(Savannah, GA – July 27, 2015) Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Americas (MHPSA) shipped the tenth Advanced Technology Gas Turbine unit from the Savannah Machinery Works (SMW) facility in Savannah, GA on July 15, 2015. This shipment represents a major milestone for the company and a significant accomplishment for the SMW team. The 10th gas turbine […]

On August 3, 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a much-anticipated suite of regulations, featuring the final Clean Power Plan’s guidelines for carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from existing power plants under Clean Air Act section 111(d). This package has sparked great interest, and early reactions run the gamut from enthusiastic support to entrenched opposition. […]

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Though most power generators and states might have preferred to not deal at all with a new rule regulating greenhouse gas emissions, the final Clean Power Plan (CPP), released August 3, gives most of the power industry most of what it asked for in terms of revisions to the 2014 proposed plan. In any regulatory […]

Houston, Texas (July 28, 2015) – Major Incorporated, a U.S. Northeast-based distributor of pipe, valves, fittings, and actuation solutions, has been acquired by Shale-Inland from Platform Management.  An integrator, distributor, supply house, and valve automation provider primarily focused on the power industry, Major Incorporated (www.majorinc.com) was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in New Jersey.  […]

Lower power and electricity certificate prices in the Nordic region have made two wind power projects in Central Norway—with a combined capacity of 1 GW—unprofitable, Statkraft said in June as it announced it would scrap them. Norway produces the bulk of its power from hydropower (Figure 3), but the country’s government has encouraged wind farm […]

The 335-MW Waneta expansion completed this June near Trail, British Columbia, adds a second powerhouse downstream of the Waneta Dam on the Pend-d’Oreille River, near the border between Canada and the U.S. (Figure 5). 5. Second powerhouse. The Waneta Expansion Limited Partnership this June connected the Waneta Expansion Project near Trail, British Columbia, to the […]

E.ON in late June announced that it wants to shutter its Oskarshamn 2 reactor (Figure 1) in southeastern Sweden because it is unprofitable. The announcement is the latest in a string of early nuclear plant retirements from around the world. 1. Early retirement. The 638-MW Oskarshamn 2 nuclear reactor, built in 1974, is at risk […]

Steam turbine technology took a leap in June as Siemens revealed a 10-MW prototype that uses magnetic force to suspend a rotor weighing several tons. The innovation means that instead of needing hundreds of liters of oil for the bearings, the first-of-its-kind steam turbine only needs about three liters of oil (for the valve actuators […]

Dr. Ozgur Sahin, an associate professor of biological sciences and physics at Columbia University, who has helped develop a floating, piston-driven engine that generates power, most succinctly describes the

I’ve got some good news and some bad news. The good news is that, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of occupational fatalities resulting from exposure to electricity has decreased steadily during the past 10 years (Figure 1). The bad news is that 141 people died on the job in the […]

Two of the most important elements in any construction or upgrade project are safety and speed of completion. While one way to increase safety is to eliminate hot work whenever possible, the reality is that welding is necessary for many tasks around a power plant. However, one area where welding may not always be required […]

Courtesy: SaskPower There was no debate among our editorial team when it came to selecting the most interesting and worthy project worldwide for this year’s top award. Boundary Dam Power Station Unit 3 is the world’s first operating coal-fired power plant to implement a full-scale post-combustion carbon capture and storage system. It did so more […]

Courtesy: Colorado Energy Nations, GDF SUEZ Energy NA, and Behrent Engineering POWER’s 2015 Reinvention Award (formerly known as the Marmaduke Award) goes to an industrial cogeneration plant that reinvented its largest unit for greater fuel and operating flexibility. This project is exemplary for the owner’s foresight, maximizing local engineering resources, a stellar safety record, and […]

It’s not often that a power plant upgrade improves both the environment and the bottom line. Needing to come up with a new source of cooling water for Polk Power Station, and faced with mostly expensive, environmentally questionable options, Tampa Electric came up with a solution that both secured the plant’s water supply for the […]

Looking to ensure reliable power for a critical facility—as well as move the needle on microgrid technology—Texas’s largest transmission company went all-in on a state-of-the-art demonstration project that sets a new standard for future smart grid deployments. Having a 100% uninterruptible power supply for a commercial facility is far from a unique requirement. Traditionally, meeting […]

Despite wind power’s going “mainstream,” original equipment manufacturers and end users struggle to pin down quality standards for ever-evolving wind turbine component technologies. As more utilities embrace wind power, the U.S. wind turbine market has expanded tremendously over the years. It has proliferated into numerous facilities that specialize in the roughly 8,000 component parts that […]

Social media is changing the role of public participation (PP) in the planning, permitting, and licensing process (PPL) for every energy project in the U.S. From the Keystone XL pipeline project to Cape Wind, social media is organizing opposition faster and elevating the community engagement part of the process to a new, unprecedented level. Energy […]

Standards and regulations may change, but the danger associated with arc flash hazards remains. Analyzing potential incident energy correctly and understanding what personal protection equipment is required can help workers stay safe and avoid painful, or even life-threatening, injuries. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) have both […]

  What motivates you? Is it mostly the paycheck you earn from your work in the power industry? Friendships with your coworkers? How about winning awards? I’m very proud of our small but savvy and productive editorial staff, which includes two associate editors (Sonal Patel and Tom Overton) who, over the past two years, have […]

Is the sky falling? No, but are there lessons we can learn from Chicken Little? Absolutely. False alarms and fear mongering consume energy we can ill afford to waste, but should some sort of alarm be sounding

Australia Slashes Its Renewable Target to 33 TWh. The parliament of coal-rich Australia on June 23 approved legislation to slash the country’s Renewable Energy Target from 41 TWh to 33 TWh. The contentious bill passed after a compromise agreement in May (see “Australian Lawmakers Strike RET Deal” in POWER’s July 2015 issue). Australia’s RET, which […]

Verona, PA (July 10, 2015) In February 2015, the Nuclear Procurement Issues Committee (NUPIC) audited Conco’s Eddy Current Testing Division’s Quality Assurance Program in order to qualify them as a supplier. NUPIC is an organization that was formed in 1989 to evaluate suppliers furnishing safety-related components and services and commercial-grade items to nuclear utilities. It […]

Today in Rome, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by Ansaldo Energia, 44.8% owned by Fondo Strategico Italiano, represented by CEO Giuseppe Zampini, and the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company, represented by Mustafa Gaber Dessouki, with top government representatives from both countries in attendance. The MoU covers the conversion from simple to combined cycle of […]

Rockaway, NJ – 7/15/15  The underground is the most complex environment in construction, and coal ash ponds are no exception. By now, everyone is aware of the recent CCR ruling, which provided technical requirements for CCR landfills and surface impoundment closures. The ruling also created an additional challenge to pond closures – a fixed deadline […]

Learn about the advantages and pitfalls of being an early mover, recent legal challenges to regulations and what they mean to your operations, and the legal implications of compliance with the latest new regulations, including the Clean Power Plan. Hear from and network with the experts during POWER’s conference, December 7 in Las Vegas. Please […]

Ansaldo Energia awarded three major contracts in Egypt worth over EUR 240 million  Ansaldo Energia, 44.8% owned by Fondo Strategico Italiano, has been awarded three major contracts in Egypt worth over EUR 240 million. The first two, Al Shabab and West Damietta, cover the conversion to combined cycles of two power plants owned by Egyptian […]