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Groups Announce Successful Test to Advance Fusion Energy

September 9, 2021

The post Groups Announce Successful Test to Advance Fusion Energy appeared first on POWER Magazine.

A company working to bring fusion energy technology to market joined with a group from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in announcing a successful test of what they call the world’s strongest high-temperature superconducting (HTS) magnet, technology considered key for development of commercial fusion energy.

Representatives of Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), along with researchers from MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC), on Sept. 8 outlined the group’s progress in developing the HTS, what they called a “world changing” technology to produce power while also combating climate change.

The milestone test, conducted at the PSFC on Sept. 5, proved that the magnet built at scale can reach a sustained magnetic field of more than 20 tesla. That’s enough to enable CFS’s small tokamak device, called SPARC, to achieve net energy from fusion, what the groups called “a historic first.” They said the successful demonstration proves that the SPARC will be the world’s first fusion device that can create and confine a plasma that produces more energy than it consumes.…

Drought-Crippled Hoover Dam, Glen Canyon Hydropower Plants Operating at Substantially Decreased Capacity

September 7, 2021

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The post Drought-Crippled Hoover Dam, Glen Canyon Hydropower Plants Operating at Substantially Decreased Capacity appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The iconic 2-GW Hoover Dam and 1.3-GW Glen Canyon Dam hydropower plants are operating at substantially reduced capacity, paralyzed by enduring drought conditions across the West, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) has revealed.

Weeks after USBR on Aug. 16 declared the first-ever federal water shortage at Lake Mead, the agency told POWER this week that deteriorating storage levels at the Colorado River’s largest reservoir are posing hurdles for power production from Hoover Dam. The situation could have new implications for Los Angeles and other parts of Southern California, Arizona, and Nevada, which take the bulk of the allocated firm energy that the plant produces.

“Lake Mead is at its lowest level since being filled, resulting in a decrease of about 25% of Hoover Dam’s generating capacity,” Rob Manning, chief of USBR’s Public Affairs, said on Monday. While Hoover’s normal capacity is 2,074 MW, it’s currently 1,567 MW.…

Power Restoration Continues After Ida; Storm’s Death Toll Tops 60

September 5, 2021

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Power restoration efforts continue along the Gulf Coast and in the U.S. Northeast, as utilities work to bring electricity back to areas in Louisiana hit hard by Hurricane Ida, and around New York City and New England due to heavy rainfall from remnants of the storm.

The U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE) in a Sept. 3 update said just more than 900,000 customers remained without power early Friday, with more than 90% of those in Louisiana, most located in the area in and around New Orleans.

Ida made landfall in the early afternoon of Aug. 29 near Port Fourchon, Louisiana, as a Category 4 hurricane. Officials have said Ida tied for the fifth-strongest hurricane to ever hit the U.S. mainland.

The storm weakened as it moved inland over the next few days, but produced heavy rainfall that resulted in flash flooding in the Northeast on Sept.…

Entergy: Hurricane Ida Took Out Eight Critical High-Voltage Transmission Lines

September 3, 2021

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Moving quickly after devastating winds from Hurricane Ida on Aug. 29 took out eight critical high-voltage lines and blacked out New Orleans, Jefferson, and two other Louisiana parishes, Entergy hashed out two options. One—the “preferred solution”—was to restore some of the critical transmission lines that tie Greater New Orleans to the larger MISO grid, and the second was to create an “island” that would temporarily isolate the Greater New Orleans region from MISO.

Entergy ultimately went with a pairing of the two. As restoration crews set out to repair transmission structures, Entergy established a temporary “standalone grid” powered mainly by the 128-MW New Orleans Power Station in Eastern New Orleans and Ninemile 6 in Westwego. As the company noted, the May 2020-commissioned New Orleans Power Station—a reciprocating engine plant—was designed to assist with storm restoration, given its self-start capability and ability to ramp-up to full capacity in a few minutes.…

NRC Cites Problems at Vogtle, May Increase Project Oversight

August 30, 2021

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Continuing issues with the two-unit expansion of the Vogtle nuclear power plant in Georgia have led federal regulators to say they are considering increasing oversight of the project. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on Aug. 26, in a letter to Southern Nuclear, which is leading the project along with its sister company Georgia Power, released its findings from an inspection conducted earlier this summer, with the agency reporting problems that could threaten the plant’s operation.

The Plant Vogtle project has been beset by numerous delays over the past several years, and is billions of dollars over budget. The NRC said its inspection came after Georgia Power earlier this year disclosed quality control issues with the expansion.

The NRC said it uncovered problems with electrical cables and systems that it said were apparently not installed correctly, including in some cases installed too close together.…

JERA Kicks Off Hydrogen Co-Firing Pilot at LNG Power Plant

August 28, 2021

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The post JERA Kicks Off Hydrogen Co-Firing Pilot at LNG Power Plant appeared first on POWER Magazine.

JERA has received the Japanese government’s green light for a pilot project to demonstrate 30% hydrogen co-firing at an existing large-scale liquefied natural gas (LNG) thermal power plant by 2025. The project is Japan’s “first initiative to use a large amount of hydrogen as fuel in a large-scale commercial LNG thermal power plant,” the company said on Aug. 26.

Funding from Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization’s Green Innovation Fund program will allow the company to kick off the project this October. JERA anticipates the five-year pilot will shed key insights on the practical use of hydrogen at existing LNG power plants when it ends in March 2025.

JERA said it will initiate the project with a feasibility study. Based on that study’s results, the company will build hydrogen supply facilities at the LNG thermal power plant. It will also install combustors capable of co-firing hydrogen and LNG in its gas turbines.…