THE ENERGY INDUSTRY TIMES - MAY 2017 4 Americas News Westinghouse woes trouble AP1000 plants n Project owners examine options for projects n Toshiba plans restructuring Siân Crampsie US utilities building new nuclear power plants say they are committed to finishing the projects in spite of financial problems at Westinghouse. State-owned utility Santee Cooper and SCANA Corp. are partners on the AP1000 nuclear project at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station in South Carolina, while Southern Co is building two AP1000 units at the Vogtle plant in Georgia. Both projects are already behind schedule and over budget, and Westinghouse’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing at the end of March is likely to be a further challenge. Westinghouse said in March that it had reached agreements with the owners of the AP1000 projects “to continue these projects during an initial assessment period”. However, the increase in risks faced by the utilities, including an increased likelihood of disruptions to construction, has been noted by ratings agencies. Westinghouse is building the four new AP1000 units in South Carolina and Georgia under fixed price engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts, with guaranteed completion dates and associated liquidated damage provisions that materially shift the risks of future cost overruns and delays to Westinghouse. Both projects are behind schedule and over budget – Vogtle 3 & 4 by around $7 billion and VC Summer 2 & 3 by about $5 billion. There are now legal questions around whether the utilities that own the plants will have to stump up more money to complete the plants, according to analysts. Owners of both plants have already received approvals to raise utility rates in their respective areas to fund construction of the new nuclear units, and further cost liabilities would mean more rate increases in Georgia and South Carolina. Southern Co. subsidiary Georgia Power said that it was working with Westinghouse to maintain momentum at the Vogtle site. It added in a statement that it would seek to hold Westinghouse, and parent company Toshiba, accountable. Both Georgia Power and SCANA Corp. are reported to be considering their options for the nuclear projects, according to local reports. Options include leaving one or both units at their respective sites unfinished, and finding new contractors. Westinghouse has embarked on a strategic reorganisation to “protect its core business” and “resolve its AP1000 challenges”. Toshiba announced at the end of April that it is also planning to split its business into four units in order to overcome the financial challenges brought upon it by Westinghouse. Toshiba lost $4.8 billion in the first three quarters of 2016, including losses from Westinghouse. It will create four in-house companies as whollyowned subsidiaries to help maximise the value of its business operations. Hybrid systems combining the use of batteries and gas turbines could play an important role in helping utilities meet the demands of variable renewable energy generation, according to GE. The engineering firm has unveiled the world’s first battery-gas turbine system in California, USA, and says that the unit will help Southern California Edison (SoCalEd) to increase renewable energy generation by providing quick start, fast ramping capabilities when they are needed. The unit integrates a 10 MW/4.3 MWh battery energy storage system capable of immediately providing power with a 50 MW GE LM6000 aeroderivative gas turbine. “The new system will help SoCalEd better utilise the resources on the grid, provide enhanced reliability, reduce environmental impact, and reduce cost for our operations and for our customers,” said SoCalEd President Ron Nichols. “This technology also allows us to continue to expand our use of solar, wind and other renewable resources.” A groundbreaking control system lies at the heart of the hybrid unit, seamlessly blending output between the battery and the gas turbine, GE said. The innovative combination of technologies, along with emission controls, provides enhanced flexibility in the operation of the peaker while at the same time reducing greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution by 60 per cent, it added. n Younicos has commissioned a 1 MW/2 MWh lithium ion battery system in Colorado, USA, in partnership with Panasonic and Xcel Energy. The system comprises four Younicos Y.Cubes connected to the Xcel Energy power grid as well as two PV systems. The project is part of a microgrid project at the Peña Station NEXT development in Denver. The government of the Dominican Republic wants the country’s power sector to add 361 MW of renewable energy to the grid by 2020. The country’s Minister of Energy and Mines, Antonio Isa Conde, wants renewable energy to account for 34.8 per cent of the installed capacity in the National Interconnected Electricity System (SENI). Currently the country has an installed renewable energy capacity of around 195 MW, not including 750 MW of hydropower capacity. New renewable energy capacity will be added to the Dominican Republic’s grid in the form of eight new projects, which require some $780 million in investment. The projects include eight solar farms with a combined capacity of 133 MW, and five wind farms with a combined capacity of 228 MW. They will start operating in 2018. The USA’s solar energy market is continuing to expand with new project announcements from key industry players. Florida Power & Light (FPL) has announced plans to develop some 1.5 GW of solar capacity across the state of Florida in the next seven years. The utility’s proposed projects will add to its recently announced plans for eight solar plants in the state with a combined total capacity of 600 MW. Construction is expected to start in 2019 and will be completed by the end of 2023, FPL said. FPL added that the addition of these solar plants to its grid would mean that solar energy would exceed the contribution made to its energy mix by oil and coal combined within three years. It said that the project would be among the lowest cost solar plants ever built in the USA. In March the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) said that the US solar market had its biggest year in 2016, nearly doubling its previous record and adding more electric generating capacity than any other source of energy for the first time ever. SEIA also believes that the cumulative US solar market will nearly triple in size over the next five years. It forecasts that 13.2 GW of solar PV will be installed in the USA in 2017, a ten per cent drop from 2016. A growing number of US states are reaching grid parity for solar installations thanks to falling solar systems costs, SEIA said. In the northeast, Current, a subsidiary of GE, announced that it is developing several solar carport and groundmounted projects across six states. Up to five waste-to-energy plants are to be built in Mexico as the country seeks to improve the green credentials of its energy sector. EAWC Technologies has signed an agreement with Mexican firm Tecnologías Verdes to build a WTE plant in the southern state of Chiapas. It will ultimately build five plants in the state, it said in a statement. The agreement is a revision of one signed by the two companies in 2015. Orders for the five plants are expected to provide over $300 million in equipment sales alone, while related royalties for the use of the company’s licensed technology would provide some $90 million/y in fees for 15 years starting in 2019, EAWC said. The company plans to finance construction of the projects by issuing bonds secured by energy contracts. Mexico’s biomass and WTE sectors are growing, with 11 of the country’s 32 states operating biomass plants. Recently the government in Mexico City said it was planning to launch tenders for WTE plants. The country’s renewable energy sector also continues to grow with new solar and wind projects getting under way. In March Enel said it had started construction of a 754 MW solar plant as well as a 200 MW wind farm in Mexico. The Villanueva PV project will comprise two solar farms – one of 427 MW and one of 327 MW – in Coahuila state and will start operating in the second half of 2018. It will be the largest solar project on the continent as well as in Enel’s portfolio. Enel’s Amistad wind farm will require a total investment of $300 million and will also be constructed in Coahuila state. In March Iberdrola announced plans to develop a 220 MW wind farm to help meet the energy needs of Mexican brewer Grupo Modelo. SoCalEd unveils hybrid innovation Dominica sets up renewables projects Falling costs prime solar growth Mexico converts waste n Battery boosts peaker solution n Younicos starts up Denver battery storage
Energy Industry Times May 2017
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