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Swedish Group Moves Ahead With World’s Largest Single Offshore Wind Project

June 28, 2022

Swedish-based renewable energy developer OX2 has taken another step toward construction of its Aurora offshore wind farm, a 5.5-GW project sited between the islands of Gotland and Oland in the Baltic Sea.

OX2 on June 27 announced it had submitted a permit application to build the wind farm under the auspices of Sweden’s Exclusive Economic Zone. Aurora, still in an early development stage, is part of OX2’s 11.7-GW project portfolio for Sweden. Aurora at present is considered the largest single offshore wind farm under development worldwide; Ørsted’s Hornsea project off the UK coast in the North Sea has 7.5 GW of total capacity, but that installation includes four separate wind farms.

“This is the next step to realize the Aurora wind farm,” said Hillevi Priscar, country manager for OX2 in Sweden. “Together with our other planned offshore wind farms it constitutes a significant part of the electricity production Sweden needs, to reach the climate targets and to secure the production and energy independence of Sweden.”…

AEMO Begins Cautious Lift of Australian Electricity Market Suspension

June 23, 2022

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The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) on June 22 initiated the first step to lift a suspension of its National Electricity Market (NEM), citing a “clear improvement in market conditions.”

The measure comes more than a week since it indefinitely suspended spot markets in all regions of its NEM, given critical power generation supply shortfalls that it had said made it “impossible to continue” operations under national electricity rules. Suspension of the NEM marked a dramatic step for the AEMO, which serves as an independent system operator (ISO) that operates the competitive market serving New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, and Tasmania.

While fuel supplies remain tight, more than 4,000 MW of generation is back online after outages, AEMO said on Wednesday. That paves the way for the operator to initiate a staged approach to lifting the market suspension, said AEMO CEO Daniel Westerman.

“The first step is that at 4 a.m. [on June 23], we will allow the market to set the price again,” Westerman said.…

Unit 3 at Barakah Nuclear Plant Licensed, Set to Load Fuel

June 19, 2022

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The third unit of the Barakah nuclear power plant (NPP), the first such facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Arab world, is ready to begin fuel loading, according to a statement issued by the country’s nuclear regulatory agency on June 19.

The Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (FANR) on Sunday said it would send inspectors to oversee the process, in order “to ensure the fuel load and testing processes are completed according to requirements.”

The FANR on June 17 granted Nawah Energy Co., the operations and maintenance division of Emirates Nuclear Energy Corp., a license to operate Unit 3 for 60 years. Christer Viktorsson, FANR’s director-general, said the licensing of Unit 3 means the plant’s operators can being a commissioning period to prepare for commercial operation.

FANR in a news release said its decision to issue the operating license “is a culmination of efforts made by FANR since it received the Operating License Application from Nawah in 2017 for Units 3 and 4.…

Southern Co. Gas-Fired Demonstration Validates 20% Hydrogen Fuel Blend

June 17, 2022

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A demonstration project at Georgia Power’s 2.5-GW natural gas–fired Plant McDonough-Atkinson facility has validated a natural gas fuel blend with 20% hydrogen by volume on one of its six Mitsubishi Power advanced-class gas turbines.

The test, one of the largest of its kind to date, provided an approximately 7% reduction in carbon emissions compared to gas, project participants Mitsubishi Power, Southern Co.’s Georgia Power, and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) said on June 10.

The test successfully validated fuel blending hydrogen and natural gas “at both partial and full load” at the designed 100% natural gas firing temperature, “within emissions compliance and without impact to maintenance intervals,” project participants said. The team also confirmed “improved turndown by testing up to 20% hydrogen at minimum emissions-compliant load.”

The project entailed building flow control and pressure control skids to feed the fuel blend to one of the Smyrna, Georgia, plant’s six M501G natural gas turbines, which have an approximate output of 265 MW.…

Massive Utah Hydrogen Storage Project Garners Finalized $504M DOE Loan Guarantee

June 15, 2022

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The Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) first official loan guarantee for a new clean energy technology project since 2014 will go to the Advanced Clean Energy Storage 1 project in Utah—one of the world’s largest renewable hydrogen energy projects.

The DOE on June 8 announced it closed on the $ 504.4 million loan guarantee for the first phase of the Advanced Clean Energy Storage project. The massive undertaking by ACES Delta, a joint venture comprising Magnum Development, Mitsubishi Power, and Haddington Ventures, seeks to create a new pathway for decarbonization of the Western U.S. grid. The agency offered the project a conditional loan guarantee commitment in April, contingent on several factors, including securing permits and financing for the $ 1 billion project.

The ACES Delta project envisions producing up to 100 metric tonnes per day of hydrogen from water and renewable energy sources using a 220-MW alkaline electrolyzer bank manufactured by Norwegian firm HydrogenPro—one of the largest deployments of its type to date.…

The Regulatory Structures or Economic Opportunities that are Driving—or Hindering—Building Electrification

June 13, 2022

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Although the electricity generation and transportation sectors account for a far greater share of greenhouse gas emissions than the residential and commercial building sector, policy makers are targeting building electrification as a means for making a significant contribution to economy-wide emission reductions. Federal, state, and local governments are using various policy levers toward this goal, creating risks for industries, such as natural gas distribution and real estate development, and opportunities for others, such as technology companies focused on smart homes and companies developing energy management systems, electric vehicle supply equipment, and heat pump equipment, and manufacturing and installation companies.

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These initiatives include amendments to building code regulations and building performance standards, the establishment of electric vehicle infrastructure incentives, and even outright bans on new natural gas connections. Market pressures on the natural gas supply chain and increasing natural gas costs are further inducing commercial real estate developers, homeowners, and builders to embrace electrification as a cost-saving measure, which may well be far more motivating for some than the altruistic driver related to mitigation of climate disruption.…