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GE, CTCI Score 6.5-GW Gas Power Contract Win in Taiwan

September 7, 2020

The post GE, CTCI Score 6.5-GW Gas Power Contract Win in Taiwan appeared first on POWER Magazine.

General Electric International Inc. (GE) and consortium partner Taiwanese engineering services firm CTCI have bagged a multi-billion-dollar engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract for five combined cycle gas-fired power units in Taiwan.

The consortium will build three new units at the 3.9-GW Hsinta Power Plant and two new units at the 2.6-GW Taichung Power Plant. The two plants owned by state-owned utility Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower) are slated to come online in phases, starting in 2024.

Power Plants Based on HA Technology

As part of the project scope, GE Gas Power will deploy 10 7HA.03 gas turbines—the newest model in its 2014-launched high-efficiency air-cooled (HA) gas turbine line—as well as five steam turbine, 15 generators, and 10 heat recovery steam generators. CTCI will provide engineering and construction of civil work and erection for the generating units, as well as the balance of plant. …

Georgia Power: New Vogtle Unit Still Set for 2021 Startup

September 5, 2020

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The post Georgia Power: New Vogtle Unit Still Set for 2021 Startup appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The target in-service dates for two new reactors at the Vogtle nuclear power plant site in Georgia remain November 2021 and November 2022, respectively, Georgia Power said in a filing this week with the state’s Public Utility Commission.

The utility on Aug. 31, in its “Twenty-third Semi-annual Vogtle Construction Monitoring Report,” said work on the two-unit expansion at the site in Waynesboro, Georgia, is progressing on pace despite the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The latest report, also known as the VCM (Vogtle Construction Monitoring), said cold hydro testing of Unit 3 (Figure 1) is set for this month, with hot functional testing planned to occur during the fourth quarter of this year.

Fuel loading of Unit 3 also is planned by year-end. The utility said that under an “aggressive work site plan,” Unit 3 could enter commercial operation as soon as May 2021, though the regulatory-approved date remains six months later.…

The POWER Interview: Managing Operations in a Pandemic World

August 10, 2020

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The post The POWER Interview: Managing Operations in a Pandemic World appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Power generation companies, like other businesses, have altered operations due to COVID-19. And it’s more than just having employees work remotely, wear masks, and social distance.

Managing data and documents with new protocols in place is critical to any asset-intensive industry, and electricity providers are no different. The Kinsmen Group, an engineering and information management firm, cites a recent report noting how the global digital asset management market reached a value of $ 3.4 billion in 2019, and how that market is expected to grow to $ 8.5 billion by 2025.

The group says this growth is caused by two major factors: the continued trend toward digitization, and increasing adoption of cloud-based services.

*Edwin Elmendorp is leading information architect with Kinsmen Group. He has more than 15 years’ experience in engineering data management.*

The Kinsmen Group told POWER its team has seen problems arise for businesses due to the pandemic, as companies alter their traditional way of doing things.…

[VIDEO] POWER Insights: Developing Reliable, and Efficient, Energy Solutions

August 7, 2020

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The post [VIDEO] POWER Insights: Developing Reliable, and Efficient, Energy Solutions appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Ameresco has a 20-year history of providing energy efficiency and renewable energy solutions for its customers across North America and the UK. The company works on upgrades of facility infrastructure, and develops, builds, and operates renewable energy plants.

The company also works with customers on tailored financial solutions to bring projects to fruition. Ameresco’s business engages with clients on both sides of the meter, with an eye toward reducing operating expenses, upgrading and maintaining facilities, stabilizing energy costs, and increasing energy reliability.

Ameresco was founded in 2000 by George Sakellaris, a pioneer in the energy service business. Much of the company’s recent work centers around microgrids, as Ameresco works to provide more reliable and resilient power both in support of the grid, and for installations off the grid. Among its projects is a comprehensive energy solution for the U.S. Marine Corps Recruit Depot at Parris Island in South Carolina (Figure 1), and a microgrid at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine.…

Xuzhou 3 Shows the Future of Subcritical Coal Power Is Sublime

August 3, 2020

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The post Xuzhou 3 Shows the Future of Subcritical Coal Power Is Sublime appeared first on POWER Magazine.

A remarkable retrofit at Xuzhou Unit 3 boosted the 320-MW subcritical coal unit’s efficiency to beyond 43.56%—higher than all existing Chinese supercritical units, and even many ultrasupercritical units. The groundbreaking demonstration is a POWER 2020 Top Plant award winner because it offers crucial hope and new purpose for subcritical units around the world.

In April 2017, engineers from Shanghai Shenergy Power Technology sat together contemplating how they would execute a formidable task. Owing partly to their success at boosting the annual average net efficiency at Shanghai Waigaoqiao 3, an ultrasupercritical (USC) unit (and a 2015 POWER Top Plant), to a world-class 44.5%, Hong Kong–based power generation giant China Resources Power had invited the technology arm of Shanghai government–owned Shenergy Group to conduct a high-temperature retrofit at one of four units at the 1.2-GW Xuzhou China Resources Power Plant in Jiangsu province.…

[VIDEO] POWER Insights: The Amazing DIII-D Fusion Project

July 24, 2020

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The post [VIDEO] POWER Insights: The Amazing DIII-D Fusion Project appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The DIII-D National Fusion Facility, operated by General Atomics for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), is the largest magnetic fusion research facility in the U.S. The mission of the DIII-D research program is to establish the scientific basis for the optimization of the tokamak approach to fusion energy production. The DIII-D program is a cornerstone element in the U.S.’s fusion program strategy. DIII-D research has delivered multiple innovations and scientific discoveries that have transformed the prospects for fusion energy.

Richard Buttery, director of experimental science for the DIII-D facility, was interviewed by POWER and explained how General Atomics’ facility works. “DIII-D is a tokamak, which means it’s a device that holds very hot gas together,” he said. “The gas is shaped like a doughnut, and we use magnetic fields to hold that plasma together.”

It’s called plasma because it gets so hot (about 100 million degrees centigrade) it’s ionized.…