At every stage along the power plant promotion track, individuals assuming new leadership positions can find themselves unprepared to deal with new responsibilities. From contracts and regulatory and financial responsibilities to managing those who used to be peers, this article addresses common challenges and best practice solutions to ensure the success of your team. […]

Since 2010, the year Stuxnet was discovered, there has been an increase in industrial control system (ICS) vulnerability research and reported vulnerabilities, exploits, and ICS-specific malware (Figure 1)

Boiler slagging and fouling, and the resulting frequent operation of sootblowers, are some of the major operations and maintenance factors that can negatively affect power plant reliability and efficiency. Boiler slagging and fouling are among the most common causes of maintenance headaches at coal-fired power plants. Though you cannot totally eliminate the problem, following proper […]

With unprecedented changes and challenges facing the U.S. energy sector, the Department of Energy has spearheaded a comprehensive assessment of the nation’s energy policy. Released the same day as ELECTRIC POWER 2015 opened, the first installment of this review was highlighted in the conference’s keynote address. U.S. energy infrastructure needs not just substantial investment for […]

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Clean Power Plan (CPP) is feasible in its ultimate goals, but getting there will take a lot of work and some rethinking of how the targets are achieved

Steam production is strongly influenced by the cleanliness of the gas-side heat transfer surface in a heat recovery steam generator (HRSG). However, when deposits begin to impede heat transfer or increase gas-side pressure drop, it is time for a cleaning. CO2 pellet blasting is a cost-effective and environmentally benign cleaning method available to power plant […]

Duke Energy, the largest electric utility in the U.S. in terms of market value, is transitioning its generating fleet away from volatile and sometimes unprofitable wholesale markets and toward the traditional, regulated, cost-of-service model that prevails in much of the Carolinas and Florida service territories where Duke dominates. Late last March, the Federal Energy Regulatory […]

Workers at San Diego’s General Atomics (GA) on April 10 began the years-long process of winding the 1,000-ton superconducting electromagnet that will power the ITER fusion reactor under construction in southern France. The $16 billion ITER project, a consortium of the U.S., the European Union, Russia, China, Japan, and other nations, aims to test reactor-scale […]

From Sweden to China, the world’s nuclear sector saw an eventful spring. Sweden to Shutter Two Ringhals Units Early. On the same day that E.ON—formerly one of Europe’s most formidable power companies—announced it would spin off its nuclear assets owing to Germany’s energy transition, its Swedish partner, Vattenfall, which is 70% co-owner of the 1975-built […]

On April 27, the U.S. saw yet another significant milestone for its so-far nonexistent offshore wind sector as Deepwater Wind broke ground on the Block Island Wind Farm in Rhode Island. The company says that the five-turbine 30-MW wind farm will produce enough electricity to power all of the island’s homes and businesses when it […]

No one can accuse the officials who oversee California’s energy market of lacking ambition. Fresh on the heels of Gov. Jerry Brown’s January promise to raise the state’s renewable generation target from 33% in 2020 to 50% in 2030, the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) in April announced that it and Oregon utility and Berkshire […]

The installation of more than one million solar photovoltaic (PV) modules at Sempra U.S. Gas and Power’s and Consolidated Edison Development’s 250-MW AC Copper Mountain Solar 3 project in Boulder City, Nev., was completed in early April. Cupertino Electric and Amec Foster Wheeler said on April 6 that the last module was put in place […]

I’m sure readers of this magazine have noticed the increased emphasis in the U.S. recently on promoting STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education. That’s a good thing, but it’s not enough. To improve the odds of achieving the goals that STEM promoters have—including a better-trained workforce and economic leadership—we should be adding an “A” […]

Australia’s First ERF Carbon Abatement Auction Results Surpass Expectations. Australia held its first Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) auction under the Abbott government’s Direct Action plan on April 15 and

Our country’s energy landscape is rapidly changing. For the first time in decades we’re producing more barrels of oil in the United States than we import from other countries, thanks in part to shale oil production. Newly developed natural gas resources have enabled the U.S. to begin transitioning from a modest net importer of natural […]

Despite plunging oil prices, 2014 was a formidable year for renewables, according to two reports released in early 2015. According to the “Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2015”—the annual report prepared by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Frankfurt School-UNEP Collaborating Centre for Climate & Sustainable Energy Finance, and Bloomberg New Energy Finance—energy investments […]

Four industry executives sometimes agreed, and sometimes disagreed, about the great unknowns concerning the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan during the Executive Roundtable at this year’s ELECTRIC POWER Conference & Exhibition.  What problems will the Obama administration’s upcoming Clean Power Plan (CPP) deliver to the executives who manage the companies that make the power? […]

The European Commission (EC) this April launched an extensive investigation into subsidies that 11 European governments provide to utilities to ensure future power reliability, saying it is concerned that the measures may distort competition. The sector inquiry into capacity mechanisms is the first under European Union (EU) state aid rules introduced in May 2012, which […]

The operation of an electric power generator produces large amounts of heat that must be removed to maintain efficiency. Depending on the rated capacity of the generator, it might be air-cooled

How do women in the power generation business—in power plants and in the vendor community—view their jobs in this male-dominated industry? In what is likely the first survey open to women across the industry, they told us. The November 2008 issue of POWER included an industry-first in-depth look at women in the power industry, “Workforce […]

With the increasing number of technical and economic changes affecting the power industry, the value of women in the workforce has never been higher. This follow-up to our 2008 special report, “Workforce Management Lessons from Women in Power Generation,” looks at how having women visible throughout the industry can make it more successful.  For our […]

Solvay and Enirgi Chemicals join forces to market SOLVAir solutions for emissions treatment in North America Brussels, Toronto, May 19th, 2015 —  Solvay and Enirgi Chemicals have created a 50-50 joint venture to speed up the development and offering of sodium bicarbonate based products and solutions to reduce airborne emissions from industries in North America. The […]

Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Americas receives order for 3 M501J gas turbines with long term service contract from Virginia Electric Power Company (Orlando, FL – May 15, 2015) Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Americas, Inc. (MHPSA) has received an order from Virginia Electric and Power Company (VEPCO) headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, for the supply of three […]

At Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), repeated generation transitions have marked the giant public power utility’s long history, from hydro, to coal, to nuclear. The latest resource plan points to natural gas, along with renewables and energy efficiency, as the basis for the agency’s generating future. At the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), generation transitions are nothing […]

In his May 6 appearance on Comedy Central’s Daily Show, Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz addressed both the military and civilian energy issues that the Department of Energy is responsible for. His discussion with host Jon Stewart ranged from the recent negotiations with Iran over that nation’s capability to enrich fissile material to domestic energy […]

When it was erected in 1889 (seven years after POWER magazine was founded), the iconic iron-lattice Eiffel Tower was meant to serve as the entrance arch of the World’s Fair—and designed to stand only 20 years, about the lifetime of a wind tower. Some 126 years and several renovations later, the Paris landmark has evolved […]

Advocates for the continued reliance on coal for baseload electricity cheered late last year when North America’s largest power-related carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) facility was commissioned. Since then, that pool of advocates is evaporating as prominent electricity industry decision-makers publicly distance themselves from coal and champion alternatives for a low- or no-carbon future. If […]

NRC Advances Design Certification of Westinghouse SMR, South Korea’s APR1400. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on Feb. 27 approved Westinghouse Electric Co.’s testing approach for its small modular reactor (SMR) design—a “significant” step that the Toshiba Corp. company said will reduce the time ultimately needed to obtain design certification. By granting a safety evaluation report […]

How to give electricity customers who can’t take advantage of rooftop solar access to the sun? Community solar—a shared resource—is a fast-growing segment of the renewable energy market, making solar photovoltaic power more accessible while offering another approach to distributed generation. Mention “solar energy” and the image that probably comes to mind is an array […]

The Egypt Economic Development Conference (EEDC) in Sharm El-Sheikh resulted in some big agreements for the Egyptian government, including a reported $10.5 billion deal with Siemens and a $1.7 billion order with GE. The conference was held March 13–15, 2015, and was touted as a key milestone of the government’s medium-term economic development plan, which […]