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The POWER Podcast

July 29, 2019

The POWER Podcast Archive:

Worried About Climate Change? Save Nuclear Plants

Interview with Nuclear Matters Advocacy Council member, Carol Browner. Browner is a former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator and former energy and climate change senior advisor to President Obama.

https://www.powermag.com/worried-about-climate-change-save-nuclear-plants-podcast/

Reversing Climate Change with Nuclear Power

Interview with Bret Kugelmass, managing director of the Energy Impact Center.

https://www.powermag.com/reversing-climate-change-with-nuclear-power-podcast/

Lithium-Ion Batteries: Costs Down, Benefits Up

Interview with Tony Cooper, general manager of Green Cubes Technology’s Motive division.

https://www.powermag.com/lithium-ion-batteries-costs-down-benefits-up-podcast/

How to Monitor and Predict Operational Performance with Digital Analytics

Interview with Thomas Dhollander, CTO and co-founder of TrendMiner, and Nick Petrosyan, data analytics engineer with TrendMiner.

https://www.powermag.com/how-to-monitor-and-predict-operational-performance-with-digital-analytics-podcast/

Future May Not Be as Rosy as It Seems for Natural Gas

Interview with Tom Baker, a partner and managing director in Boston Consulting Group’s (BCG’s) San Francisco office, and Alex Dewar, senior manager with the Center for Energy Impact in BCG’s Washington, D.C., office.

https://www.powermag.com/future-may-not-be-as-rosy-as-it-seems-for-natural-gas-podcast/

Power Company Business Models Are Evolving

Interview with Aaron Zahn, managing director and CEO of JEA.…

BHP, Mitsubishi Partner on Emissions Reduction Technologies

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BHP and Mitsubishi Development Pty (MDP) in late June signed a memorandum of understanding for joint research, development, and deployment of greenhouse gas emissions reduction technologies in several countries, including projects with battery storage, solar, and carbon capture and storage (CCS). The agreement, signed in Tokyo, Japan, on June 20, also calls for research into emissions reductions from the lifecycle use of marketed products.

“BHP is committed to accelerating the development of emerging technologies that have the potential to achieve material reductions in greenhouse gas emissions,” said Andrew Mackenzie, BHP’s CEO, in a statement. “Our new collaboration with Mitsubishi Development demonstrates the important role the private sector can play in bringing these technologies to market. Both companies are committed to emissions reductions in a range of industries … our Japanese partners and customers are critical to the development of new technologies and approaches to emissions reductions that stand to benefit countries across the globe.”

BHP has several investments in technologies designed to lower emissions, including trials of light electric vehicles powered by lithium-ion batteries in BHP’s Olympic Dam underground mine fleet of light vehicles, in South Australia.…

Worried About Climate Change? Save Nuclear Plants [PODCAST]

July 27, 2019

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Nuclear power advocates suggest there are many benefits associated with nuclear energy. They point to high-paying jobs; billions of dollars in economic activity for plant-hosting communities; and secure, reliable, baseload electricity. But the most-important benefit of nuclear power may be that it emits no greenhouse gases, and therefore does not contribute to climate change.

According to Nuclear Matters, a national coalition that works to inform the public and policymakers about the benefits of nuclear energy, nuclear power is playing an essential role in the U.S.’s clean energy future. The group says nuclear power accounted for more than 55% of the country’s clean energy generation in 2018, and phasing out nuclear energy would create devastating environmental impacts for the world.

Carol Browner, former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator and former energy and climate change senior advisor to President Obama, was a guest on The POWER Podcast. Browner, who currently serves on the Nuclear Matters Advocacy Council, said, “Air pollution is a major burden to human health, and electricity generation is a major source of air pollution.…

TEPCO Says It Will Decommission Second Fukushima Nuclear Plant

July 25, 2019

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Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) on July 24 said it will decommission its Fukushima Daini nuclear station. The plant is located just south of the larger Fukushima Daiichi plant, site of a meltdown in March 2011 after an earthquake and tsunami heavily damaged the Daiichi facility.

The four reactors at Daini automatically shut down after the earthquake, reaching cold shutdown two days later. The reactors have not operated since.

Permanent closure of the Daini units would mean 21 reactors in Japan are scheduled for decommissioning. There were 54 operating reactors in the country prior to the 2011 disaster.

Nuclear power provided about 30% of Japan’s power prior to the earthquake. The country idled all its reactors in the wake of the meltdown, and only eight have been restarted, though several are continuing with a relicensing process required due to the country’s new operating standards after Fukushima.

Japan has relied on imported liquefied natural gas and thermal generation from imported coal to replace the lost nuclear generation since 2011.…

GE Is Speeding Massive Offshore Wind Turbine to Market

July 23, 2019

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GE Renewable Energy’s mammoth offshore wind 12-MW Haliade-X turbine is on track for an accelerated commercial launch in 2021, the company said as it unveiled the turbine’s first manufactured components on July 22.

Haliade-X features a 220-meter (m) rotor and a 107-m blade designed by GE subsidiary LM Wind Power. The turbine design also includes digital capabilities. GE says the wind turbine model features a 63% capacity factor—which is “five to seven points above the industry standard.” For GE, scaling up is important. “Each incremental point in capacity factor represents around $ 7 million in revenue for our customers over the life of a wind farm,” it noted. In January, the company said it would install a Haliade-X 12-MW offshore wind prototype in the Netherlands this summer.

On Monday, the company unveiled the first nacelle and said it would be shipped from its production site in Saint-Nazaire, France, to Rotterdam-Maasvlakte in the Netherlands “over the coming weeks.” The components will be installed on the prototype, which is land-based to facilitate testing.…

Watch Stack Come Down at Florida Power Plant

July 21, 2019

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JEA, the electric utility in Jacksonville, Florida, has been decommissioning the St. Johns River Power Park over the past year. A third implosion as part of the decommissioning occurred July 19, as a 640-foot-tall stack and two steam generating boilers were demolished.

Friday’s work followed similar implosions in June 2018, when the plant’s two, 464-foot-tall cooling towers were taken down, and in April of this year when four selective catalytic reactors were destroyed.

The coal-fired plant, which was closed in January 2018 after operating since March 1987, is scheduled to be fully decommissioned in June 2020. JEA has said it will keep at least some of the 2,000-acre site for a future power station, and also for coal ash disposal. The plant was co-owned by JEA and Florida Power & Light.

Total Wrecking & Environmental, a demolition and remediation company based in Buffalo, New York, was awarded a $ 14.5 million contract to demolish the plant and provided video of Friday’s blast.…