The GE Brief: March 24, 2022
Oklahoma!
The Traverse Wind Energy Center, one of the largest wind farms in the world, started commercial operations this week. Operated by Invenergy, the Oklahoma wind farm is expected to generate 998 megawatts (MW). Traverse is the third and final part of what’s known as the North Central Energy Facilities, which will provide electricity to American Electric Power (AEP), serving customers in Arkansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma. The combined 1,484-MW capacity of the three farms means they can generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of 440,000 American homes. The wind farms use a total of 531 wind turbines from GE’s 2-MW platform. GE Reports has the story here.
Powerful Connection
A consortium composed of GE Renewable Energy’s Grid Solutions unit and New York’s BOND Civil & Utility Construction was selected to provide the high-voltage equipment needed to bring power from the planned 816-MW Empire Wind 1 project to New York State. The technology will gather alternating current from dozens of turbines spread across some 80,000 acres of the Atlantic shelf inside a yellow, castle-like, sea-based substation. The station will then send the electricity onshore via a 47-mile-long subsea cable. The cable will terminate inside another substation that will connect the wind farm to the grid. Once operational, the installation is expected to power more than 500,000 New York homes. We have the story here.
Northern Light
Ever since last December, when Canada’s Ontario Power Generation selected GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy to build the first grid-scale small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) and bring it online by the end of the decade, the technology has been in the news. The latest country interested in the technology is Sweden. Kärnfull Next, the first project development company to focus on SMRs in Scandinavia, said it signed a memorandum of understanding with GE Hitachi for its BWRX-300 design. “We’ve chosen our partners carefully to build a reliable supply chain that will allow us to deliver cost-effective and timely fossil-free energy,” says Kärnfull co-founder John Ahlberg. Find out more about SMRs and the project here.
GE Digital Enters a New Energy Era
GE Digital’s executives describe the role software plays in the energy transition and how it is helping utilities bring more renewables online.
The 5 Coolest Things On Earth ?
1. How microbe mucus acts as a carbon sink in the ocean.
2. A bio-battery that uses DNA to provide energy.
3. A shock-absorbing material that’s strong as metal and light as plastic.
4. A potential boost for green hydrogen production.
5. The possible link between caffeine and cardiovascular health.
— Quote Of The Day —
“Wind power is a key element of driving decarbonization, and an increasingly dependable and affordable energy option here in the U.S. and around the world.”
— Steve Swift, global commercial leader for GE’s Onshore Wind business
Quote: GE Reports. Images: American Electric Power, GE Renewable Energy, GE Hitachi. Video: GE Reports.