POWER September 2020 - 14

GLOBAL MONITOR
GTI is responsible for overall management of the project, including
technology management, systems engineering, major
component procurements, and will participate in testing in a test
management role. Along with providing the host test site, SwRI
is responsible for the facility design engineering, construction of
the test facility, and the supporting utility infrastructure. " As host
site, SwRI will manage the hardware installation and system assembly,
perform facility commissioning, and execute test operations, "
the organization said. GE, meanwhile, has provided the
technical definition for the turbomachinery, the turbo-expander
(in collaboration with SwRI), and the compression system, as
well as a first-of-a-kind sCO2
turbine stop/control valve based on
its line of valves for high-pressure steam turbines.
The project is also notably being supported by a joint industry
program team, which includes a steering committee to ensure
a collaborative process throughout the project lifecycle.
Current members include Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO),
Southern Co. Services, American Electric Power, and Natural
Resources Canada.
GTI is separately also exploring an indirectly heated coal/
biomass-based Oxy-fired Pressurized Fluidized Bed Combustor
(Oxy-PFBC), and a novel high-pressure oxy-combustor for
direct-fired sCO2
PFBC system, sCO2
power cycles. " In the indirectly-heated Oxyis
heated via a set of hermetically-sealed
heat exchangers embedded in a footerbubbling bed of solid fuel
(coal and/or biomass) particles that are combusted in a mixture
of oxygen and recycled CO2
at about 8 bar, " GTI said. The resulting
" compact combustor " is expected to lower the technology's
capital cost while enabling higher plant efficiencies and reducing
CO2
capture costs. In the sCO2
oxy-combustor project, GTI is
designing a novel high-pressure oxy-combustor for direct-fired
sCO2
cycles. The design concept, which is derived from rocket
engine injectors, could offer performance improvements over
more traditional gas turbine-derived combustors, GTI said.
-Sonal Patel is a POWER senior
associate editor.
POWER Digest
Milestone for First 700-MW Domestically Built Indian Nuclear Reactor.
Unit 3 of the Kakrapar nuclear power plant in the Indian
state of Gujarat-an indigenously designed 700-MW pressurized
heavy water reactor (PHWR)-attained a sustained chain
reaction for the first time, state-owned Nuclear Power Corp.
of India Ltd. (NPCIL) reported on July 22. NPCIL celebrated
the milestone as a " historic development, " noting the project
is the country's first nuclear plant to source domestically produced
components and equipment. It was also built by various
Indian contractors, it said. Fuel loading of the reactor core was
completed by mid-March 2020, and several tests thereafter
were completed despite strict COVID lockdown measures.
As part of future steps, various experiments and tests will be
conducted before power is progressively ramped up, and the
plant is connected to the Western grid. Kakrapar 3 is a suite
of eight planned 700-MW PHWRs by India's government. After
Kakrapar 3 is grid connected, expected by October, Kakrapar 4
is scheduled to come online in September 2021. Two units under
construction in Rajasthan are expected to be commissioned
in March 2022 for Unit 7 and Unit 8 in 2023.
AES Secures Early Termination of Chilean Coal Plant PPAs. AES
Gener, AES Corp.'s South American subsidiary, on Aug. 10 said
it reached an agreement for the early termination of two power
purchase agreements (PPAs) related to the 558-MW Angamos
coal-fired plant in Chile. " Per this agreement, the PPAs will
cease in August 2021. This year, Angamos will receive a payment
of $720 million, primarily reflecting the present value of fixed
charges through 2029, as stipulated in the PPAs, " the company
said. " As a result of this agreement, AES Gener is accelerating all
future payments from two of its long-term coal generation contracts,
for a total of $720 million, " said Andrés Gluski, AES president
and CEO. " This transaction also expedites the timeline of
AES Gener's decarbonization program, while providing additional
funding for AES Gener's current backlog of 2 GW of renewable
projects. " As of 2022, Angamos will be fully merchant. AES
said, " Once the system no longer requires the plant to ensure
the reliability of the grid, AES Gener will proceed to shut it down,
having fully recovered its expected return and investment. "
ENTSO-E Urges Massive Grid Expansion, Multi-Sectorial Planning
Support. ENTSO-E, the European network of 42 electricity
transmission system operators (TSOs) from 35 countries across
Europe, suggested in its latest " System Needs Study " that the
region will need a total of 50 GW of cross-border transmission
capacity reinforcements on nearly 40 borders in 2030 and 43 GW
more on 55 borders in 2040 to keep the region's power reliability
and costs " under control. " The 93 GW finding goes significantly
beyond the 35 GW the grid operators' group previously identified
and is under construction or planned until 2025. The study, which
is carried out biannually, forms part of the organization's Ten-Year
Network Development Plan (TYNDP), a long-term plan on how
the electricity transmission grid is expected to evolve in Europe
to implement European Union climate and energy goals. Among
ENTSO-E's other key findings are that substantial investments in
the transmission grid could drastically reduce costs. " Investing
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POWER September 2020

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