El Hierro, the smallest island on Spain’s Canary archipelago, in June became what developers say is the first energy-isolated territory to power itself solely with renewables. The project, which was

Indonesia, the world’s leading exporter of thermal coal, in June again suggested it could limit coal production and further tighten its control on exports to protect supply for domestic power plants

Aheat-recovery steam generator (HRSG) is much like other power generation equipment—run it at design conditions and chances are it will run with high availability and require only routine maintenance for

Sodium bicarbonate is an adsorbent that has been used for a relatively short time in industrial flue gas treatment (FGT) processes. This additive is especially interesting for operators of smaller

U.S. coal power plants are finding that they need to comply with an increasing number of stringent environmental regulations, and while nobody in any industry looks forward to additional regulatory burdens

Interest in the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) carbon pollution standards for existing power plants—the “Clean Power Plan,” proposed under the authority of the Clean Air Act Section 111(d)—was so high that the agency had to add double the days and double the rooms at all four locations this week. At all locations, power industry speakers […]

Careers in POWER Featured Article: The Dynamic Challenge of Integrating Variable Resources Careers in POWER Featured Article: CIP 8-5-14 … READ MORE »   FRESH JOBS IN POWER GENERATION I&E Technician – KES Kingsburg LPKingsburg, California Project Engineer – Breen Energy SolutionsPittsburgh, Pennsylvania Instrumentation Technician – Hibbing Public Utilities Hibbing, Minnesota Project Development…… READ MORE »   […]

Of the four public hearings scheduled this week on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Clean Power Plan—aka, carbon pollution standards proposed under Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act—all but one are scheduled for states (and the District of Columbia) bordering the East Coast. A preview of the Denver hearing suggests that substantive comments from […]

Careers in POWER Featured Article: The Dynamic Challenge of Integrating Variable Resources Careers in POWER Featured Article: The Dynamic Challenge of Integrating Variable Resources Careers in POWER Featured Article: CIP 7-29-14 Careers in POWER Featured Article: CIP … READ MORE »   FRESH JOBS IN POWER GENERATION Power System Operator – Otter Tail Power…… READ MORE »   […]

Everett, Washington, July 2014 – Thanks to new technology for bird control, areas such as outdoor cafes, airplane hangers, food processing plants, utility companies, and shopping malls, just to name of few, no longer need to worry about birds upsetting their clean domain.  The new and improved Bird Buffer line of products, created by award winning […]

Careers in POWER Featured Article: The Dynamic Challenge of Integrating Variable Resources Careers in POWER Featured Article: The Dynamic Challenge of Integrating Variable Resources Careers in POWER Featured Article: CIP 7/22/14 … READ MORE »   FRESH JOBS IN POWER GENERATION Director of Operations – PurEnergy Syracuse, New York  Plant Department Manager – Xcel Energy Muleshoe, Texas …… READ MORE »   […]

Strategic Cooperation Agreement in the US power market signed Augsburg, Germany, July 2014 – The engine producers MAN Diesel & Turbo and Fairbanks Morse have finalized a strategic agreement to cooperate in the US market for gas and dual-fuel engines. The companies agreed on an exclusive cooperation in the power sector for a fixed period of […]

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Twelve type 18V48/60 engines produce power for the Caribbean island Augsburg, Germany, July 2014 – Leading a consortium on the Caribbean island of Martinique MAN Diesel & Turbo has completed the second of a total of three power plants the company is building for the French energy supplier Électricité de France (EDF). MAN Diesel & […]

British Columbia (BC) has long enjoyed some of the lowest electricity costs in North America, but when in August 2013, a draft of the BC Rates Plan which proposed a 26% rate increase by 2016, was leaked, this was met with such a backlash of protest that the government was forced to reconsider the proposal. […]

RWE AG is Europe’s third-largest electricity and fifth-largest gas marketer, with holdings in upstream oil and gas production, power grids, and energy trading. Its German power subsidiary has been the utility poster child for the effects of the Energiewende, the transformation of the Germany power system away from nuclear and coal toward renewable energy and […]

At the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) annual meeting this week in Las Vegas, the tone was one of collaboration with partners from Washington to distributed generation companies. Those partnerships will be needed as the investor-owned utility (IOU) industry fights not so much a war on coal as a war for mindshare and wallet share in […]

Temporary power may be the most widely distributed “distributed” generation worldwide, and its distribution is spreading, thanks to its ability to quickly meet urgent needs not only for event, construction, and post-disaster emergency power but also for fast-growing economies and stressed grids. That’s making it a serious competitor for “permanent” power in some situations. When […]

The Springerville Generating Station has been a work in progress since the first unit entered service in 1985. The PRBCUG recently recognized Springerville with its 2014 Plant of the Year award for implementing industry best practices, continual improvements, and worker safety.  The presentation of the Powder River Basin Coal Users’ Group (PRBCUG) Plant of the […]

Once touted as the savior of coal power and the future of clean coal generation, integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) technology has seen its prospects swamped by soaring costs and technological challenges. Though it remains controversial, its proponents are not ready to give up. If you’re an energy sector observer with an interest in integrated […]

Though our current power grid is more sophisticated and reliable than when Thomas Edison designed it nearly a century ago, it uses the same model: A company burns fuel to create electricity, which is then sent hundreds of miles along inefficient wires to customers who are given a single energy choice: on or off. Now, […]

The world’s first floating wind turbine array could be installed offshore of northeast Scotland by 2017 if a project recently unveiled by Kincardine Offshore Windfarm Ltd. proceeds as planned. The joint project between Pilot Offshore Renewables and the construction giant Atkins entails the installation of eight turbines on semi-submersible platforms about 8 miles off the […]

Last year, the U.S. exported nearly twice the amount of wood pellets it sent overseas in 2012—and almost all of it went to Europe for heat and power needs. This trend has gained momentum since 2009, when the European Commission (EC) enacted its 2020 climate and energy package, and will possibly continue in the long […]

Chile Banks on Renewable Capacity Expansion, Energy Efficiency. Chile in mid-May released a $650 million investment plan to reduce energy costs and promote non-hydro renewable energy development for the country that imports about 60% of its primary energy resources. The plan calls for a 30% cut in marginal power costs on Chile’s central grid, which […]

One of the world’s first grid-scale iron-chromium redox flow batteries was interconnected this May to the distribution grid. The EnerVault Turlock, which its developer EnerVault says is a 250-kW, 1-MWh battery grid-scale energy storage system, will be charged by a 150-kW dual-axis tracking solar photovoltaic system in an almond orchard in California’s Central Valley, will […]

The most contentious (though not necessarily the most expensive) proposed environmental regulation to hit the power industry in this century was released by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on June 2. The most immediate consequence was an increase in the volume of email. The Big One As I write this column a week after the […]

China, the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases (GHGs) could limit its total carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions for the first time, possibly starting in 2016. He Jiankun, chairman of China’s Advisory Committee on Climate Change, reportedly told conference attendees in Beijing in June—one day after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed rules to slash carbon […]

Eddy currents are electrical currents induced within conductors by changing magnetic fields. They are commonly used in nondestructive evaluation (NDE) and corrosion monitoring of structures with painted surfaces. The work of eddy current technicians, who specialize in the electromagnetic modality, requires a high degree of accuracy even when working under challenging testing conditions. Traditionally, technicians relied on […]