Exelon Generation expects to break ground this week on construction of two more gas-fired units at its Perryman Generating Station near Aberdeen, Md. The station currently has five units generating 345 MW. Four of the units are oil and the fifth is fueled by natural gas. The two new units will be 60-MW peakers. Exelon said the plants should be completed by June 2015.
More: The Baltimore Sun
2013 Big Year for New Solar Plants
Last year saw a 47% increase in solar power installations, including 10 photovoltaic installations larger than 100 MW, according to a report by the Interstate Renewable Energy Council.
“Solar energy markets are booming in the United States due to falling photovoltaic [PV] prices, strong consumer demand, available financing, renewable portfolio standards (RPSs) and financial incentives from the federal government, states and utilities,” said Larry Sherwood, IREC’s chief operating officer. “Thirty-four percent more PV capacity was installed in 2013 than the year before accounting for 31% of all U.S. electric power installations completed in 2013.”
PV costs have dropped 44% since 2009.
More: PennEnergy
NRG, JX Nippon Use New Carbon-Capture Method
NRG Energy and JX Nippon of Japan are using carbon-capture technology to reduce emissions from a Texas coal plant and boost oil-field production. The Petra Nova Carbon Capture project is designed to trap 1.6 million tons of carbon each year from one unit of NRG’s W.A. Parrish plant. The carbon will be sent via pipeline about 809 miles away to the West Ranch Oil Field, where output has been falling. NRG and JX Nippon believe that by injecting the carbon gases into the field, it will push oil back up through the well.
If all goes correctly, production at the well will rise from 500 barrels a day to 15,000 barrels a day. Oil revenues will pay off the $1 billion project cost, according to NRG.
More: Reuters
Delmarva Adds Smart Meter Fees to Gas Bills with PSC OK
Natural gas customers of Delmarva Power & Light will soon begin seeing “smart meter” fees on their bills as part of a Public Service Commission-approved plan to promote energy conservation. The company said the charge will increase the average residential natural gas bill by about 37 cents, or 0.3%. The meters, which can be read remotely, provide usage information to customers, allowing them to make energy-use choices, according to the company.
More: The News Journal
Chicago Co. Wants to Buy Dominion’s Kewaunee Nuke
RGA Labs wants to buy the Kewaunee nuclear generating station, which Dominion Resources shuttered last year as uneconomic. RGA is headed by Robert Abboud, a nuclear engineer and former Commonwealth Edison employee who said his company has a plan to bring Kewaunee back on-line.
Abboud said economic conditions and environmental regulations are lining up to make nuclear generation more profitable. “It won’t be easy. There will be a number of roadblocks that we’ll have to work to get over, but it’s entirely doable,” he said. “When you think about what other people have done, the guys at SpaceX or Tesla, here is a machine that already works and has demonstrated its performance for 30 years.”
Dominion put the plant up for sale in 2012 but now says it is no longer on the market.
More: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
EPA Says Duke Completes Cleanup from Ash Spill
The Environmental Protection Agency said last week that Duke Energy has finished its cleanup of the massive ash spill that occurred when a drainage pipe broke, spewing more than 39,000 tons of coal ash into the Dan River. The river flows from Virginia into North Carolina.
EPA cleanup coordinator Myles Bartos said Duke and its contractors dredged up about 2,500 tons of sediment that had piled up behind a downstream dam and sucked up another 500 tons in other areas and at two municipal water treatment plants.
Although not all of the ash that spilled was cleaned up, Bartos ruled the operation complete. He said continued monitoring of the water and sediment will be the company’s responsibility, and additional cleanup will be ordered if needed.
More:The Virginian-Pilot
Pa. Man Scams PECO for $346K; Gets Probation
A Philadelphia man with a bag of tools and knowledge of electric meters set up a booming business tampering with some PECO customer electric meters, changing them so it appeared that their electricity consumption was less than it really was. Marcelina Cuadra Jr.’s business plan fell apart when PECO investigators noted the fluctuation in consumption and took a closer look.
Company officials and court documents say that between 2009 and 2012, Cuadra’s tampering cost PECO about $346,000. He pleaded guilty to theft of services and other charges and was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to seven years of probation. Some of his customers were also charged and are awaiting trial.
More: The Daily Local