The three-unit Ikata plant. Unit 1 has been decommissioned, while unit 2 remains offline .
(Image: Shikoku)
Shikoku Electric Power Company announced today that it had initiated the process to restart unit 3 of its Ikata nuclear power plant in Japan's Ehime prefecture. It becomes the fifth Japanese reactor to resume operation under new safety standards introduced following the March 2011 accident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.
The company said it began the operation to extract the control rods from the reactor's core, allowing the fission process to begin.
Shikoku announced on 5 August that it planned to restart the unit today and that power generation would resume on 15 August. Output from the 846 MWe pressurized water reactor will then gradually be increased and full capacity should be reached on 22 August. The unit is set to re-enter commercial operation in early September. Ikata 3 has been idle since being taken offline for a periodic in April 2011.
Under Japan's reactor restart process, plant operators are required to apply to the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) for: permission to make changes to the reactor installation; approval of their construction plan to strengthen the plant; and, approval of the plant's operational safety programs. Operators are required to add certain safety-enhancing equipment within five years of receiving the NRA's approval of a reactor engineering work program. continued…
first published week of: 08/15/2016
FirstEnergy Corp. is undertaking a “strategic review” of its competitive generation business that could lead to selling off as many as 13 power plants, including its three nuclear plants, where nearly 3,000 people work, its chief executive officer said Friday.
“The fact is, competitive generation is weighing down the rest of the company,” Charles Jones, FirstEnergy’s CEO and president, said in a conference call with analysts. “We do not think competitive generation is a good fit.”
While the Akron utility on Friday said it showed a profit for its third quarter, FirstEnergy said it has lost $381 million for the first nine months of 2016 and expects to end the year with a loss as well.
The “strategic options” will be implemented over the next 12 to 18 months, he said. He said FirstEnergy intends to act quickly and become a fully regulated electric utility again after operating under the state’s 1999 electric deregulation initiative continued…
first published week of: 11/07/2016
Artist’s rendering of a proposed floating nuclear power plant that, in the early 1970s, PSE&G hoped to build ... off the coast of Atlantic City. (Courtesy of PSEG NUCLEAR )
Long before the tsunami that led to a devastating meltdown at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi power station in 2011, before the 1986 disaster in Ukraine at Chernobyl and the 1979 accident at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania, the largest electric utility in New Jersey literally saw its future on the horizon — a few miles off the coast of Atlantic City to be exact.
Seeing customer demand for power continue to climb unabated, Public Service Electric and Gas Company was going to ride a new wave of power from generating stations located offshore — taking advantage of the needed cooling waters of the ocean, while eliminating the objections of those living nearby by being in nobody's backyard. It was going to build giant floating nuclear power plants.
It was something no U.S. utility had contemplated before — or since. The proposal called for the construction of at least two 1.15-million-kw generators mounted on 400-foot barges moored out in the Atlantic, surrounded by a massive reef-like breakwater designed to protect the facility against hurricanes and storms, wayward ships and tidal surges. Some called it the Atomic Atoll.
Located 2.8 miles off Little Egg Harbor Inlet, some 12 miles northeast of Atlantic City, the project — announced in 1972 — would have generated enough electricity to supply nearly 2 million homes, sending the power back to shore via underwater cables. The cost? In excess of $2 billion — about $11.7 billion in today's dollars.9It did not end well. continued…
first published week of: 08/15/2016
The natural gas industry is challenging new regulations that govern surface development of shale gas wells.
Drillers in the Marcellus Shale filed suit against the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and the state’s Environmental Quality Board over rules that took effect last week
The regulations have been under development since 2011 and are the first major rewrite since energy companies began drilling in the Marcellus Shale gas formation.. continued…
first published week of: 10/24/2016
Southern California Edison (SCE) will install a battery energy storage system from Current, powered by GE, later this year in response to California’s Aliso Canyon energy emergency
GE and longtime customer Southern California Edison (SCE) today announced a plan to install the world’s first battery storage and gas turbine hybrid. The two-project solution first calls for installation of a battery energy storage system from Current, powered by GE, followed by upgrades to a GE LM6000 gas turbine to integrate the two systems. The LM6000 Hybrid EGT, which is scheduled to be deployed at two SCE sites in the coming months, was developed in response to changing regulations and grid requirements in the wake of California’s Aliso Canyon energy crisis earlier this year and will ultimately support increasing renewable energy capacity on the California grid.
“GE’s new LM6000 Hybrid EGT product fits well with SCE's objective of providing cost–effective, innovative solutions that enhance grid reliability, flexibility, and fast response for our customers,” said Phil Herrington, Vice President of Generation for Southern California Edison.
The solution, which will qualify for California’s Independent System Operator’s tariff for contingency reserve, answers a critical need for Southern California, where regulations on natural gas usage and storage are changing in the wake of the state’s Aliso Canyon energy crisis earlier this year. GE’s Power Services and Current businesses worked to develop the joint solution in a competitive offer in collaboration with Wellhead Power Solutions, LLC.
first published week of: 10/10/2016
Special event marks fourth large-scale solar project with the U.S. Military in Georgia
Leaders from Georgia Power and the U.S. Army joined elected officials, community leaders and other dignitaries at Fort Stewart near Hinesville, Ga. today to dedicate a new 30 megawatt (MW) on-base solar facility. The 30 MW alternating current, or 42 MW direct current, solar generation facility is the fourth completed by Georgia Power in collaboration with the military, joining similar on-base solar facilities recently unveiled with the U.S. Army at Forts Benning and Gordon, as well as the Department of the Navy (DON) at Naval Submarine Base (SUBASE) Kings Bay.
Leaders from Georgia Power and the U.S. Army joined elected officials, community leaders and other dignitaries at Fort Stewart near Hinesville, Ga. today to dedicate a new 30 megawatt (MW) on-base solar facility. Georgia Power is currently developing more than 150 MW of solar generation to serve the state's electric customers through five large-scale projects with the U.S. Army and DON. Construction of the fifth project at Marine Corps Logistics Base (MCLB) Albany is currently underway.
"Completing the third and final installment of our collaborative 3x30 solar program with the U.S. Army is a tremendous accomplishment for our company and our customers who will benefit from this energy source," said Norrie McKenzie, vice president of renewable development for Georgia Power. "Since we announced these projects in May of 2015, the Army has been a steadfast partner and truly recognizes the importance of renewable energy for the base, the community, the state and the country." continued…
first published week of: 12/12/2016
A "green" power supplier accused of making misleading marketing claims in Illinois must provide hundreds of thousands and perhaps millions in rebates to former and current customers under a settlement with Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office.
The settlement, finalized Aug. 8, also will require Washington, D.C.-based Ethical Electric to change its marketing practices to make clear that its customers aren't getting their power exclusively from renewable sources like wind and solar, as its previous materials appeared to claim.
In addition, if the company continues to make references to Commonwealth Edison's prices in its marketing, it will have to provide side-by-side comparisons of its price to ComEd's.
Ethical flooded the Illinois market in 2014 and 2015 with direct mail solicitations for a product it called the Clean Energy Option. The missives suggested that residents were required to choose a power supplier (people, in fact, can ignore such offers and stick with ComEd) and that a 100 percent-renewable-energy product could be had at a price only slightly above the utility's.
In fact, Ethical's price was routinely more than 5 percent higher than ComEd's and often much higher. It also was locked in for only three months, after which it was reset monthly. continued…
first published week of: 08/22/2016
The casino conglomerate expects to double its use of renewable energy and earn payback within 7 years.
Nevada’s largest employer is finally prepared to stop purchasing electricity from the state's biggest utility on October 1.
MGM Resorts International, which owns much of the Las Vegas strip, grabbed headlines in May after ending its energy-buying relationship with Nevada Power, a subsidiary of NV Energy. It was of the largest defections from an American utility by a commercial customer, and could set the model for more large companies in states where they're allowed to go out on their own.
MGM is now contracting with independent energy company Tenaska to serve as procurement adviser and scheduler for the 171 megawatts consumed by its Nevada properties.
The motivations for the departure were energy independence and the desire for more renewable energy, said Cindy Ortega, senior vice president and chief sustainability officer at MGM, in an interview with GTM.
Speaking at the top of the golden Delano hotel tower, with the Mandalay Bay’s 8.3-megawatt rooftop solar PV array soaking up the Nevada sun in the background, Ortega explained that any company leaving the service of the utility is required by law to match the state renewable energy standard of 23 percent.
"We’re required to do 23 percent; we’re going to try to double that," Ortega said. "It’s going to increase, no question about it." continued…
first published week of: 09/19/2016
Even with a strong legacy of regulatory compliance and billions of dollars infrastructure investment, electric, gas, and water utilities are still subject to successful cyber attacks. The industry views that prospect with grave concern, as the consequences of such an attack on the companies supplying a city or a nation’s fuel, electricity and drinking water could reach far beyond any purely economic impact. The health and welfare of a whole region or even an entire nation could be at risk.
Attacks on electrical grids and utility providers have increased steadily over the past decade, most notably the coordinated cyber attack on a Ukrainian power grid in December 2015 that resulted in tens of thousands of people losing electricity. More recently, sophisticated malware designed to perform reconnaissance on an energy grid’s system was found on a dark web hacking forum. Clearly, bad actors are actively seeking ways to attack the energy and utilities industry, and there is obvious and immediate cause for concern as an attack on an energy company could have a domino effect impacting all the industries that depend on it. continued…
first published week of: 09/26/2016
Electricity is now being generated in the second gasifier at Mississippi Power's Kemper County plant.
The company said it reached that milestone Wednesday.
Chairman, President and CEO Anthony Wilson tells multiple members that move is a "substantial step forward for the project."
The company announced earlier this month it was completing maintenance on the plant's first gasifier, which followed six weeks of successful syngas production including generation of the plant's first electricity using syngas. That gasifier began generating electricity on Oct. 12. continued…
first published week of: 12/05/2016