Map Shem Oirere/ENR Art Department Nava Bharat will start work this year on a new $650-million powerplant at the mouth of Zambia's biggest coal mine, Maamba Collieries. Singapore-based Nava Bharat will start work this year on a new $650-million powerplant at the mouth of Zambia's biggest coal mine, Maamba Collieries, about 410 kilometers southeast of the capital, Lusaka. The mine has been dormant since 1997, but it was re-opened by the country’s president, Rupiah Banda, on July 8.Construction of the 300-MW plant at the state-owned facility is scheduled to be finished by 2014. A second 300-MW phase could be built
Energy-industrial contractor CB&I had a good month of July on the heels of several large EPC contracts, particularly a $2.3-billion joint-venture award for a mechanical, electrical and instrumentation contract on the estimated $19-billion Gorgon liquified-natural-gas, or LNG project in Australia.Awarded to the joint venture of Netherlands-based CB&I and Australia-based Kentz, the work includes gas processing, compression and associated utilities, CB&I says. Set to finish in 2015, the project, a development of several international energy companies, could produce 15 million tons of gas a year. CB&I has a 65% stake in the JV. “This will be the largest LNG export facility
In a harsh critique of the nation’s current policy, or lack of policy, regarding spent nuclear fuel and other nuclear waste, a presidential Blue Ribbon panel said new storage options for nuclear fuel—in addition to Yucca Mountain—must be investigated, and that a new federal agency to deal with nuclear waste should be created. The committee also urged use of interim storage sites while a long-term repository or repositories are developed. “Put simply, this nation’s failure to come to grips with the nuclear waste issue has already proved damaging and costly and it will be more damaging and more costly the longer
Photo Courtesy of Barton Malow Co. DOE is offering a $730-million loan to Severstal to fund steel plants, such as this one, for fuel-efficient vehicles. DOE also has issued grants for more than 30 battery and component plants in 19 states. If the Obama administration can engineer it, one million hybrid and electric vehicles will hit American roads by 2015. The president's goal is to accelerate construction of manufacturing plants with federal loans and grants.In July, the U.S. Dept. of Energy made a $730-million loan commitment to Dearborn, Mich.-based Severstal North America to fund the construction and modernization of finishing
Industry sources say a new report from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Japan Task Force recommending a sweeping overhaul of the regulations ensuring that the nation's 104 nuclear powerplants operate safely is a positive first step, but it is by no means a definitive response to the crisis at Fukushima. Photo by AP Wideworld GREGORY JACZKO, NRC Chairman Related Links: The NRC Near-Term Task Force Review of Insights from the Fukushim Dai-Ichi Accident “It's hard to make concrete recommendations based on a situation that is still evolving,” says Ralph Hunter, senior executive and vice president for the commercial nuclear division at
Construction of a 99-MW wind farm in Coos County, N.H., is likely to be sped along by a $136.8-million conditional loan guarantee awarded in June by the Dept. of Energy. Contractors dig into a New Hampshire hillside to create an access road for wind farm. The project recently faced another potential problem besides funding. A major supplier, locally based Isaacson Steel, Berlin, N.H., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on June 22. However, wind-farm developer Brookfield Renewable Power, Toronto, and contractor RMT Energy, Madison, Wis., say the bankruptcy will not have an impact on the construction schedule. The wind farm should
A Nuclear Regulatory Commission task force has called for tightening safety regulations at the nation’s 104 nuclear powerplants and requiring plants to make upgrades when necessary, in areas such as seismic protection, electric power and cooling water for spent-fuel pools. Related Links: NRC task force report In a 90-day report released on July 13, the NRC panel concludes that a sequence of events like those following the Japanese accident is “unlikely to occur” in the United States. Still, the existing U.S. regulatory approach, developed piece by piece over decades, is a “patchwork,” and needs to be improved, the task force
South African Sasol Limited and Calgary, Alberta-based Talisman Energy have commissioned a feasibility study to determine where to build of a gas-to-liquid (GTL) plant to take advantage of 44 trillion cu ft of shale gas deposits in northeastern British Columbia. The technical study follows news in March and June of this year that Sasol, an industry leader in GTL technology, paid $2.08 billion for 50% of Talisman’s Farrell Creek and Cyprus A assets. We’ve signaled that we’d like the GTL plant to be near our Montney assets,” says Talisman spokeswoman Phoebe Buckland. “But the exact location is under review, whether
Tanzania has awarded Jacobsen Elektro AS, a Norwegian power engineering firm, a $124.8 million contract to supply and install power generation equipment for a 100MW power plant in the capital Dar es Salaam. The project, funded by Tanzania and Norway, is considered crucial in attempts at easing chronic outages around the capital and for ongoing efforts to integrate regional electricity generation. It also shows how Norway is increasing its presence in Tanzania's energy sector, despite intensifying pressure from Chinese firms.The project is also a keystone in regional electricity integration plans, particularly the Kenya-Tanzania-Zambia interconnection that involves the installation of a
In preliminary discussions with Cape Wind, Siemens Energy has offered to provide debt and equity financing for up to $2.6 billion for the alternative energy supplier’s proposed 130-turbine, 468-MW wind farm off the Massachusetts coast. Cape Wind agreed to purchase 130 of Siemen’s 3.6 MW turbines from Cape Wind last March, according to Mark Rodgers, spokesman for Cape Wind.“Nothing is finalized, but we appreciate the expression of interest,” Rodgers says.“We’ve always made it clear that we are not only willing but also capable of helping to support the whole project,” said Josef Kaeser, chief financial officer of Munich-based Siemens at
RSS
