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Former Westinghouse Executive Charged with Conspiracy, Fraud in Connection with V.C. Summer Nuclear Project

August 24, 2021

The post Former Westinghouse Executive Charged with Conspiracy, Fraud in Connection with V.C. Summer Nuclear Project appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Former Westinghouse Electric Co. Senior Vice President Jeffrey A. Benjamin was charged with 16 felony counts, including conspiracy, wire fraud, securities fraud, and causing a publicly traded company to keep a false record, for his part in failing to truthfully report information regarding construction of new nuclear units at the V.C. Summer nuclear plant in South Carolina.

Benjamin is the fourth individual to be charged in the ongoing federal investigation. Former SCANA CEO Kevin Marsh, former SCANA Executive Vice President Stephen Byrne, and former Westinghouse Vice President Carl Churchman have all pleaded guilty to federal felony charges for their roles in the matter. However, in a statement, Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of South Carolina M. Rhett DeHart noted that all charges against Benjamin are merely accusations, and that the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.…

California Will Add Gas-Fired Units to Increase Power Supply

August 22, 2021

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The California Energy Commission (CEC) has approved licenses for gas-fired power units to help the state cope with continued electricity shortages. The move comes after Gov. Gavin Newsom earlier declared a state of emergency for California’s power grid.

The state’s Dept. of Water Resources is procuring what it called five temporary gas-fueled generators, each with generation capacity of 30 MW, to install at existing power plants. The CEC on Aug. 17 approved licenses, good for up to five years, for the generators.

Newsom’s order, issued in July, is designed to free up additional energy capacity in the state. It came during a major heat wave and was partly in response to the Bootleg Fire in Oregon, which threatened the regional power transmission system and California’s power supply. The governor’s order suspends certain permitting requirements, and allows the use of backup power generation, with a goal of alleviating heat-related supply demands on the power grid.…

Breakthrough: Laser-Powered Fusion Experiment Nears ‘Ignition’

August 20, 2021

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The post Breakthrough: Laser-Powered Fusion Experiment Nears ‘Ignition’ appeared first on POWER Magazine.

An experiment at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL’s) National Ignition Facility (NIF) appears to have approached fusion ignition as it recreated the extreme temperatures and pressures at the heart of the sun for a tiny fraction of a second. The momentous step has fueled new optimism for fusion energy.

The experiment on Aug. 8 “was enabled by focusing laser light from NIF—the size of three football fields—onto a target the size of a BB that produces a hot-spot the diameter of a human hair, generating more than 10 quadrillion watts of fusion power for 100 trillionths of a second,” LLNL reported on Aug. 18. It achieved a yield of more than 1.3 megajoules (MJ)—and initial analysis suggests this is an eightfold improvement over experiments conducted in spring 2021, and an increase of 25 times over NIF’s 2018 record yield.

The production of that energy—which is more than any previous inertial confinement fusion experiment—proves ignition is possible, said experts from the Imperial College London, which are part of the “very large team” of industry and academia that has worked over many decades to demonstrate ignition.…

Gas Exploration and Production Company to Buy Gas-Fired Power Plant in Texas

August 16, 2021

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BKV Corp., a privately held natural gas exploration and production company headquartered in Denver, Colorado, said it will purchase the Temple 1 power plant in Temple, Texas. The deal, valued at $ 430 million and subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2021.

“We’re excited about this acquisition, and the strategic steps we are taking to position BKV as a leading integrated energy company with cleaner, greener energy,” Chris Kalnin, CEO of BKV, said in a statement issued to POWER. “By extending our natural gas business into a power business we are able to deliver to unprecedented grid reliability, while also creating industry leading ESG [environmental, social, and governance] standards because we can directly certify our emissions footprint at each step in the value chain, from underground molecule to burner tip.”

State-of-the-Art Facility

Temple 1 (Figure 1) is a 758-MW combined cycle facility built in 2014.…

PSEG Agrees to Sell 6.8-GW Fossil Fleet to ArcLight Capital

August 14, 2021

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Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) has agreed to sell its 6.8-MW portfolio of non-nuclear generating assets—a fleet of 13 gas plants—to a fund controlled by ArcLight Capital Partners LLC for about $ 1.92 billion. The sale, which effectively sets up its exit from the competitive generation business, is expected to be completed late in the fourth quarter of 2021 or the first quarter of 2022.

The divestiture revealed on Aug. 12 follows PSEG’s announcement in August 2020 that it would shed part of its merchant generation fleet to reduce overall business risk and earnings volatility; improve its corporate credit profile; and enhance its environmental, social, and governance (ESG) position. “Our intent is to accelerate the transformation of PSEG into a primarily regulated electric and gas utility—a plan we have been executing successfully for over a decade,” Ralph Izzo, PSEG chairman, president, and CEO, said in a statement at the time.

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Decarbonizing the Power Grid with Hydrogen and Advanced Technology

August 11, 2021

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The post Decarbonizing the Power Grid with Hydrogen and Advanced Technology appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Many leaders around the world are focused on decarbonizing their countries’ energy supplies. For most, that means adding renewable energy resources to their electricity mix, and developing a path aimed at retiring coal and other fossil-fueled power plants. Yet, these are not the only decarbonization options. Research and development (R&D) efforts are also ongoing to expand the use of hydrogen and energy storage, and advance new technologies, such as carbon capture and artificial intelligence, in an effort to reduce carbon emissions.

“I think there is a clear sign right now that the world has made the choice, and the choice is clearly the zero-CO₂ emission,” Karim Amin, executive vice president of Generation with Siemens Energy, said as a guest on The POWER Podcast. “So, that’s a given, and we are all working towards achieving this target.”

Siemens Energy sees hydrogen as an important piece of the decarbonization puzzle.…