THE BIG PICTURE: Still in the Dark
The post THE BIG PICTURE: Still in the Dark appeared first on POWER Magazine.
New York City Sets Ambitious Citywide Energy Storage Target
New York City is aiming to have 100 MWh of energy storage by 2020 under an unprecedented target set by Mayor Bill de Blasio on September 23.
The city’s first-ever energy storage deployment target will help reduce reliance on the grid by making variable sources of energy production, such as solar panels, usable for more of the day, Blasio said as he announced the target to celebrate Climate Week. “Energy storage also helps increase the City’s resiliency by providing backup energy when the grid is offline.”
The mayor on September 23 also called on the Department of Buildings to issue permits for more than 3,000 solar panel installations this year alone, bringing the citywide total to more than 8,000 installations in 2016.
“This solar growth puts the City on track to meet its OneNYC goals of installing 100 [MW] of solar power on public buildings and spurring the installation of 250 MW on private buildings by 2025,” his office said in a statement last week.…
Japan Kills Monju but Not Breeders
In a widely expected move, the Japanese government finally killed the ill-fated Monju breeder reactor project on September 21, but reasserted its faith in breeder reactor technology as a component of the nation’s future power mix.
The Monju plant was an ambitious project that never came close to meeting its backers’ expectations. Launched in 1980, the sodium-cooled fast-breeder plant managed only 250 days of operation over its lifetime. A sodium coolant fire in 1995 and subsequent cover-up by operator Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) gave the plant a black eye from which it never recovered. An abortive attempt at a restart in 2010 led to revelations that JAEA had skipped required safety inspections on as many as 10,000 of the plant’s components.
In a scathing indictment last year, Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority ruled that JAEA was not qualified to safely operate the plant and ordered the federal government to find a replacement or shut the facility down. The Japanese cabinet on Wednesday took the latter option, drawing to a close a project that burned through an estimated ¥1 trillion ($ 10 billion in 2016 dollars) with little to show for it.…
AEP to Shed Ohio, Indiana Coal and Gas Plants in Move for Full Regulation
In an effort to become a fully regulated power company, American Electric Power (AEP) has agreed to sell four Midwestern power plants—representing a total of 5.2 GW—to a newly formed joint venture of Blackstone and ArcLight Capital Partners for about $ 2.17 billion.
AEP will sell:
- the 1,186-MW natural gas–fired Lawrenceburg Generating Station in Lawrenceburg, Ind.
- the 840-MW natural gas–fired Waterford Energy Center in Waterford, Ohio
- the 507-MW natural gas–fired Darby Generating Station in Mount Sterling, Ohio
- the 2,665-MW coal-fired Gen. James M. Gavin Plant in Cheshire, Ohio
All generating capacity is located in the region served by PJM Interconnection.
The sale is expected to close in the first quarter of 2017, but it is subject to regulatory approvals from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, and federal clearance pursuant to the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, AEP said.
Moving on Out
Efforts to formalize a power purchase agreement that would have supported continued operation of AEP and FirstEnergy generation capacity in Ohio were punctured by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on April 27, though the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) had blessed the deal just a month before.…
SLIDESHOW: An Alarming Trend Affecting U.S. Baseload Power
States, regulators, and market participants have in recent years called attention to a trend concerning uneconomic baseload generation in organized wholesale markets, specifically in ISO New England, New York Independent System Operator (NYISO), MISO, PJM, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), and the California Independent System Operator (CAISO).
Cheap natural gas, low power demand growth, increasing operating costs owing to state and federal rules, and market design issues are affecting bottom lines and forcing some power companies to withdraw generating capacity or reconsider participation in these competitive markets.
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7. ERCOT.
A September 2016 report from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) projects that seven aging coal-fired power plants in Texas—a total 8.1 GW that represents about 40% of coal-fired capacity in ERCOT—will likely be retired due to their inability to compete in the Texas electricity market. Among “forces arrayed against coal-fired generation” that suggests the plants’ retirement is likely are increases in natural gas generation, increased competition from new wind and solar resources, and generally, “low energy market prices in ERCOT’s deregulated wholesale markets,” IEEFA said.
UK Approves Hinkley Point C Construction—with Caveats
The $ 23.8 billion Hinkley Point C nuclear project has received the UK government’s green light, but the country wants to ensure that project’s ownership cannot change without government agreement.
After a “comprehensive review” of the project and a revised agreement with French power generator EDF, the UK Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial (DBEI) Strategy on September 15 confirmed plans to build the nation’s first new nuclear power plant in decades in Somerset, southwest England.
EDF will build the plant with a $ 7.94 billion investment from Chinese state nuclear firm China General Nuclear.
EDF made a final investment decision to proceed with construction of two EPR units (after a lengthy review process and several postponements) on July 28. But in an abrupt turn, just as contracts between EDF and the UK government were to be signed on July 29, the government signaled that it would carefully reconsider an agreement reached with EDF on key commercial terms reached in October 2013.…