The first unit of Ling Ao phase II (Unit 3) in Guangdong Province, China, entered commercial operation in late September. The 1,080-MW reactor is the first CPR-1000—a Chinese design—to be built, and its start-up marks a major milestone in the country’s concerted nuclear power expansion.

Microturbine technology has evolved from early systems of 30 kW to 70 kW to today’s systems, which can have individual ratings of 200 kW to 250 kW. Packages up to 1 MW are now available that can be assembled into multipac units for projects of 5 MW to 10 MW. These modern units are packaged with integrated digital protection, synchronization, and controls; they produce high combined heat and power efficiencies; and they are capable of using multiple fuels.

Correction In the September issue’s “Taming Condenser Tube Leaks, Part I,” the first full paragraph in the main text on page 57 should say, “If chloride and sulfate in the steam cannot be maintained below 8 ppb….” POWER regrets the error.

The Scottish poet Robert Burns had it right. Using the power to see ourselves as we really are, and as others see us, is a key to leadership in business.

Swedish company Vattenfall in late September officially opened the 300-MW Thanet Offshore Wind Farm in southeast England. Covering an area of 35 square kilometers, the installation comprising 100 Vestas V90 turbines, each 115 meters (m) high, is the largest offshore wind farm in the world to date.

Presenters at the inaugural GridWise Global Forum in Washington, D.C., September 21 to 23 had a lot to say about the prospects for smarter grids. This synopsis of facts and opinions shared at the event, which attracted several smart grid A-listers, looks at the major challenges ahead, especially for the U.S.

Sometimes we do things for the wrong reason . . . that turns out to be exactly right.

The pilot-scale project at Georgia Power’s Plant Yates near Newnan, Ga.—the first step in one of the industry’s largest demonstrations of a start-to-finish coal-fired power plant carbon capture and storage system—reached a significant milestone this September, capturing the greenhouse gas for the first time.

Turkey, a country that has long vied to become part of the European Union, is finally part of its grid, at least. The nation’s power system was synchronized with Continental Europe’s interconnected grid this September, marking the beginning of a year-long trial period in which security and performance will be monitored.

In August, researchers from the University of Cincinnati who are working on creating an artificial foam that could absorb carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the flue gas at power plants and convert it into biofuel won the grand prize at the 2010 Earth Awards in London.

TVA’s 550-MW Combined-Cycle Plant Starts Operations. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) on Sept. 30 officially began operating the Lagoon Creek Combined Cycle Plant, a 550-MW natural gas–fired plant, near Brownsville, Tenn. The federal utility said that the new plant, the first new power generation source built by TVA since 2002, would provide power during days […]

GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) and Savannah River Nuclear Solution, a partnership comprising Fluor, Northrop Grumman, and Honeywell, have agreed to explore the potential of deploying a prototype of the Generation IV PRISM reactor at a proposed demonstration of small modular reactor technologies at the Energy Department’s Savannah River site.

Électricité de France (EDF) is to acquire Constellation Energy’s 50% share in the companies’ joint venture, UniStar, for $140 million under an agreement reached on Tuesday.

The Department of Energy (DOE) teamed with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE), and the Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on Tuesday to announce eight joint research awards totaling nearly $5 million to support siting and permitting of offshore energy facilities. The awards include projects harvesting power generated from offshore wind and waves, tides, currents, and ocean thermal gradients.

Regulations being proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) could significantly affect the bulk power system’s reliability, a new report from the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) shows. The quasi-public agency recommends that the proposed rules provide sufficient time to procure replacement resources that would offset capacity reductions expected as a result of unit retirements and deratings from environmental control retrofits.

E.ON last week shelved plans to build its controversial Kingsnorth coal-fired plant in Kent, and it withdrew from the UK’s government competition to build the first of four planned large-scale pilot power plants to demonstrate carbon capture and storage (CCS). The company said the project could not meet “competition timescales.”

The Department of the Interior (DOI) on Monday approved the Blythe Solar Power Project—the largest solar energy project ever proposed to be built on public lands in the U.S.

Qinshan Phase II Unit 3—the first power station built during China’s 11th five-year plan period and the country’s 13th nuclear unit—started commercial operation last week. The unit is the second Chinese reactor to start up this year, following Ling Ao II, which began commercial operation this September.

By Kennedy Maize Washington, D.C., Oct. 25, 2010 – Over the years, presidents have appointed energy secretaries with a variety of backgrounds: policy wonk, business person, political apparatchik, former elected official, military officer, even dentist. None have exactly worked out. Scratch that. None have worked out at all. The latest incarnation at the fortress-like Forrestal […]

Constellation Energy last week offered to sell its 50% stake in the UniStar joint venture to partner Électricité de France (EDF) for $1, plus $117 million in reimbursement costs—a price well below market value—in order to further the project and ensure future energy supplies for Maryland.

Nebraska-based Tenaska on Monday said it would sell a portion of interests in five power plants to Japanese energy firms Tyr Energy and Chubu Electric.

The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) on Thursday issued a recommendation to the electric power industry providing sensitive information about the so-called “AURORA vulnerability”—gaps in critical infrastructure protection concerning large motors and generators connected to the bulk power system.

The fight to keep the Yucca Mountain alive intensified last week as members of Congress demanded justification for an order by Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Chair Gregory Jaczko that seeks to halt review of the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) application to build the long-term nuclear waste repository in Nevada.

The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) on Friday said it would conduct a legal and technical audit of cases concerning Duke Energy Indiana’s $3 billion Edwardsport gasification facility in which a former administrative law judge had presided.

The Department of Energy (DOE) on Tuesday offered a $350 million conditional loan guarantee to develop the One Nevada Transmission Line (ON Line), a proposed 500-kV link that will run 235 miles and transmit 600 MW of mostly renewable energy. The project is the first transmission line to receive a federal loan guarantee.

A new $5 billion transmission project proposed by Trans-Elect and sponsored by Google, Good Energies, and Marubeni Corp. seeks to connect 6,000 MW from wind farms installed up to 20 miles off the Mid-Atlantic coast to the national grid.

Constellation Energy last week rejected a $7.5 billion conditional loan guarantee offer from the U.S. Department of Energy to build a new reactor at its Calvert Cliffs nuclear plant in Maryland with partner Électricité de France (EDF), saying the government’s proposed terms and conditions were “unworkable.”

Norway’s Ministry of Petroleum and Energy last week called for an evaluation of “alternative solutions” to execute a large-scale carbon capture plant whose construction is under way at the Mongstad refinery on the country’s western coast, after “theoretical studies” indicated health and environmental risks related to amine technology.

A federal appeals court on Tuesday reversed a May 2008 jury verdict finding that Cinergy Corp.—which merged with Duke Energy in 2006—violated New Source Review provisions of the Clean Air Act when it performed certain work on its coal-fired boiler units at several of its Indiana facilities without first obtaining a permit. The ruling allows Duke Energy to restart three Indiana coal-fired units that it had been ordered to shut down.

Solar installations in the U.S.—both photovoltaic and concentrating solar power (CSP) installations—grew 114% in 2009, and by the year’s end, they could surpass 1 GW, a new report from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) says.