development of special surface the condenser shell sidewall such that steam can reach
30-  •  Chapter 30

FIG. 30.4 EMERSON’S “IDEAL” BUNDLE

the space above the hotwell without sustaining excessive the total tubesheet area exposed to circulating waterflow, the
pressure drop. tubesheet area being determined prior to drilling. In condens-
ers in which the design includes space for steam flow between
Figures 30.7 and 30.8 show the tube lane layout for rectangular and
the shell and tube bundle, the tubesheet being smaller than
cylindrical condensers used by Holtec International. the shell, this space shall be included as part of the tubesheet
Bow [9] cites the standard U.S. Navy specification in use since the area exposed to circulating waterflow.”
1940s, which we quote below:

“The total area of the tube holes in the tubesheet shall not ex-
ceed 22% (for condensers designed for 1.25 psi abs. pressures
or less at the steam inlet) or 24% (for condensers designed
for higher pressure than 1.25 psi abs. at the steam inlet) of

FIG. 30.5 MULTIFOLDED TUBE BUNDLE FIG. 30.6  “CHURCH WINDOW” LAYOUT

 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  30-

Bow’s recommendations are rather onerous for commercial

steam plants. They are, however, quite appropriate for small con-
densers used in ocean-going vessels.

30.7 SURFACE CONDENSER SIZING

The discussion on condensate depression in a preceding section
indicated the intractable nature of the condensing phenomena in
surface condensers. Faced with the enormity of the mathematical
problem, the industry has chosen the pragmatic course of devis-
ing design formulas that exclude the shellside conditions. Instead,
the HEI design rules [2] in the U.S. and BEAMA [10] in the U.K.
(both widely used industry standards), rely on simple formulas
combined with good design practice, with heavy reliance on the
latter, to produce satisfactory designs. For example, the HEI design
method defines the heat duty of the condenser QT as

QT = U AT qm (30.21)

where qm is the nominal Logarithmic mean temperature difference

based on the “steam condensing temperature” Tc,
to - t i
θm =
Tc - t i (30.22)
�n
Tc - to
The overall heat transfer coefficient U is given by
FIG. 30.7 TUBE BUNDLE & SUPPORT FOR A RECTAN-
GULAR TYPE CONDENSER U = F1 F2 F3 C* ut1/2 (30.23)
(Courtesy Holtec International)
C* depends on the nominal tube size. The factors F1, F2, and F3
are correction factors for fouling, tube material and wall thickness,
Bow [9] delineates several empirical dimensional requirements and cooling water inlet temperature, respectively. This correlation
on tube bundle/shell design. is largely based on Orrok’s work in 1910 [12]. The approach of
using multipliers for tube material resistance and cooling water
a. The cross-sectional shell area between the top and bottom temperature effects has been criticized in the literature [12,13].
row of tubes should have a tube-occupied area of not greater
than

26% for Ps > 3 in. Hg

23% for 2.5 Ps < 3 in. Hg
20% for ps < 2.5 in. Hg

b. Free fall height between the bottom tube row and top of the
high water level (H.W.L.) in the hotwell:

Condenser HEAT Minimum free fall

TRANSFER SURFACE height (in.)
AREA, AT (sq. ft.)
AT < 50,000 18
50,000 £ AT < 150,000 21
150,000 £ AT < 300,000 24
300,000 £ AT 27

c. Minimum height between the bottom of the condenser neck

heater (for units with a feedwater heater installed in the con-
denser neck) and top of the tube bundle: 48 in.
d. Minimum hotwell condensate inventory: 4 minutes worth Fig. 30.8 Tube bundle and support for a cylin-
of condensation. drical type condenser (Courtesy Holtec International)
30-10  •  Chapter 30

Wenzel [14] reports that field data correlates rather poorly with Hsh = 1.26 hL (Xtt)−0.78 (30.28)
the HEI formula, and errors of almost 100% are possible. These
discrepancies arise from a host of factors such as air blanketing, where hL is the liquid phase forced convection coefficient, and Xtt
steam maldistribution, high velocity effects, condensates splash- is the Lockert–Martinelli parameter:
ing, and the like. There is little doubt that computer-based finite 1/ 2
element modeling of fluid dynamics will eventually supplant the é 1.8 0.2 ù
æ 1 - xL ö æ ρu ö æ µ L ö ú
present day cookbook approaches, so far, there has been little X tt = êç (30.29)
êè xL ÷ø çè ρL ÷ø çè µ u÷ø ú
movement away from empiricism in most industrial condenser de- ë û
sign work. We herein summarize the design equations which may
offer an alternate means to the HEI/BEAMA type procedures. hL can be evaluated using the well-known liquid crossflow cor-
The overall heat transfer coefficient is defined by the well-known relation [3, Chapter 4].
formula [3, Chapter 2].
Gravity controlled condensation coefficient, hgr
(30.30)
1 1 é (SGn ) - s ù
= (30.24) hgr = hN ê
U 1 do 1 do ú
+ + rfi + rfo + rm ë û
ho di ht di

The terms rfi and rfo represent tube fouling layer resistances on s = 0.22 for in-line bundles;
tube inside and outside surfaces, respectively. If these resistances s = 0.13 for staggered bundles
cannot be estimated, then the designer may set them equal to zero,
and apply a penalty factor on the overall clean coefficient thus cal- hN is the laminar single tube solution given by Nusselt
culated. The penalty factor is also known as the cleanliness factor. (Eq. 30.15).
In condenser design practice it varies from 0.7 to 0.9, depending on The above formula does not account for the heat transfer reduc-
the quality of the cooling water. Formulas to estimates hi, rm, and tion due to non-condensibles. Therefore, it should not be used in
ho are given below. the air cooler section of the condenser, wherein large non-conden-
i. Tubeside film coefficient, ht: McNaught [15] is valid for sible concentrations may occur.
Reynolds number > 10,000, can be used to estimate the in-tube Air Cooler Section Design: The most widely used procedure
film coefficient to calculate shellside heat transfer in this region is the Colburn &
Hougen [16] method. It involves equating the heat transferred lo-
ht di cally through the condensate film, tube wall, and cooling water film
= 0.015Re0.835 Pr 0.462 (30.25)
to the sum of the sensible cooling of the non-condensible and latent
k
heat given up by the vapor condensed on the tube. The method
where: is obviously an iterative one, which lends itself to convenient com-
k = cooling water conductivity at its average bulk temperature puterization.
di = tube inside diameter Two equations for assessing non-condensible film coefficient
Pr = Prandtl number at average bulk temperature conditions are given.
Re = Reynolds number at average bulk temperature conditions
a. Standiford [17] proposed a conservative and highly approx-
i. Tube metal wall resistance, rm: Since condenser tubes are imate correlation which states that the non-condensible gas
essentially of thin wall, the tube metal resistance is given suffi- resistance is proportional to the volume fraction of air.
ciently accurate by the formula:
tt Rnc » 0.00037w (30.31)
rm = (30.26)
kt
where w is local volumetric concentration of air.
where tt and kt are tube wall thickness and metal conductivity at
mean tube metal temperature, respectively. b. Chisholm [18]: The heat transfer coefficient in the presence
Shellside condensing coefficient, hs: Estimation of the shellside of non-condensibles is given by Chisholm by the following
coefficient is the core problem in surface condenser design. Refer- equation:
ence [11] provides excellent information on this subject. The in- b
teraction of effects, such as condensate inundation, vapor velocity, aD 1 2 æ pm ö (30.32)
hnc = Reu ç Pm1/ 3
splashing on the tube surface, droplet formation, non-condensible do è Pm - pu ÷ø
accumulation, etc., make the goal of an accurate evaluation all but
impossible. 2/3
æ puλ ö
For practical design work, one may utilize the correlation pre- çè T ÷ø ( DTi )-1/ 3
sented by McNaught [15]. u
The shellside coefficient ho is defined as the square-root-of-the-
where for
sum of squares of the shear uncontrolled coefficient hsh, and the
gravity controlled coefficient hgr.
Reu > 350
Ho = [hsh2 + hgr2 ]½ (30.27)
b = 0.6; a = 0.52 first tube row; a = 0.67 second tube row; a =
where hsh and hgr are computed using the following correlations: third and later tube rows and for Reu < 350; b: 0.7; a = 0.52 for all
Shear controlled coefficient, hsh: rows.
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  30-11

FIG. 30.9 NON-CONDENSIBLE ACCUMULATION IN A CONDENSER WITH PLATE TYPE SUPPORTS

where qT is the NTU of the condenser.

30.8  UBE SUPPORTS AND NON-
T
CONDENSIBLES ACCUMULATION dQ
UAT
Tube supports are a necessary evil in surface condensers. Un- dA A = 0 η
r= = e WtCt = e T (30.35)
like standard heat exchangers which handle single phase fluids, dQ A = AT
the tube support plates in a condenser serve no shellside film co- dA
efficient enhancement function: Their sole purpose is to protect
the tubes from flow induced vibration, to inhibit the occurrence where hT is the NTU of the condenser.
of acoustic resonance, and in rectangular units, provide structural
support to the shell. However, if improperly designed, they may Let us consider a typical condenser with the following data.
derate the thermal performance of the condenser. The mechanism
for performance derating can be explained by considering the heat U = 500 Btu/hr/sq.ft./°F
transfer characteristics of a surface condenser. AT = 50,000 sq. ft.
Let us consider a single pass surface condenser as shown in WT = 10 ´ 106 lb/hr
Fig. 30.9. CT = 1.0 Btu/lb-°F
The heat duty as a function of the surface area coordinate for We have, for this condenser,
such an exchanger is given in Reference [3] as:
(500)(50,000)
ηT = 2.5
é UA ù (10 ´ 106 )(1.0)
Q = Wt Ct (Tc − ti) ê1 - e - ú (30.33)
ëê WtCt ûú Hence, r = e2.5 = 12.18
In other words, the rate of steam consumption near the inlet
We note that at A = 0 (at the left end tubesheet location where
tubesheet (left end) is more than 12 times the rate at the outlet tem-
the cooling water enters), Q º 0.
perature! It is also noted that the skewedness of steam consumption
The rate of heat transfer as a function of the heat transfer sur-
does not depend on the steam or cooling water temperatures.
face is obtained by taking the derivative of Q with respect to A.
Let us now examine the condenser of Fig. 30.9 equipped with
A­ccordingly
full tube supports which essentially compartmentalizes the shell
dQ restricting longitudinal flow of steam between adjacent support
-UA
(30.34) plate spaces. The air removal equipment exerts a uniform suction
d A = U( Tc - ti ) e WtCt pressure at the bottom which will tend to draw an equal amount of
steam across each baffle space. However, the steam requirement
Let us consider the ratio of the heat transfer rate at A = 0 to that rate is quite unequal. As a result, the tube surface located in the
at A = AT; i.e., the ratio of the heat transfer per unit of tube surface left end will be starved of steam, leading to high air concentration
at the two extremities of the condenser. Denoting this ratio by r, we in the tube bundle. The air concentration will have the distribution
have, from Eq. (30.34): in the manner of Fig. 30.9. The amount of heat transfer in left end
30-12  •  Chapter 30

tus dedicated to each compartment. This, however, is an expensive

option, seldom utilized in the industry. More promising solutions
lie in the use of special tube supports which provide for ample
longitudinal communication. Known as “non-segmental” tube sup-
ports, such a support system has been extensively used in surface
condensers provided by Holtec International (Photograph C). A
support system of this type permits replenishment of steam in the
“cold compartments” by axial migration of steam. The non-seg-
mental support system helps develop a steam flow profile which
has the pictorial appearance of Fig. 30.10.
A method to compute the improvement in a condenser’s per-
formance by the use of a non-segmental support system is provided
in the next section.

30.9  EAT TRANSFER RELATIONS

H
FOR A CONDENSER WITH NON-
SEGMENTAL TUBE SUPPORTS

Assumptions:
(i) We assume that the non-segmental tube support system
Photograph C: rectangular condenser with
permits axial migration of non-condensibles and there-
non-segmental baffles during fabrication
fore, leads to a uniform overall heat transfer coefficient
(Courtesy Holtec International)
throughout the condenser. The uniform coefficient U is
equal to the coefficient that would obtain in the “drilled
compartments will be reduced due to the pressure of air, resulting tube s­upport unit” at the mid-section x = �/2 in Fig. 30.10.
in loss of thermal performance. (ii) In the drilled tube support unit, the heat transfer coefficient
In addition to the reduction in the thermal performance, the high varies in the axial direction, its variation solely caused by
concentration of oxygen can cause corrosion problems in the con- the uneven amount of air concentration in the bundle.
denser, and lead to untimely tube failures. To avoid the undesirable (iii) The air concentration at any section in the drilled unit is
concentration of non-condensibles, designers slot out holes in the proportional to the coincident rate of steam condensation.
support plates to make the compartments as inter-communicative The expression for U given in the HEI Surface Condenser Stand-
as possible. Another solution is to employ one air removal appara- ards [2] does not have any dependence on the steam side coefficient.

Fig. 30.10 Steam flow in a non-segmental baffle-equipped condenser

 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  30-13

In a well-deaerated condensing process under vacuum conditions, The other condition is obtained from Eq. (39), as follows. Let
the condensing coefficient is much larger than w­aterside c­oefficient.
For this reason, the HEI procedure excludes the shellside film dWs
= χ at A = 0 (30.42)
coefficient evaluation from the overall heat transfer computa- dA
tion. We will follow a similar track, and assume that the shellside Then
resistance to heat transfer is solely due to the presence of non-
condensibles. Furthermore, following Standiford [17], we will TC - t i
= λχ1
a­ssume that the shellside resistance to heat transfer is proportional α + βχ
to the coincident air concentration. In conjunction with assump- or
tion (iii) above, this implies that the shellside resistance is pro-
portional to the derivative of shellside condensation with the tube αλ X + βλ x 2 = (Tct i ) = 0

surface area (dWs/dA).
The overall heat transfer coefficient depends on the tubeside or
flow velocity, tube material, I.D. gage, etc. Keeping all these vari-
ables constant, but allowing the air concentration to vary leads to ( βλ ) χ 2 + (a λ) χ + (t iTc ) = 0

the following functional form for U.
or
1
U= (30.36)
dWs α λ + [αλ 2 + 4(Tc - t i ) βλ ]1/ 2
αβ χ= (30.43)
dA αβλ

where a lumps the effects of film resistance due to tubeside flow, Equations (30.41) and (30.42) furnish the necessary conditions
tubeside metal resistance and tubeside fouling. b contains the pro- to solve Eq. (30.40).
portionality constant which relates the shellside coefficient to the
local condensing rate.
We can now construct the necessary relationships to quantify 30.10  SOLUTION PROCEDURE
the heat duty of a “drilled unit.”
The heat balance between the shellside and tubeside fluids Equation (40) gives the governing differential equation which
yields must be solved to the initial conditions (Eq. 30.41 and Eq. 30.42).
This equation is readily solved using a numerical method.
Wt Ct dt = l dWs (30.37) Let us subdivide the condensing surface into N small surfaces,
each containing a small surface area DA, i.e.
Equating the heat transfer through the tube wall to the shellside
heat duty gives N DA = AT
U dA (Tc − t) = l dWs (30.38)
or
Substituting for U from Eq. (30.36) we have
DA = AT/N
(Tc - t ) dWs
=λ (30.39)
dWs dA
α +β
dA The value of the condensed steam to the left of node I (I = 1,
2….N + 1) is denoted by wi. From Eq. (30.41) we have
or
dWs æ d Ws ö dW d 2Ws Wi = 0 (30.44)
(Tc - t ) = λ
ç α+β ÷ =+ s
dA è dA ø dA dA2
Noting from Eq. (30.37) Equation (30.42), in finite difference form, can be written as

dt λ dWs w2 w1
= =χ
d A WtCt d A DA

or or
λ dWs é d 2Ws dWs d 2Ws ù
= λ êα + 2β ú
WtCt dA êë dA
2
dA dA2 úû w2 = c DA

or We use the following discretizations for the derivation of ws
d 2Ws dWs d 2Ws 1 dWs dWs wi +1 + wi
α 2
+ 2β - = 0 (30.40) (30.45)
dA d A d A2 WCt t dA dA DA

The initial conditions are
d 2Ws wi +1 + wi -1 -2 wi (30.46)
=
Ws = 0@ A = 0 (30.41) dA2 DA2

30-14  •  Chapter 30

Substituting Eqs. (45) and (46) into Eq. (40), we have The quantities in the above expression refer to any operating
condition. In order to perform the calculations without a manual
aw2 i +1 + bwi +1 + c = 0; i = 2,3....( N - 1) (30.47) lookup of steam properties in the steam tables, the latent heat l can

be replaced by the following algebraic relationship
where
q = a1 (705.47 – Tc)b1 (30.53)
2β (30.48)
a=
D A2
where
α 2β 1 a1 = 94.26
b= + (wi +1-3wi ) (30.49)
D A D A2 Wt Ct
b1 = 0.375
α 2β
c= (-2wi + wi -1 ) + [2wi 2 - wi wi -1 ) In the above, Tc is the condensing temperature in °F, and l is the
DA DA2
wi (30.50) latent heat in Btu/lb.
+ Substituting for l in Eq. (30.52), we have
Wt tCt
Ws a1 (705.47 − Tc)b1 = WtCt (Tc = ti) (1-e−hT) (30.54)
Setting I = 2, the values of a, b and c follow directly from Eqs.
(30.48) to (30.50), and Eqs. (30.43) and (30.44). The quadric equa-
tion in w3 (Eq. 47) next gives the value of w3. This equation can be solved for the unknown quantity, say Tc, if
any or all of the input quantities are varied.
± b + (b2 - 4ac)1/ 2
w3 = (30.51) Example:
2a
The procedure is continued for I = 3,4…(N−1). Thus, the total The following data defines the design point of a surface
amount of steam condensed as a function of the surface area coor- c­ondenser.
dinate becomes known. Surface area, AT = 50,000 sq. ft.
The non-segmental tube support systems, however, lack the in- Overall coefficient, U = 500 Btu/sq.ft./hr°/°F
plane load carrying capability of the classical drilled plate tube Cooling water flowrate, Wt,Ct = 1.0 Btu/lb°/°F
support, and as such do not provide the lateral support to the shell Condensing temperature, Tc = 110°F
plates (in rectangular shell units) to the extent provided by “plate Cooling water inlet temperature, ti −80°F
type” support plates. Therefore,

UAT (500)(50,000)
ηT = = = 2.5
30.11  FF-DESIGN CONDITION
O WtCt 10 ´106
OPERATION AND NON-
CONDENSIBLES REMOVAL The condensing rate Ws for this condition given by Eq. (30.54):

The operating condition in the surface condenser is seldom at (10 ´ 106 )(110 - 80)(1 - e2.5 )
the “design point.” Changes in the plant load, cooling medium Ws = = 266,000lb/hr
(94.26)(705.47 - 110).375
temperature, among other variables, alter operating pressure on the
condenser. In the absence of other complicating factors (which we It is noted that the saturation pressure to correspond to the sat-
will take up shortly), the determination of the off-design condition uration temperature Tc −110°F is 1.275 psi (2.6 in. of Hg). Let
condenser pressure is a straightforward process. We recall Sec- us now determine the condensing temperature and the associated
tion 4 which gives the heat duty for a condenser with an arbitrary condenser pressure if the cooling water temperature is changed to
number of tube passes; 50°F. Let Tc' denote the corresponding condensing temperature.

QT = Wt Ct (Tc – ti) (1-e-hT) Once again, Eq. (54) yields

(266,000) (94.26) (705.47 − Tc¢).375
where = (10 ´ 106) (Tc¢ − 50) (1 − e−2.5)

UAT or
ηT =
WtCt 2.371 (705.47 − Tc¢).375 = Tc¢ − 50
Furthermore,
Trial and error solution of the above equation yields Tc’ =
QT = wS l 80.5°F.
The associated saturation pressure can be looked up in the steam
table, or evaluated from the curve fit formula
Therefore,
é b2 ù
ê a2 + T +C ú
WS l = wT cT (Tc – ti ) (1-e-hT) ë 2 û (30.55)
(30.52) p= e c
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  30-15

where, a2 = 14.47; b2 = −6.99 ´ 103, C2 = 381.73 Table 30.5 Amount of air per pound of
mixture exiting the condenser
For Tc = 80.5°F, Eq. (30.55) yields p = 0.521 psi (1.06 in. of Hg).
Item Design Off-Design
The drop in the turbo-generator backpressure to 0.521 psi would condition condition
result in a welcome improvement in the efficiency of the power Backpressure, psi 1.275 0.521
cycle. Alas, such improvements do not always occur. The reason Cooling water inlet temperature,
lies in the devaporizing zone in the condenser, which is unable to 80° 50°
°F
remove the growing quantity of air from the equipment to support Mixture temperature
efficient heat transfer. This is a core problem in surface condenser 85° 55°
design, which warrants a comprehensive exposition. Vapor pressure, pv, psi 0.596 0.214
Condensers are almost invariably equipped with a devaporizer Air weight fraction from 0.329 0.364
section, also known as air cooling section, wherein the air/vapor Eq. (30.56)
mixture gets enriched with air as the water vapor condenses out.
The enriched mixture is expelled from the condenser near the cold
tubesheet using an evacuation device. Typically, a steam jet ejec- Similar conclusions can be drawn if the steam through-put in the
tor or a mechanical vacuum pump (liquid ring pump) is used for plant is reduced (low load condition).
this purpose. A look at the performance characteristics of a typical Finally, we note that the composition of the air-vapor mixture
steam jet ejector (Fig. 30.11) reveals the root of the problem. Fig- leaving the condenser can be computed in an approximate manner
ure 30.11 shows the evacuation capacity expressed as a percentage using Dalton’s law, which states that the mole count of a gas in a
of the capacity at 1 in. Hg (abs) pressure. mixture is in direct proportion to its partial pressure. The sum of
It is observed that the suction rate drops rapidly with the drop in the partial pressure of the water vapor and air is equal to the back-
the condenser backpressure in a steam jet ejector. The drop is simi- pressure. The partial pressure of the water vapor is the saturation
lar for a liquid ring pump system. We computed, in the foregoing pressure corresponding to the temperature of the mixture leaving
example problem, that as the cooling water temperature changes the condenser which depends on the air cooler section design. If Pv
from 80°F to 50°F, the condenser operating pressure would drop and Pb, respectively, denote the vapor pressure and backpressure,
from 1.275 psi to 0.521 psi. Such a drop in backpressure would then Dalton’s law gives the weight fraction of air in the mixture,
cause approximately a 40% reduction in the steam jet ejector sys- fa, as
tem of Fig. 30.11. While the evacuation rate drops, however, the 29 po - pv 29 po - pv
rate of non-condensible ingression into the turbine increases due to fa = = (30.56)
(29 + 18) pb 47 pb
the fact that a lower condenser pressure implies that a larger por-
tion of the turbine is under subatmospheric conditions. where the molecular weight of the non-condensibles is assumed
The result is a backup of non-condensibles in the condenser to be 29.
resulting in air blanketing of the tubes which in turn reduces the Let us compute the amount of air per pound of mixture leaving the
condenser heat duty and raises the backpressure. condenser in the above example problem for the design condition ti =
To summarize, as the cooling water temperature is reduced, 80°F, and for the off-design condition, ti = 50°F. We will assume that
the air removal system sized for the design condition fails to the air-vapor mixture is cooled to within 5°F of the cooling water
r­emove all non-condensibles. This results in air blanketing of the inlet temperature. The data is presented in T­able 30.5.
c­ondenser tube, causing a less than expected reduction in the con- Clearly, the more the mixture is subcooled, the less is the load
denser pressure. on the evacuation apparatus. However, there is an obverse consid-
The deleterious effect of oxygen concentration on the condenser eration. Subcooled condensate dripping from the air cooler section
life has been stated before and therefore, does not require further will carry dissolved oxygen into the hotwell, preventing a more
elaboration here. complete purge of this corrosive substance. The situation calls for
a design trade-off.

30.12 CATHODIC PROTECTION

In contrast to most power plant heat exchangers, surface con-
densers use a natural coolant, such as water from a lake, a river, or

Table 30.6  Properties of common anode

materials

Anode Drive voltage with Electrochemical

material respect to steel in efficiency
the water
Magnesium 0.7 40–50%
Zinc 0.25 90%
Fig. 30.11 Air removal characteristics of a Aluminum 0.25 80%
typical steam jet injector
30-16  •  Chapter 30

Table 30.7 Impressed current anodic materials data

Anode name Metallurgical data Current (A/m2) Max. voltage Limitations

Platinized A thin discontinuous layer (2.5 10,000 8 May deplatinize at higher
titanium mm) of platinum over titanium voltages, or if AC ripples
substrate in the substrate
Platinized Thin coat of platinum over 10,000 40–50 Limited due to high cost
niobium niobium substrate
Lead silver 98% pb, 2% Ag 100–200 (max.) Water must have high
chlorine content to
provide the necessary
conductivity.
Lead-silver 94% Pb, 1% Ag, 6% Sb >30 amp/m2 Lead peroxide film on the
antimony anode, voltage must be
>30 V
High silicon cast iron Duriron 14.5% Si 0.95% C, >30 A/m2 Short life due to high rate
alloys remaining Fe or modified duriron of consumption
containing trace amounts of
chlorine and molybdenum

a sea. Exposure of waterbox to the cooIing water causes corrosion. source circulates electrolytic current which, depending on the an-
The severity of corrosion depends on the materials of construction, ode utilized, can be as high as 1000 Amperes/m2 of active anode
dissolved materials, particularly salt in the cooling water, degree surface. Table 30.7 lists some commonly used anode materials in
of turbulence, etc. Higher salinity in the water tends to promote impressed current systems and their attributes.
galvanic corrosion between dissimilar materials present in the Impressed current systems are coming into increasing use be-
waterbox. If not controlled, rapid pitting of tube ends, tubesheet cause passive sacrificial anode systems are often inadequate to
ligaments and waterbox walls may force power plant outage. provide the high current requirements, or are impractical due to the
An increasingly popular method to arrest corrosion is to apply quantity of anode surface required. Designers of impressed cur-
polymeric coatings on the waterbox walls, pass partition plates, rent systems must guard against other side effects of excessively
and other exposed ferritic internals. Coatings, however, may have high currents. Some tubing materials, notably titanium and certain
minuscule cracks which provide nucleation sites for corrosion to high chromium molybdenum containing ferritic stainless steels,
take hold and propagate. Another method of corrosion control com- are susceptible to embrittlement at high cathodic potentials. While
monly referred to as cathodic protection is sometimes used alone an appropriate current density is a prerequisite to a successful ca-
or in conjunction with coatings. In principle, cathodic protection thodic protection system, the distribution of the current “throw”
sets up an electrolyte current between the metal surface to be pro- in the waterbox is equally important. Prior experience and good
tected and a foreign material submerged in the body of water in the engineering judgment have been sole guides in this matter. How-
waterbox. The flow of electrons associated with the electrolytic ever, use of numerical solutions of the current distribution field
current interferes with the corrosion process. The current can be equations to help place and orient anodes appears to be a feasible
generated by employing an electrochemically active material, such technology in the near future.
as zinc, aluminum, or magnesium. The galvanic potential differ-
ence between the introduced metal (anode) and the waterbox struc-
ture (cathode) causes a gradual loss of the anode. The choice and 30.13  NOMENCLATURE
quantity of the anode depends on the current density requirements,
desired galvanic voltage differential and length of service required AT: Total effective heat transfer area
between anode replacements. Table 30.6 gives drive voltage be- Ct: Specific heat of cooling water (assumed constant)
tween common anode materials with respect to steel in sea water, C*: HEI coefficient factor
and their electrochemical efficiencies (defined as the percentage of c: Location of thermal centerline
the material that is used up in providing useful current). D: Diffusion coefficient
The advantage of higher driving voltage of magnesium is largely do: Tube O.D.
negated by its low efficiency. Moreover, some protective coatings di: Tube I.D.
tend to disbond at high cathodic potentials induced by magnesium dQ: Differential quality of heat transferred on surface
anodes. Aluminum’s performance as an anode has been quite er- area dA
ratic, presumably caused by small variations in grain size, heat dA: Differential heat transfer surface area
treatment and metallurgical impurities. For these reasons, zinc an- fa: Air weight fraction in the mixture
odes have received widest acceptance in surface condensers where F1, F2, F3: HEI Correction factors
the water temperatures are invariably below the 140°F threshold, f: Molecular exchange condensation fraction
above which zinc begins to become ineffective due to passivation. Gn: Condensate formation in the n-th tube row
Low current densities obtainable with the passive cathodic pro- g: Acceleration due to gravity
tection system may not suffice in many situations. In such cases, an ht: Tubeside film coefficient
“impressed current system” is utilized. A direct current (dc) power ho: Shellside film coefficient
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  30-17

hf: Heat transfer coefficient across the liquid conden-   2. Standards for Steam Surface Condensers, 10th Edition (2006), HEI,
sate boundary layer Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
hi: Vapor–liquid interface heat transfer coefficient   3. Singh, K.P. Theory and Practice of Thermal-Hydraulic Design of
hL: Liquid phase forced convection coefficient Heat Exchangers, by K.P. Singh (forthcoming).
hsh: Shear-controlled coefficient
  4. Silver, R.S., “An Approach to General Theory of Surface Condens-
hgr: Gravity-controlled coefficient ers,” Proc. Inst. Mech. Eng., vol. 178, part 1, no. 14, pp. 339–357,
k: Cooling water conductivity 1963-1964.
kt: Tube metal conductivity
ℓl: Tube length   5. Silver, R.S., “Heat Transfer Coefficients in Surface Condensers,” En-
gineering, vol. 161, p. 505, London, 1946.
m: Mass condensing rate per unit area
Nu: Nusselt number   6. Silver, R.S. and Simpson, H.C., (1961) “Condensation of Superheated
Pr: Prandtl number Steam,” Proc. Conf. NEL, East Kilbride, vol. 39, March.
ps: Steam condensing pressure   7. Nusselt, W. Die Oberflachen-Kondensation des Wasserdampfes, VDI
pm: Pressure of mixture Z., vol. 60, pp. 541-546 and 569-575, 1916.
pu: Partial pressure of steam in the mixture
  8. Kern, D.Q. (1950). Process Heat Transfer, McGraw-Hill, New York,
QT: Total heat duty p. 302.
R: Universal gas constant per unit weight of water vapor
rfi: In-tube fouling resistance   9. Bow, W.J. (1983) “Space Allotment for Surface Condensers”, Symp.
rfo: Shellside fouling resistance On State-of-the-Art Condenser Technology, I.A. Diaz-Tous and R.J.
Bell (ed), EPRI, Palo Alto, CA.
rm: Tube metal resistance
Re: Reynolds number 10. British Electrical and Allied Manufacturers’ Association (1967). Rec-
t: Tube wall thickness ommended Practice for the Design of Surface Type Steam Condens-
Tc: Condensing temperature ing Plant, BEAME, London.
ti: Cooling water inlet temperature 11. Marto, P.J. and Nunn, R.H. (1981), Power Condenser Heat Transfer
to: Cooling water outlet temperature Technology, Hemisphere, New York.
t: Cooling water temperature (generic term) 12. Orrok, G.A., (1910). The Transmission of Heat in Surface Condensa-
U: Overall heat transfer coefficient tion, Trans. ASME, vol. 32, pp. 1139–1214.
V: Specific volume of vapor
Wt: Cooling water flow rate 13. Macnair, E., (1981). Introduction, in Power Condenser Heat Transfer
Technology, eds. P.J. Marto and R.H. Nunn, p 5, Hemisphere, New
Ws: Steam condensing rate
York.
x: Area fraction
Xtt: Lockart–Martinelli parameter 14. Wenzel, L.A., (1981) in Power Condenser Heat Transfer Technol-
xL: Liquid weight fraction ogy, eds. P.J. Marto and R.H. Nunn, pp. 182–183, Hemisphere, New
DTi: Temperature drop across vapor/liquid York.
DTa: Interface due to kinetic effects 15. McNaught, J.M. (1982). Two-Phase Forced Convection Heat Transfer
Dt: Temperature rise of cooling water during Condensation on Horizontal Heat Tube Bundles, Heat Transfer
qo: Terminal temperature difference 1982, vol. 5, pp. 125–131, Munich.
qi: Initial temperature difference 16. Colburn, A.P. and Hougen, O.A. (1934). Design of Cooler Condens-
h: Dimensionless quality ers for Mixtures of Vapors with Noncondensing Gases, Ind. Eng.
hT: NTU of condenser Chem., vol. 26, pp. 1178–1182.
l: Latent heat of condensing at Tc 17. Standiford, F.C. (1979). Effect of Non-Condensibles on Condenser
(åG)n: Total flow rate of condensate per unit area running Design and Heat Transfer, Chem. Eng. Prog., vol. 75, pt. 2, pp. 59–
off n-th tube 62.
qm: LMTD
18. Chisholm, D. (1981). Modern Developments in Marine Condens-
r: Density
ers: Noncondensable Gases: An Overview, in Power Condenser Heat
m: Dynamic viscosity Transfer Technology, eds. P.J. Marto and R.H. Nunn, pp. 95–142,
Hemisphere, New York.
30.14  REFERENCES
  1. Singh, K.P. and Soler, A.I. (1984). Mechanical Design of Heat Ex-
changers and Pressure Vessels, Arcturus Publishers, Cherry Hill, NJ
(also available from holtecinternational.com).
 chapter

31
TOWARD ENERGY EFFICIENT
MANUFACTURING ENTERPRISES
Kevin W. Lyons, Ram D. Sriram, Lalit Chordia and Alexander Weissman

ABSTRACT A generalized version of this cycle is shown in Fig. 31.2. The

figure shows two cycles. The first cycle depicts the extraction of
Industrial enterprises have significant negative impacts on the material from the Earth and putting waste back into the Earth. We
global environment. Collectively, from energy consumption to would like to minimize this flow and, in particular, achieve zero
greenhouse gases to solid waste, they are the single largest con- landfill. The second cycle includes pre-design, production, use,
tributor to a growing number of planet-threatening environmental and post-use stages of the product life cycle. The thick arrows
problems. According to the Department of Energy’s Energy In- represent material and information flow between these stages. The
formation Administration, the industrial sector consumes 30% of reverse arrow from use stage to production stage denotes the field
the total energy and the transportation sector consumes 29% of the data from product use into design and manufacturing to improve
energy. Considering that a large portion of the transportation en- the design.
ergy costs is involved in moving manufactured goods, the energy The various stages in the above product life cycle have a sig-
consumption of the industrial sector could reach nearly 45% of nificant impact on the environment. According to a recent report
the total energy costs. Hence, it is very important to improve the from the University of Cambridge, “the industrial system can ac-
energy efficiency of our manufacturing enterprises. In this chap- count for 30% or more of greenhouse gas generation in industri-
ter, we outline several different strategies for improving the energy alized countries” [2]. This statement reflects only a part of the
efficiency in manufacturing enterprises. Energy efficiency can be total impact on the environment. Energy consumption and waste
accomplished through energy savings, improved productivity, new production are other major factors that affect the environment.
energy generation, and the use of enabling technologies. These For example, according to the Department of Energy’s Energy
include reducing energy consumption at the process level, reduc- Information Administration, the industrial sector consumes 31%
ing energy consumption at the facilities level, and improving the of the total energy and the transportation sector consumes 28% of
efficiency of the energy generation and conversion process. The the energy [3]. Considering that a large portion of the transporta-
primary focus of this chapter is on process level energy efficiency. tion energy costs is involved in moving manufactured goods, the
We will provide case studies to illustrate process level energy ef- energy consumption in the industrial sector could reach nearly
ficiency and the other two strategies. 45% of the total energy costs. The U.S. Energy Information
Administration’s Annual Energy Review 2009 provides an ex-
cellent source of information for energy consumption in various
31.1 iNTRODUCTION sectors [4]. It also shows energy flows from source (e.g., coal,
hydroelectric power, renewable energies) to a particular sector
Companies often find it difficult to obtain needed traction on ad- (e.g., transportation, industry, etc.).
dressing energy efficiency efforts. Company managers view energy A product’s energy life cycle includes all aspects of energy pro-
use as a necessary cost for conducting business and they have diffi- duction [5]. Depending on the type of material and the product, en-
culty in competing energy with other core operational needs [1]. Re- ergy consumption in certain stages may have a significant impact
cent public perception and marketplace pressures have companies on the product energy costs. For example, 1 kg of aluminum re-
taking a second look at energy efficiency within the enterprise and quires about 12 kilograms of raw materials and consumes 290 MJ
with life cycle considerations. The life cycle of a product can have of energy [6]. Several different strategies can be used to improve
several beginnings. One such cycle that starts with raw material ex- the energy efficiency of manufacturing enterprises, including re-
traction and processing is shown in Fig. 31.1. This cycle continues ducing energy consumption at the process level, reducing energy
with the pre-design and fabrication of the relevant semi-finished consumption at the facilities level, and improving the efficiency of
products, includes manufacturing and assembly of the final product the energy generation and conversion process. While the primary
as well as its transportation, use and maintenance, and concludes focus of this chapter is on process level energy efficiency, we will
with the end-of-life operations. This last stage includes recycling of briefly discuss energy reduction methods and efficient energy gen-
materials and, after adequate treatment, final disposal of waste. eration processes through case studies.
31-  •  Chapter 31

Fig. 31.1  Product life cycle: From mining to reuse

31.1.1 Outline of the Chapter 31.6. Several case studies are provided in Sections 31.7 to 31.9.
A rationale for energy-efficient manufacturing is provided in Section 31.7 presents a case study on improving energy efficiency
the next section (Section 31.2). The concept of unit manufacturing in injection molding. A case study of various innovations used by a
processes is introduced in Section 31.3, followed by a classifica- small manufacturer for energy efficient manufacturing is provided
tion of these processes in Section 31.4. Section 31.5 describes the in Section 31.8. In Section 31.9 we discuss a specific technique —
mechanisms used to determine energy consumption. Improving using supercritical fluids — that can be effectively used to improve
the efficiency of this energy consumption is the realm of Section energy efficiency and to improve processes that generate energy

Fig. 31.2  A closed loop view of product life cycle and sustainable manufacturing
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  31-

from non-traditional sources. Finally, in Section 31.10, we point Advanced manufacturing sciences and technologies are neces-
out how best practices, regulations, and standards can play an im- sary to support, promote, and implement energy reduction and
portant role in increasing energy efficiency. renewable efforts. Yet, progress of these efforts is hindered as in-
dustry lacks the science-based approaches enabling quantifiable
measurement techniques, tools, and data that support objective
31.2  NERGY EFFICIENT
E evaluation of progress against specific aspects of product life cycle.
MANUFACTURING Beyond energy reduction and renewal technologies, manufacturers
are starting to look at the entire life cycle of products and services
Energy efficiency efforts and the use of renewable energy sources to conserve energy and natural resources, minimize negative envi-
is an essential component that manufacturing enterprises must ronmental impacts, ensure safety for employees, communities, and
address to cope with the current global environmental crises [7]. consumers, and improve economic viability [8].
Manufacturer’s energy inputs can be described by the following The U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) and the U.S. Council for
five progressive stages [5]: Automotive Research (USCAR, www.uscar.org) created a tech-
nology roadmap for energy reduction in automotive manufactur-
1.  primary energy input, which is the total volume of energy
ing. The goal of the roadmap is to guide decision-making for future
assembled to serve industrial needs.
research, development, and demonstration projects through iden-
2.  central generation, which mainly occurs in powerhouses
tification of potential ways to reduce energy intensity in automo-
where fuel is converted to heat and power by a steam plant,
tive manufacturing and the associated supply chain. This report is
power generator, or co-generator.
organized around five major operations within automotive manu-
3.  distribution, which pipes heat and sends power from central
facturing [9]: 1) Body in White and Components, 2) Paint, 3) Power­
generation to process units.
train and Chassis Components, 4) Final Assembly, and 5) Plant
4.  energy conversion, which transforms heat and power to usable
Infrastructure. Through the combined data collection, analysis and
work, and involves motors, fans, pumps, and heat exchangers.
reporting of energy consumption occurring within these major op-
5.  processes, where converted energy transforms raw materials
erations, USCAR members were able to recognize and take ap-
and intermediates into final products.
propriate actions for energy efficiency at the major operation level.
The primary focus of this chapter is on energy conversion and Figure 31.3 illustrates the major operations, a description of each
manufacturing processes although aspects of primary energy input, operation, the flow of materials between processes, and approxi-
central generation, and distribution are covered when considering mate percent of energy that each process requires of the total enter-
life cycle analysis (LCA). prise energy. Such flows can be developed for other industries.

Energy Composite for Automotive Manufacturing Operations

Energy
Losses
Transport Composite
Energy Die-Making*(TBD) Casting* (TBD) percents
Building Dies are assembled from Casting of metal parts are based
Energy/ on
castings, inserts, binders,
Infrastructure Processes: pattern making, sand
other parts Abatement operating
Process (volatiles, handling/processing; core mfg; mold
Energy Processes: assembly, fines) occurs lines; metal melting, transport, data from
machining, tuning within all pouring; machining Ford, GM
operations to and
some degree.
Chrysler.
POWER TRAIN
Stamping (12%)
Transmission (19%) Engine (13%)
Finished parts are pressed
out of coiled sheet metal Transmissions are assembled Engines are produced
Other Sub- (clutch, gear sets, case, from castings/forgings
Processes: feed, blank, controls, converters, shift) (pistons, heads, block)
systems & draw, form, re-strike, trim,
Component wash Processes: machining, heat Processes: machining,
treating, assembly heat treating, assembly
Suppliers
Multiple test and inspection points Range:
occur within and between operations
Body Shop (10%) 10-25
Body structure including General Assembly MM Btu/
Paint (36%)
closures are produced (10%) Vehicle
(body in white) Finished body structure is
painted Assembly produces a retail-
Processes: 1st
dimensional sets, parts Processes: pretreatment,
ready vehicle Finished
assembly, two-stage spot seal, prime, top coat, Processes: trim, fit and finish, Vehicles
welds (initial and final repair; cure and drying final assembly; power train
structure), robot-intensive and chassis assembly;
assembly exterior & interior
components/ subsystems,
electrical systems

Fig. 31.3 Distribution of energy use in major operations in a typical automobile manufacturing plant [9]
31-  •  Chapter 31

Companies find it difficult to accurately determine energy uti- for a component or product. This linking of unit processes, with
lization within a plant or enterprise beyond major manufacturing the output of one process serving as the input for the next process,
operations; down to the plant floor equipment level. Companies rec- clearly illustrates the dependency of one process on another for
ognize the need to address energy efficiency practices yet they lack achieving process and product performance. This collection of unit
formal descriptions of resources that promote IT automation and processes also supports calculation of the energy use required to
the development/ improvement of tools. As a result, current pro­ complete specific operations or to produce a product. Unit process
cess improvement efforts are likely to address localized problems, models support decisions regarding continuous improvement of the
potentially failing to address the bigger picture that systems and life individual unit process as well as the system of unit processes. In
cycle approaches would have identified. If companies are able to addition, social factors, such as rapid response to customer needs
take into account system and life cycle considerations in regards to or having safe working conditions, can also be addressed. Over the
addressing energy efficiency issues they must identify and evaluate years, the use of unit process methodologies has achieved most
competing performance attributes or tradeoffs. A process improve- success in the chemical sector.
ment may decrease energy consumption at one stage of manufactur- Enhancements to the unit manufacturing process concept have
ing, but increase consumption at another, or increase waste. Similarly, continued to evolve. To increase their utility there was a need for
an overall reduction in manufacturing energy consumption may an innovative methodology to incorporate life cycle considerations
produce a product that requires more energy to operate, or may re- into the model. A new methodology called Unit Process Life Cy-
sult in a less durable product that must be replaced more often. For cle Inventory (UPLCI) was developed to use the manufacturing unit
example, a product that takes 5 MJ to manufacture but lasts for process as the basis for life cycle inventory [11]. UPLCI involves
10 years is more energy-friendly than a product that takes 4 MJ 1) preparing a process description that includes appropriate support-
to manufacture but only lasts for 5 years (and therefore must be ing information for describing value-add steps and 2) developing
replaced). Analyzing these tradeoffs and using them to make deci- process mass loss equations and applicable examples that assist us-
sions requires detailed, comprehensive models. ers in applying methods to their work, and references to supporting
equations and data. The UPLCI model is further refined through the
study of four types of data: 1) time, 2) power, 3) consumables, and
31.3 UNIT MANUFACTURING PROCESSES 4) emissions [11]. Whereas the initial unit process model applica-
tions could be quite complex, UPLCI model development looks for
As stated in [10], manufacturing, reduced to its simplest form, simplicity and tries to minimize information or excessive rigor in de-
“involves the controlled application of energy to convert raw mate- riving estimated energy consumption to maximize productivity and
rials (typically supplied in simple or shapeless forms) into finished promote wider acceptance of the methodology by industry.
products with defined shape, structure, and properties.” Joining
and assembly operations can also be viewed similarly. The energy
applied during the unit manufacturing operations may be mechani- 31.4  ATEGORIZATION OF UNIT
C
cal, thermal, electrical, or chemical in nature and sufficient detail is MANUFACTURING PROCESSES
needed to understand the allocation of energy consumption within
There are hundreds of unit manufacturing processes. However,
each unit process.
common traits among the processes can be used as a basis for or-
Unit manufacturing processes are formal descriptions of manu-
ganizing them. By identifying common traits, a taxonomy can be
facturing resources at the individual operations level (e.g., cast-
developed. One approach to taxonomy construction is to arrange
ing, machining, forming, surface treatment, joining, and assembly)
various manufacturing processes according to function [12] while
required to produce finished goods. Engineers have historically
another approach can be descriptive headings that alert compa-
evaluated complex systems by breaking them down into smaller
nies of expected energy types and use. In all cases, taxonomies
and more manageable parts that together still adequately represent
add structure and systematic categorization facilitates search and
the complete system, and are computational tractable. This ap-
retrieval operations. This allows companies to locate a general-
proach avoids the difficult task of creating accurate abstractions of
ized description of a manufacturing unit process that will serve as
the production system.
the foundation for its unique instantiation. Listed below are two
Unit manufacturing processes provide a science-based method-
widely adopted manufacturing taxonomies:
ology for companies. This can aid in understanding their produc-
tion processes and equipment thus enabling process and product 1. Allen and Todd’s manufacturing processes reference guide
performance improvements. By identifying and defining the unit [13] (see Fig. 31.4).
process, engineers gain a better understanding of the production 2. CO2PE! — “initiative process taxonomy based on the German
process performance, thus allowing them to identify, analyze, and standard DIN 8580 (Fertigungsverfahren, Begriffe, Einteilung)
improve energy efficiency of the unit process and ultimately the and extended with some auxiliary processes like compressed
enterprise. Initial applications of the unit process methodology air supply, cooling systems, etc.” [14].
include: 1) providing highly reproducible, accurate positioning
Another set of descriptive categories was proposed by a National
of production equipment component motions needed to improve
Research Council (NRC) study group [10]. This top-level tax-
precision levels, 2) developing innovative equipment designs that
onomy organizes all processes into the five descriptive categories
dampen vibrations so that they are not transmitted to the tooling
listed below.
and workpiece, 3) reducing warm-up time from process start-up
to operational steady state to attain minimal energy use and, 4) in- 1.  mass-change processes, which remove or add material by
creasing speed of operation — while achieving consistency of part mechanical, electrical, or chemical means (included are the
characteristics, such as dimensional control [10]. traditional processes of machining, grinding, shearing, and
The intent of unit processes, and their ultimate utility, is to en- plating, as well as such non-traditional processes as water jet,
able collections of unit processes to define an entire process flow electro-discharge, and electrochemical machining).
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  31-

Mechanical Reducing Casting

Wet Forming
Mass Reducing Thermal Reducing Ceramic
Molding
Dry Pressing
M Chemical Reducing
a
n Injection
u Consolidation Molding
f Shaping Mass Conserving
a Deformation Blow Molding
c
Molding Transfer
t
Molding
u Mechanical Joining
r Polymer Compression
i Molding Molding
Joining Thermal Joining
n Extrusion
g Chemical Joining Molding
Thermoform
P Molding
r Annealing Rotational
o Molding
c Heat Treatment Hardening Compacting
e
Deposition
s Other
s Laminating
e Non Shaping Total
s Deformation
Surface Preparation Local
Surface Finishing
Deformation
Surface Coating
Surface Modification

Fig. 31.4  Partial taxonomy to highlight injection molding process. Data from Ref. [13]

2.  phase-change processes, which produce a solid part from posal) and in-direct manufacturing activities (such as transporta-
material originally in the liquid or vapor phase (typical exam- tion of materials, product packaging, and HVAC).
ples are the casting of metals, the manufacture of composites To determine energy consumption rates at the unit process
by infiltration, and injection molding of polymers). level requires specific knowledge of the production process (re-
3.  structure-change processes, which alter the microstructure source inputs, outputs) and the measurement methodology nec-
of a workpiece, either throughout its bulk or in a localized essary to support reporting and decision support requirements.
area such as its surface (shot-peen stress relief, heat treatment Typically, there are a number of possible methods that can be
and surface hardening are typical processes within this fam- used to measure energy rates. Each of the methods is based on
ily; the family also encompasses phase changes in the solid various assumptions and has unique precision and accuracy. They
state, such as precipitation hardening). also have different costs, depending on the physical and software
4.  deformation processes, which alter the shape of a solid work- resources required to take the measurements, the time to take the
piece without changing its mass or composition (classical measurements, the maintenance for continuous operation, and
bulk-forming metalworking processes of rolling and forging the time for reducing and formatting the data for reporting and
are in this category, shot-peen forming, as are sheet-forming decision support. There are new advances in acquiring data from
processes, such as deep drawing and ironing). unit processes that make it easier for companies to collect critical
5.  consolidation processes, which combine materials such as measurement data for assessing energy consumption and other
particles, filaments, or solid sections to form a solid part or sustainability data [15].
component (powder metallurgy, ceramic molding, and poly- A growing number of companies have installed and begun to
mer-matrix composite pressing are examples, as are perma- use Energy Management Systems (EMS) that provide monitoring
nent joining processes, such as welding and brazing). and reporting capabilities at a sub-station or possibly at the ma-
The NRC report also suggested a sixth category that rec- jor operation level. Facets of energy management have a notable
ognized the likelihood of innovative configurations of unit common requirement: the need for advanced data collection and
processes. analytical tools that facilitate energy-efficient practices [16]. Table
6.  integrated processes, which combine more than one specific 31.1 describes some data sources that companies should explore
unit process into a single piece of equipment or into a group for determining their energy management requirements.
of work stations that are operated under unified control. When direct energy consumption data is unavailable, an esti-
mate may be made instead. This may be done when it is desirable
to make a prediction of energy consumption before manufacturing
31.5  ETERMINING ENERGY
D processes have been designed and implemented. Oftentimes, this is
cONSUMPTIOn done using an allocation scheme based on specific energy consump-
tion (SEC) [17]. SEC is defined as the amount of energy used by a
A product’s energy life cycle describes its total energy impact, specific process for a unit quantity of material. In injection mold-
including all stages of its manufacture through the end of its op- ing, the mass of the part, which can be obtained from a Computer-
erating life and includes its eventual disposal [5]. This is referred aided Design (CAD) model, is multiplied by the SEC for the given
to as cradle-to-grave analysis that captures relevant sustainability material, which can be found in an LCA database. From this calcu-
data starting with the extraction of raw materials and accounting lation, an estimate of energy consumption is obtained.
for all operations until the final disposal of these materials. The We will illustrate the above concept through an example of
total energy should reflect the collective contributions of life cycle an estimation for the energy cost of an injection-molded part, as
factors (such as embodied energy in raw materials, scrap, and dis- shown in Figure 31.5.
31-  •  Chapter 31

Table 31.1 Data sources for energy management

Data Source Data Description

Energy Management Control System Building data from automation systems, HVAC, lighting systems, boiler, chiller,
Data (EMCS) turbine, and other equipment
Energy Meter Data Data from energy meters and submeters, which can include electricity, chilled water,
steam, gas, fuel, water, and other metered resources
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Enterprise-level business data, such as supply-chain, asset, financial, project, and
others
Data Historian A historical data repository that efficiently stores data from manufacturing process,
facility metered, or other types of historical data
Weather Data Temperature, pressure, humidity, and other weather data
Building Data Building type, design specifications, and square-footage data
Web Data Various internet data sources such as Department of Energy (DOE) or U.S. Energy
Information Administration (EIA) energy databases or forecasted weather data
Billing Data Incoming and outgoing utility billing data, which may also come from the ERP
system
Scheduling Data Line schedules, room schedules, facilities schedules, personnel schedules, and
others
Excel Data Historical spreadsheets and reports of Excel data

Unfortunately, the available LCA databases only provide an av-

CAD
Material Inputs erage over the range of machines used in injection molding. This is
inadequate because properties of the specific machine used dramati-
Geometry cally influence energy consumption. Larger machines require more
Type
Model thermal energy to maintain the polymer temperature, and more
power to move the heavier injection and clamping mechanisms.
These generalizations lead to wildly inaccurate energy estimates.
In addition, the allocation scheme based on SEC and part mass
do not account for the influence of part geometry and cycle time.
Parts having the same volume and therefore the same mass, but
LCA different geometry can have significantly different cycle times and
therefore require different amounts of energy to manufacture. For
Database example, let us consider the two injection-molded parts shown in
Fig. 31.6. Both parts are made using the same material and have
the same volume and mass. However, the maximum wall thickness
of the smaller, more compact part (a) is twice that of the larger,
thinner part (b). The cooling time for an injection molded part is
Average proportional to the square of the maximum wall thickness [18].
Part Therefore the cooling time for the cup in Fig. 31.6 (a) will be ap-
Energy
Mass proximately 4 times that of the cup in Fig. 31.6 (b). During the
per kg cooling time, the machine is idle and continues to consume en-
ergy. Therefore increased cooling time, along with increased cycle
time of the operation, also results in increased energy consump-
tion. Studies by Gutowski [19] and Krishnan [20, 21] show that
Multiply the energy consumed by overhead operations such as maintaining
the polymer melt and the mold temperature along with pumping
fluids and coolants, can be more than the energy used during each
production run. Thick parts may especially require active cooling,
Energy which requires use of even more energy to supply coolants.
Gutowski and Krishnan [19–21] have shown that machines with
Consumption Output a typically higher throughput tend to consume less energy per part.
(Per Part) This can be explained by the influence that cycle time has on en-
ergy consumption as described above. Since the baseline idling
Fig. 31.5 Current method used to inventory energy is relatively constant, a machine having lower typical cycle
e­nergy consumption for injection molding times allocates less idling energy per part.
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  31-

total yielded energy used to create and destroy a product through-

out its entire lifecycle [32]. This has been used to compare energy
costs of milling marble slabs versus marble tiles [33], for example.
Embodied energy has also been considered in the context of re-
manufacturing multi-process products, such as engines [34], which
are made through die casting followed by machining, and the pro-
duction of double-glazed windows [35], which are made through
the float-glass process and milling. Life cycle analyses of die cast-
ing [36, 37] and sand casting [38] have also been performed using
embodied energy.
Fig. 31.6 Two different parts with equal volume Other authors have examined the relative energy costs of dif-
but different wall thicknesses and cooling ferent processes which can be used to make the same product.
times. Part (a) has a wall thickness of 1.27 mm, For example, Cho et al. [39] compare the reduced yielded energy
while part (b) has a wall thickness of 0.635 mm. cost of continuous casting with hot extrusion and heat treatment
Both parts have a volume of 54.7327 cm3 for producing copper wirerods. Other works investigate the rela-
tive energy costs of semi-solid forging, traditional forging, and die
casting for metal alloys [40, 41].
To account for the effects of baseline idling energy, Gutowski
divides the specific energy consumption into two components: one
component represents the energy used while the machine is idle, 31.6 IMPROVING ENERGY EFFICIENCY
and the second component represents the additional energy used to
process each unit of material. However, this method still does not Energy efficiency refers to technologies and standard operating
account for the variations in power consumption at different stages procedures (SOPs) that reduce the volume of energy per unit of
of the molding cycle. A 2007 study [22] investigating the effects of industrial production or energy intensity which is defined as the
conformal cooling channels on energy consumption showed that a amount of energy it takes to produce a dollar of goods [6]. The
40% reduction in cycle time for the same part on the same machine Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency, and Renew-
results in only a 20% reduction in energy consumption. This sug- able Energy’s Industrial Technologies Program (DoE) works to
gests that the portion of the cycle that was shortened consumed improve the energy intensity of U.S. industry through coordinated
power at a rate lower than the average for the entire molding cy- research and development, validation, and dissemination of in-
cle. Therefore, an approach that accounts for a specific part geom- novative energy efficiency technologies and practices [42]. DoE
etry and machine at each stage of the molding cycle could help to figures show that industry can achieve energy reductions of nearly
achieve a more accurate estimate of energy consumption. 20% to 30% through procedural, behavior, and cultural changes
The arrangement of immediate production processes (molding, without capital expenditures. The best metrics for energy effi-
assembly, finishing) to meet a production schedule can have a dra- ciency have to be clearly measureable, have goals objectively ex-
matic influence on energy consumption in manufacturing processes. pressed quantitatively and on a time scale, and have status clearly
This influence is commonly known as energy efficiency [23–25], communicated. These goals may be set at the product design stage,
which is summarized by Kumara as: “Energy efficiency mainly at the manufacturing process level, or an approach that spans both
relates to optimizing the ratio of production output to the energy design and manufacturing.
input for the technical building services (heating and cooling) and Many companies have already begun to improve energy effi-
production machines” [26]. A good model of energy consump- ciency on the product level by integrating environmental consid-
tion should therefore account for production volume, scheduled erations into their product development processes. This effort has
and unscheduled maintenance of machines, and the design of the come to be part of a paradigm known as Design for Environment
factory, in addition to the energy used during the actual molding (DfE). DfE is defined as “the systematic consideration of design
process. To determine how this ratio of production to energy input performance with respect to environmental, health, safety, and
can be optimized, discrete event simulation (DES) can be applied. sustainability objectives over the full product and process life cy-
DES, in combination with LCA data, is one possible approach for cle” [43]. Design for Environment goes beyond mere compliance
analyzing the cause and effect of various scenarios where time, re- with environmental regulations, in which pollutants are simply
sources, place, and randomness determine the outcome and being cleaned up after manufacturing to the minimum extent required by
sustainable is considered crucial. For such analysis, only a few re- law. Instead, the potential environmental impact of a product or
search publications exist: Solding and Petku [27] and Solding and process throughout its life cycle is considered while it is still being
Thollander [28] both describe how DES can be utilized to lessen designed. This generates value for companies in several ways such
the electricity consumption for foundries. Ostergren et al. [29] and as improved public image, safeguarding of resources vital to the
Johansson et al. [30] describe how DES can be utilized in com- company’s continuing productivity, and attenuation of clean-up
bination with LCA for quantifying environmental impacts during costs after manufacturing. Oftentimes, a direct savings in energy
food production. DES has also been explored for an automobile and resource consumption can be realized as well. Finally, DfE has
paint shop [31] but has not yet been explored for injection molding a trickle-down effect. Companies that demand sustainably sourced
processes. materials and components can foster competition between suppli-
Several authors have investigated the interconnected roles in ers, no longer just on a basis of cost, but on lower environmental
various manufacturing processes of geometry, material, equip- impact as well. Several sets of guidelines for integrating Design for
ment, and production policy in energy consumption and waste Environment into the design process have been proposed [44–48].
production over the product’s entire life cycle. Oftentimes, this is Some of these guidelines have come under criticism [49] because
rolled into the single metric of “embodied energy,” which is the they do not offer a means for quantitatively validating a design
31-  •  Chapter 31

decision and ensuring that it does, indeed, result in a net reduc- (1) Determine a surrogate runner arrangement, and its volume,
tion in environmental impact. Therefore, it is clear that quantitative for the mold.
methods for assessing environmental impact are vital if DfE is to (2) Approximate the parameters of the machine that will be
be an effective tool. used based on the production requirements.
To improve unit manufacturing processes and energy efficien- (3) Estimate various components of the cycle time for molding
cies, companies have at their disposal a number of techniques and a part.
tools. Companies that have a strong lean and green culture typi- (4) Estimate the number of setup operations based on the deliv-
cally have positioned their site positively with regards to energy ery schedule.
efficiency. Also, companies that have implemented Lean princi- (5) Multiply these times by the appropriate average power used
ples use proven methods such as Value Stream Mapping (VSM) to in each stage by the selected machine, and sum to get the
ensure minimum waste and improved efficiencies [1, 50]. A Lean total energy consumption.
and Energy Toolkit [1] gives guidance on developing an energy
planning and management roadmap. This roadmap starts at an
31.7.1 Surrogate Runner Arrangement
initial assessment followed by design process, opportunity evalua-
First, the CAD model of the part is analyzed to determine the mold
tion, and implementation phases. This toolkit goes on to state three
cavity volume. In addition to the volume of the part, the volume of
techniques for measuring or estimating the energy used by produc-
the runner system and sprue must also be considered. The runners and
tion processes: 1) metering, 2) estimating, and 3) energy studies.
sprue are a system of channels which carry the molten polymer from
These techniques have been discussed in Section 31.5.
the injection nozzle to various cavities in the mold. In some parts,
especially parts at the small scale, the runner system can be much
larger than the part. Hence it is important to carefully select the runner
31.7 IMPROVING ENERGY EFFICIENCY layout for estimating the projected volume of the mold cavity.
THROUGH IMPROVED PRODUCT Figure 31.7 illustrates eight different sprue/runner layouts
DESIGN: A CASE STUDY IN for four-cavity molds. These layouts are commonly used layouts
INJECTION MOLDING which use fishbone and ladder layouts. The most appropriate run-
ner layout is selected based on the critical quality metrics such as
To illustrate energy efficiency methods, a plastic injection mold-
shrinkage, shear level, part density, mold machining constraints,
ing example will be used. Plastics are used in a vast majority of
etc., while optimizing for the cycle time and the overall runner vol-
products produced in the U.S. and globally. One of the major man-
ume. The geometry of the mold and the sprue location also plays a
ufacturing processes used to process plastics is injection molding.
significant role in the selection of the most appropriate runner lay-
This is illustrated in the taxonomy of Fig. 31.4. To improve the
out. Considering the complex nature of this problem, manufactur-
energy efficiency of manufacturing resources one must understand
ers currently select the most appropriate runner/sprue layout based
the process in sufficient detail to identify all aspects on how energy
on their prior experience.
is consumed and how use varies over time during setup and steady
Based on the selected runner layout, the projected area of the
state operations. Weissman et al. present a methodology for esti-
runner system and the runner volume can be computed. This infor-
mating the energy consumed to injection-mold a part that would
mation is then used for selecting the machine for completing the
enable environmentally conscious decision making during the
injection molding operation.
product design [51]. Table 31.2 conceptually shows that engineer-
ing changes can be made to the part design to improve the process
energy efficiency without impacting the product functionality. 31.7.2 Selection of Machine
During injection molding, energy is consumed during the cycles The next step is to estimate the size of the injection molding ma-
to melt, inject, and pressurize the resin, open and close the mold, chine required to mold the part. Machine size is primarily driven
and pump water for cooling. The energy requirements during fill- by the clamping force required to hold the mold closed during the
ing, cooling, and resetting can be determined from the cycle times injection cycle, the shot size required by the volume of the part and
and the power profile of the machine. Weissman et al. note that the runners, and the stroke length required to clear the maximum depth
main environmental concerns associated with injection molding are of the part during part ejection. The part volume and maximum
energy consumption and waste generation (mostly waste resin). depth of the part can be determined from the geometry model. The
To develop an accurate method for estimating energy consump- required clamping force can then be determined from the relation-
tion for injection molded parts, an algorithm consisting of five ship between the maximum cavity pressure and the projected area
steps was formulated [51]. These steps are: of the cavity.

Table 31.2 Injection molding parameters that impact energy consumption [51]

Design feature Operational impact Energy impact

Thicker minimum part thickness Increased cooling time More energy used while machine idles longer
Larger projected part area Greater clamping force needed More energy used by more powerful hydraulic/
servo mechanisms
Greater part depth Longer stroke needed to eject part More energy needed to operate clamp mechanism
for longer
Higher specific heat of material Higher temperatures needed to melt More energy needed by heating unit
Better part finish Additional post-processing steps Energy consumed by those steps
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  31-

31.7.3 Estimation of Cycle Times

Once the machine has been selected, the cycle time for the part
is estimated. The molding cycle can be broken down into three
stages: injection, packing and cooling, and reset. These stages, as
well as their sub-stages and other auxiliary stages in a typical injec-
tion molding operation, are shown in the state transition diagram
(a) One-sided (b) Two-sided in Fig. 31.8.
Ladder Ladder During the injection stage, the pressure at the injection nozzle is
gradually increased. This is done to maintain a constant volumetric
flow rate, as the melt cools and solidifies. The estimated fill time
for the mold cavity can be derived based on the maximum flow
rate. Fill time is approximated as twice the cavity volume, divided
by the maximum flow rate of polymer from the nozzle.
Next, the pressure is held and then gradually dropped as the part
cools and contracts in the mold. We assumed that active cooling
(c) Geometrically (d) Geometrically is not used. Using the first term of the Carslaw and Jaeger solution
balanced two- balanced, centered [18], the cooling time in seconds can be estimated from the maxi-
mum wall thickness of the part, the thermal diffusivity of the ma-
sided Ladder two-sided Ladder
terial, the polymer injection temperature, the recommended mold

Load Hopper
Install Mold
• Production energy for
• Energy cost of mold
input materials

Warmup
Maintain
• Warmup time (machine)
• Maintenance time
• Average power during
• Average maintenance
warmup
(e) One-sided (f) Geometrically power
Fishbone balanced one-sided
Fishbone Flush Calibrate
• Flush time using • Production energy of
Discrete Event scrapped material
Simulation (DES) • Total cycle energy
• Average flush power
Maintenance Setup

Eject Insert and Close

• Ejection time (part) • Closing time (part and

• Average power during machine)
ejection • Average power during
closing
(g) Geometrically (h) Geometrically Resetting
balanced two-sided balanced, centered Open
Fishbone two-sided Fishbone • Opening time (part and Inject
machine) • Injection time (part)
Fig. 31.7 Different sprue and runner layouts • Average power during • Average power during
for four-cavity molds [51] opening injection
• Hot runner power

The maximum pressure in the mold can be determined using

Moldflow®, given the predicted mold design from the first step Cool Pack
and the recommended injection pressure. We then assume that the • Cooling time (part) • Packing time (part)
manufacturer will use the cheapest machine which can provide • Average power during • Average power during
the necessary clamping force, shot size, and stroke length. The re- cooling packing
quired shot size is equal to the volume of the part, plus the volume – Clamping power
of the runners and sprue. The stroke length is typically estimated – Active cooling Cooling
by a linear relationship with the maximum depth of the part. A
machine which meets these criteria can be looked up in a machine Fig. 31.8 Injection molding process — decompo-
database. sition of energy consuming states [51]
31-10  •  Chapter 31

temperature, and the recommended part ejection temperature. The based on the production requirement and the delivery schedule.
maximum wall thickness can be determined from the part model. The customer specified delivery schedule involves a request for a
The remaining parameters are properties of the material which can certain number of parts at regular time intervals. Thus, to save on
be found in the material datasheet provided by the supplier, or de- the inventory cost before delivery to the customer, the manufacturer
rived from those properties. For example, the thermal diffusivity makes parts in batches. The batch size should be larger than the
can be computed from the specific heat, thermal conductivity, and number of parts delivery requirement at each time interval. Any
density of the material. remaining parts are stored at the expense of the manufacturer un-
Finally, after ejection of the part, the mold is prepared for the til the next delivery. Since larger batch sizes require fewer setups
next cycle. This time is estimated by applying an overhead to the there is a tradeoff between the setup cost and the inventory cost.
dry cycle time for the machine. The dry cycle time is typically a Figure 31.9 shows the relationship between the delivery sched-
measure of the injection molding machine performance that indi- ule and the production schedule over the entire production volume.
cates the time for the machine to perform the actions necessary The manufacturer produces a certain number of parts, and delivers
to manufacture a part, without the part actually being produced. to the customer at regular intervals. During this time, undelivered
The overhead is proportional to the square root of the ratio of the parts remain in storage. When the parts in storage have been de-
stroke length for our part and the maximum stroke length from the pleted, the manufacturer makes a new batch of parts, and continues
machine. to ship them out according to the customer’s delivery schedule,
typically a regular interval of time.
31.7.4 Estimation of Setup Operations The tradeoff can be formulated as a single variable optimization
Before the start of the production, the machine must be set up, problem. The solution to this problem is the optimal number of
which also consumes energy. Setup processes include steps such setup operations which minimize the cost to the manufacturer over
as warming up the machine, installing the mold, and calibrating the entire production volume. For this problem, it is assumed that
the machine. The injection molding machine consumes significant the batch production period is much larger than the delivery period,
amount of energy during warm up, and then continues to consume and so lead time can be ignored. Furthermore, it is assumed that
energy as it idles during mold installation. Before start of produc- the manufacturer must pay for a constant amount of storage; even
tion, the injection molding process needs to be stabilized. This is as the manufacturer’s inventory is depleted, they must continue to
done to establish process equilibrium to ensure complete filling pay for the entire space needed to accommodate a batch of parts.
of the part, avoid jetting, or other undesirable conditions that can The solution to the optimization problem shows that the batch
compromise product quality. Manufacturers typically reject the period which minimizes cost is a function of the delivery period k,
first few tens of parts before beginning the production. Therefore the delivery volume n, and the unit costs associated with machine
the energy consumed during this step is included as part of the setup and part storage. Together with the total production volume,
machine calibration. the optimal number of batches can then be found.
To determine the total energy used during setup processes, it must
first be determined how often the machine must be set up during 31.7.5 Computing Total Energy Consumption
the production schedule of the entire production volume. Typically, The energy used during filling, cooling, and resetting can be
the entire production volume will not be completed in a single determined from the cycle times and the power profile of the ma-
production run. In general, injection molded parts are produced chine. Assuming that energy consumption per unit of time on a

N=Tn/k
Parts in storage

2n

0 k 2k T T+k T+2k 2T
time
e

e
t ur

tur
nu r

r
er

er

er
ma live

e
e
fac

fac
liv

liv

liv
liv
liv
nu

de

de
de

de

de
de
ma

Fig. 31.9 Graph showing delivery schedule and production schedule in terms of parts in storage
versus time [51]
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  31-11

given machine is constant for a given stage of the cycle, the power 31.9 IMPROVING EFFICIENCY OF ENERGY
required, in watts, during each stage can be looked up. Multiply- GENERATION AND CONVERSION
ing the power consumed at each stage by that stage’s estimated WITH EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES:
time, and then dividing by the number of mold cavities, the total A CASE STUDY IN USE OF
energy at each stage is computed. Energy used in these stages can
be added up to arrive at a total manufacturing energy cost.
SUPERCRITICAL FLUIDS AT THAR
This specific example of energy consumption during injection
TECHNOLOGIES
molding that is shown in Fig. 31.8 does not reflect a complete life Emerging technologies provide one way to apply new technol-
cycle analysis (LCA), as the embodied energy of the raw material, ogy to reduce or remove energy inefficiencies associated with
transportation, product use, and recycling/disposal energy contri- older technologies. New technologies may improve the efficiency
bution was not included. Such challenges should for various unit of energy generation, or decrease the energy loss associated with
manufacturing processes should be undertaken in the future. converting matter from one phase to another. One example of an
emerging technology that can be used to improve efficiency on
many different facets is supercritical fluids.
31.8  EDUCING ENERGY CONSUMPTION
R Supercritical fluids (SCFs) exist at temperatures and pressures
AT MANUFACTURING FACILITY: above the critical point, where the differences between gas and liq-
A CASE STUDY AT HARBEC uid states lose their significance. Various physical properties such
PLASTICS, INC as density and dielectric constant change rapidly with pressure and
enthalpy and are to some extent “tunable,” i.e., they can be ma-
Bob Bechtold is the CEO of HARBEC Plastics, Inc. and is an in- nipulated to achieve a processing goal. Such fluids have a variety
novator in implementing sustainable manufacturing practices [52]. of energy efficient applications in solvent extraction, laboratory
His company, which makes high-quality injection-molded parts, has analysis and heat transfer.
made a considerable commitment to being green. HARBEC Plastics Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) offers multiple advantages
Inc. disproved a common misconception that “Being green is nice compared to traditional extraction technologies such as organic-
but we can’t afford it” through eco-economic factors implemented solvent extraction or distillation. With SFE there is no residual
at HARBEC. For example, the CHP (combined heat and power) mi- solvent in either the extract or in the raffinate. This translates into
cro-turbines, which are capable of generating 100% of HARBEC lower operating costs because of the reduction in post-processing
power requirements, provide air conditioning and heat for an injec- steps, clean-up, and safety measures. Products extracted with SFE
tion molding facility, while grid connection provides appropriate deliver the most natural aromas and flavors because the volatile
back up. HARBEC’s air-conditioning system, which uses an absorp- compounds are not removed as they are in a post-processing step to
tion chiller, turns exhaust gas waste heat into free air conditioning. remove residual solvent. SFE works at low temperatures, resulting
In the area of renewable energy, HARBEC installed a 250-kW in less deterioration of thermally-labile components in the extracts.
wind generator to accomplish wind/microturbine hybrid electricity Since there is no oxygen in the process, the potential for oxida-
generation. The projected energy production is 300,000 to 350,000 tion of the extract is significantly reduced. Supercritical fluids —
kWH per year, or about 20% of the total HARBEC annual energy particularly carbon dioxide (scCO2) — have application in the
requirements. production or recovery of alternative energy. Several examples of
HARBEC, over a 7-year time span, replaced all standard hydrau- s­cCO2’s use are provided below.
lic type equipment with all-electric injection molding machines.
The advantage of electric machines is that these machines do not
use power when they are in a static state, which is a significant 31.9.1  ood and Fuel: Biodiesel with a Food-
F
portion of the time; the machines are capable of doing the same Production Bonus
or a better job than the hydraulic machines, using as much as 50% Even though the ability of SFE with carbon dioxide to separate
less energy. triglycerides from oil seeds is well understood and practiced, sev-
In the area of lighting, HARBEC replaced every fixture, ballast, eral technological problems inhibit the development of a continuous,
and high bay sodium lamps with new T-8 type fluorescent bulbs “green” version of this biofuel process. To date, all known extraction
and reflectors. These sustainable manufacturing practices allowed of oils or herbal essences using SFE has been performed with batch
HARBEC to ensure that the lighting energy consumed was reduced processing. Fuel production, expected to occur at feed volumes 10
by 48% on average company-wide. HARBEC is a big proponent to 100 times greater than those used in typical herbal extract facili-
of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), al- ties, demands continuous processing. Various groups have worked
though not LEED-certified, HARBEC implemented LEED princi- on continuous or semi-continuous systems but none have succeeded
ples wherever it could. for a variety of reasons, such as leakages due to carbon dioxide’s
HARBEC has significantly improved their water treatment sys- low viscosity and the sealing of rotating or linear devices under high
tem by installing a bi-metallic water treatment plant, which does pressure. Also, the conventional method of cycling CO2 through a
not require any chemicals for water treatment. This enabled them large pressure range of approximately 70 000 000 Pa (700 bar) —
to save thousands of dollars per year on chemicals, and eliminated for the purpose of changing the dissolving characteristics of the sol-
the need for people to handle them. This new water treatment plant vent — imposes an energy burden on the process.
provided 850,000 gallons (3,864,176.5 liters) of fresh water input Depending on the feedstock, valuable solid co-products, from
to their pond, which in turn provides water capacity sufficient for high-volume animal feed to low-volume, premium-priced de-fat-
their sprinkler system, and also provides cooling. In a talk at NIST, ted soy flour, could also be made using SFE. Byproducts include
Bob Bechtold emphasized the overall lesson learned: “If you want glycerol and soybean hulls (used in animal feed). This process also
to make an environmental impact, and save money, use energy offers significant environmental advantages. Current biodiesel
efficiently.” processing involves the extraction of oil from soybeans by hexane,
31-12  •  Chapter 31

a hazardous air pollutant (HAP) according to the U.S. Environ- librium that can be put to good use in heat transfer. Carbon dioxide
mental Protection Agency (EPA). SF process eliminates two major was, in fact, the original refrigerant, dating back more than a cen-
sources of pollution from conventional hexane-extraction plants: tury ago. In the first half of the twentieth century, it lost out, first to
inorganic refrigerants, sulfur dioxide and ammonia, then to organic
1. Fugitive hexane solvent itself, which shows up mainly in air
chlorofluorcarbons in the years just before World War II. But by
emissions, as well as in the meal byproduct that is sold as
the end of the century, concern over ozone depletion brought a
animal feed.
renewed focus on CO2, which is environmentally benign and non-
2. Solid and aqueous waste products resulting from de-gumming,
toxic, as the carbon dioxide is always contained and recycled. Fu-
de-colorization and de-odorization, which are downstream
gitive emissions, which are possible, would contribute in miniscule
processes of hexane extraction. Some of the byproducts, such
amounts to global warming. Fugitive emissions of fluorcarbons,
as lecithin, are valuable and can be recovered and re-sold.
however, pose a significant hazard to the ozone layer. By supplant-
ing fluorocarbons with carbon dioxide, ozone-depletion is mini-
31.9.2 Ethanol Extraction mized with no significant increase in global warming potential.
Supercritical fluid extraction of ethanol from aqueous fermen- Supercritical CO2 has more going for it than environmental ad-
tation broth holds promise as a means of cutting the energy con- vantages. It exhibits unique thermodynamic properties that have
sumption that would otherwise go to distillation and subsequent only recently gained appreciation. For example, the density of
molecular-sieve dehydration. For ethanol derived from corn, dis- scCO2 is greater than that of gaseous freon by a factor of about
tillation and dehydration account for 40% of the energy input, seven. This translates to smaller equipment, despite the higher
counting cultivation, harvesting, other processing and distribution. pressure required to contain scCO2. Furthermore, the temperatures
Supercritical fluid extraction could possibly cut this figure to 20%. of evaporation and condensation for carbon dioxide at sub-critical
The process is, in its simplest rendition, a drop-in replacement of pressures relate to typical air and ground temperatures in such a
the distillation and de-hydration units, as shown in Fig. 31.10. way as to open applications in geothermal heat rejection and ab-
This process first separates water from ethanol in a liquid-phase sorption. In other words, sub-critical carbon dioxide is an attractive
extractor. Then, in a lower-pressure gas-phase stripper, it condenses geothermal heat-transfer fluid for both heating and cooling.
the ethanol from the SCF solvent before re-compressing the sol- Geothermal heat-transfer technology involves circulating CO2
vent and returning it to the water separator for a new round of through the ground, to depths typically less than 150 m. Depending
liquid-phase extraction. Sufficient pressure must be maintained in on the mode of operation — cooling or heating — the ground acts
the water separator to guarantee liquid conditions. A temperature as a heat sink to absorb energy (as in cooling) or a heat source
gradient is needed across the vertical length of the separator to en- to produce energy (as in heating applications). In both cases, the
sure that water drops to the bottom, while ethanol-rich SCF solvent ground temperature is typically 12 centigrade, plus or minus a
migrates to the top. The next step of the process, stripping out the few degrees, throughout the year. A schematic of this is shown in
ethanol from the solvent, takes place in the gas phase. To do this, Fig. 31.11. This technology differs substantially from deep under-
latent heat is added in the stripper — mainly by heat exchange with ground recovery of heat from superheated sources, such as geysers.
compressed, lean SCF solvent (i.e., depleted of ethanol). There are actually two modes of cooling, one employing a com-
pressor to move CO2 in gaseous form and the other relying on a
31.9.3 H
 eating and Cooling Using a Natural pump to move it in liquid form. A cooling cycle based on liquid
Refrigerant pumping satisfies most applications when humidity is already at
Besides its myriad process applications, scCO2, as well as sub- comfortable levels. For times in a day when humidity rises uncom-
critical CO2, also act as excellent heat transfer fluids; any fluid fortably high, the compressed cycle is started in order to condense
below the critical pressure will have a region of vapor-liquid equi- water from room air. This combination of pumped/compressed

Fig. 31.10 Supercritical fluid replacement for distillation and dehydration in corn ethanol
production
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  31-13

Fig. 31.11 Pumped CO2 cooling system

cooling is much more efficient than compressed cooling alone. The efits from higher flow rates of supercritical CO2. Tests conducted
heating mode is always a compression cycle. In this case, liquid by Thar showed that pressure drop would likely exceed 140 kPa in
CO2 is depressurized to 3,500 kPa to 4,000 kPa (35 bar to 40 bar) order to achieve resistances of less than the 0.5 C/W. Thus, the use
so that it evaporates — rather than condensing — underground. of copper rather than stainless-steel is especially important.
Subsequent compression of the evaporated fluid produces tem- The compressor for this application was a reciprocating type, to-
peratures high enough to heat a room. Similar heat-pump systems tally enclosed in a casing that included the motor. This way, there
in use today employ freon-type fluids, but, as noted earlier, gas was no possibility of leakage of CO2 from the crankcase. The en-
densities are only one-seventh that of CO2, and so piping and heat tire assembly was small enough to fit in the palm of a hand.
exchange equipment are much larger.
Numerous variations of the scheme are possible. For example, 31.9.5  ower Generation Using the CO2 Brayton
P
an existing building with a conventional air-conditioning system Cycle
that employs freon fluid with air-blown heat rejection can be sup- Not all applications for CO2 as a heat-transfer fluid involve un-
plemented with a pumped-cooling geothermal system, so as to re- derground operations. One concept captures solar heat in tubes,
duce the energy load overall. allowing pressurized fluid to rise to a high enough temperature that
heat recovery becomes much more efficient than in conventional
31.9.4 Miniature Refrigeration Systems water-based systems — and more efficient than photovoltaic sys-
Carbon dioxide has even been tried as the heat transfer fluid for a tems, for that matter. The same concept can be applied to the re-
miniature refrigeration system, small enough to fit inside a desktop covery of waste heat if such sources exist at temperatures of at least
computer. One of the co-authors (Lalit Chordia, Thar Technolo- 150 C, which might occur in underground sources starting several
gies) designed and built a small compressor capable of moving hundred meters below the surface.
enough fluid, at sufficient pressure, to dissipate approximately 100 The cycles shown in Fig. 31.12 operate clockwise, starting
watts of heat from a computer chip. As part of this effort, Chordia’s with staged liquid pumping, with intercooling, to get to a super-
company also developed a microchannel heat exchanger that came critical pressure for heat absorption. In the case of concentrated
in direct contact with a chip-sized heat source.
Heat exchangers were built with channel widths of less than 100
microns. The channels were open at the edges of a metal foil that
was only about 0.3-mm thick. Headers attached to the channeled
edges ensured even distribution of fluid either into or out of the
foil. Supercritical carbon dioxide is a good choice of a heat-transfer
fluid with this type of construction because of its low viscosity.
Compared to liquid water, and for the same amount of heat capac-
ity, pressure drop through the channels is one-fifth. Furthermore,
carbon dioxide poses less of a hazard in the event of mechanical
failure, such as a leak. Thermal resistance, on the other hand, ben- Fig. 31.12 Solar heat collection with CO2
31-14  •  Chapter 31

Table 31.3 Brayton cycle efficiencies

Max fluid T (˚C): 149 427

Stages Units Underground heat recovery Concentrated solar thermal

Lowest pressure kPa   20,700

Single Highest pressure kPa   34,500
Efficiency %   0.532
Lowest pressure kPa 90 20,700
Double Highest pressure kPa 275 69,000
Efficiency % 19.1% 55.7%
Lowest pressure kPa 70 10,300
Triple Highest pressure kPa 275 34,500
Efficiency % 22.5% 72.6%

solar power, energy is absorbed by fluid running through flow activities that support Toyota’s environmental goals. This
channels onto which light is focused. In waste heat recovery, resulted in ninety eight percent of Toyota’s North American
some type of tubular heat exchanger might be employed. Once suppliers becoming ISO 14001 certified/registered (NAM).
the fluid is hot enough it is depressurized through a series of Toyota also shared its best practices and ideas with its suppli-
turbines to recover energy as electrical power. The fluid coming ers and years later rolled out Eco-VAS, a comprehensive sys-
out of the last turbine is still hot enough to provide substantial tem used to measure and reduce the environmental impact of
pre-heating to the pressurized fluid by means of a recupera- a vehicle across its entire life cycle. Toyota promoted energy
tor, the thermodynamic boundaries of which are represented in conservation awareness throughout its supply chain, hold-
Fig. 31.12 by the dotted lines. Just how efficient these cycles ing energy reduction events comparable to events conducted
can be is shown in Table 31.3. within its manufacturing plants for years [6, 54].
Another application of such water-based systems, that can have ·  For a number of years, several metal casting companies, backed
potentially huge commercial consequence, is the replacement of by industry consortiums and funded through Department of
steam-generation electrical utilities with ones employing scCO2 Defense and Department of Energy [55], have been develop-
instead. Such plants would be smaller and cheaper. Equipment ing new and innovative energy reduction best practices.
sizes — particularly turbines — would be much smaller, and op- ·  Buildings present one of the best opportunities to economi-
erating temperatures would be low enough to permit construction cally reduce energy consumption and limit greenhouse gases
with cheaper carbon steel. Carbon dioxide is non-polar and non- [56, 57]. A number of companies are establishing procedures
corrosive, so high alloy steels are not required. to measure the combined impact of manufacturing operations
(e.g., plant floor resources and processes) and building ser­
vices and controls (e.g., HVAC-lighting and delivery) — an
important capability for accurately evaluating a company’s
31.10  EST PRACTICES, ENVIRONMENTAL
B true performance in meeting sustainability objectives.
REGULATORY POLICIES, AND Sustainable manufacturing is motivating companies to imple-
STANDARDS ment new design and analysis procedures, energy reduction meth-
Best practices, regulations and standards play an important role ods, material reduction efforts, and improved materials handling
in promoting and supporting energy management practices [1]. practices. An NIST workshop on sustainable manufacturing iden-
To be globally competitive companies must be able to confidently tified that current evaluation methods for energy consumption
manufacture products that conform to regulatory requirements and were not sufficient to measure environmental impacts [58]. Evalu-
standards, and most importantly, demonstrate this conformance ation methods and decision-support tools are critical for compa-
when required [53]. Companies typically develop specific sets of nies to consider potential investments in energy efficiency. The
best practices to achieve competitive advantage. They may also evaluation methods should be able to calculate the environmental
adopt best practices associated with a particular industry sector impacts, and these evaluation methods should consider the energy
(aerospace, automotive) or standard (ISO 9000 Quality Manage- life cycle and source types. Additionally, there is a need for devel-
ment, ISO 14000 Environmental Management, ISO 50001 Energy oping energy simulation models and analysis tools for a trade-off
Management). Representative examples of such practices are dis- analysis between investment and environmental impacts.
cussed below.

· Toyota developed superior value by partnering with suppliers 31.11 SUMMARY

to reduce its cumulative process waste. In 2000, Toyota issued
its Green Supplier Guidelines where it asked the suppliers to In order to identify, analyze, and improve energy efficiencies, an
go beyond legal and social requirements and to undertake enterprise must have a clear understanding of the performance of
 ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION HANDBOOK  •  31-15

its production processes and the correlation of its process control-   8. U.S. Department of Commerce, How the DOC Defines Sustainable
ling parameters to the performance of its products. Many processes, Manufacturing, 2010; Available from: http://trade.gov/competitiveness/
methods, and tools currently in use for measuring energy u­tilization sustainablemanufacturing/how_doc_defines_SM.asp.
were not built upon or developed using scientific methods. Sci-   9. U.S. Department of Energy, Technology Roadmap for Energy Reduc-
ence-based approaches add credibility by establishing a founda- tion in Automotive Manufacturing, U.S. Department of Energy, Office
tion for the development of energy utilization processes, methods, of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Industrial Technologies
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can expect to rapidly discover and increase human knowledge and Engineering and Technical Systems — National Research Council,
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31.12 Disclaimer Guide, 1994, Industrial Press Inc.
No approval or endorsement by NIST of any commercial prod- 14. Cooperative Effort on Process Emissions in Manufacturing (CO2PE!).
uct or service is intended or implied. Certain commercial compa- CO2PE! — Taxonomy, 2010. Available from: http://www.mech.
nies, software tools, and services are identified in this report to kuleuven.be/co2pe!/taxonomy.php.
facilitate better understanding. Such identification does not imply 15. MTConnect. 2010. Available from: http://mtconnect.org.
recommendation or endorsement by NIST nor does it imply those 16. Soplop, J., An Algorithmic Approach to Enterprise Energy Manage-
identified are necessarily the best available for the purpose. ment: Developing an Integrated Energy Solution Utilizing Real-time
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used in this chapter, and for the National Institute of Standards and 2006. 
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mance Green Buildings, 2008. Available from: http://www.bfrl.nist.
39. Cho, H., et al., Estimation of Energy Requirements and Atmospheric gov/buildingtechnology/meetings/documents/May2008_Workshop_
Emission in Continuous Casting Process for Copper Wire, In THER- Material/Hurst-Keynote_1.pdf.
MEC 2003, Madrid, Spain, Trans Tech Publications, 2003.
57. NIST Research Program, Measurement Science for Net-Zero Energy,
40. Choe, K.H., Cho, G.,S., Lee, K. W., and Kim, M. H., Hot Forging High-Performance Green Buildings, 2010. Available from: http://
of Semi Solidified High Strength Brass, In Semi Solid Process of www.nist.gov/public_affairs/factsheet/green_buildings_2010.cfm.
Alloys and Composites, Busan, Korea, Trans Tech Publications,
58. Sudarsan, R., Sriram, R.D., Narayanan, A., Sarkar, P., Lee, J.,
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Lyons, K. W., and Kemmerer, S. J., “Sustainable Manufacturing:
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ogy, 51(2): p. 653-670, 2002. NISTIR 7683, April 2010.
 chapter

32
THE ROLE OF NANO-TECHNOLOGY FOR
ENERGY AND POWER GENERATION:
NANO-COATINGS AND MATERIALS
Douglas E. Wolfe and Timothy J. Eden

32.1 INTRODUCTION energy varies depending on the working environment, but in general
can be classified into the following categories: improved wear re-
Chapter 32 discusses a variety of nano-coatings and materials sistance, corrosion resistance, erosion resistance, thermal protec-
used in the energy and power generation fields. Nano-coatings, tion, and increased surface area for energy storage. Since not all
nano-composite coatings, nano-layered coatings, functional graded environments are the same, slight modifications may be required
coatings, and multifunctional coatings will be presented. These coat- to optimize nano-materials and nano-coatings for a particular ap-
ings can be deposited by a wide range of methods and techniques in- plication. For example, Holleck [2] summarized a variety of design
cluding physical vapor deposition processes (PVD) such as cathodic archi­tectures for improving the performance of hard, wear-resistant
arc, sputtering, and electron beam evaporation as well as chemical coatings as shown in Fig. 32.1. These include composite coatings,
vapor deposition (CVD) and thermal spray. The various types of functional gradient coatings, superhard coatings, superlattice coat-
nano-coatings and their roles in assisting to generate energy and ings, metastable multifunctional, solid solution, nano-crystalline,
power for the fuel cell, solar cell, wind turbine, coal, and nuclear in- multilayer coatings, and mixed combinations. With all the material
dustries will also be discussed. This chapter provides a brief descrip- choices that we have ranging from binary, ternary, and quaternary
tion of how the past and present state-of-the-art nano-technology nitride, boride, carbide, oxide, and mixed combinations, choosing
within the different industrial areas such as the turbine, nuclear, fuel the optimum coating material and design architecture can be chal-
cell, solar cell, and coal industries is used to improve efficiency and lenging. The approach to materials solutions starts with understand-
performance. Challenges facing these industries as pertaining to ing the system performance, operating environment, maintenance
nano-technology and how nano-technology will aid in the improved issues, material compatibility, cost, and life cycle. Based on these
performance within these industries will also be discussed. The role system requirements, the optimum materials are selected based on
of coating constitution and microstructure including grain size, mor- intrinsic properties using a weighted design selection methodol-
phology, density, and design architecture will also be presented with ogy, followed by selecting the optimal application technology from
regards to the science and relationship with processing-structure- one of the over 100 coating and hybrid coating technologies availa-
performance relationships. This chapter will conclude with a sum- ble. After the appropriate coating technology is selected, optimiza-
mary of the future role of nano-technology and nano-coatings and tion of the deposition process should result in optimal performance
materials in the fields of power generation and energy. of the nano-coating system. However, this does not always result
in a nano-structured coating with improved performance. A brief
review of the current state-of-the-art in solar cell, fuel cell, wind
32.2 CURRENT STATE-OF-THE-ART energy, and turbine systems will be discussed.
We are surrounded by nano-technology and materials. The
number of materials, applications and design architectures on 32.3 SOLAR CELL
the nano-scale is staggering and continues to grow at a high rate.
Nano-technology is defined as the study of matter on the molecular Typical silicon-based solar cells have efficiencies (h) on the or-
and atomic scale [1]. In general, nano-technology describes com- der of 15% to 20% with the m-Si-based cells producing slightly
ponents, devices, materials, coatings, etc that are 1 to 100 nm in at higher efficiencies than p-Si cells. With these efficiencies, the sili-
least one dimension. For example, 1 nm is to a meter as the size of con wafer-based photovoltaic (PV) cells are dominant in the mar-
a marble is to the size of the earth. This section discusses the cur- ket, and this current level of dominance is expected to continue for
rent state-of-the-art in nano-technology in a few select areas with- the next decade until second-generation thin film solar cells such as
in the solar cell, fuel cell, wind, and turbine industries. The role a-Si, CdTe, CuInSe, CuInS, CIGS, third-generation quantum dots,
of nano-technology, nano-coatings and materials for power and quantum robes, nano-tubes, and fourth-generation composite solar
32-  •  Chapter 32

Fig. 32.1  Various concepts for nanostructured, nanocomposite, nanocrystalline, solid solution,
superlattice, and multilayer coatings [adapted from Holleck [2]]

cells comprised of nano-particles in transparent medium become light trapping via front surface texturing and back surface reflector,
cheaper and more efficient [3–10]. With maximum efficiencies of (3) reduced shading and contact recombination, (4) selective emit-
only 20%, there is a great deal of room for improvement in the ter formation, and (5) higher diffusion length to cell ratio.
operation of these Si-wafer-based PV cells. A reason for these low On the back side, high reflectivity is desired in order to in-
efficiencies lies in the reflectivity of bulk silicon, which can re- crease bulk absorption. Techniques have been explored to develop
flect 35% of incoming solar radiation [11], radiative losses, sub- very high efficiency multi-junction cells which preferentially ab-
bandgap losses, and thermalization losses. To increase efficiency of sorb photons at different wavelengths to increase overall absorp-
the cell, reflectivity of the front surface must be as low as possible. tion, though manufacturing costs are currently prohibitively high
Anti-reflective (AR) coatings used on the front surface are tuned [14,15]. On the back side, aluminum back surface field (Al BSF) is
to a specific wavelength, based on coating thickness, making them typical, but it is not an ideal reflector and causes warping with thin
inefficient for collecting broadband solar radiation. Surface textur- wafers (<150 mm) because of screen printing and 1000°C heat treat-
ing is another way to increase absorptivity as shown in Fig. 32.2 ment which are part of the processing procedure. New technology
[12,13]. Etching can be used to produce random pyramid texture is needed to improve the light trapping of the cells, both front- and
on the surface of m-Si cells, but is not effective for p-Si cells, since backside, while limiting warping, and reducing process steps.
etch rate is affected strongly by grain orientation. Other attempts at Future efforts involve embedding rare earth nano-particles tai-
decreasing front surface reflectivity involve advanced design fea- lored to result in “up-conversion,” “down-conversion,” and mixed
tures such as (1) effective front and rear passivation, (2) effective combinations to increase solar cell bandwidth absorption and in-

Fig. 32.2 Examples of surface texturing via standard pulsed laser (left) and the surface of “black
silicon” produced with a femtosecond laser (right) [12,13]
 energy and power generation handbook  •  32-

crease cell efficiencies. This technique offers promise in boosting The primary material candidates are rare earth doped phosphors
cell efficiencies to levels above 60% by shifting the wavelengths of due to the increased number of potential vibrational and rotational
unabsorbed photons into high absorption regions of the solar cell to energy bands. These material systems show significant promise in
utilize a significantly larger portion of the incident solar radiation. enhancing energy efficiencies, but further understanding of the de-
To increase the efficiency of solar cells, it is desirable to mini- tailed mechanisms must be understood [3–5]. Additional research
mize the amount of light reflected off the front surface of the cell. in the area of material selection for the up- and down-conversion
Though etchants are commonly used to texture mono-Si cells, processes, transparent medium, particle size, morphology, dis-
this is only possible because of the regular grain orientations. To persants, etc., is needed to utilize the full potential of these ad-
address light capturing in polycrystalline-Si cells (random grain vanced solar cell coatings and possibly lower cost manufacturing
orientation), researchers in Poland, Australia, and Germany have methods.
investigated laser texturing via scribed lines and individual pock Shalav, et al. have explored the potential of using luminescent
marks. Surface texturing works by varying the angle of incoming layers for enhanced silicon solar cell performance via the up-
light to (a) increase path length within the cell through refraction, conversion processes [9]. In theory, up-conversion processes can
and (b) increase the opportunities for multiple reflections [12,16]. have efficiencies three times greater than the best current solar
As crystalline Si cells become thinner (from 250 microns to <50 cells. Fig. 32.3b shows a schematic of a typical cross section of
microns) due to high material costs, it will become more important a three layered up-conversion photovoltaic cell. By using Er+3 in
to optimize light capture, since conventional designs allow a sig- NaYF4 host material, Shalav, et al showed an increase in the ab-
nificant portion of incoming light to pass through, or reflect out of sorption band width, but it was still too narrow to produce signifi-
the wafer without freeing up electrons to perform useful work. cant increases in cell efficiency.
Historically, texturing and conventional anti-reflective coatings Proper selection of the host material and the appropriate rare
on polycrystalline-Si wafers are homogenous and optimized to a earth dopants (activators and sensitizers) for the up-conversion
specific wavelength, which is partially responsible for the notice- processes can result in significant enhancements in absorption
able increase in reflectivity at near-UV and near-IR wavelengths and energy conversion. Up-conversion phosphorescent materials
reported in the literature [17,18]. However, much higher efficien- (materials that emit high energy photons from stimulation due to
cies could be realized using conversion processes. multiple low energy photons) are unique in the fact that stimulation
occurs in a temporary or metastable state in the sensitizer located
in the forbidden zone of the activator as illustrated in Fig. 32.3c.
32.4  P-CONVERSION TECHNOLOGY AND
U When choosing the activator, it is important to choose phosphors
NANO-STRUCTURED MATERIALS doped with materials consisting of many energy bands such as the
rare earth ions of Er+3 or Tm+3. The sensitizer is typically an ion
Conventional photovoltaic solar cell materials are typically that is easily excited to a higher state and has enough decay time to
designed to utilize the standard polychromatic solar spectrum. In stimulate the activator’s emission band, thus resulting in increased
contrast, advanced up- and down-photon conversion materials can efficiencies. Since the phosphor materials are contained within the
be tailored to alter the standard solar spectrum in order to better host material of either an oxide or fluoride, no degradation of the
match the absorption characteristics of the solar cell device. By conversion system occurs since no material is consumed. The life
tailoring the absorption characteristics of the solar cell, significant of such solar cells is expected to be more than 20 years. However,
improvements of up to 66% efficiencies can be obtained by reduc- for future solar cells consisting of conducting polymer films, photo­
ing sub-bandgap losses, thermalized losses, and radiative losses as bleaching could degrade the solar cell performance. However, low
shown in Fig. 32.3a [9]. In addition, these photon conversion mate- cost tape casting methods combining luminescent up-conversion
rial systems can be added to existing solar cells or designed into materials with conductive silicon coatings result in lower costs for
thin film solar cell fabrication for high rate production. high efficiency solar cells. In addition, depending on the materials
Inherent in the technique is the ability to minimize thermali- chosen, further enhancements could eventually lead to even thin-
zation and bandgap losses by converting wavelengths that are ner solar cells with silicon being deposited onto the surface of the
normally lost into usable energy via luminescent up- and down- nano-composite up-conversion system with aluminum reflector
conversion processes, resulting in increased solar cell efficiencies. plates.

Fig. 32.3  (a) Theoretical fractional spectral intensity losses at room temperature, (b) cross section
of a three layered up-conversion photovoltaic solar cell, and (c) Yb-Er UP-conversion process [9]
32-  •  Chapter 32

32.5 FUEL CELL TECHNOLOGIES that provide a smooth surface, with low surface energy and low
friction coefficient that prevents insects from depositing. These
A fuel cell is defined as an electrochemical cell that converts low surface energy coatings result in weak adhesion of the insects
chemical energy into electricity. The electricity is generated from on the blades and in insect removal due to shear forces during
chemical reactions between the fuel (i.e., hydrogen) and the oxi- blade rotation [33].
dant (i.e., oxygen, from air). The reactants flow into the fuel cell
where they are consumed and release a by-product (water). How- 32.6.3 Super-Hydrophobic Nano-coatings
ever, depending on the type of reactants and by-products, degra- Superhydrophobic coatings containing nano-particles of silicon
dation (i.e., corrosion, increase in contact resistance, poisoning, dioxide (SiO2) embedded in epoxies and commercial paints have
etc.) of fuel cells usually occur. There are several different types of been shown to repel water which serves two primary benefits in
fuel cells described elsewhere [19–24]. The role of nano-coatings improving the efficiency of wind energy by reducing drag and by
and nano-particles in fuel cells are generally associated with thin reducing damage associated with corrosion. Super-hydrophobic
coatings for the bi-polar plates or as gold, platinum, and/or pal- coatings were inspired by the “lotus-leaf effect” in an attempt
ladium nano-particle catalysts for proton exchange membrane to replicate the lotus-leaf morphology to repel water. Numerous
(PEM) fuel cells. Recent efforts have shown promise with Pt and nano-particles mixed with epoxies and polymers, electrodeposition
Pd nano-particles supported on graphite nano-tubes or nano-fibers of copper, gold, and silver followed by wet etching have all been
as catalysts. However, efforts are still needed to minimize catalyst investigated with mixed results [34].
poisoning and improve the catalyst efficiency [25–27]. In addition,
higher efficiencies and lower cost catalysts are needed to reduce 32.6.4 Erosion
the overall cost of fuel cells. Pt, Pd, Pt-Ru, and their alloys play Erosion damage does not only affect wind turbine blades, but
important roles in the electroreduction of oxygen and electrooxida- also solar cells and compressor turbine components reducing ef-
tion of fuel. ficiency and performance. Unfortunately, due to the complexity
For high temperature solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC), research of brittle and ductile erosion mechanisms, no simple coating sys-
continues in the areas of fabricating cathodes comprised of nano- tem provides adequate erosion under all conditions. In general,
composite materials of NiO/YSZ, MnYCoO, and (La,Sr)MnO3 for wind turbine blades, polymeric materials and coatings such as
(LSM) that exhibit large interconnected porosity and surface area tape are often used to minimize damage associated with erosion.
for increased oxygen ion and electron transport [28–31]. In addi- However, these need to be replaced often as they do not provide
tion, mixed ionic and electronic cathode materials based on the pe­ adequate resistance to hard particle impacts. As a result, the wind
rovskite structure such has (Sm,Sr)CoO3 (SSC), (La,Sr)CoO3 (LSC), turbines must be shut down for repairs affecting the overall effi-
(La,Sr)(Co,Fe)O3 (LSCF), and (Ba,Sr)(Co,Fe)O3 (BSCF) have been ciency of the turbine. Advanced coatings based on ternary nitrides
investigated. However, as the operating temperatures of the fuel cell and nano-composite structures are being investigated for hard par-
are increased to increase efficiency, increased grain growth and re- ticle erosion for turbine compressor components. However, ero-
action with the yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) electrolyte occurs sion resistance is heavily dependent on the erosive particle type,
resulting in greater parasitic losses and poor performances. particle velocity, angle of impingement, particle morphology,
working environment, and the material being impacted. In addi-
tion, in desert environments, sand and particulate carried by the
32.6 WIND ENERGY wind cause erosion or scratch damage of highly reflective solar
cells. This damage results in reduced energy efficiency.
Wind energy is rapidly gaining interest as a renewable energy
source. Large scale wind farms are being built on and off the coast
lines. As a result, increased challenges occur based on the working
environment ranging from icing in cold regions to insects in humid 32.7 TURBINE
environments. Industrial and government goals for turbine applications are to
increase engine efficiency, increase turbine inlet temperature (TIT),
32.6.1 Icing reduce NOx and COx emissions, reduce fuel consumption, increase
Heaters have been built in the blades to assist with de-icing. component life and increase durability and reliability. Engines are
These are usually carbon or metal fiber elements which generate not 100 percent efficient in converting fuel to energy. Improve-
heat when power is applied. However, if the heater elements fail or ments are needed to increase engine efficiency. For the hot section
get struck by lightening, potential damage to the turbine can result. of turbine components, approaches to improve engine efficiency
Datili, et al. provide a good review with respect to the various state and increase turbine inlet temperature include better cooling path
of the art methods for de-icing [32]. Only a few “built in” heater designs in the base alloys, materials development including direc-
ele­ments and designs are approved for commercial use. In the fu- tionally solidified, single crystal alloys, and ceramic matrix com-
ture, we may see more nano-structured thermoelectric materials posites (CMC), and by applying thermal barrier coatings (TBCs).
being incorporated into the composite blades or nano-composite Thermal barrier coatings are used to protect metallic components
coatings applied to the blade exterior to generate heat during tur- of turbine engines from high gas temperature as illustrated in Fig.
bine operation that can be used to melt ice on wind turbines [32]. 32.4. The TBC forms an insulative layer that reduces the combus-
tion heat flow and decreases the operating surface temperature of
32.6.2 Insects the underlying components resulting in increased service life. Ce-
Although washing the blades to remove insects improves effi- ramic materials, particularly yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ), are
ciency, it requires the turbines to be stopped, which reduces tur- widely used as TBC materials because of their high temperature
bine efficiency. Others wait for the rain to remove insects [32]. The capability and low thermal conductivity. Advanced coating formu-
state-of-the-art lies in the application of nano-composite coatings lations based on rare earth oxide dopant cluster formations results
 energy and power generation handbook  •  32-

Fig. 32.4 Thermal barrier coating protecting the bond-coated superalloy for hot section turbine
components

in even lower thermal conductivity and higher temperature stability interface is exceeded. In addition to the CTE mismatch between a
[35]. Future TBCs will include gadolinium zirconate (Gd2Zr2O7). ceramic TBC and a metallic substrate, spallation can also occur as
To be effective, The TBC must adhere strongly to the component a result of the TBC structure becoming densified with deposits that
and remain adherent throughout many heating and cooling cycles. form on the TBC during integrated gasification combined cycle
The latter requirement is particularly demanding due to the dif- (IGCC) turbine operation.
ferent coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE) between ceramic State-of-the-art TBC coatings are usually deposited by electron
layer and the metallic substrates (generally super alloys) they pro- beam (EB) evaporation physical vapor deposited (PVD) technique.
tect. The coating system is generally composed of the TBC, a bond The EB-PVD YSZ is characterized by a columnar grain structure
coating, a thermally grown oxide layer (TGO), and the base alloy. with inter-columnar gaps/porosity. The individual columns also
The oxidation-resistant bond coat is often employed to promote contain microscopic porosity (intracolumnar) that helps in re-
adhesion and extend the service life of the TBC, as well as protect ducing thermal conductivity combined with intracolumnar YSZ
the underlying substrate from damage by oxidation and hot corro- nano-grained morphology as shown in Fig. 32.5. The lateral strain
sion attack. Bond coats used on superalloy substrates are typically compliance with the EB-PVD system results from the columnar
in the form of overlay coatings such as MCrAlX(M= Fe, Co and/or structures and intercolumnar gaps. The relatively higher spallation
Ni; X= Y, Hf or other rare earth), diffusion aluminide or platinum resistance of the EB-PVD coating compared to thermal spray is
modified aluminide coatings [36] with advanced systems based on related to the better strain compliance.
the g-g  ¢ compositions. The traditional thermal barrier coating (TBC) system is com-
The service life of TBCs is typically limited by a spallation event posed of a nickel-based super-alloy (often with internal cooling
brought on by thermal fatigue. Spallation occurs more often when passages) that is coated with a metallic bond coating of either
the critical thickness (5 to 7 mm) of the TGO at the TBC/bond coat nickel-aluminide, Pt-modified aluminide or MCrAlX (where M

Fig. 32.5 Typical columnar microstructure of yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) showing (a) the colum-
nar microstructure and (b) high magnification showing the nano morphology of the intra­columnar
YSZ grains
32-  •  Chapter 32

is either Ni, Co, Fe, or mixed combination, and X is either Y, Equation 32.1:
Hf, or Si), followed by a TBC of which YSZ is the most com-
mon [36]. Between the metallic bond coating and ceramic TBC, Zr1-xYxO2-0.5x (t/) + yV2O5 à 2(1-y) ZrO2 (monoclinic) +
a thermally grown oxide (TGO), primarily the a-Al2O3 phase, is 2y YVO4
produced during coating deposition, which leads to better coating
adhesion. However, this TGO grows during engine operation and is especially deleterious to the TBC integrity. Vanadium has been
when the thickness exceeds 5 to 7 mm, it eventually leads to spall­ shown to leach yttria out of the stabilized zirconia leaving an yttria
ation, the primary failure mechanism of the TBC. The main depo- deficient destabilized monoclinic zirconia phase. The large volume
sition methods for applying the nickel-aluminides or Pt-modified expansion (8% to 9%) caused by this transformation leads to the
aluminide bond coatings are plating and chemical vapor deposi- TBC spalling and exposing the bond coat to further chemical attack.
tion (CVD) [37], whereas MCrAlX coatings are generally applied In contrast, mineralization describes a catalytic process by which
by low-pressure plasma spray (LPPS) and electron beam-physical a metastable phase (in this case, the t/ phase) is broken into its stable
vapor deposition (EB-PVD) [38,39]. TBCs are generally ap- phase assemblages by a catalyst or mineralizer [44]. For example, ce-
plied by either thermal spray or EB-PVD depending on the final ria stabilized zirconia was investigated as a corrosion-resistant coating
service application, with the growing trend towards the latter for due to the fact that ceria does not react with vanadium pentoxide:
higher performance applications [40]. YSZ (ZrO2–8wt.%Y2O3) is
an ideal TBC candidate as it has good thermal shock resistance, Equation 32.2:
high thermal stability, low density, and low thermal conductivity Zr1-xCexO2-0.5x (t/) + yV2O5 à (1-x)ZrO2 (monoclinic) + xCeO2 +
[41]. yV2O5
Increases in operating temperatures needed for IGCC turbine
operation have required improved high temperature corrosion/oxi- However, vanadium acts as a mineralizer, destabilizing the t/
dation-resistant coatings. Efforts also include bond coat (corrosion phase without reacting to form the vanadate. If no vanadium is
or oxidation-resistant coatings) composition and microstructural present in the coal, but high sulfur concentrations exist, then YSZ
modifications that are expected to further improve adhesion be- is de-stabilized by the following reaction:
tween the base alloy and ceramic topcoat, and to minimize growth
of the thermally grown oxide layer that is often reported as the Equation 32.3:
source of component failure. In addition, some researchers are ex- ZrO2(Y2O3) + 3S03(+Na2SO4) à Y2(SO4)3 (in a Na2SO4 solution)
ploring nano-grained and nano-composite coatings for improved
high temperature performance. However, most nano-structured In addition, other impurities such as sodium and phosphorous
materials will suffer from creep at elevated temperatures. This is (derived from coal liquefaction) have been shown to destabilize
discussed in more detail later. the zirconia phase as described below:
Studies regarding the high temperature corrosion of thermal bar-
rier coatings (TBC) for industrial gas turbine applications in which
“dirty” fuels are commonly used have identified several common Equation 32.4:
impurities found in coal and fossil fuels. These impurities include
sodium, sulfur, phosphorus, lead, mercury, and especially vana- Sodium destabilization:
dium. These impurities react with conventional YSZ turbine blade
coatings, severely limiting the coating lifetime. Therefore, it is of ZrO2(Y2O3) + P2O5 à ZrO2 (monoclinic) + 2YPO4
great interest to better understand the failure mechanisms and de-
velop alternative materials that react less readily with fuel contam- Equation 32.5:
inants to increase gas turbine (GT) performance and reliability and
differentiate the chemical mechanism from the thermomechanical Phosphorous destabilization:
mechanisms.
Standard YSZ EB-PVD coatings contain 6 to 8 wt% yttria and 8ZrO2 + 4Na + O2 + 6P2O5(g) à 4NaZr2(PO4)3
crystallize in the metastable t/ phase that is derived from a marten-
sitic distortion of the “stabilized” cubic fluorite structure of zir- Therefore, the corrosion mechanisms can be very complex and
conia. This rapidly cooled t/ structure is the most desirable of all highly dependent on the environment. In addition, due to thermal
of the possible polymorphs in the yttria-zirconia system for TBC cyclic oxidation, the thermally grown oxide thickness increases
applications. Jones [42] described several mechanisms of chemical which results in coating spallation. Figure 32.6 shows an uncoated
attack on 8YSZ coatings. These include chemical reaction, miner- nickel-based alloy after exposure to Type I hot corrosion after
alization, bond coat corrosion and physical damage due to molten 100 hours and 1000 hours showing significant degradation. Figure
salt penetration. 32.6c shows the same alloy after 1000 hours exposure with a pro-
tective coating applied showing no alloy degradation.
During cyclic oxidation at elevated temperatures, the bond coat
32.8  HEMICAL REACTION AND
C or base alloy forms a protective oxide layer. With increasing time,
MINERALIZATION oxygen diffusion inward toward the base metal and outward diffu-
sion of iron, aluminum, chromium, nickel or other transition metal
Acidic species such as SO3 and V2O5 have been shown to react results in a thicker oxide scale. It has been shown in advanced
with the yttria stabilizing the t/ phase, destabilizing the Y2O3-ZrO2 thermal barrier coating systems that primary failure of the thermal
by extraction of the Y2O3. Of these, V2O5 has been determined to protection is due to delamination of the protective thermal insulat-
be the worst offender. Susnitsky and Hertl [43] have studied the ing ceramic (YSZ) due to the growth of the thermally grown oxide
reaction mechanism in detail. The reaction: layer between the bond coating and the thermal barrier topcoat.
 energy and power generation handbook  •  32-

Fig. 32.6 Nickel based alloy showing Type I hot corrosion after (a) 100 hrs, (b) 1000 hrs and after
(c) 1000 hrs with a protective coating showing the benefits of coatings under high-temperature ex-
treme environments

Delamination of the oxide layer typically occurs due to crack prop- of rotating components. Reducing the friction and wear of materials
agation at or near the metallic/oxide interface generally caused by by applying nano-composite coatings will result in improved energy
surface defects, bond coat pore relaxation, or grain boundaries act- conversion efficiency. Future novel concepts include the develop-
ing as sites for future failure. High temperature oxidation is gener- ment of nano-layered self-lubricated “smart” coatings with embed-
ally associated with oxide scale growth due to the rapid diffusion ded sensors for high temperature wear/erosion resistance metallic
of oxygen through the oxide layer and outward diffusion of alumi- alloys such as titanium and steel alloys. It has been theorized that
num, chromium or iron from the bond coat or uncoated base alloy. nano-layered coatings with multiple coherent or/and semi-coherent
The growth of the oxide scale results in excess stress and modulus interfaces with tailored microchemistry will influence the internal
mismatch with the underlying metal. At high enough stress, the residual stresses and will contribute towards better performance in
system fails at the metallic/oxide interface. The other primary fail- toughness and wear resistance for coated titanium alloys. It is an-
ure mechanism results from the non-uniform growth of the oxide ticipated that the microchemistry tailored nano-layered coatings will
layer near grain boundaries where the oxide scale is drawn into the offer superior high temperature wear resistance associated with fine
bond coat region at imperfection sites; this is often termed rum- grained microstructure and strong dislocation movement confine-
pling. However, there is some debate as to whether rumpling is ment along with low friction coefficient. Embedding sensors into the
actually observed in fielded com­ponents. Lastly, microstructural coating design will assist in better prediction and monitoring of the
changes within the coating or base alloy cause tensile stresses, life of the component. “Chameleon” surface adaptation of materials
crack initiation, crack propagation due to cycling (known as ratch- systems, in general, falls within a category of wear-resistant coatings
eting), crack convergence, and finally delamination of the oxide in which the surface chemistry, structure, and mechanical properties
scale exposing a fresh metallic surface. The process repeats until reversibly react with the environmental conditions and applied loads
little to no protective layer or base alloy is left. in order to optimize wear characteristics under these conditions.
It has been found that tool materials (wear resistant) suitable for
high temperatures (650oC) and high cutting speeds permit machin-
32.9 I MPACT OF NANO-STRUCTURED ing with lower cutting forces. The application of coating technolo-
MATERIALS AND COATINGS AND gies in which a hard layer is deposited on a relatively soft substrate
THEIR FUTURE IN ENERGY material (titanium) is advantageous in terms of reduced energy in
machining. Although there have been great advances in the devel-
Isolating the individual contributions to power and energy opment of hard coating materials, and wear and abrasion-resistant
with regards to nano-coatings and materials is very challenging; coatings, not much research has been conducted on nano-layered
as with most applications, several overlapping requirements must self-lubricated (NLSL) “smart” coating technology with embed-
be addressed. Therefore, the next sections discuss how nano- ded sensors. It is believed that the strong dislocation confinement
structure and nano-composite coatings will play important roles in in nano-layers will yield much higher high-temperature hardness
improving wear resistance using nano-composite and self lubricat- than in monolithic PVD/CVD coatings, providing significantly im-
ing smart coatings to reduce energy consumption for machining proved wear and thermal resistance.
applications, protective coatings and lubrication for gear assem- Smart nano-layered self-lubricating coatings will have increased
blies in both gas turbine and wind turbine applications, improved hardness, better toughness, and lower friction coefficients that will
erosion and corrosion resistance, and the concerns due to creep allow more heat dissipation and energy absorption for improved
when using nano-structured materials at elevated temperatures. wear resistance. Energy enhanced coating processes will provide
the ability to tailor the microstructure and control density, hard-
ness, structure (i.e., amorphous, polycrystalline), intrinsic stress,
32.10  ARD COATINGS FOR IMPROVED
H and crystallographic orientation, all of which affect the properties
WEAR RESISTANCE of the coating system.
There have been constant challenges in enhancing the life of
Hard coatings will continue to play an important role in energy components in the tooling, aerospace, and energy industries due
conversion as substantial energy is often lost due to wear and friction to the complexity of the working environment and aggressive
32-  •  Chapter 32

conditions. It has been well documented that hard, wear-resistant dislocation to move across it. As a result, dislocations tend to pile
coatings can play an important role in enhancing component life up near interfaces. As dislocations pile up, the trailing dislocations
[45]. The major controlling factors are attributed to: (i) the choice force the leading dislocation across the interface. In addition, when
of coating materials, (ii) choice of coating process and thus micro- the thickness of the alternating layers is large, dislocation mobility
structure, (iii) structure and design of multilayer, nano-layer coating can occur within each individual layer. By reducing the thickness
system, (iv) substrate material, geometry, and surface condition, of the individual layers (i.e., increasing the total number of layers) to
and (v) working environement, etc. First generation coatings prima- a nano-scale size, fewer dislocations are formed, resulting in fewer
rily consisted of monolayered micrometer thick films of transition dislocations piling up near the interface. As a result, the amount of
metal carbides and nitrides which aided in improving tool life by applied stress needed to migrate the leading dislocation across the in-
several hundred percent. Second generation coatings are presently terface increases, since less force generated by dislocation piling up is
being explored in which materials with different chemical, physi- produced. Similarly, when the individual layer thickness of the mul-
cal, tribological, and mechanical functions are being combined in tilayer coating is small enough such that only one dislocation exists
multilayer, nano-composite, nano-structure coating systems. An throughout the thickness of the layer, the dislocation must cross the
intermediate layer such as titanium (Ti) or titanium nitride (TiN) interface unaided, as there are no other dislocations available to force
is generally applied to the substrate to facilitate adhesion of the the leading dislocation across the interface. The only force providing
subsequent coating. The intermediate layers are responsible for dislocation mobility across the interface is the applied stress (indent).
increased hardness and toughness, and an outer layer is needed to As a result, higher loads are needed to deform the material and are
reduce friction, galling/tool edge build up, and chemical reactivity. observed by the higher Vicker’s hardness numbers as a function of
This complex requirement of high hardness, high toughness, and decreasing individual layer thickness.
good adhesion between the different materials (i.e., coating/sub- Differences in the lattice parameter also contribute to the increase
strate and layer/layer interfaces) combined with the need for self- in hardness, as well as interfacial stress, as these differences will af-
lubricating, wear-resistant properties makes “smart” nano-layered fect the total number of interfacial dislocations. When the lattice pa-
self-lubricating coatings an ideal choice. rameter difference between the two materials is large, an increased
Generally, most coatings fail at the coating substrate interface number of dislocations exist in the incoherent interface region to
during machining operations as the shear stresses build up at the reduce strain associated with the mismatch [49]. Dislocation move-
interface resulting in delamination of the coatings. Stresses at the ment within and across the interface is again controlled by disloca-
interface can be altered by changing the thickness and degree of tion pile up. As the individual layer thickness decreases (i.e., increase
coherency (i.e., coherent, semi-coherent, incoherent interface) of the total number of layers), the interfacial boundary layer thickness
each individual layer within the NLSL coating design. It has been decreases which reduces the total number of available dislocations,
established (Fig. 32.7) that coatings with increased hardness (Fig. and thus increases the required force to cause deformation.
32.7a) and decreased residual stresses (Fig. 32.7b) can be obtained Several researchers have shown that the hardness of a material
by decreasing the individual layer thickness of multilayer coatings increases with decreasing grain size according to the following
consisting of TiC/Cr23C6 and TiC/TiB2. Vicker’s hardness mea­ relationship:
surements of the TiB2/TiC multilayer coatings on WC-6wt.%Co–
0.3wt.%TaC were found to be 3294 VHN0.050 to 3991 VHN0.050 for Equation 32.6:
total layer thickness of 2 to 10 layers as shown in Fig. 32.7a. The H = Ho + kdn
hardness increased with increasing number of layers, while keep-
ing approximately the same volume fraction of each phase for each Where H = hardness, d = average grain size, n = grain size expo-
of the coatings [46,47]. nent (typically –1/2), Ho = constant, and k = constant. Figure 32.7c
The increase in Vicker’s hardness number is attributed mainly shows the average Vicker’s hardness number plotted as a function
to the reduction in grain size (which inhibits dislocation mobil- of the reciprocal square root of the average grain diameter for the
ity) and the microstructure [48]. Dislocations in one layer cannot TiB2/TiC multilayer coatings and appears to follow the modified
penetrate the interface unless there is enough energy to force the Hall-Petch relationship.

(a) (b) (c)

Average Vickers Hardness Number (VHN 0.050)
Average Vicker's Hardness Number (VHN0.050)

4200 0 4500
14 m TiC
4 m TiB2
4000 -500
Measured Stress (MPa)

4000

3800 -1000

3600 -1500 3500

3400 -2000

3000

3200 -2500

3000 -3000 2500

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20

Total Number of Layers Total Number of Layers Reciprocal Square Root of Grain Diameter (d -1/2) in nm-1/2

Fig. 32.7 Average Vicker’s hardness number (VHN0.050) as (a) a function of total number of individual
layers, (b) measured stress as a function of total number of layers and (c) reciprocal square root
of grain size (d–1/2) for TiB2/TiC multilayer coatings deposited on WC-6wt.%Co-0.3wt.%TaC by argon ion
beam assisted, EB-PVD
 energy and power generation handbook  •  32-

32.11  ANO-STRUCTURED
N individual layers and the constitution and size of the interfacial
CONFIGURATION, STRATEGY boundary layer. Changing these structural components and tailor-
AND CONCEPTUAL DESIGN ing them to enhance toughness and hardness should produce more
wear-resistant coatings. The functional design aspect includes the
New technology thrusts in tailored coating design include func- selection of the material which is dependent on the type of bonding
tionally graded coatings, composite coatings, super hard, meta­ (i.e., metallic, ionic, and covalent), and the thermal, physical, and
stable multifunctional coatings, nano-crystalline coatings, solid mechanical properties of the material. The hardness of a material is
solution coatings, multilayer, and superlattice coatings [2]. The often dictated by its intrinsic properties. The intrinsic hardness of a
coating can be tailored to meet specific material properties. Further material is heavily dependent on the crystal structure as well as the
improvements may even be obtained by combining one or more of type of bonding. Materials with a high degree of covalent bonding
the new technology thrusts, i.e., multilayer design with self-lubri- are generally harder than those with metallic or ionic bonding be-
cating materials. Of the various new technology concepts, the most cause the bond lengths are generally shorter for covalent bonding.
common is the multilayer design (Fig. 32.8). There are three major Chemical stability and inertness occur as a result of ionic bonding,
classifications of multilayer coatings, the first being coatings with a whereas metallic bonds yield better adhesion and toughness. How-
limited number of single layers (typically 3 to 13 total layers). The ever, few materials consist of entirely one type of bonding. Mixed
fundamental concept is the combination of different materials with bonding can be tailored to create a film that exhibits properties
similar crystal structures (TiC and Cr23C6, i.e., cubic) and lattice indicative of each type of bonding [19]. With increasing demands
spacings. The creation of multilayers can interrupt the columnar on material systems, often high hardness and good toughness are
growth of the grains resulting in a smaller grain size and higher required. Materials with high hardness, good chemical inertness
hardness according to the modified Hall-Petch relationship (H ~ and low friction coefficients are good candidate materials for in-
1/(d)1/2) [46,47]. The second classification consists of multilayer creasing the life of coated tools using the multilayer concept.
coatings with a high number of multilayers composed of different It is well documented that the coating microstructure is heavily
materials from different crystal systems as illustrated in Fig. 32.8b dependent on the deposition parameters and process [46,47]. As
with Cr3C2 and graphite. The large number of layers corresponds a result, the interfacial constitution, volume, and structure should
to a high interface volume in addition to interrupting the columnar also be affected by these same factors. For example, deposition at
structure. The third classification is superlattice coatings. Super- high temperatures should lead to a larger interfacial size as a result
lattice coatings can only occur when constituents are isostructural of thermal diffusion, especially for systems with high amounts of
with similar lattice spacings, chemical bonding, and atomic radii solubility. In addition, high energy coating processes, such as ca-
(NbN/TiN and TiC/TiN) as illustrated in Fig. 32.8c [50]. thodic arc and ion beam assisted deposition (IBAD), should also
Properties of multilayer coatings are believed to be a function yield greater interfacial layers resulting from the intermixing of the
of the composition, structure and volume of the interface region, underlying material and depositing coating caused by high-energy
but have never been fully investigated. The amount of energy dis- bombardment. Therefore, deposited multi-nano-layered (MNL)
sipated at the interface heavily depends on whether the interfaces coatings will exhibit smaller grain size and increased toughness
are coherent, semi-coherent, or incoherent. As a crack approaches with multifunctional capabilities tailored for specific applications.
an interface, it is deflected, which reduces crack propagation. In- These multilayer concepts are designed to: (i) increase the hard-
terfaces also absorb energy from a propagating crack which re- ness and strength of the deposited films, (ii) to obtain wear protec-
sults in stress relaxation and prevents further crack propagation, tive films with low chemical reactivity and low friction, and (iii)
thus improving abrasion resistance. Lastly, interfacial defects such to facilitate a strong adhesion between the film and the substrate.
as porosity and microcracks serve to relax generated stress. The High adhesion strength occurs when the energy of the interfaces
interface’s ability to absorb energy results in improved toughness. is small. The formation of an intermetallic phase near the coat-
Therefore, increasing the total number of layers increases the total ing/substrate interface (resulting from inter diffusion) generally
number of interfaces (and thus, the total interfacial volume), which yields high adhesion (inter diffusion), but often acts detrimentally
should result in increased toughness. during machining conditions due to large differences in physical
In designing the proper multilayer system, the task can be di- properties near the interface. For example, during CVD deposi-
vided into two areas: structural design and functional design. The tion of TiC on WC-Co substrates, brittle h phases (Co6W6C or
structural design can be tailored by changing the geometry and Co3W3C) are often observed at the TiC/WC-Co interface which
morphology of the grains, grain size, orientation, thickness of the are undesirable (decarburization). Formation of the h phase can

Fig. 32.8 Illustration of multilayer concepts with (a) similar crystal structures and lattice spac-
ings, (b) different materials from different crystal systems, and (c) isostructural materials with
similar atomic radii, chemical bonding, and lattice spacings
32-10  •  Chapter 32

be avoided by applying a thin layer of titanium and reducing the If the mismatch is too great, dislocations will occur which leads
substrate temperature. to decreased strength. Preventing dislocation motion is one of the
strengthening mechanisms in materials. Therefore, changes in the
lattice parameters will affect the amount of lattice mismatch be-
32.12  OHERENT, SEMI-COHERENT,
C tween the various layers in a NLSL coating system. This becomes
INCOHERENT INTERFACES increasingly important for a thin film with a high number of layers.
Ion beam assisted deposition can be used to tailor the growth of
Depending on the material systems, the degree of lattice mis- the films (by controlling the flux to ion ratio), in order to minimize
match can be quite significant. If the lattice mismatch is too high, the degree of lattice mismatch. Too high a lattice mismatch could
excessive stress will result, which can lead to delamination or non- result in a very weak interfacial layer, which in turn will result
adherence within the NLSL coating. Interfaces are often character- in lower hardness. IBAD can be used to tailor the orientation of
ized as being either coherent, semi-coherent, or incoherent and are the various layers to increase the lubricious nature of the coating
illustrated in Figs. 32.9a–32.9d. A coherent interface is a boundary system. For example orienting the (0001) planes of the graphite
between two or more materials with a complete, perfect matching parallel to the coating surface should increase the lubricity of the
of the lattice spacings. Figure 32.9a illustrates a strain-free coher- multilayer coating design.
ent interface between two materials with the same crystal structure
but different chemical compositions. Similarly, Fig. 32.9b shows a
strain-free coherent interface where the lattice is different for each 32.14 CHALLENGES
material. It is very rare to observe a perfect coherent interface. Gen-
erally, coherent interfaces have a slight mismatch at the interface Future challenges in nano-technology will include a better un-
which leads to coherency strains throughout the adjoining lattices. derstanding of the fundamental mechanisms associated with the
Typical energies of coherent interfaces are 20 –100 mJ/m2. interfacial volume, interfacial constitution and structure, and their
A semi-coherent interface contains an array of interfacial dis- affect on hardness, crystallographic texture, residual stress, and
locations which accommodate the mismatch in the lattice between nano-layered self-lubricating multilayer coatings for high tempera-
the different materials to minimize the interfacial energy (Fig. 32.9c). ture applications.
Typical values of semi-coherent interfaces range from 100 to 500
mJ/m2 but are highly dependent on the composition and the crys-
tal structure. Lastly, Fig 32.9d illustrates an incoherent interface 32.15 COATING MATERIALS SELECTION
where the lattices of each material do not match resulting in much
higher energies on the order of 500 to 1000 mJ/m2. There are several different types of coatings available today for
providing increased wear resistance, which are briefly discussed,
below. Each one has its advantages and disadvantages and is heav-
32.13 LATTICE MISMATCH ily dependent on the environmental conditions. For example, TiN
is a good general purpose coating which has increased the life of
Sizable differences between the lattice parameters of nano- cutting tool inserts by several hundred percent. Other coatings and
layered materials can significantly affect the stress state of the their applications are listed below in Table 32.1 with selected prop-
deposited coatings. In addition, the lattice mismatch between the erties found in Table 32.2 [51–56].
various layers will differ depending on the orientation (crystallo- As with any design problem, the choice of material and process
graphic texture) of the coating as a result of different lattice spac- plays an instrumental role in coating performance. The hardness of
ings for the various lattice planes for the various structures of the a material is often dictated by both its intrinsic properties as well as
deposited materials. Therefore, controlling the coatings growth its microstructural features. Wear resistance is often associated with
orientation, by changing the energy of the vapor cloud through ion hardness. Therefore, by increasing the hardness through materials se-
bombardment, will help in controlling the stress state of the NLSL lection and multilayer design, improved wear resistance is expected.
coating system. By combining the above hard materials in a multi-nano-layered
The orientation of the films with respect to each other, as well as coating system, with a composite (CrC/C) or multilayer (Al2O3/TiC,
to the substrate, is very important for minimizing residual stresses. Al2O3/TiAlN) design concept, a coating system with good wear re-

(a) (b) (c) (d)

Fig. 32.9 Illustration of a strain-free, coherent interface for two materials with (a) same crystal
structure but different chemical compositions, (b) same crystal structure but different lattice
spacings, (c) of a semi-coherent interface with edge dislocations, and (d) an incoherent interface
 energy and power generation handbook  •  32-11

Table 32.1 Coating materials and applications a-Al2O3 coatings can be produced under non-equilibrium condi-
tions with relatively low temperatures (<700 °C) and high ener-
Coating Application Characteristics gies. This can be achieved by changing the low-energy (0.1eV) flux
material (evaporated material) to high-energy (50 to 1000 eV) by simultane-
TiN Iron-based material General purpose; abrasive ous ionized gas bombardment and condensing the deposited atoms.
and adhesive resistance The increased energy added to the system allows lower deposition
TiC Hard, abrasive High hardness; excellent temperatures while still giving the adatoms enough surface mobil-
materials abrasion and wear ity to re-arrange themselves in stable lattice positions. As a result
resistance of the many different phases of aluminum oxide, if the deposited
TiCN Cast iron, brass, High hardness, toughness; phase is not stabilized, a phase change can occur which undergoes a
aluminum alloys high feed and speed volume change resulting in excessive stresses, spallation, and thus
rates coating failure. Al2O3 can also be stabilized in the amorphous struc-
TiAlN Irons, nickel- and Excellent oxidation; ture up to 1100oC by incorporating nitrogen into the coating, and
titanium- alloys semi-dry and dry has been reported to have excellent wear-resistant properties. Few
machining materials will adhere to Al2O3 due to its high enthalpy of formation
CrN Copper, titanium Resistance to oxidation, which results in a low friction coefficient. Al2O3 also has excellent
corrosion, and adhesive abrasion resistance as a result of its high temperature hardness.
wear
CrC Titanium, exotic High hardness and 32.15.2 Titanium Carbide (TiC)
metals enhanced lubricity As with most carbides, titanium carbide (TiC) has a wide range
WC/C Steel High lubricity and low of properties similar to both metallic and ceramic materials [46,47].
adhesive wear, dry For example, TiC has very high hardness (~2800 to 3200 kg/mm2)
machining and strength, similar to ceramics, but still maintains very good elec-
Al2O3 Interrupted cutting Resistance to oxidation, trical and thermal conductivity associated with the parent metal.
abrasive high lubricity, The unique properties of TiC are derived from its complex bond-
materials chemical and thermal ing nature. The degree of covalent bonding within TiC is mainly a
barrier function of the Ti-C bonding. TiC was selected as a candidate mate-
rial because of its chemical compatibility with Al2O3 and titanium-
based alloys, high hardness and abrasion resistance. In addition,
TiC can be deposited at low temperatures resulting in a small grain
sistance, improved toughness, increased tool life and chemical re- size which yields better high-temperature fracture resistance.
sistance with self-lubricating properties can be obtained.
32.15.3 Chromium Carbide (Cr3C2)
32.15.1 Aluminum Oxide (Al2O3) Three main phases for chromium carbide are Cr3C2, Cr7C3, and
Aluminum oxide is one of the more recent materials being Cr23C6, with orthorhombic Cr3C2 being the most common having
investigated for wear applications. Its high diffusion and oxidation- a hardness of 1300 to 1800 kg/mm2. Unlike most carbides, all of
resistant properties make it a material of choice for certain applica- the chromium carbides have lower melting temperatures than pure
tions. a-Al2O3 is usually deposited at elevated temperatures (~1000 chromium. Within the chromium carbide structure, both Cr-Cr and
°C) by chemical vapor deposition, but more recent advancements Cr-C bonds give rise to the unique properties of chromium car-
in coating deposition techniques allow for a low temperature PVD bide with the Cr-C bonding being weak and Cr-Cr very strong.
a-Al2O3 deposition. The main disadvantages of the CVD pro­ As a result, chromium carbide has good chemical resistance and
cess are first, the large grain size of the coating, resulting in lower high lubricity during the machining of titanium and does not weld
fracture toughness as compared to PVD coatings deposited at with titanium, resulting in good dimensional tolerances. The rea-
lower temperatures, and second, the process produces hazardous sons for the improved machining characteristics are not fully un-
by-products/wastes. The high temperatures are needed to obtain derstood, but are most likely associated with chromium forming a
the a-phase which is the hardest (higher wear resistance) and most chromium oxide layer at the surface which contributes to increased
stable of the various aluminum oxide phases. It is theorized that oxidation protection and diffusion resistance to the underlying

Table 32.2 General properties of various ceramic materials used in Coating Industry [51–56]

Property TiN TiC TiAlN Al2O3 Cr3C2 CrN WC/C

2
Hardness (kg/mm ) 2000–2200 2800–3200 2600–3000 1500–2000 1300–1800 1700–2500 900–1100
Friction coefficient 0.40–0.65 0.40–0.65 0.40–1.7 <0.30 <0.30 <0.30 <0.10
Melting point (°C) 2930 3160 – 2015 1895 1500 2630
Crystal structure cubic cubic cubic hex ortho cubic Hex/amor
a=5.5
Composition a=2.906,
Lattice parameter (Å) 4.238 4.327 4.7592 c=2.83 4.140
dependent c=2.839
b=11.49
Density 5.43 4.938 – 3.965 6.66 6.14 15.67/2.25
Oxidation resistance low low good excellent good good low
32-12  •  Chapter 32

coating material. Similar work has been done by sputtering WC/C 32.15.6 Titanium Aluminum Nitride (TiAlN)
multilayers for the machining of steels [57]. A similar concept is The most studied ternary wear-resistant compound is titanium
being investigated which combines the self-lubricating properties aluminum nitride. As with most nitride structures, TiAlN is a
of graphite with the wear-resistant properties and chemical com- defect structure having a wide range of compositions, and thus
patibility of CrC in machining titanium-based alloys, making CrC/ properties, including hardness. A peak in TiAlN hardness occurs
C an ideal NLSL coating system candidate. where the lattice parameter is a minimum and the material is close
In choosing the multilayer design, close attention to the crystal to transitioning from a NaCl crystal structure to a ZnS crystal struc-
structures is important to minimize interfacial stresses associated ture.  The hardness increase of TiAlN (3500 VHN as compared to
with lattice mismatch between the two coating layer materials. It is TiN) is most likely due to complexities of the crystal structure. 
believed that the individual layer thickness will greatly affect the TiAlN also provides added oxidation and corrosion protection as
crystallographic orientation of the deposited coatings in an effort aluminum can migrate to the surface forming a protective Al2O3
to minimize the lattice mismatch, thus resulting in better coating layer.  TiAlN coatings have exhibited both higher hardness as well
performance. as higher erosion resistance.  Physical properties of the TiAlN sys-
tem vary as a function of composition. Typical properties are: E =
32.15.4 Nitrides 434.7 GPa, G = 178.4 GPa, melting temperature of 2930oC, ther-
Titanium nitride, chromium nitride, aluminum nitride, and zir- mal expansion coefficient = 7.5 mm/mmoC, and specific gravity =
conium nitride are all hard, wear-resistant materials that can be 4.6 g/cc.
deposited by a variety of physical vapor deposition techniques.  Interestingly, composite materials or composite features al-
Titanium nitride has been the most studied, with chrome nitride ready exist in the ternary systems. For example, TiAlN, based on
and aluminum nitride coatings more commonly used when corro- the composition of the bulk coating, can be considered a nano-
sion protection is also required. composite material of TiN and AlN comprised of the Rocksalt and
Wurtzite structures, respectively, as shown in Fig. 32.10.
32.15.5 Titanium Nitride (TiN) It is believed that the proper ratio of the Rocksalt/Wurtzite
The use of titanium nitride as a coating material for wear appli- phases is what gives TiAlN its unique properties of increased hard-
cations has been around for several decades. The hard TiN coating ness and increased toughness under certain deposition parameters.
increases tool life by as much as tenfold, metal removal rates for Typically, increased hardness results in lower toughness. The
coated drill bits are more than doubled, and the number of regrinds nano-composite behavior of TiAlN is also seen with Ti(1-x)SixN.
before the tool is consumed is increased substantially over uncoated
tools. The properties that make TiN an attractive coating for the 32.15.7 Titanium Chromium Nitride (TiCrN)
tool industry are: high hardness, low coefficient of friction, good TiCrN coatings are a class of coatings which typically incorpo-
chemical/thermal stability, good adhesion, and good corrosion rate Cr into a TiN-based coating system in order to enhance spe-
resistance. The main property is its hardness, which results from cific characteristics of TiN including high temperature hardness
the rocksalt structure with its high degree of metallic and covalent and corrosion resistance. The increased resistance to corrosion
bonding. TiN gets its strength from the small separation of atoms, and degradation of mechanical properties at higher temperatures
large surface energy, and high Young’s modulus. The other physi- are typically attributed to formation of protective chromium oxide
cal properties that result in TiN being one of the most widely used compounds. The coating composition and microstructure is very
commercial wear-resistant coatings are: high yield stress (2.0 ´ dependent on the deposition technique. A wide variety of coating
106 psi), high Young’s modulus (50 ´ 106 psi), high specific gravity compositions can be produced including single phase TiCrN, or a
(5.4 g/cc), high hardness (1200 to 3000 VHN) and high melting mixture of phases such as TiN, CrN, Cr2N, and the microstructure
point (2950oC.) of these coatings can range from nano-scale columnar grains to

Fig. 32.10 Crystal Structures of (left) Titanium Nitride (Rocksalt structure - Titanium atoms (blue)
and Nitrogen atoms (green), and (right) Aluminum Nitride (Wurtzite) — Aluminum atoms (orange) and
Nitrogen atoms (green)
 energy and power generation handbook  •  32-13

Fig. 32.11  (a) Plot shows variation in hardness of non-equilibrium TiBCN phases as a function of com-
position and (b) corresponding SEM micrograph showing nano-grained microstructure [58]

an amorphous-like microstructure. For many PVD techniques, a Physical vapor deposited coatings are generally applied at much
single phase of TiCrN with the NaCl structure is typically pro- lower temperatures and include evaporation, sputtering, and ca-
duced, or a mixture of NaCl structured stoichiometric TiN and CrN thodic arc. In general, most vapor deposited coatings are nano-
compounds. The hardness values of the coatings can be tailored grained. Figure 32.13 shows a transmission electron micrograph
from similar to CrN (1200 to 2000 Hv) to greater than that of TiN of a nano-composite physical vapor deposited coating with a grain
(>3000 Hv). Other mechanical properties such as wear resistance size on the order of 5 nm.
can also be tailored with deposition parameters, so TiCrN is read- In the EB-PVD process, focused high-energy electron beams
ily adaptable for a wide range of applications. generated from electron guns are directed to melt and evaporate in-
gots as well as to preheat the substrate inside the vacuum chamber
32.15.8 Titanium Boron Carbon Nitride (TiBCN) as shown in Fig. 32.14. Due to the change in pressure, the vapor
Super hard TiBCN coatings were successfully deposited by ion rises and traverses the vacuum chamber where it condenses on the
beam assisted, electron beam-physical vapor deposition and are substrate forming the coating. To obtain more uniform coatings,
shown in Fig. 32.11a [58]. Titanium, titanium diboride, and car- like in all PVD processes, the sample is often rotated during the
bon (through tungsten) were co-evaporated by energetic electron coating process. The depth of the melt and degree of vaporization
beams while simultaneously bombarding the substrates with vary- is controlled by restricting the kinetic energy of the electron beam.
ing ionized gas ratios of nitrogen and argon to obtain super hard Ti- This restriction allows the deposition rates to range from a few
BCN coatings. The hardness of the TiBCN coating was reported to
be equivalent to a soft diamond-like carbon film and is attributed in
part to the nano-grained microstructure observed in Fig. 32.11b.

32.16 APPROACH IN APPLYING COATINGS

Performance of coatings depends upon the coating properties
which are a function of the coating microstructure which is dic-
tated by the coating deposition process as illustrated in Fig. 32.12.
There are over 100 coating processes commercially available, each
having their own advantages and disadvantages. A brief list of a
few of the coating deposition processes is listed in Table 32.3 with
most coating processes being related to either physical vapor depo-
sition (PVD) or chemical vapor deposition (CVD) processes.
The term CVD is defined as a process whereby the constituents
of a gas or vapor react chemically in a vacuum chamber and de-
posit on the substrate surface in the form of a thin film, nano-tube,
or nano-wire. The CVD process usually takes place between tem-
peratures of 500 to 1100oC, but depends on the material. Various
metallic and ceramic coatings can be deposited at a rate of 2 to 10
microns/hour. The residual stresses in a CVD coating are generally
tensile. However, in the last 20 years, several variants and modi-
fications to the conventional CVD process have been made which
include atmospheric pressure (APCVD), low pressure (LPCVD), Fig.  32.12 Performance–property–structure–
metal-organic (MOCVD), Photo-enhanced (PHCVD), Laser- processing relationship illustration for coat-
induced (LICVD), and plasma enhanced (PECVD). ings
32-14  •  Chapter 32

Table 32.3 Select coating deposition break atomic bonds and result in surface mobility of the atoms. The
processes for nanocoatings energy is only high enough to cause local (surface) bond breaking
and molecular dissociation. Between energies of 10 eV – 40 eV,
Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) not only is there enough energy present to break surface bonds, but
· Thermal Evaporation also enough to result in an appreciable amount of surface mobility,
· Electron Beam Physical Vapor Deposition (EB-PVD) which affects film growth and density. However, ion beam assisted
o Reactive evaporation deposition can be tailored to incorporate ions with much greater
o Ion assisted evaporation energy (over 1000 eV) if desired.
· Sputtering Ion bombardment is also used to preclean the substrates prior
o Diode to applying the coatings in the EB-PVD chamber (i.e., sputter
o Reactive cleaning) to promote better adhesion. The two major effects oc-
o Magnetron curring during this pre-cleaning step are: (1) removal of adsorbed
o Unbalanced magnetron hydrocarbons and water molecules and (2) increasing the density
o Ion Beam of nucleation sites for condensation. Energetic ions bombarding
o High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering (HIPIMS) the surface remove hydrocarbons and water molecules which are
· Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) weakly adhered to the surface. Not removing these materials/mol-
· Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) ecules prior to deposition results in poor adhesion as they serve
· Cathodic Arc (CA) Deposition as weak links for bonding. In addition, energy and current density
Chemical Vapor Deposition of the ion beam during sputter cleaning can have a significant im-
· Atmospheric pressure (APCVD) pact on the number of nucleation sites. For example, high-energy
· Low pressure (LPCVD) atoms can cause localized defects which serve as nucleation sites.
· Metal-organic (MOCVD) The increased number of nucleation sites is believed to result in a
· Photo-enhanced (PHCVD) higher bond density between the substrate and deposited layer. In
· Laser-induced (LICVD addition, when bombardment is introduced during deposition, it
· Plasma enhanced (PECVD). enhances the surface mobility of the atoms which increases inter-
Electrodeposition Processes actions with the incoming molecules causing intermixing of ma-
· Electroplating terials at the interfaces which results in better bonding, and thus
· Electroless Plating increased adhesion.
· Electrophoretic Deposition Similarly, cathodic arc falls into the classification of Physical
Spin Coating Vapor Deposition (PVD) coating techniques. The term PVD de-
Thermal Spray Deposition notes those vacuum deposition processes where the coating mate-
rial is evaporated or removed by various mechanisms (resistance
heating, ablation, high-energy ionized gas bombardment, or elec-
tron gun), and the vapor phase is transported to the substrate form-
angstroms per second to as high as 100 mm/minute, depending on ing a coating. PVD is often classified as a “line-of-sight” process in
the material [59]. EB-PVD allows coatings to be applied over a
wide temperature range from liquid nitrogen to several thousand
o
C depending on the application and desired microstructure. This
is becoming increasingly important as depositing coatings at lower
temperatures is desired to maintain the mechanical properties of
temperature sensitive substrates.
The EB-PVD process offers many desirable characteristics such
as flexible deposition rates (1 nm/min up to 100 mm/minute, de-
pending on material), dense coatings, strong metallurgical bonding,
precise composition control, columnar, amorphous, and poly-
crystalline microstructure, low contamination, and high thermal
efficiency. It should be noted that the microstructure is heavily
dependent on the processing parameters. For example, good ad-
hesion is obtained at higher substrate temperatures due to diffu-
sion bonding, but can be facilitated by the use of ion beam assisted
deposition (IBAD). IBAD serves two purposes. First, it changes
the kinetic energy of the vapor cloud. The average energy of the
condensing species for materials directly evaporated is approxi-
mately 0.1 eV with a narrow energy distribution. In contrast, the
average energy of the condensing species from sputtering pro­
cesses is 2–10 eV, with typical values being 5 eV. In addition, the
energy distribution of the condensing species from sputtering tech-
niques is broader (2 to 5 eV) than that of evaporation (0.1 to 0.2
eV). The energy of the condensing species is very important in
film growth in order to produce atom mobility. At lower energies Fig. 32.13 Transmission electron micrograph
(<10 eV), very little modification to the microstructure occurs as it showing the nanograined structure of a physi-
takes approximately four times the bonding energy (~3 to 5 eV) to cal vapor deposited coating
 energy and power generation handbook  •  32-15

Fig. 32.14 Schematic diagram and photographs showing the EB-PVD process

which evaporated atoms travel from the source material to the sub- tion rate, temperature, pressure, rotation speed, etc. The kinetic
strate in a straight path. The residual stresses in the PVD coating energy of the depositing species in cathodic arc are much greater
are generally compressive due to coating bombardment, but can than those of other PVD processes with energies between 50 and
be controlled depending on the deposition parameters. These com- 150 eV. Therefore, the plasma becomes highly reactive as a greater
pressive stresses are often beneficial as they retard the formation percentage of the vapor is ionized. In addition, the cathodic arc
and propagation of cracks in the coating. PVD coating processes process allows tailoring of the interfacial products, especially in
generally take place between temperatures of 200oC to 500oC to multilayer coatings, and does not produce a distinct coating/sub-
minimize stresses associated with thermal expansion mismatch as strate interface, which may be undesirable. As a result of the high
compared to the high temperatures (1000oC) of traditional CVD. kinetic energy, an intermixed layer of the substrate and coating
In the cathodic arc (CA) deposition process a pulsed or continu- or between layers of a multilayer coating (10 to 300 Å thick) can
ous high current-density, low voltage electric current is passed be- be formed which increases the degree of coating adhesion while
tween two separate electrodes (cathode and anode) under vacuum, minimizing residual stresses.
vaporizing the cathode material while simultaneously ionizing the
vapor, forming a plasma. The high current density (usually 104 to
106 A/cm2) causes arc erosion by vaporization and melting while 32.17  ICROSTRUCTURE AND PROPERTY
M
ejecting molten solid particles from the cathode surface, with a high ENHANCEMENT
percentage of the vaporized species being ionized with elevated en-
ergy (50 to 150 eV), and some multiply charged. In the last several years, ion beams have gained increased im-
Nano-layered coatings can easily be deposited using PVD tech- portance during the deposition process to enhance the properties
niques as shown in Fig. 32.15 in which nano-layers of TiN and of the depositing film. Ion bombardment of the substrate occurs
CrN were deposited by cathodic arc for improved corrosion and while the source material is evaporated by either resistance or EB.
erosion resistance. Figure 32.15 shows a Scanning Transmission High-energy bombardment processes have a tendency to create a
Electron Micrograph (STEM) of TiN (dark region) and CrN (light larger number of coating defects or greater damage. Therefore, low
region) of a nano-layered coating with corresponding x-ray energy energy bombardment is the preferred method. However, higher en-
dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analysis confirming the elemental ergies are needed for ceramic coatings in order to obtain proper
composition. The individual layer thickness (i.e., interfacial size, surface mobility, and thus the desired microstructure.
volume, and structure) as well as the residual stress state can be The state of the internal stresses developed in the coating can
controlled by altering the deposition parameters such as deposi- be changed from tensile to compressive by the forcible injection

Fig. 32.15  (left) Scanning Transmission Electron Micrograph (STEM) of TiN (dark region) and CrN (light
region) of a nanolayered coating with corresponding (right) x-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy
(EDS) analysis confirming the elemental composition
32-16  •  Chapter 32

of high-energy atoms (i.e., ion implantation). Thus the ability to within a polycrystalline material preferentially align themselves in
control the stress level is an additional feature of the IBAD pro­ a particular direction. This is commonly observed in vapor deposi-
cess. Chemical vapor deposited coatings generally form with tensile tion techniques (growth orientation) and during mechanical roll-
stresses due to the thermal expansion mismatch with the substrate, ing. The degree of crystallographic texture is associated with how
which often limits the coating thickness before spallation occurs. strongly these grains are oriented in particular directions, and has
Ion bombardment during deposition has a tendency to reduce the been correlated with increases in hardness and wear resistance
tensile stress and often changes the intrinsic stress from tensile to properties, larger piezoelectric effects along the (0001) axes in
compressive. Depending on the energy of the ion beam, texturing or ZnO, and is being explored in ferromagnetic polycrystalline films
preferred crystal growth orientation can be controlled. Changes in with large anisotropic properties used as memory discs [57]. Tex-
the crystal structure of the film have also been reported with IBAD. turing is very important especially when considering multi-nano-
In addition, numerous authors have reported increases in the av- layer coatings in which there is a large difference in the lattice
erage hardness of coatings deposited with IBAD. The increase in parameters. By tailoring the growth orientation of selective lattice
hardness is obtained by increasing the density, decreasing grain planes, stresses can be minimized especially for NLSL coatings.
size, changing the stress state, and controlling the crystallographic Figure 32.16 shows (a–b) TiC/CrC and (c) Al2O3/8YSZ multi-
texture of the coating. Ion implantation (higher degree of energy layers deposited by co-evaporation of multiple ingots by EB-PVD.
than IBAD) of Ni and Ti into the surface of high-speed tool steels By changing the individual layer thickness, the volume fraction of
increases the surface hardness (improved wear resistance), but also the interface changes. The effects of changing the individual layer
introduces large amounts of compressive stress which often leads thickness on the interfacial composition, structure, and stress state
to premature failure. Improved step coverage (i.e., high surface results in unique properties.
roughness or complex geometries) has also been reported when
using IBAD. This is most likely the result of increased atom mobil- 32.17.2 Erosion
ity under bombardment. Depending on the design of the erosion-resistant multilayer
Besides temperature and bombardment as methods of intro- coating, the performance can vary depending on the type of envi-
ducing energy into the system, energy can also be added through ronment, i.e., abrasive media (i.e., morphology, type, size). Ero-
chemistry (i.e., chemical reactions). During the reactive ion beam sion of materials has long been a concern for structural and design
assisted (RIBA) deposition process, a beam of ionized species (ni- engineers, but it has become increasingly important in the last few
trogen, oxygen, acetylene, methane, argon or mixed combination), years for military and commercial aircraft, especially compressor
is directed towards the substrate where they collide, transfer their blisks and helicopter rotors as well as power plants. For example,
kinetic energy to the growing film, and undergo chemical reac- when aircraft take-off and land, vortexes are formed which often
tions to form the coating. For example, when titanium atoms con- result in the incorporation of hard solid particles of sand, dust and
dense on the substrate’s surface, they undergo a chemical reaction ice with the air flow. In addition, volcanic ash and sandstorms pro-
with methane or acetylene molecules to form TiC under suitable duce hard particles which get ingested into engines. These hard
thermodynamic conditions. The acetylene (or methane) decom- particles impact compressor blades at various angles resulting in
poses into carbon and hydrogen; of which the C reacts with tita- severe erosion leading to decreased efficiency and performance.
nium forming TiC. The stoichiometry depends on the arrival rate Recent studies have shown that increasing size, temperature, and
of both constituent species (carbon and titanium). The additional velocity of the impacting particle generally result in an increase in
energy resulting from the ions bombarding the surface provides the the erosion rate of the material [60,61].
required energy to initiate the chemical reactions, as well as den- The mechanism of erosion due to solid particle impingement is
sification of the film, texturing and stress. These benefits are desir- much more complex and poorly understood. No single coating ma-
able in many applications including optics and microelectronics, as terial exists which offers erosion resistance properties at both high
well as high-wear applications such as cutting tools. angle, as well as low angle sand impingement. In general, high
hardness (brittle) materials (such as TiN or ternary nitrides) pro-
32.17.1 Crystallographic Texturing vide excellent erosion resistance against particles with an impinge-
Increased awareness has been given to the degree of crystallo- ment angle of less than 45o as shown in Fig. 32.17a. However,
graphic texturing during coating deposition. Crystallographic tex- erosion of the hard brittle materials increases at the higher angles
ture occurs when the crystal lattice of randomly oriented grains of sand impingement, i.e., 90o. In comparison, metallic (ductile)

Fig. 32.16 SEM micrographs showing (a-b) TiC/CrC and (c) Al2O3/ZrO2 multilayered coatings produced by
the co-evaporation of three (Ti, Cr, and graphite) and two (Al2O3 and ZrO2) ingots, respectively, by
EB-PVD
 energy and power generation handbook  •  32-17

Fig. 32.17  (a) General erosion rates as a function of impact angle (deg.) for ductile and brittle mate-
rials, and (b) erosion rate versus residual stress for W/W-N multilayer coating [60,61]

materials such as nickel-based alloys including Stellite6 and Nu- coatings can be limited to 5 to 8 mm in thickness due to increased
calloy45 (Fig. 32.17a), show increased erosion resistance at the residual stresses. Often the internal residual stresses of the coating
higher angles (90 deg), but poor resistance at the oblique (20 to 35 are greater than the adhesive strength of the coating/substrate in-
deg.) angles of hard particle (i.e., sand) impingement. terface which results in delamination or buckling, and thus coating
The erosion rate from the impact of solid particles is defined as failure. In contrast, ductile metallic coatings offer excellent erosion
[60]: resistance against high angle bombardment, but are poor against
low angle impingement. Thus the combination of hard coatings
(TiN) and ductile metallic coatings in the form of multilayers will
Equation 32.7:
offer the best coating properties resistant to erosion at both high
W=MpKf(a)Vpn
and low angle impingement. In addition, multilayers composed of
hard and ductile materials will allow application of thicker coat-
Where:
ings (20 to 50 mm) which will further increase erosion resistance.
W = Erosion rate
Coating technology offers a unique advantage in tailoring the coat-
Mp = Mass of sand impacting the surface
ing with respect to composition, microstructure, and properties de-
Vp = The particle velocity on impact
pending on the desired application.
aα = The particle impact angle
Hard particle erosion (i.e., sand) of metallic materials occurs by
K, n = Constants determined by the target material and erodent
two main mechanisms, cutting wear and repeated plastic deforma-
materials, respectively.
tion. As sand or other hard particles impact a metallic surface at
low impingement angles, the particle plastically deforms the metal
According to the above formula, the erosion rate increases with
surface forming an indent. After the initial indent, the particle will
increasing mass and velocity of the abrasive particles. In order to
skid across the surface if its velocity is high enough, resulting in
compare erosion rates from different coating materials (i.e. density/
gouging or cutting wear/micromachining. The critical velocity is
porosity), the following formula is often used as it considers the
defined as the particle velocity at which the particle will slide or
individual volume impacts which normalize for changes in particle
skid across the surface after forming an indent. If the critical veloc-
size based on fixed volume fractions.
ity of hard particles can be controlled, cutting wear can be signifi-
cantly reduced. However, controlling the type, size and velocity
Equation 32.8: of hard particles in atmospheric conditions is near im­possible.
W = Vlpd3/(6QvtCv) In contrast, hard materials (i.e., ceramics) erode much quicker at
higher angles due primarily to Hertzian fracture, or sub-critical
Where: crack growth typical of brittle ceramics as schematically shown
W = Erosion rate in Fig. 32.18. For brittle materials, as the particle impacts the sur-
Vl = Volume loss of the target (mass loss/density) face, Herztian stress fields develop. These stress fields result in
d = Particle mean diameter sub-surface cracks and crack propagation near localized defects
t = Time within the coating. With continued particle impaction and stress
Cv = Volume fraction of particles generation, these cracks grow in length. Eventually, perpendicular
Qv = Volumetric flow rate (kg/sec) and parallel cracks within the coating intersect resulting in coating
erosion through spallation from subsequent impaction (coating is
There are several issues which arise in developing erosion- eroded), which is often the dominant erosion mechanism for brittle
resistant coatings. For example, as previously discussed, hard materials. The hard brittle layers absorb the majority of the impact
monolithic coatings such as TiN only protect the compressor blisks energy from hard particle impingement, minimizing the stress seen
at low particle impingement angles (Fig. 32.17a) [61,62]. Depend- by the ductile substrate which aids in preventing debonding. The
ing on the coating process and deposition conditions, thin hard TiN soft compliant layer minimizes crack propagation within the hard
32-18  •  Chapter 32

Fig. 32.18 Principle erosion mechanism of (a) ductile metallic, (b) brittle ceramics and (c) the benefits
of ceramic-metallic multilayer coatings

phase which normally leads to coating failure. The most damaging metallic layer with a hard ceramic layer to increase the erosion
cracks are the radial cracks which initiate beneath the coating sur- resistance against solid particle impact over the entire range of pos-
face from coating flexure on the compliant substrate. sible impingement angles. In addition, previous studies evaluat-
Therefore, if the erosion resistance of both metallic and ceramic ing the erosion resistance of C/CrC multilayer coatings showed
materials can be incorporated into a multilayer coating of properly that the erosion resistance increased with increasing compressive
selected individual layer thickness, the erosion resistance against stress. These results are quite similar to the increase in hardness
hard particle impact can be significantly increased over a wide range (and thus wear resistance) as a function of increasing compressive
of impact angles. Early efforts at examining the erosion resistance stress. As the individual layer thickness changes, depending on
of cermet materials (WC-Co and CrC-NiCr) resulted in improved the material system, the stress state of the coating can be tailored
erosion resistance. However, these coatings applied to compressor based on lattice mismatch and degree of bombardment. Most PVD
blisks did not have the erosion resistance that the bulk materials of coating processes produce high values of compressive stress which
the same composition had. This was explained due to the micro- have long been known to improve the wear resistance of materi-
structure of the thermal sprayed coatings having inter­lamellar splat als. However, when hard particles impact the surface, they induce
boundaries consisting of melted, unmelted, and partially melted increased amounts of compressive stress and deformation. If the
particles, and a large volume of porosity. The hard particles would induced stresses are too high for the coating to absorb, crack initia-
often erode the soft metallic binder (i.e., Co, Ni or Cr) exposing the tion will occur to relieve the stress. Thus, tailoring the multilayer
hard ceramic particles which would eventually be removed through structure and design will improve the erosion resistance.
subsequent impacts on the surface. The incorporation of the soft metallic interlayers results in the
As a result of these early investigations, multilayer coatings con- required compliance to allow thicker coatings to be deposited with-
sisting of Cr/Cr-C, W/W-N, W/W-C, Ti/TiB2, Ti/TiN attempted to out increased residual stresses leading to delamination from the
combine the mechanical and erosion properties of a soft compliant substrate. Multilayer coatings can be deposited much thicker than
 energy and power generation handbook  •  32-19

the standard 5- to 8-mm-thick films by tailoring the stress state to or accelerated creep. In the primary, or initial stage of creep, the
prevent de-bonding. This allows thicker coatings to be deposited, strain rate starts out high, but then decreases with increased strain
thereby providing further protection against erosion. The perform- as a result of work hardening. The strain rate eventually reaches
ance against erosion is heavily dependent on the choice of ma- a constant, steady-state (secondary) creep in which the stress de-
terial, method of deposition, multilayer configuration and design, pendence is strongly dependent on the creep mechanism. Lastly, in
i.e., interlayer thickness, number of layers, interfacial bound­ary, the tertiary or accelerated creep stage, the strain rate is increasing
etc. and usually results in the formation of cracks, voids, and necking
Erosion resistance can be significantly increased through mul- phenomenon which results in failure.
tilayer design. However, there is no clear understanding as to the
optimum individual layer thickness, interfacial boundary effects Equation 32.9:
(i.e., size, structure, composition), or amount of residual stress. The creep rate is determined by the following equation:
Therefore, present efforts are underway to evaluate a variety of de/dt = (Csm/db)exp[–Q/kT]
multilayer coatings consisting of one of the following hard phase
materials: (Ti,Si)N, (Ti,Zr)N, (Ti,Al)N, (Ti,Cr)N, or (Ti,Nb)N in where:
combination with a soft, compliant matrix (Zr, Ti, Cr, Hf, Nb). This e = creep strain
type of multilayer configuration is designed for increased tough- t = time
ness and results in a hardness value between the metallic compliant C = constant which is a function of creep mechanism and material
layer and the hard brittle ceramic layer, but primarily depends on s = applied stress
the volume fraction of each material and individual layer thickness d = grain size
(lattice mismatch and degree of coherency). Q = creep mechanism activation energy
T = temperature
k = Boltzmann’s constant
32.18  IME-DEPENDENT DEFORMATION
T m = strain exponential constant
(cREEP) b = inverse grain size exponential constant

The most significant hurdle that nano-structured materials and However, at elevated stresses, dislocation movement controls the
coatings must overcome at elevated temperatures is creep. Creep is creep where the activation energy (Q) equals the activation energy
the time-dependent permanent deformation of material at elevated of self diffusion and the inverse grain size exponent equals zero
temperature due to long term exposure to high stress levels below (b=0). As a result, dislocation creep has no grain size dependence,
a materials’ yield point. Creep increases with increasing tempera- but rather a strong dependence on the applied stress. How­ever,
ture. In general, ceramic and metallic materials undergo creep at a when atoms diffuse through the lattice (bulk diffusion) resulting
temperature of 40% to 50% and 30% of the melting temperature of in grain growth in the direction of the applied stress, we call this
the material, respectively. diffusional controlled creep or Nabarro-Herring creep. Q again
Creep deformation is a concern for material applications where equals Qself diffusion, but m = 1 and b = 2. As a result, Nabarro-
materials are subjected to stress at elevated temperature such as Herring (N-H) creep is usually categorized as having weak depend-
in heat exchangers, jet engine components, nuclear power plants, ence on stress and a moderate grain size dependence. The creep
and steam turbine power plants. The mechanisms of creep usually rate increases as the grain size is decreased (i.e., nano-grained ma-
involve grain boundary diffusion, bulk diffusion, climb assisted terials). N-H creep has a strong dependence on temperature as an
glide, and thermally activated glide [63,64]. There are three stages atom must overcome the energy barrier to diffuse along the lattice
of creep for constant stress at elevated temperature over an ex- sites. N-H creep is the dominate creep mechanism at higher tem-
tended period of time as shown in Fig. 32.19. These stages are tran- peratures (i.e., close to the material’s melting temperature).
sient or primary creep, secondary or steady-state creep, and tertiary The second form of diffusional creep is Coble creep in which
the atoms diffusion along the grain boundaries in the direction of
the applied stress resulting in elongation of the grains. As a result,
Coble creep has a much higher dependence on grain size than N-H
creep with m and b typically being 1 and 3, respectively. Coble
creep causes much greater deformation for nano-structured materi-
als at lower temperatures. Since the activation barrier for Coble
creep equals the activation barrier for grain boundary diffusion
(which is less than the activation barrier of self diffusion), Coble
creep occurs at lower temperatures than N-H. Although Coble
creep has the same linear dependence on stress as N-H creep, it
does not have as high a temperature dependence as temperature-
derived vacancies along grain boundaries are less prevalent
(Coble) as compared to the bulk.
Select creep diffusion paths and exponents are listed in Table
32.4 [62] for various creep mechanisms. As observed in Table
32.4, no grain size dependence exists for dislocation creep mecha-
nisms, but there is a strong dependence on grain size for diffusional
creep mechanisms such as vacancy flow through grains and along
Fig. 32.19 Schematic illustration of the various grain boundaries, as well as for interfacial creep mechanism and
stages of creep grain boundary sliding mechanism.
32-20  •  Chapter 32

38.19  HE FUTURE OF NANO-MATERIALS

T
AND COATINGS
The future of nano-materials and coatings in the energy and power
industries is exciting. As we look back over the last 20 years and
examine all of the technological advances based on nano-materials,
nano-composites, and nano-structures, it is difficult to imagine
where we will be in the next 20 years. Nano-tubes like the ones in
Fig. 32.20 will play a major role in electronic devices, solar cells,
rechargeable batteries and ultracapacitors. Titania nano-tubes have
been extensively investigated for use in solar cells as well as hy-
drogen splitting to produce energy. Future improvements in the
efficiency of die-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) will continue to
grow the photovoltaic industry [65]. Future research in doping and
surface modifications should result in improved photoconversion
efficiencies for solar cells.
Nano-structured materials will play important roles in energy
storage [66–70], the hydrogen economy, and high efficiency and
fast-charging nano-batteries. Companies like Sony and Toshiba
have already commercialized nano-batteries that recharge 50 to
60 times faster than the conventional lithium ion batteries [71]. Fig. 32.20 Scanning electron micrograph of
If these could be scaled for the automotive industry, these could a typical nanotube. Based on processing, the
revolutionize the energy sources for electric cars. There are several diameter and length–width ratio can be tai-
review articles that discuss the use of nano-technology including lored to form single-wall nanotubes (SWNT) or
nano-particles for improving battery efficiency that is attributed multi-walled nanotubes (MWNT)
to increased electrolyte conductivity by a factor of 6, increased
life cycle of nano-composites by reducing volume expansion, and
improved nano-structuralization. The future for lithium ion re-
chargeable batteries will be the nano-ion battery due to higher en-
ergy density capacity and faster re-charging. Unlike batteries that
store energy chemically, supercapacitors or ultracapacitors physi-
Table 32.4 Diffusion paths and creep equation cally store energy by separating the negative and positive charges.
exponents for various creep mechanisms [62] With future advancements in nano-technology, supercapacitors
could overcome the current barriers of low efficiency, long cycle
Creep mechanism b m Diffusion Path life, and high cost of electrode miniaturization.
Nano-materials and coatings will continue to play a role in fuel
Dislocation creep mechanisms cell technology as less expensive and more efficient catalysts are
  Dislocation glide 0 4–6 Lattice developed [72,73]. In addition, nano-particle additive research to
climb, climb controlled increase the hydrogen release rate will continue to have a positive
  Dislocation glide 0 3 Lattice impact in hydrogen fuel energy storage.
climb, glide controlled Until the issues of creep are addressed, nano-materials and coat-
  Dissolution of 0 4 Lattice ings will continue to be challenged for high temperature energy ap-
dislocation loops plications. Nano-materials have been around for several centuries,
  Dislocation climb by 0 5 Dislocation core and it is expected that they will be around for many more.
pipe diffusion
  Dislocation climb 0 3 Lattice
without glide
32.20 ACRONYMS
Diffusional creep mechanisms Al BSF: Aluminum Back Surface Field
  Vacancy flow through 2 1 Lattice (bulk) APCVD: Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition
grains BSCF: (Ba,Sr)(Co,Fe)O3
  (Nabarro-Herring CA: Cathodic Arc
Creep) CIGS: Copper Indium Gallium Selenide
  Vacancy flow along 3 1 Grain boundary CMC: Ceramic Matrix Composites
grain boundaries CTE: Coefficient of Thermal Expansion
  (Coble Creep) CVD: Chemical Vapor Deposition
  Interface reaction 1 2 Lattice/grain boundary DSSC: Die-Sensitized Solar Cells
control EB-PVD: Electron Beam – Physical Vapor Deposition
GT: Gas Turbine
Grain boundary sliding mechanism
HIPIMS: High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering
  Sliding with liquid 2 1 Lattice (bulk)
IBAD: Ion Beam Assisted Deposition
  Sliding without liquid 3 1 Grain boundary
IGCC: Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle
(diffusion controlled)
LICVD: Laser-Induced Chemical Vapor Deposition
 energy and power generation handbook  •  32-21

LPPS: Low Pressure Plasma Spray 10. Wang D.H., Choi D.G., Lee K.J., Jeong J.H., Jeon S.H., Park O.O.,
LPCVD: Low Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition and Park J.H., “Effect of the ordered 2D-dot nano-patterned anode for
LSC: (La,Sr)CoO3 polymer solar cells,” Organic Electronics, 11 (2010) 285-290.
LSCF: (La,Sr)(Co,Fe)O3 11. Shockley W. and Queisser H., “Detailed Balance Limit of Efficiency
LSM: (La,Sr)MnO3 of p-n Junction Solar Cells,” Journal of Applied Physics, 32 [3] (1961)
MBE: Molecular Beam Epitaxy 510-519.
MOCVD: Metal-Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition 12. Abbott M. and Cotter J., “Optical and Electrical Properties of Laser
near-IR: Near Infrared Texturing for High-efficiency Solar Cells,” Prog. Photovolt. Res.
near-UV: Near Ultraviolet Appl., 14 (2006) 225-235.
NLSL: Nano-layered Self-Lubricating
13. Mount D., “The Interesting Case of Black Silicon,” Journal of Vacuum
PECVD: Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition Technology and Coating, (September 2007) 43-47.
PEM: Proton Exchange Membrane
PHCVD: Photo-Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition 14. Cai W., Gong X., and Cao Y., “Polymer solar cells: Recent develop-
PLD: Pulsed Laser Deposition ment and possible routes for improvement in the performance,” Solar
Energy Materials and Solar Cells, 94 (2010) 114-127.
PV: Photovoltaic
PVD: Physical Vapor Deposition 15. Li H.B.T., Franken R.H., Rath J.K., and Schropp R.E.I., “Structural
RIBA: Reactive Ion Beam Assisted defects caused by a rough substrate and their influence on the per-
SOFC: Solid Oxide Fuel Cell formance of hydrogenated nano-crystalline silicon n-i-p solar cells,”
SSC: (Sm,Sr)CoO3 Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, 93 (2009) 338-349.
STEM: Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy 16. Dobrzanski L.A. and Drygala A., “Laser texturization of crystalline
TBC: Thermal Barrier Coating silicon for solar cells,” Journal of Achievements in materials and
TGO: Thermally Grown Oxide Manufacturing Engineering, 29[1] (2008) 7-14.
TIT: Turbine Inlet Temperature 17. Han K.S., Shin J.H., and Lee H., “Enhanced transmittance of glass
VHN: Vicker’s Hardness Number plates for solar cells using nano-imprint lithography.” Solar Energy
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 Index

Page numbers followed by f and t indicate figures and tables, respectively.

Abengoa Solar, 1-5 Algae projects, 19-31

ABT. See Availability Based Tariff (ABT) ALSEP. See Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP)
Access roads design, for wind plants, 8-17 Alternative energy, source. See Waste material utilization
Acid gas removal (AGR), 20-12 Aluminum oxide, 32-11
Acoustic noise. See also Aero-acoustic noise American Recovery and Reinvestment Act 2009 (ARRA), 8-6
impacts on wind power systems, 8-9 American Society for Nondestructive Testing (ASNT), 25-2
Acronyms American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), 11-13
advanced ultra supercritical (A-USC) coal fired generators, 17-20 American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), 11-13
bioenergy, 14-11 Ames Aeronautical Laboratory, 6-1
geothermal energy, 16-23 Ammonia catalyst, 10-15f, 20-15
petroleum dependence and bioenergy, 19-36 to 19-37 Amonix, 1-10
tidal and wave power, 13-8 Anaerobic digestion, use of, 15-14 to 15-15
ACS-Cobra, 3-10 Andasol-I & Andasol-II, 3-9
Active solar space heating systems, 2-21 Annual average wave power density, 13-2f
Active solar technologies Annual average wave power (in west coast), 13-3f
concentrating solar power, 5-6 to 5-7 Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP), 6-8
overview, 5-4 Appraisals (hydro power projects), in India
photovoltaic technology, 5-5 appraisal of DPRs, 12-11 to 12-12
Adams, William, 5-1 aspects appraised by different agencies, 12-13 to 12-14
Adaptive management, 13-6f, 13-7 documents to be submitted for, 12-12 to 12-13
Adsorption, 18-7 APSA. See Advanced Photovoltaic Solar Array (APSA)
Advanced boiling water reactor (ABWR), 23-7 Areva (Palo Alto, California), 1-5
Advanced flat plate collectors, 2-23 ARRA. See American Recovery and Reinvestment Act 2009 (ARRA)
Advanced heavy water reactor (AHWR), 23-7, 23-7t, 23-12 ARUN160, 4-5, 4-8
Advanced photovoltaic concepts, 6-10 to 6-11 ASCE. See American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
Advanced photovoltaic solar array (APSA), 6-6 Ash removal system, 20-11
Advanced recycling center (ARC), 23-23 a-Si solar cells, 2-14, 2-15
Aero-acoustic noise ASME. See American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
generated by wind turbine, 7-9 to 7-10 ASME code philosophy, 21-4
Aerodynamic efficiency, 26-5f ASME nuclear training seminars, 24-9
Aerodynamics ASTER satellite image, 16-7f
role in wind turbine design, 7-11 Atomic Energy Act, 15-2
Agricultural residues, 14-4 Auto shredder residue, 15-8 to 15-9
Agriculture in U.S., 19-19 Availability based tariff (ABT), 10-3
AID. See U.S. Agency for International Development (AID) Availability factor
Air turbine performance, 8-7
infiltration, 18-6 Availability of a power plant, 27-27 to 27-29
pollutants, 19-33
separation, 18-2, 18-6f, 18-7 to 18-8, 18-7f Babcock & Wilcox Company (B&W), overview of. See Carbon
Air-conditioning systems, solar heating and cooling for capture technologies
active systems, 2-21 Badische Anilin und Soda Fabrik (BASF), 20-13
passive systems, 2-21 Bailey, Sheila, Dr., 6-10, 6-11, 6-12
PV/thermal hybrid systems, 2-22 Bass Strait Island Energy Vision
solar absorption technology, 2-21 to 2-22 overview, 28-2
space heating, 2-21 Batch heater (or ICS), 2-19
Air Liquide, 18-7, 18-8f passive direct system, 2-19
Air versus water condenser cooling Batteries
power tower systems, 2-3 to 2-5 for energy storage, 5-8
I-  •  INDEX

Becquerel, Edmund, 5-1 Blade testing, at WMC, 9-10 to 9-11

Bench-scale PCCC unit, 18-13, 18-13f Blading velocity, 26-7f
Benson point load, 17-8 Blue Ribbon Commission, 24-11
Berkeley Seismological Laboratory (BSL), 16-17 Blyth, James, 7-1
BES. See Building energy simulation (BES) Boiler and Industrial Furnace (BIF) regulations, 15-17
BES codes, 1-16 Boiler fuel efficiency, 17-2, 17-3
Betz limit, 13-2 Boiler load operation, partial, 18-15
Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited (BHEL) in India, 20-5 Boilers
Bhutan, hydro-development in, 12-15 biomass, small, 14-5 to 14-6, 14-6f
Binary-cycle power, 16-7 to 16-8, 16-8f, 16-9f fluidized bed, 14-8, 14-8f
Biodiesel fuel, 19-24 to 19-25, 19-24f, 19-25f grate (in Denmark), 14-6f
Bioenergy. See also Petroleum dependence industrial, small, 14-7
biofuels, 14-10 to 14-11 pulverized coal, 14-2, 14-9
biomass. See Biomass fuels and feedstocks spreader stoker, 14-7 to 14-8, 14-7f
with coal, cofiring, 14-8 to 14-10 wall-fired, 14-9
power industry. See Heat and power generation Boiling Water Reactor Vessel and Internals Program (BWRVIP),
utilization, 19-17 to 19-18, 19-17f, 19-18f 22- 6
biomass supply, 19-28 to 19-32, 19-30f, 19-31f Boresonic inspection, 25-6
conversion technology project scale, 19-27 to 19-28 Boudouard reaction, 20-3
definition of, 19-26 to 19-27 Bowed blade, 26-16f
demand/consumption, 19-21 to 19-22 Bradys power plant in Nevada, 16-8, 16-9f
biodiesel, energy values and, 19-24 to 19-25, 19-24f, 19-25f Braking losses, 26-7
BTUs and best value, 19-23 to 19-24 Brayton cycle, 27-3 to 27-5
ethanol, energy values and, 19-24, 19-24f evaporative and fogging systems, 27-5 to 27-6
price of carbon, 19-22 to 19-23, 19-22f, 19-23f inlet cooling effect, 27-5
residential heat energy, 19-25 to 19-26, 19-25f, 19-29f intercooled regenerative reheat cycle, 27-9
economics of, 19-16 to 19-17, 19-35 to 19-36 intercooling and reheat effects, 27-6 to 27-7
food vs fuel, 19-34 to 19-35, 19-34f mid-compressor flashing of water, 27-7 to 27-8
gasification, 14-10 refrigeration systems, 27-6
infrastructure for, 19-19 to 19-20, 19-19f regeneration effect, 27-8
data collection, 19-20 to 19-21 reheat effect, 27-8 to 27-9
government administrative costs, 19-20 Brayton-Rankine cycle, 27-11 to 27-13
recycling, price impact of, 19-21 British Thermal Unit (BTU), 15-4, 19-23 to 19-24
relative prices, 19-20 Brush, Charles F., 7-1
uncertainty and prices, 19-20 Brush seal, 26-19f
waste treatment, 19-21 BTU. See British Thermal Unit (BTU)
non-energy materials, 19-32 Building energy simulation (BES), 1-16
payments/subsidies, 19-33 to 19-34 Building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) system, 1-18 to 1-19
policy, benefits and costs of roof-mounted, 2-15 to 2-16
U.S. environmental regulation, 19-32 to 19-33, 19-33t Buildings
pyrolysis and carbonization, 14-10 applications of solar energy
Renewable Fuels Standard regulations (RFS2), 19-35 BES codes, 1-16
technical innovation, 19-18 to 19-19, 19-19f desiccant dehumidification/cooling system, 1-19
torrefaction, 14-10 net zero energy buildings, 1-16 to 1-17
Biofuels, 14-10 to 14-11 overview, 1-16
Biomass photovoltaic applications, 1-18 to 1-19
boilers, small, 14-5 to 14-6, 14-6f solar building space cooling, 1-19
with coal, cofiring, 14-8 to 14-9 solar domestic water heating systems, 1-17 to 1-18
properties. See Biomass fuels and feedstocks solar lighting, 1-19
residuals, 19-32 distributed photovoltaic systems for
supply. See Bioenergy integration issue, 2-16 to 2-17
sustainability, 14-5 large- vs. small-scale PV systems, 2-18
utilization, 19-17 to 19-18, 19-17f, 19-18f non-roof-mounted systems, 2-16
Biomass fuels and feedstocks overview, 2-12
biomass properties roof-mounted BIPV systems, 2-15 to 2-16
density and energy density, 14-1, 14-2t system components, 2-13 to 2-15
moisture, 14-1 solar thermal systems for
particle size, 14-2 overview, 2-18
volatile ash, 14-2, 14-3f, 14-3t solar heating and cooling for air-conditioning systems, 2-21 to 2-22
volatile content, 14-1 to 14-2, 14-2t solar water heating systems, 2-18 to 2-21
biomass sustainability, 14-5 Buried piping, 22-3 to 22-4, 22-3f, 22-4f
biomass types/sources/supplies
agricultural residues, 14-4 Callide power plant (Australia), 15-8
urban residues, 14-4 Capacity factor
wood pellets, 14-4 turbine performance, 8-7
woody biomass, 14-3 to 14-4 Cape Canaveral Auxiliary Air Force Station, 6-1
infrastructure and logistics of biomass, 14-4 to 14-5 Capital costs, 13-5, 13-6t
BIPV. See Building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) system Carbon, price of, 19-22 to 19-23, 19-22f
 INDEX  •  I-

Carbon capture and sequestration (CCS), 17-2, 17-5 Climate change

Carbon capture technologies impact on hydro power generation in India, 12-3
outlines of, 18-1 to 18-2, 18-2f Coal fired generators, advanced ultra supercritical (A-USC)
oxy-combustion boiler fuel efficiency, 17-3
air separation, 18-6f, 18-7 to 18-8, 18-7f CO2 emissions reduction, 17-5 to 17-6, 17-6f
commercial plant, 18-8, 18-9f commercial plants, 17-18 to 17-19
comparative study, 18-8 to 18-9, 18-9f COMTEST1400 project, 17-17 to 17-18, 17-18f
demonstration plant, 18-8, 18-8f convection pass enclosure, 17-13
design considerations, 18-4 to 18-6, 18-4f, 18-5f convection pass heating surface, 17-13 to 17-14
partial capture and swing operation, 18-9 cost of electricity, 17-16
power block equipment options, 18-6 to 18-7 design codes
process description, 18-2 to 18-3, 18-2f by ASME formula, 17-15
retrofit potential for, 18-9 to 18-10 materials selection, 17-15, 17-15t, 17-16f
state of development, 18-3 to 18-4, 18-3f double reheat cycle, 17-4
PCCC technology. See Post-combustion carbon capture economical evaluation, 17-16 to 17-17, 17-17f
Carbon dioxide examples of, 17-6, 17-7f
absorber system, 18-10 to 18-11 fabrication methods, 17-15
emissions, 16-15, 16-16f failure mechanisms
reduction, 17-5 to 17-6, 17-6f fireside coal ash corrosion, 17-14 to 17-15
purification and compression, 18-6f, 18-7 to 18-8 mechanical properties, 17-14
stream conditioning, 18-11 steam side oxidation, 17-14
Carbon financial instrument (CFI), 19-23 furnace enclosure, 17-7f, 17-12 to 17-13, 17-12f
Carbonization, 14-10 furnace roof, 17-13
Carbon monoxide (CO), 27-16 to 27-17 materials development, 17-14
Carbon trust, 13-2 material supply chain, 17-15 to 17-16
Carnot cycle, 26-2, 26-2f net plant efficiency, 17-2
thermal efficiency, 17-3 operational design, 17-6 to 17-12, 17-9, 17-10, 17-11t
Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE), 15-9 outlines of, 17-1 to 17-2, 17-2f
Carpet waste, 15-9 and turbine cycle description, 17-4 to 17-5, 17-5f
Carter, Jimmy, 1-1 turbine heat balance, 17-4 to 17-5, 17-5f
Cast stainless steel piping inspection issues, 22-1 turbine throttle pressure selection, 17-3 to 17-4, 17-4f
CCStaR. See Concentrating collectors with stationary reflector Coal-fired utility power generation. See Carbon capture technologies
(CCStaR) Coal gasification
CDM. See Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) applications of
CEA, aspects appraised by, 12-14 hydrogen and ammonia, 10-15f, 20-15
Cellulosic ethanol, 20-17 liquid fuels, 10-14f, 20-13 to 20-14
Cement industry (case study), 15-15 to 15-17, 15-15f, 15-16t power generation, 20-12 to 20-13, 20-12f, 20-13f
Cement tile systems, 2-15 to 2-16 synthetic natural gas (SNG), 20-14 to 20-15, 20-14f
Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC), 4-7, 10-2, 12-11 design and cost, 20-10 to 20-12, 20-11f, 20-11t
Central receiver systems. See Power tower systems outline of, 20-1 to 20-2, 20-1f, 20-1t, 20-2t
Central Soil and Material Research Station (CSMRS) outlook for
aspects appraised by, 12-14 coal to chemicals, 20-20 to 20-21, 20-20t
Central Water Commission (CWC) coal to electricity, 20-18 to 20-20, 20-19f, 20-19t
aspects appraised by, 12-13 to 12-14 coal to liquids, 20-16 to 20-18, 20-17f, 20-18t
CERC. See Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) coal to SNG, 20-18
Chaplin, Daryl, 5-1 consumption pattern, 20-16, 20-16f
Chavez, Hugo, 19-3 global energy consumption pattern, 20-15 to 20-16
Chemical and fuel properties of fuels, 20-2t growth market identification, 20-16, 20-16f
Chemical degradation, 18-15 theory, 20-2 to 20-3
Chemical geothermometers, 16-6 entrained flow gasifiers, 20-6 to 20-10, 20-6f, 20-7f, 20-8f, 20-9f,
Chemical industry, 15-5 20-10f
Chemical looping, 18-7 fluidized bed gasifiers, 20-4 to 20-6, 20-5f, 20-6f
Chemical reaction and mineralization, 32-6 to 32-7 moving bed technology, 20-3 to 20-4, 20-3f, 20-4f
Chernobyl, 24-3 Coal supplies, worldwide, 18-2
China, wind energy technology in Coal to chemicals technology, 20-20 to 20-21, 20-20t
growth of the sector, 10-12 to 10-13 Coal to electricity technology, 20-18 to 20-20, 20-19f, 20-19t
resources, 10-11 to 10-12 Coal to liquids technology, 20-16 to 20-18, 20-17f, 20-18t
technology development, 10-13 Coal to SNG technology, 20-18
Chromium carbide, 32-11 to 32-12 Coating materials selection, 32-10 to 32-11
Chubb, Donald, Dr., 6-13 aluminum oxide, 32-11
Circulating fluidized bed (CFB), 14-9 chromium carbide, 32-11 to 32-12
Cladding materials, 23-26 nitrides, 32-12
Clark, Eric, 6-13 titanium aluminum nitride, 32-12
Clean Air Act (CAA), 15-4, 19-33 titanium boron carbon nitride, 32-13
Clean development mechanism (CDM), 10-5 titanium carbide, 32-11
Clean electric vehicles, 19-11 titanium chromium nitride, 32-12 to 32-13
Clean environment development facility (CEDF), 18-3, 18-3f titanium nitride, 32-12
Clean Water Act, 19-32 Coatings, approaches in applying, 32-13 to 32-15
I-  •  INDEX

Cofiring (biomass with coal), 14-8 to 14-10 experimental facilities, 9-13

Cogeneration, 27-3 wind tunnels at, 9-13 to 9-14
Coherent, semi-coherent, incoherent interfaces, 32-10 DELSOL3, 3-14
Collectors. See Solar collectors Denmark, electricity generation in, 24-2
Combined cycle plants, 27-26 to 27-27 Department of Energy (DOE), 17-2
Combined cycle power plants, 27-1 to 27-3 20% by 2030 scenario report, 7-9
components of, 27-13 to 27-14 Desalination systems, photovoltaic-driven, 2-26 to 2-27
Combined solar power and heat system, 2-12 Desiccant dehumidification/cooling system, 1-19
Combustion. See Heat and power generation Design Point
Commercial plant, 18-8, 18-9f, 18-14 to 18-16 abnormal deviations from, 29-7
Commercial sector in petroleum consumption, 19-5 to 19-7, conditions, 29-6
19-6f to 19-7f effect of design point on configuration, 29-7
Compound parabolic concentrator collectors, 2-24 to 2-25 normal deviations from, 29-7
Compressed air DE systems. See Dish/engine systems (DE)
for energy storage, 5-9 Direct air-space heating, 2-21
Compression purification unit (CPU), 17-6 Direct-flow evacuated tube collector, 2-19
CO2, 18-2, 18-8 Direct gain, 2-21
Computers in nuclear power plant construction, 21-7 Direct use system
COMTEST1400 project, 17-17 to 17-18, 17-18f geothermal water for, 16-22
Concentrated animal feed operations (CAFO), 14-4 of hot water, 16-5
Concentrating collectors with stationary reflector (CCStaR), Dirty fuels, 20-2
2-25 to 2-26 Dish/engine systems (DE), 3-4, 3-5
Concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) systems, 1-8 to 1-9, 5-6 to 5-7. Dish stirling systems, 1-5, 1-7
See also Photovoltaic (PV) systems developments, 3-21
benefits of, 1-9 parabolic, 2-8 to 2-9
high concentration PV (HCPV) systems, 1-9 to 1-10 R&D in, 3-23
low concentration PV systems, 1-10 to 1-11 subsystems and components, 3-19 to 3-21
tradeoffs between one-sun, low concentration, and high Disk rim blade attachment dovetails, 25-13 to 25-17, 25-13f, 25-14f,
concentration systems, 1-11 to 1-12 25-15f, 25-16f
vs. fixed flat plate systems, 1-9, 1-11 to 1-12 Dispersoids, 23-27
Concentration, use of, 1-1 to 1-2 Distributed photovoltaic systems, for buildings
Condensate depression, 30-4, 30-6 to 30-7 integration issue, 2-16 to 2-17
Condenser design considerations, 30-1 to 30-2 large- vs. small-scale PV systems, 2-18
Condenser pressure, 30-4 non-roof-mounted systems, 2-16
Condensing steam temperature, 30-4 overview, 2-12
Conservation, 1-16, 3-3, 8-8, 9-7, 10-12, 12-13, 12-14, 12-21, 13-1, roof-mounted BIPV systems, 2-15 to 2-16
13-10, 15-2, 19-3, 19-4, 19-19, 19-32, 19-33, 19-37, 20-16, system components, 2-13 to 2-15
24-2, 24-10, 31-14, 31-15 District energy, 14-5
Construction and demolition debris (C&D debris), 15-7 DOE. See Department of Energy (DOE)
Construction cost of power plant (in U.S.), 16-13t Domestic heat, 14-5
Consumer price indices for food and energy, 19-34f Double reheat cycle, 17-4
Controller-based active direct systems, 2-19 to 2-20 DOWEC. See Dutch Offshore Wind Energy Converter project (DOWEC)
Controlling Wind program, 9-6 Drag losses, 26-7
Convection pass enclosure, 17-13 Drainback active indirect system, 2-19
Convection pass heating surface, 17-13 to 17-14 Droplet impact velocity, 26-9f
Conversion technology project scale, 19-27 to 19-28 Dry low NOx combustor, 27-17
Cooking systems, solar thermal Dry steam, 16-7, 16-8f
in India, 4-2 to 4-3 DU airfoil data, 9-8
Corrosion, system, 18-15 to 18-16 DUT. See Delft University of Technology (DUT)
Cost reduction potential Dutch Offshore Wind Energy Converter project (DOWEC), 9-4
large-scale solar energy plants, 2-12 DUWIND program, 9-10, 9-13
Costs of energy, 13-5, 13-6t Dynamic control theory, 11-6 to 11-7
CPV systems. See Concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) systems
Cryogenic separation, 18-7 EAGLE gasifier, 20-9
CSMRS. See Central Soil and Material Research Station (CSMRS) Echo 1, 6-2
Curtis, Henry, 6-10 ECN. See Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN)
CWC. See Central Water Commission (CWC) ECN scale wind farm, 9-12 to 9-13
Cyber security, 24-8 Ecological effects assessment, 13-7 to 13-8
Cyclic loading, 21-7 to 21-8 Economic Research Service (ERS), 19-17, 19-18
Economic shocks in U.S., 19-18t
Damping, aerodynamic, 26-17f Economizer, 27-20
Data analysis ED. See Electrodialysis (ED) process
wind resources assessment, 8-14 to 8-16 Eddy current testing, 25-3
Days import coverage, 19-2, 19-2f E-Gas technology, 20-8
Deep saline reservoirs, 18-1 EIA. See Energy Information Administration (EIA)
Deep Space 1, 6-6, 6-7 Electrical collection system, 8-17 to 8-19
Degree of reaction (R) in an axial-flow turbine, 27-23 Electrical power generation. See under Geothermal energy
Delft University of Technology (DUT), 8-1, 9-10 Electricity, cost of, 17-16
 INDEX  •  I-

Electricity Act 2003, 12-3 batteries, 5-8

Electricity generation, 20-12 to 20-13, 20-12f, 20-13f classes of, 2-11
with parabolic trough collectors, 3-7 to 3-9 compressed air, 5-9
petroleum in, 19-8 to 19-11, 19-8f, 19-9f, 19-10f flywheel energy storage systems, 5-8 to 5-9
with wind energy technology, in India, 10-1 to 10-3 hydropower for, 11-8 to 11-9
Electric Power Development Corporation in Japan, 20-9 issues related to, 2-11
Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), 6-16, 13-1, 17-2, 25-8, 25-27 need for, 5-7 to 5-8
Electric transmission, wind power systems and, 8-10 to 8-11 with renewable electricity generation, 2-11
new transmission lines, 8-10 to 8-11 superconducting magnetic energy storage, 5-9
nondiscriminatory access to transmission lines, 8-10 water energy storage, 5-9
Electrodialysis (ED) process, 2-26 to 2-27 Energy values
Electrolysis and biodiesel, 19-24 to 19-25, 19-24f, 19-25f
for hydrogen generation, 1-12 to 1-13 by density for fuels, 19-26f
Enabling Technology Development and Demonstration (ETDD) and ethanol, 19-24, 19-24f
program, 6-14 and residential heat, 19-25 to 19-26, 19-25f, 19-29f
End use of enegy, 19-12 to 19-13, 19-12f, 19-13f, 19-14f of waste, 15-4 to 15-5, 15-4t
Energetics Program, 6-11 to 6-12 Enhanced/engineered geothermal systems (EGS), 16-9 to 16-10, 16-13f,
Energy consumption, reduced 16-14f
a case study AT Harbec Plastics, Inc, 31-11 Enhanced geothermal systems, 16-4 to 16-5
Energy density, 14-1 Enhanced oil recovery (EOR), 18-1
Energy efficiency, improving, 31-7 to 31-8 Entrained flow gasifiers, 20-6 to 20-10, 20-6f, 20-7f, 20-8f, 20-9f, 20-10f
through improved product design: case study in injection molding Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 15-2, 15-3
computing total energy consumption, 31-10 to 31-11 Environment related issues
estimation of cycle times, 31-9 to 31-10 wind energy and, 8-8
estimation of setup operations, 31-10 EPRI. See Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)
selection of machine, 31-8 to 31-9 Erosion protection, 26-18
surrogate runner arrangement, 31-8 Eskom, 2-1
Energy generation and conversion with emerging technologies Essential MacleodTM, 2-6
a case study in use of supercritical fluids at Thar technologies ETDD program. See Enabling Technology Development and Demon-
ethanol extraction, 31-12 stration (ETDD) program
food and fuel: biodiesel with a food- production bonus, 31-11 to 31-12 Ethanol
heating and cooling using a natural refrigerant, 31-12 to 31-13 demand, 19-19
miniature refrigeration systems, 31-13 energy values and, 19-24, 19-24f
power generation using the CO2 Brayton cycle, 31-13 to 31-14 industry, 19-19
Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA), 19-20, 19-33 Evacuated tube collector, 2-18 to 2-19, 5-3
Energy Information Administration (EIA), 5-9 to 5-10, 5-11, 15-18, for manufacturing, 2-23 to 2-24
19- 17 Exciters, 11-8
Energy Information Agency (EIA), 14-3 Exhaust pressure limitations, 26-24f
Energy management practices, best practices, regulations and stand- Exploration Precursor Robotic Missions (xPRM), 6-14
ards, 31-14 Export dependence of petroleum, 19-2 to 19-3, 19-3f
Energy payback time, for wind turbine, 8-7
Energy prices (U.S.), 15-4t Fast breeder test reactor (FBTR), 23-11
Energy recovery. See under Waste material utilization Fenton Hill experiment, 16-9
Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) Filtration, 18-16
interaction between NASA and, 6-3 Finite elements program, 21-7
Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN), 9-1, 9-2, 9-8 to 9- 10 Fireside coal ash corrosion, 17-14 to 17-15
aerodynamic research, 9-8 to 9-9 Fischer-Tropsch process, 15-15, 20-5, 20-13
design tools development, 9-9 Fixed flat plate systems
ECN scale wind farm, 9-12 to 9-13 vs. CPV systems, 1-9, 1-11 to 1-12
integrated wind turbine design research, 9-9 Flagship Technology Demonstration Program, 6-14
research in electrical systems and components, 9-10 Flash steam, 16-7, 16-8f
wind turbine test site Wieringermeer, 9-11 to 9-12 Flat-plate collector (glazed/unglazed), 2-18, 5-3
Energy simulation model (ESM), benefits, 28-13 to 28-14 advanced, 2-23
diesel fuel use, 28-16 FlexHat program, 9-3
modeling control philosophy, 28-14 Flow accelerated corrosion of carbon steel piping, 22-2f, 22-1 to 22-2
diesel-UPS method, 28-16 Flue gas desulfurization (FGD), 18-15
instantaneous wind penetration method, 28-15 Flue gas pre-scrubbing, 18-15
resistor method, 28-15 to 28-16 Flue gas recycle, 17-6
modeling results, 28-17 to 28-18 Flue gas system, 18-10
performance of system modeling, 28-18 Fluidized bed boilers, 14-8, 14-8f
scheduling order of preference, 28-16 to 28-17 Fluidized bed gasifier, 20-4 to 20-6, 20-5f, 20-6f
simulation modules Flywheel energy storage systems, 5-8 to 5-9
diesel, 28-14 Forced circulation characteristic (FCC), 17-13
solar, 28-14 Forecasting
storage, 28-14 in wind energy research, 8-20 to 8-21
wind, 28-14 Forest residues, 14-4
spill distribution and storage balance, 28-17 Fossil fuel costs, 16-21
Energy storage Fourneyron, Benoit, 11-1
I-  •  INDEX

Fracture appearance transition temperature (FATT), 26-22 fossil fuel costs, 16-21
Francis, James B., 11-1 production tax credits (PTC), Federal, 16-20
Francis turbine, 11-3 to 11-5 renewable energy portfolio standards, 16-20, 16-21t
“Fresh Look” study, 6-15 enhanced/engineered geothermal systems (EGS), 16-9 to 16-10,
Fresnel (line focus) solar thermal plant, 1-5 16-13f, 16-14f
Fresnel reflectors, 3-4, 5-6 environmental benefits, 16-14f, 16-15, 16-15f, 16-16f
Fritts, Charles, 5-1 geothermal heat pumps (GHP), 16-22 to 16-23, 16-23f
Fuel, heating value of, 14-1 literature on, survey of, 16-3 to 16-4
Fuel cells outlines of, 16-1 to 16-3, 16-3f, 16-4f
types, 1-14 potential environmental impacts, 16-16
use for vehicular propulsion, 1-14 to 1-15 gaseous emissions, 16-17
Fuel cell technologies, 32-4 habitat and vegetation, disturbance of, 16-17
Fuel pellet industry, 19-32 hydrothermal explosions, 16-20
Fuel use, ultimate, 19-13 to 19-14 induced boiling, 16-20
Fuller, Calvin, 5-1 landslides, 16-19, 16-19f
Furnace enclosure, 17-7f, 17-12 to 17-13, 17-12f land subsidence, 16-17, 16-17f
Furnace exit gas temperature (FEGT), 17-11 natural hydrothermal features, disturbance of, 16-18 to 16-19
Furnace roof, 17-13 reservoir drawdown, 16-17
seismicity, induced, 16-17 to 16-18, 16-18f
Gaddy, Edward, Dr., 6-10 water pollution, 16-17
Gas-cooled fast reactor (GFR), 23-20 to 23-21 water use, 16-18
Gas-cooled reactors, 23-5 to 23-6 power production, 16-11 to 16-15, 16-13t
Gaseous emissions, 16-17 in world, 16-2, 16-3f
Gasification, 14-10, 15-9, 15-14 to 15-15 production systems
Gas recirculation (GR), 17-6 direct use system, 16-5
Gas Technology Institute, 20-5 enhanced geothermal systems, 16-4 to 16-5
Gas-to-Liquids (GTL) technology, 20-13 geopressured systems, 16-5
Gas turbine geothermal heat pumps (GHP), 16-5
air pollution problems, 27-16 to 27-17 magmatic systems, 16-5
blade material, 27-19 natural hydrothermal systems, 16-4
coatings, 27-19 resource development, 16-5 to 16-6, 16-7f
combustors, 27-16 sustainability, 16-21 to 16-21
compressor section, 27-14 to 27-16 utility impact on, 16-10 to 16-11
cooling schemes, 27-19 Geothermal heat pumps (GHP), 16-5, 16-22 to 16-23, 16-23f
turbine expander section, 27-17 to 27-19 German–Dutch wind tunnels at DNW, 9-14
Gas turbine HRSG systems, 27-19 to 27-20 Glaser, Peter, Dr., 6-15
approach temperature, 27-20 to 27-21 Global energy consumption pattern, 20-15 to 20-16
attemperators, 27-21 Global usage, of hydropower, 11-13 to 11-14
deaerator, 27-21 Glycol active indirect system, pressurized, 2-20, 2-21
design considerations Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), 6-1, 6-10
back-pressure considerations (gas side), 27-22 Governor, hydroelectric. See Hydroelectric governors
forced circulation system, 27-21 Graphite fuel, 23-28f
supplementary firing of HRSG systems, 27-22 to 27-23 Graphitization, 22-3
desuperheaters (DSH), 27-21 Grate boilers in Denmark, 14-6f
economizers, 27-21 Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, 16-15, 19-35
evaporators, 27-21 Green pricing programs, 8-6 to 8-7
multi-pressure steam generators, 27-20 Grid connected PV systems
once through steam generators (OTSG), 27-20 in India, 4-1, 4-2
pinch point, 27-20 Grid integration, in wind energy operations, 8-19 to 8-22
selective catalytic reduction (SCR) system, 27-21 forecasting, 8-20 to 8-21
GateCycle software, 2-3, 2-4 hybrid energy systems, 8-21 to 8-22
GBI. See Generation-based incentive (GBI) storage, 8-21
GE energy, 20-7, 20-8f Grid operations
Generation-based incentive (GBI), 10-5 with wind power, 8-7 to 8-8
Generator rotors. See under Steam turbine and generator inspection GSI. See Geological Survey of India (GSI)
Geological Survey of India (GSI)
aspects appraised by, 12-14 Habitat and vegetation, disturbance of, 16-17
Geopolitics, 19-14 to 19-15, 19-14f, 19-15f Hard coatings for improved wear resistance, 32-7 to 32-8
Geopressured systems, 16-5 HAWT. See Horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWT), SNL’s
Geothermal energy Hazardous air pollutant (HAP), 15-4
comparative study, 16-20 HCPV systems. See High concentration photovoltaic (HCPV) systems
developments in U.S., 16-8 to 16-9, 16-11f, 16-12f Heat and power generation
direct use of, 16-22, 16-22f combustion
electrical power generation, 16-6 biomass boilers, small, 14-5 to 14-6, 14-6f
binary-cycle power, 16-7 to 16-8, 16-8f, 16-9f district energy, 14-5
dry steam, 16-7, 16-8f domestic heat, 14-5
flash steam, 16-7, 16-8f fluidized bed boilers, 14-8, 14-8f
in energy markets industrial boilers, small, 14-7
 INDEX  •  I-

small-scale power generation, 14-6 to 14-7 Hydro Policy, 12-3

small-scale systems, 14-5 Hydro potential, 12-4
spreader stoker boilers, 14-7 to 14-8, 14-7f Hydropower generation
industry, 14-5 challenges in, 12-18
Heat balance diagram, 26-21f constraints in, 12-17 to 12-18
Heat duty, 30-4 for energy storage, 11-8 to 11-9
Heat exchanger, 16-7, 16-8f energy trends, 11-14
Heat exchangers used in power plants, 29-2 to 29-3 equipments
bearing oil cooler, 29-6 exciters, 11-8
closed feedwater heaters Francis turbine, 11-3 to 11-5
duplex closed feedwater heaters, 29-5 hydroelectric controls, 11-6 to 11-8
header type feedwater heaters, 29-5 hydroelectric generators, 11-5 to 11-6
emergency diesel engine jacket water coolers, 29-6 Kaplan turbine, 11-5
external drain coolers, 29-5 to 29-6 Pelton turbine, 11-5
gland steam condensers, 29-4 to 29-5 pump turbine, 11-5
sample coolers, 29-6 future prospects, 11-14, 12-18 to 12-19
service water exchangers, 29-3 to 29-4 history of, 11-1 to 11-2
shutdown cooling water exchangers, 29-4 United States, 11-2 to 11-3
steam generator blowdown coolers, 29-6 in India
turbine building closed cooling water heat exchangers, 29-3 acceleration of development, 12-6 to 12-7
turbine lube oil coolers, 29-4 appraisal and technoeconomic clearances, 12-11 to 12-15
Heat & Flux program, 9-6 climate change impacts, 12-3
Heat integration, 18-16 conducting policies, 12-3
Heat loss method, 17-2 constitutional provisions of water and power resources,
Heat pipe collector, 2-19 12-11
Heat rate for a turbine, 27-10 development of, 12-4 to 12-6
Heat transfer fluid (HTF), 2-2 economic and social advantages, 12-2
Heat transfer relations for a condenser with nonsegmental tube efficiency, flexibility and reliability, 12-3
supports, 30-12 to 30-13 energy scenario, 12-2
Heavy water reactors, 23-7, 23-7t hydro potential, 12-4
Helios A and Helios B, 6-9 installed capacity and share of hydro, 12-2
Heliostats, 3-14 to 3-16 national level resolve, 12-3 to 12-4
Hepp, Aloysius, Dr., 6-10 overview and historical perspectives, 12-1
Herman Research Laboratories (HRL) in Australia, 20-5 per capita power consumption, 12-2
HES. See Hybrid energy systems (HES) pumped storage developments, 12-9 to 12-10
High concentration photovoltaic (HCPV) systems, 1-9 to 1-10 regulatory agencies, 12-11
tradeoffs between one-sun, low concentration and, 1-11 to 1-12 resettlement and rehabilitation policies, 12-11
Higher heating value (HHV), 17-3 role of hydro, 12-2 to 12-3
High-resolution wind data, 8-4 small hydro development, 12-7 to 12-9
Hoffman Electronics, 6-1 strategy for hydro development during 12th Plan period (2012 to
Hoffman Electronics-Semiconductor Division, 1-8 2017), 12-7
Honeycomb seals, 26-18, 26-19f synergy with other renewable energies, 12-2 to 12-3
Horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWT), SNL’s, 7-4 transmission, set-up, and status, 12-10 to 12-11
manufacturing research, 7-7 to 7-8 issues related to, 12-16 to 12-17
materials research, 7-8 in neighbouring countries, 12-15
rotor innovation, 7-5 to 7-6 ocean and kinetic energy
Hot dry rock (HDR), 16-9 hydrokinetic turbine types, 11-9 to 11-10
Hot springs, 16-1 wave energy converters, 11-10 to 11-13
HTF. See Heat transfer fluid (HTF) organizations, 11-13
Hybrid energy systems (HES), 8-21 to 8-22 overview, 11-1
Hydraulic power density, 13-2 owners, 11-13
Hydraulic power of seawater, 13-3f Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), 11-14
Hydrodynamic subsystem, 13-4 response and achievement of private sector, 12-15 to 12-16
Hydroelectric controls, 11-6 to 11-8 worldwide usage, 11-13 to 11-14
types, 11-7 to 11-8 Hydro Tasmania. See also King Island
Hydroelectric generators, 11-5 to 11-6 overview, 28-1 to 28-2
Hydroelectric governors, 11-6 to 11-8 Hydrothermal explosions, 16-20
Hydrogen
background, 1-12 ICE. See Internal combustion engine (ICE)
characteristics, 1-12 ICOLD. See International Committee on Large Dams (ICOLD)
generation of, 1-12 to 1-13 ICS system. See Integrated collector storage (ICS) system
production, solar chemical reactors for, 2-27 to 2-28 IEA. See International Energy Agency (IEA)
utilization of, 1-13 to 1-16 IEC. See International Electro-technical Committee (IEC)
Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) emissions, 16-17 IEEE. See Institute of Electric and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Hydrogen synthesis, 10-15f, 20-15 Imaging optics
Hydrokinetic Pilot Project criteria, 13-7 vs. non-imaging optics, 1-2
Hydrokinetic turbine IMD. See Indian Meteorological Department (IMD)
types, 11-9 to 11-10 Independent Power Producers (IPPs), 10-2
I-  •  INDEX

India advanced architecture, 7-13

hydropower generation in advanced control strategies, 7-12
acceleration of development, 12-6 to 12-7 aeroacoustics, 7-9 to 7-10
appraisal and technoeconomic clearances, 12-11 to 12-15 aerodynamics, 7-11
climate change impacts, 12-3 design tools, 7-14
conducting policies, 12-3 DOEs 20% by 2030 Scenario, 7-9
constitutional provisions of water and power resources, 12-11 revitalizing U.S. clean manufacturing, 7-13
development of, 12-4 to 12-6 sensors and condition health monitoring, 7-11 to 7-12
economic and social advantages, 12-2 testing and evaluation, 7-13 to 7-14
efficiency, flexibility and reliability, 12-3 Initial temperature difference, 30-4
energy scenario, 12-2 Installed capacity and share of hydro, in India, 12-2
hydro potential, 12-4 Institute of Electric and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), 11-13
installed capacity and share of hydro, 12-2 Integrated collector storage (ICS) system, 1-17
national level resolve, 12-3 to 12-4 Integrated energy parks, 24-10
overview and historical perspectives, 12-1 Integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC), 20-1
per capita power consumption, 12-2 Integrated solar combined cycle system (ISCCS), 3-9
pumped storage developments, 12-9 to 12-10 Intergranular stress corrosion cracking (IGSCC), 22-2, 25-10
regulatory agencies, 12-11 Internal combustion engine (ICE), 1-13
resettlement and rehabilitation policies, 12-11 International Committee on Large Dams (ICOLD), 11-13
role of hydro, 12-2 to 12-3 International Electro-technical Committee (IEC), 11-13
small hydro development, 12-7 to 12-9 International Energy Agency (IEA), 3-1, 18-1, 18-2f
strategy for hydro development during 12th Plan period (2012 to International Hydropower Association, 13-1
2017), 12-7 International Space Station (ISS), 6-7
synergy with other renewable energies, 12-2 to 12-3 IPPs. See Independent Power Producers (IPPs)
transmission, set-up, and status, 12-10 to 12-11 IREDA. See Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA)
solar energy applications in Irradiation-induced damage mechanisms, 23-26t
average annual daily insolation for, 4-1, 4-2 ISCCS. See Integrated Solar Combined Cycle System (ISCCS)
cumulative deployment of PV modules in, 4-1, 4-3 Isolated gain, 2-21
energy end-uses, 4-1, 4-3 ISS. See International Space Station (ISS)
grid connected PV systems, 4-1, 4-2
industrial development, 4-1 Japan sodium-cooled fast reactor (JSFR), 23-8 to 23-10, 23-9f, 23-10t
isolated solar PV power plants in, 4-5 Jawaharlal Nehru Solar Mission (JNSM), 4-1, 4-6 to 4-7, 4-8
parameters, 4-1 Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), 6-1, 6-3, 6-6, 6-10
share of power generation installed capacity, 4-1, 4-2 JNSM. See Jawaharlal Nehru Solar Mission (JNSM)
solar lighting and home systems, 4-6 Johnson Space Center (JSC), 6-1
solar mission and future of solar in, 4-6 to 4-8 JOULE II project, 9-3 to 9-4
solar thermal cooking systems, 4-2 to 4-3 JSC. See Johnson Space Center (JSC)
solar thermal hot water systems, 4-3 to 4-4
solar thermal power generation, 4-5 to 4-6 Kaplan turbine, 11-5
solar thermal systems for industries, 4-4 to 4-5 Kennedy Space Center (KSC), 6-1
status and trends, 4-1 Kinetic energy, ocean and
village electrification using solar PV, 4-2 hydrokinetic turbine types, 11-9 to 11-10
wind energy technology in wave energy converters, 11-10 to 11-13
design of wind turbines, 10-10 to 10-11 King Island
electricity generation, distribution and management, 10-1 to 10-3 overview, 28-2
growth of wind turbine field, 10-6 to 10-7 King Island power system overview
new RE-based incentives, 10-4 to 10-6 current asset configuration, 28-8
policy support, 10-4 diesel generation, 28-8 to 28-9
technology deployment and certification, 10-9 to 10-10 dynamic resistive frequency controller, 28-10 to 28-11
wind resource, 10-7 to 10-9 frequency control, 28-9
Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), 4-1, 10-7 Huxley Hill Wind Farm, 28-9
Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA), 10-4 power station system controller, 28-8
Indirect gain, 2-21 solar, 28-10
Induced boiling, 16-20 vanadium redox battery, 28-9 to 28-10
“Induction generators,” 11-5 to 11-6 Currie Power Station, 28-6 to 28-7
Industrial boilers, small, 14-7 distribution system, 28-7
Industrial enterprises load profile, 28-7
determining energy consumption, 31-5 to 31-7 power station development, 28-7 to 28-8
energy efficient manufacturing, 31-3 to 31-4 King Island proposed developments. See King Island Renewable
overview, 31-1 to 31-2 Energy Integration Project (KIREIP)
unit manufacturing processes, 31-4 King Island Renewable Energy Integration Project (KIREIP),
categorization of, 31-4 to 31-5 28-2 to 28-3, 28-18 to 28-19
Industrial petroleum consumption, 19-7 to 19-8, 19-7f, 19-8f biodiesel, 28-19 to 28-20
Industry(ies) Diesel Uninterruptible Power Support (D-UPS) project, 28-20 to 28-21
in India graphite energy storage (thermal storage), 28-21 to 28-22
developmental aspects, 4-1 King Island Centre for Renewable Energy Excellence — KICREE,
solar thermal systems for, 4-4 to 4-5 28-22 to 28-23
wind energy generation, 7-8 to 7-14 Smart Grid, 28-22
 INDEX  •  I-

vanadium redox battery repair or replacement, 28-21 Management Information Services Inc. (MISI), 8-5
wind farm expansion, 28-21 Manufacturing, solar process heat for
Kingsport Gasification facility in Tennessee, 20-7 advanced flat-plate collectors, 2-23
Knowledge Centre WMC, 9-8 to 9-10 compound parabolic concentrator collectors, 2-24 to 2-25
blade testing and material research at, 9-10 to 9-11 concentrating collectors with stationary reflector, 2-25 to 2-26
Koppers-Totzek (K-T) gasifier, 20-6 evacuated tubes, 2-23 to 2-24
Krupp-Koppers process, 20-7 linear concentrating Fresnel collectors, 2-25
KSC. See Kennedy Space Center (KSC) parabolic trough concentrators, 2-25
Kyoto Protocol, 19-33 Marine and hydrokinetic technology database (of USDOE), 13-4t
Mariner 10, 6-9
Landfill prices, 15-17 Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) mission, 6-8
Landis, Geoffrey, Dr., 6-7, 6-11, 6-16 Mars Phoenix mission, 6-9
Landslides, 16-19, 16-19f Martin’s equation, 26-8
Langley Aeronautical Laboratory, 6-1 Material research, at WMC, 9-10 to 9-11
Large-scale photovoltaic (PV) systems, 2-9 to 2-11. See also McDonald-Douglas, 1-7
Photovoltaic (PV) systems Megamodule™, 1-10
energy storage issues, 2-11 Mega Power Project Policy, 12-3
vs. small-scale PV systems, 2-18 MEP. See Monitoring and Evaluation Program (MEP)
Large-scale solar energy plants MER mission. See Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) mission
combined solar power and heat system, 2-12 MESSENGER mission, 6-9 to 6-10
comparisons, 2-12 Methane, 20-2, 20-3
cost reduction of parabolic trough solar power, 2-12 Methanol, 20-14
cost reduction potential, 2-12 Methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), 19-19
energy storage with renewable electricity generation, 2-11 Met-towers, 8-14
large-scale photovoltaic systems, 2-9 to 2-11 MEXICO, 9-6 to 9-8
overview, 2-1 MEXNEX(T), 9-6 to 9-8
solar thermal power generation systems, 2-2 to 2-9 MicroLink Devices, 6-10
Lattice mismatch, 32-10 Microradioisotope Power Sources, 6-14 to 6-15
Launch Operations Center, 6-1 Micro-siting
Law of Thermodynamics, second, 17-3 met-towers, 8-14
Lead-cooled fast reactor (LFR), 23-5, 23-19 to 23-20 SODARs and LIDARS, 8-14
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), 5-3 Microstructure and property enhancement, 32-15 to 32-16
Lean solvent solution cooling, 18-10 to 18-11 crystallographic texturing, 32-16
Lean solvent stream conditioning, 18-11 erosion, 32-16 to 32-19
LEED. See Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) MIMO controllers. See Multiple-input–multiple-output (MIMO)
Levelized cost of electricity (LCOE), 17-16 controllers
Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory, 6-1 Mineralization, 32-6 to 32-7
LFR. See Linear Fresnel reflector systems (LFR) Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), 4-1, 4-5 to 4-6, 10-4
LIDAR. See Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) MISI. See Management Information Services Inc. (MISI)
Life cycle analyses (LCA), 19-35 MNRE. See Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE)
Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR), 8-14 Mod-0, 6-16 to 6-17
Light water reactors, 23-6 to 23-7 Mod-1, 6-17 to 6-18
Linear concentrating Fresnel collectors, 2-25 Mod-2, 6-18
Linear Fresnel reflector systems (LFR), 3-4, 3-5 Moisture in biomass, 14-1
future technology development and performance trends, 3-12 to 3-13 Molten salt reactor (MSR), 23-6, 23-21 to 23-22
historical evolution of, 3-12 Molten salt systems, 3-18 to 3-19
R&D in, 3-22 Monitoring and Evaluation Program (MEP), 9-14
Linear phased array (LPA) technology, 25-11 Monocrystalline cell
Liquid fuels, 10-14f, 20-13 to 20-14 discovery of, 1-8
Liquid metal reactors (LMRs), 23-4 to 23-5 Mouchout, Auguste, 5-1, 5-6
lead-cooled fast reactor (LFR), 23-5 Moving bed technology, 20-3 to 20-4, 20-3f, 20-4f
sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR), 23-4 to 23-5 Multifunctional PV Materials, 6-14
Liquid penetrant testing, 25-3 Multi-junction cells, 1-10
Living Plum Shield (LIPS)-II satellite, 6-6 Multiple-input–multiple-output (MIMO) controllers, 7-12
Local impacts, on wind power systems Multi-pressure condenser, 30-4
acoustic noise, 8-9 Municipal solid waste (MSW), 15-17 to 15-19, 15-18f, 15-19f
visual impacts, 8-9 breakdown of, 15-18f
Low concentration PV systems, 1-10 to 1-11 Municipal wastewater treatment, 14-4
tradeoffs between one-sun, high concentration and, 1-11 to 1-12 sludge, 15-7 to 15-8
Lower heating value (LHV), 17-3 Musgrove, Peter, Dr, 7-2
Low loads 50,000 MW hydroelectric initiative, in India, 12-6 to 12-7
in closed feedwater heaters, 29-9
Lurgi gasifier, 20-4 NAL. See National Aeronautical Laboratory (NAL)
Luz International, 1-4 Nano-materials and coatings, future of, 32-20
Luz systems, 1-1 Nano-structured configuration, strategy and conceptual design,
32-9 to 32-10
Magmatic systems, 16-5 Nano-structured materials
Magnetic particle testing (MT), 25-3 and coatings and their future in energy, impact of, 32-7
I-10  •  INDEX

Nano-structured materials (Continued) Nuclear cases, 21-3

up-conversion technology and, 32-3 Nuclear cycle program (in India), 23-11
Nano-technology Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), 8-5, 24-5
challenges, 32-10 Nuclear fuel cycle, 24-10
and materials, 32-1 Nuclear plant safety features, 24-7
NASA. See National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA) Nuclear power for electricity generation
NASA Lewis Research Center, 6-3 to 6-4 environment protection
National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA), 1-12 integrated energy parks, 24-10
interaction between ERDA and, 6-3 permanent geologic repository, 24-11
role in photovoltaic energy used fuel recycling, 24-11
beamed power from space to Earth, 6-15 fabrication capability, U.S., 24-10
early years, 6-1 to 6-3 license renewal activities, 24-8
future prospects, 6-13 to 6-15 longer-term advanced nuclear plant designs, 24-9 to 24-10
overview, 6-1 new plant design/licensing process, 24-8 to 24-9
people associated with, 6-15 to 6-16 nuclear fuel cycle, 24-10
planetary missions, 6-7 to 6-10 opposing nuclear power
programmatic accomplishments, 6-10 to 6-13 Chernobyl, 24-3
‘70s and ‘80s, strong link between space and terrestrial cost of new construction, 24-7
photovoltaics, 6-3 to 6-5 nuclear proliferation, 24-4
‘90s to 2010, 6-5 to 6-7 nuclear vs coal-burning power plants, 24-4
role in wind energy, 6-16 to 6-21 public tolerance, 24-3
National Aeronautical Laboratory (NAL), 10-1 radiation exposure, 24-4 to 24-5
National Electricity Policy, 12-3 Three Mile Island (TMI), 24-3
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), 1-1, 2-6, 8-2 Three Mile Island vs. Chernobyl, 24-2
National Science Foundation (NSF), 6-16 uranium mining, risks of, 24-4
National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), 4-7, 10-2 vulnerability to attack, 24-7
National Water Policy, 12-3 supply diversity maintenance, 24-8
National Wind Energy Research Program (NOW), 9-2 in total electric power generation
Natural circulation characteristic (NCC), 17-13 alternative energy solutions, 24-2
Natural gas, 19-25 Denmark’s example, 24-2
Natural hydrothermal systems, 16-4, 16-18 to 16-19 public perception, change in, 24-2
NEI. See Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) renewables, use of, 24-1 to 24-2
Nepal, hydro-development in, 12-15 training for plant operation, 24-9
Netherlands, wind energy in, 9-1 to 9-2 unanticipated operating problems, 24-10
experimental research infrastructure in, 9-10 to 9-15 Nuclear power industry and materials degradation
historic view buried piping, 22-3 to 22-4, 22-3f, 22-4f
to 1990s, 9-2 to 9-3 cast stainless steel piping inspection issues, 22-1
1990 to 2000, 9-3 to 9-5 features of, 22-4 to 22-5
2000 to 2010, 9-5 to 9-8 fleet-wide recognition, 22-5 to 22-7
research programs, 9-8 to 9-10 flow accelerated corrosion of carbon steel piping, 2f, 22,
Net plant efficiency, 17-2 22-1 to 22-2
Net plant heat rate (NPHR), 17-2, 17-16 IGSCC of sensitized SS in BWR piping, 22-2 to 22-3, 22-2f
Net turbine heat rate (NTHR), 17-2 nickel base alloy primary water stress corrosion cracking, 22-2,
Network protectors (NPs), 2-16 to 2-17 22-2f
Net zero energy buildings, 1-16 to 1-17 reactor vessel embrittlement, 22-3
Newcomen steam engine, 17-1 Nuclear power plants, construction of
New source performance standards (NSPS) U.S., 20-1, 20-1t ASME code philosophy, 21-4
Nitrides, 32-12 computers/finite elements program in, 21-7
Non-destructive evaluation (NDE). See under Steam turbine and content of records, 21-6
generator inspection cyclic loading, 21-7 to 21-8
Non-dispatchable energy, cost of, 8-7 NRC and ASME interpretations, 21-5 to 21-6
Non-energy materials, 19-32 nuclear pressure vessels (prior to section III code), 21-2
Non-hazardous solid waste utilization. See under Waste material Case 1270 N, 21-3
utilization Case 1271 N, 21-3
Non-imaging optics Case 1272 N, 21-3
vs. imaging optics, 1-2 Case 1273 N, 21-3
Non-metallic materials, 23-28 Case 1274 N, 21-3
Non-roof-mounted systems, 2-16 Case 1275 N, 21-3
Northern California Seismic Network (NCSN) reports, 16-18 Case 1276 N, 21-3
NOW. See National Wind Energy Research Program (NOW) piping system tolerances, 21-6 to 21-7
NOx emissions, 18-6 quality assurance
NRC. See U.S. National Research Council (NRC); U.S. Nuclear guidelines for, 21-8 to 21-14
Regulatory Commission (NRC) and management, 21-8
NREL. See National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) section III code, 21-1 to 21-2
vs. SolPipe, 2-7 NRC acceptance of, 21-3 to 21-4
NSF. See National Science Foundation (NSF) nuclear components, 21-1 to 21-2
NTPC. See National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) welding, bad, 21-4 to 21-5
NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd. (NVVN), 4-7 Nuclear pressure vessels, 21-2 to 21-3
 INDEX  •  I-11

Nuclear proliferation, 24-4 Performance Metric Project, 2-13

Nuclear turbine, 26-14f Performance parameters
NVVN. See NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd. (NVVN) for closed feedwater heaters, 29-8
Permanent geologic repository, 24-11
Ocean and kinetic energy Petroleum dependence. See also Bioenergy
hydrokinetic turbine types, 11-9 to 11-10 consumption, 19-3 to 19-4, 19-3f
wave energy converters, 11-10 to 11-13 measures of, 19-1 to 19-2, 19-1f
Off-grid power system development, 28-3 to 28-6 days coverage (stock), 19-2, 19-2f
Offshore Wind Farm Egmond aan Zee (OWEZ) days import coverage, 19-2, 19-2f
Offshore Wind Farm ‘Prinses Amalia Windpark,’ 9-14 to 9-15 export dependence, 19-2 to 19-3, 19-3f
Offshore wind farm ‘Prinses Amalia Windpark,’ 9-14 to 9-15 import percent of consumption, 19-2, 19-2f
Offshore wind installations, 7-16 to 7-18 NIMBY (not in my back yard)
Ohio Coal Development Office (OCDO), 17-2 energy use by source, 19-12 to 19-13, 19-12f, 19-13f, 19-14f
Oil export, 19-2 to 19-3, 19-3f ultimate fuel use, 19-13 to 19-14
OPEC. See Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) price/production/geopolitics, 19-14 to 19-15, 19-14f, 19-15f
Optical durability OPEC, 19-15f, 19-16
power tower systems, 2-5 to 2-6 sectors, 19-4f
Optimized multiple-lead ribbed (OMLR) tubes, 17-13 commercial, 19-5 to 19-7, 19-6f, 19-7f
Orchard pruning, 14-4 electric power generation, 19-8 to 19-11, 19-8f, 19-9f, 19-10f
Organic Rankine cycle (ORC), 14-6, 16-8, 16-14. See also Rankine industrial, 19-7 to 19-8, 19-7f, 19-8f
Cycle residential, 19-4 to 19-5, 19-4f, 19-5f
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), transportation, 19-10f, 19-11, 19-11f
20-16 PGCIL. See Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL)
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), 6-16, 19-15f, Phase change media (PCM), 3-10 to 3-11
19-16, 20-17 Phase transformation zone (PTZ), 25-10
Organizations Photovoltaic-driven desalination systems, 2-26 to 2-27
hydropower generation, 11-13 Photovoltaic energy, role of NASA in
Outdoor wood boilers (OWB), 14-5 beamed power from space to Earth, 6-15
Overloads early years, 6-1 to 6-3
in closed feedwater heat, 29-8 to 29-9 future prospects, 6-13 to 6-15
OWEZ. See Offshore Wind Farm Egmond aan Zee (OWEZ) overview, 6-1
Owners, hydropower, 11-13 people associated with, 6-15 to 6-16
Oxidant and combustion byproducts, 18-2f planetary missions, 6-7 to 6-10
Oxidative degradation, 18-15 programmatic accomplishments, 6-10 to 6-13
Oxides of nitrogen, 27-17 ‘70s and ‘80s, strong link between space and terrestrial
Oxy-combustion. See Carbon capture technologies photovoltaics, 6-3 to 6-5
Oxygenated water treatment (OWT), 17-7 ‘90s to 2010, 6-5 to 6-7
Oxygenates, 20-17 Photovoltaic (PV) systems
building applications of, 1-18 to 1-19
Packed bed CO2 absorber column, 18-10 concentration PV (CPV) systems. See Concentrating photovoltaic
Parabolic dish systems, 2-8 to 2-9 (CPV) systems
Parabolic trough collectors (PTC), 3-4, 3-5, 3-6 to 3-7 developmental history, 1-8
components of, 3-6 to 3-7 distributed. See Distributed photovoltaic systems
electricity generation with, 3-7 to 3-9 efficiencies and types of, 1-8, 1-9
R&D in, 3-22 large-scale, 2-9 to 2-11
thermal energy storage and new thermal fluids, 3-9 to 3-12 1-6 MW system, 2-10
thermal oils used in, 3-6 overview, 1-8 to 1-9
Parabolic trough concentrators, 2-25, 5-6 Photovoltaic (PV) technology, 5-5
Parabolic trough solar power technology, 2-2 to 2-3, 5-6 Photovoltaic Specialist Conference (PVSC), 6-2
reduction in cost of, 2-12 Piping system design
Partial oxidation, 20-3 power tower systems, 2-6 to 2-7
Particle size of biomass, 14-2 Piping system tolerances, 21-6 to 21-7
Particulate emissions, 16-15, 16-15f Piszczor, Michael, 6-11
Passive solar energy technology Pittsburgh Natural Gas, 17-3
solar chimney, 5-4 Plate heat exchangers, 29-2
solar cooker, 5-3 to 5-4 Poncelet, Jean, 11-1
solar furnace, 5-4 Post-combustion carbon capture
thermal collectors, 5-3 commercial plant, 18-14 to 18-16
thermal mass, 5-3 process description
thermosiphon, 5-3 CO2 absorber system, 18-10 to 18-11
Passive space heating systems, 2-21 flue gas system, 18-10
PCCC technology. See Post-combustion carbon capture solvent regenerator system, 18-11
PCM. See Phase change media (PCM) reference plant, 18-14, 18-14f
Pearson, Gerald, 5-1 state of development, 18-11 to 18-12, 18-11f, 18-12f
Pebble bed version, 23-17, 23-17f CO2 control laboratory, 18-12 to 18-13, 18-12f
Pelton turbine, 11-5 PCCC pilot plant, 18-13 to 18-14, 18-13f
Performance evaluation technique Post-independence development of hydropower in India, 12-5
power tower systems, 2-7 to 2-8 Potential energy supply, for U.S., 8-3 to 8-5
I-12  •  INDEX

Power block equipment options, 18-6 to 18-7 Reactors

Power density of waves, 13-2, 13-2f solar chemical, for hydrogen production, 2-27 to 2-28
Power development. See Geothermal energy Reactors, new generation
Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL), 10-2 advanced reactor projects
Power plant steam usage, 18-16 light water reactors, 23-6 to 23-7
Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), 10-2 small modular reactors, 23-7 to 23-8
Power take-off subsystem, 13-4 crosscutting GIF issues, 23-31
Power tower systems, 1-5, 1-6, 3-5 design considerations, 23-29 to 23-31, 23-30t
air versus water condenser cooling, 2-3 to 2-5 gas-cooled fast reactor (GFR), 23-20 to 23-21
energy cost analysis for, 2-3 generation IV initiative, 23-1 to 23-3, 23-2f, 23-2t, 23-3f, 23-4t
experience in, 3-16 gas-cooled reactors, 23-5 to 23-6
heliostats and solar receivers technology, 3-14 to 3-16 liquid metal reactors (LMRs), 23-4 to 23-5
molten salt systems, 3-18 to 3-19 molten salt reactor (MSR), 23-6
optical durability, 2-5 to 2-6 super critical water reactor, 23-6
optimal piping design, 2-6 to 2-7 international R&D, 23-31 to 23-32
performance evaluation technique, 2-7 to 2-8 lead-cooled fast reactor (LFR), 23-19 to 23-20
R&D in, 3-22 to 3-23 molten salt reactor (MSR), 23-21 to 23-22
water/steam plants from PS10 project to superheated steam, non-destructive examination (NDE), 23-31
3-16 to 3-18 outlines of, 23-1
PPA. See Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) sodium fast reactors
Pre-independence development of hydropower in India, 12-4 to 12-5 in China, 23-14
Prenflo Direct Quench (PDQ) process, 20-7 in Europe, 23-14 to 23-15, 23-14f
Prenflo (pressurized entrained flow) gasifiers, 20-7, 20-7f in India, 23-11 to 23-13, 23-12f, 23-13f
Pressure drop, 30-7 in Japan, 23-8 to 23-10, 23-9f, 23-10t
Pressurized glycol active indirect system, 2-20, 2-21 in Russia, 23-13 to 23-14
Pressurized heavy water reactors (PHWRs), 23-11 in United States, 23-15
Primary water stress corrosion cracking (PWSCC), nickel base alloy, super critical water reactor (SCWR), 23-21
22-2, 22-2f technical aspects
Prismatic core version, 23-18 to 23-19, 23-18f fuel and fuel cycle, 23-22 to 23-24, 23-24t
Production tax credits (PTC) structural materials, 23-25 to 23-29, 23-26
Federal, 16-20 very-high-temperature gas-cooled reactor, 23-16t
for wind energy, 8-5 to 8-6 in China, 23-19, 23-19t
Proton exchange membrane, 1-14 in Japan, 23-19
Prototype fast breeder reactor (PFBR), 23-11 in Korea, 23-19
PS10 project, 3-16 to 3-18 in South Africa, 23-19
PTC. See Parabolic trough collectors (PTC) in United States, 23-15 to 23-19
Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA), 15-18 Reactor vessel embrittlement, 22-3
Pulp and paper industry, 14-11, 15-5 to 15-6 Reagan, Ronald, 1-1
Pulverized coal boilers, 14-2, 14-9 REC. See Renewable Energy Certificates (REC)
Pumped storage schemes Recycle with oxy-combustion, 18-4 to 18-5, 18-4f, 18-5f
developmental status and potential, 12-9 Reference plant, 18-14, 18-14f
economic viability, 12-9 to 12-10 Regenerative heating
role of, 12-9 defined, 27-11
Pump turbine, 11-5 Reliability of a power plant, 27-27 to 27-29
Pure sliding pressure, 17-8 Reliability of plant, 27-28
PV-ED systems, 2-26 to 2-27 Remote Area Power Supply (RAPS), 28-3 to 28-4
PV-RO systems, 2-26 level 1 RAPS development, 28-4 to 28-5
PVSC. See Photovoltaic Specialist Conference (PVSC) level 2 RAPS development, 28-5 to 28-6
PV systems. See Photovoltaic (PV) systems level 3 RAPS development, 28-6
PV/thermal hybrid systems, 2-22 level 4 RAPS development, 28-6
Pyrolysis, 14-10 level 5 RAPS development, 28-6
phases of development, 28-4
Radars Renewable electricity generation
impacts on wind power systems, 8-8 to 8-9 energy storage with, 2-11
Radiant floor systems, 2-21 Renewable Energy Certificates (REC), 10-5 to 10-6
Radiation exposure, 24-4 to 24-5 Renewable Energy Demonstration (REDP) grant, 28-3
Radiators, 2-21 Renewable energy developments, performance of
Radioactive waste disposal, 24-6, 24-7 dynamic resistive frequency controller, 28-13
Rain Huxley Hill wind farm, 28-11
in cleaning solar collection units, 1-16 King Island Solar, 28-13
Rankine cycle, 1-3 to 1-4, 20-12, 20-12f, 20-13f, 26-2f, 27-9 to 27-10 system performance, 28-11
air or water cooling for, 2-3 to 2-5 vanadium redox battery, 28-11 to 28-13
heat rate and steam rate, 27-10 to 27-11 Vestas V52 turbines, 28-13
regenerative-reheat, 27-11 Renewable energy portfolio standards (RPS), 16-20, 16-21t
turbine component efficiency, 27-11 2010 Renewable Energy World Conference, 1-8
REA. See Rural Electrification Act (REA) Renewable Fuels Standard regulations (RFS2), 19-35
Reaction and control subsystem, 13-4 Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), 11-14
Reactor pressure boundaries, 23-25 Reservoir drawdown, 16-17
 INDEX  •  I-13

Resettlement and rehabilitation (R&R) policies, in India, 12-11 SNG. See Synthetic natural gas (SNG)
Residential heat energy, 19-25 to 19-26, 19-25f, 19-29f SNL. See Sandia National Laboratories (SNL)
Residential petroleum consumption, 19-4 to 19-5, 19-4f, 19-5f SODAR. See Sonic Detection and Ranging (SODAR)
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), 15-2 Sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR), 23-4 to 23-5
Reverse osmosis (RO), 2-26 Sodium fast reactors. See under Reactors, new generation
Reynolds-Averaged Navier Stokes, 26-17 Solar absorption technology, 2-21 to 2-22
Rich solvent solution heating, 18-10 to 18-11 Solar bowl, 5-7
Risk, 27-29 Solar building space cooling, 1-19
RO. See Reverse osmosis (RO) Solar cell, 32-1 to 32-3
Roof-mounted BIPV systems Solar chemical reactors, for hydrogen production, 2-27 to 2-28
cement tile systems, 2-15 to 2-16 Solar chimney, 5-4
shingle systems, 2-16 Solar collectors, 2-18, 5-3
thin-film PV laminate for standing seam metal roofs, 2-16 types of, 2-18 to 2-19
Rotor forging assessment, 25-5 to 25-10, 25-7f, 25-8f Solar Concentrator Array with Refractive Linear Element Technology
RPS. See Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) (SCARLET), 6-7
Rural Electrification Act (REA), 11-3 Solar cooker, 5-3 to 5-4
Solar domestic water heating (SDWH) systems, 1-17 to 1-18
SAA. See Space Act Agreements (SAA) Solar Dynamics Observatory mission, 6-10
Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), 2-8 Solar energy. See also Solar energy systems
history in wind energy, 7-2 to 7-4 production, 5-10
transition to HAWT’S in the mid 1990s, 7-4 to 7-8 residential and commercial usages, 5-9 to 5-10
VAWT program, 7-3 to 7-4 role of, 5-11
Scale, 13-7f Solar energy, building applications of
Scanning Tunneling Optical Resonance Microscopy (STORM), 6-12 BES codes, 1-16
SCARLET. See Solar Concentrator Array with Refractive Linear desiccant dehumidification/cooling system, 1-19
Element Technology (SCARLET) net zero energy buildings, 1-16 to 1-17
Scrap tires, 15-6 to 15-7 overview, 1-16
SDWH systems. See Solar domestic water heating (SDWH) systems photovoltaic applications, 1-18 to 1-19
Second Law of Thermodynamics, 1-2 solar building space cooling, 1-19
Second World War, 1-1 solar domestic water heating systems, 1-17 to .1-18
Section III code, 21-1 to 21-2, 21-3 to 21-4 solar lighting, 1-19
SEGSs. See Solar Energy Generating Systems (SEGSs) Solar Energy Generating Systems (SEGSs), 2-2 to 2-3, 3-8
Seismicity, induced, 16-17 to 16-18, 16-18f Solar energy systems. See also specific systems
Sensors systems active solar technologies. See Active solar technologies
role on wind turbine design, 7-11 to 7-12 classification, 2-1
SERC. See State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC) future prospects, 5-11 to 5-13
SERT program. See SSP Exploratory Research and Technology historical perspectives, 5-1 to 5-2
(SERT) program in India. See India, solar energy applications in
SES. See Stirling Energy Systems (SES) passive solar energy technology. See Passive solar energy technology
Sewage sludge, 15-7 storing energy. See Energy storage
Shell-and-tube heat exchangers, 29-1 Solar furnace, 5-4
Shell coal gasification process (SCGP), 20-7 Solargenix (Acciona Solar Power), 1-4
Shingle systems, 2-16 Solar heating and cooling, for air-conditioning systems
Sierra SunTower plant, 2-3 active systems, 2-21
Silicon cells, 1-8 passive systems, 2-21
using, 6-1 PV/thermal hybrid systems, 2-22
Single-input–single-output (SISO) controllers, 7-12 solar absorption technology, 2-21 to 2-22
SISO controllers. See Single-input–single-output (SISO) controllers space heating, 2-21
Siting (environmental setting), 13-6, 13-7f Solar home systems, in India, 4-6
Slurry feed, 20-7 Solar lighting systems, 1-19
Small boiler simulator (SBS), 18-3, 18-13 in India, 4-6
Small hydro programs, in India Solar mission
economic viability and comparison with other sources, 12-8 and future in India, 4-6 to 4-8
goals of, 12-7 to 12-8 Solar One, 1-5
issues constraints, appraisal, and clearances, 12-9 Solar power conversion, utility scale
potential and status of development, 12-8 concentration, use of, 1-1 to 1-2
renewable energy policy of Central/State Government, 12-8 global development, historical perspectives, 1-1
Small modular reactors, 23-7 to 23-8 photovoltaic approaches, 1-8 to 1-12
Small-scale power generation, 14-6 to 14-7 thermal power generation, approaches for, 1-3 to 1-8
Small-scale PV systems. See also Photovoltaic (PV) systems Solar-powered radiant floors, 2-21
vs. large-scale PV systems, 2-18 Solar-powered radiators, 2-21
Small-scale systems, 14-5 Solar process heat for manufacturing
SMART rotor program, 7-16 advanced flat-plate collectors, 2-23
Smart rotors, 9-6 compound parabolic concentrator collectors, 2-24 to 2-25
Smeaton, John, 11-1 concentrating collectors with stationary reflector, 2-25 to 2-26
Smith, Willoughby, 5-1 evacuated tubes, 2-23 to 2-24
Smoke, 27-16 linear concentrating Fresnel collectors, 2-25
SMR. See Steam-methane reforming (SMR) parabolic trough concentrators, 2-25
I-14  •  INDEX

Solar receivers, 3-14 to 3-16 Steam-methane reforming (SMR)

defined, 3-13 for hydrogen generation, 1-12
Solar space heating systems, 2-21 Steam rate, 27-11
Solar’s potential, 5-12 to 5-13 Steamside oxidation, 17-4
Solar thermal cooking systems Steam turbine
in India, 4-2 to 4-3 compound-flow or tandem compound turbine, 27-24
Solar Thermal Electricity (STE), 3-1 cross compound design, 27-24
Solar thermal hot water systems single-flow single-casing extraction, 27-23 to 27-24
in India, 4-3 to 4-4 steam turbine characteristics, 27-24 to 27-26
Solar thermal power generation Steam turbine and generator inspection
in India, 4-5 to 4-6 disk rim blade attachment dovetails, 25-13 to 25-17, 25-13f, 25-14f,
Solar thermal power generation systems. See also Thermal power 25-15f, 25-16f
generation, approaches for generator rotors, 25-18 to 25-19, 25-19f
parabolic dish and Stirling engine technology, 2-8 to 2-9 retaining rings, 25-19 to 25-23, 25-20f
parabolic trough solar power technology, 2-2 to 2-3 tooth top cracking, 25-23 to 25-26, 25-24f
power tower systems, 2-3 to 2-8 inspection validation, 25-27
Solar thermal power plants material properties characterization, 25-26 to 25-27, 25-26f
development of, 3-1 to 3-2 non-destructive evaluation (NDE)
dish/Stirling systems, 3-19 to 3-21 eddy current testing, 25-3
linear-Fresnel reflectors, 3-12 to 3-13 liquid penetrant testing, 25-3
overview, 3-1 magnetic particle testing (MT), 25-3
parabolic-troughs, 3-6 to 3-12 ultrasonic testing (UT), 25-3
power towers systems, 3-13 to 3-19 visual testing (VT), 25-3
schemes and technologies, 3-2 to 3-6 outlines of, 25-1 to 25-2
STE systems, 3-1 to 3-2 repairs, 25-27 to 25-28
characteristics of, 3-5 rotor forging assessment, 25-5 to 25-10, 25-7f, 25-8f
fundamentals for, 3-2 to 3-4 solid (unbored) turbine rotors, 25-17 to 25-18, 25-18f
technology development needs and market opportunities for, turbine components
3-21 to 3-23 overview of, 25-3 to 25-5
Solar thermal systems periodic life assessment, 25-5, 25-5f
for buildings turbine design, 25-3 to 25-5
overview, 2-18 turbine disks, 25-10 to 25-12, 25-10f, 25-11f, 25-12f
solar heating and cooling for air-conditioning systems, Steam turbines for power generation
2-21 to 2-22 design of, 26-14 to 26-20, 26-16f, 26-17f, 26-18f, 26-19f
solar water heating systems, 2-18 to 2-21 operation and maintenance, 26-21 to 26-24, 26-22f, 26-23f, 26-24
for industries in India, 4-4 to 4-5 performance of, 26-20 to 26-21, 26-21f
Solar Tower concept, 5-6 to 5-7 thermodynamic concepts of, 26-1 to 26-9, 26-2f, 26-3f, 26-4f, 26-5f,
Solar water heating systems 26-7f, 26-8f
collectors, 2-18 to 2-19 turbine configurations, 26-9 to 26-14, 26-10f, 26-11f, 26-12f, 26-13f,
freezing issue, 2-20 to 2-21 26-14f
systems, 2-19 to 2-20 Steel industry, 15-6
SolFocus, Inc., 2-10 Stella, Paul, 6-10
Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC), 14-6 Stirling Energy Systems (SES), 1-7
Solid particle erosion (SPE), 26-19 components, 2-8
Solid particulate removal, 18-5 functions, 2-8 to 2-9
Solid waste management hierarchy, 15-2f Stirling engine technology, 2-8 to 2-9, 5-6
SolPipe, 2-6 Stirling Thermal Motors (STM), 1-7
vs. NREL, 2-7 STM. See Stirling Thermal Motors (STM)
Solvent degradation, 18-15 Storage. See Energy storage
Solvent regenerator system, 18-11 STORM. See Scanning Tunneling Optical Resonance Microscopy
Sonic Detection and Ranging (SODAR), 8-14 (STORM)
Soybean oil, 19-24 Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), U.S., 19-2
Space Act Agreements (SAA), 6-13 Stress And Fracture Evaluation of Rotors (SAFER), 25-8
Space heating systems, 2-21 Subsonic and supersonic expansion, 26-3f
Space Photovoltaic Research and Technology (SPRAT) conference, Sulfur removal, 18-6
6-2 Suncatcher™, 1-7
Space power satellites (SPS), 6-15 Superconducting magnetic energy storage, 5-9
Spatially uniform pressure drop, 30-7 Super critical water reactor (SCWR), 23-6, 23-21
SPRAT conference. See Space Photovoltaic Research and Technology Surface condenser
(SPRAT) conference cathodic protection, 30-15 to 30-16
Spreader stoker boilers, 14-7 to 14-8, 14-7f condensate depression, 30-4, 30-6 to 30-7
SPS. See Space power satellites (SPS) design considerations, 30-1 to 30-2
Sri Lanka, wind energy technology in, 10-13 heat transfer relations for a condenser with nonsegmental tube
SSP Exploratory Research and Technology (SERT) program, 6-15 supports, 30-12 to 30-13
Stardust mission, 6-9 off-design condition operation and noncondensibles removal, 30-14
State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC), 10-2 to 10-3, 12-11 to 30-15
STE. See Solar Thermal Electricity (STE) Pressure drop, 30-7
Steam-carbon reaction, 20-3 sizing, 30-9 to 30-10
 INDEX  •  I-15

spatially uniform pressure drop, 30-7 scale, 13-7f

stagnant regions, 30-7 siting, 13-6, 13-7f
terminal temperature difference, 30-4 system, 13-6
thermal centerline, 30-4 to 30-6 engineering opportunities, 13-4 to 13-5, 13-4t
tube bundle design, 30-7 to 30-9 sociological and economic factors, 13-5 to 13-6, 13-6t
tube supports and noncondensibles accumulation, 30-11 to 30-12 sources of energy, 13-1 to 13-2
Surface condenser construction, 30-2 to 30-4 tidal energy, 13-2 to 13-3
Surface condenser sizing, 30-9 to 30-10 wave energy, 13-2, 13-2f, 13-3f, 13-3t
Surface condenser technology Tidal instream energy conversion devices (TISEC), 13-3
definitions, 30-4 Tidal technologies, 13-4
“Synchronous generators,” 11-5 Time-dependent deformation (creep), 32-19
Synthetic natural gas (SNG), 20-14 to 20-15, 20-14f, 20-18 Time-of-flight diffraction (TOFD), 25-22
System (tidal-generating equipment), 13-6 Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (Tirumala), 4-3, 4-7
Titanium aluminum nitride, 32-12
Taylor–Dunn electric utility vehicle, 1-14, 1-15 Titanium boron carbon nitride, 32-13
Technical innovation, 19-18 to 19-19, 19-19f Titanium carbide, 32-11
Techno-economic clearances, in India, 12-14 to 12-15 Titanium chromium nitride, 32-12 to 32-13
Technology deployment and certification Titanium nitride, 32-12
in India, 10-9 to 10-10 Tooth top cracking, generator rotor, 25-23 to 25-26, 25-24f
Tellier, Charles, 5-1 Torrefaction, 14-10
Telstar, 6-3 Total exhaust loss, 26-7, 26-7f
Temperature rise, 30-4 Tradable renewable energy credits (TREC), 16-20
Temper embrittlement, 25-9 Transonic turbine blades, 26-7
Terminal temperature difference, 30-4 Transportation consumption by fuel, 19-10f, 19-11, 19-11f
Testing power plant heat exchangers for structural integrity and Transportation logistics, 15-13
tightness, 29-9 Transport reactor integrated gasification (TRIG), 20-5, 20-6f
Texaco coal gasification process, 20-7 Trough technology, 1-4 to 1-5
Thermal centerline, 30-4 to 30-6 energy cost analysis for, 2-3
Thermal collectors, 5-3 parabolic, 2-2 to 2-3
Thermal degradation, 18-15 Tube bundle design, 30-7 to 30-9
Thermal mass, 5-3 Tube supports and noncondensibles accumulation, 30-11 to 30-12
Thermal NOx Turbine, 32-4 to 32-6
defined, 27-17 blades, 25-13
Thermal oils components. See under Steam turbine and generator inspection
in parabolic trough collectors, 3-6 design, 25-3 to 25-5
Thermal power generation, approaches for. See also Solar thermal disks, 25-10 to 25-12, 25-10f, 25-11f, 25-12f
power generation systems Turbine configurations, steam, 26-9 to 26-14, 26-10f, 26-11f, 26-12f,
dish stirling systems, 1-5, 1-7 26-13f, 26-14f
power tower (central receiver) systems, 1-5, 1-6 Turbine driven boiler feed pump (TDBFP), 17-2
Rankine cycles, 1-3 to 1-4 Turbine rotors, solid (unbored), 25-17 to 25-18, 25-18f
thermal storage, 1-7 to 1-8 Turbine throttle pressure selection, 17-3 to 17-4, 17-4f
trough technology, 1-4 to 1-5
Thermal power plants, 27-1 U-Gas process, 20-5, 20-5f
diesel engine-based power plants, 27-1 Ultrasonic testing (UT), 25-3
simple cycle gas turbine power plants, 27-1 Unburnt hydrocarbon (UHC), 27-16 to 27-17
steam turbine power plants, 27-1 United States (U.S.)
Thermal Power Research Institute (TPRI) gasifier, 20-9, 20-9f, 20-10f hydropower history of, 11-2 to 11-3
Thermal storage, 1-7 to 1-8 solar radiation resource in, 1-2, 1-3
Thermochemical process, 15-14 wind energy in
Thermodynamic concepts, 26-1 to 26-9, 26-2f, 26-3f, 26-4f, 26-5f, consistent policy support, 8-10
26-7f, 26-8f electric transmission, 8-10 to 8-11
Thermosiphon, 5-3 environmental issues, 8-8
evacuated tube solar collectors, 2-19 farm design, 8-16 to 8-19
Thermosiphoning, 2-19 farm development, 8-11
Thermosiphon passive systems, 2-19 local impacts, 8-9
Thin-film CdTe solar cells, 2-15 plant economy, 8-5 to 8-7
Thin-film copper indium selenide (CIS), 2-15 radar impacts, 8-8 to 8-9
Thin-film PV laminate for standing seam metal roofs, 2-16 research related to, 8-19 to 8-22
Thin-film solar cells resource assessment, 8-11 to 8316
development of, 2-14 resources for, 8-2 to 8-4
types of, 2-14, 2-15 technical issues, 8-7 to 8-8
Thorium cycles, 23-24 wind turbine technologies, 8-1 to 8-2
12th Plan (2012 to 217), hydro development strategy during, 12-7 Up-conversion technology and nano-structured materials, 32-3
Three Mile Island (TMI), 24-3 Upper Volta project, 6-4
Tidal and wave power UpWind, 9-5 to 9-6
ecological effects of, 13-6f Uranium mining, risks of, 24-4
adaptive management, 13-6f, 13-7 Urban residues, 14-4
assessment of, 13-7 to 13-8 Urban wood residues (UWW), 14-2, 14-3
I-16  •  INDEX

U.S. Agency for International Development (AID), 6-4 storage and handling of wastes, 15-12
U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), 5-3 supply chain (of waste), 15-12 to 15-13
U.S. National Research Council (NRC), 6-15 transportation logistics, 15-13
U.S. Department of Energy, 1-1 waste heat recovery, 15-19 to 15-20
Used fuel containers, 24-6 waste minimization, 15-13 to 15-14
Used fuel disposal strategy, 24-5 Waste to Energy Research and Technology Council (WTERT), 15-18
Used fuel recycling, 24-11 Water
Used oil, 15-8 collecting tanks, 17-8
USGBC. See U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) pollution, 16-17, 19-33
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), 21-5 use, 16-18
Utility Geothermal Working Group (UGWG), 16-11 Water energy storage, 5-9
Water gas shift, 20-3
Vacuum induction melting (VIM) process, 17-15 Water/steam plants
Vanguard I, 5-1, 5-5, 6-1 from PS10 project to superheated steam, 3-16 to 3-18
Vapor recompression, 18-16 Wave energy converters (WEC), 11-10 to 11-13, 13-4
VAWT. See Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) Program, SNL’s Wave power flux, 13-2, 13-3t
Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) Program, SNL’s Wear resistance, hard coatings for improved, 32-7 to 32-8
future of research, 7-4 Weather Surveillance Radar-1988, Doppler (WSR-88D) systems, 8-9
history of, 7-3 WE@SEA program, 9-6
R&D beginning of, 7-3 West Bengal Renewable Energy Development Agency, 4-2
tech transfer, 7-3 to 7-4 Wet cement plants, 15-16
using information for a new, larger machine, 7-4 Wet fluorescent magnetic particle testing (WFMT), 25-3
Very-high-temperature gas-cooled reactor. See under Reactors, new Wetted-wall column (WWC), 18-12, 18-12f
generation Wieringermeer, ECN wind turbine test site, 9-11 to 9-12
Village electrification systems using solar PV, in India, 4-2 Wildlife considerations
Visual impacts wind energy and, 8-8
impacts on wind power systems, 8-9 Willsie, Henry, 5-1
Visual testing (VT), 25-3 Wilt, David, 6-10, 6-13
Visual Weld Acceptance Criteria (VWAC), 21-4 to 21-5 Wind energy
Volatile ash, 14-2, 14-3f, 14-3t in China. See China, wind energy technology in
current status, 7-1 to 7-2
Wall-fired boilers, 14-9 erosion, 32-4
Waste future prospects, 6-21
definition of, 15-1 to 15-4, 15-2f, 15-3f historical perspectives, 7-1
handling and storage of, 15-12 icing, 32-4
minimization, 15-13 to 15-14 in India. See India, wind energy technology in
supply of, 15-12 to 15-13 insects, 32-4
treatment, 19-21 offshore wind installations, 7-16 to 7-18
Waste heat recovery, 15-19 to 15-20 production tax credit for, 8-5 to 8-6
Waste material utilization research, 8-19 to 8-22
anaerobic digestion, use of, 15-14 to 15-15 in Netherlands, 9-1 to 9-15
business risks/liabilities, 15-12 role of NASA in, 6-16 to 6-21
byproducts of, 15-5 to 15-9 Sandia’s HAWT program, 7-4 to 7-8
community relations, 15-13 Sandia’s history in, 7-2 to 7-4
economic and environmental benefits, 15-10 to 15-11 Sandia’s VAWT program, 7-3 to 7-4
energy recovery SMART rotor program, 7-16
in chemical industry, 15-5 in Sri Lanka, 10-13
in pulp and paper industry, 15-5 to 15-6 state of the industry, 7-8 to 7-14
in steel industry, 15-6 advanced architecture, 7-13
energy value of waste, 15-4 to 15-5, 15-4t advanced control strategies, 7-12
gasification, 15-14 to 15-15 aeroacoustics, 7-9 to 7-10
hazardous waste fuels aerodynamics, 7-11
in cement industry (case study), 15-15 to 15-17, 15-15f, 15-16t design tools, 7-14
heat vs power, 15-11 to 15-12 DOEs 20% by 2030 Scenario, 7-9
municipal solid waste (MSW), 15-17 to 15-19, 15-18f, 15-19f revitalizing U.S. clean manufacturing, 7-13
non-hazardous solid waste sensors and condition health monitoring, 7-11 to 7-12
auto shredder residue, 15-8 to 15-9 testing and evaluation, 7-13 to 7-14
carpet waste, 15-9 super-hydrophobic nano-coatings, 32-4
construction and demolition debris, 15-7 trends in, 7-1 to 7-2
municipal wastewater treatment sludge, 15-7 to 15-8 in U.S. See United States (U.S.), wind energy in
scrap tires, 15-6 to 15-7 Wind maps, 8-3 to 8-4
used oil, 15-8 Wind plant economics
outlines of, 15-1, 15-2f energy subsidies and incentives, 8-5 to 8-7
recycling vs energy recovery, 15-14 cost comparisons with others, 8-5
regulatory drivers and obstacles, 15-10 energy payback time, 8-7
regulatory overview green pricing programs, 8-6 to 8-7
air permits, 15-4 non-dispatchable energy, cost of, 8-7
waste, definition of, 15-1 to 15-4, 15-2f, 15-3f production tax credit, 8-5 to 8-6
 INDEX  •  I-17

turbine performance Wind speed frequency distribution, 8-11 to 8-12

availability factor, 8-7 Wind tunnels at TU Delft, 9-13 to 9-14
capacity factor, 8-7 Wind turbine
Wind plants design, in India, 10-10 to 10-11
design energy payback time for, 8-7
access roads, 8-17 growth in India, 10-6 to 10-7
electrical collection system, 8-17 to 8-19 performance
permitting process, 8-19 availability factor, 8-7
turbine placement and layout, 8-17 capacity factor, 8-7
turbine selection, 8-16 placement and layout, 8-17
development of, 8-11 selection of, 8-16
Wind power, grid operations with, 8-7 to 8-8 types of, 8-1 to 8-2
Wind resources, in U.S. Winkler gasifier, 20-5
assessment of Wolf, Martin, 6-1
data analysis, 8-14 to 8-16 Wood pellets, 14-4
micro-siting, 8-14 Woody biomass, 14-3 to 14-4
power available in the wind, 8-11 WSR-88D systems
prospecting, 8-13 to 8-14 See Weather Surveillance Radar-1988, Doppler (WSR-88D) systems
wind shear, 8-12 to 8-13 WTS-4, 6-18 to 6-19
wind speed frequency distribution, 8-11 to 8-12 Wyandot Solar Energy Facility, 2-9
high-resolution wind data, 8-4
in India, 10-7 to 10-9 xPRM. See Exploration Precursor Robotic Missions (xPRM)
local terrain effects, 8-4 xScout missions, 6-14
potential, 8-2
potential energy supply, 8-3 to 8-5 Yucca mountain license application, 24-11
wind maps, 8-3 to 8-4
Wind shear, 8-12 to 8-13 Zero site energy building, 1-16