POWER August 2014 - 14

years until 2022, just days after the country's
network operator scrapped plans to
build a high voltage direct current link to
the wind farm for cost reasons. The political
agreement between the government
and the opposition Liberal Party would
also slash the " Public Service Obligation "
energy tax paid by consumers to
$840 million per year from $1.19 billion
(with total reductions of $2.42 billion
by 2020). It also would reduce planned
near-shore offshore wind projects to 400
MW from 450 MW and put a price cap on
those projects. Additionally, it requires
slashing state subsidies to onshore wind
projects by $18.2 million through 2020.
Denmark has called for 100% of its entire
energy supply, including transport, to be
covered by renewables by 2020. In 2013,
the country's 5,196 wind farms (with a total
capacity of 4.8 GW, including 1.2 GW
of offshore wind) generated 9.4 TWh. No
generation data for 2013 is yet available,
but in 2012, Denmark generated a total
244 TWh.
Troubled Eskom Initiates Blackouts.
South African power utility Eskom
initiated rolling blackouts lasting two
hours on June 17, citing a " severely constrained "
electricity system. The incident
follows a similar event in March, which
was the first in the six years since the
utility was forced to take measures to
prevent a collapse of the grid. Eskom has
struggled to keep pace with soaring national
demand by embarking on ambitious
plans to expand generating capacity. The
state-owned monopoly has also been under
scrutiny for its financial management,
which some assert has delayed completion
of the 4-GW Medupi and Kusile coal-fired
power plants and prolonged Eskom's reliance
on more expensive gas-fired plants.
In early July, work on the two plants was
again disrupted as construction workers
joined a nationwide metal and engineering
workers' strike.
Toshiba and GDF Suez to Partner
on 3.4-GW UK Nuclear Plant. Japanese
firm Toshiba Corp. and French company
GDF Suez on June 30 inked a deal that
would see Toshiba acquire a 60% stake
and GDF Suez retain a 40% holding in
NuGeneration Ltd. (NuGen), the UKbased
nuclear power company that has
proposed to build three Westinghouse
AP1000 reactors at the Moorside plant
in West Cumbria. The companies said a
deal has also been concluded with UK
regulator the Nuclear Decommissioning
Authority on the extension of a land
option agreement for the Moorside site.
The planned 3.4-GW plant-the largest
14
proposed nuclear plant in Europe-will
be fully completed by 2024; each reactor
is expected to take about four years
to build. Westinghouse intends to use
its Springfields facility, which currently
makes fuel for the entire UK fleet of advanced
gas-cooled reactors, to manufacture
fuel for the Westinghouse AP1000
reactors built in the UK. However, NuGen
has yet to make a final investment decision,
which it said could possibly come
before the end of 2018.
Nigeria to Resume Work on 3-GW
Mambilla Hydro Project. Nigeria's government
on June 24 disclosed that work
on the much-delayed 3-GW Mambilla
Hydro Dam in Taraba state would " soon
commence. " Vice President Mohammed
Sambo said in a release that all designs of
the major hydro project have been completed,
and as soon " as other logistics are
in place, " work will resume at the site.
The 1982-conceived project comprises
three dams across the River Donga and
a dozen 254-MW hydroelectric units. But
the controversial facility, which could be
Africa's largest, has been repeatedly delayed.
The government in 2006 awarded
tenders of $1.4 billion for the first phase
of the project to China Gezhouba Group
Co. Ltd. and China Geo-Engineering
Corp., but though a 15% payment advance
was initiated, the government canceled
that contract and re-awarded it to
another Chinese firm, Sinohydro, which is
building the $1.2 billion 700-MW Zungeru
hydro plant.
PETRONAS Advances 1.2-GW CHP
Plant in Malaysia. Siemens and Malaysian
consortium partner MMC Engineering
Services dn Bhd (MMCES) on June
23 received an order from Malaysia's stateowned
petroleum corporation, PETRONAS,
for the turnkey construction of the
Pengerang Co-generation Plant (PCP) in
the state of Johor. Each of the plant's four
co-generation units comprises an H-class
gas turbine, a waste-heat recovery steam
generator, a steam turbine, and associated
mechanical, electrical, and control
systems. Siemens said the plant will be
able to produce 1,220 MWe of power and
up to 1,480 metric tons per hour of steam
for the Pengerang Integrated Complex
(PIC), PETRONAS' mega development in
Pengerang, Southern Johor. The first unit
is slated to go online in mid-2017 and will
also supply power to the national grid for
public consumption. The remaining units
will supply to PIC's facilities. ■
-Sonal Patel is a POWER associate editor
(@sonalcpatel, @POWERmagazine).
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POWER August 2014

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