New variable valve trains from equipment manufacturer ABB offer the potential to cut gas turbine start-up times by 50%. ABB estimates that its new Valve Control Management (VCM) system can deliver fuel savings of around $200,000 per year for a typical 10MW gas engine.
South Korea's Posco Energy has inaugurated the first integrated steel mill off-gas power plant in Southeast Asia – a 200 MW gas waste facility located within a steel mill complex in Cilegon, Banten.
U.S. power provider, Pennsylvania Power and Light (PPL), has lodged an application with the Kentucky Public Service Commission requesting approval to build a 700MW combined-cycle gas plant and 10MW solar power facility at a total cost of $736 million.
Global demand for energy is expected to slow in the years up to 2035 with growth rates declining to 41% as compared to 55% over the last 23 years, according to figures published by BP. The slowdown is attributed to better energy efficiency measures, but even with energy savings power generation will still see strong growth, accounting for 57% of the increase in primary energy consumption.
Silicon Valley based start-up, Nirvana Energy Systems, has developed a new micro CHP solution that delivers 90% efficiency and can provide significant savings on residential power costs. The company’s first product, the 'Power Stick', produces between 1-4 kW of electrical power, and 15kW of thermal power.
Wärtsilä has received a contract from PT Indonesia Power.to supply Indonesia's largest ever engine based power plant on a turnkey basis. The 200 MW power plant is scheduled to be partially operational by the end of December 2014, and at full output by the end of May 2015.
For all but rarely used peaking plants, combined cycle designs deliver greater fuel efficiency and returns on initial capital investment. For new projects, there are two options to choose from – single- and multi-shaft. Though greater flexibility in plant design can be achieved with multi-shaft arrangements, single-shaft has lower capital costs, modelling from Lahmeyer International shows.
China’s largest onshore LNG production facility has received compressor-drive technology from GE to help boost output as demand for gas power in the state soars. The HuaQi Ansai LNG Facility was inaugurated in 2012 and supplies an estimated 2 million cubic meters of LNG per day.
Japanese power producer, Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), has announced it will increase the volume of LNG it purchases annually from 25 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) to 40 mtpa as part of a new business plan approved by government. The erstwhile operator of the Fukushima plant aims to increase electricity output from gas-fired plant in the country to make up for lost nuclear capacity and to recover its weak financial position.
A prototype of a new small-scale electric generator offers the potential to capture untapped power from natural gas pipelines using a device known as a Tri-Axial Generator (TAG). Justin Michael Wyatt, co-founder of Magnetar, the company behind the design, told Gas to Power Journal that TAG is a new type of small hydroelectric generator which operates in existing pipelines and uses the fluid's kinetic energy to spin our open-centre impeller to produce electricity.
In a move to maximise production from the UK’s estimated 1,300 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of shale gas, the government has announced generous tax breaks to producers and promised local councils 100% of fees from resultant business rates. Figures from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) predict that widespread UK shale gas production could reduce the implied price of dispatchable gas-fired power generation to around £50/MWh.