Testing | EnergyNorthwest.com

Winter Freeze Testing Texas Power Grid Reforms

February 10, 2022

Parts of Texas have suffered localized, distribution-level power outages as an Arctic outbreak sent temperatures plummeting across the state, but its heavily scrutinized grid is largely prepared to weather the storm, state entities said.

Frigid temperatures stemming from a large dome of Arctic high pressure are sending temperatures into the single digits and below zero throughout the Great Plains, with some short-lived cold temperature anomalies “Deep in the Heart of Texas.” But anxiety about the storm’s effect on the power grid has ramped up, given the historic, deadly power crisis that overwhelmed Texas and the south-central U.S. during Winter Storm Uri a year ago. Winter Storm Uri’s unprecedented reach prompted an average 34,000 MW of unplanned generation losses across the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid for more than two consecutive days, from Feb. 15, 2021, to Feb. 17, 2021. The generation losses were equivalent to nearly half of ERCOT’s all-time winter peak electric load of 69,871 MW.…

The POWER Interview: Protection Testing Paradigm—How Utilities can Adapt to the Digital Era

February 6, 2022

| No Comments

| Industry News

The digital transformation in the power generation industry touches several areas, encompassing engineering, monitoring and control, asset performance, and operations optimization, among others. Power plant operators know the digital era has been a perfect fit for their industry, enabling digitization to reduce risk, save costs, optimize performance, and speed crisis response.

Doble Engineering is a company at the forefront of the digital age in power generation, enabling utilities and power plant operators to understand asset health through the group’s diagnostic test equipment, software, and services for the electric power industry.

Ed Khan, director of Protection Training at Doble Engineering, provided POWER with insight into the ways digitization has changed the power industry. Khan and Doble continue to research and develop ways digital-based applications can serve electricity producers moving forward, at a time of rapid change in the power sector, particularly when it comes to protecting assets and operations.

POWER: Which industry trends or changes should be most top of mind for power and utility companies today?…

Testing Problems Push Vogtle Start to 2022

May 22, 2021

| No Comments

| Industry News

The post Testing Problems Push Vogtle Start to 2022 appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Southern Co. has moved the startup date for the first unit of its two-reactor expansion at the Vogtle nuclear power plant to the first quarter of 2022, citing problems found during testing. The company on May 18 notified Georgia state regulators of the delay. Analysts with Mizuho Group, an investment banking company, on May 21 said Southern interrupted “hot functional testing” of Unit 3 at Vogtle due to vibration of the plant’s pressurizer.

Executives with Southern Nuclear, the nuclear arm of Southern Co., and local utility and Southern subsidiary Georgia Power told the Georgia Public Service Commission they now are planning for the first of the two new 1,100-MW AP1000 reactors to enter operation at some point in the first three months of 2022.

Southern just two months ago announced a delay in testing of Unit 3, but at that time said the project remained on track for a November 2021 startup.…

Southern Announces Delay in Testing at Vogtle

March 21, 2021

| No Comments

| Industry News

The post Southern Announces Delay in Testing at Vogtle appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Southern Co. has announced another delay in hot functional testing for the first unit of its two-unit expansion at the Vogtle nuclear plant in Georgia.

The utility in a March 19 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said its subsidiary Georgia Power “now expects the start of hot functional testing for Unit 3 will be delayed into April.” The filing said that Southern Nuclear, the nuclear power subsidiary of Southern Co., “continues to target a November 2021 in-service date for Unit 3,” though it also said “the schedule is challenged and… a delay is likely and could add one month or more to the Unit 3 in-service date.”

Georgia Power said it estimates delays beyond November “would result in additional base capital costs for Georgia Power of approximately $ 25 million per month.” The project, first approved by state regulators in 2009, with an original estimated cost of about $ 14 billion, now projects to enter commercial operation about five years after initial expectations.…

Watts Bar Unit 2 Nuclear Plant Completes Power Ascension Testing

October 4, 2016

| No Comments

| Industry News

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has reached another milestone in its effort to bring Watts Bar Unit 2 into commercial operation: The unit completed its final power ascension test—a 50% load rejection from full power—and safely returned to full power on September 30.

The testing had been halted on August 30 due to a switchyard transformer fire. Although the fire did not affect Unit 2’s systems, which responded to the event as designed, the affected transformer had to be replaced before testing could resume. The TVA said a rigorous and detailed inspection, repair, and testing process was performed before the transformer was returned to service on September 26.

Power ascension testing included more than 40 required tests at various power levels up to 100% output, with pauses at 30%, 50%, and 75% (Figure 1). The gradual increase in power provided data, which was used to verify that the unit was operating as designed.

1. Watts Bar Unit 2 power ascension testing plan.

…