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Solar power will be ‘half of new US capacity in 2022’
USA Solar energy
The US Energy Information Administration forecasts that in 2022, 46.1 GW of new utility-scale electric generating capacity will be added to the USA’s power grid. The prediction comes from the EIA’s ‘Preliminary Monthly electric Generator Inventory’. Almost half of the planned 2022 capacity additions are solar, followed by natural gas at 21% and wind at 17%. The information comes from developers and power plant owners in regular reports to the EIA about planned additions.
EIA expects US utility-scale solar generating capacity to grow by 21.5 GW in 2022, exceeding last year’s 15.5 GW of additions. Most planned solar additions in 2022 will be
in Texas (6.1 GW, or 28% of the national total), followed by California (4.0 GW). It is expected that 9.6 GW of new natural gas-fired capacity will come online. Combined- cycle plants account for 8.1 GW of the planned capacity additions and combustion- turbine plants for 1.4 GW. Almost all (88%) of the planned natural gas capacity is located in Ohio, Florida, Michigan, and Illinois. In 2021, a record-high 17.1 GW of wind capacity came online in the USA. Another 7.6 GW of wind capacity is scheduled to come online in 2022. About half (51%) of the 2022 wind capacity additions are located in Texas. The 999 MW Traverse Wind Energy Center in Oklahoma, the largest wind project expected to come online in 2022, is scheduled to begin
commercial operations in April.
Utility-scale battery storage capacity in the country is forecast to grow by 5.1 GW, or 84%, in 2022. Several factors have helped its expansion, including declining costs of battery storage, deploying battery storage with renewable generation, and adding value through regional transmission organisation (RTO) markets.
Another 5% of the country’s planned electric capacity additions in 2022 will come from two new reactors at the Vogtle nuclear power plant in Georgia. One of these reactors, Unit 3, was expected to come online in 2021, but the unit’s planned start date was delayed until June 2022 to allow additional time for construction and testing.
Langley completes acquisition of Bergen from R-R
Europe Mergers & acquisitions Langley Holdings has completed the acquisition of the Norwegian Bergen Engines group from Rolls-Royce for a consideration of €91 million. €16 million of cash held within Bergen Engines AS has been retained by Rolls-Royce.
Completion of the transaction, which was announced in August, follows the conclusion of the work needed to separate the business from the Rolls-Royce group.
As of 31 December 2021, Langley formally acquired Bergen Engines AS as a stand-alone group including its engine factory, service workshop and foundry in Norway, its engine and power plant design capability, and its global service network and subsidiaries in nine countries.
In 2021, Bergen Engines generated revenues of approximately €250 million. The group employs almost 950 people
worldwide, of which more than 600 are based at its headquarters and production facilities near Bergen, in Norway.
Going forward, Bergen will be operated as a stand-alone business unit focused - in addition to its traditional markets - on the rapidly developing microgrid power generation sector, an area central to Langley’s net zero strategy, and is to become the core of a newly formed Power Solutions Division, working closely with the group’s Italian Marelli Motori and German Piller Power Systems subsidiaries. Chairman & CEO, Mr Tony Langley commented: “The acquisition of Bergen Engines is a major step towards our net zero objectives. The company has a superb reputation and is proving to be highly innovative in adapting its engines to low- carbon and non-fossil fuels. Coupled with that, the emerging microgrid sector fits perfectly to our long-term sustainability goals.”
In October, Langley gave the go-ahead to a €4 million research project to be funded jointly with the Norwegian government. The AMAZE (Ammonia Zero Emissions) project is developing the use of ammonia as an
alternative fuel for marine engines.
Left: Bergen’s deep water port in Norway
Huge New Mexico wind project online USA Wind power
The Pattern Energy Group announced in January that its Western Spirit Wind project, a group of four wind farms capable of producing together a total of 1050 MW, is online and producing its full output. It took the company just over a year to complete the project. “This project literally changed the map of our state’s energy landscape, allowing New Mexico to help power our nation with clean electrons,” said US senator Martin Heinrich.
Western Spirit employs 377 GE wind turbines ranging from 2.3 to 2.8 MW in capacity. The turbines are mounted at various tower heights to optimise the amount of wind they capture at each of the four installations. GE’s 2 MW onshore platform has generated more than 20 GW of installed capacity since its introduction in 2015. The turbines are installed in 10 countries and 23 American states. Pattern Energy has signed power purchase agreements with utilities in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area and in Los Alamos, New Mexico. The company said in a press release that the wind power generated by Western Spirit Wind “will provide resource diversification to western energy markets to help meet customer demand during the crucial early evening hours when demand is high but otherwise available renewable energy supply is typically low.” According to Pattern Energy, the project is also expected to generate an estimated $3 million per year for the three counties and two school districts in the project area.
www.modernpowersystems.com | January/February 2022 | 5
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