Industrial Power Producers Play Vital Role in Supplying Energy Needs for Process and Manufacturing Industries

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Many of North America's processing and manufacturing plants rely on on-site power generation to supply their energy needs. These plants are referred to as Industrial Energy Producers (IEPs) and are home to on-site power generation, back-up generators or cogeneration facilities. In short, IEPs are power plants in facilities outside the Power Industry. Electricity and sometimes thermal energy, such as steam, hot water, hot air or chilled water, generated by the plants are used primarily within the boundaries of processing and manufacturing installations throughout North America. Industrial Info maintains key information on IEPs as part of our Power Industry Database. Currently, the amount of electrical capacity exceeds 29,000 megawatts (MW) from 2,418 operational units.

IEPs utilize a variety of technologies to generate electrical power and/or thermal energy. These technologies include simple-cycle combustion turbines, combined-cycle cogeneration, steam turbines, internal combustion engines, hydro-powered turbines, fuel cells and wind turbines. You might find on-site generation scattered across industries, or at educational institutions, hospitals, correctional facilities and sports arenas.

On the industrial front Pulp, Paper & Wood plants, Chemical Processing complexes and Petroleum refineries utilize the most capacity from on-site generation. Pulp Paper & Wood facilities are home to 276 generating units capable of producing more than 9,200 MW of electricity. The majority of these plants utilize "hog fuel" boilers and "black liquor" boilers to produce steam for turbines. The Chemical Processing Industry produces more than 9,100 MW of capacity using primarily simple- and combined-cycle combustion turbines, and steam turbines to supply energy. Most of the capacity in this industry is generated using natural gas or waste heat from combustion turbines or other processes. Natural gas is heavily used as a fuel to generate electricity for the Petroleum Refining Industry, which produces more than 3,200 MW of electrical capacity.

By far, natural gas is the leading fuel type over all others in terms of capacity with more than 13,000 MW in operation. Other vital fuel sources include coal, black liquor, waste heat, biomass/wood, off-gases and fuel oil. In terms of prime movers, steam turbines generate the most capacity with 14,000 MW. Combined-cycle units are also popular with IEPs with 8,200 MW in operation, followed by simple-cycle turbines at 7,100 MW.

In addition to the on-site generating units in operation, 163 new units representing 5,200 MW are in various stages of development with 500 MW scheduled for construction kick-off in 2008. In all, 192 future projects in which on-site generation will be included are part of the overall project scope. These projects represent more than $80 billion in capital and maintenance spending. Of these projects, 110 of them, worth $20 billion, are scheduled to kick off construction during 2008.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is a marketing information service specializing in industrial process, energy and financial related markets with products and services ranging from industry news, analytics, forecasting, plant and project databases, as well as multimedia services.