In an open letter to UK energy secretary Ed Davey, the chairman of the Committee on Climate Change Lord Deben has called for caution on shrinking subsidies for offshore wind power projects, warning "required investment" would decline. Investors into new renewable as well as gas-fired capacity are sitting on their hands amid a persistent lack of clarity on the Electricity Market Reform Delivery Plan.
Helping to dent Turkmenistan's rising electricity demand, GE will provide nine LM6000 areoderivative gas turbines to Çalık Enerji to power three gas-fired plants under construction at the Akhal, Mary and Lebap sites as part of a 360-megawatt fast-track project.
British power system provider Rolls-Royce has sealed a $175 million deal with Asia Gas Pipeline (AGP) to supply equipment and services to help power the flow of natural gas through Kazakhstan's Line C, part of the 1,833km long Central Asia-China gas pipeline network.
Underground gas storage has emerged as a "supporting tool to gas trading". It is vital to cover variability in gas demand when peaking gas-fired generation is used to balance intermittent renewable power supply, Cedigaz finds.
Siemens Energy has won an order to build the Guillermo Brown thermoelectric power plant on a turnkey basis on behalf of Fideicomiso Central Termoelectrica Guillermo Brown S.A. The plant will be powered by two SGT5-4000F gas turbines with a combined capacity of 580MW.
A GE-funded project at Iowa State University is using jets of extremely high speed cooling air to protect gas turbine blades working under higher temperatures. "This helps improve efficiencies of burning biofuels, and brings better efficiencies of burning regular gas to 70 percent, allowing generators to save on costs for gas-fired power," said aerospace engineering professor Hui Hu.
Exxon Mobil's gas turbine oil Mobil DTE 932 GT reduces the risk of varnish to help improve the operational reliability of turbines and increase power output. "Varnish can have a highly detrimental effect on gas turbine operations," said Kirill Chervyakov, Industrial Marketing Advisor, ExxonMobil Fuels and Lubricants, stressing the new lubricant meets the standards set for GE frame 3,5,6,7 and 9 turbines.
SoCalGas, a gas grid operator in California, is spending £1 million on the cleantech fund LA Cleantech Incubator (LACI) to develop 'renewable natural gas.' "Biogas is one source but, in the future, we expect other pathways such as 'water splitting' through solar chemical conversion and hydrogen electrolysis to provide renewable natural gas," said Jeff Reed, SoCalGas director of business strategy and development.
Up to 60 percent of Saudi Arabia's ageing oil-fired capacity is foreseen to be replaced by gas generation by 2030. "If electric power continues to be generated on a large scale by inefficient oil-fired power plants, as it is today, then the Middle East would have to import crude," warns a Siemens study, carried out by the Technical University of Munich.
Power market liberalisation in Japan and South Korea is slowly forthcoming; and the lack of clarity over nuclear energy has prompted major utilities to delay firm LNG procurement decisions which could cause a supply crunch in the Pacific Basin, warns Gavin Thompson, head of Asia Pacific gas & power analysis at Wood MacKenzie.
Value and use of fossil baseload capacity is declining in the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) in the US as wind capacity doubled from 3.4GW to 6.8GW in the three years until June 2013.
Turkey's government is plagued with a new headache over costs of gas imports after Abu Dhabi-based energy group Taqa decided to pull out of a $12 billion coal-fired power project. Domestic coal is seen as a leeway to reduce Turkey's annual $55bn energy import bill, and policy makers in Ankara have introduced tax breaks in favour of coal generation.
News in Brief
Enel’s Q1 investment up 8.8%
May 7 – Italy’s state-dominated utility Enel has stepped up investment in renewables and power transmission grids in the first quarter by 8.8% to €2,035 million in a further shift to green energy. Revenues fell by -14.4% to €17,107 million over the same period, largely due to losses in thermal generation and trading activities in Italy and Spain as well as lower volumes of electricity sold into the Spanish end-user market.
Germany advances Net Zero target to 2045
May 6 – The German government has pulled forward the date for Net Zero emissions to 2045 in a move designed to accelerate and intensify efforts to reduce emissions from the transport and power sector. The new target is to curb emissions by 65% by 2030 (up from the previous 55% goal) and reach a 88% reduction by 2040, followed by Net Zero five years later.
Cummins Q1 revenues up 22%
May 5 – Cummins today posed a 22% rise in first quarter revenues to $6.1 billion. Sales in North America increased 7% while international revenues surged 45% largely due to strong new product sales in China and India. Based on latest developments, Cummins raised its full year 2021 revenue guidance to 20-24%, a considerable rise from previous 8 - 12% forecasts.
Actis vows to help Egypt divest Siemens-built CCGT
May 4 – Egypt’s sovereign wealth fund is cooperating with the private equity firm Actis to sell a 25-year concession to operate three 4.8 GW combined-cycle power plants built by Siemens under a €6 billion contract. The three CCGTs are owned by the Egyptian Electricity Holding, and Actis CEO Ayman Soliman promised to help selling one of the three plants.
RIX launches mobile hydrogen system
April 30 – California-based RIX Industries has launched an industry-first mobile hydrogen generation unit, part of its M2H2-Series of scalable Methanol-to-Hydrogen systems. Able to generate hydrogen onboard and on demand, the system is applicable for ships and remote small-scale production of the green fuel with the aim of replacing diesel for power generation. The M2H2 systems, combined with fuel cells, can produce electricity without any NOx, SOx, or particulate matter and Net Zero CO2 emission with renewable methanol.
US gas future hit 7-year high
April 28 – US natural gas futures have increased over 2% to a seven-week high as LNG exports go from strength to strength, while domestic production eased off slightly. Moreover, a return of colder-than-average weather has pushed up gas demand for heating significantly so that utilities had to withdraw gas from storage, which is rather unusual in April.
Zhongyu Gas bucks the trend
April 27 – Zhongyu Gas, a pioneer in the Chinese gas industry, has achieved remarkable growth during the pandemic. The Hong-Kong headquartered TSO recorded a turnover of approximately HK $8,544 million in 2020, up 4.9% year-on year, while profit attributable to owners of the group was HK $1,057 million, a staggering 145.7%. At the end of 2020, the turnover of Zhongyu’s value-added gas services segment recorded HK $636 million, a year-on-year increase of 54.2%. To date, Zhongyu Gas has 18,777 industrial customers and 3.96 million residential users.
Germany agrees higher renewable goals for 2022
April 26 – The German parliament has voted in favour of higher tender volumes for next year’s wind and solar PV installations. However, parliamentarians did not yet agree on a new renewable target for 2030, even though this has become necessary after the EU raises its overall emission reduction target to 55%.
Rolls-Royce to deliver 16V 8000 engines to Taiwan
April 23 – British engineering giant Rolls-Royce has delivered the first 16-cylinder engines of the MTU Series 8000 to a customer in Taiwan. The shipyard CSBC will install the two engines, capable to deliver 7,280 kilowatts of power each, in new patrol vessels for the Taiwanese Coast Guard. The 16V engines‘ „big brother“ - 20V 8000 has been the best-selling engine in its power class since its introduction around 20 years ago, Rolls-Royce noted.
Rolls-Royce to deliver 16V 8000 engines to Taiwan
April 23 – British engineering giant Rolls-Royce has delivered the first 16-cylinder engines of the MTU Series 8000 to a customer in Taiwan. The shipyard CSBC will install the two engines, capable to deliver 7,280 kilowatts of power each, in new patrol vessels for the Taiwanese Coast Guard. The 16V engines‘ „big brother“ - 20V 8000 has been the best-selling engine in its power class since its introduction around 20 years ago, Rolls-Royce noted.
GE to equip Verbund’s pump storage power plant
April 22 – GE Power Conversion has been selected to equip Verbund’s new fully-fed pump storage power plant Reißeck II+ in Kärnten, Austria. For the new 45 MW unit, GE will supply three MV7616 converters which are water cooled fully fed converters with an electrical voltage of 6.6kV each. In the wider Kärnten area, Verbund operates a total of 1,460 MW of hydropower plants that are often used for pump-water energy storage.
Fluxys takes stake in Brazilian TSO
April 21 – Belgian gas company Fluxyis, the operator of the Zeebrugge LNG import terminal and stakeholder in Dunkirk LNG and the TAP pipeline, has bought a minority stake in a Brazilian gas transmission system operator. The deal is for a stake in Transportadora Brasileira Gasoduto Bolívia-Brasil (TBG), the owner and operator of a 2,600-kilometres pipeline system that links the southern part of Brazil with neighbouring Bolivia. Fluxyis said the equity transfer was made via the US investment fund, EIG Global Energy Partners.
MHI launches 90MPa hydrogen booster pump
April 20 – Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) has developed an ultra-high pressure liquid hydrogen booster pump for hydrogen fuelling stations. With 90 megapascal (MPa), the new unit achieves considerably higher pressure than the earlier 40 MPa unit. It is located at MHI’s research & innovation center in Nagasaki District, Japan.
New EU target may force Germany to achieve 68% emissions cut
April 19 – European Union leaders’ decision to raise the bloc’s 2030 target for cutting emissions by “at least 55%” means that Germany needs to step up its efforts and may have to cut emissions by 62% to 68% over 1990 levels, researchers say. Policymakers in Berlin initially aimed for a 55% reduction by 2030 but this is now no longer enough to comply with stricter rules.
Trafigura co-sponsors MAN’s ammonia engine
April 16 – Trafigura, a global commodity trading house, has agreed to co-sponsor the development of MAN Energy Solutions ammonia-fuelled engine for maritime vessels. The ammonia engine is expected to be commercially available for large-scale ocean-going ships by 2024, followed by a retrofit package for existing maritime vessels by 2025. In the future, ammonia-fuelled engine are also meant to be used for power generation.
Tula dDSF helps curb NOx emissions by 74%
April 15 – Tula Technologies, a leader in propulsion technology, and Cummins have showcased the results of a study on the effectiveness of Tula’s diesel Dynamic Skip Fire (dDSF) in reducing nitrogen oxides (NOx) by 74% and carbon dioxide emissions by 5% on a Cummins X15 HD Efficiency Series diesel engine. In comparison with current engine technologies and modifications to the thermal management techniques, use of the dDSF system saved 20% in fuel and related costs.
Marubeni starts EPC works for Rabigh IPP
April 14 – Japan’s Marubeni Corp has been granted limited-recourse financing for the 300 MW Rabigh solar IPP project in Saudi Arabia’s Makkah Province. The loan was granted by Mizuho Bank, Al Rajhi Banking and Investment and Japan’s Bank for International Cooperation. EPC work on the project is scheduled to start in early May. All electricity from the Rabigh IPP will be sold to the Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC) for 25 years starting with the plant’s commissioning.
