Development of the Water Research Center (WRC) at Georgia Power's Plant Bowen

Abstract

The Water Research Center (WRC) is located at Georgia Power Company's (GPC) Plant Bowen near Cartersville, Georgia outside of Atlanta. Operated by Southern Research Institute, the WRC is an industry resource providing independent performance evaluations of technologies to address water withdrawal, consumption, usage efficiency, treatment, recovery, and reuse throughout the power generation process. The WRC was designed to focus on current and potential future regulatory constraints relevant to the power industry. Technology evaluations at the WRC are centered around seven primary focus areas: 1) Cooling Water & Advanced Cooling Systems, 2) Wastewater Treatment, 3) Zero Liquid Discharge, 4) Solid Landfill, 5) Moisture Recovery, 6) Carbon Technology Effects, and 7) Water Balance Modeling. Testing at the WRC began in 2012 and how the Center was designed as an industry resource for water-based technology R&D, along with updates on select projects underway at the WRC are reviewed.