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FPL Plans to Build 1,500 MW of Solar in Next Two Years

March 16, 2019

Florida Power & Light (FPL) continues to add to its solar power portfolio, with the utility on March 13 announcing plans to build the largest community solar program in the U.S.

Eric Silagy, FPL’s president and CEO, in a statement said, “We’ve been aggressively expanding solar with one goal in mind: bringing more solar to all of our customers cost-effectively while continuing to keep their bills lower than 90 percent of the country. This innovative program is another major step forward in our ‘30-by-30’ plan, which is one of the world’s largest solar expansions, and also an unprecedented opportunity for our customers to harness the power of the sun like never before.”

The company’s FPL SolarTogether program, which needs approval from the state’s Public Service Commission, would allow customers to receive a credit on their bills from the utility’s cost savings from solar power. FPL plans to build 20 solar power plants, with total generation capacity of 1,490 MW, over the next two years.…

Energy Secretary Wants to Fast-Track U.S. LNG Export Projects

March 11, 2019

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Exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the U.S. continue to rise, as the use of natural gas for power generation increases in countries such as China, South Korea, Japan, and Mexico. Data from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) shows that four U.S. LNG export facilities combined to ship 483 LNG cargoes in 2018, a whopping 84% increase from the 262 export cargoes in 2017.

Energy Secretary Rick Perry, in a March 11 interview with CNBC at CERAWeek in Houston, Texas, talked about the importance of LNG as the U.S. competes globally in the energy sector. “Whether it’s our technology on the renewable side, whether it’s small modular reactors in the nuclear field, obviously the fossil fuels as well. But all of it plays a role,” Perry told CNBC’s Brian Sullivan. “America is a leader in the energy sector, all of those sectors, not just in the fossil fuel side. Obviously, that’s really changed with our ability to deliver [LNG to] 34 countries, now five continents of LNG.…

An Inside Look at a State-of-the-Art Training Facility [PODCAST]

March 9, 2019

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Royce Peters, senior technical coordinator for the Carpenters International Training Center (ITC) in Las Vegas, Nevada, was a guest on The POWER Podcast. The ITC is the largest and most-comprehensive training facility of its kind in the world. Following the completion of phase six of construction in 2018, the center now has more than 1.2 million square feet under-roof.

Peters listed some of the unique training tools available at the facility, including a Frame 7 gas turbine, a 64-MW steam turbine, eight overhead bridge cranes, and a 16,000-gallon underwater-welding dive tank, among other things. The facility is one of the largest publishers of technical training materials in the world, with more than 120 books created and more under development.

The Carpenters International Training Fund and its affiliated funds invest more than $ 200 million a year to develop and deliver training, enhance knowledge and skill sets, and create new opportunities for United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America (UBC) members.…

States Take Lead with Plans for 100% Carbon-Free Energy

March 7, 2019

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Minnesota and Wisconsin recently joined the list of states aiming for a 100% clean-energy future, while some Illinois lawmakers are pushing for not only carbon-free power, but also 100% renewable energy.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) was the latest to announce a set of policy proposals designed to lead his state’s electricity sector to 100% clean energy by 2050. “Climate change is an existential threat,” Walz said in a statement on March 4. “We must take immediate action. If Washington won’t lead, Minnesota will.”

Xcel Energy, Minnesota’s largest utility, has already publicly committed to generate 100% of its electricity from clean energy by 2050. Xcel operates three nuclear reactors in Minnesota—the dual-unit 1,100-MW Prairie Island facility and the single-unit 671-MW Monticello plant. Nuclear power fits the bill as a carbon-free source, but none of the three units is currently licensed to operate beyond 2034.

In neighboring Wisconsin, Gov. Tony Evers (D) also wants to require his state’s utilities to be carbon-free by 2050.…

Carbon Capture Proposed to Save New Mexico Coal Plant

March 3, 2019

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The New York-based hedge fund aiming to take over New Mexico’s San Juan Generating Station (SJGS), targeted for closure by state lawmakers, wants to refit the 46-year-old, coal-fired plant to use carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology.

Acme Equities LLC said last week that retrofitting the 847-MW plant with CCS technology would cut carbon emissions by 90% and offer the plant another revenue stream—selling the captured CO₂to help produce oil. Acme is negotiating with local Farmington, N.M., officials to take over the San Juan plant, a major employer in the area, and keep it operating.

Injecting carbon dioxide into older oil fields has been done for years to encourage wells to continue producing oil.

But state lawmakers expressed doubts about the technology even as they pushed a bill (Senate Bill 489) that would close the plant by 2022, limit the financial hit to the plant’s current ownership, and preserve tax revenue for local schools.

Lawmakers wondered about the economic viability of the CCS technology during discussions March 2 with the state’s Senate Corporations and Transportation Committee.…

THE BIG PICTURE: Japan’s Nuclear Comeback

March 1, 2019

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After the Great Tohoku Earthquake and tsunami, and ensuing crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in March 2011, Japan issued stringent safety regulations and reviews that affected its entire 50-reactor fleet. It meant that as each Japanese nuclear reactor entered its scheduled maintenance and refueling outage, it could not returned to operation until restart was approved by both Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) and the central government. Nuclear operators also need consent from governments of local prefectures.

Between September 2013—when Ohi 3 and 4 were shut down—and August 2015, when Sendai 1 and 2 restarted, Japan’s entire reactor fleet went black. In 2013, though there was no consensus on how long the approval process could take, some industry observers forecast reactors under NRA review could be back online within a year. As of December 2018, only nine reactors had restarted. Sixteen others were under review by the NRA, where average review duration stretched beyond 1,000 days, owing to staffing issues.…