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GE Will Cut Jobs, End Manufacturing at Virginia Plant

June 13, 2018

General Electric’s (GE’s) power unit has said it will end manufacturing operations at its plant in Salem, Virginia, next year, with more than 260 workers losing their jobs, according to union officials. Officials noted that 42% of the affected workers are eligible for retirement.

The plan announced June 8 said the Salem plant, which opened in 1955, would continue as an engineering center staffed by some 200 employees. GE is among the largest employers in the Salem region, and the plant at one time had about 3,500 workers.

The company said the Salem manufacturing work would move to other GE locations or be handled by supplier partners. GE has struggled along with other turbine manufacturers over the past year as global demand for the units has fallen. CEO John Flannery in May told a Florida electrical products conference that the company is trying to stem the tide of business losses, but said he is “being deliberate” with moves to reorganize GE even as the company’s stock price has been hammered in the past year.…

FPL Will Build New Gas Plant, Adds More Solar

March 5, 2018

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Florida regulators on March 1 approved Florida Power & Light’s (FPL’s) plan to build a new $ 888 million natural gas-fired power plant, replacing an existing gas- and oil-fueled plant on the same site in Dania Beach that is being retired this year. The utility on Thursday also announced the opening of four new solar power plants in Florida, joining four others that FPL opened in January of this year.

The Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) supported FPL’s plan for the new 1,163-MW Dania Beach Clean Energy Center. The PSC said reusing infrastructure from the existing Lauderdale plant at the site was the most cost-effective way to lower emissions and meet rising demand for electricity in the region. The new facility will use the same gas infrastructure, substation, and transmission lines as the existing plant, and emissions will be 95% lower for nitrogen oxide and 22% lower for carbon dioxide, according to the PSC. Water used by the plant will drop by more than 1 million gallons a day, the PSC said.…

Congratulations to the Connected Plant Game Changers

March 3, 2018

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The Connected Plant Game Changer Award recognizes those people who are leading the charge in implementing digital technologies in their field: either in the chemical process industries or in power generation.

Nominations are open to individuals who have used tools associated with digitalization to contribute to innovation, solve a problem or make improvements, as well as those who are fast risers or champions in this area. Out of the many nominations received this year, a total of 12 winners were chosen by a committee comprised of staff members from POWER and Chemical Engineering. The winners were honored with the award during a luncheon at this year’s Connected Plant Conference (February 27–28, Charlotte, N.C.; www.connectedplantconference.com).

The 2018 Connected Plant Game Changer Winners

Matt Peters, Manufacturing Engineer from 3M

Matt has been involved in numerous projects leveraging WirelessHART and remote analytics to improve process uptime, asset reliability, worker safety and energy efficiency. He helped create a corporate strategic vision for wireless and integrated smart technologies.…

Cogeneration Solution Serves Processing Plant Needs [PODCAST]

February 25, 2018

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Concentric Power, a California-based provider of high-efficiency energy modules for onsite refrigeration and electric power generation, recently launched a $ 100 million financing program for cogeneration and microgrid projects.

“We are excited to create a new path forward in energy infrastructure financing and development,” Brian Curtis, founder and CEO of Concentric Power, said in a press release. “The next 20 years will be transformative for how electric power is generated and consumed. Industrial and ag consumers see these shifts coming but would often rather invest capital in their core business rather than in plant utilities. Concentric’s technology strategy and finance program enable customers to utilize third-party financing to roll out sustainable infrastructure.”

Concentric has already developed two significant projects: Taylor Farms in Gonzales, California, and True Leaf Farms in San Juan Bautista, California. Both are large agricultural processing facilities that require several MW of power and refrigeration to operate.

Taylor Farms (Figure 1) installed solar panels and a wind turbine to supply some of its power demand, but it wanted a reliable backup to fill voids when the wind and solar couldn’t provide the processing plant’s needs.…

FirstEnergy Suffers Steep Losses, Will Close Massive Coal Plant

February 21, 2018

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FirstEnergy Corp. bled $ 2.64 billion from its competitive businesses over 2017, financial losses exacerbated by marked declines in contract sales, higher operating expenses, and costs associated with asset impairment and plant exit.

The Akron, Ohio–based company, which in January received a $ 2.5 billion equity injection from four private investment groups to boost its transition to a fully regulated utility company, on February 20 reported full-year 2017 losses of $ 1.7 billion on revenues of $ 14 billion. In 2016, the company recorded losses of $ 6.2 billion on revenues of $ 14.6 billion.

The losses, though significant, are indicative of progress for the company, which has, since 2016, announced the sale or closure of 2,471 MW of competitive generation operated in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

Closure of a 1.3-GW Coal-Fired Power Plant

On February 16, FirstEnergy announced it had notified PJM Interconnection of a plan to deactivate its 1979-built Pleasants Power Station in Willow Island, West Virginia. The 1,300-MW plant will be sold or closed on January 1, 2019.…

Cybersecurity Tips for Power Plant Operators [PODCAST]

February 17, 2018

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Cybersecurity threats have increased dramatically as sophisticated, nation-state developed hacking programs have been leaked to the general public. Now, common criminals have high-tech tools at their disposal with the capability to cause serious damage. As such, the power industry must take precautions and upgrade security to keep systems safe. While regulations provide a minimum security standard, companies that aren’t going above and beyond the government’s requirements are likely to be setting themselves up as “low-hanging fruit,” that is, easy targets for hackers.

In this episode of The POWER Podcast, Chris Grove, director of industrial security for Indegy, offers some tips for keeping bad actors out of power plants. Gaining visibility into systems is an important first step. Once companies understand what risks they’re exposed to, getting a broad-based team of both information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) experts involved to develop solutions to mitigate the risks is a logical subsequent step. Investing in good security can pay dividends in the end.…