Patent Document ID: 10013661
Application ID: 14271806
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A method for monitoring, determining, and outputting at least one of plant output activity and capacity utilization of at least one power generating plant connected to a power grid comprising the steps of: acquiring thermal images of at least one of one or more stack effluent plumes produced by the at least one power generating plant connected to the power grid using at least one thermal imaging camera, storing the acquired thermal images of the at least one of the one or more stack effluent plumes with at least one processing unit, transmitting the stored thermal images of the at least one of the one or more stack effluent plumes from the at least one processing unit to a central processing center having at least one processor, scanning the thermal images of the at least one of the one or more stack effluent plumes with the at least one processor to identify pixels within the thermal images containing more than at least one of a background pixel intensity and a threshold pixel intensity and thereby define active regions within the transmitted thermal images, associating pixel intensities within the active regions of the thermal images with the at least one of plant output activity and capacity utilization supplied by the at least one power generating plant to the power grid using the at least one processor, and transmitting from the central processing center to at least one of one or more user devices information concerning the at least one of plant output activity and capacity utilization supplied to the power grid based on the associated pixel intensities within the active regions of the thermal images.