Morocco imports 95% of its energy. Its fortunes dependent on oil-price fluctuations, the country's trade deficit has been expanding.Renewable energy was an obvious solution for a country that has more than 2,000 miles of windy coasts along the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea and more than 3,000 hours of sunshine annually; it also has access to the biggest sand desert on the planet.With energy plants under construction that will generate solar, wind and hydro power on a scale never before seen in Africa, Morocco is turning very green. By 2020, the country plans to generate over 40% of its
Africa’s emerging wind-energy sector offers stability and promises to drive the region’s economy to double-digit growth by 2030, say observers. Developers and energy planners in the region hope to generate an additional 10.5 GW of clean and sustainable energy in the midterm, once ongoing and planned wind projects are fully developed.At least 16 wind-energy projects with a total capacity of 1.5 GW are under way on the continent, and another 9 GW worth of projects are planned in the near future. Currently, Africa has an installed wind-energy capacity of 1.1 GW, less than 0.5% of the global capacity.South Africa, Egypt,
Photo Courtesy of Atikokan GS The contractor at a powerplant in Atikokan, Ontario, is erecting two 5,000-ton concrete silos for storage of white wood pellets, the new fuel source that will replace coal at the plant. Related Links: Biomass Plants Seek Toehold in U.S. Energy Market Utilities Repower Aging Coal Plants To Burn Biomass A $170-million retrofit at Atikokan Generating Station in Atikokan, Ontario, is transforming a 28-year- old coal plant to burn 100% biomass and represents a major trend in North American power engineering and construction efforts. "The Ontario Power Authority mandated that this facility be off coal by
Photo Courtesy of the Geothermal Energy Association Geothermal energy officials ring the opening NASDAQ bell during the U.S. and International Geothermal Energy Finance Forum in April. Related Links: Geothermal Power Grew 5% in 2012 California Sees Transmission As Key to Geothermal Buildup The U.S. geothermal energy industry—which grew by 5%, or 147.05 MW, for the year ending March 2013—is seeking more up-front private-equity financing. There are 175 geothermal power projects in development in California, Nevada and other western states. They would add some 620 MW of operational capacity by January 2016, reports the Geothermal Energy Association.Unlike solar or wind, geothermal
Related Links: Tres Amigas to Link Major US Power Grids Texas Gears Up for Boom In High-Voltage Construction The planned completion this year of $6.8 billion in "competitive renewable energy zone" transmission lines in Texas is leading wind-power developers to shift wind-project planning into high gear.Kent Saathoff, executive advisor to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, says the build-out of some 2,300 miles of 345-kV CREZ lines will roughly double to approximately 18,000 MW—the amount of wind and other power that can be delivered from remote, sparsely populated areas in West Texas and the Texas Panhandle to population centers like
Photo Courtesy Panda Power Funds Panda Power Funds' Temple gas unit is one of three planned by developer. A tightening power supply in Texas is spurring a multibillion-dollar boom in the construction of new natural gas-fired power plants and other projects.According to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which oversees the electric grid covering 85% of the state, the power reserve margin in the ERCOT region will fall below the reliability council's 13.75% target this summer and for the foreseeable future unless more generating capacity is built.More specifically, ERCOT said the reserve margin is expected to be only 13.2% this
Related Links: Haiti Fires Up Oil-Fired Power Plant Italy Turns to Oil-Fired Power Plants as Russia Trims Supply While oil plays a commanding role in global energy markets, its position as a fuel source for electric powerplants ranges from dominant in certain countries to modest or non-existent in others.Oil is mostly used by countries who have abundant supplies of it, such as the Persian Gulf countries, Russia and Venezuela. “If you don’t have to use oil, you’re not going to build oil-fired plants unless you’re sitting on it,” says Chris Bergesen, editorial director for UDI Productsat Platts—like ENR, a unit
Related Links: Secret Study on Nuke Plant Fix May Hold Clue to Duke CEO's Ouster Duke Energy Moves To Become Largest Utility in the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission engineers and Duke Energy Carolinas representatives met on March 25 to discuss the utility's plan to protect the Oconee nuclear station's standby shutdown facility, or SSF, in the unlikely event the Jocassee Dam, located upstream of the station, were to fail catastrophically.In the wake of the Fukushima nuclear accident in March 2011, the NRC has been expanding its review of U.S. nuclear units' ability to withstand natural phenomena, including flooding, said commission
Related Links: AREVA (Transnuclear's parent company) website Columbia, Md.-based Transnuclear has developed a training facility in Aiken, S.C., to help workers become proficient in transferring and loading fuel from wet pools to dry-cask storage.The training facility, completed in 2012, is part of Transnuclear's NUHOMS University program, which works with contractors involved in fuel transfers at nuclear facilities and utilities. The facility replicates the equipment and situations workers would encounter on a typical loading campaign.Approximately 40 workers have graduated from one of the program's five-week training sessions, and another 30 have come to the facility for specific training tailored for utilities.
Photo Courtesy of NAES U.S. nuclear powerplants adding spent-fuel storage capacity. Related Links: Transnuclear Facility Trains Workers for Dry Storage Campaigns Cask Storage For Spent Fuel Nuke Waste Disposal Solution Still Elusive The U.S. nuclear-generation fleet's steady, predictable output of spent nuclear fuel and the federal government's inability to establish a permanent geologic repository point to several decades of regular, high-value work for contractors that install dry-cask storage systems for spent fuel.Thanks to a government plan to establish one or more large-scale, consolidated sites for dry storage of spent fuel by the early 2020s, the next few years could be