Rumuji, a mini-LNG facility in River State, Nigeria, is being developed to monetize the country’s substantial stranded gas reserves. Set to be built with $500 million worth of private funds, gathered by Greenville Ltd., the project is underpinned by a gas supply agreement for the delivery of 74 mmscf of gas through NNPC, Total and the Gas Aggregation Company of Nigeria (GACN).
Solar power will outcompete natural gas as a fuel for power generation in the United States, given that costs for utility-scale solar projects are forecast to plunge 84% from 2009-levels by 2025. The US National Renewables Energy Laboratory (NREL) expects gas will maintain its cost advantages at $53/MWh for a combined-cycle power plant – except compared with the $32/MWh of utility-scale PV in 2030.
Construction has started in the US northeast state of Pennsylvania on the greenfield portion of the almost $3-billion Atlantic Sunrise pipeline project, an expansion of the Transco natural gas pipeline to connect Marcellus Shale supplies with markets in the Mid-Atlantic and the South of the United States.
Uncertainty over gas demand growth for power generation in Virginia and North Carolina may put at risk the development of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, proposed in 2014 by a joint venture of Dominion, Duke, Piedmont Natural Gas and AGL Resources. Though developers say 79% of the pipeline capacity has been contracted, analysts from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) caution that projections for demand growth are overoptimistic.
Norway-based Jacobsen Elektro, an international provider of turnkey power plants, has contracted Wärtsilä of Finland to provide the generating equipment for a new power plant in Indonesia. The 48 MW will be operated by PT PLN, the Indonesian government-owned utility.
Indonesia's state-run electricity supplier, Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN), has contracted MAN Diesel & Turbo to deliver a total of 20 MAN 51/60DF engines. Ten of these engines will be installed in three power plants for which the German manufacturer will take on EPC (engineering, procurement, construction) responsibilities.
ABB has launched a solution using its VD4G vacuum generator circuit breaker to extend the safe operational life of power plants. It extends the OneFit concept with new ratings and covers generator protection applications, notably for aging switchgear.
Persistently high power prices and energy shortages along the East Coast of Australia could be solved by a trans-continental gas pipeline that connects the resource-rich Northwest to existing infrastructure in central Australia, says Colin Barnett former premier of Western Australia. Though the 3,000km interconnector costs an estimated $5billion, he stressed expenses need to be put in context with $49 billion spent for a national broadband project.
Construction works for the proposed Marshall Energy Center could start by early 2019. The project comes with a price tag of $400 million and consists of two gas-fuelled generators that will together provide 1,000 MW of flexible capacity to help balance the regional power grid.
Eager to meet the compliance deadline, several operators of coal-fired power stations across the United States have installed mercury controls, based on activated carbon injection systems. The timing of these retrofits show that utilities are willing to invest in order to keep some of their coal capacity up and running.
Finland-based technology group Wärtsilä has been contracted to supply two more baseload power plants to Bangladesh. Orion Group, an industrial conglomerate, is developing two 110 MW units, each of which will operate on six Wärtsilä 50 engines running on heavy fuel oil.
The Atlantic LNG production plant at Point Fortin, Trinidad, has been shut and evacuated after a fire flared up at one of its power generating units. The company said it contained and extinguished the fire, with no injuries reported.
In the U.K., new offshore wind power is dramatically undercutting new nuclear generation on cost which signals that the sector has become a mature, bankable new segment of the energy sector. The lowest successful bids in last week’s auction results at €63 ($83) per MWh, were 50% less than a corresponding UK auction in 2015.
Targeting the decentralized power market, Siemens is launching a 57 MW upgrade of its SGT-800 gas turbine at the Power-Gen Asia trade show, which, opened its doors in Bangkok today. In combined-cycle configuration, Siemens SGT-800 now achieves 163MW power output at a net efficiency of more than 58.5%.
By 2040, coal and renewables will both contribute 31% to world electricity generation. In Europe, strong renewable energy expansion will eradicate the growth of gas use in the power sector over the next 10 years, according to the EIA’s just-released International Energy Outlook 2017 (IEO2017). Only after 2030, pipeline gas and LNG is seen regain market share in Europe, displacing nuclear power and lignite coal.
News in Brief
Floating power market to top $1.4bn by 2022
Sept 22 – The floating power plant market is expected to grow from an estimated $889.6 million in 2017 to $1,440.1 million by 2022, at a cumulated annual growth rate of 10.11%, from 2017 to 2022. Driving factors, according to MarketsandMarkets, are increasing demand for power, coupled with the lack of land-based power generation infrastructure.
ITM Power sells 1.1-MW power-to-gas plant to Gasunie
Sept 21 – UK hydrogen specialist ITM Power has sold a 1.1-MW power-to-gas electrolyser to EnergyStock, a subsidiary of Dutch gas grid operator Gasunie. The rapid-response PEM electrolyser will be deployed at the Zuidwending salt cavern storage; the generated hydrogen will be used on-site within EnergyStock's systems or dispensed into tube trailers for future hydrogen refuelling stations.
CCGT market to grow at 4.25% through to 2021
Sept 20 – The combined-cycle gas turbine market is forecast to grow at an annual rate of 4.24 % during the period from 2017 to 2021. Renewable energy’s high initial cost is still proving to be a major driver for the global CCGT market that offers a lower cost of power installation than renewable and nuclear energy.
GE to build four substations in Egypt
Sept 19 – Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) and GE have closed a $250 million contract that will see GE build and install four Gas-Insulated Substations (GIS) across Egypt to connect 7 GW to the country’s national power grid by the end of 2018. The contract is fully financed through Deutsche Bank and HSBC France which helps secure smooth execution of the project.
Irma slashes energy demand in Florida
Sept 18 – Hurricane Irma has proved to be a demand-side event in Florida. At its trough, the state appeared to lose 1.9 bcf/d of demand versus pre-storm levels, mainly in the power sector. According to Energy Aspects figures, electricity demand on September12 dropped to 0.8 bcf/d, compared to a pre-storm baseline of 3.6 bcf/d.
Drax plans to convert two coal units to natural gas
Sept 15 – Drax Group has filed plans to the UK Planning Inspectorate to build a 200MW battery storage unit, and convert up to two coal units at the Drax power station to run on natural gas. If approved, the repowering could result in up to 3.6 GW of new flexible gas generation capacity. The utility stated its investment at Drax is backed by a 15-year capacity contract.
Azura Edo IPP ready to startup in early 2019
Sept 8 – Siemens-built Azura Edo Independent Power Project (IPP) is planned to add 459MW to the Nigerian national power grid by early 2019, Siemens Nigeria CEO Onyeche Tifase said. The Azura Edo IPP is an open-cycle gas turbine power plant project, which could potentially account for up to 20% of Nigeria’s installed capacity of 12.5MW by 2020.
Oman’s oil output hits new record
Sept 7 – Oil production in Oman has reached a new record, totalling 1 million barrel per day (b/d) in 2016. Dependent on revenues from oil and gas exports, Oman’s state finances have been hit by the plunge in oil prices which made 2016 oil and gas revenues plunge 67% compared with 2014 levels.
Petrofarc to build South Stream
Sept 6 – UK contractor Petrofarc won an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract worth 340 million Euros ($404m) by the Gazprom-owned South Stream Transport company to build onshore pipelines and a gas receiving terminal near the Turkish town Kiyikoy.
Gas prices slowly return to normal after Harvey struck
Sept 5 – The price of natural gas and other petroleum products has surged in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. Yet as of Monday, key gasoline prices started to return to pre-Hurricane levels as key refineries and pipelines along the US Gulf Coast are resuming operation, easing supply concerns.
ACER to set deadline
Sept 4 – The European energy regulatory authority ACER is consulting until September 15 on an implementation date for harmonized prices in the EU's day-ahead and intraday power markets. Introducing maximum and minimum prices is meant to enhance market coupling.
Pöyry to review Shoaiba-4 plant
Sept 1 – The Saline Water Conversion Company (SWCC) has awarded Pöyry with the owner's engineer services assignment for the Shoaiba-4 desalination plant which will meet the potable water requirements of Saudi Arabia's second largest city and its five million people. Pöyry's scope includes review of contractor's engineering and supervision of construction, erection and commissioning.
Wärtsilä wins 220 MW power plant contract in Bangladesh
Aug 31 – Desh Energy Chandpur Power Company, an independent power producer (IPP) in Bangladesh, has contracted Wärtsilä of Finland to supply twelve 18-cylinder Wärtsilä 50 engines for a new 220 MW baseload power plant to be installed in Chandpur. The customer required a nine-month implementation time, with the plant due to be fully operational in May 2018.
Works start on Hickory Run CCGT
Aug 30 – Tyr Energy has started construction works on the Hickory Run Energy Center in Pennsylvania. The combined-cycle gas power plant has a nominal generating capacity of 1,000 MW.
Canadian Cats dealers merge
Aug 29 – Toromont Industries will acquire the businesses and net operating assets of fellow Canadian Caterpillar dealer Hewitt Group. The deal was agreed in turn for C$917.7 million cash plus the issuance of 2.25 million Toromont shares, the two companies said.
Ansaldo to service Thai cogen plant
Aug 25 – Glow Energy, one of Thailand’s private power producers, has contracted Ansaldo of Italy to service a 328 MW cogeneration plant, located in Map Ta Phut Industrial Park, 200km southeast of Bangkok. Apart from electricity, the plant produces 160 tonnes/hour of steam to support local industries. Ansaldo’s 15-year service deal covers maintenance, replacement capital parts and remote monitoring and diagnostics for the gas turbine.
Low voltage drives for China
Aug 24 – Siemens is to equip several Chinese aluminum factories with medium and low voltage drives. The value of the order is in the low tens of millions Euros. Commissioning will be completed in several stages between November 2018 and April 2019.
