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GE Turbines Will Equip Vietnam’s First LNG-Fueled Power Plant

May 16, 2022

Two units of a new gas-fired power plant in Vietnam will feature the first use of General Electric’s (GE’s) H-Class turbine in the country.

GE on May 16 announced that PetroVietnam Power Corp.’s (PV Power’s) Nhon Trach 3 & 4 Power Plant, with 1.6 GW of generation capacity, will use two GE 9HA.02 gas turbines. It also will be the first power station in Vietnam fueled by liquefied natural gas (LNG).

The new units are expected to provide electricity for three large industrial areas in the southern region of the country including Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai, and Ba Ria–Vung Tau provinces.

LNG projects are being developed in Vietnam as the country tries to wean itself off coal-fired power generation, which supplies about half the country’s electricity. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh in November of last year said Vietnam wants to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

The country’s ruling Communist Party has said it does not want to build nuclear power plants, and in 2016 scrapped plans for reactors backed by both Japan and Russia.…

Tri-State Moves to Retire Rifle Combined Cycle Power Plant

April 9, 2022

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Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, a wholesale power supply cooperative with 45 members in four states—Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, and Wyoming—announced its intentions to retire the Rifle Station, an 85-MW combined cycle facility in Rifle, Colorado.

The announcement was made on April 5 in conjunction with a filing with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). If approved, the plant would be closed “on or about Oct. 6, 2022,” Tri-State said.

The Rifle plant runs infrequently, according to the cooperative, because “sufficient and lower-cost resources” are available to serve member power requirements. The station reportedly would need “significant investments” to continue operating.

“The decision to retire Rifle Station comes as we transition to cleaner resources and reduce our wholesale rates,” Tri-State CEO Duane Highley said in a statement. “We appreciate our Rifle employees’ commitment and service through the years, and will be working with them to ease the impact of this transition.”

In January, Tri-State reached an agreement with more than two dozen parties on Phase I of its 2020 Electric Resource Plan (ERP), which was before the CPUC at the time.…

Ukraine’s Largest Nuclear Power Plant Taken by Russian Forces

March 6, 2022

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The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported on March 4 that Russian forces had taken control of the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) site, but that the reactors continued to be operated by the plant’s regular staff and there had been no release of radioactive material.

“What we are telling you is confirmed information that is coming straight from the Ukrainian regulator or straight from the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, where we have contacts at the moment and permanently through the night,” IAEA Director General Rafael Mario Grossi said during a press conference held on Friday at 10:30 a.m. CET (4:30 a.m. EST) in Vienna, Austria.

Grossi reported that overnight a projectile had hit a training/construction building within the plant site, causing a fire, which was extinguished by the local fire brigade at the power station. “It’s important to say that all the safety systems of the six reactors at the plant were not affected at all and that there has been no release of radioactive material,” Grossi emphasized during his press briefing.…

Evergy to Build Solar Array at Kansas City Coal Power Plant Site

January 9, 2022

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Evergy, a Kansas City, Missouri–headquartered energy provider serving about 1.6 million customers in Kansas and Missouri, announced plans on Jan. 5 to build a 10-MW solar array at the company’s Hawthorn power plant.

“Our Hawthorn power plant is a prime location to showcase Kansas City’s commitment to renewable energy and our city’s forward-thinking progress,” said Chuck Caisley, Evergy senior vice president and chief customer officer. “Bringing this renewable energy to Hawthorn will limit the expense by using infrastructure already in place.”

The Hawthorn Generating Station is located in northeast Kansas City, Missouri, and includes a 564-MW coal-fired unit known as Unit 5 and a 225-MW natural gas-fired combined cycle unit known as Unit 6&9. Hawthorn 5 was built in 1969, but after an explosion in February 1999 destroyed the power plant boiler, the unit was substantially rebuilt and returned to service in 2001.

Evergy plans to build the solar array on 67 acres to the northwest of the plant. The site is expected to include more than 22,000 solar panels and be operational in fall 2022.…

Darlington Nuclear Plant Will Get a BWRX-300 SMR as GE Hitachi Bags Lucrative OPG Selection

December 3, 2021

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Ontario Power Generation (OPG) will build a GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) BWRX-300 small modular reactor (SMR) at its Darlington Nuclear Station in Clarington, Ontario, marking a major triumph for the nuclear vendor in a stiff competition for the much-watched utility-scale project.

OPG announced the selection of the GE Hitachi BWRX-300 SMR over competitors X-energy and Terrestrial Energy in a live stream on Dec. 2. The utility said it will now work with GE Hitachi on the SMR engineering, design, planning, preparing the licensing and permitting materials, and performing site preparation activities. The companies are targeting a “mutual goal of constructing Canada’s first commercial, grid-scale SMR, projected to be completed as early as 2028.”

Site preparation, which will include “installation of the necessary construction services,” is slated to begin in the spring of 2022, pending appropriate approvals. OPG additionally said it will apply to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) for a License to Construct the SMR by the end of 2022.…

ISO-NE Move Puts New Gas-Fired Plant in Doubt

November 7, 2021

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The future of a natural gas-fired power plant planned in northeastern Connecticut is in jeopardy after regional grid operator ISO-New England (ISO-NE) asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for permission to end a capacity contract with the project.

Florida-based NTE Energy’s plan to build the 650-MW Killingly Energy Center has been delayed due to permitting issues. NTE Energy secured an obligation in ISO-NE’s 2019 energy supply auction for the 2022-23 supply period, meaning it agreed to produce a certain amount of power at a specific cost that would be funneled into the larger New England power grid.

ISO-NE in a Nov. 4 letter to FERC asked the agency for authorization to cut Killingly from future power considerations, known as Capacity Supply Obligation (CSO) plans. The ISO said its monitoring of the project’s progress found NTE Energy would not hit its “critical path schedule milestones” until more than two years after the start of the agreed-on commitment period. ISO-NE in its filing said, “Killingly was required to achieve commercial operation on June 1, 2022.”…