scholarly journals The impact of operations and maintenance practices on power plant performance

2014 ◽  
Vol 25 (8) ◽  
pp. 1148-1173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shyong Wai Foon ◽  
Milé Terziovski
Keyword(s):  
Power Plant ◽  
Performance Measures ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Plant Performance ◽  
Operating Costs ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Operations And Maintenance ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Impact

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of operations and maintenance (O&M) practices, individually and collectively, on power plant performance. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from more than 100 power plants in Australia and Malaysia. The reliability and validity (content, construct, and criterion) of the practice and performance measures were evaluated. Findings – Committed leadership and maintenance-oriented practices as part of a total productive maintenance (TPM) philosophy were found to be the main differentiators between high and low performing plants. Research limitations/implications – The research is cross-sectional in nature, therefore, it does not permit us to account for the lag between implementation and performance. Second, the performance measures are subjective and may be subject to response bias. Practical implications – The implication of the research findings for plant managers is that they need to allocate more “softer” resources to the O&M function if they expect high plant availability. Social implications – Apart from capacity and fuel cost, operating costs are an important source of differentiation for power plants. The implication is that reduction in operating costs is directly related to the reduction of consumer power bills. Originality/value – The reader will learn from this paper that committed leadership and maintenance-oriented practices have greater explanatory power in the regression models than employee involvement, customer focus, strategic planning, and knowledge management. This knowledge is important because it emphasises that in addition to quality management practices, which are focussed on the development of the people aspects of the organization, the plant equipment and physical assets should also be given equal emphasis, in order to improve operational performance of power plants.

An Expanded Cost of Electricity Model for Highly Flexible Power Plants

2012 ◽  
Vol 135 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Can Gülen ◽  
Indrajit Mazumder
Keyword(s):  
Power Generation ◽  
Power Plant ◽  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Combined Cycle ◽  
Plant Performance ◽  
Cost Of Electricity ◽  
Renewable Power ◽  
Effective Performance ◽  
The Impact

Cost of electricity (COE) is the most widely used metric to quantify the cost-performance trade-off involved in comparative analysis of competing electric power generation technologies. Unfortunately, the currently accepted formulation of COE is only applicable to comparisons of power plant options with the same annual electric generation (kilowatt-hours) and the same technology as defined by reliability, availability, and operability. Such a formulation does not introduce a big error into the COE analysis when the objective is simply to compare two or more base-loaded power plants of the same technology (e.g., natural gas fired gas turbine simple or combined cycle, coal fired conventional boiler steam turbine, etc.) and the same (or nearly the same) capacity. However, comparing even the same technology class power plants, especially highly flexible advanced gas turbine combined cycle units with cyclic duties, comprising a high number of daily starts and stops in addition to emissions-compliant low-load operation to accommodate the intermittent and uncertain load regimes of renewable power generation (mainly wind and solar) requires a significant overhaul of the basic COE formula. This paper develops an expanded COE formulation by incorporating crucial power plant operability and maintainability characteristics such as reliability, unrecoverable degradation, and maintenance factors as well as emissions into the mix. The core impact of duty cycle on the plant performance is handled via effective output and efficiency utilizing basic performance correction curves. The impact of plant start and load ramps on the effective performance parameters is included. Differences in reliability and total annual energy generation are handled via energy and capacity replacement terms. The resulting expanded formula, while rigorous in development and content, is still simple enough for most feasibility study type of applications. Sample calculations clearly reveal that inclusion (or omission) of one or more of these factors in the COE evaluation, however, can dramatically swing the answer from one extreme to the other in some cases.

scholarly journals Relationship between Particle Size Distribution of Low-Rank Pulverized Coal and Power Plant Performance

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rajive Ganguli ◽  
Sukumar Bandopadhyay
Keyword(s):  
Particle Size ◽  
Power Plant ◽  
Particle Size Distribution ◽  
Size Distribution ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Pulverized Coal ◽  
Plant Performance ◽  
Low Rank ◽  
Volatile Content ◽  
The Impact

The impact of particle size distribution (PSD) of pulverized, low rank high volatile content Alaska coal on combustion related power plant performance was studied in a series of field scale tests. Performance was gauged through efficiency (ratio of megawatt generated to energy consumed as coal), emissions (SO2,NOx, CO), and carbon content of ash (fly ash and bottom ash). The study revealed that the tested coal could be burned at a grind as coarse as 50% passing 76 microns, with no deleterious impact on power generation and emissions. The PSD’s tested in this study were in the range of 41 to 81 percent passing 76 microns. There was negligible correlation between PSD and the followings factors: efficiency, SO2,NOx, and CO. Additionally, two tests where stack mercury (Hg) data was collected, did not demonstrate any real difference in Hg emissions with PSD. The results from the field tests positively impacts pulverized coal power plants that burn low rank high volatile content coals (such as Powder River Basin coal). These plants can potentially reduce in-plant load by grinding the coal less (without impacting plant performance on emissions and efficiency) and thereby, increasing their marketability.

Academic research meets practice: why controversial results are not controversial

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick M. Wright ◽  
Anthony J. Nyberg
Keyword(s):  
Performance Measures ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Chief Executive ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Ceo Pay ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Hiring And Firing ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This paper aims to explore some of the practical challenges boards face in setting chief executive officer (CEO) pay to show why the failure to see considerable overlap between pay and performance may not be due to poor governance. Design/methodology/approach This paper critically explores the different types of pay reported in public sources (actual vs realized) and the types of performance measures used in CEO pay research. This paper then conceptually reviews the broader governance responsibility of boards, particularly the hiring and firing of CEOs and the impact these decisions have on CEO pay. Findings The authors suggest that much of the lack of overlap between pay and performance may be because of misaligned timing of the pay and performance measures, differences between internally promoted and externally hired CEOs and severance packages of fired CEOs. They conclude that the lack of overlap may not signal failure on the part of boards, but rather may reflect the risk and uncertainty those boards face in hiring and firing of CEOs. Research limitations/implications The analysis shows how using publicly available sources of pay and performance data ignores the practical challenges that boards face in setting pay, and suggests greater care be given to future research purporting to show that boards are failing in their governance responsibilities. Practical implications CEO pay may not be as misaligned with performance as many researchers conclude, but may be due to the risks and uncertainty inherent in governance. Social implications The distributive justice critique of CEO pay may not be valid. Originality/value As opposed to simply mining public databases, this paper more accurately describes some of the variables that impact how boards set CEO pay.

Risk propagation and its impact on performance in food processing supply chain

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 660-693 ◽  
Author(s):  
Atanu Chaudhuri ◽  
Samir K. Srivastava ◽  
Rajiv K. Srivastava ◽  
Zeenat Parveen
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Performance Measures ◽  
Food Processing ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Risk Mitigation ◽  
Interpretive Structural Modeling ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Business Cases ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify various risk drivers which affect a food processing supply chain and to create a map of how those risk drivers propagate risks through the supply chain and impact important performance measures. Design/methodology/approach This study involves experts from food processing companies to elucidate the contextual relationships among the risk drivers and between risk drivers and performance measures. This is used to quantify the relationships and to determine the indirect and overall relationships applying Fuzzy Interpretive Structural Modeling. Findings Three categories of risk drivers which Indian food processing companies need to pay maximum attention to minimize risks are identified. These are supplier dependency and contracting, supplier variability, visibility and traceability and manufacturing disruptions. Analysis shows that collaborating with suppliers and logistics service providers, developing mutually beneficial contracts with them while ensuring that adequate technology investments are made can significantly mitigate risks and consequently improve margins and lead to revenue growth. Research limitations/implications This study has been carried out with experts from large food processing companies in India, and hence, the results cannot be generalized across other types of food processing companies. Practical implications The proposed methodology can help understand the interrelationships between supply chain risks and between those risks and performance measures. Thus, it can help a food processing company to create business cases for specific supply chain risk mitigation projects. Originality/value This study is one of the earliest to create a comprehensive risk propagation map for food processing companies which helps in quantifying the impact the risk drivers have on each other and on performance measures.

An Expanded Cost of Electricity Model for Highly Flexible Power Plants

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Can Gülen ◽  
Indrajit Mazumder
Keyword(s):  
Power Generation ◽  
Power Plant ◽  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Combined Cycle ◽  
Plant Performance ◽  
Cost Of Electricity ◽  
Renewable Power ◽  
Effective Performance ◽  
The Impact

Cost of electricity (COE) is the most widely used metric to quantify the cost-performance trade-off involved in comparative analysis of competing electric power generation technologies. Unfortunately, the currently accepted formulation of COE is only applicable to comparisons of power plant options with the same annual electric generation (kilowatt-hours) and same technology as defined by reliability, availability and operability. Such a formulation does not introduce a big error into the COE analysis when the objective is simply to compare two or more baseloaded power plants of the same technology (e.g., natural gas fired gas turbine simple or combined cycle, coal fired conventional boiler steam turbine, etc.) and the same (or nearly the same) capacity. However, comparing even the same technology class power plants, especially highly flexible advanced gas turbine combined cycle units with cyclic duties, comprising a high number of daily starts and stops in addition to emissions-compliant low-load operation to accommodate the intermittent and uncertain load regimes of renewable power generation (mainly wind and solar) requires a significant overhaul of the basic COE formula. This paper develops an expanded COE formulation by incorporating crucial power plant operability and maintainability characteristics such as reliability, unrecoverable degradation, and maintenance factors as well as emissions into the mix. The core impact of duty cycle on the plant performance is handled via effective output and efficiency utilizing basic performance correction curves. The impact of plant start and load ramps on the effective performance parameters is included. Differences in reliability and total annual energy generation are handled via energy and capacity replacement terms. The resulting expanded formula, while rigorous in development and content, is still simple enough for most feasibility study type of applications. Sample calculations clearly reveal that inclusion (or omission) of one or more of these factors in the COE evaluation, however, can dramatically swing the answer from one extreme to the other in some cases.

A Comparison of Displays and Associated Workload on Nuclear Power Plants Tasks

2016 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 1686-1690 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Reinerman-Jones ◽  
Niav Hughes ◽  
Amy D’Agostino
Keyword(s):  
Power Plant ◽  
Nuclear Power Plant ◽  
Performance Measures ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Nuclear Power Plants ◽  
Control Room ◽  
Experimental Environment ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Task Types

Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) operators complete a variety of tasks to ensure the NPP is running safely and efficiently. However, the levels and types of workload associated with the different task types are not yet fully understood. The present investigation examined workload levels and types for three common NPP Main Control Room (MCR) tasks in a controlled experimental environment using a variety of subjective and performance measures of workload. The results suggest that the three task types differ in the levels and types of workload. These findings can be used to better understand the types of NPP tasks that induce workload and the type of workload they induce. The full results of these experiments will be captured in future articles and technical reports.

scholarly journals Impact of the Wind Turbine on the Parameters of the Electricity Supply to an Agricultural Farm

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 7279
Author(s):  
Zbigniew Skibko ◽  
Magdalena Tymińska ◽  
Wacław Romaniuk ◽  
Andrzej Borusiewicz
Keyword(s):  
Power Plant ◽  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Wind Power ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Reactive Power ◽  
Supply Voltage ◽  
Common Source ◽  
Voltage Fluctuations ◽  
The Impact

Wind power plants are an increasingly common source of electricity located in rural areas. As a result of the high variability of wind power, and thus the generated power, these sources should be classified as unstable sources. In this paper, the authors attempted to determine the impact of wind turbine operation on the parameters of electricity supplied to farms located near the source. As a result of the conducted field tests, variability courses of the basic parameters describing the supply voltage were obtained. The influence of power plant variability on the values of voltage, frequency, and voltage distortion factor was determined. To estimate the capacity of the transmission lines, the reactive power produced in the power plant and its effect on the value of the power factor were determined. The conducted research and analysis showed that the wind power plant significantly influences voltage fluctuations in its immediate vicinity (the maximum value registered was close to 2%, while the value required by law was 2.5%). Although all the recorded values are within limits specified by the current regulations (e.g., the THD value is four times lower than the required value), wind turbines may cause incorrect operation of loads connected nearby. This applies mainly to cases where consumers sensitive to voltage fluctuations are installed in the direct vicinity of the power plant.

Performance Testing of Coal Fired Power Plants

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shane E. Powers ◽  
William C. Wood
Keyword(s):  
Power Plant ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Performance Test ◽  
Model Development ◽  
Performance Testing ◽  
The United States ◽  
Plant Performance ◽  
Cycle Performance ◽  
Test Program

With the renewed interest in the construction of coal-fired power plants in the United States, there has also been an increased interest in the methodology used to calculate/determine the overall performance of a coal fired power plant. This methodology is detailed in the ASME PTC 46 (1996) Code, which provides an excellent framework for determining the power output and heat rate of coal fired power plants. Unfortunately, the power industry has been slow to adopt this methodology, in part because of the lack of some details in the Code regarding the planning needed to design a performance test program for the determination of coal fired power plant performance. This paper will expand on the ASME PTC 46 (1996) Code by discussing key concepts that need to be addressed when planning an overall plant performance test of a coal fired power plant. The most difficult aspect of calculating coal fired power plant performance is integrating the calculation of boiler performance with the calculation of turbine cycle performance and other balance of plant aspects. If proper planning of the performance test is not performed, the integration of boiler and turbine data will result in a test result that does not accurately reflect the true performance of the overall plant. This planning must start very early in the development of the test program, and be implemented in all stages of the test program design. This paper will address the necessary planning of the test program, including: • Determination of Actual Plant Performance. • Selection of a Test Goal. • Development of the Basic Correction Algorithm. • Designing a Plant Model. • Development of Correction Curves. • Operation of the Power Plant during the Test. All nomenclature in this paper utilizes the ASME PTC 46 definitions for the calculation and correction of plant performance.

Increasing revenue and attendance in Canadian Baptist churches

2015 ◽  
Vol 42 (12) ◽  
pp. 1071-1089
Author(s):  
Alan Chan ◽  
Bruce G. Fawcett ◽  
Shu-Kam Lee
Keyword(s):  
Church Health ◽  
Eastern Canada ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Scarce Resources ◽  
Baptist Churches ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Simulation Exercises

Purpose – Church giving and attendance are two important indicators of church health and performance. In the literature, they are usually understood to be simultaneously determined. The purpose of this paper is to estimate if there a sustainable church congregation size using Wintrobe’s (1998) dictatorship model. The authors want to examine the impact of youth and adult ministry as well. Design/methodology/approach – Using the data collected from among Canadian Baptist churches in Eastern Canada, this study investigates the factors affecting the level of the two indicators by the panel-instrumental variable technique. Applying Wintrobe’s (1998) political economy model on dictatorship, the equilibrium level of worship attendance and giving is predicted. Findings – Through various simulation exercises, the actual church congregation sizes is approximately 50 percent of the predicted value, implying inefficiency and misallocation of church resources. The paper concludes with insights on effective ways church leaders can allocate scarce resources to promote growth within churches. Originality/value – The authors are the only researchers getting the permission from the Atlantic Canada Baptist Convention to use their mega data set on church giving and congregation sizes as per the authors’ knowledge. The authors are also applying a theoretical model on dictatorship to religious/not for profits organizations.

Propagation of risks and their impact on performance in fresh food retail

2015 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 568-602 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samir K Srivastava ◽  
Atanu Chaudhuri ◽  
Rajiv K. Srivastava
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Supply Chains ◽  
Performance Measures ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Food Retail ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Fresh Food ◽  
Retail Supply Chains ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Supply Chain Risks

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to carry out structural analysis of potential supply chain risks and performance measures in fresh food retail by applying interpretive structural modeling (ISM). Design/methodology/approach – Inputs were taken from industry experts in identifying and understanding interdependencies among food retail supply chain risks on different levels (sourcing and logistics outside the retail stores; storage and customer interface at the stores). Interdependencies among risks and their impact on performance measures are structured into a hierarchy in order to derive subsystems of interdependent elements to derive useful insights for theory and practice. Findings – Using the ISM approach the risks and performance measures were clustered according to their driving power and dependence power. Change in/inadequate government regulations’ are at the bottom level of the hierarchy implying highest driving power and require higher attention and focussed mitigation strategies. Risks like lack of traceability, transport delays/breakdowns and temperature abuse, cross-contamination in transport and storage have medium driver and dependence powers. Research limitations/implications – The approach is focussed on food retail supply chains in the Indian context and thereby limits the ability to generalize the findings. The academics and experts were selected on convenience and availability. Practical implications – It gives managers a better understanding of the risks and performance measures that have most influence on others (driving performance measures) and those measures which are most influenced by others (dependent performance measures) in fresh food retail and also a tool to prioritize them. This kind of information is strategic for managers who can use it to identify which performance measures they should concentrate on managing the trade-offs between measures. The findings and the applicability for practical use have been validated by both experts and practicing managers in food retail supply chains. Originality/value – The work is perhaps the first to link supply chain risks with performance and explains the propagation of risks in food retail supply chains. It contributes to theory by addressing a few research gaps and provides relevant managerial insights for practitioners.

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