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GE Selling Biopharma Unit in $21.4 Billion Deal

February 27, 2019

General Electric’s (GE’s) sale of its biopharma unit on February 25 is designed to reduce the company’s overall debt load, and CEO Larry Culp said the deal is the latest step in his plan to strengthen the whole of GE, particularly the company’s struggling Power division.

GE on Monday agreed to sell the biopharma part of its life sciences business to Danaher Corp. for $ 21.4 billion. Washington, D.C.-based Danaher is the company Culp ran for about 13 years prior to joining GE.

Sale Strengthens Balance Sheet

“This news meaningfully accelerates our deleveraging plan,” Culp told Bloomberg after the deal was announced. “You can see the tide beginning to turn where we can really focus on a little less defense, a little more offense.” GE in November said it would reorganize GE Power into two businesses and consolidate the unit’s headquarters.

Shares in GE surged Monday, rising almost 9% to their highest level since October 2018. Culp, who took over as CEO on October 1 of last year, replacing John Flannery, in January said GE’s strategy moving forward “is clear: de-leverage our balance sheet and strengthen our businesses, starting with Power.…

Groups Reach Deal to Keep New Mexico Coal Plant Open

February 25, 2019

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A private New York-based real estate investment company that focuses on North American energy projects has reached an agreement with officials in Farmington, New Mexico, to keep the coal-fired San Juan Generating Station open beyond 2022.

The city is part-owner of the 847-MW plant, and the other owners—which include Tucson Electric Power, Los Alamos County, and Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems, along with majority owner Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM)—have said they do not plan to receive power from the SJGS after 2022. The agreement with Acme Equities LLC, a hedge fund founded by Jason Selch in 2012, was reached late February 23, according to a news release from the city.

Farmington officials have worked to find a new operator for the plant after PNM in 2017 said it would close the plant’s two remaining units in 2022, 30 years ahead of schedule. According to a plant fact sheet, PNM owns 46% of the SJGS.

Several California-owned utilities formerly owned some of the plant’s generation, but they ended their ownership agreements in 2017 after 2015 legislation in California required them to divest from coal-fired generation.…

APS Will Add 850 MW of Battery Storage to Solar Plants

February 23, 2019

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Arizona’s largest utility wants to support its renewable power portfolio by adding as much as 850 MW of battery storage capacity to its solar power plants by 2025.

Arizona Public Service Co. (APS) made the announcement February 21. Don Brandt, the utility’s chairman and CEO, in a statement said, “Arizona is already a national leader in solar energy. The challenge is, no one has figured out how to stop the sun from setting at night. As storage technology improves and declines in cost, we will increasingly be able to store the power of the sun cost-effectively to deliver when our customers need it.”

The plan includes installing batteries at existing solar facilities, and at future sites. APS would not talk about the cost of the program, citing confidentiality agreements, but said it would build at least 100 MW of new solar capacity by 2025. Analysts have said the utility currently generates about 14% of its power from renewable sources.

The U.S.…

National Engineers Week: Engineering for the Power World

February 21, 2019

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This week (Feb. 17–23) is National Engineers Week. “EWeek” as the National Society of Professional Engineers calls it, is a formal coalition of more than 70 engineering, education, and cultural societies, and more than 50 corporations, and government agencies. Its key goal: raising public awareness of engineers’ positive contributions to quality of life.

Over the 14 decades it has been in print, POWER’s pages have captured countless engineering achievements that have advanced the world of power generation. In honor of EWeek, here some recent important stories that shed light on engineering topics and illustrate how important engineering is to our sector. Find many more in our archives at powermag.com.

Who Needs an Owner’s Engineer?

March 2011
In the past, members of a utility’s engineering staff spent their career designing and building new power plants. Today, many utility engineers find that opportunity comes around only once in a career. To fill the experience gap, an “owner’s engineer” company can add to a utility’s team a cadre of highly qualified power engineers who focus on avoiding design errors and keeping the project on schedule.…

Entergy Texas Breaks Ground on New 993-MW Combined Cycle Plant

February 19, 2019

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Entergy Texas on February 15 began construction of its first new power plant in 40 years. The Montgomery County Power Station (MCPS), located in Willis, will be a 993-MW combined cycle gas turbine plant, adjacent to the existing Lewis Creek Power Plant.

Entergy Texas is part of Entergy Corporation, which provides power to about 3 million customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. The company in a statement said “the facility will provide a new source of reliable, low-cost and clean energy to meet the growing power demand across Southeast Texas.” The plant is expected to enter commercial operation by mid-2021.

Sallie Rainer, president and CEO of Entergy Texas, at Friday’s groundbreaking said, “Southeast Texas is growing, and Entergy Texas needs to invest now to power that growth. By providing reliable, affordable power, we can meet our customers’ needs today, while laying the foundation for future growth across our region.”

Entergy Texas has said the new plant, with cleaner and more efficient combined cycle technology, will save its customers about $ 1.7 billion in energy costs over the next 30 years.…

Two Harriet Monroe Poems About Power Plants

February 15, 2019

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Harriet Monroe, the founder and longtime editor of Poetry magazine, was the author of a large body of poems that captured the essence of urban industrial modernity. Her 1914 book, You and I ( Macmillan Company, New York), contains two poems about power generation.

The first, “The Turbine,” is an engineer’s ode to his turbine. The second, “A Power-Plant,” references Edison’s Fisk Street power plant in Chicago—the plant that housed GE’s first (5-MW) steam turbine generator unit. The 1903-opened plant was permanently closed in 2012.

THE TURBINE

To W.S.M.

Look at her—there she sits upon her throne
As ladylike and quiet as a nun!
But if you cross her—whew! her thunderbolts
Will shake the earth ! She’s proud as any
queen,
The beauty—knows her royal business too,
To light the world, and does it night by night
When her gay lord, the sun, gives up his job.
I am her slave; I wake and watch and run
From dark till dawn beside her.…