Gemma Power Systems (GPS) has started construction of the 475MW natural gas-fired power plant in Middletown, Ohio, US.

Commencement follows receipt of full notice to proceed with activities under the $300m engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services contract with NTE Ohio, an affiliate of NTE Energy.The interim notice to proceed to commence activities under the contract was issued in August.

GPS CEO William Griffin said: “We’re pleased to be working with NTE on this state-of-the-art facility and look forward to delivering a great project experience for them.”

Employing around 300 craft workers at the peak of construction, the Middletown Energy Centre project will generate up to 30 full-time jobs in the region to operate the facility when completed.

The power plant will feature an advanced Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Americas M501GAC combustion turbine generator, a Vogt Power International supplementary fired heat recovery steam generator, and a Toshiba America Energy Systems steam turbine generator.

Work on the Middletown Energy Centre project is scheduled for completion in the second quarter of 2018.
Ohio power plant is one of two similar projects that GPS has been contracted to undertake for NTE. The second power plant will be built in Kings Mountain, North Carolina, for NTE Carolinas.

Requiring similar components to the Middletown Energy Centre project, the Kings Mountain Energy Centre project is expected to be released this month and will be completed in late 2018.

GPS has won several EPC contracts in the last few months, to construct nearly 3,000MW of natural gas-fired generation power plants in five states across the US.

The Cork-based oil and gas exploration company Circle Oil has reported first-half pretax profits of $2.8 million (€2.49m) as against $9.4 million (€8.3m) for the same period a year earlier and $14.7 million for the first six months of 2013.

Circle, which is quoted on the Alternative Investment Market in London, recorded an operating profit of $5.5 million.

The North Africa and Middle East-focused explorer said first-half revenues more than halved to $22.3 million as against $47.8 million for the same period a year ago due to a fall in oil prices and lower production volumes at its assets in Egypt.

The company said it introduced a number of initiatives during the first half of the year to reduce operating costs, particularly with its Moroccan operated assets. The move led to an improvement in gross margin, which account for 43.4 per cent of revenues, compared to 34.4 per cent for the same period last year.

Working capital, trade and other receivables fell to $25.3 million at the end of June from $48.1 million a year earlier. Trade and other payables reduced to $17.4 million from $36.3 million.

Net cashflow from operations totalled $17.8 million compared to $25.1 million for the same period last year reflecting the reduced operating profit for the period. Cash and cash equivalents at the end of June was $17.1 million. This includes substantial cash balances in Morocco, a portion of which the group is currently repatriating.

Net debt at the end of June was $64.4 million.

The ban was announced at a clean air conference organised by the Environmental Protection Agency in Dublin today.

Environment Minister Alan Kelly said the ban, which is in place across larger urban areas and Dublin since 1990, will be extended nationally to help improve air quality.
The move will require approval from the European Commission, but the minister said he hoped it would be in place within 12 months.

A ban is already in place in 25 towns and cities across the country.

It was first introduced in Dublin in 1990 following severe episodes of winter smog caused by the use of the fuel for home-heating.

The ban was later extended to other cities and large towns after air quality in the capital was found to have improved significantly.

Research indicates the ban has saved thousands of lives since it was introduced 25 years ago.

The regulations have been under review since April 2012 and are enforced by local authorities.

Anyone found in breach of the ban faces a maximum fine of €5,000.

Asthma Society CEO Sharon Cosgrove said: “With 470,000 people affected, Ireland has the fourth highest prevalence of asthma worldwide. Whilst patients of respiratory diseases are worst affected, ongoing exposure to this nasty pollutant affects everyone.”

Speaking on RTÉ’s News at One, Asthma Society spokesperson John Holohan said the ban introduced 25 years ago in Dublin had brought huge positive benefits.

“The level of particulate matter in Dublin fell by nearly three quarters and it has been shown in various studies that it has had very positive, beneficial effects on life expectancy in general,” he said.

“For asthma suffers who are particularly sensitive to poor air quality, it has helped to improve their lives and for that now to be legislation that potentially is available for the whole population of Ireland is very much to be welcomed.”

Renewables outstripped coal as a source of electricity in the UK during a full quarter for the first time ever, government data published Thursday shows.

According to the report, a combination of higher wind speeds, more installed solar panels and a 19.5% increase in rainfall — which resulted in record output at hydroelectric power stations — all contributed to renewables accounting for over 25% of generation in the second quarter of 2015.

Gas-fired power stations provided the most electricity – 30% – with renewables second. Nuclear power was third with 21.5%, while coal fell back to fourth, with 20.5%.

According to industry body Renewable UK’s chief executive, Maria McCaffery, new technologies such as solar and wind power have now become Britain’s second largest source of electricity, generating more than a quarter of the nation’s needs.

“The new statistics show that Britain is relying increasingly on dependable renewable sources to keep the country powered up, with onshore and offshore wind playing the leading roles in our clean energy mix,” she noted in an e-mailed statement.

Howether, on a global scale, coal is expected to overtake oil consumption from 2017, according to a report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) released in 2012.

Russia agreed to resume gas supplies to Ukraine over the winter under a deal clinched late Friday with the European Union, capping months of difficult talks overshadowed by the Ukrainian conflict.

European Commission vice president for energy, Maros Sefcovic, told a news conference the preliminary deal was a “crucial step” to ensure Ukraine has gas supplies from October through March and that Europe receives onward deliveries.

“We just initialed a trilateral agreement for the upcoming winter,” Sefcovic said after nearly six hours of talks with the Russian and Ukrainian energy ministers in Brussels.

He added that “all technical details” were agreed on and the framework was set, but confirmation and formal signing of the full agreement would require separate procedures.

“I’m confident that the agreement will soon be confirmed and smoothly implemented,” he said after tweeting earlier it was a “major achievement.”

Ukrainian Energy Minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn told reporters “commercial conditions were acceptable” and that he expected the deal to be signed shortly.

“I’m sure we will be preparing for the heating season and start pumping gas into storage shortly,” he said.

“Ukraine confirmed in this document its capacity to ensure uninterrupted transit of Russian gas to EU partners,” he added.

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said, “We will spare no effort to avoid any issues, problems.”

Novak said Moscow’s offer included a cut of “about $20″ per thousand cubic meters from the provisionally set price of $252.

He said the price agreed upon was competitive with those for gas supplied to countries neighboring Ukraine.

Sefcovic said the European Commission, the executive arm of the 28-nation EU, would continue arranging for EU and international financing of Ukraine’s winter gas purchases.

“At least $500 million should be available by the end of this year,” he said.

German energy major RWE has gained environmental consent for developing a 1.6GW coal-fired power plant at Eemshaven in the Netherlands.

The approval, issued by a Dutch court, clears the way for commissioning the power plant, which involves an investment of €3bn ($3.36bn), reports Reuters.

Once operational, the thermal power facility is expected to generate enough electricity for two million German and Dutch homes.

Delivering an efficiency of more than 46%, the facility is claimed to be one of the world’s most modern power stations. Construction of the facility, which was scheduled to be operational in 2014, was started in 2008.

Commissioning of the facility was delayed over environmental concerns about its development near nature reserves, including mud flats and islands off the Dutch and German North Sea coast.

Greenpeace and other environmental groups filed objections over the issues in a Dutch court for the development across a 50ha at the Eemshaven port.

Carbon dioxide emissions from the coal-fired facility was also an issue Greenpeace opposed.

Both German and Dutch governments are in support of the thermal power project, since Germany intends to end nuclear power production by 2020, and the Netherlands will struggle owing to a decline in natural gas resources.

According to RWE’s Dutch subsidiary Essent, coal is a relatively cheaper fuel for power generation and can be derived in large quantities from politically stable countries.

Alstom and Dalia Power Energies have inaugurated the 835MW Haruvit combined-cycle power plant (CCPP) in Israel.

France-based Alstom was responsible for the management of the entire gas-fired project on a turnkey basis.

Starting from the initial design, the firm had delivered services for the project up to its final commissioning.

The facility is equipped with two combined-cycle units that integrate Alstom’s GT26 gas turbine, steam turbine, generator and heat recovery steam generator.

Alstom’s distributed control system Alspa Series 6 and 420kV gas-insulated substation connects the energy facility to the power grid in the country.

The French firm is also responsible for operation and maintenance of the power station for twenty years.

Haruvit CCPP can deliver a gross efficiency of 58%, which makes it ‘the most efficient power plant in Israel’, claims Alstom.

Once operational, the facility can add nearly 8% to the country’s installed power generation capacity.

Alstom chairman and CEO Patrick Kron said: “Alstom is proud to celebrate today the delivery of Haruvit power plant.

“It represents the group’s first entry into the Israeli gas market with a world-class power plant to meet the country’s energy needs, thanks to the most efficient and flexible power generation units in the entire national generation fleet.“

Calon Energy has selected General Electric to upgrade the 800MW Sutton Bridge power plant in Lincolnshire, UK.

The upgrade is intended to increase the energy output of the natural gas-fired, combined-cycle facility by 3.4%, as well as lowering its start-up times and operating costs.

GE will be responsible for upgrading two existing GE 9FA gas turbines and a D-11 steam turbine at the plant. This will be achieved by equipping them with multiple applications from the OpFlex controls software suite, a Dry Low NOx 2.6+ combustor, and advanced gas path (AGP) technology solutions.

The upgrade package deployed at the plant will include OpFlex enhanced transient stability, AutoTune, variable load path, cold-day performance, extended turndown, variable inlet bleed heat, and variable airflow and steam turbine agility applications.

Scope of work will cover installation of steam turbine thermal blankets for improving cold-start capability of the turbines, as well as upgrades to the balance-of-plant equipment.

GE expects to start on the upgrades in mid-2016, and it is likely to take several months to complete.

Calon Energy CEO Kevin McCullough said: “Along with other combined-cycle gas turbine plants in the UK, Sutton Bridge has competed with subsidised renewables, cheap coal and high gas prices.”

GE has been responsible for the operation and maintenance (O&M) of the power station under a multiyear services agreement from 2013.

Along with GE, Kraftanlagen München (KAM) has won a contract to develop a gas-fired thermal power plant in Kiel for German municipal utility Stadtwerke Kiel.

The facility is expected to generate 190MW of electrical and 192MW of thermal energy.

While Kraftanlagen München has been appointed as the general contractor for the facility, GE will supply 20 Jenbacher J920 Flextra gas engines for it.

Equipment delivered by the US firm will have total efficiency of more than 90% and electrical efficiency of 45%.

Those engines will also support Germany’s energy transition plan, which aims to derive 80% of its power mix from renewable and volatile energy sources by 2050.

The facility will replace an existing coal-fired power plant in the region and will support district heating.

Kiel plant will store the surplus electricity as heat for when demand is low and supply it to the grid when demand rises.

GE Germany executive operations Oliver Klitzke said: “Versatility in the electricity exchange paired with inexpensive costs for heat generation will be the way forward in Kiel.”

The project will be developed in two phases. The initial phase will comprise planning and construction of the pump house to be connected to the district heating system, the electrode boiler and heat storage, as well as scheduling and obtaining operating approval for the entire system, including gas engines.

Construction of phase two is expected to start in May next year, and include development of the gas engine power plant.

Energy company Fortum has announced that it is planning to build a new multi-fuel combined heat and power (CHP) plant in Zabrze, Poland. The total value of the investment is approximately €200 million. Commercial operations are expected to begin by the end of 2018, providing district heating to some 70,000 households in Zabrze and Bytom.

The new plant, which will replace the existing coal-fired units in Zabrze and Bytom, will primarily be fuelled by refuse derived fuel (RDF) and coal but will also be designed to handle biomass and a mixture of fuels. The amount of RDF can be up to 50% of the total fuel usage. The residential and industrial waste for RDF is sourced locally.

The plant will have a production capacity of 220MW including 145MW of heat and 75MW of electricity. Annual production is estimated to be approximately 730GWh of heat and 550GWh of electricity.

Ground will break later this year, subject to the local environmental impact assessment process and other negotiations.

‘We want to contribute to the ongoing transformation of the Polish energy sector,’ says Markus Rauramo, executive VP of heat, electricity sales and solutions division at Fortum. ‘Poland is one of the biggest district heating markets in Europe, and we are well established there.’

Fortum has been operating in Poland since 2003. It currently has four CHP units and over 800km of district heating network, which serve in total 360,000 households in the cities of Płock, Wrocław, Częstochowa, Zabrze and Bytom. The
total power generation capacity is currently over 200MW and heat generation capacity over 1,100MW.