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DOE Lays Out How Power Sector Could Win the Cybersecurity Battle

May 19, 2018

Cybersecurity threats are outpacing the energy sector’s “best defenses,” and costs of preventing and responding to cyber incidents are straining company efforts to protect critical infrastructure, the Department of Energy (DOE) warned as it released a comprehensive five-year cybersecurity strategy for the industry.

The Multiyear Plan for Energy Sector Cybersecurity, dated March 2018 but which was made public by the DOE’s Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (OE) on May 14, lays out an “integrated strategy” for the DOE’s new Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER). It essentially seeks to “gain an upper hand” in the fight against cybersecurity, outlining “disruptive changes in cyber risk management practices.”

Power companies and utilities, along with oil and gas entities, have integrated advanced digital technologies to automate and control physical functions for improved efficiency and adjust to a “rapidly changing generation mix,” but this has created a “larger cyber attack surface and new opportunities for malicious cyber threats,” the plan notes.…

Wind Power Faces a Post-PTC ‘Valley of Death’

May 17, 2018

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Wind power capacity in the U.S., whose explosive growth has tripled since 2008—even overtaking hydropower to become the nation’s largest source of renewable electricity—could face a period of stagnation once the production tax credit (PTC) is phased out in 2021.

Analysts at WINDPOWER 2018 in Chicago last week called the period between 2021 and 2026 the “valley of death,” and though forecasts vary, many expect that new onshore wind capacity additions will slow if not grind to a halt. That’s despite a number of market drivers wind power has enjoyed recently.

According to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), which hosts the annual wind industry conference, 89.4 GW of wind power from 54,000 wind turbines was installed in the U.S. by the end of the first quarter of 2018. Another 33.5 GW was under construction or in advanced development.

A Certain Dip But When?

Max Cohen, an associate director for IHS Markit’s North American Integrated Energy Research arm, introduced the phrase “valley of death” in one of the first sessions at the conference.…

Report Says More Nuclear Plants in Financial Trouble

May 15, 2018

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A report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) says the financial struggles of U.S. nuclear power plants continue to increase, and it is likely more plants will be faced with early retirement. It’s another acknowledgement of the tough operating environment for nuclear facilities as gas-fired and renewable energy sources continue to grab more power generation market share in an era of lower electricity costs and slowing demand for electricity.

Nicholas Steckler, an analyst with BNEF, on May 15 said 24 of the more than 60 U.S. operating nuclear power plants are either set to close or will not be able to cover their operating costs through 2021. Steckler wrote in his report that those sites have total generation capacity of 32.5 MW, which is nearly a third of the nation’s total nuclear nameplate generation capacity of just above 100 MW, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

A 2016 POWER magazine report detailed the nuclear retirement picture at that time, and several more units have announced plans for premature closures over the past several months.…

Gas-Fired Generation Will Top 2018 Capacity Additions

May 13, 2018

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The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA’s) latest report on the nation’s power generation inventory expects 32 GW of new capacity will enter commercial service this year, the most in at least at decade. And for the first time in five years, renewable energy sources will not make up the majority of that new generation.

Nearly all the new generation that came online in the first two months of this year—98% of the 2 GW added in January and February—was renewable, mostly solar and wind. But the rest of the year will belong in large part to natural gas-fired generation; EIA expects about 21 GW of gas-fired power will enter service by year-end 2018, according to planned online dates in EIA’s Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory report.

EIA on May 7 discussed the data in its online Today in Energy report. The agency said that based on project in-service dates, this will be the first year since 2013 that renewable energy sources will not comprise the bulk of new generation.…

DOE Set to Support Small Modular Coal Units

May 11, 2018

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The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) wants to know whether small-scale, modular coal-fired power plants are feasible. The DOE this week put out a request for information on how to accomplish such projects, following on its announcement earlier this year that it wants to establish funding opportunities for new coal technologies in an effort to prop up the industry.

“The objective of this RFI [Request for Information] is to support DOE’s mission to lead research and technology development that promotes the advancement of coal-fired power plants that provide stable power generation with operational flexibility, high efficiency, and low emissions,” according to the DOE announcement made May 8. Among the details: a design that has a lower cost than traditional coal plants, capability to be load-following, and with an efficiency higher than 40%, well above the current average of 33% for a traditional coal plant. (The efficiency of a power plant is measured as the percentage of the total energy content of that plant’s fuel that is converted into electricity.)…

New Gas-Fired Plants Planned in Florida, South Carolina

May 9, 2018

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Florida regulators have given the green light to a pair of new natural gas-fired power plants that will add nearly 1,700 MW of generation capacity in the state, and a Florida-based energy project developer has announced a 1,000-MW gas-fired facility project in South Carolina.

The Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) on May 8 gave approval to two plants proposed by Tampa-based Seminole Electric Cooperative, which provides wholesale power to its nine member cooperatives in 42 of the state’s 67 counties. One plant is a 1,122-MW facility sited in Putnam County in north-central Florida. The second—which Seminole will develop with Shady Hills Energy Center LLC—would be a 573-MW gas-fired facility in Pasco County on the state’s Gulf Coast.

St. Augustine-based NTE Energy in a separate announcement Tuesday said it would invest more than $ 1 billion to develop the 1,000-MW Anderson County Energy Center in South Carolina, which NTE said “will feature some of the most efficient and environmentally-friendly technologies currently available.”…