Philadelphia Electric Company Research Articles

Benefit Cost Analysis of Electrification of Urban Districts: Case Study of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

AbstractIn this paper, the results of a feasibility analysis are summarized to assess the energy, economic, and environmental benefits of electrification and renewable energy integration for an urban district of Old City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. First, the energy demand for the district is reduced through the implementation of cost-effective energy efficiency measures (EEMs) appropriate for Philadelphia’s climate. Then, a combination of distributed generation (DG) systems including wind, photovoltaics, and hydropower is evaluated to determine optimized hybrid systems that meet the energy demand of non-electrified and electrified districts. The analysis indicates that the implementation of common and proven EEMs to all the district buildings can reduce its annual energy consumption and CO2 emissions by 13% and 13.8%, respectively. These EEMs are estimated to be cost-effective based on the current electricity price of $0.082/kWh offered by Philadelphia’s utility, Philadelphia Electric Company (PECO). Through cost optimization analysis, a hybrid DG system combining wind and hydropower connected to the grid is found to lower the cost of energy for the non-electrified district to $0.007/kWh, lower than the current PECO rate, with the added benefit to lower carbon emissions by 10%. Moreover, the analysis considered the case of an electrified district which reduces life cycle costs by 3.5%. By implementing electrification and EEMs, the electricity usage decreases by 14% and peak demand by 19.5% as well as CO2 emissions by 18%. Through cost optimization to design a hybrid DG system that can meet energy demands of the electrified district, wind and hydropower connected to the grid is found to achieve a cost of energy of $0.008/kWh and carbon emissions reduction of 34.9%.

Review: Electric Light: An Architectural History, by Sandy Isenstadt and Palazzos of Power: Central Stations of the Philadelphia Electric Company 1900–1930, by Aaron V. Wunsch and Joseph E. B. Elliott

Sandy Isenstadt Electric Light: An Architectural History Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2018, 304 pp., 27 color and 109 b/w illus. $44.95 (cloth), ISBN 9780262038171 Aaron V. Wunsch and Joseph E. B. Elliott Palazzos of Power: Central Stations of the Philadelphia Electric Company 1900–1930 New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2016, 160 pp., 124 b/w illus. $29.95 (cloth), ISBN 9781616895006 “A bicycle shed is a building. Lincoln Cathedral is a piece of architecture,” Nikolaus Pevsner famously wrote at the beginning of his Outline of European Architecture .1 The two books under review, both of which deal in various ways with electricity and architecture, offer compelling evidence of how far the study of architectural history has moved away from Pevsner's formulation. Beyond this, the books diverge. Sandy Isenstadt's Electric Light is a series of meditations on the way electrical lighting has altered both the built environment and our perception of it. In contrast, Palazzos of Power , with text by Aaron V. Wunsch and images by Joseph E. B. Elliott, is a case study of a single building type erected by a single company in a single urban area over a narrow time span. It is probably best to think of Palazzos of Power as a portfolio of photographs. It includes a short but eloquent foreword by David Nye, the peerless chronicler of the history of technology, who puts the subject into a broad historical perspective. Wunsch contributes an informative essay that discusses in more detail the history of the Philadelphia Electric Company (PECO), the technology it employed, the buildings it erected, and the two men most responsible for the buildings pictured in the book, namely, company engineer William C. L. Eglin and the Philadelphia architect John T. Windrim. According to Wunsch, PECO was the result of a series of mergers that took place during a period of tumultuous technological change in the electrical industry. The result was a unified power company for the Philadelphia region, one of the country's most heavily industrialized urban areas. As the company grew, it became clear that the power stations located in the city center and using direct current for transmission were insufficient to …

Palazzos of Power: Central Stations of the Philadelphia Electric Company 1900–1930 by Aaron V. Wunsch, Joseph E. B. Elliott

Palazzos of Power: Central Stations of the Philadelphia Electric Company 1900–1930 by Aaron V. Wunsch, Joseph E. B. Elliott

Lessons from the past: materials-related issues in an ultra-supercritical boiler at Eddystone plant

Electricity fuels the engine of technological progress, and so there is little dispute that the manner in which electrical power is generated in the coming years will affect all of our lives in ways both obvious and subtle. There will be economic effects that will dictate, for example, how much it costs to heat homes and run computers, and there will be environmental effects that will influence the quality of the resources available to sustain life. A dispute arises, however, in determining how best the power can be produced, since the relative sensitivity to the potential effects, be they economic or environmental, varies substantially among the many interested parties.Regardless of sensitivities, there is broad agreement that electric power must remain inexpensive, both to maintain the extraordinary standard of living achieved by the materially developed nations and, at least as importantly, to sustain the progress of developing nations toward equitable levels of prosperity. With abundant, inexpensive power as a primary goal for future generators, certain conclusions inevitably follow. Among these is the fact that for many parts of the world, including both the US and China, coal will remain an essential fuel in the production of electric power because it is plentiful, relatively cheap, and its supply secure.The reference to China is particularly significant, because China is in the midst of a massive construction effort that will add tens of thousands of megawatts of new coal-fired generating capacity in the next ten years, and there is every reason to expect that other developing countries will soon follow suit. There is enormous potential, therefore, to minimize the impact of this massive influx of capacity on the global environment, through an improvement in the overall efficiency of coal-fired boilers.The task for the worldwide power industry, therefore, is clear: improve the efficiency of coal-fired power plants to levels consistent with the best existing engineering technology. But what are those levels? The existing fleet of sub-critical coal-fired steam plants typically operate at efficiencies in the range of 32–34% (based on HHV). Recent units built in Europe and Japan have been designed to run at steam conditions that achieve a significant improvement in efficiency, approaching 40% (HHV). Major research efforts in both the US and Europe have made substantial progress toward the development of coal-fired ultra-supercritical steam generators that will operate at efficiencies approaching 50% based on HHV. A component test facility designed to evaluate operation of major steam generator components at 700°C (1292°F) will soon be operational in Germany, and the first demonstration plant incorporating advanced ultra-supercritical technology could be constructed as soon as the year 2010.With this ambitious schedule in mind, the question posed by those who will be responsible for the operation of these new ultra-supercritical power plants is obvious: will they perform reliably under the conditions of flexible operation that are likely to be imposed by modern de-regulated markets? The real intent of this question is more subtle: do the materials and methods of construction exist to build these advanced coal-fired boilers. In large part, the answer to that question lies in a US power plant located not far from the Philadelphia airport. The plant is Exelon’s (formerly the Philadelphia Electric Company) Eddystone plant. The steam generator for Unit 1 at that plant, which was designed and built by Combustion Engineering (now ALSTOM Power, Inc.) in the 1950s, has operated successfully for more than 44 years at steam conditions more advanced than any other coal-fired unit in operation today. This paper will briefly review salient features of the operating history of Eddystone 1, focussing on the materials-related problems that forced a modest retreat from the original and unprecedented design conditions, but emphasizing, as well, the record of many years of reliable operation at very aggressive steam conditions. It will then discuss a few of the more significant materials-related issues involved in operating a steam generator at Eddystone-like conditions as a basis for arguing that there exists today the materials and manufacturing understanding necessary to construct an advanced ultra-supercritical unit that will operate efficiently and reliably.

Long-Term Trends in Bird Populations on an Electric Transmission Right-of-Way

We conducted a 2-year study of bird populations on the Green Lane Research and Demonstration Project, which is located along a 500-kV transmission line right-of-way (ROW) of the Philadelphia Electric Company, in the Piedmont Province, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, U.S., in spring and summer 2001 and 2002. The objectives of our study were to (1) determine the diversity and relative abundance of bird populations in spring versus summer on the ROW, (2) compare bird use among five representative treatment units of the ROW, and (3) compare use of wire zones versus border zones on the ROW. In addition, bird populations in this study were compared to those observed on the ROW in 1987 and 1988. Forty-four species (including one hybrid) were observed on the ROW during 2001 and 2002. In 1987 and 1988 combined, 42 species were noted on the ROW; thus, despite continued mechanical and herbicidal maintenance of the right-of-way, the bird community has changed very little over the past 15 years. More species were observed on the ROW in spring than in summer. Common bird species on the ROW in one or both seasons were those adapted to early successional or edge habitats. Total abundance of all species combined, however, was higher in summer than in spring, in part because of the presence of many family groups (parents and fledgling young). Most species were found in the mowing plus herbicide unit and the fewest were noted in the foliage-spray unit. Considerably more birds were observed in border zones than in wire zones of the ROW. Thus, border zones are very important habitat for birds along a ROW, with its combination of shrub­forb­grass cover type.

High Capacity Dual Purpose Casks For The Transport/Storage Of Boiling Water Reactor Fuels

There are basically two main technologies for the intermediate storage of spent nuclear fuel in Europe: dry storage in casks or vaults and wet storage in pools. The advantage of casks is their modularity and hence investment can be phased to suit the planned dates of loading individual casks, pools and vaults usually provide longer term capacity and thus require a greater initial investment for operators. Transnucléaire has developed a range of modular dry cask solutions for customers and more than 100 examples of the TN 24 type cask have been licensed for transport and storage in Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, the United States of America and Japan. This paper compares the requirements for cask licensing in Europe and the USA and shows how two particular BWR cask designs were developed by Transnucléaire. (1) The TN 97 L cask was designed primarily for the European market and the first use is foreseen at the Leibstadt nuclear power station in Switzerland. (2) The TN 68 cask was designed by Transnuclear Inc. and its first use is foreseen at the Philadelphia Electric Company's Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station.

Application of Reliability-Centered Maintenance to Boiling Water Reactor Emergency Core Cooling Systems Fault-Tree Analysis

Reliability-centered maintenance (RCM) methods are applied to boiling water reactor plant-specific emergency core cooling system probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) fault trees. The RCM is a technique that is system functionbased, for improving a preventive maintenance (PM) program, which is applied on a component basis. Many PM programs are based on time-directed maintenance tasks, while RCM methods focus on component condition-directed maintenance tasks. Stroke time test data for motor-operated valves (MOVs) are used to address three aspects concerning RCM: (a) to determine if MOV stroke time testing (as required by Section XI of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Code) was useful as a condition-directed PM task; (b) to determine and compare the plant-specific MOV failure data from a broad RCM philosophy time period compared with a PM period and, also, compared with generic industry MOV failure data; and (c) to determine the effects and impact of the plant-specific MOV failure data on core damage frequency (CDF) and system unavailabilities for these emergency systems. The MOV stroke time test data from four emergency core cooling systems [i.e., highpressure coolant injection (HPCI), reactor core isolation cooling (RCIC), low-pressure core spray (LPCS), and residual heat removal/low-pressure coolant injection (RHR/LPCI)] were gathered from Philadelphia Electric Company’s Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station Units 2 and 3 between 1980 and 1992.The analyses showed that MOV stroke time testing was not a predictor for eminent failure and should be considered as a go/no-go test. The failure data from the broad RCM philosophy showed an improvement compared with the PMperiod failure rates in the emergency core cooling system MOVs. Also, the plant-specific MOV failure rates for both maintenance philosophies were shown to be lower than the generic industry estimates.A significant decrease in CDF was found when comparing the plant-specific data with the generic data. Only a small difference in CDF was found between plant-specific RCM data compared with PM data, which can be attributed to the few number of essential MOVs modeled in the HPCI, RCIC, RHR/LPCI, and LPCS PRA fault trees.

Portable and affordable operator training simulators

A computerized operator training simulator (OTS) that realistically models the behavior of an entire power system is featured. Drawbacks of the original OTS are identified. The research and development involved in reimplementating the original OTS in the Unix operating system is discussed. The development and conversion of the software for the Unix environment are detailed, and results of OTS acceptance testing using the data model of the Philadelphia Electric Company are presented.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

Industry-sponsored student projects to promote power quality education

The authors present the results of two industry-sponsored senior design projects on power quality: effect of harmonic current distortion on power transformer capability, sponsored by the Philadelphia Electric Company (PECO); and power quality survey of a commercial system, sponsored by BCM engineers. The objective of the first project was to investigate the effect of harmonic current distortion on the capabilities of critical power transformers that service computing equipment in the corporate headquarters of PECO. The objective of the second project was to conduct a power quality survey of the BCM system to ascertain whether power line disturbances were the causes of outages and failures of essential BCM computing facilities. Each project had its own power line monitor. The success of these student projects has promoted interest in power engineering as a career for many of the group members and generated enrollment in the senior-level power program. >

Client Consumption Patterns Within An Income-Based Energy Assistance Program

An increasing number of states and utilities are exploring and implementing income-based energy assistance programs for their lowincome clients and customers [Hill, Gonzales and Colton 1990]. Such programs include not only programs involving federal fuel assistance funds,' but programs involving utility rate discounts as well. The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio initiated this approach to low-income problems in 1983 when it ordered that state's utilities to implement a Percentage of Income Plan (PIP).2 Since then, a number of generations of programs have arisen. The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)-based PIP3 was first implemented in Rhode Island in 1986.4 In Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Electric Company (PECO) implemented its Customer Assistance Program (CAP), an income-based payment plan program,5 while Wisconsin and Minnesota undertook programs similar to the LIHEAP-based PIP.6 Just recently, the Philadelphia Gas Commission approved an incomebased rate design for the Philadelphia Gas Works7 and the Vermont Department of Public Service proposed an income-based Basic Energy Needs Program (BENP) for regulated non-heating vendors. Some analysts rely upon blackboard economic theory to oppose income-based programs. They argue that such programs are contrary to public policy promoting energy conservation. These analysts assert that implementation of such a program will inexorably lead to the

Optimal Partnership of Operator and Computer for Power System Restoration

A four year study in search of the best and most efficient partnership of the computer and the operators in large scale system restoration was carried out at Washington University cooperatively with Philadelphia Electric Company. The objective is to combine the available expertise of the operators with the computational ability of the computer while relieving the computer of extensive searches and relieving the operator of predicting beyond his natural horizon. The result is an effective and feasible approach which is summarized in this paper.

Update on the PECo/Solarex thin film test site

Abstract Philadelphia Electric Company's (PECo) amorphous silicon test site became operational in August 1986. Test site configuration, first year's initial operating performance, and early system problems were presented at the SERI Photovoltaic Thin Film Module Reliability Testing and Evaluation Workshop, August 13 – 14, 1987, Lakewood, CO. In addition, we have reported on performance at previous IEEE Photovoltaics Specialist Conferences. In January, 1988 the test site was shut down and the site expanded with the addition of new Solarex amorphous silicon PV modules and two new inverters. This paper describes the final portions of Phase 1 performance as well as the initial performance of the larger Phase 2 project.

Utility Combustion Turbine Evaluation of Coal Liquid Fuels

A comprehensive field test was performed to evaluate the suitability of H-Coal middle distillate and full-range Exxon Donor Solvent (EDS) coal-derived liquids (CDLs) as utility combustion turbine fuels. A Westinghouse W251AA 26 MW combustion turbine operated by the Philadelphia Electric Company was the test engine. No. 2 petroleum distillate fuel was also fired to establish baseline data. This program was sponsored by the Electric Power Research Institute. Site modifications included a temporary CDL storage and fuel transfer system, water storage and injection equipment, an instrumented combustor, engine and emissions instrumentation and data acquisition systems, and industrial hygiene facilities required for the proper handling of the CDLs. The overall results of testing were positive for using such CDL fuels in combustion turbines for power generation. With the exception of higher combustor metal temperatures with the CDLs, and persistent fuel filter plugging with the EDS fuel (which occurred even with increased fuel temperature and filter size), the engine operated satisfactorily during approximately 80 hr of total running over the standard range of load and water injection conditions.

Progress Report of the Critical Equipment Monitoring System

The Philadelphia Electric Company has contracted with Energy Data Systems to develop a Critical Equipment Monitoring System for its Peach Bottom Nuclear Plant. This computerized system is designed to acquire and maintain accurate and timely status information on plant equipment. It will provide auditable record of plant and equipment transactions. Positive equipment identification and location will be provided. Errors in complex logical checking will be minimized. This system should reduce operator loading and improve operator communicatin with the plant personnel.

Public Notification System Design Aided By Actual Measurements Of Siren Coverage

Renewed interest in the effectiveness of public notification systems has been stimulated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) requirement for public notification around each nuclear power plant. Power utilities throughout the country have taken different approaches to try to comply with the NRC's requirement. Philadelphia Electric Company (PECO) took a direct approach and evaluated the effectiveness of a siren's coverage which provided guidance to finalization of a public notification system design.

Electric utility conservation programs and the decision to abandon partially completed supply projects

Electric utility conservation programs are examined in the context of a decision to terminate partially completed supply projects, using the case of Philadelphia Electric Company's Limerick generating station. A cost-effectiveness criterion is developed for such utility programs. Methodology for determining the cost of various loan and grant programs is outlined, and particular programs are evaluated. It is found that 1. (1) utility financial incentives for end-use conservation are usually cost-effective; 2. (2) in the case study,conservation programs could replace one of the two units under construction; 3. (3) except for the lowest cost-programs, conservation competes with continued construction.

Steam Generator Materials Performance in High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactors

High temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) systems feature a graphite-moderated, uranium-thorium, all-ceramic core and utilize high pressure helium as the primary coolant. The steam generators in these systems are exposed to gas-side temperatures approaching 760°C (1400°F) and produce superheated steam at 538°C (1000°F) and 16.5 MPa (2400 psi). Thus, the design and development of steam generators for these systems require consideration of time-dependent materials behavior, corrosion, fretting, wear, and other related phenomena of concern in all steam generators.The prototype Peach Bottom Unit No. 1 40-MW (electric) HTGR was operated by the Philadelphia Electric Company for a total of 1349 equivalent full power days during a 7-yr period. Upon planned decommissioning of that plant, the forced-recirculation U-tube steam generators and other components were subjected to destructive properties tests and metallurgical examinations. These tests and examinations showed the steam generators to be in very satisfactory condition.The 330-MW(electric) Fort St. Vrain HTGR, owned and operated by Public Service Company of Colorado, and now in the final stages of startup, has achieved 70% power and generated more than 1.5 × 106 MWh of electricity. The steam generators in this reactor are once-through units of helical configuration, and their design and development required considering a number of new materials factors including creep fatigue. Also, because of the once-through design, water chemistry control needed special consideration.Current designs of larger HTGRs also feature steam generators of helical tube once-through design. Materials issues that are important in these designs include detailed consideration of time-dependent behavior of both base metals and welds, as required by current American Society of Mechanical Engineers Code rules, evaluation of bimetallic weld behavior, evaluation of the properties of very large tubesheet forgings, consideration of the gaseous corrosion effects of the primary coolant, and other related factors.

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An Economic System Planning Interactive Load Flow Adaptable to Existing Computer Systems

This paper describes the development of an inexpensive interactive load flow system utilizing an existing load flow program. The system was Installed on a computer network which supports a time sharing option (TSO). Minor modifications were made to the Philadelphia Electric Company Power flow program to enable interactive operation Including a convergence record display On a cathode ray tube (CRT) screen during program execution. Routines composed of executable sequences of TSO commands were developed to enable a user to exercise control over program Initiations, executions, cancellations, modifications, and the editing of results. The user can then create, modify, and delete data sets by easy interaction with the CRT. These capabilities, combined with the ease of operation, and the economical implementation make this system quite attractive and practicable for many existing computer systems with remote terminal capability.This system can quickly provide electric utility system planning engineers with load flow solutions with significant cost savings due to more efficient utilization of engineering time.

Persistence of Chlorine in Cooling Water from Electric Generating Station

A study of the persistence of chlorine in the cooling water discharged to the Delaware River estuary by the Philadelphia Electric Company Eddystone Generating Station showed that potentially toxic levels of chlorine were present 1 hr to 2 hr after discharge for organisms (plankton) entrained in the thermal discharge plume. Based on consideration of chlorine persistence-time of exposure relationships that exist in cooling water thermal plumes, little or no toxicity would be expected to fish in the Delaware River due to the use of chlorine for condenser fouling control at the Eddystone Electric Generating Station.