EnergyBiz - January/February 2008 - (Page 66) » Tech FronTier New Approaches to Hydro BOOsting pOWer Output By steve Wenke av ista Was FoUnded W ith the deveLopment (GuesT opinion) of a hydroelectric project on the Spokane River in 1889. The company has since relied primarily on hydroelectric energy to supply its customers. Our hydro projects were developed over a 50-year period, primarily from the 1900s through the 1950s. Today about 52 percent of the company’s power comes from hydro. For a variety of reasons it is no longer realistic to build new hydroelectric projects in the United States, but electric demand continues to grow. To help address this, Avista began a program in the 1990s to upgrade its existing plants. The focus of this program was to take advantage of the advancements in hydro turbine design and manufacturing technology that could provide costeffective incremental improvements in energy generation. The increased efficiency provided by modern design Steve Wenke turbine runners allows more energy generation without increasing water use or changing the basic operation of the NewsFlash plant. Avista also joined with NRG CaRboN CaptuRe nine other utilities to initiate NRG Energy and a research and developPowerspan Corp. plan ment program with the U.S. to develop a commercial scale carbon capture Department of Energy’s generating project. Environmentally Friendly The post-combustion Hydro Turbine Program. process uses an Recent projects have incorammonia-based porated elements from this solution to capture CO2 from the flue gas of a program into new turbine power plant and release runner designs. it in a form that is ready With the incremental for transportation and improvements in turbine permanent storage, the companies said. output, it also required The Texas project, the existing generator to expected to be match the improved turbine operational in 2012, will output. This has resulted in capture up to 1 million a number of generator refurtons of carbon dioxide annually, making it one bishment projects that are of the largest such conducted in parallel with efforts in the world. the turbine replacements. The gas will be used for In 2007, Avista comenhanced oil recovery near Houston. pleted upgrades on the Avista crews perform final inspection of the new, high-efficiency turbine runner and shaft assembly just prior to setting it in place at the Cabinet Gorge Project powerhouse. Photos CourtEsy of AvistA final unit at Cabinet Gorge on the Clark Fork River in north Idaho. Upgrades on three other units were completed in 1994, 2001 and 2004. The company replaced the original 1952 equipment with modern designs. Capacity increases range from an existing 55 megawatts up to 72 megawatts maximum for each unit 66 E n E rgyB i z January/February 2008 http://www.energycentral.com
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