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POWER

  • Community Solar: Ready for the New Decade

    Community solar refers to local solar facilities shared by multiple subscribers who receive credit on their electricity bills for their share of the power produced. Community solar allows homeowners, renters

  • Taking Efficiency and Flexibility to the Next Level

    In a rapidly changing energy market, the competitiveness of any power producer increasingly depends upon the reliability, efficiency, and flexibility of its power plants. As the share of renewable energy

  • Backup Power for Critical Loads Can Save Lives and Money

    In a modern economy increasingly dependent on electric power, blackouts can wreak havoc when the loads are critical to life, business, and even a comfortable lifestyle. The problem may be growing, but there

  • Hype and Hope: Artificial Intelligence’s Role in the Power Sector

    Artificial intelligence (AI) is a term power professionals are seeing increasingly to describe sophisticated digital technologies. Could it be the breakthrough that is so highly hyped? There is no argument

  • Energy Storage—Operational Versatility Causes a Regulatory Identity Crisis

    The next decade could belong to energy storage. Project development costs are dropping. Enhanced state and corporate focus on climate-related issues is producing more opportunities for renewable generation and

  • Seal Design Key as ORC Turbine Manufacturer Enters Geothermal Market

    When a global leader in the design, manufacture, and maintenance of binary Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) power systems entered the geothermic energy market, company engineers knew its existing turbines would be

  • Minimizing Exposure: RVI Videoscopes Take Radiation Exposure to a New Low

    For personnel in nuclear power plants, time and distance are critical measurements when it comes to safe inspections. When workers need to enter a high-radiation area to examine a potential problem or make a

  • POWER Digest [February 2020]

    Indonesia Readying to Build 145-MW Floating Solar Plant. Pembangkitan Jawa Bali (PJB), a subsidiary of Indonesian state electricity company PT PLN, is planning to begin construction of the $129 million Cirata

  • Endesa to Close Two Giant Spanish Coal Plants

    Endesa on Dec. 27 formally moved to shutter two massive coal-fired power plants—the 1.4-GW As Pontes plant in A Coruña, Galicia, which is the biggest coal-fired power plant in Spain, and the 1.16-GW

  • Australia, Long a Uranium Champion, Mulls Nuclear Power

    An Australian federal inquiry last December recommended partially lifting a nationwide ban on nuclear energy, urging that the government pursue a “goal-oriented” and community-focused strategy as it

  • Policy Support for Carbon Capture Critical to Clean Energy Future

    Analysis by both the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and International Energy Agency shows that achieving a zero-carbon energy system by 2050 will require large-scale deployment of carbon capture

  • Is Your Plant Cyber Secure?

    Sponsored by:
    Siemens

    In this insightful webinar, Jonathan Tubb, cyber security expert at Siemens Energy, Inc., will discuss strategies power plants can employ to mitigate security risks, assess readiness to meet future attacks and maximize security efforts.  He will share insight about how he helps customers confront growing cyber threats with extensive protection, detection and monitoring solutions.

  • Life Time Extension of Gas Turbines Components

    Sponsored by:
    MD&A

    In this webinar we will cover the typical limiting factors of gas turbine components and how they can be repaired. We will cover the steps used in implementing a life time extension and will show some case studies. Some examples of how new parts are redesigned with features that make them more robust will also be covered.

    This webinar will be beneficial to the engineers and power plant personnel involved with the refurbishment and replacement of the gas turbine hot gas path components.

  • A Guide to Total Performance™ for Condensers & Heat Exchangers

    Sponsored by:
    Conco

    Conco enables power plants, refineries and industrial production facilities to improve profitability, productivity and reliability through a uniquely integrated platform of products and services for condensers and heat exchangers.

    With Total Performance™ you can anticipate problems and keep your condenser tubes at optimum efficiency. The three part process identifies the status of condenser tubes, detects equipment fatigue that can cause inefficiency, and cleans the tubes to improve flow and heat transfer. Together, Conco’s Total Performance™ platform can increase efficiency by as much as 4%.

  • Pushing Plant Performance to the Next Level

    Sponsored by:
    Siemens

    Welcome to the next level of performance and efficiency: The Siemens combined cycle solution merges best-in-class gas turbine technology with industry leading steam turbines. With the development of the HL-class, Siemens continues its leadership in large air-cooled gas turbines by pushing plant efficiencies beyond 63%, with a clear roadmap to even higher values. The focus of the webinar will be the SCC-9000HL power plant for the 60Hz markets, which provide a 1×1 combined cycle power output of ~577 MW. The HL-class is designed for highest operational reliability and flexibility to fulfill the requirements of base load units while also being a perfect fit for flexible applications. This makes the HL-class turbines a versatile solution for operators who anticipate energy systems with a rapidly increasing share of fluctuating production by renewables.

  • Modernizing Utility Infrastructure: Smart, but Not Always Secure

    Sponsored by:
    Sierra Wireless

    To increase operational efficiency, utilities are migrating more to smart grids which integrates traditional grid infrastructure with sensor and communication technologies to collect and process large amounts of data. With a large complex network composed of millions of devices and remote entities connected with each other, such a massive network comes with many security concerns and potential vulnerabilities.

    This webinar provides key insights into the building blocks in security solutions for the smart grid network to mitigate risk for the modern utility infrastructure.

  • Why America Must Let Go of Coal and Avoid Renewable Subsidies

    The 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP25), held in December in Madrid, Spain, showcased politicians and activists vying for the title of the world’s climate savior. In particular, youth

  • Equipment Showcase: Diesel and Gas Generators

    The need for reliable and resilient power generation, including backup power, means the market for mobile and smaller-scale power generation continues to grow. Commercial and industrial sites are using

  • Is Hydrogen the Power Industry’s Holy Grail?

    Some power industry insiders believe hydrogen offers a solution to large-scale energy storage problems. The concept generally revolves around utilizing electricity generated by renewables when supply is high

  • Well-Planned Retirement: Keys to Successful Coal Plant Decommissioning

    Hundreds of coal-fired power plants are now retired or facing retirement in the near future, and utilities face a number of decisions. Are there commercial reuse options for the plant or the site itself? Are

  • 10 Power Sector Insights from the IEA’s World Energy Outlook 2019

    The International Energy Agency’s (IEA’s) November 2019–released World Energy Outlook 2019 (WEO2019) is studded with interesting findings about emerging trends in the power sector. Here are 10 from the

  • Power Industry Disrupters: Gas, Renewables, and Storage

    The power industry is experiencing significant changes. Natural gas, wind, solar, and battery storage seem to be the wave of the future. What’s compelling the transformation? Some people point to

  • Structural Effects of Climate Change on the Utility Business

    Developers and other sellers of electricity have traditionally viewed utilities as creditworthy counterparties. Utilities are longstanding institutions that provide a public service and receive a regulated

  • Transformative Coal Power Technologies Take Shape

    The coal power industry acknowledges that to play a stable role in future power markets, it needs to modernize, and perhaps even overhaul its long-held status as a “conventional generator.” Could new

  • Innovation Propels Nuclear Power on New Trajectory

    Innovation is ushering in a new age for nuclear power. As well as boosting plant economics, efficiency, and flexibility, advanced technologies could open up new markets to meet soaring demand for heat and

  • Water Chemistry: Power Plant Life and Death

    Power plants that use steam to generate electricity need water. Without it, they can’t do their job. But water and steam are complicated, much as is blood in our veins and arteries. So, water chemistry is a

  • Hydraulic Stability of Surge Tanks

    When needed, surge tanks can provide a critical feature to the hydraulic design of hydropower projects. Principally, they can mitigate the overpressure effects of pressure transients or water hammer and allow

  • Optimizing Power Plant Decisions with 5G Technology

    The power industry is always looking for ways to improve efficiency and enhance reliability. 5G, that is, fifth-generation wireless technology, may help utilities reach new heights. Every day, we learn a

  • Electric Power Generation: Coal Is Currently a Vital Component

    Over the past decade, there has been a significant change in the U.S. system of power generation in the lower 48 states. The major factors that resulted in these changes were the discovery of new natural gas

  • From Smart Cities to Smarter Services: The State of the Energy Industry in 2020

    How the energy industry and the cloud can partner to meet the challenges of smart city development. More than half of our global population resides in urban environments—and by the end of this century, the