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Under the general task force activity of Best
Practices for Power Generation, the American Electric
Power Company (AEP) hosted a set of site visits during
30 October – 4 November, 2006. AEP fostered a
“hands-on” environment where participants learned from
one another, shared information, and collaborated on
how best to address the world’s need to generate
electricity from coal with less or minimal
environmental impacts.
Detailed technical discussions were held to
facilitate tangible improvements in generating
efficiency and reductions in air emissions. Two
technology tracks were held, one focusing on existing
generation, specifically efficiency gains and
reductions in carbon dioxide and air emissions, the
other focusing on
advanced power generation, especially Integrated
Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) technologies.
 
A total of 100 representatives from various companies
and organizations from all APP nations attended the AEP
event. Over half of the representatives participated in
the existing technology track, touring two AEP power
plants (Muskingum and Gavin) and interacting with AEP
corporate and plant engineers and managers to discuss
best practices and technologies used by AEP that might
be applicable in other APP nations. AEP shared detailed
information on
various plant upgrades, including both hardware
modifications and implementation of better operating and
maintenance procedures, and detailed both plant
performance data before and after each modification and
the associated economic and environmental impacts.
The engineers then discussed a wide variety of
technologies and practices
that AEP has had success with that could be applied to
power plants in
the other nations.
Over forty of the representatives participated in the
advanced power generation track, touring DOE’s Power
Systems Development Facility, which is operated by
Southern Company in Wilsonville, Alabama, to learn about
KBR’s transport reactor gasification technology and the
260-MW IGCC plant at Tampa Electric Company’s Polk Power
Station, near Tampa, Florida. These tours allowed the
participants to see two different types of IGCC
technology at large scale.
The engineers in this track also met with several
IGCC technology providers (General Electric, GTI/Synthesis
Energy, Shell, and Siemens) and discussed IGCC technical
and business issues with the AEP IGCC design team
working to site AEP’s first commercial IGCC system. The
group also heard from Battelle about the latest
developments in carbon capture and storage.
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