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Entergy Gives Palisades Nuclear Plant Five More Years to Run

September 28, 2017

Entergy Corp. will keep the Palisades nuclear power plant in Covert, Michigan, open until the spring of 2022, owing to a shortfall in recovery granted to Consumers Energy by state regulators.

In a bid to actively exit the merchant nuclear power business, investor-owned Entergy had decided to shutter the 798-MW plant by October 1, 2018. “Market conditions have changed substantially, and more economic alternatives are now available to provide reliable power to the region,” it said when it announced its decision about a year ago.

The decision came as a surprise because Entergy has a power purchase agreement with Consumers Energy—Michigan’s largest utility and the principal subsidiary of CMS Energy—which committed the company to buying nearly all the power generated at Palisades through April 2022. Entergy reasoned the plant’s closure could save Consumers’ customers as much as $ 172 million over four years, even after Consumers paid Entergy $ 172 million to terminate the contract.

On September 22, however, the Michigan Public Service Commission granted Consumers a recovery of only $ 136.6 million of the $ 172 million it requested for the buyout of the power purchase agreement. …

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.…

ITC: Imported PV Cells Hurting U.S. Solar Industry

September 24, 2017

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In a unanimous decision, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) on September 22 found that photovoltaic (PV) solar cells being imported into the U.S. are causing “serious injury, or threat of serious injury, to the domestic industry.”

The decision comes in a highly contested case filed by bankrupt solar panel manufacturer, Suniva, and SolarWorld. The two petitioners argue that imports of foreign-made solar panels and modules have made it impossible for them to compete in the domestic market. To alleviate this burden, the companies have proposed that tariffs be placed on all imported modules.

“On behalf of the entire solar cell and panel manufacturing industry, we welcome this important step toward securing relief from a surge of imports that has idled and shuttered dozens of factories, leaving thousands of workers without jobs,” Juergen Stein, CEO and president of SolarWorld Americas, said in a release following the announcement of the decision.

Two Against All

The rest of the solar cell and panel manufacturing industry, however, does not seem to want SolarWorld speaking on their behalf.…

CAISO Expansion, 100% Zero-Carbon Bids Flatline, But Bills for Energy Storage, DERs Thrive

September 22, 2017

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California’s legislature last week wrapped up its 2017 session without authorizing the broad expansion of the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) into other Western states or passing a zero-carbon bill, which would have put the state on a path to 100% clean energy by 2045. It did, however, succeed in passing bills to encourage development of energy storage and distributed energy resources to reduce its reliance on gas-fired generation in light of the Aliso Canyon debacle.

A Freeze on CAISO Regionalization

CAISO and a number of participants within the Western Interconnection have been exploring the creation of a more fully integrated regional electricity market that would be managed by a single system operator and include day-ahead and real-time markets, but the measure will now need to be revived next year.

As some of the initiative’s proponents point out, power within the Western Interconnection is managed by 38 separate balancing authorities in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. While all balancing authorities, including CAISO, are part of a synchronized grid, each authority is responsible for its own territorial supply and demand balance.…

Trade Case Causes Stir at International Solar Conference

September 20, 2017

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Hanging like a thick fog over the proceedings of the annual Solar Power International (SPI) conference in Las Vegas, an ongoing trade case cast uncertainty on the industry. The case, which pits two solar manufacturers against just about everybody else in the industry, was the focus of several panels and nearly all side conversation at the conference, which ran September 11–13.

The petitioners, Suniva and SolarWorld, argue that imports of foreign made solar modules have made it impossible for them to compete in the industry. They ask that the International Trade Commission (ITC) recommend significant tariffs on all foreign made modules.

However, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and representatives from several major solar companies argue that the tariffs would cripple the U.S. solar industry. Opponents of the tariffs go so far as to allege that the problems Suniva and SolarWorld have had in the industry are wholly due to their own business practices.

“This is a case about companies that are saying they can’t compete.…

Dubai Awards Contract for Phase 4 of Massive Solar Park

September 18, 2017

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Dubai’s government on September 16 said its state energy utility has awarded a $ 3.9 billion contract for construction of a 700-MW solar power plant at the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park. The government said the project includes an 850-foot-tall tower that will receive focused sunlight, the world’s tallest such structure in a solar park.

The contract was awarded to a consortium of Shanghai Electric and Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power. A spokesperson for ACWA Power in an email to POWER said the new plant is the fourth phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, which ACWA says is the largest single-site concentrated solar power (CSP) facility in the world, with plans to produce 5 GW of solar power by 2030. The first phase of the solar park, a 13-MW solar farm built by First Solar, opened in October 2013. The second phase, a 200-MW solar plant built by ACWA Power and Spain’s TSK, began operations in March 2017.…