South Carolina–based ESAB Welding & Cutting Products introduced the Aristo Tech 5-13 Welding Helmet with Variable Shade ADF. Designed for the professional welder, the helmet features Auto-Darkening Filter Lens Technology (ADF) and has a variable 5-13 digital control for adjustment of shade level, sensitivity, and delay. The helmet’s Quick Set feature allows for easy change […]

ABB to Refurbish Generators at Two Swiss Hydro Plants. ABB on April 20 said it had received $20 million of orders from two power utilities managed by Axpo, a leading Swiss power utility, to refurbish the generators at two of its hydroelectric power plants. The plants are located in the mountainous canton of Wallis (Valais) […]

The new DustBoss from Dust Control Technology DB-M is designed for applications in which a fan-driven mist could generate undesirable turbulence and is well-suited to operating conditions involving very fine dust particles, including slag dust or fly ash. The unit generates an umbrella-shaped cloud of atomized droplets averaging 50 to 200 microns in size and […]

In March, Cambridge Energy Research Associates hosted its 30th annual CERAWeek, a conference that is renowned for high-profile attendees from around the world.

Cummins Power Generation announced two new internationally styled and designed diesel generator set ranges for global markets. Powered by Cummins engines, both are maintenance-friendly. CE-certification and compliance with international standards make them ideal for a wide variety of applications, including in remote locations. The new low-range 40- to 75-kVA generator sets feature the Cummins S3.8 […]

None of you reading this magazine needs an article—or new governmental regulations—to tell you that flash fires and explosions involving coal dust can cause catastrophic incidents, fatalities, facility damage, and financial consequences.

In a 2006 statement, former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said, “We must treat energy security and climate security as two sides of the same coin.” Are energy security and climate change best addressed by reducing fossil fuel combustion, as he suggested?

California’s Cap-and-Trade Program is the only cross-industry, market-based climate change regulatory program in the United States. This program may provide a good investment opportunity for dairy farmers, livestock owners, and others if the program’s Livestock Project protocol for offsets can get off the ground and maintain a viable price for greenhouse gas (GHG) allowances.

Industrial control systems (ICSs) manage global industrial infrastructures, including electric power systems, by measuring, controlling, and providing a view of control processes that once were visible to the operator but now are not. Frequently, ICSs are not viewed as computers that must operate in a secure environment, nor are they often considered susceptible to cybersecurity threats. However, recent cybersecurity failures have proven these assumptions wrong.

Just weeks after the U.S. Commerce Department slapped a 31% tariff on 61 Chinese crystalline silicon photovoltaic (PV) cell producers and exporters, it imposed preliminary duties of as high as 26% on imports of utility-scale wind towers from China.

The U.S. Supreme Court is considering whether to hear a case filed by several states and citizen groups against the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that contends that FERC Order 697, issued in 2007 to improve market-based rate regulations, exceeds FERC’s authority under the Federal Power Act (FPA).

Planning reserve margins in California and Texas will be "tight" this summer, and New England generators could face uncertain supplies of liquefied natural gas (LNG), the North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s (NERC’s) newly released 2012 Summer Reliability Assessment finds.

Over the next five years, at least eight advanced large-scale demonstration carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects will enter operation—five in North America and three in Europe, a Bloomberg New Energy Finance analysis shows. Leading the pack is Pennsylvania-based Air Products & Chemical’s CCS demonstration at a refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, a project that could be operational as soon as next year.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on Tuesday said it renewed the operating license for the 1972-commissioned Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth, Mass., for 20 more years despite objections by outgoing NRC Chair Gregory Jaczko.

A three-year schedule delay and cost overruns of about $2 billion plaguing the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA’s) project to build a second Watts Bar reactor are directly attributable to deficiencies in the “project set-up” and “ineffective management oversight,” the federal corporation’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) said in a report last week.

Illinois regulators on Tuesday rejected Ameren Illinois’ $625 million plan to deploy smart grid improvements in its service territory, saying the company not only failed to show it could deliver a cost benefit to customers, but that the deployment plan was “vague and incomplete” and bordered on being more a “general statement of intention to install smart meters in some parts of its service territory.”

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) should examine the benefits of mandating that nuclear plants in the U.S. add probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) to methods used to evaluate and prepare for natural hazards, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) finds in a new report.

The Obama administration often says that there is room for coal in our future fuels mix. However, the administration’s actions lead me to believe President Obama has something much more profound in mind.

Advanced ultrasupercritical (A-USC) is a term used to designate a coal-fired power plant design with the inlet steam temperature to the turbine at 700C to 760C. In Part I of this three-part report, we introduced the A-USC boiler. In this segment, we look at the metallurgical advancements required for the A-USC boiler to operate at such high temperatures. The final report will explore the A-USC boiler’s unique design challenges.

Trying to assess the potential for coal-to-gas switching in today’s environment is something of an art form. Suppose for a moment that one were able to devise an economic model that truly replicates real-world generation dispatch for plant operators. A model is only as good as the inputs that go into it, and, let’s face it, future natural gas prices are a critical component.

In late March, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed its first-ever carbon pollution standard for new power plants, limiting carbon dioxide emissions from new fossil fuel–fired power plants. However, the technology options for complying wiith the proposed rule remain few and expensive, as recent developments demonstrate.

Coal generation, as a percentage of total power output in the U.S., declined steadily to 39% at the end of 2011 from about 51% in 2002, while generation from natural gas–fired combined cycle plants grew to more than 20% from 10% over the same period, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) said in late April, as it released its annual assessment for U.S. energy markets.

Two Environmental Protection Agency rules are facing legal challenges. The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards is being challenged by half the U.S. states, while a decision in a case concerning the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule could be reached as soon as this summer.

Coal combustion products often can be recycled into a variety of construction and building materials. However, first you must be able to retrieve the wet ash from a holding pond before the ash can be dried and sold.

The already low quality of scientific publication has now reached rock bottom. The Onion recently reported on three scientific studies that put illustrate how far quality scientific inquiry has fallen.

Is natural gas as clean a fuel as we are led to believe? A recent study by a Cornell University professor concludes that leaks of natural gas into the atmosphere may make coal the better choice.

A new report shows that the reserve margin for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) could plunge to 9.8% as soon as 2014, to 6.9% in 2015, and to a negative margin by 2022—well below the grid operator’s 13.75% target for electric generation capacity that exceeds the forecast peak demand on the grid.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Chair Gregory Jaczko on Monday announced his resignation after more than seven years as a member and three years as head of the federal regulatory body. But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) last week suggested that Jaczko could be re-nominated if a successor is not confirmed by June 20, 2013, when the chairman’s first term ends.

The long-awaited restart of Bruce Power’s Unit 2 at Bruce A on Friday was delayed again for months after an issue was identified within the electrical generator on the non-nuclear side of the Ontario plant just an hour before synchronization with the grid was scheduled to occur.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) last week issued a policy statement explaining how it will advise the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on requests for extra time from generators to comply with the agency’s recently finalized Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS).