June 15, 2008

Global Monitor (June 2008)

POWER digest

News items of interest to power industry professionals.

Foster Wheeler wins contract for CFB gasifier for biomass-to-liquids pilot plant. Foster Wheeler Ltd. announced in May that its Finnish subsidiary Foster Wheeler Energia Oy has been awarded a contract by NSE Biofuels Oy Ltd. for a circulating fluidized-bed (CFB) biomass gasifier to be located in Varkaus, Finland.

Foster Wheeler’s scope includes an oxygen/steam gasifier and gas treatment equipment. The plant utilizes the company’s fuel-flexible CFB gasification technology to convert a wide spectrum of biomass into a clean syngas to be used in a gas-to-liquids (Fischer-Tropsch) process to produce feedstock for renewable diesel from biomass/wood residue-based gas. The gasification and syngas cleaning system is part of NSE’s new-generation renewable diesel demonstration plant at paper producer Stora Enso’s Varkaus Mill in Finland.

Foster Wheeler has received a full notice to proceed on this contract. The plant is expected to start up in early 2009 and will be integrated into the energy infrastructure of the Stora Enso Varkaus Mill. Foster Wheeler and the joint venture partners have also agreed in principle to further cooperation, aiming for delivery of a commercial-scale production plant to be located at one of Stora Enso’s mills.

ThermoEnergy, Babcock to commercialize emissions-free plant design. ThermoEnergy Corp. and Babcock Power Inc. have signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly commercialize a carbon-capture power plant designed to convert coal, natural gas, oil, and biomass into energy with near-zero emissions.

Based on pressurized oxyfuel combustion technology, the ThermoEnergy Integrated Power System (TIPS) captures carbon dioxide in a clean pressurized form for sequestration or for reuse in oil recovery.

“With relatively few unit operations, TIPS enhances power plant reliability, while its process efficiency comes from recovering the latent heat of vaporization of produced and entrained water. Adding a second reheat to the steam cycle efficiency, coupled with a simple, low-energy process to recover pipeline quality carbon dioxide gives TIPS a competitive edge over other conversion technologies,” said Alex Fassbender, president of ThermoEnergy Power Systems LLC.

Babcock and ThermoEnergy engineers will begin work immediately to finalize the data needed to design, construct, and operate a large-scale pilot plant at a host site.

Fluor to build world’s largest offshore wind farm. Fluor Corp. announced in mid-May that it has signed a contract with Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) to design and construct the 500-MW Greater Gabbard Offshore Wind Farm. The venture is the world’s largest offshore wind farm project and the first UK offshore wind farm to be built outside territorial waters. The project is located approximately 15 miles off the Suffolk coast of the UK. The contract is valued at approximately $1.8 billion.

The Greater Gabbard Offshore Wind Farm Project will feature 140 wind turbines, each having a rated capacity of 3.6 MW. The turbines will be supplied by Siemens Wind Power A/S under a separate contract with SSE. Fluor will be responsible for installation of the turbines, which will be mounted on steel monopiles and transition pieces in water depths between 75 and 100 feet. A new electricity substation will be built near Sizewell, Suffolk, UK.

Construction work is scheduled to commence for the offshore site in summer 2009; work to prepare the site for the onshore substation is already under way. The wind farm will be commissioned in two phases, and construction is scheduled to be completed in 2011.

Wärtsilä to supply world’s first jatropha-fueled CHP plant. Wärtsilä has secured an order for an engine-driven combined heat and power (CHP) plant that will run on liquid biofuel extracted from the seeds of the jatropha plant. This CHP plant will be the first in the world ever to produce both electricity and heat using crude jatropha oil as fuel.

The plant is to be located in an agricultural area in Merksplas, Belgium. It will be owned by Greenpower NV—a joint venture between Thenergo (50%), the Belgian developer of sustainable energy projects; four local agricultural companies (40%); and a private investor (10%). Commercial operation of the plant is scheduled to begin in February 2009.

The plant will have a gross electrical efficiency of 44.2% and an overall efficiency of more than 85%. Heat from the plant will be used primarily for farming processes, such as in nearby greenhouses. It will also be used in a drying process for a livestock manure digester plant that processes biogas and dry fertilizer material. Electricity will be sold to the grid.

The contract is valued at approximately $10.84 million. Wärtsilä will deliver a Wärtsilä 32 engine with an electrical output of 9 MW. The scope of supply includes exhaust gas cleaning equipment and heat-recovery systems. Greenpower and Wärtsilä have signed a letter of intent for a 10-year operations and maintenance (O&M) agreement.

Siemens secures power plant order from Britain. The Siemens Energy Sector is to build its ninth plant in Britain, a combined-cycle power plant (CCPP) in Wales for Severn Power Ltd., a subsidiary of Welsh Power. The power plant with an installed capacity of 850 MW will attain an efficiency of 58%. Construction has commenced and is scheduled to be completed in 2010. The order, including a 16-year O&M agreement, is valued at a total of $1.29 billion.

Siemens is building the eco-friendly CCPP for Severn Power in Uskmouth in the vicinity of Newport, Wales. The plant is being erected on the site of a decommissioned coal-fired plant. In addition to turnkey construction, the Siemens scope of supply encompasses two SGT5-4000F gas turbines, two steam turbines, two hydrogen-cooled generators, and all electrical and instrumentation and control equipment.

Tenaska Power Fund to sell Calumet and three other generating facilities. Tenaska Power Fund (TPF) announced in May that it had entered into an agreement with International Power plc to sell the Calumet Energy Power Station, a 303-MW plant in Chicago, Ill., and APT Generation, a portfolio of three electric generating plants in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio.

The three APT plants are the 625-MW Armstrong Energy plant in Armstrong County, Pa.; the 313-MW Pleasants Energy plant in Pleasants County, W.Va.; and the 616-MW Troy Energy plant in Wood County, Ohio. The Pleasants and Armstrong plants are positioned to deliver power to the PJM energy grid; the Troy plant serves the Midwest independent system operator grid.

The four plants will be sold for $856.4 million. The acquisitions are expected to close by the end of the third quarter of 2008.

Alstom to supply advanced clean coal combustion technology to RWE plant. Alstom won a $773.5 million contract in April to supply boilers for two 800-MW units at RWE Power AG’s existing coal-fired Westfalen Power Station, near Hamm, Germany.

Under the terms of the contract, Alstom will supply the complete boiler islands and auxiliary equipment, plus erection and commissioning. When completed in 2011, the new units will achieve cycle efficiencies of about 46%—substantially more than the European average of 36% for existing bituminous coal–fired plants.

The new Westfalen supercritical boilers with steam temperatures of 1,112F (600C) will reduce all emissions, including carbon dioxide, by about one-third compared to the fleet of older units. Application of Alstom’s advanced technical solutions will also significantly reduce nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide emissions.

Coal Creek Station upgrades steam turbine. Great River Energy’s two-unit, 1,100-MW Coal Creek Station, 50 miles north of Bismarck, N.D., marks the first installation of GE’s new 26.8-inch last-stage bucket (LSB) with axial entry dovetail.

The LSB upgrade of the first of the two GE steam turbines was completed in April 2008. The unit reentered commercial service in May 2008. “With an increased annulus area and reduced exhaust losses, the longer LSB is designed to increase plant output without increasing heat to the turbine or fuel to the boiler,” said Steve Pock, steam turbine product manager at GE Energy.
—Compiled by Sonal Patel.

Correction

The caption on page 30 of our March 2008 issue erroneously identified the turbine rotor as from a Frame 7FA gas turbine. The photograph depicts the plant’s steam turbine rotor. POWER regrets the error.