The POWER Podcast

Is Nuclear Power Poised for a Resurgence? Since 1990, nuclear power has consistently supplied about 19% to 20% of the electricity used in the U.S. However, very few nuclear plants have been added to the U.S. fleet over that time. Currently, the only nuclear project in the U.S. is Southern Company’s Plant Vogtle expansion, which is expected to add two new reactors to the grid by the end of next year. Still, there are 50 reactors under construction around the world—12 of them in China—and several countries are considering adding more. “There has been a fundamental shift in the thinking around the world. As climate change has become front and center as the number one issue globally—environmental issue and societal issue—the recognition that nuclear can and should play a part in helping us overcome the climate change problems has shifted a lot of thinking in governments that I talk to around the world, but also even with people that are environmental-minded—people that have been, in the past, anti-nuclear—and start seeing that nuclear now is and should be part of the solution. So, it’s a very exciting time,” George Borovas, head of Hunton Andrews Kurth’s nuclear practice and managing partner of the firm’s Tokyo office, said as a guest on The POWER Podcast. In the future, Borovas said he expects China to continue building nuclear plants at least on the scale it is today, and perhaps at an even greater rate. “I think it’s going to be very easy for them to keep replicating, especially because they have such tremendous needs for energy,” he said. Nuclear power’s emissions-free aspect also provides a huge benefit for the Chinese, which has had air quality problems in a lot of its industrialized cities. “So, I do think that China is going to continue with its new build program very aggressively, and we're starting to see also China becoming more of an exporting nation for nuclear technology and services around the world.” Schedule delays and cost overruns have long been issues for the nuclear industry, but Borovas suggested some of those nagging problems could be remedied through repetition, especially now that first-of-a-kind units have been successfully commissioned. He noted that EPR and AP1000 units are operating in China, and effectively provide a template for future success. Borovas was also optimistic about advanced technology, such as small modular reactors. “The small modular reactors—the SMRs—are very exciting,” he said. “You have some wonderful technologies that are designed to operate in a different environment. They have much more passive systems, they have walkaway safety scenarios, and they’re using technologies that have been around for a long time in the sense, but they’re packaging them in a way that makes more sense for the evolving world that we live in. I think they hold a lot of promise.” Concerning the long-term future of nuclear power, Borovas said he believes it has a place in the world and offers sustainable development. He suggested nuclear energy can help bring people out of poverty in places such as Africa, and its zero-carbon emissions provide a great alternative to fossil fuels. “I think nuclear has a very, very compelling and exciting story to tell, and the more people see that—the more people understand that—I think the more supporters of nuclear we’re going to have around the world,” he concluded.

Bigelow Tea Enhances Sustainability with a Vehicle-to-Grid System Sustainability is a buzzword that’s being bantered about up and down Wall Street, and corporate leaders have taken notice. Many companies have adopted environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives, which are often tied to sustainability goals. In some cases, the pressure to do so has come from customers and/or investors, but in others, CEOs and boards are simply choosing to “do the right thing” to help save the planet. “A lot of companies are really recognizing, we need to use our money to make a difference, we need to use our money to make this world a better place,” Cindi Bigelow, president and CEO of Bigelow Tea, said as a guest on The POWER Podcast. Bigelow Tea, which is 100% family owned and operated, has implemented several measures to enhance the company’s sustainability. In addition to obtaining all of its electric power from renewable energy sources, Bigelow Tea also has a waste reduction, recycling, and composting program, which has resulted in all three of its facilities achieving zero-waste-to-landfill status. The company’s most recent sustainability initiative involved installing a vehicle-to-grid (V2G) system in collaboration with Fermata Energy. The V2G system includes a bidirectional charger connected to a Nissan LEAF electric vehicle (EV). “What those two elements are doing is they’re operating behind the building’s electric load, and they are managing the building’s electric load in such a way that when the load starts to peak during the billing cycle, we dispatch energy out of the vehicle into the building load behind the meter. And what that does is it reduces the utility costs—the energy costs—for the building by however much dispatchable energy we were able to put into that load. So, we save the customer money,” David Slutzky, founder and CEO of Fermata Energy, said on the podcast. “It’s a customer bill management application.” “Yes, it’s reducing your utility bills,” Bigelow said, but the program accomplishes much more than that. In fact, she suggested there were three clear benefits. One is that the V2G system allows Bigelow Tea to identify when it is operating during peak-load periods, which lets the company make changes within its operational system to reduce load, which is important in the long term. Secondly, if more companies incorporate V2G systems, the total peak demand on the grid will be lessened, which benefits everyone. The third benefit is in Bigelow Tea’s ability to utilize the EV for transportation purposes, which reduces emissions, because, as previously noted, the company gets all of its electric power from renewable sources. “So, there’s many facets to why this program is so important and beneficial for our company,” Bigelow said. In the end, Bigelow suggested all CEOs need to spend time developing and implementing sustainability initiatives. She acknowledged that companies must focus on their core products and services, and turn a profit. “But at the same time, we have to remember, we can make a difference both for our employees, for the community, and the environment, and this is a very important part of what we do,” Bigelow said.

Is a Microgrid Right for You? A microgrid is a discrete energy system consisting of distributed energy resources, such as solar panels, wind turbines, backup generators, and battery storage systems, and loads capable of operating in parallel with, or independently from, the main power grid. A microgrid generally operates while connected to the grid, but importantly, it can break off and operate on its own using local energy resources in times of crisis, such as during storms or power outages, or for other reasons. Microgrids are all the rage these days, but would adding one to your power system provide enough benefit to justify the cost? Answering that question requires a detailed understanding not only of the technology involved, but also the energy landscape in your local area. “People look at [microgrids] because they are a sustainable solution. They’re generally cleaner than [the electricity] you’re buying from the utility—your source of power is cleaner,” Mike Byrnes, executive vice president and Chief Operating Officer of SourceOne, a Veolia company, said as a guest on The POWER Podcast. “What gets them across the finish line is it adds resiliency, and typically, the lifecycle cost is less than your business-as-usual case.” SourceOne is an energy consulting firm that provides highly specialized energy management, engineering, and owner’s representative services for commercial, industrial, and municipal energy concerns. It has been crafting innovative solutions that help customers ensure sustainable, reliable, and cost-effective utility operations for more than 20 years, so Byrnes has a long history with microgrid technology. “We love sustainability. We love reducing greenhouse gases. We love building resiliency for people with microgrids,” said Byrnes. But, a microgrid requires a serious commitment from the organization doing the project, and Byrnes said you don’t usually get that unless there is a financial benefit. “Those are the ones that are getting built—the ones that have really solid paybacks for people,” he explained. Byrnes noted that decreasing prices for solar power and battery storage systems are making those resources very attractive for many customers. “The price point for renewables has come down so far that it's become in everybody's reach,” he said. “Every project we work on right now, instead of just having CHP [combined heat and power]—which you still need because you need the heat component out of it—typically, will have a solar and a battery storage component, or at least to start everybody wants it, and they make great sense. It gives you so much more flexibility in the market, and your ability to actively manage your electric usage is huge.”

Enhancing Operations and Maintenance with an EAM System Enterprise asset management (EAM) involves a combination of software, systems, and services that are used to maintain and control operational assets and equipment. The aim is to optimize the quality and utilization of assets throughout their lifecycle, increase uptime, and reduce costs. EAM involves work management; asset maintenance; planning and scheduling; supply chain management; and environmental, health, and safety initiatives. “Maximo is an enterprise asset management system. It’s a tool, if you will, a software tool, that’s used to manage and maintain expensive assets, primarily, and power has been a big part of the Maximo portfolio for as long as I can remember,” Steve Richmond, CEO of Projetech, a Maximo-as-a-Service provider, said as a guest on The POWER Podcast. “It’s good for managing equipment and the people that work on it. So, if you’re tracking labor or certifications, compliance issues, all that detail-oriented data collection, it’s a perfect repository for it.” EAM is often associated with a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS), but it’s different. While a CMMS can be one aspect of EAM, it focuses on centralizing information to facilitate and automate maintenance management processes. EAM, on the other hand, provides an approach for managing the entire asset lifecycle, supporting asset performance from acquisition to disposal. “Maximo-as-a-Service is essentially what it says,” Richmond said. Unlike 30 years ago, when a company would have had to buy a CMMS or EAM software product, and then purchase and install servers, operating systems, databases, and all the related technology that goes along with owning and operating a system, today, providers such as Projetech offer a “no-hassle, login, and simply use-the-product concept,” he explained. While the solution has long been used at conventional power plants, such as coal, nuclear, and gas-fired facilities, Richmond said it is also suitable for wind and solar farms. “It’s been the largest growth area of my business for over five years now. We are a perfect fit for renewables,” he said. The reason is that many solar and wind farms are located in remote areas. “The ability to look at your entire farm, or many farms in the aggregate, and make decisions about what’s the best way to schedule and plan your maintenance, makes this remote connectivity a perfect fit for them,” Richmond explained. “And the ability to be able to connect anywhere, again, from the cab of a pickup truck to a phone on top of a tower—everybody’s connected and they all have the same information available to them at any time.”

Improving Asset Inspections with Drones and AI The U.S. bulk electric system consists of more than 360,000 miles of transmission lines, including approximately 180,000 miles of high-voltage lines, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. That means power companies have a lot on their plates when it comes to inspecting and maintaining those assets. Furthermore, the stakes are high. As wildfires in California and elsewhere have shown, billions of dollars can quickly go up in smoke when equipment fails. San Francisco-based Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), for example, faced as much as $30 billion in potential liabilities for the role its equipment played in causing wildfires in 2017 and 2018. PG&E filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January 2019, at least partly as a result. Therefore, finding and fixing problems before components fail is worth the effort. “For the most part, utilities are inspecting somewhere between 10% and 12% of their assets each year,” Chris Beaufait, CEO of Sharper Shape, said as a guest on The POWER Podcast. “They’re always trying to figure out how to prioritize in the best way, but then they also run into human resource issues, and just how much they can accomplish in a single year.” That’s where automated drone technology and artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms can help. “We can do detailed inspection of various assets using drones, and we actually have specific software packages that allow parts of that to be automated so the utility can get a repeatable process on their inspection,” Beaufait said. “Then, we basically process all that data. If we do a LIDAR [light detection and ranging] data collection, as an example, we can create data assets of everything that they have in the physical world, and then we can use AI algorithms and human intelligence to really come up with actions that they can do around that so they prioritize what they're going to do in the field, around maintenance, around vegetation management, around asset replacement, or asset improvements,” he explained. Utilizing drones and AI technology allows a much larger area to be covered in a shorter amount of time. “We're talking tens of thousands of miles, and using this combination of artificial intelligence, we can tell them where they may have risks,” said Beaufait. The inspections generate an enormous amount of data. According to Beaufait, Sharper Shape has completed more than 35,000 miles of collection, which includes more than 800,000 different structures and assets, equating to about 5 petabytes of data (5,000,000 GB). It would be impossible for a human to thoroughly process all the information in that amount of data, but computers with AI algorithms can look for anomalies and prioritize the problems identified. And while the inspection capabilities available today are remarkable, the technology is constantly improving, which means future asset assessments could be even more advanced.

Engineering Technicians and Technologists Are an Important Industry Pillar According to Cheryl Farrow, CEO of the Ontario Association of Certified Engineering Technicians and Technologists (OACETT), there are three basic pillars that make up the engineering field. They are licensed engineers, technicians and technologists, and skilled trades. “We can't be successful without all three of these pillars working together effectively,” Farrow said as a guest on The POWER Podcast. “That's why, from our perspective, you need certified technicians and technologists, who have proven to be at the highest level of technical, ethical, and professional performance.” OACETT’s mission is to act as Ontario's independent certifying body for Engineering and Applied Science technicians and technologists. “We provide member certifications, career-long educational opportunities, and professional support for the benefit of our members, for the benefit of the province’s economy, and for the development of safe and secure communities,” said Farrow. There are a number of things OACETT does to raise awareness of opportunities in the engineering field. One major activity is the group’s participation in Canada’s National Engineering Month in March. The event will take place virtually in 2021. “That is our opportunity to create some general awareness about this field of practice,” said Farrow. The organization also works closely with employers. Farrow explained: “That's where you really do start to see job postings where the certifications that OACETT offers will either be required, or they will be preferred, or they will create an advantage for hiring. And we have also just launched what we're calling our 360 Partnership Program, which is to help us connect even more with the employer community, get this message out there, and help them to understand the value of hiring certified technicians and technologists.” In 2021, OACETT plans to launch a government relations strategy. It intends to target specific ministries, and let them know the kind of expertise leaders could draw on from among OACETT’s membership when creating policy. The education community is another area of focus for the group. “We work very closely with all of Ontario's community colleges on outreach to their students,” Farrow said. “We even go so far as to embed our exam programs in some of these college curriculums so they sort of have a leg up even into the certification once they finish school and start working. And then we work together with the colleges so that we can start to get the word out, even in high school, to encourage students to explore these fields of study.”

A Hopeful Narrative for the Nuclear Industry Although there is only one nuclear power plant construction project in progress today in the U.S., that doesn’t mean the nuclear industry has gone dormant. A lot of research and development are ongoing, and the federal government is putting millions of dollars behind some of the efforts. The Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program “The Department of Energy’s [DOE’s] Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program [ARDP] is a real gamechanger for the industry,” Marc Nichol, senior director of new reactors with the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), a policy organization of the nuclear technologies industry, said as a recent guest on The POWER Podcast. “It offers an opportunity for DOE to directly cost-share with different companies developing technologies to help accelerate technology development.” In October, the DOE awarded TerraPower and X-energy $80 million each in initial funding under the ARDP to build two advanced nuclear reactors that can be operational within seven years. The DOE plans to invest a total of $3.2 billion over the next seven years, with industry partners providing matching funds. For its part, TerraPower plans to demonstrate its Natrium reactor, a sodium-cooled fast reactor that supposedly leverages decades of development and design work undertaken by TerraPower and its partner GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy. The high-operating temperature of the Natrium reactor, coupled with thermal energy storage, will reportedly allow the plant to provide flexible electricity output that complements variable renewable generation such as wind and solar. X-energy is expected to deliver a commercial four-unit nuclear power plant based on its Xe-100 reactor design. The Xe-100 is a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor that is said to be ideally suited to provide flexible electricity output as well as process heat for a wide range of industrial heat applications, such as desalination and hydrogen production. “There’s a lot of new and innovative things that these types of reactors can do,” Nichol said, referring to the ARDP-funded designs. Microreactors Among other designs that Nichol spoke about were microreactors (units with power output ranging from 1 MW to 10 MW). “The best way I can describe it is a microreactor would be able to fit on the back of a flatbed semi-truck. The building itself would be about the size of an average home. The size of the site itself would be about the size of a suburban lot. And, so, that gives a visual perspective of how small these things are—you can put them just about anywhere,” he said. Commercial interest for microreactors is coming largely from remote areas, such as in Alaska and northern Canada. Nichol said microreactors can operate 24/7 for years at a time without refueling, and at prices cheaper than what diesel generators can do today. Mobile reactor designs are also being developed. Although there is little interest for mobile rectors from a commercial perspective, the Department of Defense (DOD) sees a use for these types of units. In March, the DOD awarded three teams—BWX Technologies Inc., Westinghouse Government Services, and X-energy—contracts to each begin design work on a mobile nuclear reactor prototype under a Strategic Capabilities Office initiative called Project Pele. “That design effort should conclude sometime next year, in 2021, maybe early 2022,” Nichol said. “From there, they'll move into the manufacturing and operations to test that.”

Could Geothermal Energy Become the ‘Sexy’ Renewable? Geothermal is an often-overlooked and even disregarded renewable energy resource. While new wind and solar energy projects garner headlines nearly every day, geothermal is rarely sighted in news feeds. However, that could change in the future. One company that has made progress on new geothermal technology is GreenFire Energy. In June, the company completed the world’s first field-scale demonstration of closed-loop geothermal energy production. The demonstration was performed using an inactive well at the Coso geothermal field in Coso, California. The project was funded by a $1.48 million grant from the California Energy Commission, with additional support from Shell Oil, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), and J-POWER—a large Japanese utility and EPRI member. Scherer explained what was done: “At our Coso demo, we were able to insert a tube-in-tube heat exchanger 1,000 feet long into an existing geothermal well that couldn't be used due to the high concentration of non-condensable gases, and we made over 1 MW of power, even though the project wasn’t really at full commercial scale. And with these results, we were able to validate the modeling we use to predict the performance of our various closed-loop solutions and a variety of geothermal resources.” Scherer said another application that shows promise for GreenFire Energy’s technology is in hydrogen production. The company was asked by an oil and gas super major to investigate whether using geothermal heat down bore in its GreenLoop system could make “green” hydrogen more efficiently. “And happily, the answer is yes,” said Scherer. He explained: “Since green hydrogen production is more efficient at high temperatures—and often benefits from high pressure—and since high temperatures and high pressures are free deep down in a geothermal resource, we can indeed substantially improve the efficiency of hydrogen production.” Furthermore, in order to be transported, hydrogen typically requires compression, which is expensive. However, when hydrogen is produced down bore at high pressure, it doesn’t require as much compression, which is an additional money-saving advantage. The hydrogen production technology hasn’t been commercialized yet, but GreenFire Energy has the support to do so and expects that to be accomplished in the next two years. “Geothermal isn’t traditionally regarded as sexy, but hydrogen is. So, our plans to make hydrogen with geothermal energy makes GreenFire and geothermal sexy, right?” Scherer joked.

Clean Energy Tech Company Offers Customers Renewable Options There is a growing trend toward clean energy around the world. A number of high-profile companies, including Google, Apple, Walmart, and more than 260 others, have set 100% renewable electricity goals, and power companies, too, have joined in the movement, with many targeting net-zero emissions in coming decades. However, most consumers have found it more difficult to source 100% renewable energy to power their homes. That is, until now. Inspire, a clean energy technology company headquartered in Santa Monica, California, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, announced on Nov. 9 the availability of its digital energy experience in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Southern California. It claims to provide consumers with the first and only personalized flat-rate, monthly subscription with unlimited access to 100% clean energy. “What we do is we're building a completely digital energy experience that makes it insanely easy for consumers to adopt clean energy and clean energy technologies by providing them as a simple subscription service,” Patrick Maloney, CEO of Inspire, said as a recent guest on The POWER Podcast. Maloney said Inspire did a lot of research and found that many power customers were confused about their bills and didn’t understand the tiers that were often incorporated into their rates. Furthermore, some people had an underlying feeling of guilt because they knew most of their power was generated by fossil fuels, which many believe is harming the planet. “So, what we focused on was entering into those markets where we could really build a technology platform that would effectively almost sit on top of the grid, and allow us to then revolutionize the business model into a subscription model—almost like a Netflix like subscription for clean energy,” Maloney said. “We're at the place where we're now beginning to take the model we pioneered there, and now bring it to a national basis.” According to Inpsire, people can make the switch to access 100% clean energy in minutes. Customers connect their current utility account (giving Inspire access authorization) and Inspire calculates a custom flat price for each customers’ entire monthly utility bill, based on factors such as historic consumption. No matter the usage or season, customers can anticipate the same price month over month, mitigating concerns over large energy bills during extreme weather seasons, for example. The company says there’s no hidden fees or price fluctuations, and it’s risk-free—customers can cancel at any time. Customers pay Inspire using their preferred payment method and Inspire pays their utility bill in full on their behalf every month, while matching home electricity usage to 100% clean energy. Inspire’s impact dashboard lets customers easily track their path to a net-zero lifestyle through easy-to-understand visuals, and practical tips to save energy and reduce CO2 emissions. Maloney said one year with Inspire can have a greater impact in reducing a consumer’s carbon footprint than 10 years of recycling.

Developments in Offshore Wind Technology By some estimates, offshore wind energy has the potential to deliver 18 times the current global electricity demand. The International Energy Agency (IEA) has said offshore wind power could develop into a $1 trillion industry over the next two decades, so there’s obviously a lot of growth potential around the world. While the cost for offshore wind projects is currently higher than onshore systems, John Olav Giæver Tande, Norwegian Chief Scientist at SINTEF Energy Research, said the difference is less than most people realize. “Offshore wind is maybe cheaper than you think,” Tande said as a guest on The POWER Podcast. “Bottom-fixed offshore wind farms, they are today built without any subsidies—so, simply competing on electricity price at the best locations.” Tande offered the Dogger Bank Wind Farm as a case in point. The site is being developed in three phases off the northeast coast of England. Each phase will have an installed generation capacity of up to 1.2 GW. When finished, the 3.6-GW development will be the largest wind farm in the world. “It’s competitive with the cost of electricity in the UK without any subsidies,” Tande said. Floating platforms could provide a great new opportunity for wind power developers too. About 80% of the ocean is deep water, which means it’s not suitable for bottom-fixed wind farms. However, with floating wind turbines, the situation changes. “You have a much larger area to locate your floating wind farms, and they can be located at more ideal positions related to wind resource. But also, related to impact to other interest or an environmental impact or grid connection or fisheries or what have you,” Tande said. To make floating technology more competitive, Tande said two things still need to happen: the design and operation of floating wind turbines need to be optimized through research and innovation, and the supply chain needs to be developed. “These two things will make floating wind cost-competitive within the next decade or so,” he said. Among the technology SINTEF has helped develop over recent years are remote maintenance and surveillance systems, optimized boring systems, new generator concepts, and greatly improved methods and tools for designing floating and fixed offshore wind turbines. “The one innovation that has had the highest value were actually these models to optimize the constructions,” said Tande. “You can’t say that is a game-changer, but it has huge impact on the cost of electricity from an offshore wind farm. If you can reduce the amount of steel [by] maybe 5%, then you have an automatic cost reduction.” Tande said his group is currently working on ways to operate wind farms using a more holistic approach. Historically, each wind turbine was operated to maximize individual output—the effect each turbine had on the operation of other surrounding turbines was not really considered. Now, researchers are investigating ways to maximize a farm’s overall output, which could mean curtailing operation of some turbines to improve the operation of others. “We are working hard to develop methods that we—in real time—are able to predict how the wind speed inside a wind farm is going to change depending on how we are controlling the individual turbines,” Tande said. An offshore wind-filled power system does present some challenges for the grid. Europe is planning to have 450 GW of offshore wind by 2050, and some ambitious estimates suggest there could be 1,400 GW of offshore wind installed worldwide by that time. “With these kinds of massive amounts of offshore wind, it's really a challenge of how to develop the grid to bring the power to shore and the technology to do that,” said Tande.