Power Engineering International articles from December 2008

Power Engineering International archives from December 2008

IEA: low-carbon must take centre-stage.(UP FRONT)
December 1, 2008... Surrounded by gloomy reports on the economical situation we all face, I was heartened to read in the International Energy Agency's (EA's) recently published 2008 edition of its World Energy Outlook (WEO 2008) that the current financial crisis...

Sailing through choppy waters: as the credit crunch bites, the implications for the power industry during the economic slump are uncertain. A new report suggests that the sector will suffer from project delays, cancellations and a lack of investment, but urges governments and utilities to maintain their plans for zero carbon generation.(ANALYSIS)
December 1, 2008... On the surface, the power industry appears to be one of the stronger sectors of a global economy in the clutch of a sharp downturn. While oil and gas prices have dropped off significantly, the emergence of carbon credits, emissions regulations,...

Algeria.(INTERNATIONAL)
December 1, 2008... Algeria: Algeria and Argentina have signed a nuclear energy research co-operation agreement. Argentina constructed a nuclear reactor in Algeria, located near the capital Algiers, in 1984. Algeria intensified its efforts to build a nuclear...

Azerbaijan.(INTERNATIONAL)
December 1, 2008... Azerbaijan: ABB has won a $34m order from Azerbaijan's state power utility, AzerEnerji, to supply turnkey substations and power systems for the metal industry in Gyandja City. ABB will deliver air-and gas-insulated substations and two units of...

Bahrain.(INTERNATIONAL)
December 1, 2008... Bahrain: Areva has been awarded an $88.74m upgrade contract by Aluminium Bahrain (Alba), the largest aluminium producer in the Middle East. Under the deal, Areva will design, manufacture and commission ten transformer-rectifier groups each of...

Israel.(INTERNATIONAL)
December 1, 2008... Israel: Siemens will supply three SGT5-4000F gas turbines, three air-cooled generators, the exhaust stack and the air intake system for the Ramat Hovav, Hagit and Eskhol power stations. The order value is approximatety $252m.

Nigeria.(INTERNATIONAL)
December 1, 2008... Nigeria: Sokoto State Government has signed a contract agreement for the establishment of a 30 MW independent power plant (IPP) with US-based energy company, Vulcan Capital Energy at the cost of N3.8bn ($32m).

Nigeria.(INTERNATIONAL)
December 1, 2008... Nigeria: Oyo State government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with South Africa's ENTEC Power and Utilities for the establishment of 250 MW independent power project at the cost of $400m.

Qatar.(INTERNATIONAL)
December 1, 2008... Qatar: Doha has launched a preliminary study to assess the viability of a nuclear power plant project. The study is being conducted to identify an appropriate site and find out if it can be linked to the grid.

Russia.(INTERNATIONAL)
December 1, 2008... Russia: Inter RAO UES has brought on-line the third hydroelectric power unit at the Sangtudinskaya GES-1 facility, located on the Vakhsh river, Tajikistan. The capacity of the unit is 167.5 MW. Once the fourth unit is on stream the capacity...

Saudi Arabia.(INTERNATIONAL)
December 1, 2008... Saudi Arabia: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has received an order from Spain's Tecnicas Reunidas for two gas fired 150 MW M501F gas turbine and generators, it will be installed at a Saudi Aramco plant.

IEA: renewables to overtake gas "after 2010".(INTERNATIONAL)
December 1, 2008... Renewable energy will overtake natural gas to become the second largest source of power generation worldwide "after 2010", according to the International Energy Agency. Dr Fatih Birol, chief economist of the IEA, told Power Engineering...

Saudi Arabia launches $21bn power capacity plan.(INTERNATIONAL)(Saudi Electricity Co.)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) is planning a SR79.6bn ($21bn) programme to award contracts for nine independent power projects (IPPs) between 2010 and 2017, adding 9360 MW to the kingdom's power generating capacity. Ali al-Barrak. chief...

South Africa re-examining nuclear plans.(INTERNATIONAL)
December 1, 2008... South Africa's plan to build its second nuclear plant to tackle energy shortages has to be revisited--and the project may be postponed. France's Areva and US-based Westinghouse Electric have bid for the contract, but Tseliso Maqubela,...

Turkish power plants first to use GE's newest technology.(INTERNATIONAL)
December 1, 2008... GE Energy has announced that ENKA Power, a leading utility company in Turkey, has become the first global customer to invest in GE's newest fuel saving technology for gas turbines. The efficiency upgrades will be made at two of Turkey's...

Wood Group unit wins Abu Dhabi clean energy deal.(INTERNATIONAL)
December 1, 2008... Abu Dhabi clean energy venture Masdar has awarded Houston-based Mustang Engineering (a unit of UK John Wood Group) an engineering and design contract for its carbon capture and storage project. State-run Masdar did not give the value of the...

Kuwait to issue Al-Zour North tender.(INTERNATIONAL)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Kuwait's Electricity & Water Ministry is expected to issue a new tender for the planned 3000 MW Al-Zour North power plant before the end of 2008, contractors in the country told MEED. The plant will have capacity of 3000 MW. A group of...

France.(EUROPE)
December 1, 2008... France: EDF is bringing two new oil fired turbines into operation at Vaires-sur-Marne with a capacity of 370 MW. The investment is part of a larger program to bring 6000 MW of additional production capacity into service during 2006-2012.

Germany.(EUROPE)
December 1, 2008... Germany: Innogy, the renewables arm of RWE, plans to build a biomass fired 25.5 MW CHP power plant jointly with the municipal utility of Troisdorf. The plant is expected to cost [euro]30m ($38m) and work is expected to begin in 2009.

Germany.(EUROPE)
December 1, 2008... Germany: Siemens Energy has supplied a SPPA-T3000 instrumentation and control system for Vattenfall's Schwarze Pumpe pilot low-[C.sub.2] coal fired power plant in Germany. The plant has an installed thermal capacity of 30 MW and is operated...

Ireland.(EUROPE)(Eirgrid )(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Ireland: A direct Sink to Spain or France from the Irish electricity network is being viewed as an option, rather than a further interconnector deal with the UK. Transmission system operator Eirgrid has revealed Work is due to commence on a 230...

The Netherlands.(EUROPE)
December 1, 2008... The Netherlands: Eneco has submitted a permit request and an environmental impact assessment for the construction of a 200 MW offshore wind farm in block Q10 in the North Sea.

Poland.(EUROPE)
December 1, 2008... Poland: PM Donald Tusk has said that he hoped to announce the location of the two planned nuclear power plants by the end of 2009.

UK.(EUROPE)
December 1, 2008... UK: Parliament has rejected a plan to introduce stricter emission standards for newly-built coal power stations. Government minister Lord Davies of Oldham said that the plan would compromise the UK's supply security.

UK.(EUROPE)
December 1, 2008... UK: The South West Regional Development Agency has selected JP Kenny, part of the John Wood Group, as its engineering and management contractor for the Wave Hub project, which will create the world's largest wave energy farm 10 miles off the...

UK.(EUROPE)
December 1, 2008... UK: Balfour Beatty Utility Solutions has been awarded a wind power contract from ScottishPower Energy Networks, valued at nearly [pounds sterling] 20m ($30m). The first project will see the connection of Clyde Windfarm into the transmission...

France plans to ramp up solar energy by 2020.(EUROPE)
December 1, 2008... France is to multiply by 400 the amount of solar power used in the country in the next 12 years as part of its plan to double the share of renewables in consumed energies to 23 per cent by 2020. French Environment and Energy Minister...

UK holds Europe's first Phase II EU ETS carbon auction.(EUROPE)
December 1, 2008... The UK Government held Europe's first carbon allowance auction in Phase II (2008-2012) of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS). Four million allowances were sold at a total value of [pounds sterling]54m ($79.5m) excluding VAT, or...

Alstom to construct CCGT power plant for Hc Energia in Spain.(EUROPE)
December 1, 2008... An Alstom-led consortium received a full notice to proceed on a turnkey contract by Hc Energia, for the construction of a 400 MW combined cycle power station in Soto de Ribera, Spain. The contract includes a long-term operation and maintenance...

Scotland plans coal power plant for nuclear site.(EUROPE)
December 1, 2008... A 1600 MW coal fired power plant, which would be the first conventional station to come on stream in Scotland since 1980, is being planned for the Firth of Clyde. Denmark's state-owned energy company, Dong, has identified Hunterston, North...

Hungary to build largest gas fired power station.(EUROPE)
December 1, 2008... Emfesz Ltd will build a 2400 MW gas fired power station in North East Hungary, which will be the largest gas fired power station in Europe. It will be situated close to the Ukrainian border and underground gas storage facilities. The best...

UK coal investigates clean energy options.(EUROPE)
December 1, 2008... The UK's largest coal mining company has entered a deal to develop 14 wind farms on its land. Doncaster-based UK Coal and Peel Holdings have reached an agreement to explore and assess the possibility of wind farms on the mining firm's land...

Bangladesh.(ASIA-PACIFIC)
December 1, 2008... Bangladesh: A new 240 MW Shiddhirganj power plant is set to go by next summer. The newly-established Electricity Generation Company of Bangladesh is implementing the project to ease the electricity.

China.(ASIA-PACIFIC)
December 1, 2008... China: A large wind power plant with 48 turbines, each with an installed capacity of 850 kW, has gone into operation in East China's Zhejiang Province, generating 17m kWh of electricity.

India.(ASIA-PACIFIC)
December 1, 2008... India: Unit I of Adani Power's Mundra SEZ power project in Kachchh district will commission its first power plant in the first quarter of 2009, with the entire 4620 MW power plant completed by the end of 2010.

India.(ASIA-PACIFIC)
December 1, 2008... India: Bihar Power Infrastructure Company (BPIC) has expressed interest in implementing the 2 x 660 MW thermal power project in Baxar district. The project is expected to be commissioned in 2032.

Malaysia.(ASIA-PACIFIC)
December 1, 2008... Malaysia: AGNI Inc has announced the start of construction of its first biomass-to-energy plant in Malaysia. Construction of the 10 MW plant, located in Bera, Pahang, is expected to be completed in 18 months.

Pakistan.(ASIA-PACIFIC)
December 1, 2008... Pakistan: About $13bn is expected to be invested in the power sector in the years leading up to 2015, according to Pakistan's Federal Minister for Water and Power.

Thailand.(ASIA-PACIFIC)
December 1, 2008... Thailand: SGC Wind Energy has decided to develop Thailand's first private wind-power plant in Nakhon Si Thammarat at an estimated cost of 2.3bn Thai baht ($65m). The wind turbine generator, with 30 MW total installed capacity, will be on the...

Vietnam.(ASIA-PACIFIC)
December 1, 2008... Vietnam: As much as 4115bn ($241 m) will be invested in the construction of eight hydropower plants in central Da Nang city. Nhan Luat Joint Stock Company announced its investment in these plants, which have a total output of 742.6m kWh per...

Vietnam.(ASIA-PACIFIC)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Vietnam: The Ministry of Industry and Trade has announced a plan to build two nuclear power plants. Ninh Thuan nuclear power plant No. 1 would be in Ninh Phuoc District-its two reactors will be put into operation by 2020 and 2021. Ninh Thuan...

Australia government backs low-emission Queensland coal pilot.(ASIA-PACIFIC)
December 1, 2008... Australia's Energy Minister Martin Ferguson has marked the official start of work on a pilot retrofit low-emission power station project in Queensland. The Callide Oxyfuel demonstration project in Biloela, Queensland, will retrofit an...

Alstom wins turnkey supply contract for hydroelectric project in India.(ASIA-PACIFIC)
December 1, 2008... Alstom Hydro has been awarded a contract worth [euro]78m ($101m) by Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation for the turnkey supply of hydroelectric equipment to the Lower Jurala hydropower project in India. The project is located on the...

AEDB to produce 5000 MW energy within five years in Pakistan.(ASIA-PACIFIC)(Alternative Energy Development Board)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Pakistan's Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) has announced plans to produce 5000 MW of energy within five to seven years by the stepping up utilizing renewable energy resources. AEDB's CEO Arif Allaudin said Pakistan's first 50 MW...

China to invest $170bn in grid over next two years.(ASIA-PACIFIC)(State Grid Corporation)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... China's biggest power supplier, The State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), plans to more than double its investment over the next two years to a total of 1.16trn yuan ($170bn) for grid construction. "We decided to add about 500bn yuan...

Malaysian group plans $1.4bn plant in Vietnam.(ASIA-PACIFIC)
December 1, 2008... Malaysia-based JAKS Resources Berhad Company is completing licensing procedures for building a $1.4bn thermoelectric power plant in the Hai Duong province of Vietnam. The 1200 MW factory is the first project to be carried out under the...

Indian PM approves $60m IGCC plant grant.(ASIA-PACIFIC)
December 1, 2008... Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has sanctioned a special grant of Rs300 crore ($60m) for the nation's first integrated gasification combined cycle plant, with a capacity of 182 MW. The proposed project in Vijaywada, Andhra Pradesh,...

Bolivia.(AMERICAS)
December 1, 2008... Bolivia: The Misicuni hydro project is being partly financed by the Italian government, on the condition that an Italian firm is part of the winning consortium. To date, no Italian companies have expressed interest

Brazil.(AMERICAS)
December 1, 2008... Brazil: ANA, Brazil's national water agency, and Ibama, the environ mental regulator, has awarded the installation license for the 3.3 GW Jirau hydropower plant to the Enersus consortium.

Canada.(AMERICAS)
December 1, 2008... Canada: Scotian Windfields Incorporated of Nova Scotia is said to be considering purchasing two 60 kW x 4 h VRB energy storage systems for a pilot wind project. They received a grant to demonstrate renewable energy battery storage systems.

Chile.(AMERICAS)
December 1, 2008... Chile: Codelco, Chile's state copper company, has extended a long-term power tender to supply 450-900 MW of capacity to the country's central SIC grid. Winning bidders can develop their own projects or one of Codelco's planned coal fired...

USA.(AMERICAS)
December 1, 2008... USA: Conergy and its subsidiary Epuron have completed the sale of the Exelon-Conergy Solar Energy Centre, a 3 MW project located on a landfill site just outside of Philadelphia. The solar power plant is Penn sylvania's first utility-scale...

USA.(AMERICAS)
December 1, 2008... USA: Vestas Americas A/S has secured a 22 turbine (V80-2.0 MW) order from Puget Sound Energy in Washington. The order is part of the plan to expand the existing .229 MW Wild Horse Wind and Solar facility.

USA.(AMERICAS)
December 1, 2008... USA: EDF Energies Nouvelles' US subsidiary enXco has signed four new operation and maintenance (O&tM) contracts covering 981 MW in capacity with US electricity companies. This raises EDF EN's OEtM contracts in the US to over 3000 MW.

USA.(AMERICAS)
December 1, 2008... USA: Invensys Process Systems has been selected by the US Department of Energy's (DOE's) National Energy Technology Laboratory to provide a dynamic process simulator for an in tegrated gasification combined-cycle (IGCC) plant with carbon...

USA.(AMERICAS)
December 1, 2008... USA: In a ruling, the Environmental Appeals Board of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found that the EPA had no valid reason for refusing to require that best available control technology be used to limit carbon dioxide emissions...

Permit granted for AEP's $1.5bn 600 MW coal plant.(AMERICAS)
December 1, 2008... Southwestern Electric Power Company (SWEPCO), a business unit of American Electric Power Company (AEP) has been issued a final air permit that will allow it to begin construction of the 600 MW John W. Turk Jr. coal fired power plant. The...

GE link-up to further clean coal.(AMERICAS)
December 1, 2008... GE Energy and the University of Wyoming have announced an agreement, whereby they will jointly develop the High Plains Gasification Advanced Technology Centre, with the aim of accelerating the commercial use of clean coal technology. The...

Pollution control needed to keep PP.(AMERICAS)
December 1, 2008... The utility Alliant Energy Corporation has filed an application with state regulators for the installation of pollution control technologies at a 23-year-old coal fired power plant, at a cost of $153m. Wisconsin Power & Light Company...

Ontario's new nuclear build is delayed again.(AMERICAS)
December 1, 2008... George Smitherman, Ontario's minister of Energy and Infrastructure has announced the province is to delay once again the deadline for the final bid proposals for two new reactors to be built at the site of the existing Darlington nuclear...

Second HVDC converter station for Uruguay.(AMERICAS)
December 1, 2008... AREVA has been awarded a $150m contract by ISUR (Interconexiones del Sur), for the delivery of a back-to-back high-voltage direct current (HVDC) converter station in Melo, Uruguay. The station will be built to inter connect Brazil and Uruguay's...

Work to resume at Brazil's Angra III NP.(AMERICAS)
December 1, 2008... Brazil's 1.35 GW Angra III nuclear power project is due to receive its installation license at the end of 2008, according to the latest documents from the federal government's growth acceleration programme. Ibama, the country's...

Cogenerating together.(COMPANIES)
December 1, 2008... Cogenerating together: A new joint venture between Wartsila's Biopower business and Metso's Heat and Power business has been cleared by the European Commission. The venture, called MW Power Oy, and will focus on small-and medium-scale power and...

Turbines take flight.(COMPANIES)
December 1, 2008... Turbines take flight: This month will see Switzerland's Advanced Aerofoil Technologies AG open a state-of-the-art gas turbine airfoil production facility in Bayreuth, Germany. It is in partnership with its German subsidiary MTS Deutschland...

Delivering the solution.(COMPANIES)
December 1, 2008... Delivering the solution: Worley-Parsons has been selected by Siemens as a partner for its worldwide turnkey gas turbine equipment package delivery process. The alliance's first project is the T-Power project in Tessenderlo, Belgium.

Coming clean.(COMPANIES)
December 1, 2008... Coming clean: Germany utility RWE has acquired a 50 per cent stake in Agrinergy PTE Limited of Singapore--a major provider of carbon credit services that focus on projects under the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).

East looks west.(COMPANIES)
December 1, 2008... East looks west: Thailand's energy giant PIT Public Company Limited is reportedly in talks with Hiram Epsilon Limited to acquire 20-25 per cent of its stake in Dalia Power Energies Limited. Dalia Power has plans to build a 560 MW power plant,...

Building on wind.(COMPANIES)
December 1, 2008... Building on wind: Samsung Heavy Industries Company of South Korea, which has business interests ranging from ship-building to construction, is reportedly preparing to launch an offshore wind power business in an effort to diversify its...

Computer whizz.(COMPANIES)
December 1, 2008... Computer whizz: IBM has announced a collaboration with French utility giant EDF. They will develop high performance computing solutions that could significantly advance the complex systems and processes involved in electricity production and...

European flavour.(COMPANIES)
December 1, 2008... European flavour: American EPC Fluor has acquired two private engineering companies--UNEC Engineering of Belgium and Europea de Ingenieria y Asesoramiento of Spain.

Expanding abroad.(COMPANIES)
December 1, 2008... Expanding abroad: Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa) is reportedly set to complete on an acquisition of a majority stake in a US-based power plant. The deal, which is a joint venture, is said to be worth around $1bn (Dh3.67bn).

French wind power generator reviews business ambitions.(COMPANIES)
December 1, 2008... Theolia of France, one of Europe's leading producers of electricity from wind, has announced it is to scale down its business ambitions and reduce costs, to focus on cash generation amid the on-going global financial crisis. A strategy...

Vattenfall takes stake in Poland's ENEA.(COMPANIES)
December 1, 2008... Swedish power company Vattenfall AB has purchased an 18.7 per cent share in ENEA SA, one of Poland's four state-owned energy companies, for SEK4.5bn ($0.6bn). ENEA SA has a distribution network that supplies electricity across 20 per cent...

Siemens wins Israeli components order.(COMPANIES)
December 1, 2008... Siemens Energy has won a contract, worth close to [euro]200m ($259m) from the state-owned Israeli utility Israel Electric Corporation (IEC), for the supply of components for three gas turbine power plants. For the Ramat Hovav, Hagit and...

BP turns its back on UK's wind sector.(COMPANIES)
December 1, 2008... The UK wind sector has received a major blow--BP has said it has dropped all plans to build wind farms and other renewable schemes in Britain, and instead will concentrate the bulk of its $8bn ([pounds sterling]5bn) renewables programme on the...

NRG Energy board rejects Exelon unsolicited bid.(COMPANIES)
December 1, 2008... US power producer NRG Energy Incorporated has rejected the $6.2bn takeover bid from Exelon Corporation, saying the offer is too low. According to Howard Cosgrove, NRG's chairman, "The board of directors is unanimous in its belief that the...

BHEL to move into nuclear reactors.(COMPANIES)
December 1, 2008... India's Economic Times reports that state-run Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) is in talks with electrical equipment maker Areva T&D India, the Indian arm of French Areva France SA, to create a joint venture (JV) company that will...

GCC: the backbone of power sector reform: since 1981 the six countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have made substantial reforms to their electricity sectors. Hassan K Al-Asaad looks at the evolution of the GCC power grid and its potential for both regional and international exchange and trade.(power report)
December 1, 2008... Driven by the so-called 'second oil boom', the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries--which comprise the United Arab Emirates, the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Sultanate of Oman, the State of Qatar, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the State of...

Weathering the perfect storm: Ron Wollace, IBM's tivoli utilities industry marketing manager, outlines his three-pronged approach to tackling power utilities' need to address the increasing problem of inefficient IT systems.(Opinion: information Management)
December 1, 2008... A 'perfect storm' of daunting proportions is bearing down on utility companies: assets are aging; the workforce is aging; and legacy information technology (IT) systems are becoming an impediment to efficiency improvements. This article...

Power plant: from water guzzler to water producer: a power plant that does not need a supply of expensive potable water could soon be a reality, thanks to a membrane system that recovers clean water from flue gas. As well as providing water, the system could cut on overage plant's annual energy bill significantly. KEMA's F G de Vos, R Heijboer and H M van Deelen-Bremer discuss their experiments and findings.(Plant Water Management)
December 1, 2008... Most people who see white clouds billowing from the stack of a power plant or waste incinerator think that what they are looking at is pollution. Few people realize that these clouds contain harmless water. So, for PR reasons alone, the removal...

Offshore wind: how to take action for a more uncertain future: if the offshore wind industry is to be token seriously, it will need to address its reliability and technical difficulties. Arthur D. Little has identified changes needed to make equipment more robust and reliable and to overcome the challenges offshore wind faces in securing its position in Europe's renewable energy.(Offshore Wind)
December 1, 2008... Offshore wind is in many ways an ideal form of green energy. It is clean and renewable, and can be deployed well away from public view. It is also well supported, especially in Europe, by the public and governments as a way of meeting their...

Fujairah F2 IWPP: a jewel in the desert.(Special Project Report)
December 1, 2008... Due for completion in 2010 Fujairah F2 will not only be Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority's seventh independent water and power plant (IWPP), but also its largest. This project is also a milestone for international power [euro] PC...

NorNed: giving Europe's power trading a welcome boost: commissioned in May and officially opened in September of this year, NorNed is the world's longest submarine high-voltage power cable. Linking the power grids of Norway and the Netherlands, it represents on important step in the European Union's Trans-European Energy Network (TEN-E) initiative, which seeks to create a single electricity market in Europe.(Network Interconnection)
December 1, 2008... Although Norway remains outside of the European Union (EU) this has not stopped it enjoying good trading relations with other EU member states, particularly in the export of many of its natural resources, such as crude oil. In May of this...

Controlling a Hungarian NOx uprising: PEi visits AES Tisza II, near Budapest, Hungary, home to a 900 MWe gas and light oil fired power plant. RJM International has developed and installed burner modifications, which reduced NOx emissions by over 70 per cent.(Emissions Control)
December 1, 2008... In the European Union, the Large Combustion Plant Directive (LCPD)--one of the main pieces of legislation covering the power sector and the ever-tightening limits of Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) into atmosphere, is particularly challenging for some of...