generation technologies

Critical Technologies
GENERATION’S NEW URGENCY By Warren Causey
Electric generating plants are among the most complex
large-scale engineering projects undertaken by modern society,
especially outside of government-sponsored air/space/science/
military efforts.
Because of current national and international energy concerns,
which have been exacerbated by natural disasters, environmental
concerns and general business conditions, a lot has been said and
written lately about “generation technologies.” But because of
the complexity of the generation process itself, the term is sadly
lacking clear definition.
To help clear up the confusion, there are generally two types
of “generation technologies,” including:
» Those technologies that actually generate electricity,
which range from conventional coal-fired, gas-or-fuel-oil
fired, fission-based nuclear and hydroelectric systems
to some more esoteric and “renewable” systems. Those
others include fusion-based experiments underway, windmills,
biomass converters, solar panels, tide-and-wave
power generators and geo-thermal systems.
» Those technologies, which are primarily computer-based,
that are necessary to actually control and operate the
plants/systems once they are built, including instrumentation
and control systems, environmental monitoring
and control, security and safety systems and more
conventional business systems, such as asset management,
work management and document management.
Considering how rapidly this technology is evolving, utilities,
independent power producers and other entities that operate
generating plants are moving to upgrade systems to meet
increasing demands as energy supplies become tighter. This
includes both the systems that actually generate electricity and
the computer systems that manage those assets. Like the transmission
and distribution side of utilities, generating plants also are
facing the major problems of aging facilities and work forces.
Because of those factors, much more emphasis is being placed
on the asset/work force management and computerized maintenance
monitoring than in the past. However, a recent survey
of generation technologies by EnergyBiz and Energy Central’s
48 EnErgyBiz magazinE November/December 2005
Research & Analysis division indicates utilities still have a long
way to go to catch up with modern techniques, particularly at
older plants that may still be using 30-year-old systems.
“The rate at which technology changes makes it almost
impossible to keep up with all areas,” said one respondent to the
survey who works at a large investor-owned utility. “I think it’s
more important to focus on one or two areas that may be beneficial
but maintain vigilance on technology in general.”
Less than half of the respondents in the survey indicated that
their plants are fully leveraging available technology, as indicated
in the following chart:
» Is your generating plant/utility fully leveraging technology
to meet current challenges?
“Until about two years ago, few generating plants had sophisticated
maintenance management systems,” says Henry Bailey,
industry principal for utilities in North America with SAP America,
headquartered in Newtown Square, Pa. “Now they are deploying
more. We now have our asset management software in most of
the plants at First Energy, Reliant, BC Hydro and TransAlta.”
However, despite some significant gains by his company,
Bailey agrees that many generating plants still are operating with
outdated technology. “If a plant was built from scratch today,
compared with 25 to 30 years ago — when most plants were
built — there would be a lot more computerized plant monitoring
systems all over the place,” Bailey says. “That requires more calibration
and more sophisticated workers, but fewer workers. We’ve
had reports of new employees at plants pushing the wrong button
and damaging equipment because the plants are not automated.
One slip can create major problems.”
In addition to workforce issues, generation plants face a litany
of other problems. In our survey, we asked respondents what they
considered the “greatest challenge” facing their plant. Here are
some representative samples of their diverse answers: