Baltimore Weather
Thurs 5/8
 76º/62º
60% rain
Showers
Fri 5/9
 68º/54º
70% rain
Rain/Thunder
Sat 5/10
 72º/57º
20% rain
Partly cloudy
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| Transportation Info
Rental Cars
Avis
1800-331-1600
EP group code: S012099
BWI
Open 24 hrs
(410) 859-1680
Sheraton City Center
Su/10-3 M-F/ 8-6 Sat 8-3
(410) 685-6405
Airport/Hotel Shuttles
Airport Shuttle Inc.
1800-776-0323
EP group rate: $16 each way
Convention Center Shuttle
Mon., May 5, to Thurs., May 8: 15 min. (peak times)
Baltimore Convention Center
(Pratt St. entrance)
Sheraton City Center Hotel
(Liberty St.)
Radisson Plaza Lord Baltimore Hotel
(Walk to Sheraton City Ctr. /Liberty St.)
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| Hotel and Restaurant Info
Hotels
(410) 649-6102
Restaurants
Exhibitor Favs
Luna del Sea
300 W. Pratt St.
(410) 752-8383
ESPN Zone
601 E. Pratt St.
(410) 685-3776
The Brass Elephant
924 N. Charles
(410) 547-8485
Pazo
1425 Aliceanna
(410) 534-7296
Near Balt. Center
Baltimore's Tremonts
222 St. Paul Place
(410) 727-2222
La Scala of Little Italy
1012 Eastern Ave.
(410) 783-9209
Lord Baltimore Grill
20 W Baltimore St.
(410) 539-8400
Morton's the Steakhouse
300 S Charles St.
(410) 547-8255
Shula's Steak House
101 W Fayette St.
(410) 385-6630
Tug's Bar & Grille
222 Saint Paul Place
(410) 244-7300
McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood
711 Eastern Ave.
(410) 234-1300
Obrycki’s Crab House
1727 E. Pratt St.
(410) 732-6399
Rusty Scupper Restaurant
402 Key Highway
(410) 727-3678
Charleston Restaurant
1000 Lancaster St
(410) 332-7373
Roy's Restaurant
720 Aliceanna
(410) 659-0099
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ELECTRIC POWER Announcements
We saved some of the best for last!
- Exhibit Hours today: 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
- Also on the Exhibit Floor: Lunch from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. and drawing for a Harley from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
- Plenary Session: Conference Highlights: 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
- At the invitation-only Plant Managers’ Roundtable, workforce issues were front and center—meriting roughly half the time devoted to candid discussions of critical management concerns. This annual assembly at EP has become so popular (about 50 managers participated this year) that we’re developing a Power Plant Management Institute. If you’re a plant manager who is serious about proactively dealing with both the old and new challenges to your industry, consider joining. See p. 12 of the Show Guide or call 832-242-1969 next week.
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Presentation updates |
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The nuclear track update: It’s a horse race
 Nuclear plant vendors descended on Baltimore a week before the Preakness to pitch their technologies. It was Areva’s Evolutionary Pressurized Water Reactor (EPR) v. GE’s two Advanced Boiling Water Reactors (ABWR and ESBWR) v. the Westinghouse Advanced Pressurized Water Reactor (AP1000).
As vendors trotted out their technologies, another race was under way—the COLA Cup. It’s not a soft drink but the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s “combined operating licence application.” “Standardization—that’s the bottom line,” said Andrea Sterdis (photo), Tennessee Valley Authority’s nuclear licensing manager. “Without standardization, the COLA process can’t happen.”
Hot technologies to deal with mercury
From the Environmental Regulatory Issues, Strategies and Technologies tracks comes news that the top contender for attention from coal power generators has changed. “The usual suspects” (SO2, NOx, CO, VOC, and PM) are being overtaken by a new set of challengers, including mercury PM, SO3, and other acidic gases and other metals (including lead).
Speakers in the Wednesday morning sessions of Track 15 took turns discussing a variety of newly developed mercury control technologies and shared results from recent pilot test programs.
Will energy storage be a game-changer?
 “Energy storage is a disruptive technology” that will change how the utility business is conducted, according to Imre Gyuk, director, energy storage research for the U.S. Dept. of Energy (photo). Like the rest of the panelists in this Distributed Resources track session, Gyuk sees storage as the solution to a number of challenges facing the industry.
Dr. Andy Chu of A123Systems spoke about his company’s plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) battery, which he hopes will help utilities even out load by enabling vehicles to recharge at night. Chu said it wasn’t GM that killed the electric car but “range anxiety”—the fear that a battery-only car would run out of juice. PHEV’s he argued, hit the “sweet spot” by providing range security plus battery power for the most energy.
Haresh Kamath of EPRI believes that energy storage options will soon be seen as a more viable solution because “it doesn’t make sense to build more reserves (fossil-fired generation) to balance renewables.”
KEMA’s Frits Verheij spoke about the energy island concept. For information about that larger-scale storage plan, see our ocean power story the May issue of POWER.
Listen up, utilities!
In “The Perfect Storm” session (the Power Industry Trends track followup to the CEO Roundtable), 80% of delegates agreed that the CEOs speaking on Monday morning had correctly identified the critical issues facing the industry. How do we know that? This session included the use of real-time electronic audience polling, sponsored by Black & Veatch. Polls were taken on 15 questions, and the results displayed in real time on a screen in front of them.
One loud message from this session: Utilities aren’t customer needs-driven. They’re selling a product but they don’t understand what customers want. They’re not listening well to customers; nor are they communicating well with them about the true costs of various brands of energy (such as renewables). By the way, conference attendees themselves, when polled in this session, said they were only willing to pay up to $25 per month more to get renewable power.
Money to burn
 With folks still suffering from FutureGen failure shock, the third session of the IGCC and Other Advanced Coal Technologies track was well-timed. It addressed project development challenges faced by industry professionals concerning finance, technology licensing, front-end engineering and design, engineering procurement and construction, and plant start-up operations.
Lucas Missong, vice president of Energy Inverstors Funds (photo), offered tips on how to finance coal-to-gas/IGCC projects. He stressed that because coal prices are expected to increase, plants using advanced coal technologies should structure their finances conservatively, ensuring that cash inflows are secure prior to and after the estimated five-year planning period.
“We should ask, ‘What will cash flows look like afterwards, and how can we lock in cash flows?’ ” he said. One of the ways to do this, he suggested, would be to sell by-products under long-term agreements.
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At The Show |
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What’s your favorite restaurant in Baltimore? Here’s what a few of our exhibitors said:
Phil at Conoco: Luna del Sea (300 W. Pratt) for the great seafood and the restaurant’s caravan bus. Antonio provided a great tour of the area after dinner.
Preston at Bechtel: ESPN Zone (601 E. Pratt) is a fun sports bar—especially after an Orioles game.
David at Day & Zimmerman: The Brass Elephant (924 N. Charles) for an unusual atmosphere and great rockfish.
Daniel at PSM: Pazo (1425 Aliceanna St.) for Spanish tapas in a great ambiance with good service.
Ron at Doosan: Any place in Little Italy, where the smaller restaurants mean you can avoid big crowds while enjoying a quaint neighborhood.
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Industry News |
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Kansas Senate passes bill for two coal-fired plants
The Kansas Senate approved a bill 24–10 Tuesday night in the slimmest margin so far to authorize two coal-fired power plants in western Kansas for Sunflower Electric Power Corp.’s project outside Holcomb.
The legislation included an economic development package, which was rejected last year because of climate change concerns, for Sunflower’s $3.6 billion Holcomb project. This year, the coal bill was included in a bill containing several other development initiatives and projects, The Kansas City Star reported.
Sunflower wants to build the two plants in Finney County and sell 86% of the power to two out-of-state utility partners, an AP report said.
On Tuesday, supporting senators hailed the plant as being instrumental to western Kansas. Among the nay-voters were three senators who agreed that the plant would spur economic development but who felt more strongly that state’s constitution prohibited “bundling” of subjects under one bill.
The state’s governor, Kathleen Sebelius, vetoed two earlier attempts to allow the plant. She is expected to veto the bill if it passes in the state House.
OPUC approves PGE investment in smart meter technology
Portland General Electric Company (PGE) on Tuesday received approval from the Oregon Public Utility Commission (OPUC) to install more than 850,000 next-generation electrical meters to help the utility and its customers manage energy use, enhance customer service, and reduce operating expenses. The advanced metering infrastructure—or “smart meters”—will be installed in a two-year process slated for completion by the end of 2010.
The new system is also expected to support the future development of demand response and direct load control programs that will improve energy efficiency and reduce the need for new power plants.
Eventually, smart meters will enable PGE to provide customers with access to their daily energy use information via the Web. PGE believes demand-response programs could help reduce peak demand and shift customer usage to off-peak periods of the day when power costs less.
The capital cost of the project is expected to be $130 million to $135 million, with annual operating savings projected to be $18 million as of 2011, the first full year of operating the new system.
Wind industry asks Mich. governor to make “fresh start”
The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) and seven of its members sent letters on Tuesday to Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) and Senate Energy and Technology Committee Chairman Bruce Patterson (R) saying that recent Michigan House legislation would jeopardize at least $2 billion of new investment in wind energy projects under development in the state. The letter to Granholm asked her to veto the legislation if it reaches her desk in its current form.
In the letters, the industry expressed appreciation to the two leaders for their efforts on behalf of renewable energy legislation so far but sought support for a “fresh start” with annual renewable energy requirements of 5% by 2010, ramping up 1% per year to 10% by 2015, and said such legislation would create a “nationally significant” market.
According to the wind representatives, the bills recently passed by the Michigan House require less than 0.5% of additional renewable energy by 2014. The bills also contain “toothless enforcement provisions” as well as other provisions that potentially undermine cost-effective procurement. The House legislation purports to create a renewable market but actually does not do so, an AWEA release said.
AWEA, joined by seven members—including Babcock & Brown, BP Alternative Energy, Iberdrola Renewables, Mackinaw Power, Noble Environmental Power, TradeWind Energy, and Vestas American Wind Technology—stated that because the House bills fail to create a market of any significant size, they also fail to provide any incentive for manufacturers to establish production facilities or create jobs in the state. Vestas is the largest producer of wind turbines in the world.
“Last week Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland signed legislation creating a real market for renewable energy in Ohio and aggressively positioning Ohio manufacturers to compete in the growing wind energy market. It is not too late for Michigan to do the same,” said Hans Detweiler, AWEA manager of state legislation.
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