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FPL Closes Coal Plant, Brings More Solar Online

January 10, 2018

Florida Power & Light (FPL) began the new year by opening four new solar power plants, along with officially retiring one of its two remaining coal-fired plants in the state.

The utility on January 8 said the four solar plants began operating on January 1, 2018. They are the Horizon Solar Energy Center, in Alachua and Putnam counties; the Coral Farms Solar Energy Center in Putnam County; the Indian River Solar Energy Center in Indian River County; and the Wildflower Solar Energy Center in DeSoto County. Each has a generation capacity of 74.5 MW.

The utility plans to add four more 74.5-MW solar plants to its generation fleet by March 1, 2018, sited in Brevard, Indian River, Hendry, and St. Lucie counties. FPL has installed more than 3.5 million new solar panels in the state over the past two years. It expects to have more than 10 million solar panels in service by 2023.

“The truth is progress like this doesn’t happen by accident,” Eric Silagy, FPL’s president and CEO, said in a statement.…

Commentary: Pressing Forward With Vogtle, a Nuclear MVP

January 6, 2018

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Georgia wasn’t looking for an award or recognition when we set out to build new nuclear reactors in our state. Yet we now find ourselves as the last team on the field as our commissioners unanimously voted to move forward with a new cost and schedule for the Plant Vogtle new nuclear units—keeping the project alive just months after South Carolina walked off the field. This “experiment” here in Georgia is all that is left of the nuclear renaissance bludgeoned by cheap natural gas prices and a Japanese tsunami. Here is why I wanted to move forward.

Plant Vogtle is one of two Georgia nuclear sites. The plant’s existing two units came online in 1987 and 1989 amid cost overruns and controversy and now serve the state’s energy consumers as the crown jewel of our generation fleet. Disappointingly, Units 3 and 4 are running behind schedule and set to cost substantially more than we anticipated—almost double. The success of the first two units clearly played a role in us moving forward, with the hindsight that the addition of two more units most likely will work out.…

Siemens Reaches for Higher Efficiency with Its HL-Class Gas Turbine [PODCAST]

January 2, 2018

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Siemens claims to be paving the way for the next level of efficiency with the development of its HL-class gas turbine. In June 2017, the company announced it will validate the technology at Duke Energy’s Lincoln County site in North Carolina. Siemens is developing this class in an evolutionary development step derived from its proven SGT-8000H technology.

The advanced Siemens HL-class gas turbines combine a series of new but already tested technologies and design features with the best of past experience—resulting in a technology carrier to the next level of efficiency and performance. The HL-class is currently achieving greater than 63% efficiency with a mid-term goal to reach 65%.

The post Siemens Reaches for Higher Efficiency with Its HL-Class Gas Turbine [PODCAST] appeared first on POWER Magazine.

POWER Magazine…

How to Leverage the Value of Outsourcing Electrical Power Maintenance

December 31, 2017

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From deregulation and restructuring to new technology and globalization, the power industry has undergone dramatic changes over the past few decades. Falling barriers to entry have led to the rise of small and independent power producers, and empowered consumers with choices when it comes to where to purchase their energy.

These changes have transformed a once staid, stable industry into a dynamic market driven by competitive pressures rather than traditional cost of service models. Today’s plant managers and operators must focus on customer service and retention, cost and rate control, and new tools and technology to compete.

To maximize profitability, most modern plants run “lean and mean” when it comes to internal staff and resources. This often means the highly skilled specialists who perform complex reliability maintenance are not included as part of the in-house team—they are often too expensive or too hard to find. Yet, system failure and unplanned downtime and outages can be catastrophic, and North American Electric Reliability Corp.…

Eight States Sue EPA, Arguing Ozone Transport Region Decision Is “Unlawful”

December 29, 2017

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Eight northeastern states are again suing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to force the agency to slash emissions of nitrogen oxides (NO_x) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) blowing in from power plants and other sources in nine “upwind” Midwestern and southern states.

The Ozone Transport Region, which was established by Congress under Section 184 of the Clean Air Act, currently includes 11 “downwind” states: Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

Most of these states have rules or fall under a federal mandate to directly or indirectly require sources achieve reductions of NO_x and VOCs, which contribute to the formation of ozone. In 2014—the most recent year for which the National Emissions Inventory (NEI) is available—about 56% of NO_x emissions in the U.S. came from on-road and non-road mobile sources. Electric generating units accounted for about 13% of NO_x emissions nationwide. The bulk of VOCs emitted were from industrial processes, including solvents (48%) and mobile sources (27%).…

Bangladesh Turns to Nuclear Power

December 27, 2017

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We were standing in Volgodonsk, Russia, on a bridge that connected the third and fourth units of the Rostov Nuclear Power Plant (NPP). The fourth unit was under construction, and the deputy chief engineer of the Rostov NPP, Alexander Belyaev, told us that we were about to witness something unique.

It was December 1, 2015, and winter was officially starting in Russia. Walking into the massive fourth unit as a member of a group of journalists from Bangladesh touring the site, I quickly realized part of the construction had not yet been completed—the heating. Amid freezing cold weather, we were directed into an elevator that took us to the top floor of Unit 4.

“Now we are going to enter into the reactor room where the nuclear pressure vessel has just been installed,” said Belyaev. “It is one of those rare occasions where you can see the inside of a reactor vessel, because when the uranium fuel will be loaded then it will be confined and you will not be able to see inside.”…