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Wyoming Coal Power Plant May Host Natrium Advanced Nuclear Demonstration

June 4, 2021

The post Wyoming Coal Power Plant May Host Natrium Advanced Nuclear Demonstration appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Bill Gates’ nuclear innovation startup TerraPower and Berkshire Hathaway Energy subsidiary PacifiCorp are looking to site a federally backed demonstration of their 345-MWe Natrium advanced nuclear reactor system at a retiring PacifiCorp coal power plant in Wyoming.

During a June 2 energy event in Cheyenne attended by Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Bill Gates, and U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyoming), the companies said they plan to announce a plant site for the demonstration by the end of this year. While the companies are now still conducting “joint due diligence to ensure this opportunity is cost-effective” for PacifiCorp’s customers, their next steps will include “further project evaluation, education and outreach, and state and federal regulatory approvals prior to acquisition of a Natrium facility,” they said.

An ARDP Boost

The announcement is nonetheless significant because it provides a state-backed vicinity for one of the two much-watched demonstration projects bolstered by $ 80 million each in initial federal funding under the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP).…

The POWER Interview: Spotlight on the Solar Wave

May 28, 2021

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The post The POWER Interview: Spotlight on the Solar Wave appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Growth in the solar power sector is coming from many angles, with utilities building ever-larger solar arrays, and more homeowners and building owners putting panels on their rooftops. Many utilities and other companies also are expanding offerings of community solar, a way for electricity customers to get the benefits of solar power without having to install a rooftop system.

BlueWave Solar, a Boston, Massachusetts-based company founded in 2010, offers community solar sales and services along with solar financing and project development. What began as a company “that started … with a couple guys driving around in an old station wagon touting the benefits of solar to anyone who would listen,” according to the BlueWave website, today has projects scattered across the U.S. Northeast.

The company works with cities and a variety of energy companies, and recently announced it has secured more than 1 GW of future solar and storage projects across eight states in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions.…

The POWER Interview: A Marketplace for Energy Collaboration

May 26, 2021

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The post The POWER Interview: A Marketplace for Energy Collaboration appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The digitization of power generation is among the technology advancements transforming the way electricity is produced and distributed. Utilities have always sought ways to improve the efficiency of their operations, along with lowering the cost of maintenance while streamlining asset management.

The digital transformation has brought numerous challenges, as utilities seek to upgrade their legacy thermal generation while at the same time integrating renewable energy resources into their fleets. The advent of decentralized, distributed power generation also has brought digitization to the forefront, particularly as companies work to improve the quality of the data they’re gathering from their power plants, and figure out how to access and use an ever-larger quantity of information about how their assets are operating.

Awesense, a Vancouver, British Columbia technology group, is among the companies working to help power generators integrate digitization into their operations. The company’s Digital Energy Platform, “a digital twin-based energy analytics platform that allows utilities to scale at the same pace as the rapidly changing technology landscape of the energy grid,” is designed to support energy providers at a time when changing business models have become a constant in the industry.…

Project Will Burn Ammonia with Coal to Cut Emissions

May 24, 2021

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The post Project Will Burn Ammonia with Coal to Cut Emissions appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Japan’s largest power generation company plans to begin using ammonia as a fuel at one of its coal-fired plants as part of an effort to reduce the facility’s emissions of carbon dioxide (CO₂).

JERA Co., a joint venture between Tokyo Electric Power Co. Holdings (TEPCO) and Chubu Electric Power, and IHI Corp., a Japanese engineering company, on May 24 said the four-year test project will begin in June and run to March 2025. The companies said it will be the world’s first major project to develop technology to enable co-firing a significant amount of ammonia at a large-scale commercial coal-fired plant.

The demonstration is aimed toward an eventual ammonia co-firing rate of 20% at the 1-GW Unit 4 of JERA’s 4.1-GW Hekinan Thermal Power Station, beginning in fiscal year 2024. The project is designed to establish ammonia co-firing technology by co-burning coal and ammonia.…

Testing Problems Push Vogtle Start to 2022

May 22, 2021

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The post Testing Problems Push Vogtle Start to 2022 appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Southern Co. has moved the startup date for the first unit of its two-reactor expansion at the Vogtle nuclear power plant to the first quarter of 2022, citing problems found during testing. The company on May 18 notified Georgia state regulators of the delay. Analysts with Mizuho Group, an investment banking company, on May 21 said Southern interrupted “hot functional testing” of Unit 3 at Vogtle due to vibration of the plant’s pressurizer.

Executives with Southern Nuclear, the nuclear arm of Southern Co., and local utility and Southern subsidiary Georgia Power told the Georgia Public Service Commission they now are planning for the first of the two new 1,100-MW AP1000 reactors to enter operation at some point in the first three months of 2022.

Southern just two months ago announced a delay in testing of Unit 3, but at that time said the project remained on track for a November 2021 startup.…

Hydrogen from Nuclear Power Test Set at Idaho Lab

May 18, 2021

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The post Hydrogen from Nuclear Power Test Set at Idaho Lab appeared first on POWER Magazine.

A California company that introduced a new electrolyzer technology last year has announced an agreement with Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to test how nuclear energy can create clean hydrogen using the product.

San Jose-based Bloom Energy on May 18 said INL will use the company’s solid oxide, high-temperature electrolyzer to produce carbon-free hydrogen through electrolysis, powered by nuclear generation. Bloom on Tuesday said the electricity generated by nuclear facilities could produce “cost-effective hydrogen,” including during periods when the power grid has an ample supply of electricity. Rather than ramping down to prevent an oversupply of power, the plant can use its electricity to produce hydrogen.

INL, based in Idaho Falls, Idaho, is a nuclear science and technology lab. The facility’s team leads research, development, and demonstration projects to support and expand the use of nuclear energy. The group, like those in other countries, is involved with supporting the growth of a hydrogen economy, a sector with a rapidly growing market as governments and industries worldwide seek to decarbonize their operations.…