Officially commissioned in February 2012, the two Walney Offshore Windfarms—Walney 1 and Walney 2—together have 102 wind turbines with a total capacity of 367.2 MW. With their combined capacity, the windfarms qualify as one of the world’s largest offshore wind energy facilities and provide clean electricity to approximately 320,000 UK households.

Electricity produced from solar energy is being added to the grid—before and after the meter—in greater amounts each year. The uniqueness of this resource is pushing utilities, developers, users, and regulators to develop new and innovative interconnection rules and to rewrite some old rules that balance the costs and rewards among stakeholders.

An emerging flow battery technology got a major boost earlier this year when Gills Onions, one of the largest fresh-cut onion processing plants in the world—began operating a 3.6-MWh vanadium redox battery (VRB) energy storage system (ESS).

China’s 12th Five-Year Plan calls for expanding the use of renewable energy in all forms throughout the country. From solar and wind to biomass gas and briquettes, China has a true “all of the above” renewable energy policy.

In October, Canadian biogas power producer Anaergia opened a 2.8-MW fuel cell system powered by cleaned and conditioned wastewater biosolids at a municipal water treatment facility in Ontario, Calif.

The de facto U.S. energy policy is to burn more gas, much of it produced using “fracking” technology. Huge volumes of low-priced natural gas have caused coal plant shutdowns, slowed renewable development, and undercut new nuclear plant development. Using more gas has also sent the nation’s carbon dioxide emissions into a downward spiral. Is the glut of natural gas too good to be true?

Offshore wind turbine technology experienced a brief gust in October as Siemens Energy began field testing of its new 154-meter (m) rotor for the 6-MW offshore wind turbine, and Norwegian technology company Sway Turbine unveiled a 10-MW offshore turbine.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency efforts to regulate mercury emissions from coal- and oil-fired power plants have spanned nearly two decades. In February of this year the agency promulgated the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, but changes to the standards continue.

When the Boulder Canyon Hydroelectric Facility was built in the steep, forested mountains between Boulder and Nederland, Colo., in 1910, it was the highest head hydroelectric facility in the western U.S.

Retrofit projects are often very time-consuming, both for the engineers who must take numerous field measurements to produce drawings and for the contractor that must fabricate each assembly on site. A more cost-effective approach is to begin with a highly accurate set of as-built 3D models produced by laser scanning technology.

A report released on Wednesday by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) surveying the U.S. coal-fired power sector says that retirements of older units, retrofits of existing units with pollution controls, and the construction of some new coal-fueled units are expected to significantly change the coal-fueled electricity generating fleet,  but that coal will likely remain a key fuel source through 2035.

A new report from the Institute of Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) challenges claims by Mississippi Power Co. (MPC) that its 582-MW Kemper Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) plant under construction in Kemper County, Miss., is 70% complete, and suggests that the project is over budget and behind schedule in several respects.

A post-combustion polymeric membrane system that promises to separate and capture 90% of the carbon dioxide emitted from a pulverized coal plant has been successfully demonstrated and last week received approval from  the Department of Energy (DOE) to advance to a larger-scale field test.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced an award to support a new project to design, license, and help commercialize small modular reactors (SMR) in the U.S. The project supported by the award will be led by Babcock & Wilcox (B&W) in partnership with the Tennessee Valley Authority and Bechtel.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU) on Wednesday approved a 15-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) between Cape Wind and NSTAR for 27% of power generated by the Cape Wind project, the nation’s first offshore wind farm.

The world’s first supercritical pulverized coal–fired low mass flux vertical tube Benson boiler is Jinzhushan 3, located in Hunan Province of the People’s Republic of China. The 600-MW Babcock & Wilcox Power Generation Group Inc. once-through boiler burns Chinese anthracite using downshot pulverized coal (PC) technology. Part 2 of this three-part article discusses the boiler technology. The third and final part will review the plant’s performance test results.

Duke Energy said  in mid-October that testing was under way in preparation for commercial operation next year of its 630-MW integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) Edwardsport power plant in Knox County, Ind.

A bipartisan delegation of lawmakers from Pennsylvania on Oct. 15 urged the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to consider creating a separate subcategory for power plants that convert coal refuse into energy in its final Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS). Though waste coal plants made an important environmental contribution by reducing coal refuse piles, the hydrochloric acid (HCl) standard in the MATS rule could push them out of business, they said.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Oct. 5 appealed a federal court decision handed down on Aug. 21 that vacated the agency’s July 2011–finalized Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) because, the court said, it violated federal law. The EPA is now seeking a rehearing en banc that would involve all eight judges that serve at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

The 15-year-old Kyoto Protocol expires at the end of 2012. With U.S. CO₂ emissions at a 20-year low, what’s the point in the U.S. signing a new agreement?

This synopsis of today’s most interesting research related to power generation gives you a glimpse of what’s possibly coming to your plant in the not-so-distance future. Research under way today will surely determine how power plants are designed, operated, and maintained for many years to come.

Insulation and lagging are key to saving energy in a typical steam plant, and plant operators would be well advised to pay close attention to energy losses in their insulation and lagging systems.

Supporters of a new carbon tax are using arguments aimed at conservatives (it can be revenue neutral) and liberals (it can help the environment) alike. The damage to the U.S. economy, manufacturing competitiveness, and society’s poorest citizens outweighs the government’s need for a new revenue stream.

Expect the EPA to increase the use NEPA data requests, ostensibly related to climate change analysis, as an excuse to slow or stymie new energy system development.

Despite growing concern about cybersecurity both in and outside of Washington, the Senate’s cybersecurity bill died a second time on Nov. 13. The apparent inability of Congress to pass legislation designed to protect critical U.S. infrastructure could lead to President Barack Obama implementing some of the bill’s provisions via executive order. A day after the bill failed to gain 60 votes for passage, a recently declassified report was released that finds the U.S. power grid is vulnerable to attacks that could be more destructive than natural disasters such as Hurricane Sandy.

In a project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Fossil Energy (OFE), researchers at The Ohio State University have developed what they call a groundbreaking new hybrid membrane that combines the separation performance of inorganic membranes with the cost-effectiveness of polymer membranes. The breakthrough technology has vast commercial potential for use at coal-fired power plants with carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS), a key element in national efforts to mitigate climate change.

On Monday, as First Wind announced its 69-MW Kawailoa Wind Project had gone into commercial operations on Oahu, other news underscored the difficulty the island state faces in trying to substitute renewables for expensive, imported fossil fuels.

This week’s issue of POWERnews is coming to you earlier than usual because of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday. We want to take this opportunity to thank all of our readers, contributors, advertisers, and other business partners for their continued support. As our industry continues to face an increasing number of challenges, our goal is to remain your most trusted source for information.

A reconsidered proposal issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Friday sets out slightly weakened emission limits for mercury, particulate matter (PM), acid gases, and certain individual metals for future coal- and oil-fired power plants.