President Xi Jinping has told the UN General Assembly that China, the world’s largest carbon emitter, will reach peak emissions before 2030 and aspires to become carbon-neutral by 2060. President Xi called on all countries to “stop only pursuing development rather than environment protection.”
Siemens Energy’s new Unified Power Flow Controller, called UPFC PLUS, helps grid operators manage the load flow in alternating-current grids. Reacting within milliseconds, the tool enhances network resilience in the face of rising volumes of fluctuating renewable energy supply.
US engineering giant GE has decided to exit the market for new-build coal power plants in a bid to transform the structure of the company. “We are focused on power generation businesses that have attractive economics and a growth trajectory,” said Russel Stokes, CEO of GE Power Portfolio.
Singapore-based Keppel Shipyard has been contracted to convert an LNG carrier to a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) for use at El Salvador’s first LNG-to-power project. The FRSU will be installed in the second half of 2021, for the power plant to start operating before year-end.
Alberta-based developer Kineticor Resource has selected BPC, a joint venture of Black & Veatch and PCL Industrial Management, to build a 900 MW combined-cycle power station near Edison. The Cascade Power Plant comes at a cost of $1.5 billion and is due operational in 2023.
Drax has handed Worley an early front-end engineering and design (pre-FEED) contract for the first two carbon capture units at its power plant in North Yorkshire. Each unit will capture about 4 million tonnes of CO2 a year, allowing Drax power station to become ‘carbon negative’ by 2030.
Evonik and Siemens Energy have commissioned a pilot plant in Marl, northern Ruhr region, which produces sustainable chemicals from carbon dioxide and hydrogen, powered by renewables. Part of the Rheticus research, the pilot plant is backed by 6.3 million Euros in state funding.
Gazprom Export’s electronic sales platform is offering new trade tools, enabling buyers to choose from several delivery points and allowing volumes to vary on a daily basis. The pricing of these new contracts can now be linked to different energy carriers and gas indexes.
A cold start to winter across Northeast Asia could boost demand and widen spreads between the Japan Korea Marker (JKM) and the Dutch TTF trading hub for Nov-20 and Dec-20 contracts. If JKM-TTF spreads widen to $0.71 per MMBtu, Asian buyers will rush to snap up US spot LNG cargoes.
Siemens Energy has been selected to supply components for a 150 MW simple-cycle power plant in Saidpur, northern Bangladesh. The peaking power plant is developed by China’s Dongfang Electric International Corp (DEC) on behalf of the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB).
Enschede-based Lithium Werks has started to sell Nanophosphate cathode powder to lithium battery producers. Developed by MIT, the novel technology not only eliminates cobalt, but also heavy metal nickel. The material was first commericalised by A123 Systems and later acquired by Lithium Werks.
The U.S. economy still runs largely of fossil fuels, with petroleum, gas and coal accounting for 80% of both domestic energy production and consumption. Renewables account for just over 12% of the energy mix and nuclear for the remaining 8%, with little drive towards green energy sources except for California.
News in Brief
Mott McDonald starts construction on ALCP6
Oct 20 – US construction firm Mott McDonald has started building the ALCP6 waste to energy project in Krabi province, southern Thailand. The plant will incinerate 144,000 tonnes per year of municipal solid waste, and the heat obtained will be converted into 6 MW of electricity to be exported to the Thai national grid.
Brace for EU sustainable finance rules
Oct 19 – Sustainable finance practices, drawn up by the European Commission, could create a "bureaucratic monster" that smaller companies and energy investors would find overbearing, the Munich-based Institute for Economic Research (ifo) warned. The regulation should hence prioritise closer scrutiny of large and listed companies.
UK could become net power exporter
Oct 16 – Increased interconnection could provide a route for excess offshore wind power in Britain to be consumed elsewhere in Europe. National Grid Interconnector Register shows up to 16 GW of interconnection could be operational by 2025 and up to 25.4 GW by 2030.
Wärtsilä to deploy GridSolv in US city
Oct 15 – AEP OnSite Partners has contracted Wärtsilä to deploy its GridSolv Quantum energy storage in the city of Martinsville, Virginia. The system includes an UL9540A limiting 2-hour battery firewall and will help lower the city’s energy costs.
Rolls-Royce spends $13.9m in Mankato
Oct 14 – Britain’s engine maker Rolls-Royce has decided to invest nearly $14 million in its Power System business to build a new R&D centre at its MTU manufacturing plant in Mankato, Minnesota, US. The expansion will see 28,000 square foot added to the facility’s existing hall, making room for the production of high-power MTU gas gensets, enhanced product testing and the creation of 20 new manufacturing positions.
Clarke commissions Vitalait power unit in Tunisia
Oct 13 – Clarke Energy and INNIO Jenbacher have completed the commissioning of an onsite power plant of a milk producer in Tunisia. The installation of another Jenbacher gas engine has increased the plant’s output to 4 MW of electricity as well as 1,100 kW of hot water and 800 kW of steam.
Secondary battery market to top $55bn
Oct 12 – Technavio expects the secondary battery market to grow by $55.62 billion through 2024, rising at an 11% rate over the forecast period. Falling costs for lithium-ion batteries as well as growing demand in Asia Pacific allowed the market to grow 2.01% this year, despite adverse effects of the pandemic. Top battery suppliers are Tesla, Clarious, Exide, LG Chem, GS Yuasa and Samsung.
Shift to sustainable tech
Oct 9 – Three quarters of utilities, surveyed by EIT InnoEnergy, are considering adopting sustainable technology over the next 12-18 months. However, over one third of the respondents found it hard to recruit the skills they need.
Generator rentals slow
Oct 8 – The rental market for power generators has slowed down due to the pandemic, with genset rentals from the oil and gas industry forecast to grow by just $153.87 million this year. However, Technavio expects the market will return to a 3% annual growth rate by 2024.
GE upgrades Italian CHP
Oct 7 – GE has completed an axial fuel staging upgrade on its 9E gas turbine at an onsite combined heat and power (CHP) plant at the Milazzo refinery in Sicily. The entire electricity needs of the refinery, over 780 GWh in 2019, will soon be supplied by the upgraded and more flexible gas turbine.
Operating assets ‘from anywhere’
Oct 6 – GE Digital’s latest software gives electric utilities remote and mobile control over their power stations for remote start-up, external monitoring and operational fine-tuning. The goal is to safe cost through autonomous operation from any location.
Chart wins order from New Fortress Energy
Oct 5 – Chart Industries has secured a second leasing order, worth $7.7 million, for ISO containers for LNG applications from New Fortress Energy for a project in the Caribbean. The US equipment maker sees double digit near-term growth in its repair, service and leasing business, notably from growing demand for LNG equipment for infrastructure.
Siemens energises Togo
Oct 2 – Siemens Energy has delivered a SGT-800 gas turbine and other components for the Kékéli Efficient Power plant project. Located in the Togolese capital Lomé, the 65 MW plant will cover almost 40% of country’s expected electricity demand.
Batteries get cheaper
Oct 1 – Cost for battery production is falling rapidly as manufacturers bring large Gigafactories on-line. By 2030, Bloomberg New Energy Finance anticipates battery pack prices to drop to $73 per kilowatt-hour, down from a current volume-weighted average of below $270/kWh.
Barclays may help fund Rolls-Royce
Sept 30 – UK’s prime engine maker Rolls-Royce is understood to be close to getting fresh financing from Barclays Bank. The Derby-based company, however, insists no final decision has been taken on the precise amount that may be raised or any allotment of shares to any investor.
Petronas to truck LNG to off-grid users
Sept 29 – Petronas Dagangan Group is gearing up to build a LNG truck delivery service for off-grid customers in Peninsular Malaysia. Trucks fitted with cryogenic tanks will bring the super-chilled fuel to remote industries and small-scale power generators with no access to the natural gas grid. Malaysia’s Peninsular Gas Utilisation (PGU) pipeline is only 2,500 kilometers in length and was initially built to export gas to Singapore.
Siemens to reduce emissions at NLNG
Sept 28 – Nigeria LNG has contracted Siemens Energy to provide a cryogenic boil-off gas (BOG) compression train for its liquefaction plant on Bonny Island. The new BOG train will be driven by an high-efficiency electric motor and includes two compressors. Manufactured in Duisburg, Germany, the equipment will be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2021.
