THE SHALE REVOLUTION
by Dick Flanagan

Governor Mary Fallin

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – If the states serve as incubators and laboratories for innovation, one needs to look no farther than Oklahoma for a comprehensive national energy plan.

World-Gen was invited to attend the 2011 Governor’s Energy Conference held in the Cox Convention Center where Governor Mary Fallin unveiled the Oklahoma First Energy Plan.

“Today the nation is undergoing an energy revolution,” Fallin told the 400 delegates. “Unprecedented new supplies of natural gas, a renaissance in oil production, and a newfound ability to economically capture energy from the wind are redefining the energy landscape.”

Her agenda is built around the belief that we must continue to improve, not replace, traditional energy sources like oil and natural gas, and that effective energy policy does not rely on federal subsidies or mandates, but instead allows the private sector to grow and flourish.

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Welcome to the 2031 annual meeting of Tomorrow Power and Light. Our company, also known as TP&L, has often been described as “average” throughout the years. Our retail rates are average compared to our utility peers. The energy resources available in our area of the country are average, and our customers’ electricity consumption is average. But I am thrilled to declare, however, that we are becoming exceptional.

Our company surpassed several significant milestones this year including the celebration of our 100th anniversary. But what I’d like to focus on is the fact that we have made history in the utility industry. I am proud to say that TP&L is the first major utility in the continental US to have solar power as the top fuel source in its portfolio, with 30 percent of our power supplied by solar energy.

Of course, we still have a well-balanced and diversified portfolio – with coal, natural gas, nuclear, wind, and other energy resources, but solar electricity is now at the top of the list.

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Richard T. Flanagan



Today's News

World-Gen was invited to attend the 2011 Governor’s Energy Conference in Oklahoma where Governor Mary Fallin unveiled the Oklahoma First Energy Plan, a comprehensive blueprint for the state’s energy future. Key strategies include: increase NGV’s; develop the Keystone XL Pipeline; support safe hydraulic fracturing; implement a new energy efficiency initiative; increase energy production in renewables and expand transmission.

In 2012, more than 3,000 veterans in Oklahoma’s National Guard are scheduled to return home. As they return home from Iraq, Afghanistan and other locations overseas, she’ll work with career technology centers to place them at good jobs in the energy sector, where many of their skills are transferable to private sector jobs. Governor Mary Fallin is the first woman to be elected Governor of Oklahoma. She served two terms in the Oklahoma House before becoming the first woman and first Republican to be elected Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma in 1994. In 2006, she was elected to the US Congress. Coverage starts on page 1.

Julia Hamm, CEO of the Solar Electric Power Association, led the SPI 2011 audience twenty years into the future with her vision about solar energy in 2031. Hamm stressed the importance of collaboration between the solar industry and utilities to make her vision of 2031 a reality, on page 1.

Lyn Corum reports on page 13 that California needs peaker plants to handle the intermittency of renewables. Utilities must bring 33 percent renewables into the state’s grid by 2020. 17,000 megawatts of renewables are planned and Cal ISO manages twice that.

The Fukushima disaster will have some serious impact on the global nuclear industry, Jean-Louis Poirier writes on page 14. He foresees three specific outcomes: a safer operating fleet, as a result of a worldwide call for enhanced standards and plant reinforcements; a notable reduction in new reactor building activity; and an interest in new reactor technology, including small modular reactors (SMRs) and next generation (Gen IV) reactors.

The EV trends have been very much supportive, said Dan Potash who reported three years ago. One of the trends supporting electric cars is the proposed curtailment rules for wind generators that reduce or eliminate the market value of off-peak power. For that and other reasons, it’s time to take another look at electric cars and consider if this is not the most significant development, and opportunity, facing the U.S. power sector, he suggests on page 15.

Dennis McLaughlin, Class of 2001, covering Schneider’s Electric 2011 Energy and Distribution Conference in Chicago points out on page 16 that the nation entered the electric economy. In 1950 only 20 percent of US GDP was dependent of electricity compared with more than 60 percent of the country’s GDP reliance on electricity today. Just as the US economy grew with easy access to reliable, cheap petroleum in the 20th Century, the nation will need to key-in on the value and role of electric power to maintain its prosperity in the 21st.

Roger D. Stark and Darin Lowder write on page 17 that The U.S. Army announced plans to solicit and award multiple indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contracts as the predicate for power purchase agreement task orders in an aggregate amount of up to $5 billion (with individual task orders expected to range from $50 million to $900 million each). The renewable or alternative energy projects will be financed, constructed, operated and maintained by private contractors, and located on or near Army installations.

David Owens of EEI explains on page 18 that the smart meters utilities are installing to replace the traditional analog meters that have been in use for almost a century are a very visible feature of this new, modern grid. A new survey by the Institute for Electric Efficiency (IEE) found that as of September 2011, 27 million smart electric meters have been installed. The IEE survey estimates that approximately 65 million smart meters will be installed by 2015. A growing area of concern for electric utilities is the potential for technological obsolescence. In contrast to traditional utility investments that have long, stable asset lives, smart technologies are anticipated to evolve rapidly over the coming years.

Paul Myrda numbers the initiatives EPRI is taking on smarter transmission applications on page 19. Asset management and the smart grid will be a powerful tool for electric utilities. It is one of the five fundamental technologies that will drive the Smart Grid, according to the US Department of Energy along with integrated communications, sensing and measurement, advanced control methods and improved interfaces with decision support. Future research in asset management applications within the smart grid should take place in two areas. The first should be with respect to specific assets, such as transformers, circuit breakers, etc. The other area will need to enhance the computational capabilities to deal with the large volumes of asset specific data and developing algorithms to adequately interpret the data and turn it into actionable information.

At press time, Siemens dedicated its Charlotte, NC facility.
SIEMENS EXPANDS
CHARLOTTE, NC - Siemens Energy completed the expansion of its Charlotte hub with the opening of its new gas turbine manufacturing plant. It took thirteen months to build. The $350 million total investment created more than 700 jobs. On Nov. 16th, Siemens Energy, state and local officials and the press, including World-Gen, celebrated the official grand opening of the new 450,000 sq. ft. gas turbine production plant adjacent to its existing steam turbine generator manufacturing plant. Randy Zwirn, president and CEO of Siemens Energy, said: “The first gas turbine leaving the expanded facility, an SGT6-5000F gas turbine will be exported to the 250mw La Caridad 1 combined cycle power plant in Sonora State, Mexico.” Zwirn also announced that Siemens Energy and Groupo Mexico signed another agreement to supply a second 250 mw combined cycle power plant for the La Caridad 2 project.

At a press conference, Xavier Garcia de Quevedo, president of Groupo Mexico, told World-Gen that Siemens won the RFP based on being the only OEM able to turnkey the plant.

Siemens will be responsible for the full turnkey supply of the plant, which includes plant engineering, procurement, and construction. The main equipment to be installed in the plant includes an SGT6- 5000F gas turbine, an SST-900 steam turbine, an SGEN6-1000A generator, a heatrecovery steam generator, and the complete electrical and SPPA-T3000 instrumentation & control equipment.

“The two combined cycle power plants will provide Grupo México with significant savings, as electricity is one of the main cost factors at its coal mines,” said Xavier Garcia de Quevedo. The La Caridad I and II power plant projects will create over 1000 jobs during plant construction, and more than 50 direct jobs during plant operation. “With these two plants, Grupo México is starting a series of energy projects in Mexico in its infrastructure division, which will also include renewables.”

EDITORIAL CALENDAR

Bonus circulation is guaranteed at above conventions.

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MORRIS HONORED
Michael G. Morris, chairman and CEO of American Electric Power was awarded the Edison Electric Institute’s Distinguished Leadership Award by his industry peers for his 23 years of exemplary service as an electric utility chief executive.

GREENE NAMED
The American Solar Energy Society is pleased to announce that Susan Greene has taken the reins as president.

Susan Green

ABOUND APPOINTS
Abound Solar appointed Craig Witsoe president and chief executive officer of the company.

Mat Segal

URMC APPOINTS
Utility Risk Management Corporation announced the hiring of Lynn P. Costantini as the Chief Information Officer, based in New Hope, PA.

Lynn P. Costantini

GIGA-TRONICS NAMES
Giga-tronics announced that Mark Elo will join the Company as Vice President of Marketing.

Mark Elo

ROSS WELCOMED
Polsinelli Shughart welcomed attorney Matthew E. Ross as a shareholder in the firm where he will focus on all aspects of energy law.

Matthew E. Ross

NYISO NAMES
The New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) has named Wesley Yeomans as its new vice president of operations.

BUZZ ALDRIN SERVES
Principal Solar announced that Dr. Buzz Aldrin will serve as senior advisor.

BARD SELECTS
BARD Holding named Charles A. Clerecuzio, P.E. as Chief Operating Officer.