POWER

Power generation used to be predictable enough that operational performance and commercial performance could be managed as separate problems. That’s no longer true. Plants are shifting from stable baseload operation toward peaking, cycling, and market-driven dispatch. Operators must run assets reliably under more volatile conditions while reacting faster to price signals and system constraints, often […]

Utilities and energy organizations are making major infrastructure investments while facing intense pressure to keep service affordable and meet regulatory expectations. Protecting cash flow requires a clear, timely view of where money is being spent across the organization. When spending is spread across disconnected systems and complex operations, finance teams can struggle to track budgets […]

By Thomas Seeber, Managing Director, Data Center Power Solutions, INNIO How flexible, decentralized power solutions can help communities support AI growth without compromising grid reliability or local water resources America’s race to build the infrastructure needed for artificial intelligence does not have to collide with quality of life and sustainability. Today, residents, local officials, utilities, […]

At the inaugural Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit, hosted by Sen. Dave McCormick at Carnegie Mellon University on July 15, 2025, Westinghouse Electric Co. put a live proof of concept on display: an artificial intelligence (AI) system aimed at reducing the cost and schedule risk of building new AP1000 reactors. According to Westinghouse, the demonstration […]

For nearly 25 years, KR Sridhar has argued that large electricity users should not have to wait for the grid to reach them. The proposition once sounded ahead of its time, then specialized, then useful to hospitals, campuses, retailers, telecom networks and data centers that wanted power close to the load. By 2025, as artificial […]

For data center developers and operators, access to reliable power is becoming a defining commercial risk. Power availability and certainty can influence where projects are built, how quickly capacity can be brought online and ultimately whether development can move forward at all. The new data center power paradigm Speed to market remains a commercial imperative […]

As battery energy storage systems move into larger and denser configurations, fire and explosion risk has become one of the industry’s most closely scrutinized engineering challenges. At Wärtsilä Energy Storage, Mishaal SyedNaveed has focused his work on that challenge. That combination of utility experience, product engineering, testing, and standards work has made SyedNaveed a finalist […]

Schneider Electric partnered with the City of Conroe to deploy EcoStruxure Automation Expert (EAE), an open, software-defined automation platform, across all 19 of the city’s water and wastewater facilities as part of a $50-million infrastructure upgrade, the most ambitious in the city’s history.

Qatar’s strategic potable water storage has grown from about 2.5 days of supply to roughly 5.5 days, according to the Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (KAHRAMAA). The utility credits a program of 15 concrete reservoirs linked by more than 600 kilometers (km) of large-diameter pipeline. The Water Mega Reservoirs Project, a finalist for POWER’s […]

Data centers are ushering in a new era of electricity demand—and existing power plants are being called on to generate more with the infrastructure already in place. As operating hours increase and reserve margins tighten, the reliability of water treatment systems is becoming essential to maintaining power generation. After decades of relatively modest electricity growth, […]

For ages, diesel generators have sat behind hospitals and on campuses waiting to do one job: provide power for a few hours each year when the lights inexplicably go out. Today, the narrative is changing—and fast. When U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright wrote to the nation’s grid operators on Jan. 22, 2026, asking them […]

Grid operators, utilities, and project developers are facing several enormous demands at once. They’re being asked to deliver capacity for a wave of new load from data centers, electric vehicle (EV) charging networks, and electrified buildings, while at the same time integrating a record pipeline of new generation from utility-scale solar, wind, and battery storage. […]

With hundreds of 7FA and 7EA gas turbines approaching end-of-life thresholds and industry-wide constraints on forgings and shop capacity, MD&A has invested a decade in reverse engineering, supply chain development, and production of rotor components to offer utilities an independent path forward. The gas turbine bubble of 2000 to 2004 saw between 600 and 700 […]

POWER is pleased to announce the finalists for the 2026 POWER Awards, recognizing the projects, people, and organizations setting the pace for the global power industry. Winners will be revealed at an awards ceremony at Experience POWER in Washington, D.C., on Monday, Sept. 28, 2026, at 5 p.m. New this year: the Plant of the […]

Westinghouse Electric Company has made Dan Sumner’s interim role permanent, appointing him president and chief executive officer, effective immediately. Sumner has served as Westinghouse’s interim CEO for the past 12 months and previously held senior executive roles overseeing the company’s finance and operating-plant businesses. According to Westinghouse, Sumner brings nearly 25 years of global experience […]

Energy resilience solutions provider Rehlko said that it has entered into a multi-year strategic engine framework agreement with INNIO Group, securing the supply of about 1.25 GW of gas engine capacity over the next three years.

Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), a part of investment giant BlackRock following its acquisition in 2024, has led a $250 million upsizing of Budderfly’s debt facility, bringing the total facility to $550 million and boosting the Shelton, Connecticut-based Energy-as-a-Service (EaaS) company’s cumulative capital base well past $1 billion. The transaction, announced on March 25, also includes […]

  See how AI is transforming combined cycle power plants! In this episode of AI in Action, discover how the Ovation™ Virtual Advisor and Ovation AI Agents help operators quickly analyze alarms and speed up startup processes. It’s a real-world look at how artificial intelligence boosts performance and decision-making across operations, improving situational awareness, reducing […]

A handful of geothermal projects are crossing from experimentation into execution, testing whether drilling gains, reservoir control, and new market demand can turn subsurface risk into firm, contractable power. Since 2021, geothermal power’s proposition has been quietly shifting, driven primarily by encouraging policy, but also a new class of decisive buyers. In response to reliability […]

Ethiopia is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa with a population of more than 130 million. Until recently, its power grid only extended to a small percentage of its population—those nearest to major urban areas. That changed markedly with the recently commissioned Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). With an estimated capacity of more […]

Rolls-Royce SMR and Yokogawa Electric Corp. have announced a strategic agreement for the Japanese industrial automation specialist to deliver data processing and control systems (DPCS) for Rolls-Royce’s small modular reactor (SMR) program—a deal covering the first units in what both companies envision as a global SMR fleet. Under the agreement, Yokogawa will design, engineer, validate, […]

Xylem Inc., a global water solutions company, announced the launch of Sensus Evolve, its new intelligent grid platform designed to help electric utilities gain deeper insight, act faster, and adapt to a rapidly changing energy landscape.

S&C Electric Company and Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL) have announced a collaboration that pairs S&C Electric’s IntelliRupter PulseCloser Fault Interrupter with the upcoming SEL-651RD Advanced Digital Control, giving utilities a new interoperable option for overhead distribution automation. The announcement, made Feb. 2 at an event in San Diego, California, addresses growing utility demand for modernization […]

The company’s O2rigen product line uses a carbon dioxide (CO2) and oxygen (O2) gas blend to eliminate potent greenhouse gas emissions from power switching equipment. Southern States LLC has launched a new line of power switching products that replace sulfur hexafluoride (SF6)—one of the most potent greenhouse gases known—with a natural-origin blend of CO2 and […]

The distribution transformer manufacturer’s first plant west of the Mississippi River will add three-phase production capacity to address ongoing supply constraints. Distribution transformer manufacturer ERMCO announced Jan. 21 it will open a new manufacturing facility in Maricopa County, Arizona—the company’s first expansion west of the Mississippi River. The 566,121-square-foot plant in Waddell, approximately 30 miles […]

Chicago-based Switched Source reported a 60% increase in deployments of its Phase-EQ grid-enhancing technology (Figure 1) over the past year, with units now operating across more than 10 utility service areas from Alaska to Florida. The company’s Phase-EQ device dynamically balances power between phases on distribution circuits, addressing load imbalances that limit how much capacity […]

Chicken Switch Hitter CBS ArcSafe, a leading manufacturer of remote racking and switching solutions for low- and medium-voltage switchgear, introduced the RSK-CSH-W Chicken Switch Hitter (Figure 1), a wireless

For more than four decades, POWER magazine has honored top performers in the electricity-generating industry with annual awards. If your plant has distinguished itself through innovative design, engineering upgrades, improved reliability or economics, or new generation or environmental controls technology, we want to hear about it. We also recognize noteworthy projects in smart grid, water, […]

As heavy-duty gas turbine unit approach or exceed its fired factored hours (FFH) or starts (FFS), operators face critical decisions to maintain reliability and performance. With supply chain constraints, material shortages, and a growing number of B, E and F-class rotors nearing end of life, proactive planning has never been more important. B, E and […]

In simple terms, inertia refers to the energy stored in the rotating masses of synchronous generators, typically found in traditional thermal power plants. This stored kinetic energy acts as a cushion when sudden frequency fluctuations happen in the grid, helping to prevent system-wide disruptions. For example, when a large generator unexpectedly goes offline, the rotating […]