1) Reference Model for European Capacity Markets
2) Thermal Power Plants – a Vital Asset in a New Energy World
6) Greenpeace Report “Smoke & Mirrors”
7) Call for Papers - VGB Conference "Chemistry in Power Plants 2015"
8) VGB PowerTech Journal 3 (2015): Chemistry in Power Plants
VGB Conference "Generation in Competition 2015" with technical exhibition
April 21/22, 2015, Berlin, Germany
http://www.vgb.org/en/kw_wettbewerb_2015.html
VGB Workshop "Biomass Ash"
April 29, 2015, Berlin, Germany
http://www.vgb.org/en/ws_biomass_ash.html
VGB Workshop "Materials and Quality Assurance"
April 29/30, 2015, Linkebeek, Belgium
http://www.vgb.org/en/ws_materials_quality_assurance.html
VGB Conference "Gas Turbines and Operation of Gas Turbines 2015" with technical exhibition
May 6/7, 2015, Luebeck, Germany
http://www.vgb.org/en/vfgt_2015.html
VGB Workshop "Flue Gas Cleaning 2015"
May 6/7, 2015, Istanbul, Turkey
http://www.vgb.org/en/ws_fluegas_2015.html
VGB Oil Workshop for Wind Power Plants
June 23/24, 2015, Rostock, Germany
http://www.vgb.org/en/ws_oel_wea_2015.html
VGB Congress "Power Plants 2015" with technical exhibition
September 9/10, 2015, Vienna, Austria
http://www.vgb.org/en/pp_2015.html
VGB Conference "Chemistry in Power Plants 2015" with technical exhibition
October 28/29 , 2015, Berlin, Germany
http://www.vgb.org/en/cik15.html
7th Conference on Clean Coal Technologies
May 17-21, 2015, Krakow, Poland
http://www.cct2015.org/ibis/CCT2015/home
5th Workshop on Cofiring biomass with coal
September 16/17, 2015, Drax, UK
http://cofiring5.coalconferences.org/
11th Workshop on Mercury emissions from coal
November 17-20, 2015, Chennai, India
http://mec11.coalconferences.org/
Several EU countries are in parallel moving forward with national capacity markets. According to EURELECTRIC's recently published report "A reference model for European capacity markets", capacity markets must evolve from national to regional solutions, to optimise the use of capacity across regions - and ultimately Europe as a whole.
EURELECTRIC Secretary General Hans ten Berge highlighted essential findings of the report stating: "European energy markets today are facing one pressing question: how can we ensure that markets deliver continued security of supply in the future? For EURELECTRIC, capacity markets are clearly one piece of the puzzle. However, capacity markets should strengthen rather than undermine ongoing efforts to complete the Internal Energy Market. We therefore urge policymakers to make sure that capacity markets go beyond national borders. In addition, capacity markets should follow a set of basic design features: they should be market-based, technology-neutral, open to new and existing plants, and open to generation, demand response and storage."
http://www.eurelectric.org/news/2015/eurelectric-publishes-a-reference-model-for-european-capacity-markets/
EURELECTRIC has published a paper on the importance of thermal generation to underline their necessity for the security of supply in an increasingly variable renewable electricity market.
In most European countries, wind and solar are the main drivers for the increasing share of renewables in electricity generation. In windy and sunny hours, a major share of electricity is produced from such renewable energy sources. However, the total need for dispatchable generating plants (thermal generation, hydropower and nuclear power) that can adjust their power output to demand is not expected to decrease significantly in the near future.
Although smart grids, demand response and storages are expected to play a growing role in ensuring the balance between electricity demand and supply, these sources cannot completely replace thermal generation as a provider of secured capacity. For economical and technical reasons, thermal generation will remain a key asset.
http://www.vgb.org/en/eurelectric_paper_thermal_power_plants.html
The 6th Indo-German Energy Forum (IGEF) took place in New Delhi from 11-13 February 2015. In advance of this event, VGB representatives met with experts from the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), the Central Power Research Institute and the Gujarat State Electricity Corporation to present them with the “Best Practices for Coal-Based Power Plants in Germany” report. The 300-page document provides a comprehensive overview of new build, operation, maintenance and servicing of coal-based power plants in Germany and Europe. The report makes clear the importance of the reference power plant in North-Rhine Westphalia.
http://www.vgb.org/en/indo_german_energy_forum.html
Following an invitation of Svenja Schulze, Ministry of Innovation, Science and Research of the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), the joint research project "Partner Steam Power Plant for Renewables" which is coordinated by VGB PowerTech was presented in Brussels. On March 5, 2015, 132 international representatives from politics, industry, associations as well as science and research came together in the Brussels permanent representation of NRW to learn more about power plant technology in NRW and first concrete results of the joint research project "Partner Steam Power Plant for Renewables". There have been also attendees from the European Parliament and the Commission.
The workshop presentations are available for download:
http://www.vgb.org/en/ws_partner_dampfkraftwerk.html
The VGB Technical Committee "Materials and Quality Assurance" cordially invites all experts and interested parties to its 3rd International Workshop "Materials and Quality Assurance" taking place on 29/30 April 2015 in Linkebeek (Brussels), Belgium.
The workshop will focus on:
* Lifetime assessment, optimization of plant operation and maintenance concepts, methods and procedures for lifetime monitoring.
* Materials (P91, 12 percent chromium steels, alloy A617B and C263, MarBN steel) and components.
* Pumps (damages of pumps in solar thermal power plant, main focus is on damages in boiler circulation pumps).
* Renewable energy (e.g. periodic monitoring of wind turbines, durability testing of components for parabolic trough collectors, corrosive and thermo-mechanical degradation of CSP-relevant materials in molten salt).
On Wednesday, 29 April 2015, participants are invited to join an evening event in the Atomium Restaurant in Brussels.
More information:
http://www.vgb.org/en/ws_materials_quality_assurance.html
On March 5, 2015, the green NGO Greenpeace has published the report “Smoke & Mirrors - How Europe’s biggest polluters became their own regulators” on the Large Combustion Plants (LCP) BREF review process. Focusing exclusively on coal plants, the report on the one hand claims that the emission levels proposed in the first draft of the LCP BREF in June 2013 are weaker than standards in Japan, the USA and China. On the other hand, it challenges the EU decision process on BREFs, criticising member states whose delegations, responsible for the technical part of the process, include industry experts. Greenpeace singles out several member states accusing them of supporting even weaker rules. EURELECTRIC has already commented this report.
More information:
mailto:andreas.wecker@vgb.org
http://www.vgb.org/en/greenpeace_bericht_smoke_mirrors.html
VGB's annual Conference "Chemistry in Power Plants" will take place in Berlin, Germany, on October 28/29, 2015. The conference is a forum for energy utilities and operators of industrial power plants. Operating experience will be discussed and technical developments in the field of power plant chemistry will be presented.
Please submit your proposal for papers by April 24, 2015, at the latest to:
mailto:ines.moors@vgb.org
http://www.vgb.org/en/cik15.html
Some topics of the March 3 (2015) issue are: CCS pilot project Le Havre – A stepping stone in EDF group tackle of the CO2 challenge (Francois Giger, Fabrice Chopin and Jean-Francois Lehougre); Fuel cell power plants for decentralized CHP-applications (Martin Ohmer and Katja Mattner); Determination of efficiency of cooling water treatment programs (Frank de Vos and Lars Venhuis); An electro-de-ionization device for the continuous measurement of the conductivity after a cation exchanger (Martin Aicher und Heini Maurer)
Abstracts of all articles are available here:
http://www.vgb.org/en/pt_03_15.html
The VGB-Standard VGB-S-170-42-2014-08-EN was prepared for the purpose of standardizing the design of sampling points for process measurements in water and steam carrying systems, as well as for specifying the requirements and facilitating the replacement of protective tubes and sampling probes, e.g. because of wear.
The VGB-S-170-42-2014-08-EN now available as ebook. More information
can be viewed at the following link:
http://www.vgb.org/shop/s-170-42e-ebook.html
The aim of the VGB-S-165-00-2014-07-EN recommendations for improving H2 safety is to provide information for designing, constructing, modernising/refurbishing and operating hydrogen-cooled generators in power plants.
The VGB-S-165-00-2014-07-EN now available as ebook. More information can be viewed at the following link:
http://www.vgb.org/shop/s-165e-ebook.html