China has gone through three periods of nationwide power shortages since 1978. The previous two shortages were mostly caused by the lack of installed generation capacity. However, the third—which has severely restricted economic development—is a consequence of institutional problems that must be corrected.

It’s never fun to realize you’re wrong. But effective leaders know when to admit it and take their lumps.

Solar thermal technologies are experiencing increased popularity around the world. Three recent deployments illustrate how the technology and plant size specifics are tuned to local needs.

Microbial inhibition, as part of a robust cooling water treatment program, presents a special challenge because of the variability in makeup water sources, plant processes, and discharge permits. Failure to maintain a proper microbial inhibition program will affect your bottom line as a result of heat rate degradation.

Climate rhetoric has become increasing obsessed with "tipping points." But this sloppy metaphor risks taking good science over the cliff.

As the book title Too Dumb to Meter: Follies, Fiascoes, Dead Ends, and Duds on the U.S. Road to Atomic Energy implies, nuclear power has traveled a rough road. In this POWER exclusive, we present the 20th and 21st chapters, “Out of Sight and Mind” and “Holey Kansas,” the first two chapters of the “Waste Is a Terrible Thing to Mind” section.

In a milestone for the fledgling marine power sector, Alstom’s 1-MW tidal turbine (Figure 6) generated power for the first time at the European Marine Energy Centre’s tidal test site in Orkney, Scotland.

Mexico’s Federal Electrical Commission needed a safe way to train new operators at its Laguna Verde Nuclear Power Plant in Veracruz, so it developed a stand-alone process simulator that allows trainees to practice a wide variety of plant operations and responses to incidents without putting the plant itself at risk.

Far from precipitating a crisis in high-tech manufacturing, the Chinese attempt to corner the market on rare earth minerals has instead inspired some healthy competition and adaptation.

Cuadrilla Delays UK Fracking Project to Conduct More Assessments. The UK’s largest shale gas explorer, Cuadrilla Resources Holdings, on March 14 said it would delay hydraulic fracturing operations at its Anna Road project until 2014, after data it had gathered from exploration of the Bowland Basin Shale in Lancashire confirmed assessments that the 1,200-square-kilometer license […]

The number of regulated air emission constituents is increasing while the acceptable amounts for release are decreasing. In the long run, picking the most flexible multipollutant technology is surely the least cost option.

My career began as a results engineer testing large utility boilers. Ever since that first assignment, I have remained interested in the details of how the measurement and control of the furnace fuel and air inputs can make a huge difference in overall boiler performance. Given that plant operations and maintenance (O&M) budgets are slimmer today than in recent memory, my experience is that targeted performance testing can provide important feedback for prioritizing maintenance expenditures. The combination of plant testing and targeted O&M expenditures provide the best opportunity for efficient and reliable plant operations. I call this approach to plant efficiency improvement “performance-driven maintenace.”

Victor, a Victor Technologies brand, has launched its new 400 Series of oxy-fuel torches. The 400 series is a two-piece torch that incorporates innovative handle and cutting attachment designs that offer better ergonomics, a clearer view of the cutting path, visual cues for easier use, and enhanced safety. The new torch is available in medium- […]

The proliferation of battery technologies in modern industry is presenting fire professionals with new sets of challenges. Confusion exists as to the correct approach for protecting industrial batteries from fire, whether that be in battery manufacturing, battery storage, or battery-powered applications.

SKF has launched SKF Insight, intelligent wireless technologies that are integrated into SKF bearings, enabling them to communicate their operating conditions continuously, with internally powered sensors and data acquisition electronics. The miniaturized packaging of sensor technologies enables measurement of parameters such as rpm, temperature, velocity, vibration, load, and other features so that damage can be […]

If you were hoping that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) defeat last summer on aggregating small emissions sources under Title V of the Clean Air Act (CAA) meant a less-aggressive stance going forward, the agency has some bad news for you.

“Safety is as Safety Does” and “Ignoring a Warning Can Cause Much Mourning” are two of the more creative safety slogans I’ve heard. Such inventive catch phrases and workplace safety posters are just part of what helps us achieve our ultimate goal, which is to ensure our employees return to their homes and loved ones in the same condition they left.

By the end of 2013, one year ahead of its goal, the province of Ontario will be virtually coal-free—a first for a North American jurisdiction. How did the most populous part of Canada go from 25% to 0% coal-fired generation in just a decade, and what does this phaseout mean for the rest of the world?

By Kennedy Maize Washington, D.C., April 29, 2013 – Last week, a bipartisan group of Senators, all of them mired in a failed paradigm, proposed a solution to the nation’s long-festering problem of what to do with what comes out of the back end of nuclear power plants. It’s nasty stuff, that’s for sure. But […]

By David Wagman Denver, April 25, 2013 — Southern Company said the 582-MW Kemper County integrated gasification combined cycle power plant under construction for its Mississippi Power utility will cost as much as $333 million more than the $2.88-billion cost cap state regulators are allowing for the project. The company said during an April 24 […]

A settlement between the federal government, the Sierra Club, and Wisconsin Power and Light Co. (WPL) on Monday could require the Madison-based Alliant Energy subsidiary and other defendants to invest more than $1 billion in pollution controls and retire and refuel at least four units at three Wisconsin coal-fired power plants to resolve alleged Clean Air Act New Source Review violations.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee last week voted 21-1 to approve the nomination of Dr. Ernest Moniz to be Secretary of Energy. Moniz, a physicist from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is expected to win full Senate approval this week—with some minor hurdles.

Revisions proposed on Friday by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to technology-based effluent limitations guidelines and standards could set the first federal limits on the levels of toxic metals in wastewater discharges from steam electric power plants. The proposed rule would help reduce pollutants in U.S. waterways from coal ash, air pollution control waste, and other power plant waste, but they could come at a cost of between $185.2 million to nearly $1 billion a year, the agency said.

Public and private investment in solar, wind, and other renewables worldwide declined 11% in 2012 from an adjusted 2011 record of $302 billion, a new survey from Pew Charitable Trusts shows. Yet the global renewable sector still registered a record 88 GW of new nameplate capacity last year, and China reclaimed the lead in global renewables investments from the U.S., it says.

The New York State Public Service Commission (PSC) last week approved the construction and operation of a 1-GW transmission line that could stretch 330 miles from the Canadian border to Astoria, Queens, through Lake Champlain and the Hudson River.

Bipartisan legislation introduced on Wednesday by a bicameral group of lawmakers seeks to give renewable energy project investors access to an existing corporate structure whose tax benefits are now only available to investors in fossil fuel–based energy projects.

Florida Power & Light Co. (FPL) last week said it had completed a $3 billion five-year-long extended power uprate to add more than 500 MW to its Turkey Point and St. Lucie Nuclear Power Plants in Florida.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) last week proposed a rule that it says could strengthen cybersecurity for the bulk electric system. The rule intended to improve the security posture of responsible entities was submitted in January 2013 by the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC), and it constitutes version 5 of the Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) Reliability Standards.

By David Wagman Denver, April 23, 2013 — Japan’s Nuclear Regulatory Agency (NRA) is expected to release this July regulations for restarting the nation’s fleet of nuclear generating stations. Much of that capacity shut down following the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident. Those nuclear closures threw domestic Japanese and global energy markets into turmoil as […]

Gina McCarthy, who has served for the past four years as assistant administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Air and Radiation, responded to questions from a Senate committee on April 11 in a hearing on her nomination to become the next administrator of the EPA.