POWER May 2023 - 11

GLOBAL MONITOR
approval to build the plant and connect it
to the grid in October 2019.
FutEra is now readying for the project's
next phase, which will entail adding solar
generation to the plant's footprint. The
company is also exploring adding carbon
capture " with usage and/or sequestration, "
it said. Swan Hills, notably, hosted
an EOR carbon dioxide injection pilot in
2007, and " minimal capital " would be
required to restart injection operations.
The objective is " to create a net negative
carbon emitting traditional oil and gas asset, "
the company said.
Meanwhile, future endeavors could
focus on " larger, lower emissions natural
gas and renewable electricity generation
projects with similar themes-leveraging
Razor and other oil and gas producer's
operations to create financial and tactically
advantaged development scenarios
and prospective competitive returns to
investors, " FutEra said. For now, Razor
and FutEra are eyeing a second co-produced
geothermal power project. While
that project is still in the design phase, it
could be " ready to construct in 2023/24, "
FutEra said.
-Sonal Patel is a senior
associate editor for POWER.
POWER Digest
European Grid Operator Secures 22
GW of HVDC Projects. European transmission
system operator (TSO) TenneT
will lead a charge to install 11 2-GW
high-voltage direct current (HVDC) systems
by 2031. A long-term agreement
the grid operator unveiled on March
30 includes three collaborations. Under
one collaboration, TenneT awarded
multiyear agreements to a team comprising
Hitachi Energy and UK energy
services firm Petrofac to connect five
Dutch projects that will be connected
in Borssele (IJmuiden Ver Alpha, Nederwiek
1), Eemshaven (Doordewind 1 and
Doordewind 2), and Geertruidenberg or
Moerdijk (Nederwiek 3). The collaboration
also covers a German project,
LanWin5, which will be connected in
Rastede. A separate team comprising
GE and Singapore firm Sembcorp
Marine will also work on three Dutch
projects (IJmuiden Ver Beta, IJmuiden
Ver Gamma and Nederwiek 2). GE Grid
Solutions and engineering firm McDermott
will, meanwhile, jointly execute
two German projects BalWin4 and LanWin1
that will be connected in Unterweser.
The 2-GW program is strongly
focused on harmonization and standardization,
TenneT said.
May 2023 | POWER
EDF Establishes Subsidiary to Develop
NUWARD, European SMR. EDF, an
entity that is majority held by the French
government, on March 30 established
NUWARD, a new subsidiary that will
strengthen development of the 340-MWe
NUWARD small modular reactor (SMR).
NUWARD was unveiled in 2019 by EDF,
France's Alternative Energies and Atomic
Energy Commission (CEA), French
defense contractor Naval Group, and
TechnicAtome, a designer of naval propulsion
nuclear reactors and an operator
of nuclear defense facilities. Belgian engineering
firm Tractabel and French nuclear
equipment giant Framatome have also
recently joined the effort. NUWARD has
finalized the conceptual design phase and
will shift to the basic design phase, EDF
said. The company plans to submit a design
and safety options file (DOS) to the
French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN)
in July 2023. " NUWARD will also engage
with the French state's authorities to assess
and select possible sites for the reference
plant in France. " EDF's objective is to
achieve first nuclear concrete in 2030 for a
reference plant in France. " Together with
EDF, NUWARD will further pursue development
of cooperation arrangements and
commitments with international prospects
who are considering deploying the NUWARD
SMR as part of their energy transition
or who aspire to join the NUWARD
SMR supply chain, " it said.
License Received for Unit 3 at Giant
Egyptian 4.8-GWe Nuclear Plant. Russian
state-owned entity Rosatom on
March 30 received the green light from
the Egyptian Nuclear and Radiological
Regulatory Authority (ENRRA) to
begin construction of the third El-Dabaa
nuclear unit. The milestone is the latest
since first concrete was poured for Unit
1 in July 2022 and for Unit 2 in November
2022. The 4.8-GWe El-Dabaa power
plant will be Egypt's first nuclear power
plant-and it is the only one under construction
in Africa (which has only one
nuclear plant, Eskom's 1984-opened
1,940-MWe Koeberg facility in South
Africa). The project, which is sited in the
city of El-Dabaa, Matrouh Governorate,
on the Mediterranean coast, roughly 300
kilometers northwest of Cairo, will comprise
four VVER-1200 pressurized water
reactor units. So far, the only plants
showcasing Rosatom's Gen III+ technology
are at Novovoronezh and Leningrad
in Russia, and the 2.4-GWe Ostrovets
facility in Belarus. While Ostrovets 1 was
completed in June 2021, the second unit
is set to be operational in October 2023.
www.powermag.com
Report: Global Coal Power Pipeline
'Drying Up.' Total operating and planned
coal capacity fell in 2022 in developed
and developing countries excluding China,
non-profit data-driven group Global
Energy Monitor reports in its latest
" Boom and Bust Coal 2023 " publication.
The group's data suggests 26 GW
of coal capacity was retired in 2022 and
another 25 GW is slated to be closed
by 2030. " However, China's planned
capacity increased by 126 GW, far offsetting
the changes in the rest of the
world, " it notes. " Globally, the operating
coal fleet grew by 19.5 GW, or less than
1%, in 2022. More than half (59%) of
the 45.5 GW of newly commissioned
capacity was in China, with 14 countries
in total adding new coal power. Outside
China, the global coal fleet continued to
shrink, although at a slower rate than in
previous years. " So far, total coal capacity
under development " has remained
relatively level since 2019 after a significant
collapse from highs in 2014, " the
group added. " The figure hit a record
low of 479 GW in 2021 but inched back
up to 537 GW in 2022, a 12% one-year
increase led by China. " Coal retirements
prominently surged in the U.S.-with
13.5 GW retired in 2022. In the European
Union, which retired a " record
high " of 14.6 GW in 2021, the gas crisis
slowed retirements. Only 2.2 GW was
retired last year. Coal plant construction,
notably, also continues in India. " The
country has 28.5 GW of coal power capacity
planned, up 2.6 GW in 2022, and
32 GW of coal power capacity under
construction, " it said.
Floating Wind Power Pilot Under
Development in Portugal. Gazelle Wind
Power, developer of a modular floating
offshore wind platform, has teamed up
with renewable energy developer WAM
Horizon (WAM) to develop a pilot plant
based on Gazelle's floating wind platform
in Aguçadoura, Portugal. Gazelle's platform
is designed to respond to waves
through the action of a central counterweight
connected via its tripodal arms
to anchors on the seabed. The company
says the platform's key benefits are that
it is light, and it occupies less than 20%
of the footprint when compared with catenary
mooring systems in water depths
of 100 meters. The platform is also simpler
to build, deploy, and maintain, which
translates to lower costs. WAM will provide
Gazelle with strategic advisory to
successfully implement this project. ■
-Sonal Patel is a senior
associate editor for POWER.
11
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POWER May 2023

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