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Deal Announced to Close Louisiana Coal Unit

January 16, 2020

The post Deal Announced to Close Louisiana Coal Unit appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The Arkansas Public Service Commission has approved a plan to retire the Dolet Hills power plant, a coal-fired unit in Mansfield, Louisiana that serves part of the state. The decision, reached in December and announced Jan. 8 by the Sierra Club, came as part of a settlement agreement in a recently concluded Arkansas rate review, according to Peter Main, a spokesman for Southwestern Electric Power Company (SWEPCO), which shares the plant’s electricity production with plant owner Central Louisiana Electric Co. (Cleco).

Said Main in a Jan. 9 email to POWER: “As part of a settlement agreement in the recently concluded Arkansas rate review, SWEPCO has agreed to seek regulatory approval to retire the Dolet Hills Power Plant by the end of 2026. SWEPCO has committed to make the necessary regulatory filings at least 12 months prior to the retirement date. Also as part of the settlement, the Sierra Club agrees to withdraw its pending challenges related to the Dolet Hills Power Plant in Texas and Louisiana.…

GE Selling Biopharma Unit in $21.4 Billion Deal

February 27, 2019

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General Electric’s (GE’s) sale of its biopharma unit on February 25 is designed to reduce the company’s overall debt load, and CEO Larry Culp said the deal is the latest step in his plan to strengthen the whole of GE, particularly the company’s struggling Power division.

GE on Monday agreed to sell the biopharma part of its life sciences business to Danaher Corp. for $ 21.4 billion. Washington, D.C.-based Danaher is the company Culp ran for about 13 years prior to joining GE.

Sale Strengthens Balance Sheet

“This news meaningfully accelerates our deleveraging plan,” Culp told Bloomberg after the deal was announced. “You can see the tide beginning to turn where we can really focus on a little less defense, a little more offense.” GE in November said it would reorganize GE Power into two businesses and consolidate the unit’s headquarters.

Shares in GE surged Monday, rising almost 9% to their highest level since October 2018. Culp, who took over as CEO on October 1 of last year, replacing John Flannery, in January said GE’s strategy moving forward “is clear: de-leverage our balance sheet and strengthen our businesses, starting with Power.…

Tianwan Unit 4 Latest Chinese Reactor to Come Online

December 26, 2018

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Unit 4 of the Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant in China entered commercial operation this past weekend after completing commissioning. It began supplying power to the country’s national grid on Dec. 22.

Tianwan NPP is the largest facility built with a Russian-Chinese framework of economic cooperation, with Units 1 through 4 based on the VVER-1000 reactor type. Units 1 and 2 entered commercial operation in 2007, and Rosatom handed over Unit 3 to Jiangsu Nuclear Power Corp. (JNPC) in March of this year.

Tianwan Unit 4 was brought to its minimum controllable power level on Sept. 30, marking the final stage of first criticality procedures, which began Aug. 25 when the first fuel assembly was installed in the reactor. A total of 163 fuel assemblies were ultimately loaded.

Russia’s Atomstroyexport was general contractor for the project, working with JNPC. Alexey Bannik, vice president for projects in China with Rosatom’s engineering division, said the start of commercial operation of Unit 4 “means that a two-year warranty period for the plant operation has commenced, and once expired the Unit will ultimately be handed over to the Chinese Party.”…

Memo: Siemens ‘Committed’ to Gas Turbines Unit

June 17, 2018

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Siemens still hasn’t commented on reports it could be looking to sell its gas turbine business. But the managing board member responsible for the company’s power and gas division reportedly issued a memo to staff in the wake of those reports, saying Siemens remains committed to its long-time flagship product.

Bloomberg, which on June 13 first reported the company could shed its gas turbines, today reported a memo was sent by managing board member Lisa Davis, citing what it called “a person familiar with the document.” The Bloomberg report quoted the memo as saying “There is no truth to the rumors” about a possible sale of the turbine unit. “Siemens is committed to the power generation business for the long term! And of course this is also true for our large gas turbines.”

Bloomberg said the memo, which it claims to have seen, contained instructions on how staff should respond to media inquiries about the future of Siemens’ turbine business.…

ABB Acquiring GE Electrification Unit in $2.6 Billion Deal

September 26, 2017

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Swiss engineering firm ABB has moved to expand its electrification business, especially in North America, with a $ 2.6 billion deal to acquire GE Industrial Solutions (GE IS). The move announced September 25 is the latest by GE to refocus its operations under new chief executive John L. Flannery, who replaced long-time GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt in August.

ABB, based in Zurich, Switzerland, in a news release said it wanted to expand its “access to North America” and take advantage of GE’s “significant installed base globally.” ABB said it expects to improve the performance of the GE IS division, which it said had been a “non-core business for GE.” ABB noted that GE IS has a “comprehensive electrification portfolio,” which is complementary to ABB’s existing business, and the unit will be integrated into ABB’s Electrification Products (EP) division.

For its part, GE will have access to “ABB’s leading portfolio through [a] long-term supply partnership” for ABB products, that GE currently sources, and ABB has agreed to continue to use the GE brand.…

Watts Bar Unit 2 Nuclear Plant Completes Power Ascension Testing

October 4, 2016

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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.

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