Polish Energy Company Puts Large Coal-Fired Unit Online. Enea , the Polish state-owned energy company, in December inaugurated what it calls the largest coal-fired power generation unit in Europe. The company

Documents obtained by The Washington Post show the Trump administration is prepared to ask Congress to cut the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) renewable energy and energy efficiency programs by as much as 72% in fiscal year 2019. The newspaper in a January 31 report says Congress likely would not support many of the cuts, but […]

U.S. utilities continue to send workers to Puerto Rico to help restore that country’s electricity and rebuild its power infrastructure, a task that continues more than four months after back-to-back hurricanes left nearly all of the island in the dark. The Puerto Rican government this week said 83% of the island’s generation capacity has been […]

Voith and Siemens have collaborated closely in the area of distributed power generation since 2009. Voith BHS turbo gear units are renowned for their precision and reliability. The Siemens gas turbine will contribute significantly to securing a stable power supply in Bolivia as of mid-2018. SONTHOFEN, Germany / FINSPANG, Sweden (January 25, 2018) — The […]

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (January 25, 2018) — Lightbridge Corporation and Framatome finalized and launched Enfission, a 50-50 joint venture company to develop, license and sell nuclear fuel assemblies based on Lightbridge-designed metallic fuel technology and other advanced nuclear fuel intellectual property. Lightbridge is a U.S. nuclear fuel development company and Framatome is a leader in designing, […]

Several possible suitors for SCANA Corp. emerged last fall when it became evident the South Carolina utility needed a lifeline, after SCANA subsidiary South Carolina Electric and Gas Co. (SCE&G) and state-owned Santee Cooper pulled the plug on the V.C. Summer nuclear project (Figure 1). Now the question is whether those who lost out to […]

The global solar industry on January 23 reacted to President Trump’s announcement on Monday that the U.S. will enact a 30% tariff this year on imports of solar cells and modules, a levy that could begin as soon as next month. Some groups said they will take a “wait and see” approach to the charge, […]

FAGERSTA/SOLLETEA, Sweden (January 23, 2018) — There are a large number of hydropower plants in Europe and North America that are more than 100 years old. Voith installed new technology in two of these plants in Sweden, Semla and Graninge, making them not only much more efficient but also more environmentally compatible. As a result […]

The Trump administration on January 22 said it would impose a 30% tariff on imports of solar modules and solar cells, in a high-profile trade case in which two struggling solar companies—Suniva and SolarWorld Americas—had asked for a levy on imports of closer to 50%. The decision comes after the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) […]

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (January 18, 2018) — Framatome today announced an agreement with Schneider Electric to acquire Schneider’s nuclear automation business. The two companies recently signed an asset purchase agreement that outlines the terms of the sale, which is expected to close before the end of the first quarter of 2018. The acquisition expands Framatome’s […]

The company will supply 47 units of G132-3.465 MW wind turbines to Sammons Renewable Energy for the Midway wind project and an additional 48 units of the same turbine type to an undisclosed customer for another project. In total, Siemens Gamesa will provide 95 units of its G132-3.465 MW wind turbines. First orders for G132-3.465 […]

SANTIAGO, CHILE (January 18, 2018) — Building Energy SpA, a multinational company operating as a global integrated IPP in the Renewable Energy Industry, announces the constitution of Building Energy Andes SpA, a Joint Venture with Scotta Group aimed to the development, construction and operation of renewable energy assets in Chile. Scotta Group is an Italian […]

FoxGuard Solutions and Security Matters partner to provide a new cyber secure industrial computing solution to the energy industry. CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. (January 18, 2018) — FoxGuard Solutions, Inc. announced the release of GRID-FS1, a new fanless rugged industrial computer for substation application. Designed to meet IEC 61850-3 and certified for IEEE 1613,  the GRID-FS1 is […]

Wärtsilä and Schneider Electric have signed a global cooperation agreement to bring together their individual products and services, along with those of third parties, for the purpose of cooperating on data center projects. The deal focuses on hyperscale data center projects with at least a 10-MW electrical load. The objective of the cooperation is to […]

Though some countries, including the U.S., have moved to support coal-fired power generation over the past year, investments in renewable energy continued to rise, according to a new report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). The research group on January 16 said global investment in clean energy such as wind and solar reached about $333.5 […]

He Nan Province, China (January 16, 2018) — Henan Tianchi Pumped Storage Co., Ltd. (Tianchi PSP) and Voith Hydro Shanghai Co., Ltd. (VHS), in December 2017 signed a contract to purchase equipment at the Henan Tianchi pumped storage plant site. Voith will supply four 300-MW Francis reversible pump turbines and generators and also auxiliary equipment. […]

An executive with the parent company of Tampa Electric said the utility plans to seek regulatory approval to convert its Big Bend Power Station in Florida, the oldest and last major coal-fired facility in its fleet, to natural gas. Rob Bennett, speaking at a breakfast gathering in Tampa on January 12, said an engineering analysis […]

California regulators have approved Pacific Gas & Electric’s (PG&E’s) application to retire the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant by year-end 2025, ending a protracted battle over the generating station that pitted local economic interests against environmentalists and other opponents of nuclear power. The state Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) on January 11 voted unanimously to accept PG&E’s […]

Liebert® EXM 480V UPS brings lithium-ion option to mid-sized data centers and edge facilities Columbus, Ohio (January 10, 2018) – Vertiv, formerly Emerson Network Power, today announced the further expansion of its line of lithium-ion-compatible uninterruptible power systems (UPS). Now qualified for operation with lithium-ion batteries, the Liebert® EXM 480V (50-250 kW/kVA) UPS system expands the […]

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its first look at expected power generation in 2019, and its conclusions are much the same as those it expects in 2018—the use of natural gas to produce electricity will continue to rise, and the use of coal will continue to decline. EIA’s Short-Term Energy Outlook, released January […]

Florida Power & Light (FPL) began the new year by opening four new solar power plants, along with officially retiring one of its two remaining coal-fired plants in the state. The utility on January 8 said the four solar plants began operating on January 1, 2018. They are the Horizon Solar Energy Center, in Alachua […]

The Johnsonville Fossil Plant in Humphreys County, Tennessee, came online in 1951, and provided power for generations of Tennesseans as part of the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA’s) vast coal-fired fleet. But the end of 2017 also marked the end of an era for Johnsonville, as the TVA shut down the last operating unit at the […]

Georgia wasn’t looking for an award or recognition when we set out to build new nuclear reactors in our state. Yet we now find ourselves as the last team on the field as our commissioners unanimously voted to move forward with a new cost and schedule for the Plant Vogtle new nuclear units—keeping the project […]

Engineers from several companies have worked on upgrades to the technology, including designs that emphasize faster starts, quicker ramp-ups, increased efficiency, and better performance in a tight global

Construction Underway on New Unit at Serbian Coal Plant. It has been almost 30 years since any new power generation capacity was built in Serbia, but that stretch is coming to an end as China Machinery and

Iberdrola’s global strategy to close its remaining coal-fired power plants has met with government opposition in its home country of Spain. Days after Iberdrola, the country’s largest utility, said it

Kansai Electric Power Co. (KEPCO) announced it will permanently close two older nuclear reactors in Japan, rather than invest nearly 100 billion yen ($900 million) to bring the units up to the country’s new safety regulations. Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) created new standards for the country’s nuclear plants after the meltdown at the Fukushima […]

Moving toward sustainable manufacture of photovoltaics, Dr. Manuela Schiek’s research group in Oldenburg, Germany, has discovered how the latest technology in confocal laser scanning microscopy is enhancing both accuracy and efficiency of their research into organic semiconductors and transparent electrodes. Harvesting energy directly from the sun in order to generate electricity, solar cells appear to […]

Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) Chairman Stan Wise said his agency was “not going to make a decision to discontinue” construction of two new nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle, instead putting the decision squarely in the hands of Southern Co. and Georgia Power at the PSC’s December 21 meeting to determine the fate of the […]

State regulators in Georgia have voted not to cancel the troubled nuclear expansion project at the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant near Waynesboro, Georgia, and lead owner Georgia Power has agreed to a set of conditions that the utility must meet in order to continue the project. Georgia Power is one of four utilities with a […]