POWER

Discussions about environmental issues related to power plants and the regulations governing their operation are as old as the industry, I discovered while thumbing through the bound July through December 1914 issues of POWER. The specifics of the environmental concerns have become more detailed and complex as scientific knowledge, monitoring technologies, and mitigation solutions advance. […]

Courtesy: Ad Meskens/Wikimedia Commons Europe has been in the forefront of renewable energy development, and though the scientific research on wildlife impacts is limited, European environmentalists and developers are beginning to create baseline frameworks and guidelines. Developers around the world can learn from their experience. As more renewable energy systems come online, providers hope to […]

Renewable generation is usually characterized as more environmentally friendly than fossil fuels, and in many respects, that’s true. But there is a growing recognition that solar and wind generation have their own impacts, and an increasing number of manufacturers and generators are looking for ways to minimize them. Iceland might be about the last place […]

Rush Island Energy Center has successfully fired Powder River Basin (PRB) coal for two decades, as proven by the plant’s excellent performance stats, dedication to minimizing its environmental footprint, and sterling safety record. The PRB Coal Users’ Group top award recognizes the plant staff’s long-term dedication to continuously improving its safe handling and efficient combustion […]

Increased reliance on natural gas as a fuel for electric generation has prompted regulatory reforms by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to improve coordination between the two industries. Many in the power industry believe critical constraints in gas pipeline infrastructure serving New England pose a significant threat to electric reliability and prices during periods […]

The niche alternative energy industry that generates power from hazardous piles of coal waste that litter the U.S. is facing an environmental Catch-22. The torrent of coal mined and processed in the U.S. since

The years between 2002 and 2012 are called Golden Decade for the coal industry in China. After May 2012, the coal industry fell into depression. In the Golden Decade, a large amount of social capital inflow

Is waste-to-energy the best greenhouse gas fighter among electric generating technologies? Or do trash burners spew dangerous air emissions? The answer may be a surprise. What electricity-generating technology results in net greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions, not just zero new emissions? According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), it’s not nuclear, not wind, not solar. […]

Plant wastewater treatment is not what it once was, and changes in the Environmental Protection Agency’s effluent limitations guidelines (ELG) have added a host of new wrinkles. A panel of power plant experts discussed what plant managers are planning and doing to keep things running smoothly within the new rules. For more than three decades, […]

Fuel blending and switching has become the norm in response to regulatory and market forces, but many older boilers were designed for a particular fuel. Understanding the effects of different fuels on

The first-ever early site permit (ESP) application for a small modular reactor (SMR) was submitted to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) this May, marking a resurgence for the fledgling nuclear energy technology that has seen a number of setbacks in recent years. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) submitted an ESP application for a potential […]

Power plants are familiar with using continuous emissions monitoring systems (CEMS) to monitor pollutants, but these devices also may be able to measure heat rate—which could be handy for future compliance with the Clean Power Plan. Continuous emissions monitoring systems (CEMS) are used to monitor power plant flue gas emissions as a means to comply […]

Fuel Loading Begins at Kudankulam 2. Nuclear Power Corp. of India (NPCIL) began loading the first of 163 fuel assemblies into the core of the second VVER-1000 reactor of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu, India, on May 11. The 1,000-MW unit will begin generating power pending approval from the Atomic Energy Regulatory […]

Lake Kivu, the 1,040-square-mile “killer lake” that stretches over the border between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), has long been a source of trepidation. Because it sits between two

Fortum Värme, a company jointly owned by Finnish energy firm Fortum and the city of Stockholm on May 9 inaugurated a new biomass-fired combined heat and power (CHP) plant on the shores of Värtan, a strait in Sweden’s capital city. The Värtan CHP8 (130 MWe, 280 MWth), which began construction in 2013, will begin commercial […]

The second World Nuclear Exhibition (WNE) began on June 28 in Le Bourget, just outside Paris, with the usual mixed messages about the need for and challenges of nuclear power globally. During the opening ceremony, Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), noted that the event was being held in the same […]

Enrico Viale, head of global thermal generation for the Italian energy company Enel, kicked off an international power industry event yesterday with a keynote presentation describing the “needs” of utilities in the future.

Panels at the 2016 Edison Electric Institute convention focused on technologies and policies at what’s often called the “grid edge.”

The Edison Electric Institute has forged a new partnership with startup incubator 1776 to accelerate the pace of innovation in energy.

EEI Convention keynote speaker Keren Elazari urged electric utilities to partner with “friendly hackers.”

2016 EEI Edison Award winners are AEP and AES

Air leaks cost money. According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), over $5 billion per year is spent on energy to power compressed air systems. The DOE estimates that optimizing these systems could

Ensuring the reliability of the power system is the responsibility of many industry participants. In this POWER exclusive, one regional reliability entity, the Midwest Reliability Organization, explains its role. In response to the 2003 Blackout—which affected parts of the U.S. Northeast and Midwest, plus portions of the Canadian province of Ontario—the U.S. Congress mandated adoption […]

GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy is pulling out of Global Laser Enrichment (GLE), a company that in 2012 got the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC’s) unprecedented approval to build and operate a full-scale laser uranium enrichment facility. The move was precipitated by a change in business priorities, but it doesn’t necessarily mean the GLE’s proprietary SILEX technology is […]

For most of the history of the power industry, utility jobs were secure and long-tenured. Though they continue to offer greater stability than many other comparably paid jobs, forces on both sides of the

Ghana Starts Up Key Gas-Fired Power Unit. Ghana has inaugurated the first of two 180-MW units of a natural gas–fired power plant that it is banking on to boost the West African country’s electric reliability. President John Dramani Mahama inaugurated the first unit of the Sonon-Asogli project at Kpone, near the capital Accra, on April […]

Oil-rich Venezuela is gripped by a power crisis so debilitating that the government has instituted four-hour daily blackouts across most of the country, forced hotels and malls to generate their own power, and

It’s axiomatic that state governments believe they can manage their own affairs better than the federal government. But our system reserves certain bailiwicks for federal oversight, and one of those is the

Plans are under way to install a pilot 1-MWh lithium battery–based storage system in 2018 at the world’s first floating wind farm in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The “Batwind” system, to be installed at

Human workers are imperfect, which is why there’s no magic bullet that will give you a safe workplace. But new research on human behavior and how that translates into safety attitudes is helping some in the power industry get beyond the traditional platitudes. Safety first. Safety is no accident. Be aware—Take care. Those and others […]