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TRI for Power Plants

Confidential Client

TRI for Power Plants is a powerful, user-friendly tool for estimating, tracking, and reporting releases of chemicals, including acid aerosols, trace substances, and organic chemicals, from fossil-fired steam electric plants. The spreadsheet-like tool has been applied by numerous energy companies to increase the efficiency and reduce the costs of TRI-related analyses while enhancing compliance with changing reporting requirements. The software uses a mass balance approach based on fuel input and plant configuration. Fuel inputs include coal, oil and gas, and alternative fuels. The software incorporates emission factors from the client’s "Emission Factors Handbook,"" as well as data on fuel and ash composition from the client’s fuel and ash composition database. The software calculates emissions of reportable chemicals to air, land, and water, and determines if a TRI reporting threshold has been exceeded."

A separate module, Merge, allows direct transfer of TRI for Power Plants calculated results into the EPA TRI-ME reporting software. This occurs by writing select input data and calculated values to an XML file. Using TRI-MEweb, a user uploads the XML file to TRI-MEweb, which is validated and applied to the EPA database. Access to TRI-MEweb is through the Central Data Exchange (CDX).

The software package TRI for Power Plants was developed by Tetra Tech for the client with substantial user involvement. The software application is written in C++ (user interface, process graphics, calculations, file I/O) and C# (XML file generation). Object oriented programming techniques contribute to the ability to add new user-prioritized features and ease of software maintenance. User training is provided by multi-day in-person workshops and two hour webinars.


Contact

Ken Wilkinson

ken.wilkinson@tetratech.com

(925) 280-7423