The ABB Low Voltage Products division released a line of OVR PV UL 1449 3rd Edition, pluggable DC DIN Rail surge protection devices (SPD) specifically designed for photovoltaic (PV) applications. The new SPDs protect solar panels from damage from direct and indirect lightning strikes, which solar panels are especially susceptible to because of their large, […]

The power and gas industries may be joined at the hip, but judging from the talk at a recent conference, not everyone is excited about future directions.

Germany’s race away from nuclear and coal to a system heavy with renewables has not followed the expected course. Nuclear and coal plants were supposed to close. Instead, gas plants are closing and coal is making a comeback.

Government decisions to subsidize renewable power to increase its capacity for environmental and security reasons have spurred investments but also increased cross-border tensions. Increasingly, legal actions that seek to settle international trade disputes allege unfair subsidization.

Mae West said, “Too much of a good thing can be taxing.” The Pacific Northwest has a good thing—plentiful, carbon-free power from its huge wind and hydroelectric fleets. But wind’s huge variability can be taxing. The Northwest’s scramble to integrate growing wind generation, and the resulting litigation melee, underscore the importance of quickly solving the variable resource integration puzzle.

With the increasing interdependency of the natural gas and electricity, the number of economic and regulatory factors than can shift the future direction of both industries is growing substantially.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently gave a presentation in Washington, where he stated: “Coal is dead.” Fortunately, both for the prosperity of the United States and the goal to alleviate poverty for billions of people across the world, Bloomberg’s projection is much different from what is actually happening.

Does your power plant use a chiller for combustion turbine inlet air cooling or other processes that reject heat? If so, there is a good chance you also have an auxiliary cooling tower or a wet surface air cooler to cool these systems.

California’s push to boost its renewable capacity may be doing more than spurring the development of wind and solar. A review of recent data suggests the state’s regulatory schemes have the potential to spell the end of fossil-fuel generation altogether.

Wind industry’s “inflated numbers” and “erroneous conclusions” misled Washington lawmakers to extend the production tax credit.

In February, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) yet again missed an important opportunity to correct structural flaws that have plagued the state’s wholesale generation market in the wake of the 2001 energy crisis.

You may think of carbon capture and sequestration as a coal industry issue, but two forward-thinking companies are joining forces to make it work for gas.

The integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) plant located in Kemper County, Mississippi, is a 2 x 1 plant that will produce 582 MW at peak and 524 MW fired on syngas, with ammonia, sulfuric acid, and carbon dioxide as by-products. The carbon dioxide will be used for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Engineering was completed in Q3 2012, and the facility’s commercial operation date is planned for May 2014.

Paradise Fossil Plant Unit 2’s record-setting performance of 259+ days of continuous operation for a cyclone-fired boiler is attributed to excellence in plant operations and maintenance processes, a diligent and well-trained staff, and leadership that places high value on both. The Paradise experience proves that plants can’t help getting older, but they don’t have to get old.

Recent experience on the Deely 2 SCR retrofit project reminds us that the time spent in thoroughly planning a project prior to the start of construction is usually repaid with avoided construction delays.

Undergoing a NERC CIP audit is an ordeal, particularly when the ground rules are not clearly spelled out in advance. An experienced NERC CIP auditor lays out a comprehensive five-step plan that will show you how to prepare for a successful audit.

Dispatch competition between U.S. coal and natural gas plants has been a prominent feature of power markets since 2009. Gas prices have strengthened significantly over early 2012 levels, working to take pressure off coal plants for the upcoming year, according to a new analysis by SNL Energy.

The results of stack emissions testing conducted at several coal-fired power plants during the past three years have provided useful guidance for plant operators who are required to meet new federal guidelines regarding the release of particulate matter. The data and guidelines presented here will assist those who operate plants with electrostatic precipitators to develop a strategy for filterable particulate emissions control.

China’s installed wind power capacity has doubled for six consecutive years. However, along with the increased capacity come wind power accidents, incidents, and failures. Considering the sharply rising amount of wind power, the authors examine and sort wind technology failures by type and explore their causes in an effort to offer solutions.

The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards will soon force many coal-fired plants to install mercury-specific emission control equipment. Planners can use particular characteristics of a plant to quickly screen for the best mercury removal technology.

Steam turbine rotors bend during operation, but the bearing and supports are designed to keep the static and dynamic forces under control. However, bending can cause impact between stationary and rotating parts—often cascading impacts. An operator of many utility-scale steam turbines shares its extensive field experience identifying the root cause of failures as well as […]

Nuclear power generation is well established, but efforts worldwide to develop permanent disposal sites for highly radioactive waste remain nascent at best. If this were a horse race, you’d have to say the smaller horses are winning.

By Kennedy Maize Washington, D.C., March 29, 2013 – I thought it was a joke, maybe an April Fools’ Day gag, or something from the Onion. An email landed in my inbox yesterday from a friend, asking if I’d seen that A123 Systems, the bankrupt battery maker and supplier to Fisker Automotive, the running on […]

A reliability plan approved by the board of directors of the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) on Friday concludes that additional transmission and generation resources will be needed during the study period (2013–2022) to meet system reliability criteria, but several factors could raise new impacts on reliability. These include retirement of more generation units for economic or environmental reasons, or if the Indian Point reactor’s licenses were not renewed.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC’s) Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) on Tuesday rejected challenges by environmental groups to Progress Energy’s application to license two new nuclear plants in Levy County, Fla.

Seven European Union (EU) member states exceeded the EU National Emissions Ceiling (NEC) Directive air pollutant limits in 2011, the European Environment Agency (EEA) said last week. The European Commission is reportedly considering initiating infringement proceedings against the countries for exceeding emissions limits for nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur dioxide, volatile organic compounds, and ammonia.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) last week directed San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) to procure up to 298 MW of local generation beginning in 2018, and authorized the utility to enter into a purchase power tolling agreement with Wellheads’ Escondido Energy Center. It declined, however, to let the utility enter into similar agreements with two gas generators, because they were bound to be delayed.

NuScale on Wednesday announced it would seek federal funding to accelerate deployment of the company’s small modular reactor technology, saying it would submit a letter of intent in response to a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) announced by the Department of Energy (DOE) earlier this month.

By Kennedy Maize Washington, D.C., March 27, 2013 – Poor Ernie Moniz. The MIT academician and energy policy wonk — President Obama’s choice to be the next Secretary of Energy (there’s a career black spot for you) — is facing an onslaught from folks who think that trying to be an honest broker about energy […]