Quote:
Originally Posted by roysoldboy
Who runs those natural gas generators? I thought it was the same kind of businesses that do it from coal. I am saying that the main reason gas hasn't replaced coal is that the cost of replacement is prohibitive until the coal generators are worn out. I am sure that as that happens they will be replaced. Also, the price of coal will go up rapidly, if Obama gets his way, and that may cause a few more coal plants to close down so new gas generators can replace them. Of course, the price of electricity will make a very rapid rise to the consumers according to what Obama promised.
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To the best of my knowledge, coal plants use coal combustion to boil water into steam. This steam is then used to drive steam turbines. To run efficiently, these need to run at a near steady state operation. They don't like to be started and stopped.
NG plants that I'm aware of use the gas to fuel a gas-turbine (think "jet" engine). The gas is burned directly in the combustor section of the turbine where the heat and expanding gas/air mix drive the turbine wheel. One nice feature is that they can be fired/turned on/off as required to meet changing demand.
I doubt that it is efficient to use NG to fuel the boilers of current-generation coal plants, combustion temperatuers are probably different. If so, you really aren't converting a coal plant to NG, you are tearing out the old one and replacing it.
Remember 3-4 years ago when NG prices were spiking? It was a big deal with the cost of heating. Then new technology was developed that dramitically increased NG production, driving costs down. Unfortunately that technology is now under attack by the "environmental" community.
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