POWER

In the early 1980s, a man named George Mitchell, who owned an independent oil and gas company in Houston, began to see a distressing trend in his company’s future. Mitchell Energy supplied natural gas to a

The Powder River Basin Coal Users’ Group (PRBCUG) recognized TransAlta’s two-unit, 1,340-MW Centralia Complex with its 2013 Plant of the Year (Large Plant category) award at its 2013 Annual Meeting

The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is developing a promising solar-fossil hybrid power system for integration with a conventional combined-cycle power plant. The hybrid system uses concentrated

Australia’s freshly elected prime minister, Tony Abbott, introduced a bill in November to scrap the nation’s controversial carbon pricing plan, which is slated to transition to an emissions trading scheme

Several new nuclear plant construction milestones were recorded worldwide in October and November. CPR-1000. On Nov. 23, China’s 18th large reactor, Hongyanhe 2, was connected to the grid. The $8.2 billion

Owner/operator: GDF SUEZ Energy Poland Historically, Poland has relied heavily on coal for electricity generation. International Energy Agency statistics show that coal generation accounted for 86.5% of total

Owner/operator: Shams Power Co. Courtesy: Masdar The small nation of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), despite having the world’s seventh-largest proven reserves of both oil and gas, has been working hard to

Recently, the variable generation (VG) industry has been strongly promoted in China to advance sustainable energy development, especially for wind power and solar photovoltaic (PV) power, which have entered

The new Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) have given coal-fired power plant owners a short time to bring their plants into compliance with rules that require significantly less mercury (Hg) in stack

Training simulators are worth their weight in gold to the power industry, as well as to most process industries in general. People tend to learn the fastest and the most thoroughly when hands-on trial and

America is blessed with long coastlines and relatively deep waters. But ironically, this has been a disadvantage to the U.S. offshore wind industry. Compared to more than 1,000 turbines that are already

In 1973, an obscure economist from Britain’s National Coal Board, which then owned and operated all the coal mines in the country, published a book that posited—as the title proclaimed—that Small Is

Fossil-fuel-based power generation plants with wet scrubbing systems use slurries of sorbents to remove sulfur dioxide from their emissions. These highly abrasive slurries accelerate wear on the expansion

As solar technologies, both solar photovoltaic (PV) and concentrated solar power (CSP) are often discussed collectively, along with solar thermal and solar fuels. But the difference between the two power

Rising energy costs necessitate new ideas and techniques for heat recovery—such as the Hitec Economizer from GEA Heat Exchangers. It is designed for equipping or retrofitting gas turbines and boilers, as

New research conducted by Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Santa Fe Institute researchers finds that the number of energy patents is increasing faster than patents overall. However, the trend lines

Germany’s levy to promote renewables under the 2008 Renewable Energy Act (EEG) will climb to €0.624/kWh in 2014—a 20% increase that represents nearly a fifth of residential electricity bills. The measure

Beginning with its landmark Order No. 888 in 1996, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has aggressively pursued policies designed to foster planning and construction of new transmission facilities

Up to 18% of the world’s electricity could be generated with wind energy by 2050, but the massive jump from 2.6% today would require the nearly 300 GW of current wind capacity worldwide to increase eight- to

Christoph Frei The global energy environment is increasing in complexity and uncertainty. We are in a much more challenging world than previously envisaged. The World Energy Council’s (WEC) analysis has

The Power Finance Corp. (PFC), India’s nodal agency that conducts bidding for 16 proposed Ultra-Mega Power Plants (UMPPs)—coal projects of a 4,000-MW scale to make power available at a minimum cost—in

Owner/operator: Energias de PortugalCourtesy: Alstom Sunny Portugal enjoys a climate much like that of Southern California and likewise has considerable wind resources. Unlike California, Portugal has

Plans to build the $12 billion Inga 3 hydropower project may be finally coming to fruition after a new energy treaty signed by South Africa and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) promised to give the

Owner/operator: AGL Energy/Malakoff Corporation Berhad Though endowed with some of the world’s largest coal resources, Australia—whose southern coasts experience strong westerly winds called the “Roaring

Europe’s largest pumped-storage power plant was inaugurated this October in the Júcar River basin in Spain’s eastern province of Valencia as Spanish utility Iberdrola commissioned the final

Owners/operators: Sempra U.S. Gas & Power and Consolidated Edison Development Courtesy: Sempra U.S. Gas & Power California has been pursuing renewable generation since enactment of its Renewable

First Kundankulam Unit Synchronized to Grid. The state-owned Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) on Oct. 22 synchronized to the grid the first of two units at the Kundankulam Nuclear Power

After decades of developing indigenous nuclear reactor technology, South Korea in 2010 voiced ambitions that entail exporting 80 nuclear reactors by 2030. In 2009, the country saw its first major deal, winning a lucrative $20.4 billion contract to build four APR-1400 reactors in the United Arab Emirates. That technology is an advanced version of the […]

RusHydro Completes First Stage of New Far East Hydro Project. The RusHydro Group on Oct. 3 announced it had officially completed the first stage of the 570-MW Ust’-Srednekanskaya hydropower plant on the