Darrell Proctor
Articles By

Darrell Proctor

  • Tesla, Mining Companies Look for Advancements in Lithium Technology

    Advancements in battery technology are critical to continuing growth in the energy storage market, and energy industry analysts say those advancements also are needed to move e-mobility forward and combat

  • FirstEnergy Fires CEO as Nuclear Bailout Probe Continues

    FirstEnergy Corp. President and CEO Charles “Chuck” Jones was fired late Thursday after an internal review found Jones and two other company executives violated company policies in connection with an alleged bribery scheme. The case is connected to a legislative bailout of the state’s nuclear power plants that occurred in 2019. The law, known as […]

  • Black & Veatch: No More Coal Construction

    Black & Veatch is ending the company’s participation in coal-based power market design and construction, saying it will allow the company to focus on clean energy technologies. The engineering and construction giant’s announcement Oct. 29 comes just more than a month after another major energy company, General Electric, said it would exit the new-build coal […]

  • Vineyard Wind Secures Transmission Agreement With ISO-NE

    Vineyard Wind has announced a transmission agreement with ISO New England (ISO-NE) to deliver power to the system operator’s grid when the Vineyard Wind 1 project comes online. The 800-MW offshore wind farm, located about 15 miles off the cost of Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, is expected to be the first commercial-scale offshore wind farm […]

  • The POWER Interview: Designing a Net Energy Fusion System

    Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), a company commercializing fusion energy, recently announced a series of seven papers published and peer reviewed in a special edition of the Journal of Plasma Physics. The papers validate the company’s approach to commercial fusion energy. CFS said the papers, written in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT’s) Plasma […]

  • More Delays for Vogtle Plant Expansion

    Georgia Power said it still expects to meet a state regulatory deadline for commercial operation of the first of two new reactors at its Vogtle nuclear plant expansion. The utility, though, on Oct. 22 acknowledged it has pushed back some aspects of the project, including delaying the loading of nuclear fuel for the first reactor […]

  • PG&E Cutting Power Due to Wildfire Threat

    Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) said it could cut off power for nearly one million people across Northern California beginning Oct. 25, due to significant wildfire danger in its territory. Southern California Edison (SCE) also has warned of potential blackouts in its region due to forecasts of high winds. The utility last week was found […]

  • Executives Tout Storage as Key for Distributed Generation

    The growth of energy storage, along with deployment of new technologies, is at the heart of the future of distributed power generation. That’s according to industry executives participating in POWER’s Distributed Energy Experience. Woody Rubin, president of AES Distributed Energy, provided a keynote address on Oct. 20, talking about the rise of solar-plus-storage applications and […]

  • AECOM Sells Power Business as Part of Restructuring

    AECOM has announced the closing of the sale of its Power construction business to affiliates of CriticalPoint Capital LLC. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The Los Angeles, California-based infrastructure consulting firm, which this month announced a restructuring plan, earlier this year closed on the $2.4 billion sale of its Maryland-based Management Services business—which […]

  • Orlando Utility Pulling Plug on Coal-Fired Generation

    The Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC) said it plans to eliminate the group’s use of coal for power generation no later than 2027, including converting two coal-fired units at its Stanton Energy Center to run on natural gas. The Florida utility’s management on Oct. 14 made the recommendation as part of its Electric Integrated Resource Plan […]

  • The POWER Interview: Importance of Tax Credits and Incentives

    Tax credits and incentives, also known as C&I, have long been important to support the growth of energy technologies, from oil and gas exploration to solar and wind power. Federal tax credits have lifted the U.S. renewable energy industry over the past decade, leading to rapid growth in the sector. Laurence Sotsky is the CEO […]

  • GAS POWER Direct—October 14, 2020

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   October 14, 2020 GE Secures First HA-Class Hydrogen Gas Power Deal: Long Ridge Energy Terminal Long Ridge Energy Terminal will transition a 485-MW combined cycle power plant that is under construction within its sprawling multimodal facility on the Ohio and West Virginia […]

  • China Brings 2.2-GW Solar Park Online

    A Chinese company announced it has brought the world’s second-largest solar farm into commercial operation. Sungrow, which supplies inverters for renewable energy projects, and the state-owned utility Huanghe Hydropower Development on Oct. 9 said a 2.2-GW capacity solar park in the northwest province of Qinghai is now online. The Qinghai project trails only the 2.3-GW […]

  • DOE Supports CCUS Retrofit for San Juan Coal Plant

    The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has released a report that says retrofitting the coal-fired San Juan Generating Station (SJGS) in New Mexico with carbon capture technology would bring more jobs and tax revenue to the region than replacing the power plant with renewable energy. Deputy Secretary of Energy Mark Menezes presented the report’s findings […]

  • Economics Drive Design of DER Systems

    Distributed energy systems are transforming the way power is produced and distributed. The decentralized model of power generation, where energy is produced closer to where it will be used, rather than at a large plant elsewhere and sent through the traditional grid, has several advantages, including reducing transmission losses and lowering carbon emissions. An Oct. […]

  • Integrating Battery Storage with Renewable Energy

    Most new utility-scale renewable energy projects, such as installations of solar and wind generation, are now including battery storage.  The growing trend of integrating storage is making such projects more financially attractive, as it enhances the generation profile of the installation. Storage helps smooth the power supply, enabling electricity to flow from a project even […]

  • Microgrids Increase Reliability, Resiliency

    Increasing the reliability and resiliency of the electricity supply is a focus of today’s power generation industry. In concert with that, more and more utilities, companies, and institutions are establishing internal clean energy goals, wanting to reduce their carbon footprint while ensuring a consistent supply of power for their operations. An (date) session of Experience […]

  • Utilities Challenged by Shortfall From Unpaid Bills

    As many as 179 million Americans are at risk of losing utility services as the country heads toward winter, and electric and gas utility companies are looking at $24.3 billion in unpaid bills, according to an analysis released Oct. 1 by the National Energy Assistance Directors’ Association (NEADA). Many utilities at the start of the […]

  • It’s Fair to Say – New Plant Brings Benefits to Pennsylvania

    Competitive Power Ventures is known for building efficient and technologically advanced gas-fired facilities. The company’s Fairview Energy Center is its latest achievement, transforming a brownfield site

  • Promising Power Plant Plots Province’s Future

    The once coal-heavy Canadian province of Saskatchewan wants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from its power generation sector, and a new combined cycle natural gas-fired plant is a key part of that effort

  • Gearing Up for Grid Integration

    The growing adoption of distributed energy resources presents another challenge for utilities and grid operators as they design and plan for how electricity is produced and delivered. The past few years have

  • Philippines Taking New Look at Nuclear Power

    It’s been nearly 35 years since the Philippines mothballed the country’s only nuclear power plant, declaring the 621-MW Bataan facility would not be commissioned despite the country spending $2.3 billion

  • Renewables Could Drive Recovery in Latin America

    Countries in Latin America did not feel the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic until several weeks after Europe and the U.S., but the impacts of the coronavirus when it arrived were swift on the region’s

  • POWER Digest [October 2020]

    Enel Ready to Close Italian Coal Plants. Enel, Italy’s largest power generator, said it wants to close three coal-fired units in the coming months as part of the company’s complete exit from coal. Enel

  • Trump’s Drilling Ban Also Blocks Offshore Wind

    President Trump’s action to ban oil and gas drilling off the East Coast and through much of the Gulf of Mexico also eliminates leases for offshore wind farms, according to the U.S. Department of the Interior. Trump earlier this month issued two memos withdrawing the potential to lease land for oil and gas extraction on […]

  • The POWER Interview: Are DERs an Opportunity, or Threat?

    Distributed energy resources (DERs) are physical and virtual assets that are deployed across the power distribution grid. They are typically close to load, and though they initially began as behind-the-meter assets, today may be as likely to be deployed in front of the meter. DERs include renewable energy, and are the key component in microgrids, […]

  • Vistra Shuttering More Coal, Adding Solar and Storage

    Vistra has announced seven new renewable energy projects that will add about 1,000 MW of solar and energy storage to the company’s generation fleet. The company also said it would retire its coal-fired power plants in Illinois and Ohio as part of an effort to reduce carbon emissions as it established new long-term emissions reduction […]

  • Leveraging the Benefits of Microgrids and DERs

    The digitalization of power generation includes many new technologies, all designed to increase efficiency, along with reliability and resiliency. A group of energy industry experts came together Sept. 30 at Experience POWER, the virtual event supported by POWER magazine, to discuss “Microgrids and DERs—Leveraging the Benefits.” The session explored how data analytics and the Industrial […]

  • The POWER Interview: Adapting to the Use of DERs

    Distributed energy resources (DERs) have become a major part of today’s power generation landscape. DERs are physical and virtual assets that are deployed across the grid. They are typically close to load, and can be deployed both in front of and behind the meter. Bill Strohecker, Country Managing Director, Canada, for Hitachi ABB Power Grids, […]

  • China Promotes Climate Goal, and Builds New Coal Plants

    Chinese President Xi Jinping said he wants his country to “achieve carbon neutrality before 2060.” It will not be an easy task for the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases (GHG). China, though it has canceled some planned thermal power plants over the past several years, has as much as 200 GW of coal-fired facilities […]