OXFORDPROSPECT - Power Generation

It appears that Europe’s gas generators, are in danger of turning into zombie companies, suggests Hugh Sharman Owner, Incoteco (Denmark) ApS.

It is not surprising that Europe and the United States are considering the imposition of trade sanctions on China’s solar power equipment exports. China has followed the economic development of other countries by actively protecting new industries.

Given the current slowness in the progress of development of new nuclear and renewable capacity in replacing Britain’s planned closure of coaland oil power stations, gas power, is likely to continue to play a vital and important role in meeting the United Kingdom’s power needs.

India is looking to solar power as part of its plans to mend its chronically dysfunctional power sector. Solar power is seen by both the federal government in Delhi and state governments as an essential contributor to help meet increasing demands for power.

Many promoters of large-scale energy storage argue that the main case for it is to store excess renewable electricity for use during times of undersupply; for instance, when the wind does not blow or the sun fails to shine. The $64 thousand question lies in determining how much actual energy storage capacity is necessary to ensure secure back-up energy supplies.

Nigeria is a perfect example of years of energy leadership failure — a situation currently being overturned with an ambitious power-sector reform plan. Under President Goodluck Jonathan, who came to power in 2010, 'Vision for Nigeria' targets achieving an output of 40 000 MW by 2020. This requires an investment in power-generating capacity alone of at least $10 billion a year over the next decade, as well as substantial investments in transmission and distribution. http://www.powerengineeringint.com/articles/print/volume-20/issue-5/power-report/from-power-hungry-to-power-for-the-people.html

Failing to make the right decision is easy to do. Regrettably, despite years of technological progress and experience, governments and companies continue to make such mistakes. Nevertheless, due to the increasing scale of investment and environmental hazards that the industry faces, the world energy leadership needs to do better than it has in the past.

Last week was bad news for foreign investors in Argentina; the question is, will investors in other Latin American countries face similar uncertainties. Currently, countries such as Brazil, Chile and Colombia are experiencing rapid growth, which is viewed with envy by many Western governments.

In terms of its per-capita endowment of primary energy, sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is close to the global average. Its 800 million people make up about 9 per cent of the world's population and they are estimated to share 8 per cent of global gas reserves, 10 per cent of the world's oil, and 13 per ... 2011-10-01

Did you know we could be seeing the end to Russia’s power sector liberalisation? Russia’s state controlled energy giant Gazprom and Ranova a private-sector investment fund are planning to merge their interests in the nation’s six largest generating companies

Australia's Clean Coal Drive

Coal's dominant share cent of Australia's generation mix (around 80 per cent) is poised to halve over the coming decades as more gas and renewable generation come onstream. 2011-07-01

Australian power politics

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard faces stiff opposition from the public, business and politicians to her radical carbon tax policies. Her newly announced policies that will see the nation’s top 500 greenhouse-gas polluters, hit by a crippling new carbon tax.

East Asia - a nuclear hotspot?

By 2050, at least half the world’s new nuclear power plants are likely to be built in East Asia. Most of these planned plants will be built in China, Taiwan and South Korea. However, there are tentative proposals for other plants to be erected elsewhere in the region, including Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia.

Berlusconi's power problems

Italy has been moving steadily along the path towards liberalizing its power sector as part of Rome’s efforts to implement EU energy policy over the past decade. However, the challenges then facing the Italian power sector still remain today, not least the problem of providing affordable and secure ... 2011-05-01

Indonesia wrestles with its chronic electricity crisis

Crisis was the term Indonesia’s president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono chose to describe his country’s electricity problems. Dahlan Iskan, CEO of state-owned power company PT PLN (Persero), has also admitted the country’s supply of electricity is very limited. PLN has encountered power shortages in 250 ... 2010-10-01

The Balkans: In need of a jolt

Problems including war-damaged infrastructure, unrealistic power prices and insufficient investment trouble southeast Europe. Although the EU is helping the region, will it be able to avoid a looming electricity crisis? 2010-05-01

Decentralized energy aids Cuba’s power struggles

Cuba’s power generation capacity is hampered by a severe lack of investment and the continued trade sanctions imposed by the United States, but in typical style it has improvised to make the best of a bad situation. 2009-12-01

Britain's Renewable Energy Policy Questioned

Growing scepticism has led in recent months to a House of Lords inquiry into the economics of renewable energy, and into the practicability of achieving the government’s ambitions to dramatically increase the share that renewables plays in the UK energy mix, especially the usage of wind power in electricity generation.

Italy Power Review Italian consumers today, pay amongst the highest electricity prices in Europe reports Italy’s AEEG (Anti-trust Authority for Electricity and Gas). This is due, in part, to the high usage of natural gas and weak competition in the market.

Cuba’s Energy Future: Cuba’s Energy Future is written by a team of policy makers, scholars and analysts at Washington’s Brookings Institute, led by Jonathan Benjamin-Alvarado. This book, poses the challenging question what steps can Cuba take to achieve both short term and long-term energy sustainability and self-sufficiency.

Electricity generation is the process of generating electric energy from other forms of energy.

The fundamental principles of electricity generation were discovered during the 1820s and early 1830s by the British scientist Michael Faraday. His basic method is still used today: electricity is generated by the movement of a loop of wire, or disc of copper between the poles of a magnet.[1]

For electric utilities, it is the first process in the delivery of electricity to consumers. The other processes, electricity transmission, distribution, and electrical power storage and recovery using pumped storage methods are normally carried out by the electric power industry.

Electricity is most often generated at a power station by electromechanical generators, primarily driven by heat engines fueled by chemical combustion or nuclear fission but also by other means such as the kinetic energy of flowing water and wind. There are many other technologies that can be and are used to generate electricity such as solar photovoltaics and geothermal power.