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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
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.)
Hotel and Restaurant Info
Hotels
Preferred Convention Services
Contact: Bernadine Wood
(410) 649-6102
Restaurants
Exhibitor Favorites
Luna del Sea
300 W. Pratt St.
(410) 752-8383
ESPN Zone
601 E. Pratt St.
(410) 685-3776ý
The Brass Elephant
924 N. Charles
(410) 547-8485
Pazo
1425 Aliceanna St.
(410) 534-7296ý
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 Restaurantý
1000 Lancaster St
(410) 332-7373
Roy's Restaurantý
720 Aliceanna
(410) 659-0099ý
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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
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 professions 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
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: Anyplace in Little Italy, where the smaller restaurants mean
you can avoid big crowds while enjoying a quaint neighborhood.
Industry News
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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