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Reports: Trump Administration Supports GE Over Siemens in $15B Iraq Deal

October 21, 2018

Iraq signed a memorandum of understanding on October 15 to develop power plants in the country with General Electric (GE). The Financial Times on October 18 said the $ 15 billion deal was brokered after senior officials in the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump warned Iraq that relations with the U.S. would be threatened if Iraq signed an agreement with Munich, Germany-based Siemens instead of GE, which is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.

Siemens in 2016 said it had about 50,000 workers in the U.S. and reported 2016 revenue from its U.S. operations, including more than 60 manufacturing sites, at $ 23.7 billion. GE last year reported it has about 106,000 U.S. employees.

Bloomberg on October 18 said two Trump administration officials who asked not to be identified said senior U.S. officials warned Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi not to move forward with Siemens. Bloomberg reported the Trump administration suspected Iran was pushing Iraq to accept a deal with Siemens “as a way of undercutting ties with the U.S.,”…

Distributed Energy Is Disrupting the Power Industry: Is the Sky Falling?

October 19, 2018

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Utilities are faced with many disruptive changes in the power market. Customers are demanding cleaner energy and turning to distributed generation as a solution. One expert suggested power companies must react and evolve their business models to change with the times.

During a keynote presentation at the Distributed Energy Conference in Golden, Colorado, on October 17, Roy M. Palk, Esq. (Figure 1), president of New Horizons Consulting and former CEO of East Kentucky Power Cooperative, said, “The utility model, in terms of planning, has just been turned upside down. It will stay that way, in my opinion, for years to come.”

1. Roy Palk, Esq., president of New Horizons Consulting, gave a keynote presentation during the Distributed Energy Conference, in Golden, Colorado, on October 17, 2018. Source: POWER

However, Palk was not pessimistic about the future. He encouraged power utilities to “embrace the changes.” The three points that Palk wanted attendees to take away from his presentation were:

Power companies were born and thrive on disruption.

…

Test Your Knowledge: Competitive Maintenance Strategies

October 17, 2018

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Competitive maintenance uses an analytical process and condition-monitoring tools to select the optimum maintenance strategy for each plant system. For example, the optimum strategy for the plant’s steam turbine will be different than that for its gas turbine, and vastly different than that of its feedwater pumps. How well do you know your maintenance strategies?

Gas Turbine Maintenance Strategies – LEARN MORE.

To learn more about competitive maintenance strategies, read MD&A’s tips: “Gas Turbines Maintenance Strategies.”

To take more quizzes, go to the Test Your Knowledge archive page.

The post Test Your Knowledge: Competitive Maintenance Strategies appeared first on POWER Magazine.

POWER Magazine…

Coal Silo Failures Reveal the Need for NDE Inspection

October 14, 2018

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In July 2016, a coal silo collapsed at an Indiana power plant. The root cause was identified as cracking of the cone-to-skirt weld. Warnings to inspect this vulnerable weld were published widely in conference proceedings and trade journal articles. Nevertheless, coal silos continue to fail at an alarming rate (Figure 1), which suggests that the needed inspections weren’t completed by all power producers.

1. Recent failures of cone-to-skirt welds on large coal silos point to the need for ongoing inspections. Courtesy: Joe W. Frey Engineering Associates, LLC

If you have any of these suspended cone silos (Figure 2) in your plant and are not yet doing non-destructive evaluation (NDE) inspections of their cone-to-skirt welds, then you need to start today.

2. Coal silos like this need our immediate attention! Courtesy: Joe W. Frey Engineering Associates, LLC

Granted, this particular design is a real challenge to inspect, because the silo’s liner seals over the galvanic cell (in layman’s terms, a corrosion sandwich) that is created at the union of the stainless-steel liner and the carbon-steel structure.…

Competitive Generators Look to the Supreme Court After Seventh Circuit Declines Rehearing on Nuclear Subsidies

October 12, 2018

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The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has declined to rehear a case that challenges nuclear subsidies in Illinois, effectively dealing a blow to a group of competitive generators, which have fought the measure for several years.

In an order issued on October 9, the appellate court said its full judicial panel had voted to deny a September 29–filed petition from the Electric Power Supply Association (EPSA), a national trade association representing independent power producers and marketers, that urged it to rehear a case challenging the state’s zero emissions credit (ZEC) program under the Illinois Future Energy Jobs Act. In its petition, the group argued that the court erred or overlooked significant aspects of its case when the court issuedits final judgment on September 13.

The court’s decision, which essentially left the door open for states to subsidize nuclear generation, was hailed as a victory for Exelon Corp., which lobbied for the measure to protect its financially flailing nuclear assets.…

AEP Will Close Ohio Coal Plant Early

October 10, 2018

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American Electric Power (AEP) this week confirmed it will close its coal-fired Conesville Power Plant in Ohio earlier than originally planned. An AEP spokesperson in an email to media confirmed the plant’s workers were told October 5 that the plant will close by May 31, 2020.

AEP said Units 5 and 6 at the plant, which were originally scheduled to shut down in 2022, will likely close in May 2019. Unit 4 is scheduled to close in May 2020. Those three units began commercial operation between 1973 and 1978.

The first unit at the plant began operating in Coshocton County in 1957, with Unit 2 starting up in 1959, and Unit 3 in 1962. The plant celebrated its 60th anniversary last year. Those three units were decommissioned between 2005 and 2012.

The company said the decision to close the remaining units earlier than planned was made after the plant did not clear the PJM market capacity auction for 2021 to 2022, and only partly cleared the auction for 2020 to 2021.…