POWER

General Motors and Zurich-based ABB on Tuesday unveiled what they called “the next stage in battery reuse”: repackaging five used Chevrolet Volt batteries into a modular unit that has a power generation capacity of 25 kW for two hours. The companies said the unit could extend the life of electric vehicle (EV) batteries while being used as community energy storage.

All leaders want to be liked, but letting that desire set your course is a path to frustration and drama. Though it sometimes seems counter-intuitive, the ability to set good boundaries is the mark of a good leader.

A new report from the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) offers a state-by-state look at key developments that have shaped the renewable energy landscape, including information and planned capacity, markets, economic developments, resource potential, and policy.

Adaptive, creative, and flexible, the humble octopus has much to teach managers in the modern world.

A “who’s doing what” addendum to "THE BIG PICTURE: Advanced Fission" in our November 2012 issue.

A “who’s doing what” addendum to "THE BIG PICTURE: Advanced Fission" in our November 2012 issue.

By Kennedy Maize Washington, D.C., 9 November 2012 – “Three-dimensional musical chairs” best describes what happens in Washington during the start of a second presidential term. The jockeying for position can get confusing and nasty as folks seek to move up, down, around and out as the administration rearranges its second-term priorities. Sharp elbows can […]

By Thomas W. Overton There’s an old adage, “If you’re going to take a shot at the king, you’d better kill him.” No doubt this theme is reverberating around coal country boardrooms this week. Big Coal was one of the most prolific industries supporting Mitt Romney and the GOP this season.  Though estimates vary and […]

FuelCell Energy Inc. on Monday announced an order from its South Korean partner, POSCO Energy, for 121.8 MW of fuel cell kits and services to be manufactured at the FuelCell Energy production facility in Torrington, Conn. The company said this represents the largest order for both its company and the fuel cell industry.

Berkeley, Calif., startup LightSail Energy, which aims to produce “the world’s cleanest and most economical energy storage systems,” has secured $37.3 million in a Series D round that included three big-name investors: Bill Gates, Vinod Khosla, and Peter Thiel.

Switzerland-based ABB today announced that it has developed the world’s first circuit breaker for high voltage direct current (HVDC), solving what it says has been “a 100-year-old electrical engineering puzzle and paving the way for a more efficient and reliable electricity supply system.” The breakthrough holds promise not just for renewables development but also for all types of generation that nations and regions wish to transmit over long distances, including under large bodies of water.

Tuesday saw the re-election of President Barack Obama, Democrats boosting their numbers in the U.S. Senate, and Republicans retaining their majority in the House. Voters in several states also cast ballots to decide a variety of environmental and energy issues at state and local levels. The results included rejection of a proposed raising of Michigan’s renewable energy standard (RES) to 25% by 2020 and passage of closing a tax loophole for out-of-state corporations in California to fund clean energy and energy efficiency projects.

An explosion at a 600-MW coal/biomass power plant in the eastern Netherlands city of Nijmegen early on Thursday morning sent steam clouds into the sky, scattered ceramic wool in the vicinity, and prompted police to advise nearby residents to keep their windows and doors shut. No casualties were reported, and all workers are accounted for, said GDF Suez, whose subsidiary Electrabel owns the plant.

South Korea’s government on Monday shut down two nuclear reactors at the Yeonggwang nuclear complex owned by the state-owned Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. (KHNP), which it said were equipped with thousands of parts allegedly linked to forged quality and safety warranties.

Several nuclear power plants in the path of Hurricane Sandy, the "superstorm" that devastated parts of the East Coast last week, endured the hurricane-force winds and storm surges without significant impact, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has said.

Dominion Virginia Power on Friday asked the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) to approve construction of a 1,358-MW combined cycle natural gas-fired power plant to replace power from aging coal plants that the company has deemed are not economically or environmentally sound to continue operating.

The International Trade Commission (ITC) on Wednesday unanimously determined that imports of crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells and modules from China materially injured the U.S. industry, clearing the way for the Commerce Department to issue antidumping and countervailing duties on billions of dollars of products from China for the next five years. However, the ITC’s determination finds no critical circumstances were present, which means duties on Chinese solar module imports won’t apply retroactively.

By Kennedy Maize (@kennedymaize) Washington, D.C., 7 November, 2012 — With Barack Obama given another four-year lease on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the policy and regulatory landscape for the electricity business is largely unchanged. But the roadmap may be somewhat different. Obama’s reelection represents neither an endorsement nor a repudiation of his policy initiatives on such […]

A “who’s doing what” addendum to "THE BIG PICTURE: Advanced Fission" in our November 2012 issue.

A “who’s doing what” addendum to "THE BIG PICTURE: Advanced Fission" in our November 2012 issue.

Renewable energy projects installed on potentially contaminated lands, landfills, and mine sites have increased by 40% since 2008, a new list released last week by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shows. Solar photovoltaic (PV) systems make up the bulk of about 184.7 MW installed at 60 sites in 25 U.S. states.

Surging supplies of natural gas have led to serious discussions of exporting this resource. The head of APGA explains how this threatens the U.S.’s long-term interests and energy security.

The power-hungry ERCOT region is getting an upgrade, as Siemens and Bechtel are building two advanced combined cycle plants in central Texas.

When the Albany area needed a new power plant, pulling water from the Hudson River would have been the easy choice. But the plant owners chose to get creative, drawing on a convenient but unconventional source for their cooling water.

When you’re building a natural gas pipeline, running pipe from Point A to Point B is only the final, most obvious step. You’ve got to jump through a lot of hoops to get there, in a process that can take years and that involves a lot of foresight.

Bigger isn’t always better, but when you’ve got big power needs in a remote location, your options are often limited. A new mobile gas-fired generator aims to change that, offering both big capacity and a small footprint.

The shale boom has run well ahead of the infrastructure needed to handle all the production. When there’s nowhere to put associated gas, much of it is being flared. But this common industry practice is starting to draw some uncommon attention.

This year’s healthy growth in global gas-fired power generation continued in the third quarter, with significant projects being planned in Turkey and Japan.

The Electric Power Research Institute and several partners—including the Southern Research Institute, Southern Co. subsidiary Georgia Power, and Southern Research—are testing a new technology that could reduce the amount of water needed for power plant cooling.