POWER August 2016 - 6

SPEAKING OF POWER
The Progress of Power
Technology
I
've developed something of a love/hate
relationship with awards. Initially, it's
exciting to spot outstanding or unusual
projects for our POWER awards, but
over time, any number of things can happen
to those plants, making them appear
less than stellar. Sometimes it's changing
policy or market conditions that make a
record-setting plant completely uneconomic
(see the discussion of Germany's
Irsching 4-a 2011 Top Plant-in the
story about this year's Plant of the Year
Award winner). In other cases, mechanical
or structural flaws may become apparent
only after startup, as was the case
with last year's Plant of the Year winner,
SaskPower's Boundary Dam Carbon Capture
Project, and our 2014 winner, the Ivanpah
Solar Electric Generating System. Although
it's usually impossible for anyone
to anticipate what sorts of problems such
exemplary projects will develop, first-of-akind
technologies are almost guaranteed
to experience teething pains.
No Risk, No Progress
Despite
award-winning
projects
the challenges that even
face,
it
remains
important for the industry to
keep striving to envision, design, and
develop cutting-edge power projects
because, as this month's Commentary
author reminds us, we need more of
all the best low-carbon options we can
get-as quickly as possible.
For example, the technology deployment
breakthrough that we recognized
with last year's Plant of the Year Award,
carbon capture and sequestration (CCS)
at an operating coal power plant, is central
to prospects for the continued use
of coal as a fuel globally if international
commitments to a lower-carbon future
are to be met. (Incidentally, I'm happy
to share that my August 2015 cover story
detailing SaskPower's CCS achievement
won an award of its own this June: Best
Scientific Writing or Technical Reporting,
from the Specialty Information Publishers
Association.)
6
After addressing some unexpected
challenges, the Boundary Dam project is
now able to operate more reliably. Meanwhile,
new CCS approaches continue to
advance. For example, in June, Quebecbased
CO2
Solutions presented thirdparty-verified
pilot test results of its
enzyme-based carbon capture process for
stationary sources. During summer 2015
the company ran its 10 metric tons/day
carbon capture demonstration unit successfully
for over 2,500 hours, mostly
with autonomous operation. Engineering
firm Tetra Tech validated the company's
claims that " CO2
Solutions' packed tower
process configuration, when applied
at large scale, would reduce the cost of
carbon capture to below $40 per tonne
(including compression) and below $30
per tonne (without compression). These
numbers, as announced in 2015, are
10 years ahead of the U.S. Department
of Energy's cost target for 2025 of $40
(including compression), " according to a
press release.
But the industry can't place all its bets
on CCS. We also need more efficient generation
across all fuel types, as well as
increasingly affordable clean energy options.
You'll read about several projects
that are setting the pace in this issue and
in the September through December issues,
which cover our Top Plant winners.
Modeling Excellence
Each of the award winners we profile this
year offers at least one technology or development
approach that's ripe for picking
by future projects. Here's one that stands
out for me this month: the building envelope
design for our Plant of the Year,
Lausward Power Plant's Fortuna unit in
Düsseldorf.
As shown on our cover and in the article,
the Fortuna unit is housed in an
attractive, intriguing structure. You may
argue that good design is more important
for a plant like this one because it sits
in an urban environment, but good design
doesn't necessarily have to cost more than
www.powermag.com
ugly design. Power plants may be a " practical
necessity, " but so are phones. It took
Apple's Steve Jobs to realize that a mobile
phone can offer enhanced functionality
( " power " ) in a design-savvy package
that people want to be seen with. Power
generators, who are increasingly aware of
their public image, might also do well to
think about the visual statements their
facilities make.
Profiles in Practicality
One way to assess trends in any industry
is to look at its award winners. Based
on the nominations we received for this
year's award categories, and the other
projects the editorial team threw into
the pool for consideration, the past year
in power project execution has been one
of largely incremental improvement. Although
that may be less obviously exciting
than a year in which brand new
technologies are
introduced-concentrating
solar power or carbon capture
or fusion (no, we're not there yet)-it
should inspire everyone to achieve excellence.
After all, few have the stomach
to be the first to adopt a new technology-which
has repeatedly proven risky,
as you'll see from the story of this year's
Reinvention Award winner-but most
generators are looking for ways to deploy
the latest best practices.
This year's award winners do include
projects where the first of a new turbine
model, or a new process, or new digital
tools were used, but the stories are as
much about owners and developers solving
problems creatively to deliver exemplary
new generation or make cleaner
power from existing plants. Some award
winner profiles present aspirational projects
that may be feasible only for a few;
other project successes are clearly achievable
for many. They all demonstrate some
sort of edge that merits recognition. We
hope you will enjoy reading about this
year's winners. ■
-Gail Reitenbach, PhD is POWER's
editor.
POWER | August 2016
http://www.powermag.com
POWER August 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of POWER August 2016
