Electrical power generation, German

The history of the reliability field goes back to the early 1930s when probability concepts were applied to problems associated with electric power generation [4,5]. During World War II, German scientists applied the basic reliability concepts for improving reliability of their VI and V2 rockets [6]. Today, the field of reliability has become a well-developed discipline and has branched out into many specialized areas, including power system reliability, software reliability, human reliability, and mechanical reliability. 

Electrical power was utilized in Italy during the 1890s. For this purpose a trust was formed by the German Siemens Company, which included the Edison company and the Dynamo company, and which was financially supported by the Deutsche Bank. Power plants, mainly hydro-electric, were built in the northern regions. The power generators, both hydro- and thermo-electric, were manufactured by the Siemens firm. In the first years of the twentieth century Edison electrical bulbs lit Italian... 

The emergence of the electrochemical industry was dependent upon adequate power supplies. As far as is known, the German chemical industry obtained sufficient electric power, and at the right price, to meet all its requirements. In Britain, where the construction of power grids was restricted, the chemical industry suffered from a lack of supply. A good example of the difficulties encountered, as well as of the attitudes, is the British Alizarine Company s London factory.In 1904 the company started research into electrolytic oxidation, a project that had been considered some time previously, and that was expected to boost profits. However, no power supply was available, and the company did not consider the installation of its own generating station. British Alizarine was prevented from embarking on the electrolytic process simply by the lack of electricity, at least until later in the year when a temporary power line was installed. 

By the end of the year 2005, the German electricity prices further increased. We did not analyse the reasons for this development. The price increase could be attributed to one of the following three factors (i) scarcity of generation capacity, (ii) higher gas prices than in previous winters, thus higher prices when gas is at the margin, and (iii) the exercise of market power. 

A probabilistic safety analysis has been conducted at the Research Center Jiilich for the process heat variant of the German modular HTGR with the purpose to identify differences compared with the electricity generating HTR-MODUL [55]. The process heat HTR-MODUL consists of a pebble bed core with 360,(KX) spherical fuel elements to produce a thermal power of 170 MW. Helium coolant gas inlet / outlet temperatures are 300 and 950 °C, respectively. The system pressure is 4 MPa. The connection to the secondary circuit is given by a He / He intermediate heat exchanger. 

In a project of the German chemical company BASF, the installation of a nuclear power plant for cogeneration of electricity and process steam was planned. It was designed in two units for the generation of 1200 MW electricity and 3000 t/h of steam. Technical problems, e.g. storage of steam, and safety issues in connection with the central location within the chemical complex have finally stopped this project. 

In 1894, the German physical chemist Wilhelm Ostwald formulated the idea that an electrochemical mechanism can be used instead of combustion (chemical oxidation) of natural kinds of fuel, such as those used in thermal power plants. Because in this case the reaction will bypass the intermediate stage of heat generation, this would be cold combustion, the direct conversion of chemical energy of a fuel to electrical energy not being subject to Carnot-cycle limitations. A device to perform this direct energy conversion was named fuel cell. 

---