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The POWER Interview: GE Unleashing a Hydrogen Gas Power Future

June 1, 2019

Since the 1940s, when General Electric (GE), launched its gas turbine operations, the company has pioneered and commercialized a lengthy list of gas turbine technologies, large and small. As the decarbonization movement gains pace and more renewables flood the landscape, the company’s gas turbines have taken on new crucial roles to provide dispatchability and flexibility.

But as questions about the long-term use of natural gas—a fossil fuel—in a carbon-free energy ecosystem emerge, the company is building on years of experience exploring how GE gas turbine technology could run on hydrogen fuels, as Dr. Jeffrey Goldmeer, director of Gas Turbine Combustion & Fuels Solutions for GE Power—and GE’s topmost hydrogen expert—told POWER in an interview this month.

Dr. Jeffrey Goldmeer is the director of Gas Turbine Combustion & Fuels Solutions for GE Power.

POWER: How did you become involved in hydrogen?

Goldmeer: I’ve been in my current role as the fuel-flex leader for the gas turbine business for 12 years. I came to GE Power out of GE Global Research Center, where I worked in combustion for six years, and for the last three years at the R&D center, I actually managed the combustion team there.…

[UPDATED] EPA Sets Schedules for Long List of Power Plant Regulatory Actions

May 26, 2019

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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will act on a spate of power plant rules over the next year, its newly released agenda of regulatory and deregulatory actions shows.

The May 23-released “Spring 2019 Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions” lists 35 new actions, along with 57 actions that it considers “deregulatory.” The list includes new rules governing coal ash, new insights and timelines for final effluent limitations guidelines and mercury rules, action on “boiler MACT” rules, monitoring and record-keeping clarifications for the mercury and other rules, changes to New Source Review permitting, and an amendment to a rule governing stationary combustion turbines at power plants.

Rule	First time on agenda	Proposed rule	Final rule
Effluent Limitations Guidelines (ELG) and Standards		June 2019	August 2020
Rules Governing Definition of “Waters of the U.S.”		July 2017 (supplemental in July 2018)/February 2019	August 2019/December 2019
Coal ash: Amendments to the National Minimum Criteria (Phase 2)		July 2019	December 2019
Coal ash: Federal Coal Combustion Residuals Permitting Program	Yes	July 2019	May 2020
Coal ash: Revision of cease receipt of waste deadline for CCR surface impoundments; response to court	Yes	July 2019	December 2019
Coal ash: Alternative demonstration for unlined surface impoundments/ request for comment on legacy units; response to court	Yes	July 2019	December 2019
MATS: Reconsideration of Supplemental Cost Finding and Residual Risk and Technology Review		February 2019	November 2019
MATS technical corrections, reporting revisions, clarifications		November 2019
NESHAP:Stationary Combustion Turbine Residual Risk and Technology Review		April 2019 (comment period ends on May 28)	January 2020
(Boiler MACT):NESHAP: Industrial, Commercial, and Institutional Boilers and Process Heaters Amendments		September 2019
Review of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Particulate Matter		March 2020
Project emissions accounting under PSD and non attainment NSR		July 2019
Standards of Performance for Stationary Compression Ignition (CI) Internal Combustion Engines Amendments		June 2019	Direct final rule, June 2019
Technical Revisions to the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule		December 2019	December 2020
Clean Air Act Benefit-Cost Reforms	Yes	December 2019
Revisions to the Petition Provisions of the Title V Permitting Program		August 2016	August 2019
Financial responsibility requirements for power sector		July 2019	December 2020
Accidental release prevention requirements		May 2018	August 2019
General revisions to emissions monitoring and reporting requirements for fossil generators		November 2019	April 2020

The agenda shows “continued progress in reducing regulatory burden” envisioned by President Trump’s proposed regulatory reforms, the agency said in a statement.…

GE Is Banking on Africa’s Burgeoning Power Market

May 19, 2019

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Sub-Saharan Africa’s power generation capacity is projected to surge 4% annually through 2040, and its current energy mix—which is today dominated by hydro and coal—will likely be more diversified as interest rises in renewables such as solar and wind, General Electric (GE) said in a white paper surveying market opportunities in the region that it released in May.

The region is characterized by a seeming “over-dependence on governments” to resolve an energy dilemma: “Governments are faced with investment, policy and regulatory framework challenges that oftentimes hinder their ability to fulfill the responsibility of providing affordable and reliable power,” the white paper says. However, with increasingly diverse funding from public and private sources, including innovative partnerships with private investors and independent power producers (IPPs), “the current narrative that two out of three people in the region needs access to electricity is expected to change,” it says. Among major trends the white paper highlights are that IPPs and public-private partnerships (PPP) will account for 35% of the region’s installed capacity, excluding South Africa, by 2020.…

EIA: Gas, Renewables Outpacing Coal for Power Generation

May 11, 2019

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The percentage of coal-fired generation in the U.S. electricity mix will continue to decline, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said May 9, with gas-fired generation accounting for at least 40% of the nation’s power this summer and output from renewables continuing to rise.

EIA’s latest Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) said coal-fired units will produce only about 25% of the nation’s electricity this summer, as renewables including solar, wind, and hydropower take more market share. EIA said renewables will supply nearly a quarter of the power needed in Western states this summer.

The agency said nuclear power, which supplies about 19% of the nation’s electricity, will continue at that level at least through 2020. EIA forecasts that renewables will produce about 18% of U.S. power this year, rising to about 20% next year. The agency said it expects wind generation will surpass hydropower output this year for the first time, taking over the top spot for renewables.

The EIA report comes two weeks after the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) reported that data shows renewable energy—including hydro, biomass, wind, solar, and geothermal—in April for the first time generated more electricity in the U.S.…

BREAKING: Siemens Abandons Power and Gas Business

May 7, 2019

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Siemens will spin off and give up its majority stake in its lucrative Gas and Power division—comprising its conventional power generation, power transmission, oil and gas, and related services businesses—and transfer its current majority 59% stake in Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE) to the new business.

The company’s supervisory board announced the spinoff on May 7 as part of its Vision 2020+ strategy concept. The board said the move would help Germany-based Siemens meet medium-term growth and profit targets by “clearly focusing its portfolio on dynamic growth markets and efficiency gains.”

The Gas and Power spinoff and transfer of SGRE stake would create a new “major player on the energy market” with a business volume of €30 billion and over 80,000 employees, Siemens said. The carveout will give the new company “complete independence and entrepreneurial freedom,” it said. Siemens said the new company will have a stock exchange listing by September 2020.

The move will create a “powerful pure play in the energy and electricity sector with a unique, integrated setup – an enterprise that encompasses the entire scope of the energy market like no other company,” explained Joe Kaeser, president and CEO of Siemens AG.…

POWER Notebook: Duke Energy Sells Renewable Assets in $1.25 Billion Deal

April 27, 2019

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Duke Energy this week said it has a definitive agreement to sell a minority interest in part of its commercial renewable energy portfolio owned and operated by its affiliate, Duke Energy Renewables, to the John Hancock Infrastructure Fund and John Hancock Life Insurance Company. Duke in an April 24 release said the interest is valued at about $ 1.25 billion.

Duke said the deal includes 49% of 37 operating wind, solar, and battery storage assets, and 33% of 11 operating solar assets across the U.S. John Hancock’s interest will represent about 1.2 GW of power generation capacity after the deal is closed. John Hancock will also have the right to acquire a minority interest in certain additional wind and solar projects in the future, providing a potential source of future growth capital to Duke Energy.

“We look forward to working alongside John Hancock as we continue providing clean and affordable energy to our customers across the country,” said Rob Caldwell, president of Duke Energy Renewables. …