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Regulators in North Carolina have approved Duke Energy’s plan to replace some of the utility’s coal-fired units with natural gas-fired generation. The North Carolina Utilities Commission in December issued orders […]
The post Officials Approve Duke Energy’s Plan to Replace Coal with Gas-Fired Units appeared first on POWER Magazine.
Poland’s push for nuclear power could include repurposing of coal-fired power plants with small modular reactor (SMR) technology from NuScale Power. NuScale on Sept. 23 announced it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with two Polish companies, KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. (KGHM), and Piela Business Engineering (PBE), to explore how NuScale’s technology could be used to provide electricity and heat for KGHM’s industrial processes along with cleaner power for the country.
NuScale then later Thursday said it had signed an MOU with Oklahoma-based energy company Getka Group (Getka) and Poland’s UNIMOT S.A. (UNIMOT) that also looks at deploying NuScale’s SMRs, again to repurpose Polish coal-fired power plants. Getka is an integrated energy company providing construction, and delivery of petroleum, refined products, and alternative energy. UNIMOT is a multi-energy capital group that offers its wholesale and retail customers fuel products, gas and electricity, including renewable energy.
Poland, which relies heavily on coal, was the only member of the European Union not to commit to climate neutrality by 2050 when the EU set the target in 2019.…
The post Solar Farms Would Replace New Mexico Coal-Fired Plants appeared first on POWER Magazine.
A U.S. subsidiary of one of France’s largest providers of solar power has given New Mexico officials more detailed information about the company’s plans for developing a series of solar projects. The installations would help offset the loss of generation from retiring coal-fired power plants in the state, including the San Juan Generating Station (SJGS) near Farmington.
The 847-MW coal-fired SJGS is scheduled to close in June 2022. Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM) earlier this year unveiled a plan using solar-plus-storage to replace the plant’s electricity output. The city of Farmington, meanwhile, has been working with Enchant Energy—a New Mexico company involved in carbon capture and sequestration—on a plan to retrofit the SJGS with carbon-capture technology in order to keep the facility operating. According to Enchant, an ownership agreement between the owners of the SJGS allows the city to acquire the power plant and transfer operations to Enchant.…
WEC Energy Group, parent company of We Energies, signed a deal with mining firm Cliffs Natural Resources that will support two natural gas engine plants in the Upper Peninsula (UP) region of Michigan and replace power currently supplied by the coal-fired Presque Isle Power Plant, due to retire in 2020 (Figure 1).
The 365-MW Presque Isle coal plant will be replaced by a pair of natural gas engine plants under an agreement announced on Aug. 15. Courtesy: We Energies
The deal has been in the works for several years, and grows out of discussions with the Michigan state government on future electric supplies for the UP, which themselves grew out of Wisconsin Energy’s acquisition of Integrys Energy Group (WEC was formed out of that acquisition).
Last year, We Energies and the state settled on a series of agreements to change rate structures in the UP while Cliffs agreed to purchase power from Presque Isle until its retirement. The deal on Aug.…
Lawmakers in Germany have voted to replace subsidies for wind and solar with competitively priced electricity prices.
The country’s upper (Bundesrat) and lower (Bundestag) legislative chambers on July 8 voted to adopt an amendment to the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG 2016) introduced by Minister of Economics and Energy Sigmar Gabriel. The legislation aims to replace feed-in tariffs with renewable energy auctions.
“[Renewable generators] are no longer small puppies,” Gabriel said as he introduced the bill earlier this year. “They have grown up and they need to face market pressure.”
The law is credited with enabling Germany’s energy transition, Energiewende, which calls for the country’s current share of renewable power to increase from 33% in 2015 to 40% in 2025, 55% in 2035, and 80% in 2050.
One of the earliest iterations of the law, EEG 2012 guaranteed feed-in tariffs for renewable power producers, setting fixed prices per kilowatt-hour, emphasizing priority access for renewables, and binding grid operators to buy all renewable power and sell it on the exchange.…