Power Engineering International articles from April 2008

Power Engineering International archives from April 2008

Spain's energy watchdog told to 'sit' and' stay'!'.(UP FRONT)
April 1, 2008... It appears that the final installment in the long running E.ON/Endesa saga has taken place. I am of course referring to last month's judgement by Europe's leading court, the European Court of Justice, that the Spanish National Energy...

Time for Germany to reverse its nuclear phase-out policy?: as the chief executives of both E.ON and RWE call upon Berlin to permit the building of new nuclear power stations to avoid blackouts, German Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition government urgently needs to reassess its policy on phasing out its incumbent nuclear production.(ANALYSIS)
April 1, 2008... In recent weeks the respective chief executives of E.ON and RWE, Wolf Bernotat and Juergen Grossmann, have warned that Europe's biggest economy faces growing blackouts unless Germany permits the building of new nuclear power stations. Grossman...

Ethiopia.(INTERNATIONAL)
April 1, 2008... Ethiopia: Energy minister Alemayehu Tegenu has called for Chinese companies to come and help develop the country's large hydropower potential. Currently only three per cent is exploited.

Kuwait.(INTERNATIONAL)
April 1, 2008... Kuwait: Siemens Electric (epsilon) Electronic Services, a German-Kuwaiti joint venture has been named the lowest bidder for the project to link the national control centre at Jabiriya with the GCC grid. The company submitted a price of KD 13.4m...

Namibia.(INTERNATIONAL)
April 1, 2008... Namibia: The Ministry of Mines and Energy is to develop a Nuclear Regulatory Framework that will pave the way for the construction of nuclear power plants and allow the enrichment of uranium to take place within the country.

Nigeria.(INTERNATIONAL)
April 1, 2008... Nigeria: The Director-General of the Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission, Dr Franklin Ereamo Osasai has confirmed that the country has taken initial steps towards the construction of its first nuclear power plant. It would begin commercial...

Nigeria.(INTERNATIONAL)
April 1, 2008... Nigeria: The House of Representatives Committee on Power and Steel has begun an investigation into how approximately $16bn was allegedly wasted on the Nigerian power sector between 1997 and 2007. To date the committee has traced around $13bn of...

Qatar.(INTERNATIONAL)
April 1, 2008... Qatar: A consortium of Belgium's Suez Energy International and Japan's Mitsui & Company has signed the contract for the Ras Laffan C independent water and power project in Qatar. The power and water produced will be bought by Qatar General...

Saudi Arabia.(INTERNATIONAL)
April 1, 2008... Saudi Arabia: KEC International has won a turnkey order worth close to $121m from Saudi Electric Company for the construction of a 380 kV overhead transmission line, which will have a total length of 268 km.

UAE.(INTERNATIONAL)
April 1, 2008... UAE: Areva has signed a [euro]150m ($236m) deal with DEWA for the delivery of two high voltage (400 kV) substations in Dubai. The contract was awarded in partnership with Hyundai Heavy Industries, which will supply four power transformers.

Uganda.(INTERNATIONAL)
April 1, 2008... Uganda: Tullow Oil has agreed with Jacobson AS Elektro of Norway to build an 85 MW heavy-fuel oil thermal plant in Hoima, where it plans to build a 4000 barrels-a-day refinery. The power will be fed to the national grid.

Enel to cement its position in Russia's power sector.(INTERNATIONAL)
April 1, 2008... Speaking to the Financial Times, Fulvio Conti, chief executive of Italian utility Enel, has said that his company will invest in excess of [euro]2bn ($3.15bn) in Russia over the next five years to strengthen its position in what he described as...

Abu Dhabi faces power shortfall if no new plants are commissioned.(INTERNATIONAL)(Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Company)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... According to the latest demand projections by the Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Company (Adwec), Abu Dhabi will need to decide on commissioning a further power and water plant this year. Abu Dhabi had expected to suffer a 774 MW shortfall...

Eskom continues power sector investment.(INTERNATIONAL)(ABB South Africa)(ALSTOM SA (Pty) Ltd)(Eskom Holdings Ltd.)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... Eskom, South Africa's national electricity provider has awarded two large contracts as part of its ongoing capital expansion programme of its electricity sector to meet the countries growing power demand. The first contract is for the...

Electricity sharing scheme mooted for East Africa.(INTERNATIONAL)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... The East Africa 'Northern Corridor' countries of Kenya, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Rwanda and Burundi are pushing for electricity grid interconnections, as well as cooperatively exploring new sources of energy as a...

Alstom bags Uganda hydro power order.(INTERNATIONAL)
April 1, 2008... Alstom Hydro, which a joint venture between Alstom and Bouygues, is to supply hydro and electromechanical equipment worth [euro] 160m ($252m) for the new 255 MW Bujagali hydroelectric power plant on the River Nile in Uganda. Under the...

Bulgaria.(EUROPE)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... Bulgaria: Potential strategic investors have been invited to purchase a coal fired plant in the western part of the country. The starting price for full ownership of the 420 MW plant in Bobov Dol is set at 100m leva ($81m). The tender is...

Finland.(EUROPE)
April 1, 2008... Finland: Nexan has won a deal worth [euro] 150m ($236m) for a subsea cable between Finland and Sweden. The link will boost transmission capacity between the two countries by 800 MW, or approximately 40 per cent, and is set to go live in late...

France.(EUROPE)
April 1, 2008... France: Alstom has been awarded a turnkey contract from independent power producer Electrabel France, part of the Suez Group, for the construction of a GT26-based, 420 MW combined-cycle power plant, located near Marseilles. The contract is...

Germany.(EUROPE)
April 1, 2008... Germany: According to Bundesver-band Braunkohle, the brown coal industry association, coal was the major fuel source in Germany for electricity generation last year for the first time since 1991. The share of nuclear fell by four percentage...

Montenegro.(EUROPE)
April 1, 2008... Montenegro: Montenegro and Turkey have announced they will cooperate in power generation activities that include establishing hydroelectric and thermal power plants in the Balkan nation.

Netherlands.(EUROPE)
April 1, 2008... Netherlands: ABB has won a $150m contract from Nuon to provide power systems and grid connections for a natural gas and steam turbine power plant. The 1300 MW plant is scheduled to become operational in early 2011.

Spain.(EUROPE)
April 1, 2008... Spain: Acciona Energia is developing projects utilizing four different renewable technologies - photovoltaics, solar thermal, biomass and wind power - in the Extremadura region in southwest Spain. The projects represent a total capacity of 350...

UK.(EUROPE)
April 1, 2008... UK: E.ON has submitted a planning application to build a [pounds sterling]60m ($120m) biomass power station in Sheffield. The plant will be rated at 25 MW.

UK.(EUROPE)
April 1, 2008... UK: Statkraft and its partner Catamount Energy Corporation have selected Siemens Wind Power to provide turbines for the Blaengwen wind farm that will be built near Carmarthen in South Wales. The wind farm will have an installed capacity of 23...

RWE takes CCS lead in Europe.(EUROPE)
April 1, 2008... RWE npower has joined forces with five other companies to build the first commercial scale project to store carbon dioxide ([CO.sub.2]) emitted from power plants underground. It is part of the UK's government's carbon capture and storage...

Rapped knuckles for Spain's CNE over Endesa takeover saga.(EUROPE)(Comision Nacional de Energia)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled against the CNE, Spain's energy regulator, which successfully blocked E.ON's takeover attempt of Endesa last year. In an announcement, the ECJ said that: "Spain had failed to fulfil its...

Joint utility deal between France and Spain.(EUROPE)
April 1, 2008... According to Spanish newspaper major ABC, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Spain's prime minister and French president Nicolas Sarkozy are putting together a deal whereby French utility Electricite de France (EDF) would purchase a 15-18 percent...

Large-scale project to improve wind turbine reliability.
April 1, 2008... Ten major suppliers of products and services to the wind energy industry have come together to work on the 'RELIAWIND' project, which ultimately aims to develop a new generation of wind turbines that are more intelligent and reliable, and...

Poland to build new coal fired power station.(EUROPE)
April 1, 2008... Polska Grupa Energetyczna (PGE), Poland's largest energy company, is to build a 1600 MW coal fired power station in the eastern part of the country at a cost of $4.45bn. The plant will comprise two units, each of 800 MW,. and will be...

China.(ASIA-PACIFIC)
April 1, 2008... China: China Resource s Power Holdings has gained approval from the Chinese government to build a 300 MW coal fired unit at its Hunan Lianyuan mine mouth power plant, which will be equipped with FGD and de-NOx technologies.

China.(ASIA-PACIFIC)
April 1, 2008... China: China's Guangdong Province plans to host the nation's largest offshore wind farm covering 240 [m.sub.2], which will be co-sponsored by the Lufeng Municipal Government and Guangdong New Energy Stock co.

China.(ASIA-PACIFIC)
April 1, 2008... China: China plans to spend 41.8bn yuan ($5.89bn) on energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emission reduction projects in 2008, according to the Ministry of Finance. Under the current five-year plan, energy consumption as a proportion of GDP...

India.(ASIA-PACIFIC)
April 1, 2008... India: Pressure on their legislative calendar has resulted in US officials giving India a three-month deadline to complete negotiations on the planned US-India civil nuclear energy deal, initially announced in March 2006.

Indonesia.(ASIA-PACIFIC)
April 1, 2008... Indonesia: Marubeni Corporation has received a 9bn yen ($90m) order from Indonesia's state-owned power company PT PLN to completely over-haul its largest coal fired power plant, the 3400 MW Suralaya plant, which will extend the facility's life,...

Laos.(ASIA-PACIFIC)
April 1, 2008... Laos: Work to construct the 1800 MW Hong Sa thermal power plant in Sayabouly Province will begin later this year at a cost of $2.76bn. All but 100 MW of capacity will be used for export to Thailand.

Nepal.(ASIA-PACIFIC)
April 1, 2008... Nepal: China's Export-Import Bank has confirmed the provision of two soft loans for power projects in Nepal. The loans totalling $186m will be used to construct the 61 MW Upper Trishuli 3 'A' and 33 MW Upper Trishuli 3 'B' plants, scheduled for...

Thailand.(ASIA-PACIFIC)
April 1, 2008... Thailand: The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) is expected to tender for the construction of two new gas fired power plants each with a capacity of 800 MW, utilizing LNG supplied through a new terminal to be built in southern...

Vietnam.(ASIA-PACIFIC)
April 1, 2008... Vietnam: The Vietnamese government has approved the establishment of the National Electricity Transmission Corporation, which will be 100 per cent owned by Electricity of Vietnam.

Korea's KEPCO poised to step into Kazakhstan's power market.(ASIA-PACIFIC)
April 1, 2008... Korea's state-owned power company, Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) has signed a memorandum of understanding with Kazakhstan's Central Asian Power Energy Company for electricity projects worth around $500m. Under the agreement,...

Thai energy boss back coal and nuclear.(ASIA-PACIFIC)
April 1, 2008... The regional head of a leading energy technology company has come out in support of coal and nuclear power production as the best fuel options for meeting the growing demands for power generation in Thailand. Kovit Kantapasara, who heads up GE...

World Bank approves $600m loan for India's Power Grid upgrade.(ASIA-PACIFIC)
April 1, 2008... The World Bank has approved a $600m loan for state-run utility Power Grid Corp of India Ltd, backed by a government guarantee, to increase reliable power between states and regions. In a statement, the World Bank said that the Fourth Power...

Indonesian government: we will build four nuclear power plants by 2025.(ASIA-PACIFIC)
April 1, 2008... Indonesia plans to build four nuclear power plants by 2025 to meet electricity demand, state Minister for research and technology Kusmayanto Kadiman said. "If one nuclear power plant can produce 1200 MW of electricity, we need four plants...

China races ahead with nuclear plans.(ASIA-PACIFIC)
April 1, 2008... China is expected to have installed nuclear power capacity of 60 GW by the year 2020 as construction of reactors is progressing faster than planned, according to Zhang Guobao, a vice minister in the National Development and Reform Commission...

China Light and Power picks Siemens for upgrade project.(ASIA-PACIFIC)(Siemens Energy & Automation Inc.)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... Siemens Energy has secured a major order worth about [euro] 300m ($467m) from China Light and Power, after the successful completion of Sie-mens's first supply system expansion project in Hong Kong, China. Over the next five years, Siemens...

Brazil.(AMERICAS)
April 1, 2008... Brazil: Brazil is to build two hydro-power plants along its borders with Bolivia and Argentina. The two plants are expected to have a combined capacity of 12 GW.

Brazil.(AMERICAS)
April 1, 2008... Brazil: EDB plans to increase its generation capacity from 1.04 GW to 1.45 GW by 2012. The majority will come from the 720 MW Pecem coal fired plant, joint owned with EDP, due to commence operation in 2012.

Chile.(AMERICAS)
April 1, 2008... Chile: President Michelle Bachelet has warned that Chile could face electricity rationing this year amid rapidly dropping reservoir levels and cuts in supplies of natural gas from Argentina.

Mexico.(AMERICAS)
April 1, 2008... Mexico: Mexican state power company CFE plans to launch the tender in May or June of this year for the 101 MW Oaxaca I wind project in the state of the same name.

Peru.(AMERICAS)
April 1, 2008... Peru: Siemens has awarded Worley Parsons the engineering phase for the installation of two SGT6-5000F simple cycle units. The first is the Simba project for EnerSur in Chilca, the second for the Kallpa Unit II project.

USA.(AMERICAS)
April 1, 2008... USA: AEP unit Appalachian Power has received authority from West Virginia to build a $2.23bn 629 MW IGCC power plant near New Haven.

USA.(AMERICAS)
April 1, 2008... USA: New Mexico has approved a bill that requires the state's electricity utilities to achieve energy efficiency gains by five per cent of their 2005 sales by 2014, rising to ten per cent by 2020.

USA.(AMERICAS)
April 1, 2008... USA: NRG Energy has commenced construction on the Elbow Creek wind project, a 122 MW wind farm near Big Spring, Texas. The project will use 53 Siemens 2.3 MW turbines and begin operating by year-end.

USA.(AMERICAS)
April 1, 2008... USA: Nviro Cleantech's subsidiary Vertus Technologies has signed a contract to install and operate a 100 000 tonnes per annum reductive thermal process unit at a site on the Ohio River.

USA.(AMERICAS)
April 1, 2008... USA: Panda Energy is planning to build, own and operate a 500 MW combined-cycle plant in Sherman, northern Texas that will will supply sufficient power for approximately 400 000 homes.

USA.(AMERICAS)
April 1, 2008... USA: Worley Parsons is to provide design services for the retrofit of selective catalytic reactor and flue gas desulfurization systems at Georgia Power's Plant Scherer facility.

Brazil's CESP stake sale cancelled.(AMERICAS)
April 1, 2008... The government of Brazil's Sao Paulo state canceled the sale of a controlling stake in utility CESP after potential bidders failed to make necessary financial deposit. Possible buyers balked at spending nearly 20bn reais ($11.5bn) for the...

Powerspan carbon capture technology chosen for North Dakota project.(AMERICAS)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... Basin Electric Power Cooperative is to use Powerspan's carbon dioxide ([CO.sub.2]) capture technology to demonstrate its viability at the Antelope Valley Station, a coal-based electric power station located near Beulah, North Dakota. ...

TransCanada eyes C$5bn run-of-river hydropower plant in Alberta.(AMERICAS)
April 1, 2008... TransCanada Corporation is mulling the development of a C$5bn ($4.9bn) hydroelectric project on the River Slave in the remote reaches of northern Alberta, Alex Pourbaix, president of the power and pipeline company's energy division, said. ...

AEP gets Louisiana OK to build 600 MW coal plant in Arkansas.(AMERICAS)
April 1, 2008... American Electric Power said the Louisiana Public Service Commission has approved a request by one of its business units to build a 600 MW coal fired power plant in Arkansas. Company officials said the project, which was previously approved...

Saskatchewan to build 'clean coal' generator.(AMERICAS)
April 1, 2008... The Saskatchewan government has revived the idea of building a so-called clean coal power plant. The announcement comes after the federal government gave the province nearly C$250m ($242m) to put toward carbon capture programmes. The...

Power line to open up remote British Columbia.(AMERICAS)
April 1, 2008... Mexican state power company CFE is to tender in May the 652 MW Norte II combined-cycle plant in Chihuahua state. The plant would be tendered under the Independent Power Producer Framework, which entails a 25-year power purchase agreement....

Brazil firm goes nuts for hydro.(COMPANIES)(Tractebel Energia)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... Brazil firm goes nuts for hydro: Brazilian power generator Tractebel Energia plans to invest 715m reais ($426m) in 2008. Tractebel aims to invest 385m reais of the total in the 1.09 GW Estreito hydro project, 230m reais in the 243 MW Sao...

California dreaming.(COMPANIES)
April 1, 2008... California dreaming: Westinghouse Electric Company, a Toshiba Group company based near Pittsburgh, PA, has opened an office in San Jose, CA, to support the growth of its boiling water reactor nuclear power business in the US west coast.

EDP goes big.(COMPANIES)
April 1, 2008... EDP goes big: EDP Renovaveis, the renewables arm of Portugeuese electricity group EDP, is to invest around [euro] 20bn ($29.5bn) in the next four years. The bulk of the investment is to be made by Horizon, its US wind power generator.

Equipped for success.(COMPANIES)
April 1, 2008... Equipped for success: Alstom Hydro has acquired all the assets of hydro-mechanical equipment business of SDEM Entreprises, a company based in Isere, France.

Finns are looking up.(COMPANIES)(Fortum)(TGC-10)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... Finns are looking up: Finnish utility Fortum has raised its stake in Russian utility TGC-10 to around 76 per cent after it subscribed to a share issue. Full ownership of TGC-10, which supplies power to western Siberia and has a capacity of 2.8...

GE to splurge.(COMPANIES)
April 1, 2008... GE to splurge: GE Energy Financial Services has announced plans to invest $5bn outside the United States to grow and help meet scaring energy demand by the end of 2010. This strategy reinforces GE's company-wide plan to boost international...

Pulp fact.(COMPANIES)
April 1, 2008... Pulp fact: Vattenfall has signed an agreement with Finnish/Swedish pulp and paper manufacturer Stora Enso to supply electricity up to and including 2019, covering around 13 TWh.

Shipped to Siberia.(COMPANIES)
April 1, 2008... Shipped to Siberia: Russian gas monopoly Gazprom and the Siberian Coal Energy Company have signed an agreement detailing the major terms to merge the power and coal assets of both companies by the end of August 2008.

Wind firm sale.(COMPANIES)
April 1, 2008... Wind firm sale: Iberdrola Renovables has acquired a 49 per cent interest in wind power firm Eolica 2000, which is developing a 32.3 MW wind farm in Spain's northern coastal region of Cantabria, with an option to purchase an additional two per...

Toshiba inks nuclear power tie-up with Russian state firm.(COMPANIES)
April 1, 2008... Toshiba has forged a tie-up with Russia's state-owned Atomic Energy Power in civilian nuclear power operations including power plant construction and fuel production. Based on the alliance, the Russian firm dubbed Atomenergoprom will...

RWE enters Russia power with TGK-2 stake purchase.(COMPANIES)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... Germany's RWE took effective control of one of three large Russian power producers in the latest round of sales, making it the fourth European utility to become a major player in the sector. RWE, with junior partner Sintez Group, a Russian...

AES and private equity firm create $1bn solar fund.(COMPANIES)
April 1, 2008... US power company AES and private equity firm Riverstone Holdings will invest up to $1bn in photovoltaic solar projects around the world over the next five years. AES and Riverstone have each committed up to $500m for the joint venture,...

Russia's IES buys up big stake in TGK-6.(COMPANIES)(Integrated Energy Systems)(New Russian Generation)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... Two Russian power-focused funds, namely Integrated Energy Systems and New Russian Generation, have bought the entire new share issue, or 31.2 per cent, of TGK-6. They reportedly paid $437/kW for the generating capacity at TGK-6, a regional...

Abu Dhabi and Spain launch solar power company.(COMPANIES)
April 1, 2008... Spain's Sener Grupo de Ingenieria has formed a joint venture with Abu Dhabi's Masdar iniative to build concentrating solar power (CSP) plants around the world. Sener owns 60 per cent of the joint venture, with Masdar owning the remaining...

Vattenfall and Siemens sign wind power deal.(COMPANIES)
April 1, 2008... Vattenfall and Siemens have signed a two-year framework agreement for the supply of wind power equipment in 2009 and 2010. Vattenfall will purchase 170 MW of equipment from Siemens in an order worth around $270m. This project forms...

Russian power reform: five years on: the shape of Russia's reformed power sector is emerging after a five-year programme of restructuring, but will the many opportunities that are arising provide enough incentive to allay any remaining doubts?(power report)
April 1, 2008... A five-year plan might be thought of something of a throwback to the days of Communist Party rule in Russia. But it was just such a plan that was put in place to reform Russia' electricity infrastructure and for which Russia's President Putin...

Making smarter investment decisions for a low-carbon future; International public and political pressure on the energy sector and energy-intensive industries to address climate change is mounting, forcing them to look at all available options for reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Consultants Arthur D. Little explores these options in detail and analyses how utilities can prepare for a low-carbon future through investment decisions today.(Low-Carbon Investment)
April 1, 2008... There are two main options for reducing carbon dioxide (CO2.,) emissions from power generation - reducing end-use demand and lowering carbon intensity through such methods as fuel switching, using renewable energy sources, and carbon capture...

Transformer health: time for a check up?: condition based decision making is a process developed by the UK's EA Technology in conjunction with several major electricity companies that, among other things, offers a 'health index' for oil filled transformers.(Transformer Testing)(Electronic Arts)
April 1, 2008... There is increasing pressure on all owners and operators of electrical systems to develop asset management strategies that are effective and cost efficient. Ensuring a corporately acceptable failure rate, prolonging the life of the assets and...

Biomass in Scotland: taking the high road: E.ON inaugurated its new 44 MW Steven's Croft biomass plant near Lockerbie, Scotland on 18 March. Project manager Andy Carling explores how the UK's biggest wood fired power station will play its part in Scotland's long-term plans to become self-sufficient in renewable energy.(Biomass)
April 1, 2008... On a clear afternoon in January 2006, E.ON UK Chief Executive Paul Golby officially broke ground on Steven's Croft power station near Lockerbie, Scotland. Just over two years later, on a similarly clear afternoon on 18 March, the [pounds...

Opening the way to feeding South Africa's hunger for electricity: last year's start of the commercial operation of South Africa's first new open cycle gas turbine plants since democracy was introduced in 1994 was a significant milestone in Eskom's plan to increase generation capacity and ensure a reliable supply of electricity, but the story is far from over.(Open Cycle Gas Turbines)
April 1, 2008... Since the end of Apartheid and the introduction of democracy in the mid-1990s South Africa has experienced phenomenal economic growth, with GDP increasing at an average rate of five percent a year. It now has the most advanced economy in the...

Aerospace technology in electrical transmission grids takes off; Aluminium conductor composite core technology not only allows an increase in power throughput, but it also reduces line losses by 30-40 per cent. Dave Bryant of Composite Technology Corporation explains how.(Advanced Cable Technology)
April 1, 2008... For more than 100 years, electricity has been delivered to consumers using bare overhead conductors that were made up of conductive aluminum strands wrapped around a core that consisted of steel wires. The steel wires were used to augment the...

Prevention is better than a cure: utilities, other power generators and plant operators are re-examining the way they manage, report and analyze project data, and investigating more robust methods of doing these activities. One of the current buzzwords with project-focused teams is 'Earned Value Management'.(Project Management IT)
April 1, 2008... Many projects in the power industry carry far too much risk to be allowed to drift off course - either because they involve large sums of money or for health and safety reasons. In most cases, the size and profile of these projects dictate that...