pwr_october-2024 - 37

MARNIE SURFACEBLOW
Fuels Engineer Winston Kirk offered
more background information.
An engineer in the back of the room
" The
plant was designed to simply incinerate
excess bagasse, banana leaf, and other
agricultural waste. But that was too
much energy to waste, so we changed
the design to a biomass waste-to-energy
plant. And this plant was a godsend, "
he said. " We only generate 45 megawatts
on the best days, but that has
transformed the local villages from having
power only half the day, to now being
a backbone of a growing community
of people, businesses, and tourists-the
steep mountains and thick jungle are
very popular. And increased local agriculture
means we no longer run out of
biomass. Have you seen the mighty pile
we keep onsite? All the while, our old
boiler, she runs like a fine watch. "
" I hate to be in opposition to you, my
friend, but the boiler tube failures are
increasing swiftly, " interjected Maintenance
Supervisor Devan Clarke. " Yes,
we have abundance of biomass to take
us through the winter now, but sulphur
content is rising, and chlorine is rising
even faster. You forget our yearly boiler
outages, once but two or three weeks,
are now more than a month repairing
boiler tubes. "
Ghostly Problems
Fiona stepped in to redirect the conversation.
" Tell us about the details of the
ghosts. Who has the most information
on them? "
Marva Jefferson, a wizened facilities
engineer with eyes sharper than even
Marnie's, raised her hand. " I tell you, the
lights were first seen late November,
three years gone. The next year early November,
last year mid-October, and now
with start of October. They disappear in
January or February. They were first seen
in the switchyard, so everybody thinks it
is corona discharge, yes? Except they
only come at night, often after midnight,
and only in late autumn. "
" Excuse me, " Maya leaned in. " I saw
your images and videos-they are stunning-but
if it was merely corona, why
are they often seen away from the highvoltage
power lines? You have inspected
the transmission lines and insulation for
damage, yes? "
" Of course, " Devan said. " We find
some minor corona damage, but given
the level of effect witnessed, not nearly
as bad as it could be. "
" Has anyone been injured or has any
plant equipment been injured from the
lights? " asked Marnie.
October 2024 | POWER
replied, " When the lights come, we cannot
use plant radios, and the continuous
emissions monitoring system has been
damaged when the ghosts dance on the
stack. Several times we have tripped due
to false fire or CO alarms. "
Another engineer spoke up, " The
ghosts keep my radio from playing the
live cricket broadcasts from India! " As
several in the room laughed at the admission,
Maya leaned toward Marnie
and whispered, " Ma'am, we must do
something. Disrupting cricket is simply
abominable. "
" I find cricket abominable, " Marnie
whispered back, " excepting the coffee
interval. " As Maya mouthed " tea interval "
and shook her head, Marnie raised
her voice over the chattering about
cricket to ask again, " Have there been
any other strange effects, or any risks
to personnel? "
" Look, " Marva directly addressed
Marnie and Maya, " we know what people
think of Jamaica outside of our country-reggae,
weed, superstition. But we
are engineers and scientists. We know
these are almost certainly not ghosts,
rather, corona, St. Elmo's Fire, whatever.
No, no one has been injured directly, but
when you are in the boiler structure and
suddenly a violet ball of light is flying past
you-it startles you, creates tension, and
that can lead to accidents. "
Fiona leaned over to Marnie and asked
softly, " So, Miss Designer Smarty Pants,
how are you going to solve this problem? "
Marnie
whispered in return, " With
aplomb, of course, and a hefty invoice to
follow. "
Touring the Site
The rest
of the day consisted
of a
lengthy site tour, starting in the control
room where Maya harvested a few terabytes
of plant data to analyze. The plant
manager, engineering leads, and Fiona
joined Marnie and Maya, as they poked
into every area of the site possible. She
noted, " Unfortunately, the grid needs us
online, so we cannot let you inspect the
switchyard. In a week or two, perhaps? "
" Let's put a pin in that idea, " Marnie
replied, then pointing toward the row of
cooling towers, asked, " Why didn't you
just use the ocean for cooling, instead of
that little freshwater river coming down
the valley? "
Carlton smiled. " Many reasons. The
bay has rare sea life that was at risk,
and since we are shaded in this valley
www.powermag.com
and have cool night breezes down from
the mountains, the river was more than
enough for our small power plant. And
when our plant was built, a titanium condenser
that could withstand seawater
corrosion was much too dear. "
Maya, however, was focused on the
specifically, on the ground
fuel
pile,
downhill from it that was bleached white
with salts. " Sir, does not the higher chlorine
from recent biomass cause problems
with water runoff? The ground is
stained with it in fact. "
Fiona was the one to answer, however.
" One of the first things I did when I
came here was install a runoff catch basin
and treatment plant. It doesn't solve
all the problem, but we catch at least
80% of the runoff-and there are a lot of
chlorides in this biomass. "
Carlton nodded. " A few years ago, this
was not a problem. Now, we must adapt.
I am grateful we wash some of the chlorine
from the biomass, otherwise, our
tube corrosion problem would worsen, "
he said.
" Why is the chlorine content increasing?
Are you burning a different fuel? "
Marnie asked, taking notes furiously.
Fuels being Winston's forte, he replied,
" When the economy expanded, so
did fertilizer use, especially high-chloride
types. Our fuel chloride levels were once
less than 0.1%. Now, we often exceed
0.5%. "
" Holy Hannah! " Marnie exclaimed.
" I'm surprised you have any boiler tubes
left at those levels! "
Carlton soberly nodded his head. " At
this rate, I wonder if the plant shall outlast
me, " he said.
Maya, who had been talking to another
group of plant staff, returned and excitedly
said, " Ma'am, I just learned two
interesting facts. First, in about six more
hours, we can have a perfect viewing of
the ghosts from that rise between the
cooling towers and the stack. Second,
I was told one worker here can predict
when the ghosts will appear! "
Carlton laughed. " You must mean
Moses Tosh. Somehow, he can predict
ghost sightings, but only within an hour
or two. "
Marnie's enthusiasm abounded, as
she said, " Fiona, guess what? We're
camping out on that ghost central viewing
spot! We need camp chairs, blankets,
snacks, several liters of coffee, and Mr.
Tosh to join us. If all goes well, tonight
you will have all the answers you seek,
and without me even breaking out my
tarot cards! "
37
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pwr_october-2024

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