It may be unusual to recognize a demonstration facility with POWER’s Plant of the Year award, but T-Point 2 is a remarkable unit that is poised to change the way power plants operate. Besides validating new

Alabama Power’s Smart Neighborhood integrates a microgrid into a community filled with high-performance homes containing energy-efficient systems and connected appliances. The innovative initiative, which

It’s peak season for the U.S. power industry. While actual dates may vary from one utility to another, generally the summer peak period spans from Memorial Day (May 25 this year) to Labor Day (Sept. 7)

Few waste-to-energy (WTE) plants have been completed in the U.S. since the mid 1990s, but the story is different around the world, where WTE technology is seen as a suitable solution to municipal solid waste

Fresh off the announcement that the final module for Vogtle Unit 3 was placed at the nuclear expansion project in Georgia, Southern Company said on May 27 that it was setting “a long-term greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.” The announcement was made during Southern Company’s annual stockholders meeting, which […]

Distributed control systems (DCSs) and programmable logic controllers (PLCs) have been commonplace in power plants for decades, but the technology has not been stagnant. Today’s systems are beginning to incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to take plant control to a whole new level. To get an insider’s perspective on how these systems […]

The Edenville dam, which failed on March 19 flooding Midland, Michigan, and forcing as many as 10,000 residents to evacuate their homes, had its license revoked by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Sept. 10, 2018, due to a “longstanding failure to increase the project’s spillway capacity to safely pass flood flows,” among other […]

POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   May 20, 2020 Featured Feds Approve Largest U.S. Solar Project A Nevada installation that would be the largest solar power project in U.S. history was approved by the U.S. Department of the Interior on May 11. The estimated $1 billion,…   Is […]

Engineer, attorney, author, and former head of some of the largest public power utilities in the U.S., S. David Freeman passed away on May 12 outside of Washington, D.C., following a heart attack at the age of 94. Freeman was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and received a degree in electrical engineering from the Georgia Institute […]

It’s spring outage season in the power industry. A time when plants of all types typically shut down and perform scheduled maintenance to ensure all essential equipment is as ready as possible to run reliably at full load for days on end during the peak summer season. This year, outages have been complicated by the […]

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas is produced as a result of the microbial breakdown of organic materials in the absence of oxygen. It can be found in tanks, vaults, voids, and other confined spaces at industrial facilities including power plants. Besides being flammable and corrosive, H2S is also colorless and toxic, even in relatively low concentrations, […]

POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   May 6, 2020 Featured GE Reports $1 Billion Hit to Cash Flow General Electric (GE) reported a steep drop in first-quarter revenue, with the industrial giant—like many companies—taking a major hit from the coronavirus pandemic. The company reported a…   How Low-Temperature […]

“We still expect to meet the November regulatory-approved in-service dates for both Units 3 and 4,” Southern Company CEO Tom Fanning said during the company’s first quarter earnings call on April 30. The in-service dates he was referring to are November 2021 and November 2022 for Units 3 and 4, respectively, at the Vogtle nuclear […]

The COVID-19 outbreak has forced many companies to change the way they conduct operations. Leaders have had to divide employees into essential and non-essential categories. Essential employees must report to

Finland’s Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK), which regulates the nation’s nuclear power industry, completed a scheduled inspection of RAOS Project via Skype due to quarantine and travel restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. RAOS Project is a subsidiary of Rusatom Energo International, a division of Russia’s state atomic energy corporation Rosatom. RAOS Project is […]

Onshore wind and photovoltaic (PV) solar power are the cheapest forms of new-build power generation for at least two-thirds of the world’s population, according to analysis published by research company BloombergNEF (BNEF). Meanwhile, battery storage has become the lowest-cost new-build technology for peaking purposes in gas-importing regions, such as Europe, China, and Japan. BNEF reported […]

In many locations, solar power is already the lowest-cost renewable energy alternative available. Some of the advantage stems from advancements made in manufacturing processes and economies of scale that solar companies have captured. Operating costs also factor into the equation—solar’s operating costs are minimal while operating expenses for wind power are more substantial. Still, Brendan […]

The COVID-19 outbreak and efforts to halt the spread of the virus are having a real impact at the Vogtle nuclear expansion construction site, but project starts elsewhere were robust in March. Cutting Workforce Due to COVID-19 On April 15, Georgia Power announced in an 8-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that […]

With the growth of distributed energy resources, including rooftop solar, wind turbines, battery energy storage systems, electric vehicles, and demand response technology, distributed energy resource management systems (DERMS) are becoming increasingly important for utilities. Brad Williams, vice president of Industry Strategy with Oracle Utilities was a guest on The POWER Podcast. He touched on a […]

POWER Coverage of the Coronavirus Disease COVID-19 The world is currently under siege by a novel coronavirus disease, known as COVID-19, which has disrupted our entire way of life. Nearly all gatherings of more than a handful of people have been postponed or canceled. A few countries, and even some states, have enacted complete lockdowns […]

April 8, 2020 EPA Relaxes Noncompliance Enforcement During COVID-19 Pandemic Adopting a new temporary policy that gives it more “enforcement discretion,” the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said it does not expect to seek penalties for civil violations of… Read More Power Industry Pleads for Priority COVID-19 Testing, PPE for Mission-Essential Workers The U.S. power sector […]

Siemens Energy completed “first fire” at Duke Energy’s Lincoln Combustion Turbine Station near Denver, North Carolina, on April 6. The accomplishment is a major milestone for the world’s first SGT6-9000HL gas turbine, confirming the engine and auxiliary systems, including the gas supply, lube oil system, control system, and startup systems, all work as designed. During […]

The world has become a very different place over the past few months with the outbreak of a new coronavirus—COVID-19. The virus has forced travel bans and literal lockdowns in several countries. The NCAA and

Constructing a utility-scale solar project requires more than simply buying PV panels and mounting them in a field. It can take years to find the right location, conduct feasibility studies, obtain permits, and align the proverbial stars. A couple of experts, who have managed multiple projects through the process, were guests on The POWER Podcast. […]

A study published by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) shows peak demand and energy use decreased as much as 21% in some areas as a result of actions taken to reduce the spread of COVID-19. The report—COVID-19 Bulk System Impacts: Demand Impacts and Operational and Control Center Practices—was released on March 27. It reviews […]

The power industry and technology worlds are filled with acronyms. It’s often hard to know what they all mean. Mark Reisig, director of Product Marketing at Aras, was a guest on The POWER Podcast. He explained how digital technology is being utilized to bring products to market and track assets throughout their lifecycle. The process […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) granted a 20-year license extension for Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station Units 2 and 3. The extension authorizes the two reactors—both of which began commercial operation in 1974—to continue operating through 2054. “We are pleased with the NRC’s decision to grant a subsequent license renewal for Peach Bottom Units […]

The terms “cloud” and “edge” are used frequently by tech-savvy power industry professionals, but what do they mean and how are they changing plant operations? To get an insider’s perspective, POWER posed the question to Akshay Patwal, strategic business manager with Siemens Energy. Patwal leads the development and commercialization of digital business transformation projects, using […]

March 4, 2020 DOE Announces Additional $64 Million for Clean Coal Projects The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has earmarked $64 million in additional funding for research and development of smaller, more efficient, and cleaner coal plants. Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette on… Read More New Technology Improves Refractory Maintenance and Shutdown Planning Power plants require […]

Is your company’s information technology (IT) department your friend or your enemy? Does it work with you to identify, evaluate, and select the best new digital technology to make your job easier and your