Triode

A triode is an electronic amplifying vacuum tube (or "valve" in British English) consisting of three electrodes inside an evacuated glass envelope: a heated filament or cathode, a grid, and a plate (anode). Developed from Lee De Forest's 1906 Audion, a partial vacuum tube that added a grid electrode to the thermionic diode (Fleming valve), the triode was the first practical electronic amplifier and the ancestor of other types of vacuum tubes such as the tetrode and pentode. Its invention founded the electronics age, making possible amplified radio technology and long-distance telephony. Triodes were widely used in consumer electronics devices such as radios and televisions until the 1970s, when transistors replaced them. Today, their main remaining use is in high-power RF amplifiers in radio transmitters and industrial RF heating devices. In recent years there has been a resurgence in demand for low power triodes due to renewed interest in tube-type audio systems by audiophiles who prefer the pleasantly (warm) distorted sound of tube-based electronics.
The name "triode" was coined by British physicist William Eccles sometime around 1920, derived from the Greek τρίοδος, "tríodos", from "tri-" (three) and "hodós" (road, way), originally meaning the place where three roads meet.
History.
Precursor devices.
Before thermionic valves were invented, Philipp Lenard used the principle of grid control while conducting photoelectric experiments in 1902.
The first vacuum tube used in radio was the thermionic diode or Fleming valve, invented by John Ambrose Fleming in 1904 as a detector for radio receivers. It was an evacuated glass bulb containing two electrodes, a heated filament (cathode) and a plate (anode).
Invention.
Triodes came about in 1906 when American engineer Lee De Forest and Austrian physicist Robert von Lieben independently patented tubes that added a third electrode, a control grid, between the filament and plate to control current. Von Lieben's partially-evacuated three-element tube, patented in March 1906, contained a trace of mercury vapor and was intended to amplify weak telephone signals. Starting in October 1906 De Forest patented a number of three-element tube designs by adding an electrode to the diode, which he called Audions, intended to be used as radio detectors. The one which became the design of the triode, in which the grid was located between the filament and plate, was patented January 29, 1907. Like the von Lieben vacuum tube, De Forest's Audions were incompletely evacuated and contained some gas at low pressure. von Lieben's vacuum tube did not see much development due to his death seven years after its invention, shortly before the outbreak of the First World War.
De Forest's Audion did not see much use until its ability to amplify was recognized around 1912 by several researchers, who used it to build the first successful amplifying radio receivers and electronic oscillators. The many uses for amplification motivated its rapid development. By 1913 improved versions with higher vacuum were developed by Harold Arnold at American Telephone and Telegraph Company, which had purchased the rights to the Audion from De Forest, and Irving Langmuir at General Electric, who named his tube the "Pliotron", These were the first vacuum tube triodes. The name "triode" appeared later, when it became necessary to distinguish it from other kinds of vacuum tubes with more or fewer elements (e.g. diodes, tetrodes, pentodes, etc.). There were lengthy lawsuits between De Forest and von Lieben, and De Forest and the Marconi Company, who represented John Ambrose Fleming, the inventor of the diode.
Wider adoption.
The discovery of the triode's amplifying ability in 1912 revolutionized electrical technology, creating the new field of "electronics", the technology of active (amplifying) electrical devices. The triode was immediately applied to many areas of communication. Triode "continuous wave" radio transmitters replaced the cumbersome inefficient "damped wave" spark gap transmitters, allowing the transmission of sound by amplitude modulation (AM). Amplifying triode radio receivers, which had the power to drive loudspeakers, replaced weak crystal radios, which had to be listened to with earphones, allowing families to listen together. This resulted in the evolution of radio from a commercial message service to the first mass communication medium, with the beginning of radio broadcasting around 1920. Triodes made transcontinental telephone service possible. Vacuum tube triode repeaters, invented at Bell Telephone after its purchase of the Audion rights, allowed telephone calls to travel beyond the unamplified limit of about 800 miles. The opening by Bell of the first transcontinental telephone line was celebrated 3 years later, on January 25, 1915. Other inventions made possible by the triode were television, public address systems, electric phonographs, and talking motion pictures.
The triode served as the technological base from which later vacuum tubes developed, such as the tetrode (Walter Schottky, 1916) and pentode (Gilles Holst and Bernardus Dominicus Hubertus Tellegen, 1926), which remedied some of the shortcomings of the triode detailed below.
The triode was very widely used in consumer electronics such as radios, televisions, and audio systems until it was replaced in the 1960s by the transistor, invented in 1947, which brought the "vacuum tube era" introduced by the triode to a close. Today triodes are mostly used in high-power applications for which solid state semiconductor devices are unsuitable, such as radio transmitters and industrial heating equipment. However, more recently the triode and other vacuum tube devices have been experiencing a resurgence and comeback in high fidelity audio and musical equipment. They also remain in use as vacuum fluorescent displays (VFDs), which come in a variety of implementations but all are essentially triode devices.
Construction.
All triodes have a hot cathode electrode heated by a filament, which releases electrons, and a flat metal plate electrode to which the electrons are attracted, with a grid consisting of a screen of wires between them to control the current. These are sealed inside a glass container from which the air has been removed to a high vacuum, about 10−9 atm. Since the filament eventually burns out, the tube has a limited lifetime and is made as a replaceable unit; the electrodes are attached to terminal pins which plug into a socket. The operating lifetime of a triode is about 2000 hours for small tubes and 10,000 hours for power tubes.
Low power triodes.
Low power triodes have a concentric construction "(see drawing right)", with the grid and anode as circular or oval cylinders surrounding the cathode. The cathode is a narrow metal tube down the center. Inside the cathode is a filament called the "heater" consisting of a narrow strip of high resistance tungsten wire, which heats the cathode red-hot (800 - 1000 °C). This type is called an "indirectly heated cathode". The cathode is coated with a mixture of alkaline earth oxides such as calcium and thorium oxide which reduces its work function so it produces more electrons. The grid is constructed of a helix or screen of thin wires surrounding the cathode. The anode is a cylinder or rectangular box of sheet metal surrounding the grid. It is blackened to radiate heat and is often equipped with heat-radiating fins. The electrons travel in a radial direction, from cathode through the grid to the anode. The elements are held in position by mica or ceramic insulators and are supported by stiff wires attached to the base, where the electrodes are brought out to connecting pins. A "getter", a small amount of shiny barium metal evaporated onto the inside of the glass, helps maintain the vacuum by absorbing gas released in the tube over time.
High-power triodes.
High-power triodes generally use a filament which serves as the cathode (a directly heated cathode) because the emission coating on indirectly heated cathodes is destroyed by the higher ion bombardment in power tubes. A thoriated tungsten filament is most often used, in which thorium in the tungsten forms a monolayer on the surface which increases electron emission. These generally run at higher temperatures than indirectly heated cathodes. The envelope of the tube is often made of more durable ceramic rather than glass, and all the materials have higher melting points to withstand higher heat levels produced. Tubes with anode power dissipation over several hundred watts are usually actively cooled; the anode, made of heavy copper, projects through the wall of the tube and is attached to a large external finned metal heat sink which is cooled by forced air or water.
Lighthouse tubes.
A type of low power triode for use at ultrahigh frequencies (UHF), the "lighthouse" tube, has a planar construction to reduce interelectrode capacitance and lead inductance, which gives it the appearance of a "lighthouse". The disk-shaped cathode, grid and plate form planes up the center of the tube - a little like a sandwich with spaces between the layers. The cathode at the bottom is attached to the tube's pins, but the grid and plate are brought out to low inductance terminals on the upper level of the tube: the grid to a metal ring halfway up, and the plate to a metal button at the top. These are one example of "disk seal" design. Smaller examples dispense with the octal pin base shown in the illustration and rely on contact rings for all connections, including heater and D.C. cathode.
As well, high-frequency performance is limited by transit time: the time required for electrons to travel from cathode to anode. Transit time effects are complicated, but one simple effect is input conductance, also known as grid loading. At extreme high frequencies, electrons arriving at the grid may become out of phase with those departing towards the anode. This imbalance of charge causes the grid to exhibit a reactance that is much less than its low-frequency "open circuit" characteristic.
Transit time effects are reduced by reduced spacings in the tube. Tubes such as the 416B (a Lighthouse design) and the 7768 (an all-ceramic miniaturised design) are specified for operation to 4 GHz. They feature greatly reduced grid-cathode spacings in the order of 0.1 mm.
These greatly reduced grid spacings also give a much higher amplification factor than conventional axial designs. The 7768 has an amplification factor of 225, compared with 100 for the 6AV6 used in domestic radios and about the maximum possible for an axial design.
Anode-grid capacitance is not especially low in these designs. The 6AV6 anode-grid capacitance is 2 picofarads (pF), the 7768 has a value of 1.7 pF. The close electrode spacing used in microwave tubes "increases" capacitances, but this increase is offset by their overall reduced dimensions compared to lower-frequency tubes.
Operation.
In the triode, electrons are released into the tube from the metal cathode by heating it, a process called thermionic emission. The cathode is heated red hot by a separate current flowing through a thin metal filament. In high power triodes, the filament itself is the cathode, while in most the filament heats a separate cathode electrode. Virtually all the air is removed from the tube, so the electrons can move freely. A positive DC voltage, from 20V to thousands of volts in power tubes, is applied to the anode. The negative electrons are attracted to the positively charged anode, and flow through the spaces between the grid wires to it, creating a flow of electrons through the tube from cathode to anode.
The magnitude of this current can be controlled by a voltage applied between the cathode and the grid. The grid acts like a gate for the electrons. A more negative voltage on the grid will repel some of the electrons, so fewer get through to the anode, reducing the anode current. A positive voltage on the grid will attract more electrons from the cathode, so more reach the anode, increasing the anode current. Therefore, a low power varying (AC) signal applied to the grid can control a much more powerful anode current, resulting in amplification. Variation in the grid voltage will cause identical proportional variations in the anode current. By placing a suitable load resistance in the anode circuit, the varying current will cause a varying voltage across the resistance which can be much larger than the input voltage variations, resulting in voltage gain.
The triode is a normally "on" device; and current flows to the anode with zero voltage on the grid. The anode current is progressively reduced as the grid is made more negative relative to the cathode. Usually a constant DC voltage ("bias") is applied to the grid to set the DC current through the tube, and the varying signal voltage is superimposed on it. A sufficiently negative voltage on the grid (usually around 3-5 volts in small tubes such as the 6AV6, but as much as –130 volts in early audio power devices such as the '45), will prevent any electrons from getting through to the anode, turning off the anode current. This is called the "cutoff voltage". Since below cutoff the anode current ceases to respond to the grid voltage, the voltage on the grid must remain above the cutoff voltage for faithful (linear) amplification.
The triode is similar in operation to the n-channel JFET; it is normally on, and exhibits progressively lower and lower plate current as the grid/gate is pulled increasingly negative relative to the source/cathode. Cutoff voltage is equivalent to the JFET's pinch-off voltage (Vp) or VGS(off); i.e., the voltage point at which current stops flowing entirely. This similarity is limited, however. The triode's anode current is highly dependent on anode voltage as well as grid voltage, causing it to appear as a voltage source in circuit. The JFET's drain current is virtually unaffected by drain voltage, thus it appears as a constant-current device, similar in action to a tetrode or pentode tube. Both the JFET and tetrode/pentode valves offer much higher voltage gains than the triode.
Applications.
Although S.G. Brown's Type G Telephone Relay (using a magnetic "earphone" mechanism driving a carbon microphone element) was able to give power amplification and had been in use as early as 1914, it was a purely mechanical device with limited frequency range and fidelity. It was suited only to a limited range of audio frequencies - essentially voice frequencies.
The triode was the first non-mechanical device to provide power gain at audio and radio frequencies, and made radio practical. Triodes are used for amplifiers and oscillators. Many types are used only at low to moderate frequency and power levels. Large water-cooled triodes may be used as the final amplifier in radio transmitters, with ratings of thousands of watts. Specialized types of triode ("lighthouse" tubes, with low capacitance between elements) provide useful gain at microwave frequencies.
Vacuum tubes are obsolete in mass-marketed consumer electronics, having been overtaken by less expensive transistor-based solid-state devices. However, more recently, vacuum tubes have been making somewhat of a comeback. Triodes continue to be used in certain high-power RF amplifiers and transmitters. While proponents of vacuum tubes claim their superiority in areas such as high-end and professional audio applications, the solid-state MOSFET has similar performance characteristics.
Characteristics.
In triode datasheets, characteristics linking the anode current (Ia) to anode voltage (Va) and grid voltage (Vg) are usually given. From here, a circuit designer can choose the operating point of the particular triode.
In the example characteristic shown on the image, if an anode voltage Va of 200V and a grid voltage bias of −1 volt are selected, a plate (anode) current of 2.25mA will be present (using the yellow curve on the graph). Changing the grid voltage will change the plate current; by suitable choice of a plate load resistor, amplification is obtained.
In the class-A triode amplifier, an anode resistor would be connected between the anode and the positive voltage source. For example, with Ra = 10000 ohms, the voltage drop on it would be
VRa = Ia × Ra = 22.5V if an anode current of Ia = 2.25mA is chosen.
If the input voltage amplitude (at the grid) changes from −1.5V to −0.5V (difference of 1V), the anode current will change from 1.2 to 3.3mA (see image). This will change the resistor voltage drop from 12 to 33V (a difference of 21V).
Since the grid voltage changes from −1.5V to −0.5V, and the anode resistor voltage drops from 12 to 33 V, an amplification of the signal resulted. The amplification factor is 21: output voltage amplitude divided by input voltage amplitude.


Russian tube designations

Vacuum tubes produced in the former Soviet Union and in present-day Russia carry their own unique designations. Some confusion has been created in "translating" these designations, as they use Cyrillic rather than Latin characters.
1929 system.
The first system was introduced in 1929. It consisted of one or two letters and a number with up to 3 digits denoting the production number
First letter: System type:
Second letter (optional): Type of cathode:
Examples:
In 1937, the Soviet Union purchased a tube assembly line from RCA, 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; for example, the 6F6 thus became the 6Ф6.
Receiver tubes.
In the 1950s a 5-element system (GOST 5461-59, later 13393-76) was adopted in the (then) Soviet Union for designating receiver vacuum tubes.
The 1st element (from left to right) is (for receiving tubes) a number specifying filament voltage in volts (rounded to the nearest whole number).
The 2nd element is a Cyrillic character specifying the type of device:
The 3rd element is a number – a series designator that differentiates between different devices of the same type.
The 4th element denotes vacuum tube construction (base, envelope):
For all-metal tubes the 4th element is omitted.
The 5th element is optional. It consists of a dash ("-") followed by a single character or a combination of characters and denotes special characteristics (if any) of the tube:
For instance, -YeV (Russian: -ЕВ) added after 6N2P (i.e. 6Н2П-ЕВ) signifies that this variant of the 6N2P has extended service life and low noise and microphonics. More often than not this means actual differences in internal construction of the tube compared to the "basic" type, but sometimes designators like -V and -I simply mean that the tube was specially selected for those characteristics from the regular-quality production at the factory.
The new designation convention was applied retrospectively to many of the previously produced types, as well as to those produced afterwards. For example, a Soviet-produced copy of the 6L6 was originally manufactured in the 1940s under its American designation (in Latin lettering), or sometimes a Cyrillic transcription of it, 6Л6. Under the above convention the tube was redesignated 6P3S (Russian: 6П3С). The 6V6 tube became 6P6S (Russian: 6П6С). However, many specialised Russian tubes, such as special military or transmitter tubes, do not follow the above convention.
Some of the better-known Russian equivalents of West European and American tubes are the 6P14P (Russian: 6П14П), an EL84; 6N8S (Russian: 6Н8С), a 6SN7; and 6P3S-E (Russian: 6П3С-Е), a version of the 6L6.
Professional tubes.
There is another designation system for professional tubes such as transmitter ones. A number before a cathode-ray tube designation gives the screen diagonal or diameter in centimeters (rounded to the nearest whole number)
The 1st element: Function
The next elements are:
Popular transmitter tubes include the ГУ-29, ГУ-50, ГМ-70 and Г-807 (the Russian 807 analogue).


National Grid Corporation of the Philippines

The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) is a privately-owned corporation that was created on January 15, 2009 through RA 9511. It is a consortium of three corporations, namely Monte Oro Grid Resources Corporation, Calaca High Power Corporation, and the State Grid Corporation of China. As the franchise holder, it is in charge of operating, maintaining, and developing the country's state-owned power grid, controls the supply and demand of power by determining the power mix through the selection of power plants to put online (i.e., to signal power plants to produce power, as power plants will only produce power or feed their power to the transmission grid when directed by NGCP). As a common carrier, it must provide non-discriminatory access to its transmission system. It is subject to the standards set by the Philippine Grid Code and the Transmission Development Plan. It also updates the daily power situation outlook for Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao power grids by determining the available generating capacity, system peak demand, and operating margin (with operating margin is determined by subtracting the available generating capacity and system peak demand, and all of which are in units of MW or megawatts).
History.
On June 8, 2001, legislators passed and former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed RA 9136 which is also known as the Electric Power Industry Act or EPIRA law to save the ailing energy industry. It introduced two major reforms: the restructuring of the electricity supply industry and the privatization of the National Power Corporation (NPC). It also led to the creation of another state-owned corporation named National Transmission Corporation (TransCo) which turned over the NPC's management, ownership, construction, expansion, and maintenance of the transmission facilities.
On December 12, 2007, two consortia bid for a 25-year license to run the Philippine power grid - privatization of the management of TransCo: the consortium of Monte Oro Grid Resources Corp., led by businessman Enrique Razon, comprising the State Grid Corporation of China, and Calaca High Power Corp., WON in an auction conducted by the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM) Corp. as it submitted the highest offer of $3.95 billion, for the right to operate TransCo for 25 years, outbidding San Miguel Energy, a unit of San Miguel Corporation (bid of $3.905 billion), Dutch firm TPG Aurora BV and Malaysia’s TNB Prai Sdn Bhd. Jose Ibazeta, PSALM president and CEO remarked: “We are very happy about the successful turnout of the bidding for TransCo. PSALM handled the privatization of the government’s transmission business with utmost transparency and judiciousness."
On December 1, 2008, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed the RA 9511 which gives it the franchise to operate and maintain the transmission facilities of TransCo.
On January 15, 2009, it officially started its operations and management over the national transmission system, with Walter A. Brown as the company's first president. It continued to do all transmission projects that were planned or unfinished by TransCo which are called as Projects Under Construction (PUC) on its first few years and makes or plans any new projects through the Transmission Development Plan (TDP).
On March 26, 2010, Roque Corpuz was appointed as the company's second president, replacing Walter A. Brown. Three months later on June 20 of that same year, Henry Sy, Jr. became the third NGCP president.
On May 2017, TransCo accused the company with violating the terms of its contract by supposedly making too much money from its operations of the country’s electricity grid. Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea pointed out that, if indeed NGCP had violated the terms of its contract by profiting unduly from the operations of the power grid such as allowing telecommunications firms to mount their fiber optic cables on the transmission towers.
On March 7, 2018, Henry Sy, Jr. resigned as president and CEO, with Chief Administrative Officer Anthony Almeda named as the company's new president.
Franchise law.
Unlike outright sale, the concession agreement allowed the Philippine government to keep ownership of the transmission assets through TransCo, in accordance with Section 8 of Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) or Republic Act 9136 which states that no person, company, or entity other than TransCo who shall own any transmission facilities. Its franchise only covers the operations, maintenance, and expansion of the power grid. It officially started operations on January 15, 2009. Assuming it secures a renewal, it has a total of 50 years and will end on December 1, 2058. Under its franchise, it has the right to operate and maintain the transmission system and related facilities, and the right of eminent domain necessary to construct, expand, maintain, and operate the transmission system.
For more details about its franchise law and EPIRA law, visit these websites.
Organization.
Below is a table listing the board of directors and officials of NGCP.
Business scope.
Below is a table listing the district numbers and what areas or provinces that each district covers.


Alcoa Power Generating

Alcoa Power Generating, Inc. is a subsidiary of Alcoa Inc., headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Its three divisions were independent subsidiaries before being consolidated into Alcoa Power Generating, Inc. (APGI). These three projects have produced hydroelectric power and manage impoundments which also provide flood control; recreation, residential and business opportunities; and wildlife habitat.
Yadkin Project.
The APGI Yadkin Project managed a 38-mile section of the Yadkin River, plus tributaries, in Piedmont North Carolina and included four dams, powerhouses and reservoirs, sold in February 2017 to Cube Hydro Carolinas. The counties of Davie, Davidson, Rowan, Stanly, and Montgomery border the Yadkin Project river and lakes. The dams owned and operated by APGI were the Narrows dam (completed in 1917), the Falls dam (completed in 1919), the High Rock dam (completed in 1927), and the Tuckertown dam (completed in 1962). The Narrows dam and powerhouse development is the only hydroelectric project listed on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina. The other three dam and powerhouse developments have been determined eligible for listing on the National Register.
History.
At the Narrows, the Yadkin River flowed through a deep gorge for three and a half miles within the Uwharrie Mountains. Its potential for industrial development had long been recognized. In 1887, E.B.C. Hambley, a mining expert from England, came to Salisbury, North Carolina. He gained the backing of Pittsburgh industrialist George I. Whitney. Between 1899 and 1901, Whitney organized eight subsidiary companies and employed Hambley as his chief engineer. About a mile upriver from the Narrows, the Whitney Development Company nearly completed the granite Whitney Dam and a five-mile long diversion canal, and began construction of a powerhouse at Palmer Mountain before the company declared bankruptcy in 1907 and all work ceased. The massive canal remains today, while the Whitney Dam lies beneath the waters of Badin Lake. They have been determined eligible to be listed on the National Register. In 2017, Historic Salisbury Foundation board president Susan Sides said, "It was called one of the most unique dams in all history. It was referred to as the 'Niagara of the South.'"
In 1912, a French Company, L'Aluminium Français, acquired the assets of the Whitney Company. L'Aluminium Français decided against completing the Whitney project, and organized the Southern Aluminum Company to construct a 200-foot high dam and powerhouse at the Narrows to power an aluminum plant which it would also build. West of the proposed smelter, the worker's village of Badin was planned and platted. The town was named in honor of the Southern Aluminum Company's president, Adrien Badin. The project faltered a second time as most of the French engineers returned to France during World War I.
In 1915, the Aluminum Company of America purchased the property. Plans once again were altered. The dam was redesigned and the new plans called for a brick powerhouse to be built on the east side of the river. The original powerhouse site on the west side of the river was abandoned and the partially completed building was dismantled to its concrete foundations. The original smelter site was also abandoned and a new smelter building was designed west of the Badin townsite. A devastating flood in 1916 caused damage and delays. When completed in 1917, the 185-foot () Narrows Dam was the world's highest overflow type dam. The Narrows Reservoir, commonly called Badin Lake, reaches a depth of and occupies .
To generate additional hydroelectric power, in 1919, the company constructed Falls Dam downriver of Badin and High Rock Dam upriver in 1927. High Rock Lake, at , was the largest lake on the Yadkin at that time. In 1929, the company's name was changed to Alcoa. In 1962, Alcoa built the Tuckertown Dam between High Rock and Narrows Reservoirs.
In August 2002, Alcoa temporarily suspended aluminum production at the Badin Works, laying off 377 workers. The electrode plant continued operating until 2007 when the plant shut down permanently. The dams continue to generate 215 megawatts of electricity annually which the company sells. During calendar years 2008, 2009, and 2010, the Yadkin Project generated an average of $7.73 million annually in net income, on an average of $29.46 million in annual revenues. In the year ending September 2013, APGI sold 964,216 megawatt hours, with revenue estimated at $30 million.
On July 11, 2016, Cube Hydro Carolinas, part of Cube Hydro Partners LLC, announced its purchase of the APGI power plants on the Yadkin River. Cube Hydro intends to improve the plants. APGI would still own of land. On December 13, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the license transfer to Cube Yadkin Generation. The sale became official February 2, 2017.
Hazardous waste.
For more than 70 years, Alcoa disposed of spent potliner, which the EPA declared a hazardous waste in 1980. Alcoa took "corrective measures", but a Duke University Environmental Law and Policy Clinic analysis found "wastes from former smelting and disposal activities at Alcoa Badin Works continue to pollute the groundwater, surface water, and soil in the Badin community and Yadkin River basin". Surveys by Duke since 2018 show that polluted groundwater has reached the Little Mountain Creek floodplain, although Alcoa states its waste products have not reached Little Mountain Creek. Ruther studies were needed to determine how polluted other areas were. Duke believed trichloroethylene (TCE) was still in the groundwater at the main plant. Duke recommended studying "excavation and removal of the hazardous waste buried in Alcoa’s dumps". In December 2019 Duke sent a report to the state Department of Environmental Quality.
Site redevelopment.
In January 2011, Alcoa announced its commitment to spend $10 million to prepare the Badin Works site for redevelopment by demolishing buildings which would not be needed and making improvements to the facility. On May 23, 2011, Electronic Recyclers International, a recycler of electronic items such as computers and cell phones, announced plans to spend $5 million on a 165,000-square-foot () building. APGI will also spend $5 million. of available space remains on the site. Clean Tech Silicon and Bar LLC also wanted to invest $300 million and create 450 direct and indirect jobs. However, negotiations between Clean Tech, APGI, and Stanly County Commissioners were not able to reach an agreement, and Clean Tech withdrew its offer.
In 2016, after APGI sold its power plants, the company said it will continue to market Badin Business Park.
Yadkin Project relicensing process.
General information.
A 50-year federal license to operate the dams on the Yadkin River was granted in 1958 to the Carolina Aluminum Company, a part of Alcoa, which owned the power plants and the land under the lakes, as well as significant land holdings around the lakes. The license was transferred from Yadkin, Inc. (an Alcoa subsidiary) to APGI in 2000. In 2002, APGI began an extensive relicensing process with four series of local public hearings held throughout the project area, and 100 representatives of over 30 stakeholder groups from federal, state, and local governmental agencies, and non-governmental organizations participating in Issue Advisory Groups and a lengthy settlement negotiation process. APGI commissioned 22 technical studies on the impact of the project in environmental, economic, recreation, and cultural areas. On May 7, 2007, APGI submitted a Relicensing Settlement Agreement which promised many benefits to the project area, signed by 23 stakeholders, to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
In January 2007, the Stanly County Commissioners announced they would oppose APGI's relicensing because they were worried the company would not be forced to clean up environmental problems remaining at the site and in the Yadkin, and because granting the license to another entity, which would use the hydro-electricity created by the Yadkin River to create jobs, would better serve the public interest. In 2008, North Carolina governor Mike Easley authorized a study of the effect of APGI's relicensing. APGI supported this study, whose findings have not been issued.
In April 2008, FERC issued a Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Yadkin Project, concluding that federal takeover would not be a reasonable alternative for the project, and noting that no federal agency had suggested that federal takeover would be appropriate, or had expressed an interest in operating the project. However, due to questions involving Alcoa's state water quality certificate, FERC has not made a final determination on the issuance of a license, and APGI has been operating under a temporary license.
In April 2009, North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue issued a statement opposing APGI's relicensing and supporting legislation to establish a public trust to hold the license to use the Yadkin to generate hydro-electricity. With bipartisan support the N.C. Senate overwhelmingly passed legislation to establish the "public trust", but Alcoa supporters defeated the bill in the N.C. House.
A year later Republican Senator Fletcher Hartsell, again supporting establishing a "public trust", introduced a bill to create the Uwharrie Regional Commission.
In the final days of the 2010 legislative session, UNC-TV anchorwoman Eszter Vajda produced a documentary ("The Alcoa Story") about Alcoa's operations in North Carolina. However, before the program aired Ms. Vajda expressed concerns to legislators that, because criticizing a powerful corporation like Alcoa would be controversial, executives at UNC-TV might refuse to air her documentary. Subsequently, a Senate committee subpoenaed Vajda's documentary, sparking a debate over whether UNC-TV (which is owned by state government), was subject to 'public records' laws or whether it had a 'special exemption.'. The documentary was aired in the Senate Committee and then broadcast on UNC-TV (with a credit stating it was broadcast "without the usual editorial scrutiny").
After the documentary – focusing on Alcoa's environmental records – was broadcast both the House and Senate passed Senator Hartsell's legislation to establish the Uwharrie Regional Commission.
Later when additional public records were released by UNC-TV revealed that an independent researcher working on the story for Vajda accepted $3,000 from a supporter of establishing the public trust and after learning Ms. Vajda had told legislators about her concerns UNC-TV might balk at airing her film, UNC-TV terminated Vajda's employment. It also removed online footage of her documentary.
Celebrity activist Erin Brockovich spoke for supporters of the Yadkin River Trust at a news conference in Raleigh, North Carolina. Later in the day, the Yadkin Riverkeeper sponsored her appearance at Wake Forest University.
The debate over Alcoa's relicensing and the establishment of a public trust has been contentious. In addition to the Relicensing Settlement Agreement signatories, APGI has gained the support, principally, of the N.C. Property Rights Coalition (which in June 2010 broadcast radio spots calling 'recapturing' Alcoa's license to control the Yadkin River a government takeover of private property); Rick Miller, President of the National Hydropower Association and a local newspaper editorial board. According to a poll paid for by APGI and done by McLaughlin & Associates, North Carolina's citizens are predominantly against the state taking over the project.
Stanly County was supported by Governor Beverly Perdue and her Commerce Secretary (a former president of the Stanly-County-initiated N. C. Water Rights Coalition), the Yadkin Riverkeeper, a number of elected officials and the NC Water Rights Commission which has aired internet videos about Alcoa's environmental record and rebutting Alcoa's property rights claims. Also supporting the public power agency is the nonprofit organization Central Park NC.
In 2013, Stanly County agreed to support Alcoa's license renewal.
On July 29, 2013, the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources recommended approval for relicensing. However, on August 2, the state filed a lawsuit claiming Alcoa did not own land under its lakes. The suit also asked that the state be granted rights to the dams. Governor Pat McCrory said, "The Yadkin River is a North Carolina river. We should be able to use it for North Carolina water needs and to create North Carolina jobs. The benefits of the Yadkin River belong to North Carolina's people." APGI believed it would prevail because of a 2012 United States Supreme Court decision in favor of a Montana power company. Another suit claimed North Carolina had owned the land since it was one of the thirteen original colonies. APGI lawyers claimed that the state could not use this argument because it had waited too long to do so.
On April 22, 2015, U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle ruled that the Yadkin River was not navigable at the time of United States independence from Great Britain, meaning that the state of North Carolina would not have ownership of it from that time. This means the riverbed may have been included in land purchases by Alcoa and other companies that preceded it. Alcoa attorneys said the company did own the land and the state did not have a claim. A determination of who owned the riverbed was to be made in a trial.
On August 27, while asking attorneys questions that would help him determine whether to dismiss the 2013 lawsuit, Boyle accused North Carolina of acting like "a banana republic" and said the state was merely trying to punish Alcoa for taking away hundreds of jobs. Boyle dismissed the state lawsuit on September 28, saying the state had seven years to take action and did not do so until Alcoa's use of the property changed to something the state did not want. The ruling establishes that Alcoa owns the riverbed. The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the ruling in 2017. On February 20, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court turned down an appeal.
On September 22, 2016, Alcoa received a license to operate until March 31, 2055, a period 12 years shorter than desired. The license requires a minimum water level and a swimming beach for High Rock Lake. The terms of the license will apply to Cube Hydro Carolinas, which bought the hydroelectric power operations.
As part of the relicensing process, 4700 acres, including 76 miles of shoreline on the Yadkin River, are being sold to the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission and the LandTrust for Central North Carolina, on the condition that within five years they raise the $10 to $12 million to buy the land. LandTrust executive director Travis Morehead said 4300 additional acres would be purchased from Alcoa. All 9000 acres were part of the game lands program, and the sale would guarantee that this continues.
In January 2019, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit refused an appeal from the state, which had until April 18, 2019 to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court but did not.
401 Water Quality Certificate.
The last remaining FERC requirement for a new Alcoa Yadkin Project license is a Section 401 water quality certificate, and recent opposition to Alcoa's relicensing has centered around it. In November 2007, the NC Division of Water Quality (DWQ) issued APGI a Section 401 water quality certificate for the Yadkin Project. The certificate was later withdrawn due to the failure of DWQ to publish a required public notice. APGI reapplied for a water quality certificate, which DWQ issued on May 9, 2009. In part, the certificate required APGI to make upgrades which would improve dissolved oxygen (DO) levels in the dam releases. Some upgrades have been made at the Narrows dam, although the complete upgrade program will not be completed until after the issuance of a license. Stanly County filed a legal appeal of the certificate and a court granted a stay of its execution. In October 2010, as hearings on the appeal took place, the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources reduced the amount of a surety bond required by the 401 water quality certificate from $240 million to $80 million, the amount APGI states will be required to make improvements required in the certificate.
Then, in the fall of 2010, lawyers for Stanly County and the Yadkin Riverkeeper confronted Alcoa executives with internal Alcoa emails documenting that Alcoa had withheld information and misrepresented facts about its pollution from the Department of Natural and Natural Resources. When the emails were made public DENR promptly revoked Alcoa's water quality certificate and, on December 2, 2010, Administrative Law Judge Fred Morrison Jr. suspended hearings.
On January 28, 2011, APGI released more internal documents and filed an appeal of the certificate revocation, stating "In its revocation notice, the DWQ quotes selected portions of e-mails that do not provide the complete story and were taken out of context. If you read the entire e-mail chains in context, and review the entire record, you find that no material information was withheld." APGI also released a study of dissolved oxygen levels leaving the Narrows and Falls reservoirs, where planned upgrades have been partially implemented. This report, Alcoa claimed, showed that, for the past three years, Falls tailwaters substantially met the state instantaneous dissolved oxygen standard over 99.5% of the time, and that in 2010 Narrows tailwaters met the state instantaneous DO standard 93.4 percent of the time. APGI also announced in January 2011 the establishment of an environmental toll-free hotline managed by EthicsPoint.
In a separate legal case, on May 3, 2011, a Federal Appeals Court in Washington, D.C. ruled against APGI, which had argued the state's actions were improper.
The state revoked the water quality certificate again in 2013 due to concerns over ownership.
In May 2015, administrative law judge Selina Brooks ruled that the Division of Water Quality did not have the right to deny a certificate and required a decision by the end of June.
Most who attended a state Department of Environment and Natural Resources public hearing on July 1, 2015 opposed a new permit, while Yadkin Riverkeeper Will Scott wanted higher standards.
On September 25, Wake County Superior Court Judge Bryan Collins said the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources wrongly denied a certificate and gave the department a month to grant it.
On October 23, the state said it approved the certification on the condition Alcoa provide $48 million for improvements. but on October 28, Special Deputy Attorney General I. Faison Hicks asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to wait for a U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals lawsuit to be settled before making a decision about the 50-year license.
Tapoco Project.
The Tapoco Project (originally Tallassee Power Company) includes four dams in North Carolina and Tennessee, on the Little Tennessee and Cheoah rivers. The Tapoco Project comprises four developments: Calderwood, Cheoah, Chilhowee, and Santeetlah. The dams supplied power to Alcoa's operations in Alcoa, Tennessee, an aluminum smelting and rolling mill. TVA assists Brookfield Smoky Mountain Hydropower in determining the daily operation levels of the Tapoco developments to best match expected flow releases from Fontana Dam, since TVA's Fontana Dam serves as the primary flow control facility for the lower Little Tennessee River area. Combined, the four developments have a licensed capacity of 380.1 megawatts.
Around 1910, Aluminum Company of America began looking at locations to produce hydroelectric power for making aluminum. The company purchased Knoxville Power Company, chartered in 1900. At the end of 1913, Aluminum Company of America bought Tallassee Power Company (chartered in 1905), Western Carolina Power and Transportation, Union Development Company, and Union Power and Water Company. All of these companies became part of Tallassee Power Company. From the first two letters of each word came the name Tapoco, given first to the community and then to the company. The aluminum smelter first began operation in 1913.
World War I increased the need for aluminum, and Southern Railway completed a railroad extension to the planned Cheoah Dam in 1916. The Cheoah Dam began operation in 1919.
Construction of Santeetlah Dam began in 1926, with the Rhymer's Ferry powerhouse starting operation in 1928. Calderwood Dam was completed in 1930. Chilhowee Dam was the last completed, in 1957. The North Plant fabricating facility opened in 1942 to help meet the aluminum needs for World War II.
The company received its federal license to operate these dams in 1955 but was unable to renew until it resolved concerns over flooding in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park as a result of the Chilhowee Dam. The Tapoco Project and Licensing Act of 2004 corrected the problem by trading land, with going to the park and about of Alcoa land receiving a conservation easement. A 40-year license was granted January 25, 2005, but smelter production ended in 2009, and in 2012 the company sold its dams. Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners of Canada paid $600 million for the four dams, 86 miles of transmission lines, and 14,500 acres in 2012. Tapoco-APGI became Brookfield Smoky Mountain Hydropower on November 15 of that year.
The Cheoah Dam is also the dam used in the movie "The Fugitive" where Harrison Ford's character jumps to escape.
Long Sault Project.
Pittsburgh Reduction company, which became Alcoa, started the Massena operation in 1902 because of significant capacity for hydroelectric power; it holds the record for longest continuous operation of an aluminum facility. Power comes from the New York Power Authority (NYPA). Alcoa's Long Sault Division owns and operates the five 115 kV transmission lines that connect NYPA to Hydro-Québec, which originally connected NYPA to the St. Lawrence Franklin D. Roosevelt project. Alcoa pays Cedar Rapids Transmission Company (part of Hydro-Québec) to operate two of the lines.


Posco Energy

POSCO Energy is the largest private energy producer in South Korea. It is a member of the POSCO consortium, and was established on November, 1969, in South Korea as the nation's first private electricity supplier. The main businesses are in coal-fired power generation, fuel cells, liquid natural gas (LNG), and off-gas power.
With the completion of construction on the Incheon LNG combined cycle power plant in 2012, POSCO Energy will have 3,300 MW of power generation facilities.
It is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea.


Getter

A getter is a deposit of reactive material that is placed inside a vacuum system, for the purpose of completing and maintaining the vacuum. When gas molecules strike the getter material, they combine with it chemically or by absorption. Thus the getter removes small amounts of gas from the evacuated space. The getter is usually a coating applied to a surface within the evacuated chamber.
A vacuum is initially created by connecting a closed and tight container to a vacuum pump. After achieving a sufficient vacuum, the container can be sealed, or the vacuum pump can be left running. Getters are especially important in sealed systems, such as vacuum tubes, including cathode ray tubes (CRTs) and vacuum insulated panels, which must maintain a vacuum for a long time. This is because the inner surfaces of the container release adsorbed gases for a long time after the vacuum is established. The getter continually removes residues of a reactive gas, such as oxygen, as long as it is desorbed from a surface, or continuously penetrating in the system (tiny leaks or diffusion through a permeable material). Even in systems which are continually evacuated by a vacuum pump, getters are also used to remove residual gas, often to achieve a higher vacuum than the pump could achieve alone. Although it is often present in minute amounts and has no moving parts, a getter behaves in itself as a vacuum pump. It is an ultimate chemical sink for reactive gases.
Getters cannot react with inert gases, though some getters will adsorb them in a reversible way. Also, hydrogen is usually handled by adsorption rather than by reaction.
Types.
To avoid being contaminated by the atmosphere, the getter must be introduced into the vacuum system in an inactive form during assembly, and activated after evacuation. This is usually done by heat. Different types of getter use different ways of doing this:
Flashed getters.
Flashed getters are prepared by arranging a reservoir of volatile and reactive material inside the vacuum system. After the system has been evacuated and sealed, the material is heated (usually by radio frequency induction heating). After evaporating, it deposits as a coating on the interior surfaces of the system. Flashed getters (typically made with barium) are commonly used in vacuum tubes. Most getters can be seen as a silvery metallic spot on the inside of the tube's glass envelope. Large transmission tubes and specialty systems often use more exotic getters, including aluminium, magnesium, calcium, sodium, strontium, caesium, and phosphorus.
If the getter is exposed to atmospheric air (for example, if the tube breaks or develops a leak), it turns white and becomes useless. For this reason, flashed getters are only used in sealed systems. A functioning phosphorus getter looks very much like an oxidised metal getter, although it has an iridescent pink or orange appearance which oxidised metal getters lack. Phosphorus was frequently used before metallic getters were developed.
In systems which need to be opened to air for maintenance, a titanium sublimation pump provides similar functionality to flashed getters, but can be flashed repeatedly. Alternatively, nonevaporable getters may be used.
Those unfamiliar with sealed vacuum devices, such as vacuum tubes/thermionic valves, high-pressure sodium lamps or some types of metal-halide lamps, often notice the shiny flash getter deposit and mistakenly think it is a sign of failure or degradation of the device. Contemporary high-intensity discharge lamps tend to use non-evaporable getters rather than flash getters.
Those familiar with such devices can often make qualitative assessments as to the hardness or quality of the vacuum within by the appearance of the flash getter deposit, with a shiny deposit indicating a good vacuum. As the getter is used up, the deposit often becomes thin and translucent, particularly at the edges. It can take on a brownish-red semi-translucent appearance, which indicates poor seals or extensive use of the device at elevated temperatures. A white deposit, usually barium oxide, indicates total failure of the seal on the vacuum system, as shown in the fluorescent display module depicted above.
Activation.
The typical flashed getter used in small vacuum tubes "(seen in 12AX7 tube, top)" consists of a ring-shaped structure made from a long strip of nickel, which is folded into a long, narrow trough, filled with a mixture of barium azide and powdered glass, and then folded into the closed ring shape. The getter is attached with its trough opening facing upward toward the glass, in the specific case depicted above.
During activation, while the bulb is still connected to the pump, an RF induction heating coil connected to a powerful RF oscillator operating in the 27 MHz or 40.68 MHz ISM band is positioned around the bulb in the plane of the ring. The coil acts as the primary of a transformer and the ring as a single shorted turn. Large RF currents flow in the ring, heating it. The coil is moved along the axis of the bulb so as not to overheat and melt the ring. As the ring is heated, the barium azide decomposes into barium vapor and nitrogen. The nitrogen is pumped out and the barium condenses on the bulb above the plane of the ring forming a mirror-like deposit with a large surface area. The powdered glass in the ring melts and entraps any particles which could otherwise escape loose inside the bulb causing later problems. The barium combines with any free gas when activated and continues to act after the bulb is sealed off from the pump. During use, the internal electrodes and other parts of the tube get hot. This can cause adsorbed gases to be released from metallic parts, such as anodes (plates), grids, or non-metallic porous parts, such as sintered ceramic parts. The gas is trapped on the large area of reactive barium on the bulb wall and removed from the tube.
Non-evaporable getters.
"Non-evaporable getters", which work at high temperature, generally consist of a film of a special alloy, often primarily zirconium; the requirement is that the alloy materials must form a passivation layer at room temperature which disappears when heated.
Common alloys have names of the form St (Stabil) followed by a number:
In tubes used in electronics, the getter material coats plates within the tube which are heated in normal operation; when getters are used within more general vacuum systems, such as in semiconductor manufacturing, they are introduced as separate pieces of equipment in the vacuum chamber, and turned on when needed.
Deposited and patterned getter material is being used in microelectronics packaging to provide an ultra-high vacuum in a sealed cavity. To enhance the getter pumping capacity, the activation temperature must be maximized, considering the process limitations.
It is, of course, important not to heat the getter when the system is not already in a good vacuum.


Solar power in Switzerland

Solar power in Switzerland has been growing rapidly in recent years due to declining system costs and a feed-in tariff instituted by the Swiss government. In 2013, cumulative capacity increased by 69% to 730 megawatts (MW) and contributed 544 GWh or 0.8% of the countries net-electricity production.
In 2014, another 320 megawatts were added bringing total installations to 1,076 MW and giving rise to Switzerland entering the group of currently twenty countries with a solar gigawatt market. As per the IEA-PVPS's calculations, the installed capacity by the end of 2014 should be enough to generate close to 2% of the domestic electricity demand—a significant increase compared to the 0.8% contributed by solar in 2013 "(see charts below)".
Historically, Switzerland had been a pioneer in solar photovoltaics in the 1980s and early 1990s but has since lost touch with the rapid-paced roll-out of solar by its world-leading southern and northern neighbors, Italy and Germany. However, the capped capacities that were put into place to avoid unregulated growth were raised in recent years as the surcharge on consumed electricity to pay for the feed-in tariff had been increased by the parliament. As the country is phasing-out nuclear power and the Swiss electricity sector is about to become completely liberalized, the electricity market is currently undergoing its largest change in history.
2019 Switzerland announced plans of large-scale solar auctions.
Domestic feed-in tariffs.
The federal government adopted feed-in tariffs to offer a cost-based compensation to renewable energy producers. The feed-in remuneration at cost ("KEV", , , ) is the primary instrument for promoting the deployment of power systems using renewable energy sources.
It covers the difference between the production and the market price, and guarantees producers of electricity from renewable sources a price that corresponds to their production costs. The following renewable energy sources are supported by the KEV remuneration: distributed small hydro (with capacities up to 10 MW), solar photovoltaics, wind power, geothermal energy, biomass and biogas (from agriculture, waste and water treatment).
The KEV remuneration is financed by collecting a surcharge on the consumed kilowatt-hour (kWh) of electricity. As in other countries, industries with a large electricity consumption are exempt from the surcharge, which has gradually been increased and stands at 1.5 cents per kWh as of 2014.
The remuneration tariffs for renewables have been specified based on reference power plants for each individual technology. Feed-in tariffs are applicable for 20 to 25 years, depending on the technology. For solar PV, the time-span was reduced from 25 to 20 years in 2014. In view of the anticipated technological progress and the increasing degree of market maturity of renewables energy technologies (especially for solar PV), the feed-in tariffs are subjected to a gradual reduction twice a year. These reductions only apply to new production facilities that are put into operation.
Planned installations of renewable power facilities have to be registered with Swissgrid, the national network operator. As of the end of 2014, a growing waiting list for solar photovoltaic systems has accumulated as demand excess the capped capacities given by the currently available funds of the KEV remuneration.


PECO Energy Company

PECO, formerly the Philadelphia Electric Company, is an energy company founded in 1881 and incorporated in 1929. It became part of Exelon Corporation in 2000 when it merged with Commonwealth Edison's holding company Unicom Corp.
The company has approximately 2,300 employees; its call center and field craft personnel are members of IBEW Local 614. PECO serves about 1.6 million electric and over 511,000 natural gas customers; it is the largest combination utility in Pennsylvania, and has a franchise utility service area of with a population of 3.8 million people.
Electricity and natural gas.
PECO operates in southeastern Pennsylvania and provides electricity to about 1.6 million customers and natural gas to over 511,000 customers. The company's electric service area covers all of the city of Philadelphia and Delaware County; most of Bucks, Chester, and Montgomery counties; and the southeastern corner of York County. The company's natural gas service area covers all of Delaware County; most of Bucks, Chester, and Montgomery counties; and a small portion of eastern Lancaster County.
PECO formerly provided electricity to 35,000 customers in portions of Cecil and Harford counties in Maryland through subsidiary Conowingo Power Company. On June 19, 1995, Delmarva Power acquired the Conowingo Power Company service area from PECO.
PECO's distribution line voltages are 4,160 volts and 13,200 volts. Subtransmission voltages are 34,500 volts and 69,000 volts. Transmission line voltages are 138,000 volts, 230,000 volts and 500,000 volts.
PECO's peak electric load occurred on August 3, 2006 and was 8,932 megawatts (MWs) and its highest peak load in the winter season occurred on December 20, 2004 and was 6,838 MW. Residential electric usage makes up about 35 percent of PECO's total electric delivery and half of the annual electric revenue.
PECO's electric sales tend to peak in the summer and winter seasons, driven by air conditioning and heating load respectively when extreme temperatures create greater demand. The company's natural gas sales are generally higher during the winter periods when cold temperatures create demand for heating. The company's highest gas sales occurred on Jan. 17, 2000 and was of gas. Gas usage by residential customers is approximately half of PECO's total deliveries.
The PECO transition period for the competitive electric generation market ended on Dec. 31, 2010, when caps on retail rates and competitive transition charges on customer bills ended. PECO electric rates had been capped for 12 years. PECO expects to purchase all of its wholesale electricity from competitive market sources subsequent to 2010 with retail customers charged the actual costs of procurement.
According to Exelon SEC Form 10-k for the year 2012:
nuclear energy supplied 53% of power supplied,
fossils and renewables provided 12% of power supplied, and
purchased power provided 35% of power supplied.
Facilities and infrastructure.
PECO owns, maintains and operates of higher-voltage transmission lines, of underground distribution cable, and of aerial distribution lines. On the gas side, PECO owns, maintains and operates of transmission, distribution and service pipes.
PECO has a liquefied natural gas storage facility in West Conshohocken, Pa. with capacity of and a propane-air plant in Chester, Pa. with storage capacity of . The company also owns 29 natural gas city gate stations at locations that link with various interstate pipelines.
They built the Chester Waterside Station of the Philadelphia Electric Company, and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.
Revenues.
PECO's total assets are valued at $9.8 billion. The company delivered of natural gas and 39.5 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in 2008, generating $5.5 billion in revenue.
PECO's utility business is capital intensive and requires significant investments for the electric and gas delivery systems to ensure adequate capacity and reliability for customers. PECO's anticipated capital expenditures for 2009 are estimated at $400 million—about three-fourths for the electric business, nearly 20 percent for gas, and the rest is common. The company pays about $510 million in local, state and federal income and other taxes annually.
Controversies.
In the 1970s through the 1980s, community activist pressure contributed to the delayed opening of nuclear power plants at PECO's Limerick Generating Station and the temporary cancellation of the planned Limerick 2 nuclear power plant, PA. Both Limerick 1 and Limerick 2 were built and producing power by 1990.
In 2015, the Earth Quaker Action Team began protesting PECO to demand that it expand the amount of solar energy that it buys, and to source solar power from North Philadelphia in order to create jobs. PECO purchases enough solar energy to power 2,000 residential households. Twice each year, in March and September, it submits those plans to the Pennsylvania's state regulators for approval. The utility runs the bidding process through a third party for energy suppliers and wholesalers. PECO's sister company, Constellation, is the third largest developer in Pennsylvania of solar installations for commercial, industrial, government and customers, and its parent company, Exelon, has a portfolio of wind-generating power projects across the country. PECO currently generates 0.14% of its energy portfolio from solar energy, but, according to the environmental activists group Earth Quaker Action Team, “...could generate up to 20% of their portfolio from solar.” Sourcing solar energy from rooftop solar panels “...would generate 70 jobs...” or “...could generate up to 4000 new jobs in Philadelphia.”


Korea Power Exchange

Korea Power Exchange (), also known as KPX, is the quasi-governmental agency under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy responsible for operating the electricity market and the electric power system in South Korea. In order to ensure fair and transparent operation of the market, as well as stable and efficient operation of the grid, it was established in April 2001 by being spun off from the Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) as a part of the industry restructuring efforts. Because the legal name () may give a false impression that it is a subsidiary of KEPCO (), the general name of is used for most purposes.
Establishment.
Article 35 of the Electric Utility Act (EUA) amended on December 23, 2000 laid out the legal basis of the organization. Following the founders' meeting on March 17, 2001, it was officially founded on April 2, 2001. The original offices were located within the KEPCO headquarters building complex in Samseong-dong, Seoul until the relocation to Naju Innovation City took place in 2014.
Operations.
Key Functions.
Article 36 of the EUA lists the following:


Kansas City Board of Public Utilities

The Kansas City Board of Public Utilities (BPU) is a privately owned, not-for-profit public utility servicing Wyandotte County that is headquartered in Kansas City, Kansas. Overall, BPU provides service to 127.5 square miles of Wyandotte County. Electric services are provided within the Kansas City, Kansas (KCK) area, and water is supplied to KCK, as well as portions of suburban Wyandotte, Leavenworth, and Johnson counties.
BPU is a publicly owned administrative agency of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas (UG), and is self-governed by an elected six-member board of directors. As a municipal utility, BPU is a non-profit operation.
History.
In 1909, the citizens of Kansas City, Kansas, authorized the purchase of a privately owned water system to provide the community with better water service. The electric utility was placed in operation in late 1912. Today, BPU operates as a not-for-profit municipal utility and is an administrative arm of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County, Kansas City, Kansas. It is self-governed, with an elected six-member board of directors.
Energy Generation.
BPU electric plants and delivery systems serve nearly 65,000 customers over 127.5 square miles within the Kansas City, Kansas, area. Power generation facilities consist of three power stations, 29 substations and over 3,100 miles of electrical lines. The Nearman Creek Power Station has a capacity of 315 MW, the Quindaro Power Station can produce 316 MW, and the Kaw Power Station, which is currently inactive, was capable of producing 92 MW.
Energy Generation Facilities include:
BPU has been recognized as one of the country’s most reliable and safe electric utilities, one of only 82 of the more than 2,000 public utility companies in the nation to receive the Reliable Public Power Provider (RP3) award from the American Public Power Association (APPA).
Green Initiatives.
Over the last 15 years, BPU has been investing in alternative energy solutions such as wind, hydroelectric and natural gas. In 2014 BPU signed a 20-year power purchase agreement for approximately 50% of the wind energy produced at the Alexander Wind Farm in Alexander, Kansas. In April 2016, BPU announced a partnership with Google and Trade Wind Partners to purchase power from the Cimarron Bend Wind Project.
Water Services.
BPU operates the Nearman Water Treatment Plant in Kansas City, Kansas, serving over 51,000 residents with clean water. Nearman is, in part, notable for two of the nation’s largest horizontal collector wells, 1,000 miles of water pipes and three major pump stations. Going 135 feet deep, the horizontal collector is capable of bringing in 54-mgd (millions of gallons per day) of raw water from an underground aquifer.
Once in the horizontal collector, the raw water is then pumped up to the plant where it goes through a complex treatment process that includes six dual-media filtration basins and on-site water-quality testing for turbidity, pH balance, and temperature.
In late 2016, renovations to the facility included valve, hydrant, and customer leak detection programs, water treatment filter upgrades, distribution facility maintenance, water main replacement projects, and a four-million-gallon water reservoir. The upgrades were awarded the Platinum Award for Utility Excellence by the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA) for, “Exceeding the industry association’s Attributes of Effective Utility Management.”
emPOWER Education Program.
In 2013, the state of Kansas adopted new standards for science education in K-12 public schools that includes advancing Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) curriculum in every school program. As part of BPU’s Environmental Education and Advocacy initiatives and in conjunction with three Kansas public schools, the emPOWER Education Program was created.
The emPOWER program is described by BPU as a, “...program bringing classroom resources to our community’s public school teachers, such as lesson plans, activity supplies and offering BPU staff members as guest speakers." With contributions from teachers at Turner USD 202, KCK USD 500, and Piper USD 203 school districts, the emPOWER program meets Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) as well as the State of Kansas Common Core School District Standards.
Teachers can access lesson plans and career information for students on the emPOWER website. Categorized by school level (Elementary, Middle and High School), lesson plans cover topics spanning energy, water conservation, and environmental related issues.
Awards and Recognition.
In 2016, BPU was awarded a Gold Stevie Award by The American Business Awards organization for their website's ease-of-use. To better serve its utility customers, BPU updated its website to act as a virtual lobby, providing answers to important questions and key links to primary services. The updated site features a simpler 2-column layout, with more prominent links to outage maps, bill payment screens, and social media pages.
Also in 2016, BPU was awarded a Directors Award by the American Water Works Association for its water treatment operations. This award is granted to utilities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to delivering superior quality drinking water to customers and dedicated to providing water at a quality level that exceeds regulatory requirements.
Outside of the operating awards received, BPU was also recognized in 2016 for the American Public Power Association (APPA) Community Service Award. This award is given to companies who have demonstrated “good neighbor” commitment to the community. BPU won the award for efforts in volunteering, donations, environmental advocacy, and civic leadership. Additionally, the APPA awarded BPU the Excellence in Public Power Communications Award, which recognizes public utilities who provide customers with quality communication materials. The customer newsletter, BPU Connection, won the award for its, “...easy-to-read format, colorful graphics, and content value.”