Terrestrial Energy’s Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR), a 195-MWe Generation IV nuclear technology, and NuScale’s small modular reactor (SMR) may be the focus of the first joint technical review by U.S. and Canadian nuclear regulators in a bid to boost their regulatory effectiveness as more advanced reactors and SMRs trundle toward commercialization.  Rumina Velshi, president […]

In a recent conversation with POWER, GE Digital CEO Pat Byrne discussed why GE made key changes to the lucrative business, streamlining it to focus on four key markets, including electric utilities and power generation.  GE has been at the forefront of the innovation in the energy sector since Thomas Edison formulated the essential requirements […]

Marking a major milestone for the U.S. nuclear power sector, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has for the first time issued license renewals that authorize nuclear reactor operation beyond 60 years and up to 80 years.  The regulatory body on Dec. 5 issued subsequent license renewals (SLRs) for Units 3 and 4 at Florida Power […]

In a new attempt to secure a concrete role for the international hydropower industry within the decarbonization movement, several utilities, equipment manufacturers, universities, research centers, and consultancies have scaffolded to demonstrate how modern hydropower plants can provide flexibility to markets that are increasingly inundated by variable generation like wind and solar. On Dec. 10, the […]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized a change to a long-standing policy interpreting “ambient air”—a foundational concept under the Clean Air Act that applies to all types of air pollution, from ground-level ozone, particulate matter, and greenhouse gases. While the agency framed the change as part of a suite of actions to reform New Source […]

China has started up its first commercial nuclear cogeneration system, using two newly operational AP1000 reactors at the Haiyang Nuclear Power Plant to heat 700,000 square meters of housing.  Shandong Nuclear Power Co. (SDNPC), a subsidiary of State Power Investment Corp. (SPIC), and owner of the Haiyang plant, on Nov. 15 said the first phase […]

According to experts from Technical University of Applied Sciences (OTH) in Regensburg, Germany, who recently reviewed the world’s existing power-to-gas (P2G) hydrogen and methane projects, about 143 P2G projects have operated since 1988 in 22 countries. Only 56 hydrogen and 38 methanation projects were active in 2019. While the existing fleet mostly comprises pilot or […]

In its November 2019–issued World Energy Outlook, the International Energy Agency (IEA) suggests that if countries pursue currently stated policies, the combined generation share of wind and solar photovoltaic could surge from 7% today to 24% in 2040. This very steep ramp-up of variable renewables will undoubtedly require an emphatic focus on flexibility—the ability of […]

While still in its infancy, power-to-gas provides a promising approach to convert renewable power into “green” hydrogen and methane, furnishing the renewables sector with a potentially lucrative array of

Falling natural gas prices tamped down annual U.S. wholesale power prices over the last decade by $7/MWh to $53/MWh—to a much higher degree compared to the impact of wind and solar growth—a new report from Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL) suggests.  The Nov. 20–published report, The Impact of Wind, Solar, and Other Factors on Wholesale Power […]