Gas

Owner/operator: OMV Petrom S.A. Romania began the process of restructuring its vertically integrated, state-owned electricity industry to meet European Union (EU) directives several years before it joined the

Owner/operator: Florida Power & Light No one can accuse Florida Power & Light (FPL) of having anything against natural gas. The biggest consumer of gas in a state with the second-biggest appetite for

Once flush with cheap electricity, the Republic of South Africa has recently been beset by power shortages and reliability challenges as a result of decades of underinvestment in its electrical infrastructure

Owners: Chugach Electric Association Inc. and Anchorage Municipal Light & PowerOperator: Chugach Electric Association Inc. Alaska’s vast land mass broken up by mountainous regions and glacier fields does

When Gary Leonard, General Electric’s global technology director for aero-thermal and mechanical systems technologies, spoke with POWER Contributing Editor Mark Axford at this year’s Gulf Coast Power

Owner/operator: AES Jordan PSC AES Corp.’s $300 million, 370-MW gas-fired Amman East Power Plant entered commercial service in 2008 and was the first independent power plant in Jordan. The Jordanian

Two federally sponsored reports submitted to the Eastern Interconnection States’ Planning Council (EISPC) suggest that the rapid expansion of natural gas could force the closure of between 35 GW and 60 GW of U.S. coal power capacity over the next five years and weaken market forces that now bolster existing nuclear plants. An Energy Department–funded […]

Europe’s Gas Power Plant Carnage Intensifies Another 1.2 GW of gas-fired generation has been idled in Germany as utilities scramble to rein losses that are pegged to falling wholesale electricity prices and a surge in renewable power generation. Norwegian power company Statkraft put into “wet reserve” the 800-MW Knapsack 1 and 417-MW Herdecke power plants, […]

A report circulated by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, warns the U.S. could miss its window to become a major player in global natural gas trade. The white paper titled “The Narrowing Window: America’s Opportunity to Join the Global Gas Trade,” part of the senator’s […]

The Department of Energy (DOE) on Wednesday conditionally authorized Lake Charles Exports to export domestically produced liquefied natural gas (LNG) to countries that do not have a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the U.S. The firm can now export LNG from its Lake Charles Terminal in Lake Charles, La. Lake Charles previously received approval to […]

Courtesy: Siemens. Copyright Brian Haux—SkyHawk Photography No nukes? No problem. The state of California, once home to three major nuclear power plants, weathered an early July heat wave in good shape despite having only one operating reactor, Unit 2 at Diablo Canyon Power Plant. Unit 1 at Diablo Canyon was forced to shut down for […]

Source: NREL The shale gas boom in the United States has upended energy planning not just in this country, but also around the world. Shale gas extraction is what business theorists refer to as a disruptive innovation, one that changes existing markets and creates new ones. Disruptive innovations are typically not new technologies so much […]

Courtesy: NRG When a new power plant is proposed, traditional battle lines are often drawn: The utility or plant owner on one side, usually with business interests in support, and concerned citizen and environmental groups on the other. Observers of NRG’s drive to replace its aging coal-fired Dunkirk Generating Station on the western shore of […]

Source: EPA It’s a solution that POWER’s legendary troubleshooter Marmaduke Surfaceblow, the six-foot-four marine engineer with a steel brush mustache and a foghorn voice, might have appreciated. Regulators across the country have begun to recognize that a significant source of pollution in major coastal cities arrives from over the horizon. Along with shipping containers, bulk […]

Courtesy: Pemex Rapid growth in U.S. gas exports to Mexico already is having profound effects north of the border, and things will only get more interesting. Gas producers in the Eagle Ford and other Texas shale plays are finding the new buyers they need. But gas consumers in the Southwest—caught with a losing hand of […]

Like any internal combustion engine, the power output and efficiency of a combustion turbine decrease as ambient temperatures rise. This loss of power and efficiency is caused by a reduction in ambient air density at higher temperatures. Since turbines are mass flow machines with a volumetrically limited intake, less-dense intake air results in degradation of […]

An updated estimate of technically recoverable global shale gas resources by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) puts them at 7,299 trillion cubic feet (tcf)—10% higher than estimated in 2011.

Repowering two units at the J.T. Dudley, Sr. Generation Complex added 180 MW of high-efficiency capacity to South Mississippi Electric’s portfolio. Now the cooperative can self-produce more than 50% of its electricity needs.

An updated energy flow chart released by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) that visually depicts the relative size of primary energy resources and end uses in the U.S., with fuels compared on a common energy unit basis, shows the nation consumed more natural gas and renewables but less coal in 2012.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA’s) International Energy Outlook 2013 (IEO2013) released today projects that renewable energy and nuclear power will each increase 2.5% per year through 2040, but fossil fuels will continue to supply almost 80% of world energy use by 2040.

A bill approved by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on Wednesday could prevent the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from finalizing new rules that cost more than $1 billion if the Energy Department determines they will hurt the economy.

Three Hawaiian power companies plan to deactivate a total of 226 MW of oil-fired generating units, convert remaining baseload plants to cycling duty, and substantially ramp up use of renewables by 2016.

German energy giant E.ON in late April narrowly averted idling its Irsching 4 and 5 units in Bavaria, Germany—its most technologically advanced gas-fired generating units that began operations just three years ago at a cost of €400 million.

The transformative increases in current and expected future domestic natural gas production have spawned yet another energy debate: Should the U.S. should export natural gas?

Drought and competing uses for water continue to challenge power plant operators worldwide. In response, innovative approaches for reducing water use are being explored from South Africa to China.

Even though it enjoys sizeable coal and natural gas reserves, Indonesia struggles to provide electricity to its growing economy. Geography is its most obvious challenge. Others include evolving international markets and an energy sector that remains highly politicized.

Panelists at the ELECTRIC POWER 2013 Keynote and Roundtable Discussion in Chicago in May were consumed by the need to ensure future reliability by more closely integrating the gas and electricity markets. Acknowledged less directly were distortions created by renewable energy subsidies and mandates, onerous regulations affecting coal, and “irreversible” demand destruction caused by the success of energy efficiency and demand management programs. The elephant in the room was the continued demise of electricity markets.

With ever-increasing demands for fast ramping and flexibility, natural gas–fired plants are grabbing a bigger share of the generation pie. But uncertainty about future prices and concerns about overreliance on a single fuel are dampening enthusiasm during what may be the most exciting time for gas ever. Natural gas is hot—but will generators and the market get burned?

With the country awash in natural gas and new construction dominated by gas-fired plants, one would think that integrating these plants into the grid would be simple. Like politics, integration problems appear to be local.