Though Europe’s drive to diversify gas sources has spurred a rush of new LNG projects, demand is expected to outstrip supply by year-end, constraining gas-fired power generation. Construction timelines mean material relief is unlikely before 2024, Rystad Energy said, forecasting global LNG demand will hit 436 million tonnes in 2022 while available supply stands at just 410 million tons.
JERA, Japan’s largest LNG importer, together with Chiyoda and researchers at RITE have started a demonstration project whereby solid sorbent material is used to separate CO2 from the exhaust of a gas-fired power station. Domestically available sorbent material is used to keep down the costs and the research is funded by Japan’s Green Innovation Fund.
Offshore wind, combined with energy storage, will cover a fast-rising share of the world’s energy mix as power generators seek to limit their reliance on fossil fuels. Capex spending on offshore wind could reach $1 trillion worldwide by 2031, Wood Mackenzie finds, calling on investors to look beyond bid prices and lease fees when scaling up projects.
ACWA Power has posted a 19.5% rise in operating income for the first three month of 2022. The Saudi developer, project sponsor and plant operator brought three water and seven power projects that came into operation between February and December 2021, including the Jazan IGCC with 3,800 MW installed power gen capacity.
About two dozen European gas importers have opened accounts with Gazprombank, preparing to pay for Russian gas imports in roubles as demanded by President Vladimir Putin. Another 14 clients are understood to be asking the bank for the paperwork to set up such accounts to ensure a new payment scheme is in place prior to a deadline later this month.
Texas’ electricity grid operator ERCOT has prolonged its supply warning until the end of this week, requesting power plant operators to hold off planned maintenance and keep their generators operational amid blistering temperatures and rising demand. San Antonia’s municipal utility CPS Energy was quick to point out its six plants were running at full capacity.
Aluminium Bahrain (Alba), the world’s largest aluminium smelter outside China, has signed a full turnkey contract with Mitsubishi Power and SEPCO III to its expand Power Station 5. Construction works for the new 680.9 MW combined-cycle block are “on course to start,” Alba said, with the new block scheduled to commence operations in the fourth quarter of 2024.
Two of six LNG import projects in the Philippines are near completion, the Department of Energy (DoE) said. Start-up of Atlantic Gulf and Pacific’s (AG&P) regas terminal at Batangas is now slated for August 1. Handled by the local firm Linseed Field Power, the terminal will source fuel for Ilijan power station (1200 MW), replacing domestic supply from the Malampaya field.
PetroVietnam’s Nhon Trach 3&4 units will be the first HA-powered combined-cycle plants in Vietnam once operational in 2025. The project’s EPC contractor, Samsung C&T, asked GE to supply turbines and related equipment for two LNG-fuelled power units that are expected to deliver over 1.6 GW of cleaner electricity, in a shift away from coal.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) anticipates new generating capacity from wind, solar and other renewables to rise to a record 320 GW in 2022, despite higher costs for raw materials and supply-chain constraints. In the EU, annual green energy additions jumped by nearly 30% to 36 GW, lowering the bloc’s dependence on Russian gas in the power sector.
Japan’s largest power producers JERA wants to invest 1.4 trillion yen ($11 billion) to decarbonise fossil power stations at home and to expand its assets overseas in a bid to boost net profits. The announced Capex includes 250 billion yen for upgrading gas power plants to hydrogen co-firing and for sourcing green fuel from abroad.
Accusing the Kremlin to “weaponize fossil fuels”, Germany’s economy minister Robert Habeck said the country could cope with a halt in Russian gas deliveries by winter 2022/23. In retaliation for Berlin seizing Gazprom Germania, Russia lowered gas deliveries by 3% but Habeck is convinced new floating LNG terminals will bring in sufficient alternative supply.
Japan’s largest LNG importer JERA has agreed to buy all stakes in two US thermal power stations from Stonepeak Investment. The Canal Generating Plant in Massachusetts and Bucksport Generation in Maine have a combined capacity of 1.63 GW and are partially equipped with fast-start gas turbines that JERA seeks to enhance.
AEG Power Solution has provided a large shopping mall in Paarl, South Africa, with a reliable microgrid that integrates a solar-powered 1.2 MWh lithium-ion battery with fossil genets. Peak shaving reduces energy prices to a minimum and leads to an amortization time of 4-5 years.
News in Brief
Rolls-Royce conducts laser field tests in the US
May 18 – Rolls-Royce has successfully conducted laser field tests to demonstrate ‘deep magazine’ power capability for directed applications in connection with Lockheed Martin’s layered laser defense project. Deep magazine power can be provided by a battery-only system, but the Rolls-Royce ColdFire system includes both battery-powered and near-continuous firing modes provided by M250 gas turbine engines.
Gas vs oil ratio increases in the Bakken
May 17 – The ratio of natural gas to crude oil production has risen in North Dakota’s Bakken region since 2008, and continues to accelerate. According to the US Energy Information Administration's (EIA) Drilling Productivity Report, annual gas gross withdrawals in the Bakken increased by 9% to an annual high of 2.97 Bcf/d in 2021, even though the region’s crude oil production fell by 6%.
Middle East shifts to gas power
May 16 – The Middle East, a region vulnerable to climate change, is undergoing a major shift from petroleum-based power plants towards gas-fired generation and renewable power sources. Capacity additions of over 185.46 GW are the pipeline, according to ResearchandMarkets, as the regions electricity demand for industry and residential cooling is set to grow. In fact, cooling already accounts for 70% of residential power demand.
Carbon utilisation in strong demand
May 13 – The market for carbon utilisation is forecast to grow rapidly from the 2030s onwards to surpass $285 billion by 2042, driven by rising climate commitments and a favourable regulatory framework. In its latest report IDTechEx also highlights the role of technology advances such as thermodynamics which help sequester CO2 permanently.
MTU gensets approved for biofuels
May 12 – Rolls-Royce has gained approval to use synthetic fuels in its MTU Series 4000 and Series 1600 diesel engines for power generation application. Field testing confirmed both engines can use a range of sustainable fuels including biomass-to-liquid, hydrotreated vegetable oil and power-to-liquid fuels such as e-diesel.
E.ON tells Germans how to save gas
May 11 – A large-scale switch to heat pumps, solar power and better demand-side management could help save Germany nearly 100 TWh of natural gas per year, E.ON has said, calling on households to contribute to Europe’s efforts to reduce reliance on Russian gas imports. “If 10% of the homes in Germany are equipped with solar PV installations, 20% of gas boilers are replaced by heat pumps, and the average temperature in all households is reduced by one degree Celsius on average, this would lead to natural gas savings of 103 TWh per year," E.ON Energy CEO Filip Thon said, noting this volume would equate to about 30% of Germany’s current gas imports from Russia.
Exelon Q1 earnings lower following Constellation cave-out
May 10 – Exelon has reported lower first quarter earnings and a higher operating revenue, having completed the separation of Constellation Energy – Excelon’s former power gen business. Focussing now solely on transmission and distribution, Exelon’s net income from continuing operations for the first quarter of 2022 decreased to $0.49 per share from $0.53 a share in pre-year period. In contrast, adjusted operating earnings notched up to $0.64 per share, primarily due to due to higher electric distribution earnings at ComEd from higher rate base and higher allowed electric distribution. Rate increases at Excelon’s group companies PECO, BGE, and PHI were partially offset by higher depreciation expenses at BGE and PHI.
South Africa to add 2.6 GW of new capacity
May 9 – South Africa’s Department of Mineral Resources and Energy, has just announced the REIPPPP BW6 Request for Proposals (RFP). The bid round will add 2,600 MWs of new capacity to the energy mix. The ministry seeks to procure 11,813 MW of electricity from various power sources including renewable energy, storage, gas and coal.
GE Gas Power authorized as CVE Numbering Authority
May 6 – GE Gas Power’s increased focus on cybersecurity has been recognized by the Common Vulnerability and Exposures Programm as a ‘CVE Numbering Authority (CNA). As such, GE Gas Power can now assign CVE identification numbers to newly discovered vulnerabilities potentially related to its products and allow GE Gas Power to directly publish new CVE Records and streamline the reporting process.
Heliogen gets nearly $90m in funding
May 5 – Heliogen has moved from design into testing and implementation of its supercritical CO2 power gen system that will be deployed for Woodside in California. The system consists of a 5 MWe sCO2 power block integrated with high temperature solid media thermal energy storage. The demonstration project is being funded with up to $50 million from Woodside, along with $39 million from the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE).
Capstone to install microturbine in the Caribbean
May 4 – E-Finity Distributed Generation, Capstone's distributor for the Mid-Atlantic, Southeastern United States and the Caribbean, has secured an order for two C1000S microturbines for a government water authority in the Caribbean. The 2 MW system will provide emergency standby power to several pumping stations throughout the remote island community and is scheduled to be commissioned towards the end of 2022.
Forecasting solar and energy storage in CAISO
May 3 – Marubeni has chosen Veritone’s AI-based distributed energy resource management solution (iDERMS) to provide price, demand and generation forecasts at their pilot project in the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) SP-15 region. In addition to day-ahead and real-time generation figures, Veritone will also forecast production and demand for the overall CAISO region.
Forecasting solar and energy storage in CAISO
May 2 – Marubeni has chosen Veritone’s AI-based distributed energy resource management solution (iDERMS) to provide price, demand and generation forecasts at their pilot project in the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) SP-15 region. In addition to day-ahead and real-time generation figures, Veritone will also forecast production and demand for the overall CAISO region.
Steam turbines in high demand
April 29 – The market for steam turbines for power generation will grow around 6.5% through to 2027, driven by the build-out of combined-cycle gas power plants – notably in Asia and the United States, ResearchAndMarkets finds. Coal power projects in China, India and Bangladesh also require significant numbers of steam turbines. “Many of the countries in Asia-Pacific cannot provide 24-hour electricity to its citizens, and the cheapest way to achieve the objective is to build thermal [coal power] plants and use steam turbines,” analysts commented.
LNG-fuelled power for Antigua
April 28 – Antigua Power Company Limited (APCL) has contracted Wärtsilä to supply and install a 46 MW dual-fuel power plant on the Caribbean island. The plant will operate primarily on regasified LNG, imported through a small-scale import terminal developed by U.S.-based Eagle LNG in partnership with APCL.
ION launches risk analyser
April 27 – ION Commodities has built a cloud-based solution – FEA Analyzer – to help energy and commodity firms transition to new renewable energy markets while simultaneously optimizing trading strategies and supply chains. The tool combines pre-trade analytics with risk management and asset optimization, all powered by predictive analytics and stochastic models.
Capstone to service 600kV microturbine
April 26 – Capstone has landed a rental contract for a 600 kilowatt (kW) microturbine-based system with one of the largest energy infrastructure companies in North America. Due for commissioning in mid-May 2022, the plant will supply power to remote mid-stream operations along the customer's gas pipeline in Colorado.
