History of nuclear power

This is a history of nuclear power.
Origins.
In 1932, physicist Ernest Rutherford discovered that when lithium atoms were "split" by protons from a proton accelerator, immense amounts of energy were released in accordance with the principle of mass–energy equivalence. However, he and other nuclear physics pioneers Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein believed harnessing the power of the atom for practical purposes anytime in the near future was unlikely. The same year, Rutherford's doctoral student James Chadwick discovered the neutron. Experiments bombarding materials with neutrons led Frédéric and Irène Joliot-Curie to discover induced radioactivity in 1934, which allowed the creation of radium-like elements. Further work by Enrico Fermi in the 1930s focused on using slow neutrons to increase the effectiveness of induced radioactivity. Experiments bombarding uranium with neutrons led Fermi to believe he had created a new transuranic element, which was dubbed hesperium.
In 1938, German chemists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann, along with Austrian physicist Lise Meitner and Meitner's nephew, Otto Robert Frisch, conducted experiments with the products of neutron-bombarded uranium, as a means of further investigating Fermi's claims. They determined that the relatively tiny neutron split the nucleus of the massive uranium atoms into two roughly equal pieces, contradicting Fermi. This was an extremely surprising result; all other forms of nuclear decay involved only small changes to the mass of the nucleus, whereas this process—dubbed "fission" as a reference to biology—involved a complete rupture of the nucleus. Numerous scientists, including Leó Szilárd, who was one of the first, recognized that if fission reactions released additional neutrons, a self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction could result. Once this was experimentally confirmed and announced by Frédéric Joliot-Curie in 1939, scientists in many countries (including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and the Soviet Union) petitioned their governments for support of nuclear fission research, just on the cusp of World War II, for the development of a nuclear weapon.
First nuclear reactor.
In the United States, where Fermi and Szilárd had both emigrated, the discovery of the nuclear chain reaction led to the creation of the first man-made reactor, the research reactor known as Chicago Pile-1, which achieved criticality on December 2, 1942. The reactor's development was part of the Manhattan Project, the Allied effort to create atomic bombs during World War II. It led to the building of larger single-purpose production reactors, such as the X-10 Pile, for the production of weapons-grade plutonium for use in the first nuclear weapons. The United States tested the first nuclear weapon in July 1945, the Trinity test, with the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki taking place one month later.
In August 1945, the first widely distributed account of nuclear energy, the pocketbook "The Atomic Age", was released. It discussed the peaceful future uses of nuclear energy and depicted a future where fossil fuels would go unused. Nobel laureate Glenn Seaborg, who later chaired the United States Atomic Energy Commission, is quoted as saying "there will be nuclear powered earth-to-moon shuttles, nuclear powered artificial hearts, plutonium heated swimming pools for SCUBA divers, and much more".
In the same month, with the end of the war, Seaborg and others would file hundreds of initially classified patents, most notably Eugene Wigner and Alvin Weinberg's Patent #2,736,696, on a conceptual light water reactor (LWR) that would later become the United States' primary reactor for naval propulsion and later take up the greatest share of the commercial fission-electric landscape.
The United Kingdom, Canada, and the USSR proceeded to research and develop nuclear energy over the course of the late 1940s and early 1950s.
Electricity was generated for the first time by a nuclear reactor on December 20, 1951, at the EBR-I experimental station near Arco, Idaho, which initially produced about 100 kW.
In 1953, American President Dwight Eisenhower gave his "Atoms for Peace" speech at the United Nations, emphasizing the need to develop "peaceful" uses of nuclear power quickly. This was followed by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 which allowed rapid declassification of U.S. reactor technology and encouraged development by the private sector.
Early years.
The first organization to develop nuclear power was the U.S. Navy, with the S1W reactor for the purpose of propelling submarines and aircraft carriers. The first nuclear-powered submarine, , was put to sea in January 1954. The S1W reactor was a Pressurized Water Reactor. This design was chosen because it was simpler, more compact, and easier to operate compared to alternative designs, thus more suitable to be used in submarines. This decision would result in the PWR being the reactor of choice also for power genreation, thus having a lasting impact on the civilian electricity market in the years to come.
The United States Navy Nuclear Propulsion design and operation community, under Rickover's style
On June 27, 1954, the Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant in the USSR became the world's first nuclear power plant to generate electricity for a power grid, producing around 5 megawatts of electric power.
The world's first commercial nuclear power station, Calder Hall at Windscale, England was connected to the national power grid on 27 August 1956. In common with a number of other generation I reactors, the plant had the dual purpose of producing electricity and plutonium-239, the latter for the nascent nuclear weapons program in Britain. It had an initial capacity of 50 MW per reactor (200 MW total), it was the first of a fleet of dual-purpose MAGNOX reactors.
The U.S. Army Nuclear Power Program formally commenced in 1954. Under its management, the 2 megawatt SM-1, at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, was the first in the United States to supply electricity in an industrial capacity to the commercial grid (VEPCO), in April 1957.
The first commercial nuclear station to become operational in the United States was the 60 MW Shippingport Reactor (Pennsylvania), in December 1957.
Originating from a cancelled nuclear-powered aircraft carrier contract, the plant used a PWR reactor design. Its early adoption, technological lock-in, and familiarity among retired naval personnel, established the PWR as the predominant civilian reactor design, that it still retains today in the United States.
In 1957 EURATOM was launched alongside the European Economic Community (the latter is now the European Union). The same year also saw the launch of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The first major accident at a nuclear reactor occurred at the 3 MW SL-1, a U.S. Army experimental nuclear power reactor at the National Reactor Testing Station, Idaho National Laboratory. It was derived from the Borax Boiling water reactor (BWR) design and it first achieved operational criticality and connection to the grid in 1958.
For reasons unknown, in 1961 a technician removed a control rod about 22 inches farther than the prescribed 4 inches. This resulted in a steam explosion which killed the three crew members and caused a meltdown. The event was eventually rated at 4 on the seven-level INES scale.
Another serious accident happened in 1968, when one of the two liquid-metal-cooled reactors on board the underwent a fuel element failure, with the emission of gaseous fission products into the surrounding air. This resulted in 9 crew fatalities and 83 injuries.
Development and early opposition to nuclear power.
The total global installed nuclear capacity initially rose relatively quickly, rising from less than 1 gigawatt (GW) in 1960 to 100 GW in the late 1970s, and 300 GW in the late 1980s. Since the late 1980s worldwide capacity has risen much more slowly, reaching 366 GW in 2005. Between around 1970 and 1990, more than 50 GW of capacity was under construction (peaking at over 150 GW in the late 1970s and early 1980s)—in 2005, around 25 GW of new capacity was planned. More than two-thirds of all nuclear plants ordered after January 1970 were eventually cancelled. A total of 63 nuclear units were canceled in the United States between 1975 and 1980.
In 1972 Alvin Weinberg, co-inventor of the light water reactor design (the most common nuclear reactors today) was fired from his job at Oak Ridge National Laboratory by the Nixon administration, "at least in part" over his raising of concerns about the safety and wisdom of ever larger scaling-up of his design, especially above a power rating of ~500 MWe, as in a loss of coolant accident scenario, the decay heat generated from such large compact solid-fuel cores was thought to be beyond the capabilities of passive/natural convection cooling to prevent a rapid fuel rod melt-down and resulting in then, potential far reaching fission product pluming. While considering the LWR, well suited at sea for the submarine and naval fleet, Weinberg did not show complete support for its use by utilities on land at the power output that they were interested in for supply scale reasons, and would request for a greater share of AEC research funding to evolve his team's demonstrated, Molten-Salt Reactor Experiment, a design with greater inherent safety in this scenario and with that an envisioned greater economic growth potential in the market of large-scale civilian electricity generation.
Similar to the earlier BORAX reactor safety experiments, conducted by Argonne National Laboratory, in 1976 Idaho National Laboratory began a test program focused on LWR reactors under various accident scenarios, with the aim of understanding the event progression and mitigating steps necessary to respond to a failure of one or more of the disparate systems, with much of the redundant back-up safety equipment and nuclear regulations drawing from these series of destructive testing investigations.
During the 1970s and 1980s rising economic costs (related to extended construction times largely due to regulatory changes and pressure-group litigation) and falling fossil fuel prices made nuclear power plants then under construction less attractive. In the 1980s in the U.S. and 1990s in Europe, the flat electric grid growth and electricity liberalization also made the addition of large new baseload energy generators economically unattractive.
The 1973 oil crisis had a significant effect on countries, such as France and Japan, which had relied more heavily on oil for electric generation (39% and 73% respectively) to invest in nuclear power.
The French plan, known as the Messmer plan, was for the complete independence from oil, with an envisaged construction of 80 reactors by 1985 and 170 by 2000.
France would construct 25 fission-electric stations, installing 56 mostly PWR design reactors over the next 15 years, though foregoing the 100 reactors initially charted in 1973, for the 1990s.
In 2019, 71% of French electricity was generated by 58 reactors, the highest percentage by any nation in the world.
Some local opposition to nuclear power emerged in the U.S. in the early 1960s, beginning with the proposed Bodega Bay station in California, in 1958, which produced conflict with local citizens and by 1964 the concept was ultimately abandoned. In the late 1960s some members of the scientific community began to express pointed concerns. These anti-nuclear concerns related to nuclear accidents, nuclear proliferation, nuclear terrorism and radioactive waste disposal. In the early 1970s, there were large protests about a proposed nuclear power plant in Wyhl, Germany. The project was cancelled in 1975 the anti-nuclear success at Wyhl inspired opposition to nuclear power in other parts of Europe and North America. By the mid-1970s anti-nuclear activism gained a wider appeal and influence, and nuclear power began to become an issue of major public protest. In some countries, the nuclear power conflict "reached an intensity unprecedented in the history of technology controversies". In May 1979, an estimated 70,000 people, including then governor of California Jerry Brown, attended a march against nuclear power in Washington, D.C. Anti-nuclear power groups emerged in every country that had a nuclear power programme.
Globally during the 1980s one new nuclear reactor started up every 17 days on average.
Regulations, pricing and accidents.
In the early 1970s, the increased public hostility to nuclear power in the United States lead the United States Atomic Energy Commission and later the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to lengthen the license procurement process, tighten engineering regulations and increase the requirements for safety equipment. Together with relatively minor percentage increases in the total quantity of steel, piping, cabling and concrete per unit of installed nameplate capacity, the more notable changes to the regulatory open public hearing-response cycle for the granting of construction licenses, had the effect of what was once an initial 16 months for project initiation to the pouring of first concrete in 1967, escalating to 32 months in 1972 and finally 54 months in 1980, which ultimately, quadrupled the price of power reactors.
Utility proposals in the U.S for nuclear generating stations, peaked at 52 in 1974, fell to 12 in 1976 and have never recovered, in large part due to the pressure-group litigation strategy, of launching lawsuits against each proposed U.S construction proposal, keeping private utilities tied up in court for years, one of which having reached the supreme court in 1978 (see Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc.. With permission to build a nuclear station in the U.S. eventually taking longer than in any other industrial country, the spectre facing utilities of having to pay interest on large construction loans while the anti-nuclear movement used the legal system to produce delays, increasingly made the viability of financing construction, less certain. By the close of the 1970s it became clear that nuclear power would not grow nearly as dramatically as once believed.
Over 120 reactor proposals in the United States were ultimately cancelled and the construction of new reactors ground to a halt. A cover story in the February 11, 1985, issue of "Forbes" magazine commented on the overall failure of the U.S. nuclear power program, saying it "ranks as the largest managerial disaster in business history".
According to some commentators, the 1979 accident at Three Mile Island played a major part in the reduction in the number of new plant constructions in many other countries. According to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the Three Mile Island accident was the most serious accident in "U.S. commercial nuclear power plant operating history, even though it led to no deaths or injuries to plant workers or members of the nearby community." The regulatory uncertainty and delays eventually resulted in an escalation of construction related debt that led to the bankruptcy of Seabrook's major utility owner, Public Service Company of New Hampshire. At the time, the fourth largest bankruptcy in United States corporate history.
Among American engineers, the cost increases from implementing the regulatory changes that resulted from the TMI accident were, when eventually finalized, only a few percent of total construction costs for new reactors, primarily relating to the prevention of safety systems from being turned off. With the most significant engineering result of the TMI accident, the recognition that better operator training was needed and that the existing emergency core cooling system of PWRs worked better in a real-world emergency than members of the anti-nuclear movement had routinely claimed.
The already slowing rate of new construction along with the shutdown in the 1980s of two existing demonstration nuclear power stations in the Tennessee Valley, United States, when they couldn't economically meet the NRC's new tightened standards, shifted electricity generation to coal-fired power plants. In 1977, following the first oil shock, U.S. President Jimmy Carter made a speech calling the energy crisis the "moral equivalent of war" and prominently supporting nuclear power. However, nuclear power could not compete with cheap oil and gas, particularly after public opposition and regulatory hurdles made new nuclear prohibitively expensive.
In 1982, amongst a backdrop of ongoing protests directed at the construction of the first commercial scale breeder reactor in France, a later member of the Swiss Green Party fired five RPG-7 rocket-propelled grenades at the still under construction containment building of the Superphenix reactor. Two grenades hit and caused minor damage to the reinforced concrete outer shell. It was the first time protests reached such heights. After examination of the superficial damage, the prototype fast breeder reactor started and operated for over a decade.
Chernobyl disaster.
The Chernobyl disaster occurred on Saturday 26 April 1986, at the No. 4 reactor in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, near the city of Pripyat in the north of the Ukrainian SSR. It is considered as the worst nuclear disaster in history both in terms of cost and casualties. The initial emergency response, together with later decontamination of the environment, ultimately involved more than 500,000 personnel and cost an estimated 18 billion Soviet rubles—roughly US$68 billion in 2019, adjusted for inflation.
According to some commentators, the Chernobyl disaster played a major part in the reduction in the number of new plant constructions in many other countries.
Unlike the Three Mile Island accident the much more serious Chernobyl accident did not increase regulations or engineering changes affecting Western reactors; because the RBMK design, which lacks safety features such as "robust" containment buildings, was only used in the Soviet Union. Over 10 RBMK reactors are still in use today. However, changes were made in both the RBMK reactors themselves (use of a safer enrichment of uranium) and in the control system (preventing safety systems being disabled), amongst other things, to reduce the possibility of a similar accident.
Russia now largely relies upon, builds and exports a variant of the PWR, the VVER, with over 20 in use today.
An international organization to promote safety awareness and the professional development of operators in nuclear facilities, the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO), was created as a direct outcome of the 1986 Chernobyl accident. The organization was created with the intent to share and grow the adoption of nuclear safety culture, technology and community, where before there was an atmosphere of cold war secrecy.
Numerous countries, including Austria (1978), Sweden (1980) and Italy (1987) (influenced by Chernobyl) have voted in referendums to oppose or phase out nuclear power.
Nuclear renaissance.
In the early 2000s, the nuclear industry was expecting a nuclear renaissance, an increase in the construction of new reactors, due to concerns about carbon dioxide emissions. However, in 2009, Petteri Tiippana, the director of nuclear power plant division in the Finnish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority, told the BBC that it was difficult to deliver a Generation III reactor project on schedule because builders were not used to working to the exacting standards required on nuclear construction sites, since so few new reactors had been built in recent years.
The Olkiluoto 3 was the first EPR, a modernized PWR design, to start construction. Problems with workmanship and supervision have created costly delays. The reactor is estimated to cost three times the initial estimate and will be delivered over 10 years behind schedule.
In 2018 the MIT Energy Initiative study on the future of nuclear energy concluded that, together with the strong suggestion that government should financially support development and demonstration of new Generation IV nuclear technologies, for a worldwide renaissance to commence, a global standardization of regulations needs to take place, with a move towards serial manufacturing of standardized units akin to the other complex engineering field of aircraft and aviation. At present it is common for each country to demand bespoke changes to the design to satisfy varying national regulatory bodies, often to the benefit of domestic engineering supply firms. The report goes on to note that the most cost-effective projects have been built with multiple (up to six) reactors per site using a standardized design, with the same component suppliers and construction crews working on each unit, in a continuous work flow.
Fukushima Daiichi disaster.
Following the Tōhoku earthquake on 11 March 2011, one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded, and a subsequent tsunami off the coast of Japan, the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant suffered three core meltdowns due to failure of the emergency cooling system for lack of electricity supply. This resulted in the most serious nuclear accident since the Chernobyl disaster.
The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident prompted a re-examination of nuclear safety and nuclear energy policy in many countries and raised questions among some commentators over the future of the renaissance.
Germany approved plans to close all its reactors by 2022. Italian nuclear energy plans ended when Italy banned the generation, but not consumption, of nuclear electricity in a June 2011 referendum.
China, Switzerland, Israel, Malaysia, Thailand, United Kingdom, and the Philippines reviewed their nuclear power programs.
In 2011 the International Energy Agency halved its prior estimate of new generating capacity to be built by 2035.
Nuclear power generation had the biggest ever fall year-on-year in 2012, with nuclear power plants globally producing 2,346 TWh of electricity, a drop of 7% from 2011.
This was caused primarily by the majority of Japanese reactors remaining offline that year and the permanent closure of eight reactors in Germany.
Post-Fukushima.
The Associated Press and Reuters reported in 2011 the suggestion that the safety and survival of the younger Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant, the closest reactor facility to the epicenter and on the coast, demonstrate that it is possible for nuclear facilities to withstand the greatest natural disasters. The Onagawa plant was also said to show that nuclear power can retain public trust, with the surviving residents of the town of Onagawa taking refuge in the gymnasium of the nuclear facility following the destruction of their town.
In February 2012, the U.S. NRC approved the construction of 2 reactors at the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant, the first approval in 30 years.
In August 2015, following 4 years of near zero fission-electricity generation, Japan began restarting its nuclear reactors, after safety upgrades were completed, beginning with Sendai Nuclear Power Plant.
By 2015, the IAEA's outlook for nuclear energy had become more promising.
"Nuclear power is a critical element in limiting greenhouse gas emissions," the agency noted, and "the prospects for nuclear energy remain positive in the medium to long term despite a negative impact in some countries in the aftermath of the [Fukushima-Daiichi] accident...it is still the second-largest source worldwide of low-carbon electricity.
And the 72 reactors under construction at the start of last year were the most in 25 years."
, the global trend was for new nuclear power stations coming online to be balanced by the number of old plants being retired. Eight new grid connections were completed by China in 2015.
In 2016, the BN-800 sodium cooled fast reactor in Russia, began commercial electricity generation, while plans for a BN-1200 were initially conceived the future of the fast reactor program in Russia awaits the results from MBIR, an under construction multi-loop Generation research facility for testing the chemically more inert lead, lead-bismuth and gas coolants, it will similarly run on recycled MOX (mixed uranium and plutonium oxide) fuel. An on-site pyrochemical processing, closed fuel-cycle facility, is planned, to recycle the spent fuel/"waste" and reduce the necessity for a growth in uranium mining and exploration. In 2017 the manufacture program for the reactor commenced with the facility open to collaboration under the "International Project on Innovative Nuclear Reactors and Fuel Cycle", it has a construction schedule, that includes an operational start in 2020. As planned, it will be the world's most-powerful research reactor.
In 2015, the Japanese government committed to the aim of restarting its fleet of 40 reactors by 2030 after safety upgrades, and to finish the construction of the Generation III Ōma Nuclear Power Plant.
This would mean that approximately 20% of electricity would come from nuclear power by 2030. As of 2018, some reactors have restarted commercial operation following inspections and upgrades with new regulations. While South Korea has a large nuclear power industry, the new government in 2017, influenced by a vocal anti-nuclear movement, committed to halting nuclear development after the completion of the facilities presently under construction.
The bankruptcy of Westinghouse in March 2017 due to US$9 billion of losses from the halting of construction at Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Generating Station, in the U.S. is considered an advantage for eastern companies, for the future export and design of nuclear fuel and reactors.
In 2016, the U.S. Energy Information Administration projected for its "base case" that world nuclear power generation would increase from 2,344 terawatt hours (TWh) in 2012 to 4,500 TWh in 2040. Most of the predicted increase was expected to be in Asia. As of 2018, there are over 150 nuclear reactors planned including 50 under construction. In January 2019, China had 45 reactors in operation, 13 under construction, and plans to build 43 more, which would make it the world's largest generator of nuclear electricity.
Current prospects.
Zero-emission nuclear power is an important part of the climate change mitigation effort. Under IEA Sustainable Development Scenario by 2030 nuclear power and CCUS would have generated 3900 TWh globally while wind and solar 8100 TWh with the ambition to achieve net-zero emissions by 2070. In order to achieve this goal on average 15 GWe of nuclear power should have been added annually on average. As of 2019 over 60 GW in new nuclear power plants was in construction, mostly in China, Russia, Korea, India and UAE. Many countries in the world are considering Small Modular Reactors with one in Russia connected to the grid in 2020.
Countries with at least one nuclear power plant in planning phase include Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Finland, Hungary, India, Kazakhstan, Poland, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan.
The future of nuclear power varies greatly between countries, depending on government policies. Some countries, most notably, Germany, have adopted policies of nuclear power phase-out. At the same time, some Asian countries, such as China and India, have committed to rapid expansion of nuclear power. In other countries, such as the United Kingdom and the United States, nuclear power is planned to be part of the energy mix together with renewable energy.
Nuclear energy may be one solution to providing clean power while also reversing the impact fossil fuels have had on our climate. These plants would capture carbon dioxide and create a clean energy source with zero emissions, making a carbon-negative process. Scientists propose that 1.8 million lives have already been saved by replacing fossil fuel sources with nuclear power.
 the cost of extending plant lifetimes is competitive with other electricity generation technologies, including new solar and wind projects. In the United States, licenses of almost half of the operating nuclear reactors have been extended to 60 years.
The U.S. NRC and the U.S. Department of Energy have initiated research into light water reactor sustainability which is hoped will lead to allowing extensions of reactor licenses beyond 60 years, provided that safety can be maintained, to increase energy security and preserve low-carbon generation sources. Research into nuclear reactors that can last 100 years, known as Centurion Reactors, is being conducted.
As of 2020, a number of US nuclear power plants were cleared by Nuclear Regulatory Commission for operations up to 80 years.


TransAlta

TransAlta Corporation (formerly Calgary Power Company, Ltd.) is an electricity power generator and wholesale marketing company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It is a privately owned corporation and its shares are traded publicly. It operates over 70 power plants in Canada, the United States, and Australia. TransAlta operates wind, hydro, natural gas, and coal power generation facilities. The company has been recognized for its leadership in sustainability by the Dow Jones Sustainability North America Index, the FTSE4Good Index, and the Jantzi Social Index. TransAlta is Canada's largest investor-owned renewable energy provider. The company is not without controversy as the Alberta Utility Commission ruled in 2015 that TransAlta manipulated the price of electricity when it took outages at its Alberta coal-fired generating units in late 2010 and early 2011.
History.
In 1909, TransAlta began the planning and construction of the Horseshoe Falls Hydro Plant in Seebe, Alberta. Two years later, Calgary Power Company, Ltd. was born.
That first dam was built by a crew of about 200 with primitive tools such as picks and wheelbarrows. It initially had a 10 MW capacity (13,500 horsepower). A second dam was commissioned in 1913 at Kananaskis Falls and was built by close to 500 workers.
At the time, streetcars were responsible for a significant share of Calgary’s electrical load. Residential power was just being introduced, and many homes were lit for the first time with electrical lamps because of Calgary Power. Calgary Power's cheap energy is credited with Canadian Pacific Railway's decision to locate its regional engine repair shop in Ogden, Calgary, spurring the city's economic development.
Notable leaders from the company’s early years included W. Max Aitken (eventually Lord Beaverbrook) and R.B. Bennett, who went on to become Canada’s Prime Minister from 1930 to 1935.
The company's monopoly position and behaviour made its status as a private corporation unpopular among rural customers and some Calgary residents, and a move to nationalize it was converted to a province-wide referendum in 1948, which came down very narrowly on the side of maintaining its private ownership.
In 1981, the company changed its name to its current name of TransAlta Corporation.
At the end of 2010, TransAlta became the first company to own and operate more than 1,000 MW of installed wind capacity in Canada—almost 30 per cent of the country's total.
TransAlta has gradually been transitioning its energy-generating facilities away from coal, due to adverse environmental effects, towards natural gas. Its last remaining operational coal mine, in Highvale, AB, has been laying off workers as it undergoes this transition.
Ghost River Reservoir.
Since the 2013 Alberta floods, as a temporary partial solution to mitigate flood damage during those months when there is a greater risk of rising water that might cause flooding, the Government of Alberta entered into an agreement with TransAlta to manage water on the Bow River at its Ghost Reservoir facility. This was extended in 2016 with a new five-year agreement that included water management of its Kananaskis Lakes system (which includes Interlakes, Pocaterra and Barrier) for drought mitigation.
Controversies.
On March 21, 2014, the Alberta Market Surveillance Administrator (MSA) filed an application with the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) alleging TransAlta manipulated the price of electricity when it took outages at its Alberta coal-fired generating units in late 2010 and early 2011.
While TransAlta disputed the MSA’s allegations, the AUC ruled TransAlta’s actions in relation to four outage events spanning 11 days in 2010 and 2011 restricted or prevented a competitive response from the associated Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) buyers and manipulated market prices away from a competitive market outcome.
On Sept. 30, 2015, TransAlta and the province’s MSA reached an agreement to settle all outstanding proceedings before the AUC. The settlement, which is in the form of a consent order, was approved by the AUC on Oct. 29, 2015.
Under the terms of the agreement, TransAlta paid a total amount of (CDN) $56 million that included approximately $27 million as a repayment of economic benefit, approximately $4 million to cover the MSA’s legal and related costs, and a $25 million administrative penalty. As part of the settlement agreement, TransAlta agreed to discontinue its court appeal of the AUC’s decision concerning the four outage events.
TransAlta’s legal appeal came as a result of the AUC’s determination in its ruling that the “MSA did not prove, on the balance of probabilities, that the company breached applicable legislation on the basis that its compliance policies, practices, and oversight thereof, were inadequate and deficient.”
In response to the dispute regarding its understanding of Alberta market rules governing forced outages, TransAlta implemented two independent, third-party reviews of its compliance procedures. The results of the reviews by McCarthy Tétrault and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP were publicly released, including recommendations for improvement.
Hydro facilities in British Columbia.
Upper Mamquam, built by Canadian Hydro Developers and operational since 2005, is a run-of-the-river hydroelectric plant 5 km northeast of Squamish, BC. The penstock is 1.6 km long, dropping 120 meters to the powerhouse containing two 12.5 MW Pelton wheel generators.
Bone Creek a hydroelectric plant constructed in 2011, has a 5 km penstock dropping 148 meters to a powerhouse with two 9.6MW Francis turbines. It is located 90 km south of Valemount, BC and operated by Valisa Energy Inc. Approximately 72 GWh of power annually is sold to BC Hydro.
Akolkolex, built by Canadian Hydro Developers and operational since 1995, uses two Francis turbines in a 10 MW run-of-river hydroelectric plant discharging into Arrow Lakes. It is located 25 km SE of Revelstoke, B.C. The plant produces approximately 37 GWh of electricity annually.
Pingston Creek has a 12 meter high sheetpile rock-fill dam which diverts water to the western shore of Arrow Lakes. It was built by Canadian Hydro Developers and Brascan Power and began operation as Pingston Power Inc. in 2003. A 4 km tunnel achieves a huge drop of 557 meters to three 15 MW Pelton wheels to generate about 200 GWh annually. The project is 53 km south of Revelstoke, BC.
Energy generation summary.
Net Capacity Owned by Fuel Type
Net Capacity Owned by Geography


Evacuation tip

The evacuation tip is a port on any glass envelope or vessel inside of which specific gasses or a vacuum must be held. They are very often seen on nixies or vacuum tubes. It is used to evacuate gases from the tube, and in the case of nixies, add the proper mix of gases before being sealed. It provides a convenient port for the amateur glasshacker to introduce gases to alter the performance of the tube. It is also known as the "tubulation" or "pip".


Ohio Valley Electric Corporation

The Ohio Valley Electric Corporation (OVEC) is a company jointly owned by several parent electrical utilities. It is headquartered in Piketon, Ohio. OVEC and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Indiana-Kentucky Electrical Corporation (IKEC), own and operate two coal-fired electrical generating plants. They are the Kyger Creek Power Plant, located near Gallipolis, Ohio, and the Clifty Creek Power Plant near Madison, Indiana.
Background.
In 1952, in order to fulfill the tremendous electrical needs of an atomic enrichment plant the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission was building in Piketon, Ohio, several investor-owned electrical utilities jointly formed two new energy companies—the Ohio Valley Electric Corporation (OVEC) and the Indiana-Kentucky Electrical Company (IKEC). Each new company built a coal-fired electrical generating plant, the Kyger Creek Power Plant near Gallipolis, Ohio, and the Clifty Creek Power Plant near Madison, Indiana. The Clifty Creek Plant had a generating capacity of 1,303,560 kilowatts, and the Kyger Creek Plant had a generating capacity of 1,086,300 kilowatts. The plants were also connected to the electrical transmission network (the "grid") providing for sales of excess and the purchase of additional power. Both plants began producing electricity in 1955.
As the need for electrical power for the atomic plant declined, electrical output from these plants was diverted to domestic use and, in 2003, the affiliation with the United States Department of Energy (DOE) was terminated. The two "sister companies" have merged, with IKEC becoming a wholly-owned subsidiary of OVEC, now headquartered in Piketon, Ohio.
In 2018, OVEC joined PJM Interconnection, a regional transmission organization (RTO) to provide additional electricity capacity and integrate its transmission lines.
Shareholders.
The current shareholders of OVEC are:
AEP is by far the largest stockholder.


FortisBC

FortisBC is an electricity and natural gas distribution utility in the Canadian province of British Columbia, a subsidiary of Newfoundland-based Fortis Inc., Canada’s largest private utility company. In March 2011, Terasen Gas, British Columbia's largest natural gas distributor, was renamed FortisBC Energy Inc., as both companies are owned by Fortis Inc.
FortisBC (electricity) serves approximately over 176,000 customers directly in communities throughout south central British Columbia, including Kelowna, Osoyoos, Trail, Castlegar, Princeton and Rossland and approximately 48,500 customers through the wholesale supply of power to municipal distributors in the communities of Summerland, Penticton, Grand Forks, and Nelson. The company owns and operates approximately 7,200 kilometres of transmission and distribution power lines.
FortisBC (natural gas) serves approximately 1,030,000 customers in over 125 communities. Rates in different areas vary by over 60%. Its service territory includes Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island, and the southern interior of the province. The company owns and operates approximately 47,500 kilometres of natural gas transmission and distribution pipelines. FortisBC (natural gas) also develops systems such as geoexchange and district energy systems for communities and municipalities. The company also produces gas from landfill and agricultural waste.
Together, FortisBC (electricity) and FortisBC (natural gas) deliver over 20% of total energy consumed in B.C. and serve more than 1.1 million customers in more than 135 communities.
The British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC) regulates both FortisBC Inc. and FortisBC Energy Inc.; rates are set within a framework combining cost of service and performance-based regulation. This framework is intended to encourage FortisBC to operate efficiently by permitting its shareholders and customers to share in cost savings if specified targets are met.
Personnel.
Roger Dall’Antonia is President and CEO. Vice-presidents include Cynthia Des Brisay, Midstream Services & Resource Development, Jody Drope, Human Resources and Environment, Health and Safety, Michael Leclair, Major Projects, Ian Lorimer, Finance and CFO, Dawn Mehrer, Customer Service and Information Systems, Diane Roy, Regulatory Affairs, Doyle Sam, Operations and Engineering, Doug Stout, Market Development and External Relations, and Dennis Swanson, Energy Supply and Resource Development.
History.
FortisBC Inc. (electricity).
West Kootenay Power (WKP) was founded in 1897 and owned by Teck Resources Ltd. (formerly Cominco) from 1916 until 1987, when it was acquired by Missouri-based UtiliCorp United (later renamed Aquila Networks). WKP was renamed UtiliCorp Networks in 2001, and Aquila Networks Canada in 2002.
In September 2003, Fortis acquired Aquila’s Alberta and BC distribution and retail assets for $1.4bn, including a large section of the Alberta transmission grid that Aquila had purchased from TransAlta for $600m in 2000.
FortisBC Energy Inc. (natural gas).
FortisBC Energy Inc. (formerly Terasen Gas) is a subsidiary of Fortis Inc., a Canadian, investor-owned corporation.
Facilities and assets.
FortisBC has operated and maintained hydroelectric power facilities in British Columbia since the early twentieth century. Some facilities are owned and others operated and maintained by FortisBC.
FortisBC owns four regulated hydro-electric generating plants on the Kootenay River with an aggregate capacity of 223 MW: the Corra Linn, Upper Bonnington, Lower Bonnington, and South Slocan Plants. All of these plants have water diverted by BC Hydro's Kootenay Canal.
FortisBC also owns Walden North, a non-regulated 16 megawatt run-of-river hydroelectric generating plant near Lillooet, British Columbia.
FortisBC operates and maintains two generating plants with a total generating capacity of 599 MW. They are the Waneta Dam, which is owned by Teck Resources Ltd and Brilliant Dam which is owned by Columbia Power Corporation.
Corra Linn.
The Corra Linn Dam was initially built in 1932 to control upstream storage by raising Kootenay Lake and generate power through three 19,000 horsepower units operating under the depth of water behind the dam of approximately 16 metres. With the raising of the water levels, the Taghum bridge upstream from the new dam needed to be raised 2 metres. The aggregate generating capacity is 49 MW. The Corra Linn Dam is located on the Kootenay River, approximately downstream of Nelson on British Columbia Highway 3A.
Upper Bonnington.
The Upper Bonnington Generating Station consists of six hydroelectric units in two adjacent powerhouses, a 15 metre high concrete gravity dam, a powerhouse with two sections, a gated spillway and an overflow spillway. The original powerhouse was built in 1907, upgraded in 1916 and extended again in 1940 for a total rated capacity of 66 MW. The Upper Bonnington Dam is located on the Kootenay River, approximately downstream of Nelson. Also at the same Bonnington Falls location, but on the other side of the river is the City of Nelson Powerhouse in operation since 1907.
Lower Bonnington.
The Lower Bonnington Dam is composed of a powerhouse behind an intake dam on the right bank of the Kootenay River and a concrete gravity structure approximately 18 meters high. The original dam built in 1897, was a rock-filled timber crib dam, which straddled the right side of the river upstream of the lower Bonnington Falls at this site. The dam was demolished and replaced with a larger structure in 1924 with a new plant including three units increasing aggregate generating capacity to 54 MW, it was reconstructed in 1964. The Lower Bonnington Dam is located on the Kootenay River approximately 18 km southwest of Nelson.
South Slocan.
The South Slocan Dam was commissioned in 1928 and has an aggregate generating capacity of 54 MW. The South Slocan Dam is located on the Kootenay River, near South Slocan, 20 km south west of Nelson on British Columbia Highway 3A.
Liquefied Natural Gas Production and Sales.
FortisBC is the owner and operator of the only two LNG facilities in British Columbia. They have had an LNG plant on Tilbury Island in Delta BC in operation since 1971. They also have a facility at Mt Hayes near Ladysmith on Vancouver Island. FortisBC distributes LNG in their own tankers and also allows customers to fill their own tankers at the LNG plant. In 2018, FortisBC supplied 8.3M litres of LNG as fuel for road trucks and 44M litres of LNG for LNG-powered ferries.
Energy offerings.
FortisBC (natural gas) is the largest distributor of natural gas in British Columbia, serving over 1,030,000 customers in the Lower Mainland (Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley), Vancouver Island, the Sunshine Coast, Whistler, and the Interior of the province from the U.S. border to Chetwynd, B.C. The company also serves the northern community of Fort Nelson, B.C.
It operates approximately 48,000 km of pipelines, 11 compressor stations, and a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Delta, B.C. The distribution network also includes several underwater pipeline crossings, including under the Columbia and Fraser rivers and the Strait of Georgia.
The company’s newest natural gas pipeline, the Whistler Pipeline, was built in conjunction with the Sea to Sky Highway Improvement Project, which was completed for the Vancouver-Whistler 2010 Winter Olympic Games. The pipeline falls mainly within the highway right of way and brings natural gas to the Resort Municipality of Whistler, which was formerly served by propane.
Mt. Hayes storage facility.
FortisBC completed construction on its new liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage facility in June 2011. The facility is located west of Mt. Hayes on Vancouver Island, approximately 6 km northwest of Ladysmith.
The site, which consists of approximately 42.7 hectares, was favoured by the community and public opinions gathered at open house sessions. The pipeline to the FortisBC mainline will not significantly affect local property or cross any streams or rivers.
The Mt. Hayes storage facility has capacity to store 1.5 billion cubic feet of liquefied natural gas.
Alternative energy services.
FortisBC (natural gas) develops and operates geoexchange and district energy systems. Projects include Dockside Green, Victoria, and Athlete's Village, Whistler. Dockside Green is set to be North America’s first greenhouse gas neutral community.
District energy systems.
District energy systems produce steam, hot water, or chilled water at a central plant, and then pipe that energy into buildings in the district for space heating, domestic hot water heating and air conditioning. There are various potential energy sources: geoexchange, biomass, sewer, and landfill gas.
Geoexchange.
The earth absorbs and stores heat from the sun. This stored energy can then be used in geoexchange heating and cooling systems. Fluid is circulated to absorb heat from the surrounding soil or ground water, which is then concentrated and transferred to the building to provide space and hot water heating.
In hot weather the process is reversed with the loop carrying heat away from the building and into the ground where it is stored in the earth. FortisBC (natural gas) builds, owns and operates geoexchange systems for multi-residential, commercial, and industrial developments. Projects include: Flatiron, Vancouver, Waterstone Pier, Richmond, and Wakefield Beach, Sechelt.
Biomass.
Biomass power plants use wood and wood by-products from forestry and sawmills, methane from landfills, and animal manure from farms, to generate heat and power. In the simplest method of converting biomass into energy, organic matter is burned in a boiler to make steam, which then turns a turbine generator. Heat can be distributed directly to nearby buildings. The carbon dioxide emitted would have been released by the natural decomposition of the biomass, so the plant does not contribute additional CO2 emissions.
Renewable natural gas (biogas).
Renewable natural gas is produced when organic material from sources such as landfills, wastewater treatment facilities, agriculture and industry decomposes. When it is cleaned and upgraded, it is called biomethane.
In June 2011, FortisBC (natural gas) launched the renewable natural gas program for customers in the Lower Mainland, Fraser Valley, Interior and the Kootenays. As of May 2015, the program is available to residential, commercial, and industrial customers in the Lower Mainland, Fraser Valley, Interior, Kootenays, Vancouver Island, Sunshine Coast, and Whistler service areas. Customers can designate a fixed percent of their natural gas usage as renewable natural gas; FortisBC will then inject an equivalent amount of renewable natural gas into its distribution system from local renewable natural gas projects. Currently, FortisBC has five active biomethane supply projects - 2 landfill projects in Kelowna and Salmon Arm, 2 agricultural projects in Abbotsford and Delta, and one municipal organics project in Surrey.
Conservation programs.
Energy efficiency and conservation.
In April 2009, FortisBC Energy Inc. (natural gas) started the implementation of a $41.5 million energy-efficiency and conservation program after receiving approval from the BCUC to use those funds from 2009 to 2010. In November 2009, the BCUC approved an extension of the program until the end of 2011, and increased allowed expenditures by approximately $38.5 million. Residential appliances such as furnaces, water heaters, and fireplaces can be upgraded. Existing commercial boilers can be replaced by more efficient models.
FortisBC has also been providing financial incentives and advice on energy-efficient electric technologies and practices, for over 25 years, to its own customers and those of municipal utilities a Grand Forks, Penticton, Summerland and Nelson Hydro. Electric energy efficiency programs include those for residential, commercial, industrial and low-income customers.


List of vacuum tubes

This is a list of vacuum tubes or "thermionic valves", and low-pressure gas-filled tubes, or "discharge tubes". Before the advent of semiconductor devices, thousands of tube types were used in consumer electronics. Many industrial, military or otherwise professional tubes were also produced. Only a few types are still used today, mainly in high-power, high-frequency applications.
Heater or filament ratings.
Receiving tubes have heaters or filaments intended for direct battery operation, parallel operation off a dedicated winding on a supply transformer, or series string operation on transformer-less sets. High-power RF power tubes are directly heated; the heater voltage must be much smaller than the signal voltage on the grid and is therefore in the 5...25 V range, drawing up to hundreds of amperes from a suitable heater transformer. In some valve part number series, the voltage class of the heater is given in the part number, and a similar valve might be available with several different heater voltage ratings.
Numbering systems.
North American systems.
RMA system (1942).
The system assigned numbers with the base form "1A21", and is therefore also referred to as the "1A21 system".
The first numeric character indicated the filament/heater power rating, the second alphabetic character was a code for the function, and the last 2 digits were sequentially assigned, beginning with 21
RMA tubes
RETMA receiving tubes system (1953).
RETMA is the acronym for the "Radio Electronic Television Manufacturers Association" formed in 1953.
Often designations that differed only in their initial numerals would be identical except for heater characteristics.
For examples see below
EIA professional tubes system.
A four-digit system was maintained by the EIA for special industrial, military and professional vacuum and gas-filled tubes, and all sorts of other devices requiring to be sealed off against the external atmosphere.
Some manufacturers preceded the EIA number with a manufacturer's code:
For examples see below.
Eimac high power RF tubes system.
Eitel/McCullough and other manufacturers of high power RF tubes use the following code:
Examples:
West European systems.
Mullard–Philips system.
This system is very descriptive of what type of device (triode, diode, pentode etc.) it is applied to, as well as the heater/filament type and the base type (octal, noval, etc.). Adhering manufacturers include AEG (de), Amperex (us), CdL (1921, "French Mazda" brand), CIFTE (fr, "Mazda-Belvu" brand), EdiSwan (uk, "British Mazda" brand), Radiotechnique (fr, "Coprim", "Miniwatt-Dario" and "RTC" brands), Lorenz (de), MBLE(, ) (be, "Adzam" brand), Mullard (uk), Philips (nl, "Miniwatt" brand), RCA (us), RFT(, ) (de), Siemens (de), Telefunken (de), Tesla (cz), Toshiba (ja), Tungsram (hu), Unitra (pl, "Dolam", "Polam" and "Telam" brands) and Valvo(, ) (de).
Standard tubes.
This part dates back to the joint valve code key () negotiated between Philips and Telefunken in 1933–34. Like the North American system the first symbol describes the heater voltage, in this case, a Roman letter rather than a number. Further Roman letters, up to three, describe the device followed by one to four numerals assigned in a semi-chronological order of type development within number ranges assigned to different base types.
If two devices share the same type designation other than the first letter (e.g. ECL82, PCL82, UCL82) they will usually be identical except for heater specifications; however there are exceptions, particularly with output types (for example, both the PL84 and UL84 differ significantly from the EL84 in certain major characteristics, although they have the same pinout and similar power rating). However, device numbers do not reveal any similarity between different type families; e.g. the triode section of an ECL82 is not related to either triode of an ECC82, whereas the triode section of an ECL86 does happen to be similar to those of an ECC83.
"Pro Electron" maintained a subset of the M-P system after their establishment in 1966, with only the first letters E, P for the heater, only the second letters A, B, C, D, E, F, H, K, L, M, Y, Z for the type, and issuing only three-digit numbers starting with 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 9 for the base.
Notes: Tungsram preceded the M-P designation with the letter T, as in TAD1 for AD1; ' (VATEA Radio Technology and Electric Co. Ltd., Budapest, Hungary) preceded the M-P designation with the letter V, as in VEL5 for EL5.
—"Special quality":
For examples see below
Special quality tubes.
Vacuum tubes which had special qualities of some sort, very often long-life designs, particularly for computer and telecommunications use, had the numeric part of the designation placed immediately after the first letter. They were usually special-quality versions of standard types. Thus the E82CC was a long-life version of the ECC82 intended for computer and general signal use, and the E88CC a high quality version of the ECC88/6DJ8. While the E80F pentode was a high quality development of the EF80, they were not pin-compatible and could not be interchanged without rewiring the socket (the E80F is commonly sought after as a high quality replacement for the similar EF86 type in guitar amplifiers). The letters "CC" indicated the two triodes and the "F", the single pentode inside these types.
A few special-quality tubes did not have a standard equivalent, e.g. the E55L, a broadband power pentode used as the output stage of oscilloscope amplifiers and the E90CC, a double triode with a common cathode connection and seven pin base for use in cathode-coupled Flip-flops in early computers. The E91H is a special heptode with a passivated third grid designed to reduce secondary emission; this device was used as a "gate", allowing or blocking pulses applied to the first, (control) grid by changing the voltage on the third grid, in early computer circuits (similar in function to the U.S. 6AS6).
Many of these types had gold-plated base pins and special heater configurations inside the nickel cathode tube designed to reduce hum pickup from the A.C. heater supply, and also had improved oxide insulation between the heater and cathode so the cathode could be elevated to a greater voltage above the heater supply. (Note that "elevating" the cathode voltage "above" the average heater voltage, which in well-designed equipment was supplied from a transformer with an earthed center-tapped secondary, was less detrimental to the oxide insulation between heater and cathode than "lowering" the cathode voltage "below" the heater voltage, helping to prevent pyrometallurgical electrolytic chemical reactions where the oxide touched the nickel cathode that could form conductive aluminium tungstate and which could ultimately develop into a heater-cathode short circuit.)
Better, often dual, getters were implemented to maintain a better vacuum, and more-rigid electrode supports introduced to reduce microphonics and improve vibration and shock resistance. The mica spacers used in "SQ" and "PQ" types did not possess sharp protrusions which could flake off and become loose inside the bulb, possibly lodging between the grids and thus changing the characteristics of the device. Some types, particularly the E80F, E88CC and E90CC, had a constricted section of bulb to firmly hold specially shaped flakeless mica spacers.
For examples see below, starting at DC
Later special-quality tubes had not base and function swapped but were assigned a 4-digit number, such as ECC2000 or ED8000, the first digit of which again denoting the base:
For examples see below, starting at EC
"Z" Cold-cathode SQ tubes had a different function letter scheme:
For examples, see below under Z
Professional tubes.
In use since at least 1961, this system was maintained by "Pro Electron" after their establishment in 1966.
Both letters together indicate the type:
Then follows a 4-digit sequentially assigned number.
Optional suffixes for camera tubes:
Version letter:
Letter for variants derived by selection:
For examples see below
Transmitting tubes.
The first letter (or letter pair, in the case of a dual-system device) indicates the general type:
The following letter indicates the filament or cathode type, or the fill gas or other construction detail. The coding for vacuum devices differs between Philips (and other Continental European manufacturers) on the one hand and its Mullard subsidiary on the other.
The next letter indicates the cooling method or other significant characteristic:
The following group of digits indicate:
The following group of digits indicate the power:
An optional following letter indicates the base or connection method:
For examples see below
Phototubes and photomultipliers.
The first digit indicates the tube base:
The second digit is a sequentially assigned number.
The following letter indicates the photocathode type:
The following letter indicates the filling:
A following letter P indicates a photomultiplier.
Examples:
Voltage stabilizers.
The first number indicates the burning voltage
The following letter indicates the current range:
The following digit is a sequentially assigned number.
An optional, following letter indicates the base:
Examples:
Compagnie des Lampes (1888, "Métal") system.
The first (1888) incarnation of "La Compagnie des Lampes" produced the TM tube since 1915 and defined one of the first French systems; not to be confused with Compagnie des Lampes (1921, "French Mazda", see below).
First letter: Heater or filament voltage
Second letter: Heater or filament current
Next number: Gain
Next number: Internal resistance in kΩ
Examples:
EdiSwan ("British Mazda") systems.
Note: EdiSwan also used the Mullard–Philips scheme.
Signal tubes.
First number: Heater or filament rating
Following letter or letter sequence: Type
Final number: Sequentially assigned number
Power rectifiers.
Letter(s): Type
Number: Sequentially assigned number
Examples:
Note: "AC/"-series receiver tubes are listed under "other letter tubes - AC/"
EEV system.
This system consists of one or more letters followed by a sequentially assigned number
Examples:
ETL computing tubes system.
The British "Ericsson Telephones Limited" (ETL), of Beeston, Nottingham (not to be confused with the Swedish "TelefonAB Ericsson"), original holder of the now-generic trademark "Dekatron", used the following system:
Examples:
Note: More Nixie tubes under "standard - ZM" and "professional - ZM"
Marconi-Osram system.
The British GEC–Marconi–Osram designation from the 1920s uses one or two letter(s) followed by two numerals and sometimes by a second letter identifying different versions of a particular type.
The letter(s) generally denote the type or use:
The following numbers are sequentially assigned for each new device.
Examples:
Mullard designations before 1934.
Older Mullard tubes were mostly designated PM, followed by a number containing the filament voltage.
Many later tubes were designated one to three semi-intuitive letters, followed by a number containing the heater voltage. This was phased out after 1934 when Mullard adopted the Mullard–Philips scheme.
Examples:
Philips system before 1934.
The system consisted of one letter followed by 3 or 4 digits. It was phased out after 1934 when Philips adopted the Mullard–Philips scheme.
1st letter: Heater current
1 or 2 digit(s): Heater voltage
Last 2 digits: Type
Examples:
STC/Brimar receiving tubes system.
First number: Type
Next letter: Heater rating
Number: Sequentially assigned number
Examples:
Valvo system before 1934.
Valvo(, ) was a major German electronic components manufacturer from 1924 to 1989; a Philips subsidiary since 1927, Valvo was one of the predecessors of NXP Semiconductors.
The system consisted of one or two letters followed by 3 or 4 digits. It was phased out after 1934 when Valvo adopted the Mullard–Philips scheme.
First letter(s): Type
Number:
A following letter D indicates more than one grid, not counting a space charge grid
Examples:
East European systems.
Lamina transmitter tube system.
Polish Lamina() transmitter tube designations consist of one or two letters, a group of digits and an optional letter and/or two digits preceded by a "/" sign.
The first letter indicates the tube type, two equal letters denoting a dual tube:
A group of digits represents the maximum anode power dissipation in kW
An optional letter specifies the cooling method:
The first of the two digits after the "/" sign means:
The second digit after the "/" is sequentially assigned.
Examples:
RFT transmitter tube system.
Rundfunk- und Fernmelde-Technik(, ) was the brand of a group of telecommunications manufacturers in the German Democratic Republic. The designation consists of a group of three letters and a group of three or four digits.
The first two letters determine the tube type:
The third letter specifies the cooling method:
The first digit (or the first two digits in double tubes) indicates the number of electrodes:
The last two digits are sequentially assigned.
Examples:
Note: RFT used the Mullard–Philips and RETMA schemes for their low-power tubes.
Tesla systems.
Signal tubes.
Besides the genuine Mullard–Philips system, Tesla also used an M-P/RETMA hybrid scheme:
First number: Heater voltage, as in the RETMA system
Next letter(s): Type, subset of the Mullard–Philips system
Next digit: Base
Last digit: Sequentially assigned number
Examples:
Power tubes.
First letter:
Next letter(s): Type, subset of the Mullard–Philips scheme
Next number: Anode dissipation in W (if radiation cooled) or kW (otherwise)
The next letter specifies the cooling method:
Examples:
Tungsram receiving tubes system before 1934.
The Tungsram system was composed of a maximum of three letters and three or four digits. It was phased out after 1934 when Tungsram adopted the Mullard–Philips scheme, frequently preceding it with the letter T, as in TAD1 for AD1.
Letter: System type:
Number:
Examples:
Russian systems.
Vacuum tubes produced in the former Soviet Union and in present-day Russia are designated in Cyrillic. Some confusion has been created in transliterating these designations to Latin.
The first system was introduced in 1929. It consisted of one or two letters (designating system type and, optionally, type of cathode), a hyphen, then a sequentially assigned number with up to 3 digits.
In 1937, the Soviet Union purchased a tube assembly line from RCA (who at the time had difficulties raising funds for their basic operations), including production licenses and initial staff training, and installed it on the Svetlana/Светлана plant in St. Petersburg, Russia. US-licensed tubes were produced since then under an adapted RETMA scheme.
Examples:
GOST standard tubes system.
In the 1950s a 5-element system ( "State standard" ГОСТ/GOST 5461-59, later 13393-76) was adopted in the (then) Soviet Union for designating receiver vacuum tubes.
The first element is a number specifying filament voltage. The second element is a Cyrillic letter specifying the type of device. The third element is a sequentially assigned number that distinguishes between different devices of the same type.
The fourth element denotes the type of envelope. An optional fifth element consists of a hyphen followed by one or more characters to designate special characteristics of the tube. This usually implies construction differences, not just selection from regular quality production.
Professional tubes system.
There is another designation system for professional tubes such as transmitter ones.
The first element designates function. The next elements varies in interpretation. For ignitrons, rectifiers, and thyratrons, there is a digit, then hyphen, then the anode current in amperes, a slash, anode voltage in kV. A letter may be attached to designate water cooling (no letter designates a radiation cooled device). For transmitting tubes in this system, the second element starts with a hyphen, a sequentially assigned number, then an optional letter specifying cooling method. For phototubes and photomultipliers, the second element is a sequential number and then a letter code identifying vacuum or gas fill and the type of cathode.
Japanese systems.
Older numbering system 1941–51.
A letter: Structure and usage
Then a letter: Base and outline
Then a hyphen ("-"), followed by a sequentially assigned number or the designation of the American original
Then an optional hyphen ("-"), followed by a letter: Version
Examples:
JIS C 7001 system.
JIS C 7001 was published in 1951 and modified in 1965 and 1970
A number: Heater voltage range, as in the RETMA scheme
etc.
Then a letter: Base and Outline
Then a hyphen ("-"), followed by a letter: Structure and usage
Then a sequentially assigned number
Then an optional letter: Version
Examples:
Military naming systems.
British CV and M8000s naming systems.
This system prefixes a three- or four-digit number with the letters "CV", meaning "civilian valve" i.e. common to all three armed services. It was introduced during the Second World War to rationalise the previous nomenclatures maintained separately by the War Office/Ministry of Supply, Admiralty and Air Ministry/Ministry of Aircraft Production on behalf of the three armed services (e.g. "ACR~", "AR~", "AT~", etc. for CRTs, receiving and transmitting valves used in army equipments, "NC~", "NR~" and "NT~" similarly for navy equipments and "VCR~", "VR~" and "VT~" etc. for air force equipments), in which three separate designations could in principle apply to the same valve (which often had at least one prototype commercial designation as well). These numbers generally have identical equivalents in both the North American, RETMA, and West European, Mullard–Philips, systems but they bear no resemblance to the assigned "CV" number.
Examples:
The "4000" numbers identify special-quality valves though SQ valves CV numbered before that rule came in retain their original CV number:
The "M" in the part number denotes that it was developed by the military:
The principle behind the CV numbering scheme was also adopted by the US Joint Army-Navy JAN numbering scheme which was later considerably expanded into the US Federal and then NATO Stock Number system used by all NATO countries. This part-identification system ensures that every particular spare part (not merely thermionic valves) receives a unique stock number across the whole of NATO irrespective of the source, and hence is not held inefficiently as separate stores. In the case of CV valves, the stock number is always of the format 5960-99-000-XXXX where XXXX is the CV number (with a leading 0 if the CV number only has 3 digits).
U.S. naming systems.
One system prefixes a three-digit number with the letters "VT", presumably meaning "Vacuum Tube". Other systems prefix the number with the letters "JHS" or "JAN". The numbers following these prefixes can be "special" four-digit numbers, or domestic two- or three-digit numbers or simply the domestic North American "RETMA" numbering system. Like the British military system, these have many direct equivalents in the civilian types.
Confusingly, the British also had two entirely different "VT" nomenclatures, one used by the Royal Air Force (see the preceding section) and the other used by the General Post Office, responsible for post and telecommunications at the time, where it may have stood for "valve, telephone"; none of these schemes corresponded in any way with each other.
Examples:
Other numeral-only systems.
Various numeral-only systems exist. These tend to be used for devices used in commercial or industrial equipment. The oldest numbering systems date back to the early 1920s, such as a two-digit numbering system, starting with the "UV-201A", which was considered as "type 01", and extended almost continuously up into the 1980s. Three- and four-digit numeral-only systems were maintained by R.C.A., but also adopted by many other manufacturers, and typically encompassed rectifiers and radio transmitter output devices. Devices in the low 800s tend to be transmitter output types, those in the higher 800s are not vacuum tubes, but gas-filled rectifiers and thyratrons, and those in the 900s tend to be special-purpose and high-frequency devices. Use was not rigorously systematic: the 807 had variants 1624, 1625, and 807W.
Other letter followed by numerals.
There are quite a number of these systems from different geographical realms, such as those used on devices from contemporary Russian and Chinese production. Other compound numbering systems were used to mark higher-reliability types used in industrial or commercial applications. Computers and telecommunication equipment also required tubes of greater quality and reliability than for domestic and consumer equipment.
Some letter prefixes are manufacturer's codes:
For examples, see below
Some designations are derived from the behavior of devices considered to be exceptional.
List of American "RETMA" tubes.
Note: Typecode explained above. See also RETMA tube designation
"0 volt" gas-filled cold cathode tubes.
First character is numeric zero, not letter O.
Voltage stabilisers and references.
Function in a similar way to a Zener diode, at higher voltages. Letter order (A-B-C) indicates increasing voltage ratings on octal-based regulators and decreasing voltage ratings on miniature-based regulators.
1 volt heater/filament tubes.
1.25 volt DC filament subminiature tubes.
The following tubes were used in post-World War II walkie-talkies and pocket-sized portable radios. All have 1.25 volt DC filaments and directly heated cathodes. Some specify which end of the filament is to be powered by the positive side of the filament power supply (usually a battery). All have glass bodies that measure from wide, and from in overall length.
"1" prefix for home receivers.
These tubes were made for home storage battery receivers manufactured during the early to mid-1930s. The numbers of the following tubes all start with 1, but these tubes all have 2.0 volt DC filaments. This numbering scheme was intended to differentiate these tubes from the tubes with 2.5 volt AC heaters listed below.
2 volt heater/filament tubes.
2.5 volt AC heater tubes.
Tubes used in AC-powered radio receivers of the early 1930s
"7" prefix Loctal tubes.
These tubes all have 6.3 volt AC/DC heaters.
"14" prefix Loctal tubes.
These tubes all have 12.6 volt AC/DC heaters
117 volt heater tubes.
All of the following tubes are designed to operate with their heaters connected directly to the 117 volt (now 120 volt) electrical mains of North America. All of them use indirectly heated cathodes. All of them incorporate at least one rectifier diode.
Other tubes with nonstandard heater voltages.
The tubes in this list are most commonly used in series-wired circuits.
List of "EIA" professional tubes.
Note: Most of these are special quality versions of the equivalents given. Some manufacturers preceded the EIA number with a manufacturer's code, as explained above.
List of "Pro Electron" professional tubes.
Note: Typecode explained above.
Z - Gas-filled tubes.
Note: See also standard M-P tubes under Z
ZM.
Note: More Nixie tubes under "standard - ZM" and "ETL examples"
List of European transmitting tubes.
Note: Typecode explained above.
List of other letter tubes.
A.
Edison and Swan Electric Light Company (British Mazda/EdiSwan):
AC*/.
Mazda/EdiSwan 4-volts AC, indirectly heated receiver tubes:
ACT.
Marconi-Osram Valve Company
B.
BA.
Industrial Electronics Engineers:
BG.
Burroughs:
BT.
British Thomson-Houston (General Electric subsidiary):
C.
CH.
Tung-Sol:
CK.
Raytheon:
CL.
Ferranti:
D.
Philips:
DDR.
Mullard:
DZ.
Cerberus:
E.
EN.
Ferranti:
G.
Standard Telephones and Cables/Brimar:
Cerberus:
GE.
Ferranti:
GK.
Cerberus:
GN.
Ferranti:
GR.
Cerberus:
GRD.
Ferranti:
K.
KN.
Edgerton, Germeshausen, and Grier:
KT.
"Tung-Sol":
M.
MC.
Philips:
ME.
Edison and Swan Electric Light Company (British Mazda/EdiSwan):
P.
PBG.
Dale:
PD.
Edison and Swan Electric Light Company (British Mazda/EdiSwan):
PL.
Philips:
Q.
Philips:
QK.
Raytheon:
R.
Marconi-Osram Valve Company:
RK.
Raytheon:
S.
SB.
Radio Corporation of America:
SU.
Cossor:
T.
British General Electric Company:
Standard Telephones and Cables/Brimar:
TH.
Compagnie Française Thomson-Houston:
TM.
E.C.&A. Grammont and Compagnie des Lampes (1888):
TT.
Bendix:
Marconi-Osram Valve Company:
V.
VHT.
Ferranti:
List of tubes used in 1920s and 1930s radio receivers.
Tubes with directly heated cathodes.
Used with AC, DC or home-based storage battery power supplies (1927–31)
With a 1.1 Volt DC filament.
Used in 1920s home radios. Filaments powered by 1.5 volt dry cells, anodes powered by storage batteries.
With a 2 Volts DC filament.
Used in 1930s home radios powered by storage batteries.
With a 3.3 Volts DC filament.
Used in 1920s home radios powered by dry cells (filaments) and storage batteries (B-plus voltage).
With a 5 Volts DC filament.
Used in 1920s home radios powered by storage batteries.
Tubes with indirectly heated cathodes.
With a 2.5 Volts heater.
Powered by an AC transformer
With a 6.3 Volts heater.
Powered by an AC transformer or a vehicle crank battery
Shielded tubes for Majestic radios.
In the early 1930s, the Grigsby-Grunow Company – makers of Majestic brand radios – introduced the first American-made tubes to incorporate metal shields. These tubes had metal particles sprayed onto the glass envelope, copying a design common to European tubes of the time. Early types were shielded versions of tube types already in use. (The shield was connected to the cathode.) The Majestic numbers of these tube types, which are usually etched on the tube's base, have a "G" prefix (for Grigsby-Grunow) and an "S" suffix (for shielded). Later types incorporated an extra pin in the base so that the shield could be connected directly to the chassis.
Replacement versions from other manufacturers, such as Sylvania or General Electric, tend to incorporate the less expensive, form-fitting Goat brand shields that are cemented to the glass envelope.
Grigsby-Grunow did not shield rectifier tubes (except for type 6Y5 listed below) or power output tubes.
List of Russian tubes.
Standard tubes.
Note: Typecode explained above.
Professional tubes.
Note: Typecode explained above.
Compagnie des Lampes (1921, "French Mazda") and Mazda-Belvu.
Not to be confused with Compagnie des Lampes (1888, see above) nor with British Mazda (see above).
The 1921 incarnation of "La Compagnie des Lampes" (since 1953 as "Lampe Mazda") made light bulbs and electronic tubes under the French "Mazda" brand. Many of their tubes were also available from "Compagnie Industrielle Française des Tubes Electroniques" (CIFTE) under their "Mazda-Belvu" brand, which otherwise used mostly EIA, RETMA and Mullard–Philips tube designations.
Examples:
Before 1949:
Since 1949 with a logo:
Since 1953 as "LAMPE MAZDA":
Since 1959 with a Faravahar logo related to Ahura Mazda:


Powertek

Powertek Sendirian Berhad is a subsidiary of Tanjong PLC, generates and sell power as an independent power producer to Tenaga Nasional for uploading onto the National Grid, Malaysia.
Generation capacity.
The total generation capacity is 1,490 MW.
Powertek generates electricity mainly from gas turbine plants. Powertek and its subsidiaries own and operate three power plants in Melaka, Malaysia with a total installed generating capacity of 1,490 MW, comprising:


JCO (company)

JCO was a Japanese nuclear fuel cycle company established in October 1979 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd. as Japan Nuclear Fuel Conversion Co. . As of 2000, stock capitalization was US$1 billion.


China Wind (company)

China Wind Power International Corp (China Wind) was a Toronto, Ontario based wind power company which developed and operated wind farms in Heilongjiang Province. It had indirect exclusive rights for wind energy development in Du Mon County.
On July 8, 2009, the Company completed its merger with Berkshire Griffin Inc. (Berkshire).
On August 5, 2009, the company begin trading on the (TSX Venture Exchange). Effective October 13, 2016, the company sold all its remaining assets to British Virgin Islands-based Ruihao Trust, its shares were delisted and the company dissolved.
Du Mon County.
Du Mon County is located in the center of "Harbin - Daqing - Qiqihar Industry Corridor" in Heilongjiang Province.
Assessment studies in Du Mon County demonstrated potential installed capacity of 850 MW of wind energy developable over an area of 200 km2, with wind power density of 300-450 watts per square meter. represents the Company's long-term potential for wind power in the area.
Its present plans are for constructing a total eight wind farms representing capacity of 546 MW over five development phases.
As of June 2009, the Company completed building its first two wind farms, representing aggregate capacity of 99 MW, with construction of the first 49 megawatt wind farm over 50% completed.


Surge in compressors

Compressor surge is a form of aerodynamic instability in axial compressors or centrifugal compressors. The term describes violent air flow oscillating in the axial direction of a compressor, which indicates the axial component of fluid velocity varies periodically and may even become negative. In early literature, the phenomenon of compressor surge was identified by audible thumping and honking at frequencies as low as 1 Hertz, pressure pulsations throughout the machine, and severe mechanical vibration.
Description.
Compressor surge can be classified into deep surge and mild surge. Compressor surge with negative mass flow rates is considered as deep surge while the one without reverse flows is generally termed mild surge. On a performance map, the stable operating range of a compressor is limited by the surge line. Although the line is named after a surge, technically, it is an instability boundary which denotes onsets of discernible flow instabilities, such as compressor surge or rotating stall. When the mass flow rate drops to a critical value at which discernible flow instabilities take place, nominally, the critical value should be determined as a surge mass flow rate on a constant speed line; however, in practice, the surge line on a performance map is affected by specific criteria adopted for determining discernible flow instabilities.
Effects.
Compressor surge is a disaster to the compressor and the whole machine. When compressor surge happens, the operating point of a compressor, which is usually denoted by the pair of the mass flow rate and pressure ratio, orbits along a surge cycle on the compressor performance map. The unstable performance caused by compressor surge is not acceptable to machines on which a compressor is mounted to ventilate or dense air. In addition to affecting performance, compressor surge is also accompanied with loud noises. Frequencies of compressor surge can range from a few to dozens Hertz depending on the configuration of a compression system. Although Helmholtz resonance frequency is often employed to characterize the unsteadiness of mild surge; it was found that Helmholtz oscillation did not trigger compressor surge in some cases. Another effect of compressor surge is on solid structure. Violent flows of compressor surge repeatedly hit blades in the compressor, resulting in blade fatigue or even mechanical failure. While fully developed compressor surge is axisymmetric, its initial phase is not necessarily axisymmetric. Actually, severe damage of compressor surge is often related to very large transverse loads on blades and casing in its initial transient. A chain reaction of compressor surge is the flameout of a jet engine. Due to a lack of air intake in the case of compressor surge, there will be unburnt fuel in the combustion chamber, and that unburnt fuel will burn and cause flameout near the exit of the engine where oxygen is sufficient.
Causes.
In most low-speed and low-pressure cases, rotating stall comes prior to compressor surge; however, a general cause-effect relation between rotating stall and compressor surge has not been determined yet. On a constant speed line of a compressor, the mass flow rate decreases as the pressure delivered by the compressor gets higher. Internal flows of the compressor are in a very large adverse pressure gradient which tends to destabilize the flow and cause flow separation. A fully developed compressor surge can be modeled as a one-dimensional global instability of a compression system which typically consists of inlet ducts, compressors, exit ducts, gas reservoir, and throttle valve. A cycle of compressor surge can be divided into several phases. If the throttle valve is turned to be a very small opening, the gas reservoir would have a positive net flux. The pressure in the reservoir keeps increasing and then exceeds the pressure at compressor exit, thus resulting in an adverse pressure gradient in exit ducts. This adverse pressure gradient naturally decelerates flows in the whole system and reduces the mass flow rate. The slope of a constant speed line near surge line is usually zero or even positive, which implies that the compressor cannot provide a much higher pressure as lowering the mass flow rate. Thus, the adverse pressure gradient could not be suppressed by the compressor and the system would rapidly involve an overshoot of adverse pressure gradient which would dramatically reduce the mass flow rate or even cause flows to reverse. On the other hand, the pressure in the reservoir would gradually drop due to less flux delivered by the compressor, thus rebuilding a favorable pressure gradient in exit ducts. And then the mass flow rate would be recovered, and the compressor is back to work on a constant speed line again, which would eventually trigger the next surge cycle. Therefore, compressor surge is a process which keeps breaking the flow path of a compression system down and rebuilding it. Several rules of thumb can be inferred from the interpretation above. Compressor surge in a system with a small gas reservoir is high-frequency and low-amplitude whereas a large gas reservoir leads to low-frequency and high-amplitude compressor surge; another rule of thumb is that compressor surge happens in a compressor with a large external volume and compressor stall tends to show up in a system with a short exit duct. It is also worth noting that the surge line of a compressor can have small variations in different systems, such as a test bench or an engine.
Preventing surge.
In the oil and gas industry the operation of gas compressors in surge conditions is prevented by instrumentation around the compressor. The measured flow rate of gas in the compressor suction line together with the pressure, and sometimes the temperature, in both the suction and discharge lines is fed into the surge controller. Algorithms in the controller use the data to establish the performance of the machine; the data identifies the operating point in terms of the flow and the developed head. When the compressor’s operation approaches the surge point the controller modulates a flow control valve in the recycle line which allows gas to spill back from the discharge to the suction of the compressor thereby maintaining the forward flow of gas through the machine. The recycle line is ideally located to take cooled gas from downsteam of the compressor after-cooler and to discharge it into the feed to the compressor suction drum.


TransWest Express

The TransWest Express Transmission Line Project (TWE) is a planned bipolar HVDC transmission line between Rawlins, Wyoming and Marketplace substation near Las Vegas.
Description.
The TWE is designed as a bipolar 600kV overhead power line long, and can transfer a maximum power of 3,000 megawatts at ±600 kV.
HVDC lines such as Path 27 and the Pacific DC Intertie can be distinguished by having two transmission wires, rather than the three necessary for transmission of three phase AC power.
The TWE is one of 7 projects tracked by the federal Rapid Response Team for Transmission. Gateway West and Hemingway are two other projects intended to transmit power between Wyoming and the Pacific West Coast.
Although the line ends in Nevada, there is around 10 GW transmission capacity between Las Vegas and San Diego/Los Angeles in Path 46, enabling power to continue to the west coast.
History.
TWE started in 2005 when the Arizona Public Service Company investigated ways of transferring power from the Rocky Mountains to the west. In 2008 The Anschutz Corporation acquired the project, and Western Area Power Administration became a partner in 2010. Anschutz also owns the Chokecherry and Sierra Madre Wind Energy Project (CCSM) near the Wyoming terminal; an area which has a wind capacity factor around 46%. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) issued environmental approval in December 2016, and WAPA did so in January 2017. The Zephyr Power Transmission Project is a similar project of bringing Wyoming wind power to California, with an optional storage facility in Utah. The Gateway West Transmission Line between Glenrock, Wyoming and Idaho also received approval. TWE, CCSM and the Plains&Eastern powerline are being considered by the US Administration.
Economy.
The line is expected to cost $3 billion. Due to California's RPS requirement of 33% by 2020, NREL analysts estimate that the line saves $500 million to around $1 billion per year for Californian consumers, compared to Californian alternatives. NREL calculates that TWE has a benefit-cost ratio (BCA) between 1.62 and 3.62 if delivering 12 TWh/year with a transmission cost of $29 per MWh. If transmission utilities use a BCA-threshold, they must set it at 1.25 or lower to find out if projects are feasible. The power from Wyoming is eligible for Californian subsidy because TWE delivers it to the Californian grid, "at the doorstep" of California, near Las Vegas. Californian power prices are usually around $45 to $65/MWh.
Route.
The northern terminal and substation converting from alternating current to direct current is expected to be south of Rawlins in Wyoming, near the Chokecherry wind farm. The line then runs south of the Uinta Mountains through Colorado and Utah. The Colorado section has been criticized as disturbing for sage-grouse. The DC line has only two connection points, one at each end. Utah attempted to legislate a requirement to reserve 25% capacity for power from Utah, but lobbying by TWE kept full capacity to TWE.
The part of the line that travels between Delta in Utah and Las Vegas shares its route with Path 27 (Intermountain line). Delta may become a connection point in the future.
The southern terminal and substation to convert back from DC to AC is at the Marketplace substation south of Las Vegas and Boulder, Nevada.


Eolian (Solar car)

Eolian is the name of a series of solar vehicles designed and manufactured by students, workers and professors at the University of Chile. The project involves different disciplines, including mechanical engineers, electrical engineers and industrial designers.
Eolian.
Eolian was the first Chilean solar car, and was built in 2007. The idea started with a group of engineering students who had previously worked on an electric car in a local race called Formula-i.
The car is a tricycle with two fronts wheels and one rear wheel. The chassis is made of a composite with a core of balsa wood, the external fuselage is made of a fiberglass composite. It has 6 square meters of photo-voltaic cells, an induction engine with permanent magnets in the rear wheel and two battery compartments containing lithium cells.
Eolian took part in the 2007 World Solar Challenge and finished in 14th place.
Eolian 2.
Eolian 2 is the second solar car from the University of Chile built in 2011 by a new team of students.
The car has a similar basic configuration to Eolian 1, but with differences that produce a better aerodynamic performance, more reliable structural design and an improved maneuverability. One of the main innovations was the use of carbon fiber in the composite materials of the chassis, which makes the car lighter.
Eolian 2 took part in the 2011 Atacama Solar Challenge race, taking second place and in the 2011 World Solar Challenge race, finishing 22nd. Due to the fact that the dates of the races were very close together, the project considered building two cars. The vehicle was divided into three pieces so that it could be shipped to Australia.


Celilo Converter Station

The Celilo Converter Station, built in 1970 and owned and operated by the Bonneville Power Administration, is the northern terminus of the Pacific DC Intertie, near The Dalles, Oregon, in the United States.
History.
The Celilo Converter Station was originally configured with six groups of six-pulse mercury arc valves with a blocking voltage of 133 kV each (for a total of ±400 kV) and a maximum current of 2,000 amperes.
In 1985, two six-pulse valve groups of thyristors were added to increase the voltage to 500 kV per pole for a total differential voltage of 1,000 kV.
In 1989, two new 1,100 ampere, 500 kV thyristor converters were added in parallel with the two existing converters, giving a total transmission power of 3,100 Megawatts (3,100 A at ±500 kV).
Until September 2001, the Celilo Converter Station was partially open to the public and included displays describing the history of DC transmission and the Pacific Intertie, but security concerns have closed this facility to the public.
In 2004, the mercury arc valves groups were replaced with light-triggered thyristor groups to eliminate the environmental risks of mercury and to reduce the maintenance costs of the obsolete mercury arc valves.
In January 2016, the new Celilo Converter Station went into service after replacing the entire terminal with a new two-converter terminal rated +/- 560kV 3410A (3800MW), while the Oregon-part of the transmission line was upgraded to +/-520kV and 3,220MW.
Related structures.
There was also a DC test facility for testing high voltage equipment nearby (now abandoned, soon to be demolished). At the end of the 1960s, a test transmission line for 1,333 kV was erected at to test equipment for this voltage, which was intended for a planned HVDC from Celilo Converter Station to Hoover Dam. This line was never built.


Minconsult

Minconsult is a private limited engineering consultancy in Malaysia. Founded in 1962, the company specialises in multi-disciplinary engineering and project management. Capable of providing a wide range of engineering consultancy services in the civil & structural, mechanical, electrical, petrochemical and environmental fields. Minconsult have since established foreign offices in Pakistan, Australia, Kazakshtan and Bangladesh.
Minconsult is known for their major involvement in the Malaysian energy industry having designed a good percentage of power plants constructed in Malaysia.


Alterra Power

Alterra Power Corp. a subsidiary of Innergex Renewable Energy Inc., is a diversified renewable power generation company based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was formed in 2011 through the merger of Magma Energy Corp. and Plutonic Power Corp. It develops, owns, acquires and operates hydroelectric, wind, solar energy and geothermal projects. On February 6, 2018, Innergex Renewable Energy Inc. completed the acquisition of Alterra including all its assets.
Merger.
On 7 March 2011, it was announced that Magma Energy and Plutonic Power would merge to create Alterra Power Corp. Magma Energy was renamed Alterra Power and each shareholder of Plutonic Power received 2.38 shares of Magma for each Plutonic share held. As a result, the merged company owns two geothermal power plants in Iceland, and one in Nevada (since sold), one run of river hydro plant and one wind farm in British Columbia and an option on a solar project in Ontario.
Projects.
Toba Montrose Hydro.
East Toba River (123MW) and Montrose Creek (73MW) are two run-of-river hydroelectric plants 18 km apart, they have operated since in 2010 with a combined capacity of 196 MW and generate an average of 720 GWh of electricity annually, which is contracted to B.C. Hydro until 2045.
Upper Toba Valley.
The Upper Toba Valley Hydroelectric project originally planned two renewable power facilities constructed 90 km north of Powell River, BC at the headwaters of Toba Inlet the first is on Jimmie Creek which flows west into Toba River and the second on the Upper Toba River. Installed capacity of the two facilities was to be 124 MW with an expected annual energy generation of 316 GW hr/yr. Alterra received an Energy Purchase Agreement from BC Hydro to construct the Upper Toba facility. In 2013 Alterra also received an Energy Purchase Agreement from BC Hydro to construct the 62MW Jimmie Creek facility. In 2016 Alterra Power Corp. announced that the Jimmie Creek facility had achieved its full output of 62 MW. It is located at
Solar power expansions.
In early 2011, Plutonic Power agreed, together with GE Energy financial Services, to purchase three proposed photovoltaic power plants in Ontario from First Solar. The three plants will have a total capacity of 50 MW, divided between Amherstburg (10MW), Belmont (20MW) and Walpole (20MW). This represents a first venture into solar power for Plutonic Power although engineering, procurement, construction and operation will still be provided by First Solar.
Orka's controversy.
In 2010, during the Icelandic financial crisis, Magma Energy acquired 98.5% of shares in the Icelandic geothermal power company HS Orka. The deal created an opposition in Iceland. On May 21, 2010 Icelandic singer Björk wrote an open letter in the newspaper Reykjavík Grapevine, calling on the Icelandic government to "do everything in its power to revoke the contracts with Magma Energy". The deal was approved by the Icelandic Government. Recently Alterra as operator has 67%, while the Icelandic pension funds holds 33%.


Canadian Utilities

Canadian Utilities Limited is a member of the ATCO Group of companies. Canadian Utilities Limited is a Canada-based worldwide organization of companies with assets of approximately $7.3 billion and more than 6,500 employees in three main business divisions: power generation, utilities (natural gas and electricity transmission and distribution), and global enterprises (technology, logistics, and energy services).


ATCO Electric Yukon

ATCO Electric Yukon, formerly Yukon Electrical Company Limited (YECL), is a private electrical utility based in Whitehorse, Yukon, serving most Yukon communities and Lower Post, British Columbia. The company, founded in 1901, is owned by ATCO of Alberta. Through mergers and acquisitions, Yukon Electrical extended to serve most communities in Yukon.
Though it owns one hydro-electric and a number of diesel generating facilities of its own, it purchases most of its power wholesale from the Yukon Energy Corporation and distributes it to consumers. From 1987 to 1997, it operated the services of Yukon Energy under contract, but in 1997, the Yukon government chose not to renew the arrangement; Yukon Energy established its own offices for management and customer service, while YECL continued to operate its own facilities.
The activities of ATCO Electrical Yukon are as follows:
Distribution only
Distribution and back-up generation
Diesel generation and distribution
The only Yukon communities not served by ATCO are Dawson City, Faro, Mayo and Champagne.
See also.
List of Canadian electric utilities