Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel at the end of May officially endorsed a plan to shut down all 17 of the nation’s nuclear power plants by 2022. The decision, which gives the power-intensive nation just over a decade to find new sources of power for 23% of its energy needs, has had reverberations all over the world, though the future of nuclear—through growth in developing nations—continues to look sturdy.

In a surprising decision, a federal agency surrendered some of its regulatory authority—and parts of the industry don’t approve. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission declined to defend its jurisdiction over station power in the California power market, potentially giving an economic advantage to utility generators nationwide and putting merchant generators at a disadvantage.

In the last issue of MANAGING POWER we looked at some of the important points to keep in mind when writing an employee handbook to ensure that employees will actually will read it and adhere to its policies. This concluding article covers 10 of the most important policies that should be included.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) in May discovered—after calibrating water gauges—that the water level in the reactor pressure vessel of Unit 1 at the quake- and tsunami-ravaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant may have dropped to such low levels that the fuel was completely uncovered. This caused almost all the fuel pellets to melt and fall to the bottom of the vessel at a relatively early stage in the accident—roughly 15 hours after the March 11 earthquake that killed an estimated 28,000.

If you needed additional proof that the power industry is changing, the ELECTRIC POWER keynote and panel discussions over the past few years have provided it—top-of-mind issues have been significantly different each year. For the 2011 keynote speaker and panelists, the challenges of reliability, regulatory compliance, financing, and getting the fuel mix right took center stage. In the wake of Japan’s nuclear crisis, safety also featured prominently.

Enterprise resource planning software has swept the power industry, promising to improve coordination and management. Has it lived up to the hype? One ERP vendor says the programs often underperform.

As the Daiichi nuclear crisis has governments around the world reconsidering their nuclear-heavy energy plans and scrutinizing the safety of existing reactors and third-generation designs, several developers are touting the merits of small modular reactors (SMRs).

Risk, risk management, and the specter of Fukushima ran through the nuclear track at May’s ELECTRIC POWER Conference in Chicago. The reality of risk, driven home by the horrendous events in Japan, was a recurring theme in many presentations, in questions to speakers, and in the conversations among delegates during informal moments.

Central banks in the past 18 months have injected a flood of money into financial markets. This liquidity in the system has allowed many marginal companies to issue bonds and avoid looming bankruptcy. Now is the time to take steps to protect yourself from the effects of a failed business relationship.

In a an analysis released this May, nonprofit UK group Carbon Trust admits that there is “still considerable uncertainty as to whether wave and tidal systems will play a meaningful role in meeting global energy needs,” but it suggests, based on high and low scenarios, that up to 240 GW of marine capacity could be deployed globally by 2050. Roughly 75% of this capacity will come from wave and the remainder from tidal energy.

In today’s solid-fueled power plant, managing emissions and moving materials more defines the task than the traditional work of making megawatts. That’s the message that emerged from the coal and solid fuels track at this year’s ELECTRIC POWER.

Many leaders believe that an open door policy will improve employee communications and group productivity. On the other hand, there are five reasons why a closed-door policy may have more benefits to your organization.

Indonesia Sees Surge in Contracts for New Power Plants. Indonesia is Southeast Asia’s largest economy, but because it is stricken by chronic power shortages that limit economic growth, the nation’s government is pushing for massive infrastructure improvements. A consortium of Japan’s Electric Power Development (J-Power), Itochu Corp., and Adaro Energy, an Indonesian coal miner, on […]

Driven by state RPS requirements and the desire to diversify their energy sources, U.S. utilities continue to add more renewable power to their generation portfolios. As a result, they must deal with a number of important issues, including resource availability that varies geographically.

Have you ever made a hiring mistake? The candidate had the right credentials, experience, and the price was right. When the new employee never meets minimum expectations, what should you do?

In April, California Governor Jerry Brown (D) signed Senate Bill 2 (SB2) into law. When it becomes effective later this year, SB2 will be the primary legislation governing implementation of the California Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS) program.

In the U.S., developers of thermal and photovoltaic solar plants face a number of challenges in their efforts to deploy more utility-scale solar power. Some trends, however, are helping solar proponents move this renewable energy source closer to becoming a mainstream generating option.

A record 400 attendees participated in KEMA’s 22nd annual Executive Forum in San Antonio, Texas, in late April to debate and discuss the “retail resurgence” of competitive electricity sweeping America.

Hach Co. unveiled its DR 3900 spectrophotometer featuring state-of-the-art radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. Hach, which describes the device as being “similar to a GPS telling you when to turn,” also says that the DR 3900 requires less training and increases confidence in the test results. This helps water and wastewater facilities prevent measurement errors. […]

Following the conclusion of the KEMA conference (see previous story), Mark Axford had the opportunity to talk with Phillip Tonge, recently appointed president of Spark Energy LP. Spark Energy is a retail energy provider (REP) of electricity and natural gas in 16 states that have opened their markets to competition for industrial, commercial, or residential customers.

The Tettex 2293 from Swiss firm Haefely Test AG is the result of extensive research and years of experience testing transformers. A simple one-time-connection system, together with the simultaneous winding magnetization method (SWM), drastically reduces measuring time. The SWM guarantees fast and reliable measurements even on large power transformers with delta windings on the low-voltage […]

This installment of the series continues our review of different conditioning-monitoring techniques commonly in use at power plants using any generation technology. In the May issue we began exploring specific PdM techniques with an examination of electrical surge comparison and motor-current signature analysis.

Eclipse Inc. introduced the TJSR v5 self-recuperative burner for direct-fired furnace heating applications. The advanced burner design combines a high-velocity flame with fuel-saving recuperation. A space-saving integral eductor pulls the furnace exhaust through an internal ceramic recuperator. The recuperator preheats the incoming combustion air to very high levels, which improves furnace operating efficiency to reduce […]

It may seem counterintuitive, but the strategic coupling of simple- and combined- cycle technologies with renewable generation could establish the conditions necessary for adding more renewable megawatts to transmission grids around the world.

Massachusetts-based Cabot Corp. recently introduced Enova, an aerogel that is a new high-performance thermal additive designed specifically for insulation coatings. Enova aerogel is designed for application to surfaces that are not already insulated but ideally should be. Cabot researchers have found that applying a 1-millimeter coating containing Enova aerogel to a 200C metal surface meets […]

Underground coal gasification (UCG) is the gasification of coal in-situ, which involves drilling boreholes into the coal and injecting water/air or water/oxygen mixtures. It combines an extraction process and a conversion process into one step, producing a high-quality, affordable synthetic gas, which can be used for power generation. Still in the early stage of commercialization, UCG is poised to become a future major contributor to the energy mix in countries around the world.

Distributed wind generator supplier Southwest Windpower unveiled a small wind turbine for commercial and residential use, the Skystream 600, which it claims is the “most efficient power grid-connected turbine in its class, providing an average of 7,400 kWh of clean, low-cost energy per year per household in 12 mph average annual wind speeds.” The company […]

When President Obama unveiled his “clean energy standard” in the 2011 State of the Union address in February, and again when he spoke of his administration’s energy policy in late March, one form of electrical energy was conspicuous by its absence: hydropower. Hydro is the forgotten form, the politically incorrect renewable, the invisible generation. To borrow the complaint of comedian and Caddyshack movie star Rodney Dangerfield, hydro projects “don’t get no respect.”

Encorp LLC announced the launch of its Microgrid System Controller, which it says is the industry’s first microgrid system controller to connect onsite synchronous generators with renewable energy assets—such as photovoltaic systems, wind, and microturbines—and then monitor and control the resulting microgrid. The controller has already been successfully installed at a major international defense contractor […]

Is the term "energy independence" merely an oxymoron, or is it a national imperative? Opinions differ. Either way, the goal is practically impossible to achieve.