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Arizona Solar Project to Supply Microsoft Now Online

July 20, 2021

The post Arizona Solar Project to Supply Microsoft Now Online appeared first on POWER Magazine.

A solar energy project that will provide power for Microsoft has begun commercial operation in Arizona, with the project developer announcing term financing has been completed.

Longroad Energy, a Boston-based renewable energy developer that also has offices in California and Maine, on July 20 said the 200-MW Sun Streams 2 array—one of four Maricopa County-based projects that Longroad acquired from First Solar in February of this year—is online. The other three projects, known as Sun Streams 3, 4, and 5, are scheduled to enter operation over the next three years.

Sun Streams 2 has a 20-year revenue agreement with Microsoft for the project’s capacity, along with renewable energy certificates, in support of the company’s West US 3 data center. The project includes battery storage; the four-project portfolio totals about 900 MW of solar plus storage.

Microsoft in June announced the launch of a new Azure cloud data center region in Arizona.…

UK’s First Gas-Fired Allam Cycle Power Plant Taking Shape

July 18, 2021

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The inventor of the Allam-Fetvedt Cycle, a novel power cycle that uses supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO₂), is collaborating with a subsidiary of Singapore-based Sembcorp Industries to potentially develop the UK’s first 300-MW natural gas–fired NET Power station at an existing site at Teesside, northeastern England.

Zero Degrees Whitetail Development Ltd. (ZDW), a subsidiary of North Carolina-based 8 Rivers Capital, and Sembcorp subsidiary Sembcorp Energy UK (SEUK) on July 13 said they will collaborate to set up the 300-MW Whitetail Clean Energy NET Power project at SEUK’s Wilton International site. While the companies did not provide a potential start date, 8 Rivers said the project may be the first of “multiple 300-MW facilities in the UK,” and that it could commission a NET Power station in the UK “as soon as 2025.”

The project is another notable prospect for 8 Rivers, which has been developing its potentially revolutionary power plant based on the Allam-Fetvedt Cycle (AFC) since 2012 under NET Power, a business arm it holds jointly with heavyweight industry backers Exelon, McDermott, and Occidental Low Carbon Ventures.…

El Dabaa First of ‘Several’ Nuclear Reactors for Egypt

July 16, 2021

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Construction of Egypt’s first nuclear power plant is moving forward, and a government official said the country plans to build “several” more reactors “in various regions” to help support economic development and increasing demand for power.

Hesham Hegazy, who leads the nuclear fuel sector for Egypt’s Nuclear Power Plants Authority (NPPA), made the comments during a panel discussion this week at a Rosatom-sponsored event on the role of nuclear energy in sustainable development. Rosatom, Russia’s state-owned nuclear corporation, is leading construction of four planned Generation III+ VVER-1200 reactors at the 4.8-GW El Dabaa nuclear power plant, which will be Egypt’s first commercial nuclear power generation facility.

The first unit at El Dabaa is scheduled to come online in 2026. Russia is lending Egypt $ 25 billion for El Dabaa’s construction. The plant will be located about 190 miles northwest of Cairo on the Mediterranean coast.…

Bechtel, GE Will Lead 3.2-GW Gas Power Project

July 14, 2021

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Vietnam’s first privately-owned power plant has moved a step closer to fruition, as Delta Offshore Energy chose Bechtel to provide front-end engineering design (FEED) services for a proposed 3,200-MW combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) facility.

The power station, sited in Bac Lieu province in the Mekong Delta about 155 miles south of Ho Chi Minh City, will be fueled with liquified natural gas (LNG). The plant will feature four single-shaft General Electric (GE) 9HA.02 H-class turbines. Vietnamese officials have said they expect the $ 3-billion project will further economic development in the region, which already is becoming an industrial hub. The Bac Lieu Province People’s Council approved the plant’s 70-hectare (173 acres) footprint earlier this year.

“This power plant is a game changer for the Bac Lieu province,” said Scott Osborne, Bechtel’s general manager for infrastructure, Asia Pacific, after the FEED contract was announced July 6.…

Enabling IIoT Connectivity for Virtual Power Plants

July 12, 2021

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Declarations of climate emergencies in many countries around the world have created awareness for the need to switch to clean energy sources, which in turn has prompted the power industry and governments to take action or set definite goals. Many governments around the world now provide incentives to individuals, industries, and communities who are interested in generating and using power from renewable energy sources such as solar and wind energy.

The power grid has seen many changes that have enabled the integration of power from distributed energy resources (DERs). In the new power economy that is emerging, virtual power plants (Figure 1, VPPs) are showing the way by making it possible to aggregate power from different DERs and providing an efficient platform for energy trading. Catalyzed by these developments, a new “prosumer” class is emerging that consists of consumers who not only consume power from the grid but also produce their own green power and might have excess power to sell.…

‘Smart Microgrid Community’ Takes Shape in Canada

July 4, 2021

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Many areas across the globe are looking providing non-traditional power to residential neighborhoods, part of a push to make a community’s electricity supply more reliable and resilient. A development in Canada is one model of what is known as a “smart microgrid community.”

Elexicon Energy, the fourth largest municipally-owned electricity distributor in Ontario, along with real estate developer and builder Marshall Homes, and Canada’s Opus One Solutions, a global cleantech company, have partnered to create a “living smart grid” pilot community called Altona Towns. The project is supported by Ontario’s Ministry of Energy, Northern Development, under the Smart Grid and Grid Innovation funds.

The partners in May announced the project as the first planned nested microgrid installation in Canada that will integrate a full-scale, operational smart residential energy system. Altona Towns will “test, develop and launch the next generation of technologies that can turn electricity distribution systems into modern, digitally enabled grids,” according to the partners, who said the project could provide a blueprint for using microgrids to power thousands of homes. …