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Alabama Power's Plant Miller How Electricity Is Generated 3D Animated Tour

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Language: en

00:00:01.820
plant Miller is a coal fueled power
00:00:04.370 00:00:04.380 plant located in Quintin Alabama on the
00:00:06.889 00:00:06.899 locust fork branch of the Black Warrior
00:00:08.660 00:00:08.670 River about 25 miles northwest of
00:00:11.360 00:00:11.370 Birmingham the plant provides over 20
00:00:13.759 00:00:13.769 percent of Alabama power companies
00:00:15.560 00:00:15.570 generating capacity and is the largest
00:00:17.779 00:00:17.789 generating facility in the state with a
00:00:20.029 00:00:20.039 peaking capacity of over 2.9 million
00:00:22.730 00:00:22.740 kilowatts or 2900 megawatts of
00:00:25.429 00:00:25.439 electricity that can serve over 800
00:00:27.820 00:00:27.830 22,000 homes named for mr. James H
00:00:31.189 00:00:31.199 Miller a former president of Georgia
00:00:33.350 00:00:33.360 Power Company and senior vice president
00:00:34.910 00:00:34.920 of Alabama power plant Miller first
00:00:37.760 00:00:37.770 provided electricity to our customers in
00:00:40.119 00:00:40.129 1978 with the most recent unit
00:00:42.740 00:00:42.750 commissioned in 1991 making plant Miller
00:00:45.440 00:00:45.450 the newest coal fueled power plant in
00:00:47.690 00:00:47.700 Alabama at Blatt Miller we use cold air
00:00:51.200 00:00:51.210 and water in an energy conversion
00:00:53.150 00:00:53.160 process that allows us to deliver
00:00:55.369 00:00:55.379 electrical power to homes and businesses
00:00:57.549 00:00:57.559 using coal as a fuel source we generate
00:01:00.709 00:01:00.719 steam in our boilers that steam will be
00:01:02.990 00:01:03.000 used to turn a turbine that ultimately
00:01:04.880 00:01:04.890 allows us to generate electricity of
00:01:07.550 00:01:07.560 course there's a lot more to it than
00:01:09.200 00:01:09.210 that so let's take a look at how the
00:01:11.539 00:01:11.549 process works
00:01:22.630 00:01:22.640 our process uses Powder River Basin coal
00:01:26.450 00:01:26.460 from Wyoming the sub-bituminous type
00:01:28.910 00:01:28.920 coal as a fuel source when the coal
00:01:31.370 00:01:31.380 arrives that our plant by train we use a
00:01:33.620 00:01:33.630 trencher and a series of long conveyors
00:01:35.690 00:01:35.700 to stack coal in our yard move it to
00:01:37.940 00:01:37.950 storage silos or send it directly to the
00:01:40.490 00:01:40.500 plant we try to keep a 37 day supply of
00:01:43.520 00:01:43.530 coal about 1.4 million tons on the pile
00:01:46.969 00:01:46.979 in our coal yard and up to 40,000 tons
00:01:49.760 00:01:49.770 in silos since we burn as much as 38
00:01:52.820 00:01:52.830 thousand tons of coal in a 24 hour
00:01:54.950 00:01:54.960 period we need to ensure we have a
00:01:57.260 00:01:57.270 substantial amount on hand
00:02:08.230 00:02:08.240 cold moves into the plant on a conveyor
00:02:11.180 00:02:11.190 and is stored in a series of silos each
00:02:13.790 00:02:13.800 one leading to a feeder pulverizer and
00:02:16.280 00:02:16.290 ultimately to the boiler at plant miller
00:02:19.040 00:02:19.050 we have four generating units and each
00:02:21.830 00:02:21.840 unit has seven silos feeding into one
00:02:24.230 00:02:24.240 single boiler the coal within each silo
00:02:27.020 00:02:27.030 falls into a feeder which measures and
00:02:29.600 00:02:29.610 controls the flow of coal into a
00:02:31.430 00:02:31.440 pulverizer inside the pulverizer coal
00:02:34.970 00:02:34.980 falls onto a large rotating Bowl where
00:02:37.640 00:02:37.650 it is continuously crushed by three
00:02:39.560 00:02:39.570 large grinding wheels until it becomes
00:02:41.690 00:02:41.700 the consistency of baby powder once the
00:02:44.180 00:02:44.190 coal is a fine powder it falls off the
00:02:46.880 00:02:46.890 grinding bolt and is carried by warmed
00:02:48.860 00:02:48.870 primary air maintained at 140 degrees
00:02:51.560 00:02:51.570 Fahrenheit
00:02:52.490 00:02:52.500 inside the pulverizer to the boiler
00:02:54.830 00:02:54.840 through eight burner lines when the
00:02:57.650 00:02:57.660 particles have cold reached the burners
00:02:59.570 00:02:59.580 they are mixed with secondary air that
00:03:01.670 00:03:01.680 has been preheated to over 500 degrees
00:03:04.070 00:03:04.080 to support complete combustion inside
00:03:06.560 00:03:06.570 the boiler the combustion of the coal
00:03:08.810 00:03:08.820 converts its chemical energy into
00:03:11.030 00:03:11.040 thermal energy creating a temperature
00:03:13.280 00:03:13.290 inside the boiler of over 2,200 degrees
00:03:16.060 00:03:16.070 that's enough to heat the water in the
00:03:18.650 00:03:18.660 series of boiler tubes to create steam
00:03:20.780 00:03:20.790 which moves on to the turbine to power
00:03:23.210 00:03:23.220 the next step in our process
00:03:34.100 00:03:34.110 superheated steam from the boiler which
00:03:36.510 00:03:36.520 is approximately 2400 psi and 1,000
00:03:39.840 00:03:39.850 degrees travels to the high-pressure
00:03:41.580 00:03:41.590 section of the turbine where it creates
00:03:43.680 00:03:43.690 the force that turns the turbine shaft
00:03:45.570 00:03:45.580 this process causes the steam to lose
00:03:48.630 00:03:48.640 temperature and pressure so it must be
00:03:50.730 00:03:50.740 sent back to the boiler to be reheated
00:03:52.740 00:03:52.750 to 1,000 degrees after reheating the
00:03:55.410 00:03:55.420 steam returns to the intermediate
00:03:57.480 00:03:57.490 turbine and continues through the
00:03:59.310 00:03:59.320 crossover into the low pressure turbines
00:04:01.470 00:04:01.480 the force of the steam turns the turbine
00:04:04.080 00:04:04.090 shaft which turns the generator rotor at
00:04:06.750 00:04:06.760 3,600 revolutions per minute this
00:04:09.240 00:04:09.250 rotation along with the induced current
00:04:11.250 00:04:11.260 on the rotor inside the generator
00:04:13.320 00:04:13.330 produces voltage completing the process
00:04:15.750 00:04:15.760 of generating electricity the generator
00:04:18.210 00:04:18.220 output is 24,000 volts which is stepped
00:04:21.449 00:04:21.459 up to as much as 500,000 volts for
00:04:23.910 00:04:23.920 transmission
00:04:33.900 00:04:33.910 plant Miller uses a closed-loop
00:04:36.490 00:04:36.500 circulating water system that allows
00:04:38.620 00:04:38.630 water to be reused over and over one way
00:04:41.950 00:04:41.960 we use water is in the condenser where
00:04:44.230 00:04:44.240 steam enters from the turbine and
00:04:46.030 00:04:46.040 condenses back into water as it passes
00:04:48.370 00:04:48.380 over tubes filled with cool circulating
00:04:50.980 00:04:50.990 water which is chlorinated river water
00:04:53.140 00:04:53.150 from nearby mulberry Fork of the Warrior
00:04:55.450 00:04:55.460 River the condensed water moves into the
00:04:58.300 00:04:58.310 hot well where it reenters the system to
00:05:00.640 00:05:00.650 be reheated turned back into steam and
00:05:02.890 00:05:02.900 continue its use throughout the plant
00:05:14.220 00:05:14.230 let's take a closer look at the
00:05:16.570 00:05:16.580 circulating water the plant uses
00:05:18.300 00:05:18.310 starting at the cooling tower cool water
00:05:21.670 00:05:21.680 is pumped from the cooling tower basin
00:05:23.830 00:05:23.840 through large pipes to the condenser to
00:05:26.140 00:05:26.150 absorb most of the heat from the turbine
00:05:28.150 00:05:28.160 exhaust steam leaving us with warmer
00:05:30.940 00:05:30.950 water that must be cooled so the warmer
00:05:33.670 00:05:33.680 water is circulated back to the cooling
00:05:35.890 00:05:35.900 tower where it enters through riser
00:05:37.570 00:05:37.580 lines to the top of the cooling tower
00:05:39.580 00:05:39.590 fill as the water cascades down the
00:05:42.520 00:05:42.530 cooling tower fill material it's air
00:05:44.680 00:05:44.690 cooled allowing the heat to escape up
00:05:47.110 00:05:47.120 through the natural draft cooling tower
00:05:49.060 00:05:49.070 the cooled water is collected in the
00:05:51.700 00:05:51.710 cooling tower basin to be recirculated
00:05:54.070 00:05:54.080 back to the plant to condense more
00:05:56.110 00:05:56.120 turbine steam exhaust
00:06:07.080 00:06:07.090 once combustion is complete the heavier
00:06:10.120 00:06:10.130 particles of ash called bottom ash fall
00:06:12.790 00:06:12.800 into the bottom of the boiler there the
00:06:15.370 00:06:15.380 bottom ash is crushed using clinker
00:06:17.500 00:06:17.510 grinders mixed with water and sluice
00:06:19.870 00:06:19.880 to the hydro bins where the water is
00:06:21.730 00:06:21.740 decanted and ash collected in dump
00:06:23.980 00:06:23.990 trucks and either sold or move to
00:06:26.200 00:06:26.210 on-site storage
00:06:36.739 00:06:36.749 while the heavier particles of ash fall
00:06:39.480 00:06:39.490 to the bottom of the Pointer the hot
00:06:41.519 00:06:41.529 flue gas containing finer particles of
00:06:43.679 00:06:43.689 fly ash naturally flows up to the top of
00:06:46.559 00:06:46.569 the boiler and around down and out
00:06:48.689 00:06:48.699 through the back pass section the last
00:06:51.149 00:06:51.159 section of the boiler is the economizer
00:06:53.749 00:06:53.759 because of the shape and the flue gas
00:06:55.950 00:06:55.960 flow path some of the fly ash falls out
00:06:58.799 00:06:58.809 here into hoppers this economizer
00:07:01.649 00:07:01.659 ash is pulled by vacuum mixed and
00:07:04.079 00:07:04.089 sluiced with water to the ash booster
00:07:06.299 00:07:06.309 station where it is moved to on-site
00:07:08.040 00:07:08.050 storage flue gas a byproduct of
00:07:12.029 00:07:12.039 combustion exits the boiler and enters
00:07:14.459 00:07:14.469 the selective catalytic reduction where
00:07:23.100 00:07:23.110 it reacts with several catalyst layers
00:07:25.139 00:07:25.149 to reduce the nitrogen oxide compounds
00:07:27.559 00:07:27.569 the flue gas then passes across the air
00:07:30.779 00:07:30.789 heater where over 400 degrees of
00:07:33.119 00:07:33.129 temperature are transferred from the
00:07:35.010 00:07:35.020 exiting flue gas to preheat the primary
00:07:37.619 00:07:37.629 and secondary air entering the plan next
00:07:40.679 00:07:40.689 the flue gas passes through the
00:07:42.749 00:07:42.759 precipitators where a negative charge is
00:07:45.329 00:07:45.339 induced onto the fine particles of ash
00:07:47.429 00:07:47.439 contained in the flue gas that ash is
00:07:50.369 00:07:50.379 then collected with an opposing charged
00:07:52.320 00:07:52.330 collecting plate these plates are then
00:07:54.509 00:07:54.519 shaken by vibrating wrappers causing the
00:07:56.999 00:07:57.009 ash to fall off into hoppers at the
00:07:58.980 00:07:58.990 bottom of the precipitator the ash is
00:08:01.379 00:08:01.389 then pulled with a vacuum to a
00:08:02.939 00:08:02.949 collection facility for sale or storage
00:08:04.920 00:08:04.930 the flue gas then passes through the
00:08:07.559 00:08:07.569 induced draught fans and to the scrubber
00:08:09.689 00:08:09.699 where booster fans pull the flue gas
00:08:11.730 00:08:11.740 from the plant and push it through the
00:08:13.320 00:08:13.330 scrubber absorber in the absorber flue
00:08:16.110 00:08:16.120 gas mixes with water and limestone the
00:08:18.570 00:08:18.580 limestone reacts with and removes about
00:08:20.759 00:08:20.769 98% of sulfur dioxide
00:08:22.949 00:08:22.959 creating the byproduct of gypsum the wet
00:08:26.009 00:08:26.019 flue gas exits out the top of the
00:08:28.049 00:08:28.059 absorber through to the wet stack and a
00:08:30.389 00:08:30.399 gypsum slurry stream is pulled from the
00:08:32.399 00:08:32.409 bottom of the absorber and sent through
00:08:34.319 00:08:34.329 a dewatering facility inside the
00:08:36.930 00:08:36.940 dewatering facility most of the moisture
00:08:39.329 00:08:39.339 is removed from the gypsum so it can be
00:08:41.670 00:08:41.680 sold for use in wall
00:08:52.610 00:08:52.620 when the power leaves the plant we
00:08:55.500 00:08:55.510 increase or step up the voltage for
00:08:57.870 00:08:57.880 transmission purposes to as much as five
00:09:00.060 00:09:00.070 hundred thousand volts to help minimize
00:09:02.280 00:09:02.290 losses from the transmission of power
00:09:04.350 00:09:04.360 our transmission group is responsible
00:09:06.510 00:09:06.520 for the large transmission lines towers
00:09:09.180 00:09:09.190 and substations that handle the large
00:09:11.280 00:09:11.290 voltage transfer of power over long
00:09:13.500 00:09:13.510 distances our distribution group
00:09:16.019 00:09:16.029 interacts with our customers more
00:09:18.060 00:09:18.070 directly and handles delivery of the
00:09:20.160 00:09:20.170 power in lower voltages step down in
00:09:22.620 00:09:22.630 substations and delivered to industrial
00:09:25.170 00:09:25.180 commercial and residential customers in
00:09:27.510 00:09:27.520 various voltages to suit their needs it
00:09:31.110 00:09:31.120 is our responsibility to provide our
00:09:33.660 00:09:33.670 customers with reliable affordable and
00:09:36.269 00:09:36.279 clean energy for their needs and we take
00:09:39.300 00:09:39.310 that very seriously we hope you enjoyed
00:09:42.329 00:09:42.339 this virtual tour of plant Miller
00:09:46.400 00:09:46.410 you

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