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Cybersecurity Tips for Power Plant Operators [PODCAST]

February 17, 2018

Cybersecurity threats have increased dramatically as sophisticated, nation-state developed hacking programs have been leaked to the general public. Now, common criminals have high-tech tools at their disposal with the capability to cause serious damage. As such, the power industry must take precautions and upgrade security to keep systems safe. While regulations provide a minimum security standard, companies that aren’t going above and beyond the government’s requirements are likely to be setting themselves up as “low-hanging fruit,” that is, easy targets for hackers.

In this episode of The POWER Podcast, Chris Grove, director of industrial security for Indegy, offers some tips for keeping bad actors out of power plants. Gaining visibility into systems is an important first step. Once companies understand what risks they’re exposed to, getting a broad-based team of both information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) experts involved to develop solutions to mitigate the risks is a logical subsequent step. Investing in good security can pay dividends in the end.…

Exelon Will Close Oyster Creek Nuclear Plant Earlier than Anticipated

February 3, 2018

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Exelon Generation will shutter its Oyster Creek Generating Station in October 2018—more than a year before it is required to close the single-unit reactor as part of an agreement with the state of New Jersey.

Exelon agreed in 2010 to close the unit by December 2019—10 years before its license to operate expires—after it decided against installing a cooling tower technology required by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. On February 2, the company said it would permanently close the unit at the end of its current operating cycle in October. The revised schedule will allow Exelon to better manage resources in a market environment where fuel and maintenance costs are rising amid historically low power prices, it said.

Bryan Hanson, Exelon president and chief nuclear officer, noted in a press release that the company will offer a position to every employee at Oyster Creek that chose to stay with the company, and that the revised schedule would give the company time to do that.…

Tampa Electric Will Convert Big Bend Coal Plant to Natural Gas

January 14, 2018

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An executive with the parent company of Tampa Electric said the utility plans to seek regulatory approval to convert its Big Bend Power Station in Florida, the oldest and last major coal-fired facility in its fleet, to natural gas.

Rob Bennett, speaking at a breakfast gathering in Tampa on January 12, said an engineering analysis of the switch has been underway for a few years. “It’s a big decision,” said Bennett, who was named CEO of newly formed Emera Technologies last month after overseeing Emera Inc.’s integration with TECO Energy, which Emera Inc. acquired in July 2016. TECO has operated Tampa Electric for many years. “It has to work. It has to make sense for 35 or 40 years,” Bennett said of the plan.

Big Bend has four coal-fired units, the first of which came online in 1970; Unit 4 began operation in 1985. The 1,730-MW plant in Apollo Beach, south of Tampa across Tampa Bay, has a troubled history; most recently, five workers at the plant, including a senior plant manager and four contract workers, were killed in an accident June 29, 2017, which occurred as the workers were trying to clean hardened slag, a by-product of burning coal, from the bottom of a tank where slag cools.…

CPUC Backs PG&E Plan to Retire Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant

January 12, 2018

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California regulators have approved Pacific Gas & Electric’s (PG&E’s) application to retire the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant by year-end 2025, ending a protracted battle over the generating station that pitted local economic interests against environmentalists and other opponents of nuclear power.

The state Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) on January 11 voted unanimously to accept PG&E’s request to decommission the two reactors at the plant near Avila Beach when operating licenses for the units expire in November 2024 and August 2025, respectively. The 2,256-MW plant is the lone remaining operating nuclear facility in California.

The CPUC also authorized PG&E to recover from ratepayers $ 241.2 million in costs associated with the retirement: $ 211.3 million to keep employees until the plant in closed; $ 11.3 million to retrain displaced workers; and $ 18.6 million for operating license renewal costs.

CPUC President Michael Picker, the commissioner assigned to today’s proceeding, said “Diablo Canyon has been a source of reliable and clean electricity, and employment, in San Luis Obispo [County] for many years now.…

FPL Closes Coal Plant, Brings More Solar Online

January 10, 2018

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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.…

Oman Starts Power Plant as Part of New Energy Development

December 16, 2017

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Oman recently began operating a Wärtsilä-built power plant in the northern part of the country, part of more than $ 1 billion in power and energy projects being developed in the Arab nation. The Musandam Independent Power Project (IPP) is a 120-MW natural gas-fired plant (Figure 1) that can use light fuel oil as a secondary fuel. It is the first plant to be inaugurated as part of the Musandam Power Company (MPC), a consortium of Oman Oil Company (OOC)—which holds 70% of MPC shares—and LG International Corporation, a South Korean energy supplier and developer. The MPC was created to encourage energy-related development in Oman through both foreign and domestic investment.

Salim Al Hashmi, project director for MPC, at a mid-November ceremony officially opening the IPP said “This plant is a central part of the major integrated development of the Musandam Governorate. The project will play a significant role in meeting the power needs of the region’s current and upcoming industries, while at the same time benefiting the local community.”…