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Utility Managers Build Business Case for Digital Technologies

March 22, 2018

The rise of digital technologies for power plants has moved in fits and starts over the past several years, with some generators quickly embracing digitization of their assets while others are looking to justify potential investments.

Suppliers of digital technologies have widely marketed the benefits, but many generators are looking to current end users for information about what the implementation of digitization means for their plants. Presenters at POWER magazine’s ELECTRIC POWER Conference + Exhibition on March 22 talked about the benefits—and some of the challenges—they’ve experienced with digitization at their facilities, in a session titled “Building a Business Case for Digital Technologies.”

Phillip Yakimow, manager and principal engineer for performance monitoring for Xcel Energy; Michael Reid, general manager for technical programs for Duke Energy; Crystal Bettinger, supervisor of predictive maintenance at Westar Energy’s Jeffrey Energy Center in Kansas; and Brian Wolf, lead performance and optimization consultant for Black & Veatch, presented case studies outlining how digitization has worked at their plants.…

Texas Utility Ready to Ramp Up Renewables

March 14, 2018

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The CEO of Texas-based CPS Energy said March 6 that the utility wants to generate at least 50% of its power from renewable sources by 2040, part of a plan that includes the addition of 550 MW of battery storage, as it looks to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels. But the city-owned San Antonio utility will continue to operate coal and natural gas-fired power plants, though the city’s mayor has said he would oppose building more fossil fuel-powered units.

CPS CEO Paula Gold-Williams outlined the company’s “flexible path” strategy in a meeting with the utility’s board of directors on Tuesday. The utility last year announced it would close its two coal-fired units at the 840-MW Deely station (Figure 1) in San Antonio, one of several Texas coal plants being retired this year, though it will continue to operate two natural gas-fired units—the Sommers Gas Plant—at the site, with generation capacity of 892 MW.

1. Closing in 2018. The Deely power plant near San Antonio will be closed in 2018.

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Utility Paradigm Changing Globally in Response to Distributed Energy and Digitization

June 23, 2016

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Enrico Viale, head of global thermal generation for the Italian energy company Enel, kicked off an international power industry event yesterday with a keynote presentation describing the “needs” of utilities in the future.

Enrico Viale, head of global thermal generation for the Italian energy company Enel, gave the keynote presentation at Power-Gen Europe on June 21, 2016 in Milan. Courtesy: Lee Buchsbaum

With more than 100 power plants in 33 nations generating and distributing energy to more than 60 million customers, Enel’s multi-platform fleet is rapidly changing. “We are in the middle of a transition to a new energy paradigm characterized by the rise of renewables and distributed energy. These pose challenges to traditional generation and power network systems,” he told attendees at Power-Gen Europe in Milan, Italy, on July 21.

From Viale’s global perspective, all utilities are being influenced by four major factors: “persistent market volatility, a growing environmental culture, calls for sustainability, and the megatrend of digitalization.”…