The Electric Power Generation Association invites all power generation - related industries and individuals to submit abstracts for original papers that address issues of interest to its Power Generation Committee (PGC)* for presentation at a conference to be held September 7 & 8, 2005. Potential topics include:

Asset Optimization Issues

• Benchmarking
• Minimization of operating costs
• Improving heat rates
• Interrelationship between market rules and power plant operations
• Improving plant ability to cycle in response to prices
• Outage management
• Optimal maintenance practices
• Risk management
• Design, troubleshooting and predictive maintenance for steam and gas turbines
• Fuel Strategies
• Plant life extension
• Plant retrofits/refurbishment/repowering
• EPC (engineer, procure, construct) contracts - applicability for major retrofits
• Strategies to improve capital productivity

Environmental Compliance Issues

• Solutions to environmental issues, e.g., mercury emissions, PM 2.5, 316(b)
• Multi-pollutant control technologies
• SO2/NOx allowance prices - forecasts
• Plant cooling systems and water chemistry
• Coal Gasification
• Challenges and achievements of emission reduction technology retrofits
• SCR catalyst poisoning and what to do about it
• Emerging environmental legislative/regulatory requirements

Other Issues

• Power plant employee health and safety
• Power plant security, including Homeland Security Guidelines
• Market trends and strategies
• Management culture
• New and emerging generation technologies, including storage
• Supply chain management
• PRB Coal
• Combustion by-product recovery/utilization
• PJM expansion and market integration
• PJM's view - what should generators be doing (or not doing)?
• Creep fatigue in main steam and reheat piping (constructed prior to 1960)
• Information technology applications

The list of topics is not intended to be exhaustive. Other topics of interest to power plant owners will be considered for presentation. Abstracts should be no more than 3 pages and clearly explain the paper's content, objectives and conclusions, and be free of commercial bias.

This conference will be held September 7 and 8, 2005, in Hershey, PA. Abstracts must be submitted for committee consideration by April 15, 2005. Notification to presenters will occur prior to May 15, 2005.

Abstracts may be sent to:

Douglas L. Biden, President
Electric Power Generation Association
800 North Third Street, Suite 303
Harrisburg, PA 17102
Fax: 717-909-1941

Or via e-mail to

The Electric Power Generation Association (EPGA) is a regional trade association of electric generating companies with headquarters in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Its members include Allegheny Energy Supply, Exelon Generation, FirstEnergy Generation Corporation, Midwest Generation, Mirant Corporation, Cogentrix Energy Inc., PPL Generation, Reliant Energy and UGI Development Company. These companies own and operate more than 122,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, more than half of which is located in the mid-Atlantic region.

*Power Generation Committee Mission Statement: The Power Generation Committee of EPGA, recognizing its obligations to our customers, our legislative and regulatory bodies, our load serving entities, and our investors, seeks to promote awareness and discussion of best practices within the electric generation industry in a continuing effort to promote the highest standards of reliability, environmental stewardship, safety and economic efficiency.