www.chicagotribune.com
8 Oct 2013
ANKARA (Reuters)-Turkey's first nuclear power plant is likely to be delayed by at least a year, a source close to the plans said on Tuesday, as bureaucratic hurdles hamper the $20 billion project.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has been an advocate of the country's ambitious nuclear program, meant to help reduce its dependence on costly hydrocarbon imports by providing 10% of its electricity needs by 2023.
But its first planned 4,800 MW plant, being built by Russia's Rosatom, is already falling behind schedule, with the first reactor unlikely to be operational by 2019 as planned.
"Production in 2019 is not possible. 2020 is more likely", one source close to the project told Reuters, noting that a nuclear reactor on this scale would need a test period of at least six to 12 months before it could be fully operational.
The start of construction for the Mersin Akkuyu plant in southern Turkey is scheduled for mid-2015 and by 2023 all four planned reactors are meant to have started generating power, but the project has still to obtain a construction license and has been hampered by other delays over the summer.
An environmental report by Rosatom, which requires approval by Turkish authorities, had to be resubmitted to the Environment Ministry in September, months behind the planned schedule. Without approval, Atomstroyexport, the main contractor chosen by Rosatom to build the reactors, cannot launch tenders for an estimated $7.5 8.0 billion worth of subcontracts.
The source said he expected the tenders to be launched once the environmental assessment paper was approved, which he predicted would happen by the end of November.
Paperwork
A tender by the Turkish Atomic Energy Authority (TAEK) for a firm to review and assess Rosatom's reactor plans to ensure the design meets safety standards has been cancelled several times after bidders failed to meet the pre-qualification criteria.
Aaron Stein, associate fellow at the British defense and security think-tank the Royal United Services Institute, sees this as among the most serious risks to the timeline.
"It all depends on whether they can get their tender documents going and all the indications right now are that they're having extreme difficulties", he said. "Let's assume they're going to go ahead with construction in 2016, that would still be three years to build one reactor and seven years to build all four. That is really, really fast".
Turkey's power market looks to be alone in Europe in offering promising returns. Electricity consumption rose 5% to 242 billion kW hours (kW) in 2012 and energy demand growth forecasts are second only to those of China.
Turkey needs to add some 3,500 MW of installed power capacity annually to keep pace. Its second planned nuclear plant was awarded in May to a Japanese-French consortium. Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd and Itochu Corporation, with France's GDF Suez, will build the 4,800 MW plant at an estimated cost of $22 billion in the Black Sea coastal city of Sinop.
Industry sources have said the first reactor at that plant is slated to come online by 2023.
Showing posts with label Nuclear. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nuclear. Show all posts
Friday, 11 October 2013
Sunday, 15 September 2013
Nuclear power’s renaissance in reverse
www.mareeg.com
9 May 2013
PARIS-Last June, Yukiya Amano, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), declared that "nuclear power will make a significant and growing contribution to sustainable development in the coming decades". But, as this year's World Nuclear Industry Status Report highlights, recent trends paint a very different picture.
Duke Energy, America's largest utility, has shelved plans to build two reactors in Florida, after having spent $1 billion on the project. The decision came only three months after the company abandoned investment in two new units in North Carolina.
In fact, this year, four American utilities have decided to shut down a total of five reactors permanently-the first closures in the United States in 15 years. One of the units-Kewaunee Power Station in Wisconsin-was abandoned after massive investment in upgrades and a 60 year license renewal; it simply could not generate power at competitive prices. For the same reasons, Vermont Yankee, another plant with a license to operate through 2032, is now scheduled to close in 2014.
Similarly, the world's largest nuclear operator-the French state-controlled utility Electricite de France-announced its impending withdrawal from nuclear power in the US, after having sunk roughly $2 billion into aborted projects. And, in order to help offset soaring operating costs, which resulted in losses of €1.5 billion ($2 billion) last year, EDF Energy will raise electricity prices this year for its French customers by 5%, on average, and by another 5% next year.
Over the five years ending in March 2013, EDF Energy lost 85% of its share value. Likewise, the world's largest nuclear builder-the French state-controlled company AREVA-lost up to 88% of its share value between 2008 and 2012. Not surprisingly, investors have welcomed new strategic plans by both companies, as well as EDF Energy's withdrawal from the US market; the downward pressure on their share prices has eased, though for how long remains to be seen.
The nuclear power industry's decline began decades ago. But, since the March 2011 triple-meltdown at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi plant, the pace of the decline has accelerated significantly. Indeed, in 2012, annual nuclear generation worldwide dropped by an unprecedented 7%, exceeding the previous year's record-breaking drop of 4% and bringing total annual nuclear power generation to 12% below its historic maximum, achieved in 2006.
Read More…
9 May 2013
PARIS-Last June, Yukiya Amano, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), declared that "nuclear power will make a significant and growing contribution to sustainable development in the coming decades". But, as this year's World Nuclear Industry Status Report highlights, recent trends paint a very different picture.
Duke Energy, America's largest utility, has shelved plans to build two reactors in Florida, after having spent $1 billion on the project. The decision came only three months after the company abandoned investment in two new units in North Carolina.
In fact, this year, four American utilities have decided to shut down a total of five reactors permanently-the first closures in the United States in 15 years. One of the units-Kewaunee Power Station in Wisconsin-was abandoned after massive investment in upgrades and a 60 year license renewal; it simply could not generate power at competitive prices. For the same reasons, Vermont Yankee, another plant with a license to operate through 2032, is now scheduled to close in 2014.
Similarly, the world's largest nuclear operator-the French state-controlled utility Electricite de France-announced its impending withdrawal from nuclear power in the US, after having sunk roughly $2 billion into aborted projects. And, in order to help offset soaring operating costs, which resulted in losses of €1.5 billion ($2 billion) last year, EDF Energy will raise electricity prices this year for its French customers by 5%, on average, and by another 5% next year.
Over the five years ending in March 2013, EDF Energy lost 85% of its share value. Likewise, the world's largest nuclear builder-the French state-controlled company AREVA-lost up to 88% of its share value between 2008 and 2012. Not surprisingly, investors have welcomed new strategic plans by both companies, as well as EDF Energy's withdrawal from the US market; the downward pressure on their share prices has eased, though for how long remains to be seen.
The nuclear power industry's decline began decades ago. But, since the March 2011 triple-meltdown at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi plant, the pace of the decline has accelerated significantly. Indeed, in 2012, annual nuclear generation worldwide dropped by an unprecedented 7%, exceeding the previous year's record-breaking drop of 4% and bringing total annual nuclear power generation to 12% below its historic maximum, achieved in 2006.
Read More…
CLP Holdings says talks discontinued in China nuclear plant bid
www.bloomberg.com
4 Sep 2013
Talks have been discontinued for Hong Kong electricity producer CLP Group Ltd. (2) to buy a 4.8 billion ¥ ($784 million) stake in a Chinese power plant following regulatory delays after Japan's nuclear crisis.
Shareholder China General Nuclear Power Corp, told CLP Group this week that the deal wouldn't go ahead "for the time being", CLP Group said in a Hong Kong stock exchange filing yesterday. CLP Group agreed in 2011 to buy the 17% stake in the Yangjiang Nuclear Power Station in southern China's Guangdong province.
"Discussions on Yangjiang have been discontinued", CLP Group said in yesterday's statement. "There is no assurance that discussions will recommence or, if they do, that CLP Group will then be able to reach agreement".
The announcement upsets CLP Group's plans to increase spending on nuclear power even after the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear crisis prompted China to halt approval of new projects. Construction of the 6,000 MW Yangjiang plant, which was due to start operating in phases from 2013 to 2017, was delayed as the nation reviewed nuclear safety.
China General Nuclear Power said CLP Group wouldn't be able to take up the stake following the delays as well as a review of "funding needs and capital raising options", according to the CLP Group statement.
4 Sep 2013
Talks have been discontinued for Hong Kong electricity producer CLP Group Ltd. (2) to buy a 4.8 billion ¥ ($784 million) stake in a Chinese power plant following regulatory delays after Japan's nuclear crisis.
Shareholder China General Nuclear Power Corp, told CLP Group this week that the deal wouldn't go ahead "for the time being", CLP Group said in a Hong Kong stock exchange filing yesterday. CLP Group agreed in 2011 to buy the 17% stake in the Yangjiang Nuclear Power Station in southern China's Guangdong province.
"Discussions on Yangjiang have been discontinued", CLP Group said in yesterday's statement. "There is no assurance that discussions will recommence or, if they do, that CLP Group will then be able to reach agreement".
The announcement upsets CLP Group's plans to increase spending on nuclear power even after the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear crisis prompted China to halt approval of new projects. Construction of the 6,000 MW Yangjiang plant, which was due to start operating in phases from 2013 to 2017, was delayed as the nation reviewed nuclear safety.
China General Nuclear Power said CLP Group wouldn't be able to take up the stake following the delays as well as a review of "funding needs and capital raising options", according to the CLP Group statement.
Sunday, 25 August 2013
Floating wind turbine headed for coast off Fukushima Prefecture
ajw.asahi.com
28 Jun 2013
A floating wind turbine to be used for power generation off the coast of Fukushima Prefecture was towed out of Tokyo Bay on June 28 bound for a deep-sea site where it will be part of an experimental floating power sub-station.
The turbine was assembled at the Chiba factory of Mitsui Engineering and Shipbuilding Co, in Ichihara, Chiba Prefecture. It will be towed to Onahama Port in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture. The wind turbine, 80 meters in diameter, made by Hitachi Ltd., was mounted on a 32 meter steel submersible structure constructed by Mitsui Engineering and Shipbuilding.
Named "Fukushima Mirai (future)", the floating wind farm is a project commissioned by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. The ministry hopes to provide for the first time a commercial supply of electricity from a floating power station.
After going through adjustment tests in Onahama Port, the structure will be set up about 20 km off Fukushima Prefecture in 120 meter deep waters, secured to the seabed with iron chains. The turbine, with a maximum output of 2 MWs, is expected to start operating in October.
Fukushima Prefecture is home to the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. The accident at the plant, following the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, helped create a scarcity of power as most of the nation's nuclear reactors were taken offline.
28 Jun 2013
A floating wind turbine to be used for power generation off the coast of Fukushima Prefecture was towed out of Tokyo Bay on June 28 bound for a deep-sea site where it will be part of an experimental floating power sub-station.
The turbine was assembled at the Chiba factory of Mitsui Engineering and Shipbuilding Co, in Ichihara, Chiba Prefecture. It will be towed to Onahama Port in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture. The wind turbine, 80 meters in diameter, made by Hitachi Ltd., was mounted on a 32 meter steel submersible structure constructed by Mitsui Engineering and Shipbuilding.
Named "Fukushima Mirai (future)", the floating wind farm is a project commissioned by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. The ministry hopes to provide for the first time a commercial supply of electricity from a floating power station.
After going through adjustment tests in Onahama Port, the structure will be set up about 20 km off Fukushima Prefecture in 120 meter deep waters, secured to the seabed with iron chains. The turbine, with a maximum output of 2 MWs, is expected to start operating in October.
Fukushima Prefecture is home to the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. The accident at the plant, following the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, helped create a scarcity of power as most of the nation's nuclear reactors were taken offline.
Friday, 23 August 2013
Renewable energy use gaining worldwide:IEA
www.heraldsun.com.au
27 Jun 2013
RENEWABLES like solar and wind power represent the fastest-growing source of energy generation and will make up a quarter of the global power mix by 2018, the International Energy Agency IEA says. The IEA said that in 2016 renewable energy will overtake natural gas as a power source and will be twice that of nuclear, and second only to coal as a source of power.
The growth of renewables has been bolstered by increased competitiveness with conventional energy. It is "a bright spot in an otherwise bleak assessment of global progress towards a cleaner and more diversified energy mix", said IEA Executive Director Maria van der Hoeven. The report listed Australia as one of several countries where renewable energy was becoming more competitive.
It said Australian wind generation is cost-effective next to new coal and gas-fired plants with carbon pricing. It also noted the success of onshore wind turbines in Brazil and South Africa. Renewable energy is growing especially fast in China and other developing and emerging countries. The IEA said non-hydroelectric renewable power, mainly wind and solar photovoltaics, is projected to grow from 4% of all power generation in 2011 to 8% in 2018.
"As their costs continue to fall, renewable power sources are increasingly standing on their own merits versus new fossil fuel generation", said van der Hoeven. "This is good news for a global energy system that needs to become cleaner and more diversified, but it should not be an excuse for government complacency, especially among OECD countries".
Still, the IEA, an institute backed by major energy consuming countries, cautioned that the continued growth of alternatives to oil, gas and coal faces some important challenges.
These include uncertainty about long-term government policies that discourages investment, reduced subsidies in some countries because of economic problems, and tough competition from other energy sources, such as the US, where a boom in shale gas has made that fuel more competitive. The report comes on the heels of recent research suggesting the threat of climate change is greater than earlier estimates.
An IEA report released earlier this month warned the world is on track to surpass by more than double the two-degree Celsius warming goal set by the United Nations, unless urgent measures are taken. The IEA's recommendations include curtailing coal-fired power stations and phasing out fossil fuel subsidies.
27 Jun 2013
RENEWABLES like solar and wind power represent the fastest-growing source of energy generation and will make up a quarter of the global power mix by 2018, the International Energy Agency IEA says. The IEA said that in 2016 renewable energy will overtake natural gas as a power source and will be twice that of nuclear, and second only to coal as a source of power.
The growth of renewables has been bolstered by increased competitiveness with conventional energy. It is "a bright spot in an otherwise bleak assessment of global progress towards a cleaner and more diversified energy mix", said IEA Executive Director Maria van der Hoeven. The report listed Australia as one of several countries where renewable energy was becoming more competitive.
It said Australian wind generation is cost-effective next to new coal and gas-fired plants with carbon pricing. It also noted the success of onshore wind turbines in Brazil and South Africa. Renewable energy is growing especially fast in China and other developing and emerging countries. The IEA said non-hydroelectric renewable power, mainly wind and solar photovoltaics, is projected to grow from 4% of all power generation in 2011 to 8% in 2018.
"As their costs continue to fall, renewable power sources are increasingly standing on their own merits versus new fossil fuel generation", said van der Hoeven. "This is good news for a global energy system that needs to become cleaner and more diversified, but it should not be an excuse for government complacency, especially among OECD countries".
Still, the IEA, an institute backed by major energy consuming countries, cautioned that the continued growth of alternatives to oil, gas and coal faces some important challenges.
These include uncertainty about long-term government policies that discourages investment, reduced subsidies in some countries because of economic problems, and tough competition from other energy sources, such as the US, where a boom in shale gas has made that fuel more competitive. The report comes on the heels of recent research suggesting the threat of climate change is greater than earlier estimates.
An IEA report released earlier this month warned the world is on track to surpass by more than double the two-degree Celsius warming goal set by the United Nations, unless urgent measures are taken. The IEA's recommendations include curtailing coal-fired power stations and phasing out fossil fuel subsidies.
Thursday, 8 August 2013
Climate change could affect power plant operations & nuclear capacity according to DOE Report
Power Engineering
July
A recent report from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) says climate change and the resulting rising temperatures can potentially affect water levels and temperatures at power plants and affect demand on the power grid.
The report was released as part of the President's Climate Action Plan and states that every corner of the United States will be affected by increased temperatures. Increased temperatures and drought conditions can affect cooling water temperatures that are required for coal-fired and gas-fired power plants as reported by Power Engineering. Approximately 60 percent of the nation's thermal power plants that require water for cooling are located in areas that have been hard hit by drought conditions.
Temperatures have increased 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit over the last century. In hotter weather, customers use more electricity to cool their housing and businesses. A study by the DOE Argonne National Laboratory found that peak demand during hot weather could require the power output of 100 additional power plants.
Another example cited in the report is reduced water available for hydropower. In 2012, the Sierra Nevada Mountains experienced a lighter snowpack than normal. As a result, California had an eight percent drop in hydropower capacity. Lower levels in Lake Mead resulted in a 23 percent drop in the power generation at the Hoover Dam.
The DOE report says nuclear stations will shut down more often due to water temperatures, citing the shutdown in August 2012 at the Millstone Nuclear Power Station Shutdown due to warmer temperatures in Long Island Sound.
The report comes one week after President Obama, describing climate change as a threat to future generations, called for action to address the problem "before it's too late". The President said his goal is to cut heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions from new and existing power plants.
An interactive map of the potential impacts on the U.S, energy supply can be found on the Energy.gov website.
July
A recent report from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) says climate change and the resulting rising temperatures can potentially affect water levels and temperatures at power plants and affect demand on the power grid.
The report was released as part of the President's Climate Action Plan and states that every corner of the United States will be affected by increased temperatures. Increased temperatures and drought conditions can affect cooling water temperatures that are required for coal-fired and gas-fired power plants as reported by Power Engineering. Approximately 60 percent of the nation's thermal power plants that require water for cooling are located in areas that have been hard hit by drought conditions.
Temperatures have increased 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit over the last century. In hotter weather, customers use more electricity to cool their housing and businesses. A study by the DOE Argonne National Laboratory found that peak demand during hot weather could require the power output of 100 additional power plants.
Another example cited in the report is reduced water available for hydropower. In 2012, the Sierra Nevada Mountains experienced a lighter snowpack than normal. As a result, California had an eight percent drop in hydropower capacity. Lower levels in Lake Mead resulted in a 23 percent drop in the power generation at the Hoover Dam.
The DOE report says nuclear stations will shut down more often due to water temperatures, citing the shutdown in August 2012 at the Millstone Nuclear Power Station Shutdown due to warmer temperatures in Long Island Sound.
The report comes one week after President Obama, describing climate change as a threat to future generations, called for action to address the problem "before it's too late". The President said his goal is to cut heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions from new and existing power plants.
An interactive map of the potential impacts on the U.S, energy supply can be found on the Energy.gov website.
After Fukushima, Japan beginning to see the light in solar energy
www.theguardian.com
18 Jun 2013
Across Japan, technology companies and private investors are racing to install devices that until recently they had little interest in: solar panels. Massive solar parks are popping up as part of a rapid build-up that one developer likened to an "explosion".
The boom was sparked by a little-noted government policy, implemented nearly a year ago, that guaranteed generous payments to anybody selling renewable energy, including solar power. Because of that policy, known as a feed-in tariff, investors and analysts say Japan has become one of the world's fastest-growing users of solar power. This year alone, Japan is forecasted to install solar panels with the capacity of five to seven modern nuclear reactors.
Before the 2011 meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, Japan had all but neglected renewable energy, instead emphasising atomic power. But the accident at Fukushima forced the shuttering of the country's 50 operable reactors, only two of which have been restarted. The remaining shutdowns could prove temporary, with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledging restarts of reactors that have been deemed safe. A majority of Japanese, though, remain opposed to atomic energy, and analysts say the solar takeoff highlights Japan's appetite for other options.
There is a downside to the rush for renewables: they are several times pricier than nuclear power or fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas. The rising use of solar power means energy bills will spike, potentially complicating Abe's plan to jump-start Japan's long-foundering economy.
Most consumers, so far, think that sacrifice is worthwhile, and they say nuclear power has hidden cleanup and compensation costs that only emerge after an accident. fossil fuels, meanwhile, release greenhouse gasses and must be imported. People here tended to support clean energy projects even before the nuclear disaster, but now there is "more interest in natural energy", said Moriaki Yoshikawa, the head of an environmental NGO, Eco Plan Fukui, which has helped build five solar plants in a region of Japan that hosts four nuclear plants.
Read more
18 Jun 2013
Across Japan, technology companies and private investors are racing to install devices that until recently they had little interest in: solar panels. Massive solar parks are popping up as part of a rapid build-up that one developer likened to an "explosion".
The boom was sparked by a little-noted government policy, implemented nearly a year ago, that guaranteed generous payments to anybody selling renewable energy, including solar power. Because of that policy, known as a feed-in tariff, investors and analysts say Japan has become one of the world's fastest-growing users of solar power. This year alone, Japan is forecasted to install solar panels with the capacity of five to seven modern nuclear reactors.
Before the 2011 meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, Japan had all but neglected renewable energy, instead emphasising atomic power. But the accident at Fukushima forced the shuttering of the country's 50 operable reactors, only two of which have been restarted. The remaining shutdowns could prove temporary, with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledging restarts of reactors that have been deemed safe. A majority of Japanese, though, remain opposed to atomic energy, and analysts say the solar takeoff highlights Japan's appetite for other options.
There is a downside to the rush for renewables: they are several times pricier than nuclear power or fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas. The rising use of solar power means energy bills will spike, potentially complicating Abe's plan to jump-start Japan's long-foundering economy.
Most consumers, so far, think that sacrifice is worthwhile, and they say nuclear power has hidden cleanup and compensation costs that only emerge after an accident. fossil fuels, meanwhile, release greenhouse gasses and must be imported. People here tended to support clean energy projects even before the nuclear disaster, but now there is "more interest in natural energy", said Moriaki Yoshikawa, the head of an environmental NGO, Eco Plan Fukui, which has helped build five solar plants in a region of Japan that hosts four nuclear plants.
Read more
Monday, 5 August 2013
Nelja opens biggest Lithuania wind farm for 27,000 homes
www.bloomberg.com
13 Jun 2013
Nelja Energia AS, an Estonian renewable-energy developer, opened the biggest wind farm in Lithuania, which will generate enough power for 27,000 homes. The 57.4 million-€ ($76.5 million) Ciuteliai plant has 17 turbines with 39.1 MWs of capacity, according to a statement on Nelja Energia's website. The facility north of Silute is 19 km (11 miles) from the Baltic Sea coast.
Nelja Energia supplied equity and won a 41 million-€ loan from Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (SEBA) and Pohjola Bank Plc (POH1S) to finance the plant, Tadas Navickas, managing director of 4energia UAB, the company's Lithuanian unit, said by e-mail.
Nelja Energia, based in the Estonian capital of Tallinn, is planning about 170 MWs of wind, mostly in Latvia and Lithuania, where installed capacity may double to 500 MWs by 2015, the Baltic nation's wind-energy association said in November. Wind-power expansion will help Lithuania curb its reliance on Russian electricity imports and counter a shortfall caused by closing nuclear capacity, according to the industry group.
13 Jun 2013
Nelja Energia AS, an Estonian renewable-energy developer, opened the biggest wind farm in Lithuania, which will generate enough power for 27,000 homes. The 57.4 million-€ ($76.5 million) Ciuteliai plant has 17 turbines with 39.1 MWs of capacity, according to a statement on Nelja Energia's website. The facility north of Silute is 19 km (11 miles) from the Baltic Sea coast.
Nelja Energia supplied equity and won a 41 million-€ loan from Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (SEBA) and Pohjola Bank Plc (POH1S) to finance the plant, Tadas Navickas, managing director of 4energia UAB, the company's Lithuanian unit, said by e-mail.
Nelja Energia, based in the Estonian capital of Tallinn, is planning about 170 MWs of wind, mostly in Latvia and Lithuania, where installed capacity may double to 500 MWs by 2015, the Baltic nation's wind-energy association said in November. Wind-power expansion will help Lithuania curb its reliance on Russian electricity imports and counter a shortfall caused by closing nuclear capacity, according to the industry group.
Saturday, 27 July 2013
San Onofre nuclear power plant to shut down permanently
www.examiner.com
8 Jun 2013
Southern California Edison (SCE) announced yesterday that they will be decommissioning their two unit nuclear power plant in San Onofre California. San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, or SONGS for short, units 2 and 3 have been shutdown for 17 months after leaks were detected in faulty tubes in their newly replaced steam generators. Until now SCE had been working diligently to repair the two units, but the uncertainty of gaining approval from the NRC to restart the units combined with the cost of keeping the units in a state of readiness for restart has pushed SCE into permanently shutting them down.
Ron Litzinger, SCE's President had this to say, "Looking ahead we think that our decision to retire the units will eliminate uncertainty and facilitate orderly planning for California's energy future".
SONGS has been serving the region for over 40 year, employs some 1500 people, and has power capabilities able to light up roughly 1.4 million homes. With California already in a difficult state as concerns power production for its citizens, this major reduction in baseload capacity may cause difficulties in the future. SCE has already paid some $500 million dollars in buying replacement power over the 17 months the units have been offline, which is then passed on to the rate payer. It is still wholly unclear how replacement power will be provided in the long run, as California's political climate precludes investment in and construction of power sources that make reliable baseload electricity.
The future of SONGS will be decommissioning, where the reactor and auxiliary buildings are placed in a state of non-use and the nuclear material is place in a safe condition. With no national spent nuclear fuel repository and only a few lower grade nuclear waste repositories in operation in the U.VICOSC, it is highly unlikely that any of the radioactive material will ever leave the site. Given California's aforementioned political climate it is also unlikely that the SONGS site could be used as a nuclear waste storage facility for other facilities that produce radioactive waste, like hospitals and universities, in California.
The cost of decommissioning, per federal law, has been collected from the consumers of the electricity slowly over the past 40 years. However, since the lives of the plants are being cut slightly short, these funds might not be enough to fully decommission the facility if decommissioning were to start immediately. Likely SCE will hold off on the process as it waits for the interest of the money it has set aside to accrue enough to make decommissioning feasible.
8 Jun 2013
Southern California Edison (SCE) announced yesterday that they will be decommissioning their two unit nuclear power plant in San Onofre California. San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, or SONGS for short, units 2 and 3 have been shutdown for 17 months after leaks were detected in faulty tubes in their newly replaced steam generators. Until now SCE had been working diligently to repair the two units, but the uncertainty of gaining approval from the NRC to restart the units combined with the cost of keeping the units in a state of readiness for restart has pushed SCE into permanently shutting them down.
Ron Litzinger, SCE's President had this to say, "Looking ahead we think that our decision to retire the units will eliminate uncertainty and facilitate orderly planning for California's energy future".
SONGS has been serving the region for over 40 year, employs some 1500 people, and has power capabilities able to light up roughly 1.4 million homes. With California already in a difficult state as concerns power production for its citizens, this major reduction in baseload capacity may cause difficulties in the future. SCE has already paid some $500 million dollars in buying replacement power over the 17 months the units have been offline, which is then passed on to the rate payer. It is still wholly unclear how replacement power will be provided in the long run, as California's political climate precludes investment in and construction of power sources that make reliable baseload electricity.
The future of SONGS will be decommissioning, where the reactor and auxiliary buildings are placed in a state of non-use and the nuclear material is place in a safe condition. With no national spent nuclear fuel repository and only a few lower grade nuclear waste repositories in operation in the U.VICOSC, it is highly unlikely that any of the radioactive material will ever leave the site. Given California's aforementioned political climate it is also unlikely that the SONGS site could be used as a nuclear waste storage facility for other facilities that produce radioactive waste, like hospitals and universities, in California.
The cost of decommissioning, per federal law, has been collected from the consumers of the electricity slowly over the past 40 years. However, since the lives of the plants are being cut slightly short, these funds might not be enough to fully decommission the facility if decommissioning were to start immediately. Likely SCE will hold off on the process as it waits for the interest of the money it has set aside to accrue enough to make decommissioning feasible.
Wednesday, 17 July 2013
Japan: Floating wind farm
www.compositesworld.com
1 Jun 2013
Qualified international subscribers can receive full issues of High-Performance Composites and Composites Technology delivered in a convenient and interactive digital magazine format. Read at your convenience on your desktop or mobile device.
Since the 2011 tsunami and related nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan, that country's political leaders have been reassessing the country's energy policy. One result has been the introduction, this past year, of a more attractive financial incentive for offshore wind farm development. In response, a host of Japanese firms announced plans to develop conventional, fixed-foundation offshore wind farms.
A recently announced project, known as Forward (Fukushima floating offshore wind farm demonstration), will be delivered by a consortium of 11 companies and join two floating scale pilots already in Japanese waters. Funded entirely by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the project will have a leadership team provided by conglomerate Marubeni (Tokyo, Japan), with the University of Tokyo acting as technical advisor.
Another effort is a 300 MW project led by Hitachi Zosen Corp. (Osaka, Japan). This is problematic, however, because Japan's long coastline boasts relatively few locations where the water is shallow for some distance from shore, maming them suitable for large fixed-foundation projects. Instead, water depths plunge quickly near the shoreline. The conditions are similar off the coasts of Portugal and the U.S, state of Maine, and research proceeds in both locations to develop cost-effective floating technology. Japan is following suit.
Forward will initially consist of three floating wind turbines and one floating power substation off the coast of Fukushima. The first stage, already underway, consists of one 2 MW floating wind turbine, the world's first 66 kV floating power substation and an undersea cabling system. In the second stage, two 7 MW wind turbines will be installed between 2013 and 2015. Industrial development partners will include Mitsubishi Heavy Industries; shipbuilder Japan Marine United Corp. (formerly IHI Corp Marine); Hitachi Zosen, which purchased Fuji Subaru's wind turbine business; and Mitsui Engineering. All are based in Tokyo, Japan. Reportedly, Mitsui will be responsible for the foundations, wind turbines and blades for the initial phases.
The floating foundations, it is rumored, will be of the semisubmersible type. The project will ultimately include 143 floating wind turbines stationed 10 miles off the coast and could generate up to 1 GW of power as part of a national plan to increase renewable energy resources.
Project manager Takeshi Ishihara of the University of Tokyo has said in published reports that "this project is important--I think it is impossible to use nuclear power in Fukushima again". For their part, political leaders within Fukushima prefecture have made it known that they intend for it to be completely energy self-sufficient by 2040.
1 Jun 2013
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Since the 2011 tsunami and related nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan, that country's political leaders have been reassessing the country's energy policy. One result has been the introduction, this past year, of a more attractive financial incentive for offshore wind farm development. In response, a host of Japanese firms announced plans to develop conventional, fixed-foundation offshore wind farms.
A recently announced project, known as Forward (Fukushima floating offshore wind farm demonstration), will be delivered by a consortium of 11 companies and join two floating scale pilots already in Japanese waters. Funded entirely by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the project will have a leadership team provided by conglomerate Marubeni (Tokyo, Japan), with the University of Tokyo acting as technical advisor.
Another effort is a 300 MW project led by Hitachi Zosen Corp. (Osaka, Japan). This is problematic, however, because Japan's long coastline boasts relatively few locations where the water is shallow for some distance from shore, maming them suitable for large fixed-foundation projects. Instead, water depths plunge quickly near the shoreline. The conditions are similar off the coasts of Portugal and the U.S, state of Maine, and research proceeds in both locations to develop cost-effective floating technology. Japan is following suit.
Forward will initially consist of three floating wind turbines and one floating power substation off the coast of Fukushima. The first stage, already underway, consists of one 2 MW floating wind turbine, the world's first 66 kV floating power substation and an undersea cabling system. In the second stage, two 7 MW wind turbines will be installed between 2013 and 2015. Industrial development partners will include Mitsubishi Heavy Industries; shipbuilder Japan Marine United Corp. (formerly IHI Corp Marine); Hitachi Zosen, which purchased Fuji Subaru's wind turbine business; and Mitsui Engineering. All are based in Tokyo, Japan. Reportedly, Mitsui will be responsible for the foundations, wind turbines and blades for the initial phases.
The floating foundations, it is rumored, will be of the semisubmersible type. The project will ultimately include 143 floating wind turbines stationed 10 miles off the coast and could generate up to 1 GW of power as part of a national plan to increase renewable energy resources.
Project manager Takeshi Ishihara of the University of Tokyo has said in published reports that "this project is important--I think it is impossible to use nuclear power in Fukushima again". For their part, political leaders within Fukushima prefecture have made it known that they intend for it to be completely energy self-sufficient by 2040.
First floating wind turbine in North America hits the water in Brewer
bangordailynews.com
31 May 2013
BREWER, Maine--VolturnUS, the first offshore floating wind turbine in North America, hit the water Friday.
The University of Maine's Advanced Structures and Composites Center unveiled its new turbine at Cianbro in Brewer, where the pieces were assembled and placed in the Penobscot River. A crane lowered the turbine into the water during a ceremony late Friday morning.
"If there's one thing apparent to me today, it's how hungry the people of Maine are for a celebration of success", Cianbro Chairman Peter Vigue said at the beginning of Friday's event, which was attended by members of Maine's Congressional delegation, university and business officials.
Vigue said this project shows Maine is primed to be a leader in renewable energy production in the United States. The effort to get 20 GWs of offshore wind capability by 2030 could bring as much as $20 billion of private investment to Maine and create thousands of jobs, according to UMaine officials.
Maine has 156 GWs of offshore wind capacity within 50 miles of its coastline, and this is one of the first major visible steps after years of research toward harnessing that energy, according to composites center Director Habib Dagher, who has lead the project since its infancy "We are energy rich, we just haven't taken advantage of this energy richness that we have", Dagher said. The turbine design is called VolturnUS, a combination of the words volt, turn and US, a name that happens to be shared by Volturnus, the Roman god of the east wind.
The 65 foot turbine is a one-eighth scale model of the full-size version UMaine plans to place in the Gulf of Maine by 2016. By 2030, the university hopes to install a farm of roughly 170 huge, 6 MW turbines--each taller than the Washington Monument and with blades longer than the wingspan of a Boeing 747 -that would produce 5 GWs of electricity for the mainland. That's roughly equal to the energy five nuclear power plants would provide.
Read More…
31 May 2013
BREWER, Maine--VolturnUS, the first offshore floating wind turbine in North America, hit the water Friday.The University of Maine's Advanced Structures and Composites Center unveiled its new turbine at Cianbro in Brewer, where the pieces were assembled and placed in the Penobscot River. A crane lowered the turbine into the water during a ceremony late Friday morning.
"If there's one thing apparent to me today, it's how hungry the people of Maine are for a celebration of success", Cianbro Chairman Peter Vigue said at the beginning of Friday's event, which was attended by members of Maine's Congressional delegation, university and business officials.
Vigue said this project shows Maine is primed to be a leader in renewable energy production in the United States. The effort to get 20 GWs of offshore wind capability by 2030 could bring as much as $20 billion of private investment to Maine and create thousands of jobs, according to UMaine officials.
Maine has 156 GWs of offshore wind capacity within 50 miles of its coastline, and this is one of the first major visible steps after years of research toward harnessing that energy, according to composites center Director Habib Dagher, who has lead the project since its infancy "We are energy rich, we just haven't taken advantage of this energy richness that we have", Dagher said. The turbine design is called VolturnUS, a combination of the words volt, turn and US, a name that happens to be shared by Volturnus, the Roman god of the east wind.
The 65 foot turbine is a one-eighth scale model of the full-size version UMaine plans to place in the Gulf of Maine by 2016. By 2030, the university hopes to install a farm of roughly 170 huge, 6 MW turbines--each taller than the Washington Monument and with blades longer than the wingspan of a Boeing 747 -that would produce 5 GWs of electricity for the mainland. That's roughly equal to the energy five nuclear power plants would provide.
Read More…
Friday, 5 July 2013
Row rages over safety of Japanese nuclear plant
www.dw.de
23 May 2013
Twenty-six months after the disaster at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant, virtually all of Japan's nuclear reactors remain off-line.
Caused by a magnitude-9 earthquake that triggered a colossal tsunami, the crisis at Fukushima has shaken public faith in what was previously considered a safe and virtually limitless source of energy for Japan, and forced the government to reconsider the ability of other reactors to withstand another major natural disaster.
But the 48 idle reactors are not earning any money for the power companies that built them when nuclear power was seen as the remedy for a nation imported virtually all its energy. That is why the position of the Nuclear Regulation Agency (NRA) over the future of the Tsuruga plant in Fukui Prefecture is so important, the environmental groups say.
Active fault identified
After an extensive study, a panel of experts appointed by the NRA has concluded that an active fault line lies immediately beneath the No. 2 reactor at Tsuruga and that it should be decommissioned at the first opportunity.
The study into the seismic resilience of the plant was only ordered by the government in the aftermath of Fukushima and the fault had not been detected before the 1,160 MW reactor went into operation in February 1987.
The No. 1 reactor at the site was the oldest commercial reactor in Japan before it was shut down for a routine safety inspection in January 2011, but has never been given the green light to restart operations after the Fukushima disaster. Japan Atomic Power Co. (JAPC) also had plans to open two further reactors at the plant in the coming years, but both those projects are on hold.
Announcing its recommendation for the No. 1 reactor, Kunihiko Shimazaki, the NRA commissioner, told DW, "It is lucky there has been no accident at the reactor". A spokesman for the organization insisted that the NRA had followed objective and scientific rules before reaching its decision and that it would stand by its findings-but he did admit that pressure was being applied to the agency.
As soon as the NRA's decision was announced, Yasuo Hamada, the president of JAPC called a press conference in which he attacked the agency for not giving his company the chance to explain its position on the matter. Hamada also claimed that the panel's decision was not based on objective data and facts.
Read More…
23 May 2013
Twenty-six months after the disaster at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant, virtually all of Japan's nuclear reactors remain off-line.Caused by a magnitude-9 earthquake that triggered a colossal tsunami, the crisis at Fukushima has shaken public faith in what was previously considered a safe and virtually limitless source of energy for Japan, and forced the government to reconsider the ability of other reactors to withstand another major natural disaster.
But the 48 idle reactors are not earning any money for the power companies that built them when nuclear power was seen as the remedy for a nation imported virtually all its energy. That is why the position of the Nuclear Regulation Agency (NRA) over the future of the Tsuruga plant in Fukui Prefecture is so important, the environmental groups say.
Active fault identified
After an extensive study, a panel of experts appointed by the NRA has concluded that an active fault line lies immediately beneath the No. 2 reactor at Tsuruga and that it should be decommissioned at the first opportunity.
The study into the seismic resilience of the plant was only ordered by the government in the aftermath of Fukushima and the fault had not been detected before the 1,160 MW reactor went into operation in February 1987.
The No. 1 reactor at the site was the oldest commercial reactor in Japan before it was shut down for a routine safety inspection in January 2011, but has never been given the green light to restart operations after the Fukushima disaster. Japan Atomic Power Co. (JAPC) also had plans to open two further reactors at the plant in the coming years, but both those projects are on hold.
Announcing its recommendation for the No. 1 reactor, Kunihiko Shimazaki, the NRA commissioner, told DW, "It is lucky there has been no accident at the reactor". A spokesman for the organization insisted that the NRA had followed objective and scientific rules before reaching its decision and that it would stand by its findings-but he did admit that pressure was being applied to the agency.
As soon as the NRA's decision was announced, Yasuo Hamada, the president of JAPC called a press conference in which he attacked the agency for not giving his company the chance to explain its position on the matter. Hamada also claimed that the panel's decision was not based on objective data and facts.
Read More…
Thursday, 4 July 2013
Goldman Sachs to invest $486 million in Japan renewable energy
www.businessweek.com
20 May 2013
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) plans to invest as much as 50 billion yen ($487 million) in renewable energy projects in Japan in the next five years, tapping demand for electricity produced from solar and wind-power generators.
The Wall Street firm also plans to take as much as 250 billion yen of bank loans and project-financing over the same period to move ahead with projects that would cost a total of 300 billion yen, Hiroko Matsumoto, a Tokyo-based spokeswoman for Goldman, said by telephone. The Nikkei newspaper reported the plan earlier today.
Japan began offering incentives in July through feed-in tariffs to encourage renewables after the Fukushima nuclear-plant crisis stemming from the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Japan has been forced to slash its reliance on atomic power generation since Fukushima.
"We believe that we can leverage our global expertise in investing in renewable energy in places such as the U.S, and India, to help expand Japan's renewable power capabilities", Ankur Sahu, co-head of the merchant banking division in the Asia-Pacific, said by e-mail.
Goldman Sachs formed the Japan Renewable Energy Co, unit in August to plan, design and operate power plants run on sun, wind, fuel-cells and biomass fuels, it said on its website.
Read More…
20 May 2013
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) plans to invest as much as 50 billion yen ($487 million) in renewable energy projects in Japan in the next five years, tapping demand for electricity produced from solar and wind-power generators.
The Wall Street firm also plans to take as much as 250 billion yen of bank loans and project-financing over the same period to move ahead with projects that would cost a total of 300 billion yen, Hiroko Matsumoto, a Tokyo-based spokeswoman for Goldman, said by telephone. The Nikkei newspaper reported the plan earlier today.
Japan began offering incentives in July through feed-in tariffs to encourage renewables after the Fukushima nuclear-plant crisis stemming from the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Japan has been forced to slash its reliance on atomic power generation since Fukushima.
"We believe that we can leverage our global expertise in investing in renewable energy in places such as the U.S, and India, to help expand Japan's renewable power capabilities", Ankur Sahu, co-head of the merchant banking division in the Asia-Pacific, said by e-mail.
Goldman Sachs formed the Japan Renewable Energy Co, unit in August to plan, design and operate power plants run on sun, wind, fuel-cells and biomass fuels, it said on its website.
Read More…
Wednesday, 12 June 2013
EDF Energy to cut jobs to control cost of building nuclear power station
www.guardian.co.uk
23 Apr 2013
EDF Energy energy is cutting scores of jobs to control costs at the site of its proposed new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point in Somerset. The company is in the middle of difficult negotiations with ministers over the level of public subsidy the new reactors will receive over the next 40 years but insisted the project is not being mothballed and that it is not "holding a gun to the government's head".
The company has already spent £800m on developing the £14bn project and lost its junior partner when Centrica pulled out in February. "As part of good project management, and to control costs, EDF Energy has taken steps to refocus its activities at its Hinkley Point C project", said a spokeswoman. "This reflects its priorities ahead of securing the financing necessary for the project".
EDF Energy refused to give the number of workers losing their jobs, citing ongoing consultations with staff and unions, but the Guardian understands it will be about 150 of the current 800 strong workforce. The company said further pre-construction planning work would continue but that preparation of the site had halted.
EDF Energy wants to build two new reactors at Hinkley. It says they would provide reliable and low-carbon electricity making up 7% of the UK's demand and provide 25,000 job opportunities during construction, with 900 long-term posts. The UK government has placed new nuclear reactors at the heart of its energy policy, to replace the ageing fleet of nuclear and coal plants which are being phased out.
But the two sides have been unable to agree on the subsidy the plant would receive, paid for by consumers through their energy bills. EDF Energy had originally said it would make its final investment decision by the end of 2012. Both sides have a great deal to lose, but as the negotiations have dragged on observers have suggested the likelihood of the government abandoning plans for a series of new nuclear plants.
"It is proving extremely difficult to get that first nuclear power plant built and there is an increasing feeling in industry that at £14bn a throw there is no chance of getting beyond one", said Lord Robin Teverson, the LibDem spokesman on energy in the House of Lords.
A spokesman for the department of energy and climate change said: "Progress is being made in our discussions with EDF Energy. Both sides have an interest in reaching a positive agreement".
EDF Energy and the government face a number of major obstacles in delivering new reactors even beyond the challenging financing. The project has yet to be approved by the European Union, which limits the state aid that can be given to industrial projects. The UK also has no site for the long term disposal of nuclear waste, after the rejection of a proposal in Cumbria by local councils. Such a facility was considered a prerequisite for the building of new reactors by David Cameron before the 2010 election.
The EDF Energy spokeswoman said: "The case for new nuclear in the UK remains as strong as ever". She said Ed Davey, the energy secretary had granted planning permission for Hinkley and that the reactor design has been approved by regulators. But a senior EDF Energy executive said recently: "We cannot afford to burn money every day, every week, every month without a clear understanding of where it's leading us".
23 Apr 2013
EDF Energy energy is cutting scores of jobs to control costs at the site of its proposed new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point in Somerset. The company is in the middle of difficult negotiations with ministers over the level of public subsidy the new reactors will receive over the next 40 years but insisted the project is not being mothballed and that it is not "holding a gun to the government's head".The company has already spent £800m on developing the £14bn project and lost its junior partner when Centrica pulled out in February. "As part of good project management, and to control costs, EDF Energy has taken steps to refocus its activities at its Hinkley Point C project", said a spokeswoman. "This reflects its priorities ahead of securing the financing necessary for the project".
EDF Energy refused to give the number of workers losing their jobs, citing ongoing consultations with staff and unions, but the Guardian understands it will be about 150 of the current 800 strong workforce. The company said further pre-construction planning work would continue but that preparation of the site had halted.
EDF Energy wants to build two new reactors at Hinkley. It says they would provide reliable and low-carbon electricity making up 7% of the UK's demand and provide 25,000 job opportunities during construction, with 900 long-term posts. The UK government has placed new nuclear reactors at the heart of its energy policy, to replace the ageing fleet of nuclear and coal plants which are being phased out.
But the two sides have been unable to agree on the subsidy the plant would receive, paid for by consumers through their energy bills. EDF Energy had originally said it would make its final investment decision by the end of 2012. Both sides have a great deal to lose, but as the negotiations have dragged on observers have suggested the likelihood of the government abandoning plans for a series of new nuclear plants.
"It is proving extremely difficult to get that first nuclear power plant built and there is an increasing feeling in industry that at £14bn a throw there is no chance of getting beyond one", said Lord Robin Teverson, the LibDem spokesman on energy in the House of Lords.
A spokesman for the department of energy and climate change said: "Progress is being made in our discussions with EDF Energy. Both sides have an interest in reaching a positive agreement".
EDF Energy and the government face a number of major obstacles in delivering new reactors even beyond the challenging financing. The project has yet to be approved by the European Union, which limits the state aid that can be given to industrial projects. The UK also has no site for the long term disposal of nuclear waste, after the rejection of a proposal in Cumbria by local councils. Such a facility was considered a prerequisite for the building of new reactors by David Cameron before the 2010 election.
The EDF Energy spokeswoman said: "The case for new nuclear in the UK remains as strong as ever". She said Ed Davey, the energy secretary had granted planning permission for Hinkley and that the reactor design has been approved by regulators. But a senior EDF Energy executive said recently: "We cannot afford to burn money every day, every week, every month without a clear understanding of where it's leading us".
Thursday, 30 May 2013
Kewaunee nuclear power plant shutdown cost is nearly $1 billion
www.jsonline.com
20 Apr 2013
When the Kewaunee Power Station stops generating electricity next month, a new chapter in its life will open-one that could last until the 2070s and cost nearly $1 billion.
The plant operators will begin the process of decommissioning the nuclear power plant, an endeavor that aims to restore the site along Lake Michigan to what it looked like in the 1960s, before the facility was built. Kewaunee owner Dominion Resources Inc, has announced it will shut the plant on May 7, a move that is expected to result in the loss of hundreds of jobs.
The reactor is closing because the Wisconsin utilities that had purchased its electricity declined to continue buying it, citing the low price of natural gas. Dominion put the power plant up for sale in 2011, but no buyer emerged. So in a few short weeks, the mission of those who work at Kewaunee will change from generating power to cleaning up the power plant site.
"We've got 60 years to turn it back to a 'greenfield' site", said Mark Kanz, spokesman for Dominion. "At some point it basically has to look like the farm fields in the 1960s, before any construction started here".
As part of the decommissioning, all buildings on the 900 acre site east of Green Bay will be torn down and low-level radioactive waste will be shipped out of state. What could remain on site for generations, however, are the concrete casks of spent nuclear fuel-the high-level radioactive waste that is changed out every 18 months when a reactor refuels.
The federal government is responsible for the cleanup of the spent fuel, with the Department of Energy accessing a separate decommissioning fund paid for by Wisconsin ratepayers for the cost of placing spent fuel in storage and a possible move to a long-term disposal site.
Read More…
20 Apr 2013
When the Kewaunee Power Station stops generating electricity next month, a new chapter in its life will open-one that could last until the 2070s and cost nearly $1 billion.The plant operators will begin the process of decommissioning the nuclear power plant, an endeavor that aims to restore the site along Lake Michigan to what it looked like in the 1960s, before the facility was built. Kewaunee owner Dominion Resources Inc, has announced it will shut the plant on May 7, a move that is expected to result in the loss of hundreds of jobs.
The reactor is closing because the Wisconsin utilities that had purchased its electricity declined to continue buying it, citing the low price of natural gas. Dominion put the power plant up for sale in 2011, but no buyer emerged. So in a few short weeks, the mission of those who work at Kewaunee will change from generating power to cleaning up the power plant site.
"We've got 60 years to turn it back to a 'greenfield' site", said Mark Kanz, spokesman for Dominion. "At some point it basically has to look like the farm fields in the 1960s, before any construction started here".
As part of the decommissioning, all buildings on the 900 acre site east of Green Bay will be torn down and low-level radioactive waste will be shipped out of state. What could remain on site for generations, however, are the concrete casks of spent nuclear fuel-the high-level radioactive waste that is changed out every 18 months when a reactor refuels.
The federal government is responsible for the cleanup of the spent fuel, with the Department of Energy accessing a separate decommissioning fund paid for by Wisconsin ratepayers for the cost of placing spent fuel in storage and a possible move to a long-term disposal site.
Read More…
Wednesday, 29 May 2013
Japan puts nuclear energy on hold, embraces solar power
online.wsj.com
16 Apr 2013
Two years after the Fukushima Daiichi disaster in 2011, Japan has scaled back it's nuclear power and is seeking to diversify it's energy mix, with solar power showing the strongest growth.
Supporters of Japan's nuclear industry claim it would be unwise to give up the advantages of nuclear power because of a single accident. However, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe knows that restarting the country's nuclear power plants will be highly unpopular, says Professor Dr Stefan Lippert, World Review expert on economics.
"Japan will pursue a highly diversified energy policy", he says. "In particular it will focus on reducing the costs of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and increasing the share of renewables". "In 2012, Japan added approximately 2.5 GW of solar power capacity to the 4.8 GW already installed", he says.
The Japanese government continues to favour wind over solar power, but the market shows a strong preference for solar, at least as long as the very high feed-in tariffs-in international terms-are kept in place. However, Shinzo Abe refuses to rule out the prospect of re-starting the shut-down reactors and building new nuclear power plants in the future, although he has not provided a timeline for this. "The final decision on Japan's long-term energy strategy will not be made before the 2020s", says Dr Lippert.
16 Apr 2013
Two years after the Fukushima Daiichi disaster in 2011, Japan has scaled back it's nuclear power and is seeking to diversify it's energy mix, with solar power showing the strongest growth.
Supporters of Japan's nuclear industry claim it would be unwise to give up the advantages of nuclear power because of a single accident. However, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe knows that restarting the country's nuclear power plants will be highly unpopular, says Professor Dr Stefan Lippert, World Review expert on economics.
"Japan will pursue a highly diversified energy policy", he says. "In particular it will focus on reducing the costs of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and increasing the share of renewables". "In 2012, Japan added approximately 2.5 GW of solar power capacity to the 4.8 GW already installed", he says.
The Japanese government continues to favour wind over solar power, but the market shows a strong preference for solar, at least as long as the very high feed-in tariffs-in international terms-are kept in place. However, Shinzo Abe refuses to rule out the prospect of re-starting the shut-down reactors and building new nuclear power plants in the future, although he has not provided a timeline for this. "The final decision on Japan's long-term energy strategy will not be made before the 2020s", says Dr Lippert.
THE Desert Kingdom; desalination from oil power to solar power?
www.saudigazette.com.sa
15 Apr 2013
Saudi Arabia finds itself in an interesting economic cleft stick. While blessed with oil that it can currently sell at around $104 per barrel on the world market, it is compelled to burn a sizable proportion of that potential income to produce desalinated water. Cost of production of water fluctuates, but a fair guess is between 40 and 90¢ a barrel, depending on fuel price.
To produce water, the Kingdom uses approximately 1.5 million barrels of oil a day across its 30 or so desalination plants to meet the demand for domestic and industrial water. Little of this water--if any is used for agriculture. The water for agriculture--some 85 to 90% of the total water use in the Kingdom--comes from non-replaceable resources, underground aquifers that are drying out rapidly. For every 100 liters per annum withdrawn, only one liter or less finds itself back into the aquifer.
The government has wisely decided that food security, once an unquestionable shibboleth of policy, is no longer worth the use of resources and has taken up the idea of virtual water. This refers to the hidden flow of water if food or other commodities are traded from one place to another.
Virtual water is best defined as "the volume of freshwater used to produce the product, measured at the place where the product was actually produced". It refers to the sum of the water use in the various steps of the production chain. It is 'virtual' for when the product arrives at its destination, the water is no longer contained in it, and was used only to produce it. An example of the saving of such imports is wheat, which takes 1,600 tons of water on average to produce one ton of grain.
It has resolved that the Kingdom will rely entirely on imports for food by 2016. Starting in 2008, the government has been reducing wheat purchases from local farmers by 12.5% a year and plans eventually to withdraw all agricultural subsidies to these farmers. Having addressed the issue of water supply and use and effectively engaged the biggest user of water, agriculture, positively, desalination for the balance of life in the Kingdom remains a huge challenge on several levels.
A major issue, the use of expensive oil that could produce income for making water, has spawned a slew of projects based on solar power for water production. The Kingdom might, and probably is, considering nuclear power as another option, but this introduces the political aspect of the importation of nuclear fuels and technology to the region, which is already under the baleful gaze of the West.
Happily, Saudi Arabia is one of the sunniest places on earth, averaging between 200 and 300 hours per month. Solar power therefore is an environmentally friendly, infinitely renewable (well, for the next seven billion years or so and the earth will have dried out and life gone in 3.5 billion) and very available alternative. Moreover it is harmless, both politically and environmentally.
The Kingdom seems to have opted so far for the expensive option of photovoltaic cell electricity generation to run the new solar desalination plants rather than the simpler, longer lasting and lower maintenance Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) alternative. Commercially viable CSP plants are already in operation in California, France and Spain--all with lower sunshine hours--and are feeding electricity into the grid.
The government is tackling the building of desalination capacity actively and has allocated $6.4 billion for water and sanitation projects in 2013.
Saline Water Conversion Corp. SWCC, (which supplies 50% of the municipal water in the Kingdom and produces 18% of the global total) for example plans to build the world's largest water desalination plant in Rabigh and will have the ability to pump 600,000 cubic meters of desalinated water per day. The conventionally fueled plant should be completed by 2018. State-owned National Water Co, plans to spend $66 billion on plants and upgrades over the next 10 years.
In October 2012, Abdul Rahman Al-Ibrahim, governor of SWCC announced plans to establish three new solar-powered desalination plants in Haqel, Dhuba and Farasan in addition to the one under construction in Khafji.
The Khafji solar desalination project will be the first large-scale solar-powered seawater reverse-osmosis (SWRO) plant in the world. It was due for completion at the end of 2012 and designed with a capacity of 30,000 cubic meters of water per day for the 100,000 customers.
The Khafji desal plant is the first step in King Abdullah City for Science and Technology's solar power program to reduce desalination costs. Phase two of the project is the construction of a new plant to produce 300,000 cubic meters of water per day is planned by 2015, and phase three will involve Haqel, Dhuba and Farasan by 2018.
The Kingdom is not alone in the search for a clean, effective and cheap means of producing water. The UN classifies around 700 million people in 43 countries as suffering from water scarcity today. By 2025 the figure is forecast to rise to 1.8 billion.
With the global population expected to reach nine billion by 2050 and the US secretary of state openly discussing the threat of water shortages leading to wars, the production of desalinated water has never been more important.
15 Apr 2013
Saudi Arabia finds itself in an interesting economic cleft stick. While blessed with oil that it can currently sell at around $104 per barrel on the world market, it is compelled to burn a sizable proportion of that potential income to produce desalinated water. Cost of production of water fluctuates, but a fair guess is between 40 and 90¢ a barrel, depending on fuel price.To produce water, the Kingdom uses approximately 1.5 million barrels of oil a day across its 30 or so desalination plants to meet the demand for domestic and industrial water. Little of this water--if any is used for agriculture. The water for agriculture--some 85 to 90% of the total water use in the Kingdom--comes from non-replaceable resources, underground aquifers that are drying out rapidly. For every 100 liters per annum withdrawn, only one liter or less finds itself back into the aquifer.
The government has wisely decided that food security, once an unquestionable shibboleth of policy, is no longer worth the use of resources and has taken up the idea of virtual water. This refers to the hidden flow of water if food or other commodities are traded from one place to another.
Virtual water is best defined as "the volume of freshwater used to produce the product, measured at the place where the product was actually produced". It refers to the sum of the water use in the various steps of the production chain. It is 'virtual' for when the product arrives at its destination, the water is no longer contained in it, and was used only to produce it. An example of the saving of such imports is wheat, which takes 1,600 tons of water on average to produce one ton of grain.
It has resolved that the Kingdom will rely entirely on imports for food by 2016. Starting in 2008, the government has been reducing wheat purchases from local farmers by 12.5% a year and plans eventually to withdraw all agricultural subsidies to these farmers. Having addressed the issue of water supply and use and effectively engaged the biggest user of water, agriculture, positively, desalination for the balance of life in the Kingdom remains a huge challenge on several levels.
A major issue, the use of expensive oil that could produce income for making water, has spawned a slew of projects based on solar power for water production. The Kingdom might, and probably is, considering nuclear power as another option, but this introduces the political aspect of the importation of nuclear fuels and technology to the region, which is already under the baleful gaze of the West.
Happily, Saudi Arabia is one of the sunniest places on earth, averaging between 200 and 300 hours per month. Solar power therefore is an environmentally friendly, infinitely renewable (well, for the next seven billion years or so and the earth will have dried out and life gone in 3.5 billion) and very available alternative. Moreover it is harmless, both politically and environmentally.
The Kingdom seems to have opted so far for the expensive option of photovoltaic cell electricity generation to run the new solar desalination plants rather than the simpler, longer lasting and lower maintenance Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) alternative. Commercially viable CSP plants are already in operation in California, France and Spain--all with lower sunshine hours--and are feeding electricity into the grid.
The government is tackling the building of desalination capacity actively and has allocated $6.4 billion for water and sanitation projects in 2013.
Saline Water Conversion Corp. SWCC, (which supplies 50% of the municipal water in the Kingdom and produces 18% of the global total) for example plans to build the world's largest water desalination plant in Rabigh and will have the ability to pump 600,000 cubic meters of desalinated water per day. The conventionally fueled plant should be completed by 2018. State-owned National Water Co, plans to spend $66 billion on plants and upgrades over the next 10 years.
In October 2012, Abdul Rahman Al-Ibrahim, governor of SWCC announced plans to establish three new solar-powered desalination plants in Haqel, Dhuba and Farasan in addition to the one under construction in Khafji.
The Khafji solar desalination project will be the first large-scale solar-powered seawater reverse-osmosis (SWRO) plant in the world. It was due for completion at the end of 2012 and designed with a capacity of 30,000 cubic meters of water per day for the 100,000 customers.
The Khafji desal plant is the first step in King Abdullah City for Science and Technology's solar power program to reduce desalination costs. Phase two of the project is the construction of a new plant to produce 300,000 cubic meters of water per day is planned by 2015, and phase three will involve Haqel, Dhuba and Farasan by 2018.
The Kingdom is not alone in the search for a clean, effective and cheap means of producing water. The UN classifies around 700 million people in 43 countries as suffering from water scarcity today. By 2025 the figure is forecast to rise to 1.8 billion.
With the global population expected to reach nine billion by 2050 and the US secretary of state openly discussing the threat of water shortages leading to wars, the production of desalinated water has never been more important.
Friday, 24 May 2013
Renewables can provide power 24/7
www.abc.net.au
5 Apr 2013
German researchers have found a way to overcome one of the problems with renewable energy-the fact that it is not always available-by linking different options in a unified system.
CRITICS OF RENEWABLES have always claimed that sun and wind are only intermittent producers of electricity and need fossil fuel plants as back-up to make them viable. But German engineers have proved this is not so. By combining the output of a number of solar, wind and biogas plants the grid can be provided with stable energy 24 hours a day without fear of blackouts, according to the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology (IWES) in Kassel.
For Germany, which has turned its back on nuclear power and is investing heavily in all forms of renewables to reduce its CO₂ emissions, this is an important breakthrough. The country has a demanding industrial sector that needs a large and stable electricity supply, and some doubted that this could be achieved in the long term without retaining nuclear or large fossil fuel plants.
Solving the problem is becoming urgent. The latest figures show that on some days of the year the electricity being generated from sun, wind, biomass, water and geothermal production already accounts for more than half of the load required in the country. The research is funded by the German Federal Ministry of the Environment and is aimed at showing that the entire electricity grid could be run on renewable energy.
Dr Kurt Rohrig, deputy director of IWES, said: "Each source of energy-be it wind, sun or biogas-has its strengths and weaknesses. If we manage to skillfully combine the different characteristics of the regenerative energies, we can ensure the power supply for Germany". The idea is that many small power plant operators can feed their electricity into the grid but act as a single power plant using computers to control the level of power.
Sharing the load
Scientists linked together 25 plants with a nominal power output of 120 MWs. Surplus power could be used for charging electric vehicles and for pumped storage (pumping water uphill into a reservoir to produce hydroelectric later). When many small producers work together, then regional differences when the wind blows or the sun is intermittent are balanced out in the grid and can be boosted by controllable biogas facilities.
If there is too much surplus energy then the power can also be used to create and store thermal energy to be used later. Kasper Knorr, the project manager for the scheme, which is known as the Combined Power Plant2 research project, says the idea is to ensure that the consumer is supplied reliably with 230 volts at a frequency of 50 Hertz.
The current system of supplying the grid with electricity is geared to a few large producers. In the new system, with dozens of small producers, there will need to be extra facilities at intervals on the system to stabilise voltage. Part of the project is designed to find out how many of these the country will need.
5 Apr 2013
German researchers have found a way to overcome one of the problems with renewable energy-the fact that it is not always available-by linking different options in a unified system.
CRITICS OF RENEWABLES have always claimed that sun and wind are only intermittent producers of electricity and need fossil fuel plants as back-up to make them viable. But German engineers have proved this is not so. By combining the output of a number of solar, wind and biogas plants the grid can be provided with stable energy 24 hours a day without fear of blackouts, according to the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology (IWES) in Kassel.
For Germany, which has turned its back on nuclear power and is investing heavily in all forms of renewables to reduce its CO₂ emissions, this is an important breakthrough. The country has a demanding industrial sector that needs a large and stable electricity supply, and some doubted that this could be achieved in the long term without retaining nuclear or large fossil fuel plants.
Solving the problem is becoming urgent. The latest figures show that on some days of the year the electricity being generated from sun, wind, biomass, water and geothermal production already accounts for more than half of the load required in the country. The research is funded by the German Federal Ministry of the Environment and is aimed at showing that the entire electricity grid could be run on renewable energy.
Dr Kurt Rohrig, deputy director of IWES, said: "Each source of energy-be it wind, sun or biogas-has its strengths and weaknesses. If we manage to skillfully combine the different characteristics of the regenerative energies, we can ensure the power supply for Germany". The idea is that many small power plant operators can feed their electricity into the grid but act as a single power plant using computers to control the level of power.
Sharing the load
Scientists linked together 25 plants with a nominal power output of 120 MWs. Surplus power could be used for charging electric vehicles and for pumped storage (pumping water uphill into a reservoir to produce hydroelectric later). When many small producers work together, then regional differences when the wind blows or the sun is intermittent are balanced out in the grid and can be boosted by controllable biogas facilities.
If there is too much surplus energy then the power can also be used to create and store thermal energy to be used later. Kasper Knorr, the project manager for the scheme, which is known as the Combined Power Plant2 research project, says the idea is to ensure that the consumer is supplied reliably with 230 volts at a frequency of 50 Hertz.
The current system of supplying the grid with electricity is geared to a few large producers. In the new system, with dozens of small producers, there will need to be extra facilities at intervals on the system to stabilise voltage. Part of the project is designed to find out how many of these the country will need.
Wednesday, 10 April 2013
France publishes 1GW offshore wind tenders
www.upi.com
March. 25, 2013
PARIS, March 25 (UPI)--France has officially moved ahead with a second round of tenders for offshore wind farms, thorough which it seeking 1 GW of new capacity. First announced in September by Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault and confirmed in January by French Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy Delphine Batho, terms of the tenders were officially published Friday by the Commission for Energy Regulation, or CRE.
The tender calls for about 200 wind turbines off the French coast for a total installed capacity 1 GW, joining a first tender released last year, which will result in the building of nearly 2 GWs of wind turbines in the Pays de Loire, Brittany, Normandy and Upper Normandy. The government asserts the tender will trigger $4.5 billion in energy company investments and provide 10,000 direct jobs.
A first round of offshore wind power tenders launched in 2011 under the former government of French President Nicolas Sarkozy resulted in 2 GWs of bids going to a consortium led by French power giant EDF Energy, wind turbine manufacturer Alstom and Denmark's DONG Energy. The new tender is split into two wind farms--one would be built off the city of Le Treport in Normandy with the other near the Islands of Noirmoutier and Ile d'Yeu Islands off the Vendee department of the Pays de Loire along France's Atlantic coast.
The area off Le Treport covers 68 miles while the Pays de la Loire site covers 50 miles, which each expected to generate 480 500 MWs of power. The Treport region also figured in the first round but was rejected because the projected price of electricity generation was considered too high. CRE documents state the winners of the new tender will be announced in January 2014 with the construction and commissioning phase of the project is scheduled for 2021 23.
The maximum price of the electricity to be generated by the by new farms was set at $260 per MW to avoid producing "sticker shock" for consumers. The CRE also chose to set aside a 2 month deadline for submissions that was in force the first time, instead giving bidders until Nov. 29 to prepare their pitches. The results of the first tender were criticized for strengthening EDF Energy's control over the market, especially after French competitor GDF Suez was shut out in four bids, the British energy analysts ICIS Heren reported.
"If EDF Energy was the best-placed candidate in terms of price, there's nothing that can be done, and, if that happens again this time, it's hard to argue with it", an unnamed utility company source told the website. Alstom Chief Executive Patrick Kron has confirmed interest in the current Treport and Noirmoutier sites along with his EDF Energy and DONG partners, the regional daily Ouest France reported.
The new wind power tender come as France is having a national debate on energy transition, under which Hollande has pledged to reduce the country's reliance on nuclear power to 50% by 2025. He has set a goal of producing 23% of the country's energy mix from renewables by 2020, including 19 GWs from onshore wind turbines and 6 GWs from offshore installations.
March. 25, 2013
PARIS, March 25 (UPI)--France has officially moved ahead with a second round of tenders for offshore wind farms, thorough which it seeking 1 GW of new capacity. First announced in September by Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault and confirmed in January by French Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy Delphine Batho, terms of the tenders were officially published Friday by the Commission for Energy Regulation, or CRE.
The tender calls for about 200 wind turbines off the French coast for a total installed capacity 1 GW, joining a first tender released last year, which will result in the building of nearly 2 GWs of wind turbines in the Pays de Loire, Brittany, Normandy and Upper Normandy. The government asserts the tender will trigger $4.5 billion in energy company investments and provide 10,000 direct jobs.
A first round of offshore wind power tenders launched in 2011 under the former government of French President Nicolas Sarkozy resulted in 2 GWs of bids going to a consortium led by French power giant EDF Energy, wind turbine manufacturer Alstom and Denmark's DONG Energy. The new tender is split into two wind farms--one would be built off the city of Le Treport in Normandy with the other near the Islands of Noirmoutier and Ile d'Yeu Islands off the Vendee department of the Pays de Loire along France's Atlantic coast.
The area off Le Treport covers 68 miles while the Pays de la Loire site covers 50 miles, which each expected to generate 480 500 MWs of power. The Treport region also figured in the first round but was rejected because the projected price of electricity generation was considered too high. CRE documents state the winners of the new tender will be announced in January 2014 with the construction and commissioning phase of the project is scheduled for 2021 23.
The maximum price of the electricity to be generated by the by new farms was set at $260 per MW to avoid producing "sticker shock" for consumers. The CRE also chose to set aside a 2 month deadline for submissions that was in force the first time, instead giving bidders until Nov. 29 to prepare their pitches. The results of the first tender were criticized for strengthening EDF Energy's control over the market, especially after French competitor GDF Suez was shut out in four bids, the British energy analysts ICIS Heren reported.
"If EDF Energy was the best-placed candidate in terms of price, there's nothing that can be done, and, if that happens again this time, it's hard to argue with it", an unnamed utility company source told the website. Alstom Chief Executive Patrick Kron has confirmed interest in the current Treport and Noirmoutier sites along with his EDF Energy and DONG partners, the regional daily Ouest France reported.
The new wind power tender come as France is having a national debate on energy transition, under which Hollande has pledged to reduce the country's reliance on nuclear power to 50% by 2025. He has set a goal of producing 23% of the country's energy mix from renewables by 2020, including 19 GWs from onshore wind turbines and 6 GWs from offshore installations.
Thursday, 4 April 2013
World's two largest solar power towers to be built in California
www.turnto23.com
18 Mar 2013
As joint partners, the two pioneers in solar power tower technology will work together to permit and finance the 500 MW Palen Solar Electric Generating System. Abengoa will build the plants as the Engineering, Procurement and Construction contractor, and will lead the operation and maintenance (O&M) of the plants once online. BrightSource Energy will provide the solar field technology and plant design.Solar power towers generate power the same way as traditional power plants-by creating high temperature steam to turn a turbine. However, instead of using fossil fuels or nuclear power to create the steam, they use the sun's energy. At the heart of the system is a state-of-the-art solar field design, optimization software and a control system that allow for the creation of high temperature steam. The steam is then integrated with conventional power plant turbines to produce predictable, reliable and cost-competitive clean energy.
18 Mar 2013
As joint partners, the two pioneers in solar power tower technology will work together to permit and finance the 500 MW Palen Solar Electric Generating System. Abengoa will build the plants as the Engineering, Procurement and Construction contractor, and will lead the operation and maintenance (O&M) of the plants once online. BrightSource Energy will provide the solar field technology and plant design.Solar power towers generate power the same way as traditional power plants-by creating high temperature steam to turn a turbine. However, instead of using fossil fuels or nuclear power to create the steam, they use the sun's energy. At the heart of the system is a state-of-the-art solar field design, optimization software and a control system that allow for the creation of high temperature steam. The steam is then integrated with conventional power plant turbines to produce predictable, reliable and cost-competitive clean energy.
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