Industry News | EnergyNorthwest.com

Regasification Project Will Provide New Power for Papua New Guinea

July 14, 2022

The government of Papua New Guinea (PNG) has entered a joint venture with a nationally-owned power producer in a project to bring additional electricity generation capacity to the island nation. The system will utilize a process featuring liquefied natural gas (LNG) and could eventually be converted to work with hydrogen as the fuel.

Singapore-based Twenty20 Energy on July 12 said it will roll out its Power Island Floating Storage Regasification & Power, or FSRP, solution in a dozen locations across Papua New Guinea as part of the PAWA PNG project. Twenty20 is supporting the joint venture between the government and Dirio Gas & Power, an independent power producer in PNG that focuses on natural gas-fired installations.

PAWA PNG will provide 283 MW of what officials said would be a “less expensive and more reliable” electricity supply, with lower emissions, as it primarily replaces older diesel fuel-based power generation. The project is designed to bring additional electricity to areas where it will support economic and social development objectives.…

New 1.1-GW GE-Powered Gas-Fired Plant Enters Service in Michigan

July 12, 2022

| No Comments

| Industry News

A new $ 1.1-billion natural gas-fired power plant, built by Kiewit and featuring equipment from General Electric (GE), has entered service in southwest Michigan. The Indeck Niles Energy Center in Niles, a community just north of South Bend, Indiana, will provide 1,100 MW of generation capacity.

The plant is operated by Indeck Energy Services along with its South Korean partners, Korea Southern Power Co. (KOSPO) and DL Energy, formerly known as Daelim Energy. Indeck, based in Buffalo Grove, Illinois, is a developer of thermal and renewable energy power generation projects across the Upper Midwest and U.S. Northeast. KOSPO is South Korea’s largest electric utility.

The Niles plant features two GE 7HA.02 gas turbines, powering two GE-supplied H65 generators. The facility also includes an STF-D600 steam turbine powering a H84 generator, and two heat recovery steam generators that are triple pressure reheat drum. The plant also includes GE’s Mark* VIe Distributed Control System software, along with services to support the availability and reliability of the plant, according to GE.…

France Set to Take Over Major Power Producer Amid Energy Crisis

July 10, 2022

| No Comments

| Industry News

The French government is prepared to take full control of EDF, one of the world’s largest producers of electricity, as the energy group struggles with increasing debt due to problems with its current and future nuclear power fleet.

Élisabeth Borne, who took over as France’s prime minister in May, in her first state-of-the-nation speech to the country’s parliament on July 6, said a power crisis exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine means the government must take action to limit the impact of rising energy prices. Borne told legislators, “We must have full control over our electricity production and performance. We must ensure our sovereignty in the face of the consequences of war and the colossal challenges to come … that’s why I confirm to you the state’s intention to own 100% of EDF’s capital.”

EDF is facing construction delays and cost overruns on new nuclear power plant projects in France and the UK. It also is dealing with corrosion issues at some of its older nuclear facilities.…

IEA Calls for More Diverse Solar PV Supply Chains

July 8, 2022

| No Comments

| Industry News

The International Energy Agency (IEA) is urging the development of more diverse solar PV supply chains, suggesting the sector’s heavy reliance on China has led to imbalances that pose risks to its future growth.

A dedicated study of the world’s solar PV supply chain issued by the Paris-based autonomous intergovernmental organization on July 7 acknowledges that government policies in China have contributed to a cost decline for solar PV of more than 80% through economies of scale and continuous innovation. But because global manufacturing capacity for solar panels has increasingly moved out of Europe, Japan, and the U.S. and into China over the past decade, China’s share in all key solar panel manufacturing stages now exceeds 80%. For key elements, including polysilicon and wafers, China’s share “is set to rise to more than 95% in the coming years, based on current manufacturing capacity under construction,” the agency said.

However, this concentration of PV supply chains poses specific vulnerability and risks to the industry that the world is banking on to achieve substantial decarbonization, it said.…

Repowering Project Aims for Pinnacle of Success

July 6, 2022

| No Comments

| Industry News

Clearway Energy Group reaffirmed its commitment to renewable energy, and to its support of West Virginia’s push for cleaner energy, with a repowering of the Pinnacle Wind Farm. The project extends the wind farm’s lifetime, creates jobs, and provides more tax revenue and funding for local community groups.

Repowering of power generation facilities can provide an aging plant with a new lease on life. But there’s more to it than just extending an installation’s operational lifecycle; repowering can increase power generation capacity, the efficiency of electricity output, and can enable an existing facility to take advantage of new technologies, without the need to construct an entirely new power plant. Such an effort also enables a power plant to continue to benefit a community by creating jobs, bringing in tax revenue and other funds—and of course providing even more needed electricity.

Clearway Energy Group, headquartered in San Francisco, California, saw that potential at the company’s Pinnacle Wind Farm in Keyser, West Virginia.…

Wudongde Project Takes Hydro to New Heights

July 4, 2022

| No Comments

| Industry News

A multi-year, multibillion-dollar undertaking on China’s Jinsha River has achieved several “firsts” for the hydropower sector, earning POWER’s highest honor thanks to its development, design, and importance to the power generation industry. It also is a model in China’s push for more clean and sustainable energy.

China already was the global leader in hydropower generation before Xi Jinping, the country’s president, in 2020 announced a plan for the world’s most populous country to become carbon neutral by 2060. That strategy, backed by government policies in support of renewable energy as part of the overall plan to increase the electricity supply for China’s nearly 1.5 billion people, again put the spotlight on the country’s massive hydropower projects. China has more than quadrupled its hydroelectric power generation capacity since 2000; according to Global Data, a UK-based data analytics and consulting group, the country’s cumulative installed capacity of its hydropower plants was just shy of 380 GW as of year-end 2021, growing at a rate of about 2.6% year-over-year.…