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Vistra Closing Two More Giant Uneconomic Coal Plants in Texas

October 17, 2017

Vistra Energy moved to halt a financial hemorrhage stemming from unprofitable conditions in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), announcing plans to shutter two more coal-fired power plants—the 1.1-GW Sandow Power Plant (which includes a 2009-built unit) and the 1.2-GW Big Brown plant—in early 2018.

The company’s decision made public on October 13 comes on the heels of an announcement last week by Vistra Energy subsidiary Luminant to shutter its 1.9-GW coal-fired Monticello plant in Titus County.

Vistra Energy said the coal plant closures are necessary because they are “economically challenged in the competitive ERCOT market.” Specifically, it said, “Sustained low wholesale power prices, an oversupplied renewable generation market, and low natural gas prices, along with other factors, have contributed to this decision.”

Terminating Years of Service

“This announcement is a difficult one to make,” said Vistra Energy President and CEO Curt Morgan. “It is never easy to announce an action that has a significant impact on our people. Though the long-term economic viability of these plants has been in question for some time, our year-long analysis indicates this announcement is now necessary.”…

Eversource Will Sell 14 New Hampshire Power Plants, Completing Deregulation

October 15, 2017

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Fourteen power plants in New Hampshire, including nine hydroelectric facilities, will soon have new owners as Eversource Energy divests its holdings in the state to satisfy an agreement with state regulators. Eversource outlined the sale of the hydro assets, along with three fossil fuel-fired plants and two combustion peaker units, in an October 12 filing with the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission (NHPUC).

The NHPUC is expected to approve the deal, with the transactions expected to close by year-end 2017 or in early 2018. As part of the agreement, the new owners must keep the plants in service for at least 18 months. The ownership change will mark the completion of electric deregulation in New Hampshire and bring rate adjustments to customers in the first half of 2018, according to an Eversource spokesman, who said the Eversource plants were the last operated by a regulated utility in New England.

Eversource now will purchase electricity on the wholesale market, which the utility said will lower rates for its customers.…

Startup of Olkiluoto 3 Nuclear Plant Delayed Again

October 12, 2017

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Continued problems with construction of the Olkiluoto 3 nuclear power plant in Finland have pushed the facility’s expected start date into 2019, meaning operations will not begin until at least 10 years after the original proposed start of commercial service.

Project owner Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO) on October 9 announced further delays. TVO project director Jouni Silvennoinen in a statement said: “We are very disappointed by this additional delay. There is still substantial work to be accomplished in the project.”

The 1.6-GW Olkiluoto 3 project is being built by a group led by Areva, France’s state-owned nuclear group. The nuclear plant, where construction began in 2005, was originally expected to begin operation in 2009. According to an October 9 Reuters story: “An Areva spokesman said the reactor would produce its first power at the end of 2018, but the ramp-up to full production would delay the commercial start-up to May 2019. He said hot-testing would start in December 2017, nuclear fuel would be loaded in August 2018, first grid connection would be in December 2018 and the commercial start would be May 2019.”…

EPA Ready to Attack Clean Power Plan

October 8, 2017

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The Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is considering its options to repeal or replace the Clean Power Plan (CPP), the signature climate regulation of former President Barack Obama.

POWER magazine on October 6 obtained a 43-page draft of the EPA’s proposed action on the CPP. The formal document is expected to be released soon. The document notes “The EPA has not determined whether it will promulgate a rule … to regulate greenhouse gas [GHG] emissions from existing EGUs [electric generating units], and, if it will do so, when it will do so and what form that rule will take.”

President Donald Trump has said the CPP violates federal law, something the EPA proposal says it will attempt to determine. Trump has said the emissions regulations could cost power consumers as much as $ 33 billion. He also has called the CPP a “job killer,” and in June said he would pull the U.S. out of the landmark Paris climate agreement after saying that man-made climate change is a “hoax.”…

Droneweek [PODCAST]

October 6, 2017

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DRONEWEEK is a television program that will air on the Viceland network beginning Monday, October 9, 2017, and continuing each night throughout the week. Each episode will feature footage taken by drones—unmanned aerial vehicles—of impressive power projects from around the world.

In this episode of The POWER Podcast, Eric Gebhardt, vice president of systems and innovation for GE Power, is interviewed about some of the technology that will be featured during DRONEWEEK, which GE co-created with Viceland. This is the third year that GE has broadcast this type of footage taken using drones. The first year the company posted live footage on Periscope, and last year it did the same on Facebook. This is the first year that it will air the program on Viceland.

Each night a different energy-related theme will be the focus, and the show will include an expert panel that will discuss the featured topic of the night. On Monday, October 9, wind power will take center stage.…

Siemens Rolls Out MVDC Transmission System to Bolster Distributed Generation

October 4, 2017

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Siemens has launched a new direct-current (DC) transmission system for alternating current (AC) grids of between 30 kV and 150 kV. The medium-voltage system that can bridge distances of up to 125 miles is designed to help grid entities handle ever-growing volumes of power fed into the distribution system from distributed and renewable power.

The MVDC PLUS (Medium Voltage Direct Current Power Link Universal System) introduced on October 4 is based on Siemens’ high-voltage direct-current transmission (HVDC) technology, but it is offered in three variants: for a transmission capacity of about 50, 100, and 150 MW at DC transmission voltages of 20 to 50 kV. Comparatively, the company’s HVDC system transmits power at voltages of more than 220 kV.

Siemens has introduced a new medium-voltage power transmission solution that uses direct current applications to increase power transfer capability while also minimizing losses. Courtesy: Siemens

According to the company, the system meets growing needs to expand and upgrade grid infrastructures that are increasingly burdened with decentralized power generation, which is leading to congestion at distribution and transmission levels.…