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DOE Set to Support Small Modular Coal Units

May 11, 2018

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) wants to know whether small-scale, modular coal-fired power plants are feasible. The DOE this week put out a request for information on how to accomplish such projects, following on its announcement earlier this year that it wants to establish funding opportunities for new coal technologies in an effort to prop up the industry.

“The objective of this RFI [Request for Information] is to support DOE’s mission to lead research and technology development that promotes the advancement of coal-fired power plants that provide stable power generation with operational flexibility, high efficiency, and low emissions,” according to the DOE announcement made May 8. Among the details: a design that has a lower cost than traditional coal plants, capability to be load-following, and with an efficiency higher than 40%, well above the current average of 33% for a traditional coal plant. (The efficiency of a power plant is measured as the percentage of the total energy content of that plant’s fuel that is converted into electricity.)…

New Gas-Fired Plants Planned in Florida, South Carolina

May 9, 2018

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Florida regulators have given the green light to a pair of new natural gas-fired power plants that will add nearly 1,700 MW of generation capacity in the state, and a Florida-based energy project developer has announced a 1,000-MW gas-fired facility project in South Carolina.

The Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) on May 8 gave approval to two plants proposed by Tampa-based Seminole Electric Cooperative, which provides wholesale power to its nine member cooperatives in 42 of the state’s 67 counties. One plant is a 1,122-MW facility sited in Putnam County in north-central Florida. The second—which Seminole will develop with Shady Hills Energy Center LLC—would be a 573-MW gas-fired facility in Pasco County on the state’s Gulf Coast.

St. Augustine-based NTE Energy in a separate announcement Tuesday said it would invest more than $ 1 billion to develop the 1,000-MW Anderson County Energy Center in South Carolina, which NTE said “will feature some of the most efficient and environmentally-friendly technologies currently available.”…

Sufficient Blackstart Capability Exists on Grid, Say NERC, FERC

May 7, 2018

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Despite the recent retirement of “blackstart” units, grid operators have sufficient resources to quickly restore systems in the event of widespread outages, suggests a new report by staff at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC).

The report—“FERC-NERC-Regional Entity Joint Review of Restoration and Recovery Plans”—released May 2 presents findings from a joint FERC and NERC study that evaluated blackstart resources and planning by nine utilities registered with NERC. NERC—a non-profit international regulatory authority tasked with assuring reliability and security of the grid—defines a blackstart resource as one or more generating units and associated equipment that can be started without support from the bulk power system and is designed to remain energized without connection to the system. A blackstart unit energizes other equipment. The first generating unit in its cranking path is known as a “next-start” generating unit.

According to the report, blackstart generating units included in the participants’ system restoration strategies—and most participants had more than one, it noted—ranged from small (50 MVA) to larger units (100–200 MVA), to banks of generating units exceeding 1,000 MVA in capacity.…

MHPS Tops GE, Siemens in Gas Turbine Market

May 5, 2018

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A report from Barclays Plc said Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS) received more than half of all global orders for gas-fueled turbines in the first quarter of 2018, the company’s best-ever performance in a market that has seen traditional gas turbine manufacturers struggle in recent months.

The market report from the London, UK-based multinational investment bank was released May 3. It said Germany-based Siemens AG had 26% of global orders in 1Q2018, with Boston, Mass.-based General Electric (GE)—long the leader in worldwide turbine sales—seeing its share drop to 14%. GE CEO John Flannery, who took the reins of the company last year and immediately set out to restructure its operations, has said GE was slow in recognizing slowing demand for gas-fueled turbines. Flannery has changed the leadership of the company’s struggling Power division and said the group needs a “right-sizing” for market structure, including changes to portfolio, supply chain, and supply base by 2020.

Flannery’s outline for changes came at almost the same time in November 2017 as Siemens announced it would consolidate its power divisions and cut 6,900 jobs.…

DOE Steps Up Investments into Electric Generation Technology Research

May 3, 2018

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The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) over the past two weeks has made a string of funding announcements, including nearly a half-billion dollars of new investment in power-related initiatives. The funding backs advancements in cybersecurity, advanced nuclear, solar, bioenergy, fuel cells, geothermal, and energy storage.

$ 25 Million for Cybersecurity.On April 16, the DOE’s Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability’s Cybersecurity for Energy Delivery Systems program issued a $ 25 million funding opportunity announcement (FOA),seeking applications to conduct research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) for innovative approaches to advance cyber-resilient energy delivery systems.

The project hones in on five areas: redesign of cyber-resilient architecture for the power and oil and natural gas (ONG) subsectors; cybersecurity for the ONG environment; cybersecure communications; cybersecure cloud-based technologies in the operation technology environment; and innovative technologies that enhance cybersecurity in the energy sector. Applications are due by June 18, 2018.

$ 105 Million for Solar Technology. On April 17, the DOE’s Solar Energy Technologies Office said it would fund about 70 projects to advance both solar PV and concentrating solar thermal power (CSP) technologies and help them secure facilitated integration into the grid.…

PJM Says Grid Reliable, but Will Analyze Resilience

May 1, 2018

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The operator of the nation’s largest electrical grid on April 30 reiterated its system will remain reliable even with the retirements of substantial generation resources. But PJM Interconnection, whose system covers customers in 13 states, said it will conduct a review of its operations over the next several months “to understand the fuel-supply risks in an environment trending towards greater reliance on natural gas.”

PJM wants to know whether its network could still operate reliably in the event of outages from natural disasters such as extreme weather, a cyberattack, or pipeline issues that would curtail the flow of natural gas on its system. The regional transmission organization (RTO) in March 2017 issued a report—”PJM’s Evolving Resource Mix and System Reliability”—that said its system could add more natural gas and renewable power generation and remain reliable, but “heavy reliance on one resource type” could bring risks to grid resiliency.

PJM recently said more than 3,600 MW of generation capacity will retire in its service territory in 2018.…