Texas

Exelon Generation Breaks Ground On 1,000 MW Natural Gas Power Generating Unit

Submitted by aburr on Thu, 2015-07-16 11:09

Senior executives from Exelon Generation, Alstom, General Electric and Zachry officially broke ground on the construction of a new low-carbon, combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) at Exelon's Colorado Bend Generating Station in Wharton. The new CCGT will provide an additional 1,000 MW to the existing 498-MW natural gas power plant. The new unit at Colorado Bend is one of two new CCGTs the company is developing in Texas.

AEP Taps Siemens to Modernize HVDC System Welsh in Texas

Submitted by aburr on Wed, 2015-07-01 13:37

American Electric Power (AEP) chose Siemens to modernize its HVDC back-to-back link at its 600-MW Welsh HVDC station in Titus County, Texas. Siemens will upgrade its 20-year-old system by installing new control and protection technologies, replacing the cooling, heating and ventilation, and incorporating new harmonic filters and shunt reactors. This will be the first Siemens mid-life control and protection HVDC modernization in the United States.

Digest (May 2015)

Sonoma Clean Power will build the largest floating solar array in the U.S., scheduled to be completed in 2016 and will create enough energy to power 3,000 houses; GE announced the construction of two service centers focused on the operation and maintenance of wind turbines in Brazil; Open Systems International was awarded a contract by Seattle City Light to implement a new energy management system; FirstEnergy expects to invest about $225 million on distribution and transmission infrastructure projects in north-central West Virginia; APR Energy commissioned an expansion of its power plant in Myanmar; The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved Westinghouse Electric’s testing approach for the Westinghouse small modular reactor design; FuelCell Energy agreed to sell a 1.4-MW fuel cell power plant project to NRG Energy; ABB and Samsung SDI signed a memorandum of understanding to promote microgrid solutions globally; And others ...
Read Entire Article

Digest (April 2015)

PG&E asked state regulators for permission to build ~ 25,000 EV chargers across its service area in Northern and Central California - if approved, it would mark the largest deployment of EV charging stations in the country; Lockheed Martin and Dominion Resources have co-developed a new smart grid technology called VirtuGrid to enable remote detection of power outages for faster mapping and response; Panda Power Funds and Sunbury Generation LP will develop, finance, construct and operate a 1,000-MW gas-fired, combined-cycle power project in Pennsylvania; Siemens secured an order of 157 wind turbines in South Africa from Mainstream Renewable Power; PSE&G recently put two new landfill solar farms in service as part of its Solar 4 All program; Exelon Generation will add 195-MW of electric generation capacity at the Medway (Mass.) facility; ABB won a $35 million order for gas-insulated switchgear and shunt reactors from Belgian electricity transmission system operator Elia; Iberdrola USA agreed to acquire UIL Holdings and create a newly listed publicly traded company; Chesapeake Utilities agreed to merge Gatherco into Aspire Energy of Ohio, a wholly-owned subsidiary; and others...

Read Entire Article

Commenting on Carbon

State PUCs take on EPA and its Clean Power Plan.

Everything about the Clean Power Plan seems surreal. States complain of unfair treatment. Regulators read the proposed rule and sound warnings of a coming apocalypse.
Byline: 

Bruce W. Radford

Read Entire Article

Starwood Energy Group Completes Acquisition of Quail Run Energy Center

Submitted by aburr on Sat, 2015-02-28 17:33

One of Starwood Energy Group Global's (Starwood Energy) affiliates completed the purchase of the Quail Run Energy Center natural gas-fired combined cycle electric power generating facility in Odessa, Texas. Starwood Energy assumed ownership and began operating the power plant in January. The electric power generating facility began commercial operations in 2007 and has a nominal capacity of 550 MW. The facility provides electric power to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT).

PJM's Three-Way Proposal

A re-defined capacity product, revised parameters for generator performance, and a new role for demand response.

The proposal creates a new capacity product called the “Capacity Performance Resource.”
Byline: 

Bruce W. Radford

Read Entire Article

Playing Safe with Capacity Markets

PJM would minimize risk, but so did regulation.

Changes envisioned by PJM call for ever more structured markets, further reducing the scope of the competitive landscape from which RTOs arose. They may produce a system that is actually more costly and less innovative than regulation.
Byline: 

David K. Bellman

Read Entire Article