In This Issue
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NuclearTHE BIG PICTURE: China’s Nuclear Ambitions
With 40% of the world’s reactor’s under construction, China’s nuclear ambitions are vast and include a full-integrated domestic supply chain.
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Renewables
Ontario’s Long Term Energy Plan in Action
The decision to eliminate coal-fired power plants and the implementation of an aggressive feed-in tariff program puts Ontario’s electricity system in the spotlight. Download a pdf of this sponsored report, written by Global Business Reports: GBR_ONTARIO_PWR_1114_sm
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GasRepowering Erbil Power Project Adds 500 MW to Kurdistan Grid
After building three 1,000-MW dual-fuel simple cycle plants, each with eight combustion turbines, Mass Global Holding Ltd. recently repowered the Erbil Gas Power Station, located in Iraqi Kurdistan, using vertical heat recovery steam generators, adding 500 MW of capacity to the local grid. Iraqi Kurdistan, located in the northeast corner of Iraq, is nation […]
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Energy StorageEurope’s Largest Commercial Battery Storage Facility Opens
Just as POWER predicted in its May issue (see “The Year Energy Storage Hit Its Stride”), energy storage is starting to gain traction, not only in the U.S., but around the globe. Europe’s largest commercial battery power plant was connected to the German grid in mid-September. With a power rating of 5 MW and an […]
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CoalImprove Plant Efficiency and Reduce CO2 Emissions When Firing High-Moisture Coals
Improving efficiency at existing coal-fired power plants anywhere in the world is a path of no regret: A more efficient power plant uses less coal, has lower emissions, and experiences lower variable costs. Great River Energy’s Coal Creek Station has demonstrated that by recycling low-grade waste heat with DryFining, it can reduce emissions, including CO2, […]
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CoalWorld’s First Post-Combustion CCS Coal Unit Is Online in Canada
The first full-scale commercial post-combustion carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) project at an operating coal-fired power plant is now online in Estevan, Saskatchewan, roughly 10 miles north of the U.S. border. The heart of the C$1.4 billion project at Boundary Dam Power Station is the rebuilt 110-MW Unit 3, originally commissioned in 1970. The project, […]
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GasGas Peakers with Clutches Power Bakken Oil Boom
With rapidly growing electricity demand from North Dakota’s booming shale oil industry, Basin Electric Power Cooperative needed flexible peaking generation in a hurry. Two stations equipped with LM6000 turbines and clutches are providing both peaking and reactive power. U.S. electricity production has been flat for the past decade, hovering between 3.9 billion MWh and 4.1 […]
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NuclearVietnam Delays Nuclear Power Plant Construction
Vietnam won’t begin work on its first of eight planned nuclear power plants until at least 2020 or 2022 to ensure safety, the country’s Trade Ministry announced in September. Russia’s state-owned nuclear company Rosatom was expected to begin construction of the first two-reactor plant in the south-central province of Ninh Thuan at the end of […]
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NuclearSpent Nuclear Fuel: Is Off-Site Storage Now Off the Agenda?
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s recent “waste confidence” ruling, which declares storage of spent fuel at reactor sites safe indefinitely, could fundamentally undercut the decades-long U.S. policy of seeking an off-site, permanent burial site for high-level nuclear waste. A five-decades-old goal of the U.S. nuclear power industry, its regulators, and the Department of Energy (DOE)—permanent, off-site […]
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O&MBoosting Efficiency with a Sootblowing Optimization System
Too-frequent sootblowing can damage boiler components and place a big load on plant efficiency, but not enough of it can be just as big a problem. A sootblowing optimization system can help you find the “sweet spot.” With the increasing demands placed on today’s coal-fired power plants worldwide, operators are continuously looking for the best […]
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Legal & RegulatoryChina’s War on Air Pollution
China has been battling—and losing—a “war” on air pollution for years. Stepping up its efforts, the country recently issued new policy measures, tougher even than those in the U.S. and European Union, that could have big implications for its coal power sector. Reports that heavy smog has blanketed large swathes of China’s provinces have become […]
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O&MCoal-Fired Power Plant Heat Rate Improvement Options, Part 1
Even without regulatory considerations, there are good reasons for virtually every coal-fired power plant to improve its heat rate. The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) has looked at dozens of methods for improving heat rates and evaluated their applicability and costs. Part 1 of this two-part series explains the basics of heat rate improvements and […]
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NuclearTop Plant: Kudankulam Atomic Power Project, Unit 1, Kudankulam, Tamil Nadu, India
Think your nuclear plant faced delays and obstacles? India’s Kudankulam project, Unit 1 of which begins commercial operation this month, spent 26 years in development and construction and faced down obstacles that included a seven-month blockade by protesters to become the nation’s largest nuclear plant. There are power plant projects that seem to drag on […]
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NuclearTop Plant: Hongyanhe Nuclear Power Plant, Liaoning Province, China
While other countries move to reduce or eliminate nuclear generation, China has been rapidly expanding it. With 27 reactors under construction, its installed nuclear capacity is expected to more than double by 2020. The Hongyanhe facility is one example of nuclear’s growth in China and represents multiple firsts. China is powering up. The country’s generation […]
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O&MPortable Oil Analysis Tools Reduce Routine Maintenance Costs
What do a power plant, a hospital, a police station, and a remote mine have in common? They all have essential assets requiring uninterruptible power, commonly powered by an engine generator as primary or backup power. Engine generators, often termed “gensets,” combine an electrical generator and an engine. They supply electrical power where normal utility […]
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Nuclear
Improved Resin Material Boosts Capture of Cobalt at Nuclear Plants
The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) has teamed with Purolite Corp. to begin the commercial manufacture of a new resin for removing radioactive elements from the internal water streams of nuclear power plants. The resin, called CoSeq, increases the amount and efficiency of cobalt (Co) removal compared to conventional resins. In-plant demonstrations have shown that […]
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NuclearSweden to Consider Nuclear-Free Future
Sweden is reconsidering phasing out nuclear power in favor of a 100% renewables power mix. The country’s 10 operating nuclear power plants produce about 40% of the Scandinavian country’s power. The remainder mostly comes from hydropower, depending on the season. The fourth-largest country in the European Union, Sweden’s electricity consumption has been gradually rising. Sweden […]
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Commentary
Signs of Progress for Cleaner Coal Power
A number of recent developments suggest that continued use of a plentiful and relatively affordable fuel may have a future worldwide that is brighter than it now seems. That’s because, after at least a decade of rhetoric about “clean coal,” cleaner coal is slowly becoming a reality. Though many may see these developments as baby […]
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RenewablesIndonesia Law Seeks to Allow Development of Volcano Power
This August, in a bid to bolster its latent geothermal energy industry, Indonesia passed new laws that allow geothermal exploration in protected areas such as forests. Located in the Ring of Fire—a string of volcanoes and fault lines around the Pacific Basin—the archipelago has estimated potential geothermal resources of up to 29 GW. State power […]
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Legal & Regulatory
Reevaluating the Wholesale Market Power Analysis
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) serves as the gatekeeper to wholesale power markets in interstate commerce. The process to obtain and retain authority to sell into these markets at market-based rates (MBR) can be onerous. Any failure to fully comply with FERC’s regulations could result in participation restrictions and civil penalties of up to […]
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HydroDrought Stresses Brazilian Electricity Market
A lack of rainfall is hitting the power industry especially hard in parts of Brazil. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the country depends on hydroelectricity for more than 75% of its electric power supply (Figure 2). But with reservoir levels at historic lows in some places, more electricity has been required from […]
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Power
New Grid Vulnerabilities Demand New Technology
Quick, the grid is down—what do you do? If your procedures are like most, you rely on a combination of static restoration plans, emergency management system protocols, and operator experience and intuition. But today’s grid is increasingly complex and is subject to new vulnerabilities. Physical security is a critical concern, especially in the wake of […]
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News
POWER Digest (November 2014)
Finland Rejects Permit Extension for Olkiluoto Reactor. Finland’s government on Sept. 25 rejected an application from utility Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO) to extend a permit for its proposed Olkiluoto 4 reactor for five years. TVO requested the extension in light of delays from its Olkiluoto 3 EPR project, which is being built by an AREVA-Siemens […]
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RenewablesIndia Proposes Massive Solar Build-Out
India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) in September issued a proposal to vastly increase the county’s reliance on solar photovoltaic (PV) generation, taking installed capacity from its current 2.6 GW to more than 20 GW over the next five years. Following on the nation’s ambitious-but-troubled ultra-mega coal plant build-out—only one has come online, […]