North America is blessed with over 25% of the world’s coal reserves. As a result, coal has provided a low cost energy base for power and steam production . However, over 75% of our solid fuel electric generating capacity was installed between 1960 and 1985. Since that time, very little new solid fuel capacity has entered operation in North America. Fortunately for power plant equipment suppliers, markets for new fossil steam generation have grown in Asia, India, China and the Middle East during the last decade. These markets have provided the experience base for our engineers to continue to advance the state of the art in the design, construction, and operation of steam power plants. In addition, while they have not purchased significant new capacity, North American power plant owners have been exposed to system advancements during plant upgrades, rehabilitations, and retrofits of environmental controls. This presentation will describe the evolution of fossil fuel steam power technology, with a focus on improvements to cost, efficiency, and environmental performance in the last decade and a look forward to the technologies of the next decade.
