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Note that this topic is focused on peripheral plant equipment, and generally not boiler units and turbines. The benefits to turbine improvements are discussed further in the topic "Turbine Efficiency".

Upgrading plant equipment can result in direct energy consumption savings, reduced maintenance costs, extended equipment life, and better power plant performance. Reducing the amount of fossil energy consumed in producing electricity also results in GHG emission reductions.

A coal-fired power plant consumes approximately six percent of its electrical output in operating the fans, pumps, drive motors, and other electrical equipment associated with the plant.  Pollution control technologies, such as scrubbers used to reduce SO2 emissions, can consume an additional 3 percent of the power production.  Some techniques and technologies that can be used to reduce consumption are:

Replacing existing equipment, or portions of equipment, with new, improved designs can contribute significantly to power production efficiency. There has been considerable improvement in new designs of the steam turbine. Some utilities have replaced the entire steam turbine with a more efficient one, while others have made changes to the turbine blade design or the path that the steam takes as it moves through the turbine. The benefits to turbine improvements are discussed further in the topic Turbine Efficiency.

Redesign of the path that the flue gas takes through the boiler, ductwork, and environmental control equipment can improve the efficiency of the production process by reducing the power requirements for fans, minimizing maintenance challenges associated with fly ash and increasing boiler output.

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Babcox and Wilcox, "Upgrades and Enhancements for Competitive Coal-Fired Boiler Systems” (Technical Paper BR#1616)
http://www.babcock.com/library/pdf/BR-1616.pdf

Existing coal-fired capacity potentially offers the lowest variable cost power production option if these units are upgraded to optimize capacity, operating cost (including fuel), efficiency, and availability while also meeting today’s stringent emissions control requirements. This paper highlights a variety of boiler system upgrades and enhancements which are being utilized to make aging coal-fired boilers low cost competitors in the 1990s.

Electric Power Research Institute, “63 Boiler Life and Availability Improvement Program” (2006 Portfolio)
http://www.epriweb.com/public/2006_P063.pdf

Participants in the Boiler Life and Availability Improvement Program will receive technology, forums for information exchange, and support to safely and reliably operate boiler components while maximizing economic return. More specifically, efforts will be geared to reducing the impact of boiler tube failures, the highest source of fossil plant availability loss, to less than 1%. This program contains three projects that broadly address major boiler component nondestructive evaluation (NDE), condition assessment, repair, replacement and cost-benefit decision making. The program provides members with the earliest information on emerging issues affecting boiler component reliability. Specific guideline reports are provided and routinely updated to direct fossil power plant life management efforts for boiler tubing, headers and drums, and high-energy piping systems. Each of the projects depends on the other two to provide an integrated, overall approach.

International Energy Agency, IEA Coal Research, Clean Coal Centre, “Prospects for upgrading coal-fired power plants” (CCC/41, December 2000)
http://bookshop.iea-coal.org.uk/report/80566//80584/Prospects-for-upgrading-coal-fired-power-plants

This report discusses the prospects and market opportunities for upgrading conventional pulverised coal-fired plants. It covers the retrofitting and upgrading of pulverisers and their fuel distribution system, particulate control, flue gas desulphurisation, and NOx abatement and control measures. Process optimisation to minimise pollutant formation and improve boiler efficiency is also described. The two repowering options covered are circulating fluidised bed boilers and the integration of a natural gas turbine to form a combined cycle.

U.S. Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory, “Power Plant Improvement Initiative”
http://www.netl.doe.gov/technologies/coalpower/cctc/PPII/

The Power Plant Improvement Initiative (PPII) was established in October 2000 to further the commercial-scale demonstration of clean coal technologies at existing and new electric generating facilities. The goals of PPII are geared toward demonstrating near-term advances in technologies to increase the efficiency, lower the emissions, and improve the economics and overall performance of coal-fired power plants, and will build on the successes gained through the Clean Coal Technology Demonstration Program (CCTDP). Projects will focus on more effective and lower cost emission controls, and improving the by-product utilization, performance and reliability of power plants.

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