GAS POWER Direct
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Gas
Fuel Cells Can Replace Shore Power, Auxiliary Diesel at Ports, Says Study
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 […]
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Gas
The Risks and Rewards of Surging Mexican Demand for U.S. Gas
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 […]
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O&M
Hybrid Inlet Chilling for Small Gas Turbines
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 […]
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Reversing the Drop in Combined Heat and Power Use
The benefits of combined heat and power haven’t been enough help it to keep pace with other generation resources. That’s why a new regulatory approach is needed.
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Nuclear
Is Cheap Gas Killing Nuclear Power?
Cheap natural gas is being blamed for many of the nuclear industry’s current predicaments. But is gas truly the culprit?
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Business
Picking the Right Technology in an RPS Market
The complexities of operating under a broad renewable portfolio standard require careful analysis of the options when planning a new power plant. Here’s how one generator in California navigated the sea of conflicting priorities when it was time to upgrade.
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O&M
Cost Benefits of a Cycling Analysis on a Combined Cycle Unit
Cycling is a fact of life for most gas plants. But do you really understand the true costs of cycling operation? Not having a full picture risks leaving substantial money on the table.
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News
Everett LNG Terminal at the Crossroads
Don’t talk to New England about exporting natural gas. Without the Everett Marine Terminal, the region’s gas supply crunch would be a whole lot worse.
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Business
NERC Says Gas Availability Should Be Part of Reliability Assessments
Sounding the call for new perspective, the North American Electric Reliability Corp. says it’s past time to formally consider gas availability and gas supply constraints when assessing the reliability of the bulk power system.
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Business
Natural Gas and Renewables Are Allies, Not Adversaries, Says Report
Though often cast as rivals for the same slice of the generation pie, gas and renewables, according to a new study of the ERCOT market, are natural allies for the long term.
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Environmental
On the “Verge” of Waterless Fracking?
Water has been one of the biggest headaches for fracking. But a new method offers a means to fracture shale—using natural gas itself.
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Coal
EIA: Gas and Coal to Remain Competitive Through 2040
Despite the challenge of burgeoning gas supplies and sustained lower prices, the EIA projects that coal and gas generation will continue jockeying for the lead in the dispatch order for the next few decades. -
Is Natural Gas Delivering an Assist to Renewable Energy?
Though current low natural gas prices are thought to deter renewable development, the long-term outlook suggests gas and renewables can work together.
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The Perils of Feeding at the Public Trough
The debate over funding of green energy obscures the fact that virtually nothing in the power business operates without some sort of official support and oversight. -
Business
“We’re in This Together Now, and There’s No Going Back.” An Interview with FERC Commissioner Philip Moeller
Commissioner Philip Moeller of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission talks with Editor Thomas Overton about the progress of gas-electric harmonization, potential risks to reliability in the dash to gas, and the future of gas-fired power.
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Coal
Coal-Heavy Indianapolis Getting a New Combined Cycle Plant
Faced with the need to upgrade its aging fleet, Indianapolis Power & Light is retiring a brace of coal-fired units and replacing them with a new combined cycle plant. -
Business
Obama Administration Moves Favor Natural Gas
Dismaying many of its allies and pleasing the gas industry, the Obama administration continued its push in support of natural gas with two recent decisions on fracking and LNG exports. -
Is There a Breath of Fresh Air in China Today?
Natural gas has significant potential to reduce air pollution worldwide, but getting there, especially in countries like China, may be more difficult than people think. -
How Much Gas Is There? (Take Two)
The “shale gale” blows on unabated, as new calculations for U.S. gas reserves point toward even greater resources than previously thought.
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Coal
Oregon Utility Weighs Gas Power Options as Coal Exports Loom
It’s not all coffee and hydropower in the Northwest, as Oregon’s largest utility looks toward natural gas to help it navigate the shifting shoals of regulation and renewable mandates. -
Coal
Summer Power Burn: Are Generators Headed Back to Coal?
Last year’s stampede toward gas in the power sector is moderating for 2013, as higher gas prices cut into the economic incentives supporting coal-to-gas switching.
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Wind
Gas Power Needs Wind Generation Too, Says Study
Gas-fired power is due to serve an important role in supporting intermittent renewable generation in the coming decades. But a new study suggests wind power may be able to return the favor—as a valuable hedging resource. -
Business
Disruptive Generation: Anxious Utilities Ponder the Threats
Cheap gas-fired power stands to upend more than the dispatch order if some new developments under way bear fruit, as utilities may soon be dealing with generation from home-based fuel cells. -
Environmental
Methanation of CO2: Storage of Renewable Energy in a Gas Distribution System
Energy storage has been the achilles heel of the renewable boom, but new technology may offer a way to join gas and renewables even more closely—by using excess renewable generation to manufacture synthetic natural gas from carbon dioxide.
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Business
Gas-Power Linkages: Many Moving Pieces
With the increasing interdependency of the natural gas and electricity, the number of economic and regulatory factors than can shift the future direction of both industries is growing substantially.
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Environmental
When Dinosaurs Roamed California: The Coming Extinction of Fossil Fuel Use
California’s push to boost its renewable capacity may be doing more than spurring the development of wind and solar. A review of recent data suggests the state’s regulatory schemes have the potential to spell the end of fossil-fuel generation altogether.
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Environmental
Carbon Capture for Gas Power Appears on the Horizon
You may think of carbon capture and sequestration as a coal industry issue, but two forward-thinking companies are joining forces to make it work for gas.
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Business
New Gas Projects for North American Shale Gas: Come One, Come All
Low natural gas prices have created opportunities across the market, but also challenges for producers. Several sectors are poised to grow natural gas demand in the coming decade and restore more balance to the supply-demand equation. -
Promised Land: How Well Were You Prepared?
Much of the natural gas industry was holding its breath when the Matt Damon film Promised Land came out in January, but a few groups weren’t waiting for the fallout.
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A Rock and a Hard Place: California and the Monterey Shale
The next big shale boom may be taking shape out West. But the challenges of developing the Monterey shale may not be what you think.