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New York Officials Deny Permits for Proposed NRG Gas-Fired Plant

October 28, 2021

New York officials have denied permits for NRG Energy’s proposed natural gas-fired power plant upgrade project in Astoria, a decision made after an environmental agency said the plan was “inconsistent” with a state measure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The state’s Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) on Oct. 27 said the proposed new power plant “would be inconsistent with or would interfere with the statewide greenhouse gas emissions limits established in the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA).”

DEC’s determination stated, “Astoria NRG failed to demonstrate the need or justification for the proposed project notwithstanding this inconsistency.” Wednesday’s ruling came after the DEC in July approved draft permits for the Astoria Replacement Project, a 437-MW plant that would have replaced half-century-old gas-fired units in the Ditmars-Steinway area of Queens County in New York.

The DEC’s reversal came after a series of public hearings this summer in which the agency received more than 6,000 responses in opposition to the project.

Lawmakers in Opposition

New York Gov.…

DTE Energy Will Close Belle River Coal Power Plant Two Years Early

October 15, 2021

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Detroit-based DTE Energy said it will cease all coal use at its Belle River Power Plant no later than December 2028, at least two years earlier than the facility’s previously scheduled 2030 end date.

The Belle River Power Plant comprises two electric generating units, each with a maximum gross design generating output of 697 MW. The 2,200-acre site on which it’s located is in China and East China Townships in St. Clair County, Michigan, and is shared with several other units including a few gas-fired peaking combustion turbines and the coal-fired St. Clair Power Plant. The Belle River units were brought online in 1984 and 1985, respectively.

DTE, which serves about 2.2 million electric customers in southeast Michigan, said retiring the facility by 2028 will enable the company to achieve its 50% carbon emissions reduction goal faster than planned and move the company closer to its ultimate goal of achieving net zero carbon emissions. DTE has already retired four of its coal-fired facilities—Marysville, Harbor Beach, Conners Creek, and River Rouge—and plans to retire its Trenton Channel and St.…

Pioneering 10-MW Baseload Hydrogen Power Plant Breaks Ground in French Guiana

October 7, 2021

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Hydrogene de France (HDF) Energy, an independent power producer and fuel cell manufacturer, has kicked off construction of one of the world’s first multi-megawatt baseload hydrogen power plants. The company says the project in French Guiana, which is being “duplicated” in about 20 countries, will provide 128 MWh of green hydrogen storage.

CEOG is based on HDF Energy’s proprietary power-to-power Renewstable power plant. The plant will comprise a solar PV park, a 16-MW electrolyzer, a long-term hydrogen storage unit, two 1.5-MW fuel cell systems, as well as a short-term lithium-ion battery storage unit. When commissioned as planned in mid-2023, the plant will deliver a “fixed and guaranteed” power capacity of 10 MW between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. and 3 MW between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m. Courtesy: CEOG

HDF Energy’s $ 200 million Centrale Electrique de l’Ouest Guyanais (CEOG) project is based on its proprietary power-to-power Renewstable power plant. The plant will comprise a solar PV park, a 16-MW electrolysis platform, a long-term hydrogen storage unit, two 1.5-MW fuel cell systems, as well as a short-term lithium-ion battery storage unit.…

JERA Kicks Off Hydrogen Co-Firing Pilot at LNG Power Plant

August 28, 2021

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The post JERA Kicks Off Hydrogen Co-Firing Pilot at LNG Power Plant appeared first on POWER Magazine.

JERA has received the Japanese government’s green light for a pilot project to demonstrate 30% hydrogen co-firing at an existing large-scale liquefied natural gas (LNG) thermal power plant by 2025. The project is Japan’s “first initiative to use a large amount of hydrogen as fuel in a large-scale commercial LNG thermal power plant,” the company said on Aug. 26.

Funding from Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization’s Green Innovation Fund program will allow the company to kick off the project this October. JERA anticipates the five-year pilot will shed key insights on the practical use of hydrogen at existing LNG power plants when it ends in March 2025.

JERA said it will initiate the project with a feasibility study. Based on that study’s results, the company will build hydrogen supply facilities at the LNG thermal power plant. It will also install combustors capable of co-firing hydrogen and LNG in its gas turbines.…

Gas Exploration and Production Company to Buy Gas-Fired Power Plant in Texas

August 16, 2021

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The post Gas Exploration and Production Company to Buy Gas-Fired Power Plant in Texas appeared first on POWER Magazine.

BKV Corp., a privately held natural gas exploration and production company headquartered in Denver, Colorado, said it will purchase the Temple 1 power plant in Temple, Texas. The deal, valued at $ 430 million and subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2021.

“We’re excited about this acquisition, and the strategic steps we are taking to position BKV as a leading integrated energy company with cleaner, greener energy,” Chris Kalnin, CEO of BKV, said in a statement issued to POWER. “By extending our natural gas business into a power business we are able to deliver to unprecedented grid reliability, while also creating industry leading ESG [environmental, social, and governance] standards because we can directly certify our emissions footprint at each step in the value chain, from underground molecule to burner tip.”

State-of-the-Art Facility

Temple 1 (Figure 1) is a 758-MW combined cycle facility built in 2014.…

Icebreaker Reactor Approved for Ground-Based Nuclear Plant

August 9, 2021

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The post Icebreaker Reactor Approved for Ground-Based Nuclear Plant appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The international business arm of Russia’s state-owned nuclear power company has received a license that will allow construction of small modular reactors (SMRs), based on the design used in the country’s icebreaker shipping fleet, at ground-based nuclear power plants.

Rusatom Overseas JSC (RAOS JSC), the company representing parent company Rosatom’s international interests, on Aug. 9 announced it was granted the license from the Federal Service for Environmental, Technological and Nuclear Supervision—known as Rostekhnadzor—that will allow construction to proceed. The license specifically was granted authorizing Rusatom Overseas to move forward with a project to build an SMR with a RITM-200N reactor at a site in Ust-Kuyga, in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Russia.

The Yakutia SMR project is based on technology from Rosatom used in the design of the RITM-200 reactor that powers the icebreaker ships. The RITM-200 is an integrated generation 3+ pressurized water reactor, developed by OKBM Afrikantov—a Russian nuclear engineering company—and designed to produce 55 MW of power.…