POWER September 2022 - 13

GLOBAL MONITOR
gas (LNG) exporter during the first half
of 2022, the U.S. Energy Information
Administration (EIA) reported on July
25. The federal statistical agency said
U.S. LNG exports increased by 12% in
the first half of 2022, averaging 11.2 billion
cubic feet per day (Bcf/d). Exports
have ramped up owing to increased
LNG export capacity, increased international
natural gas and LNG prices, and
increased global demand, particularly
from Europe. Europe has increasingly
imported more LNG to make up for constrained
pipeline supplies from Russia
and fill natural gas storage inventories
as winter approaches. As in 2021, the
U.S. sent the most LNG to the European
Union and the UK during the first half
of the year, providing 47% of the 14.8
Bcf/d of Europe's total LNG imports, followed
by Qatar at 15%, Russia at 14%,
and four African countries, combined at
17%, the EIA said. U.S. export capacity
has meanwhile steadily expanded since
November 2021. Capacity additions include
a sixth train at Sabine Pass LNG,
18 new mid-scale liquefaction trains at
Calcasieu Pass LNG, and increased production
capacity at Corpus Christi LNG.
As of July 2022, the EIA said that U.S.
LNG liquefaction capacity averaged 11.4
Bcf/d, with a shorter-term peak capacity
of 13.9 Bcf/d.
National Grid Proposes UK Grid Expansion
to Connect 23 GW of Offshore
Wind by 2030. National Grid, a UKbased
firm focused on transmission and
distribution of electricity and gas, on July
7 unveiled a £54 billion ($65.4 billion) plan
to upgrade the UK's grid and support the
" large-scale " delivery of offshore wind
power. The plan, described in the company's
" Pathway to 2030 Holistic Network
Design " (HND), is the first step toward
more centralized, strategic network planning.
It responds to the UK government's
ambitious target to deliver 50 GW of offshore
wind by 2030-a dramatic rampup
compared to the nation's currently
installed offshore wind capacity of 11.3
GW. Supported by the government's
2020-issued Offshore Transmission
Network Review (OTNR), HND recommends
connecting all 18 " in scope " offshore
wind farms with a total capacity of
23 GW to the onshore network with 15
landing points to shore. It identifies 11
onshore transmission projects and offshore
connections to transfer power and
avoid bottlenecks on the network, particularly
between west Scotland and north
Wales, as well as between east Scotland
and the east of England. Technology recommended
in the offshore design includes
a 275-kV high-voltage alternating
current offshore circuit with substations
and cables; 10 new 525-kV high-voltage
direct current (HVDC) circuits with HVDC
converter stations, offshore substations,
and cables; and two new multi-terminal
HVDC systems.
NTPC Commissions 100-MW Floating
Solar Project. NTPC, India's largest
power utility, has commissioned a
100-MW floating solar project at Ramagundam,
in Peddapalli District, Telangana
state. The project-India's largest floating
solar installation to date-is located
near NTPC's coal-fired 2.6-GW Ramagundam
plant, spread over 600 acres of
a reservoir. The project responds to the
Indian government's ambitious target
of building 500 GW of non-fossil capacity
by 2030. NTPC is targeting 60 GW of
renewable projects by 2032. Large-scale
floating solar is a feasible solution given
that it saves 2,000 million liters of water
annually, NTPC said. The company has already
commissioned 222 MW of floating
solar projects. Another 40 projects are in
the construction stage. ■
-Sonal Patel is a senior associate editor
for POWER.
September 2022 | POWER
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POWER September 2022

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