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.
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.
Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS) has won an order to deliver two H-25 gas turbines for a combined heat and power (CHP) project, being built on behalf of the Chinese Paper Firm Lee & Man Paper Manufacturing Ltd. Situated near Dongguan, in China’s Pearl River Delta, the CHP is due to start commercial operations in 2020.
TTS Martin, the EPC lead for a combined heat and power project in Slovakia, has contracted Rolls-Royce to supply Bergen reciprocating gas engines to replace existing coal-fired gensets. The CHP is being built on behalf of the state-owned utility Martinska teplarenska and is scheduled to start commercial operations in early 2020.
Dominion Energy’s CEO Tom Farrell is pushing to resume construction works on the $7.8 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline, vowing to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, if needed. Though “frustrated” by regulatory hurdles, Farrell said he would not back down from the project which is meant to transport fracked natural gas from West Virginia via Virginia to North Carolina.
Swiss-based energy trading company Axpo and German LNG Terminal GmbH, the joint venture formed to build Germany’s first LNG terminal, have signed a Heads of Agreement (HoA) for a long-term capacity contract for LNG offtake from the terminal to be located at Brunsbüttel on the River Elbe in northern Germany. The HoA was claimed to be another important step towards taking the investment decision on the terminal.
Gibraltar has officially opened a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) regasification terminal recently completed by Shell and Gasnor - a 100% Shell-owned subsidiary. As a result, Gibraltar is switching from diesel-fueled power generation to cleaner-burning natural gas, using a newly commissioned 80 MW gas-fired power plant.
Iraq’s Ministry of Electricity has signed an implementation agreement with Siemens to kick off the execution of the Iraq Roadmap. Phase-1, valued at 700 million euros ($785m), include EPC for the 500 MW Zubaidiya power plant, the upgrade of 40 turbines and grid infrastructure. The entire four phases of the Roadmap could see contracts awarded for up to $14 billion.
The Canadian utility Capital Power has agreed to acquire Goreway Power Station Holdings, jointly held by JERA and Toyota Tsusho and operator of the 875 MW Gorway Power Station in Ontario. The deal will be financed through RBC Capital Markets and TD Securities by issuing 4.3 million in subscription receipts through a Public Offering. Gross proceeds are expected to total about $130,290,000 million.
Dubai Electricity and Water Authority's (DEWA) extension of its M-Station power and desalination plant in Jebel Ali has increased the plant’s capacity to a current total of 2,885 MW and 140 million imperial gallons of water per day. Siemens handled EPC and equipment delivery. The combined cost for M-Station’s construction and expansion amounts to AED 11.669 billion (US$ 3.177 billion).
News in Brief
Tohoku Electric tenders for LNG cargo
Aug 19 – Tohoku Electric Power, the fourth-largest electric utility in Japan in terms of revenue behind Tepco, Kepco and Chubu, is understood to be seeking an LNG cargo for delivery in September. A tender process is ongoing.
Cost for decarbonizing industry tops $21tr
Aug 16 – Total costs to fully decarbonize the four most polluting industries – cement, steel, ammonia and ethylene – are estimated to amount to $21 trillion between today and 2050. McKinsey said this could be lowered to about $11 trillion if zero-carbon electricity prices come down further compared to fossil fuel prices. In this event, industry could switch to using electricity for heating processes.
Co-firing Braskem plant with hydrogen
Aug 15 – Siemens is making fossil energy greener at the Braskem onsite power plant in Brazil. In this modernization project two SGT-600 gas turbines are co-fired up to 60% with hydrogen, enhancing efficiency for the production process of the adjacent the petrochemical complex.
Canada's CO2 tax to hit CCGTs
Aug 5 – Change in Canada’s carbon emissions tax regulation for new power plants has changed to also affect cleaner-burning, gas combined-cycle power stations starting from 2021. The move could significantly lower the profitability of gas generation and could prompt SaskPower reconsider its planned Moose Jaw gas power station.
GE CFO steps down
Aug 2 – Jamie S. Miller, General Electric’s chief financial officer, has decided to quit after two years in the job and 11 years with the company. Having overseen GE’s fiscal activities during a period of intense restructuring, Miller will remain in office while the GE board is looking for a successor.
Siemens HR boss quits
Aug 1 – Janina Kugel, Siemens chief HR officer, is leaving the company amid an apparently scattered working relationship and stark personal differences with CEO Joe Kaeser. Her contract will expire by mutual agreement on January 31, 2020.
ABB standardizes eBus chargers
July 31 – Zurich-based ABB, a member of the ASSURED consortium, is working on standardizing the specifications for automatic charging of heavy vehicles. The aim is to drive down the total cost of ownership for electric fleet operators, helping increase adoption of eBuses and eTrucks. Conformance and interoperability tests will be carried out in Q4-2019.
U.S. Senate helps fund EV charging stations
July 30 – The need for expanded electric vehicle charging infrastructure is greater than expected given that there had been over 1.75 million electric vehicles (EV) in North America at the end of 2018, a nearly 60% increase from the previous year. To help fund additional charging stations, among other things, the U.S. Senate approved the $287 billion America’s Transportation Infrastructure Act (ATIA).
PNOC, Lloyds to develop merchant LNG-to-Power projects
July 29 – Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Lloyds Energy to develop a 1,200 MW LNG-fuelled power plant in partnership with Mitsubishi. Dubai-based Lloyds Energy is looking at ways to develop integrated LNG import facilities and gas power plants on a merchant basis in Bataan and Batangas provinces.
Macquarie finances CCGT in Mexico
July 26 – Macquarie Capital has chosen Credit Agricole, Natixis and SMBC to co-finance a $380 million combined-cycle gas power plant. The 560 MW plant is designated to be built in San Louis Potosi, a city in central Mexico.
Naturgy cashes in on gas network
July 25 – Spanish gas utility Naturgy has posted a 7% rise in core earnings for the first half of the year due to strong gains from its gas network business that helped offset falling revenues from power generation and slimmer LNG margins.
French court rejects appeal against Total CCGT
July 24 – Judges at an appeal court in Nantes have thrown out an appeal by environmentalist against Total’s planned Landivisiau combined-cycle gas power plant in Brittany. The 440 MW project, initiated by Direct Energy which was since acquired by Total, is over two years behind schedule. The French grid operator RTE has singled out the Landivisiau CCGT as “critical” in guaranteeing supply security in winter 2020/21 due to the planned shutdown of four coal power plants.
U.S. gas production falls in wake of ‘Barry’
July 23 – Shut-ins related to Hurricane Barry have scaled back U.S. gas production by 1.6 billion cubic feet per day, compared to last week, while power sector gas demand rose by just over 2.0 bcf/d. Consequently, there is significantly less gas available for storage so the injection rate has halved, according to Energy Aspects figures.
Blackout after fire at Madison substation
July 22 – Electricity is gradually being restored at Madison, Wisconsin, after 13,000 people experience a blackout following an explosion at a substation near Madison Gas & Electric’s 100 MW gas-fired Blount Generating Station. No injuries were reported.
Fuel switch could abate 1.2bn tons of CO2
July 19 – Some 1.2 billion tonnes of CO2 could be abated by switching to gas using existing infrastructure, if prices and regulation are supportive. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), this would be enough to bring global CO2 emissions back down to where they were in 2013.
IEA launches methane tracker
July 18 – A new ‘methane tracker’, launched by the International Energy Agency (IEA), provides up-to-date estimates of current oil and gas methane emissions by drawing on the best available data. Analysts stressed methane emissions could be reduced by nearly half at no net cost.
Canada’s CO2 tax also affects gas power
July 17 – Change in Canada’s carbon tax regulation for new power plants has changed to also affect cleaner-burning, gas combined-cycle power stations starting from 2021. The move could cause SaskPower to reconsider its planned upcoming Moose Jaw gas power station.
