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The POWER Interview: Protection Testing Paradigm—How Utilities can Adapt to the Digital Era

February 6, 2022

The digital transformation in the power generation industry touches several areas, encompassing engineering, monitoring and control, asset performance, and operations optimization, among others. Power plant operators know the digital era has been a perfect fit for their industry, enabling digitization to reduce risk, save costs, optimize performance, and speed crisis response.

Doble Engineering is a company at the forefront of the digital age in power generation, enabling utilities and power plant operators to understand asset health through the group’s diagnostic test equipment, software, and services for the electric power industry.

Ed Khan, director of Protection Training at Doble Engineering, provided POWER with insight into the ways digitization has changed the power industry. Khan and Doble continue to research and develop ways digital-based applications can serve electricity producers moving forward, at a time of rapid change in the power sector, particularly when it comes to protecting assets and operations.

POWER: Which industry trends or changes should be most top of mind for power and utility companies today?…

CAISO Plan Calls for $30.5 Billion for Transmission—and More Renewable Energy

February 4, 2022

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California’s power grid continues to evolve and will look much different by 2040, according to a 20-year draft transmission plan released by the California Independent System Operator (CAISO). The plan calls for significant additional renewable energy resources, along with a $ 30.5-billion build-out of the transmission grid.

The outlook, developed by the grid operator along with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and the California Energy Commission (CEC), provides details about how the state will meet increased demand for electricity. The plan said the state will need about 120 GW of new power generation resources added to the CAISO system by 2040, including energy storage, utility-scale solar, offshore wind, and imports of clean energy from other states.

“There is a critical need for more proactive, long-term transmission planning and coordination,” said Elliot Mainzer, CAISO president and CEO, in a statement released Feb. 1. “In developing the 20-year Outlook, we have worked closely with the California Energy Commission (CEC), California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and a diverse group of stakeholders to begin delineating the long-term architecture of the California grid and better align power and transmission planning, resource procurement and interconnection queuing.…

Georgia Power Plans to Retire All Coal Units by 2035

February 2, 2022

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Georgia Power plans to shutter most of its coal fleet by 2028 and completely exit coal-fired power by 2035, according to the utility’s latest integrated resource plan (IRP) filed with state regulators on Jan. 31.

The Southern Co. subsidiary on Monday said it would make more investments in natural gas-fired generation, along with renewable energy, to make up for the lost coal-fired electricity output. The utility also plans to have two new reactors online at its Plant Vogtle nuclear power site, one by the end of this year and the other by mid-2023, that will add more than 2 GW of generation capacity to the company’s fleet.

Georgia Power CEO Chris Womack on Monday said environmental concerns and the current economic landscape of power generation factored into the company’s decisions. The utility files a new IRP with the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) every three years. Its previous IRP was approved in July 2019. Hearings will be held over the next few months to discuss the utility’s plan, with a vote by the PSC expected this summer.…

DOE Picks First Marine Energy Projects for PacWave Test Site in Oregon

January 30, 2022

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Eight ocean energy projects representing the first round of open-water testing at the 20-MW PacWave South wave energy test site off the Oregon coast have garnered a combined $ 25 million in federal funding to support technology research, development, and demonstration at the trailblazing facility.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) on Jan 25 announced the project selections as part of its “Advancing Wave Energy Technologies through Open Water Testing at PacWave.” The project selections are notable because they are among the first at an actual open-water test facility that is dedicated to accelerating wave energy technology to commercial viability.

PacWave South: Pioneering Testing in Open Ocean Conditions

“Waves are created when wind blows over the surface of open water in the ocean, and this movement results in a large amount of natural energy,” explained WTOP. To capture this energy and convert it to carbon-free electricity, researchers use WECs, but “advancing wave energy converters requires testing in realistic conditions,” it noted.…

How Power Plants Can Reduce Asset Integrity Risks with Digital Technology

January 26, 2022

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There are countless risks associated with power plant operations. For example, the risk of equipment failure is present in virtually every power plant system. In some cases, the risk is very low and could even be inconsequential. In others, it’s much higher and could be catastrophic, not only to plant operation, but also to the health and safety of workers. Understanding where the greatest risks lie and acting to reduce the likelihood of an unwanted incident should be high on every plant manager’s to-do list.

Digital technology has made the task of managing risk much easier. Tools are available today that can organize data and help users evaluate where the most probable and/or consequential failures are likely to occur. For example, risk-based asset integrity management (AIM) software, which often uses data imported from a plant historian or other legacy software systems, can sort and prioritize data to identify areas of concern and provide insight for decision-makers.

There are several companies that offer AIM products.…

Vistra Adding More Storage to Moss Landing, World’s Largest BESS

January 24, 2022

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The Moss Landing Energy Storage Facility in California, already the largest utility-scale battery storage development in the world, is adding more capacity. Vistra, the Texas-based energy company that lists Luminant, TXU Energy, and Dynegy among its subsidiaries, on Jan. 24 said it would further expand Moss Landing, adding a new 350-MW/1,400-MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) at the site.

The additional storage will complement the existing 400-MW/1,600-MWh of storage already at Moss Landing. Vistra on Monday said it has entered into a 15-year resource adequacy agreement with Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) for the new capacity. Vistra in a Jan. 21 filing asked the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to approve the contract.

“Through this partnership with PG&E, Vistra is bringing its capabilities and expertise to lead the clean energy transition and provide much-needed electricity to the people of California,” said Curt Morgan, Vistra CEO. “These innovative battery energy storage systems are necessary to maintain electric grid reliability as increasing levels of intermittent renewable power are integrated into the electric grid.”…