Sky Global's Power One peaking plant, run by six Jenbacher gas engines, has helped San Bernard Cooperative (SBEC) reestablish grid stability during a historic cold freeze in February. The engines ran in grid parallel mode, supplying localised power for several hours during a prolonged grid outage.
Carmakers in Germany cash in on the global shift to e-mobility. Though the production of battery cells is dominated by businesses in South Korea, Japan and China, German companies have caught up and reached a leading position on technologies like cell chemistry, cooling and control systems for car batteries and energy storage.
Electricity consumption in the United States is rebounding as the economy and private households are starting to get to grips with the pandemic. Government analysts expect US electricity use will rise by 2.1% in 2021 – driven by demand from industry – after having plunged 3.8% in 2020.
Firmer prices at Henry Hub have reduced the gas use for power generation in the United States. Gas-burn is forecast to fall 0.4%, compared to 2020 levels, lowering overall gas consumption in 2021 to 82.9 Bcf per day. Meanwhile, US LNG exports are picking up as Asian economies recover.
Supercomputers at King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia will be cushioned by 12 mtu Kinetic PowerPacks. The systems, equipped with rotating energy accumulators, will provide the data center with uninterruptible power, acting as an “energy backbone.”
Marubeni and Tokyo Gas have sealed an agreement for Phase-1 development of an industrial park Vietnam’s Quang Ninh Province that will include an LNG regas terminal and integrated power plant. Situated some 200km from Hanoi, the project will cost around 200 billion yen ($1.92 billion) and the LNG-fuelled power station will have a capacity of 1,500 MW.
The Finish technology group Wärtsilä has signed an optimised maintenance agreement for three power plants operated by Paras Energy, a privately-owned Nigerian utility. Driven by 34SG gas-fuelled engines, the three plants have a combined electricity output of 132 MW.
AD Power Plants of Northern Macedonia (AD ESM) has agreed to take a 25% stake in Alexandroupolis Electricity Production, the special purpose vehicle set up to finance, build, own and operate a power plant in northern Greece. The project, currently fully owned by DAMCO Energy, will have a capacity of 662 MW initially and is scheduled to start operation in 2023.
German gas TSOs are carrying out substantial infrastructure investments to convert the country’s gas supply system from low calorific gas (L-gas) to high calorific gas (H-gas). Almost one million appliances, mostly in western Germany, have already been switched with the aim to finish works by 2030.
RWE Renewables has contracted Wärtsilä to supply a 40-MW/80-MWh DC-coupled solar plus storage system to the Hickory Park Solar project in Georgia, US. The hybrid system will enable RWE to steadily dispatch and sell 200 MW of electricity from the solar PV units to Georgia Power Company, the local utility.
Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power has secured $750 million in senior debt to develop the Sirdarya combined-cycle power plant in Uzbekistan. Built at a cost of $1.2 billion, the 1,500 MW Sirdarya CCGT is designed to meet 15% of the country’s electricity needs and will account for 8% installed capacity.
Mitsubishi Power has inaugurated its M701JAC gas turbine at a combined-cycle power plant in Thailand. The turbine powers one of eight CCGT units at two equally sized plants with a combined output of 3,500 MW, built by Gulf Energy Development and Mitsui & Co.
News in Brief
Tula dDSF helps curb NOx emissions by 74%
April 15 – Tula Technologies, a leader in propulsion technology, and Cummins have showcased the results of a study on the effectiveness of Tula’s diesel Dynamic Skip Fire (dDSF) in reducing nitrogen oxides (NOx) by 74% and carbon dioxide emissions by 5% on a Cummins X15 HD Efficiency Series diesel engine. In comparison with current engine technologies and modifications to the thermal management techniques, use of the dDSF system saved 20% in fuel and related costs.
Marubeni starts EPC works for Rabigh IPP
April 14 – Japan’s Marubeni Corp has been granted limited-recourse financing for the 300 MW Rabigh solar IPP project in Saudi Arabia’s Makkah Province. The loan was granted by Mizuho Bank, Al Rajhi Banking and Investment and Japan’s Bank for International Cooperation. EPC work on the project is scheduled to start in early May. All electricity from the Rabigh IPP will be sold to the Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC) for 25 years starting with the plant’s commissioning.
BASF’s power demand set to triple
April 13 – Chemicals group BASF expects its electricity consumption will triple to over 44 TWh per year by 2035, rising from 14.7 TWh last year. The growth estimate is based on demand forecasts for Ludwigshafen, the group’s biggest site, where energy demand is anticipated to rise from 6 TWh to around 20 TWh. Currently, BASF meets most of its electricity needs with combined-cycle power stations, many of which are installed on or nearby its chemical production sites. The company has site in 390 locations worldwide.
Romgaz pulls the plug on Iernut CCGT
April 12 – Romania’s Romgaz has terminated a contract for the construction of a 430 MW combined-cycle power plant in Iernut, in Romania’s central Transylvania region. The construction consortium consisted of DuroFelguera and Romelectrico.
Wärtsilä test bio LNG fuel at Coast Guard vessel
April 9 – Gasum, Finland’s state gas company and biogas refiner is supplying Wärtsilä with green fuels that are currently being tested in a Coast Guard patrol vessel. The 96 metre long ship, the named ‚Turva’, is fitted with Wärtsilä dual-fuel engines. Use of Bio LNG, a 100% renewable fuel, emits no particulate matter, and close to zero nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulphur oxides (SOx) when burnt and has over 90% lower CO2 emission compared to conventional fuels.
ACWA Power signs PPA for Kom Ombo plant in Egypt
April 8 – Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power has finalised a 25-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) for the 200MW Kom Ombo PV plant. Financial close is now scheduled for Q3-2021, developers said, provided they will obtain $40 million in debt financing and a $14 million equity bridge loan from the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), as well as a $27.2 million loan from the African Development Bank (AfDB).
Scottish network charges keep rising
April 7 – Network charges payable by Scottish generators continue to rise. According to National Grid’s 5-year view Transmission Network Use of System (TNUoS) charges, annual TNUoS costs for a typical 40 MW onshore wind site in Northern Scotland will rise to £1.28 million by 2025-26 – a 180% increase in nine years. Critics warn some developers see these costs as a potential investment barrier which could undermine the UK’s path to net zero emissions.
LYTT launches well visualisation dashboard
April 6 – The British software and analytics company LYTT has launched a cloud-based visualization dashboard, enabling operators of oil & gas wells to visualise the operation and resource base of reservoirs, Insights are derived from acoustic and temperature data sourced from fiber optic sensors that allow oil & gas to “see exactly what is happening downhole.“
PIC Group to staff North Valmy Generating Station
April 1 – Atlanta-based NV Energy has awarded PIC Group the staffing services agreement to help with the selection of key personnel at its 552 MW North Valmy Generating Station in Valmy, Nevada through 2025. Under the agreement, PIC Group will also provide Operation & Maintenance (O&M) services up until the plant’s staggered retirement starting from 2022.
MHIET launches new 2,000 kVA genset
March 31 – Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Engine & Turbocharger (MHIET) has developed a 2,000 kVA diesel generator with the highest output level in a Japanese-made packaged generator. The genset is designed for use in critical infrastructure such as factories, hospitals and data centers. Sales of the new system will officially begin on April 1.
NextDecade sells $10m of Series C stock
March 30 – Houston-based NextDecade Corp has agreed to sell $10 million of Series C preferred stock in a private placement to OGCI Climate Investments. Earlier this month, NextDecade announced its subsidiary NEXT Carbon Solutions is developing one of the largest CCS projects in North America at Rio Grande LNG, designed to enable the capture and permanent geologic storage of more than five million tonnes of CO2 per year.
Linde to help Gazprom advance Amur GPP
March 29 – German engineering and industrial gases company Linde has been contracted by Gazprom to help fast-track works at the Amur Gas Processing Plant (GPP) in the Russian Far East and build a new natural gas liquefaction and GPP at Ust-Luga west of St. Petersburg. Gazprom underlined the Ust-Luga complex will be “the largest in northwest Europe in terms of LNG production at 13 mtpa” and a gas processing capacity of up to 45 Bcm of gas per year.
Spectrolytic improves turbine oil monitoring
March 29 – Edinburg-based Spectrolytic has developed an in-line measurement system to monitor turbine oils by streaming key operating data to a cloud-based control centre which provides the customer with real-time process control. Called Fieldkit, the plug-and-play system can be integrated into the main oil flow of the engine or in a bypass flow from the oil sump or tank.
Toshiba recycles CO2 into carbon monoxide
March 26 – Toshiba has developed the world’s most efficient electro-catalyst technology for converting CO2 into carbon monoxide (CO), a raw material for fuel and chemicals. The electro-catalyst has the size of a C5 envelope, operates at room temperature, and can process up to 1 ton of CO2 a year.
Gazprom and TMK/ChelPip discuss future cooperation
Mar 25 – The heads of Gazprom and TMK, one of Russia's largest producers of steel pipe coatings, are in talks about their future cooperation following TMK’s merger with ChelPip. Alexey Miller and Dmitry Pumpyansky discussed how the merged company could best meet Gazprom’s needs with regards to pipeline supplies for wells and transportation of hydrocarbons, as well as technical maintenance and support and repair services.
ADM develops Barracuda oil and gas field
Mar 24 – ADM Energy has agreed to invest up to US$1.3 million in developing the Barracuda oil and gas condensate field by acquiring a 51% interest in K.O.N.H. UK. Named OML 141, the field is situated in shallow waters offshore Nigeria. Developers said they intend to provide or procure funding in return for 235% of approved Capex to be recovered plus a 15% net profit interest (NPI) from the field.
Wärtsilä services engines at NYK’s LNG carriers
Mar 23 – Japan-based NYK LNG Ship Management has awarded Wärtsilä two long-term Optimised Maintenance agreement. The 15-year contracts cover Wärtsilä’s 50DF dual-fuel engines and other equipment installed on two LNG carrier vessels. The deal took effect from January 2021.
