Hitachi Absorbs ABB Power Grids in New $10B Joint Venture

July 2, 2020
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The post Hitachi Absorbs ABB Power Grids in New $ 10B Joint Venture appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Hitachi on July 1 commandeered a majority share of ABB’s lucrative Power Grids business and officially launched a joint venture company—Hitachi ABB Power Grids. The new company, which already has a volume of about $ 10 billion, is expected to provide financial muscle to support ambitious projects and new business opportunities as the sector embraces decentralization and digitalization.

Japanese technology conglomerate Hitachi holds a 80.1% ($ 6.85 billion) stake in Hitachi ABB Power Grids, while Zurich-based ABB will hold the remaining 19.9% stake. ABB also holds a pre-defined option to exit the retained 19.9% shareholding three years after closing, and it is likely it will be bought out by Hitachi, which has said it will consider acquiring ABB’s share to make it a wholly owned subsidiary after 2023. 

But for now, Hitachi ABB Power Grids will be headquartered in Switzerland and employ approximately 36,000 people in 90 countries.…

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Waste-to-Hydrogen Project Set for California

June 30, 2020
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A California company that produces renewable hydrogen has joined with a Louisiana construction group on a project to build a modular waste-to-hydrogen production facility.

Ways2H, based in Long Beach, California, and Ford, Bacon & Davis, a Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based engineering, procurement, and construction firm, on June 30 announced a joint effort to design and build a California facility by the end of 2020, “with a pipeline of additional projects to follow in 2021.”

The companies on Tuesday said the California project will be the first U.S. modular waste-to-hydrogen production facility; Ways2H also has a project underway in Japan. The companies said they will produce renewable hydrogen fuel for the power generation and transportation sectors, while offering alternative disposal options for waste processing and waste disposal companies.

The California Energy Commission in a June report said a lack of existing renewable hydrogen production is creating a gap with fast-growing demand for the fuel.…

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$122 Million Earmarked for Coal ‘Innovation Centers’

June 28, 2020
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The post $ 122 Million Earmarked for Coal ‘Innovation Centers’ appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette said the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is ready to make about $ 122 million available to establish what the DOE calls “innovation centers” for coal. Brouillette and the DOE on June 26 said these centers will focus on the manufacturing of value-added, carbon-based products from coal. The facilities also would work on developing new methods to extract and process rare earth elements and critical minerals from the fuel.

“It’s vitally important that America develop a viable domestic supply of rare earth elements, critical minerals, and other valuable products from our vast coal resources,” said Brouillette on Friday, as he toured a Pennsylvania coal mine operated by Consol Energy. “This effort moves us closer to that goal. The Trump administration has been aggressively investing in research and development for novel uses of coal that have the potential to create new markets for coal and coal byproducts.…

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Pennsylvania Site Latest Gas Plant Online in Building Surge

June 26, 2020
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The post Pennsylvania Site Latest Gas Plant Online in Building Surge appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Gas-fired power generation in the U.S. remains the top source of electricity production, even as renewable energy continues to take market share. A POWER analysis of projects shows nearly 180 gas-fired units are either under construction or in development nationwide, with more than 2,000 gas-fired plants currently in operation.

One of the most-recent plants to come online is the $ 863 million, 1,000-MW Hickory Run Energy Center (Figure 1) near New Castle, Pennsylvania, northwest of Pittsburgh. The project’s developers, including Kansas-based Tyr Energy, a subsidiary of Japan’s ITOCHU Corp.; Kansai Electric Power Co. (KEPCO); and Siemens Financial Services, in mid-June publicly announced that the plant began commercial operations in mid-May.

“We’ve been going pretty steadily. It’s in the market and producing electricity much of the time. This is an efficient unit. So we expect it to stay operational most of the time,” Brock Shealy, vice president of Hickory Run LLC and chief administrative officer of Tyr Energy, said in a statement.…

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Big Data: The New Age of ‘Fortune Telling’ Requires Human Collaboration More Than Ever

June 24, 2020
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The post Big Data: The New Age of ‘Fortune Telling’ Requires Human Collaboration More Than Ever appeared first on POWER Magazine.

digital-technology-connected-plant-iiot

Ancient Chinese fortune tellers used heated metal pokers to create cracks in bones or empty turtle shells. By reading the patterns in the cracks, they attempted to calm the unease that comes with the innate uncertainty of the world—especially the ancient world. They predicted the future and doled out advice that affected the fate and fortunes of states and their people.

Thousands of years have passed since the earliest fortunes were told, but despite scientific and technological advances, the uncertainty that underpinned ancient fortune telling is, stubbornly, still with us. In 2020, sophisticated modern analytics have raised the bar on predictive precision, but they have not removed (or even reduced) risk and uncertainty from our decision-making.  Just like with cracks, people don’t trust the algorithms and technical solutions to make decisions on their own. There needs to be room for the human who reads the cracks.…

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