Centrica is set to shut down an ageing gas fired power plant in King’s Lynn, West Norfolk on April 1. The operation of low-efficiency plants like King’s Lynn is not economically viable as a rise in gas prices curtails profits, Centrica said.
Siemens Energy will supply a ‘power island solution’, consisting of two steam turbines and four gas turbines, for the proposed 242 MW Diamantina combined cycle power plant in Mount Isa in Queensland, Australia. Commissioning of the combined cycle plant is scheduled for early 2014, the Erlangen-headquartered company said today.
General Electric (GE) will supply Fluor Corporation with two Frame 7FA Gas Turbine-Generators for the Ferguson Replacement Project, a 540 MW combined-cycle power plant near Marble Falls, Texas. The new Ferguson CCGT power plant will be replacing the 37-year-old Thomas C. Ferguson Power Plant (420 MW) at the site. Start of commercial operation of the plant is scheduled for summer 2014, GE said today.
China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC), China's largest offshore oil and gas company, has started construction works to expand the capacity of the gas-fired Hengmen power plant to 2,300 MW by the end of 2013.
Denmark's Dong Energy might build a new gas-fired power plant together with Gazprom in Hesse, Germany, provided the two companies manage to enter an agreement on jointly gas-fired power generation assets in Europe, a Dong Energy spokesman told Gas-to-Power Journal today. "Germany could be an option for a new joint power plant as we already own a site for building a power plant in Ludwigsau, Hesse," he said.
Increasing price competitiveness of natural gas relative to coal for power generation has led to a plunge in the share of coal in the U.S. energy mix below 40 % in November and December, the Energy Agency (IEA) said in a market update.
Spain's National Energy Commission (CNE) is calling for an increase in electricity prices paid by consumers to curtail Government debts worth €24 billion. The so-called 'tariff-deficit' piled up over the past 10 years as utilities had to sell electricity to end-customers at regulated rates below nominal generation and distribution costs.
Russia's state-controlled gas giant Gazprom and the Danish state-owned energy company Dong are considering building new combined heat and power plants (CHPs) in Western Europe. "The cooperation with DONG Energy is very promising," Gazprom CEO, Alexey Miller said.
German E.ON, Italian Enel, Swedish Vattenfall and Swiss Alpig have launched Afiegm, an energy lobby group, urging the French governments to open France's power generation market and to curtail the dominance of EDF. "The question of competition concerns not only supply but also equally production," Afiegm chairwoman Fleur Thesmar said.
GAIL, India's largest natural gas company, is gearing to building two gas-fired power plants in India. The proposed Vijaipur will have a capacity of 300 MW, while the one in Dbiyanpur will have about 350 MW, the company said.
Guangxi Yuchai Machinery Company Ltd (GYMCL), a subsidiary of China Yuchai International, said today it is developing a new line of natural gas-powered engines to complement GYMCL's line of diesel engines used in power generators and marine engines.
Royal Dutch Shell has awarded a $60 million contract to power and automation technology group ABB to build a 50 MW gas-fired power plant in Basrah in southern Iraq's in Khour al-Zubair region. The plant is scheduled for completion in the third quarter of 2013, ABB said today.
Kuwait's Partnerships Technical Bureau (PTB) has selected GDF Suez and International Power as preferred bidders to build and operate the Az Zour North Independent Water & Power Project (IWPP). The plant is scheduled to start commercial operation in 2015.
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The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates under its BLUE Map scenario that around 20% of gas-fired power plants in China will include carbon capture storage (CCS) technology by 2050, Hirohisa Yamada, IEA energy analyst, told Gas-to-Power Journal today.
IEA's BLUE Map Scenario is based on the assumption that one third of overall global carbon emission reductions will need to come from the power generation to reach the global climate goals. In contrast, in IEA's Baseline Scenario, the use fossil energy will surge 82% which will lead to a rise of global temperatures by 6 degrees Celsius.
News in Brief
Rolls-Royce conducts laser field tests in the US
May 18 – Rolls-Royce has successfully conducted laser field tests to demonstrate ‘deep magazine’ power capability for directed applications in connection with Lockheed Martin’s layered laser defense project. Deep magazine power can be provided by a battery-only system, but the Rolls-Royce ColdFire system includes both battery-powered and near-continuous firing modes provided by M250 gas turbine engines.
Gas vs oil ratio increases in the Bakken
May 17 – The ratio of natural gas to crude oil production has risen in North Dakota’s Bakken region since 2008, and continues to accelerate. According to the US Energy Information Administration's (EIA) Drilling Productivity Report, annual gas gross withdrawals in the Bakken increased by 9% to an annual high of 2.97 Bcf/d in 2021, even though the region’s crude oil production fell by 6%.
Middle East shifts to gas power
May 16 – The Middle East, a region vulnerable to climate change, is undergoing a major shift from petroleum-based power plants towards gas-fired generation and renewable power sources. Capacity additions of over 185.46 GW are the pipeline, according to ResearchandMarkets, as the regions electricity demand for industry and residential cooling is set to grow. In fact, cooling already accounts for 70% of residential power demand.
Carbon utilisation in strong demand
May 13 – The market for carbon utilisation is forecast to grow rapidly from the 2030s onwards to surpass $285 billion by 2042, driven by rising climate commitments and a favourable regulatory framework. In its latest report IDTechEx also highlights the role of technology advances such as thermodynamics which help sequester CO2 permanently.
MTU gensets approved for biofuels
May 12 – Rolls-Royce has gained approval to use synthetic fuels in its MTU Series 4000 and Series 1600 diesel engines for power generation application. Field testing confirmed both engines can use a range of sustainable fuels including biomass-to-liquid, hydrotreated vegetable oil and power-to-liquid fuels such as e-diesel.
E.ON tells Germans how to save gas
May 11 – A large-scale switch to heat pumps, solar power and better demand-side management could help save Germany nearly 100 TWh of natural gas per year, E.ON has said, calling on households to contribute to Europe’s efforts to reduce reliance on Russian gas imports. “If 10% of the homes in Germany are equipped with solar PV installations, 20% of gas boilers are replaced by heat pumps, and the average temperature in all households is reduced by one degree Celsius on average, this would lead to natural gas savings of 103 TWh per year," E.ON Energy CEO Filip Thon said, noting this volume would equate to about 30% of Germany’s current gas imports from Russia.
Exelon Q1 earnings lower following Constellation cave-out
May 10 – Exelon has reported lower first quarter earnings and a higher operating revenue, having completed the separation of Constellation Energy – Excelon’s former power gen business. Focussing now solely on transmission and distribution, Exelon’s net income from continuing operations for the first quarter of 2022 decreased to $0.49 per share from $0.53 a share in pre-year period. In contrast, adjusted operating earnings notched up to $0.64 per share, primarily due to due to higher electric distribution earnings at ComEd from higher rate base and higher allowed electric distribution. Rate increases at Excelon’s group companies PECO, BGE, and PHI were partially offset by higher depreciation expenses at BGE and PHI.
South Africa to add 2.6 GW of new capacity
May 9 – South Africa’s Department of Mineral Resources and Energy, has just announced the REIPPPP BW6 Request for Proposals (RFP). The bid round will add 2,600 MWs of new capacity to the energy mix. The ministry seeks to procure 11,813 MW of electricity from various power sources including renewable energy, storage, gas and coal.
GE Gas Power authorized as CVE Numbering Authority
May 6 – GE Gas Power’s increased focus on cybersecurity has been recognized by the Common Vulnerability and Exposures Programm as a ‘CVE Numbering Authority (CNA). As such, GE Gas Power can now assign CVE identification numbers to newly discovered vulnerabilities potentially related to its products and allow GE Gas Power to directly publish new CVE Records and streamline the reporting process.
Heliogen gets nearly $90m in funding
May 5 – Heliogen has moved from design into testing and implementation of its supercritical CO2 power gen system that will be deployed for Woodside in California. The system consists of a 5 MWe sCO2 power block integrated with high temperature solid media thermal energy storage. The demonstration project is being funded with up to $50 million from Woodside, along with $39 million from the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE).
Capstone to install microturbine in the Caribbean
May 4 – E-Finity Distributed Generation, Capstone's distributor for the Mid-Atlantic, Southeastern United States and the Caribbean, has secured an order for two C1000S microturbines for a government water authority in the Caribbean. The 2 MW system will provide emergency standby power to several pumping stations throughout the remote island community and is scheduled to be commissioned towards the end of 2022.
Forecasting solar and energy storage in CAISO
May 3 – Marubeni has chosen Veritone’s AI-based distributed energy resource management solution (iDERMS) to provide price, demand and generation forecasts at their pilot project in the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) SP-15 region. In addition to day-ahead and real-time generation figures, Veritone will also forecast production and demand for the overall CAISO region.
Forecasting solar and energy storage in CAISO
May 2 – Marubeni has chosen Veritone’s AI-based distributed energy resource management solution (iDERMS) to provide price, demand and generation forecasts at their pilot project in the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) SP-15 region. In addition to day-ahead and real-time generation figures, Veritone will also forecast production and demand for the overall CAISO region.
Steam turbines in high demand
April 29 – The market for steam turbines for power generation will grow around 6.5% through to 2027, driven by the build-out of combined-cycle gas power plants – notably in Asia and the United States, ResearchAndMarkets finds. Coal power projects in China, India and Bangladesh also require significant numbers of steam turbines. “Many of the countries in Asia-Pacific cannot provide 24-hour electricity to its citizens, and the cheapest way to achieve the objective is to build thermal [coal power] plants and use steam turbines,” analysts commented.
LNG-fuelled power for Antigua
April 28 – Antigua Power Company Limited (APCL) has contracted Wärtsilä to supply and install a 46 MW dual-fuel power plant on the Caribbean island. The plant will operate primarily on regasified LNG, imported through a small-scale import terminal developed by U.S.-based Eagle LNG in partnership with APCL.
ION launches risk analyser
April 27 – ION Commodities has built a cloud-based solution – FEA Analyzer – to help energy and commodity firms transition to new renewable energy markets while simultaneously optimizing trading strategies and supply chains. The tool combines pre-trade analytics with risk management and asset optimization, all powered by predictive analytics and stochastic models.
Capstone to service 600kV microturbine
April 26 – Capstone has landed a rental contract for a 600 kilowatt (kW) microturbine-based system with one of the largest energy infrastructure companies in North America. Due for commissioning in mid-May 2022, the plant will supply power to remote mid-stream operations along the customer's gas pipeline in Colorado.
