“Sweet odor” worries power plant neighbors

Duke Energy Carolinas Solar RFP draws 3.9 GW of utility-scale bids, oversubscribed in DEP and DEC, below avoided cost rates, minimal battery storage, strict PPA terms, and interconnection challenges across North and South Carolina.

Key Points

Utility-scale solar procurement in DEC and DEP, evaluated against avoided cost, with few storage bids and PPA terms.

✅ 3.9 GW bids for 680 MW; DEP most oversubscribed

✅ Most projects 7-80 MWac; few include battery storage

✅ Bids must price below 20-year avoided cost estimate

Last week the independent administrator for Duke’s 680 MW solar solicitation revealed data about the projects which have bid in response to the offer, showing a massive amount of interest in the opportunity.

Overall, 18 individuals submitted bids for projects in Duke Energy Carolinas (DEC) territory and 10 in Duke Energy Progress (DEP), with a total of more than 3.9 GW of proposals – more nearly 6x the available volume. DEP was relatively more over-subscribed, with 1.2 GWac of projects vying for only 80 MW of available capacity.

This is despite a requirement that such projects come in below the estimate of Duke’s avoided cost for the next 20 years, and amid changes in solar compensation that could affect project economics. Individual projects varied in capacity from 7-80 MWac, with most coming within the upper portion of that range.

These bids will be evaluated in the spring of 2019, and as Duke Energy Renewables continues to expand its portfolio, Duke Energy Communications Manager Randy Wheeless says he expects the plants to come online in a year or two.

Lack of storage

Despite recent trends in affordable batteries, of the 78 bids that came in only four included integrated battery storage. Tyler Norris, Cypress Creek Renewables’ market lead for North Carolina, says that this reflects that the methodology used is not properly valuing storage.

“The lack of storage in these bids is a missed opportunity for the state, and it reflects a poorly designed avoided cost rate structure that improperly values storage resources, commercially unreasonable PPA provisions, and unfavorable interconnection treatment toward independent storage,” Norris told pv magazine.

“We’re hopeful that these issues will be addressed in the second RFP tranche and in the current regulatory proceedings on avoided cost and state interconnection standards and grid upgrades across the region.”

Limited volume for North Carolina?

Another curious feature of the bids is that nearly the same volume of solar has been proposed for South Carolina as North Carolina – despite this solicitation being in response to a North Carolina law and ongoing legal disputes such as a church solar case that challenged the state’s monopoly model.

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Hydro-Quebec back-billing arises from analogue meter errors and estimated consumption, leading to arrears for electricity usage; disputes over access, payment plans, and potential power diversion reviews can impact cottage owners near Gatineau.

Key Points

Hydro-Quebec back-billing recovers underbilled electricity from analogue meter errors or prolonged estimated use.

✅ Triggered by inaccurate analogue meters or missed readings

✅ Based on actual usage versus prior estimated consumption

✅ Payment plans may spread arrears; theft checks may adjust

A relaxing lakefront cottage has become a powerful source of stress for an Ottawa woman who Hydro-Quebec is charging $5,300 to cover what it says are years of undercharging for electricity usage.

The utility said an old analogue power meter is to blame for years of inaccurate electricity bills for the summer getaway near Gatineau, Que.

Separate from individual billing issues, Hydro-Quebec has also reported pandemic-related losses earlier this year.

Owner Jan Hodgins does not think she should be held responsible for the mistake, nor does she understand how her usage could have surged over the years.

“I’m very hydro conscious, because I was raised that way. When you left a room, you always turned the light out,” she told CTV Montreal on Wednesday, relating her shock after receiving some hefty bills from Hydro-Quebec on Sept. 22.

Hodgins said she mainly uses the cottage on weekends, does not heat the place when she is not there, and does not use a washer or dryer, to keep her energy footprint as small as possible. She’s owned the cottage for 14 years, during which she says her monthly bill has hovered around $40.

Hydro-Quebec said it has not had an accurate reading of her usage for several years, relying instead on consumption estimates to determine what she pays. The company recently reviewed her energy consumption back to 2014, and found their estimates were not accurate.

“In the past, she was consuming about 10 to 15 kilowatt hours per day. This summer she was more around 40 kilowatt hours per day,” Marc-Antoine Pouliot with Hydro-Quebec told CTV Ottawa.

Hodgins said that means her regular bill will now be more than twice the $200 her neighbours are paying for hydro each month, even with peak hydro rates in place.

Hydro-Quebec said it will correct the bill if its technicians discover that someone is illegally diverting power nearby.

Hodgins said it’s not her fault that technicians did not check her meter in person, and chose to rely on inaccurate estimates. Pouliot argues that reaching her cottage was too difficult.

“There was too much snow. There were conditions during the winter disconnection ban period, and the consequence was that people, our workers, were not able to reach the meter,” he said.

Hydro-Quebec said it is willing to stretch out the debt into monthly payments over a year, which Hodgins said amount to $440 per month on top of her regular bill.

Utilities also caution customers about scammers threatening shutoffs during billing disputes.

“I’m on a fixed income. I don’t have that kind of money. I’m completely distraught,” she said. “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

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Texas Gulf Coast Power Outages from Harvey continue as flooding, high winds, and downed lines paralyze Houston and coastal utilities, while restoration crews from out-of-state work to repair infrastructure and restore electricity across impacted communities.

Key Points

Power disruptions across Houston and the Gulf Coast from Harvey, driven by flooding, wind damage, and blocked access.

✅ CenterPoint warns multi-day outages in flooded zones.

✅ AEP Texas aided by crews from Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri.

✅ Entergy expects more outages as storm nears Galveston.

Hundreds of thousands of Texans were without power along the Gulf Coast as Tropical Storm Harvey left parts of the Houston area under water, with extended Houston outages compounding response efforts.

There were roughly 280,000 customers without power along the Texas's coast and in Houston and the surrounding areas on Monday, according to reported outages by the state's investor-owned utilities. Harvey, which made landfall on Friday, caused devastating flooding and knocked out power lines along its destructive path, similar to the Louisiana grid rebuild after Laura that required weeks of restoration.

CenterPoint Energy reported more than 100,000 outages earlier on Monday, though that figure was down to 91,744 shortly after 1 p.m. on Monday.

The company said it was unable to access hard-hit areas until floodwaters recede and electric infrastructure dries out, a challenge that, as seen in Florida power restoration efforts elsewhere, has taken weeks to resolve. Outages in the most flooded areas could last for several days, CenterPoint warned.

AEP Texas's coverage area south of Houston had 150,500 customers without electricity as of 11 a.m. ET on Monday. That was down from the peak of its outages on Saturday afternoon, which affected 220,000 customers.

Former FEMA deputy director: Texas has already begun recovery from storm  1:54 PM ET Mon, 28 Aug 2017 | 05:57

Corpus Christi and the surrounding areas along the Gulf Coast were still experiencing the most outages, while persistent Toronto outages after a spring storm underscored how long recovery can take in urban areas. AEP credited assistance from out-of-state workers for helping to get the lights back on.

"Thousands of resources have arrived from across the country to help AEP Texas with restoration efforts following this historic weather event. Crews from Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri and other states have arrived and are working on restoring power to those impacted by Hurricane Harvey," AEP said in a statement.

Entergy reported 29,500 customers were without power on Monday in areas north of Houston. The company warned that additional outages were expected if Harvey moves inland near the island city of Galveston on Wednesday as anticipated, a pattern similar to New Orleans during Ida where electricity failed despite levees holding.

Houston, Beaumont and Victoria are expected to see continued periods of torrential rain through Tuesday, before Harvey begins to move north on Wednesday and out of the flood zone by Thursday.

"Our crews are safely restoring power as quickly as possible, but the continued wind, rain and flooding are having an impact on restoration efforts," Entergy said in a statement.

South of Houston, about 7,500 Texas New Mexico Power Company customers were still experiencing outages, according to the company's outage map.

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Electric Motor Testing Training covers on-line and off-line diagnostics, predictive maintenance, condition monitoring, failure analysis, and reliability practices to reduce downtime, optimize energy efficiency, and extend motor life in industrial facilities.

Key Points

An instructor-led course teaching on-line/off-line tests to diagnose failures, improve reliability, and cut downtime.

✅ On-line and off-line test methods and tools

✅ Failure modes, root cause analysis, and KPIs

✅ Predictive maintenance, condition monitoring, ROI

Our 12-Hour Electric Motor Testing Training live online instructor-led course introduces students to the basics of on-line and off-line motor testing techniques, with context from VFD drive training principles applicable to diagnostics.

September 10-11 , 2020 - 10:00 am - 4:30 pm ET

Our course teaches students the leading cause of motor failure. Electric motors fail. That is a certainty. And unexpectded motor failures cost a company hundreds of thousands of dollars. Learn the techniques and obtain valuable information to detect motor problems prior to failure, avoiding costly downtime, with awareness of lightning protection systems training that complements plant surge mitigation. This course focuses electric motor maintence professionals to achieve results from electrical motor testing that will optimize their plant and shop operations.

Our comprehensive Electric Motor Testing course emphasizes basic and advanced information about electric motor testing equipment and procedures, along with grounding practices per NEC 250 for safety and compliance. When completed, students will have the ability to learn electric motor testing techniques that results in increased electric motor reliability. This always leads to an increase in overall plant efficiency while at the same time decreasing costly motor repairs.

Students will also learn how to acquire motor test results that result in fact-based, proper motor maintenance management. Students will understand the reasons that electric motors fail, including grounding deficiencies highlighted in grounding guidelines for disaster prevention, and how to find problems quickly and return motors to service.

COURSE OBJECTIVE:

This course is designed to enable participants to:

• Describe Various Equipment Used For Motor Testing And Maintenance.
• Recognize The Cause And Source Of Electric Motor Problems, including storm-related hazards described in electrical safety tips for seasonal preparedness.
• Explain How To Solve Existing And Potential Motor Problems, integrating substation maintenance practices to reduce upstream disruptions, Thereby Minimizing Equipment Disoperation And Process Downtime.
• Analyze Types Of Motor Loads And Their Energy Efficiency Considerations, including insights relevant to hydroelectric projects in utility settings.

Complete Course Details Here

https://electricityforum.com/electrical-training/motor-testing-training

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Thailand Covid-19 Electricity Bill Relief offers energy subsidies, tariff cuts, and free power for small meters, helping work-from-home users as authorities waive charges and discount kWh rates via EGAT, MEA, PEA for three months.

Key Points

Program waiving or cutting household electricity bills for 22 million homes in March-May, easing work-from-home costs.

? Free power for meters <= 5 amps; up to 10M homes

? Up to 800 kWh: pay February rate; above, 50% discount

? >3,000 kWh: 30% discount; program valid March-May

The Thailand cabinet has formally approved energy authorities' decision to either waive or cut electricity charges, similar to B.C. electricity relief measures, for 22 million households where people are working at home because of the coronavirus disease.

Energy Minister Sontirat Sontijirawong said after the cabinet meeting on Tuesday that the ministers acknowledged the step taken by from the Energy Regulatory Commission, the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, the Metropolitan Electricity Authority and the Provincial Electricity Authority and noted parallels with Ontario's COVID-19 hydro plan rolled out to support ratepayers.

The measure would be valid for three months, from March to May, and cover 22 million households. It would cost the state 23.68 billion baht in lost revenue, he said, a pattern also seen with Ontario rate reductions affecting provincial revenues.

"The measure reduces the electricity charges burden on households. It is the cost of living of the people who are working from home to support the government's control of Covid-19," Mr Sontirat said.

The business sector also wants similar assistance, echoing sentiments from Ontario manufacturers during recent price reduction efforts. He said their requests were being considered.

Free electricity is extended to households with a power meter of no more than 5 amps. Up to 10 million households are expected to benefit, although issues like electricity payment challenges in India highlight different market contexts.

For households with a power meter over 5 amps, if their consumption does not exceed 800 units (kilowat hours), they will pay as much as they did in their February bill. The amount over 800 units will be subject to a 50 per cent discount, while elsewhere B.C. commercial consumption has fallen sharply.

Large houses that consume more than 3,000 units will get a 30 per cent discount, at a time when BC Hydro demand is down 10%.

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Belgium Energy Mix 2019 shows strong nuclear output, rising offshore wind, net electricity exports, and robust interconnections, per Elia, as the nuclear phaseout drives 3.9GW new capacity needs after improved reactor availability.

Key Points

High nuclear share, offshore wind, net exports, interconnections; 3.9GW capacity needed amid nuclear phaseout.

✅ Nuclear supplied 48.8% of generation in 2019.

✅ Net exporter: 1.8 TWh, aided by interconnections.

✅ Elia projects 3.9GW new capacity for phaseout.

Belgium's electricity transmission system operator, Elia, said that the major trends in 2019 were a steady increase in (mainly offshore) renewable power generation, illustrated by EU wind and solar records across the bloc, better availability of nuclear-generating facilities and an increase in electricity exports.

In 2019, 48.8% of the power generated in Belgium came from nuclear plants. This was in line with the total for 2017 (50%) and significantly more than in 2018 (31.2%) when several reactors were unavailable amid stunted hydro and nuclear output in Europe as well.

Belgium exported more electricity in 2019, as neighbors like Germany saw renewables overtake coal and nuclear generation, with net exports of 1.8TWh (2.1% of the energy mix), in contrast to 2018 when Belgium imported 17.5TWh (20%).

Elia said this “should be viewed in its wider context, of declining nuclear capacity in Europe and regional market shifts, against the backdrop of an increasingly Europeanised market, and can be explained primarily by the good availability of Belgium's generating facilities (especially its nuclear power stations).”

The development of interconnections was also a key factor in the circulation of these electricity flows, as seen with Irish grid price spikes highlighting regional stress, Elia noted.

“Belgium had not been a net exporter of electricity for almost 10 years, the last time being in 2009 and 2010, when total net exports represented 2.8% and 0.2% respectively of Belgium’s energy mix,” it said.

Belgian has seven nuclear reactors – three at Tihange near Liege and four at Doel near Antwerp – and, regionally, nuclear-powered France faces outage risks that influence cross-border reliability.

In 2003, Belgium decided to phase out nuclear power and passed a law to that effect, with neighbors like Germany navigating a balancing act during their energy transition, which was reaffirmed in 2015 and 2018.

A commission appointed to assess the impact of the nuclear phaseout is scheduled to be completed in 2025 but has yet to report any findings.

Elia estimates that some 3.9GW of new power generating capacity will be needed to compensate for Belgium's nuclear phaseout.

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