Second power plant on way for Tallawarra

Sydney Morning Herald
15 January 2011, Page: 5

THE chances of a power shortfall in NSW are set recede further with Hong Kong-backed TRUEnergy receiving the green light to build a second power station at Tallawarra, Wollongong, of up to 450MWs. The state government gave planning approval yesterday for the second-stage expansion of the station to proceed. TRUEnergy, the local unit of China Light and Power, is yet to make a final decision on the parameters of the plant.

It is studying either a 400MW combined-cycle gas-fired power station costing $330 million, or two or three 150MW units totalling 300MW-450MW of an open-cycle gas-fired station costing a more modest $200 million.

A combined-cycle unit is cheaper to operate and is typically used for extensive periods as either a baseload or intermediate load power station. An open-cycle unit is cheaper to build but more expensive to operate and is used as a "peaking" power station, to take advantage of surges in wholesale electricity prices.

Given the location, it is more likely that a combined-cycle station will be developed. TRUEnergy already operates the 400MW combined-cycle Tallawarra A unit on the site, which previously hosted a coal-fired power station.

"A final investment decision on the timing for a new power station development and the type of development will depend on a number of factors, including a study into the future electricity demand of our customers and the energy market in NSW, and policy settings such as any carbon price signal", TRUEnergy's director operations and construction, Michael Hutchinson, said.

Last month, TRUEnergy agreed to pay an estimated $1.5 billion for the largest electricity retailer in NSW, EnergyAustralia, and $500 million for the right to output from two power stations near Lithgow operated by Delta Energy, the Wallerawang power station and Mount Piper power station, as well as buying sites for power stations at Mount Piper and Marulan, south-west of Sydney.

TRUEnergy is planning to raise funds locally by listing on the stock exchange, although the timing and the amount to be raised are unclear. It needs to pay $2 billion to the NSW government on March 1 for the acquisitions, and is committed to investing up to another $330 million for the Tallawarra expansion. The increased role of wind power in the national electricity market is boosting demand for peaker units, which supply power when wind units are becalmed.

Tallawarra sources its gas via the eastern gas pipeline, owned and operated by Singapore Power's local unit, Jemena. The pipeline capacity was raised last year to 98 petajoules annually, and planning for a rise to 121 petajoules is under way. Last year, the Australian Energy Market Operator forecast NSW faced shortages by 2016/17 without additional generation capacity. It would take about three years to build the Tallawarra B station.

Wind farm, heart attack link (beat-up)

Herald Sun
17 January 2011, Page: 21

PEOPLE who live close to wind farms at Cape Bridgewater and Cape Nelson may need to begin monitoring their blood pressure, according to South Australian doctor Sarah Laurie. Dr Laurie said there was a link between early morning high blood pressure, heart attacks and the turbines at wind farms.

She said anyone who lived within 5km of a wind farm should consider buying their own blood pressure monitoring equipment and see a doctor if they had a reading above 140/80. General manager of local wind farm operator Pacific Hydro, Lane Crockett, said facts gathered suggested wind farms were safe and there was no need for alarm.


More scare tactics from Dr Sarah Lourie who seems to confuse causation with correlation. Let's see if the good doctor has any real evidence to support her claim or if she is just pandering to the anti-windfarm paranoia of a noisy minority?

Santos green-lights $16b CSG project

Courier Mail
14 January 2011, Page: 28

ABOUT $31 billion of investment is to be unleashed in Queensland after Santos and its partners yesterday announced the go-ahead for a $US16 billion ($A16.2 billion) coal seam gas development, the second of the controversial projects to be approved.

Adelaide-based oil and gas explorer Santos, which owns 30% of the Gladstone LNG (GLNG) project, and offshore partners Petronas, Total and Kogas, said the decision to proceed meant orders would immediately be placed for pipes, compressors and LNG plant components. Up to 1500 jobs are expected to be created between now and June.

Last October, UK-based BG Group became the first to give final investment clearance to a major project to convert coal seam gas from the Surat and Bowen Basins into LNG for Asian and domestic energy markets at processing plants at Gladstone. Its Queensland Curtis LNG project, to be operated by BG Group unit QGC, involves $US15 billion spent on two LNG processing lines or trains and wells, field facilities and pipelines.

BG Group expects first LNG exports from 2014. Santos's schedule sees first shipments from its two-train project in 2015. Santos chief executive David Knox said he didn't expect any impacts on the project from Queensland's flood disaster. "We're confident we will achieve first gas in 2015. We've got sufficient flexibility in our schedule. We will gradually ramp up this year in terms of staff numbers. Our peak employment isn't until 2013", Mr Knox said.

State and federal environmental approvals granted last year had cleared the way for the GLNG and QCLNG partners to take their final investment decisions. The environmental approvals came despite calls from agricultural industries, water management groups and environmentalists for a comprehensive scientific analysis of water impacts from CSG mining to be conducted.

The National Water Commission last month issued a major report on CSG mining risks in areas such as the Surat Basin, which is part of the Murray-Darling Basin and lies above the Great Artesian Basin. National Water Commissioner Chloe Munro said the CSG industry "risks significant, long-term and adverse impacts on surface and groundwater systems". She stressed that the potential impacts of CSG projects over a significant time period "are not well understood".

CSG mining involves bringing saline underground water to the surface in order to release trapped gas, and there are fears that water networks will be depleted or contaminated. The NWC raised major concerns with water practices proposed by CSG miners and issued recommendations for state and federal governments, including that CSG miners obtain licences for any water extracted.

The NWC said the CSG industry could extract 7500 gigalitres of water from groundwater systems over 25 years, or about,300GL a year. Currently, Australia's total extraction from the Great Artesian Basin is about 540GL a year Mr Knox said that he was not aware of the NWC recommendations.

New England MP Tony Windsor has said he will use his balance of power position in Federal Parliament this year to force CSG miners to conduct assessments of long-term, regional impacts of their controversial practices, either before exploration licences are granted or if necessary before mining proceeds. Santos shares closed up 2.2%, or 29¢, at $13.45.

It's time to talk of climate change

Age
14 January 2011, Page: 11

What kind of world are we going to leave for the next generation?

IN APRIL 2009 the Los Angeles Times ran the headline: "What will global warming look like? Scientists point to Australia". The article said events unfolding in Australia record-breaking droughts, killer bushfires and devastating floods gave a snapshot of our future in a globally warmed world. Nearly two years on, it seems very little has changed.

The floods that have led to most of Queensland being declared a disaster zone are a disturbing reminder that living in one of the richest countries in the world does not shield us from the devastation of natural disasters. The footage of death and destruction we are seeing on our TV screens is gut-wrenching. Most dinner table conversations in Australia this week will undoubtedly focus on these floods and their horrific consequences.

But while we are talking about the immense loss and what we can do to help, there is another conversation that we should be having: the conversation about climate change. When we talk about climate change, we mostly talk about complicated economic policy, markets and reports. But we need to start talking about what climate change actually looks like and we don't need to look much further than Queensland.

We know that any one single extreme weather event cannot be attributed just to climate change. But we can look at the climate models and predictions, which all say that in a climate-changed world extreme weather events will become more frequent and intense. The La Nina phenomenon, the major cause of the increased rain in south-east Queensland, gets stronger as sea surface temperatures increase. Warmer air also holds more water than colder air, and this water eventually has to come down somewhere. Hence increased rain and floods.

Scientists such as Professor Vicky Pope, head of climate change advice at Britain's Met Office, and Dr Kevin Trenberth from the US National Centre for Atmospheric Research have pointed to the evidence showing a warmer world is a wetter world, due to increased water vapour and energy in the atmosphere leading to more frequent and intense storms.

In The Age this week, Professor David Karoly from University of Melbourne's school of earth sciences was quoted as saying that the wild weather extremes were in keeping with scientists' forecasts of more flooding and more droughts as a result of high temperatures and more evaporation. This is not confined to Australia. Insurance agency Munich Re showed climate change was linked to 21,000 deaths in the first nine months of 2010 double the number of deaths caused by extreme weather in 2009.

Last year was the warmest since measuring began, and the previous decade was also the warmest decade on record. There is also evidence to suggest that climate change is responsible for the extreme cold winters across Europe and the US in the past two years. When I talk about the frustratingly slow pace of climate action in this country, people often tell me that it is going to take a disaster to snap us out of our inertia.

Many people believe that once we really feel the effects of climate change personally, the population will spring to action. Sure, we've seen terrible floods in Pakistan and we know about the plight of low-lying Pacific Islands, but it's going to need to hit us at home before we wake up. If this is true, then these floods should be a deafening wake-up call. As a young person who will inherit the world being created now, I want us to start talking about what needs to happen to prevent this kind of tragedy from occurring again and again. I don't want to live in the kind of world we are previewing right now.

We need fundamental change, and it starts with a price on pollution that rids our economy of polluting energy and creates clean energy instead. It starts with increased funding for healthy, renewable energy. It starts with a serious commitment from all political parties to do what is right and significantly reduce Australia's greenhouse gas emissions. I hope some good can come out of this tragedy, and that we use it to have the conversation about what we are going to do this year to make these solutions a reality.

Ellen Sandell is national director of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition and joint Banskia young environmentalist of the year in 2009.

Survey blows off wind farm syndrome

www.adelaidenow.com.au
27 December 2010

AN Adelaide-based acoustic firm has seemingly debunked the theory that wind farms can make you sick. wind farm giant Pacific Hydro says a survey of infrasound levels at three of its farms, in Adelaide's CBD Energy and various sites in SA and Victoria, proves "wind turbine syndrome" is a myth.

Anti-wind farm campaigners say the syndrome is caused by infrasound and produces symptoms including dizziness, headaches and nausea. The study, conducted by acoustic experts Sonus, found the highest readings of infrasound in the CBD Energy, followed by Cape Bridgewater beach.

Infrasound measurements at Pacific Hydro's Clement's Gap and Cape Bridgewater wind farms were significantly lower. Pacific Hydro's general manager Australia Lane Crockett admitted the study wasn't exhaustive, but said it backed up a Federal Government review that also concluded wind farms didn't make people sick.

He said infrasound emissions at wind farms were "too low to be of concern and could not cause health effects". "There's infrasound all around us and the infrasound produced at wind farms is not even as high as ... you will find standing on the street in the middle of a city or if you're by the beach," he said.

"If infrasound makes you sick then people living by the sea and people who live in cities should be sick." Earlier this month The Advertiser reported on Eyre Peninsula residents who are revolting against an expected 5000 new wind turbines in their region, arguing they are making people sick.

California solar plant big enough to power 71,000 homes

solar.calfinder.com
10 January 2011

It's being billed as the largest solar photovoltaic (PV) plant in the Northern San Joaquin Valley, and at 1,000 acres it certainly won't have a small footprint. But the power it generates is essential to Southern California Edison (SCE) meeting the state's renewable energy mandate of 33% of electricity supplies (from renewables) by 2020

For California public utilities, of which SCE is one of the biggest, this means buying power from solar and wind developers, and the Santa Nella project, near the San Luis Reservoir, will add 110MWs (MW) to SCE's renewable energy portfolio.

The Santa Nella project, reportedly enough to power about 71,000 homes, will be built by San Jose-based SunPower Corp., which is also planning another 25-MW plant on North McHenry Avenue to help power the Modesto Irrigation District.

The Santa Nella project, whose power SCE will buy on a power purchase agreement, or PPA, is only one of seven solar purchases the utility announced this week. The others, which bring the grand total to 831MW, are in Kern and Los Angeles counties, but a newspaper report using the word "also" confuses the issue considerably, since San Joaquin is close to San Francisco, while Kern and Los Angeles counties are,....well, near Los Angeles.

In spite of being geographically challenged, however, it's clear that SCE, which serves almost 5 million customers, is leading the pack in solar power purchases - a leadership which reflects positively on the utility, which as few as five years ago was perceived by some renewable energy activists as balking at the concept of renewable energy.

That impression has now been cleared up, and as SCE VP Marc Ulrich notes, the past few years have shown impressive stats for solar PV, which is overcoming previous deficiencies to deliver clean, renewable energy that would meet market parity for both price and availability if solar power did not generate premium prices as a way of encouraging greater uptake.

The Santa Nella project is slated for former ranch land about 50 miles due east of Santa Cruz. The land is currently owned by River East Holdings, and SunPower hopes to complete the project in 2014. The only other significant solar array in the area is one by the Dept, of Veterans Affairs slated for the San Joaquin Valley National Cemetery, a 136-kW solar PV array whose funds were awarded last year.

Storing solar and wind power is a base-load conundrum

solarhbj.com
13 January 2011

Here in Colorado we have an abundance of both sun and wind, so it's no surprise that our state Renewable Portfolio Standard was recently raised to 30% by the year 2020, from the 10% that was enacted in 2004 by constitutional amendment.

So with the excellent solar and wind resources here, why not increase our RPS MetOcean to 50%, 80% or even 100%? The problem is "base load". That's the minimum amount of power that must be available from the utility at all times, and it changes with daily and hourly predictions based on historical data and current trends. Unfortunately, the sun isn't always shining and the wind isn't always blowing, so 24/7/365 energy sources are always required.

Hydroelectric generation is a renewable base-load option in some areas, but Colorado doesn't have much of a hydro resource. Coal- and nuclear-fired power plants are the most common base-load generation sources throughout the United States, because they are cheap to operate and consume inexpensive fuel.

When energy needs spike (such as during a hot summer day when everyone turns on their air conditioners, or on a cold winter night when electric heaters are running full blast) utilities turn to "peaking" generation systems that can be spun up and generating within minutes.

You can't just flip the "on" switch to get a coal or nuclear generator working -- they take hours or even days to fire up from cold to producing energy. Hydroelectric plant operators can quickly increase the water flow and the number of generators operating, but only if there's enough water available at the time. In most areas, natural gas turbines are used to handle peaking loads, but the fuel is too expensive to use for providing constant base-load capacity.

Energy Storage
The answer to using solar or wind for utility base load seems obvious. Just store any excess energy produced and release it when the renewables are not generating, just like in an off-grid home. All you need is a really big battery! Therein lies the rub.

Until recently, America's biggest battery was located in Fairbanks, Alaska. Called "BESS" (Battery Electric Storage System), it was built and installed by the ABB Group for the Golden Valley Electrical Association in 2003 at a cost of $35 million. This half-acre, 1,435-ton battery bank provides 27MWs of base-load backup power for GVEA's 90,000 customers in the event that grid power from Anchorage is interrupted. Unfortunately, BESS can only do that for 15 minutes -- just long enough to get Fairbanks' diesel backup generators spun up and on line.

The town of Presidio, Texas, also had a problem -- frequent blackouts due to the now-undersized 1940s-vintage transmission lines still feeding the town. Extra energy could be purchased from Mexico, but with hours-long blackouts common, changes were made. In April 2010, Electric Transmission Texas put "BOB" (Big Ol' Battery) into commission. BOB weighs over 320 tons, costs about $25 million, and can provide 4MWs of base-load power to Presidio for about eight hours.

Those battery numbers are all pretty depressing when viewed in a cost-vs.-storage capacity perspective. Right now, the only other real storage option on a utility scale is hydroelectric -- excess generation powers giant pumps that move massive amounts of water up a steep hill to a large reservoir, to be released through hydro turbines to generate electricity again when peaking generation is needed. The problem with this method is that the efficiency is dismal, with close to 70% of the incoming energy wasted.

Battery technology is rapidly improving, thanks in part to greater public interest in plug-in electric vehicles. BOB in Texas employs new technology, sodium-sulphur cells, instead of the more traditional nickel-cadmium cells used in BESS. But the cost per kW of electrochemical energy storage remains tremendously high, especially when compared to current methods that store the most amount of energy for the least cost -- a lump of coal, uranium pellets, or a barrel of oil. Are there other options? The future

Certain recent industrial-scale solar power projects employ some energy storage. These solar thermal plants use mirrors to heat molten salts, which are used to flash water into steam and power conventional steam turbine generators. The salts hold heat for quite some time, and the turbines continue to run after the sun sets. While this represents great progress, it's still tricky. The storage part of the system is far more complex and expensive than the generation side, and heat cannot be stored long enough to provide a source of base-load capacity.

Of course hydrogen production, storage and generation have been touted for many years, and these might well be our future for energy storage. The "hydrogen economy" hype of the past few years has died down, though, mostly because hydrogen is notoriously difficult and inefficient to produce, store and use. It can escape through the tiniest gaps, it turns regular steel unsafely brittle and is explosive when mixed in the right proportion with air.

These problems will all be solved -- eventually -- but at great cost and over a long time frame. Compressed air energy storage on a large scale has been discussed too, but suffers similar technology cost and efficiency problems.

Flywheel energy storage has recently received media attention, and with good reason. Spin a heavy wheel up to tens of thousands of RPM in a near vacuum to reduce air friction and float it on magnetic levitation bearings, and you have a formidable energy storage system. But flywheel storage remains a very high-tech and expensive possibility on a utility scale for base-load storage. It's currently used only in specialized applications.

A better mousetrap?
As I sit here 11 miles off the grid and gaze at my (literally) ton of home backup batteries, the thought crosses my mind that I'm looking at 1915-era technology -- and that it's still the most efficient, cost-effective choice for me. And when I float in Pinewood Reservoir with my fly rod each summer, it occurs to me that this massive, inefficient pump, water storage and hydro turbine system is about the most efficient and cost-effective way for the utility to store its energy, too.

It's a good bet that future utility-scale, renewable energy storage systems will use some variation of the methods we have already imagined. Scientists understand the basic laws of physics pretty well these days. The winner won't be the company that invents the most high-tech and efficient energy storage mousetrap -- it will be the company that builds the one that stores the most energy at the lowest cost.

China first in wind power capacity

www.upi.com
Jan. 13, 2011

China has surpassed the United States as the country with the largest wind power installation in the world, China's state-run news agency Xinhua reports. China installed 16GWs of wind power capacity in 2010, a 62% increase from the previous year, said the Chinese Renewable Energy Industries Association, Xinhua reports.

That brings the country's total installed capacity to 41.8GWs, giving China -- the world's top emitter of greenhouse gases -- the potential to replace 31.3 million tons of coal, slashing emissions of more than 90 million tons of CO₂, Xinhua reports.

The United States, by contrast, installed about 5GWs of new wind-power capacity in 2010, bringing its total installed capacity to 40.2GWs, says the Global Wind Energy Council. Yet China's grid-connected capacity lags behind installed capacity by more than 30%, CREIA says, which is considerably higher than the 10% gap in advanced countries and affects wind power efficiency.

To translate the country's wind power installations into massive utilization, Greenpeace said the government must introduce effective incentive policies and completely overhaul the national grid. "This shortfall in generation tells us that China still has a long way to go to reach its full potential in wind and other renewable energy", said Yang Ailun of Greenpeace East Asia in a news release.

"Despite a renewable energy policy requiring grid companies to purchase all available electricity generated by wind farms, wind power access to the grid is impeded by an unstable, outdated grid infrastructure", he said. Other problems, Yang said, include a lack of incentives and penalties for grid companies and slow progress in additional wind power technologies.

An Ernst & Young report released in November indicated China, which has surpassed the United States as the world's biggest consumer of energy, is the leader in the global renewable energy market. In the second quarter of 2010, the report said, China invested around $10 billion in wind power, about half of the global total of $20.5 billion.

If the Chinese Cabinet approves a proposed $758 billion energy industrial development plan, $227 billion of investment would flow into China's wind power sector, Xinhua reports. Half of the wind turbines expected to come online this year around the world will have been manufactured in China. Analysts say Chinese President Hu Jintao's scheduled visit to Washington to meet with US President Barack Obama next week is likely to push the issue of China's wind power subsidies into the spotlight.

Multiquip introduces first hydrogen fuel cell powered light tower

www.forconstructionpros.com
1 December 2011

Las Vegas - Multiquip introduces the first light tower powered by a hydrogen fuel-cell, part of a planned series of hydrogen-fuel-cell-powered products. The light tower is environmentally friendly, fuel efficient and virtually pollution free, allowing it to be operated indoors. It can be operated for up to 50 hours at a noise level of 43 dBs at 23 feet. The light tower uses plasma light technology, which is filament-free, producing a clean, natural light. The plasma light bulb produces 22,000 lumens with extremely high efficiency, consuming only 255 watts with a life expectancy of up to 50,000 hours.

"The implications of the product's technology beyond lighting are tremendous", said Torsten Erbel, vice president product management, engineering and customer support for Multiquip. "It's reliable due to the lack of moving parts; durable; does not contaminate due to fuel spills; there is very low maintenance; and it is user friendly, using an automotive-style fuel nozzle".

Using a process discovered more than 150 years ago, fuel-cells began supplying electric power for spacecraft in the 1960s and were pursued for commercial use in the 1970s. fuel-cells are an alternative to the internal combustion engine with an energy efficiency of more than 50%. Internal combustion engines, on average, convert only 20% of fuel BTU to the desired work.

Prototypes of the light tower have been and will be used by the California Department of Transportation, film and entertainment companies at high profile media events and by NASA during the upcoming shuttle launch. The Multiquip hydrogen-powered light tower will be on display at World of Concrete in Las Vegas, January 18-21, 2011, in booth # C4813. Product will be available in Q2 2011. Pricing for the units will be provided by quote only, due to the availability of energy and tax credits, which vary from state-to-state, as well as multiple configuration options.

Founded in 1973, Multiquip is one of the largest, most diversified manufacturers and suppliers of products and solutions for the construction, telecom, government, non-commercial, entertainment, and oil and gas exploration markets. Multiquip's product portfolio encompasses light to medium construction equipment, power generators and lighting. Servicing customers worldwide, Multiquip distributes its products in more than 70 countries through thousands of authorized distribution partners.

For more information, visit http://www.multiquip.com/.

Nuclear energy to take place in Malaysia soon

www.mmail.com.my
13 January 2011

The government is confident that Malaysians will eventually buy into nuclear power, said Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Datuk Seri Peter Chin Fah Kui today. Chin said through proper process of disseminating information and by practising transparency, the rakyat will understand why the country may have to rely on nuclear technology in the future for its energy needs.

"If we (the government) are transparent, and if information on the benefits of nuclear power is disseminated well, I believe the rakyat will understand the need for nuclear power", said Chin at a Press conference this morning. "Only yesterday, I received a delegation from Japan. They offered us their assistance and expertise on nuclear power. "In Japan and South Korea, nuclear technology is used. But their people don't feel worried. I'm convinced if we explain well to the Malaysian public, they will understand", he said.

Last Tuesday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced the formation of the Malaysian Nuclear Development Corporation to study the feasibilities of implementing nuclear technology. Chin said although the corporation is under the purview of the Prime Minister's Department, his ministry is involved in assisting the corporation, especially in the aspects of building public confidence. "We will do whatever we can to assist the corporation".

Chin said at this point, the ministry have only "scratched the surface" in building public confidence. "We've only just begun", he said. Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Datuk Seri Idris Jala, had said last Tuesday that the formation of the nuclear corporation was important to prepare for an alternative fuel source for the country in the future - especially with the imminent decline in fossil fuels.

Chin this morning officiated the contract signing ceremony of raw water channel project from Pahang to Selangor. The launch kicks-off works on the Lot 1-3B pipe that will be used to channel raw water from Semantan river to Selangor. Meanwhile, Chin told reporters that Selangor Menteri Besar, Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, had already promised to approve the Langat 2 water treatment plant project.

"He gave his promise in December and by the end of this month, we expect to receive his approval in black and white", said Chin. "I appreciate and thank the MB for his approval. Once this is signed, the last hurdle for the Langat 2 project will be removed".

The Langat 2 water treatment plant is part of the Pahang-Selangor Interstate Water Transfer Project, which is meant to ease the water shortage problem in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur by transporting 1,890 million litres of raw water from Pahang daily. Chin said if the Langat 2 project is not completed by 2014, Selangor will suffer water shortage. The transfer of raw water from Sungai Semantan in Pahang is scheduled for early 2014. The project is expected to supply raw water daily via a 44.6-km tunnel through the Main Range to Selangor.

Gamesa wins contract to build Syria’s first wind energy plant

www.evwind.es
14 January 2011

The wind farm will be located southwest of the central city of Homs. Vestas, the world's largest maker of wind turbines, will develop a wind power project with generation capacity of 50 to 100MW. Gamesa, one of the world's leading companies in the design, manufacture and maintenance of wind turbines and a top wind farm developer.

Syria awarded Gamesa a contract to build the country's first wind power plant and Germany's Sunset Energietechnik GmbH another for a solar power plant The National Energy Research Center selected Gamesa out of five bidders to build a 60-million euro wind farm for power generation that will have a capacity of 50MWs. The wind farm will be located southwest of the central city of Homs.

Vestas, the world's largest maker of wind turbines, will develop a wind power project with generation capacity of 50 to 100MW south of Damascus. The country's demand for power stood at 44.5 billion kWs in 2009, up 5.9% from the previous year, according to figures from the state-run Public Establishment for Electrical Generation and Transfer. Power supply reached 43.3 billion kWs last year, an increase of 5.6% from 2008.