Electrical Generation Leaders Seeking Non-Traditional Fuel Sources for New Project Development

Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). The two largest electrical generators in the U.S., the Southern Company (NYSE:SO) (Atlanta, Georgia) which produces 39,000-megawatts (MW) and American Electric Power Corporation (NYSE:AEP) (Columbus, Ohio), which produces 36,000 MW, in addition to cleaning up pollution from existing generating plants are looking at different types of renewable energy for new generation that will pollute even less.

Southern Company, which will spend in the neighborhood of $6 billion over the next ten years on scrubbers for its coal-fired power plants, is studying both wind and biomass-fired energy. Southern Company subsidiary, Alabama Power Company has been studying the feasibility of co-firing coal-fired boilers with switchgrass, a native grass to the Alabama plains at the company’s Gadsden Power Station in Gadsden, Alabama. A similar study is ongoing at Georgia Power Company’s Mitchell Power Station in Albany, Georgia. In pilot studies at Mitchell, the company attempted to pelletize switchgrass for the combustion process, but the pellets broke up and caused combustion and conveyance problems. Now, they are studying the effects of fine grinding and blowing the fines in at both stations. In addition to the delivery problem, there are several obstacles to overcome before switchgrass can be used in commercial applications. Switchgrass has a tendency to grow fungus and mold in storage. It also is corrosive to equipment, is explosive, and causes problems with emission control system catalysts.

Southern Company is also studying the possibility of windfarms off the coast of Georgia, as well as the possibility of installing new nuclear units at existing and grassroots locations.

American Electric Power was one of the first utilities to utilize wind power with plants in Texas. AEP’s efforts to reduce emissions include the development of coal Integrated-Gasification Combined-Cycle (IGCC) Stations in three states; West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio. The gasification process removes pollutants like sulfur, mercury, carbon, and NOx.

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