Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP) is taking steps to reduce its complete dependence on natural gas for power generation. By 2024, natural gas is meant to provide four fifths of the country’s electricity needs while the remainder will come from renewables and Oman’s first coal-fired independent power project (IPP).
Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) has commenced full commercial operation of hybrid gas and solar plant at the Waad Al Shamal mining city in the northern part of Saud Arabia. Of the plant’s total 1,390-MW capacity, 50 MW will come from a solar power component while the majority will be provided by a combined-cycle gas power station, built by GE under a $988 million full turnkey EPC contract.
The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has given the green light for the proposed merger of Dominion Energy and SCANA Corp. The regulator ruled the combination of the two companies was “consistent with the public interest.” Dominion is now pushing to complete the transaction before the end of this year.
GE Power has commissioned of the first leg of a grid-stabilization project by handing over a Wide Area Monitoring System (WAMS) to Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL) for the Northern Grid. The Indian electricity network is the world’s largest synchronized grid with a capacity of 363 GW, and Northern Grid is committed to digitizing its power system.
China’s shift to cleaner-burning fuels in the power sector has increased the country’s gas demand and turned it into one of the world’s largest importer of American shale gas. US LNG exports in 2017 averaged 1.9 billion cubic feet per day and of that amount, 15% went to China, making it the third-largest importer of U.S. LNG behind Mexico and South Korea.
Summit Power, GE and Mitsubishi are planning to jointly develop an integrated LNG-to-power project in Bangladesh by 2023. The project, due to be launched early next year, will include four gas power units of 600 MW each, an LNG import terminal of 380,000 cbm and an oil terminal with 100,000 metric tons capacity.
Siemens has introduced a new SGT-800 performance enhancement that is applicable to all existing SGT-800 units with 43-47.5-MW ratings. For turbines in simple-cycle mode, the upgrade offers up to 3.5% efficiency increase and an additional 10 MW output which boosts the installed capacity of a 47.5 MW unit to up to 53 MW.
The first GE 7HA turbine installed in South Korea has commenced full commercial operation at GS Power’s Anyang combined heat and power plant unit 2-1 eight weeks earlier than initially scheduled. The quick installation process and commissioning was achieved mainly thanks to the turbine’s modular architecture and constructability.
Gas-fired power plants will supply 37% of U.S. electricity generation during the summer month of June, July, and August, while the contribution of coal power will drop slightly to 30% in summer 2018, according to the EIA’s July 2018 Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO). The fuel switch is driven by low-cost supply with delivered cost of gas forecast to average $3.16/MMBtu this summer, 2% lower than in the previous year.
Oman Liquefied Natural Gas LLC has ordered nine MAN 51/60 engines that will provide 120 MW of power to the existing LNG facility of Oman LNG, replacing a gas turbine-driven plant. MAN Energy Solutions specifically designed the engines to adapt to different gas qualities which enhances Oman LNG’s fuel flexibility and reduces costs.
Importing LNG for power generation helps Pakistan not only to avert energy shortages – it also saves up to $3 billion in fuel costs. Running on regasified LNG, power stations with 62% efficiency can generate electricity at an average of Rs7-8 per unit which is about half of the cost of generating electricity based on furnace oil.
UK Power Reserve has launched a tender process for gas reciprocating engines for new flexible power projects. At February’s Capacity Market auction, UKPR had won with 200MW of contracts, and once realized, these projects will take the company’s total portfolio to over 1GW.
Indianapolis Power & Light Company (IPL), part of AES Corp, has opened a 671-MW combined-cycle gas power plant in the U.S. state of Indiana. Situated at the Eagle Valley Generating Station in Martinville, the CCGT was built at a cost of nearly $600 million.
Falling technology costs of solar power and heat have sparked a spree of new installations across India. The country now has the sixth largest installed capacity for solar thermal globally, according to IEA figures, however the rapid growth in solar PV deployment with its intermittent supply requires an adequate backup based on flexible gas generation and energy storage.
Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has embarked on a technical framing workshop to realize Seven Critical Gas Development Projects (7CGDP) that will supply up to 3.4 billion cubic feet of gas per day (Bcf/d) to underpin at least 15 GW of new power generation capacity by 2020.
News in Brief
Sparrow gets permit to work in Saudi Arabia
Aug 13 – Sparrows Group, a specialist equipment maker and integrated engineering services providers, has been granted commercial registration to operate in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The commercial registration allows Sparrows Saudi Arabia LLC, a newly established entity in Dammam, to deliver services related to the extraction of oil and natural gas
Puerto Rico electricity sales almost back to normal
Aug 9 – Electricity sales on the island of Puerto Rico, part of U.S. territory, has returned to pre-hurricane levels as of April and May 2018 after the longest blackout in American history. However, residential electricity sales appear to continue to lag historical levels, reflecting some continued outages, EIA data shows. As of April 2018, around 95% of Puerto Rico’s electricity customers had restored power, while about 62,000 customers remained without power.
India’s solar PV market slumps
Aug 8 – India’s market for solar photovoltaic is forecast to experience negative growth this year after the Ministry of Finance imposed a safeguard duty on solar cells and modules for a period of two years, starting on 30th July 2018. The move exacerbates the effect of a slowdown in the China market, Wood Mackenzie commented.
Shell expects electricity to become “biggest game in town”
Aug 3 – By 2050, power consumption is expected to outstrip demand for Shell’s core business of oil and gas. The company’s most recent Future Energy scenarios foresees oil and gas demand to peak in the next 50 years, while reliance on electricity is expected grow from around 20% of energy consumption to closer to 50% by midcentury.
ADB funds power lines in Bangladesh
Aug 2 – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved an assistance package of more than $357 million for a project to develop two power lines in Bangladesh. The grid extension supports Bangladesh’s national target of reaching electricity for all citizens by 2021.
Tadmax to develop CCGT in Selangor
Aug 1 – Malaysia-based Tadmax Resources has signed an accord with Worldwide Holdings to develop a combined-cycle gas power plant with up to 1,200 MW in Pulau Indah, Selagor. The deal comes as Worldwide seeks to acquire a 30% stake in Tadmax. Technical partner for the CCGT project is Korean Electric Power Corp.
Renewables hit new record
July 31 – Germany's electricity supply from renewables reached a record high in the first half of 2018, catering for an unprecedented 41.5 % of the country's electricity supply. A total of 113 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity was generated by all renewable technologies, mainly consisting of biomass, wind and solar energy.
Dominion aims to add 3GW renewables by 2020
July 30 – Striving to add 3 GW of solar and wind capacity in the next two years, Dominion Energy has has filed its first set of the plans under Grid Transformation & Security Act (GTSA) to the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) for the approval. Dominion VP Ed Baine said the GTSA legislation, effective from 1 July, would provide a roadmap for Virginia’s energy future.
GE to develop critical infrastructure in Lagos
July 27 – GE and the Lagos State Government have agreed to pool their resources for the development of critical infrastructure in the state in the areas of Power, Healthcare and Skills Development. This was announced during the signing of a Support and Cooperation Agreement by both parties during the France-Nigeria Business Forum held in Lagos.
Orbital Insight teams up with Energy Aspects
July 26 –Orbital Insight and Energy Aspects have teamed up, striving to transform how energy data is used for investing. The two research firms will integrate geospatial analytics, based on artificial intelligence and machine learning, with energy analysis with a view to giving customers unprecedented global oil storage level data.
Cost for US wind generation down 33%
July 25 – Capacity-weighted cost of wind installations in the United States have declined by one-third thanks to improving technology and manufacturing capability and a concentration of new-builds in the best-suited regions. Installation costs fell from $2,361 per kilowatt (kW) in 2010 to currently less than $1,587/kW, based on analysis by the U.S. Department of Energy’s office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy(DOE/EERE).
Iran’s NISOC prepares tender
July 24 – National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC) has announced plans to hold an international tender to purchase parts for G.E.C gas turbine. NISOC seeks to buy parts of the turbine type Centaur.
Chart reports full-year sales at $1.2bn
July 23 – U.S. equipment manufacturer Chart Industries has reported a 34% rise second-quarter sales, with the order volumes amounting to $360.3 million. “Strength in Asian orders was driven by packaged gas applications as well as respiratory and cryobiological product lines,” Charts said when posting the results.
ABB spends $30m on transformer factory in Sweden
July 20 – ABB is investing more than $30 million in a new manufacturing unit, under construction in Ludvika, Sweden. The new unit will increase production, expanding the capacity and the range of its high-voltage dry bushings offering.
Wärtsilä’s order intake up 14%
July 19 – The Finish equipment manufacturer Wärtsilä has seen its order increase 15% to €1,553 million in the second quarter, while net sales fell 4% to €1,246 million. Looking at the full year 2018, Wärtsilä said its Services and Solutions business will “improve somewhat from the previous year.” Good demand prospects are on the cards for Energy Solutions, as the global shift towards renewables and rising electricity demand in the emerging markets support the need for distributed power capacity.
NRG abandons Dunkirk coal-to-gas conversion project
July 18 – Shying away from having to pay $114 million in re-interconnection costs, NRG Energy has shelved plans to repower and convert its mothballed Dunkirk power plant in western New York from coal to natural gas. The company said in a statement that it has withdrawn its request to have New York ISO interconnect the Chautauqua County generating facility with the power grid.
Akwa Ibom, BlackRhino sign $1.6bn power deal
July 17 – BlackRhino, operator of the Qua Iboe Power Plant (QIPP), has agreed with the Akwa Ibom State Government to build a power plant and electricity transmission lines in the state. QIPP’s management committed an investment of $1.1 billion for the facility, with an additional $500 million for gas.
