Legal battles to stall the 11-GW Belo Monte hydroelectric dam—being built on the Xingu River in Amazon forest for one of the world’s largest power plants—are raging on in Brazil (Figure 1). In January

Tremors in China’s economy rattled its power sector last year. For the first time since the Cultural Revolution in 1968, the country’s power generation dropped from the previous year—modestly, by 0.2%

Regulatory attention is rarely welcome in the best of times. When the attention is focused on a practice that has been standard operating procedure for more than a century—especially a practice that has left

Gas power technologies set new benchmarks over the past few months as gas turbine “gorillas” Siemens, General Electric (GE), and Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Americas (MHPSA) all reported new

The world’s first 1,400-MW Advanced Pressurized Reactor (APR1400), a South Korean Generation III design, has now been connected to the grid. Nearly eight years since construction kicked off in October

At the ballyhooed Paris climate conference last December, a little-noticed event occurred that could lead to important developments for electric generators. At the Paris meeting, some 80

Germany’s Energiewende (energy transition) was adopted as policy beginning in September 2010, some six months before the disaster at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant, and full legislative support was

In late 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published new regulations governing wastewater discharge from steam electric power plants. These new regulations, or effluent limitation guidelines

There may be multiple closed-loop cooling systems at your power plant. Chances are good that they cool or control temperature on some very critical components. The two that are most likely to exist are the

Utility holding company Xcel Energy, headquartered in Minneapolis and with large electric and gas operations in eight states in the upper Midwest, the Rocky Mountain West, and Texas, has ambitions to be the

Generating companies wondering if concerns about cybersecurity are overblown got some rude wake-up calls this winter. The first call came when Ukrainian media reported that a December 23 blackout that left

In a growing number of regions, power plants are competing with many other users for scarce freshwater supplies, and the situation is likely to get worse. The International Energy Agency (IEA) recently

Many combined cycle and cogeneration plants with heat recovery steam generators (HRSGs) were originally intended as baseload power sources or steam producers. In recent years, however, some have been

Exelon Completes Peach Bottom Reactor Uprate. An extended power uprate (EPU), begun in 2009 to increase the output from the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station by 270 MW, was completed in January, said the

Desert sand from the United Arab Emirates could be used in concentrating solar power (CSP) facilities to store thermal energy up to 1,000C. And replacing the typical heat storage materials used in thermal

China, which is seeing a nuclear plant boom with 30 reactors already in operation and 24 under construction, is accelerating development of its first 60-MWe (200-MWt) floating nuclear reactor. China General

John J. Novak The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Clean Power Plan is arguably the most ambitious and far-reaching regulation in the agency’s history. America’s electric cooperatives

Steam turbines have to be warmed slowly to avoid excessive differential expansion of the various components, rotor stress, and potentially reduced service life. For that reason, startup times must be extended

St. Michael, MN (February 24, 2016) –U.S. Water, the leading national provider of integrated solutions for water treatment, has launched the SMART Care™ for Membranes Service Program. The SMART Care™ for Membranes program provides proper management and monitoring of membrane systems, reducing the risks of production downtime due to insufficient quality or quantity of water […]

Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Ernest Moniz reaffirmed that the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in Carlsbad, N.M., is on track for reopening later this year, but he did not offer any encouragement to those in the southwest corner of the state who support using the site for permanent disposal of the country’s spent nuclear fuel.

The OPEC secretary general and Saudi Arabia’s minister of petroleum shared their views on low oil prices, shale, and climate change at IHS CERAWeek.

We live in a world of “slow growth and volatility,” said Jeffrey Immelt, chairman and CEO of General Electric, but there’s an opportunity to “make a lot of money” if you have courage in such times.

Van Beest expands the range of Green Pin® ROV shackles with the introduction of: Green Pin® ROV Release and Retrieve shackles with tapered pin. These shackles are available with two types of handles; a Fishtail-handle or D-handle. Green Pin® ROV shackles have handles that can be manipulated easily by a hydraulically operated ROV arm, without compromising safety. […]

Despite the positive attributes of nuclear power—zero carbon emissions, reliable generation, low fuel costs, and a small footprint—the outlook for new nuclear in the United States is “bearish,” said Anthony Ianno, a Morgan Stanley managing director who follows the electricity business as an investment banker and dealmaker.

Electric cooperatives are poised to increase their use of electric water heaters as a demand response (DR) and energy storage tool in their service territories.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) acting administrator of the Office of Air and Radiation, and the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) head of clean coal and carbon management gave upbeat assessments of the Obama administration’s regulatory agenda and power sector priorities speaking at the EUEC 2016 conference in San Diego on February 3. Janet McCabe of […]

When we undertook an initiative at Granite Ridge Energy (GRE) to identify, prioritize, and assess components that were due for their 10-year assessments, we didn’t know quite what we were taking on or how to

You’ve heard that Nothing in life is free , yet this magazine is free for the vast majority of readers—both in print and online. That’s only because of the continued support of our advertisers. No media

In its recently released Energy Technology Perspectives 2015, the International Energy Agency (IEA) noted that innovation in the energy sector differs from progress in other sectors in that it tends to move

RWE Abandons Hard Coal Construction Project. RWE scrapped plans to complete the 800-MW Block D of the Hamm hard coal plant in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia on December 18, citing damage and delays