Energy, Power, and Utilities Industry

[spearhead]

At present time, part of BNPP has turned into a tourist attraction after the government have decided not to spend a $1 Billion to reactivate it.

I say use part of the RP's FX reserve from $77Billion to reactivate it.

[TambayBlues]

Maybe we should opt for the more agile backyard nuclear reactors instead. They can generate 25MW of electricity and cost around $25 Million. They are much safer to operate compared to conventional reactors. The amount of uranium is also so small that a chance for a nuclear meltdown is virtually zero. The company claims it can build a plant that can operate for 10 years without refuelling and the spent fuel after 5 years is about the size of a softball. Here's some more details;

http://www.hyperionpowergeneration.com/

http://www.thecuttingedgenews.com/index.php?article=906

http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelk...nuscale-power/

[Askal82]

interesting. Looks promising. But again, safety is very much concerned regarding the handling of any nuclear material and this technology is still in its infancy.

[d7beast]

Originally Posted by TambayBlues

Maybe we should opt for the more agile backyard nuclear reactors instead. They can generate 25MW of electricity and cost around $25 Million. They are much safer to operate compared to conventional reactors. The amount of uranium is also so small that a chance for a nuclear meltdown is virtually zero. The company claims it can build a plant that can operate for 10 years without refuelling and the spent fuel after 5 years is about the size of a softball. Here's some more details;

http://www.hyperionpowergeneration.com/

http://www.thecuttingedgenews.com/index.php?article=906

http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelk...nuscale-power/

These technologies are very promising and practical, it's like a backyard nuke plant, 25MW is enough for small province or city, but where to discard those baseball-sized nuke waste? inside sealed stainless-steel drums deposit into the Philippine deep??? or perhaps dropped into the mouth of one of our volcanoes???

[Parchie]

Originally Posted by d7beast

These technologies are very promising and practical, it's like a backyard nuke plant, 25MW is enough for small province or city, but where to discard those baseball-sized nuke waste? inside sealed stainless-steel drums deposit into the Philippine deep??? or perhaps dropped into the mouth of one of our volcanoes???

Yep. 25MW could power 20,000 households 24/7! With current regs of limiting nuke fuels to be no more than 5%, it is more likely that spent fuel rods will be needing recycling to make use of unused fissile material in those rods. IDK if the regulators have liberalized recycling as there is a fear of rogue countries trying to go beyond civilian use of those Uranium fuel rods and to concentrate spent rods into the military grade intended for atomic bombs.

If all those spent fuel rods are just stocked, there is danger that these stockplies can become disaster hazards like what happened in Fukushima when the cooling pools got damaged during the earthquake. I guess there will be solutions being thought about like feeding those spent fuels down a very deep drilled hole very near the lowest subduction layer on earth (Russia dug a 12.3 kilometer hole in Kola).

[dc88]

700-MW of wind projects get nod
The Energy Department approved over 700 megawatts of wind projects last year, boosting the country’s efforts toward energy independence, government data showed over the weekend.

The department cleared the application of CoastalPower Development Corp.’s Prieto-Diaz wind power project in Sorsogon province, which has a capacity to generate 420 MW of power, the biggest approved to date.

The department also gave the greenlight to CoastalPower’s 100-MW Mercedes wind power project in Camarines Norte.

Approved contracts include those of Energy Logics Philippines’ 100-MW North Pasuquin wind power project in Pasuquin-Burgos, Ilocos Norte, and 112-MW Mt. Redondo wind power project in Zambales.

The others are Philippine Hybrid Energy Systems Inc.’s 15-MW Puerto Galera wind project, PhilCarbon Inc.’s in Sagada and Bulalacao and Pan Energy Corp.’s Redondo wind power project.

Wind developers are waiting for the release of the feed-in tariff that will guarantee them a fixed rate over a 20-year period. The feed-in tariff is undergoing hearings at the Energy Regulatory Commission.

Wind developers, who are members of the Wind Energy Development Association of the Philippines, are also in talks with National Grid Corporation of the Philippines for the construction of transmission lines that will support the development of their projects.

National Grid has proposed a new transmission project, called the Northern Luzon 230-kV Looping project, that will serve the needs of wind projects in the north.

“This project aims to loop the north-western and north-eastern 230 kV backbone in Luzon in order to provide adequate transmission facilities in catering to the huge wind power generation potential in the region and at the same time improve the overall reliability of the transmission network,” National Grid said in its draft Transmission Development Plan 2011-2020.
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/i...12/february/13

the govt should look into other sources of ren. Energy..like solar and Tidal/Marine energy. the first one in europe i think will be completed this year.

[ralfy]

Originally Posted by Parchie

If the prime agency regulating the nuclear industry around the world says "It is not the IAEA´s role to state whether the plant is usable or not, or how much it will cost to rehabilitate, please tell me how you or the people you are referring to arrived at "four times" the cost?

The rehabilitation cost was given by KEPCO:

"Kepco to take part in study on nuclear energy for Phl"

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx...bCategoryId=66

I cannot remember who argued that the bond to be set aside should be four times the equity, but it has to do with the amount of compensation claims stemming from what happened in Fukushima:

"Amid Tweeted Frustration, Japan May Take Control of TEPCO"

http://www.time.com/time/world/artic...062591,00.html

Of course, it's possible that such a requirement will not take place in PH.

Do you know the specific location where in the Philippines is BNPP? How does BNPP similar in any way with those failed Fukushima Daichi units?

Problems concerning the location of the BNPP was addressed in various studies, several of which are mentioned here:

"The geological hazards of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant"

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx...bCategoryId=75

and challenged by one recent presentation that showed that the area is safe.

The problem is that geological hazards are not our only concerns, and if the BNPP has to be seen in light of Fukushima, it should be done in terms not of that or of the type of plant used (I think the design of the BNPP is similar to that used for Three Mile Island) but operational safety and safety in general (as seen in the preparations and costs involved in Japan in preparation for disasters involving nuclear power plants).

FYI, Fukushima Daichi Nuclear power plant and BNPP are two different types of nuclear power plant. To jump into a conclusion that what Fukushima Daichi needs to do to ensure operational safety and has to be done on BNPP also, betray the peoples' understanding or knowledge of what the nuclear power plants' unique details are. Please assume your readers don't know anything of the topic and impress them other posters.

The comparison should be made not in terms of the type of power plant used or location but preparations for safety and feasibility. With that, we should consider, as I pointed out, the $2.3 billion or so for the loans, the additional billion for rehabilitation, funds set aside for waste disposal, securing water sources, and upgrading national health care and security to a level many times higher than what is available. It's difficult to ascertain the costs for the last point, so I decided to look at the compensation costs that were involved in Fukushima and use that as the high end.

[ralfy]

I forgot to add that one PH company did look at the cost of operation nuclear power plants in the country:

"Aboitiz Power won't go into nuclear energy"

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx...SubCategoryId=

[krazy816]

Just as a reference , here's a list of the biggest power plants in the world according to type (sourced from Wikipedia so the usual disclaimers apply):

Coal: Taichung Power Plant, Taiwan 5,780MW

Fuel Oil: Surgut-2 Power Station, Russia, 5,600MW

Natural Gas: Futtsu Power Station, Japan, 5,040MW

Nuclear: Kashiwazaki-Kariwa NPP, Japan, 8,212MW

Oil Shale: Eesti Power Station, Estonia, 1,615MW

Peat: Shatura Power Station, Russia, 1,020MW

Biofuel: Alholmens Kraft Power Station, Finland 265MW

Geothermal: Malitbog Geothermal Power Station, Philippines, 233MW

Hydroelectric:
(conventional) Three Gorges Dam, China, 22,500MW

(pumped storage): Bath County Pumped Storage Station, USA, 2,772MW

(run of river): Chief Joseph Dam, USA, 2,620MW

Solar:
(Flat-panel photovoltaic) Huanghe Hydropower Golmud Solar Park, China, 200MW

(Concentrated photovoltaic) Casaquemada Photovoltaic Power Plant, Spain, 1.9MW

(Concentrated solar thermal) SEGS VIII, IX, USA, 160MW

Tidal: Sihwa Lake Tidal Power Station, South Korea, 254MW

Wave: Aguçadoura Wave Farm, Portugal, 2.25MW

Wind: Roscoe Wind Farm, USA, 782MW

Note: Three Gorges Dam in China is also the world's largest power station of any type.

[spearhead]

Originally Posted by TambayBlues

Maybe we should opt for the more agile backyard nuclear reactors instead. They can generate 25MW of electricity and cost around $25 Million. They are much safer to operate compared to conventional reactors. The amount of uranium is also so small that a chance for a nuclear meltdown is virtually zero. The company claims it can build a plant that can operate for 10 years without refuelling and the spent fuel after 5 years is about the size of a softball. Here's some more details;

http://www.hyperionpowergeneration.com/

http://www.thecuttingedgenews.com/index.php?article=906

http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelk...nuscale-power/

Yep not a bad idea.

We can also use them for long range warships one day, it will fit for submarines with this reactor!

[Parchie]

Originally Posted by spearhead

Yep not a bad idea.

We can also use them for long range warships one day, it will fit for submarines with this reactor!

Yep. I know for one that a commercial ship plying the domestic sea lanes is powered by 2 x 5000 hp diesel engines. That's roughly 7.5 MW of drive power! If you have 25MW, that's more than enough to power a bigger ship.

The only problem is how to package those power units such that an untoward accident doesn't develop into a nuclear disaster.

[Parchie]

Originally Posted by krazy816

Just as a reference , here's a list of the biggest power plants in the world according to type (sourced from Wikipedia so the usual disclaimers apply):

Coal: Taichung Power Plant, Taiwan 5,780MW

Fuel Oil: Surgut-2 Power Station, Russia, 5,600MW

Natural Gas: Futtsu Power Station, Japan, 5,040MW

Nuclear: Kashiwazaki-Kariwa NPP, Japan, 8,212MW

Oil Shale: Eesti Power Station, Estonia, 1,615MW

Peat: Shatura Power Station, Russia, 1,020MW

Biofuel: Alholmens Kraft Power Station, Finland 265MW

Geothermal: Malitbog Geothermal Power Station, Philippines, 233MW

Hydroelectric:
(conventional) Three Gorges Dam, China, 22,500MW

(pumped storage): Bath County Pumped Storage Station, USA, 2,772MW

(run of river): Chief Joseph Dam, USA, 2,620MW

Solar:
(Flat-panel photovoltaic) Huanghe Hydropower Golmud Solar Park, China, 200MW

(Concentrated photovoltaic) Casaquemada Photovoltaic Power Plant, Spain, 1.9MW

(Concentrated solar thermal) SEGS VIII, IX, USA, 160MW

Tidal: Sihwa Lake Tidal Power Station, South Korea, 254MW

Wave: Aguçadoura Wave Farm, Portugal, 2.25MW

Wind: Roscoe Wind Farm, USA, 782MW

Note: Three Gorges Dam in China is also the world's largest power station of any type.

AFAIK, the biggest single-block coal-fired generation unit is a 750 MW thermal at Kogan Creek Power Station in Queensland, Australia. The biggest single-unit nuclear power generating set will be the 1.7 GW Taishan French-designed unit in China.

[xyriellewest]

Gov't Bats For Product Quality, Reasonable Pricing In Power Program

MANILA, Philippines - With investment rollout of P33 billion over five years, the government will not settle for anything less but to ensure the quality of products and reasonable pricing from equipment suppliers for the country's "sitio" electrification program.

In a recent consultative meeting with suppliers and product manufacturers of equipment and technologies that will be used in these massive electrification projects, Energy Secretary Rene D. Almendras appealed to the stakeholders to ward off "one-time, big-time mentality" when it comes to cornering returns from such initiative.

The next phase of the country's electrification endeavor will delve into Sitio Electrification Program (SEP) which will cover areas within a barangays' enclave; and the Barangay Line Enhancement Program (BLEP). These twin undertakings will be pursued under the supervision of the National Electrification Administration.

"We are talking of a five-year program and a sustainable amount. Think of sustainable revenue rather than one time, big time," the energy chief has told both public and private firms.

Rural electrification has been listed among the flagship programs of the Aquino administration. Through this, the energy secretary is sounding off hope that it can spur economic developments in the countryside - which by far, could be considered a long-neglected policy in the past years.

Continue reading here...

[Parchie]

Originally Posted by xyriellewest

Gov't Bats For Product Quality, Reasonable Pricing In Power Program

MANILA, Philippines - With investment rollout of P33 billion over five years, the government will not settle for anything less but to ensure the quality of products and reasonable pricing from equipment suppliers for the country's "sitio" electrification program.

In a recent consultative meeting with suppliers and product manufacturers of equipment and technologies that will be used in these massive electrification projects, Energy Secretary Rene D. Almendras appealed to the stakeholders to ward off "one-time, big-time mentality" when it comes to cornering returns from such initiative.

The next phase of the country's electrification endeavor will delve into Sitio Electrification Program (SEP) which will cover areas within a barangays' enclave; and the Barangay Line Enhancement Program (BLEP). These twin undertakings will be pursued under the supervision of the National Electrification Administration.

"We are talking of a five-year program and a sustainable amount. Think of sustainable revenue rather than one time, big time," the energy chief has told both public and private firms.

Rural electrification has been listed among the flagship programs of the Aquino administration. Through this, the energy secretary is sounding off hope that it can spur economic developments in the countryside - which by far, could be considered a long-neglected policy in the past years.

Continue reading here...

Five years? Will these people still be there 5 years from now? How can they craft a program this long and hope to achieve those in less than five years? They say the taste of the pudding is in the eating; meaning, you will taste the fruits of your labor when it's done, not before it's done! And a program or project extended beyond your scope is doomed not likely to be finished!

[amigo32]

Originally Posted by Parchie

Five years? Will these people still be there 5 years from now? How can they craft a program this long and hope to achieve those in less than five years? They say the taste of the pudding is in the eating; meaning, you will taste the fruits of your labor when it's done, not before it's done! And a program or project extended beyond your scope is doomed not likely to be finished!

mabilis na nga raw yan remember what Dilaw na butiki said?

[TambayBlues]

Originally Posted by d7beast

These technologies are very promising and practical, it's like a backyard nuke plant, 25MW is enough for small province or city, but where to discard those baseball-sized nuke waste? inside sealed stainless-steel drums deposit into the Philippine deep??? or perhaps dropped into the mouth of one of our volcanoes???

The Storage/Disposal of Radioactive Waste Produced by Nuclear Power Stations
http://www.technologystudent.com/PDF3/nuclr2.pdf

Standard US Drum Containers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drum_%28container%29

Softball Dimensions
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Softball

Allocating space for disposal ought to be determined during the feasibility study to ascertain the proper location that would meet the safety requirements. It's obviously not impossible to find a right location onshore or inland, the bigger challenge lies in the political will to go up against "obstructionists" especially at the local government level. You can do the math if you're interested to know how much waste material and how many plants we need to have just to fill a single container in 5 years. As an extension of your mental exercise, you can also factor in and project into the future whether you'd st ill be alive or 6 feet below the ground by the time we fill one container with waste matter assuming we only built one power plant. Which gives me an idea, maybe a good starting point to do a site survey would be our local cemeteries, I'm sure the residents there would'nt mind sharing space with a radioactive neighbor. But then again, the crypt caretakers and their families might be well connected and seek help from their local politicians. JK

[d7beast]

Originally Posted by dc88

700-MW of wind projects get nod
The Energy Department approved over 700 megawatts of wind projects last year, boosting the country’s efforts toward energy independence, government data showed over the weekend.

The department cleared the application of CoastalPower Development Corp.’s Prieto-Diaz wind power project in Sorsogon province, which has a capacity to generate 420 MW of power, the biggest approved to date.

The department also gave the greenlight to CoastalPower’s 100-MW Mercedes wind power project in Camarines Norte.

Approved contracts include those of Energy Logics Philippines’ 100-MW North Pasuquin wind power project in Pasuquin-Burgos, Ilocos Norte, and 112-MW Mt. Redondo wind power project in Zambales.

The others are Philippine Hybrid Energy Systems Inc.’s 15-MW Puerto Galera wind project, PhilCarbon Inc.’s in Sagada and Bulalacao and Pan Energy Corp.’s Redondo wind power project.

Wind developers are waiting for the release of the feed-in tariff that will guarantee them a fixed rate over a 20-year period. The feed-in tariff is undergoing hearings at the Energy Regulatory Commission.

Wind developers, who are members of the Wind Energy Development Association of the Philippines, are also in talks with National Grid Corporation of the Philippines for the construction of transmission lines that will support the development of their projects.

National Grid has proposed a new transmission project, called the Northern Luzon 230-kV Looping project, that will serve the needs of wind projects in the north.

“This project aims to loop the north-western and north-eastern 230 kV backbone in Luzon in order to provide adequate transmission facilities in catering to the huge wind power generation potential in the region and at the same time improve the overall reliability of the transmission network,” National Grid said in its draft Transmission Development Plan 2011-2020.
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/i...12/february/13

the govt should look into other sources of ren. Energy..like solar and Tidal/Marine energy. the first one in europe i think will be completed this year.

very good news indeed!!!

[sarahwassmann]

Thank you guys, I enjoyed reading this thread. Lots and lots of good information.

[TambayBlues]

The benefits of nuclear. Tokyo Electric Power asked for a power rate increase last December 2011 after 30 YEARS without an increase. No wonder Japan was able to industrialize.

http://asian-power.com/regulation/mo...osts-escalates

Another article that confirms what China knows all along about which one is the best option for longterm development. I guess they put more importance on Scientific studies than knee-jerk reaction and paranoia brought about by nuclear disasters.

China to import more Uranium

After a drop in uranium imports in 2011, China intends to increase uranium imports this year to keep pace with the building of more nuclear power plants.

China imported 16,126 tons of uranium in 2011, 6% less than the 17,135 tons it imported in 2010, said the General Administration of Customs. Qian Zhiming, deputy director of the National Energy Administration, believes uranium imports could be increased this year.

He noted that the resumption of construction of nuclear projects will occur in the first half of the year at the soonest.

One further reason for China’s ramping-up uranium imports is news that more overseas mines will start production this year.

The top four uranium exporters are Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Namibia and Australia, which together account for more than 95% of China's imports in 2011. China early this year signed a deal to buy uranium from Canada.

China can produce 850 tons of uranium a year, which could increase to 2,500 tons in the future.

Premier Wen Jiabao early this month said China will develop nuclear power in a safe and efficient way this year, adding the country will ". . . prohibit BLIND EXPANSION in the new-energy industries of solar and wind power.”

China has 15 nuclear reactors, is building at least 25 reactors and has 50 more planned, according to the China Nuclear Energy Association.

[TambayBlues]

Originally Posted by Parchie

Manufacturers yes. But being EPZ locators, they don't sell their produce locally. They export them, otherwise they are violating the PEZA rules!

PEZA only requires exporters to ship 70% of their output to foreign markets. Though the 30% balance of their output is still subject to approval if they plan to sell it to our domestic market. Here's some more info;

http://www.kittelsoncarpo.com/philip...tax-incentives