By: John Solan P.E., Senior Engineer, Stanley Consultants
with Mike Ruckhaus, P.E. and Chilkoot Ward, P.E.
On a quiet Friday at 5 p.m. in December, 1998, the outdoor thermometer at the University of Alaska Fairbanks showed minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit. Inside the UAF Atkinson power plant, an aging tube in the Unit 1 power stoker burst under 625 pounds per square inch of pressure, filling the facility with steam.
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By: Andy Ungerman P.E., Senior Mechanical Engineer, Stanley Consultants
In their search for reliable, flexible, low-cost sources of power, investor-owned utilities, municipal utilities and rural cooperatives have varying pressures and selection factors but many of them choose the same technology solution: reciprocating engines.
Overall power trends affecting their choices in the U.S. are readily visible: Decommissioning of small and medium coal-fired units, natural gas-fired power generation for peaking and base-load capacity, rapid growth of renewables; growth of distributed generation and mixing of power generation technologies within a utility.
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