WORLD'S LARGEST CAST RESIN TRANSFORMER

Siemens Builds the World’s Largest Cast-Resin Transformer

(from the web news archive…)


Initial use as experimental and test setup for new HVDC transmission system…

With its Geafol cast-resin transformers, Siemens Power Transmission and Distribution (PTD) is increasingly developing into a specialist for high power ratings in the medium voltage range. By the end of September 2007, the world’s largest cast-resin transformer with a rated power capacity of 40 MVA left the factory in Kirchheim/Teck, Germany. The developers and designers were able to successfully design a cast-resin transformer to this power specification. Two of the new 40-MVA transformers will be used on the experimental and test line for high voltage direct current transmission systems at Siemens PTD in Erlangen.

Comprehensive and elaborate routine testing as well as type and special tests performed on the largest cast-resin transformer to date have shown that in many cases, this transformer variant can provide an alternative to liquid-filled transformers in this power category. The design required a number of special developments. For example, whereas the higher voltage windings of cast-resin transformers of lower power rating are made of one cast, the high voltage winding of the 50-metric ton transformer, which has a rated power capacity of 40 MVA, each consists of six coil sections which are connected together to form one winding. This winding has special cooling ducts designed to dissipate heat.

Compared with oil-insulated transformers of the same power capacity, the advantages are that Geafol cast-resin insulated transformers are practically maintenance-free as well as being flame retardant and self-extinguishing, they can be recycled at relatively low cost, and can be designed for very low temperatures. And because they require little fire and water protection, they can be installed almost anywhere. In many cases, they require less area for installation than comparable liquid-filled transformers. Versions with reduced no-load and short-circuit losses also increase efficiency and thus lead to lower operating costs. The insulation consists of an environmentally friendly mixture of epoxy resin and quartz powder which does not produce toxic gases even when exposed to an electric arc. The use of cast-resin insulated transformers in many cases avoids the restrictions that apply to oil-filled transformers, while retaining properties such as operational safety and long service life.


The transformer measuring 4.8 meters long, 2.8 meters wide and – in its transportable state – 4.7 meters high was transported from the Kirchheim factory to Plochingen in Germany by special road transport on September 26, 2007, and from there by ship on to Erlangen. The two 40 MVA cast-resin transformers (20/12.2 kV) will be used on a system test setup for the new Siemens HVDC transmission system HVDC Plus. The test setup consists of a back-to-back arrangement of the power converters with the two converters connected to the two cast-resin transformers on the three-phase side. One of the major advantages of the topology of the new HVDC transmission system is that standard power transformers can be used for it. The experimental and test setup will enable engineers to test the system characteristics of the new converter topology of an HVDC Plus system extensively under realistic conditions. This will also provide the basis for further advances.

WORLD'S MOST POWERFUL DIESEL ENGINE

THE WORLD'S MOST POWERFUL DIESEL ENGINE
(This page from the web is produced by Todd Walke)

The Wartsila-Sulzer RTA96-C turbocharged two-stroke diesel engine is the most powerful and most efficient prime-mover in the world today. The Aioi Works of Japan's Diesel United, Ltd built the first engines and is where some of these pictures were taken.

It is available in 6 through 14 cylinder versions, all are inline engines. These engines were designed primarily for very large container ships. Ship owners like a single engine/single propeller design and the new generation of larger container ships needed a bigger engine to propel them.

The cylinder bore is just under 38" and the stroke is just over 98". Each cylinder displaces 111,143 cubic inches (1820 liters) and produces 7780 horsepower. Total displacement comes out to 1,556,002 cubic inches (25,480 liters) for the fourteen cylinder version.

Some facts on the 14 cylinder version:

Total engine weight: 2300 tons (The crankshaft alone weighs 300 tons)
Length: 89 feet
Height: 44 feet
Maximum power: 108,920 hp at 102 rpm
Maximum torque: 5,608,312 lb/ft at 102 rpm

Fuel consumption at maximum power is 0.278 lbs per hp per hour (Brake Specific Fuel Consumption). Fuel consumption at maximum economy is 0.260 lbs/hp/hour. At maximum economy the engine exceeds 50% thermal efficiency. That is, more than 50% of the energy in the fuel in converted to motion.

For comparison, most automotive and small aircraft engines have BSFC figures in the 0.40-0.60 lbs/hp/hr range and 25-30% thermal efficiency range.

Even at its most efficient power setting, the big 14 consumes 1,660 gallons of heavy fuel oil per hour.

A cross section of the RTA96C:


The internals of this engine are a bit different than most automotive engines. The top of the connecting rod is not attached directly to the piston. The top of the connecting rod attaches to a "crosshead" which rides in guide channels. A long piston rod then connects the crosshead to the piston.

Installing the "thin-shell" bearings. Crank & rod journals are 38" in diameter and 16" wide:


The crank sitting in the block (also known as a "gondola-style" bedplate). This is a 10 cylinder version. Note the steps by each crank throw that lead down into the crankcase:



A piston & piston rod assembly. The piston is at the top. The large square plate at the bottom is where the whole assembly attaches to the crosshead:




The "spikes" on the piston rods are hollow tubes that go into the holes you can see on the bottom of the pistons (left picture) and inject oil into the inside of the piston which keeps the top of the piston from overheating. Some high-performance auto engines have a similar feature where an oil squirter nozzle squirts oil onto the bottom of the piston.


The cylinder deck (10 cylinder version). Cylinder liners are die-cast ductile cast iron. Look at the size of those head studs!:



The first completed 12 cylinder engine:

HIGH VOLTAGE GENERATOR

HIGH VOLTAGE GENERATORS


Have you heard of a generator at 400 kV? Sounds fantastic, but ABB broke through with world's first high-voltage generator… 10 years ago! The first unit was installed in a Swedish power plant in 1998.

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In an Internet article dated February 25, 1998 released in Zurich, Switzerland, ABB, the international electrical engineering company, presented the world’s first high-voltage generator. Called the Powerformer, it was the first generator able to supply electricity directly to the high-voltage network, without the need for transformers.

The Powerformer can generate electricity at voltages between 30 kV and 400 kV. The first operational generator, with a rating of 45 kV, 11 MVA at 600 rpm, was successfully installed at a power plant in northern Sweden owned and operated by the Foundation Porjus Hydro Centre. The Center, which serves as a development and training facility for hydro power technology, is run by the Swedish energy company Vattenfall, Kvaerner Turbin and ABB.


HISTORY OF POWERFORMER

Today’s high-voltage generators are constructed in such a way that limits their output voltage to a maximum of 30 kV. The power grid with voltages up to 800 kV or more can not be directly supplied by those generators - a reason why large power plants nowadays are using power step-up transformers in order to transform their generated voltage to a higher voltage level suitable for the interface with the transmission grid.

During the last century, a number of attempts were made at developing a high-voltage generator that could be connected directly to the power grid, i.e. without going via the step-up transformer. However, generators are presently constructed for voltages up to 30 kV only. The step-up transformer imposes great drawbacks on the power plant as a whole, starting from reduction in efficiency, high maintenance costs, more space, less availability and not to forget the increased environmental impact of the plant.

ABB has developed in close co-operation with Vattenfall (the Swedish state-owned power utility) a new high-voltage generator with innovative features that enables it to be connected directly to the transmission grid; its output voltage can reach levels up to 400 kV. With the new technology, future transformer-less power plants can be constructed leading to a new concept of energy systems.

The new apparatus has been named Powerformer; its benefits such as higher efficiency, better availability, lower maintenance costs and reduced environmental impact are straightforward consequences of transformer-less power plants.


INNOVATIVE DESIGN

The Powerformer represents a completely new concept in generator technology. Powerformer has been designed with several unique features that allow it to exceed the 30kV limit, including a winding consisting of XLPE power cables and an innovative stator design.


Conventional generators produce electricity at voltages that are too low to be efficiently transmitted over long distances. Linking them to the high-voltage transmission network requires large transformers to boost the voltage. The Powerformer uses advanced cable technology to generate high-voltage directly, eliminating the need for a transformer and other associated equipment.

The Powerformer’s unique design has a number of operational and environmental benefits. Because the total installation is smaller and more efficient, it also reduces maintenance costs. It can be custom-built to provide any output voltage, and other aspects of its design contribute to greater network stability and more reliable performance during periods of short-term power overload.

Powerformer Windings: The magnetic circuit of Powerformer makes certain demands on the winding. The winding consists of a power cable with solid insulation and two semiconducting layers, one surrounds the conductor and the other outside the insulation, the semiconducting layers serves as an equipotential surface that forces the electric field to be uniform around the circumference.


The insulation material is cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE), a material successfully used in high-voltage power cables since the 1960s. The cables are threaded through the stator slots to form a winding that produces the desired high-voltage. The use of high-voltage cables in Powerformer windings offers major advantages over conventional designs. Firstly, in conventional generators maximizing the current loading in the machine favor the use of rectangular conductors in order to obtain maximum copper packing density for the stator windings. These conductor shapes are, however, characterized by an uneven field distribution having high field concentrations in the corners of the conductors.


THE FIRST POWERFORMER

"The new high-voltage generator represents a major innovation," said Göran Lindahl, ABB’s President and CEO. "It radically changes a 100-year old technology and establishes a new class of rotating machines. With its unique design the generator provides our customers with substantial benefits, such as better system performance, higher efficiency, lower maintenance costs and reduced environmental impact."

The Powerformer was developed by ABB Corporate Research and ABB Power Generation in cooperation with Vattenfall. ABB employs approximately 1,200 scientists and technicians in 8 corporate research centers in Europe and America. A further 17,000 engineers spread across ABB’s global business areas are also engaged in research and development. The ABB Group employs approximately 216,000 people.

WORLD'S LARGEST TIDAL ENERGY GENERATOR

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Doods’ Note:

I would like to share this article which is published in the web sites: ecoGizmo and MetaEfficient. This is about the world’s largest tidal energy generator…

MetaEfficient is run by Justin Thomas, an efficiency enthusiast and theoretician. Special thanks to MetaEfficient & ecoGizmo for this information and likewise the photos showing how awesome these tidal turbine generators are...

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TIDAL ENERGY GENERATOR BUILT IN NORTHERN IRELAND

June 28, 2007: from ecoGizmo

The tidal motion of water offers us an amazing source of energy - it's immensely powerful, predictable, reliable and can be harvested with no emissions and very little impact on the environment. Following successful testing off the coast of Devon, Marine Currrent Turbines is set to begin construction of the world's largest ever tidal turbine system off the coast of Northern Ireland - kind of like a wind farm that sits underwater. The 1.2MW generator will push enough power back into the commercial grid to supply 1000 homes, and will serve as a prototype commercial test of this clean, sustainable energy source.

Marine Current Turbines has confirmed that installation of its SeaGen commercial tidal energy system will commence during the week of August 20th in Northern Ireland’s Strangford Lough. At 1.2MW capacity, SeaGen will be the world’s largest ever tidal current device by a significant margin, and will generate clean and sustainable electricity for approximately 1000 homes. It is also a world first in being a prototype for commercial technology to be replicated on a large scale over the next few years.

The installation of SeaGen in Strangford Lough will be carried out by A2SEA A/A of Denmark, one of Europe's leading offshore installation contractors. The SeaGen 1.2MW commercial demonstrator has been developed on the basis of the results obtained from SeaFlow, the world’s first full-size tidal developed on the basis of the turbine installed by Marine Current Turbines Ltd off Lynmouth Devon in 2003. It has taken the subsequent four years for Marine Current Turbines to design and build SeaGen and secure the necessary environmental and planning consents.

SeaGen is a commercial demonstration project with permission to operate in Strangford Lough for a period of up to 5 years. It is intended as the prototype for commercial applications of the technology that will follow.

Martin Wright, Managing Director of Marine Current Turbines said: “SeaGen’s installation is a very significant milestone for both Marine Current Turbines and the emerging marine energy sector. Following from our previous experience with SeaFlow, our 300kW experimental test system installed in 2003 off the north Devon coast, we are confident that SeaGen will show that tidal energy can be truly competitive with other forms of power generation. Decentralised tidal current energy is fundamentally predictable and sustainable. It is also environmentally benign.”

Commenting on the future prospects for tidal current energy, Martin Wright added: “We will build on the success of SeaGen to develop a commercial tidal farm, of up to 10MW in UK waters, within the next three years. With the right funding and regulatory framework, we believe we can realistically achieve up to 500MW of tidal capacity by 2015 based on this new SeaGen technology.”

Recognizing the special marine environment of Strangford Lough, MCT has undertaken a comprehensive environmental monitoring programme managed by Royal Haskoning, a leading environmental consultancy, working in partnership with Queen’s University Belfast and the St Andrews University Sea Mammals Research Unit. The programme is overseen by an independent body, chaired by David Erwin, a former Chief Executive of the Ulster Wildlife Trust.

The A2SEA jack-up barge, “JUMPING JACK”, is planning to mobilize from Belfast’s Harland & Wolf shipyard, where SeaGen is already complete and waiting, to Strangford Lough on August 20th. It is expected that the drilling of a single pile into the seabed and the installation of the twin-turbine device will take 14 days, with commissioning and power generation to the local grid shortly afterwards.

Martin Huss, Sales & Marketing Director of A2SEA said: “We are delighted to be working with MCT on this important and challenging project and hope it is the start of a long and rewarding relationship as tidal technology enters the market place in the UK.”




From: MetaEfficient
Published April 8, 2008

WORLD'S LARGEST TIDAL TURBINE SUCCESSFULLY INSTALLED

The world’s largest tidal turbine, weighing 1000 tonnes, has been installed in Northern Ireland’s Strangford Lough. The tidal turbine is rated at 1.2 megawatts, which is enough to power a thousand local homes. It was built by Marine Current Turbines, and it will be the first commercial tidal turbine to produce energy, when it begins operation later this year.

The turbine has twin rotors measuring 16 meters in diameter. The rotors will operate for up to 18-20 hours per day to produce enough clean, green electricity.

The turbine will be positioned 400 meters off of shoreline in Strangford Lough, which is known for its fast tidal current, and protection from severe weather. The rotors on the SeaGen turbine turn slowly: about 10 to 20 revolutions per minute. A ship’s propellers, by comparison, typically run 10 times as fast. The risk of impact from SeaGen rotor blades is small, because the marine creatures that swim in strong currents tend to be agile, and can avoid slow-moving underwater obstructions.


Commenting on the future prospects for tidal current energy, Martin Wright, Managing Director of Marine Current Turbines said: “We will build on the success of SeaGen to develop a commercial tidal farm, of up to 10MW in UK waters, within the next three years. With the right funding and regulatory framework, we believe we can realistically achieve up to 500MW of tidal capacity by 2015 based on this new SeaGen Technology.”

WORLD'S LARGEST WIND TURBINE

New Record:
World’s Largest Wind Turbine
(7+ Megawatts)

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Doods’ Note: I would like to share this article which is published in the web site: MetaEfficient. MetaEfficient is run by Justin Thomas, an efficiency enthusiast and theoretician. Special thanks to MetaEfficient for this information and likewise the photos showing how awesome these wind turbines are...

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February 3rd, 2008: The world’s largest wind turbine is now the Enercon E-126. This turbine has a rotor blade length of 126 meters (413 feet). The E-126 is a more sophisticated version of the E-112, formerly the world’s largest wind turbine and rated at 6 megawatts. This new turbine is officially rated at 6 megawatts too, but will most likely produce 7+ megawatts (or 20 million kilowatt hours per year). That’s enough to power about 5,000 households of four in Europe.



The turbine is being installed in Emden, Germany by Enercon. They will be testing several types of storage systems in combination with the multi-megawatt wind turbines.

These turbines are equipped with a number of new features: an optimized blade design with a spoiler extending down to the hub, and a pre-cast concrete base. Due to the elevated hub height and the new blade profile, the performance of the E-126 is expected to by far surpass that of the E-112.



The E-126 has no gearbox attaching the turbine blades to the generator, in fact, the generator is housed just at the widest part of the nose cone, it takes up the entire width of the nacelle to generate power more efficiently, and provide longer service life with less wear.

Also like small turbines, these have inverters instead of synchronous generators, that is to say, a separate controller that converts the wild AC generated into something the grid can use. This means the rotor can run at more optimum and varied speeds.



Again like small turbines, this one does not shut right off at a predetermined speed due to gusts or just very high wind speeds. It simply throttles down by turning the blades slightly away from the wind so as to continue to generate power though at a lower production rate. Then the instant the wind is more favorable, it starts back up again. Many smaller wind turbines do something similar except have no blade pitch control, they use a technique called something like “side furling” where the whole machine, excepting the tail, turns “sideways” to catch less wind but continue operating.



Big things are cheaper per unit production. If you have 3 of 2 MW generators, you have to have three (at least) cranes to put them up, build three foundations, have to maintain three machines, and have three times the parts to fail. If you have one, it is larger and more expensive in itself to move, but not as expensive as having to move three smaller ones.

It only turns at 12 rpm. That means it takes five seconds to complete one revolution. That is slow but this is much bigger and easy to see compared to the whirring blades of old. The Altamont Pass turbines gave wind turbines such a bad name because they were built in the middle of the natural habitat of rare birds, the turbines were the small fast spinning type, and they were built using lattice towers, the kind birds love to nest in. These are slowly being replaced and all of the new ones are of the slower rotating kind. In the end, it comes down to this. Stationary buildings and moving cars kill literally millions of times more birds than wind turbines. And things like the Exxon Valdez spill kill millions of everything. So let’s go with the best option.


Send efficient comments to:mailto:info@metaefficient.com

POWER LINES SAFE FROM RADIATION: TRANSCO

Monday, April 07, 2008 (As published by SUNSTAR ON-LINE)

POWER LINES SAFE FROM RADIATION: TRANSCO
By Mark D. Francisco

CAGAYAN DE ORO - The National Transmission Corporation (Transco) assures the public that all its electrical pylons and facilities are safe from radiation overexposure.

In a paper presented during a forum on electromagnetic fields on Sunday in Cagayan de Oro, Transco environmental management department head Julia W. Echavez said extremely low frequency electric field and magnetic field radiation emitting from its electric power lines are well below the international exposure limit.

In the absence of a Philippine or a United Nations (UN) law, the Department of Health (DOH) follows the exposure limit set by an international private group of scientists - the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP).

Physicist Agnette Peralta, who sits as one of ICNIRP's 15 commissioners, represents the Philippines in the organization.

According to the group, the ideal tolerable maximum exposure of magnetic field for people working near the facilities should only be 4200 milliGauss and 8.3 kilovolts per meter electric field. For the public, on the other hand, the ideal tolerable maximum exposure of magnetic field near an electrical facility should only be 833 milliGauss and 4.2 kilovolts per meter electric field.

Echavez presented the magnetic field and electric field exposures of its transmission lines.

For its 69-kilovolt line, the magnetic field is said to be 60.78 milliGauss and the electric field is 0.961 kilovolt per meter, while for the 138-kilovolt line, the magnetic field is 30.63 milliGauss and the electric field is measured at 1.28 kilovolts per meter.

For the 230-kilovolt line of Transco, Echavez said its magnetic field was registered at 186.44 milliGauss and 3.58 kilovolts per meter electric field.

Along this line, Echavez explained that all Transco facilities are monitored regularly by a team composed of representatives from Transco, DOH, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), National Academy of Science and Technology, ICNIRP, World Health Organization (WHO) and its distribution utilities like the Cagayan Electric Power and Light Company (Cepalco).

Overexposure to extremely low frequency can cause stimulation of peripheral nerves and muscles. According to the late British physiologist William Richard S. Doll in his 2001 research contracted by the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety, "the possibility remains that intense and prolonged exposures to magnetic fields can increase the risk of leukemia in children" despite the absence of supporting laboratory evidence.

Supporting studies by the ICNIRP showed that the UN's International Agency for Research on Cancer and the National Institute of Health in the United States did not also find any laboratory evidence linking extreme low frequency overexposure to any chronic disease.

But for the group and members and those from the Health department, it's better to be safe than sorry, resulting to the imposition of the radiation limit in the country.

(Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro/Sunnex)

POWER OUTAGE CRIPPLES PHILIPPINES AIRPORT

Agence France-Presse - 3/25/2008 8:51 AM GMT

Power Outage Cripples Philippines Airport

A power outage crippled Manila's main domestic air terminal Tuesday causing more than 50 flights to be delayed, officials said.

Hundreds of travellers were left stranded in the run-down domestic terminal where services were brought to a standstill for most of the day.

Some 54 flights by domestic carriers Asian Spirit and Cebu Pacific were delayed, the Manila International Airport Authority said in an advisory.

"We are experiencing a technical problem at the Manila domestic airport," the advisory said. "We appeal to the public to bear with us as we try to put into place our rehabilitation programme for the old domestic terminal," it added.

The power outage was caused when the airport's main circuit breaker malfunctioned at dawn, and electricity was cut off from the domestic terminal.

"The circuit breaker short-circuited, we are now trying to fix it to restore power supply," said Bing Lina, the airport's assistant general manager for operations.

He said back-up generators were providing limited electricity but computers were still not functioning.

Television footage showed visibly irate and perspiring passengers spilling onto the waiting area outside the terminal.

ROBOT SPACE FREIGHTER

Sunday March 9, 7:08 PM

EUROPE LAUNCHES ROBOT SPACE FREIGHTER
(As posted by Yahoo Asia News, dated March 9, 2008)

AFP KOUROU, French Guiana (AFP) - The European Space Agency on Sunday carried out the maiden launch of a massive robot freighter designed to rendezvous automatically with the orbital space station.

The Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), a nearly 20-tonne payload the size of a London double-decker bus, blasted into the skies aboard a beefed-up Ariane 5 launcher, an AFP reporter saw.

After being placed in orbit, the cylinder-shaped craft will deploy its solar panels and gently find its way to the International Space Station (ISS) and berth with it.

The launch had initially been scheduled for Saturday but was postponed for further checks.

The ATV will deliver seven and a half tonnes of food, water, pressurised air, fuel and personal items to the ISS crew.

After docking, the ATV will use its engines to propel the station, which is being gently tugged earthwards by terrestrial gravity and lingering atmospheric molecules, to a safer height in low orbit.

After six months or so, the craft will detach from the ISS, taking with it rubbish accumulated during the station's mission. The trash and freighter will then safely disintegrate over the Pacific, mission scientists say.

Weighing 11 tonnes unloaded, measuring 10.3 metres (33.5 feet) long and 4.5 metres (16.25 feet) wide and laden with hi-tech optical navigation, docking sensors and communications equipment, the ATV has cost ESA 1.3 billion euros (1.96 billion dollars).

The payload, handled by an Ariane 5 ES, is the biggest undertaken by ESA yet.

It will be placed in orbit at an altitude of 260 kilometres (160 miles), and then take about two weeks to edge up to the ISS, in order to test its systems and wait patiently for the departure of a US space shuttle, the Endeavour, before docking with the station.

Deployment of the ATV has been put off for some four years because of delays in assembling the ISS after the loss of the shuttle Columbia in February 2003.

The first ATV is named after Jules Verne, the French author who pioneered science fiction. Four more cargo ships are in the works, with their assembly and launch each costing just over 300 million euros.

Europe's other major contribution to the ISS has been a 1.4-billion-euro science module which was attached to the burgeoning orbital outpost last month.

The ISS, whose assembly began in 1998, now has a mass of more than 240 tonnes and is so big that it can be seen at night with the naked eye, perceptible as a small, moving star.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy hailed the successful launch as a "major European contribution" to the ISS's functioning.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and European affairs minister Jean-Pierre Jouyet said it was a "result of European cooperation in strategic top technology".

"France and Germany, which had a special role in developing this space craft, are today reaping the benefits of their cooperation," they said in a joint statement.

FLORIDA POWER FAILURE

HUMAN ERROR CITED IN FLORIDA POWER FAILURE

By JESSICA GRESKO, Associated Press Writer
(As posted by Yahoo News, dated March 1, 2008)
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A power failure that plunged large parts of Florida into the dark this week was caused primarily by human error, the state's largest electric company said Friday.

Florida Power & Light issued a preliminary report saying that a field engineer was to blame for Tuesday's failure, which affected more than 584,000 customers, or the equivalent of more than 1 million people.


The engineer was investigating a malfunctioning switch at one of the power company's substations in west Miami when he disabled two levels of protection for the system, officials said.

While he was making measurements of the switch, a circuit shorted, making a loud noise and smoke that was reported as a fire. Normally, the protection system would have contained the consequences of the short circuit, but because both levels of protection had been removed, the problem cascaded to other parts of the system.

In total, 26 of the company's 435 transmission lines and 38 of its 600 substations were affected. Two nuclear reactors and a natural gas unit at Turkey Point south of Miami shut down protectively. Two other FPL plants were also affected.

"We don't know, still, why that particular employee took it upon himself to disable both sets of relays," FPL president Armando Olivera told reporters.

The employee, who had "significant tenure," has been put on paid leave during an investigation, Olivera said. It would have been appropriate for the employee to disable one, but not two, levels of protection while making measurements, he said.

A full investigation could take months, Olivera said.

OIL HITS RECORD $100

Agence France-Presse - 1/2/2008 6:55 PM
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Oil Hits Record 100 Dollars

The price of oil on Wednesday hit 100 dollars a barrel for the first time, providing a new jolt to oil-dependent economies, particularly the United States, dealers said.


On the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) at 1720 GMT, a barrel of "light sweet crude" for February briefly hit 100 dollars per barrel before easing back, up 3.48 dollars to 99.46 dollars from Monday's close.

After flirting with the record twice in November, "we finally hit the 100 dollars barrel oil and we will hit again if supply remains tight compare to demand," said Bart Melek, an analyst with BMO Capital Markets.

In London, Brent North Sea crude for February soared to a record 97.05 dollars per barrel. It later stood at 96.85 dollars, up three dollars from Monday. Markets were closed Tuesday for the New Year holiday.

The surge in oil prices drove US stocks lower. "As crude rallies, stocks continue to slide. The decline is broad-based, considering all sectors other than energy (up 0.5 percent) are posting a loss of 1.0 percent or larger," analysts at Briefing.com wrote.

Phil Flynn, an analyst at Alaron Trading, explained the factors supporting crude prices: "More violence in Nigeria, concerns about stability in Pakistan, oil-inventory expectations and good old-fashioned cold winter weather."

At least 12 people were killed over the New Year in the Nigeria's oil capital Port Harcourt, raising fears that crude output in the oil-producing nation could be further reduced. Gunmen attacked two police stations and a hotel, a military officer in the city said on Wednesday.

"With the military and the militant warlords engaged in a violent tit-for-tat, the risk for oil disruptions in Nigeria remains higher than in the past few months," said Petromatrix analyst Olivier Jakob.

Violence by militants has reduced Nigeria's oil output by about a fifth since the start of 2006. The unrest "raises concerns that a return to chaos could begin to disrupt international oil flows again," said John Kilduff at MF Global.

Elsewhere, an official report due Thursday was expected to show that crude oil inventories in the United States, the world's top energy consumer, have fallen for a seventh week in a row. Falling inventories amid the northern hemisphere winter when demand for heating fuel surges is helping to lift prices.

"Crude prices are drawing some support from (expectations of) a further decline in crude stocks in a weekly US inventories report," said Sucden analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov.

"Oil stocks are near a three-year low, with more withdrawals expected in this Thursday's delayed inventory report," added Kilduff.

Oil prices doubled last year, with New York crude reaching a record high of 99.29 dollars on November 21.

New York prices had briefly approached 98 dollars late last week after the assassination of Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.

David Moore, a commodities strategist with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, said Wednesday that geopolitical tensions in Pakistan and the Middle East had "created a risk premium" for the oil market.