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Large-Scale Green Hydrogen Infrastructure System Unveiled for California

February 18, 2022

SoCalGas, North America’s largest gas distribution utility, has unveiled the Angeles Link, a proposed green hydrogen energy infrastructure system for Southern California that it says could be the largest of its kind in the nation.

The Angeles Link proposes to utilize between 25 GW and 35 GW of curtailed or new solar, wind, or battery output to power 10 GW to 20 GW of “advanced” electrolyzers and produce carbon-free hydrogen. The hydrogen would then be delivered—via a new hydrogen pipeline system spanning 200 miles to 750 miles—from outside the Los Angeles Basin to industrial consumers in California.

“The green hydrogen pipeline system, as envisioned, would deliver clean energy in an amount equal to almost 25% of the natural gas SoCalGas delivers today,” the Los Angeles–based utility said on Feb. 17.

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The Angeles Link would primarily serve hard-to-electrify industries, such as dispatchable power generation, high-heat industries, and heavy-duty trucks. Notably, SoCalGas said the infrastructure project could allow four natural gas power plants to “reliably” transition to hydrogen, though it did not immediately specify which gas power plants the Angeles Link could supply. …

Siemens’ Renewable Arm Cutting 200 U.S. Jobs

February 14, 2022

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Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE) plans to lay off 200 workers at two U.S. wind power equipment manufacturing facilities. The company on Feb. 9 said the job cuts are due to a reduction in orders for commercial wind turbines.

An SGRE spokesperson said more jobs cuts at the plants—one in Hutchinson, Kansas, and the other in Fort Madison, Iowa—could be forthcoming.

SGRE has acknowledged “challenges” in its onshore wind power business, and on Feb. 2 announced that Jochen Eickholt, a member of the executive board at Siemens Energy, will be the new CEO for SGRE, replacing Andreas Nauen as of March 1. Nauen had taken over as CEO in June 2020.

Shannon Sturgil, CEO of Siemens Gamesa Onshore North America, in a statement about this week’s job cuts, said: “Two primary factors contributed to this decision. While the final ruling of the ITC on the recent patent challenge case brought by a competitor [GE] was ultimately in our favor, we were temporarily prevented from pursuing new orders during the determination period.…

French President Calls for Major Increase in Nuclear Power, Offshore Wind

February 12, 2022

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France, already a world leader in nuclear power generation, plans to build at least six new reactors, with President Emmanuel Macron on Feb. 10 saying the country will consider building an additional eight on top of that as it also moves forward with developing small modular reactors (SMR).

Macron, who is up for re-election in April, made the comments during an appearance Thursday at GE Steam Power’s manufacturing site at Belfort in eastern France. He said nuclear power is critical to the country’s efforts to increase its output of carbon-free electricity as it moves away from coal and natural gas. Macron also said his country would add more renewable energy, including as many as 50 offshore wind installations that would enable France to have 40 GW of offshore wind generation capacity in service by 2050.

French officials recently said the country would allow its last two operational coal-fired power plants to operate far more than usually permitted through at least the end of February due to about a dozen of France’s 56 existing reactors being offline for maintenance.…

Winter Freeze Testing Texas Power Grid Reforms

February 10, 2022

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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.…

China Group Develops Plan to Turn Biomass Into Low-Carbon Natural Gas

February 8, 2022

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Researchers in China have published the results of a study that the group said provides an efficient catalytic approach to directly transfer solid biomass into natural gas, while enabling the gas to have a low-carbon footprint.

The researchers said bio-natural gas produced from the hydrogen combined with lignocellulosic biomass could be used at power plants, and would have applications for transportation and other industries. The group said it could be transported using existing pipeline infrastructure.

China’s Biomass Energy Industry Promotion Association (BEIPA) last year reported that the country annually produces more than 900 million tons of agricultural and forestry biomass. BEIPA officials said the biomass could generate power equal to that from about 400 million tons of coal, and said the figure is higher when including organic waste from urban and rural areas.

The study, supported by several entities including the Natural Science Foundation of China and published in January by the scientific journal Nature Communications, provides what the group calls new guidance for the catalytic transformation of raw biomass.…

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

February 6, 2022

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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?…