Siemens and Chronicle, an Alphabet company, have partnered to monitor the energy industry’s critical infrastructure and protect it from cyber threats. The offering will leverage Chronicle’s Backstory platform and Siemens’ strength in analytics and artificial intelligence to give customers operational insights on malware targeting industrial and power plants.
Infigen Energy, an Australian listed renewable energy developer, has surprised market observers by announcing it will buy a 159 MW gas peaking power plant in New South Wales. The utility claims the Smithfield gas peaking plant will serve as a backstop, and allow it to invest in “up to 400 MW more cheap renewables.”
Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co. has agreed to cooperate with the American private energy firm Midland Cogen Venture (MCV) on gas turbines, renewables and hybrid combined-cycle gas power and energy storage solutions. The aim is strengthen Doosan’s position in the U.S. market for gas turbine aftermarket services.
Japanese LNG imports notched up 0.3% in April, after dropping for five straight months over slowing demand for thermal energy as the restart of nuclear reactors progresses and coal outcompetes regasified LNG on price. Nine of Japan's 54 nuclear power stations were re-started last month, although only seven are currently operating.
U.S. micro-turbine manufacturer Capstone has been awarded two patents to expand its use of high-fame speed fuels, such as hydrogen. CEO Darren Jamison said the patents will help Capstone develop new fuel types for its C65 Signature Series product line.
Indian imports of LNG increased 9.75% in April, spurred by a drop in the costs of shipment and tepid demand from the power sector. Demand is bound to rise further if the Government will allow power plants running on regasified liquefied natural gas (RLNG) to sell electricity into the higher-priced spot market.
Russia’s Federal Agency for Mineral Resources has approved Gazprom’s latest gas discoveries on the Yamal Peninsular, the Dinkov and Nyarmeyskoye fields, containing over 500 Bcm of proven reserves combined. The finds underpin Gazprom’s plans to produce up 360 Bcm/y from its 32 fields in the region, with most of the volume designated for export through the Nord Stream pipeline.
Accelerating its green energy transition, Xcel Energy has announced plans to retire its last coal power plants in the Upper Midwest a decade earlier than scheduled. Instead, the utility will expand renewables and operate its Monticello nuclear plant until at least 2040.
GE Power has been awarded a contract from Kiewit Power Constructors, the EPC contractor for the Indeck Niles Energy Center in Michigan, to supply and integrate two 7HA.02 gas turbines into the 1 GW project. Indeck Energy Services, the developer of the project, seeks to get the CCGT into full commercial operation in 2022.
Singapore’s big three banks – DBS Group Holdings (DBS), United Overseas Bank (UOB) and the Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) have each announced they are ceasing financing for new coal-fired power plants. With this move, the banks accelerate the region’s fuel switch to natural gas. Echoing an initially largely European phenomenon, the latest Asian financial exodus highlights growing regional concerns with stranded coal power asset and air pollution.
Philippine’s state utility FirstGen, together with Tokyo Gas, is developing a LNG import terminal in Batangas at a cost of over $1.2 billion. The imported regasified LNG will substitute depleting domestic gas supply for the nearby 1,000 MW Santa Rita Power Plant, the 500-MW San Lorenzo Power Plant, the 414-MW San Gabriel Power Plant and the 97 MW Avion Power Plant. Finalizing the EPC tender process, FirstGen is choosing between Fluor and JGC of Japan.
Co-developers GE Energy Financial Services, Sumitomo Corp and a consortium of Japanese banks including JBIC have agreed private-public co-financing of $1 billion for the 1.8 GW Hamriyah Independent Power Project. It will be Sharjah’s first gas IPP and is due operational by summer 2023.
Heat ReCycle technology, just launched by Siemens and Turboden, combines the simplicity of the ORC technology and the proven performance of gas turbines. The solution is applicable for decentralized power plants in the range up to 100 MWe. It helps recover the waste heat to reduce operating costs.
YPF, Argentine’s state-run oil and gas producer, is seeking to sell a partial cargo from its Tango floating liquefaction unit at Bahia Blanca in a first step to turn the country into a major shale gas exporter. Growing production from the Vaca Muerta shale gas play is meant to cover domestic demand and leave a surplus for export.
Stockpiles of thermal coal in the United States have fallen to the lowest level in a decade as more and more coal-fired power plants retire and the lost capacity is being replaced with gas-fired plants and renewables. Coal stockpiles decreased to 98.7 million tons in February 2019, their lowest value in more than a decade, and the EIA expects them to remain relatively low for the rest of this year.
News in Brief
Shell Energy ordered to refund overcharged UK customers
June 17 – UK energy regulator Ofgem has ordered Shell Energy Retail to refund around 12000 customers who were overcharged after the Government’s cap on gas and electricity prices came into force in January. Shell Energy Retail s agreed to refund these customers by paying £29,000 in compensation (£5 per fuel), and also pay an additional £200,000 into Ofgem’s voluntary redress fund.
BASF enters battery market
June 14 – German chemical company BASF is using NGK Insulators’ sodium sulfur batteries as its entry point into the energy market. The Japanese manufacturer NGK is currently the only maker of the large-scale sodium sulfur (NAS) batteries, capable to store several hours of energy. A joint project in northern Germany uses NAS batteries that store energy for five hours, while a recently completed project in Abu Dhabi using 108MW / 648MWh of the systems with a full six hours storage duration.
CNPC boosts domestic gas production
June 13 – China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), the largest Chinese oil and gas company, has announced plans for domestic natural gas output to reach 55% of overall domestic supply by 2025. Last year, CNPC managed to boost production by 5.9% to reach 138.02 billion cubic metres, while also increasing imports of pipeline gas and LNG.
Gazprom taps new gas deposits for Nord Stream 2
June 12 – Gazprom is fast-tracking hydrocarbon production in northwest Russia to boost reserves for export through the Nord Stream 2 pipeline (55 Bcm/y), currently being built through the Baltic Sea. At a meeting with Nord Stream shareholders, Gazprom noted that its Yuzhno-Russkoye field has yielded about 276 Bcm of natural gas, including 0.9 Bcm of hard-to-recover Turonian gas, since the start of operations. Turonian gas reserves, consisting of about 99% methane with no heavy residues, lie at a depth of 800–850 meters in reservoirs with low permeability. Commercial production at the Turonian deposit is scheduled to start in late 2019.
PG&E turns off electricity to avoid wild fires
June 11 – Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) has turned off electricity for some Californian communities at risk of a wildfire during the lastest heat wave. The authorized blackout started on Saturday in Napa, Solano and Yolo counties, with electricity being gradually restored over the course of Monday. Approximately 16,000 customers have been affected.
Gazprom to build power plants in Serbia
June 10 – Gazprom Energoholding has signed an Agreement of Intent (AoI) to build an upgrade several gas-fired power plants in Serbia. Together with Novi Sad, Gazprom Energoholding is already building a CCGT with some 200 MW capacity near a refinery in the Serbian town of Pancevo.
U.S. fund splashes out $4bn to buy El Paso Electric
June 7 – Infrastructure Investment Fund (IIF), a private investment vehicle within J.P. Morgan Inc., has agreed to acquire the U.S. utility El Paso Electric Co for $68.25 per share in a cash transaction. The enterprise value on the transaction is estimated at $4.3 billion. El Paso Electric customers will receive a total $21 million in bill credits over three years.
Caterpillar gensets back up Finnish data center
June 6 – The Swedish telecom giant Telia has ordered 12 Caterpillar gensets to provide standby emergency power to back up operations at its new data center in Helsinki. The Cat dealer Witraktor figured a system which includes eight Cat 3516B and four 3516E generator sets. The Telia Helsinki Data Center is the largest such facility in Finland, and its primary electric power supply comes from a combination of wind, hydroelectric and biomass.
Capstone wins orders in Iraq
June 5 – Micro-turbine producer Capstone has secured an order for two C600 Signature Series microturbines to provide 1.2 MW of energy to power a triethylene glycol (TEG) dehydration facility near Basra, in southern Iraq. The contract also includes Capstone’s new self-cleaning pulse filtration system, allowing the turbines to better withstand hot and sandy conditions with minimal maintenance.
Gas to supply record 43% of US power needs
June 4 – This summer, natural gas is forecast to cover between 40% and 43% of 2019 peak electricity demand in all U.S. states except Texas, according to projections by the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Gas demand soared to nearly 10,700 billion cubic feet (Bcf) last summer, a 16% rise from 2017 levels. Should there be another heat wave this year, that record may well be broken. Capacity wise, natural gas is on course to top its 45% share in the U.S. power mix.
Lukoil to upgrade CHP at Krasnodar
June 3 – Russia’s oil and gas company Lukoil has received government approval to modernize and expand three combined heat and power units in Krasnodar. The gas-fired CHP units have more than 400,000 hours and ran an average 74% utilization rate, the operator said. The upgrade will add 150 MW of power generation capacity and Lukoil said it expects the revamped power plant to be ready for commissioning as early as 2022.
GE commissions Al-Qudus CCGT in Iraq
May 31 – GE Power has installed and commissioned a new 9E gas turbine at the Al-Qudus combined-cycle gas power plant, run by the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity’s (MoE). The CCGT was previously capable of generating up to 1,125 MW and the turbine upgrade adds another 125 MW of capacity.
Groundbreaking takes place for Ohio CCGT project
May 30 – This Thursday morning, groundbreaking will take place for the $500 million Long Ridge Energy Generation Project in Hannibal, Ohio. Long Ridge, a 485 MW combined-cycle power project, is being developed by Fortress Transportation and Infrastructure Investors (FTAI). It will create up to 350 construction jobs and some 25 permanent jobs. The CCGT is expected to open in 2021.
Asia to spend more on renewables than oil & gas by 2020
May 29 – Utilities in Asia-Pacific region will invest more in renewables than on oil and gas exploration by 2020. Total capital expenditure in renewables will rise above $30 billion in the region by 2020, according to forecast of the consultancy Rystad Energy. India, Australia, Japan, Vietnam and South Korea will led the way in Asia’s green energy transition.
Ichthys LNG looses court claim against power sub-contractor
May 28 – JKC Australia LNG consortium, developer of the US$34 billion Inpex-built Ichthys LNG plant near Darwin, has lost a US$1.9 billion court case claim against a power station sub-contractor. Construction of the power station was subcontracted to UGL-led group which CIMIC took over in 2016 and subsequently cancelled the Ichthys power contract. The Western Australian Supreme Court in Perth now dismissed an application by JKC Australia LNG for upfront payment of damages. The power plant’s five gas turbines have already been handed over to Inpex, and KBR aims for the plant to be ready for commissioning this autumn.
San Miguel Energy claims $6.19bn subsidy for Ilijan plant
May 24 – South Premier Power Corp. (SPPC), San Miguel Energy’s development vehicle for the 1,200-MW Ilijan gas power project, has claimed that it already paid $6.19 billion in subsidies to state-run Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp (PSALM) for its financial obligations as independent administrator. The build-operate-transfer (BOT) contract for the Ilijan plant will expire in 2022; and by that time, SPPC will get ownership of the plant.
Evolve approved as energy storage for VPPs
May 23 – Eguana Technologies’ new Evolve system has been officially approved as an energy storage system for Simply Energy’s Simply Extra VPP (virtual power plant) offer in South Australia. Customers who purchase an Evolve system can sign up for the Simply Extra VPP offer and receive up to $5,100 in VPP Access Credits. These credits will be calculated on a daily basis at $3.49 per day to a maximum of A$5,100, credited over a five year period.
