Shell has awarded a contract worth US$30 million to Rolls-Rocye to supply two RB211 gas turbines to increase gas output from its Malampaya deepwater natural gas project in the Philippines.
Massive energy-related infrastructure investments worth US$300 million are on the cards in Saudi Arabia with the aim of linking new economic cities to the national power grid. The Saudi Kingdom is undergoing a phase of massive industrial development with electricity demand is expected to reach up to 67,000 MW by 2020.
Operational start of the third unit (840 MW) at the McDonough-Atkinson combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plant is under construction and slated to start in November this year. The addition of the third unit will bring the plant's total capacity to over 2,500 MW, the operator Georgia Power said.
Early site works to realize Oman's first gas-fired power plant (120 MW) have started at the waterfront site Tibat in Whilayat Bukha, Musandam Governorate. To fast-track the project, developers were granted permission to "forego the usual competitive tender process", Oman's ministry of information confirmed.
Mass Global Investment Company has awarded a contract worth US$16 million to ABB to build a substation and a SVC Light system that will supply electricity for industrial infrastructure in Northern Iraq. ABB said it received the order in the first quarter.
A consortium consisting of GE and a CH2M HILL-UGL joint venture has been awarded an order to provide power generation for the Ichthys LNG power station. The order is worth more than US$900 million, GE said.
Rolls-Royce, a global provider of power systems, said today it has won a US$30 million order from Shell to supply two industrial RB211 gas turbines to boost the output from the Malampaya deepwater natural gas project in the Philippines.
Analysts at Société Générale are "not overly optimistic" on an upside for German power prices. Spark spreads are likely to remain unattractive, while overall power consumption dropped, the French investment bank said in a research note.
Combined marketed production from the top five natural gas producing states - Texas, Louisiana, Wyoming, Oklahoma, and Colorado – has risen about 7.5% in 2011, according to latest EIA statistics. Abundant domestic supplies and low gas prices reinforce the trend among U.S. power producers of switching from coal to gas.
ABB has won an order worth US$16 million from Qatalum, for upgrading the power network at its aluminum smelter in Mesaieed Industrial City, located about 50 kilometers south of Doha, Qatar. The order was booked in the first quarter, ABB said, with the project scheduled for completion by 2013.
MAN Diesel & Turbo will bring the prototype of a new 6 MW gas turbine family to the market shortly after development completion, Roland Herzog, Vice President, Material Technology at MAN Diesel & Turbo said today. "The first model of MAN's new 6 MW gas turbine will be commercially used at a CHP cogeneration unit at a chemical production plant in Rheinberg," he told 'Gas-to-Power Journal' at the sidelines of the 'Turbine Forum 2012' in Nice.
Japan's Tokyo Gas is considering building a third 400 MW gas-fired power plant unit at its Yokohama plant, Tokyo Gas president Tsuyoshi Okamoto said today.
The share of electricity production from gas-fired power plants has fallen to the lowest levels in 14 years due to "unfavourable market conditions and low demand," data published by the department of energy and climate change (Decc) shows.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) has won an order from TransAlta Generation Partnership, a subsidiary of TransAlta Corporation, to supply two M501GAC gas turbines for the proposed Sundance 7 power generation facility in Alberta.
Transco, a key gas transmission pipeline in the U.S., is preparing to increase gas transport capacity to satisfy rising gas demand for power generation. "Power generation is the driver behind about a third of the volumes in proposed projects in development on our Transco pipeline," Alan Armstrong, chief executive of Williams Partners' said.
News in Brief
Controversy about planned CCGT in California
Feb 22 – Environmentalist have filed a lawsuit against plans to build a 634 MW combined-cycle gas power plant in Palmdale, a city north of Los Angeles. The hybrid gas and solar plant had been approved by the California Energy Commission (CEC), although a developer has not been found yet.
GE installs and services 9E turbine in Iraq
Feb 21 – GE Power has delivered and installed a 9E gas turbine to Iraq’s Ministry of Electricity’s (MoE) Al Qudus power plant. Throughout 2019, GE will also service up to seven GE 9E gas turbines at the facility, helping to maintain a stable power output of up to 875 MW.
MHI to join Cybersecurity Charter
Feb 20 – Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) signed a letter of intent to join the Charter of Trust for cybersecurity by the end of September, expanding the charter’s reach into Asia. Initiated by Siemens, the charter calls for binding rules and standards on cybersecurity as digitalization advances. Other signatories include AES, Airbus, Allianz, Atos, Cisco, Daimler, Dell Technologies, Deutsche Telekom, Enel, IBM, NXP, SGS, Total and TÜV Süd.
Substation market grows at 9.4% rate
Feb 19 – The gas-insulated substation market, currently valued at $17.3 billion, is anticipated to grow at a rate of more than 9.4% in the years through to 2025. Analysts say rising demand for low maintenance and small power systems will boost the market, particularly for large infrastructure projects such as smart city where GIS substations are well-suited due to their high efficiency and compact size.
Amprion advances P2G project in Germany
Feb 18 – Amprion, together with Open Grid Europe (OGE), are striving to get a €150 million Power-to-Gas project in Germany into operation by 2023. The pilot plant includes a 100 MW electrolyser that converts renewable energy into hydrogen and methane for use in the district of Emsland, northern Germany.
MHPS leads on post F-class turbines
Feb 15 – Mitsubishi Hitachi Power System (MHPS) secured most orders in 2018 for newest-generation turbines, while GE booked most order for turbines of all classes amongst its rivals. For so-called post F-class turbines, MHPS reportedly achieved 49% of orders, compared with 34% for GE and 16% for Siemens.
UK inflation down amid fall in energy prices
Feb 14 – Falling energy bills and fuel prices have pushed down UK inflation to a two-year low in January, according the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Inflation had peaked at a five-year high of 3.1% in November 2017, and is currently at just 1.8% – below the Bank of England’s 2% inflation target.
Lahmeyer is now Tractebel
Feb 13 –The German engineering and consulting company Lahmeyer International is now operating under the Tractebel, with the new company name; Tractebel Engineering GmbH. Tractebel reached a turnover of €662 million in 2018, and is part of the French energy group ENGIE.
BECCS pilot project starts at Drax
Feb 12 – The 4,000-MW Drax Power Station has started using bioenergy carbon capture and storage (BECCS) technology, capturing up to 1 ton of CO2 per day. The Drax demo plant in Selby, North Yorkshire, moves Britain further ahead in the race to develop BECCS technologies
Demand for power ships up 3.6% through 2026
Feb 11 – The global market for floating LNG-fuelled power ships is forecast to grow at an annual rate of 3.6%, exceeding exceed $1,073 million by 2026, according to ResearchandMarkets estimates. Power ships with a capacity between 100 MW and 150 MW, and usually leased for short durations, will cover most of the demand growth which is centred in Asia Pacific, sub-Saharan Africa and the Americas.
Australia’s H2U uses NovaLT turbine
Feb 8 – H2U, an Australian hydrogen infrastructure developer, will use Baker Hughes NovaLT gas turbine at is hydrogen and ammonia supply chain demonstrating plant in Port Lincoln. The greentech project integrates a 15 MW electrolyser plant, a 10 MW hydrogen-fired gas turbine and a 5 MW fuel cell, all of which set to supply electricity to the power grid in South Australia.
EC rules out Siemens/Alstom mobility merger
Feb 7 –The European Commission has decided to prohibit the proposed combination of the Siemens and Alstom mobility businesses. As a result of this prohibition, the merger will not proceed.
PG&E seeks to re-organize
Feb 6 – Having just filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, California utility Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) now seeks to restructure and access up to $6 billion in financing to help it operate while under bankruptcy protection. In a filing to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the district of northern California, PG&E listed assets of $71.39 billion and liabilities of $51.69 billion.
Contigo enhances trading of DB Energy
Feb 5 – Contigo, together with the consulting firm Nevento, have introduced a new energy trading system at DB Energie of Deutsche Bahn. The system’s new functionality provides fast and easy access to business data and credit risk information, enabling effective decision making in energy trading.
ABB, Intel cooperate on digital substations
Feb 4 – ABB and Intel have agreed to jointly sell automation systems for utilities. At the core of the agreement is ABB Ability smart substation control for electrical systems, SSC600, powered by Intel Xeon processors.
Backup power for Hinkley Point C
Feb 1 – Rolls Royce will provide MTU diesel gensets to provide back-up power to the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station in Somerset. The generators, Type MTU 396 TB33 with 3600 kW output each, will provide emergency power in case of an outage of the site’s standing power supply
Gauging UK’s shift to green energy
Jan 31 – Engineering consultancy WSP has been selected to model the impact of low carbon technologies on the UK’s electricity networks. It will also work with the Energy Networks Association (ENA) on the Distribution Losses Mechanism Study.
