The parent of Siemens Energy on May 26 provided details of the planned spinoff of the company’s energy business, saying 55% of Siemens Energy will be spun off to Siemens’ shareholders. The company said Siemens shareholders would automatically receive one share of Siemens Energy AG for every two shares they own of the parent, Siemens […]

Wisconsin-based Alliant Energy on May 22 said it would retire the coal-fired Edgewater Generating Station in Sheboygan by year-end 2022, an announcement coming just one week after the utility said it had placed the new 730-MW West Riverside Energy Center, a natural gas-fired combined cycle plant in Beloit, into commercial operation. Alliant, which also has […]

The Texas-based company that owns a coal-fired power plant in Maryland announced it will retire the facility’s three generating units, which have been in operation for about 60 years. GenOn Holdings said Units 1, 2, and 3 at its Dickerson Generating Station will be closed due to “unfavorable economic conditions and increased costs associated with […]

Global energy company SGH2, part of Washington, D.C.-based Solena Group, said it has a deal with Lancaster, California, to build what the company calls the world’s biggest green hydrogen production plant, set to be in full operation in early 2023. The company on May 20 said the plant will feature SGH2’s technology that uses recycled […]

Polish energy companies Enea and Energa late on May 19 announced they were ending their involvement with construction of the Ostroleka C coal-fired power plant, after new co-owner PKN Orlen said it would not be involved in the project if it utilizes coal. PKN Orlen, a Poland state-owned energy company that recently acquired Energa, said […]

Siemens on May 15 began moving what the company calls its “largest, most powerful, and most efficient heavy-duty gas turbine” from Germany to the UK, where the company will test the equipment for use in a combined cycle power plant. The SGT5-9000 HL turbine, built by Siemens Gas and Power in its Berlin factory, will […]

Four groups analyzing data from the U.S. Dept. of Labor said more than half-a-million jobs in the clean energy sector were lost in March and April due to shutdowns caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The losses, representing about 18% of the industry’s total workforce, were detailed in a report released May 13. The groups said […]

POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   May 13, 2020 Featured FERC Plans Discussion of COVID-19 Impacts The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is planning a technical conference this summer that would look at long-term impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on the energy industry. The discussion would…   Trump […]

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, 690-MW Gemini solar photovoltaic electric generating facility is sited on 7,000 acres about 30 miles northeast of Las Vegas. Interior Secretary David L. Bernhardt signed […]

U.S. coal-fired power generation last year was at its lowest level since 1976, according to data released May 11 by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). The EIA in its latest Short-Term Energy Outlook report said energy from renewable resources could this year for the first time surpass coal-fired generation in the U.S. The agency […]

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is planning a technical conference this summer that would look at long-term impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on the energy industry. The discussion would look at how the industry should approach investments and infrastructure development should the trend of lessening demand for electricity, and oil and gas, continue. Industry […]

The largest coal-fired power plant in North Dakota is scheduled to close in 2022, with the Minnesota-based wholesale electric power cooperative that operates the facility saying the lost generation will be mostly replaced by wind power. Minnesota-based Great River Energy, which supplies electricity to the suburbs of Minneapolis and St. Paul, along with other parts […]

The Minnesota-based power cooperative that on May 7 said it would close a large Midwest coal-fired power plant also noted it has a contract with Form Energy, a Bill Gates-backed company that offers a long-duration energy storage solution, one that the group says could provide 150 hours of continuous power. Form Energy has been a […]

The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) has released a report focused on how distributed energy resources (DERs) and microgrids can improve the resilience of the power grid. The report, Advancing Electric System Resilience with Distributed Energy Resources: A Review of State Policies, is designed in part as a guide to help state regulators […]

California officials on May 7 approved a $1.9-billion penalty against Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) for the company’s role in a series of wildfires that left more than 100 people dead and caused billions of dollars in damage in 2017 and 2018. The damage claims led PG&E to file for bankruptcy in January 2019. PG&E, […]

The growth in renewable energy, along with new forms of power generation not dependent on transmission via the traditional grid, has created new business opportunities for both legacy generators and start-up power producers. BOND, a Massachusetts-based company founded in 1907, is today a fifth-generation construction management and civil and utility general contracting firm, providing services […]

Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE) on May 6 said delays to its renewable energy projects, in part due to supply chain disruptions from the coronavirus pandemic, will continue to negatively impact the company’s earnings this year. The company reported its fiscal second-quarter earnings on Wednesday and said the COVID-19 outbreak “had a direct negative impact […]

General Electric (GE) on May 4 said it plans to cut as many as 13,000 jobs from its Aviation unit this year, or about 25% of the division’s total workforce, as the company continues to feel the impacts of the global coronavirus pandemic. The cuts include a 10% reduction to its U.S. workforce previously announced […]

Europe has a big head start globally when it comes to generating power from offshore wind installations. The U.S. has lagged due to a variety of factors, including the need to work through regulatory issues

Remote communities have become testing grounds for innovative power projects. These areas traditionally have been powered by fossil fuel generation, usually diesel fuel or oil and sometimes natural gas, and

Ørsted, the Denmark-based energy company and the world’s top offshore wind developer, said at least five of its projects off the U.S. East Coast could be delayed due to impacts from the coronavirus pandemic. The company in an announcement April 29 said the projects, with total generation capacity of about 3 GW, could fall victim […]

General Electric (GE) on April 29 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 year-over-year revenue decline of 8%, with posted revenue of $20.524 billion, and noted a $1 billion negative impact to cash flow during the quarter. The […]

U.S. power plant operators continue to change procedures at their facilities, including pushing back scheduled maintenance, due to lockdowns and quarantines associated with the coronavirus pandemic. The changes are impacting companies such as General Electric (GE) and Siemens, which are major service providers to power plants, at a time when these global companies already are […]

One of the two remaining operating reactors at the Indian Point Energy Center in Buchanan, New York, will close for good on April 30, shutting down early as part of an agreement between Entergy, the plant’s operator, the state of New York, and environmental groups who had pressured officials to close the plant. The 1,020-MW […]

Moltex Energy, a privately held nuclear power development company headquartered in the UK with an office in New Brunswick, Canada, has entered into a collaboration agreement with Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) to support Moltex’s nuclear fuel development program for its Stable Salt Reactor (SSR), among the latest technology advancements for small modular reactors (SMRs). The […]

Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) announced April 22 that Bill Johnson, the president and CEO who took over those roles in the midst of the company’s bankruptcy proceedings, will step down June 30 after just more than one year on the job. The company said Bill Smith, a PG&E board member, will serve as interim […]

April 22, 2020 Need for Resilience Supports Energy Storage Independent power producer Neoen Australia said an expansion of the world’s largest lithium-ion battery system has completed its network connection, bringing the Tesla-supported Hornsdale Power Reserve, adjacent to a wind… Read More Sponsored by Aggreko Complimentary Webinar: Market Insights – Spring Report May 12 at 11:00 […]

Independent power producer Neoen Australia said an expansion of the world’s largest lithium-ion battery system has completed its network connection, bringing the Tesla-supported Hornsdale Power Reserve, adjacent to a wind farm in South Australia, to a rated size of 150 MW/193.5 MWh. It’s the latest in a series of projects being developed worldwide to add […]

Legal challenges to the Trump administration’s Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule began in earnest April 17, as more than two dozen states and cities, along with several environmental activist groups, filed briefs with the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., seeking a rollback of power plant regulations that also have been decried by coal […]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on April 16 withdrew the legal justification for an Obama-era rule that required coal-fired power plants to reduce their emissions of mercury. The Mercury and Air Toxic Standards (MATS) remains in place, but Thursday’s action by the Trump administration could prevent similar regulations from being implemented in the future. EPA […]