Related Links: Pipeline Bursts Heat Up Safety Questions Over Keystone XL Engineer Blows Whistle on Canada Pipeline Inspections Canada's National Energy Board released its final audit report on Trans- Canada's pipeline management system on April 24. NEB found the company to be in non-compliance with risk-assessment and hazard-identification regulations, monitoring and maintenance protocols, internal audits, inspections and management review.The setback to TransCanada's effort to secure approval to build a major new pipeline segment came less than a week after the U.S. State Dept. delayed, until after the November elections, its decision on construction permitting for the last leg of the
Related Links: Russia Moving To Expand Global Nuclear Power Market Share Nuclear Resurgence Dims Due to Rising Costs, Low Demand Additional nuclear powerplant shutdowns will make it harder for the United States to meet its climate goals, a new policy brief from the nonprofit Center for Climate and Energy Solutions concludes.Further, more retirements could lead to more widespread blackouts, similar to those seen in the Northeast during 2014's polar vortex, said Bill Mohl, president of Entergy Wholesale Commodities, a division of Entergy Corp., on April 28.Since October 2012, four power companies have said they will retire five nuclear reactors earlier
Related Links: Google Invests In Solar Africa Morocco Pushing Solar Project in Western Sahara A $24-million photovoltaic field under construction in Rwanda is nearing completion on land belonging to a village built to house orphans from the central African country’s genocide 20 years ago.Even as the nation and many parts of the world paused this month to mark this grim anniversary, Rwanda’s infrastructure is improving, and its economy, perhaps, is pursuing a steady road to growth, relying less on volatile commodity prices and more on knowledge and ease of doing business.The 8.5-MW photovoltaic field is perched on top of a
Related Links: ASEAN Infrastructure Spending To Top $500B by 2020 Vietnam, Indonesia Hold Opportunity for U.S. Infrastructure Firms With an expanding population and a stated goal of adding roughly 60 gigawatts of power-generating capacity by the year 2022, the government of Indonesia has advanced multiple major power projects in recent months. While many of the projects are traditional coal-fired and gas-fired powerplants, the archipelago nation is looking to expand its renewables mix, with a heavy emphasis on geothermal power.In an press conference on April 8, state-owned enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan announced plans to build a 2,000-MW coal-fired powerplant in the
Construction industry and union groups are blasting the Obama administration for again postponing a decision on the proposed $5.3-billion Keystone XL oil pipeline.
Related Links: Southern Co. Refuels Coal Fleet With Gas In a move that could lead to widespread gasification of lignite—a lower grade of coal that is widely available—utility Southern Co. has signed a memorandum of understanding with Shenhua Group, China's largest coal producer and a large power generator, to collaborate on the research, development and deployment of the Atlanta firm's gasification technology."While we are still early in our market development process, we believe there will be strong worldwide demand" for the firm's transport integrated technology, or TRIG, the technology to be used at Mississippi Power's new 582-MW integrated gasification combined-cycle
Photo Courtesy of Black & Veatch Related Links: 2014 ENR Top 500 Design Firms Overview: A Recovery in Need of Speed At about 1:00 a.m. on April 16, 2013, snipers hit and knocked out 17 transformers in 19 minutes at the Pacific Gas & Electric's Metcalf power transmission station near San Jose, Calif. This illustrates a nightmare scenario for electric utilities: A physical or cyber attack that disrupts power transmission.More and more utilities are bringing in engineers to examine the electrical grid's vulnerabilities to attacks."Our security consulting division is closely involved with our utility customers to find the best ways
Photo Courtesy of Sunpower Touted as the world's largest solar PV project currently under permit, Solar Star's Rosamand, Calif., 579-MW installation is a beehive of activity, with crews putting in place 5 MW each workday. Photo Courtesy of Sunpower Pre-fabricated design of solar modules facilitates rapid installation as crews become adept of repeating the process. Related Links: The U.S. Energy Policy Finally Emerges California Plant To Double U.S. Solar Thermal Power Production Rooftop Solar Set To Soar When the $2.2-billion, 377-MW Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in California's Mojave Desert commenced commercial operation in December 2013, the facility became the
Related Links: The U.S. Energy Policy Finally Emerges Texas Bullish on Energy Low-Cost LNG, Stricter Air Rules Mean Fewer New Coal-Fired Powerplants Panda Power Funds, capitalizing on the need for highly efficient generating capacity in two key electricity markets, is building and planning more new natural-gas-fired combined-cycle units than anyone else in the U.S. right now. Working with some of the nation's top engineering-procurement-construction contractors in the energy arena, Panda, a Dallas-based private equity firm and independent power developer, is building three 758-MW plants to serve the Electric Reliability Council of Texas region and undertaking four projects, totaling 3,267 MW,
Related Links: The U.S. Energy Policy Finally Emerges California Plant To Double U.S. Solar Thermal Power Production Solar Sees Growth But Clouds Loom In December, MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. placed the world's largest-ever order for onshore wind turbines, estimated at $1 billion for 448 units totaling 1,050 MW, to be installed on five Iowa wind farms. Despite its size, the large capacity is not unusual for Iowa, which already boasts 5,571 MW of installed wind capacity, generating 27.4% of its electricity mix.Amid growth in wind-generation nationwide, Iowa's is the highest proportion for any state. According to the Energy Information Administration,
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