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Nuclear
Worried About Climate Change? Save Nuclear Plants [PODCAST]
Nuclear power advocates suggest there are many benefits associated with nuclear energy. They point to high-paying jobs; billions of dollars in economic activity for plant-hosting communities; and secure, reliable, baseload electricity. But the most-important benefit of nuclear power may be that it emits no greenhouse gases, and therefore does not contribute to climate change. According […]
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POWERnews—July 25, 2019
July 25, 2019 New York Enacts 100% Clean Energy Law, Secures 1.7 GW of Offshore Wind New York on July 18 enacted the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), law that requires the state to produce 100% of its power from renewables and nuclear by… Read More Sponsored Content Timken Power Systems: The Complete […]
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RENEWABLE POWER Direct—July 24, 2019
July 24, 2019 New York Enacts 100% Clean Energy Law, Secures 1.7 GW of Offshore Wind New York enacted the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), a law that requires the state to produce 100% of its power from renewables and nuclear by… Read More A Fine Couple They Are (Wind and Solar Power) […]
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Nuclear
Reversing Climate Change with Nuclear Power [PODCAST]
According to the Energy Impact Center, a Washington, D.C.-based research institute focused on deep decarbonization, CO2 emissions “must go net-negative by 2040, globally across all energy sectors” to begin countering climate change. The only way it sees to accomplish this is to “produce energy inexpensive enough to make carbon negative fuels that compete with fossil […]
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GAS POWER Direct—July 17, 2019
July 17, 2019 Egypt Megaproject: An Expedited Power Transformation Winning POWER’s highest honor is a set of three gas-fired power plants and related infrastructure—the Egypt Megaproject—which was the single biggest order ever in Siemens’ long history. Completed… Read More A Brief History of GE Gas Turbines July marks two important milestones that set gas-fired generation […]
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COAL POWER Direct—July 10, 2019
July 10, 2019 EPA Delayed on Proposed ELG Revisions for Steam Power Plants The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is behind on its proposed revisions to the Obama administration’s effluent limitations guidelines (ELGs) for steam electric power plants. In an e-mail to POWER on… Read More Wheeler: Keeping U.S. Coal Sector Alive Will Benefit ‘International Environmental […]
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POWER Podcasts
Lithium-Ion Batteries: Costs Down, Benefits Up [PODCAST]
The price of lithium-ion batteries has plummeted over the past decade. Battery pack prices averaged $1,160 per kWh in 2010, according to BloombergNEF, but they dropped to $176 per kWh last year, and experts suggest they could be less than $100 by 2024. Tony Cooper, general manager of Green Cubes Technology’s Motive division, was a […]
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Nuclear
Long-Delayed EPR Nuclear Plants Face Further Holdups
Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO), owner of the Olkiluoto 3 EPR (European Pressurized Water Reactor) nuclear unit that is under construction in Finland, has said fuel will not be loaded in the reactor before the end of August, while it awaits completion of a schedule review being conducted by the construction consortium. Meanwhile, EDF, which is […]
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Connected Plant
How to Monitor and Predict Operational Performance with Digital Analytics [PODCAST]
Power plants are capturing operational data in ever-increasing amounts. However, analyzing all the data can be challenging. A number of tools are available that can help. In this episode of The POWER Podcast, two experts from one technology provider explain how big data can be analyzed to identify trends and create actionable information to solve […]
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Solar
New Record for Solar PV Installations
More than 2 million new solar PV installations were installed in the U.S. in the first three months of 2019—a new record for the first quarter of the year—according to the Wood Mackenzie/Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) U.S. Solar Market Insight report, which was released this week. Utilities led the way, installing 1.6 GWdc of […]
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News
Power Plant Emissions Down Substantially in U.S. Since 1990
Power plant SO2 and NOx emissions have decreased 92% and 84%, respectively, since Congress passed major amendments to the Clean Air Act in 1990. Meanwhile, mercury air emissions from power plants have decreased 90% since 2000, as federal limits on mercury and other hazardous air pollutants from coal-fired power plants went into effect in 2015. […]
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RENEWABLE POWER Direct—June 19, 2019
June 19, 2019 Where Is the Microgrid Market Headed? Increasingly, today’s electric power grids are interacting with microgrids and in more complex ways. Yet, much work needs to be done to integrate microgrids and flexible demand into the wide-area synchronous… Read More MHPS, Magnum Will Build 1-GW Renewable Energy Storage Facility in Utah Mitsubishi Hitachi […]
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Gas
Future May Not Be as Rosy as It Seems for Natural Gas [PODCAST]
The natural gas industry is doing quite well and the future looks bright to many observers. “We’re at a really great moment for the natural gas industry in the U.S. Production is growing dramatically. Shale continues to provide tremendous improvements technologically, bringing the cost down and growing the production, extending access to U.S. gas. At […]
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News
In a Surprise Announcement, Colstrip Units 1 and 2 to Close by Year-End
Talen Montana—part-owner and operator of the Colstrip Steam Electric Station—announced that Units 1 and 2 at the coal-fired power plant will be retired by year-end, well ahead of a previously announced July 2022 closure date. “The decision to retire Colstrip Units 1 and 2 comes after extensive review and exhaustive efforts over the last few […]
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GAS POWER Direct—June 12, 2019
June 12, 2019 The POWER Interview: GE Unleashing a Hydrogen Gas Power Future Since the 1940s, when General Electric (GE), launched its gas turbine operations, the company has pioneered and commercialized a lengthy list of gas turbine technologies, large and small. As the… Read More Piloting Boiler Startup at Lightspeed Many combined cycle power plants […]
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POWERnews—June 6, 2019
June 6, 2019 How the U.S. Is Investing in Advanced Coal Technologies The U.S. is investing heavily to ensure its future coal-fired power fleet will be cleaner, more efficient, and more flexible, experts said at the 9th International Conference on Clean Coal… Read More India’s Coal Future Hinges on Advanced Ultrasupercritical Breakthroughs India is striving […]
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COAL POWER Direct—June 5, 2019
June 5, 2019 Power Marketer to Tri-State: We’ll Buy and Close Your Coal Plants A wholesale power provider in Colorado wants to supply the state’s largest electric cooperative with power from mostly renewable sources, saying it will pay Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association to… Read More Illinois Passes Landmark Coal Ash Legislation Illinois became the […]
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Nuclear
Nuclear Power Needed for Clean Energy Future
“Without action to provide more support for nuclear power, global efforts to transition to a cleaner energy system will become drastically harder and more costly,” Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), wrote in his foreword to the IEA’s recently released report titled Nuclear Power in a Clean Energy System. The report […]
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News
Power Company Business Models Are Evolving [PODCAST]
The power industry is changing and power companies must evolve to stay competitive. Many businesses are transitioning from vertically integrated, centralized utility structures to more-distributed models. JEA offers a good case in point. JEA is a not-for-profit, community-owned utility located in Jacksonville, Florida. It serves an estimated 466,000 electric, 348,000 water, 271,000 sewer, and 11,000 […]
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RENEWABLE POWER Direct—May 22, 2019
May 22, 2019 Best Practices for Wind Project Partial Repowering Partial wind project repowering enables owners to generate more energy from their sites, extend the life and improve the availability of their projects, and take advantage of extended renewable energy… Read More Bringing the Heat: Geothermal Making Inroads as Baseload Power It’s energy that has […]
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Gas
Industrial Gas Turbine Demand Grows [PODCAST]
When it comes to gas turbines, size matters. Although the market for large, heavy-duty gas turbines has been challenging in recent years, demand for industrial gas turbines—generally units with output ranging from about 5 MW to 100 MW—has been growing, according to Reed Lengel, product line manager for SCC-800 solutions with Siemens Energy. “When you […]
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GAS POWER Direct—May 15, 2019
May 15, 2019 Siemens Will Exit Power, Gas, Renewable Businesses Siemens will spin off and give up its majority stake in its lucrative Gas and Power division—comprising its conventional power generation, power transmission, oil and gas, and related services businesses—and… Read More Insights Into Siemens’ Stunning Gas and Power, Renewables Shakeup In the days following […]
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Gas
Control Your Own Destiny with Combined Heat and Power Systems [PODCAST]
Combined heat and power (CHP), also known as cogeneration, is the concurrent production of electricity or mechanical power and useful thermal energy (heating and/or cooling) from a single source of energy. Although it may not be widely recognized outside of industrial, commercial, institutional, and utility circles, CHP has been providing highly efficient electricity and process […]
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COAL POWER Direct—May 8, 2019
May 8, 2019 Enhanced Wastewater Treatment Technology for Ash Transport Water Evolving environmental regulations have forced many coal power plant operators to re-evaluate how they handle water and ash. Many units have been retrofit with dry handling systems, but there are other… Read More Sponsored Content Don’t Let Your Efficiency Evaporate Corrosive environments. Costly blowdowns. […]
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Gas
Safety a Major Focus of CTOTF Conference
Marc Yeston kicked off the Combustion Turbine Operations Technical Forum (CTOTF) spring conference on April 29 in St. Augustine, Florida, with a keynote presentation focused on safety, and how power plant managers and supervisors can improve safety programs. Yeston (Figure 1) has worked as a flight paramedic, a federal and state law enforcement officer, a […]
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Wind
Clump Weights in Offshore Mooring Systems
Offshore moorings have a long tradition in the oil and gas industry. Even though most offshore mooring systems feature similar components, they differ a lot in design, depending on the bathymetries, the metocean data, and the design of the platform they support. But despite the wide range available in the market, the fast development of […]
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Cybersecurity
Modifying Behavior to Protect Systems in a Malicious Threat Landscape
The malicious threat landscape for industrial control systems (ICSs) is constantly evolving and getting more sophisticated, thereby raising the need to have visibility, implement protective controls, and perform continuous monitoring. As a result, it is important to take a look at the attack vectors of some malware/malicious events—such as Triton—that have occurred over the last […]
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Smart Grid
Certifying Precision Timing in the Smart Grid
Utilities deploying precise timing in their networks have an additional choice in evaluating solutions based on whether or not the devices are IEEE certified for compliance to the appropriate IEEE 1588 Power Profile. To reach this point, years of effort from the IEEE, International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and […]
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POWERNEWS—April 25, 2019
April 25, 2019 GE Power Engineer Implicated in Turbine Technology Theft for China’s Benefit A former GE Power engineer and a Chinese businessman conspired to steal General Electric (GE) trade secrets related to gas and steam turbine technologies to benefit China, the U.S. Department… Read More Sempra Energy Exits U.S. Renewables Sector Sempra Energy […]
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RENEWABLE POWER Direct—April 24, 2019
April 24, 2019 Duke Energy Projects Lead Carolinas' Solar Expansion Duke Energy announced it will develop six utility-scale solar power projects in North Carolina, among 14 solar projects chosen as part of the state’s Competitive Procurement of… Read More Wind Industry Prepares for Massive Expansion Construction activity on wind projects across the U.S. surged to […]