POWER May 2020 - 14

GLOBAL MONITOR
5. The Uskmouth coal-to-waste conversion
project is designed to use sustainable
fuel pellets that are composed of 50%
high-energy non-recyclable plastic and 50%
biogenic material, like paper and cardboard.
After pellets are received from a pelleting facility,
they are fed into mills, where they are
pulverized and then combusted. Courtesy:
SIMEC Atlantis Energy
with Dutch recycling group N+P Group BV
to produce end-of-waste energy pellets,
which essentially comprise equal proportions
of waste biogenic material, such as
paper and cardboard, and other forms of
waste, such as plastic. As Cornelius noted,
securing this fuel supply was crucial.
" Unlike traditional waste incinerators,
the primary purpose of the Uskmouth
power station is the generation and sale
of electricity, rather than the disposal of
waste and the receipt of the associated
fees from the producers of that waste, "
he said. " Rather than charging fees for
waste disposal, the Uskmouth power station
will buy fuel pellets, which are created
from waste streams that are carefully
processed to ensure strict adherence to
an agreed specification and high calorific
value relative to raw waste. This is economically
viable because of the high fuel
quality and high efficiency of power station
conversion, coupled with a low fuel price. "
By March 2019, the company had completed
the return to service and plant
readiness review, and only a month later,
it reported it had completed pilot-scale
fuel production runs and milling. In April
2019, it also successfully completed combustion
tests of the waste pellets, confirming
a 100% solid recovered fuel (SRF)
flame stability. Then, in October 2019, it
revealed that its fuel supplier Simec Subcoal
Fuels, formed from the N+P Group
joint venture, would assemble a dedicated
industrial-scale pilot production line for
supply of the test fuel at its existing pelleting
facility in the Netherlands. And in
another significant step, it also brought on
board Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems
Europe GmbH (MHPS Europe), awarding
it a contract to carry out the design and
development of the combustion system
14
for the Uskmouth project. The contract
covers large-scale milling trials, which
were completed in Germany this March.
The next stage now entails final largescale
combustion trials at a 24-MW
MHPS test facility in Nagasaki, Japan.
If these efforts result in a final validation
of the fuel specification, and the mill and
burner designs, SIMEC Atlantis will award
the major engineering, procurement, and
construction contract for the supply of a
full combustion system. In documents
published in early March, the company
said construction could begin later this
year, and it expects commercial operations
to commence in 2021. Thereafter,
it plans to sell power from the 220-MW
(with the potential to be expanded by 70
MW) facility through two 20-year power
purchase agreements (PPAs) with GFG
Alliance companies.
-Sonal Patel is a POWER
senior associate editor.
POWER Digest
OPG Reaches First Criticality at Darlington
2, Delays Work at Unit 3. Ontario
Power Generation's (OPG's) Darlington
Unit 2 reactor, the first of four reactors the
company is overhauling at the Darlington
Nuclear Generating Station in Clarington,
Canada, achieved first criticality on April 9.
The major milestone was accomplished
amid the COVID-19 outbreak. " Achieving
first criticality on the unit required an incredibly
complex sequence of work that
included ensuring that construction was
complete, all documentation was in order,
and multiple systems were returned
to service, " said Mehri Molanaie, key evolution
manager. " All this led to approval
from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission
to proceed. We can now move
forward and complete the final steps of
returning this unit to service. " The unit is
scheduled to return to service this spring.
OPG, however, rescheduled refurbishment
work at Unit 3 for the fall, owing
to the pandemic. The decision came
after considering several factors, including
technical constraints on equipment,
coordination with other facility outages,
financial impacts, supply chain conditions,
access to skilled tradespeople and
professionals, and regulatory approvals.
The revised timeline will still maintain the
project's overall schedule, and OPG plans
to complete refurbishment of all four Darlington
units by 2026.
EuroAfrica Issues Tender for 1-GW
Subsea HVDC Phase. EuroAfrica Interconnector
on April 6 initiated a €650
million tender for the engineering, prowww.powermag.com
curement,
construction, and installation
(EPCI) of a 1-GW subsea high-voltage direct-current
(HVDC) line between Egypt,
Cyprus, and Greece (Crete and Attica). Securing
the contract will allow EuroAfrica
to begin the construction phase of the
mega-project, which envisions a 2-GW
HVDC line laid deep under the Mediterranean
Basin to enhance Europe's energy
security and diversity. Construction will
take place in two phases: Cyprus-Egypt,
expected to be completed in December
2022, and Cyprus-Greece, expected to be
completed in December 2023. The first
phase is estimated to cost €2.5 billion.
In March, Egyptian Electricity Transmission
Co. and Nicosia, Cyprus-based
EuroAfrica Interconnector signed a framework
agreement for the construction of
the 310-kilometer (km) part of the project.
The Cyprus-Crete section spans 879 km,
and the Crete-Attica section spans 329
km. Greece and Cyprus are involved in
another project, the EuroAsia Interconnector,
which foresees construction of a
1,518-km cable that will connect the electricity
grids of Cyprus, Israel, Crete, and
Attica in Greece.
Uniper and Siemens Team on Green
Hydrogen Development. European power
and gas giant Uniper and Siemens
Gas and Power on April 8 signed a notable
agreement to cooperate on the development
of green hydrogen projects for
power generation, mobility, and industry.
Under the agreement, the companies will
evaluate Uniper's existing gas turbine and
gas storage facilities to determine how
they can use hydrogen. " The focus of the
work is to define what role can hydrogen
play in the future evolution of Uniper's
coal power plants, " the companies said
in a joint release. At the end of January,
immediately after Germany published its
coal exit law, Uniper announced it would
close or convert its own coal-fired power
plants in Germany by 2025. " Uniper's
coal-exit plan is instrumental to make the
company achieve its objective of becoming
climate neutral in its European power
generation by 2035, " the company said.
While the company already produces 24
TWh of hydro and nuclear power, under
a new strategy, it intends to increase the
share of green gas in its conventional gas
business, both for power generation and
energy trading. Siemens Gas and Power,
which is slated to be spun-off as part of
Siemens Energy with a planned stock listing,
has been developing hydrogen gas
turbines as well as " brownfield transformation "
projects, which it says are designed
to decarbonize coal-fired plants
POWER | May 2020
http://www.powermag.com
POWER May 2020

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