Related Links: FERC fact sheet on its Sept. 29 approval of LNG proposal A proposed liquefied-natural-gas export project in Maryland has advanced with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's approval of Dominion Energy's estimated $3.4-billion to $3.8-billion plan to build the complex.But Dominion's Cove Point project, located in Lusby, Md., on the western shore of Chesapeake Bay, may face a court challenge from environmental groups that strongly oppose the plan.FERC's action, announced on Sept. 29, is its fourth LNG-export-facility approval. The other three are in the Gulf of Mexico; one was approved in 2012, and the other two were approved earlier
Photo Courtesy Georgia Power Company Vogtle Progress A CA20 module (above), featuring components built at the Louisiana plant, is pictured next to the Unit 3 nuclear island (below). Photo Courtesy Georgia Power Company Related Links: NRC, Georgia Power Eye CB&I Plant for Workforce, QC Issues Vogtle Nuke Plant Builders Face Rising Cost Pressures Workers at a problem-plagued prefabrication facility that supplies components to nuclear expansion projects in Georgia and South Carolina conspired to cheat on a welder qualification test, according to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.As a result of the violations, the NRC announced on Sept. 26 that, after mediation,
Champlain Hudson Power Express, which got a federal green light on Oct. 1 to build and operate a 1,000-MW, high-voltage transmission line that would run from Canada through New York State and into New York City, now seeks an EPC contractor and additional financing for the estimated $2.2 billion project.The direct-current line would bring hydro and wind-generated power from Quebec into a constrained area of the Big Apple that also faces the closure of the 2,000-MW Indian Point nuclear plant in Buchanan, N.Y. It was granted a presidential permit by the U.S. Energy Dept.The 336-mile new line would terminate in
A surge of energy is flowing into energy storage. Tesla Motors' Sept. 4 announcement that named Nevada the winner of a five-state competition to host its planned gigafactory added momentum to a market for which Lux Research LLC forecasts 8% compounded annual growth, to a global value of $50 billion, by 2020. Tesla's $4-billion plant outside Reno will produce batteries for the automotive market and the grid. According to market research firm IHS, the 2013 energy-storage installation of 340 MW will grow to 6,000 MW by 2017 and to more than 40,000 MW by 2022.Tesla aims to produce 50,000 megawatt-hours
Related Links: Seaborn Networks website Brazil, Europe plan undersea cable to skirt U.S. spying $250-Million Undersea Cable Project Plans To Link Africa to Internet Massachusetts-based Seaborn Networks and France's Alcatel-Lucent have started construction of the Seabras-1 submarine fiber-optic-cable system, which, when completed in 2016, will be the first such telecommunications link that directly connects the U.S. and Brazil, according to the joint venture.In a Sept. 9 announcement, the companies said the six-fiber pair system will extend 10,700 kilometers, between New York City and São Paolo, and include a 350-km side link to the Brazilian coastal city of Fortaleza.Existing underwater cable
Photo Courtesy of Ameren FutureGen seeks to retrofit a unit at an existing plant in Meredosia, Ill. Legal challenges may force the owner to return $1 billion in ARRA funding, obtained in 2010. Related Links: FutureGen 2.0 Clean Coal: Is Carbon Capture and Storage Fossil Fuels' Best Hope? Foundation work for a new chimney at a 65-year-old powerplant in Meredosia, Ill., is under way for a $1.65-billion retrofit designed to create a prototypical commercial-scale coal-fired facility equipped with carbon capture and sequestration (CCS), says Lawrence Pacheco, spokesman for FutureGen Industrial Alliance Inc.This is the first construction work to be performed
Photo Courtesy of SRS Watch Despite the Obama administration's attempts to halt the project, Congress appears poised to keep construction moving forward. Related Links: DOE: Nuclear Agency's Initial OK of MOX Project's Construction Violated Standards Senate Appropriators Question Pause in MOX Project A watchdog group eyeing federal spending at the Savannah River site, a nuclear complex in Aiken, S.C., is again raising concerns about the long-delayed, $7.7-billion Mixed-Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility project after the contractor filed a "routine" request to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a 10-year construction extension."The request to extend the construction license of the MOX plant is
Related Links: Pennsylvania Utility Proposes 725-Mile Transmission Line for Shale-Gas Power New Phase for Alaska's Massive LNG Pipeline Project The ongoing shale-gas-induced transformation of U.S. energy production will continue to drive increasing levels of capital expenditures (capex) for the foreseeable future, said industry officials speaking at the Engineering and Construction Contracting Association's (ECCA) annual convention, held on Sept. 3-6 in Orlando. The ECCA comprises owners, contractors and engineers involved in the energy production sector.But the growth in capex is definitely slowing, according to Jorge Leis, an oil-and-gas industry consultant who moderated a panel discussion, "Perspectives on the Market From the
The Data Centers LLC Data center that was set to be built at Delaware university campus included a 279-MW power plant that residents opposed. Related Links: University of Delaware Scraps Plans for Data Center and Powerplant UD terminates Data Centers project for STAR Campus The Data Centers website Newark Residents Against the Power Plant Website A Pennsylvania firm that aims to build large data centers, powered by off-grid powerplants from 212 MW to 310 MW in size, hopes to site one soon, despite the University of Delaware's decision this summer to scrap plans for a 900,000-sq-ft data center and an
Related Links: New Hampshire Town Signs Deal for Landfill Solar Power Stafford Hill Solar Farm Project Fact Sheet Green Mountain Power has begun constructing a 2-MW solar microgrid on a city landfill in Vermont. The unit is designed to store power during storms for an emergency shelter at Rutland High School.The $10-million Stafford Hill Solar Farm, which broke ground on Aug. 10, is the first project in the nation to establish a micro-grid powered solely by solar and battery backup, with no other fuel source, the U.S. Dept. of Energy says.Stafford Hill includes 7,700 325-watt solar panels on a ballasted
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