Michele Kearney's Nuclear Wire: General Electric

Showing posts with label General Electric. Show all posts

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Review of the Western Wind and Solar Integration Study (WWSIS) by NREL and GE Energy

The WWSIS study area consists of land in 5 states in the U.S., the “West Connect” group of utilities, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada (WY, CO, NM, AZ, NV) which are in the Western Interconnection in the United States. The Western Interconnection includes nearly the western 1/3 of the U.S. from Washington down to California, and its eastern border includes the states from Montana to New Mexico (see figure below).

Posted by Stephen Balogh on December 6, 2010 - 10:21am

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/7159

This post presents a critical review of the Western Wind and Solar Integration Study (WWSIS) published by NREL and GE Energy earlier this year. The goal of this multiyear study was to determine the feasibility of incorporating large amounts of wind and solar energy into the Western U.S. and determine the effects of doing so.[i] An earlier Department of Energy study, 20% Wind Energy by 2030, found that in order for the continental U.S. to achieve 20% as a whole for wind energy consumption, 25% would have to be produced in the Western Interconnection. The authors of the WWSIS study conclude that it is possible (with a few caveats) to absorb and manage highly variable production from high penetrations of wind and solar energy, up to 30% wind and 5% solar. This post provides an overview of the assumptions and models used in the study, reports major findings, and considers what may be flaws inherent in the NREL/GE Energy efforts. (An executive summary of their project, models, and findings can be found here, and the full study here.)

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

GE Expects India Sales to Grow 30% Annually

NEW DELHI—General Electric Co. expects to grow its business in India by 30% annually over the next several years as Asia's third-largest economy offers huge opportunities in transportation, nuclear reactors and many other sectors, the chief executive of its local unit said Monday.
"We are huge optimists on India overall," John L. Flannery told The Wall Street Journal in an interview. "The country has incredible depth and breadth and momentum behind it...The government has done a great job in developing markets, while private companies here are phenomenal." More at:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704584504575615963770507630.html?mod=dist_smartbrief

Monday, November 15, 2010

GE Executive Outlines Opportunity For Transformation Of US Energy Future

The evolution of a smarter power grid in the United States and the resulting impact it could have on the economy and environment were highlighted in a keynote address by GE's Bob Gilligan at the Advanced Energy 2010 Conference. Gilligan explained how even conservative adoptions of technology solutions could enable Americans to sustain and improve their energy-dependent lifestyles. "While revolutionary energy technologies are developed each day, the way we apply them to modernize and nurture our electrical infrastructure is really more of an evolution than a revolution," said Bob Gilligan, vice president-digital energy for GE Energy Services.
"What's important is taking steps today to lay the foundation for our growing energy appetite. We can then sustain ongoing efforts to improve our energy landscape."
Using conservative technology growth estimates, Gilligan laid out a scenario where the total U.S. energy consumption and emissions saved between 2010 and 2030 could exceed the entire electrical consumption and electrical CO2 output for all of 2010.i "The net result would be like 2010 never happened," he explained.
In addition to the energy and pollution savings, Gilligan's scenario saw the creation of 140,000 sustainable new jobs and an electrical landscape that includes 3.3 billion fewer customer outage minutes. These power reliability improvements could result in savings of $65.7 billion from reduced power interruptions by 2030.
Gilligan supported his call for an energy evolution with a bevy of facts about the future of energy, including:
+ Growing cities that will house more than 60 percent of the world's population and consume a vast majority of its power by 2030 cannot rely on an infrastructure designed a century ago
+ Global electricity demand is forecasted to increase 75 percent by 2030
+ Energy costs are increasing worldwide; US rates increased an average of 42 percent between 2000 and 2007
+ More than 40 percent of current environmental emissions are from electric generation
+ Approximately half of the transformer assets in the U.S. electrical infrastructure are at or approaching the end of their design life
"The good news is that we are not talking gloom and doom," Gilligan said.
"Our electrical future can be a story of potential, opportunity and global competitive advantage. With increased reliability, efficiency and sustainability, we'll be able to power traditional economic growth and be ready for the next generation of life-changing technology. We can do it by taking measured, affordable evolutionary steps. However, we, as a country, must act today."
Gilligan cited electric cars, along with increasing levels of wind and solar energy, as examples of technology-enabled advances on the not-too-distant horizon.http://www.energy-daily.com/reports/GE_Executive_Outlines_Opportunity_For_Transformation_Of_US_Energy_Future_999.html

Friday, November 12, 2010

GE to work with India for cost-effective nuclear energy

Global Energy major General Electric Hitachi(GEH) said it remains committed to working with India to help it realise the tremendous potential of clean, safe and cost-effective nuclear energy. Congratulating Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President Barack Obama, senior vice president of nuclear plant projects at the GE unit, Daniel L Roderick, told PTI, "We appreciate the efforts of both governments (America and India) to establish a basis for civil nuclear cooperation and the path forward set forth in the joint statement." "GEH is committed to working with India to help it realise the tremendous potential of clean, safe and cost-effective nuclear energy," Roderick said. Meanwhile, veteran US nuclear businessmen are of the opinion that negotiations with GEH and Westinghouse-Toshiba will now begin in earnest.
"Both GEH and Westinghouse tried their best to go for a 'perfect deal'(change the Indian Civil Liability Law) before Obama's India visit, but now they know that it did not happen and will not happen," they said.
"With that grounded reality they will try to get the next best closure with Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE)," they said adding eventually the deal will be made but it may take at least two years looking at the negotiations with the French company AREVA.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/GE-to-work-with-India-for-cost-effective-nuclear-energy/Article1-624924.aspx

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Shortcomings in U.S. firm's reactor design may delay deal conclusion

Even as representatives from the U. S. nuclear power companies, Westinghouse Electric Co. and GE Energy, are currently continuing their company-to-company negotiations with the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. (NPCIL) for building American-made nuclear reactors in India following the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal, significant cost overruns in the nuclear plants being built by the Westinghouse in China have come to light.
As has been reported earlier (The Hindu, April 3), shortcomings in the design of the Westinghouse's advanced technology reactor AP1000 — which is what India plans to buy from the company — are likely to delay the conclusion of the commercial agreement with the NPCIL by at least a year. The report in The Hindu also stated that the NPCIL officials were aware of these safety concerns in the AP1000 reactors.
These shortcomings, which have to do with inadequate containment features in the design and consequent safety concerns, had been raised by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in its report in October 2009. More at:
http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=247854211242866212

Friday, October 29, 2010

India Deal Puts China in GE's League

China is breaking into the top ranks of global power-equipment exporters with a $10 billion deal signed with India on Thursday.
By nabbing the deal with India, which is on an infrastructure spending spree, China poses a new competitive threat to established suppliers of technology such as General Electric Co., Siemens AG and Alstom SA.
China's new position is also evidence of a growing trend of emerging markets doing business among themselves, after years of focusing on trade with partners in developed nations. More at:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304173704575579261842597870.html?KEYWORDS=%22power+plant%22+OR+%22megawatt%22

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

GE Hitachi says reactor clears hurdle By Jim Brumm Citydesk@StarNewsOnline.com

GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy’s advanced reactor design has passed a safety review, clearing the way for final U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission certification by the fall of 2011.

Friday, October 8, 2010

Kepco, Turkey Are in Final Stage of Talks on Construction of Nuclear Plant

Nuclear talks between Korea Electric, Turkey near conclusion
Korea Electric Power Corp., which won an $18.6 billion atomic reactor order from the United Arab Emirates in December, is in the final stage of talks with Turkey for the construction of a nuclear power station.
A consortium led by Korea Electric will invest in the project, Chief Executive Officer Kim Ssang Su told lawmakers today in Seoul.
The Turkish government may take a stake of 60 percent in the company that will build the country’s second nuclear power station, Sabah newspaper reported on Oct. 4, without saying how it got the information.
Korea Electric is proposing to take the remaining share and will raise 70 percent of the estimated $20 billion cost through loans, the Istanbul-based newspaper reported.
Korea Electric is also seeking to build nuclear power plants in India and Malaysia and considers South Africa, Thailand, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia as potential markets, the Seoul-based company said in a report to lawmakers today.
State-run Korea Electric beat General Electric Co. and Areva SA to win an order to build four reactors in the U.A.E. The company signed an agreement in March with the Turkish government to study construction of a plant in Sinop, northeast of Ankara.

Monday, September 27, 2010

GE Hitachi in talks with NPC for 6 reactors

India at table with GE, Westinghouse, Areva for reactor projects
The Nuclear Power Corp. of India is in talks with GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy for six reactors rated at 1,350 megawatts each. Officials said the company will also begin talks with Westinghouse Electric for six 1,154-megawatt reactors. Meanwhile, the state-run Indian company and French group Areva are expected to sign an early-works agreement within a month for two reactors of 1,650 megawatts each for a project in Maharashtra, India, an NPCIL official said. Business Standard (India)

Friday, September 24, 2010

GE Chief Slams U.S. on Energy

General Electric Co. Chief Executive Jeff Immelt warned that the lack of a comprehensive U.S. energy policy and the "stupid" current structure of the industry are causing America to fall behind in new energy fields.

View Full Image

Bloomberg News

GE's Jeff Immelt called the U.S. energy regulatory system 'a relic of 1860 or something' at the Gridwise Global Forum in Washington Thursday.

GE Hitachi seeks customers for enrichment facility not yet built By Jim Brumm

GE Hitachi has $400M enrichment contract with TVA
GE Hitachi's Global Laser Enrichment operation secured a $400 million contract to supply about 12% of the Tennessee Valley Authority's expected enrichment needs for a decade. The deal, cleared by TVA directors, is a "memorandum of understanding which says the two sides have generally agreed to commercial terms but is nonbinding," said Michael Tetuan, a spokesman for GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy. Star-News (Wilmington, N.C.)http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20100923/ARTICLES/100929833/-1/news300

Friday, September 17, 2010

India nuclear talks progress with U.S. companies

GE, Westinghouse make progress on Indian nuclear talks
Discussions between General Electric, Westinghouse Electric and the Indian government to develop nuclear plants have reached "a mature level of understanding," said Srikumar Banerjee, chairman of India's Atomic Energy Commission. The negotiations between the two reactor builders and Asia's third-largest economy have made progress after the Indian parliament passed a bill to ease the entry of foreign companies into the country's potentially lucrative nuclear market. Reuters

Thursday, September 16, 2010

An Indian wake-up call for the us nuclear industry Washington should see the N-liability law as New Delhi intended it: a graceful way to change focus to more important non-nuclear topics

India’s Parliament last week gave the US nuclear industry the legal equivalent of a Bronx cheer: It passed a law that denied US firms legal immunity from being sued in the event of a nuclear accident. Besides upsetting executives at General Electric and Westinghouse, the law’s passage destroys one of the 2008 US-Indian nuclear deal’s key pitches— that it would energize the “world’s largest democracy” with up to $150 billion in US reactor sales.
The US is up in arms, so to speak, because private US firms can’t take on such risk—but their French, Russian and other state-backed competitors can. US diplomats preparing for President Barack Obama’s planned November visit to New Delhi are lobbying their counterparts furiously to “fix” the situation. It’s unclear if they’ll succeed. But for everyone’s sake, I hope they won’t.
Indians have little to gain from caving in to US pressure. Having suffered thousands of fatalities from the 1984 Bhopal incident and having received a pittance from Union Carbide in compensation, Indians are not just making an anti-imperialism point in protesting attempts to shield US firms from liability. They are protecting their population’s security.
More at link

Saturday, September 11, 2010

New Indian law threatens US nuclear suppliers

A new Indian law, which exposes firms supplying equipment to nuclear plants to liability in the case of accidents could seriously damage plans for US companies with plans to supply India’s nuclear reactor construction plans.
The news has come unexpectedly for US companies, such as General Electric and Westinghouse.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

GE & Westinghouse to build first two N-plants for $10 bn

Report: U.S. companies to build nuclear plants in India

The construction of two reactors in India by General Electric and Westinghouse could cost $10 billion, according to unnamed sources. Agreements with the power companies were being finalized before President Barack Obama travels to India in November, the report added. The Financial Express (India)

(9/2)

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

On tap Monday III: GE Hitachi to press federal panel on nuke fuel recycling

GE Hitachi can safely reprocess nuclear waste, chairman says

Jack Fuller, chairman of GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, told the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future that technological advancements can help reprocess nuclear waste safely without the dangers of generating separated plutonium. The company is ready to unveil these technologies worldwide, but "as is often the case in the nuclear industry, government policy is the key to success," he said. The Hill/E2 Wire blog
The U.S. doesn’t currently reprocess nuclear waste, but advocates say that emerging technologies can enable re-use without creating separated plutonium, a proliferation risk.

“GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, a global alliance formed by GE and Hitachi, is prepared to offer these new technologies to customers around the world. However, as is often the case in the nuclear industry, government policy is the key to success,” he will tell the panel, according to a summary of his comments.

“In order to meet the demands of the predicted worldwide growth in the nuclear industry, we believe that the U.S. should adopt a national policy to recycle used nuclear fuel.”