POWER

The wrong words at the wrong time can cost a lot of money. But creative uses for the right words can create value in unexpected places.

MANAGING POWER talks to energy veteran and president of Resources for the Future Phil Sharp about the complexities of energy policy.

Despite good intentions, the program to turn Cold War-era plutonium into mixed-oxide reactor fuel has been an expensive failure. It’s time to consider other options.

Tempting as it may be to put off tough conversations with subordinates, doing so almost always leads to bigger and bigger problems down the line.

Firing someone is never easy or fun. It isn’t supposed to be.

The PTC has led to unprecedented growth in wind capacity. But the distortions it creates in the energy market are damaging future prospects for nuclear power.

By Kennedy Maize Washington, D.C., July 3, 2013 – As a daily reporter for and an editor of energy publications, online and offline, I deal with a lot of industry and government websites. The typical bell curve applies in my experience. Some are really quite good. Some stink. Most are somewhere in the middle. But […]

The benefits of combined heat and power haven’t been enough help it to keep pace with other generation resources. That’s why a new regulatory approach is needed.

Cheap natural gas is being blamed for many of the nuclear industry’s current predicaments. But is gas truly the culprit?

The complexities of operating under a broad renewable portfolio standard require careful analysis of the options when planning a new power plant. Here’s how one generator in California navigated the sea of conflicting priorities when it was time to upgrade.

Cycling is a fact of life for most gas plants. But do you really understand the true costs of cycling operation? Not having a full picture risks leaving substantial money on the table.

Don’t talk to New England about exporting natural gas. Without the Everett Marine Terminal, the region’s gas supply crunch would be a whole lot worse.

Sounding the call for new perspective, the North American Electric Reliability Corp. says it’s past time to formally consider gas availability and gas supply constraints when assessing the reliability of the bulk power system.

Though often cast as rivals for the same slice of the generation pie, gas and renewables, according to a new study of the ERCOT market, are natural allies for the long term.

Recent studies have shown that system oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) is not only an important factor for predicting wet flue gas desulfurization (WFGD) absorber chemistry but also may be a predictor of process equipment corrosion and wastewater treatment requirements.

A vital part of any coal-fired unit is its fuel delivery system (FDS). A newly formed subcommittee of the ASME Research Committee on Energy, Environment, and Waste has investigated potential FDS upgrades on three typical 500-MW wall-, tangential-, and cyclone-fired boilers. The subcommittee has produced a series of suggested upgrades that have a simple payback of no more than two years.

The electricity grid has been characterized as the world’s largest and most complicated machine. The grid, like all machines, requires periodic upgrades and maintenance to prevent outages during the normal course of business, and it can be brought down by various outside forces. Solar flares and cyber attacks have temporarily crippled the machine, but an electromagnetic pulse event would be the “ultimate cyber security catastrophe.”

Beacon Power Corp. was founded in 1997 to develop flywheel-based energy storage technology. By 2007, the 100-kW/25-kWh Gen 4 flywheel system was commercialized and deployed in several projects. However, market conditions pushed the company into bankruptcy in late 2011. The company has since emerged, reinvigorated with new investment and a new name: Beacon Power LLC.

Panelists at the ELECTRIC POWER 2013 Keynote and Roundtable Discussion in Chicago in May were consumed by the need to ensure future reliability by more closely integrating the gas and electricity markets. Acknowledged less directly were distortions created by renewable energy subsidies and mandates, onerous regulations affecting coal, and “irreversible” demand destruction caused by the success of energy efficiency and demand management programs. The elephant in the room was the continued demise of electricity markets.

Last month’s column, “Opinions à la Carte,” prompted an unusually high number of emails from readers. Unexpectedly, the responses to the different format were universally favorable.

With ever-increasing demands for fast ramping and flexibility, natural gas–fired plants are grabbing a bigger share of the generation pie. But uncertainty about future prices and concerns about overreliance on a single fuel are dampening enthusiasm during what may be the most exciting time for gas ever. Natural gas is hot—but will generators and the market get burned?

Water scarcity as it relates to energy use is becoming a major concern.

With the country awash in natural gas and new construction dominated by gas-fired plants, one would think that integrating these plants into the grid would be simple. Like politics, integration problems appear to be local.