POWER September 2014 - 16

power in July 2013. Meanwhile, work continues
on three other large projects on the
Jinsha River cascade, including at the 6.4GW
Xiangjiaba dam, which should be fully
operational by July 2015.
POWER Digest
EU Doles Out €1 Billion in Funding for
Renewable Projects Under NER 300.
The European Commission on July 10
awarded €1 billion ($1.34 billion) to 19
renewable energy projects and a carbon
capture and storage (CCS) project under
its NER 300 program. The projects will
cumulatively raise European Union (EU)
renewable energy production by about 18
TWh annually. Capture Power's White Rose
CCS project in the UK secured the highest
award of €300 million, followed by E.ON's
200-MW Bio2G biomass gasification plant,
which won €203.7 million. Projects will be
hosted in Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia,
France, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Portugal,
Spain, Sweden, and the UK.
Mexico to Offer Power, Gas Infrastructure
Contracts. Mexico's stateowned
power company, CFE, will by the
end of this year offer $2.8 billion in contracts
to build two combined-cycle power
plants, two natural gas pipelines, and a
transmission line near Mexico's northern
border with the U.S. to boost natural gas
imports from the U.S. The contracts for
the projects that could be operational
by 2017 are expected to be open to
private firms. They will include the $1
billion combined cycle Norte III power
plant near Ciudad Juarez and the 714-MW
combined cycle Guaymas II power plant
in Sonora state. Also included is the
263-mile Encino-La Laguna natural gas
pipeline, which will transport gas from
southern Texas for supply in the northern
Chihuahua and Durango states, and the
268-mile Huasteca-Monterrey transmission
line. CFE said the projects will help
tamp down electricity rates.
AREVA and Gamesa Partner to
Capture More European Offshore
Wind Market Share. France's AREVA
and Spain's Gamesa on July 7 formed
a 50/50 joint venture to combine their
offshore wind assets, including a 2.8GW
project pipeline. The companies said
their joint venture's objective is to garner
a market share of close to 20% in
Europe by 2020. AREVA has developed
5-MW and 8-MW offshore wind turbines
and installed 630 MW so far, while
Gamesa will contribute its 5-MW offshore
platform and offshore research and
development knowledge. The companies
16
will target markets in Germany, France,
and the UK, where installed capacity is
slated to exceed 25 GW in 2020.
MHPS-Led Consortium to Build Lignite
Ultrasupercritical Unit in Poland.
A consortium comprising Mitsubishi Hitachi
Power Systems' (MHPS') European
division, Polish civil engineering company
Budimex SA, and Spanish engineering firm
Técnicas Reunidas, S.A. in July signed a
contract with Poland's state-owned power
provider, Polska Grupa Energetyczna
S.A., to build a lignite-fired ultrasupercritical
unit at Turów, Poland. The 450-MW
coal unit is slated to begin operations in
the middle of 2019.
Poland has one of the world's largest
coal reserves-mostly lignite, which
has a high water content that makes it
less efficient to burn-and it generates
90% of its gross power from coal. MHPS
said that by installing desulfurization
equipment with high-efficiency boilers,
the company is able to provide power
generation systems that make effective
use of lignite with reduced emissions
compared to older plants. The company
plans to " undertake aggressive marketing
in a broad range of countries and
regions where demand for coal-fired
power generation systems is expected
to increase-especially in Eastern Europe,
Russia, Turkey and Indonesia, " it
said in July.
Candu Energy, CNPEC Agree to Cooperate
on Romanian Reactors. SNCLavalin's
Candu Energy on July 24 signed
a binding and exclusive cooperation agreement
with China Nuclear Power Engineering
Co. (CNPEC) for the construction
of CANDU Units 3 and 4 at the Cernavoda
Nuclear Power Plant in Romania. Romania
already has two operating CANDU 6 nuclear
reactors, which came into service in 1996
and 2007. The agreement follows a letter of
intent signed by CNPEC's parent company
China General Nuclear Power Group and
Romanian utility Societatea Nationala
Nuclearelectrica in November 2013 for investment
in and development of two additional
nuclear units at the Cernavoda site.
Russia OKs 10-Year Life Extension
for Kalinin. Russian regulators in late
June allowed Rosenergoatom to extend
the life of the Kalinin-1 nuclear reactor by
10 years until 2025. Kalinin is a four-unit
plant located in the western Tver region
near the town of Udomiya. The plant's
first two units began commercial operation
in 1986 and 1987. Rosenergoatom
completed Kalinin 3 and 4 in 2004 and
2012, respectively. ■
-Sonal Patel is a POWER associate editor
(@sonalcpatel, @POWERmagazine).
Most-Read Stories at powermag.com in July
Top 5 stories from the print magazine:
* Steam Turbine Rotor Vibration Failures: Causes and
Solutions
* Blurring the Line Between Temporary and Permanent
Power
* Energy Storage Technologies Primer
* The Water-Energy Nexus Takes Center Stage
* Does IGCC Have a Future?
Top 5 stories from POWERnews:
* Ginna Fights to Avoid Being Next Nuclear Plant
Shuttered
* Construction Begins on World's Largest Carbon Capture
Retrofit
* McCarthy Fields Carbon Rule Concerns on Coal, Costs,
Climate Change
* Germany Reforms Renewable Energy Laws
* Southern Co. Considering New Nuclear Plant, But That's
Not All
All POWER content is available at powermag.com via the
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