The European Commission announced that the UK based White Rose CCS Project will be awarded up to €300 million in funding as part of the second round of NER300 programme. Capture Power, the developer of the project, is a joint venture set up by Alstom, Drax and BOC to develop White Rose in close co-operation with National Grid, who will provide the CO2 transportation and storage infrastructure.

Located on land adjacent to the existing Drax Power Station, near Selby in North Yorkshire, the 426MW new build power plant will burn coal with the potential to co-fire sustainable biomass and meet the equivalent power needs of over 630,000 homes. Fully equipped with CCS technology from the outset, 90% of all the CO2 produced by the plant will be captured and transported by pipeline for permanent off-shore storage deep beneath the North Sea seabed. For more information, please click here.

In June, BP published its 63^rd Annual Statistical Review of World Energy. The report shows that the year 2013 saw an acceleration in the growth of global energy consumption, despite a stagnant global economy. Oil remains the world’s leading fuel, with 32.9% of global energy consumption, but it also continued to lose market share for the fourteenth consecutive year. Globally, natural gas accounted for 23.7% of primary energy consumption. Coal’s share of global primary energy consumption reached 30.1%, the highest since 1970. Nuclear output accounted for 4.4% of global energy consumption, the smallest share since 1984. The data in this review shows a flexible global energy system adapting to a changing world. To view the report please click here.

On 21 July, GE informed that the Alstom Board of Directors has unanimously decided to positively recommend GE’s offer to acquire the Power and Grid businesses of Alstom.

To view the full Press Release, please click here.

The ETN Annual General Meeting and Workshop took place on 16-17 April 2013 in Pisa, Italy. In the afternoon of 15 April, members also had the opportunity to visit ENEL’s Sesta testing Facilities. During the event, over 85 participants joined to discuss ETN’s activities over the past year and its outlook for the future.

Annual General Meeting

The President of the Board, Bernard Quoix of TOTAL welcomed the participants to the ETN Annual General Meeting. In his speech he welcomed the 8 new members who joined ETN in 2012-2013 which shows that ETN with its 97 members from 18 countries has become an important player for the whole gas turbine community. To see the full speech, please click here.

Christer Bjorkqvist, ETN’s Managing Director gave a general update on ETN activities of the past year as well as an insight into ETN’s plans for the coming years. With regard to ETN projects, several projects leaders presented the progress made in the past 6 months and their plans for the future. Participants were given an overview of ETN finances and budget by Herwart Hoenen, ETN Treasurer/RWTH-Aachen University as well as an update on the EU energy and research policy. The latest developments on the EU’s Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) were presented by Catherine Goy, ETN Vice President/E.ON and Richard Tuthill, ETN IED Committee Chairperson/Pratt & Whitney. The potential establishment of a Public Private Partnership under the upcoming R&D funding programme Horizon 2020 was also addressed during the AGM by Andre Mom, ETN President Emeritus. Later, in the newly introduced Panel Discussion, the technological challenges and requirements for existing and next generation gas turbines were addressed, both from an oil and gas and utility point of view.

At the end of the AGM, the General Assembly elected the new ETN Board for 2013-2014. To see the newly elected ETN Board members for 2013-2014, please click here.

Workshop

On 17 April, the Workshop allowed the participants to attend sessions on operational flexibility & fuel flexibility, materials degradation and repair technology, asset management and condition monitoring. The sessions gave the participants the opportunity to discuss and progress the ongoing projects and potential new initiatives.

Member of the year

Ole Torp (Mjorud) was awarded Member of the Year for his continuous active involvement in the ETN Exhaust System Project, for his enthusiasm in involving new companies in this Project Group and for taking a leading role as acting Chairman.

Presentations

The AGM and Workshop’s presentations, minutes and the participants list are available to ETN members only, by login in and clicking here.

Carbon trading: EU ETS updates

Auctioning

The European Commission (EC) proposed changes to the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) regarding the  timing of auctions of emission allowances, following the low carbon price and therefore reduced potential to drive low-carbon technology investments. The EC would like postpone or ‘back-load’ some auction volume from 2013-2015 towards the end of phase 3, to ensure the orderly functioning of the carbon market.

Later this year the EC will present a first report on the functioning of the European carbon market, offering an opportunity to launch a thorough debate on what structural measures might be needed to address the challenges in the EU ETS.

Temporary free allocation

From the start of the third phase of the EU ETS (2013-2020) allowances should no longer be granted for free to power plants, which would instead have to buy all their allowances through auctions (or on the secondary market). However, to help modernise their electricity sector, 10 new Member States were given the option of gaining temporary exemptions from the ‘full auctioning’ rule and continuing to allocate a limited number of emission allowances to power plants for free until 2019.

The main motivation of the Member States which asked for this provision has been a desire to prevent too sharp increases in electricity prices for households. Another reason was to help the power sector in these countries cope more easily with the costs of making the transition to less carbon-intensive electricity generation. With the exception of Latvia and Malta, in September 2011 all eligible Member States submitted applications for clearance to allocate a limited number of allowances to power plants for free beyond this year in order to finance investments in the energy system.

BP published its 61^st Annual Statistical Energy Review in June 2012. BP’s chief economist, Christof Rühl, presented the data at the annual event in Brussels.

Mr Rühl highlighted disruptions to supplies and increasing demand as the two major themes in energy over the past year. Political changes across the Arab world affected oil and gas supplies only temporarily and the Fukushima accident in Japan brought major consequences for nuclear energy. The long-term trend of increases in global energy consumption continued with a 2.5% increase, driven by the non-OECD countries.  However, despite some extraordinary events, Mr Rühl said that the aggregate data does not indicate anything out of the ordinary in 2011.

Key developments of global fuel trends are summarised below:

Oil:

• Oil demand grew by less than 1% – the slowest rate amongst fossil fuels;
• Oil prices rose above 100 dollars per barrel for the first time;
• Oil is still the world’s leading fuel at 33.1% of global energy use but it has lost share for 12 consecutive years;
• The loss of oil supplies in Libya was offset by production increases elsewhere;
• There was a rapid decline in oil consumption in the United States due to the shale gas revolution.

Gas:

• Gas production globally grew by 3.1%; the US recorded 7.7% growth and it is now the world’s biggest producer;
• There was a rapid increase in the trade of natural gas, especially in LNG: demand for LNG in Asia grew by 15%, prompted by a decline in nuclear production in Japan;
• There was a record decline in EU gas consumption (-9.9%) driven by the weak economy, high prices, and warm weather;
• China is now set to double the amount of gas in its energy mix;
• Gas is predicted to be the fastest growing fossil fuel for the next 20 years.

Shale gas in the US:

• Growth of unconventional gas is transforming natural gas markets – the shale gas ”revolution” in North America has markedly driven down gas prices in the US;
• Growth in US gas production accounted for 48% of growth in global gas production – 30% of this was from shale gas;
• Shale gas has eroded coal share considerably in power production in the US.

Coal:

• Coal accounts for 30.3% of global energy consumption, the highest share since 1969;
• Coal was the only fossil fuel with above average annual consumption growth at 5.4% globally, and 8.4% in the emerging economies;
• OECD coal consumption declined by 1.1%, although the EU used 3.6% more as natural gas was diverted to Asia;
• Coal prices increased in all regions.

Non fossil fuels:

• Nuclear output fell 4.3%; the largest decline on record, driven by Japan (-44.3%) and Germany    (-23.2%);
• Nuclear now has the smallest share in the global energy mix since 1984;
• Renewable energy used in power generation rose by 17.7%, driven by wind energy (+25.8%);
• Overall, renewable energy accounted for 2% of primary energy consumption in 2011.

To view BP’s statistical review, please click here.

The government of the United Kingdom has launched a ‘call for evidence’ in order to inform its gas generation strategy, which was announced as part of the country’s national budget earlier this year.

The strategy is part of the UK coalition government’s objective to deliver a secure and affordable route to a low carbon economy. Through the gas generation strategy, the government is aiming to establish a clear role for gas in the electricity market while simultaneously ensuring security of supply and meeting the UK’s carbon reduction targets.

In addition, it is hoped that the strategy will provide a plan on attracting new investment in gas generation as well as ensuring all of the UK’s natural resources, including its considerable reserves of shale gas, are used to their full potential.

In order to help contributors frame their responses to the ‘call for evidence’, a set of questions has been provided. According to the UK’s Department of Energy and Climate Change, the questions will also be used in discussions with industry and other stakeholders in advance of the publication of the strategy in the autumn. The call for evidence will remain open until the 28th June 2012.

The questions being posed are the following:

1) What are the main strengths and weaknesses of gas generation in helping deliver a secure, affordable route to decarbonisation through to 2020 and then by 2050

2) What role can gas fired generation play in the future and what level of gas generation capacity is desirable

3) What are the key factors driving the economics of investing in new gas-fired power generation and how are these factors likely to change?

4) What barriers do investors face in building new gas generation plants in the UK? What are the key regulatory uncertainties that may prevent debt and equity investors making a final investment decision in gas generation and supply infrastructure?

5) Are there any other policy issues that need to be addressed beyond the Government’s proposals for the capacity mechanism and the EPS?

6) Given a continuing role for gas and the potential for increased volatility in gas demand, to what extent is gas supply and related infrastructure a barrier to investment in gas fired generation?

7) What impact will unconventional gas have on the case for investing in gas generation and the supporting infrastructure?

Stakeholders in the energy and gas sectors can submit evidence by emailing: gasgeneration@decc.gsi.gov.uk.

For further information on the ‘Call for evidence’, please click here

ETN’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Workshop was held on 17-18 April 2012 in Berlin, Germany. In his capacity as president of the board, Bernard Quoix of TOTAL welcomed the participants to the ETN Annual General Meeting. In his speech he welcomed the many new members who joined ETN in 2011-2012 which shows that ETN with its 92 members has become an important player for the whole gas turbine community and towards European Union institutions.

Mr Quoix highlighted the many projects and initiatives which have been started or progressed this year, leading to a new internal structure to ensure that ETN has processes, resources and tools available to encompass this growth. He also looked ahead to the future, to the new ETN Educational Programme and the 6th International Gas Turbine Conference – The Future of Gas Turbine Technology which will take place on 17-18 October 2012 in Brussels. Finally, he highlighted the main goals for the upcoming period, which are reinforcing the participation of the Users, because it all starts from the technical challenges faced by the Users; reinforcing the so-called “vertical growth” by having more people involved within each member organisation; and encouraging emergence of initiatives, and subjects that are of interest to the whole community; and finally having more success stories for example of the H₂-IGCC project.

In the morning of 17 April, members had the opportunity to visit Vattenfall’s CHP Berlin Mitte plant, the Industrial-Gas-Turbine overhaul facilities at MTU or TU Berlin’s Combustion Facilities. In the afternoon, the AGM gave a general update on ETN activities for the past year as well as an insight into our plans for the coming years. A presentation was delivered with information on the Board’s new ETN internal structure, and the new and improved ETN website was launched as well as demonstrated. The General Assembly elected the new ETN Board for 2012/13. An EU energy policy update was presented followed by a discussion on future R&D opportunities, including users’ perspective on future GT developments, as well as OEMs’ perspective on key areas of Horizon 2020, the new research funding programme of the EU. New and ongoing projects reported their progress, for instance on exhaust systems, filtration technology, advanced sensors, combustion instabilities hot borescoping, creep-fatigue and virtual testing.

On 18 April, our Workshop commenced with an introduction to the new ETN Project Board and Development Process. The latest developments on the EU’s Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) were presented, and new proposed ETN R&D initiatives were discussed. In the afternoon members had the opportunity to attend committee sessions on cycle efficiency, fuel flexibility and emissions, materials degradation and repair technologies, condition monitoring, instrumentation and control, and asset management.

You can download ETN President Bernard Quoix’s full speech here.