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| Thomas Alley Jr., a speaker at the marcus evans Power Plant Management Summit 2012, on the growth of natural gas for power generation. |
NEW YORK, N.Y., July 9, 2012 - (ACN Newswire) - "Natural gas is the talk of the town,"says Tom Alley, Vice President, Generation, Electric Power Research Institute. With some EPA regulations set to go into effect in 2015, power plant executives are moving in the direction of natural gas to replace coal plants, he adds.
A speaker at the upcoming marcus evans Power Plant Management Summit 2012, in Wheeling, Illinois, October 15-17, Alley discusses maintaining costs and plant reliability.
- What are the power sources of the future?
The decisions that power plant executives will make in the next few years will shape the fleet for the next 20 or 30 years. The transition we are currently seeing is due to the economy, regulation, and an abundance of natural gas. Natural gas is the talk of the town and a few weeks ago prices fell to just under two dollars MMBtu. The supply side of the equation is generally agreed upon, but the demand side is a concern if everybody moves there.
- How can power plant executives prosper in the current environment?
Industry executives must focus on maintaining a high degree of reliability, managing costs and being environmentally responsible. These three objectives must stay in balance, or else customers become upset, the cost of electricity rises, and reliability suffers.
More specific to the generation aspect, the economy cannot be avoided. Demand has been flat or declining. We have also seen a mild winter. This puts pressure on revenues, and when that happens, maintenance practices often are adjusted to accommodate economic concerns.
- What are the latest regulations and mandates that will have an impact on the utility industry?
The EPA standards and rules such as the new Cross-State Air Pollution Rule and Mercury and Air Toxic Standards are putting pressure on the old sub-critical fleet, making it difficult to justify capital expenditures. Smaller sub-critical coal plants may soon be closed, or re-powered with gas.
The EPA regulations going into effect in 2015 will force utilities to make tough decisions regarding the viability of their assets. It will also be more attractive to move in the direction of natural gas to replace coal plants.
The low limits of mercury required for new units under the Mercury and Air Toxic Standards is 0.0002 lb/GWh, which will be very challenging to meet and at this point difficult to measure, so even those rules make the next generations of fossil plants very difficult to plan.
- How can power plant managers improve efficiency and optimize aging plants?
By building new plants in which temperatures can reach 1400 degrees Fahrenheit, efficiency can be increased. However, we will not see these new plants being built any time soon due to the pressures on the economy and coal. With the existing fleet there certainly are opportunities to improve heat rate and most of those opportunities are in the combustion process and through advanced tuning, controls, monitoring and sensors.
About the Power Plant Management Summit 2012
This unique forum will take place at the Westin Chicago North Shore, Wheeling, Illinois, October 15-17, 2012. Offering much more than any conference, exhibition or trade show, this exclusive meeting will bring together esteemed industry thought leaders and solution providers to a highly focused and interactive networking event. The Summit includes presentations on moving towards optimization, supplying power in a reliable manner, and minimizing risks. For more information please send an email to info@marcusevanscy.com or visit the event website at www.ppm-summit.com.
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Energy Network - marcus evans Summits group delivers peer-to-peer information on strategic matters, professional trends and breakthrough innovations.
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Please note that the Summit is a closed business event and the number of participants strictly limited.
Contact:
Stacey Melvin,
Journalist, marcus evans, Summits Division
Tel: + 357 22 849 400
Email: press@marcusevanscy.com
Topic: Research / Industry Report
Source: marcus evans Summits
Sectors: Daily Finance, Daily News
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