Gas

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) will retire more than 3 GW at eight coal units in Alabama and Kentucky to address “challenging trends” that point to lower power demand, a slow economy, uncertainty in commodity pricing, and tougher air pollution rules. The U.S. corporate agency’s board of directors on Nov. 14 approved plans to retire all […]

Presenters provided several perspectives on the emerging shale gas sector in North America and around the world at the World Shale Oil & Gas Conference & Exhibition in Houston, Texas, last week. One general takeaway is that a number of unpredictable factors could widely alter the sector’s “game-changing” outlook. Several forecasts, including the International Energy […]

It’s official: The coal- and oil-fired Salem Harbor Station north of Boston, scheduled to be retired next year, will be replaced with a fast-ramping natural gas combined cycle plant. The four-unit, 720-MW plant, which was built on the site of an existing coal terminal in the 1940s, was sold by previous owner Dominion Resources to […]

For the past few years, the North Dakota oil boom has run far ahead of the state’s ability to ship its oil and gas out of producing areas because of a lack of gathering pipeline infrastructure. While excess oil can be shipped by rail, the low price of natural gas has led producers to flare […]

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from power plants plunged 10% in 2012 largely due to the coal-to-gas switch and a slight decrease in power production, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said on Wednesday. Earlier this week, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported similar findings. The EPA’s 2012 data from its GHG Reporting Program, which collects annual […]

The oldest power plant in South Korea is making way for something so new that no one has even attempted it before. Korea Midland Power Corp. (KOMIPO) announced earlier this year that Seoul Thermal Power Station, built in the 1930s, would be replaced with a new 800-MW two-unit combined cycle power plant—one that will be built […]

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a narrow challenge to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) authority to regulate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from stationary sources, including power plants. In a mixed bag for groups fighting the EPA’s GHG regulation, the high court on Tuesday accepted for review six petitions—which were consolidated for oral […]

The cost of producing electricity by natural gas and coal finished 2012 in a dead heat and future cost trends are very difficult to predict. One can read the projections (not predictions) by the U.S. Energy Information Administration and find evidence that coal is disadvantaged based on the rising cost of environmental compliance but the […]

A federal court on Sept. 30 shot down Maryland’s drive to spur construction of a new combined cycle power plant outside of PJM’s capacity auctions. Ruling in favor of various entities that had sued to block the plan, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland found that the state’s order last year for […]

California’s drive to add flexibility to its grid in response to expanding renewable generation took another step forward in September as NRG Energy commissioned two new fast-start units at its El Segundo Energy Center near Los Angeles. The two units, with a combined 550 MW capacity, represent the second Siemens Flex-Plant to go into commercial […]

As variable generation from wind and solar power increases and peak loads grow and become more volatile, the U.S. electric grid will rely more and more on gas-fired power to maintain system flexibility. Often at the core of these gas-fired power plants are aeroderivative turbines, whose fast-start and cycling capabilities allow for frequent on-again, off-again […]

Many utilities have taken advantage of relatively low-cost natural gas to address environmental pressures and upgrade their power generation portfolio in one of three distinct ways—replace, repower, or

Gas Power Reciprocating gas engines find work in multiple power generation applications, from providing fast-start backup generating capacity for intermittent renewable resources to offering scalable and

A new 2-MW power-to-gas (P2G) plant inaugurated by Germany’s E.ON in late August will convert excess wind energy into synthetic natural gas that can then be fed into the regional gas grid, where it can be

Table 1. Change in furnace and air heater temperature as a function of the ratio of coal and gas fuel use in a typical steam plant. If natural gas supply prices fall below the delivered cost of coal, a unit

Pressures on competitive power markets have fueled substantial declines in plant valuations over the past five years, with coal plants taking the brunt of the damage. That’s the conclusion of a new report from financial services firm Fitch Ratings released on Wednesday. The report, which calculated the net present value of plants across the country […]

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported Wednesday that although natural gas use for power generation through the first seven months of 2013 is down 14% from historic highs last year, it remains above the 2009–2011 average across the U.S. The drop is the result of higher gas prices relative to coal compared to 2012. However, […]

Much attention has been devoted recently to the increased cycling that is necessary in fossil plants as more renewable capacity is added to the grid, but data on the precise impacts has been slight. Now, a new study from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) aims to correct that. The key findings: While cycling would increase […]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Friday issued a revised proposal to curb carbon emissions from new power plants that sets separate standards for new gas-fired and coal-fired power plants. The agency also revealed it is developing new carbon standards for existing power plants. Separate Standards for Coal and Gas and Forthcoming Existing Plant Standards […]

Natural gas demand in the U.S. is poised to grow strongly over the next two decades, and there’s no mystery where all that gas will be going. Analysts at the recent LDC Mid-Continent Gas Forum in Chicago agreed that the biggest growth potential—as much as 15 Bcf/d—is in gas-fired power. “It’s clear the majority of […]

Ending a tumultuous battle over the future of electricity in the state, the California Legislature passed a wide-ranging revision of its ratemaking structure last week. Despite the contentious subject, the bill, AB 327, was approved by a broad bipartisan majority and garnered widespread support from the state’s three investor-owned utilities, the residential solar industry, and […]

The Department of Energy on Wednesday conditionally authorized Dominion Cove Point LNG, LP to export domestically produced liquefied natural gas (LNG) to countries that do not have a Free Trade Agreement (FTA), marking the fourth order allowing non-FTA LNG exports. The orders authorizes Dominion Cove Point LNG to export 0.77 billion cubic feet of natural […]

U.S. states vary widely on how they are regulating the booming business of producing natural gas from shale formations, according to a study released this summer by the Washington environmental think tank Resources for the Future (RFF). “As the shale gas boom has taken off,” says RFF, “states have updated their regulations, each with varying […]

The revolution that has toppled coal from the top of the generating queue in the U.S. has not reached the rest of the world, according to the “BP Statistical Review of World Energy.” While natural gas may have supplanted coal as king of the hill in the U.S. electric generating mix, the solid mineral—geographically the […]

Much recent debate about shale gas recovery through horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing has focused on methane emissions from shale gas wells. The general take on this topic is that methane (the remarkably simple molecule CH4) is a greenhouse gas “20 times” or “25 times,” or some other number, more “potent” than carbon dioxide, the […]

Linde Group, an international industrial gases firm based in Munich with a U.S. home in New Jersey, is an unusual beneficiary of the U.S. shale gas revolution. The company has developed technology using the industrial gases it can produce in copious quantities, to reduce some of the environmental objections to developing shale gas wells. Linde […]

Looking Out for Shale Gas Labor Issues The Houston Chronicle reports that the U.S. Department of Labor is closely watching how shale gas producers protect their laborers from workplace accidents and injuries. They suspect violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act on hours of work and overtime pay. The gas industry’s critiques say the companies […]

In a welcome development almost no one saw coming, America’s greenhouse gas emissions have fallen to 1992 levels and are expected to continue to decline, according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA). In addition to a sluggish economy and more fuel efficient cars, “fracking” has been a big driver of this trend. “Fracking” is shorthand for […]

The Marcellus shale formation—the second-largest natural-gas field in the world—has been a blessing for Pennsylvania’s workers and our economy. Almost a quarter-million people in Pennsylvania work to produce natural gas from the Marcellus shale or in related industries. Thanks to the growth of hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking, the Marcellus has been responsible for […]

Director and provocateur Josh Fox is confident, “There is no safe drilling” and has made two of what the New York Times called “muckraking documentaries” crusading against the practice of hydraulic fracturing or “fracking.” His movies are powerful propaganda rife with misleading or inaccurate claims and leave little to no room for the other side. […]