Plant | EnergyNorthwest.com

Plan to Build New 1-GW Plant in Rhode Island Officially Dead

November 18, 2019

The post Plan to Build New 1-GW Plant in Rhode Island Officially Dead appeared first on POWER Magazine.

A project to build a 1-GW gas-fired power plant in Rhode Island has officially ended, after developer Invenergy took no action to appeal the project’s rejection by state regulators, who earlier this year voted unanimously against the plant’s construction.

Invenergy had until Nov. 15 to challenge the formal denial of a construction license for the project by state officials. The state’s Energy Facilities Siting Board (EFSB) issued that denial on Nov. 5, after the EFSB in June had voted against permitting the project.

The siting board in its denial detailed changes in the regional energy market that factored into its decision to reject the plant’s construction, including that wholesale energy prices in New England have fallen even as coal and nuclear generation has been retired. It cited the growth of energy efficiency programs, lessening power demand, and said solar farms and several offshore wind power projects will provide new regional power generation.…

EAM Solutions Stretch Capabilities of Lean Plant Maintenance Teams

November 4, 2019

| No Comments

| Industry News

The post EAM Solutions Stretch Capabilities of Lean Plant Maintenance Teams appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Of the many challenges power and industrial plant maintenance teams face, stretching the capabilities of their ultra-lean staff is one of the most critical. Assets can range from industrial generators, to warehouse forklifts, overhead doors, corridor lighting, and on-premise security systems. Unexpected downtime can be disastrous—and costly.

To prevent operational failures or delays, technicians as part of enterprise asset management (EAM) teams must possess broad skills and be well-prepared to handle numerous types of service calls, from power outages to valve failures or pipeline cracks. With budgets stretched thin and a shortage of skilled maintenance technicians, the challenges compound. However, technology can help the maintenance team work smarter, not harder—the key to modern plant maintenance.

Defining the Problem

The power industry, like many others, is facing a severe skills gap. Experienced service technicians are difficult to recruit. Retiring baby boomers are leaving gaps that incoming millennials and Generation Z workers cannot (or will not) fill.…

Vistra Will Close Another Illinois Coal Plant

September 18, 2019

| No Comments

| Industry News

The post Vistra Will Close Another Illinois Coal Plant appeared first on POWER Magazine.

A Vistra Energy subsidiary on Sept. 16 said it will close the nearly 60-year-old E.D. Edwards coal-fired plant in Bartonville, Illinois, by year-end 2022 under a settlement between the company and environmental groups the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Respiratory Health Association. The groups made a joint announcement Monday of the agreement.

The environmental groups had sued in 2013 in an attempt to force the plant to adhere to emissions regulations. Vistra, in its second-quarter 2019 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing, said a bench trial in the case had been scheduled for the end of September. “We dispute the allegations and will defend the case vigorously,” the company said in the SEC filing earlier this year, prior to the settlement.

Vistra’s Illinois power-generation unit—Illinois Power Resources Generating (IPRG), an affiliate of Vistra-owned Luminant—in a statement Monday said: “The proposed settlement resolves a long-running lawsuit while providing three years of certainty for the more than 70 employees working at the Edwards plant and, importantly, a transition period for the community to plan for the plant closure.…

Three More Nuclear Plant Owners Will Demonstrate Hydrogen Production

September 12, 2019

| No Comments

| Industry News

The post Three More Nuclear Plant Owners Will Demonstrate Hydrogen Production appeared first on POWER Magazine.

FirstEnergy Solutions (FES), Xcel Energy, and Arizona Public Service (APS) will demonstrate hydrogen production at three nuclear plants they own starting in 2020 and 2021. The projects, selected as part of the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Nuclear Energy’s Advanced Reactor Development Project funding pathway, aim to improve long-term competitiveness of the nuclear sector as more cheap natural gas and renewable power resources flood power markets.

Funded by the DOE, the demonstrations will take place at FES’ Davis-Besse plant in Ohio, APS’ Palo Verde plant in Arizona, and an Xcel nuclear plant in Minnesota.

The three utility awards, which the DOE announced on Sept. 10 as part of the sixth round of funding under the December 2017-issued U.S. Industry Opportunities for Advanced Nuclear Technology Development funding opportunity announcement (FOA), follow a similar selection of a first-of-its-kind project spearheaded by Exelon at a still-to-be determined existing nuclear site in an organized power market under the DOE’s H2@Scale concept.…

Southern Nuclear Adds New Power Plant Simulators

August 19, 2019

| No Comments

| Industry News

GSE Systems said it has delivered and commissioned three additional full-scope simulators for Southern Nuclear’s new Operations Training Centers. The simulators are for the Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant, Edwin I. Hatch Nuclear Plant, and the Joseph M. Farley Nuclear Plant.

Simulators provide efficient hands-on learning for power plant operators. While power plants of any type can benefit from simulators, nuclear plants perhaps gain the most value, as missteps on a live reactor plant can result in grave consequences. Simulators generally operate on personal computers and are provided for a broad audience of technical and non-technical professionals, students, and instructors.

GSE said Southern Nuclear’s additional simulators will add flexible scheduling and increased capacity that can drive operator performance. The simulators will also offer more availability to each plant’s engineering and maintenance staff, who find the simulators useful for virtually commissioning plant changes, validating plant procedures, management certification, and a variety of other training activities. Furthermore, the simulators are said to have been upgraded with some of the latest technology, including GSE’s new OpenSim 7.0 simulator operating system and enhanced containment modeling program and its PSA-HD program to train operators on beyond-design-basis events.…

FES Will Close Mansfield Coal Plant Early

August 13, 2019

| No Comments

| Industry News

FirstEnergy Solutions (FES) said it will close the Bruce Mansfield power plant in Pennsylvania in November, two years ahead of the previously scheduled closure for the facility’s remaining coal-fired unit.

FES in a statement August 9 cited a “lack of economic viability in current market conditions” for the decision to shutter the 830-MW Unit 3, which had been set to close in June 2021. Units 1 and 2 at the plant, each with 830 MW of generation capacity, were taken offline in February, just more than a year after a fire at the plant damaged equipment. Those units also had been scheduled to close in June 2021.

FES in a press release Friday said “deactivation activities” at Bruce Mansfield should be complete by May 2020. The group filed for bankruptcy in March 2018, as the company sought an “orderly financial restructuring.” FES at the time said both its coal-fired and nuclear power plants in Ohio and Pennsylvania were unprofitable.

Company officials in a statement Friday said, “The [Bruce Mansfield] deactivation will be safely and responsibly conducted in accordance with relevant regulations and guidelines.…