POWER Digest (May 2012)
Three South Korean Firms Opt for MHI’s J-Series Turbines. Japanese firms Marubeni Corp. and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) on March 22 said they had been jointly awarded orders for three large-scale combined cycle electric power projects in Korea totaling 3,800 MW. The plants are the 950-MW 2nd Pyeongtaek Combined Cycle Power Plant, the 1,900-MW Dongducheon Combined Cycle Power Plant, and the 950-MW Ulsan 4 Combined Cycle Power Plant. All three plants are to use MHI’s newly developed M501J, a 60-hertz J-Series gas turbine model.
The 2nd Pyeongtaek power plant is being built in Gyeonggi-do by Korea Western Power Co., Ltd. (KOWEPO), a subsidiary of Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO). Marubeni has received an order, jointly with MHI, for two J-Series gas turbines, one steam turbine, and generators for the plant. For the Dongducheon power plant, the two companies received an order consisting of four J-Series gas turbines, two steam turbines, and generators. Dongducheon Dream Power Co., Ltd., an independent power producer jointly established by KOWEPO, Samsung C&T Corp., and Hyundai Development Co., is building the plant in Gyeonggi-do. Marubeni and MHI will deliver the core components to Samsung C&T and Hyundai Development.
For the Ulsan 4 power plant, operated by the Korea East-West Power Co., a subsidiary of KEPCO, in Ulsan Metropolitan City, Marubeni received an order jointly with MHI and Daelim Industrial Co. for engineering, procurement, and delivery of the equipment, including two J-Series gas turbines, a steam turbine and generators, and the construction and installation work, on a full turnkey basis.
MPSA to Outfit 1,300-MW VEPCO Gas Plant. Mitsubishi Power Systems Americas (MPSA) on March 20 announced that it received an order from Dominion Resources subsidiary Virginia Electric and Power Co. (VEPCO) for three M501GAC gas turbines and one steam turbine to be installed at VEPCO’s Brunswick County Power Station some 60 miles south of Richmond, Va. The three gas turbines will be partially manufactured and fully assembled at MPSA’s Savannah Machinery Works in Georgia for scheduled plant completion in the summer of 2016. The new gas turbine combined cycle power plant will have more than 1,300 MW of generation capacity. Under a separate long-term service agreement, MPSA will provide comprehensive turbine maintenance, repair, and outage services, replacement parts supply, and dedicated remote monitoring for the gas turbines.
Summit, National Grid, Petrofac Propose Full-Chain CCS in UK. Seattle-based Summit Power Group on March 20 announced it entered into an agreement with UK grid operator National Grid and international oil and gas service provider Petrofac to seek funding for development in the UK of a low-carbon power plant—including full-chain, commercial-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS). The project, to be named the Caledonia Clean Energy Project, will be submitted to the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change for funding under the UK’s Carbon Capture & Storage Delivery Competition. The proposed Summit power plant will be based at the Port of Grangemouth, west of Edinburgh on the Firth of Forth, Scotland. Along with more than 90% carbon capture, the coal feedstock plant will also produce hydrogen gas for commercial use. The carbon dioxide captured will be transported via pipeline to St. Fergus by National Grid Carbon and then transferred offshore for geological sequestration deep under the North Sea by Petrofac subsidiary CO2DeepStore.
Siemens to Supply Gas Turbines for Australian Combined Cycle Plant. Siemens Energy in March secured a €150 million turbine order for the proposed 242-MW Diamantina combined cycle power plant in Mount Isa in Queensland, Australia. The company’s scope of supply encompasses two power islands each comprising one SST-400 steam turbine, two SGT-800 gas turbines, and two heat-recovery steam generators. Siemens will also be responsible for the overall plant design and will provide technical advisory services during the construction and commissioning phases of the project. The plant will power local mines operated by Xstrata. The first block of the plant is expected to go online in late 2013 and the second will start up in early 2014.
Emerson Automates Two Ultrasupercritical Plants in China. Emerson Process Management is automating two new 1,000-MW ultrasupercritical power generating units at the Jiangsu Xinhai power plant in China with its Ovation expert control system, the company said on March 13. The technology will monitor and control boilers and turbines at the units built by Jiangsu Guoxin Investment Group, which replace two old, less-efficient 220-MW units that have been decommissioned. The Ovation system will perform data acquisition as well as manage each unit’s flue gas desulfurization system, modulating control system, sequence control system, electrical control system, furnace safety supervisory system, feedwater turbine control system, and balance-of-plant processes.
Algonquin Power Acquires Four Major U.S. Wind Projects from Spain’s Gamesa. Ontario-based Algonquin Power & Utilities in March entered into an agreement to acquire a 480-MW portfolio of four wind power projects in the U.S. from Spanish wind turbine manufacturer Gamesa for about US$900 million. The projects include 240 units of Gamesa G9X-2MW wind turbines. They include the Pocahontas Prairie (80 MW), Sandy Ridge (50 MW), Senate (150 MW), and Minonk (200 MW) projects in Iowa, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Illinois respectively. Gamesa is to provide operation and maintenance and asset management services for 20 years for each of the wind farms.
Siemens Puts Energy Storage Pilot Online in Italy. Siemens Infrastructure & Cities put an energy storage pilot plant with an output of 1 megavolt-ampere and a capacity of 500 kWh into operation in Italy at the end of February 2012. With a compact battery and converter cabinet as the smallest unit, the capacity of the Siestorage energy storage system can be expanded to up to 2 MWh, says Siemens, which developed the system with an unnamed lithium ion battery manufacturer as part of its Siestorage series. The plant was installed in Italian utility Enel’s medium-voltage distribution network. Enel will use it to study new smart grid solutions for voltage regulation, the integration of renewable energy sources into the medium-voltage network, the integration of an electric vehicle charging station into the medium-voltage network, and black-start capabilities.
—Sonal Patel is POWER’s senior writer.