Sonal Patel
Articles By

Sonal Patel

  • Transformers in 2026: Shortage, Scramble, or Self-Inflicted Crisis?

    Analysts still see multi-year deficits in U.S. transformer supply, even as equipment manufacturers invest billions in new factories and advanced manufacturing processes. But some brokers suggest there is no

  • POWER Digest [January 2026]

    Vattenfall, Industrikraft Advance SMR Program at Ringhals in High-Stakes Deal. Swedish state utility Vattenfall and industrial consortium Industrikraft i Sverige AB signed an agreement, announced on Nov. 10

  • THE BIG PICTURE: Power Affordability [Infographic]

    Household electricity use is set to climb sharply through 2035 as electrification expands, shifting power system costs toward capital-intensive grids, renewables, and storage and making affordability increasingly sensitive to policy and financing choices. POWER’s monthly print infographic breaks down the forces reshaping electricity bills worldwide. In its November 2025–released World Energy Outlook, the International Energy […]

  • The Age of Electricity and 5 Other Forces Reshaping the Global Energy Outlook

    The world has firmly crossed into the “Age of Electricity.” That is a unifying finding in the International Energy Agency’s (IEA’s) 2025 edition of the World Energy Outlook (WEO), which shows a global

  • DOE Uses Emergency Powers to Freeze More Than 2 GW of Coal Retirements as Opposition Intensifies

    A rapid succession of Section 202(c) emergency orders has forced utilities to keep more than 2 GW of coal capacity online in December alone, marking an unprecedented federal intervention in grid operations and triggering legal challenges from states and environmental groups. Across all orders issued since May 2025, the DOE has now stalled the retirement […]

  • POWERnews—Dec. 18, 2025

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   December 18, 2025 X-energy, Doosan Lock In 16-Unit Xe-100 Component Reservation as Doosan Commits to New SMR Factory Small modular reactor (SMR) developer X-energy has secured a binding reservation agreement with South Korean power-generation equipment giant Doosan Enerbility to manufacture main power […]

  • X-energy, Doosan Lock In 16-Unit Xe-100 Component Reservation as Doosan Commits to New SMR Factory

    Small modular reactor (SMR) developer X-energy has secured a binding reservation agreement with South Korean power-generation equipment giant Doosan Enerbility to manufacture main power system steel components for 16 Xe-100 SMRs. As part of the decisive move to industrialize the supply chain for advanced nuclear energy, Doosan has also committed to building a new dedicated SMR […]

  • Advanced Nuclear Developers Raise New Capital as 2025 Investment Hits Record Levels and Demonstrations Near

    Three advanced nuclear developers—Radiant, Last Energy, and ARC Clean Technology—announced the closing of major private funding rounds in mid-December 2025, signaling renewed investor momentum behind microreactors and small modular reactors (SMRs) as the companies move from design and licensing into pilot deployment and early commercialization. The announcements—which span a new $300-million-plus round at Radiant, an […]

  • POWERnews—Dec. 11, 2025

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   December 11, 2025 BWRX-300 SMR Reaches Regulatory Milestone in UK The GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GVH) BWRX-300 small modular reactor (SMR) has completed Step 2 of the Generic Design Assessment (GDA) process in the UK. Sponsored Content From Spec to Site: […]

  • POWERnews—Dec. 4, 2025

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   December 4, 2025 INL Taps AWS, GE Vernova, Oil Majors for First MARVEL Microreactor Experiments Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has selected the five commercial teams that will potentially demonstrate advanced applications—including data center integration—at its much-watched Microreactor Application Research Validation and Evaluation […]

  • A First for Military Nuclear Power: TRISO Fuel Arrives at Project Pele

    Project Pele, the Department of War’s (DOW’s) first-of-its-kind transportable nuclear microreactor prototype, has received its tri-structural isotropic (TRISO) particle fuel at Idaho National Laboratory (INL), where formal system testing is slated to begin as early as 2027. The fuel—manufactured by BWXT Technologies (BWXT) and shipped from its Lynchburg, Virginia, facility—represents the first TRISO microreactor fuel […]

  • INL Taps AWS, GE Vernova, Oil Majors for First MARVEL Microreactor Experiments

    Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has selected the five commercial teams that will potentially demonstrate advanced applications—including data center integration—at its much-watched Microreactor Application Research Validation and Evaluation (MARVEL) platform, an 85-kWth/20-kWe liquid-metal-cooled test bed currently under construction at the lab. The initial selections, unveiled on Dec. 4, mark the “first potential end users for MARVEL,” […]

  • Data Centers and the Grid: Key Insights from POWER’s Inaugural Data Center POWER eXchange Summit

    POWER breaks down the top insights from Data Center POWER eXchange, its unique one-day summit curated by POWER’s editorial team and convened to examine the collision between accelerating data center load and tightening grid constraints.  The rise of artificial intelligence is poised to create the fastest, largest, and most concentrated surge of electricity demand in […]

  • China’s Molten Salt Reactor Reaches Thorium-Uranium Conversion Milestone

    China’s Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics (SINAP) in November reported it had achieved thorium-to-uranium fuel conversion inside an operating molten salt reactor (MSR). The milestone provides the first

  • Flamanville 3: Europe’s Hard-Won Nuclear Milestone

    Flamanville 3 synchronized to the French grid in December 2024 after a prolonged, hard-fought build—an achievement that reflects years of technical recovery, regulatory rigor, and lessons now shaping

  • POWERnews—Nov. 26, 2025

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   November 26, 2025 Winter Reliability Concerns Spur Fresh DOE Intervention for PJM, MISO The Department of Energy (DOE) extended its run of federal grid interventions into winter over the past week, issuing a Section 202(c) emergency order on Nov. 18 for Consumers […]

  • Winter Reliability Concerns Spur Fresh DOE Intervention for PJM, MISO

    The Department of Energy (DOE) extended its run of federal grid interventions into winter over the past week, issuing a Section 202(c) emergency order on Nov. 18 for Consumers Energy’s 1,420-MW J.H. Campbell coal plant in Michigan and another on Nov. 25 for Constellation’s 760-MW Eddystone Units 3 and 4 in southeastern Pennsylvania in a […]

  • NERC: Winter Grid Reliability at Risk Amid Soaring Demand, Fuel Supply Gaps

    In its recently released Winter Reliability Assessment, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) found that while resources are adequate for normal winter peak demand, large swaths of North America face an elevated risk of electricity shortfalls during prolonged, wide-area cold snaps. Noting that four severe Arctic storms have swept across much of the continent since […]

  • UK Confirms Wylfa as Launch Site for First Nuclear SMR Fleet

    The UK has confirmed that Wylfa on the island of Anglesey, North Wales, will host three Rolls-Royce small modular reactors (SMRs) that could deliver first power in the mid-2030s—launching a state-backed, fleet-based nuclear deployment through publicly owned entity Great British Energy–Nuclear (GBE-N). The UK government has framed the SMR project, which is underpinned by more […]

  • POWERnews—Nov. 20, 2025

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   November 20, 2025 Blackstone Investing $1.2 Billion for 600-MW Gas-Fired Plant in West Virginia Global investment group and asset manager Blackstone said it will support construction of a 600-MW combined-cycle natural gas-fired power plant in West Virginia. The Wolf Summit Energy facility, […]

  • POWERnews—Nov. 13, 2025

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   November 13, 2025 Texas Issues First Performance-Based Grant Under Energy Fund for LCRA’s New 188-MW RICE Peaker The Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) has executed its first agreement under the Texas Energy Fund (TxEF) Completion Bonus Grant (CBG) Program, awarding the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) up to […]

  • Texas Issues First Performance-Based Grant Under Energy Fund for LCRA’s New 188-MW RICE Peaker

    The Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) has executed its first agreement under the Texas Energy Fund (TxEF) Completion Bonus Grant (CBG) Program, awarding the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) up to $22.56 million for its 188-MW Timmerman Power Plant Unit 1, a new natural gas–fired plant in Caldwell County, Texas. The agreement marks the operational launch of Texas’s performance-contingent funding mechanism, which is designed to accelerate […]

  • Ready, Go, Set: How Disruptions Are Flipping EPC Contracting

    What’s driving a fundamental shift in engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contracting? Equipment lead times. Workforce shortages. Data center timelines. POWER examines how the traditional EPC

  • Beyond Traditional Controls: Managing Power Project Schedule and Cost Overruns

    From financial dashboards to factory-based assembly, utilities and their contractors are deploying new tools and processes to improve project cost performance. In decades past, the decision to pursue a major

  • The EPC Partnership Paradigm: How Smart Collaboration and Digital Tools Are Driving New Delivery Models

    Traditional owner-EPC relationships relied on sequenced approvals and risk allocation tied to project maturity. Today’s interdependent infrastructure, including for the grid, generation, storage, and

  • POWER Interview: CyrusOne Expert on How AI Is Reshaping the Data Center–Utility Relationship

    CyrusOne’s Jim Roche details how AI-driven workloads, high-density racks, and liquid cooling are transforming the data center–utility relationship. Only a decade ago, few in the power sector could have predicted that the digital economy’s engine—the data center—would become a central concern for utility planners, grid operators, and energy policymakers. For much of its history, data […]

  • POWERnews—Nov. 6, 2025

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   November 6, 2025 DOE Launches $100M Retrofit Program Targeting Coal Fleet Reliability The Department of Energy (DOE) has released a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) providing up to $100 million in federal backing for projects focused on restoring and modernizing the nation’s… […]

  • DOE Launches $100M Retrofit Program Targeting Coal Fleet Reliability

    The Department of Energy (DOE) has released a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) providing up to $100 million in federal backing for projects focused on restoring and modernizing the nation’s existing coal plant fleet.  The Oct. 31–issued NOFO, administered by DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) under the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, […]

  • POWERnews—Oct. 23, 2025

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   October 23, 2025 Google Commits to First U.S. Gas-Fired Power Plant with Integrated CCS for Data Centers Google has signed a first-of-its-kind corporate offtake agreement to purchase power from a new 400-MW natural gas–fired cogeneration plant outfitted with carbon capture and storage […]

  • Google Commits to First U.S. Gas-Fired Power Plant with Integrated CCS for Data Centers

    Google has signed a first-of-its-kind corporate offtake agreement to purchase power from a new 400-MW natural gas–fired cogeneration plant outfitted with carbon capture and storage (CCS) in Decatur, Illinois. In an Oct. 23 blog post, Michael Terrell, head of Google’s Advanced Energy division, unveiled the corporate agreement that will allow the hyperscaler to purchase power […]