Gas

Most Americans have never heard of Texas oilman George Mitchell, who died in July at the age of 94 at his home in Galveston, Texas. But Mitchell, the son of a Greek immigrant goat herder, was arguably the most important individual in America’s energy history since Thomas Edison and John D. Rockefeller. Mitchell truly was […]

The shale gas revolution has so far been a U.S. phenomenon. But hydrocarbon-containing Devonian shale formations are far from a U.S. or even North American phenomenon. Geologic forces didn’t follow political boundaries in the Devonian period 400 million to 300 million years ago. Indeed, the continents then were not where they are today by large […]

If you’ve been paying attention to energy issues in the media lately, you may have encountered a curious narrative that’s starting to gain traction among supporters of renewable energy. Namely, that the core problem with wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) generation, which is matching moment-to-moment demand with the intermittency wind and sunlight, isn’t really a […]

  If you’ve seen U.S. coal industry executives casting wistful glances across the Atlantic recently, there’s a reason. In the U.S., natural gas is enjoying a boom unseen in decades, perhaps ever. New production from shale should make the country a net exporter within a decade. New gas-fired plants are starting up almost as fast […]

  As environmental regulations continue their forward march and gas prices remain low compared to historic rates due to increased domestic supply, the number of power plants changing their primary fuel source to natural gas has increased dramatically. In 2011 and 2012, just more than 5.5 GW of power plant capacity switched to burning primarily […]

Despite frail demand for natural gas in Europe and difficulties in upstream production growth in the Middle East and Africa, the “Golden Age” of natural gas will remain in full swing until at least 2018, recent projections from the International Energy Agency (IEA) show. A medium-term outlook released by the Paris-based autonomous intergovernmental organization in […]

A common talking point among critics of hydraulic fracturing is that they somehow “own the science” on shale development. The industry is merely raising doubt about scientific studies, they claim—just enough to confuse the public and make them think there’s a legitimate debate. As the Washington Post recently characterized Gasland Part II director Josh Fox’s opinion: Fox frets […]

  Lubricating oil is the lifeblood of virtually all rotating equipment found in a power plant. Keep it clean and the lube system is relatively low maintenance. However, cycling operation and restarts after a temporary or long-term shutdown can reveal a whole new class of perhaps unfamiliar problems. The fundamental question is determining when a […]

One lesson learned from the U.S. military’s far-flung operations during the 2010s was the critical importance of fuel supply lines. At the peak of the conflict in Afghanistan, getting each gallon of gasoline or diesel into remote operating bases could cost upwards of $1,000 when all transportation and security costs were factored in. With U.S. […]

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

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

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.