In This Issue
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Legal & RegulatoryNV Energy: Warren Buffett’s Plan for a Structural Power Shift
Warren Buffett bought Nevada’s NV Energy two years ago, a move widely seen as a play for solar and renewable generation. That’s working out. But as the company transitions away from legacy coal and high-priced renewable contracts signed years ago, large customers are rebelling, and the company faces a challenge to keep its big dog […]
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GasTOP PLANTS: Cengiz Enerji Samsun Combined Cycle Plant, Samsun, Turkey
The Turkish electricity market was opened to competition in 2001 when the Turkish Grand National Assembly passed the Electricity Market Law, which unbundled its generation, transmission, and wholesale power
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GasTOP PLANTS: Panda Temple I and Panda Sherman Combined Cycle Plants, Texas
In the early 2010s, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) was staring down the barrel of dangerously low reserve margins, a combination of growing demand and an energy-only wholesale market that
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CommentaryGet Ready for MATS 2.0
On June 29, much of the power sector rejoiced when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) rule, finding that the EPA had
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GasTOP PLANTS: Qurayyah Combined Cycle Power Plant, Qurayyah, Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is facing major population growth over the next several decades and, with it, rapidly growing electricity demand. In 2013, the country generated 292.2 TWh of electricity, which
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CommentaryA Hydropower Renaissance?
For decades, hydropower plants were mainly built and operated as a cost-efficient source of clean electricity. But despite more than a century of development, there is still scope for expanding generation from
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GasTOP PLANTS: Shepard Energy Centre, Calgary, Alberta
As with many areas in North America and Europe, electricity generation in the Canadian province of Alberta is in transition toward cleaner, more efficient, more water-wise power. According to statistics from
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CommentaryPower Industry Wins with Final Clean Power Plan
Though most power generators and states might have preferred to not deal at all with a new rule regulating greenhouse gas emissions, the final Clean Power Plan (CPP), released August 3, gives most of the power
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O&MWinning the Cooling Tower Trifecta: Controlling Corrosion, Scale, and Microbiological Fouling
There is a synergistic relationship among the three major cooling water treatment issues: corrosion, scale or deposit formation, and microbiological fouling. In order to control one, you need to control all
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NuclearSouth Korea Begins Burying Nuclear Waste
The Korea Radioactive Waste Agency (KORAD) on July 13 disposed its first waste in a newly completed low- and intermediate-level nuclear waste disposal facility underground at Gyeongju in North Gyeongsang
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O&MLeveraging Fuel Flexibility for Coal Power Plant Survival
While having lunch at a downtown café with my friend the biology professor, the subject of animal extinction arose. “When it comes down to it, we really don’t know exactly why most prehistoric species
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NuclearNew Nickel Alloy Material Could Extend Reactor Lives to 120 Years, Say Russian Researchers
A subsidiary of Rosatom’s nuclear engineering division, Atomenergomash, says a new nickel-alloy steel grade developed for the VVER-TOI core shell will extend the service life of the reactor vessel up to 120
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Instrumentation & ControlsFour Stealthy Cyber Attacks Targeting Energy Companies
It’s certainly no secret that for many years, the power industry has been a top target for hackers around the world. However, whereas in the past, many of these attacks were relatively easy to block using
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NuclearSouth Korea’s 24th Reactor Starts Commercial Operation
South Korea on July 24 put online its 24th nuclear power plant. Shin Wolsong Unit 2 (Figure 3) will be the last to use the domestically developed OPR-1000 reactor design. Originally called the Korean Standard
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O&MOptimize Power Plant Operations with Industrial Data Management and Predictive Analytics
In today’s digital world, an optimally run power plant relies on valuable and accurate data in order to ensure assets are running reliably and with minimal downtime. Streaming in from control systems, SCADA
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International
POWER Digest (September 2015)
ABB Snags $450M Contract for Norway-UK Undersea Link. ABB on July 14 won a $450 million contract to supply high-voltage direct current (HVDC) converter stations at both ends of the North Sea Network (NSN), a
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Gas
Putting a 650-MW Gas Plant Online in Egypt Within Five Months
Power-strapped Egypt’s first fast-track natural gas–fired project was completed in a record 159 days from groundbreaking to commissioning this July. The 650-MW Attaqa Simple Cycle Power Plant near Suez
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Nuclear
France Adopts Nuclear Cap, Carbon Tax Increase, and More
The French Parliament on July 22 finally adopted a law that caps nuclear power generation capacity at its current 63.2 GW. The measure will force utility EDF to shutter nuclear reactors before it starts up its
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CoalFugitive Dust Mitigation Solutions for Coal Stockpiles
Many coal-fired power plants maintain fuel stockpiles for use when the normal delivery of coal to the plant is disrupted. It is not uncommon for a 30-day supply to be maintained in the pile. Most of these
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Instrumentation & ControlsNew Digital Meters Replace Old Analog Meters
Power plants use indicators to monitor process parameters such as pressure, flow, temperature, voltage, current, and vibration. Unless a facility is relatively new, it likely has analog panel meters; some
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GasTOP PLANTS: Kyaukse Power Plant, Kyaukse, Myanmar
Emerging from decades of isolation, fragility, and conflict, Myanmar has, since 2011, ushered in a reformist government and embarked upon unprecedented political and economic reforms. Among those reforms has
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GasTOP PLANTS: IPP3, Amman, Jordan
Sharing borders with Saudi Arabia, Israel, Syria, and Iraq, Jordan sits in a very precarious part of the world. To make matters worse, the country’s economy is among the smallest in the Middle East. Chronic
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GasControlling Schedule, Quality, and Costs for New Gas-Fired Plants
Gas-fired power is hot, at least in North America, and quite a few smaller utilities and generators that have never owned a gas turbine plant have begun looking at building one. For large investor-owned companies with plenty of institutional experience in power plant construction, it may be business as usual, but for smaller firms that […]