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IIOT Power
Big Data and the Industrial Internet Meet the Power Plant
Another megatrend has hit the power generation industry: the Internet of Things (IoT)—countless devices with embedded electronics, sensors, and connectivity to digitally communicate with one another and
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Cybersecurity
New College Program Focuses on Cybersecurity for the Utility Industry
Thomas Edison State College, located in Trenton, N.J., has created an online program through which students can obtain a graduate certificate in cybersecurity with a focus on utility environments. The
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Coal
POWER Digest
China Makes Nuclear Export Gains in Argentina, Romania. As it boosts its domestic nuclear power capacity, China is also snapping up lucrative contracts to build new reactors abroad. This November, China
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Renewables
Statoil to Build World’s First Floating Offshore Wind Farm
Nearly five years after the world’s first large-scale floating deepwater wind turbine was erected 11 kilometers (km) offshore Karmøy, southeast Norway, Norwegian energy firm Statoil has made a final
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Renewables
Record Changes and Uncertainty Reshape the U.S. Utility Industry
Wind production in the U.S. hit record highs in October 2015, natural gas prices hit record lows, and solar photovoltaic (PV) adoption is continuing to grow to unprecedented levels. Energy storage prices are
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Renewables
Greece, Croatia, and Italy Chart a Course to More Solar Power
A status update and forecast for solar photovoltaic power in Greece, Croatia, and Italy.
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Renewables
Europe’s New Coal Curtain: Eastern Europe Embraces Coal as Western Europe Deserts It—and Russia Is Still All In
This story is being written as world leaders gather in Paris for the COP-21 climate summit. Much of the reason they are meeting is because of the widespread burning of coal and the resulting carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions that are altering the planet’s biosphere. Though the burning of coal is not the only reason the […]
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Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Americas Hosts Industry Leaders; Showcases first M501J Gas Turbine to Move through the Assembly Line at Savannah Machinery Works in GA
Further Enhances MHPSA’s Long Term Commitment to the U.S. Market (Savannah, GA November 30, 2015) Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Americas, Inc. (MHPSA) has begun production on the world’s most advanced gas turbine at its Savannah Machinery Works (SMW) facility in Savannah, Georgia. Recently, 65 industry leaders representing electric utilities, independent power producers, developers, investment bankers, […]
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Legal & Regulatory
Seminole Electric Cooperative Sees Big Challenges from Clean Power Plan
Florida’s Seminole Electric Cooperative faces what may be the most difficult generation transition in the nation as a result of the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan. One of the nation’s largest generation and transmission rural electric cooperatives, Seminole owes its origins and its current position primarily to a single coal-fired plant. When electric utility veteran […]
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Legal & Regulatory
Goldilocks, Ozone, and Obama’s EPA
There’s an old saying in Washington that when everyone is upset, you’ve probably done something right. By that measure, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) latest update to the National
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O&M
Coal Pulverizer Maintenance Improves Boiler Combustion
Coal pulverizers are the heart of a pulverized coal-fueled boiler. Often, the root causes of nonoptimized combustion lie with the pulverizers. Capacity; reliability; and environmental issues such as slagging
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Commentary
2 Billion Underserved Customers Are Waiting for Energy Services
The world has a problem. According to the World Bank, 1.1 billion people lack access to any form of modern energy service, and more than double that number lack access to adequate, reliable, affordable, and
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Renewables
Biomass-Fed Organic Rankine Cycle Units Make It Big
One of the world’s largest biomass-fed organic rankine cycle (ORC) plants is getting ready to begin operations. Italian firm Turboden is preparing to put online an 8-MW power unit in Athens, Maine, that will
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Commentary
Engaging Youth in Power
The challenge of getting a new generation of workers interested in the power sector is one I hear about frequently. Too many young adults are more fascinated by the tech sector, plant folks say. That may be
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Hydro
Ethiopia Begins Generating Power from 1.87-GW Gibe III Hydro Plant
Ethiopia’s generation capacity got an immense boost as operations began at the 1.87-GW Gibe III hydroelectric power plant in the middle reach of the Omo River basin this October. The plant—Ethiopia’s
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Coal
Optimize Boiler Combustion Using Improved Flue Gas Measurement
The presence of unburned fuel in a power plant’s ash indicates an inefficient combustion process, as some of the energy in the fuel is being wasted. Unburned fuel also poses a risk to safety; if ignited, an
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Renewables
The Potentials and Pitfalls of Battery Storage
Battery storage firms and energy storage experts at the Energy Storage North America (ESNA) conference in San Diego Oct. 13–15 were effusive in their praise of battery storage’s potential while
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Technology
An “Acoustic Mouse” for Handheld 3-D Imaging
Ultrasonic testing (UT) has long been a key method for detecting defects and service-induced degradation in nuclear and fossil plant components and for supporting remaining component life assessment. But it
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Nuclear
Germany: Utilities Must Shoulder Nuclear Phase-Out Costs
Germany’s nuclear power–producing companies will be able to shoulder the costs of the nuclear phase-out—including costs for decommissioning and the disposal of radioactive waste. That’s according to
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Renewables
Blue Lake Expansion Project, Sitka, Alaska
Baranof Island is home to Sitka, Alaska. Located on the outer coast of Alaska’s Inside Passage, it is accessible only by air and sea (although once on the island, standard forms of transportation are
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Wind
“Revolutionary” Grid Connection for Offshore Wind Turbines Unveiled
Siemens, the only provider of direct-current (DC) offshore wind connection projects, in October unveiled a potentially game-changing technology that it says enables cheaper and simpler grid connection of wind
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Renewables
Blackspring Ridge Wind Project, Carmangay, Alberta
With its vast resources of oil, gas, coal, and tar sands—some of the largest in the world—the province of Alberta has long been known as Canada’s fuel tank. Coal- and gas-fired power has supplied the
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Renewables
POWER Digest (December 2015)
GE Completes Alstom Acquisition. GE announced on Nov. 2 that a $10.6 billion deal to acquire Alstom ’s power and grid business is complete. Alstom will now entirely refocus its activities on rail transport
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Renewables
Desert Sunlight Solar Farm, Desert Center, California
Just how fast are things moving in solar? When we received the nomination for the massive Desert Sunlight Solar Farm in late April, the 550-MW facility was the largest solar power plant in the world, sharing
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Renewables
Olkaria Geothermal Expansion Project, Rift Valley Province, Kenya
The Great Rift Valley is a massive continental fault system that runs 6,000 kilometers (km) from Mozambique to Jordan. In Kenya, the East African nation that is neatly halved by the equator, the Rift Valley is
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Renewables
Sihwa Lake Tidal Power Plant, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea
From space, the 12.7-kilometer (km) Sihwa Lake tidal barrage that houses a 400-meter (m)-long tidal power plant looks like a delicate strand stretched across one of many bays and inlets characterizing the
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Coal
Take These Five Steps Now to Ensure ELG Compliance at Your Power Plant
The first effluent limitation guidelines update since 1982 is game-changing for many U.S. power plants.
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Renewables
Termosolar Borges, Les Borges Blanques, Spain
You can’t spell C-S-P without S-P-A-I-N. Though there are now many nations with concentrating solar power (CSP) plants in operation, and nations with larger ones than Spain possesses, it’s difficult to
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O&M
Electric Motor and Transformer Maintenance Best Practices
It is true that electric motors and transformers are some of the most dependable pieces of equipment installed at power plants. They can, in many cases, withstand a high level of mistreatment while continuing
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Solar
The Future of Load Control for Solar PV
Solar power has taken off the training wheels. Once an afterthought, solar photovoltaic (PV) generation has been one of the major sources of new capacity for several years. According to statistics from the