Related Links: With Lessons Learned on Two Restarts, Third Time's a Charm The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission will decide late next month whether to lift or extend a rare "red-level" safety finding—in place since 2011—at the Browns Ferry nuclear plant in Athens, Ala., after a 24-in.-dia valve in a cooling system failed to open in one unit. The malfunction could have impeded unit core-cooling in a fire. The ruling follows a multi-phase NRC inspection, the latest part occurring last month, that has identified safety problems and spurred corrective actions at the site by the owner, Tennessee Valley Authority.The 2011 NRC
Related Links: Blog: To Recover Costs, Florida Nuclear Projects Will Need to be 'Reasonable' Nuclear Foes Hail NRC Move to Freeze Construction, Licenses Duke Energy Opts to Shutter Broken Crystal River Nuclear Plant In the span of a single week, the nuclear power industry's hoped-for U.S. resurgence took a few steps backward as several projects and existing plants from across the country either were shut down or began to face increased scrutiny from regulators due to ongoing problems and financial issues.The setbacks raised the specter of a long-term decrease in domestic nuclear power-generation capacity, claimed Peter Bradford, a former member
Related Links: Maine Approves Offshore Projects, But Cost Concerns Persist Maine Surges Forward With Offshore Turbine Plans In early June, the University of Maine will launch a small-scale offshore demonstrator of a floating wind turbine, fabricated in its lab with a lightweight concrete foundation and composite tower. If successfully connected to the grid from off the coast of Castine, Maine, it will be the first of its kind in North America.The approximately 65-ft-tall turbine prototype is built to one-eighth the scale of a 6-MW turbine with a 423-ft-dia rotor. “Each blade [of the full-scale design] is larger than the wingspan of
Morocco imports 95% of its energy. Its fortunes dependent on oil-price fluctuations, the country's trade deficit has been expanding.Renewable energy was an obvious solution for a country that has more than 2,000 miles of windy coasts along the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea and more than 3,000 hours of sunshine annually; it also has access to the biggest sand desert on the planet.With energy plants under construction that will generate solar, wind and hydro power on a scale never before seen in Africa, Morocco is turning very green. By 2020, the country plans to generate over 40% of its
Africa’s emerging wind-energy sector offers stability and promises to drive the region’s economy to double-digit growth by 2030, say observers. Developers and energy planners in the region hope to generate an additional 10.5 GW of clean and sustainable energy in the midterm, once ongoing and planned wind projects are fully developed.At least 16 wind-energy projects with a total capacity of 1.5 GW are under way on the continent, and another 9 GW worth of projects are planned in the near future. Currently, Africa has an installed wind-energy capacity of 1.1 GW, less than 0.5% of the global capacity.South Africa, Egypt,
Photo Courtesy of Atikokan GS The contractor at a powerplant in Atikokan, Ontario, is erecting two 5,000-ton concrete silos for storage of white wood pellets, the new fuel source that will replace coal at the plant. Related Links: Biomass Plants Seek Toehold in U.S. Energy Market Utilities Repower Aging Coal Plants To Burn Biomass A $170-million retrofit at Atikokan Generating Station in Atikokan, Ontario, is transforming a 28-year- old coal plant to burn 100% biomass and represents a major trend in North American power engineering and construction efforts. "The Ontario Power Authority mandated that this facility be off coal by
Photo Courtesy of the Geothermal Energy Association Geothermal energy officials ring the opening NASDAQ bell during the U.S. and International Geothermal Energy Finance Forum in April. Related Links: Geothermal Power Grew 5% in 2012 California Sees Transmission As Key to Geothermal Buildup The U.S. geothermal energy industry—which grew by 5%, or 147.05 MW, for the year ending March 2013—is seeking more up-front private-equity financing. There are 175 geothermal power projects in development in California, Nevada and other western states. They would add some 620 MW of operational capacity by January 2016, reports the Geothermal Energy Association.Unlike solar or wind, geothermal
Related Links: Tres Amigas to Link Major US Power Grids Texas Gears Up for Boom In High-Voltage Construction The planned completion this year of $6.8 billion in "competitive renewable energy zone" transmission lines in Texas is leading wind-power developers to shift wind-project planning into high gear.Kent Saathoff, executive advisor to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, says the build-out of some 2,300 miles of 345-kV CREZ lines will roughly double to approximately 18,000 MW—the amount of wind and other power that can be delivered from remote, sparsely populated areas in West Texas and the Texas Panhandle to population centers like
Photo Courtesy Panda Power Funds Panda Power Funds' Temple gas unit is one of three planned by developer. A tightening power supply in Texas is spurring a multibillion-dollar boom in the construction of new natural gas-fired power plants and other projects.According to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which oversees the electric grid covering 85% of the state, the power reserve margin in the ERCOT region will fall below the reliability council's 13.75% target this summer and for the foreseeable future unless more generating capacity is built.More specifically, ERCOT said the reserve margin is expected to be only 13.2% this
Related Links: Haiti Fires Up Oil-Fired Power Plant Italy Turns to Oil-Fired Power Plants as Russia Trims Supply While oil plays a commanding role in global energy markets, its position as a fuel source for electric powerplants ranges from dominant in certain countries to modest or non-existent in others.Oil is mostly used by countries who have abundant supplies of it, such as the Persian Gulf countries, Russia and Venezuela. “If you don’t have to use oil, you’re not going to build oil-fired plants unless you’re sitting on it,” says Chris Bergesen, editorial director for UDI Productsat Platts—like ENR, a unit
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