INNIO’s Jenbacher J420 gas engine has performed well in operation since 2019 when technology improvements helped increase its power output by 60 kW and efficiency by up to 1%. Since then, 16 engines were installed which accumulated 120,000 operating hours and the fuel flexible J420 D/E types can be converted to run fully on hydrogen.
France’s power grid operator RTE has issued a supply warning, urging local authorities and households to lower their energy usage. Electricity supply is “tense” as demand spiked following a cold snap over the weekend while about half of France’s nuclear reactors are offline and fuel for gas peaking plants is expensive and hard to come by.
Mitsubishi Power has been contracted to supply two H-25 gas turbines, with a capacity of 32 MW each, to a gas-fired cogeneration plant under construction in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan. The equipment will be provided through Turkey's Calik Enerji as the EPC contractor, and will be used to enhance the CHP’s district heating output starting from 2024.
The heads of Siemens Energy and BASF have warned of dramatic repercussions if Germany cuts off Russian gas deliveries. An embargo would threaten the existence of small- and medium-sized companies, BASF chief executive Martin Brudermüller said, suggesting it would take up to five years to substitute supply from Gazprom with other sources.
Babcock & Wilcox, together with Kiewit, will deliver a carbon net-negative biomass power plant at the Port of Greater Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The 200 MW pant will power Fidelis’ 73,000-barrel-per-day Grön Fuels facility, which will produce aviation fuel, diesel, hydrogen, and bio-plastic feedstock – all with a net-negative CO2 footprint.
Researchers at the University of Aberdeen are about to start a £250,000 ($328,000) project of using a plasma electrolyser to convert carbon dioxide into hydrocarbons. If successful, the method could make use of renewable energy to turn CO2 into a clean fuel for hard-to-abate industries.
Ro-ro vessels and passenger ferries from Finnlines will soon run on electricity by installing Yara Marine’s shore power solution at several ports before year-end. This will allow some vessels to connect to the local grid when onshore and switch operations at sea to electricity stored in batteries, rather than using auxiliary engines that burn fossil fuels.
ExxonMobil and Global Thermostat, an R&D firm, are testing an agile solution of soaking up carbon dioxide emissions from the air – notably from industrial facilities and power stations – at a pilot plant in California. Once economically viable, it could help meet the world’s climate goals.
Berlin Moabit will be home to industrial production of Siemens Energy’s electrolysers for green hydrogen, based on a €30 million investment into new automated manufacturing lines. The first modules are scheduled to be put together in 2023 and the aim is to scale them up to 1 GW units.
European importers can continue to pay for Russian gas in euros, not roubles, President Vladimir Putin told the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, provided the money goes to Gazprom Bank which is not subject to sanctions. Germany had triggered an emergency plan over fears of supply cuts.
Mitsubishi Power is working to make its gas turbines run on a 30:70 mix of hydrogen and natural gas as soon as 2025. This technology change is triggered by the EU Taxonomy for Sustainable Activities, requiring power generators to co-fire gas turbines with least 30% hydrogen from 2026, with the ratio rising to 50% by 2030.
An emergency plan, activated today, could see the German government ration electricity use if Russian gas supplies will be disrupted or halted over a dispute on payment terms. Markets are anxious as to whether the Kremlin will insist on rouble payments, making German year-ahead power prices soar 6.3% to a three-week high of €185/MWh.
Germany can manage to wean itself off Russian oil and coal imports by the end of this year, but finding alternative gas supply poses a big challenge. Economy minister Robert Habeck said it could take until mid-2024 for Germany to forgo deliveries from Russia, though RWE and Uniper are rushing to lease three FLNG terminals to import LNG directly.
Scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are testing a novel battery storage that runs at about $100/kWh at the cheapest, but functions only in certain locations. “This battery literally inhales and exhales air, but it doesn’t exhale carbon dioxide, like humans – it exhales oxygen,” says Yet-Ming Chiang, MIT's Kyocera Professor of Materials Science.