Skip to content

EnergyNorthwest.com

Your Source for Energy Jobs & Industry News

Menu
  • Home
  • Energy Jobs
  • Energy Jobs In NW
  • Industry News
  • Resumes

Tag: Plant

Operator Reverses Course, Will Keep Running Montana Coal Plant

August 13, 2017
| No Comments
| Industry News

The operator of one of the largest coal-fired power plants in the Western U.S. will continue to run the facility, changing course about a year after a company executive said the plant was not economically viable.

A spokesman for Talen Energy confirmed to POWER on August 9 that the company will continue to operate the 2,094-MW Colstrip Generating Station in Montana. The company last year told the ownership group it would need to find a new operator by mid-2018.

Todd Martin, a spokesman for Talen, told POWER in an email: “I can confirm that the ownership group has determined that Talen Montana will continue to operate the Colstrip Station.” He said the company would have “no additional public information to share at this time.”

The Billings (Mont.) Gazette first reported August 9 that Colstrip would remain open, based on its interviews in the past week with representatives of the six utilities that co-own the plant.

Montana legislators earlier this year approved a deal that would allow Pennsylvania-based Talen to borrow up to $ 10 million a year to keep the plant operating until 2022.…

Read More »

Exelon Set to Expand Massachusetts Peaking Plant

August 11, 2017
| No Comments
| Industry News

Exelon could begin construction as soon as next week on an expansion of its 135-MW West Medway oil-fired peaking plant in West Medway, Massachusetts. The company’s plan to add two units and 200 MW of generation to the existing three-unit facility was deliberated for 29 months by state and local officials before a state board approved the expansion August 4.

The expansion includes the installation of two GE LMS100 dual-fuel turbines, operating primarily on natural gas but also using ultra-low-sulfur diesel as backup for a maximum 30 days a year. The company’s website says the new units could start up and be online in about 10 minutes. Exelon in its reports on the project says the gas-fired generation will reduce CO2 emissions by 40% when it displaces generation from the three older units.

The construction, which will include two 160-foot emission stacks, along with a 50-foot sound barrier to minimize noise, reportedly is expected to take 14 months to complete.…

Read More »

DTE Plans New 1,100-MW Gas Plant Near Detroit

August 3, 2017
| No Comments
| Industry News

DTE Energy has filed plans with the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) to build a 1,100-MW natural gas-fired power plant on about 100 acres east of the existing Belle River Power Plant, northeast of Detroit near the Canadian border. The August 1 filing confirms the proposal that DTE discussed with local officials last fall for a new plant at the site. DTE said it expects the plant will begin operating in 2022.

The proposed $ 1 billion plant, located in East China Township in St. Clair County, is part of the utility’s plan to replace coal-fired electricity production in the region as it seeks to reduce carbon emissions by 30% by the early 2020s, and by more than 80% by 2050. DTE has said it will retire three coal-fired plants, located in Trenton, River Rouge, and St. Clair in the Detroit area, between 2020 and 2023. The certificate of necessity filed with the MPSC calls for construction of the new plant to begin in 2019, pending state approval; the state has 270 days to respond to the filing.…

Read More »

No Detectable Toxins in Water Near Memphis Plant, Says TVA

July 23, 2017
| No Comments
| Industry News

A Tennessee utility company on July 20 said tests on drinking water in the vicinity of a coal-fired power plant in Memphis showed no detectable evidence of arsenic, lead, and other toxins. The Sierra Club asked state officials to perform the tests after high levels of arsenic were found in monitoring wells at the Allen Fossil Plant.

Memphis Light, Gas and Water (MLGW) said in a statement that the tests were conducted by an independent lab on 10 wells at the Allen site. The wells, which monitor pollution from coal ash ponds at the plant, supply water to a pumping station near the plant, which is operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).

The Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation (TDEC) asked MLGW to test the wells after recent water samples showed one well had high levels of arsenic, reported as more than 300 times the federal drinking-water standard, and traces of lead were found in two wells. The monitoring wells at the plant are about 50 feet deep and are located about a half-mile from much-deeper wells the TVA has drilled into the Memphis Sand aquifer, which supplies drinking water to Memphis.…

Read More »

Proposed Wisconsin Gas-Fired Plant Would Aid Utilities’ Renewable Initiatives

June 11, 2017
| No Comments
| Industry News

Minnesota Power and Wisconsin’s Dairyland Power Cooperative announced plans to co-develop a combined cycle natural gas–fired power plant, a 550-MW facility designed to provide backup power for the utilities’ efforts to expand their use of renewable energy sources.

The Nemadji Trail Energy Center would be built along the Nemadji River in Superior, Wis., a location adjacent to both utilities’ service territories. The utilities would co-own the facility and divide its electrical power output. The companies said that if regulators approve the plan (a decision is expected sometime in 2018), construction could begin in 2020 and the $ 700-million plant—each company investing $ 350 million—could be operational in 2024 or 2025.

Minnesota Power spokeswoman Amy Rutledge said the Superior site’s access to existing natural gas and electric transmission lines made it a logical choice for the utilities. The area is served by multiple natural gas lines, including from Northern Natural Gas, Great Lakes Gas Transmission, and ANR Pipeline, according to analysts Rocco Canonica and Richard Frey of S&P Global and Platts Analytics.…

Read More »

Southern Company Could Delay Plant Vogtle Decision Until Late Summer

May 30, 2017
| No Comments
| Industry News

CEO Tom Fanning told Southern Co.’s shareholders attending the company’s annual meeting on May 24 that a decision on how to proceed with the Plant Vogtle nuclear expansion could take several more months.

The Vogtle expansion—one of two new nuclear construction projects underway in the U.S. utilizing Westinghouse’s AP1000 technology—has been in limbo, albeit still in progress, since Westinghouse filed for bankruptcy in late March. Yesterday, Reuters reported that Westinghouse had “reached a deal to borrow $ 800 million after allaying creditors’ concerns that the money would be flowing to non-bankrupt affiliates overseas.”

But that news doesn’t seem to have made Southern Co.’s decision to proceed with Plant Vogtle Units 3 and 4 any easier. Following the annual meeting, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that despite company officials previously stating that they had hoped to have a decision by today, or at least in June, Fanning is now aiming for August or “late summer.”

Less than two weeks ago, Southern Co. subsidiary Georgia Power announced that it had reached a new service agreement, which would allow for the transition of project management from Westinghouse to Southern Nuclear and Georgia Power “once the current engineering, procurement and construction contract is rejected in Westinghouse’s bankruptcy proceedings.”…

Read More »

Posts pagination

Previous 1 … 22 23 24 … 27 Next

EnergyNorthwest.com 2025 . Powered by WordPress