Renewable Energy
First Light, the company inaugurated Canada’s first operational solar energy park (Fig. 1). In another tie-up, Duke Energy and SunEdison
have activated the final phases of a 17.2MW solar farm in Davidson County, North Carolina, USA. Constructed in five phases and covering over
200 acres of land, the project is comprised of more than 63 000 photovoltaic solar panels and is expected to generate an estimated 28 million kWh - enough energy to power more than 2600 homes a year. Te solar farm was made possible through a solar
energy service agreement between SunEdison and Duke Energy whereby SunEdison designed and deployed the project and will be responsible for the ongoing operations and maintenance of the facility.
Mainland Europe goes solar ABB has won a US$50m (€36m) order from Phenix Renewables to deliver a 24 MW photovoltaic solar power plant in Lazio, central Italy. Once connected to the grid, the Phenix solar plant will supply up to 35 GWh of electricity a year, avoiding the generation of over 25 000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, equivalent to the annual emission of over 10 000 European cars. ABB will be responsible for the design, engineering,
erection, civil works and commissioning of the plant. ABB’s modular EBoP (electrical balance of plant) concept will enable fast track execution within four months.
Te 24.2MW plant is based on single-axis trackers,
which precisely follow the position of the sun to position photovoltaic panels at the best angle for maximum energy production. Key ABB products in this project include low- and medium-voltage switchgear, transformers, cables, the automation and control system and protection equipment. ABB will also build a 150kV substation equipped with the latest monitoring and control system to facilitate reliable and
efficient integration of the electrical power generated by the solar panels into the grid.
Photovoltaic plants Siemens Energy has received a follow-up order for the turnkey construction of eight photovoltaic plants in Italy. Te solar power plants will be erected in the Marche and Abruzzo regions, between the Adriatic Sea and the Apennine Mountains. Te customer is Viridis Energia, a joint venture between Echidna and LaGI. After completion in spring 2011 the combined rating of 14MW will provide about 5000 households in Italy with environmentally friendly power. As the EPC contractor, Siemens is responsible for the turnkey construction, engineering and project management of the photovoltaic plants. Te scope of supply includes the full range of Siemens components, such as inverters, medium-voltage equipment as well as monitoring systems. Siemens has already received an order for the construction of another 3 MW photovoltaic plant located in the Marche region from the same customer. Also in Italy, OPDE ITALIA has begun the
construction of six new photovoltaic solar farms in the region of Piedmont. Te combined generating capacity of all farms is 26MW, and €120m will initially be invested in the projects. Te company currently has more than 58 MW of solar projects on its books. OPDE is also involved with ArcelorMittal
Construcción España to develop the photovoltaic roof-top market in industrial buildings and car parks. Te use of the roofs and canopies to generate electrical power is a growing market and is an architectural solution for energy self-sufficiency and combating climate change. ArcelorMittal Construcción España already has three different solutions for roof-top photovoltaic installations in industrial buildings, canopies and fixed structures. Tis agreement opens up the opportunity to use OPDE’s photovoltaic
Portable welding solution for world’s largest solar plant F
ield System Machining (FSM), the field machining, portable machining, turbine overhaul and mill machinery
repair pioneer, has completed three weeks of turbine steam path outage welding and machining repairs in Boron, California, at the world’s largest solar electric power plant – Solar Energy Generating Systems (SEGS).
FSM, working for Mitsubishi Power
Systems, brought its 33 years of turbine and steam path expertise to bear at SEGS. The company’s work scopes included machining out valve seats, welding in
44
www.engineerlive.com
new valve seats, turbine case inner gland welding and machining, stud extraction, and excavating, welding and machining steam cutting on the turbine shell horizontal joint. SEGS’s nine Mohave Desert plants
have a total of 354 MW installed capacity, making it the largest installation of solar plants of any kind in the world. “We’re delighted to work with
Mitsubishi once again,” said Tony Piwowarczyk, FSM’s business development director. “We value the relationships we’ve developed with our OEM customers,
and we are pleased to continue our relationship as the portable machining and welding company of choice for Mitsubishi Power Systems. “When a turbine OEM needs portable machining and weld repair expertise, and Mitsubishi taps our talent repeatedly, you get an idea about our quality, service and speed,” said Piwowarczyk. “As far as working at the world’s largest solar plant, this is only part of our overall push into renewable energy for 2011 – we are also presently working on up-tower machining opportunities in wind energy.” l
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68